Scene 1: Talk with Serafall
Serafall Leviathan was the head diplomat of Devil kind. For those who had never met her or were in anyway whatsoever aware of her personality, this was a simple statement of fact. For those who had ever interacted with her, or seen her show before, learning this fact often caused a short term Blue Screen of Death effect. Afterall, she did not act in a way that could be described as professional, let alone diplomatic. She often came off as a careless ditz that had to be actively kept away from foreign powers to avoid her kickstarting a new world war.
As it turned out though, Lady Leviathan had a very thorough understanding of the separation between one's personal and professional personalities. While she might seriously yell about assaulting Heaven and fighting Gabriel because Sona did not hug her, once she put on her diplomatic persona she knew how to be courteous and not flip out. It was really fucking disconcerting.
Still, whether or not it was disconcerting, she was the head of Devil international diplomacy. So, when Sorin decided that he wanted to create a hospital run in unison with Heaven on Japanese soil, it was her that he had to talk to. Sure, he could have allowed his father to handle the negotiations, but that would have cost him, and his father might not have cared as much about his exacting standards.
"I still think this idea is crazy."
Roygun noted as she sat in the waiting room to Serafall's office with him. While Zerophimus and Zekram were important enough to cancel most any appointment that Serafall might have to talk to her, Sorin and Roygun weren't. Kyllini might have been simply because of her unique nature, but Sorin wasn't advertising her - though he was fairly certain that most of the 'players' would figure out her nature in a few weeks if they hadn't already - and it served to not be a rude asshole when trying to ask someone a favor. Besides, sitting around and chatting for a short time wasn't that big of an issue.
"If you think that it is crazy, why are you here?" Sorin asked. "I would think you would have better things to do than help with a crazy plan."
"I am here because it is crazy. Your crazy plans have a tendency to succeed spectacularly, generally in a manner that others don't expect. So, what are you really planning?"
Sorin shrugged, and wondered how to reply to that. She wouldn't expect him to tell her the truth. If she had been truly interested, she would have asked before they left, instead of inquiring here in a room that was probably not bugged but might have been. Tradition indicated that he should reply with a carefully formulated statement that had just the right shade of truth to it without revealing anything sensitive. He could toss convention to the winds and just tell her the truth. On the other hand, just because he was willing to try and make the marriage work did not mean that he had to tell her stuff that he actually wanted to keep a secret right now.
So limited information reveal I guess.
"I want to get our race out of the near-extinction state it has been in since the Civil War."
"So, you are going to solve the Devil population problem with a hospital operated in union with Angels?"
Sorin nodded. "What can I say? I work in mysterious ways."
Roygun blinked. Opened her mouth and closed it, just staring at him for a minute before her mind rebooted. "Wow. That was the most arrogant thing that I have heard anyone say all year. And I have talked with multiple male members of your family this year. Including your brother."
Sorin just shrugged, before registering what she said at the end and frowning. "Wait, what did Sai say that was so arrogant?"
Roygun groaned in frustration and annoyance. "Like you, he has hit puberty, but he seems to have taken to using Japanese doujins to relieve his frustrations. NTR doujins, with a focus on the loser brother seducing away his successful brother's wife, under whose care he lives. Seriously, why the fuck are there enough doujins with that plotline to make it a fucking genre? What is wrong with Japan?"
Sorin wasn't sure. While NTR was a trash fetish, it was also a pretty hot one - you know, if you weren't the guy getting cucked - so he couldn't exactly throw stones about this.
Wait. Wasn't it the Bible that said that those without sin should be the ones throwing stones? Since I am a Devil, does that mean that I should only throw stones when I am of sin? Or is this one of the teachings that we should follow?
"So, I take it he tried to hit on you?"
"Yes." Roygun groaned. "And the little idiot won't take no for an answer. He has a massive inferiority complex regarding you. Apparently the idea that someone, anyone would value him over you is so intoxicating to him that he can't throw it away."
"Well, of course he has an inferiority complex. He is inferior to me." Sorin said simply. "Though I guess that would complicate my mother's request to train him?"
"More like make it impossible. I passed an ultimatum to your mother before coming here. Either she gets him to stop trying to get into my pants, or she gives me back my Peerage members I traded for her two Evil Pieces. I refuse to have someone like that in my Peerage."
Sorin nodded as he considered the situation. While foisting Roygun off on Sai would solve his most immediate problems, it would raise others. I do not think that Roygun wants someone whose only interest in her is to stick it to me. She probably wants something more genuine than that. It would also upset the Phenexes to have Sai drop Ravel like that. Last, and most importantly, he would rather not have Devil society living under the impression that his brother had cucked him.
"Well, I guess that is that."
"Have you ever considered trying to fix his inferiority complex?" Roygun asked. "I don't think the rivalry the two of you are developing is very healthy."
"We have a rivalry?" Sorin asked, confused. "When did that happen? Why did no one tell me?"
The loud sound of a palm meeting a face reverberated through the room. A moment later Roygun let go of her face to look at him. "Since you started fighting for the position of the heir? You have had two public fights and have two more Rating Games scheduled. How did you not notice this?"
"That counts as a rivalry? We never had any hostile interactions outside of those occasions. Are you sure there is a rivalry there?"
Before Rogyun could respond, the door to our waiting room opened. One of Serafall's secretaries - dressed like a sexy school teacher for some reason - stepped in.
"Scion Bael, Lady Roygun, her Grace Leviathan is ready to see you now."
The two of them immediately stopped their discussion as they stood, straightening their clothes. Kyllini fell in behind Sorin without a word, Roygun falling in at his side as he followed the sexretary into Leviathan's office.
Entering the office, Sorin had to rethink his beliefs that Leviathan managed to fully separate her professional and personal lives. For one, she was still dressed in a magical girl outfit, lounging back in her chair with her legs on the desk, giving Sorin and Roygun a good view up her skirt. Unfortunately, she was wearing shorts underneath, partially ruining the view. She was chewing on some Pocky sticks, a half full box of them still in her hand.
"Sup." The Satan carelessly waved as the two stepped into her room. "Go ahead, and take a seat."
Sorin quickly glanced around the room as he took one of the two chairs opposite Serafall, Roygun taking the one besides him, and Kyllini floating at his shoulder. Like many professional offices from his past life, there were a series of awards in glass cases on one of the walls. What differentiated them from what a human might expect in a doctor's office was that not all of them belonged to Serafall. For example, there was Sona's Underage Chess Mistress of Hell award from last year. Or her Cutest Imouto in Hell, first place twice and second place twice in the last four years. Said contest had been started four years ago, and the judges were the four Satans of course.
"Lady Leviathan, we are honored that you have graced us with this meeting."
"You're welcome." Serafall said before finally sitting up and putting her Pockys down. "So, what do you want?"
Sorin sighed before pointing to his familiar besides him. "Before we get to that, I would like to introduce my familiar, Kyllini. She is the spirit of Mount Kyllini, possessing a Gogmagog. Given her unique nature, I figured the four Satans would want to know about her."
Serafall looked from Kyllini to Sorin and back for a second before sighing. She then reached down, and brought up a laptop, putting it on the table and started typing on it.
"Okay, I can deal with this. Just let me send an email."
"Lady Serafall, you sound displeased. Have we offended you?" Kyllini asked with a tone of worry in her voice.
"You lost me a bet. Now I need to buy Asmodeus dinner."
"You were betting on her existence?" Sorin said before pausing. "Wait, you are dating Asmodeus?"
"What? No, don't be ridiculous." Serafall protested, not letting up on her typing. "A Maou Shoujo must remain pure and innocent. She may only engage in Yuri love. No, us four Satans just bet on what you did with the Gogmagog. Asmodeus somehow bet that you would seal a spirit into it, so now we all owe him a meal each. Worse, he is too lazy to go out and eat, so we have to also have it delivered to his home."
Sorin paused for a moment, before deciding to let it go.
"Okay, so-"
"Wait, we aren't done." Serafall interrupted him quickly. "While I don't mind her singular existence - bullshit familiars aren't anything new - don't collect and enhance anymore Gogmagog without permission. If you started creating an army of sapient Gogmagogs, we might have a war on our hands. We are trying to avoid that right now, so that means no sudden build-ups of force."
"No sudden build-ups?"
"Oh, yeah." Serafall nodded. "We are totally going to create an army of sapient Gogmagogs given time, now that we know the option is on the table. Just, let the professionals handle the spec-ops side of things so the entire world doesn't find out about it until it is too late, okay?"
Sorin nodded, and almost agreed before recalling what he had been told over and over again. He shouldn't be so passive in negotiations. "I understand avoiding destabilizing the world. However, if the Satans wish to create an army using House Bael's resources-"
"Your resources, but I understand the point." Serafall nodded. "We can discuss the price of each creation at a later time. I would suggest doing it on a case by case basis, but we can do it for a bulk order version as well. Knowing Ajuka, he should already be working on acquiring the rest of the Gogmagog while leaving convincing fakes behind."
Sorin took the hint. With Ajuka acquiring the Gogmagog, he couldn't go out and make more on his own. Similarly, the Satans couldn't replicate the feat themselves. The only option either side had to make more… more… shit, whatever the fuck was the proper terminology for Gogmagog? Either way, the only option either side had was to work together.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Serafall asked after a moment. "If you just wanted to show off your new familiar, you could have passed on the information while meeting Sona or Rias. So you probably have something else that you want to talk about."
"I would like to open up a hospital in Japan in union with the Angels."
"Fucking YES!" Serafall suddenly jumped up, fist pumping in the air. "Take that Asmodeus. Maou Shoujo Levi*tan wins again!" Completely ignoring her guests, she did a short victory dance, whistling the theme to her show. Once she was finished, she sat back down in her chair as if nothing had happened. "Now, why the fuck would you want to do something like that?"
"Excuse me, Lady Leviathan?" Roygun spoke up, raising her hand like a student being called upon in class would. "If you were expecting Sorin to do this, why are you asking him why he would do it?"
The Satan carelessly shrugged, biting into a Pocky before speaking. "I was expecting him to do something idiotic. So I bet on the most idiotic thing I could think of. It is hard to top working hand-in-hand with Heaven when you are a Devil. That doesn't mean that I approve of this stupid kind of recklessness." She then turned back to Sorin. "So, what are you trying to accomplish?"
Sorin took a deep breath, taking a moment to compose himself before speaking.
"Currently Devilkind has two main problems. First, our population is really low, and kept that way due to low birth rates. While Lord Beelzebub's Evil Pieces are helping this to some degree, only a small minority of the population is given Evil Pieces, and it takes a very long time for a Reincarnated Devil to reach the point of having their own. The second problem, is that we lost a lot of our Pillar Families in the Civil War and the War with Heaven. While there are talks about equality and such, at the end of the day most of the regular Devils are civilians. Our combat potential is currently concentrated into three groups; the Satans, Reincarnated Devils and the Pillar Families. Losing over half the families and getting the rest gutted seriously hurt our military capacity. For now, there is nothing I can do about the first problem. As for the second problem, the Sephiroth Graal's basic function is to bring back the souls of the dead. With a bit of work and time, reincarnation becomes possible. In theory, the destroyed Pillar Families could be brought back, so long as they have members who would accept the current rule that did not have their souls destroyed."
"In theory, you said." Leviathan noted. "I take it that you are aware of the practical problems with this solution. The reason why, over the past two millennia, none of the three sides have actually managed to do it to any notable degree despite going through near fifty Grail users."
"A preemptive strike." Sorin summarized. "Resurrecting the Pillar Families would be taken as a preparation for war. Heaven and the Grigori would strike before we could succeed. Even as the three Factions are working on ways to strengthen themselves, we are all avoiding ways that would strengthen us too quickly, lest it restart the War."
Serafall nodded. "Exactly. Azazel has started working on Artificial Sacred Gears, but he keeps it as a hobby, instead of arming every single Fallen. Heaven has been working on a room that would allow Angels to fuck without Falling, but no one has ever used it. We are all preparing to war and trying to stave it off at the same time."
"Yes, and so long as we are enemies, we will continue to have this uneasy truce." Sorin said simply. "If we all want to grow strong, we need to set aside our differences. Form an alliance. I believe a hospital where Angels and Devils work side by side, without killing each other, and no funny business whatsoever, is the best way to start."
The Satan took a moment to consider it. She frowned, leaning back in her chair, staring off into space. Eventually she looked back, shaking her head. "It won't work. Heaven hates us."
"Heaven hates what Devils used to be." Sorin corrected her. "After the Civil War, we have changed. Perhaps not as much as we should have, but we have been changing. The Grigori too, many of them just want peace now. At least, I believe the potential is there."
Serafall sighed. "Personally, I think that this is a waste of time. The world does not work like you believe it does. However, you might be right. We won't get better by dismissing the idealists after all. Fine, I am willing to handle the negotiations, and greenlight the project. However, you are going to have to bribe me to make it work."
Sorin blinked. "Don't you mean pay you?"
"No, she means bribe." Roygun corrected him. "Since she is a government worker, she receives a salary, instead of getting a commission for each job. She is supposed to negotiate when it is worthwhile to do so. Of course, the Old Satan Faction never passed any laws against bribery, and whenever the current Satans bring it up, there is always a powerful and vocal opposition against such laws. So she is, in fact, asking for a bribe, and it is 100% legal for her to do so."
"So, I am assuming that you want something for Sona Sitri?"
Serafall let out a shocked gasp, and put her hands to her heart. "Scion Bael, you wound me! As a Satan I would never show favoritism like that! I merely wish to strengthen Hell and make our people happy. The Sitri family has been making great strides in helping the citizens of their territories. I want to give them a gift to reward them for their efforts and encourage others to do the same. Say, a Satan Class elemental familiar for their heir? As you said the Pillar Families are one of the key foundations of the Devil race, and children are the future. It is in Hell's interest to ensure her safety."
Sorin wondered whether he should comment on the fact that not five minutes before, she had been lecturing him on not making more Gogmagog familiars. After a moment, he decided not to. He wasn't opposed to Sona getting such a familiar afterall. Though he would offload as much of the work as possible unto Serafall and her minions.
"I understand, though there are some problems. The Gogmagog I stored Kyllini into had remained active over the ages, however it was the only one. The rest would need to be repaired, and I am not certain how long it would take for me on my own. I am uncertain if I could give you an estimate either, as I haven't studied any of the broken ones to tell what it would take."
Serafall nodded. "Yes, that is an issue. I will get Ajuka to help you with one of them. With the two of you and the Bullshit Dragon in your arm, you should be able to handle it while I take care of the negotiations."
Sorin cocked his head to the side. "Bullshit Dragon?"
"That is the name us Satans have been calling Azi Dahaka." She said. "Ddraig is the Boob Dragon, and Albion is the Edgy Dragon."
"Heh, Edgy Dragon. I can see that. That Vali brat is an ass." The Bullshit Dragon remarked from my arm. "What did Ddraig's partner do to earn the Boob Dragon title?"
Serafall sighed. "I probably shouldn't say anything."
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone. At least not until I can rub it in Ddraig's face before a suitably large audience."
Serafall glared at him. "Yup, definitely not telling you."
"Um, if I could interrupt." Sorin spoke up again. "Besides repairing the Gogmagog, we would still need a spirit that is powerful enough to meet your needs, died without having its soul destroyed, and would have a compatible personality with Sona Sitri. Some spirits might not be willing to cooperate with her after all."
Serafall turned to glaring at him. "And I suppose you also want me to be the one to figure out which spirit should go in there."
Sorin shrugged, raising both hands. "The service I offer is merely resurrection. Identifying the target, convincing them, and providing any necessary modifications are up to the client. I also feel that you are asking for a bribe far in excess of the service rendered. Given the recent incident in Kuoh, House Bael is capable of providing the land necessary. All you would be doing is sending a few letters, in exchange for a service that you cannot get anywhere else."
"I would argue that I am offering a service that literally no other Devil is legally allowed to provide you." She pointed out in return. "That makes it a very unique service."
"True, but as you said, what I'm doing is a longshot gamble. There are only so many resources I am willing to expend without any payoff. If you feel otherwise, we can end this discussion here."
Serafall continued to glare, but Sorin ignored it. She couldn't force the issue, and they both knew it. Not only would it violate Devil law, but that would lead to the sort of public incident that would freak out the other factions. Much more importantly though, Grail uses weren't cheap things. Not yet, at least. As casually as he had laid out the possibility, if peace happened right this instant, he still would not resurrect all of the Pillar Families. Not unless he was absolutely certain that there was no strain on Valerie from the Grail's use.
The solution is simple enough. I'm just not sure if either of our minds would survive the change. Which means experimentation until I can be certain. And then dealing with the public fallout afterwards.
"Fine." Serafall said after some time. "Name your price."
"Valerie is to be made a High Class Devil, and given all relevant privileges the moment she is made a Devil. At the same time, I would like a guarantee of the continuation of my orphanage. A grant of land, plus financial support for me to run it at up to twice its current size for a century if it were to lose the support of the Bael House."
"That is a lot of money." Serafall said after a minute of thought. "Plus I would owe a favor to Ajuka to work on the Gogmagog. That is all on top of the negotiations with Heaven."
Sorin shrugged. "This is my price, Lady Serafall. Personally I feel that it is a fair price for a Satan Class familiar, but I admit to being inexperienced at this level of politics."
"It is a fair price." Roygun confirmed for him. "I would argue that she is still getting the better end of the deal. That is what happens when you offer a completely unique service. Even exorbitant prices become fair."
"Fine." Serafall sighed. "You win. I think. I can't help but note that we haven't discussed any details as to what would go into this hospital. Or why you brought your fiancee along if you are handling the negotiations."
"I would like to join the negotiations with the Youkai."
"Eh, okay." Serafall shrugged, immediately accepting having an extra Satan Class Devil at the negotiations. "So, about the structure and designs of the hospital-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scene 2: Meeting with Lord and Lady Belial
Sorin carefully sipped his tea as he sat across from Diehauser. On either side of him sat Valerie and Kyllini, both enjoying their own drinks. Diehuauser hadn't brought along any minions of his own, simply sitting there with a serious face as he worked away at his cake. The four of them did not say a single word. They just sat there politely, looking at each other while the adults yammered off to the side.
Sorin wasn't sure what the point of that was. An idiot who had only read up on the situation half an hour ago could have figured out what either party wanted. However, that wasn't how the game of politics was played or some such, so Misla and Zerophimus had been 'negotiating' with Lord and Lady Belial for the past two hours.
Damn it, mom. No one gives a fuck if Cleria riding exorcist cock was a crime or not! It happened years ago, just let it go!
Of course, that wasn't an option. Everyone in the room knew precisely why Cleria had been killed. She had been killed because she had learned about the King Pieces, which while not illegal at the time - no one knowing something exists makes it hard to make it illegal - might have become illegal if she revealed it. Unfortunately, 'we killed your daughter because she learned our dirty secrets. Then made those dirty secrets public a couple of years later. Sorry. Tehe,' would have put the Bael in a poor negative light. The family would have owed the Belial family even after resurrecting their daughter. So they were doing their best to paint what they were doing as a favor to the Belial family while trying to avoid pissing off Diehauser too badly.
I wonder how many powerful enemies Zekram made because he ignored the consequences of his actions? I would call him short sighted, but he has lived for a long time. Does he have some way of dealing with these problems?
Thankfully, that wasn't for Sorin to figure out. So he just sat there, across from the undisputed champion of the Rating Games, the strongest Devil to be born since the Civil War - if only because Sorin had yet to reach his teenage years - who had to politely sit and listen as his parents were told that his sister figure was brutally murdered by family because of her 'crimes' and how all of that was totally justified. Admittedly, this was not how Sorin was expecting things to go. He was hoping to have it over and done with, and Diehauser away from anywhere near his vicinity before the guy could decide to start feeling upset.
Eventually though, the argument started winding down. The overall decision was simple. Cleria Belial was revived, as the entire incident was swept under the rug. Forgotten as a simple misunderstanding between family.
"Very well, then. If you could-"
Valerie, equally done with this shit as Sorin was, pulled up the dead soul as soon as Lord Belial started speaking. Sorin used her soul as a template to create a body for her, and the soul was simply crammed in there.
In a few seconds, the parents had gone from their pointless politicking, to watching as a buck naked Cleria Belial gasped her first breath in years atop the kitchen table. She, like her cousin, had grey to silver hair with similarly colored eyes. Unlike his near two meters of height, she was shorter, maybe a little over a meter and a half tall, which still made her taller than Sorin. Like a lot of modern Devils, she also had a well developed bosom, a C or a D cup, that contained absolutely no sag whatsoever. She also had no hair anywhere on her body other than her scalp and eyebrows, and had smooth, unblemished skin of a slightly dark pink tone.
"Done." Valerie said, setting down her tea with a distinct clinking sound that indicated the plate beneath the cup might have cracked. "If you will excuse me." She gave everyone a polite bow, and proceeded to walk the fuck out of there before she had to deal with more politics.
Smart girl.
Sorin would have liked to follow her, but he was distracted by going over the records of her and Diehauser's soul that he had gotten during this time. Comparing the two pieces of data to figure out what was responsible for their family bloodline.
Worthlessness. A mutation in the Power of Destruction that caused the Belials to become a branch family, the power did not destroy objects permanently. Instead, it temporarily turned off powers, abilities, or physical processes. It could make a spell not have any effect, temporarily remove someone's bloodline, disable specific physical laws and the like. A mutation that gave up power for versatility.
Ideally I should be able to combine the two back together. Or use it as a template to increase the capability of my Power of Destruction. Saying that it can theoretically affect concepts is nice. Copying a power whose function is to literally affect concepts to improve it is much better.
"Oniisan?" Cleria asked as she looked at Diehauser. Because, of course the mysterious Devil girl was a fucking weaboo. Sorin wasn't even sure why he was surprised anymore. "What happened? How am I alive? Where is Masaomi?"
Dead. And because our parents were asses, he is going to remain that way until I can fix the mood of my Vampire Princess.
"Cleria." Diehauser spoke, in a soft and gentle tone. His hands shook as he reached out, as if uncertain that what was before him was just a dream or an illusion. "You are alive."
The entire thing made Sorin feel like a voyeur intruding on an incredibly private and personal moment. He only wished that he had some popcorn he could loudly chew on as he watched.
"Niisan? Where is Masaomi?" Cleria repeated, wariness starting to enter her tone. "What happened to him?"
Sorin started slowly edging away from her, confirming the exits as he considered the best moment to slip out, before the girl realized that her boytoy was still, unfortunately dead. Unfortunately, Azi Dahaka did not agree with his decision.
"He is dead. The Church and Hell did not approve of the two of you fucking." The Evil Dragon spoke up, drawing all the attention in the room to Sorin's right arm. "So they skewered him with their Holy Swords, presumably like he had been skewering you with his dick. Too bad, so sad."
Are you trying to pick a fight with her?
Yes! What the fuck else does it look like I'm doing?
I thought you were trying to help in your own way!
Why would I do that? Helping is boring.
Cleria sniffed, tears starting to run down her eyes at that. "Bring him back then. You brought me back right? Bring him back as well!"
"I can't. Our Grail user already excused herself."
"Then bring her back!" Cleria yelled. "Bring her back, so that she can resurrect him!"
Fuck this shit, I'm out.
Sorin quickly pointed at his parents, who had seemed very enthusiastic about taking over the negotiations of this topic. "I have been told to leave all negotiations regarding this incident to my parents. Please direct all relevant comments their way. Goodbye."
He then teleported out of there, before he had to continue to deal with a hysterical woman crying over her family murdering her boyfriend.
The room that he arrived in was empty, save for a single occupant. Valerie had already arrived before him, had grabbed the TV remote while she sat in a comfy chair, and was going through a list of movie options on DevilFlix. As it turned out, mortal copyright rules were largely ignored by Devils. Who knew? The screen she was watching it on was massive, covering the entire far wall, giving a proper movie going experience.
"What are you watching?" Sorin asked as he went over to the fully sized fridge in the corner full of snacks, and took out a box of dark red ice cream.
"Twilight." Valerie's words made him stop in the middle of his actions, and slowly turn to stare at the girl, who was grinning at him. "Just kidding. I'm watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have heard a lot of good things about it, and I wanted to check it out."
Well, at least her taste isn't absolutely abysmal. Also, I haven't watched that show either. Now could be a good time.
"But you are a vampire. Well, half vampire. Are you really okay with a show about vampire killing?" As he spoke, he scooped out some of the ice cream into a glass ice cream cup. Once it was full, he stabbed a small spoon into the ice cream, put the rest back into the fridge, and headed towards her.
"Eh, fuck vampires." The Vampire Princess summarized. "They are a pretty shitty race. Besides, I'm not going to be a vampire for all that much longer."
Sorin nodded. He did not know how hating your own race worked, but so long as it meant that she was more loyal to him, it was a good thing in his book.
"If you say so. So, you ready to enjoy the movie?"
Valerie didn't say anything. She just pressed a button, causing the footrest of the chair to rise up and extend until it was long enough for her to lie down. She did on her stomach, taking the ice cream that Sorin passed her, putting a small spoonful of it in her mouth.
"Hmmmmm. Your essence is delicious."
Her 'master' groaned, as he mounted her from behind, his hands moving to massage her shoulders. "You are phrasing it that way on purpose."
She wiggled her hips beneath him in response. "Why not? It is amusing to see your 'game' as the humans call it fail." She paused, scooping another bit of Sorin blood ice cream in her mouth, her feet kicking up and down in joy at the taste. "And what other girl around you is going to say no to you?"
"When did you get so mouthy?"
He asked, hands slowly starting to move. As with almost all things, Senjutsu helped him cheat. Not only could he tell where her muscles were stiff, but he could send his energy through her body, stimulating different parts of her. It made for a massage experience that physically could not be replicated without magic of some sort.
"Don't know." The little dhampir beneath him admitted, grabbing the TV remote and starting the first episode of the show. "Probably when I realized that doing so does not upset you? Besides, as I said, frustrating you is fun. I know Kuroka-neesan appreciates my efforts."
"Kuroka approves of this?"
"Uh, huh. You are a lot more enthusiastic when working out your frustration on her." The girl noted. "Now shut up, and enjoy the feel of my hot young bod, as I enjoy the show and get addicted to your blood."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scene 3: Acquire Excalibur Ruler
We were back in the same room we had done the summoning the last time around. The members were more or less the same as before. Roygun was not here right now - off negotiating with the Youkai - and the Gogmagog was now Kyllini.
A few extra pieces of equipment had been brought in as well. While summoning the souls of the dead was the realm of the Grail, affecting souls was not unique to it. Sure, such equipment was rare and expensive, but there were advantages to having a filthy rich Devil father who hated the Church. As soon as Sorin had mentioned what he was doing Zerophimus had sent servants to grab the equipment out of storage without asking for anything.
That probably was a pretty good indication of how immoral what I'm about to do is. Eh, whatever.
Rather than contemplate morality, he turned to Leanna.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked the girl, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can still back out of this, and no one will blame you."
Well, father will, but he will direct his anger at me.. But that is preferable to forcing her through this procedure.
Leanna nodded, a determined look on her face. "Of course, Sorin-sama. I shall serve you in anyway that I can."
Sorin sighed as he looked down at the girl. She was wearing a blue dress with a white skirt to her. Over it she wore silver armor that covered her chest, feet, shins and her arms. There were also metal plates on the side of her skirt, through Sorin wasn't certain what purpose they could serve. He knew that the dress was the product of one of the Alchemical Teams, custom fitted for Leanna. Unfortunately, after today, it might no longer fit her.
Though the team should have known that. Yet, they still put weeks of work into making it, even though they hadn't been told the details of what would happen here.
"Thank you, Leanna." Sorin said, brushing her face with one hand, before he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you, for everything."
She blushed, ducking her head. "Um, Sorin-sama?" She paused, waiting for him to look at her. "After this, if my body has changed, can I give you my virginity?"
Sorin blinked at the unexpected words.
Is she expecting the change to count as a new body? One 'untainted' by her past experiences? I honestly hadn't considered that, but then she had always cared more about her past experiences than I did.
"You are aware of my deal with Roygun?" Leanna nodded. "And you don't mind that?"
"One day you will marry. It will not be to me, to Liliana, to Kuroka-neesan, or the others, but someone worthy of you. When you do, I wish to remain as your mistress, and a mistress's role is to satisfy both husband and wife, not to get between their marriage. If I just think of Roygun-sama as a wife you have yet to marry, I can accept her."
If I get married at all. It might be easier to not declare any of them as special and above the others.
"Thank you, Leanna. Let's go to my bedroom after this."
And hope that all goes well on Roygun's side. Because if it does, the deal that I made with her won't matter.
"So, Valerie, could you kindly start us off?"
Valerie nodded and stepped forward, starting to call up the souls in question.
This time, the research into the targeted souls had been a lot easier. Sorin had merely grabbed an up to date geneology of the Pendragon family, and gone through that. As it turned out, Devils kept very extensive notes on the family that wielded Caliburn, the sword that was, somehow, more Holy than the fucking True Longinus. Seriously, that sword was ridiculous, and it was passed from father to son in a long line where every single person was a skilled swordsman and had an affinity to the sword of Fuck Devils in Particular. Fortunately, they had all been humans, with all of the limitations therein.
Now, Valerie was calling up 12 of those descendants of Arthur Pendragon, summoning them around a stone round table, with stone seats. On each stone was a Magical Circle that Sorin had inscribed with blood, connecting it to the ritual spells inscribed on the room. As soon as a ghost was summoned, it would be trapped to the seat, unable to move or get away.
"Hello, everyone. I am the scion and heir of the Bael Family."
Sorin greeted the ghosts once Valerie had finished summoning them, giving her a shoulder to lean on, as he escorted her over to one of the lounge chairs at the edge of the room. As it turned out, a lot of undead were vulnerable to concentrated doses of sunlight. So the room had a function to blast sunlight over an area. Or, as Valerie had jokingly called it, the sunbathing function. The lounge chairs were Sorin's response to the joke, allowing someone to genuinely sunbathe in a room meant for summoning the souls of the dead. They even had a mini-fridge next to them, from which Valerie was pulling out a bottle of blood, and sticking a straw into it.
Once Sorin confirmed that his Dhampir Princess was nice and comfortable, he turned back to the unfortunate souls they had summoned. Perhaps he could have given excuses about why they were valid targets. They were still technically at war, as no actual peace treaty had been agreed to. Each of the twelve men had killed a lot of Devils back when they were alive. Their knowledge and position in life made them valid military targets. In truth, they just had something that Sorin wanted enough for him to stop pretending to have morals to get it.
"For those of you that don't recognize each other, you all form a line of descendents of Artorius Pendragon, also known as King Arthur, King of the Britons, wielders of Caliburn and Excalibur. More germane to this conversation, is that your family has information on the location of Excalibur Ruler. I would like to have that, if you would be so kind."
He walked around them as he spoke, noting the downside of a round table design like this. Perhaps he ought to have spent less time on arranging symbolism that no one would appreciate.
I'm starting to act like a fucking anime villian. 'Oh, look at this artistic design. Look how sophisticated I am.' Bleh. Why the fuck am I trying to show my sophistication to people who started at dead, and are about to become extra dead?
A slight exertion of will turned off the restraints that stopped the ghosts from talking. Naturally, not a single one of them complied. All of them started insulting him, his mother, his father, his face, his race, his pet pony, his finger size, and a whole host of other things that he did not care about. He let them rant for a bit. It let him collect his thoughts, review what he was doing.
Excalibur was one of the four 'True Holy Swords' introduced early in the series. Before a bunch of others were introduced, though those tended to be of non-Christian origin, or of lesser caliber. At some point, Excalibur got broken, and reforged into seven lesser pieces, each with one of the abilities that the original sword had. Six out of seven pieces were in the hands of three Christian denominations. The last, Excalibur Ruler, the most powerful piece of Excalibur, was missing. In canon, Vali ended up using his connections together with the knowledge that Arthur's family had to track it down.
By the time they decided to track it down, Vali had turned traitor, and Arthur had become estranged from his family. Or in short, some basic information that Arthur could recall, and resources that were far eclipsed by what Sorin had access to were enough to locate the sword. This meant that most of the ghosts here should have the information that Sorin needed, and he only needed to break one of them.
"Yes, yes, you are very good at insulting." Sorin said, resealing their mouths. "Probably better than me. Doesn't matter. See, there is Magic to force you to talk. Basic Hypnosis Magic, nothing complicated."
He stopped speaking as he walked into a corner of the room, and opened a box, retrieving a dozen knives from them.
"Now, you are probably asking yourself, 'is this guy stupid enough to think that basic Hypnosis Magic would work?' The answer is, I'm not. Hypnosis Magic could be broken with sufficient focus and will. Unfortunately for you lot, that is where these knives come in. They were invented during the War, see. The War against God. Lucifer saw the problem with using Hypnosis for interrogation, and ordered the creation of knives that induce a drunk like haze in the target. They would lose the focus necessary to break the spell, and be easily interrogated. Of course, old Lucey-Gucey was a bit paranoid. What if his enemies were immune to poison? Would he be unable to interrogate them? That just would not do. So, rather than actually make the target drunk, these daggers more accurately inscribe a curse of drunkenness onto the target's soul. It is some pretty fucking dark and evil magic. Now, unfortunately for you guys, Lucifer trusted his son, Rizveim with developing these knives."
When he got to that point, he finally saw a reaction on the face of the ghosts. Up until that point, they had all been looking at him impassively, trying to act tough. Sorin personally never saw the point of acting tough and impassive, but apparently that was how these guys were trained. Being stabbed in the soul by a dagger designed by Lucifer's psychotic son though? Yeah, that was something that would scare even these guys.
"I see you recognize the designer." Sorin noted as he walked around the table, laying out a knife in front of each ghost. "Yeah, not a nice guy. I have been told that these knives are excruciatingly painful to the victims. I am sure many of you wish to avoid feeling it. So, I'm going to give you all a chance. I will cast Hypnosis Magic on you. If you don't resist it, well, I won't have to stab you until you stop resisting."
Of course, Sorin was leaving some details out. True, Rizveim was an ass, but he wasn't just an ass to his enemies. There was a reason that he personally never used the daggers, but had a minion do it. Namely, that a nail grew out of the handle of the blade, to stab into the wielder's palm. The blade consumed the wielder's blood, Life Force and Aura to power its effects. Sure, it did not hurt him close to as much as it did the victims, but having a nail through your palm was not pleasant. And if someone were immune to being stabbed like that, the knife didn't work for them.
Does not need to be my blood though. If I asked Leanna to, she would wield the knife. Probably even Kuroka or Shirone as well.
Unfortunately, that was not an option. Even if he were cruel enough to order that, those orders were the kind of things that backfired in the long run. No, doing it himself was, unfortunately, the best option.
I only need one of them to break. I just need to break one.
He did not actually cast a spell. Rather, he cast a spell that interfaced with the room, triggering the spells that were inscribed into the room itself. The ghosts, ethereal beings trapped against the stone chairs stiffened, but then flexed their bodies, the spell breaking. Not a single one was so weak willed as to give up their free will just because of the mere promise of pain.
Oh, fuck you guys.
Sorin groaned as he picked up one of the knives, wrapping his hand around his. He consciously had to disable his Touki, making himself vulnerable to injury. Standing before one of the ghosts, he hesitated.
This wasn't how I imagined this going.
Sure, he had considered this contingency. It had involved him stabbing the ghost without hesitation. He had hurt others before after all. Sure, they were murdering and raping bandits, not actually people, but he was familiar with hurting others. Himself, not so much.
Fuck it. Just stab.
The ghost's eyes bulged to comical proportions as Sorin rammed the dagger into its left lung. He clenched his teeth, biting down to stop himself from screaming out in pain and worrying the girls, as a hole was torn through his palm. A grunt still escaped him as his grip tightened, trying to ignore the pain as best as he could. The ghost started to vibrate in place, grasps of cries escaping through the muffling effect. Sorin's grip grew slippery with blood, and weak as his aura was drained. Still, he held on.
He held on for nearly half a minute before pulling the dagger out, and tossing it on the table. It clattered there, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Sorin panted as he looked down upon his arm. He had never been overly ripped, but he had had decent muscle mass. That was gone now, his arm having grown gaunt. His Aura and Touki were rushing back, healing it, but it was a slow process. He had to form a water elemental spell above and below his wound, to stop more blood from spilling out. Really, the only saving grace was that his arm was still in front of the ghost, blocking Kuroka, Shirone or Leanna from seeing it.
Shit. That hurt. The text said it was safe for use for up to two minutes. That is blatantly false advertising!
He wished that he could have made a clone use the dagger instead. Unfortunately, as had already been established, Rizveim was a sadistic motherfucker. The dagger explicitly required Life Force or stamina, something that most Sacred Gears - even the vaunted Boosted Gear - could not increase. If he were to create a clone by transferring his Life Force, that was liable to do more harm to him than the dagger had done.
Fucking damn it.
"So, let's see if this has made you more responsive."
He tried to make his tone as light as he could as he spoke, using his uninjured hand to call down the spell of the room. The hypnosis wrapped around the targets, and this time, they appeared far less willing to resist it. Most of them still threw it off, of course. They were 'hard men' who had just seen that he was physically incapable of torturing all of them. Still, three did not have the will to resist, one of them being the one that was in too much pain and drunken stupor to do so.
"Three out of twelve. Eh, good enough." Sorin noted, as he broke the restraints of speech on just those three. "Now, going left to right, tell me everything you know about the Excaliburs, and their locations."
It took a long time to get them all to finish talking. Long enough to fix the stab wound in his palm, though it would likely take a days - or bouncing Kuroka on his cock - to fix up his arm. Fortunately, the information that they had was rather thorough. Better yet, much of it was things that were known only to the Pendragon family. Information that only a few people alive had, and one acted on.
Though to be fair, they have access to the Holy Sword that makes Excalibur Ruler look like shit.
"Well, we are done here."
Sorin spoke, before snapping his fingers, and erasing the soul of the one whom he had tortured. The Power of Destruction was nice like that, erasing not just the body but the soul as well. A death beyond death, something even the Grail could not recover one from. He still had uses for the souls, but not that one. He did not know what side effects the daggers might have on a soul. He did not mind risking a Pendragon with those side effects, but not Leanna.
"Valerie, it is your turn. Could you handle the rest?"
"Of course, Sorin-sama." She nodded, finishing her second bottle of Magical Beast blood before standing up, brushing herself up. "Leanna, if you could?"
Sorin stepped back and away from the ghosts as the two girls came up to them. He made sure to keep his body turned, and his sleeves rolled down so that his injured arm would not be visible. Kuroka was still giving him a worried frown, but he just gave her a cheerful smile, before turning back to the procedure.
Like most of his 'plans', he was crimming this from canon DxD. Specifically, it came from the 'Bishop of Genocide', though Sorin had long forgotten the guy's actual name. The long and short of it, was that souls had some sort of Light attribute within them. To wield a Holy Sword, you needed a high enough concentration to establish compatibility. If someone did not have a high enough level, you could collect it from others, and transfer it to them. Or, as the case was here, take eleven victims with sufficient affinity to wield Caliburn, rip out said attribute from them, and transfer it all to Leanna. Canon had firmly established that Devils had no issue receiving this affinity even when the transfer wasn't done by Grail-kun after all.
In the process the souls were essentially torn apart, other useful and generic enough components cannibalised to help Leanna, while the rest were basically tossed aside. The souls weren't destroyed really, not truly. However, all that would return to the Underworld would be fragments of personalities, and even if someone stitched them together, the raw potential of these Hero tier beings would no longer exist.
"Ah!"
Leanna moaned as her body started to shift. Her hair changed, growing longer, with streaks of blue creeping into it, until it was all blue and fell all the way down to her ass. Her eyes too, turned a light blue color, while her body grew, becoming tall and lithe, even as her hips and chest developed more womanly curves. Her fingers grew small claws at the end, her gauntlets falling off and clattering to the floor as a result. A pair of horns, short, wide and pointed grew out of the sides of her hair, pointing up into the air. Finally, her skirt was torn off, the dress ruined, as reptilian tail, almost as thick as her waist and longer than her height grew out of her back, curling into the air behind her. The underside of the tail was a soft blue color, while hard and sharp scales covered the top of it, ending into a pointed end, seemingly made for stabbing.
Looked like the myth that the Pendragons had Dragon blood in them wasn't entirely wrong.
Sorin clinically noted to himself as he rushed up to her, catching her body before she could fall over.
"Are you all right?"
He asked, holding the girl who, even as she was leaning on him for support, was now tall enough to have her breasts at his eye height.
"Yes, Sorin-sama. Just… Surprised." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. "You don't have to worry. I am fine. I am still me. I am your Leanna."
Spoiler: Leanna
"Thank you, Leanna. For everything." Sorin spoke, giving her a gentle kiss on her conveniently located boobs. He then scooped her up with his left arm, a small magical circle appearing underneath her to help as he was careful not to put her weight upon his weakened right arm. "Now come on, let's get you to bed."
"Oh my, Sorin-sama. How bold." The girl said in a teasing tone, her hands clapping her face as if feeling shy. She then moved to wrap her arms around his neck. "Please be gentle, it is my first time."
That sent her into a series of giggles, her tone light and happy. Sorin just smiled at her, before activating Gravity Magic and starting to float out of the room.
"Kyllini, please correct the ritual knives, and put them in the box. I will return everything to father tomorrow. Valerie, Kuroka and Shirone, thank you for the help. I will see you tomorrow."
He did not fly straight to his room, taking a small detour to the room a few doors over where the Magical Beast was being used as a server, and chucked a Power of Destruction sphere at it to destroy it. The thing could have survived many more uses, but Sorin wasn't certain how much information it retained from each use. Given the Grail largely operated through the paradigm of Knowledge Is Power, Sorin did not want to risk a Magical Beast with any amount of the relevant knowledge escaping. This meant that he had to replace them after every few uses, but it was better to be safe than living in a crater where his mansion used to be.
"So, do you have a preference of where you would like to lose your virginity?"
He asked her as he left the room. He could install a new Magical Beast in there tomorrow. As well as use the information he got to track down Excalibur Ruler.
Damn, tomorrow is going to be busy. Should take my time enjoying today.
"There is a classic of doing it on a bed. We could go with a bath again. Or I could give you a massage while you watch a movie that devolves into sex. Unless you want a romantic dinner date first? It is entirely up to you."
The girl was going to be his Excalibur wielding half-Dragon warrior afterall. It was only appropriate that he treat her as special now that she had become special.
"Um, could I have dinner first?" The Dragon girl asked with a blush. "Then a movie, and finish the night in bed while romantic music plays?"
"Would you also like to hold hands while the movie plays?"
She blushed. "Yes! That is, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. Now let's go have dinner."
<<