Ben 10: Dragon God of Life

by DragneelGiant96

Ever since he was 10, Ben Tennyson has been having dreams of strange creatures, strange events...and a strange green dragon. No one can explain them; they're a mystery. But when he attends Kuoh Academy, he learns that there's more to his dreams than he realizes. Powerful, original version of Ben Tennyson. OOC and AU. Rated M for swearing, violence and DxD nudity. [Ben x Harem]

13. An old enemy reveals itself

A/N: Happy New Year everybody!

I hope everybody has been enjoying the first week of 2017.

I will do my usual proper A/N at the end of the chapter where I answer to some of the reviews I have seen.

However, I would like to note beforehand that I have made some changes to the way my story will progress. Firstly, I have decided to make it so a month has passed since the Riser fight so as to make the changes over and done with so as to avoid the cringy moments that I hated in the anime. I know that most people will appreciate this as they too hated those moments in the show.

I also plan to add more ecchi moments throughout my story (another reason why I gave it an M rating). Please bear with me as this will be my first time doing something like this.

Until then, I'll leave it here and let you get on with my new chapter.

As usual, I hope you enjoy it.

(*I don't own Highschool DxD or Ben 10. They each belong to their relevant owners*)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Somewhere in the Underworld in an unknown location

(One week after the Gremory engagement party incident)

In a large, spacious, dark room in a large castle residing deep within the great swath of territory controlled by Fallen Angels, a figure sat reclined on his dark throne in his empty courtroom. He had long black hair and piercing blood-red eyes and long, pointed ears that set him apart from the rest of his comrades. His attire consisted of a splendid black robe adorned with ornate accessories collected over the course of his life.

He had the appearance of a young man in his early thirties though that was a façade as this being was a Fallen Angel, ranking among one of the first Angels that God created eons ago to assist Him in 'The First War'.

His name was Kokabiel.

Before his Fall he had been one of Heaven's most stalwart champions, guarding the Silver City with his Angelic brothers and sisters ever since its original founding, defending it against the encroaching forces of the Great Enemy. Once the war was finally over after countless millennia of destruction, death and bloodshed, he continued to defend Heaven against any and all threats that dared bared its fangs at their gates. After his older brother, Lucifer, along with his comrades and followers, were cast out of Heaven by their Father and sent down to the Underworld, Kokabiel stepped up and continued to protect Heaven from anything that threatened its pearly gates…until he, along with the other members of the Grigori and their followers, became regarded as threats themselves when they also fell from grace when they gave into temptation and were sent down to the Underworld where they formed their own faction.

Centuries later, during the Great War between the Three Factions, Kokabiel revelled in slaughtering his former siblings, certain in his new philosophy that Fallen Angels were the strongest race, that they were far superior to their 'holier-than-thou' Angelic siblings and far stronger than their pitiful satanic siblings.

After events took place during the last phase in the destructive war, Kokabiel was convinced that the war could have been firmly pushed to their advantage where they emerged victorious, proving the superiority of Fallen Angels overall. To his horror though, the Governor General of the Fallen Angels, Azazel suddenly decided to withdraw from the conflict and lead to an eventual stop to hostilities between the three powers.

Angered by the decision to stop the Fallen Angels from claiming the total victory that rightfully belonged to them and disgusted by Azazel's aversion to war and hobby of tinkering with God's little toys, Kokabiel quickly realised that neither Azazel nor the rest of the Grigori who followed him like the fools they were worthy of his effort and loyalty so he secretly reached out and sought those who shared his vision and desired to held him in carrying it out.

He found it in the unlikeliest of places, from a source that he never imagined he would've considered before. However, necessity opened all manner of doors that were thought shut to him and he reached out to the servants of this source and began working together in secret.

Today he had one such servant before him to relay to him what had been happening in the Human world and their doubts about his masterplan's success.

"I don't think you quite understand the severity of the situation," the spectral being hissed as it floated about the deserted courtroom, its fists clenching and unclenching in concern.

Kokabiel sighed and leaned on the arm of his dark throne, resting his cheek on his hand as he watched the concerned Ectonurite before him.

"Calm yourself, Zs'Skayr," he drawled.

"Easy for you to say since you don't truly comprehend the problem we are facing," Zs'Skayr retorted angrily.

"So what if Azmuth has returned? He's been sealed within one of God's little toys for His human pets…and a child at that! That hardly sounds like someone who would pose a threat."

Zs'Skayr couldn't help but chuckle hollowly at this.

"He was enough of a threat to kill those four weaklings you called servants. Hardly worth the feathers that were scattered to the wind when those devil brats were through with them. I hope not all Fallen Angels are quite so pathetic."

Kokabiel growled and bared his sharp teeth at the spectre's insinuation.

"Hold your tongue, daemon!"

He absolutely despised it when the superiority of Fallen Angels was put into question. However, what he hated even more was how Raynare and her little band made a mockery of all Fallen Angels. If they hadn't been obliterated by Sirzechs' little sister then he would've ensured that they would spend the rest of their miserable lives in agonising torture of his own design.

After a moment he calmed down though he continued to glare at Zs'Skayr.

"I will…admit that those failures were poor excuses for Fallen Angels," he muttered through gritted teeth, eager to move on from this subject. "However, none of this will matter once myplan succeeds. Once I'm done with him, not only will I have destroyed Azmuth's little vessel but I will also have taken my race's first steps in correcting that fool, Azazel's, mistake and taking the victory that we rightfully deserve!"

"And what is your plan to deal with Azazel? There's a good reason he is the Governor General, after all. You remember how he was during the war," Zs'Skayr asked with a ghostly sneer.

Kokabiel just chuckled in response. "Hah. Don't worry about Azazel. Peace has only made that stupid fool weak whereas my power has never been greater. I'll pick him apart, piece by piece, with ease.

"And what about the Grigori? What's your ingenious plan to deal with them once you've dealt with Azazel? They are loyal to him and him alone."

"They pose no problem. Once I destroy Azazel and send his soul into oblivion, the Grigori will quickly fall in line and obey me. Everything is set. My plan has already been set in motion. The only question left is whether you will join me in this endeavour."

Zs'Skayr stopped in their hovering back and forth and faced Kokabiel with their arms crossed across their spectral body.

"I will assist you, Fallen Angel, but only so I can get another shot at Azmuth's new vessel."

Kokabiel tilted his head slightly and stared at Zs'Skayr with a curious look on his pristine face.

"What is this fixation you have on that boy? Is this a way for you to get revenge on one of the beings that defeated your master?"

"My reasons are mine and mine alone."

Kokabiel waved his hand dismissively, already uninterested with the subject.

"Fine. I don't really care anyway. All I care about is the war, the glorious war that was denied me so many centuries ago."

He reached over and grasped the goblet resting on the table beside him which he then raised up, a sinister grin forming on his face.

"To victory!"

. . . . .

(Three weeks later)

Darkness enveloped him. Darkness so strong that the slightest spark of light was only able to last a brief moment before it was swiftly sniffed out of existence.

The only break from the total blackness that was the entire universe around him was the network of huge purple web-like structures that extended so intrinsically around him that he had no idea where one strand ended and another began.

Unlike the last time that he had been here before though, the darkness wasn't quite so still or quiet, and unlike the last time he was here, Ben remained where he was as he watched a terrific battle take place before his eyes through the blackness of his surroundings. The darkness was pierced frequently by bright lights as two titanic dragons battled with the colossal…thing that hid inside the darkness. Each flash of light acted like a snapshot, each one taking a picture of the fight as it played out before his eyes.

The two dragons were each huge in their own right but the beast that they fought was in an entirely different league in terms of pure size. He couldn't see it in its entire form but with each flash of light that lit up the darkness around it a picture was slowly painted that gave him a basic idea of what it was.

And then, just as the tide of the fight was starting to turn against the two dragons as the beast pushed them back and the darkness seemed to grow stronger and swallow up the dragons completely entirely, a sudden, brilliant flash of white light erupted in the distance, so bright that large swathes of the cobweb-like structures vaporised in an instant, crumbling away into nothing.

The light was so intense that even though Ben obscured his vision from the radiant, blinding light he still felt a searing hot pain on his skin from the light's radiance.

Even as brilliantly powerful the flash of light was in driving back the darkness at first, it still retreated as the darkness counterstruck, driving the light back until the two absolute forces of light and dark came to a stalemate.

Ben uncovered his eyes and looked towards the light. He could sense that there was something in the centre of the light that was the source of the impossibly bright light yet it was completely impossible to see what it was as it hurt to look directly into the light for more than a second or two.

The creature hiding in the pitch blackness turned its attention towards the light and a feeling of fear and despair overcame Ben without warning.

"So…you have decided to break our deal and get involved?" a voice muttered with such power that it caused Ben's teeth to rattle and his insides to squirm uncontrollably.

The figure hovering in the radiant light didn't respond to the creature's question. Instead, the light pulsed brighter at the same time the two titanic dragons recovered from their setback and charged at the dark beast once more, this time with beams of Holy Light of incredible power being fired from the centre of the new light.

"So be it. I will break…all three of you!" the creature roared as tendrils of darkness suddenly emerged out of the darkness in all directions….

…including one which shot out of the darkness straight at Ben's chest.

. . . . .

Ben's eyes shot open to find himself staring up at his bedroom ceiling. His chest was rising and falling deeply as he brought his breathing under control after the strange…nightmare for lack of a better word to describe what he just saw.

'What the fuck was that about?!' he wondered as he brought up his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He was too tired to think about what he saw right now. He'd ask Azmuth about it later.

With a muted sigh, he brought his arm back down to his side….

"Hmm."

Ben glanced over to his right at the sound of the adorable moan to see that his arm now lay across the large chest of one of his sleeping partners. The beautiful crimson-red hair of the owner of the large pair of soft breasts spread out across her chest and was splayed out across the right side of the bed.

He earned another soft moan when, as he moved his arm slightly, he brushed against the lone nipple that sat alone in the sea of soft pink flesh of the large breast. Acting as her wakeup call, Rias Gremory, heiress to the House of Gremory, groggily opened her eyes which instantly locked with his and a sultry smile on her lips.

"Hmm, good morning," she sighed pleasurably as her arm slowly came up to her chest before reaching across his arm, rolling her whole body in the process to face him with her breasts pressing against his side, and came to a rest on his bare chest where she began slowly drawing a small circle on it with her middle finger. "I had no idea you were so forward in the morning…not that I'm complaining."

Ben couldn't help the smile forming on his face as he heard this and moved in closer to the stunningly beautiful devil's side, snaking his arm – which so happened to already be underneath her due to it being used as a pillow – down her flawless back and around her waist and pulling her naked body closer to his.

He felt her intense body heat as her bare skin pressed up against his as the two devils enjoyed each other's company.

Rias purred happily as she rested her head in the crook of Ben's neck. "Mmm, this is, hands down, the best way to wake up in the morning. I don't want to get up!"

Ben chuckled and slowly brushed Rias' waist softly with his thumb.

"I agree. Unfortunately, we still have to get up though," he whispered softly in Rias' exposed ear beside him. "We don't want to be late for school, do we?"

Rias also chuckled at this. "No, you've got a point I suppose."

It had been nearly a month since the 'Riser incident' and a month since Rias moved into his home as she stated she would. In that month, Ben's already dramatically changed life received another change when he was introduced to Rias' sleeping preferences…and when he learnt about some unexpected things about his own when he slept with other people. When his mother had prepared a room for the crimson-haired beauty during her stay with them, Rias had thanked her for her generous hospitality but, instead, chose to sleep in Ben's bed with him, using his body as a hug pillow or his arm as a pillow.

"If I'd known how much of a lewd beast you were in the morning, I would've let you sleep with me so much sooner," Rias teased with a smirk as she pressed her body against the side of his, enjoying the warmth between them.

Ben returned the smirk but didn't respond to her teasing. This was just another thing he'd gotten used to since Rias had moved into his house. Not only had she decided to sleep in the same bed as him every night but she had also taken her teasing to a whole new level than before, teasing him whenever she got the opportunity…not that he minded it, though.

With another sigh of contentment, which again caused Rias to giggle cutely as his hot breath brushed against her skin, Ben continued to draw small circles on her waist which rias enjoyed immensely, groaning pleasurably and grinding herself slowly against him. He stopped his action when he realised something as Rias ground her lower half against his leg….

"Are you still not wearing underwear to bed?" he asked her with a slightly raised eyebrow and was met by a sly smirk.

"I've explained to you before, Ben. I can't sleep without being completely naked. I simply can't."

Ben conceded her point and the thought crossed his mind about whether he would adopt some of Rias' sleeping habits over time. He had already learned a few, unexpected things about himself already whenever he slept with other people, particularly women.

This morning hadn't been so bad but there had been mornings before where he had woken up with his body draped over Rias' with his face buried in her voluptuous chest…and another time he had been woken up by Rias' pleasurable moans as he had been sucking her nipple in his sleep!

Who knew what else could change in him. Perhaps he would copy Rias, lose his boxers, and begin sleeping completely naked. Who knew what he may or may not do in his sleep when he's naked and he's sleeping beside such an impossibly beautiful woman.

As if reading his mind, Rias took this moment to roll over and position herself on top of his chest where she then lay against his chest, her large breasts squishing themselves against his muscular chest as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I can't let you go just yet," Rias purred teasingly as she looked down at him with a sly smile on her face as she stroked his hair affectionately. "You make the absolute best hug pillow ever. I just want to stay in bed with you all day and keep you close to me."

Ben couldn't help it when he felt his cheeks reddening slightly at Rias' seductive tone of voice. Despite living with the sexy devil for over a month now, he was still not completely used to her forwardness nor her frequent flirting. He was brought out of his thoughts when Rias rested her forehead against his own, her eyes now only a few centimetres away from his and a sexy smile on her lips.

"You know, Ben; we've still got some time before we need to get up. Do you think something sexy could happen in that time?" she wondered with a seductive tone in her voice before she brought her lips down and gave him a passionate kiss before he had a chance to respond to her question.

While this wasn't the first time she had kissed him since his victory against Riser and since she had moved in with him, Ben still felt his mind go blank from it like he always did. The fact that someone as perfect as Rias Gremory was kissing him of all people constantly rattled his mind. It may not have been an overly passionate kiss but it still had the same effect on him in that he focused all of his attention onto the kiss, thinking of nothing else except of the lips that were currently pressed against his, of how soft her lips were and how good she smelled.

After what felt like an eternity for him, Rias finally broke the kiss and pulled her head back so that she was staring down at him again, her smile growing even more sultry than before as she began slowly tracing her own circles on his chest.

"Do you want to come at me?" she whispered seductively, taking immense pleasure in how red she could still make Ben's face turn and let out a small, sultry gasp when she felt a part of him abruptly rise up from between his legs and press against her crotch and rear.

This was yet another of Rias' morning rituals that she took immense pleasure in carrying out, much to Ben's pleasure and embarrassment. Every morning when they were alone – and even times when they weren't – Rias would use every tool at her disposal to break Ben's concentration and bring about exactly what just happened.

As she recovered from the slap from Ben's fifth appendage, Rias chuckled at Ben's deep breathing to calm himself down to stop things from going further and cupped his left cheek softly with her right hand. "I find it adorable how much you try to restrain yourself around me. You don't need to be, you know? I'm willing to do anything you want if it will make you happy," she told him as she propped herself up by her elbows and gently held his face in her hands.

Before Ben could utter a single syllable in response, he was interrupted when he heard the creak of his bedroom door opening and just hoped to the Devil Kings that it wasn't his mother coming in to rouse him for school. That was absolutely the last thing he needed for his morning.

Thankfully, it wasn't his mother who had entered his room….

…It was, on the other hand, someone much worse.

"No fair, Rias!" he heard Asia exclaim cutely as she stared at their intimate position on his bed. Rias pushed herself up to sit on Ben's waist as the two of them turned to face the new arrival.

After only two days of the new sleeping arrangements between Ben and Rias being put into effect, Asia adamantly refused being left out and outright demanded that Rias let her sleep with Ben too….

A smile still came to Ben's face as he recalled how red her face was when she was making the demand.

….This had resulted in a fierce 'argument' between the crimson-haired devil and blonde-haired ex-nun as to what the sleeping arrangements would be in future. As he watched them 'fight', Ben had debated with himself as to whether or not he should step in and give his own opinion on the matter though he quickly decided against it when he saw how determined the two of them were and left them to it. when he saw them again, they had solved the issue by coming up with the decision that they would both sleep with Ben, each calling dibs on an arm which they used as a pillow.

With her standing in the doorway and not beside him he assumed she must have gone to the bathroom after waking up. His hypothesis was made stronger by the fact that Asia was currently clad in her pale blue nightie where her usual sleep attire had been taken from Rias in that she slept completely naked too.

"No fair!" Asia repeated as she rushed forward into the room and wrapped her own arms around Ben's neck while Rias looked down at her with a victorious smirk on her face. "I leave for a moment and you're all over him again! I want to spend time with him too!" she exclaimed indignantly as tightened her grip on him and pressed her cheek against his forehead.

Ben could understand her poorly contained jealousy whenever she saw Rias and him together like she had found them. He wasn't stupid enough to miss that she had clearly developed feelings for him some time ago, even before Rias moved in and enjoyed being able to walk to school with him, back when it was just the two of them and where she had him all to herself. However, that all changed when Rias moved in with her intentions for Ben made abundantly clear to the young Bishop. She understandably didn't like the fact that there was another woman who was interested in him besides her, and it certainly didn't help with the fact that the person happened to be a smoking-hot Devil by the name of Rias Gremory who had a chest that the poor girl could only dream of. This didn't dissuade her though and she only intensified her claims on Ben and was growing more and more confident in arguing with Rias when it came to him.

Rias placed her hands upon Ben's bare chest and smirked triumphantly. "It's not my fault that Ben can't help himself in his sleep and is unable to keep his hands off me."

Asia only whined despondently in response. "It's not fair! He's my Ben just as much as yours!"

Ben sighed to himself and scratched his other cheek with his hand as he watched the two beauties fighting over him.

Yet another regular morning sight.

As Rias got off his chest to sit beside Asia as they continued their adorable argument, he just watched the two devils bicker with each other cutely and, once again, marvelled at how he now had two beautiful young women competing for his attention.

"Calm down, ladies," he told them in a bid to stop their morning argument. The two of them ceased arguing but continued to cutely glare at each other. "There's still time before we have to get up. Why don't we just spend it together, huh? That way we can enjoy–oof!"

His words abruptly died in his throat as a small blur ran into the room through the partially open door, launched itself into the air and landed right on Ben. The action caught him by surprise and winded him when the surprisingly heavy weight landed on his stomach.

Once air was able to fill his lungs again, Ben glanced down at the small Golden Retriever sitting on his stomach and greatly enjoying the affection that was being directed towards it by Rias and Asia who quickly forgot that they were supposed to be glaring at each other when the pup seemingly materialised out of nowhere.

"Hello, you!" Rias cooed cutely as she scratched the tail-wagging pup behind their ear.

"Ship!" the pup yapped happily, its tongue lolling out of the side of its lower jaw.

"Oooh, who's a good boy?" Asia squealed with delight as she stroked Ship's back, revelling, as she always did, at the silk-like feeling to the familiar's golden sheen.

"Urgh, good morning to you too," Ben groaned, reaching over to give Ship a stroke too. He got about an inch away when Ship abruptly turned their head and growled a little at his outstretched hand.

"Huh, still a little annoyed with me are you?" Ben grumbled as he retracted his hand.

The reason that Ship was acting like this was due to Ben not revealing him to the rest of the family when he said he would. Not long after he had returned with Rias from the Underworld, Ben had finally remembered to bring Ship out. When he did so, Ship was clearly annoyed with how long it took for him to do so. He had tried to explain to Ship how Riser's sudden appearance and the whole Rating Game incident got in the way of that plan but Ship seemed unsatisfied with this explanation and appeared determined to stay annoyed for a while and let Ben know that they were still annoyed with him.

Despite their 'hostility' towards Ben though, Ship was still fully accepted into the family when they saw him. His parents instantly fell in love with Ship – if not a little confused at Ben's choice of name – and, after giving the usual spiel about 'being responsible' and 'looking after your pets', fell about showering them with love and affection just as Rias and Asia did when they finally got their turn.

It was clear as day, just as it was when he was first shown to the family, that Ship took great pleasure in receiving attention like he was currently.

"How long are you going to stay mad at me?"

Ship completely ignored Ben's question, too occupied in the attention that was being shown to them by Rias and Asia.

"Aww, you're such a cute little thing aren't you?" Rias continued, also ignoring Ben's grumbling as Ship leapt off Ben's chest and onto Rias' lap where he found a soft and more comfortable spot to sit on.

"Hmm, well if that's how it's going to be…," Ben muttered as he rolled over and got out of bed while his familiar was being showered in affection by the two devils still sat on the bed. "…then I'm going to get washed and dressed. See you girls in a bit, ok?"

He received no response from either of them…not that he expected one with how focused the two of them were at the moment and let the room to get ready for the day ahead.

. . . . .

(Two hours later)

When Rias and Asia had finally finished saying good morning to Ship they had joined Ben in getting out of bed and getting themselves ready for the school. Once they were dressed and ready, the three young devils headed downstairs and soon found themselves sat around the dinner table with Ben's parents who were currently complimenting the young heiress for the breakfast she had prepared for everyone.

She had even prepared a meal for Ship who was busy digging into their own meal in the kitchen.

As they ate, Ben sat there, amazed at how little trouble they had when Rias returned to his house to ask his parents if she could live with them. With the speed at which they agreed to her request, he was certain that Rias had put the both of them under her memory-alteration spell again to get them to agree to her request.

To his shock, though, when he asked her about it, she revealed that she hadn't had anything to do with their swift decision.

A few days after she moved in, Ben was steadily growing more suspicious of his parents for their reason to allow Rias to stay in their house. His initial theory for their agreement was that they were being extremely kind to her because she was the daughter of the big boss of his dad's company. However, this idea quickly fell apart in his mind when he saw how they seemed to grow more and more attached to the young Gremory, ignoring – or even forgetting – her family status; something he knew Rias would be extremely grateful for with her desire to be treated as a normal teenager.

Rias wasn't stuck-up with her title as how other devils Ben was somewhat familiar with were. Riser Phenex immediately came to mind. Despite his mother's constant mothering and insistence that, just as was the case with Asia, while Rias was staying with them she Asia't need to do house chores or anything like that, Rias, just like Asia, was absolutely adamant in helping out around the house just like everyone else. The beautiful meal before them was one such example.

"This is so good!" his dad exclaimed as he practically wolfed down the breakfast that had been prepared for everyone.

"I know," Ben's mother agreed as she ate the food in a more civilised way than her husband. "I can never get traditional recipes to taste right no matter how hard I try. This is delicious!"

"Why thank you," Rias said with a warm smile and small blush from where she sat on the other side of the table, right next to Ben. "It's the very least I can do to thank you for allowing me to stay here in your home."

"Nonsense, sweetie," Sandra exclaimed kindly as she placed her empty bowl down on the table. "You do so much around the house even though you are our guest."

She then turned her attention to Asia. "You too, Asia. I can't thank you two enough for all the help you've given me around the house. Before you two moved in, I was forced to use these two idiots…." She gestured to her son and husband. "…to help out around here. I'm surprised that the house is still standing with them helping."

Ben and his dad both let out mild cries of indignation at the way she was talking about them but they knew she Asia't mean anything by it while the girls giggled at their exaggerated grumbling.

"I'm not that bad," his dad muttered as he stared at his wife indignantly. "I've gotten better now that I finish work at a regular hour now. It's pretty strange about that anyway; they just came up to me and told me about my new schedule. At first I thought they were demoting me, but I get the same pay as before for more reliable hours."

"Yes dear, very strange," Ben's mother said with a sigh, casting a quick glance at Rias who avoided their gaze but couldn't quite hide the small smile which appeared on her face for a moment before quickly disappearing. Ben saw the smile out of the corner of his eye and knew that Rias must've had had something to do with this unexpected development just like his mum, even if his dad was completely oblivious about it.

Ben firmly believed that the reason his mum never called her out on it was because she didn't want to both potentially embarrass Rias and to enjoy knowing something that her loving husband was clueless about.

"Mother. Is it alright if we hold our club meeting here tonight? The clubroom is going through its annual clean and we have nowhere to go on such short notice" Rias asked politely as she placed her empty bowl on the table.

The fact that neither of his parents were fussed about the way Rias and Asia both called them 'mum and dad' was yet another thing that amazed Ben with this new chapter in his life. To say he was shocked when Rias and Asia revealed it was actually at his mother's request that they call them as such was an understatement. When they first moved in he had, at first, thought that his parents would be stricter about the living arrangements with him and the two beauties now living and sleeping with him, but he couldn't be more wrong. He had a strong feeling that it was their way of telling him that they wanted him to make sure he didn't mess things up with them.

They didn't even seem to mind about their…unique sleeping arrangements except his dad though Ben could tell that it was mainly due to him being jealous of his son for catching the eye of such attractive young women. He quickly learnt however to keep such thoughts between himself and Ben for fear of the wrath of his wife who didn't approve of the way his perverted mind worked. His mother, on the other hand, seemed to have no quarrel with the arrangement though she did take Ben to the side to perform her 'essential' motherly duty to give him 'The Talk' that every child fears receiving from their parents, especially a son from their mother.

Ben shuddered at the mere memory of such a horrible event. Sometimes immortality was a curse when it meant being stuck with such traumatic memories forever.

"Why certainly Rias. I can even make some snacks for you if you want. It won't be any trouble," Sandra replied kindly as she collected everyone else's bowl once they were all empty.

"I'd hate to be a bother," Rias declared politely.

"It's not an issue at all, Rias," Sandra insisted kindly with a shake of her head. "It's the least I can do to thank you for all the help you do around the house. Your cooking skills are exceptional, as are Asia's. I don't know how we have survived without you two with us."

Asia's cheeks reddened at Sandra's kind words. "It's not a big deal. It's my pleasure, mother. Thank you for taking care of us," she said with an embarrassed smile.

. . . . .

It wasn't long after they had finished breakfast that the trio of devils bid their goodbyes and left the house and headed in the direction of school. The journey itself was pretty uneventful; if you exclude the 'fierce' battle Rias and Asia engaged in to attract Ben's attention that is. In the end, they wordlessly declared a ceasefire and each took hold of one of Ben's arms and held them close to their chests, right between their breasts.

Just as he had gotten used to the two beauties living with him, Ben had also gotten over the shocked gasps and angry cursing he received from the student body (particularly the male part) when they arrived at the school gates. It had taken less than a week of the three of them arriving at school together before everyone at school figured out that Ben was in some sort of relationship with not only the beautiful, blonde foreign transfer student, but also Rias Gremory, one of Kuoh Academy's 'Two Great Ladies'.

Rias detached herself from Ben's arm once they entered the school atrium and, after giving him another kiss on the cheek, departed to find her own classroom on the other side of the school. This left Ben and Asia to make their way to their own classroom in the opposite direction. Asia had thankfully decided to let go of his arm just before they entered their classroom where Ben took his usual seat by the window while Asia was swamped by the other girls in their class who she had become good friends within the short time she had been there.

The teacher returned to the class a few minutes later to begin the lesson and, after what seemed like ages to Ben, the bell finally rang out to break up the classes for lunch. Ben remained in his seat, like many of the other students, and made his way through the two lunchboxes he had in front of him.

Once again, this was another thing that constantly got Asia and Rias into 'heated' debates. They would each declare that they would make a lunch for Ben before arguing over which one he would eat. Thankfully, for him, the argument was broken up after he defused the situation by saying he would happily eat both of the lunches. This calmed both young women down and they quickly forgot about the argument a few moments later.

"So, Asia. What's it like living at Ben's house?" a female voice called out behind him.

Ben looked back to see Asia approaching him and grimaced internally when he recognised the girl walking beside her.

Aika Kiryuu.

She was one of Asia's new friends in school – excluding those in the Occult Research Club of course – but she just so happened to be a pervert almost on the same level as the Perverted Duo. The only difference between her and the two of them was that she had intelligence to work alongside her perverted mind. A deadly combination. She could quite easily get into the heads of anyone she wanted to torment and for some reason, that made Ben number one on her blacklist as of late.

"It's fine. His parents take good care of me and Ben is very kind and helpful," Asia said sweetly, casting a cute, embarrassed smile in Ben's direction as she said this.

Kiryuu smiles sinisterly and Ben can instantly tell that she had thought of a way to torment the two of them further. His suspicions were quickly proven correct when he saw the glint on the edge of her thick spectacles as she pushed them back up her nose.

"Sooooo, is what I heard true then?" she asked in a dangerously familiar tone as they reached Ben's desk. "That you and your boyfriend have 'relations' every night?" she asked in a sultry tone with the intent of embarrassing the two of them clear to anyone who knew her.

As she knew she would, she got her desired embarrassed response from Asia.

"W-w-w-w-what do you mean b-b-boyfriend?!" Asia flustered uncontrollably, waving her hands in front of her nervously.

Ben sighed and leant back in his chair. He resolutely refused to fall for her taunts and teases and always tried his best to avoid falling for her clever traps.

"I don't know what kind of idea you think you have about me, Kiryuu, but that's not who I am. I have never taken advantage of Asia like that nor will I ever," he said pointedly as he stared at Kiryuu though she wasn't fazed by his glare like most people were.

"It's just a rumour. I take it it's not true then?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"No it isn't," he confirmed in a bored tone before turning to see Matsuda and Motohama glaring daggers at him from across the classroom. "And neither am I blackmailing Rias and Akeno into ravaging them in the night, taking Koneko's prepubescent body by force, nor am I in a relationship with Kiba," he said firmly to the two of them before pointing at them. "Don't think that I don't know it's you two spreading those rumours around the school. Maybe you two should be less occupied with spreading rumours and more concerned with your unhealthy peeping habit. Need I remind of the last time you were caught?"

The two perverts visibly gulped as the vivid memory of their last encounter with the mysterious 'Kuoh Knight' ran through their heads and hid behind their textbooks, avoiding his glare and pretending they were invisible.

"That's what I thought," Ben muttered as he continued to glare at them intently.

BA-DUM!

Ben held a grunt in the back of his throat as a sudden painful spasm ran up his left arm and caused him to unconsciously tense his left hand because of it. Unfortunately, his left hand was gripping the side of his desk as this happened and, because of his devil-enhanced strength, he easily splintered the side of his desk though thankfully nobody saw him do this.

He quickly stood up, his right hand covering his left which was clenched into a fist as he held it close to his chest and made to leave the classroom. "I'll be right back. There's something I've got to take care of."

Asia looked at him, a question on her lips but Ben simply gestured to his hand in the hopes that the simple gesture was enough to let her know what was going on. Thankfully, she seemed to understand what he was trying to tell her and her stare turned into one of concern.

Kiryuu turned back to look at him with confusion. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"It's none of your business, you pervy wench," Ben retorted, striding past her and Asia as he left the classroom. As he left he could hear Kiryuu turn her attention back to embarrassing Asia which wasn't a difficult task thanks to Asia's innocent nature.

As he made his way down the corridor he pulled out his phone and called the one person who could help him. Fortunately for him, she answered after only a few rings and he explained the situation to her before proceeding to ask for her help. Even though she agreed to help him almost immediately after he asked for it, Ben couldn't help but sense that he was going to regret asking for her help in the end.

He made his way to the clubroom where they had agreed to meet up but couldn't see her as he entered the room, closing the doors behind him.

"Hello," he asked loudly to the empty room. "Is there anyone here?"

No sooner had he said this that the door to the adjoining bathroom opened as Akeno stepped. Upon seeing her, Ben's eyes widened in shock and his breath got caught in his throat at the sight before him.

Except for an extremely thin and short bathrobe which she was wearing, Akeno was completely naked with the last few droplets of water from her time in the shower forcing the robe to cling to her body in all the right places, emphasising all of her alluring curves.

"Hello Ben," Akeno said innocently as she approached Ben who was rooted where he stood. Ben could have sworn that she was swaying her hips a bit more than usual as she slowly approached him. "I didn't expect you to get here so quickly."

"I can leave while you get changed," Ben stated as he reached behind him in search of the handle.

Akeno shook her head slightly, her sultry smile remaining on her face. "Nonsense. I just got out of the shower and it sounds like your arm's causing you pain again and we can't have that now, can we?"

Before he could counter her reasoning, she strode up to him and took hold of his arm which she gently pulled away from the door. Despite his initial hesitation, he offered no resistance as she led him into the room and sat him down on one of the sofas.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Ben asked as he stared up at Akeno's scantily clad form.

Akeno chuckled cutely and placed her hands on his knees and leant in close to him, her smile turning even more sultry as she stared at him, their faces separated by only a few inches. "Ufufufu. It's true I was only able to have a quick shower but we need to get that dragon energy out of you as quickly as possible, don't we?"

"Sorry to trouble you with this again," Ben apologised, gesturing to his arm.

"Not at all." Akeno waved off his apology with a wave of her hand as she straddled his thighs without warning. Ben leant back a little as he noted the extremely suggestive position they now found themselves in even as Akeno acted as though there wasn't anything strange about their sitting positions at all…but the salacious smile she wore told a completely different story.

"I'm willing to do anything to help out my poor junior," she purred seductively.

Not long after getting to know her since he was reincarnated, Ben quickly learned that Akeno was not only a bigger tease than his classmate, Kiryuu, would ever be but she was fully aware of the effect she had on people and took great pleasure in watching her 'victims' squirm under her sadistic tendencies.

Akeno took Ben's left arm in her hands and began to gently run them up and down his arm. He couldn't help but notice how soft her hands were and found himself struggling to keep calm as she brought his hand close to her mouth.

Without saying another word to him, Akeno took Ben's index and middle finger and placed them in her mouth where she began to suck on them.

Despite the extremely erotic nature of this, this was actually the only way that they could draw out the excess draconic energy residing in his arm. Due to the nature of the sacrifice that Ben had made to Azmuth when he had rescued Rias in the Underworld, it was necessary for someone skilled in magic to draw out the energy and prevent Ben's arm from being dragonified. A temporary measure at best but it was the only solution they could think of.

This being said though, whoever was draining the energy could do it using their own magic abilities. Akeno simply decided that this method was more enjoyable and he couldn't help but agree with the S&M-loving beauty.

As if hearing his thoughts and deciding to prove them right, Akeno tightened her lips around his fingers and began to suck on them with more vigour and determination. Ben's breathing became heavy as he felt her moist tongue spring into action, sensually wrapping itself around his saliva-covered fingers and began licking them.

While Akeno fully immersed herself in her 'arduous' task, moaning erotically as she did so, Ben did everything in his own power to prevent a low groan of his own escaping his mouth. Akeno saw his struggle and suddenly increased the intensity in which she was licking and sucking his fingers.

It certainly wasn't helping his situation when she was looking at him with an extremely seductive look which combined very well with the erotic way she straddled him, the low groans escaping her mouth, and the way her bathrobe hugged her extremely curvaceous figure was just too much for him to handle and he eventually let out a low moan from behind his hand.

Even with her mouth wrapped around his fingers, Ben could tell that she was smiling at getting him to make such a lewd noise. After a few more erotic seconds, she finally ceased her tormenting and released his fingers, though not before licking them once more with her energetic tongue and licking her lips as he brought his hand back down onto his lap. He could still feel the warmth of the insides of her mouth on his saliva-coated fingers.

"Honestly…," she muttered with false innocence. "…It's just a simple procedure to drain the energy in your arm. You just make me want to taunt you even more if you react like this."

Ben took several heavy breaths as he leant back against the sofa.

"You're…evil…. You know that?"

Her extremely seductive look never left her face as she, too, leant forward against his chest, her large breasts now squashed against him. She leant in close until her mouth was dangerously close to his ear. Ben took in another deep breath as he felt her breath against his skin.

"You may not know this but I have a huge crush on this cute guy and he's totally clueless about it."

Ben was unable to respond as all his attention had been diverted to keeping certain parts of his anatomy under control. It wasn't helpful when the seductive devil wrapped her arms around him and pressed her damp breasts against his chest even more so than before.

"Sounds like a lucky guy," he breathed, diverting nearly all of his attention on preventing himself from getting an erection.

"You have no idea," she purred seductively into his ear.

As she pressed herself against him, she brought her waist up along his legs and a sudden, unhelpful thought came to his mind.

"You…uh…you don't seem to be wearing anything under your robes," he noted through controlled breaths so as to avoid giving her the thrill of leaving him speechless; something she frequently tried to do every time she performed this ritual of theirs.

"Of course not. Au naturel is all part of the proper ceremony," Akeno replied seductively, taking great pleasure when she saw him gulping at her revelation and shuddered slightly.

She picked up his left hand and held it in hers with her own silky-smooth fingers as she played with his wet fingers. "We sure are in a unique situation, aren't we? If I make a move on you, Rias will undoubtedly get jealous…and we both know how she gets when she's upset," she purred as she licked his hand from palm to fingertips with her wet tongue.

"What about that guy you had a crush on?" Ben gasped with a sharp intake of breath as Akeno 'accidently' brushed his hand against her bare breast, still damp from her time in the shower.

"Oh, I'm sure he'd understand," Akeno replied as she ground against him under the guise of getting into a better position, drawing another sharp breath from Ben. "We're not together yet. I'm sure he'd understand."

The beautiful temptress giggled as Ben released another low groan as she sucked on Ben's fingers one last time before she slowly pulled away from him, a faint trail of saliva connecting her mouth to his palm. She wiped the saliva from her mouth and looked down at Ben who practically had steam coming out of his ears as he stared blankly past her.

"Do you remember your battle with Riser?" she asked as she finally stood up and sat on the arm of the sofa on Ben's left-hand side and stared down at him.

Ben blinked at the sudden change of topic as he looked up at her. "Yeah, why?" he asked as he clenched his left hand to return feeling to it, the feeling of her tongue on his fingers still fresh in his mind.

"You were the very definition of manliness in that fight and the Rating Game. No matter how many times you were knocked down, you kept getting right back up. And the way you gate-crashed the party to save Rias; it was so…impressive. You even beat Riser by using his own powers against him." She reached over and traced a faint circle with her index finger along his chest which caused him to shudder slightly at her soft touch.

"I wonder, could this be love?" she murmured under her breath as she continued to trace circles on his chest.

Ben was so lost by her 'treatment' that he failed to catch the last thing she said, even with his enhanced hearing.

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the school bell ringing in the distance to signal the end of the lunch period. Akeno stood up from where she sat and went to get changed back into her school clothes.

She stopped for a moment behind the sofa where she leant down and brought her head down to Ben's ear.

"We should do this again sometime," she purred before disappearing round the corner and back into the shower room and letting Ben come back to his senses and leave the clubroom and head back to class.

. . . . .

(After school)

As Rias was forced to stay behind for a while to deal with some Gremory business, Ben walked back home with Asia. They slowly made their way home where the ORC meeting was being held for tonight when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered it once he saw who was calling him.

"Hey, Zaza. What's up?" he asked, slowing down a little to take the call.

A few weeks ago had seen Ben get his first official regular client…and it wasn't a crazy one which was a major bonus in Ben's opinion.

He still shuddered when he recalled his first contract with Mil-tan. It wasn't a good memory, that was for sure.

This new guy was completely different though. When they first met, he introduced himself as Le Zaza, a false name if he ever heard one but he wasn't overly bothered by it. Even if they were in a devil/contracted human relationship, if he didn't want to tell Ben his real name then so be it. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be right there," Ben told the client before hanging up and looking towards Asia.

"Sorry, Asia. Looks like I have to make a little detour. Are you alright heading back on your own?"

"Sure. I'll let Rias know where you are when she gets home," Asia replied with a nod.

"Thanks. See you later," Ben said with a wave of his hand before turning down a side road and heading towards a bloc of apartments where his client was located.

. . . . .

(A few minutes later)

When he finally made it to the apartment bloc Ben made his way up to his client's door and rang the doorbell. As he waited for his client to answer, he looked out at the bright sun which still hung in the sky and thought back on how much his life had changed in such a short space of time.

He had been killed by the first person he gotten close to after moving to Kuoh, been resurrected as a devil by a beautiful woman who turned out to be the younger sister of one of the four Devil Kings, had his eyes opened wide to the fact that the supernatural world was real. To top all of that off, he had also found out that he had the souls of a Dragon God as well as the Welsh Dragon sealed inside special gauntlets which he wielded.

'I sure have come a long way,' he thought as he heard the door behind him open.

He turned around to see Le Zaza standing in the open doorway. Ben had been more than surprised to see that it was the same guy who he had encountered when he had accompanied Asia to her first pact meeting. He still had an untidy mop of short black hair with a short blonde fringe hanging over his forehead.

As he always did whenever he summoned Ben, Zaza wore a simple brown dressing gown as he leant against the door frame and stared at Ben with a humorous smirk on his chisled face.

"I must admit I'm surprised you rang the doorbell," he said suavely as he took a sip of gin from the glass in his hand. "Did the magic teleport break or something?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Har, har," Ben retorted sarcastically. "I didn't know you were such a comedian. You don't usually call this early, what's up?"

Zaza shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "No reason. I had nothing going on and I was bored; simple as that."

He then stepped back into his apartment and gestured for Ben to follow. "Well come on then. Maybe this time I can tempt you with some sake?"

"Yes I'm sure. I may not be bound by human laws, but I doubt my parents would be happy with me drinking with a strange man."

"I've summoned you seven times already; I hardly think I still count as a stranger," he retorted indignantly as they entered his living room.

"I never said you were a stranger," Ben replied before a smile appeared on his lips. "But that doesn't mean you're not a strange person."

The client laughed very sarcastically, just as Ben had done a few seconds earlier. "Har, har. Now look who's the comedian."

Ben joined in with his chuckling as he sat down on the nearest sofa, leant back, and looked around the apartment, admiring the décor choices of his client as usual. He had come to the conclusion the first time he had visited that whoever Zaza really was he must be a particularly wealthy person to be able to afford the style of decorations adorning his walls.

The client soon returned from his trip to the kitchen with a small tray with a bottle of sake for him and a glass of water for Ben. He sat down on a chair next to Ben and they proceeded to do what they always do whenever Ben was summoned; talk about nothing and play video games. While Ben had initially been disappointed with being unable to get a complete contract with Zaza at any point in their meetings, he had gotten over the disappointment when he found out how interesting it was spending time with Zaza and listening to his various stories…even if some of them were complete bullshit. He still enjoyed listening to them.

Ever since that first night several weeks ago, Ben would be summoned fairly regularly to come by his client's place, sit down with as he was doing currently, and just talk. They didn't talk about a particular topic during these meetings, they just talked about each other's lives most of the time. Though Ben was hesitant to believe how much of his mysterious client's story was actually true, he still talked about his own upbringing and how he came to find himself and his family living in Japan.

The two of them enjoyed each other's company as they lost track of time with their discussion, only realising just how long they had been talking when Ben spotted the time from the ornate clock hanging on the wall.

"Oh damn," he muttered as he rose out of the comfortable chair. "I'm sorry about this but I have to head back. I promised my master that I'd be back in time for our meeting to start…which is in around ten minutes."

Zaza grumbled unhappily as he rose out of the chair too. "That's a shame. It sounds like your master is a real slave driver."

"She's not that bad," Ben countered as he picked up his schoolbag and made his way to the front door. "She's certainly not as strict as other devils I've met in the short time I've been one myself. Some of them can be total dicks, trust me. She's beautiful too, so that's a bonus."

"You're such a lucky guy; you know that right?" the client called out as he followed Ben to the front door. "I can't tell you the number of guys who would want to be ordered around by such a woman."

When they reached the door, Ben was handed a small sculpture which he placed into his bag as payment for the summoning being completed in lieu of the soul that Ben was trying to get. Ben had been shocked the first time he had received such a payment from his rich client – an original painting by Van Gogh himself! He had tried to reject the payment but had been quickly forced, through the power of persuasion, to accept the payment. Since then, he had restrained himself from complaining about the payments he received for his visits.

With the payment received, Ben returned to the hallway where he created a small, crimson magic circle beneath his feet which teleported him away from the apartment and sent him back home, bringing him to the front step of his house. Hours had passed since he visited Zaza and now the sun had set and night had fallen. He entered his house and quickly made his way up the stairs, two steps at a time, until he reached his bedroom where he heard the familiar voices of his friends coming from within. He looked at his watch and winced internally when he saw that he was five minutes late. Knowing Rias, she would pretend to not mind but he would regret it later in some not-so-subtle way.

'Perhaps the payment from this last contract will appease her,' Ben thought as he pushed the door open to reveal the rest of the ORC already discussing business.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the room was that Rias was already sporting that look of hers as she turned towards him. He waved his hands in front of him in a placating manner. "I know I'm late and I'm really sorry. I just lost track of time with the client. Zaza can really stretch out a story."

He reached into his bag and brought out the sculpture he had been given and held it out to Rias. "I couldn't get his soul again unfortunately but I did get the payment from him as usual. Please don't be mad."

Rias narrowed her eyes at him while Akeno just giggled under her breath for a moment before she let out a theatrical sigh and gestured for him to join the group with a smile. "Oh I can't stay mad at you…!" she relented with a smile on her face. "…Not when you look so adorable when."

Ben sweatdropped as he shut the door behind him and sat down on the floor next to Kiba who had taken his desk chair. Asia kindly passed him a cup of tea and he joined in with the group as they began to discuss the monthly quota of contract summons. Despite his difficulty with Zaza, Ben had still managed to get a decent number of complete contracts over the last few weeks.

Their conversation continued on for a few more minutes before the door was opened once again to reveal Ben's mother standing in the doorframe with a tray laden with snacks and three leatherbound books tucked under her arm.

"Sorry to barge in on your little club meeting," she apologised with a kind smile as she entered the room.

"Not at all, mother," Rias replied with a sweet smile before staring at Ben with a fake glare. "Ben already turned up late for the meeting anyway."

Ben returned the 'glare' at Rias before turning his head towards his mother who had already begun chastising him for his tardiness.

"I don't know what you see in him, but I'm so glad there was something," Sandra finished with a heavy sigh as she returned her attention back to Rias who chuckled innocently.

"I will admit that he has some uses," Rias said innocently though that image was ruined by the way she stared at him.

"I'm sure he does. I'm glad there's still hope for him yet," Sandra chuckled as she knelt down in the space between Rias and Asia and placed the tray on the ground before her. "Now, this group was called the Insult Research Club, wasn't it?"

Ben facepalmed himself before correcting her. "'Occult', mum. It's the Occult Research Club," he explained with embarrassment.

"Oops, my mistake," she said with a smile. "Sorry about that. Anyway, I thought I'd bring you kids up some snacks to keep you going…and, as part of playing the role of 'embarrassing mother', I brought along something I thought you girls would like to see."

It was at this point, when she pulled out the books under her arm, that Ben noted the titles on the front covers.

"Benjamin's baby photos"

Ben's eyes widened suddenly and his face went bright red from embarrassment while the girls instantly perked up when they saw the book title and quickly gathered around his mother in barely contained excitement to examine the albums.

"Mum?!" he whined loudly as he reached over to try and snatch the books before the girls opened them but his hand was instantly smacked away by Rias who had already opened the book and begun looking through the various pictures of Ben in his infancy.

Ben grumbled to himself and stole a small bowl of snacks with his retreating hand and held it close to his chest as he leant back against his desk and began to eat, watching the girls all take great pleasure in looking at him when he was a baby and a toddler, gasping with cries of "aww" whenever they saw a particular picture they liked.

As the embarrassment continued to grow with the longer they looked at the pictures and cooed cutely, Ben soon reached the stage where he began to periodically bang his head against his desk slowly. As he did so Rias looked up from the photos to look at him. "Oh, don't be like that Ben," she scolded playfully as she returned her attention to the feast of pictures before her eyes. "You looked sooooo cute as a baby!"

"It's not that hard to imagine him being this cute as a baby," cooed Akeno.

"He was so tiny and itty bitty and cute," Asia said with a small blush as she lost herself in the multitude of 'cute' pictures.

"You're killing me here, mum!" Ben groaned as he ran his hand down his face. He continued to bang his head against his desk again once they started to describe him as "Itty bitty" and "Tiny winey."

Kiba chuckled at Ben's dismay as he perused the photo book in his hands. "She seems to be a great and loving mother to me."

Ben groaned again as he stared up at the Gremory Knight. "Doesn't stop her being so embarrassing though, especially when she's doing shit like this." He returned his gaze to the group of girls on the other side of his room ogling over his pictures while his mother told the stories behind several of them. "She always did threaten to show my baby pictures to any girl I brought home. I didn't think, or rather I hoped, that she wouldn't actually carry out her threat. Looks like I was so wrong in that regard."

"It must be nice to have a family," Kiba muttered quietly as he absentmindedly flicked through the pages.

Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Ben heard him.

"What was that?" he asked, turning to look at Kiba.

"Oh nothing," he replied absentmindedly with a small smile before going quiet for a moment before he got Ben's attention again. "Hey Ben, what was this picture?" he asked, holding the photobook he held in his hands down in front of Ben who took it out of his hands to get a better look and grimaced when he recognised it.

It was a picture of him in the first year he spent living in America, around three years ago if he remembered correctly. He was stuck in a headlock with a young teenage girl who appeared to be the same age as him as the two of them fought on the floor of the living room of some house. The young girl had burnt orange hair while his was the same colour as it currently was though a bit shorter. He groaned as the memory of that event played itself out in the front of his mind.

"Oh, that's a picture of me and my cousin, Gwen. I met her when we were living in the States and we never really got along all that well, as you can see," he sighed as he gave the photobook back to Kiba though noted how he was still interested with it for some reason. "Why so interested in the picture? You don't fancy her, do you? I don't think it would work personally."

Kiba smiled at Ben's attempt at humour but Ben could tell it was an empty one and held the book out to him again. "Do you remember this?" he asked, pointing towards a specific spot in the photo.

Ben followed Kiba's finger past the fighting cousins to see that he was pointing to a sword that was hanging on the wall at the back of the room.

"This sword. Do you remember it?" Kiba asked with a hint of seriousness in his tone that Ben missed.

Ben looked at the sword and tried to think back in his memories to work out if he could remember it at all. After a few seconds he shook his head in defeat. "No, I don't. Sorry," he apologised as Kiba took the book away from him again. "I was nearly always fighting with my cousin whenever we were round there to be honest. I never really paid attention to what was around me. Is it important?"

"No, I suppose not," Kiba muttered with a clear hint of disappointment in his voice as he closed the book abruptly and handed it back to Ben who took it, his attention still on Kiba.

Ben had to endure another half hour of watching the girls becoming extremely familiar with the extensive collection of pictures that his mother had taken from his childhood. Thankfully, it soon came to an end and his mother collected the photo albums before leaving the room and letting them get on with their meeting. Not long after she left though, Rias received a communication from the Archduke ordering her and her peerage to take care of another stray devil which had killed its master and had fled to the human world to cause trouble. They made their excuses to Ben's parents who were sat in the living room and watching TV with Ship lying on his mother's lap and made their way outside.

As they closed the door behind them, Rias created a crimson magic circle beneath her and the rest of her peerage before it activated and teleported them away in a flash of light towards their target, leaving the street in silence.

. . . . .

On the other side of town, industrial district

No sooner had they emerged out of the magic circle, revealing that they were stood outside an abandoned warehouse before they were immediately assaulted by an extremely repugnant smell which told them that they were in the right spot. It was a smell which, while extremely potent, was thankfully only able to be detected by supernatural beings like devils.

"It feels like a powerful one this time," Rias noted as she stared at the dark, empty building looming before them. "It would be unwise for us to fight it inside where it'll have the advantage." She turned towards her peerage. "Koneko, Kiba and Ben; I want you three to head in there and draw it out where Akeno and I will be waiting to finish it off. Asia, you will stay outside with us to act as support should something happen. If all goes well, we won't need your Twilight Healing."

She received a series of nods and affirmations from everyone except Kiba who appeared to be completely lost in his own little world. "Kiba?" she asked, confused as to his lack of attention.

The Gremory Knight shook his head slightly and looked back at Rias with a small smile on his face. "Yeah, I got it," he muttered politely and joined Koneko and Ben who were already making their way towards the warehouse entrance.

They reached the large, metal double doors of the warehouse which were quickly dealt with by Koneko's incredible strength as she sent them crashing to the floor with a loud clang with just a single punch. They slowly made their way into the warehouse interior. Ben brought out his Sacred Gears as the repugnant smell from the stray devil grew even stronger than before.

The three devils came to an abrupt halt when they saw movement ahead of them, lurking behind a large stack of crates. Ben marvelled once more at the usefulness of his devilish eyesight which allowed him to get a clear view of the monster before them. At first glance, it looked like a young woman who was frightened, but that all changed when 'she' realised that they were in fact devils and not weak little humans that she could prey upon.

When she realised this, her whole persona changed drastically as the disguise of a beautiful young woman was dropped to reveal the monster she truly was. Her entire body morphed into one which looked like she had been mutated, merging with a feral human and a gigantic, six-legged insect. She let out an ear-piercing shriek as she launched herself out from the boxes and began crawling along the ceiling towards them with a murderous glare.

"Well, here we go again," Ben said as he brought up his Sacred Gears in preparation for the fight ahead.

[Boost!]

Koneko was about to make her move on the grotesque beast when she noticed that Kiba had once more returned to his own little world and was not aware that the stray was making a beeline straight towards him.

"Kiba! What are you doing?" she demanded, attracting his attention back to her. "Snap out of it!"

Kiba returned to his senses and glanced back at Koneko. "What? Oh, sorry about that," he muttered as he returned his mind to the battle at hand.

Ben glanced up at the beast during Koneko and Kiba's exchange to see the beast arc its large thorax downwards and aim it towards them before firing a strange grey goo-like substance. He didn't know what it was for definite but he did know that it couldn't possibly be anything good.

"Koneko! Watch out!" he shouted as the substance flew straight towards the white-haired devil and struck her before she could dodge it fully. She hissed in pain as the goo, which Ben now realised was acid of some kind, quickly started to eat away at her clothing, leaving a nasty looking burn on her skin and exposed breast.

The stray then pounced from her spot on the ceiling down towards Koneko and Kiba who was attending to her injured comrade and was almost on top of them before they saw a flash of green light out of the corner of their eye.

[Transform: Petrosapien!]

Just as the stray was about to land on the two devils, a large green, crystalline fist came out of nowhere and punched the stray devil straight in the face and sent it flying back where it crashed into a collection of old machinery.

"Cheers, Ben," Kiba muttered as he looked up at Ben's latest demonic form. He towered over them, as most of his forms tended to do, at around ten feet tall. His body appeared to be completely composed out of a pale green with four shards of crystal protruding out of his back and shoulders. His chest, waist and legs was made up of crystals which were indigo in colour rather than pale green and made it look as though he was wearing a sleeveless jumpsuit.

Ben looked down at Kiba with an annoyed look on his crystalline features. "You need to keep your head in the game, Kiba," he said in a deep voice, a slight metallic sound escaping him as he moved his crystalline 'lips'.

They were distracted when they heard a shrill screech behind and turned just in time to see the stray which had charged towards their group and lunged towards Ben. He brought his arms up to defend himself as the stray crashed into him at full force, forcing him back a few feet and leaving deep groves in the ground from where his feet dug into it. The stray pushed him back a few more feet before Ben ground his feet into the ground properly and brought them both to a sudden stop. The stray began snapping at Ben's head but he was able to keep it at bay though he was still getting covered in its spit.

"My turn," Ben growled as he took hold of the stray with his large hands and charged forwards, taking the creature with him, straight past Koneko and Kiba, until he reached the warehouse wall though he didn't stop when he reached it. He simply increased his speed and broke through the wall with the stray acting as a battering ram. Once they were outside, the two combatants fell to the ground and began to engage in a fearsome fight of their own with Ben laying down blow after blow on the stray devil with all his might while it hissed in pain and scratched Ben's crystalline body desperately though its attempt to pierce his diamond-hard 'skin' was met with no success.

The damned creature even lost its teeth when it tried to bite down hard on Ben's arm. All it got for its trouble was a mouth full of shattered teeth.

"Ben! Move out of the way so we can finish it off," Rias called out from somewhere behind him.

Ben only grunted in response as he delivered another powerful right hook to the stray's head, dazing it and knocking it off him while he rolled the opposite way.

No sooner had he done so that a large bolt of lightning and a large ball of destructive crimson energy rained down on the creature and struck it fully. When the smoke cleared, it briefly revealed the stray devil lying on its back, its legs curled up close to its chest right before it vanished in a quick flash of light.

"Phew. Glad that's over with," Ben muttered to himself as he picked himself up off the floor, reverted back to his normal form and joined the others as they gathered outside the warehouse. He spotted Asia attending to Koneko and healing her from the burns she received before.

"Are you alright, Koneko?" he asked as he approached the two girls.

"I'm fine," Koneko said before looking up at Ben with the faint traces of a smile on her face. "Thank you for stepping in, Ben. And thank you Asia for healing me."

"Don't be silly," Asia said happily as she finished off healing Koneko's arm. "There's no need to thank me."

SMACK!

They all turned at the sharp sound to see that Rias had just slapped Kiba with enough force that it left a bright red mark on his cheek.

"Have you come back to your senses?" she demanded sternly. "What happened to you in there, Kiba? If it wasn't for Ben, you and Koneko could have been seriously hurt."

Kiba looked back at Rias intently, showing absolutely no indication that he had even felt her slap. "My apologies. I just had an off day, that's all." He bowed his head respectfully. "If you excuse me, president."

Without saying another word, Kiba turned his back on Rias and everyone else as he left them and made his way out of the compound, disappearing around the corner.

Kiba didn't show any reaction to her slap "I apologise. I am fine, I just had an off day" he bowed "If I may I will head home now" he left the group and left the compound and disappeared.

"Hey Kiba." Kiba turned around at the familiar voice to see Ben jogging up to him.

"What's going on with you, Kiba?" he asked with concern in his voice. "I've never seen you act like this before and I'm worried about you." Kiba let out an empty chuckle.

"You're worried about me? Why would you be that? Devils are, in their very nature, selfish beings."

"Maybe I haven't been a devil long enough to see it like that," Ben retorted firmly. "Doesn't mean I can't worry about you, does it?"

"I appreciate your concern, Ben, but this is something I have to do alone," he muttered before turning away from Ben and continuing down the street to who knows where. Ben didn't go after him, thinking that Kiba needed some time on his own to think about stuff. However, just before he disappeared completely, Ben faintly heard Kiba mutter something under his breath.

"I have to destroy Excalibur!"

And then he was gone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N: I hope this was a good introduction to the next season. I must admit that I had a lot of fun writing the opening scene within the Dimensional Gap where I introduced my own addition to the DxD universe. I will return to him later on.

Before I go on to the reviews I got in the last month, I read one particular review which intrigued me and got me considering something that I hadn't expected to. The suggestion came from Katelynn Snow Fox is:

"Can you do a female Vali and make her part of his harem."

I am open to the suggestion of changing Vali into a female but I don't want to make her part of Ben's harem. I liked the conflict between Vali and Issei in canon and don't want to change that aspect.

With this in mind, I would like to know what you guys think about changing Vali's gender. To do this, I'll put up a poll on my page. If that doesn't work, you can put your vote up in a review. The poll will close just before Vali makes his/her debut of course.

Let me know what you guys want.

. . . . .

Reviews:

Primus1661: the main reason I chose to crossover Ben 10 in the DxD universe is because I love the way his alien transformations can adapt to any situation he finds himself in. I probably won't have Ben transform into a nemean lion but I do have some new transformations planned for the future.

DragonChamber: I was going with the same thoughts myself when I wrote that chapter. Swampfire just seemed to be the most appropriate form when teaching Riser a lesson.

In regard to your other question: No. Ben wouldn't be able to copy the Sitri House's water abilities nor would he be able to copy Serafall's unique ice magic. Ben can't copy specific powers of any species, only their general powers. He counts the DNA of the species, not the person's personal DNA.

If I didn't explain this clearly enough for you, please let me know and I'll try it again.

Xxcasskxx: I don't know if you are the same person as the other person who wrote the same review but thanks for your review, nevertheless. The previous review should hopefully answer your question about Ben's powers but if it doesn't then I can explain it better in a PM if you want.

Ultimatrix bearer: Thanks for the compliment. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I realise I failed to note that it was, in fact, ULTIMATE Swampfire but I will be doing that in future. He did it that way the first time because I wanted to make a good entrance.

Treyalexander63917: Swampfire is one of my favourite forms from the cartoon too! I'm glad you liked my choice. I already have a good entrance for Chromostone (another one of my favourites) in the future so have no fear. It wouldn't be a proper Ben 10 crossover without Chromostone, would it?

Galeiam: I didn't like the way Issei was made incredibly dense in the anime so I will do my best to avoid making Ben seem like that. If you've read the chapter already, you'll have noted that Ben is definitely not ignorant as to the girl's feelings towards him.

I also don't plan to add the aspect of anime nosebleeds in my story either. They are both annoying and cringy and not something I want to appear in my story.

Ballsandweeners35: I appreciate you taking the time to leave a review but it's a bit late for me to change it at this point. I hope you are still reading my story to catch this note, but if not then I will miss you.

Chris009: I don't have any immediate plans for a familiar for Ben but it's not a closed subject if enough people want one.

Dmclover99: I won't be including the Highbreed into my story. There are already so many things I plan to put into my story and they simply can't be added into my plans.

E-BLOK5290: I have several ideas for Albedo but I want to keep them to myself for now.

Guest: I understand what you are saying. I will go back, at some point in the future, to the first chapter and explain how my story will differ from canon. I concede that it is still causing confusion among some of my readers and will make to correct that as soon as possible.

I still plan to keep my A/N at the end of my chapter so as to let everyone read my story without my drivel potentially spoiling a surprise I may have put into the chapter.

MGStarFire: I personally don't think you can make a detailed observation of a whole story by only reading the first two chapters. You'll find that a high number of fanfic authors follow a particular story fairly close to canon to help them establish a baseline to follow. I'm a first-time writer and was still introducing everyone to my story at a more relaxed pace. From the tone of your review, I suspect that you have stopped reading my story and so won't read this.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my story (the first two chapters anyway) and for taking the time to leave a review.

. . . . .

I'm going to release the rest of my chapters every two weeks instead of my previous schedule. This may change over the year but I'll let you guys know if they change.

I'll see you guys in two weeks.