The day after Alex banished Kouki to hell- er, magical girl island, he was once more sitting in front of Liliana along with her mother and little brother, who wouldn't stop glaring at Hajime. Just like everyone else had repeatedly the day before, she was asking Alex about possibly releasing Kouki from magical girl island, only for him to instantly refuse. Seeing he wasn't going to change his mind, Liliana changed the topic and asked,
"So what do you intend to do now then?" Alex shrugged and said,
"I sent a message to the demihumans stating that their people in the empire will be released within a month, so I'll have to do something about that before heading to the Sea of Trees for the next labyrinth. I'll then head to the labyrinth in the demon race territory after that." Liliana nodded dejectedly since she hoped he would stick around as a kind of deterrent, but Alex followed up his previous statement by saying,
"I was also hoping you'd allow for me to leave a teleportation magic circle somewhere here in the castle, that way some of my people can come and go while also making sure you're all safe." Lilliana's eyes lit up slightly as she happily thanked him, while he mother giggled slightly in the background. However her happiness was short lived when Alex mentioned he wanted to introduce someone to her, and she saw who walked in.
"I am Cattleya of the demon race, I can't speak for all of my people, but I hope that we can work together for a better future." Though Liliana tensed up from actually seeing a demon race person suddenly appear in the middle of the castle, most of the students turned pale and started reacting to seeing the one who nearly killed them. Ryutarou then demanded to Alex,
"How is she alive?! We saw you smash her after she was petrified!" Alex shrugged nonchalantly and answered,
"It was an illusion. I swapped her out and sent her to be imprisoned so that I could find a way to communicate with the demon race. Faking her death was necessary so that they wouldn't be focused on trying to recover her, especially since her fiancé was a pretty high ranking soldier as well." There were mixed reactions to what Alex said as, even though they agreed with his ideas of coexistence, casually being in the same room as someone who once tried to kill all of them was harder to do than they thought. Suzu then stepped forward and said,
"The least you could do is apologize for attacking us! Suzu even turned halfway into a statue!" Cattleya looked stupefied at Suzu's claims and said,
"I shouldn't have to apologize, we were at war. And besides its not like any of you actually died or had lasting injuries when we fought, so all you're asking me to apologize for basically is hurting your feelings." Though Suzu wanted to retort at Cattleya's claims, she didn't get a chance to as Alex lightly karate chopped her head and said,
"You're not helping, you have to keep in mind that in war there is no "right side", only one side and the other. Cattleya spent the last few weeks in a locked room that was under time distortion magic, it means that to her it has nearly been two years since your battle in the labyrinth, which may I remind you that she was fully petrified when we apprehended her?" Suzu was silent as she heard Alex's argument while a smirk grew on Cattleya's face, before Alex also chopped her head for acting smug. Rias then called Suzu back over before the short girl returned to her new masters side. Taking advantage of the silence, Liliana coughed to get everyone's attention and said while holding out her hand,
"I'm Liliana, the princess of the Heiligh kingdom who's also currently running the kingdom until my little brother matures." Cattleya seemed hesitant, but after seeing Alex nod in encouragement she reached out and accepted Liliana's offered hand. Alex smiled seeing the two shake hands and said,
"It's good you're both willing to get along, because I'm planning to send you and Aiko back to the demon race territory with Cattleya. Though it'll be a few days until your bodyguards return." Everyone was gob smacked at what Alex said while Aiko demanded,
"When did you decide this?!" Alex shrugged and replied,
"A while ago, I just haven't mentioned it until now so I could see how Liliana would react to Cattleya. If the princess herself goes then it may show that the humans are truly trying for peace, while you Aiko are going as goddess Gabriel's prophet." As Alex finished speaking someone else stepped forward, Sonobe Yuuka, and demanded,
"What about their protection?! You said something about body guards, but we are talking about the center of a country that has been opposing humans for thousands of years! How are you so sure that these supposed bodyguards will be able to protect Aiko and Liliana?!" Alex didn't seem to take Yuuka's words to heart and casually replied,
"Well, their leader is the great grandson of lucifer himself, so I guess that makes him the actual current lucifer? Plus their members include the descendants of King Arthur, the descendant of sun Wukong from Journey to the West, and finally there also the god eating wolf of myth, Fenrir. I think they'll be ok." Everyone from earth was silent from sheer shock as they had all heard at lead two of the names Alex had just mentioned before, while Aiko had even turned pale since as a history teacher she had heard of all of them. While everyone else was reacting from the names Alex just dropped, Liliana was silently sitting to the side and was wondering if she should try to learn more about these figures from Aiko to understand just who they were. The conversation then only lasted long enough for Yukka to declare that she and the rest of Aiko's bodyguards would still accompany them.
The next day Alex was outside the castle waiting for everyone to gather so that he could summon Zenith and they could leave. He was thinking long and hard about how to handle the empire, before deciding it was just a massive pain as Hajime walked up. Alex turned towards him and said,
"I've been meaning to ask but we've been busy, how's the construction of your new house going?" Hajime smiled and said,
"I've got the foundation done and I built several underground floors that are all lined with azantium. Now I can start of the framework of the house itself." Hajime then started passionately describing all of his ideas for his and Kaori's new home, including making sure there was enough space for future children and both of their parents if they decided to stay with them. Alex had to fight from laughing however when the majority of Hajime's ideas involved hidden weapons and using materials that would make his home into a small impenetrable fortress, something that he was sure would annoy Kaori and both of their parents in the future. After a while Alex got an idea and asked suddenly,
"How would you like to go to deal with the empire in my place?" Hajime looked surprised at Alex's offer before rolling his eyes and saying,
"So you want to just push that off onto me so you can go straight to the Sea of Trees?" Alex didn't bother refuting what he said and replied,
"Well yes, plus I thought it would be a good way for you and Kaori to spend a few days alone together. You can take her around to tour the empire before crippling its economy or something, and if need be I'll send you the Haulia for backup." Surprisingly Hajime was considering Alex's proposal seriously before eventually nodding his head and saying,
"Alright, I'll go and deal with the empire for you. I just finished working on my own airship during those two months so it'll be a good time to try it out." Alex thanked him for accepting his request, and then the two continued passing the time by discussing various future projects they'd like to work on until the rest of their companions arrived.
"Hey!" Ryutarou called out to get their attention as he and Kousuke approached. They had also accepted Rias's offer to join her peerage and were now going to accompany them to the labyrinths. Both of them however felt quite intimidated by the fact they were vastly outnumbered by the already taken female company, and were eager to try and get closer to the only two other men in the group. Though Rias wanted to send them and Suzu to train with the rest of her peerage, she ultimately decided that it would probably be better to have them conquer the last couple labyrinths with them first. Shortly after Ryutarou and Kousuke arrived the girls made their way over as well, and they were finally on their way to the Sea of Trees.
Alex stood on deck and chuckled as he recalled the looks on everyone's faces when Zenith and Hajime's own airship had appeared from nowhere, and when they had both taken flight into the sky from the newly repaired courtyard. They had flown together for a bit since their destinations were in the same general direction, but soon Hajime veered off towards the empire's Capitol while Alex maintained a course for the Sea of Trees. He smirked while Kousuke and Ryutarou 'oohed' and 'awed' from flying on a ship so high in the sky, before Rias reminded them that as reincarnated Devils they themselves were able to fly now with their own wings. Alex then watched as she led them and Suzu through a series of exercises to see what they were actually able to do before thinking on new formations for her team. A smile spread across his face as he made his over to her and asked,
"So why them specifically out of everyone there?" Though Alex was aware of how strong all three could become, he played dumb as he was curious why Rias managed to single them out. She smiled before replying,
"Suzu and Ryutarou were both grouped with Kouki, Shizuku, and Kaori, right? Well all three of them were decently capable in their own ways, so I'm expecting that there was a reason they managed to keep up with such a group. As for Kousuke, from what I recall he managed to travel several floors of the labyrinth by himself during that situation with Cattleya. I'm sure he'd make an exceptional scout or assassin to add to my group, I know Kiba will be happy to have another member that specializes in technique in the peerage." Alex nodded at Rias's answer for picking them, and was also surprised that she managed to single out Kousuke who was infamous for his thin shadow. What Alex and Rias didn't know was that Kousuke was fighting the urge to cry during his exercises, not from how hard they were, but that such a beautiful woman noticed and picked him out for recruitment from among the majority of his classmates. After watching their exercises for about an hour while everyone else went about their business, Rias clapped her hands to get their attention and said,
"That's it for now, why don't the three of you guys head to the baths and we girls will take ours after." Alex cocked an eyebrow at Rias's suggestion, but guessing she was thinking of Suzu he didn't say anything and simply led the exhausted Kousuke and Ryutarou to the ships bath. Alex then somewhat enjoyed some male bonding with the two newcomers, but it was kinda awkward when they both saw Alex naked and refused to remove their towels from their waists, or make eye contact. After getting out Alex then parted with the two boys and made his way to his room, which wasn't as large as his room in Asora, but was still a lot bigger and had a larger bed than normal. Alex laid down on the bed as the light from outside turned orange from the sunset, waiting for the girls to finish their baths before working up another sweat afterwards. His lazing around was interrupted however, when a hole in space opened above him and through it fell a wet and naked young woman. Alex easily caught her princess style while the hole closed with the sounds of giggles coming through before it did, and looked at the pranks victim to see that even though she looked different with her hair down, Shizuku's characteristic red eyes immediately gave her away. Without missing a beat Alex said to the still stunned girl,
"I think this is the part where I can honestly say you fell for me." When he spoke Shizuku seemed to get a grasp as to what happened, and tried desperately and futility to cover her crotch and breasts while screaming,
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
She then tried desperately to escape his grip and flee from embarrassment, but Alex wasn't letting this chance escape him. Instead he he ignored her still wet body and gently tossed her onto the bed and lightly laid on top of her before pressing his lips against her own. Though Shizuku was still in "flight" mode, as the kiss extended she eventually started calming down before responding to Alex's kisses somewhat shyly, and while still maintaining a firm cover for her delicate areas with her hands. Eventually he started to explore her body with his hands, before trying to make his way to the areas she was trying to hide.
"...we...can't...!" She gasped lightly as his hands tried to get a hold of her breasts. Alex didn't reply, but instead kept up his gentle teasing and kissing on the areas he could reach until Shizuku's firm cover started loosening. Eventually even her minor protests ceased and Alex's touch became bolder and bolder, until it was no longer his hands she needed to worry about.
***
Several hours later Shizuku was curled up at Alex's right side, while the rest of the bed was claimed by the latecomers. Grayfia was on Shizuku's other side while Rias was on the other side of her and Shia sprawled out at the edge, Anne had claimed Alex's left side with Kuroka curled up cat-like next to her and Tio on the edge; and finally Yue as the smallest of the group had as usual claimed laying directly on top of Alex and as usual was trying to discreetly take advantage of her position, though everyone knew what she was doing. As she laid awake Shizuku played the last few hours through her head repeatedly as she tried to wrap her head around the things she and everyone else had done. After the first initial part where it was just her and Alex, everyone else showed up and it had become a chaotic battlefield of lust. As the memories surfaced of how she was licked and played with and by whom, and even she herself playing and licking others, Shizuku tried to bury her face in Alex's armpit out of sheer embarrassment. She also recalled how Alex had done THAT inside each and every one of them, never even pulling out-
As this thought ran through her head Shizuku suddenly realized something that she hadn't thought of at the time, and jerked up straight before declaring and waking most of those around her,
"I need to take some kind of contraceptive!" As they jerked awake everyone somewhat glared at Shizuku through sleepy eyes as Alex asked,
"What is it Shizuku?" The usually calm girl was nearly mid panic as she stated,
"I need to take something! I can't have a baby yet, I'm only seventeen so what would my parents think when I see them again?!" Against Shizuku's expectations, Alex chuckled lightly as he plopped back down and said,
"I think someone needs to talk to you about the birds and the bees." Shizuku glared at Alex and snapped,
"I'm pretty sure we're a little past that!" Alex chuckled once more at her retort before saying,
"I meant the devil version, can you explain to her Grayfia?" The silver haired maid didn't seem bothered in the slightest as she agreed, and Alex went back to sleep along with everyone else. Shizuku awkwardly shifted around so that she and Grayfia were face to face, and turned red as she recalled some of the things she did with the older woman earlier. At this rate Shizuku was wondering how she'd face anyone the next morning. She was pulled from her thoughts when Grayfia began,
"First of all I'm going to state that you have nothing to worry about tonight, the chances of getting pregnant this quickly are negligible. Secondly, think about the fact that to keep from going extinct Devils had to invent a system that created artificial Devils." Shizuku was silent as she thought about this, before hesitantly asking,
"So Devils really reproduce that slowly?" Grayfia nodded and stated,
"The age gap between Rias and her older brother Sirzechs is in centuries, not years. I would say your biggest concern isn't your parents learning you're pregnant, but if they'll even live long enough to see their grandchild." After saying her piece Grayfia closed her eyes once more and soon fell back asleep, leaving Shizuku alone with her wayward thoughts as she struggled to sleep all night. She didn't realize what her biggest concern should be though as, the moment everyone started waking up around her, Shizuku was attacked once more by the beast.
(A.N. Should I keep using Kousuke or should I call him Endou? I think Endou is his family name which is why I haven't used it, but it's easier to write and remember than Kousuke.)