Spider Man: Duty And Loss - Chapter 129

Title: ??

Type: High School DxD

Synopsis:

Faith. Faith should be a foreign concept to beings such as Devils, one that is thrown away and unwanted. But still some believe in it, need it for their long lives with others. When one is unfaithful, what could the ramifications be? What will it ultimately lead to?

If one was unfaithful and its ‘ramification’ left for dead, hated and forgotten, is it possible for this ‘ramification’ to find faith? Will he find faith in a future yet to come or succ.u.mb to the hand he has been dealt?

This is his story, one brought about by a moment of weakness.

(Yeah I need to re write that synopsis.)

Date Written: January 2020

Date Edited: January 2020

Plan for prompt: Another one high on the list to be picked up once Spider-man is finished. Though it is hard for me to do this one as it would require a lot more extensive research into other pantheons and Gods.

Inspiration: Part Inspiration from The Change of a Dragon, posted on fanfic.net. Which I will stand by my words and say is the best DxD fanfic I have ever read. Though the inspiration is very loose.

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Prologue: A Lapse in Faith

*Wahhh* *Wahhh* *wahh* The slows cries of a young baby started to subside as it fell asleep in a small cot off to the side. The room he was located in was luxurious, ornate candles lit the walls and illuminated the intricate décor that littered the room.

There weren’t many people in the room, only 5 women. Four of them were dressed in regal maid wear and busying themselves cleaning up the room and looking after the final occupant that was breathing a bit heavily on one of the couches.

The woman on the couch wore a bright blue dress that accented her figure and had flaxen crimson hair. With a red face, she was breathing hard from just giving birth but was quickly recovering, all her attention was on the door that lead into the room.

Funnily enough none of them were looking in the direction of the baby, as if it didn’t exist. With the end of its cries the room was now quiet, except for the small sound of bustling bodies. It was just a few seconds later when they all turned towards the door.

They could all hear the hurried footsteps that were making their way towards them. The red haired woman had an ashamed expression on her face as she waited for the doors to open, her mind had been denying it since she had found out she was pregnant.

She had been hopeful and it was one of the only, if not the only, time in her life that she actually considered praying to god, hoping that her worries were unfounded. But sadly she had caught a glimpse of the baby after giving birth. What she had seen had crushed all her hopes.

She knew her husband was coming to check for himself, and knew he would not like what he found. She closed her eyes softly as she steeled herself, trying to forget the mistake that had caused all of this to happen.

*Bang* *Crack*

The two wooden doors flung open in seconds as a man dressed in an immaculate suit walked in. His red hair flayed behind him as his eyes stuck to the cot holding the baby. The man looked to have just reached his thirties and was sporting a red goatee.

If one looked close enough they could see the anger simmering underneath his eyes. *Step* *Step* His steps calmed as he walked over to look at the baby. As his eyes laid on the still, sleeping figure, the only reaction from him was the small curling of his hands into a fist.

His eyes zoomed in on the brown hair that the baby had and knew that it wasn’t his.

Zeoticus Gremory struggled to keep his anger in check as he looked at the ‘thing’ before him, his mind at that moment couldn’t even register the baby as just that, a baby. His eyes slowly moved over to his wife Velelana Gremory and she couldn’t hold his look for more than a second, before her eyes moved down in shame and anguish.

His mind drifted off for a second as he remembered when he first found out that his wife was pregnant. It would have been a happy occasion had it not been for the fact he hadn’t slept with his wife for a year.

Yes it might be weird to normal humans if they thought of a devil not giving into their carnal desires for more than a few days, but Zeoticus had been with his wife for centuries. After having their first son, Sirzechs Gremory, they had gone at it a few more times, before deciding to have another child later.

It had been many years, decades even since Sirzechs had been born, it would have been soon that they might have gone at it again. Of course because they were both pure blood devils of high ranking families it was rather hard for them to have kids, even if they did it occasionally they were unlikely to have another child. They would have to spend quite a bit of pleasurable time, repeatedly, before they would finally have another child.

So finding out his wife was pregnant was not a happy day, it was the day Zeoticus found out his wife was unfaithful. Now it wasn’t an unfounded occurrence, many devils had more than one partner, he himself had slept with many a woman, devils, humans, fallen, one time he even snagged an angle forcing her to fall.

But after he had married his wife it had gradually stopped. ‘They were no longer YOUNG DEVILS! That slept around with whoever!’ His other hand curled into a fist as he kept his anger in. Finding out that his wife had a one night stand, one god damned time, after he had been away on a business trip, he didn’t really mind. Finding out that this one time had made her PREGNANT! He was furious!

Yes Zeoticus didn’t care that his wife had had a one night stand, she would have told him, they would have gotten over it quickly, no big deal, they still had centuries together still, he could have even made a deal out of it, maybe go and have some fun in the human world, something he hadn’t done in a long time.

They both wouldn’t mind. But she had a baby!

He had only found out about this after she had begun to show signs and when she had to go quickly to the bathroom for morning sickness, something he regretted sadly, was in the presence of others. Someone outside the family. They had been congratulated in that moment, the news spread all over the underworld soon after.

Once the news spread he could not keep it in check. He could no longer quietly get rid of the baby by other means. Velelana was a strong devil, not the strongest, but definitely not weak. For her to suddenly ‘lose’ her baby was something which just couldn’t happen.

‘Complications in child birth’ also wasn’t something that could be used. There hadn’t been a child’s death from birthing practices in centuries. The only way for a bay to die in devil society before being born was if the mother died for some other reason, taking the baby with her, that or they were born.

As his thoughts drifted about he slowly turned away from his wife, a strong frown on his lips. He turned to one of the maids off to the side, the designated midwife of the family. “Does he have the power of destruction? What is his magic capacity like?”

The midwife stood stoic and kept a cold tone as she responded to her lord. “The baby has little trace of the Power of Destruction and his magic capacity is frighteningly low. It would be a miracle if the baby could use magic in the future. His constitution is sickly and weak, so his physical capabilities in the future will also be low.”

The frown on Zeoticus’s face turned to a scowl as he heard the news. The face of the child’s true father flashed into his mind for a second as he thought of his sniveling eyes when he had tracked down and cornered the unknown devil.

Zeoticus could admit at the time his rage had consumed him and he had left not a trace of the scared devil after he was done. Possibly overkill, but he didn’t care. But even in death the devil seemed to be taunting him.

He had given ‘their’ family a completely useless offspring. Zeoticus turned away in disgust from the baby and caught sight of another person entering the room. Sirzechs, his first son, hurriedly entered the room and moved over to his mother, a slight worry on his face.

Though he knew it wasn’t possible for her to die during child birth he was still worried. Unlike usual he wasn’t trailed by his ever present queen, Grayfia. Zeoticus brushed the thought off as he pointed at one of the other maids.

“I want you to take ‘it’ to one of the rooms and make sure ‘it’ is fed. I will deal with ‘it’ later.” The maid he pointed to gave a quick bow, as she moved over to the small child and picked him up slowly. She started to leave the room, doing as she was commanded.

Sirzechs had a small frown on his face as he heard his fathers, words. He had heard what might have occurred but didn’t want to believe that his own mother had cheated on his father. He was about to say something when he caught sight of the babies brown hair.

He stopped for a second as his father turned to him and gave him the look. The angry eyes settled onto the stunned son, before her turned to look at his mother. All she gave was an ashamed look as she caught sight of her son’s eyes.

Any thought in Sirzechs mind of speaking up for the baby was quickly swept away, his thoughts were in shambles as he just sat back down next to his mother and held her close. He could see the shame in her eyes. ‘It wasn’t her fault’ The thoughts on the baby left his mind as he concentrated on his family.

“Leave us we have much to discuss in private.” Zeoticus’s cold voice rang out in the room as he faced his wife. The remaining maids bowed their heads and moved out. Just as they were about to leave Zeoticus added one more thing.

“If any of you whispers what happened today to anyone, I will kill you all myself.”

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Chapter 1: Gossip

Two maids diligently worked their way down the hallway as they cleaned everything in sight. With small smiles on their faces, one of them looked over their shoulder to make sure no one was around before turning to the other; they had both been friends for decades.

They had just stopped to the right of one of the mahogany doors that lined their way. “Hey, did you hear? Lady Gremory is pregnant once again; it has only been 2 years since the birth of their second son!” The maid could barely hold her glee at the news, their lords happiness was their own.

Her partner in crime also looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was around before she replied, in a hushed whisper. “I heard right after the birth of their second son, Lord Gremory was so happy with his demonic output they’ve been going at it every night since, to see if they could produce another strong heir.” The maid let out a small giggle as she watched her friend’s eyes widen.

“How envious…” The maid trailed off as she realized what she just said, but her friend just nodded in understanding. Most of the maids that worked in the Gremory mansion had fantasies about lord Gremory, sometimes Lady Gremory, or both if the moment took them.

Both of their faces flushed red as their minds began to wonder, their cleaning slowing. Realizing that they were falling behind the one that just spoke quickly changed the conversation. “Speaking of the second Master, I’ve heard rumors that his talent was so high at birth that the Lord and Lady have been training and looking after him personally, that’s why no one has ever seen him before. No one even knows which room he occupies in the mansion for threat of assassinations.”

Her friend just shook her head. “No, that rumor was false…well the looking after him personally bit. I’ve got a friend who works down in the kitchen area that prepares the meals for the second master. Surprisingly I hear he eats rather sparingly, not a lavish diner at all, they always prepare him simple meals…” The maid trailed off for a second at the thought before continuing.

“But that’s not the point, a specific maid always comes down to the kitchen at the same time to grab his meals and deliver them. I’ve heard she’s been sworn to secrecy in her duties concerning the Second Master.” The other maid nodded her head in understanding.

“Ah. So someone did have the honor of serving the second master and his parents aren’t doing it themselves? But they still train him personally right?” her friend lightly lifted one of the vases and cleaned under it for a second before turning back.

“I don’t know, I’ve heard of the Second masters unnatural talents, but he is still young, like you said he is only about to reach 2 years old. For them to start training so early must denote his extraordinary potential.” The maid gained a slight blush as she thought on the words, a few words slipping out before she could stop them.

“If he is so talented, and has the genes of Maou Lucifer and Lord Gremory, won’t he be handsome in the future?” Her friend stopped for a second before her own face turned red in embarrassment her mind wandering.

The two continued to giggle to their fantasies for a solid minute before they snapped out of it and looked at the time. “Damn, we’re already so far behind, we’ll need to pick up our pace if we want to finish, but no slacking!” Her friend nodded her head before pumping herself up.

The two maids hurried to do their duties as they left the corridor they were just cleaning, behind the door they had been standing close to, a young boy sat quietly and listened to their conversation. He didn’t say a word as they moved off and had to resist a shiver as he slowly made his way back to his bed.

The boy’s body still had baby fat on it from his young age, but it was clear that the boy was also malnourished, with a sickly pale skin color and brown hair; he was the Second Master the maids had just been talking about, Eric Gremory.

His body shivered once more as he pulled himself under the sheets with a little difficulty and tried to gain something. He wasn’t sure what it was, but ever since he could remember his body would shiver, as if it were cold, as if it were looking for something.

He was not allowed to leave his room, he wasn’t sure why, it was just one of the rules that made up his life. He had tried to leave shortly after learning to walk, a painful process that involved many falls and trips.

The pain would go away after a while, but there seemed to be a dull throb that never left him after each fall. But alas his attempt had led to failure. All he got for trying was less food for a few days, keeping him bed ridden for a while.

But around the same time he began to walk, he was finally able to listen to the conversations that went on outside his room, they would come and go, but for the boy it was the most interesting thing ever.

He didn’t understand them at all, he had never properly been taught the devil language, but his latent devil genes made it possible for him to begin to understand, albeit brokenly. No the reason it was the most interesting thing for the child was because it was someone else.

Eric didn’t get to see other people; not really, the only ones that ever came to see him were the 2 with the red hair, the red haired man with cold in his eyes and the woman that couldn’t look at him. Eric if asks would say he was afraid of the man with red hair, his eyes were cold and always sent a shiver down his spine when they would look at each other. He wasn’t sure why the man’s eyes were so cold but he knew that he was the cause of it.

Though the cold look always made Eric feel worse, they were the only ones that ever went to see him, so even if he was afraid he liked their visits. Though he wished the woman would look him in the eye, there was some small primal part of him that craved for her to look him, even just once, face to face. Her eyes would go everywhere but him when she was in the room, and she would never speak to him, just look down at the ground with an emotions that the young Eric could not identify.

But there was one other person that came to visit young Eric, though she wasn’t much better than the other two, the cold woman who delivered his meals. He had tried to talk to her before, but she would just set the meals down and leave. She would also return to wash him and give him clothes, but she would never talk.

*Cough* *Cough* Eric’s lungs spasmed again as he turned his small body over in the ridiculously large bed that was his home. The darkness of the room seemed to encroach on his little body and the shiver returned as he closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Since young it had been the same way, as it would get later in the night Eric’s hands would slowly but surely wrap around his body, gripping it tight as he continued to shiver, searching desperately for something he had never felt before, but wanted desperately.

What he wanted, what he searched for, something he had never felt.

Warmth.

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Now if you guys can’t figure out by now, i do like starting stories off with a sad setup. I try not to make it too sad, but the good thing about having a character that has had it so bad, or starts off in a bad place, is its easier to build him up and show his emotional journey.

But that’s just me.

This was one of the rare times where I wrote the prologue and the first chapter because the idea wouldn’t leave my mind. This is of course still the set up and doesn’t get anywhere close to telling you guys what the main plot is.

Something to get you guys excited!

The MC’s peerage will consist only of Gods. (Something i have never seen in another DxD novel, though i might have missed it.)

Is this op, yes.

The problems with trying to write this type of novel. Honestly when you go in knowing that the MC is going to have a peerage of Gods, you have to do your research about the gods that are going to be turning up as well as give them a good reason to join a peerage.

Another thing that is a problem is the peerage system itself, one of the rules of the system is that the ‘King’, can’t reincarnate a being stronger than them. (Something which other novels don’t care about) But yeah i am going to care, and i have figured out a way of getting around that obstacle.

Finally the last problem is how powerful a person with a peerage full of God’s would be. Honestly doing it I would have to say that the story would be very ‘slice of life’, but I wouldn’t call it slice of life, I would just say very lax with battle scenes and more involved with the interactions between characters. Especially when the MC later talks to his family. Maybe more a face slap type genre? The name of the genre has failed me right now.