Two days after the meeting in which he explained his plan to the girls and Hajime, Alex was now lounging inside the inn while waiting for the monster army. When one looked at him there was no anxiety or fear in his eyes, as he was completely surrounded by the girls with Shia and Rias claiming an arm, Yue was on his lap, and Anne was massaging his shoulders, which really annoyed the Knights that protected Aiko. Before they could say anything however another figure appeared for the first time since she arrived in Ul from her recovery, she had long black hair, and was dressed in a black kimono while carrying herself with an air of elegance. With the exception of Anne the rest of the girls were scrutinizing her as they watched her actions. Alex hadn't told them much about her other than the fact that she was a member of the supposedly extinct dragon race, but after treating her Anne had mentioned that she was... slightly peculiar. She then approached Alex's group seemingly unperturbed by the crowd of women around him.
"This one would like to thank thee for ensuring mine recovery in order to participate in the upcoming fight." Alex waved away her thanks and said,
"You would've mostly recovered by now anyways so don't mind it." Tio nodded before turning towards Anne and saying,
"And I thank thee for treating this one the past couple days, especially the soreness in mine ass." No one reacted to the first part of Tio's words as there was nothing strange about them, but hearing a girl that looked like the embodiment of elegance talking about soreness in her ass made them pause. Rias and the others looked at Alex with blame thinking he already had his way with her, but Tio's next words proved them partially wrong.
"Though this one should have expected that taking thine whole arm in the ass would cause some soreness." As her words were heard by those around them everyone unconsciously looked at Alex's arms, then at Tio's ass as they imagined the entire thing fitting in it with only one word on their mind, how? As only a few people knew what Tio really was it created quite the image. Alex shrugged as he already knew Tio had no shame and would talk about what happened, he then said,
"Thanks for awkward atmosphere, is that all you wanted?" Tio however shook her head before kneeling down and saying,
"This one would like to serve thee with all she has to offer, please accept mine sincerity!" Alex already figured that Tio would want to serve him due to her recently discovered preferences, but he didn't think she would actually be so formal when wanting to do so, like a knight requesting to serve a lord. Lauren then said,
'This is possibly due to the effects of your 'Dragon Emperor' title on her. Since she was already feeling subservient towards you thanks to what happened, she is only being even more positively influenced by the title. My guess is that any dragons who aren't hostile towards you may react in a similar manner from now on, well if you can get them to acknowledge you first.' At Lauren's words Alex imagined an army of dragons fighting for him and he had to fight from smiling. Alex had speculated that his title would have such an effect on dragons, but he forgot about it thanks to his boosted gear since the majority of the dragons in the dxd world treated him with respect to begin with. He then said to the still kneeling Tio,
"I'll accept your offer of fealty, and I'll promise that while you serve me I'll ensure your revenge comes to fruition." Tio shuddered at Alex's words, but not from the new sensations she had been experiencing. She had long desired her revenge on Ehito, and now her new lord was promising it to her. It was only a second later that she imagined how she would have to follow her lords orders no matter what now, wether it was to fight his battles, or to attend to him in bed... with all his other women... and maybe while being punished! Tio started panting slightly as the various images passed through her head, and she said,
"This one wishes to excuse herself, I need to change mine panties." Though her face was still slightly flushed she said it was a straight face, and caused the majority of people around them to back up away from this pervert. Meanwhile Rias's eye started twitching as she watched Tio's behavior, and Yue muttered,
"Is this really the dragon race I looked up to in the past?" Thankfully her voice was low enough that the surrounding people didn't hear her, but she received a few sympathetic gazes from the thee girls. They were spared the continued awkwardness however when Hajime said,
"They're here." And everyone became serious. They all started filing out before it was only Aiko left behind, she then said to Alex,
"I've been thinking, Shimizu was a dark magician and I think I heard somewhere that they can control the minds of people and monsters. It might be possible that he is with those monsters, and if he is then I want to ask you to please bring him back to me to talk to!" Alex sighed as he heard Aiko's words, he told her and her students the truth about Tio's circumstances since they were there when he started fighting her, but he wasn't sure at the time if she'd make the connection between the magician that controlled Tio and the one behind the attack.
"I won't make any promises, but I won't intentionally kill anyone I see on the other side." Aiko still looked troubled, but showed a small sign of relief at his words before leaving. But as she left a message came across Rias's system telling her to look for Shimizu during the battle, and what to do if she found him. Alex knew there was no chance of rehabilitating this person, and that even if he spared him he would try to kill Aiko to prove himself to the demon race. Rias was slightly shocked, but still sent a message back saying she understood. Alex then said,
"Alright, let's go start our performance." And led the way out the door. But before they left Rias asked,
"By the way did you really stick your entire arm up Tio's butt?"
***
Aiko was standing on the wall that Hajime made around Ul as she looked down on the small group that prepared to fight the monsters. Surrounding her were the remaining citizens of Ul that hadn't fled yet, as they knew that even if they tried to hide it wouldn't make much difference. Gathered at the bottom of the wall to fight was Alex with Tio, Shia, Yue, and Hajime with him, the Knights of Aiko's guard, and finally a couple of volunteer fighters from the town. Rias and Anne were in the back of the group, as neither were going into the actual battlefield, Anne was going to focus on support and Rias would use her 'Reapers Ruin' to snipe monsters from afar. Aiko had never witnessed an actual battle before, so she couldn't help but feel an intense dread even if she wasn't the one fighting. Then as the monster army appeared in the distance Alex spoke up,
"Before we begin fighting, I'll pray for divine help against the monster army." As his words spread over those gathered some showed understanding on heir faces while others like Aiko's group and the Knights showed shock as they thought Alex wasn't a follower of Ehito. Their doubts were soon proven when Alex next spoke, much to the outrage of the Knights and citizens.
"Oh mother of all sentient beings, Goddess Gabriel, please heed this ones plea for strength as we face those that would see your children dead!" When his words spread throughout the surroundings there was lots of angry muttering as the people believed Alex had betrayed them, and this was a plot to cost them Lord Ehito's blessing. Lord Ehito was the God of humans, the one who blessed them with magic and helped them in their fight against the demon race; the belief of a goddess alone was already intolerable, but claiming she was the 'mother of all sentient beings' was the same as saying they were the same as the demon race and demihumans, this was inexcusable! The Knights drew their swords with the intention of eliminating Alex, the monster horde already forgotten, when suddenly the entire sky lit up with a dazzling golden light.
"Warrior of another world, I have heard your plea and will lend you my strength, as long as you wield it for peace between my children." The voice that came from the light was smooth and melodious, but everyone's attention was on the speaker, their anger forgotten. A golden haired being that seemed to be the very image of purity descended from the heavens with her twelve wings of gold, a halo, and loose white gowns. Surrounding her were several dozen beautiful women that had pure white wings and halos as well, all armed to protect their goddess. The goddess turned towards Tio, Yue, and Shia before saying,
"My daughters of the dragon, vampire, and demihuman race, you have suffered many trials as a result of my wayward son's actions, and I apologize for my ineptitude in preventing your suffering. Please, accept my blessing and continue helping the warrior of the other world in his task to restore peace to this world." After speaking the goddess drifted towards the three women who all bowed their heads as she kissed them on the top of their heads.
"""Thank you Goddess Gabriel!""" All three chimed at once. While this happened the viewers were all starstruck at watching Gabriel and the Angels. All protests against acknowledging the Goddess Gabriel were silent as they all witnessed the goddess firsthand. Aiko then became stiff as the goddess turned towards her and drifted over before saying,
"My prophet Aiko, please continue using the powers I granted you to nourish the land and my children." The goddess once more kissed Aiko's brow as the petite teacher was frozen stiff with several questions going through her mind, like what did the goddess mean by prophet? Gabriel then turned towards the rest of those gathered, the Knights and the few other fighters, and said,
"To all of you children, I beg of you to forget the needless hate towards the other races and work with them, as no mother would like to see her children kill each other." Gabriel's face was filled with great anguish as she spoke, making it obvious to to those arching that seeing the sentient beings that were her children fight caused her great pain. Suddenly against all expectations someone shouted out,
"Of course Goddess Gabriel!" After the first shout several other people joined them in cheering for the goddess, contrary to how they were acting mere minutes before. In response to their cheers Gabriel raised her hand and enveloped them all in a bright light, quieting them before someone said,
"I feel so much stronger!" Similar exclamations spread among those gathered as they felt their strength increase with Gabriel's blessing. She then turned back to Alex and said,
"And finally to you warrior of another world, I ask you to be my champion and to wield the sword Ascalon in my name." Alex looked up at e beautiful goddess and said,
"I will!" After Alex's confirmation the goddess waved her hand and a sword that radiated a powerful aura appeared, and floated over to Alex before he gripped it tightly. As soon as Alex grabbed the sword a terrifying amount of golden holy energy radiated from it, before it started spreading to Alex himself and even turned his own aura golden as well as his hair that stood up on end. This was something that none of those gathered had ever seen before, and everyone present took it as a sign of his and the swords power. Alex then turned towards the oncoming monster army, and swung the sword with the mass of holy power. The power rushed forward until it reached the monsters and destroyed them by the hundreds. Alex then raised the sword up high and shouted,
"FOR THE GODDESS GABRIEL!" Before leading the charge forward with Yue, Shia, and Tio right next to him. The people then let out a cheer in the name of the goddess, and followed Alex's lead. As they charged none of the noticed the smirk on Alex's face from them believing his performance, or that their blessing of strength came from Anne's support dragon slayer magic. Neither did they notice that Rias's eyes had a slight shine to them the entire time that Gabriel was there, subtly shifting them to accept Gabriel's presence. And finally no one seemed to notice the smile that wasn't a smile that came from Gabriel as she left, that sent shivers down Alex's spine, indicating that the usually calm archangel was actually pissed along with the other Angels with her.
As an angel she and every other angel was literally created to serve God, to pose as a goddess went against every fiber of their body. She originally opposed Alex's plan to replace belief in Ehito with her intensely and insisted that they spread belief in God himself instead. He had explained however that they needed someone to take the role while they were in this world, or Ehito would just try to make people think God was him; this would be even more insulting towards God than Gabriel becoming a new figure of belief. He also made the point that he wanted to make a 'mother' of all races as then it would hopefully discourage wars between them from now on, he also had her claim Aiko was her prophet as her contributions would then be attributed to Gabriel instead of Ehito.
Everyone charged believing that they were rushing into the embrace of the mother of all sentient beings, but they were in fact dancing to the tune of the Devils fiddle.