AN: Things finally started to get more heated in this chapter, and fully explode in the next one, so stay tuned my friends.

  Question of the chapter:

  If you had to attend Beacon(RWBY), who would you want to be?(Any fictional character) And who would you want for your team/harem? (Any fictional character is valid, but they will all start at Tier 4, including yourself).

  Now, here is the chapter:

  ~Zeocitus Gremory~ Zeocitus sat in his own office with a groan. After a night spent in his dear wife and Harem's hands, he was feeling much more rexed.

  Before him, sat his wife Venana Gremory, the most beautiful woman in the world according to Zeocitus's totally unbiased opinion. Sadly, at this moment, the most beautiful woman in his world had a frown marring her face.

  "... and after that, we returned towards the manor.", finished Zeocitus while taking a big gulp from a cup of whisky. He had just told his wife that their son had mutated the prized Bael Trait.

  "I can imagine why he didn't want to tell me…", started Venana, a hint of sadness in her tone. Her own cup of whisky was left untouched, fo now.

  "You brother would flip.", pointed out Zeocitus.

  Venana chuckled mirthfully; "Yeah, he will… and so will Grandfather as well.".

  Zeocitus winced; "Do you think the Great King will act?".

  "Probably.", Venana conceded while taking a sip of her drink; "Granpa Zekram was never one to stay out of things, even if he 'retired'.", she made quotations gesture at the st word; "And this involves his so precious Bael Cn Trait… of course, he will move.".

  "... will he send assassins?", pressed Zeocitus, worry tinging his voice.

  "At first, no.", dismissed Venana; "But he will certainly try to make little Antares' life difficult. If he wasn't in the human world I am afraid…".

  "He will become another Sairaog case until he proves himself.", concluded Zeocitus with a sigh.

  "Luckily, the date of his marriage contract approaches.", added Venana with a slightly amused tone; "If he manages to defeat Revya Phenex of all people, no one will bother him.".

  "Revya is very prodigious, she already has a full peerage at 25 years of age, not to mention her powers as a borderline Ultimate Css Devil.", added Zeocitus as if he was rehearsing it from a script; "... I honestly don't see him winning this. Principally without his Power of Destruction.".

  Venana rolled her eyes; "Do show a little more support for our son Dear.". chided the brunette without heat; "Or he will have his feelings hurt.".

  "... I know.", answered Zeocitus while taking another big gulp of his whisky; "But you know that if I show more favor without him contributing to the house...", Zeocitus didn't need to say anything more, Venana was perfectly aware how the older Devils think, so there wasn't a need to voice out unpleasant things.

  The two sat in silence for a few long minutes, enjoying the brief lul in their conversations.

  "... he changed a lot didn't he?", started Venana with a small smile.

  "Not only that.", added Zeocitus in a proud fatherly tone; "He grew quite a bit as well, a sense of Maturity that I tried to help him build his whole life, but…".

  "Don't beat yourself over it dear.", said the female devil comfortingly; "Sometimes, we need a push from outside.".

  "I understand.", Zeocitus nodded; "Lucifer knows how many times I received help from friends. Help that allowed me to finally push forward.".

  "Oh, so that is why you are worried.", the brunette said in an understanding tone; "Aside from little Sai, our Antares doesn't have that many friends.".

  "But you're forgetting he has Eu now.", Venana said with a soft smile; "They get along so well, it's almost as if… oh~, so it is like that. To think it took me this long to get it.", the amethyst eyes woman shook her head amused; "They must hate Revya and this marriage contract with a passion.".

  "How so?", asked Zeocitus a little confused, not understanding where his wife was coming from.

  "Honey. What is the most annoying cuse of the contract?", asked the female Devil basically radiating amusement at the moment; "The one that pissed you off something fierce when the Phenex patriarch suggested it.".

  "Both parties must swear off Sexual Intercourse of any capacity- Oh!", Zeocitus visibly winced; "Damn, the boy must hate my guts now.", the crimson-haired Devil grumbled.

  "And not to mention… there have been some rumors.", added Venana mysteriously.

  "Rumors?".

  "Indeed. You know how much dies like to gossip? ", asked the brunette. Zeocitus nodded his head, as a man with a harem of 20+ women, he knew that exceedingly well.

  "On my st tea party with Lady Agares and Lady Sitri, they commented quite a bit about Revya.", the brunette turned to a pin and controlled tone; "You are aware that Revya filled her peerage with men, right?".

  "What do you mean?", Zeocitus asked confused; "I saw a photo of her peerage a few days ago and they were all girls, what do you mean when- Shit.".

  Venana smirked, evilly; "And while her having a harem is perfectly normal given her power.", the brunette expined with a shrug; "She has been -ehem - disciplining her peerage members until they-"

  "Become femboys?", completed Zeocitus with a grimace.

  "...twinks can be used as well.", supplemented Venana with a pin face; "And that bitch, has been sprouting to everyone with an ear that my baby boy will be her fucking masterpiece.", by the end, the brunette was gritting her teeth in rage.

  "And Zeo.", started Venana in a chilly tone; "If Antares doesn't destroy her by the end of this fiasco.", her Power of Destruction started to seep from her body in waves, her oppressive presence growing a few magnitudes due to her rage; "I will.".

  Zeocitus wanted to point out that Antares didn't have the Power of Destruction anymore, but years of experience dealing with angry women told him that would be a very unwise choice, so he just nodded and stayed silent. 'Well… it's not like you need PoD to destroy someone… I will be rooting for you, my son.', thought Lord Gremory inwardly.

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~ Returning home after the talk with Yasaka felt weird, Antares was still confused if that was just a powerpy for the part of the fox, or if she was sincere in just wanting to get a measure of him and Eu. It could be some kind of conspiracy, but-

  'It's not like I could do anything if she decided to attack me.', the boy admitted inwardly; 'She is a Sage, so I wouldn't even feel it coming.'. It stung his pride as a Devil to admit that, but he is already working every day to remedy such a situation, so all he has to do is be a little patient.

  Feeling that worrying about that kind of stuff was useless, Antares concentrated more on the task at hand, his focus shifting to his feet, and with a burst of movement, he stomped on the ground. A few meters before him, a massive Force Lance sprouted from a pte-sized magical circle on the ground, its tip pointing at the heavens. The crimson-haired Devil nodded in satisfaction.

  "So… I take you finally managed it?", probed Eu with a slight smirk.

  "Yeah, it took way more work than I would've liked to admit.", the boy nodded with a slight wince; "But after practicing this entire week I finally got it.".

  "I do have to admit that being able to cast through your feet sounds very tempting.", Eu added while cupping her chin; "I will make sure to allot some training time so I can try it as well.".

  "That is smart.", Antares agreed readily; "Most devils focus only on the magic part, but forget that casting is essential as well. My objective is to eventually be able to cast spells at will.".

  "You mean, the same way you described Lord Beelzebub's casting?", inquired Eu while looking at the Force Lance Antares just cast.

  "Precisely.", the boy nodded enthusiastically; "Eventually I want to be able to cast it even without magic circles.".

  Changing subjects a bit, Antares started stretching his arms; "Now, did you see something different about the way I trained this?", asked the boy with a slight smirk.

  "Ah, I kind of understood what you did there.", Eu said in an understanding tone; "You went step by step, you first started minimizing your magic circles as much as possible, pte-sized seems to be the limit, then I remember you practicing firing spells from your fingers, elbows, and even forearms.".

  Razen nodded; "Indeed, Thursday and Wednesday were quite busy because of that.".

  "Then yesterday you started training casting with your legs. And today you have finally reached your feet.", Eu praised with a shine in her eyes; "You went step by step, dividing the difficult task into small but more easily achievable steps.".

  "Yeah, I fully admit it took me way too much time to understand I could also apply that principle to magic as well.", added the boy with a hint of shame in his tone.

  "Don't worry.", comforted the bluenette; "Sometimes the 'Obvious' stuff is what takes the most out of us to get.", Eu patted Antares' back comfortingly; "I remember the time I was training with my vision… you have no idea how much time it took me to know that I could use my Cryo vision to reduce the temperature around me during summer.".

  Antares winced; "Yeah, that must've felt quite bad when you figured it out, huh?". Eu nodded with a slightly strained smile, likely remembering the moment she discovered it.

  "Well, I guess we can stop training for today.", commented the Devil Heir while looking at Eu; "What do you think?".

  "That is a good idea.", Eu agreed while she did a few cooling stretches; "Tomorrow we will be going to the Familiar Forest, right?".

  "Indeed.", confirmed Antares; "Are you able to cast the Familiar Contract Spell?", he asked.

  Eu nodded; "I am. It was actually pretty easy to learn.".

  "That is actually by design.", expined Antares; "Devils and Contracts cannot exist without the other, Contracts are on our blood, DNA, and Soul as much as Sin, Power, and Eating Souls is... just because we became more civilized and stopped several more barbaric customs of our past, it doesn't change our nature. So learning spells reted to Contracts is very easy for us.".

  "... makes sense.", nodded Eu while picking up a water bottle and drinking for a bit; "I also remember you saying that Lucifer created Devils to fight in the Great War.", Eu paused and cupped her chin; "Does that make all of us into battle maniacs?".

  "In a way? It does.", confirmed Antares while drinking water as well; "While with today's peace, fewer Devils see that side of themselves... We were created to be the perfect killing machines against the Armies of Heaven; battle, war, and sughter... it is all in our blood. That is also reflected in our mentality, so remember, Devils may look like humans, but we aren't human.".

  "I figured as much.", conceded Eu; "Liking it or not, the Human mind wasn't made to live even a fraction of what our lifespan allows us. Not to mention all the other stuff we just talked about.".

  "Good. Now on more lighter topic.", Antares smiled warmly; "Tomorrow we will see if we can get a familiar for you.", the boy suggested, his smile deepening.

  "That's right.", the girl nodded in agreement, excited to have her familiar; "We also need to see if we can get one for you too.", the bluenette encouraged with an adorable huff.

  With their training finished, the couple ate to their hearts' content and went to sleep. Their tired body and mind easily falling into the realm of Morpheus.

  Saturday arrived fast, faster than any of the two really wanted it to. Thankfully, with his power as Overseer of Kuoh, and a healthy usage of Hypnosis on the right school staff, Antares could easily dismiss himself and Eu from Saturday csses, so they were free to go to the forest.

  Sona wanted to protest about such delinquent behavior, but Antares and Eu couldn't care less.

  Their morning and afternoon were spent mainly on light training and researching the many familiars and locations in the Familiar Forest.

  It was a fun read that coupled with their usual training, made the time pass incredibly fast. Soon enough evening arrived, and the scheduled time for entering the forest was close.

  Picking three vials of Phoenix Tears, leaving him with only three, Antares and Eu walked towards the Arena. Antares did not hesitate to wear his armor, covering him from head to toe with the brass-colored pte, liking it or not, the Forest is a dangerous pce, so it didn't cost to be fully prepared for any eventuality.

  Eu, while not wearing a full pte like Antares, had enhanced her usual outfit with a few pieces of armor, vambraces, pauldrons, greaves, and an armlet. She prioritized maintaining her mobility, so she didn't go all the way as Antares did, but the little bit of armor that she added, while making her apparel a little heavier, made her defense that much greater.

  Sadly, Eu's pieces of armor weren't as well enchanted as Antares', as they did not have the time nor the authority of Sirzech Lucifer to speed up armor production, so she had to make do with what the Armorsmith had on catalog, which while not bad, it still cked quality when compared to the Armour of Mars.

  "You know… That armor can be quite intimidating.", indicated Eu with a slight chuckle; "You look like a walking fortress of brass.".

  "Hah.", Antares chuckled, his voice echoing deeper and more menacing from inside the armor; "That's is a fine praise. But I can't even compare to the original.".

  "The original?", Eu asked puzzled.

  "I didn't come up with the idea for this armor, Eu.", replied the armored devil with a calm tone; "I took very heavy inspiration from Warhammer 30K.".

  "What is Warhammer?", inquired the spindrift knight while she continued walking to the center of the arena.

  "It's a Tabletop Miniature Game with a very long lore…", Antares then spent the next few minutes expining Warhammer to Eu, who didn't even know what a Tabletop Miniature Game was until a few moments ago.

  "… And I never pyed the game per se, but I like the lore quite a bit. And when I thought about making a manly and intimidating armor…".

  "Angron Armour of Mars came to mind, right?", concluded Eu with a small knowing smile. Antares expnation was very thorough.

  "Yeah, there are certainly scarier looking armors, but Angron's is a favorite of mine, so I thought about it first.", expined the devil heir a little sheepishly.

  "That expins it, thank you Antares.", said Eu in appreciation. Antares just answered her with a peck on the lips.

  Putting his helmet back on, Antares looked at the time on his HUD, there were only 3 minutes remaining until they would be allowed to teleport to the forest.

  Making some small talk, the three minutes passed swiftly. And soon enough, it was time for them to teleport. With a flex of his mana, he locked in the coordinates that were given to him this morning, a bright red teleportation circle appeared under their feet, and in a fsh of red light, Antares and Eu teleported.

  Arriving at the Familiar Forest, Antares paused and looked at his surroundings. His first impression was that the forest was massive, the trees were easily three to four times bigger than their mundane counterparts, with some even reaching the 10x variety.

  The grass was green and lush, basically exhaling vitality by simply existing, shrubs and bushes were big enough to hide fully grown lions, small critters and animals scurried around while some predators lurked in the shadows.

  Overall, it was a very thick rainforest, a magical and scaled-up rainforest, but a rainforest nonetheless.

  "I am suddenly gd I've upgraded my outfit.", whispered Eu stealthily; "The amount of predators lurking are… quite a lot. And while I am confident in my reflexes, being prepared is better.".

  Antares nodded; "That is true, I was hesitant to trade my mobility for armor, but as I am the Tank of the group, that is more than worth it for now.".

  They slowly walked through the forest, looking at the many different animals and other mystical beings around them. They tried to approach a few familiars, but they either ran away or showed disinterest. And not wanting to force a contract, the two continued looking around.

  Hours passed while the duo walked, the temperature got lower and lower, the rainforest slowly transforming from a lush ndscape to a needle-leaved forest, it reached the point that even a little bit of snow started to fall.

  At this point the duo had been rejected by so many familiars they were starting to grow slightly dispirited. But seeing as they still had time, they continued searching.

  A few minutes ter, they heard a small growl, something that sounded outright adorable. Bursting out from the bushes, a Bengal Tiger cub jumped in front of Antares. It made a low roaring sound, that in its cub-like form, sounded cute instead of scary.

  The cub was fluffy, its fur soft and puffing up, it had the color scheme of a Bengal tiger, but its size was something else. While by all intents and purposes, it looked like a cub, it was almost the size of a full-grown tiger already. But even with its gigantic size, it still looked like a very fluffy puff ball, with a swishing tail, and stubby pawns.

  Eu made a cooing sound, simply finding the tiger cub way too cute.

  But Antares stayed silent. Looking at it in the eyes, the cub looked back, and for a moment, even without sharing a single word, they understood each other; "You want to be my familiar?", asked the Devil.

  The cub nodded its head, and if its size already did not, its higher cognitive function denounced it as a magical species.

  "Good.", Antares agreed with a soft smile, removing his gauntlet, he started the spell for the Familiar Contract; "Do not resist, you may feel a little shocked at first, but you just have to stay calm and it will be over soon.".

  The tiger nodded once more and started to slowly approach Antares. The Devil Heir walked forward, and when he was close enough, he stretched his naked hand until it touched the Tiger Cub. A Fsh of Silver-White glistering mana briefly blinded Eu and the Devil Scion, and before their very eyes, the tiger cub changed.

  Its fur gained a few glistering Silver-White patches, its eyes became clear and sharper, its size increased by a few centimeters, its tail was a bit longer, and its body seemed to have acquired a few new muscles. Antares could also feel a seed of Demonic Mana growing inside of the cub, which as the contracted Familiar of a devil, it is not surprising it acquired Imagination-based magic as well.

  The cub circled Antares happily, rubbing himself on his armored leg affectionately, it then stopped and looked at his new master's eyes. Picking the cub up, Antares immediately noticed it was a boy.

  With a slight smile on his armored face, Antares procimed; "From now and henceforth, you shall be known as Tiberius.".

  The cub roared fiercely, making Eu coo at his cuteness once more.

  Tiberius gracefully jumped to the ground, his stubby paws more than enough for him to gracefully hit the floor.

  The tiger cub patted his pawn on the ground and made some strange movements with his head, and while Eu looked confused, Antares nodded in understanding.

  Feeling Eu's questioning gaze on himself, Antares gestured with his head towards Tiberius; "He wants us to follow him.".

  Eu Raised her eyebrow; "Are you sure?".

  "He is my familiar.", Antares added assured; "Of course I trust him.".

  Eu nodded her head and followed the duo.

  Following Tiberius, the two Devils slowly entered deep into the increasingly snowy forest, it reached a point where Antares had to bring his wings out so he wouldn't sink into the snow.

  "I sincerely didn't know your wings would even work in full pte.", Eu added with an appreciative huff; "But it's good to confirm they can carry this much weight.".

  Razen nodded, this just showed how impressive Devil Wings are, as the Devil Heir is literally wearing an armor that goes beyond one ton of weight, and he is barely even feeling it.

  The two continued following the cub until they arrived at a clearing, and in this clearing was a small and shallow cave filled with tufts of fur. And while Antares wasn't any type of feline specialist, he could see the furs on the cave weren't from Tiberius.

  Then the furs twitched, making Antares almost chuckle at the surprise.

  Tiberius chuffed and roared in his cute cub-like way, making the white fur on the cave twitch a little fiercely and then get up; It was a snow leopard cub.

  Its fur was as white as its moniker, and it had numerous dark grey spots all over it. Its tail was quite a bit longer than Tiberius's, but it was thicker and fluffier as well. And much like Tiberius, even if the leopard was in its cub stage, it was already big enough to compare to full-grown members of its species in the mortal pne.

  The cub instantly pounced on Tiberius, chuffing and mewing in excitement. Its gaze then turned towards Razen, and the Devil Heir could swear he saw its eyes narrow in suspicion.

  Then it turned towards Eu and stopped, its nose sniffing the air and its ears twitching cutely from left to right.

  "Is she your sister?", Antares asked Tiberius in a low tone to not disturb Eu's moment.

  The tiger cub meowled negatively.

  "Friend then?", the devil pressed. The tiger cup nodded in agreement.

  A fsh of light brought Antares from his talk with his familiar. Looking towards Eu, the spindrift knight had just finished her contract with the Snow Leopard cub, and like Force User's familiar, the leopard cub changed.

  Its fur became even whiter, to the point it was indistinguishable from snow, it grew a few centimeters in size and its physique improved by a few magnitudes. But the change that most surprised Razen was in its eyes, that much like Eu, acquired Sectoral Heterochromia of a light blue fading into electric grey.

  "Her name is Tsaris, in homage to the Cryo Archon from my homend.", procimed Eu in a happy tone.

  Tsaris roared when she heard her name, before rubbing herself affectionately against Eu's legs, her adorable meowls only serving to make her new owner coo at her sheer cuteness.

  Tiberius happily trotted towards his friend and started pying with her, exchanging meowls and low growls while they scuffled on the snowy ground.

  Watching their familiars pying with each other, Eu smiled and grasped Antares' armored hand.

  This felt like quite a special moment to the Cryo user and she wanted to remember it for as long as she could.

  Sadly, their peaceful moment was destined to end.

  Antares suddenly heard a very annoying bring sound inside his skull, feeling he knew what this was about, he mentally brought up his HUD.

  In the middle of his HUD, there was a dark window with orange letters, and its borders were constantly blinking yellow.

  [NEW MISSION!!!] ACCEPT!? YES|YES Antares sighed, knowing such a day would eventually come, thankfully Macroz had given him two weeks to situate himself before dropping any mission on his p. That was quite considerate of his Patron.

  Summoning his company phone, he turned it on and gave it to Eu. The Knight saw the wording on the screen and instantly grimaced.

  "It is not like we have any choice besides accepting.", conceded Eu with a sigh; "And we are fully prepared as well..", the blue-haired girl narrowed her eyes; "It is almost as if this was pnned from the beginning.".

  "It probably was.", Antares agreed with a pin tone; "When beings reach his level of power Time is… different. So I don't doubt he can see much more than he lets on.", the devil Heir shook his head; "But that doesn't matter right now, we have a mission to do.". Eu nodded.

  With a firm gaze, Antares mentally pressed YES on his HUD. And from the fshing window, a scroll unfurled.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Killing Monsters and Saving Beauties; Dimensional Hazard Edition Location: Highschool DxD(AU) - Familiar Forest                     Scope: Quick.

  Description: Congratutions! You just found an entire area of the familiar forest locked in time. This area had its time stopped the moment invaders started breaking the transdimensional barriers that-, okay, that honestly doesn't matter to you.

  Your objective is to exterminate the monsters invading your home world and save the beauty being persecuted by them. Simple no?

  Reward: 50c + the beauty's gratitude.

  Conditions:

  .You must not be above Tier 6.

  .You must not let the invaders spread through the forest.

  .Every single invader must be exterminated.

  .The beauty must be alive by the end of the day.

  .The DDD will attack you and your retinue on sight, and will not stop until either you or them die.

  Additional Objectives:

  1. The beauty must not die. R: 50c

  2. The beauty must be alive by the end of the day. R: 15c

  3. The beauty must not be touched. R: 100c

  4. Personally Kill 10 DDD(Different Dimensional Daemons). R: 10c

  5. Personally Kill 100 DDD. R: 15c

  6. Personally Kill 1000 DDD. R: Tempte Stacking II for one tempte you possess.

  7. Personally Kill The BBDDD. R: 50c

  8. Exterminate the Source of the Invasion. R: 1 IMG Ticket.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Seeing the IMG Ticket in the rewards almost made Antares' heart stop for a few moments. Not in excitement or anything else asinine like that, but in fright. For the boy knows that those are not given lightly. For a Ticket to appear, the Source of the invasion is at minimum a T11 existence, someone Antares can't even dream of scratching, much less defeating.

  So he decided to take the wisest course of action and completely ignore the st additional objective. For some reason, he could swear he felt Macroz pouting at him, but the Devil Heir quickly shook his head and focused on the task at hand.

  The other Additional Objectives, bar two, do look feasible in Antares' opinion, and the fact that they all simply boil down to more specific versions of the primary objective made the Gremory Heir nod in appreciation.

  "What is a BBDDD?", asked Eu after reading the mission on Razen's cellphone.

  Clicking on the phone on top of the name an immediate transtion appeared; [Big Boss Differential Dimensional Daemon.].

  "So… like a Lawachurl, then?", asked Eu while rereading the quest.

  "I imagine it's something like that. But not quite.", replied Antares while approaching the two cubs; "This is my first mission too, so I know very little about it as well.".

  Seeing the two balls of fluff are now paying attention to him, Antares kneeled on the ground; "Sorry to spring this up on you little guys. But a big battle is coming, and I will have to hide you two.".

  Tiberius and Tsaris mewled aggressively as if they wanted to participate in the melee.

  "Sorry little guys, but I am not strong enough to protect you two during a conflict of such magnitude.", apologized the Force user hiding a grimace; "So I will be sending you two to a safe pce. Please don't panic and use the time to rex.".

  The two cubs nodded their heads in understanding, visibly calming down until they were lying on the ground perfectly still. Antares put his hands on their heads and with a flex of will he sent them to his Pocket Apartment. The redhead could not help but see the irony of this, as his familiar would use the Pocket Apartment even before he did, he visited it before of course, but never used it extensively bar for storing stuff.

  "Does the mission inform where the Time Anomaly is?", asked Eu while returning the phone to her lover.

  Razen pointed at the border of the clearing, where a pine tree was. Eu narrowed her eyes and approached the tree.

  "Is it frozen?", she mumbled out loud, a little surprise in her tone. She looked intently at the pine tree, and while there wasn't a strong breeze, trees still moved, even if just a little. This pine tree, in particur, didn't.

  "Frozen in time, yes.", confirmed Antares in a distant tone, his mind busy with the new energies he was sensing.

  Antares didn't know it would come into py so soon, but Kevin is the holder of the Authority of Finality, an Authority composed of every other Herrschers' Authority, the Authority of Time, not to mention holds the concept of Finality as well. Funnily enough, said Authority is way more powerful in the Honkaiverse, as the foundation of the Honkaiverse's reality is made of Time, and to possess a power over time is to possess a power to reshape reality there.

  Sadly, this is completely irrelevant for Antares, as not only is the DxD verse not made of Time, he is not even close to being able to grasp such Authority from his Tempte, it is there of course, but it is so incredibly distant it may as well be a few dozen light-years away. But there is one thing it gave him that he can use right now, a higher sensitivity to the Time element.

  With so many Time effects happening in one single pce, the affected area was a shining beacon to Antares' newborn senses.

  Seeing Eu stretching her hand to touch the time-frozen tree, Razen shouted; "Don't!". Eu stopped and looked back at her lover, confused.

  "If you touch that, time will resume and the fight will start.", expined the Force user swiftly; "And considering we are at the border of the time lock zone…".

  "A few DDD could escape until we arrive at the area.", completed Eu in understanding; "That would be an instant fail of the mission.".

  "I was thinking of flying above the area and getting a hold of the terrain.", suggested Antares; "And find a good pce where we can stand our ground.".

  "We also must find the 'beauty' and save her.", added Eu while cupping her chin; "Saving someone is always harder, so that should be our priority.".

  "Then we bunker down, and defend our position.", concluded Antares firmly.

  "That sounds like a pn.", complimented Eu in agreement, while releasing her wings and slowly raising to the air. Thankfully she took her time this week to practice her flying ability more, and while it is still not fully combat viable, she can use it to calmly move around without trouble.

  Razen followed his knight in silence, his attention almost fully on the time lock before him, his time senses slowly improving the more he pushed them.

  Arriving at the top of the time lock, Eu and Razen observed the situation in detail.

  The two visibly winced when they saw the scenario below them, it wasn't bad, but it was very close to it.

  It was a massive double-yered crater, with a wide but shallow crater that destroyed a few hundred meters of the forest, while the deeper and smaller crater in the middle was a few dozen meters in diameter.

  Right in the middle of the deeper crater, it was what Antares could only call a Wound on the Fabric of Space. It looked like some mighty beast had ripped a part of space open like someone would rip a hole in a paper.

  The hole was a dark crimson abyss like no other, something that seemed to suck the light and goodness of everything around it. Surrounding this wound on reality was a line of rainbow light, which was probably the dimensional gap doing its best to try to close it and failing miserably at it.

  Rushing from the wound like a cloud of locusts, was what Antares could only describe as Demons. They were retively tall, with the tallest one being 250cm, or 8'2" in freedom units. Their skin was red like flowing blood, horns of different shapes and configurations sprouted from their heads, their mouth was filled with rows of sharp needle-like teeth, and their eyes were big and like that of an unholy goat, shining in baleful yellow or orange light.

  In terms of physique, they have so many muscles that even their eyebrows are spoting them, to the point it look extremely unnatural. A few of them had hair, other tentacles, or some other unholy addendum that contributed to their terrifying visage. This made Antares notice some of them even had insectoids, squids, and other animal bits mixed with their bodies.

  Some wore leather armor, others half-pte and even full pte, but the majority of them only wore loincloth to hide their more vulnerable pces. But every single one of these Daemons was holding a weapon, be it a sword, greatsword, mace, khopesh, or anything really, there was a variety that even surprised Antares, but the Devil quickly noticed a distinct ck of ranged weaponry.

  At the speartip of this invasion force was the biggest of the Daemons, a creature of around 300cm in height, wearing full pte armor that made a Daedric Armor look tame. Its head had tentacles encased in metal instead of hair, its mouth had fangs like that of a sabertooth tiger, and its pupilless eyes shone in a baleful whitish-orange light.

  The creature had hooves instead of legs, but that did not mean they weren't armored to hell and back like the rest of its body. Its weapon was a single massive greatsword that was bigger than two-thirds of its body, its edge jagged and wavy, but exceptionally sharp, the weapon emitted a crimson-colored fiery aura that coupled with the innumerable sigils engraved on the bde, made for quite the terrifying sight.

  But that wasn't the worst of it, the biggest Daemon was mid-swing, its Greatsword held on a single hand. And if nothing was done, the sword ssh would hit her.

  'The Beauty' was a rather tall girl, not as tall as Eu but close enough that it mattered little. She was, as her moniker implied, a veritable beauty. Light purple hair that cascaded down her back like flowing water, two D-pad hair ornaments adorning her head on both sides, amethyst eyes with a power button symbol shining blue in the middle of them, pouty but full lips that were pressed against each other due to her focus, and a face that screamed Goddess, at least appearance-wise.

  Her body was quite the breathtaking sight as well, an hourgss figure with wide hips and thick thighs and a beautiful and magnificent ass, that much like Eu's, was wider than her shoulders. Her breasts were of medium size, but they seemed quite perky and firm, the type that would feel absolutely heavenly in the palm of your hands.

  She wore a rather casual set of clothes for the occasion. A bck and purple hoodie that went a little bit past her waist to the point it almost resembled a skirt, bck leggings that covered her whole long, supple, and beautiful legs, and a small bck and purple pouch attached to her left leg. Covering her feet were a pair of dark and purple boots with thick soles.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Like the creature before her, she was mid-swing, her sword shining in an electric blue light ready to meet the Daemon's swing.

  Antares immediately narrowed his eyes, something at the back of his mind felt like he knew this 'Beauty'. It took a little bit of time, as the difference between a 2D character and a real-life person was quite a bit, but he finally connected the dots.

  "Neptune?", mumbled the Devil out loud, his voice filled with an undertone of disbelief.

  "Do you know her?", asked Eu curiously.

  "Know is quite the strong world…", answered Antares still in disbelief; "I just pyed a game where she was featured. Albeit she is older and more grown up, but the details are honestly…".

  "What I don't understand is, why is she struggling against these Daemons?", continued the devil heir expressing his puzzlement; "In the game, she was a true Goddess. Easily a Strong Tier 7.".

  "Well, you said she looks older and different now.", pointed out Eu; "Perhaps she is one of those alternative versions you talked about?".

  "Perhaps…", mumbled Antares before his eyes widened again in realization; "I got it. I think she is Adult Neptune... or at least a version of her. Adult Neptune isn't a Deity, at least according to the Catalog.", the devil then looked around for a bit, not finding anything else besides the crater and the invading daemons, a slight pang of sadness hit him; "... it seems Croire isn't with her.".

  "Croire?", asked Eu.

  "A usual companion of hers, almost akin to a familiar.", the force user pursed his lips; "Albeit it can be that this version of her never met Croire.".

  Eu nodded before asking; "How do you want to proceed?".

  "I already expected it.", Antares stated in a slightly sad tone; "But I can see that we will fail quite a bit of Additional Objectives.", sighing, his gaze lingering on Neptune; "But our priority is saving her, mission or not, no one deserves to die like that.".

  "Hn", Eu agreed wholeheartedly.

  The duo briefly discussed their pns once more, adjusting it to save Neptune first and foremost. Doing a st check on his armor, and drawing his Balmung(Replica), Antares took a deep breath.

  Looking one st time at Eu's eyes, he withdrew his wings and let gravity carry him.

  Plummeting towards the biggest Daemon, Antares started casting Force Sword, a spell that quickly covered his sword in a very sharp yer of pure Force. Using gravity, his momentum, his weight, and his supernatural strength, he swung his sword downward, counting on Martial Talent to allow him to get his timing right.

  Like a sharp needle before a fragile balloon, the moment his body touched the time lock zone, the zone instantly burst open, disintegrating on the spot and sending winds of time energy to the forest around the crater.

  The battle under Antares resumed, but before the daemon could even finish his swing, a shade of brass and death fell upon him.

  With a single ssh, the giant Daemon was cleaved in half, its pte armor not even able to dey the ssh by a few moments.

  Crimson blood and gore flooded the earth, Antares' Armour of Mars became drenched in Daemon's blood, its new look seemed even more fitting for it. With a quick turn, he looked at Neptune, who had fallen to the ground with his impact.

  "Need a hand?", asked Antares in a friendly tone while extending his armored hand.

  Neptune seemed a little stunned for a moment, but quickly recomposed herself and smirked; "You betcha!", she picked Antares' hand and used it as leverage to get up.

  The other Daemons, the moment they id their eyes on Antares, immediately entered a frenzy and rushed towards him like moths to a fme. Sadly for them, Antares was not alone.

  A blue comet of ice and rotating Cryo swords crashed into the ground, sending a wave of ice filled with sharp tips toward the horde.

  Giving one st gaze towards Neptune, Antares smiled under the helmet; "I will draw the aggro, you cull them as much as possible.".

  Not being one to dispense a Tank, Neptune nodded in affirmation, her expression turning serious.

  .

  .

  .

  AN: And here ends the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it.

  While I wanted to make the talk between Venana and Zeocitus longer, I know they are not the main focus of the story, so I had to stop myself from going on a tangent.

  We finally see the first two familiars; Tiberius and Tsaris, and while I love cats as much as your fellow internet dweller, I won't be focusing much on them, they are here mostly for added fluff and some cute scenes.

  Then comes the second waifu; Neptune(Adult). It had been quite a while ago since I chose the waifus for this story, Neptune was not my first choice, that would be Scáthach. Heck, I didn't even remember she existed until the Autumn Sale on Steam, where I saw Megadimension on Sale, decided to buy it to see what was all the hubbub about, and became a fan of our dear purplette.

  And while Scáthach will always be one of my top-tier waifus, I knew she didn't fit what I have in mind for this story. Not to mention the fact she is a Tier 8 and will kill any and all tension/challenge of any future chapters on DxD, I also fully admit that I think having Scáthach as the Queen of a peerage is overused. It was very tempting to have her, but the fact I've never seen a fic with Neptune as a waifu, and the recent fondness I acquired for the gamer girl prompted me to choose her as the second one.

  Well, I will try my best to write a more mature and controlled Neptune. But I make no promises of perfection, kek.

  Don't worry about 4th wall breaks and things of the sort, after the mistakes I made on the first story I wrote... I avoid that like the pgue when writing now.

  About the mission; that will likely be the most common way Antares will earn credits and rewards as he can't Capture like a normal contractor. So he will be doing these missions to earn Credits and further progress along his Catalog perks. I won't be spamming missions willy-nilly for him, and will try to stay around 3-4 on DxD, and 1-2 max on other future worlds(This may change depending on how the story develops). If you have some suggestions and want to polish your creative bone, I would be very grateful if you shared a few ideas, but no guarantee I will be implementing them.

  Now, onto a lighter topic:

  If I attended Beacon, I would like to go as Kiryu Kazuma(Pying Yakuza Kiwami recently, lol) or Tang Wulin, as he is one of my favorite characters, ever.

  And for my Team: 2B, Scáthach, Red Hood(Nikke) or/and Akiyama Rinko(Taimanin).

  ~ClearSkySage out-