Chapter 33: Unwelcome Visitor
The teleportation circle in Rias's room vanished, and standing in its place was an older, blond-haired man with an arrogant sneer on his face. He spread his arms wide and displayed, what Jake thought to be, a slightly off-putting smile. "Rias, my beautiful fiancé," the man declared loudly, "Riser has come to see you!" Jake noticed that all the members of Rias's peerage had put their guards up, so he didn't drop his either. Who was this guy?
"Riser!" Rias declared with a shocking amount of venom in her voice. "How the hell did you teleport into the Gremory Mansion, LET ALONE MY BEDROOM?" She screamed that last part. Jake also found it weird this guy just teleported right into her room. That seemed like a pretty huge invasion of privacy.
Riser just scoffed. "Obviously, Riser's father-in-law gave him a way to teleport through the Gremory wards. Father-in-law was also kind enough to give me the exact coordinates to Riser's beautiful fiancé's... beautiful room." He trailed off at that last part as he took in her room for the first time. It was a mess, to say the least. "...Riser thinks this place needs to be cleaned..." Jake and everyone else weren't letting their guard down, but they did agree with that last part...
"Father-in-law?" Jake questioned out loud, drawing everyone's attention toward him. "Does that mean that-"
"Yes," Rias cut him off. "That would be our father, Zeoticus Gremory. Ever since our ancestor Runeas was awoken, he was expelled by her from his position as Lord Gremory."
Riser scoffed. "Father-in-law was unjustly expelled by that half-pint old fool!" He turned and glared at Jake. "And now I can see that the true cause of the incident has finally chosen to show himself!" He finished angrily, pointing at Jake. His family's flames skipped off his body somewhat in an intimidation attempt.
Rias defended her brother and snarled back, her own power of destruction partially rolling off of her. "That's a Gremory family matter, Riser! It's none of the Phoenix clan's concern."
"On the contrary!" Riser snarled back, more of his power flaring out as some of Rias's memorabilia nearby him started catching fire. Jake could see his sister was only growing more furious at losing her precious collectibles. With a slight bit of magic and a wave of his hand, Jake quickly cast some ice magic and stamped out all the small fires in the room.
"Thank you, Jake," Rias sighed in relief of her toys-erm-treasures being saved.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Rias's bedroom door slammed open, and in stormed their sister-in-law Grayfia! Her power absolutely flaring off of her and making everyone in the room tremble. Jake himself was in awe of her strength! She felt just as strong as Serafall to him, and even he couldn't fight his instincts to retreat from such a potential foe!
Unfortunately, some people in the room were feeling the effects of her aura more than others. Jake noticed that the weaker members of his sister's peerage looked like they were on the verge of passing out just from being near Grayfia releasing her aura! Akeno looked to be struggling a bit, but Koneko and Kiba especially looked to be doing badly. He couldn't tell anything about Gasper, who hadn't left the box...
"Grayfia, please calm down. You're hurting my precious peerage," Rias exclaimed.
Grayfia quickly reeled in her power once she had assessed the situation properly. Slightly ashamed of her outburst. It wasn't her fault, though. She was just sitting down for tea with her mother-in-law when they felt the wards being penetrated and Rias started flaring her magic power. Of course, she thought they were under attack and rushed over to help! Only after entering the room, though, did she find the source of trouble turned out to be this annoyance their family thought had already been dealt with.
"Riser Phenix," Grayfia spoke. "Why are you here, and how did you penetrate our clan's wards?" She was most concerned about the latter. She didn't deem Riser himself to be much of a threat. As a high class his strength was about even with Rias, but Grayfia doubted he could hope to face Jake and Rias at the same time and not get thrashed…
Before he could answer, Rias spoke up and told Grayfia that apparently Zeoticus had handed over the way to bypass their wards and given Riser the coordinates to her room! Grayfia scowled. If that man wasn't already kicked out, then he would be for such a foolish act. All it would take is one spy in the Phoenix clan's staff to leak that information to the old Satan faction, and then Rias or her son could have been attacked. Grayfia was not happy!
"So, who the hell is this asshole anyway?" Jake asked, still feeling a bit out of the loop.
"That's Riser Phenix," Kiba answered as he had finally finished recovering himself from Grayfia's display of power. "He used to be our king's fiancé, but the Gremory clan's ancestor, Runeas, forbade the union under the pretext that it would basically be handing over our entire clan to the Phenix's for and i quote "nothing special in return.""
Jake didn't know who Runeas was but figured he should ask after this tense situation was over. "So, if you're no longer engaged, then clearly you have no reason to be here. Piss off and don't talk to my sister again!" Jake said as he flipped the bird... the bird.
"How crass," Riser commented at Jake's vulgar gesture. "But Riser is afraid he still has business here. Our noble Phenix clan has not accepted the engagement being called off... Furthermore!" He once again pointed at Jake angrily. "We have business to settle. You're the one who has been peddling those false tears and causing Riser's noble family's sales numbers to plummet!"
Jake now realized who this guy's family was. These were the devils that had apparently held a monopoly on "Phoenix tears" before Luna and Blaze came along and gave them an economic slap to the face when they started selling real phoenix tears at a much more affordable price.
"What's the matter?" Jake said with a smirk. "Can't handle a little competition? It's nothing personal, after all... it's just business." Jake felt super cool after finally being able to say that line in real life! He also felt like he nailed its delivery as Riser glared at him harder.
"..."
"...lame," Koneko bluntly said from the side as Rias and everyone else laughed.
Jake just turned to the short girl with a fake hurt expression. "Eh, tu, loli?"
"Don't call me a loli!" She exclaimed with a pout. It had appeared to Jake that he may have touched a nerve there.
"Jake, don't bully my precious loli... I mean, my precious rook," Rias said with a laugh as she playfully slapped him on the shoulder. Koneko just sulked on the couch and started stuffing herself with more cookies... Jake just told her he was sorry with a laugh before he turned and apologized to Koneko as well.
"Ara, poor Koneko eats enough food every day for ten growing girls and yet she never gains a single pound to grow bigger," Akeno said, to which the girl actually hissed back at her. Jake wondered if the cat ears he saw on the girl's head for a split second were real? Of course his otaku sister had a genuine cat girl in her peerage…Jake wondered if he could one up her by getting a fox girl…
"..."
Riser just stood there, looking at their interaction for a second. Did they forget he was here? They were completely ignoring him all of a sudden! Then an expression of realization appeared on Riser's face as his brain came to some strange revelation... "I've figured out what is truly going on here!" He declared, staring at Jake.
"Huh," Jake said, looking back towards Riser. "You're still here?" he questioned, no longer interested. "Go away, shoo." He said while waving his hand in a shooing motion.
"It's time for you to leave, Riser Phenix," Grayfia declared as she was preparing to send him back. "And tell Zeo that we will be changing the wards, and he will no longer have access himself!"
"Not so fast," Riser declared. "I'm not leaving till I know the truth."
"Fine," Jake said with a sigh. "What do you want to know, dude?"
Riser smirked cockily as he stared at Jake. "It's obvious now why the noble engagement between Rias and Riser was truly called off. Yes, Riser sees the truth now." He pointed at Jake. "It is obvious to Riser now that you are trying to steal the beautiful Rias and her peerage all for yourself! The noble Riser will not stand for it! Riser demands a challenge between us for her hand!" Riser declared proudly, to everyone's shocked and disgusted looks. 'How the hell had he come up with that theory?' they all wondered.
Jake physically gagged. "Dude, that's disgusting. She's my sister."
Riser looked confused at that statement before he sneered and laughed at Jake for his supposed ignorance. "Ha, Riser, forgets that you are half human and probably have been living under their pathetic morals. Riser will have you know that it is completely normal for some noble devils to have relationships between close family members." He said with a completely straight face.
Jake was horrified at that revelation as he almost gagged again at the thought. He turned to Rias with a disgusted look on his face. "...is that true?" He asked her.
Rias just shook her head, absolutely horrified as well! "NO, IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT!" She shouted. How dare this flaming chicken try to make her look gross in front of her new brother! "It is not normal at all and is, in fact, extremely frowned upon. It's the reason why, despite having so much wealth and so many children, the Phenix clan can't find anyone to match their children to!" She explained to Jake. "It's also one of the main reasons I so vehemently refused to marry this guy," she finished, pointing at Riser with a disgusted look.
Riser just scoffed. "Those pathetic other pillars just can't recognize greatness. So what if Riser's parents just so happen to be brother and sister? That just makes our bloodline stronger and purer! Riser is standing before you as proof that there were no ill effects of such a union as a perfectly normal noble devil." He said while smiling to himself. He was proud of his lineage, after all!
Jake just looked at this man with a pitying expression. "Dude, you're in your 20s, and you still talk in the third person... I hate to break it to you, but there were some side effects..." Everyone else in the room pretty much agreed as well.
Riser glared angrily at Jake for that comment. He was prepared to summon his fire to deal with him if it wasn't for Grayfia standing nearby, ready to interfere. He was nervous of her but he smirked as a plan formed in his mind. "Who cares whether I'm correct or not," he declared, much to everyone's confusion. "What matters is what the people believe! Riser's family owns one of the largest broadcast companies in the underworld, and if you, Jake Gremory, do not accept Riser's challenge, then he shall drag your name through the mud by telling everyone that Riser lost Rias to her brother!" He laughed haughtily, much to the shock of everyone else in the room. Would he be insane enough to offend the family of one of the Satans!?
Jake was furious at "this piece of shit" for even daring to think of doing such a thing. Rias and even Grayfia were a few seconds away from blasting Riser out of existence. Before they could, however, Jake spoke up angrily. "Fine then, dickhead. You and me, one on one. We'll fight it out in a week."
Riser smirked to himself in victory. All he had to do was defeat his father-in-law's greatest shame, and everything would be set back on the correct course. Then he would marry Rias and use her remaining peerage pieces to increase the members of his harem! He would either kill or force her to trade away the two male members of her peerage as well. "Hahaha, we shall face off in a week then!" He shouted before his teleportation circle lit up underneath him, and he vanished from the room.
Rias gently patted Jake on his shoulder. "Jake," she said, "You didn't have to accept his challenge. Who cares if there would be some weird rumors spread against us."
Jake didn't say anything for a second as he took some deep breaths to calm himself down. Jake couldn't believe there actually existed a guy more irritating than Malfoy Junior. He knew, though, that guys like that wouldn't stop unless they were put in their place hard, at least once. Clearly, no one had yet to do that to Riser, so Jake decided the task would fall to him.
"..."
"Fuck that chicken guy," Koneko bluntly said out of nowhere. Easing some of the tension in the room.
Everyone laughed at that. With the intruder dealt with, Grayfia decided to head back out of the room and start redoing the wards on the mansion. She didn't want a repeat of what just occurred. Jake along with Rias and her peerage, meanwhile, went back to the couch to continue what Rias wanted to speak with him about before their unwelcome visitor had interrupted them.
-End Chapter-
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