17 Chapter 17: Unfurling Mysteries

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Chapter 17: Unfurling Mysteries.

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- Damien -

I looked around me.

It was a room full of light once more.

I knew this place. It was the place where I was brought to get my Essences from that Devil.

"How rude. I am not a devil, you know. And even if I was, it would be the pot calling the kettle black, right?" I heard a voice behind me and snapped to look in the direction of the voice.

"YOU… .! " I didn't think I would have snarled like this at anyone.

"Hey there, getting a lot of hostility from someone who saved your ass." That green eyed devil smirked.

"Which wouldn't have been needed had your Essences worked properly."

"My Essences are working perfectly fine, thank you. It was you who was in a hurry and didn't even ask for the instructions."

"How were they working fine? The Blank Essence was supposed to make me have no limits. My soul wasn't supposed to be damaged in the first place."

"Yes, that's true. It's just too bad that you drank it at the end, everything was already done by then. I remember there being a saying about haste making waste and what not."

"You could have told me." I gritted my teeth.

"I could have but… . You didn't ask me… . And… . " An unholy amount of power weighed down on me, "I am not your servant."

The pressure disappeared, just as abruptly as it had appeared. "Now that the pleasantries are over, shall we get back to the more important talk?"

I took a deep breath and nodded at him. It was hard to not snap at someone who was basically the cause of me being in that hellhole in the first place.

"So you might have already found out about some abnormalities in your soul."

Understatement of the fucking year.

"You see, the thing is that your soul was already quite damaged when we met the first time. My Essences don't do any harm to its users. The reason it did so for you was that you already had a damaged soul and the rapid influx in power was tearing it apart. I had only one way to fix it. Fuse your soul with someone else's soul. Growing a soul was more effort than I was willing to make. The only non divine soul I found that could support the power was Lucifer's. Actually there were a few others but this one seemed the most interesting to use and was the best match."

I am pretty sure that I had my jaws open by now. I couldn't detect any lie from his statements. Then again I doubted any power would work on this guy. That show of strength a while ago was something beyond anything I had felt before. My consciousness kept the infinite willpower at bay and could understand how vast the power scales in the world truly can be and yet this guy seemed to have dwarfed all of those with his mere presence. Such a man wouldn't have any need to lie to me and even if he did, not that I could do anything about it anyway.

"You see, Lucifer was made by the God of the Bible in that world and thus when you touched the True Longinus, it led to the power inside it to mend some of the damage and repair a part of your soul or rather merge the two parts better. Lucifer had already lost most of his consciousness and all that's left are fragments of his memories. The merger will give you those as well as his powers. As for the Spirit of the God of the Bible, you can meet him after you get a part of the energies from all five holy relics. The Big Guy had a message for Lucifer. You will gain the memories of Lucifer yourself and can decide what you want to do later on. Collecting the energies is however important because that's the fastest method to heal your soul. Any questions now?"

"Why would The God of the Bible's energy not harm me?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. I helped your ass for some entertainment and I am going to get it."

I asked him some more questions I had about the Essences as why couldn't I just produce Ki and other sources of energy.

That was simply because he wanted entertainment and that would be contrary to it. Such an utter BS reason. He did say that I would get almost full access to the Essences when I am completely healed or when the souls finally merge. Until then Essences will be weakened.

"Now off you go. I am a busy man."

The light flashed before my eyes and the room disappeared. I don't know if he heard my 'Thank You' before I left. Despite his reasons, the guy did save my life.

I might be angry but I knew that I owed my life to him, no matter how the start had been. I mean I wouldn't even have a life without his help in the first place.

- Scene Change -

I opened my eyes to see Gretel sitting by my bedside and Vienna snuggled on my other side.

Vienna was asleep but Gretel noticed my awakening and looked at me.

"Master." her voice was a bit hoarse. Was she crying all this time?

"Good Morning. How long have I been asleep?" I asked, trying to get to know about the situation first.

She however didn't answer but hugged me tightly.

I could feel her quivering and put an arm around her, pulling her onto the bed, into a hug. I could feel the wetness from her face, her tears streaming down and making my shirt wet.

I caressed her head softly till she calmed down after a few minutes.

She still didn't raise her head but I could hear her stuttering whispers, "I… thought, sorry, I couldn't. I should've…"

I raised her head towards me and lightly kissed her forehead. "It's fine. I'm here."

"I… I should've done more. I didn't know, Master." she looked like she would break down again.

"I didn't know any better either. You were not at fault, Gretel. Don't put yourself down for it. I patted her back and brought her closer in my embrace.

She calmed down after I reassured her for a few more minutes.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked her after she calmed down a bit more.

"Two days. Merlin and Lady Helena checked up on you as well as the doctors we could bring. They said that you were safe and were probably exhausted from whatever happened."

"I see."

"Miss Vienna didn't leave your side and we didn't inform Miss Kuroka because she would have been worried. It was Merlin's decision. Sean was quite worried and I think he was blaming himself."

"It was no one's fault. I went ahead and touched something that was basically the highest poison for Devil kind. It was stupid of me. Furthermore, I don't think anything bad happened. If anything, I feel much better now than I did before." And I did. I took a few moments to check myself and the changes were huge. I guess he wasn't lying about my soul being healed by the Holy Energy. My demonic power had more than doubled. I was almost one and a half times as strong as a Satan and slightly below Azazel's level with the recent training but this one boosted my power to almost as strong as four times what Serafall was and slightly more than twice as strong as Azazel. And that was Demonic Power alone. I also gained two empty slots of the Binder's Essence because my soul was much better than before and I think I could take one or two more rounds of Divide. I think that my Haki had improved too, being related to spirit and all, but I needed to check on my Conqueror's when I was away from others. As for my other powers, I would need to check on them as well.

To be honest, I am kinda glad she is behaving like this. In this short period of time, she had actually disobeyed my order and done what she wanted to do. I am actually quite happy.

"Dummy." My little gremlin snuggled into my back, murmuring in her sleep.

I didn't get up and let the two girls rest snuggling onto me.

They must have been really scared with the events which took over the last two days.

The girl was probably too exhausted emotionally and fell asleep but I think I heard her whisper, "Please don't leave me, Master."

I tightened my grip more.

- Scene Change -

The room was full of my close subordinates. They had all gathered on hearing that I had woken up. The two Nekoshou sisters however couldn't make it as they were training with their respective teachers so I didn't disturb them.

"So let me get this straight. You somehow gained powers from the True Longinus, the one thing that couldn't be further from your existence and now want to see if the same can happen with the other holy relics." Merlin summarized.

I nodded.

"My apologies, Boss but… Are you freaking mad?" Sean shouted out loudly.

I let out a sigh.

"It's… hard to explain. Trust me on this one. It didn't mean any harm. In fact, let me take one more look at it."

Everyone tensed at my words and only Merlin looked a bit thoughtful.

"Actually, let's do just that. Give him the spear, Sean."

"NO. No one will bring that damned spear anywhere near Dummy." Vienna stood between us extremely agitated.

I spied that Gretel looked like she was ready to cover me in the mists of the Dimension Lost to protect me.

"Have some faith in me. I don't enjoy self mutilation. The energy will not hurt me. I think that He was trying to talk to me but the power was not enough for his will to convey the message. Despite everything, do remember that he was the one who made Lucifer. He was the source. If anything happens, I will be prepared too."

Almost everyone except Merlin were unconvinced and even he was casting every spell he could to momentarily seal the Spear if it showed any reaction.

It took around one hour to convince all of them to allow me anywhere near the spear. Gretel and Vienna were the most adamant.

Cleria was trying to use her Worthless to suppress the spear in case anything went wrong.

Vienna was even trying to use her 'Denial of the Divine' against it at a moment's notice.

Finally, under the spell range of all of them, I touched the Holy Spear once more and it was as if the will inside the spear resonated with my entire soul.

Words came out of my mouth without me even trying to or understanding what I was saying.

"The Lord is my God."

And it was as if a sense of peace and calm enveloped me.

I saw the wide eyed looks of the other people and especially Gretel and Vienna.

All their spells frizzled out as they stated at me in awe and parts terror for some.

Asia for one was down on her knees, her eyes closed and hands joined in prayer.

"What happened, why are you all looking at me like that?"

Merkin broke out of his extremely stunned stupor at first and said nothing but created a mirror with a spell in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and walked to the front of the mirror and the spear fell out of my hands. I snapped back quickly to see if it wasn't a joke by Merlil.

It wasn't.

On my back now stood twelve silver feathered wings. A total of six pairs each. It was different from any other angel. Only Michael was known to have Golden Wings.

This…

"Interesting. This does require some research."

And that made me realize the situation and my composure broke for the first time in a long while and I shouted.

"Fuck your research. Sean, close the link. Take the spear back." The guy in question ran to do so and as the spear disappeared, so did the light around me.

My wings were back to the black devil wings.

I sat on the ground on my back as everyone ran up to me to check me to see if there was anything wrong with me.

There wasn't.

"You! I told you to keep that spear away? Vienna was about to burst with anger before I brought her into my lap and hugged her, pacifying.

"It was an interesting and harmless experiment nonetheless." The annoying wizard commented, earning glares from every girl in the room.

"Not now Merlin. Having a minor existential crisis over here."

He kept quiet. I think that he noticed that Gretel would have seriously attacked him and this time, she would probably have the help of others too.

It took some time for us to calm down but we were back in the room.

"So… Holy artifacts are somehow not hurting me anymore. At least those connected to him. I would still recommend keeping the spear away from me for the time being. I have no intention of jumping down that rabbithole any time soon. That said, find the other users of the Relics as fast as possible. That might explain the reason behind this."

This was met with agreements from almost everyone in the room.

It was when Merlin interrupted once more, "Really? Don't tell me you all didn't notice anything strange just now?"

"Me changing into a freaking Archangel was plenty strange, Merlin. If some minor things escaped our eyes, it can be excused as a genuine mistake. What did we miss though?"

"You were radiating holy aura all over the place yet none of the devils were affected in the slightest. It didn't hurt them."

Did that happen?

"Now that you say it, I think I didn't experience any kind of discomfort either." Helena replied.

"ENOUGH! We are not going to talk about that anymore." Vienna got out of my restraint and shouted.

I looked at her and smiled. Her emotions were all over the place, fear covering a large part of it. Me fainting there must have brought out some very unpleasant memories.

"Shorty calm…"

"NO NO NO. I don't want that spear near Dummy again." she shouted.

This was probably her first big tantrum but her shaking grip on my arms told me everything I needed to know. I shook my head towards others and they kept quiet too.

I will have to let Ophelia talk to Vienna and maybe even Gretel after this.

- Scene Change -

It took some time but I managed to put Vienna to sleep and left Gretel to watch over her.

I returned to the room.

Only Merlin, Helena, Ophelia, Cleria, Sean and surprisingly Lavinia were present.

"So… what's this about?"

Lavinia spoke up but her tone was a bit off. "I might know the location of one of the Holy Relics."

"Oh."

"It's with a witch called Augusta." she said frostily.

Augusta? Wasn't it with Walburga or something? It took me a moment to recall that Walburga was Augusta's student and the Incinerate Anthem was passed onto her when Augusta died.

Still to verify things.

"She doesn't have an apprentice called Walburga, does she?"

She nodded.

"Good. Do you know how we can reach her?"

"I don't."

Then I will have to wait for her to appear. She had appeared to cooperate with the Utsusemi Organisation in the Slash Dog part. I remember that much. I don't know if such things will still occur but at least something similar might happen considering I have left many things on that part left untouched. I will have to keep a watch till then.

"Anyone have any ideas on how to find them?"

"They were on the darker side of the spectrum and live in a private dimension. They rarely are caught outside. It will be hard to get a hand on them. I will ask around in some Magician circles but I don't expect much."

I was trying to avoid the Holy Relics previously except the Sephiroth Graal if possible because I had no idea how they would react to me but now, things have changed.

"By the way, do you have any connections to the Golden Dawn? I wanted to find the information on one of the students there. Meredith Ordinton. She has a sort of a special identity so it might be a bit problematic if things are done too overtly. I have a few reasons to believe that she might have a Holy Relic as well. Also, please send the people into the Vampire Territory. I want to find out about those Dhampirs. There is a fair chance that the girl has the Sephiroth Graal."

"The Vampires don't allow anyone inside their castles. Even with the current business relations we have with them, I cannot get any of the higher ups to meet me directly most of the time I visit, let alone get them to talk about information like these.Our business links are improving because we are importing a lot of bloodstones from them for our new medications. But that has only made them more arrogant. We need something that would bring them to us instead of the other way around or it will take more time to find what we need."

"Why don't we just go and grab what we want?" Sean asked.

"Vampires might not be the most friendly of the bunch but they have plenty of connections with several factions as the only supplier of Bloodstones. They are politically connected. Moreover the identity of the one Damien wants is a bit complicated. She is the daughter of the King of the Tepes Faction with a Human woman. He basically wants their princess. Kidnapping her is bound to get found out in the future and that would bring a buttload of trouble, not to mention attempts from other factions to do the same to us would then be justifiable. There are some lines you just don't cross. Thus Boss wants Ophelia to just buy them off if that's possible or help them make a run for it from where we can pick them up.But what we need to have for that is, their location. Moreover the Vampires are just too vindictive and they might just kill off those targets just out of spite rather than let them fall into our hands."

All of these stupid reasons were making me really annoyed.

"One year. If you can't make progress within that time, I will go there with Gretel and help them make a run for it myself. I don't have much leeway now."

"What's the deal with this Meredith kid then?" Sean asked.

"She might be the bastard daughter of a member of the British Royal family."

….

"Really Boss, are you getting a princess fetish or something?" He looked at me amazed.

I merely deadpanned at him.

"That leaves us with only one Relic left. The Shroud of Turin. The Shroud was stored in a Cathedral in Italy and I don't think normal people are even allowed to see the real things. They only have a replica for the tourists and visitors. The Shroud is guarded by several high ranking members of the Church and only an order from the Pope or Heaven itself can allow someone to see it. And I don't think any of those two would allow us if we kindly asked." Merlin completed.

"We will think of something when the time comes."

These things can repair my soul. The thing that has been weighing on my mind since I was born in this world and I am not going to miss this chance.

"Sean, start mastering the spear. You are probably the best user we can get in the team who can use it. Also keep it slightly away from Vienna and Gretel. My fainting must have brought out some terrible memories. Ophelia, please see that they get those issues resolved soon. Vienna is ten. She might need more help in that regard. Gretel was better than I had expected her to be."

I walked to Merlin and touched his forehead, marking him with my Binder's Mark and giving him the nerfed Archmage Essence, Mad Doctor Essence and Blank Essence. His eyes glazed out for a bit and I felt a chill on my back.

On a second though, I might have unleashed a completely different kind of monster on this world just by this action.

I waved it off for the time being and continued, "I have given you a part of my power. You must have already understood how to use them. Since you didn't want to change into a Devil, this will help you break the ceiling."

"I think you misunderstood me, little brother. It's not that I don't want to become a devil. I just don't want to become one under anyone else. If someday you can change me into one, I will agree happily." He smiled. "But this…. you have been holding out on me. Or is this the new power you got from the True Longinus? If so let's go and rob the other Holy relics. Heck, I would have robbed the relics of other pantheons for this too. I can definitely understand why you would suddenly want to take such an action now." He said while forming different types of magic circles and quickly turning them around on his palm.

"This is my own power. I have had it since birth. I can however only give this to one person in around a year. Some of my subordinates still haven't gotten this mark yet and will have to wait for the next few years. The Holy Relics are somehow increasing the potency of the overall power. It also has some other powers which only I can use." I explained to him upfront. He was already sworn to loyalty towards me and he would figure it out on his own. It was better to explain things up front. Merlin is someone I'd rather be as open to as possible.

The guy kneeled on one knee in front of me. "Then I will prove myself to be worthy of this honour you have given me, My King."

"And I expect no less."

- Scene Change -

I looked at the sheer destruction that I had caused to the area in front of me and let out a breath. The increase in power had been amazing. So much so that my control had become a mess. Although even after the large country sized dimension where Kuroka's Chakra Fruit was formed initially was now a smouldering crater, I barely felt winded or even had a heavy breath.

The attacks however were very inefficient. I couldn't control them as well as I used to. I had gained reasonable control over them in the last week, since the incident but there was still much work to be done. The 88% efficiency was nothing compared to the 97% I had before.

Merlin on the other hand was like a beast on steroids. He had drowned himself in research and training since he got the Essences. The time dilation in the Innovate Clear Dimension was increased by a fold now. He even managed to incorporate higher gravity in the place which made it a perfect training ground for everyone. The best part was that he could manipulate the environment to attack any and everyone inside the dimension, from a blade of grass to an entire mountain could be used. This was the best possible training for Observation Haki as well as Senjutsu.

I might have accidentally created a monster but knowing the situation I am in, I cannot afford anything less than this. After all, every Sirzechs needs an Ajuka as a helper.

If I don't have one, I can just create one for myself.

The incident seemed to have pushed my entire team into some kind of realisation and they had increased their training by at least a fold. Even the extremely mild-mannered Victoria was going out of her way to train her combat abilities and even joining us in practice.

The ones who took it the hardest were probably Gretel, Vienna and Kuroka who later found out about what had happened and had drowned herself in further training and most surprisingly Sean.

The guy never shows it outwards but he is a big softie inside and that incident must have hurt him a bit because he was technically using the spear. He had asked his best buddy Sigurd for help and was offered lessons by Brynhildr in both spearmanship and runes. On second thought, wasn't that exactly the thing that Scáthach was famous for? He had removed his Sacred Gear before going there for training so as to hide it from Odin or any other Norse God that might take a peak. I want to see how much he can learn from Asgard in his stay there. The Norse runes and Spearmanship are quite good.

Vienna was bringing Akeno together with her while she trained. Ophelia had calmed her down reasonably but she still refused to leave my side for a few weeks after the incident.

Gretel on the other hand made even Merlin look like he was lazing around compared to the training she was putting in. She had devoted herself into developing a defensive technique using her Space Manipulation and Dimension Lost that can stop any kind of attack. She wants it to be the first of its kind and her own original technique.

Apparently my Essences becoming stronger made the Essences of the bound subordinates stronger too.

"My Lord. There has been progress in our research. We have cracked the Sleeping Disease." I suddenly heard Helena's voice sounding through our link.

"Really? Wonderful. Did you test it on any patients?"

"Yes, My Lord. Eleven patients have been checked and we have managed to awaken each one of them."

"What about her?"

"We were waiting for you to arrive before we start anything."

"Very well, I will arrive there momentarily.

And I did just that. Informing everyone that our newest member was about to awaken, I teleported us all to the hospital where Ingvild was being kept.

The hospital staff were moved out to a different wing. The place where we were was warded off properly as a cautionary measure against any panic attacks Ingvild might have. In terms of Demonic Power she was as strong as Serafall even after just sleeping for a hundred years. That's not even considering her Sacred Gear and Clan Trait. I bet if I turned her into a full devil and gave her a Binder's Mark, she would reach the same level as Gretel. A natural born Pseudo Super Devil at the very least. With the nerfed Essences and her other powers, she would easily become a Super Devil. Such a Devil having a panic attack could be pretty dangerous for the surroundings and thus the security.

Merlin put a ward around the place and I gave Helena a nod to continue with the process.

She injected some medicine into her arm. There was no reaction for a while but then demonic power began to rise suddenly.

I threw a few barriers up and Gretel released greyish mist around the place but as soon as the power increased, things calmed down too.

The girl in question slowly opened her eyes and looked at us in surprise.

"Hello, Miss Ingvild. Congratulations on being awake again. I believe you have many questions in your mind but let's put them aside till the doctors check you first." I was using the Bewitching Voice Trait and the girl nodded. She had woken up after an extremely long time and was probably very disoriented right now. It would be better to let her recover for sometime than spring everything on her right at the start.

She nodded and Helena took some tests while our group left the building. Merlin had sealed her Sacred Gear and put a small seal over her Demonic Power. Moreover the girl herself didn't seem trained in Devil Magic either. So Ophelia, Helena and Cleria would be more than enough to keep her under control in case she had a panic attack again.

The first awakening was dangerous because the medicine temporarily created a massive surge in her demonic power which jolted the patient as some kind of a shock to the soul.

This was as dangerous as it sounded and the patient had real danger of snapping due to the stress of their souls.

The girl was asleep while she lost most of her family and I wouldn't call the last one family though. Normally, she would have rather killed her than let a 'taint' on her bloodline survive. She will need long term therapy too. Man, the Supernatural world could solve a lot of troubles if they had decent therapists.

On the matter of therapy, I recalled something else.

- Rias -

Rias stepped inside the building with her Queen following her. She had managed to attract her attention with the information Damien had given her.

<Akame>

'The Devil always keeps his deal.' The cheeky guy said and she could feel his smirk on the other side of the call.

Apparently the brother of her Queen was innocent, well kind of. He was being experimented on and the King that was killed was doing some illegal activities.

Although she couldn't tell any of it to her brother or any of her family members because she had no proof of it, the information that her brother could be innocent was enough for her new Queen to follow her easily. She had dragged her to the first place she had promised Damien. To a therapist. Although she had to tell her some things that only she and her brother knew to reassure and convince her that she wasn't tricking her. It was honestly harder to convince her family to allow her to bring her to a therapist but her brother had supported her decision. He had arranged a meeting with the best Psychiatrist in the Underworld, Lady Ophelia Paimon. She was one of the most prominent figures in the underworld regarding mental health due to her Clan Trait, the Bewitching Voice.

The trait was so influential during the old days that the stories of the devils being able to seduce people to do their bidding came from their Clan Trait.

The Paimons are also expanding into the medicine industry in the human world. She heard this from Sona that they are a massive hit and had taken the Pharmaceutical industry by storm. Some people thought that she was using magic which was quickly proved to be wrong. It proved to be a simple non-magical type of medicine.

This led them to think that Lady Paimon got a genius peerage member under herself but she never commented about that.

Sona's family were even thinking about having a partnership with them in case they were going to expand in the Underworld but they were apparently in contact with the Sallos and the Dantalion and were very chummy with the heiress of the Glasya-Labolas so they are waiting for a right opportunity. Some people even talked about Sona being engaged to Ace Paimon, the younger brother of Lady Ophelia but he was apparently in a relationship already or so the rumours went. Moreover there was a great age difference between the two.

Also if the rumours were to be believed, Lady Ophelia was seeing someone too and was planning to leave the Lordship of the house to her younger brother quite soon. Her mother had been quite adamant that she remembered everything about the person she was going to meet.

Ophelia Paimon was one of the most successful businesswomen in the Underworld. She took the Lordship of her House at the age of eighteen after her father passed away in the Civil War and had brought her house to become one of the most financially stable ones. While not exactly Phenex in terms of wealth, she was one of the most well connected people in the Underworld.

Her mother had asked her to make a good impression on her if possible.

She came here today with Beowulf as a guard for her and her queen.

"Miss Rias, this is the office of Lady Ophelia's suggested doctor. He will report the details of little Akame to Lady Ophelia who will then take care of the main therapy. Would you like for me to follow you there?" Beowulf asked both of them.

"No. We will be fine." She replied looking at the office in front of her. There was a name tag on the office. Dr. D. L. Cypher.

"In that case, I will be waiting outside. Please tell me if you require anything."

She nodded and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

She looked at her Queen and nodded before entering the doctor's room.

Inside sat a man with Black hair and dark purple eyes, sitting on the other side of the desk. He lifted his head and their eyes locked. "Sit."

<Dr. D. L. Cypher>

She didn't know why but she felt her heart flutter at the voice.

She quickly shook his head. Damien was much better.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Rias Gremory and this is my queen, Akame. We were asked to meet you by Lady Paimon."

"Yes, Ophelia did tell me about it. So, this is your Queen." They both nodded and he continued. "Tell me about your experience with your Queen."

"Akame is a good person. She is currently depressed because of the incident with her brother so she is not speaking much but I know that she is a very kind person."

"Oh, and why is that? I mean there are rumours going around about Youkai being violent and all."

She grit her teeth. "That is not true. Akame has never done anything to harm me and I am sure she never will."

"Are you sure those are not just your inner wishes painting her to you in that colour? I mean she is your Queen, your first peerage member. Your entire view might be jaded for all I know. Are you sure the words you speak are all correct?."

This man… She wanted to punch the guy in the face especially when he had that annoying smirk when asking those questions.

"I am not lying. Akame is a very kind person. Anyone else would have left their family to die but she didn't give up on her brother and it's affecting her this much. She is a really caring person and I know it. " She grit her teeth and replied.

"Really?"

"I do not lie…" She took a deep breath.

"Oh!"

She stared right into her eyes. "I do not lie… that's what humans do."

The man suddenly stopped and started at her with slightly wide eyes and then burst out in a laugh.

Rias felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. Dammit, he had looked so cool when he said this.

"Oh that's hilarious. I am inclined to claim copyright but it is the truth. But really, that was very well played. Keep this up and I might really fall in love with you, Princess."

"Really fall in love… What are you saying? Mind your word... s… Princess! You…"

The man in front of her smiled once more before the black hair turned silver white and the purple eyes turned electric blue. The face as well as the entire body of the man changed and in front of her sat Damien Lucifer, The Devil in all his devilish glory. Did he somehow become even more handsome somehow in the time they didn't meet each other?

Akame tensed seeing the change so she quickly turned to her. "He's my friend."

"I am." He smiled towards them. 'My apologies for the hurtful words I just said but the words, although hurtful were necessary to reassure someone. Are you reassured now that she will be safe with Rias?" He snapped his fingers and the corner of the room glimmered slightly and there stood a guy with five tails and two fox ears swinging from side to side. He didn't look at anyone but Akame.

<Akira>

She felt her Queen still.

"Akira." She heard her whisper slowly.

The boy lowered his head and looked at the ground. "I am sorry for making you go through this Akan… . "

His words were halted as Akame hugged him tight.

She looked at Damien who just smiled at her. "Thank you."

"I am the Devil of my word, Princess." She rolled her eyes at the ever cheeky reply. "So, what's this I'm hearing about you giving up on lying. I appreciate it though but what brought this over?" He smirked knowingly at her.

She turned her head to the other side in embarrassment. "So, how did you get here? I mean not that I am not happy but this is still a surprise. You know Lady Paimon?"

"I needed to complete my deal, Princess. Also, Akira joined my team so I couldn't let him be sad." They both looked at the siblings who were talking to each other. Also a nice diversion there. You didn't answer my question." He smiled.

Tch, he caught onto that. The world would sooner see bunnies made from jelly beans take over it than her accepting that she said those words because she thought it sounded cool.

"Well you didn't answer my question either. So let's call it even."

"Let's do that then." He smiled and they talked about various topics.

"So what does the name mean? I thought you didn't lie and yet see you are lying about your name."

He turned the nameplate on the table towards her. On it was written, Dr. Damien Louis Cypher.

Damien Louis Cypher?

Ah… . that's clever and a bit cool too.

"I never claimed to be anyone other than me. If most people misunderstand things after, it's just a happy coincidence."

By then the two siblings were done with the talks and the brother looked towards Damien. "Umm Boss. That thing you gave me. Can I give it to my sister? I promise you that I will train and not be a burden even without it." He asked with a lot of hesitation while looking at Damien.

She saw Damien narrow his eyes. "Are you sure? You want to give it up? That's a chance that people would kill their entire families to have and you want to just give it up?"

"Yes Boss."

"Wait! I don't need anything. I am safe and I have everything I can need in this place. Akira has to stay outside, he will need more power. Please don't give anything to me." Akame shouted.

"I don't think you should worry about that. As you are right now, there is a high chance that you will die if you eat that. You need great control of Senjutsu. Even more than normal for you because of your Evil Pieces. Moreover the changes that will bring will attract too much attention towards you and will make everyone too suspicious of you. We can't have that. You have only heard about the changes it brings but haven't seen the real thing yet. Believe me, it's beyond anything you are imagining. " I saw that Akira was listening to me. "So, I propose a solution. Everytime you come for therapy, you will meet Akira and he will teach you about Senjutsu and in a few years I will make one more of that for you. By then if Rias and you are strong enough, no one will have the guts to raise their voice. I will support you too."

"I… thank you Boss. I will work for it. I won't disappoint you at all."

All of them talked for around an hour till it was time for them to leave. She was actually surprised that Beowulf didn't even notice anyone like him inside the room.

Is he really that strong?

She quickly shook her head and looked at Akame who was looking far more relieved.

"Rias."

"Hmm!"

"Thank you."

"It's fine. You are now a part of my family. We Gremorys always take care of the family."

They didn't speak anymore words to each other but somehow the silence itself was very comforting for them.

To help out her new peerage member, she had to become very strong in a few years. She had to do the same to keep her promise to Damien. She needed to increase her training more.

- Sean -

Sean was thrown into the ground for the umpteenth time. The teacher he had here was merciless when training. Apparently she was training Sigurd too but the guy was treated completely different from him. Then again, he supposed he was a third wheel in the situation where they could be having their murdery and stabby dates. The regular Norse stuff.

"Ireland's child of Light. I was expecting more than this from the reincarnation of the 'Son of Lugh'. I had the opportunity to fight that old man and he was very skilled with his spear. Don't shame his name. Get up." The white haired Valkyrie twirled her spear and looked down on him on the ground. Sean swore that he had some sort of bad luck with white haired women or they were just scary in general. Boss Lady was dangerous. Cleria could be very dangerous too. He just prayed that the Shorty and Shirone didn't change when they became older. That would suck major balls.

"Give him a break, Brinhyldr. You are someone who can fight Gods with your spear and he, while good with spears, hasn't had the time to bring out his full potential."

"And he will not reach there at this rate either." she sat down beside Sigurd while he pushed himself to his feet once more. "It's time for your Runes lesson. I have called for the student that your Boss was interested in. I have seen her file and she's related to Gondul, one of the senior most of the Valkyries and a premier Sorceress of Asgard. Although the reports say that she hasn't inherited her family's special affinity and thus cannot learn their special magic."

This attracted Sean's attention.

Boss called for a student?

The Boss never took anyone without exceptional talents or backgrounds.

"Is this girl also a reincarnation or a Sacred Gear user?" He asked curiously.

"She's a pure blooded Valkyrie and no one's reincarnation. Father has already checked. I might be thankful to your boss for saving Sigurd but even I wouldn't promise the reincarnation of any hero to him. When I talked to her parents, they gladly agreed. Her grandmother was reluctant though and had to be reassured that she will be taken care of properly and be treated well."

That's strange.

Then again, The Boss just knows things sometimes.

He nodded his head. "The Boss treats every one of us like his own family."

"So my Sigurd says to me and thus I choose to put my trust in you."

He followed her to the class to see a girl… another silver white haired girl. Seriously, what's up with that? Does the boss have a fetish for this too? Or does he want his future children to look like him so much?

The girl herself looked to be around her Boss' age, maybe a year or so younger. She was even looking very serious, her gaze never leaving his teacher. To be honest, she sort of looked like the Boss Lady only with blue eyes.

Oh!

Yes, nothing going on between us, his ass.

The Bossman had the hots for the Boss Lady and just like everything else, he just hides it very well. On second thought, he might not even realise it himself.

Yes yes. His unreasonable powers, his insane strength and growth, his planning and ruthlessness aside, he was still a brat who just started growing his pubes. Of course, he won't know about the things related to the heart. It seems that he would have to send this secret report to Merlin and guide the Boss to the correct path.

Who knows, it might also help the boss lady to chill down a bit.

"Introduce yourself child." Teacher asked.

"My name is Rossweisse. I was told that I was called by Lady Brynhildr to be taken as a student.

"Yes, I did. I will be teaching you all that I can before you will be sent as an ambassador to a very important future ally of Asgard. Do you have any problems with it?"

"Umm….."

"If there is a problem then state it freely, child."

"What are the contract details? How much will be the payment and the amenities? Will there be holidays every year? How are the working conditions and what are the work details?"

….

….

Of all the things he had expected the girl to ask, this was the last one. Then again, such types of girls will be eaten alive back at home. He smiled thinking about the future he will get to see when he returns back home with the new teammate.

- Interlude -

- ??? -

"You really enjoy annoying him, don't you?" A female voice was heard in the white room.

"His reactions are just too adorable." A male voice that was just talking to Damien was heard soon, replying to the first voice.

"Still you could have easily fixed his soul despite the damage. Throwing him among those people was quite mean."

"Dear, if I wanted to destroy a world, I would be much more suave about it… Just throw a Black Hole at it or something, not throw an idiot with too much power than he knows what to do with, at it. That's what I call being mean… to the whole world." The first voice replied nonchalantly.

"Well… I can't disagree with that. The moment that guy was sent, his mental state was quite… unstable. But in hindsight, now it's obvious. You merged the soul of Lucifer with his own. It would be strange if he didn't have any destructive thoughts. Still… I have to commend him on getting over those and becoming who he is now. A normal human would have turned into something else, mostly a mass murdering supervillain or something on those lines. You were quite lucky there."

"Oh, if only that were so. You see, I don't just choose people and throw them in to see if they work. Here, take a look at the guy's file, his previous reincarnations."

A file floated in the middle of the room.

Pages turned and all the previous reincarnations of Damien appeared on each page until the last one.

"This! … but how?"

"Hahahaha now that's an interesting story in and of itself. I for one am waiting until he figures it out. I bet his face will be glorious."

The first voice sighed lightly. "You have really weird ideas of fun sometimes."

"Oh don't act like you don't like it."

"Weird doesn't necessarily mean bad and I never said I disliked it. Still… to think it would be something like this…"

The voices disappeared from the room and only the file remained, and on the last page of the file, the picture of Damien's adult face lay with a name beside it.

…

…

…

…

Helel.

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