Chapter 7: Birth
"Push. Just one more powerful push," Sara ordered Venelana as she prepared to receive her son into this world. The order was neither quiet nor loud, but rather calm and authoritative. It was a voice that came from having helped many noble devils give birth over her one thousand plus years.
Meanwhile, on the birthing bed, Venelana was pale and drenched in sweat. Regardless of whether a woman was a human or a devil, giving birth was no easy ordeal. Her water had broken and she had begun having labor pains eighteen hours ago. Being a traditionalist when it came to giving birth, she refused to take pain relievers or have magic ease the process. Thus, she was utterly exhausted.
To her right, holding her fiercely gripping hand, was Zeoticus. When her water had broken, he had rushed over and hadn't left her side since.
On the left, holding her other hand, was Grayfia. As their daughter-in-law, the couple was happy to share the moment with them. Just as when they let her be there for Rias' birth, they felt that being here would serve as great a great experience for when she gave birth at some point in the future.
Also in the room were several maids. One had the sole role of wiping of the sweat from Venelana's brow, while another exclusively watched the medical monitors for any anomalies in her vitals. The other maids were waiting patiently off to the side to clean, weigh, and measure the boy when he was born.
Naturally, Sirzechs was not in the room. Even if the Gremory clan was known for their high affections between family members, and even if he was the great Lucifer, there was no way in hell Venelana would let her son watch her give birth. Instead, he was in a nearby room with Rias, watching a children's anime with her. A couple members of Zeoticus' and Venelana's peerages were there as well.
"Arrghhh!" Venelana screamed unreservedly as she gave one last, great push.
The next moment, the loud sound of a baby crying echoed throughout the room. "Waaaah!"
Sara looked up at Venelana's expectant face and said with a warm smile, "You have a healthy baby boy."
**********
(POV shift to the MC)
Matt let out a cry to announce his arrival to the world. Finally! Finally, he was out.
He had never learned too much about infants and their development, and so was a little surprised to open his eyes and hardly be able to see anything. He could see lights and also roughly make out the motions and movements around him. Matt was quite disappointed as he had really wanted to see what these DxD characters looked like in real life instead of being animated.
At least his hearing was working well and he could hear the happy voices around him.
In short order after his arrival, his umbilical cord was clamped and cut. He was then passed off to another person who gently cleaned, weighed, and measured him. Finally, he was wrapped up in a warm and soft blanket, his entire body hardly able to move inside.
He felt the individual who had wrapped him walk a few meters and hand him over to someone else while saying in a respectful manner, "He weighs 3.5 kilograms and has a height of 51 centimeters."
The person to which he was handed off to cradled him in her arms. "He's beautiful," she said.
Matt immediately recognized the voice of his mother. He felt comfort in hearing her, it being no longer muffled nor distorted by surrounding fluids and flesh. His eyes turned to her and smiled despite not being able to make out her features.
Close by to where his mother's voice had resounded, and deeper male voice said, "He has your eyes." Again, Matt recognized the voice as that of his father.
"Yes." Matt could practically hear Venelana smile. "He got your nose and jaw, though. At least he shares our hair."
Zeoticus chuckled, knowing how pleased his wife was that one of their children finally received some of her looks. "It's no red, but the rich auburn is nice too. Oh, he even has a little white patch of hair here." Matt then felt a finger softly touch a point on the top, front part of his head, directly above his right eye. "That'll look interesting when he grows it out."
At that moment, Matt heard a door open somewhere behind him. "How is he?" a newcomer asked. Matt didn't recognize the voice, but felt it bore close resemblance to his father's.
(Sirzechs?) Matt guessed.
"Come and see," Zeoticus responded.
Matt heard the sounds of Sirzechs coming forward, and also heard what he thought to be another pair of tiny footsteps following him. Drawing close, Venelana then passed Matt off to her eldest son.
Being handed off every few minutes, Matt was beginning to feel like a sack of potatoes.
Held by his brother, Sirzechs then said in a higher, exaggerated voice, "Hey there little guy. I'm your big brother."
Matt inwardly cringed, suddenly remembering how people changed their voices when talking to newborns. (People are going to talk like this for the next several months, huh? How fun…)
He then felt the sensation of Sirzechs crouching down with him. "Look, Rias. It's your baby brother. Say 'hi'."
Matt spread out his senses and felt the small body of Rias a little less than a meter from him. She stood there staring at him, seemingly unsure of what to do with the new, tiny person in front of her. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she took a cautious step forward and gave out a quiet, adorable, "Hi."
The surrounding adults all released an "Aawww" at her cuteness.
Even Matt thought her actions were adorable and decided to reward Rias with the best smile he could muster. His action caused the adults to give out yet another round of 'Aawws.'
Soon after, other people entered the room. Matt didn't know who any of them were, but figured that they all must be trusted figures of his parents or brother. To his dismay, however, he kept being passed around from one person to another as everyone wanted to get a good look of the new Gremory son. It was extremely annoying, and his frustration over the situation steadily grew. He hadn't even been fed yet, for Hell's sake.
Finally, his frustration reached a peak and he inwardly shouted, (I am not a damn toy!). He also let out a loud infant wail. "Waaaah!"
As he yelled out, a powerful aura was released from him that strongly shook the entire room and medical equipment. Matt realized what he had done and quickly brought his aura and emotions back under control. He waited for everyone's reactions, hoping he hadn't done anything too abnormal.
It had only lasted a few brief seconds, but it caused the entire room to go silent.
Finally, someone said, "Did you hear the set of lungs on that kid? Looks like no one will be sleeping well around here for the next while." Everyone laughed.
"That aura, though. Seems you've been blessed with yet another strong one."
Zeoticus and Venelana smiled at each other.
Sara then said – though Matt didn't know who she was – pointing at Sirzechs, "At least he's not a complete freak like you, destroying everything in the room and nearly killing me the moment you were born."
Sirzechs made a difficult face, wanting to retort to her calling him a freak. He could hardly be blamed for what he did as a newborn. However, he found it hard to speak against the woman who had helped in his birth. Instead, he let out a noncommittal chuckle and shrugged his shoulders.
The surrounding people continued with the casual talk for a while after that. Matt sighed, relieved that no one thought his previous actions as unusual. (I guess they think I'm just a really strong infant?)
Eventually, he made his way back to his mother's arms. She softly stroked his head for a minute before turning to Zeoticus and asking, "Have you decided on a name?"
The husband and wife had decided early in their marriage that Venelana would name any female children, and Zeoticus would name the males.
Matt could feel his father look at him deeply before he said, "Zeke. Zeke Gremory."
Venelana thought about it. "Zeke, hmmm? That's a good name. My little Zeke."
Matt, or rather Zeke, agreed. It was a good name. A strong name. It would take a while to get used to being called a different name after his twenty plus years being called Matt or Matthew, but he was happy with the change. He had always felt that Matthew was a bit too average and mediocre.
The conversation around him continued on, but having stayed awake for so long and having been passed around and receiving loads of stimulation, Zeke felt exhausted, and he quickly fell asleep.
**********
Some amount of time later, Zeke woke up hungry. He found himself with a diaper on, wrapped up snugly in a blanket, and laying down. The room was dark so he couldn't see any of his surroundings. Extending his senses, he felt someone sitting in a nearby, cushioned chair. The person felt like his mother, but now being out of her womb, he couldn't get a good read on her energy signature.
Zeke really wanted to cry out at that moment to get her to feed him, but he suddenly remembered something. He had tickets to spend.
(Gacha or food? Obviously, the gacha is more important) he thought. But before that, he had a request to make of the system.
(System, if I get an ability, like the eidetic memory I obtained last time, can I delay integrating it until a time of my choosing?)
In the last gacha, upon drawing the ability, it had been immediately absorbed by him, causing him to thrash in pain. Considering the situation he was in now, Zeke felt that it might be best to avoid anything that would cause him to thrash about. He didn't think it would be good for his mother's mental health to watch her newborn go through that. Instead, he wanted to look for a time when he was left alone for a few seconds to absorb such a skill.
[Confirmed. The system can change the settings to delay ability integration.]
(Perfect. Please do so.)
[Acknowledged. Gacha settings have been adjusted.]
(In that case, please spend my ten tickets.)
[Acknowledged. Spending 10 Premium tickets. Initiating gacha.]
If Zeke could move, he would have been rubbing his hands together as he watched the multicolored lights dance on the screen. It had been five months since his last draw and he finally had a chance to get more amazing skills or items.
(Please, please be something good.)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone