The Gift

It lasted longer than expected as they were lost in each other's lips and time just flew by.

They tried their best to appear presentable as they teleported to the Sitri manor. Since Serafall made the teleportation circle they bypassed the barriers protecting the Sitri grounds.

They arrived in Serafall's room since she didn't want to go through the front door.

"You like this color?" He couldn't help but ask, as the room was a particular shade of red.

She turned to him, "Yup, it reminds me of someone~" she ran her hand through his hair.

He closed his eyes for a moment. Just enjoying her touch, but they were here for a reason.

"Come on, we shouldn't keep your parents waiting any longer," he grabbed her hand which was playing with his hair. Their fingers entwined as they left her room.

Serafall guided the way as he didn't know where to go. They walked through the long hallways of the manor, the walls were mostly a dark purple with a basic design, it felt like walking through a never-ending hallway. He would have definitely gotten lost in this place.

They went to the dining hall, but no one was there. Thankfully, a maid saw them and told them where Serafall's parents were. Arriving outside a tall set of metal doors, Serafall hesitated in opening the door, she took a deep breath and twisted the knob.

The slight noise of chatting ceased as the door gave an audible cue as it opened, two sets of eyes turned to look at the pair non-discreetly, gazes focusing on their still entwined hands. The older lady, who genuinely didn't look out of her twenties, smiled at the sight. The older man, meanwhile, had no change in expression, his eyes merely observing.

"Sera! Sirzechs!" The lady stood up enthusiastically to greet them, "Come closer, have a seat."

The younger pair chose a nearby coach in which they seated together. Lady Sitri merely maintained her smile but did not comment.

"It's good to see the both of you. Now would you care to update me on yesterday's event?" Lord Sitri calmly initiated the questioning, going straight to the point. Although phrased as a question, they both had no doubt it wasn't one.

Serafall took the initiative and explained the event from her own point of view. Lord and Lady Sitri simply remained quiet as they listened to their daughter's explanation.

However, Sirzechs was certain they knew of his fight with Rizevim Lucifer.

The questions for him came after Serafall finished her tale.

"Sirzechs, I heard quite the rumor yesterday. You tied in a battle against Lord Lucifer?" Lord Sitri's eyes stayed glued to his own blue-green eyes. His words were as straightforward as possible.

"Indeed," was his simple response, not even feeling nervous at Lord Sitri's intense stare. If everything went well, these would be his parents-in-law. It would do well to impress them. There was also the fact that he was much stronger than Lord Sitri, if a conflict between them were to arise, there wouldn't even be a fight.

Lord Sitri closed his eyes briefly, clearly contemplating his words.

"I see," Lord Sitri's eyes opened again, and he reached to pull something from his drawer. He laid a paper on the table, grabbed a pen, and quickly signed a document. Sirzechs had an inkling about what he was signing.

"You're free to go Sirzechs," Lord Sitri stated as he carefully held the paper, seemingly not wanting to let it out of his hands.

He stood up from the coach with Serafall following suit.

"Not you Serafall, we still have things to discuss." Serafall seemed slightly saddened at her dad's words. He squeezed her hand in support, "It's okay, I'll see you later Sera."

She nodded yet didn't let go of his hand.

He smiled and lightly leaned down to peck her on the cheek. Embarrassed at being seen by her parents, her face gained a pink hue, and he managed to slip his hands out of her grip.

He discreetly winked at her before walking out the door.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, he made a magic circle and appeared in his home.

As soon as he arrived there were knocks on the door, incredible timing or someone had sensed him arrive.

He leisurely walked to the door, briefly wondering if his parents had invited someone over.

He was on guard as he opened the door, just in case there was an attack.

No such thing. Instead, a ridiculous sight filled his eyes.

Outside his door, with her hands clasped together, stood a grey-haired woman. She couldn't be much older than him, but he knew looks were misgiving. They were devils after all. She was wearing a maid uniform and to top it off, she was wrapped in a red ribbon. Like a gift.

A gift. Rizevim.

That guy definitely had a screw loose, a person as a gift?

Her face remained stoic throughout as if what she wore was of no importance.

"Good evening, are you Sirzechs Gremory?" Her voice was the same as her face, incredibly emotionless. He could only wonder the amount of time it had taken her to become that stoic.

"Yes, and you are?"

She fully bowed down at her waist, looking straight at the ground.

"I'm Grayfia Lucifuge, your servant from now on, Master."

He expected this, yet he was still surprised. After a few seconds, he realized she was still bowing.

"Rise, did Rizevim send you?" She immediately rose to face him again, her eyes narrowing slightly at his casual usage of the current Maou Lucifer's name.

"Yes." It seemed she was a woman of few words.

"What were his instructions?" He asked as he wondered how long she would serve him.

"I am to forever serve you, Master." His eyebrows rose at her words. That is certainly interesting.

"I assume you know the procedure?" He asked and wondered if she would do it. At first, he thought she was sent as a spy, someone to keep an eye on him. That would make a lot of sense, yet that didn't seem to be the case.

"I do," She knelt in front of him.

"I, Grayfia Lucifer," She started, magic permeating the air as a pact was being created, "forever swear loyalty to Sirzechs Gremory, to obey any of his orders as his servant, and never purposefully betray him."

The pact was completed, and the magic disappeared, her life was now in his hands. A master and servant pact is a cruel one to sign as the master gains complete control. He had been educated on this as a child as part of his responsibility as the clan heir. In fact, every maid in his household had made the same pact with either his father or mother.

Once the pact was signed, even if she wanted to betray him, she couldn't. Her body wouldn't obey her. And even if she didn't want to, if he orders her to do anything, her body would naturally do so.

"Rise, Grayfia." He gave a sigh at seeing her stoic face. "Let's go inside."

He opened the door further to let her walk in. She obliged and walked inside the house.

"Have you had anything to eat?" He asked her as he guided her towards the dining hall.

She gave him an incredulous look, the most expression he had seen out of her.

"No." She slowly stated.

"Me neither, let's go eat then, I'm starving."

At the dining hall, he instructed a random maid to serve food to two people. The maid gave a curious look towards Grayfia, he then noticed she was still wearing the red ribbon. His hands went towards it to take it off her, Grayfia stopped walking to facilitate his work.

He made sure not to touch any inappropriate places even if he was sure Grayfia wouldn't complain. While he knew having a harem in this current era was not uncommon, he still wanted Serafall's opinion on it. Even if they still hadn't made anything official. That's not to say, he would not have a harem if Serafall said no, this was DxD. A harem is mandatory. Not to mention, it would be trivially easy to get a harem, in the underworld power was everything.

As fast as he got the ribbon off her, the food arrived equally as fast. The plates were placed on the table. So much food, so much variety. They definitely weren't finishing it, with just the two of them.

He took a seat at the head of the table as his father wasn't there. Still, he wondered if he should challenge his dad soon to become the head of the Gremory family. It was a no-brainer who would emerge as the winner. Yet, he was still very young. Too many responsibilities and slightly less freedom. Well, it was something to consider another day.

He looked towards Grayfia as he noticed she hadn't taken a seat yet.

He gave her an inquisitive look.

"A servant should eat after their master," She remained unmoving.

He raised an eyebrow at that, "Grayfia, sit."

She bowed her head, "Yes, Master."

Without any further argument, although she appeared reluctant, she took a seat.

"Explain to me, Grayfia. What valuable services can you do for me?" He waited for her response as he took a sip of water.

"I can do anything you require of me, Master."

He hummed as he contemplated her words, "Like...?"

"I am well versed in taking care of household chores." Yes, he assumed so, considering she was wearing a maid outfit.

"I have enough maids for that, why do I need you?"

"I am an ultimate class devil, are any of your maids at that rank?"

No, no they were not.

"I see, very well then," He closed his eyes contemplating his choices, "Welcome to the Gremory household, Grayfia."

An ultimate class devil would definitely benefit him, not to mention, that this was Grayfia. If he was being honest, one of his favorite girls in DxD. Her beauty was astounding. Anime Grayfia looked even better in real life!

Or wait, was this real life? Or was this anime life?

Best not to think about it.

After finishing their food, he went for a nap, eating made him sleepy. While his new maid decided to clean his room.

Not that his room was dirty, mind you, it was clean, just not to Grayfia's standards.

His nap was short, he had too many thoughts to be able to fully sleep, he was stronger than Rizevim now, was it finally time to visit the human world?

Hmm, well there are still stronger opponents on Earth, so best train for a year or two more. He did not want to die because an asshole like Indra took offense to his mere presence.

Right now, his priority should be his meeting with Rizevim, he was pretty curious about how it would go. Nonetheless, he wasn't really afraid of anything. However, it would be nice to completely overwhelm Rizevim the next time they met.

Therefore, it was time to train even harder. These few days he had before the meeting, would he be able to achieve the form canon Sirzechs was feared for? He had been trying for a long time now with no success, but maybe, just maybe, he would get it now.

________

Good news and bad news. The good news is he did manage to achieve the form. The bad news, he needs even more training to maintain the form for a significant amount of time. Right now, his limit was three minutes. However, that should be enough to deal with most opponents. Fights are almost never too long unless both sides were evenly matched, then it would just be a fight of attrition.

The place where he was meeting Rizevim was very luxurious, not that he expected anything different considering this was the underworld's leader.

"Right on time," The devil himself was already inside the establishment, sitting in a seemingly very comfortable leather seat. The music inside the place was calm, not something he was expecting.

Slow, sensuous. Female devils danced semi-naked to the slow rhythm.

Besides the dancers, only he and Lucifer were here.

Very curious indeed.

"Evening, Lord Lucifer." The words calmly left his mouth, there wasn't the usual tone of reverence and fear that most people had when speaking to Rizevim.

After all, what was there to fear for him?

Last week maybe he would be more cautious, but now? There was nothing, Lucifer could do that would harm him. He was confident in that.

"Is there a reason for this meeting?" Lucifer had been the one to invite him, he was still wondering about the reason.

"The reason, well." Lucifer played with the drink in his hands, "After the last war, there have been conflicts arising among devils. As you know, that was a war where there was no clear victor. The previous Maous died and that has left some of us devils thirsty, oh yes, very thirsty." He took a sip, "for revenge."

"Our war with heaven and those pesky crows isn't over, no. Not until there's a clear victor." Rizevim removed his gaze from the dancers, for the first time since he arrived, they made eye contact.

"But others don't think the same, clearly their minds have lost it, not continuing the fight would be forfeiting and letting the angels win. No, no that can't be allowed."

He already had a feeling of where this was heading, but he would not interrupt, it was amusing seeing Lucifer treat him as an equal. Oh, how deluded that poor fool was, they were not equals.

One was stronger and that was him.

"You're strong and now you've become a role model for the younger generation after that fight, if you say we should resume the war, most of them will follow you. So, what do you say? Let's kill those annoying bastards and establish devils as the strongest faction, where we belong."

"I see, however, do you know how many more casualties we would suffer?"

Rizevim snorted. "Does that matter? Most of our devils are fodder meant to die, only those truly strong deserve to live. As long as we beat the angels, thousands of devils dying are worth it."

"What if the pillars finally become extinct? Are you just planning on raging war until the very end?"

Red eyes of the devil narrowed.

"Fuck the pillars. If they don't fight, they don't deserve to be pillars and if they die, they only have themselves to blame for not being strong enough."

That should be enough. If the devils were to hear his words, it would be a political death sentence for him.

"Enough questions. The devils will win this war no matter the cost. Are you joining the fight?"

He raised his drink and kept drinking until he finished it while making Lucifer wait.

He put his thinking face on as if he were truly considering it.

"Hmm, how 'bout no."

A single second went by before the place they were in blew up.