CH.18 The Tyrant's Lily PT.6

Inside the master bedroom, Irina gently sleeps alongside Xenovia, who has been asleep through this whole ordeal. Kuroka has a pair of Valkryies near the bed with Rias there listening.

"I need the both of you guard these two. Don't need to remind you both of how important these two are, especially with those buns cooking in em." She orders the two, who stand steadily with nods and take positions across the bed.

Curious, Rias asks "What happened out there? I was told to stay here with Xenovia and everyone seems in a panic."

She just waves it off "It was just a little issue, but we handled it." She leaves after this with Rias putting a bit of a conflicted look.

In the hallway, Kuroka exits from the bedroom door and sees Issei to the side, walking with a concerned look on his face. Looking empathetic, she smiles and approaches him "Hey there, hubby. Need a little cheering up?" She asks while getting closer.

"Oh, uh….Nah, I'm busy right now." He answers, not looking at her.

But she walks closer with a rather seductive sway while she wraps her arms around his neck "What? Am I not sexy enough right now?"

"Well, no, but I'm…." He tries to say but Kuroka immediately presses her lips against his face and begins rubbing her leg against his right thigh and he closes his eyes as he presses her against the wall, once again starting a make out session with another wife.

But after this, he pulls his face away with a little blush on his face and lightly saying "We can have dirty time later. I just have things to do right now."

"Hmm, fine, but I'm holding you to that." She replies with a bit of a pout.

Issei walks away and pulls out the slip to look at it, thinking "I hope this is worth missing out having quickie with Kuroka…..(Puts on a lewd smile)…Who am I kidding, hardly anything is." He then shakes his head to get serious.

Behind him, Kuroka meets up with Akeno, and tells her "Hey, I need a favor from you." To which Akeno puts on a distrusting look, but Kuroka affirms "Trust me, it's for Issei."

A little later, Issei meets up in the room and finds Griselda waiting patiently with a cup of tea in her hand.

"Okay, so what's this thing you need to talk about?" He asks with a look showing distrust.

Despite her demeanor, Griselda takes a deep breath, looks at the door and firstly states "Okay, Issei, what I'm about to tell must stay between us, and no one else."

Recognizing the severity of these words, he personally checks the door and tells her "Fine, I'll give the locked door, but I'm not making promises on keeping my mouth shut."

Nodding hesitantly, she produces a letter with a broken seal on it, and she hands it to him, assuring "All I want to say is neither that Lord Michael nor any high ranking angel sent me this, that's all I know."

Issei takes it, and reads it for a moment and grips it tightly "What the hell is this shit!"

"That's right. Someone inside the church wanted me to come here to kill Irina and Xenovia for heaven. They don't want you to have any heirs." She admits with a nervous look.

He looks as if he's about to do something terrible as he seemingly glows with power, but then he looks at Griselda's genuine unease about, so he takes a breath instead. "Hey, do you know who sent this, any ideas at all?" He asks with traces of anger in his voice.

She shake her head "No, all I know is that it must have been someone highly ranked. But I can promise that it wasn't Lord Michael or Lady Gabriel without a doubt, and I don't think the other archangels would do this either. But it could be behind the rumors about you as well."

"Right, Touji said he heard many things about what I did with Irina and Xenovia….(But chains isn't exactly wrong either)"

This time with a blush of her own, Griselda confesses "I had also heard of some horrible rumor about you, that I am glad are false….I had heard that you keep girls imprisoned in a cell in your basement, and only fed them bare essentials once a day, and commit unspeakable acts to them. But I didn't really believe them given the vivid details and all."

His face then turns irritated "Geez, you do a little foreplay, and everyone suddenly thinks I'm abusive with my wives. Can't a guy just have a harem and just enjoy the fun without rumors shooting down his mood."

Griselda, making a somewhat annoyed noise, gets back on topic "Issei, my point being is that the problems don't come from Lord Michael, there are others who make calls to get those swords back from you, we're all desperate." Her hands turning to fists, and she looks uneasy "But I promise you that Lord Michael would never stoop as low as to murder pregnant women, it's too beneath him…and me."

He looks closer at the letter, unease himself "Man, I didn't think it'd go this far. Sending in an assassin to kill my kids? That's weak."

"I couldn't agree more. That's why I wanted to tell you. Issei, I think you should truly consider making a deal with us for the holy swords." She approaches him with a determined look. "Before you think I'm trying to manipulate you, consider this; people are trying to cut off your bloodline. To do this, they may do more than come after your family here. They could go after your entire family, anyone who has the same bloodline as you as a precaution, whether they know it or not."

Trying to remain calm, Issei's face looks worried, thinking on it "Yeah, that's true. If people you know want go after unborn babies, then my parents, and anyone I might be related to, yeah. But I don't know about dealing with this out of the blue." She approaches him, genuinely looking sincere, puts her hands on his shoulders "Please, don't make heaven your enemy. Don't make me and Xenovia enemies, and don't endanger your children for your pride."

Issei turns his head "I..need time to think…" he says with uncertainty.

Griselda lets him go, nods, and walks out of the room without a word. Issei stands there, his face looking uncertain. He waits for a moment, his head filled with thoughts.

"Tell me how you really feel, hubby." A sarcastically familiar voice says to him.

Sighing, he looks the other way "Hey, Kuroka. I'm not in the mood yet."

"Oh, you're no fun. But I understand, got that angel chick in here, putting weird thoughts in your head and all."

Issei lowers his body and takes a deep breath "But she's got a point on something. She said that this whole business could make it near impossible to enjoy ourselves, at least without us keeping up the kills on everyone."

Sighing herself, Kuroka lifts up his face "Then don't let them bug you about it. Those swords are your property as far as we're concerned…right?"

"I dunno at this point. They got a ton of money, and we did a little good with Rias and her team. But when it comes us, and my kids, I just don't think it's worth it anymore to keep up the stubbornness." He says looking doubtful.

"Then tell Michael to pull that stick out of his ass, and permanently end any and all activities in Kuoh."

"What are you talking about, Kuroka?" He then stands up looking a bit surprised.

She then suggests "You tell them this, for the rest of the holy swords, Michael must end all activities in Kuoh Town, and that all angels, exorcists, priests, and any affiliates with the church have to hit the road and never come back.

Obstinate he replies "Whoat, that's asking a lot for just a few swords. Besides, why would I want that all together?"

But then, someone enters the room with them, Akeno, and she bows to the two saying "I did that favor you asked of me."

But Issei wonders "What favor?"

To which Kuroka answers "I had you little mistress here bug you're guest's room. Get the scoop first and make a call from there."

"Hold on a second!" He sternly states "I didn't want you to bug them. I want to trust Irina's father, he's good guy."

But Kuroka annoyingly rebukes "I don't trust them, Issei. If they're desperate enough, they'll answer our demands, or they'll send more ways to persuade you. I think they sent those two to tug at your heartstrings, and it worked apparently."

"No, Ophis put a spell on this place so that guests can't lie to me. Everything that Griselda told me had to be the truth."

"Yes, but the truth as SHE knows it. For all we know, they gave her bum information to tell you to get your guard down, or make you think they want peace." She suggests.

In the guest area, Akeno brings a tray to Touji's room with tea and cookies laid out for enjoyment "Compliments of a dragon to our guests." She bows and immediately leaves.

Smiling, Touji sighs as soon as Akeno leaves the guest room. "I can't believe Irina has become capable of that kind of destruction. The power of the evil dragons is truly terrifying."

He sips some tea as Griselda makes an entrance to the room and has a calm look on her face. "Sorry for leaving you so abruptly."

"It's alright. Why did you go anyway?" His face looking very curious.

"I had an important matter to talk with Issei about. I wanted some to see if we couldn't come to an easier agreement."

Anxiously, Touji reminds her "Griselda, we aren't supposed to be too pushy with him. We are to peacefully discuss the holy swords together and without deceit. I don't want him to separate me from family."

But that word, family, makes Griselda frown, saying "Oh, Xenovia, why did you rush into this so quickly? She didn't even try to contact me. I would have liked to have known sooner you were expecting…"

"I know how you feel about that. I love the idea of being a grandfather, but Irina is so young. I really hope they can handle being parents."

…..

Issei has his eyes gazed upon a piece of metal Kuroka is holding, who seems to be a bit surprised "Wow, I surprised we didn't hear anything juicier."

He shakes his head "See, Kuroka, they are good people, just nervous about the whole baby thing."

"My thoughts aren't changed on this. I think you should demand territory from them. Kuoh is a good place to start. You rule this town, and then they obey your rules not theirs." She stubbornly replies.

Sighing to himself "Fine, but I won't act without talking to Rose first."

"Oh, come on, don't be a little bitch about this. What good is going to talk to miss ex-valkyrie going to do you?" She complains with annoyance in her voice.

"Rose is the person I trust most with this stuff. It's because of her that I got this far with making deals. So I'm not going to back out of that now.

Looking around, Kuroka curiously asks "Huh, where is she actually? I haven't seen her in a few hours."

"Eh, she'll probably show up sooner or later. She's never out too long and all."

Outside- Hyoudou Residence

Rossweisse bows to her mother and father-in-law, and happily says "It was a pleasure to meet you both, and I hope you can forgive us for worrying you so much."

But, enthusiastically, Miku states "Oh no, don't apologize to us"

"Yeah, we're just really…and I mean REALLY surprised by this whole idea. Here we thought our son wouldn't be able to get a real girlfriend." Her husband jumps in. Then the husband and wife look at each happily and expectantly.

"That means, we have a shot at have grandchildren!" They both say as they embrace each other.

Sheepishly, Rossweisse excuses herself as the door closes, and she makes her way home. Taking the long way for a moment, she reminisces "They're good parents. Loving and caring, I'm glad they showed up today."

As she walks further away, she frowns for a moment "You can all come out now." As a couple of magic circles appear around her with some people wearing garb-like attire appear, all women.

"Our apologizes, but you will come us, wife of the Tyrant Red Dragon." The group of people reveals devil wings, and one appears wearing blue and with pale long hair with an arrogant smile on her face.

"If you don't comply, we'll be forced to make other arrangements at the Hyoudou Residence." She threatens.

Rossweisse immediately lets out an annoyed sound "We've done our part to keep away from violent acts with the underworld. So, I have no reason to comply with a threat." Her eyes turn to slits for a moment as the area around seemingly becomes more suffocating, then her eyes glow black for a moment, then a cloud appears surrounding them along with a veil of darkness, somewhat shocking the group of devils.

Now, she looks at the leader with a look of death as she just blankly stares back, and the group of devils back up a little, until one touches the cloud and she immediately yells in pain as her flesh begins to corrode and break off.

Rossweisse then states "Threatening my new beloved in-laws is not something about to let slide." She then begins to glow herself and then her body begins to form armor around itself." Then, the devils appear to readying for a battle as magic circles form, and the leader readies for battle with demonic fires forming in her palms, and Rossweisse just remains still as her armor completes itself with her body concealed in shadows and she just opens one of her palms and aims it at the sky. Then, a black circles forms around her palm as a large streak of dark energy shoots from her hand that immediately breaks into several pieces that the devils attempt to block, but the pieces maneuver around the area and mockingly turn around their bodies and arms without harming them, until in the blink of an eye, the streaks shoot through all of them at varying spots, their torsos, limbs, and one is hit in the head. When it ends, all of the attackers fall to the ground.

Looking around, Rossweisse sees only three of them alive, including the leader, who she walks up to and says "Now, I think you'll be coming with me."

The leader coughs up blood, and looks fearful as if she was looking into a vicious creature.