Chapter 74: Surprise Visit

After dealing with Tabane, Ray walks out of the storage room where he had a discussion with her and walks his way back to his dorm. The sky already darkened at that moment and the sun was about to set.

On his way back, he was thinking what dinner he should make since Lancelot isn't here to cook dinner for him tonight. When he reached the front door, he remembered he gave his key card to Lancelot and the door was locked without a key on him.

"Through the window I guess…" Ray decided after remembering he should use magic in a public area even when there is no one in the hallway, the security cameras can still see him.

Then he walked all the way out of the dormitory then to the back of it before he flew to his window and entered through there. Luckily the window isn't locked and Ray is able to smoothly slid back into his room where he finds he isn't alone as he expected.

"Miss Cecilia? What are you doing here in my room?" Ray asked after seeing Cecilia sitting on the chair next to a desk while fidgeting and twirling her fingers, seeming to be waiting for something.

Cecilia jolted her lowered head and instantly looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Ray climbing through his window to enter his room. She felt increasingly guilty for what she caused for Ray and she even spent a few hours convincing her roommate that Ray did nothing to her. Though, she wouldn't really mind it because she finally found her soulmate and even dreamed of marrying, having a house, a family and few childrens while living happily.

(She apparently has a lot of imagination.)

"Ah, I wanted to apologize for my roommate and the other students for causing you a lot of trouble this evening." Cecilia said before peeking at Ray to see his reaction and she saw a smile which made her feel relieved that Ray might be angry at her for causing him trouble.

"No worries, Miss Cecilia. What is done is done. Anyway, do you want to join me for dinner? I missed my lunch and now feel famished." Ray said as he walked toward the fridge and cupboard in between the stove and fridge.

"I would love to, definitely would like to join you for a dinner." Cecilia replied with a little bit overly excited but managed to tone it down to not embarrass herself. Though her imagination is running wild with a romantic dinner with candle and wine over the beautiful full moon night.

After hearing that Cecilia agreed, Ray went to make a simple spaghetti meatballs with canned ingredients he pulled out from his Marketplace because he didn't have the patience to make it using fresh ingredients. He also makes Cecilia some tea using tea leaves labeled Instant Earl Gray tea that look quite expensive for its price which normally means this is more of a vanity than function type of item in the Marketplace and should taste very good to cost 10k+ points.

When the food is done, Ray serves the spaghetti for both himself and Cecilia before he starts filling his growling stomach. At first Cecilia felt weird because Ray cooked a very big portion, enough for 4-5 people but when she saw him inhaling the spaghetti while somehow still retaining a polite eating manner, she nodded to herself that she should try to make him some lunch to repay the favour of this dinner.

(Rip dawg, even god fell with just one bite.)

While Ray and Cecilia are eating and talking over random topics with Cecilia mostly asking the question and Ray answering her curiosity, a beep sound suddenly heard which means someone is entering with a key card.

"Probably Lancelot. I did send him on an errand. Anyway, you were as- *cough*" Ray instantly choked on his food and almost snorted them out through his nose when he saw Mittelt at the front door looking at him with fire burning of jealousy that changed to disappointment.

"So Raynare was telling the truth, you liked that cow tits more, huh." Mittelt said with a sad and anguished tone. "Even having a dinner night date in your own room…"

"Wait, Mittelt. This isn't what you think it is. We…" Ray couldn't deny that he did invite Cecilia but it happened because Cecilia happened to be in his room and he was starving at that moment. But it isn't for romantic intentions. It was like inviting a friend or classmates over for a meal.

"Who is she, Ray?" Cecilia asked with a slightly upset tone that someone is interrupting her moment with Ray but when she looked at the door, she saw a girl that was around the age of 13-14 in appearance.

"Is she your sister?" Cecilia guessed because they talked to each other like they had a closed relationship.

"No! I'm his wife!" Mittelt said angrily, almost hissed at Cecilia when she walked toward Ray for a hug.

"Tell me Ray, is it true that you only liked that.. that cow udders. Do you lie to me when you say you liked my chest?" Mittelt poured out her insecurity to Ray, almost sobbed and made Ray feel like a stake driven into his heart to gouge it out.

"No, I would never lie to you. I loved you regardless of your chest size. It wouldn't decrease my love for you, Mittelt. So, stop shedding your tears like that. It pained me to look at you, sad like this." Ray whispered to Mittelt, partially because he was aware that Cecilia was in the room and it made him feel awkward. He uses his finger to wipe away the droplets of tears from Mittelt's face before giving her a reassuring kiss.

Meanwhile Cecilia staggered to the wall while looking at Ray in disbelief. She knew the age of consent was lowered due to the new government policy that the human population is in danger but she never knew it went below 16! The girl that claimed to be Ray's wife looks like 13 at best.

*Clap* *Clap*

"Oh, Ray. I thought you already forgot about us and got a new mistress at the academy."

Ray sighed with genuine anger and also helplessness as he was angry about Raynare using Mittelt insecurity like this but he also couldn't- no, he can't really get angry at them when he spends all the daytime away from them while only seeing them for 5-6 hours during the night. He sort of guesses this is just Raynare's excuse to visit him though he doubts they really need an excuse and should just visit if they wanted.

"Raynare. You shouldn't play with Mittelt's insecurity like that. You are the head wife and should be the one preventing this, not instigating them." Ray shaked his head with disappointment when talking to Raynare until he felt someone even shorter hug his leg that made him immediately open his eyes wide.

"Cheshire?" Ray excitedly called and swooped his cute and cuddly little kitten to his hands.

"Papa!" Cheshire excitedly cuddled back to Ray.

"Papa?!" Cecilia cried out confusedly as her thoughts were in a mess after seeing Mittelt, Ray's wives and now daughter.

Then the last straw on the camel's back, Ophis appeared to join her 'older sister' for a group hug and also called Ray as Papa. Cecilia exclaimed in shock of the consecutive surprises before falling to the floor dramatically, after fainting from the shock.

After hearing the loud noise from their neighbour, Houki and Laura that were next door immediately jumped out of their room to check out what happened in Ray's room. Laura already had Schwarzer Regen's right claw partially deployed, expecting an attack because of the loud noise.

However when the two of them looked at what happened in Ray's room, they also exclaimed loudly, demanding to know who these unknown people were and the two children that called Ray as Papa.

"I'm fugged aren't I…" Ray cursed in more child friendly words as he looked at the situation spiralling out of control.

"Ouch!" Ray cried in pain when Ophis bit his arm.

"Papa said a bad word." Ophis explained with her expressionless face but still looked cute.

"Ah, sorry. Thank you for reminding, Ophis." Ray said but met with an open hand from Ophis demanding something.

"Right, your reward." Ray then gives her a big rainbow coloured lollipop and rubs her head with a sigh when thinking how he should resolve this situation.

———

"Chifuyu sensei.. Chifuyu sensei… Miss Orimura."

"Yes?" Chifuyu instantly wakes up from her nap to see a security staff member in front of her.

"Sorry to disturb your rest after what happened this afternoon but I had ro report about a few unknown individuals entering the academy and entering students in Raymond's dorm room. They didn't seem hostile and proclaimed to be his family members. I tried to contact Chifuyu sensei for confirmation but the call wasn't answered and instead contacted Maya sensei to allow them to enter after confirming they are indeed student Raymond's family members." The security staff member reported before swiftly leaving to resume her duty.

Chifuyu woke up with a mild headache and saw her phone that showed a few missed calls and a prescription of medicine with a note from Maya.

The note written.

Remember to take this medicine, Orimura sensei. It should help with your headache when you wake up.

Then a small chibi drawing of Maya giving a thumb up and a wink at the bottom of the note.

Chifuyu noticed she indeed had a mild headache, so she took the pills and washed them down with some water before she walked out of her office to check on her sick little Ichika. Halfway to the dorm from the teacher's office, she felt her headache lessen immediately and disappeared then replaced with good feelings that washed over her.

———

"No, we will not talk about this and you will not change my mind." Ray sighed as Raynare brought up the matter of him getting himself another lover.

"Aww, the poor girl is crying, Ray. How could you do this to her." Raynare went and comforted the sobbing Cecilia when Ray flat out rejected her confession after the explaining part was done.

Houki and Mittelt also joined Raynare to comfort Cecilia which left Ray groaning with disatisfaction. At least Cheshire and Ophis are on his side until Raynare uses her words to manipulate the innocence of Cheshire against him.

"Umu umu, Cheshire love to have more mama." Then Cheshire jumped out Ray's lap and ran towards Cecilia to cuddle her new mama, leaving Ray feeling the strongest and most painful betrayal of his life. More painful than the betrayal Diarmuid faces in the hand of Kiritsugu.

"See! Even Cheshire agreed. You should take responsibility for stealing a maiden's heart." Raynare said while Cecilia who was fawning over Cheshire instantly nodded with blush as it is the gentlemanly way to take responsibility for one's actions.

"What about me? Do I have a say in this? No? Okay, alright. I'm done with this. Let's go Ophis, we are leaving this place." Before Ray could pull Ophis away and flee, Raynare whispered something to Ophis that caught her attention. Ophis's eyes widened before nodding to Raynare.

"Ophis wants to stay with… sister." Ophis said before walking toward Cheshire, leaving Ray without allies anymore.

"Okay… okay… I'll remember this. I'll remember this betrayal. No more cuddles, no more desserts, there's nothing and I'm leaving." Ray opens the window and yeet himself off to somewhere he can regain his peace.

Meanwhile, when Ray just jumped off the window, Chifuyu went into Ray's room with a backup key card she had as the dorm supervisor. She managed to catch a glimpse of Ray, jumped off the window and fell to the ground below because Ophis sort of overrides all the control of Ouroboros that Ray usually uses to fly.

Ray then switched to his armor's boots to fly as he left the academy.

———

Unknown beach somewhere, Ray is sitting on the sandy beach while looking over the sea and calming rhythmic waves hitting the shore. In his hand is a clay jar filled with alcohol he doesn't even know as he just grabs more from the Marketplace and guzzles down its contents before throwing it to the side and buying another one. Rinse and repeat.

"*Sigh* I miss the old days where I could live without worrying about anything, sitting in my room playing games and reading novels. Even being an office drone didn't look that bad compared to now. Just a mindless monotonous job. Work 12 hours a day, pay rent and do whatever the hell I want." Ray loosened his worries to drift away by the waves of the sea.

"Is it? Sounds like a very sad kind of life you got there, RayRay."

Ray then groaned when he heard the annoying voice of Tabane.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you, Tabane." Ray growled at her.

"So am I. Still thinking about that offer you gave me." Tabane said with a sigh before her cheery mood returned and snagged the clay jar from Ray's hand before gulping down its content and releasing a satisfied sigh.

"Oh, a Chrysanthemum floral wine. Good stuff you have here, RayRay. Gimme more!" Tabane finished the wine and demanded more from Ray, even starting shaking his body when he ignored her to light up a joint he just rolled.

"I get it, stop shaking my body." Ray gets another jar of wine and throws it to Tabane before she lets him light up his joint in peace.

After taking a deep puff, he felt his mind numbed again but he had enough clarity to realize how dependent he is on alcohol and cannabis to cope with problems that plagued his mind. At least he didn't need to worry about the bad health effects since his strengthened body and cybernetics can help flush those toxins away from his system. Which is also why he is struggling to get drunk or high unless it's the magical one. Truly suffering from success.

"How did you find me here? Don't tell me you bugged by stuff." Ray strikes up a conversation with Tabane.

"No, I didn't. I just never left the academy and hung around there until I saw you flew off the academy from the roof and decided to follow." Tabane replied while looking at the clay jar before taking another gulp.

"So, what happened for you to fly across the globe to drink on an isolated beach in the middle of nowhere?" Tabane asked this time when Ray didn't seem to have a topic to talk about.

"It's a personal matter. Nothing I would talk with a stranger." Ray replied coldly which made Tabane pouted and finished the jar in her hand. Then demanded another one from Ray which Ray gived without a second thought while secretly smirking.

"How about you? Seems to have a troubled mind too to join me to have a drink." Ray asked as he watched Tabane with hidden anticipation and amusement.

The wine he gave her just now is made from pepper and is a spicy wine. Since Tabane gulped the previous one, he thought he could trick her to gulp this spicy wine too.

Tabane ripped open the cork with her enhanced strength and brought the clay jar to her mouth and gulped as Ray expected. Tabane immediately coughed and threw the jar to Ray before she exact her revenge on Ray that tricked her. But the jar smashed harmlessly on a barrier that protected Ray as he laughed and rolled on the sand after looking at the red swollen lips of Tabane.

"Hahahaha, you only need some makeup and a red nose to look like a clown. Hahaha… ho… take a deep breath. Huuu.. ha- pfft! Sorry… sorry… put away the missile launcher, please." Ray had to clutch his stomach as he laughed and rolled in his barrier until Tabane decided it wasn't funny and brought out a missile artillery system and aimed at Ray with her unamused face but swollen lips.

"I misjudged you, Ray. Now, hand over the milk or I'll shoot. No funny business." Tabane demanded but Ray couldn't help but laugh because of how similar her current expression is to the guy from the clown makeup meme.

"Okay, okay… chill. Here's your milk." Ray grabs a whole gallon of milk and puts it just outside his barrier before he quickly returns his hand inside.

Tabane grabbed the milk and started chugging it but apparently it didn't work that well as her mouth still burned like hell and drooling heavily. Ray went to check the pepper wine's description on the Marketplace and found out it's made from peppers that undergo hundred years of selective cross breeding and genetic engineering to produce a pepper with 6.3 Million Scoville units. That pepper was made into wine which Tabane chugged. Ray was surprised she was even alive at this point if he was a normal human. Her enhanced body now prolonged her torture.

Ray spent the next ten minutes encased in his barrier, drinking more wine and relaxing over the bgm of Tabane's cries of agony and suffering. It feels great that all his negative emotions vanished. Perhaps venting his stress is indeed better than drinking it down with alcohol. Besides, Tabane's childish act does sometimes remind him of the useless Aqua, except Tabane is actually useful and competent compared to the former.

"Here, it's a floral wine that should taste good. Made from 100 types of flowers and herbs apparently." Ray offers another jar and as before, he puts it just outside his barrier where Tabane snatched it and dip her finger to taste it first before chugging it.

They silently drink and watch the mesmerising waves and moon in the sky. Tabane was still angry at Ray's prank and pouted whenever Ray looked at him and turned away. At least she still takes the wine jar he offered.

"So, my previous question. You have trouble thinking about the offer I gave you?" Ray asked to break the silence between them.

"Yes. I am tempted to explore the new unknown but also love the world despite how every government and organisations is hunting me down to make them stronger IS or just weapons in general. The most important one is Houki… I guess. Even if she never forgives me because I am the cause for her to be separated from Ichika deprived her of her boyfriend. I still care for her as my only family member in this world." Tabane confessed.

"I doubt she would ever forgive me now that Ichiks is basically dead and replaced by you." Tabane added before she sighed out and chugged her drink.

"It was a shame this world didn't seem to be governed by god and instead a system. Ichika was immediately sent to the cycle of reincarnation after I replaced him. If it isn't, I could probably extort the god to spit out Ichika and bring him back to life." Ray explained his previous scrapped plan to bring Ichika back to life.

"Eh, you could do that in your previous world?" Tabane looks to Ray with curiosity and interest in the topic.

"Totally. You see, the dead normally will be claimed by the respective pantheon they worshipped or by a god that governs death before being sorted out and brought to their realm or hell. If they manage to go to heaven or the pantheon of gods, I can use the god sleeping in my mecha which is the second strongest being in the world to sort of blackmail them to give me the dead person. Then create a homunculus and slap 'em into a body if the dead didn't already have one." Ray explained while scribbling on the sand to help his explanation.

Tabane was shocked at how the DxD world worked and proceeded to ask him multiple questions. One of them surprised her the most when Ray gave her the answer.

"RayRay, when you said second strongest in the world. How strong do you mean?" Tabane asked before looking at Ray, waiting for the question that interested her the most.

"Well, for context. We take a normal god like… Yahweh or the Biblical god." Ray explains while scribbling more stuff on the sand as he explains.

"So, the god in my mecha sort of made a contract with me to lend me her strength. She was known as Dragon God of Infinity as she embodied the concept of infinity. Example, her lifespan is infinity, her might is infinity, etc. She is a god of dragons. A normal dragon usually had strength comparable to the gods then there is a dragon king that usually God King like Zeus or Odin try not to antagonise because they are very strong. Then there are Heavenly Dragons. So, remember I mentioned Yahweh just now?" Tabane nodded as she paid great attention to Ray's explanation.

"So, a pantheon with the most believers and being the sole god, the Biblical god is basically the strongest god when he is still governing the Biblical heavens. The Biblical god however couldn't defeat the Heavenly Dragons himself and literally had to band together the Fallen Angels and the Devils and even took some outside help to kill the two Heavenly Dragons. Remember, he is the strongest god at the moment. However, a Dragon God wouldn't even need a second to kill them like insects if the Dragon God is going all out." Ray ended his explanation with a proud smug look over Tabane since he basically flexed it to Tabane.

"And yet you are using the Dragon God as a glorified endless battery?" Tabane responded with a deadpan face.

"Hey, you have no idea how much it costs to feed that blackhole. I can probably feed the whole African continent dozens of times over with the amount of food she eats in a year.

"You didn't deny using her as a glorified battery." Tabane responded with the same deadpan face and flat look on her eyes.

"Say what chu wants peasant. Unlike you, I have her…" Ray became depressed when he remembered Ophis betrayed him at the last moment before he fled. He then chugged while Tabane at the side laughed at Ray while hefting a light blush on her cheek, clearly being affected by the alcohol and so did Ray. A small revenge but a revenge nonetheless.

They continued drinking until the moon sunken under the horizon and soon replaced it with the sun. The two get wasted with a few mountains of clay jars and lot's of food when both get hungry and decide it's a good idea to spear fishing in the shallow water and cook it over fire to fit their theme. They danced, sang and shared more stories like both are on a beach camping trip instead. They probably being noticed by local government though after Tabane cheated and bombing fish with ICBM she pull out of nowhere to get higher score over Ray in who fish the most competition. It's a miracle the Island is still intact after all this abuse.

—————

(The last part is unexpected for me as I am about to end it but suddenly got an inspiration while drinking a few cans. when I keep thinking 'why not like this/that'

As you probably already know, I have difficulty writing Tabane's dialogue but this is an improvement I guess by forcing her to break her character so I have a reason to not use her original personality.)