39 Ch. 39 Witch of Betrayal

The week after my return from Olympus was a bit busier than my usual one.

My first priority was the Perseus family.

I needed to have a full investigation on them before making the proper development plans necessary for their growth.

The results showed me that although they were fine, it wasn't great.

They were currently living on one of the islands in the Aegean Sea. It didn't exist for mundanes and even for those connected to the supernatural it was extremely difficult to find. The family was largely self sufficient, growing their own food and feed for the pegasi, fishing being a major part of their day-to-day. They had a nice little force of pegasi riders, archers and guards to protect themselves, with a few magicians mixed in. Outside the island they had a few horse ranches which were basically forced to supply the occupying Ottoman Empire, trade between the other hero families, and some monster slaying/bounty hunting as part of their regular duties as a Hero family.

I found out that the title Perseus was actually reserved for the most outstanding member of the family or the spiritual successors of the original, the current one being both surprisingly, becoming the family head at the age of 16 and its strongest member a year later. That explained why he had the authority to sign over everything like he did.

The development plan for them was to expand their pegasi ranch and open up a new avenue thanks to Perseus being a son of Poseidon. The first expansion would be with Hippocampus once a proper trade agreement was brokered between them/Azaroth and Atlantis. My ultimate goal would be to have all the possible horse related creatures of the Greek Mythos being raised in the ranches of the Perseus family. I was going to make House Furcas real jealous.

As for obtaining the many different mythological horses, I had the ability to 'persuade' people and to go anywhere without anyone ever knowing. I would make it work.

Speaking of 'persuading' people, I had a productive visit when I went to the Perseus family and 'talked' to most of the elders or leaders about my plans for the future. It was mainly to get their pride out of the way and stop them from being bitches over being under a devil now.

And they say devils are prideful. Having to deal with stubborn 'old people' decades younger than myself was annoying until I just 'convinced' them.

After the Perseus family, I began negotiations with Atlantis and the Amazon island of Themyscira.

Atlantis was fairly straightforward since Poseidon was getting a bit desperate to actually stay in touch with his son after he came under me. He was apparently quite the doting parent once he was allowed to actually interact with Perseus himself and very welcoming over all. And although I wasn't exactly thinking he was great because of the Medusa thing, it did happen over two thousand years ago and even gods can change.

Perseus got his divine side awakened and become a citizen of Atlantis, as well as one of its princes, thanks to being a son of Poseidon. The sea God's wife, Amphitrite, wasn't exactly happy with him for showing up with a bastard, but she at least welcomed Perseus warmly while Poseidon prayed that she didn't receive a voodoo dildo anytime soon.

From his reports, the place was a concealed underwater kingdom ruled by Poseidon and his family. It wasn't technologically advanced like some of the stories in my old world, but their magic and crafts were rather unique due to developing so long underwater. The architectural style was marvelous and they had many different means of transportation available. They reared many aquatic species and monsters as forms of food or battle beasts, cultivated various sea vegetation, and had some interesting sporting events and competitions.

Some of the negatives were the sea monster attacks, raids by merpeople or sentient aquatic races who didn't come under Poseidon's banner or were under another deity, and that they couldn't really go on land without special suits or support devices.

In then end we decided to begin trades in raw materials and foodstuff which will keep in both the underworld and Atlantis. We would look to expand by doing exchanges of skilled craftsmen, researchers, magic users later on, with possible military exchanges to have our troops train in new ways.

Perseus would be very busy as our Liaison between Atlantis and Olympus while we revamp his family and train him properly, but i knew for a fact that the results would be well worth it.

After everything I had to personally take care of was done on the Perseus/Atlantis front, I began working on the Amazons.

Everything I received regarding them said that Themyscira was essentially as if Ancient Greece had been perfectly preserved on the island. From the architecture to lifestyles, military to religious practices, the Amazons pretty much kept it all. They mainly worship Hera, Athena and Artemis as powerful women and warriors, while also having temples in honor of Demeter, Hestia, Amphitrite, Hecate and other Goddesses usually overlooked by male worshippers. They hate Aphrodite though, mainly because she's a slut and also because she plays with the minds of people while also having messes with many Amazons in the past.

The island itself was a beautiful one. Clean and pristine city, bountiful nature, no signs of conflict or war. I could understand why they look down on 'man's world' after living in such a place for so long.

But one can't forget that each Amazon is a warrior or huntress. They are also all at least partially divine, living at least a few centuries, possessing superhuman bodies and some divine gifts from time to time thanks to their heritages. They train individually and in larger groups to keep themselves ready at any moment, with all of the leadership possessing at least High-class strength.

The current Queen, Hippolyta, is an ultimate-class warrior, with a strong grip on her power. She is a bit traditional, but knows how to be flexible when necessary. Unfortunately, Zeus' assault on her left some scars as she now has a hatred of him and most of male gods, becoming somewhat averse to males as a whole. Even more than most Amazons.

As a society, the Amazons have few truly tradable ressources. They raise their own breed of horse, powerful and swift war horses, but with the Perseus family that wasn't really important for me. What they had that would interest me and others would be the griffons and Nemean Lions raised on the island, as well as Artemis Does, Hera's sacred cows and Olive Trees blessed by Athena. There were also magical plants only found on their island which could be be a valuable venture in the future and their own uniquely refined metal. A few things found in a female only society I thought could become extremely popular were the scented oils they had for their hair, the bath salts mixes, and the functional but stylish clothing they had for sale.

Predictably enough, the Amazons were most excited about the war game proposal due to not having a decent chance to have a large scale battle in Centuries. They had been forbidden from attacking the Ottoman Empire too, so they were almost celebrating the offer to have such a fight.

I had assigned a Heltana and Gila as liaisons for the Amazons. My hope is that Heltana's presence would tempt the Amazons to visit Hunter's Rest, the Hel's huntress town, then later make them willing to properly visit my lands. This would greatly deepen the relationship between Azaroth lands and Themyscira.

On the Amazon side of things, Diana was assigned as their ambassador since she at least had some interactions with myself and she was important and strong. She chose to reside within my castle instead of accepting my offer to build an embassy for her and other Amazons, but this hasn't been any issue and the princess has been getting along well with my girls, even frequently fighting against Musashi ans Scáthach.

Well, fighting would be a bit of an overstretch as she is completely outclassed in terms of skills even if she can compensate for some of it against Musashi. And Diana looked like she could squeal when she learnt who Scáthach was and was awed by her, almost placing my queen as her idol after receiving a thorough beating.

Apparently the Amazons kept records of great female warriors from around the world as figures to aspire to or learn from. They had the stories of Scáthach, Joan of Arc, Hua Mulan, Boudica, Bradamante, Valkyries and many more. So Diana was quite enthusiastic about meeting my queen and Jeanne.

Her reaction to Da Vinci originally being a man was an amusing one as she enthusiastically celebrated her joining of the sisterhood. Many questions regarding how it feels to have lived as both genders followed, also leading to Da Vinci writing down her own feelings about this as she thought it could be a useful case study for others.

Meanwhile I was getting worried over Medusa's condition. It had been over two weeks and the tragic goddess still had not awakened.

Talking with Da Vinci about the situation, we theorized that due to the enormous strain of what we called the 'Gorgon Curse' on her divine spirit and the psychological impact of what she had done under its influence, Medusa had likely retreated deep inside her own mind as a defense mechanism. The poor girl is possibly either trapped in a nightmare of her own making or in a dream world as a form of escape. There was also a chance that the divine spirits of her sisters were responsible or at least assisting her slumber for some reason.

It was looking unlikely that Medusa would wake up without some kind of external stimulus, hence we began working a few different approaches.

Da Vinci focused on physical based stimuli, believing that although the mind was a powerful thing, it was based on the grey matter in our skull. So theoretically, finding the right place to tickle should forcefully wake up someone.

That made us debate on the consequences of just yanking someone out of their psychological defense mechanism forcefully like that. It wasn't Da Vinci's fault that she began on such a drastic solution. I had centuries of psychological knowledge that I have updated thanks to my understanding of the mind and soul through magic as well, while she focused on things she knew best like biology and anatomy.

So back at the drawing board, I eventually decided to use the Inception method of entering her mind to try and wake her up.

The idea was to sync the manifestation of my mind and spirit to her's in an effort to permit entry, with the hopes of convincing the girl to wake up. This would be a difficult thing to achieve, especially if Medusa is traumatized from either her time as Gorgon or from Poseidon himself. Rape victims aren't usually gung-ho about facing the assaulting gender. And then we had to factor in the presence of Medusa's sisters as wild cards in this plan.

The upsides however, allowed for this to be the most viable option beside forcing her to awaken. I am much more powerful than Medusa, especially now that she is recovering, and this allows me to have a good amount of leeway as to leaving her mind and resisting her possible counter attacks to my presence. The fact that I was incredibly well versed in matters of the soul and mind also helped tremendously, while I doubt the girl has similar skills or knowledge.

But before we could get further into this project, I received an urgent notification from one of my contractors. Well my only personal contractor.

It would seem Medea was in trouble.

"I will have to step out." I said to Da Vinci.

"Ok~ Hope our new sister is a fun one~" The polymath replied casually as she kept working on the safety measures for our spell.

"What new sister?" I asked the woman with an wry smile.

"Are you not going to save a young girl in distress who asked to join your peerage and became a potential member?" Da Vinci asked for clarification.

"…Yes." I admitted as it sound like I was securing someone when put like that.

"Uh huh~" my smug Bishop replied with a teasing grin.

"Yeah yeah. I should be back soon." I said as I vanished from her workshop.

Appearing in the area I felt the distress signal go off, I found myself closer to Italy than Greece which surprised me.

Feeling around the place, it turned out to be a heavily concealed island about 100km from the west coast of Italy. The Island had a dormant volcano, a village with a lot of magic going through it, even compared to the Perseus family's place, many magical herbs and plants, and interestingly a temple with a strong link to a deity.

I could also feel many robed men and women either doing magic together or standing over what seemed to be cauldrons. But what caught my attention was the commotion happening underneath a barrier under said village, where I could feel the contract I had made.

'Now what are these witches and magicians doing?' I thought before disappearing again.

-Island of Aeaea, Circe's circle Hidden Judgement Room. (3rd person POV)

Deep under the village stood a secret meeting room of the elders of this island. Each Elder was an strong and experienced magician, but only two managed to reach the ultimate-class.

This room held 7 seats, with seven elders occupying them. And in front of them was a woman in glowing chains and standing within a barrier.

The woman was the cloak-less Medea.

She was beautiful to say the least. With long bluish-purple hair, matching eyes, the face of a bewitching beauty, and pointed ears. She wore the same robes she had during her short quest, but this time they had been torn and damaged from the fight she had when the ones before her captured her.

"I'm going to enjoy poisoning all of you gutless toads." The titled witch of betrayal spat out with venom in her voice as she glared at the gathering of old men and women before her.

"Now now Althaia, no need to be so crass. You should feel honored to be helping the family rise to glory again." An long bearded man replied in a little scolding tone.

"Do. Not. Call. Me. That! I am Medea! Daughter of Hecate! And I shall have my vengeance on betrayers, just like my ancestor." Medea shot back with a growl as she glared at her captures with hate.

"Unlikely considering Lady Aphrodite's promises." An old lady replied with some amusement.

"True. But to think history would repeat itself in our generation." Another added with a smirk.

"But it was unfortunate that the Jason boy died during the quest. The only casualty as well." A mustachioed elder said with a shake of his head.

"But it has assured us an even better deal out of this. Now the Jason family will essentially become our puppet out in the world." The bearded one said in a satisfied tone.

"Like hell will I let myself become that fucking whore's puppet. I will kill myself and everyone in this room before I let that happen!" Medea shouted back at all the greedy bastards ready to make her suffer the same fate as their own ancestor just to gain more power.

But as much as she didn't want this to happen, she couldn't think of a way out of this. They sealed her magic, she didn't have her staff, no potions or poisons on hand, no one was going to go against these old farts to defend her, her 'friend' had even drugged her before they went to capture her knowing she wouldn't cooperate, and now it seemed like her mother either didn't know about her plight or was convinced to ignore it.

Her only option was hoping that either of her Devil contractors could help her, but even she knew that this was a long shot. Serafall Leviathan was basically the head diplomat for the devils and busting into an important family's home to interrupt internal matters would be very bad for her. Meanwhile, Lith Azaroth was difficult to predict as he may act but it depended on her value to him and if he was willing to stake a claim to herself in order to force everyone else to back off.

"What you desire just doesn't matter dear girl. Not once we place Lady Aphrodite's ring on you." A female elder said as she took out a small wooden box.

"You sick bastards!" Medea responded as she struggled to at least loosen her chains. "You're all just backstabbing retches scared that I would take your power! I already surpassed all of you senile fools and now you ally yourself with our ancestral enemies to Damn me to the same fate as the original Medea just to gain power!"

"All for the family my dear." The mustached elder replied as he twirled his white pride.

"Bullshit. This is all for you. And I swear on river Styx that I will have my revenge for this betrayal. I will make our entire pantheon remember why the title is the Witch of Betrayal." Medea coldly declared as even from this underground cave one could hear the sky acknowledge her pledge with rumbling thunder.

"That remains to be seen you foolish girl." The bearded elder replied with narrowed eyes due to the severity of such a vow. "Ring her."

As the elder with the ring nodded and approached the bound Medea, an unexpected voice rang out in the chamber.

"I would prefer if you didn't brainwash my contractor." A smooth man's voice said as everyone's eyes snapped upward towards its source.

"Lith?" A surprised Medea softly said at the sight of the handsome dark-skinned Devil floating above them all with a confident smile.

"Who are you?"

"How did you get here?"

"How dare you interrupt us?"

The outraged elders yelled out all at once at the sight of the intruder.

"Oh? The goddess of whores didn't tell you who Medea was contracted to? What a surprise." Lith sarcastically said to them as he looked at the bound and beaten girl. "You ok?"

"You came?" Medea replied in some disbelief.

Understandable since her friend betrayed her, the elders she had looked up to betrayed her, her own mother abandoned her, and asking for a Devil she barely knew was essentially her last hope.

"You are still a potential member of my peerage. That means you might become family and no one touches my family." The Devil answered gently as a soft smile appeared on his face.

Medea looked down with small tears in her eyes as she suddenly felt relief and safety she hadn't realized she wanted ever since they had announced the discussions her family had been having with the Jason family.

The young woman had been trying to find a way to get out of this dilemma for months as she knew that they were trying to organize an alliance with one of the major families. Obviously they would chose the easiest path of marrying the similarly aged Jason and Medea. Unfortunately for all the people involved in this decision, Medea had no desire to marry a weak man she had never met from a family she was raised to dislike. Hence when she was elected to the Quest and offered a reward of her choice, Medea had hoped to be freed from the threat of being married off like she wasn't the strongest witch in the family and just a tool.

Unfortunately they hadn't technically been able to succeed in the quest, but fortunately Jason had died, much to her pleasure, and she now had a contract with two very powerful devils who at least offered her a chance to join their peerages. So when she realized her friend had drugged her and the elders appeared to subdue her, Medea was shocked as she fought back fiercely to not become a tool for them. Only when they were about to subdue her did she send out a distress signal through her contract to the married devils out of desperation.

Now hearing that someone who made gods fear him would protect her was incredibly relieving.

"Peerage!? You have no place here devil! Return from whence you came or the gods will punish you for interfering in our matters!" A female elder yelled as most looked confirment and arrogant.

"Your gods mean nothing to me. The slut backing you, even less so. But she dared plot one of her little schemes even after my little lesson, now she will receive a much harsher punishment." Lith replied without even putting any of these magicians in his eyes. "But to think Circe would let the most powerful witch on her island be brought down to this and Hecate would not help her own daughter.

Who am I kidding? This is exactly what I would expect from gods, especially the greeks."

"How dare you blaspheme against the gods!" The mustached elder yelled as he sent a blade of wind towards the devil.

Too bad for all of them, they had severely underestimated him. But that wasn't exactly surprising when dealing with people directly under pantheons. They were always overconfident in themselves and their gods.

Lith didn't even look at them as everything and everyone beside him and Medea froze, even the wind magic.

"Wha… what did you do?" Medea asked in awe as she looked at the scene before her.

"*Chuckle* There's a reason a person of your power at such a young age is just a candidate for me and Sera." Lith answered with some amusement, "But let's get ourselves somewhere more comfortable than this gloomy place."

*snap*

With a simple snap of his fingers, Medea's chains vanishing and the two disappeared from the chamber without any sort of trouble.

-Capital City of Azura, Da Vinci's workshop (1st Person POV)

Reappearing where I had left, I found Da Vinci still focusing on our spell. We might be able to use imagination based magic thanks to being devils, but doing things half-assed when it came to the mind wouldn't help anyone.

"Where is this?" Medea asked curiously as she looked around the workshop and its various pieces of intrigue.

"This is the workshop of my Bishop Da Vinci-chan." I answered as I gestures towards the self-proclaimed beautiful genius, even though I couldn't really argue with it.

"Hm? Oh so this is our new sister?" Da Vinci said as she just noticed our arrival and began looking at Medea. "Does she have a non-human lineage to have pointed ears like this? No trained muscles or obvious signs of martial training, but strong magical energy, likely to be a pure mage. Magic control is off though, indicating a drugged state. Follows the apparent trend of beautiful female. A possible Bishop or pawn piece?"

"Hey! Being a beauty isn't a requirement for my peerage. It just so happens that most powerful people are either handsome or beautiful and i keep meeting women who have great potential. Plus you were an old man wheen I recruited you so doesn't that prove otherwise?" I countered as Da Vinci openly analyzed Medea.

"Indeed… But now the beautiful and stunning genius Da Vinci-Chan dazzles all with her perfect beauty!" My Bishop proudly responded as she puffed her chest out and placed her hand on her hips.

"*Sigh* Yes yes. Now can you help her out? Her family drugged her and was about to brainwash her into marrying some fools for selfish reasons, and I want to make sure nothing's wrong with her." I said as I had gotten used to her behavior over the last century.

"A piece of cake!" Da Vinci declared as she brought over some of her equipment to get some better scans on Medea.

"I know what poison was used on me and can brew a cure if you have the ingredients I need." Medea said as Da Vinci hummed as she scanned.

"Just write a list and I'll see if we have everything. If not describe it and I'll take some from that Island." I replied casually as it wasn't a worry.

With the many people in various industries pushing themselves forward, there were many magical and mundane ingredients grown in and brought to my lands. Just the brewers and cooks brought in a lot, much less the alchemists, researchers and healers.

"Well isn't this interesting. A demi-titan and an awakened sacred gear holder." Da Vinci said as she scanned the slightly uncomfortable Medea while I ordered some servants to get everything she had listed.

"A sacred gear? How come you didn't use it during the battle against the Gorgon?" I asked with some curiosity.

"It's a weak sacred gear that doesn't have any sort of use in combat." Medea answered with some sourness.

"Understandable. Not all scared gears are powerful and not all receivers can expect a perfect match to their talents." Da Vinci responded with an understanding nod as she backed away. "Nothing seems to be wrong beside what is in her system and she said she could handle it."

"That's good. I'll have someone set up everything needed. I will come back later to continue working on Medusa's issue." I said as I signaled Medea to follow.

"Sure~ Make sure to introduce her to everyone before you reincarnate her." Da Vinci replied as she waved us out.

Exiting the workshop, I looked at my new guest and decided the first course of action was to cure her then new clothes, food and rest. Everything else could come after.

"Come along. I'll get you settled in and then we can decide your next course of action." I told her as I began walking towards the room my servants were preparing for potion brewing.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she kept looking around the castle hallways in interest.

"To get you cured first. Can you brew your own potion in your state or do you need someone to do it for you?" I responded directly.

"I can do it." Medea confidently answered.

"Alright. Then afterwards we will get you fed and buy you some new clothes and assign you a room to rest. Tomorrow we will talk about your situation." I informed her as she simply nodded in understanding.

Turns out that Medea was someone who truly fit the name as she easily cured herself of what she told me was a poison designed to basically disrupt any kind of magical energy in a person. Theoretically it should work on those who were part human like myself, but that was 50/50 and non-humans were a complete unknown.

After she was cured I had Liora cook her some food, which made Medea go through the traditional foodgasm one has once they've eaten her food for the first few dozen times. Much to her embarrassment too as she blushed a lot once she realized what happened after she was done eating.

Next I had Fia organize a nice bath for Medea and ready some temporary robes until we could get her a proper wardrobe. The witch very much seemed to appreciate the level of luxury involved in my castle as she came out an hour later looking incredibly relaxed and with much better looking skin and hair as her natural beauty shone through very well.

"*chuckle* Seems like you enjoyed the amenities." I said with a grin.

"How did I never think about using magic for such things? And the potions mixed into these 'shampoos, conditioners and body washes' were simply divine. Who was the creator of such things?" Medea asked as she felt the softness they produced.

"Partially me, some Da Vinci and the rest was people from my lands as they compete to make the best stuff." I answered with a bit of pride.

"A Devil lord and the husband of a Satan made hair products?" She questioned incredulously.

"Yes. And designed the bath. But I am focusing on some other things now that I've introduced the basic standard of care for my people." I answered without any shame.

"Like what?" The curious witch asked.

"A few things here and there. But now that I have stabilized things in the underworld, my eyes are on expansion." I answered as I gazed out and felt my cities in motion.

"Are you planning on fighting a war?" She asked me with some apprehension.

"No. Why would I fight for territory when there is so much of it already in existence where no one would even think about." I vaguely told her as my plans were going to take some time to enact and I wasn't about to show my hand to someone who wasn't even part of my peerage.

I could see she either didn't fully believe me or understand what I meant, but that was of little importance for now. Things had to be done step by step after all.

Anyway, after Medea was done eating and bathing I took her out shopping, which resulted in a reaction I had come to expect from first timers in my lands and capital as she looked at everything in awe and wonder.

Seeing those reactions filled me with pride every time.

In the end she ordered robes similar to the one she already wore, but requested numerous comfort, protective and supportive enchantments as I told her to do as she pleased. We also spent a lot of time shopping for things that weren't clothing as she became incredibly enthusiastic when she found out the quality of brewing equipment here, all the tools she had never imagined, the ingredients she had never heard of, the books from around the supernatural and mundane world, and all the products based on potions and even poisons.

Thank Satan I have a storage dimension.

Then she found out about the various guilds and academies linked to magical arts and was almost begging me to bring her to them, thinking she needed my permission or something. But we were running low on time for today and I had to convince a crushed Medea to call it a day.

Although sad that she couldn't go learn new things, she was at least mulled over thanks to my telling her about my own library likely being the most extensive in the Underworld. Especially since every book coming into or created in my lands has a copy added in my library. This includes research notes, journals, diagrams and even things people corrected in existing books.

Although people don't really know thanks to it being a clever application of [Space/Time] over my entire territory, it also helps me monitor all the eccentrics I've gathered and make sure no one is doing anything taboo'd or too dangerous.

At dinner Medea met my peerage and glared a bit at me once she understood why Da Vinci said something about beautiful women. I mean, everyone at the table beside me was gorgeous in their own way, from my cute and bubbly wife to the regal beauty of Scáthach, and each either matched or surpassed her beauty. She even learnt about Yasaka as Da Vinci was enjoying trying to get me into trouble somehow until I gave her a knuckle bonk on the head for being a bit too mischievous on the first day.

But at least it didn't look like Medea was uncomfortable once she loosened up a bit. The alcohol might have had something to do with that though, especially once Da Vinci and Sera start cutting loose.

"*Hic* All those wrinkly bastardsh! They think they can just try to ush me like that! *Hic* I will ssshow them!" Medea drunkenly slurred as she drank another cup of wine.

"That's right! Make those old geezers suffer!" Sera said as she might be projecting her own issues with those council members right now.

"We can use my new bomb!" An excited Da Vinci offered, "My biggest one yet. It works by splitting those atoms Lith taught me about."

"*Spit take* Cough! Cough! No way in hell! You are not dropping an atom bomb on anyone!" I strictly ordered as I stared in disbelief at the woman who just revealed she beat the US in their A-Bomb research by several centuries.

"Booo!" Da Vinci complained.

"I don't know what that ish. *Hic* But I want to make it pershonal. I want them to know I did it. *Hic*" Medea declared with drunken determination.

"That's right! You don't understand Vinci-chan, but all those geezers deserve cruel deaths." Serafall followed up as I did a double take at the very dark turn Sera had taken.

'I should help Sera get some payback or take her on a proper vacation.' I thought as it seemed like my wife was getting more frustrated than I thought.

I kept silent for the rest of the night as more and more of the women around me pitched on the subject of revenge. It probably helped the cause that a lot of them had some people they had dreamed about skewering at one time or another. Jeanne being particularly creative in this matter.

I blame the Christians for that last one.

Thankfully most called it a night without anyone going off to murder people and the rest were too plastered to do it. With the help of the staff and an amused Scáthach, I got everyone to their rooms with ease before retiring to my own bed with an already asleep Serafall.

The next day none of the women beside Medea came down for breakfast with a hangover thanks to taking the cure each already had in stock on their person. They did tease the girl until I had Fia bring some for her as well, causing her to glare a bit at the giggling women until she received her own cure and the hangover subsided.

After the fun however, I brought Medea to my office accompanied by Sera and Scáthach as both were important factors to who will be permitted to join my own peerage or stay here. Yasaka would also have been involved, but she is busy consolidating her position before taking on the Eastern Youkai.

"So, what are you going to really do?" I asked the witch as she sat in front of my desk.

"I will get my revenge on those selfish and greedy geezers." She directly stated with a cold look in her eyes.

"Obviously. But how and what are you going to do about the gods involved?" I replied in a calm manner.

"That… I'm guessing you won't involve yourself more than now then." She said as she understood why I was asking.

"Correct. Protecting you as my contractor and potential peerage member is one thing, even getting some payback on that slut Aphrodite is fine, but you murdering those people on Circe's island and likely not being very happy with the Jason family, Circe and your mother, that's going to be outside of what I can personally involve myself without going a bit too far." I replied as I stated my current bounds with my strength.

"What do you suggest I do then? Hide from these treacherous scum? Just let them get away with trying to brainwash me into marrying some trash like my ancestor?" She asked as she started become agitated.

"Of course not." Serafall replied as she approached the girl and began comforting her gently as only Sera could. "Tell her your offer Dear."

"As a potential Peerage member, you qualify to undergo a certain degree of training and receive access to the ressources I can provide. Thus my offer is for you to stay as a guest and hone yourself to attain your revenge and to use this opportunity as a test to prove yourself fitting to be a member of my Peerage." I clearly stated as I handed her a list of everything she would be entitled to with her current status.

Taking the list and carefully going through it, Medea quickly became interested as her eyes showed her desired and her body relaxed and tensed continuously.

"What does this 'training' entail?" She asked as she put down the list.

"Since you are clearly a pure magic user, you would be training with my own queen Scáthach and Sera's queen Evangeline mainly as both are incredibly skilled magic users who can train you to improve your skill set, help you learn to fight close range combatants, and teach you many new spells. They can whip you into shape.

Beyond that, I am an expert in the mind, body and soul, Da Vinci has a wide range of knowledge you can pick at, I have schools for all elemental magics, and the guilds currently cover anything else you would wish for help with my support." I answered with a confident smile. "That is if you don't prefer self-study in the library."

"Did you say Scáthach? The Witch of Dún Scáith? One of the greatest rune users to ever live? That's her!?" Medea shouted as she realized exactly who the purple haired beauty beside me was and began looking at her with admiration.

"I did hold those titles." Scáthach responded with a tiny smile, "But now I am only Scáthach, Queen of Lith Azaroth's peerage."

"Why am i feeling some déjà-vu?" I asked my wife as I remembered a certain Amazonian princess looking at my queen with the same eyes.

"Scáthach is very famous, especially for women who are warriors or magicians." She answered with a little teasing smile as my queen seemed to be more known or taken more seriously than myself.

"Should I do something big to make people know who I am?" I wondered aloud as Medea was having a fan girl moment.

"Please don't. I feel like that would make me have at least a few really annoying days." My wife said as looked at me to make sure I don't do something stupid.

"Right. Plan B it is then." I replied as I put aside my plan to stomp an entire Pantheon.

Honestly, I am the strongest Devil alive and people think I'm weaker than Serafall and Falbium.

"And that is?" Sera asked as I knew she wanted to make sure I wasn't planning on doing something stupid. Typical wife behavior.

"Do something so spectacular that when everyone finds out they will realize my importance." I answered with a devilish smile as my wife shook her head at the mildly absurd statement.

"Just try not to start a war." She replied.

"Will do." I said to her before turning back to Medea questioning my queen and Scáthach calmly answering her. "So, I take it you will be taking the offer for training?"

"Of course! No self respecting magic user would refuse a chance to learn under Scáthach herself!" Medea enthusiastically responded.

"Then I hope you enjoy your stay with us Medea." I said to her as I held my hand out and she shook it.

_______________________________________

EXTRA AUTHOR NOTES:

Well first off, Merry Christmas to everyone.

This chapter was a bit late because I was enjoying time with my family and got a bit sick for two days, which makes me really tired.

Now about this chapter.

The Perseus Family will be a main point of influence for Lith in Europe for now, while the Einzbern will join them as they develop later from Germany.

I am currently thinking about having them be the premiere suppliers of all kind of equine materials and species in the future for the heck of it. Meanwhile Perseus will be Sera's main ambassador to the Greek pantheon after he officially joins her peerage.

On Atlantis, it isn't exactly going to be a big deal, just like Themyscira, mainly due to them being secret places I just added for fun, but they can be mentioned as trading partners and possibly allies as Lith and Serafall strengthen their bonds.

As for Diana, I thought it would make sense for the Amazons to know of Great female warriors and hold Scáthach in high esteem due to her being an actual god-slayer. So having her fan girl as a fellow spear user seemed fitting. I also wanted to say that although she does have higher physical specs than Musashi thanks to being half Amazon and half god, she is much weaker on skills and does get beaten by her. The idea is to build a friendly rivalry with Musashi and for her to become a sort of disciple to Scáthach as a way to real her in.

But this chapter was more for Medea and to establish why she would want to join a peerage and to kind of want the epithet 'Witch of Betrayal'.

Her situation isn't exactly original or unique, but that doesn't mean she isn't pissed over being forced to marry, almost brainwashed and betrayed by people she admired, cared for and loved. So Lith uses the chance to get a much better look at her and see her possible potential as she would stay in the Underworld and in his domain.

I also found out I kinda have more fun when I write characters being drunk, and set up some teases for things to come.

I had an idea which works with the pantheon one I had, why the ExE bullshit gods are so OP in comparison to the DxD ones, and to develop Lith's strength further without completely fucking canon.

Next chapter will have Medusa waking up and Ciri popping back. There will a be a minor timeskip between the two events.

Enjoy.