{Present, Secret Grounds of Ancient Leviathan Estate}
At one point, I stopped wanting her because of her powers, and wanted her in my peerage—powers or no powers.
Call it whatever you want, but I wanted to help her. Weird for a guy like me, I know.
"Should we go?" she asked with a smile, as I held her hand. She didn't have her motor abilities back completely yet. It would take her some time to adjust.
But…
[Congratulations! You have added your first peerage member!]
[You can check the status of your peerage members in much more detail.]
And detailed it was.
[Name: Ingvild Leviathan]
[Race: Half Devil (Human-Devil Hybrid)]
[Rank: Ultimate Class]
[Abilities: Sea Serpent of the End, Demonic Power, Advanced Defensive Magic, Basic Teleportation, Flight, Stealth]
[Items: Nereid Kyrie {High Tier Longinus} (soulbound)]
Just from awakening her Longinus, she had jumped to Ultimate Class. And it wasn't just the base level—she was threatening to break through to Satan Class.
As for her abilities and items…
[Sea Serpent of the End: A Levaithan bloodline-specific power. Grants almost perfect water manipulation abilities and allows the summoning of sea serpents made of water, which can combine into one massive entity capable of causing world-ending tsunamis.]
And that was just her bloodline power—not even her Longinus. The Longinus gave—
[Nereid Kyrie: A High Tier Longinus that grants the following abilities:
Dragon Control: Capable of enslaving dragons or dragon-type gear and weapon wielders. As the user grows stronger, the gear may grow strong enough to control even Dragon Gods. Additionally, can grant buffing or debuffing states to targeted dragons. By default, opposing dragons weaken while allied dragons grow stronger.
Sea Manipulation: When surrounded by bodies of water, all user abilities receive a 200% buff. The user can fully manipulate nearby seas and oceans.]
Now imagine someone else getting their hands on her powers, or recruiting her into their peerage. I couldn't allow that.
[As the possessor of the Asura Heart, you are capable of using the powers of your peerage, including abilities granted by their Soul Bound items.]
[Requirements for Ability Synchronization:
Required Class of Host: Satan Class (Not Achieved)
Required Condition: Ability-sharing member must be part of host's peerage or under the host's servitude. (Achieved)]
[Note: Some abilities of the Asura Heart will awaken when you reach Satan Class.]
You mean… I can use the abilities of Nereid Kyrie? Flood cities and summon water dragons?
[Yes.]
I could barely contain my excitement. Now I had an even bigger motivation to push toward Satan Class.
"Are you alright?" Ingvild asked, unaware that she had just given me a gift far more precious than anyone else could.
"Yes," I reassured her. "Shall we get going?"
"Mhm." And if not for the powers, seeing her pretty smile alone made it worth it.
Seeing that she was ready, I extended my hand. No way was I walking there.
"Let me show you a perk of joining my peerage."
Confused, she still offered her hand. As I held it, I asked her a question.
"Do you trust me?"
It was a stupid question to ask a girl I had only just met. Yet, given both our situations, it wasn't surprising when she nodded.
"I do."
That was all I needed. While I could teleport without permission, it was better to ask. As she readied herself, I used Traverse to reach the spot where the two devil sisters were.
The ground below us vanished, and the space around us warped. I felt her grip tighten around my hand. She was nervous—and I didn't blame her.
Thankfully, Traverse didn't take long. Before she could register what had happened, we were already in another place.
"Faiser?" Serafall asked, standing with her arms crossed, as a seemingly tired Sona leaned against the wall.
"What took you so long?" Sona complained, huffing. As I looked for the magic circle, it was gone, and the place was littered with golem pieces.
"This wasn't the only place with golems," I retorted. "Besides, I found her, so it was all worth it."
This was when their eyes went toward the girl hiding behind me, either too afraid, shy, or simply awkward to meet the new people.
"Ingvild," I said, reassuring her. "Don't worry, they're with us."
Both sisters glanced at me, trying not to make it obvious where they were looking. But since there was no one else besides her and me, it was pretty clear.
Ingvild, still a little awkward, stepped forward, looking at Serafall and Sona, who blinked in surprise as they saw her.
Sona eyed her from head to toe, trying to figure out exactly who she was.
"Aww!" Serafall exclaimed, back to her bubbly self. "She's so cute!"
She rushed toward Ingvild, taking her hand and standing before her with sparkling eyes. Ingvild was clearly nervous, but the Satan didn't seem to care.
And I was still trying to figure out which was Serafall's real personality—the carefree, bubbly one or the more mature, calculating one. Maybe both. She might just have a personality disorder.
"You're making her nervous," I said, taking her hand away from Serafall. "She's tired. We should get going."
Serafall puffed her cheeks. I swear she was just acting for Ingvild at this point.
Though I expected Ingvild to be uncomfortable around them, she wasn't completely anti-social. She tugged on my coat and looked at Serafall.
I guessed what she wanted and decided to help her out.
"Though I believe introductions are in order…" I said, pointing at Sona with an open hand. "This is Sona Sitri, heiress of the Sitri Pillar, and one of the reasons I could get to you while dodging the golems."
Ingvild gave a small nod of greeting, and Sona returned it.
"And… this is Serafall," I continued, feeling a little guilty. "Serafall Leviathan, current Satan Leviathan, and Sona's older sister."
I could feel Ingvild's grip tighten around my hand, as if angry or disappointed at being kept in the dark.
Even though it wasn't a lie, I hadn't mentioned that I knew Serafall or that I had brought her with me.
"Don't worry," I reassured her. "Serafall is with us. Like you, she doesn't care about titles or names. She brought me here to find you without informing the elders of the pillars."
Serafall was naturally a rebel, breaking rules as long as it didn't hurt anyone. And she wasn't fond of the elders either.
Thankfully, this was when Serafall decided to use her mature personality over the cheerful one.
"Don't worry," she reassured her. "I'm with Faiser. You can consider me off duty for now." She winked. "You can trust us. And even if you don't trust me, you can at least trust him."
That was… surprisingly sweet of her. To do that for me. Or maybe it was just her way of showing trustworthiness.
Ingvild was still a little uneasy, especially since it involved a Satan—the Satan Leviathan, no less.
"I am… Ingvild Leviathan," she finally said. "Thank you for helping me."
Serafall glanced at me, as if telling me I had a long explanation to give her later.
"We should go," Sona said, having long given up expecting answers to her questions. To keep a good relationship with her, I knew I'd have to answer some eventually. "Since she's the last Levaithan descendant, you'll be busy helping her with all the headaches that are coming."
She meant the long hours of meetings—elders, lords, shouts, and complaints.
I was used to pissing off the higher-ups by now.
"And we'll need to arrange her stay," Serafall said thoughtfully. "Since we don't really have a functional Levaithan estate besides my office, we might need to adjust her stay with my family or the Gremorys. Once we settle her situation, we might have to build her a new house."
Well…
"About that," I said, drawing their attention. "Don't peerage members usually stay together?"
This came as a shock to them. They froze, losing their smiles as if struck by thunder.
"You… what do you mean?" Serafall blinked repeatedly, as if a massive headache was about to hit her.
"Well," I said, looking at Ingvild, who still held my hand. "When I found her in there, she was asleep. I did try to wake her up, but it didn't work."
"So…" By now, even Sona had figured out what I had done.
"So, I figured she was suffering from The Devil Sleeping Disease." I didn't lie—not entirely. "And I couldn't bring her out without the golems getting to us or without the ceiling collapsing on her. So I had to wake her up at any cost."
"What did you do…" Sona stared blankly, hoping I hadn't done anything stupid.
Unfortunately for her… I had.
"Since I woke up, I knew my body had changed, and I had a very decent healing factor," I explained. I had already hinted at it before to Ajuka. "So, I used my blood to cure her of the disease."
"And it worked?" Serafall asked, hoping for the best. And it had—at least partially. When I added the next part, even Ingvild looked surprised.
"Well… not entirely." I lied. "I could sense her demonic power had stabilized and her body had started showing signs of healing, but it wasn't enough. So, to speed up the process… I ended up using an Evil Piece."
"You WHAT!" Sona yelled, horrified—not because I used an Evil Piece, but because it was on the last living descendant of the Leviathan.
"Faiser," Serafall sighed, looking at me, "you do know what you've done, right?"
"I do," I said. "And that was the only option I had."
I looked at Ingvild and gave her a comforting smile. She understood the situation immediately.
If I had told them the full truth, it would have been different. The elders would have never agreed to me making her my queen. Instead, they would have used her as a puppet Leviathan leader to benefit their pillars.
But now that I had turned her into my queen, they couldn't do that. And since it was supposedly to keep her alive, they couldn't invalidate my decision either.
Or so I hoped. Otherwise, I'd have to come up with something else.
"He saved me," Ingvild said, squeezing my hand and smiling. "He helped me escape hell, and I'm thankful to him. I accepted being his queen the moment I woke up. He only used the Evil Piece to wake me, and for that, I am more than willing to join his peerage."
"The elders are going to object," Sona sighed, but surprisingly, Ingvild wasn't timid anymore.
"Let them," she frowned. "They didn't save my life. They don't get to decide it. And if I have to choose between the Leviathan name and being in Faiser's peerage, I'll give up the name."
I couldn't help but smile. It was both heartwarming and extremely clever.
She was actively willing to give up the Leviathan name, and now that she could use it as leverage, she wasn't afraid to play her advantage.
Sona rubbed her temples, clearly not happy with how things were turning out.
"All I wanted was to find some Leviathan water magic hints," she sighed.
To my surprise, Ingvild stepped forward.
"You want to learn Leviathan water magic?" she asked, immediately catching Sona's attention.
"I do. That's why I came here. Since I don't have ridiculous amounts of demonic power like my sister, I wanted to learn Leviathan water magic. It's more creative and doesn't rely on massive demonic output… at least most of the time," Sona explained.
Ingvild looked at me, then at Sona.
"Well, since you're with Faiser… I don't mind helping you." She surprised us all. "I haven't fully recovered my motor functions, but I can still help."
She created a puddle between us, and from it, small water dragons emerged.
"Y-You—really?" Sona was taken aback, and it would be a lie to say I didn't notice the glow in her eyes.
"Yes," Ingvild said. "Since you're acquainted with Faiser."
Serafall laughed, surprising me.
"Looks like you found a good queen, Faiser," she said, smirking. "I have no choice but to support you in the meeting that's guaranteed to happen."
This went surprisingly well. I guess I had Ingvild to thank for that.
"Queen relies on her king, and a king relies on his queen," she whispered into my ear. "Don't forget that."
Yes, Serafall was right.
I had chosen the best queen.
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{A/N:A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters.
Apologies about the delayed posts. I was taking a little break, went on another health check up, and spending some time with my family.}