Story 5: Chapter 3: Copy Cat (Patreon)

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Story 5: Chapter 3: Copy Cat

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- Sam -

I went for a walk with Kuroka. She asked me to accompany her after we left from our job. Apparently, she had a lot on her mind and she wanted to take a walk to refresh her mind. I agreed.

It was almost morning so we didn’t roam around much and returned after an hour or so.

The first thing I noticed was that the house was empty.

“Rias must be training in the basement. You can go and wash up. I will cook something after I get her back.”

She nodded and went towards the bath while I went to get Rias back.

The room was eerily quiet and the scene that I saw when I opened the room chilled my spine.

Rias lay on the ground, several cuts and bruises on her body. I was by her side before I could realize it myself.

“Kuroka!” I shouted out loud to let her know that something was wrong.

Her breathing was shallow and I quickly checked her body, using Senjutsu.

Kuroka was by our side in an instant. She quickly teleported us to the bed in the room above us while I used the moment to calm myself.

I was training to be a doctor.

I can do this. I just need to be calm. I repeated this to myself in my head quietly.

Taking a deep breath, I took a look at her body’s conditions in detail.

There were broken bones as well as some muscles which were torn off, arteries damaged and she was suffering from massive exhaustion.

I quickly got rid of my clothes. Kuroka knew what I was doing and didn’t question it.

She removed her clothes and got behind her as well.

I removed her clothes and Kuroka took the chance to clean her wounds with her magic while I removed the dirt from the bedsheets.

The skin contact healing method was strong enough to heal a hole in the stomach. Demonic Power was bullshit in more than one aspect. Even a normal devil had a much better healing than a human because of the demonic power flowing through their veins. If she wasn’t exhausted, she would have been up by now.

That said, she was injured and her injuries were the worst I saw since we started training together.

Two hours later, her breathing became more stable as the infusion of Demonic Power inside her increased her own dried out reserves.

Kuroka dozed off as well but I couldn’t sleep.

The image of her laying on the ground, unmoving, was flashing in my head whenever I tried to close my eyes.

Kuroka left the room after walking up later.

Rias was still asleep but her vitals were normal now. Her fractures had completely healed up and the muscles were completely reattached. Even the bruises on her skin were completely gone.

It was eight and a half hours later that she woke up.

She realized where she was and looked at me quickly getting up. “When did you get back? Did everything go well? You never called so I was worried that something bad might have happened. Are you alright?” She started to check my body.

The sheer panic and worry in her voice made all the anger I was holding drain. She was just a few steps away from being hysterical.

I let out a sigh.

“I am alright, Rias. I couldn’t move from the place. Nothing bad happened. I was just copying one of Issei’s cards. It took a long time and I couldn’t move from the place while it was done.”

She calmed down a little on hearing this.

“Why did you train like that, Rias? I remember we agreed that you can only do that training when there is someone to overlook your safety.”

She deflated a bit on hearing my question and her reply was almost inaudible but with my enhanced hearing I could still hear it.

“I… wanted to help but… I am too weak. I wanted to change that.”

Whether she was thinking about today or about the past or both when saying this, I didn’t know but I did know of one thing.

I needed to get this thought out of her head.

Guilt can make people do stupid things and I didn’t want her to suffer even more than she already was.

I made her turn towards me, our faces literally inches apart.

“You are not weak, Rias. get that thought out of your head.”

Her eyes widened but then as if a dam which had been holding everything back, it burst out. “I am weak. If I had been strong… I wouldn’t have lost. If I had been strong… Kiba wouldn’t have died. If I had been strong, you wouldn’t have gone there alone and risked your life all by yourself. I couldn’t… I… I couldn’t even do anything but sit here, in this room and worry but not go out there with you because I’d just drag you down. I’m..” Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes as her fingernails dug deep into her palms till they bled.

I took a deep breath and made her sit directly in front of me. “Okay, then let’s break things down and see it from an outsider’s perspective.”

She raised her head to face me so I continued.

“From what I know, you are among the top four strongest Devils of your generation, correct?”

“Sairaorg, Vali and even Kuroka are stronger than me.”

“All three were forced to grow stronger to survive. Your case is different from theirs. Let’s take a basic example. People living in flood prone areas are forced to learn swimming at a very young age. This doesn’t mean that others who are at the same age are at fault for not knowing how to swim. It’s just a difference of circumstances. They could just learn swimming if they put in some effort. The only reason they haven’t is that they simply never needed to.”

I might be exaggerating a bit but it was the truth. Maturity doesn’t come with age but with experiences.

Just because some people were forced to mature at an early age due to less than enviable circumstances, it doesn’t mean that those who are not as mature as them are at fault.

“But…” She tried to say something but I stopped her.

“As for the Rating Game and your loss, let’s see it this way. Imagine that you had a loan thrown on your head which you had to repay in ten years.” She looked at me oddly but nodded anyway. “If you can’t then your house gets taken away from you. You worked perfectly despite the unfair loan and predicted that your loan can be repaid in eight or so years. Okay?” She nodded again and I continued. “But the people were eying the house from the very beginning and had no intention of holding their end of the bargain. They pulled the date back to six years all of a sudden. So… is that your fault?”

“It’s not like that…”

“As odd as it sounds… it is. What? Don’t believe me? Okay, give me one reason why?”

She opened and closed her mouth but no words came out of her mouth.

“You see, if a first year student was given a final year graduation paper to solve… and he fails the exam, it doesn’t mean that the student was bad or worthless. It just means that the examiner was an utter dickward. The fact that one or two students in the world can solve the said paper in the first year doesn’t mean shit. The world doesn’t run by exceptions. They are not the rule. Get this through your head. You are not to be blamed for any of this. Understood?”

To be honest, this entire marriage fiasco didn’t make any sense at all.

Neither did many other things.

For example, Rias treated Akeno like a sister. The Gremory treated her as a family member and accepted her heritage for years but she still had problems with it while all that was needed for her to accept it was some pep talk by Issei and basically him accepting her?

I call it plot bullshit. Every girl needed stupid issues to be solved and then the hero got a brainded fangirl. It was ridiculous if one thought of it carefully.

Many things were odd about the story.

I mean why would Sirzechs send his beloved sister to fight against Gods and Heavenly Dragon level monsters who have a good chance to defeat him?

Didn’t the Devils have tons of Ultimate Class people from the Rating Games?

And yet, miraculously, no one died.

But this world was different.

Someone did die in this world. This already meant that whatever I remembered from the story was at best a baseline and I cannot expect the same level for the enemies I faced.

Also, something about that Boob Goddesses’ Blessing made alarm bells go out in my head. Wasn’t she first introduced in the Loki fight?

How did he have it at the start?

The guy himself seemed like a decent guy, so was it the Boob Goddesses’ Blessing making him a nutjob or was that just plain anime logic?

I shoved these thoughts out of my head and concentrated on the matter at hand.

She calmed down after some time and I picked her up. She didn’t complain as I took her to the bath.

We were already naked so we didn’t need to undress.

Two spells later, the tub was ready. She sat with her back resting on my chest as she leaned back.

I took a bit of shampoo in my hand and slowly applied it on her long hair.

Fun fact, she was using a magical hair colour to prevent it from being destroyed in battles. It only came off after a spell and another hair colour remover.

I saw the black colour of her hair dye get washed away and vapourize as soon as it touched the water in the tub and what was left were the most beautiful locks of crimson hair I had ever seen.

I continued massaging her hair for some time till she relaxed and grabbed my hands, making me embrace her within.

“I think I felt some control over my Gremory powers today.” She finally broke the silence.

I looked at her and checked her cards again and sure enough, the Gremory Bloodline was at D Rank now.

“Yes. It’s D Rank now. What do you think is the difference?”

“It’s not exactly controlling Luck but more like feeling it move really. I am pretty sure if I wasn’t actively thinking of it under the shower of magical bullets, I wouldn’t even have felt it but now, somehow or the other I think I can sense Luck but only when I am in a dangerous situation.”

“Any ideas on how you managed that?”

She thought of it for a while and I moved her hair behind her ears as she half turned back to face me. I don’t know why… but the crimson hair made her look beyond anything. I was a bit dazed even when I slept naked with her everyday, and she was currently hugging me.

“Sam.”

“Hmm?” I broke out of my daze at her call?

“What happened?”

“Nothing… your hair looks so beautiful that I… Ah…”

She took a moment to understand what I said and then her cheeks lit up with an atomic blush. Really… this girl is a walking contradiction.

On one hand, she is fine sleeping naked with me and even jokes about such things while in my arms. But I compliment her or kiss her forehead lightly and she blushes.

“A-anyways… I… we were talking about my powers.”

“Ah yes. We were talking…”

We moved on to the topic of discussion to avoid the awkward moment.

She took a deep breath and continued. “I think I could feel it when I gave up all resistance to the attacks and just let whatever happened happen. The more I tried to control or willed it to happen, the less there was an effect. But when I let everything go, I could feel something. I noticed that the attacks on me had become much less and the bullets were hitting each other more, being dispersed before they hit my body.”

"Have you decided which Skill to get for yourself?" I asked.

The function of the C Ranked System was the Skill Bestowal function. With this, I can bestow only one Skill to anyone. The card which I bestow will forever be lost from my collection and I won't be able to just copy the Skill again from the one bestowed.

This function was very restricted and not exactly a way to make someone much stronger instantly but it was still a reasonable growth.

I still haven't tested this on anyone.

"I think it would be best if you could get A Or S Ranked Demonic Power Reserves because the natural limit of the Devil Race is limited by their Demonic Power. I will need to check and see if there are any side effects to this power which we don't know of."

"Hmm."

"Sam."

"Yes."

"I want you to copy the Phenex Bloodline."

…

…

"What?" I asked, fearing as if I misheard something.

"I want you to copy the Phenex Bloodline." She repeated.

"Why?"

She let out a sigh. "As much as I dislike them, it doesn't change the fact that they have a power which can increase your survivability by a lot. I… I don't want to risk your life for my pride.We are already fugitives, ”

Some quietness settled down in the bath and I spoke after a few minutes. “Okay.”

We didn’t speak much and got out of our baths quietly.

Today was exhausting

- Sirzechs -

He rushed to the human world as soon as he could when Grayfia suddenly called about some information about Rias.

It had been a month and a half and even Ajuka working several weeks couldn’t find a trace of her.

As he opened the room, he saw the peerage members of Rias gathered along with Grayfia.

He had ordered them to be brought so that his father couldn’t track them. He didn’t need another drama at this time.

The people in the room were extremely tense. He saw the Pawn look especially tense, even lost.

The one who however worried him was the Rook. He hadn’t seen her like that in years since he had rescued her from being executed.

She was shivering in place and was almost curled up in a ball with only the support of Akeno and the bishop to stay in the room.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

The pawn retold what happened in the last pact and every word the guy called Samuel has said.

He looked at Grayfia and she handed him the package. It was without a doubt Rias' handwriting. It was the things that were written inside which were the cause of his concern. At least it explained why Koneko was acting like this.

"Did you check the facts? The hair clip?" He asked and Grayfia nodded.

Naberius.

He did think there was something fishy about that execution, which is why he stopped it. But even as a Satan, there was a limit to how much he could probe.

The Naberius had lost a child and then treating them as the suspects would have only raised the ire of the Devils against him and the Satans so the most he could do was save Koneko from the execution.

And looks like that act saved Rias' life now. She was saved and helped by Kuroka.

The main cause of concern was this Sam or rather what he had predicted.

A Seer was rare.

True ones were even rarer.

One who could predict this, was even rarer than a Longinus. Knowing the future, even just a probable one, was nothing less than a miracle.

It was just the content of these predictions…

As for the veracity of the news, he will have to check everything.

Still… Rias was undercover in a terrorist organisation. He wanted to run up to her and bring her back at the very instant but he knew how stubborn his sister was and… She didn't say where the organisation was.

"Lucifer-sama, Buchou, is she alright?" Issei asked.

Poor boy had been raked by the guilt of Kiba's death all this time.

Rias leaving just increased the guilt even more.

Not only him but all her peerage members. Koneko had become quieter and vented her frustrations in training. Gasper had almost stopped responding to people and only Koneko or Akeno could get him to talk.

As for Akeno, he sighed…

"Yes. She is alright."

"Then Sam-san was…"

"He seems to be someone whom Rias saved recently when she found him dying. She needed to use all her… pawn pieces on him to reincarnate him."

He saw the look of hurt on his face and said, "I am sorry about…"

The boy however shook his head. "No… Buchou is not the kind of person who will let someone die just like that in front of her. She did what needed to be done… Sam-san seemed like a very good person and he will be by Buchou's side so that she isn't alone wherever she is now. It's fine. This…"

The bishop came to his side and tightly hugged him.

"Koneko."

The girl looked up to him, showing more emotions in her eyes than she did in the past years.

"I will make it so that Kuroka can come back to the Underworld and have her name cleared. She is already doing a lot of work to help us by spying on a dangerous terrorist organisation. Such merits will not go unrewarded. As for the Naberius, don't bother about them. I will take care of everything." He spoke, his voice firm as steel.

And he knew exactly what to do. If even half the information in this paper was true, he would be able to see everything through.

First things first though, he needed to talk to his fellow Satans and verify the news, maybe starting with Diodora Astaroth.

The girl in question simply looked without any movement.

He then remembered the threat to Kuoh.

"Grayfia, start training everyone. You can put aside all your duties except Milicas to concentrate on their training. We might have a very big danger to our lives soon."

– Sam –

"Just so you know, I'm not the type to go for cliches.say for instance you were in love with me and some other girl was making moves on me. If you, out of jealousy, were to inflict some unjust violence on me. I would fight back with no hesitation. I'm the guy who does what he has to do. You'd do well to remember that."

…

…

I finally couldn't take it and burst out laughing while Rias was already having a hard time controlling her giggles.

Things were getting very stressful so I decided that we should take a break from our training.

And what better way to relax than some good old anime.

I chose Konosuba for this occasion. But, there was a small problem.

There was no Konosuba in this world. So I found a solution and used Illusions to project the show in front of us. And just like that, I was chilling under the bedsheets and laughing my guts out watching one of my favourite anime.

"This world is so funny."

"I agree. I wonder if it's real." She looked at me oddly. "I mean, this world was an anime as well and you know…"

She looked a bit dazed but then snuggled closer to me. "If so, then one day I would like to visit there. Will you take me?"

Her eyes were looking towards the screen but the grip in her fingers told me that it was not a simple question. "I would love to visit there with you someday."

Although not direct, her lips lightly curved into a smile and she rested her cheeks on my chest. "I will hold you to this then."

"Okay."

The episode finished and we got up to plan for our next stage of action.

"There are a few ways to get close enough to copy the Phenex Bloodline. First will be to get one of their summoning flyers but the contracts are mostly handled by the servants so the chance to encounter them is quite difficult."

I agreed. Normally, Kings didn't make contracts until the task was beyond the servants. So getting a King will be difficult.

"The second will be to temporarily kidnap the members of the Phenex house but we are not doing that."

I agree.

"How about I sneak into the TV station owned by their second son as an employee and copy his bloodline before leaving?"

"Good plan." She thought for some time. "Although the security of the building is strong, it's not exactly impossible. Not to mention that the second Phenex is not exactly a fighter. Even his peerage is business focused. We just have to look for a good opportunity."

I just thought of another method. "Can we get access to the Rating Game stadiums?"

"No. Don't even think about that. The ones ranked from one to ten are extremely strong, not to mention their experiences in combat and magic. They also have strong peerages and it can be very difficult to get past them." She directly rejected the plan and I agreed. Going after the eldest Phenex was dangerous.

"Okay. I think we should concentrate on what we have for now. Your Gremory and my Lucifer Bloodline. Just these two bloodlines have enormous potential. I can always copy from others during our visits to the Khaos Brigade. They still have many people whom I can take new Skills from. There are also the places which Vali is planning on going to soon."

Three weeks have passed.

The news about the thefts of the Excalibur swords were mostly hidden but we still found out about it.

In this time, all I did was train till there was no energy left in my body only to heal myself along with Rias.

Twice we went to the Khaos Brigade headquarters and got a chance to snip something cool.

Two things. First was the Angelic Bloodline which was a rarity but we found a High Class Angel whom I could copy.

I was thinking about something and wanted to see if my theory was correct.

Lucifer was originally an angel so a part of him must have some angelic side.

And it was true. The bloodline evolved to C Rank instantly and that's when my Demonic Power started to rise. In the next three days, my Demonic Power rose like no ones' business and training just pushed my reserves even more.

Currently I was almost at the B Rank in Demonic Power Reserves, at least.

And it is still growing.

Another thing I gained was the Holy Magic and it stayed due to the Angelic side. But it was not pure Holy Magic but rather, Holy Demonic Magic.

This was my first B Ranked Skill.

The Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light was strong, broken even, I agree but, if mixed with the Holy Demonic attribute, it is something else completely.

My Skills looked something like this.

S Ranked Luck

B Ranked Holy Demonic Magic

C Ranked Lucifer Bloodline

C Ranked Demonic Power

C Ranked Enhanced Physique

C Ranked Magic Resistance

C Ranked Swordsmanship

C Ranked Touki

C Ranked Senjutsu

C Ranked General Human Magic

C Ranked Curse Magic

C Ranked Elemental Magic(Human)

C Ranked Light Resistance

C Ranked Holy Resistance

C Ranked Light Magic

C Ranked Enhanced Reflexes

C Ranked Enhanced Strength

C Ranked Enhanced Endurance

C Ranked Enhanced Speed

Which allowed me to stand up somewhere in this world.

The gap between Ultimate Class and Satan class is immense.

I mean, even within the Rating Game players, only the likes of Tannin and Diehauser are proper Satan Class beings.

So, B Rank was a big deal. Today was the day I finally decided to go after the second Phenex son to copy the Phenex Bloodline.

He was conducting a show in the Underworld to know about the public opinion on who was the public favourite to win the upcoming Youth Devil Gathering in the next three months. Yes, there was that.

This year Rias will not be participating and neither will any of her or rather Grayfia's peerage members as she is already an experienced devil.

There were several reasons behind this decision too. First was my safety, undoubtedly. The second was the ability to make Phenex Tears.

Those things were a spare life each and were notoriously difficult to come by. If we could get the ability to make them ourselves, our side would have a great boon.

Not to mention, there was the ability to train the power to get to higher ranks for me.

We still haven't heard anything from the informants about the situation of the Excalibur swords or about Kokabiel.

“I’m ready.” Rias got up beside me.

While we still didn’t use the Bestowal Skill on her, she did grow quite well in these last three weeks.

D Ranked Demonic Power

D Ranked Demonic Power Control

D Ranked Gremory Bloodline

D Ranked Bael Bloodline

E Ranked Cooking

D Ranked Mind Magic

E Ranked Barrier Magic

D Ranked Disguise

C Ranked Luck

D Ranked Devil Magic

All of her Skill Cards were the deepest colour they could be which meant that they were ready to get to the next level soon. Currently, she is at the Peak of a High Class Devil.

For an estimate, she was almost thrice as strong as she was when I first met her.

“Let’s go.”

We teleported from the house.

The event was bigger than we had expected.

We had already planned everything, from who we are going to disguise ourselves as journalists who came to cover the event.

For this, we had observed two reporters for a week, their actions, found out their information and finally kinda… ughh, invited them for a stay.

“Is the event for the Youth Devil Gathering so big every year?” I asked Rias as I looked around me.

“Devils have a very low probability to have children so there wouldn’t be that many young devils of the same age. Normally it’s only a few people from distant branches gathering together every decade or so. This year however, things are different. First of all, there will be the Heirs and Heiresses of many prominent Pillar Houses participating in the gathering. Not to mention…” She grew a bit quiet before continuing. “The Phenex House spent a lot of money to call for the experts of Rating Games to make this event grander and take the attention of the public from my absence. The entire thing took a toll on their popularity even though they used their money to cover up for most of it, there were still voices.”

“So they organised a giant concert and will try to pretend that nothing happened.”

“Basically yes.”

I kinda wanted to mess with them a bit.

“Don’t even think about it. We just need to get what we want and leave. Nothing else.”

“Okay.” I relented.

I was not strong enough to take them on yet. Maybe when I am at S Rank, I would give them a public talk in front of the whole underworld.

We went with the crowd of reporters after having our IDs scanned and took place at the front row.

I even suggested another journalist to switch places with me so that I was in close proximity with the stage itself.

Rias on the other hand went back to find something for me.

The event started with the second son of the Phenex House, Reven Phenex taking stage. He was the owner of his own TV station and an accomplished businessman and from what I can see through my scan, a good fighter as well.

C Ranked Phenex Bloodline, C Ranked Devil Magic.

It’s just that the stage was too big and I couldn’ get in range.

Do I really have to use it?

The Card I got from the C Rank Promotion was a card which let me extend my range to double of my current range for a day.

But I am too reluctant to use this.

I had much better events in mind when I could use this card in tandem with the other two cards. Today it would be a waste to use it.

As I was thinking of this, I saw some people murmuring and looked towards the side. Three seats from me, a girl with pink dress and blonde drill-like hair sat down with another thug looking guy beside her with the same blond hair and blue eyes.

I didn’t need the words of the nearby people to tell me who they were.

Riser Phenex hadn’t been out in the public much after the entire engagement debacle.

The fact that he showed up today was already surprising.

I quickly used Scan and found the results quite surprising because at his current level, Rias would totally blast him out in a straight fight. He was only slightly stronger than the Rias I met a month ago in terms of basic stats. Although she had been training for about a month since running away from her home, he was two years or so older.

None of his stats are at C Rank.

I checked his sister’s stats and D Ranked Phenex Bloodline and E Ranked Devil magic.

The Phenex Tears were made through a certain ritual which was kept a secret by the Phenex House. This Ritual must be inside the Devil Magic part.

I set up the copy for the Phenex Bloodline first from Ravel as I didn’t know if she knew how to make Phenex Tears. Five minutes later, I copied the Devil Magic from Riser and both the required Skills for the production of Phenex Tears were with me.

The surprising part was the guests in the event.

I mean Ruval Phenex was a given but the others were the more impressive ones.

Rudiger Rosenkreutz, Roygun Belphegor and finally, Diehauser Belial.

They stepped on the stage from the stairs near me and I could see their Cards for a moment.

Rudiger had a B Ranked Human Magic, B ranked Devil Magic and B Ranked Demonic Power control were his best cards.

Diehauser was a fucking beast.

The most prominent were the B ranked Belial Bloodline, B Ranked Demonic Power Reserves, B Ranked Demonic Power Control, B Ranked Devil Magic, B Ranked Strategist and the rest were all high C Rank.

This fucking beast. I didn’t know the man myself but just looking at the cards he had, I was feeling a genuine burst of respect for him.

He wasn’t born with abnormal gifts like Ajuka or Sirzechs. He trained to this point even when his family could barely afford to support him.

This requires talent, dedication but most of all hard work and will.

He deserves the respect.

Finally was the last member.

Her cards…

They were a bit weird.

It was like Diodora’s cards with Ophis’ blessings. Her cards were connected to another card. A B Ranked King Piece Card which basically boosted the effects of the other cards to a higher level.

There was a drawback of it not being usable for those with an already existing Evil Piece or beyond a certain level of power.

There was her ability of Crack though.

The ability to create a tear on anything.

Too bad, none of them were close to me when they sat down.

A few minutes later, I felt my phone vibrate and saw that Rias found something so I excused myself away from the seat to get to her.

To my surprise, she was waiting near the stairs. When I reached there, she led me to a place. It took me a second to realise that we were right below the stage.

I flew up and reached near the ceiling and called out scan and to my surprise, cards popped up in front of me.

“Did it work?” She asked.

I gave her a thumbs up. “You are a genius.” I smiled.

“I will make a place for us to hide. You start copying.”

This place was off limits for those not from the staff and so we needed to hide till I was done copying Skills.

And we did just that. I started with Diehauser’s Belial Bloodline. Worthless is a worthwhile ability. Pun totally intended.

One hour for one card.

Sigh.

The event was scheduled for three hours so I couldn’t copy from everyone.

My two targets were Diehauser and Rudiger. The Devil Magic from the second guy.

“How much time?”

“I will need around three hours or so for everything but we don’t have that much time so I’ll just have to choose. Do you think we can wait?”

This was the store room, so there was a chance that people could come here.

“I’ll try.”

She moved the boxes in the room so that there was a tower of sorts around the spot where I was standing. “Creating a barrier might attract the attention of others. It’s best if we avoid it.”

Reasonable.

She came up to the top box near me and sat down and silence descended as we listened to the opinions of the people in the auditorium.

One particular announcement made her clench her hands with anger and I pulled her into a half hug to calm her down.

“He will lose.” I said.

She nodded lightly.

Apparently, Riser Phenex was participating in the Youth Devil Gathering.

I realised that in the story, he was beaten and traumatised so not able to participate in the Youth Devil gathering.

He was less than five years older than Rias and was thus allowed to participate in the gathering too.

The Phenex will want him to win the gathering to wash away a bit of the bad publicity. Devils respected strength, and the strength being of a pure blooded devil will be lapped up quickly by those old devils in the council.

Too bad for him, there was Sairaorg and he was bound to lose.

The only reason Sairaorg even lost was the fucking plot.

The next hour and a half were spent quietly and I got Diehauser’s Belial Bloodline and started on Rudiger’s Devil Magic.

It was then we heard the door opening. The one who came in was a black haired, purple eyed, muscular guy who entered the room. He was followed by a blonde haired girl who looked at him worried. “A fight here will not change anything, Sai. You will get the chance to fight him in the Rating Game and you can do whatever you want there.”

“I know but it’s… so infuriating. She was supposed to participate in this tournament and because of him…” The guy took a few deep breaths before calming himself down. “And he has the gall to just stand there and behave as if it has nothing to do with him.”

I didn’t need any more words to know who he was. Sairaorg Bael.

Beside me Rias shook a little and that was enough for the guy to look in our direction even when we were hidden by the tower of boxes.

“Who’s there? Come out.”

I quickly thought of something and dishevelled Rias’ hair and my own and crumpled our clothes before slowly moving the boxes with a light annoyed look. “The room’s already taken. Look for your own room. We’re busy.”

….

….

Apparently none of the ones present had thought of this response.

The girls became beet red while the other guy looked a little bewildered but quickly caught hold of himself.

“It’s a bit uncouth to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation, don’t you think.”

“Hmm. I guess. Still less than walking in on the private time of others.”

“You are not allowed to do… t-that on work in the first place.” The girl interjected.

“We are on a break. Moreover this is a staff only area. You are intruding. Please leave the premises.”

I was just stalling at this point. I needed fifteen more minutes to copy the Skill. There was no way I was moving from this place. The Belial Bloodline works best when the person has the knowledge of the opponent’s magic first. I needed Rudiger’s card to efficiently be able to use his abilities.

“You…” Sairaorg was angry. The guy was frustrated but I couldn’t move from the place and him making a move was not something I could just take sitting in this place.

“What’s your name? Do you know who we are? Call your superior. We want to talk to them.” The girl put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him before he attacked.

“Sam please.” Rias held my arm and whispered.

I sighed. And we were so close too. Dammit. I don’t want to give up the skill that easily.

So, I thought of another plan and while risky I looked at the guy. “I know who you are. Well the guy at least. You’ll be surprised how much I know actually.” I smiled.

“Oh! And what do you know about me that I will be surprised about?” he asked me challengingly.

“Hmm, let’s say for one, I know quite a few things. For example, you are an expert in physical skills, the names of your peerage members, their powers…”

“Half the underworld knows of them.” He waved his hands airily.

“Oh? Half the underworld knows of the little cat in your peerage? My my, I was pretty sure that it was your trump card. The big bad cat that can scare the crap out of the Greeks. What was his name? Rigurd? Sirius? Taurus? Well, you get the idea, don't you?” I smiled.

His eyes narrowed.

“Now if that wasn’t enough, I know that your mother has been a victim of the Sleeping Disease. True.”

He clenched his fists lightly and his aura got restrained. He was in fight mode. I knew of this feeling. It was when Bikou truly attacked me in our spars. He gives off a similar feeling. Time to stop playing around.

Eight minutes left.

“I just happen to know about the only person yet who has awakened from a hundred years or so of long sleep.” I smiled.

He froze.

The girl beside him stopped too.

Rias gripped my hand tighter not knowing where I was going with this.

He took a deep breath and looked at me much calmer this time. “What do you want?”

“Now, we are speaking.” I clapped my hands.

“First thing. I will tell you about the person and how they woke up. Whether you can recreate it or not is not my problem.”

He nodded so I continued.

“As for my price, there will be two things. First, you leave us alone for today and second, I just happened to hear something really interesting a few minutes ago. You are planning to beat the crap out of a supposedly unkillable cockroach. I want in.”

“Sam!” Rias grabbed my hand, a look of worry on her face.

“Do you think I will lose?” I asked her, looking straight into her eyes.

“You will be in danger and I don’t want you to be in danger. Not for this.”

“The games will start in three months. I can mop the floor with him and his entire peerage right at this instant.”

“There will be many others. If you make a move, they will come after you.”

“And that wouldn’t change anything. We will just be where we are now. If I want to leave, they will never… ever find me.”

“And neither will beating him up change anything.” She argued.

“It will. First of all, I will not allow that bastard to strut around enjoying his life while you suffer from nightmares every night. I will make sure that every time he closes his eyes, he will remember the beating I give him.”

In this last month we had grown very close. Being the only other person in the world you can trust completely does things for your mind. In essence it was two hurt and lost people coming together to fill the holes in each other.

So when I see her waking up from her nightmares, it makes my freaking blood boil in anger.

That Phenex bastard needs a good smacking.

“Your nightmares… I will stop them. If that takes me beating the crap out of the entire Phenex peerage in front of the underworld, I will.”

The entire room had become quiet.

She didn’t say anything but I actually felt something on the back of my palm. A teardrop.

She was crying.

I lightly hugged her. “Three months later, if you think I am not ready for this, I will stop but just let me do this. Please.”

She didn’t stop me again.

I looked at Sairaorg and continued, “So, what do you say?”

He was however not looking at me but at Rias. The dumbass must have realised who she was. He was about to say something but I pulled her tighter into my embrace and shook my head towards him.

“How can I trust you?” He asked. I did hear the real reason behind his question. He was not asking about the deal but about leaving her with me.

“It doesn’t matter if you trust me or not. I don’t yearn for your approval. The only person whose approval I need right now is in my arms. And as long as she wants to, I will take her away. And you won’t be able to stop us.”

I made a fist in front of my body as my Touki covered the fist and concentrated around it, swirling around.

The girl whose name I still didn’t know created some black coloured balls of energy to defend them from any possible attack. Hole. Oh, she’s the Queen, Kuisha Abbadon.

Just in time, the second Card was copied.

He stepped in front of her. “Then show me your strength.”

Yeah… I knew this was going to happen.

Just my luck.

We left the room after an hour, right before the event was about to end. In this time, I was able to copy Ruval Phenex’s Bloodline too, boosting my Phenex Bloodline to C Rank instantly. The Card from his second brother made the Skill finally take a leap from the C to the B Rank.

And the last was Roygun’s ability which only took twenty minutes to copy because it was originally at the start of the C Rank only.

Crack. The ability to create a tear in anything.

The perfect ability to go with my swordsmanship.

Today’s harvest was beyond anything I came here thinking of. A surprising thing was that with the B Ranked Devil Magic and B Ranked Bloodlines, my overall fighting ability was now at B Rank too….barely . I was finally a Satan Class being.

Things will only get harder from this point.

People with A Ranked Skills are hard to find.

Not to mention, spending three hours with them in a five metre range will be hard.

The Card I got from the level up was worth it though.

A Card which allowed me to reset the counter on any person. It meant that whether I copy or bestow, I can do it two times on the same person.

The best possible use would be to use this on S Ranked beings.

With some work, I can see Ophis agreeing to sit still for eighteen hours next to me.

I followed Sairaorg and Rias and Kuisha came behind us.

The crowd was gathering around the place to surround Sairaorg. We were under disguises so we weren’t noticed much.

“Mr. Bael, in the show just now, Riser Phenex has claimed that he will take the first place in the Youth Devil Gathering. As the public favourite, what do you have to say to him?” A reporter asked Sairaorg who was in a very bad mood right now.

As I expected, he replied in a snarky tone completely different from the normal one. “Did he say which of my peerage members he is planning to take hostage or which one to kill to make me surrender?”

The reporter didn’t expect this line reply and was stunned into silence.

But this was enough to fuel the other reporters for further questions. “Are you referring to the controversial fight between Riser Phenex and the now missing Rias Gremory? Do you disagree with the fight?”

“Are you saying that it was not an accident and he murdered her peerage member deliberately?”

“Ten minutes of ‘Quit or I will kill your peerage members’ followed by the action doesn’t make it a secret. If that’s the case, then I can also say that ‘I will neuter him in the fight’. The winner will be decided when we fight. As for the accidents, they can happen anytime. I am sure that the Phenex House will not be hypocritical and blame me.”

We didn’t stop for anyone else and left the place directly.

Oh, this will cause some trouble for the Phenex House… and I love it.

I had three months to become a Super Devil at the very least.

I really needed to think of a good plan.

– Sirzechs –

He waited in one of the houses in Kuoh. The members of his peerage waited in different places throughout the town.

The news of the theft of the Excalibur swords were not hard to find when he knew what he was looking for.

Almost every bit of information he found on the letter was true.

He had asked Ajuka about the case with his cousin and found that the members of his peerage were indeed only nuns and holy maidens. This was enough to set off alarm bells in Ajuka's mind.

He kept an eye on him and arrived right on time when he was about to kill the Glasya-Labolas heir and arrested him.

This followed by the verification of several other things like the scam of the Rating Game, death of Cleria Belial, etc, all proved that the contents of the letter were true.

The information from Diodora also confirmed many of the things.

Falbium had been one step from killing Diodora for the attempted murder of his brother but only stopped because they still needed to extract information from him.

Officially, Diodora Astaroth had gone missing.

Latia Astaroth was made the temporary heiress of the House till he was found.

This led them to take the news about Kokabiel's attack seriously.

Just in case, Ajuka sent Latia Astaroth as the second king of Kuoh to act as bait.

Serafall had been livid and wanted to come here by herself but was only stopped because she needed to meet with Azazel and Michael to discuss the Peace Treaty.

The Treaty was already underway and they just needed a last push to convince their people to go along with this. News of the treaty however was top secret.

It was for this reason that he even entertained the idea of Samuel White being a seer for a moment.

As the leader of a faction, he really wanted to get him under his wing as soon as possible but as a brother, he was reluctant to take away the only support his sister had at this moment.

This doesn't mean that he was comfortable with the idea of her spying among dangerous criminals each of whom wanted his head.

He will have to check and see for himself what kind of person this Sam guy was.

As for the members of Rias' peerage. Damon Glasya-Labolas had been quite grateful for the help and had agreed to temporarily use them instead of his own members on the Youth Devil Gathering.

If they win, their standings will improve a lot in the Underworld.

If Rias was working for the safety and welfare of her peerage members, then he will make sure they are taken care of.

The sound of an explosion outside and he got up from his seat. Grayfia was already moving but all they did was hide, not interfere.

It was time for Azazel to keep his side of the bargain.

– Sam –

I stood in the middle of nowhere in the Underworld with Sairaorg standing against me. Beside him was an orange haired figure who backed away till only the two of us were left in the field staring straight at each other.

"I will not hold back." He said seriously.

I nodded. "I would be insulted if you did."

To be honest, he was already a C Rank in comprehensive fighting ability.

His cards were similar to Bikou for Touki and Physique which was saying a lot.

That monkey was often unassuming but he was ridiculously tough. He shrugged off my normal hits without flinching much which was saying something.

I got a sword from Arthur to use in the meantime. It wasn't a named sword but it did work.

Kuisha Abbadon was acting as a referee for the match.

"Ready, Start."

We kicked the ground at the same time and punched straight to get a feel of each other.

He was strong. My brute strength was slightly higher but not by too much.

I was not going to win against him in hand to hand combat so I didn't even try. My demonic power flowed into my sword as it took on a silver glow.

I slashed and he dodged as touki covered his body and he spun on the ground and punched straight towards my face.

I kicked the ground and twisted my body to avoid the hit, covering my own body with Touki to defend myself.

My senjutsu sensed the area behind me being destroyed by the sheer force of the punch. Even a high class devil would be out by that.

I slashed down on his body as he brought his other arm covered in a thick layer of Touki to defend.

My sword sliced through most of it but he still defended enough to send a knee towards my stomach.

I increased my demonic power in the sword. He realised this and quickly stepped back to avoid his arm being lopped off.

What took place after that was intense clashes of fists and swords all over the place. Each punch I dodged dug trenches through the ground and each slash of my sword he dodged cut the land in two.

I was too lost in the fight to realise the time. We both jumped back to create a distance between us.

I still didn't use any magic except fire attribute swordsmanship.

"You should stop holding back… or you will die." He said. "Balance Breaker."

A golden light enveloped him and when the light subsided, he was covered in a golden armour with a lion's head in front of his chest area.

His aura had increased a lot and the axe in his hand was giving me a feeling of danger but… I am still stronger.

"Okay then, try to survive."

I let go of the sword because my next move would make it useless. I took a stance and light flickered in between my hands.

Black light twisted to form a sword of energy.

The Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light Sword.

– Sairaorg Bael –

Today had been a rough day even by his standards. First that bullshit they were trying to pull at the Youth Devil Gathering's Press Conference, then finding out that his cousin whom the entire underworld was searching for was in the storeroom of the same building, making out with a guy. And now, this…

"Sai, do not let that sword touch you. I didn't think I would ever see it again after he had passed but it looks like one of his descendants inherited it."

"What are you talking about, Regulus? Whose descendant inherited what exactly?"

"That light… It was the trademark move of Lucifer. The original one. It is the power which allowed him to stand on top of the entire devil race as their king. It cuts through all kinds of magic. With it Lucifer cut through even miracles and made all kinds of Sacred Gears useless. If it hits you, I will not be able to assist you."

Lucifer!

The shock he felt at the name was soon replaced by a feral grin.

"It just means, I don't have to get hurt, right? I can't wait to see the power of the Strongest House in the Underworld."

He lay on the ground, several cuts decorating his body with little to no energy left in him.

The guy, Sam, on the other hand, was only lightly winded.

The moment he started using magic, the tables turned. It took him a moment to realise that the sword he was using all this time was actually holding him back because he was afraid of breaking it in the fight.

Once that restriction was removed, all his attacks became stronger.

Not to mention, the sword cut through his Regulus Rey Leather armour as if it was nothing.

The worst part of all this was that he still had a feeling that the guy was holding back.

It did make him realise the difference between them and did a lot to humble him.

Yes, Rias will be safe with him.

Still, to think that she would find a Lucifer as a peerage member… Her luck was just…

– Sam –

I took a chance to sit beside the now fallen guy and use Scan on the orange haired Sacred Gear on our side.

We were inside a mansion which they used for training. Sairaorg was laying on a bed while Regulus was on our side protecting him.

I on the other hand offered to heal him from the injuries.

Devils were beings of magic and being cut by a sword which erases magic itself, acted like poison to him, not that much different from normal light poisoning. It was actually worse.

So, I was taking this time to remove the poison and heal him.

How much time will it take? That depends on which Skill Regulus has to offer.

A Ranked Nemean Lion Bloodline

A Ranked Projectile Negation

A Ranked Severing

C Ranked Physique

…

There were several other skills but these were the strongest ones. Its powers were capped by its owner so the physique and other base stats were only at C Rank.

I started a copy on his A Ranked Severing Skill.

Regulus Nemea is said to possess the power to cut through anything.

I seriously doubt it but A Ranked Severing was still something.

I can just imagine this Skill coupled with the Lucifer Trait and the Belphegor's Tear. Add in a good sword and the cutting power behind the Skill would make even a Heavenly Dragon think twice before taking it head on.

Today's fight was quite satisfactory for me. The experience of fighting with the Vali team on a daily basis showed and I wasn't pushed back.

The real surprise was 'The Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light' cutting through the armour so easily.

The effect of restraining a Sacred Gear, is this where Rizevim got his idea of the Sacred Gear Canceller?

"So, you are a Lucifer? I thought they didn't intervene in matters of the Underworld"

"I have nothing to do with the Lucifers. Consider me a bastard child, if you will. The Lucifer House probably doesn't even know of my existence as far as I know."

"You are a Pure Blooded Devil. So your mother…?"

"Is not in this world."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. You didn't know."

"How did you meet Rias?"

"I was injured and she saved my life. I didn't have anywhere to go and we stuck together since then."

"I see. I am glad she has someone by her side now. What happened with her was probably a whim of her father at the start. For him it was a way to establish stronger relations with his friend but things went to hell when Kiba died. Rias running away was a big slap on the faces of both the houses and now even if they wanted to, they can't step back. This whole thing is a mess. They didn't have any reason to hurry."

"It was Riser's doing. He was spying on Rias and realised that she had obtained a Longinus user and pushed the matters forward. Her father agreed. He himself gloated to Rias which was the final straw for her and she ran."

"… so that's what happened. I didn't know that."

"Now you know why I want to beat him so badly in front of the whole underworld."

"I would have beaten him up anyway but sure. I don't see a problem why you couldn't do the same. So, what are you guys doing?"

I explained to him in brief about what exactly we were doing  currently.

"I plan to use the merits earned from spying on them to help clear her status and free her. If that doesn't work… well, we will think of something."

"You need strength. The Underworld runs on strength. Once you are strong enough, you can get everything. Moreover, with your blood, half the Underworld will get on their knees to get you back. Clearing her status will be easy enough."

"Hmm, I hope so."

We talked about several things. I delayed the removal of poison to make it take an hour or so so to copy Regulus’ Skill.

Sairaorg himself had a Vapula Bloodline and a defective Devil Physique which was the reason for his low Demonic Power. As for his other Skills, he had Physique and Touki at C Rank along with Martial Arts.

I got the Touki Card from him to push my own Touki to a higher level. A little more and I will be at the B Rank for Touki Skill.

My attention was diverted by a message. I checked it and found that Vali was asked by Azazel to stop Kokabiel’s attack.

Things were going as we had thought. With this news, we left the place. With the Peace Conference coming around, things were going to become hectic soon.

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Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author’s Note:

This chapter was a bit late because I got sick.

The next one will be another Snippet or The Deal whichever I can complete faster.

Things are picking up pace.

Sam’s S Ranked Luck is showing its worth.

The main plot will start from the next chapter where the things deviate from normal….well, more than they already have.

I was asked by someone if this will be a Harem.

The answer is yes. Although, it will be the smallest harem from all my stories.

Sam’s got balls of steel to not already be sticking it in. Since I have started writing a story about the development of their relationships, I will not make it cheaper by adding girls willy-nilly.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.