Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 58) (Patreon)

"Well..." I quietly mutter, sipping some tea as maids of all sorts wander the room, cleaning whatever dust they spy.

I've come back to the underworld for a little while. At least while the rating game season is at hand.

I look to the older woman sat beside me, then to her daughter sat on the other side and let out a low hum as I take another quiet sip.

"Gaius, it is so nice to see you again." The woman smiles, not so subtly hiding numerous jabs of 'why do you keep leaving me alone for months at a time' in her tone.

"It's good to see you too." I smile, refraining from saying the 'I Guess' at the end of that sentence.

The end of our first rating game has left us with a little time... roughly a week in fact.

The remaining rating games are going to take place, then there will be a day break before we continue to the next set.

Slowly the time between rounds will slowly grow shorter and shorter, and the time in between matches will grow with each having a larger amount of buildup, be it commercials, merchandise, or memorabilia.

"I apologize. My position leaves me incredibly busy as I prepare something special for the underworld." I smile up at the woman. "Soon enough, after this rating game season, I will possibly have a little more free time."

She frowns slightly then lets out a quiet sigh. "I suppose... I just sort of wish you would spend more time with me."

"Believe me, I want nothing more than to spend all of my time with those I care about, but... it isn't exactly something that can happen at the moment." I sigh sadly as I shake my head.

"But! As the rating game season ends, I finally will have some free time!" I grin slowly. "And when that happens, I will be sure to spend time with the people I probably have been neglecting these past months."

A maid enters from another room, bowing her head as she stops in front of the three of us. "Lord Decarabia, it appears you have gotten numerous letters and requests."

"Oh? Alright. Where are they then?"

A second maid enters the room, holding a fairly large sack, she gently sets it on the table, bowing deeply, then quickly walks away.

"I see. Thank you. You are dismissed."

The maid bows her head and follows the earlier maid.

I reach over and open the sack.

There are at least fifty letters here.

I let out a quiet sigh as I look to Ravel, then her mother to my other side. "Do you care to help out with this?"

Ravel smiles and nods. "It would be my pleasure."

"I suppose I could... but you will need to give me something." Rosaline slowly says with a small graceful smile crossing her lips.

I turn to look at the older woman. "Give you what exactly?"

"I have been here for the past year and yet, you have not lain with me even once... all I want for my assistance if for you to-"

"Bend you over a table and fuck your brains out?" I question with a raised eyebrow.

"That is... a crude way to put it, but I suppose that would be correct." The woman winces slightly as she nods once.

"I see. Alright." I nod as I open the first letter.

"Greetings Lord Decarabia! I can't help but see your immaculate peerage. They certainly appear to be well trained, but perhaps you are getting bored of them? I perhaps would be willing to trade for some of them, if you had made a mistake of reincarnating someone, I see no need for you to stick with them after all. I will give you not only an unused evil piece in exchange but serious monetary compensa-"

"Skip. Dipshit wants to trade peerages." I scoff as the note is crumpled into a ball, set alight and tossed over my shoulder.

The maids around the room widen their eyes as the paper- now embers- pelts the floor and scatters into ash, one of them swiftly making their way over and sweeping up the ash.

"Same thing." Ravel states.

"As is mine." Rosaline mutters, her eyes stray to me. "You are satisfied with your peerage, correct? This one's deal is quite good."

"Let me be perfectly clear, one of these jokes could have a magical artifact that literally turns whoever holds it into a god, and I still wouldn't trade any single piece in my peerage for it. To me, my peerage is literally priceless."

"I see." The woman frowns as she folds the letter back into the envelope and sits it aside.

I pull out another.

It is more of the same. 'hi, your peerage won't do well in rating games, blah blah, trade your multicolored ice cream girl with me.'

I toss the letter aside.

Ravel has the same luck, as did Rosaline, but eventually something catches her attention.

"Oh?" Ravel blinks slowly.

"What is it." I question slowly, looking away from the fourth 'peerage trade request' I had gotten.

"A major toy company wants to meet with you to discuss a contract. They apparently are fairly interested in your sword and was wondering if you would be willing to allow them to make toy copies of it for the children of the underworld."

"Oh." I mutter, my eyes widening fractionally. "That is actually something deserving of my attention. Sit it aside for now, I will take a look over it when we are finished with the majority of the letters."

The girl smiles and nods twice, causing the piece of paper and the envelope it came in to disappear into her spatial storage spell.

Peerage trade request, peerage trade request, some devil claiming to want compensation from the lady of the lake for one of his relatives being killed by Galantine roughly thirty years ago, I've memorized his name and if he causes issues, I'll have no problem ruining him, next there is, surprise, surprise ANOTHER inquiry about peerage trading.

I pull out another letter, this one actually catching my attention as it isn't actually a 'please hand over your peerage for this small girl I pressganged into my peerage'.

"Greetings Lord Decarabia, I don't believe we have officially met. My name is Romain Phenex, owner of Phoenix Media, I watched your rating game and I was quite pleased with what I saw, first and foremost, I would like to apologize for what my father did, and I hope that there are no hard feelings between our families. Now, with that being said, I would like it for you to please consider coming to our studio for an interview to really get your name out there. I am aware that you probably are extraordinarily busy managing the aftermath of your glorious debut, but it would truly mean a lot to me if you would come down and answer a couple of questions for us. It would be even better if you brought the Lady of the Lake as well! Of course, you won't be doing this for free, for taking up your time you'll find a fairly sizable check, all that we ask is that you consider our offer instead of any other news company.

I look forwards to seeing your reply.

- Phoenix Media Ceo, Romain Phenex."

A smile slowly tugs at the corners of my mouth as I look at the letter.

Well, I should probably go meet my soon to be brother-in-law, correct?

**Linebreak**

I lay in the arms of two Phenex women as I quietly look up at the ceiling, one with a calm look on her face, and the other with a slightly dopey and satisfied grin.

A lot of the letters I have been getting have been the same... there are some outliers, of course, but it's a majority of 'pls trade peerage pls?' And that has honestly been annoying the fuck out of me.

There have been a few toy making companies of course who want to make copies of Caledfwilch and the 'True Biome Blade', then the message from a news station or two, but that's about it.

I'll be going to one of the toy companies soon to strike a deal over the selling of my 'Biome Blade', I expect to get a fair share, roughly twenty percent.

The toy company itself is a vaguely expensive one, but with said expensiveness, they make a considerably superior product compared to their competitors.

I can't wait until the end of the rating game season, when I can just drop off the map entirely.

Blitz the rating game scene one year, never come back.

I mean, technically speaking Satans aren't allowed to participate, so it won't be like I could re-enter.

'Well now... I'd say it's about time to get up.'

**Linebreak**

I glance to the camera pointing at myself, the tiny fairy sat on my shoulder, and the short drill-haired girl on my left.

"Welcome one and all to 'Underworld Tonight', I am Romain Phenex, and tonight we have three glorious guests with us! firstly, you probably know of him, Gaius Decarabia, Lord of the Decaraiba and Malthus clans and as of recent, the rating game ranker who now holds the tenth position in the rating game leaderboards."

The man with chin-length blonde hair and a clean-cut shave gestures towards the three of us from his position behind a desk with a grin on his face.

"Next, is my adorable little sister, a high-class devil, Lord Decarabia's Fiancée and a bishop within his peerage."

The girl in question smiles brightly and offers a wave to the camera.

"And finally, the lady of the lake, the one who forged numerous incredibly powerful holy swords including the second most powerful holy swords in existence, Excalibur."

The fairy on my shoulder slowly nods once.

"Sooo, Lord Decarabia, may I call you Gaius?" The man asks.

"You may." I nod slowly.

"So, Gaius, a question on everyone's mind, how do you feel after your first rating game victory?"

"Oh, I feel quite good about myself, I always knew I was powerful, but I never exactly had a real... ruler... to estimate how powerful I was compared to others. As some have noticed I don't really like attention all that much. I would rather be ignored than the center of attention, however in this case, I am looking forwards to the coming matches of the rating game season."

"I see, I see." The man slowly nods. "How confident in your chances of winning first place in this tournament?"

"Well, first off, I'd say that if I did win first place, it would probably be extremely boring for those watching as the number one would be dethroned in round four instead of the finals, second off, I... am not entirely sure how I would fair against Diehauser Belial. His ability to render things worthless is an incredible ability, one that is quite hard to get around, then there's the fact that he is an incredible unarmed combatant, quite good with his demonic power, and a tactical genius. There is a reason he has held onto the number one rank for so long. It's not as simple of a question of 'will I win or will I lose' it has other aspects. But I can tell you one thing, my chance to win certainly isn't zero."

"And what of the third rank? Bedeze Abbadon?" The man questions. "I have heard that you have had a little spat with him over Impsquire?"

'Hate that fucking name.'

A small smile graces my lips as I calmly reply. "I wouldn't necessarily call that a spat. That being said, I am above insulting someone over basic assumptions, and while I very easily could use the clan trait my mother gifted me to tear at his heart with numerous barbed words... I'll refrain from punching down."

"Punching down? So, you are implying that he is beneath you?" The Phenex host questions.

"No comment." I smile.

"Well then." The man smirks. "Now a question for my adorable little sister, how is your new life with the lord of the Decarabia house?"

"It's wonderful! It's not all that different from home, all things considered, but Gaius has helped me get quite a bit stronger than I was, in addition I just feel so... free. Back home, it was a requisite to create at least ten Phoenix Tears a month, perhaps more, but since I have been living in the Decarabia Manor, I do not think I have made even a single tear."

"You like the freedom?" He questions slowly. "I see."

His eyes stray back to me. "Now for another question. There are quite a few people in the underworld causing a not so insignificant ruckus about you allowing your... rook... to use a holy weapon in this tournament. They think it is cheap or cheating."

"I am going to be completely and totally honest with you... I don't really care what they think." I state with a small head shake. "Any devil wielding a holy sword is honestly a miracle. A devil's biology fundamentally abhors holy energy... it's just a part of who we are, with a weak enough devil, and a strong enough holy sword, even the slightest touch could prove deadly. However. Who am I to not take advantage of a natural holy sword affinity. This is the equivalent of the devil race bitching and bemoaning the fact that a devil has strong sacred gear wielder. 'oh, it's cheating because they have a natural advantage'. Of course, they do? Why should it matter? Stop wasting your breath and mind your own business."

I look directly into the camera. "In addition, it's sort of ridiculous that I'm being ridiculed for something that I created with my own clan trait. Are you implying that we noble devils must seal our clan traits in rating games because it is unfair? Grow up."

I look back to Ravel's older brother.

"A powerful statement if I do say so myself." The man smiles and slowly nods. "I, personally, am with you on this. The Phenex family's clan trait is bordering on immortality. Holy weaponry hurts, but it's not like devils can't grow resistant to it."

"There's also nothing stopping a devil from reincarnating those from other races." I point out idly with a half-lidded stare and a slight shrug. "There are bound to be a few fallen angels who want to compete in the rating game scene. Becoming a devil won't make them lose their light weaponry."

The man nods slowly and looks to his notes. "Well, the next question is for the little lady on your shoulder."

My eyes stray to Vivianne as he continues.

"What compelled you to leave the fey wilds and return to the supernatural world?"

"Well, it all started a while back, I was quite bored of the Fey wilds... nothing has changed there in centuries. But, one day, I felt it... someone had fixed the blade I had abandoned as a failure, and not only that it was quite impressive."

"Oh? A blade that you had abandoned?" Romain comments, nonverbally prodding for her to continue.

"The first blade I had ever made for King Arthur, Caledfwilch." The fairy continues.

"I have never heard of this sword." The man states.

"You probably wouldn't have... King Arthur broke the blade mere months after I had given it to him." The fairy huffs as she crosses her arms and frowns at the floor. "To tell you the truth, the true power of Excalibur isn't its numerous enchantments... it's not special because it can turn the wielder invisible... or create illusions... or cause the wielder to move at incredible speeds, no. Those enchantments are merely a second thought. The true ability to Excalibur- and to a lesser extent Caledfwilch- is that the blade can hold far more enchantments than normal weapon."

"It is a personal smithing technique I learned through numerous years of hard work and trial and error. Excalibur was my master piece, and the fact that I could even feel Caledfwilch from the fey wilds piqued my interest... so I decided to go see the one who fixed the blade."

The fairy leans her head against my cheek and rubs her face against it. "That's where I found him! And I discovered that he brought my enchantment to even further heights! Making Caledfwlch fifty percent stronger instead of my mere twenty five percent with Excalibur! He totally bested me, so I decided that he should marry me right then and there! He of course, wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of coming with me to the Fey wilds, thus I simply decided to stay in this world and become his familiar!"

"I haven't regretted it yet. It has been far more interesting than simply sitting at home all day watching artificial wind blow through the trees."

"You got the lady of the lake to be your familiar?!" The man whispers.

He shakes his head. "You made something surpassing the completed Excalibur?!"

"Yes, to both of those things." I nod slowly. "I certainly wouldn't have been able to get as far as I did without Vivianne's pieces, but I can proudly say that the reforging of that blade was entirely my effort and mine alone."

"Then... the blade that your rook wields..." Romain mutters in stunned silence.

"That is Caledfwilch, the sentient, holy demonic sword capable of transforming into a little girl." I smirk, clearly very proud of my creation.

"Holy Demonic-" the man mutters before cutting off. "Are... you pulling my leg here?"

"Oh, the blade certainly isn't holy and demonic at the same time. That would probably require some form of curse to be placed upon it like Arondight. No. Caledfwilch simply swaps between two forms I like to call 'Dusk' and 'Dawn'. One is holy. One is unholy."

"I see. I see." The man mutters. "So... you aren't exactly worried about outcry because you can simply have your rook swap its 'modes' at any point in time?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"I see..." The man mutters moving onto another question. "Oh, this one is quite a good one for the numerous rumor mills in the underworld."

"As Sona Sitri's Fiancé you probably have met with Serafall Leviathan far more than any devil your physical- not counting those near five hundred years in a coma- age. The Satan Leviathan doesn't exactly hide how... er... protective she is of her sister. Has that effected your relationship with the young Sitri in any way, and how to you feel about the Leviathan."

"Well, you are probably right with the assumption that I have met with Lady Leviathan far more than any devil my age- barring Sona Sitri herself, of course- and, I imagine that Lady Leviathan at the very least slightly approves of me, otherwise I would have had to deal with far more passive aggressive comments, and not so subtle dressing downs."

"There have been times, of course, when Serafall was there when reasonably she shouldn't. For instance, in my first date with Sona we had gone to a park. We were interruptedly by a certain fey making her entrance... and nearly drowning herself... then, as a certain lake fairy lays face down in the water after knocking herself out, guess who pops out of the water literally five feet to the left of her with a snorkel, looking vaguely concerned that a fey is one: outside of the fey wilds. And two: had an apparent bone to pick with me."

The fairy on my shoulder blushes and hides her face in her hands.

"Is- is that seriously how you met?!" The man asks with an amused expression.

"It is indeed." I state with a grin as I look to the fairy on my shoulder who is a blushing mess.

"Hm. Well." The man snorts. "For a slightly smaller question... we have gotten information that you have decided to offer up the likeness of the sword you used in your rating game with Tannin to a toy company, and not only that, you chose a company which had offered you the least amount of Lillum up front... why is that?"

"It's quite simple. Frankly, other companies are incredibly wealthy, true, they make decent toys, sure, yet... at the same time... they don't really care about the products they make, right? They care about profits... the toy company I chose, while having toys that are slightly more expensive, truly seem to care about toys. The only reason that their toys are priced as slightly more is merely to make any profit at all." I begin with a gentle expression on my face as I quietly and calmly declare my decision.

"The cost of materials for these toys are perhaps dozens of times more than the standard of other toy manufacturing companies. As is the effort. As a weapon smith, I can fully respect putting true pride in your work above profit." Vivianne on my shoulder nods repeatedly as I continue.

"A normal toy company, may have given you the likeness of my sword, but... at the end of the day, I'm not above saying this... my biome blade looks boring. The company I have chosen, on the other hand has shown interest in wanting to add illusions to duplicate the form changing effects of my sword... as in... the part of my sword that actually makes my sword unique. Instead of what looks like a hunk of unpolished iron- which I would like to say, is merely a result of the materials used in its construction, and not because I neglect the blade. You can call it foolish pride, but honestly, I at the very least desire copies of my work to be of good quality."

"I see, for our next question-"

**Linebreak**

Pov: elsewhere

"O-Oh my gods!" a girl wearing a black tank top and white sweat pants with numerous roses on them quietly whispers as she stares, wide-eyed at her devilish bank account. "T-T-That's a lot of zeroes."

Betting on Gaius certainly had some results. His odds where one hundred to one, a lot of people bet against him... and she gained a majority of that betting money through her own insane bet.

Her earlier wealth was fairly surprising, but now? Now she can buy basically anything.

Magic swords, cars, mansions, Magic mecha-shift cars that are like a miniature mansion!

She could even build a giant robot and have ENDLESS dust to power it!

Crescent Rose 2.0?

No! That would mean she is replacing her baby!

Maybe she could make some smaller exo-armor that allows her to wield crescent rose and maybe even ATTATCHES to Crescent Rose?!

There's so much that she can buy!

She can have cookies for every meal! Get every issue of Megaton Weapon Monthly and maybe even get some cool magical stuff!

Could she get Gaius to enchant other things? It would be useful to have an extremely durable, stain resistant, auto cleaning, clothing for when she is doing her job as a huntress!

Maybe she should call him? He gave her his number after all.

She flops over, going from being seated on her bed to laying down.

Maybe... he'd let her hold the cool sword he used?

It wouldn't hurt to ask...

She opens a messaging app.

"Hey, Gaius? If you are around, I was thinking about summoning you. Is that fine?" - Ruby 13:02

It takes a moment but eventually a reply comes.

"Oh sure, I'm actually in Remnant right now taking one of my pawns home to relax before our next game, I'll drop by in a second. I just need to grab some clothes" - Gaius 13:05

The girl flushes at the last line, she k-knows what that last sentence implies.

She cut into his uh... private times... with someone in his peerage.

Her mind is drawn back to his shirtless body, a memory that had been burned into her mind the last time they had spoken.

The young Rose... is not exactly as innocent as she appears to be.

She is aware of 'the sex', I mean, how could she not?! Sex is basically huntsman and huntress culture. They are sort of like animals in a way, trying to find the strongest and most compatible semblances in order to give the next generation a fighting chance at beating back the endless waves of grimm.

Huntsmen and Huntresses marrying for power is pretty common actually... but... she doesn't want to be one of them! She wants to be a hero! Someone who children look up to and are all 'woah! She's so cool!'

Someone like her mom...

It doesn't mean that she won't find love somewhere along the way.

She cringes as she finds her thoughts drawn back to Gaius' shirtless body.

She maintains her 'innocent' persona because she just doesn't want to even THINK of dating. If she stays like this, her sister and father's mere presence is enough to spook most people away. She just wants to learn more, build weapons, and kill grimm.

She hasn't even touched herself or looked at lewd photos on the internet as she thinks that may send her down a certain 'boyfriend seeking' path...

But she just can't get Gaius' shirtless body out of her head! Ugh! It's driving her crazy!

She bites her thumb, flinching violently as a magic circle appears on the other side of the room.

She sits up abruptly as a black-haired teen appears in the room,

He rubs and eye tiredly and stretches his arms above his head, letting out a weak groan as he fights off a yawn.

His purple eyes crack open as he looks to the silver eyed girl. "So, you bet on me?"

The huntress in training gains a slight blush as she scratches the back of her head and ashamedly looks away.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." He smirks as he crosses his arms in front of his chest.

The girl can smell a faint strange aroma coming from him.

Is... that what sex smells like? Weird.

She shakes her head as the teen continues. "So! What do you need?"

"Uh, I was wondering if you could enchant my clothing to be more durable?"

"Oh, absolutely." The devil nods. "With the new mastery of my clan trait I could probably even do it here."

"Wait... your clan trait lets you enchant things?" The huntress in training blinks.

"Well, yeah." The devil nods. "I thought I mentioned it literally day one?"

"I-uh... must have forgotten over the excitement of Crescent Rose." The girl quietly admits as she scratches the back of her head.

Clan trait. A word she has swiftly familiarized herself with in the past few days, it's basically super semblances passed down through families like that one schnee semblance. They are incredibly powerful from what she has seen.

"At first it was merely a slight boost to enchanting things and weapon smithing, but after some training it allowed me to replace the materials and even time required for enchanting with my demonic power." He explains.

His clan trait lets him make weapons fast and easily? Noted.

"How many sets do you want?" Gaius asks as he slowly looks around the room.

"Uh... five?" The girl quietly shrugs, spitting out a seemingly random number.

"That'll cost you at least two point five million if you want the maximum durability enchantment and the mending-slash-cleaning enchantment." The devil explains as he slowly walks around the room.

"Oh alright. That's do-able."

"…"

"I forgot you were rich now." The boy blinks slowly, giving the girl a slightly stunned look before shaking his head "Do you want it to be all of your combat attire, or do you want a couple for sleepwear as well?"

"One for my sleeping clothes, the rest for my regular combat outfit."

"Gotcha." The devil nods as he raises a hand, clothes free themselves from closets, drawers rattle, the silver eyed girl's face pales instantly as several sets of her bra and panties float out of a nearby drawer.

A slight sheen of sweat appears on the devil's face as numerous runes appear around the room, the light is almost blinding as the runes form into chains and quickly wrap around the clothing.

The first set falls, then the next, then the next, eventually the clothes lay folded atop the young Rose's red bed.

"Well." The devil huffs "There we go. You can test the durability if you want. I gave it the same treatment as my clothes so it should shrug off high caliber fire fairly easily... and even if it can't, the holes will seal up quickly... which of course, doesn't mean much to you, as if that happens you will be very, very dead."

The deep red haired girl lets out a weak whine as her eyes stray to her underwear.

"What?" The devil asks with a raised eyebrow. "Wait. You're embarrassed over me seeing your underwear?! Pfft. Yeah, no. I don't really care. It's just clothing. You're acting like I'm staring at your nude body."

The girl flinches back with a small 'eep'.

"Actually." Gaius mutters as he cups his chin, gazing at the rose from head to toe for a good twenty seconds, practically causing steam to puff out of the girl's ears.

"You'll make some guy- or girl, I don't judge- very happy one day." He smiles as he closes his eyes and nods.

"W-W-What are you saying?!"

"Oh, I'm just making the observation that you are fairly attractive." He blandly states, causing the girl to quickly evaporate into rose petals and hide behind her bed, her eyes peek over the edge of her comforter as she stares blankly at the devil who had taken a seat up on her dresser.

"Y-You think I'm a-attractive?" The girl whispers.

"Well, I mean, yeah?" The boy blinks owlishly. "What sort of guy wouldn't?"

The girl's eyes stray around the room for a moment, seemingly searching for something to say. "I-I think you are attractive too."

"Well, I'm glad you think so!" The devil smiles with a small head tilt.

"So, anyways, I've finished enchanting your clothing, it should allow you to fight Beowolves without aura- but that's extremely dangerous so maybe don't test that- otherwise, it should keep you slightly safer in dire situations, where your aura is broken." Gaius states. "Honestly, with your weapon enchantment, you could probably best people without aura entirely... but I wouldn't recommend it. You could get seriously hurt that way."

"I-I'll keep it in mind." The girl mutters quietly, slowly peeking from around the bed. "B-But uh- G-Gaius, uh... if we both think t-that the other is attractive... should we be dating?"

"Hm?" The devil blinks owlishly.

"I-I mean, y-you say I'm pretty, I-I think you look n-n-nice? Sh-should we date? I-I don't know anything about boys or dating!"

"Oh, I wasn't intending to date you, I was just stating a fact." The black haired satan shrugs idly.

The girl flinches at the absolutely crushing rejection.

"Oh." She whispers, lip quivering slightly.

"Well, I mean," the devil quickly backpedals. "I wouldn't be opposed to dating you, but I sort of feel like I wouldn't be able to give you the time you deserve. There are also a few other factors that color my decision. Sure, it would be nice to date an intelligent weapon smith like yourself, Me, You, and Vivianne could do our glorious smithing things. You know ballistic weaponry far better than both of us combined, but on the other hand, you are... human."

The Satan waves his hands in front of his face. "Oh, and I'm not being racist here, I genuinely couldn't care less about your race, there's just one small aspect that is a deal breaker for a devil choosing to romance a human or faunus."

"W-What is it?" The girl sniffles.

"Age" The Satan answers as he floats off the dresser, letting out a quiet sigh. "Ruby... do you have any idea how long a devil lives?"

The girl is silent.

"The average age for a devil to live... is roughly ten thousand... one hundred times that of a normal human or faunus."

The silver eyed girl looks down at the floor, a sad expression on her face. "Oh."

"If I were to date you, Ruby... I would remain the exact same while you grew old and died. Do you know how badly that would hurt... to watch someone you deeply and truly care for... slowly wither and rot as the decades pass." The devil whispers, placing a hand on the girls' shoulder.

"Oh." The girl whispers again, slowly taking a seat on the bed she is stood beside as the devil sits to her left. "it's not that I hate you, or that you are unattractive to me, as I had previously stated that you are incredibly attractive to me, it just wouldn't work ouu-"

"…"

"Empowered Speed Semblance. Speed weapon. Knight boost. Silver eyes." The devil mutters under his breath quietly, much to the confusion of the girl in red. "Oh. I am an idiot."

"What?" She quietly sniffles.

"There is a way." The devil slowly states as he stands, turning to face the girl as he places his hands on his hips. "How do you feel about becoming a devil?"

"H-Huh?!" The girl whispers. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Evil pieces allow devils to reincarnate other races, such as yourself, into devils. You get all the natural advantages and disadvantages. The lifespan, the magic, you'll lose control of your aura for a while as magic replaces it, but in the end, after you regain control, you should be able to learn an advanced type of full body barrier magic and use your 'natural magic'- your semblance, at far greater levels than you are currently."

"I-I'd... be able to use magic?!" The girl questions, slowly wiping her earlier forming tears.

"Correct." The devil nods as he scratches the back of his head, seemingly trying to find the best way to put this.

"But... I'm not going to be the one to reincarnate you, my last knight piece is reserved... and I feel as if you could grow far better in a friend of mine's peerage... I want you to be reincarnated by my Fiancee, Sona Sitri. She is slightly up tight, but her dream is to make a school where all devils can learn about rating games... not merely high class."

"A lot of devils will certainly look down at her, try to hamper her in any way because she's going against the arrogance of the older devils in our race... that's why she will need strong a peerage to stand alongside her... and I believe that you have got what it takes to protect her!"

"Typically, a devil reincarnates someone when they are dying or when they ask for something incredibly large, and It wouldn't be fair to you for her to just reincarnate you for nothing at all. I want you to think of the most insane, fundamentally impossible thing. Something so grandiose that it could only possibly happen in a dream. Name your dream... and I will accomplish it... for you, and for her."

The girl falls silent for a moment looking over the devil.

"I-" She begins slowly only to cut off abruptly, tears rapidly form in her eyes as she lets out a shuddering breath, her shoulder shake as she looks over to Gaius who is looking concerned.

Tears drip down her face. "G-Gaius?"

"Yes, Ruby?" He questions. "What is it?"

She utters the one thing she truly wants more than anything in the world. Something so wild and inconceivable that it could be nothing more than a dream if it happened. "C-Can you please bring back my m-mom?"