Chapter 73: Invitation

Beta read by Shigiya

There were some errors in chapter 72 lemon scene which was corrected. Chapter 23 and 24 have been reworked as well.

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-Mount Olympus-

Located in a separate dimension connected to Greece, a place only accessible to the Gods and heroes from legends. 

The home of the Greek gods, Mount Olympus looked like a jagged mountain range that ran across an ever-expanding Ocean of clear crystal blue water. It was surrounded by a huge circular forest called the Olympus Forest, which was considered one with the land itself. The weather was always warm and sunny without any rain or snow to be seen anywhere around. This made it an ideal location for the Olympians to live out their lives peacefully. The sheer size of this Island made traveling nearly impossible without the use of magic or permission from one of the gods, including the different temples.

Today, the place was quiet with not a single noise coming from the fauna. The beasts laid quiet for they sensed the presence of every major god now present on top of Mount Olympus. 

"It looks like everyone is here." Sitting on top of the giant golden throne was a man with white hair, a tied beard that reached his chest, and glowing blue eyes. He wore a white robe with gold embroidering along the edges.

The man was known as the king of gods to the Greeks, going by the name Jupiter with the Romans but preferred to be called by his original name — Zeus.

The God of Lightning, Sky, and Justice sat next to a beautiful woman with red hair, his wife Hera.

"No, we are still missing someone," Hera, the goddess of Marriage, Women, and Family sat on her throne while sipping a cup of wine. She looked completely disinterested from everyone in the hall, paying barely any attention.

"She'll be here eventually."

"Probably cheating with someone else, she is your daughter after all." 

The god glared at his wife, before ignoring the woman completely.

"The meeting will begin soon," Zeus said calmly as he looked at the other deities gathered before him.

"I hope this goes fast, I have plans with Thoth this afternoon. The man just opened a new restaurant and promised to try out the meals first." Apollo sighed as he stared up at the sky of their domain. "And we've been waiting for almost two hours for everyone to get here." He eyes the different thrones with nearly everyone gathered. Of his brothers and sisters, only two were missing.

"Since when were you acquainted with Thoth of all gods? The God of the Moon barely interacted with our people since the beginning, and I find it quite weird that he approached you first of all gods." From one of the seats, a woman in a business suit spoke with curiosity. Having brown hair tied in a bun and glasses, and held an air of sophistication and dignity around her.

Apollo scoffed, "Not something that you should meddle in, Athena. I have multiple connections all over the pantheons, you spend most of your time gathering knowledge all alone in that hole of what you call a library.

"She's not wrong brother, you tend to be quite gullible at times, no matter how ridiculous that may sound. It could be possible for the Egyptian God to have a secondary motive for meeting you."

"Oh shut it, Artemis. You are suspicious of all men without that being brought up in a conversation. This hasn't changed for the last few thousand years and won't change no matter how hard I try." He scoffed to the white-haired girl sitting next to him. 

"Humph, don't expect me to change when you have the same problem."

"Now now, don't start a fight," opposite them, a young man with purple hair with messy clothes spoke in a drunk voice. "You two always fight like cats and dogs every time we have such meetings. Have some of my recently made wine, it's made with hydra blood and some dryad essence. But be careful to not drink too much, or else a certain virgin goddess will have to relinquish that title of hers."

"Dionysus, you sick pervert!"

"Enough!" Zeus exclaimed out loud while smashing his fists against his throne. Thunder and lightning echoed in the sky as he gained everyone's attention.

"Instead of wasting time with senseless talk, we will get to the matter at hand." Everyone sat upright on their throne, even the drunk god of wine lost his easy-going smile as he noticed Zeus' worried state. "Now, I'm sure all of you noticed the disappearance of a certain member within our circle."

"Hephaestus," Hermes mentioned, looking over the empty seat of the god of fire. "I haven't seen the big dirtbag for a few months. To be honest, I expected him to be held up in that garage of his endlessly working on some car or bike made by the mortals. But then again, even someone like him wouldn't miss such a meeting."

Every god agreed with him, they could see something was wrong with his absence. It was probably the major reason behind Zeus' agitation. 

"Indeed, as you may have guessed by now, Hephaestus has gone missing longer than usual, and had already had several of our attendants to look for him, and they didn't find a trace of him… we expect he was taken by someone." 

Many gasps were heard throughout the group.

Kidnapped? One of them? Unbelievable… 

"Father, can you please give us more details?" From a fiery throne surrounded by fire, a large man clothed in armor asked Zeus for the details.

"Ares, you were not present in Olympus during that day. Our dimension was invaded by a certain group of unknown individuals. Though from what I observed, they merely stumbled upon our soil without knowing it. Our armies managed to destroy them with little effort, but it wasn't until one of the dryads came to me with the news of Hephaestus' forge having been blown up from a battle that I rushed over — only to find an empty crater." The god of the sky explained, having the others start whispering among themselves.

"How low have we fallen, to allow those pitiful mortals to intrude upon our domain so easily? It's quite clear they have forgotten the fear we commanded during our glory days." A voice commented with dissatisfaction. A large figure sitting on an equally grandiose throne as Zeus but decorated with skulls and bones like his own appearance of a walking skeleton with red glowing eyes. Being he who governed the realm of the dead, Tartaros and a part of the Underworld — Hades. "I warn you, it is only a matter of time until those who wield Yahweh's creation come knocking on our door with the intention to take away our land. If you don't act quickly, Zeus, then Olympus will fall."

"No such thing will happen, the Biblical faction is too focused on their own inner conflicts for the time being. Just recently, the Angel of Stars, Kokabiel, tried to attack Kuoh and sought to kill the heiresses." Zeus retorted. "They are more likely to destroy themselves than come for us. And why would they even do that? We haven't offended them or meddled with their affairs."

"He was killed by a human," Hades noted about the Kokabiel fight. "Not an Angel, Devil or Fallen… but a normal human." His intentions were clear, everyone understood the underlying meaning being those words. Their pantheon never feared humans or even saw them as a threat, deciding to focus on the Titans and other foreign gods. But times have changed, and some humans already equal the might of gods. It was a terrifying reality to accept, as if their number continued to grow — then they would become overwhelming to deal with.

"You're being too paranoid, brother."

"Humph, pot calling kettle black. You have no right to call me paranoid with your true nature known by us all. You do not want to meddle with the humans because of fear and nothing else. Try as you might to consider the safety of Olympus, it is clear to us all that all you ever cared about is yourself and that desire to copulate with every living thing with two legs." Hades said, anger evident in his voice.

Bam!

Lightning struck the marble pillars near the middle. Everyone backed away in fright, even Hera who sat closest to Zeus. 

"Talk to me with respect, brother. We may be equal but I am the king of the Greek gods! And I do care about our people just like the rest, so don't deliver those snarky insults of yours. If you have something to say, then just say it!"

Hades did not scare away from the display of power. Zeus may have been the king, but both knew they stood equal in terms of power and might. Poseidon probably being actually the strongest out of them. Just to provoke the man, even more, he started to release his own energy from the dark shadows spreading across the floor. They both stared at each other for what felt like eons until a melodic voice came from the hall.

"Both of you are acting like children, please stop this senseless fighting and focus on finding my dear husband." A melodious voice spoke from the entrance.

The Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sexuaility, walked into the room gracefully and bowed her head. Aphrodite possessed a face of unearthly beauty and had her long blonde hair that reached her heels decorated with flowers. Out of every female goddess, her figure stood out the most with them being extremely curvaceous, with very large breasts and wide child bearing hips. She wore traditional Greek clothing that exposed a large amount of her torso and just barely covered her nipples, rear, and pelvic region.

"Husband?" Hera scoffed, annoyed at how that woman could say that with a straight face. "Could have fooled me." 

"Hera," Zeus warned her, gesturing his daughter to take her seat. "Come, we've been waiting for you. We are discussing Hephaestus' capture and any possible knowledge of his whereabouts."

Aphrodite did not look offended by Hera's comment. As she grew used to them after a few millennia dealing with her. Her eyes traveled to Ares sitting quietly, his red aura conveying power and domination. She sent a small wink, followed by sending him a kiss. Everyone in the room rolled their eyes, the Goddess of love never tried to hide any of her relationships and adultery. 

"You don't look bothered or worried that your so-called husband got kidnapped. How expected," said Athena. "You can at least try to put up an act, our kin is in danger and no matter our relationship, we cannot let this be." 

"Do not worry, sister. Hephaestus' case does not scare me for the moment."

"And why is that? Are you telling us that his possible death does not bother you in the slightest? That is a new low, even for someone like you." 

Aphrodite laughed, her mounds shaking hypnotically, drawing the attention of many. 

"None of that, I have already taken measures to find Hephaestus. After all, I'm his wife, and isn't it my duty to look after him?" Her tone was the furthest from being genuine and it was quite clear that she did not care for the one she was essentially married to. "I know you are all aware of my connection with Falbium Asmodeus and Serafall Leviathan. I have used a favor from the past to have them help us out with our current problem."

Her smile grew, almost as if she enjoyed seeing the shocked expression on everyone's face at the news.

"Those Devils never disappoint, especially in bed."

{Break}

-Hachiman PoV-

Safe to say, my date with Rias went better than I expected. We ended up spending all night at the club and did not return home. 

I really hope we were able to get rid of any of the evidence.

Thankfully, the next day it was still Sunday so I didn't have to get ready for school. 

I received a text message from Xenovia showing me the picture of the apartment she shared with Irina. They both agreed to continue living together despite one being a Devil. Though Rias made sure to give them a place with two rooms to make sure that her Knight wasn't near a Holy Sword in her sleep.

Kalawarna sent me her usual morning pics for no reason at all other than to get me riled up. But this I felt my cheeks warm up a bit with the latest picture of her being with Raynare at a bikini store. As expected, that bitch fallen had a taste for slingshot black bikinis to help maximize her sex appeal and Kalawarna chose something more floral with a mini skirt giving her an alluring but cute appearance.

"Why is she even buying one? Her entire closet is filled with different sets. Is she just buying more to show off?" I said to myself, though I was happy that they could hang out as well and was glad that Kala wasn't too down in the dumps after Asia's departure.

Geez, I never saw that woman cry so much, and Asia was no better. I almost thought I had to help Gabriel pry Kala off of Asia when it was time for them to leave. After that, I had to help her get back home as she blubbered all the way. 

Though the last message surprised me, it was from Issei. He was asking if we could talk in the park, something about needing advice. I agreed, I needed to catch up with my training regiment anyways, so doing a small run sounded like a good idea. 

"I'll need to change first."

Rias was still sleeping, those pills took a lot from both of us but I could handle them — while she couldn't. So I left her to continue her slumber and teleported to my house where Akeno waited on my bed.

Wearing a simple oversized shirt and a loose pair of boxers that looked ready to fall off. Her hair was no longer tied in a ponytail as they spread all around my bed. It was still a bit weird to realize that she and Raynare, when taking the appearance of Yuuma, resembled each other very much. 

I had to stop myself from having dark, dirty thoughts involving the two.

She was reading one of my mangas, so entranced by the story that she didn't even notice my presence as I drew closer. It was quite rare to find her so relaxed and casual, even after spending years with her I wouldn't see this side of hers much. Always having that prim and proper Yamato Nadeshiko persona going for her — just like her mother.

I decided to take a peak.

"Oh, didn't you know you would like Chainblade man." 

"Kyah!"

Bam!

It seemed like hearing my voice caught her by so much surprise that she even fell off the bed. Kneeling next to her, I removed some of the hair strands covering her hair as she glared at me.

"Good morning beautiful, had a nice night?" I asked, purposefully pinching her cheeks for how adorable she looked with her pout. 

"No… I got bored yesterday." Akeno said. "Xenovia left with Irina, Asia is no longer around to tease, Kiba is occupied with his own training, Koneko was summoned for a request and Gasper still refuses to come out of his room aside from training. So I just decided to kill some time by hanging out here. Azazel refused to have me help out with cleaning up the city and father and mother forced me to take a break. I tried to find that Fallen girl but I think she's avoiding me." 

For obvious reasons.

'She's been pushing herself quite a bit.'

Her desire to help the city was nice but it took a lot out of her. Having to use hypnosis almost a thousand times per day must have drained her Magical Energy reserves dry. Akeno was a freak of nature when it came to the amount of power she possessed, but everyone had a limit. 

"How did your day with Rias go? I bet she liked it a lot." 

"I would say it went nicely, she nearly killed me like a true succubus. I swear both of you have more in common than I expected." My comment made her start laughing. "Alright, you'll have to spend a bit more time alone I'm afraid, I have to go out for a bit."

"That's unfair… who's the girl? Is it Aika? Xenovia? Kalawarner or is it another girl that you ensnared with your charms~?" 

What the heck was she implying?

"It's a boy." I said after putting on new clothes and walking out of the door, leaving a speechless Akeno behind. 

Heh, that face she made was completely worth it.

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Running to the park took about an hour and I made sure to take a long way. My legs burned from the exercise but I continued to persevere and pushed my body. 

Panting and covered in sweat, I wouldn't lie and say that I missed this sensation. Training still felt like an annoying chore that I knew I had to do. It kept my body in great shape and helped me improve slowly but steadily.

"Senpai!" I heard Issei's voice when I reached the park, he was also wearing a jersey while in the middle of stretching. "Didn't you think you of all people would even exercise. I don't think you even need it at your strength level."

"If I want to stay at this level and not get surpassed by protagonist level characters like you in a matter of days, then I'm kind of forced to." And because I also wanted to protect those close to me, but that line felt too cheesy to say out loud.

"I understand, I want to get stronger to protect those close to me and Kaichou!" As expected from Issei, he could say such things without hesitation. 

"How's Sona doing by the way? I heard Serafall returned to the Underworld so I guess she must be quite happy." 

He nodded, "Yup, she's been smiling a lot lately and even gave us a day off today. Though her sister was quite awesome! Sanji and I saw all of her shows about Magical girl Levi-tan, even when Kaichou forbade us not to watch!" Oh right, I almost forgot about the show, Rias did tell me on multiple occasions to watch the entire thing with the club. 

"A bit jarring to see an all-powerful Maou do these kinds of things. Especially after what happened last night, I can still feel the cold around the school."

"Tell me about it, she didn't look scary when we first met her, heck, she even invited us to an arcade to have fun. Serafall-san did come and apologize to us about what happened and that she feels guilty for losing control so easily." Issei said, looking around absentmindedly. I could tell he was just stalling for something, maybe a wanting to address a particularly sensitive subject… and I knew just what that was.

"Have you talked to Raynare?" 

"—!" 

Immediately, Issei went still, his body tensing up as he went all quiet for the next few moments. There it was, the main reason why he called me here, the events of the past still haunted him to some extent.

"Y-Yes, I… I saw Yuuma-cha—"

"—Raynare" I corrected him, he needed to realize that Raynare was not Yuuma nor would she ever become her. It would take nothing short of a miracle to have the Fallen become a pure maiden.

"R-R-Right… Ray…nare. I saw her talking with Aika at school a few days ago. She even hung out with the Kendo club girls. She still looks the same as before, unlike her bustier version." 

Hm, so Murayama and Katase also got to talk to her huh… That was unexpected and a bit worrying, due to the fact that Raynare could influence them in ways I would not like. I wouldn't lie and say that she got over her hatred of humans and the girl said it herself. 

"Do you still hold feelings for her?" I asked, watching the boy panic in front of me while trying to deny it.

"N-NO! Of course not! She tried to kill me and… and I… I…" 

His feelings were a mess, he obviously held some feelings for Yuuma which got buried deep within his mind. I would have guessed that he even forgot about them until recently.

"You can tell me the truth, Issei. I can't help you if you hide things from me. So just spit it out and tell me what's on your mind." 

"..."

I waited, taking a swing of water while taking a seat. My eyes stared at the people walking on the streets, smiling and laughing with their friends and some just going through their everyday life. To think that some of these people must have gotten frozen solid by a Maou in just a few days and having no idea about it was a bit weird. 

"I'm sorry," Issei said, "I still like her, I still have dreams of us going on our first date. She was the first one to ever ask me out, the first one to ever give me a chance, and the first one I genuinely started to fall in love with. Even if it was for just a few hours, those moments were my happiest. Even though I know Raynare, her true nature as a Fallen who hates humans and only wants to kill… I still can't forget about Yuuma. I don't know what to do anymore, seeing her every day feels so weird."

"Did she try to talk with you? Because I know for sure you wouldn't have approached her."

He laughed self-deprecatingly, "She basically ignored my existence, she even walked by me without even giving as much as a glance. The other girls also don't like me being close to her…"

Of course, they wouldn't want him anywhere near them with his reputation. I wanted to feel bad for the guy on this part but knew the fault for being known as an extreme pervert lied solely on him. 

"That's too bad. So what do you do exactly? Do you want Yuuma to come back for real and tell you that Raynare was nothing but an act? Maybe you two have a tearful reunion as she jumps in your arms and gives you a passionate kiss full of love and acceptance. Let's be honest, that will never happen. The Yuuma that you believe in does not exist." I was brutal with my words, I knew that, but Issei needed to get a reality check as soon as possible before he could get hurt from this mindset.

"Would I be stupid if I said that I did want something like that to happen? For all we know, Kokabiel could have manipulated her to become so… evil." Issei whispered.

"No," I shot down the boy's hopes in an instant. "Raynare was like this for many centuries, Kalawarna told me so. Kokabiel was a manipulative warmonger, he wouldn't have been dumb enough to focus his attention and focus on a weak random Fallen like Raynare."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that." He agreed with me. "This was a stupid question."

"No, it isn't. You have problems and you wish to resolve them. I can understand how such a thing can be hard to overcome given how many things we have to juggle. We tend to forget about them and leave these issues to fester in the dark corners of our minds till they come back worse than before. That is why I believe in the bandaid method." 

Issei was quite confused by my statement. Instead of explaining to him my reasoning, I grabbed my phone before video-calling a certain Fallen.

Ring~!

Ring~!

"The fuck do you want?" An angry face appeared on the screen, wearing sunglasses with a straw hat while sipping a tropical drink. I could hear the sound of waves coming from the background and saw the sand behind her.

Yup, she was relaxing on a beach.

"Yo, just here because someone wanted to talk to you."

The boy next to me panicked as I handed him my phone. This was a risky move, but one which would help him far better than mere words could ever do.

"H-H-Hey, Yuuma-chan!" 

Damn, it was worse than I expected, even after telling him before he still kept insisting on that name.

Raynare pulled her glasses below as she gazed at him for a few seconds before rolling her eyes.

"Oh, it's you." Even her tone sounded like she was speaking to someone beneath her. "Urgh, you're the last thing I wanted to deal with on my time off. What do you want, kid? Make it quick."

"Kid?" 

He must have felt the stark contrast between her and the girl in his mind. Now that I thought of it, I didn't have time to truly hammer in his head that Yuuma never existed. I basically just threw him around a couple of times before passing him onto Rias. 

"I-It's me, Issei. Do… Do you remember the day we went on a date together?" 

"Date? Oh yeah, that lame outing we had that day. Never experienced such a dull and boring day in my life, and I lived for centuries. You kept blatantly staring at my tits the entire time that I even considered killing you in public." Raynare didn't bother holding back with her words, each of them looked like it hit Issei brutally in his heart. The boy winced the entire time, probably expecting something different.

Sorry, this was the real her.

"Don't say that!" He shouted. "What about the entire time you smiled!? I saw you laugh, and have fun and we even brought that bracelet to memorialize our first date! Didn't the time we had mean nothing to you!?"

The Fallen went all quiet, she looked at him for a few seconds before having her eyes lock on me. I shrugged, wanting them to handle this dispute between them on their own. 

In the end, she sighed. 

"Boy, I don't know how to tell you this, but I ain't Yuuma or whatever bullshit image of me you have in your mind. I'm Raynare and I honestly don't care about you. Hell, I don't even know your name. You're a piece of weakling human who fell for a girl on first meeting, which is pretty sad. The entire date we had was nothing but an act, I never cared or enjoyed myself once back then and kept acting like a naive stupid girl to get you to listen to me! Okay, maybe I did have a little bit of fun but those moments only lasted a few minutes. No, I won't give you a chance or whatever the fuck you were going to say to me. Your dumb submissive little bitch never existed, so get used to it. And for that bracelet, yeah it was a nice gift, but I don't keep it because it means something special to me. I just like pretty things." Without letting him say something, she told him all that in bored sounding voice without a hint of remorese and immediately hung up leaving him all on his own.

I patted his back for comfort.

"..."

"..."

We both stayed there for a bit, he never let go of my phone while staring at the black screen. I on the other hand was fully recovered and planned to continue my training.

"Tough luck, you should never grow attached to such people. I wouldn't say this is your fault, because it isn't — you were the victim. The only special power she has is not her light spear but that rude tongue of hers. Don't burn yourself out for nothing, now you truly have people who care." I said, referring to the other student council members. "Just because you lost a girl who never existed doesn't mean you should become blind to the people around you. Momo, Sona, Saji, Tsubasa, Tsubaki, and so on — all of them consider you as family."

"Yeah, you're right." He spoke in a low voice, most likely holding back his tears. This wasn't going to be easy and he was bound to get hurt, but I preferred this to happen at the sooner than later. Issei was strong and disturbingly optimistic and shameless, but he was also not impervious to breaking down. "It's just so hard to forget about the past."

"Because you can never forget, only move forward. Learn from what happened today and become a better person. Raynare was just one of the many hurdles you'll face in your life and if you fall now then many will be very disappointed in you — including me. I know you can do better." I gave him enough help as if it was, my role wasn't to babysit Issei the entire time as he needed to handle these things on his own as well. 

I didn't doubt that if Raynare had succeeded in killing him that day that his mental health would have been much worse. 

"Good luck Issei, if you see that bitch again in school then treat her the same way she does to you; Ignore her and maybe flip her the bird."

That was my last advice to him before I moved on with my run. I called Sona to tell her about Issei's situation and asked her to not bring it up to him. The best thing she could do was to continue their current dynamic and to let the boy heal at his own pace.

It wasn't until I reached deep within the mountains where Akeno's previous house was rebuilt that I stopped. 

"Haa… Haa… my stamina hasn't increased by that much." This wasn't good, my magical reserves used to be a problem in the past as my weakest trait. But now it has already surpassed my physical strength by a ridiculous margin.

"You should invest more time in strenuous physical labor than any more magical training. With me by your side and the constant battles you've been in, your magic level has already reached a satisfactory threshold. But if the gap between it and your strength gets too big, then you might encounter certain imbalances in the future." Vritra spoke from my hand.

"But how? I don't think going to the gym will help me at this stage. Koneko is a good sparring partner but most of her powers are inherited through her Nekoshou traits and Rook piece, she can't explain certain things to me without understanding them in the first place."

"Maybe you need a better trainer."

Yeah, I could as—Fwish!

My thoughts were cut off by the appearance of a red magic circle forming before me. It was the Gremory crest and from there appeared a woman I hadn't seen for a very long time. With silver hair and blue eyes, she certainly was quite beautiful like most Devils. Wearing the same maid uniform and a blank face that conveyed little to no emotions that reminded me of a freezing tundra.

"Grayfia-san?" I called her, being polite with my tone as she was Sirzechs' wife. The last time she appeared in my room I was a bit rude and didn't want our relationship to sour any further.

"Greetings, Hikigaya-sama." She bowed, a gesture I quickly returned as well. "Sirzechs-sama has requested your presence in the Underworld to announce important news concerning the matters of Naberius and the wanted criminal Kuroka. A train to Lucifaad has been arranged for tomorrow where you can join Rias-sama and Sona-sama for the journey. Furthermore, you have been given the approval to bring along your own protectors and subordinates."

She handed me an envelope with the wax stamp of Lucifer's symbol. 

Well, it was about time for Sirzechs to be done with this matter. I hadn't heard anything about this since the incident in Paris.

"Thank you, I'll be there."

I could bring Xenovia along… she would definitely enjoy the trip. 

Though I was a bit sad that I couldn't bring Asia.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.