Anything you recognise isn't mine.
Kenji, Valian, Penemue and Albedo were in the sparring dimension, going all-out against each other. Or rather, just Kenji and Albedo, as Penemue had been extracted from the dimension earlier, and Valian not too long after her.
"Reflect!" Kenji cried out, holding up his hands and creating a blue magic-circle, which was the sigh of using on of his abilities given to him by Albion. The light-arrow that Albedo had shot his way impacted the magic-circle, and went straight back at her. Albedo cursed under her breath and cancelled the arrow before it could hit her.
"Is that everything you have?" Kenji asked, grinning. He sped towards Albedo as fast as his sixteen wings could carry him, and drove his fist into her stomach, sending her back a few dozen feet
"Not even close!" Albedo yelled, driving her knee into Kenji's stomach and punching him in the face when he doubled over. Kenji flew backwards and landed on the ground, where he had to pull out his sword and counter all of the light-arrows that Albedo was firing down at him. After about a hundred light-spears, Kenji spread his wings and flew upwards, reflecting all the light-arrows that Albedo was still shooting at him, with little effort.
"Taste THIS!" Kenji roared, grabbing Albedo and crying out: "Divide!" On the spot, Kenji felt power surging through him, even more than normal. This was Albion's signature ability, and it seemed to have absorbed half of Albedo's power and bestowed it to Kenji.
"Divide!" Kenji cried out again, and the same thing happened. Kenji drive his fist into Albedo's face, and she flew downwards into a tree. The tree cracked from the force, and she flew through it, knocked out.
"That's enough." Kenji said, to no-one in particular. "Bring us out, Azazel." A familiar pull later, Kenji and Albedo were pulled out of the dimension, and were in the room used to transport people to the dimension.
"Nice one, Kenji." Azazel complimented Kenji. "I admit that I didn't expect you to win a fight against a Satan-Class Fallen Angel, when you're only an Ultimate-Class Devil."
"Power is all well and good." Kenji said, looking at Albedo's fallen body. "But it's nothing if you don't have the skill to back up that power." Azazel nodded, and looked at Albedo.
"I can understand that." He said. "Valian is healed and at your place."
"Good." Kenji prepared a magic-circle. "I'll be off, then." He disappeared. A flash later, he was in the living room of his house, and Valian was sitting on the sofa and watching TV, a can of Coca-Cola in her hand.
"Hey." She said, nodding to Kenji. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Kenji replied. "I won against Albedo."
"As I expected." Valian grinned. Kenji grinned back and sat down next to his girlfriend, who wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close to her.
"You're so warm..." she muttered, burying her face in Kenji's chest.
"And you're so hot." Kenji replied. Valian blushed slightly.
"That was horrible, Kenji." She admonished his sense of humour, in a slightly muffled voice.
"And that's why you love me." Kenji grinned, kissing her on the top of her head.
"Hey, Kenji." Kenji looked up and saw Penemue and Albedo walking inti the house.
"Hey, you two." Kenji said, letting Valian sit on his lap, which permitted the two succubus-Fallen Angel hybrids to sit on either side of him.
"Kenji~" Penemue whispered into his ear. "I'm feeling a little hungry, and Albedo is too. Can you help feed us~?" Just the tone that Penemue said that in was enough to get Kenji hard.
"Sure." The Devil-Dragon hybrid said, pulling Penemue into a deep kiss. Once he was done in her mouth he did the same for Valian.
"Damn." Valian muttered, sliding off Kenji's lap. And I had lunch prepared for the four of us, too."
"Lunch is overrated." Albedo replied, letting Kenji pick her up, bridal-style, and carry her upstairs, Penemue following.
"See you in a couple of hours, Val." Kenji called, downstairs. "At least."
Line Break
It was the next morning, and Kenji woke up, feeling slightly groggy from the mind-blowing threesome that he, Penemue and Albedo had had. They'd been at it all day and into the night, too.
'Kenji need shower.' Were the only three words that Kenji could form in his mind, as he carefully extracted himself from the tangled hold of the two women, and made his way to the shower room. He picked up a towel and his shampoo from the floor on the way there, and took a long, hot shower.
Once he was finished with it, Kenji left the shower and returned to his room. Seeing Penemue and Albedo still asleep, he quietly dressed in a Sabaton shirt and his normal jeans. Once he finished dressing, his eyes caught his fifteen Evil Pieces: one Queen, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, and eight Mutation Pawns. He thought for a minute about them, and a book that he'd read on the Evil Pieces that he'd found in Azazel's library.
The Queen was the most powerful piece in the set, and would be Kenji's second-in-command in his peerage. The Queen had the combined traits of a Rook, a Bishop and a Knight, so it would have to be a jack-of-all-trades kind of servant. They would also have to be good in terms of tactics and strategy, as that wasn't his strongest suit.
The Rook was the second-most powerful piece in the set, behind the Queen. Rooks in peerages would have both their physical offensive and defensive capabilities increased exponentially, but they would have low magic capabilities, and they wouldn't be very fast.
That, in Kenji's opinion, was easily fixable. When he managed to get a Rook for his peerage, he could simply train them to move faster, and have more magical capabilities, making them a serious force to be reckoned with.
The Bishop was the joint-third most powerful piece in the set, and Bishops were known for having high magical reserves, but low physical reserves and low speed. So for Kenji to have powerful Bishops, they would have to have pretty high magical reserves in the first place.
Being good in physical combat and being a pretty fast runner wouldn't go amiss either.
The Knight was also the joint-third most powerful piece in the Evil Piece set. Knights were known for having incredible speed, but low physical and magical reserves, making them good for hit-and-run tactics. Most Knights were also very efficient with a sword, so Kenji would have to consider that, too.
The Pawn was the weakest piece in the set, but easily the most versatile, as Pawns could use Promotion, like in the actual game of chess, to a Knight, Bishop, Rook or a Queen. So, in theory, those who were eligable for a Rook, Bishop or Knight would be eligible for a Pawn piece as well.
Speaking of his Pawns, which were Mutation Pawns, he'd had Azazel look them over, and he'd been informed that each of his Mutation Pawns had, in fact, worth the power of four conventional Pawns.
Good to know.
Heading downstairs, he saw Valian sitting in pretty much the exact same place he'd seen her before.
"Morning." Kenji said, sitting down next to her.
"Morning." Valian replied, wrapping an arm around her boyfriend and kissing him. "You enjoy last night with Pen and Albedo?"
"Yeah." Kenji replied, kissing back. He then got an idea. "Hey, Val?"
"Hmm?" The silverette turned to Kenji.
"You know that I have... my Evil Pieces, right?" Kenji asked.
"Yeah...?" Valian said. "What about them?"
"Well..." Kenji was unsure how to proceed. "Would you want to become part of my peerage?" Valian was silent for a few seconds, before answering.
"It depends what piece." She replied. "Which one did you have in mind?"
"The Queen." Kenji replied, automatically. "Would you want to become my-?" Valian kissed him, stopping his words.
"Yes." She replied. "I would be honoured to serve you as your Queen, Kenji." Kenji smiled.
"Alright." Kenji said, kissing her. "I'll go get my piece." A minute later, Kenji returned, holding the Queen piece in his hand.
"You ready?" Kenji asked, his mismatched eyes meeting Valian's blue ones.
"Yes, I'm ready." Valian whispered, looking into the eyes she fell for. "Make me your second-in-command, Kenji." Kenji nodded, and gently placed the piece onto Valian's chest. The piece slowly entered Valian's chest, and her sixteen devil and dragon wings sprouted out of her back.
"It's done." Kenji whispered, walking towards Valian. "Welcome to the team, Valian Lucifer."
"Glad to be here, Kenji Gremory." Valian replied, wrapping her arms around him and drawing him into a deep kiss, which Kenji happily reciprocated. After about a minute, the two broke apart.
"I thought you'd do that, Kenji." A voice came from upstairs. Kenji turned around and saw Penemue, completely naked, standing at the bottom of the stairs, and grinning at them. "Who wins the pool, Albedo?"
"Baraqiel does." Albedo came downstairs too. Kenji saw that she was limping slightly, as well as completely naked. "If he'd done it yesterday, I'd have won. If he did it two days before, Tobio would've won, if he did it tomorrow, you'd have won, Pen, but if he did it in two days time, Azazel would've won."
"You were betting on-" Kenji asked.
"When you would make Valian your Queen." Penemue answered. "It's just between the higher-ups of the Grigori, though."
"Oh, I nearly forgot." Albedo added. "If you made Valian your Queen three days from now, Shemhazai would win." Kenji shook his head.
"Tell Baraqiel he's welcome from me." Kenji said dryly, flopping down onto the sofa. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Yes, actually." Penemue grinned. "Albedo and I are moving into your house and living with you!"
"WHAT?" Kenji sat up and yelled. "Who's bright idea was this?"
"Mine, Valian's and Azazel's." Penemue replied. "Or rather just mine, Valian and Azazel support the idea."
"But we don't have enough space in this place!" Kenji said.
"That can be fixed." Valian said. "Azazel's going to renovate the house himself."
"Oh, okay." Kenji said, lying back. "Just as long as it isn't too big."
Line Break
"What part of 'not too big' do these guys not understand?" Kenji asked himself, as he stood in front of his new house.
It was, to put it bluntly, fucking massive. It was a seven-story mansion (not counting the three underground floors), with, according to the list of features Baraqiel had given him (along with his thanks of making Valian his Queen on a day of which he would win the pool): a swimming pool, a movie theatre, a bar, an infirmary, its own battle-dimension room, a musical room, a gaming room, a bath that covered the whole roof (with a magic spell over it so no perverts like Azazel could fly over and watch Valian, Penemue or Albedo having a bath), 100 bedrooms (20 each on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth floors), and... a sex chamber.
"Really?" Kenji asked Baraqiel, after looking at the words on the paper.
"Apparently it was Penemue and Albedo's idea." Baraqiel said, turning to Kenji. "I can tell you, I'd have liked a sex chamber for where I live."
"What?" Kenji turned to the strongest member of the Cadre. "You have a wife?"
"I did." Baraqiel said, his eyes gaining a sad look in them, which Kenji noticed.
"Sorry." Kenji said, hurridly. "I didn't mean to bring up bad-"
"It's fine." Baraqiel replied, turning to Kenji. "I've moved on from her now."
"What was she-?" Kenji asked, but Baraqiel cut across him.
"She was called Shuri Himejima." He said.
"Himejima?" Kenji asked. "I heard Tobio mentioning that name once or twice."
"Yes." Baraqiel replied. "He's my nephew-in-law. The Himejima Clan are one of the Five Great Families which are linked to the Shinto Pantheon, and Shuri was a part of that clan, until one day, I was injured from a fight and collapsed, near to where Shuri lived at that time. She took me in and nursed me back to health, not caring that I was a Fallen Angel, or a member of a different faction to which she served."
"Sounds like a real lovely person." Kenji said.
"She was. Believe me, she was." Baraqiel replied, a smile on his face. "But when her family found out that she had fallen in love with me and planned to marry me, they disowned her from the family and said that she could basically never call herself a Himejima ever again." Kenji unconsciously clenched his fists and growled under his breath.
That sounded a bit like what his family had done to him. And he had a serious issue with that.
"Those bastards..." Kenji muttered.
"We are of one mind." Baraqiel replied. "It took a long time, but Shuri eventually got over it, and we married and had a child." Baraqiel grinned. "Who'd have guessed that she was a dominatrix-type in bed?"
"Okay, okay, I don't need to hear about your sex life." Kenji replied. "What of the kid you had?"
"We named her Akeno Himejima." Baraqiel said. "And we lived happily for about seven years, until..."
"Yes?" Kenji asked, sensing that Baraqiel was about to reveal something really unpleasant.
"One day, I had to go out on a mission with the Grigori." Baraqiel said. "I can't remember what the mission was, but when I got back from the mission, there were assassins from the Himejima family, who apparently couldn't stand to see Shuri so happy with herself-"
"How would they know that?" Kenji asked. "If they cut all ties with her, they'd just leave her alone with you, wouldn't they?"
"That's a question I cannot answer." Baraqiel replied. "But anyway, when I got back from the mission, thenfirst thing I saw were the assassins, coming out of the shrine we lived in, and talking about finishing her off."
"No..." Kenji knew exactly what was coming.
"Once I heard that, I killed them out of anger, ran into the shrine, and found Shuri dead, and Akeno crying." Baraqiel said, his voice trembling, but he managed to keep it together. "But the worst of it was that Akeno blamed, and likely still blames, me for her mother's death-"
"You aren't responsible." Kenji said, his face hardening. "It was those fucking assassins that are to blame!"
"Yes, I know." Baraqiel said. "I've come to accept that now. I still feel sad about what happened that day, but it isn't worth moping over."
"Indeed." Kenji replied. "It isn't good to live in the past." Baraqiel nodded.
"I'm gonna go check out my new place." Kenji said. "See you, Baraqiel." Baraqiel nodded to Kenji again, and left in a flash of black feathers.
Line Break
Once Kenji had been taken on a tour of the house by Azazel, he was lying in the bedroom that he'd claimed for himself. It was on the fifth floor, and the closest to the gaming room. Valian had taken the room closest to him, and Penemue and Albedo had taken two rooms on the first floor.
Once Kenji had chosen his room, he asked Azazel to make his bed the biggest he could, in case someone was sleeping with him. Azazel pointed out that the beds he'd placed in the bedrooms were fine, but he did it anyway, increasing Kenji's bed-size to that of a superking-sized bed, while all the other beds were standard king-sized beds.
Kenji heard a knock on his bedroom door. When he called out for whoever was there to enter, he saw Valian walking into his room.
"Hey, Val." Kenji said, grinning at her. "What do you need?"
"To ask you something." Valian lay down next to Kenji.
"Hmm?" Kenji gently caressed Valian's hair.
"You know, now that I'm in your peerage," Valian began. "Shouldn't you be thinking about building up the rest of it?"
"You know, I was thinking about that too." Kenji replied. "I've got an idea of what kind of people I want for the pieces in my peerage, so there's no time like the present to get going, is there?"
"I guess not." Valian replied. "Just make sure you always come back, alright?"
"I promise, Valian." Kenji replied, kissing her passionately. "I'll be off now, after I've said my goodbyes to everyone." Valian nodded.
Line Break
"I thought that you'd be doing this soon." Azazel told Kenji when he broke the news to him. "Having a peerage looks good for any Devil; you can't just have a Queen."
"Even if that Queen is the great-granddaughter and the one and only known female descendent of of THE Satan Lucifer himself, and therefore the great-great-granddaughter of the dead God of the Bible." Tobio added. "You're a lucky motherfucker, Kenji."
"I know, Tobio. I know." Kenji replied, shaking his hand. "Thanks for teaching me how to use swords."
"Anytime, bro." Tobio grinned. "Try not to be too much of a stranger, 'kay?"
"I'll make a note of it." Kenji replied. "See you around, Shem, Baraqiel." The Vice-Governer-General and the Strongest Cadre nodded to Kenji. Kenji turned to Penemue and Albedo.
"I'll come back." Kenji promised. "So you can feed on me every so often."
"We'd love that." Penemue and Albedo replied, grinning and hugging Kenji. Finally, Kenji turned to Valian.
"See you around." Kenji said to his girlfriend and Queen.
"Bye." Valian replied, kissing Kenji. Kenji pooled his magic into a magic-circle, and with one final wave to his three lovers, Tobio, and the three leaders of the Grigori, his Evil Pieces safely in his pocket, vanished, in a flash of red light.
Line Break
When Kenji came to land, he found himself in some woodland area. The sun shone through the trees, and Kenji immediately knew that he was in the human world, as there was no sun in the Underworld. Kenji quickly summoned his sword and looked around, seeing if there was anyone around. Even when there was no-one, he kept on his guard.
He slowly walked through the woodland, taking in the scenery, but remaining on his guard.
After a few minutes of walking, Kenji heard a noise a few meters behind him. It sounded like a twig snapping. Kenji whipped around, and raised his sword.
"Who's there?" he said, keeping his breathing even, but feeling unnerved. There was no answer. Kenji gripped his sword tighter, hoping against hope that whatever it was wouldn't attack him.
He hadn't even been out of the Grigori for a goddamn minute!
Suddenly, Kenji heard a rustling of leaves behind him, and he whirled around again. This time, he saw someone, and in shock, he cried out the name of the one person he did NOT expect to see.
"Zest?!"
Aaaaaaaaaaand cut.
Yeah, I know that I said that DWL would be next (if you're reading that), but I just had a massive burst of inspiration for this (I say that when I've got the next three volumes completely planned), and couldn't stop writing. But I can PROMISE that DWL will come VERY VERY soon. I'm talking a-day-at-most soon, here.
I'm going to give you some clues for the rest of Kenji's peerage members. The ones who haven't been correctly guessed, at least.
Peerage members:
King: Kenji Gremory
Queen: Valian Lucifer*
Rook 1: Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)
Rook 2: Dragon Queen
Bishop 1: Seras Victoria (Hellsing)
Bishop 2: Kuroka
Knight 1: Akame (Akame ga Kill!)
Knight 2: Xenovia Quarta
Mutation Pawn 1: Zest (Sister of New Devil)
Mutation Pawn 2: Red-haired not-Kenji badass
Mutation Pawn 3: Twin-guns psycho
Mutation Pawn 4: Terminator Maid
Mutation Pawn 5: Ruby Rose (RWBY)
Mutation Pawn 6: Hot blue-haired nurse
Mutation Pawn 7: Male ghoul
Mutation Pawn 8: Female ghoul
*Already a member of Kenji's peerage
What did you think of this chapter? Review, and let me know! As well as that, try and guess the peerage members based on the clues I've given!
Almost forgot! Since the next volume is going to be Kenji filling up his peerage, and there are going to be eight chapters dedicated to that, I'm extending Volume 3 (which begins next chapter) to 8 chapters. So there's that.
See you in the next chapter/volume!