Chapter 21: Enemies on a Narrow Lane

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 21: Enemies on a Narrow Lane.

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– Damien –

I pulled Gretel in my arms as I kissed her neck and slowly went to her collar bones. My hands roaming on her naked back as she moaned in my ears and grinded herself in my lap.

I laid her on her back on the bed as her legs gripped me and took a look at her stunning form made even more enchanting due to the moonlight falling on her.

Silver hair spread all over the bed and a pair of half closed red eyes stared at me clouded in lust. Her skin was completely flawless, shapely breasts going up and down as she breathed heavily, her pink nipples were perked at the moment from all the excitement.

The entire scene was intoxicating.

I pounced on her, my hands taking one of her breasts in my grip while my lips reaching the other.

"Ahhhh mhhhhh."

Her soft moans tickled my ears as my tongue rolled over her nipple as I sucked and kissed her breasts.

Her hand roamed on the back of my head, her fingers gripping my hair as I took a playful bite, holding and pushing me into her bosom with even more force.

My fingers rolled her other nipple between them as I slowly moved down.

Leaving a trail of kisses from her stomach towards her core which was radiating heat at this point.

Only a thin layer of silk was separating us at this point and I pushed forwards, lightly kissing the place.

"Master~"

I moved the piece of cloth aside and looked at the neatly trimmed patch of silver hair above the pink lips which were wet with arousal and gave it a lick, making her shiver as she placed a hand on her mouth to stifle her moan.

"Don't stop your voice. Let it out. I like hearing your voice, Gretel."

She looked at me with a red face, her eyes filled with embarrassment as she looked pleadingly at me.

Honestly, this look just wants me to bully her more.

I pulled her up by her hips so that her waist was raised and her head was on the bed, and dove into her heated core all the while keeping eye contact.

"Mmmhh ahhh." She gripped my hair harder as I explored every corner of her soaking cunt with my tongue.

One of my fingers entered her. She already broke her hymen due to the intense training we were undergoing. She was previously afraid of what I would think of it.

This silly girl.

Her inner muscles gripped my finger and massaged it as I rubbed her insides, all the while my tongue continued its work on her.

A few minutes of intense stimulation later, her entire body shuddered as her hips jerked upwards as she climaxed first.

I looked in wonder and pride at my work.

Her silver hair was all messed up while some of it was sticking to her face with her sweat. Her breasts went up and down as she heaved for her breath.

I leaned onto her and she put an arm around me as our lips met once more. This time, instead of the intense lust, there was a slow and loving feel to the kiss.

We pulled apart from the kiss and a very thin strand of saliva was connected between our tongues.

"Please let me take care of you too, Master." She whispered and pushed me to lie on my back.

She gave me a light peck on my lips as she went down, pulling my underwear down with her.

I was rock hard by this time and my cock sprung up, hitting her face. She held it and kissed the tip first before giving it a lick.

She looked at me in the eye and took the tip in her mouth and I let out a groan of satisfaction as she moved her tongue over the tip, slowly covering the whole tip with her saliva and then moving down.

I caressed her head, running my fingers through her silky hair all the while maintaining eye contact.

It was at this instant that the door to our room opened, making us quickly cover ourselves.

Lavinia entered the room and without a word walked to the bed before laying on the side and snuggling against me.

Gretel and I looked at each other as we both let out a sigh.

"This is the third time." I broke the silence.

"I locked the room… with magic." She replied.

"It's not like we didn't try that before. She becomes a magical genius in her sleep somehow."

"If you didn't check it before, I would still think she is pulling our legs."

"You say that? I actually began to doubt my own powers when I got the results."

This was not the first time this had happened.

Lavinia was a sleepwalker. She walked into other people's rooms when she was asleep if there was no one beside her to cuddle, mostly ours because she was just used to it at this point.

She had walked in on us twice before this and she was completely oblivious the next day.

I had questioned and even used my 'Prince of Lies' on her to verify it. She was genuinely sleepwalking all this time.

At this point, we just learned to roll with it.

It was because I discovered a few things about us.

Gretel was a bit of a masochist.

I myself, was a bit of a sadist… surprisingly.

And Lavinia was a very heavy sleeper.

Thus, my smirk widened even more when I saw Gretel's panicked eyes when I put a hand behind her head again.

My cute maid already knew what I was thinking.

"Master!"

"You said you will take care of me." I smirked. "And I don't think I can sleep like this."

"But… she will wake up."

"Then we just need to be more careful." Moreover, she came to our room. Sleepwalking or not, she should be prepared for the consequences.

Even Vienna gave us some alone time since the first day she figured out what was going on.

I was careless to forget about her Observation Haki.

The smug looks Merlin and Sean threw at me were obvious when both of us came out.

Kuroka was the only one who was disappointed, not unhappy… just disappointed that she was not the first.

Most of them were not even surprised. The most annoying thing was that there was a fucking betting pool going on about when we will get together.

It wasn't even an 'if' situation but rather 'when'.

It was annoying for a few days but at the end of it, not much changed.

There were a few changes though. Gretel started being happier. She was somehow… more free.

And… I guess, I became happier too.

Gretel looked at me for a moment with a pleading look and then at Lavinia was sleeping peacefully. The sheer contrast in their expressions was wonderful. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the blanket over us and got down.

I didn't get to see her ruby-like eyes looking at me but the familiar warmth enveloped my lower head once more and I let out a groan of pleasure.

Gretel had become playful too. This girl was trying to put me in the spot by making me moan.

I… just didn't care.

Lavinia had made her interest clear a long time ago.

After all, there was a reason she never wandered into Sean or Merlin's rooms… ever.

I just want my relationship with Gretel to stabilize a bit first and then I would try to get into any other relationship. This was not something Gretel minded either.

She could be downright vicious when she wanted to but Lavinia had just broken past her defenses long ago.

The bedsheets moved up and down as she got into it and I caressed her hair under the blankets.

I felt my climax approaching and pushed her down lightly. She understood what I wanted and took more of my length in and this pushed me over the edge.

I shot ropes of cum inside her throat, jerking my waist.

A few moments later, Gretel came out from under the blanket and laid by me, all cleaned up.

I was however far from being done.

Asmodeus was an Incubus, a Sex Demon and I did have his blood. Since two months ago, when I started a physical relationship with Gretel, I have been insatiable. I did get it a lot under control but it was still like a dam had broken.

Getting a release only once… yeah, not enough.

I pulled her up to me and got on top of her.

"Master!" She asked, shocked but never tried once to stop me. In fact, her legs spread lightly to accomodate me as she took a quick look at Lavinia on our side.

I rubbed my length on her core, both of us slick with wetness and she took a hold of me and positioned me at her entrance. I looked at her and no more words were needed.

I locked lips with her as I pushed in and she moaned in my mouth.

She was absolutely smoldering on the inside and her legs wrapped around me, pulling me.

I let myself go as I pounded her into the bed, getting my second release a while later while she came several times.

One more round for me and Gretel was exhausted. This was one of the reasons why Gretel didn't mind Lavinia. She knew that she was getting exhausted too soon while I just got more energized the more I had sex. I was not even using my Passion Magic. I just decided to push things for a bit later, until she was more comfortable.

Finally, I pulled her on top of me and rocked her body, enjoying a peaceful round of lovemaking at a slow pace.

"You are… what if she woke up?"

"If she did, it's on her own. And don't talk like you didn't like it. I am pretty sure you were tighter when she was sleeping beside us.

"I-I wasn't." She blushed to her ears and hid her face in my chest and I gave her a thrust from below making her moan and look at me with a pout.

Our attentions were shifted by murmurs of Lavinia in her sleep who was still oblivious all this time and we both cracked up a little at the innocent girl who slept beside us without a care in the world

________________________________________________________________________________________

"We have established a business contract with the Sitri House to step into the Health Industry of the Underworld. They also tried to contact Alicia regarding doing shows together for Serafall's next movie."

Ophelia reported before looking at Alicia who nodded at the statement. I was getting reports about the recent events from my subordinates.

"They are trying to spread out and reduce the influence of the Great King faction over the Underworld's economy. Currently, the Great King faction keeps their power by having near unbreakable control over the Underworld's economy so much so that most of the houses who have not sided with them and are not in any major faction were all bankrupted. Important people falling into Sleeping Sickness and other houses making business maneuvers to completely ruin their businesses. This is one of the major reasons why even with all the drama they cause, the current Satans cannot do anything to them. These people could crash the entire Devil's economy in a matter of days."

Ophelia explained and I nodded.

"So, they are trying to use you and Alicia who have kept away from any other faction and still maintained your businesses."

"I maintain a good relationship with all the factions while not actively being a part of either of them. I was able to avoid the Great King faction because I mainly dealt in the Human world and also because the Paimon's during the Civil War supported the Old Satans. It was only after my father supposedly died that we shifted to the current side."

I looked at Charlene and she explained the main reasons for it.

"They are worried because of the stunt they pulled with the Youkai during the execution ceremony."

"Those random attacks?" I asked.

"Hmm. They had organized several attacks at different parts of the Youkai territory to intimidate the Youkai. Most of them were paid mercenaries and even stray devils. Several exorcists and onmyojis also got anonymous donations and contracts to go after the Youkai. They just denied everything while the Youkai were beyond furious." Charlene explained.

"Still, Yasaka, that woman, is something else. She publicly burned each and every captive alive in reply and then did the same to everyone who was caught in the attacks. She went so far as to destroy two entire clans of Onmyojis who were involved. The Nura Clan were known for their roughhousing when dealing with others but this was the first time that the ones under Yasaka did such a thing, not to mention the leader herself. All this had completely shaken anyone who wanted to cause any trouble and the attacks mostly ceased in two months." Helena said.

"They were all used to dealing with the soft spoken Youkai all this time and unsure on how to deal with this new Yasaka. Sometimes people forget that Nine Tailed Foxes have been beasts of calamity and natural disasters for a reason. Just because they wear a shrine maiden dress and prefer a relatively non-violent life now, doesn't mean they lost their claws and strength. Sun Wukong was someone who had caused trouble for even Gods before he settled down as a Buddha." I explained. "Akira told me that he was going out on some of these so-called hunts. I just didn't know the exact details of what was happening."

I had kinda secluded myself for the last bit of my training and experimenting on my Demonification powers and a trump card for myself.

"He was the other one heading the hunts. The Youkai in both the Eastern and Western Youkai Factions know him as Yasaka's student even with him never showing his face. Even his half Devil side doesn't phase them because Yasaka vouched for him. Not to mention, another Nine Tailed Fox among their midst was like a boon to them." Merlin explained.

Akira gained his Ninth Tail a month ago while Kuroka who joined us for training under Merlin's Innovate Clear did the same. They were both certified Satan Class beings now.

"Their actions were tantamount to starting a war. Attacks from individuals can be taken care of by declaring them rogue but organized attacks on such a scale is a whole nother thing. I guess the other factions who were a little intimidated with the Youkai's growing power only held back because they were afraid of the intervention of the mysterious powerhouse who took down the entire Kyoto Youkai rebel army. They were probably waiting for another such appearance to glean in on some information. The Satans didn't make any comments but they are making some effort to curb the Great King faction's power over the Underworld." said Charlene.

"This is good news for us. There are more than a few extremists among the Great King faction who are not much different from the fools in the Old Satan faction. They are used to getting their way for a long time because the New Satans are more of a moderate bunch when it comes to the internal affairs, probably because they are still haunted by the memories of the civil war and are trying to avoid any more of those. This situation might have been the first solid slap to their faces. Find a way to contact Katerea and call her for a meeting. It's about time I marked her."

"Are you planning on getting those dissatisfied Devils to join the Old Satan faction? It will not happen. They know far better than others what is in store for them there." Charlene replied.

"There is a price for people like these. Also, I don't want them to join the Old Satan faction. I just want them to communicate with each other, maybe have some exchanges and even use each other to cause trouble for the current government. Doesn't matter if nothing comes of it."

"It might not be so bad. I have heard from some of my sources in the Old Satan faction that the Nebiros are now in contact with them because of the execution of the previous Heir during the Youkai fiasco. It might just convince others to do the same." Ophelia supplied.

"Good. Let them continue and monitor them."

I looked at Merlin. "What's the news about Odin?"

The two years that Odin had given me were coming to an end and I needed to be at a decent amount of strength to be able to represent a Faction of my own.

Our entire faction might only be around twenty thousand people but our average strength was much higher than any of the Three factions. The new and perfected Enhancement Drug and the insane training regime has made the people under me a force to be reckoned with.

Not to mention the strength of our top level people.

I have finally touched the cusps of the Super Devil level myself without my Telos Karma while Gretel and Ingvild can fight at that level when using their Sacred Gears. The same was true for Merlin. Cleria, Lavinia, Hagoromo Gitsune and Sean were beyond Satan Class while the other members except the kids were all Satan Class individuals.

On a conservative estimate, our current strength was almost on par with the Fallen Angels while they had ten times our numbers.

Safe to say that we are far stronger than any mid level factions like the Youkai.

"He's ready whenever we are. The Restoration Potion has been perfected and can rival the Phenex Tears. In fact, Azazel has been asking me about this too. He is going to meet Odin in a week. Do you want to finalise the deal then?"

"Do it. Organise the meeting."

"What about the Dhampir children, Ophelia?"

"We have gotten close to the Tepes Faction and established a few ins. The children are mostly kept in the dungeons. In about a month, the main force of the Tepes faction will go on a meeting, leaving the castle's defences severely weakened and we will take that opportunity to sneak the children out of there."

"Good. Just in case, Lavinia, accompany them too. If you need any help, you can ask Gretel." Then nodded in reply.

The last two Holy Relics were the last things I needed. With those, I can be sure about revealing myself to the world.

With those two, I can be more or less sure of surpassing Sirzechs in terms of power too.

Not that I can't fight against him right now. I could probably fight him to a standstill with my own power, let alone if I use the Telos Karma but if Ajuka or others join him, things would get problematic.

I would still win if I used my trump card but it would be dangerous for me.

We discussed a few more things and made some plans about getting Valerie out of the place.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I walked into the room which was reserved for the meeting. Merlin and Celine followed me. Celine had her face covered under a hood. Our charm, turning most of the heads towards us as we walked by.

I knocked at the room's door and a bearded guy opened the door.

He stilled, eyes widened as he looked at me.

Thankfully, Merlin took control of the situation. "Barakiel, long time since I last saw you? How have you been, old friend?"

The man's eyes stayed on me a few seconds more before he turned to Merlin and gave him a nod. "Same for me. It's great to see you too, Merlin. Come in."

I gave him a nod and got into the room.

First meeting was with Azazel and the Fallen regarding the same trade offers that we were giving the Norse.

Healing Items were of great use for many.

Inside the room sat Azazel with a silver haired man and a purple haired woman both of whom were fallen Angels too.

They saw me and had a reaction similar to Barakiel.

"Welcome Damien. This is your first time meeting them, so I will introduce you. These are Semhazai, Barakiel and Penemue. I think you must have already heard about them."

"Hello. My name is Damien Lucifer." I nodded lightly.

They were still eerily quiet before Shemhazai opened his mouth. "I know Azazel said you looked like him but still…. This is just…."

"I get that a lot." I merely shrugged.

"I am not surprised that you do. I would love to see the look on other people's faces when they see you." Penemue laughed. "Michael would have a heart-attack for sure."

"I would get a light spear to the face before such a thing happened." I chuckled at the comment.

"So, who's the one hiding under the hood? Introduce us." Azazel asked, looking at the third member of our group.

I looked back and signalled her to remove the hood and she did.

The eyes of the three men popped out while the other woman got up from her seat and directly came to hug her.

I saw Celine still for a moment but she didn't push her back.

A year or two ago, that would have been impossible.

And thus began our meeting.

- Lavinia -

Lavinia was running through the forests with another person in her arms. The fellow blonde in her arms.

The mission was turning out to be more troublesome than she had thought, not to mention way out of time. There were still around two weeks till all the high ranking vampires went out.

But that didn't happen.

She was called urgently by Ophelia when she found out about the changes. One thing led to another and now she was being chased by other devils.

The vampires had met with other devils who wanted to buy the Damphirs and the worst part was that the said devils were from the Old Satan faction.

Ophelia's contacts were able to help the children flee but both were separated on their way out.

She was able to get the girl at the right time while there was some commotion on the other side too.

From what she understood, there were three parties overall.

Now, she was being chased by one of the parties who wanted the Damphirs but couldn't fight because the girl was injured and needed help.

Her Observation Haki sensed something and she flew out of the way as a huge section of the forest was frozen instantly. Even the ones chasing her were completely frozen.

She took on a defensive stance and sent a Shadow Clone to hide in the snow while she faced the enemy in front of her. The attack just now was at the level of an Ultimate Class but the speed at which it was cast made it clear that whoever it was, they were experienced in combat.

A man came out of the fog in front of her.

He had braided silver hair and an aristocratic look. His arm was covered by a gauntlet which was giving out a disgusting aura.

It was… Lavinia knew of this person.

She had been taught about him since she had joined Big Sis Cleria's peerage.

Euclid Lucifuge.

The person whom Gretel hated the most. She knew about Gretel's past. The two of them were very close, probably because they were of similar ages and Lavinia thought of her like a sister.

This person… he was single handedly responsible for most of her suffering.

Her magic sensed her emotions as the already freezing forest around her started to freeze even more and Demi appeared behind her.

"Oh! It seems that you have some skill." He looked around and raised an eyebrow. "I thought I caught up with the wrong group and wasted my time. Who would have thought that I would meet an interesting person like this. An independent Avatar type Sacred Gear and one of the best at that. Absolute Demise. If I didn't have my new toy, it would have suited me perfectly. Well, it doesn't matter. I can always get one for later."

The temperature fell down even more and Lavinia suddenly heard a groan from the girl. She had been given one of the Restoration Potions and had healed quickly but the cold and the pressure of the Demonic Power from two Satan Class beings would be too much for a child like her to handle.

Damien needed this girl to help him heal so she cannot endanger the safety of this girl.

She was about to attack and look around for an opportunity to run away.

Her shadow clone was ready to make a move when she found three other energy signals.

One of them was relatively weak, at the higher levels of High Class while another one was Satan Class but still not someone Lavinia would have bothered about.

The main deterrence was the last one.

This energy felt huge. At the level of Damien and Lavinia knew that people at that level could be counted on her two hands with fingers to spare.

She had already reported the situation and backup was being sent. At worst, she had to hold on for a while. Lavinia lightly looked at the new arrivals warily.

The first one was a crimson haired girl around Kuroka's age with another man who looked clearly related to her. It was the last person that made both her and her attack pause.

Silver hair, red eyes. She looked like a slightly mature version of Gretel.

At this point, Lavinia would be a fool to not know the identities of the new arrivals.

The woman herself was stunned into silence as she quietly looked towards the silver haired man.

- Grayfia Lucifuge -

She watched with wide eyes at the person she thought to be dead for so long.

How did it come to this?

It was supposed to be a simple job.

Sirzechs had been extremely stressed with the current political environment of the Underworld and when he found out about a certain Damphir from his sources, he took an opportunity to take a break from his work and bring Rias to find and perhaps recruit the child after some negotiations with the Vampires.

The plan went awry when there was a commotion and the said child ran away and was hurt. Fortunately, they found the child at the right time and Rias was able to reincarnate him. And she was lucky too. Even with her much higher than normal strength, she needed to use a Mutated Bishop Piece to reincarnate the boy which showed his extremely high potential.

It was after that things went awry. There was a lot of commotion and they decided to check out the large attack in the nearby forest.

Never in her life did Grayfia imagine that the one she would find in the midst of it all would be her supposedly dead brother.

"Euclid." She called, her voice laden with guilt.

"Hello Grayfia." His voice was cold, almost detached but she could see the emotions in his eyes.

"I thought…"

"And you should keep on thinking that. The Euclid you knew is dead."

"Euclid, pleas…" Sirzechs tried to mediate but was shut between his words.

"Be quiet, pretender."

Grayfia flinched at the sheer hate in the voice.

Before they could do or say anything else, a corner of the field blasted and the girl who was facing Euclid used her Sacred Gear to create a snowstorm. It was apparently a distraction and the girl herself tried to flee with the other child in her arms.

Euclid attacked without hesitation sending a large volley of ice, cutting her path. The girl dodged and made an ice wall instantly to protect herself and the girl and took another defence position.

"I haven't allowed you to leave. The Monster of Tepes belongs to us."

"She is not a monster." The girl replied curtly.

"Oh, yes. She isn't. The monster went the other way. But at least I caught an interesting fly in all this. I do need to find who is after the monster… and you will answer me."

The other girl was a devil too.

She wanted to intervene but Sirzechs held her shoulder. She looked at him and saw the serious look in his eyes.

"The girl is holding back. She is trying to protect the child. If you interfere, there is a high chance that she may stop doing so. A Longinus is called such for a reason. Don't push the other party into a corner. We will interfere if things get out of hand." She paused at the statement and looked at the scene while Sirzechs erected a barrier to protect her and Rias.

The fight went on for a few minutes and Grayfia noticed that the girl was indeed holding back a lot. She was covering the girl under a barrier all the time while fighting Euclid who was starting to increase the power behind his attacks to a level that would even make her become serious in a real fight.

She saw that Euclid was getting madder and the gauntlet on his arm was pulsing before he let out a rage filled shout and a massive wave of ice attacked the girl.

The attack was dangerous. Grayfia knew that even she would have to avoid an attack like that and not face it head on. It was way beyond what Euclid she knew was capable of… then again, she hadn't known him for centuries now. Still, the suspicious looking gauntlet on his arm gave her a nasty feeling. It felt as if feeding on his negative emotions.

Sirzechs shielded them all with his Power of Destruction as normal barriers wouldn't have worked.

The attack headed towards the other girl, looking unstoppable as it crushed everything in its path.

And then it happened. She didn't even feel it and would have completely missed it if not for her centuries long battle experience. There was a tremor in space and the tsunami of ice heading towards the girl… was directly torn apart… instantly. Euclid cast dozens of barriers which were all torn apart just as if they didn't even exist in the first place. They however, still gained him enough time as he barely dodged. The attack from the other side continued tearing apart everything in its way. She felt a chill in her spine seeing the final results of the attack.

There was a several mile long trench with no end visible. The space in the area looked as if it had been distorted and was slowly fixing itself. That attack had torn apart the very fabric of space. Even Sirzechs was tense for a moment as they all looked at the attacker.

There was a fog in the area but with their supernatural hearing, they could hear the sound of footsteps.

The sound grew louder and the other girl was the first one to realise the other party's identity as she relaxed slightly.

Soon enough they all saw the other party as well and Grayfia felt as if she had forgotten to breathe.

Silver hair, red eyes, dressed in a maid's clothing. It was like a younger version of her looking straight back at her. She turned and looked at Euclid who was looking stunned as well but she realised that he knew her with his next words as he addressed her.

"Gretel!" he whispered.

The girl however paid him no mind and looked at the other girl and waved a hand.

A fog emerged and wrapped around the child they were protecting and in the very next second, the child was gone. Then she looked at the other girl. "Are you alright?"

The girl nodded and quickly got beside her.

"Are you ignoring me? Have you grown so much that you dare ignore me!" Euclid shouted. "I created you. I made you what you are and you… It's because of him, isn't it? That, no good tr…"

The space twisted all around Euclid, and Grayfia almost at reflex erected an ice wall and several barriers around him to protect his life.

The girl looked towards her and Grayfia flinched at the glare. It was not the power of the girl that made her flinch. She had seen and stood against Sirzechs in fights. She could fight against this level of power.

No. It was the sheer range of emotions behind those eyes.

Hatred, betrayal, anger but most of all… pain. She looked on in shock as her lips moved and even though no sound came out Grayfia knew what she had said.

"Traitor."

Who was this girl?

Euclid said he created her?

Was she Euclid's daughter?

Just what happened between them?

She looked at the wreckage and saw Euclid standing there, but not uninjured.

One of his arms was missing and he had a large gash on his body.

Even with all those barriers.

Though it was not the end of surprises. The arm with the gauntlet was releasing miasma and strings of black smoke attached itself to the cut off arm and pulled it back and attached. His gashes were covered with smoke too and the bleeding stopped. He seemed gasping for breath so the attack must have used a lot of his strength.

The aura was sickening, almost similar to the pits. Did he experiment on himself?

"Insult my Master again and the next time I won't stop with just an arm." The girl spoke in a very low voice but with a tone more chilling than any ice spell that had been cast.

"This is Vampire territory. Any fights in this place would cause problems for everyone. Can we just solve this peacefully or at least move this somewhere else?" Sirzechs stepped up and asked as both the girls looked at him.

"Gretel… we should go for now. This is not the right time." The blonde one urged.

The girl however looked in the other direction and soon enough the blonde also followed her gaze. "I'm afraid that it's too late for that."

She quickly spread her senses and then she felt it.

A massive aura approaching them at a high speed.

Even before it reached them, the snow was blowing from the path of approach, drowning the trees and when it finally reached them, she saw the face of the being as Sirzechs stepped in front of her and Rias protectively and she casted several barriers around themselves.

Silver hair, silver goatee and blue eyes, although one side was covered in an eyepatch. Did Rizevim have an accident?

She saw the face of that demon turn to glee as he took in the view of everyone here, his eyes finally stopping at the girl, lighting up.

"Uyahahahaha what a gathering this is. I heard a commotion around the area and came to take a look. You know how much I love some good ol' evil. Someone destroying the entire landscape seemed like fun… but to think I would encounter this. What is this, a family reunion of yours, Euclid? You and your sisters… both old and young."

Grayfia hand shook at the words and she quickly snapped in the girl's direction.

Sister?

"Oh, you didn't tell her? My oh my, that's awfully inconsiderate of you, Euclid. Shy of some introductions, are we? Well, let me introduce them then. Dear Grayfia, meet your youngest sister, Gretel Lucifuge. You know, back then when Euclid told you that he took care of your mother. Well… He lied. A perfectly evil plan, if I do say so myself. Euclid was always talented in those. What? Surprised, right! Right!"

A sudden feeling of dread arose in her heart as she felt Sirzechs' arm grasping her hand. She looked at Euclid who was only glaring at the two of them with a bestial rage and Rizevim continued.

"Seriously though, both your sisters left you for other guys… really, your Luck with your sisters is awful. I think you had better luck poking your mother with your late father's DNA to make more babies, or maybe, you should have just left one of your three brothers alive. Weak they may have been, they might just have been more… loyal."

The words sounded like bombs in her ears and all the while she looked at Euclid trying to find even a semblance of clue of them being false and yet found nothing.

"Grayfia… Control yourself. Don't let him get into your head." Sirzechs' voice sounded and she snapped back. She hadn't realised that her barriers had almost fallen.

She strengthened the barriers quickly, although she looked back at the girl once more, her mind catching up with the situation.

Rizevim however was done having fun with her and looked at Gretel. "Oya look at you Gretel. You have grown so big. And here we all thought that you died. Uncle Rizevim was so sad, you know? So now tell me Gretel, if you are alive… Does it mean that He is alive as well?"

She realised that the girl had stilled.

- Gretel Lucifuge -

She calculated all the possible ways to flee from this situation. Losing control of her emotions and stopping was a mistake, one that she regretted instantly.

Yet, it was so hard to control herself from tearing apart that face when she saw him after all these years.

"Lavinia, I will look for an opportunity for you. Leave." She whispered to her.

Lavinia looked back at her in shock and shook her head. "I am not leaving you alone. I can fight as well."

No, she can't.

"You can't. Against others, maybe. Against that person, your Sacred Gear is useless."

"I am not weak without my Sacred Gear. I am not leaving you alone. If we leave, we will go together."

She wasn't weak and could even fight Satan Class beings without her Sacred Gears and win but the demon in front of them was beyond normal Satan Class beings and Sacred Gears didn't work on him.

"I can leave whenever I want, Lavy. I might not win against them but they cannot stop me if I wanted to leave. You on the other hand don't have that skill. Please."

"I…."

"Oya oya, planning to leave so soon? You didn't enjoy the reunion, Gretel?" She heard Rizevim speak and her muscles tightened as her magic flowed through her body to react at a moment's notice.

It was then that the third party spoke. "We don't wish for a fight, Rizevim." The Crimson haired man spoke for the first time, joining the conversation.

"Oh, but that's so boring…. Well if you insist, you can leave with your wife/maid whatever fetish you have and the female version of you….but, these two will need to stay."

"Please Rizevim. Let this matter go. This is the human world. A fight here will be catastrophic."

"Uyahahahaha a Satan, Lucifer at that is worried about humans? How funny. But no. You see, I have made new friends. The Vampires. An interesting bunch. And these children have been a naughty bunch. They even kidnapped the daughter of the King. Normally I would approve of this behaviour, heart-warmingly evil, just like model devils but I do need to give my friends an explanation. See, they are so worried looking for their princess so they can torture her again."

And Gretel did sense the vampires coming to the area. Hundreds of them. The commotion of this scale in their territory might as well have been a declaration of war against them.

She tried to take Lavinia and teleport but the magic circle was shattered instantly.

"Now then, don't be in such a hurry. We met after such a long time. We have a lot of catching up to do."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Rizevim." The crimson headed man spoke once more.

"Oya, could it be that you have taken a liking to her too? I mean she does look a lot like dear Grayfia. But that's a no no. I need her for something. I am afraid I cannot let her leave."

The vampires had started approaching them and surrounding the area. The other group sensed this as well and grew tense as the numbers increased.

Gretel however sensed something else and her body relaxed.

"Are these the attackers?" One of the Vampires who seemed like the head asked. "Where is the monster?"

"These ones don't have the monster but they did have another girl. I think she was the bastard of your king. Naughty kids these ones." Rizevim said, pointing towards her.

"Take them in." The Vampire commanded. He was strong. An Ultimate Class being…. but not strong enough.

Euclid was by this time healed mostly and spoke again, glaring at her directly. "You can take the blonde. She has a Longinus. The other one however will come with us. Apparently someone has forgotten their place and needs to be disciplined."

The Vampire looked wide-eyed at the Longinus before staring at Lavinia. "Surround her and take her in. Be careful…" His words however were never completed as every single one of the vampires suddenly paused before dropping from the air like flies one after another till only one was left.

A massive whirlpool of clouds formed above the entire forest in the sky. She realised that this time around, the attack was far stronger than what was done in Kyoto.

The sounds of footsteps were heard and soon a voice accompanied, "I don't remember giving you permission to discipline my aide, Euclid. Are you perhaps….challenging me?" and out of the fog and snow, appeared the man she had fallen in love with, her Master.

- Damien -

This shit was beyond all the things I had imagined happening.

I was in a meeting with Azazel and Odin when I heard a transmission from Ophelia about the sudden changes and asked Lavinia to start the mission as well as send Gretel who was the fastest among us to back her up.

Two parties had caused the mess. One was us and the other… I took a guess and called Rias using our mind's link and asked her where she was and viola, I knew the identity of the second party.

The real mess started when I found out about the Old Satan faction's involvement from Lavinia.

Odin apparently noticed my tense look when talking about the alliance. We decided to take a small break while Merlin took my place and I left to check the situation.

The first thing I did was teleport to our base where I found a young Valerie already sleeping and Ophelia's people taking care of her. Apparently she was teleported here.

Gretel teleported her here alone?

Knowing her she would have left with both Valerie and Lavinia without pause unless…

A thought struck my mind and I quicklyraced towards the place where I had sensed the energy signatures.

Finding them was even easier because of the large number of vampires hovering in the sky.

I was cloaked under my illusion as I headed towards the place uninterrupted and soon found the reason for Gretel's decision to stay back.

….

One more year would have been good but not all plans go as we want them to go.

But since the cat's out of the bag already, let's do this properly.

I spread my Observation Haki to its fullest, covering the entire forest and the vampire city beyond it.

I also heard Euclid's words and my haki bubbled inside me, roaring to get out and for once…. I didn't stop it either, only directing it away from certain people from around us and letting it all go.

The immediate area around me crumbled apart as the massive burst of Conqueror's Haki was released.

The Vampires started dropping like flies one after another as I walked towards the place.

"I don't remember giving you the permission to discipline my aide, Euclid. Are you perhaps… challenging me?"

I stood in front of Gretel and Lavinia and looked at the people in the area.

Sirzechs was here too.

I was kinda surprised that Rias was here too considering how protective he was with her.

Grayfia… I let out a mental sigh.

Gretel staying back made a whole lot more sense now.

I looked at the remaining Vampire. I left this one to deliver a message for me.

The guy was on his knees, shivering and rightfully so. I loosened my constant control over my Haki and my Haki was rumbling like a raging tide wanting to rush out. Even now the snow in the area was melting. Even the ice created from magic was slowly crumbling apart from my Haki.

This was an ice filled with Demonic Power and was harder than most steel.

"Valerie Tepes has accepted my protection. If your king has any problems with this… he can come here and talk to me. I will stay here for the next two hours. If he doesn't come in the next two hours though… I will consider him giving up the girl. Go on, relay my message to your King quickly."

"W-who… what are you?" He stuttered his question.

"I am the Devil."

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