C 148:
The Ancient One portaled away as soon as Gabriel returned the Time Stone to her. I knew that the reason the Ancient One was always slightly hesitant with me was due to not being human. Gabriel giving the stone back with zero hesitation had definitely improved both of our reputations with the woman though.
[I've been thinking. It's good that the Ancient One did not hand you the Time Stone…]
'Why is that?' I asked the System.
[There is a possibility that the Eldritch Eye in your Sacred Gear might have tried to eat it the second it touched your skin…]
I cringed. I'd like to say that wouldn't have happened, but the Eye had been more than happy about gobbling up the Space Stone from the Zombie Universe…
"Well, that was an interesting experience." Gabriel commented as she looked around. "I'm glad that I was able to help restore such a beautiful landscape. I'll have to show Michael this place once the worlds come back together. If the system truly collapses, he'll have a lot less work to do by then at least." She said with a shrug.
"Are you leaving now?" I asked her. Gabriel was only supposed to stay a few hours at most, but she'd already been here over a day. I was very thankful for that, of course. Gabriel's impromptu vacation was what ended up saving me.
Gabriel looked depressed. "Yes. I've been away for too long. Michael is probably crying over all the backed-up paperwork. I need to be a good sister and go help him." Gabriel sighed as she spread her arms wide towards me. "One last hug before I go?"
Gabriel and I hugged goodbye. "I'll see you later then. Take care." I said. I opened a portal to send Gabriel back to Earth DxD's heaven.
"I suppose that I might as well head home now too." I muttered out loud as I opened up another portal back to my New York penthouse. Before I could step through though, I heard a boom directly above me in the sky. I looked up and saw a familiar rainbow light descending towards the ground.
The Bifrost slammed down onto the ground nearby! The bright rainbow light died down, and I raised an eyebrow when I saw who had arrived. It was Sif. She was fully donned in a new set of Golden Armor, and her sword was already drawn.
"Layla! My love! I am here to aid you in glorious battle!" Sif declared as she brandished her sword and held it high in the air. "Come, Demon! I shall slay you where you stand!" Sif rapidly looked around the area for the enemy Heimdall probably told her I was facing. She frowned when she didn't see the Demon anywhere. She was a tad bit late…
"You're a bit late for the fight Sif…" I said. "Gabriel and I killed him a few minutes ago. I was just heading home, actually." I said as I gestured to the still open portal next to me…
Sif sheathed her sword and blushed in embarrassment. "I went out of my way to make a heroic entrance and everything to impress Layla, and it was all for naught…" Sif mumbled quietly to herself. I heard everything of course. She turned towards the heavens and scowled. "Damn you, Heimdall! You should have told me the battle was over before you sent me down here!" She yelled while shaking her fist at the sky angrily.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Come on, I just had a crazy battle and now I just want to relax." I said and started walking towards my portal.
…
"Miss Layla! You're back! Oh, and Lady Sif is as well!" Asia said excitedly as Sif and I stepped through the portal. Akeno and Asia were sitting on her couch watching TV. Natasha wasn't in the penthouse though. I wondered if she'd left.
Akeno was frowning at me. "It's about time you came back! In case you forgot, neither Asia nor I have any money here and we're starving! You've been gone for hours!"
"Oh…" I felt bad about that. It completely slipped my mind. 'Now that I think about it, I wonder how Gabriel managed to go around for an entire day with no money either…'
[She's Gabriel…people probably just gave her free shit as soon as they laid eyes on her…]
That's true.
"Layla! If you've taken in two charges, then it's only proper for you to provide them with an allowance." Sif admonished me.
"I'm sorry, you two." I said to Akeno and Asia. I reached into my inventory and pulled out whatever random cash was inside. "Here's…" I took a second to count the money with [Observe], "14,734 dollars… Split that between the two of you until I get your identities here set up. Then you'll both have your own bank accounts and credit cards." I said. I was thankful that I would probably never be hurting for money again at least. Not with my inventory still full of plundered asgardian gold.
Akeno looked at the wads of cash with surprise and Asia was just stuttering speechlessly as she held more money than she'd ever seen before. Akeno took half of the money and quickly put it in her own magical storage space. "At least you're more accommodating than Rias was..."
"Her family was filthy rich though. She didn't give you money?" I asked.
Akeno scoffed. "They were rich, but she didn't get a lot of money from them because they didn't approve of her being in the human world. Most of the money we also got was spent on her growing anime merchandise collection. On top of that, Kuoh wasn't a community swimming in money so the people we mainly formed contracts with were usually broke as well."
The more you know, I guess…
I turned towards Asia who was looking at her pile of cash awkwardly. She didn't know any storage magic… She didn't know any magic at all now that I thought about it.
Thankfully, Sif came to the rescue. She pulled out a small gold ring. "Here you go, young Asia. In Asgard, many people need a way to carry bulk items but the society looks down on magic. Therefore, we buy these storage rings from the Vanir. I don't use it because I have been practicing my own storage magic more often. You may keep it as a gift."
"Asgardians look down on magic, but they still buy magic rings from the Light Elves?" I asked as Asia took the ring from Sif and slipped it on. Asia looked utterly delighted to receive a 'present.' She even had some budding happy tears in her eyes.
Sif shook her head with a sigh. "No one ever claimed Asgard's warriors were the brightest in the universe…"
XXX
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C 149
As we were all talking, I heard the elevator to my penthouse arrive on my floor. It opened up and inside was Natasha. "I'm back, girls." She said as she walked in. "Sorry i had to take a call outside, the cell reception in this place isn't that great–" Natasha froze when she saw me and Sif. She slipped her communicator into her pocket and marched up to me with a scowl. "What the hell, Layla!? You just completely took me out of the fight back there!"
"I'm sorry, Nata–"
"And who are you to talk to Layla that way!?" Sif jumped in front of me and cut me off...
"I'm Natasha Romanoff! Layla and I are together, so you can butt out. Whoever you are…" Natasha replied to Sif.
"Well, I am also Layla's lover! I am the Goddess Sif of Asgard!" Sif replied herself.
I watched from the side as the two women registered what each other had just said. Both of my lovers glared at each other before they turned to me.
Uh oh…
[I wish I could eat food. I'd love some popcorn right about now… Good luck Host!]
"Layla! How could you be with such a brazen woman as this that disrespects you so!?" Sif asked while pointing at Natasha.
"Excuse me!? I'm wondering why she would bother with a woman like you who speaks for her and doesnt even give her the time to respond to me!" Natasha spat back.
"I have done no such thing! Tell her, Layla!" Sif claimed indignantly.
"Well actually–" I started to speak but got cut off.
"You've already cut her off twice so far! It was rude!" Natasha said while interrupting me.
"Oh yeah? Well, I'll have you know that…"
…
I walked over towards Akeno and Asia who had taken a seat on the couch and were watching this spectacle play out. I took a seat on the couch next to the two of them as Sif and Natasha continued to throw passive aggressive jabs at each other.
"Um...Miss Layla. Shouldn't you stop them?" Asia asked while looking towards the bickering women with concern.
"Ara. I underestimated you, Aunt Layla. To think you were capable of two timing such beautiful ladies." Akeno smirked at me.
[Technically it's four timing at this point, but who's counting?]
"Welcome to the wonderful world of having a harem. Sometimes your lovers get along great, and sometimes they don't…" I trailed off and was thankful that at least the two of them weren't physically fighting.
"LOVERS!?" Asia asked in shock with a bright red face.
"Ufufu!"
I reached into my inventory and pulled out my phone. I handed it to Akeno. "Go ahead and order a bunch of food. Let's have a celebratory feast! Get whatever you want." I told her. I stood back up and with a sigh, I walked back over towards Sif and Natasha. "This might take a while…" I muttered.
–An hour and a half later–
"Food's here!" Akeno called out from the kitchen and I actually thanked my dead father for the timely intervention! These two had been bickering longer than I had thought possible! Thankfully, they both seemed to be wearing down as time went on and I could hear both of their stomachs growling at this point. I made my way towards the kitchen.
Akeno certainly didn't order frugally. I saw a whole spread of pizzas, wings, ribs, and… "Did you also order Filet Mignon, Akeno?" I asked in surprise.
"Ufufu! You bet I did!" Akeno grinned as she cut into her $200 steak. "The food at the Grigori HQ was alright, but nothing quite beats a Wagyu steak!" Akeno took another bite and moaned.
"Thank you, God, for this incredible feast before us." Asia prayed quickly before she started digging in as well with no hesitation. "I've never been part of a feast before!" Her plate was piled half a foot high with all kinds of food. I'd have to remind Akeno later that Asia was still a human and could still get fat if she ate too much. I wouldn't say anything during Asia's first feast though.
Now that both Natasha and Sif had some food in them, they had calmed down. I was very thankful for that.
"So you're Natasha..." Sif asked as she not so subtly inspected my redheaded lover across the table.
"And you're Sif…" Natasha did the same.
"...You've got some fire in you." Sif complemented her.
"...I could say the same about you." Natasha replied. "I can see why Layla likes you."
"I could say the same as well." Sif grinned back. The two of them locked eyes with each other and came to some kind of non verbal agreement that i wasn't a part of. I let out a sigh of relief now that they were at least being cordial with each other.
"So what are we celebrating with all this food, Miss Layla?" Asia asked me in between bites. "Is today some holiday that I don't know about?" Akeno looked inquisitive as well.
"Nothing too special," I said with a sly grin. "I just killed the King of Gehenna today. He was a Super Level Demon."
""EEEEEEEeeeeehhhhhh!!!!!"" Asia and Akeno exclaimed at the same time!
Natasha stopped her conversation with Sif to speak to me. "Oh right. Fury really wants to know everything about that fight. He's especially interested in whatever that green magic was that completely repaired all the damage afterwards."
"You can tell him to give me a call tomorrow. Tonight we're just going to celebrate!"
"Wonderful! Now where do you keep your mead, Layla?" Sif said excitedly while standing up. "I shall fetch us all a mug to make a toast!"
"Um, Sif… Mead isn't really popular on midgard anymore. Hardly anyone actually drinks it anymore." I replied.
Sif slumped back down and looked devastated to hear that. "TELL ME IT ISN'T SO!"
XXX
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