Hey, Alex here.
I finally got another chapter done, so I wanted to give a quick update along with it.
I did end up going to the doctor about the sleep issue. She told me it is very possible that I was fighting something off and basically fought it off without ever really catching what it was. That would explain why I was crashing so hard and sleeping as much as I was for a while there.
So hopefully that is behind me now, and things can start getting back to normal.
After this weekend, I should be getting back into things more consistently. I am going to try to write the rest of DXD over the weekend while I am at work, so hopefully you will see another chapter or two within the next three or four days.
After that, I will probably switch over to MHA or start putting more work into Marvel and Invincible based on how the poll turned out.
Going forward, DXD and MHA are probably going to stay my main focus since those feel like my flagship stories right now. Marvel and Invincible will more likely be background projects that I work on periodically based on the cycle setup I talked about earlier.
Sorry again about the inconsistency lately. I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noise.
As soon as Sam opened his mouth, the dog pile was too fast, too aware for them being asleep moments before.
Their voices overlapped and they clung to his body.
What didn't help was the mixture of fear and worry that overwhelmed his senses.
But he caught the repeated questions that seemed louder.
"Was he okay?"
"Did he know he's a dragon?"
And "To not worry them like that again."
Sam sat up, noticing as the blanket fell that all of them were naked. Himself included.
"What the hell…"
He rubbed his eyes, blocking his view. Partly to suppress the embarrassment. Partly to give them time to cover up.
Akeno laughed, leaning in to whisper into his ear, her breasts pressing against his arm. "Feeling shy, didn't I say to take them all?"
Sam shot Akeno a warning glare, but was interrupted by the scrambling of Yumi and Asia.
"N-now that Sam is fine... we should go!"
"But what about them?" Asia pointed to Rias, Akeno, and Koneko.
The three seemed unbothered by both proximity and nudity between them and Sam.
Yumi looked at the three women, mouth opening and closing as she struggled to find an answer. "I'm just going!"
Yumi practically ran out of the room, using the sheet to cover herself.
Unfortunately, her action pulled the sheet all the way off the bed, exposing all of them at once.
"Oh lord!" Asia shut her eyes, turning away following Yumi out of the room.
Sam sighed, pulling a pillow over to cover his junk. "Why are you three this… casual about nudity?"
Rias rolled her eyes playfully before laying back on the bed, not bothering to cover up.
"Why wouldn't we be? Humans were the ones to enforce modesty in the common era, Devils are… more free spirited."
Akeno shifted around behind Sam to push her breasts against his back. "And shouldn't the hero enjoy his spoils? Beating Riser like that made you Rias's fiancé, though not officially~"
Koneko just watched, cheeks pink as she mirrored Sam's action of grabbing a pillow, but said nothing.
Sam looked back, raising an eyebrow at Akeno. "Then wouldn't my spoils be Rias? Why are you here?"
Akeno giggled. "Well, we belong to Rias and let's be honest, her future husband would most likely…" She wiggled her eyebrows to insinuate what she didn't say.
Rias blushed, now looking similar to Koneko. "I'm not just spoils and it's not officially yet, and who's to say it will be?"
Akeno gave Rias a playful smile, but her hands were nothing playful.
Sam felt them slide deliberately down his chest, settling over his own hands that were holding the pillow.
He was sure that it was hiding what he suspected she wanted to tease as he felt her emotions flare with a cocktail of possessiveness along with lust.
"Oh, how odd. With the way your father was looking at Sam, it seemed like he was already thinking about a mighty dragon~"
Koneko moved closer, settling next to Sam's leg. Sam felt the quiet possessiveness alongside the embarrassment but the stare leveled at Akeno was what got his attention. "Dragon. Explain."
Sam rolled his eyes at Koneko's bluntness even as he smiled at it. He found it funny that she could break through Akeno's barrage of flirting and teasing with a simple question.
"Well, I don't know? I didn't decide to one day and become a dragon."
The girls looked at him with suspicion, or in Akeno's case, she pushed harder on Sam's back.
Sam felt mischief radiating from her as he noticed her hands move again.
Definitely trying to embarrass him despite the conversation drifting into being less intimate.
"Seriously, you guys knew how weak I was. I almost died like three times since I got to Kuoh."
Rias sat up, crossing her legs as she looked Sam in the eyes. "I know, it's just hard to think that you were… that."
Koneko scooted closer, now touching Sam's leg with her own. "Still Sam, so not like I care. Just was curious."
"Well, not to worry. I'm still me." Sam said as he ruffled her hair.
Rias let out a small breath that Sam barely heard. "Well, in that case, I'm glad. If… if we were to be engaged, I would much prefer this version of you."
"Same~" Akeno said as she rested her head on Sam's shoulder. "Much more attractive than scales~"
A sudden knock on the door drew everyone's attention, Sam catching the briefest signs of curiosity lingering right outside the door.
Grayfia? That's a solid object, did my perception improve enough for Empath to direct through stuff?
Rias cleared her throat. "Come in."
Grayfia stepped, eyes scanning the room. "Ah, it seems I interrupted something. Should I come back?~"
Sam rolled his eyes. "We were just finishing, unless the ladies had different thoughts."
Rias, who was beginning to recover, had her cheeks flush again. "N-no, we were done. There's too much to talk about to just stay in bed."
Akeno sighed, disappointed. "Well, I guess it's time for the hero to get ready for his grand reveal~"
Koneko shifted away, getting off the bed. Despite her earlier reservations about her body, she didn't seem to mind as she got dressed.
"We need to eat."
Sam nodded, suddenly feeling the pang of hunger that surprised him in intensity. "Food sounds amazing right now. I guess being a badass is calorie consuming."
"Well, you've been invited to dine with Maou-sama and Father-in-law this morning." Grayfia said as if she had planned around Sam's hunger.
Rias was the one who froze. "Brother and Father?"
Grayfia only nodded to Rias's need for clarification. "I'll inform them that you are all awake, they've been quite interested in Sam."
As she left, Sam felt the change from curiosity to slight satisfaction. Satisfaction from what exactly? He had an idea due to her earlier looks at him but he felt best it wasn't to entertain it.
"So food? With a political delicacy. Not sure my stomach will survive."
Rias and Akeno let out a small laugh, Rias getting up first to get dressed. "You'll do fine, most likely. They're… intense but not malicious."
Akeno gave Sam one last squeeze before rolling off the bed onto her feet. "But you deal with intense things all too well, don't you Sam~?"
Sam shot her a look, deciding to poke at her. "Me? I thought it was you who handled intensity too well."
Akeno turned away, but Sam caught her embarrassment and excitement. He chuckled as he got off the bed as well. "New room, where's my clothes?"
Koneko, who was already dressed, threw him his clothes. "Cover up. It's distracting."
"Yes, Kitty-Sensei."
She shot him a glare but he felt no heat behind it. "Careful."
Sam chuckled now, focusing on getting dressed. "Think Grayfia told Yumi and Asia?"
Rias was mostly dressed as she looked over his way. "If not, we'll get them on our way there, it's on the way."
Sam nodded, as he searched for his shoes.
By the time they exited the room, Yumi and Asia were already waiting.
Yumi spoke first, the flustered girl from earlier that morning no longer there. "Now that we're all here, we get some breakfast. Sam must be starving after the rating game."
Asia nodded. "I'm just glad he wasn't hurt. He gave me a big scare."
Sam smiled at their concern. "Well, I'll try harder next time, but Yumi is right, let's go eat. I'm starving."
He felt a wave of happiness radiate towards him. Right, this damn trait for the smile…
[Fusion Detected…]
[Under the influence of Heroic King, Traits Charming Smile, Perfumer, and Comforting Presence are detected to have compatibility.]
[Would you like to fuse these traits?]
—
Odd timing, but this seems like a less chance of exploding in my face.
He allowed the fusion as he walked along with the girls, they talked amongst themselves.
[Fusing…]
[Fusion Complete!]
[Heroic Presence]
|Elite Trait|
There's something about you that steadies a room without trying; conversations ease, tension loosens, and distrust rarely hardens unless someone truly means it to. Even small things — the warmth of your smile, the faint familiarity in your scent, the way you carry yourself — seem to fall in line with that effect rather than cause it.
—
Sam didn't feel a change in himself.
But as he kept walking, he was able to notice the girls walking closer to him.
Throughout the walk he felt a higher sense of ease from them.
That was fast… Elite traits are scary.
When they reached the doors to the dining hall, they swung open on their own revealing a large room.
The table itself seemed expensive, exotic in color to Sam. But it was the person sitting to the left of the head of the table that drew his attention.
The power was practically vibrating the air, causing Sam's instinct he had honed with Grayfia's live combat training to flare.
"Ah… Sam Barnes, was it?" The man barely gave him a glance as he brought a cup to his lips.
"I must thank you for helping my sister with her engagement." He sat his cup down, turning his head towards Sam.
"But how will you take responsibility?"
Sam felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. The threat underneath carried aggression that made Sam want to widen his stance.
"As long as Rias is happy. That's all that I did it for, even if she were to seek out another engagement elsewhere as long as she wanted it."
The man narrowed his eyes for a moment, before he let out a laugh. "Ha! Too much humility is unbecoming of a man. You should have ambition."
"Brother!" Rias yelled as she stepped in front of Sam.
"Sister! Come give big brother a hug!" The red haired man practically jumped from his seat, arms spread out.
Sam felt the tonal whiplash like hurricane winds. One moment he was staring down what he felt might be a version of a reaper. Now? It looked and felt like a big red cushion.
The man at the head of the table, Rias's father Sam presumed, coughed. "Sirzechs, you did your test. Sit down please."
"Just one little hug from my baby sister?" Sirzechs said expectantly as he looked at Rias.
"Urrgh!" Rias gave him a hug. "Next time, don't test my friends!"
Sirzechs laughed again. "I don't test your friends, but the man who fought for your marital freedom, isn't just a friend is he?"
Rias flushed red. "That isn't official!"
The man, definitely Rias's father now, coughed again. "Sit. That's part of our discussion this morning."
Sam nodded, sparing a glance at Sirzechs again. The man met his eyes with a grin, mouthing "let's spar later, Brother-in-law."
Sam felt his face flushed, the term brother-in-law felt charged with something he didn't exactly care to name.
Marriage… that was not in my bingo card…