Anything you recognise isn't mine.
It had been a week since the Old Satan Faction's attack on the Rating Game between Zeoticus Gremory and Raven Branwen. After being taken to a Sitri Medical Facility as fast as a transportation-circle could be created, and after being treated for the injuries they had sustained, they both escaped the possibility of death, much to the relief of the Underworld (especially their respective families).
Zeoticus had been allowed to leave hospital two days after being admitted, though Raven, who had suffered much more grievous injuries than her fellow Clan Heads, was still under the care of the best doctors and nurses under the Sitri Clan's employ.
Speaking of Raven, she was lying in an extremely comfortable bed (by the standards of hospitals, at least), watching a news broadcast on the TV in the room, while munching on the lunch that had been given to her around twenty minutes earlier. Even though she was dressed in nothing but a light blue gown and her underwear (not counting the magical bandages wrapped around her waist, where the wasp created by Shyelin Beelzebub had impaled her), she still managed to look as classy as she usually did.
While she swallowed down the last remnants of the first half of her chicken salad sandwich, she heard a knock on her door, followed by said door opening a second or so later, revealing a young woman with purple hair tied up into an off-centre ponytail, dressed in a regular nurse uniform.
Raven looked up, silently staring at the nurse who had interrupted her lunch.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Lady Raven," the nurse inclined her head to Raven. "But you have a visitor. It's Roxas Gremory."
"Roxas?" Raven blinked, setting down the second half of her sandwich (which she had just picked up). "It's fine, Asuna. Send him in."
Asuna nodded, and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her as Raven reached for the TV remote, and turned the TV off as the door opened again, revealing Roxas, as Asuna had said seconds ago, walking into the room, and shutting the door behind him.
The first thing Raven noticed was that Roxas was dressed in slightly more formal attire than one usually saw him in, consisting of an unbuttoned charcoal suit jacket, a plain black t-shirt, black slim trousers and black shoes.
It was definitely a change, and Raven liked it a lot.
"Hi, Raven." Roxas greeted his former teacher, taking a seat on one of the chairs that were in the room.
"Hey." Raven shifted herself into a more comfortable position, and greeted Roxas in return. "What's the occasion?" she asked, gesturing to Roxas' attire, which Roxas looked down at.
"This?" he shrugged. "It's Vasco's funeral today. I'm on my way there now with Asia and Xenovia: they're just outside. They didn't want to come in."
"I see." Raven replied. "You know, I've been hearing that you took Vasco under your wing as a student of yours. Taught him everything he knew. Made him into one of the strongest Exorcists the world had ever seen once you were done with him."
Roxas nodded, not even considering denying Raven's statement.
"I did." he replied. "It was the right thing to do. He asked for help, I gave him help. It paid off. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
"Not in the slightest." Raven smirked, sitting up and looking over at Roxas. "Just impressed that one of my students became a teacher in turn, is all."
"What can I say?" Roxas smirked himself, resting his hands behind his head. "I aim to please."
"I'm sure the numerous women you've bedded can attest to that." Raven retorted, without skipping a beat, and provoking a sharp laugh from the Nephalem in front of her. "So, what else has been going on with you?"
"Well, Valian got herself two peerage members." Roxas replied. "In the form of Shyelin and Catora. They were quite happy to accept their roles once I managed to pull out their submissive side. Turns out they were just like Katerea in that regard."
"I guess." Raven nodded, looking down at crumbs of bread on her bedsheets before brushing them away. "You know, before the Civil War, before you were born, I used to be friends with Shyelin. Friends with benefits."
"Really?" Roxas looked up. "Shyelin? What changed?"
"I'm sure you can guess." Raven replied. "After the Great War stopped, and the Underworld was left without leaders, Shyelin joined her fellow Old Satan cunts in trying to take over the Devil race and continue the Great War, which would've resulted in our extinction." Raven then looked up at Roxas, and took a breath.
"I tried to make Shyelin see reason, told her exactly what would happen if she and her ilk were to continue the Great War, but she didn't listen to me." Raven remarked. "So, I left her. Alongside Qrow. Both of us refused to associate with the Beelzebub Clan from then on, and we joined up with the Anti-Satan Faction, led by Sirzechs, Serafall, Ajuka and Fianna."
"I see." Roxas replied. "Well, that's interesting. As well as hot. The mental image of you and Shyelin fucking, that is." he added, at Raven's raised eyebrow.
"Well, that girl could do mean things with her tongue, I'll give her that much." she replied. "How are she and Catora adjusting to peerage life?"
"Pretty well, as far as seven days in goes." Roxas replied. "They make good maids, as well as bed-warmers. You are damn right, Shyelin can do mean things with her tongue. Catora's got one of the best asses I've ever fucked, I might add."
"There's the perv I know and tolerate." Raven muttered, rolling her eyes, as Roxas chuckled in agreement.
"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is." he remarked. "Anyway. How have things been going with you? Apart from being here in hospital, that is."
"Well, Ruby and Yang have joined up with the peerage of the Sitri Heir." Raven replied. "They were in here a few days ago, and they've transferred into Kuoh Academy. You'll probably see them on Monday- since you're a teacher there now, I believe?"
"I am." Roxas replied. Raven nodded, and continued.
"Well, after the Rating Game with Zeoticus, I was planning to become a teacher at that school as well, in order to keep an eye on them, you know?" she informed Roxas, who blinked in surprise. "But I'm sure you can imagine that this" she gestured to herself, "postponed that by quite a while."
"Yeah." Roxas replied. "You're coming out of hospital soon, right?"
"In a few days, yeah." Raven replied. "I'll be back to normal before you know it."
"Or the closest thing to what could be called 'normal'." Roxas replied, yawning. "You become a teacher just because of Ruby and Yang, or was there any... other, reason?" he asked, a smile playing about his lips. Raven, however, was not amused.
"Don't push it, Gremory." she retorted, her voice hard. "The fact that you happen to teach at Kuoh Academy has nothing to do with why I'm coming there too. Though I do have to admit..." she looked Roxas up and down. "You certainly are better-looking than the little kid I sparred with, way back when."
"Thank you." Roxas replied, taking out his phone and looking at the time. "Shit, I better get going. See you soon, Raven."
Roxas got up and walked over to Raven, leaning down so the two could share a hug. In spite of her being slightly shakier than she would have been normally (due to her lingering injuries), Raven still hugged her silver-haired student, and let go when he pulled back. The Branwen Clan Head smiled and bade Roxas goodbye when he left the room, shutting the door behind him again.
Line Break
An hour and a half after Roxas (accompanied by Asia and Xenovia) had left the hospital, and arrived at Vasco's old Calabrian farmhouse (which had been left to the Church, as Vasco had intended it to be converted into a home for orphaned children), he, Asia, Xenovia, and twelve other individuals filed out of the home into the garden, where what could be recovered of Vasco's body (as in his upper half. His bottom half had long since been digested by the Demon that had appeared during the OSF's attack, which Roxas later destroyed) was to be buried.
As Vasco's remains, which were wrapped in some white material, was slowly levitated through the garden towards a hole that had been dug for it, Roxas looked around at some of the individuals that were also attending Vasco's funeral.
Gabriel was stood beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and silently crying. Roxas reached out and wrapped an arm around her, as a gesture of silent comfort. Michael was stood a few paces beside Roxas and Gabriel, looking solemn, with two of his Brave Saints, Pit and Dulio, flanking him.
Dulio Gesualdo, the only 'Joker' of the Brave Saints, was a young man looking to be in his early-twenties, with blond hair and green eyes. Dressed in extravagant-looking priest clothing. He was the possessor of Zenith Tempest, the second-strongest Longinus, which, alongside his great skills in exorcism, made him an immensely powerful opponent. He was someone who Roxas considered to be on his level, in terms of power.
Xenovia and Asia (who were both wearing black dresses) were stood with Irina and Griselda (who were also wearing black dresses), and Roxas also saw Azazel standing with Steve Rodgers and Wanda Maximoff.
Up until nearly two hours ago, Roxas would never have expected Steve to appear at Vasco's funeral, but it was revealed to him (and those in attendance of Vasco's funeral, if they didn't know already) that Steve was the leader of the combat unit of soldiers that Vasco had been placed into during World War 2. Needless to say, that came as a small shock to the silver-haired Nephalem.
Also attending the service were three individuals who Roxas wasn't on as good terms with as he was with everyone else in attendance: Alexander Anderson, Ewald Cristaldi and Enrico Maxwell.
Anderson was a very tall middle-aged-looking man, several inches taller than Roxas, with short, spiky gold hair, blue eyes, heavily-tanned skin and light facial hair, with a large scar on his left cheek. He wore a long, grey trench-coat, round glasses, a large white cassock with blue trim and interior, black pants, boots and shirt, white gloves and a silver cross around his neck.
Ewald Cristaldi was also a middle-aged man (though he looked slightly younger than Anderson), with black hair and blue eyes, dressed in similar priest vestments to that of Dulio's.
Enrico Maxwell was a tall and slender man, a couple of inches taller than Roxas was, and one could see purple garb underneath the black jacket that he wore. He kept his long, silvery-white hair in a ponytail, and his eyes appeared to be violet in colour.
Putting his feelings about the three latter individuals aside (as now wasn't the time to get into a fight with Anderson, one of the strongest Exorcists in the world), Roxas watched Vasco's remains placed into a casket, which was lowered into the ground, where dirt was placed on top of it, completing the burial.
Michael snapped his fingers, and conjured up a headstone where Vasco's body now lay, with words etched into it. It read: "HERE LIES VASCO STRADA, HERO OF THE CHURCH. DIED AT 91 YEARS OLD, REST IN PEACE"
There was silence for a moment, before several people began slowly walking back to the farmhouse a few dozen yards away, as food was being prepared for them there. However, Roxas and Gabriel were among the few that stayed a bit longer.
"It's k-kinda hard to believe that he's gone for good, isn't it?" Gabriel mumbled, while she dried her tears on her sleeve, before looking up at Roxas.
"Yeah." Roxas replied, looking down at the mound of dirt under which Vasco's body lay, before looking into Gabriel's gorgeous face. "I mean, we all knew that he'd go one day, but it doesn't take away from any of the shock when it happened. It just seemed like he'd be one of those things that, well, stayed forever, you know what I mean?"
Gabriel nodded, wiping some more remnants of tears from her eyes before she took a breath, calming herself.
"Yeah, I get what you mean." she replied, releasing Roxas from her one-armed hug (as he did to her) and stepping away. "I'm gonna get something to eat and talk with Michael. Want to come?"
"I'll pass." Roxas replied, looking back at Vasco's grave, at which Anderson, Cristaldi and Maxwell were still standing. "Might come later, though." In spite of his rejection, Gabriel smiled.
"Okay." she replied. "The offer still stands if you change your mind, though."
The strongest female Angel gently pressed her lips against Roxas' for a few seconds, then walked away. As he looked after her, Roxas swore that he could see a blush forming on Gabriel's pretty face as she walked, but didn't call her out on it. Instead, he stayed at Vasco's grave for a few more moments, and then walked back to the farmhouse.
Instead of heading into the house, as he wasn't hungry, Roxas elected to sit on one of the chairs that was outside the house, and check some things on his phone for a few minutes. As he sat silently, he heard the door to Vasco's house opening, and someone walking towards him.
When Roxas sensed that the person walking towards him was right behind him, he turned around to see who it was, and registered that the person was Steve Rodgers, holding one half-eaten sandwich in one hand and holding another one in the other.
"Hey." Steve greeted his fellow SSPCH member, offering the sandwich to him. "I thought you might be hungry."
Roxas regarded Steve silently for a second, before holding his hand out.
"A bit." he replied. "Thanks."
Steve smiled and handed the uneaten sandwich to Roxas, before walking over to one of the other chairs, pulling it closer to Roxas, and taking a seat in it while taking another bite out of his sandwich. The two men sat in silence, eating their sandwiches, before Steve broke the silence.
"You know, I never thought that you'd be the one who taught Vasco what he knew about sword-based combat, Roxas. I figured that he just picked it up from the Church."
"Really?" Roxas replied, looking over at Steve, a smile coming to his face. "Well, I never figured that you'd have been the head of the unit that Vasco joined when he went off to fuck up Hitler's shit in World War 2."
Steve adjusted his position in the chair he sat in.
"Yeah, I guess not." he replied. "Well, you did a good job teaching Vasco. Guy could take down more HYDRA soldiers with a sword than most of my fellow gun-wielding soldiers. He was amazing to watch in the field: practically superhuman, I'd say."
"You'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?" Roxas replied, his smile growing slightly wider. Steve chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess I would." he replied. "Though if what people have said about Vasco's exploits during the time I've been in the ice are true, he was past the point of being superhuman and practically supernatural."
Roxas nodded.
"Yeah, you don't say." he replied. "Even at 91, he could even give me a good run for my money in a spar, which is saying a lot."
Steve nodded.
"Mmhmm." he nodded. "Speaking of you, how've you been doing? I don't believe we've spoken since the last SSPCH meeting."
"Well, apart from my second-favourite human to ever live biting the dust," Roxas replied, jerking his head to Vasco's grave (which Anderson, Cristaldi and Maxwell were walking away from, conversing amongst themselves), "I've been pretty good. Got a couple of new weapons, my old girlfriend's been revived, we've made amends, and my Queen has a couple of new peerage members as well. So yeah, things are okay right now. How about you?"
"Fair enough." Steve replied. "And I've been alright. Even if there was a breach on the Hellicarrier a month ago, where an important file on the Hulk was stolen. By a little girl that Natasha called 'Neo'."
"Oh, uh... heheh." Roxas replied, finishing the last of his sandwich and scratching the back of his head. "That was me."
"What?" Steve blinked.
"I was behind that." Roxas replied. "Neo grabbing that file on the Hulk, that is. I ordered her to do that."
Steve opened his mouth to say something (probably something indignant, Roxas guessed), but Roxas spoke before Steve even had the chance to.
"I know what you're gonna say, Steve. Before you chew me out about trust and shit, I just want to say that I needed to have a weapon that could stop Hulk made for myself by someone I know, and I figured that SHIELD would have a file on the big green bastard and ways of taking him down."
Steve closed his mouth, opting to hear Roxas out.
"Under different circumstances, I would've probably asked Slick Rick to lend me the file, rather than had Neo go for it." The silver-haired Nephalem continued. "But given what's going on with Hulk right now, as in no-one knows where the hell he is, I didn't have time to consider the chance of him saying no when Hulk could show up at a second's notice, potentially 10 times more dangerous than he was when anyone last saw him."
Steve looked down, considering what Roxas had said. On one hand, it was true that he was fiercely loyal to the Avengers, and to SHIELD, which he would defend, to the point of laying down his life for them, in an instant if need be, but on the other, what Roxas had said was absolutely true.
There had been no confirmed sightings of the Hulk since the battle of Sokovia, between the Avengers and Ultron, an AI that Tony had created in a misguided attempt to defend the world against potential threats that could arise in the future, nearly two months ago.
No-one knew how he had left (though there were several ways that it could have been done, all of which as unlikely as each other), and no-one knew where he had gone, though a group of SHIELD agents (with Natasha among them) had taken a trip to Nepal as soon as rumours of a sighting of him reached them. However, they were unable to uncover any evidence that Hulk had ever been anywhere close to Nepal.
Steve knew that Fury was beginning to suspect that some supernatural forces had gotten a hold of Hulk, and he was inclined to agree. He looked up at Roxas, who was looking back towards Vasco's grave, a pensive expression on his face.
"Y-yeah." He uttered, as Roxas looked back at him. "I guess you're right, Roxas."
"Of course I am." Roxas replied. "Being around 17 times your age will do that to you, most of the time." Before Steve could even perform the maths required to comprehend what Roxas was saying, he added "Your years in the ice don't count."
Steve didn't reply. He and Roxas both heard the door to the farmhouse opening, and someone else walking out, turning, and coming towards them: Wanda Maximoff.
"Hey, Wanda." Roxas greeted the youngest Avenger, a grin on his face.
"Hi." Wanda smiled back to Roxas, nodding to him before looking at Steve. "Steve, I just got a call from the base. They need us back as soon as possible."
Steve nodded and stood up, as Wanda created a transportation-circle large enough to fit two people in it, something which Roxas raised an eyebrow at.
"Wanda's begun training to become a certified Magician." Steve explained to Roxas, while standing up. "She was recommended to Rosenkreutzer by someone named Imogen Belial. I think she told me that you know each other?"
"We do." Roxas replied. "Though at this point, I think it goes beyond 'knowing each other'." He raised an eyebrow at Wanda. "If you get what I mean, Wanda."
Wanda blushed, as Steve walked over to the transportation-circle.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to these." he muttered, as he stepped into it. "Well, see you when I see you again, Roxas."
"Same to you, Cap." Roxas nodded to Steve, as Wanda activated the transportation-circle, causing herself and Steve to disappear from where they were, leaving Roxas alone.
Just as the sound of Wanda's transportation-circle activating faded away, the door opened again, and Asia and Xenovia came out. Roxas noticed them, and stood up.
"Hey, you two."
"Hello Roxas." Xenovia greeted her King. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but do you know when we'll be leaving?"
"Go whenever you want." Roxas replied, stretching and pulling out his phone to look at it, before placing it on the chair he was sat on, and snapping his fingers.
The semi-formal attire that Roxas had on was magically replaced with a more casual outfit, consisting of a grey jacket over a red tank top, and faded black jeans.
"I've got something else that needs doing today, anyway." Roxas added to his Knight and one of his Pawns, as he picked up his phone again. "See you when I come back to the house. Which will probably be around a few hours."
Roxas then waved to Asia and Xenovia, and disappeared in a transportation-circle of his own creation, coming out a couple of seconds later outside a large-looking house, on a street in Kyoto, Japan.
Several Youkai (mostly Nekomata) could be seen walking around, but Roxas paid them no mind as he walked towards the house that he had just appeared out of, and knocked on the door.
Roxas calmly waited, checking his phone again, for fifteen seconds, at the end of which the door opened, revealing Kali Belladonna, dressed in a yukata-style shirt and matching skirt. She smiled at the sight of Roxas standing in front of her.
"Hi, Roxas." she greeted the Nephalem. "You doing alright?"
"I'm good, Kali." Roxas replied. "You know why I'm here."
"That I do." Kali replied, stepping back and gesturing into the house. "Please, come in."
Roxas obeyed, and entered Kali's house, before Kali shut the door behind him.
Line Break
Meanwhile, on the middle of three Zeppelin airships that currently housed the bulk of Millennium's forces, which was flying slowly towards the island of the United Kingdom, the Major was stood in a conference room-type area, addressing his eight chief subordinates: The Doctor, The Captain, Rip van Winkle, Zorin Blitz, Schrödinger, Kalawarner, Pietro Maximoff and Bucky Barnes. All of them, sans The Doctor and Schrödinger, were stood in front of the Major in a line: Doctor and Schrödinger were stood on either side of the Major, yet slightly behind him.
Rip van Winkle, who was standing between the Captain and Zorin Blitz, was a tall, lanky young woman who appeared to be in her early-twenties. She had glowing blue eyes, freckled cheeks, and long, blue-tinted black hair that reached down to her knees. A few bangs stood up from her head, including a particularly long lock of hair that ended in a curl. Her outfit consisted of a dark blue-purple suit, a dark pink dress shirt, green tie and black shoes.
She also wore glasses and white gloves, and carried a musket in one hand. She also wore a large silver Swastika pendant, as though standing in the company of, and being in subordination to, one of the only Nazis left alive didn't make her enough of a Nazi.
"Achtung!" the Major called his most powerful commanders to attention. "It's time to hear who will have the privilege of sieging the three capital cities of the Former Grand Alliance, so silence! Schweigen!"
And there was silence.
"Thank you." The Major spoke, his voice softer. "Now, let's get started. Winkle!"
Rip van Winkle looked up from an inspection of her musket.
"According to our radar, there is a ship just off the coast of England, which we are approaching. Once we are over it, you will take 50 of our Fallen Angel/Vampire forces, and seize the vessel."
"Understood, Major." Van Winkle replied, inclining her head to the Major, who turned to Zorin and Pietro.
"Blitz and Maximoff! You will transport yourselves over to one of the other Zeppelins in our fleet, and use it to storm the Hellsing Manor. 100 of our forces will accompany you, and I don't want to see any sign that it was ever there in the first place once you're done with it. Am I clear?"
"Transparently, Major." Zorin replied, while Pietro nodded, a grin on his face.
"Good." the Major smiled, before turning to the Fallen Angel/Vampire Hybrid Kalawarner. "Kalawarner!"
Kalawarner silently looked at the Major, showing that she was listening.
"The storming of Washington D.C. will take far more forces than the storming of Hellsing Manor and the ship we are approaching. I have already dispatched 350 of our forces to the city, and they are currently situated in underground bunkers, waiting for my word to begin the attack. You will oversee them. I'm also giving you the go-ahead to use the green serum that the Doctor has been working on, which will be provided to you once this meeting is adjourned. Any questions?"
"Yes, Major." Kalawarner replied, stepping forward. Her voice was still as cold and robotic as it had always been. "What if the Avengers show up?"
"Ah, yes." the Major closed his eyes. "The Avengers. If they appear, which they likely will, you have free reign to slaughter the lot of them, except for one Captain America, as Doctor here would like to study the effects that the serum running through his veins has on his body, and one Tony Stark. His skills in invention are second to none, and would be incredibly useful to us."
"Understood." Kalawarner replied, stepping back into line and bowing her head, while the Major moved onto addressing the next person in line.
"Barnes! You will be the one to storm Moscow. Similarly to Washington D.C, 1000 of our forces have already been dispatched to the city, and similarly, again, to D.C, they are hiding out and waiting for my order to..." the Major gave a chuckle. "Bring them hell."
The Winter Soldier said, and did, nothing.
"Anyway, ahem." The Major cleared his throat. "When the attack begins, you will supervise it. I have high hopes for you Barnes, as you're by far the best thing we found from the remnants of HYDRA, and that's including the weapons we found when we stormed their former base six months ago."
The Winter Soldier, again, neither said or did anything.
"And, one more thing." The Major concluded his little spiel to Bucky. "Going along with my words to Kalawarner, if the Avengers, including Steve Rodgers, are to appear, his location will be reported to me, and I will move you to his location, so you are to take him in. I've heard about your previous encounters, and believe that using you against him will be the best way to bring him in, and I want him alive."
Bucky nodded, but did not speak.
"Captain!" The Major then addressed the werewolf in the room. "When Alucard arrives in London, you will take action and confront the Vampire. Do not worry yourself with supervising the 500 of our forces that will attack London, we already have an inside informant who will oversee them."
The Captain gave a sort of mixture between a grunt and a growl, and nodded.
"Well, that's all I have to say for you!" The Major jubilantly waved his six combat-oriented commanders away. "Dismissed!"
The six individuals (one Werewolf, four Vampires and one Fallen Angel/Vampire Hybrid) all left, as the Major sighed contentedly, his eyes closed, and turned to The Doctor and Schrödinger.
"Doctor, Warrant Officer," the Major chuckled, before opening his eyes. "The greatest night of war in mankind's history draws near."
Line Break
"Alright, Roxas." Kali, who was sat on a chair in her living room, sipping from a cup of tea, and watching Roxas, who was stood up next to her. "Try to create a clone of yourself, then get it to do something for you. I'll step in and help you out if you have difficulty doing it, okay?"
"Okay." Roxas replied, putting down his cup of tea, taking a breath and holding one of his hands out. "Thanks."
Doing his best to remember the tips Kali gave him the last time he visited Kyoto (which was a couple of days after he reconciled with Elsha), Roxas focused on his life energy, and trying to bring it to life in the form of an illusion of himself: a common Youjutsu spell.
It took him a moment to fully finish the illusion, but once it was done, it was done well. From where Kali was sitting, and if she didn't know that Roxas had just created the second version of himself, she wouldn't have been able to tell the two Roxas' apart, on appearances alone.
Still holding out his hand, Roxas began to outstretch his other hand, which began to glow with silver energy: his Power of Twilight. Focusing his Power of Twilight onto the illusion of himself, both Roxas and Kali saw before their eyes that the illusion began to become more... solid. And after another moment, it was done: Roxas had created a clone of himself.
Kali smiled at her student, and looked over the clone of Roxas that had just been created. By the standards of someone who had just had two lessons so far in manipulating their own life-force (or life-energy, or chi, or aura, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it), and combining said life-force with other energies that came to them naturally as a result of what they were, it was a pretty good clone.
It didn't look like it was about to fall apart, which was a definite plus. Roxas had also remembered to include clothes on the illusion-turned-clone of him this time around (last time Roxas had created a clone of himself, he had forgotten to include that detail, which left Kali with a front-row seat to the sight of a naked version of Roxas, which she liked a lot (even in spite of having a wife)).
However, when seen side-by-side with the real Roxas, Kali could tell that the clone of Roxas was just that: a clone. And a rookie-created one, at that. It stood as still as a stone, not moving even a nanometre from where he was, rather than the small movements you would see on any proper being's body (such as the movements that came with breathing). It also seemed to pulsate slightly with Roxas' Twilight energy.
But those were all small things that Kali planned on teaching Roxas to do later. For now, the fact remained that he'd managed to create a clone of himself.
"Alright, good." Kali complimented Roxas. "Now, how about you give it an order to do something. Doesn't have to be verbal, just tell the clone to perform an action, and hopefully it'll do it."
"Right." Roxas replied, looking back at the clone. There was silence for a few seconds before the clone began to walk towards the kitchen. Kali noted that the clone's movements seemed incredibly stiff and robotic. Another little thing that they would have to work on in the future.
"What did you tell it to do?" Kali asked of Roxas, setting her teacup down on the arm of her chair.
"Get a book off the kitchen table." Roxas replied. "I saw one in there when you were making tea for us. Think it was called 'Ninjas of Love' or something?" Kali nodded.
"Fair enough." she replied. "Nice and simple." a small blush then came over her face, which Roxas noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing." Kali replied, as she saw the clone of Roxas returning, with the book in hand. "It's just... can I have the book? Blake won't let me read it, and I haven't had the time to go out and buy a copy for myself."
"Sure." Roxas replied, taking the book from the clone of himself after it was handed to him, then handed it to Kali. "Knock yourself out. Or rub yourself out, I don't know."
"I will." Kali replied, placing the book down just beside her cup of tea, before standing up. Her cat-ears twitched slightly. "But that aside, I'm happy that you didn't forget what I taught you immediately after the first lesson we had."
"Yeah, I guess I didn't." Roxas replied. "Pretty sure I still suck in comparison to clones created by more experienced beings."
"Bluntly? Yes, you do." Kali replied. Then, to Roxas' surprise, Kali began to fade away in a sort of dark-yellowish smoke, before his eyes, which widened as he stepped forward.
"What the hell?" he muttered, as Kali fully faded away (as did the clone of himself that he had created, he was so surprised). "Kali?"
"Although..." Kali's voice then came from directly behind Roxas. The silver-haired Nephalem whipped around, and saw Kali standing a couple of paces behind him, wearing a translucent nightgown and... nothing else, it seemed. "That doesn't mean you can't improve, of course."
Roxas was too busy taking in the sight of Kali's bare nipples and pussy through the gown (which was, needless to say, extremely pleasing to his eyes) to immediately reply to what she had said. Shaking his head slightly, he looked up at Kali, who was giving him a cat-like smirk.
"Like what you see, Roxas?" Kali asked. "My eyes are up here, by the way."
"You try to find a straight guy that doesn't like a MILF-neko standing damn near naked in front of him." Roxas replied. "But anyway, how-?"
"It was a clone of Kali, genius." a new voice replied, and another woman appeared through a door off to the right.
The woman had orange eyes, a dark complexion and wild black, chin-length hair with an asymmetrical bob style. She had a pair of on the top of her head, coloured orange, and her body seemed to be adorned with numerous tattoos that resembled tiger stripes. She wore two earrings on her left cat-ear, and a small jewel on her forehead. She was just as scantily-dressed as Kali was... perhaps even more so, as what she wore amounted to a bra, pair of panties and pair of stockings that looked to be made of leather, as well as heeled boots that were also made of leather.
"Be nice, Sienna." Kali gently chided the newly-introduced Sienna, before looking over at Roxas. "But she's right. That was a clone of me that I created to start the lesson with you, Roxas. We were busy doing something that... overran, slightly, so I hope you can forgive me."
"Y-yeah, I guess I can." Roxas replied, feeling his boner (which was beginning to stir) grow rapidly at the thought of Kali and the other woman (whose name he guessed was Sienna), having sex. His boner grew still further at the thought of being in the middle of such a session. "Anyway, who's the other woman?"
"Sienna Khan." Kali replied. "My wife. And top."
"Nice." Roxas muttered to himself, looking Sienna up and down. Sienna noticed, and narrowed her eyes at Roxas as Kali started talking again.
"Anyway, shall we continue with the lesson?" she asked, as Sienna left, muttering something about needing a shower.
"Sure." Roxas replied, taking a breath and preparing to create another clone of himself, as Kali sat down in the chair that her clone had been sat in just a few seconds ago.
Line Break
She had finally made it.
After several weeks of being chased across Europe by people that she wanted nothing to do with, Jeanne had made it to Greece. Or more specifically, the area of Greece that she knew that the man she wanted to get to, Roxas Gremory, resided, the region of East Attica.
Located in the quiet seaside village of Grammatiko, the house that Roxas was said to have inhabited (thanks to the word of some of the locals that she had talked to) was less a house, and more one of those enormous holiday villas that Jeanne remembered reading about in magazines that her former host's parents owned.
Taking a breath to calm herself, Jeanne walked up the hill that Roxas' villa was located on, marvelling at how pristene the place looked, and just how picturesque the whole surrounding area seemed to be.
Once she reached the door to Roxas' villa, she muttered a quick prayer to God, and knocked on the door, before stepping back and waiting. She fidgeted nervously as a moment passed, but looked up as the door was opened up, and a girl stood in the doorway: she was blonde, same as her, slightly shorter than Jeanne in height.
She looked to be a couple of years younger than her as well. If Jeanne had to guess, she would have pinned the girl's age to be around 17, 16 at the youngest. The girl smiled as she looked up at Jeanne.
"Oh, hello!" the girl greeted Jeanne. "Can I help you?"
"Um, yes." Jeanne replied, looking left and right before speaking again. "Is... is Roxas Gremory in?"
The girl blinked, looking slightly confused.
"N-no, he isn't." the girl replied. "He said he'd be gone a few hours after the funeral. And it's been a few hours, so I hope he's back soon." she looked back at Jeanne, slight caution on her face. "Do you need him for something?"
"You could say." Jeanne replied. "I need to speak with him about something."
"Who're you talking to, Asia?" another female voice came from inside the house, and a blue-haired girl with brown eyes came to the door as well. "Who's this?"
"I don't know, Xenovia." Asia replied. "She just... showed up a couple of minutes ago, asking to speak with Roxas."
"Hmm." Xenovia replied, looking at Jeanne. Her brown eyes met Jeanne's light purple ones, before looking her general person up and down. After a few seconds, she stepped back, and Asia did the same.
"Well, come in." Xenovia calmly offered to Jeanne. "I'll call Roxas. Asia, you get her something to drink if that's what she wants." She then left, as Jeanne cautiously stepped into the house.
"Would you like something to drink?" Asia asked of Jeanne, who swallowed, as her throat was dry.
"Y-yes please." she replied, sitting down on one of the couches offered to her as Asia walked into a kitchen area that Jeanne could see, and poured her a glass of water.
As Asia came back, glass in hand, Jeanne took a breath. She was in the home of Roxas Gremory, the very guy that she wanted to talk to. All she had to do...
Was wait.
And that's the thirty-eighth chapter of Nephalem of Gremory! Vasco has finally been laid to rest, and Roxas and Steve have pretty much entirely made up (even if I doubt Steve approves very much of the idea of Roxas having ordered the theft of the file on Hulk (see Chapter 33)), he's getting lessons from Kali Belladonna, aka HOTTEST CAT MOM, Jeanne d'Arc has arrived at his home, and, well, as the Major said, the time of Millennium making their move draws ever-closer.
Regarding Kali, even if she's married to Sienna, I think more people would be surprised than not if she WASN'T in Roxas' harem. I mean my description of her says it all: HOTTEST. CAT. MOM. What's not to love (apart from possibly the fact that she's from RWBY, but if that's the case for you, then you got more problems than I care to get into here)? And as for Sienna...? Well, you'll just have to wait and see if things get kinky between her and Roxas.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Whether you did or you didn't, please leave a review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback, of any kind. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, or just have questions for me (because I'll be happy to answer them), let me know in a review, drop me a PM or hit me up on Discord (my name for it is on my profile)!
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Rip Van Winkle: 87-54-86
Sienna Khan: 89-56-93
Next Time: Roxas Meets Jeanne, Rias' Peerage Training
Preview of Next Chapter:
"I- I need to do this!" Isane cried, dashing at Elsha and throwing two punches and a kick. "It's the only way I can impress him; get him to notice me!"
Seeya!