When you are enjoying something, time seems to pass by like a blur. You focus less on the passing hours, and more upon just enjoying whatever shit is making you forget about time.
So while I wasn't completely caught off-guard, I was still pretty surprised to note how quickly my last year in Japan passed.
My days started in mother's embrace and ended the same; in her tight protective clutches. We took our time to experience life, enjoying the things that we hadn't had the luxury of for the last 7 years, and just generally did our best to...as mother put it, 'Live truly'. But as the months flew past, I could see the noticable paranoia set in on her. And while I tried my best to comfort her, there was definitely a 'calm before storm' aura that settled in our mansion.
Apart from that, my time passed by quite unremarkably. I still went to school with Irina and Issei, and still kept up with my skill-training. I couldn't start any new research though, because that time was taken by magic training.
It wasn't much of a training really, just my attempts at mastering Demonic power manipulation. I'd already learned all the three spells that Azazel had gifted me afterall.
Well...learn might be a wrong word for it. More like ate up the magical books and gained the skill like any self-respecting gamer should.
It hadn't even been much of a surprise when the prompt had presented itself in front of my face the moment I'd clutched the book.
[Learn Skill: Defensive Magic Barrier]?
And I'd accepted of course. All three of them. Though not in front of Azazel. He may have been more useful than I gave him credit for, but he was still an unstable little shit who creeped me the fuck out.
One thing I'd begun noticing though was that the general time needed to level up any of my skills was massive. And after some careful research I came upon the conclusion that Lvl 10 is the max Lvl that can be achieved. This also neatly explained why I got that massive boost for Wind Manipulation when it hit Lvl 5. It was most likely a half-way mark perk or something.
When the year finally came to a close, the news of my transfer from Kuoh came as an unpleasant shock to my school teachers. Well... atleast the female teachers. They were quite devastated to see me go, almost as much as Issei and Irina.
But there was no stopping the inevitable, and so as my 8th birthday came closer, I started to prepare myself.
For it was now time to go greet the Greeks.
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Deep inside the castle of Beelzebub, there was a special room made only for the use of its current inhabitant and master. Warded against any intrusion, and protected by deep layers of Beelzebub magic, there were very few beings on the planet that could successfully break in. And even then, they won't get out unscathed.
The room itself was huge, dozens of meters, its walls and floor marked with multiple live magic circles with Beelzebub crest that were meant to loosen the laws of one single particular phenomenon; Fate.
The Emerald glow from the circles lit up the room, casting a sinister green shade that will not fail to discomfort any but the most willful. The circles spun with power and intent, constantly moving, constantly calculating.
Each circle calculated a different aspect of the same phenomenon, each materializing a single line of calculation to form in reality. These lines came together at the centre of the room, each holding a particular calculated possibility. These lines then combined in the centre, forming a complex ball of emerald light; constantly shifting and changing.
And in the centre of the emerald whirlwind, stood a bewitchingly beautiful and attractive man. He looked young, just in his early twenties, with light blue eyes and slicked-back green hair that swayed softly under the whirlwind.
His name was Ajuka Beelzebub and he was currently calculating...like he always does. Except, this one took a kind of focus, skill, and attention from him that he rarely had to display.
Then again, whoever said calculating future was easy? It wasn't. Not one bit.
In fact, it was impossible to calculate the complete future, the uncertainty of life being simply too much, even for him. So what he did was focus on one aspect of the future, and force the lines of fates to reveal themselves. In this case, his focus being the future of the Devil society.
And thus, his eyes flickered through infinite possibilities, dividing and separating the most probable possibility from each action, and forming a final result that was most likely to happen.
He did not like what he saw. Why? Because there wasn't a single most likely event to happen. There were dozens of ways their future could go now, and each were just as likely to happen as the rest.
Never had the future been this uncertain before.
Rarely did Ajuka expend this level of power and energy to calculate future, and when he did, he always expected a clear direction.
Not anymore.
The future has been disturbed, he could see. The lines of fate has changed. And in the centre of it all, stood a young boy of astonishing beauty, his age shifting from 8 to 13 to 16 to 17 to 8 to 13...and back all over again.
Mikael, the name came unasked. Mikael, son of Zeus and... Gabriel. Mikael Gabrielson, the Greek will likely call him.
Gabriel...now that was a subject that made him feel conflicted. In all half a millennia of his life, Ajuka only ever had two peerage members. To see one of them run away without a word had been sad.
'What did mother used to say? Oh yes...you're a madman who'll scare away all women.' He mused absently. 'Perhaps there's some truth in her words.'
But more importantly than his sadness, Gabriel had made him feel unnaturally insecure in his ability to calculate. Never had he ever seen the possibility of Gabriel, the angel of chastity, the most pure and beloved of all angels, fall from the heavens. Never had he calculated the possibility of her getting pregnant. Never had he calculated the possibility of her birthing a son. A son with the blood of God, Angel, and devil.
But worse than that...never had he calculated Gabriel coming to him for help. When it had happened, around nine years ago, he'd been caught flat-footed for the first time in a long long while.
'And I'd dealt with it poorly', Ajuka admitted. Very very poorly. Had he been calm and collected, he would've convince her to stay, and made sure to guide the anomaly that her son was, to the best possible outcome.
Now here he was, with his bishop a stray devil, and her son in the centre of chaos, an anomaly that no one could control.
But still, he wasn't entirely to blame.
The whole affair had made him feel as clueless as a common man...
...That was until he'd calculated through the future and noticed the hand of Fates deep in the life of Gabriel.
Even he cannot predict those Greek Fates. The threads of fate, their namesake, was their domain. Even with Kankara formula running in full power, he hadn't been able to usurp the authority over future from those infuriating... pathetic little... ditzy old cloth-cutting, thread-snipping crones who were absolutely useless little pieces of wastage in the form of divinity!
...Fates.
He sighed, letting the formula die down slowly, making the magic circles to vanish. Nothing more will come by pitting his will against those beings. If they did not want him to see the future then there was nothing he could do about it. Even his exceptional calculations couldn't help him here.
He really was as blind as a common man right now. He could only hope the anomaly child has gained Gabriel's iconic kind nature and wasn't planning to rule the world or something.
Hmm...he will also have to do something about Gabriel's situation. Zekram Bael's bitching was quickly growing irritating.
Perhaps he could offer his patronage to her son? He was sure he had some money lying around in the castle gathering dust...Oh well, he'll just create some more.
But the fact remained, he did not want Gabriel to stay as a stray for long. It would not be well for the future of their pantheon.
Ajuka had once calculated the probability and consequences of himself turning evil. The images and conclusions that he'd recieved had given him nightmare for days, and he'd sworn to never cross the line in his experimentation and creation.
But for some reason, the results of Gabriel turning evil surpassed any horror that he himself could've produced. And the path that Gabriel was on currently would only lead to damnation.
Because no matter her Will power, sooner or later, as a stray devil she will definitely start losing the faculties of her mind.
Ajuka sighed again.
Damn it, why can't the world just let him shut himself in his laboratory and create some lovely new toys–...ahem, inventions? These wars, politics, manipulations...why on these cursed corner of hell did anyone even cared about them?...just needlessly increasing stress levels of everyone.
He can't wait to get retired from his job really. He wouldn't even ask for any pension!
But until that blessed day comes, he had a job to do.
And for all his complaints, Ajuka Beelzebub never turned away from his task once he committed to it.