Chapter 8 : POV Crimson Satan (Patreon)

Bael Territory, Underworld

–Sirzechs Gremory–

As he watched the newest heir of the Bael House leave, many thoughts churned through his mind, some of them good, but many of them bad. If Zekram Bale and Zephyr Bael had already poisoned Magdaran-kun with their thoughts, then the situation would go from bad to worse, especially considering his strength.

Hidden as it might be, he was the strongest user of the Power of Destruction alive; any other user of PoD in his vicinity is transparently visible to him. The hierarchy of the trait meant that he could more or less judge the level of strength the boy had cultivated for himself.

Satan Class at 18. An outcome that was supposed to be impossible, as even he and Ajuka had needed over 50 years to reach similar levels of power output, and yet…

Sighing, his gaze slid to the corner of the room, right next to the door that led to where Misla-san was resting, “So, what do you think?”

The space in front of him glitched for a moment before Ajuka’s form was revealed to him. Like always, his gaze was not focused on what was in front of him but on his wrist, where the familiar magic circle that represented the Kankara Formula was active. It was one of the things that made Ajuka the devil he is today.

The ability to translate the world around him to numbers, his specialty, and then manipulate them as he pleased. 

“He was lying,” Ajuka remarked offhandedly, but the admission made him clench his fists. If Magdaran was involved in the plot to get Misla-san out of the way, then it meant that it was too late, that–

“He is not the one who did this. He just knows what happened to her and probably the person who did this.” He looked at Ajuka, confused as to what he was talking about. 

Ajuka looked up from his circle, gave him a dry look, “I can’t explain everything about my formula to you. I wish I could. All I can tell you is that his emotions and mannerisms did not read that way to me. He, however, does know something about it.”

“I see.” He remarked before moving on to the more important part, “What about his strength?”

“He is strong. Satan Class,” Ajuka remarked flatly, as if that was something normal about their kind, “As you couldn’t get him to use his power, I can’t say for certain, but the fact that he reached this level of strength this early almost certainly means that his trait is mutated. Also, no, he is not an impostor.”

He sighed in relief at the confirmation. Not many people interacted with Magdaran on a daily basis. He was the oddball of the house, preferring to remain by himself, train by himself, and not involve himself in any of the House’s activities. From what they could gather, he spent most of his time in the Pits and was regularly gone for months on end.

A perfect recipe for someone strong to kill him, take his place, and impersonate their way into becoming the heir of the Bael House. A position that was not as influential as one would think, since Zekram was still alive and nothing happened inside the house without his knowledge, but was also influential, because countless devils looked up to the Bael House and their official heir, saying something will remain in their minds for generations to come.

The position was influential but not as powerful, as most of the real matters were handled by Zekram and his chosen few, of which Zephyr was not one. Even a fool could tell that.

The Pits also explained a part of his abnormal strength. The main driver of devil growth was not training or Rating Games but real life and death battles. Even a single battle where a devil barely survived could be more beneficial to their growth than years of training.

Devils hardly grew in peacetime. And that created a vicious circle for them. As they couldn’t let the Devil population fall even further, with their fertility being what it was, but the devils training peacefully without any threat hovering above them, something they had worked very hard to ensure, did not grow as much as they should. That had never really been a cause of concern for them since they were not lacking in firepower, and the Reincarnated Devils helped them plug the population shortfall, but even he could tell that it was not the perfect method.

The Reincarnated Devils needed leadership, which did not come from the Pillar Houses. Someone strong enough to reach the top 10 ranking of the Rating Games would have been an ideal candidate, but alas, no one has been able to breach that barrier yet. 

If Magdaran Bael possessed the potential to become a Super Devil, like him and Ajuka, then the balance of power, which was already skewed on the side of the Pillars, would tilt even more. So far, all the Super Devils were on the other side of the Pillars, and even then, the discontent amongst the Reincarnated Devils was rising.

If a Devil of Magdaran’s calibre ended up sharing and promoting the same ideology that he worked very hard to suppress, then things might just end up being dire for the Underworld. To prevent that outcome, if he had to do some things he swore he would never do, then–

“We should call a meeting about this. Put it to a vote.” Ajuak interrupted his dark thoughts, still engrossed in his magic circle, but he was aware that Ajuka knew everything that happened around him.

Sighing, he leaned back into the chair, realising that this constant state of vigilance and anxiety was tilting his thoughts in the wrong direction. The only cure for this was meeting his precious little Ria-tan! Ah! He couldn’t wait to see her. He had a lot of—

“Ahem, Sirzechs-sama,” Grayfia’s voice brought him out of his reverie as she looked at him meaningfully.

Realising that he had been caught, and wanting to move past it, he quickly cleared his throat and looked at Ajuka, “So, what is your diagnosis about Misla-san?” 

“It is the Sleeping Sickness,” Ajuka answered before he flicked the magic circle forward, the circle morphing mid air into a live display about Misla-san and if he was reading it correctly, the flow of Demonic Energy within her body.

“It is…slowing down?” He asked, leaning forward to take a better look. He had seen these readings before, for other devils, for other patients of the Sleeping Sickness, back when it was relatively new to the underworld, and there were calls to have it thoroughly researched as the chances of just going to sleep one day and never waking up was daunting for any devil, let alone the rich old Pillar devils who were terrified of it. They would much rather go out in a blaze of glory than this.

The flow of Demonic Energy in normal devils and the flow of Demonic Energy in Sleeping Sickness patients was very different. For the patients, it was as if the Demonic Energy flow was reduced to the lowest point possible.

This one was different. The flow of Demonic Energy's flow was reducing over time, something that had never been observed before, since the very nature of the Disease was unpredictable. By the time people realised what it was, too much time had passed for them to diagnose the early stages.

“It’s new information. Based on this, we can trace the origin of the Sleeping Sickness, if we are given total access.” Ajuka gave him a pointed look at that, and he had to sigh once more, realising the futility of it. They were deep in Bael Territory, a place that was deeply unwelcoming to any of the New Satans.

Now, simply by virtue of their power, they could waltz in, even kill the devils who would obstruct them, and the people here would rejoice at that, at the Satans finally acting properly, but they would never acquiesce to a proper request. Anything bearing their symbol, that came as a request and was within their rights to reject? It would be rejected, irrespective of what was inside.

Sure, they were here right now, but this was not an official visit, or sanctioned by the Bael House. There was an implicit understanding that if they wanted to, truly wanted to, no one could stop them, which is why such secret visits, as long as no noise was made, were of no issue.

But if Ajuka wanted to do a full tracing of everywhere Misla-san went, everything she ate and drank, everyone she met, and more, then it would not be a secret anymore. They will oppose them fiercely.

On one hand, he was loath to break the rules he himself had instated for everyone to follow, and that included the Super Devil Satans, but on the other hand, this was the best shot they had to gather as much data as possible on the elusive Sleeping Sickness, for Ajuka to finally have a shot at clearing this.

Serafall, in particular, would be over the moon if they figured out the cure for a previously incurable disease.

Sighing, he turned to Ajuka, “How long until the tracing does not work?”

“I don’t know. That is the issue, I do not know, which is why we must do this,” Ajuka said, with a rare hint of frustration in his voice. He could understand that. This was one of the few diseases that had no data on it whatsoever, except the one they could get off the patient, which was basically none, according to Ajuka and the people in his lab.

Something to do with the Demonic Energy and how once it had reached that almost dead state, nothing could get it to flow properly again, with no way to ascertain the way the body and soul were damaged.

And without understanding just how the damage was done, they could not create something to cure it, if such a cure even existed. Souls were a topic very few people could understand properly, and Ajuka, the one with the foremost understanding of the subject, could not conclusively tell him anything.

“Fine,” He slapped his knees and stood up. Turning to Grayfia, he ordered, “Make sure we have one of our own guarding her and Sairaorg. Make sure I get regular updates about his mental health. If it gets bad, tell mother, she’ll bring Rias over.”

Grayfia nodded as he turned to Ajuka, and both of them disappeared using their respective magic circles, to attend the meeting that Ajuka had already called beforehand.

___xx___

New Lilith, Satan Meeting Hall

“He’s Satan Class at WHAT?!!” Sirzechs sighed, leaning back as the voice of Serafall reached him. Seriously, it could be counted as a sonic attack on its own.