No POV
Everyone heard the howl in the sky and immediately knew what it was, but it was Rias who grew uneasy the quickest, because right after that howl was heard by everyone...a white pawn piece was summoned into her hand.
Rias: "Ethan...! No...please don't leave us like this!"
Even the Skeleton Knight, Fenrir, Odin, and Thor all stopped their fight after the huge blast of power hit them. Seemingly knowing what this meant, Fenrir and the Skeleton Knight retreated back down to where everyone else was and helped them with the massive army(numbering in the thousands) of mythological creatures trying to get to the tree where the armor originally was.
Not long after that, the entire area darkened as the solar eclipse suddenly jumped onto their area. Two more howls were heard from the sky as a bright blue and orange glow suddenly descended from the skies and crashed into the army, revealing Sköll and Hati, who looked a lot like their own father, but with orange markings for Sköll and blue markings for Hati.
Everyone looked alarmed at the sudden appearance of the two wolves except for Fenrir, who suddenly started to speed up towards the battlefield. But instead of fighting the people who sealed their grandfather, they started to fight the army alongside them, making everyone's guard go down and continue with their own fights. Odin's eldest son Baldur, was fighting Issei, Vali, Rias, Akeno, and Arthur all at the same time while Koneko, Kiba, and Bikou were fighting off the endless army. Rossweisse was actually off fighting one of her own sisters, Sígrun. They both clashed with Sigrun using her signature scythe against Rossweisse with her sword.
Sígrun: "You know sister, I must say I'm impressed. You finally got yourself a boyfriend and you can keep up with me!"
Rossweisse grit her teeth while holding her sister's glare.
Sígrun: "But you still have a long way to go..."
Sígrun suddenly jabbed the rook with her wing and then hit her with her scythe, sending Rossweisse into the air, before flying up, and slamming her straight into the ground.
Sígrun: "You can't beat me in this state sister, give up!"
Rossweisse shook her head.
Rossweisse: "Never!"
Sígrun chuckled as she lifted her scythe again...only for a huge blast to hit her from behind, that blast ended up being from a huge jet black explosion from the main battlefield. The explosion was so powerful it sent everyone flying away from it onto the ground tumbling—even Fenrir himself. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared though, everyone could see the epicenter was completely devoid of any form of life...except for...
A jet black figure with bright red eyes and a long black cape crouching on one knee just staying there. Everyone looked gobsmacked at Ethan's newfound strength considering the last time they saw him, he wasn't even able to stand up.
Issei: "Holy shit Ethan!"
Vali: "Not so loud Issei! He's under the armor's influence!"
Xenovia: "What is that supposed to mean?"
Ethan growled before looking dead straight at Sígrun, who seemed to be intrigued at the new challenger.
Sígrun: "Hmm? And who are you?"
Ethan snarled before he suddenly leaped to her at a speed only Kiba could manage to reach if he went all out and sent her flying into a mountain with a single punch to the gut.
Bikou: "Holy shit!"
Sígrun unleashed a golden blast around herself before locking her eyes with Ethan.
Sígrun: "The power needed to even break my stance...and he did it with a single punch?!"
Ethan stomped on the ground, creating cracks in it, and then jumped up into the sky. Sígrun immediately covered herself in her wings to act as a protective shield. That prediction ended up being correct as Ethan suddenly descended faster than any one could see, and landed on her with a ground pound so powerful, it caused the ground to crack open and a massive shockwave to go out from his body.
Akeno: "What's happening to him?!"
Skeleton knight: "That armor is made from a collection of the screaming souls of everyone wronged by the Aesir all dumped into a single small piece of equipment."
Rias: "What is that supposed to mean?"
Hel: "I'm sure you wouldn't know Gremory, but the Aesir has had a lot of enemies in their lifespan. Almost every race in the 9 realms has been treated unjustly by them at one point."
Kiba: "Ok, but that doesn't explain why Ethan's completely gone berserk!"
Sígrun launched Ethan off of her by about 200 feet and grabbed her most powerful weapon, a powerful light spear and started to charge it in her hands. Ethan wasted no time though in rushing her, jumping up to her, grabbing the spear in her hands...and crushing it, unleashing a massive explosion of golden energy everywhere.
Arthur: "He just crushed a Valkyrie's spear like it was nothing! How tough is he?!"
Asia: "Rias!"
Rias turned to see her bishops running up to her alongside Kuroka.
Rias: "Are you two ok?!"
Gasper: "Yes! Now where's Ethan!?"
Everyone heard a mechanical growl in the cloud left after the explosion before Sígrun's unconscious body was thrown straight to them. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight before they dodged it.
Rossweisse: "Sister!"
Sígrun coughed as she attempted to sit up.
Sígrun: "Watch out...that thing has the single most ferocious fighting style I've seen in my life..."
Everyone looked back to Ethan to see him growling while staring at them all.
Rias slowly rose her hands up in front of her and looked directly at him.
Rias: "Ethan! Please snap out of it! I know you're in there!"
Ethan roared and rushed directly at them...only for a gigantic lightning bolt to blast him back and Mjolnir finding itself straight into his chest, launching him back. Thor then made his presence known and directly stood off against Ethan, who was growling the entire time.
Thor: "So you're Eíthürr huh? Cmon then, let's see how long you can last!"
Ethan roared as Thor charged himself with lightning and charged towards him, while Ethan did the same. They both clashed, with a huge amount of power being released from both of them.
Kuroka: "Hel! What has the armor done to him?!"
Fenrir: "He's currently gone under the influence of the thousands of souls trapped in the armor."
Asia: "Souls?!"
Hel: "Like the skeleton said before, the armor is infused with the souls of everyone coming to an unjust early end at the hands of the Aesir. Those angry souls are always looking for a way to link into the real world to start enacting their vengeance, that link is the wearer of the armor."
Xenovia: "So he's possessed by them right now?"
Hel: "If you want to think of it like that, then yes."
Everyone in Rias' peerage except for Koneko and Xenovia looked horrified at the revelation.
Vali: "It ain't called the berserker armor for no reason you know."
Thor swung Mjolnir down towards Ethan's head, who quickly grabbed the leviathan axe off of his back and slammed it into the hammer, unleashing a massive explosion of ice and thunder between the two and launching them both backwards.
Ethan looked towards his opponent again before lunging at Thor. But before he could reach him, a golden spear went through his back to his chest, which ended up being Grungnir, held by Odin himself.
Gasper: "ETHAN!!!"
Ethan, to the allfather's surprise didn't go limp, but instead grabbed the spear...and then proceeded to impale himself further with it before he literally grabbed the end of it and began to squeeze it in his fists.
Asia: "Oh my god!!!"
Asia immediately clutched her head in pain.
Odin: "What are you...?"
Ethan kept on tightening his grip on the spear until...
*CRACK*
Everyone's mouth dropped at the sound and Thor immediately rushed up and crushed Ethan's left hand with his hammmer before both he and his father slammed him into the ground, and launched him into a nearby mountain and fired a golden beam of energy and lightning bolt to it, blowing it to smithereens.
Rias: "ETHAN!"
Rias and the rest of her peerage were about to rush to the location where Ethan was when Hel, Fenrir, Sköll, Hati, and the Skeleton knight all stopped them.
Issei: "What are you guys doing?! He might be dead after that!"
Fenrir: "Heh...wait for it."
Everyone turned to look to see Ethan walking up to them...with his left prosthetic hand completely gone and a broken left leg. Suddenly sounds of cracking,squelching, and crunching rang out from the armor while blood started squirting from his shoulder and leg as his leg snapped back into position.
...but for his arm something else happened. Suddenly, a bone started to grow from the stump of his arm cracking the entire time, which eventually formed into a skeletal hand, which was then followed by a case of muscle, and then the skin, and finally back to being encased in the armor.
Everyone's attention was on Ethan, as everyone in Rias' peerage looked horrified at what happened to his hand. Vali's group looked amazed, Fenrir and Hel were losing their shit and the Skeleton Knight was staring at Ethan without any apparent emotion.
Bikou: "What just happened to him! He just recovered from a broken leg and regrew an arm like it was nothing! What's going on!?"
Hel: "YES! I KNEW THE CURSE WOULD AFFECT HIM!"
Kuroka: "What kind of curse!?"
Rossweisse: "And why would it be a good thing!?"
Hel: "First let's start with what the armor itself just did. Inside there's hundreds of rows of teeth pointed directly at the user. Whenever a bone is broken, the teeth unleash into the wearer and forcefully hold and support the broken bones."
Skeleton Knight: "Normally, the injuries would still remain in the wearer, but they would still be able to fight at maximum capacity due to the armor nullifying any sense of pain."
Vali: "How does that explain his arm growing back?"
Fenrir: "My sister placed a curse on the armor, which transforms the teeth into rows of mine and my brother's own teeth."
Asia: "Does the armor have something that changes the power of Jörmungandr's poison?"
Fenrir and Hel looked at her and nodded with smiles on their faces.
Skeleton Knight: "Correct, the curse alleviates the negative affects of the poison, and transforms it into a material for an extremely fast and effective healing factor."
Gasper: "So that's why you had us wait until right before we put the armor on the armor to give him the potion!"
Hel nodded.
Xenovia: "Wait...then what do Fenrir's teeth do? And what makes the armor so special if just anyone could've put it on?"
Fenrir: "For one, the curse makes it so the armor can't be worn by just anyone. If the wearer isn't Loki himself, or someone related to him, they'll still go into the berserker rage, but the teeth will regain their original effects—resulting in the user being dead before they can even start the fight."
Koneko: "So we got real lucky with Ethan being directly related to him huh?"
Hel: "Very lucky. But back to my brother's teeth, they'll actually puncture the flesh the second a berserker rage is incited and quickly dissolve into the bloodstream, strengthening the user immensely."
Ethan roared and slammed both the blades of chaos, and the leviathan axe onto the ground and stomped. Suddenly, the two weapons started to glow and Ethan roared out as they both exploded in fire and ice, launching Thor and Odin back.
Kiba: "So is Ethan back at his original strength now?"
Hel nodded.
Hel: "Considering his body literally shoved the pawn piece out of him...I would say yes...and then some."
Rias looked down sadly at the pawn piece in her hands.
Hel: "Now cmon! We gotta snap him out of it."
Issei: "How are we supposed to do that!?"
Hel looked at Gasper and the rest of Rias' peerage before looking towards Kuroka.
Hel: "How much magic can you muster right now?"
Kuroka: "I'm at full capacity now. What do you need me for?"
Hel: "What's the biggest illusion that you can create?"
Ethan, Thor, and Odin all stood at a standstill staring at each other, and Ethan was about to re-engage when another figure walked up.
Baldur: "Brother! Father, allow me to assist you with putting down this troublemaker!"
Thor: "This foe is stronger than anything you've ever faced before, are you sure brother?"
Baldur laughed.
Baldur: "Cmon now! I'm immortal, what's the worst he can d—"
Ethan zoomed up in front of him and launched him into next week—that meaning at least 3 miles away from him—with a punch straight to his chest. Suddenly a massive explosion of energy came from where Baldur landed, and he suddenly launched straight into Ethan's chest, and landed a full force punch on it, making 5 ribs crack from the impact.
Baldur: "I broke 5 of his ribs with a single punch! How have you two not dispa—"
Ethan growled as the wolf head of the helmet clamped down on Baldur's arm, and twisted him around so that Ethan could hold him in a chokehold, the broken bones already healed from the eitr within him. The next thing you know, Baldur's neck was snapped and he fell to the ground, temporarily disabled for the meantime.
Odin: "What the hell are you to kill a god so easily!?"
Ethan kept on growling while looking directly at the allfather.
Hel: "Alright, now go you guys! That army may have been setback a little, but it's still there!"
Everyone nodded as Sköll, Hati, Fenrir and Hel all stood still and looked at Hel
Fenrir: "Remember the signal kids."
Both wolves nodded towards their father as Hel closed her eyes and focused. Suddenly, the horns on her head started to glow blue and Sköll and Hati's coats started to glow orange and blue respectively.
When Hel opened her eyes again, she was in a strange blue void alongside two wolves made out of fire and ice respectively—her nephews Sköll and Hati obviously.
Sköll: "Aunt Hel, where are we?"
Hel: "We're in the realm between realms, the same location as the Yggdrasil itself."
Hati: "So how do we find granduncle Eíthürr?"
Hel: "We follow those strands of black energy, see there?"
They looked below them to see a stream of jet black magical energy going off into the distance.
Sköll: "Yeah dude, it's not that hard to see."
Hati: "Shut up."
Hel: "Settle down you two! We've got higher priorities!"
The two wolf brothers glared at each other before relenting and following their aunt. They ended up flying through quite a bit of space, but the black magical energy kept on growing and growing around them until eventually they ran into...
Sköll: "What in the actual fuck is this?"
Hel: "The manifestation of all the trapped souls in the armor...they've gotten way stronger and wilder compared to what they were like last time."
Hati: "What do you mean last time!? Are you checking in on this armor every year?"
Hel: "Basically, do you have a problem with that?"
Hati: "Considering we've been chasing the sun and moon for...millenias, not really."
Sköll: "Looks like you actually have a brain, that's a relief."
Hati glared at his brother before looking back to his aunt, who smiled at the ice wolf before flying up to the eye of the deranged dog creature.
Hel: "Cmon now! Your granduncle is in here!"
Sköll: "Don't need to tell me twice!"
The three beings jumped into the hound's head and saw a pale white being in the shape of a human crouched down in a fetal position in a completely silent areas of the beast. The first and only thing they heard was Ethan's voice.
Ethan: "They don't...CARE FOR ME AT ALL!"
Hel: "Uncle Eíthürr! We're here for you!"
Ethan: "Who's voice...is that?"
Hel: "It's me! Your niece, Hel! Listen to me Eíthürr, everyone here cares about you! More than you could ever think now!"
Hel looked at her nephews and nodded to them, they both seemed to know exactly what to do as they both howled into the realm.
In their dormant state in Asgard, suddenly a massive blast of ice and fire fired away from Sköll and Hati, eventually reaching the fighting group of devils going up against the seemingly endless wave of mythological creatures. Kuroka immediately perked up at the energy and immediately started to focus as much as she could, before she cast a huge illusion around the battlefield, making it seem like they were on the losing side of the battle.
Back in the realm between realms, Hel, Sköll, and Hati created a magical image, showing the illusion of the battlefield to Ethan's figure.
Ethan: "Who...are those people..."
The image changed to Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper being cornered by the army.
Ethan: "Stop...don't touch them!"
Hel: "Remember them, that's Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper!"
Ethan: "Gas...per?"
Sköll: "Yes! And he needs help!"
Ethan's suddenly darkened, showing his actual face.
Hati: "You can protect him Eíthürr! You're a god, but you're not acting like yourself! You need to snap out of it! We know you can do it!"
Ethan: "I..."
Suddenly a massive amount of pure white energy emanated from him and he yelled out in anger.
Ethan: "NEED TO PROTECT HIM!"
Ethan POV
My eyes suddenly snapped open as I found my body being heavy way more heavier than it was last time. A quick look at myself and I realized I was in the berserker armor, the limited vision from the helmet REALLY helping with the analogy. I then quickly looked around me to see Odin and Thor staring at me in confusion...Gasper...where's Gasper and the others!
Hel: "Uncle Eíthürr!"
I snapped up at the sound of my niece's voice and looked up to see her alongside...two large wolves sitting next to her.
Hel: "Everyone's down there! Hurry!"
Hel pointed to an area behind me and I nodded to her as I immediately started to sprint as fast as I could to the directions Hel told me to run. Eventually I saw the army and I immediately threw the leviathan axe into it, it cut through multiple creatures while exploding with ice and I started to cut my own path through the army with the blades of chaos.
I kept on going through the army until I eventually saw a clearing with Bikou, Arthur, Vali, Issei, Asia, Xenovia, Kiba, Fenrir, and Kuroka. Once they saw me, they immediately tensed up, only to be stopped by both Fenrir and Kuroka looking at me with a smile.
Kuroka: "Ethan! You're with us again!"
Fenrir: "Nice going Uncle! Now cmon! Go get to the dhampir!"
I nodded to them all before before swinging my blades down, bringing down a massive meteor shower that cleared out a massive group in only 10 seconds and then continuing to slice and dice through the army.
I eventually saw my original 3 crushes and Gasper trapped in a corner of a cliff and immediately recalled the axe into my hand while jumping up into the air, and slammed it onto the ground, creating a massive explosion of ice that cleared everyone around them.
Rias and everyone else fell silent as I stayed on my knees looking at them, breathing hard, but smiling from underneath the helmet in relief. I then relaxed and stood back up, the axe firmly in my hand as I looked at them.
Rias: "Ethan...?
I heard a hiss and the sound of a contraption pulling something back as the helmet lifted up off of my head and onto my back, fully revealing my identity to everyone.
Gasper: "Ethan...! You're alright!!!"
I looked at myself in the armor before looking back at the rook and smiling.
"Looks like it buddy."
Gasper laughed before running into me and hugging me as I smiled and embraced him back. I then looked up at Rias with a smile
"Nice to see you here when I'm actually able to function."
Rias smiled back at me, tears welling up in her eyes.
Rias: "I-it's good to see you as well Ethan..."
I smiled to all my other peerage mates behind me before Issei shouted something I wasn't really expecting to here.
Issei: "My guy! How is your hair white right now!?"
"Wait what?"
Kuroka waved her hands before showing a mirror like reflection of me. Sure enough, my hair was a pure white compared to the brown it usually was, and my eyes were now bright blue.
"What the hell happened to me?"
Hel suddenly walked up to all of us, a smile directed at me on her face.
Hel: "You equipped the armor for the first time and entered a berserker rage. That's why you suddenly snapped awake in front of Thor and Odin of all the beings in the world."
Rossweisse: "You also completely beat my sister to a pulp."
I looked down in shame.
"Sorry."
Rossweisse: "Don't apologize, it's about time someone put her in her place."
Bikou: "Oh yeah...YOU FREAKING CRACKED GRUNGNIR WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!"
"WHAT!?"
Xenovia: "You also regrew your hand after Thor crushed your prosthetic."
I looked down at my left arm and sure enough, my arm was back to its original state. I just grew even more shocked at the revelation.
"What the fucking hell happened after I equipped the armor?"
Fenrir: "Heh, we'll explain that to you later. Right now, let's get out of here."
Everyone nodded before a sudden blast was heard from behind he.
Thor: "Would you look at that. The person we were fighting was Ms. Gremory's other pawn the whole time!"
Thor seemed awfully excited about the discovery as I raised my eyebrow.
"I was fighting you?"
Thor laughed at me.
Thor: "Yeah you did! I can comfortably say you're the strongest opponent I've fought in a VERY LONG time!"
I looked down at the others and they smiled at me, I couldn't help but be puzzled though at everything.
Akeno: "So...you're allowing us to leave without consequence? Even though Ethan snapped Baldur's neck?"
"WAIT WHAT!?"
Hel and Fenrir glared at Akeno, who gave a cheeky smile to me.
Thor: "Yes, father's a bit angry about you breaking Grungnir, but he'll get over it considering this is the first time your godly power was unleashed fully. We're letting you off with a pass."
I slowly nodded, still trying to process that I snapped a god's neck while under the trance the armor put me through, when all of a sudden, I felt some sort of new power...something far more powerful than even Thor or Odin...but it seemed...uncanny, like something that shouldn't even exist in the first place. Everyone seemed to feel it to.
"Does anyone else sense that?"
Vali smiled as he activated his divine dividing and Issei activated his boosted gear in defense of themselves.
Vali: "Isn't this a surprise? Looks like the power you unleashed was enough to catch her attention..."
"Who!?"
I looked in the direction where the power was strongest from and saw...a little girl with jet black eyes and hair in a small black dress with purple accents spread throughout her clothing with a purple headband on her head. She then looked to everyone in the Khaos Brigade and tilted her head.
???: "Get out of here. Now."
Her voice had no emotion, but the Brigade said nothing as they quickly split away from us at her words—although Kuroka did caress my face with her tail before she ran away. The girl then turned her head and looked at me.
???: "You're an interesting one..."
The girl slightly smirked.
???: "I shall keep my eye on you."
The girl then suddenly transformed into a shadow on the ground as the power I felt emanating from her dissipated immediately. When I looked around, everyone slowly lowered their guard as they all looked at me.
"Who in the world was that?"
Hel: "I'd recognize her power anywhere...Ophis."
"Ophis? Who's she?"
Hel: "One of the most powerful beings in all of existence, only said to be matched by Great Red himself."
Rossweisse: "If she has an interest in you...there must be something completely outlandish about your circumstances."
I looked at my hands encased in the armor with wonder. I certainly didn't think of the consequences of me suddenly emerging as a god in this world—especially if I literally fought Thor and Odin at the same time, broke Grungnir, and snapped Baldur's neck in my first instance of the berserker rage.
"...right..."
A whirling sound started to become audible to everyone and as we looked to the source of the sound, Sköll and Hati's glowing orange and blue spots on their fur started to glow and they started to dissipate. Understandably, Fenrir began to panic.
Fenrir: "What's happening to you two!?"
Sköll: "Relax dad, we're just transferring our consciousness into the weapons on Eíthürr's back."
Rossweisse: "Why would you two need to do that?"
Sköll: "We've been chasing the sun and moon for thousands of years. Exposure to those two for the amount that we have existed slowly transformed us into creatures that need another source of power to live."
Hati: "Those blades and that axe are probably the best substitutions we can get for the sun and moon."
Sköll: "We'll no longer be bound to the unreachable sun and moon now father but the family member you helped discover his own heritage. Thank you."
Fenrir walked up to his sons and nuzzled them as they nuzzled him in return.
Fenrir: "As long as I can see you two whenever I want, I'm happy. I love you you two. Don't ever forget that."
Hati: "We love you too dad."
Sköll: "That we do..."
Suddenly Sköll and Hati fully dissipated and their energy flowed into the two weapons on my back. The blades and leviathan axe then started to glow and a wolf howl sounded out from both of them. I turned to my nephew after they merged, and looked at him with a no-joke expression.
"I'll keep them safe Fenrir, I swear on my life."
My nephew nodded and smiled at me before he bounded off into the distance in the direction that everyone else in Vali's team went off in. I then turned around to look at the peerage in, and they were all looking at me with mixed expressions. Gasper, Asia, Kiba, and Akeno had smiles that I knew couldn't be fake, Rias, Issei and Rossweisse all had sad looks on their face...and Koneko and Xenovia looked expressionless as they usually did.
"Alright then, time to head on home?"
Rias silently nodded, seemingly still trying to process everything as she created a portal back to the Hyoudou household, which I stepped into and was suddenly blasted by a place of comforting familiarity—which was a relief considering I've been to quite the amount of strange locations and breathed out a happy
"Home sweet home..."
I walked away from everyone to my room. Gasper was the only one who followed me into the room, which was definitely something I never considered before. I DID just do God knows what in Asgard while berserk, so it's only natural that they feel uncomfortable around me. Once I entered my own room, I smiled at the familiar sight and sat down on my bed, Gasper joining me.
"Well...I don't think I can ever say I've never had a boring life anymore now."
Gasper: "No kidding..."
Gasper looked at me with a smile.
Gasper: "How does it feel to finally be more than a pawn that cleans the house?"
"It's strange for sure...everyone's either going to be looking at me like I'm a monster, or just be weirded out by my newfound power."
Gasper hugged me from the side and I hugged him back with a smile.
Gasper: "Just remember, even if Rias herself doesn't talk to you, I'm here. Alright?"
I chuckled at my little brother's words.
"Alright buddy...now then, I'm feeling tired. I think I'm going to take a nap."
Gasper: "Pfft, me too. I got 6 hours of sleep split between the nights that you were gone."
I patted his back and hugged him with the black cape the armor had before laying down on the bed. The little cross-dressing dhampir crawled into my arms and I wrapped my cape around him and we both fell asleep on the bed.
Time skip to dinner
Everyone was sitting at the dinner table, now joined by Irina eating a pretty big meal that Akeno made for everyone. Everyone was called down, until Asia made a very good point.
Asia: "Guys...where's Ethan and Gasper?"
Everyone looked around the table, but noticed that neither of them were there.
Rias: "I'll go get them!"
Rias got up at an unnatural speed and quickly walked down to Ethan's room, since she knew if they were anywhere here, they we're definitely in there.
Rias was troubled by all the previous events to be sure. Not only did she realize just how unjustly she treated her first ever peerage member, but it had to be rubbed in her face that it was Vali's group, not her peerage, that ended up making him stronger in the long run. She also lost the pawn piece that originally belonged to him, and she witnessed him being a completely mindless monster, which brought back painful memories to Issei's first juggernaut drive, but was even worse due to the fact that she couldn't snap him out of it, Hel literally had to enter a different realm of reality and remind his soul of Gasper. Not her, but the bishop he now considered the closest one to him in the peerage.
Rias walked up to the door and knocked, but no response came, she sighed to herself before she opened the door and smiled at what she saw.
Ethan was still in the armor, but he was peacefully asleep on the bed, and she could also see that Gasper was wrapped up in the black cape the armor also had. He looked like a bird just wrapping their wings around their chicks to make sure they didn't freeze up.
Rias gently smiled at the sight and spent a good 10 seconds looking at them before shaking her head and shaking Ethan slightly to wake him up. He gently sighed as he slowly opened his eyes and immediately smiled as he saw Rias.
Ethan: "Hey Rias..."
He yawned as he stayed down on the bed.
Ethan: "What do you need us for?"
Rias: "We would like you two to be with us for dinner...if you don't mind."
Ethan smiled at her and nodded before moving his cape and rubbing Gasper's shoulders. Eventually, the dhampir bishop woke up with a good amount of time.
Gasper: "What time is it?"
Ethan: "Time for dinner buddy. Come on, we don't want to leave anyone. Don't we?"
Gasper yawned, which was probably the most adorable thing Ethan has heard in a while, before getting up and walking towards the table. It was then that Rias realized that the armor had changed even more on Ethan, as the parts of it that covered his arms were completely gone, only leaving some shoulder guards.
They all made their way down to the dining room, where everyone's eyes immediately locked onto Ethan.
Issei: "And the newly-created god has arrived!"
Ethan laughed at Issei's words and took his seat next to him, with Gasper sitting on the other side of him.
Ethan: "It certainly has been a crazy last couple days. But just so you all know, I will still be an ally to you guys even though I'm no longer a pawn—similar to what Irina over there is."
Everyone smiled and Asia asked a question.
Asia: "How are you feeling Ethan. Do you feel strange?"
Ethan shook his head.
Ethan: "Feeling good as new. Don't worry about me going berserk here. Way too much people I care for are here."
Everyone smiled at Ethan, especially Gasper, who hugged him. Even Xenovia and Koneko were smiling slightly at him. The good moment was interrupted though by Irina asking an important question.
Irina: "What do you mean "go berserk"?"
Everyone looked at her and just stayed silent. Irina suddenly grew flustered at the awkward moment.
Kiba: "Let's not talk about it..."
Irina: "...alright then..."
Ethan: "Anyway. Cmon now, let's eat!"
Gasper: "Yeah!"
Everyone lightened back up as everyone in the ORC started to eat their meal together. Ethan in particular, for the first time in a while, felt like he actually had a purpose to everyone else, as the sun set on the town of Kuoh.