Chapter 25: Railway to Hell & Meeting the Gremorys

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

So sorry about the late chapter. I ended up in a bit of an idea storm for my background projects, and ended up kinda forgetting about this. I actually thought for a little while that I had published this already. Really, sorry. And enjoy the chapter.

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Haruki POV

A few days had passed since the incident with Vali and the Khaos Brigade, and a few things had changed since then. For one, the Abrahamic factions are now at peace, obviously. Or more accurately, they are in cooperation with each other.

Sona suggested that Azazel be the club advisor of the ORC, which I don't have a problem with, after all, even if I consider my meta knowledge of the Draconic Deus universe, I still can't match the detailed knowledge that Azazel has about Sacred Gears. That, and I'm not all too interested in studying them the way he does, especially with the existence of the Lucifer bloodline.

Grigori's base in the underworld is now in cooperation with the devils, at least those not in the Old Satan faction. So far, the three factions are in war prep for the Khaos Brigade's eventual assaults.

On the side of the good news, Issei actually kept the power that he stole from Vali, and he can access it somewhat freely. He still has to be in his Balance Breaker to do so.

We've also gotten a light bit of fame among the devils and fallen angels. I personally have a few fans among the angels of heaven. I guess they saw me sparing Angela as something good.

I tried to stop Azazel from corrupting Issei further. Yes, he can have his harem and be a Harem King, but I'm not letting him become a deviant pervert like Azazel. And as it turns out, Asia wasn't going to allow that either. Given that she threatened to have Xenovia cut off his dick and then heal it back herself over and over again if he did become like Azazel.

But all that wasn't as important as what was going to take place in a few days. It is an event I've been dreading ever since I took Rias as mine, the Gathering of Young Devils. I just know that I'm going to meet some arrogant fucks like that Glaysa-Labolas guy.

In other news, Mom and Dad had agreed to letting Zeoticus help them... renovate the houses, with the condition that he did the same for the Hyoudou house. Apparently, Mom feels that she needs more rooms to work on her magic and other magical projects. Something about this new alliance between the three factions giving her access to a lot more materials to work with, and not putting too much stress on spatially expanding the rooms in the house.

At least I've got more bed room now, and a bigger bathroom. Although, with its size, it's more accurate to call it a large bath. I guess Zeoticus knows that I probably won't stop at four girls.

As it turns out, the Hyoudou house still got the same treatment as in canon. Six storeys and three underground floors. I guess Issei and I are gonna get used to living in a house with an elevator. Having your normal house turn into a small palace overnight isn't a bad way to start the summer holidays.

Regarding the Gathering of Young Devils, I technically don't have to go there. But what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't go to support my girlfriends in such an event. That, and I also have some business with Tia. Nothing else in particular... Ehem.

I've gotten to the peak of the Ultimate Rank, thanks to the push from going into Dragon Force for the first time. But I know that this won't be enough when considering the enemies that we'll have to face soon. And so, who better to ask for help than one of the five strongest Dragon Kings. I do hope that she doesn't get pissed at what I'll ask her for.

Of course, Azazel is also coming with us to the underworld, mainly to supplement the training for those with Sacred Gears. He's also got some meeting with Sirzechs, so at least, he won't be looking over our shoulders throughout the time we're there.

...

The day for the journey has come, and we're all at the train station, dressed in our Kuoh Academy summer uniforms. According to Rias, this is the best thing for us to wear to the underworld.

We walk to the elevator on the station, and Rias calls on Issei, Asia and Xenovia to follow her and Akeno, as they were unfamiliar with this particular method of going to the underworld. While I, Kiba, Koneko and Gasper would go down with Azazel, who was... over there flirting with an OL.

After about 90 seconds of waiting, the elevator returned, and Kiba calls Azazel so that we can all go down to the underworld railway station. After going into the admittedly huge railway station, we get onto one of the Gremory owned trains.

I follow Rias into the first train car, and everyone else went into the car behind us. I know exactly what's about to go down, and if I'm being honest, I'm a little excited to meet the rest of the Gremory family.

This trip is meant to take about an hour to be completed, which miffs Issei, as he complains that we could just teleport in, until Akeno explains that doing so, especially for me and the other new devils, would end with us being arrested for illegal entry.

And it seems that because I took care of Riser, Issei never took Sirzechs' back door into the territory. I guess it's still better this way. He's more focused now, and everyone should at least be a bit better prepared to face what's coming.

As we move, I feel Koneko's aura become gloomy. It seems that the unpleasant memories of her time in the Naberius clan's territory are still haunting her. Of the multiple devils that I want to deal with, Volifar Naberius is in the top five, along with Diodara Astaroth.

While I am in my thoughts, an elderly man with a dandy beard, dressed in a conductor's suit comes to me, takes off his hat and bows his head to me. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Haruki-sama. I am Reynaldo, the conductor of the Gremory private train." He says, respectfully.

"I wanted to personally thank you for getting our princess out of her predicament with the third son of the Phenex family. I don't have the words to fully show my appreciation." He says with closed eyes, an I smile.

"Don't worry. She entrusted herself to me. If I couldn't do that at the least, I'd be disgusted with myself. And besides, I enjoyed putting that fool in his place." I guess my smile got a bit sadistic, because Rias flinched upon seeing it.

"I see. Regardless, you have my thanks, Haruki-sama. Now, if you'll excuse me, I do have to keep the formalities." Reynaldo says, then pulls out a device that looks ever so slightly similar to a camera, that is connected to a monitor, and scans me for a few seconds.

"My apologies, but this procedure is done so that we do not let anyone wearing a false face in by mistake." Reynaldo says, and the device lets off a ping, as it confirms that I am in fact, me. After he finishes, he bows curtly, then moves to the other train car, where everyone else is.

After about 40 minutes, we hear an announcement while we were killing time enjoying each other. "We will be momentarily breaking through the dimensional wall. We will momentarily be breaking through the dimensional wall."

After hearing that announcement, I look outside at the familiar purple sky of the underworld. But as we got through the dimensional wall, my senses got scrambled.

Despite the fact that the underworld clearly had a natural environment, everything felt off to me. But as we go deeper into the underworld, the feeling subsides, eventually dissipating entirely.

If I remember correctly, the dimensional walls that exist between the mortal world, the underworld and heaven are extensions of the Dimensional Gap, which is Ophis' home. I really hope that this feeling doesn't persist when I eventually have to go there myself.

After admiring the environment for a bit, Rias and I go to the train car where everyone else is, and Rias proudly brags about her family's land, while giving Issei, Asia and Xenovia a bit of a lesson about it.

While she does that, I go over to Koneko and stroke her head lightly. She leans into me, with a solemn expression. "It's about your sister, isn't it?" I ask, and she nods. "Don't worry. You don't need to worry yourself about that too much. Okay?" I say, and she turns her face to my stomach, hugging me while she lays on my lap, letting out a soft mutter in agreement.

After another ten or so minutes of Issei and Asia gushing over the beauty of the underworld, Rias made the suggestion of her newer servants owning territory within the Gremory territory, surprising them.

She pulls up a holographic map of the Gremory territory that has some areas marked in red. "The red areas are places that have already been taken, so those are no good. But the rest is okay, so point at the land you like and I'll give it to you." Rias says giddily.

Over the next ten-ish minutes Asia, Xenovia and Issei take their time choosing a piece of land that they would eventually manage in the future. Then we hear another announcement from the train's PA system.

"We will soon be arriving at the Gremory residence. Everyone, thank you for riding this train." It rang out as we reached the last stop. I sense a large crowd of devils outside, excitement and expectation surging heavily amongst them.

Apart from Azazel, who has his meeting with Sirzechs, the rest of us get off the train, into the station's home, when suddenly. ""Welcome home, Rias-ojou-sama!!"" The crowd of devils, who seem to be the Gremory family's soldiers, shout out loudly and fire their guns into the air in a welcoming salute for their princess. And yes, devils have guns.

While I'm not used to this number of beings welcoming me or a party I'm with, with such fanfare, I'm not really fazed by it. Too bad we couldn't say the same for Gasper, who had fled behind Issei.

In the crowd of devils, multiple butlers and maids begin approaching us, bowing to Rias and welcoming her. Soon, a familiar face appeared. "Welcome back, ojou-sama. You arrived early. Above all, it's good that you had safe travels. Please, all family members, board the carriage. We'll be going to the main residence with this." The silver haired wife of Sirzechs Lucifer says to us.

She guides us to a set of carriages being pulled by nightmares, horses bred specifically in the underworld. Rias chooses to go in a carriage with Akeno, Grayfia, Asia, Xenovia and Issei, staying with the ones that are unfamiliar with her more anxious servants.

I enter another similarly sized carriage with Koneko, Gasper and Kiba, and we head off to the Gremory main residence. As the scenery passed by us, we eventually see a massive castle, which if I remember correctly, is one of the homes within the main residence area. The affluence of upper class devils cannot be understated.

Upon reaching the central building that serves as the true main residence of the Gremory family, we disembark, and in front of the carriages are over a dozen butlers and maids, each, and a red carpet that stretches from the carriages to the castle gate.

Grayfia urges us forward, and we move forward, only for a small figure to dash out of the line of maids and rush to Rias. "Rias-nee-sama! Welcome back!" A cute young boy with the Gremory family's signature crimson hair says as he hugs Rias.

"Millicas! I'm back. You've gotten big, haven't you?" Rias says as she cheerfully returns the embrace. "Mind introducing us?" I say, as she rubs her cheek against his.

"This is Millicas Gremory, the son of my brother — Sirzechs Lucifer, and Grayfia. He's my nephew." I look at the little boy, who looks at me with a child's fascination. "Come on, Millicas. Greet them. This is my boyfriend. He may soon become your uncle." Hearing the word 'uncle' set off something in my head, but I'm not sure what. I just suddenly had the urge to make this kid see me as the coolest person he'll ever know.

"Yes. I am Millicas Gremory, nice to meet you." He says politely. "Hello, Millicas. I am Natsuhiko Haruki. It's nice to meet you too. Say, do you want to see something cool?" I say, and create a small ice sculpture of a dragon in my hand, and give it to him. His little eyes dilate as he looks at the ice dragon.

"By the way, Gremory? Not Lucifer?" Issei asks from the side. "Well, only the person that gains the position holds the name. So while my brother is the Satan Lucifer, Millicas here is still a Gremory, and the one next in line for family head after me." Rias explains, then gently places Millicas down.

Holding his hand, she begins walking into the castle, and we follow her, passing by multiple inner castle gates until we eventually got to the entry hall, which was to be frank, unnecessarily huge.

Grayfia calls some maids, saying that she wants to show us all to our rooms. Rias nods, saying that she'll go and greet her mom and dad, but apparently, Zeoticus isn't around right now.

"Ara. Rias, you've returned." A woman's voice came from the floor above. I turn to the direction of the voice and see a beautiful woman in a dress. She had flaxen hair and the same color of eyes as Rias, as well as Rias' proportions, but more mature. Zeoticus, you really hit the jackpot with this woman.

*Venelana*

This is of course, Venelana Gremory, Rias' mother, and former princess of the Bael family of devils. "Mother. I've returned home." Rias says with a smile, and hugs her mother. Meanwhile, Issei looks at the interaction with wild surprise, which is veiled behind a respectful face.

"Mother? She looks more like your elder sister, Buchou." Issei says, forcing his face to hold a serious expression. Being able to sense people's emotions can be so underrated at times. But I totally agree with the sentiment.

Seeing her, one wouldn't think that she is actually a considerably powerful devil, but she is. I can even tell that she's almost at the Ultimate Rank.

"Oh, such a polite boy." Venelana says with a small chuckle. "As years go by, devils can freely change their appearances with magic. My mom always has this appearance of the same age as the current me." I smile at the sentiment. She could transform her face to look in any way that she saw as beautiful, and chose to look as similar to her daughter as she could, without trying to overshadow her in any way.

"So this boy is Natsuhiko Haruki, right?" Venelana says as she looks at me. I give her a respectful, short bow. "That I am. It's a pleasure to meet the Flaxen Princess of Ruin." I say, surprising her as I use a nickname from her younger years. "Oh. So you know of me. I'm glad." She says, her smile seemingly perpetual on her face.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Rias' mother, Venelana Gremory. Please treat me well from now on, Natsuhiko Haruki-kun." She says with a wink. Oh, yeah. This visit is going to be a fun one.

...

Narrator POV

After the short meeting, Haruki and the others were shown to their rooms, with Haruki also being shown to Rias' room in the event that he had the intention to make a night visit.

All of them took a while to rest for several hours, after which, they were all called to the dining room, where an extravagantly large meal was set on the table. Rias and her peerage members took their seats, with Haruki, Zeoticus, who had returned in time for dinner, Venelana and Millicas following shortly after.

"Please, enjoy yourselves without holding back." Zeoticus said with a welcoming smile. Everyone soon began eating, except for Issei, who was slightly bothered by the fact that he had no knowledge of noble table etiquette.

"Don't overthink about it. Just follow what you see Millicas doing." Haruki's voice said in Issei's head. Listening to Haruki's advice, Issei let his eyes linger on the movements of Millicas' hands. Due to the training he and the others had been partaking in for the past few months, his dexterity among other things, had increased greatly, allowing him to copy simple movements by just watching them for a while.

After a few seconds of watching Millicas' hands, Issei also began eating, making sure to watch his manners. Gasper was eating with teary eyes, as he was happy to finally be away from so many people at once. Koneko was eating, but only in little bites, as her mind was preoccupied.

Although the table was mostly silent, that silence was interrupted by Zeoticus clearing his throat. "Members of Rias' group, please think this place as your home. Having just come to the Underworld, you're in an environment you don't understand. If there's something you want, please say so to the housemaids without reserve. They'll prepare it right away." Zeoticus said in a cheerful manner, then turned towards Haruki.

"By the way, Natsuhiko Haruki-kun. Have your parents been well?" He said with a smile. "Yes, they are. Thank you for asking. My mother is particularly happy with having more rooms to use for her magic research and experiments, and my father has said that he's been eager to get the chance to spar with you, preferably in our home's training room." Haruki responded calmly.

"Oh? I'm glad to hear that. Who knows? I may just grant Nadeyoshi's wish." Zeoticus said with a cheerful chuckle. "And you can call me father-in-law from now on, after all, my lovely daughter is already yours." He said, causing Rias to blush lightly.

"Of course. But since you've brought that up, I should let you know that she won't be my first wife." Haruki said, and the room we t silent. Unexpectedly, Rias just huffed in dissatisfaction, rather than throw a tantrum as her father was expecting.

"May I ask why? She has the status, and you love each other. So why not choose her as your first wife?" Venelana asked with a smile that wasn't a smile.

"It's quite simple, really. I loved Akeno long before her. Making her the first wife over Akeno would be unfair to her. And before you ask, we have discussed this, and come to the consensus that Akeno will be my first wife, and she will be second." Haruki answered, his voice calm yet firm.

"Well, as long as you love and take care of our dear Rias, there'll be no issues." Venelana said, dropping the subject. "But if I may ask, are you familiar with devil society?" Venelana asked.

"Yes, I've had my own... interactions with the upper class of devil society. I know of noble etiquette, but I will warn you; I'm coming here not merely as Rias' fiance, but also as a Dragon, one that is soon to be a Dragon King." Haruki said, shocking everyone at the table.

"Dragon King? But you just hit the peak of Ultimate Rank less than a week ago." Rias said from beside him. "Yeah, but I know that we'll face enemies at or over the Ultimate Rank, especially if we look at beings beyond the three Abrahamic factions. We all need to get stronger faster. I just know how to do that for myself right now." Haruki said, poured out a glass of wine for himself, and took a sip.

Silence pervaded the room as everyone thought of the implications of his words. "Sorry about that. It seems that I've soured the mood of tonight's dinner. I offer my sincerest apologies." Haruki said, and everyone continued eating until they were full.

They soon went to their assigned rooms to sleep for the night, Haruki's words ringing in their ears.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 3,395