123 Chapter 123: Resist and bite (but she is into it)

Momonga sighed deeply as he sat down on a chair.

He was currently on a balcony overlooking Phenix territory, once again, after he had taken a quick shower and cleaned himself of the 'stuff' that had been all over after his little bedroom-wrestling session with Rias and Kuroka.

The five of the six Cherubim Gatekeepers had dressed up a table for him, and ferried a bunch of snacks for him to sample. Apparently most of them had been made by Akeno, although 'Three' had proudly stated that she had tried to make biscuits and pointed out a small bowl of dark things that looked outright deadly.

Still, Momonga had tried one as 'Three' had been quite starry-eyed and hopeful, and true to the cookie's appearance, he felt his fleshy body almost die as a result of that bite, even though he had [Regeneration].

He had told 'Three' that the biscuit was good, though, as he didn't really want the maid to flagellate herself (literally or not) over 'failing' him.

Momonga did tell her to not serve them to others, though, as he was fairly sure that anyone who didn't have [Regeneration] would die outright from the cookies.

Lady Phenix was sitting next to him, quite literally, as she was practically glued to his side in a startlingly similar manner to how Ravel behaved when she was feeling clingy.

Venelana Gremory sat on Momonga's other side. The brown-haired woman was quite shaky yet she was in an odd state where she kept her thigh against Momonga's fleshy thigh, but the rest of her body was a bit separate from him as if she was touching something horrifying against her will.

'Hm, so she sees me as a monster, I think…' Momonga realized that his [Ancient Evil] must be affecting both Lady Phenix and Venelana, amplifying their fears. '...Hm. I can't exactly turn that off. And judging from Lady Phenix's reaction when I came clear to her, just talking it out probably won't work either.'

Momonga sighed. 'I guess I'll just have to let my actions speak instead of talking myself deeper into the swamp. Resurrecting her husband should put her mind at ease. That being said, if I just go completely radio silent until then, I'll just screw myself over as she might draw some conclusions and do something hasty… So I'll have to at least say something to put her at ease.'

He looked at the grand vista and drank some tea to give himself a moment to think.

"Venelana-san? Please excuse me for what you saw earlier. But you'll understand, I hope? After all, your daughter and I are married." Momonga told the woman, even though he knew that his words likely wouldn't find purchase in the woman. But it wasn't as if he had much else to try.

The woman merely shook. "I understand, please… Ahem. I understand. I must also apologize for barging in like that. However, you'll understand if I express worries over how you are treating my daughter."

Venelana's voice had started weak and submissive, at least until she coughed and readjusted to a warmer yet disapproving voice.

Lady Phenix let out an ominous 'kukuku' as she overheard the noblewoman.

'Lady Phenix isn't helping the situation…' Momonga sighed mentally. 'Venelana is angry and unsure, that much is clear from her body language at least if [Actor] is correct, so I'm guessing she's looking for the right approach to influence me to leave Rias alone, or something…'

'Well, it should be alright if I play along with Venelana a bit, because that would dissuade her from more drastic actions… I'm pretty sure she's not going to go for a harebrained plan like Lady Phenix, at least if Rias and Ravel's approaches to problems are compared, which means she has a much higher chance of actually affecting me negatively… That being said, I feel like she's going to assume the worst if I go for philanthropy approach and resurrect her husband for free, judging how negatively Lady Phenix reacted to the offer of resurrecting her sons when I proposed it, which means that I should probably ask for some negligible symbolic price for Zeoticus's resurrection to put Venelana at ease.' Momonga thought for a while. "Venelana-san, I sent a small force of angels to fetch the ashes of your husband from the House of Pillars. Do not worry, he will be back soon. Ah, and I expect some sort of compensation for resurrecting him- After all, resurrecting powerful nobles may incur losses of materials and such. We can discuss the exact costs when you feel like it."

Venelana froze up and relaxed soon afterwards, before giving Momonga a warm, motherly smile. "Thank you, Momon-sama."

'She's terrified, hm…' Momonga saw the contradiction in Venelana's body language and voice, and glanced at Lady Phenix who was giving her cup of tea a bitter smile. '...I should probably send Lady Phenix away so she won't accidentally mislead Venelana into thinking that I'm saying something that I haven't said… Come to think of it, I didn't actually tell Lady Phenix what she should start working on.'

"Lady Phenix. Would you be opposed to the idea of helping Ravel manage the house of Phenix? I fear Ravel might be still a bit too young and inexperienced to take care of the house's affairs on her own." Momonga glanced at the blonde woman whose grip on the teacup started to shake. 'Hm, so I'm getting through to her…'

"My lord… My lord accepted my sacrifice… kukuku…" Lady Phenix glanced at Momonga with a look on her features that outright freaked him out, and would have caused to flinch if it wasn't for his now-ironclad grip on his emotions. And then she kissed him without further ado. "I accept, my lord… My love… kukukuku…"

'Er, I have no clue what she's feeling based on her body language… I don't think she's acting…' Momonga got worried that the task he gave her had caused Lady Phenix's mind to give and fall to insanity. 'I… didn't expect that kind of reaction…'

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'Kuhahahaa… To lower me to the boiling tar, tear my soul to shreds and devastate all I had, only to lift me back up and place me beside my daughter…' Lady Phenix's mind was feeling as if it had been put through a paper shredded and glued back together with some parts missing and others discolored. 'I wonder if this is what Ravel felt? When he tortured her, had her torn apart in that horrifying swamp, only to lift her up to such heights? I see, the Supreme Being loves to thoroughly break his 'subjects' to the point their past lives are all but erased, until they are returned to where they were, changed, altered, broken, so that he can put them back together to his desired order… Does that mean I am safe? Does that mean Ravel is safe? That I needed to be broken, my memories of my 'beloved' husband corroded by the coldness of Momon's meddling, that I needed to deny the resurrection of my sons by myself, to cut off anything connecting me to my past life, torn from my very soul until only shreds remain- For him to put back together to his desired order? Does that mean he truly desires me, and all that was so that I would know nothing but Him, feel nothing but his touch against my skin, hear nothing but his words, slicing the skin of my soul until it bleeds?'

Lady Phenix felt as if she would pass out at any second from the swelling of emotions and insanity that outright tore at her mind. 'Is he proposing to me through that? That I am to be lifted to Ravel's side, to no longer be one of his mistresses, and instead take a place as his fiance? Was that his goal all along? Of course… Kukuku… I had been broken, and like Raven bringing me to His grasp, I needed to prove myself as well by bringing someone I held dear to his grasp, like I needed to bring Him a noblewoman who I had known for hundreds of years, like Ravel brought her mother to Him…'

Everything came clear to Lady Phenix at once. 'I see now, He was disappointed when I brought Yasaka to Him, or in other words, he had his claws in her already… I should have realized that when Yasaka was trying to sneak into His room. In that case, by abducting Yasaka, I had just presented to Him what He already owned, like a boor cutting flowers from their beloved's garden to gift to them at the door… But now, I was 'accepted' to His 'ranks'... to this Dark Lord's, a True Maou's circle…'

She wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel relief, anger, or something else as her mind was stuck in a deadlock, until her mind landed deep in 'stockholm syndrome' and 'battered housewife' territory, and the anger and terror turned to relief.

The fact Momon was mind-bafflingly powerful didn't help either, as it did have an effect on the part of Lady Phenix that was a 'female devil', and thus naturally drawn to the powerful.

Thus, Lady Phenix knew she had no choice but to be happy by Momon's side, as his loyal pet, pig-ojousama, love-toy… And possibly also as a trusted ally.

All other options available to her were exhausted one at a time, until only dependency on the monster remained.

Lady Phenix's head spun from the realization. And then she leaned against Momon, and mushed her lips against his while pushing her chest against his arm. "I accept, my lord… My love…"

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'Alright, I should probably ask for a psychiatrist to go and see her.' Momonga felt defeated but responded to the kiss a bit, deepened the kiss as he figured he might as well fly if he was tossed off a cliff, and then pulled away to leave Lady Phenix in a seriously flustered state.

She smiled and batted her eyelashes at him a bit before returning to her tea, making Momonga a bit uncomfortable. 'I hope she didn't pull Ravel and just… go into 'Ravel'-mode, I guess…'

"Sorry, but could you leave the two of us to have a private chat?" Momonga asked Lady Phenix, who instantly stood up and curtsied with picture-perfect 'ojou-sama' form, before leaving with almost haughty footsteps- That didn't quite mistake the small skip in her steps.

Momonga sighed and turned back towards Venelana who hid her own paling and frightened gulp by pretending to cough on a biscuit.

Momonga blinked as he realized that she had bit into one of 'Three's biscuits and Venelana's face started to turn green.

The biscuit seemingly got lodged into her throat and Venelana began to cough and let choking sounds.

"Right, um…" Momonga hugged Venelana from behind and performed a heimlich grip on her. 'Figures… I didn't want to toss those biscuits over the balcony in case 'Three' was looking and became sad…'

'I should probably also heal her since I'm pretty sure 'Three's biscuits are lethal… I have no idea how the maids managed to make regular biscuits into poison without intending, but I shouldn't start tossing stones in a glass house, because the responsibility of a subordinate's actions goes to the leader… Although I should probably ask the maids and Yubelluna to cook together sometime. The poison they'd create could be useful if I have to get rid of Michael and Gabriel at some point, if they figure out my true nature…' Momonga thought as he took the half-empty vial of Phenix tears from his inventory that he had used on Misla, and offered it to the woman. "Drink this."

The woman took the offered vial while shivering violently and collapsed against the table, prompting Momonga to pull her to his lap, take the vial from her limp hand, and pour the contents of the vial into her mouth before she could start to convulse.

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Kuisha Abaddon stalked through Phenix estate's hallways, searching for her target.

'I need to ambush Momon… I have a time limit to seduce him, or Sairaorg will pay for it… Not to mention, if I distract him long enough then Misla might regain enough of her strength to wake up on her own…' Kuisha rounded a corner after checking if the coast was clear, and looked out of a window to see a balcony a few stories down.

She paused as she looked at the balcony's occupants, and saw Momon- The man was outright huge with near-seven foot height, so it was hard to mistake him.

However, Kuisha paused as she saw who he was with- Lady Phenix and Lady Gremory.

Momon kissed Lady Phenix on the lips, the two looked at each other for a moment, and then Lady Phenix stood up to curtsy to Momon and walked off.

Momon turned towards Lady Gremory, who had taken a biscuit and bit into it…

And then Lady Gremory had started to cough and she slumped lifelessly to Momon's lap. Momon instantly began pouring the same black liquid he had used on Misla down Lady Gremory's throat.

'Fuck, fuckfuckfuck, he's doing it again-!' Kuisha cursed under her breath as the monster poisoned the noblewoman with his Sleeping Sickness poison straight out of the vial. 'He must have slipped some of that into the food as well- He's systematically getting rid of nobles of Pillar families, first with that cultist who killed the male heads of families with that ambush in House of Pillars, and is now getting rid of the ladies with Sleeping Sickness… It's the perfect alibi since it's been around for so long… Wait, Lady Phenix!'

'Dammit, she explained how Momon works to us, went against him- He must have figured out what Lady Phenix told us, and tried to poison her alongside Lady Gremory, but Lady Phenix must have known better than to eat anything… There's no way Momon didn't get that, so in other words, Momon is going for her next!' Kuisha cursed under her breath as she saw Momon lift unconscious Venelana into a princess carry, and walk off with her. 'I need to warn Lady Phenix!'

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Momonga sighed as Venelana's breathing stabilized. "Umu, I think the biscuit was… Ill-suited for human, er, devil consumption… I'll have to scold my maid, I believe I told her that she wasn't supposed to serve them to anyone other than me."

"I… C-cough…" Venelana was still slumped onto Momonga's lap, and looked quite powerless. "H-huaah…"

'Right, she passed out… I should probably let her rest for a while…' Momonga sighed as the 'talk' had turned into a disaster, and lifted the woman into a princess carry. 'I should probably just go and put her to an infirmary bed… Kuisha was awake when I visited the infirmary, so I think she can keep an eye on both Misla and Venelana…'

Momonga sighed and carried the woman over to infirmary, not quite feeling like using [Gate] over such trivial distances as he still needed to keep his guard up in case Beelzebub decided to launch a surprise assault against him.

'Right… Kuisha's gotten up and is somewhere…' Momonga was a bit disappointed to not find the blonde Queen of Bael Peerage in the infirmary, and had just put the brown-haired Gremory woman down to the freed infirmary bed. 'I'll just assume that Venelana will be alright here…'

He wasn't sure what to do next as the situation had somewhat gotten out of hand, before he remembered that he was initially going to go and talk with Yasaka over the whole political situation between him and his faction, and her and her faction. And also to clear up air between the two of them after he had barged into her shower, resulting in… an event.

Momonga cast [Detect Life] with a widened range, but didn't find the woman's health-sign. 'I'm guessing she's not in the immediate territory… Hm. She might have told some of her retinue where she went, so I should check her quarters…'

He walked over to the spare Peerage Quarter that had been assigned to Yasaka and her convoy, and knocked on the door.

A tengu answered the door with an unfolded blade-fan in hand which he pushed against Momonga's throat instantly, and Momonga instantly lifted his hand to knock the blade aside, causing it to land on the floor, followed by a [Hold Species] that caused the assailant to flop down on the gloor.

The Tengu seemed to realize who he was threathening and it's long-nosed face turned paper white from terror, and it scrambled to stand up straight while blocking the doorway. "Landlord. Your presence was not expected. Forgive me."

Momonga tried to remember if he had seen that tengu before, and couldn't quite recall it. 'There were quite a few Tengu's in the convoy that came to the Peace Meeting, but I don't think I saw this one among them… Then again, they all more or less look the same…'

"Where might Yasaka-sama be? I would like to speak with her over diplomatic matters." Momonga put the issue aside and asked for Yasaka from the Tengu, who suddenly looked very nervous.

"Yasaka-sama has… gone to see to the needs of her people. She informed us that she'll be back come dusk." The Tengu's deep voice was thoroughly uncertain, making Momonga suspect foul play.

"I see… What would those needs be, if I might ask."

"My lord may ask, but I may not give answer, for it is not mine to give." The Tengu closed its eyes, clearly waiting for Momonga to cut his head off or do something equally ridiculous.

'I'm guessing [Ancient Evil] is acting up again…' Momonga sighed. "Calm down. I was just asking. Is her daughter with her? I promised Kunou-chan that I'd come and see her."

The Tengu looked even more nervous and suspicious. "...Why would milord seek lady Kunou?"

"DADDY!" A voice from somewhere behind the tengu and the man-shaped creature fell flat on its face, and revealed that Kunou had impacted against the Youkai's back and toppled it over.

The girl's nine tails swayed wildly from side to side like that of an excited puppy, and her eyes were starry as she gave Momonga a excited stare.

Momonga opened his arms after quickly checking that his [Negative Energy Touch] was suppressed, and Kunou dove right into his hug.

"Daddyy…" Kunou mumbled a bit, before she slither-slathered her way around Momonga's waist like a slippery lightning, climbed up his back, and came to kneel on his shoulder while grinding her knuckles against the top of his head. "Daddy promised he'd come and see me and mommy yesterday!"

"Sorry, sorry…" Momonga apologized to Kunou while the Tengu got up and gave Momonga an outright hostile and suspicious glare, specifically as Momonga reached to tickle the girl under her chin and pat her tails.

"Hmph!" Kunou's mood seemed to change after a moment of playing and she bunched her arms together, tossed her neck at him, blushed a bit, and finally relented to hug the side of Momonga's head in a way that squished her cheeks a bit. "It's alright, Kunou forgives daddy!"

"Thank you, Kunou… Do you know where Yasaka is?" Momonga asked while reaching up to pat Kunou's head, causing the girl to rest her chin against the top of his head in a way that caused her cheeks to squish.

"Heehee…" Kunou seemed to be too preoccupied from feeling good about the patting, and Momonga paused for a moment as he contemplated the possibility that [Lover] might be interfering with the innocent act to make it feel a lot less innocent to the receiving party. He promptly pulled his hand away. "Nooo… pat more, it feels so good, daddy…"

"If you act properly, I'll pat your head again, deal?" Momonga sweated and dreaded the day he'd need to act on the promise, but felt like coercion would get him results. "Do you know where mommy went?"

Kunou let out a disappointed 'uuuuh' but nodded her head. "Mommy went to-"

"My lord! Young lady! May I direct your attention to tea and snacks?!" The tengu interrupted from the doorway, and Momonga practically smelled foul play from the Youkai as it seemed to have panicked the moment Kunou was about to blurt out something the Tengu didn't want Momonga to hear.

"Do you want to go and play instead?" Momonga knew that two could play that game, and Kunou nodded eagerly. "I see… Ahem, you, servant. When Yasaka comes back, tell her that I went out to play with Kunou for a while."

"Milord!" The Tengu lunged at Momonga, but he had entered [Gate] with Kunou before the Tengu managed to reach him. Although Kunou's hairs had stood on end when she had seen [Gate]'s dark swirling energy-portal and hugged his head harder out of instinct.

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"Dammit, dammit, dammit…" Azazel was not having a particularly good day.

He was currently lugging Seekvaira Agares's unconcious body on his shoulder, and running away from Sairaorg Bael who was chasing after him with look of desperation in his eyes. 'Figures they're after the young lady, her two Peerage members were just left lying there…'

Fortunately for Azazel, he was much faster than the Devil who was both encumbered by his armor, and didn't have the benefit of having multiple wings and access to stronger teleportation.

Azazel was not heading directly to Phenix territory as he didn't want to spark the continuation of the conflict by leading Sairaorg's Peerage into Phenix territory and thus have the devil killed, as Beelzebub could use that just as well as a false flag operation to have Asmodeus whip his noble-tied army into rage.

'Figures they'd use a pretty young lady as a target for the false-flag…' Azazel sighed as he jumped through one more teleportation circle, and ended up in the Human World. 'If I just toss this girl to someone from Beelzebub's faction, they will just execute her and hand the body over to Sairaorg-kun. In other words, I have to take her to pops, and ask him to heal her… That way pops can pretend he cares about the common devil and noble alike, further eroding Asmodeus's and Beelzebub's influence, which might force them to sue for peace.'

A teleportation circle formed after Azazel, albeit much weaker, and Azazel was fairly sure that only the son of Bael could come through it to chase after him.

Azazel waited for Sairaorg to finish teleporting into the Human World, well aware that Sairaorg would likely be unable to teleport between dimensions for multiple times in short time so if Azazel baited Sairaorg's teleportation, then teleported off himself, Sairaorg would likely be trapped in Human World for at least a few minutes- During which Azazel could teleport back into Underworld, mask his presence, and sneak off.

"Huh. It's actually sunny out…" Azazel looked up as the Human World didn't seem as dark as he had feared, with the sun being turned into a black hole and all, and noted that while it was quite uncharacteristically cold and snowy (at least for a summer anyway), there was quite a bit of light.

'Huh, an accretion disk of that size… It'd take an entire planet of materials to get that big disk that quickly, don't they usually take hundreds of millions of years to form or something?' Azazel thought idly while he glanced at the sky which had turned from deep blue into somewhat ominous dark ultramarine, with the brightest stars visible even during the day. 'I'm guessing pops has some plan for that… While that thing illuminates alright, I'm not sure how long this planet's trajectory stays the same with a pull from a gravity well that size… And I'm pretty sure the heat radiation of an accretion disk is much less powerful than a sun-flare, judging from all this snow…'

Sairaorg popped from his teleporter, lunged at Azazel with his battle-axe, and Azazel promptly teleported out.

"GET BACK HERE- I HAVE TO SAVE-!" The golden-armored man's roar was cut short as Azazel plopped back to Underworld.

'Right, time to go…' Azazel made a run for it while making a few hand-gestures to activate a 'copy no jutsu' (or rather, press a button on a holographic distraction device, but he liked to pretend to be a ninja during the button-press).

A copy of Azazel flew off to a different direction, and the real Azazel made his way towards Phenix territory with the unconscious Agares devil on his shoulder.

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"Dammit- Dammit! Dammit…" Sairaorg was hitting the ground with his fist in rage.

He had lost sight of his goal in his desperation, and made a mistake in pursuing Azazel to the human world.

He knew that the Fallen Angel had gone easy on Sairaorg, as the leader of the faction could easily flatten Sairaorg in a 'true' fight, yet Sairaorg had no choice but to fight.

He had no choice but to accept the True God's tyrannical orders. 'Mother, I'm sorry… I was too weak, too bull-headed… I failed…'

He knew that Azazel would take Seekvaira to somewhere far away, and Sairaorg would likely never find her again… Until he paused to think further, now that the haze of battle had lifted from his mind. 'Come to think of it, Azazel's wings were gray, like the gray angels in True God's territory…Doesn't that mean…?'

Sairaorg almost threw up as he realized that Azazel had likely been True God's servant as well. 'Dammit, I… But I tried to capture Seekvaira, like how the True God wished… But why'd Azazel come between me and- Ah…'

'I see… The True God must have made a similar ultimatum for Azazel, except for something that Azazel desperately wanted in exchange for capturing Seekvaira… Why else would he be there, confronting her… Yuuto explained how the True God enjoys suffering, that he revels in seeing people struggle and lose their beloved ones, bit by bit, while they are powerless to do anything but watch…' Sairaorg picked his axe from the ground where it had fallen, and leaned against it while feeling thoroughly exhausted. 'He knew I had no chance against Azazel, but wished to see me struggle to complete an impossible task, that of saving someone dear to me by sacrificing someone dear to me, and failing at both… because of his interference… I should have known I picked the wrong side the moment I got that message from Diodora… Only Diodora's kind have any real place in True God's ranks…'

Sairaorg knew. He knew that if he tried to 'play the game' as he was, he would be mere tool, no, a mere amusement like a dog tied to a chain with the other end of the chain staked into a bonfire, fated to run and run until he'd collapse out of exhaustion and the burning heat would creep through the chains to sear his flesh until he'd run again.

To break from that, he could no longer approach the problems as 'Sairaorg Bael', a honest, straight-forward and honorable devil. He needed to be something more like Diodora.

Something that he so despised.

Yet, in thinking so, Sairaorg was not sure if that would set him free from the chain around his neck or if him becoming what he despised was yet another game for the True God.

'One day…' Sairaorg's hand curled into a fist. 'There will be retribution…'

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"Where is Kunou?! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS SHE YOU, INCOMPETENT FOOL?!"

"L-Lord Momon tried to find where milady had gone, I didn't answer as per thine orders, so he took Lady Kunou, and said he'd go 'play' with her instead…"

"GRRAAAAAHHHHHH! IF I FIND EVEN A SINGLE DROP OF CUM ON KUNOU I'LL TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF, AND THEN MOMON'S! FIND HER! FIND THEM!"

The enraged fox-woman charged off and teleported after jumping out of a window.

"...Lady Yasaka seems quite mad." A kitsune clad in traditional geisha-getup remarked to a Tengu who was shaking like a pile of pudding during an earthquake. "I hope you were telling the truth. For your sake."

The Tengu passed out briefly as he realized what he had done, as he had added the 'instead' to the sentence as an innocent prank on Momon.

'Should have figured out that stepping on the landlord's nose wouldn't fly…' The tengu instantly ran off to pack his bags… Only to be caught by the geisha-like kitsune.

"Prepare yourself for divine punishment." The kitsune's eyes glinted ominously.

"Eep!"

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Momonga suddenly got an odd feeling that someone had misunderstood something he said, but chalked it up to his nerves recovering from the happenings of… Well, everything that had happened since he had ended up in the ero-world.

'This feels really peaceful, somehow…' Momonga caught a ball that Kunou tossed at him, and tossed it back at her, causing her to scramble after it and dive to catch it as the two were playing ball in a forest-clearing near Phenix's estate within eye-sight of the main castle building.

Kunou tossed the ball back, and Momonga [Teleport]ed to where the ball would land, and caught it.

"Cheeaatiiinggg!" Kunou blew a raspberry at him.

"Definition of cheating is whether you're winning or losing." Momonga corrected and tossed the ball. "Losers always say that winners cheated. Winners always say that losers lose."

Kunou caught it, nodded seriously, and tossed the ball at Momonga… Except this time the ball was coated in fox-fire.

Momonga sweated a bit as flame was a natural hard-counter for his 'skeletal' self, but caught the ball out of habit… And found out that his 'fleshy' body actually served as a flame-retardant coating. 'Huh, figures… It's a 'Phoenix' of sorts after all… Hehe, that means I should be fine not wasting mana on [Body of Effulgent Ruby] as long as I have the flesh to protect me… Hehee… About the time that I started to get some tangible non-ero benefits from having flesh coating… Although I should probably count 'getting proper rest' as another benefit…'

Kunou was jumping side to side in an excited manner, and was clearly waiting for Momonga to toss the ball.

Momonga tossed the ball over his shoulder, causing Kunou's eyes to widen before she turned into a slippery lightning-like blur and managed to sneak between Momonga's legs and catch the ball mid-flight.

"Good catch!" Momonga encouraged as he reached for the ball that Kunou tossed back at him… Only for the ball to let a small 'pop' of smoke and Momonga's eyes widened to realize that Kunou had tossed a tree-trunk at him and used a cantrip to disguise it as the ball.

The tree-trunk slammed against Momonga's face and he collapsed to the ground, with the actual ball landing a few feet away.

A weight landed on his chest and Momonga looked down to see that Kunou had sat down on his chest.

The kitsune had bunched her arms together victoriously while having closed her eyes and was clearly waiting for something with a proud look and a small smile on her face.

Momonga reached to pat her head. "Well done. You got me."

Kunou giggled.

"KUNOU- MOMON! NO!" A ball of frenzied claw and teeth appeared on top of Momon and he found himself pulled up, tossed almost horizontally into the air, and then that he had impacted against a nearby tree, which broke in two and fell as a result.

"What did you DO?! I was just… I didn't… You didn't need to do that! But damn you! Damn you- Don't you dare ever go near my Kunou." Yasaka screeched in despair and charged at Momonga who got up and prepared for a fight-

Yasaka fell flat on her face after letting out a yelp, and put her hands on her rear which looked like it hurt quite a bit. "Eh?"

"Mommy won't kill with daddy as long as I draw breath!" Kunou announced with a determined look on her face, and the kitsune child had her hands tied together with her forefingers extended and put against one another in classic 'one thousand years of pain' grip.

"K-Kunou, you-"

"Why is mommy fighting daddy?!" Kunou prowled around Yasaka who looked at Kunou with incredulos eyes while still holding her rear that twitched occasionally. "Wait, did daddy not run away, and it was actually mommy who drove daddy away?! No! I won't allow it! I won't allow you to drive daddy away again!"

"K-Kunou?! What are you saying?! That… You don't know what he was going to-"

"We were playing ball, as I promised her yesterday." Momonga pointed at the ball next to the tree stump. "What are you doing, Lady Yasaka?"

"It was fun to toss the ball with daddy! He taught me all sorts of techniques!" Kunou confirmed and lifted the orange ball against her chest.

Yasaka looked at the item, seemingly returned to her senses, and lowered her head against the grass. "I am terribly sorry, Lord Momon."

Momonga ignored the fact that the woman seemed to mutter 'I am going to murder that tengu' against the grass.

Kunou looked a bit uncertain as she twiddled her thumbs. "Mommy? Daddy?"

'What are we, an unhappy married couple tied over a child already…' Momonga sighed and walked to Yasaka. "It's fine. I would have done the same if my child was threatened…"

He offered her his hand, and she took it.

"I am…" Yasaka started, but Momonga cut her off.

"Don't worry about it." Momonga repeated. "Now then, Kunou? Daddy and mommy have made up, so do you mind giving us some space? I can teleport you back to the quarters I gave you."

"Ehe, mommy and daddy are going to have sex again…" Kunou chuckled mischeviously while having one of her hands in front of her lips.

She then disappeared in a ball of rapidly shrinking tails until it let a 'pop' and disappeared completely, making Momonga fairly sure that she had teleported herself.

Yasaka merely stared at the spot where Kunou had been with her mouth open.

She then turned her head towards Momonga with rusty, twitchy movements.

"I didn't teach her that." Momonga realized the incoming misconception, and moved proactively to prevent that through words. 'I'm pretty sure [Ancient Evil] caused that overreaction, but I might be able to salvage it after Kunou's save…' "Er, if you don't count the 'incident' a few days back…"

Yasaka blushed and looked away. "I see."

The two stayed like that for a while, standing awkwardly, until Yasaka sighed while looking away. "Thank you for going along with Kunou's wishes."

"Don't worry about it. I lost my child during the peace conference as well… Although, unlike Kunou, I wasn't able to bring it back." 'Mostly because the child didn't actually even exist, but it's not like Yasaka could tell…' Momonga sighed while using the misconception to open the woman's guard. "I can understand your reaction. Considering what happened last time… I can also understand why you'd hesitate leaving me alone with Kunou."

"I see… Please accept my condolences. And my apologies once again. I… must have-"

"Haa… Well, I was looking for you, so I suppose that this would work as well. So let's move on to talk about something else. Namely what I came to ask you about in the first place." Momonga moved the conversation forward before it could devolve further. "I wanted to ask you about-"

"I'm sorry! But I had no choice-!"

"I get it, I get it, don't worry about it…" Momonga sighed and covered his face. "We have more important things to talk about, no? I understand what you were aiming for. So don't feel bad about it, I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. Now, moving on from that before you spend the rest of the day apologizing. I was wondering what we should do about ourselves, the relationship between us- if there is one, and the relationship between our factions..."

.

.

'Right, figures that Momon would know that I brought my people over… I wasn't exactly covert when making the portal to transport Kyoto's Youkai into the Underworld, and I think that Tengu was fresh off a rotation… Come to think of it, a fresh recruit probably wouldn't know much about Momon-sama, and would probably try to play a prank on him… And Tengu's pranks can be… aggravating…'Yasaka felt like covering her face in exasperation. 'That could have ended in disaster, both for me and Kunou… Not to mention about me moving my people into the Underworld without permission… I'm glad Momon seems to understand where I was coming from on both accords… I knew he was the compassionate sort, but… Haa. There's a line between being trusting and naivety.'

Yasaka thought for a brief second. 'Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't be throwing stones about trusting people after what just happened…'

.

.

"...And as such, I was wondering if you were interested in some sort of non-aggression or mutual friendship pact?" Momonga finished his speech. "Yasaka-san?"

"Ah, hm… I see. That certainly intrigues me. Would that include possibilities to trade for land and citizenship in the Underworld?" Yasaka snapped from her stupor as it looked like she had been a bit absent-minded.

"Of course, in exchange for an industrial, logistics and services trade deal for… say, eighty percent of total production?" Momonga asked almost as an afterthought, even if the entire speech until now had been building up for that question.

"Ten percent." Yasaka seemed to reply out of habit, making Momonga narrow his eyes while the woman did the same.

'Hoo? So she isn't just a pretty yet airheaded 'spiritual leader'...' The thought clearly passed on both of their heads, and Momonga and Yasaka went back-and-forth on haggling and debate for a while.

.

.

"...Fine, forty-percent industrial trade deal for us, twenty for logistics, fourty for services, and in exchange Youkai can buy land at one-and-two-point-five times the market value and has limited citizenship rights, with full citizenship granted…"

"...If they converted to my church or after fifty years have passed, during which the land-owner spent at least ninety percent of their time in the Underworld." Momonga finished while lying on his back on the grass.

Yasaka wasn't faring much better.

The kitsune pointed her hand up while laying on her back on the ground. "With a mutual defense contract and military alliance if either faction is attacked…"

"...And a shared cache of emergency resources and weapons, stored in the Underworld." Momonga finished while waving his hand towards the setting sun without lifting his back off the ground either. "Sealed by…"

"...A joint cooperation pact lasting no less than two thousand years. And both major deals cemented by a…"

"...Political marriage between the two faction's current and future leaders with a minimum of a hundred years of continuous marriage." Momonga finished. 'Not the first time that sort of thing has happened… At least this gets me a sizable army from Shinto and, if their trade output is anything to go by, a quite sizable vector to distribute my influence and wealth by the way of distributing my faction's wealth while also solidifying my position… Not to mention, I haven't stepped on Shinto's toes all that much, so that deal would hold by the nature of being too profitable to just break over a principle, should my 'real' nature came to light and the Heavens turned on me… Which is also why I can't just settle for what army and power I have now…'

The sun had started to set, and Momonga let his hand fall down against the grassy ground. 'Not to mention… It's not that I have anything against being a 'daddy' to Kunou for real…'

"Haaaa…" Yasaka let a long sigh. "I did not expect you to haggle like that, Momon-kun. I had pegged you for a soft-hearted, pampering and kind man who'd trust everyone who so much as asked for it."

"Appearances can be deceiving." Momonga said half-heartedly. 'Ha, how true is that…'

"I can see that." Yasaka rolled over to her side, and then climbed to her arms and knees.

And then she crawled next to him and flopped against his side. "I must confess, I was quite scared that you'd… overreact to what I did. It could be constituted as an act of war, so… I thank you for trusting me, even when you had no reason to."

"It's alright. We do all sorts of things out of passion." Momonga leveraged [Actor] while sighing internally. 'She's still on that whole 'petting Kunou while she sits on me' thing… Haa…'

Yasaka let out a small purr as Momonga realized he had started to pet her hair and fox-ears out of instinct.

He stopped and the woman grabbed his hand, before putting it back on her head. "Don't be so reserved. We still need to put things into writing and have some sort of marriage ceremony, but at least us Youkai have a long tradition of holding oral pacts… So as far as I'm concerned, we're already a wife and a husband."

Momonga noted that the woman had a blush on her cheeks. 'Right… I'm guessing [Lover] proc-ed again…'

He sighed internally while leaning closer externally. 'Well, it's not like we can be strangers after that sort of decision… Er, actually, I should have probably asked Rias first before making any deals…'

Momonga gulped, hoping that Yasaka would take it as him being nervous over her and not him being nervous over a certain red-haired girl's reaction to the news. And then decided to indulge the Youkai woman in an attempt to procrastinate going and telling Rias what he had gone and agreed to.

.

.

Yasaka was feeling quite relieved. 'Haa… Success! A deal is made, Kunou gets a father-figure that we both approve of, and my people don't have the guillotine of the eroding Human World above their necks…'

'Underworld's property prices are fairly high, but land prices are fairly average, and they aren't selling any to non-devils and devils who haven't proven themselves in the Rating Games… But all of that will most likely crash and burn after that whole 'death of Pillars' thing, since the vast majority of land was owned by noble families, whose iron-hard grip will shatter when Momon waltzes in and scoops the land up after winning the war in Underworld… Assuming, of course, that Momon doesn't jack up the price of land to unobtainable heights, in which case I am screwed…'Yasaka thought idly as she flopped to her back and Momon, looking adorably nervous, moved on top of her to kiss her on the lips. 'However, while he does seem to have a shrewd business instinct, he doesn't seem so cold that he'd do that… After all, he allowed us to trespass his land with just a wave of a hand, forgiving it due to my passion to be a just ruler to my people…'

Yasaka was feeling that their future would be quite bright.

And so, she allowed herself to relax and indulge both herself and Momon by using her tails to slide Momon's clothes off, and the man opened her kimono without further ado.

She glanced down and saw that he was raring to go already, with the pipe-like sausage coming to rest against her abdomen and stomach. 'Oh my… I didn't really see it properly last time, because things happened so fast… Was that really completely in me?'

The meat rubbed a bit against Yasaka's stomach and she shivered against her will from the contrast of the slowly chilling evening air and the almost scalding-hot thing against her stomach.

"Haan… haaa…" Yasaka let out a breathy moan as Momon reached to play with her breasts again. 'Ha… aha… It's like Kunou when she was younger… Hn?'

The man had reached down to suck on her breast, and Yasaka felt as her breast-milk get drawn out again as her breasts had not stopped producing milk since Kunou's birth, mostly thanks to Yasaka's nature as a Kyuubi which massively slowed her body's aging.

Not that Momon seemed to mind as he played and sucked Yasaka's chest, causing her to draw gaspy breaths and hug the man's face harder against her breast as the feeling was positively intoxicating for some reason.

"Haa… Haa… Haanh…" Yasaka allowed her tails to coil around Momon's body and stroke it with the warm fur, while the man stroked her flanks with his hands in turn and caused her body to react to the caress way more than she had expected.

"Hng… Don't tease me… for much longer…" Yasaka flopped over Momon and straddled him, pulling his face from her breasts and allowing him to see that Yasaka's canines had extended somewhat from her really getting into the mood.

Yasaka was fairly sure that her eyes had gained a yellowish, near-feral glint as she pushed her lower body against the meat-pipe so that it stood up, caught the meat between her thighs, and squished it so that it stroked against her lower lips, thighs and butt at the same time while pointing to the sky from behind her thigh-gap. "Haah… hn… H-hn…"

She began stroking the meat by thrusting her hips down repeatedly, each time feeling her own almost feral lust build to the point where Yasaka was fairly sure she'd enter a state of heat at slightest provocation… Which came in the form of Momon reaching to stroke and scratch Yasaka's fox-ears.

"Hauuu… hnuu…" Yasaka's rational thoughts were outright gone after that point, and she utterly lost it.

Her memories became somewhat clouded after that, but flashes of it remained-

…Like then she pushed the pipe-like meat into her sex to the point it kissed her crevix, and then the man buckled his hips and drove it even further, elicting a long, breathy moan from Yasaka and a flood of her nectar down her thighs as she pulled herself up and slammed her hips down in uncontrolled frenzy that sent droplets of their juices flying all over the placeh…

…Like when Momon had pushed her against the ground and mounted her from behind, making her stomach swell as he emptied a massive load directly into her womb, causing the ground to be stained white while Yasaka gained a outright stupid ahegao-expression for a moment… And that ahegao turned to an incredibly horny smirk as she buckled her mounter off and jumped on top of him…

…Like when Momon was sucking both of Yasaka's milk-streaked breasts at the same time and she was positively howling from pleasure, all the while she was touching herself and allowing Momon to ravage her insides through her rear…

…Like when she had lost strength from her body and Momon had flopped her on her back on top of a fallen tree, turned her head back so she looked 'upwards', and pushed the entire meat-rod down her throat, bulging her throat and snapping a cloth choker that she had on her, and almost kissed the entrance of her stomach with the meat's tip. And the singular motion had elicited a powerless, feeble twitches from her arms and legs, while the meat pinned her in place… Followed by Momon beginning to thrust properly, each thrust causing her limp body to twitch and spasm from pleasure and from the feeling of getting choked, with Momon finally ending the motion in a massive eruption that had caused her stomach to be pumped utterly full…

…Like when Momon had dragged Yasaka against a tree and stroked himself against Yasaka's breasts, at least until Yasaka had recovered enough to press her massive breasts together to give the man a proper boob-job… And the meat had shot a whole bucketful of baby-batter to Yasaka's face and flowed down her breasts, staining her entire body with the sticky white stuff while she gasped for air…

The last thing she remembered was a tender, gentle kiss with Momon as the two lied on each other's hug, and she remembered her last thought for the night- 'This was such a good deal…'

Yasaka had passed out after that.

.

.

Kunou hopped up and down in her bed as if it was trampoline. "Whoooee!"

"Ehehee…" Kunou finally calmed down and flopped on the bed, and pat her own head while giggling happily. '...Daddy played with me today, today was a good day…'

Not to mention that she had discovered that her dad was much less strict than Yasaka, and was more like the tengus that occasionally served as Kunou's servants (or 'friends', as she liked to call them). 'I wonder if that's why mommy initially drove daddy away? She doesn't seem to approve when the Tengus teach me all sorts of words… Daddy, meanwhile, was all for it.'

Kunou hopped up from her bed, feeling more than a bit restless after the session of playing with the ball which had ended in quite an exciting if really scary finish.

'Hehe, I hope I get a little brother, that would be fun…' Kunou twirled her way out of the room.

And ran across her dad, who was hauling Yasaka on his shoulder and moving towards a shower, and there were quite a few youkai in the living room, each looking like they had been knocked out on the spot with a spell of some sort.

Momon froze on the spot as well.

Kunou looked at the state of her mother, and the… marinating… she had received.

"I want to name the baby!" Kunou's eyes gained a determined glint and she pointed her finger at dad while her other hand was against her waist, akin to how she had seen mommy pose when making a strict ruling.

"Umu." Kunou's father nodded serenely and wobbled over to a shower while it was clear that he was in need of a break as well. "Umu, in that case, umu…"

One of the Tengu's looked like he was about to wake up, so Kunou took a frying pan and whacked him over the head with it before it could spot daddy and mommy in… questionable state.

'This wasn't a good day, it was the best day!' Kunou giggled and jumped a bit. 'I can't wait for tomorrow!'

.

.

"Gnuuuuuuuuugh!"

"Kukuku, is your resolve so easily weakened, sister…" Sona whispered to Serafall's ear.

"You heard that! And saw that! I want that!" Serafall was holding a pink fairy in her grasp while whining. "This is super-cruel! Blue balls galore! And that planet-chested fox isn't even high in lewd juice!"

"Oh, we can agree that she was high on the best lewd-juice…" Sona chuckled, but Serafall could tell that the girl was as hot and bothered as Serafall was, likely due to an accidental splash of a certain concentrated turbo-lewd juice.

Not that Serafall needed to think hard to come to that conclusion, as Sona had decided to wear black thigh-highs into bed and was rubbing her thighs together with a massive blush on her face, more or less the same way Serafall was, except that Serafall had put shoulder-length satin gloves instead to match Sona's 'outfit'.

However, despite Serafall's insistence, it looked like 'sexy outfits' hadn't succeeded in bringing Momon around, so Serafall put 'sexy outfits mk2' into practise and pulled a set from under the bed.

"Right, let's add this to the outfit!" Serafall announced.

"Kukuku… sure… Master will come when master comes… Kuku… But I'd like if he came faster, and came in meeeee…" Sona's dark whisper turned into a desperate whimper, clearly against her will.

Sona blushed as she realized what she had said, as did Serafall.

Serafall hugged Sona as the two sisters were fully of one mind for the first time in weeks.

.

.

Miki Hyoudou was pouting while 'One' was scrubbing her back.

The two of them were sitting in a oddly shaped two-or-three person bath. It had a deeper part, but for some reason it had reclined surfaces that looked like they were made for sitting on or for lying flat on. "I'm clean already..."

"No. Master said you need to be cleaned thoroughly!" 'One' looked absolutely seriously as she had taken Miki to a bath-house of sorts, and some blue-haired girl with green strand of hair had approached the two and said that she'd have one of the baths cleared for Miki's and 'One's exclusive use.

"That won't bring Issei back..." Miki submerged herself into the hot bath.

"Master will fix everything, so don't worry!" 'One' beamed, and Miki felt her depression cure just a bit from the maid's cheer.

'Haa... I guess that monster did tell me that he was Issei no longer, back in Kuoh...' Miki thought as her body relaxed almost out of instinct while she was submerged in the hot water. 'That woman, Rossweisse, said that 'Momon' had no choice when he occupied my son's body... That he was likely dead already... But still, he never told me about any of that... Everything... Everything is just... haa... It's a nightmare... But I guess this bath is sort of nice...'

.

.

Gorou Hyoudou fell to his knees after managing to limp after the trail left by the maid who had kidnapped his wife.

The trail had left to a church with double-doors, each door flanked by a statue of a muscular man with a skeletal face and feathered wings.

'...I will save you, Miki...'

He steeled himself, stood up even if his knee ached, and pushed one of the doors open with his remaining healthy hand...

He was ambushed the second he took a step in.

Gorou never stood a chance.

There was a girl in lewd church costume in front of him, with a pair of stick-on cat-ears on her head and cat-paw gloves in her hands.

"Welcome to the Church of the True God, nyaaan~"

'Oh no.' Gorou turned to run off.

He fell on his face as something pulled his pants down to his ankles.

Gorou was dragged further in while he tried to claw at the floor, and the doors swung closed.