Chapter 7 : Innocence Lost and Resolve

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Chapter 7 : Innocence Lost and Resolve.

- Damien –

I hurried back to the Old Satan Faction headquarters as soon as I heard Vienna's message and my mind ran into an overdrive.

Why so suddenly?

The possibilities made me clench my fists in frustration and rage though.

The only things I could think of was Aria speaking of these things to Razevan and him killing her in rage or him maybe…. looking through her mind, seeing our conversation and attacking her.

….

I should have removed her memory of our talk.

Guilt threatened to overwhelm me while the infinite Willpower was raging to come out and tear everything in its path apart.

I ruthlessly crushed it all under my Occlumency Shields.

We appeared directly outside the residence and I ran inside as fast as possible.

The house was clean.

No one was present.

I spread my Observation Haki outside and sensed someone approaching.

Thousands of thoughts racing through my head.

Was she alive and only unconscious?

Did Razevan leave after simply attacking her and Vienna found her unconscious?

Yes….she can still be alive. Keep control. I don't know everything yet.

Katerea appeared inside soon after, "They are in the public cemetery."

All that hope died.

- Scene Change –

We teleported to the cemetery right then.

I pushed all my emotions down and walked in.

Public Cemetery. In simple words a place where the servants are disposed off. A place where not even pillar devils would bury their deceased.

There were few people, mostly servants. I saw Razevan standing beside the coffin with an emotionless face. Shalba and Creuserey were there but it would be to merely watch a show. Rizevim and Euclid were not present.

I could care less about it though.

I walked and there Vienna was sitting beside the coffin with her body shaking. Her sobs were heart wrenching and for a moment I felt….fear.

I didn't want to see inside the coffin. A silly cowardly part of me was telling me that if I would wake up this would just be a dream. I pushed those thoughts aside and walked forward.

Gretel was holding Vienna but she was holding herself back as well.

Aria had been a mother figure for the poor girl as well but her position didn't allow her to do anything. She couldn't even cry to keep on the mask.

"Damien! When did you return?" I heard Shalba's voice but I walked forward robotically.

The voice however got Vienna's attention as she turned back. Gretel looked at me at that very instant as well.

Her eyes were red from crying for a long time. She ran towards me and hugged me tightly and sobbed even more than before while I could only hold her and walk towards the coffin slowly.

In that coffin lay Aria's body. She looked so peaceful. As if she would wake up any moment and….and….

"D-dummy mama is *sob*….mama is *sob*" Vi's grip became tighter on me.

I stretched my hand and touched Aria's face. Her skin was cold. The same skin that was hugging me not a few hours ago was now cold.

The scene when I had left her hug rudely came back to me and the guilt threatened to crush me with every instant that passed.

I took a strand of hair from Aria's head and slowly slipped it inside my sleeve.

I will see her alive.

After all this is taken care of.

I hugged Vienna as the servants proceeded with everything. Her grave was covered while Vienna wailed and I kept a tight grip on her all the time.

After everything was done, she was desperately hugging me.

By now, her wails had been reduced into choking sobs.

"Vienna, what do you think you are doing? Get away from the Young Lord and return back to your room." Razevan's voice sounded behind me.

My hand clenched.

This Bastard. THIS BASTARD was responsible for everything.

The miserable life of Vienna, the death of Aria, everything….it is his damn fault.

It is all his fault.

However I couldn't feel anger at all.

There were no eruptions of rage or demonic powers. Even my Conqueror's Haki was extremely calm.

….

Unlike what people say, anger is not always explosive in nature.

No.

When any negative emotion crosses a certain limit, the mind goes blank.

There is only a field of white inside one's mind. It may be the mind's self-defense against extreme emotions.

I just couldn't feel any rage at all. No sorrow. No nothing.

Not even fear or caution.

"VIENNA GET BACK HERE NOW."

I then looked towards Vienna and took her hand in mind, "Say goodbye to mama. You don't want to send her away with tears." She looked unwilling but still waved towards the grave.

I took her hand and led her out of the cemetery.

"Young Lord, Vienna needs to be alone for a while. She has to learn how to behave." Razevan said glaring towards Vienna who trembled at the voice.

I turned back.

- Katerea Leviathan –

Katerea was dreading the thoughts of what would happen today since she found out what had happened here through Damien.

She had felt Damien going stiff after their meeting was over and when asked that the human wife of Razevan had an accident.

She already had an idea about what could have happened and she was probably the only one here who had any idea just how close Damien was with the Human woman.

It was something he had hidden extremely well.

While she was actually quite miffed about the fact that someone like Damien would put that much value towards a lowly human, it didn't change the fact that it was true.

It was the same for the half-breed daughter of hers too.

So when Razevan shouted just now, her heart almost stopped beating for an instant.

Damien turned back.

The look in his eyes is something that would haunt Katerea forever. There were no heavy Demonic Power suppressions or whatever it is that he normally does, no anger, no rage, not even a hint of emotion in those eyes. Even back then when he had enslaved her, he held a hint of superiority in his eyes. It was as if his very presence mocked her. It enraged her every time she thought of it but now….now she would rather have that look in Damien's eyes than whatever….whatever this is.

She had to stop him before he did something terrible. She took a step forward but before she could say something, he spoke.

<Damien>

"Are you questioning me?"

Katerea's words got stuck inside her throat. She felt a cold chill run through her spine.

Those four words were said with extreme causality. So much so that it was eerily terrifying.

Razevan too seemed to have a sense of self-preservation so he kept quiet as did Shalba and Creuserey too.

He turned back and took the girl with him while the Lucifuge girl followed.

Katerea let out a breath that she had been holding.

Suddenly a voice interrupted. A servant stepped forward and spoke loudly, "Young Lord Please don't be rude…."

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM

It happened instantly and Katerea put a barrier in front of everyone.

A tall pillar of blue flames erupted all around the servant and rose through the cemetery into the skies.

The demonic blue flames of Asmodeus. The Strongest Demonic Flames of the Underworld. It was the form of passion flames taken to the extreme capable of burning off even souls.

She had no idea that the Young Lord had reached this level with his Clan Trait.

A full minute later the flame pillar subsided. And not even ashes were left.

She turned around to see the haunted look in Razevan's eyes. It was not surprising after all. Razevan was only a High Ultimate Class devil and this attack could have absolutely destroyed any Ultimate Class Devil. Even the Phenex's famed Immortality would be absolutely useless. A soul cannot revive after all.

Shalba was looking dazed while Creuserey was clenching his hands while his eyes were wide in shock.

While all this was going on, she had only one thought in her mind – Had Damien Lucifer finally snapped and stopped holding back?

- Euclid Lucifuge –

He looked from a distance at the pillar of flame that rose to the sky as a shiver ran through his back.

"Uyahahaha Asmodeus's flames. Now isn't that surprising? This is indeed a very interesting development, what do you say Euclid?" He heard Rizevim's voice behind him and turned back.

"It is indeed unexpected to see the Young Lord have this much proficiency with the Asmodeus Clan Trait." Euclid said while wiping off the sweat on his forehead. This was way more than anything he could have imagined. "Still it is a surprise that Lord Razevan's wife died like this. After all the first two…."

"Were unfortunate accidents." The statement was interrupted by Lord Rizevim and he wisely kept quiet.

"Yes….unfortunate accidents indeed. It is just surprising that this one happened while Lord Razevan was present himself."

"Ehh….he might have grown a spine and become a real devil for a change, who knows. Bullying women and children….Uyahahahha maybe there is hope for that useless brat after all."

Euclid was about to say more before he realized that Damien Lucifer was walking in this direction.

"Hahahaha Damien….that was a glorious display of Asmodeus' Flames. He was one of the Devils that I respected. A true embodiment of evil. Took whatever he wanted, destroyed whatever he disliked. Truly a marvelous Devil. So….what made you use those flames?" Lord Rizevim questioned the boy while the half-breed was already asleep and floating beside him. A sleeping spell maybe?

As much as Euclid disliked that brat, his manners never left anything to be desired. He bowed slightly towards Lord Rizevim and then gave an answer that made his blood chill.

"His voice was annoying."

There was no change in his tone, no extra emotion. It was as if that was the most simple answer and the one asking the question should have known it for a fact already. It was as if a common response for finding someone's voice annoying was to nuke them with the most dangerous flames in hell.

It was an answer so surprising that even Lord Rizevim was stunned for a moment before he broke out in a loud laugh that echoed through the halls of the place.

"Uyahahahahhaha wonderful, wonderful indeed. Spoken like a true devil. Devils are the embodiment of all that is evil. Destroy anything you dislike. I like that attitude. Hup hup then, don't let me hold you back from doing any evil you want."

He bowed and left.

No words were spoken.

"This is what a devil should be like Euclid. Yes. He will be interesting indeed. Much more interesting than that disappointing son of mine. I wonder how long he will last though."

"Lord Rizevim….about…."

"About your sister? Well if things can be rewarded, then it can always be taken away for any mistakes. Don't worry about it."

- Gretel Lucifuge –

Gretel followed the Young Lord at a distance to avoid being stopped by others.

Her Master has been the light of her life these years. Since she met him first at the age of eight. A white haired blue eyed boy asked her to play with him and then ordered her when she couldn't gather enough courage to do so.

Gretel had been ordered basically each day to do things before, things that were painful, things that she disliked but that was probably the first time that an order made her feel happy as she followed it.

That was her first meeting with the person whom she would swear her life to. Over the years her time spent in the hall of her Master's house became the brightest time of the day for her. He ordered her to do things that would make her happy, things that normal girls her age should do. For normal people it would seem that he was an egotistical control freak who liked everyone following his orders and to be honest for the first few months even she thought the same. It took her about a year to understand that those orders were actually to protect her. No one could complain if it was Damien Lucifer giving the orders though. Thus no one could stop or punish her for doing things she wanted to.

It made her truly happy then and her trust in Damien Lucifer rose as a person and not just the Young Lord.

Things back where she stayed were never good. She could barely count the number of times she had seen her mother since she turned four. If she used her fingers, she would have enough to spare even if only one hand was used. She hated everything about that place. She hated the person….taking care of her.

Euclid Lucifuge was the one she hated the most in this world.

He tried to make her into a clone of Grayfia. She didn't even know or have any desire to know that woman. As far as she was concerned, she was the reason for her mother to be in that state, the death of her three elder brothers and now this state of hers.

She was never good at the Lucifuge Ice magic because she didn't inherit that power and yet she was forced, tortured to excel at it….just because Grayfia was so. When she didn't succeed, she was caned, and verbally abused for being useless.

She hated it. She absolutely detested it. To become like the one responsible for her pains, for her mother's pains.

Her Mother had once told her not to hate Grayfia and that she covered for her of her own violation. Grayfia didn't do anything….but she was wrong. If Grayfia hadn't betrayed the family, none of this would have happened.

And now she was being molded into a copy of the person she detested.

She hated it with everything. Later she found out that it was also this aversion of her to Grayfia that slowed down her training in Ice Magic.

Devil Magic is based on imagination. If one doesn't want something from the core of their heart, their magic would always hold itself back.

Her hesitation became the source of her weakness which in turn took a toll on her confidence. She was literally on the verge of a breakdown when her Master had first found her.

The small meals with Master Damien, Miss Vienna and Lady Aria were the happiest times of her life.

It was a place where she had no pressure on her to excel in everything she did. No one asked her to be perfect, no one asked her to be….someone she was not. She had always considered that place as her home more than anything. It was the place where she had sworn herself to her Master.

He had given her all of this power. He had seen through all her insecurities, fears and hesitations and in return for all of this, all he asked was for her loyalty and….to be herself.

Damien Lucifer wanted Gretel Lucifuge as his aide….not a copy of Grayfia Lucifuge, not anyone else….just her. She remembered those words clearly even now and she doubted that she would forget it till the day she died.

She was finally wanted by a person for who she was. Although Gretel had never said it before, she was always afraid of being unwanted. She knew how she was born and she always held a fear that even mother didn't want her. Her mother had never been anything but kind and caring to her and had given her all the love she could but in the passing years this thought had always eaten away at her mind.

This was the first time that someone had wanted her….just her, Gretel Lucifuge and that broke down all the dams that had been holding back her emotions all these years. Her training to keep her emotions in check was all bypassed and she cried. She cried like a child.

On that day she swore herself to her Master and….to herself. She would become someone worthy to stand beside Damien Lucifer, The Devil.

It was the reason why she begged him not to interfere when things became worse when she started excelling in her studies.

Euclid made her feel disgusted whenever he even looked at her. She felt dirty. She knew what his thoughts were. Lady Aria had taken and fulfilled the duties of a mother as well for her. But she didn't involve her Master in this. She didn't want to burden him any more than he already was, thinking of a way to escape from this place and survive, protect his loved ones and train. He was two years younger than her and yet he worked much much harder than her so how could she ask for his assistance in this matter. If she couldn't even take care of this, then how would she be worthy of standing beside him.

He had chosen her as his aide. She knew about Lady Katerea, even about teacher Ophelia and other girls who were bound by her Master. Each of them were experts in their own fields. They were beautiful and able and he could have chosen anyone to be at his side and yet….and yet he chose her. So she would do her best to respond to his actions.

This is why she trained. She mastered everything that was taught by the teachers and then everything that her Master taught her. She even explored her Trait of the Power over Space from her father's side all that so she doesn't become a burden to her Master and could become useful to him one day in the future.

She had known her Master better than anyone here so she could understand just how angry he was at this moment. She was desperately shouting through their link for him to not attack when Razevan had tried to take away Miss Vienna.

Master had held himself back desperately for all these years and all this pain was simply for them to have a chance to escape this place. She didn't want him to throw all that away in a moment of rage.

Now she was heading to him in fear that he would be angry at her for her interruptions.

Gretel opened the door to his room. She noticed the barriers around the place and was relieved that she was allowed inside.

Her Master was on his bed with Miss Vienna sleeping beside him with her head in his lap.

She closed the door behind her and bowed, "I am sorry for interrupting you Master."

"No….I am actually thankful that you did what you did. I was not in the right state of mind back then. I am not sure if I am in control even now. I really would have attacked and killed Razevan if you hadn't interrupted me."

She calmed down a lot on hearing this. At least he wasn't angry with her.

"It would have created unnecessary complications. We need to prepare Gretel. We will be leaving this place soon. I just need Vi to get upto pace before leaving." He kept speaking but Gretel noticed something wrong with his voice.

Her Master always kept a stoic face and a simple cold tone but she always felt his emotions through his voice….but right now she couldn't feel anything.

She hated it.

This type of voice from her Master made her feel suffocated. This is not how her Master should be. His eyes looked vacant as he stared towards the wall and spoke.

It was as if there was no life in them at all and Gretel HATED! it with all her heart.

She didn't realize it as she was inching forwards towards him and was almost near the bed.

"….arrangements will be made….Gretel?"

And then she hugged him.

She didn't know what brought this upon her or how she even thought of it but somewhere in her heart she knew that if she didn't do this right now, she would lose something very precious to her. Something that she would regret for the rest of her life.

She felt him become still for a moment but she kept holding and slowly caressed his hair.

"It is fine to cry sometimes, Master." She whispered slowly to him, her own voice cracking.

His breath hitched and she felt his heartbeat increase a little.

"Please….just let it out."

She kept holding her Master and slowly he hugged her. She didn't feel any sobs or cries but she felt wetness on the place his eyes were at and she tightened her grip to take the boy further in her embrace.

They stayed like this for who knows how long while Gretel vowed to herself to become stronger.

- Damien –

I woke up the next day between Vienna and Gretel and suddenly the memories of the previous day came rushing forward.

The pain was enhanced by the guilt that I was probably the cause of Aria's death.

In a way I am extremely grateful to Gretel for last night. If not, I don't know what I might have done.

Occlumency suppresses the emotions but doesn't remove them. There is only so much one can suppress until it breaks all the restraints.

My actions last night were extremely unlike the normal me.

It would probably cause some serious surveillance on me from now on though.

I looked towards Vi.

With Aria now gone, she will probably be the target of all the pettiness that Razevan throws towards her and I am not sure if she can take it.

No.

I won't take any risks anymore.

I have to leave this place as soon as possible and do it in a single chance.

One year.

Even with everything, I will still need one year for this to work.

"Alicia." I called inside my mind.

"Young Lord, are you….?"

"I am fine. I want you to follow a new set of instructions." I instructed before she could ask anything else.

"Yes, My Lord."

"I will be leaving this place in a year. I want a base of operations in a dozen countries. Make sure that the development of each base is completely independent from each other. You can make it look like a new business development or anything else, I will leave it to you. I would like it better if the entire place is hidden from everyone else. Use all the contracts I have passed onto you all if needed. I will be sending more contracts for this purpose and you can pass on any suggestions about the contracts if you want. I don't want any complications in the development of these bases. Try not to contact Ophelia directly throughout this period. Maintain your usual business with her. I assume that she will be under watch too. The contracts will be left in a secure location and you will be informed about the location of the place by me. You can also discuss the plans with Cleria. She will be able to move much more freely than you."

There was a slight pause on the other end. "A year Master? Very well, it shall be done. We had already prepared a few bases before this in case you needed to leave suddenly. A dozen is just an unexpected number but nothing impossible. Do you have any preference on which place to occupy?

Although I will relay that India will be next to impossible. The Hindu Pantheon's rule is extremely strong in the place. "

"I have no wish to have a base in India or tussle with the Hindu Pantheon. Italy, Japan, Britain, and America preferably. I would also like a place near Romania. Others I leave it to your choice. Consult with Helena and Charlene regarding all the Warding and Security details. I will be adding more from my side when I leave this place myself."

"Yes My Lord, it will be done."

I laid back and thought about the next steps to be taken. Looking at the two girls beside me, I wondered just how involved I had gotten with the two of them.

This coming year is going to be an absolute hell.

- Cleria Belial –

Cleria watched the photograph of her deceased lover. Unlike her, he was not marked and thus could not be brought back. His body was already taken away and disposed of. The Church refused to have anything to do with a traitor and Heaven's side was silent as always. Hypocrites all of them.

She knew the real reason why she was prosecuted. It was also one of the reasons why she followed the Young Lord so vehemently because he promised to get justice for Masaomi.

She looked forward towards her student and someone she has come to adore as a little sister now as she practiced her magic.

"Maintain the barrier and do not let the water freeze. Try to reduce the thickness of the shield for every barrier slowly but do not reduce the amount of energy in any of them. Concentrate."

Diehauser, although stoic in front of everyone, is a very emotional person. Her cousin who treats her like nothing but a real sister has also taken a liking to her new Bishop.

Maybe it was her airheaded and pure personality or maybe it was the Absolute Demise Sacred Gear in her possession. Both made her a very interesting student to teach.

She knew that Diehauser was also teaching the Young Lord and was actually quite fond of him as well, not that he would say it out loud anytime.

Suddenly she received a communication and on checking found out that it was Victoria.

"Hello Victoria? It is extremely rare for you to call me. How can I help you today?"

"Something bad has happened Cleria!" Victoria's voice was hurried and tense.

"What happened?"

"Our Lord's….Aria Lucifer is dead. She was killed by Razevan Lucifer yesterday. Lady Ophelia found out that Young Lord was extremely angry."

Cleria felt her heart sink. Damien Lucifer's closest subordinates, the ones he had bound all knew that he was extremely close to three people. Aria Lucifer was one of them. If she really died, then he was bound to do something erratic.

"How is he doing? Is there any information about him?" she questioned hurriedly. Her voice was heard by Diehauser who looked worriedly towards her but she just shook her head.

"Alicia received a communication ordering her to establish bases around the world. He has left some instructions regarding those. Lady Charlene and I were instructed on different things though."

"What instructions?" she asked a little absentmindedly.

"We will soon be getting new contracts. These ones will be used to increase our powers at a faster pace. However we will have to hunt stray devils and some less than savory devils for this. The instructions will all be delivered to us about their hiding places and bases, defenses and skills. Lady Charlene will help in this matter as well. We both will point in the direction and you will have to take care of the matter." Cleria tensed a little at this but pushed the thought aside. The Young Lord's gift had increased her power to identify magic and disable it much better than before. She has been training with her cousin and has gotten much stronger than just a few months ago. She was now steadily in the low Ultimate Class Devil level, moreover just the fact that she can be revived by her Master whenever she dies is already a big support for her. "You will also be offered ways to carry out the operations such that no one can doubt you are behind these attacks. The Young Lord wants the Old Satan Faction to be a bit roughed up so their attention is scattered. Moreover, the more we can curb their power now, the lower their ability to send people to search for the Young Lord when he escapes. If anything he wants all of them to be turned over. You are allowed to use torture of any kind for it but if they are being difficult, just kill."

"Will we be targeting only the Old Satan Faction members?" she asked while pondering over her thoughts.

"The mindless Stray Devils need to be killed and the members of the Old Satan Faction if not turned, will face the same end. We will also be hunting down powerful Stray Devils. As long as they have powerful abilities and Demonic Power, we will hunt them." Victoria explained. "Our Master has asked that our identities, especially yours, should not be revealed. You will start the hunt after you receive the first set of contracts soon." explained Victoria quickly. "It is said to be a gift for you and your peerage members. Master has also said that he will be binding Lavinia too as soon as he gets a chance. He needs to prepare for it though."

"Any ideas what this gift might be?" she asked, a little intrigued. Her Master's last gift had been the powers he gave her. Her magical prowess soared since she obtained these abilities so she was quite excited about the prospect of this new gift. As for Lavinia, she had already known that Master would mark her. He went through so much effort to find her after all. The increase in powers would also help Lavinia grow stronger. To be honest, she wanted to see Lavinia together with Damien. As far as she knew, Damien only had two girls with him and one of them was eight and someone he treated as a sister. The Lucifuge girl is also said to be stoic and serious, not that she blamed the poor girl. She just thought maybe Lavinia's pure and simple nature will be a welcome change for him and also help his mental state a lot.

As someone who liked staying in the human world, Cleria knew about the mental health of people be it normal humans or supernatural beings.

The place where Damien and those two girls stayed was one of the worst places to nurture a healthy mind even by Devil standards.

Maybe Lavinia will be a breath of fresh air in Damien Lucifer's life.

On the other hand Damien's temperament might have a positive effect on Lavinia too. It could make her serious and mature a bit.

In all this time, Lavinia had grown on her and she had come to consider her bishop as a little sister. This little sister however needed someone to support her as well.

"I have no idea. These are just Lady Ophelia's guesses of it being a gift. That said, I do not believe that Master would send any of us into danger without making us prepared for it."

"True."

- Damien –

I put down the last contract in my dimensional storage. This is the four hundredth one.

One hundred of four types of contracts.

It has been one week since Aria passed away.

The house had become hauntingly quiet.

Vienna would simply look at Aria's room and cry while Gretel would try to support her during such times of distress and console the poor girl.

She also supported me by just staying by my side, simply holding my hand and sitting quietly at times. It was more than anything I could ask anyone for.

Especially her whom I knew was suffering much more than me.

The girl I was becoming the pillar or support has become the same for both Vienna and me.

I felt extremely useless for a few days but then decided to push those feelings aside and work even harder to leave this place as soon as possible.

If I want to escape the Old Satan Faction the planning has to be extremely elaborate, meaning that it should not only include how to escape but how to prevent myself and the ones I take with me from being dragged back and I can't even imagine what would happen in such a case.

The first step was to gather a core group which has influence and money.

Yes, influence and money – Power can always be acquired later. Strong people have their movements monitored.

The team I have right now – all the people under my Binder Essence's effect are the core group and the only one even close to that is Katerea who is bound by a deal.

Together they have enough resources and money to make a network for me. Information and knowledge is the most important commodity in any powerful organization.

Even thinking of fighting the entire world alone is the height of stupidity.

This is the same world which sealed even Trihexa and has beings like the Trimurti, Ophis and the Apocalypse Dragon Great Red. I can't even fight Rizevim right now let alone those monsters.

They can always pull an Uzumaki on me and seal me.

Honestly the Biblical God must have been an Uzumaki descended from Naruto. Blonde and with a fetish for sealing.

Currently with the network established, the second part is to establish a base of operations.

Supernatural construction services are extremely fast and efficient.

That said, we took extreme care not to reveal our location. Each person involved in the construction had to sign a contract of loyalty until the work was complete after which they would lose any and all memories of the place constructed. There were other details involved which ironed the finer points until I was satisfied.

This will make it easier to make the location of the bases a secret.

To make sure that they sign the contract about the memory clause, this whole thing was divided into two parts with the memory clause being a part of a second contract which was signed after the loyalty contract.

Devils are very particular about loyalty, so they don't want to sign a permanent contract but still a contract that ends when the work is complete is doable.

The simple glitch in this is….I decide when the work is complete.

The loyalty of so many experienced people at one go is always appreciated.

Several bases to hide all over the world is one of the basic requirements.

The third part is power.

Even if I can simply hide, it won't be enough because I want to reveal myself eventually. This will need for me to make a strong enough force to back me up.

Supernatural Factions don't want wars in general. The Old Satan Faction is an exception because these people are basically whiny sons of bitches who think the world owes them everything. But then again there are such people everywhere, raring to cause war for their own means without any care for others though.

The people I have bound directly, my core team can increase their powers easily with a nerfed version of my Essences. That said, only one person per year is not enough. Also the current rate of the increase in their powers is not enough.

Even a small faction like the Youkais in Japan have an Ultimate Class like Yasaka. And that is not to say that she is weak with there being so many Ultimate Class Devils in the Underworld. Nope.

With the help of the Leylines, Yasaka can exert as much power as a Heavenly Dragon, which is stronger than even Sirzechs, a Super Devil so no one would try to directly attack Kyoto until they can fight off such a power.

I remember that Kunou had to be used to catch Yasaka off-guard to capture her when the Hero Faction was opening the Dragon's Gate.

That was however extremely absurd and if it even succeeded it would have been due to the three top level Longinuses along with several other Balance Breaker Sacred Gear users, Khaos Brigade's support, Ophis' power, etc. Yasaka in her Nine Tailed Fox's True Form is absolutely no joke.

That said the main part of the faction's power is the over a few hundred thousand population of Youkai in the faction. A dozen people can't declare themselves as a sovereign country just because they have a nuke. A few million people together is a whole other story.

Every Faction has their hidden card which can temporarily offer them a power up to fight others off. A small group of strong people can only be like the Vali Team, strong but forced to flee every time.

That however is not acceptable to me. I refuse to simply just hide away my whole life.

So, we will be recruiting many people, through hook or by crook and establish a base such that it would make lives extremely miserable for others if we are touched. Find information and blackmail materials and put spies in every place.

This however is a long term plan. The short term goal is to attack the Old Satan Faction while also collecting power to increase the strength of my core members.

The next set of contracts are the ones which make contracted people give away their powers and unique abilities to the ones who sign the contract.

Increasing the Demonic Power by this method has already been observed by Katerea using the two contracts of the Amon and Shax devils I had killed earlier last year.

There were however some problems.

One of the devils who had obtained those powers didn't have any negative consequences because he was at the same level of strength as the one's whose power he absorbed. The other one however was not that lucky as he started vomiting blood, his internal organs were damaged and he died.

We obtained a rough idea that any devil could only increase their power by the amount of Demonic Power they already had at the very maximum.

It can take anything from one week to a month for a devil to get used to this new power. The control can be extremely shaky.

Imagine suddenly gaining double weight and trying to fight with it. I tried to write a contract for the memory transfer….well it didn't end well.

Almost no devils train in mind arts. Just the usual brute force erasing of memories and hypnosis and almost nothing else.

The transfer of memories even if it was just their combat experience was not good especially with the extremely long lifespans of devils.

Two dozen brain-dead experiments later I decided to let that project rest.

The current mission given to Charlene, Victoria and Cleria will be to hunt down Stray Devils and make the targets sign the contract to give up their powers. This power will then be used to increase their own powers.

The Old Satans will be attacked and those who cannot be converted will be disposed of to reduce the power which can be employed to search for us after we run.

Charlene will give us the information about the Stray Devils since she has access to the information of Falbium.

Victoria will search for the targets using her ability which she has been studying using the nerfed version of my Archmage Essence and has progressed more.

Finally Cleria will be wrecking some havoc. I have already thought of a way to hide her identity. She will be using the Amon House Trait that I have in my possession.

The House Traits of the other houses will be used in these hunts to throw off the trail and leave false trails.

This will cause several internal problems and lack of trust in the already shady bunch of the Old Satan Faction people.

The Old Satan Faction will be facing a team of undying Ultimate Class devils out for blood.

Katerea has already collected the names of several people and information about various bases to target.

The attack will start in a month or so after Cleria finishes reigning in control of her new powers and reaches at least a Mid Ultimate Class stage with it.

But I have to take several measures before this and I have just an idea in my mind.

- Eleven Months Later –

I walked out of the room and washed the blood off of my hands.

The place developed by Shalba to conduct experiments to create Super Devils and increase the power of the devils is extremely disgusting.

Dozens of test subjects of different breeds are in this lab.

This place used anything from new medicines and serums to King Pieces to obtain an increase in power.

I am actually surprised that the Old Satan Faction was shown to be so weak or was destroyed so easily in canon because right now the average power of the people following the Old Satan Faction is almost double that of the current government.

Some of these methods have extremely high efficiency although the side effects leave much to be warranted – not that Shalba would worry about it.

So how did I come here in the first place though?

I realized that I had encountered a roadblock in the development of my Illusion Technique. Almost every race has a different type of energy inside them and the versatility needed to mold all these types of energies into the illusion of my choice is extremely tough to achieve. This could only be achieved through ceaseless experimentations. And what place better to acquire test subjects for the experiments….and maybe even some future recruitments.

So I approached Shalba and asked for help because I wanted to learn torture and interrogation techniques.

Although maybe a little bit hesitantly, I was granted access to the dungeons of the Old Satan Faction first.

It was like I had won a lottery.

Prisoners of almost every race imaginable were present there.

The simple variety and background of many people present here was astounding. Starting from other devils to even Demigods are all present.

I even learned that in all these years many of the prisoners have died but some of these prisoners have been kept here since the time before the Great War and there were many Devils who belonged to the houses which were assumed to be extinct by everyone.

Too bad I only had one Binder Essence slot open right now after my birthday as one of them was used on Lavinia a few months ago so I had to choose.

I did choose one.

She was just too perfect to let go.

Celine is an Eight Winged Fallen Angel who has been here since the end of the last Great War.

<Celine>

Her mind was on the brink of destruction and she was almost a hollow at this point but this is something I simply couldn't allow to happen.

Celine was not an ordinary Eight Winged Fallen Angel.

Nope.

She was a second generation Angel originally.

The daughter of the Great Seraph Uriel of the Holy Flames, one of the four Archangels of the Heavens.

She inherited her father's Holy Flames and was a major power during the Great War. This however attracted the attention of some Fallen Angels who ambushed her and her team. Her entire team was raped, tortured and killed in front of her eyes but she was spared. She heard each of their cries, saw each of them pleading and witnessed the lights fade from their eyes all the while the other Fallen Angels laughed and held her down, taunted her and jeered at her. Almost everything was done to simply make her feel despair.

Safe to say that she snapped and she snapped hard.

Emotions surged and her Holy Flames burned through everything as she let her rage take over and completely lost herself in it for the sake of vengeance.

She succeeded. Each and every Fallen in the area had died a horrible death but….it was too late for her.

Celine had already Fallen from God's grace.

Her wings had turned black the moment she gave into rage having fallen to the sin of Wrath.

She had returned with the bodies of her deceased comrades back to Heaven but was not allowed to enter.

Even the Angels who had fallen during the torture were disallowed for their remains to even enter the gates of Heaven.

The one who had stopped her….was her own father Uriel.

It was safe to say that Celine was utterly lost at the point.

And people wonder why the biblical Heaven is currently the weakest Faction.

It was as if the Biblical God never even considered the possibility of his death. What would happen if he died?

For someone who preached forgiveness, he threw his own so-called children away for a single mistake….just because he could simply make others easily.

I mean imagine humans doing the same. What would happen if all parents started disowning children right after their first mistake?

There wasn't even a trial or a hearing or anything. They were just abandoned.

The biblical Heaven's system was extremely faulty.

Lucifer had once said that God threw him out because he was the most similar to him. Too prideful to admit that his perfect creations were not so perfect after all, to admit that he, God, had failed at something. After all, he was also not immune to anger and other sins or else why did he put all his malice, hatred and anger into the curses of Samael making him the abomination he was.

He too made a mistake and was still mutilated to such an extent.

I had considered it a bias from Lucifer's point of view….but now….seeing things like this, makes me question everything.

There are always two sides of a coin. Some people might say that the Biblical God did everything for the good of humans, but these same people forget what he did to the other races. Albion's account just gave me a new point of view. Even his own children as he called his creations, the Angels had their emotions almost completely restrained at the threat of falling.

I mean what kind of stupid rule forbids a girl from getting angry when they are being sexually assaulted.

The saying that the darkest of the shadows is beneath the brightest of the lights has never hit harder than this before.

Celine refused to join the Fallen Angels because of what was done to her comrades. She hated the entire Heaven Faction with all her heart.

Unfortunately all this didn't save her from the fires of the Great War.

She was captured by the previous Beelzebub and had been in this prison ever since.

Beelzebub and later some of his descendants had taken centuries torturing her, almost leaving her a soulless husk of her previous self.

This is how I found her.

What attracted my attention first were her wings. That said it was still common. What really made me turn to her was her non reaction to my illusions.

Illusions which could make even Satan Class like Katerea crumble on her knees had no effect on her at all.

This was the main reason why I started to research her and found out about her history.

I bound her without any hesitation. There was simply no resistance.

The link of the Binder made it possible for me to probe into her mind which she offered no resistance to at all and start the process of healing.

I had no idea about healing someone's mind at all and such a thing was not even a specialty of the devils who simply focused on destruction.

I asked my subordinates to look for a mind healer for supernatural races and found to my surprise that Youkai are extremely good at this.

Kuroka's training is progressing at a very fast pace and she was introduced to the Eastern Youkai with Nurarihyon being acquainted with her mother, she was easily taken in to be taught about Senjutsu and Youjutsu.

Although this happened only two months ago, her progress made her a favourite of Magari, a seven tailed Nekomata Youkai who is an expert in both the arts. Through her, I found out that Youkai can also heal mental traumas with the application of Senjutsu and Youjutsu.

This was actually developed to treat those youkai who were injured in battle or had sustained mental injuries due to the use of Fear.

I just have to carry Celine out to those people and they will help her is what Kuroka has assured me.

The encounter with the different races helped me increase my Illusion Magic to a new level.

I however met with another problem.

The Fidelius part of the spell caused a load on my soul for every person who was put under an Illusion. I could only keep so many secrets. So, I had to remove that part completely. Back to the drawing board.

Four months later I was given access to the labs of Shalba when he saw that I was actually only learning interrogation and torture techniques maybe to try and get closer to me and was more interested in their biology.

He had been hesitating to make closer contacts with me due to an incident that took place soon after Aria's death.

I had burned Katerea Leviathan in a spar. She had the arms completely scorched when my flames tore through her Sea Serpent of the End. If not for that, she would have been a black scorch mark on the wall behind her.

It was a move we both had decided for her to slowly drift away from me. If she had suddenly started avoiding me, people would have doubted.

So, I made a plan where she was 'teaching' me how to behave because I had been moody after Aria's death. The spar was something beyond her and she started avoiding me afterwards.

It was quite acceptable too. A centuries old Devil, the descendant of the Satan Leviathan was defeated by an eleven year old, even by a fluke.

Actually the only reason it was even believable was because that eleven year old was me.

Also Katerea was also slightly holding back. However now in the eyes of the others, she was avoiding me because of her pride.

Shalba didn't want any baked bees so he was maintaining a safe distance from me.

This however didn't stop him from providing me with anything I needed.

The labs in this place produced the Enhancement Drug which I was being injected with. I was actually interested in it as well.

I wanted to see exactly what was used to make it and if I could improve it further with my Mad Doctor Essence….after I left this place.

The analysis made me want to bang my head on the lab's tables.

I finally understood why even after 200 doses of the Enhancement Drug, the effect was so reduced in my case. I mean sure, I was actually becoming the strongest devil ever recorded to have such amounts of Demonic Power at my age but still, even with the acquired resistances from the repeated uses of the Drug and my Mad Doctor Essence, the effect was lower than I had expected.

The reason was extremely simple.

The Enhancement Drug used the blood of the previous Satans and some other chemicals which threw the user's DNA into an excited state and then tried to integrate a part of the Satan's DNA into them to increase their demonic powers. It was basically what Madara and Danzo did with Hashirama cells and just like Hashirama's cells being too strong and killing the users, the Original Satan's blood killed the random devils. It was just too much for their untrained bodies to endure and it gave way.

I however was different because whereas others were trying to get close to the Original Satan's DNAs, I was MADE from their blood directly.

I was already the closest possible in fact my DNA was stronger than both the Original Lucifer and Asmodeus. When the drug was being injected into me, my DNA was being attacked by the Original Satans that tried to take over but were not strong. My body however became resistant to those assaults and strengthened itself even further.

These idiots were trying to increase the purity of 100% pure material by mixing it with a 75% pure drug. Pure geniuses.

My sarcasm would have drowned them in shame if I actually revealed any of this information. I however didn't want to become a blood donor for the next Enhancement Drug experiments and thus simply kept quiet.

While I was spending my time in the labs, Gretel was in my house with Vienna.

The house was something we had separated two weeks later and I had taken Vienna with me. The last house had so many memories of Aria that none of the three of us were ready to face right now.

Razevan tried to simply stay away from my place. In fact I had only seen him a handful of times since the funeral and none of them were when we were alone.

It was something that each of us three appreciated.

On the other hand, the attacks on the Old Satan Faction were getting larger. Cleria had really let it go after the first four times.

In these last ten months of hunting, she and her peerage of four members had taken down over seventy Stray Devils and made thirty eight of them sign and give up their powers. They were getting better with each attack and had a torture regime in place that broke their enemies and had them sign contracts easily.

Now some might wonder just how much power would someone need?

To understand this, let us first remember the levels of powers.

Low, Mid, High, Ultimate, Satan, Super Classes of Devils.

Now each level was divided into five parts. Low, Mid, High, Peak and Borderline next Class.

Each of these sublevels were the multiples of the low level of the Class.

For example a Mid Ultimate Class devil had two times the Demonic Power of a Low Ultimate Class Devil while a High Ultimate Class Devil had three times the Demonic Powers.

So to increase from a Low to a Mid Level, even in the same class meant doubling someone's entire Demonic Power reserves.

It was the reason why A Peak Satan Class like Serafall was one of the Satans while the same was true for a High Satan Class like Falbium. Grayfia was also at High Satan Class, while Diehauser was barely at Mid Satan Class.

The Satan descendants had a higher amount of Demonic Powers by birth and still were only at low Satan Class to Mid Satan Class at best….in terms of Demonic Powers….not skill.

I am at a Low Satan Class right now only in terms of Demonic Powers. The youngest to have achieved this level as even Sirzechs and Ajuka had reached this level only in their teenage years although they were born with Ultimate Class reserves from the start.

The only difference is between the Super Devils because that would mean at least ten times stronger than a Peak Satan Class devils, which is what the Original Satans were.

There were barely just a handful of Ultimate Class Stray Devils. Devils of those levels were already accommodated quite well and the Strays normally didn't survive till they became that strong.

The thirty eight Stray Devils however pushed her peerage of four all to an average of low Ultimate Class while Cleria herself is at a High Ultimate Class level. One has to remember that an Ultimate Class Devil with the Absolute Demise is a force of nature itself.

The entire Old Satan Faction was as if their asses were on fire. Each of their bases were now being filled with Ultimate Class devils and they were only allowed to leave when their posts were taken by another of the same rank.

In the last two months four Old Satan Faction's bases were destroyed. I made it a point to target the houses using the House Traits of the other supporter Houses of the Old Satan Faction.

At first there was a speculation that someone had gone rogue but as the attacks persisted and more bases were attacked, the situation became extremely volatile.

Rizevim himself downright rejected coming out to take care of this matter. His exact words were – Some kids are spreading evil. Who am I to stop them?

It basically meant, I am having too much fun seeing all of you suffer so fuck off already.

We were lucky enough to gain 2 Ultimate Class and 7 High Class Devils' allegiance in these. These bastards were extremely cowardly and even their powers from experiments and drugs and they gave up as soon as Cleria Nullified their attacks. I have four more of the House Traits from the Seventy Two Pillars now.

"Damien." I turned back to see Shalba approaching me along with a few other Ultimate Class Devils. "Are the studies going well?" he asked, making small talk.

"Hmm….Yes. This place has been very helpful to my studies. Thank you for allowing me to use it." I slightly bowed towards him and he nodded back tersely to me.

"I wanted to discuss some matters of importance with you." he slightly hesitated but I nodded to continue.

"As you might have already heard, the attacks on our Faction have been increasing in the past few months. We think that someone is rebelling or it might just be a move from the fakes to try and destroy our faction before we can resurface. Many places need to be protected until we can upgrade our security and hunt down the attackers with our own teams. Each major base needs a Satan Class Devil and we want you to protect one of our Russian bases. You can take four Ultimate Class devils along with you and a dozen High Class devils. If possible capture, if not then no need to hold back. Kill anyone who attacks the base."

Well well….now isn't this a great opportunity.

"Okay….when do I have to leave?" I asked without much thought.

"As soon as possible." He answered.

"I need a few hours to prepare. Can I get the list of people who I can recruit?" I asked after thinking for a moment.

Shalba pointed towards his lackey who brought out a file of the people under the Old Satan Faction and I had to sigh at the stupidity of these idiots.

No wonder they lost the war so badly.

"I will be taking Gretel and Vienna. So three Ultimate Class and eleven High Class devils need to be chosen. I will send you a list in an hour or two." I accepted the file and walked teleported to my new house.

"Ophelia." I immediately contacted Ophelia through our link.

"Yes Master."

"Give me the names of three Ultimate Class Devils and a dozen High Class devils that you think will be the most beneficial as thralls."

"Master?"

"Names Ophelia. I need the names of people you want eliminated or thralled by us. I am being assigned to protect a base and have to submit a list of names. Give me the names as well as a reason each for why they need to be removed and a reason for me to give Shalba to recruit the said people. Make it ready in an hour."

"Cleria."

"Young Lord."

"Among the new group of thralls and stray devils, prepare the strongest but disposable ones and make them sign the suicide contracts. I want you to prepare a team of five or more Ultimate Class devils and over a dozen High Class devils for an attack on a base in Russia. None of them will be returning."

The Suicide contracts were contracts which basically stated that all the power of the donor will be transferred over to the contracts on the event of their deaths and they will be transferred over to whoever signs them later.

These contracts took more effort to make than the normal ones but the true power of the contracts is truly broken. The only flaw being that the user has to sign the contract after knowing about the exact contents of the contract which makes it nearly impossible for anyone to want to sign.

"Who will be in that base, Young Lord? Is it one of the leaders?" she asked lightly intrigued.

"I will be guarding the base with Gretel and Vienna."

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