Third Person Point of View
— ○ ● ○ —
Nehunius Levithan, Ingvild Leviathan's father. He, after finding out he had a child in the human world after a one-night stand, he disappeared. He did not want anything to do with a hybrid—to him personally, it was the greatest shame he could create, so instead of being around her—around them—he left for the Underworld.
He had no idea if his child would live long or if she would die because most hybrids would be killed in one way or another after being discovered. Especially one that was born with innate powers or Sacred Gears.
One day he was contacted by the woman he impregnated, which surprised him, but before he could disconnect the magic circle, she told him that their daughter had fallen asleep and wouldn't wake up. This confused him even further, so out of curiosity, he went back to the human world and found that she had contracted the rare disease that devils contracted.
Nehunius Leviathan was shocked more than anything. So far in the Underworld's history, there hadn't been a case of a hybrid contracting the disease, so he told the mother that he would take her to the Underworld to have her treated.
In his mind, he thought that it would be easier to treat her because she was a hybrid. The man also told the woman that he had no idea when he would be able to bring her back—so in reality, Ingvild's mother may have waited till her dying days for her daughter to return.
However, after he brought her to the Underworld and hired several daughters, they came to the same conclusion—that they couldn't cure her like many others. After he heard that, Nehunius left Ingvild in the care of the other Leviathans, and slowly over the years, she was passed around until she came into contact with the current Four Great Satans of the Underworld.
Zekram Bael and other old devils were aware of her, but since Zekram had the most influence, he entrusted Ingvild to the new Satans, and that's how she ended up with Aaron Toole after a hundred years of sleeping.
Presently, Nehunius Leviathan had become interested in his daughter—even after he found out she had woken up, he held no interest in her, but after finding out that she had inherited the clan's trait [Sea Serpent of the End] and had a Sacred Gear that could rival the original 13 Longinus, his interest was reignited.
But after multiple attempts at getting in contact with her, he gave up—that is, until he joined the Khaos Order for the sole purpose of getting her. Over the years, Nehunius only cared for himself; as a descendant of the original Leviathan, he was desperate to keep their bloodline alive.
The original Levithan, after being revived, also became interested in Ingvild, so once she found out that he had joined the Khaos Order, they began to work together. Originally, she was disappointed in him as he was much, much weaker than she would have liked, but she was also pleased since he had some connections in the Underworld, even if he had mostly stayed in the shadows.
Their first attempt at kidnapping Ingvild came when she had a small tour during the Christmas holidays; however, they were prevented by Aaron Toole's shadow soldiers and the Sitri peerage, who had accompanied her as their guards per Aaron's request.
After that, both the original Levithan and Nehunius decided to turn this into a full operation to obtain Ingvild and gain her powers. Nehunius wanted to steal her clan trait, as he had researched it for a long time and never inherited it. The original Levithan wanted her Sacred Gear; if paired with her mastery over their clan trait, she would become invincible.
Nehunius also wanted to control Ingvild so that he could profit off her talent and use her corpse to keep making money. They would resurrect her and control her body after their operation was successful, but they wanted to be meticulous about it since they were against the Middleman.
That's why they would use Nyx's 'prank' as a distraction when kidnapping Ingvild. To them, it was full proof. All they had to do was wait until Nyx launched her attack.
— ○ ● ○ —
Ingvild Leviathan's Soliloquy
— ○ ● ○ —
Being a popular artist is tiring work, but I love it when people enjoy my music. I live for when I see them smile, and it always touches my heart when they tell me what I sing saved them. While I believe it was they who did the work to pull themselves out of that situation, I'm glad that my music played a small part in it.
I have to have a balance in my life because, after I graduated from the high school division of Kuoh Academy, my life became very busy. However, everyone in my life is always supportive; they make time to talk to me, or we even go out to hang out or just shop.
Of course, this also includes the normal human friends I made. I still meet up with them, and we catch up on what we do. It's a bit sparser now since we are in different courses in college, but we make it work.
The ones that help me the most are Grayfia and Aaron. Because Grayfia's a super maid who supports me whenever she can (the same with the other maids, but apparently, she told them that she would do it personally), and Aaron because he makes those opportunities a reality, especially me being awake in this era.
I'm really grateful for him, and the fact that I'm in a relationship with him makes me even happier. Even now, when our schedules align, he goes out of his way to take me on small dates or just spend time with me.
Although... I wonder when he's going to propose to me? Kuroka has been asking, and she has even said that the Valkyries were engaged to him before she was. But we have heard that he has been trying to make them more special now rather than just being lazy and boring about it, so we accepted that he may just be planning it, hopefully.
At the same time, I don't mind since it's just... well, a title and a small name change. If you look at it logically, we're basically married to him, right? But I can understand that some women like that status, and I won't be surprised when there's another 'fight' for who can legally marry him in the future.
If there was already a competition for Aaron's [Queen] position for his team, then I can only imagine how bloody this one will be if it comes true. Maybe they'll come to an agreement? I don't want to participate in it; for now, it would bring him trouble if people found out I was married to him, so I'd rather keep my position in his harem a secret—to the humans, I mean. The supernatural already knows, and he doesn't get harassed because of his status.
"In! Are you in your room—? Hmm? Why are you just sitting on your bed? You're usually writing the next big hit," Valerie said while coming into my room.
Presently, I am just sitting on my bed, listening to music. She's right, though; I'm usually writing something for my next album or sitting on little things I made on the fly.
Well, I was just having a little day off; is that bad?" I asked, smiling at her.
…Ah, that's right, Valerie and Aaron are also engaged now, huh? It happened after the attack on the new vampire faction—I'm quite envious, but as I was about to say something, she grabbed my wrist.
"They came—the goddesses—well, there are actually a lot of them; it's kind of crazy. Do you want to see?" she asked.
Goddesses? Oh, right, Aaron did mention that, didn't he? After the attacks by Hitler and the Monkai Association, he told us that some Greek goddesses would be coming here to cook some specialties from their countries, but that slowly turned into different goddesses from different mythologies and factions, and now it became a little get-together, so everyone was just coming here for a party.
"Well, today is basically a party, so it's bound to be chaotic," I said, getting up from my bed. Once we were outside in the hallway, we saw Gasper there, hand on the wall, and breathing hard. "Gasper?"
He looked up after I called out to him. "V-Valerie, I-Ingvild-nee... I-I need help—er, advice? Aaron-nii... is a bit preoccupied with so many women that he looked like he was going to die," he said, and Valerie giggled at him.
"Well, I did leave the dining room with him being asked so many questions. It'll only get worse when the Mother's Association comes here; Shuri and Baraqiel are already here," she said, and Gasper just became even more worried for Aaron.
"What did you need help with, Gasper?" I asked.
"…W-what kind of gems do girls like!?" he whisper-shouted to us, surprising both of us.
Gems? Like the ones in rings? Is…is Gasper thinking of proposing to Coriana and Tomoe? If he is, Aaron would definitely help him with this, but I guess having an idea of what kind of gems those two like would be essential, and coming to us for advice would be correct since we spoke to those two a lot during our time in Aaron's dimension.
Valerie's eyes widened in surprise. "Gasper, are you…?"
Gasper's cheek reddened, but he nodded. "W-well, I'm graduating next year, so I don't plan on proposing until then, b-but I wanted to see my options, you know?"
My, how admirable, fufu. It seems the crying and panicking shut-in NEET dhampir is long gone, huh? But he still calls us with 'nee' or 'nii', he probably just can't stop himself with certain people.
"You've come to the right people, Gasper, but... why were you panting?" I asked, and his face turned pale.
"I-I…w-well—" As he was about to explain, a woman came up the stairs, just like in a horror movie.
"G-a-s-p-e-r~" she said calmly and smiled.
It was Aaron's mother, Róisín Toole. She was holding some kind of…dress? Oh, I think I know what's happening here. She made space, and Coriana and Tomoe appeared in front of her.
"Gasper…"
"Gya-kun…"
They both said it sadly, making Gasper flinch. Valerie stood in front of Gasper and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Va-Valerie…!" he said, hopeful of the situation. However, Valerie turned around with a wide smile on her face and tightened her grip on Gasper's shoulders.
"Hiii…!" The new dhampir cowered. He tried to run away, but he couldn't. I stepped back, not wanting to be involved in his execution.
"Gasper~ I think you should wear it~!" Valerie said happily.
"That's right! Wear it, Gya-kun!" Tomoe added.
"It'll make you look cute, Gasper!" encouraged Coriana.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
I'm sorry, Gasper; I salute you! Let's just hope your parents don't come back here; otherwise, they'll see their son crossdressing!
— ○ ● ○ —
After I left the fiasco upstairs, I checked the living room first, and there were a lot of people there, but I could see that Tobio and Sae Ikuse seemed nervous, while their infant Hana Ikuse was being looked after by Aurelia, who let the child crawl all over her.
I guess Aurelia-san can be gentle with children? To me, I always had the impression she would just put her child through some kind of Spartan training after they could walk and talk. Maybe that was just me being biased?
"I can guess what you're thinking, Ingvild Leviathan, and it's quite rude," she said, and she looked at me with a smirk.
"Oh, Ingvild nya! Come here! Look!" Kuroka shouted and pointed at the TV. When I entered the living room, the TV was on, and it played live coverage of one of the tournament games.
Currently, it was [Team Spear of the Draconic Emperor] vs. [Team Speedsters]. According to what Cúntóir told us before, [Team Speedsters] consisted of all types of people with innate 'speed' abilities. Babitar, from [Team Transcendent Time], is also part of the team; he was the team's [Queen] as he was scouted by their leader.
Their leader also had an innate ability that was also based on speed, but it relied on his emotions—to be more specific, it relied on how lascivious, how…lewd, or indecent he was, I guess. So currently, he is running around the field in just his underwear.
Thibaut Grosjean was the leader's name, and he was currently battling Cao Cao, or at least trying to. Cao Cao looked uncomfortable the entire time he followed Thibaut around the area as he ran around him.
"He'll end it now; I think he's had enough of his antics," Tobio said while looking at the TV.
Just like Tobio said, Cao Cao activated several abilities of [Arredoval], which were all the Sacred Gears combined into one spear. Spearheads came out of the ground all around him, forcing Thibaut to avoid them. Various cone-shaped missiles appeared around Thibaut, and they flew towards him. At the same time, he froze, and the pose he was in looked very strange.
[Crap!] shouted Thibaut before being hit by spearheads and cone-shaped missiles.
[1 [King] of [Team Speeders] retire!]
[The winner is [Team Spear of the Draconic Emperor!!] Player Cao Cao takes it!!] the announcer shouted, and the crowd screamed straight after it.
"They were just fast; they didn't really have anything going for 'em nya~" said Kuroka.
It showed on the TV that the match lasted around twenty minutes, so it wasn't that long. However, since the game mode was [One Day Long War], it was speculated to last more than just twenty minutes, but the difference was palpable from the beginning.
Once it was done, I left the room as everyone else in there began talking about it. Going to the kitchen and dining room, I was greeted by the sight of multiple women fighting over Aaron's attention. In all honesty, if you take a step back, it looked both sad and comical.
"D-Danu-sama c-can I have a turn with Aaron?" Lavinia asked nervously. Danu, the goddess, had brought Aaron's head into her breasts and was spoiling him.
Multiple other women sat or stood by, staring at them and waiting for their turn. Looking at this, it seemed surreal. If I were to tell people about it, they wouldn't believe me—well, humans, but I guess for the supernatural, they would probably expect it to be like this, right?
Even some of the stricter ones were sitting around looking at this. The ones actively cooking were Raiko-san, Grayfia-san, Athena-sama, Artemis-sama, Amalthea-sama, Cana-sama, Áine-sama, Venelana-sama, Shuri-san, and Akeno. Others occasionally went up to help since Aaron was the main target for the food that was being cooked.
"Just a bit more," Danu said with affection while stroking Aaron's head. I couldn't see his face, but he was probably enjoying this, although his twitching fingers made me think otherwise.
Lavinia squirmed in her seat while waiting; beside her was Suzaku, who kept a calm smile, but her grip on her own skirt was, well, very tight. Velgrynd was near the back, but it was obvious that she was irritated by this too.
It seems like the Fated Ones were fighting the most for him, which was nothing new.
"Oh, Ingvild, come in," said Hephaestus-sama. Their heads turned to me, and I waved my hand before going into the room. Once in there, I walked over to the ones cooking. I wanted to help them since I'd been in my room the entire time.
"Were you writing songs again?" Astraea-sama asked. She, along with Physis-sama, Hermes-sama, Apollon-sama, and Eros-sama, came over here. There were also other gods and goddesses from other pantheons that came over, but they were spread around the home as far as I could tell.
"Oh yes, I was just coming up with songs that I like rather than just what the studios and producers want, which is challenging. I'm also doing it for my fans since I've received a lot of letters from them," I told them.
"In-In's so popular now~ I've bought some of those albums, you know? They're on repeat in my home~" Hestia-sama said and started to hum one of them.
"Is the food ready yet? I'm starving," Azazel-san said, coming into the room with Avezza-san, Shemhazai-san, his wife, Luneala-san, their baby, and Penemue.
"If you help, then we would be done faster, although we were informed at the last minute, so we're a bit behind schedule, Azazel," Grayfia said sternly, looking back then glaring at him.
He put his hands up in defeat. "I was just asking; no need to be so hostile, sheesh. I'm also mediocre at cooking, so unless you just want a bunch of things fried, then I'll pass."
Grayfia looked at Avezza, who sighed and shook her head. Both older women had a silent conversation that most didn't understand, but the older ones picked up on it.
"I can still cook; I just said I'm limited in it—ah, Jin! Help me improve in my cooking!" Azazel shouted while scratching his head. He then looked at Aaron, whose head was still buried in Danu's chest. Lavinia and Suzaku were gently pulling on his sleeves to coax him out of them. "Will you get your head out of her breasts already!?"
Aaron finally twitched hard and pulled his head out. A bit of drool was going down the side of his lips, and it seemed like he had been sleeping. I see, so that's why he wasn't responding; he fell asleep.
"You were asleep!? I had harems over the years, but I have never once fallen asleep on tits!" Azazel snapped, livid at the thought.
Aaron lazily turned his attention to the man and looked at him. "…Skill issue," he muttered, turned back around, and plopped his head back on Danu's breasts, making the woman happy as she started stroking his head again.
"Use mine!" Lavinia cried and offered her chest to him. Suzaku also put her hand up, blushing. Rossweisse-san got up and threatened to open her shirt but was stopped by Aoife, who was beside her.
It feels like this place was just a room for Aaron to pick who to spoil himself with. Azazel probably felt that and was getting increasingly agitated.
Raiko sighed and looked back at everyone. "We will be done in an hour; dessert will be a bit longer. Can you wait until then, Governor?"
"Done deal! Back to space!" he said while going over to the fridge, grabbing a drink, and walking back to the living room.
"By the way, Jin. Who's managing your restaurant today?" the Irish god Dian Cecht asked. He had been quietly sipping tea in one of the corners and reading a book while waiting for the food.
"I hired a new manager a few days ago, and I decided to leave her there with an avatar. I'm getting regular updates on how it's going," he replied using a magic circle beside Dian Cecht.
Aaron seemed really lazy today, although he had been doing something for the last few days, as if he were preparing for something. Whenever someone asked about it, he told them not to worry about it and to let him handle it. Something must be happening behind the scenes since he usually doesn't prepare extensively on his days off.
He'll ask us to help if he needs it, but will generally do it himself or have his [Electa] do it. It makes you wonder what's happening, though—will it be as big as the last one? I'd hope not, even if the damage was minimized.
"Most of it is run by a mix of high school to college students and some that are newly graduated. The manager was someone who graduated last year and wanted to get a job there, and she was qualified, so I hired her," he added, finally moving onto a new pair of... breasts—the lucky winner was Lavinia, who happily shoved his face into her bosom.
"Do you do background checks?" asked a young man who had tanned skin. This was the God of Destruction, Shiva. He too came along with his wife, Parvati.
"I do, actually. I use my powers for it. It makes things easier to do than use the web since some of them may not use it regularly enough. You know this day and age, right? Some are a lot more tech-savvy and won't just put everything online," replied Aaron, pulling his head out of Lavinia's breasts.
Shiva nodded, and this continued on for a few minutes before I left. I wanted to continue brainstorming ideas for songs. My current destination was the rooftop since it's quite calming up there, but I also felt that there were others up there too—maybe I should go to the library instead? Although that's also occupied by a lot of people because of how it works.
I sighed and decided to go up instead.
— ○ ● ○ —
Aaron Toole's Soliloquy
— ○ ● ○ —
Today became a bit more hectic than it was originally meant to be. It turned from Artemis visiting me to having multiple big shots in my home, which turned into a small party that hadn't started yet.
I had been preparing for the operation by the remaining Monkai Association, Nyx, Leviathan, and her group to start in a few days. There weren't specific locations they would attack, but instead they were targeting a few people close to me.
Nyx wanted to just 'prank' me; it seemed like her plans didn't deviate from cannon, except she'd make it bigger and target Kuoh as a whole. I've decided to weaken Kuoh's defenses for that day, let them teleport in, and trap them. I'll have all of them here instead of spreading everyone out like they originally intended.
Using my powers, I made sure some people spread this information and had it reach the Khaos Order. They should be changing their plans now, so it should make this easier for me. All I need to do is move the residents here to a different dimension while forcing them to sleep.
The other leaders are aware of this and have started spreading rumors of an even bigger 'event' happening here in a few days that's going to be held by me, so it should make for a perfect time to attack.
The [EXE], [Electa], and my shadow soldiers will be responsible for this. But the 'event' that I spread is real and is happening; I mean, I have to make it believable, right? It's basically a large event for my restaurant that's going to happen from the afternoon until the night—it'll conclude around two to three in the morning.
The Khaos Order should attack around five to six in the evening, when the day starts to end. By then, the crowds that visited should have gone home, and that should make things easier, although if they decide to attack earlier, then it's not a problem since we'll be ready. And according to Ajuka and the rest, I should be meeting new members of [EXE] before it starts, so I'm looking forward to that.
On another note, the original Leviathan and her group will be trying to kidnap Ingvild. I'd like her to face them herself, but I should be there for support; the same is true with Valerie too, and of course anyone else she's close with. The rest will deal with the remaining members of the Monkai Association, and I'll deal with Nyx since she's targeting me specifically.
Apart from them, Satanael seems to want to kidnap Ophis, which is generally impossible since she's not as naïve as she used to be, so he'll have a hard time doing that. But that won't happen yet; he's still trying to figure out a way, but if he doesn't, then I'll just go and attack him myself. He's not using the base in the Khaos Order—the 'end' of the multiverse.
His personal base in our universe is in the Mariana Trench. He had it built before he left Grigori and had been slowly constructing it just in case things went south for him and he became a rogue. In the end, nobody could find it because it had various spells and techniques that would prevent anyone but a god from finding it—and not just any god, combat-oriented gods, or gods in the top ten strongest.
Anyone else would fall flat. It also became even harder to find because of Lapis and Nyarlathotep's involvement, so I couldn't find it.
As I had these thoughts, around an hour passed, and the food was ready. I had noticed that Ingvild had left earlier but didn't stop her. Since these next events involved her, I wanted to be near her more, and I hope to propose to her after it's all done.
I've held off from doing it since I wanted to find the right time. Maybe it was when they attacked Auros Academy in the Underworld, but at the same time, she was quite distraught, so it felt like I would be taking advantage of her, so I didn't. But I did promise her that we'd always be together, so there's that.
"Aaron~ it's time to eat~" Lavinia said, looking down at me with a happy smile. Suzaku had also been holding my hand, as had Danu.
I guess I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I never noticed this. It goes to show how relaxed I am around them, but I am glad they'll never betray me; otherwise, this would be the perfect opportunity to at least attempt to attack me.
"Yeah…" I muttered and got off of Lavinia; once I did, she hugged me from behind, and we called the rest to join us.
Since the table wasn't large enough to accommodate all of us, we'd have to spread around the home again, but everyone was fine with that. Maybe we should have done this in my home in the Dimensional Gap, but there was a tournament game happening there, and I didn't want that to interrupt us. Even if it was away from it, the energy would still be there, you know?
Everyone went to get a plate for themselves, get the food, and choose a seat to sit at. I decided to go last, but I also noticed that some of the people we called hadn't arrived, so I decided to go get them myself. I informed the rest and left the room. My first stop was the [Training Facility] downstairs.
When I got there, I found Vali and his team training. They had a match yesterday, and they were already training even though they should be realistically taking a day off to rest.
"Food's ready!" I shouted, gaining their attention.
"I—"
"I made ramen!" I added, interrupting Vali's protest. Like lightning, he ran past me and into the elevator. When it involves ramen, he's a bit strange about it. Even the threat of Lavinia being there doesn't matter since it's ramen.
Even though I didn't, I clicked my fingers as he left and made some appear on the table. Everyone should know that it's for the Ramen Dragon Emperor; if not, well, they won't have a fun time with him finding out.
The rest of his team, plus Genbu, who had joined their team after receiving permission from the current head, left for the dining room. Le Fay was the one lagging behind and seemed to be thinking of something. Once she arrived beside me, she gently grabbed my sleeve.
"Is something wrong, Le Fay?" I asked.
"I…I would like some guidance in something," she said while looking at the ground.
"And that would be?"
Blushing, she gently pulled me down and whispered into my ear. After I heard it, I stared at her dumbfounded…something…something like that—does that even have guidance? Normally, you'd learn it over time, right?
"…Erm, sure, I guess? Tonight should be fine; Ravel also wants to do that. She's not home today since she's in the Underworld, preparing something for it," I told her, and she quickly nodded her head before leaving.
As I watched her go, I muttered, "Guidance in washing other people's bodies? Where did she hear that from? Rias? Akeno? Those are the only culprits that come to mind—heck, maybe even Asia?"
[Kuku, after the events of a few days ago, I saw Griselda reading that book of hers—how to be a good wife to your husband, or something like that. It was made in Japan and seemed old, so maybe that's where she got it from? Le Fay has been making more and more friends after all, and not just in your home, Partner,] said Ddraig.
"How to be a good wife, huh?" I muttered. It made sense, though, and even after I—I…I made her immortal, right…? Looking through my memories, I didn't; I proposed to her and Irina but didn't make them immortal!
Clutching my head, I screamed, "Feck! I need to do that!"
'For an all-knowing being, you sure are forgetful about things,' commented Rudra.
"Those two proposals were so unconventional that I didn't have time to process them, and after—fuck it, I'll just do it tonight!" I shouted. Any more thought about this is just going to give me a headache; it's time to stop.
I just need to be casual about it. No need to make it dramatic...
— ○ ● ○ —
After fetching Vali and his team, I went to the other parts of my home—the library, the rooftop, the entertainment room, and other places that I felt life energies and auras at—and got everyone to go to the kitchen. In the end, I was the last one back there.
My last stop was the rooftop. I came across a few people and said that Ingvild was the last one there, so when I arrived up there, I saw her sitting on a chair, hugging her knees, and tapping away at the screen.
Going behind her, I watched her type out lyrics; as far as I could see, it wasn't one I knew, so it was definitely an original she had thought of. After doing this for a few seconds, I leaned in closer and propped my head on the head of the chair.
"Interesting song, In," I told her, repeating the lyrics she had typed down.
"Let's jump into the great unknown!"
"There's things you cannot face alone!"
"Come take my hand; together we are strong!"
"This is our destiny!"
"The quest on which we're meant to be!"
"Side by side, our weapons drawn, forever fighting on!"
"Our heart is on fire, playing with fire!"
"We're playing with fire!"
"Come feel it burn!"
When I looked at her, she was blushing but didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"I want to call it 'Playing With Fire'. This is just some of it, but what do you think?" she asked before kissing me on the cheek.
Oh, I remember this song. A wave of nostalgia hit me, and I smirked at her lyrics. "Yeah, that sounds appropriate; go for it."
"Mhm. What's with that smirk, Toole-kun? I sense you may know something about this," she said, squinting her eyes at me.
"Surely you jest, Leviathan-sama. I just saw 'fire' in the lyrics a few times and thought it was fitting," I replied, and we both laughed at that. We stayed there for a few minutes before she went down first.
As soon as she left, Igris appeared beside me.
"My Liege."
"Hmm. What's the status?" I asked while looking at the sky.
"It's—"
— ○ ● ○ —
When I finally got back there, everyone was mostly gone, and only a few remained. Among them was Artemis; she looked up and saw me before gesturing towards the table and asking me to sit down. I did that, and she went back to the kitchen and got me some Moussaka she had made. She placed it on the table in front of me and stood beside me, waiting for me to eat it.
All eyes were on me, so I picked up my fork, picked up a piece, and ate it. All the flavors hit me at once, as well as how hot it was, but I kept chewing and then swallowed. Closing my eyes, I thought of the proper words to say to her. In my mind, I thought of saying some flattering words that describe how good it is or how well made it was, but I think Artemis would think I was lying, or at least exaggerating, so I'll just—
"It's good, really good. Thank you," I said and looked at her. Artemis' cheeks were red as she nodded at me before scurrying away to Athena, who was with Grayfia and Raiko.
As I went to speak, Inaie came forward and put a soufflé omelet in front of me. I could see some cheese in it, and it seemed fresh. Confused, I looked at her, and she looked rather expectant. Then I looked at Grayfia and Raiko, who both nodded at me. I guess I'm eating this too.
I took a piece using the same fork, and as I was about to put it in my mouth, Inaie said something that made me freeze.
"Yasaka-san was lactating, so I added some breast milk into it. I can't lactate yet, so…"
L-lactating…?
[P-partner, y-you—d-don't tell me…!!]
{Some women lactate, and they're not even pregnant. While rare, it does happen. Why not ask her before panicking, Aaron?} suggested Albion.
'Well, I was about to do that…' I replied. 'Yasaka?'
'Yes, dear?' replied the Kyuubi leader.
'…Are you lactating?'
'…Ufufufu~'
'Please answer the question. I'm 99% sure I still can't get people pregnant!'
'…You don't want to have children with me~?'
'I do, in the future, but for now, no. So, were you lactating, and did you give Inaie some of it!?'
'I was; it happens every now and then. I usually deal with it on my own. I wanted to prank you a little, and we showed up with a bottle of my milk. Grayfia was meant to throw it away after I told them about it,' she admitted.
Oh no…
Looking at Grayfia, she had gotten up and marched over to Inaie before grabbing her head and squeezing it.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!! Grayfia-san—no, Grayfia-sama!! Please forgive meeeeeeee! It was a joooooookeee!!" Inaie screamed in pain. Grayfia did not let go as she grabbed the plate, my fork, and Inaie before marching away.
Raiko got up from her seat and gave me a new fork. I thanked her before she sat beside me, and I continued eating the food made by Artemis.
"Your home…is quite interesting, Jin," said Athena. She sat beside Artemis; the two of them had been chatting before the breast milk incident, and they were stunned into silence as it happened.
"That's just a daily occurrence; you get used to it once you live here long enough," Raiko said, in an almost weirdly reassuring manner.
"I-is that so? Artemis, you may need to get used to that if you move in," said Athena, facing her friend and saying that in a serious tone.
Artemis' face turned even more red as she grabbed Athena's cheeks and squeezed them tightly. The other goddess started crying at this, but she didn't let up. Seeing them like this was strange. Artemis was hostile, and Athena was mind-controlled and acted hostile towards me too.
But now they're just like that. It makes me wonder how things would be in this world without me. If Issei had existed, would he have dealt with those threats? Especially Lapis. I wonder if the power of Oppai would have made any difference? I mean, Melvazoa seems omnipotent in a way, so I wonder how he would have dealt with that in this timeline?
There's no use in thinking about it; I'm here, and I'm here to stay. As I looked back at my food, I saw that Raiko had put a spoon in front of my mouth. She smiled at me, waiting for me to accept this gesture.
Opening my mouth, I accepted it. She continued to do this until Artemis pulled a chair over with her own fork and did the same thing. I looked at her and accepted it, but then Raiko shoved her spoon to my cheek, and I ate that, but...
[Oof, do you see this comrade? I saw this on an episode of an anime last night.]
{Wasn't that Shounen AI? And you screamed after you found out and changed shows immediately?}
[…Fight me right now!!]
But it didn't end there; I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder from behind me. When I glanced back, I saw Athena there with a cookie in her mouth. She closed the gap between us and put the cookie against my mouth. I again accepted this, and we broke it in half. Looking back at the two ladies, they were shocked by her actions.
I was still hungry, so I kept eating, ignoring their stares, but they had stopped trying to forcefully feed me for a few seconds, so I was relieved because of that. I silently thanked Athena for that.
— ○ ● ○ —
Being left alone in the kitchen, I washed up plates—well, I wasn't fully alone as Athena stayed behind with me. Everyone else was enjoying themselves in my home, and since I had a couple of facilities here that would keep them entertained, they'll be busy for a few more hours.
Especially with the VR room I set up per the request of Aoife and Gasper. The best way I could compare it to is Sword Art Online's Full-Dive Gear, except you just lie in a pod and get sent to a game world where you play. Well, you can pick a setting, so fantasy, modern, or whatever you want.
In total, there were ten pods in it, so ten people could play at once. I'll probably increase it in the future since it's gotten quite popular from what I can tell from here. Even the gods were trying it, and Hermes seemed to be the one that was most excited since I heard him screaming from here, meaning he's most likely watching someone play because I installed a large flatscreen TV in that room.
"Jin."
Looking to my side, Athena had stopped wiping the dish she was holding and was looking at me. The expression on her face was quite serious, unlike how she was earlier.
"Yes?"
She wiped the plate down and set it to the side. "Please look after Artemis, okay? She's a kind woman, but her past made her like that, but thanks to you she's becoming better at communicating with males again. She even goes out to dinner as a group with us and can tolerate them a lot better."
I chuckled, confusing her. "I didn't do anything, Athena. I just stuck my nose in a place where it didn't belong and unintentionally fixed a problem in your realm. In turn, it made Artemis look at me differently—from there, it was her own hard work. She was the one who did the work and changed; I had no hand in it."
Handing over the plate to her, I added, "If anything, you should be celebrating her hard work since I was mostly in the background of it, you know?"
She took the plate and laughed. "Hmm. It's like what Cindy said; well, I should have expected that," she muttered while smiling.
Cindy? What did she tell her? 'Should have expected'? Now that makes me curious, and I was preparing to look into it when she continued.
"You know, when someone's trying to compliment you, can't you just accept it? Even if we both know that Artemis was the one to do it," she said, looking at me seriously.
"I can't; it would feel disingenuous. It would be like... when you're put into a school group project, and you did all the work while the rest of the group members didn't do anything, and once you do the presentation, the teacher says that everyone did a good job and did an equal part of the project, and the lazy ones just agree with her, leaving you annoyed and pissed off," I said in one breath.
Athena stared at me, dumbfounded by the example, before bursting into laughter. After a few seconds, she wiped a tear from her eye. "Is that from personal experience?" she asked, giggling a bit.
My lips twitched, a certain memory playing in my head of my previous life—of one particular incident that I did not like. "…Maybe."
"Okay, okay, I'll drop it," she said, still giggling. "Humans sure do have strange challenges presented in their lives, huh?"
We continued cleaning dishes. "Well, gods do too, you know? I mean, the times I've been called for the most mundane requests when you guys could do it yourself were absurd. I mean, I'm the Middleman, so I'll still do it, but fuck me, they're really dumb."
"For example?" she asked, tilting her head cutely.
"Egyptian Pantheon, two supernatural cats became lost, and Ra called me for help. Granted, he was busy with something else, and so were others that needed to do it, but still... like, really? Cats? Can't the people use magic to lure them or something?"
I was ranting, but Athena just listened to me, letting out the occasional chuckle as he continued washing those dishes.
Eventually, we were done, and as we were about to join everyone else in the living room, she stopped me.
"Jin, Jin, can you turn around?" she asked.
I did so, and the second I did, she pecked me on the lips. After she did that, I stood there, surprised by her actions.
"I never got to thank you for saving me from that situation, right? …Ah! I wanted to do this, so don't go complaining!" she walked past me and winked. "You know what that means, right?"
She walked away and into the living room, content with herself. 'Know what that means', huh? Well, she's not helping my case since Artemis saw it all—she was by the staircase and was even more shocked than me.
She gestured with her hand for me to follow her, and I did. As we silently walked up several flights of stairs (we heard a lot of shouting from people, mostly in the entertainment and VR rooms), we finally arrived at the rooftop. This spot seemed very popular today.
"Out of ten, how would you rate my Moussaka?" she asked while going towards the railings.
"Twenty."
"You're not very good at counting, are you?"
"I am not a smart man."
After saying that, I joined her by the railings and looked out at the city. Below us, we could see the street and the front garden. The Gremory family came here with Sirzechs as well, so he was out there doing strange poses for Millicas while shouting 'Transform!'.
They know they're shielded when they're in my home, so they can use their powers here. So after Sirzechs shouted that he had transformed into a red ranger costume, making Millicas go, 'Woooah!'. Asteri shook her head while watching this. At least he gets some time off from being a Satan thanks to various things happening in the Underworld.
Them not being forced into the Isolation barrier to fight 666 is also huge; I can't imagine doing that to Asteri since she's been very nice to me since meeting her.
"Having a family doesn't seem bad," Artemis said, interrupting our silence. She was also looking at the happy family below us. "I know some people in our realm who said they wouldn't get married or have kids but ended up doing just that, and they seemed very happy with their choice."
"People change; they won't always have the same feelings or thoughts," I replied.
"Won't that apply to you or your women?" she asked seriously, turning to face me.
"I do have that worry at times, but that's why I try my best to keep everyone happy and spend time with them." I also looked into the future, and while we did have some disagreements here and there, my relationship with everyone remains strong. Maybe my own paranoia saved me in that regard.
"You can see into the future, right? That's why you're not worried, right?"
"Yeah."
Her face turned red, and she asked, "T-then what about us?"
"What about us?" I repeated, feigning ignorance. She didn't like this answer, as she glared at me, making me chuckle. "We're in a good relationship; we didn't have a falling out or anything, if that's what you're worried about."
She kept staring at me, waiting for me to continue. I turned around, leaned back on the railings, and looked up at the sky.
"You asked me to take you to a different universe where you exist for our tenth anniversary. You used transformation magic to make yourself look different, and when you met your other self, you were pretty shocked. After it, you kept comparing yourself to her and asking me who was better. I mean, we were married, so my answer was obvious."
As I explained that, Artemis' face turned redder and redder, and it looked like she might explode, so I stopped. Ah, the place we went to was Orario—meeting Bell and the other gods there was an interesting experience.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, bringing my face closer to hers. She was clearly embarrassed and was also trying her best to glare at me. Finally done with my teasing, I captured her lips, and to my surprise, Artemis kissed me back even more fervently.
To my surprise, Artemis forced her tongue into my mouth, but I reciprocated and began licking hers back. Our tongues intertwined and lapped each other. She seemed almost hungry when doing this, but this kiss ended just as quickly. When I pulled away, a trail of saliva was between us, and her face was flushed, and she seemed dazed.
I didn't expect this kind of behavior from the Goddess of the Hunt and Chasitity. But I certainly didn't hate it.
"More…" she cutely whispered, so I kissed her again. "…Not yet…"
This continued until I gave her six small kisses, and then we heard someone say 'ahem' behind us. When we stopped and looked at them, it was Amalthea with Mom and Aoife. If Artemis wasn't blushing already, it looked like her face had burst several blood vessels since it was very red now.
"Fufu, I didn't think Artemis could act this cute. My, my, are you two in a relationship now, then?" Amalthea asked, smirking at her.
Artemis began to stutter before she ran past them and back down the stairs. I shook my head and leaned back on the railings as the other three joined me.
"You shouldn't tease her too much. For someone like her, doing something like that has to be a big step—she is known as the Goddess of Chastity—and while I didn't take her virginity, I most likely took her first and genuine kiss," I chided Amalthea, who just smiled at me in return.
"So? Did you 'get' her yet?" she asked again, ignoring what I said.
I shrugged. I didn't know that, just like Issei and Rias, those two kissed plenty of times before they finally got together. Although I won't let it go on for that long now, I'll most likely confirm it with her before she leaves.
"Why are you here, Mom, Aoife? Did you need me for something? The same with you, Amalthea," I asked.
"Áine is drunk and crying for you. Danu and a few others are trying to comfort her, but... well, she's just asking for you," Aoife explained while grabbing both my hands and intertwining our fingers together.
Áine? We did speak a bit earlier, but it didn't seem like she needed me that much. Well, she did give me the side-eye from time to time, but apart from that, it was nothing—she didn't give me the feeling that she wanted more, but I guess I should have noticed. She has relaxed even more since we got into a relationship. But it has to be hard on her, especially considering her past.
"I'll go check up on her then; how about you, mom?"
As I asked that, Aoife laid her head on my chest, and Amalthea smugly looked at us the entire time.
"I'd like to go back to Ireland for a week. Cindy will accompany me along with Danu and a few other Irish gods; is that okay?" she asked, looking unsure at me.
"You're free to go wherever you want, but yeah, I'll set up some escort for you. When do you want to go back? Tomorrow? Next week? If you want to see our old home, people live there right now, but if you want to buy property, just call me and I'll make it happen," I told her, and she laughed.
"Yes, yes, that's right, I'm a free-spirited mother! Aoife, do you want to come with us?" she said, looking at Aoife.
Aoife looked up from my chest, back at her, then at me. "…Can you come? If you have time, that is…"
"Yeah, I'll make time, but you'll have to delay it a bit more. There are a few things happening in the coming days, so…"
"We don't mind!" Mom and Aoife shouted at me.
"Then that's that."
Satisfied with this, they both kissed me on the cheek before leaving, and they began talking about the places they wanted to visit again. Amalthea and I were left alone after that, and we stayed silent for a few minutes.
As she was about to speak, someone appeared in front of me, surprising her.
"Ah, you came; good work, by the way—Daniel," I said, and we fist bumped.
"Daniel…?" repeated Amalthea, confused. She and many others have no idea who this was.
"Meet Daniel, the Khaos Order's new leader—he's one of my avatars that I use to screw them over. As far as we know, they're oblivious to the fact, but Satanael has been paranoid about him for a while. If he doesn't leave it, I'll just have Daniel kill him," I explained, and she was quite shocked by this revelation.
He leaned back on the railing before sighing. "It's exhausting dealing with them. Day in and day out, I have to listen to some crazy rambling or them complaining about very fixable problems if they didn't blow it out of proportions."
Daniel ranted for a good ten minutes before finally stopping, and I gave him a drink. He thanked me before chugging it down and destroying the bottle.
"Did you hear from Laeronia?" he asked.
"Yeah, Igris reported it to me. It's suicide and it won't succeed; I heard they attempted to talk him out of it?" I asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah. Ramlar, the second leader of the Resistance, has gone off by himself on what is basically a suicide mission. His last words were: 'I'll leave it to the Outer God, but right now I can't stay still.' According to Laeronia, Ramlar is doing it for his siblings and dead lover," explained Daniel.
It seems that after Laeronia liberated another planet from the control of the Phantasma, it finally attracted serious attention from them, and he fought them for a bit. They lost a lot of subordinates, and he killed two important subordinates of the Phantasma, one being Infersos' subordinate, the 'leader' of the Umbra, and the other someone who directly reported to Yve, Phumera's right-hand.
With them dead, he's opened up more routes for the Resistance to move in. However, he also said that they plan on replacing them soon. Those two do not care for life, as Yve is loyal to both Phumera and Magnum Tenebrosum, and Infersos is only out for his own selfish desires.
After that, Ramlar, who was one of the more passionate members and leaders—even though his outward appearance didn't look the part—decided to go on a mission by himself. He was going to go directly to the planet where Phumera lived and try to kill her.
However, he knew he wasn't going to succeed, but his aim was to just stir up something—maybe a rebellion or something like that—and he knew his execution would be broadcast throughout the universe since he's such a large figure in the Resistance.
"He's definitely going to say something during that broadcast that will make or break their world," said Daniel.
"Definitely," I replied.
"Um... what are you two talking about?" Amalthea asked. When we looked back at her, she seemed so confused about our conversation.
She's aware of the multiverse, but I never went into too much detail regarding it. All they know is that Evie Etoulde and Crepuscule Phantasma were trying to take over the multiverse. Apart from that, and apart from the leaders who know the bare minimum about them, they're mostly in the dark.
When we go to their universe, I do plan on having a meeting and telling them everything about them and how things are going to take place after it. We'll integrate both universes into ours, so we'll have new resources and vice versa.
Both of them have been plagued by the Evie and Magnum Tenebrosum's influence, so having this relief after years of being under them will be a good change of pace.
I pointed my finger at her and gave her enough information and context to understand. Her eyes widened even further, but she just sighed in the end.
"Why won't Laeronia stop him?" she asked.
"That's the thing, Amalthea-sama. If he did, he would try seriously attacking him and also have him take an oath," said Daniel.
"Oath?"
I continue for him. "An oath in their universe is a little more serious. Using magic, they'll basically create knives aimed at the heart; if they break it, the spell will activate, killing them. Once one of the participants in that oath dies, the knives will disappear. They can't be dispelled unless it's death, or an even stronger force in the universe gets rid of it."
An example would be me, Azathoth, or another outer god. However, as it's quite rare for anyone to come across us, relying on that method would be too unreliable. So nine times out of ten, they would need to go through with whatever oath they made.
"You can't force an oath on another either, but if you can word it in a way that it will benefit you more than the other, so Ramlar may have done that to Laeronia. He's smart, but he sometimes has a one-track mind, so he can be tricked like that," said Daniel.
"An oath, huh?" repeated Amalthea. She looked at me, then at her own pinkie finger. Moving closer to me, she linked both our pinkie fingers together. "Shall we make a not-so-serious oath then, Jin?"
Daniel smirked before turning and walking away to give us space.
"And what kind of oath do you want to make, Amalthea?" I asked.
She smiled at me and whispered into my ear—
— ○ ● ○ —
A few hours had passed since then, and I had comforted the drunk Áine after we went back downstairs, but Artemis avoided me since she was too embarrassed. Presently, I was on my way back home with Áine after going out to buy some items.
"Hic…A-A-Aaryouun…" she muttered, still drunk.
I had a few people stare at me questioningly since she was with me while drunk. Although I was notorious around Kuoh, some just shrugged it off, but some said that I was taking advantage of her. It was tempting not to just change reality so I didn't receive those kinds of looks, but eh, I wasn't that bothered by it.
"I offered you that (never get drunk again spell) before, didn't I? Why didn't you take it? You're a horrible drunk, probably worse than Rose," I told her. She had been hugging my arm, randomly muttering things to herself on occasion.
"Awe yui jweeus? Hehehehe~ Toowee izz jeawouss~ (Are you jealous? Hehehehe~ Toole is jealous~)," she slurred out and hugged my arm tighter.
Seeing as how I wouldn't get through to her, I made her sober up a little bit using a spell. Once I did, she looked at me, then at her surroundings, before clutching her head with one hand.
"Ugh…what happened…?" she asked, sounding irritated. I told her about what happened, and her face turned crimson. "…Kill me…" She then grabbed my face and said, "Forget."
"I love you."
She flinched back at my sudden affection and covered her face with her free hand. She didn't let go of my arm the entire time, so she probably didn't mean that.
"By the way, my mom and Aoife want to go to Ireland in a couple of days. I'll be coming along, so…"
"…I'll make time to join you guys, so you don't need to explain any further," she said seriously and took out her phone. She began texting on it, and I looked back ahead of us.
We didn't serve too much alcohol, but it seemed some other gods brought some with them and got drunk because of it—Áine was one of the victims of this. The alcohol at my home was the type that I served in my restaurant, so it'll only leave you tipsy and not drunk.
Some of them took issue with this because they like being drunk. Honestly, I don't like it, although I never remembered being drunk or even black-out drunk, so I may be missing some experiences there, but it's probably nothing too notable.
Losing large chunks of memories because you got too drunk—that doesn't sound fun at all. Isn't the point of being drunk to remember the dumb crap you do while drunk? If you're black-out drunk, you can't remember any of that. Not to mention the horror stories I've seen in this life and my previous life about some black-out drunk stories.
Some are hilarious, while others are just kind of terrifying. Missing kidneys, breaking into others homes, or even making large purchases that leave you in debt—no thank you, that sounds dumb...
"By the way…um…" she looked at the ground while trying to say something but couldn't find the right words for it.
"Wanna move in?" I asked. She immediately looked back at me, her face still red, and furiously nodded her head. "Alright, let's go and pick a room for you."
— ○ ● ○ —
Nighttime came, no one left, and everyone decided to stay for the night, party more tomorrow, and then go home. It was a surprise, but I didn't mind. We had so many rooms in my home that it's a welcome change that many of the rooms in the infinite hallway are preoccupied right now.
We had another loud and boisterous dinner earlier, and now everyone was unwinding and taking it easy, although they took it easy the entire day. A few of the gods had earlier left to check up on their pantheons and deal with some things, but they came back. They've left trusted individuals to run their pantheons when they're out.
Most, if not nearly all, were for their leaders on taking this 'break' since they're mostly working in the pantheons, even if it doesn't look like it from an outsider's perspective. I had the same initial thoughts, but after spending some time there and seeing them work, especially during those 20 days after the war, I gained more respect for them. It's tough work, and when I officially announce my own faction in the coming months, I can only imagine the work I have to do behind the scenes.
'Running a group, especially one the size of yours, is not easy, Aaron. Take your time, and you have help, so rely on them. Don't take on all the burden by yourself,' said Rudra.
'Yeah, I know,' I replied.
It was around eleven at night, and I was in my office, going over the things the avatar and manager had written down as a report to me. All in all, it went well, and I think I made the right choice in hiring them. As I continued going through them, the door to my office opened. When I looked up, I saw Ingvild, Azathoth, and Ophis come in.
A trio you don't normally see together. However, it's not like they never speak, but it is rare. Ophis had a bag of candies with her, Ingvild had her tablet with her, and Azathoth was as blank-faced as usual.
"How can I help you guys?" I asked. Ophis immediately came to my side and sat on my lap.
"I was hoping to get your opinion on some things and... permission. I came across Ophis and Azathoth talking to each other, and they came with me here," explained Ingvild.
Confused, I asked, "Permission?"
"You're holding an event here in a few days, right? So I was wondering if I can hold a small performance for the supernatural? It would benefit both of us…" she explained, a bit nervous.
Falling silent, I stared at my desk, then at Ophis, and then back at Ingvild. It would be a good idea to draw them out by having Ingvild there, and at the same time, I can probably use her song to power up everyone. I do feel scummy saying 'use', especially with her powers.
"Say," Ophis muttered, and she poked my cheek.
"Uh…"
"Just tell her," she said again and poked my lips before putting a candy up to it, and I ate it.
"Tell me?" repeated Ingvild, confused.
"Yes, tell her, Aaron," said Azathoth. She and Ophis looked at each other and nodded.
Scratching my head, I sighed and relented. I told Ingvild about the upcoming attack and how I coordinated with [EXE], the leaders, and a few others to lure them to Kuoh and have them attack here. I'll then trap them and proceed from there.
"But since you've offered to do a show…"
"I'll do it! I want to confront the original Leviathan and my dad," she said seriously.
"…There may be more Leviathans that were in hiding and have been recruited by her, you know? You may face them during this; are you sure you're ready?" I asked seriously, but she didn't waver.
"I am, I—"
"Even if, by chance, they resurrected your mother and friends to use them against you?" I asked, interrupting her.
Ingvild wasn't ready for that and froze; she seemed to be processing what I said. Perhaps I was a bit harsh there, but the likelihood of both scenarios happening is 100%. I wanted to inform her now rather than on the day or let her find out during it; who knows what will happen? She did kind of freeze up during the attack on Auros Academy in the Underworld, after all, and she needed to be consoled after it.
With a shaking hand and an even more determined expression of her face, she said, "Yes. I can use this opportunity to speak to them one last time and say my goodbyes. Or... if there are different souls in them, I can at least see them again. I also want to speak to the original Leviathan and my dad. I'm strong enough to hear whatever they say to me. I won't let something like that (Auros Academy) happen to me this time!"
I smiled at her, and Ophis gave her a thumbs up.
"If that's your resolve, then I will accept it, Ingvild Leviathan. I'll tell you more about the operation tomorrow, so go and rest up for now, alright?" I told her, and she smiled sadly before leaving.
She must have a lot of feelings and thoughts about this right now, so I'll check up on her before I go to sleep tonight.
"I will participate too. This is my home, and I won't let them destroy it," Ophis said, pumping her arm.
"Sure, sure, I'll rely on you too, Ophis," I replied. She nodded before laying her head on my chest and eating more of her candy. "So…what's up, Azathoth?"
"You are aware of what they (Khaos Order) want from me and Ophis, correct?" she asked.
Nodding my head, I confirmed her suspicions. Of course I know about it. It would be strange of me not to know about it, but as far as I can see, it's impossible for them to succeed in kidnapping either of you. Add to the fact that they can't even come to Kuoh unless I let them, and then it's impossible.
You and Ophis rarely leave this place unless you want to get something specific, especially Ophis, and even then, she's accompanied by someone we know (Pleiades or another [Electa]), so taking her that way is next to impossible.
Azathoth herself also leaves even less than Ophis. She mostly sticks with Mom, Cindy, Aoife, Rossweisse, Lavinia, Suzaku, Danu, Velgrynd, and a few others. Also, she was the previous ruler; how the hell do they plan on getting her? Yeah, it's impossible; even with the 'alternate' futures I saw, they just end up dead. I'll give them points for trying, though.
"Do we…go?" asked Ophis.
"Go? As in, go to them?" I asked back, and she nodded. A smile spread across my face. "How about this instead? I'll influence that group to move into a new base in our universe, and then we'll go raid it with you two and a few others. How does that sound?"
Ophis and Azathoth have power and can win fights pretty easily, but they're not fighters. Well, no, that's not accurate. Ophis can fight; she got a lot of training during the years she spent in my [Pocket Dimension], so when the time counts, she definitely can fight. But as for Azathoth…
"I can fight," she said suddenly, forcing Ophis and I to look at her.
"I'd like to take part in this 'raid', cutie~," said a voice. We turned to the doorway and found Lisa there.
"Lisa, you're back. How was California and the Grauzauberer?" I asked. Lisa had left a few weeks ago because Mephisto asked for her; Lavinia, Fusae, and other associates of theirs went back there like Akane to help from time to time, but Lisa was the one that permanently stayed there.
"Fufu, I'm done, cutie. I was just helping set up new curriculums for new magicians, sites, and rooms. You did come over and help, didn't you? We have a lot more rooms and areas to do practical work now, so Mephisto-kun wants to thank you again," she said and winked at me.
She closed the door, walked over to me, and sat on my other lap. As she did, Ophis offered her candy, and she took it. Azathoth was the only one left there, and she stared at all of us.
"I've already heard most of it, so don't worry about it. He just 'owes' me one, and that's fine by me. I'll use it in the future," I replied. It's the same as how I still have some favors from Sirzechs I never used, although I haven't really needed to yet.
"Ah, Hirokazu also went back with his team, and he was scolded by Mephisto, fufu. But he is more or less joined back with the organization and is working with him a lot closer—ah, he also has a new right-hand. Mephisto-kun made sure it was a man this time so you wouldn't 'steal' them from him," she explained and laughed.
"I didn't steal anyone…" I mumbled. "So…you want to join this little operation we have planned?" I asked.
"Yes~" she said, but leaned in and added, "but I'd like to finally go on that other date of ours~"
"Yeah, I'll find time after it. Anyway, before that, there's—" I told Lisa about the upcoming operation here in Kuoh and told her she could participate or not, but she said she would like to, so we have more participants.
"But the original Leviathan, Nyx, with the remnants of the Monkai Association and Ingvild-chan's father, huh? That certainly is a line-up," muttered Lisa. "Are you doing this for Ingvild-chan? She has been wanting to meet her father and more of her family members."
I smiled wearily. "Yeah, I am. I think she needs closure on that part of her life, adding to the fact that she'll be meeting some dead friends, her mother, and other members of the Leviathan clan. She'll need to face this, and I'll be there to help her. Of course, everyone else will be there too."
While it wasn't as frequent as her talking about her songs or other aspects of her life. Ingvild would occasionally mention it to me or anyone else in the home. She even said it herself, saying that it would be a way to finally close it off in her life.
But I didn't need to mention that the souls that will inhabit their bodies may not be the originals since she came to that conclusion herself. But she's still prepared to face them, which is admirable.
"Anyway, let's go to sleep; the conversation became a bit too heavy, and going to sleep feeling like this isn't good," I told them, and Lisa got off me, but as she did, she pecked me on the lips.
"Too bad I'm not sleeping with you today, cutie. Remember, our date~" she said, blowing me a kiss as she left.
"I'm going to Kunou's room," announced Ophis as she waddled out of the room.
The only ones left were me and Azathoth again. She had her own room, and she generally just silently goes away after whatever conversation is done without announcing it.
"Need something?" I asked while cleaning my desk. It took her around a minute to say something, and in the meantime, I finished cleaning the entire room.
"…Cúntóir…said to go on an outing with you—or would the word 'date', be more appropriate?" she said, unsure of her own thoughts. "I have existed since the beginning, and while I have a wide range of emotions compared to my other spawn (outer gods), I do not understand them wholly. She said if I spend more time with everyone you're close with, I will start to understand it, but I have inquired about this before and they said to go out with you."
'…Cúntóir?'
Cúntóir: Answer: To clarify, we're both going with you.
She's not even denying it at this point. Well, she has been with me since the start, but I haven't had time to do much with her, so this is a good opportunity to take her with me—wait, can't I just bring them with me to Ireland?
"How about I bring you to Ireland? I'm going there with my mom, Cindy, and Aoife. It's more like an outing than a date, though."
Cúntóir: Answer: ...If it's for her, I'm fine with it.
She didn't sound happy with it, but she was willing to tolerate it—for whom? I wasn't sure, but it may have been for Azathoth, Mom, or both. 'Thank you.'
"Cúntóir agreed to it, then I will be fine with it," she said and turned around before glancing back at me. "…Good night."
She walked out of the room, a visage of loneliness on her face as she went. I need to speak to her about killing off the other outer gods while I'm still going through with it. It's quite obvious that it's bothering her, but since she's not entirely 'in one' with her emotions, she's unsure of what those emotions are.
[It's like postpartum depression.]
{What the hell?}
[What?]
Ignoring the two dragons, I left the room after turning off the lights. My first stop before going to sleep was Ingvild's room. I wanted to check up on her before I went to sleep to make sure she wasn't too down about the things she just learned about.
Once I got there, I knocked on the door, but she didn't answer. She was definitely still awake; I could feel it, so I opened her door and stepped in. She had her headphones on and was listening to music. She was hugging a pillow and had her eyes closed.
I wordlessly joined her on her bed before hugging her. She didn't resist, and we stayed like that for a few minutes.
"I thought I was stronger, but I guess in the end I'm just a bit weak in terms of this, huh?" she asked while taking off her headphones.
"Well, I know how you feel. If my mom was put in that kind of situation, I would probably be as distraught as you. Family is a big part for me after all," I replied. There is an exception, and that's the sperm donor who got my mom pregnant. But he's long gone now, and I don't care.
When I was about to speak, she put a finger to my lips, stopping me. "I just wanted to sulk for a bit, but I'm fine. I know you and everyone is here to support me, and I'll be forever grateful. I'll try talk to them, but I also know that it's going to be futile. At least the upside is I can see my mom again...even if it's not her soul."
Silently looking at Ingvild, I had a certain thought and idea pass through my mind, but...
"I know that look, Toole-kun. Thank you, but you don't have to. You haven't tried to bring someone back who reincarnated already, right? Wouldn't that make things more complicated for you?" she asked, putting a hand on my cheek.
She's right; I had no idea how that would work or the consequences of it. Would it be the same soul? Or would it be a different one pulled from a nearly identical timeline without me but with the same memories placed in them? Then what would happen to the original soul? Will they stay, or will they be pulled out of that body and brought back here?
Will their new memories be erased? Or will they keep the new ones and be confused about why they were suddenly put into this world? A lot of factors come into play, and I haven't looked too deeply into them since I really didn't plan on diving into them.
"…That's why it's fine. But…thank you for considering it," she said, moving her body to lay her head on my chest. "Can you stay for a bit before you go?"
"Yeah." I wrapped my arm around her as we stayed there for a few minutes—during that time, she played some music for us to listen to.
— ○ ● ○ —
Coincidentally, Ingvild fell asleep just like that, so I tucked her into bed and left her room. Time was slowly approaching midnight, but the last person I was going to see was still up—she abruptly left earlier in the day thanks to a certain goddess.
She sent me a text earlier in the day asking to speak to each other tonight; it would concern our relationship going forward. However, the location she chose was the back garden, so I made my way there.
Artemis was sitting on one of the benches with a cup in her hand. Once she heard the doors open, she looked up and waved me over. I made my way there and sat beside her.
"Good evening; the temperature here is controlled, huh? That's quite convenient," she commented while looking around us.
"Yeah, everyone here wants to do things outside even when it's winter. The barrier helps with that as it deploys some illusion magic to the neighbors, so we won't need to tell them why we're in our swimwear while it snows outside," I told her, making her smile.
A brief moment of silence encompassed the area we were in, but after Artemis took a sip from her cup, she put a hand on top of mine and sported a small blush.
"…A-about earlier today…" she muttered. "I…I spoke about it with the other gods of my pantheon, and I wish to be in a relationship with you—with the aim of marriage."
[Well, she was pretty straightforward with it, even after all the hatred at the start.]
{Ditto, she's unexpectedly calm about it too, even with the stuttering.}
"Marriage, huh? You sure do take these things seriously from the very start. Well, that's how I look at these things too, so it's not that strange to me. But, yeah, I'd like that too, Artemis. Welcome aboard to the Toole Express, your current destination—"
She cut me off and kissed me; unlike earlier, she didn't push her tongue into my mouth. It was an innocent one. She pulled away and leaned her head against my shoulder.
"…Please take care of me from now on, but I'm not doing anything too lewd with you until we go on a date," she said quietly and firmly.
Chuckling, I said, "To be honest, I was expecting to wait until we were married for that, but I feel a bit relieved to hear that from you."
"Pervert…" she gently punched me on the side, and I laughed more. We stayed chatting for a little longer after that, and of course, Artemis wanted more kisses—she was strangely addicted to them.
— ○ ● ○ —
Morning came and went. Like yesterday, many more joined the guys in the VR room, and I added an extra ten more pods so they could enjoy themselves, but nothing much happened except Artemis being teased for joining my harem and liking kisses. Amalthea was the one who informed everyone else after I told them she was with me.
Presently, the leaders and I had a small meeting in my room (much to the dismay of some since they wanted to try the VR game). I had several magic circles here too as we went over the plan with a few other leaders.
"Jin, I want Mard Geer and the other monsters and youkai who are left to be captured. I don't care how significant they are; I want them alive—you can even leave them in a vegetative state; I want to examine everything about them," Azazel said bluntly, surprising a few as they looked at him.
"That's possible, but are you sure you want all of them? Are you still okay for space in Grigori?" I asked.
"We'll pay you to increase the holding cells," he said, and I sighed.
I kind of expected that, but whatever. If this is what he wants to do, I ain't stopping him, but...
"What about the others we captured? How are they?" I asked.
"Yashina, as we mentioned before, is the one responsible for extracting information from them, but apart from that, we occasionally contact Lena, one of your G.o.B to just obtain the information from them in a more...direct way, if you know what I mean," he explained grimly.
"I see, and the others from before?" I inquired.
Leon seemed to have broken again, and the other members of 'Connected Harmony' and 'Exile Harmony' were mostly unresponsive. You could say, in a way, that they were keeping their silence to spite me and the alliance.
"Same old, same old," he said, but then asked, "are you sure about letting Ingvild-chan perform during the day? They may just swoop in and take her, you know?"
Avezza, who was beside him, elbowed his side. "Did you forget that Kuoh has a barrier active that he only lets normal humans in, and everyone else will need permission? For just a day, he'll let them sneak in, then Jin will simply trap them," elucidated Avezza.
"W-well, no, I was just wondering if they made anything, you know, revolutionary, and they may use that," he clarified.
"It's fine, they haven't, and if they did, I would have already dealt with it. It'll be straightforward when the day comes, so just get ready, alright? If you guys have anything else to add, do it now, otherwise we can end it now."
Looking around after I said that, no one did or said anything. However, Sirzechs, who was still here, put his hand up. "It's a bit off topic, but what do the Greeks plan to do with Nyx once she's captured? As far as what Jin-kun told us, she's more or less in it for the fun of it."
"Is it standard procedure, or will you severely punish her?" he asked, then looked at me. "Or will you ask Jin-kun to seal her powers just like with Áine-kun?"
Áine who was near me, squirmed a little as she hung her head in shame. Danu patted her head in an attempt to comfort her.
"She's actively been in it for months. With Áine, it's slightly different as she just hired mercenaries who got into contact with a branch of the organization and it escalated from there. For Medusa, it was also a different case as she was mind controlled, but with Nyx, she's doing it of her own free will. We will come down hard on her and will have her sealed. In terms of both her powers and being confined to a location with high levels of security," said Zeus resolutely.
"We may not execute her since losing a god will be quite troubling for our pantheon even if we're in an alliance now; some questionable people and smaller groups may take advantage of that if they find out," he added, and other gods there agreed.
We spoke more at length about their plans for Nyx and other gods once we capture them, but they also believe some of them may just end their lives and then wait for some time before coming back to life, although it'll take a significant amount of power and time for it to happen. So I took it upon myself to keep an eye on it, but that's why we want to keep them alive rather than just kill them.
— ○ ● ○ —
A few days have passed since then, and the entire town of Kuoh was excited because of the event that I was holding. At the same time, Ingvild announced that she would be performing here live, so even more people flocked here, both from the human world and the supernatural.
Of course, affecting reality was an easy feat, so the Khaos Order will come here regardless of whether they think it's a trap or not. I also had Daniel convince them that I would be gone for the day, so I'll resort to using a different Sacred Gear today, masking myself.
"You ready?" I asked Ingvild; she was about to go out and perform for everyone. This wasn't the first time, but she did get a bit nervous before she went.
"Mmm. I'm ready; everyone else is too, right?" she asked.
"Yep, for the time being, just go out there and enjoy yourself."
She nodded and kissed me on the cheek before running out. [Team Sona Sitri] would be responsible for defending her, just like back at Christmas. Aside from that, another dimension was ready when the attacks started. My friends Higuro and Kikijo, along with their girlfriends, were aware of this happening, so for the day, they left for another town. They didn't want to be put to sleep for most of the day.
We made a promise that I'd inform them when it was ending and that they could come back to enjoy the rest of the event since I do plan on continuing it once everything is over.
"We still have a few hours till they launch their attack; they're most likely scouting the place for the alliance," I mumbled to myself. I made sure that the rest of my allies would not be detectable by them as they were using transformation magic or illusion magic.
I myself looked different—my old appearance—it felt strange, but I was all for it. The same was true with Aoife and mom, but Cindy never changed, so we asked her to stay in my home for the time being and join us when the time comes.
Leaving the venue, I teleported to a different spot in Kuoh and coincidentally found Rossweisse and Göndul, who looked very sad, confused, and stressed, which caught my attention, so I went towards them.
"Hey…uh, what's wrong?" I asked. Rossweisse looked at me, then at her grandmother, before shaking her head.
Göndul looked at me and pulled me away to a quieter area, with Rossweisse following us.
"After Jorgeir came back, he only stayed a few days at home. We—or I—tried to make it feel like it was before he went to Valhalla, but he had to be punished for his crimes, so after a few days he left while being escorted by a valkyrie," she explained.
"Oh, well, that makes sense; I'm sorry—"
She then pulled out something, interrupting me. "I found this on the table the very same day; he had left it on the kitchen table. I was awoken to him being taken away after all, and it's—"
—Divorce papers...they can get divorced!?
[Partner, anyone can get divorced! Just because it rarely happens in the supernatural, it's still real!]
'I know, it's just…strange! Way too strange!' I replied, still looking at the piece of paper that Göndul gave me.
"That house was in his name, and now he wants me out of it. W-what do I do? I still have the money you gave me before, so I can afford to buy a new one, b-but I want to stay on that island…" she said while looking crestfallen.
"Odin-sama has offered to let her stay in his home since it has a lot of rooms until she decides on her path for the future, and he said she can stay for as long as she wants, but there is a date to this being signed," explained Rose.
A heavy atmosphere had pervaded our premises, and Göndul looked like she wanted to cry. Even though this had been burdening her, she still came here to support us and Ingvild and even participate in the operation.
Maybe I should have her sit this one out, but as I went to inform her, she took the document from me and embraced me. Rose looked leery about her grandmother's actions but chose not to speak about them.
"What do I do?" she asked, sounding depressed. More Valkyrie trouble and an upcoming operation I've got to tackle both of them at once.
…Feck, what do I do in this situation? No matter how you look at it, I only have a few choices.
— ○ ● ○ —