AN: Hello one and all, it's been quite a while since I last posted and I'd just like to start by apologizing for the delay, I have had more then a few troubles these last few years, I won't go into everything that's happened but I will stated that it's been rather rough, but I'm back hopefully without having the issues that have happened in these past few year, with that said though, lets start with the next chapter.
Asta couldn't help but to smile at the beautiful red head in his arms before giving her a soft smile, while slowly running his hands up and down her back. It was taking about everything he had not to cry out in pain as he felt her nuzzle her into his chest.
"You're safe now Rias." He whispered softly as he looked down at her giving her a large smile to try and reassure her, even as he noticed her look to him tears pooling in her eyes briefly before burying her face in his chest and breaking down into sobs. He couldn't help but to smile, even as Akeno and the others came to collect them with a strange carriage of sorts, the three settling upon it as they were slowly carried back to the large waiting room.
In the reception hall the current Lucifer couldn't help but to notice as his father as well as many of the older devil nobles slowly left the hall, the looks of concern on their faces enough to let him know that they knew something they hadn't shared, something that with his exclusion he clearly didn't know yet either. With that knowledge and the frustration that came with it he couldn't help but to follow them out of the room, it didn't take long for them to enter one of the adjacent room, instead of entering though he paused briefly outside the room to listen to the secret meeting they were attempting to have.
"As you can see one of them has returned." Lord Gremory's voice could be heard echoing from inside the room causing the group to begin whispering amongst themselves before Lord Phenex spoke up, his voice carrying tones of concern and slight fear if SirZechs wasn't mistaken.
"But that can't be they were all sealed away millennia ago." He stated causing the others to begin whispering in agreement trying to argue that whoever they were speaking about couldn't possibly have returned. SirZechs debated with himself for a moment before forcing the doors open and entering the room causing all the lords to turn to look at him some in surprise, some clearly fearful that they had been caught, or they were fearful of whoever these beings they spoke about were.
"I suspect you have information I should know dear father, so perhaps you should share it with me." He explained simply causing lord Gremory to sigh before giving his son an almost amused smirk. "A little old to be spying don't you think my son." He stated with a chuckle before pointing to the empty seat close to him, the younger Gremory pausing for but a second before he took the seat close to his father.
"What do you know of the name you carry my son?" He asked simply causing the currently Lucifer to lift an eyebrow at his father before he looked around the room only to look back at his father, somewhat confused by the question.
"The original Lucifer was a powerful devil who died a few millennia ago in battle against God and the angels, not without taking God out with him, all devils know that." He stated simply causing the older lords to nod, before they sighed and looked back to Lord Gremory. The older redhead simply
sighed before he looked to his son giving him a gentle smile, but his eyes were haunted by a burden that he had carried for years.
"The truth is Lucifer is not the correct name my son, the original devils name was Lucifero, and he and his kind were cruel beyond measure, Lucifero and the true devil's. They took great pleasure in harming others, whether it be the weaker members of their own race or angels or humans, but they began to grow bored so they began branching out exploring other dimensions eventually they came across a race similar to themselves, so they forced them into their dimension to be slaves, they called these beings demons. "He explained watching as he sons face shifted in confusion after all this was completely different from the history he had learned, he wanted to ask questions, but he could tell that his father wasn't finished speaking. "Their cruelty towards the demons where horrifying enough to cause some of the angels to pity them and they took accounts of the cruelty to God, hearing about the horrifying deeds being done to these beings a secret plan was made between God and the leader of the demons, they had found a dimension with a secret underworld that they would work together to lock the devils in. The battle raged for nearly three decades according to our historical records before they finally managed to seal the Lucifero and his ilk beneath a powerful barrier, at the cost of dozens of demons and angel's lives, even God himself was forced to sacrifice his life to seal them. In the end an agreement was made that the demon's would take the mantle of devils to try and keep the balance." He sighed as he looked to his son, giving him a gentle smile as he understood that he had just completely changed the history that his son had learned with but a simple explanation.
For SirZech's though he couldn't help but to look at his father his face a mask of stunned shock, even as he did his best to understand the new history that he had just recently learned struggling to understand why his father would even bring this up before his eyes widened as a horrible realization struck him.
"The world you sealed the devil's in was Asta's wasn't it, and that power that he used to defeat Riser. That horrible power that sent a chill down even my spine, that Lucifero's power, wasn't it?" He asked causing his father to sigh before he shook his head slowly before folding his hands before his chin and leaning forwards.
"No, my son, a devil's power most assuredly but if the historical records are to be believed then no that is not Lucifero's power, the devil kings' power was said to cause all those who he turned it on to be crushed in an instant." He explained causing SirZechs to pause his eyes widening as he came to understand just how immense the true devil kings' power was, before he paused as he turned to look at his father once more.
"So, I'm correct in my belief that we are the demons that are being spoken about in this story, before claiming the name of devil." He stated to make sure his assumptions were correct before he noticed his father nodding to show that his assumption was indeed correct causing him to pause before looking down his mind working a mile a minute. "If that is the case then I'll assume that you are correct that Asta is not Lucifero, but then who is he, and if he is a devil is that blackened form his true self showing through or something else and why does he hide it. Plus if the devil's hatred towards demon's is true then why did he go so far to save Rias, and why didn't he kill Riser as soon as he could?" He wondered causing the rest of the older devil's or should he refer to them as demon's now, no it didn't sound right he'd remain calling them devil's, anyway he noticed they were just as confused as he was now, trying to figure out the answers to his questions.
"The book." Greyfia's voice echoed out from the door, causing them all to turn to look at her raising their eyebrows at her statement, watching as she slowly made her way inside, her hands folded in front of her. "The mages of that world use those books to control their magic, I suspect that the devil does not reside inside Asta himself but rather the book that he carries." She explained causing them all to turn and begin thinking about the statements they had just made.
"That would make sense, after all at the start of the battle he didn't appear to have any power at all it was only after absorbing the power from that sword of his that he was able to transform, and those swords do seem to use that book of his as a sheath." Lord Phenex stated causing them all to nod before one of the other lords seemed to sigh catching the attention of the others.
"Figuring the source of his power out is good, but it does leave the question of what we do about the child now?" He asked, this once more caused the others to fall into a whispered discussion, some calling to force them away and once more seal the gate for their own protection, others claiming that they should try and forge stronger bonds with the dimension to help them with the battles they still had to face, as well as the potential of other devil's breaking free.
"I agree we should send an envoy to begin friendly negotiations with the kingdom that Asta is from, even if only so we can have a presence to keep an eye out for other devils escaping." SirZechs stated causing the others to nod before they began trying to figure out who to send to the kingdom, it didn't take long for them to decide upon sending lord Gremory as Rias already had connections with the Black Bulls, a familiarity that they planned to use to create an introduction with the king.
"I understand I shall leave in the morning." He stated as he stood with a bow acknowledging the order and the responsibility that it carried. The group slowly began to leave the room discussions still echoing out as they made their way down the hall, both SirZechs and lord Gremory made their way back to the reception hall pausing as they noticed the group that sat at one of the large tables, Asta flanked by Rias on one side and Akeno on the other, both girls attempting to feed the clearly clueless boy, across from him sat Yuno with Koneko beside him, both comfortable with the others presence, the boy Leo seemed to be trying to have some kind of duel with Asta, even while the ash haired boy was more focused upon the two girls.
"I hope you know just how important this meeting is father, not just for the future of our kind, but also for Rias." He explained simply, he wanted to keep that smile on his younger sister's face, he wanted to keep his wife safe, he wanted to keep them all safe. His father simply nodded feeling much the same. They watched as Rias began dragging Asta away the rest following behind them while laughter echoed from the group. The two older males couldn't help but to smile as they watched them leave the room, knowing that they wouldn't get up to anything they shouldn't in fact he suspected that if anything Asta would probably fall asleep the second his head hit a pillow.
The rest of the night passed smoothly for the group and lord Gremory left early the next morning as he had planned easily making his way to the ancient gate that his daughter had used so many times. Before following the path that he had secretly watched his daughter travel down more then once, not that he was spying but what father wouldn't worry about his precious daughter. His discussion with the Black Bulls would never take place though as he would end up running into the man known as the Wizard King before that, easily guiding him to the king himself.
"Your majesty it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Lord Gremory, it has taken much longer than I'd have liked but I am here to express my thanks to you and your magic knights. Years ago, one of them saved my stubborn daughter when she chose to run away, and then just the other night he managed to save my daughter once again." He explained with a small smile as he bowed to the king, the king couldn't help but to smile arrogantly while looking down at the clear noble.
"Well of course as all my great magic knights should." He stated with his usual smugness. Lord Gremory couldn't help but to smile as he realized just what type of person he was dealing with, King Clover was an arrogant man, all he had to do was play on the man's ego and his mission would easily be a success.
Well, there is chapter 9, hopefully everyone enjoys it, I know it doesn't have much in the way of action, and less in Asta's interactions. But I wanted to have a chapter dedicated to explaining my thoughts on the devils of both series and having noticed that the devils on Highschool DXD are clearly the weaker of the two I figured this would be a clever way to go with it. As well as creating a union between the Highschool DXD world and the Clover kingdom. Well with that said please leave a review if you enjoyed it and I'll hopefully have chapter 10 out soon.