Smell Like Roasted Chicken

"Preposperous! What make you think that you are a prospect enticing enough to be on the same piedestal as the heir of clan Sitri? No, not the same piedestal, you are placing yourself even above her. Demanding not only one, but three conditions. This is an injustice that I cannot let stand." A soft, but grim voice. Full of self-righteousness raised up to oppose Julian statement.

The person in question, lazily turned his head to take in the naysayer. A young, handsome man with green hair and squinted eyes, surrounded by some holy, broken looking girls.

The newcomer's appearance quickly led Julian to raises a brow. As he knew who the man was.

Gazing left and right as if searching for something. Julian spoke up. "Diodora Astaroth? Am I wrong? Tell me, where are your parents? Please don't tell me they were so imprudent as to let someone so young go unsupervised..."

The hall was dead silent as everybody immediatly began to listen raptly to the drama. Though everyone was rather confused by Julian roundabout and confusing comeback.

Diodora, if it was even possible, squinted even more at having his previous words totally ignored.

"I am the heir of clan Astaroth. I do not need anyone to make my decisions for me. Also, I am your elder by quite a few years. If you were insulting my appearance, this was quite... Weak." Diodora stated, gently smiling as he appealed to the nobles in the room.

Julian merely shook his head and chuckled, mockingly gazing at the heir as he tapped his temple a few times. "No, I was not speaking about your chetif body. I was referencing to your intellect. Do you know what a man-child is? A grown man with the mind of a child. That is what you are. The only concession I can make on this is calling you a 'noble' one." A few heirs chuckled and whistled as the burn settled in. But Julian wasn't done.

"After all, you being a man-child is the only thing that could explain why you found so neccessary to open your filthy mouth only to spout high pitched, gratting noises. So alike the cries and screams of a newborn chik. It's to the point that it make one wonder..." Julian drawled. Starting up a general bout of laughter from the spectators. Julian could swears he even got a glimpse to the beginning of a smile on Grayfia's face.

Becoming red in the face, Diodora tried to defend himself. "This is no-"

Only to be cut off by Julian, who coldly struck while the iron was hot.

"You being mentally challenged is the only explanation for this entire farce. What are you trying to do? Opposing and slandering me in public at my first showing? And please, don't tell it was supposedly to defend Lady Sitri's honor. This is nonsense, and farfetched. There is almost no correlation between me and her aside from having established some criterias for our partners. There could be only a handful of reasons to why you found pertinent to intervene."

"One, you desesperatly seek attention, as it would only be fitting for an obnoxious child like you."

"Two, someone wanted you to test me." Julian squinted his eyes dangerously.

"And three. You have preconceptions against me, that make you dislike me for some reasons. And as such, made you want to strike me down a peg. Hence, directly challenging me."

Silence descended upon the hall, one person after another only now realizing how very stupid it was to make a scene in such a setting, even more for the reasons stated. Or rather, the lack of them.

Diodora, for himself. Got a progressively dark look on his face as his gentle and well-mannered mask began to show some cracks.

"Right, you're right..." Absolute silence descended upon the hall as the words left the green-haired mouth.

"With all due respect for Lucifer-Sama. I simply cannot believe that one such as yourself have the qualifications to be granted a peerage, nor the privilege to have a say in your marriage while the majority of us heirs do not. After all, what sort of Pure-Blooded high-class devil have such low magical energy. And feel so much like some lowly human?" Diodora spat in a low tone. Hissing in dismissal and disdain toward the end of it.

Julian stayed silent for a few seconds before sneering. "What? That's it? Then, I wasn't wrong in regard of your stupidity... Seriously, can you hear yourself? Are you deaf to your own words?"

"Because, for my part, the only thing I heard was: Boo hoo, I'm sure I know better than some puny demon king. Boo hoo, he smells like human. Human bad! So he bad!" Julian deadpanned, miming a child crying, smirking at the end. Making some the crowd send death glare at Diodora and even more laughing at how spotted on Julian really was.

(A/N: The four great Satans are the four great demon kings in this universe. And for a good reason.)

"Now see what running your mouth earned you? Nothing, besides earning my enmity, losing face for your family and passing for a fool." Julian shook his head in fake pity.

"Nobody believe in you sticking out for your fellow heirs either... In the end, this was all just a pitiful farce, a meaningless thantrum. From an equaly pitiful child. Now begone of my sight, Diodora, the imbecile, before I become bored of using you as a stepping stone for my debuts." Julian bowed, as if marking the end of a prestation. A grin on his face and a mocking look in his eyes.

His words provoqued an outburst as some of the guests, after a few moments of silence, began to sadistically applaud for the entertainement. While the rests shot looks of either scorn, pity and glee at the very red-faced and humiliated Diodora. Who looks ready to challenge Julian to a duel right that instant. But wisely decided that staying any longer would get him nothing other than further shaming.

While he was flooded by aristocrates made very enthusiasts by his showing, some dumbly asking if it was all premiditated. Julian kept an eye on the escaping Diodora. And thus, was able to catch a glimpse of the very dark, borderline crazed look that showed on the noble's scion face for a fraction of a second on his way to exit.

All in all, Julian didn't doubt he made a very strong first impression on devil society. And that gossip of this evening would spread very rapidly through the populace.

Already, he could see that the moniker 'Diodora the imbecile' was staying on the people lips. Such was the poor showing, or rather, the extent of the verbal defeat he suffered today.

Now, when they talked about him. People wouldn't see of him as the weird and handsome son of Lucifer who popped up of nowhere and who had the same magical aura than an human. They would see him as the weird and handsome son of Lucifer who popped out of nowhere and absolutely roasted the shit out of the Astaroths' heir.

Maybe.

He couldn't just release the leash on his aura either, as his full nature would be revealed through his magical signature if he did. Yeah, already tried. He lacked the practice to display only one of his energy signature. But it shouldn't be that difficult.

Still, Julian had no delusion than it was over. Frankly, he would have preferred if Diodora had snapped and challenged him. Even if he wasn't sure if he would have won using only his devil side powers. As Diodora was quite a bit further into ultimate-class than even Riser.

(Diodora was High-Class in canon, plus Ophis' snake. Now he's ulti, stronger than Riser, plus Ophis' snake.)

He was pretty sure he was invincible among his age group, and could punch a mighty bunch above his weight. But he nonetheless had limits he couldn't simply ignore. Namely, his base magic power and his physical prowess which, he was convinced were puny compared to a full-blown Ultimate-Class. For exemple, Riser releasing his demonic power had been enough to physically push back Rias by it's cheer power. Meaning ranking up granted a pretty huge leap in magic prowess if nothing else.

Now with Diodora retreating with his tail between his legs. He would have to watch his back.

He strongly considered assasination. But it would attract too much attention, too soon.

He would AT least have to wait until he could properly cover his traces to do it...

—————

After the 'show', the evening went relatively smoothly. It was scheduled to come to an end in 2 hours. Short for these kind of events, it was in essence. Only an introduction. And he still had to go over his High-Class promotion yet-not-at-the-same-time after it and get his devil pieces.

Before that, Julian got the chance to chat with Sona and her parents. Fortunately, they already knew a bit about who he was and why they knew each other. As it seemed that at one point in time, Sona had very strongly wanted him into her peerage. Why she had kept their distance from him during school and never approached she didn't say.

Anyway, they had not much to say to each other in such a setting. So aside from a 'So this was your secret' a 'I wasn't expecting that' and a 'that was a nice show' - he absolutely didn't buy the second one by the way - and some questions about Rias from Sona. They bid each other goodbuy and the Sitri's left directly. Sirzechs being the host, and given the close between him and the Sitri's, it was not really considered rude.

However, Sona did not leave before inviting Julian to play a game of chess together next time he was in school. And this, was even more problematic than if she had asked before he was introduced to the Underworld. Because it was widely known in high society what playing a game of chess with her meant. In other words, Sona expected him to know about her vow.

As such, this became multiple tests in one. With it, she could see if he had the balls to play a match with her. If he was confident in his victory. And if he was interested.

Because if he didn't care, he could just never play.

Eitherwise, It was a matter Julian decided to ponders upon on a later date. He had too many things on his mind right now to think about such an emotionally loaded issue.

After that came a rather fun meeting with Riser and his father. Sour and bitter at the world wouldn't be enough to describe the look on the former's face. But the grudge between them was set, and it wouldn't go away that simply.

It was apparent that Riser was determined to make Julian pay. That's why after a rather awkward talk between Sirzechs and Lord Phenex. They proposed to set their conflict with a duel, to let them deck it out in a manly way. But Julian had a better Idea. They would have a rating game after Riser's match with Rias. No matter if he lost or won.

Of course, Julian had no member in his peerage.

But that was exactly what he meant, alone, against Riser entire peerage.

The stakes? If he lost, Julian would give to Riser all of his unused pieces and obey him for a day. If Riser lost, he would give him all kind of rare magical ingredients, including a phoenix tear. And he would only have to obey one order of his.

—————

"Are you confident in winning? Even considering your handicaps?" Sirzechs asked curiously after travelling in silence for some time in the limousine. They were on the way to Julian 'promotion' ceremony.

Julian, who since the first moment he sat in the car, had been gazing through the window in reflexion. Sent a glance to Sirzechs and shrugged. "As I am now? Probably not. If I could use all my arsenal, maybe I'd had a chance. It really depend on how much the boost of Ultimate-Class is."

Sirzechs nodded in approval at Julian being realist but then sighed. "Why didn't you ask me earlier? Anyway, the difference between High-Class and Ultimate is huge. The reason why it was called Ultimate in the first place was because beings on that level, or devil in this case. Began to have serious firepower, even going as far as razing a country with a spell."

Julian froze, and for the first time in ever, felt some awkwardness as he just forgot to ask about it. He had just too much to think about these days.

But it didn't keep him from shrugging again. "Forgot."

Sirzechs smiled in understanding and praised proudly. "Ah! That's my son!"

He was immediatly whacked behind the head by his ever watching wife. "Don't encourage him!"

She looked worriedly at Julian afterward. "These stakes are stupid. What's the point of getting you a peerage if you are gonna give away all of your pieces the instant you get them?"

Julian smiled. "I said that I wouldn't win as I am now. But what about tomorrow? Or the day of after Rias match?"

He pinched his fingers. "I am that close to a breakthrough of some kind, it's coming any day now. Probably Ultimate-Class or something of the sort. But I'm not sure in my case. This is the first time I felt something like it. And I wasn't born with high-class power."

This was one of the mystery that bugged him to this very day. Indeed, if even Pure-Blooded devils were born with three pairs of wings and high-class demonic powers. Why was he born with even less overall magical power than a Low-Class devil? And why didn't another pair of wings grow when he crossed the threshold of Middle-Class and High-Class?

(A/N: In that DxD Universe, devils, like angels gain a pair of wings at each rank. No matter if they are related to the originel Lucifer. Just for the clarification.)

With a nonchalent attitude but a serious face, Julian met eyes with Grayfia and assured her. "There's no way I'll lose."

They silently gazed at each other for a time before Grayfia huffed softly and lightly shook her head. "Men and their pride."

Knowing there was nothing more to say in the matter, she asked what was on her mind. "What do you need these magical ingredients for? Are you interested in craftings, or rituals?"

"For a fact, I am. But no, these are for some experiments of mine. I saw some intriguing facts in one of the book Akeno lent me. And I want to test a theory of mine." Julian nodded and explained, not going into the details.

"Also, is there a library in the Underworld I could freely peruse? I'd meant to ask way sooner. And I would like to say I was too busy for it. But the truth is that I forgot that too." Julian added after a bit.

Sirzechs laughed. "That sound just like Ajuka. I should really introduce you two soon. As for the library, the one in our gremory estate is, I think, just the thing you need. It's also one of the most extensive of the Underworld. You're free to go there at your leisure. Just be sure to greet your grandparents when you pass through, there's also Millicas."

With that, Sirzechs took two things out of his pockets. One of them being a little book and the other a stone with red inscriptions written on it. He gave them both to Julian. "Here, I was waiting until you asked something like that. This is a book about teleportation using demonic power. As it is a field a bit more complex than weaving spells. I think it is necessary. As for the stone, It's a direct link to a portal in the estate, just put a bit of your demonic power into it. A little warning, it only react for those with the blood of the clan. So there's that."

Julian deflated a bit as he accepted them. Smiling weakly yet genuinely, he looked at Sirzechs. "Thanks... Dad."

Sirzechs smiled in an embarassed manner and scratched his head. "Ah, you're welcome. Julian."

Meanwhile, Grayfia had a light, soft smile plastered on her face. Though, for some reason, an air of smugness was radiating from her very being.

—————

(A/N: The line between wholesome and uncomfortable, or cringe is rather thin. Did I do it right?)