AN: hello new and old to this little fic of mine, here is the fourth chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own HighSchool DxD or any character from other sources that may make their way into this, and neither I own the Waifu catalogue.
[0000]
'I shouldn't have said anything, Mi-chan is going to kill me!' Rias thought as she endured the oppressive aura that had settled inside the occult research clubroom.
The elegantly decorated room of the Kuoh Academy old school building that she had chosen as the main clubroom was normally one of the places she could relax with her dear friends while working on her different responsibilities as one of Kuoh's second owners.
Any other day she would be sitting on her desk going over the paperwork with Akeno while Yuuto and Koneko sat on one of the couches relaxing between going out to check in with their regular contractors and responding to new summons.
Some days Sona and Tsubaki would visit for a chat and a game of chess but except for that, her day-to-day usage of the room was comfortably predictable.
She was expecting today to be outside of the norm as she had convinced Mi-chan to visit her with his peerage so she could meet them properly.
Already having met her little brother's bishop Rias was looking forward to meeting Doctor Sesshouin again and the fact that Mi-chan had told her that he may have more possible members of his peerage join him by today made her even more excited for the meeting.
She was so excited in fact that she had made a terrible mistake.
Last night while talking to her older brother over the phone like she did every week since moving to the human world the topic of Mi-chan had come up.
(Last Night)
"I'm glad you are doing okay Rias, are you sure you don't need anything?" Sirzechs said over the phone.
"I'm fine Nii-sama, I can take care of myself." Rias responded while brushing her hair, the phone she was using to talk with her older brother floating by her side.
"I know Rias but you can't fault me for worrying about you. Kuoh may be your devil territory but that doesn't mean you are 100% safe from harm and danger there." Her big brother said kindly.
"That reminds me, why didn't you tell me that Mi-chan was moving to Kuoh last week?" She asked him.
"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise." Rias could hear the smile in Sirzechs' voice. "How is Millicas doing? He hasn't called home since arriving there and has only sent us a text or two to let us know he is fine."
"He looked happy when I saw him with his Bishop last Sunday."
"Bishop?" Sirzechs said as if he couldn't understand the term. It was at that moment that Rias understood that if Millicas hadn't called home to let his parents know how he was doing he may have not notified them of other things.
"Oh, you didn't know he already added his first piece to his peerage by the time we met last Sunday, an older woman around her mid-twenties, really beautiful and intelligent from what I could tell, she is a psychologist." She explained.
"How did he recruit his first piece in less than a day?" Sirzechs questioned his sister.
"Oh, you are going to love this." Rias began, a smile finding its way onto her pretty face as she imagined Nii-sama's expression. "Remember all the times Mi-chan would sneak out into the human world and how much Grayfia-nee would complain about him wasting his time playing around the humans while dodging his lessons?"
"Believe me Rias I remember," Sirzechs answered with a heavy sigh.
"He was doing contracts and scouting future peerage members, even going as far as to recruit some of them to be resurrected once he got his evil pieces. He told me that by the end of the week, he would have 2 or 3 members if all went well. We agreed to meet up in my clubroom tomorrow so our peerages could meet properly."
(Present)
Their conversation had gone for a couple of extra minutes afterwards before her Nii-sama had to leave for dinner but Rias hadn't considered at the time the ramifications of letting her older brother know about today's meeting.
Looking at the other occupants of her clubroom Rias could only hope that Mi-chan would give her enough time to blame her idiotic Nii-sama for the current situation before Millicas had the chance to let her know if he was angry at the unexpected development or not.
'There is no chance in heaven that he isn't angry once he realizes what is going on!' She lamented silently.
Millicas had given her enough noogies over the years to last her a lifetime whenever she truly made him angry.
Apart from Akeno standing behind her, her knight and rock sitting in one of the side couches that Rias keeps against one of the walls for extra sitting the last two occupants of the room were sitting at either side of the redhaired king on one of the two larger couches that surrounded the coffee table at the centre of the room.
She should have known that her Nii-sama wouldn't keep his mouth shut to save his life when confronted with any of the different ladies in his life, she was one of them after all, and now because of it, she was waiting to meet Mi-chan's peerage with her peerage, Grayfia-nee and Rias's Mother, Venelana Gremory.
The usually relaxed atmosphere of her clubroom had died a swift dead the moment the two older devils had teleported to join the little get-together and 'check how Millicas and Her were doing'.
'They are here to interrogate Mi-chan's peerage.' Rias thought snidely, conveniently ignoring that she had asked Millicas to meet her so she could interrogate them herself. 'Stupid Nii-sama I will get you for this!'
One quick Teleportation later, the quartet found themselves behind the old wooden building that Rias had taken over as her clubhouse. From the outside, the slightly unkempt exterior of Kuoh Academy's previous main building wouldn't have looked out of place in a horror movie.
'If I remember correctly Rias wanted to keep the haunted look on purpose' Millicas thought after arriving at the visitor's teleportation circle with his peerage.
"Woah this place looks abandoned" Ruby commented, her silver eyes moving from side to side inspecting the place.
"It certainly has its appeal" Kiara tried to be a little more diplomatic than their younger member.
"It's horrendous," Tarte said with brutal disregard. "How can your sister expect her visitors to take her seriously if she can't keep her property in appropriate order?"
"To be fair," Millicas explained as they made their way around the building to the main gate. "The inside has been fully renovated, it's only Rias' insistence that keeps the outside looking like this."
"If you said so, Master." Tarte conceded uncaringly as they made their way inside.
Once you went past the door the place didn't look so bad. The remodelled interior of the building, made primarily out of dark hardwood panels and a checkerboard tile floor, gave it a nice if ominous appearance.
The usage of dim lighting and the heavy blackout curtains only enhanced the look.
Making their way across the empty reception hall to the staircase that led to the second floor a comfortable silence settled over the group as each of them looked around the place, their sights focusing every once in a while, on each of the sparsely placed decorations that they came across on their journey to the room that the Occult Research Club used as their primary gathering spot.
Having been here before, Millicas was enjoying the girls' reactions to the place more than the decorations themselves when a sensation in his supernatural senses distracted him. Stopping for a second, he realised what or rather who he was detecting.
'Are those?' the red-haired king thought in surprise at the fact that he could recognize not only his mother's but also his grandmother's magic signatures in the room that his group was making their way to.
'Rias you piece of shit, you are going to pay for this!'
Millicas loved his family and he loved spending time with them but he certainly wasn't looking forward to dealing with 60% of his closest female relatives interrogating him and his peerage today.
'Rias was bad enough already even if I was sure I could distract her from the more sensitive topics but Mother is going to grill me for every detail about my relationship with the girls while questioning every choice I made and if Grandma isn't here to just annoy Mother, I will eat my metaphorical Hat.' Millicas could already feel the migraine he was going to have before the day was over.
He only realized that he had stopped walking when Kiara placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Is everything okay Millicas?" The raven-haired therapist worriedly asked. Behind her Ruby and Tarte were looking at him expectantly, the huntress with an anxious look on her face while Millicas could see that his lovely assassin was already checking her surroundings while her hands stealthily moved to her hidden weapons.
"I'm fine girls," he reassured them. "But it would seem that we have some extra guests to our little meeting, My Mother and Grandmother are here."
The girls took a second to process what he had said to them before his peerage reacted to the new information.
"Oh, is that so?" Kiara smiled kindly at him, obviously thinking he was making a big deal out of nothing by the tone of her voice, it was not the first time nor the last that Millicas would hear that particular tone from his bishop.
Tarte froze for a second before she dashed out of sight into one of the open side rooms they had passed before and returned 5 seconds later having changed her regular yellow maid uniform for a more formal and less revealing blue one she owned.
"That's awesome! I love to meet them, they fought in the war and are like really, really old right? Would you think they could tell me stories of the magical weapons that were used during the war? Do they have Weapons of their own? Can I see them?"
Ruby for her part would have kept excitedly asking questions like a yapping puppy greeting its owner if Millicas hadn't instinctively patted her on the head to get her attention.
"You will have to ask them yourself little rose." The cute pout and blushing face he got in response to his comment made Millicas feel a tiny bit better about the upcoming conversation.
Walking the remaining distance, the group finally reached its destination.
Dressed in an elegant summer dress that showed off the voluptuous figure her daughter had inherited from her, her short flaxen hair perfectly framing her youthful face, an outside observer would be forgiven for thinking she has Rias' Sister, not her mother and the oldest devil in the room.
Calmly enjoying the cup of tea that Akeno had served her Venelana Gremory waited for her Grandson to arrive with his new bishop and unknown to Rias, the other members of his new peerage.
Subtly looking over her daughter's head, Venelana took a second to enjoy the annoyed look that Grayfia was hiding under her usual serious face and expertly kept her pleased smile hidden from view with a sip of her tea.
Lady Gremory and her Daughter-in-law had never truly gotten along more than what their stations and common family demanded of them. The two devils always clashed with each other in regards to their views, their ways of life and their methodologies to name some of the few issues they couldn't see eye to eye.
One of their many issues was how they each had chosen to raise their children, with Millicas in particular being one of their biggest disagreements to date.
The white-haired queen's frankly obsessive need to control her son's life had a very understandable reasoning at the start but her inability to let the growing boy enjoy his freedom was ridiculous to the older woman.
The fact that Sirzechs had simply let his wife do as she pleased regarding the upbringing of their son was one of the many problems Venelana had with her eldest child.
So, when Zeoticus had told her last week that her son had finally decided to put his foot down and let Millicas get his evil pieces while also moving out of the manor to Kuoh Town she had been over the moon at the good news.
Even if it meant spending less time with her beloved grandson the poor boy deserved the chance to spread his wings and live his life.
The only friends the boy could call his own growing up were Rias, her peerage, Sona Sitri and the children of Venelana's own friends he got to meet every time he used the excuse of accompanying his grandmother to any of the tea parties, she had with the other clan ladies.
Her good mood had only improved over the week every time she talked with Grayfia and she could see how unhappy her daughter-in-law was at not being able to constantly watch over the youngest Gremory.
If Venelana had made an effort to interact at least once a day with the maid just to see her suffering from maternal separation anxiety then it was to help her along during such difficult times and not at all to enjoy the long-awaited event.
It will do Grayfia's good in the long run, she needed to learn that you couldn't hold your children's hands forever, no matter how much you wanted to.
And last night's dinner, for all its regular grievances, had been the cherry on top of Venelana's best week in recent memory.
(Last Night)
As it was tradition for a long time in the Gremory household Friday nights were family dinner nights.
It was the one time each week that all the available members of the family made an effort to get together, attempt to put aside personal differences and enjoy some quality family time.
Sitting around the table inside one of the smallest and more cosy dinner rooms in the Gremory main manor 5 of the current 8 living members of the family enjoyed their luxurious dinner.
At the head of the table sat the red-haired lord of the house, Zeoticus Gremory.
To his right sat his lovely wife and the current Lady Gremory, Venelana, while at his left sat his eldest and one of the current Satan ruling over Devilkind, Sirzechs Lucifer.
Sitting on the other side of her husband was the underworld's strongest queen, Grayfia Lucifuge.
Last but not least, sitting opposite her son at the opposite head of the table was the former head of house Gremory and mother of Zeoticus, Chysis Gremory.
Rias hadn't attended the family dinners for quite some time now as she was residing in the human world. And except on the rare occasions that she was awoken from her slumber by an important event, the last one being Millicas' birth, The Founder and Acestor of House Gremory, Runeas Gremory didn't make regular appearances on the dinners period.
Having waited after the main course as decorum demanded, the former head couldn't hold her curiosity any longer.
"Zeo where is Milly?" The ponytailed redhead asked, curiosity shining in her eyes. "He never misses family dinner, even when he goes out to play in the Human world."
Knowing how his mother would react to the news Lord Gremory chose the best method to impart the news to her.
Throw his oldest under the bus and hope for the best.
"Sirzechs decided that Millicas was old and responsible enough to receive his evil pieces and move to the human world for the time being, Mama." Zeoticus diverted as he ignored the betrayed look his eldest sent him.
"Sirzechs Gremory!" Chysis anger was felt by the whole table, not only on her tone of voice but on her release of demonic power. "How could you do something like that? It's already bad enough that your mother let Rias move out so young, but to let Milly live there also? I expected better of you."
With an uneasy chuckle the crimson Satan attempted to calm his grandmother down, regardless of how powerful and important he was Sirzechs could never deal with any of his female relatives' anger and disapproval.
"Grandma, please don't get angry I had a perfectly good reason for it" Sirzechs said slowly.
"A perfectly good reason to let our youngest relative out of the protection of our territory for an extended period of time?" The former Head said unamused. "At the same time that our Heir is also away from our direct watch?"
"Just because your mother was okay with endangering our line of succession doesn't mean that you can also partake in that idiocy!" she ended with a defeated sigh while massaging the spot between her eyes as if to attempt to push back a headache.
Seeing the pleased look on the face of his beloved wife and the angry twitch of his mother's eyebrows at his grandmother's unapproving comments Sirzechs chooses to divert the situation by using the same tactic his father had used.
When in doubt sacrifice your son.
"Grandma I assure you that Millicas is responsible and strong enough to take care of himself," he said while internally asking his son for forgiveness because of the hell he was about to unleash on him.
"I just had a phone call with Rias an hour ago and she told me that he has already reincarnated the first member of his peerage."
That little titbit was enough to surprise his relatives and stop the brewing discussion that would normally develop into the usual polite barrage of insults that generally happened when all the female members of the family got together in the same room.
Sharing a look with his father, the current Lucifer kept the momentum going even if it meant damming his son.
Millicas was a big boy now and he could deal with them tomorrow but he and his father had to return to their marital beds eventually, it was better for their wives to be focused on the youngest Gremory and his misadventures rather than complaining about the other women of the family to their respective husbands.
"of course, the moment that I got off the phone I called Ajuka to check the King's Records so I could learn about Millicas' new bishop but imagine my surprise when Ajuka told me that according to the King's Records Millicas not only has a Bishop but a Knight and a Pawn as well"
"He has recruited three members in just one week?" Venelana asked astonished at the news
"Oh my, Milly sure doesn't lose time, does he?" Chysis said proudly her previous worries seemingly forgotten.
"Come on now Son, don't keep us waiting what do you know about them?" Zeoticus asked eagerly.
"Well, Ajuka couldn't tell me more than their names but I did have time to contact some of the hidden watchers around Kuoh and while they couldn't give me all the details, they did get me some photographs"
Pleased that his distraction had perfectly diverted the attention of his family Sirzechs pulled the 3 photos that he had gotten from his sources inside the human world out of his pocket and presented them to his family.
Separately the photos depicted Millicas going around town with each of his new pieces, obviously playing guide to each of them in some kind of one-on-one tour.
The first one showed Millicas and his Bishop, a beautiful black-haired woman, sitting in a café as they chatted with each other.
The second one was of Millicas and his Pawn, a cute younger red-haired girl, playing a fighting game inside an arcade.
The third one, and Sirzechs' personal favourite, depicted his son carrying a couple of grocery bags back to his apartment alongside his knight, a pretty blond-haired maid.
"Well, well, well, would you look at that seems like somebody is having fun." Lord Gremory said with a wide grin on his face at seeing his grandson spending time with his new servants.
"Oh, they look so cute together," the oldest Gremory in the room said happily. "He takes after you Zeo, surrounding himself with pretty girls."
Before the current head of the house could respond to his mother's teasing remark the air around the room changed.
The first indication that Zeoticus had that something was wrong was when he felt his dear Venelana place her hand on his shoulder.
Thou others may not see the problem in that seemingly innocuous action Zeoticus has been married to his wife for over 15 centuries. He knew when she was angry with him for some reason.
And he was unfortunately proven correct a second later when she spoke
"Yes Dear, our grandson seems to be following your footsteps, picking up girls in the human world." While she may sound pleased with the fact the look on her eyes told him otherwise.
With practice ease, Zeoticus could read her true thoughts on the matter in that look.
She was delighted that Millicas was spreading his wings and making friends while enjoying his freedom. Still, if Zeoticus had somehow corrupted her innocent grandson into turning his peerage into a personal harem, regardless of the commonality of the practice among their kind, she was going to castrate her beloved husband multiple times over.
The fact that her friendship with the current Lady Phenex made it so that Venelana had a sizable stock of Phenex Tears at her disposal only solidified her hidden treat.
As did the subtle application of her power of destruction that was currently branching off under her palm and into his shoulder, out of view from the other occupants of the room
For his part, Sirzechs was worryingly observing his parents' interactions before his danger sense was triggered by his beloved wife.
After the rest of the table had had the chance to see the photographs, Grayfia took hold of them and inspected them meticulously.
"Three members in a week is certainly impressive," His queen said casually while taking a sip of his cup of wine instead of her preferred cup of tea. "So, tell me, Honey, how did our son manage that?"
If her drinking of his wine wasn't enough of a red flag to let Sirzechs know that he was in trouble then her affectionate nickname and the loving smile she sent his way in front of others was the thunderous sound of an alarm letting him know he had somehow fucked up.
Grayfia was an extremely loving and affectionate person behind closed doors.
Still, her usual decorum and strictness made it so she didn't show it in public, in fact apart from himself, Millicas and Rias not many had seen her more tender side for quite some time even behind closed doors.
Sirzechs had learned long ago that there were only a couple of circumstances that would lead to his wife showing her more tender side in public. And even if some of those occasions were moments that He enjoyed greatly there were other times this side of her came out.
For example, whenever she was so positively angry with her husband she couldn't care less about her position, manners and decorum.
Like a defeated man walking to the gallows Sirzechs choose to tell his wife the truth instead of trying to deceive her.
"According to Rias, Millicas admitted to recruiting possible peerage members over the years during his escapades into the human world."
"Is that so?" she smiled happily but her eyes and the fact that apart from her fellow devils every inch of the room had been flash-frozen with an angry twist of her inner energies let everyone know how displeased she was with the news.
While Chysis asked Grayfia if something was wrong and the men of the house shared a distressed look at the arguments that would follow Venelana smiled wholeheartedly like a human child that had been told that Christmas had arrived early at Grayfia's reaction to the news.
(Present)
Thou she had her own worries about Millicas' reasons for choosing his current pieces the knowledge that her grandson had been proactively rebelling against his mother's draconian control over his life had warmed Venelana's heart.
Had Grayfia listened to Venelana's advice about how to raise Millicas over the years then he wouldn't have felt the need to hide his actions from his family like some kind of criminal.
A fact that she had reminded the maid before they teleported themselves to the human world to meet with the children.
The sound of the door opening distracted Venelana from her thoughts as her Grandson and his new friends arrived at the clubroom.
Noting the subtle lowering of the room's overall temperature the Flaxen-haired Madame of Extinction didn't even try to hide the happy smile on her face. 'I'm going to have so much fun today.' She thought eagerly.
[0000]
[Build as of chapter 5]
Starting World: High School DxD [Standard]
Starting budget 365
Intensity [6.25]
Legacy Difficulty 0
Mode
Me and My Girlfriend(s)(PvE) +0 [365]
You as Millicas Gremory (Substitute) of T6 -20 [345]
Bindings
Company Stamp free [345]
Lures
Sticky Fingers -5 [340]
Faerie Feast -10 [330]
Zenryoku Zenkai -20 [310]
Home Perks
Pocket Space -5 [305]
Pocket Apartment x2 -20 [285]
Sweet Home -20 [265]
Home Securityᵈˡᶜ free [265]
All Roads Lead to Home -10 [255]
Rainbow Bridge -30 [225]
Stay in touchᵈˡᶜ -5 [220]
Armoryᵈˡᶜ -10 [210]
Talents
Body Tune-Up -5 [205]
Soul -10 [195]
Martial -10 [185]
Communication -10 [175]
Template Stacking I x3 [Sesshouin Kiara (Saint) has Inoue Orihime (Bleach), Tarte has Scáthach (Nasuverse), You as Millicas Gremory has Beerus (Dragonball)] -60 [115]
Talent Sharing x3 [Soul Talent, Martial Talent, Covert Talent] -30 [85]
Covert -10 [75]
Added Potential x4 [Sesshouin Kiara (Saint) has Aura (RWBY), Tarte has Aura (RWBY), You as Millicas Gremory has Aura (RWBY)] -15 [60]
Defenses
Body -5 [55]
Information -25 [30]
Defenses discounted for retinue members +22 [52]
Misc Perks
Universal Calibration -10 [42]
Exit Stage Left -5 [37]
We Will Meet Again -15 [22]
Psychic Paper -5 [17]
Generic Waifu Perks
Open Rollsᵈˡᶜ -5 [12]
Paper Trail x4 [Sesshouin Kiara (Saint), Tarte, You as Millicas Gremory, Ruby Rose] -4 [8]
Native Mergerᵈˡᶜ[Summer Rose] -10 [-2]
Companions bought -35 [-37]
Sesshouin Kiara (Saint)(T5)[buy] from Nasuverse
Tarte(T6)[buy] from The World's Finest Assassin
Summer Rose(T4)[used]{Familiar} from RWBY
Companions captured +36; sold +8 [7]
Ruby Rose(T5) from RWBY
Roman Torchwick(T5) from RWBY -SOLD
Cinder Fall(T5) from RWBY -SOLD
Mission Rewards +70 [77]:
Smaller, More Honest Soul... in RWBY
Other [Ruby Rose]; Credits [20]; Credits [50];