Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 61: Holiday and Schemes.
- Shin -
I calmed down Rias first to not ruin her day today and then brought Nami to Ajuka.
Normally, to stabilise the transformation, the reincarnated devil needs to be around the King for around a week to allow their Demonic Power to slowly stabilise it using their connection to the Evil Pieces.
My case was different because I got all the required power from the monument directly.
"So you brought her to me to sever the connection and add enough power to last her transformation?"
"Yes."
"You could do that yourself, you know. It's not like you don't know enough about the Evil Pieces to do such a thing. You could also remove it entirely." He said, but at the same time started working on the piece.
"I can, but it would need me to study the piece for a day or two to be able to make the required things. I have just studied the mutation aspect of the Evil Pieces, not anything else. Moreover, removing it is out of the question. Since my dear father-in-law gave her this gift, it would be such a waste to throw it away. A golden collar, although a collar is still made of gold which can be melted and used in other things of our choice." I replied while he completed the changes.
"I take it that something happened before this if you are this annoyed. It would also explain why Sirzechs was a bit off. Is that why you sent him off?"
"It did. It was… ughh, a real mess." I massaged my head. "I didn't want him to stay here and ruin today."
"Today?"
"I proposed to Rias."
…
…
Even Nami who was currently under the procedure looked like she wanted to do something at this but couldn't move due to the spells of Ajuka.
"... congratulations, I guess." He raised an eyebrow at me and then replied.
"Thank you. How are you liking the research facilities here?"
"While not even close to the technological developments in our world, this world is, in its strange way, also very advanced. I believe that their levels will increase even further when magic is returned to this world. I am more impressed by the talents in this world, especially Dr. Vegapunk. That person could drag this world up in a century or two after he learns magic. I can see why Rias even stood up to me when it came to recruiting him." He said, as he completed the last part. "Inject your demonic power into her. She will be accustomed to it very soon and complete the transformation in about a week."
I did. He had made a battery or sorts for the demonic power which will pull her through the entire transformation.
"The Devil Fruit spirit is an interesting thing. They are like Sacred Gears but still different. Introducing changes in the DNA that can or cannot be passed onto the later generations depending on how they are made. It can be used to revive the extinct pillars again. Though… with the news about Lilith… sigh. Things just get troublesome everyday."
We talked about a few more things before Nami and I left.
The good thing about Ajuka is that he's completely uncaring about politics unless it involves things of his interest.
"You can ask any of my peerage members to teach you about Devil Magic. Also, keep what happened today to yourself. I just don't want any more drama to happen today."
"Shin… I…"
"As I said Nami. You are my crew member. Your position is no less than any of my peerage members. You didn't like fighting and thus I didn't take you in my peerage like say Law because the peerages are involved in fighting more often than not. But if any of you want to, I can always change you all into Devils or even Angels. The choice is all yours. Talk this over with Nojiko too."
"... thank you. Also, congratulations."
"Hmm."
+1 Affection with Nami(100/100) for not betraying her.
Affection with Nami maxed and locked. Obedience with Nami increased to 100.
Perk Gained [Nami - 100]
[Seafarer]
The weather in the sea will always favour you.
"Hahahaha it seems like it's the first time you have encountered such a situation, Shin." Sirzechs came and sat by me.
It was.
I just pouted at the fact that my girls had thrown me out of the room just to do some girls' talk.
"Sirzechs."
"Yes."
"I want to marry Rias as soon as possible."
He quieted a bit and then went into thought.
"Is this about what happened today?"
"A bit of it, yes."
"I don't know why but he seemed too sure of himself. He is normally quite cautious. But these last few actions of his have been quite blatant."
"Maybe, he has some kind of a backup. Someone behind him who gives him that confidence. Anyways, whatever his game is, I don't want to play it. The night of the argument at the dinner, Rias was very upset. I don't like seeing her upset but I feel like today was not the end of his actions. One day, sooner or later, he will try to use Rias and… I fear her reaction to that. She was already blaming herself for the shit he tried to pull with the contract. I think it is best if I get her out of his zone of power so that he cannot pull some stupidity."
"And she agreed to it, I take."
"Yes."
….
….
"When do you want this to happen?"
"As soon as possible."
"I will arrange for it within a week of returning back."
"Thank you."
"You should talk to my mother. She would be happy if you did so."
"… alright. I will."
"Sirzechs."
"Hmm."
"If your mother is freed from her contract, how would you feel?"
… He looked at me surprised and I replied.
"She would break the marriage without a second thought."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"It would do her a lot of good."
"Yes or no, Sirzechs." If Zeotifucks is going to try and use my wife against me, he should be prepared to lose his.
"What exactly are you planning, Shin?"
"I won't do anything until he makes the first move."
"It will cause a massive uproar if you do something like that… or I would have done so already."
"I will not do anything to harm anyone who doesn't move against me first. I promised you this already. I just wanted to know your opinion on this."
We didn't say anything else.
The next three weeks went by quite fast. Rias was happier by the end of it. The other girls wanted to get their own rings as well.
In fact, even Asia, Rossweisse, Ingvild and Tsubaki were giving me the looks. The less said about Hancock, Shion and now Jibril, the better.
Serafall on the other hand was slightly odd.
Even Sona noticed this.
I never got a chance to talk to her because she was busy taking the new guests on a tour of the One Piece world.
I took this opportunity to take Asia, Tsubaki and Kuisha on a date.
Now that was fun. Asia went to Whitebeard's hometown with me. The now, not so old man sends money to his hometown every now and then. The place was peaceful and we were greeted politely when they found out that Asia was a daughter of Whitebeard.
She spent her day helping the old and children and healing them. Her face was known around the world already. People here just didn't know that Whitebeard recently adopted her as a daughter. She healed several people.
In the end, we walked around the town, had a private dinner and talked together.
Asia was really happy. In fact, I had very rarely seen her be so happy.
She was beet red when someone commented that we were a cute couple.
Although her time with Aika did help her gain confidence. I got a kiss on the lips, only a peck but still something big from someone like Asia. The girl is so adorable.
Azazel sometimes joined Ajuka on the research of Devil Fruits to get some ideas about his own Artificial Sacred Gears.
Sirzechs rested for two days and then got to try to learn Haki.
He was not alone though. Even Ajuka, Azazel and basically all the other leaders did the same, even Odin.
The most surprising however was probably Venelana going out to train. But then again, Grayfia was there too so it was not that odd.
Grayfia had found out about Serafall's increase in strength and started training too. I offered her a hand, the same as Serafall. Two and a half weeks were more than enough for her to raise her power enough to again be almost equal to Serafall. I don't know why but these ladies are extremely competitive. I didn't mind it either and Sirzechs had just smiled it off.
Serafall was the one guiding them. I gave them the potions to get them up to speed.
They had seen the effect of Haki and Serafall bragging didn't help. Every leader wanted this skill with them.
The fastest one to achieve it was Odin. Even faster than Ajuka who had somehow reverse engineered a way suitable for him to do the same.
That guy never did things the straight way.
Vali unlocked it too… unsurprisingly.
He then began to work on other forms of Haki to not fall behind Morgiana. The guy had been pretty annoyed when Morgiana had fought off Fenrir all by herself.
Azazel told me that he was using the training potions and drowning himself into training until he was mentally exhausted and fell asleep. It was the reason why Azazel dragged him to this party.
Vali had been fighting with the members of the Whitebeard and Red Haired Pirates to train. To drive himself further, he was not using his Sacred Gear and relying on his other skills. He was surprisingly picked up by Garp.
The old man didn't want to lose to Roger and Whitebeard and picked up a student of his own. Now, a Juggernaut Drive Vali might defeat Garp but without his Sacred Gear, Garp would break him like a toothpick. The guy understood it and decided to learn under him.
The old man in retirement enjoyed it too. Luffy had run away to search for One Piece again and the guy was feeling very lonely.
Although, now that the Revolutionary Army and the new Marines were basically one and the same, Dragon had been made the new Fleet Admiral.
Sengoku had retired. He and Law had a talk with Corazon when I called his spirit back temporarily.
Zephyr on the other hand continued to work.
His motivation was probably when I brought back the souls of his family and students temporarily to let him meet them once. He maxed out his Reputation that day while his students had all their Affections and Reputations set to 80+. That day, as if, set the man free from his burden and guilt.
He was currently giving it his all to make this new age, pirate free and the seas a safe place for everyone. Robin actually invited him as a guest teacher at Sona's Academy when it was built and I had to agree that it was a brilliant idea.
I mean while Roger, Whitebeard and even Garp might be strong….they were not exactly teachers that everyone could learn from.
Rayleigh on the other hand was much more patient and understanding and a much better teacher material.
But even he had accepted that he was not a match for Zephyr. This guy had single handedly trained entire generations of marines.
Moreover, the guy was a suitable role model for people and even made Michael appreciate him. There were talks about the Brave Saint Cards being developed and I got the rumours that Michael was considering inviting Zephyr to be a part of his team. He might face a great challenge from Sona for this though because she was already considering making Robin's offer permanent.
The main thing that I was concerned about was the Ley Lines of this world. Lady Amaterasu, Yasaka, Ajuka, Odin and Azazel all visited with us to take a look at the scene.
Yasaka said that the leylines had changed a bit over the last few hundred years and even if we fix them, many of the places in the Grandline will remain the same. They have become the natural grounds where the concentration of Nature Energy is very high. It was however not really bad because there were such places in the previous world too.
Hogwarts was built on such a place. Kyoto was also built on such a place.
The Ley Lines can still be fixed and Magic will start being restored in the world in a decade, with it returning to normal in a century maximum.
I thanked her as she offered to help out with the repairs with the Mythical Zoan Dog Dog Fruit, Model: Nine Tailed Fox.
It also netted me quite some affection points with the fox milf and even Lady Amaterasu.
Odin actually gave the idea of planting a world tree sapling in this world.
According to him, the Tree of Eve was similar to it, although of a much lower grade but was now more than half destroyed because of Im's bullshitery. It was not supposed to work like that. It will recover in due time.
He had visited the giants and got to know them and deduced this.
It was a good idea.
I asked Robin for the location of Ohara and Kuroka brought it back to the ground. It was decided that the sapling will be planted on Ohara as a tribute and to make the substitute for the now lost Tree of Knowledge.
The Magic School we were trying to establish will also be made on Ohara along with several other types of school. Ohara, the Island of Learning.
Robin who was already at full affection and obedience, was beyond words. She actually cried a little. Later that night, she ended up on my bed, drunk.
Nothing happened, obviously, but still something changed. Her behaviour towards me, that is.
On a side note, I had a talk with Venelana.
- Flashback -
"Deciding to get married is a big decision. Are you two sure that you want to do this so early?"
"Yes Mother." Rias nodded at her mother resolutely.
The room had the three women, Venelana, Lily and Shuri sitting together. They seemed to have been having too much fun in this world. It was actually good to see that.
Venelana especially was, how to say it… freer since the dumbass was thrown out.
Lily had only congratulated me. She was actually happy with this. Then again, Rias was the one who convinced me to give this relationship a shot. She also got along nicely with Lily too.
Her mother looked at me and I nodded as well. "Lord Gremory has been acting too…"
"Suicidal… call it what it is dear. No need to mince words."
"... I was going to say aggressive, but whatever. So, we decided to tie the knot as soon as possible and get her out of his power zone to avoid whatever stupidity he has concocted. Do you have any ideas where he is getting all that courage from?"
"Are you asking me to reveal information about my husband?" She asked me with narrowed eyes. "That would be betraying the Gremory Family and I as someone married into the family cannot and will not do anything to harm it."
I opened my mouth slightly and then it struck me.
Rias was going to say something or maybe protest but I stopped her. "I will never ask you to do such a thing. You see I am also getting married to a Gremory, so I was wondering if you would tell me just what would count as betraying the family and what not. I am new with the devil society and I might accidentally do something that might be unproductive to the Gremory. It would really help if you explain to me in detail what I don't need to do." I smiled.
I saw her return the smile to me. "Let's say, things like, telling people that Lord Gremory had a meeting with Lord Phenex, Lord Shax, Lord Amy and some others of his clique where they were discussing some things that might be considered shady would be betraying the Gremory House because it can cause damage to it. On the other hand, saying things that he had a meeting with Zekram Bael and Lord Bael right before the dinner could be a grey zone because we don't know what was discussed in the meeting and thus no control or knowledge of the fact that it can or will cause damage to a person or the House of Gremory in total."
I looked at the woman in front of me. Rias was looking at the scene with an open mouth.
"Good good. It's nice to know these things in detail. By the way, I talked to Sirzechs about something but I thought I should ask you first." She raised an eyebrow at the statement and I continued. "It has come to my notice that a lady was contract bound in a marriage with a certain someone. The contract severely restricts her freedom and basically makes her an object of her husband's will except for the fact that he cannot directly abuse her. I was wondering what the lady would think if that contract was to be removed or let's say transfered over to, hmm, maybe her children instead?"
She stared at me dumb founded at this.
In fact, everyone in the room was dumbfounded at this but only until a….dare I say, predatory look came into her eyes. "If you could pull it off, that lady would rip your clothes off and give you the ride of your lifetime."
I won't lie… the slight growl at the end of the line gave me a hardon. But, I controlled myself.
"Mother!"
"Venelana!"
"Ufufufufufufu."
"Oh, come on Lily. It's not like you haven't experienced my skills. I assure you that I would treat him well. After all, he would be my son-in-law too." She smirked and this time it was my turn to be hung jawed.
"I-it's not like that Harr… Shin. We were drunk and it…" Lily was flustered, actually a bit scared from what I sensed.
"It's fine."
"Huh?"
"It's fine as long as you are happy. This sort of thing is not as uncommon as you think in the underworld. As long as the two of you are happy, I don't have any problems with it either." Because goodness knows, these two need some happiness of their own.
"Ufufufufufu Shin-kun is quite open-minded in such things. I mean he even convinced Akeno about her ideas of what can be considered as virginity."
…
…
"Oh, don't look at me like that. I am her mother. Do you think she can hide things from me so easily, that I won't know?"
What the fuck is up with my future mothers-in-law?
They are scary.
A good kind of scary, but scary nonetheless.
On the other hand, I pitied Zeotifucks now.
Or maybe not.
- Flashback End -
In this time, another noteworthy thing happened.
I sensed a disturbance in time, one fine day. Sakuya did too and the only one I could think of that could cause it in this world was Lady Toki's Devil Fruit, which meant that Momonuske and the others had returned.
And they did.
The group were stunned beyond words when they returned though. What they knew of a day earlier had completely changed. They however were extremely happy that Kaido's rule was over. Some were actually a bit wary of us in the beginning because we kinda came out of nowhere and now ruled half of the Wano Kingdom. It was however soon cleared by the previously younger and now older sister, Hiyori as well as Rayleigh and the others. They were finally relaxed and the child cried.
Although, he tried to jump at the girls for condolences. The mistake he made however was choosing Hancock as the first target and was rewarded with a kick to the face, sending him flying into the castle wall.
Thankfully Hiyori took command and showed them the new Wano.
Later on, I was called by Kozuki Sukiyaki, who turned out to be alive as well. He talked about opening Wano again for the rest of the world since things had changed a lot.
All the current rulers agreed. The old man was sitting in for Momonosuke. Although, the time was decided to be a bit later when Wano Country had finally recovered from its wounds.
Medicines to cure the effects caused by the chemicals from Kaido's factories were distributed and the people were slowly recovering but it will still take around a year to do so.
He later called me and told me about Pluton which was hidden under Wano's Mt. Fuji. He even showed me and Robin the hidden path.
It turned out that Pluton could be taken out only after Wano was opened to the rest of the world. That said, we decided to hide the Pluton there permanently. I already had the blueprints of it. I didn't need it myself either. The new and improved world didn't need such weapons of mass destruction either.
Especially when people were trying to shift towards building a proper civilization.
In fact, I also needed to figure out something about the moon and people in space. The One Piece world was bigger than I knew of.
At the end of it all, everyone decided to bid their goodbyes. If I ever manage to create a method to travel to this world, we will talk further.
The arrival in the DxD world was simple but I knew what awaited me here. Thankfully, any arguments about Nami were shut down and Ajuka gave him a Bishop Piece and Sirzechs warned him about breaking the treaty.
His arguments about it being Rias' territory and thus the Gremory territory were shut down instantly because Rias was not yet married to me and was overseeing the territory to help me out. She had no legal rights or claims to it at all.
In all legality, I could sue him and he will be forced to pay a massive fine as compensation too. I decided to keep it as a point for later use.
If Zekram was really behind these, then I had a special sort of hell to prepare for him. That fucker was treated well by me. I even made a potion to increase his strength. But it just meant that I had to prepare things.
Thankfully Diablo was working beyond anything I could have imagined.
The week was bound to be busy as fuck for everyone.
The first thing Sirzechs did was announce Rias and my marriage in a week. It was the same day that I was supposed to give a public interview.
It was big news.
Many invitations were sent and the preparations were hurried up.
The girls were all busy with shopping and different stuff.
The leaders of different factions were invited to the wedding.
The scale was different because of the people getting married. Since my information was more or less public now, even smaller factions had found out about the Champion of Death.
Serafall had answered several factions that we were not meeting anyone only because of the wedding preparations and was delaying it till after the public appearance on the day of the wedding.
They were sent invitations nonetheless.
I, on the other hand, have been busy too.
First thing I did was verify the information about Zekram being the one manipulating Zeotifucks. He was planning something with his posies, true but Zekram had called him and then he started acting towards me.
I tried to think of his motivations and even had some ideas but then gave up. Motivation doesn't matter. The matter of fact is that he will not interfere in my marriage. He cannot afford to.
And once the marriage is done, I have enough political support as well as power behind me to stop anything he wants while not looking like a villain in the matter. After all, that's bad for business.
Second thing I did was summon someone for support, and then I came to meet a certain person to give them the invitation to my wedding myself.
"I never imagined that the man everyone is trying to meet came to me personally. I am flattered to say the least. Please take a seat, Mr. Kageyami." The man in front of me smiled.
"The occasion was such that I couldn't just send you a letter. Some things are better done personally." I brought out a wedding invitation and presented it to him. "We would really appreciate it if you could join us for my wedding, Mr. Belial. Also, please call me Shin. Kageyami is a bit of a mouthful. I am planning on taking my late Godfather's name soon enough."
Yes. The man in front of me is the Emperor of the Rating Games, Diehauser Belial.
"Certainly. The most talked about wedding in the underworld. How can I not?"
"Hahahaha you flatter me, Sir. I am pretty sure if the Emperor decided to tie a knot with someone, there would be a similar reaction." Which is not really far fetched either.
Diehauser Belial is not just a person… He is a brand in himself.
"I have seen your Rating Game too, Shin. Dare I say, there are very few people in the Rating Games with the ability to plan like that. I was quite excited at the prospect of having a game with you myself."
"Me… . No no. I am more of a craftsman than a fighter. My future wife, though, her dream is to become the Champion of the Rating Games, so you will get a great rival in her one day."
He smiled. "I really look forward to it."
"I will be honest with you Mr. Belial, I wanted to talk to you about something else too. A deal to be exact."
"Oh, now this is something new. I am pretty sure many if not all of the Supernatural factions are wanting to do business with you and you have come to me. I am not sure if I should be happy or worried."
"Nothing of that sort. All I want is a cooperation with you. I think you might have heard of the business I am planning to make?"
"Artifacts?"
"Among other things, yes. I want you to be the brand ambassador of my business."
…
…
"Just out of curiosity, why didn't you choose someone else for this? There were other options."
"Two reasons. I prefer to get the best. Second, hiring others would mean throwing myself in their political agendas. I don't want that. Moreover, I think our cooperation would be much more beneficial for the two of us than others."
"Oh?"
"You will understand it soon. I however ask you to at least listen to me till the end."
I saw his eyes narrow a little but he didn't say anything and I continued.
"First, let's discuss the payment for the deal first. I have seen your current details and the rates will be the same as offered to you by your current highest payer, the Sallos Enterprises. There will be other amenities as well but I can only inform you about them after you sign the contract. I apologise but it's confidential and I need to do this."
He nodded and I continued.
"As a contract signing fee, I have an offer in mind. I wonder what you would think about it?"
"What offer?"
"The resurrection of Cleria Belial and Masaomi Yaegaki."
His demonic power slipped lightly as the cup in his hand broke. "I don't appreciate such jokes, Mr. Kageyami. If you are here to joke about my dead family members, please show yourself out." He said in a calm tone but the anger in his voice was evident.
"I think you forgot the title I carry, Mr. Belial. I am the 'Champion of Death'. Bringing someone to life wouldn't be the first time for me. I can give you a demonstration if you want."
I sensed his turmoil and called out. "Speak with the Dead, Cleria Belial."
A hazy figure appeared in front of us and I saw the guy's breath get stuck.
"I will leave the two of you for some private time. We will continue the talk when I get back."
And I did just that.
Twenty minutes later, I returned.
The two were done talking by then and this time were paying attention to me.
"Why?" He asked, confused.
"I think you must be aware about the Naberius case and the Nekoshou called Kuroka being declared innocent as well as the punishment to the real criminals."
"But you are a ward of the Bael?"
"And that's where people misunderstand things. Tell me, Mr. Belial, do you know how the pillars got their powers?"
He shook his head so I explained to him in brief.
"And Zekram himself made a deal with Death, to get the power to destroy and kill everything, 'The Power of Destruction'." I replied as a sphere of the Power of Destruction on my palm. I have never publicly shown my power of destruction to others so their surprised expressions were quite understandable. "I am not a ward of the Bael, but rather their Debt Collector. But now it seems as if Zekram is trying to play games with me. And I… don't appreciate it."
I looked up at the two. "I will bring them back. I will even clear their names and get everyone responsible for killing her punished. But in return, you will have to stop cooperating with Rizevim."
He tensed and the spirit was stunned as well. "Brother, you…"
"No need to think much. I can talk to pretty much any dead person. Do you think it's hard for me to gather information? Rizevim is a mad man who wants destruction. I love my peaceful life and if anyone… be it Zekram or Rizevim, come in between me and my peaceful life…" My Mystic Eyes flickered.
"You on the other hand are fighting for a good cause. But what if you win? What do you think will happen? The best that will happen is you getting jailed. Zekram will escape without any real consequence. Your parents will have lost their child and be alone. If they revolt or try to raise their voices, they might even fall to the 'Sleeping Illness'. Yes, it's artificial. But you know what the worst part is, even after all this, no one can guarantee that the King Pieces will never be circulated back after a decade or so. They are after all not the root of the problem. The main cause of the problem is and has always been the people who are using those to manipulate the Rating Games in their favour. Unless they are removed completely, things will not improve."
He quieted down. "Why should I trust you?"
I smiled and brought out a bundle of documents from my inventory and threw it to him.
It was the proof that he was working for Rizevim as well as of him killing off two King Piece users.
"I haven't given this to anyone. Is it not proof enough?" He tensed, his demonic power surged lightly. "Don't bother. If you cannot even defeat Rizevim, you don't stand a chance against me." My demonic power completely drowned him the next instant. It was just for a moment but it made things clear about what would happen if things went south in this discussion, I won't be the loser.
He finally sighed and sat down.
"Diehauser, please. Don't do it. Colluding with the Old Satan faction will never lead to good things." The spirit urged and I saw him close his eyes.
"It's not like he wants to do so. The guy would take any other option if he had but tell me this… You see your family member declared a traitor and executed for false reasons, would you be satisfied to let things go? No one would. At least not if they held even a shred of love for their family member."
The spirit just looked at him with pained eyes. A minute later, he opened his eyes.
"What is your plan?"
Got it.
By the end of the meeting, I was at 55 Reputation and 50 Obedience with Diehauser. Resurrecting Cleria was kept to a later date. I told him that I needed more preparation for it.
- Riser Phenex -
He waited in the shoddy bar where he wouldn't have been seen dead a few months ago, but things weren't going well for Riser Phenex.
It all started when that filthy bastard fought him in that Rating Game.
Since that Rating Game, it had become nigh impossible for him to be seen outside.
People from the other Pillars laughed at him while those who couldn't, talked behind his back and mocked him.
Whenever he closed his eyes, all he saw were the flashes of that horrifying day.
The scenes of him mocking and destroying him were imprinted on his mind.
But there was nothing he could do about it. Even the thought to take revenge against that monster made him shudder.
Thus, when he received the message to go to the place if he wanted revenge on that monster, he took it.
Soon, the door to the cabin was opened and a man in a cloak came in.
He closed the door behind him and he made several barriers around the place.
Riser took a defensive posture but before he could do anything, the man removed his cloak and safe to say that he was surprised to see the person under the cloak.
"Is this some kind of a joke… Heir Astaroth?" He asked warily.
The guy simply removed his cloak and sat down on the chair facing him with that unnervingly creepy smile of his. "No. I assure you that this is no joke. I am here to make a deal. Something mutually beneficial to both of us."
"And what would that be? You are close to Ajuka Beelzebub who is quite chummy with that bastard. Why would you have any reason to take revenge on him?" He asked, already feeling a trap.
"Ajuka Beelzebub is not like Sirzechs Lucifer or Serafall Leviathan. He has no connection to the Astaroth clan except his previous name. He doesn't support the clan either. Moreover, as you said, he is very close to that low born mongrel. He won't help me with what I want." He almost hissed and the hatred in his voice attracted Riser's attention.
"And what is it that you want?" He asked, intrigued.
"That mongrel has taken something that belongs to me. I want you to get me my possession back."
"Why on earth would I do that? You have not fought that monster but I have. You have no idea about his powers."
Suddenly he was drowned by a surge of Demonic Power coming from the creepy Astaroth who looked no less than a vicious monster himself. "You are just a frog in the well, Riser Phenex. Nothing without your family's heritage, both in blood and wealth. You have lived a sheltered life and collected a peerage of escorts without even working for it just by throwing around money. You have no idea how big the outside world is or things it has to offer."
The power vanished and he took a breath quickly as he looked at the seemingly unassuming devil in front of him in horror.
"You… How?" How did he get so strong?
This power. It was anything beyond what he had seen from that monster.
"I will give you power and in return, you will get me what I want. This is my deal to you, Riser Phenex."
With that, he brought out a crystal with a purple coloured snake made of energy wrapped around it.
It radiated power like nothing else. Overwhelming power. Intoxicating power.
"W… what do you want?"
"Asia Argento."
– Euclid Lucifuge –
Euclid looked at the blabbering clowns, making castles in the air about their reign of superiority. The vampires were weaklings who thought themselves more than they were worth, not even realising the truth of their own situation, let alone do something to improve it.
But he didn't need to worry about that. He just needed to wait until their plans were completed.
These fools would become their army and wreak havoc on the pretenders.
Changing the pages on the DevilNet, he found the one he was looking for. The footage from a Rating Game. A girl finishing off a bunch of opponents within moments.
Her beauty and grace but more than anything else, her looks entranced him. She looked just like her.
The same cold look. The same flawless strength.
The first time he had seen her, he thought that his sister had somehow turned back time and become younger. Well, that or they somehow created a clone of her.
Even after a lot of digging, he didn't find any information on her. It was like she didn't even exist one day and then….she was just there.
Not that he minded it. Oh, he didn't mind it one bit.
If anything, he was glad it happened. He was beyond happy.
Later on, he found out some information about her on DevilNet. Apparently he wasn't the only one curious about the younger copy of the Strongest Queen. A statement was made and it turned out that she was a former human who was reincarnated by Shin Kageyami.
Grayfia left for that crimson haired bastard…. But he could always get a new Grayfia. And she was perfect.
The information he had gathered said that she was treated like a little sister by Grayfia. If so, she wouldn't mind living with her brother either.
As for that Shin, it was just a minor problem. He would convince her to join him.
This time, he will not lose.
"Kufufufufu you seem to be in quite a thought, Euclid. Does it have something to do with the picture of the girl you are holding?"
He heard a whisper behind him and a shiver ran down his back. His demonic power moved as if on reflex but before a spell could form, it was broken away as if a fragile twig in wind. The fact that he didn't even feel any kind of move from the other party made this all the more terrifying. Then again, the guy behind him was not an ordinary nobody either.
"Noir. When did you come back?""
"Hello there, Euclid. You seem quite happy. Never thought I would see such a look on your face." The black eyed, golden pupiled demon asked and Euclid almost reflexively moved the picture away.
Noir or Black. The newest addition to the Khaos Brigade, a real demon summoned by the experiments of the Hexanchant organisation.
Unlike the weak demons that were found long ago in the Underworld, this one was different. So much so that the ones he knew of earlier might as well be fakes.
He was as strong as Lord Rizevim from the power he had shown and that… . might not even be his full power.
He remembered the day he had shown his power. It had put down any questions about his strength. His power had felt so raw… . so evil. He wondered just what kind of place he was summoned from. Many had asked but, this was a demon. He never did or answered anything without a price. And even devils like him didn't dare to make a deal with this being.
Despite his friendly and well mannered behaviour, everyone was cautious around him.
Even the reincarnated Evil Dragons, those monsters who cared about nothing but destruction and wrecking havoc, were wary of him. It mainly happened when he was challenged by Grendel and Nidhogg.
The results were something that made their entire faction shiver. He had established an anti-magic field. A place where no one could use any kind of magic over the entire base. Not even the famed Thousand Diabolism Dragon, Azi Dhaka failed to conjure a single spell inside the field no matter how much he tried. Euclid had wondered how those two abnormalities on the traitor's side would fare in such a situation. Devils after all used Magic to do everything. This power alone could render them useless in almost all situations.
But that hadn't stopped this demon.
He had then proceeded to beat the two dragons to death simultaneously…. only to resurrect them and repeat the process over and over till the two had literally begged for mercy in front of everyone. According to Noir, this was the method that his master, a True Demon Lord, preferred to use to convince unruly people.
And it was said that Demons were not physical fighters.
Fucking lies.
The scariest and most disturbing thing in the entire event was not the event itself….no, it was the gentle smile he had on his lips the entire time he did so. Like he was doing gardening with soft music in the background.
Since then, he had been extremely unnerved by his smile.
Euclid wondered what kind of being would be the master of such a thing. The way Noir talked about him looked like he would worship the ground that his master walked on.
Thankfully, the said Master was in whatever world he was summoned from.
In fact, the only one truly happy with his presence was Lord Rizevim.
He got along extremely well with the demon.
He came out of his trance and just shrugged off his shoulders. "It's nothing. Just wondering about the progress of our experiment."
"Yes yes. Evil Dragons, fascinating creatures. The Dragons that I have known were mostly True Dragons but even they were described as Natural Disasters. To be termed as 'Evil' even among such a bunch. I must say that even I am holding quite some expectations regarding these little dragon hatchlings."
Euclid rolled his eyes. "Knowing your strength, I am afraid you might be disappointed in them. They will be around Mid Class Level average in terms of strength."
"Strength can be gained in time but that ruthless character takes time to develop and some might never develop it, breaking down in the process to do so. Getting creatures who are directly attuned to such a character… will be fascinating to say the least. Did you make the changes I had advised to them?"
"Yes, the changes have been made. I tested them on some willing volunteers and found out that their power will increase to High Class Level over the course of two weeks if it is used. I don't believe we never thought of using the energy from Ophis' snakes to empower the dragons. With their compatibility, their strength was bound to rise. An army of twenty thousand High Class Evil Dragons would be terrifying to almost any kind of faction."
"It was nothing." Noir smiled, that same eerie smile. "I just want to see the wonderful show that would ensue when these hatchlings grow fully."
On that he could agree. He too was waiting for the experiments to complete. An army that will let him reclaim what was his.
Even if he had to make a deal with this demon for it, it would be worth it.
"Noir! There you are. I have been looking for you for a long time." A voice was heard and Euclid jumped to his feet upon hearing it as he knew the owner of the voice.
"Rizevim. You look very exuberant. Did something good happen?" Noir answered politely. Then again, the demon was anything but polite to everyone.
"I am, my friend, I am. But, this is not a place to discuss all of that. Why don't you join me somewhere private? Euclid, you too."
A few minutes later, they were in a completely different place. The personal laboratory of Lord Rizevim.
"This is my humble abode and that, over there is my mother." he said pointing towards a large cylinder filled with liquid. "Hello Mum. See, I brought a friend home." he turned towards Noir and continued. "She used to nag me all day about getting a friend and now that I finally got one, she doesn't even say hi to them. I mean like really, parents are born to spoil our fun. Dear ol' Gramps did it for Dad and Mum and he did the same for me. 'Ending the Great War' he said after Gramps had kicked the bucket. Why would anyone do that? Wasn't the war so much fun? So many people dying every now and then. It was really cheerful. But he was going to ruin my fun so I made him quiet. Mum tried to do the same, so I kept her inside so that she didn't ruin the fun. I mean, would you ever let anyone ruin your fun like that Noir?"
"Oh never. My fun is second only to my Master's orders for me and my Master rarely ever orders me anything."
"I would one day really like to meet your Master. To be able to keep someone as a subordinate, he must be something else." Lord Rizevim said.
"Yes. He is something else indeed. My Master is the one who named me. A name is a matter of extreme pride for any magical being in the world I come from."
"Name you? Isn't that… . "
"Not an easy thing. In our world, naming someone can grant them powers and sometimes even make them evolve. I was a mere Archdemon before meeting my Master. Stronger than most of the other demons but still, just an Archdemon. To compare, I was around twice as strong as Shalba Beelzebub is now with the added power."
Euclid felt like choking on his spit. Shalba was stronger than the Original Satans with the added power from Ophis' snake. Twice that power and he calls himself weak.
"And then I met my Master. The city of monsters he ruled over was attacked by an army of humans while Master was away. They had colluded with the Church and amassed a force of sixty thousand, including twenty thousand elites who were experts at dealing with monsters. They were similar to the army you are creating right now but stronger. There were casualties on my Master's side including one of his personal subordinates."
He watched as Noir was lost in his story, the fanatical expression on his face.
"Oh it was a scene to behold. Master's wrath was felt by the entire world. The sky turned to light and the ground was covered by shadows as death rained down. Master slaughtered the entire army in minutes. This act led him to ascend to a True Demon Lord, making him over ten times stronger than before. The other Demon Lords had to intervene to calm his anger before he went ahead and destroyed the entire Church along with its entire foundation. He then summoned me by using the fresh corpses of the enemies. Sixty thousand fresh corpses. Such a bountiful offering."
Euclid was sure that if he hadn't bitten his tongue to control his reactions, he would be shivering from the demonic aura leaking from Noir.
"And then, he named me. Naming has the possibility of permanently taking away a part of the power of the one naming. To name a Primordial like me massively increases the risk. To put the matters into perspective, even Ophis would lose half its power to name me. And my Master… . he shrugged it off as if it were a mere inconvenience." Noir explained.
"What is a Primordial?"
"A Primordial means the first of our kind. I am one of the seven Primordials, the Primordial of Black, one of the progenitors of the demon race."
….
….
Euclid felt his spine chill at the casual admission of the demon. Just what kind of monster had those crazy idiots summoned. The first of the demons… .
"Uyhahahaha that's some story you have, Noir. I am sure you will like what I am about to say as well. There has been a lot of chaos about a new world, different from our own. One of the reincarnated devils has access to this world. Can you imagine it? A completely new world for us to do as we like. The number of things we could do there. I have even thought of the exact thing to do?"
"Oh?"
"Have you heard of a story from our world? The story of the beast of apocalypse? The beast that brings about the end of the world. How about we release the beast into the world and see the fun. What will they do? How will they fight it? Will those two Dragons interfere? What would be the end result of such a clash? And….will they throw the Beast into the other world if they cannot fight it? Oh, so many possibilities for the future."
"That does sound intriguing. Tell me more about it."
And Euclid watched as the two discussed what was potentially the end of the world with glee.
Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)
Author's Note:
This chapter took a long time.
I was posting this story continuously for two years and encountered my first writer's block.
This is my first story and thus I have made many mistakes while writing it and I am trying to correct those while carrying on with the ones that I cannot.
I intend to complete the story but I don't want the quality to drop and thus, the break.
If you all thought that this chapter was a bit different than normal, I wrote it over a month and thus some parts might be a little inconsistent.
Anyways, I will try to get back to the normal schedule of this and 'Deal with the Devil' again.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.