Hello everyone Hyde here! Real quick before this chapter I wanted to say sorry it's like a week late. At first I got sick and then I had a vacation where I was still mostly sick. Then I had writers block from hell, so much so that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual.
With that said I hope you enjoy this chapter because I am going to take this month off from any major writing before I do my usual three month swap. That means the next update will be around the end of June. Now on that note I want to say thank you to all the support and I hope you enjoy.
Marinus P.O.V
You know I was expecting this, hell I had been planning on it, but that didn't mean I wasn't slightly surprised. Here I am sitting in the living room with none other than Serafall Leviathan sitting across from me. The fact she was here was expected.
She had no doubt discovered her pregnancy and came to inform me as I'm undoubtedly the father. What wasn't expected was the fact she seemed so...demure. Truthfully I had expected one of any number of reactions between anger or joy.
As I watched Serafall fidget in the seat across from mine I sipped from my cup of tea before speaking. "It's good to see you again Sera." I stated with a small smile that she returned. "Though I have to admit I wasn't expecting it to be so soon."
"Yeah." She stated while chuckling awkwardly. "I was originally planning to see you after Rias' rating game, but something...unexpected came up." She replied.
"Unexpected?" I asked in feigned surprise. "Has something happened in the underworld?" I asked.
"No, nothing like that." She replied waving her hand dismissively. "I'm...uh...I'm..." she trailed off muttering lowly as a blush spread across her face.
"Sera? I couldn't hear you." I stated while leaning forward.
"I'm...I'm pregnant." She finally stated causing me to blink slowly.
"You're pregnant?" I asked to which she simply nodded while placing a hand over her stomach. "I'm the father." I stated to which she nodded again.
With a smile I stood and walked over to her before leaning down and quickly capturing her lips with my own. She was surprised at first but soon melted into the kiss as tears of happiness welled in the corner of her eyes. After a few moments we broke the kiss and simply held each other.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear this Sera." I stated honestly.
"I'm happy too, but there's a problem." She replied seriously.
Pulling away so that we could sit down together I raised an eyebrow. I had an idea where this was going but needed confirmation. "What's wrong?"
"Well you're human." She stated as if the problem were obvious. "My family, my political opponents, and well... a lot of people will be upset to say the least. As a Satan there's a certain image we're expected to uphold and when it's discovered I'm pregnant by a human-" she attempted to explain however she was cut off as I started to laugh.
I couldn't help it, really I couldn't, I had already been expecting to reveal myself soon, but to think it was like this. I didn't think Serafall would figure out her pregnancy so soon, much less come to me just as fast.
"Hahahahahaha!" The laughter tumbled out as I started to struggle to breathe. To think I would reveal myself to comfort a pregnant lover! After all this preparation and this is how I kick off my re-entry to devil society.
"Marinus this is serious!" Serafall admonished.
"Oh Sera, you don't have to worry." I stated honestly to which she attempted to interject. "I haven't been entirely honest, you see I'm not human."
"What?" She questioned in surprise. "How...I should have sensed it if you weren't human." She stated matter of factly.
"You should." I agreed. "However my grandmother was extremely focused on the survival of her family and made a deal of the...extra dimensional variety." I explained before standing and walking to the only section of the room that had enough space. In seconds eight black wings stood behind me as an orange magic circle with the leviathan crest formed in front of my out stretched hand. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Marinus Leviathan, grandson of the original Leviathan and head of House Leviathan."
Serafall gaped in shock for several minutes before, slowly, she began to laugh. Her laughter filled the room as it grew from a soft chuckle to nearly manic. An ordinary person would be somewhat terrified of such a sound and yet it played like music to my ears.
When her laughter finally died down the absolutely malicious smile she gave was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Dear Satan I'm going to marry this woman as soon as possible.
Training Rias' peerage was boring.
This was the conclusion I had come to while overseeing the overall progress of their training. Which to be fair I don't really have anything major riding on this game other than my bet with Ravel. Even then I know Rias, she won't sit back and stay safe while her peerage fights. Eventually she's going to do the stupid thing and attack Riser directly, thus enabling myself the opportunity to get involved.
How do I know this? Simple, Rias has spent her time 'training' by watching videos of his rating games. Specifically the ones where he actually gets involved in the fighting. It's honestly a bit disappointing.
Sure the tempest jewelry will make his attacks less effective, but they don't provide immunity. As soon as Riser figures out something is protecting Rias he's going to ramp up the output of his magic exponentially. Oh well, she'll learn and, hopefully, adapt before anything goes wrong. As for her peerage they're at least throwing themselves into training with crazy determination.
Jingliu, arguably the strongest person in the peerage, had taken a single look at Kiba's use of swords and nearly had a heart attack. Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but she was certainly unimpressed by his 'moronic and simple minded use of an exemplary power'...her words not mine. Ever since then she's been running his ass ragged, forcing him to create numerous blades of different designs, powers, and even the number of blades he makes at once.
Then there's the rooks, Koneko and Guinaifen. That pair had spent the better part of their training by simply sparring against each other. Essentially their training boils down to getting little Gui used to her greatly enhanced durability, something she's already taken advantage of by detonating her explosives much closer than normal. It also serves as good practice for Koneko to get used to fighting a weapon user and to test her durability as a whole.
As for the single bishop of this group...poor HuoHuo. The poor little foxian has to deal with Akeno as a tutor for magic and given HuoHuo's penchant for being frightened, yeah not a good combo. On the bright side she's taken to barriers and healing magic like a fish to water even if her offensive capabilities are still slightly lacking. Though considering Rias' peerage is almost entirely offensive having a single defensive person might be extremely valuable.
Finally, last and certainly least, was the sole pawn of the Gremory peerage Issei. Really the guy spent the entire day getting his ass handed to him as he practiced his 'promotion' ability. Honestly...it was laughable improvement at best.
He had no magic aptitude to speak of and not enough time to actually be instilled with any magic ability, especially with only a ten day time frame. His skill in hand to hand was practically nonexistent as he had never before trained in any discipline of fighting. His endurance, though only marginally higher, was by far the greatest gain he got from promoting. Automatically this meant using bishop, knight, or queen was out so that meant he was down to rook alone.
Thankfully there was one thing Issei had in his corner and that was the boosted gear. The sacred gear of the red dragon emperor was slowly unlocking more of its potential with each consecutive use. Thankfully Rias noticed as well, that's why she's had Issei boosting to his limit and using 'explosion' once he hits that limit repeatedly. A method that had already paid dividends judging by the mountain that was missing part of its peak.
Admittedly what Rias seemed to lack in strategy she made up for in her knowledge of supernatural artifacts such as sacred gears. Maybe it wasn't just her being...what's the word...ah right, a chunibyo, that led to her making the whole occult research club.
Anyway, I simply observed the different pairs training from my spot under a nice shade tree. Today was one of the very few days I actually had nothing planned and, besides the surprise visit from Serafall, nothing unplanned had happened.
Speaking of the Satan and plans I could help the smile that spread across my face. Despite my best efforts I had let myself be fooled by her excitable personality and charm. Under the adorably sexy magical girl lied the heart of a true devil.
The way she had eagerly made plans to shove her pregnancy down the throats of the council and everybody else that questioned her was a true turn on. Dear Lucifer, I can't wait to see her as she makes it known that she's going to be a true 'Lady Leviathan' as she put it. This piss poor devil council is going to eat their fucking hearts when Serafall gets that kind of legitimate validation.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I have no plans for today or the rest of the week aside from that whole tamer thing with Kiyome's father. However, that's not until tomorrow so for today I'm just taking it easy. After all this will probably be one of the last opportunities I have for some prolonged peace and quiet in a while.
"So what do you think? They're getting better right?" Rias asked as she walked under the same tree as myself.
"They're getting better." I agreed with a nod. "Improvement is subjective however and different for everyone." I state jerking my head in Issei's direction.
"He's come a long way." Rias defended, though her statement was noticeably lacking in passion.
"He's can perform 'dragon shot' once every ten minutes. At the rate he's going it'll be once every five by the day of the rating game." I state bluntly as I turn my attention to the pair of knights dueling.
"That's still better than his complete lack of skill at anything." She stated.
I paused for a moment before giving her that point. "Agreed."
"Do you think we can win?" Rias asked after a few moments of silence.
"On your own...it'd be a dice roll." I reply. "You'd need to take out his entire peerage, suffer minimal casualties, and still have enough energy to take Riser down." I explained rather simply.
"All doable, Riser's strongest piece is his queen. Akeno should be able to handle her by herself while we divide and conquer his other pieces in smaller groups." She explained.
"You'd be right, but you're expecting him to fight fair. This is an unofficial rating game, that means the rules will be in effect, but who's in charge of the pre-match setup?" I asked to which she looked at me questioningly.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Letting out a sigh I look at her blankly. "Rias there's a committee in charge of preparing the arenas and items given to participating peerages in official rating games. What item are both teams supplied with in every official game for team use?" I asked rhetorically causing her eyes to widen.
"Phenex Tears." She replies in realization. "Since this isn't an official game they won't be supplied."
"Correct, you won't be given the tears, but I can guarantee Riser will have them...you know being a Phenex and all." I state the rather obvious fact.
"Fuck." Rias mutters to herself causing me to quirk an eyebrow in amusement. "That means it doesn't matter if we take Riser down because he'll be able to get right back up." She states.
"His queen too." I add 'helpfully'.
"Right...teams are allowed two vials." She sighed in annoyance. "If I send Akeno to fight his queen alone then she'll have to do so twice." She states before I see a lightbulb appear above her head. "Unless Akeno destroys the vial first."
I nod in agreement, happy that Rias is thinking rationally. "She could also completely deny the chance to use it if she lands a 'death blow' or steals the tear." I add.
"In that case it'd probably be best if I paired someone with Akeno." She muttered to herself as she started to rethink her strategy.
"I'd recommend Jingliu." I state getting her attention. "Issei and Koneko should be enough to handle the gym on their own, so move Guinaifen to aid Kiba. That way you can have the most experienced combatant on our side helping take down the second biggest threat." I explained.
"A good plan." Rias agreed. "I'll keep HuoHuo with me, that way even if Riser's peerage makes it to me I'll have support. What about yourself?"
"If all goes well I won't even have to fight." I state with a smirk.
"I appreciate the confidence." Rias states with a small smile.
Oh Rias, I'm not confident in your odds of winning at all. If this came down to simply peerage vs peerage she could feasibly win, but this is about pride. Her pride as a woman, pride as an heiress, and pride as a devil. Coupled with her freedom that's on the line she won't let this match end without facing Riser in a direct confrontation. Turning away from Rias as I walk towards the house a smirk plays on my lips.
I'll let Riser and Rias have their little spat, but in the end it'll be house Leviathan that walks away the victor.
The following day I find myself standing outside of a rather decently sized traditional Japanese estate. The property itself is rather large, easily encompassing part of the forest outside the city, and on the outskirts of Kuoh surrounded by a rather expansive stone wall. According to Kiyome it had been erected by her ancestors as and carefully warded to protect the family and their tamed creatures.
Speaking of Kiyome, the brunette was waiting by the gate to the property. As she watched me approach she smiled happily.
"You made it." She stated.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss my own engagement." I replied with a teasing smile that made her blush slightly.
"How do I look?" She asked, giving a twirl as she showed off her white sundress with blue accents and a blue bow.
"As beautiful as always, shall we get this over with?" I asked.
Her smile became more vicious as she nodded happily and began leading me towards the estate. As we walked the path she explained how the property had been owned by her family for generations, ever since they became beast tamers in fact, and had been handed down from one head to the next. She herself was next in line to claim ownership, something that could only be done after her marriage. Though after the last tidbit she muttered something about dead sexiest assholes.
As we approached the main house we came upon a water fountain where an older man stood. The man was perhaps in his early forties with short brown hair and yellow eyes. His outfit was a black business suit the pocket of which seemed to be embroidered with a family crest. It was only thanks to my admittedly lacking knowledge of Kiyome's side story that I knew this was her father.
"Marinus this is my father Chokyoshi Abe." Kiyome stated as she approached the fountain. "Dad this is Marinus, my intended." She stated giving him a sharp look.
"A devil?" The man questioned, his tone sharp and guarded. "I had thought you distrusted their kind." He stated rather than asked.
"I do for most of them." She conceded. "However Marinus is responsible for how I got Ember." She stated which caused his gaze to turn more curious.
"A pleasure to meet you sir, my name is Marinus Leviathan." I introduced causing him to tense further as he let out an involuntary gasp. It was small, almost unheard, but still audible. "I believe you issued a challenge." I stated to which the man nodded.
"Indeed! Devil royalty or not if you wish to have my daughter's hand you shall face me!" He stated as he stood to his full height. "We shall face each other in three rounds of battle with tamed beasts or familiars!"
"Kiyome explained as much." I stated as two magic circles appeared on either side of me. Out of the first appeared Gardevoir in her human appearance and out of the second appeared a curious Tiamat.
"Where's the fight?" Tiamat asked with narrowed eyes as she looked around.
"I apologize Tiamat." I stated, kiyome's eyes shooting as wide as dinner plates while her father stood rigid, his eyes widened with panic. "I wish to make Kiyome over here one of my wives, but to do so I need to compete in a battle of familiars." I explained.
Tiamat snorted as she turned her attention to the elder Abe. "You, tamer, summon your beasts." She ordered.
Whether out of self preservation or respect for the dragon king that stood before him Kiyome's father acted almost instantly. Soon he was joined by a sasquatch, a mermaid (which is only a shark's body with muscular legs), and an oversized eagle that stood almost as tall as the sasquatch.
"I have done so, now we may beg-"
He didn't get the chance to finish his statement as Tiamat vanished in a burst of speed. She ripped the head of the Sasquatch off before appearing behind the bird and with a single hand spatchcocked it, she then turned her head and blew out a breath of blue flames that engulfed the mer-shark. The entirety of this incident occurred in barely five seconds flat with myself being the only one to actually follow what had happened.
A few moments later the father and daughter pair register what had happened and reacted. Kiyome covered her mouth as her eyes widened in shock as she moved behind myself in fear. Her father on the other had fell over in shock as he stared at Tiamat in pure unadulterated fear.
"Done, you win now I'm going home. Summon me when there's a real fight." She stated dismissively as she disappeared in her own magic circle.
There was silence for several minutes before I broke. "Huh...I didn't plan on that." I stated while blinking in surprise.
"That...that was the chaos karma dragon..." Kiyome muttered still hiding behind me.
"Killjoy." Was the muttered response of Gardevoir before she bowed and disappeared in a magic circle of her own.
Kiyome's father remained silent as he looked at the decimated pile of beasts, his mouth opening and closing as nothing wanted be said.
"Well...I guess I won." I stated with a disappointed shrug.
I don't know what I had been hoping for, but that certainly hadn't been it. Sure I knew I would win and that Tiamat would easily assure that, but I didn't think she would collectively slaughter the opposing side in seconds flat.
"I...I didn't officially start the competition." Chokyoshi attempted to state as I fixed him with an unimpressed look.
"If that's the case I can call Tiamat back." I stated with a shrug.
The man surged to his feet in seconds waving his hands frantically. "NO! I mean no, no need. I accept my loss and your position as my son in law." He assured quickly.
Kiyome cleared her throat doing her best to at least pretend not to look smug. "Dad, why don't you go make sure mom doesn't need help finishing dinner. She just started because she thought this would take...longer." She stated.
"...right." He replied after a few minutes, his shoulders sagging as he walked towards his home.
After a few moments I simply stood there, for once unsure of what to say. Kiyome seemed to be of the same mind though she was looking quite smug that everything had played out well.
{Captured: Kiyome Abe 6 [324]}
Ah right….at least I finally captured Kiyome.
"So this was kind of…" she started searching for the right words.
"Anticlimactic?" I supplied to which she nodded in agreement. "Yeah I wasn't really expecting Tiamat to just………yeah."
"Well look on the bright side." She perked up. "I'm not being forced into an arranged marriage I don't want and you get a sexy fiancé." She stated while walking closer.
"You do realize I'm not going to be lacking beautiful women at my side at any point in the future….right?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, though from the upturn of my lips she obviously knows I'm amused.
"Oh I'm quite sure." She purrs as she leans up to claim my lips with her own.
Wrapping an arm around her waist I pull her in as I deepen the kiss. As her lips part I waist no time in sliding my tongue inside, an action she greedily accepts. Meanwhile my other hand slides from the back of her dress lower until I'm groping her well shaped rear through her dress.
As her inexperience starts to show she parts for air with a faint blush across her cheeks. Oh I know who will be joining me tonight in bed, it's past time to claim my new fiancé. Though I suppose waiting a few more hours can't hurt, it would be rude to not celebrate our engagement with her parents after all.