Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
I was practically fluttering with happiness as I passed through my portal once I was high enough above Lucifaad. There really wouldn't be a problem if someone saw me using my portals; it would just raise a few eyebrows, but it wouldn't be a big deal.
"Sera!" Enid's shout made me smile as soon as I entered the Suitcase area. "How did it go?! How did it go!?" Enid quickly asked, vibrating anxiously. I smiled widely and took out my small briefcase and opened it to show her my new Evil Pieces.
"I'm now a High-Class Devil, and I'm allowed to start my own Peerage." I announced happily, even though it was obvious. Enid squealed and hugged me tightly.
"Congratulations, Sera!!" she exclaimed.
"Thanks, Enid." I hugged her back with one hand.
"Congratulations, Sera." Bellatrix interrupted from the side. I pulled away from Enid, who let me go easily and hugged Bella. The hug lasted a few seconds before I heard another squeal.
"I can't hold it in anymore! Congratulations, Sera!" Narcissa lunged towards us and hugged us both. I chuckled, but accepted the hug.
"Congratulations, Serena!" Lucius added with a smile from a few steps away. I was overjoyed, so I reached out and pulled him into the hug. Enid squealed again and joined the group hug surrounding us, squeezing tightly. I really had to learn to handle that strength; I could hear more than one of our ribs crack.
After we parted ways, I received more congratulations and told them all about the promotion test. I opened the briefcase, took the queen between my fingers, and looked at Bella. She gave me a small smile, and I took a step forward. I approached her and placed the piece in front of her chest.
I didn't know whether to use a phrase like Rias Gremory did, but I had decided not to; it really wasn't necessary. Besides, anything I said to Bellatrix would look bad, so I simply placed the piece on her chest. It began to glow brightly as it was slowly absorbed into Bellatrix's body.
I sighed in relief. Truly, I wasn't sure if I could have reincarnated her with Alucard and Blackbeard's templates, but the piece seemed to be wholly absorbed by Bellatrix. She moaned slightly. After a few long seconds, it finally finished being absorbed completely, a pair of bat wings emerging behind her.
"My queen," I playfully greeted Bellatrix as I bowed, Bella's eyes glistening slightly as she extended her hand.
"My king," she replied with a small smile. I flinched slightly at her slightly husky tone, but still took her hand and kissed her knuckles softly, before pulling her towards me. She didn't resist; she simply melted into my embrace. I leaned in to kiss her, it's about time-
"AHEEM!" We stopped stiffly in place, and I turned to Narcissa, who was smiling widely. Lucius rolled his eyes, and Enid had her eyes wide open as she bit her lip. From what I understood from her expression, she was slightly jealous, but I didn't know if it was of me or Bellatrix…. Possibly both. I sighed, true, there were still things to do.
"Alright, Enid, it's your turn." I said, looking at Enid, who smiled widely and stepped forward. Bellatrix backed away, making room for her. I grabbed the bishop without hesitation and placed it on Enid's chest. This time, the absorption of the piece was much faster and easier than with Bellatrix. Alucard and Orihime's templates weren't of the same level, possibly due to their mastery.
Even though Bellatrix had her template a couple of weeks longer than Enid, Bella was still training and hunting souls to replenish her immortality. While Enid was working diligently to improve her Reject of Phenomena, she was nowhere near as hardworking as Bellatrix, simply because the latter lived for it.
"Welcome to my Peerage, my Bishop." I decided to play with her too. Enid seemed delighted.
"Thank you, my King, I look forward to working under you," she purred, winking at me, and I shuddered again. Being called 'King' would quickly become a problem if I didn't start getting myself under control.
"I expect a lot of things from you." I told her playfully before walking over and kissing her cheek. Enid stopped stiffly, started to blush, and didn't say anything. I chuckled; it was always a good way to win any confrontation against her.
I turned to my briefcase and grabbed a rook and a bishop for Lucius and Narcissa.
"The pawns." I stopped in place and looked at Lucius, who was looking at me seriously. "Use the pawns, Serena, and the normal ones." I blinked several times.
"What? Why?" I asked dumbly, and Lucius smiled slightly.
"We talked about it, Cissy and I, and really, we have no aptitude for fighting; you should save your pieces for other people. Pawns are enough for us." Lucius said as Narcissa nodded beside him.
I could feel my face grimace. I was about to retort when Narcissa interrupted me.
"It won't be a problem if you don't use a fancy piece for us, Sera, we'll still be family." Narcissa said as she took my hands. I sighed shakily. With my free hand, I put down the pieces I had grabbed and took out two standard pawns. I placed one of them on Narcissa's chest.
The absorption was almost instantaneous, in terms of strength; Narcissa really lagged, despite having her own tricks, but in terms of pure power, the piece certainly fit more easily with her. The same happened with Lucius when I placed a pawn on his chest.
I looked at both of them with a loving smile.
"Welcome to the family." I said playfully, Narcissa rolled her eyes with a smile.
"We were already family, silly." Narcissa said simply, my smile growing even wider. "Now, are we going to celebrate?!" She asked excitedly.
"A party!" Enid exclaimed happily. I snorted in amusement.
"I believe we have some firewhiskey in inventory and other magical liquors. I can prepare a feast quickly." I said simply, Lucius shook his head.
"No need, Lady Prince! Dobby already has everything ready!!" Dobby exclaimed, appearing at my side, surprising me slightly, and I paused for a few seconds to consider whether to give Dobby a pawn or not. But as soon as that occurred to me, I completely dismissed it. Although we had grown fond of that elf and he was part of the family, I really didn't want to give that crazy elf any more power.
It turns out that Canon Dobby's madness didn't come from his treatment by the Malfoys, but had been that way for a long time. Even though I tried not to treat him like a slave, but more like a butler, Dobby still insisted on doing almost everything himself. At least I was able to convince him to wear clothes; however... what he called clothes, weren't exactly what I would consider meaningful.
As he had no real reason to be obsessed with socks, in fact, thanks to Enid, his obsession changed every week. In the first week, he wore many gloves. Another week, it was for some reason sports wristbands, though they were worn everywhere except on his wrists. This week, he was covered and swaddled in woolen items. Though touching my Snood, I can guess how he got into this obsession.
I decided to ignore it and focus on celebrating.
Our little party, which included a banquet and plenty of magical alcohol, lasted all night and was delightful.
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February 6, 2008 – Serena PoV
Once we finished our breakfast, we hurriedly got moving, as newly reincarnated devils, the four of us, had to go through the legal channels and travel by train to the underworld for the first time.
Luckily, I had discovered that the trains to the underworld ran at least once a week. And today was that day. So, if we wanted to reach my new territory, we had to board the train.
The trip took longer than we had hoped. As a public train, it had to stop first to pick up passengers from around the world and make its obligatory stops. However, there should not be more than 20 people inside the cabin.
It took us almost three hours to complete the whole trip to the underworld. Even Enid's initial excitement had long since died, and she was increasingly uneasy about being locked in a metal box. She almost cried once we were able to get out.
However, our bad luck didn't end there; in fact, we had to complete paperwork to register them all under my name as their king, which was annoying. By the time we finished, it was almost noon.
I immediately opened a portal to the coordinates provided in the territory documents.
"Wow," Enid let out in complete wonder as we were flying over what appeared to be a forest.
"I must admit, it looks good," I said as I looked ahead.
Our new territory was located near the Sitri family's territory. They were renowned for their rich natural resources and numerous abundant natural reserves, so it was not surprising that the entire expanse before us was lush and green. In front of us was the lake that surrounded my new territory, an island.
The island looked familiar to me. From what I could see, it was precisely the same island we had in the pocket dimension. I could even see the mansion from here.
"Finally." Bellatrix whined as she cracked her neck. "Are we going to the mansion? I want to eat and finally go train in the training room." Bellatrix looked at me, and I smiled crookedly at her.
"Actually… can you guys go? I was thinking of walking around the island and making sure everything was okay." I said timidly, and everyone but Enid snorted. I glared at them. "Enid, do you want to come with me? You didn't get to familiarize yourself with the terrain, you can run as long as you want." I said with a smile, Enid's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"I'm in! My wolf was feeling too restless from spending so much time in the city. It's a date!" Enid said, waving in the air. Bellatrix snorted.
"She just wants to go get potion ingredients," Bellatrix replied amusedly, giving my fiancée a betrayed look.
"It's not that!!" I exclaimed, slightly embarrassed. "... but I can do both," I added, embarrassedly.
"Don't worry, I'd love to go with you." Enid smiled brightly, and I sighed in relief. "Even if we go looking for plants and ingredients." She added, making me groan loudly. The others burst out laughing.
"Very well, we will go to the mansion, and will unpack everything from the Suitcase with the help of Dobby. You guys have fun with the plants." Lucius said with a smile.
"Oh, tell Dobby to save us some food and pack a picnic; we'll call him when I find somewhere to have lunch."
"We're having a picnic?!" Enid asked with a smile, and I nodded; she hugged me tightly.
"I'll take care of it," Lucius said, before the three of them apparated to their location. I could hear their magic again in the direction of the mansion.
"Alright? Are we going?" I asked Enid with a smile, and she nodded in response. Enid took me by the hand and started flying towards the island. I followed her at the same pace. She didn't even touch the ground when she transformed into a giant wolf.
It was magnificent to look at; it was bigger than me, a little over two meters tall, while still on all fours. Its fur was a light brown, almost blond, and it had streaks of hair painted blue and pink, not only on its face, but also on various parts of its body.
I smiled as I landed lightly on the ground. This may have been a spur-of-the-moment thing, but I could enjoy it.