AN: hello everyone to this little sorry of mine. I hope this new chapter finds you well and I would like to let you know that I genuinely appreciate your support and the fact that you take some time to read this thing. so about the new chapter, as some of you may know before I write any one of the chapters I check my general notes about the story and lay out the scenes I want to cover in the chapter, I bring this up because the layout for this chapter originally had 8 scenes, 2 of which where holdovers from chapter 9 that I cut out but as I was writing this thing things got out of hand and I had 8k words by the end of the third one so I decided to give you his now and more the rest to the layout for chapter 11, a very professional endeavour the one we have her as you can see XD. also two named characters in this chapter exist in the dxd novels that I spent a lot more time that I should be looking the first names for only to realise that because they are background characters to supporting character they don't have first names. funny that either way here is the chapter, please enjoy it
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]
As the afternoon sun illuminated the enormous manor at the centre of the Gremory territory, a duo of middle-class devils stood guard at the sides of the ancestral home's worked iron gates.
The smaller one of the two, looking like a brown-haired man of European descent wearing plate armour without a helmet, turned his bored gaze to where his taller partner was positioned at the other edge of the 10-meter entrance.
"Hey, Biggs?" He asked his fellow sentry to get his attention. "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"
Biggs, a devil also dressed in a full plate suit of armour with the symbol of the Gremory family decorating the chest plate but with a complete helmet that hid all his features veered to his friend and responded in a slightly echoing voice.
"It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or just the remnants of the original Lucifer's machinations revelling against divine creation in our unholy existence after our creator's demise and waiting for our inevitable end? I don't know, Wedge, but it keeps me up at night."
A heavy silence settled between the two guards before Wedge could respond to what his friend said.
"What? I meant why do we keep getting assigned Main Door duty!" he explained.
"Oh? Yeah, now that you mention it, we have had this post assigned to us for the last century, don't we?" Biggs commented lightly.
"What was all that stuff about remnants and revelling?" Wedge asked in an uncertain tone internally worried about his old friend's sanity, maybe the long hours under the fake sun had cooked his brain or maybe the big guy simply needed someone to listen to him.
He hoped for the second one.
"Nothing?" Biggs replied.
"You want to talk about it? Maybe over drinks later tonight?"
"I don't want to impose Wedge."
"Hey, if you need me then you're never imposing!" The shorter one of the two said grinning at this friend. "That's what friends are for Big Guy."
"Thank you, buddy."
Before the two of them could continue with their conversation, a blue light shined from an elaborate raised stone platform set a dozen meters by the side of the road that led to the manors' entrance gate.
While members of the household and servants who lived in the premises regularly used teleportation magic to move in and out of the property, a special teleportation platform had been set up for long-distance travel and arriving guests.
As the guards on the main gate duty, Biggs and Wedge were responsible for welcoming guests, receiving deliveries and if the situation demanded sounding the alarm among other responsibilities.
Seeing as the more active part of their regular job was approaching both mid-class devils stood at attention while the light from the platform slowly faded away, eventually revealing the new but welcomed arrival.
Dressed in a black blazer with white accents over a white, long-sleeved, button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes, the red-haired young man was the last person the duo expected to see today considering the rumours that have been running around the Gremory servants.
"Welcome home Lord Millicas," they happily saluted the youngest member of the noble pillar family the two of them served for the last 300 years.
"Hey guys, surprised to see me so soon?" Millicas asked with a friendly smile. The Gremory were known for their fondness and familiar treatment of their servants, a tradition that, even when growing up in the strictest household of the family, Millicas happily followed.
Knowing just how easy-going the younger devil was Wedge gladly replied. "More surprised that you're willingly entering by the main gate and not trying to sneak away from the manor, my lord."
All three of them shared a laugh at remembering all the times that a younger Millicas had tried to explore the main manor's surroundings with either Biggs or Wedge following the boy while the other notified one of the older family members and the maids about where their runaway charge was.
The contractor didn't hold those notifications against the duo as they were doing their jobs.
He knows for a fact that they tended to wait a couple of minutes before letting the maids know where he was, after immediately contacting one of his older relatives to notify his whereabouts and requesting permission for their youngest member to look around the entrance under their watch.
As long as his mother wasn't around to personally search for him and he wasn't ditching one of his classes, they usually managed to buy the boy enough time for a small walk around the area before someone came along to drag the mischievous child back into the property.
Those walks were some of the earliest tastes of freedom that the young king could remember enjoying away from his mother's watchful eyes.
"Not Today Wedge," Millicas answered to the man's friendly joke. "I'm looking for my grandmother, you guys know if she left the house today?"
"Lady Gremory should still be in her personal garden at this time." The smaller guard replied.
Pleased that this rushed journey hadn't been a waste of time, the redhead gave the two sentries a grateful nod while eagerly walking past the duo and into the manor grounds proper.
"Thanks, guys." He said with a wave over his shoulder before teleporting into the manor to not spend the next hour alone walking all the way from the main entrance to the side garden that his grandmother had taken over as her own, ever since she had married into the family.
Incidentally, by doing this, Millicas didn't hear when Biggs tried to stop him, so the older devil could tell him something important.
"My lord, Wait," The armoured devil said only for his words to reach the empty spot from where the youngest Gremory had departed.
"And he's gone," Wedge commented.
"The young lord never stops for a second, does he?" Biggs said with a disappointed sigh. "He's going to get in trouble one of these days if he always keeps rushing ahead without taking a second to consider things."
"Well, he's young, he will learn one day." His friend said comfortingly.
"That's what I'm afraid of." The more serious of the two said he was worried for the boy's future safety.
"What were you trying to say to him anyway?" Wedge asked intrigued.
"Wedge," Biggs said slowly. "Why do we, the main gate guards that spend eight hours a day stuck in our post with only small breaks to a close-by guard hut, know the exact location of Lady Gremory today when knowing her schedule isn't part of our assigned duties?"
"Well, that's because we… Oh."
"Exactly."
A moment of silence they were passed before Wedge said anything.
"Well, he's a big boy and can take care of himself, not like it's the first time he walks into that kind of mess." He comforted his friend, conveniently forgetting that not even a minute ago he was singing a different tune.
It was just another day in the life of the Gremory guardsmen.
A moment afterwards Millicas found himself seeing the familiar sight of Venelana's private garden.
The aroma of the roses decorating the hedges that served as the dividing walls separating the garden from the rest of the manor's side yard assaulted his nose as he walked to the nearby entrance to begin the arduous process of finding where his grandmother was.
The garden was nearly as big as Central Park with a big lake at the centre and multiple different sectors Venelana used to display her favourite flora from around the earth, because of this there were over 12 different zones each with its highly controlled climate.
The massive botanical garden had a complex ward system that allowed for the climatic control needed to maintain the zones while also not needing to put a roof over the place.
In addition to the climatic wards, a second set of privacy wards made it so you couldn't see anyone moving inside the garden from the outside while still being able to enjoy the view from afar.
Those same privacy wards interfered with any kind of surveillance methods in the garden while making it so any kind of sensory information didn't travel further than 20 metres inside any inner zone and only allowed communication magic into and from the garden between a network of old enchanted line phones hidden inside each of the 12 zones and an outside phone inside the closest kitchen inside the manor.
Add to all this, the fact that whenever she had free time his grandmother liked to simply choose one of her many favourite spots inside her sanctuary at random and Millicas was going to spend quite some time visiting every gazebo, bench or fountain inside each of the zones in his journey to find his dear grandmother.
Looking around the teen realised that he had entered through the subtropical rainforest zone.
Recognizing some of the flowers by the entrance as Matthiola Maderensis, a flower endemic of the Madeira Archipelago, he remembered all the time his grandmother would explain to him the different plants she had collected inside her garden as they walked around the place when he was a small child.
Orienting himself, Millicas made his way across the garden looking for his grandmother while thinking about what he was going to say to her once he found her.
Back inside the occult research club he had remembered about his aunt being afflicted with the sleep disease and had realised that he could easily solve the issue.
Even before he reached the point of curing Misla there were two big obstacles on his way. The first was getting access to his aunt while the second was explaining how he was planning to cure her.
While there were some methods at his disposal that he could try the most foolproof strategy was simply to use the company stamp to capture her and use the free body tune-up to heal her from the disease once the three-day waiting period was up.
Had Aunty Misla been a member of House Gremory, approaching her comatose body to apply the stamp would have been an easy task considering that there was only one place inside their territory where only the lord of the house could enter and she wouldn't have been kept there in the first place.
Had that option been available, he wouldn't even need to think of an explanation as he could have stamped her in secret without anyone being the wiser. From there he only needed to play dumb when, three days later, his aunt would have miraculously awoken from her long slumber.
Regrettably, the fact that she currently resided inside the Bael Territory, even if only in a small manor at the edge of that territory, made it so that not only he couldn't sneak into the house without risking being found out but he also needed an excuse to visit her.
Trying to make a pretext that didn't explain his intentions to heal her was a fool's errand as the moment she awoke someone would add two and two together and realise that Millicas was the one responsible for the miracle in one way or another.
With that option out his options were limited.
He could visit while properly announcing his honest intentions which would require an invitation from either Lord Bael as the owner of the territory or Sairaorg as the official owner of the manor.
He could also tag along next time Grandmother visited her comatose friend, something that he knew Venelana did at least once a month.
Or the option with the most chances to keep some amount of secrecy over the whole affair was to somehow get in contact with his cousin and arrange a meeting outside of Bael territory to explain his intention and from there either visit his aunt in secret or preferably have Sairaorg transport Misla to either Gremory territory or Kuoh for her to be cured with others finding out.
All the methods required his grandmother's assistance in some way as she would have the easiest time contacting members of her old family outside of social gatherings and regrettably Millicas didn't have a reliable way to communicate with his cousin.
He could wait for the next time he encounters his cousin in a formal setting but the closest one he could think of was Rias's wedding announcement party that took place in the canon timeline.
An event that Millicas was actively planning against ever taking place in the first place, rendering that option null and making the next natural encounter during the Young Devils Gathering, too late for Millicas's liking.
Of course, for this to work, he needed a way to explain to people how he cured the sleeping disease afflicting Aunty Misla.
Explaining the Stamp to anyone outside of his retinue was out of the question even if it was the method he intended to use.
One of the other methods with a chance of success at healing the sickness that had plagued devilkind for ages available to Millicas could be not only tried but, regardless of success, used as an explanation.
At present the three ways, he could think of outside of the stamp that could work were linked to his companions.
The most obvious one was the Sōten Kisshun ability of Kiara's Shun Shun Rikka.
While it wasn't a healing technique per said the Sōten Kisshun could easily look like it to an outside observer who didn't know the truth of how it worked as it could be used to heal its targets.
Chances were that the Sōten Kisshun could cure the disease with enough mastery and the correct application of the technique.
A mastery that Kiara was learning to achieve through her constant usage of the ability during their peerage joint training while also practising the application of the Sōten Kisshun on older damage by treating Summer Rose of the aftereffects of her prolonged captivity.
Of course, any method presented as the potential cure for the devil's sleeping disease would be put under great inquiry by the underworld medical community and sooner or later Millicas's honorary uncle Ajuka Beelzebub would want to see the method in action.
If anyone was able not only to realise that the Shun Shun Rikka wasn't a Sacred Gear while also realising the true nature of its abilities, it was the eccentric Satan Beelzebub.
Which opened its own separated can of worms.
Other methods would, in one way or another, end up attracting Ajuka's attention so that wasn't much of a deciding factor.
The second and third methods that could be used as excuses were practically the same, that being that either Tarte or Ruby used their own personal crafts to create an artefact that could solve the issue. Tarte with her primordial runes and Ruby with her divine blacksmithing.
The main issue with this was that firstly the girls hadn't had the time to properly experiment and practise with their template-given crafts yet because their combined workshop back home hadn't been completed and secondly their artefacts needed to work in the first place as presenting an artefact that couldn't cure the diseases as simply an excuse for the Stamp's effects wouldn't hold up to proper inspection.
They could make a fake single-use artefact to disguise the stamp effects and say that some extremely rare material had been used but hiding the nature of those materials would require a bunch of political manoeuvring that Millicas wasn't looking forward to engaging in.
And even if he managed to hide those rare materials from the general public, Ajuka would be expected to know the exact list regardless as the head of technology and development.
Rendering that particular method of hiding the stamps nature useless.
While Millicas pondered over his options, he moved on from the subtropical rainforest zone and into the temperate broadleaf forest zone where lucky after only 20 minutes of searching he found his grandmother.
Turning around the path demarked by the European beech trees, he had been following since he entered this part of Venelana's garden Millicas arrived at a section of the zone that bordered with the edge of the lake.
This particular section of the zone was decorated by an abundance of bluebell flowers that made it impossible to distinguish the green grass on the floor underneath them and a big white Victorian-style Gazebo that Zeoticus had gifted to his wife for a birthday that Venelana loved to use for meetings and more private meals.
It was there that Millicas finally found his grandmother happily sitting in a garden chair by the iron table set inside the gazebo having tea and refreshments while enjoying the afternoon.
She, however, wasn't alone.
'Oh fuck me sideways off all the time for this to happen it had to be today,' Millicas thought as he wondered if he should turn around and leave before he was seen.
Discretion was the better part of valour after all.
It was then when his luck ran out as before he could valiantly run away his beloved grandmother caught sight of him during a pause in the conversation she was having with her visitors.
"Millicas dear, what are you doing here?" Venelana joyously asked her grandson once she saw him standing by one of the entrances. This, of course, caught the attention of the other women sitting by the table.
It seemed that as Millicas had walked into one of the regular get-togethers his grandmother's close friends and old war buddies had every other week.
Enjoying the afternoon alongside Lady Gremory were Lady Phenex, Lady Sitri and Lady Paimon.
Feeling like a prisoner walking up to the gallows Millicas entered the Gazebo with his head held high and a polite smile on full display.
"Hello, Grandma." He greeted Venelana before acknowledging her friends in the expected order he had been taught long ago.
"Good day, Lady Paimon." Millicas addressed the sole member of House Paimon, the ninth seat of the 72 pillars and as the holder of the noble title of King, not to be confused with the peerage position of king, the one with the highest standing in devil society between the members of the gathering.
"Hey, there brat long time no seen." She replied in the laid-back manner she was known for, an eager grin decorating her beautiful face.
Lady Belnikka Paimon was an attractive white-haired woman who looked no older than 30 years old. The combination of her tall stature and her bountiful figure united with her shredded musculature gained by her preference for hand-to-hand combat make her look like an Amazon even in the tasteful black dress, the free-spirited woman was wearing.
Thanks to the knowledge granted to Millicas by his previous self, he noted that Belnikka looked oddly similar to Ayla from Chrono Trigger.
"Good afternoon, Lady Sitri." He continued his expected round of greetings with the lady of the twelfth seated member of the 72 pillars whose family held the title of Prince.
"Greetings Millicas." The mother of the current Leviathan answered back with a neutral expression on her pretty face.
Lady Selia Sitri looked like the taller and more serious twin sister of Serafall. Her long and immaculate black hair came down to the middle of her back in a layered style that perfectly framed her face and drew attention to her violet eyes. The formal blue pencil dress she wore did nothing to hide the svelte figure that looked so voluptuous in her smaller eldest daughter.
In the privacy of his mind, Millicas acknowledged that genetics had cruelly cheated Sona even if he loved her more petite build.
"Hello, Lady Phenex." He addressed the last member of the party and the lady of the 37th seated clan of the 72 pillar holders of the Marquis title. The blond-haired mother of four simply coughed on her hand and gave him an expectant smile.
Sighting in exasperation at the woman's regular demands he simply greeted her again to get the conversation going. "Hello, Aunty Reisha."
"Hello dear, you have grown so much since the last time I saw you." She finally responded with a kind voice.
Lady Reisha Phenex Looked like a more mature and curvaceous version of her daughter with her bright blue eyes, her blond hair done up in a very high ponytail and a twisting side bang similar to Ravel's drill-like curls. The crimson and black dress she wore accentuated her figure nicely.
"Reisha, you saw him two months ago at my birthday party," Venelana said fondly to her friend while shaking her head.
"Well, he looks handsome even if the monkey suit doesn't, you lose a bet or something?" Belnikka teased the younger boy while giving him a once-over with her eyes.
"It's the uniform from my new school so I don't have much of a say on how it looks," Millicas said.
"Oh, that's right Venelana told us that you moved to Kuoh, had I known you were going to be here today I would have brought Ravel along," Reisha said.
Knowing that he was going to be there for a while before the four women would let him leave Millicas sat down in the open chair at his grandmother's right.
"I thought those clothes looked slightly familiar," Selia commented. "Venelana informed us that you moved to the human world but I didn't know you intended to join Rias and Sona at that academy playing human."
"Yeah, you arrived just in time, Lana was telling us how much fun she has been having visiting Sirzechs's place just to look at your mother's reaction to you finally leaving the nest," The head of House Paimon said as she laughed out loud.
"Belnikka don't say that!" the aforementioned Lana said in embarrassment. "You're making me sound like the bad guy."
"Honey, taking joy in your daughter-in-law's suffering is a bad thing." Her blond friend said, smiling indulgently.
'As long as I don't say anything they eventually will let me go, but it seems that I won't get the chance to ask Grandmother for assistance today,' Millicas thought as one of the two maids that had been silently standing by the wayside while the noble ladies chatted approached to serve him some tea.
"Well, she wouldn't be in such a state if she had just listened to me all those times, I told her that she was smothering Millicas," Venelana said with confidence before addressing her grandson. "Isn't that right, dear?"
Having recognised one of the two maids attending the tea party as Stella, one of the maids personally trained by Grayfia, Millicas knew that anything said here would eventually reach his mother.
Which was the most likely reason why Venelana had chosen her to be one of the servers.
The Lady of House Gremory could be extremely petty when she wanted to be and even if she hadn't expected her grandson's arrival, she wasn't above using the new development to taunt her daughter-in-law.
"Mother may be a little bit overprotective but just because I don't agree with some of the decisions she took to protect me from danger doesn't mean she was wrong, it's just how she shows how much she cares for me," Millicas said honestly, he may give his mother lots of lip about her methods but he never doubted how much she loved him.
Not looking forward to hearing Venelana complain about Grayfia for the umpteenth time Selia chose to change the subject slightly much to Millicas's dismay.
"Millicas if you're attending that school now, does that mean you have had the chance to interact with my daughter?" she asked the boy sitting at the other side of the table.
"Yes, Lady Sitri, we had the chance to converse this very morning," Millicas responded calmly, knowing Sona's mother, he wasn't looking forward to what was coming.
"Did you truly talk? Or did that foolish child of mine insult you by running away from her failures once more?" The woman asked coldly disdain for her child palpable in her tone. "I know you care about her but please be honest with me."
"We had a heavy conversation but, in the end, I feel like we have been able to move forward and start mending our old friendship," Millicas said defending his friend while forcing himself to smile.
"Very well it seems that Serafall's cuddling hasn't fully ruined that child, it's bad enough that Sona is wasting her time in that human school instead of doing her duty as the heiress of our House," Selia coldly commented.
'Just as Lovely as I remember her, the cold-hearted bitch.' Millicas thought while trying not to tell the taciturn Lady Sitri where she could shove her opinion about her daughter's dreams.
"Come on Selia don't be like that Sera just wants to let little Sona enjoy her childhood, nothing wrong about that," Belnikka said in a cheerful tone, as always, she was the first one to defend the pink Satan's actions.
"And I suppose you approve of Serafall's interference, don't you Paimon?" The black-haired noblewoman said, anger shining through her usually emotionless tone.
"Of course I do! I trained that sexy little hellion myself." She replied without missing a beat.
"Dear Lucifer, those were the days! We would go around picking fights all day long back during the war and by the end of the day we would drink and choose a couple of pretty faces to help us destress during the night only to do it again the next day." Belnikka said in a wishful tone obviously missing those halcyon days.
Instead of getting angrier Selia simply gave a defeated sigh, knowing that it was too late to complain about how her old friend had trained Serafall. The rest of the ladies around the table were polite enough not to laugh at the mother's predicament.
"Why, there was this time that we came across a pair of cute little angel twins that were ordered by Uriel to spy on the Civil War. By the time we were done with those two, they didn't complain about their newly blackened wings! I will tell you that much." Belnikka reminisced about her past with a merry laugh.
"Yes, Paimon I know how promiscuous my eldest used to be, Thank you very much for the reminder." Lady Sitri said while massaging the spot between her eyes in an attempt to relieve her newly acquired headache.
Getting a headache when thinking about Serafall was one of the things Selia and Sona had in common.
"It isn't like Lust is an uncommon sin to have Selia and Serafall has at the very least been a lot more discreet in her indulgences ever since Sona was born." Reisha attempted to comfort her friend.
"I have no problem with Serafall having her fun. I only wish she had at least married someone of noble birth and had an heir before she had to leave the clan and gain the title of Satan." She explained herself to the others. "I always thought that she would marry either Sirzechs or Ajuka but we know how that went."
"I was looking forward to that particular development too Selia," Venelana commented before looping her arm around Millicas and smiling at her friends. "I did, however, get blessed with a beautiful grandson that I wouldn't trade for the world even if Grayfia and I don't always get along."
"I suppose you're the one that ended up winning from our little group, Honey," Reisha said with a giggle.
"Says the mother of four, did no one tell you that devils are supposed to have fertility issues?" Belnikka said, grinning at the blond.
"Also, I know that we're here to share our feeling and all that crap but could you three not rub my issues in my face?" She continued her voice showing her annoyance while she shoved one of her hands into her cleavage and pulled out a bottle of whisky before taking a swing.
It was that time of the party already.
"Here you're complaining about your families when that impotent excuse of a devil that my parents married me to died before our hundredth anniversary and without giving me an heir." She complained. "Fucking House Valefor, literally useless to the last man."
"At least you can still try to raise your child properly if you ever have one," Selia said before swiping the warm bottle from the Amazonian woman's hand and taking a long draw from it. "My first failure at motherhood spends her every waking moment either humiliating me with her antics or undermining my authority whenever I try to raise my youngest."
Regardless of how their parties went, they always devolved into them complaining about their families while getting drunk.
"Don't say that Selia," Reisha said giving her friend a comforting hug after swiftly taking the empty bottle away from the distressed Sitri and replacing it with a newly open one. "Even if Serafall is a lost cause, Sona is still a child and regardless of her rebelliousness I'm sure she will come around and do her duty to your family one day."
"Not everyone is as lucky as you're Reisha," Selia complained even if she didn't attempt to escape her friend's embrace while she nursed the bottle.
"I don't think I have as perfect a life as I display, I have my fair share of worries about my children's futures." The blond Phenex explained patiently.
"Bullshit," Belnikka replied while snapping the neck of a new whisky bottle instead of opening it and filling her empty teacup with the amber beverage before passing it across the table with practised ease. "You have four children even when everyone knows that your husband is pretty much asexual and he doesn't mind you having a lover as long as you don't get pregnant."
As she said this, the tallest woman at the table turned her eyes to the hostess of the event, raising her teacup at the Lady of the house with a smirk on her face. "Not that that's going to happen when we know little Miss Brown-haired Ruin Princess here doesn't know how to share her toys."
"Belnikka!" the no-so-secret lovers shouted in embarrassment at her comment, even when they knew that everyone in the gazebo knew about their relationship.
Millicas just kept quiet while subtly moving his right hand behind his back to signal for Stella to get him out of this mess as quickly as possible, and to think that he had complained when his mother insisted on him learning the secret sign language she taught all her 30 maids.
"I still feel sorry for Zeoticus, you allow him to have as much fun with his harem and the servants as possible but for all his unending lust there is always some cute little piece of ass that his family doesn't share with him. You with Reisha and then Sirzechs with Grayfia." Not chastened in the sightless by her friends' embarrassed expressions Lady Paimon continued with her teasing.
"Belnikka, I would appreciate it if you didn't comment on my love life in front of my grandson," Venelana said with an unladylike growl.
'Fuck Grandma, please don't bring me into this.' Millicas thought.
While everyone was distracted Stella collected some of the empty plates and bottles before she stepped outside of the gazebo to refill the refreshments, and thanks to Millicas's silent request, looked for an excuse that let Millicas leave the party in the politest manner possible.
"Now that you mention it," The white-haired woman said, her face twisting into a Cheshire-like smile. "I hear that you have picked up a couple of cute little pets of your own, any chances of you sharing them with good old Zeoticus or are you going to keep up the family tradition?"
"Sorry to say but no, I have no intention of 'sharing them'" He replied, barely keeping a smile on his face. Unknown to the red-haired teen the air surrounding the gazebo grew still as slowly but surely everything around them began to shake violently,
'Share them? I will never share them! They're my girls. Mine to touch. Mine to hold. Mine to Love. They. Are. Mine. Mine. MiNe. mInE. MINE. MINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMI…'
"Calm down, Milly," Venelana whispered in his ear.
Unexpectedly silence had followed his previous statement as the four ladies stared at the lone male sharing the table with them, surprised looks flashing in their eyes.
Millicas didn't know why they were looking at him like that until Venelana softly placed her right hand on his shoulder, the action forcing him to properly look at his surroundings.
It didn't take long for Millicas to realise that his power had broken out of control after he had responded to Lady Paimon's teasing.
The combined black, violet and red energy of his energies flaring around his body like a bonfire was a familiar sight to the young devil but it was the first time he displayed them unintentionally.
With a deep breath, he mentally centred himself, the colourful lightshow disappearing.
"Sorry, Grandmother," Millicas said, embarrassed by his display.
"It's okay Millicas, this sort of thing happens to devils from time to time," Venelana comforted her grandson while patting his head with her left hand. "Why, the last time Rias lost control of her power wasn't so long ago and over something a lot sillier than some ugly old hag being obnoxious."
"Hey!" Belnikka shouted with a weak smile. "I will have you know I'm a beautiful and mature hag, thank you very much!"
"Really? Then when was the last time your beauty attracted a proper gentleman?" Lady Sitri commented dryly. Belnikka opened her mouth to reply only to stop and ponder the question with a pensive look.
"You mean the last time I bagged a proper pure-blood devil or the last time I found myself a new boy toy? Because the answers are 20 years with a Focalor brat and yesterday with this cute exorcist I came across on a walk through the human world." She finally replied to her friends.
"I think she meant a devil Belnikka," Reisha corrected calmly while taking a sip from her teacup. "Also, why didn't you tell us you picked up a new lover?"
"Not much to say, he looked cute, especially after I gave him a makeover but the little sissy broke after just a couple of hours," she said, her hand wavering dismissively. "It was a good distraction if nothing else."
Their joking interactions greatly lifted the heavy atmosphere that had descended over the gazebo after Millicas display.
A couple of minutes went off the quartet's usual back and forth before they were interrupted.
"Excuse me," a calm voice addressed the members of the tea party.
At the entrance of the Gazebo, Stella bowed formally to all the devils before placing the tray of food she was carrying on a side table and approaching Venelana's side.
"My Lady, I'm sorry to bother you but I have been informed by Lady Chrysis that she wants to have a word with the young master," the long-haired maid whispered to the Lady's ear in an attempt to keep the conversation private, it was a nice gesture but everyone there had a way to heighten their already enhanced hearing.
"She ordered me to tell you, and please forgive me for this, 'tell the brat that she can show off little Milly to her friends some other time, I want to spend some time with my great-grandson.'" The blond girl quoted.
Even if Venelana kept a smile on her face while hearing her mother-in-law's message, her twitching eyebrow let the onlookers know exactly what she thought of the older devil's comment. "Of course, Stella please escort Millicas to my mother-in-law and be sure to tell her, and please quote me on this, that she should get a hobby other than spending time at her son's manor and bothering the residents with her senile demands."
"Very well, My Lady." The blond maid accepted her orders without issue and stepped away from the table to wait for Millicas by the entrance.
Thankful that he could leave the party Millicas stood. "I shouldn't keep my Great-grandmother waiting," he smiled gracefully at the gathered ladies and delivered a short bow, making sure to not tip his head and look each of them in the eyes. "It's always a pleasure spending time with you all my ladies."
Receiving a round of farewells in response, the teenager finally left the gazebo with Stella a step behind.
The four friends kept quiet after he left, all of them intimately familiar with the sound-suppressing effect that Venelana had made sure her costume made wards enforced inside her garden. It didn't take long for them to be sure that their young visitor had moved away from their little corner.
"Damn talk about growing fast," Belnikka laughed merrily. "That was quite the impressive power display for a little brat."
"Suddenly Serafall's jokes about Grayfia being one of those human copy contraptions don't sound so silly any more," Selia joked.
"Right?!" The Lady of House Paimon said while opening a new bottle to share around the table with her friends. While the two of them enjoyed their back and forth, Reisha stood up from her seat and approached the forgotten second maid who had been serving the party.
The brown-haired maid stood by the side of the table, trembling slightly ever since Millicas had lost control of his power.
"Olenka, are you okay?" Reisha gently comforted the maid, having recognised her as one of Venelana's personal maids when the friends arrived for the party.
"…Ye-yes Lady Phen-Phenex I'm alright" the young devil managed to stutter out, her face blushing brightly.
"Why don't you go and take an hour to rest and refresh yourself, Stella is bound to return soon and we can easily make do before then." The blond mother softly ordered, there was no need for the poor maid to stand around in her current state nor was there a need for Reisha to bring it up out loud.
It was a known detail that devils were attracted to power more than other factors when finding other beings attractive.
When Millicas display of power had surprised even older and experienced devil veterans of the Great War like the quartet of noble ladies, it wasn't unexpected that the poor maid hadn't been able to keep her composure fully.
Reisha saw the fact that Olenka hadn't either fainted from the climax or jumped the boy as a remarkable quality in the girl's character. The very least she could do for her was to let her have time to put herself together, maybe have a cold shower and a change of uniform before she needed to deal with the inevitable teasing that some of her friends would subject her to.
It was only after Olenka had left the gazebo that Reisha realised that she could only hear Selia and Belnikka crudely chatting about Millicas.
While everyone else was doing their own thing, Venelana sat while silently staring at her right hand's palm.
"Lana?" Reisha approached her lover and was astonished when she saw what she was so distracted with.
The skin on Venelana's hand had been flayed as if it had been burned away.
No, it looked as if it had been erased.
"I should feel proud," the flaxen-haired devil whispered to her blond lover once she sat at her side. "And a part of me does, immensely so."
Venelana turned and gave Reisha a melancholic smile. "But I can't help but feel nostalgic."
Silence returned to the gazebo, while Reisha tightly hugged her lover Belnikka and Selia realised that something was bothering their old friend, a moment later the two friends moved around the table and placed their hands on Venelana's shoulders smiling softly to show their support.
"The members of the Bael Clan are naturally resistant to the power of destruction, a huge boon when training to master the power and when rising baby devils, I swear the sheer number of cribs and playpens I had to replace when Sirzechs was a baby, well there is a reason why I keep a warehouse full of them."
The quartet laughed softly, all of them, remembering long ago the mischief that baby Sirzechs would get into before he grew up to be the super devil that he was today. "I still haven't forgiven him from that time he threw his dirty nappy over my head that time I was babysitting," Belnikka grumbled.
"Really Bel it has been 3000 years, let it go." Reisha admonished. Taking comfort in her friends' usual behaviour and the chance to be reminiscent of days long gone Venelana continued.
"Even as strong as he's Sirzechs was 200 years old by the time his power of destruction was strong enough to overcome my inherent resistance," She remembered fondly. "Back then I remembered being surprised that he managed to do so at such a young age considering the difference in our power."
For a moment the four of them stood silently as they thought about the implications of what had happened.
"And now young Millicas has reached that very same milestone in less than a tenth of the time" Selia finished for her. Venelana nodded at her friend's words before focusing once more on her wounded hand.
"You think he's strong enough to beat you?" the black-haired devil asked.
For the devil nobility, the moment that a child grew strong enough to defeat their parent in combat was a monumental achievement, it was the proof of their bloodline's strength and the guarantee that their future descendants would safely keep the legacy of their house.
Even if the ultimate test to this tradition would be Millicas someday surpassing his father, all the older members of the family looked forward to the day that Millicas and Rias would defeat them.
That was the duty of the older generation, to be paragons of power for their descendants to safely grow and eventually serve as the stepping stones in their progeny's journey to replace them as the monument that held the family together.
It was for this reason that the warrior race known as devils called the heads of the 72 Houses Pillars.
"Not yet," Venelana said with certainty.
"Even if he was strong enough, I have him beaten when it comes to skill and experience, but at the rate he's going? I wouldn't be shocked if he's strong enough to compensate for my skill by next year." The grandmother smiled wistfully.
"I'm stronger than Zeoticus in a straight fight but as much as it pains me to say it out loud, I'm still weaker than Grayfia," She explained critically. "If he manages to defeat her by his next birthday, it should take him a year or two more to catch up to my old hag of a mother-in-law." The other three attentively listened to the redhead.
The thought of someone so young reaching that level of strength was staggering.
"From there? How long it takes him to cross the abyss between Chrysis and Sirzechs is something I couldn't even begin to tell you," Venelana finished her explanation of the road Millicas needed to cross before he could challenge his father's might.
While the friends pondered over the boy's growth and his future Belnikka saw the perfect opportunity to lighten the mood.
"He's still sweet on Selia's mini-me, right?" She smiled while the others looked at her, not understanding the sudden change of subject. "Maybe I should offer some tips for when he finally gets into her pants, with some hands-on experience?"
The serious atmosphere died a swift and brutal death after that particular offer.
"Belnikka Paimon! if you ever try to get your hands on my baby, I swear I will fucking destroy you!" Venelana roared as her power of destruction acted up, cracks brimming with the dangerous energy crawling across her face from the darkened depths that her eyes had been replaced with.
After thankfully realising that Millicas wasn't growing up to be a man slut like his grandfather, the last thing she needed was the devil whore responsible for the myth of the succubus to try and corrupt her beloved grandson.
"Why are you so sure you could give him tips for pleasing Sona specifically?" Reisha asked in honest confusion, she didn't doubt the white-haired woman's ability to sexually please someone regardless of gender and in some cases preferences, but she seemed genuinely certain about her statement.
"Don't encourage her Rei!" Venelana's warning didn't discourage them.
Even if rare, it wasn't the first time, the flaxen-haired woman had thrown a hissy fit about some of their conversation topics. It happened once a decade or so, as long as Belnikka didn't sleep with Millicas nothing would come out of it but some ruined furniture.
Well, as long as she either didn't sleep with him or she wasn't found out.
"Funny you ask, you know how they said that children take after their parents in some ways even if they're different?" the Paimon said with a cheeky smile.
"Belnikka, that can't possibly translate to sex" the blond sighted, there was no need to ask further questions as far as Reisha was concerned, the four of them had slept together many times before they married their husbands during the Great War so she could personally attest for her Amazonian-like friend ability to learn and remember her lovers' sweet points.
"You think that but I can guarantee you that all the same little spots and things that used to make Selia melt into a lovely puddle worked perfectly fine on little Sera every single time I used them so chances are that they work on mini-Selia too," she laughed.
"Oh My" the Phenex blushed while hiding a giggle behind her hand.
"Aren't you going to say anything to this Selia!" Venelana complained to her silent friend after she calmed down slightly.
For her part, the lady of the house Sitri merely swirled her cup of whisky before taking a sip of the alcohol.
"If you expect me to complain about Belnikka being her usual whorish self then you're a couple of millennia too late Lana," Selia said passively to the anger of their host and the vocal amusement of said whorish devil.
"In fact, if Belnikka is so sure about her tutelage effectiveness," the usually strict woman commented with a rarely seen mischievous shine in her eyes.
With a small application of her power, she demonstrated the unusual application of her clan control over water that earned her the moniker of Shifting Waters.
Her form illuminated as every molecule of her body turned into water, redistributed itself and once more solidified in a split of a second.
Once the light disappeared Sona Sitri was sitting where her mother had been wearing an ill-fitted pencil dress.
"Maybe I should help Milly extensively practise Lady Paimon's lessons," she said in a perfect replica of Sona's serious voice, "Don't you agree so too, Lady Gremory?"
Between Belnikka's howls of laughter, Reisha's giggling even when she tried to comfort her and Selia using her magic to change her dress to a Kuoh academy uniform while doing an uncannily good impression of little Sona for Venelana's future sanity she couldn't help but wonder.
'Why in Lucifer's name am I friends with this bunch of idiots? ' she thought desperately.
Luckily for them, she wouldn't change them for the world.
[0000]
AN: There you have it folks the worldbuilding continues with new characters, silly references and all that jazz, the Novels don't ever name the mothers of Sona and Ravel so I needed to come up with them while also naming Lady Paimon, funny side note the idea of naming Serafall's teacher Lady Paimon came from another fic but I don't remember which fic (i have read a lot of fanfics over the years), also the names of Venelana´s three best friends are slight variations of names from one of my favourite manga so the first one to guess where they came from gets a virtual cookie. as always y wait to see your reaction and reading your feedback next chapter should mainly be Millicas and Chrysis interacting with each other while the plot advances so please look forward to it.
[Build as of Current Chapter]
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 x4 [Ruby Rose has Hephaestus/Hephaistos (Danmachi), Sesshouin Kiara (Saint) has Inoue Orihime (Bleach), Tarte has Scáthach (Nasuverse), You as Millicas Gremory has Beerus (Dragonball)] -80 [95]
Talent Sharing [Soul Talent, Martial Talent, Covert Talent] -30 [65]
Covert -10 [55]
Added Potential x4 [Ruby Rose has Sacred Gear (DxD), Sesshouin Kiara (Saint) has Aura (RWBY), Tarte has Aura (RWBY), You as Millicas Gremory has Aura (RWBY)] -20 [35]
Defenses
Body -5 [30]
Information -25 [5]
Defenses discounted for retinue members +27 [32]
Misc Perks
Universal Calibration -10 [22]
Exit Stage Left -5 [17]
We Will Meet Again -15 [2]
Psychic Paper -5 [-3]
Generic Waifu Perks
Open Rollsᵈˡᶜ -5 [-8]
Paper Trail x4 [Sesshouin Kiara (Saint), Tarte, You as Millicas Gremory, Ruby Rose] -4 [-12]
Native Mergerᵈˡᶜ[Summer Rose] -10 [-22]
Companions bought -35 [-57]
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 +72; sold +8 [23]
Ruby Rose(T6) from RWBY
Roman Torchwick(T5) from RWBY -SOLD
Cinder Fall(T5) from RWBY -SOLD
Taiyang Xiao Long(T5){Familiar} from RWBY
Qrow Branwen(T5){Familiar} from RWBY
Yang Xiao Long(T5){Familiar} from RWBY
Mission Rewards +70 [93]:
Smaller, More Honest Soul... in RWBY
Other [Ruby Rose]; Credits [20]; Credits [50];