Chapter 3 : Rias Gremory

Rias Gremory spent a rather ordinary day, heading to the family library to explore various books on strategy the occult world and demonic magic.

Rias also dedicated a significant portion of her time to intensive reading on rating games. This was particularly crucial as she was about to receive her twelve Evil Pieces for her twelfth birthday.

She had already decided who would be her queen – a Half fallen angel, half human named Akeno Himejima, who was the same age as her. Rias had saved Akeno over a year ago, and they had since become friends, with Akeno serving as both her friend and servant.

Originally, Rias wanted to express her gratitude because Akeno had assisted a person possessed by a malevolent spirit, contracted to a member of her father Zeoticus' peerage. However, at the time Rias found her, Akeno was being pursued by hunters from the Himejima clan, a powerful mystic clan linked to the Shinto gods. Rias saved her and offered her refuge , while waiting to receive her Evil Pieces to become a member of his peerage . However, she wouldn't receive them for another week, and though Rias was eager, there was no rush.

While wandering through the library, Rias stumbled upon a dusty, ancient-looking grimoire. It seemed to be an item acquired by her father or one of her ancestors on a whim, simply stored in the library and forgotten over time.

Intrigued, Rias took the grimoire in her delicate hands. The cover was adorned with mystical symbols, and she could feel magical energy emanating from its pages. She cautiously opened the book and began perusing the ancient writings.

As she read, Rias realized that this grimoire held knowledge about an ancient and powerful magic, one linked to mystical creatures and parallel dimensions. The pages described rituals, spells, and invocations that Rias had never encountered in the usual teachings of the Gremory family.

Intrigued by the discovery of this book, Rias decided to dedicate her time to studying the mysterious grimoire. She immersed herself in the texts, absorbing every detail with intense concentration. She quickly understood the purpose of the magic written in it, which could only be described as strangely simple.

It was a ritual aimed at summoning a powerful type of familiar through a relatively simple summoning procedure that strangely resembled the ancient system of demon summoning that demons used in the past which was linked to the ars goetia system . Although this one belonged to an ancient human magic, despite its origin, the magic was accessible enough for a devil like her, given that human magic derived from devil magic. It was essentially a less successful and less efficient copy, adapted to allow humans to use occult powers. Devils simply needed the desire to materialize their imagination and an adequate amount of demonic power to create a phenomenon, while humans had to adhere to complex rules and practice rituals and incantations to achieve a similar, less powerful effect compared to a devil with equal talent.

As she delved deeper into the books, her reluctance to experiment with the ritual diminished. Unbeknownst to her, the magical power imbued in the book subtly stimulated her desire to perform the ritual using subtle suggestions.

After taking the book with her, Rias left the library and headed to her room, completely unaware that she was being influenced by the grimoire.

Back in her room, she began to follow the procedure to facilitate the ritual. She traced the circle indicated with her demonic power and left a drop of her blood at the center of the circle. Since all magic was based on a mental image, being a devil, she wouldn't need to follow the lengthy ritual outlined in the book. She simply imagined summoning a familiar that could serve her. The more powerful her desire, the higher the chances of success.

Once mentally prepared, Rias started gathering her demonic power into the circle, following the instructions in the grimoire. Imagining what she considered most powerful, the first image that came to her mind was her elder brother Sirzech, the current Lucifer. Finally, she thought of the four keywords mentioned in the grimoire: Goat Horn, Sinner, Magic, and Contract.

As she reached the last step of the invocation, Rias felt her demonic power being rapidly sucked away, and a silhouette began to take shape in front of her. As the silhouette appeared, a cloud of smoke emanated from the circle, covering the figure. However, this wasn't the most concerning part. She felt a terrifying pressure that she had never experienced before.

An intensely malevolent pressure, so strong that it could have ensured the death of a mere human by just feeling its presence, emanated from the grimoire. What Rias didn't know was that she wasn't the only one who had felt this ominous influence. All the residents of the Gremory residence had shared this experience.

As the ritual concluded, the smoke formed by the circle dissipated, and she could finally see what she had summoned. In the heart of the circle stood a young man, barely fifteen years old, with slightly bronzed skin and dazzling white hair. He wore a Victorian-style suit with a top hat and a monocle, along with a red scarf. He exuded an air of refinement, giving off an impression of nobility. To complete the ensemble, he wore earrings and a necklace surrounded by a strange aura. His hands were covered in black gloves, and he wielded a cane with a particular grace. When he locked eyes with her, Rias was struck by the beauty of his golden eyes, particularly unique in color.

The silence that had settled was soon broken by the one who caused it, "Are you my summoner?"

However, before she could even respond, something unexpected happened. An explosion destroyed one of the walls of the room, bringing in a handsome middle-aged man with long crimson hair and bright blue eyes. His beard was neatly groomed into a goatee with fang-like protrusions.

As he entered the room, he unleashed his magic to weave chains of demonic power, intending to restrain the being that had emanated such a oppressive aura before. However, he didn't expect it to be sufficient to stop him; his intention was merely to assess his opponent.

To his great surprise, the being simply sat quietly on the bed. Despite the situation, the young man in front of him maintained perfect composure. What stunned him even more were the words spoken next, "I surrender." He articulated them with full confidence, showing no fear in his expression, raising his hands in a sign of surrender.

Zeoticus, who was ready to fight, was abruptly stopped, trying to understand how the situation had managed to unravel so flawlessly, especially when just before he was ready to sacrifice himself to save his daughter.

However, what no one knew was that it was different in Ciel Krone's mind. Despite the confident smile on his face, his thoughts were completely different. "How did I end up in this situation right from the start?" If he couldn't control his biological functions, he would probably be sweating profusely.

"Damn, as soon as I arrive, I run into someone so powerful who seems to want to kill me. Moreover, I haven't even recovered my power yet, as I was just summoned by my summoner, who must have spent a good part of their power, and now they don't have enough to give me. I'm not even in a state to fight at all."

"Why am I so unlucky? Every time I come up with a plan, it always fails at the last step. Did someone cast some sort of curse on me?"