Interlude 39

Venelana POV

It was slightly, perhaps a bit surreal. Walking out into the family room and seeing three of the current Satans sitting on my couch along with my Ancestor and my daughter as they were watching TV and ate snacks.

Specifically, they were watching the news coverage of the war going on between the Youkai and the Fae.

“Mom, why do you have a suitcase?” Rias looked up from her seat and they all joined me.

“I –“

“That’s a lot of Pheonix Tears.” Ajuka chimed in and then everyone looked at him.

“How would you even know she had Pheonix Tears inside?” Serafall questioned.

“What? You know that Pheonix Tears need to be kept properly or they lose their potency over time. Who do you think streamlined the spatial storage mechanism for the Phenex family?” He huffed.

“Nerd.” Serafall snorted.

“I am not a Nerd.”

“Mom, what’re you doing with a bunch of Pheonix tears?” Sirzechs asked.

“Obviously she’s going to drop them off for her lover.” Our Ancestor smiled. “Venelana has always been a dutiful partner.”

I honestly couldn’t even get a word in with all of them here. “I had some stored away and I bought the ones available on the market to help out. I can’t do much otherwise, but I figured they would appreciate a more potent healing method for emergencies even if it’s only a few hundred.”

“Only a few hundred.” Serafall snorted again. “I hope Lucy Jr appreciates you doing this for him. A few hundred is a lot even for us. He better atleast spend a few hours on his knees between your legs, Mama Gremory.”

“Oh don’t worry, from what Venelana told me, he appreciates her plenty.” Ancestor said coyly.

Rias let out a squawk mixed with a pitiful cry.

“Dammit Serafall, don’t start!” Sirzechs also whined, covering his face. “You promised you wouldn’t make lewd comments about my mom.”

“Technically, I was making lewd comments about your son.” She corrected. “Your mom just happened to be screwing him.” She grinned mischievously.

“What’s wrong with you!?”

“I’m sexually repressed, and your mom hits all my buttons!”

They started fighting….or what accounted for it in this circumstance. They both tumbled to the ground and Ajuka merely put his feet up on them, much to their chagrin.

Though it did make me smile nostalgically. It feels like just yesterday that they were simply kids playing around like this, running around the house, going into all sorts of trouble.

It made me come to a realization.

I want another one.

But I can wait.

“Where’s Falbium?” I asked, their mischief wasn’t even complete with their fourth.

Serafall huffed, getting back up on the couch. “He finally got back to the capital. Since he’s missed so many of their important meetings and such, we decided to throw all our work on his lap and take a few days off.”

Ah, that sounds exactly like what they would do even without being Satans. And it certainly explains why they were much more social and relaxed.

Ancestor Runeas seemed to be having fun watching them as well.

“And we’re back here live as the first battle during the war is about to unfold. As you can see, there’s some sort of castle – a stronghold in the distance surrounded with tall walls and from the information we received, there are quite a few powerful magical protections around it.” The Reported on the TV spoke up again and everyone hushed themselves, eyes glued to it.

The Camera panned over to see some strange contraptions that I didn’t recognize by sight, but I recalled mention of them by Yasaka.

“It looks like they’re about the start, these strange machines – oh wow, I can feel the Magic around them from here.” Even as she reported you could see them activate, and even the camera began shaking around them. “We –”

They fired off, all sound was cut off and the camera, thankfully, wasn’t some mundane equipment so it was able to capture the footage.

A very powerful blast of magic erupted, shooting at the castle, and the defensive barriers around it became visible for the briefest of moment, a fraction of a second because that’s how long they lasted before being destroyed.

We all stared at it silently, perhaps with a bit of awe. Was it something unreachable by the people in this room? Absolutely not. Was it a genuine surprise to see some kind of….siege weapon, operable by the lowest threshold, capable of something like this? Most certainly yes.

“Wow, things changed a lot since I’ve been asleep. I wish we had things like that back in my day, maybe we’d have a lot more Devils around.” Runeas commented, eating snacks without much reaction.

“That’s rather…..new, Ancestor.” Sirzechs forced out.

“You mean we don’t have anything like that?” Runeas frowned. “What do we have then? I haven’t kept up with military stuff, never really cared about it.”

“We have Sirzechs as a big beat stick to swing around at people.” Serafall replied.

“Ah, that would also work.” Runeas nodded in understanding.

Sirzechs let out a sigh. “It was never cost efficient to do something like….that. We already have enough Devils capable of Magic, gather a handful together and they can release large-scale spells.”

“Hmm, but that doesn’t utilize the Magic from a group of Devils. There’s no preparation time, the scale of which would also require at least a dozen competent Mid-Class Devils with a good understanding of Magic. You would also need someone to lead them in casting, so one High-Class as well. And it can be easily interrupted by outside interference. And the training to accomplish this would take years of them working together in harmony if you wanted it to be efficient. And lastly, they would be taken out of the fight after one, maybe two uses of a large-scale magic.” She listed off absentmindedly, everyone looking at her, blinking in surprise.

It was easy to forget who she was, when she was nearly falling off the couch in a sloven position, munching on some snacks with crumbs on her face and her skirt barely covering her because it was bunched up from the position she was laying.

“What do you think, nerd?” Serafall looked at Ajuka.

“Don’t call me that.” He said expressionlessly, staring at the screen without blinking. “The power source is the key.” He reached for the remote, rewinding the images on the TV. “It’s a rather elegant design, if a bit simplistic. It’s like the magical equivalent of a catapult. It seems like everything about it was designed from the ground up to be used by people who don’t have the qualities of a Magician. However, I can’t comment further on it because I don’t recognize that crystal-like body that is placed inside the main glass compartment. If I had to hazard a guess, it looked like some sort of solidified Magical Power….while that’s a natural occurring phenomenon, it’s highly irregular and rather rare, and I’ve never heard of it in such quantities and size. I would love to meet the person who made the whole device as I can see the care they put into it even when it’s meant to be used by non-magical people.”

“You said these Youkai were a small faction?” Runeas looked at Serafall.

I looked at Serafall and she coughed awkwardly. “Well, they are….technically. I mean, a year ago, they weren’t even worth mentioning….”

“What’s the measurement of a big faction, these days?” Runeas looked at her.

“Uh…well, that’s hard to say…”

“Is it not enough that they have someone capable of killing Gods?”

“Well…”

“Actually, they have more than one.” I pointed out.

“Ah, my mistake.” Runeas nodded. “Multiple individuals. And many more who are strong enough to make their names known…..oh and you can’t forget that we lost the Dragon King that used to live in our borders.”

“Gugk.” Serafall nearly choked.

They all somewhat winced at that.

No one would ever say it out loud, but they all considered Tiamat as ‘theirs’ despite the fact that she never really left the Familiar Forest except for the few rare occasions such as when she was the referee of some Rating Games not long ago.

“Lots of people have been questioning that online.” Ajuka replied with the same expressionless tone. “We never really made it clear what our relationship with Tiamat was for our own benefit. Now, it seems that’s biting us in the rear as we’re being called out for ‘losing her’.”

“Aren’t they allied with the Norse faction now too?” Rias pointed out.

“Good point, my cute little descendant~” Runeas cooed while Serafall just became more crestfallen. “It’s such a shame that they hate us so much, I would have loved to go on a trip and visit my descendant.” She glanced at Sirzechs, who refused to meet her gaze.

“Miss Gremory..” Ajuka glanced at me, his eyes strange. It took me a moment to notice that his pupils had become Spell Circles. “You can store that in your bracelet, there shouldn’t be a problem.” He said offhandedly.

I was worried that the spells that kept the Pheonix Tears would be effected by storing them inside. I suppose I was overthinking things, but it was always best to act with caution when it cost you nothing.

“Thank you, Ajuka.” He was always a sweet boy, despite being foolish in his own right like the other kids, he was rather perceptive. I wasn’t surprised he noticed my bracelet either, as it was magical in origin and he was a master of nearly all things magic. “For you, sweetheart.” I took out a Dust Crystal I had on me and dropped it into his lap.

“!?” Ajuka’s eyes widened. “Miss Gremory, where did you get this?”

“Oh, I got a few from Wilhelm.” I smiled wistfully. Oddly, I was feeling a bit….lonely. Look at me, an old woman and I’m missing my young lover only after about a week. “I wanted to see if it would effect some of my plants if I put them in my garden.”

Ajuka’s mouth opened, but he abruptly closed it, calming down. “Thank you, Miss Gremory.”

“Have fun, kids, I’m heading out.” I gave my goodbyes.

“Where’re you going, Momma Gremory?” Serafall asked, and I could tell it wasn’t a question from Satan Leviathan, but someone who was close to a daughter for me.

“I’m going to have lunch with a few other of my sisters.” I smiled happily.

Both Goddess Izanami and Salem both were on the outside of this conflict as well, so It was important to make sure they’re doing fine and didn’t feel lonely without Wilhelm around. Maybe it was just all the years I spent running Zeo’s harem, but doing things like this had become second nature for me.

I barely opened the door to go outside when I almost ran into someone.

“Lord Bael?” I blinked seeing the Bael Ancestor at our door looking a little annoyed, presumedly not at me.

“Ah, Venelana. How wonderful to run into you. How have you been my dear granddaughter?” He smiled more than just a polite reciprocation.

I found myself smiling back because he didn’t call me ‘Lady Gremory’ which meant his visit was a social one and we didn’t need to stick to decorum. “I’m well, grandfather. I was just about to head out, but let me welcome you inside.”

It’s simply easier for everyone to call him Grandfather instead of how many ‘greats’ before it.

“We have a guest.” I announced, walking back inside, everyone turning to see me.

Zekram was just surprised to see all of them, looking between them and the TV. “I am surprised, did you not acquire this footage before it was publicly released?” He furrowed his brow.

The kids seemed to snap out of their surprise. “We already planned on taking the day off, there wasn’t much difference in watching earlier this morning or now.” Sirzechs offered.

It would be strange if they didn’t have it I suppose. Anyone who is anyone already had the footage way before it was properly released on the Devil TV.

Zekram just grunted in response, and the mood turned awkward.

“…..I am more than willing to leave the political intrigue at the door.” He finally spoke.

“Oh thank Big G, I was not in the right mind to play this game today.” Serafall accepted it rather easily and the others just nodded in agreement.

It was far from the first time we’ve gotten together with keeping those things out.

“Runeas.” Zekram Bael looked at the primary reason for his visit.

Runeas sat up in her seat, looking at him blankly, not speaking.

“….why did you not come to see me? You’ve been up for days now.”

“I’m sorry Lord Bael. I wasn’t aware I was supposed to answer to you , Lord Bael. I’ll do better next time, Lord Bael. Please accept my apology, Lord Bael.”

Zekram twitched slightly. “Stop that!”

“I apologize again, Lord Bael. I’m just a lazy Devil, Lord Bael. I’m afraid I can’t measure up to your expectations, Lord Bael. I’m just a pitiful Duke, Lord Bael. I can’t possibly measure up to a King such as yourself, Lord Bael.”

“You’re doing that on purpose, cease your childishness Runeas!” Zekram clenched his jaw in annoyance.

There was no one in existence that could get under the skin of Lord Bael. That would be true if Runeas didn’t exist.

The kids were just looking back and forth between them, wondering if they were probably hallucinating.

“What can this lowly Duke do for you, Lord Bael.” She smirked slightly as she did it again.

Only she can make the title of Lord Bael sound like an insult to him.

Zekram’s eye twitched violently. “Is it so wrong for me to visit my family?” He said with a rare huff.

Runeas did smile slightly. “Your family? All I see are Gremorys and a few others.”

Zekram rolled his eyes. “Who cares what last name they wear. They are Baels.”

“Uh huh.” Runeas just answered blankly.

“They are Baels!”

“Weird, their names are Gremory? Rias dear, what’s your family name again?”

“Bwah?”

“Don’t bring her into this!” Zekram grumbled. “And they carry my bloodline! They wield the Power of Destruction!”

“You mean my family wields the Power of Destruction. The new Gremory Trait.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Say I’m wrong.” Her smile grew wide.

“I am the progenitor!”

“Let’s do a roll call. You have Venelana, a rather talented young woman even if she doesn’t train as much as she should.” Runeas shot me a look. “But she’s a lot better than when I was up last time.”

She noticed then, interesting.

“You have Rias here, also hailed as a talent. You have Sirzechs, need I say anything about him? And you even have Millicas, his child who is also a genius. Now here’s a question, what name do they have?”

Zekram’s eye was twitching violently at this point.

Runeas’s smile never disappeared, if anything you could see the maliciousness in it. “Wilhelm.”

“That one is utter bullshit, and you know it!” He threw his finger out accusing her.

“Son of Sirzechs, lover of Venelana, that sounds like a Gremory to me.”

“You are an infuriating sloven woman child!”

“Thank you, Lord Bael.”

Zekram just let out a low growl, clearly annoyed beyond limits. “Enough, you know why I’m here.”

“Alright, fine.” Runeas let out a small sigh. “Enough playing around I suppose, come on let’s have that talk that needs to happen.”

Everyone just looked at them as they left the room.

“What the fuck did I just watch.” Serafall blurted out after they disappeared.

“That always happens when they’re in the same room. It’s not just well known because Runeas sleeps all the time.” I happily informed them.

Surprisingly though, they’re very much allies and would immediately come to the other’s aid if the situation was dire.

Oh well, I should head out, the show is over it seems.

“That little son of a bastard is trying to do what!?” Runeas’ voice blew out of the room they were in, the shattering of glass apparent as every window in the whole house broke, the release of a wisp of her power seeping out with her words.

I should probably head out before I get caught up in something and get delayed further.

Thankfully, they all seemed more concerned on the two old Devils rather than me, giving me a good chance to make my escape.

@***@

Odin POV

“Ah, it’s Lady Jinn!”

“Jinn!”

“Jinn!”

“Show them Asgard’s might, Lady Jinn!”

“She’s not fighting you idiot!”

It was nice.

Despite Asgard not being fully rebuilt as of yet, nor the Norse Realms returning to full peace and tranquility, there was a bit of a reprieve.

The times were changing.

Freya and myself set up a large magical projection so everyone could watch what was going on with the other side of the world.

Officially, we were allies of the Youkai and that was a recognized fact by every God of Asgard and the Norse Realms.

Unofficially, we would tear apart anyone that tried to meddle with them with a fervor that would make even Surtr take pause.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t really help out with their current problem. Oh, we never shied away from a war, and in another situation, we would have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Eastern comrades of ours regardless of who the enemy was.

But they needed to settle matters mostly by themselves. They were the ones given a black eye, and to not appear weak, they had to return the favor and throw some punches of their own without someone holding their hand.

However, that would all cease to be if our newest Goddess suffered a single strand of her hair being harmed.

The Brat, well, everyone respected him. If he called for aid, every God would answer his call without a second thought and willingly throw their lives away for his cause. He could have been King and everyone would have accepted it.

For Jinn though….Jinn…many here would willingly cut off their own arms if it meant they could beat the person who harmed her over the head with them.

It didn’t take much being around her to get her measure, and while many of the Gods here were idiots, rarely were they foolish as well.

They all knew who Jinn was now, the kind and gentle Goddess who didn’t like fighting and was happy to live peacefully without any conflict.

Yet, she stood up when no one else could and fended off the destroyer himself.

Fear not the man who relishes in blood, be wary of the man who fights to protect.

The sister? The daughter? It was hard to put a title to the feeling. We only knew that she was to be protected and woe be to anyone who dares hurt her.

Though that little lass had her own means, so I wasn’t too worried. Not to mention the brat and his lovers were there and they felt similarly, so it was unlikely for her to come to harm.

I just enjoyed a drink, watching the festivities as the war started in earnest.

“All-Father.”

“Elf.” I greeted back as our other new God cam and sat next to me.

He grunted, finding himself a drink too. “Thank to you and the brat, I’ve found myself drinking more than usual. I thought you were all drunkards, but apparently it’s something woven into the divinity here.”

“Hah, don’t act like you weren’t a drinker before you got old. Stop being a whiney old man and accept your new youth with dignity.” I snorted.

“Bah, I drank proper wine, not this…..slosh.”

“If you want something a little prissier, I think we can find some milk for you.” I offered.

“Hmph, it’d be better than this crap.” He didn’t bat an eye at my insult.

“What’s with that look on your face.” I noticed he was acting a little odd. “Even if you don’t’ like joining in the fun, you atleast used to just sit at the side without looking all mopey and ruining the atmosphere.”

The Elf God tapped the table with a frown. “You’ve been doing something.”

I raised an eyebrow, taking a drink. “I do a lot of things.”

“You’ve been recruiting quite heavily. You’ve lowered the standards a bit for Valkyries to grab new souls. You’ve even taken to inviting people outside the normal methods. I heard you visit a few smaller Magician Circles in the Human World and recruited a good number of Magicians.”

“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t.”

The Old Elf tapped his finger more. “You’re preparing for another war.”

I put my cup down, a mite annoyed that the Elf was always so perceptive. “And if I was, what would you have to say about that?”

“How bad is it?”

“Very bad.” I didn’t hide my own feelings. “Ragnarök might have been a mercy.”

The Old Elf, despite being somewhat youthful again as a God, let out a tired sigh reminiscent of his true age and mentality. “Is the kid involved?”

“Smack in the middle of it.” I nodded.

“Why does it seem like he’s always in the middle of things that happen recently?”

I let out a chuckle. “You know how it is, Elf. Heroes are always at the center of conflict.”

“I’ll go stir up a conflict with the Trolls, see if I can’t get them to start causing problems.” The Old Elf grunted. “Should cover up what you’ve been doing in case anyone has been paying close attention. Maybe get the remains of the Jotun to do something too.”

“That’s probably for the best.” I nodded.

Maybe I was a tad too overt. But with hostility reignited, even in a small scale, it’s very good plausible deniability as for a reason to recruit large amounts. I’ve also been using our rebuilding and recruiting to recoup our losses as a reason to seek out Sacred Gears and search for those blasted Holy Relics along with Bone Daddy down below.

No one’s going to look twice at the Norse trying to get some powerful tools under our belt after the losses we suffered. And maybe the Elf was being a bit too careful, but it wouldn’t hurt to take precautions.

“Something else is bother you, just spit it out.”

The Old Elf grumbled again. “You know our origins, right?”

“So this is going to be one of those talks.” I sighed, wishing I had something stronger to drink. I should steal one of the Brat’s jars of whine from before. “Alright, hit me.”

The Old Elf scowled. “It’s taboo, even among the Dark Elves. But it’s undeniable that our origins lay in that realm.” He pointed at the magical screen that showed the war between the Youkai and the Fair folk going on.

“You don’t need to tell me, I was around when you lot happened upon the formation of the Nine Realms and migrated.” Though I was much less of a ‘person’ at that point in time. It took awhile for the concept of a ‘Ego’ to form under everything.

“I mentioned it offhand to the kid, but he probably didn’t pay it any mind when I called them our distant cousins.” He continued to tap the table impatiently. “We’re not the same anymore, we no longer have any ties to that place, we’re Elves of Alfheim down to our cores.”

“You worried about him?”

“Is it odd?” He countered.

“The Kid is strong.”

“Strength isn’t everything. I just don’t like that some of ours is in that place without us being there is all.”

“Oh ‘One of ours’, huh?” I smirked.

The Old Elf let out a huff of annoyance. “How bad would it be if I went over there with them?”

Huh, he was serious.

Well, I couldn’t fault them, from what I recall, the origins of the Elves of Alfheim were that they were a banished tribe of Elves from the Fae lands in a time before time and stumbled upon Alfheim as it formed, becoming the realm’s inhabitants in more than just name.

They’re not Fae, despite being Elves.

Their nature completely changed.

It seemed to be something weighing on him a lot due to his origins. ‘

Was it the blood of his that couldn’t accept that place and hated it, which was causing him to act up?

“I’ll send a message over. While they shouldn’t immediately reject you, at the same time, it’s hard to insert yourself into what they’re doing. You’re going to need to wait for an excuse to get properly involved.”

“Thank you, All-Father.” He responded with a rare politeness.

“Anything for a friend.” I returned it with a smile.

 @***@

A/N

Just a short look at some things happening elsewhere as the war is going on.