Layla Eryrth (REWRITTEN)

The Devilian pantheon was made up of thousands of greater and Arch devils. However, the main entities who ruled the pantheon alongside the devil King were just twelve.

The Four Grand Duke, the six Dukes alongside the Crown Prince, and the Princess of the Devildom.

They were equivalent to the likes of Olympus' 'Twelve Olympians' or Oblivion's 'Divines'.

Each of them was from a family that had existed as far as the earliest known records of the Hell universe. Families that were believed to have supported the first devil king and they have had the positions of main entities passed down within their families for millions of years.

Among the twelve, Seven of them possessed special unique Authorities, the authorities of the deadly sins. These seven authority holders were a step above the rest of the main entities of the Hell Universe.

They identities of the main entities were as follows;

Grand Duchess Inglis Leviathan, holder of Envy of the Seven Deadly sins,

Grand Duke Conrad Eryrth, holder of Pride,

Grand Duke Belphegor, holder of Sloth,

Grand Duke Mammon, holder of Greed,

Duchess Asmodeus, holder of Lust,

Duke Araman, holder of Fury,

Duke Tikan, holder of Gluttony,

Duchess Jostron,

Duke Hollis,

Duchess Celosia,

Crown Prince Creuserey Vaughn,

Princess Cattleya Vaughn.

All twelve of them were high-tier deity realm existences and possessed great influence in the Devildom of Hell.

As for why they do not all possess the same noble rank, that is a story for another time.

Not more than a week after Arthur's birth on the 31st of December, Year 700 of the 50th General Calendar, the wife of Grand Duke Eryrth and sister of Duchess Celiosa, Iberis, also gave birth to her child.

A girl she named Layla, who was also born with quite a high existence level.

She was born in the inferior stage of the master realm and over the past eight years, she had shown great talent and ingenuity that surpassed most of her peers.

As the daughter of one of the Devildom's grand dukes, she was brought up strictly and was given all the necessary education to act in a way befitting of her great status.

From etiquette training to swordsmanship, to magic lessons, horsemanship, archery, and many others. She had been taking all these as far as she could remember.

As strength was also a necessary factor for a grand duke's daughter, she had been trained in a lot of weapons and magic.

However, despite countless attempts by her mother to make her favor the sword like her father, she never ended up doing so. Instead, she preferred using magic/magi tech guns.

Magi tech guns were a result of alchemy and magi-technology, aimed at giving those who were unable to use their magic power properly, an alternative means of protection.

Unfortunately, many of the Devildom's nobles looked down on this, as the devil race was one that prided itself on its enormous energy reserves and energy manipulation skills.

As a weapon made for those not skilled enough, the magi tech guns were something the elite disliked.

There were various types, some were similar to artifacts that absorbed the wielder's magic power to create bullets. The strength of the gun depended on the quality of the magic power in the bullet loaded in the gun.

As for Layla, she liked them all. The type did not matter, she simply liked them all.

Despite her mother's lectures to not associate herself with them, she still 'secretly' went out to hidden shooting ranges and magi tech gun shops.

She had a serious case of what one could call, 'gun fanaticism'. This was evidenced by the fact that she disliked other weapons and only trained on how to use them so her mother would not take serious action to separate her from her beloved guns.

◇　◇　◇

It was a fine afternoon and as usual, Layla was touring a weapon market in one of the capital cities of a county located on planet Aeturn.

Upon arriving at her favorite shop, she excitedly ran inside, ignoring the cries of her guard troop that tried to prevent her from leaving their sights.

Normally, she was always excited to see the new arrivals in the shop, however, today she was even more so. This was because of the sale of a limited edition set of pistols that were created by one of the Devildom's leading alchemist and magi tech engineers.

Werinbert Boffin was considered the best alchemist and magi tech engineer of his generation and was one of the big brains behind the magi tech gun project.

He was also the second son of Margrave Boffin, one of the Devildom's military leaders. His inclination to create magi tech weapons was most likely due to his father's influence.

This fine afternoon, was the release day of one of his new masterpieces, ones Layla wished to acquire immediately.

It was a limited edition release and only one set was available at the moment and Layla wanted to get that one.

Entering the shop, Layla made her way to the second-floor gallery where the gun was displayed on.

Many made way for the Grand duke's daughter as her face was well known in these parts. Besides, no one wanted to offend her by arguing about guns with her.

Although she was just eight years of age, it was already obvious that she was going to be a great beauty in the future, in fact, she already was.

She was a girl of average height and slim build, with fair skin and long hair that spilled over her shoulders and down to her waist.

Her almond-shaped green eyes and spruce eyebrows seemed expressionless like a doll but made one feel the strength of her volition.

She smiled as she stretched her hands to pick up the pair of guns only to see another pair of hands already on them.

Looking towards the owner of those hands, she was met with the figure of a hooded boy around the same height as her. His face was not visible as his hood had inhibition magic on it.

"I was here for these first. Please take your hands off."

Not wanting to make a scene, she politely asked him to let go of the guns. Her voice was mature for her age and one would not believe she was only eight from just her voice.

Her polite attitude also led others to think the hooded boy would let her go with the guns but their expectations were shattered by his reply.

"You entered the store first, however, you did not touch these first. I did, so I should be the one telling you to let go."

The onlookers were stunned by his reply, some even began to feel pity for the boy who dared to offed the grand dukedom's little princess.

A few whispered to him in an attempt to persuade him to forgo the weapons and Layla's guards were beginning to frown as they felt anger towards the one who dared to be arrogant in front of their young lady.

"So what if you're a grand duke's daughter? I got to them first so I get the right to pay first, you can only have them I'm unable to pay."

One of the attendants in the shop heard his words and walked up to him before speaking.

"I advise you not to argue about this matter. Looking at your appearance, there's no way you would be able to afford these, just let it go."

He even tried to push the boy's hands off but to his surprise, the boy did not budge. Layla on the other hand ignored the attendant who was only seeking to curry favor with her and tried to end the issue in a civil manner.

"Can we negotiate about this? I'm willing to compensate you twice the price if you agree to let it go."

However, while she was willing, her guards who held most of the money she came with were not.

"Young lady, you do not need to argue with this plebian. Let us handle this."

One of them spoke up as Layla's face twisted in annoyance at his words. She scanned the hooded boy and although he was not wearing any expensive or luxurious clothes, she felt calling him a 'plebian' was a bit too much.

"Galleu! There was no need to insult him. Apologize now!"

The onlookers also felt that the guard went a bit too far but the scene of Layla reprimanding him increased her evaluation in their hearts.

'The young lady is quite magnanimous!' they thought.

"But, young lady-"

"Apologize!"

The guard, Galleu, attempted to refute but Layla silenced him and commanded him to apologize once more. He gritted his teeth and was about to speak but the hooded boy beat him to it.

"So you think everyone is below you just because you managed to land the position of a grand duke's daughter's guard, huh?"

His words felt mocking to Galleu. He was a genius who had become a transcendent in a short time and his skills were personally recognized by the grand duke.

'Being forced to apologize to a nobody was one thing, but being mocked is another, I can't take this.'

However, before he could act, the boy ignored him and continued with his earlier words.

"Don't you know the saying; 'There's always a sky above the sky'. I suggest you keep it in mind."

He then turned to the shop attendant and spoke impatiently.

"Wrap this up for me, I need to leave here quickly."

Layla felt something was wrong upon hearing his words, she was quite smart for her age so she could easily figure out what the boy was trying to say.

He was hinting that his identity was not one to be trifled with. However, as far as Layla knew, there were very few people who would not fear the grand duke's authority.

'Either he's related to another one of the grand dukes or he is...!'

The moment she had that thought, she looked towards the boy again, this time trying to sense his realm of existence.

However, she sensed nothing, so did her guards, as such, they felt he was a normal child.

[Young Lady, that boy is not simple. Please let this matter go and leave there quickly.]

She heard a voice in her head, a telepathic message sent by one of her hidden guards called 'Number three'. Number three was an existence in the deity realm and had been at Layla's side since the latter was just a baby.

Layla trusted the guard assigned by her father and turned to warn Galleu, who had been restrained by the other guards, to apologize again.

"Hurry and pack the damn thing up!"

The boy's impatient voice rang out once more. Layla snapped her head in his direction while wondering why he was impatient, but the commotion at the door grabbed her attention.

At first, she feared she had attracted a larger crowd, however, after seeing the reason for the commotion, she finally understood why Number three wanted her to leave quickly.