We reached today's power stone goal, so here's a bonus chapter. Enjoy!
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"I did say I haven't seen your father in a while," Zeoticus said, continuing to eat with calm elegance. "But we did speak over the phone recently. We had a rather long conversation, and in the end, we decided on something quite interesting."
"That sounds like a pain," Adrien said casually.
Everyone felt the atmosphere at table change and they stopped eating and focused their attention at the two.
Venelana smiled beside her husband, clearly already knowing what he meant.
Rias looked at her parents in suspicion, "Father… what did you decide?"
"Now, now, there's no need to be so cautious, it's nothing bad. It's actually a beautiful opportunity for both clans."
"I refuse," Adrien said directly.
"We decided on an engagement between our two families. So, Adrien, you may start calling me Father-in-law."
Bam!
Rias slammed her hand on the table and abruptly stood up, "Father! Mother! it's the second time! I told you before, I want to choose who I want to marry!"
At Rias's outburst, Venelana's smile disappeared. "Be quiet, Rias. You already broke off your engagement with Riser, even though he defeated you in the Rating Game. Based on the result of that match, you should have already been married to him by now."
Rias stiffened, unable to answer right away. Venelana continued.
"Do you understand how much effort your father and Sirzechs had to put in to calm the other High-Class Devils? Some of them have already started saying that you selfishly used the son of House Agares as a way to escape your betrothal. You may be the sister of a Demon King, but even that has limits. There are things even you cannot simply walk away from without consequences."
Issei's face went pale, "w-wait...".
Rias's face twisted in anger. "Sirzechs has nothing to do with—"
"You don't honestly think your brother had nothing to do with it, do you?" Venelana interrupted. "Sirzechs may need to pretend otherwise for the sake of appearances, but there is no escaping the truth. Everyone sees you as his sister. Your actions reflect on him, whether you like it or not. And now that the Three Great Powers are beginning to work together, your name, your position, and your identity will become even more widely known."
Rias lowered her gaze slightly.
"You will not be able to keep behaving as freely as you have until now. From this point on, many eyes will be on you, Rias. Surely you understand that this is the situation you are in now, don't you?"
Venelana did not stop there. Her gaze shifted from Rias to Adrien. "And half of this is your fault as well, Adrien. There are consequences to every action, When you beat Riser and the news spread, many people took it as proof that you and Rias were already in a relationship. To them, it looked like you stepped in to save her from an unwanted engagement."
She sighed softly. "No one knows that you most likely fought him because he insulted your sister. I am sorry to speak to you like this, especially as a guest in our home. But this is simply the result of everything that happened."
Rias looked truly vexed by her mother's words but was unable to respond. Clearly unconvinced, she retook her seat.
Venelana breathed a quiet sigh before turning back to the rest of the people at the table, "I'm sorry you all had to see that."
Adrien sighed, "that's exactly why I hate politics and everything related to it." He muttered to himself.
He felt something would happen soon after his mother brought up an engagement but he hadn't expected this turn of events.
Adrien looked at Zeoticus. "I get it," he said. "So Rias and I are getting engaged."
Rias stiffened in front of him, but Adrien continued without looking away from Zeoticus.
"So what's the catch? How do we cancel this decision? It obviously won't be a fight between us like it was with Riser. So what is it?"
"Sirzechs guessed you would ask that, so we both decided on something with the approval of your father."
"So Sirzechs is involved in it... that bastard..." Adrien said causing Zeoticus to chuckle. Only Adrien would call the demon king a bastard.
"We will agree to cancel the engagement," Zeoticus said calmly, "if either you or Rias can defeat the him—Sirzechs Lucifer—in a Rating Game."
"Yeah, wrap it up." Adrien leaned back on his chair already giving up.
Rias looked stunned at her parents, she had never expected the condition to be so difficult. "That's impossible..."
Different reactions were visible from the long dinner table.
"Then I suppose the engagement will remain." Venelana said with a smile.
"Oh, and one more thing," Zeoticus added calmly. "I also have a message from your father and the Four Great Satans. If you miss the engagement ceremony, or refuse to attend it, you will be treated as a criminal for illegally attacking Riser Phenex, the third son of the Phenex family, in an unofficial contest."
Adrien looked at both Zeoticus and Venelana, his expression flat but his tone was unusually serious. "Do you two actually want me to marry your daughter? I'm a guy who causes trouble wherever he goes. I'm always surrounded by women, sleeps around, multiple gods already hate me, and I'm a massive pain in the ass. Compared to other noble heirs, I'm basically trash."
Then his gaze shifted toward Rias. "And Rias is beautiful, proper, polite, and probably hasn't even had her first kiss yet."
Rias's face instantly turned red. "Adrien!"
Zeoticus smirked. "I know exactly who you are. You are Adrien Agares, the boy hated by half the Norse gods and the Greek gods. You are the biggest troublemaker I have ever seen in my life. But you are also a singularity."
His gaze stayed fixed on Adrien. "Your potential is completely beyond normal limits. Sirzechs has told me about you over the years. You were born a High-Class Devil simply because of the amount of demonic power you possessed from birth. And on top of that, you have that special, almost godlike body of yours. A body that does not leak even a drop of energy. You became an Ultimate-Class Devil at eight years old, becoming the youngest devil in history to ever reach that level. You were not just born talented, Adrien. The universe itself favored you."
Everyone's eyes turned to Adrien. He could not deny Zeoticus's words because everything that he stated was true, so he just stayed silent.
"So yes, I do want you to marry my daughter. When I heard that her engagement with Riser had been broken because of you, I was honestly delighted, the thought of you replacing him was far better than anything I could have hoped for. Despite everything known about you I'm very sure that you're kind boy who will treat my daughter right and protect her. Even if you did have a harem, that is not unusual for extremely powerful individuals. What matters is that Rias would stand beside you as your first wife."
Adrien stood up from his seat.
"Let us think about it," he said, looking at Zeoticus. "At the very least, I want to request that the engagement be postponed until I become eligible for the Rating Games next year."
"That was the plan from the beginning."
Without saying anything else, he turned and left the dining hall. A heavy silence followed after him.
A few seconds later, Rias stood up as well. Her expression was tense, and she avoided looking at her parents. "I'll be leaving too."
She walked out of the dining hall, but she went in the opposite direction from Adrien.
Rias's parents looked at the rest of the table.
Zeoticus let out a calm sigh, while Venelana's expression softened slightly.
"We apologize for what happened," Zeoticus said. "I know this may have made dinner uncomfortable."
Venelana nodded gently. "But we believed it was best to reveal this matter in front of everyone. This does not only concern Rias and Adrien. It will affect both of your Familias as well, so it was better that none of you heard about it from rumors."
Celia crossed her arms, still clearly annoyed. "That doesn't make it any less sudden."
"Ara… this became quite complicated." Akeno smiled softly, though her eyes stayed on the door Rias had left through.
"It seems both of them need time to think." Saeko quietly said.
Out of everyone, Issei looked like his soul left his body, his face was pale and his head was lowered.
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Did ya'll expect this?
If you got anything in your mind tell me in the comments, I'd love to get more ideas from you.
Anyways if ew reach 210 Power stones by tomorrow I'll also drop a bonus chapter.