Author's Note: It's a little late, but here's Chapter 13. I only intended on writing about the fight between Rito, Gid, and Issei, but I guess I included some Lala in this chapter as well. I am hoping the Lala part will help me set up for the future chapters. I am thinking about getting Issei to meet up with Momo soon (Momo is Rito's harem advisor).

On an unrelated note, I am still in the middle of Light Novel Volume 18 of DxD as of writing this chapter. I don't think the events in Volume 18 and 19 should have any effect on this chapter.

Published 8/14/2015

Chapter 13:

Why is Marriage Important?

"Running away from Lala is the final nail in your coffin." Gid looks at Rito with disappointment.

"Huh? Why? What did I do to break our promise? All I've done was leave campus for a short period of time."

Gid looks at Rito with sharp eyes. "Everything regarding you has changed. You don't even carry the usual human incense anymore. From my observations, it appears that you have been in close relations with a different person. By definition, you are a traitor."

"I can explain this, your majesty." Rito tries to calm down before continuing. "It's just that strange incidents have been happening all around me. I got attacked by Darkness and Nemesis. Then, this one boy named Issei has been following me everyone I go, telling me that he is my master. He uses all sorts of weird powers on me."

The word 'master' enrages Gid more. "Nonsense, Rito Yuuki. You can never serve two masters. I have waited too long for Lala to rise and become a full queen. Because of your interference and your betrayal, my plans for the future of the universe and Deviluke have been disrupted. You shall pay."

Before Rito could say any more words, Gid jumps up to Rito and grabs him. Soon, electricity from Gid electrocutes Rito, paralyzing him.

"How does this feel Rito Yuuki? This electricity represents my feelings. How did I get these feelings? It's because of you. You don't know how proud we are of Lala. Lala is the perfect daughter having inherited most of the Deviluke traits from me as opposed to Nana and Momo. We nurtured, raised, and educated her with the idea that she will someday take the crown from me and become the new ruler of Deviluke. Everything went well until you had to intervene in the final step for Lala to become a queen. It made all of our efforts go to waste. This was the best compromise we had and you decided to reject it and hide behind someone else."

"Listen to me, your majesty." Rito begs Gid to stop. "Please look at it from my perspective. I had no idea what was going on. Lala looked like an ordinary girl seeking help. I had no idea that the people chasing Lala were her bodyguards and that Lala would take it deeply."

"Ever since you came around, Lala's attitude changed too. Instead of talking about Royal Family matters and Deviluke business, Lala's only talking about life on Earth. How is that going to make Lala an effective queen? Can she replace my wife Sophie who is always deep into Deviluke business and politics? Not only that, you also attracted my other daughters Nana and Momo. Our whole Deviluke Royal Family is at stake. The last hope is for you to clean up this mess and marry Lala. If you're going to leave a mess like this, I'll be the one to clean it up and I'll do it by eliminating you."

Gid's electricity intensifies. At the same time, large quakes start to appear. It appears as if a Magnitude 8.1 earthquake has struck Sainan.

"I will remove all negative influences from my three daughters. I will restore the traditions that have made our family successful."

Suddenly, Gid hears someone call out to him. "Stop Papa! Don't do this. This is all a misunderstanding."

Gid turns around and finds Lala standing next to him. She tries to stop Gid from killing Rito.

"Nonsense, Lala. I've waited too long for this. I knew from the start that this boy was deceitful. He showed signs of unfaithfulness and untruthfulness. There's no way this man is fit to become a king let alone fit for you."

"No Papa. It's just that you haven't seen everything about Rito. Please stop this right now."

Lala tries to stop Gid, but Gid simply intensifies his power instead. Soon, he surrounds himself with a dark purple sphere. Lala can see the ground starting to disintegrate.

"Lala-sama. This is horrible. Your father is preparing to destroy Earth. Once that sphere expands and encapsulates the entire Earth, Earth will be doomed. It will be hard but if you want your Rito-dono back, you must try harder to convince your father to stop," Peke speaks to Lala.

"Papa! Stop!" Lala shouts at Gid.

Suddenly, the purple sphere disappears. It appears as if Lala's requests were answered. However, Gid seems shocked.

"Huh? What was that? Something destroyed my sphere. How is that possible? I am supposed to be number one, the most powerful being in the universe."

"Lala-sama, look up." Peke notices something unusual in the sky. It appears as if the red dragon has come again. The red dragon has just fire a large dragon shot at Gid.

"You must stop your actions at once, lord evil king. By the traditions of the Gremory household, no one is permitted to mess with my servants."

Gid stands up and looks at the red dragon. "You must be the new master that kidnapped Rito Yuuki from me. I am interested to see what powers you have. No one has ever attempted to challenge or defy me."

"I have many powers equal to that of a God. You may be the most powerful living creature in the human universe, but what about with Gods, Leaders, and Dragons residing in other universes?" The red dragon clenches his fist in front of Gid.

"I am not interested in challenging you. I am interested in executing Rito Yuuki the traitor. He has broken my promise and deceived all of us. He is no fit to become the king of Deviluke and the universe. To prevent any more of his sins from spreading, I shall eliminate him from his existence."

Before Gid could say any more words, Issei fires another dragon shot. This dragon shot knocks Rito out of Gid's hands. Gid tries to run after Rito, but a magic circle appears under Rito and swallows him up.

The red dragon then lands on the spot where Rito use to lay. "I have told you before, lord evil king. No one is allowed to harm or attack any of our servants. Rito is property of the Gremory household and as part of the Gremory household, we shall treat all of our servants with tenderly care. I am only a small part of the Gremory household. One of us is also a ruler of the underworld. If you dare to unleash your full energy, be prepared to face all my comrades."

Gid stands up with determination. "I am prepared. I have destroyed many enemies in the past. I also have an army of Deviluke warriors and allies to assist me and I am not afraid of your scare tactics. I shall eliminate you along with Rito Yuuki. I shall also destroy this Earth. Harmful intruders are unwelcome in my empire."

Gid races to the red dragon and lands a series of punches on him. He then picks up the red dragon and tosses it several meters away.

The red dragon, knowing that he is not weak, slowly stands up. "Huff, huff… It looks like this will be a tough opponent to deal with. However, I must do this if I want a chance to speak with him."

The red dragon stands up and speaks to Gid. "Your majesty, why are you so intent on eliminating Rito and destroying Earth? What has Rito done to deserve such action?"

"I told you many times. He broke my promise. He agreed to marry my daughter and become future king of the universe. If any part of the agreement is broken, I will kill him and destroy Earth." Gid uses his quake ability to lodge multiple rocks at the red dragon.

"Why would you go to such extremes over a marriage agreement? You obviously know that forced marriages don't always work out." The red dragon fires two cannons at Gid in return.

"It's for the sake of universe. My time being the king of the universe is finite. Without a successor, there will be no one to take over my universe. The future of Deviluke is at stake!" Gid shoots Electro Balls at the red dragon.

"I am positive that there are many other ways we can resolve this issue. You don't need to go to such extreme to fulfill your wish." The red dragon charges his Boosted Gear until it glows bright red.

"Explosion! Cardinal Crimson Overdrive!" the red dragon powers up into a large dragon and fires many rockets at Gid. Gid tries to use his powers to disintegrate each rocket, but more come forward.

"Don't you understand the importance of being the future king of the universe is? The peace and stability of the entire universe is dependent on this one position. We Devilukes have struggled hard to maintain peace by defeating many enemies and unifying many alien species. The only way we can guarantee this peace for our posterity is to have only descendants from the Deviluke royal family take this position. If another alien species takes the title of king from us, our stability will fall apart and the intergalactic wars will restart." Gid powers up another large sphere at the red dragon.

"I had no intention of starting a fight with you in the first place. I am not here to destabilize the peace that you and your ancestors worked hard to achieve either. After working many years to defeat offending Gods, Leaders, and Dragons throughout heaven, hell, and here, I have no intention of waging a new massive war. You brought this fight up on your own because of your own greedy wish."

After the red dragon speaks, the fight suddenly stops. The only sign the red dragon can see is smoke coming from the ground. The red dragon takes off his scale mail, turning back into Issei in his normal form.

"I quit. I give in." Issei sees Gid waving a small yellow flag up in the air.

"Huh? This feels weird." Issei is confused as he walks towards Gid. He finds Gid pushing a few rocks away as he stands up.

Gid replies. "To be honest, I did not want to fight with you either. I did not want to do this just to satisfy my wishes. As you may know, fighting enemies is tough. I may be number one in the universe, but I used a tremendous amount of energy to achieve that goal. That energy has shrunk me into midget like this. I am still healthy right now, but my life will start to shorten if I keep using my powers."

Issei can easily relate Gid's words to his own experiences. His battle against Gods, Leaders, and Dragons of other mythologies has put a lot of strain on his body. His stamina often depleted completely during those battles. Although his experiences and training have increased his stamina capacity, it is not immune to full depletion.

"Like I said, I am only here to protect my servant. I understand what you mean by using so much energy during the battles. However, don't you think that fighting over an engagement seems unethical? Why are you so determined to make Rito the king of the universe? Does Rito hold that rare and special key for the future of the Deviluke royal family and the peace of the universe?" Issei asks Gid.

"Rito Yuuki does. He is the only person my daughter Lala Satalin Deviluke would accept to be her husband. The marriage is the final step for her to become a successor to me, the current king of the universe."

"So what does Lala Satalin Deviluke find special about Rito?" Issei asks Gid.

"I don't know. I thought I understood everything about Lala, but I have been proven wrong." Gid then recites the history of Lala to Issei. "Lala is the proudest daughter of our royal family. Because she is the oldest daughter, she is next in line to succeed me as the future ruler of the universe. We had this in mind when raised and nurtured her from baby to adult and did everything to support that dream, getting the best teachers, maids, and more."

Gid then looks down on the ground. "We thought Lala would be excited about her future as a queen. Then, everything changed when we reached the final milestone: marriage. For us to successfully pass on the crown, Lala needs to marry a suitable husband. Lala was extremely resistant to marrying and even defied our orders. I tried summoning many possible candidates for Lala but she declined all of them and eventually escaped. We tried to capture her, but it turns out that she has found someone she loves: Rito Yuuki. From then on, Lala often fought vigorously for Rito. When I heard about this, I thought I could settle the marriage issue once and for all with this agreement on Rito."

"That sounds like an interesting life for Lala." Issei replies. "However, I feel that the problem lies from how you nurtured Lala. Your daughter Lala probably doesn't know what it's like to be in love. She's also uncomfortable with foreign people as she has little experience with them. If Lala and her future husband don't get along well, she won't do a good job succeeding you as the queen. The same goes for Rito. Rito must be shaky on whether or not he wants to take Lala and the universe. Forcing this kind of order isn't going to work, your majesty. While your plan will allow your Lala to get the husband she loves and your Deviluke royal family will have a successor, Rito will probably feel uncomfortable with this and do a poor job succeeding you as the king."

"I see… I guess that makes sense. What can you for me?" Gid asks Issei.

"I can do lots," Issei cheerfully answers. "Not only I have experience with battling, I also have experience with romance and understanding how men feel. Rito has plenty of skills and potential to become the future king of the universe. However, he is often unconfident with his abilities and will often try to shy away. He also panics and passes out when it comes to women. I can take care of all these problems so what do you say, your highness?"

"Hm…" Gid thinks for a moment. "It is very hard to deny someone who promises to train Rito Yuuki to become a better man. Based on this man's proposal, I think it would be fine to leave Rito in his hands for now. Plus, Zastin, I, and the other Deviluke superiors have to deal with the organization and Darkness crisis."

"Alright. You have my permission to take Rito as one of your students. However, once the crisis is over, I expect to see a fine young man suitable to become Lala's husband. Do not disappoint me."

"I understand, your majesty. Also, my name is Issei Hyoudou by the way."

"I am Gid Lucione Deviluke, current king of the universe. Nice to meet you Issei Hyoudou. Take care." A spaceship flies right over Gid. Blue light then rains on Gid, taking him up. After Gid leaves, Lala walks over to Issei.

"That was interesting, I rarely see papa like this."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Issei looks at Lala and thinks for a moment. "Is this Gid's daughter? She does look pretty compared to her father. From the looks of her, I guess it's no question why Rito would freak out over her." Issei remembers the time when he first met Rias, the school's beauty, up close. He miraculously found Rias sleeping naked in his bed that one morning and was panicking everywhere. Rias continued doing this and Issei eventually got used to it.

"So you're the Lala that the king was talking about?"

"Yep, that's me. Ehehe…" Lala smiles. "…and you must be the red dragon who saved Rito from before."

"Um… I may be a red dragon, but that's just my battle form. I am actually Issei Hyoudou."

"Issei it is. I'm sorry for causing you all this trouble. Papa just gets too worried about me."

"Ah, it's not a problem." Issei then asks Lala a more serious question. "Can you tell why you love Rito."

"Rito? Eh?" Lala seems shocked. She then gives a thoughtful answer.

"Rito is the greatest man in the universe. Out of everyone in the universe, he is the only man who tries to understand me. For my whole life, everything was about me becoming the next ruler of the universe. Everyone also saw me as a status symbol, someone who holds the key to the universe. The only person not to see me that way is Rito. He sees me as Lala myself. I will do my best and makes sure Haruna and I become his wives."

"Interesting." Issei then thinks in his mind. "That reason matches Rias's reason from breaking the engagement with Riser. I can help her too."

"Well, leave it to me, Lala. You have just summoned the right person to help. Rito is in good hands."

"Thank you Issei. Please take care of Rito." Lala bows at Issei.

As Lala heads for the dormitory, Issei asks Lala one more thing. "Do you know anything about Momo? Rito keeps mentioning this person."

"Momo? Oh, she's my little sister. Do you want to meet her? She's a very friendly girl who is always sweet to Rito."

"Oh I see. You have to introduce me to her sometime."

"Not a problem, Issei. See you later."

After Lala leaves, Issei teleports to the Underworld and retrieves Rito.