The beautiful woman in maid's clothing and silver hair blinked at the sight of Rias Gremory, half-naked, so close to .
"You were going to break the deal, weren't you?" Grayfia asked, looking at Rias with a disappointed expression.
"If I don't go the distance to show my resolve, my father and brother will never listen to . I know that, you know that."
"Both the Sirzechs and the Master will be sad when they find out that you tried to give your purity to a commoner."
"What's wrong with giving it to soone who deserves it? I don't have a master, and I can do whatever I want to repay my servants. Besides, calling one of my servants a commoner? Grayfia, I can't..."
"It's all right, master." I said, treating Rias with more care than usual, and got up from the bed to pick up Rias' clothes, which were lying on the floor. "I don't understand what's going on, but when soone working for your family cos to stop you, things must be serious."
"Leo, how do you...?"
"What's your na?" I asked the silver-haired woman as I turned to her to let Rias get dressed.
"My na is Grayfia. Nice to et you, I'm Rias Gremory's brother's [Queen]."
I bowed my head slightly in respect, causing her to wrinkle her forehead in surprise, disguised as seriousness.
"My na is Leonard Tonello."
"Leonard? Wait, you're...?" Grayfia couldn't hide her surprise this ti.
"Yes. He's my only [Pawn]. The [Boosted Gear] user." Rias said, putting her skirt on last.
"The Devil Possessed by the Dragon Empress..."
"Grayfia, let's go back to my room. I'll listen to what you have to say. Akeno can also attend this eting, right?"
"The Priestess of Thunder? I wouldn't mind. It's a custom for high-level devils to have their [Queen] by their side at all tis. "
After that, Rias and Grayfia gathered around a magic circle, said goodbye, and disappeared from my room.
I took a deep breath, a little more relieved. But a part of really wished I'd taken the opportunity.
In any case, the first part of my plan was complete. I had rejected Rias, but soon I would have her all to myself.
The next day, Asia and I went to the Occult Research Club building. I was serious, very serious, and Asia could tell.
"Leo, are you okay? You barely ate breakfast today, and you're so... down."
I looked at her and shook my head. "Have you noticed how Rias has been acting lately? She's in trouble, serious trouble."
"What?"
I stopped walking at that mont. The Occult Research Club building wasn't far away.
"Asia, no matter what happens at the club today, please stay behind and don't say anything or try to stop ."
"Leo... you're scaring ."
Looking into Asia's eyes, I took the two hands she was timidly clutching to her stomach and said:
"You just have to promise . Will you?"
At that mont, she also looked into my eyes and could see that I didn't show any fear or any emotion that could look like fear or uncertainty. In fact, I had nothing to be afraid of. Let's just say that my trial period was over. I'd already understood how far my abilities as a devil went, and on top of that, I'd had the conversation with Ddraig earlier that morning that I'd been waiting for.
"Hey, are you there, Ddraig?" I asked, speaking with my left hand after waking up.
Suddenly, a green glow ca out of the back of my left hand, the sa place where the green gem would normally be when I activated Boosted Gear.
"Yeah, kid. Finally decided to stop being a hormonal teenager and tried to talk to ?}"
"Did you see all that? Khum! It doesn't matter. I need to talk to you seriously about the concept of partnership that you talked about in the dream."
"I can see that you're very serious, child. All right, ask anything. I'm listening."
Ddraig was inside , and I could talk to her ntally. But all the ti she couldn't read my thoughts because of the difference between soul and brain.
Ddraig was tied to my soul, while my thoughts were cognitive, i.e. exclusively in my brain, so what distinguished my natural thoughts from those she could hear was nothing more or less than will. If I wanted to talk to her, she could hear my thoughts. If not, she couldn't, so Ddraig knew nothing about , my world, the system, or my plans, at least until that mont.
I explained to her in detail what was going to happen in the next few minutes and what I was going to do. The only thing she asked when I was done was:
"{Boy, how do you know all this?}"
"I don't know. It's an assumption and a projection. As for you, you're sure you can do what I've asked, right?"
"Of course I am! After all, I am the Red Dragon Empress!"
'It's this gender switch that always reminds that I don't live in the canonical universe of High School DxD... I thought and took a deep breath.'
Hours in the future, I pushed open the door and entered the main room of the Occult Research Club. Koneko, Kiba, Akeno, Rias and the silver-haired maid from the night before, Grayfia, were already there.
Asia imdiately felt the tension in the room and clasped her hands in awe.
"Everyone is finally here." Rias said, and at that mont a magic circle appeared on the floor.
This magic circle was big, bigger than any I had ever seen, and the symbol differed completely from the magic circle I was used to. However, I knew that it was the Phenex Family's magic circle.
A circular wall of fire erged from the edges of the magic circle. From the flickering flas of this fire, the silhouette of a tall man appeared.
"Arhh! It's been a while since I last visited the human world!"
Standing in the center of the circle was a man dressed in a red suit. He had yellow hair and an expression of confidence on his face as he stood with his hands in his pockets. When this man's eyes caught sight of Rias, he walked up to her and said:
"My dear Rias. It's good to finally see you." He opened his arms as he ca over for a hug. "I've co to pick you up so you can have a look at my- I an, our ceremony hall. The date for the ceremony has been set, so we need to check it out before then."
"Don't co any closer, Raiser." Rias said angrily, holding out her arm to keep him from getting too close.
"Ah? Who is he?" Asia asked.
Raiser's attention was diverted from Rias as soon as he heard another female voice in the room. "Oh? Rias, why didn't you tell you had such a cute servant? I would have taken her as my servant. And you didn't tell them about ? What? Don't you like your servants?"
"I didn't tell them because there was no need to break the news of sothing that wasn't going to happen."
Grayfia-san joined the discussion.
"This person is Raiser Phenex-sama. He is the third son of the House of Phenex, a man of high nobility, and he is also the husband of the next heiress of the House of Gremory, Rias Gremory."
"Yes, yes! I am her husband." Raiser tried to approach Rias again for a hug.
"Stop right there." I said, stepping forward.
"Tsk! Who are you?"
"Leo, what are you..." Rias was about to speak, but I decided to answer Raiser directly and without fear.
I walked to the center of the room and said:
"I could give you many answers right now. Nobody has just one na. People call 'Leonard', those closest to 'Leo', but I can also be known as 'The Bearer of the Boosted Gear' or 'The Devil Possessed by the Dragon Empress'". I looked at Grayfia briefly and then at Raiser: "However, I will soon be given the title 'He Who Killed a Phenex', although I would prefer to be called 'The Only Man Who Ever Kissed Rias Gremory'."
"You... bastard...!" Raiser was embarrassed by my audacity and fixated on the last thing I said. "No matter what you have or what you've done to my fiancée, I will never allow such an outrage against the Phenex family to co from a re servant, a re reincarnated devil like you!"
Raiser gritted his teeth and thrust his right hand forward, creating sparks from a fireball.
"And to think that a man with such a fragile ego once thought he was worthy to have Rias Gremory as his wife." I spread my hands and mocked Raiser's uncontrolled reaction.
"You think you can defeat ? I'll burn you alive, boy!"
"Stop right there, both of you." Grayfia ordered, causing Raiser to slowly lower his trembling hand. "And you, Leonard, what do you think you're doing, threatening Lord Raiser? Do you realize how serious it is for a low-level devil to threaten soone of nobility? You could be banished to the underworld forever."
"It wasn't a threat, Grayfia. It's my will. So, in case it's not clear yet, I'll tell you: if this man doesn't give up the idea of marrying Rias Gremory right now, I'll kill him. Either he gives up the idea of marriage, or he accepts a public duel to the death against , without all the bureaucracy of an 'rating ga'."
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In chapters R-18, there are original and exclusive images for the patreons!
NEXT CHAPTERS:
Chapter 35 - Raiser Phenex, The Worst
Chapter 36 - Boosted Gear X Phenex
Chapter 37 - Explo... sion?!
Chapter 38 - Devastation of Destruction
Chapter 39 - Gremory Mansion
Chapter 40 - System Update
Chapter 41 - Your chances? Very High! (R-18)
Chapter 42 - Asia Deep Throa... Khum! (R-18)
Chapter 43 - My First Ti with a Nun (R-18)
Chapter 44 - Rhythms & Poses (R-18)
Chapter 44.5 - Asia Argento POV (R-18)
Chapter 45 - Attribute Points
Chapter 46 - Welco Back
Chapter 47 - Collecting Artifacts
Chapter 48 - New System Challenge!
Chapter 49 - Heating Akeno (R-18)
Chapter 50 - Tight Walls (R-18)
Chapter 51 - Arara~ (R-18)
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