50 Harmless Fun and Final Preparations.

Apparently, Baraqiel had fixed up the house where Shuri had died in. What happened inside was a cruel thing, but it was the place he lived happily with his wife for many years. And considering the grave was a walk away they all just came to the house in question.

When they arrived Shuri sighed when she looked at the house.

"You fixed it? Why?"

Baraqiel nodded with a heavy sigh.

"I did not want to lose the memories we shared here. Raising Akeno, was my greatest joy, but at the same time this house carried my shame."

Shuri pulled her husband closer as she had never stopped loving him.

"It was my fault Baraqiel. You wanted us in the Underworld where we would be safe, but like a damn fool I prevented you from doing so."

Even Maulketh agreed.

"True, that was entirely stupid."

Shuri turned around to look at Maulketh with a frown.

"No need to rub it in."

He shrugged as what they did from now on was up to them.

"I am not, but I would recommend getting some guards this time, or tap into the dragon blood used to bring you back. So, train a bit so you don't have to rely on guards you don't want. Or better yet, move out of this house to somewhere else."

Shuri looked toward Maulketh as she got what he was saying.

"Like where?"

Valina had an idea.

"Nealy anywhere. You could go to Kuoh which is the town where Akeno and her friends live. That could be a safe place in a few weeks when the meeting will finish."

Hearing that made Shuri look at her house.

"I think, that might be for the best. What is on your mind Azazel?"

The Fallen Angel thought about it before he gave his honest thoughts.

"You should follow through with this idea. It was my idea to put guards here for you, but you were the one who denied them. Putting guards here will just cause another repeat of you not liking it."

Shuri decided to think it over with her family.

"I will take all of it to mind."

She led them inside and as Baraqiel lived her from time to time to remember, it was stocked with ingredients. As such, she cooked up a big feast for all of them where she spent the time catching up with her daughter and husband.

Meanwhile, Azazel, Maulketh, and Valina spoke at length over a meal about the agreement with Grigori and New Olympus. It was a fruitful conversation as Akeno started to talk to him with no fear as she had once done.

And he expected her future growth would improve from here on. Once the meal was done, he stood up and prepared to leave Valina with Azazel.

"I will take my leave. Valina, you want to stay?"

She thought about it for a bit, before she decided to follow him back.

"No. I am going back with you."

He smiled as she held his arm.

"Fine."

Just as he was about to teleport, someone else grabbed his other arm. He looked down and noticed Akeno.

"Wait a minute, before you go I wanted to truly thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"You're welcome."

With that said and done he vanished in a flash or flaming silver flames. Once he was gone, Akeno smiled as she walked back to help her mother wash the dishes. Maulketh offered to clean them all with magic, but Shuri wanted to do something physical like this.

As they did that, Azazel said his goodbye to Baraqiel and also returned to his fortress. While Shuri and Akeno washed the dishes, Shuri had a thought in her head.

"You know Akeno, he seems to be good husband material."

Akeno shook her head.

"Would not work between us. He is the strongest Dragon beside the Dragon Gods, and his standards for those he takes in are extreme. He has a First Generation Devil, a descendent of the original Leviathan, Valina a descendent of the original Lucifer, a famous Titaness, and my friend Rias, someone better than I.

I am just not worthy of his eyes."

Shuri frowned at Akeno's words.

"Rubbish, don't degrade yourself. We the Himejima are descendants of Amaterasu herself. And your father is Baraqiel, a Cadre that has to be something."

Akeno was still not convinced.

"I guess, but I don't like him. I was scared of him for a time as he is just so scary if you see his true form. He is like a burning mountain, and he is very fierce."

Shuri did not see that at all from the way he and Valina were with each other.

"I see, so why don't you try anyway. You are past marrying age so find yourself a husband soon."

Baraqiel shook his head.

"Shuri, she is only 17."

Akeno chuckled.

"I am actually 25. Maulketh has a Time Formation where you can spend a long time training without losing any time in the real world. I spent several long stretches of time in there to reach my current level of power."

That just made Shuri more expectant.

"I see, then you better hop to it. You better catch the eyes of that dragon and fast."

Akeno was not too sure about that.

"MOM! I am not doing that, he can burn me to ash in one thought. I get he won't do that, but I can't risk incurring his wrath by trying to seduce him. What would I get out of it anyway?"

Shuri walked over to Baraqiel and pulled him over.

"A big, strong, bearded, masculine man like your father. Just bigger in everything."

Baraqiel frowned.

"Hey, just because he is a dragon does not mean his you know what is bigger."

Shuri frowned.

"I meant his beard you pervert."

Akeno turned bright red as she decided to give it a try at the very least.

"FINE! Stop bugging me about it, I will try alright."

---

Once Maulketh returned to his volcano home, he began to prepare for the day he would assassinate Zeus. Killing Zeus could be done with one move, but that was boring. As such he decided to assassinate Zeus like he had done so many times in the past. However, for the most part, he spent his time relaxing with his family.

Currently, he was lounging in his big beddroom on a couch placed on the wall. He was not alone as currently, all his lovers and his three familiars were here with him. His head was currently resting on Astrid's thick thighs.

She was rubbing her hands through his hair while Grimnar was sleeping on his lap like a regular dog. Celestine though was sleeping by leaning on Astrid's shoulder. As true dragons, both she and Maulketh now took to sleeping more often.

At the moment, he was deeply asleep as he had picked up a steady napping habit since he awoke from hibernation. The girls had taken letting him sleep on their thighs and this time Astrid was just the first to get to him.

As he wanted to relax, they all also wanted to spend some time having some fun. On a big table, Valina, Rias, Runeas, and Ingvild were playing a game of 4-person chess. Meanwhile, Calypso observed as she had never played chess before.

From the look of it, the one winning was Rias who was an avid player of chess like most Noble Devils. She could not compare to her friend Sona, but Valina, Runeas, and Ingvild were just not big players in the game.

Either way, it was an alternating game to play as a group, but they hoped Maulketh woke up soon. Rias looked toward Astrid who was keeping him company.

"Is he waking up?"

Astrid shook her head.

"Negative, he is still snoring."

At that moment Maulketh opened his eyes.

"Just cause I am sleeping does not mean I am oblivious."

He would have sat up, but it would have woken up Grimnar so he sat still. Seeing he was awakened caused everyone to feel better. Runeas moved her pawn and took one of Rias' knights.

"So, we going to that Open House?"

"Yeah, I got something I plan to do in Kuoh then we can go to your school Rias."

Rias smiled as she took the pawn that Runeas had used to take her knight.

"Thanks. But I have a weird question, why do I just not care as much? I once looked forward to it, but now, I feel I could take it or leave it. You two were right when you said that power can make things seem irrelevant. Now, it and school kinda seem pointless. I still want to go, but I don't feel the same joy from it."

Runeas had a reason for that.

"That is either caused by your new Super Devil level of strength or the Dragons Blood running through your veins. Mark, do you have anything that can explain that?"

She still called him by his human name which he did not mind.

"Maulketh, and yes. We dragons are prideful. Rias, you yourself are quite a kind person and don't exactly look down on other people. The issue is your blood is that of a Devil and a Dragon, creatures that are closer to sin than others.

After so much training, you have begun to draw power from your dragon side leading to you beginning to lose attachment to things like school or regular humans. You won't begin to see them as worms as I certainly don't, but they are not equal to you or me at all on our instinctive level. Only those with power can be equal to us.

Regular unmagical humans are at the bottom of the list. It's just to be expected."

Rias sighed as she was not exactly pleased with that answer.

"I get what you're saying, but I don't like it. Is there any way for me to control that?"

Valina had an idea as she was descended from Lucifer, the most prideful Devil of all. Not to mention that she also once hosted Albion, and now had the blood of Maulketh.

"Mental training, I have always been prideful, but I refused to be controlled. That is all you can really do, get your pride under control which is harder than it sounds as it is in your blood."

Hearing this made Rias think about this as they continued the game.

"Ingvild, what about you?"

Ingvild looked up from the board as she thought about it.

"I have never been very prideful I guess. I guess being raised by a human parent just made me more understanding than a pure-blooded Devil. But, I don't think you are being very arrogant. It would be weird if your mind didn't change after spending that time training."

Maulketh picked up Grimnar and gently placed him back on the couch. Now that he was awake he decided to get ready for that.

"So, it's going to be in 4 days in real-time which is around 140 if my Volcano Time Formation is on. You better turn that off for the time being. Anyways, Rias have you spoken to your parents or brother about your engagement?"

Rias shrugged.

"Should I? I mean from what I heard, Riser is not even in the Ultimate Class or even close to it. I could beat him with a single attack, but I kinda feel it would be funny to just never give him that satisfaction."

Maulketh walked over to her and patted her on the head between her two black horns.

"That would be hilarious. I still don't even know a thing about this guy, but from the way you describe him, I don't think he even deserves that level of attention. You do what you will as this is your decision."

She smiled as she got his approval.

"Thank you, but now, I think I am getting close to finishing this game up."

Her three opponents only knew the basics while she constantly played with Sona. Seeing this Maulketh sat down at their table to see them play. He was a great chess player as he once went undercover as a chess master to kill a politician who was taking Chess Lessons.

For now, he just watched the girls speed up as they played their game of chess. As expected, Rias once this round, but when they changed players, Maulketh switched out with Ingvild and showed his experience in chess by winning the match quite easily.

A fun night of chess with his family of choice.