As the news spread regarding Gabriel going into labor, the entirety of Asora buzzed with activity. The Angels instantly dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the Misty Manor, not intending to flood the house, but were instead waiting anxiously outside for news of the baby. They weren"t the only ones however, as one by one almost every person in Asora made their way to the manor to join them in waiting; though the only ones allowed in it and within the s.p.a.ce-time orb being Gabriel"s Brave Saints, composed of all girls, and the residents of the manor itself. Within the s.p.a.ce-time orb however there seemed to be as much, if not more activity due to the excitement everyone was feeling from the occasion. Gabriel"s Brave Saints were running to and fro gathering towels, blankets, water, and whatever else was needed, while the majority of the other residents were waiting as close as possible while also trying not to get in the way. At the moment the only ones allowed in the room with Gabriel was Asia and Valerie, as they were healers and had a.s.sisted with the birth of the very few children that had already been born in Asora, Sister Griselda as the "Queen" of Gabriel"s Brave Saints, Grayfia and Yasaka who were using their own experience giving birth to help Gabriel, Kuroka due to her ability to control and sense a persons internal energy, and finally Alex of course as the father. "You"re doing good Gabriel, just a little more!" Alex encouraged her before he wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead with one hand, while his other was currently experiencing the entirety of the grip strength of one of the four Seraph"s. Using Regeneration magic to restore his shattered bones for the fifth time, Alex continued doing everything he could to ease the pain Gabriel was feeling.
"You"re doing fine Gabriel, we just need one big push!" Asia said as she guided the Seraph, before she let out a sudden agonizing yelled that was soon answered by a different sound.
"Waahhh! Waahhh!" As the cries of a baby sounded throughout the room, there was a near audible sigh of relief as Alex turned towards Gabriel and gently said,
"You did it Gabriel, you did it." Despite the intense pain she had just been feeling for what seemed like so many hours, Gabriel sighed in relief as she listened to to the sounds of her baby crying.
"It"s a girl!" Asia declared, making both parents look up as she finished cleaning and wrapping the baby in some soft blankets. As she approached and gently handed the small bundle to them, a look like one she never had before spread on Gabriel"s face as she stared down at her daughter, a blond haired blue eye little girl, before tears started streaming down her face.
"My beautiful baby girl..." She said while also holding back more tears. For the thousands of years that she existed she never even considered the possibility of having a child, and now she was realizing, like so many other things, what exactly she was missing out on until now. She wasn"t the only one impacted by this however as, even though he had lived through two lives and had adopted Myuu as a daughter, this was the first time Alex truly knew what it was like to see his own child. As he looked down on the tiny being in Gabriel"s arms he too could feel a slight burn in his eyes from the emotions, before Gabriel carefully and gently held her out to him while saying,
"Here, this is our baby girl, our Edith." Alex carefully took the fragile bundle in his arms and tucked her into the crook of his arm.
"Edith? That"s the name you decided on?" Alex asked as he cradled the newborn in his arms. Gabriel nodded happily as she watched the father-daughter duo, though as most of the tension was gone she started to feel increasingly tired before ultimately yawning. Asia used that to cue in,
"I think it"s time everyone got some rest, the baby needs to be laid down and Gabriel is extremely tired as well." As the nearby Sister Griselda moved to help Gabriel relax along with Grayfia and Yasaka, she couldn"t help but say,
"B-but my baby...." Though she knew Edith wasn"t going anywhere, she couldn"t help but be a little anxious that she was being taken to another room until Alex said,
"Don"t worry Gabriel, I"ll be nearby and Edith isn"t going anywhere, she"ll still be here when you wake up." Though she was still slightly anxious, Gabriel couldn"t fight the exhaustion for much longer, and was soon unconscious. With his daughter still in his arms, Alex made his way to the temporary nursery with Asia and Grayfia while Kuroka tagged along behind, and the others went to spread the word about the new baby. As he gently laid her down in the crib, Alex took one last look at his sleeping daughter before reluctantly turning away and leaving the room, only to sit in a chair right outside as if he was keeping guard. This earned a bit of a chuckle from the girls, while Kuroka looked thoughtful for a moment before leaping into Alex"s lap and saying,
"Nya~ when are we going to have our own little potato~Nyan?" Alex snorted while Asia and even Grayfia chuckled a little at her remark, before saying,
"You know that you can just go into a mating season like Koneko and the chances of getting pregnant will go up." Kuroka nodded before explaining,
"But that way feels cheap when I think about it~Nya..." Alex smiled before scratching her behind her ears and said,
"Don"t worry, I don"t plan to leave anyone out of the family planning, and we have as much time as we want to get to making children." Kuroka smiled at this and was slightly tempted to jump him then and there, but didn"t since they were right outside the baby"s room. Grayfia then asked,
"So, how does fatherhood feel?" Alex was silent for a moment before saying,
"Surreal. It didn"t really begin to click until I started to spend time with Koneko and Gabriel everyday, and now it"s still hard to believe that I actually have a daughter of my own." Grayfia nodded in agreement before adding,
"I remember when I first had Millicas, and even though my belly had gone back to normal and I could hold him in my arms, it was still hard to imagine that I now had a child of my own." Alex nodded in understanding as he knew exactly what she meant, while Asia said,
"The baby is so cute, now I want one of my own too..." The usually naive and pure seeming woman then surprised everyone by suddenly giving Alex a look with a particular gleam in her eyes, before she reluctantly left to help let everyone know what was going on, though Alex was sure that he could definitely expect Asia to be spending more time in his bed in the near future.
"She"s changed~Nya..." Kuroka muttered as they watched her leave, to which Alex and Grayfia nodded. Though Asia still gave off a "pure nun" type of feeling whose presence alone could psychologically heal a person, she had obviously matured quite a bit since they had started living in Asora. She was now one of the pillars of their hospital alongside Valerie and, to ensure she always was able to properly help those who needed it, she could mostly be seen studying a medical textbook when she was able to. Though she still acted cutely and somewhat naively, the effect of being around so many mature women and having such an important position was becoming more apparent as time went by. After Kuroka and Grayfia also took their leave, Alex was left sitting alone outside the nursery as he used his "Domain" to keep an eye on Edith, and closed his eyes. He didn"t go to sleep though, instead he mentally asked,
"So, is there anything I need to worry about?" A second later the familiar voice of Lauren replied,
"No, though Edith may have a hard time controlling her strength, there isn"t anything wrong with her. The demonic and holy powers she possesses have actually synced perfectly since it"s a state she was born in." Alex let out an actual sigh of relief and he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders at her affirmation. A particular concern he had regarding his firstborn daughter, was how varied and potent her bloodline was. Never before in DXD history had the lines of angels and Devils mixed, though there may have been exceedingly rare situations where they coupled in the past, or where an angel was captured and used as a s.e.x slave, they had never made it past the point of conception without falling. If they had and the angel was a woman, then they would have had to go the entire term without falling due to the demonic energy they carried within them, possibly either falling from it or even resulting in a loss of the child. Edith was the first ever devil/angel hybrid, a being that would have an impossible to determine future and limitless potential, and if that wasn"t enough her mother was one of the strongest angels in existence. As if she wasn"t already a future powerhouse just from that, she also contained the power and potential of a dragon within her body, and even the strength of a saiyan. Alex could feel her tail through the blanket as he held her, and knew that she might be able to surpa.s.s the current him given enough time, a thought that already made him saddened as well as excited. The thing that concerned him the most however, was the newest potential for her future strength.
"Will Gabriel"s divine power influence her at all?" Alex mentally asked Lauren, to which she explained,
"I wouldn"t say so, Gabriel"s divine power was just recently attained and she isn"t even a full fledged "G.o.d" yet. Though Edith may have a tiny divine spark, it definitely wouldn"t be enough to make her a demiG.o.d and wouldn"t necessarily impact her in the near future, it would just a bit of a head start on developing her own divine powers." Alex was silent before asking,
"How much is a "tiny" divine spark?" Lauren took a moment to think, before saying,
"Well I"ll compare her to yours and Gabriel"s for the moment. Gabriel is being fed the heartfelt prayers of the people of Tortus daily, and the belief in her is only growing, so I would say her divine power is equivalent to a raging bonfire that is about to turn into a full blown wildfire. You stole a G.o.d"s divine power and tried to make it your own, but it quickly dried up and left behind only a few embers, which you"ve only stoked to the point of lighting a match. Edith on the other hand only possesses a tiny spark that seems as if it"ll go out at any moment but never will, and she can only nourish and grow it until it becomes an inferno like her mothers, though this can only happen if she trained it as she gets older." Alex was silent as he felt a significant amount of relief at Lauren"s words, as usually when someone possesses so much power it would somehow lead to their doom. Though there was still the real possibility of that happening in the future, it was still preferable to Edith"s own powers destroying her in a matter of days. He then really relaxed and continued monitoring his daughter as she peacefully slept.
***
Over the next several days Alex and Gabriel quickly learned what it meant to be the parents of a newborn. From tending to her all night, to the terror of changing smelly diapers, they experienced it all. The duo were thankful for two things during this time, the first being that they were both superhuman to the degree that even after a week of barely any sleep they hardly even felt it(though Alex was more used to sleepless nights than anyone else), and the fact that there was so many people that readily offered their help with taking care of Edith. As each and every girl was becoming more anxious to become a mother themselves soon, they all eagerly helped take care of the newest addition to their family while also taking the time to get some experience for themselves in the near future. The ones that were the biggest help however, was of course the trio that had already had their own children, Grayfia, Yasaka, and Remia. As she felt as if she wasn"t contributing to helping out as much as everyone else, Remia had been the first to step up and volunteer herself to be in charge of watching over the future children, and teaching the new parents how to properly care for them.
The only problem was that, as much as the girls were helping out, they were also the initial reason Alex was getting considerably less sleep. Though he usually kept the nighttime visitors at a moderate number so that he could properly give them attention, nowadays he was hosting a minimum of up to ten women in his bed at once almost every single night, with the exception of the nights when he was watching over Edith. It was even becoming increasingly common that they"d ambush him at random times throughout the day whenever he wasn"t in the same room as Edith, at least until Sister Griselda walked in right as a group of naked women were in the process of trying to rip his clothes off. Though she viciously tore into the guilty party with a tongue lashing, Alex was both surprised and relieved that she didn"t turn her wrath on him, stating that she only let him off because they were the ones who jumped him. After that the girls calmed down to an extent, and Alex was exceptionally glad he didn"t tell anyone about using "Penetrate" to impregnate Gabriel, otherwise they might"ve ended up with dozens of expectant mothers within a matter of days.
As for Edith herself, Alex was slightly thankful that her heritage hadn"t altered her appearance or growth as she continued growing normally and healthily, and that the only thing differing her from other babies for the moment, was her tail. In fact, as the weeks started pa.s.sing since her birth everyone within the s.p.a.ce-time orb was constantly crooning over how adorable she was with her tail and started referring to her as the "little monkey", though there was a small amount of trepidation when Alex reminded them to never let her see the full moon. It had been quite the shock to everyone when he admitted that even infant Saiyans were a threat when they transformed, to the point that they could even be considered apocalyptic scale threats to weaker societies. With the fact that this would also apply to all of Alex"s children, it was quickly decided to have all of the windows in the manor replaced with moonlight filtering gla.s.s like the gla.s.ses Alex received from Azazel. By the time these and a few other minor concerns were attended to, enough time had pa.s.sed within the orb that it was now time for Koneko to go into labor, once again stirring up a bit of an uproar in response.
"Deep breaths Shirone, do you want me to dull your sense of pain temporarily~Nya?" Kuroka asked as she helped to comfort Koneko at the side, while Alex was once again playing the role of pain release, except this time he was experiencing the grip of a "Rook" instead of a seraph.
"...No! I don"t want something like that!..." Koneko stated as the pain shot through her once more, resulting in another cracking sound coming from Alex"s hand as she squeezed it. Alex didn"t say anything in response to his hands abuse(though it was different than the usual abuse a guys hand usually experienced), and simply continued to say comforting words to her while also healing his hand, preparing it for the next wave of pain. The hours slowly ticked by since she first went into labor with the pain refusing to let up, as expected, until finally after a particularly intense wave of pain and a lot of pushing, they were once again greeted by a completely different sound.
"Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa!" As the cutely catlike cries of a newborn baby rang out, Koneko seemed to have forgotten her fatigue, and looked up excitedly as after taking the time to clean and wrap the baby,, Asia handed her to them.
"Congratulations, it"s another girl." As Alex and Koneko looked down at their baby girl Kuroka stated,
"Of course it is~Nya, boys in our tribe are practically nonexistent!" After saying her piece, Kuroka"s attention was immediately returned to her newborn niece within her sisters arms, who had a tuft of white hair on her head along with her cat ears. Similarly to Gabriel Koneko got a bit tears as she looked down on her baby before saying,
"...Oh my little Mai..." Alex and Kuroka looked at her curiously and asked,
"You"re naming her Mai?" Koneko nodded and explained,
"...Its based off of our mother, Fujimai..." Though Kuroka made a face at the mention of their mother, she didn"t say anything disrespectful because of the occasion. Truthfully she didn"t really care for her and Koneko"s parents, as their mother was helplessly in love with their father, who was only engrossed in his research to create artificial super Devils. To him their mother was just another specimen, though one he could also use to fulfill his s.e.xual desires, while he hardly ever became involved with the sisters or even acknowledged them as his daughters. However as the only thing their mother did "wrong" was love such a man, she didn"t say anything bad and told Koneko,
"It"s a nice name~Nya, I guess now I have to get used to being an aunty~nyahahaha!" Koneko smiled at her comment before smiling back down at her daughter, and then handing her to Alex. Alex gratefully accepted the newborn with a large grin on his face, but as he did so he also noticed the tail dangling beneath her. One of the things they had quickly realized was that they couldn"t wrap the tail up with the baby due to discomfort(something that Asia was unaware of and no one initially caught during Edith"s birth due to excitement), and so this time around Mai"s tail was left dangling beneath her, causing Alex to examine it as his daughter was handed to him. Both his and Edith"s tails were a dark brown as is the usual for a Saiyan, however Mai was also part Nekoshou, meaning she would also have her own cat tail. Instead she only had a single tail that was a light brownish-tan, though the last few inches was tipped with pure white fur just like Koneko, and it appeared to be softer than his and Edith"s tails. Though he was winding if perhaps the trials had fused or something, he decided to let the matter lay and simply admired the baby in his arms before it was time to let her and Koneko sleep. When they did though, Alex promptly sat in a chair outside the nursery just as he did for Edith and used his "Domain" to keep an eye on Mai while she slept.
(A.N. I"m sorry for the delay in chapters, my work hours have been all kinds of screwed up lately due to the shutdowns and such, and so I"ve been pretty tired when I get off of work because of it.)