Pride Curse. and Final Preperations.

(Well, I got no big reaason I stoped. I guess I just got burned out.)

Once Kurayami and the girls finished their shopping they did not leave right away. They did not have to rush as they would not get many chances to relax in the coming months. It might even be the last time in case they died in Hell. That caused them to take this opportunity to truly relax and enjoy their time.

Kurayami did not mind it, but he found that it was not something he was interested in much. Either way, he ignored everything else around him and just spent his time relaxing with his family. When they got done with their shopping they returned to Grigori to talk to Azazel. The former Governor-General was quite busy these days and he always complained about not having enough time.

He had so many inventions, weapons, and items he wanted to work on, that his time was always full. They all went to his lab where he was working on a second Dimensional portal. Finding new ones was never easy as it was quite hard to find the first one in the first place. They were still stuck on the New World itself as the planets outside it were bare.

For now, it did not matter as the New World itself was still full of new discoveries. Just the knowledge, had made it a long-term investment. He was just preparing for when the New World had nothing new to give as he was like that.

Azazel was floating around the dimensional portal looking for more dimensions. He was so focused that he did not realize that Kurayami and the girls were behind him. Kurayami cleared his voice making Azazel turn around.

"Oh, what's up? You need something?"

He got down and stopped working on the portal.

"Your right. I know that you are busy these days so I came to give your lap a time speed up formation. Time in your lab will be 25 times faster so you can use as much time as you want to work. Of course, I will make it turn off when you want. I just wanted to ask you a favor."

Azazel now was extra interested.

"Sure, what is it?"

Kurayami brought out piles of material from his familiars which they shed. This included the fur, teeth, claws, and even feathers from Castiel. They all shed all of their old body parts during their sublimations. As for scales, those came from Tyrant and Zhang which still were great material.

That seemed to have gotten Azazel's attention as the piles were massive. Most of Kurayami's pets were giant so a large gathering of their material would have to follow suit. He kneeled in front of the piles and started to pick up some things that caught his eye.

He reached out and picked up a giant fang bigger than he was tall that he recognized.

"This is Castiel's saber, how did he lose it?"

"He shed it when he went through his Sublimation. All this material is strong but compared to what my pets have now it is useless to me. I wanted you to use all of this to help the girls make some dresses or anything else they want."

Azazel's mouth went slack as he expected to make weapons with this. He sighed as he looked at Zesshi, and Artemis who were still wearing the constructs that Kurayami made.

"I can see you want to make them look like that. Fine, what do you girls need? You have more than this right Kurayami?"

"Of course. This is just a tiny portion of what they shed."

That made Azazel sigh in relief. Now he just as to hear what the girls wanted for their dresses. The first one was Kuroka who had an idea.

"I wanted to ask if you could make me a new Kimono for me and Shirone weaved from Castiel and Aurora's fur. I already have our measurements ready if you need that. If that is not too hard can you use some transmutation with Kurayami's shed scales?"

Azazel had some ideas, but the pile of fur for both felines was huge. He certainly had enough, but he had one thing to complain about.

"Do you know how strong the scales of a Dragon God are? It is hard enough to damage them that transmutation would be just as if not harder than damaging them."

Her ears drooped as she held her hands together.

"Please Azazel."

Azazel sighed as he looked at Kurayami.

"Fine, I will try. This will probably be harder than making Kurayami's outfit. Glad I will have plenty of time when you make me that time formation."

Kurayami brought out 50 scales and placed them on the ground.

"Here are some of the scales I lost in the battle with Satanael and Atlas. Half of them are mine and the outer half are from Ophis."

"Yeah, I can do it. Zesshi, Artemis I would need those constructs you are wearing."

Artemis removed it on the spot as she was wearing it over her normal clothes. It was just a construct after all that was supposed to show what Kuraymi had in mind.

"If it is not too hard can I ask you to make it exclusively from Zhang's shed mane safe for the back?"

Azazel felt it was perfect.

"That seems possible. His fur is like silk already so it will be just fine. I will also add some of his scales as their blue color will look rather nice. Any other requests?"

As a joke Akeno pulled out some magical sheers as she looked at Shin.

"You know, I wonder what the fur of Shin will be like as a dress."

Raynare, Akeno, Kuroka, Zesshi, and Nyx all loved the color black. No one had a darker shade of fur than Shin did and seeing how they looked at him made the dog ready to flee. Just as he was about to run, Ophis picked him up before he could react.

"Let's shave him totally. He has more than enough for all of us."

Tears pooled in the corners of the dog as he looked at Kurayami. He reached out with his paw asking for him to help him. Kurayami snapped his fingers and hid Shin in his shadow much to the annoyance of the girls.

Nyx looked down at Kurayami's shadow and saw how Shin had his eyes squinted at her. He was not going to leave the shadow any time soon.

Akeno sighed.

"Come on. You know black is my favorite color. He will regrow it in no time. Just give me some for one dress. He won't even know it is gone."

Kurayami held his hand over his heart.

"But I would know."

Raynare chuckled at his attempt at a joke.

"We know. It was just a joke anyway."

Kurayami was wearing his sunglasses, but she could tell he was squinting his eyes at her.

"Ok, we were only going to take a little."

He crossed his arms so she looked away.

"Fine, we really wanted to shave him."

Shin who heard that in Kurayami's shadow whimpered as they wanted to take his pretty fur. Either way, he was just glad that Kurayami was not going to let them shave him for their dresses. Besides that, the girls made their requests with the material they liked the most.

Just as they got done, Kurayami decided to make the time formation. It would give Azazel far more time to delve into his research.

"Before I forget, I will set up the time formation. It will be 25 times faster than the outside so every hour outside will be 25 inside. This way you will never run out of time to do research or do as you please."

Azazel wiped his fake tears as he patted Kurayami on the shoulder.

"You do care about this old man."

Kurayami chuckle softly as he left.

"Don't push it. Still, we will return and I will even bring you a few gifts when we do. Right girls?"

All of them smiled or gave Azazel a nod. Seeing that made him sigh.

"Really, take care all of you. We know of Hell, but in our entire history, we have only ever dealt with a total of 50 Demons. 49 of those were just Low-Class demons, but they were all as strong as a Dragon King.

Every time they showed up they were hunted down as their Demon cores could make a being who absorbed it to grow in power even if they were a god. All that changed when Algor entered our world. He was the only Mid Class we faced and it took God to put him down.

Esdeath, you devoured him. Did you also get his memories of the battle?"

Esdeath nodded.

"That was a true battle to the death, but things were odd. Algor was laying destruction everywhere he went. When he attacked Heaven, God was the first to go face him, but I noticed something. God seemed exhausted from the start.

His eyes were sunken, and his gaze seemed to be looking into the distance, not at Algor. The fight itself was brutal and God nearly died before he killed Algor."

Raynare nodded as her grandfather spoke about it.

"Yeah, my grampa told me that God long ago at his peak was as strong as Shiva. Out of nowhere he became drained and exhausted and every time since he was a bit messed up. I think the fight with Algor messed him up further as he became more aggressive and arrogant."

Xargomoth nodded as he understood what occurred.

'I see what happened, Algor was a mid-class Demon which is a class above the lowest rank of low Demons. Going up in rank for Demons brings about a qualitative change as even a Mid class Demon can infect weaker beings with the power of their respective ring.

Algor was a pride Demon and he infected this God with the curse of Pride. The longer the afflicted have this curse, the further their mind crumbles before only Pride and arrogance remain. I can inflict the Wrath curse myself which as it sounds infects the afflicted and turned them into a blood craving maniac.'

Hearing that made Azazel feel so many things clicked into place.

"OF COURSE! I heard rumors that long ago God sealed something away. Depending on how strong it was, he must have used massive amounts of power. Afterward, he started to keep to himself for the most part except when needed.

Then, Algor escaped Hell for whatever reason, and during their battle, he infects God with the Pride curse. After that God tried to battle as little as possible so his curse would not spread further. Then the Great War happened and as Azrael said he became more aggressive, arrogant, and violent.

Then the last straw was the fight with the Heavenly Dragons which caused his curse to nearly take over. Until-"

Raynare finished it for him.

"My grandfather killed him. Wait, what if the curse is in his scythe?"

She looked at Xargomoth who shook his head.

'I would have known so no. He is not, seems that the scythe ate the curse as well, but Azrael has no idea how to use its power. Let me tell you something, curses are deadly, but when someone can overcome them they give great power.

There is no lack of cultists who take that gamble to be the one to be 'blessed' by higher powers. No one ask me to place them under it yet as you will all become mouth-frothing blood-drunk maniacs. You will need extensive preparations for such a curse especially when most of you are not even at my level.'

That was like an ice bucket on their heads as they decided to leave that for when they started training again. Raynare chuckled as most wanted to avoid being cursed while they were all ready to be cursed for power.

"Trust us Azazel. We are not going to die a pointless death. Right girls?"

All of them gave a nod. Esdeath found a good chance to brag as well.

"She is right. If anything I have an advantage as I did eat him. What better than to be a Demon in Hell."

Xargomoth who was on Kurayami's shoulder always had to agree and give her a bad ideas.

'They are right. I lived in the Wrath ring for 10,000 years. If anyone knows it, it is me. However, there is bad news. You devoured a Pride Demon and you are going to the Wrath Ring. You will be like a beacon as while in Hell, the Demons of the Rings are at constant war with each other and especially other Ring Demons.'

That meant that she had an advantage and a disadvantage.

"That is fine. I will just have to get even stronger than."

Azazel decided to stop the talk of Hell as they were meant to relax.

"Thanks for reminding me. Kurayami, where will we host the whole thing? I can do it here if you want or even somewhere else.

Kurayami shook his head.

"No, it is a party for me and my family so our home can be the only place. We have more than enough empty rooms as we have even underground floors with extra rooms. Boris and the creatures there will not bother anyone as long as they are not bothered."

Azazel was glad that Kurayami was on board with his idea.

"I was going to suggest the same thing. Just so you know, I invited Hades, Sirzechs, Ajuka, Oliver, and his mad disciples, Michael and the Seraphs, Serafall, Falbium, Ainz, Ares, Edmund, and Mephisto. I even took the chance to invite an old friend, Odin who has promised to bring some Dwarven whiskey. More like a lot of it."

That reminded Kurayami of something.

"Can you invite Dionysus and Chiron? I like the two of them and Dionysus can supply some quality wine for the occasion. Plus, Chiron is a nice guy. I am sure he would like to check up on the Demi gods who came over.

Azazel wrote it down.

"For sure. As for Azrael, he is family so he gets an obvious invite. We also have to deal with the guests they will bring as I told them as long as they give a heads up now. I already got a massive list which is fine as they are all pitching in for the whole thing.

We also have the ones you girls will bring with you. Some of you have friends and family to invite. Artemis, you invited Leto your mother, Apollo your brother, and Zeus your father along with your Hunt. Tat is all fine, but what I worry about is Zeus is a mega pervert. You sure having him around a harem of gorgeous women who have the power to destroy the world on a whim?"

That brought out a chuckle from all of them as they could do that easily these days. After their Sublimations and their extreme training, they were all far stronger than before. Was inviting Zeus really a good idea?

As for Artemis, she looked a little bitter about it, but her dad promised to behave. He even swore on a River Styx pact to not flirt with anyone who came. He was coming just for her sake and he only invited Hera, Poseidon, Athena, and Hephestus who wanted to come to check up on his sons.

"I know, but Kurayami already said it was ok. I also made sure my dad swore on a River Styx pact to not flirt, leer, or take inappropriately to any female guest. Especially not as any of you."

Raynare nodded.

"That is a good idea. If even I don't kill him my grandfather would. We don't want to leave you without a father though."

Amaterasu shook her head.

"You might be doing her a favor."

Artemis gently elbowed her friend in the gut.

"Don't say it out loud though."

Amaterasu just chuckled.

"Alright."

Azazel relaxed when he heard that.

"Oh, that makes things much easier. He was the issue I had. Annabeth, you invited your mother Athena who is being brought by Zeus so don't worry about it. You also invited your dad, and his family as well. I will send someone to pick them up I guess. Amaterasu, you invited your brother and your sons. Will they be fine with their stepdad?"

She could not help, but snort as she barely stopped her laugh.

"They will be."

Azazel chuckled as he had their names down.

"Well, Kuroka you invited your sister who wants to bring Rias and her peerage. Of course, Sirzechs would have done the same so that is fine. She would have invited her friend Sona who is invited through Serafall so no issue with that. Esdeath, you got nobody so no bother."

A few tick mars appeared on her face as she truly had no friends besides her fellow harem members.

"Asshole."

Azazel just shook his head.

"Well, Lavinia that is Mephisto so that is already taken care of. Natsume, your classmates, and friends who are here at Grigori are getting an invite so that is taken care of as well. Ophis you don-"

"I got somebody already invited."

Azazel froze as he looked at her.

"Who?"

She pointed up.

"I invited Great Red who said he will send an avatar in human form. We were both born in the Dimensional gap so we are kind of like siblings. As much as I hate to admit it."

Azazel shook his head.

"That is fine. If it is an avatar that will be less destructive than him himself. Wonder what he will look like though."

He turned to Latia who also invited some people.

"I am inviting my friend Sekivara, and my parents. I would have invited my uncle, but you invited him as your friend and research partner. If Rias is already going that will be fine as well. I am sure that Sirzechs or my uncle will bring Sairaorg as well. Grayfia, do you have anyone else? If Rias and Sirzechs are going so will Zeoticus and Venelana."

Grayfia thought about it before shaking her head.

"No. If they are going then I have no one else."

Azazel nodded.

"Alright, Walburga has no one as batshit insane as she is. Shalltear, who are you bringing along?"

She frowned as she remembered something.

"If Lord Ainz is coming the bitch Albedo is coming as well. Don't let her know, but she is kind of like my friend. I guess I could also invite Aura or Mare, maybe Demiurge? No, he is definitely coming as one of his guards so no one. Honestly, I believe al the guardians will be in attendance as well."

Azazel was glad that things were easy.

"Nyx, you are taking your sons and your brother correct. Erebus."

She nodded.

"That is right. I need them to acknowledge their new dad and brother-in-law."

She kept a straight face while Azazel shook his head. They see for another hour as everyone was invited already. Azazel was going to be busy as every guest was allowed to bring extra people.

He turned to Zesshi whose face changed for a second.

"I have no one to invite."

Kurayami placed his hand on her head.

"Neither did Esdeath, so don't beat yourself up over it."

Zesshi's face turned into a smile as she wished her mother had met Kurayami before her death. One thing that she did not know what that Azazel had the grave of her mother sealed so it would not be disturbed.

Azazel shook his head.

"Flirt later. Now, that I got all your guests is that all?"

Rebellion raised her hand like she was in school. Azazel looked over confused. Who could she possibly invite?'

"Who?"

She pointed at Submission.

"I invite my sister."

Submission clenched her fist and bonked her on the head.

"OW!"

"Of course, I am going you brain-dead brat."

Azazel shook his head at those two.

"Well if no one else has anything I say we are golden."

Artemis cringed as golden was not a good word to deal with when Zeus was involved. Noticing her look made him laugh.

"I can see why you made the connection. Well, now we got some more planning to do. I am just glad I made it a rule for them to say beforehand who they will bring with them.

Even Ares had some family like his sons with Aphrodite. The Abyss Dogs were also going to attend. The funny thing is that Ares was happier now than he had been in the last thousands of years. He even ditched Aphroditefor his two new fiances."

Hearing that made Kurayami smile.

"Did those two force him or something?"

Azazel shook his head.

"Believe it or not he did it himself. He is still a Greek God so they know what that brings with it. Either way, things are set in done as now I got 25 times the time. Now, I can put more time into my research."

Kurayami nodded.

"Well, we will leave you to it."

Azazel waved them goodbye.

"Alright then. Take care.:

Kurayami and the girls returned home as now that the planning was done they just had to wait.