As Tamamo pushed the door to Irene's house open, she took one step into the residence… and paused. So suddenly and abruptly did she pause that Raylix- who had begun to move into the house after her- actually ended up bumping into the back of her, causing the kitsune to jolt forward slightly and grab onto a nearby table to prevent herself from falling over.
"Tamamo?" Raylix asked, as Tamamo turned around, gently pushing past him and stepping back outside, moving past even Esdeath and Cinder and looking up into the trees, her eyes focused in a certain direction. "You alright?"
"Something's coming." The pinkette Youkai replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn't even look back at Raylix, or anyone else looking her way, as she did so. "From that way. And it's… coming fast."
Raylix's eyes immediately shifted from Tamamo to Irene, whose eyes had shifted from Tamamo to him. A surprised expression had come over her face, and Raylix had a feeling that he was adorning a similar expression himself.
"From that way?" Esdeath remarked, casually pulling out her rapier and facing the direction in which Tamamo was facing. "You sure, Tamamo?"
"I'm sure, I'm sure!" Tamamo replied, looking over at Esdeath as she spoke before refocusing her attention on where she felt whatever it was approaching from. "It's definitely something demonic, but ahh- can't pin anything down beyond that!"
"That's fine." Raylix spoke up, calling demonic power to his hands and letting out a breath as he stood alongside Esdeath, and shifted into a battle-ready stance. "Heads up, everyone!"
Irene and Cinder, who had shifted off to either side of Raylix and Esdeath but behind them and Tamamo, prepared as well, with Irene summoning her staff and charging up an offensive spell of some sort, ready to fire it off at a second's notice. Tamamo, in the middle of the five-strong group, took a breath before raising one of her hands, and summoning a ball of blue fox-fire- a unique kind of supernatural fire that differed greatly from most other forms of flame- into it.
All of her power might not have returned to her, but there was no damn way she wouldn't assist the group she'd come to live with ever since her return to this world.
Raylix's eyes narrowed, and he almost pre-emptively fired off his first shot of demonic energy as he heard leaves in the trees in front of him and his group rustling, rustling rather loudly. He stayed his hand just before he let his power fly, however, knowing that it wasn't the opportune moment… yet. Esdeath's rapier was steady in her right hand, though at the sound of the sudden leaves-rustling she began gathering frozen energy in her left hand, her eyes narrowing alongside Raylix's as she heard the rustling becoming louder. Whatever it was that Tamamo had sensed, it was real, it was coming towards them, and it'd be upon them quite soon. Most likely in several seconds, if not even less.
Irene and Cinder shared a short look with each other as they heard the rustling becoming louder as well… but didn't have time to think about- let alone take- any extra precautions as what looked like a pillar of black smoke rushed through the tops of the trees directly in front of and above Raylix and his crew. Raylix fired off his first shot of energy from his left hand at the invader first, quickly followed by the second from his right, at just about the same time as Esdeath's shot of frozen energy. Irene's bolt and Tamamo's concentrated fox-fire were next, with Cinder's bolt of regular magically-generated flaming energy being the last to be fired off, less than a quarter of a second after Raylix's first bolt.
As the smoke-pillar before them didn't make any move to evade the bolts flying its way, Raylix was sure that the group's attacks would have some kind of impact… and yet, they did not: rather, they just bounced off the smoke-pillar without dealing any visible damage to it. Seemingly in response, the smoke-pillar quickly descended to the ground, dodging Esdeath's wave of frozen wind that she sent at where it was going to land with a wave of her hand. Raylix and Irene were quick to throw up magical barriers, the latter's just in front of the former, behind which Irene began charging up a more powerful attack, and Raylix summoned Gaeneron to his hand. Before he could charge through and confront whatever it was that was attacking them, the smoke-pillar seemed to fire out an energy-bolt of its own, straight at the pair of barriers that Raylix and Irene had created.
Upon being struck by the bolt, Irene's barrier shattered and crumbled into magical dust immediately, with the bolt travelling through like it wasn't even there and striking Raylix's barrier beneath. Raylix's barrier didn't shatter immediately like Irene's did, in fact it was able to hold the bolt back to the point that it fizzled out, but that came at the cost of the barrier as a whole looking rather severely cracked and damaged. The smoke-pillar then immediately darted forward through the barrier before Raylix could even think of trying to repair it, shattering it on the spot, before it made for Irene. The scarlet-haired Platinum let out a squawk of surprise, raising her staff to try and combat whatever- or WHOEVER- it was that had attacked them. But before she could even fire off a spell or create another barrier, the smoke-pillar was upon her, and she couldn't be seen. A second later, Irene was thrown backwards, her clothes partially shredded and an expression of pain clear on her face, before she crashed through a tree behind her. Whatever the smoke-pillar had done to her didn't kill her, however, as she immediately tried to get up from where she lay... but be it pain or fatigue, she found herself unable to.
An angered expression coming over her face at the sight of the scarlet-haired Magician being taken out of the fight so easily, Esdeath thrust out one hand and threw out a powerful wave of freezing wind, one much more powerful and colder than the first one she'd sent out a moment ago, when the smoke-pillar had first arrived and attacked. Even when not in the direct line of fire, Raylix could feel it from where he was standing, and the sudden drop in temperature made him shiver.
Esdeath brought her other hand down, causing icicles of all shapes and sizes to fly down from above at speed, directly on the area everyone was currently fighting in but mainly focused on the area that the smoke was occupying. Whatever intended effect Esdeath wanted her freezing wind/icicle-rain combination to have against the smoke didn't seem to occur, as the smoke seemed to condense into a smaller pillar again, and made for Esdeath. Raylix fired off beams of his Power of Destruction from his eyes as the smoke approached the blunette, but both beams missed their target. By instinct more than anything else, Esdeath drew her rapier, but nothing could be done as the smoke seemed to slam into her, with enough force to send her flying back just as Irene had been earlier.
However, UNlike Irene earlier, Esdeath recovered enough to spread her wings to right herself in mid-air, just in time to mentally acknowledge an extremely powerful-looking demonic energy bolt headed her way, originating from the black smoke that had slammed into her seconds earlier. Esdeath flung up a hand to fire out a blast of ice that she hoped could either deflect or stop the demonic energy flying her way, or at the very least slow it down or dull its power a little, but no: just as what had happened with Irene's barrier a moment before, the energy-bolt that emerged from the smoke flew through Esdeath's ice-blast as if it hadn't been there in the first place, and struck the half-Devil square in the throat.
Esdeath didn't even have the chance to gasp for breath as the attack send her spiralling over and over in the air, head over feet and feet over head, before slamming into the ground and not getting up. Not even attempting to like Irene did, it looked like she'd been knocked out cold by the bolt and where it had landed.
"Esdeath!" Cinder yelled out, summoning both her scimitar-like swords to her hands and sending two waves of flame at the condensed smoke through them, snarling as she followed up the dual-waves by dashing at the smoke, seemingly ready for whatever could come her way. But after the flame she sent passed harmlessly through the smoke, she absolutely was NOT ready for what looked like a tail- made of leathery flesh, not smoke, and with a love heart on the end of it- to appear out of the smoke and wrap itself around one of her wrists, stopping her in her tracks. The tail raised, bodily lifting the Stray Magician off the ground entirely and pausing for a fraction of a second. Cinder flailed around as best she could, ineffectively trying to swing the sword in her free hand at the tail in an attempt to hack it off.
As she did so, Raylix paused just as he had another bolt of destructive energy charged up in his hand, the new sight of the tail catching his eye. It seemed to have confirmed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what Tamamo had initially suspected: whoever they were fighting was someone from the Underworld, the same realm he was from.
The fact that a tail could be seen was the main reason he didn't immediately suspect that whoever they were fighting was specifically looking for HIM, as it further confirmed that the being attacking him and his crew was a member of the Lilim. A Succubus, to be exact. His family had shared a... cordial, relationship with the Lilim ever since their independence, but nowhere close enough to warrant Zeoticus asking for someone from that side to come after an Heir that had been missing for a several years. And while he knew that there were Lilim within the True Satan Faction, there certainly weren't any high enough up in the ranks or strong enough that they could take down Irene and Esdeath with THAT level of ease, so that ruled out the True Satan Faction as the reason behind this was happening.
So, it had to be someone... just from the Lilim's side of the Underworld. Nothing more, nothing less. But who in the HELL could it possibly be that was dismantling his crew like this?!
His mental musings went unelaborated as whoever it was swung her tail around and slammed Cinder into the ground, drawing out a gasp from her and no attempt to get back up. The smoke condensed, again, down to close to the size and shape of a person, and seemed to turn to Raylix again. The chestnut-haired Devil found himself with a snarl of his own on his face, and began charging up that bolt of destructive energy again in his right hand, Gaeneron tightly tripped in his left.
But again, before he could send off his destructive bolt, several large beams of blue flame flew past Raylix from above, aimed down at the smoke-Succubus. Tamamo, her kitsune-ears and nine fox-tails out and waving about, landed just in front of Raylix as the beams of concentrated fox-fire flew forth, either landing around the smoke-Succubus or just travelling through the smoke. As Tamamo landed, she raised both hands and sent off another fox-fire beam, one that Raylix could feel the heat from even though he was right behind her, in the complete opposite direction from where the beam was going. Raylix hoped that, if not Esdeath, if not one of the Ten Platinums in Irene, the full power of THE Tamamo-no-Mae would be enough to get whoever this Succubus was to back off, if she wasn't just burned to a crisp by-
"What?!"
Raylix immediately spread his wings and took to the air above and behind Tamamo, hoping to see whatever it was that had caused her to yell out in surprise, and he got his wish. As opposed to retreating, or being burned out of existence by her fox-flame, the smoke-Succubus, whoever it was, was BLOCKING the beam with her tails.
Plural. Multiple tails. It was how many, exactly, that really caught Raylix's attention. More than one, of course, but it wasn't two. Wasn't three. Wasn't four. Wasn't five, that would convey that this was a Succubus at the very least in the same league of raw power output as Raylix himself. Wasn't even six, that would have put whoever this was in the same league as Azazel, Michael and many Gods.
No, this being, whoever she was, possessed SEVEN tails. Whoever it was- who had just swept all her tails in Tamamo's direction, cancelling her fox-fire beam and blowing her backwards with enough force to send her down, completely drained by her attempt to defeat her- was squarely in the top echelons of power among ALL supernatural beings. The Chief Gods of most self-respecting Pantheons, the Heavenly Dragons, the Trimurti, Sirzechs... THAT was who this person was in the same league as.
"Just who the hell ARE you?!" Raylix growled, his grip on Gaeneron tighter than ever as he dived at speed, with a clear shot at the tails of whoever it was that had thorougly dismantled his entire crew within less than two minutes. As he landed, his feet meeting the ground with enough force to kick up dust and dirt across the entire clearing, Raylix let out a war-cry as he swung his sword at truly inhuman- closer to GODlike- speed at the smoke-Succubus.
But before he could make contact with where he KNEW they were, he found his sword's progress halted at the same- or perhaps even greater- speed than he'd initially swung at. Raylix tried to continue his swing, but found himself unable to, his sword seemingly and suddenly held in place. He tried to pull his sword back for another attack, but also found himself unable to. His frustration initially mounted, before the dust and dirt that had been initially kicked up settled, and he got a better picture of what was happening. Four of the smoke-Succubus' seven tails had wrapped themselves around Gaeneron's blade, shaking slightly as they worked to hold it in place. The next thing to meet Raylix's mind was the fact that calling what had just soundly beaten him and his crew in a fight a smoke-Succubus probably wasn't accurate anymore, as the smoke surrounding- or perhaps the smoke that had made up- the Succubus had vanished, leaving a figure that Raylix had to take half a second to fully take in visually.
And once he did so, at the realisation of who he'd just attacked, he could practically feel his demonic blood turning to ice.
"A suicidal dive after everyone in your crew is down." Lilith remarked, her voice light as she looked down into Raylix's blue eyes through her crimson ones. "I'm curious, how were you planning to follow that up?"
Raylix's grip on Gaeneron slackened considerably. Not quite enough for him to drop the weapon outright, but when Lilith released the weapon from the grip of four of her tails, the arm holding his sword just dropped limply to his side, his mind too occupied with trying to catch up with what he was seeing to make any attempt to attack, even if he wanted to.
Lilith. THE Lilith. Queen of the Lilim, most powerful Succubus alive- most powerful being in the Christian Pantheon PERIOD- was standing right in front of him, talking to him. What was she doing here? Why had she just come out of nowhere to attack them? Obviously it wasn't to kill them, else Raylix would probably be too busy being dead to think about that right now. So, what was going on? Just… what?
As Irene, Cinder and Tamamo slowly began to get to their feet, Irene and Tamamo's eyes also widened slightly with shock at the identity of who had just attacked and dismantled the five of them so easily, Lilith walked over to where Esdeath lay in the aftermath, bent down and gently laid a hand on the bluenette's head. Within a couple of seconds, Esdeath had opened her eyes and was sitting up, a hand at her throat and catching her breath.
"I apologize," Lilith spoke, as she straightened up and turned around to face Raylix. "For the, hm, brutal treatment. It's really not my usual style, but I don't think any of us would appreciate a drawn-out fight."
"It's okay." Irene replied, as Esdeath got to her feet. "I just don't think any of us were expecting to encounter you, of all people, at this specific spot in the Human World, Lilith."
Lilith turned to face Irene. As she did so, Raylix's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the jet-black off-shoulder gown she was clad in: or more specifically, how her body filled it out. He'd seen her in pictures, at the front of crowds that he was in the middle of, but never in-person with THIS good of a view!
"A reasonable expectation." Lilith remarked. "Although, in turn, I suppose I wasn't expecting two human Magicians," her eyes flicked between Cinder and Irene, resting on Irene for a fraction of a second longer than on Cinder. "One of which is one of the SS-Rank Platinums, a half-Devil," she looked over at Esdeath. "A kitsune who's been dead for the past eight hundred years," she turned to look Tamamo- who was softly panting, her eyes squarely on Lilith- up and down, before her eyes settled on Raylix. "And the former Heir to the Gremory Clan, not even a kilometer away from where and my daughters have been staying. Quite a group to be travelling together, you have to agree."
"I… guess so." Raylix replied, tearing his eyes away from Lilith's body and focusing them squarely on her face. "Though… your daughters? On holiday?"
"Yes, my daughters." Lilith replied. "Well, not 'mine' mine, but still mine, you know?" Before Raylix could reply, she continued. "And I suppose 'on holiday' is a bit of a stretch. They live here year-round, and I come and visit them from time to time. In a sense it IS a holiday from work back home in Hell."
Raylix let out a hum of acknowledgement, slowly nodding.
"We were just about to have dinner, in fact." Lilith continued, taking a couple of steps away from the group of five, before turning back to face the group at large, rather than just Raylix. "If you'd like to join us, I wouldn't be opposed, and I doubt they would be, either. In fact," she let out a little snort. "They might appreciate the company."
She paused, her eyes flicking to everyone in front of her, before settling on Raylix, who himself paused for a couple of seconds before taking a breath and letting out his answer.
"Sure. Yeah, okay."
There were general murmurs of ascent among Irene, Cinder, Esdeath and Tamamo after the Devil gave his answer. Lilith brought her hands together, a small smile on her face as her tails gently waved in the wind.
"Wonderful." She replied, in a softer tone, as a transportation-circle opened beneath her, one large enough to fit everyone in the group into it. "Come along, then."
Irene was the first out of the five to move into the circle, standing right next to Lilith and quickly transporting the house back into her staff. Esdeath and Cinder were the next to move, with Raylix silently marvelling at the difference in height between Lilith and Irene. With Irene's lack of heels that she usually wore as part of her Magicians' uniform, Lilith was nearly a head taller than her when they stood side-by-side: an even greater difference in height than between Irene and Raylix himself.
Shaking his head slightly to rid himself of certain intrusive thoughts trying to worm themselves into his head, Raylix stepped forward into the transportation-circle, with Tamamo bringing up the rear. Once everyone was in, Lilith snapped her fingers, activating the circle. All six beings disappeared from the first in a flash of light, and reappeared less than a second later in what looked like the entryway of an extremely luxurious and high-class villa.
Beautiful patterns combining white, silver and red adorned the wall and parts of the ceiling, a single wide stairway that wound upwards, wall-spanning windows that let all the sunlight one could want into the room… and Raylix might not have the most discerning eye for that kind of thing, but even he could tell that the materials that the residence was just made of were of the finest quality. It reminded him rather a lot of the homes that he'd lived in as Heir of the Gremory Clan, ever since the Devil Civil War wrapped up.
"This way." Lilith spoke up, being the first to step forward and leading the group through the nearest door, into what Raylix guessed was a dining room, judging by the long black table in the middle with white high-backed chairs all around it. It even had a fireplace at one end, in front of which the largest chair of the lot was situated, so you knew it was a pretty fancy room. "Take a seat, make yourselves comfortable, I'll go find my daughters."
She then left the dining room without another word, leaving Raylix and his crew alone in the room. Raylix followed her out of the room with his eyes, but once she was gone from his direct vision, he looked back at the four women, who were sharing looks with both each other and him.
"Well, Raylix?" Tamamo spoke up, slowly shifting herself towards one of the chairs. Raylix took a breath, and moved towards one himself, the one to the direct right of the larger chair at the head of the table, right in front of the fireplace. Something told him that that chair in particular was Lilith's, and taking a seat in it might not go down well with her.
"We've gotten this far without getting blown to bits." Raylix remarked, pulling the chair back and sitting down in it. "Let's not look a potential nice dinner in the mouth, but let's also not let our guard down. If it comes down to it… we run for it and regroup somewhere far away from here."
Nods and murmurs of ascent from the rest of the group, as they took their seats. Tamamo took the chair next to Raylix, with Irene, Cinder and Esdeath taking the next seats down on that side of the table. The next minute or so passed in silence before the door to the dining room that Lilith had led them through, and left through, was pushed open, with the raven-haired Lilim Queen re-entering with two young females, who Raylix immediately assumed were the daughters she had mentioned, both of whom looked to be in their late-teens.
The first of the daughters that followed Lilith into the room, if Raylix had to guess, was the older (not by much, if there was any age difference) of the two. Within an inch of Irene and Esdeath in terms of height, unbound silver hair that went down to just past shoulder-length, a round face with slightly pointy chin, eyes the same dark-red shade as Lilith's, and dressed in nothing but a dark-green v-neck shirt and a pair of black jeans, which didn't hide the girl's rather toned physique.
Adoptive daughter she might be, Raylix thought, but the silver hair was the leading thing that led to his immediate hypothesis that there was something a bit more… biological, in the daughter's relationship with Lilith. A granddaughter, maybe? Even further-descended?
The second of the daughters that followed Lilith into the room, just after the first, was short. Shorter than even Tamamo, the shortest woman in Raylix's crew. She had a paler skin tone than the first daughter, and long black hair tied into long twintails. Her attire was simple, what looked like an elegant yet casual pure-black Lolita-like dress. Raylix could only see one of her eyes: a lighter shade than Lilith's and the first daughter's, but still very much what one would define as 'red'. Though what caught his eye was her other eye, which was covered by bangs that hung down on the left side of her face. Raylix couldn't quite make it out from where he was sitting, but from what he could, the second daughter's left eye… didn't look very red.
Interesting, he thought.
"Raylix and associates," Lilith remarked, drawing the attention of all those sat down, "my two daughters, Hikari and Kurumi. Hikari, Kurumi, the former Heir of the Gremory Clan and his… coworkers?"
"Fair enough way of putting it." Irene replied, inclining her head to Hikari and Kurumi. "I'm Irene, one of the Platinum-Ranked Magicians and Raylix's Pact Mage."
"Tamamo-no-Mae." Tamamo spoke up next, raising a head and inclining her head as well. "I was dead a few months ago, but now I'm not. Raylix and everyone helped bring me back to this world!"
If Tamamo was looking for a reaction out of either Hikari or Kurumi, who hadn't replied to Irene's greeting, all she got was a raised eyebrow out of Hikari, but no comment from either of the two teenage girls.
After Esdeath and Cinder introduced themselves, Hikari and Kurumi took seats at the table, on the other side from where Raylix and his crew had sat themselves, with Hikari directly across from Raylix and Kurumi directly across from Tamamo. After starting the fire with a wave of her hand, Lilith took her seat at the head of the table, in the larger chair that Raylix had suspected was hers, between himself and Hikari. Once comfortable, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers, at which plates, cutlery and cups filled with drinks appeared in front of all eight of them. A second or so later, full plates-worth of food appeared on all of the plates, the sight of which drew small cries of surprise from those on Raylix's side of the table.
"Fruit salad? My fave!"
"Woah…"
"Spiced-up chicken? Damn!"
"Mmm…!"
Raylix's surprise was more muted, however. Yes, the medium-rare Wulf steak with chips and carrots on the side right in front of him was making his mouth water within seconds of it appearing in front of him, and it smelled absolutely DELICIOUS. If Raylix had to pin down any meal as his favourite out of anything he'd ever eaten, he'd probably pick what was right in front of him… and judging by the reactions from Tamamo, Irene, Cinder and Esdeath, what had appeared on their plates was the same for them.
They'd only been in Lilith's home (or her daughter's home and her holiday-home? Raylix was still internally working that one out) for a few minutes, and had met Lilith not long before. Being able to put the meals in front of them together, Raylix could buy, but her guessing the favourite foods and drinks (judging by Cinder's ecstatic reaction to whatever had appeared in her cup, and Irene's more muted pleasure) of himself and his crew, within less than ten minutes of meeting them, and getting every single one completely right?
No. No way… unless…
Raylix's eyes flicked upwards from the plate in front of him for a fraction of a second, towards Lilith, before going back to his meal. With a slow breath, he picked up his cutlery and took the first couple of bites, followed by a sip from his cup. As he'd semi-expected, what met his tongue was the robust flavour of the Dantalion Clan's prized vanilla whiskey: a single bottle of the cheapest variant of the stuff could cost a Devil tens of thousands of Souls, so like with all luxury goods in the Underworld, it was only really purchased and consumed by the noble class and those closely associated with them.
Hums of appreciation were all that could be heard from Tamamo, Irene, Cinder and Esdeath (mostly Tamamo) for the next few minutes as they, plus Raylix, Hikari, Kurumi and Lilith, made their steady way through their meals. Quick cursory glances Hikari and Kurumi's way told Raylix that what they were eating happened to be some kind of noodle-based dish for Hikari, and a similar fruit-based dish for Kurumi. Lilith was engrossed in what Raylix could only guess to be some kind of fancy-looking chicken dish that probably wouldn't look out of place at Noma, or at Hawthorn, or any other super-fancy restaurant from the Human World that he'd heard about.
"Quite an interesting group you're… leading, Raylix?" Lilith remarked, placing her cutlery down for a moment after finishing a mouthful. When Raylix nodded, she let out a hum and continued. "Well, that just makes me curious as to what such a group was doing at that spot."
Raylix looked back over at the Lilim Queen that sat less than a couple of feet away from him. If she'd managed to pull some mind-reading tricks to get the favourite foods and drinks from his, Tamamo, Irene, Cinder and Esdeath's minds, then there was no reason why she hadn't already read- from any of their minds- what they were doing there. The Lilim at large didn't have Clans with their own specific powers like the Devils on their side of Hell, everyone just had the same potential for the same set of powers. He didn't know off the top of his head if mind-reading was one of those powers, or if Lilith had gone out of her way to learn how to magically read the minds of others, and to be honest, that was neither here nor there.
With the food-and-drinks trick she'd pulled just now, all signs pointed to his crush knowing how to magically read minds, so if that was the case… then why was she even posing that question if she already knew the answer? Did she want to hear it from his own mouth? Figure out if he was trustworthy via whether he'd lie to cover himself, or tell the truth? How would she react if he told the truth of the situation there, that he was there on business relating to the True Satan Faction? Most likely not well, considering she was the leader of the Lilim, a faction that- even if they'd split off from them not even a millennium ago- still shared a decent diplomatic relationship with the Devils. There wouldn't be anything stopping her from just up and telling them that he, Raylix, was alive, he was working with the True Satan Faction, and… and his personal business.
Lying probably wasn't that much better of an option, if at all. On the very likely assumption that Lilith knew he was working with the TSF, what would lying in a futile attempt to convince her otherwise even achieve? Her mistrusting him, and almost definitely turning him in back to the Devils. Versus the slim chance that he'd earn enough good grace with her by telling the truth to- in the worst-case scenario- buy him and his crew some time to attempt an escape should things go bad…
"Well, it wasn't to come looking for you, that's for sure." Raylix began, doing his best to keep his voice as even as possible as he reached for the cup of whiskey (that seemed to have refilled itself since he'd put it down a moment or so ago) and took a gulp from it. "None of us had the slightest idea there was anyone even close to where we were. Let alone… let alone you."
"Hm, I should hope not." Lilith replied. "I've had this place for a while, and no-one except us three," she gestured with her head towards Hikari and Kurumi "And a couple of other trusted… associates, know about this place. But that just further begs the question of what you were doing there, in the first place."
Raylix took a breath, mentally preparing for the worst, before he gave his answer.
"We were there looking for potential bases for the True Satan Faction."
No-one from Raylix's side verbally reacted to him straight-up admitting their intentions, but there were muted noises of surprise from Cinder and Tamamo, with both of them plus Esdeath and Irene all looking over at him with shock clear on their faces. Hikari and Kurumi looked up from their meals, still not speaking but now with at least some kind of interest in what was going on with their mother's guests right now. Though the only reaction said mother gave to Raylix's words at first was- as Hikari had done when Tamamo first introduced herself- a raised eyebrow.
"The… True, Satan Faction?" Lilith repeated, pausing before humming lightly. "Ohh, I know who you mean. Pretty major shift in allegiances there, going from being a member, the Heir even, of one of the largest and most famous Clans among the Devils to a member of a known anti-noble rebel group, led by the children of the Royals."
From her seat at the table, Irene nodded in agreement at Lilith's remark, remembering her own conversation with Raylix nearly a year ago, about that very subject.
"I must admit, I'm interested to hear the reasoning behind that switch." Lilith remarked, further turning towards Raylix, a curious look on her face. "If you feel comfortable sharing something like that, of course."
Raylix hummed, as while Lilith was talking he'd taken another mouthful of steak and chips (which were just as delicious as they smelled when it had first appeared before him), and set his own cutlery down before swallowing the mouthful and taking a breath.
"Certain events…" Raylix began, "That happened about five years ago now, led to me realizing how bad the… the whole noble Pillar Clan system, really is. It was something that I'd helped, whether in a big way or not, create with how I fought in the Civil War against the Royals several centuries ago, and I guess in a sense I felt betrayed."
Lilith nodded slowly, noticing those among Raylix's crew were either watching him intently while eating, or had just stopped eating entirely to focus on him talking. Had he not told them anything about this?
"Around that time, one of the lower-class Devils who I'd met soon after those events occurred," Raylix continued. "Introduced me to the True Satan Faction, and I guess I found myself taken in by what they seemed to be pushing for. Bringing down the noble system, elevating the lower classes up, that kind of thing?"
"Mmhmm." Lilith nodded again, now noticing that Hikari and Kurumi had also stopped eating mid-meal, rather engrossed in what Raylix was talking about. "Go on."
"I was already pretty tempted to join, but I guess what pushed me over the edge was the… the chance to be part of something?" Raylix continued. "To live for- potentially fight for- something bigger than myself rather than just existing at the top of the pile?"
"Something bigger, huh?" Lilith murmured, more to herself than to him but still at enough of a volume for at least him, Hikari and Kurumi to hear, judging by the look they shared with each other. "Well, those certain events had to have been quite substantial, to trigger all of that. Or was it just something small that started it and led to things snowballing into where you are now, as the humans say?"
"No, they were definitely pretty… substantial, as you said." Raylix replied, picking up the cup and downing it of its contents in a couple of gulps, which Lilith raised an eyebrow at. "I don't think a day's gone by since that… I haven't thought about the day that it happened." He finished, his tone rather smaller as he looked down at his plate. Silence stretched across the room, as all eyes within rested on him for what seemed like several long minutes, but was really only several short seconds, before Lilith leaned back in her chair, nodding again.
"I see." She replied. "Well, I guess we all have our reasons for walking the paths we choose to."
Raylix nodded, taking a breath before looking up again.
"Though that takes us to that whole 'looking for potential bases' business." Lilith continued. "Has the… True Satan Faction attracted enough members to whatever corner of Hell they're holed up in to start expanding into the Human World?"
"You could say, I guess." Raylix replied, letting out a sigh. "Been trekking around the world for a while, and my associates are along for the ride, for their own reasons."
"So I figured." Lilith nodded. "Since I doubt a Youkai who died centuries before the faction preceding the True Satan Faction was even formed would be too interested in fighting for it."
Raylix let out a snort, and Tamamo allowed herself a little giggle at Lilith's remark, but neither really made any meaningful reply.
"As well as, well, the whole looking for bases stuff," Raylix continued. "I got… another, mission assigned to me. To…" He looked over across the side of the table at Irene, who could only shrug as he turned and looked back at Lilith. "Find the Holy Grail, the Sephiroth Graal."
Another raised eyebrow from Lilith, and openly widened eyes from Hikari and Kurumi. Tamamo, Cinder and Esdeath shared uncertain looks with each other and Irene.
"The Sephiroth Graal…" Lilith repeated, her voice almost a whisper before refocusing on Raylix. "And I suppose a group of Devils have a solid reason for having an interest in one of the Church's Holy Relics? Particularly one that also just so happens to be a Sacred Gear… oh, hang on." She let out a sigh as she looked over at Raylix. "They want to revive their parents, the leaders of the Royals. Hell, maybe they want to go even further and revive the Old Satans themselves."
"I mean…" Raylix replied, taking a breath. "Yeah, they… they probably would, if they got their hands on it."
Lilith scoffed.
"Stupid idea." She spoke, taking a sip from her own mug. "Short-sighted. Childish. Does anyone even remember what those pieces of shit were on track to do to the Devils and Lilim as a whole? And what their bastards would have done if they had ended up winning the Civil War?" She let out a heavy breath, and took another gulp from her mug. "Rhetorical question, by the way." She remarked, raising her free hand to Raylix before he could answer. "No need to answer that, Raylix, I know you know."
Setting her cup down and waving a hand at it to refill both it and Raylix's cup, Lilith took another couple of breaths before looking like she'd calmed down, before refocusing her attention on the guest directly beside her, as well as his lieutenants.
"Please tell me at least one of you has your own plans for the Grail, were you to get your hands on it." She remarked, to the five of them at large. Tamamo, Cinder and Esdeath remained silent, looking between each other and at either Irene and Raylix, who both perked up slightly in comparison. The SS-Rank Mage and her Pact Devil shared a look between each other, with Irene shrugging after a couple of seconds with a look that said quite plainly 'well, you've told her everything else.'
'In for a Soul, in for… more Souls.' Raylix thought, mentally shrugging as he turned back to Lilith. "I guess what I had in mind if I were to get my hand on the Grail is just as dumb as what Shalba, Creuserey and Katerea would probably do if they got it." He spoke, doing his best to shift his eyes away from Lilith's gaze as she kept up her focus on him, but finding it harder and harder with every passing second. "I wanted to revive some friends of mine that were… quite dear to me, yet needlessly died just over four years ago." Taking a breath, he glanced over at Irene, wordlessly seeking permission that she granted with a small nod of her head. "And Irene," he continued, turning back to Lilith. "I think wanted to use the Grail for some kind of study? Of the soul, yeah?" he asked, looking back at Irene again.
"That's right." Irene replied, leaning further into the table so she could look directly over at Lilith. "I've always been interested in the soul as a concept, and with various soul-related abilities listed among its supposed powerset, I thought it could be useful to that end.
Lilith hummed, taking another sip from her drink. Hikari and Kurumi shared a look with each other, having lost interest in the conversation and returned to their respective dinners.
"Well, better study than reviving multiple Devils with potentially world-ending power." Lilith remarked, setting her cup down and picking up her cutlery again. "And while I don't claim to know you, Raylix, I have a feeling that anyone you'd want to revive with the Grail wouldn't be one with both the power to end the world, and with goals that would probably result in that coming to pass."
"Uh… of course, not?" Raylix replied, somewhat nonplussed by the Lilim Queen's response, but when he noticed Lilith returning to her meal, as well as the other women around the table doing the same, he took that to mean that the conversation was at an end. And there was no more conversation for the next few minutes, as the seven women and one male finished their dinner and drinks, with satisfied sighs and full bellies all around the table once all was done.
Lilith was first to her feet, with Raylix noticing Hikari and Kurumi getting up just after her and leaving without a word. Though she paid her daughters no mind, her attention on him again.
"Would you mind joining me for an after-dinner chat, Raylix?" she asked. Getting to his feet as well, Raylix shifted himself away from the chair, looking over at Lilith and nodding.
"Uh, sure." He replied, again doing his damndest to keep his eyes aimed up at Lilith's face, away from the body below. Her luscious, flawless body that had been the subject of more erotic dreams over the centuries than he could even BEGIN to count, that was now right in front of him… shit, she'd probably just read his thoughts, now he was embarrassed.
"Wonderful." Lilith smiled, before turning around. This time, Raylix couldn't stop himself from flicking his eyes down to the seven-tailed Succubus' ample (MORE than ample, in fact) ass, before flicking back up to the back of her head. "Follow me." And follow her Raylix did, out of the dining room, but not before swinging his head around at Irene, Cinder, Esdeath and Tamamo and mouthing the words "stay on guard", before following Lilith through the dining-room doors and back into her villa's entryway, and then turning through another door that was directly across from where they'd warped into nearly an hour ago, into an expansive living room.
The walls had the same white-silver-red colour scheme as the entryway outside, with ornate patterns stretching across them that drew Raylix's eyes to the various paintings that adorned the room: the most prominant of which seemed to feature a naked woman standing in what looked like a seashell, with a bunch of people standing around her. There was a fireplace under that painting in particular, and a large clock in a case- the ticking of which rung throughout the room- on one side. On the other was a bookcase filled with books of all kinds. From where he was in the doorway, Raylix couldn't quite make out all the titles of the books on the shelves, but he was damn sure that there'd at least be a few interesting reads on there.
Arranged around the fireplace, clock and bookcase were three wide and comfortable-looking couches, with two large and equally-comfortable-looking chairs in the spaces between, and a couple of tables in the space between the couches/chairs and fireplace/clock/bookcase. Lilith sat down on one of the couches and pulled one of the tables towards her with one of her tails, while indicating for Raylix to take a seat in the chair nearest her, which he silently did.
"I like to have company after a meal." Lilith lightly remarked, summoning both her cup and Raylix's from the dining room with a snap of her fingers, proceeding to magically fill her own up before taking a sip. "Drink?"
"Okay." Raylix nodded, and was handed his cup as it began to fill up again. He took a sip once it stopped filling up, at the point that it was almost full. After another sip of her own drink, Lilith set her cup down and looked over at the Devil in front of her, a look on her face that could only be called unreadable.
"Now, Raylix, I might not be a betting woman, but I have a feeling you're wondering if I'm planning to turn you in to the True Satan Faction, or worse, the family that you ran away from." She began. Raylix looked up from the whiskey-filled cup he had been looking down at, his expression even as his eyes met Lilith's for a moment, before he looked back down at his cup. 'If that caught him off-guard, he's doing an alright job of hiding it.' She thought. 'Or he's not surprised, caught on to my insight. Might have overplayed a bit with the dinner and drinks…'
"That is one of the many things that have run through my mind since before dinner, yeah." Raylix replied, taking another sip from his drink. Lilith nodded, leaning back slightly on the couch and resisting the urge to smile when she saw Raylix's eyes flicking down to the small bounce a certain asset (or pair of assets) of hers made at the movement.
"Well you'll be pleased to know, Raylix, that I have no intention of doing such a thing." Lilith remarked, carefully watching for and picking up how Raylix's entire body seemed to relax slightly within the chair he was sat in, as she uttered those words. "In fact, I think we could help each other, if you're willing to listen."
"I'm listening." Raylix replied, taking another sip from his drink before setting his cup down on the table, close to where Lilith had set hers down.
"Good." Lilith nodded. "I'll cut right to it, Raylix: have you heard of the Khaos Brigade?"
Raylix blinked, a couple of times, his expression blank. Silence passed between Succubus and Devil for a couple of seconds before he shook his head.
"No." he replied. "Never heard of anything like that."
"I thought not." Lilith replied. "They're a group, or I guess group of groups, of beings from all corners of the world. It's a small faction right now, but it's growing rather rapidly where most don't tend to look. Brought together in co-operation that the world hasn't seen the ages before Gods as we know them today even existed, not by any single creed of any single pantheon, but by ideals and goals that some beings I can name would call… rather revolutionary."
"What goals?" Raylix asked, subtly leaning in slightly and pulling his cup closer to himself, in case he wanted to pick it up again. An incredibly small, yet still noticeable, smile played across Lilith's face for a moment, one that remained on her face as she adjusted her position on the couch slightly.
"Well, everyone within the pact of the Brigade has their own individual agendas." Lilith replied. "But the goal at large, that everyone within works for in one way or another, is destabilization of the current status quo of the entire supernatural world. Upset the established order that all beings have lived under for… well, as long as any of us can remember, and reshape it into something new- something better- before the complacency, the stagnancy, from the vast majority of those in power crushes all those beneath them."
"Like… like the True Satan Faction are doing?" Raylix asked, blinking a couple of times as he tried to mentally digest all that Lilith had just said. The dark-haired Succubus nodded, picking up her cup and taking another gulp or two before putting it down. She waved a hand to refill it, as it was getting low again.
"In a manner of speaking, I suppose they are similar, the Khaos Brigade and the True Satan Faction." She replied. "Though the goals are on a vastly grander scale than the other."
Raylix hummed, nodding as Lilith continued.
"Like I said earlier, I don't claim to know you very well as a person, Raylix, but there are some things I know, and some things that I can at least make an educated guess about: you're strong, you're experienced, you know what it's like to work- to fight- for what you believe in. You also know what it's like to lose, lose horribly, and that's what drives you. It's why I think you- you and your associates- would be valuable additions to the Khaos Brigade. I take it they're not as closely affiliated with the True Satan Faction as you are."
"None of them are, at all." Raylix replied. "They don't even know about any of them specifically, except Irene."
Lilith hummed in acknowledgement, but didn't speak further. Silence stretched out between Raylix and Lilith for the next several seconds, with the only sound in the room being the ticking of the clock by the fireplace, before Raylix spoke up again.
"But what you said about the Khaos Brigade, it makes me think a bit."
"Oh?" Lilith replied, raising an eyebrow slightly and leaning forward from her position even more slightly.
"You…" Raylix closed his mouth and swallowed, before continuing. "Well, you're… you. Queen of all Lilim-kind. As separated as it currently is, you're probably the face of the entire Christian Pantheon, and you're one of the strongest beings there is!"
"Guilty on all counts." Lilith nodded, rolling her head around her shoulders as she looked back at Raylix, indicating for him to continue.
"Why would someone like that…" Raylix asked, looking down at his half-full cup before swallowing again, putting it down again and looking back up at Lilith. "Why would YOU, be a member of the Khaos Brigade?"
Lilith looked, blankly, back at Raylix for a couple of seconds before that small, barely-noticeable smile returned to her face, and what seemed like a cross between a giggle and a snort escaped her lips for a second or so, before she recomposed herself.
"Am I that obvious?" She asked. "Yes, I suppose you could cause me a member of the Khaos Brigade… or a supporter, at the very least. And so are Hikari and Kurumi."
She picked up her cup and took another gulp, holding it in her hand as she continued.
"My ideals and the Khaos Brigade's… I suppose they just happen to line up. When, or if, the time comes, I can see myself throwing my- at the risk of sounding arrogant- considerable power toward it. Hikari and Kurumi… beyond loyalty to their mother, I think you'd be better off asking them."
"Mmhmm…" Raylix hummed, nodding again. "That's fair enough, I guess. And I'm flattered that you think I'd be a good addition to the Khaos Brigade, but…"
"But?" Lilith leaned slightly further forward, her smile replaced with a neutral look one again as she looked over at Raylix.
"But I don't know if it would be right for me." Raylix spoke. "I joined the True Satan Faction because I wanted the Underworld- the Devils specifically- to be reformed, and… to be blunt, that corner of the world is what I care about most. Working for something as large-scale as the Khaos Brigade could end up getting if what you say is true, I…"
"Ahhh." Lilith nodded, leaning back again. "I understand, Raylix. I completely understand. Of course you can't be expected to just shift over from one faction to another, just like that." She raised a hand and snapped her fingers to signify the point, before lowering it again. "But that doesn't mean there aren't other possibilities available, perhaps you could serve as a bridge of sorts, as the True Satan Faction enter into the Khaos Brigade's pact."
Raylix, having initially reached for his cup, paused before he could lay hands on it, his eyes shifting back up to Lilith's as it looked like his whole body froze mid-reach as he took in what she'd said. The Lilim Queen would have probably found what she was seeing quite amusing, if it hadn't been in the middle of such a serious conversation. Taking a breath, she got to her feet, picking up her cup and downing its contents in one go before transporting it away with a minor spell.
"You don't have to have an answer right away, Raylix, I know that's a bit of an ask." Lilith remarked, which seemed to snap Raylix out of his stupor as he picked up his own cup, and got to his feet. In an imitation of what Lilith had done earlier, he downed the rest of the cup's contents, and handed the cup over to her when she reached for it, where it was then sent away. "I just hope you'll have an answer for me when I return."
"When you return?" Raylix repeated, following a couple of steps behind as Lilith made her way through the living-room door that they'd stepped through earlier, and back into the entryway. "You're leaving?"
"Tomorrow." Lilith replied. "Some matters in my neck of Hell have come up recently that require my attention. I'll only be gone for a couple of weeks, but you and your associates can stay here in the meantime if you so wish. There's more than enough room for all of you."
Raylix nodded, prompting another smile- the largest (which wasn't saying much) he'd seen so far from her this evening- from Lilith as she nodded in return.
"Good." She remarked. "Kurumi or Hikari'll show you and your associates around the place. In the meantime, I'm going to head to bed, need to leave early tomorrow morning. Good night~"
Turning on her heel, Lilith walked over to the stairs and made her way up, leaving Raylix's sight once she was almost all the way up. Once the sound of her footsteps faded from Raylix's ears, he made his way back to the kitchen, where Kurumi was sat on the table and chatting with Cinder and Esdeath. Conversation stopped, and all looked over at Raylix when he stepped into the room, hands in his pants-pockets as he made his way over.
"So, you're staying, right?" Kurumi asked, sliding off the table and landing on her feet, turning to face Raylix. A grin crossed her face as Raylix nodded.
"Yeah, I'd say we are." He replied. "Two weeks. At least."
"Oh, so Mom told you that she's leaving for a bit?" she asked. "Okay, alright. Let's get this tour of your temporary home on the road."
Her eyes- both covered and uncovered by hair- flicking over to each of Raylix's associates before stopping on Raylix himself for a fraction of a second longer than the rest, Kurumi strode from the kitchen, with Irene, Cinder, Esdeath and Tamamo immediately following her. Raylix, after half a second's pause, brought up the rear.
----- ----- -----
"Yeah, Zeo... just like- mmff!"
"Ahh~ oh, right there! OHH~"
A collection of tomes that chronicled the ancient history of the supernatural world? Hmm, that sounded interesting. Probably one for the library.
A hoard of coins and jewellery from the human world that dated all the way back to the 1st century BC? Vault. He'd let the keepers down there do their damn jobs and sort that treasure into its proper place.
A few volumes of manga? He'd have to check if they were age-appropriate: if so, he could spring them on Rias as a birthday present. If not, vault... but maybe a future birthday present.
"Mm, mmmph... Mmph, MMPH- MMMMMMMMMMM"
"THAT'S IT, GYO! CUMMING, CUMMING, FUUUUUUUU-"
Zeoticus Gremory allowed himself a smile as he looked upon the memory that played out on the AgareScreen-I, a more advanced version of the televisions of the human world that the Agares Clan had begun putting out in the Underworld recently. A small console that projected a screen of customizable size, displaying a picture of lifelike quality, and could be linked to one's magical signature to display whatever the user wanted… including memories. And with a refined magical battery within the console that charged itself via the Hell-energy in the air down here, it required far less energy from the user themselves to probably utilise.
Oh, and it could also take in any human-world devices that got plugged into it, if one wanted to do so. It was truly a marvel of demonic technology, and would surely net the Agares Clan a pretty penny down here in Hell… or rather, MANY pretty pennies. And that was to say nothing of when technology up in the Human world would advance far enough for something like the AgareScreen to be sold on the human market without attracting too much suspicion.
The Archduke was probably frothing at the mouth at the idea of how many souls THAT would net his family. And to be honest, so would he, if he was in the same situation. Dragging his eyes away from the screen's showing of his point of view as he hit his climax inside Gyokuro, while his Queen's face was stuffed in between Venelana's legs, he looked back at the file on his desk and flipped to the next page, letting out a slow breath as he focused on the top entry of said page.
Approving all the items that came in from contracts carried out by all members and servants of the Gremory Clan, and deciding what to do with everything was so Satan-damn BORING he could feel himself getting more exhausted by the minute. But he was the Head of the family, the Duke Gremory, so the responsibility ultimately fell to him.
"Alright, both of you on your knees. Side-by-side, asses up."
Another smile crossed Zeoticus' face as he heard his own voice coming from the AS-I, ordering Venelana and Gyokuro into another position so the three-way fun could continue. He could feel a certain lower part of himself straining within his pants, which was good. It'd surely help him later, to the benefit of both him and whoever he decided to satisfy himself with later tonight.
A knock on the door to his office jolted Zeoticus from his hour-long stretch of item-approving featuring self-made porn in the background. The AS-I was switched off with a thought, and the door to his office unlocked with another, as he sat back and tried to relax in his chair.
"Yes?"
The door was pushed open, and the tanned, black-dress-wearing Queen that he'd just been watching in his memories seconds before stuck her head, and most of her body, through it.
"Gyokuro?" Zeoticus asked. "Is something the matter?"
"No, I just have news." Gyokuro replied, fully stepping into the room. "Good news, in fact. A message has come through from the relevant parties up in the Human world, they're willing to come down to what you proposed a month ago."
A grin crossed Zeoticus' face as he straightened up in his chair.
"That IS good news." He replied. "McBane got them to see sense, I take it?"
"I guess, in his own way." Gyokuro replied, shrugging. "He didn't tell me how he got them to, I don't care."
Zeoticus nodded.
"I'll have to think of something to reward him with." He remarked. "Probably something from the vault… is that all, Gyokuro?"
"Unfortunately, no." Gyokuro replied. "Venelana caught me while I was coming up here, and wanted me to pass something on to you: Zekram, Erechus and Oriessa wish to visit for dinner and a catch-up sometime in the next couple of weeks."
Whatever the opposite of straightening up as a reaction to good news was, Zeoticus did it in reaction to what Gyokuro had said. Seeming to slump a little in his seat, he shut his eyes and sighed, raising a hand to the bridge of his nose and rubbing it.
"Alright." He replied. "Thank you for informing me either way, Gyokuro. If you see Violetina between now and tonight, could you ask her to report to my chambers after dinner?"
"Of course." Gyokuro replied, inclining her head to her King. "It will be-"
The sound of light, quick footsteps met both Gyokuro's and Zeoticus' ears through the open door to his office. Gyokuro paused and whipped her head around to find the source of the sudden noise, before letting out a breath of her own and turning back in.
"Rias?" Zeoticus asked, with the tone of someone who'd been through this exact situation dozens of times. When Gyokuro nodded, the crimson-haired Duke let out a chuckle. "Haah, I knew those old sweets Sirzechs brought from Valac territory would be bad for her… oh well."
"I'll find Violetina at once, my Duke." Gyokuro spoke, inclining her head to Zeoticus again before retreating from the office and shutting the door behind her, at which point Zeoticus waved a hand to lock it again, and let out another deep sigh.
Dinner and a catch-up, his ass. More like dinner and a berating from both his half-brother-in-law and his father-in-law about how he and his family were a bunch of weaklings for letting the opportunity to establish closer ties with the Phenex Clan slip through their fingers at the last comparative second. How was he supposed to know that Raylix- that little shit- was going to just walk out in the middle of the night? And surely a few snide insinuations from Erechus about how his dear half-sister was being dragged down more and more just by associating with and being married into a family that started existence on the lower rungs of the Pillars ladder. Even in spite of the fact that of those that were left, the Gremory Clan were pretty highly-ranked among the Pillars. Sixth out of thirty-two, if he remembered right.
And, surely, Zekram would act the charming grandfather to the innocent Rias, in order to give them more of a reason to come round more often, the start of a truly pleasant cycle that Zeoticus couldn't WAIT to be dragged into… wait. Rias…
As an idea suddenly popped into the Duke Gremory's head, he reached up to his ear, the spell that activated a comms-circle sparking about his fingers waiting to activate, and the thought of who he wished to call clear in his head. But before he could go through with it, he paused: was this something he really wanted to go through with? To come crawling back to the family that, for all that the rest of Hell knew, his family had (ironically) burned quite badly with what had happened between Raylix and Ruvella.
YES, Zeoticus thought, shoving any possible internal obligations he had with what he was about to do- about to propose- down as he activated the comms-circle spell by his ear. If a certain no-longer-Heir hadn't done what he'd done nearly half a decade ago, he wouldn't have to do what he was about to do. There wasn't any room for moping about past events, there was only what the Gremory Clan could become in the future. And for however long his reign as Duke would continue- whether it was only for a century or two or if he wouldn't end up retiring for a millennium or more- Zeoticus Gremory would make sure that the Clan HE had built up ever since the end of the Devil Civil War would be in as high standing as he could possibly make it, up until the day his time was up.
"Zeoticus?" a familiar voice that Zeoticus hadn't heard for a while. Relations between the Gremory and Phenex Clans had gotten considerably frostier ever since… well, if things went well, they'd be just back to normal. Better than normal, even. "Hello?"
"Renzo…" Zeoticus replied, mentally sighing with relief that the Marquis hadn't just rejected his offer to talk outright. "Been, uh… been a while. Is now a good time?"
"Not really." Renzo's voice came back through the comms-circle. "I was kind of in the middle of a meeting about preparations for Ravel's first birthday celebration, and I'd… like to get back to that quickly."
"Ah, alright. I won't keep you, then." Zeoticus replied. "Could you pass it along to Lady Rika that I'd like to meet with her, within the next couple- no- next week, if possible?"
Silence on the other end. Zeoticus initially suspected that Renzo had just hung up on him, but he'd have heard it from his end.
"Renzo?"
"I heard you." Renzo replied. "That's… a strange request, Zeo. You do remember that Rika asked you EXPLICITLY to not speak to her unless-"
"Yes, I'm quite aware." Zeoticus cut across Renzo, sighing. "But you answered this call, even knowing what your wife thinks of me. Even in spite of the unpleasant happenings of four years ago, we're still friends, right?"
A sigh escaped Renzo on the other end.
"I'll pass your request along." He replied. "Can I ask my friend why he's making such a request of me, at the very least?"
"I believe you just did." Zeoticus answered. "And I think I've thought of a way for the Gremory and Phenex Clans to… fix the gulf between us, caused by what happened four years ago."
----- ----- ----
When Raylix opened his eyes the next morning, there was an extremely brief period where he had no idea where he was. Due to the fact that- as opposed to Irene's couch, or a single bed that wasn't exactly UNcomfortable but also wasn't exactly what he'd call overly snuggly- he'd woken up on a VERY nice king-sized bed, his mind suddenly began to race to answer the rapidly-forming question of what the hell had happened last night.
However, just as quickly as the question had formed in his mind, it disappeared as the events of the previous afternoon and evening all came back as sleep inertia quickly left him.
Lilith. Her two daughters. A group called the Khaos Brigade that the three of them were a part of. Her initial proposal for him and his crew to join her in said Khaos Brigade, and then her second offer for him to bring the True Satan Faction INTO the Khaos Brigade. Permission to stay at the villa for at least the next couple of weeks, until she returned expecting his answer. A tour of the villa in question from Kurumi.
Definitely nothing that Raylix would have believed if he'd been told five years ago that THIS was where his life was headed, he thought as he slipped out of bed, stretching. His clothes from the previous night- tossed onto the chair in front of the dresser at the other end of the room- were onto his body with little more than a subconscious thought, his mind occupied with other things.
With breakfast. With checking out that training hall that Kurumi had shown him and his crew during last night's tour. And with staying the HELL away from that pool that she'd also shown him and his crew during last night's tour. After a few second's mental deliberation, Raylix settled on the second option first, though he was sure that the first option would become more attractive to him once he'd worked up a sweat.
Raylix moved towards the door to his bedroom- he'd picked the sole remaining bedroom on the second floor of the villa, with Lilith (who, he presumed, had left earlier), Hikari and Kurumi occupying the other three. Irene, Cinder, Esdeath and Tamamo had taken the four rooms on the first floor- and pushed it open, stepping out into the hallway… and before he'd even taken a step, he was caught with an eyeful of Kurumi, who had stepped out into the hallway at about the same time as him, in nothing but a barely-translucent nightgown that did a POOR job of covering up the lingerie she wore underneath. Pink in colour, and simple- almost tame- in design, but the male Devil would be a bigger liar than Nixon if he said (or even THOUGHT) that what Kurumi was wearing didn't fit her well. Incredibly well, in fact.
Damn.
Kurumi looked up at the sound of Raylix's bedroom door closing, and gave a small start of surprise as she noticed Raylix was there.
"Raylix…!" the dark-haired teen spoke, shifting slightly on her feet as she looked over at him. "I always forget stuff in the mornings, and just went out like this. You being in the room across, potentially seeing me like this, didn't even cross my mind. I'm sorry."
"Hey, it… it's fine." Raylix replied, his eyes slowly making their way down Kurumi's mostly-exposed body as she talked before snapping up to meet her eyes as he replied, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Kurumi herself. "It's your home, no need to change what you do in it. Not on my account."
Letting out a faux-gasp of surprise, Kurumi laid a hand on her cheek as a smile came to her face.
"Haven't even known me for a full day, and you're already laying down that devilish charm?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice as her eyes slid up and down Raylix's body before coming back to his face. "I'm flattered, Raylix."
"You can look all you want, if it's what you wish."
It was Raylix's turn to start with surprise. With his eyes fixed firmly on Kurumi's face, he'd seen quite clearly that her mouth HADN'T moved as those four words came out, but they'd come from directly beside him. Looking to where those words had came from in Kurumi's voice, his eyes met what looked like a replica- a clone of Kurumi- fading away into what looked like black and red dust. The real Kurumi was openly giggling as she took a step closer to Raylix. She was close enough to the chestnut-haired former Heir that he could reach out and touch her… not that he wanted to right now.
"Kihihihiii… Caught you off-guard, did I?" Kurumi asked, tilting her head slightly as she leant forward a little bit further. "Your associates seem nice and all, but something tells me they're nothing like Hikari or me~"
Lilith's second daughter let the moment hang, the grin still on her face as she studied Raylix's face, noticed the sweatdrops beginning to form on Raylix's face over the next several seconds, before Raylix broke the silence.
"Are you a Succubus? Haven't seen a Human pull… that," he gestured to where Kurumi's now-dissipated clone had stood half a minute before. "before."
"Again, flattered." Kurumi replied, the smile on her face growing slightly before she took a breath. "Sorry to disappoint, though, I'm as human as they come. Still full of surprises, though~"
"Right…" Raylix replied, feeling the beginnings of a blush coming on as Kurumi held onto her second-last word. "Well, I was just gonna head to that training hall you showed me and my crew last night."
"Mmhmm." Kurumi nodded, straightening back up. "Might be a good day for that, yeah. Know what, I'll get dressed and we can go together."
Turning on her heel, Kurumi opened the door to her bedroom and strode back in, her well-shaped hips swaying as she took the steps inside.
"Don't go anywhere~" she called, looking over her shoulder and winking before shutting the door behind her. A couple of minutes passed before the door opened again, and Kurumi- now having discarded her nightie and switched out the pink lingerie set for a more risqué all-black number- stepped out…
And there was no Raylix there waiting for her.
Kurumi blinked, poking her head further out of the door and looking up and down the hallway, but Raylix wasn't anywhere to be found.
Bit of a shame, she thought, retreating back into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her, stretching. If her simple pink set, with the added slight covering-up, had gotten Raylix THAT openly hot and bothered, she'd have loved to have seen the look on his face when she came out wearing… well, what she was wearing now. Bit rude of him, too, to just stand her up like that! But oh well, it wasn't like that was the one and only time she'd get to see him: no, he'd be staying here for two weeks, at least.
Plenty of time to lay down her OWN brand of charm… and maybe see what was going on with Raylix.
Her mother hadn't told her- or Hikari- much about Raylix. They'd only shared space with each other a few times during certain events, never formally met each other, but Kurumi already knew- or could make decent guesses of- certain things about their male guest, and draw certain conclusions from them: he was (or had been) a noble Devil. A MALE noble Devil, in a pretty high-up family. His every need or whim, prior to his leaving the Gremory Clan, was probably catered to to the best that the considerable resources of such a high-up family could do, and that more-likely-than-not extended to his more… carnal, needs.
Which meant that, again, more likely than not, Raylix was experienced with those of the fairer sex. If that was the case- which yet again, more likely than not, it was- how could a little flirting have him that off-guard?
It didn't make sense. And something about that bugged Kurumi. It scratched at her, at that part of her mind that wanted to get to the bottom of this: if not for the sake of assisting her mother in what she had planned, in a roundabout way, then for her own selfish curiosity.