Chapter 9.1 : The Fate of the Third Super Devil (Patreon)

New Lilith

–Serafall Sitri–

She hummed a jolly tune, skipping through the halls of their HQ, which primarily functioned as the meeting place of all the Four Satans whenever needed, and the hidden function of acting as the command center for any future wars they might have.

Ugh. Future Wars.

She hated how that was almost a given with their race. Like, this small patch of time of peace was an anomaly, not the norm. Sometimes, she wondered why she even bothered trying so hard if her mind had already resigned itself to the fact that there was going to be yet another war in their lifetime, and judging by the numbers she saw daily, that another was going to be the last war for Devils.

The Civil War nearly wiped out the Devil race as they knew it, with Ajuka’s inventions being the only reason they got this much breathing room to try and stabilise things, but if they had to go through another war? Internal or external, it mattered not. Devils as a race will find themselves extinct, if not immediately, then in a generation or two.

Smiling and waving her hand at the devils who worked in the building, she made sure no one knew what was going through her mind as she entered the elevator, to get to the secured meeting floor. Sure, she could have teleported into the secured access zone directly, but where was the fun in that? 

People needed to see them, not just moving about, but in a good mood. If the rest of the underworld saw them downcast, then the effect would spread before they could even step out of New Lilith. That was something Ajuka understood but refused to act on. To be honest, none of her fellow Satans were really suited for this job.

So, the job fell on her. Despite being responsible for Foreign Affairs, she had to also worry about internal morale and had to specifically take out time for her show, which worked as a motivator for more and more devils to participate in the Rating Games and grow their strength.  

The tactic of letting any man marry her as long as he could best her in combat was one such incentive that riled up the masses, though the older ones, the people in power, had long since realised that even if someone with the power to defeat her did show up, they were not going to survive long enough if they had bad intentions towards her. 

After all, it was difficult but possible to find Devils who were approaching her in powers and with a few centuries of training, match her, but to find Devils capable of matching Ajuka? Sirzechs?

That was just delusion, which is why she was not really worried about that. And hell, if some Devil did appear that could defeat both Zechs-chan and Ajuka-chan at the same time, then, well, the entire Devil race would be his servant, most of them even willingly. After all, the concept of might makes right was ingrained in their very DNA. 

Very few devils could ever get past the instinctive reverence that was hardcoded into their DNA, towards more powerful devils. She had long suspected that it was a mechanism that Lucifer installed in them to make sure that they always obeyed the more powerful, i.e, Lucifer and the Pillar Devils.

With a stereotypical ding! sound, the elevator doors opened up, revealing an empty hallway reading to a large door. The lack of guards would have been suspicious to anyone who did not know that half of the entire Devil race’s fighting power was gathered there. If anyone could waltz in and kill all of them, then the rest of the race had no future whatsoever.

Plus, it was also due to privacy reasons, or so she told herself.

Throwing the doors open, she declared with a sing song voice, her favourite opening line, “Magical Girl Levi-Tan is here” She twirled on the spot, waving her wand around, before pointing it at the table where all three of them were–

“You’re late.” Ajuka flatly remarked.

She stumbled in the middle of her set, glaring at Ajuka as she zapped him with her magical wand! Ajuka didn’t even react as he looked at her. She slumped, dispelling the costume and the wand as she stomped towards her seat, grumbling about stupid, boring devils.

“Now that everyone is here, Ajuka,” Sirzechs said as Ajuka operated the table. The face of the newest Bael heir popped up in front of them. He was young, only 18, and more importantly, born to one of the maids who died soon after. Yeah, that was not suspicious at all.

The only thing of note before he was chosen to become Heir was the fact that he hadn’t received his Evil Pieces. Even if he was not heir before, the fact that he was chosen heir now meant the Bael House had already designated him as the Backup heir, which made the fact that he still didn’t have his Evil Pieces all the more alarming.  

Even if they did not do it before, they should have done that before declaring him as the heir. Something was wrong here, but not so wrong that Ajuka had to call in a meeting with all Four Satans.

“This is Magdaran-kun, the current heir of the Bael House.” Falbium was already asleep on the table, so the duty of giving a dry look to Sirzechs with a questioning raised eyebrow fell to her. Then, Sirzechs continued.

“He’s also a Satan Class Devil at 18.”

Her entire body froze on the spot as Falbium woke up from his sleep slowly, his gaze sharpening as the hologram in front of them expanded to show the calculations from Ajuka’s Kankara Formula.

As soon as her mind finished processing those words, the words were blurted out of her mouth in the form of a shriek that had Sirzechs leaning away from her, “He’s Satan Class at WHAT?!”

“We are here to discuss what to do with him.” Ajuka remarked as she whirled on him, “What do you mean by that?”

Sirzechs interjected here, “We believe he had something to do with Misla-san’s Sleeping Sickness. I don’t think anyone here wants someone of that calibre going into the hands of Zekram Bael and his ilk.”

No, she did not. A potential Super Devil was monumental news all on its own, but if said devil was firmly in the pocket of Zekram Bael, then that meant the balance that was already slightly tilted in Zekram’s favour would scale so far that there would simply be no point to their government. 

They had made progress so far. Slow progress, yes, but progress all the same. They had done it by not stepping on the many many toes that the Great King faction and the Old Satan faction had, all so they could do stuff without upsetting the balance too much. Because upsetting the balance too much led to festering resentment and anger on one side, and that led to thoughts of war that would end up destabilising the entire race, wiping out any progress they might have made in the past centuries.

Centuries of progress, gone. If one side starts feeling too pressurised, but if one side ends up gaining a Super Devil that had no scruples about using their power to further their own goals? 

That would be beyond damaging. It would be irreparable to the current government structure. 

Sometimes, she wondered why Sirzechs and Ajuka had to be the good ones, the calm and restrained ones. If they were even a little bit more willing to throw their power around, then they might have actually established a lot more, brought about lasting change, all before the Great King or the Old Satan Faction had time to stabilise themselves. Then, they wouldn’t have to worry about the current stalemate they were in.

Sighing, she addressed the elephant in the room, “So you want to kill him?”

Sirzechs looked slightly uncomfortable at that but still nodded slowly. He was like that. Unwilling to get his hands dirty, but will do it if the end result is a net good. And denying any of the current factions a Super Devil was definitely a net good, especially if this one was completely beholden to Zekram, which could be changed. After all, once you have power, true personal power, especially at the level of a Super Devil, there are not many beings in the entire universe who could command you.

Zekram Bael certainly was not counted in that short list.

“Are we sure of his character?” She asked Ajuka.

“No. We have incomplete information regarding that.”

“But to get more information, you would have to go through Zekram Bael, and that is basically impossible.”

“Not unless you call him here,” Falbium interjected there. He then explained his plans, “He will have to come to Ajuka to get his Evil Pieces. You can get a better read on him there, and if it looks like the boy is too far gone, we can finish him off there.”

“Absolutely not,” Sirzechs vehemently disagreed, which was understandable since doing that would mean destroying the trust every Pillar had in them. If they could kill the heir of the Bael House, out in the open, while he was there to get his Evil Pieces, then the loss of trust would be disastrous, resulting in the same outcome as the other factions gaining an active Super Devil.

The dissolution of their current government.

“Will it be worse than them getting a Super Devil?” Falbium countered Sirzechs, and then they began bickering, which was her cue to step in.

“Alright! Stop!” Thin spikes of ice that sprouted below the table, pointed at a sensitive location, made both of them stop, and turn towards her, who gave all of them a sweet smile.

“Ajuka-chan, based on your models, how long do we have until he becomes too strong for us to handle?”

“Best case : 10 years. Worst case : 4 years.” Ajuka delivered the news that would have made anyone laugh out of the room. It was only because Ajuka delivered the news that they even entertained the thought of believing it.

“I see,” She nodded calmly, ignoring the turmoil in her mind, and then turned to Sirzechs, “We observe him for two years, then. We give him multiple opportunities to act in the public sphere. The more information we gain, the more it is helpful for us. Do remember that a third Super Devil who is even remotely decent will be a huge boon to us and to you as well.”

Sirzechs nodded, though she could tell that the matter of Misla-san falling ill to a disease no one had been able to make heads or tails of was troubling him. 

Sigh. “I might be able to get something Zekram wants, in exchange for cooperation on the investigation regarding the Sleeping Sickness.”

It was something she wished to understand, too. All their investments in the medical field had yielded results for many things, but that one disease continued to stump even their best researchers. It would be great PR if they managed to get the disease solved, as most of the afflicted ones are Pillar devils.

“In exchange, however,” She began to lay down her conditions, only for Ajuka to beat her to it, “The Sitri Medical Foundation will be credited for the cure.”

“Thanks, Ajuka-chan!” Well, Satans were supposed to be impartial, but who was going to arrest them for such small stuff? Plus, she was not even the worst offender.

He nodded while being distracted by the magic circle on his wrist. With the heavy topics done, she wanted to do some small talk, but Ajuka was gone before that.