Chapter 33 - Family Feud

---Mael POV, Earthland---

Teleporting to my front doorstep, I saw Erik and Macbeth lying in a pool of their own blood. The two of them were out cold and had several broken bones, they took quite the beating before blacking out. Hearing a commotion going on inside the house, I hurried inside to confront Jiemma. I didn't take kindly to someone barging into my house uninvited, and terrorizing my family.

Walking inside, I saw Irene holding Jiemma back with a pissed off expression. Behind her, Erza and the other girls were lying in a heap on the ground. It appeared they had tried to protect Minerva and Juvia, and he beat them up for it. Laying on the ground with tears and snot running down their faces, Juvia and Minerva saw me enter the home.

"Mael!!", they shouted, "You are here!!"

Approaching Jiemma with a deadpan expression, I told Irene to take Juvia and Minerva away from him. Doing as I asked, Irene got them out of the way as Jiemma turned towards me. Before he could say a word, I punched him in the gut forcing him to fall to his knees and cough up a large amount of blood.

"You have some nerve coming into my home, and harming my family...", I told him with a smile, "Laying hands on people I care about...that's a death sentence."

"I am their father!! I have every right to take them-", he started to say.

Smashing his face into the floor, he started to spasm for a moment as his brain tried to recover.

"Does your relation to them look like it bothers me?", I questioned, "Just because you helped bring Minerva into the world, and took Juvia in doesn't make you a father. Men like you give the rest of us a bad rep!"

Gritting his teeth, he leapt up and tried to headbutt me while I was talking. Stumbling backwards from the impact, he looked at me as I just stared at him. Backing handing him across the face, several of his teeth went flying out of his mouth. Falling on his backside, he looked at me in shock that I did that.

"Not so fun when you are the one getting smacked around, is it?", I spat, "How many times did you hit them?"

"Fuck you!", he retorted.

Pointing a Fireball at his crotch, the color on his face faded immediately.

"You can die with dignity or die without your manhood...how many times did you hit the girls?", I growled, "I won't ask again."

Saying he didn't know, I decided he did it one hundred times. Extinguishing the Fireball, I cracked my knuckles with an irritated look.

"I am going to beat your face into the dirt till no one can identify you.", I told him, "Reflect on your life choices!"

Following through with my words, the first punch sunk him twenty feet into ground. Spitting up a mouthful of blood, he only managed to blink before the next punch hit. Pumbling him into the ground for a good ten minutes, I only stopped when Makarov and Gildarts arrived. Having felt the violent shaking, they thought something was going on. When they saw Macbeth and Erik outside...they knew it was bad.

"What's going on?!", Makarov shouted, "Mael, what are you doing!?"

"This was Minerva's father", I said tossing what was left at his feet, "He barged into the house, beat the guys up, and was beating the women to get Minerva and Juvia. They called me when he pushed his way in, I gave him what he had coming to him."

Looking at the bloodied children, Makarov then glanced at the barely recognizable man. Men like this infuriated him because of the harm they caused people. Saying he would take care of it, Makarov and Gildarts took him away. Cleaning my hands of Jiemma's blood, I immediately healed my family of their injuries with Ark.

Giving me a hug immediately, both Minerva and Juvia were shaking in my arms. Having watched their friends go through that all for them...it really had an impact on them.

"It's going to be okay, he's never going to be able to lay a finger on either of you anymore.", I assured them.

"Thank you...", they said weakly.

While the House Deity cleaned up the mess, I took a seat in the living room with everyone. Trying to take their minds off of what happened, I asked them how things were going here. The boys told me they intended to move out, and get their own place. They wanted to get some independence, maybe make their own teams.

"Where is this coming from?", I asked.

"Admittedly...we want to move to the capital.", Elfman stated, "The King is looking to expand the Order of Knights to include Mage Knights. We thought it be a good way to help improve relations with Kingdom."

"You realize they will restrict what you can do, right?", I inquired.

"Yeah, but it will help us grow. The term would only be six years so it's not like it's permanent.", Richard remarked.

"If you guys want to do that, why not join the Magic Council Knights? You could help way more people there than just working with the Kingdom.", I said.

"Magic Council Knights?", Cobra inquired, "They'd allow that?"

"You need a recommendation from a Wizard Saint, Gramps and I could easily recommend you.", I replied.

Looking at each other, the boys didn't seem opposed to that. The Magic Council had reach in all the country in Ishgar so they could do a lot of good for people. Accepting the alternative job, they said they would take that route.

"Mael, you got to see what we have been up too!", Lisanna told me pushing a magazine into my hands.

As expected, Erza and Mirajane were on the front cover wearing floral pattern dresses. Flipping through the magazine, I got to see them in several different dress and even in pajamas. I was grateful they weren't in swimwear yet because that would have been a bit awkward in my opinion.

"So about that steakhouse...", Millianna purred, "We going tonight?"

"Millianna...", Irene sighed.

"Do you only think with your stomach?", Erza laughed.

"...is that a bad thing?", Millianna panicked.

Laughing at her reaction, I told her it was fine. Telling her we could go next week, I said I had to finish some things up before coming back home. Saying that I had quests to turn in still, they understood and said they would see me next week.

---Avatar World, Fire Nation Capital---

"So you are going on a trip to help rebuild the Air Nation?", Iroh asked.

"That's the plan, tracking them down won't be an easy task. They have hidden themselves away very well so it will take some time.", I told Iroh.

"I am coming with you.", Azula said, "An extended vacation sounds fun."

"Can I come too?", Zuko asked.

Telling him it was our honeymoon, Azula told him he couldn't. Giving me a grin, Iroh must have thought I was in for it with a strong willed girl like Azula. He didn't realize it was the other way around for us, I called the shots in this relationship.

"Azula, you have to finish your time at the Academy before you can go.", Ursa replied, "Zuko, you have classes as well and you will be needed here to help Iroh and Lu Ten."

"I am far more intelligent than my classmates, I don't need to go. As a member of the Royal Family, I just need to have kids with Mael, right?", Azula stated.

"Who told you that!?", Ursa refuted, "There is much more to a relationship than having children."

"No, I read the manual I found under your bed.", Azula snickered, "I am pretty sure that's all I need to do."

Iroh started laughing as Ursa's face turned bright red. Evidently there were some family techniques that got passed around among the women. It went over Zuko's head, but Lu Ten understood what was going on. Telling me I would be a lucky man in future, all I could do was sigh.

---Next Day, Orario---

Saying my goodbyes to my friends and family in the Fire Nation, I headed away from the capital before moving to Orario. The Great Feud would start soon, and I wanted to be there to stop Bella from dying. Knowing her personality, she'd put herself in harms way to protect her friends in Astraea's Familia. It was an admirable trait, but she would die in the feud if I didn't protect her.

Surveying the city from the top of Babel, it seemed things were still normal at the moment. Since the Adventurers were still going in and out of the Dungeon, I felt confident enough that the feud wouldn't start today. As I was about to move on, I noticed that Zeus and Hera were walking around the base of Babel with Astraea and Freya.

'She looks decent enough, the picture Zeus had did her justice.', I thought with a chuckle, 'I honestly didn't think Zeus would pair back up with her...isn't she supposed to be crazy?'

Moving on from there, I headed to the Hostess of Fertility to grab a bite to eat. Taking a seat inside, I discovered that Hestia, Ristarte, and Aqua were all working in the tavern as waitresses. Seeing them in the standard staff outfits...I thought the three of them looked beautiful. Watching them fumble around taking orders, bringing out food, and pouring drinks...I felt bad for Mia as she had her work cut out for her. Hestia was a good worker but quick to anger when men hit on her, Ristarte was quirky with some issues when she saw an attractive man, and Aqua...well I could imagine she racked up quite a tab here.

As I thought about how bad her finances were, she wandered over to take my order. Acting if she didn't know me, I took offense to that.

"Not even a hello?", I chuckled.

"Huh? Are you one of those creepy guys that hits on the girls here?!", she shrieked, "Ristarte is the one you want to talk to, I already have my eyes on someone."

"I see you didn't change much since I left four years ago.", I teased her, "Still an airhead like always."

"Four years ago...", Aqua said looking me in the eyes, "Wait...Mael!?"

"Bingo.", I chuckled.

"What have you been eating!? You are huge!!", she shouted causing some of the men to snicker, "You grew this big in four years!?"

Telling her I had been busy fighting and training, she immediately took a seat at the table. Asking her how she was doing, she admitted Hermes kicked her out a few months after I left. She apparently got into a spat with Ishtar who immediately threatened to block Hermes Familia from the Red Light District if they didn't kick her out...so they did. Hiding my smirk, I honestly could see Hermes Familia doing that...the men were the type that I could see frequenting that area. When it was time for me to start courting women, I wouldn't need to go that place.

"So where have you been living then?", I asked.

"Hestia, Ristarte, and I live in a rundown church!", Aqua groaned as she leaned over the table, "A beautiful goddess like me relegated to sleeping on a beat up couch!! Can you believe it!?"

"How goes paying your debt off?", I hesitated to asked.

"At the rate I am going it will be a thousand years...", she sniffled, "You got to help me Mael!! I should be living it up as a Goddess, not-"

"Aqua stop slacking off!!", Mia shouted, "I am not paying you to flirt with the customers!"

"Yes ma'am!!", Aqua said almost jumping out of her seat.

Telling her what I wanted off the menu, Aqua ran off to put the order in and tend to the other customers. Seeing the three of them working, I thought how nice it would be to have a bunch of Goddess like them as wives. I had my eyes on several Goddesses in this world, some of them wouldn't bend the knee to me easily so some guidance would be necessary.

'Fortunately the idea of a harem to a deity isn't a turn off. They will gladly be part of a harem so long as they are taken care of, and have something interesting to do.', I thought, 'It's the other two worlds that will need some convincing.'