Arrival in an isekai

You straighten slightly, drawing the attention of all three women back to yourself after the heavy conversation. "I'll end today's meeting with a note of my future plans. I intend to offer my lovers access into different worlds. Some worlds, like the Amagi Park where we had our meeting, are harmless and barely interesting. Others, like the world where those four are attacked by goblins, are dangerous and will be used as opportunities to train my lovers in combat and magic."

Calca's blue eyes widen slightly. Kelart leans forward, brown eyes intent. Neia watches you with sharp focus despite her exhaustion.

"From goblins in caves to dragons across mountains, maybe even monstrosities across stars, there are many opportunities to do things you want when you're not fighting human corruption and noble stupidity. That's why I'm mostly avoiding the whole conquering land issues."

Kelart speaks carefully. "You're offering us the chance to become adventurers across multiple realities?"

"Not offering, simply an option my lovers will enjoy. Training, exploration, experiences beyond what single worlds can provide. No political obligations. No kingdom management, unless they start it themselves. Just personal growth, shared adventures, and intimacy."

Calca glances at Kelart, then at Neia. "That's not what I expected when you said 'lovers.'"

"Sadly, most people don't." You gesture toward the air, silver light beginning to coalesce. "I'm not interested in controlling your kingdoms or shaping your policies. I'm interested in you as beautiful individuals. What you want to learn, what you want to experience, who you want to become. That I desire you is merely my lust and your beauty."

The portal opens fully, showing the hallway outside Carne Manor on the other side. Afternoon light streams through windows visible in the background. Jibril moves toward it immediately, pink hair swaying.

You turn to Neia. "You're welcome to come with me now, or you can stay here with Calca and Kelart for the night. We'll meet again at tomorrow's visit either way."

Neia looks between you and the two women she's served for years. Her sharp eyes linger on Calca's face, then Kelart's, before returning to yours. "I should stay. We have things to discuss. Private things."

"Understood." You step toward the portal, then pause. "Tomorrow, same time. I'll answer any questions you've developed overnight, and try and get some sleep."

Calca stands, golden hair catching the afternoon light. "Lord Blank. Thank you for your honesty today. Even when it hurt."

Kelart remains seated but nods slowly. "We'll use the time well."

Neia simply watches you with those intimidating dark-circled eyes, exhaustion and contemplation warring in her expression.

You step through the portal with Jibril following close behind. The silver light collapses behind you, leaving the three women alone in their sitting room to process everything that's been said.

The Carne Manor hallway is quiet around you. Jibril turns immediately, amber eyes bright with analytical interest. "Master, that was fascinating. You presented multi-world access as an educational opportunity rather than a romantic benefit, reframing the lover relationship as mentorship with intimate components. Brilliant rhetorical strategy."

"It's not strategy. It's truth."

"Which is why it works so well," she replies with a small smile.

You settle onto the throne and pull Jibril into your lap, fingers threading through her pink hair as you wait. She makes a soft pleased sound, leaning back against your chest.

"Dungeon, please send out a meeting request for Albedo, Oriax, Grayfia, and Ikaros."

The dungeon's consciousness responds with a pulse of acknowledgment. Within moments, the throne room's great doors open. Albedo enters first, golden eyes brightening when she sees you on the throne. She wears her white gown, horns gleaming in the magical light. Ikaros follows, pink hair flowing behind her, emerald eyes calm and attentive.

Oriax arrives next through a portal from the Lucifuge Estate, silver hair in its elegant bun, crimson eyes assessing the gathering. Grayfia follows her mother, equally composed, her silver hair catching the light.

"Master," Albedo purrs, moving to stand beside the throne. "You called for us?"

You guide Jibril to stand, then gesture for Oriax. "Trade places with Jibril, please."

Oriax's expression softens fractionally as she approaches. Jibril steps aside gracefully while Oriax settles into your lap with practiced elegance, her body fitting against yours with comfortable familiarity. You wrap an arm around her waist, feeling her relax slightly.

Once everyone has positioned themselves, Albedo and Grayfia flanking the throne, Ikaros standing attentively near the steps, Jibril observing from the side, you begin.

"Oriax, Grayfia, as you should have noticed from the temporal display for the Sacred Kingdom trio and the recruitment of Fiona and Yor, I'm pursuing women from universes which I knew as a young man. Taking a two-direction approach. The second is the women here, of immense power who have no need for combat adventure but still can find entertainment in weaker worlds. The first is advancing from weakest to stronger worlds. I'm intending to have the weak experience growth from world to world."

Oriax nods against your shoulder. Grayfia's crimson eyes remain fixed on you, listening intently.

"Now a confession. The DxD story I knew was based far in your world's future, focusing on different characters. As a side character..."

You gesture, silver light coalescing before the throne into an illusionary wall. The image shifts, showing a mature Grayfia in full maid uniform standing beside a red-haired man with an insufferable smile.

"...presenting Grayfia Lucifuge: wife of the ingrate Sirzechs Lucifer, the second degenerate siscon in her life. Mother of Millicas Gremory, an innocent young boy who will be entangled in painful politics his whole life because of his father."

Grayfia's eyes widen. Oriax stiffens in your lap. The illusion shows scenes of Grayfia serving Sirzechs with perfect devotion, scenes of a small boy caught between family politics, scenes of endless formal events where Grayfia stands silent and dutiful.

"Grayfia's mother was unnamed, only referenced. I got the wonderful mother-daughter surprise that I now have Oriax as well."

Oriax exhales slowly. "I would have been... unnamed?"

"The story followed others, Grayfia's mother was merely referenced the source of her maid preference. Nothing more." You dismiss the illusion with a gesture. "It remains however that I accessed the DxD world far ahead of the known timeline for two women: Grayfia Lucifuge and Gabriel of Heaven."

Albedo speaks carefully. "Gabriel. The chief seraph who now falls under your authority through the Codex of Logos."

"Precisely." You stroke Oriax's side gently. "Which brings us to the purpose of this meeting. We need to discuss what to do with Heaven, how to approach Gabriel's recruitment, and how both Oriax and Grayfia fit into my broader plans across worlds."

Grayfia steps forward slightly. "Master, may I ask... in that timeline, when did I marry Sirzechs?"

"Years from now in your world's timeline. After his rise to power as the new Lucifer."

"And you prevented this before he could claim that position." Her voice holds quiet gratitude.

Oriax turns her head to look at you directly. "You saved her from a future of servitude to someone unworthy."

"I claimed her for myself instead," you reply honestly.

"So in that timeline... I simply ceased to matter. No name. No face. Just a footnote explaining why my daughter preferred a maid's life." Her fingers tighten slightly on your arm. "I spent six centuries believing my existence was justified by perfect service. And in the story you knew, even that service was reduced to a single line."

Grayfia steps closer, crimson eyes fixed on her mother, then on you. "And I would have married Sirzechs. Spent centuries as his perfect wife, raising a son who would be used as a political pawn." Her voice remains even, but there's a tremor beneath it. "I would have accepted it. Believed it was my duty. My purpose."

She looks at you directly. "You changed all of that. Not by accident. Deliberately. Before any of it could happen."

Albedo purrs softly beside you. "Master does not leave valuable things to rot in unworthy hands."

Oriax tilts her head back to look up at you. "And Heaven? Gabriel?"

Jibril's wings flutter slightly. "Heaven's current system is inefficient. Automated through the Codex, yes, but rigid. Michael maintains order, but the seraphim are underutilized. Gabriel in particular is wasted on ceremonial duties."

Grayfia speaks again, voice thoughtful. "If we bring Gabriel here... what becomes of Heaven?"

“Heaven represents a problem that forces me to address another: the timeline.”

You raise one hand, silver light coalescing into a small, slowly rotating holographic sphere above your palm, three intersecting rings marked with faint labels: DxD Present, DxD Canonical Future, Altered Branch.

“Removing individuals, Grayfia, Gabriel, Oriax, from the timeline completely is simple enough. It severs their causal threads cleanly. The world continues without them, and if it deviates too far from what I prefer, we simply step sideways into a different branch where they were never removed. No paradox. No cleanup. Just... choice of reality. Grayfia might meet an alternative-timeline self.”

Grayfia’s crimson eyes track the rotating rings. Oriax’s fingers tighten fractionally on your arm.

“Alternatively,” you continue, “we can accelerate this timeline and have you attend vital events as they occur. You would experience the world progressing normally while we remain outside the flow. Time dilation becomes the price, days between our meetings might be minutes or hours for me, or years might pass for you between visits. Grayfia already lived something similar in the Spy x Family universe. It works. But I’m increasingly averse to it.”

Oriax tilts her head back slightly to look up at you. “And the third option?”

“Skip thousands of years entirely. Fast-forward the DxD world past its relevant conflicts, let whoever inherits the mess deal with it all without you, and move forward to the next story-point I'm interested in.” You let the hologram shift, rings blurring into streaks, then reforming with a new label: Post-Skip Branch. “Again, I dislike this. It wastes potential.”

You dismiss the hologram with a flick of your fingers. The silver light winks out.

“The DxD Heaven is a contradiction we can either completely ignore or incorporate fully.”

You lean forward, elbows on the throne’s arms, gaze moving between Grayfia and Oriax.

“Option one: we make the trip now. I walk into Heaven, sit down with Archangel Michael, and make a deal. The dungeon subsumes Heaven’s system, administrative authority, prayer network, all of it. We walk out the back with Gabriel. Michael keeps the functioning pretty Heaven and the DxD world. No war. No apocalypse. Just a clean handoff.”

Grayfia’s voice is quiet but steady. “Michael would never agree to surrender Heaven’s core systems.”

“He would if the alternative is me walking in and taking them anyway, besides, they're already mine.” you reply. “But I’d prefer the deal. Cleaner. Less resentment. More room for Gabriel to choose freely rather than be extracted like cargo.”

Oriax speaks next, voice thoughtful. “And the second option?”

“Step in. Save Heaven. Then redesign the entire realm.” You let a faint smile touch your lips. “Turn it into a boring paradise. Strip out the bureaucratic cruft, the prayer quotas, the factional politics. Make it what it pretends to be: actual peace. Eternal rest for the worthy, no strings. No more seraphim forced into endless administrative duty. Gabriel could finally rest, or choose something else entirely.”

Albedo’s golden eyes gleam. “Both options expand your dominion significantly. Heaven’s power, Gabriel’s personal strength, the Seraphim’s loyalty... all of it becomes yours.”

Jibril’s wings flutter once. “The redesign option would require dismantling the current prayer-and-soul-routing architecture. It could be done in stages. First secure administrative control through the Codex, then rewrite the underlying metaphysics. Michael would almost certainly resist, but containment is trivial.”

Ikaros speaks for the first time, voice calm and mechanical. “Gabriel’s disposition is the key variable. If she chooses service willingly, the Seraphim follow. If she resists, extraction becomes necessary. Probability of willing submission: 62% if presented with evidence of Heaven’s systemic flaws. 91% if presented with a superior alternative paradigm.”

Grayfia looks down at you, crimson eyes searching. “And my place in this? Oriax’s?”

“You’re already mine,” you answer simply. “Heaven doesn’t change that. But Gabriel represents a new class of asset, angels of immense power who have spent eternity in service to a flawed system. Sound familiar?”

Oriax’s lips curve in the smallest smile. “Very.”

Grayfia exhales slowly. “Then the question becomes timing and approach. Do we move now, while Heaven is still unaware of the Codex transfer? Or do we wait, gather intelligence, let Michael feel the first cracks before we offer the deal?”

You stroke Oriax’s side absently, considering. "And this is where my conflict is. Have the dungeon take control of Heaven and take Gabriel out with her father's blessings, leaving Heaven to Michael. Or do I make a show of taking control of Heaven, bluffing about how much attention I'll give it and have the angels be guardians of other projects?"

The group processes your words. Albedo speaks first, voice smooth and strategic.

"The first option is efficient. Clean. Michael gets to keep his crumbling kingdom, Gabriel comes willingly under the banner of divine will. Minimal resistance, maximum gain."

Jibril nods. "But the second allows for greater flexibility. Bluffing minimal involvement keeps Michael compliant while repositioning unnamed angels as guardians for Nazarick's expansions, defending new realms, securing recruitment sites, or even overseeing the diclonius haven. It's a misdirection play: promise neglect, deliver utility."

Grayfia speaks thoughtfully. "Gabriel's loyalty would be key in either. If she sees it as her father's blessing, she'll follow without question. But if we redesign Heaven into a 'boring paradise,' she might resist leaving her post unless convinced it's for a greater purpose."

Oriax shifts slightly in your lap. "The bluff carries risk. If Michael sees through it, he might rally the remaining angels against us. But with the Codex, resistance is futile anyway. The first option feels safer, extract Gabriel, let Heaven limp on under Michael until it collapses naturally."

Ikaros tilts her head. "Probability of Michael accepting a deal: 84% if framed as divine succession. 67% if bluffing partial control. Gabriel's recruitment success: 95% in blessing scenario, 82% in redesign bluff."

Albedo smiles faintly. "Master, the choice is yours. Efficiency or expansion?"

The throne room waits, five powerful women, each offering their perspective, each committed to executing whatever path you choose.