This work is a piece of fiction. While inspired by real events, cultures, and practices in human history, the story blends factual history with fictional characters, dramatizations, and creative interpretation.
It is not intended to promote, glorify, or encourage any illegal activities, substance use, or harmful behavior. All depictions of sensitive topics are included solely for narrative and historical context.
For the effects of the story, all characters are to be considered above the majority age.
Reader discretion is advised.
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╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
DxD Multiverse, Hawaii, Honolulu.
Locked in an unblinking stare-down contest that had been going on for hours now, Aragorn and Ophis stood in front of each other. Ophis, not to be outdone by her lack of height and too lazy to shift into a taller form, was standing on the kitchen counter.
Phoenix, as if meditating in the lotus position while floating, was absorbing and analyzing the rules of reality of DxD. This also gave her a convincing excuse to ignore the pair of stubborn 'children' who had started this absurd contest after Ophis requested another sponge cake dessert and Aragorn suggested baking some pizza for lunch.
"..."
"..."
And when it appeared that the contest was going to continue for eternity, the unmistakable clanking of keys opening a door echoed to the kitchen from the front entrance.
"Ophis, are you expecting humans?" Phoenix asked. She had used her psionic field to sense the humans behind the door.
"No... It's the owner," Ophis replied without turning away from the heretic who dared to challenge her divine desire for sweets.
"Owner? Wasn't this your place?" Aragorn asked, his eyes locked with the apostate who denied him the delight of pizza.
"No," Ophis said.
"What?! Then why did you bring us here?" Phoenix asked.
"Kitchen," Ophis pointed at the kitchen.
"..." A heavy silence filled the room.
"Hold on," Phoenix said, while using her telepathy to stall the humans from entering their rightful home. "You brought us to a stranger's home to use their kitchen to cook your sweets?"
"I, did," Ophis said. Unrepentant. Unashamed. Unabashed.
'It can't be,' Phoenix thought to herself.
"...Ophis," Aragorn said after a moment of reflection. "I don't want to presume, but are you homeless?"
"Homeless?" Ophis asked.
"Yeah, where do you sleep? Where do you keep your stuff, take a shower, laze around, or eat?" Phoenix interjected.
"I, don't need to sleep. I, have my storage. I, don't take showers. I, take food from the humans, but I don't need to eat either," Ophis replied.
Aragorn, unable to bear it anymore, turned to look at Phoenix. Ophis, at this, smiled faintly in victory. Aragorn then turned to look back at Ophis, but instead of the look of defeat she expected from him, she got a pitying gaze.
"Let's go, dear Ophis," Aragorn sneaked his hands below her armpits and lifted her like one does a doll. "Phoenix and I will teach you about the wonders of landowning."
"Even I have the White Hot Room," Phoenix murmured in disbelief. She couldn't believe it, even the most detached, like the Living Tribunal, had to place to call home, or the Cosmic-Entity-equivalent of a home. "Maybe Great Red is indeed the villain of the story for leaving you in the streets."
"Why didn't you create a pocket dimension or something?" Aragorn asked.
"No need," Ophis said.
Again, her comment only earned her pity, which confused her even more.
"I'll teach you how we beings of power do it, dear Ophis," Aragorn said with righteous zeal.
A second later, when the house's owners finally entered, the cosmic trio was nowhere to be found.
Around 6500 km (~4000 miles) from Hawaii, in Kyoto, Japan, Aragorn—still carrying Ophis in his arms—and Phoenix—in a lotus position like an elder cultivator—appeared.
"Have you ever heard of Guardian Beasts, Ophis?" Aragorn asked.
"Seiryuu (Azure Dragon of the East), Suzaku (Vermilion Bird of the South), Byakko (White Tiger of the West), and Genbu (Black Tortoise/Warrior of the North)?" Ophis asked.
"Yes, similar to that," Aragorn nodded. Their floating figures, hidden from mundane and supernatural eyes, slowly flew to the ground and began moving as if they were part of the human crowd. It was early in the morning, and the rush hour was at its peak.
"Now, Ophis, we—beings of power—have several ways to go about acquiring a home," Aragorn spoke with the cadence of a true elder teaching an ignorant youngster.
"The first is the classic personal dimension/realm, like Phoenix here," Aragorn pointed at the still-hovering Phoenix. "You enjoyed such a position in the Dimensional Gap before Great Red's arrival."
"Great Red, annoying," Ophis said, nodding with a deadpan.
"However," Aragorn remarked in high volume, "you can't enjoy the wonders of sweets in a dimension without resources or servants to make sweets for you. So at this point in your life, where you have been tainted with the knowledge of the pleasure brought by sugar, I don't recommend it."
"Too much effort, sweets are needed," Ophis said after analyzing how much work it would imply.
"Exactly, you get it!" Aragorn praised her smarts. "Now there's what I call the Feminist Path, or the Lie of Modernity."
"Modernity?" Ophis asked.
"You pretend to be a strong independent dragon and find yourself a house in the mortal or underworld realm," Aragorn explained. "Sadly, this option does not come with servants to cook or fetch sweets for you—not at least until the latter stages when and if you become rich enough to hire servants."
"Denied," Ophis crossed her hands in an 'X' over her mouth.
"Yeah, I couldn't take it either. That's why I have my maids," Aragorn nodded in agreement, and Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Luckily, there's a path that I believe works perfectly for you, darling Ophis." Aragorn grinned.
"Tell me," Ophis demanded impatiently.
"You find yourself a well-established, stable group of weak individuals and offer them your protection in exchange for servitude, housing, and food times," Aragorn revealed the truth as if it were divine words. "You effectively become their Guardian Beast."
"Protection? Doesn't that mean work?" Ophis asked.
"That's the beauty of it, Ophis," Aragorn said. "In reality, your name and reputation alone will do most of the work. You'll rarely have to step in and actually protect them."
"I, will protect Urakyoto?" Ophis asked as she saw the entrance of the hidden Youkai dimension.
"Your reputation will," Aragorn nodded.
"I, will get sweets from the youkai?" Ophis asked.
"Yes, and much more," Aragorn said.
"More than sweets?" Ophis asked as if saying 'Is there more to life?'
"Yes, companionship—if you ever find interest in that—and there are other pleasures aside from sweets in life," Aragorn said.
"I, don't believe so," Ophis denied.
"Sure, there are," Aragorn affirmed. "Let me show you."
Through his empathy, telepathy, and biokinesis, Aragorn submerged Ophis in the pleasure of getting your nails done while in a hot tub. The feeling of having your sore muscles stretched and relaxed by a professional massage therapist, your spine cracked by a chiropractor, your head massaged with a scalp scratcher, your earlobes stimulated, scratching a persistent itch, and being cuddled in clean sheets during a thunderstorm.
It was too much for Ophis. She melted.
"What did you do to her?" Phoenix asked while looking at the slug-like dragon nestled with a slackened expression in Aragorn's arms.
"I... I don't know why she reacted so intensely," Aragorn confessed with a surprised tone. "I just made her feel some of the pleasure my Therions experience when I comb their hair and fur."
"Are you sure you didn't give her an orgasm?" Phoenix asked. She reached for Ophis' hand and lifted it, then dropped it, and the hand fell as if it was not supported by anything, landing over her face. "Or more like a thousand."
"No, well, even I wouldn't give her an orgasm while in my arms, during rush hour, in the middle of a crowd of humans, and with this appearance," Aragorn said.
Phoenix and Aragorn paused in the middle of the street, the crowd unknowingly parting way for them like the Red Sea for Moses, and looked at the slug in his arms. Her limbs spasmed, her bones appeared nonexistent, her hair bristled, and she had a decadent, faint smile. She was starting to drool, her breathing was ragged, and it was evident she would have pissed herself if her physiology was not the stuff of dragons.
"D-Do... it... again," Ophis murmured.
Neither of them said it, but Phoenix and Aragorn had seen such a demand accompanied by such an expression before; Aragorn in Death after their sessions, and Phoenix through her hosts multiple times. Yes, Ophis looked as if she was coming down from an orgasmic high of mythical proportions.
Her demeanor, with her appearance, made the entire situation look criminal. "Uwaaah, I'm glad Void-chan denied the jurisdiction of the Omniversal FBI," Aragorn voiced out.
Phoenix ignored Aragorn's comment and replied, "I don't think that's wise," while poking Ophis' cheek; the slug didn't react beyond a grunt of objection.
"Ophis," Aragorn called out with an almost fatherly tone, yet equally laced with pity. "Is it possible you have never felt such pleasure?"
"... Ne~ver," Ophis said, still in a state of absolute relaxation.
"That's sad," Phoenix commented. "Even I have experienced as such."
"Let's hold back a little with the drug for the moment, Ophis," Aragorn said. "We can teach you how to achieve such pleasure by yourself later, alright?"
"... Oka~y," Ophis reluctantly agreed.
Just as the humans ignored their existence, after passing through the entrance to Urakyoto, the youkai were equally oblivious to them.
"Do we have these varied species back home?" Aragorn asked Phoenix.
Oni, Kappas, Karasu-Tengu, Nues, Kamaitachis, and kitsunes were some of the youkai Aragorn could name. Their appearances were as varied as their kind was.
"In your Earth, some of them inhabited it in the past, but after the last celestial host and some confrontations with the order of sorcerers and their Onmyōdō branch, they left," Phoenix replied. "Some hid in pocket dimensions, realms, or simply left the main realm and went to outer dimensions that served them better."
"That's a shame," Aragorn said.
"It's better than to be hunted to extinction," Phoenix muttered.
"Were there many of those?" Aragorn asked.
"Humans tend to destroy or enslave those different than them who are weaker," Phoenix said, implying her response.
"Makes sense," Aragorn said.
"Devils and Crows too," Ophis added. "Only angels don't."
"Mmmm," Aragorn voiced out. "You're right, but I don't consider angels as a whole anything other than drones following a structured program. Sin is to life just as virtue is."
"Life?" Ophis asked.
"He means societies and living beings developed in environments with limited resources," Phoenix explained.
"I, don't understand," Ophis admitted.
Phoenix turned to her and raised an eyebrow before looking up at Aragorn with a questioning gaze.
"Ophis, like angels, 'grew' up without lacking 'resources'," Aragorn explained. "Ophis is not plagued by the seven sins. Hence, Ophis is an example of what would happen if an organism with no genetic memory were developed in an environment with no challenges to its survival."
Phoenix turned to the slug dragon with a gaze of curiosity. In her eyes, Ophis is an example of what would have happened to her if she had not experienced Life through her hosts.
"Insult?" Ophis asked, her expression flat.
"No, we are not insulting you," Aragorn said. "It's more akin to us observing a blank canvas and deciding what masterpiece we are to paint."
"I, the masterpiece?" Ophis asked.
"In a way, you are a masterpiece, dearest Ophis," Aragorn petted her head with his free hand.
While the three cosmic monsters observed their surroundings with curiosity, and Phoenix and Aragorn paid attention even to Ophis' naivete, they made it to the residency of Urakyoto's Daiyoukai (Great Spectre), also known as the Supreme Youkai Yasaka.
"She is asleep," Aragorn declared after peeking with his All-Seeing eyes.
"Is it different for the youkai of this multiverse? I believed mortals started their day early, especially those in positions of power," Phoenix asked.
"She is with her cub," Aragorn pointed out.
"And?" Phoenix asked.
"It's rare for a child of her age to sleep with her mother. Maybe they had a pj's night yesterday," Aragorn said.
"We, return later?" Ophis asked.
"No, that's alright. Let's wake her up and give her the good news," Aragorn said.
"Good news?" Ophis asked.
"Yes, the good news is that from now on they shall be forcibly protected by the one and only Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God," Aragorn declared.
With that, because neither Phoenix, Aragorn, nor Ophis respected boundaries, they teleported inside Yasaka's room.
"..."
"..."
While Ophis was wearing her characteristic deadpan, Aragorn's and Phoenix's gazes, like metal to a magnet, locked on the veritable jugs smothering the kitsune Kunou.
"Those are some impossibly perky jugs," Aragorn commented, before gazing at Phoenix's breasts. His eyes held suspicion.
"What?" Phoenix asked, noticing his stare.
Aragorn didn't reply; he reached for her breasts and then flicked them.
Jiggle Wiggle
"What the fuck?!" Phoenix exclaimed before slapping her breasts.
Jiggle Wiggle
"You absorbed the rules of this multiverse," Aragorn explained.
"You knew this would happen," Phoenix narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yes, after all, my dick grew like five times in size when I stepped into that Hentai-verse to pull Celestine and Saki out," Aragorn said while shapeshifting into his female form. Phoenix wasted no time and flicked Aragorn's breasts.
Jiggle Wiggle
"See?" Aragorn slapped her breasts.
Jiggle Wiggle
Phoenix slapped Aragorn's breasts.
Jiggle Wiggle
Aragorn slapped Phoenix's.
Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
Slap! Jiggle Wiggle
"She's awake," Ophis interrupted.
"Ahem!" Aragorn looked away while shifting to his male form. Phoenix's gaze lowered to his crotch, eyes narrowing as if decrypting something. She even checked with her psionic field, effectively touching and grabbing it. Much to her disappointment(?), Aragorn was currently not emulating sexual reproductive organs. "Tch!" she clicked her tongue.
"Infinite Dragon God-sama, to what do I owe this honor?" Yasaka asked.
Her wording may have been collected and formal, but the way she protectively held her sleeping daughter in her arms, did her best to shield her from the intruders, while her legs trembled slightly and her back sweated cold, spoke volumes about her composure.
Also, from Aragorn's and Phoenix's empathy, there was no hiding the :Panic:.
Aragorn, who up to this moment had held Ophis in his arms, kneeled as a knight does for his princess and placed her on the floor. Then, like a royal messenger, he declared, "Supreme Youkai Yasaka, the blessing of the Infinite Dragon God-sama, Ophis-chan, is upon you and your kin. Abundance, security, honor, and pride are yours to enjoy under the infinite umbra of her greatness! Rejoice!"
"..." Now, Yasaka understood the words, but the message flew overhead.
Ophis, as it had nothing to do with her, stood unconcerned with her surroundings. Her flat expression adorned her as she thought about more important things—such as the bliss she had just recently discovered and the sponge cake Phoenix had gifted her.
Phoenix, still entranced by the jiggle physics, was staring at her breast as she swayed left and right. She also paid attention to Yasaka's overflowing 'motherhood' and how 'they' reacted in response to her body's movements. Also, she was accustomed to the trainwreck that Aragorn's actions sometimes appeared to be at face value, so she paid not much other than passing attention to his antics.
"Was I perhaps not clear enough?" Aragorn asked the kitsune.
"I don't follow..." She let her words drag, unsure if she was to have her head gone for the hubris of not understanding, while also pondering the name of the man(?) in her room.
"Aragorn, no honorifics," Aragorn said as if predicting her thoughts and concerns. "Speak your mind."
"I don't follow, Aragorn...-sama," Yasaka said. The use of honorifics was ingrained, and her cleverly hidden panic didn't allow her to not address Aragorn with honorifics.
"Mmmmm, in simpler words," Aragorn hummed. "Ophis needs caretakers, and so long as you care for her, she minds not the use of her name or feared reputation."
Yasaka's eyes opened wide—wider than they ever had.
"Ophis is low-maintenance, taciturn, and won't bother putting on airs or the usual stuff that beings in power are disliked for, so I believe this is a great deal for you, isn't it?" Aragorn asked.
"T-This is—"
"Okasan?" Kunou called out, interrupting Yasaka while rubbing her eyes. When her sleepy eyes landed on the voice that woke her, she was confused to find strangers in her mother's room. Even more so because the strangers were so peculiar.
A beautiful woman with flaming wings that reminded her of those from the Phenex clan, except her energy didn't feel demonic. A handsome man with horns, a floating flame, starry eyes, and draconic pupils. And Ophis, who appeared to be her peer.
"We can continue our discussion after breakfast," Aragorn said before placing a hand atop Ophis. "I promised this one I'd cook something for her. How about you have one of your servants show me the kitchen, and while I cook something, you get yourselves presentable?"
Yasaka, still reeling from the previous offer, after hearing that the being whose power she couldn't measure was going to cook for her, could only nod absentmindedly.
A few seconds after she used communication magic, a very surprised one-tailed kitsune woman entered the room. A single signal from Yasaka stopped her in her tracks before she could explode in suspicion about the intruders in her queen's chambers.
"Guide Aragorn-sama to the kitchen. Instruct the staff that he'll be taking charge of today's breakfast."
The kitsune, to the credit of her education and training, nodded and stepped aside in a gesture for Aragorn to follow her.
Phoenix, having no business staying in Yasaka's room or following her to the bathroom, picked up Ophis with her telekinesis and followed after Aragorn. "I'll take one of your servants as a guide," she informed Yasaka before exiting the room.
Releasing a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, Yasaka collapsed onto the futon with Kunou in her embrace.
"Okasan, who were they?" Kunou asked. She had sensed the tension in her mother the moment she woke up, so like the well-behaved kitsune she was, she held her voice.
"An opportunity, maybe," Yasaka said. "Though you don't have to worry, Kunou. Mother will take care of it. For now, let's go get a bath."
Kunou nodded and followed after Yasaka.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
{A/N: Dear Patreon, the devils of Kuoh Academy are of the majority of age.}
Kuoh Academy, Occult Research Club.
It was one of those days when the prevalent problems of life surfaced at the front of one's mind for Rias Gremory. Her favorite anime had gone on hiatus, the manga was lagging behind it, and the light novel had stopped publishing to focus on the manga.
Adding fuel to the fire, ever since the pulse of supernatural energies after Great Red and the Infinite Dragon God clashed with who knows what, stray devil activity had increased.
But the crux of the problem was that she had a meeting with her 'beloved' fiancé scheduled for a week later, and ever since her queen, Akeno Himejima, mentioned it, her mood had been through the ground.
"Ugh, what about giving my chastity to someone else?" Rias pondered. Her black-lingerie-clad body rolled across the white sheets of a large bed that had no place in a teaching academy—much less a club 'room.'
"No, that would not work," Rias shook her head as if driving away the intrusive thought. "There's no one other than Yuuto and Gasper, but those two are like little brothers to me."
Like any other girl her age, she cared about those things, so she would not hand over her chastity on a silver platter to any fool walking the streets... right?
"Luckily, there's still time. I'm still in Kuoh Academy," Rias said, as if to quell her heart's worries. Her father had given her until she graduated from university to fulfill her duty as the heiress of the Gremory clan. "But that's not so far away." She lay on her back and rested her right forearm over her forehead.
Jiggle Wiggle
Rias had a clear case of emotional dysregulation, time blindness, and, overall, executive dysfunction. Clear signs of ADHD—and without the loom of a deadline, she was functionally inept—
"Yawn."
Jiggle Wiggle
—Or maybe she was just lazy.
"So stressed," she complained softly. Her legs began to rub against one another unconsciously. Her left hand began to find purchase in her lower abdomen. Her right hand lowered to her breasts, and the ultra-thin clothing of her bra filtered little to none of the sensation to her nipples.
Her left hand ducked under the lace of her underwear, and when her fingertips met the moistness down below, a pleasant shiver crawled from her core to her erect nipples and back.
"~Ahn," Rias moaned.
A deliberate upward circular motion of her middle and ring fingers, with her bead locked in between, led to her toes curling pleasantly. She brought one of her soft pink nipples to her mouth to stifle a loud moan and then picked up the pace.
Her fingers pushed and pulled her entire vulva, with her delicate bead being the point of contact. She continued alternating between these motions—picking up the speed, increasing and decreasing the pressure, and pinching and sucking her nipples with force.
When her fingers dipped into her wet entrance in search of natural lubrication, her right hand pinched and pulled her right wet nipple to her left, squeezing both erect tips at the same time.
In her mind, she pictured a rock-hard, milk-dripping masculine member between her breasts. She licked and bit her lips at the idea of the wet head reaching for her mouth from between her breasts.
"Ah-Ahn~Yesh," she whispered and moaned—the sheets stretched by her extended long legs, both pairs of her lips distended due to increased blood circulation, her pupils dilating with the escalating bliss, and then—
⌈Ding
Congratulations Host!
You've become the first user of the Dragon God of Systems' first system.⌋
"KYAAH!" Rias shouted at the intromission of an honest-to-manga-and-anime system in the middle of her orgasm. Euphoria, shock, anticipation, and fear all hit her like a trainwreck.
BAM! The door was shoved open. "Rias! What happe—"
Akeno had burst into the room prepared to take on Heaven and the Underworld, only to find her king with her hand in her crotch, her nipples erect, her breathing labored, and clearly riding down an orgasm's climax.
"... ~Ara, ara," Akeno smirked—because what else could she do? Join her?—before taking a teasing step back and closing the door. "Please, do go on," she said loud enough from the other side of the door.
Rias, for her part, couldn't even utter the usual excuse of 'It's not what it looks like!' because it was what it looked like. And, because like the weeb she was, she knew by heart the first rule of a system user club: You don't talk about your system!
"Uhm, hello?" Rias asked tentatively, setting aside her frustration from the previous mishap.
⌈Welcome to the Grinding System, Host.⌋
"What does that even mean?" Rias asked.
"..." However, no response came back.
"Ehmm, System, what are your functions?" she questioned.
⌈In exchange for sacrifices—understood as actions, corpses, objects of personal, metaphysical, and/or economic importance, knowledge, and the completion of quests—benefits can be granted.⌋
"Benefits?" Rias asked. She brought her dry hand to the floating screen and watched it with rapt attention as it passed through the illusion only she could see.
⌈Benefits can be understood as increased proficiency and consolidation in a desired field of personal growth, such as, but not limited to: improvement in Demonic Energy Control, Power of Destruction Manipulation, Martial Skills, Academic Skills, Miscellaneous Skills, and others.
Benefits can also be understood as the acquisition of artifacts, items, technology, knowledge, biological improvements, spells, internal energy sources, realms, dimensions, homunculi servants (Mortal and Supernatural), intel, and even miracles.⌋
"Hihihih!" Rias laughed like the otaku she was. She brought her hands to cover her mouth, but stopped when a certain 'fragrance' reached her nose. "So like a comprehensive system with a store, gacha, quests, levels, and the usual stuff?"
⌈Levels and Gacha are not subsystems run by the current system. Additional patches and DLC might enable the host to experience these features.
The system store and the Quests Mission Center will be available from the start, as well as the basic functions of most systems: Mapping, Storage, Status Panel, Mental and Soul Host Protection and Immunity, and the recently added feature of Apps.⌋
"Apps?" Rias asked, intrigued beyond measure. She was living every otaku's dream aside from being isekai'd. She was intrigued by anything and all matters related to her system.
⌈The feature serves the purpose of using applications, for example: [Notes], to facilitate access to information during academic exams. The system includes other miscellaneous applications such as, but not limited to: [Web Browser], [App Store], [Camera], [Clock], [Calculator], [Wireless Connectivity], [Music], and [ChatGPD].⌋
"It's like having a computer in my mind?!" Rias exclaimed, doing her best to smother her cries so as not to have Akeno 'interrupting' her again. "What is ChatGPD?"
⌈It is the current feature you're using to gain information about the system. ChatGPD also has access to the internet and the devilnet, as well as the Dragon God of Systems' own Grand Repository of Knowledge. It stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Dragon, which is the artificial intelligence created from a portion of the Dragon God of Systems' vast mind.⌋
"Okay, so like the operating system, but I can also ask questions," Rias summarized for her understanding.
⌈Affirmative.⌋
"How do I gain system points(?) to access the store, or is it through sacrifices?" she asked.
⌈Correct, host. Aside from sacrifices, you can also gain Scales—the currency of the system—through the completion of system-generated quests.⌋
"Open the Quests Mission Center," Rias said with a chirp in her voice.
⌈Quest Mission Center:
-> I fought for my dreams, and they fought back.
Mission requirements: Fight Great Red and survive to tell the tale. A fight is taken as the exchange of at least one opposing interaction of the physical and/or magical kind.
Reward: 1 Billion Scales or a Demonic Divinity Core.
-> I patted the Infinite and all I got was this lousy shirt.
Mission requirements: Headpat the Infinite Dragon God and survive.
Reward: 100 Million Scales or a Boost to three positive attributes selected by the host.
-> Angels in Heaven, Devils in the Underworld, Dragon Gods in the Dimensional Gap, please take the wheel.
Mission requirements: Complete a series of random short requirements, and upon completion, by the draconic hand of destiny, your fate will guide you to a path that will allow you to gain the maximum possible benefits with your power and luck.
Reward: ???
-> Caster? More like magic-swordswoman.
Requirements: Beat Souji Okita in a sword fight.
Reward: 10 Million Scales or Complete Sword Mastery for Humanoid-shaped beings (2 arms and 2 legs).
-> By the powers vested in me by the Grinding System, I pronounce you my ex-fiancé.
Requirements: Beat and humiliate Riser Phenex for his obsession with your oppai and emancipate your fate from your father's hands.
Reward: 5 Million Scales or Phenex Blood Genome Grafting.
-> I'm more than just my huge, perky tits.
Requirements: Beat Sona Sitri in a chess game.
Reward: 1 Million Scales or a Random Boost.
-> Light/Holy Magic: Am I a joke to you?
Requirements: Have a brush with death through Light/Holy Magic and pray to God for salvation.
Reward: 1 Million Scales or Aquilles Curse geared towards light/holy magic (immunity to light/holy magic except for in your Achilles heel).
-> Is that a plane? Is it a bird? No, it's an exhibitionist devil!
Requirements: Take a flight during rush hour above Kuoh Town, and do so completely naked.
Reward: 100 Thousand Scales or Intel That You Wish You Knew.
-> Ahn~
Requirements: Play your climax across the PA System of Kuoh Academy during lunch hour.
Reward: 75 Thousand Scales or a Random Enhancement to one of your senses.
-> Failure!
Requirements: Stop being a shame to your horny ancestors and get laid.
Reward: 10 Thousand Scales or Fertility Control (Limited to 10 targets for life—the target's lives).
-> Murder Hobo Path.
Requirements: Dedicate 100 sacrifices (living sapient beings) to the system.
Reward: 1 Thousand Scales.
-> Antihero Path.
Requirements: Dedicate 100 sacrifices (living sapient beings) of evildoers to the system.
Reward: 1 Thousand Scales.
-> Superheroine Path.
Requirements: Save 100 living sapient beings from certain death with your direct actions.
Reward: 1 Thousand Scales or a System Tip.
... Click to view more.⌋
"... WHAT THE FUCK?!" Rias exclaimed.
A few seconds later, Akeno knocked on the door and said, "Rias, I swear, if I enter and you're playing with yourself again, I'll join you."
"What?!" Rias shouted in question. "I'm not playing with myself!"
"Okay," Akeno said before entering the room. She inspected her king with scrutiny, her eyes pausing for a moment on her damp lace underwear. "So, what happened?"
"Akeno, do you have to ask while looking at me like that?" Rias asked with a tight smile.
"Rias, I'm not looking at you as I do the perverted trio," Akeno said.
"I never said you were, you did!" Rias pointed accusingly.
"Ara, that must have slipped," Akeno smiled faintly.
"Whatever," Rias sighed. "Have you heard of the Dragon God of Systems?"
"Mmmm, no, Rias," Akeno denied after a moment of thought. "There's the Infinite Dragon God and the True Red Dragon God Emperor, but I haven't heard of the Dragon God of Systems. Does it have anything to do with your recent... stellar behavior?"
"I don't want to hear that from you, Akeno!" Rias declared with a blush.
"Really?" Akeno asked while pointedly staring at Rias' wet crotch.
"Stop looking!" Rias covered what she had left of her modesty with the sheets. "Go away, I'll take a shower first, we can go and eat somewhere nice afterward."
"Ufufufufu~" Akeno chuckled as she exited and closed the door.
"Sigh, I'll check the System Store later," Rias said on her way to the bathroom. "It won't matter much until I learn the exchange rate of sacrifices and scales."
Rias stood from the bed and dropped her underwear before making her way to the adjacent bathroom.
"System, is there a newbie pack?" Rias asked. The water, which was magically always at the perfect temperature, rained down on her. Her eyes fluttered in bliss under her eyelids.
⌈Newbie Pack:
-> The magic every girl dreams of: Requip Magic.
-> Gothgirl Rias skin.
-> Devil Costume Rias skin.
-> Cheongsam Rias skin.
-> Maid Rias skin.
-> 1x Advice Letter from the Dragon God of Systems.
-> 1000 Scales.⌋
{A/N: Dear Patreon, remember that Rias is of the majority of age.}
Rias immediately felt information flow into her mind at a speed that would have caused her an aneurysm, yet no pain accompanied the data transfer.
"Wow," she muttered under the shower in astonishment.
Eager to try her new magic, she quickly finished her shower and dried herself.
"Requip: Gothgirl Rias!" With her casting, a magic circle appeared above her head and then fell on her like a scanning light. When the crimson magic circle reached her soles, it dispersed and Rias was left wearing the outfit of a modern gothgirl.
"Ah, this is cute!" Rias exclaimed as she examined her reflection in the mirror. "How do these piercings work, though?" She curiously poked and pulled at the piercing in her navel, and it felt every bit real.
She cast Requip magic a few more times and confirmed that the piercings were real as long as she wore the [Skin].
"System, can I teach Akeno this magic?" she asked.
Besides the practicality of the magic, she was worried about explaining the origin of her new 'trick'—and the many to come.
⌈1000 scales are needed to decrypt the magic for regular use by other demonic entities.⌋
"Uhmmmm, can I take it that otherwise she wouldn't be able to learn it?" Rias asked.
⌈Magic, skills, items, and other proprietary assets born from the Grinding System are patented by the Dragon God of Systems. Only a being of equal authority has the possibility of decrypting said assets.
1000 scales are needed as a sacrifice to generate a user-friendly version of the Requip Magic. The more complex the magic, the higher the sacrifice needed.⌋
"Okay, I will think about it later," Rias said. "By the way, how do I open the Advice Letter?"
⌈Advice Letter:
Rias Gremory,
This letter will find you well.
Power trumps all; you will need it soon. It's time to grind. Git gud!
Sincerely,
L̴̢͈̓͆ų̵̦̆̂̈́c̷̪̹͉̃̔͐̾ĭ̸̗̥̹̾̏v̷̳͓̤͍͒̐͠a̸̝̤̍͐̀ͅc̷̦̖̈͌̔ù̸̖̫͖̼i̸̬̯̠̱͆/̷̧̥̲͍͗̉̊͂L̷͚̭̣̳̅̄ư̸̲̓̌̄x̵̳̺̻͠ ̷͔͙͙̅V̷̹̿͐ą̵͉̯̋̽̄̎͜c̷̨̘̫͎̆͑u̴̹͗̈́͑i̴͚͕̘̍̈́̾̚.⌋
{Lucivacui/Lux Vacui}
"Agh, my head," she mewled in pain.
With a slight migraine after reading Aragorn's true name and an ominous prediction of her future, yet with hopeful resolve, Rias Gremory moved to show off her Gothgirl skin to her queen.
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
————————————————
╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
Earth-5H1N3, Hell.
The middle-sized demonic dimension originally under the rule of Mephistopheles had grown to be one of the largest dimensions of Earth-5H1N3.
Under the rule of the Maximoff Dynasty, with the counsel of the Vulpine Witch, Agatha Harkness, and Duke Blaze, the Ghost Rider, Hell had grown to be an interdimensional power.
Indisputably, the top of the pyramid of demonic repositories of souls belonged to none other than the Hell of the Drachantheon Therion. Fear Lords, Wrath Berserkers, Agony Spectres, Demons, Devils, Dimensional Lords, and any other sapient being related to agony, suffering, and torment all knew not to mess with this Hell.
However, Hell was not only a repository of extreme agony and repentance for darkened souls. There was more to Hell than its core function. For one, while not at the level of the Imperium or the Abeyance, Hell could be considered an intergalactic empire.
And though its technology's aesthetic was well and truly demonic in nature, it didn't take any merit away from it. For the residents of Hell—not the souls going through torturous karmic cleansing, but the demons—it was a space no different from the vastness of the Imperium for the Duskari.
Like so, in the capital of Hell, located at the deepest part of the dimension, in a building that looked like the lost child of an obelisk and hellish gothic architecture, Hell's Queen, King, and Queen Mother rested in a comfortable room, attending to their guest.
"Damn, Wandabus! It took you so fucking long," Aragorn said with a vernacular as crass as he could manage, one hand resting above Wanda's belly.
"I-I'm go-gonna be a father," Pietro announced with a crackling voice.
"Twins, at that," Aragorn added.
"I'm gonna be a grandmother!" Agatha perked up. "And it only took like a gazillion years." Her expression turned flat, and she gave an accusing glare to Pietro.
"Hey, I don't like what that glare implies," Pietro stood his ground. "I did my best! You can ask Wanda."
"~He did," Wanda purred, a healthy blush on her cheeks.
"Gross," Aragorn commented.
"Please, as if that statement held any value or sentiment coming from you," Wanda quipped. She knew Aragorn was teasing her.
"It doesn't," Aragorn said with a smile. "I'm truthfully ecstatic about this finding."
"So am I," Wanda added with a tender smile of her own. "So, how long was it that a pregnancy would last for my species?"
"Nine to ten months," Agatha replied before Aragorn. This was a matter of utmost importance to her, hence why she had asked Aragorn about this long ago—an eternity ago, considering time flow was funky in Hell.
"As MotherWitch says, ten months tops," Aragorn commented.
"That's like tomorrow," Pietro said, his panic starting to settle in.
"Yep, pretty short, right?" Aragorn proudly declared. "Are you prepared, Unruly Teen?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, yes," Pietro replied, his tone not making the best case for his affirmation. "I mean, I had enough practice with the other godlings of the pantheon, right? That should be enough, right? Just in case, do you have any learning courses I could borrow? Preferably something of the immersive learning type. Yeah, just to refresh the knowledge, you know? Like to be like totally sure, right? Like not becaus—"
Bam! Agatha slapped the back of his head.
"—Pietro, do us all a favor, you included, and stop digging deeper," Agatha interrupted with her slap.
"Anyway, the panicking kid aside, can you guys keep an eye open for any interesting occurrences begetting a large influx of souls from our Earth?" Aragorn asked after having a laugh at Pietro.
"It's not a problem, though, as you know, the lag between death and arrival at Hell can vary," Wanda answered. "However, I'm curious, are you expecting something to happen?"
"Yes, there's been some changes back home in my absence," Aragorn said. His words incited solemnity in the receivers. "It's possible it's a result of the deities' response to the new hierarchy in the souls' collection domain.
"I'm keeping an eye on Gaea, so I'm not concerned about her. The problem is everything else. Because I'm using my eyes to keep track of Gaea alone, my focus is only on her; I don't have enough leeway to spare a million or so pairs of eyes for the rest of the planet—even less the universe," Aragorn said.
"Ah, you're concerned about something blowing up out of proportion and only realizing once it reaches Gaea's immediate surroundings," Agatha pointed out.
"Pretty much," Aragorn confirmed.
"Should I set Hell in pre-war mode?" Wanda muttered.
"Hey, aren't we jumping the gun here?" Pietro asked.
"No, Brother," Wanda shook her head. "Intuition for cosmic entities is certainty for lower beings. I assume that Aragorn has consulted with the Mistress, Phoenix, and possibly the Cosmological Compass, right?" Wanda asked Aragorn.
"Boss Oblivion, Eternity, Infinity, and Tribunal are working on a problem that blew up out of proportion on the Prime Earth and its neighboring realities," Aragorn said. "But Phoenix and Noona confirmed my suspicions that something changed. With Hela imprisoned, Jean outside our Earth, and me here, we don't have a direct path to information. Even then, the universe is a large place."
"Why don't you pop out back home and take a glance?" Pietro suggested.
"Because I only care about Gaea and she is safe," Aragorn said.
"Understandable," Wanda and Agatha said.
"No, Old Man, go and take just a quick look around," Pietro said. "It doesn't hurt."
"Mmmmm," Aragorn voiced out. "I guess I can do so."
"Either way, I'll set Hell in war preparation mode," Wanda said. "I doubt you'll find anything unless it's pretty apparent."
"As you said," Agatha interjected. "The universe is a large place."
"I'll be back," Aragorn said before disappearing.
A few days later—to them—Aragorn reappeared. They were all gathered in the same room, since that is how they decided to spend most of their days after Wanda's pregnancy was confirmed.
"How did it go, Old Man?" Pietro asked.
"No, well, I was only there for a few minutes, but aside from what I already knew, I couldn't find the root of my worries," Aragorn said.
"That was about the future gaining on the present, right?" Wanda asked.
"Yes. Did you talk to Noona?" Aragorn asked.
"Correct, the Mistress caught us up to date," Wanda nodded.
"Everything was pretty much as we left it, but it did indeed feel different to sense the future gaining on the present," Aragorn said. "I'll probably erase the future when we return."
"Why didn't you do it?" Pietro asked.
"I didn't know what was powering the change. I could have broken something vital if I had intervened without properly assessing the situation," Aragorn said.
"... I don't like it," Pietro said. "After our babies turn rebellious and become teenagers, I'll drop by to keep an eye on our Goddess."
"I would appreciate it greatly," Aragorn said.
"Were you that close to peaking your divinity?" Agatha asked with a gaze of scrutiny.
"I'm very close," Pietro said. "I was planning on ascending next decade."
"What about you two?" Aragorn asked. To his eyes, Wanda appeared as if she were holding back, like Seraph and Spark once were.
"I'm good in the Hell domain, but I'm holding back on Chaos because that would imply an unavoidable clash with Chthon," Wanda said.
"I'm close—probably a century or less," Agatha said. "Though I'll stay here with Wanda during Pietro's absence."
"That's okay. You don't need to rush into danger for Earth. Like I said, Gaea is safe, and that will remain so, no matter what," Aragorn reassured Agatha. "About that Chthonic matter..." he turned to Wanda.
"Yes?" Wanda asked.
"Will you need my help?" he asked.
"Mmmmm, possibly not," Wanda said, somewhat insecure. "I would appreciate the safety net, though."
"Alright, that's no bother," Aragorn readily agreed. "Let's just make sure it doesn't coincide with whatever universe-ending crisis will be awaiting us, shall we?"
"That's for sure," Wanda said with a chuckle.
"Great! With Aragorn's help, we're just left figuring out what we'll do with the Chaos Realm," Agatha said. She was visibly more relaxed after knowing Aragorn would have their back when they faced the Elder God of Chaos.
"Sis, have you decided to annex it to our Hell?" Pietro asked.
"I have not," Wanda said before looking away. "You know the saying—don't count the chickens before they hatch."
"It feels more like you don't know how to integrate your Chaos and Hell domains," Aragorn chuckled.
"Shut up!" Wanda said with no force to her demand. "It's not easy, okay? I don't want to hand the demons the ammunition called chaos magic."
"Hahaha," Aragorn laughed at Wanda's reaction. "Take your time, Wandabus, there's no rush."
"We can turn the Chaos Realm into a deeper layer of Hell and restrict its access, at worst," Agatha suggested.
"That's a good suggestion," Aragorn nodded. "Anyway, I have to go. Ever since the Isthmus was disclosed, humanity has been in a frenzy."
"That's a mess I want no part in," Pietro declared.
"Ah, take this, Unruly Teen," Aragorn pulled out a joust lance evidently made from his body parts—a large darkened bone, a crystalline spear tip bearing a striking resemblance to his tail blade, and a guard made of his scales. "For a speedster like you, this is the veritable wings of a tiger."
Pietro took it and analyzed it with detailed care. "It feels powerful," he commented while making a few quick piercing strikes.
"It's nigh-indestructible," Aragorn added before his expression turned feral. "Make sure its tip is aimed at my enemies." His eyes flashed red for a moment.
Pietro's reply was a murderous grin.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Earth-199999
~502 BE (Before Emergence) ~ 1521 CE (Current Era).
While I can't claim that I underestimated the impact that the Isthmus would have on the human side of Earth, the amount of course corrections I've had to do has well beyond exceeded my expectations.
The colonization of the Pacific Coast of America is going faster than I expected, which means I'll have to drop a plague here and there or cause some type of conflict to drag their progress to a crawl. Fucking Spaniards and their need to stick their flag on every fertile land!
To be fair, the other humans are no different. This is why I'm racist to these monkeys. However, I can't help but find the way they spread like a virus against adversity somewhat entertaining and, under the most bizarre definition of the word, cute.
Still, they go about colonization and conquering wrong.
They haven't even consolidated their power before they jump to their next conquest. One would think that after so many examples of empires collapsing because they overreached, they would have learned, right?... They didn't, what a surprise.
We taught the Duskari about this. Unless certain key indexes are met, like natality rate, population density, GPM, and other indexes related to population and economy, another planet is not populated. This is common sense—you don't run before you learn how to crawl.
Comparing them won't help anyone, so let's move on.
For the moment, human vessels aren't allowed to port in the Isthmus, aside from in the customs booths. But that hasn't stopped the daredevil and overly curious humans from jumping ship and trying to beach on the Isthmus... Well, with the amount of megafauna swimming in the Isthmus waters, it's no surprise that nothing aside from gore came out of it.
This didn't mean that the humans couldn't appreciate and recognize the 'divinity' of the Isthmus from the comfort of their ships. This led to the Isthmus being known as the Divine City.
The route passing so close to the permanent portal to The Ark didn't help quell the rumors; it only blew them out of proportion.
Humanity wasn't new to magic and portals—I made sure of that—but this didn't steal the novelty and otherworldly nature from the permanent portal.
The architecture was another aspect that had them awestruck. The kids (Duskari) had taken such a liking to my Obelisks that, after thousands of years of growing their technologies, they had managed to create skyscrapers as tall as my Obelisks were.
Hence, in the eyes of the ignorant humans, Urbes Sorores and the other Duskari cities along the canals appeared as if blessed with a high concentration of Obelisks, a type of structure they considered my blessing.
So yeah, in all matters of logic, it was impossible for them not to associate the Isthmus with divinity.
Another aspect that made it to the talks of the royal courts was that they could see the 'Custodians' freely moving about outside their natural habitat, the Obelisks.
It wasn't only in the Isthmus. After the war ended, I permitted the Duskari to interact and come outside their Obelisks, so now, across the world, Duskaris could be spotted.
There weren't that many interested in it. This was not unexpected; there was little Earth had to offer the Duskari. But still, some of them who held an interest in anthropology—or as they call it, progeniology, the study of ancestrals—decided to venture and experience civilization among the humans.
I put a ban on them carrying any form of technological device aside from their P-Links. I didn't want them to create issues for me to fix. There was no need to worry about their safety either, since just in the base stats—without chakra or magical enhancements—they were considered superhuman.
Still... I was summoned a few times a year when the humans decided it was a good idea to capture them to drink their blood and gain eternal youth, or some bullshit like that.
"How did the royalty get involved?" I asked the Duskari in question.
"Head, I was doing some charity work for my CV. About a month in, I bought a little corner here and established a clinic. On a busy afternoon, a human came bleeding out; he needed a transfusion asap, so I had my teacher send me a couple of blood bags.
"In the hurry, I forgot to close the door to the room where I was treating the human, and someone peeked in," Luxevolt said.
"Ah, I can infer the rest," I waved my hand while looking at the mob crowding opposite us. "They thought it was your blood and then linked that to eternal youth."
"Yes, head, that's exactly it," Luxevolt nodded. "I'm not that great at mobility casting, so I would have to fight my way out; that's why I decided to pray to Goddess Seraph."
"You can't use flying spells?" I asked.
"Ugh, please don't remind me of it, Head. My affinity is awful, and I got used to airlifting tech, but I'm currently not allowed to carry it with me," he replied, a blush of embarrassment on his face.
"Terrible," Aragorn admonished with little heat to his words. "I guess slaughtering your way out wouldn't look good on your résumé. I'll portal you to America; healers are in need over there. How is your Spanish?"
"I'll manage with my P-Link until I learn the language," Luxevolt said with unconcealed joy. "Having another natural language will look good on my CV."
Shaking my head, I opened a portal for him to the Atlantic Coast of Mexico. The kid was 30 years old, which by Duskari standards can be considered a 'child.'
I turned to look at the now-quiet moob and said, "Custodian blood will not give anyone eternal youth. All you accomplished was driving away a skilled healer."
"A-Ajila, that can't be," one of the crowd cried out.
"It can and it is," I said. "Greedy, ignorant humans die quickly, that's just nature."
I warped away after my last words.
Aside from the occasional conflict with humans, which, might I add, I think the Duskari blow out of proportion to have the chance to summon me, the other world-breaking news that had the humans on their toes was the southern face of the South Scale and the northern face of the North Scale.
Evidently, with history being depicted in such raw and truthful matter on the northern face of the North Scale, humans—especially religion—were losing their marbles.
And this was only a small portion of what they had been able to peer into. Both scales were so large and tall that most of their faces were out of reach. They would need telescopes and probably climbing equipment to be able to see or reach past a certain altitude.
Still, with the few truths they had been able to obtain, religion was thinking of claiming the lands immediately beyond the North Scale and putting a ban on it.
I let them do as they wanted, simply because they wouldn't be able to cover a wall so tall that it almost reached cruising altitude. Come the 17th century, when telescopes began to develop, all of their banning will go to the trash.
The situation with the southern face of the South Scale was that it depicted the Drachantheon Therion and our territories. The world knew of other deities because they could find a certain hearth goddess in the Sanctum Ingeniorum, and Selene dropped by from time to time. There were also various accounts of when other Therions visited me.
So, at least, on the side of revelations, this wall was better. Still, it conflicted with certain views and it could also be considered as a monument of worship. At least, when the church saw me in the mural, they decided they didn't have the balls to try and ban this facade. Good for them.
Overall, I find the impact of the Isthmus in history logical and quite interesting. Based on the small snippets I've peeked from the future, Mexico will gobble up all the countries of Central America south of them to North Scale, and it appears that Spanish will not be the only official language of the country.
With the conquistadores making a swift landing on the previously out-of-reach coasts, and the colonization of America moving faster, events that would have happened later happened sooner and some were entirely changed. Still, even with so many new additions to the equation, some things never changed.
"Heya," I called out after landing near my Eternals pals.
"Aragorn?" Ajak said. "I thought you were too busy with the Isthmus."
"Just a tad more than usual," I replied.
"Are you here about the end of the last of the Deviants on Earth?" Phastos asked. In his hand, a metallic projection device showed a globe of Earth isolating this current area.
"Eh? Not really," I said. "I'm here because they are dedicating their children to me," I pointed at the genocide behind me.
Through the darkness of the jungle, void barrier bubbles flew to me. The precious cargo? Babies, toddlers, and children peacefully unconscious.
"This is absurd," Druig complained before activating his psionic powers.
"Don't," Ajak called out. "We don't interfere in their wars."
"War?" Druig scoffed. "Slaughter, or better yet, genocide; that's what this is."
"He has a point," I add. "It's literally bringing a knife to a gunfight."
The detonations echoing in the background do well to prove my point.
"Maybe it wasn't a good idea to help them advance, Phastos," Druig accused.
"Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig," Phastos defended his actions.
"Meh, even without your help with the gunpowder, they would have discovered it," I add while moving closer to Thena. "Or they would have invented another way to kill each other faster."
"It's not exactly something that I can stop," Phastos argued.
"No, you can't, but I can," Druig raised his voice.
I stood face to face with Thena.
"It's too late," she murmured. Cosmic energy was flowing erratically through her brain, and it was even showing under the skin of her face.
"Thena?" Sersi called out, concern in her voice.
"Everyone is going to die," Thena said, her gaze empty despite being straight in front of her.
Her eyes went white, and her pupils and irises disappeared.
"Are you okay?" Sersi asked.
"Nah, she is not," I replied.
Thena activated her powers, and a halberd of cosmic energy manifested.
She then swung straight to my neck.
"Thena!" Sersi screamed. Her shout put a pause to the infighting between Phastos and Druig.
Frozen mid-swing, I reached for her head and placed my hand softly on her. The madness slowly retreated back inside.
"What's wrong with her?" Sersi asked, concern laced in her words and worn on her face.
"The simple explanation? Her brain short-circuited, and it superimposed scenes of traumatic events of the past into her perception of the present reality," I replied.
"What happened?" Ikaris asked. Following him, the missing Eternals arrived.
'Thena attacked Aragorn,' Makkaris signed.
"Let me see," Ajak approached with hurried steps. Her hand lit up, and she began to scan the unconscious Eternal held standing by my telekinesis.
"Mahd Wy'ry," Ajak declared after a second of work.
"No, that can't be," Gilgamesh said with a despondent look.
"I thought that was a myth," Kingo said.
"No one really talks about it because there's no cure," Phastos somberly said.
"I don't know about that," I commented, their eyes turning to me. "You should take her to see Seraph or Spark. Based on what I see"—my eyes locked in the inner workings of her head—"the problem can be solved somewhat easily, but it would imply some revelations that Arishem was keeping to itself."
I believe it's better to leave the revelation of their synthetic nature to my synthetic daughters.
"Arishem?" Ajak asked.
"What revelations?" Sersi followed.
"You can ask Arishem, it's your family drama," I shrugged. "Maybe do so after my daughters fix the problem; ask for forgiveness instead of permission and all of that. I doubt he will even care."
"What do you mean?" Druig asked, he felt peeved at the way I spoke in riddles.
"You killed the last Deviants, right?" I asked, turning to Ikaris, Kingo, and Gilgamesh.
"Yes," Ikaris replied. The other two nodded in acknowledgment.
"Then your mission has been completed," I said. "The only thing that remains is the completion of my part, which should happen in 502 years from now. You're technically free from work for the next five centuries, though please confirm with your boss first."
"Is that true?" Sprite asked Ajak.
"As Aragorn said, I need to confirm with Arishem, but I think he is right," Ajak said. Her hands 'turned off' and she stopped studying Thena.
"Maybe, take this time to drop by the Imperium," I suggested. "I know the Duskari are fond of Phastos, and I bet Druig will like a war-free environment"—I turned to Sprite—"the culture is different and you won't have a problem finding a match." I then looked at the others, "You won't have to pull back, the humans in the Imperium are outside Arishem's design, you can just be yourselves, or simply find a quiet place and settle down. I'm certain Arishem won't mind."
They exchanged looks and, after some deliberation, agreed to follow me to the Imperium.
I chose to open a portal in the Isthmus and not the Ark or Seraph's or Spark's star systems because I don't know if Arishem forbade them from leaving Earth.
"This place reminds me of our home," Sprite said.
"Ugh," I winced.
"What?" Sersi, who was near me, asked.
"Nothing," I dismissed her question. "You'll find out about it later." I was not about to tell them that their home was false.
The Eternals went through customs procedures, and then we caught a portal to Mindee's home Obelisk.
"Make yourselves at home," I said. "Mindee should be here soon to receive you. I'll go pick up my girls."
I warped to the Cortana System and quickly made my way to my sweet Smurfette.
"Heya, Father," Seraph greeted me as she glomped me in a hug.
"Hello, sweet flan. Are you currently busy?" I asked.
"Uhmm," she hummed for a moment, holographs flashing rapidly across her room, which was more of a command center, then disappearing as fast as they came. "Not anymore," she grinned.
"Great," I said and pecked her cheeks. "Let's go get Spark."
"Oh? Are we bringing the big guns?" she inquired. "Did something happen?"
"Not anything serious," I reassured her. "But Thena's circuits went haywire."
"Ah, I see," Seraph said in realization.
I warped us to Spark's territory.
Spark's system was the closest one to The Ark. Her system had the largest concentration of terraformed planets any single star system held. It was artificially packed to the extreme with 416 planets in the habitable zone by using a mix of prograde and retrograde (opposite direction) orbits.
I found Spark on her crown/capital world.
"Oh?" Spark tilted her head at our appearance. "My sister and dear creator, what can I do for you?"
"We can talk about that in a sec," I said. "I have a question first."
"Shoot," Spark grinned when she saw my evaluating gaze.
"I have a daughter who wears no clothing," I pointed to Seraph, who was sitting on my shoulders using my horns as handles.
"Obviously, there's nothing wrong with that," Seraph cheerfully quipped.
"Then I have another who wears the equivalent of a one-piece swimsuit at all times in different styles," I pointed to Spark's get-up.
It was a flowery one-piece 'swimsuit' based on 2B's original get-up.
"Let's not forget the Madam's style, which is very close to that of a bellydancer," Spark said.
"... You know what?" I voiced out. "Forget I said anything. I'll just hope the new upcoming addition to the family won't be an exhibitionist."
"~Fufufufu," Seraph chuckled above my head, and Spark did her best to hide a very obvious grin.
"Are you busy?" I asked.
"The Eternals are about to find out about their synthetic origin," Seraph supplemented.
"Ah, this will be interesting," Spark said. Like with her little sister, holographs flashed rapidly for a moment, and then she jumped into my arms.
I princess-carried her and then teleported to Mindee's Obelisks, to the Eternals.
Mindee had already set them up with some pastries, and they were enjoying some beverages with them.
"I'm back," I declared. "I brought some exhibitionists with me."
"How rude," Spark said while I lowered her down.
"That's definitely not a fetish of mine," Seraph said while floating off my shoulders.
"Some of you know them, some don't," I said. "These are Seraph and Spark. They can help with Thena's problem."
I gave the stage to my girls and moved to Mindee. With practiced ease, one of her tails found its way to my lap and began combing.
"Hello, Grandfather," Mindee greeted me. "It appears you've had a busy day."
"Yep," I said. "I had to inscribe some history in the North Scale, and there were some names of outstanding Duskari you asked me to engrave on its inner face."
"It's good that that's done, Grandfather," Mindee nodded, pleased with the news.
"I also had to bail one of the children from a mob of ignorant idiots thinking themselves vampires to drink the blood of 'eternal youth'," I spat.
"Don't worry, Grandfather. You know those come and go," the fox reassured me.
"Then, the locals of Tenochtitlan were being slaughtered, and my name was called to offer me their children. By the way, did Emma receive them?" I asked.
"Yes, Mother was very much pleased with the package," Mindee nodded, a purr escaping her due to my ministrations in keeping her fluff on point. "There's a continent on one of the newly terraformed planets that was lacking some population."
"That's always the case in the Imperium," I commented. "While I was doing that, I came upon the whole Thena going mad situation."
"I see," Mindee said. "And now they are being told the truth."
Just as Mindee said. The Eternals were mouth agape, life paradigm-shattering, worldview-destroyed, life-upturned as they observed how Thena's head was opened up to its component parts and Spark and Seraph worked hard to fix her problem.
Druig turned to me and asked, "For how long have you known?"
"Since before you were created," I succinctly replied.
"This..." He didn't continue with his words.
"It's not like it changed anything," I added.
"What do you mean?" Sersi picked up. "This changes a lot!" Her voice came with possibly more force than intended.
"Not to me," I shrugged. "You have souls, that's all I care about. Also, I love to death and beyond those two,"—I pointed at my girls with my tail—"they are just like you. Why would I care about you being like them?"
Sersi sucked back in her arguments and complaints.
"Sersi, from the perspective of being alive," Mindee interjected, "my grandfather and grandmother are closer by definition to objects or concepts; none in the Imperium would care or even think about your situation in any bad light."
I nodded. I'm certain that if they went to the average Duskari and 'revealed' the news, they would get something like 'Oh? Like Goddesses Seraph and Spark?' and then move on.
"I should contact Arishem," Ajak muttered.
"You can bring the Domo to the Isthmus," Mindee called out as Ajak moved to the exit. "I already cleared it for landing."
Ajak nodded.
About a few minutes later, my girls confirmed Thena's 'fixing' was successful, and every one of her companions breathed a sigh of relief.
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
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{A/N:
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}