{Early Morning, Zekram's Mansion}
—Zekram Bael—
Zekram Bael woke up that day with a massive scowl. Barely minutes after placing his foot on the floor, he was informed of a mandatory meeting proposed by Sirzechs Lucifer.
It wasn't the meeting itself that annoyed him—he welcomed it. Nothing pleased him more than seeing the newer generation of leaders being proactive.
What troubled him was the reason behind it.
"Can you confirm the validity of the matter, Micah?" the old man asked. "This supposed new individual... is he truly the heir?"
"The Satans—Leviathan and Lucifer—are certain of it," replied his oldest butler, a former rook and right-hand devil. "They've confirmed the man is indeed Faiser Barbatos, son of the deceased Faustus Barbatos and Isolde Valefar."
Zekram grew uneasy. Rules and traditions weighed heavily on him.
"What does he own?" Zekram asked, gazing out the window at the artificial scenery he had slowly come to appreciate.
"Technically, a lot," the butler replied. "But now—nothing."
Zekram stayed calm, breathing slowly. "Both the Valefar and Barbatos manors, even their estates, were destroyed during the war over five hundred years ago."
"But the land," the butler added, glancing at his master. With only the two of them in the room, he allowed himself to speak more freely. "You know he holds the rights to it. But given the current circumstances, recovering it is nearly impossible."
"Not impossible," Zekram sighed. "He has all the legal rights. And even if we try to twist them, the ancient laws still stand. He can use them. The problem is, if he reclaims the land by force, it will disrupt the standing of many devil Pillars. Some might even be financially crippled."
"Can they not simply pay him the value of the land—"
"Micah." The old devil turned to his butler. "In our world, money means little. Land is power, and power is coveted. And when that power is rightfully his, there is little we can do."
"So, are you not going to do anything about it?"
The question made the old devil's expression unreadable. "Faustus Barbatos and Isolde Valefar are war heroes, despite their neutrality. But their son refused to fight. He was not decorated—and that works against him."
Zekram cared about the Pillars, including the Barbatos and Valefar lines. To him, the pure-blood Pillars were the backbone of devil society and vital to the Underworld's stability.
"If he takes the land back, it will hurt the Pillars." He turned to his butler, once his rook. "And it will hurt the Bael Pillar too—Bael owns a large portion of that land."
The butler nodded, well aware of the Bael Pillar's influence.
"I want nothing but good for the Pillars—Barbatos and Valefar included." His expression hardened. "But unfortunately for them... I will always put the good of the Bael Pillar above all else. And if that means the boy must lose his rightful inheritance—so be it."
* * *
{Present, Gremory Estate}
"So, how does my situation exactly look to the two of you?" I asked as we took a stroll through the massive Gremory garden.
This place was bigger than the gardens of my usual clients, and that says a lot.
"How confident are you about facing the Bael Elder and the Lords of the Pillars?" Sirzechs asked in return. "Also, there will be many rich and influential extra demons, Mephisto Pheles being one of them."
Mephisto Pheles was someone I didn't know much about. What I did know was that he was supposed to be ridiculously smart and cunning, a magician who also happened to be the most influential among the Extra Demons.
Extra Demons were devils that weren't part of the seventy-two pillars but were still born as devils. They were strong and held influence, though nowhere near what the pillars held.
Mephisto was the exception. The devil had Tannin, the Blaze Meteor Dragon, as his Queen. That fact alone said everything about him.
"I don't think I'll crack easily." I wasn't lying. "I never really cared about what others yell or think, never paid attention to any of that."
And he knew that. A hedonistic guy like Faiser never thought twice about ignoring even the Baels, even if that was bound to come back and bite him in the ass.
"Then you'll be okay!" Serafall nearly shouted right next to my ear.
"Why… are you flying?" I asked, seeing her hovering beside me while Sirzechs and I walked like civil men.
She didn't answer, just grinned. It was hard for her to keep her playfulness around me, but she was trying.
And I wasn't sure which version of her I preferred yet.
"Did you grow stronger during the time you were… frozen?" Sirzechs asked, sounding a little uneasy about bringing up what I'd gone through. "Not everyone can sense it unless you release your demonic power, but once you reach the level Serafall and I are at, you become very sensitive to it. The base of your demonic power seems to be around High-Class, but it's actually at Ultimate-Class, isn't it? Middle Ultimate-Class, maybe?"
Satans were scary. I had to rely on the Asura Eyes to confirm a class, they did it without it.
"The memory is hazy," I admitted. "I recall that the last fight I had before being captured, I unleashed demonic power beyond what I thought I could release."
I slowed my pace for a moment, trying to go through the memories. "But I know for certain that when I woke up a while back, I was definitely at the Ultimate-Class."
Faiser, before fainting under the falling mansion, had released demonic power almost rivaling the Ultimate-Class. So I couldn't just credit the system for it.
Maybe it was the system that brought me fully to this level, or maybe the body had already been at this stage before I woke up.
Sirzechs gave a slow nod as Serafall descended to my side, hiding away her wings.
"You won't have trouble against most physical confrontations," she said. "But don't go around picking fights. You can stay like before, times are peaceful enough. Don't get into fights."
Was that concern? Care? Or disappointment that I hadn't fought alongside the devils in the past? Hard to tell.
"How many Barbatos abilities can you use at the moment?" Sirzechs asked as we stopped near a fountain. "The Sever ability isn't easy to acquire."
"Four," I answered honestly. "Most are dodging abilities, with Sever being the main offense." Since they didn't ask, I didn't bother mentioning the Valefar ones. "Which means I'm better off not confronting anyone directly."
Sever was good, so was the raw demonic power I possessed. But maybe I should learn some proper fighting styles or weapons—I was heavily lacking in the offense department.
I couldn't keep expecting myself to blow up places with pure demonic power. There had to be some finesse.
"So, tell me." Now it was my turn to ask. "When did you become Satans?"
The question was directed at both of them, but my eyes lingered on Serafall.
She smiled awkwardly before answering. "It… just happened. We cleared a major chunk of the Old Devil Faction and killed a lot of their leaders, leaving only a few. The Elders said it was enough to recognize us as capable of leading the next generation."
That definitely wasn't the sole reason.
"You two have grown stronger. Insanely stronger. I don't sense any devil coming close to either of you," I said, then looked at Sirzechs. "You especially. You're even stronger than Serafall, aren't you?"
He seemed surprised at my deduction, especially since he was barely releasing any demonic energy.
Most would even mistake him for a High-Class devil.
And those people would most likely be dead from his demonic presence alone, if he ever decided to fully release it.
"That… is the Valefar cognitive ability, isn't it?" Serafall asked, amused. "Your mother could always tell when someone was hiding something. Her cognition was far too high—more perceptive than anyone I know."
I gave a shrug. "That might be the reason. But I can somewhat feel that he's only keeping a miniscule amount of demonic power surrounding him."
I knew the Super Class was monstrously strong, strong enough to put him in the top ten rankings of the world. But how strong was that actually?
Picturing the full scale was more difficult than I thought.
"Five hundred years have passed," Sirzechs reminded. "It is a lot of time for one to change, even grow stronger, and build connections."
Connections. That reminded me of something.
"Your father," I looked at him. "He told me about something Ajuka invented." Then I turned to Serafall. "The Evil Pieces. Would I be wrong to expect them?"
Serafall laughed. "Don't worry. They are the basic rights of any devil of the High-Class. You most definitely are one, as the direct descendant of two pillars and the heir of Barbatos. You'll get them soon, probably after the meeting."
"The meeting, huh?" I guess there was another reason to get this thing over with.
The Evil Pieces… I definitely wasn't going to say no to them.
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{A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters.
Wasted time playing Cobblemon, my bad. Also, we will have like 4-5 peerage members before kuoh (got 2 so far on Pat reon). And boy will this peerage be OP.}