Odin stalked forwards as inconspicuously as a Norse God could.
That was, not very inconspicuously at all, but he made up for it by casting a few runes which made his footsteps near inaudible and made him appear unimportant, like a gray face in the crowd. In plain sight, but unseen.
Naturally, since it was possibly his last chance to do so, he used the chance to ogle at the chest-areas of the devil dames who had come to attend the engagement ceremony.
Yes, the dames in question had considerable power in the Underworld, and their husband or husbands had much the same, and the complex web of relationships meant that getting on some random woman's bad side might lead to multiple crass lords or even more crass ladies, and then to a ever intensifying web of bad blood.
But Odin figured that if someone caught him staring then he could just pin the blame on Sirzechs. It had worked for Loki back in Asgard anyway.
'I wonder if it's the food in the Underworld or what...' Odin stared at a pair of breasts that looked like they'd pop out of the dress at slightest provocation. 'I'll have to ask Sirzechs and see if I can get my hands on some, and put it in the valkyrie's breakfast or something...'
"Oof!" Odin was too distracted by the huge breasts attached to a brown-haired woman who was mingling with a small, lithe woman who looked like she'd put washboards to shame, and in his distraction collided with someone.
"Ah?" A tired and weary voice belonging to a woman with quite sizable assets blinked at Odin. "And you are..."
"My apologies, I must have stumbled while on my way to the snack bar. Again, please accept my most sincere apology, Lady Phenix." Odin told the woman in his best not-perverted-geezer voice, leveraging the 'unknown aura' he had wrought for himself.
He used Omniscience to pick the optimal 'route' towards the future based off the branches of potential realities the 'present' could branch off to in order to end the confrontation without conflict, cursing his carelessness as he hadn't kept his head cool in the sea of massive mammaries as he could have used the ability to avoid the whole boob-collision in the first place.
Then again, knowing himself, Odin wouldn't have avoided it in the first place, so perhaps he had indeed used Omniscience to collide 'safely' with the huge, soft and perfectly rounded breasts belonging to the blonde-haired woman.
"It's... alright, I suppose..." Lady Phenix looked too weary to argue and shambled off to talk to the two afforementioned women, the lithe one looking at Lady Phenix like if she was a disowned daughter of a noble house and the busty one embracing the blonde-haired woman in a warm hug.
Odin would have normally made an excuse to stay and look at the two pairs of huge melons squishing together, but shook himself off as he had more important tasks to do.
Old habits die hard though, so he snapped a quick picture of the true lands of Valhalla, that was two pairs of soft mounds of supple flesh rubbing against each other before retreating, glad that he had told Rossweisse to stay behind.
She would have just nagged at him constantly anyway. 'Why'd the valkyries send a prude all-business girl to serve as my retainer anyway? She's got a smoking body and face but she's so prude I'm surprised she doesn't take baths with her clothes on, and so stingy that I'm surprised she can even let go of money voluntarily... No wonder she's struggling to find a boyfriend, anyone going on a date with her can see the red flags from a mile away...'
Odin shook off the image of a cabal of valkyries coming together to make the perfect plan to ruin Odin's not-quite-retirement. 'Eh, maybe if I just stood down and tossed my mantle to Thor the Valkyries would get off my back... Anyway...'
Odin spotted his target mingling with the guests. '...Hm, the intimidating aura has disappeared. I'm guessing that he keeps the 'mask' up normally but lets it lift a bit when in combat, showing glimpses of his power. But is it intentional, or an accident?'
The colours, powers, the sickly rot that had corroded the entire locked dimension, and the powers 'Momon' opposed were starting to make sense to Odin, but he needed to be sure before he'd forward the information to the Maous, and doubly so if he got his own people involved.
The fire was a mystery to his theory, but Odin knew that creatures like Momon would most likely have a diverse 'skillset', and most of it the creature's capabilities was only truly known to the creatures themselves, and the fact he used it openly meant that it was likely just his 'cover'. Or rather, his 'act'.
Odin needed to be extra careful about the whole situation, since if he was wrong about Momon and got Valhalla and Asgard involved, but it all turned out to be a false alarm and Ragnarok wasn't actualling coming, then Loki, that ever-damned punk, would use the mistake as an excuse to crowbar Odin off his seat as the head of Norse Pantheon and plant his own sorry arse on it.
Odin liked that seat, dammit! And inheriting it was Thor's right!
Regardless of all that Odin prepared to make his move. 'Omniscience isn't showing much here... It's like Momon is a black hole of sorts that distorts the possible futures.'
Momon nodded to a pair of devils he had been chatting with, and then turned towards Odin while looking directly into his eyes.
Odin knew instantly that his small subterfuge had been seen through and moved closer. "Greetings, Momon Phenix!"
"Greetings and welcome to my humble engagement ceremony, sir..." The tall teenage-looking man's head tilted to the side. "I'm sorry but I don't remember seeing you in the guest list?"
"Ah, that would be because I invited myself as I was accompanying Sirzechs Gremory, or is it Sirzechs Lucifer nowadays, and figured that I might as well come and congratulate you on your engagement! Or engagements, eh?" Odin took a more jovial and carefree persona. "Quite the eye-catchers, eh lad? You're a lucky one."
"Quite, but I still haven't learned your name." It seemed that the small distraction wasn't enough to have Momon lose sight of his goal, which Odin hadn't really thought to be the case but it was worth the shot.
"Oh? This old man would be Odin, of the Norse." Odin introduced himself while stroking his long beard, seemingly at ease but prodding and poking at the possible futures that were unfolding in front of his mind through Omniscience, the extremely close proximity to Momon allowing him to start seeing glimpses of colours, a second to the future, and so on. The image was starting to get more stable though. 'Hm, it seems like I'll need to hold the conversation for a while stil...'
"A rai... hm, Odin-kakka?" Momon caught himself midway though. "I see. Greetings then, and I'd like to formally invite you into my little ceremony. It is after all unbecoming for a person of your status to be skulking around like an infiltrator."
'I'm guessing that he knew I was here from the start. Or that he sees through illusions.' Odin noted the tidbit. "Quite, quite so. You know, I was watching your duel with Serafall. Impressive stuff. Where'd you learn that? As far as Sirzechs knew you were barely a low-class devil a week ago... And then I heard things started to happen?"
"Indeed. What happened is still quite a mystery, but I've been starting to remember things recently. Flashes of past and things of that nature. I just channelled them back in that fight, and it turned out fine." Momon looked quite used to the explanation, which led Odin to believe that he had likely rehearsed it multiple times.
"Oho? A case of amnesia and lost powers then?" Odin stroked his beard. 'Well, I didn't think I'd get a straight answer out of him anyway...' "Say, I sensed a quite dangerous aura from you during the match. I was looking at it from the crowd, so I didn't get much of that when you were in the dimension itself, but when you broke it... That dimension-breaking spell was quite an impressive spell to just spontaneously remember by the way, but when you came back to the arena I felt... hm, something quite intimidating radiating from you. I wonder if you're being truthful."
"Oh? That's about as much as I know about the situation. Truly." Momon looked completely sincere, but Odin knew the expression to be a mask. It was too sincere for the situation, which would alert Odin even if he didn't know that Momon was undoubtedly lying to his face as one didn't just 'wake up and remember' how to destroy dimensions and be capable of fighting Maou-level opponents on equal footing with expert tactics.
"My, your lying is quite impressive. A lesser being might have even believed that." Odin nodded jovially, and Momon tilted his head to the other side, giving Odin another clue
Anyone else would be at least a bit intimidated by a god of foreign pantheon speaking such words, or at least puzzled, but Momon's expression was as if Odin was just about any other strong 'person'.
One to formulate tactics against, one to defeat, one to crush under one's heel. Odin knew the feeling quite well from his 'youth', and Omniscience revealed as much- a possibility of a fight as the realities were starting to converge towards a more singular path, which meant that Odin was starting to approach a 'crossroads', so to speak, after which there would be no return. 'This might come to blows... Well, I expected the possibility may exist, but I should avoid it so I don't cause a diplomatic incident and land Sirzechs in hot water...'
"I heard about the 'Great Red' situation from Sirzechs, but I wonder if a dragon like that could give one such power." Odin's gaze sharpened and Momon's. "Such disease and decay... I would understand how the True Dragon could teach you fire, and how your Phoenix nature allows you to put those teachings to use... but those yellow rags and armor of yours, and that decay you spread... Not to mention these cultists following your teachings..."
Momon seemed to become the tiniest bit uncomfortable as Odin approached. 'Ooh, it's close... I can start to see...'
"Odin-kakka? I don't know what you're saying, sir..." Momon was clearly starting to get wary. However, at the same time Odin saw as the potential realities waved into more singular path like branches of a tree rising and tying themselves to a single line of narrowed realities, allowing him to look further into the likeliest future, seeing the minute to come-
"You, Momon, should unmask." Odin told Momon.
"Indeed?"
"Indeed, it is time. We have all come here as ourselves and put our disguises aside, but you." Odin called Momon's bluff while opening his arms to show that he had shed his own illusion and the devils began turning towards him as they noticed the Norse God in their ranks. "And I have seen through yours."
"I wear no mask, sir." Momon replied and Odin could feel something foul building up.
"You wear no mask?" Odin reached for the teenager's face slowly. "Lies."
His finger touched the burning-hot flesh that was akin to that of a man in fever, and the flesh blurred like if it was wax that melted to a blob.
"No mask?" A voice came from the crowd, followed by another, and then the screams started.
The decorated tapestries of the hall turned twisted and insane as the devils screamed, their faces turned to images of terror, madness and decay and they tore at their own eyes.
The Yellow Tyrant stood before Odin, clad in its terrible armor and blurred from view, its face shedding its mask of flesh to show a creature that was unseen but terrible, a presence beyond sight and knowing, all the while a ball of fire appeared above Odin and blew him away as he peered further into the horror through his Divination, turning the room into a sea of decay and fire...
Odin knew the devils wouldn't see it, but he could- as master sorcerer and genius who had developed the Rune System, he could see the blurred, unseen alien horror that rose amidst the party's guests.
Odin saw it, even while he felt his very soul developing hairline cracks as the yellow-clad unseen devourer reached for Odin in the burning room...
The walls twisted and opened like spider's web in front of a miasma of decay as a dragon without its lower jaw and teeth made of long, tubular tentacles burts into the ball-room...
-And Odin lunged mentally at one of the almost minisculely tiny branches of reality branching off the one he saw, grasping onto it like if it was his lifeline. And perhaps it even was.
"...Or maybe I was mistaken. After all, we don't truly know the true extent of The Great Red's powers." Odin shrugged at Momon who looked a bit puzzled. "I'll be looking forward to seeing your growth. I congratulate you once again for your engagement, but I must excuse myself. I fear my bladder is not quite what it was back in the day, and the drinks you provided may have conquered me."
"Of course, sir." Momon nodded its head a bit, its fleshy face a mask of confusion to Odin's sudden change in tone. "Please enjoy the party."
"I will, I will." Odin nodded jovially and turned to walk away, his illusion still intact.
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Momonga felt more than a little creeped out as the 'Norse God' left after spouting a bunch of nonsense at him and calling his cover in question, but then deciding to just shrug it off as unusual and leave.
'Uh, what?' Momonga pondered the god's antics as the god made his way through the crowd under the guise of a minor illusion. 'I guess he's insane like Serafall? She too likes to pull heel-face turns in conversations and go in the exact opposite direction with zero regard for safety or flow of conversation...'
The fact a 'Norse God' had suddenly appeared in his engagement ceremony, uninvited and clad in some sort of low-level cantrip that made Momonga think of low-power [Perfect Unknowable], had caused Momonga quite the surprise. The conversation that had followed had been even more of a surprise, specifically when Momonga had felt that the god had tried to call out his arguably worn and mostly broken excuse.
However, Momonga had grown calmer in the presence of Maous and other associated strong foes due to exposure, and no longer instantly freaked out like he had, back when he had first appeared in the 'Ero-World'. Thus he had merely mentally slotted him into 'strong people' and taken the appropriate preparations- but crucially, had waited for the last possible moment to unleash them while keeping them in check should something unexpected happen.
Ddraig had hastily told him that gods had an ability called 'Omniscience' which was a form of divination that showed between few minutes to few months to the future, which did worry Momonga a bit. However he hoped that his passive anti-divination countermeasures would help to reduce their effects, and if he found that the ability was starting to overcome his spells then he could start equipping his rings- one of which provided him with immunity to divination, for the exchange that he could not cast divination spells in turn when it was equipped.
Thus he had made a combat-plan for the god in case he turned hostile: Firstly he would unleash [Aura of Despair: IV] to cause the devils around them a 'insanity' debuff, then using [Scale Mail] to [Boost] and casting [Perfect Unknowable] upon himself and then following it up with enough [Boost[s he could squeeze from his almost out-of-mana self to cast [True Death] on Odin, which when conjunction with Ddraig's experience with the spell should be enough to cause the god to back off for a while as the attack would likely cause destabilization in Odin's very soul.
The move would, however, cause Momonga to almost run out of mana, which in turn would force him to move from fighting to fleeing.
However, Odin's pause would then allow Momonga to cast a anti-illusion scroll to break Odin's illusion, and then when Momonga was cloaked by [Perfect Unknowable], the devils were suffering from the effects of the [Despair Aura], and Odin was revealed in the middle of the devils Momonga could teleport away with another scroll.
...Which in turn would force Odin to hold his attacks and break off, as he'd be caught red-handed infiltrating a high-class Devil gathering, 'attacking' the party as Momonga was nowhere to be seen and he could make an excuse that he had retired for the night to be with his new fiancee's, and thus Momonga could counter-claim any claims the god would make against him as just Odin attempting to smear Momonga after the god had attacked Momonga's engagement ceremony due to believing some false rumors.
If someone would draw connection from the Aura Momonga would release to the power Sirzechs and others had sensed back when he had first released his [Despair Aura] in the ero-world (which had been quite embarrassing as he had been in the toilet, figuring out why his Inventory was malfunctioning and had been drawn to a swift battle with Ddraig that caused his aura to 'unlock'), Momonga could claim that Odin was spurned by 'The Supreme Being' and would have probably acquired a power or something from him with which he attacked.
That had been his plan, anyway, but the god did a heel-face turn and left before the situation could deteriorate to that point. 'Do you think he saw what I was planning?'
"Possibly, but it's unlikely. You seem to have fairly good defenses against divination so I don't think he'd see more than perhaps a glimpse." Ddrag sounded doubtful though, the near-combat situation forcing both the Dragon and the Overlord to put their squabbles aside for the moment. "I'm not an expert on omniscience so I'm not the best source of information on it though..."
"Haah..." Momonga moved away to mingle with some of the guests, wondering about the god's sudden appearance. 'I managed to sort out that interruption with Sona's Pawn, Saji I think, without causing too big of an incident... Now this Odin situation... Gah, I want to just crawl under my bed and stay there for a few days and hope nothing else happ-'
"My lord, I have captured an infiltrator." A voice came through [Message] and Momonga squeezed the bridge of his nose while looking down and groaning in a way that caused a devil couple nearby to look at him in a worried manner.
"[Message]... Fine, hold them there. I'll be present in a moment." Momonga ordered the Overlord Wiseman with words that wouldn't cause suspicion in the nearby devils as they'd likely think Momonga's presence was requested to meet up some late-comers to the party.
He walked off. '...I think I'm about to flip off.'
Nonetheless, Emotion Suppression saved him from doing so.
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Rossweisse was tapping a windowsill nervously in a empty and seemingly not-in-use room that had its furniture covered with cloth and lights out. 'I haven't seen Odin behave that seriously before...'
The battle-valkyrie was feeling more than a little wary over the parting words Odin had told her. But if she looked at the bright side, then at least she hadn't been told to go and mingle with the guests. After all, while she was wearing a fairly basic white-and-gray dress that Sirzechs or more accurately Grayfia had supplied for her, she hadn't taken part in formal grand celebrations such as the ones Devils held and would likely come off as a fish out of water to the more elegant devils present.
The door opened and closed, causing Rossweisse to jump a bit as she turned to look at Odin who appeared as if he had sprinted to the room, dived in, and then slammed the door shut while holding to his chest and slinking down the door while leaning his back against it until he came to sit on the floor with his back pressed against the door.
"Haa... haa... not good... haa..." Odin panted out. "Oh? Rossweisse? You're still alive, huh?"
"Wha-wuh?" Rossweisse blinked. "I am. What happened? Did the enemy..."
"Quiet. I know who it is. Don't speak, don't refer to it. I peeked under the mask a bit, but I don't have a guarantee I managed to put it back on right..." Odin held to his heart as he struggled to calm down, his cheeks flushed with spots of red. "Haa... I thought my soul would get devoured... not good, I need to get back to Asgard, as soon as possible..."
Rossweisse was starting to seriously worry as she closed in and lifted Odin up, supporting his weight. The fact Odin didn't use the touch to try to grope at Rossweisse's breasts made it clear that something was seriously amiss. "Are you hurt? Was there attack? Did..."
"No, that reality didn't come to pass... but it was touch-and-go. I know now why it didn't react to Omniscience... You need to find Sirzechs. Now. Tell him to return to Gremory Territory. I am already known to it, and it'll become suspicious if I go and speak to Sirzechs and if we leave together immediately afterwards. But you're unknown." Odin wobbled to the window, opened it, and cast a few runes in the air. "I'll go back to Gremory territory in advance and start contacting our people. There's no doubt about it now- Ragnarok is coming."
A portal opened in the air and Odin wobbled through it, disappearing from view and leaving Rossweisse alone.
'...This is not good.' Rossweisse analyzed the situation. She didn't know much about parties, although that was mostly because she had been too invested in her career to bother with such trivialities, not to mention she'd need to act natural and go fetch one of the Maous of the Underworld who was no doubt a center of attention wherever he went. And now Rossweisse needed to quietly and inconspicuously get to him and ask him to return. 'Once again, against all odds, Odin manages to give me impossible tasks... is he hell-bent on humiliating me again?'
She shook herself off as Odin wasn't acting his normal self, that of a senile old pervert, but rather more like he had been in his youth. Or at least how Rossweisse had been told he had been in his youth.
The reality of finding one of her biggest heroes and rolemodels growing up to be a senile old pervert in reality had been quite the blow to her self-confidence, and had made her regret multiple times on insisting on becoming the old god's retainer.
'No wonder the spot was open for so long...' Rossweisse sighed as she moved to the door, opened it and stepped out...
And was forced back into the room as a hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground, driving her back to the room.
"My, I had a feeling there would be more maggots wriggling their way into this party... One interruption I could forgive as He managed to use it to his advantage... But you are testing my patience." A voice that was quiet but held the fury of a raging inferno entered Rossweisse's ears as she struggled against the grip, feeling her body become sluggish as something foul seeped into her body through the grip. "Did you think I wouldn't have this castle warded? That I wouldn't have observed it for coming and going teleportations? I know everyone who I invited into this castle, and you are not in the guest-lists, interloper."
Rossweisse's wings came out as she struggled, but the foul energy entering her body was sapping her strength and her divine power as Valkyrie, like ink staining white cloth.
In the end her wings flopped down and her struggle resulted in just a billow of feathers that looked as if someone had skinned a bird in the room, while her runic magical circles flickered and faded as she tried to manifest her powers to fight free.
Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and foam formed in the corner of her mouth as the deathly-tight grip on her throat intensified further like a vice tightening on her flesh.
"He will decide your fate, intruder..." The voice of her assailant seemed calm, almost as if some switch had been flicked and it had gone from rage to icy calmness in an instant.
'I was... careless... Didn't think... enemy would... be this fast... Odin... Sorry...'
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Sirzechs was feeling as if something was off as he mingled with some of the devils and then made an excuse to leave the festivities with Grayfia's arm in his. "Odin should have contacted us already."
"Perhaps he's just delayed." Grayfia noted. "Don't do anything hasty. I know you're on edge."
"With Serafall wounded we're down one quarter of our strongest warriors for the time being." Sirzechs noted. "Some paranoia is warranted, no? If the Supreme Being attacked now..."
"And now you're jinxing it." Grayfia sighed. "...We should really go and see Rias. We haven't had a chance to talk to her in a while, and with all that's been happening..."
"You're right."
The two of them made their way towards the trio of newly-engaged girls and saw that Rias was talking with Sona while Ravel was sipping from a long, narrow glass full of presumably champagne.
"Rias! How are you?" Sirzechs greeted the girl in a familiar manner and Rias turned towards her brother, her expression turning bright.
"Sirzechs-nii! Welcome! I'm glad that you found time to come here... The business with the 'Supreme Being' and all else must be keeping you busy... did you see the Rating Game?" Rias pat Sona's shoulder as the girl looked unresponsive.
"Ahi... " Ravel's expression twisted as the name was mentioned and Sirzechs made a mental note to watch his words.
After all, it looked like Ravel had been drinking, based off the glass in her hands, and she had been recently captured and tormented by the Supreme Being's underlings. Thus the subject might not help her mental state, and Sirzechs quickly dodged the topic. "Not at all. The 'Supreme Being' situation is under control."
"Of course, of course... but under whose control, ahii... hehehe..." Ravel's face twisted to that of dark, almost sadistic expression and she looked at Sirzechs the way a spectator would look at a stand-up artist failing their number and being mocked by the crowd. "Hehehe... well, we all have our strings on our limbs, dancing to an unknown tune on shadowed hands... ehehe... Perhaps Momon will ask me to prove my loyalty by having me cut my own legs off and then turn me into a wearable 'sleeve' for him?"
"Ravel-chan... perhaps you should put down the glass?" Rias turned towards the girl whose chuckling deepened.
"Ahi... and here I was just drinking to calm myself... and in doing so robbed myself of legitimacy... I wonder was this planned by him, I wonder?" Ravel chuckled darkly and put the empty glass down. "Ahii... who am I deceiving? Of course it was..."
Sona shook like a leaf as she listened to Ravel's words and Ravel reached to put her finger under Sona's chin. "Hihi... you'll get used to it. Just relax, let it happen..."
"Urgh... Sorry, Ravel-chan has been like this ever since... Well, 'that' happened." Rias sighed as she moved a bit aside to leave the two girls to their antics. "And I think Sona's a bit... um, in shock after the whole situation."
"You don't say." Sirzechs noted after the trio were out of earshot of the two girls.
"Still, it was in poor taste for Sona to arrange such a display to get out of the engagement. On one hand I understand where Sona-san and Saji-san were coming from if the words he told were truthful, but... the execution was horrid. The lack of family's approval on either side doomed his attempt from the start, even if he had won." Grayfia looked a bit troubled. "Speaking of which, those accusations..."
"Baseless. Saji-san must have, um, jumped to conclusions." Rias sighed. "There was a situation in the Human World... er, Serafall confronted Momon for the first time and as a result Sona, myself and Akeno passed out from the sheer ridiculousness of the situation and Saji happened to see the three of us, unconcious, with Momon in the room... Ah, in case you didn't know, before Momon became Momon and was Issei, he was, um..."
"A massive pervert, if I recall." Grayfia noted dryly. "I was present when Riser and Issei had their little shouting match, before the Rating Game, if you still remember that."
"Ah, I wish I could forget..." Rias grumbled a bit. "Well, what's done is done. But, I think Issei is slowly coming back... "
"Hm?" Sirzechs piped up in turn. "What makes you say so?"
"The mannerisms are returning, and... well, he has [Boosted Gear]." Rias explained, causing Sirzechs to pause. "I saw it myself, and I think he used it a couple of times in today's Rating Game. Issei is returning to me, slowly and bit by bit... honestly, I'm so happy right now. Issei..."
"I... didn't notice Momon-kun used [Boosted Gear]." Sirzechs confessed. Then again, he hadn't reviewed the high-speed footage as it had been Beelzebub's job, and had been more focused on ensuring Serafall's safety and categorizing Momon's abilities, alongside helping Asmodeus prepare damage control for the rest of the Underworld if Serafall was actually defeated and the Supreme Being used the dip in their combat strength to invade the place.
"Yeah, he just brought the [Boosted Gear] up for a moment and timed them so that it only came up when he was obscured by smoke or fire or something. He was being pretty sneaky about it, actually." Rias nodded. "I saw that because I knew what to look out for. I guess the rest of what he did was the Great Red's interference? I'm certain he didn't have those abilities before he... Well, that Rating Game versus Riser happened. Momon said that he had started to recall all sorts of things of late."
"I see. That's interesting, I may need to talk with Momon-kun myself about that. Also, before we move further from the occasion which we're celebrating, I brought a gift." Sirzechs offered a small box to Rias. "I already delivered a more 'proper and formal' gift, but I wanted to give you this personally."
"Oh?" Rias opened the box to show a pair of sapphire-and-ruby earrings that fit her eyes and her hair and were quite inconspicuous, intended for day-to-day use. "They're beautiful, thank you..."
'...Of course. I'd get nothing less for my cute little sister... Not to mention that the earrings are embedded with multiple tracking spells just in case. The 'Supreme Being' has already shown his modus operandi, and I'm not going to let Rias get snatched and exposed to what happened to Ravel if I can help it...' Sirzechs glanced at the ring in Rias's finger, wondering where Momon could have gotten an item like that to give to Rias, and hoping that the vaguely uneasy feeling he got off it was just his big-brother instinct.
Still, he'd mention it to Beelzebub just in case.
"Sirzechs-nii?"
"Ah, I was just contemplating the future." Sirzechs nodded jovially. "So..."
"Haah... not you too. Momon's 'destroyer-mode' is enough already." Rias sighed.
"Excuse me?" Sirzechs was starting to get truly puzzled.
"It was a name Yubelluna-chan came up with for Momon's 'combat-state'. Basically, it's what happens when Momon fights- he goes into a sort of high-alert combat mode that turns him into a relentless, emotionless destroyer that wipes out anything in his path with no compassion. Er, or at least that's how it looks from the side." Rias shrugged. "We figured that we could, um, use physical interaction to snap him out of it since it looks like he's struggling to get off the mode by himself."
"Oh, I see." Sirzechs didn't, but filed the information for later use. '...Interesting.'
"Ahem." Grayfia noted and Sirzechs noticed that she had a vein pulsating in her temple, causing sweat to start dripping down his neck. "Sirzechs-sama..."
"Ah, but perhaps this topic is best talked about elsewhere. Definitely not in your engagement ceremony, even if you and Momon are technically married already." Sirzechs backtracked. "Just remember, Rias, if something happens, or you become unhappy for any reason..."
"Sirzechs-nii... I can take care of myself." Rias whined in a childish way that caused Sirzechs to chuckle. "But... thanks. I don't think that'll happen, but I'll let you know if it does."
"Heh... Now, I have a guest I need to find. He should have contacted me already, but it seems he's delayed." Sirzechs nodded.
"True, true... well, thanks for coming here. It's nice to have a proper engagement ceremony after all." Rias seemed a bit sad that Sirzechs excused himself but shook it off. "I'll go and see if I can find mom and dad, and perhaps go exchange a few words with Lord and Lady Sitri..."
"Do be careful with them. Out of all families the Sitri are the ones who most subscribed to the Old Maou's ideals even if they joined the rebels, back during the civil war." Sirzechs told her seriously. "I seriously doubt they'll do anything hasty, but with the Supreme Being creeping around one can never be too careful."
"I know, Sirzechs-nii..." Rias nodded seriously, then her expression softened and she hugged her big brother. "Hehe... Ah, I better go back and see what Ravel and Sona are up to. Ravel's babbling is not good for Sona's mental state, I think..."
"You do that." Sirzechs pat Rias's head and she curtsied while she was practically radiating happiness, turned around and walked off to whack Ravel in the back of her head as she had been whispering something ominous to Sona's ears and the black-haired girl was shaking to her core.
Sirzechs shook his head at the girl's playful interactions.