DXD 7

(Rias Gremory's POV)

As I sat behind my desk in the well-lit club room, I anxiously awaited the arrival of the last members of my peerage. Akeno and Koneko were engaged in a lively discussion, their voices barely above a whisper.

Despite my best efforts to appear collected, the stress I was under was palpable, and I couldn't help but fidget nervously. My fingers tapped the table constantly, betraying my inner turmoil. As I watched my most trusted companions, I couldn't help but feel a sense of envy for their carefree attitude. None of them seemed to realize the magnitude of the situation I was facing, and the threat that loomed over my head.

Today was the day I planned to come clean with them about the unbearable situation I am in - being forced into a marriage with a man who fills me with utter disgust, Riser Phenex. Just the thought of him is enough to make my stomach churn. He had a reputation as a notorious playboy and even maintained an all-female peerage consisting of fourteen beautiful women, which I was certain he used and abused.

Initially, I struggled to comprehend why my father would consent to my marriage to Riser, despite my vehement protests. However, his response to my objections shed some light on his true nature.

As a member of the devil aristocracy, he was determined to uphold the "purity" of our bloodline. Even as I pleaded with him, tears streaming down my face and on my knees, he dismissed my concerns and suggested that I could always divorce Riser in a few centuries, but only after I pumped out a few heirs.

His words were an utter shock to me and did nothing to comfort me. I feel as though I am simply a pawn in his political games, with no regard for my emotions or aspirations. This realization has left me feeling shattered and betrayed, and I have spent countless nights crying myself to sleep. At times, I have even contemplated suicide, but I lacked the courage to follow through with it.

Yesterday, when I found out that the wedding was going to be moved up, I hit rock bottom and was ready to do the unthinkable - lose my virginity to the lowlife called Issei, a pervert I learned to despise, in a desperate bid to either end the engagement or at least take some semblance of control of my life. However, my sister-in-law, Grayfia, walked in on us at the last moment, almost as if she had anticipated my move.

Initially, I had viewed Issei as a useful pawn, with a powerful draconic sacred gear sealed inside of him. I hoped that it would prove useful in my current predicament. However, I soon discovered that the draconic energy he emitted was something altogether different. It became clear that he had some draconic blood in him, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration as I remembered the eight pawn pieces I had wasted on him. He was utterly useless.

As I sat there, lost in thought, my mind raced with various strategies to avoid the marriage. I knew it was a difficult conversation to have, but I couldn't bear the thought of being forced to spend almost an eternity bound to a devil-like Riser. The mere thought of him sent shivers down my spine.

As Akeno and Koneko continued to chat, I could feel my anxiety mounting. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come. I knew that telling my peerage about the marriage would be a difficult conversation, but I needed their help to find a way out of it.

As I sat lost in thought, my mind wandering aimlessly, I suddenly became aware of a strange sensation. I tensed up as a tingling feeling, the tell-tell sign of magic being cast, spread across my skin. I quickly looked up, only to immediately relax as a teleportation magical circle appear on the floor, emblazoned with the emblem of my family.

Moments later, a flash of light illuminated the room, and a figure materialized within the circle. A sight left my mouth as I realized, it was none other than Grayfia, the silver-haired wife and also the queen of my brother's peerage, wearing her maid uniform. It always puzzled me why she insisted on wearing a maid uniform and acting as a servant, considering her status and position. Perhaps my brother approved of this strange fetish of hers.

Without a word, Grayfia approached me, her footsteps soft and measured on the floor. She stopped just a few feet away, and after a light bow, she spoke in a low, measured tone. "My Lady, I bring concerning news. Riser is-"

But before she could finish her statement, the door of the clubroom swung open and the last members of my peerage, Issei, Asia, and Kiba, arrived. I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Grayfia, dreading what the rest of her news will be.

She took a breath and opened her mouth, but as if the universe didn't want her to finish her sentence, we were interrupted yet again as the door opened once more, revealing an unfamiliar brown-haired figure. Grayfia tensed up, instinctively shifting into a battle stance, but as soon as we blinked, Sona stood in his place. I felt a mix of confusion and surprise, as the unexpected tension in the room suddenly and abnormally vanished.

I blinked rapidly trying to understand what just happened, while Grayfia's stance relaxed. I didn't understand why, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over me as well.

"That was strange." I mumbled as I scanned through the room, 'Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me.' I thought.

"Sona, what brings you here?" I asked, turning back to her, curious about her unexpected arrival.

Rapidly blinking, she scanned the room as if taken aback by her surroundings. "My apologies, it appears that I was lost in thought and didn't even realize where I was heading." That was even stranger as the girl wasn't known to be an airhead. She gave the room a deep bow and was about to leave the room when I called after her.

"Please don't leave. It's best if I inform you too about the matters I wish to discuss with the others," I pleaded. She cocked her head, giving me an inquisitive gaze before nodding and settling down on the sofa.

I turned to Grayfia, waiting for her to finally finish her sentence, but instead found her staring intently at a particular spot on the sofa. Her expression was grim as if she were consumed by anger, but I could see a hint of fear on her face. I couldn't comprehend what was happening, and when I looked at the spot she was fixated on, I saw nothing.

"Grayfia, are you alright?" After watching her for a moment, I asked with concern.

She whispered, without taking her eyes off the spot, "I don't know, my lady. When I look there, I get an eerie feeling that compels me to quickly look away, as if something is influencing my mind."

As I comprehended her words, my eyes widened, and I gave the spot another glance. I felt my gaze involuntarily wandering away from the area as if something was pulling me away from it. In response, I conjured a ball of Destruction in my hands and aimed it directly at the spot. With a forceful release, the ball was fired off, but moments before it collided with the sofa, it vanished into thin air with a loud pop and without leaving a trace. The sudden manifestation of my magic and follow-up sound caused chaos in the clubroom, eliciting surprised yelps from everyone present. Everyone except Grayfia, who didn't take off her eyes from the stop on the sofa. All other eyes were now fixed on me, with looks of incredulity and concern, but the next event that unfolded dispelled their doubts.

"Thank you for granting me the opportunity to witness the might of the Gremory family," after clearing its throat, an eerie voice spoke from just behind us, followed by a sinister chuckle that sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. "Your willpower is truly admirable, Queen of Sirzechs," the voice continued. I quickly spun around, conjuring another ball of Destruction, but to everyone's shock, with the wave of the man's hand, it vanished into thin air. The man offered a slight bow to my sister-in-law, completely disregarding the presence of everyone else in the room.

"Identify yourself!" Grayfia snapped, her hair and skirt billowing as her immense Demonic Power enveloped her. I stepped back in shock, realizing the gravity of the situation as I witnessed the extent of her power. The unknown man had managed to enter the room undetected by one of the strongest ultimate-class devils, which only emphasized the severity of the situation.

"Very well, then allow me to introduce myself," the strange man said, bowing once again with a smile. "I am Andrew Thompson, a traveler just passing through." I couldn't help but snort at his flimsy explanation, as it was implausible that a random passerby could enter a room with us undetected.

"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Grayfia retorted, her voice dripping with anger as her Demonic Power increased in intensity.

"No, I'm just buying time for the other guy to appear." He answered with a smile, pointing to the side where a magical circle suddenly appeared.

"Damn it!" I couldn't help but curse as the teleportation circle with the emblem of the Phenex clan appeared out of nowhere.

(Andrew's POV - a few minutes before)

Casually infiltrating the minds of everyone in the room, I caused them to unconsciously overlook my presence as I settled down on the sofa and indulged in Koneko's delectable cookies and Akeno's freshly brewed tea. Meanwhile, the peculiar cat girl, or should I call her Nekomata, had grown suspicious of her disappearing food and was casting wary glances about the room. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I had already collected some of her hair, as well as that of the half-fallen angel seated across the table then converted it to a race card and added the leftovers to my inventory. I hoped that her fallen angel bloodline was strong enough to be recognized by the system as a valid race, and I was in luck.

[Nekomata] [DxD]

+1 STR, +2 DEX, +4 AGI, +1 VIT, +2 PER per Global Level

- Gain the skill [Night Vision], allowing you to see in the dark.

- Gain the skill [Enhanced Hearing], allowing you to hear sounds from far distances.

- While equipped, receive a 50% bonus to stealth-related skills, abilities, and spells.

[Fallen] [DxD]

+3 STR, +3 AGI, +3 VIT, +1 CHAR per Global Level

- Gain the skill [Holy Enhancement], allowing you to empower skills, abilities, or spells with holy affinity.

- Gain the skill [Light Weapons], granting you the ability to create weapons from light itself.

- Gain the skill [Language], allowing you to understand and your words to be understood by anyone.

I wasn't entirely sure if the Nekomata's skills or the Fallen's [Language] skill would be added to my system, given that I already had a copy of them on my status screen. While I suspected that the system would ignore them, but currently I didn't want to investigate what would happen, as I already had other things I needed to focus on.

After delving into the minds of Akeno and Grayfia, I quickly grasped the mechanics of Devil Magic. I found it to be quite fascinating, to be honest. Unlike other types of magic, Demonic Power was derived from pure mana, and casting a spell with it required three times the amount of mana as compared to other types of magic. This was because the mana needed to be converted within the body of the spell caster, which resulted in the three-to-one conversion ratio.

However, to cast a spell with it, the caster only needed to visualize the desired effect, then will it into existence. There were no convoluted calculations or mental acrobatics required. However, the more knowledge you had about the effect you wanted to apply to the world, the less Demonic Power you needed to use, and the stronger the spell could be. This was because having a deeper understanding of the physical and metaphysical mechanics allowed the spellcaster to channel their power more efficiently, resulting in a more potent spell. Also, the spell casting still used strange magical circles, but the caster wasn't the one creating them. I assumed they were tied to the magical laws of this realm, and came to be when the caster cast a spell. Though, I wasn't sure about it.

Whether or not this way of spellcasting functioned beyond this world, even with [Rule Breaker], also remained unclear, but given enough time, I was confident that I could decipher it, maybe even gain an understanding of the magical laws governing this world and use it to my advantage.

One advantage of being here and now was that I finally had the coordinates of the Underworld, which had evaded me before due to its location in another realm. I was certain that my [Space-Time Manipulation] and other teleportation spells I had, would not be sufficient to reach it, as they lacked the ability to traverse between realms. However, with the new magical knowledge I had acquired from the devils, I could easily move between these realms. In fact, with my newfound understanding of their magical system, I could potentially develop a spell that would map out all the connected realms within this world. It would undoubtedly require a significant amount of mana, but the fun of frustrating those attempting to conceal themselves would be well worth the cost.

I was starting to get bored, waiting for the Playboy to arrive, so I started to have some fun. Rather than fully controlling the people around me, I found it more amusing to manipulate them subtly. The room was already beginning to notice some odd occurrences, and those made me laugh out loud multiple times, which, no one's surprise, none had noticed.

I proceeded to play a series of pranks, such as causing Akeno's provocative red thongs to vanish and then reappear on Issei, while simultaneously spiking their arousals by a large margin, prompting them both to stiffen and awkwardly scan the room in an attempt to conceal their embarrassment. Koneko's heightened feline senses quickly picked up their scents of arousal, causing them to feel even more embarrassed as she gave them an awkward glance.

I also abused my current "invisibility" to draw a large dick on Kiba's face. The majestic drawing actually raised my [Drawing] skill by a single level, and elected a splendid giggle from the cat girl sitting next to me, making the guy look around in confusion in an attempt to understand what was happening.

Despite the chaos I had caused, I made sure that neither Rias nor Grayfia noticed. It was a sheer delight to observe the confusion and discomfort of the people in the room as I reclined back on the sofa.

As I sat there watching the silver-haired maid struggle to resist my mental influence, I couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement. My pranks had been going on for quite some time now, and it seemed that no one had yet noticed my presence - except for her. She was the most perceptive among them and had already detected my subtle mental command to ignore my location.

Despite her efforts, however, she was having a hard time resisting it. Her eyes were narrowed in my direction, occasionally darting away before quickly trying to refocus on my position. I sat in a relaxed state, my legs crossed, watching her struggle with a sense of satisfaction.

For several minutes, she failed to take any action, leaving me feeling a bit disappointed. Eventually, I decided to give up and weaken the effect of my skill. As if something finally clicked inside of her mind, she whispered her findings to Rias.

However, Rias' response was impulsive. Without thinking, she conjured a ball of destruction and aimed it my way. My instincts kicked in, and I immediately activated my [Observational Learning] skill. Augmented by my [Intuitive Aptitude], I managed to acquire the Power of Destruction within milliseconds of its activation.

[Power of Destruction LVL: 1/100]

- Enables the user to create and manipulate highly destructive energies capable of obliterating almost anything they come into contact with, including egos and souls.

I paused time for a moment to take a quick look at my new ability. Since it was based on Demonic Power and the conversion rate from Mana to Demonic Power was three-to-one, it quickly became apparent that this ability was my second most expensive ability, just below [Foresight]. I suspected that any other abilities I acquired from the devils would be limited in the same way, but I wasn't too concerned. With the conversion being instantaneous, and my current mana capacity standing at 4.2 million, I had approximately 1.4 million Demonic Power at my disposal.

Before I released time from its frozen state, I weighted the idea of trying to cut through the ball of destruction with Cataclysm, in an attempt to try to give it some of its destruction properties, but the risk of losing, what could be considered as a divine weapon, was too much. So instead at the moment when the ball of annihilation was about to strike me, I summoned a barrier of destructive energies, created with the help of my newly acquired skill, and blocked its path.

The two abilities made contact. The clash between the two forces was intense and chaotic, with sparks flying in every direction and the sound of cracking energy filling the room. However, no one seemed to notice this, and within an instant, the barrier and the ball annihilated each other leaving behind nothing but a loud popping sound and a faint scent of ozone, which finally alerted the people present in the room.

I let out an annoyed sigh as I sensed a spatial anomaly forming to my right, and with my [Space-Time Manipulation] I clamped down on it hard, forcing it to stay in a suspended state. It could only mean one thing - the unwelcome guest star of tonight's show was about to make a sudden appearance. Without hesitation, I stood up and teleported behind Rias and Grayfia, then I ceased all mental manipulation, and after clearing my throat declared my presence.

After an enjoyable conversation with the ladies, during which I had to freeze time again to disperse a ball of destruction conjured by Rias, I waited patiently for the right moment to unfreeze the teleportation spell. And then, with a wave of my hand, I allowed the third son of the Phenex clan to appear in a dazzling flame.

"Fuu, that was quite interesting! It's been a while since I visited the human world," the twenty-year-old blonde exclaimed as he scanned the room, spotting his fiancé, Rias. Moving towards us, he casually put his arm around her shoulder and continued, "Now then, it's a bit sudden, but let's go visit the location for the ceremony. The date is set as well. It's better to get it over-", his sentence was cut short as he noticed the tense atmosphere in the room.

After quickly scanning the room, he let out a snort upon catching sight of Kiba's impressive facial tattoo. It was then that he also realized that many of the people present were glaring at me with hostility.

Perplexed by the tense atmosphere, he shot me an inquisitive look and tilted his head to the side. He then casually asked, "What's going on here? And who's that guy?"