55

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Nonaka!" Mio nearly shouts with her hands on her hips. "You're not one of Issei's just yet."

"I've been Issei's since we were five years old," Yuki growls. "If not for the elders, Issei and I would still be engaged, and you wouldn't even be in the picture."

Well, that's coming along nicely. I lean over and whisper to Lolisa, "Why don't you go over and see if you can rescue Maria from your mother. I'll handle these two and get the party back on track."

"Yes, Master," she says flatly, obviously annoyed at her cuddle time being interrupted by the two catty girls.

"Thank you, my pet," I say, and she perks up.

"Is that what you think?" Mio says with a vicious grin. "Well, then burn with jealousy because I was Issei's first. Maybe if you had trusted Issei more, you would have come to him immediately instead of listening to those cruel elders that were obviously just looking for someone to blame their own incompetence on."

"Mio," I admonish, walking up. "That's not exactly fair. Like me, she was just a child then, and the elders have a lot of power and influence. They could have made things very difficult on Yuki's family if she had tried to speak out."

"No!" Yuki says, her anger replaced with sorrow. "She's right. I should have... I should have done more. It's not fair! You were punished for their mistakes. I should have been there for you."

Tears start to stream down her face, and I hate that. I pull her into my arms, and she breaks down, crying and apologizing. "Sh sh sh sh. It's alright. Do you really think my dad couldn't have stopped it if he wanted to? He wanted us out of there, away from their politics and manipulations. They wanted to lock me up. They were looking for any excuse they could find, probably to experiment on me, and dad told them to go fuck themselves."

I rub circles on her back as her sobs soften and slow. Mio looks a bit ashamed but is hesitant to say anything else. She didn't realize just how on edge Yuki really was, torn between her loyalty to the Hero Village and her love for me. The indoctrination is real in Orario, but so is disillusionment.

Orario was a place where heroes were trained to protect humanity, but heroes were human, and like any human, sometimes heroes went wrong. Take Danzo, for instance. He was a bit like the Fallen Angel's Kokabiel but from the Hero faction.

Firm in his belief that all other races should be wiped out for the safety of humans and that he would be the obvious leader of such a war. Even though the casualties, both hero and civilian alike, plus the massive collateral damage, would be devastating, in his view, the ends justify the means.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out he was working with Chaos Brigade. It's just that level of insanity that Danzo would think he could manipulate in his favor. If I ever run into him, like with Freed Sellzen, I may just splatter his brains across the immediate area and go from there. If he pulls that bullshit 'negate death' with stolen eyes thing like in Naruto, I'll just keep slapping him dead until one of them sticks. Fuckin' creep.

Why the fuck did the gods that sent me here have to include Naruto bullshit? The revelation that Danzo was in the world made me recall that there are other Hero Villages besides Orario. Danzo probably wants to control all of them so he can dictate policy worldwide. What an aggravating piece of shit. Then I remember Ino, Hinata, Tsunade, and a few other smoke-show kunoichis...

I nod to myself. "Worth it," I say.

Yuki looks up, red tear-filled eyes staring at me. "Hmm?"

Thinking fast, I say, "It was worth waiting for you to find me again, Yuki."

Her lip quivers, and she buries her head in my chest again, sobbing.

.

.

She calms down a few minutes later but is utterly embarrassed that she broke down in front of so many relative strangers. She even tried to run away before I grabbed her, pulled her over to a couch, and sat her on my lap.

The room has returned to a party atmosphere, albeit a very sedate cocktail party and not the college keggers that I was more familiar with. Life was simple before Truck-Kun. Boring, but simple.

Mio walks over a few minutes later. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she says. "I just wanted you to take me seriously when I said I love Issei."

Yuki shakes her head. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have questioned your motives for being with Issei. It was unfair of me. I just... I just wanted things to go back to the way they were when we were children... but that's not going to happen. I know that. I was just being selfish."

"Still," Mio says. "I knew you were having a hard time with everything and unsure of your place, and I attacked that. It's was horrible of me after you risked yourself to aid us against that creep, Zolgear."

I scoot Yuki over to one side, reach out a hand, and pull Mio onto the other side of my lap. "I would like you two to get along. We're going to be together from now on, and I care about both of you. Mio, we've had a whirlwind relationship filled with high-stress situations. Tonight I'd like to focus on slowing things down a little. We have the time, you know."

She nods. "Yuki, you'll understand more later, but I'd like to do the same with you. We need to reconnect as we've been apart for a long time," I say. "And tomorrow we have our date. We can talk about what you want to do on it later as well."

I look out at the other women. "That's actually the plan for tonight, ladies. I'm hoping we can all get to know one another and you will have some time to think about what you want to do. There is no rush, and it is a big decision. Some have already chosen, so I hope you'll take the time to talk with one another about what it all entails."

The women look around at each other, especially at Mio and the succubi. "For most of you, this will be an unusual experience tonight. I promise nothing that happens tonight binds you to me or in any way hinders your own free will."

"And what exactly are we doing?" Mira says.

I nod to her question. "Some of you are already aware of my ability to bring people into my dreams. The effect feels entirely real, but it is all within our minds. Due to this ability, each hour of sleep our bodies get will equate to around a month of time within the Dreamscape. This means that I'll be able to spend time with each of you to answer your questions or just to get to know one another.

The other benefit of this is that you can do just about anything in the Dreamscape that you could do in reality. This includes training, studying, reading, watching movies, going to the amusement park, and the only restriction is that we can't bring anything out of the dream... yet. I'm working on that."

"What's the catch?" Mira asks. "What do you get out of this?"

"You mean besides spending time with all of you?" I ask and shrug. "I guess, the same as all of you. I get to learn about my allies. I can train myself to be stronger, although since my physical body isn't in there, it is about technique instead of physical training. Sasami has a copy of every book or piece of media, so I can watch any movie, read any book or tome in this world."

"Who is Sasami?" Shizuka asks with a curious expression.

I smile at the wide-eyed woman. "I think I'll let her introduce herself when we get there. She's amazing. You'll love her, I'm sure."

"I don't buy it," Mira says, ever the skeptic. "People don't just offer what you're offering."

"Most people don't have the ability to offer what I offer," I retort.

"You know what I mean," she snipes.

"Oh, you think I'm being too altruistic and sharing too much of what I can do?" I say. "You assume there is some ulterior motive that I just haven't revealed, right?"

"Something like that," she says.

"Alright, cards on the table," I say with a smirk. Taking a breath, I continue. "My powers and abilities mostly develop in accordance with my wishes and desires. You'll find out more about that in the Dreamscape. Really, though, I don't 'need' any of you. I have more than enough lovers to become a literal god in no time with my abilities.

I chose to align myself with you because I know things about you and the world, and I think you're all worth knowing and being with, and in some cases, it's because, again, I know your fates and want to change or at least guide you along a less traumatic path. Not because I get anything out of it, but because I want to. My choice.

It would be boring as hell to just power level myself to supreme godhood by fucking a bunch of random women I had no feelings for, so I started looking for those I thought I could develop relationships with. Love even.

You're all beautiful and interesting, and I'm not just talking about the fact that the bulk of you are supernatural in some way.

I'm like a chimera of emotions. Part of me wants to protect you; part wants to help you get stronger and achieve your goals. Part of me wants to spend peaceful days exploring the multiverse just so I can see your reactions, and a not insignificant part wants to hear you moan in ecstasy as we do every naughty little thing we can think of.

I've been working on improving the Dreamscape because I want to have more time with all of you and eventually have an actual world where we can all go physically to spend time together.

I know some of you feel like you're just being dragged along by your leaders. That's why I proposed this evening. I want to get to know each of you. I want you to get to know me. My abilities work better when there is genuine affection, and I'd like the chance to earn it."

I focus on the Sona Peerage girls as I say the last. They're the ones I've had the least exposure to. A few of them blush, and others turn their heads to avoid my eyes.

Tsubasa, though, speaks up. "Why do you need so many of us?"

"Need?" I say. "I don't think you understand. It's not that I need you in some sort of power-building pyramid scheme. I WANT you. I'm a greedy demon dragon god, and I want every last one of you. I want to spend time with you. I want to cuddle you and share in your hopes and dreams. I want to hold you when you're sad, protect you when you're vulnerable, cheer you on in your victories, console you in your defeats, and in intimate moments, make passionate love.

I want to show you worlds you never dreamt of. Bring you to heights you never imagined. I want people I can share my gifts with, and if you accept then, like with Santa, you're all on the list. The difference is, my naughty list isn't so bad to end up on."

My aura spread throughout the room, and everyone felt a little hot under the collar, or perhaps the waistband. That wasn't even deliberate. My inner horndog just got a little excited, and the power leaked out a little. It was true, though; I wanted all of them. I'd blame the dragon in me, but the fact is I've been building myself into this since day one.

The second I found out I was in a version of DxD, I wanted the women of the Rias and Sona Peerages for myself; I still want to steal away Riser's Peerage, I want Grayfia, Venelana, Yasuka, Rossweisse, and all the rest. Finding Mio and the rest of the Shinmai Maou no Testament women, and after I saw Rei for the first time, and realized the High School of the Dead girls were here too...

It is not easy to try and slow down. It may have been a mistake to tie so many abilities to my libido, but so much more fun. Even without the dragon blood, I'd be hard-pressed to suppress my desire for the entire lot of them.

I want them to want the relationship and for it to grow, but that desire is at war with my instincts to just pin them down and dominate them—the devils and demons in particular since they are more primal beings. The demon and dragon instincts say that they're to be conquered, not wooed, but some of them were human at one point, so I resist.

My pre-reincarnation life was not like this. I'd ask a girl out. We'd date a little; maybe sex would happen, maybe not, we'd break up and move on to the next person that caught our eye. Here, it's like I have an insatiable appetite, and there is an all I can eat buffet of the most beautiful, sexy, and powerful women in the world, and I could have them all if I just reach out and take them.

I wonder if the gods know what kind of monster they unleashed when they merged me with all these harem protagonists. Is this their plan?

"Wh-what about us?" Rika says, her arms crossed, looking insecure as fuck. "Shizuka and I aren't supernatural. Aren't you afraid that we'll be a weakness for you? As powerful as you are, you'll have powerful enemies. We could be used against you."

"Do you want to be stronger, Rika?" I ask. "Every time I have sex with a woman, our bodies absorb the ambient sexual energy. That energy reinforces our bodies, strengthening us, extending our lifespan, and maintaining our youth. If we did nothing else, a daily roll in the hay would make you as strong as a low-class devil in a month. That's to say nothing of what I can do to help you stronger outside of that. The Dreamscape gives us an incredible advantage for training."

"Would you like to learn magic like Aika?" I ask, pointing to the bespectacled brunette waving back happily while standing next to the busty personification of her grimoire. "Perhaps you'd like to join the succubi and enter my Peerage. The Evil Pieces would likely transform you into a succubus yourself. Or would you rather have a Sacred Gear? I actually have an extra one I can give you right now if you want?"

"I don't know what that is," she says with a shrug.

"Big G, God of the Bible, made a bunch of magic doodads that he gifted to humanity to help even the playing field against the more aggressive and powerful supernatural beings. I have one, Asia has one, Tsubaki... Kiba, Gasper, who aren't here... did I miss anyone?"

"And you can just give them out like candy?" Rika says.

"Yeah, I'm curious about that too?" Sona says with a frown.

"Not really... not yet anyway," I say. "I came across someone I knew had one and kind of took his ability to summon it before he got the chance to. So, now I have to figure out who I'm going to give it to."

Everyone stares at me. "What?" I say.

"You can steal people's abilities?" Sona asks, sounding shocked.

"What part of planning on being a multiversal god didn't you all get?" I ask with dripping incredulity. "Yes. I can take powers, make powers, swap powers, hell with enough time and willing partners, I can probably create our own universe... or maybe even a multiverse.

Do you want to learn magic? I can help you increase your aptitude. Do you want to have magic? Well, I can do that too. And I'm sure there are a million and one things that I can do that I'm not even aware of yet."

"How do the gods even allow someone like you to exist?" Tsubaki says. "You could single-handedly upturn the entire world."

I shrug. "Tell me something I don't know. Honestly, though, that's not my plan. I have no interest in being the ruler of the world, destroyer of the world, or the hero of the world, for that matter. There are plenty of protagonist wannabes out there that can handle it. The only time I plan to interfere is if it involves one of you or someone else I care about. For example, Rias' spicy fried chicken problem."

A few people frowned, not understanding, but that's Rias' secret to tell if she wants to.

"You said your powers developed per your wishes and desires," Mira says. "So, why do so many seem geared to improving your lovers' abilities?"

"Why not," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "I think Rika's concern about enemies is valid, and I don't think most of you have a damsel in distress fetish, so helping you get strong enough to protect yourselves and each other seems like a logical course of action for me."

"So, you're going just to give us power?" Mira says skeptically. "For basically nothing?"

"Are you worried about the moral implications or the balance of power in the world?" I say. "Look, we aren't in a relationship yet, so this evening is more like a getting to know one another event—maybe very slow speed-dating. I haven't granted anyone phenomenal cosmic powers other than a minor ability as a gift for my kitten. For now, all I want to do is help those close to me become the best they can be."

"But you just said you would give her a Sacred Gear," Mira says, indicating Rika.

"Yeah," I say, nodding. "She's a normal human without any magic entering a world of supernatural beings, some of whom can vaporize a city. You have your grimoire and magic, Momo there has her Evil Piece, Sona and Rias were born devils. You all have power and a way to become even stronger. Rika could learn magic, assuming she has a talent for it, or I improve her talent, but I think she may be more interested in other forms of power instead.

Hell, Azazel has been working on developing artificial Sacred Gears for years. He'll succeed pretty soon if he hasn't already, and then more artifacts of power will be handed out. This world has a lot of people with power, and not all of them are as well-intentioned as I am. I want the people I care about to be able to take care of themselves.

Regardless, whatever form of power she or anyone gains, assuming they accept, they'll have to learn to master it themselves. I can help, but that doesn't diminish the need for their own effort."

The two devil heiresses were reeling from the idea of the Fallen Angels getting Sacred Gears, while the Fallen Angels were smirking.

"Are you really that powerful," Tomoe asks. "Like, are you on par with the Satans?"

"In terms of potential, I'm well beyond them. In terms of current power, I'm not entirely sure, but I could probably at least hold my own against them."

"You could fight Serafall-nee-san!" Ruruko nearly shouts.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't clear," I say. "I meant I could probably put up a fight against all four of them. Of course, I'd need a little preparation, but even then, I could at the very least escape if I needed to."

'Ballsy, putting that nugget in their heads,' Ddraig says.

'Am I wrong?' I ask. 'Tell me if I'm overestimating myself.'

'Hmm. Physically, you're at least as strong if not a level above them and getting stronger. Magically, you're about even in pure power and behind in knowledge, though what you do know is highly effective, space and time magic, so I'd call it a wash. Tactically you're outclassed. They have a ton more experience than you. You're clever, but they are military geniuses.

Ability-wise, you are likely head and shoulders above everyone, including the gods of this world. How you were allowed to exist is mind-boggling. Among the Satans, only the Beelzebub even rates a discussion.

All that said, the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way for them to defend against your ability to create, modify, or remove any ability you want, is probably the edge you have that would let you win—provided you had enough fuel. Especially if you can use my boost to increase the effectiveness of your other abilities and your Banishing Shift to decimate anything they throw at you.'

They've stewed on that long enough—time to change gears. "Speaking of the Satans. Sona love, fiancée o'mine, I'm astonished that I haven't had a visit from your sister yet. I was expecting death threats at the least," I say.

Sona pales. 'W-well, she is rather busy-" she starts.

"You haven't told her yet, have you?" I say, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"T-that is-" she mumbles.

"Perhaps I should use the same method I did to meet a representative of Rias' family."

"Eep," Rias squeaks, blushing sweetly to hearing reference to the night of her anal deflowering. Everyone looks at her, and her blush burns to match her hair. I see this out of the corner of my eye, my focus not wavering from Sona.

She squirms in her chair. "Why don't we invite her now?" I say, teasing. "We can have dinner, and you can bunk together for the night. I'm sure she'd love that."

Ding Dong...

Well, shit.