Chapter 150: The Granting of One Demon Pillar to Asia
It was subtle, but unmistakable—the strange pulse of mana that shouldn't have responded, did. That was how he knew. It wasn't Solomon's original Noble Phantasms he tested. Switching personas now would shatter his alignment with this world, cause chaos in the ID protocol, and forcibly eject him from the system. No—what he retrieved were relics forged by his own hand, infused with his legacy as the King of Magecraft.
And yet, even those were inert.
A true Noble Phantasm of Solomon could not be activated here, not without access to the Akashic Records of this dimension. That was the core of the problem. He needed to make contact with the root—this world's origin. Only then could he summon the necessary magical power, not merely to awaken his latent weapons but to restore the colossal form of Goetia. It would require nothing less than an excavation of the fundamental laws of reality.
To do that, he had to study this world's magical infrastructure, the hidden gears behind its natural order.
A week had passed—though not entirely. It was simply that a new week had begun. It was the first morning of the school term.
Having received nothing truly valuable over the past days, Sona Shidoku decided it was time to stop tiptoeing and face things directly. The lack of progress was partly due to the mystery itself, and partly due to Rias's constant interference.
What troubled her more was Rias's attitude toward that man—this unfathomable stranger who seemed to command her respect, even fear.
"Just who is he, Rias?" Sona demanded again, barging into the Occult Research Club.
Rias sipped her tea unbothered. "No one important. Just a normal human."
Sona narrowed her eyes. "You…"
An idea sparked behind her gaze, and her expression shifted into a confident smirk. "Then I'll report to Lord Sirzechs."
At that moment, Rias's face paled. Her tea cup slammed to the table.
"Sona, I advise you—don't go down this path. You cannot afford the consequences."
"Then tell me the truth!"
The tension spiked—two longtime friends now staring one another down like rivals on the edge of war. The atmosphere twisted, heavy with threat.
Rias's tone softened. "Please… I'm asking you not to investigate further. For your own sake."
Her vulnerability struck a chord with Sona. They weren't just friends—they were rivals, equals who rarely leaned on one another. Rias had never pleaded for anything before. How could she say no?
With a sigh, Sona nodded. "Fine. I understand."
She walked out, heading toward the student council chamber.
Behind her, the elegant vice president Tsubaki Shinra followed silently.
"You're giving up that easily, President?" she asked.
"Of course not," Sona replied coolly. "That was just to get Rias off my back."
Rias's protectiveness was proof enough—this stranger posed an unknown risk, not just to the town, but to Rias herself. And Sona wouldn't let her friend face it alone.
Rias was sure to watch her closely now. Sona would have to deceive her, to create distractions and bypass her vigilance. She needed to confront the man directly.
Though he now served as a teacher at the academy, approaching him there would be reckless. She had to wait.
By evening, back at the Occult Club villa—
"Sona's good," Rias muttered through clenched teeth. She paced the room, visibly agitated.
"Keep your eyes on her," she instructed Akeno. "I have to return to the Underworld."
Trouble had arrived—specifically, a member of the Phoenix clan, one of the few pure-blood demon families remaining. Her unwelcome fiancé, Raiser Phoenix.
She loathed him.
This arranged marriage hadn't been approved by Rias—it was a political move made by her household to preserve the dwindling noble bloodlines after the war had devastated them.
The Phoenix heir was a vile playboy, and he had begun frequenting her home, often using a teleportation circle that connected directly to this world. If he stumbled into the villa and encountered that one, disaster would follow.
She had to intercept him.
"Understood," said Akeno.
Later that night…
Akeno watched the perimeter of the villa carefully, its boundaries reinforced with barriers. Then—Sona appeared openly, walking straight toward the shield.
"How bold," Akeno whispered, surprised.
She called down lightning without hesitation. But the strike bounced back—twice as strong.
"Shinra Tsubaki!"
It was her. The reflection had come from Sona's Queen—the demon chess piece embodied in Shinra's power.
"Impossible…"
Before Akeno could recalibrate, Sona breached the barrier itself—tearing open a spatial rift and stepping inside with Tsubaki. They waved with playful farewells as the gate sealed behind them.
"A trap!" Akeno realized.
They hadn't entered the villa—they'd created a false space atop the barrier. And now, she was locked inside.
Escaping would take time. Too much time.
She could only pray they didn't provoke him.
Inside the villa, Asia Argento sat with trembling hands clasped in prayer. Soon, her life would change forever. She was no longer to live as a human. She was about to be given one of the lost demonic identities—the title of a Pillar Demon.
Chapter 151: Demon Pillar of the Lion—The Symbol of Power
Long ago, the world had been home to seventy-two noble demons, each commanding legions and wielding ancient titles. But during the Great Three-Way War, their armies shattered, their bloodlines ravaged.
Many fell. Others, desperate to recover, turned to the Devil's Game—the demonic chess pieces—infusing ordinary humans with infernal essence to replenish their forces. But this mingling diluted the old blood.
Only a handful of houses remained pure: Gremory, Phoenix, Sidi. The rest faded into myth or obscurity.
Now, who among the seventy-two remained?
By his reckoning, only thirty-three noble houses retained a faint magical resonance, detectable via Solomon's ring. Thirty-nine responded with silence—their legacy lost.
Asia would receive one of the latter.
But it wasn't empty.
She would be granted one of his own magic cards—an artifact infused with a fragment of the original demonic essence. It resonated with her gentle nature, her inability to discern deceit, her power to heal.
It was perfect.
And beneath the surface of the villa—layers of illusion, wariness, and dread wrapped around the mystery of Solomon. What secret had Rias worked so hard to shield?
"President, the wards are in place," Tsubaki confirmed.
She had set a small-scale barrier—strong enough to delay any uninvited arrivals.
"Good. Come in with me," Sona ordered.
The rest of her team remained outside, vigilantly guarding the perimeter.
They approached cautiously.
No movement inside the villa. No resistance. No magical alerts.
Asleep?
If the person within were truly extraordinary, the broken protection spell should have triggered a response.
But it hadn't.
Something was wrong.
And Sona knew—there was only one way to find out.