Here it is, chapter 2

*Underworld - Lilith*

Zerius walked out of the Lilith Government Building. As he did so, he released a sigh. "So, fun part's taken care of. Now I've just got to go back to Kuoh tomorrow and scare Rias and Sona a bit. That should be interesting." A magic circle formed under him as he teleported away.

Zerius appeared in front of his home, the Satan Mansion in a flash of blue light. The mansion, an onyx colored Western style palace, was a massive construct, taking up about three football fields worth of space and being six stories high.

The man walked lazily into the building. As he walked in, he was greeted by his queen, Esdeath Partas.

"Oh, well it seems that you've returned Lord Zerius." She said. Esdeath was a tall, curvy woman with light blue hair and matching eyes. She wore a white general's uniform accented by a matching hat and high heeled boots.

"Yeah, so it would seem." He said. "I've got to go back to the human world tomorrow." An idea suddenly occurred to him. "Why don't you come with me Esdeath? We can hang out a bit after we do the job. It's been awhile since I've explored the human world anyway. It'll be fun." the white haired man stated.

"Y-you mean like a date?" Esdeath asked with a blush.

"A date?" Zerius wondered aloud. "Sure, why not. We can go to a fancy restaurant. I'll even book a hotel room for afterwards. You'll have all to yourself for the night.". He finished with a grin.

Esdeath smiled. "Yes, that would great." She said happily.

Zerius chuckled. "Yeah. Anyway, I'll take care of everything. You should get some rest." He stated.

Esdeath happily complied as she turned around and practically skipped deeper into the mansion.

Zerius watched the woman walk away. "It can be hard to believe that that woman is actually a major sadist." Zerius said after Esdeath left the room.

"Oh, there is no need to be coy" A voice said from the other side of the room. "You're the only one who she behaves like that around."

Zerius looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a tall woman in a revealing red dress.

She sported quite the developed figure. Her Pink hair and eyes were accented by the two horns sticking out of her head. She was perfectly proportioned with a large bust and round rear end, but also spring a thin waist and strong yet supple limbs. This was none other that Roygun Satan,formerly Belphegor, Zerius's beloved wife.

"Roygun." Zerius said, his smile widening. "My dearest wife has blessed her unworthy husband by appearing before him." He joked.

She chuckled. "Well, what can I say? I was eager to see you again." She walked up to the taller man.

Zerius, without a moment of hesitation, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in close. In a second, there lips were locked in a passionate kiss. The two quickly became lost in each other's embrace. It was a long kiss. They held the kiss for almost half a minute. When the two finally separated, their lips were still connected by a thin strand of saliva.

When the strand broke, Zerius decided to speak. "Well that's just not fair." He said. "You know I can't resist you."

"I know", she responded as took a step back. "I am your wife after all. If I couldn't tempt you, you might get yourself seduced by some low class gold digger, and no woman that I don't approve of is allowed to experience the beautiful dance of flesh with my dear husband." She stated.

"Hmm" Zerius hummed. "As much as I would love to cement our union, I have things that I need to do. So this will have to wait for another time." He gave his wife one more hug before walking away. After a minute of walking, he found himself in front a simple wooden door. Opening it, he entered a simple room furnished by a bed, a nightstand, and several chairs surrounding a table. In one of the chairs, sat Asia Argento.

He figured that since Asia didn't actually seems dangerous or hostile, it would be better for her to stay in the Satan Mansion then in a prison cell. Zerius took a seat on the couch across from her.

"So Asia," Zerius began. "How has the underworld been treating you up till now?" He asked.

She looked away from him. "W-W-Well, uh, I-" she stuttered. The blonde girl was sweating. She was obviously terrified.

'What she freaking out about?' Zerius thought before it hit him. 'Duh, I'm like the embodiment of everything she was tuaght to fear and despise. I'm a devil, a murderer, and to top that off I'm the son of Satan. No wonder she's freaking out. It's amazing she hasn't crapped herself.' "You don't need to worry. It's not like I'm gonna hurt you. And Albedo, or anyone else in this building won't touch you unless I give the okay, which I won't. So you can chill out." He tried to calm the girl down.

"Uh, O...kay then." She replied quietly.

"Good." Zerius stated. So any questions? I'm sure you must have a couple."

Asia sat silently for a moment. After seemingly gathering courage, she spoke. "...Well, if I may ask…...what was Lucifer like?" She asked quietly, her head down. "I was taught that all devil's are evil and cruel, but after meeting devil's like you and Issei, I do not know anymore. I think maybe if I knew what the original devil was like…..maybe, it would help me come to a conclusion."

"Hmm?" Zerius thought for a moment. "Well, I guess he was decent enough." The white haired man stated. "He was arrogant as hell though and he really hated the biblical god for banishing him to the underworld. Though I think he got over that for the most part before he died. But I'm curious, why did you call him the original devil?"

Asia looked somewhat confused. "Well, he was, wasn't he? I learned that after Lucifer was banished to the underworld that he took the new name of Satan and became the first devil. Is that not correct?"

"Oh, no" Zerius quickly responded. "No, no, no. That's a common misconception. Satan and Lucifer we're two totally separate people. My Father, Satan, was the original king of the devils. After Lucifer fell, my father converted him into a demon and made him one of his six generals, along with the original Belphegor, Mammon, Asmodeus, Leviathan, and Beelzebub. Lucifer might have held power, but my dad was always at the top." Zerius pointed upward, as if to emphasize his father's position. "Personally, I think that that rumor about Satan and Lucifer being the same person spread around so much because the Church wanted humans to believe that the devil was a child of God to help reinforce how strong god was."

"Was?" Asia asked.

"Oh, my bad. I mean "is"." Zerius said a little too quickly. He didn't know Asia that well, but he did know that she had been through alot already, and telling a former, yet still devout, member of the church about the death of God definitely was not a good way to lighten her spirits. Zerius decided to change the subject. "Anyway, if you want to know about the original devil, then that's my old man. As far as personalities go, he was fine I guess." Zerius stated in a relaxed manner. "The guy cared for me, my sister, and Mother, and he always tried to make sure that we were all happy. However, he had a major flaw, I'd have to say it was that he was never really good at showing emotions. In fact I don't think I ever saw the guy smile. He also made it pretty clear that he didn't really like God too much, there is one thing he said to me about God that I'll never forget." Zerius leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. The look on his face turned serious. "He told me, "Yahweh and I represent the balance between creation and destruction. As long as the two of us continue to exist, that balance can be maintained." I've never truly understood what those words meant, but they always seemed important." He relaxed as he finished is father's quote. The man then turned to the blonde ex-nun. "So, does that help you at all?" He asked.

Asia still looked slightly confused. "I..think so."

"Good." Zerius stated. "Well, i guess that's enough for pleasantries, back to work."

"Okay then." Asia agreed.

"Now I already got all the information that I need from Kalawarner and Mittelt, but I'd like to hear your side of the story for confirmation if you don't mind." Asia seemed like an honest girl, so if the stories didn't match up, it was more than likely on the fallen's end.

"Oh, alright" Asia said. She still began to tell her story to Zerius, starting a few weeks ago when Raynare approached her, all the way to when She was knocked out before Albedo picked her up.

Zerius put his hand on his chin. 'Well, everything seems match up about right. All the small discrepancies can easily be explained by Asia being kept in the dark about the fallen angel's true intention for the most part. Also she seems to get along well with Rias's new pawn. That's might be worth noting.' He thought to himself.

"Umm, Mr. Satan?" The girl asked nervously.

"Hmm?" He hummed. "Please, call me Zerius. Mr. Satan just doesn't sound right." The white haired devil said.

"Oh, alright then Mr. Zerius." She stated.

'Well it's improvement.' He thought to himself.

"What is going to happen to Ms. Kalawarner, Ms. Mittelt, and myself now?" She asked.

Zerius leaned back on the couch. "Azazel said he'd come and pick you all up in a couple of days, but as far as after that…..Going by the guy's personality I doubt you're in any kind of trouble. You were being manipulated. As for the two fallen, I can't say for sure what's going to happen to them, but they're definitely in trouble. If that little plot of Raynare's had escalated a too much further, than we could have The Great War Part 2 on our hands."

"Oh," Asia said in surprise. "Was it really that bad?"

"Well, it's unlikely that things would have gotten that far, but that fact that they pulled something like that in the territory of two siblings of Devil Kings means that they were definitely trying to start something."

The room was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry" Asia suddenly apologized as she bowed her head.

"Huh, why?" The white haired devil asked in confusion.

"This all because they were trying to use me. Its my fault."

Zerius looked at the girl strangely. He then smiled. The man stood up from his chair and walked over towards Asia and reached his hand out towards her.

The blonde girl flinched as his hand approached d'and closed her eyes. However,. She was surprised when she felt his hand gently rest on her head. She opened her eyes to see Zerius looking at her with a smile.

Zerius chuckled slightly. "You've got a weird sense of responsibility 're not at fault, so don't blame yourself. You were just a unknowing pawn in someone else's foolish plan. What you should do is look back on this as a learning experience. That way, it's less likely to happen again." He informed.

"Ah yes okay then." Asia said with newfound confidence.

"Good" Zerius said as he took his hand off of her head. He then stood up. "Well, I'll be leaving you to your own devices for now. See ya later." He walked out of the room.

*The Next Day*

Zerius stood in front of Kuoh Academy.

Esdeath stood behind him. Her attire now consisted of a greyish blue suit and skirt. The white collar shirt she wore had a few buttons loose, exposing her generous cleavage.

Zerius, on the other hand was in a grey button-down and black dress pants with a matching tie and shoes. He had used some magic to alter his appearance. His ears were now normal shaped. His eyes were now white instead of black, and his horns and tail were invisible.

The white haired devil turned towards his queen. "Well, you ready Esdeath?" He asked.

"Of course, my master." She stated with a smile bow.

"Alright then, let's-" Zerius was cut off by an angry some female voices.

"Hey! Get back here you pervs!"

"You're gonna get it this time!"

Zerius and Esdeath looked in the direction of the voice to see three boys being chased around by a bunch a girl's wielding wooden swords. "Hm," Zerius hummed as he turned to his blue haired servant. "Hey Esdeath, hold back, I think I'm gonna step in here." The white haired man told his queen.

"If you insist." She responded.

As the three boys ran by Zerius, he grabbed them by their collars, two in his right hand and one in his left, and pick them up a few inches off of the ground.

The three teenagers struggled, to no avail, to escape from the devil.

"Come on man! Let us go!" The one with glasses pleaded.

"Those girls are gonna kick our asses!" The bald one said.

"This is bad! We are so dead!" The the plain looking brunette pleaded.

Zerius looked at the three boys in his grasp. He then looked at the boy in his left hand and his eyes filled with recognition. "Hey, your Rias's new boy toy aren't you?" He asked.

Issei looked at Zerius again, then the teen's eyes widened. "Hey, you're that guy from the other night." He said in surprise.

Zerius nodded. He then turned his head to the two other boys in his left hand and tossed them back to the angry girls. "Sorry, I'm gonna need to borrow this one for a second."

"What!? Why!?" One of the girls demanded.

"Don't worry about it. Just beat on those two for 'll have him in a minute." He waved her off.

The girls decided to go along with it and went after Issei's friends, though some of them still kept an eye on Zerius and Issei.

The white haired devil then turned back to Issei as the girls proceeded to beat up the two male teens. "hey kid, I need you to tell Rias that I'll be speaking with her and her peerage's in about an hour. Can you do that?"

Issei nodded dumbly. "Uh…..sure?" Issei stated, but it came out more as a question.

"Cool" Zerius said before looking back at the group of girls. "Alright he's all yours." He then threw Issei into the mob.

"Why!?" Issei yelled as the girls attacked him.

*45 Min Later - Kuoh Academy Student Council Room*

Zerius and Esdeath sat in two separate chairs across from Son's desk. The meeting with Sona had gone off without a hitch. It was as expected. He had no real reason to bother even talking to the Sitri outside of doing her sister a favor. All all, it had been less of a meeting and more of a Q&R of things he could take back to Serafall.

From what Zerius could tell, Sona had been doing her job decently well. It turns out that she and Rias had some kind of agreement when it came to their duties of looking after the town. Simply put, Sona was in charge of most of the paperwork and legal stuff while Rias was in charge of dealing with any threats in the area, including stray devil's and members from other factions entering the territory without permission. All in all it was a pretty simple agreement. The only fault that Zerius could find in it was that Rias tell Sona whenever she and her peerage took out a threat and Sona had to constantly relay any order that they might receive to Rias. If one of them didn't do this it caused problems for the other.

Zerius and Esdeath got up to leave.

"Oh, one thing Sona." That mission that you received a few weeks ago about the fallen angels, you're sure that you sent it to Rias immediately?" He asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say immediately," Sona began, "but it was definitely within 24 hours or receiving it. Rias said that she didn't think they were much of a problem, so she wanted to deliver with them later. However her view on them seemed to change after they killed a student here. Rias actually happened to reincarnate that student into her pawn."

"Hyoudou Issei, I'm aware." Zerius stated. "Well, I'll be on my way, Sona." He and his queen began walking towards the door.

"Lord Zerius," Sona began. "would you mind a game of chess before you leave?" The black haired girl asked.

"Hmmm" the white haired devil hummed while he thought. "Sure, why not?" The white haired man consented with a shrug

Esdeath tried to intervene. "Zerius, perhaps you sh-"

"Oh, lighten up Esdeath." Zerius stated. "What harm could come from a little chess game?"

*30 Minutes Later*

Sona stared down at the chess board with an unreadable look on her face.

Her peerage looked at the chess board in utter shock and surprise.

Esdeath simply stood behind her master and sighed.

Zerius scratched the back of his head as he laughed. "Well, it seems that I lost didn't I? Haha."

If one were to look at the board, they would see that Zerius aside from his king who was cornered by two pawns and a rook, he only had one rook, two pawns, and a knight left.

Sona on the other hand had almost all of her pieces, only missing three pawns, a Bishop and a rook. Sona looked down at the board with a critical look in her eye. She had won surprisingly easily.

Three times in a row.

"Truth be told, I'm not very good at this game. But that doesn't mean it's not fun to play."

Sona was less than pleased. "Not good at this game" was an understatement. He was absolutely terrible. Sona would wager that even Saji, her least strategic thinking piece could beat him. She assumed that someone of his renown would at least have a somewhat strategic mind, but no, he just went in metaphorical guns blazing

"Well, it's not like it's a big deal." The Satan claimed. "Chess is overvalued in modern devil society anyway."

This caught the Sitri's attention. "Overvalued? What do you mean."

"Well many devils, especially the younger ones, seem to think of chess like some kind of master battle simulator, but it isn't. Chess is actually really different from actual battle, or even a rating game. For example: In a rating game, each piece has their own ability, you won't always know where the enemy is, and all because you have a king surround doesn't mean you automatically win. You see my point?"

"Well I suppose." Sona relented. "But chess is still a good tool for developing a strategic mind." She countered.

"I guess," Zerius responded. "but too much strategy can be a bad thing. You're peerage is a perfect example."

"Excuse me?" Sona said, not liking her peerage being insulted.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to insult your peerage here, but simply put you have no powerhouses on your team." Zerius claimed. "I mean, sure, your team is well balanced, and that's something most devils don't consider, but you overdid it. Without any heavy hitters, you're options are limited."

"Would you mind giving an example?" Sona asked incredulously, still feeling like her peerage was being doubted.

"Sure" He replied. The super devil motioned towards Esdeath. "Take Esdeath here. If you had to fight her, how would you beat her?" He asked.

"Hmmmm," Sona hummed. "Well I suppose I would-"

"Actually, let me rephrase that." Zerius interrupted. "How would you injure her."

"..What,?" Sona asked.

"You heard me. How would you injure her. An enemy with ice magic that can rival your sister's, enough durability to walk through any of your normal attacks without a scratch and fast enough to take down all of you in a few seconds. How would you cause any lasting damage?"

"Oh, Lord Zerius," Esdeath said with a slight blush on her face. "I do love it when you acknowledge my abilities." She said.

Sona and her peerage we're silent.

The Saji spoke. "Well, I could use my Absorption Line to-"

"-Drain her magical energy?" Zerius finished. "With the limited amount of energy that Absorption Line can absorb at a time, as well as the amount of energy that your body can safely hold, she would notice the line and take you out before you made any significant difference. That being if you got the line to connect at all."

"Wait, I can drain magical energy with my sacred gear?" Saji asked in confusion.

Zerius ignored the boy. He then turned to Sona's queen. "And before you ask Tsubaki, Mirror Alice takes time to reflect an attack. She could get out of the way well before you reflected the attack back at her."

The room was silent once again.

"Okay," Zerius began, "So what if she only had one of the attributes that I mentioned earlier? Would that change things?"

No one replied.

"That's what I thought." He then turned back to Sona, "The way you've set up you're peerage is to fight others around your same level, maybe a little higher, but as it stands you don't have anyone who can withstand a particularly powerful hit, or deliver an especially powerful attack, and against some opponents, one or two good do-or-die hits are all you need." Zerius stood up and walked to the door. "Esdeath, I think we're done here, let's go see Sirzechs's sister."

"Yes Lord Zerius." She said as she followed behind him.

The man stopped at he was about to walk out. He was still facing the door. However, Sona could almost feel the smirk on his face. Zerius then spoke. "I'll leave you with that Sona. But remember, strategy isn't the only thing that's needed in war." He walked out.

*Occult Research Room*

Upon entering the room, Zerius noticed something. "Where's Shirone?" Zerius asked the Gremory.

"Koneko went home." Rias said, stressing the white haired girl's name. "I felt that it was probably best considering-"

"How she reacts to my presence." The white haired man finished. "Yeah, that makes sense. Probably for the best. We would want her having a seizure now would we?" He said offhandedly as he sat on a couch.

Akeno walked by Zerius and his queen. "Would either of you too like some tea?" She offered as she presented a plate with two tea cups on it to them.

"Oh, thank you." Zerius said as he took a cup. Esdeath politely declined.

"So before we get this little session started, any questions." Zerius asked the teenagers, taking a sip of tea. He looked at the cup. "This is good. He said offhandedly.

"Thank you" The Gremory queen responded.

"How's Asia?" The brown haired boy asked concern clear in his voice.

"Oh, don't worry, she's fine." Zerius stated. "She's a little shaken with everything that happened but she's holding up well. I'll tell her that you said hi. Oh and one more thing." Zerius said.

"Uh, what?"

"Stop staring at my Queen's cleavage before I remove those eyes." To emphasize his point, Zerius pointed his right index and middle finger at Issei.

Issei stiffened and turned around. "Uh, Sorry!" He said.

"Oh Lord Zerius," Esdeath began with a blush, her hand resting on her cheek. "You are so manly when you get protective."

"That so?" He asked before turning back to Rias and her peerage. "So anything else?"

The room was quiet for a few moments before Rias spoke. "...Why are you here Zerius?" She asked.

"Well, there are three reasons for that. "Zerius rose one finger. "1: It was a good opportunity to go on a date with my queen here." He gestured to Esdeath. He then raised a second finger. "2: Sirzechs and Serafall were understandably concerned with how their little sisters were doing in the human world. Unfortunately for them, they had important work to do, so they asked me to come here because, well, I didn't." He raised a third finger. "And finally 3, well, we'll get to that later." Zerius shrugged. "But first, hey, you, brown haired boy." Zerius pointed towards Issei.

Issei then pointed to himself in confusion. "Uh, me?" He asked for confirmation. "My name is Issei Hyoudou." He clarified.

"Alright then, come over hear Issei." Zerius said.

Issei looked at Rias for confirmation. After receiving a silent nod from the Gremory, he walked up towards to white haired man.

"Now would you mind showing me you sacred Gear. There's something I want to confirm."

"Uh, sure," Issei pulled his arm back and with a punching motion pushed his left arm forward. "Sacred Gear!" He shouted as Twice Critical appeared on his left hand."

Zerius simply looked at him. "...So, I've gotta ask,what was with the pose and the shouting?"

Akeno and Kiba chuckled in the background.

Issei understandably looked embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. "It helps me focus. I'm still new at this."

Zerius shrugged. " Thats fair i guess." He then grabbed the boy's arm and examined the red gauntlet on it. "Yeah, I thought as much. I didn't get a good look at it the other day, but the aura I felt then was a good enough indicator." Zerius spoke to himself as looked at the sacred gear.

"Uuuh, what do you mean?" Issei asked in confusion.

"Clench our teeth. This is probably going to hurt." Zerius gave a quick warning before e began to flood Issei's arm with demonic energy.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Issei screamed in pain as he fell to his knees.

"Issei!" Rias exclaimed as she stood up. The rest of her Peerage did the same. The we're about to go help him. However, before that could, they were all forced to there hands and knees by a massive amount to demonic energy.

"It's in your best interest not to interfere." Esdeath stated as she stood up from the couch. "However, if you truly wish too, I'll have fun breaking all of you." She finished with a sadistic smile that put Akeno's to shame.

"Esdeath" Zerius's voice called out. "There no need for all that. I'm done." He release Issei, who fell to the floor.

Esdeath then sta back down and reigned in her demonic energy, allowing for Rias and her peerage to move freely again.

The redheaded girl immediately ran towards her down pawn, who was panting. She looked over him, her eyes stopping on the red gauntlet on his left hand.

The sacred gear on Issei's hand had changed form. The fingers were now covered and the entire gauntlet now had a more dragonic and scale like design.

"Wh-What did you do?" Rias asked the man.

"It's not that complicated." Zerius stated. "I just flooded his sacred gear with demonic energy, forcing it to fully awaken." He looked at the sacred gear. "Though it was just a hunch, I'm happy I was right. It's been awhile but I can still recognize the Welsh Dragon's presence."

"W-Welsh Dragon?" Issei said as he managed to stand up.

"The Red Dragon Emperor." Zerius clarified. "He's in your sacred gear. I'll leave explaining all that to Rias. But man, you must be weak. Even after being reincarnated into a devil, you still need help to fully activate your sacred gear. Longinus or not that's kinda pathetic." Zerius told the boy bluntly.

Issei looked as if the words had physically hurt him.

"Hey!" Rias interjected, "Don't you call my Issei pathetic!" She defended her pawn.

"Or what?" Zerius asked. "You'll sic your brother on me? That's the closest thing to a threat you can give. We both know you can't take me in a fight and main reason that I came here in the first place was because you weren't doing your job."

That immediately shut Rias up. However, it did raise some questions with her new pawn.

"Not doing her job?" Issei asked. "What do you mean? Buchou's doing a great job. We've already taken out two stray devil's since I became her pawn." Issei argued, still too exhausted to raise his voice.

"Oh, you really have a lot of faith in your master, don't you Issei?" Zerius began with a smile stood from the couch. "I read your file kid. I know all about you. Issei Hyoudou: age 16, second year student of Kuoh academy, resident pervert, and wielder of the boosted gear. Absolutely zero magical and/or supernatural background within your family outside of you being neighbors with a member of the church when you were younger. Due to often being beaten up by the girls that you try to peek on, you have managed to develop a decent level of durability and resistance to pain but lack any noteworthy skills." Zerius recited.

"How did you-" Issei tried to interrupt, but Zerius kept going.

"You were killed while on a date with the fallen angel Raynare, under the alias of Yuuma Amano about two weeks ago. You were then resurrected by Rias immediately after. Is this all accurate?"

"...Yeah" Issei responded, clearly not comfortable with remembering his death.

"Did you ever wonder how Rias got to you so fast after your death?" Zerius asked the boy.

"Zerius!" Rias tried to step in.

Zerius held his hand up in her direction. "That was a question for the your pawn Rias. Stay out of this." He then turned back to Issei. "So, did you ever wonder?"

"Well, I got a magic circle from her familiar." Issei answered. "It was just lucky coincidence."

"A coincidence huh?" Zerius chuckled. "An awful lot of coincidences seem to have happened that day. First Rias's familiar gives you a flyer with a magic circle the same day that you happen to go on a date with a fallen angel. Then, while your dying, you somehow manage to activate the magic circle despite not even having enough magic power to use something as simple as a teleportation circle even after having your magical reserves be boosted upon your reincarnation. And finally, you just so happen to possess a sacred gear, quite a powerful one at that, within you. Doesn't that all just seem way too convenient?"

"Ho-!" Rias tried to say something again, but this time she was cut off by Esdeath placing a hand on her shoulder. At some point the woman had walked away from her master and behind the red haired girl.

"My master told you to not interfere, I suggest you listen." Esdeath whispered to the girl.

Rias shivered. The woman's voice was like ice, cold and hard, as if waiting for a reason to end her.

Issei didn't seem to notice his King. "Well, I guess it was. Beside me dying I mean. If that part didn't happen, the whole thing would have been better."

Zerius chuckled. "Yes, If you didn't die it would have been better for you, but at the same time it would have been less favorable for everyone else if you had lived."

"You mean the fallen angels right?" Issei asked.

"No, not them." Zerius said. "Ironically, their plan probably would have gone better if they left you alone. Fallen angels didn't really benefit from killing you, but tell me, who gained something from your death."

Issei thought about it a moment before he responded. "Well, I guess the only person that comes to mind is Buchou, but that's impossible. S Didn't even know about those fallen angels until after Yuuma killed me." Issei dismissed abit too quickly.

"Well maybe that's what she told you, but in fact Rias was given official orders to kill that same fallen angel a good week before that."

"...What?" Issei asked, clearly in shock.

Rias looked away.

"Yep," Zerius started. "She was suppose to take that fallen out well before it killed you. The ones at the church too. The third part of my job here was to figure out why she didn't."

Issei turned to Rias. "Buchou? Is he telling the truth?"

Rias did not meet his eye.

Zerius looked towards Rias with a smirk. "Well, it looks like I know my reason now. I'll be going." Zerius said as he walked towards the door. "But, you really do have a unique peerage Rias. Every member is extraordinary with their own special ability. I just find it a little too convenient that every single member of your peerage's would be dead if they hadn't agreed to your offer then and there." And with that, he left, leaving the Gremory and her peerage in silence.

Zerius and Esdeath had left Kuoh Academy and we're now walking around town.

"Zerius" Esdeath began.

"Yeah"

"Do you really believe that Rias had something to do with her peerage's situations when she reincarnated them?" Esdeath asked.

"Not really." Zerius said. "If anything, outside of Issei, it was probably all Sirzechs. If I know him like I think I do, he probably just kept an eye on potential peerage members for his little sister. When he saw an opportunity, it was just a matter of putting Rias in the right place at the right time. She probably wasn't even aware that he was doing it."

"So you did intentionally riled them up." Esdeath stated with a sadistic smile.

"Oh, come on Esdeath," Zerius began with a smirk, You aren't the only one who enjoys getting others to panic." He stated. "But it was also a test."

"A test?" She asked.

"Esdeath," what would you do if someone told you that I had manipulated & tricked you into joining my peerage?" He asked.

"I'd probably laugh at them before freezing them solid." Esdeath stated stated after a second's thought.

"Exactly" Zerius responded with a smile. "However, none of Rias's peerage members can say something like that or or even give a confident response. I honestly don't care about how she gets her peerage members. Yeah, the way she did it annoyed me, but that's none of my business. What I did in there was instill a feeling a doubt among her peerage. If this causes her peerage to fall apart, well then, it'll show that Rias never really to actually gain their trust and has just been riding off those life debts, which is probably the case. I'm not trying to insult Rias here, but she's the type of person who can help people forget about their problems, which sounds nice; however, when it comes to actually moving on and getting people closure, it's easier to try to pretend that the issue isn't there and hope that it goes away by itself." He shrugged. Zerius honestly wasn't trying to make Rias out to be a bad person, after all, he wasn't very good at helping people either. The difference was, with as long as he's been around, it he couldn't help the ones close to him, he'd feel pretty useless. "Either way after what I did in there, either her peerage will fall apart at the seams, or they'll come together and grow stronger as a group. It sort of an all or nothing kind of idea. And judging from him," Zerius pointed behind them.

Esdeath looked we're he was pointing to see Issei running out off school property, tears falling from his eyes.

"-it went off pretty well." The white haired devil finished.

"I see." Esdeath stated. "Quite well planned."

"Thanks," Zerius responded with a smirk. "I try."

"But what of the Leviathan's sister?" Esdeath asked.

"Oh, Sona? I doubt she knew about about Issei, but she's a smart girl. She probably figured it out herself. After all, she didn't look me in the eye when I asked her about that mission. Hell, the chess game was probably meant as a distraction so I stopped thinking about that when before I went over to talk with Little Red's peerage." He turned to his queen. "But you can't expect me to believe that I was the only one who noticed any of that."

Esdeath chuckled. "I admit, I noticed, but since you didn't say anything, I decided to stay quiet and see what you were up to." She told him. "But that's not what I meant."

"It wasn't?" He asked, genuinely confused. "Then what were you talking about?"

"I was wondering why you didn't try the same thing with her peerage." Esdeath asked.

"Oh, that's what you meant." Zerius began. "Simply put, the main difference between their two peerages is circumstance." He stated. "You see, with Rias's peerage, they can be summed up as "They got into a situation where they would be dead if Rias didn't come in and save them.", but Souna's peerage can all be summed up as "They happened to find out about the supernatural world somehow and Souna found and recruited them." There just isn't much more to look into then that. All of her peerage members knew exactly what they were signing up for beforehand and wouldn't have lost anything if they said no. What I did with Rias wouldn't have worked on Souna because her peerage all know the exact circumstances that led to their reincarnation and because of that dont have any doubts." The Satan explained.

"Oh, I see." Esdeath stated. "So even if you tried it on the Sitri's peerage, it wouldn't have worked."

Zerius nodded. "But that's enough of that. I believe that you and I have a date to get to." His smirk changing into a happy smile, he reached his hand out to her, palm up. "Now shall we?"

With no hesitation, Esdeath grabbed his hand. "I would be delighted."

*3 hours later*

Zerius and Esdeath had had a wonderful date and we're now enjoying time in a hotel room. Zerius was flipping through channels on the television as Esdeath took a shower. Zerius heard the water stopped. He looked in the direction of the bathroom and saw Esdeath enter the room clad only a towel, which did nothing to hide her curvaceous figure as it clinged to her wet skin. "Well, well, don't you look lovely, my beautiful queen." Zerius told his queen.

"Well, I tried extra hard." She began. "I got so excited when I saw you act so confident with the Gremory's peerage."

Zerius pulled her on the bed. He straddled her and kissed her lightly. "Well then, your about to see how confident I can be." He was about to remove his own clothing, but he stopped when a magic circle appeared on the other side of the room. "Who could that be."

"Whoever it is must have a death wish." Esdeath said in irritation. They looked at the glowing circle and saw a familiar figure appear.

"Albedo?" Zerius said to the black haired demoness. "This is a surprise. Do you want to join in? I've got no issues with that."

Esdeath looked less amused. "Albedo, why are you here?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"Lord Zerius," She began. "I am…...sorry to interrupt you." She didn't sound very sorry. "But this is important."

"What is it Albedo?" Zerius asked, becoming slightly more serious.

"I am sorry my Lord, but," Albedo paused for a brief moment. "one the fallen angels that we captured has escaped."

There you go. No action this chapter, but it was needed to move things along. Just to be clear, I'm not going to go out of my way to focus on Rias and her peerage. How they go on will be sort of a side point.

I tried to get my frustration about Rias and her peerage out without bashing her. Seriously, not one member of her peerage's was a normal human before she reincarnated them all of her peerage members before Xenovia would be dead of they hadn't agreed to join her then and there. That's 6 out of 8, too much for coincidence. As far as Sirzechs being responsible for it, it doesn't seem too out of character for the siscon to do.

Also as far as Rias not being good at helping people move on, Issei managed to do more her each member of her peerage emotionally in a few months then Rias did in years. Hell, Kiba didn't even know the name of the person behind the Holy Sword Project. Rias's brother is the Lucifer. I know there are limits to how far he'd go for his sister (high as they might be), but I feel like getting a name would be simple enough if he was asked to look into it at all.

Next, Asia. As it stands, there is a 50/50 shot of Asia staying human. We'll see how things go, but she won't be joining Zerius's peerage. The fact is that Asia and Zerius are just too different. Asia is pacifistic while Zerius likes using a lot of violence. While he sees how her Twilight healing could be helpful, he finds her purity refreshing and doesn't want it to be ruined by covering it in blood. But don't worry, she and Zerius will definitely stay in touch. But she will still be in Issei's harem. Issei x Asia is one of my favorite DxD pairings.

Until next chapter.