1988
"Do NOT call that bastard my son!"
…
"If I had to rank the people or things I hated the most, he'd top that list, and it's not even close."
…
"By any chance, are you thinking of something… naughty?"
----- ----- -----
An involuntary yawn escaped the lips of one Raylix Gremory as he felt consciousness returning to him after a night's sleep. Though he hadn't opened his eyes yet, he registered the light of the Underworld sun poking in through his bedroom window and assaulting his face. Raising a hand, still with his eyes shut, he waved it in the direction of his bedroom window, registering the soft sound of curtains sliding in his mind. The Underworld sun's intense light was then blocked from getting in for any longer.
Now feeling safe to do so, Raylix slowly opened his eyes.
The bedroom that he'd woken up in (and had done every day for the past couple of centuries), was... big. MUCH bigger than the bedroom that he had at home, around 4 or 5 times so. All four walls were a solid deep red colour, which formed a stark contrast with the white ceiling. The floor was a neutral grey colour, but most of it was covered with a thick black carpet. At each of the top corners of the room, where wall met ceiling, there were four dull-looking metallic orbs, with one more in the very centre of the ceiling.
Raylix's bed was also pretty big, custom made to comfortably fit a minimum of three people... which it often did. Sitting perpendicular to the wall and to the left of the door that led into the rest of the castle that Raylix, Zeoticus and Venelana lived in, it was dressed with grey sheets, with three pillows sitting at the head of the bed.
Along the same wall that the door outside was set into, there were four bookcases, two on each side of the door, that were also set into the wall. There were a few books on magical theory and Devil history that one would spot at a glance, though the shelf was mostly made up of fictional works from the Human World. Past the shelf that was furthest away from Raylix's bed, there was a simple wooden desk with four drawers (two on each side), coloured red, accompanied by a custom-made armchair, coloured black. Upon the desk, there were a couple of framed photographs: one of Raylix and his two friends, standing over the corpse of a large beast that they'd killed together; the other of Raylix, Alcina, Zeoticus, Venelana and Sirzechs standing together. There was also a bottle of a Gremory-brand alcoholic drink, with a couple of glasses surrounding the bottle.
To the left of Raylix's bed, there was a large fireplace (currently unlit), on one side of which hung a striking painting of a moonlit lake, stretching from floor to ceiling. On the other side of the fireplace, there was an enormous window with equally tall, thick black curtains (which Raylix had magically drawn shut before opening his eyes). Directly opposite of Raylix, there were two doors: one of which led to a large bathroom that served every need possible- as far as matters of cleanliness were concerned- and the other of which led to an equally large walk-in wardrobe. The door to the wardrobe also happened to serve as a full-length mirror.
Raylix raised one of his hands, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as best he could and attempting to keep his eyes open as best he could, before closing them again and sighing.
Every now and then, his peaceful slumber was interrupted by someone, with a voice he couldn't quite recognise, speaking to him. Always spouting off about something or other: last time he'd had a similar... whatever-it-was (he wasn't sure if it could be called a dream, in the strictest sense of the word), the voice had asked him to join her, with no other context given.
He'd talked to his parents about what he'd been hearing, but they'd just dismissed it as the kind of weird shit that your mind does while you're asleep. And though Raylix had a feeling that they might be right, he also had a feeling that there was something more to what he'd been hearing than it just being weird shit.
But whatever, Raylix thought. He was awake now, so no use thinking about it. Especially not when-
Raylix's current thought-line, an interruption of his previous thought-line, was gently swept from his mind as he registered a warm, wet, incredibly pleasant sensation around his crotch-area. He could feel a certain reproductive organ of his getting quite hard as the warm wetness passed all the way over it, as well as a soft, female moan coming from around that area, underneath the sheets that he too lay under.
Lifting up the sheets, Raylix couldn't help but smile at the sight of long, blonde hair greeting him, with the head attatched to all that hair steadily bobbing up and down on his member, that warm wet sensation there all the while. Still holding up the covers with one hand, Raylix reached down with the other and gently rubbed the blonde hair of the woman giving him a wakeup call. Said wakeup call temporarily ceased: the woman lifted her mouth off of Raylix's cock and looked up at him through soulful green eyes, a smile on her face.
"Good morning, Raylix." she greeted.
"Hey, Rhel." Raylix replied, shifting himself into a slightly more comfortable position as he looked Rhel, or Rheliesh, over. "Is it just morning grogginess talking, or isn't it meant to be Hannah's morning today?"
"Hannah needed her to go out and fetch something from the city early this morning." Rheliesh replied. "I thought I'd come and serve your morning needs in her place." her smile gained a slightly playful air as she adjusted her own position in Raylix's lap. "Is that... alright with you, Raylix~?"
"Oh, it's VERY alright with me." Raylix replied, leaning back on the bed and smirking. "Please, carry on serving my morning needs, Rhel."
Rheliesh's reply came in the form of smoothly shifting further back down Raylix's body, and wrapping her mouth around the tip of his member (which was still as hard as a rock, after her previous treatment), drawing out a low moan from Raylix. What got him going further, however, was Rheliesh placing her breasts on either side of Raylix's shaft, and rocking them up and down while continuing to suck lovingly on her master's tip.
"Good girl..." Raylix sighed, letting the waves of pleasure that came with getting one's cock sucked and paizuri'd at the same time wash over him. Blushing slightly from the praise, Rheliesh upped the pace of which she rocked her breasts up and down Raylix's shaft, and sucked slightly harder on his sensitive tip, only drawing out louder moans from her master. Along with the moans that she heard, Rheliesh could feel Raylix's prick beginning to pulsate, from inside her mouth and from between her decently-large tits.
That was all the warning Rheliesh got for what was about to happen, but at this point in time, it was all the warning she needed. She'd served Raylix for long enough, and enough times, that she could tell when he was about to climax.
And climax Raylix did, letting out all of his stored-up seed, straight into Rheliesh's mouth and throat. Or rather, as much as she could hold in her mouth and throat, which was unfortunately less than what Raylix ended up firing out of his manhood. The seed, warm, sticky and sweet-tasting, spilled out of Rheliesh's mouth in spite of her best attempts to keep it in, and ended up falling all over her lower face, as well as dropping onto her breasts.
Once Raylix had fired his last shot, Rheliesh slowly lifted herself away from her master and audibly swallowed the seed in her mouth, sliding off the bed as she did so and turning around, as Raylix sat up.
"Use my bathroom to clean up if you want, Rhel." Raylix remarked, stretching and flinging the covers off himself. "I'm not in any hurry this morning, anyway."
"Thank you, Master Raylix." Rheliesh inclined her head to her master, turned around and walked to the door that led to Raylix's bathroom, heading inside and shutting the door behind her. While he waited for Rheliesh to clean up and come out, Raylix flopped back onto his bed, waving a hand up at the ceiling and causing one of the metallic orbs that hung around the room to illuminate, bathing the bedroom in soft light.
Blowjobs from gorgeous women every morning, breakfast brought up to him, a bedroom and home that Yoshiaki Tsutsumi would be jealous of, all perks of an Underworld societal structure that had been in place pretty-much ever since the end of the Devil Civil War. Since the four new Great Satans had been crowned as such, the Devils' side of Hell had gone through some changes.
To account for the Lilim's independence from the Devils, as well as more than half of the Pillar-descendant families dying out during both the Great War and Devil Civil War (forty out of seventy-two, to be exact), thus obviously not being able to govern the territories that they were assigned by the Old Satans, the Devils territory had been redistributed among the remaining Pillar-descendant families, thus making sure that there wasn't anywhere in the Devils' side of Hell (which covered just over half of the 'level' of Hell that the Devils, the Lilim and the Fallen Angels lived in) that could be considered 'abandoned'. When all was said and done on the redistribution-of-territory front, the amount of land that each Devil Clan had claim of was somewhere between India and Australia, size-wise.
Speaking of the remaining thirty-two Pillar-descendant families, they had been allowed much more control over the territories than they had ever been allowed to have when the Old Satans were running things, to the point that they were pretty-much universally considered the owners of their respective territories, with the metaphorical leash on them that had previously been placed by the Old Satans all but gone, in every aspect you could think of.
With their newfound rule of their own territories secured, the Pillar-descendant families- who had established themselves as a noble ruling-class of sorts within the Devils' side of Hell- began to take control of various industries within the Underworld that had previously been overseen by the Old Satans: the descendants of Sitri- or the Sitri Clan, as they now called themselves- quickly took control of the medical and healthcare industries, opening advanced medical facilities all over the Underworld.
The descendants of Agares- or the Agares Clan, as they were now known- were the first to notice the potential in adapting human-world technologies to the needs of supernatural beings, and pounced on that potential... as soon as that idea was able to make a profit for them, of course.
The Gremory Clan had taken a quick hold of the Underworld's travel industry, the Phenex Clan had essentially monopolised the banking/financial sectors (which, combined with their Phoenix Tears, made them ESPECIALLY rich), the Vassago Clan had a stranglehold on the Devils' mass media, you name an industry, and you can bet your bottom Soul (the Underworld currency. Not to be confused with the actual soul) that one of the thirty-two Pillar Clans didn't just have a piece of the pie in that Underworld industry, they had the entire pie, the plate it came on, and likely owned the oven that said pie was baked in for good measure.
Things were slightly more equal in the Human World, once Devil business began being conducted over there. Thanks to human-world anti-trust laws (the equivalent of which just... didn't exist, in the Underworld) it was much harder for one Devil Clan to hold the same level of control over a certain sector that they did in the Underworld, so things were more often split between at least three or four Devil Clans... or rather, at least three or four human-world businesses that were run BY Devil Clans.
With all of that in mind, one would think that all the Devil Clans would have built up... incomprehensible amounts of wealth from all the business-running that they'd done over the past nearly-five centuries. Well, one would be absolutely right, and with immense wealth comes immense desire to show off said wealth, preferably in ways that made them look even richer and better than the other rich Devil Clans.
Houses became mansions, mansions became castles, castles became multiple castles. One domestic worker became ten, ten became a hundred, a hundred became a thousand. Wine collections, rare gems, custom-build statues of family members out of silver, gold, platinum... when the only limit was money, and the Devil Clans had as much money as they did, things could only get more and more insane.
And that wasn't even mentioning the Evil Pieces, a set of which every noble Devil now got, quite early in life, too. Non-noble Devils, the Low-Class commoners of the Underworld, didn't receive Evil Pieces of their own unless they had sufficiently proven themselves in the eyes of the nobility, and bestowed the title of 'High-Class'. An uncommon occurrence, as was a Devil who had become such by way of the Evil Pieces (better known as Reincarnated Devils) receiving pieces of their own.
The door to Raylix's bathroom re-opened, and Rheliesh stepped out, having cleaned herself up after the wakeup call she had given Raylix. She'd also put on her uniform, a semi-modest white and blue maid's outfit that hugged her figure, and stopped just barely below the top of a pair of white stockings that she wore on her legs, with a pair of heeled shoes completing the look.
"See you later, Rhel." Raylix bade the blonde maid, one of his four favourites goodbye as Rheliesh left his bedroom, before sliding off his bed himself and making his way to the bathroom himself. However, the sound of the bedroom door opening again caused Raylix to stop and turn. When he saw the sight of his other favourite maid stepping into the room, he smiled.
Said maid was a tall, white-haired young woman with tan skin, a slim yet shapely figure, and golden-green eyes. What made her more unique than most of the domestic workers in the Gremory Clan's employ was her bunny-taill, and two bunny-ears on top of her head. She wore a similar maid outfit to the one that Rheliesh had just left Raylix's room wearing, except this one was black and white instead of blue and white. She carried a tray, which had a couple of food-covered plates on top of it, in her hands.
"Hey, Zest." Raylix greeted the other of his favourite maids.
"Good morning, Mast- Raylix." Zest greeted him, inclining her head. "I brought breakfast for you, as well as some minor paperwork that your father requested that you look over."
"Uh huh." Raylix replied, stretching. "Just leave it on my desk, I'll look at it when I'm..." He trailed off, and pointed at the door to the bathroom. Zest nodded, and moved over to the desk, placing the tray down then moving the plates off of the tray onto the desk, then summoning a collection of papers out of a magic-circle and laying them down neatly beside one of the plates.
"I'll leave you to clean yourself up, Raylix." Zest inclined her head to Raylix. "Did you enjoy your morning... service, from Rheliesh?"
"Sure did." Raylix replied. "Hannah's apparently out, so she wouldn't have time to come do me this morning. Rhel stepped in to do it for her."
Though she tried to force it down, Raylix could see the smallest pout forming on Zest's face. It was cute as hell, he thought.
"She did, huh...?" Zest spoke, in a quieter tone than normal.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Raylix replied, walking over to Zest and placing his hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him. "And don't think that this means that Rheliesh's gonna take over as my favourite maid, or anything. Tell you what, how about you come back here this evening? We'll have a good time, and you'll be back to being even with Rheliesh, if that's what you want. That sound good?"
Zest felt herself going red, thanks to both Raylix's offer and the immense amount of pleasurable fun such an offer often entailed, and Raylix's nude body so close to hers.
"I'd... like that a lot, Raylix." Zest replied. "Thank you."
Raylix leant in, and pressed his lips briefly against Zest's, before pulling back, a grin on his face. Without another word, he turned around and walked into the bathroom, which Zest took as her cue to leave. She couldn't wait for tonight.
About ten minutes after Zest had left, Raylix came back out of his bathroom, stretching and sighing in pleasure. A simple cleaning spell would've done the same job in a thousandth of the time, sure, but cleaning oneself in a hot shower just hit different, hit better. Plus, he wasn't in much of a hurry today, so he felt that he could afford to indulge a bit. Turning towards his desk and walking towards it, he took a quick glance at his reflection in the full-length mirror/door to his wardrobe.
A handsome young man who looked to be in his early-twenties, about five-foot-ten in height, with medium-length chestnut-coloured hair and cool-blue eyes, wearing a simple dark-red t-shirt, blue jeans and loosely-laced black trainers, glanced back at Raylix as he went over to the desk and sat down at it, choosing to tuck into his breakfast before looking at the paperwork that Zeoticus had requested that he look over.
As Heir of the Gremory Clan, and by extension Heir to the Gremory Large Enterprise (the umbrella under which all of the businesses owned by the Gremory Clan, both in and out of the Underworld, fell under), he had to know how each and every company within the G.L.E worked, and how to operate them to make the most money possible for the family, so that nothing would be lost when his father inevitably stepped down from his position as Duke Gremory, and when Raylix took charge.
Finishing off the first slice of French toast that had been whipped up for him for breakfast, Raylix picked up the other slice while pulling one of the papers closer to him with his free hand, scanning the information on the page as he chomped down, making his way through the toast in record time. Wiping his left hand- the hand he'd held both slices of French toast with- on his jeans, Raylix moved the next piece of paper within the pile that Zest had brought for him closer to him, so he could look at it easily while cutting into a fiddlehead and bacon omelette, the other food made for him, and transferring a piece of it to his mouth.
It didn't take long for Raylix to work his way through the omelette, nor did it take him too long to finish getting through the pile of papers. There wasn't really anything out-of-the-ordinary in what he'd read: just reports of how much money all the businesses under the G.L.E. banner had made in the past week, comparisons to previous weeks, executive decisions that had been made throughout said businesses, why said decisions had been made, et cetera.
Stretching as he sent the now-empty plates back to the kitchen through a transportation-circle with a wave of his hand, and put the papers into one of the drawers within his desk, Raylix leant back in his chair, waving his hand and turning off the light he'd turned on earlier, before waving his hand again and drawing the curtains open, allowing the 'natural' light of the Underworld sun to fill the room.
While considering whether to head downstairs, or stay in his room and read to pass the time, there was a knock at Raylix's bedroom door. Looking up, he pointed at the door and opened it with a thought. The sight of the two individuals on the other side brought a grin to Raylix's face, as he stood up.
"You are bidden the finest of good mornings, my liege." Sabemka spoke in a nigh-impossibly refined tone, descending elaborately onto one knee and inclining his head low, in faux-reverence for Raylix.
"Heh." Raylix resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but the grin remained on his face. "Hey, Emka. What's with the fake formality?"
"Your father." Sabemka remarked, in his regular voice as he began to straighten up. "He wanted us to 'address our employer with the respect that he is due', so I thought I'd at least try- OW!"
Both Raylix and Tomosei burst out laughing as Sabemka smacked his head against the top of the doorframe before he could get back up to his full height, and staggered forwards into Raylix's bedroom, clutching his head. Tomosei whipped out her staff and pointed it at Sabemka's head, healing whatever damage that could have done.
It was hard to blame Sabemka for bumping his head on the doorframe, Raylix thought as his laughter wore off. Six-foot-eleven giant of a man that he was, with muscles almost the size of a regular man's head, and the uniform that he wore- a plain black short-sleeved shirt with black pants and combat boots, underneath a crimson cape with the Gremory Clan's crest on it- strained quite a bit against his enormous form.
Raylix's sole male friend also wore magically-powered prosthetic fingers on his right hand, which replaced the middle, ring and pinkie fingers that he'd lost in battle so long ago, which were a metallic grey colour in comparison to his skin-coloured... skin. There were also a couple of large metal gauntlets strapped to his hips, in the perfect position for Sabemka to slip them on whenever he got into a fight.
Tomosei remained the smallest member of the trio, but had grown considerably throughout the last few centuries. She was now only within a few inches of Raylix in height, and had definitely grown in... other, areas as well. Hardly enough to be considered one of the bustiest women in the Underworld (she definitely had nothing on women like Venelana or Grayfia, never mind transcendent beauties like Lilith), but she was still noticeably bustier than when she and Raylix had first met.
Raylix's sole female friend wore a similar uniform to Sabemka, with the only major difference being that she wore a mid-length skirt in place of pants, and that there was nothing strapped to her hips like Sabemka's gauntlets were. She also sported a different eyepatch to the one she'd worn after her injury in the Devil Civil War, now one that held itself in place without the need for any kind of strap around her head.
"Must've been from last night." Raylix remarked. "And maybe you should address me at least kinda-formally when we're in front of other nobles, just for the sake of not getting yelled at. Otherwise, I... honestly don't care."
"Got it." Sabemka replied, rubbing his head where he'd hit it against the doorframe a little bit more before stopping, as the pain had now fully subsided and whatever wound might have been there had been healed by Tomosei. "Sorry, I mean-" he switched back to the faux-refined tone he'd used earlier. "Your orders are fully understood, my respected-"
"Oh, stop it!" Raylix cut across Sabemka, repressing a chuckle at his antics as he turned towards the door. "Let's go."
After picking up the projection-blade and attaching it to his hip, Raylix was the first to leave his bedroom, with both of his friends following behind him, quickly catching up. They walked along the hallway, one of many within the Gremory Castle, passing Raylix's parent's bedrooms as well as one of the guest-bedrooms (most often occupied by Sirzechs whenever he came to stay over with his family, but it had also housed various other guests throughout the centuries that the castle had stood), before they reached the main staircase. Descending it all the way took Raylix, Sabemka and Tomosei to the castle's main hall, which was bustling with life from the many domestic servants that the Clan employed, most of whom moved in and out of the open doors that led to the dining room, from which the voices of more than just his parents could be heard.
As he passed the dining room, Raylix glanced inside, noticing his parents sitting together at the head of the table. Zeoticus was wearing black noble attire with a gold and red trim and Venelana was clad in an eye-catching purple dress that hugged her figure in all the right ways. And to Raylix's slight surprise, Sirzechs was at the table as well, clad in a simple white and blue suit, without all the armour that he usually wore when appearing before others as the Satan Lucifer, with Grayfia- the Head Maid of the Gremory Clan- stood dutifully behind him.
She, like Raylix, had grown up a bit since the end of the Devil Civil War, now looking like she was in her early-twenties... by human standards, at least. Unlike her single braid of old, Sirzechs' Queen now mainly wore her hair in two large braids that went down to her back and ended with small blue bows, with smaller portions of her hair being done up into braids that hung down in front of her chest, and that also ended in small blue braids. Grayfia also wore a blue and white French maid outfit (a far more modest number than the outfits that Zest, Rheliesh and the other maids that Raylix was regularly 'serviced' by, but still one that showed off her curves, which were impressive even by Devil standards), with short sleeves and a white headband, as well as red lipstick.
"Finally decided to come downstairs, eh Raylix?" Zeoticus, who had chosen that moment to look up from his breakfast, and noticed Raylix and his two friends. "Though I guess you're heading out with your guards?"
Raylix didn't outwardly show anything, but he felt a slightly unpleasant twinge in his stomach as Zeoticus addressed Sabemka and Tomosei as his 'guards'. It WAS certainly true that they were employed by him and Venelana as Raylix's personal bodyguards, and had been pretty much ever since Devil nobility as a concept had been established in the Underworld (which was a long Lilith-damn time, definitely more than half of the time that the three of them had been alive for), but though their opinion didn't really matter to their friendship as a whole... he still wished that he (and Venelana, too. Even Sirzechs, to an extent) could recognise that that friendship existed, never mind that they were his bodyguards, or officially ranked as Mid-Class Devils.
"Yeah." Raylix replied, stretching. "Hey Mother, Zechs."
Venelana, who had her mouth full of whatever breakfast she was eating at the moment, waved at Raylix while Sirzechs offered a nod to his younger brother. Raylix made to head for the castle's main door, but Zeoticus spoke up again.
"Did you look at the papers I had Zest bring up to you with your breakfast, Raylix?"
"I did, Father." Raylix replied, glancing at the door before looking back at Zeoticus, who rubbed his beard for a second.
"I should talk to you more thoroughly about the Enterprise," he remarked. "Make sure everything you read is fully setting in. Another time, though." he added, as Raylix seemed to sink slightly. "Don't let me keep you from enjoying yourself on... whatever little adventure you get up to today. Just be sure to be back by dinner this time, understood? We have some important visitors coming, and I need you to be here when they do."
"Back by dinner, got it." Raylix replied. "Will Zechs be there?"
"Unfortunately, no. Sorry, Raylix." Sirzechs replied. "I'm only stopping for breakfast. I'm meeting with the other Satans at that time. Routine stuff, you know?"
"Yeah, that's fair." Raylix replied. "Just curious. See you later!"
Without another word, he headed quickly for the enormous double-doors of the Gremory Castle and pushed them open, spreading his ten Devil wings and flying outside, with Sabemka and Tomosei pretty much right behind him on their eight (each) wings. The three of them flew out of the Gremory castle grounds, over Gemyem- the capital city of the new Gremory territory, that was situated pretty-much right outside the castle in which Raylix and his parents lived- and out into the countryside. Over vast stretches of fields of various colours, over rolling hills, over the odd village, town or even small city, it all sailed by beneath Raylix, Sabemka and Tomosei as they flew over.
"Raylix!" Tomosei called, speeding up slightly to catch up to him. "Who do you think the visitors your father was talking about will be?"
"What?" Raylix turned around in mid-air, unable to hear Tomosei clearly over the wind rushing past his ears. "What did you say, Tomo?"
"WHO DO YOU THINK THE VISITORS YOUR FATHER WAS TALKING ABOUT WILL BE?" Sabemka shouted, much louder than Tomosei had been able to.
"Well, he said they were important!" Raylix, having heard Sabemka's repetition of Tomosei's question, shouted back, slowing down a bit so he was flying closer to his two friends. "They're probably someone from another Clan! I guess we'll find out later, though!"
"YEAH!" Sabemka yelled back. Tomosei simply nodded her acknowledgement of what Raylix had said, and was the first to notice Raylix looking forward, narrowing his eyes at the sight of something off in the distance. A couple of seconds later, the trio all heard a loud screeching sound, which lined up with a certain animal coming into view.
"Byrd!" Raylix shouted, grabbing his projection-blade from his side and switching it on. "Big enough to refill your supplies, Emka?"
"Should be!" Sabemka replied, slipping his hands into the gauntlets around his hips and pulling them up, preparing for a fight. Tomosei summoned her magical staff (which she had outfitted with blades on either end of it, to give herself a close-range option in a fight) to her hand.
The Hell Byrd- another creature native to the Underworld- that Raylix and his friends now had their eyes set on was a particularly large beast, even by the standards of its own species. Covered in dark brown and black feathers, a beak and claws that were stained red with the blood of either Devils or its fellow beast, and fully red eyes that glowed menacingly, it would've made for a pretty intimidating creature even if it didn't have a wingspan of fifty feet, or a body about twenty feet long.
The Byrd had already noticed the trio of Devils making a beeline for it, and let out another loud screech as it turned around in mid-air, believing that it had found its next meal. Rising up into the sky and turning around to face the three Devils that had now become its target, it quickly flapped its wings, throwing its own feathers down at them like a volley of arrows. Tomosei was the first to react, pointing her staff upwards at the feathers that had been fired at her, Raylix and Sabemka, and forming a barrier around the three of them to protect them from harm. When the volley of feathers ceased, the barrier was dispelled, and Raylix raised his free hand into the air, waving it in a circle around the Byrd. After a second, there was a red flash around the beast, and it stopped moving entirely.
It took the time that Raylix, Sabemka and Tomosei took to stop themselves and face the Byrd- whose movement Raylix had just sealed- for the Byrd to realise what had just happened to it. Letting out an ear-piercing screech of anger and fear, it thrashed around in mid-air, firing its feathers around in every way imaginable. However, in spite of all its thrashing, it didn't move from its single position within the air that Raylix had sealed it in.
Tomosei raised her staff to throw up another barrier around herself and her two male friends, to protect them from the feathers that were being flung around everywhere, but the sight of Sabemka flying upwards towards the Byrd made her stop.
"I've got him!" Sabemka shouted to Tomosei and Raylix, weaving through the flung feathers that came even close to him- an impressive feat given his size-, moving closer and closer to the Byrd with every passing second. Letting out a yell, he pulled his fist back and prepared to punch the Byrd in the face, hoping to knock it out quickly so they could kill it somewhat quickly and cleanly. Meat that didn't come from a mangled-up corpse was always harder to work with, and ended up making lower-quality food, than meat that'd come from something that was cleanly killed.
However, Sabemka's punch didn't quite make its mark with the Byrd's face, and it definitely didn't knock him out. Rather, the Byrd's beak- which had been open from its latest screech- closed suddenly just as Sabemka's fist was making its way towards its face, and closed AROUND Sabemka's unprotected upper arm. The large male Devil let out a grunt of pain as the edges of the Byrd's beak sunk slightly into his upper arm, but fought through the pain as he swung at the Byrd with his other arm. He missed the first two times, but managed to connect a decently-strong hit the third time, causing the Byrd to let him go, letting out a screech of pain as it did so. He caught himself on his wings after a couple of seconds of falling, and floated back a little bit to stay out of the way of Tomosei raising her staff, and bringing a powerful bolt of demonic energy down on the Byrd.
Screeching up a storm now, the Byrd spiralled downwards- evidently, the seal on its movement that Raylix had cast had either worn off or he'd deliberately removed it- towards the ground. Raylix pursued the falling Byrd, projected-sword out and turned on, coming closer and closer by the second. The Byrd hit the ground with a loud crash that probably broke several of its bones, but the helpless creature didn't have any time to even process the pain that came with falling several hundred feet, before Raylix had landed on top of it, and had removed its head from its shoulders with a quick swing of his sword.
A couple of seconds after the deed was done, Sabemka and Tomosei touched down a dozen or so feet away from Raylix. Tomosei instantly rushed over to Sabemka, her staff raised and ready to heal the wound on his arm that the Byrd had caused by biting into it. Within a few seconds, it was done, but that didn't stop her from smacking him over the head with her staff.
"Never- do- that- again!" Tomosei growled, punctuating her words with repeated smacks to Sabemka's head. Though with how physically durable the man was, her strikes felt more like little flicks against his head than anything that would actually hurt.
"Hey, hey, alright!" Sabemka replied, playfully swatting at Tomosei's staff as she tried to swing at him again, though Raylix calling over to them caused them both to look up.
"Emka, Tomo, you want me to cut this up for you?"
"Go for it!" Sabemka replied, jogging over. "Can you-"
"Not yet!" Tomosei cut across him. "There's still some feathers left on it, we can sell them!"
"Oh yeah... never mind!" Sabemka replied, stopping in front of the decapitated Byrd as Tomosei walked up. Raylix jumped off of the carcass as Tomosei waved her staff over it, raising it into the air. She sent a pulse of demonic energy through the raised corpse, plucking all of its remaining feathers (each of which were nearly as long as Tomosei herself was tall) in a single motion and sorting them into a semi-neat pile in another. Summoning several large bags out of a magic-circle, she was able to get all of the Byrd's feathers into the bags with Raylix and Sabemka's help, after which Raylix cut up the now-featherless Byrd at Sabemka's direction, where it was then safely secured.
"I know someone in our village who'd pay pretty good for these feathers." Tomosei spoke up, shaking one of the bags before dispelling it, along with the rest of them. "Maybe we should head there, spend the afternoon at our place?"
"Sounds good to me!" Sabemka remarked, rolling his healed arm a little bit. "Raylix?"
"Let's go." Raylix replied, allowing Tomosei to cast the transportation-circle before stepping into it alongside Sabemka. Tomosei stepped into the circle and activated it, sending the three Devils to the outskirts of the village in which they lived.
One of the many new settlements built in the aftermath of the Devil Civil War, Sabemka and Tomosei had moved in there just about as soon as they'd gotten the chance to. They'd tried living in the Gremory Castle alongside Raylix and his family (as you'd expect bodyguards to), but living permanently in a castle- with your every need taken care of and people ready to serve you almost literally around every corner- proved uncomfortable for both of them, so they were allowed to move out into the countryside and live in a relatively quiet village.
Zeoticus and Venelana weren't exactly happy at the idea of Raylix's sole two bodyguards living thousands of miles away, but distance didn't exactly matter when one could transport themselves nigh-instantaneously across the Underworld with just a little bit of one's latent power.
"I'll get those feathers sold." Tomosei remarked, as the three of them walked into the village. "Want to come with, or head home?"
"Home." Sabemka replied, instantly. "I'll get started on lunch. Coming, Raylix?"
"Yeah." Raylix replied. "You could finally help me with the whole learning-to-cook thing, Emka."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" Sabemka replied, immediately turning down a street, which Raylix imitated. "See you later, Tomo."
"Later." Tomosei nodded, walking off down the village's main street while Raylix and Sabemka headed down the street that they'd already begun walking down. It didn't take them too long to arrive at the house that Sabemka and Tomosei shared, a moderately-sized two-story house. Hardly the height of luxury like the Gremory Castle was, but that was probably what they both wanted.
Sabemka pressed his hand against the door, causing it to glow a bright white for a couple of seconds before swinging open, allowing himself and Raylix entry.
The main hallway that Raylix and Sabemka stepped into split off into several rooms: a living room, a downstairs bathroom, a dining room, and a smaller hallway that led to a set of stairs, but these were all ignored as they headed forwards, towards the kitchen: arguably the most impressive thing about the house (which, considering Sabemka's centuries-long passion for all things food-related, was hardly all that surprising).
"Get a couple of fillets out of the freezer, would you Raylix?" Sabemka asked, removing his cape (which had a couple of rips on it, courtesy of the Byrd they'd killed a few minutes earlier) and replacing it with an apron that had the words 'PLEASE DO NOTHING TO THE COOK' written on the front. "Either Wulf or Byrd is fine, I know you like both. Just put them over there when you got what you want, I'll be over in a second."
"Got it." Raylix replied, glancing over at where Sabemka pointed, before walking over to open the large freezer. taking a couple of seconds to look through it, and grabbed a couple of wrapped fillets of Byrd-meat before shutting the freezer behind him, and tossing them onto the side that his friend had indicated. Said friend looked up at the sound of the fillets landing on where he'd indicated, and nodded.
"Byrd, huh?" he spoke up, holding a pan in one hand. "Alright. I'll help you get started."
And so Sabemka did: showing Raylix how to work the various functions of his cooker (gifted to him by Raylix himself, for his five-hundredth birthday), demonstrating how to evenly cook all parts of the chicken, possible seasonings to give it extra taste, and potential other foods to have alongside the meat (Raylix picked rice, which he quickly got boiling in a different pan), before getting to work on his and Tomosei's respective lunches.
Once the pair of them got going, there wasn't much talking between the pair of them- sans the couple of corrections that Sabemka suggested with the mistakes that Raylix made- until Tomosei returned home, tossing her worn cape aside almost instantly and walking into the kitchen.
"I'm back!" she called, leaning against the doorway and looking at the two cooking men. "Something smells good."
"Yeah." Sabemka replied. "Raylix isn't messing up too badly." Ignoring Raylix's snort, he looked back over at Tomosei. "How much did you get for the feathers?"
"One thousand, five hundred and thirty Souls." Tomosei remarked, holding up a small bag and shaking it, allowing the coins inside to jangle around within. "Should be enough to splurge on that new video-player you saw a while back."
Raylix was about to turn around and speak up, suggest that he could get it for them- or potentially an even better video-player than whatever one Sabemka had apparently seen a while back- but held his tongue and kept his focus on the food he was making. As uncomfortable as the fact that he had more money to spend than both of his best friends put together, by a factor of potentially MILLIONS, made him, he knew that him spending his money on his best friends (outside of special occasions) made said friends even more uncomfortable.
"You don't need to do that" Sabemka had said, among other things. "We don't want to rely on you more than we already do on your family" Tomosei had said, also among other things. It had been a long-running debate between the trio, but one that had essentially ended a while ago. With a broken nose, courtesy of Sabemka, as a reward for insisting that he foot the bill for their NES. One that had been healed by Tomosei a few minutes later, but Raylix had gotten the message QUITE clearly.
"We'll be a few minutes, Tomo." Sabemka remarked. "Living room?"
Tomosei's grin was all the answer Sabemka needed, as she left the kitchen. Within a few minutes, as the older man had said, he and Raylix finished their respective cooking sessions, got the food piled up onto plates, and headed into the living room: a moderately-sized room with a couple of bookshelves on either side of the decently-sized TV, the space within which was taken up mostly by VHS boxes for various films, though there were a couple of boxes full of NES games- as well as a couple of accessories- near the bottom.
The TV in the middle of the room was a decently-large set, and was hooked up to both the VHS-player and the NES. It was currently switched off, though Raylix figured it would be coming on soon.
There were three chairs positioned around the room, all of which pointed at the TV, the rightmost of which Tomosei currently sat in, grinning at the sight of Raylix and Sabemka coming in with food. Particularly Sabemka, considering that he was the one with the better-looking food on the two plates she was carrying, one of which she was certain was for her... she was right.
Lunch was had in relative quiet, with only a few words of conversation shared between Sabemka and Tomosei in regards to the Devil that she'd sold the Byrd-feathers to. Raylix ate in silence, not having much to add to the conversation. The cooked Byrd-meat that he'd cooked for himself was judged by his taste-buds to be... decent, though absolutely inferior to the way Sabemka had made it. Though his incredibly muscular male friend had centuries of experience on him in the culinary department, so of course anything he cooked was going to be light-years ahead of the first meal that Raylix had ever cooked for himself. In spite of that, he was certain that with more lessons, he'd be able to pull off the more advanced stuff that Sabemka was able to do in the kitchen.
By the time he was done eating, Tomosei had already finished and was kneeling in front of the NES, opening the console and pulling a golden cartridge out of it before summoning one of the boxes full of games to her side with a snap of her fingers. She opened it and rummaged through it for a couple of seconds, before looking up at Sabemka, who was just finishing off his food.
"Remind me to get some more two-player games whenever we get the chance, Emka." she remarked, holding up the video game Contra. "This piece of shit's all we have."
"You only say that because you're bad at it, Tomo." Sabemka replied, after swallowing his mouthful of Wulf-meat. "It's not that bad of a game, you know that."
"...True." Tomosei replied, in a quieter tone, before inserting the game into the console and plugging in two controllers. "You want to play, Raylix?"
"Eh, not now." Raylix replied, standing up. "I might take over when you rage and quit, though. I'm gonna grab a drink."
Tomosei made a face at him, tossed one of the controllers she'd plugged in to Sabemka (who caught it neatly) and turned on the console.
----- ----- -----
"DAMN IT!" Tomosei yelled, as the character she was controlling was hit by a bullet and fell to the ground, dead, for the last time. She tossed the controller down as the words "GAME OVER" showed up in place of her life-count, as she'd run out of lives. Raylix, a can of beer in his hand, chuckled from his chair at Tomosei's angered display, while Sabemka didn't, too focused was he on continuing alone what he and Tomosei had been doing together up until now.
"How do you burn through thirty lives that quickly?" Raylix asked, as his laughter subsided. "You really- hey!"
"Those tiny-ass bullets keep going everywhere!" Tomosei yelled back, firing several bolts of energy out of one hand in Raylix's direction, forcing him to jump out of his chair to dodge all of them. "This game would be so much fairer if you could get a shield, or a protective barrier, or something!"
"The code gives you thirty lives, Tomo, that's fair enough." Sabemka replied, somewhat absent-mindedly as he reached the boss of the level that Tomosei had lost her last life in, a heavily armoured vehicle of some sort. He was able to deal a lot of damage to the boss before a stray bullet got him, depriving him of his power-up and forcing him to take much longer to kill the vehicle, the process of which cost him another life.
"Twelve lives left by Level 6?" Sabemka muttered, as the starting screen for the next level flashed in front of him for a couple of seconds before he begun the level. "I must be off my game today."
"That makes two of us." Tomosei spoke, scowling at the screen as Sabemka continued playing the game, a focused expression on his face.
"Last time I saw you playing, you only died for real near the end of Level 3." Raylix remarked, getting back into the chair that he'd been forced to vacate. "I'd say that's an improvement."
"We got in some practice since then." Sabemka replied. "She was able to make it to this level without losing all her lives the last couple of times we played."
"Oh... never mind, then." Raylix spoke, falling silent and looking at the TV as Sabemka continued playing, working through the enemies and obstacles of the Energy Zone with next to no issues and the focused expression remaining on his face the entire time.
It was damn clear that he'd gone through this game many times before, and this run was nothing new... sans the fact that he was apparently off his game, though he didn't lose a single life throughout the whole level... until a mistimed jump right at the start of the boss fight of that level- an armoured giant- landed Sabemka's character right on top of the giant's body, losing him another life.
"Hey, Raylix?" Sabemka asked, as he shot the armoured giant to death, earning enough points from the kill to earn himself another life, making up for the one he'd lost a minute ago during the boss fight.
"Hm?" Raylix replied, finishing off the last drops of beer in the can (his second of the afternoon), and destroying it with a small pulse of the Power of Destruction.
"I've been wondering..." Sabemka spoke, as the seventh level- the Hanger- began, and he got back to playing. "Just out of curiosity, mainly, about your Evil Pieces. Do you actually plan on using them? Ever?"
"Yeah." Raylix replied, immediately. "If someone comes along that I think would be a good idea to turn into a Devil, of course I will. Why?"
"Well, you haven't used any of your Pieces." Tomosei replied, looking up and over at Raylix. "On anyone. In nearly five centuries since getting them. That's a REALLY long time to go without having even used your first Piece."
"I guess..." Raylix remarked, summoning his box of Pieces out of a magic-circle and spinning it around in his hand a couple of times. He flicked it open with one of his fingernails and looked inside the box, at the fifteen chess pieces that he'd been given just over four-and-a-half centuries ago, before snapping the box shut. "I guess no-one's come around that would be worth giving a Piece."
"What about Irene?" Sabemka spoke up. "She's Human, isn't she? She'd make a damn good Bishop, if what you said about it enhancing someone's magic was accurate. Or maybe even a Queen!"
"Funny you should mention her," Raylix replied. "Because I actually asked her, during our contract-renewal after I got my Pieces. 15... 39, I think the year was."
"Really?" Tomosei remarked, raising her eyebrows. "I don't remember you telling us about this."
"You never asked." Raylix replied. "Plus, she said no, and told me she'd magically castrate me if I asked her again. I don't know if she was serious or not, but I figured trying to ask again wasn't worth the risk of losing my cock and balls. Plus, Magicians have got their own methods for extending lifespans, AND she can probably fly in some capacity thanks to her magic, so there's not much I could give her by turning her into a Devil that she can't already get for herself, or wouldn't lose sleep over not having."
"Okay, fair enough." Sabemka replied, cursing under his breath as a spiked ceiling moved down and crushed his character, losing him another life.
"Plus, as far as I know," Tomosei piped up. "Irene's apparently a big deal among the Magicians now, so you probably wouldn't be able to turn her into a Devil now, even if you wanted to."
"Not without kicking up a major shitstorm between the Magicians and the Devils, that neither side would benefit from in any meaningful way." Raylix added, standing up. "Plus, I'd probably lose my cock and balls. I'm gonna get another drink."
It only took Raylix a minute or so to do just that, and by the time he returned, Sabemka had progressed a bit in the level, and was shooting his way through a series of spiked walls as the Gremory Heir flopped down into the chair, cracking open his third can.
"Okay, so understandable with the whole... Irene, thing." Sabemka spoke up again, not even having to look up from Contra to know Raylix was back, judging by the creak of the chair that he'd sat back down in, and the crack of the beer-can as Raylix opened it. "But you've seriously met no-one else that you even considered giving one of your Evil Pieces to? Not a single person?"
"...Not really, no." Raylix replied. "I mean... Evil Pieces are meant to be given to other species, in order to make them Devils, yeah?"
"Yeah." Tomosei replied. "That's why they were created, as far as I remember."
"Right." Raylix replied. "And the beings you make into Devils are- according to most of my parent's friends, meant to have potential to become really strong, for the benefit of Devils as a whole, yeah?"
"Yeah." Sabemka replied. "Sound enough logic, I guess."
"Right." Raylix affirmed. "And I just haven't met anyone that fits those criteria. No Humans with one of those Sanctified Gears, or whatever they're called, no-one of another race who's willing to throw away their current life to serve me, no-one who's come to me for whatever reason and begged to become a servant of mine just so they could be closer to Lucifer's younger brother. It's... really that simple."
That's... understandable, I suppose." Tomosei spoke up, after a second. "Though I'm sure there are other reasons to give Pieces to other beings, even if they didn't meet those specific criteria."
"True." Raylix replied. "But I either have that aspect covered by something else without needing to bother with these" he shook his box of Evil Pieces before dispelling it, "Or the reason just doesn't apply to me. Someone to fight for me at the drop of a hat?" he began counting on his fingers. "There are servicemen in the Devil military that are stationed around the family territory that'd walk right into a barrage of light-spears for the family. Sexual relief?" he counted off another finger. "Zest, Rheliesh, Hannah, Narberal, do I need to go on? My reputation in front of the other nobility?" he counted off a third finger. "I don't think I need servants in order to contribute to that. Earning fame and glory in the Rating Games?" he counted off a fourth. "They're entertaining to watch, sure, and the idea of becoming the top player in the Underworld is a nice idea and all, but the official rankings never really change. Diehauser Belial's been the number-one ranked player ever since the Games became popular, and yeah, ranks two through five OCCASIONALLY move around, but it's been the same four Devils for just about as long. And with that in mind, it really takes a lot of the lustre out of the idea... plus, fighting for others' entertainment isn't exactly my thing, you know?"
Raylix had been so caught up in his reasoning that he hadn't noticed that Sabemka had paused his game, and turned all the way around to listen to him talk. Tomosei had turned as well, and blinked a couple of times as Raylix finished.
"...Was it something I said?" Raylix asked, after several seconds of semi-awkward silence. "Did I say something stupid?"
"Not really, no." Sabemka replied. "It's just, you got so passionate while talking that I felt you deserved my full attention during it, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, what he said." Tomosei concurred, looking at Sabemka for a second, then back at Raylix.
"Huh." Raylix remarked, blinking himself a couple of times. "Well... I mean, you asked, so... there."
"Yeah." Sabemka replied, turning around and unpausing the game, returning to it. "Okay."
"Okay?" Raylix echoed, blinking as Sabemka killed the boss of Stage 7 and moved onto Stage 8, the final stage in Contra.
"Okay." Sabemka repeated, not looking up from the game. "I was curious- I think we were both curious, Tomo-"
"Mmhmm." Tomosei hummed, looking over at Raylix for a second, and then back at the TV.
"-I asked, you answered." Sabemka finished. "Curiosity satisfied."
"...Okay." Raylix replied, shrugging and leaning back in his chair, watching Sabemka work his way through the last stretch of the game with ease.
Once that was done, and the game was turned off, it was decided that Raylix would head home, since that was what he voiced a desire to do. Plus, Zeoticus wanted Raylix home by dinner anyway, so the trio decided that it'd be best if Raylix was home before that.
One transportation-circle trip later, and the group stood just outside the shut doors of the Gremory Castle, fist-bumping and sharing their goodbyes.
"See you tomorrow, Raylix." Sabemka spoke, fist-bumping with his shorter best friend. "You'll be a great cook someday, I know it."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Emka." Raylix replied, grinning before looking over at Tomosei. "See you, Tomo."
"Later." Tomosei nodded, being the first to walk away, with Sabemka following. Raylix stood at the castle-doors, watching them go until they left the Gremory Castle's grounds, after which they disappeared through a transportation-circle. Raylix then nodded to the guards stationed on either side of the doors, and both guards pushed the doors open, allowing the Gremory Heir entry back into his home.
With the doors shutting behind him, Raylix made for the stairs, wanting to head back to his room. He made a cursory glance in the direction of the dining room as he passed the open door that led to it, but saw no-one inside. Just as he was about to begin ascending the stairs, one of the doors on the opposite side of the main hall to the dining room- the one that led to the living room- opened, with both of Raylix's parents exiting the room.
"Ahh, Raylix!" Zeoticus spoke up, as soon as he noticed his younger son. "You're home early."
"Figured I should be, Father." Raylix replied, turning around and leaning on the banister as he faced his parents. "Since I'm needed for something important, and all."
"That you are, yes." Zeoticus nodded, moving towards the staircase, and a couple of steps up it. "What we need you to wear for tonight has been left on your bed."
"Specific clothes, too?" Raylix remarked. "Must be REALLY important."
"It is." Venelana replied, ascending to the same step as her husband. "Please be sure to try it on before tonight, Raylix. Call for the maids if you need any kind of help."
"Got it, Mother." Raylix replied, with a nod. "When should I be ready by? A couple of hours, or...?"
"Yes, a couple of hours should be fine, Raylix." Zeoticus replied. "So, don't feel like you're in any rush."
"Right." Raylix nodded again, turned around and continued ascending the stairs, making his way back to his bedroom. Opening the door, lighting up all of the metallic orbs that hung around his room with a wave of his hand, glancing at his bed (which had been re-made between him leaving with Sabemka and Tomosei this morning and coming back) revealed the clothes that had been left for him to wear during... whatever he was needed for, tonight.
A black dinner-jacket, a red waistcoat, a white button-down shirt, black bow-tie, black trousers and black shoes. All of which looked like they would fit him absolutely perfectly. Hell, all of it was likely made to do just that.
Shrugging, and figuring that he might as well get the whole trying-on-clothes thing over with, Raylix kicked off his trainers and wriggled out of his jeans (almost falling over as he did so), tossing the jeans onto one of his armchairs while laying his trainers semi-neatly by his bed, almost instantly replacing them with the trousers and more formal shoes that had been laid out for him. He pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it upon a chair, where it landed on top of his jeans, Raylix pulled on the shirt, buttoned it up, put on the bow-tie, put on the waistcoat, buttoned that up too, and then finally put on the jacket on top, doing up its single button.
As he'd suspected, everything fit him perfectly.
Raylix walked over to his wardrobe's door/mirror, and took a look at his reflection. He looked far more formal and noble-like than he usually did when hanging out with Sabemka and Tomosei... but that had to have been what his parents wanted, so fair enough, he thought. That aside... he looked pretty good, he thought.
His task of trying on what his parents had laid out for him completed, Raylix shed his jacket and laid it on the back of one of the armchairs, pulled off the bow-tie and tossed it onto the coffee-table before unbuttoning the top couple of buttons on his shirt, before making his way to his bed and lying down upon it. A snap of his fingers summoned a book from the shelf to his hand.
He now had a couple of hours to kill, and he was pretty close to finishing his quinquennial re-read of The Fellowship of the Ring.
----- ----- -----
The next two hours flew by for Raylix, so engrossed was he in the works of- in his opinion- the best author the Human World had ever (and most likely would ever) offer. It was to the point that as the sound of knocking on his bedroom door registered on his ears, he started in surprise, The Two Towers (which he'd started an hour and a half ago) dropping from his hands onto the bed.
"Yes?" he looked up at the door, which opened to reveal Narberal, one of the many maids that worked for the Gremory Clan, and another of Raylix's personal favourites. An elegant woman with snow-white skin and black hair done up in a ponytail, wearing a black and white maid outfit, as well as black shoes.
"Apologies for the intrusion, Lor- Raylix." Narberal spoke. "But your parents have asked for you. This evening's guests are apparently arriving soon."
"Ahh." Raylix replied, nodding. "Got it."
The Gremory Heir slid off his bed and picked up his jacket from the chair that he'd put it on a couple of hours ago, slinging it on and buttoning it up. After buttoning up his shirt and putting on the bow-tie, he left his bedroom and made his way downstairs as quickly as possible. Noticing the open doors, and his parents (both wearing their finest suit/dress) standing just outside, Raylix dashed outside and took a position to his father's right, getting into a more composed-looking position just as an orange magic-circle appeared at the bottom of the steps that led up to the castle-doors.
The circle bore the symbol of a phoenix encased in a circular shape, meaning that the visitors had to be from the Phenex Clan. The magic-circle glowed, with three people appearing from it: Ruvella Phenex, the Heiress of the Phenex Clan, clad in a simple yet sexy-looking red dress with matching elbow-length gloves; Rika Phenex, the Head of the Phenex Clan and Ruvella's mother, clad in an elegant light-purple dress with dark-purple accents, and her long blonde hair done up very high with ornate decorations; and Renzo Phenex, Rika's husband and Ruvella's father, wearing a similar-looking suit to Zeoticus.
"Zeo!" Renzo called happily, quickly moving up the steps with his hand stretched out, before moving into a handshake with Zeoticus. "Good to see you again, friend. Thank you so much for agreeing to this meeting!"
"It was bound to happen sooner or later, Renzo, with what our Clans have agreed." Zeoticus replied, pulling back from the handshake before stepping forwards towards Rika, took her hand in his and kissed it. "Rika, always a pleasure."
"The pleasure's all mine, Zeoticus." Rika replied smoothly, inclining her head to the Gremory Head and exchanging less formal greetings with Venelana before moving through the open doors into the castle, with Renzo quickly joining her. Zeoticus and Venelana moved inside as well, with Raylix and Ruvella bringing up the rear.
"Hello, Raylix." The Phenex Heiress greeted him, a smile on her face as two guards shut the castle-doors behind them.
"Hi." Raylix replied. "You got any idea what this is all about?"
Ruvella shook her head.
"No, probably no more than you do." she replied. "Mother and Father just told me this morning that the three of us were travelling here for dinner, and that it was very important."
"That's about how it went for me, too." Raylix remarked, nodding. "Now that you're here, I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?"
"I'm sure we will." Ruvella replied, as the two of them headed towards the living room, which both of their parents had already done, and moved inside.
The Gremory Castle's main living room was as extravagant as the rest of the castle. Large enough to have fitted the entirety of the old pre-nobility Gremory family home inside it at least twice over, and covered in some of the softest and most expensive carpet that money could buy, and with paintings of Alcina, Zeoticus, Venelana, Sirzechs and Raylix hung up on the walls, it was damn clear that no expense was spared when it came to making sure one knew whose family home they had entered.
There were four couches in the room, two of which Zeoticus and Venelana, and Rika and Renzo, took their seats in while facing each other, as well as four chairs, two of which were set up next to the couches, which both Raylix and Ruvella got the cue to sit down at, next to their respective parents and also facing each other. As he took his seat, Raylix glanced over at the fireplace, which was lit and going nicely... as well as Gaeneron, the Gremory Clan's sword- that Raylix had wielded in so many battles across the Devil Civil War- that hung above it.
As he heard Rika's voice, Raylix turned back around.
"I'm sure that our respective Heirs are wondering why we're meeting, Zeoticus. Don't you think it's time we reveal it? They deserve to know before the rest of the Underworld."
"Reveal what?" Raylix spoke up, looking to Rika, then at Zeoticus, at Ruvella, and back at Rika. "What's going on?"
"We were getting to that, Raylix." Renzo replied, with a chuckle. "I'm sure you must be eager, but don't- as the humans say- jump the gun."
Zeoticus let out a small chuckle himself, and cleared his throat.
"Raylix, Ruvella, we and your parents have been in talks about a potential... merging of PhenexCorp and the Gremory Large Enterprise." the crimson-haired man began. "It's something that's been on our minds for a while, as such a potential merger is a fantastic opportunity to further both of our respective business ventures, both in the Underworld and out."
"We've been able to find terms for this merger that both parties find... agreeable, on the business end of things." Rika continued. "However, during negotiations, Renzo had a proposal for the... more personal, side of these negotiations, the result of which all of us, and hopefully you too Ruvella, Raylix, will be happy with."
Raylix and Ruvella looked at each other, then at their parents. There was a silence for a couple of seconds, before Zeoticus spoke up, an ear-splitting grin on his face.
"To further secure our agreed merger, and to secure a powerful future for both the Gremory and Phenex Clans..." he spoke. "Raylix, Ruvella, you're both going to be married!"
Raylix blinked a couple of times, utterly stunned by his father's words. Ruvella stared at Zeoticus for a few seconds, then at Raylix, then back at her mother, who had a similarly large grin on her face. Zeoticus was the first to react to his Heir's seeming lack of major reaction to the idea. Almost like he'd expected Raylix to move over on Ruvella and embrace her in a loving kiss, or sweep her up and carry her upstairs bridal-style, or something of the sort.
"What's the matter, Raylix? Aren't you happy?"
"Uhh..." Raylix replied, looking over at his father and then back at Ruvella and Rika. "Sorry, it's just..."
"Surprising?" Ruvella asked, looking just as surprised as Raylix felt. "I... certainly didn't see that coming, Mother."
"Well, now you know, dear!" Rika replied, throwing her arms around her daughter. "Oh, I just can't wait for the children that the two of you will have once you're married! Your father and I want a granddaughter! No, two!"
"G-got it!" Ruvella replied, going slightly pink in the face from the embarrassment that came from being held so tightly by your mother, particularly in the company of others.
"I certainly wouldn't mind a granddaughter or two either, Raylix." Venelana remarked, thankfully without immediately embracing her son. "Sooner, rather than later, I hope."
"Right..." Raylix nodded, looking away as his mind still worked through the statement that his father had just made a moment ago: he would be getting married to Ruvella Phenex.
He wasn't angry or sad at the prospect, hell no. Ruvella was- as far as he knew- nice enough, as well as a total beauty, even by Devils' standards. It was just that the idea of getting married, uniting as a life-partner with someone, being called one's husband, having someone to call his wife... it had never really occurred to the Gremory Heir before. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing that the average 502-year old noble demonic bachelor really thought about on a day-to-day basis.
"When will the wedding be?" Ruvella- who had been released by Rika- asked.
"As soon as possible." Venelana replied. "We'll send out invitations for a formal gathering at once, during which we can announce your and Raylix's engagement. We could hold it in... a week?"
"A week sounds good, yes." Rika nodded, smiling. "Then after that, we can begin plans for the wedding. It'll be the grandest and best wedding since Lucifer and Lilith!"
"Of course!" Venelana replied, now sounding rather excited at the prospect. "We can't spare any expenses for this!"
As the two wives descended into pitching various ideas for the wedding (with Ruvella vaguely following along), Zeoticus looked over at Renzo.
"Fancy a drink?"
"Read my mind, Zeo. I'd love one." Renzo replied, grinning as Zeoticus called for a maid to bring him and Renzo something good from the wine cellar.
Zeoticus and Renzo spent the rest of the evening constantly toasting the idea of Raylix and Ruvella getting married (and just about anything related to the concept), which quickly turned into a drinking game between the two Lords. While the husbands drank themselves into a collective stupor, Venelana and Rika- while going much lighter on the drinking- occupied themselves with early plans for the wedding between their Clan's respective Heirs.
Ruvella got mildly involved with her mother and future mother-in-law's conversation as well, seeming to have come around to the idea of marrying Raylix, apparently the most eligible bachelor in the Underworld who wasn't a Satan. While Raylix... was just stuck in the middle of the small party, not really sure what to do.
He certainly enjoyed a good drink once in a while, but seeing his father and future father-in-law drunkenly slurring through whatever toast that either of them had come up with this time was just awkward to look at. And truth be told, he was still coming around to the fact that he'd be marrying Ruvella, apparently the most-wanted bachelorette in the Underworld who wasn't a Satan.
And so, it was a weird kind of relief that washed over Raylix when Rika finally noticed how drunk her husband was getting and decided that it'd be a good time to head home, to limit how hard Renzo's hangover would hit him the next morning. A bit late for that, Raylix thought, as Rika, Renzo and Ruvella all left the Gremory Castle and vanished via transportation-circle.
With his fiancé and future parents-in-law gone, Raylix took the chance to excuse himself and head upstairs, quickly making his way to his bedroom, heading inside and shutting the door behind him. Raylix rested his head against the bedroom door for a second, taking a couple of breaths, before-
"Long day?"
Raylix jumped and turned around, already having summoned the hilt of his projection-sword to his hand at the sudden voice, before realising just who that voiced belonged to a nanosecond later. Looking up, he saw Zest sitting on his bed, still wearing her maid outfit with a smile on her face.
"Not exactly." Raylix replied, dispelling his projection-sword back to a pocket-dimension as he pulled off his dinner-jacket and bow-tie, tossing them aside before giving the same treatment to his waistcoat. "I'd say something more like 'surprising' day. Not every day you learn your parents had arranged you a marriage with Ruvella Phenex."
"Oh..." Zest remarked, standing up as Raylix unbuttoned his shirt, and helping him pull it off, then stepping back as Raylix kicked off his shoes. "Well, arranged or not, I'm happy for you, Raylix." The maid's breath quickened slightly as she took in Raylix's fully-revealed upper body. No matter how many times she'd seen it, her master was... there was just no other term for it, REALLY HOT.
"Thanks." Raylix replied, pulling off his trousers and tossing them aside, before pulling off his socks, leaving him wearing nothing but his underwear with a small smile on his face. "Now, how about we get to that... good time I promised you this morning?"
Zest's face lit up in a similar smile to what Raylix was currently sporting, though it didn't stop her face from going slightly pink. She nodded, and began to undress herself, her eyes locked with Raylix's the entire time in an attempt to not glance downwards, where an extremely familiar... bulge was forming within Raylix's underwear. She was sure that, if she even looked at it before she had finished undressing, she'd get so distracted that she wouldn't be able to finish.
"Nice..." Raylix remarked, under his breath, as Zest finished undressing, now in only a set of white underwear with light-purple accents, with the rest of her tanned body fully visible to him. He closed the distance between himself and Zest within two steps, gently cupped her face in both hands and captured her lips in a deep kiss, one that Zest was all too happy to return. She wrapped her arms around Raylix, holding him as close to her as he could physically get as he walked backwards, towards the bed.
It wasn't hard for Raylix and Zest to keep the kiss going between each other as they collapsed onto the bed, given the two to two-and-a-half inches difference in height between them. Raylix's hands were off Zest's face now, now gliding all over her body: mostly down her back and over her ass, which he delivered a couple of light smacks to before squeezing hard on the maid's ass-cheeks.
Zest let out loud moans from all of this, and didn't resist as Raylix drew one of his hands back to the strap for her bra, and after a couple of seconds of fumbling, was able to undo it. She subconsciously lifted her body up, allowing Raylix to reach under her and throw the offending article away and directly touch her sizeable breasts, an action that got a louder moan out of her before she pulled back, panting slightly.
"Would you like me to... service you, before we get to the main event, Raylix?" she asked, her voice slightly breathy as she practically raked his half-naked body with her eyes, now unable to stop herself from focusing on the bulge in his boxers. Raylix simply smirked, and adjusted his position on his bed so he was more comfortable.
"Go right ahead, Zest." Raylix replied, his arms behind his head as he relaxed. "You know how I like it."
Zest smiled, took a hold of Raylix's boxers in her hands and pulled down, allowing his member to spring free. She took a second to appreciate its thick, throbbing ten-inch glory before opening her mouth again, sticking out her tongue and dragging it over the shaft, taking a light hold of the base in her hand as she did so. When Zest reached the tip of Raylix's cock, she circled it a couple of times with her tongue before moving her face closer to it, eventually enveloping the tip in her mouth. Fixing Raylix- who had let out a moan at her actions- with an incredibly alluring look for a couple of seconds, she closed her eyes and began slowly bobbing her head up and down on his cock, sloppily coating as much of it as she could in her saliva for a moment before pulling back up and looking at how her spit oozed down onto the rest of Raylix's cock.
The tanned almost-naked maid let out a small giggle for a second, before adjusting her own position on the bed and moving Raylix's legs around her, so she could make what she was planning to do next easier on her. Taking Raylix's cock back in one hand, she placed it in-between her sizeable breasts and used THEM to hold it in place, before beginning to rock them up and down his length.
"Ahh~!" Raylix couldn't hold back another loud moan as Zest began her boob-job. No matter how many times she, or any of the other maids, gave him them, he couldn't help but love it more and more every time. To say that he loved them a lot would absolutely NOT be an exaggeration.
Zest, knowing this all too well, picked up the pace of her tit-job, leaning forward and holding the tip of his cock in her mouth as she did so, sucking on it to draw out another- louder- moan from her master. She then ceased her own movement as Raylix began thrusting himself, allowing him to control the pace of both the tit-job and blow-job. And though what Raylix had come to was quite a bit faster than what Zest had currently been giving him, she was able to take it just fine. Being one of the Gremory Heir's favourite four maids just about ever since you were hired would suggest that, after all.
As Raylix kept up his thrusts, continued using Zest's breasts and mouth as pleasurers for his cock, Zest felt the chestnut-haired Devil's cock beginning to pulsate rather violently on her tits and within the warm confines of her mouth. That, along with a long, low grunt from Raylix as he felt a familiar pressure building up in his balls, was more than enough of an indicator to tell Zest just what was coming... and she didn't let up. Rather, as Raylix kept thrusting, she began moving her tits and mouth against the thrusts, doing her best to drive him to his inevitable climax so she could wring every last drop of his... emission, out of him once it came.
And came, Raylix did, with a mixture between a loud moan and an equally-loud growl. Bucking his hips wildly, he let out many long, thick, powerful and hot shots of his demonic seed straight into Zest's waiting mouth. As soon as Raylix's first shot coated the inside of Zest's mouth, she instantly swallowed, knowing that another shot would soon follow and that she probably wouldn't be able to hold all of it. She was just about to get all of Raylix's first load of cum down her throat before the second shot, almost equal to the first in just how much he shot out, came flying out of her master's cock to take the place of the first load. This time around, she wasn't quite able to fully swallow it all before Raylix's third and final large load came flying out of his cock, completely filling up her mouth.
And when Raylix's final drops oozed out of his prick, Zest found that she just couldn't hold it all in anymore, and had to let some of it out, allow it to drip all over the outside of her mouth and on her chin, before swallowing the rest and finally lifting herself fully off of Raylix, the sound of her pants filling the room.
Though said pants were quickly replaced by a squeal of surprise as Raylix, who had recovered rather quickly from his first orgasm of the evening, sat up and took hold of Zest around her waist, lifting her up and turning her around in mid-air before placing her down on her back, on the bed. He then pulled down the panties she was wearing (which already had a not-unnoticeable wet stain on them), revealing her sweet-looking pussy, one that Raylix had screwed many, MANY times.
Zest let out another loud moan as Raylix- after forcibly spreading her legs, reached down and teased her already-wet pussy with one hand a little bit, spreading it with his fingers and delivering a couple of light slaps to it before moving over, his cum-coated cock still throbbing and still as large as it was before. Zest barely had time to register the fact that he was going inside her again before Raylix rested his cock at her entrance, waited a second or so, then thrust forward in one clean motion, entering her most sensitive area and drawing out a scream of pleasure from Zest.
Raylix smirked, and leant down to kiss her as he began thrusting, hard and fast, back and forth into Zest, who could only hold onto the bedsheets to keep herself in place as the force of her master's thrusts threatened to send her sliding backwards into the headboard. The rhythmic slapping of Raylix's pelvis against hers was just one of the many new sounds that dominated the room, alongside her own loud moans that came with every hard thrust.
"You're doing a damn good job, Zest." Raylix spoke in a low voice as he held onto her legs, keeping them open as he thrust into her. "Using her body to please me... that's the best thing a hot maid like you can do for her master."
"Y-yes, R-Raylix!" Zest moaned, her tits rocking around like crazy with every one of Raylix's hard thrusts that rippled through her body. "I l-love using my body to p-please you!"
Raylix smirked, letting go of Zest's legs and leaning forward to grab onto her tits, using them as his new points of leverage on her body. As he kept stretching the white-haired woman's pussy out with his cock, he roughly squeezed them, pressed on the whole of them with his hands, pressed specifically her nipples with his thumbs, even leant down to suck on the sizeable woman-orbs that had been bouncing so invitingly for him earlier. Zest could only keep her mouth open in a constant, silent scream of pleasure as Raylix kept this up, all the while ramming into her pussy as hard and fast as he always did.
She felt her mind becoming slightly hazy from the overload of pleasure that Raylix brought her, adoring every moment that he had her beneath him. That, along with a certain tightness beginning to build up inside her (that she only recognised on instinct) was a sign that Zest was approaching her own first climax of the evening. And fast, too, if Raylix's thrusts and ministrations on her body were anything to go by. Her inner walls twitched violently around Raylix's cock as her orgasm came closer and closer.
Raylix seemed to know what was coming, too (no surprise, considering how experienced he was with women. His four favourite maids, in particular), and pressed his lips against Zest's just as it finally hit her, effectively keeping the primal scream that left the tanned woman's mouth in conjunction with her climax confined to Raylix's mouth. As she rode out her climax, her walls clamped down on Raylix's cock in a vice-like grip, quickly driving him much closer to his second climax of the night than he would be had that not happened.
In the aftermath of such an intense orgasm, Zest could barely register what was happening to her beyond the feeling of Raylix's cock quickly and forcefully ramming in and out of her, of Raylix's hands all over her tits (which, along with the rest of her entire body, and Raylix's too, was covered in a light sheen of sweat), and after a dozen or so more quick thrusts, another batch of Raylix's cum being fired deep into her snatch like it was coming out of a firehose. She could only let out a soft "Haaaah..." as Raylix's thrusts finally began to slow down, and as more of his cum flowed into her pussy and womb.
Zest was only able to vaguely register Raylix pulling out of her, along with the incredible load that he'd just fired into her slowly beginning to leak out of her and onto the bed, now that his cock wasn't there to plug up her pussy.
"Raylix..." Zest spoke, her voice softer than it usually was as her legs dropped down from where Raylix had been holding them at. "I- ah!"
"You didn't think we were done, did you Zest?" Raylix asked, his hands around Zest's ankles as he dragged her towards him. He wrapped an arm around Zest's back as he hoisted her off the bed, turned her around and quickly pushed her back ONTO the bed, this time stomach-down. "After I've only came twice? I'm almost insulted." he remarked, in a faux-hurt voice before delivering another, much harder, slap to Zest's ass, bringing her sharply out of her post-orgasm haze with a loud yelp, as Raylix forcibly spread her legs again.
"But, oh well." Raylix continued, taking a hold of his cock in one hand as he guided it towards Zest. "At least I get to prove you wrong."
That was all the warning Zest got before Raylix thrust forward, quickly entering her again and drawing all the breath out of her in a loud gasp. Just as he had been doing the first time, he was back to thrusting into her. He went slightly slower than he had been the first time, but more than hard enough to make sure that she felt every single thrust ripple through her entire being enough for her breaths to come in loud gasps of pleasure. Zest found herself gripping the bedsheets again, and moaning loudly again as Raylix's hands snaked around her and landed on her breasts, which- again- swung around with every hard slap Raylix's hips made against hers.
The mixture of Raylix's thrusts, and Zest's moans, were so loud that neither party heard the door to Raylix's bedroom slowly opening, but they definitely heard the loud gasp from one of the three women that had just entered the room. Zest, back in her sex-induced stupor, and too far in to even muster up the energy to turn around, but Raylix wasn't. His hips and hands seemingly on autopilot as he thrust into Zest, he turned his head towards the door... and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the other three of his four favourite maids: Rheliesh, Narberal and Hannah, the maid who he would have gotten a wakeup call from this morning had Rheliesh not taken her place.
Hannah was a very curvaceous woman with a tan complexion, similar to Zest, and a single navy-blue eye (where her left eye would have been was covered by an eyepatch). She had straight lavender-coloured hair that extended all the way down to her knees, with the bottom part of her hair done up in a braid and tied with an indigo ribbon. She also wore purple lipstick, and wore a similar maid outfit to Rheliesh, Narberal and Zest (before she'd stripped off several minutes ago).
"Good evening, ladies." Raylix spoke, casually as he continued to thrust into Zest. "Rare to see you all together here for me. What's the occasion?"
"Rheliesh... h-had an idea for a fivesome, Master Raylix." Narberal replied. "Hannah and myself thought it was a good idea, and we tried to find Zest so she could join us."
"She didn't answer when we got to her room." Hannah continued. "So... we assumed that we'd just gone to bed early, and came up here. But..."
"I guess she just got here before us." Rheliesh replied, looking slightly greedily at Raylix as he continued thrusting into Zest. Raylix chuckled, and squeezed Zest's tits again as he continued his thrusts, drawing out another moan from the bunny-eared maid.
"Heh. I guess she did." Raylix remarked. "But I must say, I really like your thinking, Rhel. An orgy amongst my maids and me sounds like a wonderful idea. Although..." he raised his hand and waved it at Rheliesh, who squawked in surprise as she found herself lifted up against her will, her clothes flung off her by an unseen force and her body floated over to the wall directly overlooking Raylix's bed, where she was then bound in place. "If I'm right, and I often am... thanks to this morning, you had had me more times this month than anyone else, Rhel. Am I correct?"
Rheliesh could only nod.
"Right." Raylix replied. "And thanks to... well, now-" he delivered another smack to Zest's ass, drawing out another loud moan from the woman he was currently screwing. "Both you and her will have had more times with me than Nabe and Hannah. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
Rheliesh nodded again, her face going slightly red.
"Good." Raylix replied. "Don't worry, I doubt you'll be up there for long. Just let me finish with Zest, and then get Nabe and Hannah back on equal terms with you and Zest, and then we can have the wonderful fivesome you want. That sound good?"
"S-sounds good!" Rheliesh replied, her eyes completely set on Raylix and Zest as they screwed beneath her. Raylix was now thrusting into Zest rather harder and faster than he had been when she, Hannah and Narberal had entered the room, and Zest looked like she was twitching.
"Ahhhhh~!" Raylix let out a long, loud moan after several more thrusts, after which he held his last thrust inside Zest, who was letting out a similarly long, loud scream of orgasmic pleasure. After a moment or two of holding inside Zest, Raylix stepped backwards, pulling out of her. From where she was suspended above her master's bed, Rheliesh could see Raylix's seed spilling out of Zest's pussy and almost immediately staining the bedsheets that Raylix's cum landed on. As he pulled out, Zest flopped onto the bed, barely able to move in the aftermath of such an intense orgasm.
Raylix hummed as he stepped further back from Zest, stretching as he looked over at Narberal and Hannah, both of whom had gotten the hint to strip out of their uniforms. Narberal wore a simple, but effective, set of dark-red underwear that stood out in an especially sensual way against her pale skin, while Hannah had gone for a set of jet-black lingerie, complete with garter belt and stockings, that truly emphasized her incredible figure, the objective best out of all four of Raylix's favourite maids.
"So, ladies." Raylix remarked, casually stroking his cock- coated in a light mixture of his cum, Zest's inner juices, and both parties' sweat- to keep it hard (not that he really needed to do that, with four gorgeous women in such close proximity), as he raked Narberal and Hannah's bodies with his eyes. "You want to come at me separately, or at the same time?"
Hannah and Narberal looked at each other, then back at Raylix, and advanced towards him. Raylix grinned, and walked backwards towards his bed, sitting down on one side as he watched them coming at him.
"At the same time, then." he spoke. "Got it."