Chương 389: Planting a Seed

In the days following Liliths' birth, and leading up to to creation of the gate, Magnolia, Ishagr as a whole, and even Asora underwent several changes.

In Magnolia an entire section of the city was being remodeled to make room for the gate, and the bazaar that was planned to built around it, while numerous citizens were excitedly preparing for the day the gate would be activated. Normally it would be the citizens of an area that would be the most against such a different new addition, but after having to rebuild their livelihoods from scratch the citizens of Magnolia welcomed the help that Asora offered them.

With Ravel acting as the middle-man, many of the citizens of Magnolia had already established contracts with Asoran suppliers to sell their goods at the bazaar, and were in the process of dividing up spaces for the bazaar as they prepared for the day the gate was finished.

Meanwhile Toma was one of the hardest working people in his entire country, as currently he was trying to reestablish their entire economy, planning for his daughter's wedding(which would take place about a week before they planned to open the gate to the DXD world), and he was also working to prevent war from breaking out.

The day after he met with Alex for the first time, the first thing Toma did was send out messengers to every other kingdom on the continent of Ishgar to inform their respective leaders about the potential trade opportunities with Asora. As he had hoped, when the Kings or other rulers learned that they would be able to trade with Asora for the resources that would need, many of those who had been preparing for war quickly stood down.

For the most part the various rulers of the countries of Ishgar had respected each other as equals, and hadn't wanted to fight each other after the horrors they had all shared in over the last several years. Necessity had forced them to consider extreme courses of actions though, as, unlike Fiore which was peninsula surrounded by oceans with plenty of fish and fertile lands to grow crops, many of them didn't have the resources or environment needed to sustain their people through the next few months. And even with the benefits that countries like Fiore had, they knew they wouldn't be able to trade in the immediate future.

However, there were always those who simply wanted an excuse to go to war.

Not all the leaders of the different countries had gotten through the attacks from Darius's generals and followers unscathed, and as a result their entire country had gone through a series changes in the short time since their death. The kingdom of Seven was one such example, as the entire population of the kingdom that was able to mobilize was now gathered below their new king's castle, as the man himself appeared before them.

"My people-" The portly man started as he looked down at them from his great balcony. "Many years ago we lost our great king, and with a heavy heart I stepped forward to try and fill the void his magnificence left behind, despite the threat we faced from the so-called 'Dark Emperor'."

When he paused briefly to let the people recall those dark days, which had only ended very briefly, the man then continued,

"No matter how bleak those days were though we eventually saw the light, and the 'Dark Emperor' himself met his end!"at this point the crowd below him let out a deafening cheer as they celebrated Darius's death and the chance to return to their lives, before,

"HOWEVER-" The man added loudly, silencing their cheers as he continued, "Now I have just received word of a new threat, a different threat, 'Asorans'." Whispers spread as the people began to discuss what their king meant before he continued,

"Supposedly they are otherworlders that were the ones responsible for killing Darius and his armies, and supposedly they intend to open trade with Ishgar through the kingdom of Fiore; through which they will help us receive what we need to survive, like the food and supplies they had already given so many of our people! Well who are they kidding?!" With the people below him showing surprise at their new king's sudden shift in tone, he quickly added,

"They expect us to believe that they came to our world and killed our greatest enemy, simply because they wanted to 'trade' with us?" As he said that the people began to whisper and murmur amongst themselves, agreeing with their king regarding the suspiciousness of the actions of these 'Asorans'. He then regained their attention as his speech went on,

"First they supposedly killed Darius. Well, I ask you people, does the sheep question the farmer when he fights off wolves and other predators for them?" Seeing the people mutter and whisper amongst themselves, a hint of a smirk appeared at the edge of his mouth before he continued,

"And now they send out word about their desire to trade with us after Darius destroyed our way of life! Again! Does the sheep question the farmer safely leading it to plentiful grass, or giving it good grain?" This time the people's expressions and voices became noticeably angrier as several of them even shouted,

"""NO!!!"""

The Kings smirk widened as he delivered the finishing blow,

"And does the sheep question the farmer at all, even when it feels the blade of his knife against its throat?"

"""NO!!!"""

"THEN TELL ME, ARE YOU SHEEP!? OR ARE YOU WOLVES!?"

"""WOLVES!!!"""

The people shouted as one, making the King's smirk widen so much that there was no hiding it any more, but he didn't care as he declared,

"THEN MY FELLOW WOLVES, INSTEAD OF BEING LED TO THE INEVITABLE SLAUGHTER, MARCH! MARCH, AND TAKE WHAT THEY HAVE FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR FAMLIES!!!"

His declaration was followed by a deafening cheer as the people hurriedly swarmed in the direction of Fiore, wielding and wearing whatever they could find for makeshift armor and weapons as they marched, following the lead of their country's soldiers as they went to fight this enemy. Seeing this, the king began to laugh boisterously as he went back inside from the balcony to see his advisor waiting for him, an equally large smirk on his face as well.

"To think that worked so well!" He snorted with laughter as the king sat across from him, the table between them piled high with the food that their people had received from Anne's emergency response team. Instead of responding immediately as he sat down though, the king began to wolf down as much food as he could before following it with a generous amount of wine before finally saying,

"Of course! The Knights have no choice but to follow my orders, while the common folk are dumber than rocks! They'll probably march straight through the night to reach Fiore for me." The fat king cackled loudly at his own words, before he proceeded to dig back into the food before him.

Meanwhile, off to the side, a young man with features similar to the new king watched on with growing irritation and concern, until he finally erupted,

"Do you really think that they'll be able to fight off those who managed to defeat Darius though?! We might as well have just sent those men to their deaths!" The king looked at the man with undisguised annoyance and anger, before pointing a fork at him and saying,

"Don't think that just because you're my cousin you can just spout whatever you want whenever you want. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't have any brats to act as my heirs already, you'd be out there marching wth them!" He then proceeded to start stuffing his face once again, before adding,

"And besides, even if those 'Asorans' did defeat Darius and his army, there's no way they're ready for an attack this soon. Darius was the most powerful force this world had ever seen, so no matter who took him down they should have suffered loses and injuries of their own. I'm willing to bet that our men will not only be victorious in this battle, but will bring back tons of this delicious food and whatever magic or technology they used to fight Darius and his men!"

Cackling at his own boasting, the king then proceeded to continue stuffing his face as if he was a bottomless hole, while his advisor did the same across from him. Disgust evident on his face, the King's cousin could only retort,

"And if they don't?!" Rather than appear insulted at his cousin's outrage, the king simply pondered for a second, before a nasty smirk appeared on his face.

"Then that just means we'll have less mouths to feed!" The king then began to laugh loudly despite the topic being the slaughter of his own people, making his cousin scoff in disgust before storming out of the king's room angrily. The guards outside only shook their heads as they watched him go while listening to their king's laughter, knowing full well the feelings that currently plagued him.

Knights were the protectors of the people, while they served their king unwaveringly. Yet their previous king had led most of his knights in a charge to protect some of their citizens from one of Darius's general's, and as a result they had all been wiped out.

Now only a handful of Knights were left, and much of the nobility had gone with their king to his death, leaving them with a cruel and fat drunkard to assume the throne. However none of them would dare take the risk of trying to claim the throne themselves to try and lead the nation to a better future, as it would only lead to infighting and political collapse.

Those outside their king's chamber could only stand there and listen to his insane laughter, until the door finally closed and cut him off. Within the room though, the king continued laughing for several minutes until he finally seemed to think of something, and said,

"Heirs.... Perhaps it is time I consider having been some whore push out a brat or two, but which one? They would still need to have the right lineage..." The king and his advisor pondered for several seconds before he suddenly thought of someone, and said with a disgusting sneer,

"I wonder how that princess Hisui is now? She was just a little brat when I last saw her, but now she aught to be a real looker! And who better to bear my 'royal' children than a real princess!?" Again, as if he thought he was the funniest man on the planet, the fat man began to howl with laughter as he imagined bedding the beautiful princess.

He was so distracted by his own laughter, that neither him nor his advisor noticed a robed figure step from the shadows, their hood drawn to hide their face and rabbit ears. And his booming voice made it so their neither had also been able to hear the whispering rasp of metal on metal, as the assassin's blade slowly slid out from within their sleeve.

...

Meanwhile the men he had sent out had continued to march for hours on end, until the sun started to hang low in the sky, and they arrived at the mouth of the mountain pass that led to the kingdom of Fiore.

This area was just one of the many mountains and craggy slopes that made up the northern country of Seven, and were a part of why they were able to do little more with their region other than ranching, or mining. However, as they entered the mouth of the pass, the small army of peasants froze as they encountered the most bizarre sight any of them had ever beheld; several grand tables laden with delicious looking food, while at the center sat a solitary man as he ate from his own plate.

"About time you all got here, I thought the food was going to get cold. Sit."

Rather than immediately do as the man bid, one of the few knights present stepped forward and declared,

"We are here at the command of our king, state your business or we will remove you!" The man shrugged at the knight's warning, as if to say 'oh well', and used a napkin to wipe whatever crumbs of food there was around his mouth before saying,

"My name is Sairaorg Bael, and I am in charge of the military affairs in Asora." When Sairaorg introduced himself many of those making up the pitiful army immediately brandished their makeshift weapons, trying to make themselves appear threateningly as they all but attacked him.

Rather than appearing perturbed at their behavior though, Sairaorg simply took another bite of his food before saying,

"I am here at the command of our emperor, to personally tell all of you that we harbor no ill will towards the people of this world." Instead of being relieved, the knight at the head of the army tensed even more before demanding,

"And why should we believe you?! You are aliens to our world, with motives and powers far beyond anything we are obviously capable of! Why would we believe that you simply came here to trade with us?" Sairaorg only shrugged at the man's accusations, and said,

"We originally came here and created the gate for entirely different reasons to begin with anyways, opening trade was simply an opportunity we decided to take since we were opening a permanent route into this world." As he finished speaking, Sairaorg wiped his mouth clean once more and continued as he stood,

"With Darius gone we have no more cause for conflict in this world, but we will answer in return if someone seeks us harm." Sairaorg then paused momentarily, as the entire mountain pass around them began to tremble in response to his threat.

The people cowed and stumbled in the face of Sairaorg's overwhelming presence, before he concluded as the rumbling began to subside,

"Now then, you can either lay down your weapons and have some of this food we've prepared, or you can persist in trying to go to war with us, and I can slaughter you all here and now. Make your choice."

***

While Sairaorg was dealing with the people of Earthland, Asora itself was in an entirely different mood as its people set up what appeared to be a festival.

"We really should do stuff like this more often!" The always bubbly Irina exclaimed happily as she ate her shaved ice, before her closest friend Xenovia replied from within her pile of prizes,

"Too bad there aren't more games for me to beat you at though Irina..." The twin tailed angel rounded on her friend at her provocation, and declared,

"Geez Xenovia! Not everything has to be a competition you know!" Xenovia simply dead panned at her friend before saying,

"Aren't you the one who kept challenging me though?" Irina suddenly looked away at her words, and said sheepishly,

"I have no idea what you're talking about..." Xenovia's stare intensified at her words, but before she could say anything there was a sudden buzz of excitement around them as people spread the word, the main event that they had all gathered for had finally begun.

Far from the edge of the festival tents and canopies, the people gathered around Alex and Anne as they made preparations for the day's main event, planting the great tree seed that Anne had acquired back at the Haltina Sea of Trees Labyrinth.

They had been waiting for this day for quite some time now, the event being postponed due to Anne's pregnancy and then the year-long winter they had while Alex was in the Rosario Vampire world. Now however it was finally time to plant the seed, and officially establish the great park that Anne and the others had wanted to create.

"Are you ready?" Alex asked Anne, who was filled with nerves as she replied,

"As I'll ever be!" Anne was quite nervous since she had been waiting for this moment for a long time(what with how much time she'd spent in the space-time orb and all), and she was hoping the great tree would live up to the expectations they had placed on it.

With Alex by her side to support her though, Anne confidently stepped forward to the middle of the clearing that they had decided to plant the tree in, giving it plenty of room to grow as it needed. There they found a small hole that had been prepared beforehand, where Anne knelt down and pulled out the small seed.

"It's time..." She said to it, knowing that tiny seed had literally been waiting several millennia to finally be planted.

She then gently placed it into the hole, and pushed the dirt back into it with her recently acquired earth bending. Stepping back with Alex as the seed was planted, Anne then called upon the power she had that gave her control over plants, and funneled energy into the tiny seed. For a moment nothing happened, before suddenly a green and brown shoot erupted from the ground.

The ground rumbled as the tree'a roots spread and thickened, supporting the massive trunk as it extended ever upwards, and out.

"Ngh!" Anne groaned as her power rapidly drained into the ever growing tree, before she suddenly felt a rush of relief as Alex placed his hand upon her shoulder.

"Transfer!" He declared, sending another rush of energy into her to fuel the tree's growth even further, as it continued to tower over them.

On and on the tree grew ever upward and outwards, as Alex continued to pour his own energy into Anne, and her into the great tree as it simply continued growing. It wasn't until the tree dwarfed even the greatest of skyscrapers in both height and width that it's growth finally seemed to start slowing, until it finally stopped.

At its base the tree was over two hundred feet wide, much, much larger than their original estimates, while its canopy was crowned at over three thousand feet in the air, and was spread more than two thousand feet across. All across the festival the people of Asora stared up in awe of the thing that now towered above them, before they began to notice the changes in their surroundings.

Around them the grass and leaves on the bushes and trees had become noticeably greener and thicker, while a slightly sweet fragrance hung in the air. Unknown to them, the same effect was happening for hundreds of miles in every direction of the great tree, as it's very presence brought an increase in life around it.

The only ones to actually notice the depth of the great tree's influence though was Nana and Momo, as their gifts to speak with plants and animals told them of the changes already taking place around them. The plant life around them was practically singing with joy as the great tree's presence filled them with energy, while various small creatures and birds eagerly raced towards the great tree to find a new home.

Even the Yuuki-Onna, who could barely tolerate the spring warmth away from their village, couldn't help the awe they felt at that moment, while also feeling indescribably small. The dragons and phoenixes also couldn't help the feelings that swept through them, as the branches of the tree were even large enough that they could easily perch upon them with plenty of room.

As he gazed upon the tree before them, Alex turned towards Anne while he also supported her slightly after expending so much energy.

"This is amazing." He said to her, before giving the beautiful brown skinned woman a kiss. Anne smiled against his lips before murmuring back,

"WE are amazing." This time Alex smiled against her lips before he broke off the kiss and turned to look at those gathered behind them, beginning with his wives and children, to each and every one of Asora's residents.

Seeing Alex turn towards them, the Asorans let loose a great cheer at the planting of the great tree, and the official creation of their park.

...

Later Alex and Anne were sitting atop one of the branches of the great tree, overlooking Asora spreading out below them while Alec and Anna slept in their arms.

Currently the little girl was hugging Alex like a little spider monkey, her chin resting on his left shoulder, while Anne was hugging Alec into her breasts while he was still small enough to do so. Anne herself was resting her head on Alex's other shoulder, while she absentmindedly played with her son's hair.

"To think..." Anne began suddenly in a soft voice that barely concealed a hint of a chuckle. "-the great Dragon Emperor brought down by a group of children." Alex did chuckle lightly at her jest as he recalled playing with his children earlier, taking care not to wake the little girl drooling on his shoulder, before saying,

"Well they are my children you know, gotta let them win every now and then before I begin training them." Despite the good mood they just had, Anne frowned slightly before asking,

"Do you really need to train them to fight?" Alex nodded slowly and lightly, before saying,

"Yes. They need to know how to defend themselves if necessary, and how to control their own strength." Anne's frown only deepened as she looked down at her sweet baby boy and girl, and said,

"Still, what if they don't want to learn how to fight? Did you think of that?" Alex smiled wryly as Anne tried to dissuade him from training the children, and explained,

"That's fine, as long as they are able to protect themselves then I'll be content. After the scare with Edith, I would prefer them resenting me while being able to protect themselves, than something happening to them that I know I could've prevented." As he said that Alex tightened his hold on Anna slightly, as if afraid that something would happen to her then and there despite his presence.

Anne however was silent as she forced herself to imagine going through what Gabriel had, and similarly tightened her hold on Alec. She still wanted to protest Alex's training their children, but she also couldn't refute his concerns.

There was also their innate strength to take into consideration, as there had already been a few incidents with the children destroying their toys and even crushing metal and wooden furniture with their grips. Even if Anne and the other mothers didn't want them to learn to fight, they would still need to learn how to control their own strength.

After several seconds of silence Anne finally said,

"Fine, but you can't start right away and you have to take it easy on them!" Alex chuckled lightly at her demands, and said,

"Don't worry. I don't plan to start right away, just in the near future. And keep in mind that they're Saiyan children, they'll be able to take everything I throw at them and even more." As he said that Alex recalled how quickly Gohan, Goten, and Trunks had grown in Dragon Ball Z, the former achieving the Super Saiyan transformation by the age of ten or eleven, while the latter two achieved it at the age of seven and eight respectively.

Of course Alex fully expected that his children would quickly outpace all three of the half Saiyans from the series, even if Trunks did start training from the moment he could walk. The reason was due to the fact that he had already mastered the first form of the super Saiyan transformations when Edith had been conceived, and had only grown stronger since, while each of his children would also have the power of dragons, Devils, and whatever their mother was.

Edith for example would posses the strength of a Saiyan, the power of a dragon, the magic capabilities of a devil, and the holy powers of an archangel. Meanwhile Mai would also posses the innate powers of the Nekoshou like Koneko, Regal would have Ravel's immortality as a Phoenix, Lizzy and Ryuto were both super devils, Yuki and Aurora were both Yuuki-Onna, and Shuri would be able to use the same holy lightning as Akeno.

In short, even if their mother was regular human like Kotegawa Yui, Yuuki Mikan, or Haruna, all of Alex's children would have an unbelievable potential compared to normal Saiyans or half Saiyans, it was just a matter of teaching them control.

Though he had no intention of forcing them to fight, Alex still shuddered as he imagined what his children would be capable of in the future when their powers awakened.