Chapter 1 – The Tragedy of Nicholas Gremory

Rewrite of my DxD fic, Forgotten Son of Destruction. Show some love.

Disclaimer: I do not have any rights of ownership for the characters used except the OC's. All the credit goes to the authors.

Chapter 1 – The Tragedy of Nicholas Gremory

"Ah, Adam! Finally, it seems your new body has fully merged with your soul. How are you feeling, my friend? Discomfort? Feel like you're body will rip apart any second now?" the voice of an old, annoying man filled my head.

"What's going on?! I'll tell you exactly what the fuck is going on!" I spoke up, loudly, hoping that the bastard could hear me.

"Yes, I can hear you, Adam. And please you don't have to shout you could simply think and it would reach us. Neat, right?" he spoke up and I could imagine the twinkle in his eyes when he said this.

"Oh, then please enlighten me where the fuck I am! And this body, why the hell does my head hurt when I think about You-Know-Who! And why the fuck do I have an AI in my head when I did not ask for one?!" I exploded, my voice sounding extremely childish now that I focused on it.

"Patience, dear boy. Information regarding the world you are in right now and the life of the person who's body you have occupied shall be delivered to you the moment our chat ends. As for the system-"

"It is available to you since this is your first world. To simplify it, it is there to help and guide you through your first experience as a member of the Legion. When you travel to another world, it shall cease to exist. And it isn't sentient so you don't have to worry about constantly hearing a voice in your head," another voice, a more pleasant and melodious voice sounded out in my head and I knew instantly who it was.

"Ah, Selene so nice of you to join us! And thank you for covering that part for me!" the old man's voice jovially sounded out, annoying the fuck out of me.

"Don't sound so happy. You were meant to inform him about this when you were making the pitch. I have been cleaning up your mess pertaining to this situation for a while now. Maybe you should retire."

"Now, now. No need for such hostility. Why don't we reconvene on the topic regarding my incompetence at a later date? For now, I bid adieu to you Adam and wish you luck for your coming adventures. Oh, and brace yourself," the voice sounded off before I felt the connection sever. No idea how the fuck that happened.

And what did he mean by brace yourse-

SON OF A BITCH!

In that moment, a sharp pain completely rattled every single part of my head/brain/mind, whatever the fuck it is called I don't care. But that's not all.

This pain I believe, was caused due to the implantation of the memories of one Nicholas Gremory, the previous owner of the body and someone who had quite a difficult upbringing due to situations beyond his control.

The Gremory family, the most welcoming and caring family any devil could hope to serve, anyone who was anything could join them and become something great. At least that is what the entire underworld and supernatural world thought. However, what they did not realize was that at the root of it all, they were devils too, and events as major as the ascension of their son, Sirzechs, to the position of Lucifer might have changed quite a lot. But due to their persona with other people being somewhat warm, nobody else seemed to question their change in behavior anymore.

But for one individual, this family was nothing but the cause of all his pain and suffering. This individual was Nicholas Gremory, son of Sirzechs and his wife and queen, Grayfia Lucifuge. The reason for this was simple. During his birth, there were a lot of complications plus the stress Grayfia was under due to the Old Satan Faction attacks, permanently damaged his biology. Magic didn't nourish him that much and hence he was born with reserves that barely reached low-class and his body was very frail.

This caused a huge scandal in the underworld. The son of the strongest devil king was no special than a human? It was both unacceptable and hilarious. Rumors flew around that Grayfia had been unfaithful to Sirzechs, leading to tension building up in their relationship. This caused them to neglect their own son throughout the ordeal. The fights, arguments and borderline magic use finally stopped when Ajuka Beelzebub himself conducted a blood test on the child and proved he was indeed a Gremory, but he had inherited a majority of his features from his mother. The only feature of his father was the dazzling blue eyes that sparkled even in the darkest of nights. That accompanied with his silver hair and chiseled, aristocratic face made him very handsome, but alas, the only thing people considered was his power.

It did not help that 4 year later, Rias Gremory was born to Venelana and Zeoticus. She was born with very high amounts of demonic power for a devil and was said to have potential that could surpass Sirzechs. She also possessed the highly wanted and fabled Bael's Power of Destruction, something Nicholas himself wasn't born with. This caused the family's attention to shift majorly towards the red-haired heiress, and caused the poor boy to be left in the dark. His grandmother, mother and father had also begun disregarding his existence by giving him to the servants, who looked at him with disgust and provided him with the bare minimum, so that they could all have a hand in raising Rias, the future head of the Gremory according to Zeoticus, who had never cared for the little boy since he believed that he would not amount to raising their family name.

This caused the boy to grow up to be lonely, sad and slightly malnourished. He was extremely small for a kid his age and anyone could see the outline of his bones through his clothes. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough to achieve consideration from his family.

However, he did not let this dishearten him. He always knew that his family was busy and the servants were too, thus he needed to take care of himself. Hence, he did everything with determination and poured a 1000% of his everything into any activity he did, just so he could receive praise from someone. But slowly his hope began to fade as he saw that he would never be appreciated, but 'princess Rias' would be praised for even tripping while she stood completely still. If he asked any of his family members to do something with him, they would claim they are far too busy to indulge in something which would end up wasting their time, but they had loads of it when the heiress wanted to do anything, and eventually his own parents as well. This caused the seed of despair to be sown in his young heart and mind.

Eventually, the boy began drifting further and further away from the family to the point where he never even settled for dinner with them, by age 8. His determination to achieve some sort of acknowledgment from his parents had pushed him hard enough to spend most of his time, isolated within the confines of the library.

His mother had once tried to teach him the basics of magic (before Rias had been born), hoping that he would be able to do some form of devil magic, but his body couldn't handle the strain, nor were his reserves enough and he collapsed. This was the end of Nicholas' magic practice with his mother.

The clan library became a sanctuary to him. A place no one ever visited. The adults had read through most of them and the heiress was still young and mostly cared about playing outside or watching television in her room, not reading books. Thus, giving him a multitude of things to explore and gather information on. Unknown to everyone but him, Nicholas was a genius, surpassing his father and mother. In terms of intellect at least. Although he was born with a minimal amount of demonic power and without the Power of Destruction, he did possess the Gremory's superior control over demonic magic.

While alone, it couldn't do shit and was worthless, especially with his feeble ability in magic, he figured that he should at least have theoretical knowledge of the subjects so that one day, when he finally figures out a solution to the problem that was responsible for everything in his life, he would be ready.

He absorbed each and every word stated in the books like a moth to a flame. Teleportation magic, Basic Elemental magic, Illusion magic, Barrier magic, were just some of the things he learnt about in his time there. But, his lack of demonic power prevented him from progressing by practicing it.

A year later, when he was 9 years old, he had a question in his mind. Why were the Gremory respected and included in the 72 pillars? What was the ability that made them unique? Bael had their PoD and Sitri had their superior water magic (second only to the Leviathan Clan) and healing services, but what about the Gremory? His questions were answered that day.

When he was navigating through the library, to learn about something new, his keen observation skills picked up a small distortion in space at the wall on the other side of the shelves. He had a quite a bit of knowledge about illusion magic and hence he could easily figure out that it was an illusion and by the looks of it, it had been untouched as he had never seen anyone else talk about a secret space in the library. So, he took his chances and walked through the wall.

The discovery he made on the other side of the wall changed his fate drastically.

There was an entire myriad of books arranged on multiple shelves, some of which radiated an aura of power. The first book he picked up answered the questions that plagued his mind for a few days now. 'The Complete History of the Gremory Clan,' it read.

The book spoke about the previous 2 heads of the clan, his great great grandfather and his father before him, their achievements and the true ability of clan: Rituals and comprehension of magic.

The original Gremory, the one who had been raised from the ground up by Lucifer and Lilith's magic, had been a menace to deal with in the Great War due to the knowledge regarding rituals and the control over his magic which he possessed. His existence was the reason the Gremory family holds the rank of Duke, a rank higher than the Phenex family, who could regenerate themselves and possessed similar magic like the great bird of the same name. using his knowledge, he created multiple rituals that boosted the stats of the devils in his command, forming an army of high class and ultimate class devils, leading them in battle on a single command from the King of Hell himself.

But alas, it was said that all his knowledge had never been passed on and was lost to time the moment he was slain on the battlefield by the Archangel Michael himself, the right hand of God *ouch*.

At least up until that moment.

According to a letter found in between the pages of the book, Zayden Gremory, the 2nd head of the Gremory clan had hidden the library. The letter said:

To the future Gremory who finds this,

My name is Zayden Gremory, the second head of our clan. If you have found this letter it means you have stumbled upon our clan's secret as well as the ability that made us special in the eyes of our Lord: our knowledge on ritualistic practices. I had sealed these books on our practices away with a very strong illusion and barrier. The reason for this is the constant attacks by the Fallen and the Archangels. They fear our ability to raise the rank and power of our soldiers and hence, their attacks on our territory have become a lot more frequent. If the supernatural world believes that our library has been lost to time, they shall ease up on us. It may cause us to lose valuable power and sway within the Devil faction, but I will not let my family be destroyed like the Dantallion family simply because I was a stubborn fool.

Thus, I have used a ritual to hide this library's contents away. I don't want them falling in the hands of someone unworthy and hence, the illusion will only be seen through by an individual who is a true Gremory at heart (work of a ritual that utilized special runes). I have left all of my work and artefacts I discovered in my lifetime and I hope they aid you in your endeavors. Besides, I already that the Gremory family is in safe hands. My daughter, Runeas, shall see to it.

Who the fuck is Runeas? My great grandmother? Maybe, but even in Nicholas' memories, there isn't any information on her.

Anyway, moving forward. From that day forth, he continued browsing through the massive library of the archaic procedure and art. The plethora of knowledge he absorbed alone would have made him the most valuable asset to the devils but he wanted more. He would not stop here! He needed more!

He found a couple of rituals to boost his physical strength and take care of his malnutrition but he would still need to exercise well to make his body attuned for what comes next.

A few days later, he stumbled upon a book with a black leather cover and multiple warning signs hovering on the cover. This was the only book he had not gone through and so, ignoring the caution signs he picked it up and began reading through it. It was here that he found the perfect ritual for himself. The ritual was titled 'Blessing of Purgatory', the final brainchild of the original Gremory, brought to life by his son.

It used the extremely pure magic crystals called Magisteel (an accumulation of pure mana particles or magicules) found in the depths of Cocytus and nine powerful devil hearts to empower the caster. This ritual empowered the person with enhanced potential to learn magic, extremely large reserves of magical power and enhanced regeneration of magical power. The notes said that the caster would experience growth at an unprecedented rate and if practiced by the correct individual, they could easily surpass the Satans one day and step into the realm of the Gods.

The only downside of this ritual is the immense physical pain of having your heart ripped out of your chest painfully while your body broke down and built back up.

And a massive downside it was.

He had stars in his eyes and was about to bolt out and start preparing for the ritual when a dull glow in the corner caught his eye. He moved over to the other sides of the shelves and found a box the size of a table giving off a faint grey glow. He raised an eyebrow at the mysterious package and throwing caution to the wind, he proceeded to open it up. The moment he did his eyes widened to dangerous proportions.

The artifacts that had been placed inside were radiating power that far surpassed the likes of the Devil Kings. It was easily comparable to the power of the heavenly dragon emperors! These artifacts were priceless!

The package contained a huge chunk of a crystal-like substance that had glowed with vibrance, like a rainbow and had a shiny tint to it. It glowed as bright as the light given off by the seraphs. This matched the description of Magisteel, the purest form of mana particles. This means that this box contained the necessary items that would be used in the 'Blessing of Purgatory' ritual.

There were nine glass boxes also present that contained, what looked like a heart, each, most likely in a stasis spell. These must be the hearts of the people that need to sacrificed for the ritual. Each box also had a name associated with them and it did not take him long to recognize their identities. After all these hearts belonged to people who served the Gremory Clan and were easily ultimate-class in terms of power. There was also the heart of Zayden Gremory, second leader of the clan. All in all, these hearts belonged to some seriously strong people and if the ritual worked, he would join them as another individual who managed to secure ultimate-class in terms of demonic power.

But the last object baffled him. It was an orb that appeared to be the darkest shade of black someone could find. But the most questionable thing about it was the fact that it radiated both, a strong, chaotic demonic aura along with the holiest aura any devil could ever feel. This should not be possible! The only way both could exist simultaneously is if…... oh. That's it! It seems like the leaders of the factions have kept this a classified secret. Now it makes sense.

It was then he saw another letter addressed by Zayden Gremory which explained the origins of the orb and how he came to possess it.

Apparently, the Orb was called the Orb of Avarice, a creation of the first human sorcerer who went by the name of Merlin. It was created using the blood of the 4 original Satans, which he received in exchange for his services by reducing the holy essence of the original Excalibur - a holy sword which was wielded by the Archangel Zadkiel during war, which after his demise, landed in the lands of Britain and thus, the tale and legend of King Arthur Pendragon began; so that it won't be as damaging to ultimate class devils and above, even if wielded by a seraph.

This was the request made by the Devil Kings, to aid them during the times of war. It also contained blood of the Biblical God that had been stored by the Vatican as an ancient relic bestowed upon them, and he stole most of it. He tried to fuse the two together to create the Orb, a personal weapon of his. But it did not work, since due to the existence of their creator, the Biblical God, two polar opposite elements did not mix.

Thus, he waited for God to be in a weakened state during war so that it would be successful. But then the event happened, and he was able to create the Orb. It gave his magic a significant boost to the point it was near infinite. The only way the spells he cast could be undone was if he died, fell into a coma or if they were attacked by stronger magic. The effect it had on individuals was not the same for everyone as it did not work as well against the descendants of the original 4 Satans or the strongest 4 seraphs (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel) since they are closely related to the ones whose blood, he used to create the Orb. But it would still deal a good amount of damage to them.

Zayden Gremory had obtained it from Merlin's grave as he never had any descendants and the Orb was buried with him. He would have tried out the ritual himself but before he could, he fell prey to an unknown disease, which sucked his life force away in a matter of months. He had enchanted the hearts of 9 individuals to return here and be placed in a container under a stasis spell so that someone could use it if they ever found out about it. The Orb could also be used in the ritual, but another heart would be required to stabilize it and complete the procedure. This was just what he needed.

But he still had to boost up his entire physical structure, because if he were to try the ritual now, he would undoubtedly perish. He would not be able to handle the pain of having his heart ripped out and would die before the ritual was complete. So, he made a decision to conduct the ritual a year later when he was 9, and used this year to focus entirely on building his physical strength and prepare his body for the ritual. Only time will tell if he will succeed or die trying.

Time skip – A year later

In the year that has passed, the situation at 'home' has gotten a lot worse for the young ice mage. It is almost like his existence has been completely forgotten. The servants that fed him only provided him with food or any other supplies if he asked, that to with a sneer or an expression of immense disgust on their faces. His parents had been neglecting him far more now. Whenever he asked for something the only replies he would hear were, 'I am busy with work now' or 'I have something I need to do with Rias, we will talk later'. It began infuriating him to the point he no longer expressed a desire to have anything to do at all with the members of his so called 'family'. At first, he had seen a sad expression filled with regret on his 'mother's' face but it slowly faded away from his memory. This only served to fuel his drive a lot more.

This served as a good thing as he now had ample amount of time to exercise without anyone giving a damn about whatever he did. His diet had to be altered significantly since if he continued eating only what the servants provided him with then he would have passed away after the first week of exercising. So, he had to learn how to hunt in the jungle or cook food, if he could find the kitchen empty, which was a rare occurrence. But he was provided with good results. He hit a growth spurt and could now qualify for a 10-year-old child with a little bit of muscle on his body. It was only a matter of time now before he conducted the ritual.

He also searched for the body of an ultimate-class devil in the cemetery of the underworld and found one. This was the part of another that he had to go through to give his physical body a good enough boost to withstand the pain. It was the body of a servant from the Bael clan that had died during an attack from the Old Satan Faction. It was still in good condition as Devil bodies took a lot of time to disintegrate. Now he had the final piece necessary for his ascension.

He decided to conduct the ritual in a cave on the outskirts of the Gremory territory on the day the other idiots went to the Sitri Domain to celebrate the birthday of the heiress. Carefully, he began drawing the 10 magic circles described in the ritual with special ink, made from the blood of a kitsune as it is proven to be an excellent tool for rituals and the forging of magical foci.

He drew a huge circle with intricate structures, surrounded by 8 smaller circles, done in the same magnificent blue ink. He then brought out the 9 hearts he had gathered and placed each one in the center of one circle each. He put the heart of Zayden in the biggest one as a way to honor him and thank him for giving him a chance to prove his worth. He then brought out the Orb and placed it beside Zayden's heart. He then stood directly above them with the slab of Magisteel and closed his eyes.

'It all comes down to this' he thought and mentally encouraged himself and stripped down to his boxers.

He then placed the ice beside the 2 objects in the circle and lay down directly beside them. Mentally steeling his nerves, he made a huge slash just above his heart, using a silver ritual dagger and waited for the blood to pour down to the center of the circle. The moment it did, the circle began to glow, along with the objects and his body. Slowly, the other circles glowed as well and began circling around him, the hearts glowing as well, slowly fading to form magic. The temperature started to plummet and he saw the objects beginning to merge together. His body began to ache as the magic released from the 9 hearts began entering his body.

He growled in agony but still decided to bear the pain for a few more moments. Out the corner of the eye he saw that the 3 objects beside him had merged together to form a heart which had glossy dark blue color coating, and I mean really dark. It radiated an aura of power that would make most of the people save for the devil kings, shit their pants. This was the hard part. He strived through the pain and grabbed the heart, before placing it directly over the slash he made and began pushing it through his body. Every cell of his body howled in agony with him screaming in pain, blood pouring out of his mouth and eyes, but he still managed to pull through.

'STOP THE PAIN! MOTHER! FATHER!' Nicholas's last coherent thoughts called out to his mother and father, hoping they can stop the pain. No matter how he acts, Nicholas is only a 10-year-old boy calling out to his parents.

The procedure continued for a few more minutes as he felt the object merging with his heart causing unbearable pain, before the glow finally faded and all that was left was a boy with blood running down his body. His eyes as lifeless as a corpse, his body cold to touch. The ritual had been a success. But the boy, poor Nicholas Gremory, had passed away due to the sheer pain and agony he suffered from. And I also believe that an intervention from the same gods who sent me here was involved.

There all caught up.

Poor kid, he really did have a fucked-up life. I hope that wherever he goes next, he'll at least be happy and content with his family and live a fulfilling life.

'Moving on, system? Please draw up my stats,' I spoke, hoping that this is the way it worked.

'Affirmative,' a robotic, feminine voice spoke up in my head.

User Interface

Host – Nicholas Gremory

Gender: Male

Age: 10

Level – 1

Race – Devil

Rank – Pseudo-Immortal

Alignment – Shall be based upon the host's action

HEALTH - E

STR – F

END – F

VIT – F

INT – C

WIS – D

CHA – E

LCK – S+

MP – B

HP – Low

Okay so if I had to guess from these stats at least, my physical characteristics truly suck, don't they?

'That is correct, host. Auto explanation begins in 3…2…1…

As you can see host, your stats vary from F and go all the way up to S+. This classification will help you assess the power level of yourself as well as an other individual. In the world the host is currently in, F is the lowest rank possible in the supernatural world. This rank belongs to low class devils. Once the host has reached E rank, their power shall be comparable to a mid class devil. Rank D, shall give the host power equivalent to a High Class Devil. Rank C, gives the host power comparable to an Ultimate Class individual. Rank B, at this rank the host possesses power comparable to a Satan Class individual. Rank A, this is the rank at which True Gods reside. At Rank S, the host shall match Elder Gods in power. And at Rank S+, the host will be able to face the anomalies in this world. This is the classification of the stats.

Would you like to see your skills, host?'

Wow! That was a lot to take in. but this has clarified one thing for me at least. I need to work hard. Really hard, if I want to survive in this world long enough. And yes, please show me my skills.

'Affirmative.'

User Interface: Skill

Enhanced Potential(C)(Passive)

Enhanced Talent(C)(Passive)

Enhanced Magical Reserves(B)(Passive)

Enhanced Stamina(D)(Passive) – [Gift from Anonymous God]

Enhanced Regeneration(C)(Passive) – [Gift from Anonymous God]

Another anonymous god? System, is he another colleague of the old man?

'Yes, host.'

Ah well, free gifts are free gifts. But this shows I have a significant problem. I have no skills that I can use to defend myself nor do I have any offensive skills. In a world where there were people who could kill humans with a flick of their fingers, this wasn't a very favorable situation for me.

Well, time to grind, I guess. After all, I plan on staying here for a while.

Author's Notes

I hope the chapter was to your liking and I would love to hear your feedback and ideas as it would only help me improve the story and my writing. I am a little out of touch but I hope the quality of the chapter is good enough.

The next chapter shall see Nicholas attain skills, discover the world he now is a part of, and discover the secrets of his powers and its extent. Advanced chapter is already up so do check it out.

Check out my 'PT' for more stuff by yours truly. The link is in the bio. I have a few one shots there as well. Along with an advanced chapter.

Comment and review please, it works as great motivation.

Goodbye and see you soon. Hopefully, monthly updates shall suffice.