Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.

Chapter 26

—If one looks under that emotionless face of yours, it can be seen that you are someone very kind, Ed.—

Kodlak Whitemane to Edzard 401 4E

Aika was walking through the streets of Kuoh, next to her was Mittelt. The fallen angel had agreed to join Edzard's group. That had been more than five months ago. Since then, she has also been training with them, especially after what Edzard found by better reviewing the notes he found in that office. Thanks to those notes, they discovered that the one behind the attack on Mittelt was a high-ranking member of the Grigori. With this information, Edzard had decided to increase everyone's training, because according to him, it was very possible that a conflict would come closer to which they could end up being dragged.

That had meant that during her vacations and almost every weekend she met with the main group, who for now were stationed in Russia so as not to have problems with the time zone. And so she, Valerie and Mittelt had been trained to exhaustion. Every day they ended up with the body completely destroyed and exhausted. In fact, she was so exhausted that she couldn't make any lewd comments or come on to Edzard.

Speaking of Edzard, he had shown why he is considered a prodigy in magic, as it had only taken him one night to make her, Asia and Valerie use the magic circle he had designed. Unfortunately, Edzard had discovered that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't cast elemental spells with the circle. So, upon discovering that, he decided to continue using Nirm's magic.

Currently, she was fulfilling a request from Edzard, said request had been to keep an eye on Issei. At first Aika had protested about it, but then she decided to do it.

Both she and Mittelt had done the best they could with the assignment. Although, it seemed that everything had gone to waste when a group of fallen angels had killed Issei, who died impaled by three spears of light or at least that's what she had thought. But it seemed that Hyoudou was more difficult to kill than a cockroach with an atomic bomb, because the next day he returned to class as if nothing had happened.

When Aika got home, she told Mittelt what had happened. Hearing what Aika said, Mittelt understood that Issei had turned into a devil, so they informed Edzard, who told them to keep up the surveillance, but be careful not to get caught.

And so both had continued with the surveillance and thanks to that they had managed to discover that Issei had one of the most powerful sacred gear there could be. The pervert possessed one of the thirteen longinus, more precisely the Boosted Gear. Which is a sacred gear capable of doubling the power of the user every ten seconds in an unlimited way or so they said, but Edzard had theorized that maybe the reality was different, because no one can resist unlimited power, since everybody has a limit before to become extinct.

'Staying in the shadows is really tiring.' Aika thought as she kept walking. 'And to think that the day had started like any other.'

This seemed to be a normal day for Aika. She had woken up that morning, washed up and changed to go to the academy. She had breakfasted with Mittelt and left, leaving the fallen angel alone. The problem came during lunch, since out of nowhere she had felt a great energy appear in the building where the ORC was established.

She thought about what to do for several minutes, but in the end, she decided to go back to her house as fast as she could. So, she skipped her missing classes and she went to her house. After that, she changed her clothes and she and Mittelt left the house and headed to the Hyoudou residence.

When they arrived, they saw Issei enter his house quickly. Seeing him there, Mittelt spread her six wings and carried Aika to Issei's room window. Crouching down, Aika used magic to hide them both.

They were listening for several minutes and thanks to that they began to hear some interesting things. It seemed that Rias Gremory was engaged to a member of the Phenex Clan. And according to what Issei mentioned, the fiancé was an arrogant womanizing idiot who only wanted Rias as a trophy wife. After listening to Issei insult the Phenex for a while and finishing fixing her things, they heard a new voice, which told him to take that box that emitted a magical aura. Apparently Issei had paid attention to the voice, because it took a moment to get out of it.

When they saw Issei leave his house, Mittelt helped Aika down.

"What do you think they will do?" Aika asked as she started to walk back to her house.

"It is possible that they will train for the Rating Game." Mittelt replied. "Although the girl is considered a high-class devil, she is not as powerful as one. Also, the Phenex has more combat experience than her."

"But they won't make much of an improvement in ten days." Said Aika. "I say this from my own experience. I didn't make much improvement in two weeks and I had Edzard and Asia training me. And from what I know, they seem to be better teachers than Gremory-sempai."

"Do you think Edzard will help them?" Mittelt asked thinking of the young dragon. Because yes, she also knew the secret of Edzard's origin. In fact, thinking about Edzard made her remember the conversation they had when she woke up.

Flashback

Mittelt was looking at the young man whom both she and Azazel had looked down on for not feeling any kind of sacred gear on him. The young man looked at her with a friendly smile on his face.

She had woken up a few hours ago and the first thing she had done when she saw that she was in an unknown place was to panic and start frantically looking at the place. Fortunately, Asia, Edzard's wife, had come in a few moments after she had woken up. When she saw her in that state, she proceeded to help calm her down.

When she calmed down enough, Mittelt asked Asia why she was there. Her eyes widened in surprise when she found out that they had saved her. She had also learned that they knew she was a Fallen Angel. When she asked Asia how they knew, she had laughed and told her that Edzard had known since the day he had signed the contract with Shemhazai.

Knowing this had caused her great shock; however, when she was about to ask more, the door opened and Edzard entered.

"It's good to see you woke up." Was what Edzard said as he looked at her.

"Thank you so much for help me." Mittelt said looking away.

"You're welcome." Edzard said as he sat next to Asia.

When Edzard asked her the reason why she had been tortured, a part of her didn't want to say anything, but another part thought that she should tell them as a form of payment for helping her. So in the end she proceeded to tell them that she was an agent who was assigned espionage missions in which she infiltrated the various groups of the Grigori to discover if they were possible traitors or if they had plans that went against the Azazel's orders

"It's not that it's offensive. But how come someone of your level was sent on those missions?" Edzard asked when he finished listening to the story. And it was that in his mind there was no possibility that someone with Mittelt's level of power would be a good covert agent.

A vein appeared on Mittelt's forehead; however, before she could say anything, she saw the point of a sword in front of her eyes. Looking closer, she saw that the sword belonged to Edzard, who was standing in front of her.

Edzard sighed when he saw the fear in Mittelt's eyes. So he quickly put the weapon away and sat back down next to Asia.

"Not that I'm looking down on you, but it seems you don't have the skills to be an agent on such delicate missions."

"I-I-I know. However, I am not lying when I say that these missions were assigned to me." Mittelt said with a bit of fear in her voice.

Edzard saw her and sighed again. "Mittelt. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. What I did a few moments ago was to prove my point that you are not up to the level necessary for such delicate missions."

Mittelt looked Edzard in the eye and calmed down when she saw that he was telling the truth. Breathing out the sigh she was incontinently holding back, she sat more relaxed on the couch.

"Okay, Mittel. Let's get back to what matters to us." Edzard said with a slightly serious tone of voice. "Who were the guys who attacked you? Why do you think they attacked you?"

"Well. They were the survivors of the groups I helped dismantle." Mittelt said remembering that those guys belonged to the eight groups that she had managed to dismantle. These groups had been acting against the orders given by Azazel, so she reported them and all the members were imprisoned for several centuries as sentence. "And I guess they attacked me out of spite, since, thanks to me, their comrades are rotting away in various cells at the Grigori's main base."

"I see. So they attacked you out of spite. But that makes me wonder something." Edzard said with a hand on his chin. "Tell me, Mittelt. Were all the members of those groups imprisoned?"

"Yes. Seven of those who attacked me were in prison. Two of them were not prisoners, as they were the members of the group that I was recently ordered to monitor."

"I see." Edzard said looking at Mittelt. He had already deduced what was happening or at least the essence of what was happening. Edzard's look made Mittelt shift uncomfortably on the couch. Edzard seeing this, sighed and spoke. "Tell me, Mittelt. What are you going to do now?"

Mittelt looked at Edzard as if he had sprouted a second head. "It is not obvious. I'm going back to the Grigori base."

Edzard shook his head and stood up.

"Mittelt, I don't think that's wise."

"Because you believe that?" Mittelt asked confused.

"Because you might die as soon as you set foot inside the base."

Edzard's response made Mittelt try to speak, but he wouldn't let her speak.

"Think about it, Mittelt. Why do you think a group of inmates escaped from jail?"

Mittelt's eyes widened in surprise as she understood what Edzard meant. "They were released by someone."

"So is. We don't know why, but it's very possible that the intellectual author is planning something and it's possible that the purge of traitorous members ended up uncovering those plans. So that's why he sent those guys to silence you."

"That makes sense. Since they always asked me to say that I knew. Initially I didn't pay attention to it, but if we follow your train of thought it makes a bit of sense." Mittelt said with her hand on her chin as she remembered the questions they asked her while being tortured.

"That's right, now let's get back to the real issue. What will you do?"

"I do not know. A part of me wants to go back and tell Azazel-sama that there is some kind of conspiracy. But I'm scared, I don't want to die." Mittelt's body trembled with fear as she mentioned the latter.

Edzard looked at his wife after looking at Mittelt. They both had a conversation with their eyes. At the end of this, Asia nodded.

"Mittelt. would you like to join us?" Edzard asked looking at the young woman.

End Flashback

'I still remember the doubts I had. However, in the end I decided to accept the offer. And if I'm honest with myself, if I had to go back to that day, I would accept it again.' Mittelt thought with a smile on her face. And it is that the five months that she had spent with the group had made her grow fond of the girls that made it up. However, something else had also happened. And that was that she had ended up falling in love with Edzard.

'And how not to do it. After all, he is kind, strong, and loving to her family.' Thinking of the family Edzard had formed made her feel a small amount of jealousy, as she wished she had that happiness too. 'And I'm not the only one who feels this way.'

Mittelt smiled wryly, remembering that Valerie had also fallen in love with Edzard. Of course she couldn't forget Aika, who had also gone from having a perverted obsession with Edzard to a slightly more mature crush. Although, the word mature couldn't be used much, as she still made perverted comments and tried to seduce him every chance she got.

"Hey Mittel. What do we do with this information?" Aika asked.

"We'll have to let Edzard know. Fortunately today we have to meet with them."

"Yes. That reminds me that we should buy the provisions." Aika said in a panic remembering that she had to carry supplies that she hadn't bought yet.

Mittelt smiled with amusement as she saw Aika start to increase the speed with which she walked.

Aika and Mittelt appeared at Edzard's home thanks to a teleportation circle created by Mittelt.

This home was a large two-story wooden house, which was located on the island of Yuri. This island was located in the chain of the Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean. This island was completely uninhabited so it had become the perfect base to train in a discreet place, since no supernatural being paid attention to it.

The large house had the living-dining room, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor. In the second, there were five rooms, one for each member of the group. The largest room was shared by Edzard with Asia, while Marie slept in the next room, which had a door connecting the two rooms. Valerie used the room next to Marie's. Mittelt the next room. Finally, Aika used the one farthest from the main room because Edzard didn't want her to end up in his room.

"Wow, there's no one." Aika said realizing that there was no one.

"You are right. Where are they?" Mittelt asked looking around.

The moment she finished saying that, there was a loud crash that shook the house a bit. Sighing, they both carried the bags containing the supplies into the kitchen. Storing everything in the magical fridge that Edzard had created, they left the house.

At the moment of leaving, they were greeted by a somewhat disturbing sight, because in the distance they could see smoke rising into the sky. Without wasting any time, both of them walked towards that direction. When they arrived, they saw Asia training together with Valerie while Edzard took care of Marie.

Asia was moving at high speeds while using a wooden sword to attack Valerie. Every blow she threw was aimed at deadly areas, such as the head, heart, pancreas, and jugular. Fortunately, Valerie managed to parry each blow with her hands, which had transformed into claws.

Valerie parried a horizontal slash by trapping the sword in her hands. Tightening her grip, she pulled Asia and tried to hit her on the head; However, Asia dodged it and raising her left hand, she created a magic circle from which a jet of water came out. The jet of water hit Valerie's chest, causing the Dhampir to shoot out and end up falling on the sand of the beach.

"Sufficient!" Edzard yelled when he saw how Valerie was lying on the ground breathing hard, because she had already been fighting Asia for more than three hours.

Asia sighed and walked over to where her friend was lying. Upon arrival, she held out her hand. Valerie looked at the outstretched hand and took it; however, she didn't lean on her to get up, but instead pulled Asia and made her fall down. Thanks to that action, Asia ended up falling on her friend. Both friends saw each other and began to laugh with amusement.

"Good fight, Val." Asia said with a smile as she stood up.

"Thank you, Asia." Valerie replied with a smile as well.

Edzard looked at his wife and Valerie with a smile on his face. He then sniffed and caught Mittelt and Aika's scent, so he knew that both of them had already arrived. So he, turning his head, he saw them. His smile faded when he saw that they were both walking with a serious face.

"Aika, Mittelt. What's the matter? Why those faces?"

"Edzard, we have to tell you something." Mittelt said.

Edward raised an eyebrow.

"It seems that Hyoudou has gotten into a predicament thanks to his master."

Edzard sighed when he heard that.

Edzard was sitting at the table surrounded by Asia, Aika, Mittelt and Valerie. His daughter, Marie, was sitting on her mother's lap, drinking a glass of orange juice. They had recently finished eating.

"So, what happened to Issei?" Edward asked.

"He has gone to train with Gremory-sempai to fight in a Rating Game in order to get out of her arranged marriage." Aika replied.

"Phenex? That was the name of a devil clan, right?" Edzard asked when he finished listening to what Aika said.

"Yes. One of the few noble clans left." Mittelt replied.

"I see. Is your life in danger in this Rating Game?"

"I do not think so. Usually, there are no deaths in this type of game."

"Ed. What are you going to do? Will you help them train?" Asia asked looking at her husband.

"No." Edzard answered quickly.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you help them? Isn't the current Sekiryuutei your friend?" Valerie asked.

"Yes, I consider Issei my friend. But that will not make me go to help him in a battle where his life is not in danger." Edzard replied seriously. "Also, who says I won't help him. After all, I have already given him a trump card in the form of a wooden box. If he uses those scrolls well, he will be able to win that battle relatively easily."

"Ed. What scrolls were in that box? Asia asked, as she saw that Edzard was sure that if Issei used those scrolls, he would win.

"There were four. One is a general ability boosting spell. The other three are destruction spells. Two of them are a variable of the spell I use to fight hand to hand. The last one is the lightning storm spell."

Asia stared at her husband for a while, covering her daughter's ears with her hands, she yelled. "May I know what you thought giving him those scrolls?! Three of those spells are expert level and the last one is master level! What do you think will happen if Issei kills the Phenex with a lightning storm?! Or worse, what do you think he'll do if he kills one of his teammates by mistake?!"

Aika, Valerie and Mittelt got scared as it was the first time they saw Asia yelling in annoyance. Turning their heads slowly, they looked at Edzard and waited for him to give an answer claiming that he trusted that Issei would not kill anyone; however, what they saw was an Edzard who was not moving at all. After a few seconds, he fell face down on the table.

"Shit. I screwed up, right?" Edzard said without raising his head. Several hypothetical scenarios about what would happen went through his mind. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to his mind were images of Issei killing his companions and committing suicide out of pain or killing the Phenex and being executed for murdering a nobleman.

"We have to do something." Asia said worriedly.

"You are right. But what should we do to prevent Hyoudou from killing someone?" Aika asked not knowing what to do.

"Couldn't Edzard go and exchange the scroll for one of a lower level and potency?"

Edzard raised his head when he heard Mittelt give a possible solution to the problem. So, getting up from his chair, he went over to her and kissed her on the head. "That's a great idea. I owe you one, Mittelt."

"AHHH!" was Aika and Valerie's collective cry upon seeing Edzard's action. Asia, for her part, only sighed at her husband's actions. Mittelt, for her part, just stuttered as her face turned redder and redder. In fact, if one paid attention it was possible to see smoke coming out of the fallen angel's head.

So without saying anything else, Edzard ran to his room and when he came back he was dressed in black cargo pants with military boots of the same color. Additionally, he wore a black tactical vest with fingerless gloves and a hood.

"Okay. I do not have time to lose. If I don't leave now, it's possible the idiot might kill someone by mistake." Edzard said as he quickly kissed his wife, his daughter, and said goodbye to the rest of the girls. With no more time to lose, he opened a portal and headed towards Kuoh.

"Do you think we should have told him that Hyoudou is in a mansion far from the city?" Aika asked watching the portal disappear.

"Naaah. He will figure it out." Valerie responded casually. Then her gaze fell on Mittelt, who started to back away seeing Aika and Valerie looking at her.

"This. Girls…" Mittelt said trying to see a way to run away. Taking a few steps, she turned and started running towards the beach.

Aika and Valerie blinked for a few seconds and then started running after their friend.

Asia looked at everything and let out a tired sigh. She already knew what was happening to her friends. In fact, she would be a complete fool if she hadn't noticed.

'They remind me a bit of me back in the days when I didn't know how to tell Edzard that I loved him.' Asia thought before shrugging her shoulders and taking her daughter, she left the house to see what would happen.

Edzard was walking up a hill while cursing Issei with every step he took. Looking up, he saw the stars light up the night sky. He had taken several hours to find the place where the Gremory group was. This was because he couldn't run very fast without raising suspicion from the Sitri group. So, in order to avoid that, he had to walk as stealthily as he could while following the purple line of the clairvoyance spell.

"Finally." Edzard sighed when he saw the house where Issei was.

The house was a fucking mansion that stood out like a diamond surrounded by a pile of coal.

'Seriously, what a waste of money for a house in the middle of nowhere.' Thought Edzard seeing such opulence.

After thinking that, Edzard pulled his hood up and braced himself for something he had done so many times in the past that it was second nature to him. Walking, he began to approach the building. When he was about a hundred feet away he braced himself and jumped high enough to reach the ceiling. Extending his hand, he used clairvoyance to see which would be Issei's bedroom. Seeing where it was, he started to head there.

After going through several rooms and managing to avoid the rest of the Gremory group members, Edzard finally reached the place he was looking for.

'So much money wasted on opulence and they haven't been able to put in a good defensive system with cheats or something. It seems that this family is very lax with the security of their homes.' Thought Edzard disappointed with this robbery, because he expected at least a few traps, guards, relatives or some kind of defense. In the end there had been nothing. 'These idiots are lucky I'm not a murderer, otherwise they'd already be dead and no one would know who murdered them.'

After thinking that, he decided to continue on his way. So, wasting no time, he entered Issei's room and looked for the box. He didn't take too long to find it, because it was on a nightstand. Approaching the table, he opened the box and his eyes widened in surprise, for one of the scrolls was missing and it was the one he was looking for.

'Don't fuck with me. I just gave myself this whole trip for nothing.' Edzard thought annoyed.

Seeing that Issei had used the most dangerous scroll he had, he decided to get out of there and return to the island where he was temporarily staying with his family. Trying to get away as quickly as possible, he climbed out the window and climbed up the wall to the ceiling. However, when he was about to leave, he heard Issei talking to someone. He slowly approached the edge of the roof and saw the Gremory girl talking to Issei. Concentrating his senses on the conversation, he listened to them.

Issei was sitting next to Rias as they both talked about their opponent's abilities. They had found each other in this place, after Issei went to drink some water.

"So, does he have the same abilities as the legendary Phoenix?" Issei asked.

"Yes. The Phenex family has the ability to heal from any years they suffer. That includes regenerating lost limbs." Rias replied.

Issei's eyes widened upon hearing of that ability, since his opponent's power to regenerate would make their battle harder.

"Buchou. Why do you hate Riser?"

Hearing that question, Rias started telling him about how her family was famous in the underworld. And thanks to that fame that everyone recognizes her as Rias Gremory, the heiress of the Gremory family, but without really recognizing Rias, the young devil who had dreams and goals of her own.

"In the end, my only dream is to be able to be together with someone who loves me for just being Rias, not for being Rias Gremory." Rias said as she looked up at the sky with sadness in her eyes.

Issei looked at his king and spoke. "I don't care about any of that. I like you for being Rias. Not for being a Gremory."

Rias widened her eyes in surprise and looked at her pawn.

"I don't know anything about devils, Gremory, or other clans. The only thing that matters to me is you."

Issei's words made a smile form on Rias's face, who hugged her pawn.

Edzard smiled hearing Issei say something so mature and serious. In fact, his friend's conversation and words had made him somewhat reminiscent of the days when he first met Asia. So, seeing that his friend intended to fight and save his mistress, Edzard went back to Issei's room and placed one more scroll in the box. Also, he wrote on a sheet what each scroll did. Smiling, he sneaked out of the mansion without anyone noticing.

'In the end I ended up helping you indirectly.' Edzard thought as he walked through the forest.

As he walked, he saw a strange bird looking over the Gremory mansion. At first, he did not give importance to the bird; however, when he passed near the bird, he felt magic in that bird. Frowning, he used the vision of the tenth eye to see what was going on. When his eyes saw the bird, he saw that it had a contract with someone.

'So they spy on them.' Edzard thought as he raised his right hand. In less than a second, an ice spear shot out of the outstretched hand and struck the bird squarely. The spear completely pierced the bird, which fell to the ground completely dead. Paying no attention to the corpse, he continued walking until he reached a place where he could use his shadowkey.

Aika, Valerie and Mittelt looked at what just happened with their eyes and mouths wide open. This because of what was in front of them.

"Aika. I'm hallucinating?" Mittelt asked rubbing her eyes.

"No. Because if it were like that, I would also be hallucinating with the same thing." Aika replied in shock.

"I cannot believe what I see. Seriously, that just happened." Valerie said as she held onto a crying Marie who moved to try to break free and run towards the center of the large crater.

The crater the girls were looking at was the result of a sparring match between Edzard and Asia. This combat had started as everyone expected. That is to say, it started with Asia attacking Edzard with magic from a distance; however, each attack was repelled or dodged by Edzard. Seeing this, Asia had rushed forward to attack in close combat. And the same thing had happened with the magic attacks, that is, Edzard stopped each attack with his own weapon and without showing any effort.

This exchange of blows continued for a long time as both fighters began to use more speed and force in their attacks. In fact, Asia had started using magic circles to try to hurt Edzard, but that too had failed.

The battle had become more intense to the point where both Asia and Edzard were moving at high speeds across the field, generating shock waves that created small air currents. However, from one moment to another, Asia had stopped and used a new technique. Said technique had managed to take Edzard by surprise. After that technique hit, a huge explosion was generated that ended up creating the crater where Edzard was standing showing several wounds on his body.

Asia was gasping for breath as she had spent a lot of magic and stamina to be able to use this technique.

'I still can't believe it really worked.' Asia thought as she felt her body drop. However, she never made it to the ground, as Edzard had moved quickly and caught her.

"That attack is really powerful. If it was someone else and if you were using a real sword and not a training one, I would have died." Edzard said as he started to walk towards where the rest of the girls were.

Asia looked at her husband and was shocked to see a smile start to appear on his face.

"I am proud that you were able to hurt me in this way." Edzard said with a smile as he watched Asia blush at the compliment. Bringing his face close to his wife's ear, he whispered. "I hope you're ready, because I'm going to get my revenge tonight."

Asia's face blushed as much as possible upon hearing those words, as she had understood the meaning behind them. Apparently, she wouldn't sleep at all tonight.

When they arrived with the group, Edzard put Asia down on a bench and sat down next to her. As soon as they were seated, he had to extend his arms to catch a small rocket that was hurtling towards him. The little rocket had been his daughter Marie, who was now crying on his chest.

"Shh. Calm already. Do not Cry. It's nothing serious." Edzard said trying to reassure his daughter.

"But… sniff… are you…. injured. Sniff… You and mom fought until you hurt each other." Marie said as she wiped away her tears. "Why did they fight?"

Asia saw her daughter and approached her. Taking her face in her hands, she made her look at her. "We have not fought. We were just training. And the training got a little intense."

"Snif…were you just training?" Marie asked looking at her parents. "Weren't they really fighting?"

Edzard smiled and ruffled his daughter's hair. "No, Marie. We weren't really fighting."

"Your father is right. If that was a real battle, I wouldn't have lasted at all."

"You're right, dad is super strong. But so are you, mom. And Aika, Valerie and Mittelt are also strong." Said Marie already stopping crying. "Do you think I'll be this strong too?"

"Of course dear. You will also be very strong when you are older." Edzard said giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead.

Marie smiled and hugged her parents as they began to laugh.

Aika, Valerie and Mittelt looked at the scene and put on sad smiles; However, when they were about to return to the house, they saw something incredible. They didn't know if it was some trick of the light or if their minds had played a game, because what they had just seen in a flash was something they didn't expect. In a flash of light, they could see Edzard surrounded by several small children and next to those children were themselves and a few other women.

"What just happened?" Valerie asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Do not know. But did they see the same thing as me?" Mittelt asked.

"Well, if it is a future where it seems that Edzard will give us like a drawer that does not close and we will have several children, well yes, I did see the same thing." Aika replied.

Unknown to any of them, on a throne in a golden castle, an old man had an amused smile on his face. Although he had a lot of duties to do, that was no excuse not to bother his son.

Edzard was calm looking at the sea on the beach of Anse Source d'Argent on the island of La Digue in the Seychelles archipelago.

"Dammit. Yes, it is quite hot." Edzard said as he complained about the sun.

He was currently in this place to rest from training. Although the archipelago was far from where they lived temporarily, this was one of the places with the best beaches and whose climate was perfect to go at this time of year. Sighing, he nailed down the parasol and began to place the blanket on the white sand floor. When he finished setting up his place, he started looking at the people on the beach.

The number of people was incredibly large. There were Europeans, Asians, Americans and Africans. Each and every one wore their respective swimsuits. Some men and women wore flashy swimwear and others more conservative ones. He, for his part, wore black shorts with a crimson flame design. Many of those present had whispered and pointed fingers when they saw him, as he was shirtless allowing everyone to see his scars and his tattoo. This had caused many to think that he was a gangster or criminal of some sort.

"Ahh. I hope the girls don't take too long…" What Edzard was saying died on his lips when he saw Asia and Valerie walking towards him.

Both girls were wearing different swimsuits. Asia, she was wearing a light blue two-part bikini with golden flower design. In addition to wearing a sarong of the same color and design as her bikini tied around her waist. She completed her outfit with a straw hat with flowers on one side. Valerie wore a light red one-piece suit with black lines down the sides. She also wore a light red sarong around her waist and a straw hat on her head. Finally, Marie wore a light green children's bathing suit and a straw hat to shield herself from the sun.

"How do we see each other, Ed?" Asia asked with a nervous smile as she averted her eyes. And she wasn't the only one, because Valerie also looked away.

"They look great." Edzard said with a smile on his face.

Although Edzard seemed completely calm, the truth was different.

'Ahhh! They look much more than good! They look precious, beautiful and they all seem like goddesses.' Thought Edzard while his face blushed slightly and his heart began to race at the sight of both young women.

Both girls smiled when they heard Edzard's words.

"Good! Let's have fun!" Valerie yelled as she began to run towards the sea.

Edzard and Asia looked at each other and smiled. Edzard took Marie and ran alongside Asia, chasing after Valerie.

The sun was still up as Edzard, Asia, Marie and Valerie were having lunch at one of the restaurants along the beach.

"Marie. Don't eat so fast." Edzard said scolding his daughter, because she was hastily eating her curry dish. Although this dish had another name on this island, he did not know how to pronounce it, so he simply called it as he knew it.

Marie looked at her father for a few seconds, then went back to eating, but this time she ate at a slower pace.

Smiling, Edzard rubbed his daughter's hair. When he was about to say something else, he heard footsteps approaching them. Turning his head, he saw Mittelt running in along with Aika. Both girls were wearing a swimsuit each. Aika was wearing a black bikini with white trim and a light blue sweatshirt. Mittelt, for her part, wore a ruffled aqua green bikini top with a white tank top.

Seeing them, Edzard raised his hand to show her where they were. When both girls saw them, they walked over and sat down. After asking for her orders, Aika spoke.

"We managed to get a copy."

"Did they really manage to get one?" Edzard asked looking at Aika and Mittelt.

"Yes. But you have no idea how difficult it was. The queue seemed to never end. Mittelt said as she rested her face and arms on the table.

"I see. Thank you very much for getting it." Edzard said with a smile.

"I-I didn't do it for you. I did it because it was necessary in order to know the result of the Rating Game." Mittelt said with a blush as she avoided looking at Edzard.

Edzard smiled and proceeded to take an item that Aika was handing him. Said object was a newspaper, but it was not a normal one, because this was one that came from the underworld. He had managed to learn about this thanks to Mittelt, as she had mentioned that the devils had some newsstands on Earth where she sold newspapers with the most important news from the underworld. These newspapers were meant to be sold to the contractors that the devils had permanent contracts with.

Although Rias Gremory and her fiancé's Rating Game was an unofficial one, the Phenex idiot had decided to have it seen by various journalists and analysts.

'Really. That guy is so arrogant and idiotic.' Edzard thought as he unrolled the newspaper.

"Well, let's see. Economy, No. Laws, neither. Actuality, bingo." Edzard said as he went through the sections of the newspaper. "Let's see…"

Edzard was silent for a long time, because he couldn't believe what he was reading. A few seconds later, Edzard started laughing.

"Hahaha. I cannot believe it." Edzard said while he laughed amused when reading the title of the news.

Asia looked at Edzard in confusion, so she decided to ask. "Ed. What happened? They won?"

Edzard stopped laughing and spoke. "Yes. They won, but it seems that they had several problems."

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.

"Gremory started the game winning with a good tactic, but that one almost went south when they took out her queen, her knight, and her rook." Edzard said starting to tell the summary of the game that came in the news. "Then there was a confrontation between her and her fiancé, but in the end, she almost gave up."

"Why would he give up?" Mittelt asked.

"Apparently Riser had hit Issei quite a bit and it seemed like he had defeated him. However, it is at that moment that Issei managed to get to his feet and supposedly managed to reach Balance Breaker. With that power he managed to destroy the demonic power of the Phenex, thus managing to defeat it."

"That doesn't seem funny at all. Why were you laughing?" Asia asked.

"Easy. It was because of this." Edzard said showing them the news.

The girls read it and began to laugh almost uncontrollably, because in the title and in large letters it said: «Dragon vs. Phoenix. The Battle for Princess Gremory's Virginity».

Apparently, this title was thanks to the fact that in the middle of the battle Issei had started to yell that Rias Gremory's virginity belonged to him. To these yells, Riser had replied that Rias's virginity belonged to him. And so, in the midst of those yells, both enemies had fought until Issei had finally managed to win a narrow victory, because after the Phenex was teleported out of the arena, Issei also fell to the ground unconscious.

"So in the end they won. But why did Hyoudou fall to the ground? Fatigue?" Aika asked having already stopped laughing.

Edzard put a hand to his chin and thought for a few seconds. After that, he spoke. "I do not think so. I think it's more because of the injuries he was carrying along with the strain his body must have suffered from using unknown magic."

The girls nodded understanding what Edzard said, since it was something that made a lot of sense.

"Then. What will you do now?" Valerie asked looking at Edzard.

"We will continue training. Then maybe I'll go visit Issei. But it would be within a few weeks." Edzard said with a smile.

Author's note:

To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Because being honest, I don't know how to write much in English and I'm relying on Google translators and the dictionaries that come with office 2019.

And voila, we finally reached the beginning of the DxD canon. I have decided to skip Issei's death, because we all know how he dies. In fact, here he is impaled to death by the spears of Raynare, Kalawarna, and the guy in the hat whose name I could never get right. So here there is none of that fake romance between Raynare and Issei. Also, in case you've noticed, Draig is awake from the start. The reason for this will be revealed later, although it is already understood who was the cause of that awakening.

Now about Mittelt, she's already joined the group and I've tried to give her a good background as we're never told anything about what she did before she joined Raynare's group. Also, she now has three pairs of wings, which makes her a mid-level fallen angel. Although, it is very little progress for five months of training, one must remember that she is not the daughter of any high-ranking Fallen, so increasing the amount of her wings is not very easy for her.

Also, by this point in the story, Aika has already managed to handle her magic better, but it will be in several chapters in the future where we will see her fight, since for now she could be considered the most inexperienced member of the group.

And while I said Edzard wouldn't get involved in the Riser arc, well, he almost didn't. The only thing he was going to do was stop Issei from killing Riser with lightning storm (Which, I admit, I was very tempted to do, but in the end, I decided to keep that stop as close to canon as possible and not kill him.) and give him something for him to win. That could be considered indirect help. T.T.

Also, we have seen that the girls already have feelings for Edzard, but they always try to keep those feelings low-key for Asia, since they don't know how she would react. In fact, it will be a bit funny when they find out that having more partners is something allowed in Nirm society.

Well, I apologize for any misspelling. Do not forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter or if there is something that needs to be improved or if you have any questions about the story. With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.