Issei panted roughly with every step he took. Y/n was far ahead of him and Rias wasn't too far behind.

Issei: "Can this be over already! I feel like my knees are gonna be liquid soon enough!"

Y/n: "Just a bit farther, dipshit!"

Rias: "We'll stop in the park!"

Issei: "UUUUUGGGHHHH!"

Both Y/n and Rias laughed at his reaction before they finally reached the park. Issei face planted onto the ground with a thud while Y/n hung by his legs upside-down on the monkey bars.

Issei: "You've gotta... Remember that... I'm fuckin' weak!"

Rias: "And with time you'll grow stronger. Imagine if you hadn't been training with Y/n. You'd be leagues behind everyone, but you're actually doing pretty good."

Y/n: "I'm intending for him to be able to take a rook on by the end of the month."

Issei: "YOU'RE CRUEL!!"

Y/n: "Last I checked I'm your brother, asshole."

Issei deadpanned before they heard someone running over. Asia was jogging over to them with some metal decanters in her arms.

Rias smiled and walked over to help her out. A few moments later and the four of them were sat at one of the park benches.

Issei: "Wait, HUH!?"

Y/n: "You're one of us now too, Asia?"

Asia: "Yes. I asked Rias if she would let me be part of her peerage and thankfully she agreed after a few attempts."

Y/n: "That's awesome. Your sacred gear allows you to heal things, right?"

Asia: "Mhm! Twilight healing, one of the greatest blessings I've ever received."

Y/n smirked before turning to Rias.

Y/n: "How many times did she ask y- Huh?"

Y/n noticed that Rias was completely spaced out in her seat.

Y/n: "Hello? Earth to Gremory?"

Rias flinched before her smile returned.

Rias: "S-Sorry about that. Got a bit distracted."

Y/n sighed before leaning against the table.

Y/n: "Tell me what's going on, Rias. No more secrets, remember?"

Rias: "... Of course. Yes, I did promise that, didn't I? Very well, but you have to remain calm for this."

Y/n: "I'll try my damnedest."

Rias: "The truth is... I'm engaged to someone."

Y/n's face turned pale at the news, however he quickly regained himself as he remembered her expression when she spaced out.

Y/n: "I assume it's one you don't want to be part of?"

Rias: "That's putting it mildly, but yes. I have no intention of marrying that creature that calls himself a devil. Gremlin's a bit more appropriate."

Y/n sighed in relief before Rias stood up, causing her breasts to jiggle slightly and for Issei to go into horny mode.

Y/n: "... Nerolyth?"

Nerolyth: "Baseball bat?"

Y/n: "Yup."

Nerolyth: "Wooden or metal?"

Y/n: "Metal."

A metal baseball bat then formed in Y/n's hand and he swiftly bonked Issei over the back of the head with it, creating a very satisfying ding sound.

Y/n: "Oi, she ain't yours. Ball Saggington."

He sighed before he, Issei, Rias and Asia headed back to the Hyoudou residence. Upon their arrival, they found multiple boxes outside of the house.

Issei: "The fuck is this?"

Asia: "T-That's all my stuff..."

Issei: "Why though?"

Rias: "Well, I asked her where she wanted to live and her answer was wherever Irael and Raynare go."

Y/n: "So basically I've got another devil and two fallen angels under our roof now?"

Rias: "Essentially."

Y/n: "... Fun."

Issei: "Wait, aren't mom and dad on vacation?"

Y/n: "Yeah. They headed out early this morning. They should actually be arriving in London right about now."

Issei: "Damn, lucky ass."

Y/n: "Someone's gotta take care of the house while they're gone so the extra hands are appreciated."

Issei: "WAIT, YOU'RE NOT EVEN GONNA QUESTION IT!?"

Y/n: "Nah. I've had my fill of effort for the day."

Y/n smirked before effortlessly picking up several boxes and carrying them inside of the house.

After an hour of getting everything moved in, Y/n sat out in the garden by his forge.

Y/n: "Guys."

Cykran: "The other two are currently asleep. Do you need something of us?"

Y/n: "How long did you know about my mother?"

Cykran: "Ah, you figured it out. I had known since I manifested within you. However it was by Allia's request that the truth was kept from you."

Y/n: "I see... That makes sense."

Y/n was brought out of his musings by a text from Sona.

Sona: [I've made an arrangement with Rias for a sports tournament to see who gets to take their peerage for familiars. It'll be tomorrow so you'd better not be late.]

Y/n smiled before responding.

Y/n: [Will do. Looking forward to crushing the student council.]

With that, he headed back inside the house to get some rest.

The next day was interesting to say the least as during the first interval Rias and Akeno went up against Sona and Tsubaki in a game of tennis.

Y/n was lost in his thoughts as the game played out before he was rudely brought out of it by someone kicking his back. A spark of pain shot up his whole spine. The pain was so intense that it caused him to momentarily black out.

???: "You gonna move, pal?"

Y/n was not amused when he came to again.

In the blink of an eye he had stood up, spun around and now had the asshole's neck in a vice grip as he was lifted off of the ground.

Sona spotted this and stopped the match before running over. She slowly approached and placed her hand on Y/n's shoulder. His icy glare was softened as he turned to face her.

Sona: "That's enough, Y/n. Put him down."

Y/n then snapped out of his trance and dropped the young man on the ground as Sona held him gently.

Sona: "... It still hurts, huh?"

Y/n didn't speak, only slowly nod his head. The one injury he had that had never healed. Back in junior high, he and his classmates had a run in with a rather unsavoury group of characters on a trip to Okinawa. It was there that he was afflicted by some sort of poison which must have somehow rendered his regeneration moot. He also had his back severely injured when he was slammed against a solid concrete wall.

He'd need to speak to Allia about what happened.

Sona then turned to the boy that was now coughing and spluttering all over the place.

Sona: "I have told you multiple times, Saji. If you have to speak to Y/n then DO NOT touch his back."

One of Y/n's classmates, Matsudaira Kairo, ran over to see if he could help out.

Kairo helped take Y/n to the infirmary while Sona and Tsubaki both scolded Saji.

When Kairo told Nurse Hasegawa about what had happened, she immediately understood and sent him back to class.

Hasegawa then turned to Y/n and removed her glasses.

Hasegawa: "I'm surprised that injury hasn't healed by now. Your kind are supposed to be able to bounce back from anything."

Y/n's eyes widened as she said that sentence, he tried to sit up but his spine roared in pain, causing him to have to lay back down again.

Hasegawa: "I'm sure you're curious as to how I know what you are. It's because I'm-"

???: "Chisato."

Both of them looked at the doorway and found Allia with a glare aimed directly at Hasegawa.

Allia: "What do you think you're doing?"

Hasegawa: "I'm merely explaining what I am to him."

Allia: "... What happened?"

Hasegawa: "It seems an old injury never quite healed."

Allia tilted her head before walking over and placing her hand on Y/n's back. Y/n winced at the pain, something Allia noticed instantly.

Allia: "It's not that it never healed. It's that one of the discs is out of alignment. Chisato, hold him for me."

Hasegawa nodded and placed Y/n's head in her cleavage while gently petting his head before Allia pushed into Y/n's back before a crunch was heard, causing Y/n to nearly shriek out in agony. It felt like a red-hot knife being jammed into his spine and twisted. However Allia summoned a black flame and let it burn on the spot she had just pushed into. The black flames seeped into Y/n's skin and soon soothed the burning pain.

Allia: "It'll be sensitive for a few weeks. But the pain shouldn't be as intense now."

Hasegawa: "... It seems the pain of having his spinal disc realigned was too much. He's passed out."

Allia: "I thought as much. We may be immortal, but that doesn't mean pain is rendered moot for us."

Hasegawa: "What would his father say?"

Allia: "He'd murder the one that caused Y/n pain."

Hasegawa: "Will you wait for him when he gets out?"

Allia looked down at her son as she laid his head upon the pillow.

Allia: "... Of course. I'll wait with Y/n until his father comes home."

Hasegawa: "Michael won't be too happy about it."

Allia: "He has nothing to do with it for now. When Heaven gets its shit together, then he can have his say."

???: "Oya oya? What have I found here? A Phoenix and a Goddess."

The two sighed with smiles before turning to the source of that silky smooth voice. The man was muscular and with short black hair. He stood at roughy eleven feet tall and was adorned in black jeans and a leather jacket. His grey shirt was torn up the middle since apparently that was his style.

Allia: "Bellial."

Bellial: "Yo. Been a while, Allia."

Hasegawa: "The former Governor General of the fallen angels. What a surprise."

Bellial: "Ha! You're one to talk, Chisato. I didn't think you primordial gods were still kickin' around."

Allia: "How did you get here, Bellial?"

Bellial: "... Bartzabel sent me."

Both women's eyes widened.

Bellial: "You'd better get your kid healed up. Bartzabel's gone down to get the big guy out."

Bellial then appeared at Y/n's bedside with a burst of unbelievable speed.

Bellial: "Hmm... I'd say he's maybe an eight. Yeah, he'll definitely get some serious female attention."

Allia: "Could you not?"

Bellial: "Hey, I get rated all the time. I just picked it up as a hobby. Besides, it's fun to find potential competitors."

Allia: "You literally control that competition."

Bellial: "Hottest man in Grigori, three hundred years runnin'!"

He laughed before disappearing in a gust of wind, leaving behind one of his green feathers.

Primordial fallen angels all had the usual black feathered wings, but they also had other colours. Gadreel had bright red feathers on the underside of his wings while Bellial had dark green feathers on the inside of his.

Hasegawa: "... Bartzabel, huh?"

Allia: "Never thought I'd hear from him again. I mean, it's been what? Two thousand years?"

Hasegawa: "He's a busy guy. Besides, he's been trying to get Y/n's father out of Treachery for fourteen years now."

Allia: "I know. It's just... The last time I saw Bartzabel was when he declared God to be a hypocrite and a heretic by his own ideals."

Hasegawa: "... You have to admit though, that was hot."

Allia: "No argument there. But he and Y/n's father were like brothers so I'm glad that something hasn't changed."

The two were brought out of their reminiscing by Issei, Sona and Rias walking in.

Rias: "M-Miss Allia!"

Sona: "You again."

Allia: "Hello, you two."

Issei: "Oh hey, it's the Mi-"

Y/n: "Talk about my mother like that in front of me again and I'm going to drop-kick you through a bridge."

Issei immediately piped down before Allia knelt by her son's side.

Allia: "You passed out."

Y/n: "Figured as much..."

Rias: "What happened?"

Sona: "An old injury that never really healed."

Allia: "Actually it did heal. One of his spinal discs was out of alignment though, happens more times than you'd think. I put it back into place and used my magic to accelerate his healing."

Issei: "So, are we gonna talk about the fact that there's green feathers on the floor and that the school nurse is hearing all of this!?"

Allia: "Chisato's actually a friend of the family."

Issei: "HUH!?"

Rias: "I-Is that true?"

Hasegawa: "Indeed."

Sona: "I-I see... Either way, Y/n. We've decided to hold a dodgeball match to decide the victor. Will you be joining us?"

Y/n: "Yeah. I'll try."

Issei walked over and helped his brother to his feet while Allia made sure he didn't fall.

Y/n was able to stand without too much difficulty, though his back was still rather sensitive.

Issei and Allia helped him get to the clubhouse where he rested for the rest of the day.

Below the Earth though, another kind of event was set in motion. The sounds of chains snapping echoed through a frozen wasteland, followed by a loud cackle.

Throughout the underworld, a single thought rang out and spread like wildfire.

The progenitor has escaped.

End of Chapter.

Next Time: Resurface.