Chapter 58

Looking at Rias's peerage, just judging by Rias's own clothing, he knew why it took so long. Rias was wearing an elegant red ball gown that hugged her top and showed off ample cleavage before the dress completely hid her legs under the puff of the ball gown. Beside her, Akeno was wearing the complete opposite with a silk black dress. It had a cut-out front that showed as much cleavage as Rias and hugged her figure, with a leg slit. The next person his eyes were drawn to was Gasper since this was the first time he had seen him in male clothing, wearing a light gray tuxedo. Issei and Kiba were both wearing suits that Eden knew were of good quality and emphasized Kiba's pretty boy aesthetic and made Issei look more presentable. Koneko was the least dressed up of the bunch, wearing just a white button-down with a tie and slacks, but she somehow still looked better than Issei, at least from Eden's perspective.

"They really got dressed up," Eden commented.

"Why are their boobs so big, that's so unfair," Serafall said under her breath.

"You know I don't care about that, right, Levi?" Eden said.

To be honest, Eden wasn't really that concerned about figures. If he were, he wouldn't be dating Ryoko. But all jokes aside, one of Eden's good points was that when it came to dedicating lots of time to someone, he looked for personality more than looks. However, Eden would never even think of talking to a girl he felt was unattractive in both figure and facial appearance, so he was still somewhat shallow.

"Well, it's still unfair."

"Sister, please stop talking," Sona then said.

 "So-chan, it's fine. Yours are so cute, and your nip—" Serafall started before her sister cut her off 

"Please don't say these things in front of Eden. Also, we should talk to Rias already."

"I do agree, with Sona. Let's go over there. Also, who is that person who was talking to Lord and Lady Gremory?" Eden asked.

"Oh, he is the resident pain in the ass, Zekram Balm, leader of what he calls the 'Great King' faction. He has about the same political prestige as us Satan's. He is an ancestor of Rias, so it makes sense why the bastard is here," Serafall said, her voice dripping with hostility.

Now knowing this, he understood why Sirzechs did not want to ask for his DNA, but it was not his problem to get the materials; it was Sirzechs'.

Eden then started walking towards the people of honor for the small party they were having. Walking towards them, he saw Rias engaging in a conversation with Zekram.

"Rias, honestly, before today, I saw you as a disappointment in our bloodline. Not as much as Sairaorg, but still a disappointment who would hopefully give birth to good children. But you have proven me wrong, and it has been almost two centuries since that happened," Rias, wearing a strained smile, responded, "My dear ancestor, it is great to hear so much praise from you."

"Rias, while I must admit you have gotten stronger, you still did not attain what I would call a flawless victory. I still will, for the time, give credit where credit is due; you did absorb my teachings quite well," Eden said, jumping into the conversation.

"Of course, Eden. I could not accomplish this without your help," Rias said with an even more strained smile.

Eden now looked at Zekram; he gave a slight bow and introduced himself, "Hello, it seems we have not met. I am Eden Tsubakihara, the Fateweaver, but seeing your high position, I assume you know that."

After a couple of seconds, Future sight kicked in, alerting Eden of an attack coming from the Bael. Taking a quick step back, a fist coated in the power of destruction came millimeters from his face.

"Got PTSD, old man?" he said, plotting the best time to attack him during the conversation.

"No, just thought I would test out the new Fateweaver. None of those young Satan's ever saw Fateweaver in their times, so I thought they could be overreacting. Not all of your predecessors were on the same level as you or Jabari."

"Sounds like PTSD. You should get checked out, old-timer, or in your day, I guess it was just called being a pussy."

At that moment, Eden felt the room get significantly colder.

"How dare you," he heard from Serafall, standing behind him.

"Wow, Serafall. When I heard that you got engaged to the new Fateweaver, I thought you forced yourself for the good of the underworld. I never thought you would actually like him. But I guess it makes sense since you are a spinster."

"I think this time I'm going to actually kill you," she said as the temperature in the room got even colder.

"Everyone, let's calm down. We are here to celebrate my sister. No need to fight," Sirzechs said as he walked in with Grayfia, and behind him were people he assumed were his entire peerage.

"Yes Yes, Satan is, of course, a social faux pas, but I'm sure for my ancestor here, we can all forget about this," Zekram said.

"Yes, we are here to honor Rias's mediocre success," Eden said. He immediately summoned Fateweaver to attack him, using a mana burst to account for the fact that he was unenhanced. Eden didn't want to lose the element of surprise by casting a spell. Before anyone could react to the suddenness of Zekram's attack, Eden closed the distance by using a mana burst on his legs. Then he poured mana into his arms to deliver a diagonal slash to Zekram. Zekram was able to step back in time to prevent the attack from cutting him in two, but his clothes were cut, and the blade in some places went skin deep, leaving blood on the blade.

"You really are a Fateweaver. Impressive. It has been some time since I have seen my own blood," Zekram remarked.

"Now we are even," Eden said in return.

"It is great that you two have settled this for at least now. Also, Serafall, please calm down," with that, Serafall took a breath, and the warmth returned to the normal temperature.

"If you do that again, you're ice."

"I will keep that in mind, Serafall. But let's get back to the beginning of the conversation where you said you trained Rias."

"Yes, I did train her and your peerage using temporal magic to slow down the time stream. I trained them for around seventeen days, and they still could not have a flawless victory against Riser."

"Yes, but Rias should not even need training to be able to defeat Risser. The power of destruction counters his immortality. If Sirzechs did not spoil the girl for so long..."

"Rias still overcame tremendous odds to win. Can you two please stop mocking her on her special day?" Sirzechs said, knowing he could not threaten the two of them but still wanting to defend his sister.

Rias, on the other hand, was in a state of both embarrassment and rage over the two people but just kept thinking about how she was free from Riser and tried to keep a very strained smile on her face. All of Rias's peerage were in different states of anger, even Akeno, who liked Eden, thought he should keep what he was saying for in private.

"Sirzechs, we are not trying to belittle Rias. As I said before, she did do well. It's just that we think she could do better," Eden said, then Zekram followed up, "As a member of my bloodline, it is my duty as the progenitor to make sure they live up to their full potential. So constructive criticism is par for the course."

Sirzechs was about to say something else until someone interrupted, "Dinner is ready, so please, everyone, come to the dining room to eat," and with that, they all departed for food.

Dinner was not as eventful as the pre-dinner conversation, as Eden and Zekram were seated apart from each other. Eden instead spent most of the time talking to Serafall and her family, while sometimes butting in to talk to the members of Rias's peerage, mainly Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper, to somewhat congratulate them on their performance. Eden did notice that Issei, throughout the entire conversation, had been on the verge of butting in to the defense of his master, but Kiba, knowing that making both Eden and Zekram take interest in them at the same time was a bad idea.

So dinner ended, and then they all went home and to bed. Eden thought he would deal with his new servants in the morning before he left.

"Sorry for leaving you out so much, Asia," Eden said while he was in bed with Asia right next to him.

"It's okay. I know I'm not strong or really good at talking, but I will try to be by your side if you need me," she said, smiling at him. The sentiment warmed Eden's heart a bit.

"Thanks, Asia. That's really nice of you to say. Well, let's get some sleep," and with that, another day passed.