Ryuga awoke to find Mirajane silently sleeping on his chest. He brushed her hair across as he gazed at her adorable sleeping face. He always thought that he wouldn't ever choose someone as his woman, especially not a human, but it is funny how quickly someone's mind can change when they meet someone perfect for them. He kissed her forehead, which succeeded in waking her up. She smiled and hugged him tighter than she already was.

Mirajane: "Mm, Good morning, Ryuga. Did you enjoy last night?"

Ryuga: "I think that's a rhetorical question. The real question is, did you enjoy it?" She kissed his neck, still trying to wake up.

Mirajane: "It felt even better than the first time. It felt like my entire body was jelly." She giggled.

Ryuga: "... Is that good?"

Mirajane: "Of course."

They kissed but were cut off when someone knocked at Ryuga's door.

Sylvia: "Lord Zephyn. It is I, Sylvia. One of your friends, Miss Mirajane seems to be missing. Would you like us to gather a search party for her?" Ryuga chuckled.

Ryuga: "Enter."

Sylvia did as told and opened the door. She gasped when she walked into the room and saw Ryuga and Mirajane holding each other. Her eyes widened before she quickly pushed a hand in front of her mouth, embarrassed to make such a sound in front of royalty.

Ryuga: "As you can see, we don't need to send a search party. She's been here, all night."

Mirajane blushed a little, and Sylvia tried to get rid of her astonishment. However, the man she knew and served was always ignorant of women's advances towards him. After all, even she tried to make romantic advances towards him, to no avail.

Sylvia: "Lord Z-Zephyn, you have finally found a woman... And a human to add more surprise!" Ryuga's eyes narrowed.

Ryuga: "Do you have a problem with that?"

Sylvia: "N-No of course not! I'm just happy for you, Lord Zephyn; after all, you were always denying women."

Mirajane: "I guess that makes me pretty special then."

She wrapped her arms around Ryuga's neck, and they resumed the kiss that they were interrupted from before. Sylvia just watched with wide eyes for six long seconds. They finally separated after, what seemed to Sylvia, hours. She quickly cleared her throat as she tried to get rid of her blush.

Sylvia: "Well then, we have prepared breakfast four your guests and yourself. Unfortunately, your father and aunt had business to attend to. We can also arrange a tour guide for your guests."

Ryuga: "Thank you, Sylvia, and that won't be necessary, I'll be their tour guide." Sylvia bowed.

Sylvia: "Is there anything else you require of me, Lord Zephyn?"

Ryuga: "That will be all for now. Good work."

Sylvia: "Then I will be waiting at the table."

She left the room, and Mirajane looked up at Ryuga.

Mirajane: "She'll be waiting at the table? Does she go wherever you are or something?"

Ryuga: "As long as I'm in the palace, and sometimes outside it, yes. She's the head maid, the one given the responsibility of personally serving the heir and, if occasion deems it, guards the heir with her life."

Mirajane: "So she's like a bodyguard along with being the maid who supervises all the other maids? That's a pretty big position."

Ryuga: "She's more than capable. She may not seem like it, but she can even rival some of the human realm's greatest mages."

Mirajane: "Wow! So powerful."

Ryuga: "Enough talk about that, let's go eat and meet the others, yes?"

Once they got properly dressed, they walked into the dining room. The others were all sitting at the table, eagerly looking at the platters. They couldn't eat it, however, since they had to wait until Ryuga entered the room. A demon tradition. Once Ryuga entered, the maids and chefs in the room bowed. Once he sat down, they stood straight and unveiled the platters. A massive array of foods was shown, varying from meats to vegetables and fruits. Of course, they were all foods found in the demon realm.

Mirajane, Elfman, and Gray had no patience to eat. They started digging into their food immediately, whereas Erza and Wendy stared at it, hesitant to eat the glowing and strange-looking food. Erza looked towards Ryuga, and he gave a smirk.

Ryuga: "Fear not, all of it is edible. Most of it tastes great also, although that depends on your tastebuds, of course."

The two girls bit into some strange glowing yellow meat but were very surprised when it tasted a lot like a fish from their realm. They continued to eat, as Ryuga ate his favorite tentacles from a baby Kraken.

Once they were finished, Ryuga motioned them to follow. They followed him down a hallway, of course, with Sylvia in the tail. They got to two large doors which had golden imprints on it. It had various flowers, the moon, and even a golden snake imprinted onto the doors. Naturally, the handles of the doors were two golden wings, curving downward to make the shape of a handle.

When Ryuga pulled the two doors open, they walked into a huge room filled with artifacts and statues.

Erza: "This is amazing. It's like some sort of Demon Museum."

Sylvia: "That's exactly what it is. You have museums in the human realm?"

Erza: "They are rare, but yes, we have a couple on our continent."

Ryuga: "Come, let me show you our collection."

He showed them a large variety of paintings, weapons, and ancient demonic scrolls. They were all amazed at the rarity and history of the numerous artifacts. Finally, they walked into the middle of the room, where dozens of stone statues were standing. These statues all depicted a demon with wings.

Ryuga: "These are the statues of former and current Demon Gods. Rulers of this land."

They walked through the pathway of statues, as Ryuga explained about them.

Ryuga: "You see, Demon Gods take after certain aspects of life. Some take after emotions, states, and some even take after life and death itself." They all walked over to a statue with eight wings on it, four on each side of it's back. "This is the Demon God Dulmar. He is the Demon God of Gluttony. I've used a spell infused with his soul before, it's incredibly powerful."

Gray: "Do the statues' number of wings represent how powerful they are?" Ryuga chuckled.

Ryuga: "No. That is a common misperception. Take, for instance, my statue."

They walked over to a statue that looked like an exact, but a grey replica of Ryuga; however, he only had one pair of wings on his back, not his normal two.

Ryuga: "My statue only has two wings. The wings represent how much influence the Demon God has over the realm and other realms. Basically, they represent charisma and diplomacy. Since I have not ruled the Demon Realm, and have not done a whole lot for it in terms of diplomacy, I have two wings. The opposite of that is my father, the Demon God of Love."

They looked to the left of Ryuga to find a statue of his father. they were surprised to see that his father had seven pairs of wings.

Mirajane: "So your father has done a lot for the sake of the demon realm?"

Ryuga: "Precisely. My father has ruled this place incredibly, making peace with different species, ending wars, something that isn't easy to live up to. However, even though his charisma is incredible..."

He led them over to a large, golden statue of a gorgeous woman in a fine dress. She had a snake wrapped around her neck, going down to her right leg. On her back was nine pairs of wings, eighteen in total.

Ryuga: "This is Saelah, the very first Demon God. She is the Demon God of Death, but to us, she is the one who gave us demons life. She has the highest number of wings. She is the most beautiful demon to exist, and she is the legendary Golden Serpent who faced the Moon."

Elfman: "I think I've heard you talk about a golden serpent before, so it was this. What's her name again?"

Ryuga: "Saelah. She's like the mother of us demons. She's also one of the most powerful beings in the universe. The Golden Serpent is revered in all realms. I'm sure that I've talked about her before. All of us demons look up to her."

Erza: "Is she.. Dead?"

Ryuga: "Yes. She passed millions of years ago. But her legacy will be remembered for millions of years to come, hence why we have her as the only statue in gold."

Wendy: "Um, so besides Miss Saelah, is your father the one with the most wings?"

Ryuga: "No, actually." He walked over to a stone statue with sixteen wings. "This is Jiuling. He is the Demon God of Harmony. Of course, it was only natural that he has the second-highest amount of wings."

Mirajane: "Wait, so if all Demon Gods take after an aspect of life, what is yours?"

Ryuga bowed, with his right hand on his chest.

Ryuga: "I am Zephyn, the Demon God of Apathy."

They were confused, and Sylvia noticed this.

Sylvia: "Lord Zephyn is, in other words, the Demon God of Nothingness." This confused them even further. "I see that you're perplexed. Let me explain it like this. Nothingness represents the unknown since we cannot possibly fathom it. This means that his level of power is unknown itself. We can't understand his power that comes from nothing... Apathy."

Erza: "Does that mean that you're... The most powerful Demon God?"

Elfman: "That's a man right there!"

Ryuga: "Although I would not dare say that I am more powerful than the Demon God of Death herself, but I am confident enough that I could at least give her a good sweat."

Sylvia: "However, we know not of the extent of Lord Zephyn's true power."

Ryuga: "That's correct. After all, how could you measure nothing?"

He chuckled a little bit, but Sylvia looked worried all of a sudden.

Sylvia: "Lord Zephyn! We have spent much time here. The wedding is soon. You and your guests must all get dressed."

Ryuga looked at the time and his eyes widened. He quickly changed his outfit, but his human friends could not change instantly.

Ryuga: "Yes. Have the maids help them get dressed appropriately for the wedding."

Sylvia and a few maids quickly dragged them to their rooms to get changed, and Ryuga looked back at the golden statue of Saelah. He bowed towards it, closing his eyes.

Ryuga: "Lady Saelah, I give my humble respects to you. May your serenity be perpetual."

The statue glowed a small amount, and Ryuga felt a warm embrace in his chest. He bowed once more towards her statue then exited the room and closed the doors.

-Timeskip-

The time of the wedding was upon them. All of Ryuga's human friends were dressed lavishly, something they weren't used to. Jewelry covered them head to toe, something the boys were especially not used to. Ryuga had his royal attire on. The silver roses on the black robe seemed to amplify his violet eyes.

They all sat down at one of the rows of chairs. Surprisingly, Ryuga denied the throne that the maids offered him because he did not want to take the focus off of his friends' wedding. Although he didn't mean to draw attention, he couldn't not. All eyes were on him as he sat down and crossed his legs. He opened his fan and positioned it over his face, trying to hide himself.

Not a long time after they arrived, the crowd grew silent, as a fog wafted over the middle aisle, between the seats. Footsteps were heard, and everyone looked behind them. A man wearing all black, with black hair and deep, blood-red eyes walked through the fog, to the front. He was barefoot though, even on wedding day. This was Yzelo. A demon feared throughout the battlefield for his uncanny habit of drinking his victims' blood straight from their neck. Nonetheless, to Ryuga, this was just his childhood friend whom he would occasionally hunt sea monsters with.

Yzelo finally got onto the little platform at the front, and he scanned the crowd with his scarlet eyes. His eyes met Ryuga's, and he gave a smile. Ryuga reciprocated the smile by nodding. A few seconds later, the crowd again looked behind them to see a beautiful woman wearing all white, with pink hair and golden eyes walking through the fog. Her skin was perfectly tan, a striking contrast to the pale skin of her soon to be husband. Her dress was a little... unorthodox. Her dress covered everything except her stomach. The dress cut around her abdominal muscles, further emphasizing how mesmerizing they were. Both the men and women could not help but take a few glances at her abs. She had eight in total. This was Aosoth, Ryuga's long time best friend and the one who possessed the best abs in all the realms, as Ryuga would often state.

Once she saw Ryuga, she gave him a wry smile, as if to say "Beat you" to getting married. Of course, he was not surprised by this, but it was still a small hit to his pride to be beaten by her. She walked up next to Yzelo and took his side. They both stared at each other with blushes on their faces, something Ryuga thought he would never see. An elder soon walked onto the stage, wearing formal white attire.

Elder: "We have gathered today to see the ceremony of man and woman becoming one body and soul." There was a short silence as the elder looked at Yzelo. "Yzelo, son of Edgah. Can you promise to protect and serve your bride, Aosoth, as long as you live?"

Yzelo: "I can, and I will."

Yzelo got on his knees and kissed his bride's feet, the left first, then the right. He stood back up and tried to keep himself from smiling, as did Aosoth. The elder then looked at Aosoth.

Elder: "Aosoth, daughter of Gremis. Can you promise to protect and serve your groom, Yzelo, as long as you live?"

Aosoth: "I can, and I will."

She got down on her knees and did the same. After she stood up, the elder put his hands on each of their shoulders.

Elder: "With this ceremony, you are both now equal and of one body. You will treat each other as you, yourself would want to be treated. You are now husband and wife; may the Golden Serpent watch over you two as you journey the rest of your lives together."

The elder first released his wings, followed by the two lovers, then the rest of the crowd. Erza wondered why the seats were spread so far apart, but now she understood. Yzelo and Aosoth smiled and cried as they kissed each other passionately. The crowd clapped with smiles on their faces.

After their incredible twenty-one second kiss, the elder raised his hands again, signaling silence.

Elder: "We will now commence with the Ritual of Amalgamation. Will the most powerful guest please step forward?"

All the crowd looked to Ryuga, as he stood up and walked forward, towards the stage.

Elder: "Although we all know it and revere it, per the ritual, please state your name." Ryuga closed his fan.

Ryuga: "Zephyn, son of Ziminiar. The Demon God of Apathy."

Elder: "Your opponents will be these two as one."

Yzelo: "Yzelo, son of Edgah. The Bloodridden Berserker. I ask to be your opponent.

Aosoth: "Aosoth, daughter of Gremis. The Desert Haze. I ask to be your opponent."

Elder: "Do you accept these two as your opponents and promise to duel them with nothing but honor?"

Ryuga: "I can, and I will."

Elder: "Very good."

He snapped his fingers, and the wedding ceremony changed into a large arena. The guests sat on the sides, in stands, as Ryuga and his opponents were in the arena. The Elder's voice was heard from an announcer's stand.

Elder: "A thirty second preparation period will now begin."

Yzelo and Aosoth both changed their clothes into their battle attire. Crimson armor surrounded Yzelo's chest, arms, and legs. The crimson armor had black leather underneath, for comfort. Aosoth donned a set of bronze-colored armor, with a slightly lighter shade of brown for her leather. Ryuga did not change his clothes, but he did hide his wings and horns, signaling that he would spare their lives in this battle. They did the same, and the elder's voice was heard.

Elder: "The battle will now commence!"

Yzelo, not wasting any time at all, lifted his hand, and hundreds of black spikes sprouted from the ground. Ryuga simply jumped above them, but Aosoth then caught him in a massive mound of sand. The sand surrounded Ryuga, but Aosoth was struggling to close her hand. From within the mound of sand, Ryuga opened his fan, and the hill of sand was blown away. Aosoth's hand recoiled in pain, but she soon got over it. Ryuga landed on a spike, with only one foot standing perfectly still on the tip of an incredibly sharp spike.

Ryuga: "This much is child's play, how about we skip the pleasantries, yes?"

He drew his fan back across his right shoulder, and the two opponents widened their eyes. When Ryuga swiped with his fan, dark wind tornados charged towards his two opponents. Aosoth managed to bury herself in the sand to escape, but Yzelo could not. He was caught up in the tornado and flung up into the sky. Ryuga pointed his fan towards him. Aosoth now surfaced, but she watched in horror as a midnight black lightning bolt from the sky struck her husband in the chest.

Yzelo: "AAAAGHH!"

He fell towards the ground, not being able to move. After he hit the ground with a loud thud, he started coughing up blood. Of course, he would survive this, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like... well, hell.

Aosoth's face morphed into anger as she bolted towards Ryuga, with her right fist reeled back. She punched with all her might, towards his face, but Ryuga simply stuck his right hand out. Her fist collided with his palm, causing a massive shockwave that shattered the spikes and shook the ground. The humans could not believe how one single punch could generate that amount of force, and Ryuga blocking it easily was something even more frightening.

Ryuga smirked and was about to say something before his face adopted a surprised look. Yzelo appeared behind him and struck down, towards the top of his head.

Yzelo: "Your open!"

Ryuga quickly closed his fan and blocked Yzelo's strike with his left hand.

Ryuga: "I'm never ope-"

Aosoth's right leg kicked his chest as he was rocketed towards the floor. He set himself straight and landed, sliding a small amount across the sand, but he kept his balance. Sand was kicked up behind him as his fan disappeared, and he adopted a fighting stance with his left hand extended and his right hand in a fist.

Ryuga: "Good, but will you win with only landing one hit?"

Aosoth: "Oh, it's far from over!"

She clasped her hands together, and the stance was reciprocated by giant hands of sand. Ryuga stuck his hands out and managed to stop them from crushing him, but he could not block Yzelo's kick to his face.

Ryuga was sent flying, again, this time, however, the attacks did not let up. Aosoth trapped his feet in sand as Yzelo summoned spikes that rained from the sky. Both of Ryuga's stomach and his two arms were impaled by the spikes. One final spike came speeding towards his forehead, and Mirajane stood up from her seat, worried about Ryuga.

Ryuga's smirk disappeared, and his face became void of evident emotion. He stared at the final spike coming towards him. The dangerous black spike came within an inch of his right eye before being burnt away by a violet flame.

Aosoth, seeing Ryuga's new face, sighed.

Aosoth: "Ah shi-"

Ryuga broke free from his shackles and grabbed both their faces, with the spikes still inside his arms and stomach.