183 Chapter 183: Influencing a Young Mind

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The ceremony went on as good as someone could expect with Erik's protections around it: without a hitch. At least for the people watching it, that is. Behind the curtains, a group of Devils led by Shalba Beelzebub tried to invade the ceremony and cause chaos but they were stopped by Erik's protections in the same way that had happened in the first meeting. By Erik's knowledge, the Old Satans faction was now composed only of Rizevim Lucifer and his few, and even so, the crazy son of the original Lucifer had no interest whatsoever in ruling the Underworld and just wanted to see the world burn.

After the ceremony ended, the four leaders of the factions together with their seconds in command came to talk with Erik, already imagining that the man had another list for them to look over.

"Erik, how did things go with the protections?"

Azazel asked as soon as they all had entered the room where Erik had been watching the ceremony from. The man, who had his wives by his side, smiled at them and snapped his fingers.

*snap*

Above the lower table in the center of the room, some sheets of paper appeared. Erik stood from his place, took the papers in his hands, and offered one to Sirzechs Lucifer, one to Michael, and one to Azazel.

"It went well. During the ceremony, we had just one group trying to attack: Shalba Beelzebub and some of his goons. But they were easily subdued by the wards. For some reason, they had on their heads that they would be successful in the attack, even with the previous groups failing miserably in it."

Erik said and saw the eyes of the Devils in the room widening for a moment at the mention of the descendant of one of the original Satans.

"The others we got before the ceremony started. They were caught by the intentions ward and were questioned about it. The only one that was not planning to try to sabotage the ceremony got freed. He was just very unhappy with the treaty due to some personal loss in past conflicts."

Erik finished saying to the leaders, who nodded their heads in agreement and started to go over the names on their list. It would take a long time for true peace to be achieved between them. As the women in the room separated from the males and started to form their own group to talk to, Odin walked near Erik.

"But I have to say, you have put up a mighty set of wards around the place."

Odin said to Erik. His divinity over runes allowed him to see the wards the instant that he came near them and he was impressed with it. Very impressed. His curiosity over the subject compelled him to analyze the scheme but he couldn't. Normally, a person, while being careful enough, could send his magic into the scheme to try and analyze what it did, but this one repelled any foreign magic that tried to interact with it. Even his divinity on the subject of runes couldn't help him enough and the only thing that he managed to get from it was the need for a password to continue to get any type of interaction with it. Erik smiled at the compliment.

"Thank you for the compliment, Lord Odin."

Erik replied politely. He had felt Odin 'poking' around the wards early and he couldn't say that he was not curious to know what the god had found about it besides the prompting for a password.

"What were your thoughts on the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation? I couldn't help but notice that you were testing him with your request for him as a guide and the fight against Loki."

Erik asked Odin, who nodded his head in agreement with Erik's words.

"Yes, I was. The truth is that many years ago, I appeared in this same town after a bizarre incident with new magic that I was experimenting with. And while taking advantage of the fact that I was already here through a chance of destiny, I started to walk around the town. You see, I was always a big fan of Japanese…"

Odin started saying, making a small pause to look at his wife, who was happily talking with the rest of the women, before continuing.

"Art and since the internet was not as developed as it is now, the good stuff didn't get out of the country. So, after getting my hands on some new art, I took some time to appreciate it in solitude before going back home, when a small kid found me. He got very curious about what I was doing and asked me. I, being the magnanimous King that I am, explained some things to the boy. It was them that I felt the very weak draconic aura coming from his body. All it took was a scanning spell and I discovered that he was the host for a draconic type Sacred Gear. My impulse at the time was to just take the boy back with me to Asgard and raise him as a mighty warrior, but I choose to not do it after getting a quick read of the boy's mind. With that, I learned his name, Issei Hyoudou. Soon after, I left for Asgard. It was just recently that I heard his name again during a mock Rating Game. Who would have thought that the little boy from years ago would be the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation? When the opportunity presented itself to me, I then just had to ask him as the guide for my delegation."

Odin said, finishing his tale of why he had asked Issei Hyoudou to be his guide. Erik was looking at the man with a poker face.

"So it was really you the one that initiated the kid on… Art."

Erik said to Odin, who smiled wryly at Erik.

"Hahahaha. Come on, it is not that bad. I mean, I saw how he appreciated the scenery on the way here, and it was not bad. He was a perfect gentleman."

Odin replied to Erik, who continued to look at the old god with a deadpan face. But the 'mask' was escaping him because he raised one eyebrow at Odin.

"Not that bad? Sigh… You say that because I had a serious talk with him around a year ago."

Erik replied to Odin and continued talking.

"Before that, the only thing that he talked about was 'art'. I think that if I had not talked with him, he would end up going to jail shortly because of the shenanigans that he and his friends were doing in the name of appreciating 'art'."

Erik replied to Odin, letting out a sigh in the middle of it. The old god flinched a little knowing that. It was not his intention to influence the boy so strongly. He very much underestimated the power that his words would have in the kid's mind.

"Just to be clear here, you two are talking about porn, right?"

Azazel asked in a loud voice while making an innocent face, throwing Odin and Erik 'under the bus' since the women in the room turned to look at them when he said the word 'porn'. Internally, Azazel was smirking victoriously. It was a rare occasion when he could get one over Erik. Getting one over Odin was just a bonus. Odin looked at Azazel in a way that promised a world of pain for the Fallen Angel, while Erik just shrugged at it.

"Yes, Azazel. Around a year ago, I had three students that were addicted to it. They got caught while doing something very bad and I, together with the school's psychologist, had a serious conversation with the three of them. Of the three, one reformed himself after that, tuning down a lot of his impulses. He was 'rewarded' socially by it later. The other two were caught doing the same thing again and were invited to leave the school. Last time I heard, their parents had enrolled them in an all-male school."

Erik replied to Azazel, not caring much about hiding anything now. At the mention of an 'all-male school', Azazel flinched a little. But Erik's tactic of 'diversion' had worked, since the women went back to talk between them, saving Odin's hide. At least for now.

"Ugh… Tough being them, then."

Azazel said, making Erik shrug at it.

"They reaped what they sowed. By the way, this is a good time to talk about that idea of yours that you commented on some time ago."

Erik said to Azazel, reminding the Fallen Angel about the ideas that they had traded some time ago in a call.

"Good idea, Erik."

Azazel said and turned to look at the rest of the male leaders.

"Michael, Sirzechs, Ajuka. If you three could come here for a second, there is something that I would like to talk with you all together with Odin."

Azazel asked, calling for their attention of them. The mentioned three walked to where the other three were standing and waited for Azazel to start. The Fallen Angel, as a crooked merchant ready to scam someone, or just a normal person applying lotion to his hands, rubbed his hands together.

"So, as you all know, we have in our faction some people that are not happy with this peace treaty."

Azazel started saying, making all the leaders nod their heads in agreement with his words.

"These people, in their great majority, have one trait in common. They are battle junkies."

Azazel said again, getting more nods from the leaders after some small pause to think. He then continued with his speech.

"To satiate this hunger that they have and not cause many problems for us, I had the idea to propose something that is strongly based on the Rating Games that the Devils have. People would form teams to compete in closed 'games' that could vary, just like the Rating Games have different settings. The protections around the games would be of the same type that the Devils have with the Rating Games, avoiding deaths during matches."

Azazel started saying, selling his idea to the leaders, who were buying it until the moment.

"But wouldn't this put faction against faction again?"

Sirzechs Lucifer asked. He could already see the competitiveness getting rather fierce in a 'faction A' vs 'faction B' match.

"Initially, yes. The teams would be assembled only with people from their own factions, but as the time continued to pass the contestants would see that to reach a high streak of victories they would have to diversify the people in the team. This line of thought would birth the first team with members of more than one faction, which would pave the way for a second one, a third, and so on."

Azazel replied to Sirzechs Lucifer, explaining his line of thoughts about the development of the competition. The leaders nodded their heads at that. What Azazel was saying made a lot of sense for them and they could already see in their heads things playing just like Azazel said.

"The current protections applied to the Rating Games could be easily applied to other races just as it works for Devils. I suppose that with a little help from Erik, we could even improve its efficiency."

Ajuka Beelzebub said, analyzing the application of the idea and looking at Erik for a little help with it.

"I would gladly help with that."

Erik replied to Ajuka Beelzebub, who nodded his head in thanks.

"And would this competition be only between our factions, or would it be open for anyone to enter?"

Michael asked Azazel. His question was relevant because these 'games' could be used as an integration bridge with the other factions.

"Hmm… I think that it would be better to be closed only to our faction. At least initially. But we could make some special events and invite other factions to send their teams to participate. As more and more factions participate in it, we could permanently open it to all."

Azazel replied to Michael. The Great Seraph, just like the other leaders, liked the idea of that competition very much. It would work perfectly to satiate the hunger for battle from some of their more… difficult members.

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