The night was young and the ballroom of Castle Phenex was dazzled with both artifacts and people of beauty. The wine was flowing, the banquet spread stretching the entire length of it. A mangnanimous, extravagant celebration, the likes of which only the richest house could afford, and even then for special occasions, for in their long lives, devils held little regard for the usual birthday celebrations. But today, was a special day, and it ca with very special guests.
As I made my way across the room giving greetings, tending to the guests and socializing as was expected of , I spotted from the corner of my eye, my father, up in the gallery giving the signal. 3 fingers raised. T minus 3 minutes.
Finally!
I nodded and turned to the newest and last pair of guests I'd have to entertain.
"Lady Vassago, Lord Amon, thank you for gracing my celebration with your presence." I bowed.
"How could we miss such a thing! You'll only be ten once." Lord Amon laughed jovially, his rather large belly jiggling the hems of his coat like a ship's sail.
"And congratulations. May you live a long and prosperous life." She said, brushing her deep blue hair to the side, before she snapped her fingers at a nearby attendant.
He nodded and began to bring out a series of trays, full of gifts, covered with the finest satin.
"Oh, you shouldn't have, my lady." I made the polite gesture to refuse. Of course I wanted gifts but, you know…
"Nonsense. With your friendship with Eneely and Iolava, you're practically family. You wouldn't refuse gifts from family, would you now?"
I was close Eneely, sure, but family? Pfft.
We both knew the real reason they were here. And he would he here any minute now.
"How can I, when you put it so tenderly? Which reminds , where is Enie?" I asked.
"Oh she should be around here sowhere." She waved a hand and looked around before crying out, "Enie!"
Her voice was soft, yet by so magic it found exactly its target, disturbing nary another soul. Their clan trait, Nostalgia, the ability to find and bind both objects and people depending on the ti they spend with them. A terrifying trait, when used right, as it possessed the power to enslave anyone, given enough ti. The ultimate prep ti power.
A little girl, the spitting image of Lady Vassago in a 1:3 scale, scuttled over, clutching her flowing rose pink dress in both hands. Her eyes lit up when she saw .
"Riser!" She jumped on , pulling into a bear hug, squealing in a cute voice, "Happy birthday, happybirthdayhappybirthday!"
"Thanks, Enie." I patted her back before gently prying her off . I am not weak of will but no way am I falling for the world's most obvious mind control, though she may not an it.
"Where were you?" Her mother pinched her ear.
"I was looking for Iolava. He's ran off again."
"Hahaha, he's just ssing around with his friends, no doubt." Lord Amon laughed.
"Don't worry, Enie. When I find him, I'll send him straight your way." I assured her, before turning to the two clan leaders, "I'm sorry I must excuse myself. But the ceremony is about to begin.
"Don't let us hold you up, now. Go on." Lady Vassago said, and waved off.
I bowed again and politely excused myself.
Just as I made my way to the gallery, I saw a magic circle appear at the top of the stairs, bearing the symbol of the guest of honor, two overlapping Tau symbols with a devil tail curled around them like the neck of a swan.
From it erged, a bewitchingly beautiful man with li green hair and soft, almond eyes.
Ajuka Beelzebub.
My father and the red-haired gentleman beside him, bowed slightly in greeting before my father rang a spoon on his glass attracting the attention of everyone who hadn't already noticed the Satan's presence among them. A hush fell over the room, as all eyes turned to the gallery.
My father walked up to the edge of the railing and raised his glass.
"Beautiful ladies and gentlen of the underworld. Lord Ajuka. Lord Zeoticus. First and foremost, allow to thank you all for coming all the way here, to witness this celebration. Lord Ajuka, thank you for personally making the journey, and taking the ti out of your busy schedule to share in our joy. We are extrely grateful for your consideration."
Ajuka Beelzebub lazily waved him off, awkwardness oozing out of every pore of his body.
"It was no matter. I was free for the evening." He replied casually.
This guy…he's just really laid back, isn't he?
Well, I don't dislike that.
I likewise walked up to them and bowed.
"Lord Ajuka, Lord Gremory. Thank you for coming to my birthday."
And they nodded in acknowledgent. I didn't mind. This was no ti for small talk.
My father spoke again.
"Today is a special day, not only because it is my son's birthday, or because it is the day he gets his Evil Pieces, but also because we have another announcent to make. But all in due ti. Let us first comnce with the ceremony so as to not waste Lord Ajuka's ti."
Ajuka Beelzebub nodded, and walked over to , kneeling beside at eye level. He flicked his hand and from thin air, pulled out a tombstone shaped slate made of so type of dark obsidian.
"Usually, you would have to go to Agreas to get registered as a King and obtain the Evil Pieces, but just for today, I have made an exception." Ajuka explained, pointing to the slate, "This one-ti use artifact is connected to the Monunt of Kings on Agreas. All you have to do is drip your blood on it, and it will summon your Evil Pieces for you."
In truth, I had already gone and secretly registered on Agreas last week, but father wanted to show off our wealth, and promised a few favours to the governnt, including clearing out a portion of their war debt- yes, from the civil war 500 years ago. That was still a thing, despite their best efforts. It's just the nature of governnts. The post war reconciliation campaign wasn't cheap either.
All in order to reinforce the impression of our power.
He was so extra sotis. Still, it was a brilliant move politically. I have no doubt that after this and the other announcent, clan Phenex will have secured absolute authority within the eyes of the rest of devil nobility.
Now, to do my part in this charade.
I transford my left hand into a claw, and decisively slashed off my right hand at the wrist, without so much as a whisper. It took all I had to contain myself from crying out in pain, and my teeth clench so hard I could almost hear them creek for a mont as they ground against one another, mitigating the waves of pain wracking my body.
I could see both Zeoticus and Ajuka wince at that, but what ca next shocked them even more.
Catching the severed hand mid-air, I squeezed it into little more than mangled paste, draining the blood onto the slate, in a show of utter ruthlessness. It was a ssage.
We don't hesitate to do what is necessary. No matter the cost or pain. A masterclass in politics.
As the last of the blood drained into the slate, it seed to absorb it all hungrily, like an insatiable sponge. Then, it began to shine, emitting an eerie blood red light. And from within the slate, began to erge sleek, bone white chess pieces, marbled with wine red veins of blood that seed to pulse as if they were alive.
Fifteen of them.
Then Ajuka Beelzebub's perfect eyebrows perked up in surprise. I followed his gaze to see a pawn erging at the end of the slate with an additional set of grey veins alongside the red ones, like calcite upon marble.
"A Mutation Piece!" He pointed out.
"How rare!" Zeoticus Gremory added, "Sha it's just a pawn."
A Mutation Piece, the bug in the Evil Pieces system. It was a special kind of piece that contained far more power than usual. It was said that if a mber of their peerage required more than one piece to reincarnate, a devil could substitute all those pieces with a single Mutation Piece. Though, it was just as rare as it was overpowered. Only one in ten devils had a single mutation piece in their set, not to ntion more than one.
"I'm happy there's at least one. Doesn't matter if it is a pawn or not." I said, "I will cherish it all the sa."
"Well said, son." My father patted my back. He then turned to Ajuka Beelzebub and thanked him again.
"Lord Ajuka, I would like to thank you once again for doing us this favor."
"Don't ntion it." Ajuka once again waved it off.
"Though, if you wouldn't mind, we would like you to stay with us for one more mont. We have an announcent to make, and we would like very much for you to witness it."
"That's fine with ." He shrugged, and slunk back from the foreground, as my father began his speech.
"As we said before, today, we have one more announcent to make. Tensions have been rising as of late, the number of stray devils…." My father droned on as I retreated next to Ajuka, and grabbed his attention.
"If it isn't too forward of , I would like to ask you a few questions." I whispered in a soft voice.
"Shoot." He replied nonchalantly, already lost in thought ,about so new invention most likely, zoning out.
"Can regular Evil Pieces change into Mutation Pieces later on?"
With that, I got his attention again.
"Sotis, when a devil, reincarnated or otherwise, experiences explosive growth in power, their Evil Pieces can evolve into a Mutation Piece. But this is even rarer than the chances of a Mutation Piece appearing in a regular set. I can count the number of tis it has happened on my fingers."
"Which is?" I pressed and he gave an amused look, unused to such interrogation from others, in fear of his status.
"Eight tis."
"A lot more than I thought." I mused.
"And what if I used the Evil Pieces on myself?"
And finally, he stood up straighter, eyes peeled on , intrigued.
"That is…certainly a novel view. But as the pieces are tied to you, you cannot gain anything even if you used them all on yourself. They are a part of you, so doing that would be no different of self-cannibalization."
"But isn't there one piece missing in the set. There should be a king piece too, right?" I asked innocently, and for a mont his face flashed with suspicion. But then, it subsided as quickly as it ca.
"There is no king piece. " He said, his expression softer now, and he pressed one finger to my chest, "Because you yourself are the king piece."
Heh. So, he has already invented the King Piece, huh?
Guess, I was a little off about the tiline. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to Kuoh sooner rather than later.
"And what if soone has already been reincarnated, but their master is dead? Can they be reincarnated into a new peerage then? In that case, what happens to their original piece? Is it like trading peerages or do the pieces rge? And what if-"
"I think that's enough curiosity for one day, little Phoenix." He cut off, and pointed at my father, "You might want to pay attention to what your father is saying now."
I returned my attention to my father and Lord Gremory and saw them holding hands, raised high.
"…and in that spirit, we would like to announce the union of our two great houses, through the engagent of my third son, Riser Phenex and the heir to the Gremory clan, Rias Gremory."
A wild cheer erupted from the crowd, and my father called up forward, but I noticed sothing they hadn't.
"Father, Father-in-law. Where is my child bride?" I asked.
Lord Gremory looked behind him, and saw no sign of his daughter. He let out a sigh, muttering 'Satans damnit, Rias' under his breath, while an unexpected peal of laughter rang out from behind .
"Pfft…fuahahahaha!" Ajuka Beelzebub was laughing, clearly amused, as he pointed at , "I like this one."
Lord Gremory just shook his head and held up a finger.
"Just a mont."
He cast a magic circle on the ground, and from it erged a redheaded little girl in a pure white dress, going just, full hog on a piece of strawberry shortcake. As the light of the teleportation circle subsided, the little gremlin froze mid-bite, like a deer in headlights, scanning over us from the corners of her eyes before slowly taking one last bite, and swallowing the entire half of the pastry that was left, whole.
"Why are you like this Rias?" Lord Gremory groaned, rubbing his temples in disappointnt.
...............................................
Rias Gremory (5) being an adorable little gremlin.
Riser milking Ajuka.
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