Merry Christmas to all of my beloved readers, wherever you are and whether it is already Christmas for you or not! I wish you all nothing but the best, as well as a good and happy holiday with your family and loved ones!

"Boy!" Normal Speech.

'Boy!' Normal Thought.

"Nista!" Power/Technique.

"Loki" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.

'Loki' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.

Summary: At seventeen years of age, Atreus and his father found themselves in another realm, one that was unfortunately filled with the less crazy, but irritating versions of the gods they had slain. Can they live their life in peace? Or the supernatural world of DxD will be forced to know the full might of THE God of War? Atreus will try to make sure that won't happen… anytime soon at least.

The story will focus on Atreus, with Kratos being a side-character most of the time.

Pairings: Atreus x Harem (Confirmed at the moment: Rias, Akeno, Aphrodite, Rossweisse and Kuroka)

Kratos x Yasaka (final)

Warning: There will be a lot of smut, lemon and 18+ stuff in this story. Read at your own risk! You have been warned

Son of War

Chapter 20

"Begin!"

With that strong command from the ashen skinned man who had become their teacher, the occult research club except for his son, attacked him.

Being the current fastest members of the Gremory group, Kiba and Xenovia were the ones who were able to quickly close the distances and dealt the first blows, striking the man with their holy and holy demonic swords. The blonde knight was much faster than his fellow knight and thus his blade was able to reach Kratos first, but the ashen skinned man moved at an even greater speed as he raised his shield and repeatedly blocked Kiba's strikes before parrying with a strong shield bash strong enough to send him flying back in the process after he had felt the blow with his whole body.

Xenovia, who attacked him from the opposite direction with her holy sword aiming at his abdomen, found herself losing her balance when Kratos swung his shield around and slammed it down the flat edge of her blade, making her stumble forward as Durandal stabbed into the ground beneath his feet. The former exorcist turned devil did not have time to recover, however, as Kratos grabbed her by the collar of her tracksuit's jacket and used it to throw her at Kiba, who had just managed to stop rolling on the ground and stop himself to get back on his feet, sending the girl crashing into him and knocking them both over again.

Koneko attacked him next, rushing in and attacking him with a series of punches. Although she was punching with everything she got, each punch strong enough to even bend metal, the man did not even faze as he shot his hand down to grab her, but Koneko swiftly dodged to the side with graceful footwork comparable to that of Kiba and continued attacking his lower body, using her small frame to her advantage against a giant of a man like Kratos, just like what he had taught her to do.

But of course, all that Kratos had to do was stomp his right foot on the ground, generating a shockwave that was strong Koneko was knocked off her feet. Kratos then swung his shield at her, but Koneko had expected this, as she immediately flipped her body around and put her feet on the incoming shield, using it as a launch pad to propel herself out of the way.

The entire time, knowing all too well that they could not fight the man head on, she and the knights had attacked Kratos simply to keep his attention on them, buying time for Issei to boost up his own power for his signature move according to what they had planned beforehand.

"DRAGON SHOT!" Issei roared as he unleashed a red beam of empowered demonic energy at Kratos, who remained impassive even as the beam carved a path of destruction on its way, blowing up the ground between him and the pawn while traveling forward.

The moment that it was about to reach him, Kratos brought his shield up and blocked it, his feet remaining firm on the spot he had been standing as the beam of demonic energy dispersed into multiple small beams from his defense before exploding violently, kicking up a huge cloud of dust that swallowed the ashen skinned man whole.

"Akeno, be ready!"

Knowing that they had reached the final phase of their plan, Rias shouted to Akeno while she and her best friend prepared to unleash their attacks, with red and yellow aura flaring powerfully around their bodies.

When the cloud of dust finally settled down, showing them an unscratched Kratos who looked like he had just been hit by a gust of wind rather than a blast of demonic power that could eliminate an entire side of a mountain, Rias and Akeno both unleashed their spell and demonic power at him, in the forms of a gigantic bolt of lightning and a wave of power of destruction, which caused even more destruction than Issei's dragon shot before combining and becoming a dark red bolt of lightning that annihilated everything on its path as it traveled toward Kratos.

The ashen skinned man did not look worried in the slightest, however, as he stood there and waited for the bolt of red lightning to be in range to reach behind him and bring out Mimir, who then unleashed from his eyes with a painful grunt a beam of multiple colored energy at Rias and Akeno's combined attack. Upon collision, the blast of Bifrost easily overwhelmed the combined demonic power, dispersing it before disappearing, leaving behind only the destruction that they had caused.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Mimir groaned as he closed his eyes and stopped the beam from reaching Rias. "Using it after so long hurts even worse than I imagine."

"Wait, father… that's not fair!?" Rias blurted out in shock, the feeling that was shared by all of her servants as they stared at Kratos and Mimir "We didn't know that uncle Mike could do that!"

"Exactly. You did not know. I caught you off guard." Kratos said simply as he lowered Mimir down, who had reopened his eyes but were blinking repeatedly to lessen the pain in both of his eyes for releasing that blast of Bifrost. "That is because you had too much confidence in your combined attack, believing it to be enough to push me out of the circle. You assumed that I did not have another way to defend myself against your magic besides my shield."

He said, making them all look at the small circle Kratos had been standing in the whole time, with just enough space within it for the man to be able to turn in every direction. It was the same circle that they had been tasked by the man himself to push him out of every time that they got to spar against him.

It had been a week and a half since they started training with Kratos; five days since that circle were drawn by the man himself, who had been sparring against them defensively for them to train their teamwork using only his shield... and still, they had yet to succeed.

"Always anticipate your opponents to have a way to break your plan." Kratos said as he strapped Mimir back to the back of his belt before gesturing his hand to the side and making Draupnir appear "Be vigilant. Always expect the worst… like how I could have killed your healer and left you with no chance to recover if this were a real fight and I were a real enemy. You left her unprotected."

Hearing that, the combatants of the occult research club snapped their heads around and looked at Asia, who had been standing in the back the whole time with a nervous Gasper, being the ones who did not actively participate in their plan to push Kratos out of the circle he had drawn. While the blonde looked unharmed, it did not take it long for them all to notice a copy of the spear Kratos was holding in his hand embedded in the trunk of a tree behind Asia, being just a few inches above her head.

Asia's face instantly lost its colors while the others were left looking at the glowing butt of the spear with their eyes widening in shock.

"When did he…"

"You, vampire boy!" Interrupting Xenovia's question, Kratos called out to Gasper, making him flinch before snapping around to face him with no one dare to remind the man that the crossdressing boy was actually a Dhampir.

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Why didn't you join with the others during the assault? Did your plan not include him at all, girl?" Kratos asked harshly as he looked at Rias, who found herself becoming too nervous to answer his question. "The healer not joining is acceptable because she needs to keep herself from putting herself in danger, but every other member of your peerage has to fight. No excuses."

"Y-Yes, I understand, father!"

"You will try again. This time, I want you to coordinate your attacks with each other. Do not let the ones fighting beside you get left behind." Kratos ordered firmly as he made the spear in his hand disappear. "We train until 3 and then you will exercise for the remaining 2 hours. Understand!?"

"YES, SIR!"

"Good! Now, attack me again!"

With that command from Kratos, the Gremory group once again charged at their master, with the close range combatants immediately closing the distances while Rias and Akeno aided them from midrange, the two giving instructions to Gasper of what he could do to help them as he looked just as lost as he had always been trying to figure out a way he could be useful to them.

"Behind you, brother!"

"Mike!"

"Oji-san! You promised us you wouldn't do that!"

"Sorry, force of habit."

[Later]

"Looks like you were having fun, father."

"Nrggh…" Kratos simply let out a grunt in response as he removed Mimir from his belt and put him on the table between him and Atreus before sitting down across from his son, who had been watching him train Rias and her peerage in the camping site of the mountain villa while doing their homework for them so that they could focus on training and recovering.

At the moment, the Gremory group had begun their first lap of twenty around the training area while wearing special weights made by Brok and Sindri, with Fenrir jogging alongside them to make sure that none would slack off and keep on running.

"My, he didn't deny it. You are truly having fun, brother." Mimir said, making Atreus grin and nod his head repeatedly in agreement.

A few days ago, Mimir had been introduced to the other members of the Occult Research Club, and even though they had been able to get along well soon after, with Mimir soon growing fond of the young devils, to say that it was an even worse first meeting experience than the one that he had had with Rias and Akeno would be a huge understatement.

"It's okay, father." Atreus spoke up before Kratos could say anything "We are just glad that you finally get to have a little fun and do what you enjoy at least. I know things have been… quite boring for you as of late."

"Is someone saying fighting and slaying a mindless evil youkai god boring?"

While Kratos had to hold back the urge to grunt in annoyance Atreus and Mimir looked to the side when they heard that voice, seeing Aphrodite approaching them in her Aimi Aomi persona, who had become the new assistant manager of the mountain villa after finding out that Atreus always hung around the place with his father and the rest of the ORC after school and on his days off.

"Here is your drink, Atreus."

The goddess of love said pleasantly as she took a cup of nectar from the tray she was carrying in her hand and putting it down the table before Atreus, bending over to smile at him and give him an eyeful view at the generous cleavage of her enormously large breasts, which looked like they were about to spill out of the kimono she was wearing as it hung loosely off her bare shoulders.

"And Lemnian wine for the grumpy old teacher." The love goddess continued, standing up and putting the drink she had prepared for Kratos down before him while he continued to give her a hard look. Aphrodite, however, did not seem to think much of it as she told him with a hand on her hip "Well? What are you waiting for? Try it. Maybe with a bit of alcohol in your system you will go a bit easier on those poor kids, and might even appreciate me for the troubles I had to go through to get that drunken skunk Dionysus to stay sober long enough to make a whole bottle of that wine."

"Dionysus, the god of wine, right?" Atreus asked in interest as he grabbed his drink and took a small sip from it, smiling when he once again tasted the tasty mixture of mead and his mother's fruit juice "So, is he like… drunk all the time?"

"Oh you have no idea. He's drunk even in his sleep." Aphrodite nodded her head and answered him with a roll of her eyes, as Kratos grabbed the cup and took a rather suspicious look at it before drinking "His wines are top notch though."

"Yes, they are what got him a seat among the Olympians too, making the gentle Hestia step down to prevent a war from breaking out among the members of her family she so dearly loved." Mimir gave his two cents before adding his own comment about the matter "Bribery at its finest, if you ask me."

"Well, you are not wrong there." Aphrodite laughed humorously behind her hand.

"Wow."

"Enough. We will speak no more of this." Kratos said, his tone stopping the three of any further discussion as he put the half empty cup down the table, looking at his son as he brought out from his pouch a notebook and a pen "Atreus, have you finished what I asked?"

"I actually have, thanks to Aphrodite." Atreus said, gesturing a hand to a pleasantly smiling Aphrodite. Besides everything that he could learn from asking his girlfriend, the goddess of love had been helping him with the little project about Rias and her group that Kratos had asked him to do, getting him the accessible information that he needed so that he could help his father better understand them and their powers, even though the man had told them he could not train them in their ways.

It showed just how invested he was in teaching the group and helping them grow stronger.

"So, who first?"

"Your girlfriend."

"Me?"

"Tell me what you have learnt about her. What is her ability?" Ignoring Aphrodite, Kratos requested his son as he opened his notebook and flipped to an empty page to begin.

At the same time, Atreus nudged a giggling Aphrodite lightly to signal her to quiet down so he could start working with his father, before bringing out his own journal and opening to the pages with a drawing of his girlfriend, which he had done a few days back.

"So, her power is called Power of Destruction, which can allow her to erase and disintegrate matter, living and inanimate things." Atreus began as Kratos began to note things down with great focus, making Mimir and Aphrodite chuckle lightly in amusement "She inherited it from her mother, a member of the Bael devil household, who is famous for that power."

"What about her father?" Kratos then said, turning their topic of conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Well, her father is the current head of the Gremory devil household that is known for having an incredibly high level of demonic powers and great control over it. They are also famous for extraordinary affection for their servants, something that I am sure that you can see in Rias."

"What is your opinion about her parents?"

"I mean… I guess they are pretty cool and overall good parents who loved their daughter dearly. They are also not afraid to accept their mistakes and try to improve themselves upon them. They tried to marry Rias to the third son of the Phenex family, but it was purely for political reasons."

Atreus answered while glancing at his father suspiciously, with Mimir also doing the same thing from the corner of his shining eyes while smiling knowingly. Even though the expression on his face remained unchanged as usual, why was he having the feeling that the man was only interested in the information about the lord and lady of the Gremory devil household?

He had been wondering why his father had asked about Rias first, wanting to know more about her power despite the fact that what he had been focusing on teaching his girlfriend the most was leadership.

Moreover, Atreus knew that right after their first day of sparring Kratos could already tell she was the one who had the least problems among her peerage besides Kiba, who had been able to sort out his own problem with his vengeful hatred for holy swords thanks to him. Without a doubt his father wouldn't prioritize the two over those that he needed to work on more.

Did he do it just to ask about her parents?

"Well, we all know how wrong a marriage engagement for political reasons could possibly go. I mean… just look at me, I am now just a reanimated head lying on the table, a consequence of a planned marriage that went south." Mimir commented humorously before speaking to Atreus "You did the right thing when you broke Rias out of her unwanted marriage engagement, lad. You gave the girl a chance to find true love and happiness… from you."

"Aww, cannot say it better myself. You are the truly smartest head alive, Mimir." Aphrodite praised excitedly, giving Mimir two thumbs up.

"Why thank you, milady."

"Thanks, Mimir." Atreus smiled at his second father figure before turning back to his father, who had just finished noting down what he said "Anything else you want to know, father?"

"No, that will be enough. We move on to the next one, the black haired girl." Kratos said, and it was obvious for Atreus who he was referring to "She is quite competent with elemental magic."

"Especially with lightning magic." Atreus pointed out "And her mastery over lightning magic is merely a testament of a powerful lightning ability that she possesses."

"What is it? And why is she not using it?"

"Maybe she cannot control it? Like Gasper with his time power?" Mimir inquired.

"No, it's more like… she doesn't want to use it. She refuses to use it because she got it from her father." Atreus pointed out, making Kratos and Mimir look at him in wonder "Father, you remember the two fallen angels showing up at our house a few weeks ago? The one with two hair colors is Azazel, the leader of the fallen angels. The other man is the vice governor general and that man is also Akeno's father." Atreus finished, making Mimir gasp visibly in surprise.

"Astonishing!" Mimir exclaimed "So the girl was a fallen angel before becoming a reincarnated devil?"

"Half-fallen angel to be precise. Her mother was a human, who died protecting her when she was little."

Atreus explained, opening his journal to the pages that he had made about Akeno while Mimir gasped, and even Kratos had a slightly different look on his face as he glanced up from his notebook.

"Akeno has a deep hatred for all fallen angels and no small part of it is because of her father, who she resents the most for not being able to protect her mother. Even more so, a few years later when Rias found her and took her in, she was actually being cornered by her maternal relatives, who considered her a disgrace to their clan because she has fallen angel blood in her."

"Oh, the poor girl…" Mimir muttered grimly. "No wonder why she refuses to use the power she inherited from her father. That hatred she has for him and the other fallen angel might even include herself or at least the fallen angel side of her."

"You haven't answered my first question, Atreus." Kratos reminded his son calmly, stopping him before he could say anything to Mimir. Aphrodite pouted, thinking that the man was insensitive, but Atreus simply held up a hand for her to keep silent, knowing that his father wouldn't just ignore everything that he had just told him.

"Sorry, father." Atreus apologized before answering his father's first question about Akeno's power "So her power is called Holy Lightning, which combines holy light and lightning together."

"Then it will be more effective against devils." Kratos nodded his head and noted it down. "Anything else?"

"She also has the power of purification and can use it to purify and send away evil spirits. Akeno is also quite skilled in reading different kinds of energy flows, so she can detect those hiding near her if they are not actively trying to hide their presences."

"Next. The boy with the dragon gauntlet."

"He is a plain and simple minded pervert who is utterly obsessed with women's breasts and building his own harem, and he's not ashamed about it." Kratos looked impassive, while Mimir looked like he was trying to hold back his laughter, but failing miserably as Atreus told his father what he knew about Issei "Still, I must admit that Issei does have some redeeming qualities, and since devils are being driven by their desires, I think we can take advantage of his dream to encourage him to train even harder."

"Hmmmm…" Kratos grunted in annoyance, but at the same time, he looked quite deep in thought. Atreus knew better than anyone that one of his father's teachings was all about controlling emotions, but Issei was quite clearly someone who became stronger and more determined to do something by letting his emotions drive him, especially his perverted thoughts and feelings.

"He needs an inspirational speech from you is what your son is trying to say." Aphrodite pointed out while giggling in amusement, making Kratos glare at her but once again she simply brushed it off.

The thing she would do to hear this man give an inspirational speech to a perverted boy about his dream of having a harem of big breasted women to get him to train harder and get stronger…

"So lad, is there a limit to his power doubling ability?" Mimir decided to ask with a small chuckle, saving Kratos from having to respond to Aphrodite or ignore her, which would more or less confirm that he was thinking about it and make her try to tease him even more.

"Technically, his stamina is his limit, even though his Sacred Gear can double his power up indefinitely." Atreus answered, making Mimir hum in thought "The more stamina he has, the more times he can double his powers, whether it's his physical abilities, magic or demonic powers. He has to be strong enough to contain all that power first before thinking about using it, or he will end up not being able to move and getting hurt instead."

"So, even more physical exercises for the boy then?" Aphrodite asked Kratos while chuckling amusedly.

The intense physical trainings Kratos had been putting them through was still considered pretty light weighted by the man and yet they had already pushed the Gremory to their absolute limit and beyond, leaving them close to passing out in exhaustion more times than they could count despite the fact that they were physically much stronger than normal human.

It's even worse for the members who were not physically as strong as the others, like Asia or Gasper or even Rias and Akeno, because the training intensity was the same as Kratos made them train together to strengthen their bonds and solidarity.

One could only imagine what else this 'old and grumpy' Greek god of war from another world had in store for those poor devils. Considering that he was a Spartan and she had seen how Spartan soldiers train, she had a feeling that very soon, Rias and the others would discover all that they had been pushed through till then by their teacher was merely a casual walk in the park on a sunny day.

"And because Issei is a Sacred Gear wielder, the goal right now for him is to attain his Balance Breaker."

"Like Kiba with his sword?" Kratos asked, and Atreus nodded his head in confirmation, not feeling surprised that his father called Kiba by his name while the others were just boys and girls.

The past few weeks, not only had Kiba been the one who had been training the hardest under Kratos' harsh and intense teachings, but he had also been the one who showed the most focus and the greatest control over his own emotions during training and especially while fighting. Notably, his swordsmanship and speed also slightly impressed Kratos, who claimed that there were still a lot more rooms for improvements.

Not only that, but Kiba showed deep respect for Kratos and appeared to be looking up to him, calling him master and following his every command and order without questions or protests, no matter how hard or difficult, how much his body was in pain, showing not only great will power but amazing discipline, a quality Kratos always highly appreciated.

"According to some historical records, the balance breaker of Boosted Gear always manifests in the form of dragon armor, which will also allow him to double his power continuously without the 10-second time limit."

Saying that, Atreus then turned his journal around and showed his father a picture of Boosted Gear Scale Mail, which he had torn from a page inside a book about Sacred Gear.

"Basically, the longer he can maintain his armor, the better. Same goes for Yuuto and his holy-demonic sword."

"So even more physical exercises then."

"Well, this should be interesting." Mimir chuckled as he glanced over to Kratos, who seemed to be writing down the exact same words Aphrodite had just said into his notebook with a calm and casual look on his face.

"I think you can leave Asia to me, father."

Atreus then said, opening to the page with a drawing of Asia and her baby dragon familiar, who she had introduced to them a few days ago. While Rassei seemed to hate boys, Issei in particular, Atreus did not have any problem getting along with him, being able to understand and communicate with him with his power.

Kratos, on the other hand, scared him, but what else was new…

"I can teach her some self-defense technique and help train her dragon familiar to aid her in combat. Akeno believes she has great potential in using magic, so we will be helping her with that as well." Atreus continued, with his father nodding in agreement "I will also be teaching her some archery. A bow and arrow should help her keep distances from her enemies."

"Agree." Kratos nodded his head to his son "But the girl's kindness will still be a problem."

"Can't have her running off and healing her enemies now, can we?" Mimir asked with an amused laugh. The girl had to be one of the kindest people that Mimir had met, and considering that he had met a lot of people across the nine realms of their old home world, that really meant something.

"And her healing power needs direct contact to work. We gotta help her fix that as well." Atreus pointed out, making Kratos nod his head slightly in agreement before noting it down in his notebook.

"And I will teach her some seduction techniques to encourage the red dragon." Aphrodite raised her hand and spoke with a giggle, making all three men sitting around the table give her a queer look "What? Can a goddess have a little bit of fun helping you guys train these kids too? And don't you tell me that it's not going to be useful."

"I have to agree, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" The goddess of love couldn't help but repeat while glaring slightly at Mimir.

"Just… don't teach her anything weird, alright? No offense, but I don't think you are the best role model for any innocent young woman." Atreus could only say, but Aphrodite simply gave him a playful, seductive wink in response.

"By the way, what are we going to do about Gasper?" Mimir then asked, remembering the Dhampir crossdresser who had passed out instantly the moment he saw him dangling from Kratos' hand "The boy is no longer trying to hide when you shows up, but his fluctuating time power is still a problem. It doesn't affect us, but there is nothing more dangerous than a growing power that can't be controlled."

"With lots of practices, he should be able to control his power. For the time being though, I think we can let him drink some blood to increase his own power and gain some control over Forbidden Balor View for a period of time. The stronger the donor, the stronger he will be." Atreus answered.

"Not our blood though." Aphrodite added before either Kratos or Mimir could suggest it "He will die if he drinks the blood of a god. Dhampir physiology cannot handle that much power, especially if that is the blood of you two."

"What about dragon blood?"

"You mean Issei's blood, brother?" The ashen skinned god of war nodded his head in confirmation at Mimir's question before asking his son and Aphrodite "Can he handle it?"

"Technically, yes."

"Very well. We will use it as a last resort." Kratos answered simply, noting it down before nodding his head to Atreus to continue on.

"Do you need me to fill you in on Kiba and Xenovia?" Atreus asked. The two knights of his girlfriend were quite easy to figure out. Kiba had already impressed his father with his ability to keep a cool head in battle, needing only more sword training to grow stronger; but Xenovia was a whole different story.

While weaker in technique than her fellow knight, it was as clear as day to all four of them, even Aphrodite who barely bothered to watch the fighting, that the newest member of the Gremory group was a skilled swordswoman, but at the same time she lacked many qualities to be effective in combat. The girl was rash, impetuous, stubborn and rarely used her head to think, especially while fighting, attacking with only the intention of overwhelming her opponents with pure power and strength.

If Gasper's main problems were his cowardice and lack of confidence, then Xenovia's would be her inability to think when she needed to, not her swordsmanship or her moderate control over Durandal, which she used only for its destructive cutting power.

"No. Carry on to the last girl. The one with white hair. Is she also hiding her power?"

"More like she is hiding who she is." Atreus shook his head and said, turning to the side to reach his hand into his backpack that was laid at his feet and bring out a stack of documents "You remember those people we met in Kyoto? The one with animal features?"

"What about them?" Kratos asked, remembering the little girl he had helped save and her mother.

"Koneko is one of them." Atreus said, putting his journal down to show his father the files that he had borrowed from Rias "She is a Nekoshou, a rare species of the Nekomata. They are youkai with cat features."

Saying that, Atreus then showed his father a wanted poster with the portrait of a young woman with cat ear and yellowish cat like eyes, making Mimir look at it in curiosity while Kratos continued to maintain an indifferent look on his face. Below the portrait, a hefty amount of reward was promised to whoever could bring her in, dead or alive.

"This is her sister, Kuroka. One of the most wanted criminals in the Underworld." Atreus explained as he tapped his finger on the portrait, making Mimir gasp in surprise "So a few years ago, Koneko lived with her sister Kuroka, who was taken in by a high class devil. It appeared that while serving that devil, she became incredibly powerful, to the point that she surpassed her own master in terms of magical power alone."

"How did she become a criminal?"

"She killed her master." Atreus answered his father, causing Mimir to widen his eyes slightly in surprise "The devils believed that she got drunk with her own overwhelming powers and ended up slaughtering her own master in madness."

"After the incident, the devils tried to hunt her down but failed, so they turned their attention to Koneko. In order to prevent another incident like that from ever happening again and fearing that she would grow up to be just like her sister, those devils sentenced Koneko to death and tried to execute her."

"Great bleedin' fuck, they tried to do what!?" Mimir asked angrily, his jaw hanging in pure shock.

"Sirzechs Lucifer was able to save her, but Koneko ended up getting deeply traumatized and fell into depression, mostly due to her sister's betrayal. Rias was able to help her out of it but… she lost most of her emotions, and no longer wanted to use her Nekoshou powers."

"Do you think that the girl fears that she will lose control and become like her sister as well?"

"I think so, father." Atreus nodded, making Kratos nod his head in understanding, looking deep in thought. It was not that hard for either of them to figure that one out. The girl hid it well with her emotionlessness, but nothing was overlooked by Kratos, who could see that she paid close attention to his lessons about self-control.

She was also the one who had been training the second hardest, and it wasn't just because her natural immense strength allowed her to keep up with most of the physical training Kratos had been putting her and the others through. Even if she kept an almost blank look at all time, showing only tiredness when she had been pushed to the limit, they could see that she was determined to become stronger.

"Brother, if we can somehow convince her to…"

"Later, brother." Kratos spoke up calmly, interrupting Mimir and stopping him from finishing his suggestion as he turned his head to the side and looked at Koneko and Kiba, who were both running toward them on the road leading to the villa.

Their tracksuits were drenched in sweat, and the two appeared to be breathing hard, but the looks on their faces showed a firm determination to finish their final run, which was from the training area to the villa.

"I will go make something for them to drink." Aphrodite said and left before Atreus could ask if she could do it.

Rias and Akeno trailed a good fifty meters behind them, with the crimson haired young woman looking like she was having trouble staying awake, occasionally leaning onto each other to run. While Akeno looked slightly better than her best friend, she was also having difficulty staying on her feet.

Xenovia and Issei did not look any better, but it was quite clear that they would have run alongside Rias and Akeno if they weren't trying to help Asia and Gasper, who were both particularly trying to limp toward the finish line. Fenrir was also running alongside them, gazing concernedly at the two physically weakest members of the Gremory group but otherwise did not try to help them, as he had been told to do.

"Stay on your feet." Kratos reminded Kiba and Koneko as the two crossed the finish line and stopped before them, with the blonde knight groaning loudly in exhaustion with both hands on his back. Soon, Rias and Akeno followed, bending over with their hands gripping their knees to support themselves before the last four arrived and collapsed against one another, while trying their best to stay on their feet. "Good."

"T-tha…nk yo-u… si…" Kiba managed between deep breaths of fresh air, before he and everyone snapped their eyes wide open in utter shock at what they had just heard.

Kratos had never complimented them, ever.

But just as they had expected…

"Ten minutes break, and then two hundred pushups."

"Ehhhhh!"

With that groan, Issei and Gasper collapsed, falling on their faces dramatically while the others could only look at the sky above them in disbelief.

"You and Akeno sure look like you two have seen better days."

"Huh, oh… hey, Sona." Rias greeted tiredly, as she rose from her table and rubbed her eyes, having been trying to get a bit more sleep before class started. Behind her, Akeno did not look that much better, as she slept with one hand dangling off the table. "What did you just say again?"

"Wow, I don't think I have ever seen you looking like this before." Sona admitted in amazement "Is the training with that man really that intense?"

"It's literally hell." Rias yawned as she brought out her water bottle and drank it, coughing a bit after because of how bitter it tasted.

The substance inside was actually a special herb prepared to her and her servants by Atreus, who told her that it should help them feel better and speed up their recovery, since Asia's healing power could only heal physical injuries and not internal fatigues.

"And in case you ask, the answer is no. Me dating his son only means that I have to work even harder to meet his expectations. And they are up there, by the way." Rias finished, with a finger pointing at the ceiling.

"Wow. Just make sure that you and your club members don't slack off in class." Sona said, making Rias nod her head in understanding before she asked "By the way, who do you think is gonna attend class observation for you today?"

"Who what now!?" Rias furrowed her eyebrow, before widening her eyes in surprise and shooting up with a cry, waking up Akeno and causing their other classmates to turn their heads and look at her "Wait, today is class observation day?"

"Well, yeah. I sent the invitation letters like… a week ago." Sona nodded her head, looking disapprovingly at her rival and childhood for her outburst.

"I completely forgot about that." Rias said after sitting back down. Now that she thought about it, it'd been exactly two weeks since the last time she looked at the calendar "So, is your mother going to come for you this year?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Last year was fun with my mother, but… I just hope that my sister does not try to skip work and show up here again this year. It has been her plan for a while now." The Sitri heiress sighed in slight annoyance, making Rias laugh softly behind her hand "Though, I heard she had a very important meeting to attend this morning, so she probably won't be able to come even if she wants to. Even so, I probably will still have to put up with my sister's whining about not being able to come later."

"Well, at least you are not going to get embarrassed by your father in front of the whole class for three years in a row." Rias said with a heavy sigh in defeat before looking around the classroom "Speaking of… where is Atreus anyway? I wonder if his father is going to come today."

"No, I don't think father is going to come today." Rias flinched, almost jumping in surprise when she heard that voice and snapped her head to the opposite direction to see Atreus standing there with an amused grin on his face. "Morning, Sona."

"Atreus." Sona returned the greeting neutrally. Having seen Atreus entering the classroom and mischievously sneaking up behind Rias, she did not look surprised by his sudden appearance in the slightest like her childhood friend.

"Don't do that!" Rias said, hitting her boyfriend lightly on his arm.

"Believe it or not, father actually told me to do that." Atreus stated, waving his hand and smiling at Akeno who beamed warmly at him. "He wants you guys to always stay vigilant, even while at school."

"Really?"

"Nope, I just made that up."

Rias pouted at her boyfriend while the rest of the class, save for Sona and Akeno, could only look at the two in jealousy. They did not tell anyone outside of the club, but somehow the whole school now knew that the two of them had officially become a couple, leaving many with broken hearts.

"So your father cannot come to class observation today, Atreus?" Akeno asked, glancing over to Atreus as he walked to his table next to her, having been sitting there the past few weeks after managing to convince the classmate who previously owned it to switch her seat with him

"At least I don't think so. He has work today, so I don't think he can come." Atreus answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's okay though. I don't really mind. He knows how well I am doing in classes anyway."

Not to mention that his father knew about it, since the man didn't mention anything about it to him. Atreus had actually only learnt about the class observation event just a moment ago after arriving at the academy, hearing a group of students who already had their parents with them talking about it.

Not that he did not want his father to come, but that might not be the best idea since the man could scare the other students with just a look. Plus, for an event like this, if he could choose then he would love to have Mimir coming instead of his father… if the man still had his body.

"Oh, okay. I see."

The way Akeno said it made Atreus look over to her, but the girl had already looked away to grab her water bottle and drink the herb he had prepared for her. He could have sworn that she sounded somewhat relieved and happy when she heard that his father couldn't come, and it wasn't that hard for Atreus to figure out the reason.

"Okay, here we go." Rias said, when she and everyone heard people chatting delightfully among one another and turned her head around to see the parents flooding into their classroom while being led by their English teacher.

It did not take it long, however, for her to spot her father, Zeoticus Gremory, making his way into while wearing an elegant white suit, appearing to be the main topic of conversation of the other parents around him, especially the mothers who were smitten by his good looks.

"Wait…"

Rias then uttered in surprise, when another man with crimson hair walked into the room while smiling politely at the women currently surrounding and following him. Like Zeoticus, he was also dressed in a suit, though his was one for business and came with a green tie, being black in color.

"Onii-sama?" The crimson haired young woman asked in surprise, making Atreus raise an eyebrow before looking at the man who then walked over to stand beside the older crimson haired man and wave his hand at Rias.

"That is Sirzechs Lucifer?"

Atreus asked, making Akeno nod her head in confirmation but not that he needed her to. Beside the radiant color of their hair, which they definitely inherited from their father, the resemblances between him and his girlfriend were uncanny. If anything, Sirzechs Lucifer actually looked like a male version of his sister.

"Alright class, let's begin our annual class observation day." The English teacher announced warmly after closing the door and making her way over to her table and the students did not waste any time to do as she said, bringing out their books as they all wanted to look good in front of their parents, who all stood at the end of the classroom.

Rias, meanwhile, looked warily at her father and brother, the former of whom had taken out a camera and begun to film his daughter. Atreus, meanwhile, could feel a pair of eyes on his back, and did not turn around to know that Sirzechs Lucifer was looking at him. Although, he could not feel any malice or any ill intents.

The first half of the first period went on peacefully, with Atreus being called a couple of times to answer some questions. English was one of the first languages that he mastered, so Atreus did not have any problem answering all the questions, even speaking fluently with perfect pronunciations. Likewise, with their language ability, the devils in the classroom also did not have any trouble giving the correct answers and speaking like native English speakers when called.

"Okay class, please open your book to page 201 and…"

Before the English teacher of class 3-B could finish giving her instruction, a knock on the door at the far left corner of the classroom interrupted her, causing her and the parents standing nearby to turn their heads to look..

Curious, the teacher put her notebook down and walked over to answer it, opening the door only to find herself facing the hulking figure of a certain ashen skinned man, who caused the whole classroom to gasp in shock, while the devils, including Zeoticus and Sirzechs, couldn't stop themselves from widening their eyes in surprise at the sight of him.

The rest of the class had different reactions about him.

"Woah! Who is he?"

"He's huge!"

"Is he a professional wrestler?"

"What a badass beard!"

Atreus, meanwhile, couldn't believe his eyes.

It was his father…

… wearing a black business suit and a red tie.

"W-wha…"

The English teacher gasped lightly in surprise, unconsciously backing away from Kratos along with a number of parents when he lowered his head down and stepped into the room, towering over everyone in the room as he looked around, scanning the parents before the rest of the class. After pausing at Akeno for a brief second, his eyes then landed on Atreus, giving his son a small nod before turning his attention back to the teacher.

"My apology for being late." He said simply in the most calm and collected tone "My message could not reach the leader of my organization, so I had to go there and inform myself this morning."

"O-Oh… I see… So you are a parent." The English teacher said, smiling nervously as he extended her hand out and offered it to the man, who took it and shook hand with her lightly "Who are you here for?"

"I am Atreus' father."

Kratos introduced himself, causing the whole class save for the Rias, Sona and Akeno to gasp in shock, snapping their heads over to Atreus.

"But I am also here for Himejima Akeno."

Kratos suddenly added, causing the whole class to look at him in surprise, with no one more so than Akeno herself, who just a moment ago had turned back to her book with a distant look in her eyes.

"The girl lost her mother at a young age. And I also contacted the homeroom teacher and learnt from her that Akeno's father has never been able to come due to complications, so she has never had anyone attending the past two class observation days for her."

"But the girl often comes to our house to hang out with my son, and help with the housework. I see her as a member of my family, so I decided to attend this class observation event for her as well since this is her last year in high school."

"O-Oh…"

"Is it going to be a problem?" Kratos asked, his tone was as calm as ever.

"Oh, please don't take my reaction the wrong way. It definitely is not a problem at all… as long as Akeno-chan does not mind. Akeno-chan, you are fine with Atreus-kun's father attending class observation day as a parent of yours as well, right?" The English teacher asked, turning to look at Akeno to hear her answer.

But whatever answer that Akeno wanted to give, it died in her throat as tears started to well up in her eyes before they slowly trickled down her cheeks. Sniffing quietly, she quickly used her hands to wipe her tears away as quickly as they had come, before looking at her English teacher and nodding her head.

Atreus, however, was completely lost for words, but he could not stop himself from smiling at his father, who then had his own space to stand at the end of the class as the English teacher returned to her table to resume their class.

End of chapter 20

Note: And that is the end of this chapter! In the spirit of Christmas, I hope that you find the end of this chapter as wholesome and as heartwarming as I did my best to make it to be!

Because it's Christmas, this chapter goes straight up on fanfiction instead of staying a couple of days on my P/atreon. I honestly don't know if this can be considered a Christmas gift or not, but I really hope that all of you, my beloved readers, have enjoyed it nonetheless.

As always, make sure to leave me a REVIEW once you have finished reading. The past few chapters I have gotten so many reviews as well I couldn't have been happier, so I really hope that everyone will give me tons of reviews this time too!

Check out my p/atreon if you can and have the power to supports me! Feel free to join my discord channel as well and be a part of my community (the links to both can be found in my profile)

And I will see you in the next chapter!

Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S: So everyone now know that Atreus will have to go on quests for Brok and Sindri to get them the components and ingredients for his weapon. I have already planned everything out, with each component being an original arc in itself.

However, the question I have for you all is that would you like me to have Kratos, along with Mimir, tagging along with Atreus in these quests and making it the father – son duo adventure together just like how it was in the games? I know this is the obvious choice, because who wouldn't want this trio to once again go on adventures together?

Or would you like Atreus to go himself and occasionally with the dwarves or whoever that can help him best in these quests (save for his father because he's always the best option all around), while letting Kratos stay behind and spend times bonding with a certain fox woman? This option also tributes to the decision that Kratos has made about Atreus at end of the game (I will not say it out because it can be spoiler for those who haven't seen it or finished the game themselves).

Tell me your answer.