Epilogue: Towards tomorrow.

(Antares POV)

I hate this fucking dragon.

I hate him with a great passion.

These were the words in my head, as i was punching the purple dragon king in the face.

After a whole year of getting thrown around and beaten, i have truly come to embrace my identity as a lizard hater.

And now...

Now is the moment when i finally castrate_ Ahem, i mean, beat the ever living crap out of this dragon.

I may hate him, but i am still a man. I would never do something so cruel to another man.

*Booooooooom*

And once again, thrown back to the dirt.

Standing up, i look at the half bloody figure of Tannin preparing to run me through.

Honestly, sometimes i think my standards may have been too high. This was originally meant to be a 1 month trip, but its been more than 1 year now.

Why did i ever expect to beat an ancient dragon like this in a month?

I stretched my hand and punched the ground, making a hole in the place where i stood, and threw myself into the hole just as Tannin charged into my previous position.

Weird tactic i know. But flying is pointless, he will just chase and breath fire, not everyone is restricting their magical abilities. And meeting his charge head on is counterproductive as this body is still 14 years old, even with all the time i spent training or studying in time chambers, meaning it has massive endurance issues in comparison to Tannin. If i just meet him head on every time, i will lose in the battle of endurance.

Sometimes you just have to come up with weird shit. Desperate times i tell you.

Of course it doesn't end there....

I open my wings immediately after Tannin passed by, fly up as fast as i can, and get out of the hole, just in time before Tannin's tail slammed into the ground, destroying the entire area.

Using this opening, i shift my body mid air and roundhouse kick his face, before flying away to dodge his claws, which were getting dangerously close to my face there.

"I can feel it old lizard. Today is the day." I calmly said.

"Yes yes, you have been saying that every single day since you arrived. Today is in fact, a day." He replied.

"No no, today is different. I can feel it old lizard. Today is special."

This time he did not answer me, just looked at me with the most deadpanned expression a lizard can muster.

Feeling the life force around me, i slowly started using my Touki. Time to get serious and actually end this now.

Seeing the white aura appearing around me, Tannin's eyes sharpened and the air around him felt different, most likely realising that today is actually the day.

For the.....100th time in today's battle we charged towards each other, this time visibly faster and more ferociously.

Dodging the initial claw attack, i jumped over his mouth, before axe kicking his face. Though it didn't had the desired effect as Tannin was still standing, and at that same moment his tail slammed into me, pushing me back to the ground.

Immediately upon landing, i had to throw a punch to bat away the claws approaching me. Its honestly fun that the guy isn't wasting any time between his moves.

Up until now, basically he has claws that i have to dodge or block every time otherwise i will have extra holes in my body and satan knows i don't need them.

A tail that is somehow long enough to attack me when i am over his head.

2 wings that are probably the most vulnerable parts of his body, but also the most worthless parts, as in, it won't really damage him.

The horns are tough, but i always see it coming when he charges so its not really a threat.

Finally he has fire power that will basically be an instant defeat if i take it head on since i won't be using magic.

For the defense, his scales are tough enough that i can't pierce through his body, but i can still break them.

On paper, this is a hard one to win.

And this is what makes it fun.

I don't enjoy beating the shit out of people with a mace. I don't enjoy thrusting a spear through a goddess.

What i do enjoy, is when the battle actually needs intelligence to win. Puzzles are fun!

This time, i charge forward to meet him with a fist, expecting him to either respond with his claws or breath fire.

The latter was the response, which forced me to jump high over his head, essentially repeating the same maneuver as before. Only this time i fully expected the tail coming.

Coating my right fist with Touki i punched the mid section of his tail, breaking the limb. I then used my left hand to grab on to the end of the tail, which started moving to the right, with me basically riding it, dodging a draconian fist aimed to the left side.

I let go of his moving tail, as i land on his back and immediately make a run for his wings, this time, not worried about a tail slamming into my back.

Tannin, realising what i was about to do, started moving around wildly to throw me off, but i didn't need to stay on top of his body.

Unfurling my wings again, i got up a foot above him and regained my balance in the air, before reaching Tannin's right wing and grabbing it.

I think we all realise where this plan is going.

* Insert roaring sounds in your head*

he roared as i forcefully ripped his wing off with my bare hands, before he hit me with a backhanded slap, as he had turned around by then.

Great! Now i can fight in air.

As they say, if he doesn't have a weakness, then just make one.

This pretty much makes his claws useless, as any direct attacks from his claws can be avoided by flying higher. Of course if i charge into him, then thats another story.

He also knows that, as he has stopped all offensive moves, choosing to rely on counters to recover now.

But.....

Logically, all i have to do now, is just don't get close to him. And there are mountains all around us.

Punching the base of a mountain a few times, i blew a hole into it, making the rest of it crumble down, either due to earthquake or losing it's support.

After the dust cleared out, i was standing on top of the now destroyed mountain, Tannin still hadn't moved, thinking i was baiting him to attack.

I picked up a very large and rather sharp ended rock with both of my hands, and threw them both into Tannin's face.

Now typically this wouldn't have mattered much, but the rocks are being thrown by the strength of a satan level devil, so there is a lot of speed, and in turn a lot of mass behind them.

And most of Tannin's scales have been broken after 2 hours of intense sparring.

Naturally, feeling a sense of danger, he dodges the rocks, only to see massive boulders speeding through the air next.

I made sure to throw the boulders a little bit behind him, so naturally, while dodging them, he came closer and closer to me, thinking he can attack me if he gets just a little bit closer.

Of course, this is a trap.

As he got closer and closer, i held my leg up, before slamming it into the ground, resulting in a earthquake that destroyed the surface of the training grounds, making a crater about 30 meters deep, with Tannin standing in the middle of it.

Noticing his situation, he tried jumping up to get out of the crater, but having predicted that, i was already above him with my legs in the position, ready for an axe kick which slammed into his face, throwing him back into the crater.

Perfect!

This is just where i wanted him to be.

There is 30 meters of distance between my legs and his, making it so that my leg is exactly in line with his head. All of his claw attacks, kicks or really any physical attacks are useless now as they won't reach me, and even if they do, i will just have to fly a bit higher. So no counter attacking anymore.

He can't fly, and if he jumps he will just get kicked back to the dirt, leaving him with nothing but his flames as the only threat.

But they are never actually a threat because it is his only option now, making it extremely predictable.

'Today really is the day of victory' I thought with a condescending smile.

Seeing this, Tannin got ready to slam the ground and deepen the crater in order to get out of my strike range.

Just to see a massive boulder heading straight for his leg.

He kicks the boulder away, only to receive a punch in the stomach from me, who was hiding behind the boulder.

I immediately fly to the left in order to avoid Tannin's flames that came as a counter attack, before going up to dodge his claws and finally, trying to slam my knee into his face.

The surprise came when Tannin decided to headbutt my knee, sending me flying and breaking a few of his teeth.

I stood up again only to see giant fireballs coming towards me from diffrent directions.

Observation haki, already giving the position of Tannin and what he is planning. This is about to end.

Narrowly dodging the first 3 fire balls, i try my best to keep my balance on the ground and move as little as possible, until the forth and last fire ball came close.

This time i didn't bother dodging. Digging my legs into the ground, and focusing on my Touki, i prepared to punch through the fire ball. Although this was risky, the main objective isn't to punch the giant fire ball itself, but the thing behind the fireball. Yes it was just an attempt to disturb my vision.

The fire ball explodes as it reaches my punch, and reveals 2 big horns looking to skewer me.

My right hand connects with one of the horns and slows the speed of Tannin's charge, as my left hand stretches and grabs his other horn.

I pulled his body towards myself with the left hand, and progressively put more and more strength into my right hand, fully intending to break his horn and skull.

Tannin, perhaps already expecting something like this, opened his mouth in response, and inhaled a large amount of air.

Oh boy, this is gonna be rough.

As the fire burst forth from the dragon's mouth, an explosion engulfed the training area. With a Dragon being thrown out of it, his left horn, broken and his face fractured, he was clearly unconscious.

And as the dust cleared out, we see the charred, and burned figure of a boy, clearly on the verge of exhaustion, standing in the middle of the crater, a blissful smile on his face.

"Told ya. Today was the day." He says, before falling to the ground and taking a nap.

As the 2 contenders fell, another dragon could be seen approaching the area, with 2 blondes riding on his back with one of them being too overly excited.

The blondes took Antares and went off with a magic circle, while the purple dragon went to help Tannin.

___________________________

Inside a dark room, silhouettes of people could be seen sitting on chairs in a round formation.

The room, appeared to be made out of gold, as everything around them was colored golden. However it gave a menacing feeling, as the incredibly large room was completely empty of all decorations aside from a yellow banner on both sides of the room. Written on the banners in demonic language, was 'B'.

The people sat on the chairs that were all smaller than the ones to their side, despite the symbol of the round table.

Even without seeing their faces, one could easily distinguish the nature of these people just from looking around the room.

Aristocrats.

"That concludes the report and the subject of this meeting." Said a man wearing a 3 piece suit that screamed 'wealth'.

"This is unacceptable. Do they not understand the necessity of our work? The underworld won't even last a month without us." Said a fat and bald man. This one was the picture of arrogance and gluttony. A dissapointment at best.

"So what if some fool wishes throw something into our system? Many have tried and failed. This fool too, will eventually realise the futility of his work." Said another man. Although he said it all so coldly, one could feel traces of envy in his voice. Not necessarily envious of the enemy himself, but rather, envious of the attention they have recieved.

"The fact that house Gremory, a house that was granted the great honour of marrying a member of our family and receiving our bloodline, is going against us is simply unacceptable. That pompous brat Zeoticus is being too ungrateful to us." Exclaimed another man, this one was wrathful, and didn't even try to hide his anger at the situation.

*Sigh*

The man at the tallest seat, was annoyed now. Both at the stupidity of his descendants and at the movements of this unnamed enemy, not to mention the problems that are being caused by a certain Gremory.

"Necessity of your work? What work? Sleeping with the maids? That is definitely necessary for the future of the underworld. You must show the maids their place otherwise they will rebel against us, starting a second civil war." The man said to his foolish descendant. Though even he knew that it won't matter. After all, competence is something that one has to be born with.

The fool looked like he wanted to say something as he looked at the faces of ridicule across the table, but bit on his words as he realised his ancestor is going to continue talking.

"Do any of you have any idea of how to respond to this situation?"

The predicament is....actually multiple predicaments.

There is the problem with church. For some reason, ever since the betrayal of Pendragon's girl, the church's higher ups have gone mad. Multiple contracts have been nulled whereas before, there was a good amount of cooperation between the 2. The church would fund their most disgusting researches and recruit the most questionable individuals along with getting heretical resources, then if their investment proves to be too much heresy then it would be sold to the devils. Making a rather comfortable passage between 2 enemies that should otherwise be at each others throats.

But these days it seems like the pope has fallen to his fanatical madness.

Then, there is the problem with the descendants of distinct houses.

Someone is either assassination them, or recruiting them. Their guards and watchers claim they weren't even supposed to watch over someone at all!

Every single of them, say the same thing. And they don't act like liars either. Its as if a part of their mind has been fractured or they suddenly forgot everything.

There is also the problem of that game Gremories own. The maker of the game absolutely refuses any and all contact with them and has turned down all of their suggestions for the betterment of the game. Furthermore, the thing gets more famous every day.

And finally, there is the weird activities of this son of Sirzechs Gremory. He is proving to be troublesome as he is not following what we expected of him to follow.

In his birthday party, he didn't appear quite as prideful as they thought he would be. Even as a sheltered child, he was easily capable of communicating with other noble children. To the point where it is debatable if house of Paimon is now making an alliance with him. And his request to study under Ajuka Astaroth shows his willingness to work hard. Something not every noble child has.

But then, against all expectations, he suddenly decided to go to dragon mountains. Granted this decision allowed them to his power level, but it was still incredibly random and weird.

When a powerful devil, perhaps a super devil is born, one must control them. Unrivaled power without management could result in doom. Such is the case with the previous 3 super devils. The one who proved too unpredictable was exiled.

This child is shown to be just as much of a nuisance as Rizevim. Except that, with Rizevim, his goals are simple enough.

Originally, they wanted to get him to their side with a marriage. And then, slowly manipulate him with promises of success. After all, he does have Bael blood in his veins, and it is neccessary for the Bael family to receive the support of a super devil.

But now, Zekram knows better. The kid is too weird for his taste.

"I suggest we use our connections and resources in order to find the maker of that accursed thing, and then either eliminate or 'save' his poor soul." Another man exclaimed. This one was looking at the tallest seat itself. Greed overflowing his eyes. It was clear that if the game maker was ever found by him, he would do his absolute best to bring him to his side, if only to increase his chances of claiming that throne.

"Allow me and me alone, to watch my to be husband. He may yet prove himself worthy of my stature." Exclaimed a woman, her voice showing clear signs of lust. A music to every man's ears

"Hmm. Those are acceptable. Do as you see fit. As for the church, contact our good for nothings at the old satan camp. Have them take care of the exorcists. Kill as many as you can to make sure the pope gets off from his high horse." Said the old man Zekram. Visibly more impressed by the second group of descendants.

"The meeting is over then." Announced Zekram, as everyone got up to move out.

A smile on Zekram's face. The idea that all of these problems seemed to have arrived at the same time, made it somewhat doubtful that different people were manipulating the events.

Most likely, his enemy is a single person who is responsible for all of this. And he knew exactly who that person may be.

His gaze was grandfatherly.

A genuine smile on his face

He was proud.

_________________________________

(Antares POV)

When i opened my eyes again, the first thing i saw was the wooden ceiling. It belongs to the house i built in the mountains.

Looking to my right, i saw 2 identical little things sitting there.

The smaller adorable thing, looked blissfully lost in the bigger one's embrace, as the bigger one caressed her hair with a loving gaze.

You know, sometimes i think the true blessing of Archmage is the perfect memory it grants.

Cuz i am definitely saving this picture in my head for research purposes.

From a normal person's point of view, this is weird. 2 sisters acting so lovey dovey, while having less than 15 years of age, is definitely a questionable picture to see.

But personally?

It is an equally cute, hot, and loving thing to see. Don't tell the FBI.

Sadly, i am forced to snap out of that, as i hear someone screaming my name and shaking my hand.

It was the little adorable thing.

"Yes Morgan?"

"I have called you 5 times now. Did you hit tour head somewhere fighting old man Tannin?" She asked innocently, as my eyebrows twitched a bit.

"Yes i did recieve a few attacks to my head, but they didn't leave any lasting affects." I replied.

Its been a month.

It has been...challenging. At first Morgan decided to lock herself away for a while, the trauma of killing her mother at the age 10 isn't something she can really ever move on from. Granted she didn't really have full control on her body at the time.

Nowadays though, she is almost back to how she used to be.

Arturia was a lot easier to deal with. She basically decided to follow in my footsteps and beat the ever living crap out of our neighbouring lizardman.

Her grief wasn't necessarily directed to her mother's death. She was just venting at how almost every person in her life had treated her as a tool.

But its been about a week since i last saw the 2 of them.

"So, the fact that you are both here... does it mean you have made your decision?" I asked.

They both looked at each other and nodded, before Arturia turned to me and said:

"We have decided that we will accept you as our master and join you in your family."

With a smile, i got up from my bed and opened a magic circle. This circle was silver in color as opposed to the usual red. It had the mark of Lucifer on it, but it wasn't exactly the same as Lucifer.

This one was the magic circle of Lucifuge family, something i had learned from Graymama, after 3 days of clinging onto her leg and following her wherever she went.

Out of the circle came a small box which opened to reveal 15 silver, glassy chess pieces with some having a red hue around them.

I took out a knight and a bishop piece out of it. Both were mutations of course.

I then made another silver magic circle appear on the ground surrounding both the sisters before pushing the Knight piece towards Arturia.

"In the name of my great lord Lucifer, will you swear to forever be my servant? Bound, and in service of me, as the humane manifestation of my sword?" I said Lucifuge's chant since the circle was silver.

The circle that is drawn at the moment of reincarnation will be imprinted on the servant's body, allowing them to use it. And Lucifuge's circle was in fact more efficient than Gremory's.

"Yes. I swear that from now on, i will be your most loyal and unstoppable sword." Arturia replied.

I smiled as i pushed the knight piece into her chest and watched it penetrate her chest with no resistance at all.

The magic circle dissapeared as the same symbol could now be seen shining all over Arturia's right arm, with her devil wings unfurled.

Walking to Morgan now, i presented my bishop piece to her as i conjured the same magic circle again and chanted:

"In the name of my great lord Lucifer, i ask of you, will you be the eyes on my back, my greatest support when i need it and rain catastrophe on my enemies?"

"Y-yes i will do my best to live up to all of those things." She answered meekly.

Cute.

I pushed the bishop piece inside of her as the symbol of Lucifuge was imprinted on her. and 2 devil wings burst out of her back.

"So then girls, now that you are officially my servants, there is no need to hide anymore. Pack your things and get ready. We are going to the Gremory mansion for a bit of a vacation. After that we will be busy." I told them as i moved towards the door, having already sensed the person standing behind it.

I opened the door and lo and behold, there is the 20 meter tall dragon kneeling in front of the house.

"Please accept me as your most humble servant." He immediately said.

"I know we discussed this but why the sudden change of heart now?" I asked although i think i already knew the answer.

"Truthfully, it was my father's permission i had wanted to recieve before accepting tour offer. Today after your sparring session, he finally gave me his permission." He answered.

Smiling at that, i brought the box back and this time, took out a rook piece.

The only mutated rook i have.

Project, 'make a dragon king' has been a major success so far, so it would make sense to invest a bit more in it. And i also doubt the regular rook would be enough now. Tannin has grown much stronger than when i first met him.

Doing the same ritual with him, He officially became my rook.

Thats 3 servants in almost a year and half. This was a very successful detour.

I looked back to the house and see the girls with 2 saks each, waiting for me. That was very fast for girls.

"Pack your things and say your goodbyes Bova. Then meet us at the Gremory mansion." I told him as i got ready to teleport myself and the girl then.

"Hum. I will come in an hour or so." Bova responded before flying away. He has lots of people in this mountain to say goodbyes to.

"Ready girls?"

They both nodded as a crimson magic circle engulfed us and in a second, the surrounding changed and we were in front of a big mansion.

Just a few seconds after our arrival, the doors opened and many maids and butlers bowed to us, with Graymama at the front.

"Welcome to the home of Gremories. I have missed you son." She said, a bit sternly first, but sweetly afterwards.

deciding to be a kid for a little while, i went and hugged her.

"I missed you too, Graymama." I said, trying and succeeding to sound as cute as i could.

She patted my head before looking to the side and seeing Arturia and Morgan, who is now hiding behind her sister.

"Your friends?" She said, an edge in her voice. She was definitely sizing them up.

"Yes, my friends. This is Arturia and that is her sister Morgan." I introduced them to her as her eyes narrowed before she broke my hug and bowed to them.

"Hello, Arturia, Morgan. I am Grayfia Lucifuge, mother of Antares and the head maid in this household. I welcome you to our home." She said sternly.

When the girls heard her introduction, their eyes went wide and i could tell they have no idea what to say, as they didn't want a bad first impression on my mom.

"Come on girls, just come inside. This place is now your home as much as it is mine." I told them.

The blondes meekly nodded their heads and responded to Grayfia's greetings before we all followed her to the main hall in the mansion, where we met Zeoticus and Venelana. I had informed them of my arrival but they also took a few moments to take the appearance of my girlfriends and greeting them.

Just as they finished, from the corner of the room, a crimson haired man made his presence known.

"Hello girls, i am Sirzechs Lucifer, father of Antares there. How do you do on this good day?" As he said that, the girl's eyes snapped towards me, an accusation was present in them.

In response i only chuckled though.

"Greetings lord lucifer. My name is Arturia Pendragon, now a knight in service of Antares Gremory." Arturia said as she bowed her head.

Morgan, following her sister's example, also introduced herself.

"H-hello my lord, i am Morgan Le Fay, now in service of Antares as bishop." She meekly said.

The occupants of the room all widened their eyes at that introduction, and looked towards me, only to see my smug face.

Zeoticus however was thinking of something else, as his eyes landed on both Arturia and Morgan.

"First name basis huh. Sirzechs, how so you feel knowing that your son has already surpassed you at the age of 11?" He said.

"I feel proud?"

"Yeah? You know what i feel when i look at you now?"

"What do you feel father?"

"Dissapointment."

well thats awkward.

________________________

A/N: Hello there!

So thats the end of this story's first arc.

I will be taking a break for a week after this, just to deal with a bunch of problems and to also make out the details of the second arc.

Some things to address while we are at it:

There is still 2 more arcs remaining before dxd canon begins. So about 40 chapters or so.

The schedule and frequency of updates is usually about a chapter every 2 days and the chapters are worth 4k words.

The second arc is mainly going to be the completion of the peerage.

And thats pretty much about it i think. Thank you for spending your time reading this ff.