now that Edelgard from three houses (game i got 120 houres in) yoir fav FE girl, will she also make an apearence ?!
Maybe. Also, those are rookie numbers, I got 400 hours in Three Houses.
Anything you recognise isn't mine.
Hera gave off a relaxed air as she poured a glass of wine for herself, reclining on one of the many couches that were placed around the lounge of her villa. Since she had the place secretly repaired in the aftermath of her brief battle with Yasaka (which, thankfully, no-one important outside of herself and the one who had arrived to help her take the kitsune captive even knew about), nothing much had happened. Which was exactly what she liked: long-ass days doing nothing but relaxing, enjoying the status and perks that came with being the Queen of one of the most prominent Pantheons in the supernatural world.
Taking a sip out of the near-full glass that she had poured, Hera adjusted her position on the couch and turned her head slightly, as she felt the presence that came with a transportation-circle opening within the magical borders of her villa. As the transportation-circle faded, Hera inwardly raised an eyebrow at the feeling of two presences just outside her villa, presences who were now making their way inside.
She was almost ready to get up and greet those who had just arrived, but half a second later, she recognised the presence of those who had arrived, and relaxed back on her couch as she heard a knock, from the two beings that had just arrived, on the door to her lounge.
Hera didn't even need to speak as she opened the door with magic, and spared a glance at the two beings that had arrived at her villa: one of which being Diana Prince, looking equal parts regal and hardened, and the other of which being her ward and mentee, Pyrrha Nikos- distant descendent of the minor Goddess Nike and badass Amazon warrior-girl in her own right.
Pyrrha was a gorgeous young woman with red hair, which she wore in a waist-length ponytail that curled slightly into a loose ringlet. She had green eyes, around which she wore light-green eyeshadow around the far upper corners. She was tall, the same height as Diana, and as visibly muscular as her mentor as well.
She wore a brown overbust corset that had a vertical strip of lighter brown in the centre, a black miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms. She also wore a red ankle-length sash that wrapped around her skirt. Underneath her hair, she wore a brown circlet adorned with a pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds on thin chains. She also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm.
She presently wore a neutral expression on her face, but it was one that anyone who looked at her for more than two seconds (which Hera did not) would be able to tell that it was little more than a mask for what she was really feeling.
"Ah, Diana." Hera greeted the woman who was simultaneously a great-grandchild and niece of hers. "News?"
"Not great, I'm afraid." Diana replied. "The Hero Faction in Kyoto has been completely defeated. All of its members are either dead or have been captured, with the captured members having had their Sacred Gears removed."
Pyrrha visibly winced as the glass that Hera was holding cracked in her hand under the Goddess' grip. Wine seeped out of the glass through the cracks for a moment, but Hera, after a second, repaired the glass with magic and cleared her hand of the wine that had dripped onto it.
"Damn it." Hera cursed, under her breath, before inhaling. "At least tell me they were able to take someone down? One of the Heavenly Dragon wielders, the Sorcerer Supreme, my prick of a son-in-law, anyone?"
The look on Diana's face was all that Hera needed to realise the answer to her question, without Diana even needing to speak. Her anger went beyond simply cracking the glass in her hand, and escalated to full-out crushing the thing, with wine spilling out all over the couch and floor to join the shards that fell there.
"Fuck!" Hera shouted, the sudden increase in her voice's volume being enough to make Diana visibly flinch (which Hera didn't notice, of course). "If even the True Longinus couldn't kill Roxas..." she let out a groan of frustration as she angrily flung her hand at the shards of glass and wine that now stained her couch, causing the glass-shards to vanish along with the stains. "Oh, fucking hell."
Diana and Pyrrha stood in silence as Hera paced back and forth, between the couch she had been laying on earlier and the coffee-table that sat an arm's length across from said couch. Both knew not to talk (Diana out of loyalty, and Pyrrha out of sheer fear), lest they incur Hera's infamous wrath.
"That constant fucking reminder of my failure..." Hera muttered. "He needs to go. SHE needs to go. They won't fucking go even though I want them to fucking go." After this small muttering bout, Hera seemed to come to a realisation as she stopped pacing.
"...Fine. I'll do it myself." she spoke out loud, before turning to Diana. "Diana, go find Ares and bring him here. As soon as you can."
Diana silently nodded, tapped Pyrrha on the shoulder to snap her ward out of her paralyzed-with-fear state, and both warrior-women left the lounge as quickly and as quietly as they had entered, leaving Hera alone.
As Pyrrha stepped into the transportation-circle that Diana opened for the pair of them, she felt a wave of unease washing over her. Why was Diana co-operating with Hera, even though she was allied with the Khaos Brigade? What did Hera want the help of her son, the Greek God of War, for? Just what the hell was going on?
And why did the name 'Roxas' sound so familiar to her?
Line Break
Rias, having dressed in a casual short-sleeved t-shirt and pair of shorts, exited the building that Roxas' Kuoh apartment was located in, with full intent to walk to Isane's house. It was only ten minutes' walk when one went at average pace, but given the urgency of the situation, she figured she'd make it there in less than that time.
As the crimson-haired beauty turned away from the building she had come out of, shutting the door behind her, she jumped as the door opened only a second after she had shut it, revealing Roxas walking out.
"Oh, hey Rias." Rias' King remarked. "Good thing I caught you in time."
"Yeah." Rias replied. "This would've been a lot harder if it were just myself and Isane talking with her parents."
"Well, good thing it's not just you and Isane." Roxas replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, shall we?"
Rias silently nodded, and turned left once she reached the street that passed the apartment building, then beginning to walk towards Isane's house. Since she (presumably) knew the way, while Roxas didn't, Roxas sped up to catch up with her, with Bishop/aunt and King/nephew quickly falling into step once Roxas caught up.
"So, why the walking?" Roxas asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to just teleport to her house, since her parents know now?"
"I thought it'd be easier to talk to Isane's parents after arriving in what is most likely their definition of a normal way." Rias replied. "Chances are they're shocked out of their minds from their daughter just popping up in front of them out of a transport-circle, so I can only imagine what they'd think of two strangers popping up in front of them out of transport-circles, regardless of whether or not Isane's told us about us in the time between when you sent her to her house and when we arrive at her house."
"Hm," Roxas hummed, for a second. "Yeah, I guess I can see your logic there. Sorry about that, by the way. I had to deal with something back at home, and I wanted to make sure that everyone I'm responsible for- well, more responsible than I am for the others- got home safely as fast as possible. Teleporting them was the easiest way to do it."
"That's quite alright." Rias replied, looking over at Roxas with a small smile. "To be honest, I was planning on asking Isane if she would be willing to reveal things to her parents on her own terms, since it'd be crazy-difficult to keep the façade of Isane being an ordinary human girl up for the rest of her parents' lives, especially with her having what she has."
"Yeah." Roxas nodded. "I can see the logic in that."
The rest of the five-minute walk to Isane's house passed in relative silence, until Roxas and Rias reached Isane's house: a normal two-story terrace house with a white exterior, a brown-coloured balcony on the second floor, and a light-blue roof.
"Nice place." Roxas remarked, both to Rias and to himself, before walking up to the front door and knocking on it. A moment's silence passed as Rias stepped up beside Roxas, before the door opened, revealing Isane standing on the other side. She had changed out of the clothes that she had ridden back to Kuoh from Kyoto in, and wore a nervous expression on her face. "Hey, Isane."
"Hey." Isane greeted his King and his King's King, looking between Rias and Roxas. "Thanks for coming. I'm not sure how to... handle, this."
"It's alright, Isane." Roxas replied. He summoned a water bottle to his hand and placed it in a pocket inside his jacket (having a feeling that he was going to need it). "Honestly, I think this is gonna be first times all around for all of us, your parents included. Where are they, by the way?"
"Living room." Isane replied, cracking a small smile at Roxas' reassurance and attempt at a joke. "Come on." she turned around and walked back into her house, with Roxas and Rias following. As the two Nephalem followed Isane, Roxas cast an eye to the walls, on which pictures of Isane, at various stages of her life (from toddler to child to young teenager to now) and her family could be seen, with the pictures of child-Isane occasionally featuring someone who Roxas could only guess was a young Irina.
'Seems like Isane was pretty happy as a kid.' Roxas thought to himself, looking over at Isane as she turned right, through a door into what Roxas could only guess was the living room. 'Good on her.'
He and Rias followed Isane into the living room, on which a couple of couches and a couple of chairs sat, with two individuals that had to be Isane's parents. Both of them had brown hair, which Isane had obviously inherited, though only Isane's father had Isane's brown eyes, as well as glasses and a small amount of stubble.
Roxas couldn't sense any amount of hostility from Isane's parents. He could sense unease, which was understandable, and he could also sense concern (which Roxas assumed was concern for Isane), also understandable. But hostility? None.
Which was good: that would make this incoming conversation a lot easier.
There was an uncomfortable silence between all five individuals as Roxas, Rias and Isane sat down. Roxas and Rias took seats on the couch directly opposite the one that Isane's parents sat on, and Isane on the chair closest to the couch that her parents sat on. A solid five seconds passed before Isane's father decided to be the one to break the silence.
"I guess one of you is the 'Rias Gremory' that Isane mentioned on the phone?" he asked.
"That would be me, sir." Rias replied, inclining her head to him.
"Then who is this man?" Isane's mother asked, looking over at Roxas, who calmly looked back.
"I'm Roxas." he introduced himself, inclining his head as Rias had done. "Roxas Gremory, Rias' nephew. You could say that I'm responsible for both Isane and Rias, so when Rias told me what was going on, I decided to come with Rias. Figured she could use the help with the present situation."
In any other situation, Rias would have pouted at Roxas, but she held it in as she looked over at Isane's parents, and at Isane herself, who looked extremely anxious.
"Well, as long as at least some of the million questions that I and Gorou have can be answered..." Isane's mother spoke, trailing off before Gorou spoke up.
"Wait, Rias' nephew?" He looked between Rias and Roxas for a second. "That's... surprising. I don't mean to judge, but aren't nephews younger than their aunts? And... responsible for Isane and Rias how?"
"Most nephews are younger than their aunts, yeah." Roxas replied. "Though when your older brother is several centuries older than you, I think to say that that increases the chances for having a niece or nephew that turns out to be older than you would be an understatement. Right, Rias?"
Rias nodded.
"And as for your second question," Roxas continued, looking over at Gorou. "Isane and Rias are..." he stopped, turning to Isane. "Hey Isane, did you tell your parents anything before Rias and I arrived? And if so, what?"
"Nothing." Isane replied. "Said it'd be easier to explain everything with you and Rias here."
"Fair." Roxas replied, turning back to Isane's parents. "Well, I won't mince words. Isane and Rias are servants of mine. Or, to be more accurate, Isane is a servant of Rias, who is a servant of me."
The visible effect this had on Isane's parents was instantaneous.
Isane's mother's eyes widened. Gorou opened his mouth to speak, but Rias spoke up.
"I think it'd help if your parents heard exactly how this all came about, Isane." she spoke.
"Hm?" Isane looked over at Rias, having been snapped out of a mini-stupor she seemed to have been in as she stared at her parents. She thought for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so. As unpleasant as parts of it is, it's better if you know." she said the last sentence to her parents, who both looked over at Isane.
"Un... pleasant?" her mother whispered. By way of answer, Isane closed her eyes, took a breath, and began.
"Several months ago, at the start of the school year, I was asked out by a guy. I said yes, I went out with him, the date was great, but..." she looked down. "It turned out that he was a Fallen Angel sent to spy on me-"
"Fallen Angel?" Isane's mother asked. "As opposed to a regular Angel?"
"Yeah." Roxas replied. "Within the pantheon that the three of us-" he gestured to himself, Rias and Isane, "Are a part of, the Christian Pantheon, there are four major species: Angels, who live up in Heaven- yes, Heaven exists. Hell does, too- Fallen Angels, who are Angels who fell because of some crime they committed against Heaven. Usually related to sins like lust, wrath and greed. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are Devils, who are the primary species that live in Hell, and Lilim, aka Succubi and Incubi, who are closely related to Devils but are more focused on sex than most other things."
"Al... alright." Gorou nodded. "I understand. If you, Rias and my daughter belong to one of those species, which one is it? I somehow doubt it's the Fallen Angels."
"Correct." Roxas replied. "But I think Isane's getting to that." He relaxed back on the couch and looked over at Isane. He actually hadn't heard how Isane was turned into a Devil by Rias, though given the look on Isane's face as she mentioned that her boyfriend had been a Fallen Angel sent to spy on her, he had a pretty good idea of where the story was going.
"As I was saying, the Fallen Angel that was sent to spy on me went against her orders, and he..." Isane swallowed, before looking her parents directly in her faces.
"He killed me. Chucked a spear of light through me-" She raised her hand to her stomach and touched the spot where Roxas presumed the spear had gone. "Laughed in my face about being so invested in the date, and left me to bleed out in the park just down the road."
Roxas felt a pang of sympathy for Isane. Though judging by their reactions, he was sure that his feelings on what Isane had just told them were nothing compared to Isane's parents, who both let out shocked gasps.
There was an uncomfortable silence throughout the five beings in the room. Roxas and Rias looked at Isane with sympathy, Isane was looking down at her knees, and Isane's parents looked like they were about to cry, not that Roxas could blame them in the slightest.
The only verbal answer that Isane got to what she said came from her mother: "But... why?"
Isane opened her mouth to answer, paused, then shifted her eyes towards Roxas and Rias. Rias, taking the hint, spoke up.
"Isane possesses something called a Sacred Gear. To give a brief summary, they're items with powerful abilities bestowed onto the souls of humans by the Biblical God. Isane in particular wields one of the most powerful Sacred Gears in existence."
Isane's parents looked from Isane to Rias and Roxas and back to Isane again, their eyes as wide as dinner-plates.
"I can only guess that the Fallen Angel who killed Isane did so because he wanted to look impressive for his superiors." Rias continued. "Given that the fallen in question is dead, we'll never know for sure."
"Oh, that's a relief." Roxas replied. "I'd rather not have to deal with someone coming for revenge against Isane."
"You were the one who killed him, Roxas." Isane remarked, looking back at Roxas. "On the night we met? With Asia? That Fallen Angel whose head you put a bullet of darkness through, that was the one who..." she caught the expressions on her parents' faces, and decided to stop talking for now. Roxas, however, got what she was saying.
"Huh. Good to know." he replied, stretching lightly.
"Yeah." Isane nodded, taking a breath and continuing her story. "Anyway, after I got stabbed, I basically bled out in the park. I then, presumably, died... and then woke up in my bed the next morning."
"So how were you brought back to life?" Gorou asked. "Don't people stay dead when they die?"
"Usually." Rias replied. "But, as fate would have it, on the day of her date, Isane was given one of these." she opened a magic-circle with one hand and pulled out a summon-sheet, placing it on the table for Isane's parents to look at. "It's a contract-sheet that summons Devils in order to grant the wishes of any human who summons them. In exchange for payment, of course."
Isane blinked, recognising the sheet that Rias had summoned. Gorou just widened his eyes at the sight of Rias summoning something out of thin air through the use of magic, while a spark of recognition crossed Isane's mother's face. A happening that didn't go unnoticed by Roxas, or Isane.
"Mom?"
"I think... we got something like that in the mail a few months ago." she spoke, standing up. "We never used it, though. Let me go find it."
Roxas raised an eyebrow as Isane's mother left the room, and turned towards Gorou as he spoke up, having seemingly recovered from the shock of the sight of someone using magic for the first time right in front of him.
"What... kind of payment?"
"Depends on the Devil. And the job. And the client, to an extent." Roxas replied. "Money, rare artwork, alcohol, damn baseball cards, could be anything. The bigger the job, the bigger the payment tends to be. Though most of the time, stuff given to Devils in exchange for wish-granting just get sold on for money."
"Right..." Gorou replied as Isane's mother returned, with a summon-sheet in hand. Recognising it instantly by its silver colour, Roxas let out a short chuckle.
"Heh. That's one of mine." He remarked. "So, if you need me, focus on whatever wish you have, and I'll be around as soon as I'm available."
"Noted." Isane's mother replied. "Anyway, how does... that," she pointed at the summon-sheet that Rias had summoned and placed on the table, "factor into how Isane was revived?"
"Her wish was to live." Rias replied. "I answered, and granted, her wish. By reviving her from the dead with my Evil Pieces, which are chess pieces given to higher-class Devils."
She summoned her box of crimson Evil Pieces and opened it, showing off her two remaining pieces: A Rook and a Bishop.
"In exchange, Isane came to be in my service as a Devil." Rias finished, looking up at Isane's parents, who looked from the pieces on the table, to Rias, and back at Isane.
"Service?" Isane's mother repeated. "Like slavery, or-?"
"I wouldn't call it that." Roxas replied. "Especially not in Rias' case. I'd compare it more to the feudal vassal/lord systems that were pretty big in Europe for a while. Though there are some asshole Devils that treat their peerage like slaves, Rias doesn't. I've seen it for myself, and Isane can attest to it herself."
"Oh yeah." Isane replied, nodding. "Rias generally lets me just do whatever I want. The only things I'm really encouraged to do are contracts, which Rias talked about earlier, and training. Both of which I'm happy to do, whenever they come up, by the way."
"Glad to hear it." Roxas and Rias replied, in unison. Rias let out a small giggle, but Roxas just looked back at Isane's parents, who had looked up from the pieces (which Rias had placed back in their box and de-summoned) and summon-sheet (which had received the same treatment).
"Training?" Gorou asked. "Isane has to fight?"
"If circumstances dictate, yes." Roxas replied. Isane then hurriedly spoke up.
"Mom, Dad, it's not as bad as you think." she remarked. "I've only been in eight big fights since I was revived, and the only one I was in any danger in was one that Roxas saved me from!"
Isane was lying, and both Roxas AND Rias knew it, but both of them kept quiet, as Isane's parents seemed to calm down a little.
"Alright, I understand." Isane's mother replied. "Not what I would've expected, or wanted, but..." he sighed. "I guess you didn't expect to be born with a 'Sacred Gear', or be killed because of it, either, Isane."
"Absolutely not." Isane replied. Gorou then spoke up.
"This has been... a lot to take in, so far." he spoke. "So just to recap, for mine and Miki's sakes... Isane went on a date with a Fallen Angel."
Isane nodded.
"And said Fallen Angel ended up k-killing her, because of this Sacred Gear, that she was randomly born with, I guess?"
Isane nodded again.
"Rias," Gorou looked over at the busty crimson-haired beauty. "Then revived her from the dead with her Evil Pieces-"
Rias nodded.
"Turning her into a Devil." Gorou finished. "Am I right so far?"
Rias nodded again.
"Alright..." Miki replied. "Now that we've got that part of the story," she turned to Roxas. "How do you factor into all of this, Roxas?"
"Believe it or not, the answer to that is surprisingly simple." Roxas replied, summoning his own box of Evil Pieces. "I just used my own Evil Pieces on Rias. Which she asked for, by the way. Therefore, she's in my service, just as Isane is in hers. Which means, by extension, that Isane is in my service."
"Well, that answers that." Gorou replied. "So, you're all Devils?"
Roxas let out a chuckle.
"Not quite." he replied. "Through circumstances that I'd rather not get into here, I'm what's known as a Nephalem: a being that is basically 50% Angel and 50% Devil. When I used an Evil Piece on Rias- Bishop, in case you were wondering- it turned her into a Nephalem. Which seemed to have the knock-on effect of turning Isane, as well as all five, at the time, of her peerage into Nephalem as well."
As proof, Roxas stood up and unfurled his ten white Devil wings. Taking that as their cue, Rias and Isane did the same, unfurling their eight and six white Devil wings, respectively.
Both Gorou and Miki's mouths dropped open at the sight of their daughter with wings, and stayed that way for a moment as their brains rebooted. Roxas (who grabbed the bottle of water from inside his jacket and took a drink) and Rias retracted their wings, and retook their seats, though Isane decided to keep her wings visible for a little while longer. Roxas quickly turned himself around and used a quick spell to magically draw the curtains and lock the doors. Small as it might have been, as the afternoon was quiet, he didn't want to risk the chance of a stranger walking in and seeing Isane with wings.
It was around this time that Isane's parents' brains finished rebooting, and they regained the power of speech.
"Can..." Gorou whispered. "Can you fly, Isane?"
Isane nodded, proving herself by flapping her wings and raising herself off the ground, to the point that her head was an inch away from bumping up against the ceiling of the room that they, plus Isane's parents, were in. She then lowered herself down to the ground and looked over at her parents.
Gorou stood up, his eyes widened at the sight of Isane's wings. He then slowly reached out, hand trembling, and touched the closest wing to him, just to seemingly make sure that it was real. He dragged his hand across Isane's wing, causing her daughter to blush a little from the action.
"Had your fill?" Roxas asked, after this went on for several seconds.
Gorou retreated, sitting back down with a slightly sheepish look on his face. Roxas let out another small chuckle as Isane retracted her wings and sat back down as well.
"Sorry." he replied. "Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't crazy, after all of this."
"It's fine, Dad." Isane spoke up. "Understandable, honestly." She looked back over at Roxas and Rias. "I think that's all the major points covered, right?"
"Pretty much." Roxas replied. "Unless your parents have anything else to ask."
"Oh, we have many, MANY questions." Miki replied. "But I'll stick to the biggest ones."
"Good idea." Roxas nodded, as Gorou gave a concurring nod.
"If the God from the Christian Bible is real..." Miki spoke, slowly, while sharing a look with Gorou. "Does that mean that gods from other mythologies are real? Like Shintoism and Buddhism?"
"Yes." Roxas replied, instantly. "Most Gods that are written about in human mythology either exist or have existed, though a good number of them have died out, either due to killing each other or just from lack of beliefs. Only six major Pantheons are left in terms of having any number of major figures within them: the Norse, Greek, Hindu, Shinto, Celtic and Egyptian Pantheons. And non-God beings that exist within those Pantheons also exist. Valkyries, Cerberus', Asuras, Youkai, Banshees, Sphinxes, et cetera, et cetera."
"I see..." Gorou replied, looking contemplative for a second, which caused Roxas to raise an eyebrow.
'Thinking about something?' Roxas thought. 'Relative that strongly believed in the supernatural, or something like that? Meh, not my business.' He turned towards Miki as she spoke up, with another question.
"Are there other supernatural beings attending school with you, Isane? Like Rias' other... what was the name you gave those chess pieces, again?"
"Evil Pieces." Rias clarified. "Those who take them are generally referred to as a peerage."
"Right." Miki nodded. "Are Rias' other peerage members attending school with Isane? Are Roxas' other peerage members attending school with Isane?"
"Everyone else in my peerage currently attends school with Isane and myself, yes." Rias replied. "And not including myself, two out of the eleven members of Roxas' peerage attend school with us. Roxas himself is a teacher at the school as well"
"There's also another young Devil and her peerage, my former teacher when I was younger also teaches there, and there's an Angel in the mix as well. Irina, I believe her name was?" Roxas asked, shooting a cheeky grin Isane's way as her parents looked surprised by this development as well. "By the way, it's twelve peerage members now, Rias. I got a second Knight just this morning."
"What a coincidence." Rias replied, looking over at Roxas with a surprised look of her own. "So did I."
Roxas and Rias shared a small laugh together as Gorou spoke up.
"You mentioned that Isane does contracts, or whatever they're called for Devils- I mean Nephalem."
"I did." Roxas replied. "Or rather, Isane did."
"Yeah." Gorou nodded. "And that she gets payments for it?"
"She does." Roxas replied. "For the contracts she's done, she does."
"Well, if it's alright, can we see them?" Gorou asked. "And, well, other things that Isane's being doing within the supernatural?"
"If Isane's alright with it, sure." Roxas replied, taking another swig out of his water-bottle. "Chances are you'll be impressed."
"Thank you." Miki replied. "Anyway, I think we need a break from the serious talk. What do you say to something to eat?"
Roxas' stomach chose that exact moment to let out a loud grumble.
"I'll take that as a yes, then." Miki replied, smiling as she stood up.
Line Break
"So, you're sure you don't need help money-wise?" Roxas asked, as he used magic to teleport all of the dirty dishes into Miki's dishwasher, once everything had been cleared up.
"Yes, we're sure." Gorou replied. "We're alright the way we are currently. I appreciate the concern, though."
"Alright. I won't push the issue further, then." Roxas nodded, stretching. "Offer's still open if you change your minds, though. Thanks for the meal by the way, was some good stuff."
"Thank you." Miki replied. "Both for the praise and for everything you've told us this afternoon, it's been really... informative. And thanks for the dinner company as well, it's not often we get guests."
"Anytime." Roxas replied, inclining his head to Miki and Gorou. "Well, Rias and I'll be on our way." After offering a wave to the two Hyoudou parents (plus Isane), Roxas and Rias left the kitchen/living room combo, retraced the route that Isane had taken them down in order to get to the house's front door, and got their shoes back from where they had left them when they entered. As Rias opened a transportation-circle back to the apartment, Isane came out of the living room.
"Hey, Isane." Rias greeted her Pawn. "That certainly went better than it could have done."
"Oh, yeah." Isane replied, letting out a short giggle. "Way better. Honestly, I was mentally preparing for my parents to kick me out. Good thing what just happened wasn't even close to as bad as that. Let alone anything that could be called bad."
"Funny how the mind always does that." Roxas remarked, shrugging. "Anyway, Rias and I need to get going. I want to see her new Knight."
"You do?" Rias looked over at Roxas, surprise momentarily forming on her face. "Well, that makes sense. And it's not that late, so I can take you to her." She closed the transportation-circle that she had opened and opened another one, waving goodbye to Isane as she stepped through it, with Roxas following a couple of seconds later.
Once the circle closed and faded away, Isane turned around, and started as she saw her parents standing together, several paces behind her.
"Well, Roxas seems like a nice enough guy." Gorou remarked, a slightly mischievous grin playing about his face. "Can't wait to meet our supernatural grandchildren, Isane!"
Isane's face turned from its regular tone to as crimson as her King's King's crimson eyes in a heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Roxas and Rias hopped out of the transportation-circle that Rias had made. They had landed outside a small apartment building a couple of streets away from Kuoh Academy (from where he stood, Roxas could clearly see the school in Kuoh's evening sun).
He looked over at Rias, who had stepped towards the front door of the residence, then knocking on it. In the moment between Rias knocking on the apartment door and the door opening, Roxas leant back on the railing and checked his phone for no apparent reason. When the door opened, he looked up from his phone and cracked a small smile at the sight of Saeko Busujima, third-year student of Kuoh Academy and Captain of the school's Kendo Club.
Rather than her Kuoh school uniform, or the Kendo Club uniform that Roxas knew that members of the club wore, she presently wore a tight crop-top that hugged her upper body, and a pleated mini-skirt that went down to just above her knees. Which made sense, with it being her home and all.
"Hi, Rias." Saeko greeted her, looking from her to Roxas. "And... Mr- Roxas."
"Told her my real name?" Roxas asked of Rias, who nodded before looking back at Saeko.
"Hey, Saeko." Rias replied. "Roxas just got back from the Kyoto trip, and heard that I had recruited you in my peerage. He said he wanted to see you, and... here we are."
"And here I am." Saeko nodded, looking from Rias to Roxas and back again. "Well, if you want to, come in." She stood back, allowing Rias and Roxas to enter the apartment. "Want something to drink?"
"I'm good." Roxas replied, sitting down on a chair. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up in Rias' peerage, anyway?"
As Saeko went and got drinks for herself and Rias, the two third-years recounted the events of Saeko being attacked by a Stray Devil, Rias saving the Kendo Club captain from what would likely have been a very gruesome and undignified demise, Saeko being let in on the reality of the supernatural and its existence, Rias' offer for her to join her peerage, Saeko accepting that offer a day later and her being turned into a Nephalem, which she proved by unfurling two pairs of white Devil wings.
"Hm." Roxas hummed, looking Saeko up and down as she retracted her Nephalem wings. "Guess it goes without saying that you'll have to hold back on everyone with stuff relating to your Kendo Club. Chances are you'd be able to kick everyone's asses with both hands tied behind your back with your new Knight speed, never mind the physical buff you get thanks to being a Nephalem."
"As if I couldn't already." Saeko replied, a small smile of her own playing around her lips as she sat down herself, her sizeable bust bouncing around a little in her shirt. Roxas smirked in return. He hadn't interacted much with Saeko during his days as a teacher in Kuoh Academy, just the regular shit you'd expect to hear between a teacher and a third-year student. But now...
"Hm, I'm sure." the male Nephalem remarked. "Anyway, let's get to more important stuff. Like training."
Saeko raised an eyebrow as she took a gulp from her drink, seemingly interested.
"I'll be blunt: four wings aren't much compared to everyone else in Rias' peerage, let alone mine." Roxas spoke. "Hardly your fault, obviously, since Rias just turned you this week. Though to catch up, you'll need to train- and I'm talking both in the new powers you'll find yourself having as well as physical training. With the other members of Rias' peerage, as well as my own. Which will be pretty brutal, if I do say so myself." he continued, fixing Saeko dead in the eyes with a serious look.
Saeko looked right back at him unflinchingly, with an equally serious look on her face. The silver-haired Nephalem and Rias' purple-haired Knight stared each other down for a few seconds, neither moving at all, until Roxas smirked, and turned to Rias, his opinion on Saeko formed in only three words.
"I like her."
Line Break
It was a few days after the Kyoto trip had ended. The needed paperwork to buy the entirety of Jude Heartfilia's conglomerate had been signed off on. The application for Roxas to compete in the new Rating Game season had been sent off, Roxas had finally gotten to spend a peaceful couple of hours with Gabriel and Palutena (which they spent by watching Megamind. Which was literally every possible definition of the term 'fucking fantastic') and Venelana had started working on the Rating Game uniforms for everyone in his peerage (including Akame, who he had introduced to her, as well as the other girls of his peerage, pretty much the instant he had the chance).
Both of the former operations had gone rather smoothly, or at the very least, smoother than Roxas figured that they'd go: Jude had quietly taken the 3.5 billion Souls and fucked off with his family (Roxas very much doubted that he'd see the man ever again), and the application for competing in the new Rating Game season had gone through, Roxas had been invited to the opening gathering, which would take place in a couple of days. With the opening act of the gathering being the final match of the Young Devils Rating Game Tournament: between Imogen and Sairaorg.
Presently, though, Roxas was sat in his home office, looking over reports on all the businesses that ran, or used to run, under the name of the Heartfilia Konzern.
'Bank chain, restaurant chain, fashion brand...' Roxas reeled off in his mind, while absently scratching an itch on his head. 'Law firms, gaming company, toy production company and tourism business. Made quite a damn lot too prior to Millennium, if the figures are to be believed.'
After making a few notes on how each business could be built up to be even bigger than it was before, Roxas filed the notes, as well as the reports on the businesses in question, away, before leaning back on his chair.
It was the weekend, meaning that after everything related to work with his businesses and as a teacher, Roxas didn't have much to do other than laze about and relax. Which was fine with him, he had a pretty damn big backlog of anime, movies and video games to catch up on anyway.
Stretching and getting up, Roxas made his way to the living room, and was about to plop himself down onto a couch and pop on something like Parasite or The Godfather, when his phone buzzed, indicating that he had a call. He picked up, realized that the caller was Venelana, and answered.
"Hey Vene, what's up?"
"The Rating Game uniforms for your peerage have come in." Venelana replied, not bothering with any preamble or greetings. Roxas had to do an internal double-take when he realised just what Venelana had said.
"Wait, already? That was quick." he remarked.
"And everyone's getting them on right now." Venelana continued, though Roxas could detect a hint of mirth in the tone of her voice in reaction to Roxas' own reaction. "I'm sure you'll want to come and see them?"
"Hell yeah, I do." Roxas replied, standing up and tossing his TV remote (which he had picked up from the coffee-table) on the couch. Parasite had waited, it could wait some more. Hopping off of the couch, he opened a transport-circle for himself and hopped through it, coming out almost instantly in the kitchen of his Greek villa, in which Jeanne was sat at the table eating a light lunch.
He also noticed that the reincarnation of the Saint of Orleans had a strong blush on her face, almost as if she was trying extremely hard to unsee something incredibly sexy that she had just seen.
After offering her a cool greeting, passing her and heading through the kitchen door into the living room, Roxas' eyes almost bugged out at all the different outfits that everyone in his peerage (including Akame, who was talking to Akasha) had on. Some outfits were completely different, others were just modified versions of their regular outfits, but all looked far better than the original outfits that everyone in Roxas' peerage wore.
Valian's burgundy jeans had been replaced with black leather pants that hugged her legs even better than her old pants, and her jacket had had white dragon tattoo-like designs running up the sleeves and over the back.
Akasha wore a hot-pink double-slit dress that hugged her incredible figure. Her legs, clad in black sheer stockings, could be seen through the slits of the dress, which would have been enough to get a boner out of Roxas, whether or not everyone else in his peerage were there.
Esdeath's outfit was pretty-much unchanged, other than a slight expansion in the chest area to account for her breasts, which had grown a little bit over the past few months.
Akeno's outfit consisted of a breastless, black leather leotard (similar in style to a corset) over a thin, skin-tight flesh-coloured bodysuit. She also wore translucent, black, thigh-high garter stockings (which had lightning-pattern designs running up them) that were attached to a black belt decorated with silver studs around her hips, upon which a pair of whip-holsters were attached. She also had a small red mask outlining her eyes.
Rias wore a strapless dark blue leotard with silver trim, a chain belt with two silver rose studs, a black choker and red gloves. She also had a black bolero jacket with gold buttons, ruffled sleeves and three floor-length coattails. She also wore thigh-high tights and stiletto-heels that resembled ballet shoes at the top.
Xenovia just wore her Church battle suit (modified to account for her own grown bust), but with a magic-circle embossed on the palm of her right glove. Roxas recognised it as the magic-circle she used to summon Durandal from its pocket-dimension, and inwardly guessed that embossing the circle on her glove was for the purposes of summoning Durandal faster.
Akame wore the same outfit that she had on when Roxas encountered her in Kyoto, but she now came with lightly-armoured greaves and boots rather than the socks and shoes that she usually wore.
Asia wore a more extravagant, and in some ways lewder, version of what some would consider to be a standard nun outfit. The outfit had dual slits (like Akasha's dress) that revealed her sweet legs (as well as the combat-boots that she now wore). There was also her headdress, but she currently had that off her head. Which Roxas absolutely preferred, as Asia's long blonde locks were always pleasant to see.
Kuroka wore a relatively-simple kunoichi outfit, which looked like it was on the verge of ripping to reveal her giant rack.
Elsha wore Magician's robes that were the perfect mix of extravagant and risqué, with a bronze-coloured hood (currently down) on the top of the robes to signify her status as a Bronze-Class Magician, the third-highest out of the seven ranks of Magician that one could naturally achieve throughout their life, with the other ones being Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Silver and Gold (Bronze sat between Red and Silver).
Neo's outfit was a chocolate-brown jacket that started between her shoulders and her chest with a pink interior, two brown belt shoulder-straps and twin grey button-seams. She wore a grey scarf and a white vest-style button-up top that was strapless and cropped, exposing her midriff. She also wore a pair of chocolate-brown detached sleeves with puffy tops and pink trim alongside a pair of white funnel cuffed gloves, with grey button detailing. She also wore white belted pants and black-and-white spat-styled ankle boots with cut-out detail just above the ankle.
Lavinia wore similar extravagant/sexy Magician's robes as Elsha did, but her Magician hood was red, as opposed to Elsha's bronze.
All of the outfits had the pieces that Roxas had given the wearers of said outfits (Queen for Valian, Rooks for Esdeath and Akasha, Bishops for Akeno and Rias, Knights for Xenovia and Akame, and Pawns for Asia, Kuroka, Neo, Elsha and Lavinia) emblazoned on the outfits in some way.
"My God, all." Roxas spoke, looking over all of his gorgeous peerage members. "You all look... fucking great!"
"Glad you like our outfits, Roxas~" Akeno spoke up, using a transportation-circle to teleport right up to her King, where she then proceeded to press herself up against him, enormous breasts and all. In reply, Roxas reached down and groped Akeno's ass, smirking as his first Bishop moaned from his ministrations and shifted closer to him, evidently loving the fact that she was being groped in front of so many other women.
After Roxas released Akeno, he looked back at the rest of his peerage, who were all looking at him and Akeno with some degree of jealousy on her face.
...Except Neo. She had summoned a bowl of ice-cream out of nowhere and had begun eating it.
"So, girls." Roxas remarked. "Since you've probably heard about the fact that we'll be in the new Rating Game season, which starts soon-"
There were nods and murmurs of ascent all around from Roxas' twelve peerage members.
"I think it'd be a good idea if we ramped up the training between now and the time that the season starts." Roxas continued. "I've got a few ideas as to how some of you can improve yourselves, though I'm open to suggestions from yourselves if you think they could work. Though beyond that, general training will be extra-useful as well."
"I suppose you've got an incentive in mind for us regarding our now-ramped-up training, nya?" Kuroka asked, from her position on the couch. She rolled over slightly, her sizeable bust bouncing around in her outfit.
"Indeed." Roxas replied. "Whoever impresses me the most during training gets a whole night with me solely to themselves. Or multiple of me, if that's what you want."
It almost made Roxas laugh with how quickly everyone in his peerage shot up off of their respective seats and began following him downstairs to the training room. This was gonna be a fun afternoon, he thought.
And that's the 52nd chapter of Nephalem of Gremory completed! This chapter was definitely a lot shorter than some of my more recent chapters, but after the non-stop action that's been the Millennium and Kyoto arcs, I think you can forgive me for a smaller breather-chapter. And at least it wasn't total filler, since we got the talk between Roxas and Isane's parents. And regarding them, they'll be showing up more in the fic soon, I can promise you that much. That's a win for everyone who cares about them as characters, I guess.
Also, Hera gets a scene that basically solidifies her as the final villain... for this part of Nephalem, that is. As if that wasn't already obvious enough. And RWBY's Best Girl finally makes an appearance! Who knows if she'll be important later...
And the new outfits for everyone in Roxas' peerage for the Rating Game season (which will be explained next chapter), those whose outfits were inspired by others (in case you couldn't guess from my descriptions), are: Akeno's outfit is like Midnight's from MHA (RIP Midnight), Rias' outfit is like Sumire's Metaverse outfit from Persona 5 Royal, and... that's it.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Whether you did or you didn't, please leave a review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback, of any kind. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, or just have questions for me (because I'll be happy to answer them), let me know in a review, drop me a PM or hit me up on Discord (my name for it is on my profile), Either method works for me!
Next Time: Young Devils Rating Game Tournament Final, New Weapon for Roxas
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Pyrrha: 89-62-90
New Esdeath: 93-54-88
New Xenovia: 90-58-88
Seeya!