High School DxD: Sons of Satan

"Tell me... What is your answer?"

Ophis said, in that same calm, monotone voice.

Arthur stared at her.

She wasn't threatening him, nor was she demanding submission.

She was simply asking, and that made the situation even more unnerving.

Arthur stayed silent for several seconds before taking a slow, steady breath and muttering in his mind.

(Ddraig… buddy… any ideas on how to bullshit our way out of this without being vaporized?)

A long pause.

Then, a sigh came out from Ddraig.

(If I had the answer to that, partner, I'd be in charge of diplomacy. But alas… I got nothing. But there's something I want you to know, Arthur. Whatever you choose, I trust your judgment. You make the call, and I'll follow you. No matter what.)

Ddraig's voice softened slightly, supporting whatever choice Arthur makes. 

Arthur blinked once.

Even Ddraig didn't know what to do.

That realization hit harder than he expected.

The Red Dragon Emperor, one of the Heavenly Dragons, one of the most powerful beings in existence, was just as in the dark as him.

He closed his eyes briefly, preparing his next words, then he opened them again and looked directly at Ophis.

Her expression had not changed.

Her hand was still outstretched toward him.

Arthur inhaled.

"Sorry, Lady Ophis, but I refuse."

He said, calm and firm. 

There was no sound, no shift in the atmosphere, no killing intent.

Ophis simply blinked once, tilting her head to the side.

"Why?"

Arthur relaxed slightly but kept his guard up.

"For a few reasons."

He said.

"First of all, we just met. You can't seriously expect me to join you just like that. You don't know me, and I don't know you."

Ophis said nothing.

Arthur continued, carefully.

"Second, you didn't even explain why you chose me. Or what exactly it is you need from me. I can guess, sure, but I don't like working off assumptions, especially when the person asking is someone who could wipe me out of existence just by blinking."

He took a breath, bracing himself.

His arms tensed; he was already beginning to mentally prepare to use Juggernaut Drive again if she reacted poorly.

"And lastly… I'm already part of a group. I have comrades. People who trust me. I've fought beside them. I can't just abandon that, not for anyone... Not even you."

Silence.

Pure and deafening.

Arthur braced himself, heart pounding in his chest.

But then.

A loud boom echoed across the battlefield as flashes of light and energy surged to life behind him.

Arthur instinctively turned his head.

Multiple figures appeared on the ruined horizon.

Dulio descended from the sky, his Zenith Tempest fully activated as clouds swirling above.

His expression was serious for the first time since Arthur met him.

Behind him, Georg raised his hands, hundreds of magic circles glowing in perfect sync, ready to unleash magic spells at a moment's notice.

Cao Cao, still carrying the limp body of Marius in one hand, his Balance Breaker flaring with divine might.

A vast formation of holy spears hovered in the air around him, each aimed at Ophis.

And up on the shoulder of a massive cyclops-like creature made of shadow stood Connla, carrying Valerie behind him, ready to crush anything that moved.

Arthur's eyes widened.

"What the?! The hell are you all doing here?!"

He shouted, and Cao Cao yelled.

"We're saving your red scaly ass! What do you think we're doing?!"

Arthur turned sharply.

"You idiots are going to get yourselves killed! Don't you realize who this is?!"

But before any of them could answer, Ophis moved.

In the blink of an eye, she just appeared right in front of Arthur.

Everyone flinched.

No one saw her move.

None of them registered her until she was hovering inches away from Arthur.

The others were frozen in place, all weapons and powers ready to strike, but unaware that moving even an inch would doom them all.

Arthur, on the other hand, blinked rapidly as Ophis locked her eyes with him.

"I see... So I must earn your trust first."

She said quietly to herself.

"Uhh... Huh?"

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, but froze when Ophis lifted both her small hands and cupped Arthur's face gently.

Everyone held their breath, ready to attack if this little girl harmed their friend.

Arthur watched as her small, pale hands held his face.

"Wha-What are you doing?"

He said nervously. 

Ophis looked up at him with those bottomless eyes.

"Earning your trust."

She answered softly.

She leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead.

"Chu~"

The moment her lips make contact with his forehead, his mind goes blank as a strange sensation pulses through his body.

A black, swirling symbol etched itself on his forehead, and an Ouroboros symbol emerged.

The mark glowed briefly with a dark violet hue before settling into his skin, still faintly warm to the touch.

Arthur yanked here hands off his face and backed off instinctively, stumbling a few steps away as he touched his forehead.

"What the hell did you just do?"

Ophis didn't answer.

She turned around and began hovering a few feet away.

And then, she paused.

Just before disappearing, she glanced back at him, and a small, almost unnoticeable smile appeared on her lips.

"I'll be back… strange one."

Then she vanished.

Not a trace left behind.

The eerie pressure in the air vanished with her.

The tense silence was shattered as everyone finally exhaled, slumping slightly in relief.

Georg wiped sweat from his forehead.

Connla let his summoned cyclops dissolve into shadows.

Dulio disperses the storm he conjured, sighing.

"Who… in the world… was that?"

Cao Cao turned to Arthur, his usual composure shaken.

"You gonna tell us why it felt like the world was holding its breath just now?"

Arthur didn't answer right away.

His eyes were fixed on the spot where Ophis had vanished.

Then he slowly reached his left hand to his forehead.

The Ouroboros symbol pulsed faintly on his skin.

(Ddraig?)

He called out internally.

A long pause.

(Arthur... Ophis just gave you her blessing.)

Arthur blinked.

(Her what?)

(Her blessing. She marked you. For what purpose, I don't know… but I can tell you this much, you've caught the Infinite Dragon God's attention.)

Arthur frowned.

(Okay... I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.)

He took a deep breath and spoke, his voice steady but carrying the weight of everything that had just transpired.

"Where are the other two?"

Georg pushed his glasses up, his expression returning to its usual cool composure.

"Siegfried and Heracles are still finishing their sweep of the town. They should be wrapping things up about now. I've been keeping tabs on them both through magic. Last I checked, the resistance in their sector was thinning, and Siegfried found something important."

Arthur nodded slowly, acknowledging the information.

His eyes then shifted to Valerie, who remained quietly resting on Connla's back.

Beside her, slung casually over Cao Cao's shoulder like a sack of trash, was the unconscious body of Marius, his face bloodied, his clothes torn, and his pride left somewhere back in the castle ruins.

A fitting state for the vampire prince, all things considered.

Arthur narrowed his eyes at the pair and asked.

"Who are they?"

Connla glanced at the girl on his back, then back at Arthur, keeping his tone dry.

"This one's Valerie. And that piece of shit being carried by Cao Cao like a broken piñata? That's her half-brother."

Arthur raised a brow, pretending to be confused.

"Her... half-brother?"

Connla nodded.

"Apparently. The guy's an arrogant lunatic. She's… well, not treated well."

Arthur gave a small grunt of acknowledgment, hiding the fact that he already knew exactly who they were.

Valerie Tepes, the dhampir girl who possessed the Sephiroth Graal within her, and Marius, the coward who abused his little sister.

Still, he kept his eyes on Valerie for just a second longer than necessary, noticing that despite being weakened and bruised state, her peaceful appearance was quite appealing in his eyes.

"Right…"

Arthur muttered, then turned to the open field, and the Boosted Gear emerged around his arms.

[DOUBLE!]

In the next instant, ten identical figures emerged, awaiting orders in silence.

Arthur pointed outward, his voice calm and firm.

"Fan out. Sweep the entire perimeter. I don't want a single bloodsucker or straggler left hiding. If you find anyone, kill them. If you find anything or anyone suspicious, punch first, ask questions later."

The clones nodded wordlessly, then vanished one by one, disappearing into the broken forest and ruins of the Tepes Castle.

Georg raised a brow, impressed.

"I almost forgot how broken that version of the Boosted Gear is."

Arthur glanced up toward the direction of the distant town.

Smoke still rose gently into the sky, but there were no explosions or rumbling anymore, at least not from this far.

"We should meet up with Siegfried and Heracles. If there's anything left to clean up, we'll help finish it. And if it's all done, then we all regroup."

He drew a large glowing teleportation circle beneath all of them.

The red light spread under their feet, humming with energy.

As they waited for it to activate, Dulio casually asked.

"Sooo… are we just gonna pretend that nothing happened with that little girl from earlier? Y'know, the one who made us all tense up?"

Arthur just answered flatly.

"I'll explain everything. But not yet. I want everyone together first."

Dulio shrugged.

"Fair enough. Just saying. That wasn't your usual kind of weird. That was, like… the Book of Revelation kinda weird."

Cao Cao scoffed.

"He's not wrong."

Arthur remained silent, eyes focused ahead.

The teleportation circle activated, and then, in a flash of light, they were gone.

DxD

Arthur and the rest of the group materialized near the center of the ruined vampire town.

The air was heavy with the lingering scent of blood and gore, but what struck them first was the eerie, collective silence of the people.

Dozens of townsfolk had gathered in the open square, most of them dressed in ragged, colorless clothing, their skin pale from poor nutrition and lack of sunlight.

All of them had the same traits: pointed ears, subtle fangs, and a strange mix of human and vampire features.

Arthur recognized them immediately.

"Dhampirs…"

He murmured to himself.

The people had begun to step out from their homes.

They weren't looking at Arthur and his group; however, they were all staring toward the town hall at the far end of the square.

Something had captured their attention entirely.

Arthur followed their gaze, and that's when he saw it.

Near the cracked and bloodstained steps of the town hall was a grotesque mountain of vampire corpses stacked like firewood.

Sitting atop the monstrous pile was none other than Heracles, his massive frame covered in gore and viscera, and beside him was Regulus, his golden mane streaked with blood, roaring at the night sky like a beast proclaiming dominance over its prey.

Heracles threw his head back and let out a wild, unhinged laugh.

"I AM THE SON OF GOD, MOTHERFUCKERS! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He bellowed, raising both arms triumphantly, while Regulus roared again, his powerful voice sending a shiver through every soul in earshot.

Arthur stared, eyes wide and lips slightly parted in disbelief.

Behind him, the others were just as stunned.

"What the hell are we looking at…?"

Connla muttered.

"I have no clue, but I can't stop watching for some reason."

Dulio said slowly, scratching the back of his head.

Cao Cao raised an eyebrow.

"I knew Heracles had mental issues, but this is a whole new level of crazy."

Even Georg looked in silence, visibly unsettled.

Arthur exhaled sharply, his eyes flicking to the edge of the crowd where he spotted a familiar figure leaning against a broken lamp post, arms crossed.

Siegfried.

He was waving casually in Arthur's direction.

"You guys stay here. I'll find out what happened."

Arthur muttered to the others. 

Still uneasy from the sight of Heracles on his mountain of death, Arthur made his way through the crowd.

Siegfried stepped away from the post, waiting as Arthur approached.

"Okay. I'm a little afraid to ask, but what the hell happened here?"

Arthur said the moment he was close enough. 

Siegfried sighed through his nose and motioned for Arthur to follow.

"First of all, I have no idea why Heracles goes full 'God of War' mode. One minute I was searching for survivors, the next thing I knew, he and Regulus started stacking bodies like a bloody shrine. I figured it was safer to just let him finish."

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Unbelievable…"

"But that's not what I wanted to tell you. Follow me."

Siegfried said, his expression turning more serious. 

Arthur nodded, but Siegfried's tone made his gut twist with unease.

They entered the town hall through its splintered doors, stepping into a cold, darkened lobby.

But what truly caught Arthur off guard wasn't the condition of the building; it was what he saw inside.

There were children.

Nearly hundreds of them, all huddled together in groups.

Some were lying unconscious on the floor, their faces gaunt from hunger and exhaustion, others were curled up near broken furniture or behind shattered columns, clutching one another in silence, and a few stared at Arthur and Siegfried with cautious, frightened eyes.

Among them were a small number of human adults, all women, with similar signs of mistreatment.

Arthur froze, the weight of the scene crashing down on him like a hammer.

"What is this…?"

He whispered.

Siegfried stood beside him, arms crossed.

"The vampires planned to use them as a breeding farm and living blood bags. Some fucked up attempt to create a stable food source under Tepes' rule. Most of the adults were kept barely alive. The kids… well, some didn't make it."

Arthur's eyes clenched shut.

His jaw tightened as fury welled up inside him, and his hand trembled as he clenched it into a fist.

(I didn't do enough… Not nearly enough…)

He should have burned the entire castle to ash.

No... He should've reduced the whole damn country to ruins.

Then a small, shaky voice called out from the far side of the room.

"Big brother…?"

Arthur's head jerked up, his blood running cold.

The voice came again.

"Is that… is that you, big brother?"

He turned toward the source, and a little girl stood among a small cluster of children.

Her hair was messy and her clothes torn, but her wide eyes were unmistakable.

She stepped forward slowly, hesitantly.

Arthur's breath hitched.

His knees buckled beneath him as recognition flooded his heart like a tidal wave.

It was one of the children from the orphanage in his hometown.

One of the kids whom he used to read to, to sneak snacks to, and hang out with when he and his mother visited.

She wasn't alone, as a few others had followed her, looking at him with tired, cautious eyes, but there was a spark of hope in their expressions.

Arthur dropped to his knees as he quickly caught them all in his arms.

No words were spoken.

He held them tightly, tears falling freely down his cheeks as he buried his face into their small shoulders.

The children clung to him; they didn't understand why he was crying, but their small hands clutched at his coat, their tiny fingers squeezing back just as hard.

Some of them began to cry too.

Their sobs echoed softly through the halls of that broken building.

Siegfried stood at the entrance, silent.

His arms remained crossed, but his gaze was fixed on Arthur.

He didn't interrupt, but he was lost in thought.

(Maybe it's for the best if I keep it to myself on how many children have died. Some of them were too far gone. But at the very least... this is better than nothing.)

He thought grimly. 

DxD

Hello readers!

Here's a chapter, so where's my Stones?

Also, the Ouroboros symbol looks like Meliodas' Dragon Sin tattoo.

Thank you, everyone, and see you later!