HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Chapter 20 - The True Raven

Apparently, my Grandfather, Corvus Lestrange, was the reason Mom knew so much about the Supernatural World beyond the Wizarding World.

Our Family had something to do with the Supernatural World and possessed quite a bit of information about it.

With my Mom being the only one among my Grandfather’s Children with a brain, he had made sure to educate her on these matters to preserve House Lestrange’s Legacy for the next Generation. My Uncles, Rabastan and Rodolphus, on the other hand, were completely clueless.

I guessed Voldemort might be aware of the Supernatural World through other sources. It wasn’t exactly a great secret. Probably most old Families, the Ministry, and various other organizations were aware of it.

Still, it wasn’t a topic you wanted to discuss on a doorstep, even in a heavily warded home.

Right now, he was leading us to a place where we could discuss these matters properly.

A Library?

An really big one.

It looked even larger than the Hogwarts Library I remembered from the Movies.

“Oh, am I finally allowed to enter the Forbidden Section of the Library?” My Mom asked with interest as Gramps led us deeper inside. “I was even allowed into the Restricted Section after completing my fifth year, but you were adamant about never letting me enter that deepest Room.”

“You saw everything you could use when I taught you our full Legacy. Everything else in there is the duty of the Head of House to protect until the right time.”

Grandfather replied stiffly.

“Even I couldn’t touch anything else in there.”

“Okay, what are you two talking about? Restricted Section, Forbidden Section... How many Sections are there?” I asked with interest.

“Just three. This right here is where most of the Books are.”

She nodded her head toward a thick door we were approaching.

“Then there is this Restricted Section. Like in Hogwarts, it contains advanced and dangerous topics of Magic. You will probably find quite a few Tomes here that are older than anything in the Hogwarts Restricted Section. And a lot more Dark Magic.”

“And that Forbidden Section?”

“No idea. Like I said, I’ve never seen it. Some very old History Books are in there. Besides that, its Door looks very inviting and is far too heavily warded to sneak in.”

Mother shrugged as Grandfather opened the heavy wooden Door.

“Good thing you were not stupid enough to try to bypass those Wards. There are some really nasty Curses on it. I lost my foolish younger Brother to them.”

Grandfather added.

“But I agree. If you don’t know what’s in there, the Entrance looks far too inviting. See for yourself.”

Great.

A Magic Door that killed my Great Uncle.

But I could see what they were talking about.

The Restricted Section was quite a bit smaller than the part of the Library we had just walked through. Several rows of Shelves were filled with old-looking Tomes, along with multiple locked Glass Displays containing even more interesting-looking Books.

Yet the Books weren’t what caught your Eye first when you entered this Section.

There was an Ancient-looking Stone Door straight ahead on the other side.

An occult Emblem was carved into it.

It wasn’t quite the Emblem of House Lestrange. While both featured a Raven, this one was missing the double-sided L with a Crown beneath it. Instead, it showed a Raven surrounded by several circles filled with Occult Symbols.

Honestly, this looked like a Magic Circle.

I could literally see the Magic pulsing through it, but I didn’t know enough yet to tell what its purpose was.

No wonder Mom was curious about what was behind it.

“It’s the oldest part of the Building. The entire Mansion was constructed around that Room.”

Grandfather explained as he led us toward the Stone Door before holding up his Hand and showing me the Ring on his Finger, engraved with a Raven.

“Usually, you need the Lordship Ring of House Lestrange to open this Door. But if I’m right, then you should be able to open the Door yourself.”

Yeah, no. I think I am going to pass on that.

“You just told me that Door killed your Brother. I am not going to touch that.”

Mom chuckled.

“It doesn’t kill you on touch. I even pushed against it, trying to get in when I was younger.”

“Your Mother is right. My Idiotic Brother tried to blast the Door open.”

Grandfather grunted.

“All you need to do is place a Hand on the center of the Circle. If I am wrong, nothing will happen, and I will still show you the Room since you are my Heir and need to learn the Legacy either way. I don’t have long left to live, and I would prefer to teach you everything you need to know.”

“And if you are right?”

“If I am right, then you should be able to open the Door yourself and gain full access to it. The Lordship Ring only lets one enter the outer layer of the Room. It contains our Family History and the necessary information, nothing more. The Core is warded until the true Heir arrives.”

“True Heir of what?”

“Of our Family Legacy, of course. That’s all I know myself.”

I looked at the two of them before sighing.

Yeah, no point in hesitating. I would only find out what was going on by touching the Door.

Placing my Hand on the rough surface of the Door, right in the center of the Circle, I felt a small drain of my Demonic Power. Simultaneously, the Circle began to glow blue.

“I knew it! Just as our Ancestor foretold. One day, his true Heir will arrive, having fulfilled his last wish and becoming a Devil like himself while carrying his Bloodline!”

———

— At the same time, in the Underworld —

Deeply engrossed in his top-secret research Laboratory on the flying island of Agreas, Ajuka watched as his newly calculated Magic Circle activated.

The pitch-black Feather placed atop it began to glow with the intense golden Light of pure Holy Power. If there had been any Devil below Ultimate Class present in his Lab, they would certainly have been seriously injured, if not outright killed.

But for a Super Class Devil like Ajuka Beelzebub, this was nothing more than a tickle.

He didn’t even notice any discomfort. Instead, he was far too focused on his Kankara Formula, using it to analyze the Experiment in front of him. He was almost in a trance.

Only once the Holy Power subsided did his attention fall back onto the Feather, which was now a pure white.

A small, satisfied smile graced his face. He loved it when one of his Hypotheses turned out to be true.

“Another successful Experiment,” he muttered before his smile turned into a neutral expression again. “And another Experiment that shall never leave this Lab.”

The next moment, his Kankara Formula washed over all records of this Experiment, encrypting them with the highest level of encryption he could manage. The number of people who would ever stand a Chance of decrypting it could be counted on one hand.

Even then, they would need Centuries.

Sometimes, his own Curiosity was simply too dangerous. But once an idea sprouted in his head, he just couldn’t not try it out.

This was pretty much the Curse Ajuka had to live with his entire life.

But even the threat of a War could not stop Ajuka from satisfying his unending Curiosity.

Suddenly, another wave of Magic washed over him.

One he had never expected to feel.

“Huh, I was wrong?”

Ajuka looked confused.

“Who would have thought that you were right, old man? Well, a Deal is a Deal. Your research helped me with the Evil Pieces, and in exchange, the registration is completely legitimate. Even the Great King Faction can’t do anything about it. I made sure of that long ago.”

But he was still curious.

How did this happen?

According to his Calculations, the genetic makeup of Wizardkind should have been far too corrupted to ever awaken their Devil Nature by themselves.

Yet, the Seal would not break for a reincarnated Devil. Evil Pieces had their downsides, too. They couldn’t restore the original Devil Bloodline of a being descended from a Devil who hadn’t inherited that Gift.

Still, only a Devil who had inherited the Bloodline Ability of the Old Man could properly open that Door.

And just now, that had happened.

Which meant that a Witch or Wizard had awakened that particular Bloodline fully.

———

“Wait, the Ancestor you are speaking of was a Devil? Is he the one who founded our House?”

I asked, my gaze shifting from the Door that had just opened toward my Grandfather.

“We are direct descendants of a Devil?”

“Yes, but not just any Devil.”

Gramps nodded.

“How much do you know about the Origin of Wizardkind?”

“The Ancestor of House Malphas, the very first Malphas, one of the 72 Devil Pillars, was tasked by Lucifer himself to find an alternative Method to create more Devils. He experimented on Humans, but the Devilification Process, or whatever you want to call it, never fully succeeded. Instead, he created the first Wizards.”

I gave them the Summary of what Rias had told me.

“That’s... a lot more than you should know.”

Gramps said that hesitantly, as if I had just ruined his big revelation.

“You pretty much summarized a lot of the History you will find in the Books inside. It’s not something you would find anywhere except in the oldest records of the most Ancient Pureblood Houses. Even the Ministry is not aware of this. Did you tell him?”

He asked my Mom.

“I did not. I knew he knew more than he should, like about the Dimensional Gap or being a failed experiment to create Devils. But this is far more detailed than I expected. I didn’t ask this morning, but how do you know this, Alistair? You mentioned having Sources, but what are they exactly?”

Mom wondered.

“My Sacred Gear established a direct connection with the current Heiress of House Gremory. The younger Sister of Satan Lucifer himself. We are Friends, and she has access to a ton of information.”

I shrugged.

“What?”

Grandpa Corvus asked.

“You already have connections to Devils? They pretty much blocked all Contact with our kind after Grindelwald caused World War 2. No, wait... you have a Sacred Gear? And how can she be Lucifer’s younger Sister if she is a Gremory?”

“Seems like the Wizarding World is pretty much out of touch with Devilkind. Even if Contact only broke down after World War 2...”

I realized, not commenting that I knew all this thanks to my Meta Knowledge rather than Rias.

“The Original Lucifer, like the four Satans, is dead. She is Lucifer’s because Lucifer became a political Position instead of just a Family name. Her older Brother was a Gremory, and gave up that name before he took on the Title of Lucifer. As for my Sacred Gear and everything else, can’t that wait until we are done here? I also still want to know how Mom knew I was in another World. You said I would learn about it here.”

Before Mom could reply, Grandfather spoke up first.

“That’s simple. We have a Family Tapestry that can tell the approximate location of every Family Member. It’s in another Room. I will show it to you later. You being on a completely unknown Continent limited the possibilities of your whereabouts quite a lot. But you are right. We will discuss everything in detail later. There is a lot I want to know, and I also have to teach you about your Position.”

I gave them a nod, agreeing to the proposal.

Since I had already openly discussed my Sacred Gear with Mom, I saw no reason to hide it from him.

But I absolutely wouldn’t reveal anything about my Reincarnation.

“Your rough History about Wizardkind is correct, but slightly incomplete,” Grandfather continued. “Our Ancestor, the first Malphas, didn’t just get tasked with the creation of new Devils. In fact, he managed to do that.”

“What?”

“He succeeded in creating new Devils out of Humans. But that was just the first step. The resulting Devils were only low-class in Power, without any special Traits or noteworthy talents. It also happened in a time before God—”

His eyes widened when I flinched at the name.

“Pardon, the biblical deity, created the Sacred Gears. Those newly created Devils were nothing more than mass-produced Cannon fodder.”

“Then what was his true task?”

“Isn’t it obvious? To create more powerful Devils with Bloodlines. More Devils like himself and the other 72 Pillars that were directly born from Lilith. But with each Devil Lilith gave birth to, her own body deteriorated until she couldn’t be used anymore. That’s why Lucifer tasked the Devil with the greatest Gift for Magic and Research at the time with finding a Method that could be used to create more gifted Bloodline Devils.”

Grandfather explained as we stepped into the dark Room that had opened up in front of us.

“Is that why some Witches and Wizards can speak Parseltongue or are Metamorphmagi? And where do Muggleborns fit into the whole equation? If Wizardkind was created thousands of years ago, then how come we still get new ones every Generation?”

Wasn’t that a hole in the entire explanation?

“That is exactly how the Pureblood Houses gained their Bloodlines. The Blacks got their Ability to change their appearance. The Ancestors of Slytherin gained the Ability to speak to snakes. There are, or were, several Variations of that for different Animals. Veela are, in fact, a Bloodline Ability and not a Magical Creature. It was simply forgotten over time.

“Of course, not all those attempts were successful. Some became magical without Bloodlines, while others didn’t become magical at all. Muggleborns may be a result of that, or of Squibs who married into the non-magical World, or simply a combination of both factors. It is hard to tell, since after thousands of years, it is difficult to track the exact Ancestry of Muggles.”

He admitted as we stopped inside the completely dark Room.

I could see perfectly fine as a Devil, but Mom and Grandfather couldn’t. With a wave of his Wand, several Torches placed around the Room illuminated themselves.

It was a circular Room, with several rows of Shelves filled with Books lining the walls. In the Center was another Magic Circle surrounding a single Pedestal with something placed on it.

“So that’s what is in the Center. A Pedestal?”

Grandfather muttered as he stared at it.

“What do you mean?”

Mother asked as she looked around the Room herself for the first time in her life.

“Oh, I only know the Shelves with the Books. The Center was completely covered in darkness that couldn’t be looked through or passed, ending right at the edge of that Magic Circle on the Floor.”

He explained.

“Alistair is the only one who should approach the Pedestal. Whatever it is, it has been placed there for him.”

While I took in the sight, I nodded at his words.

“I will do so. But first, what is our Bloodline Ability? I haven’t heard of an Ability unique to House Lestrange!”

[-- End of Chapter --]