Ethan's brow arched. It was just as he had calculated; the cycle had reached perfection.
He glanced at the time. This time, he could afford to give them a bit more of his "essence." There was only enough time for one more round before morning, and they could spend the following day slowly digesting the excess life energy. If they couldn't finish absorbing it by tomorrow, they could continue the day after. After all, they had nothing but time, and it was uncertain when their next "treatment" session would be scheduled.
Consequently, when the twin lolis, Marion, and Burent finally prepared to return to the Underworld, all four of them were sporting noticeably bloated bellies.
Xuelan and the other girls were momentarily stunned, wondering if the four had somehow fallen pregnant overnight. But even Ethan wasn't that fast—no one's belly grows that large in a single night. When they learned the truth—that their stomachs were literally filled to the brim with Ethan's potent life essence—the girls could only exchange long, silent looks of envy. Deep down, they grew even more impatient for their own turn to be "treated."
As the four girls continuously digested the energy within them, their strength and vitality began to recover at a terrifying pace. By the time they fully absorbed it, they would be nearly back to their peak condition.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Ethan and Ravel had originally planned to continue the treatments back-to-back. At a rate of three or four girls a night, they could have treated all fourteen girls in just four days. Once they regained a baseline of strength, the subsequent sessions could be handled more leisurely.
However, the next morning, as Ethan walked into the classroom yawning, a piece of news forced him to put the treatments on hold.
"Basara, where did you hear this news about a vampire?"
"Everyone's talking about it! It's been going around for a few days now. I thought you already knew," Basara Tojo replied.
In Class 2-A, Ethan's mind began to race, his fatigue vanishing. Although he hadn't slept a wink, he wasn't actually tired; he just yawned out of habit because he felt like he should be tired after pulling an all-nighter.
The status of vampires in this world was peculiar. While they certainly existed, they didn't seem to have a unified racial concept or a "Clan of Blood." They were more like anomalous individuals who had undergone a mutation.
In the original timelines of both High School DxD and The Testament of Sister New Devil, vampires appeared, but there was almost zero lore regarding a vampire society. Back then, Ethan didn't think much of it—demons existed, so why not vampires? But thinking about it now, the lack of information was suspicious.
Ethan searched his memories. He vaguely recalled that in the DxD universe, one particular "vampire" wasn't even a true vampire, but rather the reincarnation of a fragment of the consciousness of the Celtic God-Slayer, Balor.
On the other hand, the vampire in The Testament of Sister New Devil was the real deal—a half-breed whose mother was a powerful True Ancestor. If it were the latter, the situation wouldn't be too bad. That particular vampire could switch genders at will and was actually quite gentle. If he could put in the effort to make sure "he" permanently identified as "she," that would be even better.
But if it were the former...
Ethan couldn't remember all the details, but he knew one thing for sure: that person was a supreme "femboy"—a golden-haired trap. This wasn't like Kiba Yuuto. Kiba's gender was already ambiguous enough to have official "gender-bend" art, so Ethan had accepted that change. But this person was a cross-dresser who looked entirely like a girl but was biologically male. A shut-in, golden-haired, shy, and socially anxious boy who loved cute things and living in a cardboard box.
More importantly, in the original novels, that "cute boy" grew up thirty years later into a tall, rugged, masculine hunk. The mere thought of that future killed any interest Ethan might have had. He prayed it wasn't him... and if it was, he had to stop Rias from taking him in as a Pawn!