When Rias arrived at the Bael Castle she did so in front of the guards standing at their posts. Instantly all of them were looking at her with their spears ready. However, one guard raised a hand to stop them.
"CEASE!"
Everyone obeyed as the older woman walked over to Rias with her spear on her shoulder. She was part of the Bael Branch family, but to not be married off she became a guard. She reached up with a hand to remove her helmet showing off her eye patch and severe scars.
"Lady Rias, we were not expecting you at this time. And with a new style to match."
She meant by Rias' black hair and purple eyes. Rias crossed her arms as she looked up at the older Devil.
"I want to see my Mom and Brother."
Stertinia pushed her hand through her short black hair before motioning for Rias to follow her.
"Come on then."
As Stertinia led Rias into the castle she turned to her apprentice and second in command.
"Artamo, you're in charge until I get back?"
"Yes, Mother."
Stertinia scowled as she had told him to not call her that when they were on the job.
'I will have to tell Young Master Romonus to use this boy to test his potions.'
Her son shivered as his Mother led Rias into the mansion. As they walked she turned to look at Rias.
"So why the dye and contact magic? As the heir of House Gremory you should know your brother was-"
"Because I quit being the Heir. I am running away to live with my Mom and Brother."
Stertinia looked back at Rias almost confused. She placed her spear on her shoulder as she asked about it.
"Ok is House Gremory cursed or something? The Devil King Sirzechs gave up his right to be the next Lord Gremory when he became Lucifer. Your brother gave it up in favor of being the next Lord Bael and now you want to renounce it too? What gives?"
Rias was not so sure what she should say so she said what she was ok with saying.
"My Father is not the best when it comes to emotions and he starts neglecting the people around him in favor of his harem. It's hard to not be forgotten."
"Ah, got you. Well, I am sure Lord Demaenetus will readily accept you. Though I would keep your hair black for your stay. It is synonymous with the Devil King and the Bael clan does not like him."
Rias frowned but said nothing else as Stertinia arrived at the corridor where Romonus, his peerage, and Venelana lived. Once they were here Rias looked at the many doors curious.
"Which is brother's room and which one is mom's?"
"Your Brother's is the one on the left, the ones out in front belong to his three peerage members, and your Mother's is the last one down the hall. I would not bother your brother now because from what I hear, he was in there with his mentors crafting something for the past 4 days.
Your Mother should be more free now."
Rias smiled as she walked down the hall before knocking on her Mother's door. Now that she thought about it, it was such a weird thing that the doors were enchanted to not allow noise in or out except for knocking.
Magic was such a weird thing, but what Rias saw when her Mother opened the door was not what she expected. Venelana was dressed in a black sweatshirt and a comfy pair of sweatpants.
What Rias was looking at was the fact her Mother was a bit more muscular than before.
"Mom?"
Venelana kneeled to look at Rias confused. She grabbed a chunk of her hair before sighing in relief.
"It's just magic, but what are you doing here Rias? What about your Dad?"
Rias lunged into her Mother's arms with and started to cry without stopping. Stertinia bowed to Venelana before putting her helmet back on and walking off. Venelana let Rias into her room and sat her down on the bed.
"What's wrong sweety?"
Rias wiped her tears as she looked at her Mom.
"Mom. Dad ruined the family. He doesn't talk to me anymore, all he talks about is Asterion. He is always running around with Marcina and he doesn't even spend the mornings with me like we agreed to."
Venelana frowned.
"How long ago?"
"2 months ago? All he talks about is his new baby and Family. He doesn't even ask about my day all he wants to talk about is 'being the next Gremory' don't do this, do this, dress like this. I hate it. I quit Mom, I want to live with you. Can't I?"
Venelana sighed.
"If that is what you want? You can stay. I will have to tell my Father though?"
Rias recoiled as she remembered Demaenetus. Her grandfather had never been nice to her because he considered it embarrassing for a Noble. Seeing her look Venelana calmed her down.
"Relax Rias. Unlike Romonus you don't have the insane training drive, but your talent alone has brought you to the brink of the Ultimate Class. You are not weak anymore and I am sure my Father will not treat you badly. I will stand up for you, but you have to stand up for yourself Rias. That his how the Bael clan works."
Rias gripped her dress before looking up at her Mom.
"I will. Don't send me back."
Venelana ruffled her hair before she picked sat down and hugged her.
"I won't. Your brother will want to see you in the morning, but he is tired now. Let him rest."
"Ok, mom. Can I sleep here?"
Venelana smiled as she hugged Rias and cuddled up on the bed.
"Of course, you're still my baby Rias."
Happily, for the first time in almost 6 months, Rias slept easy. Even Venelana felt the comfort of having her sole daughter by her side now.
---
When Romonus opened his eyes he was met with the white fur of Shirone who was constantly using her Senjutsu on him. He appreciated her efforts as for some reason he always slept better when she did this.
At the same time, she was training because of his overflowing Demonic Energy radiating from his body. She was processing that through contact with his body. He wondered when she would grow her third tail because his goal for her was to become a 9-tailed Nekushou.
If at all possible he wanted to take the White Tiger Báihŭ from the Shinra clan of the Principle clans. If she could become a Tiger Yokai rather than a cat she would even rival the strongest.
He reached up for his face and removed her as it was time to get up. Shirone curled up in his hand and opened her eyes as she looked down at his face.
"Sleep well?"
"I did thanks to you."
She gave him a cat-like smile as she started to groom herself.
"Good."
He set her down on the bed and watched as she returned to her Nekomata form. Her two tails swayed and wagged from side to side as she liked to help. When he sat up he saw Latia resting at his side along with Akeno and Itsuki.
Though Itsuki was on the opposite end of the bed while Akeno was right up with him. He smiled as they were all adorable, but he had no intention of laying a hand on them. They were too young so he carefully got out of bed to not wake them up.
That seemed to be impossible as they all woke up instantly. When they were up, they all started to stretch and circulate their Demonic Energy to wake themselves up.
"Morning."
Akeno smiled in his direction as she felt closer to him as if a boundary was undone.
"Good morning Romonus. Did you sleep well?"
"I did. I was dead tired from the forging of Archaon and today I will have to undergo The Baptism."
Latia recoiled as she knew what the process would do. The power it would grant him would be more than worth it, but being destroyed inside out for it did not sit right with her.
"Romonus, let's say you undergo this procedure, what do you hope to gain?"
He began to list them off.
"Hopefully I can get my entire body to be hyper-saturated with Liquid Mana to use my entire body as a focus. Maybe even grant me a unique body type that is more intuned to Mana than Demonic Energy or even a perfect mixture of the two.
Increased strength, durability, and speed as a result. My regeneration and the healing arrays will keep me alive. You need to relax."
Latia covered her face.
"I am not nervous, I am worried for you."
Itsuki got out of bed and asked about it.
"Why? He can take it."
Romonus smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"You know it?"
She returned the gesture while he walked toward his open forge room. The Baptism had been drained of Mana already so they would have to turn it back on. Latia ran after him as she at least wanted to see it in action.
"Fine, if you want to undergo this procedure at least let me be around to help."
Akeno, Itsuki, and Shirone followed after them as it was interesting how often he spoke about it. Once they crowded around the giant pod where he would be subjected to the destructive effects of Liquid Mana he turned to them.
"I might have to ask all of you to leave though. I will have to be naked for this."
Itsuki instantly ran out of the forge room.
"Call me when it's done."
Akeno covered her eyes while Shirone did the same. Though they had left a gap between their fingers, he was unrelenting.
"GO! I am not going to be flashing the lot of you. I am not a creep."
Akeno sighed as she pulled Shirone with her leaving just Latia and him. She looked up at him with squinted eyes.
"Come on, strip already."
"Do you just want to see me naked?"
Latia clenched her fists.
"No, I want you to get this out of your way so I don't have to keep worrying."
He snorted as he looked at his fiance.
"Just know that you will be undergoing it too?"
Latia froze in horror as he began to remove his clothes. He took off his shirt, and his shorts and left his underwear on. He glanced at Latia who snapped out of it.
"If you don't want to see it turn around."
Latia just cursed him.
"Shut up already. We will be doing more stuff than just looking when I finish maturing so take it off."
He shrugged as he removed them leaving him fully exposed to her. Latia for all her bravado blushed as she had never seen one in person. She looked between his legs because it was big.
"Is that?"
He nodded as he opened the door to the pod and stepped inside. Once he closed it he heard the air lock before turning around.
"Latia, stop gawking and close your mouth. That can be taken the wrong way in this situation."
She turned bright as fire as she ran to the console for The Patism machine. She looked at Romonus who got ready to feel the worst pain he had ever imagined.
"Do it."
She pushed the activation button and watched as the machine got to work. Like a shower head, the Liquid Mana began to fall on Romonus burning his body when it touched his flesh. It felt like he was just dosed with liquid nitrogen from how cold it was, but it was also hot.
The flesh that had been exposed instantly began to regenerate because of his Demon bloodline. That was just the beginning as from a small trickle it quickly became a flood.
The Mana continued to pour down onto his body burning his flesh away only to have it healed the next second. The pain was excruciating and seemed to bite at his sanity, but Ajuka's enchantments protected not just his sanity, but also healed him.
Latia saw that he was not screaming even though chunks of his muscles were starting to be reduced to nothing by the sheer potency of Liquid Mana. Already he was up to his waist in the stuff and to speed it up he sat down cross-legged.
Once he went under she couldn't even see him anymore past the sheer purity of the Mana making it glow a bright blue. She didn't even know if he was still him and not just a small puddle of goo. She sat down and waited for this gruesome procedure to end.
---
Romonus was experiencing hell at the moment once the pod filled up with Liquid Mana. It got so concentrated as he wanted that it was almost like he was in ice water. He had hidden it well, but this pain was without question the worst he had felt in his life.
He could feel as if his very cells were being oversaturated by mana and being destroyed. Only his regeneration and the healing arrays kept him from going crazy. He was forced to breathe it in and even drink it.
This was a bad idea as he felt his lungs boil, but through this process, he was feeling even his blood use mana rather than oxygen to run its functions. This Mana's rich blood flowered through his circulatory system.
When it reached his brain he felt the neurons start to fire off faster than before. His eyes had melted away, before regenerating better than before. As for what he ended up drinking it was used by his digestive system to feed his body which began to cause mutation by the hour.
His muscles absorbed the Mana into his tissues mixing it with Demonic Energy. All over his body his Demonic Energy was mixing with the Mana. Both were the same energy only that the former had been changed for Devils. Now though, it was going to be something unique to Romonus.
Latia who was still waiting for a sign that he was in there began to notice a purple glow originating from the center of the Pod. She checked the time and saw that it had been a little over 6 hours.
"Romonus? You better not be a puddle or I will clone you just to kill you."
She suddenly felt a telepathic message.
'I am fine. 18 more hours.'
She sighed in relief.
'Good. I thought you would be a puddle.'
'I am not that weak Latia, I am fine.'
Latia turned around once she realized that he would live.
"I am leaving. Since you are ok, I will leave you to it."
Romonus was fine with that, but that did not mean that this did not hurt. All over his body, he could constantly feel it being destroyed only to heal back instantly. He couldn't even close his eyes because they needed to be affected as well.
'How are we doing Archaon.'
The Living Armor Archaon had been quite this whole time as he rested in Romonus' soul.
'Armored, I have been stabilizing our Soul Bond and bringing order to my chaotic energies. By the end of this process, I should be able to find stability to be used in true glorious combat.'
'Good to know.'
Archaon went quite again as he was still freshly forged with many conflicting materials and energies. He needed to stabilize it a bit and nowhere was better than in Romonus' soul.
As for Romonus himself, he continued to breathe and drink in the Mana and even absorb it through his skin. By the end of this process, there would not be a single piece of his body that had not been touched by the mana.
From what he could feel of his Demonic Energy it was beginning to fill every single one of his cells along with Mana. He did not know if he should name it something like Demon Mana or something, but for now, Demonic Energy was fine.
He let his mind relax as he tried to find a happy place in this torturous hell. He was talking nonchalantly, but having his bones melted down before being regenerated with mana in them hurt like hell.
He would for sure put his peerage through this in a while when their wills became stronger.
'I will not be the only one to feel this hell.'
(I managed to fix the Plot Hole of The Baptism. I also won't be adding more OCs despite how much I enjoy doing it. I will at least confirm some girls from DxD.
Lavinia Reni, Tiamat, Yasaka, Rossweisse, Kuroka, Ingvild, Akeno, Shirone. Add in Latia, Miria, Serafall, Venelana, Roygun, Rias, and the new girl that brings the number up to 15. Itsuki, Vespera, and Viviana is 18. Damn, I might have to cut some if that is the case as I wanted an even or bring up an even 20.
Still, that is less than some Novels and Fanfics, but it would be tricky to get it right. Nothing a bit of effort can't do.)