Anything you recognise isn't mine.
Re-tying his silver hair back up into his signature ponytail with his Galatine-turned-hairband, a naked Roxas Gremory stepped out of his shower-room, and yawned, while turning to Akeno, who was tying her hair up as well.
"I can't even remember when the last time I got out of bed before 9:30am was, Akeno." Roxas remarked, picking up his phone (which read 7:22am). "The fact that I was screwing you into the bed last night makes it all the weirder that we're up this early." He dropped his phone back onto the bed, and started to get dressed, as Akeno finished tying her hair up into its usual ponytail, and started to dress herself as well.
"Me neither, to be honest, Roxas." Akeno replied, as she pressed her naked body, clad only in a purple thong, against Roxas, clad only in a pair of jeans. "And though I would love to spend today with you, just the two of us, in bed, exploring every nook and cranny of each other's bodies~"
"I have to go and meet up with my aunt." Roxas replied. "Today. Sorry, Akeno."
"It's alright~" Akeno replied, withdrawing and pouting slightly. "Can I come with you?"
"Hm?" Roxas turned, as he picked up his Skillet t-shirt and slung it on him. "Why?"
"Well, you've said a few times that you think Rias and I would get on pretty well." Akeno replied. "Now's as good a time as any to actually meet her."
Roxas blinked, as he processed Akeno's request.
"Fair enough." He replied, shrugging. "Finish getting dressed and come on."
Roxas left his room, and walked downstairs, where he saw Palutena sat on a stool at the table, and Asia cooking breakfast. Palutena looked up, noticed Roxas, and grinned.
"Someone was busy with their favourite Fallen Angel/Human Hybrid last night." She remarked, as Roxas hopped onto the stool next to her.
"Well, of course I would be." Roxas shrugged in reply, as Palutena kissed him. "Akeno's easily the best at seducing me out of my lovers, behind you and Penemue."
"True." Palutena remarked, nuzzling her face into Roxas' neck. Asia walked over with a plate of food, and handed it to Roxas, who smiled as he tucked in.
"Thanks, Asia." He thanked the blonde nun, who was dressed in a pair of jean shorts, and a yellow short-sleeved shirt with Pikachu's face on it. "Honestly, you're like our own personal Angel, with how well you cook."
Asia blushed red from the compliment, stammered out a "Y-you're welcome, Roxas." And returned to cooking Palutena's breakfast, as Akeno came walking downstairs.
Today, Akeno had opted to wear a purple leather jacket, over a light purple skin-tight top that exposed her midriff thanks to her large breasts, and a pair of black jean shorts that exposed a lot of her sexy legs.
"Looking stylish, Akeno." Roxas complimented his raven-haired lover. "Come have some breakfast, then we'll go."
Akeno smiled, and joined Roxas and Palutena at the table. After she had some breakfast (and decided to tease Palutena by playing at being Roxas' wife by feeding him, and calling him her 'darling'), the Nephalem anf the Human/Fallen Angel Hybrid stood up, and walked towards a transportation-circle that Roxas had created.
"See you later, love." Palutena gently embraced Roxas. "I'll try not to get too horny while you're gone~"
Roxas sniggered, and made to walk into the circle, but Palutena called again.
"Wait, something just popped into my head. Remember that favour that Azazel promised you?"
"Yeah." Roxas replied. "What of it?"
"Well, are you going to cash it in?" Palutena asked, sitting down on the sofa and turning on the TV. "And if so, what is it gonna be? Just curious is all."
"Hm." Roxas replied. "I probably will at some point. And I'll probably ask him to upscale this villa, or just buy me a new, bigger one. Since this place was built to comfortably hold six people: me, you, Akasha, Valian and Penemue. But, with Asia and Kuroka, no offence meant to either of them, on top of that, practically living here now, making a total of eight, this house is getting stretched."
"Fair enough." Palutena replied, shrugging. "See you."
Roxas nodded, and triggered the magic-circle, sending him and Akeno away in a flash of light.
Line Break
Rias, who was sat on a sofa in the ORC room, and her peerage, which were stood behind her, and Grayfia, who was stood in the corner of the room, all waited, with all except Grayfia (whom it took a lot to faze even slightly) and Isane (who didn't even know what the hell was going on) feeling extremely tense.
A silver transportation-circle opened up, and Roxas and Akeno came out of it. Roxas looked around, and his eyes set on Rias.
"Hey, Rias." He greeted his aunt. "You asked me here so you could talk to me about something?" He looked up. "Hey, Mom."
Grayfia inclined her head to Roxas. She would've liked to walk over to him and hug him, but she was on duty as a maid, so she kinda couldn't.
"Lemme guess. Those four are your peerage?" Roxas asked. "I've seen them before." He then jerked his head at Akeno. "This is Akeno, a friend of mine, by the way. She just decided to tag along with me when I came."
"Very well." Rias replied. "And yes, they are. My Queen, Mirajane Strauss, my Rook, Koneko Toujou, my Knight, Kiba Yuuto, and my Pawn, Isane Hyoudou."
"Hmm. Thought so." Roxas replied, looking in between the members of Rias' peerage in turn. He passed over Mirajane without comment, before looking at Koneko.
"Toujou, right?" He asked. "You related, by any chance, to a young lady called Sae Toujou?"
"...Never heard of her." Koneko replied, looking straight at Roxas, who shrugged.
"Hm." He replied. "Must be a coincidence. Or something else."
Rias' eyes widened for a fraction of a second, an action not missed by Roxas, who kept looking in between the members of Rias' peerage. He looked over Kiba, and only focused his eyes on him for a second, before meeting eyes with Isane.
"Oooh." He whispered. "Never thought I'd be seeing that again."
["And I never thought I'd have to see your murdering face again, Roxas Gremory."] Ddraig snarled, startling everyone in Rias' peerage with how hostile he sounded, while the Boosted Gear appeared on Isane's arm. ["If I wasn't trapped in one of Yahweh's little trinkets, I'd incinerate your ass here and now!"]
"But you ARE trapped in one of Yahweh's little trinkets, so you can't do jack-shit." Roxas replied, easily.
"Excuse me, but what's going on?" Rias asked, looking between the gauntlet and Roxas. "Do you have history with my nephew, Ddraig?"
["Oh, you fucking bet I do, Gremory."] Ddraig growled in reply to Rias. ["Your unnatural existence of a nephew over here didn't just kill my Strongest Host, but he as good as killed my Second-Strongest Host as well! The only one who's allowed to fight and kill my host is the host of that bastard Albion, and you stole that opportunity from me, as well as Belzard and Elsha, you son of a bitch!"]
The temperature of the room dropped so low that everyone, even Grayfia, had to shiver slightly. The table and furniture began to be covered in a light coating of ice, and lightning began to gather around Roxas' body. Glaring at Isane (or more accurately, at Isane's left hand), he spoke. And his voice wasn't his usual, laid-back tone, but rather, a voice harder than steel, and hovering around Absolute Zero.
"I accept responsibility for Belzard's death, as he'd gone insane on the power that YOU granted him." Roxas spoke. "He'd gone Juggernaut Drive and threatened the lives of those I cared about. He didn't even deserve to die the death I granted him, on the end of my Excalibur Galatine."
Kiba stiffened at the mention of the word 'Excalibur' but Roxas ignored him.
"But Ddraig. I'll say this once and only one." Roxas spoke, his voice nearly as much a growl as Ddraig's. "Don't. You. Dare. Talk about Elsha. In front of me." A spear made of light appeared in Roxas' hand as he pointed it at the gauntlet that the Boosted Gear took the form of. "I've a damn good mind to kill your host, or at the least severely harm her, right here and now, just so you don't get your precious rematch with Albion."
Isane widened her eyes and began to sweat. She had barely any mastery of the Boosted Gear, and after how Roxas had killed Apoge as easily as he did, she didn't have a chance in hell of defending herself against him.
"Choose, Ddraig." Roxas spoke, in the same chilling tone, as the room's temperature dropped another degree or so. "Your desire to not miss out on a battle with Albion for the third time? Or your desire to get revenge on me?"
There was a tense silence for a full thirteen seconds, as everyone in Rias' peerage, as well as Grayfia, began to subtly prepare for a fight.
However, it didn't come to that, as Ddraig gave a ["Hmph."] and the Boosted Gear deactivated itself. Roxas gave a sigh, and the room began to thaw itself, as a result of returning to its normal temperature.
"Good." Roxas remarked, waving his hand and casting a spell that dried everything up. Rias, who had gone quiet, spoke up.
"Roxas, why did you threaten to kill a member of my peerage?!" She cried. "Did you really have to go that far?"
"Yes. And calm down." Roxas replied, before turning to Isane. "Sorry I had to threaten to kill you there, uh..."
"I-Isane." Isane replied, who was just wrapping her head around the fact that she wasn't going to die.
"Isane. Nice name, by the way." Roxas replied. "Anyway, sorry I had to threaten to kill you. I didn't actually want to do it, since I got no reason to, but it was the only way I could get Ddraig to back his oversized ass down."
Isane had gone as red as the gauntlet that was on her arm mere moments ago, and Roxas chuckled.
"Anyway, Rias. What have you asked me here for?"
"Yes, I'm curious to hear what you want with my eldest son as well, Rias." Grayfia spoke up.
"Well, you see-" Rias began, but her words were interrupted as an orange magic-circle with a bird encased in the centre of it, formed itself in the entrance to the room, and flames began to erupt from it.
Roxas was unimpressed. In fact, he was so unimpressed that he was tempted to freeze the demonic flames (which were beginning to clear) coming from the magic-circle, right there and then, but he held himself back.
When the flames completely cleared, a tall and handsome man in his early-twenties with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes became known to everyone in the room. He wore a burgundy blazer with gold embroidery on the right, with matching pants and black dress shoes. Underneath this open blazer was a white dress shirt that wasn't fully buttoned, giving a slight view to his toned chest.
"Hm. It's been a while since I've been to the human world." The man turned around, and looked at Rias. "I've come to see you, my darling Rias."
Rias frowned, before the man looked at Roxas, who also had a frown on his face. The gears were starting to turn in his head, and they didn't paint a very pretty picture.
"Who's this guy?" He asked, looking unconcernedly at Roxas, before noticing Akeno. "Hmm, and who is this lovely young lady?"
"None of your concern, blondie." Roxas replied, having immediately taken a disliking to the man, who adopted a rather ugly expression on his face.
"Blondie? Don't try and insult Riser Phenex." He said, before turning to Rias. "Rias, you should try and control your servants."
"He's not my servant, Riser." Rias replied. "He's my nephew, Roxas Gremory."
Riser shrugged, stepped around Roxas (while looking extremely openly at Akeno's ass) and sat down on the sofa, right next to Rias, as Roxas and Akeno went and stood next to Grayfia.
"Mind filling me in on this, Mom?" Roxas whispered to Grayfia. "What the hell is Rias doing with Fianna Asmodeus' youngest brother?"
"Lord Zeoticus and Lord Renzo Phenex worked out a marital contract for Lady Rias and Lord Riser, about ten years ago." Grayfia whispered in reply. "Rias has hated the idea of the contract from as soon as she heard about it, and has wanted out ever since."
The whole room was then enveloped in a tense silence as Riser, looking quite satisfied with himself, played with the hair of Rias (who looked extremely uncomfortable), and placed his hand on her leg, slowly going up towards her skirt, until Rias, having finally had enough, stood up.
"Cut it out already, Riser!" She snapped. "I told you last time. I'm not marrying you."
"Oh, but Rias." Riser replied, nonchalantly. "You're in no position to be selfish. Your family has its back against the wall, as does my illustrious family, to an extent, and our fathers knew that this would be a perfect way to produce strong grandchildren."
Roxas gave a loud cough into his hand, which to Akeno, Grayfia, and everyone else in the room, sounded suspiciously like the word "Bullshit!"
Riser heard as well, and stood up, turning to Roxas.
"Did you say something?" He asked. "Or were you just clearing your throat?"
"The latter." Roxas replied, his voice light and polite. "Sorry, just keep going. Pretend I'm not even here. I got a tickle in my throat, happens all the time." He coughed into his hand three more times, and Riser distinctly heard the words "Bullshit! Fucking bullshit!" come through the coughs.
Catching on, Riser stood up, angry. He walked over to Roxas, and stood before him. Riser might have stood a quarter of a foot taller than Roxas, but he was no more scared of Riser than he would be scared of a house-fly.
"Are you insinuating that something I, Riser Phenex, said, is bullshit, you lower-class mongrel?" Riser asked, flecks of hot spit landing on Roxas' face as he shouted.
"Yes." Roxas replied. "Now step away. Your breath smells like chicken, and I don't like it. Love eating it, though."
"I would also advice you to step away from my son as well, Lord Riser." Grayfia added, stepping forward. "As well as not to insult him. Or else I will have to take action."
Riser looked at Grayfia, who glared back at him, and stepped back.
"When ordered something by the Ultimate Queen, even I can be somewhat fearful." Riser remarked, sitting back down and looking back up at Rias. "As, only behind my great older sister, Fianna, and Serafall Leviathan, you are the Strongest Female Devil. Anyway, Rias. As I said before, you can't afford to be selfish when it comes to the matter of your family."
"I don't intent to bring my family down." Rias snapped back. "I absolutely intend to find myself a man that I can call my husband, but they will be MY choice. And no matter what you say Riser, my choice will NOT be you!"
"Your choice doesn't matter, Rias." Riser replied, standing up and grabbing Rias' face. "Our fathers negotiated this contract between the two of us, and your father, a Devil vastly more important than you, and whose choice matters more, chose ME as your husband. I will not have you sully my good name by refusing me."
"I told you, Riser, NO!" Rias shouted, pulling herself out of Riser's grip. "I would rather marry a male of my own family than marry you! Sirzechs, Roxas, fuck, even Millicas! I don't care, fucking anyone but you!"
"Actually, Rias, if I might make a small point?" Roxas asked. "It might be distant, but you're actually related to Riser."
"Eh?" Rias looked at Roxas, blinking. "How do you mean?"
"Well, I actually did my research on a couple of things." Roxas replied, as everyone, even Riser, stopped to look at him. "You ever heard of the Demonic Genesys Ritual, Rias?"
"Y-yes." Rias replied. "It was used by the first Lucifer to create the Devil race. A mutation of the Biblical God's Angelic Creation power."
"Indeed." Roxas replied. "Well, something not very well-known is that a... spin-off, shall we say? version, of that ritual was used by Lucifer and Lilith to create 72 special Devils, all of which were brothers and sisters, in their own way."
"The 72 Pillars..." Rias whispered. "Bael, Agares, Phenex, Gremory, Belial... all of them?"
"All of them." Roxas replied. "Gremory and Phenex, in particular, happen to be your great-grandfather, MY great-great-grandfather, and Riser's great-grandmother, do they not?"
"Wait..." Rias had just put two and two together. "Then that means Riser-"
"Is your third cousin, yes." Roxas replied. "A relatively minor issue, to be honest, but I just thought I'd throw it out there."
Rias had gone slightly green, and Riser seemed to shrug the knowledge off.
"It doesn't matter." He leaned forward. "I'll take you back to the Underworld, Rias, then we can be married, and live a good life together. As distantly related as we are, I will not let that stand in my way."
A red and black aura seemed to culminate around Rias, and she looked ready for a fight. But Grayfia stepped forward.
"If I might make a suggestion, the two of you?" She spoke. "I am here on orders of Sirzechs, and he predicted that this might happen. As such, I have been ordered to suggest a last-resort measure if no agreement is reached. You are welcome to settle your situation through a Rating Game, if you so wish."
"Rating Game?" Isane spoke up.
"It's basically a mini-war with Rias and Riser as the heads of your respective countries, if you wanna put it that way." Roxas explained. "Given the size of my aunt's peerage, and the fact I've seen Riser's peerage in action on TV, I'd say a Rating Game between you Rias and Riser would look like a pre-United Nations-involvement Korean War. That is to say, a fucking massacre. In Riser's favour."
"I've played the game many times, and I am a known victor." Riser remarked. "And you, Rias, aren't even a qualified player, with little to no peerage to speak of. "Whereas..." He snapped his fingers, and another transportation-circle opened, and after the firestorm disappeared, fifteen women, of all shapes and sizes, and all of varying states of beauty, came out.
"You can't hope to win against me and my lovely servants, Rias." Riser remarked, walking over to a particularly beautiful woman with purple hair, and groping her obscenely large breasts. "Even if you, a Rating Game-virgin, had a week to train yourself in, you'd never be able to defeat me."
"Oh, yes I will!" Rias replied. "I'll do it, Riser! I'll settle this with you through a Rating Game! My servants and I will train ourselves to the best of our ability in a week, and once we're done, we'll annihilate you!"
Riser laughed, loudly and mockingly.
"I look forward to it, my love." He replied. He opened a transportation-circle, and disappeared, still groping the busty purple-haired woman.
Long after he was gone, Rias panted, coming down from the emotional high that her passionate declaration had given her (while Grayfia silently teleported out to inform Sirzechs and Zeoticus of the situation), before she heard a slow clap.
"Nice speech, Rias." Roxas remarked, a smirk on his face. "It's a wonder you don't go into politics, you'd be a great candidate, with oration skills like yours. Then again, Hitler was a great orator, so..." He shrugged. "Anyway. You plan on training you and your peerage, to the best of your ability, I think you said?"
"Y-Yes, that was what I asked you here for." Rias replied. "Roxas... will you train me and my peerage for the Rating Game against Riser?"
Roxas blinked.
"And why should I do that?" He asked. "I don't remember hearing you mention me in that little declamation of yours, once. Did you hear, Akeno?"
Akeno shook her head.
"Yeah, exactly." Roxas remarked, turning to Rias. "So why should I help you, when you said it would be YOU and your servants, not me, who would train yourselves up?"
"R-Roxas, please!" Rias' voice, rather than the passionate tone that he heard moments before, became more desperate. "I've looked for every possible way out! Renouncing my position as Heiress, having Riser killed, even-"
"Okay, okay, that's enough, Rias." Roxas replied. "In actuality... okay."
Rias blinked.
"Wh-what?" She replied.
"I said 'okay', Rias." Roxas said. "Zeoticus was the one who placed you in that engagement, and I'm feeling particularly vindictive towards him right now."
Rias' face lit up as she realised what her nephew was saying.
"So, therefore, I'll help you." Roxas replied. "Besides, I remember saying a while ago that I couldn't wait to see the look on my grandfather's face when the next person, after me, he tries to groom into his perfect Heir, slash puppet, goes against his wishes in any way. Winning that Rating Game and leaving the engagement would be a pretty good way to go about that happening, don't you think?"
Rias rushed forward, and wrapped her arms around Roxas. Even if she was his aunt, Roxas mentally appreciated her rather generous assets pressing up against him.
"Thank you, Roxas!" Rias spoke, into his shoulder. "Thank you."
"It's okay." Roxas replied, as Rias released him. "Now. I've got something to do. I'll be back in five minutes. Chat to Akeno while I'm gone."
Roxas created a silver transportation-circle, and disappeared.
Five minutes later, inside which Rias and Mira had started to make very pleasant conversation with Akeno, Roxas returned.
"Alright, all done." He spoke. "Rias, Mira, Koneko, Kiba, Isane. Can you please be here around this time tommorrow? So I can take you to where you'll be trained."
There was a general murmur of ascent, and Roxas nodded.
"Good. See you tomorrow." He looked at Akeno. "Come on, Akeno."
Akeno waved a goodbye to Rias and Akeno as she followed Roxas into the transportation-circle, and disappeared along with him.
Line Break
"I'm back~!" Roxas called, as he and Akeno arrived back in his house. Penemue, Akasha, Valian and Palutena, who were all watching TV, looked up.
"Hey, Roxas." Valian greeted him. "So, what's going to happen?"
"Well, remember that holiday villa in Greece that I've had my eye on for a while?" Roxas asked.
"You mean the thirteen-bedroom, houses-around-thirty one?" Penemue asked. "What of it?"
"Well, I called in that favour from Azazel, and he's buying it." Roxas replied. "And my aunt and her peerage will be staying there for a week with us."
Akeno, Penemue, Akasha and Valian all made gestures of excitement, as they'd all seen the villa, and loved the idea of moving there. Palutena's reaction, however, was more... muted. She smiled, but that was about it.
"Akeno, Akasha, Valian, can you come with me when I go tommorrow?" Roxas asked. "Since I've agreed to train Rias and her peerage, and I'll need your help."
"No problem, Roxas." All three sexy-as-fuck women replied, practically in unison.
"And Palutena, would it be alright if you came with us as well?" Roxas added. "I've got an idea for a possible modification I could make to the place, and I'd need your help for it."
"Okay, Roxas." Palutena replied, sighing.
"Sweet." Roxas replied. "Someone go and tell Asia and Kuroka what's happening."
Valian got up and left. Akeno, Akasha and Penemue left as well, deciding to go and do something else, leaving Roxas and Palutena alone.
Roxas plopped himself down beside his green-haired wife, who was looking at him. He snorted.
"I know that look, Palutena."
"I'm sure you do." Palutena replied. "I'm not unhappy with you for this, but... you do know who has supernatural dominion over Greece?"
"The Greek Pantheon." Roxas replied. "Yes, I know, Palutena. And it isn't a crime for a supernatural being to live in Greece. I know several Fallen Angels that live in Athens, for example. Some of the Greek Gods can be dicks, like Ares and Hermes, but Zeus isn't that bad."
"I know that, but-" Palutena tried to reply, but Roxas, knowing exactly what she was going to say, stopped her.
"Pal, I know what you're thinking, and everything will be fine." The silver-haired Nephalem assured his green-haired wife. "If the worst comes to the worst, we'll be prepared for it. You know as well as I do that the number of Greek Gods that could beat either of us on our own in a one-on-one battle can be counted on one hand, with fingers to spare: Hades. And what is more" he added. "That number lowers down to a big fat ZERO when I go Twilight God, or when you and I work together."
"I know that." Palutena replied. "Just promise me that if it comes to that, you PLEASE don't go into that damned form! It almost tore your soul apart last time you used it, and that was only after fifteen seconds!"
Roxas remembered full-well what Palutena was talking about.
"I promise, love." Roxas replied, wrapping his arms around Palutena and kissing her. "You know that I do."
"Good." Palutena replied. "Now." She shifted her body so she was sat on her husband's lap, and looked at him in a rather sultry way. "What should we do for the rest of the day?"
Roxas grinned.
Line Break
It was the next day, after school. Rias and Mirajane were walking to the Occult Research Club room, where Roxas had asked her and her peerage to congregate at the end of the day, so he could take them to wherever he would be taking them to, in order for them to train for their Rating Game against Riser.
With Rias and Mira, however, was Sona Sitri, the Heiress of the House of Sitri, the President of the Student Council at Kuoh Academy, and Rias' best friend, along with her Queen, the Vice-President of the Student Council, Tsubaki Shinra.
Sona was a young, woman who wore purple-rimmed glasses, with a slim figure, black hair styled into a short bob cut, and violet eyes.
Tsubaki was a young woman with long, straight black hair that extended down to her knees, with split bangs at her face, and heterochromic eyes (a violet left eye and light brown right eye). She wore blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses.
"I've got the absence of you and your peerage approved, Rias." Sona remarked to her best friend.
"Thank you." Rias replied. "I'll make sure to make it up to you." A rare smile came across Sona's face.
"Oh, you shouldn't have to." The Sitri Heiress replied. "Just worry about training yourself to beat that scumbag seven ways from Sunday. Though I am curious to meet Roxas, as I've heard a lot about him."
"From Serafall?"
"Yes." Sona replied. "She was named by Sirzechs and Grayfia as Roxas' godmother after his birth, and, in her own words, she taught him 'everything he needed to know in his cute little life'."
"Since that's Serafall we're talking about, Sona, I'd take her word with a metric ton of salt." Mirajane remarked. "If it was coming from someone like Fianna, though..."
"Yeah." Sona replied, as the four Devils, two born Devils, two Reincarnated, walked into the building, and went to the ORC room…
…
Where Riser was sat on one of the sofas, looking as arrogant as ever.
"What the fuck?!" Rias cried, preparing a magical attack, as Mirajane, Sona and Tsubaki all tensed up at the sight of Rias' former fiancé. "Riser, what the hell are you doing here?"
"It's rude to talk about someone who's listening, my darling Rias." Riser remarked lightly, as he stood up. With a yell of rage, Rias let loose a blast of her Power of Destruction, and Riser created a shield out of a magic-circle, which easily blocked the attack, and created a huge plume of smoke that obscured him from sight, and filled the room up.
Rias, Mira, Sona and Tsubaki coughed and sputtered from the smoke, and once it cleared after a minute, Rias, contrary to what she expected…
…
Saw Roxas standing in front of her, instead of Riser.
And he was laughing. HARD.
"R-ROXAS?!" Rias cried, shocked out of her wits at what had just transpired. "It was YOU?!"
"Yup!" Roxas replied, still laughing. "Amazing what a little transformation magic can do, isn't it?"
"Wait, you know how to do transformation-magic?" Sona asked, after recovering from a small laugh. Even Tsubaki was giggling. "Isn't that one of the hardest branches of magic?
"Yeah." Roxas replied. "I just need to look at someone, and I can transform into them with a little bit of work. You should've seen Palutena's face when she walked into our bedroom one night, and saw a perfect replica of herself, masturbating on the bed."
He sniggered for a moment.
"Anyway." He looked at Sona and Tsubaki. "Who're these two, Rias?"
"I'm Sona Sitri." Sona stepped forward. "Little sister of your godmother, and friend of your aunt. This is Tsubaki, my Queen."
"Cool." Roxas replied, flopping back down onto the sofa, where 'Riser' had sat, minutes before. "We'll just wait for the rest of your peerage, Rias, then we can leave."
Rias sat down at her desk, and Mira stood beside her, while Sona and Tsubaki sat down on the sofa opposite him.
"If I might ask you something, Roxas." Sona spoke up. "Serafall told me that she, apparently, taught you everything you knew. Is that actually true?"
"No." Roxas replied. "All Serafall taught me was how to do ice-magic, unless you count her making me grope her tits for 'future reference for when we're married~', her words, not mine, as teaching me something."
"Ah." Sona replied, coughing. "I see."
After about five minutes, Kiba and Isane (with Kiba looking at Roxas with suspicion, and Isane looking with slight interest) walked into the ORC room, and after another two, Koneko entered the room.
"Right." Roxas said, with a rather business-like tone. "Let's go. We don't have all day."
Roxas created a transportation-circle, and led Rias and her peerage into it. One second later, he activated it, and another second later, everyone in Rias' peerage had to cover their eyes, as the sun blazed down on them with intense heat.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention." Roxas remarked. "It gets pretty toasty where I now live."
"You don't say." Kiba replied. "Where are we?"
"Greece." Roxas replied, promptly. "Near the Sesi Beach, if I do recall. But anyway. Let's get inside."
Roxas led Rias and her peerage into the huge house, which looked extremely modern, and very nice. There was even a gigantic swimming pool outside.
Once they were inside, Rias and her peerage found themselves in a huge foyer-like room.
"I'll show you to your bedrooms later." Roxas remarked, as he led the five Devils off through a door that was situated inside a grand-looking staircase, and down a set of stairs.
Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves in a moderately-sized room, with a few people hanging around in it. Rias and her peerage recognised two of the women, Palutena (who was waving a large golden staff with blue ball on the end of it at a large door, at the other end of the room) and Akeno. However, there were two other women, a silver-haired woman with hazel eyes, and a pink-haired woman with green eyes, that Rias and her peerage did not recognise.
There was also a young man there, talking with Akeno. The young man had short, black hair, and pale grey eyes. He was rather handsome, and around the same height as Isane. He wore casual attire.
Palutena stopped waving her staff, and walked over to Roxas.
"It's done." She stated. "I'm gonna go rest now."
"You do that." Roxas replied. As Palutena walked past him, Roxas gave her ass a swat, making her yelp in surprise as she walked away. Once she was gone, the Boosted Gear activated on Isane's arm, and the Divine Dividing wings activated on Valian's back.
["Well, well. It's been a while, Albion."] Ddraig growled. ["Decided to conspire with the murderer of my two strongest hosts?"]
["My host has feelings for the son of the current Lucifer, Ddraig."] Albion replied. ["Conspiring against you or your host has nothing to do with it, and it won't get in the way of our inevitable fight."]
["I doubt that very much."] Ddraig replied. ["Since he decided to kill both Belzard and-"] Ddraig stopped when Roxas shot the gauntlet a warning look, and created a light-spear in his hand, pointing it squarely at the gauntlet, just like he had done the day before. The Welsh Dragon gave a ["Hmph."] and disappeared.
"Alright, everyone, listen up." Roxas took a breath, and spoke, getting the attention of everyone in the room, while the Divine Dividing wings deactivated. "This door" he pointed to the door that Palutena had been waving her staff at. "Leads to a dimension in which times flows 30.4375 times that of the outside world, a.k.a here, this house, the rest of the human world, you get my point."
"Uh..." Isane blinked. "That's a bit specific. 30.4375 times that of the outside world?"
"I should be training your brains instead of your bodies." Roxas muttered. "But in layman's terms: one day out here, one month in there. Got it?"
"Oh, okay." Isane replied. The rest of Rias' peerage nodded.
"So, we'll actually be spending six months training instead of a week?" Rias asked. "Since the first day of my week of training was yesterday."
"Yup." Roxas replied. "Any other questions?"
"Yes." Mirajane replied. "What about food? And other functions?"
Roxas blinked.
"We'll have to eat, and go to the toilet insanely often, won't we?" Mira explained. "And since time flows a lot slower in that dimension than out here, won't we need food-"
"Every ten minutes or so, in out-here terms?" Roxas finished for him. "No, you won't. But that was a smart question. You're smart. I like you."
Mira smiled.
"Palutena assured me" Roxas continued. "That all your bodily functions will slow down in sync with the time chamber. So, basically, you'll still only need to go to the toilet every six-or-so out-here hours, which would be a week, give or take several hours."
"Ahh." Mira nodded.
"Any other questions?" Roxas asked. "Because as a wise man once said, if you don't shake a leg, I'll fucking break it for you."
"…Did anyone actually say that?" Koneko asked.
"Yeah. Me." Roxas replied. "Anything else?"
No-one else had any questions.
"Good." Roxas opened the door, which opened into a beautiful, huge open field. "Now. Everyone in." He shepherded everyone inside, and shut the door behind them. "And one more thing before you start."
With a snap of Roxas' fingers, weighted braces appeared on each of the wrists and ankles of Rias, Mira, Koneko, Kiba and Isane.
"These braces will subtly get heavier and heavier as time goes by." He explaind. "Right now, they're only slightly heavier than what you're used to carrying, aka your own body weight. If you wear them constantly while training, you won't even notice them, since you'll be getting physically stronger all the time, which eliminates the need for normal physical training, which'd take up at least ¾ of your training, otherwise."
The silver-haired Nephalem snapped his fingers again, and the weighted braces disappeared. When Rias and her peerage all exclaimed in surprise, and grabbed at their wrists or ankles, Roxas sniggered.
"Oh, don't worry yourselves." He said. "You're still wearing those braces. They just won't interfere with everyday life. You won't be needing to think about putting them back on until the end of your training, and after that, I'll consider putting them on you again so you can keep training. And before you ask, they still work."
After a yawn, Roxas spoke again.
"Okay, Rias." Roxas pointed at Rias. "You'll be training with Akeno." Akeno smiled at Rias, who walked over to her. "Mirajane. You're off with Valian." He pointed to the silver-haired girl, who Mirajane bowed to, and walked over to.
"Not-relative-to-Sae-Toujou, aka Koneko." He pointed at Koneko. "You'll be off with Akasha." Koneko mutely walked over to the pink-haired Vampiress. "Isane, you'll be with your fellow Longinus-wielder, Tobio Ikuse. A friend of mine."
Isane walked over to Tobio.
"And Kiba." Roxas turned his red eyes on Kiba. "You're with me. See you in about two weeks!" He called to everyone, and activated four magic-circles underneath them at the same time, sending everyone but Kiba and himself away.
Line Break
Koneko and Akasha
Koneko's jumped in the air, avoiding an attempted sweep-kick from Akasha, and threw a punch in return. Her fist impacted Akasha's face, but the Vampiress didn't even flinch. Instead, she swung her other leg up, catching Koneko by surprise and hitting her in the face.
Rias' Rook flew sideways, and landed on the soft ground. Jumping back to her feet, she redoubled her efforts to get her trainer to feel some sort of pain, and rushed at her.
Once she reached her, Koneko began swinging hard at Akasha, who, without even moving from her spot, managed to stop every attack she made. She leaned from side to side, making sure that Koneko's fists came agonizingly close to her, just to aggravate the white-haired midget even more, diverted her punches with her arms or hands, and even, in one case, blocked Koneko's punch with the centre of her forehead.
Koneko gave a hiss of pain at Akasha's last block, as her head was hard and resilient, more like punching a brick wall than anything. Capitalising on this opportunity, Akasha swung at Koneko with a hard roundhouse kick, caught her on the left side of her head, and sent her flying onto the ground.
"Nice try, Koneko." Akasha remarked, stepping forward. "I think I got a good idea of how you fight, in the last few hours."
"..." Koneko got to her feet silently, and looked at Akasha.
"Your strength, while rather weak, by the standards of Rooks I've seen in Rating Games, is sufficient to do noticeable damage to members of Riser's peerage, maybe even one individual member out in a single hit. Which, to be fair, isn't very impressive, as the members of Riser's peerage, with the exception of his Queen, and Riser himself, are all Low-Class Devils." Akasha stated. "However, that doesn't eliminate the possibility of improvement in your physical strength, though that's what those weighted braces are for."
"...Then what are you going to do to train me?" The still-on-the-ground Koneko asked.
"Simple." Akasha replied, waving her hand and creating several humanoid figures, purely out of what seemed to be blood. "Let's just say... I believe in learning on the job. So, get back on your feet before my Blood Soldiers make you stay down there. Also, kicks only or you'll regret it~"
Koneko jumped to her feet, and flipped away from one of the 'Blood Soldiers'. Landing on the ground, she swung her leg at the head of one of them, and the head, once her foot made contact with it, suddenly turned to liquid and collapsed, with the body still moving around, as if it hadn't just been decapitated.
"...Eww." Koneko muttered, as she realised that the blood was still on her leg, and had stained her sock and shoe. However, she had to ignore that and get out of the way of a would-be devastating punch, coming from another of the Blood Soldiers.
On instinct, Koneko thrust her fist at the chest of the Blood Soldier, and though her fist connected... It was almost crushed with how hard the surface of the Blood Soldier's chest had become.
Letting out a scream of pain, Koneko fell backwards onto the ground.
"I said kicks only, you know." Akasha remarked, lightly, as she took a crimson-red lollipop out of a pocket-dimension, it seemed, and stuck it in her mouth. "Now, back on your feet."
Rias and Akeno
"So, Rias." Akeno spoke to the crimson-haired beauty who she'd be training. "I'm curious. What kind of magic do you specialise in? Or in general. Do you do magic at all?"
"Well, yes. I do." Rias replied. "I'm good at healing magic, teleportation magic, magic-circle shields, and sleep-inducing magic. Though I specialise in the Power of Destruction."
"I see." Akeno replied, thinking for a moment. "Why sleep-inducing magic, though? Seems a bit out of left-field."
"Oh, my Queen has a Sacred Gear that sometimes causes her to go out of control." Rias replied. "I have to put her to sleep in order to snap her out of it."
"Fair enough." Akeno replied. "But with sleep-magic, teleportation-magic, and your Power of Destruction, though that doesn't exactly count as 'magic', per se, but it could still work."
"Why?" Rias asked. "Where are you going with this?"
"I just got an idea." Akeno replied. "You'll be fighting Riser Phenex in a Rating Game, I'm told. Which means you'll be fighting in an arena of sorts, correct?"
"Yes." Rias replied. "All Rating Games, of all kinds, take place in an arena. Why'd you ask?"
"Weeee-llll~" Akeno replied, drawing out the word with her sexy-as-hell voice. "I think it's better if I show you, isn't it?"
Akeno pointed at the space right below Rias' feet, and for a second, nothing happened. However, Rias felt the ground becoming slightly hot beneath her feet, and she looked down to see a light-yellow magic-circle appearing below her feet. In a surprising show of physical agility, Rias jumped into the air, and dodged the blast of Lightning that burst from the magic-circle, and landed behind it, glaring at Akeno, who giggled.
"What the hell was that?!" Rias cried. "That could have really hurt!"
"Yes. And it would have given me such a rush~" Akeno replied, licking her fingers seductively. "But anyway. My idea was that while in the Rating Game with Riser, you could layer concentrated bursts of sleep-magic, teleportation-magic, and your Power of Destruction, around the Rating Game field, like a minefield, to, well, put Riser's peerage members to sleep, teleport them away from your 'base', or just destroy them entirely."
"What?" Rias blinked. "How do you expect me to learn how to do that in a week?"
Right as Rias said that, a pale-blue magic-circle appeared right below her feet, and she suddenly found herself frozen to the ground she stood on, in a block of ice, with only her head exposed to the world.
"You forget, Rias~" Akeno replied, giggling in a slightly sadistic tone, as the ice began to melt around Rias. Once it fully melted, Rias became acutely aware that her school uniform was wetter than the pussy of an unsatisfied MILF in every porno ever. "I have about six months to train you, more or less~"
Line Break
At the end of the first month (in inside-the-chamber terms) of training that Rias and her peerage had been put through, and after an extremely good meal cooked for them and brought into the time chamber for them to eat by Akeno, Isane Hyoudou pulled on a pyjama-tank top emblazoned with the words 'Sleepy Girl', along with a set of short pyjama shorts, provided by Roxas in the small house (so small that it looked like little more than a shed from the outside) that had been created specifically for her to rest in.
She climbed into a large, Queen-sized bed (which she could only assume had been moved into the shed by Roxas beforehand), pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes, inwardly sighing at how comfortable the bed was.
As the current host of Ddraig felt herself drifting off, she tiredly reflected on the training that she had had with Tobio Ikuse. The focus of the training was in speed training, and the current host of the Inugami of the Black Blade hadn't held back in making sure that Isane got as fast as she could.
Overall, though she knew that the training would continue, and that she could barely walk from how hard she'd been trained, Isane was happy with the training she had received so far, and that she was able to keep up with Tobio (who was apparently incredibly strong and fast, even by supernatural standards) when he was coming at her semi-seriously. Even if that was only in short bursts, it was still a good thing, as in a life-or-death fight like the Rating Game was intended to simulate, Isane would need as much of an advantage over her hypothetical-opponents as she could get, even without the Boosted Gear.
With this thought in mind, Isane's head hit the pillow, and the current hostess of Ddraig was asleep at once.
In seemingly seconds, Isane felt herself waking up again, but she wasn't in the large bedroom of Roxas' Greek villa that she had fallen asleep in.
In short, she was in a completely white space. And by 'completely white space', I'm not kidding. The entire room (that was the closest description that Isane could come up with) was white, along with the furniture.
However, there appeared to be no-one here. Not one person was sat on any of the furniture that littered this area.
"Hello?" Isane blinked, and looked around. "What's going on?"
There was no response.
"Where am I?" Isane asked, not expecting a response. "This is kinda creeping me out."
Still, no response.
"Ddraig?" Isane called. "You here?"
For the third time, no response.
"Helllloooooooo?" Isane called, drawing out the word, and expecting even less of a response than the one he already got.
That made it all the more shocking when he heard a soft, melodious female voice speak, right behind him.
"Hello."
Isane gave a shriek of surprise, and jumped. Whirling around, her eyes set upon a beautiful-looking young woman, who had long, wavy blonde hair and a slim, yet voluptuous, figure. She wore a purple dress, and a head accessory.
Her eyes flicking to the woman's breasts, and then back into her light green eyes, Isane found her voice.
"Uh, hello." She replied. "Who are you? And where am I?"
"Well, to answer your first question, Isane Hyoudou." The woman replied. "My name is Elsha. Nice to meet you. And secondly, believe it or not, you're inside the Boosted Gear."
"Inside the Boosted Gear?" Isane repeated, wholly confused, while mentally acknowledging that she had heard Elsha's name before, coming from Ddraig. "Am I still asleep? Because I distinctly-"
"Oh, you're asleep, alright." Elsha replied, gesturing that Isane sit down on a sofa, which she did, with the blonde beauty sitting next to him. "This is just your unconscious mind talking to me."
"Then... why am I here?" Isane asked. Elsha chuckled.
"Well, I just wished to talk to you about a couple of things that have been happening, since I haven't checked in with you for a few days." She replied. "I like to have a look at the lives of my successors, every once in a while."
"Your... successors?" Isane repeated. "Wait... Ddraig mentioned your name... are you a previous host of the Boosted Gear?"
"I am." Elsha replied. "Not to brag, but I'm known as the second-strongest host, the strongest female host, of the Boosted Gear that there's ever been, behind Belzard."
Isane's draw dropped, and Elsha let out a chuckle.
"Yeah." Elsha replied. "Anyway." Her smile became slightly smaller. "When I checked in with you just now, and had a look at the past few days, I found that you, or to be more exact, your Master, Rias Gremory, have found themselves under the tutelage of one Roxas Gremory. I must say" she muttered. "I never expected Roxas to be the type to train someone, or agree to have them trained."
Isane blinked.
"You sound as if you knew Roxas." She spoke. "Wait, Ddraig said once that you 'got involved' with him."
"And he's right." Elsha replied, sighing. "Roxas... a day doesn't go by that I don't miss him."
"Miss him?" Isane blinked. "Were you... together?"
"Oh, sorry." Elsha replied. "I'm just rambling. And to answer your question, Isane, Roxas and I were together, yes. In the sense that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, that is."
And that's the seventh chapter of Nephalem of Gremory! Roxas has met Riser, agreed to train Rias, impersonated the aforementioned Riser (he'll be doing a few more tricks of that sort in the future), and Rias' peerage's training has begun! Also, it has been revealed that the strongest female host (and the downright sexiest host) of Ddraig was actually romantically involved with Roxas, in the past! What could possibly have caused their split (apart from her death)? Well, stick around and find out next chapter!
Now that that's done, what did you think of this chapter? Please, review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, just let me know in a review or PM (or talk to me on Discord (my name for it is on my profile)), as I really enjoy talking to readers!
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Sona: 77-57-83
Tsubaki: 94-59-88
Elsha: 91-54-87
Next Time: Elsha and Roxas, Mira's Training, Kiba's Training
Preview of Next Chapter:
"Ouch." She whispered. "That must have been horrible. But... why did Roxas leave after that?"
See you later~!