Rias Gremory was a little stunned, surprised, and to say her expression was a bit foolish would be an understatement. She'd had a completely normal day, as normal as one could expect from someone in the supernatural world; in fact, it had been a peaceful day. But suddenly, not only had Serafall Leviathan arrived, but also her older brother.
Their personal appearance in the clubroom could only mean two things.
One, there was trouble. And two, there was trouble. Because there was no way two Maou with such a heavy workload would just drop by for a visit. Even with Serafall's eccentricities and how much her brother loved her, neither of them would abandon their responsibilities to fool around.
And when the two of them said that something important had happened, things quickly took a completely bizarre turn. She considered possible attacks, another invasion of the Underworld, even that the Khaos Brigade might have kidnapped someone important. But I definitely never expected Serafall to blurt out so suddenly that, at this very moment, someone from a different timeline had appeared here, in this world.
And that wasn't so shocking when it was revealed to be Rias Gremory.
Rias Gremory's mind went blank for a few moments after hearing that. And like her, almost everyone in her group reacted similarly. Although Issei, Xenovia, and Gasper were surprised, they still didn't seem to fully grasp it; they simply understood that there were now two Rias Gremorys in this world.
"Two Rias..." Issei muttered before swallowing hard. And Serafall, who noticed this, along with everyone else, couldn't help but look on with a bit of caution. She wasn't really worried about Issei's perverted thoughts, especially since they were now more focused on Rias and the girls in the group. But she had seen and spoken with the other Rias, and she knew that she probably wouldn't accept Issei's nonsense.
"Ise-chan, I recommend you don't show your perverted side~," Serafall's voice reached everyone's ears, drawing attention and causing some to feel curious.
"From what little I've seen, the other Rias-chan is more serious, and I don't think she'll take Ise-chan's behavior too well. You could be destroyed without even knowing it~" Serafall smiled and winked cheerfully, but no one thought it was funny. Only now were they realizing that, even though another Rias Gremory had appeared, she might be completely different from the one they knew.
"I'm quite curious to know the differences between the two," Sirzechs commented with a smile. Serafall had already told him a little, but he couldn't draw any firm conclusions. He wanted to meet her in person and see what kind of person she was.
Rias looked at her brother before sighing slightly, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. After all, the chances of something like this actually happening were practically zero. Now, however, it was happening. There was also the matter of how to deal with the other Rias. She couldn't even think of a way to start a conversation, because she didn't know if they had the same interests.
"So, when will she come? From what's been said so far, she wants to see us," Akeno said, a little curious.
"Well..." Serafall hesitated a bit, but answered anyway. "She'll come whenever you want. She doesn't have much to do besides wait to return to her timeline."
"Then I think it's best to end any important conversation as soon as possible," Rias replied before letting out a sigh and nodding at Serafall with a look that pleaded to get this over with as quickly as possible. She was already a little tired of the problems, especially with what had happened recently.
Issei had died, or at least his body had been destroyed before a new one could be built for him.
"Alright, then I'll call her," Serafall nodded and created a magic circle next to her ear. She began speaking to the other person, and within a couple of minutes, a scarlet magic circle formed in the center of the clubroom. Everyone watched, unblinking, as the teleportation circle glowed brighter and a figure appeared before them.
Hearing about something was a completely different thing than seeing it, or so they said.
In this particular case, it was real. The Rias Gremory who appeared before them was a little taller, wearing what was clearly a black work suit over a red shirt, matching her hair. Her clothes seemed to accentuate her curves and give her a more mature and professional air.
Her expression, devoid of much emotion, swept over each member of the Gremory group before she sighed softly.
"She really is different," she couldn't help but say aloud. For her, who had spent so much time with her family, it was easy to notice the differences. Kiba looked the same as in her timeline, but weaker. Akeno—he could clearly see her, even beneath her smile. The issues with her father might have reached a certain conclusion, according to Azazel, but she still seemed to be struggling.
The rest, well, they were all weaker. And Issei seemed to have grown more perverted than lessened.
"Well, hello to everyone. I don't think I need to introduce myself too much," Rias (A) smiled slightly at them all.
"How old are you?" Sirzechs asked curiously. Rias looked young, but the difference in height and the maturity in her face confused Sirzechs. After all, demons aged more slowly than humans, and when they looked too old, they often used magic to make themselves appear younger.
"Eighteen years old... the same age as my counterpart."
"Oh..." Sirzechs could only murmur as he blinked.
"Why... did you want to see us?" Rias asked, a little uncomfortable having someone who looked exactly like her in front of her.
"Pure curiosity," Rias (A) replied, looking at everyone once more. "I want to see how different you can be from the people I know."
"I see..."
"Although my curiosity was drawn more to Hyoudou Issei when I heard from Azazel that he was given a new body," Rias (A) looked at Issei for a few moments before chuckling softly.
"What are you now? Your humanity was discarded, and you became a Devil. But right now, you feel more like a dragon than a devil."
Issei shifted uncomfortably under Rias (A)'s intense gaze. He couldn't help it; this Rias felt different from the one he was with. He felt that if he said or did anything wrong, he would be beaten into submission.
"I have a question," Akeno decided to speak, seeing her junior's discomfort. "If you're the same age as our Rias, have you already gone through what we have?"
"No," the answer was immediate. "The alliance with the Norse was recently signed, but that already happened here."
"In fact, Azazel told me that Issei almost died there," Rias (A) smiled slightly, causing everyone to notice a certain air of superiority when she mentioned that. Of course, she was doing it on purpose. She wanted to see the different expressions on everyone's faces, and she managed to see her counterpart's eyebrow twitch slightly.
"You seem quite proud. Perhaps it's because you haven't had any problems?" Rias tried to counterattack, but that only caused Rias (A) to place her hand in front of her lips and laugh softly.
"Of course! I've been training tirelessly for some time now. Defeating a weak god like Loki is really no problem. I left the rest to my peerage; they can easily defeat that foolish god's offspring."
"You can fight on par with gods?" Xenovia couldn't help but ask, though her voice was a little low. Anyway, it was clearly audible.
"Hey..." Rias (A) looked at her before sighing. "Honestly, gods aren't that strong. Aside from those on the list of the ten strongest beings, the rest aren't all that impressive."
"Though there are always exceptions," Rias (A) added shortly after.
"Ah, it seems you really are strong," Sirzechs commented, trying to prevent a fight from starting. "You must have trained a lot. And by the way, what's the Gremory family like in your timeline?"
"Comparing the information Azazel gave me, then there aren't too many differences. Although it might be slightly superior," Rias (A) replied before sitting down next to Asia and smiling at the blonde girl, who returned the smile with a sweet and shy smile.
"Superior? How so?" Sirzechs asked, now genuinely interested. Rias (A) looked at him before sighing softly.
"When you became Maou Lucifer, you were, in a way, severed from the Gremory family. And so, the Underworld gained one of its strongest beings, but the Gremory family... well, they lost it, so to speak. Of course, there was still the reputation of the family having raised and trained you in a certain way."
"But, when I fought Indra, the Gremory family regained even more fame and glory. A new being capable of fighting the strongest gods had been born from the same family. And at the same time, with some things I did and said, some vermin who were still aligned with the old Satanic faction's ideas came to light. In this way, it was easy to remove them from their positions."
"It was a bit of a surprise that there was some trash on Astaroth who needed to die," Rias (A) snorted, recalling the moment when Diodora Astaroth's activities were discovered.
"It was a bit of a shock to find such a piece of trash on Astaroth."
"It was a bit of a shock to find such a piece of trash on Astaroth who needed to die." "Diodora's dead?!" Issei growled as he asked.
"I think what he said about fighting Indra is more impressive," Kiba commented.
"He tried to lure Asia, just like he did with other girls from the Church," Rias (A) said, shaking her hand in disgust. "Of course I killed him. No one tries to harm my family and get away with it."
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