Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
June 15, 2008 - Bellatrix Pov.
I walked steadily through the city, looking around me and nodding at the devils' casual greetings. Really, if someone had told me a year ago that I'd be a beloved figure of order in a city, I would have cursed them three different ways before killing them.
At this point, it really wasn't a bad thing.
Luckily, everything was calm aside from the everyday hustle and bustle. The peace after the storm and all that. So I wasn't really worried about having summoned all the devils who had volunteered as an almost free police force for the past few months.
I had summoned them all to the Rating Game stadium, where I was headed. I ignored everyone else, entered the enormous stadium, and walked through the corridors until I came out in the center of the stadium, right where everyone was.
There must have been around 300 people, which was really incredible that they all volunteered to work as free labor in the first place. They really wanted to keep this city in order.
"All right, gentlemen, sorry for the wait, and thank you for coming," I thundered as I approached, watching everyone straighten up. "There are some important points to go over, so pay attention."
"Yes, ma'am!" they roared. I snorted amusedly.
"First, I won't be doing as many patrols as I am now," I said firmly as I stopped and looked at the devils, who began babbling over each other. I just stared at them and narrowed my eyes, which made them close their mouths.
"As I was saying," I said slowly again. "Serena, my king, needs me elsewhere. I have pending tasks that will keep me out of Pentagram City for most of the day, sometimes several full days. I'll still come and check on everything at least once or twice a week, but yes, I won't be taking care of it personally anymore." I finished.
Everyone seemed to want to talk, seemingly conflicted about whether or not to complain. Surely the mention that I had a task that Serena had entrusted to me placated most of them, but they were still conflicted. I rolled my eyes and pointed at one of them.
"Ma'am, does that... mean the group is disbanding?" a devil asked nervously. I hummed.
"On the contrary. I should have made it official a while ago. I know you were receiving irregular payments from the city, deposited into your bank accounts for your volunteer services, but I'm making it official now."
"The Pentagram City police force is officially inaugurated under the name of Aurors." I said firmly as I held up a stack of papers and smiled slightly. I could see the shock in all the devils and smirked.
Really, Aurors was an outstanding name. Besides, I'd formed the group around myself; I could choose whatever name I wanted. Serena had wanted to call them Steel Inquisitors, like Lord Ruler's murderous, empowered police force. She'd even gotten carried away and wanted to start putting Hemalurgical spikes on devils.
Apparently, by using her new flames of harmony, it is possible to nullify most of the adverse side effects of Hemalurgy, such as physical deformities and mental degradation, which originated from the inherent rejection of the remaining spiritual web left in the spike when stealing the attributes.
Serena almost went crazy with it and wanted to experiment with more bodies.
I had to cut her off immediately because that was going to go bad enough, fast enough, at least for the time being.
"Anyone who wants to sign up and get hired right now is more than welcome to do so. I have a copy here with all the important information," I said, waving my hand and pulling out a large stack of papers from the inventory, which fell heavily to the floor.
I waved my hand, and all the papers began to magically distribute themselves. Each devil received a thick stack of documents containing all the relevant information and even contracts for them to sign if necessary.
"Before I forget, you're going to need a new leader to lead this entire group," I said, not even waiting for them to recover before speaking, as I pointed to a person in the group. "You, step forward." Everyone looked at the devil I pointed at.
He was about my height, maybe a little taller; his head was covered by a hood, and his face seemed to be darkened by a deep, black shadow that did not allow any of his features to be seen.
From a distance, it simply looked like a shadow effect, but a closer look made it evident that the devil's face was literally black.
Hood. The low-class devil Serena had faced in her promotion exam. A devil who was now high-class, which was extremely rare in Pentagram City.
I could hear the devil click his tongue, but he stepped forward.
"What? You want me to lead all this? I'm only in this for the occasional fight." Hood spat, and I nodded without hesitation.
"You're the only High-Class Devil here, at least officially. I know what kind of exams and tests you had to take to earn the title, so you're more than qualified to run things," I said easily.
"What if I don't want to?" Hood asked sullenly.
"Then I'll find someone else," I said just as easily. "But for some reason you're here, especially in Pentagram City," I said playfully. Hood clicked his tongue.
"Your King is really annoying," Hood said with a grimace. "And I'm in Pentagram City because I wanted to get away from my old King, like a lot of devils I know," he added reluctantly. "Some shit I know that can't stay away from their owners," he muttered under his breath, but I heard it all.
Should I ask Serena to do something about that? Maybe. I'm sure that would upset all the pillar devils. Forcing reincarnated devils to stay close to their kings and obey them to prevent them from transforming and mutating was an excellent way to control them.
Taking that away from them would upset them considerably… although it wouldn't be the first time Serena has done it.
"So?" I asked him again. He clicked his tongue.
"Fine. But I'll take advantage of my position to find members for my Peerage," Hood said simply. I nodded.
"As long as they agree, do whatever you want," I said simply.
"Of course, I'm not like the pillar devils." Hood spat, I raised an eyebrow, yes, there is a story there, but I ignored it; that was his problem.
"Now, you." I pointed to another devil in the crowd. The devil, who had tried to save the succubi and almost died in the attempt. Serena wanted to make it up to him, so here we were.
"Yes, ma'am?!" the devil asked loudly, completely firm. I looked at my paper, and the idiot had already signed the contract. I snorted in amusement.
"Your name… was Kryvann, wasn't it? " I asked simply, the devil nodded as he stood up straighter. I nodded. "You'll be Hood's aide." I said simply, Kryvann 's eyes widened.
"B-but, there are better ones than me!" Kryvann said quickly. And he's right, there are middle-class devils, and several that were approaching high-class. Meanwhile, he was still a low-class devil.
"Then get better." I said simply before pulling a sword from my inventory and lightly throwing it at him. Kryvann jumped and didn't catch the sword in time. The sword spun around and stuck into the ground in front of him. "A gift from Serena. The sword is Hrunting. I'm sure you know its ability."
Kryvann 's eyes opened wide, his mouth wide in complete shock as he stared at the sword. And yes, it was Hrunting's standard version, its sword form, not the arrow Serena normally used.
Its structure had been slightly modified to make it more resistant than a standard projection, so it will withstand even a high-class devil, and a couple of encounters against ultimate-class devils.
It had also been enchanted so that the only user who could use the sword was Kryvann.
"I can't accept this!" Kryvann squealed in surprise. I rolled my eyes.
"Grab it. The sword is of no use to Serena. She can create them in droves. Just use it. The sword can sense blood and follow it. It can deliver the optimal cut with a simple, ordinary blow. It's enchanted and modified so that only you can wield and use it."
"If someone else grabs it or you throw it away from you, it will appear in front of you once again. It's not very striking at first glance, but it's a good weapon. Just think, you're using it for the benefit of Pentagram City or whatever you want." I said simply, dismissing it.
I could see the look of slight envy on the others' faces, and I hummed. I wasn't stupid enough to promise more weapons, especially Noble Phantasms, if they did a good job or something similar, so I didn't say anything else about it.
As long as they didn't do anything stupid, I wouldn't have to get involved.
"Now, let's finish going over this. There's a lot to cover. There's already a building set up for the Aurors within the central zone that will be their new base of operations. So pay attention once more," I said again before continuing.
It was better to end this now.
I just had to wait for Serena to finish choosing the new member for our family so we could go to another world. I couldn't wait. My blood pumped slightly at the thought of entering that dungeon and starting to kill monsters by the bucketload. It's going to be amazing.
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Enid Pov .
"Hello, everyone!" I greeted cheerfully as I entered the room where the nurses spent their breaks inside the hospital.
"Thank Satan, you're finally here," sighed one of the nurses as she approached.
"Xerith? Is everything okay? " I asked, confused as I looked at the nurse. She just sighed.
"I mean, it depends on how you look at it." Xerith sighed. I just stared at her. She sighed again. "A pillar devil is throwing a tantrum because you weren't immediately tending to him when he arrived an hour ago, even though we told him your shift hadn't started yet." Xerith sighed.
"Oh? Something serious?" I asked curiously, and slightly worried, Xerith, and other nearby nurses snorted.
"Not at all, some broken bones in the arm, he would have been practically healed if he had decided to take Skele-gro like the other patients, but apparently he wanted the best care in the place." Xerith snorted, and I massaged my temple lightly.
"Just… broken bones? I'm sure any devil with healing magic could fix that right up, and he's a pillar devil; he should have someone on his payroll capable of doing it, or even pay someone." I pointed out, Xerith just looked at me flatly.
"They're pillar devils, I don't get paid enough to understand what goes on in their minds," Xerith said dryly. I rolled my eyes in amusement.
"Okay, put it at the end of the list." I said simply, Xerith sighed and nodded.
"Right away, boss-" Xerith stopped, "the… last one did you say?" Xerith asked slowly. I smiled at her amusedly.
"Exactly." I said while laughing slightly.
"He's not going to be happy," Xerith warned, but heeded my advice, grabbing one of the tablets and quickly jotting everything down. I shrugged.
"My hospital, my skill, my rules. I'm going to follow the same old order of priority. You can cry all you want and wait, or you can let other nurses treat you, or even leave and pay somewhere else." I said simply as I took off my pink coat and hung it on one of the nearby hooks.
"Of course." Xerith said simply while smiling slightly.
"Besides, I can always call Bella to take care of it," I chirped as I took one of the pink doctor's gowns with my name on it and slipped it on. I smiled slightly as I adjusted the garment. "So, shall we begin?" I asked cheerfully in Xerith's direction.
Xerith nodded as she took the tablet and began to speak. I wasn't a doctor, not even a nurse; I didn't even have a medical degree, but I was starting to take medical and nursing classes with Korosensei, and the talents are making it much easier to learn everything I needed to know.
So now, I could follow the medical babble that Xerith began to spill rapidly. Even so, I still needed the guidance of the nurses to properly guide me through all of my patients.
While I could only come in and reverse all the damage as if it had never existed, practically by force, it was good to know precisely what phenomenon I had to reject from existence.
I also had to carry all the paperwork, but luckily, Xerith, or the nurse on duty who was guiding me that day, took care of that.
We started moving from room to room, treating any critically ill patients who needed urgent treatment. Sera's potions really helped, but even they had their limits, so I mostly handled the complicated stuff.
"And... that's it!" I chirped to my last patient. I could quickly tell she was a succubus who had lost one of her arms. Honestly, I thought I'd cured them all, but apparently, there were still a few of them who hadn't come to Pentagram City with the first wave and were now arriving.
"All right, next-"
"Excuse me!" the succubus interrupted Xerith, and I looked at her. "You're... you're Lady Prince's bishop, aren't you? " the succubus asked. I looked at Xerith to make her wait before looking at the succubus.
"I am. Did you need something?" I asked curiously. Few people in the city didn't know of me, which made it clear she was truly new to the city.
"I... I'm new to Pentagram City, and I'm getting used to the rules of the succubi in the city. And there was one who had a question, could I... could I ask Lady Prince when we can have children again?" the succubus asked timidly. I blinked in confusion.
"How? Is there any problem getting pregnant? " I asked, confused as I approached, and my hairpins began to fly rapidly.
"No! I'm all right! Luckily, I'm completely healthy and whole!" the succubus said proudly. I mentally grimaced at that. "But, I'm talking about succubus birth control," she said. I blinked in confusion.
"What, what?" I asked stupidly, and the succubus looked at me strangely.
"Normally, governments prohibit succubi from reproducing so that there is not an overpopulation of them since we are very fertile, the pillar devils do not want too many of us, they say we are a waste of resources." said the succubus as if it were the most normal thing. I frowned strongly.
"Okay, first of all, forget all that, they're not a waste," I said firmly. "And second, there's no law or rule that forbids them from getting pregnant, at least not one given by Serena, so you can have as many children as you want." I said just as firmly.
Yes, Serena was conducting that whole experiment with Ajuka involving the pillar's recessive genes, but she never explicitly prohibited succubi from getting pregnant. Perhaps it was simply something they maintained, an old custom while they settled in the city. She had to talk to Sera.
I looked at the Succubus, who didn't seem very sure.
"Are you... Sure, Lady Prince will be okay with it?" the succubus asked timidly.
"I'm sure," I said firmly. "If that's not enough, I'll talk to Serena. I was going to make an announcement to the succubi shortly. If that's something all the succubi believe, then Serena will have to make an announcement to all of them as well." I said simply. The succubus smiled widely.
"Thank you very much!" said the succubus as she bowed.
"Don't worry!" I said with a smile. The succubus finally left as I continued to thank her, and I frowned when she disappeared. "Did you know about that?" I asked Xerith in confusion. She grimaced.
"Not really, I know very little about the politics of succubus politics, but… I really wouldn't be surprised," Xerith said with a sigh. "But if you say Lady Prince wouldn't mind, I'll start looking for several obstetricians and pediatricians. I'm sure we'll have a succubus baby boom before long." Xerith said with a slight smile.
I laughed slightly, too, yeah, I guess so.
"Where is she?!" a male voice growled outside the room. "I've been waiting for hours! Where is that bishop?! "
"I told you." Xerith said with a shrug. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Bella, please come here," I sent a mental message before leaving the room.
"You! I've been waiting all day! Use your powers immediately or else-"
"Or else what?" Bella asked coldly as she appeared behind the devil. The pillar devil turned around in fury before paling considerably at the sight of Bella. Bella took a step forward and approached the devil. "You were saying?" Bella asked coldly as her body lost its physical form in places and was replaced by fog.
"T-the i-impaler queen!" the devil shrieked. Bella narrowed her eyes.
"Enid, finish your work. Are you going to heal him, or do I have to kick him out of the hospital?" Bella asked without even looking at me. I laughed lightly and bounced next to Bella.
"Don't worry, I'll be done in a second." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder and kissing her cheek with a smile while ignoring Bella's frown. My hairpins flew over the pillar devil's arm, the shield generated quickly, and within a few seconds, his arm was fully healed.
"Ready?" Bella asked, and I nodded.
"Yes! He was the last patient of the day! Xerith can handle charging him for the treatment and dismissing him; I'm sure he can do that without causing any issues, right? " I asked with a broad smile in the direction of the devil.
"Y-yes! I will!" The devil squealed as he stared at Bella. Bella snorted before placing her hand on my hip and guiding me away.
"Are you really done with your shift? We have something to do," Bella said simply. I let Bella guide me to where my things were while nodding.
"Yeah, I'm done with my shift. Unless someone from the ER comes in, my rounds are over!" I chirped. "So we have something to do?" I asked curiously before gasping. "Did Sera finally choose the new member?" I asked excitedly. Bella snorted.
"No, she keeps getting distracted by her experiments," Bella mocked. I looked at her, confused. "So we'll be choosing one of our own," Bella said simply. My eyes widened slightly.
"Wait, choose a new member? Us?! " I squealed in surprise. Bella nodded.
"If we keep waiting, Serena will take weeks, or months," Bella said dryly, and I laughed lightly.
"You just want to go to your new world," I said, playfully bumping her hip. Bella shrugged.
"That doesn't mean I'm wrong," Bella said simply, and I smiled as I nodded.
"You're right," I said playfully. Sera was easily led. I entered the nurses' room, took off my hospital gown and other attire, and put on my clothes. "Okay, let's go!" I chirped. Bella teleported us to the mansion, where I saw Ravel waiting.
"You're finally here. I've created a list of the ones I think might fit." Ravel said simply as she sat on one of the large sofas with a tablet in her hand.
"Oh! Ravel's involved too!" I said happily as I plopped down next to Ravel.
"Yeah, Bella asked me for help. I don't really know many of these people, but luckily the catalog has tags so I can filter by specialty." Ravel said as she showed her selection. I leaned toward her and looked at the tablet. Yeah, I didn't know who half of them were.
"I have no idea either! I mean, at least not about the worlds Sera is interested in," I said simply. "Aren't Lucy and Cissy coming?" I asked curiously. Lucius's power would be pretty useful for evaluating people.
"He didn't want to get involved, something about our decisions being 'wonderful,'" Ravel said with a snort.
"He's an idiot; he also took Cissy on a date, so here we are," Bella said plainly.
"Then it will be a gift from the three of us to Sera!" I said happily.
"Get her a new fiancée/wife? I hope she'd appreciate it," Bella said tersely. "Okay, who do we have?" Bella asked as she plopped down on Ravel's other side.
" Oh! Hermione Granger! I know her, she's from Bella's world! " I said happily while pointing at a picture.
"I considered her too, but… I've been looking into her personality and a bit of her history. While she's studious and intelligent, she's not really into research. She's more of a social activist than anything," Ravel said with a grimace. Bella snorted.
"If she gets to see what a mess the underworld and the entire supernatural world is, and then she'll go crazy," Bella said simply. Ravel nodded.
"Discarded," Ravel said as she deleted the image.
"Oh my Gosh! You chose Twilight Sparkle! " I squealed happily as I looked at the purple pony. "Can we choose her?" I asked excitedly. An alicorn princess as a partner? Yes, please!
"It's T7, the free companion we have is for a maximum of T6." Bella pointed out, and I pouted.
"I know, but she seemed to fit. I mean, it seems like her trait and focus is magic, like Serena. She's also good at research and is a book lover. She appreciates a good fit. Plus, we have enough credits to buy her if necessary." Ravel pointed out before grimacing. "But…"
"But? There are no buts!" I pouted.
"I mean... she's similar to Hermione? She also has some of her social activism, especially as a princess and representative of the powers of harmony. I really don't know how well a School of Friendship would be received in the Underworld," Ravel said with an apologetic smile.
"It sounds horrible," Bella said with a grimace.
"They're bad." I complained about both of them, but accepted my fate. I'll have to tell Bella to send us to My Little Pony, especially if we get Pony forms! It would be a good adventure!
" Jibril? Is she an angel? " Bella asked as she read the next one.
"Not really, her race is called Flugel, apparently her race has an unlimited level of intellectual competence, memory, calculation, learning, observation, deduction, analysis, etc., etc. Besides being ridiculously strong, she's another T7, but she's a good choice." Ravel said as she enlarged the image. Oh? She was cute, and Sera would like her.
"'Arrogant, contemptuous of lesser 'races,' and obsessed with knowledge.' Unless the seals and compulsions are working properly, I can really see her making some horrible decisions," Belle said with a grimace. Ravel nodded.
"From what I could read, she followed the protagonists because they beat her in a game of intellect. I don't think Sera has the patience to even try," Ravel said with a grimace.
We then spent the next few seconds considering and discarding more and more names for different reasons. Jaina Proudmoore, Anisphia Wynn Palletia, and Tohsaka Rin, were a few.
"Oh, I know this one! It's an artificial intelligence! It's from a pretty fun game!" Point to the next option.
"Mmm, hadn't Sera mentioned that she wanted to get someone who could help her perform complicated calculations for her alchemy? Could an artificial intelligence do it? " Bella asked, confused. Science fiction wasn't her strong suit.
"Maybe? Let's see... oh, it seems that she has the same level of intelligence as Jibril and Twilight despite being T5? Impressive, plus she loves doing experiments and science, it seems that she is motivated by a sincere passion for science, she almost considers it her fundamental objective in life." Ravel said while looking at her biography.
"And she's from a low-level world!" I added. "So she can learn and research alongside Sera!" I chirped. "Well, I mean, she can learn magic and all that while being an artificial intelligence." I added with a shrug.
"Talents and templates will make it possible. We've already ruled out a couple of dozen characters. Let's just pick this one. It's a T5, we don't even have to spend the free ticket for a T6." Bella said with a shrug.
"Very well, buy it!" I insisted to Ravel with a smile.
"Well, Serena can always return it," Ravel said with a small smile as she pressed the buy companion button. How exciting! I couldn't wait to see Sera's expression at our new companion!
GLaDOS, what a beautiful name!