—Cole POV, Next Day—
"Finally…I can sit down, have a cold lager, and just relax.", I sighed plopping down on the sofa.
Having spent the morning hours finalizing the finishing touches on my Melromarc territory, everything was set for the unveiling tomorrow. To commemorate the special occasion, I had my Minister of Public Affairs Dyvin coordinate an all-day celebration that my citizens were encouraged to participate in. Due to my week long excursion with my family, the approval paperwork for all the booths and stalls had piled up on my desk waiting for approval.
'When Dyvin gets back from Paternity Leave, I going to have a chat with him. His assistant can't just leave all that shit for me to sign off on again.', I thought with a groan, 'I know his assistant is still young, but he's got to be able to do the job properly. He can't come to me for approval on everything…ain't no one got time for that.'
Putting the political stuff to the back of my mind now, I began searching through the guide for something to watch. Flipping through my options for a few minutes, Fuyumi came downstairs dressed in one of her fancy outfits. Seeing her in an icy-blue dress that closely hugged her curves, her appearance immediately drew my attention away from the television. Noticing my gaze, she gave me a puzzled look for some reason.
"Excuse me miss, I am going to have to arrest you for Attempted Murder. The moment I saw you, your beauty nearly killed me", I stated with a playful grin, "How about I take you to the Interrogation Room for questioning?"
"COLE!!", Fuyumi shouted turning bright red with embarrassment, "Ho…How can you just casually say that aloud!?"
Giving her a moment to collect her thoughts, I could see the big smile on her face that told me she liked the compliment. Once she had collected her thoughts, she began to speak again.
"You need to go get changed into normal clothing.", she told me like we had plans.
Thinking that I forgot something important, I checked my phone calendar to see what I missed.
"We have plans for tonight or something?", I inquired not seeing anything in my phone or family calendars.
"Cole…I told you I wanted you to meet my parents before our trip remember?", she remarked with a smirk, "You agreed to meet with them once we got back."
Recalling that promise, I didn't quite remember saying it would be the exact day we got back but I wasn't going to argue. Fuyumi was very insistent on this, and I had no reason to turn her down. Sliding the remote over to Eri, who was in the middle of playing Go Fish with Yasaka and Gabriel on her tablet, I walked upstairs to get changed. Looking at the options I had in the closet…I quickly realized the clothing I had here was actually quite limited. Between my workout clothing and Hero Costume, I really didn't wear anything else.
'Well…I guess I can just make myself clothing.', I thought walking into the bathroom.
Going with clothing that the real McGrath would have worn, I created a tight, two-toned blue t-shirt with black jeans and a sling backpack. Tucking the Amp securely on my back the last thing I needed was tennis shoes which I made after the New Balance shoes I used to wear in college. Throwing my wallet and cell phone in my backpack, I walked downstairs to see if she approved.
"Oh wow…", Fuyumi said looking me over for a moment, "I haven't seen you wear that outfit before. You look REALLY good in those jeans and shirt, like really good."
Noticing that she was staring at my abs, I smirked and told her she could have a peek tonight. Turning bright red out of embarrassment again, she told me not to say that in front of Eri but she was too preoccupied with her game to hear the comment. Even if she had, I would have told her that I was teasing Fuyumi and she'd have left it alone.
"So where are we meeting your parents?", I asked as we walked to the door.
"Well…we have to meet them separately, Mom has really bad PTSD that is triggered sometimes when my father is around. I think I told you, but she is in the Psychiatric Wing of the Fujitani Hospital because of him.", she stated with a sad expression.
"You told me she accidentally scalded Shoto because of an episode, I remember.", I remarked not wanting her to relive her family trauma, "If we are going to see your mother first, let's pick up some flowers and chocolates for her. Since it's my first time meeting her I want to give her a good first impression."
"My mother will really like you if you come with candy.", Fuyumi laughed with a bright smile, "We can take my car to the hospital, your Lightning ability makes me feel a bit queasy sometimes."
Laughing at that, I agreed to take the car for a change. Letting her drive, as vehicles and I didn't get along due to my Quirk, we picked up the items locally and then headed toward Tokyo to see her mother.
—3rd Person POV—
"I am sorry Sirzechs, Master Rizevim left over two hours ago.", Rizevim's maid informed the two men, "He has been in a foul mood since last night, did something happen? If there is anything we can do to appease him, please do share!"
Fearing that Rizevim's anger might turn on them when he returned, the maid and other servants were desperate for any information Ajuka and Sirzechs had. Not wanting to give the servants any false hope, Ajuka quickly changed the subject.
"Did he happen to mention where he was headed?", Ajuka asked politely, "We have an urgent matter to discuss with him."
"He mentioned something about seeing Lord Leviathan about something. If you would like, you are welcome to wait for his return in the study.", the maid suggested almost pleading for them to stay.
"Thank you for the offer, but we head over to see him there.", Sirzech's replied with a polite smile, "Have a good day!"
Quickly leaving Rizevim's residence, the two Devils quickly set out for House Leviathan's Castle. Unable to teleport there, as it was forbidden by law to teleport to a Devil King's residence without prior approval, Ajuka and Sirzechs raced across the sky trying to get there before something bad happened. Having heard rumors about his temper, they hoped to settle this matter before he did something to harm Leviathan or break the ceasefire.
"If he can't be reasoned with, we will need to take him down quickly. Our magics are on par with one another so a prolonged fight will destroy a lot of Leviathan's territory and kill many civilians.", Ajuka stated concerned for the innocent bystanders.
"Agreed, we have lost too many people during the war to let more die.", Sirzechs agreed as they drew near, "We will resort to violence only if he can't be…"
Before finishing his sentence, the two men saw smoke rising from the direction of the Devil King's home. Deciding to break the rule this once, as her life may be in danger, the two of them teleported over to investigate. Arriving on the scene, both of them quickly noticed the gaping crater where the castle once stood along with heaps of mangled corpses. Overwhelmed by the smell of burning corpses, the two men almost didn't notice Leviathan in the epicenter of the crater.
Having sensed their arrival, Leviathan tried to force herself to speak.
"Help…me…", she coughed as she puked up a mouthful of blood.
Quickly descending into the hole, Ajuka began to try and save her life. As Rizevim had clearly left the area, Sirzechs contacted his grandfather to inform him of the situation. Hearing his grandfather shatter a wine glass after breaking the news, Zekram gave him an order.
"Stay there for a few minutes, I will contact some of her allies for assistance.", Zekram stated before ending the connection.
Showing up less than five minutes later, dozens of Devils began showing up from various Houses. Rushing past all of them was Leviathan's daughter Tsufaame who had fortunately been away when Rizevim visited. In fact, she had actually passed him on her way out the door.
"Mother!!", Tsufaame shouted as she pushed people aside, "Where is my mother!?"
"She's over here Lady Leviathan.", one of the family's subordinates called out.
Rushing to her mother's side, Tsufaame saw how badly Rizevim had broken her. Seeing the jagged parts of bones poking out of her body like a pin cushion and her ruptured organs, her daughter was honestly surprised that she was still alive at this point. Asking Ajuka what the chances were that she'd pull through was, he looked at up at her with a grim expression.
"Rizevim made sure she'd die a slow and painful death…", he said looking back at Rizevim's handiwork, "Her body can be mostly restored by a Pheonix Tear, but her organs are a different story. I have patched her up the best I can here, once we get her to a proper facility I can do more."
"Then what are we waiting for, we need to take her there now!!", Tsufaame demanded not wanting her mother to die as the family wouldn't inherit her Devil King title.
"My apologies Lady Tsufaame, but we have more pressing matters at the moment.", Zekram stated, "Lady Leviathan, where is Rizevim now?"
"He…he went to…Youkai…Territory…", she wheezed finding it incredibly difficult to breathe.
"As I suspected, Ajuka and Sirzechs both of you need to head there immediately and stop him from sparking a new conflict. We can't afford to start a war with Cole!", Zekram commanded.
Quick to rebuke him, Tsufaame felt it was better to have them treat her mother instead of chasing Rizevim. Before she got too far along, Leviathan tightly grabbed her hand completely ignoring the pain she was feeling from doing so. Looking at her mother with confusion, for the first time in her life, she saw genuine fear in her mother's eyes. Having seen her face Archangels and Diablo Class Fallen before, she had never once seen her mother show fear yet the mention of the Otherworlder was enough to terrify her.
"Go…stop Rizevim…", Leviathan commanded her daughter and the two men, "He's…a monster in…corporeal form!"
"Mother, please rest.", Tsufaame pleaded.
"Don't argue…go now…", Leviathan coughed with what measly authority she could muster.
Begrudgingly accepting the command, Tsufaame told the two men that she was coming with them. Agreeing to her request, Zekram told them that he'd gather more people to come help bring Rizevim back.
"Above all else, make sure he doesn't lay a finger on the Youkai!!", Zekram told them.
"Understood!", Sirzechs said before the three teleported away.