DxD: The Tale of Blood

Everyone silently watched Freyja shower her love on the Darcaedes Prince, the Heiress of the Lucifuge Clan, and happily greet Team Morningstar.

It was almost like a Mother greeting her child's friends.

Hilda Crocell then stepped forward and bowed to her, and after her, Albedo smiled at the Goddess and shared a long and warm hug.

"Welcome back, Syr," the golden-eyed Queen addressed her by her nickname.

The two started chatting with each other, talking about how they were and how things had been, and the Asgardians felt quite awkward.

However, the Devils noticed how tensed Odin, Baldur, and Thor were to find her there, and even the Valkyries seemed restless.

And there were reasons for that.

Freyja was the sister of Freyr, the Ruler of Álfheimr, the Realm of Elves. She was the Vanir God Njord's daughter and had been given to the Aesir together with her Father and Brother when Vanir lost the War. They were hostages, but Gods nonetheless, and the day came when they grew strong.

As per the Tradition of Vanir, the sister and brother were supposed to wed each other, but the Aesir frowned upon such unions.

Odin refused to listen to Njord's request and betrothed Freya to Odr, an incarnation of himself that he had created in a War and later adopted as his son. He forced them to wed each other against her wishes.

However, Freyja was not one to tolerate such disrespect, and one day, she murdered her husband, sent his head to Odin, and escaped Asgard, entering the Realm of Folkvangr. A Realm which she had secretly created in the Underworld and ruled. And in this way, she successfully disappeared from the Wise Odin's eyes.

The Gods of Asgard tried their best to break into Folkvangr, but to their dismay, they learned that Freyja was ridiculously strong. The shields could not be broken without alarming the entire Underworld, and that meant giving the vultures the opportunity to feast upon them after the battle.

Freyja had become so strong that only Odin, Baldur, Thor, and Vidar could go up against her, but first, they had to find a way to break into her Realm or convince her to leave it.

Even her Father and Brother were turned away by her when they came to ask her to surrender, and then to Odin's frustration, he learned that half of the brave souls of warriors who died in battles and were eligible to live in Valhalla were moving into Folkvangr instead.

Freyja now had an army under her command, and the prospect of War was turned down as the Asgardians realised that there would be severe losses.

Odin eventually announced that Freyja was forgiven for her sin, in hopes of mending their relationship and inviting her into the fold of Asgardians Gods, and even allowed his son Thor to wed Siff, who was her brother's daughter from his wife, Geror, a Giantess. Thus, a familial bond was forged with her again.

However, a few knew that there was more to the story.

Amongst the Devils present, other than the ones associated with the Darcaedes Family, only Ajuka, Sirzechs, and Serafall knew that the reason Odin pardoned her and was anxious to reforge a Familial Bond was that Pandora Darcaedes had accepted Freyja as her Pawn nearly seven centuries ago.

Now, she went by the name Syr, the Ruler of Folkvangr.

"Lady Freyja."

Suddenly, a certain golden-haired Goddess walked over to her and went down to her knee.

Syr finally turned and looked towards the Asgardians, and then smiled at her niece who was kneeling to her.

"Come give your Aunt a hug." She gently said, and Siff smiled as she entered her arms.

Their interaction relieved all the Asgardians, and they felt better when Freyja finally acknowledged their presence.

"Why do you like looking old, Old Man?" She playfully asked Odin, who smiled at her behaviour.

"I am an old Man."

"That you are," She agreed and smiled at his two sons. "Baldur."

"Freyja." The man nodded to her.

"Thor. You don't want to fight, do you?" She asked, and the God of Thunder smiled at her.

"No, I have no such intention."

"That relieves me. After all, this Alliance is very important for both Asgard and the Devildom." She said and then smiled at the Satans who came over to greet her.

She stayed and chatted with people she was familiar with, including the Valkyries, and then turned to look at the Chief God of Asgard.

"Come, Old Man. We need to talk about something."

Thor frowned at her words and wanted to stop his father from going with her alone, but both disappeared before he could react.

"Relax. He will be back in a short while." Albedo told him, and he frowned and nodded his head.

Soon, everyone returned to the Gallery when the next match was about to start.

It was between the Peerage of Ravon Phenex and the Peerage of Tannin, the former Dragon King, for the 9th Place on the Rating Games Leaderboard.

Raizel went over and stood by Rias and Sona's side, and the two excitedly congratulated him and his Peerage on getting their License and being listed 92nd on the Leaderboard.

"When do you plan to challenge for a higher spot?" The Gremory Princess asked.

"In a few months. We can have a maximum of four Official Rating Games in a year, and we plan on playing all four. Our goal is to break into Top 50 by the end of 802." Cleria informed her, and she happily nodded her head.

"You will win all four!" She confidently said, and no one doubted her words.

The strength that Erza and Guts had displayed, as well as their Relative Values against Team Renly Vassago, made it clear that their Peerage did not belong in the bottom half of the table.

The match between Ravon Phenex and Tannin lasted for two hours and entered the Golden Round of the Dice Figure Game, the seventh round after both teams won three rounds each. In the Golden Round, where each Team could send in one person, any Piece, both Kings chose to step in themselves to decide the victory.

Erza was thrilled when she saw Tannin going all out, but Ravon was no slouch. He was strong, almost as strong as his older brother Ruval, who was 2nd on the Rating Game Leaderboard. And his battle prowess amazed those who were watching him going all out for the first time.

There were proud smiles on the members of the Phenex Clan as they watched Ravon battle, and when he ended up defeating Tannin, leaving burn marks on his hardened scales, which was no small feat, the spectators went crazy with their cheers that rocked the sky.

Ravon too fell after the result was announced, and both Tannin and he were teleported away to the hospital.

Having witnessed a battle of scale that they could not even think about interfering in, the Young Devils were both nervous and thrilled.

Raziel smiled at the solemn expressions on the faces of Rias and Sona's Peerage Members.

They realised that if they ever wanted glory, they would have to go against these two Teams, and to win against them they would have to work extremely hard.

However, the real shocker of the day came when they heard an Announcement by Naud when the battlefield was restored.

"The next match is not a Rating Game, but a Duel between two young Devils. This duel is between Magdaran Bael and Sairaorg Bael, and the position of the Heir of Bael Clan is on the line."

Rias and Sona were shocked when they heard the words. And even Raizel was surprised as he was not aware of this event.

Suddenly, both the Grids in the Arena lit up, and Magdaran Bael and Sairaorg Bael appeared in front of the people.

Though Half-Brothers, they both resembled each other, unmistakably brothers, but where one was on the slimmer side, the other was very muscular.

The two were extremely serious right now, and as they stepped inside the battlefield and the Barrier was activated, they started charging up.

For Magdaran, it was his Demonic Power, and for Sairaorg, it was his Touki.

Raizel glanced to his right, far away, where Misla was standing next to her Queen, Roygun, clutching her fists.

He could see that she was nervous, and it was because her son had some very important promises to keep.

Sairaorg just could not afford to lose this duel.

"Excuse me," He smiled at his companions and walked to stand next to Misla, who surprisedly turned to look at him.

"Relax." He gently said to her, and she smiled before obediently nodding her head.

As soon as the ring sounded out in the Arena, the battle commenced.

Magdaran, unsurprisingly, utilised his Devil Magic and the Power of Destruction, and for Sairaorg, there was only his Touki.

The Vapula tensed up when she saw that the Power of Destruction was eating away her son's Fighting Spirit.

Her child soon got hurt, and blemishes appeared on his torso, but he refused to retreat and tried to reach Magdaran and take everything head-on.

His barbaric approach pleased a lot of Battle Maniacs but the wise ones disapproved of such recklessness.

In the end, he did manage to succeed in his goal and caught his brother, burying his fish in his stomach.

Thankfully, he refrained from hurting Magdaran too much and only made him lose consciousness.

It was not really a spectacular fight, neither was it interesting enough to be remembered for a long time. However, it was a significant moment for the Bael Clan, and Zekram Bael, the Progenitor of the Clan, publicly announced Sairaorg as the Heir in the presence of a million people.

Misla let out the breath that she had been holding since the start of the battle, and then quickly walked towards the infirmary to check up on her son.

Raizel did not go together with her. Instead, he returned to the side of his Peerage and glanced at Odin, who was back and standing next to Thor.

"Erza accepted Thrudr's challenge. They have gone to inform the Event Director about it," Kuroka mischievously informed him and then hugged his arm before openly pulling him down to kiss him.

Coincidentally, it was the moment the drones displayed the images inside the Royal Gallery on the screens, and their intimate moment became the focus for a million people to witness.

It was almost as if Kuroka had planned on letting everyone know that they were lovers.