The Protagonist System

272 Consequences

I woke in the morning just before dawn and felt great. I sat up and kissed my mother's cheek, earned a muttered greeting, and I went to grab a shower. I came back into the bedroom and Miki was sitting up and she had the same look on her face that Grayfia had the night before. Without commenting on it, I climbed back into bed with her and her needy look was replaced with pleasure.

After a moderate lovemaking session, we shared a shower and I brought her downstairs to make breakfast together. It was moments like those that I enjoyed the most and it seemed my mother did as well. She was more overtly affectionate than usual and I made sure to indulge her as we cooked. We sat down and ate as we chatted about what we were going to do today.

I had school like usual and she was going to prepare the spare room as a nursery. Despite having more money than she could ever spend, she had no plans to sell the family home or to renovate it to have more space. I resolved to add some extra space with some expansion runes when I had the time, which also reminded me to add the ward stones and things I needed for extra protection.

I kissed her goodbye and went outside, cast a notice-me-not charm on the house and yard, then quickly added the updated wards I had worked out and created in the last world. I wasn't dumb enough to make it a completely null space, either. That was as bad as making it a magical beacon, so I just had it copy the same background energy signature as the houses on either side.

With them in place, I could work my magic inside and no one would know the difference. I did wonder if I should warn Sona and Rias about it, since it was a magically protected zone within their territory. It only took a brief look at Raynare's severed head in my inventory to decide that giving away important information like that was not a good idea.

I walked to school with plenty of time to spare and it was Sona's Queen at the school's gate that was greeting everyone. Tsubaki gave me a very pointed look as I approached and it was as close to a glare as you could get without her showing anger.

“I don't expect you to forgive me, even if I fixed what I did.” I said before she could say anything. “I only wanted to put things right.”

Tsubaki motioned for me to enter the school. “Sona asked to be informed when you arrived.”

“I'm sorry, I won't have another match with her or will meet with her unsupervised again.” I said right away and denied the offers before they could be made.

Tsubaki frowned. “How dare you dictate...”

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her waist before I kissed her like I had kissed Sona. I figured it was the quickest way to shut her up and it let me shock a lot of the other girls that were watching and commenting on our little chat.

I broke the kiss and Tsubaki's face was bright red. “Good morning.” I said and let her go, stepped around her, and walked by the open gate and into the school. That definitely had everyone talking about the kiss and not speculating about what we were talking about, which was why I did it.

I entered the school and felt for Koneko and she was in the ORC clubroom with Rias, as was Akeno and Yuuto. I thought about going there myself and decided I could wait until after school to find out if I was still a member of if Rias would kick me out for not being a member of her Peerage.

That was also one of my concerns with Sona, since I was sure that she had her morning meeting with Rias already and would have found out about what happened. That's assuming it wasn't already all over the Devil-net and news already. The deaths of a Pillar Family's male members was big news and I had to wonder if my name was associated with it.

I was grateful that I had already warded the house, if that was the case. I was not going to let anything happen to my mother or my future children, not after killing such important people. I mean, why only do things halfway, right? Any hostile moves needed to be countered and retaliated against immediately or what was the point of warning people in the first place?

I entered my homeroom class and a few of the girls greeted me or waved, so I said good morning back and waved as I took my seat. I shared a little conversation with Katase, one of the Kendo Girls, and asked her how their training for this year's competition was going. We had some time before class started and the girl looked flattered that I was talking to her.

*

When Ajuka completed the procedure without incident and placed the Queen Piece into a secured box, Grayfia laid there on the medical exam table and felt something she had never before felt in her life. She felt free. After everything she had done, after everything she had been through, and after living for over five centuries, she finally had her freedom.

Ajuka smiled at seeing the wonder on Grayfia's face. “It's quite the rush, isn't it? Clarity?”

Grayfia was surprised by his words. “How did you know?”

Ajuka patted her shoulder. “You've had a dominant influence in your life ever since you were a child. First it was your father, then it was Lord Satan, then it was your brother, then it was your King. At no point have you ever not had someone controlling you in some fashion.”

Grayfia successfully hid her shivers at the mention of her brother and his obsession with her, then she made the connection between those feelings and the ones Rias had for her own brother, Sirzechs. “Oh, Lucifer. I traded one sis-con for another.”

“You did and didn't really notice. Or realized you had. You did try to curb his behavior; but, you never squashed it like you should have.” Ajuka said.

“Neither did you.” Grayfia said with no real heat in her voice.

Ajuka shrugged. “I couldn't make a stand against him for his fetish, just as I couldn't do the same against Serafall.”

Grayfia let out a sigh. “They ganged up on you for it whenever you mentioned it.”

Ajuka nodded. “As long as it was harmless flirting and didn't push things too far, which both of them knew the limits of, it wasn't worth dying on my sword over the topic.”

“I felt the same way.” Grayfia admitted. “As long as I blunted his stronger impulses, I thought it was harmless for him to be fixated so much on Rias.”

“It also explained why you had such a soft spot for the Gremory Heiress and gave her a lot of leeway when she was up to her usual antics.” Ajuka said with a knowing smile.

Grayfia let out a soft laugh. “I still can't figure out how she convinced me to take her on a tour through the contested vampire territories. It just seemed to happen and then before I realized what happened, she had gained a Peerage member that she can't do anything with and he had to be locked away.”

Ajuka let out a little chuckle, too. “He was an interesting subject to study while he was being medically attended to.” He said and quirked an eyebrow at her. “I just remembered something. Please wait here for a moment.”

Grayfia nodded and folded her hands over her belly as Ajuka left the room. Her thoughts went over what they discussed and her thoughts drifted to Issei and the wonderful time she had spent with him the night before. She then felt surprised that her fellow Satan hadn't discovered her pregnancy and congratulated her on it.

Then again, maybe Ajuka was doing the same thing he did with Sirzechs and Serafall and wouldn't mention it until she did. That was nice of him, actually. He was keeping the secret without being asked, which seemed to be a rare thing these days.

Ajuka entered the room with a large wooden box and Grayfia sucked in a sharp breath. “I see you remember seeing this all those years ago.”

“Y-yes, I do.” Grayfia said, her voice shaky. Why had she been so stupid as to refuse something so precious that every devil in the underworld aspired to gain?

“You're already registered into the system.” Ajuka said and handed her the case. “Feel free to fill this with your demonic energy to claim them.”

Grayfia wasn't sure why she was hesitating, then remembered how she had been berated by her father into refusing them, then her brother did the same, then Sirzechs convinced her she didn't need them and was powerful enough in her own right without them.

“I've been so stupid for so long.” Grayfia said and hugged the box to her chest without opening it.

Ajuka didn't comment on it and patted her shoulder again. “I believe you have a young son that would be very happy to accept being one of your bishops.”

Grayfia stared at him as if he had revealed a secret of the universe. “You know I'm pregnant.”

Ajuka nodded. “Congratulations on obtaining the proof so quickly and also gaining an heir to the Lucifuge line.” He said and she looked pleased at that idea. “All you need to do now is successfully negotiate the deal between Mister Hyoudou and the Phenex matriarch.”

Grayfia blushed slightly as she again remembered how much fun she had with Issei. “I doubt there will be any trouble with that.”

Ajuka gave her a pointed look and then chuckled. “As the humans are prone to say, I believe you just jinxed it.”

Grayfia opened her mouth to refute him, then closed it. “We will see.”

Ajuka nodded and stepped back. “Feel free to stay here and relax. No one is allowed in my private lab, not even my assistants, and there is no surveillance equipment.”

“Thank you.” Grayfia said gratefully and stayed on the medical bed as Ajuka left her alone again. She laid there and held onto the large wooden box as she wondered if she should try to claim them now or should wait until she completed a few more contracts with the young man that had thoroughly pleasured her.

*

It was a few minutes before the lunch bell was going to ring, and bring the morning's classes to an end, when I felt my danger sense blare. I stood and used a Protego spell that covered everyone in the room as a wave of powerful devil magic mixed with an oppressive aura flowed over us.

Even with my shield in the way, nearly everyone in the room groaned at the pressure and slumped to their desks, even the teacher. After about 30 seconds, the pressure didn't ease off.

“Oh, shit.” I said as I felt the pressure increase and Miss Yamanaka gasped and pointed at me. “I'm sorry, I need to go handle something before it gets out of hand.”

As she opened her mouth to ask me what was going on, I conjured a temporary ward stone that copied my own ward scheme and dropped it on the floor. A pulse of magic activated it and the teacher and the girls moaned as the pressure reduced to nothing inside the protective space.

I knelt on one knee and changed the distance it covered and hoped it was enough to cover the main school building, then I stood and stepped to where I felt the danger was coming from. I appeared in the Occult Research Club and wasn't surprised that Sirzechs was there, even though I hadn't felt his power before.

Unlike the people in the school that only felt the edge of his power, the members of the ORC were right next to him and were on their knees. Yuuto was struggling to stay conscious, Akeno was openly crying as she tried to call upon her lightning power, and Koneko let out a soft whimper.

“Don't you see, my love? I'm finally free to act on your behalf.” Sirzechs said with a manic smile. “I'm no longer married and my title as a Satan Lucifer removed me from the Gremory Clan, so now we can be together and no one can say anything against us.”

Rias look horrified, then felt terror as the pressure increased and her brother said one more thing.

“I just have to get rid of that abomination in your belly and replace it with my own.” Sirzechs said and raised his hand with it covered in his Power of Destruction.

I stepped again and formed a black blade of destruction energy that I shoved through his back.

Sirzechs looked down at it and giggled like a little girl. “Oh, here's the one I was looking for. Thanks for saving me the time hunting you down.”

I stared as he turned to face me and I held the sword steady. It cut through his clothing like butter and left no marks on his skin, to my surprise.

“Your destruction power has nothing on mine, you thief.” Sirzechs said as his body flickered to be completely black energy and my sword was sucked in and disappeared.

“That's not true.” I said and stepped forward, surprising him. “You see, that was just the usual one I use to remove the filth not worthy of fighting.”

Sirzechs smiled that manic smile again. “You're going to try and fight me?” He asked and both of his hands formed black energy balls. “I haven't had a good brawl in decades.”

“No, I told you I don't fight filth.” I said and teleported the both of us to the moon. I wasn't worried for myself, since the powers I copied and gained from both Worm entities easily allowed me to exist in space unhindered. I refused to turn myself and my clothes to gold, though. How pretentious would that be?

Sirzechs on the other hand, immediately gasped and the vacuum of space blew out the remaining air in his lungs, which collapsed them. He tried to speak, choked instead, and his body morphed as he transformed and completely changed into the telltale black energy of the Power of Destruction.

I felt him power up and the pressure he was exerting increased a hundredfold, creating a mile wide crater around us. “Now you're just being petty.” I said and changed my index fingertip into Thirteen's power called Black Hole and pointed it towards him.

There was no air in space; but, I could swear I heard him scream as his energy form started dissolving away as it was being sucked into nothingness. Sirzechs fought hard and tried his best to flee from the power of a black hole, using just his phenomenal magic reserves. I felt them draining rapidly, however.

If he had been in his physical body, he might have been able to get away by teleporting, assuming he could reach the Earth from this far away or the Underwould counted as a shortcut or something. Since he was only an amorphous blob of energy with nothing to hold him to the ground he should have been standing on, there was nothing he could do to physically get away.

I watched as he tried to stretch himself out and reach for something, only there was nothing he could grab to secure himself. He was well past the point that he could reform his body with how much of himself he had let slip away, then he seemed to shiver and his focus changed from escape to attack.

My danger sense flared as he expanded and spread out his mass and flew at me quicker than he thought I could react. I wasn't a normal human anymore and changed all of my fingertips into Black Holes as I reached out and caught him. I felt his disbelief as he was literally torn apart through ten miniature black holes and the pressure reduced as his form dissolved and was absorbed. I closed each black hole as he shrunk down to the size of a baseball and I only had two open when I nearly stuck them end to end to finish him off.

There was no snap, or crackle, or even a pop as the last trace of Power of Destruction was consumed and that pressure I felt disappeared completely. I closed the last two black holes and sighed, because the crazed devil's disposal was finally done.

I just had to explain to everyone how I had killed another Satan, whom was a supposedly unkillable one. Unlike when I killed Serafall, I was sure there would be consequences, even if I was defending his sister and her Peerage from his unprovoked attack.

But first, I stepped back to the ORC club room and rushed over to Koneko. I cast a cushioning charm on the floor under her as I healed her with a touch. I made sure that she and the baby were fine, too.

“Thank you.” Koneko whispered and hugged me. She sniffed my neck and stiffened. “Pervert.”

I held in my laugh and kissed her. “I'll explain later.”

Koneko nodded and let me go. Her thoughts told me she knew I had never lied to her and I really would tell her about everything that happened.

I walked over to Yuuto, whom had finally collapsed on the floor and was coated with sweat. “You didn't pass out. Good for you.”

Yuuto smiled and then groaned when I cast a cushioning charm on the floor under him. “I knew he always held back.” He said and didn't sit up and stayed on the floor after I healed him. “I never thought just his aura would have that much strength.”

I didn't bother trying to correct him. It would just discourage him if he knew Sirzechs was still massively holding back with what he had shown them.

I walked over to Rias next and she gave me a grateful look as I cushioned the floor and healed her as I checked the baby. “You're both going to be fine. No damage.”

Rias nodded and laid down on the floor, since it was now quite comfortable. She didn't try to say anything and her thoughts were all over the place. Thankfully, she didn't ask me where her brother was. She was in too much shock over what happened to be concerned about that.

I walked over to Akeno and her face was a mix of anger and sadness. “Hey, don't think like that.” I said and cushioned the floor for her.

Akeno dropped almost bonelessly to the floor and tears kept flowing from her eyes. “I couldn't do anything.” She said and her voice was full of sadness. “He just showed up out of nowhere and started spouting nonsense...”

“Akeno!” I said sternly and she closed her mouth with a clack of teeth. “Sirzechs was a Satan of the Underworld and the most powerful devil in existence.” I said and touched her neck with one hand and petted her hair with the other, making her blush as I healed her. “Like I told Yuuto, you didn't pass out. Hell, I saw you defying his power as much as you could and you were glaring at him.”

“It wasn't enough.” Akeno said.

“It was more than enough.” I said and leaned down to kiss her. “You didn't give up, you didn't stop trying to protect Rias, and that's what matters.”

Akeno blushed again and didn't respond. Her thoughts flashed between the sight of Sirzechs overpowering her and images of me doing that to her, only she was naked and tied down instead of being pushed down with power alone.

I smiled knowingly at her and her eyes widened, then her face went to a deep red.

“Don't say anything.” Akeno breathed.

I winked at her and stood up. I felt a large group of strong presences approaching and cast a curved shield around the doorway. The door shattered a second later and the shield caught all of the splinters as Sona and her Peerage appeared in the doorway.

“What the hell's going on here?” Sona asked and her eyes took in the whole room. Her eyes widened at seeing Rias' Peerage spread out on the floor.

“It's going to be a long story.” I said and Sona's gaze locked on me. “You might as well come in and have a seat.”

Sona looked at Rias, whom nodded, and the Sitri Heiress waved for her Peerage to follow her and they sat down on the two couches. I created a comfy chair to sit at the side and between them, with a clear view of the doorway, and started talking.