Non Serviam: Chapter 8 (Patreon)

We return to the world of demons and dumbasses. Don't ask who's which.

Chapter 8: Thoughts and Prayers

“After which, Rias ordered her knight not to pursue?” Sirzech asked.

The girl nodded. “She thought that this Freed would make a poor opponent for Kiba.” Her words were one thing, but her tone came with a helping of ‘which you already know’.

True, as if Sirzech would miss a chance to talk with his adorable little sister, but this after-action report wasn’t about that.

He affected a grin. “Well, it’s important to make sure everything is covered. Just wanted to hear from the only person who saw the entire confrontation.”

“Of course.” The girl had remarkable poise. He was letting just a hint of his power escape, as he normally did. Barely enough to be rude, but more than enough to remind most demons exactly who Sirzech Lucifer was. Really, it was almost amusing how quick his kind were to bow and scrape.

Non Serviam indeed.

The original Lucifer would be rolling in his grave. Welp, as long as the first fallen stayed exactly where Sirzech buried him, the fool was welcome to it.

“The last question I have is about the apparent prayer?”

The pawn raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I was lying about it?”

“No, no! Of course not.” He laughed easily. “I wouldn’t doubt my sister’s word. But it’s a rare ability. I’d like a demonstration.” Demons that could withstand a prayer were useful, doubly so those that could twist the words of Elohim himself.

To Sirzech, that pain was a mere reminder of the most high, but such an ability in a newborn devil…

“Oh?” The young woman folded her arms behind her back. “Why don’t we do some call and respond? You say a verse, and I’ll follow along.”

Sirzech laughed half a heartbeat before Grafiya could take a menacing step forward. “I see my sister is in good hands with you. Her peerage needed a bit more teeth.”

The pawn blinked again. “Have you…met your sister’s peerage?”

“Only in passing.” He waved a hand. “I have just the line! Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell—”

Each word bit like a sword stroke. It was enough to make him grin at the bloody sacrilege pouring from his lips.

The girl looked to the side. “Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy. Amen.”

Not a flinch. “Hoh, were you a believer?” He folded his hands. “You have my condolences.” He, of course, was a demon born in hell, but each of the Seventy-Two Pillars had their roots in those who once stood by His side.

The girl shook her head. “I went for long enough to remember the words,” she said. “Repeat anything enough times, and the muscle memory gets you.”

“If you say so.” He smiled genially. She looked a bit young to have come by atheism honestly, but even if that were true, a brush with the forces of hell were enough to reignite discarded faiths.

Faith alone, however, was not enough to shield one from the pain of His words. Even though none of his fellow satans would be any more inconvenienced by the pain than himself, it was still not something most devils cared to experience.

That she had turned to it to unbalance Sellzen was…more interesting than the rest of her.

Sirzech clapped his hands. “Well, that’s it for my questions!” Sirzech clapped his hands. “But I’m sure you have a few of your own. Please, feel free to ask.”

She nodded once, then again. “Should we be on the look out for reprisal from the…Grigory?”

That hesitation wasn’t faked, as far as Sirzech could tell. It wasn’t strange for experienced killers to end up as devils, but ones with no knowledge of the truth were far less common.

“Don’t worry about that.” He grinned. “What kind of big brother would I be if I couldn’t keep my cute little sister safe? More to the point, the Fallen have claimed that this operation was entirely unsanctioned.”

“Said every deniable asset ever.” Rias’s pawn was unimpressed. “I don’t feel comfortable with the last surviving angel or that priest getting away.”

He laughed. “You let me worry about that. In any case, they certainly won’t have any orders to go after you. It’s very telling, how quickly we’ve been compensated for the Fallen’s little mess. You’ll be getting a new arrival in Kuoh in a few months.”

“A…new arrival?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “You’ll be getting a nun.”

She couldn’t hold back the flash of distaste. “The Fallen are trading us a Nun.”

“They’re trading the rulers of Kuoh an excommunicated sister that they’ve been working to extract.” Sirzech leaned back. “I don’t know what they had planned for her, but given how quickly ol’ Azazel was to wash his hands of the girl, it seems likely she was being sent here originally.”

“And now a different breed of tempter is waiting to pick her up.”

“Hmm, something like that.” He smiled. “You know, if I were a bit less relaxed, I might be upset you were looking down on me.”

She jerked. “I wasn’t—”

“Please, dear. Your sin is Pride,” Sirzech said. “I should know. I also don’t make a habit of threatening my sister’s friends, so you can wipe that snarl off your face. I don’t care, but my Grafiya is a little defensive of my honor.”

“Only because my lord does not deign to defend it himself,” his wife replied.

“I have people for that.” He turned his eyes back to the pawn. “So?”

She mastered herself quickly. “Thank you for the warning, Lord Lucifer.”

He chuckled. “And quick on the uptake, too. Where did my sister find you?”

She shrugged. “Why don’t you ask her, Lord Lucifer? I wasn’t conscious at the time.”

“Maybe I will.” He leaned back in his chair, satisfied with that little point of diversion. “In any case, the girl is payment owed to Rias as the owner of Kuoh.” He set a small book on the table. “Interestingly, Azazel also offered repayment specifically to you.”

She quirked her lip. “A sign that his actual spies remain undiscovered.” She paused. “Or the priest talked.”

“Sellzen is the type to talk a lot, from what I’ve heard, but he rarely says anything useful.” Sirzech pushed the book forward. “In any case, this is yours to do with as you will. Don’t worry about traps, I’ve had some people check it over, and believe me, it was hard getting Akuja away from his projects.” He laughed.

It didn’t have an impact. Instead, the girl picked up the book, quickly glancing through its contents. “A prayer book?” She said, eyes fluttering slightly. “Is this a joke?”

Good to confirm she still felt the pain, though if anything, that only made her more interesting. His cute little sister really did not miss with her peerage.

“That is the Psalm of Beelzebub. The original, unless I’m very much mistaken.” He crossed his hands behind his head. “And to think Azzy had it up his sleeve the whole time.”

The pawn blinked, looking back and forth from him to the book in confusion.

Sirzech laughed. “It’s just a collection of twisted prayers and apocryphal books. And most of Leviticus for some reason.” He shrugged. “It’s no great treasure, but it is part of the reason He changed the Heaven System so that prayer would hurt our kind during the war.” At that, Sirzech’s grin turned decidedly predatory. “Too many good Christians, led astray by twisted verses dripping from demonic lips.”

“I…see.”

He shrugged. “Anyway, hopefully it will be useful to you.” The thing really was a collection of old prayers, easily used to tempt away the flock. Apparently, Beelzebub himself used it for other purposes as well, but the old monster was dead, and most of his magic with him.

It would make a good gift in the future.

With that, the audience was all but over. He skipped the usual ending platitudes and allowed Grafiya to bustle the girl from his office. it was clear enough that she didn’t want to be there.

“Funny, that I think she’s the only one I could have gotten a coherent report out of.”

Grafiya sniffed as she returned to his side. “It is hardly a great skill.”

“Oh, for sure, but it implies training. I really do wonder how that little special operative wound up on Rias’s doorstep.”

“Say the word, My Lord, and I will have the matter investigated.”

“Hey, hey, Grafie, no need to be hasty.” He chuckled. “She’s just some pawn. Interesting for how well she’s adapted to being one of us, but not even a stand out in my sister’s Peerage.”

“She is a better fighter than most of them, from what the staff have said.”

Sirzech shrugged. “They’re a bunch of kids.” He kicked his feet up on the desk. “When we were their age, we were winning a war.”

Now he just had to make sure this little mess wrapped up neatly so that his little Rias never had to.

~~*

Mittelt only managed to withdraw two and a half million from her accounts before they were frozen; a disgrace, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so utterly impoverished.

It was almost as bad as being noveu riche.

“Never should have agreed to such an easy job,” she muttered. Striding down the sidewalk, sunshade over her head, she reflected once again on the truth of life that was easy jobs were anything but. “Especially when someone like that bitch Raynare is heading it up.”

She only took it so that she’d be in the area for the Tokyo auction that those quaint little yokai liked to hold, and now here she was, over a month out, without even the funds to participate. It was enough to make a girl tear her hair out.

She turned towards the train station. It had been a tough few days, avoiding the actual scary demons that had been sent to sweep the city, but now they were gone. She purchased a ticket at the kiosk by the stairs; only for one stop of course. Why waste money if the humans were going to be stupid?

“Never made a profit throwing good money after bad,” she said as the ticket printed. All that remained was withdrawing from the area. Once she got out of the immediate area, she’d be able to return to the Grigory. Sure, she’d be on the shit list for a bit, but once she’d sucked off—sorry, sucked up to—enough people, this little indiscretion would be wiped off her record.

If she was lucky, she might even be able to make it back to Tokyo from the auction.

Mittelt glanced around once more, eyes pausing on a woman leaning against the railing halfway up the stairs to the elevated tracks. The fallen angel frowned, suddenly leery. Where had she come from?

Then the woman spoke.

"Your star has led you astray, Judas.”

Mittelt froze.

“Amen, I say to you. None of mortal birth is worthy to enter into the house you have seen, for that place is reserved for those who are holy, and neither the sun nor the moon shall rule within.”

The book snapped shut, and that damn devil from the church looked up. “What do you know?” she said. “I was looking for you.”

Mittelt took a step back. “How did you find me?” She held out a hand to her side.

“Didn’t you hear?” The girl stood up, tucking the book back into her pocket. She looked completely unconcerned, and that made Mittelt nervous.

“I prayed about it.”