Chapter 4
AN: Here's chapter 4 there's only chapter 5 left after this and then chapter six will be my own work. Though since chapter 5 is so short I will probably add some more to that chapter before posting it.
Gremory Estate, Underworld
Venelana Gremory sighed as she entered the study to find her husband in his customary place for the past few days, sitting in an armchair staring at the mantelpiece where the photos were located. He had been in the same place since Rias' revelation of her pregnancy, her defiance of their decision, and subsequent escape. While her attack on her father hadn't left any permanent physical mark, the surprise of the attack had left its scar on them mentally.
Venelana herself had been shocked at how far their daughter's defiance extended, to the point where she'd attacked her own father. The shock and subsequent attempt to make sure no permanent damage was left on her husband had slowed them all enough that Rias had been able to escape. They'd tried to contact her since but the barrier she'd placed around the school prevented that.
Rather than break down the barrier as they could have, they decided to give her time to cool off before confronting her once more. In hindsight, perhaps telling her to abort the child before they convinced her it was for the best was unwise.
At the time, they simply wanted what was best for her. She was still extremely young even by human standards, much too young to become a mother. The fact she got pregnant so young showed she was one of the few very fertile (by devil standards anyway) female devils and could therefore have more children later. It even improved her desirability amongst the upper class since it was proof she could bear children.
Yet at the same time, the shame of her having a child with a human and ruining their pure bloodline would drop their reputation greatly. If the father had at least been a powerful reincarnated devil then it wouldn't be as much of a problem. However, as far as she knew it had been a normal human, a one-night stand no less! The shame of that was almost too much to bear.
Despite that, they would have been willing to happily raise the child like any other grandchild. The child was a Gremory after all and if there was one thing the Gremory prided themselves on was on their tremendous love which extended to include even their servants.
Unfortunately, the Phenex family intervened.
Part of the conditions of the contract involved if either Riser or Rias had a child. The condition stated that if either had a child, the other would have complete control on what to do with the contract from then on. They had put that condition in case Riser, a well-known playboy, impregnated one of his servants, to give Rias an out.
Unfortunately, this had backfired on them when Rias herself became pregnant. It gave Riser complete control of the contract and he decided to demote her to a simple concubine while including the females in her peerage as part of his "winnings" as well. He had also demanded she abort the child at once with their marriage occurring soon afterwards.
Bound by the very condition they included, they'd had no choice but to agree and so told Rias to abort the child.
That had blown up in their faces marvelously and soon they would run out of excuses to tell the Phenex family without losing face. They would have confront Rias soon and tell her how things are. She may have thought losing her virginity would get her out of her contract but it only painted her into a corner. Now she had no choice but to marry Riser and this time as a concubine without the rights of a wife.
Venelana walked to stand beside her husband who was looking at the photos of their children with a sigh.
"I wonder where we went wrong," said Lord Gremory lowly. "Did we spoil her too much that she thought she could do what she wanted without consequence? I always knew she was independent and I encouraged it since she would someday be Lady Gremory and would need to stand alone. However, I never expected it to extend so far as to defy and attack us due to a difference in opinion."
Lord Gremory couldn't help but smirk bitterly. "I wonder if this is karma for our defiance of our parents during the Civil War. To show us how they felt when we stood against them. I must say... it is not a pleasant feeling."
Venelana laid a hand on her husband's arm. "We did the best we could and Rias' choices are her own. Now she has to pay the consequences for them."
"Yes," agreed Lord Gremory lowly before sighing. "The Riser boy is becoming impatient. We can't hold them off any longer. I've contacted Lord Sitri who has contacted his daughter. She will take down Rias' barrier as soon as possible letting Grayfia get in and retrieve her. We'll settle this as soon as Rias returns."
Venelana felt sadness fill her heart at how things had devolved to this point. Not only was Rias going to be forced to marry a man she hated and lose her child, but she would be nothing more than a concubine, which was a pretty word for whore. Not only had that but her actions of defiance and attack on her father shattered any relationship between them. Her husband was actually contemplating giving the position of heir to Millicas due to Rias' actions. While independence was good, defiance was not and Rias' actions showed she was too independent to listen to anyone.
If she didn't listen to her parents, how could they expect her to listen to the Satans, even if one is her own brother?
However, whatever the choice, Venelana would support her husband as she always had.
She just wished it hadn't come to this.
ORC clubroom
Kuoh town, Japan
Harry didn't even notice the teacup drop from his hand and stain the carpeted floor. His mind was a thousand miles away, stuck on two seemingly innocent, yet life-changing words.
'I'm pregnant.'
Two simple words yet they carried as much weight as a thousand world-changing wars and events. To Harry, those two words had more impact than even the creation of the Bill of Rights had on the world.
His first reaction after getting over the sheer shock was denial.
How could she be pregnant? They only had sex once (okay, several times in one night but still). Harry himself never used protection due to how astronomically low the chances of pregnancy were for him. Hermione had done a study and told him that he had one in a trillion chance in getting a normal fertile human woman pregnant. And that was if she used drugs to enhance her fertility!
Rias was a devil! While her race didn't have as low a fertility rate as he did, it was still around one in a thousand if not a million! So the chances of both of them creating a child together were exponentially lower! Especially for a single one-night stand! The only reason he had put anti-pregnancy runes on his pets was because he would be having sex with them many times in the coming years and he didn't want to get them pregnant until they were strong enough to defend themselves against all comers and Harry's own life was stable.
So how the hell did this slip of a girl (if a very attractive girl who had starred in more of his daydreams the past month than he'd care to admit) manage to get pregnant after one night together?! It was absurd, it was insane!
This "realization" led to anger.
No. The child couldn't be his. It had to be someone else's! Someone not as rich or powerful as him and she was simply saying it was his to force him to take care of her. There was no way-
'It is yours,' came Death's whisper in his ear, halting his thought processes and freezing his growing misplaced anger. 'I didn't realize until now but she is the source of the feeling we've been having for the past few weeks. More specifically, we are sensing the child in her womb and its connection to you and through you, me. Even now, I can sense it.'
Harry's face froze at Death's words, his coming denials to the child being his dying before they could leave his lips. He knew Death wouldn't lie to him. They had gotten close over the years and she knew how much he still wished for a family, even now. She wouldn't lie about this.
The next feeling was panic.
Pregnant?! What the hell was he going to do?! He might have a lot of money but he didn't have any stable home until recently and even that wasn't very stable. For the love of the Creator, he had two "pets" and acted more like a playboy than a responsible father! He wasn't ready!
And even if he did have a stable home, what kind of father would he be?! He never had a real father-figure in his life (Sirius didn't count, being more of an uncle) so how would he know how to be a father!? His childhood had been terrible with being left in the cupboard most of his childhood and forced to be an indentured slave during the entire time he lived with the Dursleys. While he would never treat his child like that, what if he went the other extreme and spoiled them like the Dursleys did Dudley?!
Harry would have continued to panic if he wasn't stopped by a single, yet life-changing sound.
Ba-bump.
Harry froze at the sound. It wasn't that he didn't recognize it. On the contrary, he recognized it very well. It was the sound of a heartbeat. What was strange was the source. It wasn't his or Rias. Therefore, the heartbeat had to be.
Ba-bump.
Harry's face slowly lowered from Rias' nervous face to her stomach, more specifically, her womb.
Ba-bump.
Ever so slowly, Harry got off the chair. He didn't notice Rias look at him in confusion and nervousness as he walked around the desk. He didn't react at Rias calling his name, his mind completely focused on one thing and one thing only.
Harry stopped in front of a visibly nervous Rias before kneeling in front of her, getting a blush from the hormonal and pregnant teenage girl as she thought he was going to do something she'd both hoped for and dreaded. After all, while she certainly had a crush on this man, she didn't want them to marry due to her pregnancy alone. For that reason, she told herself she would have to gently turn down his proposal.
However, she was further confused when instead of asking to marry her, he pressed his ear against her stomach and closed his eyes.
"I can hear him," said Harry lowly, a hint of wonder in his voice. "I can hear his heartbeat."
Rias froze at that, a look of wonder coming to her face as well but it went unnoticed by the expecting father in her lap. Harry was completely concentrating on the wonderful sound of his child's heartbeat, like a drum fighting against all odds to show the world that he lived.
Harry had never heard a more beautiful sound in his life.
When he first lost his virginity, he thought there was nothing more beautiful than the sound of a woman screaming in orgasm. He'd thought there was no sight more glorious than a beautiful woman in the midst of a powerful orgasm that he induced. He'd thought there was no feeling more fulfilling than orgasming inside an attractive and alluring woman much like his pets.
He'd been wrong. Oh, he'd been so wrong.
There was nothing more beautiful than the sound of his child's heartbeat, proof of its existence in this world. He smiled in utter bliss as he heard his child's heartbeat beat almost in time with his mother's, the reason he hadn't heard it until now. There was no feeling more glorious than this. The feeling of knowing he was going to be a father. That he had created this life and was partially responsible for bringing it into this world.
And there was nothing more beautiful than the face of this woman who was bearing his child in her womb. She had a look of wonder on her face as well, as if she could hear their child's heartbeat as well. He had considered a beauty with little compare before but now she looked akin to a goddess in his eyes for the simple reason that she was carrying his child.
In that moment, the old goal-less Harry was gone and he had a new goal in life: to protect his child and his mother. To make sure their heartbeats lasted for all of time or at least that they lasted for as long as he could make possible.
Rias was also basking in this feeling, a small blush on her face. For some reason, having Harry pressing his ear to her stomach as they both basked in the feeling of her pregnancy was much more intimate than when they had sex. In that moment, she felt more connected to him than she'd felt to anyone, bonded in the joy of the knowledge that they'd created life together.
Up until now, all Rias could think about was the nervous terror of being a mother so young as well as the possibility that her own family would kill her child. But now she that she knew that her lover wasn't going to abandon her and from his power, might be able to protect them, she felt all her anxiety fade away and let the full weight of her pregnancy hit her.
She was going to be a mother. She, Rias Gremory, was going to have a baby. Until that moment, she never gave much thought into children beyond that she'd have them sometime in the future. In fact, she'd actually felt a bit of dread at the prospect since until then she'd thought they'd be Riser's.
But now that the moment had come, she felt a giddy happiness fill her. She was going to be a mom! Her mind instantly tried to picture how her child would look like.
Hopefully, it would be a daughter since it would be easier for Rias to raise than a boy would. She'd have her hair, most likely and there was a high chance she'd have green eyes since Rias herself had blue-green eyes and her father had green as well. Oh, she'd be so beautiful, with beautiful crimson hair and green eyes. She'd have a light skin color since both her parents were light-skinned which would only make her more exotic.
Rias giggled as she imagined raising her beautiful daughter through all those adorable moments. Her first word, her first step, her first anime movie...
Hey, she had to teach her daughter about the important things in life!
Oh, she'd be perfection incarnate! Her parents will spoi-
And just like that, Rias was brought back to Earth. Her parents. They had actually supported the idea of aborting the child. Apparently, the shame of having a half-devil child and lowering the family's reputation preceded even their famed "love" for each other.
This meant Rias was in even more danger than she was before and Harry had to know.
"Harry," whispered Rias urgently, bringing Harry out of his self-induced daze. "There's something else you need to know."
Harry sat back, noticing the nervous tone in her voice and frowned. "What is it?"
Rias took a deep breath, gathering her courage once more. "My family. They want to-"
Both froze, however, when they felt the wards protecting the clubroom shatter. For Rias, it was especially jarring because she felt her childhood friend's magical signature behind the ward breaking.
Suddenly, a powerful and familiar (for Rias) signature came from the transportation circle in the corner of the clubroom. Rias had a look of terror as she realized what this meant.
"No!" yelled Rias in fear, quickly running to the corner as far from the transportation circle as possible, all the joy and happiness from before having evaporated and replaced with terror.
Harry looked from Rias to the glowing transportation circle, not even noticing when Rias' peerage and his own pets came bursting in. "What is it?! What's wrong?!"
Harry didn't get an answer as Rias seemed too afraid to speak. He turned back to the transportation circle in time to see a beautiful silver-haired woman arrive. In normal circumstances, Harry would have instantly tried to get into her panties. She was truly a beauty with her matching silver hair and eyes and her french-maid outfit that seemed to somehow not to detract from her luscious curves only made her that much more desirable.
After all, what straight man never daydreamed about fucking their beautiful, sexy maid?
However, none of that garnered so much as a passing thought from Harry right now. All he could think of was that for some reason, the mother of his child was afraid of this woman which meant she was a threat of some kind to her and by extension, his child as well. All he needed to know was what kind threat she posed.
"Lady Rias," said the unknown maid sternly. "It is time for you to come home."
"No!" came Rias defiant shout as she gathered some strange black and crimson power in her hands and pointed it to the maid. "I'm not going back, Grayfia!"
Grayfia eyed the power but didn't seem too worried. "Lord Gremory and Lord Lucifer have put up with your defiance for long enough, Lady Rias. It is time for you to fulfill your responsibilities."
"What?" spat Rias angrily. "Marry Riser, a sexist pig, who I hate and bear "pure-blood" children with him just to continue the purity of the family line?! I hate him! I will not marry him!"
Harry narrowed his eyes as he started to get an idea of what was happening. Apparently, Rias was indeed the Gremory heiress his pets told him about and she was in some kind of arranged marriage to some guy she hated. Her talk about blood purity reminded Harry of the pure-bloods and Voldemort and not in a good way, either.
"That may be," said Grayfia with a hint if sympathy. "You dug your own grave with your actions. Did you think that losing your purity and getting pregnant would free you of your responsibilities? You will come back home and marry Riser. As for the baby... it will be taken care of."
Something in the way she said it made alarms blare in Harry's mind and he instantly stepped between Rias and this strangely strong (for a devil anyway) maid. "Take care of my child how?!"
Grayfia blinked at his words, seemingly realizing he wasn't just a new member of Rias peerage and was, in fact, the father of the child. She seemed about to speak before Rias cut her off.
"It's my family!" yelled Rias in panic and terror. "They want to kill my baby!"
And that was all Harry needed to know.
Sona was sitting in the Student Council Room, guilt filling her. Despite it being a direct order from one of the Satans, the Lucifer himself in fact, Sona couldn't help but feel that she'd betrayed her friend.
Rias had explained what happened and begged for her help, but Sona had been forced to stay neutral due to her family's position. As the sister of a Satan and the Sitri heiress, she had to think of the family first and how her actions would reflect on them. If she supported Rias then it would be the same as if she agreed with her decisions (which she didn't) and supported them.
While it may seem as simple as supporting a friend, it really wasn't. Despite how distasteful it may sound and be, part of being an heiress was following certain customs and traditions. While she planned on changing some of them in the future, until then she had to follow them in order to not shame her family. Because if she did lower her family's standing with her actions, then she wouldn't be able to change those self-same traditions in the future, so that her children wouldn't go through what she and Rias did.
Yet at the same time, she couldn't just abandon her best friend. The best she could do was stay neutral which was her parents' advice anyway. It hurt to have to basically abandon her friend when she needed her but she had little choice in the matter.
And in order to maintain that same neutrality, she had to obey her Satan's orders when they arrived, lest be thought to be supporting Rias' actions. It wasn't as if she was asked to move against Rias herself but rather to remove the protection that Rias had to prevent the coming confrontation.
It still felt like a betrayal though and for that reason, Sona was trying to take her mind off it by working on some papers in the Student Council Room.
Beside her, Tsubaki looked at her King with sympathetic eyes. "There was nothing you could have done, Kaichou. They would have found another way to break the barrier and then you would have been punished along with her. You helped her as much as you could by staying neutral."
"Yes, I know," said Sona before speaking lowly. "It doesn't make me feel any better though."
Both tensed when they felt Grayfia's signature arrive, knowing what it meant. "Well, there is nothing you can do about it now, Kaichou," said Tsubaki lightly. "Grayfia-sama is here and that means Rias will return to the Underworld whether she wants to or not."
Sona nodded, knowing that even if Rias tried to resist, Grayfia was far too powerful to beat even if Sona and Rias combined their peerages. "I guess. I just wish-"
Whatever Sona was going to say was cut off by the feeling of an overwhelming power slamming down on them followed by the sound of a tremendous explosion. Both girls instantly turned to look out the window to see the explosion came from one of the ORC clubroom walls exploding as something went flying out of the building.
Grayfia liked to consider herself strong. While not an official Satan, she was almost as strong as the current Leviathan and was therefore firmly a Satan-class Devil. Moreover, her Queen piece only enhanced her attributes, boosting her magic reserves thanks to the Bishop attribute and boosting her defense through the Rook attribute. Her Rook strength and Knight attribute weren't as developed though. She just never saw the need.
With the Civil War over and the Three Factions at relative peace, there was little need for real combat. Being the Queen of the Lucifer's peerage, she didn't even fight in Rating Games due to the thought that it would be unfair to the other peerages. After all, how can they hope to win against the Lucifer even if they managed to defeat his peerage?
Because of this, Grayfia had seen little combat since the end of the Civil War, the most being hunting down dangerous Stray Devils who were a risk at starting another Great War. Even then, she went with the rest of the peerage, working alongside them so as to defeat the Stray easily. She never worked on her Knight attribute due to lack of need. After all, if someone was faster than her then she could simply turn the ground to ice. What use was speed on a floor where one couldn't keep their balance?
It was the same with her Rook strength. She was never a close-combat combatant, being more of a wizard-type devil than anything. If the enemy got close then she'd either use her ice floor technique to make them lose their balance or simply make distance. No need to dirty her hands by hitting them physically. After all, she had an image to maintain.
Yet even if Grayfia had been in top form, even if she'd trained every single attribute to the max, even if she'd been aware of just how powerful the man standing in front of her was...
...it wouldn't have done a damn bit of good.
Grayfia didn't see the first punch but she certainly felt it. One moment, Rias was telling her lover (which Grayfia had absently acknowledged was handsome enough to lose one's virginity and heart over) that her family wished to kill their child (something Grayfia didn't agree with but had no choice but to go along with) and the next she was crashing through the ceiling. She didn't even feel the pain of crashing through the cement and wooden ceiling, all her mind focused on the sheer agony of her fractured jaw from the man's punch. Even with her high Rook defense, it felt like being hit by a cement truck going at 80mph.
Before Grayfia could even understand what was happening, her unplanned flight was stopped by someone grabbing her leg.
Grayfia didn't need to wonder who it was who grabbed her leg because the same man who she thought was nothing but a normal human appeared over her, his vampiric fangs bared in a snarl giant black draconian wings on his back and his eyes slitted and a deep blood red in rage. They had stopped around 100 yards in the air, the almost center of Kuoh town below them.
More importantly, however, was the fact that he had his leg pulled back in a position to kick down on her.
'Oh shi-'
If his punch had felt like a cement truck going at 80mph then his kick felt like being hit by a Boeing 747 going at full speed. The pain was such that her mind simply couldn't grasp it and refused to tell her just how destroyed her body was. Grayfia actually couldn't understand how she was still alive considering that kick, not to mention the following slamming into the cold unforgiving ground, creating a large crater that destroyed 75% of Kuoh town, should have killed her.
If she hadn't managed to get a layer of ice between her body and the kick, she probably would have died. The ice barely did anything but slow it down slightly but it was enough that she received less damage than she would have. At least, that was the only explanation her pain-ridden mind had to her current state of living.
Little did she know that she was only alive because Death was refusing to let her die so she could feel the full agony of her injuries. After all, death was a mercy and she agreed with her Avatar full-heartedly in his desire to deny her and anyone else threatening Harry's child that mercy.
Grayfia was sure that that kick must have ruptured a few internal organs to add to her shattered jaw. Despite that, her natural devil healing factor meant she while was heavily injured, she was not in danger of dying if she got medical attention soon.
Yet it seemed the beating wasn't over. Through the haze of utter pain filling her body, Grayfia heard the sound of footsteps approaching her broken body. Adrenaline pushed her to fight through the pain and she stood up, staggering twice, before Grayfia opened her eyes to see a sight that would haunt her nightmares for years to come.
Harry was standing before her, his expensive suit seemingly untouched from the extremely one-sided beating, his eyes completely red and glowing, filling the entire socket, sclera and all the shadow of his wings cast over her broken form. For a moment, Grayfia could swear she saw a cloaked figure holding a massive scythe hovering over him, looking down at her with utter hatred and contempt.
Grayfia was ashamed to say that it scared her. Not only his power (which was currently around equal to her husband in his true form) but the sheer aura of dominance he gave off. It was like she was a weak Lower-class Devil facing Ophis herself. He stood with an aura of knowing that he was the absolute strongest and no one could dare challenge him.
As for Harry, he glared at the bleeding, broken woman before him with utter hatred. In normal circumstances he would have felt bad for essentially beating on a woman, especially considering he was so much more powerful than her.
This was not normal circumstances.
This woman was part of the group of bastards who were threatening his child and his child's mother. They dared to try and silence his child's wonderful heartbeat simply because his blood wasn't pure enough in their eyes.
He wouldn't kill this woman. No. No, he wouldn't kill her... but he would break her. He would break every single bone in her fucking body until she begged for death and still he would deny her that mercy. Then he would send her back to her master with the message that he was going to kill each and every one of them as well as anyone who stood in his way.
In this woman he saw Voldemort, Bellatrix, Dumbledore and every other person responsible for taking away any semblance of a family Harry had. He would not allow that to happen again!
Harry focused on his bond with his pets and received a signal of confirmation telling him that they had evacuated Rias and her peerage from the area so there was no danger of them being caught in the shockwaves of this one-sided fight. Harry knew he couldn't let this woman catch her breath and recover. He felt her power equaling a Satan-class devil and while he was much more powerful even now when he was using less than 5% of his full power, the shockwaves of using more would probably destroy Japan as a whole.
No, he had to press the advantage and beat this bitch before she had a chance to recover her bearings. A full-on fight between them would put his mother's child, and through her his unborn child, at risk. Time to end this quickly and decisively.
Grayfia's eyes widened as she saw red and black gauntlets appear on his arms. They seemed slightly familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before but that wasn't what she was concentrating on. It was the fact that he had pulled back his right, gauntlet-encased arm back into a fist that she focused on.
Grayfia quickly channeled everything she had into her Rook defense as well as creating as thick a layer of ice around her as possible for the upcoming beating. Considering what she'd seen of his ability, she knew she was neither fast enough nor healthy enough to evade or do anything but take it. Heck, even if she'd been in full health, she wouldn't have been able to evade and she doubted her usual ice floor trick would help in this fight. The speed in which he moved showed he moved faster than she could even speak an incantation.
Grayfia was proven right when, with a roar, Harry seemed to teleport before her and punched straight into Grayfia's stomach, shattering the ice armor she'd hastily formed and getting her to spit out a mix of saliva and blood. Her body would have flown away if he hadn't gripped her hair and harshly thrown her to the floor so hard that she formed another, smaller crater. However, he didn't stop there and continued to punch and batter Grayfia's defenseless body into the ground so quickly that his arms were invisible to the naked eye.
All across Japan, earthquakes were shaking the entire island nation, threatening to break it apart as even a nuclear bomb decades ago hadn't. If one could see the Earth's crust, they would see spider web cracks forming outward from Kuoh town, damaging the Earth's crust as well as the magical leylines. In Kyoto, Yasaka was panicking as she felt the leylines going through Kuoh town being destroyed and therefore damaging the overall leylines of Japan. She wondered what could possibly do so much damage as to damage the magical leylines that were untouched from even the human's nuclear bombs. All she could sense was that the source came from Kuoh town and if they managed to get through this catastrophe then she would have to investigate.
Back in Kuoh town, Rias' peerage were floating above and a little to the side of the center of the crater, their black devil wings out. Even Issei was floating, the urgency of the situation seemingly giving him the ability to manifest them enough to float at least, though Kiba had a hand on him just in case.
Their eyes widened in a mix of awe and terror as they saw a large geyser of dirt burst out of the center of the crater from the force of Harry's punches. Sona's peerage floated to be near Rias' own, though they kept their distance at the glares coming from Harry's pets, having quickly teleported out when they felt the effects of Harry's beating on Grayfia destroying the town. Even now, the entire town had sunk into the giant crater formed from the one-sided slaughter and they heard hundreds of people screaming and dying from the country-wide earthquakes Harry's punches were causing.
Sona had just arrived when the geyser burst out, the screams of pain from Grayfia telling her all she needed to know about who was beating on whom.
Everything Sona knew told her what she was seeing was impossible but her eyes and senses weren't deceiving her. Someone was beating on Grayfia, the unofficial fifth Satan, as if she was the simple maid she portrayed herself as. From what she'd seen, Grayfia hadn't even had a chance to fight back in the entire "fight", simply taking every one of her attacker's powerful hits, unable to defend herself.
Rias was also in shock at her lover's strength. She knew he was strong from his display of power that equaled a Satan-class devil but she never imagined he was this strong. His power was easily stronger than anything she had ever felt before, about equal to her brother's true form if the rumors were true. At the same time, she felt that she was still holding back a lot of his power. If that was true... then maybe she didn't have anything to fear from her family after all. It was obvious from both earlier and his current rage-filled beating on Grayfia that he was protective of their child and by extension her. With his power, she doubted anything her family said would matter.
Though, of course, that depended on whether or not her brother would try and kill him for his beating on Grayfia. Her brother was very overprotective and regardless of any excuses, he'll be extremely angry at Grayfia's current state.
Eventually, the sound of Grayfia screaming in pain and the geyser of dirt stopped, signaling the end of the very short, yet still brutal beating. The devils were nervous as they waited to see what happened while the two Fallen seemed completely calm, already knowing the outcome of this "fight" (aka one-sided slaughter).
Rias breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Harry flew out of the crater, giant draconic black wings on his back, though she gasped when she saw the state of her sister-in-law as he carried her by the hair across into the air. It was a miracle Grayfia was still alive, much less conscious. She was spitting out blood and her body looked like one giant bruise, easily seen since her entire maid outfit was in tatters, not even giving her the decency of covering her privates. Despite being completely exposed, not even Issei was ogling her, all of them wincing at the obvious pain the woman was in. Her entire chest area was one giant bruise, thankfully seeming to have avoided her breasts.
Asia wanted so badly to go forward and heal the woman despite apparently being an enemy and wanting to kill Buchou's baby but one glare from the scary man in front of her stopped her. It was obvious he wasn't done with Grayfia and even if he was, he didn't want Asia to heal her. Asia bit her lip as she fought against her instinctive need to heal an injured person in front of her.
Harry eventually reached where they were floating in the air and his narrowed eyes landed on Sona, who was standing in front of her shocked peerage as they took in the sight of such a powerful woman being so easily beaten. It was understandable considering Grayfia had always been seen as unbeatable by many young devils so the sight of her so easily beaten much have been world-changing.
As for Harry, he identified her as a devil and the leader of her group and so floated over to her, still carrying Grayfia's now unconscious body by the hair. "Here," he tossed Grayfia's broken body at Sona who barely managed to avoid falling from the weight. "I want you to go back to whoever sent her and tell them that this is what happens to anyone who threatens my child."
Harry unleashed about 20% of his power which was easily four times stronger than even the strongest god, causing everyone to almost pass out due to the pressure of his power.
"Tell them that I am the dragon, Dracul," growled Harry as his glowing red eyes pierced into Sona's own terrified violet ones. "I am Death's Avatar and her Hand in this world. I am Ophis' Opposite and Equal. I AM AND FOREVER WILL BE! AND IF ANY COCKROACH WHO CALLS HIMSELF A DEVIL ATTEMPTS TO HARM A HAIR ON MY CHILD OR MY CHILD'S MOTHER'S HEAD, THEY WILL KNOW WHY EVEN THE LUCIFER HIMSELF FEARED THE DARKNESS!"
Harry growled as he peered into Sona's terrified eyes. "Have I made myself clear?"
Sona shakily nodded, getting a scoff from the man who slowly calmed down, his eyes returning to their usual emerald green.
Harry looked around at the crater where Kuoh town used to be, almost nothing remaining of what used to be a prosperous town. He was amused to see that his home was still intact though. The wards having done their job and while the land around the property had fallen into the extremely large crater, the house and the grounds around it were still untouched, literally floating in the air with nary a sign anything had happened.
That gave him an idea of what to do next, actually. Though he noticed that while the area where the ORC building was gone, there was a single room that seemed to have been protected by some sort of seal and was lying sideways in the crater.
"Raynare, Kalawarner," said Harry sternly.
Instantly, both Fallen were floating beside him with their heads bowed. "Yes, milord," both Fallen chorused.
"Go home and make room for both Rias and her peerage to stay for a prolonged time," ordered Harry quickly. "I don't trust her family," Harry spat out family as if it was a curse, "not to attempt to attack her here again now that they did it once. She'll be safer at our place. Make sure to adjust the wards to war-time setting as well. I'll have to take them the long way so that the wards will accept them and not incinerate them the moment they step foot inside. Now go!"
Both Fallen instantly disappeared in their own personal teleport which involved disappearing in a flock of black feathers. Fallen Angels rarely used it since it usually took as long as devil transportation circle took to use. However, his pets had trained it to the point that it could even be used in combat with a little bit more training.
If things continued to deteriorate at their current rate, then it would probably be needed.
"W-What did you do?!"
Harry turned to see the brown-haired boy glaring at him with tears in his eyes. "Our town, my p-parents... they're all dead because of you!"
Harry quirked an eyebrow at the boy before looking around with a sigh. "Yes, I hate it that even when I try to hold back, innocent people are still hurt from the backlash of one of my fights. It's why I prefer to either not fight or fight somewhere far from civilization. But it's easy enough to fix."
Harry put his right hand in a snapping motion and snapped his fingers, the sound seemingly echoing through the area.
Before the shocked eyes of the devils, it seemed as if everything went backwards in slow motion. The huge crater formed by Harry quickly undid itself, dirt and cement floating backwards into the buildings, roads and parks they were before. Heck, even the grass returned in perfect condition!
But more shocking was the fact that once everything physical was restored, the people started to appear as well, completely restored and fine as if nothing had happened though they seemed to remember it as they looked around in panic and fear.
With another echoing snap, Harry intoned 'Obliviate!' and the people seemed to go into a daze before shaking their heads and going on their day as if nothing had occurred.
"There," said Harry lightly. "Now everything is back to the way it should be. I hate it when innocents pay for the actions of those stronger."
Harry noticed they only gaped at him, seemingly uncomprehending how he did what he just did. Harry understood. After all, Harry himself could only do it thanks to his position as Death's Avatar.
One of the hardest things for Harry to understand was how to apply his powers in theories of concepts. Basically, how to use his power over death to achieve any effect he wanted. Resurrecting people were easy enough thanks to his position. However, undoing the damage was actually the harder ability.
What he did was basically 'kill' or 'negate' the damages (outside of the invisible bubble surrounding the group) caused by Harry's beating on Grayfia. Basically, Harry 'negated all negative effects caused by the fight between Harry and Grayfia outside of so and so area of space', the latter of which corresponded to the area surrounding the current group.
It even simpler terms he 'killed' the event which caused the damages in the timeline. By 'killing' the event, everything caused by said event was undone as well, including the people killed. The only ones unaffected were the ones he protected with his power.
After all, he didn't want to undo the damage he did on Grayfia. How would she learn her lesson then?
Also unaffected were the memories of the people killed. Harry didn't trust his finesse with his 'death' abilities extending to messing with people's minds. He might accidentally 'kill' their minds completely. In that case, he used a mass-Obliviate to erase their memories. Easier and less margin for error.
That done, Harry sighed before turning to Rias who seemed to still be in some kind of shock. It was understandable. After all, less than three minutes ago she'd thought that she was going to both lose her child and be forced to marry someone she hated and now someone who she considered family and extremely powerful was beaten on the ground followed by Harry undoing all the damage like some omnipotent god.
It was definitely a cause for going into shock to say the least.
Harry turned to an emotionally confused Rias with a slight grimace. "I'm sorry for not asking but I don't think you should stay here. Even if you put wards around your building up again, if they took them down once they can do it again and I might not be here that time. It would be better if you moved in with me until I can settle this. My home is big enough for all of you and the wards are strong enough to take a hit from several gods and still survive." He looked toward his home with amusement. "As they proved by being the only home untouched from my... indiscretion earlier."
Rias looked from him to the beaten and now unconscious Grayfia before biting her lip in thought. He had so many questions about everything that just happened but the most important thing right now was to get somewhere safe for her and her baby. Her lover was obviously powerful enough and from his earlier display he obviously cared very much about their baby. Going with him where he said was completely safe sounded like the best plan. She might actually be able to sleep soundly if that was the case.
Eventually, she nodded slowly and straightened up as much as she could. "Very well. We will move in with you for the moment. However, I must tell you that I have another peerage member sealed away in the basement of the clubroom. He was sealed away because his Sacred Gear is too strong for me to control but I won't leave him behind."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Very well. We'll release him as well then. I'm a master at seals so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to break the one holding him. But we better move quickly though. She might have just been the scouting party, sort to speak."
"Wait," said Rias quickly before her eyes landed on Grayfia. "Asia, please heal Grayfia while we get Gasper." Seeing Harry's frown, she gave him a pleading look. "Despite everything, she's my sister-in-law, Harry. She helped raise me. I can't just... leave her like that."
Harry's eyes softened and he gave a small sigh. "You're so much like me before all this happened that it frightens me." He gave Rias an understanding nod. "Very well. But Asia, heal her only halfway. While I could easily beat her again, the second time might destroy more of the surroundings than this time did. I can't guarantee that Japan as a whole would survive that and I'm unsure if I could undo it all if that happened not to mention the long-term effects if an entire nation was destroyed and then seemingly returned. I can't erase the memories of everyone in the entire world, after all. So heal her worst injuries but not enough so she regains her strength and consciousness."
Asia looked at Rias for confirmation, who nodded in agreement. Asia quickly floated over to Grayfia's broken body in Sona's hands and began healing her.
Harry's eyes fell on the brown-haired boy from before that smelled of dragon and got his attention. "You! Stay with Asia." He narrowed his eyes at Sona and her peerage. "I don't trust those devils over there and they might take Asia hostage while we're not here."
Said peerage apparently took offense at that and the sole male stepped forward angrily. "Hey, you can't speak to Kaichou like that! Sh-"
Anything else he might have said was cut off by the simple fact that Harry suddenly in front of him and casually backhanded him so hard he literally flew into the ground below and crashed into the Kuoh school grounds. Two girls in the peerage yelled out the boy's name in worry while Harry absently murmured a Notice-Me-Not Charm around the school grounds that would last until midnight.
Good thing school was already let out.
The rest of Sona's peerage looked about to attack him when Harry's glare froze them in place. "Shut up and be quiet. Secondary characters' only place is to obey the commands of the main characters. So stay there, be quiet and once Asia is done, take the maid slut back to wherever she came from with my message." Harry's eyes fell on Sona who once again shivered as she understood just who and what Harry was. "Understood?"
Sona gulped and nodded. She had correctly guessed just who, but most importantly what, Harry was and knew just how much trouble the Underworld was in. They had basically threatened his child with death and he obviously did not take that well at all. They would be lucky if he didn't decide to wipe their species out completely.
But really, how could they guess that Rias had sex and was impregnated by the Dragon Avatar of Death himself?!
Harry turned back to Rias who quickly led him back down to the ORC room so as to prevent more outbreaks of violence, though Rias could understand why. Rias felt much the same when she was told to abort her child. The only difference was that she lacked the power to do anything about it, something her lover seemed to have in spades.
Back with Sona's peerage, Momo and Ruruko had floated down to where Saji had landed, trying to help the unconscious boy while the rest of the peerage were still frozen in fear from the feeling of the man's power.
Tsubaki leaned over to her King and whispered in her ear. "This is going be a problem, isn't it, Kaichou?"
Sona looked down at the slowly being healed body of Grayfia and grimaced. "Yes, Tsubaki. Yes, it is."
Harry looked over the seal holding back Rias peerage member with a frown before concluding one thing.
"This is the sloppiest sealsmanship I have ever seen," said Harry with a sneer as he passed a hand over it. "Who in Merlin's name would put an odd-numbered seal over an even-numbered seal? It may look good but it's lucky the entire thing didn't collapse. As it is, it's faulty."
Rias frowned. "What do you mean, Harry?" She'd thought the seal was fairly advanced. After all, it was done by her brother himself.
Harry sighed as he explained. "Seals are divided into even and odd numbers depending on several factors such as the sum of the numbers each rune represents which type of rune it is, and the family from which it comes from."
"For example," Harry pointed at the seal on the bottom, "that one is an Egyptian-style seal. Those always add up to even numbers due to the Egyptians believing in balance for everything. They're the most stable and therefore, the hardest to break down. However, they're also the least versatile meaning they can only really do one thing. This one basically 'separates the outside from the inside'. Basically, nothing inside can affect the outside and nothing outside can affect the inside."
"The one on top though," continued Harry, getting into it as he saw Rias' interest, "is a Greek seal. They are the first runic system to have both odd and even seals, with this one being odd. Odd-numbered Greek seals have the most versatility, being the first to be capable of traps such as explosive seals and the like. Their runic system is also much larger giving room for more detail to the runic array that makes up the seal."
Harry sneered. "The Greek seal is a sort of recognition seal that prevents anyone from removing the bottom seal without the creator's permission. Basically, unless authorized then the Greek seal will react violently to any attempt to remove the bottom seal."
"How violently?" asked Rias in trepidation.
"It'll blow up, killing both whoever is inside as well as destroying this entire building," said Harry dryly, horrifying his audience. "At least, that's the original intent behind it. But whoever did this was a complete idiot who basically slapped two different seals together and hoped it would work. He not only put an odd-numbered seal over an even-numbered one, which would cause the explosion to be magnified exponentially, but mixed two different runic systems as well. There's a reason why that that isn't done. Best case scenario, the entire seal fails and implodes upon itself, blowing up the building."
"And worst case scenario?" asked the until-now quiet Akeno.
"It causes a space-time distortion similar to a black hole which would suck up all of Kuoh town before collapsing on itself which would therefore destroy about half of Japan," said Harry dryly.
Everyone goggled at him and took a very large step back from the seal and the door. "Are you sure you can take it off safely?" asked Kiba nervously.
Harry scoffed. "Please. The runic array on my pet Fallen Angels is more complex than this. This will be easy." Seeing the look on their face, Harry smirked. "You didn't really think I'd trust a pair of Fallen Angel who were willing to sacrifice an innocent girl like Asia simply for power, did you? No, I placed a sort of 'leash' runic array on them that keeps them in line. I was originally going to simply turn them into vampires but.." He grimaced. "... that didn't turn out so well. Therefore, I placed a runic array on them that would punish them if they ever disobeyed an order or attempted to do something that would impact on me negatively. Once they prove their loyalty and shown that they've changed though, I'll remove it."
Akeno giggled cruelly as she imagined the Fallen Angels being punished. "Ara ara, I think I've misjudged you, Harry. You don't seem that bad."
Harry just smirked charmingly at the large-breasted teenage devil. "If you want, we can get to know each other better later." Said girl actually blushed at the almost purr in his voice, not used to being the one flustered.
Rias glared angrily at both her lover and her Queen before quickly changing the subject. "What's the difference between a seal and a runic array?" asked Rias curiously. She had always wondered about runes and seals ever since Gasper was sealed away but could find very little on it. She knew wizards had a lot of knowledge of runes but were very tight-lipped on the subject, being very protective of the sole magical subject they themselves created without devil help.
"Nothing really," said Harry with a shrug as he began to undo the seal around the door. "It's just that when a runic array is completed and can no longer be modified anymore, it's called a seal. However, if it can still be modified then it's called a runic array. Seals are more stable obviously but can't be modified while runic arrays are less stable but can be added to and even removed more easily."
The runic arrays on his pets were called runic arrays because he could still modify and even remove it easily when the time came. A seal was more stable but removing or modifying it was almost impossible, something he didn't want in the arrays on his pets. He wanted to be able to 'turn off' certain functions as he wanted such as the anti-pregnancy rune and such. If it had become a seal then he might have inadvertently had made his pets completely infertile. Something he was sure they would have never forgiven him for regardless of their feelings on having babies.
Harry hummed as he expertly undid both seals without a problem. He could easily use his death powers to sort of 'rot' the seals until they simply failed but he liked using his knowledge to do things the slower way. Unlike his powers, he had sweated for his knowledge and skills in magic and he much preferred them to cheating with his death powers.
'Sometimes,' came Death's amused voice in his head. 'You are too noble for your own good.'
'And that's why you love me,' retorted Harry with a grin.
Ignoring Death's laughter, Harry undid the seals with a flourish, watching them dissipate as if they were never there. At some point, the brown-haired boy (who he learned was called Issei) and Asia had arrived, watching the seals dissipate into the air with awe.
Harry's eyes widened and narrowed as he caught sight of a single rune hidden beneath the bottom seal which burned black and dissipated as the other two seals were undone.
An alert rune. No doubt to alert the maker of the two seals who was probably a member of Rias' family.
The same family that wanted to kill his child.
As much as he wanted nothing but to wait and beat on whomever appeared, Rias and their child's safety was paramount. They'd have to be quick.
Harry quickly stepped forward and ignored the cries of the extremely girly-looking male dhampir inside the room, not even noticing when he somehow caused time to freeze around everyone but him.
Ignoring Gasper's shocked look, Harry casually knocked him out by the simple expedient of chopping his neck and threw him over his shoulder fireman style. He turned back to the group who were unfrozen when Gasper went unconscious and frowned.
"We need to go," said Harry quickly. "There was an alert rune hidden beneath the seals and whoever made that seal will have been alerted to the seals being undone. So unless you want me to fight whoever it is, we need to go now."
Rias' eyes widened in fear at his revelation and quickly nodded her head in agreement. "We need to go!"
Harry instantly released a cloud of shadow that covered all of them before suing it to transport them to his home, just missing the sound of someone arriving in the main room through transportation circle.