-Kait-

Pain is something Kait wasn't very familiar with, in truth he didn't feel it all too often. Yes, the sun is irritating and every now and then his head would ache when the voices got agitated, but true pain is something he seldom felt.

So when he woke in the middle of the forest with an almost reminiscent soreness from flipping the switch, he was puzzled. Why did he know this feeling? How is it that he knew about the switch? He was confused by lots of things that had happened recently, and the feeling was not pleasant.

However his attention shifted when his body started to seize. Aftereffects of what just happened no doubt.

After a few seconds of silent shuttering, Kait finally opened his eyes. It was day. Normally the sun would be irritating his skin right now, and it probably was, but he had more pressing matters to attend too.

Like how hungry he was.

He debated going back to the Gremory girl but deemed that idea idiotic. The man that looked like his food and the scary one were both there right now. Though it was tempting considering how delicious she was. It was too scary.

Getting up to his feet took some effort with the random bouts of pain shuttering throughout his body but he managed well enough. Even with his limbs twitching periodically.

While he was struggling to get his body under control, his thoughts drifted to the scary one- Venelana was what she called herself. Normally he didn't care for what people called themselves in the slightest, they were all just food in the end, but the scary one said without a name you are nothing.

The scary one was not nothing.

"Kait", he began testing the name out loud. "My name is Kait."

Once he got his body under control with only his fingers slightly twitching, he started walking in a random direction. He would be moving faster as he knew the man that looked like the Gremory girl but was not was still relatively close, but he was truly exhausted for the first time he in a while. His body felt sluggish and was slow moving, ,well, slow moving for him anyways. He didn't like the feeling. His energy was down to a faint whisper at least.

Still slowly walking, casually killing and eating the fluffy creatures along the way, Kait's body eventually calmed down and stopped twitching. And though the fluffy creatures were disgusting, they sated his hunger.

He was surprised at how filling the Gremory girl was. Usually he'd still be ravenous by this point especially if his energy gets as noisy as it had been, but the hunger was manageable. He'd need to find a way to get her to feed him again soon.

First, he would need to get out of this forest. He was getting bored again.

-With the Gremory's-

Venelana was fairly peeved with her eldest at the moment. Not only did he frighten the child but more importantly, he interrupted her as he was frightening said child. Lord Satan or not, this would not go unpunished.

While her son was her superior in both rank and ability, she had more experience than him by far. She was (and still is in most circles) considered a terror not only for her physical might but for her strategic mind and her use of psychological warfare on and off the battlefield.

So putting her considerable experience to use, she decided to get back at him in the most unpleasant, and legal, way possible.

She told on him.

"Mother you snitch," Sirzechs accused while his queen, Grayfia, was directing the servants in bringing large stacks of paperwork and setting them on a desk brought specifically for him.

"Oh?" Venelana gave her son a rather beautiful close eyed smile. "In that case, Grayfia dear would you be so kind as to inform all educational facilities in the Gremory Territory that the great Sirzechs Lucifer will be available to make an appearance for the next month." Her pleasant smile became a bit more vindictive. "And make sure you focus on letting the teachers know that the children can ask all the questions they want. You may encourage it, even."

Grayfia nodded, "As you wish, Lady Venelana."

Sirzechs wisely kept his mouth shut while thinking, "So petty!" a sentiment he unknowingly shared with the servants who were finishing bringing in his paperwork he'd been putting off for the last week.

After the servants brought in the last of the papers the other occupant in the room cleared his throat getting their attention. "So care to tell why you decided to let that creature get away and run wild in my territory?"

"Well I'm sure mother can attest that the child-"

"The child's name is Kait.

The other three in the room looked at Venelana with various levels of surprise.

Zeoticus had a face that wasn't quite peeved but was more exasperated than usual, "Dear, why would you name it when we don't know what we're to do with it yet? This isn't one of Rias's pets she brings in from the forest. Unlike those this could actually prove dangerous."

"Oh I agree wholeheartedly," Venelana answered her husband. "That child could be an absolute terror to release onto the public if he were to go unsupervised for too long."

"Then why would you- "

"Which is why I've placed a tracking spell on him to keep track of his whereabouts. Sadly, it couldn't be anything more than a low powered trace, otherwise he would have likely noticed it, but it should be sufficient for what Sirzechs has in mind."

Sirzechs smirked. "That's just like you mother, one step ahead like always."

Venelana gave him another of her signature smiles. "Thank you dear, now get back to work. I'm sure your secretary would just love to come back to an empty desk from her early vacation."

Sirzechs' eyebrow twitched. "If you knew than why am I- "

"You interrupted me, and you purposefully left out the boy's gender." She interrupted Sirzechs with a flat look.

Sirzechs kept his mouth shut.

Zeoticus cleared his throat again, reminding them of the matter at hand.

Venelana regained her composure and continued for her son. "Right, before Sirzechs was reminded he has work to do, he was about to say that I can attest that Kait is in no way in league with this "Mr. Voice" and it's organization. In fact, he seems to hold resentment for whatever Mr. Voice was. Though I don't know what "Soulless waste" means, I'm assuming its negative coming from a child who feeds on souls."

Zeoticus and even Grayfia looked interested now. "What do you think he meant by soulless though? A body without a soul is just a husk," Zeoticus muttered to himself.

"Lady Venelana, how did the child act?" Grayfia asked while her eyes narrowed in thought. While she trusted Lady Venelana's judgement entirely, she was skeptical of a creature that seems as if it came from Hades realm.

"Oh, Kait was delightful! A bit blunt but very sweet," Venelana told the maid with a smile. "Of course that might have been because he'd gotten a meal just before I questioned him."

This caught the attention of everyone in the room, especially Sirzechs'. "What do you mean "he had gotten a meal" mother?" Though he suspected he already knew and could feel his ire growing.

Zeoticus, now looking directly at his wife, sternly added, "Also the plan was for you to bring him in for questioning as soon as he was within the castles perimeter, what did you do?"

Venelana, who had felt her barrier in Rias' room being broken by her daughter, simply moved over to make more space on the small couch she was sitting on. "We'll all likely hear about it in a moment." This left both a bit disgruntled since neither question got answered.

Just then they could all feel the distinct destructive energy of Rias quickly coming in the direction of the room. This was strange because while Rias always had an abundant amount of power for her age, to the point she couldn't be play with other children when she was younger until she was able to control herself, she very rarely lost her grip on it these days, only losing it when she was truly annoyed or flustered.

A few seconds later the doors opened up to reveal an irked looking heiress with a scowl in place of her normally calm features. Rias then schooled herself and replaced her scowl with something only slightly more pleasant. "Mother, Father," she greeted her parents with a clipped tone and a nod. She then turned to her brother and Grayfia and gave a slight bow, "Brother, Grayfia."

Zeoticus spoke up looking at his daughter with a slight scowl of his own, "Rias, I'll ignore you rudely barging into a meeting since something is clearly bothering you," he told her with a sharp tone. "But it's not like you to let your energy run rampant even slightly, control yourself."

Rias' aura immediately disappeared however her demeaner stayed the same. "My apologies father, I wasn't thinking."

Zeoticus's eyes softened, "Now, what's the matter Ria?"

Rias took the seat beside her mother, back straight and proper, "First, could I have an explanation as to why most of our servants are either unconscious or rambling throughout the castle grounds?" Her 'calm' facade twitched. 'And why I wasn't informed I would be hosting a guest in my personal quarters?"

Every other devil in the room turned towards the woman she was sitting beside. "Yes, daughter," Zeoticus answered while nearly seething. "I'm sure your mother would be happy to answer all of your questions."

Rias have her mother a pointed look. "Rias your new friend got a bit excited when our mighty lucifer appeared without a proper dampener," Venelana met her daughters stare with knowing eyes. "And I wasn't certain Kait would go directly to your room."

"I was under the impression that the boy was without a name," The question in her words were obvious.

"He was before I gave him one."

"And you named him Kait?" Rias wasn't impressed.

Venelana's face twitched, "Yes, I wasn't aware he was a boy at the time."

Rias understood, as did everyone else in the room, "That's fair, despite the kid telling me himself, I find it difficult to believe."

Zeoticus spoke up having reined in his anger while in front of his daughter, "As do I. Not that the creature's gender matters in the slightest, but are we sure it isn't confused?"

"Yes," Venelana answered calmly, "I checked myself."

Rias' face adopted a pink hue, "I see."

Sirzechs spoke up from behind his desk, "I believe we're getting off topic." He looked deliberately at his mother.

Zeoticus cleared his throat, "Ah yes, Ria what's the matter?" he repeated his earlier questioned.

Rias grew even more flustered, "W-well.." she cleared her throat and stuck her nose up high. "I do not like being used as a pawn is all." She narrowed her eyes while looking at her father. "We had a deal father; I just expect you all to hold your side of the bargain."

Sirzechs didn't give his father a chance to speak, "There was plan Rias, you were never supposed to be involved." He said still signing papers.

Zeoticus glowered at his wife who just smiled back, "You were never supposed to be put in danger."

Rias's face didn't even twitch, "Please. The Vampire was naive and relatively simple to handle. I'm annoyed because the kid was obviously coming for me and I wasn't told. Like I said father, we had a deal."

Zeoticus was getting frustrated and sternly said, "It doesn't matter if the creature was coming for you or not, like Sirzechs said, this was never supposed to involve you."

Rias despite trying to keep calm like a proper heiress was getting frustrated and let it seep into her voice, "I was involved from the start." She spoke a bit louder than intended. "Apparently I was the reason-! "

"Rias, watch your tone please." Venelana scolded her daughter lightly, seeing she was losing her cool.

Zeoticus took a deep breath and met his daughter's eyes. "Ria, not only are you the heiress of Gremory, you're also my daughter. You shouldn't worry about something like this and despite what you believe, that creature is dangerous." Seeing that his daughter had calmed down slightly he gently added, "I will try to be more considerate in the future, still I stand by my decision."

Rias took a breath and leaned against her mother who in turn started to stroke her hair, "I understand father and I apologize for my outburst." She at least sounded apologetic.

"You are forgiven," Zeoticus excused her easily. "Now, Venelana explain yourself."

Venelana's smiling dimmed somewhat, "Zeoticus, do you doubt our daughter? More importantly do you doubt me?" She was not angry, but she was speaking firmly.

Zeoticus for his part, wasn't amused by her questioning but still kept his voice level, "Of course not, why would you a- "

"Because dear," she interrupted. "It seems as if you are inferring our daughter isn't competent enough to handle a simple child on her own." She briefly glanced at her son to make sure he was listening from his desk, "Rias won't grow if you keep babying her. Unlike the rest of us, she doesn't have the benefit of being raised in times of war. She won't have as many chances as we did to gain experience. Yes, Kait could have become dangerous but she recognized the fact, kept calm, and fished for information just as she was taught," Her eyes hardened. "I know, you wish to keep her from harm, to shelter her from the true harshness of reality but we both know that's impossible as well as foolish." She finished her little speech with everyone in the room staring at her, even Rias was staring up at her from her side.

"Also," she added in a much lighter tone, "If Kait had shown even the smallest intent of causing Rias harm I would have obliterated him on the spot."

She looked at the three other adults in the room. They all had a bad habit of wanting to spoil Rias, even Grayfia, however subtle it may be. And she knew it came from a place of love but this couldn't go on. She would not have an incompetent daughter. Hell Rias herself would not have it. She had seen it and she knew they noticed it too. Rias politely declining Sirzechs when he offered to go to the familiar forest knowing he'd do all the work in getting a beast, or the rare occasions Zeoticus tried to let her out of her studies early and she'd work for an extra hour. Grayfia, at least, was subtle enough with the small things that Rias didn't notice.

No, her daughter's pride would not allow weakness, but it wouldn't allow handouts either. She would earn her power through her own strength, not anyone else's.

Zeoticus, usually the collected and practical politician, looked weary for once and tried to argue, "She is only eight years old; she still has time to be a child." Venelana could see the conflict in his eyes. Looking at Sirzechs she saw him wearing a similar look. As much as she wanted to comfort them both she had to remain stern, this had been building up for a long time.

"Get your heads out of the past, both of you." She spared a glance at Grayfia to see the normal stoic expression on the queen's face. Meeting her eyes the queen gave a slight nod in gratitude. "These times of peace, the peace we all worked so hard for, will end eventually and whether we like it or not Rias will have enemies. She'll have to kill and experience loss just as we did." Venelana looked down into Rias' eyes. "You understand this, don't you Rias?"

Rias, while looking into her mother's intense eyes, couldn't help but swallow thickly despite this she gave a quick resolute nod. "Yes, mother." And turned to look at her father.

Venelana turned to her husband once more, "Zeoticus, we all must be strong. There is no room for weakness. You know this, peace never lasts." She finished on a much softer note.

Zeoticus was quite for a long moment, looking between his wife and daughter. His stern gaze softened when it lingered on his youngest. He took a long breath and blew it out slowly. "Rias." Rias sat up straight at his tone. "Stay until we finish this meeting, then you're off too bed. You have a busy day tomorrow." His daughter's hopeful gaze was intense, too intense for a child. "You will tell us everything you have discovered about this… Kait." He ordered using the name his wife gave the creature for the first time.

Rias gave a brilliant smile and a determined nod, "Yes, father."

"Sirzechs." Zeoticus called to the man who was still doing paperwork despite the thoughtful look on his face. He perked up at his name being called. "You can finish those later. We need to focus on your ridiculous plan."

Sirzechs smirked at getting out of his mothers' petty punishment for now. "Sure thing." He said getting up to join his family.

"Now daughter," Zeoticus looked at his daughter with expectation in his gaze.

"Impress me."

-With Kait an unspecified time later-

Kait was irked. It took him much too long to get out of that damn forest and it was way too much of a hassle. He had ended up on a mountain somehow and then when he jumped off said mountain he landed in a fucking pond. If those muscular creatures hadn't been there to pull him out, he'd have likely drowned.

That wasn't even the worst part. Every now and then brief shutters of pain racked his body still. They're still slowly becoming more scarce but still were annoying. One particularly painful bout caused him to lose his footing, right when he was about to hop over a large puddle of mud, which tried to swallow him. It was a dried-up crater now.

So not only did he get wet, almost drown, and had mud try and eat him. But now he was so dirty his hair wasn't white anymore, his beautiful skin was so laired with dirt only trace amounts of white could be seen. His hood was even down because the mud drying up was causing it to stick to his head.

Currently he was walking along a road, it was nighttime, so not many people were traveling along the path. And the few who were gave the mud soaked boy a wide birth for the most part. Not only due to his appearance but also because of the sense of death surrounding the boy despite his calm features. Maybe these devils had a decent sense of self-preservation after all.

"Hey kid."

Then again, maybe not.

Kait stopped, he didn't exactly care for the distraction, but he was starting to get hungry so he pushed his displeasure down.

A large group of devils slowly surrounded him. They were all dressed in rags besides the one that had spoken. It was strange in a way, right now he was so filthy that he didn't think anyone would want to be associated with him. He figured that was the reason the other travelers on this road were actively avoiding him. He certainly didn't blame them; he would be doing the same thing.

The group of devils suddenly had more numbers. At least twenty instead of the five that had initially surrounded him. He must have been caught up in his pondering.

"So brat what do ya think your doing?" the nameless leader spoke up after getting rather close to his face. Kait did not like that.

"I am standing." Kait was confused, was it not obvious? Honestly, he almost pitied most devil's intelligence.

"Don't get smart with me brat!" the nameless devil snapped. "This is me and my boy's territory. You can't just walk through here picking for a fight without us making ya pay up for it."

Kait blinked. Large, unsettling red eyes stared up at the guy. "What boys?" he asked while calming himself down. The man had a point, he was inviting these devils to confront him, just because he was dirty and tired doesn't mean he should be stupid.

"What are ya stupid?" he mocked while gesturing to the recently skewered bodies. We're all… surrounding… you…" He slowly looked around, realizing that his bandits were now dead being pierced cleanly by something.

He didn't get the chance to say another word before he was pierced through the brain.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Letting the tendril sink back into the trees shadow, Kait finished eating the devil's souls. The weaklings barely tasted better than the animals from the Gremory's forest., not even comparing to the Rias or the weird woman. But his stomach was content, so he was fine for now.

Continuing his aimless walk away from the man who looks like Rias but was not, he was getting annoyed again. While the meal helped his mood tremendously, the dirt covering his skin was irritating him again. His feet were the worst off though, the mud that had gotten in between his toes was extremely unpleasant.

"This is by far the worst." He thought to himself just as a particularly painful shutter went through his body causing his knees to buckle. "Why is this still happening?" the rare injuries he remembers receiving would gone by now. especially if his stomach wasn't complaining. Which it isn't.

He had been walking for a while now, and he was starting to get tired. For some reason he was also starting to get hungry despite the twenty or so devils he had eaten. Even though they were weak his stomach shouldn't have been complaining this soon, maybe they were just lower quality than he initially thought? His body had been behaving weirdly ever sense the castle so that could have something to do with it.

The road was empty, there was a single small wispy sapling of a tree to his left but besides that, there was nothing but grass for miles around. The moon shined down sporadically between the clouds rolling in.

It was when the moon could no longer shine through the clouds, he smelt it. The familiar scent of death.

Turning his body to dodge an obvious attack from behind he instinctively lashed out with a clawed hand, separating somethings head from its body. He couldn't investigate what attacked him though because he was forced to dash away as multiple bolts of fire rained above him, each one sounding off in an explosion as they hit the ground. He was lucky he avoided being caught in the first few.

Just as he was about to finish adapting to the bolts to counterattack, two large streams of fire came from either side of him, trying to scissor him into remaining stagnant. Like hell he'd fall for something as boring as that.

Tensing his legs, in less than a second he was high above the crater littered ground, just avoiding being caught in a massive ball of fire igniting below him, he spared a glance around. Surprisingly, the fire wasn't spreading. No, not only was it not spreading but it was actively being put out. This was a problem. No moon, no fire, no light. And no light meant no shadows. He also realized an important fact.

He forgot he couldn't maneuver while in the air.

He quickly raised his arms to block another bolt detonating upon contact. He was flung through the air but that was the extent of the attack. Yes, his arms were damaged and his body was singed, but he could deal with that.

Suddenly, his back felt it was getting shredded and he was flung forward again, only for another explosion to go off above him launching him towards the ground making disturbingly loud crunch upon impact.

The onslaught of attacks came to a stop after he hit the ground. Kait was annoyed with himself, he was being stupid allowing himself to be dealt damage. Now he was too injured to run away, he was struggling to even get his body to listen to him.

Ignoring the pain wracking his body with every breath he took, Kait rolled to avoid a spire of earth erupting where his legs had just been. Quickly getting up Kait jumped to the side where another stream of fire, only for his face to be met with a strong kick that sent him flying.

Skidding to a stop, he realized his right leg had stopped responding to him at all, he couldn't even feel it for that matter. Risking a glance down, he saw shards of ice embedded in his calve and thigh.

He had to remain calm and wait for an opening, some kind of mistake he could take advantage of. Balancing on his functioning leg, Kait wobbled up right. Looking ahead right as he stood upright, he couldn't do anything but grit his teeth and take the wave of electricity directed through his body.

Falling forward, Kait was furiously trying to figure out how so many enemies snuck up on him. The first initial attacks he easily saw coming, but besides those he couldn't tell where they were coming from. All he could do was wait and try to react to the next onslaught.

"Wait," he thought. "There's an idea."

The attackers seeing that the child wasn't moving, cautiously made themselves known. Each one having large dark red cloaks and blank white masks, making sure not even a hint of skin could be seen.

Kait found himself surprised by the numerous pairs of boots that had surrounded him. He couldn't see an end to them, of course it was a bit difficult to tell from this position on the ground.

One of the pairs of boots. The only one that looked different from the others, it's cloak black instead of red, came to a stop in front of him did something incredibly stupid.

It started speaking.

Not only that, but it spoke in a familiar voice.

Despite the surprise that he somehow failed to kill the owner of the first time, a wicked smile grew from the blank, slightly annoyed expression on Kait's face. He knew the scent of death that came with these masks was familiar.

Feeling pain explode from his ribs when a heavy boot made contact with his body, he rolled down a crater he didn't was notice was beside him.

The first whine of the night came when he found that even though the fire had been put out, the craters were still unbelievably hot. Though the whine was silenced almost as soon as it came out.

"I've been waiting to do that for a while." Mr. Voice mocked. His voice notably less deep than it was before but it still was very recognizable. "The pain might have been dulled but it still hurt when you ripped me apart last time you little shit."

Kait said nothing from his place on the steaming hot ground as the Mr. Voice made his way down the crater. He was bleeding out and burning, yet he still nothing. Kait would let Mr. Voice and his masks become as comfortable as possible while he figured out what was going on with his usually chaotic energy. It was normal for it not to listen, but now it was muted somehow. And there was no piece of paper on his body, there couldn't be, everything burnt off his body when the first attack struck him.

Mr. Voice came to a stop in front of him. "Damn, I wish they would have just told me why I can't just kill you here. You might have been dangerous before but without your shadows, your nothing more than a child with above average strength. Doesn't matter though, you'll just be killed by the higher ups anyways." He complained to the child still lying face down.

Kait felt himself hoisted up by shackles of light that burnt his wrists even more than the fire did. Their chains were being held by two masks. He didn't struggle, he let it happen despite the searing pain. He could deal with this. He just had to wait.

Facing Mr. Voice finally, he couldn't rid his face of the grin stretched across his face, his sharp fangs bared for the world to see.

Looking at Mr. Voice now, he could tell something was different about him. He couldn't tell what though. Had he had gotten taller? Maybe a bit wider? He could have been less skinny. It didn't matter. It wouldn't change anything in the end.

"I knew from the start you were dimwitted but to be incompetent too? You couldn't even kill a simple heiress, worse yet you couldn't even die properly either." Mr. Voices annoyingly rambled on. This was okay, all Mr. Voice was doing was heightening Kait's desire to kill it.

"Start preparing the transportation circle. Be as rough as possible when handling the cargo." The masks started on the task at once.

Kait didn't know why but the way that waste referred to him bothered him. More than the Voice calling him messy in fact. It bothered him so much that his crazed grin dimmed and his dull eyes sharpened just enough to be noticeable to the soulless waste in front of him. So he corrected Mr. Voice in his quite monotone.

"My name is Kait."

Mr. Voice stopped giving out orders when he heard the soft statement directed at him. "Oh? So someone pitied you enough to give you a name, huh." He gave a loud mocking chuckle and leaned in, the inky blackness of the hood coming close to Kait's face.

That was when Kait stopped waiting. Mr. Voice didn't get to say another word.

Pulling the burning chains with him he closed the distance between him and Mr. Voice, time seemed to slow down, his fangs biting through the swirling darkness where a throat would be. He couldn't feel any blood poor into his mouth but what he could taste was absolutely vile. As he was biting into Mr. Voice, he simultaneously pulled at the chains, causing the ones holding them to lose their balance and fall forward. With a quick thrust of two clawed fingers, both their throats were pierced and the chains dispersed into the air.

This took less than two seconds.

Still latched on to Mr. Voices Lack of a proper throat with the being itself franticly pulling at Kait, scratching him, and wailing incoherent chatter. Kait noticed that whatever was flowing into his mouth felt like a soul, only thicker, more like sludge than anything else. He just pushed through the disgusting taste of the substance and bit down harder.

Kait could see that the inky cloak of Mr. Voice was receding, and with it the smell of death was going away. Mr. Voices attempts of getting him off were slowly weakening.

By the time Kait couldn't feel anymore of the sludge flow into his mouth. Mr. Voice's cloak was gone, leaving a decrepit corpse that slacked like a puppet with its strings cut.

Letting the now lifeless body flop to the ground Kait stood on shaky legs, favoring his left. He faced the rest of the masks that all seemed to be frozen. They seemed to regain their bearings as soon as he took a step forward though.

Looking at all the masks readying their attacks, Kait realized this would be the closest he had come to death in his life. His body was damaged and barely listening to him, he was exhausted, and his usual raging power still felt lethargic for some reason. It took more energy eating Mr. Voice than it did initially fighting, so he was truly spent this point. Even with him being able to see and sense them clearly now, he could probable only finish around half of them as he is now. He felt a chill despite the heated earth he was standing on.

Stumbling a little while taking another step due to his leg, he readied himself for the barrage of attacks about to be launched. He could see they were spreading out to avoid clumping together and to cover all sides. This would have been so easy with his shadows. He could now see wisps of his breath.

Another step had him tensing his body, coiling his own muscles to launch an attack of his own, he had to try and surprise them with speed, that was his best chance at killing as much of these masks as possible.. But when he tried to spring himself forward his legs gave out and he just flopped on the ground. His breath grew even thicker.

Seeing the various elemental attacks coming at him, he braced himself as best as he could, knowing this would probably be his last moments.

CRACK

Suddenly, everything became slick with ice. The numerous elements coming at him instantly dissipating with the cool breeze that came with it, every caster was now frozen statues.

Kait barely notice any of this though. Instead his attention was on how the coolness of the ice felt so relieving on his blistered skin and how the once charred earth was now incased in it.

But above all his focus was on the beautiful silver-haired woman now standing at his side, positively radiating power.

For the first time in his life, Kait looked at someone in adoration without getting a taste of them first. The power, the beauty, this woman defined both these traits perfectly in his eyes.

The woman's silver eyes met his and without delay, in a tone similar to his own, casually introduced herself like she hadn't just done something incredible.

"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, Head Maid of the Gremory Household. You are to come with me now."

Kait promptly passed out.

-With Grayfia seven minute earlier-

Arriving at the location Lady Venelana's Trace vanished, Grayfia was just in time to witness the boy kill the initial attacker. He was efficiant and unforgiving in his counter, she approved.

From there he moved with speed unbefitting for someone for someone so small. Actually Sirzechs claimed the boy might be somewhat obsessed with cleanliness, why was he so filthy?

Focusing back on the boy, she saw him jump high to evade another firebolt. she was under the impression he lacked the ability to fly. Maybe my assessment was wrong?"

It was not.

Grayfia let out a sigh. The boy's instincts were good, superb even, and he was indeed strong for his age. But he obviously had a fragility to him that belittled his strength. He was too damaged by attacks he should have been able to brush off.

His grit had to be admired though, even with the vicious attacks being thrown at him he didn't back down until he realized his leg had been pierced by a few shards of ice and he was fried with lightning. Then he started to use his brain.

Grayfia narrowed her eyes when the mass of darkness came to center, "That looks to be a shade, a fairly powerful one at that." She then heard that the boy apparently tore it apart in the past and realized it was probably the creature the boy referred to as 'Mr. Voice'. Now the term 'soulless waste' made sense. The shade fled from its body when the boy was ripping it apart. They hadn't considered one due to them being so rare.

Seeing the boy being hoisted by shackles of light she nearly interfered but she had felt a shift in the child's demeanor when the shade revealed itself, so she stayed her hand. This was his battle; she would interfere only when the boy was finished.

"Is he eating the shade?" Grayfia could honestly say she was surprised. In all her years, she had never witnessed anything akin to this. Shades were intangible, the boy shouldn't have been able be able to slurp it up like this, it was unprecedented.

Finished with his attack the boy looked spent for now, yet Sirzechs ordered her to make the best possible impression so she felt like being a bit dramatic.

Waiting for the masked group to launch their attacks, she casually froze them all, along with miles of land. "Okay, this is an adequate display of power, at least enough to make a proper impression on the boy," she thought to herself.

Appearing beside the child with a fraction of her power blazing, she looked down and met eyes that reminded her of fresh blood. "How nice," she thought seeing as blood spilling from her enemy's wounds was one of the most soothing sights for her.

Without further ado she introduced herself. "My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, Head Maid of the Gremory Household. You are to come with me now." She said the line perfectly as always, befitting of a proper made.

The child passed out.

Grayfia calmly picked the boy up to teleport to the castle. The boy succumbed to his injuries. That was what she was going with.

She made the best impression possible, there was no way him losing consciousness was her fault.

AN: Yo! This has been coming for a while now. All I will say is shit went down, multiple drafts were made, computers broke, said drafts were lost, and motivation was lost due to overwhelming frustration. Sorry about that.

This is the unedited version of this chapter so sorry for the mistakes. If the part with Grayfia seems rushed that's because it is, I'm really fucking tired.

I managed to fall in love with the Gremory family while writing this, hell if you couldn't tell Rias just completed her own arc with her family. I'm super excited to do more stuff with her. I expected to hate Zeoticus but no, I like him too.

Again sorry for the long as wait, I genuinely feel bad about it. Hopefully something like that won't happen again.

God this is a long authors note. I tried watching DxD again to make sure I don't screw up any world building shit but I can't deal with Issei so please inform me if I get anything.

Reviews and critiques are welcome.