Layla Lucifuge
[Layla's POV]
My judgement of him is clouded, I can't ascertain anything just yet, as much as I want to remember the massacre he occasionated, and I want to blame him for what he did. I can't.
He's easygoing... extremely confident, relaxed and funny. I could say, humble? that's debatable. I believe he's merely following along with my big sister's intentions, deep inside there is a prideful creature that won't bow to anyone which is the reason why I feel apprehension about the banquet.
All the satans are going to be in the defensive spectrum, directly wishing for him to apologise and compensate gravely for his actions. And I can already tell... that's not going to happen.
Not even Sirzech-sama has the physical prowess to defeat me in the fashion that Richter-sama did... a fight between them... I don't even want to imagine.
There is also another feature about him that I desperately want to deny.
He's attractive.
Richter-sama was on the other side of the room, playing with a little angel girl, she was blonde and he seemed to be interested in that, he loves gold as any dragon would but to the hundredth power, literally, his whole clothes are made out of gold just like my sister's.
She told me is a sort of mouldable gold with high resistance, 'It must be with that dress that she managed to repel my magic'.
After the duels, I sort of cleared up things with my big sister... hating her for something that wasn't her fault was ridiculous. She left for the sake of all of us devils to a territory she didn't even know, it was unfair for her to arrive and receive this senseless hate for me... merely because I wasn't good enough to please my husband and make him forget his past love.
Richter-sama told me that a person that can't see my true self, doesn't really love me. I know that Sirzech-sama doesn't love ME, but I do love him... we have a child together and I hope we can have more.
My only fear of the banquet is that it will come to unrestrained violence in which regardless of wins or losses, there will be casualties, destruction and sadness... if possible I want to avoid that and therefore, it is better if I get to know Richter-sama better. He is prideful but also comprehensive, trying to convince him, a Dragon God, seems unexpectedly easier than trying to convince the whole Devil Supremacy Faction and the Conservative Faction.
Then there is my other fear. One that is unwarranted... the fear in which I'm cast aside while Sirzech-sama kneels down to ask for Grayfia's hand. I know she will reject, my relationship with Sirzech-sama can't begin to even touch what she has with Richter-sama... my husband would be rejected in a heartbeat.
Would that ease my sadness? no... it would break my heart nonetheless.
I was so afraid of that happening that I didn't even want that day to come.
"I have a question, Layla".
"What is it, big sister?" She asked me, holding a cute angel boy in his grasp, trying her hardest to not feel repulsed.
"I recall angels shouldn't be able to procreate without falling, how is this possible?"
I forgot, she doesn't know...
"That is a complex topic that is better not discussed publicly, big sister, if you're okay I can tell you later," I said.
It is a complex topic because it is a story imbued with secretism from which only a handful know the truth. The matter is that when Lady Calliope began her conquest of the secular factions, one of her destinations was the heavens. There she met Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Michael. It is a secret only known to us, but apparently, she and Archangel Gabriel were acquainted, the Lady from the heavens requested something out of Lady Calliope.
One of them was to not reveal to the public a big secret. That the God of the Bible had died during the first war. None of us could believe it when it was said from her mouth. The only ones to know are the Four Satans, Lord Bael, Lady Venelana, mother and me.
The other request was to 'modify' the god 'system'... apparently, it was a device left behind by the Biblical God to control all of creation in his absence, it was also this system that determined the conditions under which angels fell from the heavens.
It was a risky move on their part but they requested Lady Calliope to modify it in order for the almost extinct angels to be able to reproduce. As a consequence of this move, angels can no longer fall due to 'lust'.
It created a lot of inconsistencies such as the existence of a new race, the Nephilim... the mix of an angel and a devil. The children between angels and fallen angels would usually be born as just angels.
One of the most famous examples was with Lord Beelzebub... he took the Archangel Sandalphon as his Queen and upon being reincarnated with a devil piece, she became a Nephilim and their child together is also a Nephilim. this race was noted by Beelzebub-sama to be remarkably stronger than both parents, but at the same time, magically disabled… a taboo existence.
Nephilims were peculiar, they had a pair of wings that were a mixture of an angel's and a devil's they were called heretics and not accepted in either the heavens or the underworld. Their existence was quite pitiful as no angel would willingly choose to pair themselves with a devil, unlike Sandalphon-sama... that means that most Nephilims were the result of abuse, they were rejected children.
The current underworld was but a facade, in reality, there was a deep hatred against the devils looming, it was something most of us high-rank devils were conscious off... all the pantheons hate us, but they can't do anything to us due to our several marriage alliances and the existence of Lady Calliope.
We have finally reached a period of peace and supremacy after a long hurdle.
But this peace is so fragile that it could break at any moment, giving way to the most devastating war that I have seen.
As I looked at the smiling Dragon God beside me, I can't help but ask myself: 'Is he the answer?'