Disclaimer: chapter one


A/N: Reviews!

All of you telling me to include lemons: I can't write one. I have tried one for my other fic, and it was plain horrible. So instead of giving you guys a piss-poor attempt at two fictional characters awkwardly banging, I suggest you look for one elsewhere.

Natural Light: Issei will have his own part in the story, eventually. Will I follow DxD canon? I don't know myself. Like I have said in my warnings, I have no clear plot in mind regarding this fic. Unlike Son of Athena, where I have the entire plot outlined. I think that some of your other concerns are answered in this chapter.


Chapter 3


Erza Knightwalker wondered what wrong she did to get this duty. Well it was not exactly a duty. More like left behind while her King and Queen went hunting for vampires or some shit like that in Romania.

To the Devil-kind, Sacred Gear users were like Pokémon. They had to catch them all. At least that was how Naruto explained it. But Erza's main issue was the new guy.

He was average in almost every aspect. He was of average height for a 16 year old, with brown hair and brown eyes. Not too good looking, but not that bad either. He wasn't too strong or possessed an incredibly high amount of magic.

But David Evans was smart. When they had encountered him in Yorkshire, Erza was pretty sure that he was an idiot. He had willingly joined the peerage. He wasn't killed by some supernatural entity or some killer or accident. He was exposed to their world when Naruto accidentally let it slip.

And then David became one of them. He was not leaving anything behind; he was an orphan and without any connection to anyone from the orphanage he stayed at. He was not bullied or harassed by the caretakers, but they were not the loving kind either.

He then proceeded to surprise them all by showing his genius side. He could easily defeat Rias and Sona in chess, was exceptionally knowledgeable in many things.

He had just one problem. Complete lack of social skills. He was not shy or awkward, more accurately, ignorant of social norms.

Erza was not surprised in the slightest when he claimed that he had no friends.

For his part, David just stared at the TV in front of him. He was vaguely aware of Erza, but given that she was not talking to him for whatever reason (not that he wanted her to) he felt no obligation to make conversation.

He felt small talk was boring. He was genuinely interested when Naruto had accidentally revealed that Devils existed. But he was once again left alone. Sure, there was Erza, but once again, she was just there. If she left the room, it won't make any difference to him.

Not that he minded; he liked loneliness.

David flipped through the channels, not really sure what he wanted to watch. Besides, Devil TV shows were weird. For example, a show meant for kids but obviously had more than a few adult moments like blood and gore, frontal nudity and the like. The show was of course, Magical Girl Levia-Tan.

The plot was also quite predictable, but given that it was a kids show, a predictable plot was a given.

He wondered if the Underworld had Netflix. If not, then he was so screwed.


It had begun normally.

After getting word from their brother or father, that two dhampirs were exiled from the Tepes clan, Naruto, Rias, Akeno and Sasuke had gone to rescue them and if they wanted, add them to their peerages.

But even if they were exiled, the vampires did not like having Devils around, so they begun to attack the four.

That too, wasn't the problem. It was day time, and once they got out doors from the hotel where the fighting began, they would be fine.

That is when, in Naruto's opinion, was the worst thing that happened to them.

Being immortal blood sucking people, vampires had made a countermeasure against sunlight.

Naruto felt it was quite clever. But looked very stupid. He did not want to fight a bunch of vampires in hazmat suits, after all.

Yep.

It was four Devils, two dhampirs, versus a bunch of vampires in hazmat suits.

After defeating the hazmat suit vampires, they six of them had gotten away. They had to run to get the fight away from the city.

In the end, both Gremorys had gotten their own bishops. If Naruto was any other person, he would have been felt cheated when they found out that Gasper had a Sacred Gear that allowed him to temporarily stop time around an object, be it living or not.

But Naruto was nothing like that, and was very much content with Valerie.


"So... Uh... What are we doing here?"

Akeno giggled at Naruto's question. To be fair, she had dragged him off with her to a shopping mall in the Gremory Territory. The Gremory Territory was huge, being the size of Honshu island of Japan. It was filled with vast castles and palaces devoted to the servants, while the Gremory Clan themselves stayed in the Gremory Manor.

The Gremory Territory also had a rich industrial area, as well as a shaded forest and mountain ranges.

Apart from this, the Territory was home to the city of Dewerstone. It was a small city, having a population of only a few thousand residents. It's main residents were the Extra Devil families who had sworn fealty to the Gremorys, ex-peerage members, and even Devils from other clans.

This city was where Naruto and Akeno had gone to. Naruto, for his part, was confused. They owned the place. Why did they have to come here instead of having some servant bring whatever she wanted over to the Manor? It made no sense to him.

Besides, no one was going to leave them alone here. Naruto was the grandson of the Gremory Patriarch, and the son of the current Lucifer. He was already a sort of celebrity in the Underworld because of this (as was Rias) but here? The Devils who lived here would take a light-spear for him.

Naruto was not ignorant to how they behaved when Akeno would drag him from one shop to another. Everyone would stop doing their own jobs and go out of their way to help him. Sure, some seemed genuinely interested in helping him, but others were doing it because of who he was.

Naruto did not like it one bit. He had always wanted to step out of his parents' shadows. Sirzechs was a greatly respected and was extremely powerful even before he was crowned Lucifer. Grayfia held the title of the second most powerful female devil, having lost the first spot to Serafall. He knew full well that Rias wanted something similar; to be identified as her own person.

Her reason was different. Rias was tired of being a 'lady'. She was always tomboyish when they were younger. Sure, she cared about politics and the Gremory relationships with other families, a lot more than Naruto, but she didn't want to act the way a lady of the house should.

The case with Naruto was a lot simpler. He wanted to be his own person. He always had high dreams, and his biggest one was when people would start saying things like, "Sirzechs Lucifer? You mean Naruto's father?" and not "Naruto Gremory? You mean the Lucifer's kid?"

Naruto shook his head as Akeno dragged him onwards. He was still confused as to why he was not allowed to inform Rias or Sasuke. That boy was protective of his sister.

But Naruto could understand Sasuke's protectiveness. Rias may be his aunt and older than him, but he would murder the poor bastard who would make her cry.

"Akeno, will you stop?" Naruto asked as he was being dragged around.

Akeno, to his surprise, stopped in her tracks. She turned over her shoulder, "What do you need?" There was a teasing tone in her voice.

"I'm just hungry."

"Ufufufu. Lets get something to eat—"

"Ramen?"

"—after I get what I want."

Her tone switched to a mix of teasing and playful seductive at the last part. It was completely lost on Naruto.

"What more do you want? We've shopped for everything from perfume to clothes!"

"But not lingerie!"

Naruto gulped. Sasuke was going to murder him.

Fifteen minutes and a huge amount of teasing later, as in Akeno would purposely try to show off her developing body to Naruto, in one set of underwear to another, starting from the most conservative and ending with the most scandalous she could find.

Naruto for his part was confused as to why they allowed women to try on different types of underwear before they bought them. They certainly did not allow men to do the same. Naruto chalked it up to the fact that his family owned the place, so they were letting Akeno do as she pleased.

He also let it go after Akeno posed for him and gave him a flirtatious wink. He may be dense, but he was certainly very interested in the beauty in front of him.

Akeno had fun teasing him. Naruto was like the friend she never had growing up. Sasuke could never be such a friend, because they were twins. Naruto had helped her a lot when she (and Sasuke) was getting over the death of her mother and her subsequent exile from her previous family.

Sasuke, while he was healing now, was a very quiet boy when they were reincarnated into Devils. He had locked himself in his room, only leaving for food. Akeno was extremely worried about him, but he would not talk to her either.

At this point, Rias and Naruto had done everything in their power to get them back to their cheerful selves - the way they were before tragedy struck.

For Akeno, Naruto would always be there for her. He would listen to her when she wanted. While he may not necessarily give her the best advice, Akeno felt he was a lot better than the therapists the Gremorys had hired for the two of them.

Over time, she couldn't help but falling for him. Which made it all the more fun for her to tease and playfully flirt with him.

Akeno had to resort to such direct tactics to try and win his heart. He was really dense when it came to women and how they tried to get the attention of the one they were crushing on. She was quite forward with him, but to her frustration (and slight amusement) Naruto was completely unresponsive to her forwardness. Sure, he was abashed and embarrassed quite a bit during the day.

To be fair, Rias had warned her that something like this would happen. Akeno had ignored her warning back then.

Akeno didn't particularly care when she would be in a relationship with Naruto. She could wait. Her only problem was the other competition. Valerie Tepes. She too was growing very close to Naruto. He just had that effect on people.

Ever since they rescued her, Valerie had steadily increased the amount of time she spent with her King. As far as Akeno was concerned, she was free to date Naruto only after Akeno had established that she was the main girl in the harem.

Provided Naruto wanted a harem. If not, then she would have to squash the competition.


"When you said we were hunting a Stray Devil, I thought it would be more interesting."

"You have to be patient, David. Some strays are smart. They hide and have to be brought out."

"I see. So, how does one become a half vampire?"

Valerie shrugged. "I don't really know. Some say that when a pregnant woman is bitten, she gives birth to dhampirs. Others claim the usual. Normal vampire and human produce dhampir babies."

"How can you not know?"

"Because my kind are shunned by both sides. And the fact that I have never met my father. He probably wouldn't have told me anyways."

David was silent after that, to Valerie's relief.

'David, Valerie, I think we found him.'

'Got it, Naruto,' David replied. He still felt a bit weird when hearing Naruto's voicein his ear. This magical communication took a bit getting used to.

'Orders, master?'

'How many times must I tell you not to call me that?'

Valerie smirked. 'I think it adds a rather interesting side to our relationship.' They weren't in a relationship, given the redhead was completely dense, and hence unaware of her attraction and forwardness alike.

'Flirt later you two,' Erza's stern voice said. 'We' re providing flanking support while Rias and her team draw him out.'

'What she said,' Naruto replied.

With Rias, Akeno and Sasuke, they had cornered the Stray in his abandoned house in the forest they were in. Gasper and Koneko were back in the Underworld. They weren't powerful enough yet for this assignment.

"Be on guard. The stray is upper High Class." Rias warned as they approached the house.

"I hope he's a screamer..." Akeno said as she licked her lips.

"That is probably why Naruto is far away from you." Sasuke was on the rocks when he found out that Akeno was crushing on Naruto. On one hand it was Naruto. On the other, well, it was Naruto.

"Are you sure you are with us for the better strategic value and not for Rias?" Akeno countered, enjoying both Rias's face turning red and Sasuke's indignant "No."

"Hate to break it you, but you just alerted the Stray," Naruto and Erza popped up from the bushes were they were hiding, pointing at the devil that stared at them.

It was huge, at least 10 feet tall and 7 feet wide, quadruped and looked downright evil. It had a large tail that had spines on its ends. Its head was a grotesque mass of flesh and bones. The body was also flesh and bones but looked oddly muscular.

It roared wildly as it swung at the three devils who were about to approach it.

The three of them jumped up and took to the air, avoiding the wild hit.

Rias fired a shot of her Power of Destruction, but it was moving way too fast for her attack to hit. At the same time, Akeno and Sasuke managed to hit it with a blast of lightning.

It roared in pain but seemed largely unaffected.

From where he was standing, Naruto shot a large blade of wind at it. He had a natural affinity to wind, and he could manipulate it quite well. Unable to see the wind blade, the beast roared in pain again as the blade cut deep into its hide.

It wasn't enough to kill it, though. Having been angered by Naruto's attack, it wildly leapt at him. Naruto rollled under its leap, firing off another wind blade at its wound. The wound only went deeper, but it did not kill.

"Damn, what does it take to kill this thing?" Naruto muttered as he stood up.

Rias fired another blast of her Powers of Destruction. This time they hit the tail, corroding and reducing the tail to dust.

Akeno seemed to be on a high as she relished in the beast's suffering. She attacked it with another blast of lightning, moaning softly as the beast screamed more and more.

"I have a very weird boner right now," Naruto commented as he saw the expression on Akeno's face. Sasuke, having heard this, lightly shocked Naruto.

"What the hell, man?"

"My sister!"

"Boys, not now," Rias chided.

Akeno was too fixated on torturing the beast to care.

Suddenly, the beast stopped screaming under Akeno's onslaught. She was surprised, and stopped, wondering if she had killed it. A spike came at her at deadly speeds, and would have pierced her chest if it hadn't been disintegrated by Naruto's timely intervention by Powers of Destruction.

The beast, who had regenerated its tail, roared at the four devils.

David, Valerie and Erza ran as fast as they could to the fight scene.

"It regenerated?" David asked, after hearing Rias's disbelief on seeing the tail. "Well, that makes it more complicated. Erza, use the Million Suns ability of your spear. Its Holy Light, isn't it? It should stop it from regenerating."

Erza shook her head. "I can't control where the light goes. I may accidentally hit the others too. More importantly, I have no idea if it will affect me or not."

David closed his eyes in thought. "Rias, Naruto. You two will need to disintegrate it entirely. Your Powers of Destruction will be very effective here."

Rias stared at the pawn. "You kidding me? I don't know if I have enough power to disintegrate something of that size, even with Naruto's help"

"That is why we will distract it. The two of you will have to give it your best shot."

"Don't worry, Rias. We can do this!" Naruto said, getting pumped.

"Akeno, continue the lightning strikes. I will do the same," Sasuke stated.

Akeno licked her lips and attacked the beast once again. It tried to dodge, only to get caught in Sasuke's lightning. Akeno looked at the color in disbelief. It wasn't yellow like the one she used. Or Sasuke normally used.

It was blue. The color of Holy Lightning. It was one power she swore she would never use. True, her brother never made any such decisions. She was still hurt by it, though. She felt reminded of her father.

As soon as the Beast was caught in the Holy Lightning, it roared loudly in pain. Erza moved in, her spear transforming into the Blue Crimson form. It was the only form with two spears, one red and one blue. The red one utilized fire and the blue one ice.

She swung both at the Beast. It was enveloped in both ice and fire, along with the Lightning from the Himejima twins.

Suddenly, the beast moved. Erza, being the closest, jumped out of the way just in time, or else she would have been something like a seekh kebab on its tail. It charged towards Naruto and Rias, who also managed to dodge the beast's wild tail.

Both devils quickly took flight, getting away from the beast. It looked around wildly, before large spikes came out of its body.

David jumped behind a large stone, "Watch out! Its going to shoot those!"

And just as he predicted, the beast launched the spikes in all directions.

Most of them were able to either dodge or destroy the spikes.

Valerie could not. She was frozen with fear and did not notice the spike until it was too late. She closed her eyes.

SQUELCH!

Valerie gasped as she heard the spike pierce flesh. But she felt no pain. Slowly she opened her eyes and they widened in horror.

Naruto was in front of her, the spike impaled in his stomach. "Get... Away..." he groaned before collapsing in his own blood.

David, being the closest apart from Valerie, immediately went to his King, placing a hand on his wound and applying pressure. It was a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He tried to tell Valerie to start healing but the girl was in shock.

Rias was also frozen at the sight of her nephew just falling down, impaled. Sasuke closed his eyes in anger as tears threatened to fall. He screamed as a pain shot through his eyes. He opened his eyes to notice that the world had slowed down. Everyone was moving towards Naruto, but very slowly. His own movements felt slow and sluggish.

In his anger, he turned to the beast that had injured his King and best friend. Without a care in the world, he attack the beast, not noticing that his attacks moved much faster when attacking his target.

Akeno landed next to Naruto's prone body. "No... Don't leave me..." she said as tears openly fell. She placed her head on his back and began to cry.

From the shadows, a giant man leaped out immediately, pulling Sasuke back and engaging the beast. Surtr Second, the Ultimate Rook, took down the beast with just one hit; disintegrating the beast in his flames.

Meanwhile, Valerie suddenly screamed, as she heard voices in her head. She was being fed information. Information regarding life. Regarding death. How life is created. How death is an important aspect of life. How a soul is made. Why an intact soul is important.

Surtr looked at the dhampir, as did the others, as her body began to glow.

Valerie instinctively curved her hands, just as a very ornate cup appeared in her hand. The glow died down.

Surtr made his way to her. "Sephiroth Graal..." He whispered.

Rias looked at her brother's rook, for once not complaining that he was here. She felt like he should have jumped sooner.

"I feel a pulse," David said as he removed his hand from Naruto's neck. "Its faint. But it's there."

"Move," Valerie said. "I can save him."

Akeno glared at her. Naruto was hurt because he tried to save her. She could not move away. She had to freeze in the battlefield. "You can save him?" she whispered. "YOU'RE THE REASON HE IS LIKE THAT!"

"Akeno!" Rias yelled. She took a deep breath. She was trytry to remain very calm, but was holding on to her emotions by a thread. When Valerie said she could save Naruto, it gave her the necessary strength for the time being. "I know you are hurting, but Valerie is not to blame!"

"Lady Rias is correct, Akeno. And so is Valerie," Surtr said. "And as David pointed out, he is still alive."

"And fading fast. We need to get him—"

"Nowhere," Surtr said. "What Valerie is holding is a very powerful Sacred Gear, one of the thirteen Longinus. It is the ultimate healing tool, capable of even reversing death. Even a fatal wound that Lord Naruto currently has, it would be child's play for it."

They all nodded, and Valerie seemingly emptied the cup on the wound on Naruto. The cup floated out of her hands, and a white glow enveloped the two. The cup promptly disappeared.


Naruto was surrounded by darkness. He wondered if he had died. That would suck.

"Indeed it would," said a deep, demonic voice.

"Aah!" Naruto screamed, frightened. "Who's there!"

Two large glowing eyes, with a vertical slit for pupils appeared in the air. "Looks like our connection is stronger than I thought."

"I know that voice! You're the kyuubi I met in the Familiar Forest!" Naruto pointed at the eyes.

"Yes. Do you know my name?"

"Uhhh..."

"Guess not. A damn shame."

"Where are we?" Naruto asked. "Last thing I remember was me taking the hit for Valerie and then a whole lot of pain."

"Ah, yes. Like an idiot you jumped in front of a spike instead of obliterating it. You should think these things through."

"I didn't think, I acted to save her!"

"Yep. Definitely the Naruto I know. Well, this has been fun. Looks like you're being healed. Good for you."

Naruto simply vanished from in front of Kurama.


Valerie nervously sat in front of Sirzechs.

The Devil King had a serious face, rather uncharacteristically. His son had almost died, and the only reason Naruto was currently sleeping soundly in his room was sitting in front of him.

Of course, sitting in fron of Lucifer was not why Valerie was nervous. No, it was the muffled screams in the background.

"So," Sirzechs said, breaking the silence. "You saved my Naruto."

"Y-Yes... But the injury was—"

"Not your fault," Sirzechs cut in. "Naruto took the hit for you, of his own volition. Unless you mean to tell me that you forced him to."

Valerie quickly and rapidly shook her head. "I would never!"

Sirzechs smiled. "I know. But I have one request—"

"THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BEND THAT WAY!"

Valerie flinched at the yell. Sirzechs continued as it didn't even bother him. "That you keep the fact that you possess the Sephiroth Graal—"

"WAIT... IS THAT... NO! ANYTHING ELSE! WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE THIS?!"

"—a secret from anyone and everyone else outside of the people who were present. I would hate it if you were a target before you knew how to operate it and hence be in a position to protect not only—"

"*sob* I am so *sob* sorry... What do you mean we are not done yet?! OH SHIT!"

" —yourself but also your loved ones from any threat." Sirzechs looked at the young dhampir, who was scared, extremely scared, of the screams.

Rubbing his head, Sirzechs pressed his intercom, "Grayfia, dear, can you please pause with Surtr's punishment? You are scaring poor Valerie here."

"Apologies, my lord," came the reply and the screams stopped.

"Thank you!"

Sirzechs turned his attention to Valerie. "You may go. I suggest you take plenty of rest. If you need anything, please let me know. You are a part of my son's peerage, which makes us family. I think. Anyways, off you go!" Sirzechs said cheerfully.

Valerie nodded, and left him alone.

"Grayfia, you may continue." Sirzechs spoke into his intercom again. He did not blame Surtr for this; he did agree that the rook should have acted earlier. Grayfia was whole another story. She had flipped out, practically locked Naruto away, and had proceeded to punish Surtr.

"Wait.. THIS IS ILLEGAL! WASN'T PLAYING NICKELBACK ON LOOP BANNED?!"

On second thoughts, that was too much.

Sirzechs then looked down at the report and the photo of the Beast they were fighting. It had been a Stray Devil, without any doubt, but it showed a remarkable regenerative ability. Not to mention, Strays, if they went insane, did not usually appear like this. They resembled Chimera more, being an amalgamation of multiple life forms.

This Beast, on the other hand, was not like that. It had no skin, but was completely flesh and muscles.

Sirzechs suspected foul play here. As if it was experimented upon.

With a tired sigh, he sent the report to Ajuka. Surely he would be able to tell if Sirzechs was right or not. Also, he needed to know whose peerage did the Stray belong to. If the King was still alive, then there was a good chance that the King had sanctioned such an experiment.

On the bright side, the Devil Faction had gained a significant boost now that Naruto's peerage had a Longinus class Sacred Gear.


Deleted scene. I think it functions as an omake. I hope I did the right thing by deleting it from the chapter itself.

Sirzechs was happy. He was going to meet his son's forning peerage. He had only met his Queen, Sasuke Himejima. But now his son's peerage had expanded to a bishop, a pawn and a knight.

"I would have made a joke about gingers and the Lucifer being one, but I won't."

Sirzechs's eye twitched when Naruto's pawn, David if he remembered right, said this.

"An entire devil clan is composed of redheads, and you make this joke now?" Valerie said as she glanced at Sirzechs.

"It made more...What's the word—"

"Satirical?" Sasuke supplied.

"Sardonic?" Erza asked.

"No, sardonic would imply that I was cynical. This definitely wasn't a satire. I guess the joke would be more relevant with regard to the Devil King rather than any other devil."

Sirzechs smiled silently.


A/N: I read the Sephiroth Graal's abilities from the wiki. If there are any discrepancies from the Light Novels, well, then let me know. I also know that the way Valerie awakened it was completely cliche, but I couldn't think of anything else.

I know that Valerie possesses three cups, as part of her sub-species Sacred Gear, but I think that a Sacred Gear user needs to develop a sub-species. If I am wrong on this one, then that is a fanfic rule I will be implementing. So, she will not have three cups till she knows how to use it better.

Sasuke's time slowing thing. I plan to give him a sort of an ocular based Sacred Gear, that like the sharingan, can predict the opponent's moves. If I do, then it would be just that, and lack the many abilities that make sharingan the second most stupid hax ability, after the Six Paths Chakra bullshit.

As you may have guessed, David is the strategist. He is an OC. After reading the reviews (and the odd PM here and there) I decided to go against reincarnating other Naruto characters, and I couldn't find anyone who quite fit the bill.

As for the really, really late update, well, I put the sporadic updates part in the description for a reason.

Confirmed Harem: Naruto/Akeno/Valerie/Xenovia. Two or three women will be added later.

For Sasuke, I am seriously considering Sasuke/Rias (suggestion courtesy of The King in White), with Sasuke/Sona (suggested by Darkconvoy99) a close second. Or both!

Hope you enjoyed!