Golden Peerage I

"This used to be my laboratory, I keep it connected to my other one in the Beelzebub castle through teleportation arrays, my expertise is science and finding new ways of magic, Lord Richter".

Ajuka explained to us as Grayfia and I followed him, Sandalphon and Albedo upstairs to Astaroth Castle.

"Why do some of you call me Lord Richter, while others call me Richter-sama, like you, Grayfia?" This is something that has been bugging me for a while, she explained to me in Helius that it is a way to call someone with respect, I just don't understand why some of them do it, while some don't.

At my question, Sandalphon and Albedo giggled while Ajuka smirked, what's so funny?

"That's... once you visit Japan you will understand, Albedo has gone there quite a bit and has adopted some of their customs, I believe you also went to Japan several times, Grayfia? it is one of the places on Earth where we devils have a footing, anywhere else we were besieged by the church or the other pantheons, instead... the Shinto Pantheon was one of the only ones to accept us with open arms, hence why we have the most harmonious relationship with them, most younger devils live in Japan for a period of their life before moving back to the underworld, Like Rias-chan and Sona-chan who you have met" Ajuka gave me a rather lengthy explanation.

So this '-sama' thing is coming from that country, Japan... and they call me like that because they adapted this medium.

"I see, you all should come together and find a single way to address me, it is irritating..." I rolled my eyes and growled a little, immediately making everyone alert.

"I understand, then would Richter-sama be okay? since that's what Grayfia-san calls you~" Sandalphon was the first to address me as such.

"It is well enough".

With this matter sorted we were led inside Ajuka's laboratory, after walking through a door I felt how we were teleported somewhere else, what interesting magic. If not for my senses, I wouldn't have noticed.

"Please take a seat here, I will prepare some tea, or would you prefer an alcoholic drink?" Sandalphon bowed and asked me.

"Some wine will be good, mother~" It was the shameless Nephilim who clung to me and answered.

"I didn't ask you Albedo, in fact... you should go and sleep" A stern Archangel grasped her daughter's wrist, there wouldn't be any negotiation here.

"No! I want to stay with Richter-sama!"

"Are you challenging me, girl?" Sandalphon didn't seem to like Albedo's rebellious nature, the Nephilim smiled and bowed, "I'm sorry, Okaa-sama... I will sleep now. Richter-sama you're welcome to co-"

Sandalphon pushed Albedo out of the room and rubbed her temples in exasperation, "I apologise Richter-sama... I don't know who that girl took that boldness from" she sent her husband a reproachful look.

"It is obviously you, I have always been the introverted type, moreover... the one who fell in love with me first was you, Sandalphon".

"Bastard, what did you just say?"

"I just said that I fell hopelessly in love with you first, right, Richter-sama?"

"That's exactly what you said, boy".

We both showed each other a thumbs up, regardless of me being a Dragon God while he is a Devil King, we're both males and in front of us are two females... if I don't have his back, who will?

Grayfia hugged my arm and Sandalphon did the same for Ajuka, I don't know why but the atmosphere suddenly got tense.

*cough!*

"Anyway, leaving that aside... what exactly do you need my help with, Grayfia?" Ajuka sweated for some reason while ignoring Sandalphon's smile; he addressed my maid.

"It is like this, Ajuka..."

...

She explained everything to him about our predicament and I expected to know if he had an answer to it.

"I see, so that's the reason you were in the dimensional gap, this is complicated even for me, Richter-sama... although I have my fair share of experience with space, this z-axis is something I never heard about, what is beyond the dimensional gap was always a topic of scrutiny, it is said only the two Dragon Gods have that knowledge... however, I may be able to form a theory based on what you have told me".

"Go ahead" I allowed him to start his explanation.

"You said you tried to widen this connection by using more of your 'Primordial Gold' power, but instead ended up receiving a huge backlash that muddled your mind, making you have hallucinations".

"That's what I believe, it is something that never happened to me before, but as I kept using my power, I kept feeling tension" I imagined the only reason this could possibly happen is that I'm not in Helius.

"What about you, Grayfia? did you experience something similar?" He questioned my maid who touched her lips in contemplation.

"No... I never felt any pressure around me as this incident was taking place but... I did have a nightmare that I can't recall after falling asleep with my master... it is also not something that ever happened to me, I never had a nightmare or anything of the sort, moreover... I-I can't remember but I think it was important".

"I see, what do you think, Sandalphon?"

"I believe the key is in faith, Richter-sama..."

"Faith?" I questioned her reasoning.

"You said Grayfia is your Apostle... she shares this faith with you, I remember from father how faith works..." she's talking about the 'Biblical God'.

"Perhaps if the two of you were together, the two of you would have received the backlash and in her case, it would have been worse since she isn't as strong as you".

!!!

"I see..." I sighed in relief that Grayfia hadn't been with me at that moment.

"Nevertheless, this is also what I believe... if both of you would have been together, using more of your power, then perhaps the connection would have been widened enough for you to pinpoint the location of your multiverse, Helius".

I frowned, that is also the case. Grayfia's power is connected to mine as my apostle, more so through my scale, but she doesn't extract power from me per se. Her power source is directly connected to Primordial Gold. Whenever she is fighting our using it, I don't feel depleted in any way.

I understand what they mean, just like me, Grayfia also has her own 'channel' instead of the two of us being connected to the same 'channel'.

"Maybe you should try having more apostles that could take on this backlash with you and more so, help you with this issue. Sometimes the answer is not to be alone but to have many hands to rely on" Ajuka stated wisely.

"The problem is, I also don't know how faith works, Ajuka... through my Godhood I never relied on it, even though I kept receiving it, I never bothered to think on how to willingly set apostles, acolytes and believers around me like the other primordials did. Even Grayfia, I don't know how she became my apostle..."

I had been confident that the reason was my scale, but now with Layla, I'm not certain any longer, I refuse to believe the reason is that I mated with her...

"Hmmm.... then, I may be able to help you with that, though, it is just an experiment..."

He snapped his fingers and something appeared in his hand, it was a box with ruby-like pieces.

"These are the evil pieces, a gadget created by me. Back during the first and second wars, our numbers decreased drastically. Grayfia, you would recall?"

"Yes, our race was on the brink of extinction" My maid stated grimly.

"I created the king pieces first as a means to attain power, then I created the evil pieces... with them, a devil can reincarnate anyone into a devil... whether they're an angel, human, fallen angels... as long as they receive a piece, they shall reincarnate as a devil and receive a wisp of their master's powers".

"Such an outrageous gadget..." Grayfia indicated, taking the box and scrutinizing it. Truth be told, aside from the Heart Lineage, I have never heard of anything like this... the Heart Lineage could turn you into a demon. But it could also kill you.

This piece doesn't seem to work that way.

"The King Piece was my first experiment, it allowed the user to increase their power immensely but at a cost, their lifespan... surprisingly enough, this didn't seem to be a detriment for Nephilims~"

"You know of your daughter's doings?" I questioned him, thinking that Albedo had kept it a secret from all of them. Sandalphon and Ajuka both chuckled as if amused by my words.

"If we didn't how could we be good parents? I allow my daughter to do as she wishes, she's powerful enough to bear the responsibility for her actions, moreover... I'm personally not against her doing the best for Angels and Nephilim" Sandalphon confirmed.

"I see, wonderful parents indeed~" It was reassuring.

'I guess I didn't do it wrong, Monique...'

I always berated myself if I was a good father for Horlein or not... I allowed him to go quite early into his own adventures, for a dragon a thousand years are nothing. But... I merely made sure he was ready before letting him go, I was not given such an opportunity... and although it wasn't easy, I reached my current stage and hoped the same for him.

...

"In any case, these are Layla's pieces... when she became Sirzechs' Queen; she refused the right to hold her own set of Evil Pieces. Try taking the King and pouring your power inside it... the pieces are created to adapt themselves to the user who owns them. Try to not pour too much or it could explode due to how overwhelming it is, instead, be subtle... it might fail from the start due to the fact that you're not a devil, but it is worth trying".

I took the weird piece that was the 'king' and held it in my hands, pouring some of my aura inside it.

*WHOOOSH!*

The whole room gained a brilliant golden light that captivated both Sandalphon and Ajuka. The piece began turning golden in front of its eyes, growing small golden shards as it changed.

I marvelled myself seeing this change, the piece turned into a sort of draconic king with a crown.

Then slowly but surely the rest of the pieces began changing as well.

"Place the piece inside your chest..."

The piece merged with me, I felt it entering my body and placing itself beside the primal spark.

*RUMBLE!!!*

The world shook a little as the pieces began to shake, and then something that awed Ajuka took place next, I couldn't understand why he and Sandalphon were so surprised. However, it seems his idea worked somehow.

I saw the pieces all begin to morph into golden draconic forms, there were eight 'pawns' and three of them remained, changing in form while the other five began to merge together into a familiar shape that awed both Ajuka and Sandalphon.

"I-Impossible! another Queen Piece!"