Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
Another few days passed after Sona and Serafall got closer. In fact, if it wasn't for her duties as a Satan, everyone who was present that day knew that Serafall would have suggested moving into James' house directly. Luckily, Serafall had her duties to worry about. Otherwise, after her confession, James knew that both he and Sona would have been smothered by Serafall at all times.
After school, that Wednesday, James was sitting in his art studio trying to decide what he would draw next. While he was sitting at his desk in contemplation...
*Knock!* *Knock!*
"Come in." James said, not looking away from his drawing pad.
Entering through the door was Irene. When James saw her face, he was surprised by the expression she was wearing. For the first time since he met her, Irene looked apprehensive.
"Irene, is something wrong?" James asked, putting his pencil down on the desk.
"Well..." Irene stammered as she approached James. Then, when she took a seat near him, she let out a loud sigh. "I want to go and see my daughter."
"Okay." James replied with a nod without changing his facial expression.
"That's it?" Irene asked, caught off guard by James' nonchalance.
"Did you think I'd make it hard for you or something?" James asked with an odd expression on his face. "I mean, the reason you decided to join my peerage was so that you could stop being a dragon. Then, you could find your daughter and tell her the truth, right?"
"That's true, but..." Irene said, not sure why she was so nervous in the first place anymore.
"Then, what reason do I have to stop you?" James asked with a smile.
In response, Irene fell silent. She did not have the words or reasons to answer James' question. So, she took a deep breath. After releasing it, she looked into James' eyes and spoke.
"Thank you, James." Irene said sincerely.
"Don't worry about it." James replied, waving dismissively. "So, when are you going? Since Scathach won't be here much until next week, I'd like to know."
"I planned on going Friday evening." Irene replied. "And I was hoping that you would come with me."
"Huh?" James exclaimed in confusion. "You want me to come with you? Isn't that an important meeting for you?"
"It is... But I'm scared of how she'll react." Irene said meekly with a slight blush on her face.
'Damn, the gap between her usual confident appearance and her meek appearance is too much.' James said internally with breathing speeding up slightly.
"I don't mind, but is it really okay?" James asked, trying to move past the thoughts of Irene's meek and shy appearance.
"It's fine." Irene replied. "Besides, with you there, it will be easier to explain things about becoming a devil... Hopefully, she won't hate me because of this, though."
"You have to stop being so pessimistic, Irene." James said with a wry smile. "By the way, you haven't told me where we'll be going. Where is she, anyway?"
"Well, she's in..."
Human World, United Kingdom, Wales, Monmouthshire.
Friday afternoon, at around 2 p.m. in a castle on the outskirts of Monmouthshire, Wales, a scarlet haired beauty entered the Pendragon Clan's training field. She stood at 5'9" (1.75 m) with long straight hair that reached her lower back, brown eyes, and fair skin. She wore a seemingly custom-made silver armor that covered her torso and arms, diamond-shaped silver earrings, a blue skirt, and black boots. In her hand, she carried a longsword.
At that moment, she was ready to begin her afternoon sword training. However, just as she lined up with a training dummy, she was interrupted.
"Miss Erza!" A servant shouted from the entrance of the training ground. "Lord Uther has requested your presence in the reception room."
Frowning slightly, as she did not like having her training interrupted, Erza quickly relaxed her expression. Uther Pendragon, the head of the Pendragon Clan, has done a lot for her ever since he adopted her into the Pendragon Clan. Although she was unsure why she had been abandoned, Uther had assured her that her mother truly cared for her. He also promised that he would tell her about her mother, one day.
"Understood, I'll be there shortly." Erza said before turning away from the training dummy.
After that, Erza exited the training ground, even though she had not been there for more than three minutes. As she walked through the Pendragon Castle, the longsword in her hand disappeared in a flash of light. This flash represented Erza's magic, [Requip]. This [Requip Magic] allows Erza to store armor, weapons, and clothing.
Like her sword, Erza was also covered in a flash of light as she walked. When the light dimmed, instead of her armor, her torso and arms were covered in a white, long-sleeved blouse with a blue ribbon tied around her collar. Also, her black boots were swapped for a pair of black knee-high socks and brown loafers.
With Erza's armor unequipped, Erza's slender yet voluptuous figure caused every male in the castle's halls to take a second look at her as she passed by. However, it seemed that Erza was completely uninterested in the gazes of those men and teenage boys.
'*Sigh* Ever since Arthur ran away, there is no one here that can push me hard enough for my swordsmanship to improve.' Erza thought to herself. 'Maybe it's time that I left the castle on a journey of self-improvement.'
Although it is true that Arthur Pendragon, the heir of the Pendragon House, was the only one in the castle who was a match for Erza with a sword, that statement only applied to swordsmen in their age group. Erza had completely neglected Uther's presence, who was an even better swordsman than Arthur. At least, that's what the stories say.
While thinking about where she should go and what she should do on her journey, Erza eventually reached the reception room. Then, she knocked on the door.
*Knock!* *Knock!*
"Lord Uther, I, Erza Scarlet, have arrived." Erza said, announcing herself.
"Come in, Uther Pendragon's voice replied from the other side of the door.
Not wasting any time, Erza immediately pushed the door open. She wanted to talk about her journey of self-improvement with Uther, so the faster she handled the business she was called in for, the faster she could discuss leaving the Pendragon Castle.
However, when she entered the room, her thoughts came to a halt. In the room were Uther Pendragon, a good looking middle aged man with blond hair, blue eyes, and facial features similar to his son, Arthur Pendragon's. Sitting across from Uther were a man and a woman who drew Erza's attention much more than Uther did.
Both of them had aura's much more powerful than any she had ever felt before. On top of that, the woman's features were extremely similar to her own. The same scarlet hair and brown eyes. And her facial features were just like Erza's only more mature. Then there was the young man, who seemed to be the same age as her or even a bit younger. Yet his aura was the strongest in the room. On top of that, he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, plus, she could tell he was also a powerful swordsman.
While Erza examined the new faces with her eyes, the newcomers, James and Irene, did the same. While James was interested in her level of Skill with a sword, Irene was fighting back her tears. It had been nineteen years since she left Erza with the Pendragon House, and she had not seen her since.
"Erza, have a seat." Uther said calmly. Then, he waited until Erza was seated before speaking again. "I'd like to introduce you to our guests. First, this is Lord James Sataniel, the newest of the Five Great Satans."
As a member of a prestigious family of mages and knights, even if an adopted member, Erza was knowledgeable about the important members of all the realms. So, she knew of James. Especially since his name had been quite loud in the supernatural world for the last half a year or so.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Sataniel." Erza said while bowing her head politely.
'I've heard a lot about his skill with a sword, I wonder if he'd be willing to spar with me?' Erza thought as she introduced herself.
"it's nice to meet you as well, Erza Scarlet." James replied with a smile. "You're really quite impressive. You're only the fourth human I've met who could reach the ultimate-rank before the age of twenty."
"Thank you for the praise." Erza said with a small smile on her face.
"And this lady is Lord Sataniel's [Queen], Irene Belserion." Uther said, gesturing toward Ireene. "And..."
Before Uther could finish introducing Irene, Irene broke down in tears. Then, she reached forward and grasped Erza's hands in her own.
"My Erza... My daughter... I'm sorry." Irene said between sobs. "I'm so sorry... But... I was... Afraid... Afraid of what I might do."
"You... Are my... Mother?" Erza asked with shock in her tone.
Noticing that Irene and Erza would need some time to talk, James and Uther made eye contact before they both stood from their seats and quietly exited the room.
Once the door closed, Erza snapped out of her daze. When she looked around the room, all she could see was Irene, who was holding her hands with her head lowered and tears running down her face. Both James and Uther were gone. Realizing that they gave her a chance to talk with her estranged mother alone, Erza took a deep breath to calm herself down as much as she could.
"Are you really my mother?" Erza asked in as calm a tone as she could.
Although she already knew the answer to that question, it was something she could feel as soon as she saw Irene, after all. Erza wanted to hear the confirmation from Irene's mouth.
"Yes." Irene replied, still with her head down.
"Please, tell me... Why did you leave me here all those years ago?" Erza asked in an agitated tone.
Hearing Erza's question, Irene shook for a moment. Though she was terrified that Erza would hate her if she knew the truth, she also knew that Erza deserved to know. So, like Erza had done before, Irene took a deep breath to calm herself. Then, she produced a handkerchief to wipe her tears. When she was ready, she looked Erza in her eyes.
"Before I begin, are you aware of the Dragon Festival?" Irene asked.
"Yes, a war between humans and dragons that took place 400 years ago." Erza replied.
"That's right." Irene replied with a nod. "Back during the Dragon Festival, I was the queen of a country named, Dragnof. A country that no longer exists."
From there, Irene went on to explain that in her country, there were many dragons who believed in coexistence with the humans. And one of them decided to teach Irene the magic of the dragons, [Dragon Slayer Magic], so that she could protect her kingdom during the Dragon Festival.
During that time, Irene took a husband, a general of a neighboring country, to end a territory dispute. And shortly after they were married, Irene became pregnant with Erza. This naturally surprised Erza, who was only nineteen years old. However, Irene's story was not done. Shortly after conceiving Erza, it was also discovered that prolonged use of [Dragon Slayer Magic] would turn the human who used it into a dragon. And Irene was no exception.
When Irene found out that she was turning into a dragon, she told her husband. But to her surprise, her husband had her captured and thrown in prison. Then, he spread that Irene had been a dragon, all along, throughout the kingdom, turning her citizens against her. After that, Irene's throne was usurped by her husband, while Irene was imprisoned and subjected to torture for three years.
Eventually, when Irene could no longer take it, she fully transformed into a dragon and broke out of the prison, destroying her own country as she left Dragnof.
However, there was still one thing that she did not know what to do about. And that was her pregnancy, which she had somehow been able to halt while she was imprisoned. At that point, she had grown to hate humans. And she knew that if she had given birth to her child, the chances that she would kill the child were extremely high.
So, without coming up with a viable solution, Irene decided to keep the fetus in stasis. Then, over the centuries, she grew stronger as a dragon. Eventually, she even rivaled Dragon King in power. Over that time, she had even put down her hatred of humans. However, she had wished to become human again, as well. And when she remembered the child in her womb, she began scheming something nefarious. She thought of transferring her own soul into the body of her unborn child once she gave birth.
Eventually, that day came. Irene gave birth to Erza. However, before she could perform the ritual to transfer her soul into the child, she saw Erza's clear, beautiful brown eyes. At that moment, she knew that what she was about to do would change her forever. She knew that she would lose the last of her humanity. But at the same time, Irene still had the desire to go through with the ritual.
Eventually, Irene made up her mind. Shapeshifted into her human form, she approached the Pendragon Castle and demanded to see the current head of the family, Uther Pendragon, while flaring her draconic aura wildly. Naturally, this caused Uther to come running, fearing that his Pendragon Clan would be destroyed. When Uther arrived, Irene forced him to take in Erza, saying that she would return for her one day. Then, she left without giving Uther the time to say anything about the matter.
By the time Irene was done with her story, tears were falling from her eyes again.
"I don't' expect you to forgive me." Irene said while crying. "But I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry for abandoning you for all these years."
While Irene cried and apologized profusely, Erza's eyes were also starting to mist over. Then, she took a deep breath and spoke one word that grabbed Irene's attention.
"Mother." Erza said with a breathtaking smile on her face.
Irene raised her face immediately and saw the smile on her daughters face.
"Thank you." Erza said with tears falling from her eyes as well. "Thank you for giving me the chance to live."
Unable to take it anymore, Irene lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Erza. While the mother and daughter embraced, they both cried in happiness. Irene, happy that she could tell Erza the truth. And Erza, happy that her mother did truly care for her.