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]

18. Swimming lessons and introductions

A/N: I know what you're all thinking and I want to let you guys know I'm sorry that this chapter is so late. My laptop suffered from a major cockup which made me lose over half of the chapter. That, combined with my uni work left me with no time to release the chapter on the normal date.

Now that's out of the way….

OMG! I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten since my last chapter. Thank you so much! I asked for more reviews but I didn't expect to get that many. Would love to see that many for this one though that's not a demand.

I would like to point out as well that, in this chapter, I made my first ever attempt to write some particularly ecchi scenes. I personally think I did a good job and my beta reader didn't have any complaints but I would really appreciate some feedback from you guys. I can only get better when I know what I'm doing wrong.

Without further ado, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for.

(*Insert disclaimer here*)

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

Unknown location

Existing outside of the borders of existence there exists a realm.

A plane of non-existence that kept the infinite number of dimensions and realms of real space forever apart…to never touch. A place completely devoid of life and the ability to sustain life due to both the vacuum and the impossible pressure that composes the structure of this plane, a paradoxically impossible combination of the two forces yet still was.

That was simply the nature of the Dimension Gap.

A void that had always existed and would always be there. Before the first dimension came to be and time and space found a place to have meaning, the Gap was there.

The silence that filled the impossible void was suddenly broken when a tear in the fabric of space was rent and a Zs'Skayr stepped into the infinite nothing and everything that the Gap was composed of.

"Well, here I am: The Dimension Gap," the spectral creature growled as the gateway they had created snapped shut behind them, the damage to the non-space of the Gap stitching back together in 'seconds'.

It was all but impossible to enter the Dimension Gap. Barely a handful of tools and items made it possible and even less were the number of beings who could pass through by their own means. Zs'Skayr was only able to do it by following the instructions of the hypnotising voice echoing in their head which guided them and instructed them on how to create a portal from which they can step through.

"Why did I even come here?!" Zs'Skayr hissed in angry confusion.

"Because I commanded you to and you will obey me!"

Zs'Skayr's ghostly form flinched and instantly froze where it floated when the voice entered its head again, its words acting like a vice which squeezed its very being. As if a hand had taken hold of it, Zs'Skayr felt itself be slowly turned around where it saw what had to be the reason it was brought there.

A tear, a tiny tear that was easily missed in the endless void that was the Gap. It was no bigger than a few centimetres across but the very space/non-space around seemed to recoil from interacting with it, blackening and becoming more corrupt the closer it was to the small tear.

"Has so much time passed that your species don't recognise their master?" the dark voice continued, voicing its immense frustration at Zs'Skayr's rebellious attitude.

"You dare claim to be my master?!" Zs'Skayr hissed in response at the voice's audacity. "The only master I will ever serve was destroyed eons ago! I am all that is left of my kind since the angels purged the rest over 100 millennia ago."

The pressure holding Zs'Skayr in place suddenly stopped growing in intensity though it continued to restrain them.

"Alone for 100,000 years, huh? Hmm, it seems that I have missed out on a lot in my captivity. Perhaps it's not too surprising though. My captors built my prison so perfectly that I know not how to break through my bars…nor even where my prison is for that matter. They left Great Red as my guard and he has proven to be a tenacious guard. So much so that this small tear is all I have been able to do in however long it has been since I was sealed away."

As the dark voice spoke, Zs'Skayr's eyes widened as an ancient, long-forgotten memory stirred in their head. It might have taken while for them to remember due to it being eons since the war but Zs'Skayr finally registered the inescapable truth of the voice's true identity, the voice of their creator and eternal master!

"You're him?! You're truly him, the Dark One?! The one who battled the dragon gods and the Christian god?!"

"It's good to hear that I haven't been completely forgotten. Now tell me about my enemies. What has happened since my de–since my imprisonment? I want to know everything."

"O-Of course, dark one," Zs'Skayr gabbled fearfully, all of their previous bravado and confidence having completely disappeared once they acknowledged their master. "A lot has happened since you were imprisoned, my master."

"You believe you have somewhere else to go?" the voice chuckled though it didn't put the spectre at ease. Far from it. "Start talking."

Unable to deny the voice its request, Zs'Skayr began telling it everything they knew.

. . . . .

Elsewhere

To celebrate their victory over Kokabiel and for stopping the town from being destroyed by the fallen angel's plans to start a war, the Occult Research club decided to have a big party in the local karaoke bar in town. Every member of the club was present except for Rias and Akeno who were going to be late to the celebrations on account that they needed to "complete a very important task" though they refused to tell Ben what it was when he asked them about it.

"Right," he had told them in response. "Just don't be too long, okay?"

"We won't. Besides, you'll be grateful for this task we're going to complete," Rias had told him, only succeeding in confusing him further.

As for the others who did make it to the party, even Saji made it when they invited him. Ben had asked Sona whether the he could join them as a way to thank him for his help and as a way for him to say sorry for getting him in trouble by going behind Sona's back. She had seemed hesitant at first but eventually agreed to let Saji join them.

Kiryuu Kiriguya had also found a way to weasel her way into the celebrations (though obviously not knowing the exact reason for the party, only that there was a party going on without her), much to Ben's annoyance. She was probably the last person that he ever wanted to end up in a fairly crowded room with but he refrained from saying anything because Asia had been the one to invite the four-eyed pervert to the party and he had no intention of upsetting her.

Everyone was enjoying the party, all having a turn at singing, some singing on their own and others doing a duet. Even Ben got involved when he found a few songs that he recognised and sang them terribly, much to everyone's amusement.

Right now, though, Saji was having his turn at singing one of his favourite songs that were available on the karaoke machine and Ben was sat down on the sofa and drinking some of his juice to rehydrate his parched throat from all the singing he had just been doing when his right pocket began vibrating.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Distracted by the tone, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to see that Rias had just send him a photo. When he opened up the picture he almost spat out the juice in his mouth when he saw Rias wearing an extremely attractive white, two-piece swimsuit. Thankfully, he was able to prevent himself from spraying everyone with his drink and swallowed it which, instead, left him suffering from a small coughing fit.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Ben was surprised when Akeno had also sent him a photo. Bracing himself, he opened it up to see Akeno wearing an equally attractive swimsuit and posing for him in a very provocative way.

So this was why they were running late to the karaoke party? To pick out swimsuits for some reason.

'Although,' he thought to himself as he looked at the two pictures in his phone, 'I'm not exactly going to complain about it.'

"Are you alright, Ben?" Asia asked from the other side of the booth with concern in her voice as she watched him patting his chest to stop his coughing.

"Y-Yeah, *cough* *cough*, yeah, I'm fine," he coughed behind his hand as his airway eventually cleared up.

Kiryuu glanced across the table at him, her glasses appearing to gleam in the light as she stared at Ben with a sly smile on her face.

"I'll say so. It looks like you got an eyeful of something good by the large protrusion in your pants."

"I don't believe anyone was talking to you," Ben muttered dryly in response before getting distracted by his phone vibrating for a third time, this time from an incoming call. He glanced down at the caller ID and grimaced as he recognised who it was.

"I've got to take this. I'll be back in a moment," he announced as he stood up, leaving the room as he answered his phone.

. . . . .

"…no, that's fine. I did say I would come by whenever you wanted, didn't I? I'll be by in a few minutes. Yeah, okay, see you in a bit," Ben said before disconnecting the call and putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Got a client?"

Ben looked over to see Kiba sat down on a couch at the karaoke bar's waiting area, complete with drink and snack machines, a cup of iced tea in his hands.

"Yeah, it's that rich guy who was my first regular," Ben replied as he approached the blond knight.

"Calling you on your day off? That's sucks," Kiba said with a light chuckle.

"I know…," Ben admitted with a light groan as he stopped at the drinks counter. "But I did say I would do so. He summoned me during the whole 'looking for Freed and the Holy swords' thing and promised I'd visit him whenever he wanted as a way to make it up to him. If I don't then Rias would get angry and we both know what happens when Rias gets angry."

"Yeah," Kiba sweatdropped as the two young men felt their backsides tense up subconsciously at the painful memories.

The hallway fell into silence as Ben fixed himself with a drink while Kiba just stared at the glass in his hands.

"Hey, Ben," Kiba spoke up, breaking the silence and attracting Ben's attention.

"Yeah?" Ben replied, turning to face Kiba with a new drink in his hand.

"I've been wanting to thank you but haven't had the chance to do so…so thanks," Kiba said with a serious expression on his face.

"Hey, don't mention it," Ben replied, waving his thanks off. "Everybody's already forgiven you. As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it. There's no need to thank me."

Ben made his way back to the booth where everybody else in their group was but stopped just outside the door with his hand on the handle. He glanced back at the young knight who had returned his gaze back down at his glass. "Hey Kiba. I guess I can wait a few more minutes before I have to go. Why don't we do a kickass duet before I go?"

Kiba couldn't help but smile at Ben's invitation.

"Yeah, sure," he chuckled as he stood up and joined Ben before they re-entered the booth.

. . . . .

At the client's house

(One hour later)

"Crap! How did you get so good at this, Zaza?"

After leaving his friends to continue the party without him, Ben made it to his client's flat where he was surprised by his eccentric client's request for the night; playing multiplayer games on one of his many games consoles.

During one of his last visits, Ben had been surprised to hear that Zaza had never played a video game before. Eager to show him what he'd been missing, Ben proceeded to teach his client about all the different kinds of games available and explaining the pros and cons of each one to him. After this teaching session, Ben was shocked at his subsequent visit to see that the man had gone out and bought every single games console on the market today…even several first generation, extremely rare consoles!

What followed next was teaching him to play some of the multitude of games that he had bought with the consoles.

As it turned out, his client was an incredibly fast learner as he was now kicking Ben's ass in a fighting game that he used to consider himself pretty good at.

"What can I say except I'm a quick study…," the blond-haired client replied with a chuckle as his character knocked Ben's character to the floor with a well-timed uppercut. "When I find something I'm really interested in, I want to learn everything I can about it."

Ben didn't really hear what Zaza said as he was too focused on trying to land a blow to his opponent to no success.

"Dammit!" Ben exclaimed several minutes later when his character was decapitated by his client's character for the fourth time that night. "Have I told you how frustrating it that you've gotten so good at this game in such a short time?"

"What can I say? I had a lot of time on my hands to practice," the client said with a smile as his character celebrated their victory. "After all, it's been a while since you last visited me."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. Had some devil business to deal with," Ben replied as he watched his headless character lying on the floor of the arena, computer generated blood seeping out of the hole in his neck. "Never mind that though, what brought you to go out and buy every single gaming console known to man?"

"I kinda got obsessed with video games after you introduced me to them. I can't stop when I start collecting stuff." A wry smile formed on his lips that Ben failed to see. "I've often been told that I get completely immersed in what I'm collecting."

"Uh-huh," Ben grumbled, only half listening as he lamented over his fourth consecutive defeat.

The blond-haired man stood up and looked down at Ben who had remained cross-legged on the floor. "Well, I feel like a drink to celebrate. Can I get you anything, devil boy…or should I say, Dragon All-Father?"

WHOOSH!

Ben was forced to look away briefly as the sudden gust of wind took him by surprise. When he looked back at this client he was met with the view of twelve pitch black wings protruding from his back.

"Let me introduce myself. My true name is Azazel, otherwise known as the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels," Azazel announced with a wry smile on his face as he looked down at Ben.

"Hi, Azazel," Ben replied with a polite nod of his head.

Azazel chuckled under his breath but managed to remain composed at the distinct lack of shock at his perfect reveal. "I must admit I was expecting a bit more awe when I revealed myself to you," he admitted, his smile still on his face.

"I would have been surprised if I didn't have a dragon god sealed within my left arm that remembers you even after all this time," Ben explained calmly, holding up his left arm to the Governor-General.

"Hmm, I guess that explains it," Azazel sighed as his six pairs of wings returned back into his body.

"Oh, and by the way; next time you want to hide your identity try to come up with a better name," ben continued with a shake of his head.

"What was wrong with my cover name?" Azazel asked with false dismay.

"'Le Zaza'? Come on. Really? That's just your name spelled backwards. Even an idiot with half a brain would be able to work that out. It's hardly a disguise worthy of Sherlock Holmes."

Azazel couldn't help but laugh at this. He had wondered for a while how the young devil before him would react when he finally revealed his true self to him and not one of the scenarios he imagined came anywhere near to this.

"Well, moving on at any rate. I thought that, after everything that happened with Kokabiel, it would be best to finally introduce myself. That and I've also taken a special interest in you and both of your Sacred Gears, mainly the one on your left arm though. I am a great admirer of him and his work. I could hardly believe it when I heard that the great dragon, Azmuth had returned…sealed within a Sacred Treasure no less! I thought that he had left this dimension millennia ago never to return."

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear he's got a fan," Ben replied sarcastically, knowing full well how the ancient dragon would react.

His sarcasm didn't go unnoticed by the millennia old former angel though.

"I'm sure he will," Azazel smirked in amusement. "I'm sure he'd be more interested to hear that the summit is going ahead."

This got Ben's attention.

"What? Really?" he asked enthusiastically, quickly getting to his feet to look Azazel in the eye.

"Yep. All three factions have agreed to meet though the finer details such as time and place are still being decided. I would appreciate it if you could let Azmuth know if he isn't listening right now."

Ben shook his head.

"No, he's been staying in his Sacred Gear lately. I don't think he'll ever get over the loss."

"I understand. Still though, if you could let him know it's going ahead. He was the catalyst that got the wheels turning after all."

"Sure, I'll let him know."

"If you could do one last thing for me, kid. Could you tell what he's like since he was sealed within the Sacred Gear; has he changed at all?"

"Well, I wasn't around during that time but if he was a grumpy, impossible-to-please-but-quick-to-annoy son of a bitch who found flaws in everything you did then you'll be happy to know he hasn't changed a bit."

Azazel brought his head back and laughed and Ben's description.

"Wonderful! I can't wait till I get to speak to him myself."

Ben couldn't help but join in with the fallen angel's infectious laughter. Only one thought occupied his mind as he laughed along with him.

'Rias is going to be so pissed about this.'

. . . . .

Back in the ORC clubroom

(Several minutes later)

"This is absolutely outrageous!" Rias declared angrily.

'Yep, she's pissed alright,' Ben thought with a sigh as he stood before Rias and gave a report of his meeting with Azazel for a second time.

After he and Azazel had parted ways, Ben had decided to bite the bullet and phone Rias, telling her about the true identity of his regular client. He chose to keep the fact that he was aware of his client's true identity for some time now. Needless to say, the Gremory heiress was not happy at finding out that the leader of the Fallen Angels had been hiding within her territory under her very nose. She had called an emergency meeting and demanded that everyone attend.

This led to the clubroom being occupied by the entirety of the Occult Research Club a few minutes later where Ben was asked to retell everything that he had already told Rias over the phone. It seemed that hearing it all over again did little to ease Rias' frustration on the matter.

"Not only did Azazel infiltrate my territory and interfere with my business…," the crimson-haired devil continued with frustration in her voice as she got up from her seat, moved around her desk until she stood opposite Ben and leaned against the edge of it, "…but he also has the gall to try and take my favourite servant away from me?! He deserves to die a thousand deaths!"

Ben sweatdropped at the intensity of Rias' frustration. "I don't think it was a genuine offer though."

He was telling the truth. Just as he was about to leave Azazel's flat, the fallen angel had asked him if he was open to the idea of switching sides and joining the fallen angels. Ben had politely but firmly rejected Azazel's offer, stating he was very happy with where he was.

"I don't care! He still deserves a thousand deaths!"

"I guess I understand his interest in me though. Until Azmuth and I came along, it was the two Heavenly Dragons who were the strongest creatures sealed within Gears. Now, though, the Dragon God of Life himself has been revealed to be sealed within a Gear too, a feat that was considered impossible until it actually happened."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, my precious Ben," Rias declared firmly as she abruptly reached out, took his head in her hands and pulled it to her chest and hugged it fiercely, one hand resting against the back of his head and holding it in place. "I'll do everything in my power to protect you."

Ben tried to respond to her declaration but it barely came out as a muffled noise as his face was pressed into Rias' very ample cleavage.

"So is it true?" Koneko asked from one of the clubroom's sofas, a small bowl of treats in her hands as per usual for the white-haired rook. "There's really going to be a big meeting between the leaders of the Three Factions?"

Rias released Ben from her affectionate embrace and nodded her head at Koneko's question. "It's true. I received confirmation of it from my brother earlier." She glanced towards Ben, giving him a questioning look. "He also asked me to thank Azmuth for him for some reason. Care to enlighten us on that, Ben?"

Ben laughed forcefully and without enthusiasm as he rubbed the back of his head at Rias' request.

"I must admit that I'm curious too," Kiba added from his seat beside Koneko as he stared at the Gremory pawn along with everyone else. "You never told us what you spoke to Sirzechs about."

"Well, I guess I can tell you. I was only told to keep it a secret by Sirzechs until the angels and fallen angels agreed to meet. It's not exactly my most favourite memory but the conversation went something like this….

. . . . .

*Flashback*

(Several days ago, just after the battle with Kokabiel)

"I hear you wished to speak with me in private about something, Tennyson," Sirzechs stated as he sat back in his throne and stared down at Ben intently.

Before Ben could explain to Sirzechs what was going on, Azmuth beat him to it.

[He didn't request this meeting, I did!] the ancient dragon declared, his voice echoing around the large, spacious room they were standing in. [I have something to say and I WILL be heard.]

Ben gulped as Sirzechs raised an eyebrow at Azmuth's sharp rise in tone yet didn't respond to it…for now.

"Very well. I'm listening," Sirzechs replied calmly though his eyes never left Ben's who swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat.

Azmuth went silent for a moment as he collected himself and then spoke again.

[I had my eyes opened tonight, devil king. I had heard that the war hadended several centuries ago yet I had no idea just how flimsy this so-called 'peace' truly was until that warmonger Kokabiel showed me. Do you just how close the Three Factions came to war again tonight?!]

[Before I was sealed in this Sacred Gear I used to believe it was Humanity that was God's most flawed creation and not his Angels…even if the devils and fallen angels broke away from it. Now though, I'm beginning to realise that I was wrong…that it is the Three Factions which are the most flawed!]

"Forgive me for the intrusion but I'm struggling to see where your stake in our affairs comes into place," Sirzechs chimed in, his voice calm and neutral, completely without any retort to Azmuth's statements.

[Since learning about His death, my memories of our last conversation have been returned to me. Before He sealed my soul into the Gear, God imparted onto me a future that He foresaw, one of the many He could see with His powers. He told me that He saw His death in one of them and it made Him rethink about decisions He had made in the past. Despite your many differences with Him, He didn't want to leave you behind after He was gone, a religion without a god is one that is swept aside by other, lesser religions. We both witnessed it happen in the past and He didn't want it for His creations. He said He had a plan to finally stop the fighting, to bring all of you to the table and finally find some common ground before it was too late.]

"I'm still not hearing what it's got to do with you," Sirzechs interjected with a shrug and completely ignoring the deep, angry growl that came from Ben's left arm.

"Calm down, Azmuth!" Ben hissed under his breath as he shook his arm, hoping that it did something to calm the dragon down…. It didn't work.

[I have known God since before you Angels were even ideas in His head. We may've had many things we argued and disagreed about but we had an understanding, a bond that you will never understand. It is clear that He wasn't able to carry out His plan to knock your heads together and stop fighting so I guess I have to do it for Him. All the leaders of the Three Factions have been complete fools…even you, Sirzechs…though I will concede that you weren't there when the fighting started."

Ben gaze shot up from his gauntlet to look up at Sirzechs once Azmuth had finished speaking and waited for the devil king to respond. He didn't expect Azmuth to act like he had done and was more than a little terrified at how Sirzechs would react.

He didn't have to wait long as it happened as Sirzechs took a deep breath and rose out of his chair and stared down at Ben with a serious look.

"That's quite a bold statement to make to…even for a dragon god," he said calmly though that did little to ease Ben's nerves. "It has accepted for centuries that when sentient Sacred Gears speak, they speak for their hosts; what they say is considered to have been said by their wielders."

"So, in your case, Ben, speaking to a devil king like that gives me the grounds to destroy you for saying such treasonous stuff to your king," Sirzechs stated emotionlessly as he slowly approached the nervous devil in question.

"In this case however…I have to agree with you, with everything you've said," the crimson-haired devil added with a sigh and small nod of his head.

Ben blinked at Sirzechs' sudden change, dumbfounded with everything going on and unable to think of anything to say.

Azmuth, though, seemed content to continue speaking on his behalf.

[Hmm. Is that so?] Azmuth asked dubiously.

"Yes. I almost lost my precious little sister tonight because someone wanted to use her to draw me and the rest of our people into a war which would have sealed our fate as a species. It would've been even worse had Serafall's little sister had been killed.

"We knew full well that another war would destroy all three of our peoples yet, despite this, not one of the factions dared take the first step in establishing true peace," Sirzechs continued with a disappointed shake of his head, both for the three powers and for himself for not doing anything. "I agree that the time has come for the Three Factions to come together and finally end hostilities; it's the only way we can survive once knowledge of God's death becomes widespread. I will speak to my fellow devil kings who I know will agree with me and we will send messages to the angels and fallen angels to set up a gathering."

[Well I'll be the first to admit that this is the first time ever that I've seen a devil accept their faults and that of their species,] Azmuth stated plainly, his voice significantly calmer than it had been moments ago.

Sirzechs smiled at Azmuth's 'compliment'. "I'm just glad I was able to spot those faults before it brought us all to ruin. This feud between us seems pointless…especially with God having been dead for all this time. I'm just ashamed that it almost took me losing Rias to finally do something about it."

[It's not shameful to make mistakes, Sirzechs. It's shameful to know you've made mistakes but do nothing to correct them.]

"Then let's correct some mistakes."

*End of flashback*

. . . . .

"It was Azmuth who did the talking and it's not exactly a thing I want to remember," Ben groaned as he recalled his encounter with Rias' brother shortly after their battle with Kokabiel. "Sirzechs was so intimidating and Azmuth wasn't helping. If we were speaking with anyone else, I'm sure I would've been killed."

"As for what Azmuth said; he expressed his displeasure at the state the Three Factions were in and pointed out how tenuous the ceasefire had been if the Kokabiel incident had brought them so close to starting the war again. He made it clear that they had been left alone because the other powers still believed God was alive and, if the Three Factions were to survive in future, they had to let go of their petty issues and join together. Thankfully, Sirzechs agreed with Azmuth and began organising the summit."

Rias nodded her head slightly as Ben finished his recount.

"I have to agree with Azmuth's reasoning. Even amongst the other gods, He was in a completely different league from them. It's because of God that Christianity was able to survive and thrive as a monotheistic religion against the pantheons of other religions. They've kept the secret of His death so far but it won't last forever. Soon others will know the truth and other powers will make their moves and challenge us openly. I might not be fond of angels and fallen angels but I'll team up with them if it means surviving."

A short silence fell on the room as everyone considered Rias' words, a few of them nodding their heads in silent agreement.

"I still can't believe this is happening," Xenovia muttered, breaking the silence as she crossed her arms under her chest. "All relationships have been changed. Nothing will be the same anymore between the factions."

"That's precisely why this is such a delicate situation. A meeting such as this could very well make things more complicated than they are now. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen," Rias admitted begrudgingly.

Ben couldn't help but sport a small smile on his lips at Rias' admission. She absolutely hated not knowing about important things.

She could be so cute when she got frustrated like she did.

. . . . .

The Tennyson household

(Later)

Once Ben had recounted the tale of his encounter with the leader of the fallen angels, the emergency meeting came to an end, finishing with Rias telling her servants that, while Kuoh was her territory and should be a safe place for them, they should still be careful for the next few days while the final details of the meeting are sorted out.

Once that was over and done with, Ben, Rias and Asia left the clubroom together and made their way back to his house. Deciding that he absolutely needed to relax after everything that's been going on recently and to ease his tense muscles, Ben decided he needed a nice, warm, relaxing bath which is what he was currently enjoying.

As he felt himself almost melt into the inviting water, Ben raised his arms and rested them on the sides of the bath as he stared at the back of hands where Azmuth and Ddraig's jewels would've been if he summoned his Gears.

"Are you sure you can't tell me more about what's going on with this meeting and why it's so important, Azmuth?" Ben asked the emerald dragon through his telepathic form of communication with the two dragons.

[Yes, I'm sure,] Azmuth replied firmly and without hesitation. [The way the things currently are with the three factions is worse than I thought. The status quo cannot last much longer before the truth comes out. The 'peace' they have right now is meaningless. Kokabiel showed me that.]

[Has this got anything to do with God's death?] Ddraig asked curiously. [Have you recalled another memory?]

[All I will say for now that God confided what he saw for the three factions and this isn't it,] Azmuth explained cryptically. [We had our fair share of differences over the eons, some of them even petty when I look back on them but I'm not going to let His memory be tarnished by squabbling children.]

Ben could see that Azmuth wasn't going to reveal anything else so, as the two dragons withdrew back into their Sacred Gears for the night, he went back to enjoying his bath.

A few minutes later, Ben was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of the bathroom door opening. He looked over to see Rias and Asia stepping into the bathroom, the pair of them completely naked and each carrying a towel over their arm.

"Uh, hello ladies," Ben said to the two beauties as they closed the door behind them. "You do realise that I'm already here, don't you?"

"Of course we did," Rias replied with false innocence as she smiled at him. "We couldn't wait for you to finish any longer so we both thought we'd join you."

"Besides…," she continued as she placed her hands on her hip and posed for him, showing him her entire body in all its stunning glory. "…it's not like you haven't seen us naked before, is it?"

A lifetime ago, Ben's face would've turned as red as Rias' hair in embarrassment at the situation he suddenly found himself in. However, thanks to the changes affecting his mind and body from Azmuth and Ddraig's draconic nature, Ben found himself gradually losing his ability to feel embarrassment completely.

"I guess I can follow that reasoning," he nodded with a faint smirk as he stared directly into Rias' eyes for a short moment before breaking contact and looking over at Asia who appeared to be extremely embarrassed.

"Is this something you both wanted to do?" he mused, directing his attention more at Asia than Rias. Despite the gradual change in their relationship and their sleeping arrangements, Asia still seemed nervous about some of the lewd actions which seemed to come to Rias so naturally.

Asia's eyes met his for a brief moment before she quickly averted her eyes, her cheeks flushing bright red.

"Um, it…it is," she mumbled quietly.

"In fact, as much as I would like to take credit for this idea, I have to admit that Asia beat me to it," Rias announced with pride.

"You mean…?"

"Yes, this was her idea. I keep underestimating her. She's turning into quite the succubus, isn't she?"

"Oh no! I don't want to be a succubus!" Asia whined cutely, shaking her head in embarrassment.

"I'm going to have to step up my game if I want to keep up with her," Rias teased with a smirk at Asia's embarrassment.

"Well don't let me get in your way," Ben chuckled and looked back at the bath. "I think there'll be much space with more than one person in here but you're welcome to join me."

Rias' smirk grew sly. "Why thank you. We'll take you up on that offer. We just need to wash ourselves first."

The two young women proceeded to go through their washing ritual while Ben leaned against the edge of the bath and watched the scene play out before him, particularly enjoying their conversation.

"I must say, Asia, I'm so jealous of your beautiful skin, it's so radiant," Rias said with a smile as she washed the young blonde's back with soapy water.

Asia's face reddened at Rias' compliment. "R-Really? You think so? I always thought your skin was nicer than mine. It's so white and smooth."

Rias chuckled. "That's so nice of you to say. You're too kind."

Ben couldn't help but be enticed by the two attractive young women as they washed themselves in front of him, no shame in their actions at all though he didn't disapprove of that fact.

Before long, the two beauties had finished washing each other and moved to join Ben in the water that Ben had heated up again with magic. As they slid into the water with him, Ben's concerns were proven true; the bath was far too small for three people. Due to the extremely restricted space available to them, Rias and Asia ended up being pressed up against his chest, the pair of them practically sitting in his lap without much space to move about.

"Looks like I was right about the lack of space," Ben noted with a smirk, turning to face Rias whose face was just a few inches away from his own.

"I know…but I've always wanted to share a bath with you but I've never had the chance to do so until now," Rias admitted with a cute pout and rapid flicker of her eyelashes as she pulled up her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Is that so? You should've said so, we could've done this so much sooner," Ben told her light-heartedly

Rias returned his smile and pressed herself closer against his chest. "My, my, where has all this confidence of yours come from? If I'd known you'd enjoy taking a bath with me so much I would have acted a lot sooner."

As she pressed herself against him, Ben took a deep breath and was met by the sweet scent of the shampoo that Rias had used in her hair moments ago.

"Ahh," Rias sighed contently, resting her head in the crook of his neck. Even if it is in a cramped bath like this, I want to take a bath with you every day. I don't think your body could handle every day though so I'd settle for every three days instead for now."

"Oh, you think I wouldn't be able to handle you? I think you'd be in for a surprise," Ben countered, giving Rias' waist a little squeeze with his arm.

If Rias was taken off guard by his response she certainly hid it well.

"Oh my, Ben. You seem to become bolder by the day…not that I mind that in the slightest," Rias remarked, pulling herself up to face Ben, their face mere inches apart. "Do you want to attack me? Push me to the ground and ravish me?"

Ben just stared at Rias for a moment, as though he was debating his answer before reaching one.

"Maybe I do. The question is: if I did that, how would you react?" he stated, his gaze turning predatory.

This seemed to be the limit to what the inexperienced and, truthfully, innocent Rias could handle as her cheeks finally turned a faint shade of red as she felt herself trapped by Ben's intense stare. Thanks to their closeness, Ben could feel that her heartbeat had quickened. Deciding to tease her further, Ben slowly trailed his fingers down the side of her body until he reached her waist where he then began brushing his fingers against her leg and was rewarded by a sudden, startled intake of breath from the red-haired beauty in his arm.

The blonde-haired beauty in his other arm, though, couldn't take being ignored anymore.

"It's not fair! Don't forget about me," Asia whined adorably as she pushed herself against Ben too, her breasts pressing against his chest and drawing his attention to her.

"Of course I couldn't forget about you," he stated, turning his intense stare onto her instead and leading to her squirming from its intensity, like a prey that had been caught by a predator which was now playing with it. Like Rias, Ben started trailing his hand down her body and thigh where, just like Rias, the blonde Gremory bishop gasped at his touch and blushed furiously.

"Listen here, Asia," Rias retorted, interrupting them as she pulled herself up and sat on Ben's left thigh, glaring at her blonde bishop with a firm expression on her face though it was completely devoid of any true hostility. "Since I've got the chance to tell you this, I'll state it clearly to you now so you don't get any ideas. Ben belongs to me! He's part of my household and one of my precious servants. He's MY Ben!"

Asia wasn't deterred by this though and responded by tightening her hold around Ben's neck as she stared right back at Rias with a look of fierce determination on her face. "While that might be true, that doesn't mean he isn't MY Ben too!"

'Why am I starting to feel like I'm being treated like a pet?' Ben wondered with amusement as he watched the ladies in his arms argue with each other over him, smirking at the possessive tones in both their voices.

"Asia!"

Rias didn't seem able to take any more and stood up in the bath with what little legroom she had available and stared down at Asia with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Ben dotes on you every day! As his master, I deserve to have him dote on me too!"

Asia whined cutely at Rias' statement. "But you're so much more beautiful than me! If I left you alone with him, you'd take him away from me!"

Rias smiled at Asia's words and took hold of Ben's left arm.

"You have a point. I mean, can you do this…?" she asked as she wedged the arm in her hands between her large breasts.

Ben felt something deep within him stir slightly at having his hand restrained by the pink flesh of Rias' breasts and found himself fighting to keep it buried right now and breathed deeply, an action lost on the two women fighting over him.

Asia's cheeks puffed out cutely in her jealousy of Rias' large chest and showed her commitment to challenging Rias, followed her lead and knelt in front of Ben and, holding Ben's right hand against her chest, pressed his open hand against her perky right breast, gasping audibly as Ben's body reacted instinctively and he gently squeezed the soft mound of flesh.

"I-I can do that all day! I w-won't lose to you!" she stated, her breathing becoming quicker at Ben's intimate touch.

Asia then forced her eyes which had previously been tight shut to hide her embarrassment open and looked directly at Ben. "I have a question for you, Ben: Whose chest do you like better? Mine or Rias'? I may be smaller in size but I won't lose in anything else!"

"Oh dear," Rias taunted with a victorious smile on her face. "I'm sure Ben's favourite things are large breasts. He may not say anything but he's always groping mine at night; I can hardly keep him off me…not that I want him to. His touch just feels sooooo good."

Asia's eyes started to water slightly at Rias' declaration and looked back at Ben with firm determination.

"That's not true, is it Ben!?" she demanded with worry in her voice.

Ben sighed and shook his head slightly. "Of course it isn't, Asia. I like the both of you as you are," he said calmly and sincerely. "…and not just because of your appearance," he added, directing his attention to Rias who only replied with an adorable pout of her bottom lip.

"Do you two always have to fight over me? I'm not going anywhere, you know. If you can't stop fighting over me completely then can you just put a hold on it until tomorrow? I'm still completely worn out by everything that has happened over the last few days and it sounds as though things are only going to get more complicated over the next few days," he said in a tired voice as he leant against the back of the bath and tried to enjoy the warm water once again. He looked back up to see the two young women staring at him.

"For me?" he added with a small, pathetic pout of his own.

It didn't take more than a quick glance at each other for the girls to come to a silent agreement. Without any raised voices or anything else from before, the two of them wordlessly turned around until their backs were to him and sat back down on his thighs before leaning against his muscular chest and sighing in contempt.

"Hmm, that's my Ben," Rias purred as she rested her head in the crook of his neck again. "And just when I thought I couldn't like you anymore than I already do."

"Same here," Asia added as she also rested her head in the crook of Ben's neck. "You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that."

As Ben smiled, content that he had managed to diffuse the situation…at least for the rest of the night, he took a deep breath, inhaling in the sweet scent of the shampoo in the long hair of the girls in his arms, he suddenly realised that neither girl had made any move to release their hold over his arms which were still being held against their chests.

"Are you two going to give me back my arms any time soon?" he asked with a tired smile on his face.

"No," the pair of them murmured in unison.

Ben merely chuckled to himself at this and enjoyed the rest of the bath in peace.

. . . . .

Kuoh town, near Xenovia's place

(Two weekends later)

Ben didn't want to believe it when Rias told him that the Occult Research Club had offered to clean out the school pool in preparation for the upcoming summer season in which the pool would be used for gym class.

However much he didn't want to believe it though, it was still the case and so on Sunday morning, as the summer sun beat down on the town on Kuoh, Ben found himself following behind Rias as she led him and Asia down the street to meet up with Xenovia at her place of residence, set up by Rias of course.

They found the azure-haired Durandal user waiting for them outside the block of apartments in which her home was located.

"Hey there, Xenovia," Rias greeted chirpily as she approached him.

"How are you doing?" Ben asked as he stopped in front of her. "You seem to be settling in well around here."

Xenovia gave him a warm smile as she nodded her head in response. "Yeah, I'm doing well. The place Rias picked out for me is rather comfortable. I'm adjusting quickly."

"That's because this whole area is supported by the devils. That means that it's going to be a very safe environment," Rias explained as she gestured to the area around them.

"You mean aside from the odd war mongering fallen angel of course," Ben stated with a small smile forming in the corner of his mouth. His smile only grew wider when Rias turned around to glare at him cutely. She didn't say anything to him as she set off down the street towards the school but Ben had a sinking suspicion that he was going to pay for that comment sometime in the future.

They met up with the rest of their group outside the front gates to the academy and made their way through the empty grounds until they reached the school pool. They entered the enclosure and made their way to the pool and stood at its edge where they now stood staring at the murky, disgusting water which filled the pool.

Ben couldn't help but grimace as he stared at the murky greenish water. "Urgh, that's a pretty potent smell," he grimaced as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"It hasn't been used since last year," Akeno explained with a light chuckle.

"And we have the job of cleaning it," he muttered with a light sigh.

"How does it make sense that it's our club that has to clean the swimming pool?" Xenovia asked, glancing toward Rias with confusion.

"It's not our job normally. It's usually the student council who cleans the pool but we've taken over the responsibility for this year. I thought it was only right after everything they did for us when we were dealing with Kokabiel," Rias explained.

"On the plus side though…," she continued, looking between her precious servants with a smile. "Once we've cleaned it, the pool will be ours to use as often as we want…for a little while at least."

As these words entered his head, Ben's mind quickly brought up memories of the photos he had received from Rias and Akeno in their skimpy bikinis. All of his previous apprehension about cleaning the disgusting pool quickly vanished.

"Well, we'd best get started then," he muttered and quickly noticed Koneko, who was standing next to him, looking up at him with a suspicious look on her face. "What?" he asked her.

"Are you thinking perverted thoughts?" she asked with suspicion evident in her eyes.

"What? Of course not!" Ben replied quickly, caught off guard by her bluntness. "I just want to get out of this sun," he stated, gesturing up at the scorching ball of fire above them.

"Come on guys! Let's amaze everyone with how clean we can make the school pool!" Rias declared enthusiastically and even Ben couldn't restrain himself from being caught up with it along with everyone else as they all gave an enthusiastic cry of "Yeah!" in response.

. . . . .

The group split in two as they entered the changing rooms with Ben and Kiba heading into the men's changing room whilst the girls headed into the women's. Once in the changing room, Ben proceeded to remove his shirt and shorts before changing into his swimming trunks.

As he was putting his clothes into the open locker in front of him, Kiba attracted his attention.

"Hey, Ben. There was something else I wanted to tell you but I never got the chance earlier. I just wanted to tell you that if anyone ever tries to hurt you I WILL destroy them," he declared firmly.

"Uh thanks…," Ben replied, unable to think of anything else to say for a moment, "What's suddenly brought this on?"

Kiba smiled. "I know it seems kinda random to say such a thing but I was waiting for a time when we were alone to tell you."

Ben stopped what he was doing at stepped over to Kiba and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is this because of what I did for you with the whole Holy Swords thing?"

Kiba sighed and nodded his head slightly. "You saved my life. If I can't return the favour, I can't call myself a Knight of the House of Gremory."

"You know I didn't help you out because I expected to be owed a favour, right?" Ben asked with a serious expression on his face. "I did it because you're my friend…even if it took you a while to realise that," he added with a sincere smile. When Kiba smiled back and nodded his head in understanding, Ben returned the smile and patted Kiba's shoulder and went back to his locker to continue storing his clothes and bag.

"Hey, Ben," Kiba called over again as he finished putting his gym shirt on.

Ben glanced over to him and was about to respond when….

BA-DUM!

Ben felt the muscles in his left arm spasm and instantly tense up as though it had just been electrocuted and caused his hand to clamp shut at the same time which, due to his enhanced devil strength, left a deep imprint of his hand in the locker door as a result.

"Argh! Fucking hell!" Ben involuntarily cursed as he held his left arm which had suddenly partially morphed into the draconic arm, the true form of his left arm since it had been replaced when he fought Riser, which left him with his arm looking like a scarred, slightly bloated, incomplete version of his Sacred Gear.

"I'll go get Rias!" Kiba said as he hurried out of the changing room while Ben sat down on the bench, still clutching his left arm as he grunted from the gradually receding wave of pain.

"What the hell, Azmuth!? I thought Akeno sucked all that crap out," he muttered as he leant against the changing room wall.

[Do you not pay attention to anything I say?] Azmuth sighed with annoyance clear in his voice, the bright jewel in the back of Ben's disfigured arm glowing as he spoke.

"Yeah, of course I do," Ben replied indignantly.

The emerald dragon sighed before he continued. [It's a defence technique. Your body will draw in more draconic energy when you encounter others with a higher power, like Lucifer and the Governor-General for example, even if you don't consent to it.]

[It's simply a case of power cancelling out power,] Ddraig added, the jewel in Ben's right hand glowing this time.

"So, to stop it I need to get stronger, yeah?"

[Pretty much,] Ddraig confirmed.

Ben just groaned in response.

'Great, another reason I need to get stronger. That's just what I need.'

"I'll try to be more careful in future then," he mumbled as he waited for help to arrive.

It arrived a brief moment later in the shape of Rias and Akeno who entered the changing with Kiba walking in behind them.

"Yes, I see what you mean," Rias said to Kiba as she looked at Ben's partially transformed arm. "Well, there's nothing much we can do except have Akeno suck out the excess energy from your arm again."

Ben looked up at the raven-haired Gremory Queen who stood beside Rias.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" he asked her before another jolt of pain ran through his body.

"I guess I can make an exception in your case," Akeno replied with a wry smile on her face and a soft chuckle that caused Rias to stare at her best friend with suspicion.

It seemed to be there for only a quick second before the crimson-haired heiress blinked it away and turned to head out of the changing room. "Kiba and I will head out and join the others in cleaning the pool. You two can join us when you're finished," she said back to them as she and Kiba left the two young devils alone in the room and re-joined the others.

Once the door was closed with an audible click, Akeno approached Ben and knelt down in front of him, a seductive smile on her face the entire time. "Well, I guess we'd better get started," she said in a sultry voice. "We don't want to give Rias any wrong ideas, do we?"

"I don't know. If she came back in and saw you now I think she'd get the wrong idea," Ben observed, noting that Akeno had positioned herself knelt down right in between his legs and dangerously close to his crotch.

Akeno looked up at him with an innocent expression on her face that didn't hide her erotic intentions.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ben. I'm just doing what Rias asked me and helping you get better. If I wanted to give her the wrong idea then I could do this…."

Before Ben had a chance to react, Akeno had pulled his hand down so that it was between his legs. As she did this, Akeno quickly brought her head down and took his middle and index finger in her mouth before sucking on his fingers, ensuring that his fingers were completely coated by her saliva.

Had Rias, Asia or anyone else entered the changing room right now, it would've looked as though Akeno was pleasuring him orally.

He doubted he'd have any chance of explaining his way out of trouble, especially when Akeno began groaning and breathing heavily as continued her 'work'.

Almost as soon as she began drawing the energy from him, Ben's arm reverted back normal, though that didn't mean that Akeno stopped sucking his fingers. If anything, she put more effort into drawing every last bit of draconic energy that had built up in his arm.

After a few more heated seconds of this, Akeno finally stopped what she was doing and released his saliva-coated fingers from the hot confines of her mouth though she kept hold of his hand and looked up at him with a lustful look that caused Ben to take a sharp intake of breath to calm himself down.

"Hmm, you look so hot when you're being pleasured," she purred flirtatiously with flushed cheeks as she looked up at him. "I'm just dying to see what you'd look like writhing in pain."

"A bit of a weird thing to wish for," Ben groaned deeply as he fought to keep his emotions in check. "You really are a sadist, aren't you?"

"You say that as though it were a bad thing," Akeno countered seductively as she continued to play with his finger, cleaning his fingers of saliva by using her tongue to remove which drew another intake of breath from Ben.

"Don't you want to see me naked?" she purred with a cute pout.

Ben didn't trust himself to answer her leading question and so decided to stay silent. This didn't put Akeno down though as she placed her hands on his thighs and pushed herself up off the floor and leaned into his personal space.

"What do you say to us keeping this our little secret? Rias and Asia don't have to know about us, do they?" she purred as she knelt on the bench, her knee now pressed against his crotch, and moved her face extremely close to his. He could feel her breath against his lips and was finding it quickly becoming more difficult to remain in control of himself.

"I wonder what it would feel like to have my body devoured by a hot, younger guy," the Gremory Queen moaned seductively as she pressed her forehead against his and stared into his eyes. "I bet we could learn a lot about each other."

"I'm warning you, Akeno. I'm still not used to the changes happening to me. I don't want something to happen that we'll regret," Ben warned her, a small growl escaping him with his warning as he held onto the last vestiges of self-control he had left.

"Oh, I know all about that," Akeno replied, giggling at the look of surprise on Ben's face. "Rias told me about how you might give in to your primal urges if you experience…significant stimulation."

"Then why are you…?" Ben began but was cut off when Akeno placed her finger on his lips and held them shut.

"Because I want to see what you do. Don't worry, I'm ready for anything," Akeno explained with such a seductive smile that it nearly drove him over the edge.

"Ooh, I know, you want me to be in control, don't you?" Akeno declared as she placed her hands on either side of his head on the wall behind him and bringing her head so close to his that their lips were so close to touching.

Those words were the final words that finally nailed the coffin of Ben's self-control. As she said those words, Ben's breathing suddenly deepened and became heavy. His eyes turned emerald green in colour and, in a single swift action he had picked up Akeno by her waist with one hand, stood up with her in his hold, spun around so that she was now the one with her back against the wall and thrust her against it with considerable force while his free hand and, somehow, gotten hold of her wrists and now held them above her head, rendering her completely helpless.

Instead of feeling pain from being forced against the wall though, Akeno felt nothing except excitement at the sudden change in Ben's behaviour.

"I'm the one in control," he growled huskily as he stared into Akeno's violet eyes which didn't show any hesitation or fear of the sudden change in their positions. Her breathing had become heavier and there was a noticeable flush in her cheeks.

"Then why don't you prove it?" she gasped, surprising herself at her choice of words…and even more surprised when Ben's lips crashed into hers and she suddenly found herself engaged in a heated, lust-filled kiss that send a wave of pleasure through her entire being.

So taken off guard by Ben's assault on her mouth, Akeno didn't offer any resistance when his lips forcibly parted hers and his tongue shot in and began to wrestle hers into submission.

Her erotic, lustful groan only excited Ben further and he pressed his body against hers. With her back against the stone wall behind her, Akeno gasped as she felt his muscular chest press against her chest and released another lustful moan when he started slowly grinding against her waist.

She felt a stirring in her loins and would've been more than willing to have Ben ravish right then and there.

Much to her dismay though, Ben suddenly stopped what he was doing and broke the passionate kiss they'd just shared, making sure to keep his body pressed up against hers though.

"I'm. Always. In. Control," he breathed deeply, a low, animalistic growl coming from deep within him, and stared directly into Akeno's misty eyes. "Understand?"

Unable to give a coherent answer, Akeno merely nodded her head slowly, eager for him to kiss her again.

"What is going here?"

The two lusty-eyed devils turned their heads to the sound of the voice to see Rias standing in the changing room and staring at them intensely, her arms crossed under her chest as she waited for their answer.

As if a switch had been flipped, Ben's eyes reverted back to their normal colour and his control instantly returned. He hastily lowered Akeno on the bench he had been sitting on, released his arm from around her waist and quickly took a step back and looked at Rias with a horrified expression on his face.

He wondered how long she had been standing there for before she interrupted them. From the small blush in her cheeks, he knew that she must've seen a good deal of what he and Akeno had just been doing.

"I-I am so sorry, Rias," he gasped apologetically. That had been the first time he had ever completely lost his self-control. He had been told what to expect when it happened by Ddraig as, out of his two dragon companions, he was the only who had experience in being with other hosts and witnessing what just happened.

"I-I…," he mumbled, trailing off as he had no idea what he could say that would explain his actions.

Rias completely surprised him though by ignoring him trying to apologise and focus her ire on Akeno instead.

"What do you think you are doing, Akeno? I didn't tell you that Ben can lose his self-control when he's stimulated for you to go behind my back and see how it worked for yourself!" she declared in frustration.

"I wanted to be the one to see it first!" she added with an adorable stomp of her foot.

The devil in question was still breathing heavily where she sat, her chest heaving as she still rode the high she felt from her heated encounter seconds ago.

"I-I just couldn't resist…," she finally mumbled as she brought up a hand to brush off a few strands of hair from her sweaty forehead. "…I-I had to see it for myself."

Rias glared at the two of them before sniffing dismissively and turning around to leave, her luscious hair flicking behind as she spun around.

"Well, it's got nothing to do with me. I don't want to be a third wheel so I'll just leave you two to it!" she stated fiercely as she headed for the door.

As she was closing the door, she popped her back in one last time and focussed her attention on Ben.

"Oh, by the way, if you're planning on joining us out here any time, I'd suggest you take care of that first," she told him, her cheeks reddening further before she disappeared through the doorway and shut the changing room door with more force than was necessary.

"Rias. Wait," Ben called out just as the door slammed shut behind her.

"Wasn't that just adorable?" Akeno giggled breathlessly, her breathing having calmed down a bit. "She got jealous. I can't blame her though, I would've felt the same way if I were in her place."

"Take care of what?" Ben muttered to himself, casting a glance down himself to see the considerable tent he was pitching in his swimming trunks.

"Crap," he muttered as he placed a hand over his erection in a futile bid to hide it.

"You really are something, aren't you?" Akeno asked him teasingly as she slowly pushed herself up off the bench onto her feet and pressed a hand against his chest.

"I can't wait to see how our relationship develops. See you in a bit," she whispered breathlessly before heading for the door to leave, her pace slow due to her legs feeling like jelly from the memory of their passionate kiss.

"Yeah, see ya," Ben mumbled back to her as he disappeared into the toilets, shutting the door behind him.

. . . . .

(A few minutes later)

Once Ben had finished dealing with his 'problem', he returned to the others and joined in with the others in cleaning the pool, ignoring the piercing glare he felt coming from Rias and the suspicious look he was getting from Koneko and focusing on clearing the pool of the dirt and grime that coated it.

Once they were finally finished with the arduous task, the girls quickly returned to the female changing room so that they could change out of the gym clothes they had worn while they were cleaning and put on the swimsuits they had brought to enjoy the nice and freshly-cleaned pool.

Once changed into their swimsuits, they returned to see that Ben had transformed into Water Hazard and had filled up the large pool with refreshing water while they were gone so they had returned to see the pool filled to the brim with cool, refreshing water.

"All right everyone! Feel free to swim to your heart's content," Rias told everyone cheerfully as she stood by the rim of the pool in her extremely revealing, milk-white bikini.

"Finally!" Ben exclaimed with delight as he also stood on the edge of the pool where he stared down at his watery reflection in the water.

Before he jumped into the water, however, he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He turned to see that it was Rias who had stopped him.

For a split second he thought she was going to ask him about the scene she had walked in on but, to his relief, that wasn't what she had grabbed his attention for.

"Before you head in, Ben, there's a little favour I would like you to do for me," the crimson-haired heiress stated with a smile on her lips.

. . . . .

The favour, as it turned out, was helping Koneko and Asia learn to swim.

Neither of them had ever learned to do so. He had a suspicion as to why Koneko hadn't learned and he could understand why Asia had never been taught. Growing up in service to the Church – and as a saint as well – there wouldn't've been much of a call to being able to swim that he could think of.

After agreeing to help, Ben now found himself slowly walking backwards across the floor of the pool with Koneko's hands in his as he helped her stay afloat while she kicked her legs to propel her along through the water.

"One, two. One, two. Yeah, you're getting the hang of this," Ben said encouragingly as he steadily waded backwards through the water. Beside him, Kiba was streaking through the water, effortlessly cutting through the water as he completed yet another length of the pool.

"You can do it, Koneko!" Asia cheered from the side of the pool as she watched the lesson and waited for her turn with Ben.

"Sorry you had to help me out with this," the petite white-haired devil told him as she brought her head above the water

"Don't worry about it," Ben replied offhandedly with a comforting smile as he continued to guide her through the water. "Everybody needs to learn how to swim at some point."

A small smile appeared on his face. "Although…I guess I can understand why you've held it off for so long…with your feline-like aversion to water and all."

Koneko was so taken off guard by Ben's statement that she lost her concentration and began spluttering as she opened her mouth under the water, the resulting water entering her lungs leading into small coughing fit.

Ben immediately stop walking and brought her head above the water by holding her sides and supporting her while she coughed.

"Ho–*cough**cough* how do you know about?" she muttered with a surprised expression on her face.

"You remember back then when we were training for our fight against Riser? You know, back when you were throwing me all over the place for the fun of it? Well, you must've touched the dial at some point because, when I looked through it again, I suddenly discovered I had a Nekomata form when I didn't have one before."

"Are you two alright?" Asia's voice suddenly called out, attracting Ben's attention momentarily.

"Yeah, we're fine. I'll be with you in a bit," he called back to her with a smile. Asia nodded her head in understanding and sat back down on the edge of the pool.

"Are you going to tell Asia and Xenovia what I am?" Koneko muttered with a concerned expression on her face.

Ben just stared at her for a moment in silence before answering.

"Not if you don't want me to. I don't know why you want to keep it a secret but it's your secret to keep. If you don't want me to say anything then my lips are sealed."

Koneko glanced down at the water.

"Thank you," she muttered quietly.

Just as she said this, a gentle breeze suddenly picked up and swept across the pool area and Koneko's nose scrunched up and she recoiled instinctively as an unpleasant scent filled her hyper-sensitive nostrils.

"What is it?" Ben wondered, confused by her abrupt reaction.

"You smell of pervert. I don't know what you and Akeno did before but you have a very musky smell on you now," she muttered with a disgusted expression on her face.

Ben couldn't think of anything to say in response to this and simply chuckled nervously. He was saved from having to think of a way to explain himself to Koneko by the loud sound of splashing behind him. He and Koneko glanced over to see Rias and Akeno locked in a race of sorts as they expertly cut through the water.

"Wonder what's gotten into those two?" Ben asked as he watched the two beauties cut through the water at an impressive speed.

"Dunno," Koneko replied simply as she watched the two beautiful young women race each other. "Could you take me back, I think its Asia's turn now."

"Yeah, sure," Ben replied as he waded through the water, Koneko still in his arms though neither of them made an issue of it, and returned to the edge of the pool where he helped her out of the water while Asia made her way over to them so he could start teaching her next.

. . . . .

(Later)

"Wow. I'm worn out," Ben groaned tiredly as he relaxed on one of the several towels spread out around the pool.

After spending the rest of the morning teaching both Asia and Koneko some swim lessons, he had joined in with the others as they enjoyed themselves and played pool games for a few hours before everyone started to tire out and spread out around the pool and just lay back and enjoy basking in the sun.

He glanced to his left to see Asia sleeping soundly on the towel next to him. He couldn't help but admire the cute expression on her peacefully sleeping face.

As he looked back up to the cloudless sky, Ben noticed something fly into his vision. He raised his arm to cover his eyes from the worst of the bright sunlight as he sat up to look at the strange creature hovering above him.

It took him a few seconds before he realised it was Rias' bat familiar.

As he looked at the familiar he felt a pair of eyes watching him. He looked around the pool until his eyes locked with Rias' on the other side of the pool. She was beckoning him over in a sultry manner with one hand while her other hand held a small bottle of what looked to be an oil of some kind.

With a small smile, Ben quickly got up and made his way around the pool to kneel down beside the Gremory heiress.

"You summoned me, my master," he said in a sarcastic tone and a smile on his face which the crimson-haired beauty reflected right back at him.

"Yes, as punishment for you and Akeno going behind my back and acting like rutting animals before, I want you to rub this lotion onto my back for me," she told him directly, doing her best to keep a stern face though she wasn't able to stop a small smile falling through the cracks.

"I wouldn't really call that a punishment," Ben mumbled in his head, making sure Rias didn't hear him. There was no way he was going to tell her that though; she'd only give him a really nasty punishment instead.

He took the bottle out of her hand and examined it.

"What kind of oil is this?"

"It's a special kind of beauty oil for devils. We may not get sunburned like humans but some of us still want to look good," Rias replied as she lay on her front before him and brought her hands up behind her to untie the string holding her bikini top together before laying them in front of her and resting her head on them.

"Why are you using it then? You already look perfect."

"It's kind of you to say but it seems I need to up my game if I'm to stop you from looking at other women instead of me," Rias retorted sweetly.

Ben grimaced a little at this and silently got to work, applying the oil onto Rias' flawless back and running his hands across her body, rubbing the oil into her skin while Rias released small, pleasurable moans at his touch.

They continued for a more minutes before Ben broke the silence.

"Hey, Rias. I…I'm sorry for what happened before with what you saw with me and Akeno. I didn't plan for it to happen but you know how Akeno can be. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Rias tilted her head so she was looking at Ben and stared at him without saying a word.

In truth, Rias wasn't really mad at Ben for what happened. He had told her a while ago about what will happen to him whenever he becomes…'excited'. She was actually more annoyed with Akeno for being the first one to experience what 'Primal Ben' was like instead of her like she wanted.

Despite all her teasing she hadn't wanted to take things too far too quickly if Ben wasn't ready for it yet...but she now regretted that decision when she saw Ben and Akeno together in the changing room. Truthfully, she had actually been there just as they started; the two of them were just too engrossed in what they were doing to notice her and Rias had been captivated by the highly erotic scene playing out before her.

She wasn't going to take things slowly like before…and if that meant teasing her precious Ben then so be it.

"Hmm, well, I guess I could forgive you for cheating on me with my best friend…." Ben winced at this. "…if you do something for me."

"Name it."

A sultry smile appeared on Rias' face as she flipped herself over so that she was now lying on her back, revealing her exposed breasts to the air.

Her smile deepened as she saw and felt Ben's piercing eyes sweep over her body, taking in every intimate detail of her perfect form and memorising it.

"Could you rub oil onto my front now? You need to do a thorough job if you expect me to forgive you though."

Ben seemed confused for a moment before a grin formed on his face and he picked up the bottle of oil again.

"As you wish, my lady," he agreed with a small nod of his head.

Before he could make a move to obey Rias' request, however, Ben felt a pair of soft arms snake around his chest from behind which were quickly followed by a pair of large, extremely soft objects pressing against his back. He glanced over his shoulder as Akeno's face appeared beside him.

As she squeezed him in their embrace, Ben realised that, like Rias, Akeno had decided to discard her bikini top and had exposed her breasts to the open air before pressing them against his muscular back.

"Aww, is it only Rias who gets to have your hands all over them?" she said seductively as she moved her lips very close to his ear. "Don't I get one too? It's only fair after all; you touch her all the time when you sleep together."

"Akeno!" Rias exclaimed in frustration, quickly sitting up to glare at the raven-haired devil behind Ben. "I am in the middle of punishing Ben for you and he did behind my back."

"Oh come on, Rias. I know you were standing there watching us," Akeno retorted with a cheeky smirk as she slowly tightened her hold on Ben and taking extreme delight in the flushed look that suddenly appeared in Rias' cheeks.

While Rias was still stunned by Akeno's revelation the Gremory Queen leaned in close to Ben's ear and gently blew into it, sending a shiver down Ben's spine.

"And you, you naughty boy," she cooed as she traced a circle on his bare, muscular chest with her index finger. "You and I have such an erotic like that and then you just go ignore me and go back to someone else?"

"Looks like I'll have to make you take responsibility," Akeno added as she slowly and sensually ran her tongue along the outside of his ear before bringing her mouth down on his ear and gently nibbling the corner of it in an extremely erotic experience.

"Akeno," Ben warned her as a low growl from the pit of his stomach, similar to the one from before back in the changing room, made itself known.

Someone else recognised the low growl too as, before anything else happened, the diving board on the edge of the pool, near to where the three of them were, suddenly exploded.

The two of them turned to look at an angry Rias who had stood up and now towered over the pair of them.

"Akeno! Let me make this clear to you. I will never let you have Ben! The only woman I want him to be affectionate towards is me…and I guess Asia as well as it can't be helped, but nobody else! If I let you anywhere near him he'll certainly become an insatiable beast!"

"Ara, ara, don't you think you're being a bit too extreme?" Akeno chuckled as she continued to hold onto Ben tightly, ensuring that he felt the heat and fullness of her large breasts pressing against him.

"Anyway, don't you think that he would be better as an insatiable beast?" she continued with a wink. "If you wait too long Rias, Ben's virginity will be mine."

"I'll never let you have him!" Rias declared firmly, growing more and more annoyed at Akeno by the second, and created a small ball of destructive power in her hand.

"Ara, ara, overreacting a little, aren't you? It doesn't matter though, I won't back down now," Akeno giggled with a smile as, releasing her hold on Ben, she stood up to and created a ball of electricity forming in her hand as she faced off against her master. "I've had a taste and now I want more!"

The two devils threw their balls of respective power at each other and caused a moderate, but harmless, explosion when the two balls collided in mid-air. The explosion stirred up a large cloud of smoke which roused both Asia and Koneko from their naps and glance across the pool to the origin of the explosion where Rias and Akeno stood as they continued to throw energy balls at each other.

"My, my, you really are a bit too clingy aren't you…Crimson Virgin Princess," Akeno taunted, her smile never leaving her face, as she easily dodged one of Rias' destructive balls of energy.

Rias scowled at the intentional dig at her sexual experience…or lack of rather. "Aren't you a virgin too?!" she retorted hotly as she threw another energy ball.

"Not for much longer though. When I take Ben's virginity, he'll take mine."

"I thought you hated men," Rias pointed out, trying to change the topic. "How come you've suddenly taken an interest in somebody else's man?!"

"You're one to talk," Akeno countered, "Didn't you used to say that all men were basically the same – totally unnecessary and a waste of time and space – and that you would never be interested in one."

"T-That's not true!" Rias sputtered in embarrassment at Akeno remembering something she had said back when she was a child. "Anyway, things are different now! I've found the one I want to spend the rest of my life with!"

As the two of them continued their battle, Ben, finding himself too close for comfort to the action, decided to escape the destruction around him and slowly made his way away from the pool and ended up in the pool's equipment and maintenance area where he found a place he could sit out of the way and wait for the two of them to calm down…however long that took.

[Why did you run away?]Ddraig asked curiously, the jewel in the back of Ben's right hand glowing as he spoke. [Most of my male hosts in the past – and even a few female ones too –would have leapt at the chance to have two beautiful women fighting over them.]

"I don't mind that," Ben admitted as he leant back against the brick wall behind him. "I ran because they were both getting into their fight a bit too much and I didn't feel like getting hit by an energy ball today."

"Ben? What are you doing back here?"

Ben snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Xenovia standing before him.

"I could say the same thing to you. Where have you been all this time?" Ben asked as he picked himself off the floor.

"I was putting on my swimsuit," she replied simply.

"You've only just managed to put it on?!" Ben exclaimed with surprise.

"Yeah. It's the first swimsuit I've ever worn so it took some time to put on. Does it suit me?" she asked him innocently as she spun around in a full circle and placed her hands on her hips to show him her swimsuit.

Ben took the time to examine it and had to admit that, while it wasn't on the same erotic level as either Rias or Akeno's, it was still a swimsuit which did wonders at emphasising her attractive curves.

"Uh, yeah, it suits you a lot actually," Ben admitted freely with a nod as he took the opportunity granted to him to appreciate the new Gremory Knight's curvaceous body.

He hadn't looked at her in such a way before now but he could easily see that Xenovia was an extremely attractive young woman. She had a tight body with visible muscles she had developed in her days in the Church but she still had curves in all the right places and her breasts were also on the larger-than-average size too.

Combining all this with her sleek, uniquely-coloured hair made Xenovia a very desirable person.

"Was it because you grew up in the Church that you've never worn one before?" Ben asked curiously.

"No, not really, I was just never really interested in it before," she replied with a nonchalant shrug, casting a quick glance down at her clothing before sighing slightly. "The truth is, I was actually able to figure it out a while ago. I've just been thinking about a few things."

"Okay," Ben said slowly, suddenly suspicious at how Xenovia's tone had turned serious. "What sort of things?"

"There's something important I want to talk with you about," she stated, taking a step towards him which only served to make Ben even more suspicious.

"So…what is it?" he asked.

"I want you to make a baby with me."

"…."

"Didn't you hear me?" Xenovia asked, looking at the blank expression on Ben's face. "I said I want to make a baby with you."

"Yeah, yeah I heard what you said…," Ben nodded as he slowly crossed his arms across his chest. "I just wasn't expecting you to come out and suddenly say something like that so bluntly. What brought this on all of a sudden?"

"I've actually been thinking about this for a while. When I was with the Church, my only purpose in life was to serve God in whatever way I could; it became my sole reason for existing. When I learned the truth about His demise though that dream was shattered and I suddenly found myself without a reason for living.

"You don't need to be so serious all the time Xenovia. You can live a life without a purpose and be perfectly fine," Ben told her with a comforting smile before returning to the current subject. "So, where did this dream of yours come from then?"

"After being reincarnated as a devil, I asked Rias what my purpose should be now and she told me that, now I'm a devil I can be as selfish as I want and do whatever I wanted as long as I have the will and drive to follow it…so I did just that."

"While I served as a faithful warrior of God, I had to give up the chance to experience all the aspects of a womanly life. I understood this when I joined the Church and I sealed everything – my body and my heart – away for the sake of my faith to serve God as best I could. Now that I'm a devil though, I want that life which I could never have in the Church, the experience I never thought I'd be able to have; to create a life inside of me," Xenovia stated as she placed a hand against her muscular belly.

"Okay, I can see that being something you want to experience…but why me? Why not someone like Kiba? He's good-looking. I haven't even thought about having kids yet."

"I'm not just interested in good looks. I want my children to be strong…and you are the most suited to what I want. You not only possess the latent power of the Red Dragon Emperor but also the power of the Dragon God of Life! Even though they wouldn't inherit the Sacred Gears, our children would still inherit the powerful dragon aura within you."

"Children, huh? How many are you planning on having with me?" Ben chuckled lightly.

Xenovia ignored his question and opened the door beside them which led to the storage room and gently ushered Ben inside. Ben felt no immediate drive to stop her so let her guide him into the room and follow him inside, closing the door behind her.

"I'm fully aware of the extremely low birth rate with devils which can make conceiving children very difficult. However, unlike pure-blooded devils like Rias, it shouldn't be as difficult for us as we are only reincarnated devils; we still have some humanity within us. If we do it regularly, say every day, then I should be pregnant within ten years. No, with you I believe I could conceive a child within five years."

After making her speech, Xenovia reached behind her back and unclipped the hook on her bikini top and let it fall to the floor, exposing her bare breasts to the open air and to Ben. As his eyes automatically drifted down and centred on her beautifully pink nipples, Ben clenched his jaw as he strove to stifle the low growl which was threatening to escape his lips. The tingle which ran up his spine certainly didn't help matters either.

[I think now might be the best time to correct a few things,] Azmuth's voice abruptly echoed in Ben's head.

"What is it, Azmuth?" Ben asked as he let Xenovia gently push him down onto the stone floor and straddled his waist.

"Unfortunately I have no experience with men. I'll have to rely on you when we have intercourse," the azure-haired knight admitted as she instinctively ran her hand down his chest.

[Well, this blue-haired child forgot to take into account the unique position you're in because you are my host and wielder.]

"What 'unique position'?"

"I don't mind what you do to me. You can do whatever you want in fact, just so long as I end up with your seed inside me," Xenovia muttered as she leant forward and pressed her perky breasts against his chest.

As she said these words, Ben felt a great deal of his self-control instantly disappear though his eyes remained unchanged as, unlike with Akeno, a small part of Ben still remained…though not enough to keep in control and certainly not enough to stop himself from wrapping an arm around Xenovia's waist and pulling her close to him where he got a strong sniff of her sweet-smelling hair which sent him further over the edge and he snaked his other hand down her lithe back until her reached her backside where he got a handful of her right buttock and squeezed, releasing a growl of pleasure at the shocked gasp that came from her.

"Stop stalling and just tell me dammit!" Ben's last bit of self-control demanded as it fought to hand on.

[As the possessor of the Dragon God of Life's Sacred Gear, as well as having your virility greatly enhanced, your body is cleansed of any and all issues that would prevent you from reproducing and sends your fertility into overdrive.]

"Meaning?" Ben asked as he tilted Xenovia's neck to the side and brought down his mouth down to her neck and bit down on it, not enough to break the skin but enough to illicit a pleasurable groan from the young woman in his arms.

[Meaning that, unless you use magic as a contraceptive, it is all but certain that you will successfully impregnate any female you have intercourse with,] Azmuth ended just as Ben began running his tongue up and down the mark he had made on Xenovia's neck.

"What?!"

[Oh dear,] Ddraig muttered with a poorly hidden smirk.

"So you're saying that if I don't use magic to prevent it from happening, every woman I have sex with will always become pregnant?!" Ben fumed, furious he was just hearing about this now.

[That is the case, yes,] Azmuth concurred with a small nod.

Ben had now brought his head up to Xenovia's and was now kissing her deeply and passionately, his tongue invading the confines of her inexperienced mouth without resistance, claiming it for his own.

"Why the fuck am I hearing about this now?!" Ben bellowed at the emerald dragon who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

[I don't approve of contraceptives. Why would I? I'm a god of 'Life'. The way I see it, the more children you end up having, the better…and preferably with multiple females so as to spread your gene as much as possible,] Azmuth explained simply, leaving Ben stumped by his sound logic yet still fuming that he was only hearing about it now when he wasn't able to control himself.

The last vestige of self-control he had left cursed as his body leaned forward so that Xenovia was now beneath him, breathing heavily from the stimulation she had been receiving so far with her chest heaving and shining from sweat covering her body, and it tried to take control again but it was too late. He couldn't regain control in time so unless someone interrupted them then he was going to in a fuck-ton of trouble.

"Ben? What are you doing now?!"

Ben's head snapped up at the familiar voice to see Rias standing in the open doorway with everybody else standing behind her with varying expressions on their faces with the scene before them.

As his eyes met with Rias' and he saw the intense glare being sent his way, Ben suddenly found his concentration broken and his senses come back to him in the blink of an eye. He quickly sat up and gently removed himself from Xenovia who was still recovering from what had been her very first erotic experience…of any kind.

"Ufufu, what's going on here, Ben? We leave you alone for a few minutes and you're already moving on and devouring another innocent young maiden?" Akeno giggled behind the back of her hand while secretly hiding the blush that was trying to appear in her cheeks.

"You're so mean, Ben!" Asia whined cutely, unable to hide the bright red tinge that her face had taken as a result of the scene before her. "I-I w-would've done that if you w-wanted me to, i-if that's what you wanted!"

"You really are a sex-pest, aren't you?" Koneko muttered emotionlessly.

Rias, who hadn't said anything at this point, just stared at Ben. On the outside, she was just staring at him with a slight glare while, on the inside, she was raging at missing out again on experiencing what Ben was like when he lost his self-control.

"Uh, I uh, I think I can explain," Ben announced as he rose to his feet.

"Ooh, this should be good," Akeno chuckled, eager to hear what he would say.

He didn't get chance to though as Xenovia took that moment to recover a little of her senses and glanced at Ben, her chest still heaving.

"W-Why did you stop? C-Come on, let's make a baby," she mumbled before she returned to breathing heavily again.

The sudden change in the girl's aura at Xenovia's words would have truly amazed Ben if he didn't happen to be the object of the extremely intense auras he now felt aimed at him. Before he could say anything to defend himself – though he had no idea what he would've actually said – he was suddenly grabbed by Rias and Akeno, each one taking an arm and each sporting the exact same dangerous false smile that he had learned to fear from women.

"Wait! Listen! Rias! I can explain!" Ben exclaimed as he was forcibly dragged out of the storage room by the two women holding his arms in a vice-like grip.

"It's my fault, I realise that now," Rias muttered as they pulled him away from the storage room they had found him in. "I haven't been doing my duty as a master and paying attention to your needs." She glanced towards her friend and sister-in-arms. "I don't know about you, Akeno, but I'm curious as to how a conversation about children comes up?"

"I'm wondering that myself," Akeno replied with an equally scary aura surrounding her. "What circumstances could possibly occur for a conversation to turn into one about kids?"

Ben suddenly felt himself be lifted off the ground as someone took hold of his legs. He looked back to see that Koneko had taken hold of his legs and restrained them without effort.

"Taking the suspect to be punished," she murmured quietly.

Even Asia got involved, joining Koneko and assisting her in holding Ben's legs. Her face was still bright red after what she had just witnessed.

"Wait! Listen to me! I can explain!" Ben tried to tell them right before he was thrown into the deep end of the pool.

. . . . .

Back in the clubroom

(Later)

Ben was now on his knees in the middle of the clubroom with Rias sat down on the sofa and the rest of the ORC stood around him. Even though he wasn't looking at them, Ben could tell that he was being watched due the intense aura which he still felt surrounding him.

"I don't see what the problem is," Xenovia said, breaking the tense silence. "He was just trying to make a baby with me. It's a beautiful thing." She had finally recovered from her experience though still had a faint blush in her cheeks as she replayed the memory multiple times in her head.

"Putting that aside for the moment," Rias stated as she stared at Ben. "It seems we underestimated how easy it is for Ben to lose himself when he feels horny."

Ben couldn't help but wince a little at the sharp tone in Rias' voice at the end and tried to defend himself.

"I told you how Azmuth and Ddraig are affecting me. There's still loads of stuff I need to learn and get used to. I'm doing my best here."

He had chosen to not reveal the bombshell bit of news that Azmuth had dropped on him before Rias and the others inadvertently saved him and Xenovia from doing something they may've come to regret in future.

The issue we have is that Ben seems to be unable to reign in his sexual desires."

"It seems that the politics of Heaven and Hell aren't the only things he likes to influence," a male voice announced with a light chuckle.

Everyone spun around at the sound of the voice to see a bright red light which came from the crimson magic circle which had manifested itself in the corner of the clubroom, the silhouettes of two figures appearing within the circle. The light died down as a young, middle-aged man appeared out of the circle with a silver-haired maid beside him.

Ben recognised the two of them straight away; Sirzechs, the current Lucifer and leader of the Four Great Devil Kings, and his maid, Grayfia.

"I'm not intruding, am I?" Sirzechs wondered with a smile as Rias shot up to her feet.

"B-Brother?!" she exclaimed with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

As the magic circle completely dissipated everyone bar Rias and Asia bowed down respectfully before him. Asia hesitated at first, unsure of what to do in such a situation, but quickly followed suit after seeing Ben do it.

"You must be Asia Argento," Sirzechs went on politely, looking at Asia with a warm smile on his face.

"Um, yes sir," Asia muttered, a little flustered that he was actually speaking to her.

"There's no need to be so nervous, my dear," Sirzechs told her, noting her nervousness and giving her a friendly smile to put her at ease. "I'm here merely to conduct some private business matters…."

He turned to everyone who was still kneeling respectfully before him.

"That goes for all of you too. You can raise your heads now."

Everyone obeyed him and raised their heads as they slowly returned to their feet while Rias stepped towards her brother.

"What sort of private business?" she asked doubtfully. "I thought you'd be busy organising this big summit coming up."

"Oh that's almost set up already. No, I'm here for a more important reason."

"What reason?"

"You honestly don't know? I'm hurt Rias. I understand that classroom visits are coming up and wanted to participate," he replied with a broad smile as Rias became flustered.

"What?! No, you can't…!" she spluttered as her cheeks reddened slightly.

"If you mean I can't wait to see my little sister working hard in her studies then you are absolutely right!" Sirzechs added with a joyful smirk.

Rias then turned her attention towards the silver-haired maid standing on Sirzechs' left. "Was it you, Grayfia?! Did you tell him about this?!"

"Now, now, there's no need to get annoyed with Grayfia," Sirzechs waved off her accusation dismissively. "I was already planning to attend, no matter what. Oh, and that reminds me; father will also be attending. Mother wanted to come too but someone had to stay behind to look after the house," Sirzechs announced calmly.

"B-B-But you can't just leave the Underworld like that! You have responsibilities and you mustn't treat a single devil more favourably than the rest," Rias retorted hotly though with a heavy sigh as she knew it would be futile to try and change her brother's mind once it had been made.

"That would be true," her brother admitted before continuing, "If this also didn't count as work as well. I was considering using this place as the location for the summit. While your classroom visit is very important to me, I also came to inspect the place."

Everyone gasped at this revelation. The summit between the Three Factions was going to be held at Kuoh Academy?!

"The summit's going to be held here?!" Rias gasped with shock. "Are you serious?"

"Oh yes," Sirzechs replied simply. "Considering that this is the place where Kokabiel intended to start another war, we think it would be the most suitable place to discuss the status quo and consider what the future holds for the factions now."

"Now then, it's getting late so why don't we continue such a serious conversation another time. That being said, it's quite late now and I must admit that I failed to arrange any lodging for tonight. Would anyone happen to know if anywhere is available for the night?"

Ben didn't fail to see how Sirzechs cast a quick but meaningful glance towards him as he said this and, realising that he was going to annoy Rias with what he was about to do, slowly raised his hand into the air.

"If you're looking for a place to spend the night then you stay at my house. We've got plenty of room," he said quickly so that Rias didn't have the chance to stop him.

"Splendid/Ben!" the two crimson-haired siblings beamed/exclaimed at the same time.

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

Excerpt from "Stories and Tales of the Underworld"

Chapter 12: "The Cage"

"…Hidden in the deepest/shallowest depths of the Dimension Gap where time and space have no meaning, it is rumoured that there exists a place long forgotten by the flow of time and reality, a place deliberately kept hidden from the rest of creation so as to ensure that the nightmarish beast sealed within would never break free from its chains.

Though none left truly know of its existence they have kept its true name hidden so it has to be simply known as…The Cage.

Nobody knows exactly what is kept locked in The Cage but the most accepted rumour is that it is a custom-built prison which contains the greatest threat to existence, a horrific beast that was formed in the darkness that was 'existence' before existence truly came to be, a creature that sought to destroy reality and return non-space to the only state of being.

The rumours go on to speak how the creature's terrifying power was so great that it took the combined power of the monster's younger brothers and the powers of The First God nearly one million years of fighting and war to finally defeat it.

However, even with all their power, the brothers and the god were unable to completely destroy the beast as it was an irrefutable part of reality and therefore a constant, and so, after ensuring that the creatures and minions who followed it were destroyed and driven into extinction, they created The Cage to seal the creature away and prevent it from being a danger to reality again.

Legend has it that The Cage was created to be the perfect prison. Protected by thousands upon thousands of wards, spells and magical seals – the knowledge for many of which have been long lost to time – and hidden away in a location where only a handful knew about so that the knowledge would be lost when the last one perished, The Cage has remained undisturbed and secure for eons…."

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

A/N: And there we go. No fighting in this one I'm afraid but don't fret; I'll be building up the suspense in the next few chapters until we get to the big battle at the summit. Just hang in there until then and I'll do my very best to make it worth the wait. I've got a lot planned for it and hope you enjoy it.

As I told you guys in the above A/N; this is my first attempt at writing such raunchy scenes so I apologise if it was hard to read because it was so bad. I hope to add more scenes like them and more in future chapters so I would like some feedback from experienced readers and writers as to how I can improve on my writing.

. . . . .

Reviews:

Nivek Beldo: Before I go on, I'd just like to say that I really enjoy reading your reviews (Not that I don't like reading everyone's review, be it good or bad). They are lengthy and comment on a lot of stuff.

Glad you enjoyed the chapter. I'm still holding back several important secrets with my story but I'll reveal them to you all gradually. Yep, Fem!Vali won the poll but I didn't consider changing the name (Vali could be seen as a gender-neutral name I suppose) but Valerie is a good suggestion that I'll consider. I had something else in mind with your scene with Jennifer bringing someone home but I don't want to say anything before I finalise the details.

Azmuth certainly is not happy that He is dead, no. There is more to this than meets the eye but I'm going to be a bastard and not reveal anything until it's time (Mwahahahahaha!). I will say, however, that Azmuth doesn't know how to make Sacred Gears but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved in the process.

I was a little pissed off that Ascalon kind of disappeared from the story when it looked like such an impressive sword. I want to give it more of an impact in the DxD universe which means amping it up in terms of its power. (Hint: it's such a fantastic coincidence that Ben 10 had the same sword in its universe!)

Looking forward to seeing your next review!

Ultimatrix bearer: I couldn't have an angry beat down without Rath now, could I? I admit I prefer XLR8 over Fasttrack (Mainly because I grew up on the original cartoon) but he doesn't seem like he has strength to go with his speed.

Spider-Man999: Rath is a particularly amusing alien to watch. In terms of naming; as I said in earlier chapters: I'll give the species name first because that's what Azmuth does and Ben hasn't seen them before…but after that he'll call out the canon name. This is mainly so that the readers know who the hell I'm talking about, especially if they're not as familiar with the aliens as others.

OMG! I never considered that possibility with Eon and other Bens. I won't appear for a while as I've already got a story progression in mind but that is a fantastic idea which I will definitely keep in mind for the future. I can already imagine how canon Ben will react to finding out that another version of him is, in fact, a devil.

Malicious hero: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far and hope you continue to do so.

I don't have any definite plans for Max to appear in my story. However, I won't rule out the possibility.

Treyalexander63917: Azmuth's goal isn't specifically to stop all violence in the world but it is an ongoing goal of his. Ben is still young (as are the ORC) but has a looooong time in which to work towards that goal.

Where did I say that Gwen wasn't suspicious about Xenovia's sudden betrayal of her beliefs? Sure, she acted a bit rashly and emotionally when she suddenly shunned her friend. She certainly won't just accept what's happened when she's calmed down. It would raise some questions for her as to why Xenovia, a devout follower of the church, would suddenly renounce her faith and switch sides.

In regards to your other question. No, that conversation won't take place. The reason for that is because I personally don't believe that's what happened. In the anime, she only asked that Issei be observed for the time being. I don't think she knew that Fallen Angels were running freely through her territory and I personally don't think that she was expecting him to be killed by Raynare. She was merely suspicious during this time and didn't expect such events to take place so abruptly.

That is my personal view but if you have another view then that's fine.

TACNA: I understand you may feel that way but that wasn't my intention. Ben was certainly doing some damage to Kokabiel but you have to remember that Ben has only had this power for just over a month while Kokabiel has existed since before the Great War started! The other thing is that the Vanishing Dragon appeared to stop Kokabiel on Azazel's orders. He didn't care about the fact he saved the ORC.

Omnimania00: I'm sorry but no. Vali (or Valerie. I haven't decided yet) won't be part of the harem. The reason for this is that I like the rivalry between Vali and Issei in the anime and was planning on honouring it and possibly expanding on it.

Yes, I did realise that Brainstorm was such a smartass. It's impossible for me to fathom just what that would do to someone with that IQ. If I'm correct in thinking: Brainstorm is a lot smarter than Grey Matter which is hard to imagine.

Seems a bit silly for me to have Ben saying that phrase. A little bit out of character so that's an unfortunate no to having Ben say that phrase.

Guest: Have no fear! I haven't forgotten to include Feedback. It's just not his time to shine yet. He's another one of my top five favourite Ben 10 aliens.

Jackmacattack: I have a lot of action planned for the fight at the end of this current arc so please stay tuned for that. I'll do my best to add more craziness into my story but that's not something I excel at so please don't have too much of a high expectation.

I also hope this chapter was enough to constitute harem shipping for you. There'll be more of that if I can help.

Guest: I'll admit that I don't know much about the canon after the arcs covered by the anime and am still going. I can't fathom a way in which I can change Kiba's gender just like that and still seem feasible at the same time. I want to refrain from changing the genders of any more characters if I can help it. I would consider it if enough people wanted me to do it but, for now, I'm going to keep Kiba and Gasper as they are. Thanks for the review though.