She smiled at me gently, her gaze affectionate yet firm. "Harry, you're sweet, but your mother clearly needs you right now. Go after her-whatever it is, she'll feel better having you there. Plus we already had sex in the hot tub earlier..." she added slyly.
Leaning toward Hermione, I pressed a soft, grateful kiss against her lips. When I finally pulled away, she was looking up at me with a satisfied, slightly smug expression.
"You're amazing," I admitted quietly, smiling warmly into her eyes. "Thank you for understanding."
Hermione grinned smugly, clearly pleased with herself. "I know," she replied confidently. "Now go-before your mother and Behemoth leave without you."
Excusing myself from the dining table, I quickly stepped away from the cheerful chatter of Narcissa, Tonks, and my maids. Moving swiftly through Sitri Manor's familiar halls, I reached the teleportation chamber just in time. The large teleportation circle was already shimmering with faint blue magical energy, my mother Serafall standing impatiently at its center, accompanied by her ever-faithful Queen, Behemoth.
Both women turned sharply as I entered the room. Behemoth raised an eyebrow, regarding me with amused curiosity. Her elegant blonde hair was styled neatly behind her shoulders, her expression composed and professional as always.
"Lord Harry," Behemoth spoke politely, though her tone held an obvious question. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be finishing dinner?"
Serafall immediately perked up at the sight of me, her previously tense expression lighting up with obvious relief and delight. "Harry darling!" she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together once in excitement. "Did you come to see me off? That's so sweet!"
"Actually, Mum," I said smoothly, stepping forward onto the teleportation circle with her, "I wanted to see if I could help you somehow. The fact you had to leave mid-dinner didn't exactly ease my concerns."
Serafall's blue eyes widened dramatically, her expression shifting into a bright, joyful smile as she quickly threw her slender arms around my waist, hugging herself tightly against my chest. I felt the soft pressure of her generous breasts pushing gently against me through her tight Magical Girl costume as she happily squeezed herself even closer.
"Oh, Harry!" Serafall cooed happily, her voice filled with genuine warmth. "You're such a thoughtful, loving son! Having you there would make me feel much better!"
I chuckled softly, rubbing her back reassuringly. "Then let's get going, Mother. We wouldn't want to keep whoever sent that urgent message waiting."
She giggled excitedly, nodding vigorously, and immediately activated the teleportation circle. A bright flash of blue magical light surrounded us, and in a split second, our surroundings abruptly shifted.
We materialized instantly in the middle of a quaint, elegantly constructed village-clearly still somewhere in the Underworld, judging by the unmistakable violet glow of the sky above us.
Directly ahead, a tall, handsome young man strode toward us purposefully.
He wore expensive-looking clothing tailored impeccably to his athletic build, and his blond hair was styled neatly. His gaze locked onto us.
"Lady Leviathan," he greeted with a forced smile. "Thank you for responding to Riser's family's message so quickly..."
I eyed him curiously, wondering who exactly he was. I had never met this particular devil before.
Behemoth seemed to sense my confusion, subtly leaning closer to whisper discreetly into my ear. "That's Riser Phenex, third son of Lord Phenex. We're currently standing in Phenex territory, young master."
I raised an eyebrow, surprised yet intrigued. "The Phenex family? As in Rias's former fiance? That Riser Phenex?"
Behemoth nodded discreetly. "The very same, Lord Harry," she confirmed quietly, her voice dripping with quiet amusement at my reaction.
I nearly grimaced aloud. Oh, great. Talk about an awkward meeting. If Riser Phenex knew about Rias and me-well, things could potentially get complicated fast.
But hopefully, he had no idea Rias was currently engaged to me. Maybe we'd get lucky, and he'd be blissfully unaware of the fact he was speaking to his ex-fiancee's current fiance.
Right as the hopeful thought crossed my mind, my mother joyfully shattered any chance at subtlety by immediately grabbing my arm, tugging me forward enthusiastically, and practically squealing with pride, "Oh, and of course you must meet my precious son, Harry! Isn't he just the most handsome devil you've ever seen, Riser?"
Riser Phenex immediately went rigid. His previously polite expression darkened noticeably, glaring daggers straight at me.
Yeah. So much for subtlety. The man absolutely knew exactly who I was-and more importantly, who I was currently engaged to. The intense hatred practically radiating from his body language told me everything I needed to know.
He absolutely hated my guts.
I cleared my throat awkwardly, offering Riser a polite but clearly fake smile. "Ah, hello," I greeted carefully, trying to keep my voice neutral and non-confrontational. "It's nice to finally meet you, Riser Phenex. I've, ah... heard a lot about you."
Riser's sharp eyes narrowed dangerously, his voice cold and clearly filled with restrained anger as he responded, "Oh, Riser assures you, Harry Sitri-Riser has heard far more about you..."
Well, shit.
Serafall smirked playfully, obviously she knew why he was mad. "Is something wrong, darling? Did you two meet before?" she asked innocently.
"No," I replied quickly, still eyeing Riser cautiously. "But we certainly have common acquaintances."
Riser's scowl deepened further, his voice dropping even colder and more clipped. "Indeed we do," he agreed tightly. "And some of us seem to enjoy stealing things that aren't rightfully theirs."
Rias wasn't a thing...
But before either of us could escalate things further, Behemoth smoothly stepped forward, placing herself gracefully between me and Riser, subtly but deliberately cutting off the aggressive tension.
"Gentlemen," she interjected politely yet firmly, her serene voice easily diffusing the growing hostility, "I believe there are more pressing matters demanding our immediate attention, yes? Lady Leviathan's presence here was requested urgently, after all."
Riser visibly forced himself to calm down, exhaling harshly and stepping back slightly. He turned stiffly toward my mother, composing himself carefully once again. "Yes, of course," he responded tensely. "My apologies, Lady Leviathan. Let Riser brief you quickly on the current situation..."
...Serafall and Behemoth had already gone on ahead, intent on catching up to and handling the bulk of the invading force.
Goblins had attacked this town-that's right, fucking goblins. The creatures were small, sure, and usually weaker physically and magically than a low-class devil-which, normally, would have made any assault they could mount here laughable at best. But these weren't soldiers or trained fighters they'd ambushed, just peaceful devil villagers who hadn't been expecting anything like a sudden attack. These goblins had arrived heavily armed-with fucking silver weapons, each blade, dagger, and spear enchanted to do holy damage.
Most of the village women and children had managed to escape, either running for safety in neighboring towns or teleporting out before the anti-magic barriers the goblins had placed took hold. The men, though, had stayed behind, desperately trying to protect their families and homes. They'd fought bravely, given how totally unprepared they were, but bravery wasn't enough against these surprise attacks, especially not against holy-enhanced silver.
Bodies littered the ground as we walked. I couldn't avoid seeing their empty eyes staring blankly upward, skin and muscle scorched by the touch of the silver, expressions frozen in pain or fear. Blood pooled and congealed on the streets. The goblins had ransacked the town afterward, and clearly hadn't been gentle about it. Doors had been ripped from hinges, windows smashed, belongings strewn across the muddy streets and pathways. Furniture was overturned or hacked apart, valuables looted, anything breakable smashed into worthless fragments out of sheer spite.
And the smell-fuck, the smell was god-awful. Smoke and burned flesh, mixed with the sour stench of goblin sweat and grime lingering in the air.
I forced myself to breathe shallowly through my mouth, trying not to gag.
Worst of all, this was my mother's fault-sort of, anyway. Or maybe it was even MY fault...
Serafall hated the Goblins, but she owed them a favor for discovering me. That's why she allowed them to peacefully visit their ancestral homes in the underworld in small groups, like a pilgrimage. Obviously, the goblins ignored the "peaceful" and "small groups" part of the agreement, but the fact that Serafall still allowed them in the underworld in the first place meant the victims would mostly end up blaming her after all this was over.
Fucking politics...
And, of course, I had the wonderful misfortune of hearing about all this directly from Riser himself. I'd been left alone with him, the two of us tasked with sweeping through the devastated village streets for any survivors-though from the carnage around us, I seriously doubted we'd find any alive.
Riser Phenex, as it turned out, had a very distinct method of coping with the horrific scene. He bitched. Loudly. And constantly.
He wasn't just bitching about the situation either. No, he had to keep coming back to me and Rias, as if losing her was somehow my fault personally. Apparently, the Phenex heir hadn't gotten over having his engagement broken yet, and every two minutes he'd bring her up again in increasingly crude ways.
"You know, Harry," he said with an arrogant smirk, nudging the corpse of a dead goblin with his polished boot. "Riser has to wonder, now that you've stolen Rias away from him-what exactly is she like behind closed doors? Come on, be honest with Riser. How do her tits look up close? Are they as soft as they look beneath that tight uniform she always wears? Have you fucked her yet? Because surely, you've at least sampled what you've taken from Riser."
I clenched my jaw tightly, forcing myself to stay calm and focused. My hand instinctively curled into a fist, muscles tightening as I desperately fought the urge to slug him right across that smug fucking face. If the situation weren't as serious as it was-if we weren't literally picking our way through the bodies of innocent devils slaughtered brutally by these goblins-I would have knocked him onto his arrogant ass without a second thought.
Riser, however, seemed blissfully unaware of how close I was to breaking his jaw. He leaned closer toward me. "Oh, come on," he prodded further, grinning like a complete bastard. "Surely you can at least tell Riser this much-how tight is she? Has anyone else ever been inside her before, or did Riser miss out on the chance to pop her cherry himself?"
I stopped dead in my tracks. "You really don't fucking know when to shut up, do you?" I growled sharply, my voice low and dangerous. "We're standing in the middle of a fucking massacre, Phenex. Innocent people have been slaughtered around us. Do you really think now is the time to be asking about my fiance's pussy?"
Riser simply chuckled, utterly unaffected by my anger. "You know," he said, seemingly oblivious or simply uncaring about my warning, "Riser finds your reaction rather amusing. But really, Sitri, you can't blame him for being curious. Rias Gremory is one of the most beautiful women in the Underworld-one of the purest-blooded high-class devils to exist. It's only natural for Riser to feel bitter at losing her to someone like you."
"You lost her because you're a fucking creep," I said flatly, turning away and stepping carefully over a pile of broken wooden beams. "Now, shut the hell up, and focus on the damn job."
Riser scowled at me petulantly, clearly not pleased with my response. But at least he was quiet for a few precious moments while we continued checking houses and buildings for survivors.
Unable to resist provoking him, I finally broke our tense silence with a pointed question of my own. "Speaking of beautiful women-where exactly is that harem of yours? I mean, your peerage. According to Rias, don't you usually have a flock of adoring servants trailing along behind you, ready to praise and flatter your every idiotic word?"
He snorted dismissively, waving my question away. "Riser does not subject the beautiful young ladies of his peerage to scenes of brutality like this," he said loftily, indicating the carnage around us with an elegant sweep of his arm. "Unlike certain devils, Riser respects his peerage members too much to traumatize them unnecessarily."
"Right," I scoffed irritably. "I get that you don't want your peerage here. But wouldn't it at least have been smart to bring along guards from your clan? Showing up alone to a potential battlefield seems pretty damn stupid to me."
Riser shot me another condescending look. "Riser does not require the protection of others to handle such trivial creatures," he proclaimed smugly. "A Phenex's immortal body makes them practically invincible-these pathetic goblins could never harm Riser in any meaningful way."
The timing of his arrogant boast couldn't have been more perfect-or more ironic.
Because at precisely that moment, the ground directly behind Riser erupted violently upward, dirt and rubble spraying into the air as a small goblin warrior burst free from the earth beneath our feet.
Before either of us could react, a silver dagger plunged viciously into the lower part of Riser's leg, piercing cleanly through his expensive trousers and sinking deeply into his flesh.
Riser Phenex let out an embarrassingly shrill, ear-splitting scream of shock and pain, collapsing instantly onto the filthy ground beneath him. Golden flames immediately flickering around the wound as his Phoenix bloodline desperately tried-and failed-to heal the silver-inflicted injury.
"F-FUCK!" Riser shrieked in pure panic, kicking wildly at the goblin, his face pale and terrified as he stared at the silver blade embedded in his flesh. "It hurts! Shit! Fucking help Riser, damn you!"
The goblin sneered cruelly before scrambling forward for a second strike.
I reacted quickly. My palm thrust forward as I fired a powerful jew of high pressure water directly into the goblin's torso. The small creature exploded in a shower of gore and bone fragments, splattering across the dirt and debris around us.
I turned back toward Riser. His eyes were wide with pain and panic, his chest heaving as sweat dripped down his forehead. "A-are you just going to stand there gawking, Sitri?" Riser gasped, his voice filled with desperate anger. "Fucking help Riser! Pull the damn dagger out!"
