Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV – January 6, 1977, Magical World / June 30, 2008, DxD.
"Are you sure you really want our date to be like this? You know I already promised I would do it the same way, right? We could have our date another day." I asked curiously. Freya just smiled broadly and nodded.
I stared at her as she wore a rather modest white dress compared to her usual attire, but it suited her beautifully. I couldn't help but admire her slightly, which made Freya smile even more.
"Yes, don't worry!" Freya said cheerfully. I just nodded cautiously, then moved my hand, and a portal appeared next to us.
" Succubi! Here I am!" Loki shouted as she stepped through the portal without hesitation, a huge, lecherous grin spreading across her face. I just snorted loudly. Loki glanced around, seeing only the interior of the mansion, and pouted. Then she fixed her gaze on me. "Quick, Serena, send me to the succubi!" Loki said eagerly as her familia's executives followed her out. I could hear more than one sigh.
"Of course," I said playfully. I cast a spell on her to follow her before opening a second portal, which Loki stepped through without hesitation. I shook my head. Well, I'd already told Marion that Loki was coming. If Marion didn't attend to her herself, I'd make sure Loki was treated well.
"I'm sorry for our goddess's behavior." Finn sighed beside us. I just huffed.
"Don't worry, the succubi are more than happy to oblige," I said playfully. Finn sighed.
"""""Freya-sama!""""" Several voices overlapped as they emerged from the portal. The former Freya familia's executives stepped out of the portal and immediately knelt before Freya.
"My children," Freya said excitedly. She didn't even bother to fake it. She went over to them, picked them up, hugged them, and kissed them on the forehead. They all looked genuinely bewildered. "How have you been? Riveria has told me a little about you, but I'd rather hear it from you personally, so tell me everything that's been happening," Freya said cheerfully. I smiled slightly before glancing at Finn.
"Do you want to come with us or would you rather go your separate ways again?" I asked Finn and the other members of the Loki family. Finn smiled slightly before shaking his head.
"We'll manage, thanks for welcoming us once again to the Underworld and Pentagram City." Finn said easily. I could see everyone nodding, except for a couple of them. First, Gareth was officially here for the first time, and second, Lefiya seemed to be in a bad mood.
"Okay, I'll drop you off near the center, you can go anywhere from there, I'll come and get you when it's time to leave." I told them easily.
"Of course, we won't get into trouble," Finn said, nodding.
"Oh, before I forget, if you're curious, there's a Rating Game match today too." I said easily; I appreciate that it piques the curiosity of several people.
"Oh? Someone interesting?" Bete asked, intrigued. I smiled through my teeth.
"I'll be participating," I said playfully, which I appreciated, and it opened several people's eyes. "Well... I doubt I'll be fighting directly, but my Peerage, my family, will. They're more than enough," I told him honestly. Finn nodded.
"We'll be there," Finn said easily.
"I'll take care of taking them, after all, I'll be fighting too." Riveria said with a small smile.
"You too?" Lefiya asked, surprised, her anger fading. Riveria nodded.
"Yes, it's a... debut, let's say. Rebecca, Lucina, and I will calmly face the one we fight," Riveria said easily. I almost sighed and glanced at Freya. Yes, despite having things to do, the Rating Games were still being organized; this fight had already been decided a couple of days ago.
Freya knew this, and yet she had insisted that our meeting be today and that her children come today as well. One of her reasons was simply to show her, in the best way possible, the devils' culture, and I suppose, so, Rating Games were already part of the culture at this point, so in a way it made sense.
But Pentagram City hosted other Rating Games as well, more often than my Peerage and I fought there, yet Freya insisted on doing everything today. Luckily, I had the day off, as winter break ends tomorrow and I have to return to Hogwarts, at least for a few days, until all the paperwork is finalized.
"Then we won't miss them for anything in the world!" Gareth laughed happily. I just nodded and created a portal, but not before sending a mental message to Riveria.
"Is Lefiya okay?" I asked curiously.
"She is, she's just upset because Bell Cranel just reached level 3 after the war against the Apollo Familia, just like other members of the Familia, " Riveria said playfully. I sighed. True, that happens. "By the way..." Riveria tried to say cautiously.
"Did something happen?" I asked curiously.
"Nothing to worry about, I just wanted to know if you had any problem with me taking care of Evilus and Knosuss before they resurface," Riveria said with a touch of coldness, my eyes widening slightly.
"Oh, no, I don't have any problem with that, just... do whatever you want with them, even take Bella if you want, or tell me if you need my help." I said immediately, and I could feel Riveria's refusal right away.
"It's not necessary, I alone will be enough," Riveria said coldly. "I will make sure to kill Valleta Grede and Evilus myself." I shuddered slightly. True, the Thanatos Familia, Knossos, and the Loki Familia were supposed to investigate and fight a powerful spirit, and Valleta, where several members of the Loki Familia died, it was normal that Riveria would be furious and try to end it all before it even started.
"Very well, do as you please, kill them all or sell them to the company, and that includes the gods. If you prefer to kill them, just use Harpe; otherwise, they'll return to heaven. " I told Riveria, practically giving her carte blanche on the matter. She nodded.
"Well, I'll probably kill most of them, but sell some. I've heard whispers about Filvis searching high and low for Dionysus; she's starting to lose her patience and her sanity. I have no problem with her, but she's practically a ticking time bomb. Hopefully, some contractor will take good care of her, " Riveria said with a grimace. I nodded.
Filvis, I had really forgotten about her. Bella had sold Dionisio, leaving Filvis completely alone. I almost thought she would have exploded since it had been more than a month since Dionisio left that world, and Filvis wasn't really sane about the whole thing of being a creature, unfortunately.
"Shall we?" Freya asked, pulling me from my thoughts as she clung to my arm. I let Orario's problems go pretty much; Riveria would take care of them. She was more than strong enough to do it herself.
"It's good to see you again," I told the Freya family executives.
"Lady Prince, thank you for letting us come to the underworld," Ottar said in his deep voice as he bowed.
"Don't worry, please forgive me for taking so long to organize this; the last few weeks have been busy," I said, smiling apologetically. "Now, shall we go? We have so much to show you of Pentagram City and the underworld," I said with a cheerful smile. Everyone nodded immediately.
To my surprise, the city tour wasn't just for the executives; Freya herself was also included. She had been with me throughout the events of Cyberpunk, and we hadn't spent much time in the underworld, so she hadn't had a chance to see Pentagram City herself.
Freya clung to my arm constantly, not even letting go to talk to the rest of her family, who were looking at their goddess, terribly confused, as if they had never seen her like that before. It is possible that they hadn't. Even so, it was good that Freya didn't feel self-conscious and returned to her old personality while her children were there; they would get used to it eventually.
The only ones who remained unchanged were Ottar, who was simply observing everything around him with a critical eye, as if trying to absorb it all or simply to see if he was worthy of his goddess—it was impossible to tell with his stony expression—and then there was Horn, who followed Freya behind us almost unperturbed. Both of them knew Freya more deeply than the rest, especially Horn.
"It really doesn't seem that... different from Orario, or even from humans. If I didn't know they were devils, I'd just think they were people of different races living their lives." Hedin said, adjusting his glasses as he watched the devils come and go. We had been walking and exploring the whole city for a while, just going from one place to another without a real plan, while looking at everything around us, as I talked and explained everything I could.
"You wouldn't notice the difference," I said playfully before shaking my head. "Most of the people who live here are low-class devils, completely civilians. They're barely stronger than normal humans. Each of them just lives their lives, especially now that Pentagram City is safe enough for them to simply live their lives."
"So yes, the devils here are simply content to live normal lives. There are other places in the underworld where things aren't so... friendly." I said with a small smile. Creating a city wasn't something I'd ever planned, but it was truly gratifying to see the city grow, a city where the citizens lived peacefully enough to go about their lives.
"That's good, it means Freya-sama won't have anything to worry about." Allen said with a grimace, and I snorted.
"In Pentagram City? No, she has nothing to worry about. In fact, they're quite accommodating to my Peerage and me. Freya's with me, so it'll extend to her too. But... that doesn't mean the Underworld is completely safe."
"Especially because there are devils who aren't really happy with the things I'm doing. Many of them see strength as absolute, and that the weak should serve them without complaint, and that applies especially to succubi, the sex devils. The fact that I practically created a refuge for them and protected them was something that bothered several devils." I said with a sneer.
"You're one of them, aren't you? A... succubus." Horn said, staring at me intently. I nodded.
"I am, but... I'm special, let's say. My lineage helped me a lot to become who I am now. I was lucky, which is why I decided to help the other succubi who weren't so fortunate and founded this city," I said vaguely. "Freya is strong enough to take care of herself, but I'm also more than strong enough to handle most of the problems," I said easily. I could see several people nodding solemnly.
"So, Horn can stay to attend to Freya-sama?" Ottar asked immediately, everyone's gaze turning to me.
"No... there shouldn't be any problem with Horn staying," I said after a second. I could see their surprise before they smiled in relief. Freya also smiled broadly at me from beside me and clung tighter to my arm.
"Thank you, Lady Prince," Ottar said, bowing slightly.
"Thank you, Lady Prince." Horn repeated immediately, and I just nodded.
"Just Serena, we'll... We'll have to catch you up on several things about the underworld, especially related to Freya, particularly her identity and more, but later, in private." I said without hesitation. Horn nodded and agreed immediately, so we continued walking while we talked.
"By the way, why are there so few children? We also went through the residential areas, and I didn't see any orphanages. Are they somewhere else?" Heith asked, confused. I grimaced.
"We devils... we're not known for our fertility. Two devils can try to conceive for decades before succeeding. That means every child is more precious within the community."
"There are... exceptions among high-class devils, where they focus more on the child's demonic power and neglect or even abuse the child, but in normal cities? Among low-class devils? Children are valued, and if, unfortunately, that child happens to be orphaned, well, dozens of families would want to adopt them immediately."
"There isn't an orphanage, because we don't really have any orphans. There are several homes where children stay temporarily until they're adopted, but they're usually not there for more than a week or two," I told her honestly. I could see her eyes widen slightly.
"Decades?" one of the Gulliver brothers asked, almost horrified. I nodded.
"Yes, it's about... balance, I'd say. We can naturally become stronger, we have a skill set that would facilitate that, and we could grow to the point of facing gods or dragons with ease, all with a longevity measured in millennia, so... balance, I suppose."
"In exchange for all that, our birth rate is really low. We recently had a huge factional war, and then a civil war, so the numbers just keep going down." I sighed with a grimace.
" A war?" Allen asked, frowning. I waved my hand.
"Don't worry, the civil war is over, there are a few members of the old regime who aren't really a problem, and as for the great war, it won't be a problem either; there's a peace conference in about a week." I said without hesitation; several frowned, but nodded nonetheless.
"Now... let's go to the coliseum, the Rating Game is almost here." I said, humming, and we started heading there. I could see people beginning to surround the coliseum and enter in droves. I saw several people look at me and practically point at me excitedly.
I gave them a brief greeting. I could have appeared inside the coliseum, but I had to meet up with Finn and the others. Luckily, their group was easy to find. Once the groups merged, I led them to the private area, leaving Freya there with her group. At the same time, Riveria and I headed to the center, where Rebecca and Lucy were already waiting peacefully.
Once we met with them, everything was ready in a few minutes, and then several huge holographic screens appeared in the sky above the coliseum, revealing a woman.
"GOOD AFTERNOON, PENTAGRAM CITY AND THE REST OF THE UNDERWORLD WATCHING!! THIS IS YOUR LOVELY PRESENTER SPEAKING, I'M EXCITED TO BE HERE ONCE AGAIN. ARE YOU EXCITED TOO!?!?" The presenter's voice echoed throughout the stadium, but was quickly drowned out by the crowd's screams.
I almost wanted to snort, really, the Rating Game was ridiculously famous.
"Ah! How wonderful to hear from you, my dear devils! And let's get straight to the point! On one side, we have a Vaelion Paimon and his Peerage! As you can see, he has an almost complete Peerage, a total of 12 pieces used! His performance in the last Rating Game boasts 3 consecutive wins! Will he be able to maintain his streak today, or will this be the end of his lucky streak!?" The presenter cheerfully introduced our opponents, and I could hear the crowd shouting with excitement.
I looked at the devils that had just appeared and didn't recognize them. I wasn't really familiar with the Rating Game scene, so I didn't recognize them right away. They all seemed to have a solemn and almost defeatist expression on their faces; I almost wanted to snort at that.
"And on the other side, we have our incomparable, our dear and beloved, our patron devil, the Prince of Succubi, the Prince of Metal and the Prince of Common Devils, a round of applause for Serenaaaa Priinnceee!!!!" shouted the presenter, although she couldn't even finish speaking when the roar of the crowd drowned out her voice; what she thought were noisy before, now were even more so.
I could only smile and raise my hand as I waved to everyone.
"Now! You're probably thinking, 'Where is our beloved Impaler Queen?' Our dear Bellatrix is not here today and will not be participating in the Rating Game!" I could hear people gasping, and I could even see hope returning to our opponents. Were they really that afraid of Bellatrix? The answer is surely yes. "But don't worry, my dear devils! No! This time we have a special performance!"
"This is the debut, the presentation, and the introduction of the newest members of our beloved Prince's Peerage! A big round of applause for her three newest pawns! Rebecca, Lucyna, and Riveria!!!" the presenter shouted excitedly. The roar didn't subside in the slightest. Rebecca was practically drinking in the crowd's excitement, waving both hands in the air and grinning. Lucy was more reserved, but she was still smiling and waving. Riveria seemed the most bewildered, but she still managed a smile and a slight wave.
"Our Prince and her three pawns will participate in this Rating Game. Will they be enough? Will we see something truly incredible? Who knows?! But we'll find out soon! Now, let's begin this Rating Game!!!"
Let's get this over with quickly.
Author's Notes: This is going to be short, so I don't think it will last more than one or two chapters, at most. There won't be a big fight, so don't expect much.