บท 269: Chapter 269
FG 269:
–Layla–
"We're back," I said with a small yawn after stepping through the portal. I was mentally drained from all that craziness. How did a relaxing day at the beach turn into me saving an entire universe?
"Welcome back, Layla. You two were out late. Did anything happen?" Rias asked, wiggling her eyebrows. She was sitting on the couch with her brother, while Grayfia stood dutifully to the side holding a tray of tea. The woman really took her maid fetish to a whole new level and never broke character. I had to respect her for that.
I let out a wistful sigh. "I wish something like that had happened. Instead, I ended up getting into a fight with an alien dictator who had enslaved another version of Earth with his superpowered totalitarian regime." I gave her the short version.
Sona walked into the living room holding a steaming cup of coffee. She pouted at me before reaching into her pocket and pulling out $20. She begrudgingly handed the money to Rias, who took it smugly.
"You couldn't have not gotten into a fight on just one outing, Layla?" Sona asked in disappointment.
I sputtered at them. "You guys bet on whether I'd get into a fight or not?"
"Yep!" Rias said happily, pocketing the cash. It was less about the money and more about beating Sona that excited her. "I bet you'd get into a crazy, world-changing battle, and Sona bet that you and Artemis would just have sex the entire time."
This time Artemis sputtered next to me. "Wha—hey! I'm not that easy! I'm not the type of girl to put out on the first date…no matter how amazing it was. You girls should have seen the beach; it had the softest sand and the clearest ocean water I've ever seen."
Rias sat up and grabbed Artemis by the hand. "You need to tell us all the details!" she said while dragging Artemis out of the room. "We're having girl time!" she called out over her shoulder as Sona hurried after them.
I just stood there, pointing at myself. "Am I not a girl…?"
Sirzechs simply gave me a shrug as I sat down on the couch next to him. There was a momentary awkward silence, as expected. "So…brother-in-law, how's it going in your Underworld?"
"Fine," he said curtly. "It would be better if some goddess from another dimension didn't kidnap my baby sister and her best friend."
[Oof…]
"Y—yeah…don't you hate it when that happens…?" I glanced up at Grayfia to see if she would say anything. She didn't. She just stood next to her husband in silence.
I don't think Sirzechs and I were ever going to get along…
[Probably not, but at least he's not trying to kill you anymore!]
I hesitantly patted him on the shoulder before standing back up and heading towards the nursery. Inside, I found Serafall and Cecilia taking care of all three of my daughters.
"Sia-tan made a big stinky…" Serafall whined to her mother, glancing down at the dirty diaper in her hand in mortification. "I forgot how much babies poop. Sona never pooped this much!"
Cecilia scoffed at her eldest daughter. "Yes, she did. You just never had to change her. You're the big, bad Maou Leviathan—you made all the servants change her diapers."
"Hi, you two. Thanks for watching the girls," I said, walking in. Each of my girls giggled as I gave them a kiss in their cribs. "If you want to get some breakfast, I'll leave a shadow clone to watch them," I said as another clone poofed next to me. My clone immediately took the dirty diaper out of Serafall's hands and incinerated it with her Light. No ashes or smell remained. I had long since mastered this cleanup technique with having three daughters at the same time.
[I wonder if your father would turn in his grave if he knew you used the Divine Light he granted you to clean up poop?]
"…So, Layla, I thought this could be a good time for me to get to know you better. After all, I'm going to be entrusting you with both of my daughters—the future of the Sitiri Clan." Cecilia said as we sat down for breakfast.
I nodded at her. "You have some questions? Feel free to ask away. I'm an open book," I said.
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that." Serafall gave me a look of pity from across the table.
Cecilia looked pleased at my response. I noticed a certain gleam in her eye before she started. "What do you do, Layla?" Sona's mother asked me.
"Hm," I put my finger on my chin. "I do a lot of things. I protect the world whenever a huge threat pops up. And I like to explore other universes—as you know. Also—"
Cecilia cut me off. "So you're currently unemployed," she said bluntly.
[Haha! I like her!]
Serafall started snickering while sending me a look of pity. "Told you~" she singsonged.
"I—I'm not unemployed. I'll have you know that I own my own company—Fallcorp! We're cutting-edge when it comes to gene therapy and space travel."
Cecilia nodded at me, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "And how many hours a week do you spend working at Fallcorp?"
"How many hours a week…?" I repeated her question nervously. I hardly spent more than a couple of hours in that building in the past year…
[Yeah, you dumped the whole company on your older sister when you realized you weren't cut out for business.]
'I don't want to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day! I have literal superpowers!' I defended myself.
[So does your older sister…]
"I'll take that as zero..." Cecilia sighed, looking at me disappointedly. She put her hand on her cheek and let out another sigh. "To think I'm entrusting the entire future of my clan to a womanizing layabout... Oh, how far must we have fallen. Poor Sona, she's going to open up her own academy one day. What will people think when they find out her wife is unemployed and sits around all day…" I couldn't tell if she was being serious or not, and I could be a master actress when I wanted to.
[She's good. She's really good.]
Mother-in-laws are scary! Why did no one ever warn me about this? "I wouldn't consider myself a... layabout. I routinely go on adventures, and most of them end up being fruitful. I'm more like a Xianxia protagonist! I'm like a modern-day hero of old," I declared proudly.
"That sounds like you travel around beating people up and taking their stuff," Serafall said. "You know most Xianxia protagonists are just plain murder hobos, right?"
"That's n-not what I meant..." I said with a small stutter.
"Oh, if that's true, then where did you get your spaceship?" Cecilia asked me. "Did you buy it or did you beat someone up and steal it?"
[You beat someone up and stole it...]
Cecilia and Serafall both gave me knowing judgmental looks. I couldn't exactly argue that they were wrong when that was pretty much exactly what happened.
"...You know what, I would love to continue this conversation, but I just remembered that I have something to do!" I quickly stood up from the kitchen table and dashed out of the kitchen. I obviously didn't know what I just remembered, but I would think of something to do!
–Cecilia Sitri–
"That was mean, Mom~" Serafall said teasingly. "You made her so nervous that she ran away."
She put her hand on her cheek and giggled. "Ara, I don't know what you're talking about, dear. I was just trying to get to know my daughter-in-law better."
"Uh huh, sure you were. Everyone knows that you enjoy teasing people, everyone except Layla obviously." Serafall caught her red handed.
That was partially true. Cecilia did enjoy teasing people, but that wasn't the entire truth. She wanted to get a small measure of Layla's character as well. Most prideful Devils would simply get angry when confronted with a harsh truth or her patented over-the-top teasing. Instead of lashing out, Layla simply got cutely embarrassed and ran away.
"She'll make a good partner for Sona at least. Your little sister can be far too serious at times and needs someone who's not as uptight," Cecilia said thoughtfully.
Serafall harrumphed. "And what about me? Do you think she'll make a good partner for me? I won't make it easy! Not after she took my precious So-tan's innocence!" she exclaimed with a pout.
Cecilia pondered thoughtfully for a moment. She knew that a lot of her daughter's over-the-top personality was actually an act. Serafall did love her sister–romantically, but she didn't care that much that Sona had actually taken a lover before her. It's not like Serafall had been saving herself for her precious "So-tan" either. Cecilia was well aware of the various lovers that Serafall had over the past few centuries. Cecilia always hoped that one of them would stick around and give her a grandchild, but they never ended up working out long term. Serafall was simply a woman who liked to keep herself busy. None of her past partners could handle putting up with her eldest daughter's busy schedule. Basically, they were all too clingy…
Cecilia thought that Layla could be a different kind of partner for Serfall. Layla had other lovers already, so she wouldn't be demanding Serafall's attention constantly. She was also fairly busy herself, but the Fallen Angel Goddess was able to make clones of herself at will to completely mitigate that issue. Cecilia could admit that she was jealous of that ability. Being able to create a clone of herself with all of her memories would save so much paperwork time…
"I think you and Layla could be good together." she told her daughter truthfully. "If you spend some time together, I think you'll find you enjoy each other's company. Plus, you both being together would be very good for our family. Especially if we agree to Layla's plan and move to this universe." Cecilia explained her thoughts to her daughter.
"D-Do you think her plan has any merit?" Serafall asked. "I've talked it over with Sirzechs, but neither of us are sure."
She raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Aren't you the Maou? One of the leaders of our race. Should you really be asking your mother for advice anymore?"
Serafall immediately nodded her head. "Of course! Sirzechs asks his mom for advice all the time! I think she even secretly helps him do a lot of his paperwork. I've noticed that a lot of the forms he turns in are sometimes written with different handwriting."
Cecilia facepalmed. "You probably shouldn't spread that kind of rumor outside of me and you. We don't want people rising up in anger when they find out Venelana Gremory is secretly running the Underworld behind the scenes."
Serafall shrugged. "Everyone already knows she secretly runs the Gremory Clan. She literally just threw a harem at her husband to keep him happy and distracted while she manages the entire estate and all of its businesses."
Cecilia nodded. Venelana and she were childhood friends… And lovers in their younger days. Unfortunately, Venelana wasn't born into the main household of the Bael Clan. Despite being the second most powerful user of the Power of Destruction at the time, she was still forced into an arranged marriage with the Gremory Clan. Everyone thought she would end up becoming a powerless trophy wife, but she managed to pretty much conquer the entire estate in only a few years. Cecilia was always impressed with the woman.
It was strange that her daughter wasn't anywhere close to as cunning, but everyone knew Rias was spoiled rotten growing up. Cecilia took a more hands-on parenting approach with Sona to avoid that problem. Venelana and Cecilia had a secret rivalry when it came to their daughters. They both wanted to see which heiress would one day rise to greater heights. And then both of their daughters ended up running away and "marrying" the same woman. That had definitely thrown them for a loop. Venelana wasn't even able to come on this trip because she was running damage control with the Underworld and their business partners, the Phenex Clan. Her husband, who spent the majority of his days buried between women's legs, actually pulled his head out and vocally spoke out against his daughter's decision to "betray" the family. Of course, once he'd said his piece he hopped right back between those legs and left his wife to clean up the mess.
As Cecilia was pondering, Sirzechs and his wife walked into the kitchen.
"We saw Layla storm off while muttering to herself. I suspect you had a pretty interesting conversation with her?" Sirzechs said with a chuckle.
Cecilia shrugged. "Nothing too important. I was just giving her some light teasing about her lifestyle. You came in at a good time. Serafall and I were just discussing Layla's proposal."
"The proposal to move the entire New Satan Faction to this universe's Underworld? After she clears the place out of our soul-eating counterparts?" he asked.
"That's the one!" Serafall said cheerfully. "I was asking my mom about her opinion."
"I think it could be a fresh start for our race, but we would need to be a lot more exclusive than my daughter-in-law proposed. At the end of the day, she was a Fallen Angel. She doesn't understand just how messed up a lot of Devils truly are. While it's true that we don't eat souls, many members of our race are certainly not saints," Cecilia explained.
Serafall frowned before she spoke. "So, you want to accept her proposal to move, but you don't want to allow the entire New Satan Faction to join us. You want to leave most of them behind? That would be cutting our numbers down even more so..."
"Yes, but in this world, we wouldn't be constantly under threat by the Fallen Angels and the Angels in Heaven. The former have moved to Asgard, and the latter won't attack us without Layla's permission, which they would never have as long as Layla is married to three Devil girls," Cecilia said, mentioning Rias, Sona, and Serafall. "Our total population is about 3 million, and out of those numbers, I'd say 2 million of us aren't going to 'fit in' with this new universe." And that was her being generous. Her race was truly full of entitled degenerates.
A lot of "members" of the New Satan Faction only joined at the very end of the Civil War when victory was all but guaranteed. There were a lot of fence sitters who only wanted to join the winning side of the war. Most of those older were the older Devils who were far too entrenched in their old ways to ever change their vile lifestyles.
"It'll be pretty tough to rebuild our population with only 1 million Devils, but I can't say it also won't be easier if we leave behind the most evil members of our race," Sirzechs said, weighing their options.
"That's for sure!" Serafall said with a sigh. "Almost 90% of my job is preventing all the wars that those idiots keep causing! It would be nice to actually be able to get stuff done for once. Plus, the Underworld is massive. Without the Fallen Angels taking up half of it and the Old Satans taking up a full quarter, we'll have plenty of room to expand. We wouldn't have to worry about overpopulation for tens of thousands of years with our low birth rates!" Serafall exclaimed.
"Of course, all of this depends on us staying on Layla's good side," she said before turning to Serafall. "Which means, you need to go and spend some time with her. You should catch off before she runs off too far. And please tell her I'm sorry, I was only teasing her. I honestly don't care whether she has a job or not." Cecilia said. 'Not when the 14 winged woman can casually blow up planets…' she thought to herself.
"Ok, mom. I'll see you guys later."
While Serafall left to go spend time with Layla, Cecilia stayed behind with Sirzechs to iron out the details of their plan.
–Layla–
"Hi, Layla! Whatcha doing?" Serafall popped up behind me.
I was sitting on the edge of the roof, my feet dangling off the edge. "I'm keeping an eye on the city. Your mom was right. I suppose I could be doing more, especially with all the enemies I keep provoking."
Serafall plopped down next to me and placed her hand on her chin. "You know my mom was just teasing you, right? She honestly doesn't care what you do with your life. At the end of the day, Devils respect power above all else; that's how we are wired."
"I figured it was something like that, but that didn't mean she wasn't at least a little bit right. Plus, the world Artemis and I just came from gave me a few ideas."
"What was that world like?" Serafall asked curiously.
"It was full of professional superheroes. They fought crime all around the world and kept people safe."
Serafall grinned at the thought of a world like that. "Really? Were there any Magical Girls there?"
I nodded my head, and she squealed in excitement.
"That's great! So what happened?" she asked.
"Most of the superheroes turned evil and tried to enslave the world under a totalitarian regime. Artemis and I beat the crap out of their leaders, and I left a clone behind to help clean up the world," I explained, and Serafall deflated.
"That sucks..." she said while pouting. "I don't really see how you plan on taking inspiration from that unless you want to take over this world. I don't think anyone would be able to fight you if you did."
I shrugged. "Eh, you'd be surprised. When up against a wall, the Avengers tend to pull off some pretty impressive bullshit. If Tony Stark tried, I'm pretty sure he could casually create time travel in only a few hours."
"What!?" Serafall exclaimed in shock. She obviously hadn't met him yet.
I waved her off. "We're getting off topic," I said. "I've been thinking about creating my own hero team. A team trained exclusively by me, one that can help combat bad guys around the world and in space."
SHIELD does its spy stuff pretty well, and the Avengers are great—when they are available. That was the thing though, they weren't always available because every single member had their own day jobs on top of being heroes. Even Natasha's day job was being a spy. She could be gone on missions for over a month at a time at some points.
Then there were groups like the X-men–they only bothered turning up if mutants were in danger or causing the danger. They didn't really give a shit whether or not regular humans were under attack. Hence, not a single one of them showed up during the demonic invasion even though the X-men's base is located close by upstate.
"You want to create a team of full time professional heroes?" Serafall asked with a small giggle. "That sounds a bit silly, like something out of a manga! …I have to admit I'd be interested in seeing the results though. Maybe Miracle Levia-tan will stop by once in a while…" she suggested. I told her that she was more than welcome to if my plans ended up working.
Serafall and I spent the next hour on the roof just chatting. Without her sister there to distract her, I found that she was able to hold a perfect conversation. As we were talking, at some point she reached her hand out and took hold of my own…
XXX
A/N: Handholding… How Lewd!
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