Downtime

Edenia

~492 AD

The feeling of the sun's warmth on my bare skin makes me feel lethargic as I lay on the beach and enjoy a moment of silence. It has been a while since I've just layed down somewhere and enjoyed a moment of peace to myself. With our arrival in the DxD world we went to work scouting the area before beginning to work on the creation of Edenia. Decades was spent on research and experimentation along with basic infrastructure to lay down the foundation of what is now my chosen people. So it has been awhile since I've simply enjoyed a moment of peace to myself, especially since I've been spending the majority of the time in my mortal form which causes me to experience time at a much slower rate compared to my godly form.

With Edenia's entrance into the Great War however, I can now spend my time relaxing, reading, or doing anything else that I don't consider work. Especially with Sindel here to run the Empire. Not only is she an impeccable ruler, but she seems to enjoy ruling and has no qualms with me leaving all of the paperwork to her. In addition to that the people have not only accepted her, but they also love her more than anyone else other than me; calling her Mother of Edenia and Empress to the Edenian Empire. All in all I say that coming to DxD wasn't such a bad idea, particularly since we arrived during the time of the Great War. A time where the people haven't devolved into the perverts that they will be in the be; well to be honest everyone who is alive right now is still similar to their canon counterparts, however with a war in full swing they have to be serious most of the time.

Meaning that people like Azazel aren't trying to get into other people's pants for the majority of the time, the devils haven't become a race of goofballs, perverts, and icons yet, and the other pantheons aren't as friendly as they can be. That may sound like a nightmare, but to me it's a pretty good setting. I'm far too used to dangerous and cutthroat environments to be comfortable in a lighthearted, ecchi, battle shounen setting without the kids around to help me lighten up. Ever since my first jump in Arkham all of my settings have been dangerous and possibly fatal should I ever make a mistake; in contrast however settings like Fairy Tail and canon DxD are so peaceful and lacking in danger to me that it makes my skin crawl as my senses go haywire trying to find any dangers that can be hidden under the facade of peace. Which is what makes this the perfect place for me.

Peaceful enough for me to relax and attempt to have a vacation, but with a looming war overseas that makes sure that it isn't too peaceful. With this I can relax without my senses going millions of miles a minute trying to find dangers hidden underneath a facade of happiness. Plus with the Edenian Empire still in its infancy I can always return to work should I grow restless. Just the perfect setting for a god who has known conflict for the majority of his life who is trying to have a vacation. Honestly I owe the girls a massive thank you for convincing me to come here, this was a good idea.

As I take a deep breath of the ocean air a shadow falls over me, cutting off my connection to the sun. Opening one eye to take a peak, I find Azula looking down at me with an amused smile on her face.

"You're blocking my sun, dear." I tell her in the hopes that she'll move.

"It seemed to be the only way to get your attention." she answers as she steps back before laying down next to my left.

"I'm finally enjoying a proper vacation." I say with a smile on my face. "No children to raise or train, and no excessive peace to make my skin crawl."

"Yes, who knew that it would take a massive war between three powerful supernatural factions to make a God of War feel calm." she says sarcastically, causing me to roll my eyes at her.

"I'm honestly surprised that you haven't joined the war yet, what brings you here?" I ask her.

"The bet between Morgan and I is still ongoing." she answers.

"What bet?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow.

"The one where she challenged me to not enter the war. It was originally supposed to be about whether or not I could refrain from killing the faction leaders, but we decided to make it harder while increasing the stakes." she explains.

"Oh? And what does the winner win?' I ask.

"Complete obedience from the loser for the next century and a half." says Azula.

"Ha. Is that why you've been so restless and wound up lately" I ask with a laugh.

"Yes. I wish that this ridiculous war would be over already. Honestly it's taking your 'people' longer than it should to deal with a species vastly weaker than them." she says with a frown.

"To be fair, not only are they severely outnumbered, but they're also missing some crucial information that gives the devils an advantage over them in terms of intel gathering." I admit.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Well, amongst the Leviathan Clan there is a minor house that specialises in hiding their magical signature from the majority of sensors. They are not particularly powerful in terms of combat prowess, but they make up for it in information gathering." I tell her.

"Unlike the rest of the Leviathan clan they can only turn into small bugs, but in return those bug transformations of theirs can't be sensed by any of the magical sensors that the Edenians are using. They would need sensors created by one of us to sense those intruders. As such a lot of their intel is being taken and used against them. The fact that they still manage to outmaneuver the devils is a testament to their tactical prowess." I explain.

"I'm guessing that you have no plans on telling them?" she inquires.

"As much as it pains me to say so, they must learn to do things by themselves. I've held their hands for the first three decades, it's time for the little birdies to leave the nest." I reply just as I sense Scáthach and Sindel appear behind us.

"It was the right decision." reassures Scáthach as she and Sindel lay down on my right. "You won't always be there for them. They must learn to act without your help."

"And winning this war will be the perfect way to show that they are ready to not only protect humanity on this Earth, but to also act as your agents in the other worlds." adds Sindel.

"Look at you two reassuring him as if he were a baby." says Azula before turning to look at Sindel. "Don't you have an Empire to run?" she asks.

"Wow, not being able to join the war has really made you 'restless' for a lack of a better word." I say. "Remind me, which one of us is the God of War again?" I ask with a teasing smirk.

"Last I checked you were the only one of us to face an entire army of eight thousand strong and wipe out half of it without possessing a single drop of divine blood in their veins" replies Azula with a roll of her eyes.

"He did what?" questions Sindel as she sits up fast enough to give any lesser being whiplash.

"Oh yes. Did he not tell you?" asks Azula with a smirk as she too sits up to look at Sindel.

"No, he most certainly did not tell me about that." she replies.

"Well allow me to enlighten you. This was before any of use met him mind you, we had to hear this from his surrogate sister…" begins Azula before I tune her out and turn to face Scáthach.

"I can already tell that this is going to turn into a storytelling time about every reckless thing that I've done." I say with a sigh.

"You brought this upon yourself by acting reckless in the first place." says Scáthach.

"In my defense, when this happened not only was I going through my jumps solo, but I also had no plans of falling in love." I say. "You'll notice that after Azula and you joined me the amount of reckless acts that I've undertaken has reduced by quite the margin."

"Is that so beloved? Do you wish for me to list every reckless act that you've done after we joined you? I can assure you that the list is quite longer than the one before we joined you." replies Scáthach.

"I refuse to believe that. Other than my battle with Crimson Moon, defying Poseidon in DC what else is there?" I ask her.

"Facing the army of Gaia in Tartarus alone while in they have the home advantage, staying back in Tartarus so that your brother may return to Earth, Odin's Gallows, Crimson Moon, Vorti-" she says before I quickly cut her off by placing a finger on her lips.

"I believe that's enough." I say as she looks at me with a smug smirk.

"Are you sure? I can list quite a few more." she says.

Before I can answer Morgan appears in front of us with a gust of wind.

"A family gathering, how interesting." she says as her emerald dress turns into a two piece bikini and she sits next to Azula.

"How did your meeting with YHWH go?" I ask her.

"I don't really have any particular thoughts about him. He seems like your typical benevolent god." she says with a shrug.

"That's interesting. Considering how well he's spoken of in canon despite being dead for centuries I expected something about him to stand out. Maybe you just haven't spent enough time with him." I comment.

"Are you doubting my capability dear?" she asks with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"No, but I am doubting that you observed him well once you lost interest in him after a cursory glance." I reply.

"Ah, well in that case you may just be right." she says before turning to Azula and Sindel. "So, what story of our husband's recklessness were you just sharing."

"Hey, what makes you think that they were talking about my recklessness?" I ask indignantly.

"I was telling Sindel of the time he faced an army of eight thousand by himself." answers Azula with a smirk as they ignore my question.

"I'm not that bad right?" I ask Scáthach who only responds with a raised eyebrow.

With a sigh I leave it alone and close my eyes to enjoy the atmosphere. The waves splashing makes a nice background sound to Azula and Morgan's storytelling, while the nice breeze and heat from the sun serve to create the perfect temperature. It's such a nice feeling that I begin to feel myself slowly fall asleep as Azula transitions to another one of my stories, this one of the time I faced Gaia's army on my own in Tartarus.

Unfortunately however the moment doesn't last much longer as one of my runic tattoos begins to burn on my chest. Alarmed I quickly sit up to inspect it.

"What happened?" asks Scáthach as she notices the glowing tattoo.

"It's one of the distress signals that I gave the Edenian warriors before they went off to war. They're only allowed to use it for one situation, when they come into conflict with someone that belongs on the list of top 10 strongest beings." I tell her as the others stop talking and look at the glowing tattoo.

"Who is it?" asks Azula.

"Judging by the intensity of the burn either multiple members of the list are present, or one of the top three decided to come out of their habitat."

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AN: Here's the next chapter and as usual tell me what you guys think. Follow me on instagram at servant_ambrosius; I haven't posted in a while but I'll be trying to post regularly from now on. And if you can please support my pat re on (pat re on .com / servant_ambrosius). Also, just a curious question, when do you guys think that the story peaked?