The huge and heavy black doors opened on their own with a creek as he approached them, and then they closed behind him as he stepped inside the throne room.
There, hundreds of metres away, on a large black throne, which was clearly meant for two Rulers, sat an enchantingly beautiful lady in her early twenties, leaning back with her legs crossed and her hands resting in her lap.
Her eyes stayed closed as he approached her, and only opened when he stopped at the steps and knelt to her.
"Mother."
Raizel could feel her eyes opening as the suppression in the room suddenly heightened, and he clearly felt the fluctuations in his own Blood and Magic.
"Come." She lightly said, and he stood up and met her eyes, smiling at her.
Not keeping her waiting, he ascended the steps and walked right into her embrace when she gracefully stood up to hug him.
Raizel smiled as he felt her plant a kiss on his head, and then tenderly looked up into her eyes.
"I missed you." He truthfully told her, and she smiled at him.
"I was there in your dreams." She gently combed his hair with her fingers and then pulled him to sit by her side on the throne. "You have something to tell me." She knowingly said, and he could only smile at her.
"You already know, don't you?" He asked.
"Sitri have a very special Clan Trait. Water and Ice. And it's more than just Elemental Control." She meaningfully spoke, and Raizel nodded his head. "But the younger one has only inherited half of it." She smiled.
"Nothing we can not fix."
"Indeed." She smiled some more. "Though, I must say, her true value lies in her brains."
"So you approve?" He grinned at her, and Pandora narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yes." She finally said, and Raizel breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
"I met Lady Hestia."
"I was watching."
"Of course." He chuckled.
There was no way his mother was not keeping her eyes on him. He was too precious to her and was her only family. She would never allow any harm to come to him.
But he also knew that she would never interfere in things that he could handle himself.
As much as she doted on him, she was just as strict.
"Did you know about Erza?"
"I did." She acknowledged.
"And Old Baha?"
"He doesn't." She shook her head. "The Dragon has his pride; a twisted one. When Irene told him to leave her alone in her moment of hurt and rage, he did what she asked and never looked back."
"Did he like her?" He curiously asked.
"Of all the women he has been with, Irene was the only one who hurt him." She smiled, answering his question.
"I see." He nodded his head. "I promised Erza that I will let her meet her father."
"Bahamut will be here in a few days." She informed him. "You have two very talented Knights, my child."
"But they are not as good as yours?" He smiled.
"Of course, not." She giggled.
"They will be, one day." He promised.
"That will be a long wait." Pandora took great pride in her Servants, and she had every right to take pride in them.
Raizel knew very well that each member of her Mother's Peerage was extremely strong. Strong enough to terrify even the strongest of beings.
One of his goals in life was to assemble a peerage that he could take great pride in, just like she took in hers, but Raizel also realised that the bar had been set too high.
He was not truly looking for people just as powerful, which, truthfully, could be considered impossible. He just wanted talented Servants he could take great pride in. At least, a peerage that could one day hold their own against hers, and earn their acknowledgement.
"Where is Albedo?" He asked, and as if she heard him, a Magical Circle bearing the emblem of the Asmodeus Clan appeared on the floor.
She was wearing a very serious look on her face, but it changed instantly when her eyes caught him sitting on the throne with Pandora.
"Did you miss your favourite Albedo, Master Raizel?" She asked, smiling coyly.
"What do you think?" He grinned at her and then stood up when she approached him, allowing her to hug him.
"I know you did." She showered her love on him, and then mischievously inspected him. Running her golden eyes over his stature. "Nearly a man, aren't you?"
"Why? Do you want to start making babies with me now?" He grinned at her.
"It will have to wait until you are, at least, as tall as me." She grinned back at him and then looked at her best friend and Master.
There was a silent exchange between them, and then Albedo nodded her head before kissing him on the cheek and deciding to leave again to who knows where.
Since she used a Magical Circle, it was clear that it was nowhere inside their Castle.
"Is it something serious?" He asked.
"Not really," Pandora replied. "Just a piece of news we received from the exiled Extra Devil Houses."
"Something concerning Rizevim?"
"It concerns the House or Leviathan."
She did not tell him much, and Raizel did not ask more questions either.
"You want to go to the Fallen Territory?" She suddenly asked, and he was not surprised that she knew about his plans even though he had not revealed them to anyone.
Pandora must have already known about what Valper was up to, and whom he was in contact with.
"Do you know that Azazel has a daughter?" He grinned at her. "Birthed by a Human Magician from Italy, and she possesses a Longinus."
"Lavinia Reni." She nodded her head.
"Is there anything you don't know?" He sighed, and it earned a giggle from her.
"Knowledge is a form of Power, my Child. An advantage over your enemies who do not expect you to know everything about them. Besides, of all his bastards, Azazel only bothers protecting her."
"The Holy Sword Project was a success and Valper has found a way to give the right people an affinity to wield the Fragments of Excalibur."
"I see." She was indifferent to the news, and truthfully, it did not concern them at all. "Don't interfere too much."
"Yes, Mother." He nodded to her, understanding that she did not want him to stop Valper and the traitors of Grigori.
She must have her reasons to ask him to not do it, and he did not feel the need to know what she had in her mind.
Raizel stayed chatting with her for a very long time, telling her all about his journey and the progress of his Servants, and how proud he was of them, and his mother silently listened to everything with a smile.
"Don't leave Underworld for the next two years." She told him after he finished telling her everything.
"Fine."
"I thought you would be in a rush to go and grab Lavinia." She giggled.
"It's not like she's waiting for me and willing to become a Devil." He shrugged. "It will take time, and it would be better if I am a little older when we meet."
"If nothing works, you are just going to seduce her?" She giggled.
"Yes." He smiled and then looked into her eyes.
"And it will be better if you wait." She told him, nodding her head. "Your Evil Pieces will grow stronger along with you." She reminded.
"I understand, Mother."
There was a brief silence between them as they stared into each other's eyes and then Pandora leaned in and chastely kissed him on his lips.
"I don't have to remind you of your duties, right?" She asked, and he smiled at her question.
"No, Mother."
"Still, don't give in to your lust and sleep with anyone before the right time." She told him. "Or I will kill that girl."
There was a clear threat in her words, and Raizel felt chills run up his spine.
"I won't." He promised her again.
"Go, Hilda has prepared your favourites." She told him. "And send Freya to see me."
Raizel smiled and then took a quick peck of her lips before getting up from the throne and leaving the hall.
He was quite hungry right now, and she had sensed it as always.
"Freya." He gently called out to his dear friend and maid, whom he soon found walking towards him from the other end of the hallway.
"Yes, Raizel?" She asked with a smile.
"Mother has asked for you." He told her and loved the flustered look on her face before she practically ran past him towards the throne room.
If there was anyone she respected more than him, it was his mother. And then again, it was probably because he was her friend too, but Pandora was like a mother to her in addition to being her Mentor.
When he entered the dining room, he found Erza already sitting, happily munching on the cakes present on the table.
"Your father will be here in a few days." He told her before he sat down.
Erza froze at his words, but then nodded her head and picked up a strawberry cake to eat.
He chuckled when he watched the absolute bliss on her face when she tasted it, and he knew that she had likely found something even better than meat.
"Prepare some more strawberry cakes for her." He told the maid who was standing at the door, and she immediately bowed to him before leaving to prepare what he had asked for.