Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV - February 12, 1977 Magical World - August 7, 2008 DxD.
"Sera!" I smiled broadly at Enid's shout before feeling her body slam against mine as she hugged me tightly. I hugged her back and held her with one hand as she buried her face in the crook of my neck and began to float, marking me with her scent.
I smiled gently; it was good to be home. The honeymoon had been more than fantastic, but it was good to be back. At least we were finally done with the magical world.
Once we had returned from our honeymoon, we had practically announced that we would be traveling around the world, especially to escape the public eye.
Apparently, our wedding had had more political repercussions than expected. I had no desire or interest in staying to find out which political agencies had started using it. To make matters worse, while we were away, the Ministry had made public the mana recovery potion they had sent for evaluation.
So yes, a lot of people were trying to find me, and I definitely didn't want anything to do with them. As soon as we got back from our honeymoon, we said goodbye to the Black family, stopped by the Tonks' house, and left to disappear from the public eye.
The excuse of traveling the world would be the best alibi for disappearing almost completely and only appearing occasionally when necessary. Luckily, we had wrapped up all our loose ends in the wizarding world. Or well, most of them. We had a huge pile of wedding gifts that practically every magical community had sent, and we would have to return some correspondence, but that wasn't urgent.
"How has everyone been?" I asked as I started to drag Enid along with me toward one of the sofas. I had asked everyone to gather, and luckily, no one was busy enough to refuse.
I mean, Riveria had been in the dungeon until a few minutes ago, apparently on a level-up expedition. But since I could get her out and return her to the floor where they were resting, she had agreed to come and chat.
Or rather, to catch up on a few things. I'd been… somewhat, or rather, very distracted with the wedding and Distracted Globe. It's not that the former had taken up the entire month or all my time, but it kept me on edge enough to distract me from other things, so I hadn't kept up with the others as I should have.
"Not as well as you, it seems." Rebecca mocked with a lascivious smile; I rolled my eyes.
"It was a good week," Bella said without embarrassment, which only made Rebecca snort.
"Good, because now she'll be ours for the next few days." Rebecca said, and Bella just snorted.
"It's all yours; my pussy needs to rest." Bella moaned as she slumped down on a sofa, and I blushed slightly.
"We didn't have that much sex." I replied weakly. Bellatrix snorted.
"We had a nearly 10-hour session before we got back and, to quote, our last day of our honeymoon has to be special; and that's not even counting all the sex during the week, I can't feel my pussy, my wife," Bella said so dryly that it made me blush even more and ignore the laughter, including Enid's, which I felt her laughing over me.
"Fun fact: almost 50% of divorces are due to sex and sexual dissatisfaction?" GLaDOS said innocently. Bella just snorted in amusement.
"Yes, but it's not just my job to please her; she has a harem for a reason." Replied Bella boredly. "Including you." Bella mocked. I could see GLaDOS bristle and almost gasp.
"I don't intend to participate in that kind of act!" said GLaDOS, abandoning her previous facade.
"Oh, you will, sooner or later," Rebecca said with a wide smile. "Don't think we haven't noticed how much you enjoy your 'rewards' for each experiment," Rebecca added with a cheeky grin. GLaDOS shuddered slightly.
"It's the damn reward of the euphoria center!" GLaDOS said sharply.
"You enjoy it," Bella said with a lazy smile. "Don't deny it." GLaDOS's eye twitched slightly.
"Of course I enjoy it! That's what that damn thing was designed for! But that doesn't mean I want to participate in a sexual act with any of you," GLaDOS spat.
"There are so many benefits to a healthy sex life! Both physical and psychological!" Enid said playfully.
"I am an AI!" GLaDOS said through gritted teeth. "In a robotic body!" she added, almost indignantly.
"And yet, you have a pussy and orgasms." Rebecca said, shrugging.
"It was her fault!" GLaDOS said, pointing her finger at me.
"Is it a cute pussy?" I tried a crooked smile. GLaDOS just stared at me.
"This is my punishment, in a way. I know it. I just wanted to do science, and now I'm trapped in a sexualized body with a succubus equipped with a supernaturally high sex drive," GLaDOS said dramatically. We all gasped.
"Don't be so dramatic," Rebecca said, rolling her eyes. " Besides, you might learn something new. Sex is fun," she added, shrugging.
"It's a waste of time," GLaDOS said with a grimace. "Besides, I have nothing to learn about the act of sex; I know everything I need to know," she added dismissively.
"Oh, believe me, no you don't," Rebecca said playfully. GLaDOS rolled her eyes.
"I have nothing to prove, and besides, I'd objectively be better than all of you. I could teach you a few things if I felt generous," GLaDOS mocked petulantly. This time, we all snorted loudly before laughing; Rebecca even let out a guffaw. "I don't see what's so funny!" GLaDOS snapped, glaring at us.
"Oh GLaDOS, you have a lot to learn." Narcissa said, shaking her head.
"On the contrary, I am being completely impartial. It is simply an objective fact! I am the greatest collection of wisdom in MULTIPLE worlds! I have operated on thousands of people! I know a person's body nerve by nerve! I'm more than capable of producing sexual satisfaction better than anyone!" GLaDOS said, almost indignantly. "If I wanted to, and obviously that's not going to happen." She added quickly. Rebecca burst out laughing.
"Oh, I want to see that," Rebecca said playfully.
"Hmm, shouldn't you test it? You know, for science's sake." Lucius said playfully, his eyes twinkling. GLaDOS glared at him.
"I don't need to prove something that's obvious. It's a fact, and the fact that you can't accept it means you're incapable of understanding what I'm capable of," GLaDOS said with a sneer.
"Uh... so that's the extent of your scientific rigor, huh? " Lucius hummed easily. GLaDOS gasped, like, a real gasp, a very indignant one.
"Did you... did you just insult my scientific rigor?" GLaDOS hissed dangerously. Lucius just smiled placidly.
"I didn't say anything like that," Lucius said, smiling innocently. "But if you think your scientific rigor is being questioned... you should prove otherwise, shouldn't you? " Lucius asked playfully. GLaDOS bristled.
"I see what you're trying to do. I won't fall for that obvious trap." GLaDOS growled before crossing her arms. We chuckled. I finally cleared my throat to compose myself.
"Very well! It's time to catch up!" I said quickly and loudly, looking around. Besides all of us, there were two new additions, Ottar and Horn, who were standing silently behind Freya. "I see you've really decided to stay," I said gently. They both nodded. "Are you still okay with the seal?" I asked them.
"We are, Lady Prince," Horn said politely, and I just nodded.
"Just call me Serena, especially if you get my seal," I told them both. Then I sighed and looked at Freya; she smiled at me.
"Don't worry about me, my Odr; sooner or later, I will have your seal. It's not the time yet, but I want my children to be able to take care of themselves." Freya said gently. I stopped and nodded.
"Very well, let's finish these things first, and then we can take care of the stamps and templates and everything else," I said gently. Everyone nodded, and I finally looked at Lucius and Ravel.
"Everything is being handled properly, my dear," Lucius said, shrugging his shoulders. Then I felt a huge amount of information being transmitted to me. I grimaced at the onslaught. It wasn't that there was too much for me to understand. Still, the sheer volume of paperwork, reports, files, and documentation—all in legal, administrative, and accounting jargon—was as tedious as I expected.
Even so, I took the time to scan and digest all the information properly. I almost wanted to whistle in awe at the sheer amount of money we had. It's not like I needed it, but seeing so many digits moving around so easily was almost bewildering.
"As always, good work keeping it in excellent condition." I said simply to both of them. Lucius just nodded slightly; Ravel just straightened up slightly.
"By the way, the meeting of the young devils is in two weeks." Ravel said easily, and I paused slightly, finally nodding.
"Fine," I said simply. I hadn't really expected the meeting, but the tournament was another matter. I had no doubt we could defeat them all, though I was really hoping to face Sairaorg.
After that, I looked at Enid; she finally moved slightly away from me and began to bounce excitedly on my lap.
"We're all set to start filming! Serafall has been so excited, so she's helping to push things to get done as quickly as possible!" Enid said excitedly. I hummed and looked at Ravel; she nodded.
"I'll make an itinerary right away," Ravel said easily, and I smiled at her.
"Thanks, though I'm sure we can fit it in anytime if we use time bubbles, although… I don't think it's a good idea to tell Serafall unless she wants to record everything immediately," I said with a grimace. Ravel nodded. I looked at Lucy and Rebecca.
"We caught up with the crew," Lucy said gently. "It was good to see them all again." I nodded.
"We also met this V girl. I really wanted to see her in action; it's a shame we couldn't get into trouble in Night City without attracting so much attention," Rebecca complained. I chuckled.
"I'm glad you were discreet," I said playfully. Rebecca just snorted. I kept smiling as I shook my head. Finally, I looked at Riveria. She just smiled and relayed everything to me through the link. I blinked several times as I looked through Riveria's memories.
I finally took my phone out of The Company and started looking at the notifications.
Valletta Grede(T6) from Danmachi --SOLD
Revis(T6) from Danmachi --SOLD
Dix Perdix(T6) from Danmachi --SOLD
Barca Perdix(T6) from Danmachi –SOLD
Nidhogg (T6) from Danmachi --SOLD
Ikelos (T7) from Danmachi --SOLD
I blinked slightly as I looked at my phone. Wow, Riveria had really been busy. We now had 665 Credits and 1 IMG; an increase of 280 credits was pretty good, especially with the extra 60 we'd earn from Horn and Ottar.
We had credits to spare. Maybe… I'll follow Riveria's idea. Get the Campione template. That… was a very good idea. Especially now that we were about to face Khaos Brigade head-on. There were several gods involved.
I still had to decide what to do about Thanatos and the corrupted spirit Power Bull, but that could wait.
"I see you took care of all the problems." I said gently. Riveria nodded.
"I did," Riveria said softly. "Being an adventurer is not a safe profession, not in the slightest. I've seen dozens of members of the Loki Familia and hundreds from other families die. And... I can accept that."
"To a certain extent, I can accept it; they become adventurers by their own decisions, sometimes for bad reasons or without knowing the real danger they face, even so... it is still their decision."
"I try to help them as much as I can, but unfortunately, I've come to terms with the fact that I can't save them all. And as I said, I can accept that." Riveria said with a sad smile before it hardened. "What I can't accept is that they die because of the machinations of wicked gods who only want to make mortals suffer indiscriminately."
"I knew I could let everyone else sort it out, but the casualties, the deaths that occurred because of those gods, were not something I could accept, so I decided to stop them."
"I know I can't save you from everything, and I know there will be other challenges, other dangers in the future, but while I'm here, I'll make sure to protect you all as much as I can," Riveria said with determination. I blinked before smiling gently.
"I see," I said softly. "They're really lucky to have you." I told Riveria, who just smiled slightly. "So... if you eliminated all the problems... only Filvis would remain?" I said with a grimace as I reviewed everything about Danmachi. Riveria just shook her head.
"I already took care of her too," she said easily. I looked at her in surprise.
"Oh?" I asked curiously.
"I healed her," Riveria said easily before stopping. "Well, I asked Enid for help to heal her," Riveria said softly, smiling at Enid, who smiled broadly and bounced back onto my lap.
"I did!" Enid said happily. "It was complicated; I had to erase seven years from existence, but I was able to return Filvis to a state before she became a creature!" Enid said proudly, and my eyebrows rose slightly.
"Wow... that's impressive," I said honestly. Enid strutted happily.
"Once Filvis returned to normal, I erased her memories of the last seven years," Riveria continued. I looked at her once more, and she sighed.
"And why not sell her from the beginning?" Rebecca asked, almost bored. Riveria just shook her head.
"I thought about it, but... Filvis... she's a friend of Lefiya's, a close friend. I couldn't do that. Like I said, deaths in the dungeon are commonplace. I prefer to avoid hurting my Familia unless necessary." Riveria sighed. "It was cruel enough to erase her memory and make her forget Lefiya, but the trauma of becoming a creature was never addressed and only worsened over the past seven years. And without Dionysus's and Enyo's manipulations to keep her sane, she would have relapsed sooner or later."
"In fact... she's almost about to," Riveria said with a grimace. "I found her in Knossos, nearly catatonic, still searching for Dionysus. She sensed the missing Falna and was simply on the verge of madness." Riveria sighed wearily.
"I guess that was my fault for ignoring her and letting her go," Bella said with a grimace. Riveria shook her head.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Rivera said easily. "Any action we could have taken to get rid of Enyo would have had the same result. In fact, I'm grateful you ignored her and didn't sell her to The Company or kill her."
"As I said, Lefiya is fond of Filvis. Although Filvis has no memories of her, Lefiya has been taking care of her; in fact, they are now as close as, or even closer than, before, so... I guess it turned out well," Riveria said with a small smile.
"I'm glad everything turned out alright," I said honestly. "What's the excuse about your memory loss ?" I asked with a hum. I prefer to be aware of any excuses made up in case they're needed when I go to Orario, or at least when I'm dealing with Lefiya and the others.
"Uranus has announced the deaths of Dionysus, Thanatos, and Ikelos, so take advantage of that. The loss of their god revived their trauma from the accident seven years ago on the 27th floor when their Familia died. The trauma was so great that it caused them to lose their memory, specifically for those seven years," Riveria said, shrugging.
"Would that... work?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It will work," Lucius said easily. "It's best to keep it simple, and no one would be able to trace or notice Riveria's manipulation of Filvis's memory. Besides, in Orario they're quite familiar with PTSD and the traumas of people who have lost their entire familias, so it wouldn't surprise anyone." Lucius said easily. I nodded.
"So, I guess that solves all of Orario's short-term problems." I said with a hum.
"I hope so," Riveria said softly, and I finally nodded.
"Then we'll have to sort out the issue with the Xenos, but that's easy enough—we'll just build them a home." I told Riveria matter-of-factly. Really, the deal I'd made with Uranus was pretty straightforward, so I wasn't worried about that part.
In fact, at one point I had considered creating more Xenos. Lord Ruler, Rashek, had done something similar with the Kandra. The Kandra were mindless monsters, to which two Hemalurgic spikes with intelligence attributes were attached to grant them consciousness and turn them into a race at his service.
I was sure I could do the same with the dungeon monsters and turn them into Xenos. But I quickly dismissed that idea. I would talk to the Xenos if they wanted to increase their numbers that way.
After putting that aside, I looked towards GLaDOS.
"GLaDOS?" I asked curiously. She just stared at me before rolling her eyes. Apparently, she was still upset about what had just happened. I just smiled, amused.
"I finally managed to replicate most of Destiny's technology," GLaDOS said with ease. "Unfortunately, the template didn't come with mundane technology; it's all largely military."
"The only other things worth mentioning are the vehicles. The Sparrow and Skimmer were the easiest. The Jumpship proved to be a bigger problem, especially the Jump Drive; the super-lightweight movement technology took some effort, but it's finished."
"So now we have access to FTL displacement." GLaDOS said proudly, and my eyebrows shot up.
"Wow, those... that's impressive," I said honestly. "Well done, GLaDOS," I said with a smile. GLaDOS just smiled and stared at me, waiting. I rolled my eyes. "No, you can't yet turn a world into a machine world," I said dryly. GLaDOS pouted, and I snorted. "I'm sure your body is more than capable of the calculations you need. You can wait a while before you can have a machine world," I said, rubbing my head.
"These things take time; the sooner you start, the better," GLaDOS said without hesitation. I sighed.
"I'll think about it," I said curtly. GLaDOS just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Were you able to replicate all the weapons? There are... some really special ones there that I'm curious to study," I said to GLaDOS. She shook her head.
"The normal ones, yes, and that includes most kinetic and energy weapons. It was a good thing that there were hundreds of disposable weapons I could experiment with before I could recreate them properly."
"Although I admit that Glimmer was a great help, and the machine for breaking objects down into Glimmer even more so. The programmable matter that can transform into almost anything was quite helpful, especially since it seems to react positively to The Light and The Darkness and adopt their properties more easily than any other material."
"Even so, weapons that are inherently paracausal are more complicated, and unfortunately, many of them are 'exotic' weapons. Especially those made with unique objects."
"And the same goes for 'exotic' armor. Some of it uses things like Ahamkara bones, because apparently, it's quite common to use the bones of wish-granting dragons or other paracausal deities to create weapons and armor." GLaDOS scoffed. "It's complicated to do the math for that kind of paracausality," GLaDOS said with a grimace of disgust.
"Yes, that's what paracausality tends to do," I said, shrugging. "The Vex haven't been able to decipher it and have been present since the beginning of time," I told GLaDOS, who just glared at me.
"That doesn't help. And I really need my machine worlds to try and decipher it. If the Vex couldn't, it was because of their incompetence," GLaDOS said petulantly. I snorted before I could think.
"I'll think about it," I said again. "I really will," I told GLaDOS honestly. "It's just that the universes we have access to aren't... the best for converting into machine worlds."
"Danmachi and DxD are off the table; I have no idea what's outside those worlds and if the gods there would be able to sense the changes in the other worlds."
In this one, I'm sure they would be able to feel them."
"The magical world and cyberpunk, sooner or later, humanity will launch into space and encounter machine worlds that... wouldn't be ideal." I said with a grimace.
"One is centuries away, the other decades." GLaDOS scoffed, arms crossed. "I could have my machine world, and by the time we have a suitable location, I could simply teleport my worlds to another universe." GLaDOS said firmly. I opened my mouth before closing it and thinking about it.
"You know... that's not a bad idea," I said as I began to think about it carefully. GLaDOS seemed to get excited.
"That means-" GLaDOS said excitedly.
"I'll think about it." I said playfully, and GLaDOS groaned loudly.
"You're cruel, Serene Prince," GLaDOS slurred. I chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'm tempted to say yes, at least in the wizarding world. Space hasn't been explored enough to have records of worlds outside the Sol System, so it would be easy to pick one and hide it." I told GLaDOS with a grimace.
"I'll be looking into options," GLaDOS said without hesitation. I snorted and shook my head playfully.
It's not like I could stop GLaDOS permanently. So it was better to strike a balance and give her what she wanted. And actually, it's not like I wanted to stop her. It's not like it would really be a problem to let her terraform an uninhabited planet far from the solar system.
I hadn't the slightest idea how she'd even begin that kind of feat, but I'd let her have her fun. A giant chunk of rock was just that, a giant chunk of rock. Oh, I was scared of what GLaDOS would become if she started taking on more and more machine worlds, but I was also excited about the outcome.
"I suppose that's all, isn't it? Does anyone else have anything to share?" I asked gently. Everyone immediately shook their heads. I simply nodded. "Then let's begin with the second part of this meeting: seals, templates, and powers," I said softly.