The Abyssal Lord (DxD)

“...Brother, isn't there anything you can do to make Riser not come?”

Rias's tired voice was heard by her peerage members, who slowly gathered around her after they all finished handling the strays.

“Riser? Who's that?”

Issei, noticing the sour look on his president's face, combined with the halted breath that Kiba and Koneko seemed to be holding in, made him quite curious.

“Hey, Koneko-chan” *muttering*

So, to avoid being the only one that's out of the loop, he decided to ask his quite junior, what? You think he'll ask Kiba instead? Dream on!

The white haired devil slowly turned towards him with a flat look, her golden eyes peered into his with mild annoyance visible in their depth, but it didn't step into pure malice, so Issei concludes that she's being shy, that's all.

“Who's that Riser Koneko-chan? And why did the president seem so annoyed about him?”

The young girl just sighed, she didn't blame him for his ignorance, considering that he's just recently turned into a devil.

“Didn't Akeno-san make you study about the noble devil houses and their members?”

She spoke flatter than usual while shooting him a cold look, to which he just smiled tensely while scratching his head.

She held her gaze for a short while, but eventually dropped it. She knew he was a decent enough guy, but being a perverted idiot didn't help his case much.

“...Riser Phenex is the president's fiance”

“WH-!?….What!?” 

He raised his voice initially, but he seemed to remember where he was, and he dropped his voice down.

Koneko stared at him flatly while remaining silent, his reaction wasn't something she saw coming, and she's not sure she wants to know the reason for it either.

After a minute or two, Issei calmed down a little and looked back at his silent junior, and after taking a deep breath, he decided to ask her more.

“Then why does the president hate him so much?”

“She says it's because he's a pervert that only thinks with his lower half”

….Issei felt that her voice was colder than usual, and for some reason, he felt that those words weren't just being directed at Riser.

He didn't dwell on his thoughts too much, because Koneko apparently had more to say.

“He also is really arrogant, vain and finally, he doesn't treat his peerage with at least some respect, which displeases her”

‘…So he was a jerk, but why was the president going to marry someone she doesn't like anyway? Is she being forced?’

He decided to ask, maybe he's just jumping to conclusions on his own.

“...Is….she being forced into the marriage?”

Koneko didn't reply, but the small nod she gave back in response confirmed Issei's thoughts. 

He didn't say anything and just walked away, but Koneko can feel him being annoyed. Honestly, it hasn't even been a full week since he became a devil, and now he's worrying about the president? Koneko can't tell if he's a simple idiot or a compassionate one.

…….

“Akeno-san”

Akeno was still working with Tsubaki on repairing the damages they caused during the fight, when she suddenly heard Issei's voice calling out to her from behind her, forcing her and Tsubaki to halt their work and look back to meet the owner of the voice.

She turned back to him and was momentarily stunned, he didn't have the usual perverted smile he always does, instead his face looked sour somehow. It's as if he was displeased by something.

“Issei-kun, what's with the long face I wonder~?”

He usually stutters while talking to her, but not this time. Now he speaks with a clear and concise voice that carries displeasure and resentment.

“Why is the president being forced to marry someone she doesn't like?”

Akeno was somewhat stunned and her head was blank for a little while, but after a few moments she recovered and casted a glance towards Koneko's direction, and when she saw the younger devil not meeting her eyes, she understood everything.

She smiled kindly at Issei, and with the most gentle and kind voice she could muster, she tried to calm him down.

“Calm down now, Issei-kun~ Rias won't want to see you sad now, would she~?”

He seemed to have calmed down a little with her words, and judging by the small blush on his cheeks. He's extra calm.

Seeing that her junior had calmed down, she wondered where she should start explaining from, and after a few seconds of pondering, she decided to start from the beginning.

“The Gremory Patriarch, Rias's father, decided to arrange a marriage between his friend's son, Riser Phenex and his daughter Rias Gremory. And as this is a matter between two noble houses, nobody can interfere between them expect the two patriarchs”

Issei's forehead shriveled a little in annoyance, but he held it inside himself, getting mad now won't solve anything and he knows it.

Then suddenly he remembered the handsome crimson haired man that was just visiting them a few days ago, surely he will be able to help.

“But what about Lord Lucifer?! Isn't he the president's older brother!”

Akeno didn't reply to him immediately, and stopped to think of what to say to him, and as she was about to speak, Tsubaki, who had been silently listening until now, replied to him.

“Lord Lucifer won't be able to help, interfering between two great families directly will instead cause a civil war between devils”

Her voice was flat and cold, and as much as Issei didn't like what he heard, he couldn't say anything in turn, so he just stayed silent.

Akeno looked at him with slight sadness, of course she's also sad for her friend Rias, but honestly Rias's situation wasn't that bad.

Like or not, Rias is a noble devil and a direct relative to Satan Lucifer, so even if Riser marries her, she'll have a higher standing, considering that she's the Gremory Heiress.

Meaning that Riser will have to marry into the Gremory household, and as the future Gremory Matriarch, Rias will have the higher standing.

But in this case, Rias didn't want to marry Riser, so of course, her older brother who loves her so much, will do everything in his power to make it so Rias doesn't marry Riser.

Akeno was even willing to bet that even the rating game that Lord Lucifer arranged between Rias and Riser is full of schemes and conspiracies behind the scenes to make it so that his precious little sister isn't sad.

….Little did Akeno know that there was marginally more pressing matters that by far encompasses that of a little spoiled heiress for the Satan Lucifer to attend to at the moment

But anyway, Akeno wasn't that concerned about Rias's matter, what she was concerned about was her junior Issei.

The others, including Rias herself, didn't notice it, but she did. Issei, despite not being a week-old devil, was beginning to have feelings for his king.

Are these feelings legit? Akeno didn't know, if she had to guess, they were only lustful thoughts that manifested into appreciation and care for the goodwill she showed him in these last few days.

But judging by the sad looks in his eyes now, it seems that these feelings, doesn't matter if they're real or not, affected him nonetheless, so it's her duty as his senior to console him.

“Don't worry Issei-kun they're is a way!”

She tried to act cheerful to appease her irritated and heartbroken junior, and it immediately worked.

He was instantly revived and was hanging on her every word like his life depended on it.

Akeno honestly found him kind of cute, and wanted to tease him, but she ultimately resisted the urge because it wasn't the time to do so.

“There will be a rating game between us and Riser's peerage in a couple of days! If Rias wins, she'll be forever freed from the marriage! So train hard, Issei-kun~”

He immediately summoned his crimson gauntlet and held it in front of his chest.

“Yes, Akeno-san!! I'll train hard for the sake of the president!!”

“Ufufufufu~”

Tsubaki just rolled her eyes at the duo, if she didn't know better, she would've thought that Akeno was playing around with the poor boy.

“Tsubaki!”

Fortunately, Sona came just in time to liberate Tsubaki from these two, which Tsubaki was thankful for.

“Yes, Sona-san”

Sona took one look around, possibly looking for Rias, and when she found her talking through a magic circle in the distance, she concluded that she was contacting her brother or someone from her family.

“Go call Saji, Tsubaki and Hyoudou-kun, can you call Kiba-san and Koneko-san here?”

“Yes! Sitri-san!”

He scurried along to call his comrades with Tsubaki doing the same and after they all eventually got together, including Rias who finished her call, Sona started reporting on what she heard from her sister.

“My sister said that she doesn't know about the identity of the stray devils that we fought today”

“What?” x3

Tsubaki, Rias and Akeno were visibly stunned, and after a few moments of silence until the words sunk in, Rias was the one who asked the unspoken question.

“But how? Wasn't the identity of every stray devil recorded in the underworld?”

Sona calmly agreed with her best friend, she was honestly as surprised as each one of them when she first heard her sister say that a few moments ago.

“Exactly, and that's why I sent a piece of every one of these things to my sister, she said she'll get back to me when she finds out exactly what they are, and why is their energy so much like stray devils”

“...But, this is a huge problem”

Sona looked at her queen thoughtfully, she obviously knew why this might pose an issue to devils as a whole, but she was too busy thinking to comment on the discussion.

“How so Tsubaki-san?”

Saji asked his senior with a little embarrassment, he wasn't that smart to begin with, but he didn't let that discourage him, not before and not now.

Tsubaki looked to the young man she's beginning to grow appreciation towards and answered flatly.

“If these things are not stray devils, this means that there is someone out there who wants to cause chaos in the name of devils, it obviously wouldn't be a coincidence”

Having now understood, Saji fell silent, so Tsubaki continued to speak her mind about the matter.

“My personal thoughts are that those things are yokai, they didn't have any magic, and they appear to have been physically enchanted, what's your opinion Toujou-san?”

The white haired devil lowered her head, seemingly pondering silently, but after a while, she raised her head and shook it from side to side in denial.

“I didn't feel Senjutsu, so they shouldn't be yokai”

Again they all fell into silence, until it was eventually broken by Sona who looked like she arrived at a conclusion.

“I think I have an idea about what those things are, but I'll confirm it for myself when my sister replies back to me”

She didn't look sure, but she seems to be somewhat convinced, and seeing that she wouldn't be speaking about her hypothesis, no-one decided to pursue it further.

Deciding to change the subject, Sona turned to her friend and decided to ask about the subject of her sudden call.

“Rias, what was the reason for your brother's sudden call?”

Rias was first stunned about how Sona knew that it was her brother that called her, but she chalked it up to Sona being too smart and she answered the question with a helpless smile.

“Riser is coming to school tomorrow”

Sona has to admit, the news was shocking even to her, it wasn't everyday that a noble devil decided to come up to the human world, especially someone as prideful as Riser.

“And what will you do?”

Rias just huffed slightly and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Nothing, I'll see what he has to say, then let him see himself out”

She spoke with apparent scorn in her voice about her fiance, which normally would elicit concern from anyone, but Sona was quite accustomed to her friend's….antics.

*Sigh*

She sighed to herself, but didn't say anything either, it wasn't her place to comment on her friend's love life. She'll just support her on whatever she's doing.

“Just keep yourself and your peerage in check, we don't want a civil war to happen after all”

And to that, Rias gave her another snort but eventually nodded slightly. Which did nothing to calm the Sitri's Heiress concerns.

.........

A/N: If you see some stupid shit in the story....don't worry about it and trust in the process.