Chapter 186: Hunting in the Devil Territory
—
Evie Etoulde.
It's a planet where the race of Evie and their enemies Etoulde reside and are currently at war with each other. It's a war that's been going on for thousands of years.
The planet existed in a whole other universe, not just some distant galaxy. That made this an incredible find. Rivezim Livan Lucifer was filled with vigor when he found out about this; when he realized there was a whole new world to conquer and own.
Yet, all of that was stomped upon and tossed afar when someone from another other world visited this planet. Unlike Evie Etoulde which was like a distant land without any way to transport there, this new world had someone capable of traversing between dimensions and universes.
Rivezim was practically drooling when he learned about this.
He sped up his plan of stealing Ophis powers just for this. Because he wanted to steal this foreign Goddess from Indra and his goons. Unfortunately, although he succeeded in diving Ophis' powers, creating a clone from her that was loyal to all his commands, he was a minute too late and his plan was fucked over by that new Demi-God.
According to the rumors, this young fool has been meeting that Goddess in the realm of dreams, with Great Red as a medium. That's why he knew about her. Rizevim was unsure how much of that was true, but it was more probable than the other possibility that he too was from the other world, and had traversed to this world 15 years ago.
That was impossible. Rizevim would have noticed if that was the case, he had eyes on the matter of other worlds for the last few decades, so he would have noticed if a foreign soul were to enter this world. So the first rumor must be true.
So now, the plan came down to stealing the Goddess from that young Demi-God and using that foreign Goddess to invade her world.
"Looks like we're here, Lilith," he said, looking at the child-like entity beside him. It was Ophis' other half, named after Rizevim's own mother to honor her.
"Mhm… Lilith noticed," the girl said, referring to herself in the third person.
Although she showed little emotion, it was undeniable that she was powerful. With such an entity as his unconditional bodyguard, he should be able to invade that boy's home and take the Goddess from there. But according to how he fought against Vedas, killing Surya with a single attack, Rizevim ought to be cautious.
He believed Lilith would still be able to defeat that boy with ease, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. That's why he was here, to gather more power. "Looks fancy, doesn't it? It's the mansion of a Vampire Prince, enjoy yourself."
"Mhm." Lilith just hummed. Rizevim was just talking to himself, at this point.
They were in Romania now, to meet Marius Tepes. They've been discussing a… deal for a while now, and Marius summoned him today to further talk about it. Rizevim led Lilith to the front gate of the massive mansion, and the guards bowed in recognition.
They were let inside, and at the main door of the huge mansion, a well-dressed man was waiting under the moonlight. He gently nodded, while the butler waiting behind him bowed. "A meeting between fellow princes, Prince Rizevim, I'm excited tonight." Said Marius Tepes, while moonlight danced on his blood-red eyes.
Rizevim felt a little insulted at that. Did this Marius, the 2nd Prince of one of the two Vampire Factions, really consider him an equal? Even though he was the only prince of the entire devil kind, the Son of the Original Lucifer?
Rizevim pretended to not mind it for now. He wasn't here to talk about status, anyway. He was led inside by Mirius, and soon they were sitting in a grand royal chamber, sitting behind a table filled with liquor glasses.
"Please, these are the finest wines in the world," Marius said, and Rizevim chuckled, even as he accepted a glass.
"I fancy the hospitality, but I'm here for something more serious," he took a sip and said. "So when am I getting my hands on your sister?"
"Oh, Prince, please don't call that mud-blood my sister, it's insulting," Mirius let out a hearty laugh before stopping. His expression hardened. "Unfortunately, prince, this meeting isn't going to bear good fruit."
Rizevim frowned, "What do you mean?"
"The reason I called you here is not to hand Valerie over, but to let you know that… she's been missing," Marius said, a little nervous now.
Rizevim was glaring at him, "What is the point of calling me here, then?!"
"Please, calm down," he sighed. "Due to how far my talk with you had come on this topic, I decided that I should at least let you know about this. So that you can stay safe in case you end up meeting her in the future."
"What do you mean?" Rizevim scoffed. Lilith was right behind him, standing behind the couch. Of course, this foolish vampire prince couldn't know how strong she was, but Rizevim knew she was a wall that nobody could cross over.
"As you know, Valerie, despite being half-human, was crowned by my father as the successor of the entire Tepes Faction. That's why I was trying to eliminate her, where you'd come and steal her Sacred Gear. However… she's done something outrageous." he said, continuing. "She unconsciously used her sacred gear, the Holy Grail, to make a Sacred Gear and grant it to her childhood friend. We weren't sure what the gear was about back then, but recently we've figured it out. Because she has granted more of the similar sacred gears to many of her subordinates."
"Interesting."
"Have you heard about the Evil God Balor? The God of Vampires," he said. "She has been granting people pieces of him, in the form of sacred gears. His eyes, his claws, his tail, and so on…" Marius hesitated. "With such powerful allies, we couldn't stop her when she decided to flee."
"I see," Rizevim finally understood the seriousness of the situation. "And you think she's trying to revive the Evil God Balor entirely?"
"Yes," the vampire sighed. "It'll be hell if she succeeds. So we're trying to find her as soon as possible. That's why I request you stay out of this, in case you get hurt and entangled in this mess."
Rizevim grumbled but didn't say anything. He can capture that girl better than these vampires can ever hope to, but sure. He had no reason to help them for no reason.
Still, this visit wasn't entirely useless. A childhood friend of Valerie? These vampires thought they had killed that childhood friend, but Rizevim knew otherwise. If it was a Vampire with the Evil God Balor's sacred gear, he knew someone who matched that description.
In that case, shouldn't he claim both the Holy Grail and the Evil God Balor?
He felt amused just planning how he was going to fuck over Rias Gremory and her little Vampire Rook. Then, with his new powers, he's going to hunt the other world.
****
[First Person Point of View]
Walking out of the shower and drying myself in front of the mirror, I changed into a pair of dark khaki pants and a pastel khaki shirt. I kept the top buttons open, otherwise it was a bit too tight, which showed off my defined collarbone and my middle chest. I dressed up a little, even put on perfume, because I had a meeting soon.
I walked into the living room and took a seat near the window to enjoy the evening's wind. It has been four days since I started training the Path of the Hungry Deep and I'm now at Underlord. I needed more blood and hunger to speed things up.
"Here," my mother walked over and placed a teacup in front of it. It clinked against the glass table, and I looked up at her with a smile. "I put some magical herb in it, so don't leave a drop."
"Of course," I took it and sipped it. It tasted gracious.
She sat beside me with a cup of her own and looked outside. I followed her gaze and watched the darkening sky. Unlike a few days ago, Shoko and Yuzuru were here too. Everyone was in the gym, training and whatnot. Yet Ai came over to brew me tea.
"Kalawarna grew two pairs of wings today," Ai let me know. "She was on the verge of growing a pair like she said before, but she also grew another extra pair along with it." So she had a total of six wings, which was impressive. Four more to go. "And her spear techniques are sharpening greatly. I have never fought a six-wing Angel before, but I think she's stronger than them."
Of course, wings weren't the only thing that mattered for angels. Their skills, cheat techniques, and battle experiences were also important. Just like any other race. Wings only granted a basic idea about the angel's minimum level. For example, how I was beating multiple Chief God-level entities at just Sage—when it would usually take a Monarch to win against one.
My mother and I spent time chatting, but I realized most of our talks were just work. I haven't had a proper family talk with her in a while. Anyone else would have had a lot to say when I was training to fight Outer Gods, planning to take her and her lovely daughter along into danger's face, yet she accepted without demanding any kind of explanation. Ai really was different.
I would have loved to hug her and spend the evening that way, but I should get going. I fished out my phone and messaged Rias. We've talked about this before, hopefully, it's been prepared by now.
When I sent a message saying, [Are you ready?] I immediately received a response. It was not a reply however, it was a video call. I picked it up even before it could ring, and my screen expanded to show… not Rias but someone else.
"Oh, is this him? He looks succulent."
….I had the devil-net, as well as the greater super-net that was the internet service for all supernatural beings. The equivalent of Instagram here, called [Stargram], was a fuckfest of pretty women posting seductive pictures. Followers of these ladies would sometimes reach hundreds of millions.
So of course I recognised one of the most popular devils, Roygun Belphegor. Pretty pink hair, golden eyes, and a nasty revealing dress. That was what my screen showed me right now.
[Image Here]
I wasn't much surprised to see her, however, although the call was surprising. I saw Rias right beside her, with the drunk Belphegor hugging her side. There was a party atmosphere around them, and it seemed quite big for a normal night out.
"Uh, hey, Aqua~" Rias waved from the side, and Lady Belphegor followed.
"Mm, I heard about your request from little Rias. After pondering for a bit, I decided to let you hunt in my backyard." Her voice was smooth, a noble tint in her tone. While she said backyard, the location in question was a forest hundreds of kilometers far from her mansion, it was just in the Belphegor territory.
Contrary to popular belief, the underworld was multiple times larger than Earth. Not just the devils, but different death Gods resided in the underworld. While some pantheons had a different dimension for their underworld or hell, most shared this single realm. Hades, for example, had his underworld in the same realm, just in a very far part of it compared to the devil's territory.
The underworld was a realm that has existed since the beginning of time. It was also the residence of many living entities, many ancient beasts.
The Ten Thousand Black Dragon Mountain Range is one such place.
It is a place littered with black dragons and was once ruled by Vritra, the Darkness Dragon King, one of the Five Dragon Kings, equal to a heavenly dragon. Nowadays, the ruler was someone else since Vritra was killed a long time ago and turned into a Sacred Gear. Yet, the place was still littered with black dragons.
I needed a black dragon for Yuzuru, and coincidentally, I also needed strong beasts to kill and absorb the powers of. I would rather not have absorbed dragon-type creatures due to the difference in our existence, which means I can't absorb racial traits, but I'll have to make ends meet with what I have.
"But~" Roygun Belphegor bit her lips, looking at me. From the sharp look in her eyes, she wasn't as drunk as I thought she was. "I have a little condition. After hearing so many rumors about you, I wanna see something. Today's my birthday, so a party is going on in the mansion. Come celebrate a little with me, and in exchange, you'll be allowed access to the Ten Thousand Black Dragon Mountain Range. Is that alright?"
I let out a sigh, "Sure thing."
"Great," she grinned. "I'll be sending a servant to pick you up right aw-"
"It's alright," I waved a hand in the air, and spacetime split. On the other side, amid a messy party, I saw a frozen Belphegor and a blinking Rias. It was easy enough to track their location with the magical energy from the phone call and make a portal there.
I cut off the call and looked at my mother, who shook her head. "Good luck. Don't be out for too long."
"I'll see you soon," I smiled and walked into the crack, under dozens of shocked eyes as the portal closed behind me.
Lady Belphegor's surprise vanished, and she grinned at me. She got up and walked over to me in slow, swaying steps, putting a hand on my shoulder, and gently rubbing the side of my neck. She bit her lip and giggled. "My bloodline ability, Crack, can do something similar. Incredible that you can pull that off without any bloodline…"
The Satan-class lady, the all-time 2nd in Rating Gamerankings, looked at me as if she wanted my kids as a birthday gift. Soon, she invited me to sit beside her, and Rias jumped into my arms as if to mark me as hers.
Looking at Roygun Belphegor in person, I admitted that it might be hard to resist not to make the night long.
**
**
**
Read the next chapter right away along with this entire month's, on my Patreon.
Link: Patreon.com/Master4thWall