Chapter 4: Latia's Training Arc (2)
There were many advantages to being the younger brother of a genius Super Devil, as no matter what I did, the people within the Astaroth Clan wouldn't be suspicious, simply labelling me as a prodigy like my oldest brother.
Around the age of two, I started speaking rather fluently, along with learning the language written within the underworld.
After that, Alice helped me find the Astaroth Clan's library, which allowed me to learn various things about this world. From what the librarian told me, our library was one of a kind, being the largest one in the underworld.
Thanks to the library, I learned almost everything about Devils, from their social hierarchy, the Evil Piece System, history, and most importantly, their weaknesses.
Within the underworld, Devils were classified into four categories:
Low-Class Devils, Middle-Class Devils, High-Class Devils, and Ultimate-Class Devils, the highest official class a Devil could achieve.
Following that was the Satan Class, an unofficial class that referred to those who held the positions of the Four Great Satans, possessing enough power to either rival or surpass the Original Four Great Satans.
The Satan Class was said to be above the Ultimate Class, and they held the power to rival Lower Class Gods.
The Leaders of the Three Factions, like the Four Great Seraphs and the Founders of Grigori, were all considered part of this class.
Even if someone had the power to match the Satan Class, their official ranking within the underworld could only rise to the Ultimate Class since it was not an official classification.
All Pure-Blooded Devils from the 72 Pillars and Extra Demon Clans were considered High-Class from the day they were born, but that had nothing to do with fighting powers.
And then there were Super Devils: Devils who were considered an anomaly among Devils with the power enough to rival Higher Ranking Gods, or at least that was what the rumours said. In general, it was well known that they far surpassed the Original Four Great Satans, as Super Devil was a class purely based on one's power.
But since no Super Devil had ever shown their true powers, even during the Devil Civil War, no one knew much.
For example, the records about the Civil War made no mention of the power levels of individuals or the details of their battles. Their only purpose was to glorify the New Four Great Satans in the eyes of younger generations.
But then again, that wasn't something wrong. Anti-Satan Faction won the war, so they could write the history however they wanted.
The only known Super devils were Rizevim Livan Lucifer, the son of the Original Lucifer; Ajuka Astaroth, the current Beelzebub; and Sirzechs Gremory, the current Lucifer.
The existence of Super Devils made me realise why Manager Kim was so frustrated—the power scaling was so half-assed, especially when someone compared people from different races and mythologies, which was enough for me to facepalm myself.
But there was one more thing that I noticed.
Except for Super Devils, Devils weren't all that special as a species because even Ultimate Class Devils couldn't match most Gods, and all they could do was pretend to be big shots within the underworld.
They weren't weak, per se, but they didn't seem that impressive, either.
With the amount of positive karma I possessed, it was a bit surprising that I wasn't a Super Devil or a God, but well, there was nothing to do about it.
My talent was immense, yes, the second-best in the history of the Astaroth Clan, even surpassing our Ancestor, but it was nowhere near Sirzechs or Ajuka's level when based on pure talent.
Well, as long as my life was long enough, reaching their level of strength was only a matter of time.
Jiiiiiii~*
A thing that caught most of my interest was Evil Pieces, Ajuka's most glorious invention and the base of the current Devil Society.
To be able to change one's race, reincarnating them as a Devil, was an idea that fascinated me to no end.
As a former doctor, it was hard not to be fascinated by something like that. But then again, maybe it was all some magic stuff, completely ignoring all logic from my previous world.
I also learned that Alice was reincarnated into a Devil by Ajuka, but she was a free [Knight] since he didn't participate in any Rating Games, and even if he did, I doubt he'd need a Peerage for help. His Peerage was more like servants handling different tasks for him.
Before my birth, Alice was the highest-ranking manager at Agreas City, but she was my caretaker now.
However, there was something strange. When Great Sage checked Alice's body, it didn't detect any Evil Pieces inside her, which made me wonder if it was something that mixed with a person's flesh. Or what if it was something that didn't work from a biological perspective?
It piqued my interest.
On that note, Agreas City was one of the places I planned to visit since it was never fully explored. The rumours said that it contained technology used by the Original Satans, something even more advanced than what Ajuka was capable of. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I got my hands on some crystals used to create Evil Pieces?
Also, Alice's Rank within the Underworld was Ultimate Class, which was a considerable feat since only three Reincarnated Devils reached the official rank of Ultimate Class. The other two were Tannin, the former Dragon King, and Rudiger Rosenkreutz, the 7th Ranked player in the Rating Games.
The fact that Reincarnated Devils could climb so high made it evident how much potential was wasted by Pure-Blooded Devils.
After all, they would sit around on their asses and play politics rather than do something meaningful to hone their abilities.
Most of them solely relied on their natural talent, along with their Clan's ability to get stronger. Talented Pure-Blooded Devils could reach Ultimate-Class simply by ageing, so what would happen if they had some brain cells to train?
Honestly, it was idiotic.
Jiiiiiii~*
The Astaroth Clan's trait was pretty simple: [High IQ].
High IQ granted us the ability to 'develop' the Nature of our Demonic Power to suit any particular field, along with the ability to copy custom spells at a glance and nigh-perfect control over our power.
Our Clan's trait was opposite to the other 72 Pillars, whose Nature of Demonic Power depended on their lineage. For example, in the Bael Clan, their Demonic Power solely focused on Destruction, or the Sitri's Water-based Demonic Power.
Ajuka was the perfect example of how to use the Astaroth Clan's [High IQ] as he developed his Demonic Power to specialise in calculations, something that was unheard of even within our clan.
It was very effective when coupled with his [Kankara Formula], which could control all phenomena using equations and formulas, a function of which allowed him to take over other people's magic spells. It was something only Ajuka could use, thanks to the nature of his Demonic Power.
But according to Great Sage, if I ever got my hands on [Kankara Formula], it'd be possible to use it by substituting Great Sage for Calculative Demonic Power.
Though, it didn't seem like my brother would hand his most precious invention over to me. Or maybe he would if I asked our mother with puppy dog eyes?
There were a few ideas about how to exploit Astaroth Clan's [High IQ] in my mind, but they'd need to wait for now, at least until Great Sage could collect some more data on how magic and bloodline abilities worked in this world.
Despite the name, [High IQ] had little to do with increasing someone's intelligence. On the contrary, it highly depended on the user's intelligence of how well they could utilise it.
And since that was the case, all Pure-Blooded Devils from the Astaroth Clan went through numerous mental examinations to maximise our mind's potential.
The main examinations included memory tests, critical thinking challenges, problem-solving scenarios, mathematical and analytical training, strategy games, attention and concentration tests, and finally, communication and linguistic assessments.
They presented it all in the form of games and entertainment, which made it easier for children to adapt and grow.
In short, our clan was simply a collection of devil nerds—a perfect place for someone like me.
A prime example of 'things not to do with the Astaroth Clan's trait' would be Diodora. It had been around two years since he got his set of Evil Pieces, and rather than doing something meaningful, he was busy using his intelligence to mind-break Nuns and Holy Maidens into mindless sex slaves while drowning in his sadistic tendencies.
It would've been more convincing if those Nuns had some crazy powers or were useful—hell, even if they were incredibly hot—but as far as that went, they were all average trash anyone could find at the church, not even owning a Sacred Gear.
If it was only to satisfy his urges, breaking one or two Holy Maidens should've been enough.
Well, it wasn't my place to judge him, and neither did I care about some random strangers.
As for Diodora's Demonic Power Nature, he was developing it to specialise in Hypnosis, Illusion, Barrier, and Concealment Magic.
Although he hid his tracks well while going on his maiden hunt, it wasn't difficult to connect the dots for anyone with enough brains, but no one cared about it, honestly.
After all, it wasn't a crime in the Underworld as long as the victim wasn't a Pure-Blooded High-Class Devil, and even then, it'd be covered up in some way to maintain the clan's image.
Thanks to Diodora's mindless actions, not many within the Astaroth Clan supported him as the next heir, which wasn't weird.
Some within the clan even supported the idea of making me the heir, and maybe because of this, Diodora seemed to have developed an inferiority complex towards me.
While we were on the topic, a High-Class Devil would receive the right to obtain Evil Pieces from anywhere between the ages of ten to twelve, and if they were to decline, they could apply for them later.
Jiiiiiii~*
Moving on to some information about the Astaroth Clan, most researchers within the Technology Department belonged to our clan, along with it being the monopoly within the Underworld and the Human world when it came to business related to technology, so the clan was filthy rich.
Within our territory, there was also the most popular institute for conducting the promotion test for Low-Class Devils to Middle-Class, along with one for Middle-Class to High-Class.
It was the most technologically advanced territory in the Underworld.
Jiiiiiiiii~*
I also learned a few things about Angels, Fallen Angels, Vampires, Gods, Dragons, Holy Swords, Demonic Swords, and something I was very interested in—Sacred Gears.
But there was one thing that crossed my mind quite often.
'Since human emotions and desires power Sacred Gears, what will happen if a Longinus user falls to the brink of despair? Like Guts with a Longinus…'
'Should I try it out with someone, maybe killing their family or something? The only Longius owner I know is Issei, but risking losing the Boosted Gear without researching isn't worth it… It's good as study material, but that's honestly it, like all Sacred Gears…'
To me, Sacred Gears were good toys to play around with, like something that may lead to an unexpected outcome in an experiment, but they weren't something that I planned to use myself.
If I became reliant on external sources of power to move forward, it'd be the same as my previous life, being chained down by things out of my control.
The moment my wheelchair, or Sacred Gear, in this case, gets taken away by someone, I'd end up as nothing more than an incapacitated cripple crawling on the ground.
'Oh, well, I'll decide what to do in the future... Great Sage, add this to my 'To Do' list.'
While I was studying Sacred Gears, a rather weird theory appeared in my mind, which was further solidified by the Great Sage's statement.
Balance Breakers were the evolved forms of Sacred Gears when their powers fully awakened, something that was strong enough to kill a God in some cases, at least potentially.
To think that the Biblical God could create such things—how strong was that guy?
But my theory had nothing to do with his strength.
Jiiiiiiiiii~*
The interesting part was that Balance Breakers started to appear only after the Great War.
It was common knowledge that the Original Four Great Satans died during the Great War, so maybe they did something to the Sacred Gear system.
According to Great Sage, the most likely answer was simple, which I agreed with.
During the Great War, the Biblical God had died along with the Four Great Satans, and Balance Breakers were most likely a malfunction within the system caused by human desires. It was supported by how different people awakened different Balance Breakers known as Sub Species, a power similar yet different from the previous holders.
With the Biblical God's death, no one could correct this malfunction, making Balance Breakers a permanent thing within the system.
As for why this was not made public?
If others knew that the Biblical Mythology didn't have a God to protect it, it'd lead to a lot of chaos, and it might lead to invasions from other Mythologies.
Some Gods would spare no chance to increase their number of followers.
Not to mention, it'd most likely cause a riot among the Church's followers, diminishing the amount of faith they received.
But that wasn't important—I had more pressing issues than some dead side characters.
Like ignoring the stares that were continuously being thrown at me.
Jiiiiiiiiiiiii~*
'Man, someone can't even do an internal monologue in peace here…'
"So, how long will you stare at me like that?" My eyes met the young girl's almond eyes, who was sitting across the table. "And haven't I told you not to teleport into my room, right?"
The girl looked around the age of six, with long, blonde hair that reached down to her knees. When coupled with her cute face, she looked nothing short of adorable.
Naturally, she was none other than Latia Astaroth, my niece and self-proclaimed best friend.
"You've been reading that book for almost an hour. Our official classes with Alice will begin soon, so why are you being a bookworm now?"
Hearing Latia grumble, I smiled.
The two of us will turn six in a few months.
And since we had already finished our training in manners and stuff required for nobles, my parents asked if I wanted to attend a school made for High-Class Devils.
Of course, I denied their offer, followed by Latia, but her denial got overruled by her parents, so she had to throw a tantrum for three days until Sebas and Vanessa agreed.
Dealing with Latia's childishness was possible since we spent most of our childhood together, and I had a soft spot for her, but there was no way for me to keep up with dozens of brats from different clans without losing the last of my sanity.
Not to mention, I'd run into the important ones at social gatherings eventually.
Since that was the case, Celis and Vanessa asked Alice to take care of our studies, something the latter was happy to agree with.
By now, Latia and I could perform everyday spells like teleportation, mind reading, mind control, dimensional storage, binding, element creation, audio-visual communication, defensive barrier, demonic bullet, and summoning.
Even though we considered it an average skill, [Dimensional Storage] was one of the most complicated spells for everyone else. Usually, supernatural-related beings could only store things with magic inside another dimension, like Holy and Demonic Swords, at least in most cases.
But with [Dimensional Storage], we could store any non-living thing in a different dimension. The storage space depended on the user's Demonic Power. And despite my efforts, it was impossible to transfer any attacks inside the spell.
Thanks to the Astaroth Clan's [High IQ], our clan considered the [Dimensional Storage] spell an everyday skill since anyone with the Clan Trait could master it within a few days.
At first, Latia wasn't motivated to learn, but she started asking Alice to train her after seeing me do it. Otherwise, most Pure-Blooded Devils from the 72 Pillars only learned these everyday spells after they turned six.
My current goal was to master Teleportation Magic to a certain extent before I turned six, enough for me to sneak in and out of the underworld without triggering the Security System or leaving any traces behind after invoking a teleportation spell, as it was easy for strong individuals to follow someone's teleportation magic circle if they weren't careful enough.
But then again, it wasn't teleportation because it used a Magic Circle, and it required a mark at the place one wished to go or another person to connect the two locations, like a flyer or clan seal.
The spell's original name was [Transportation], but somehow, everybody called it [Teleportation], which was weird, but it had already become a habit, even for me.
Not to mention, there was a slight delay while transporting someone from one location to another, so it wasn't instantaneous like teleportation.
To avoid the requirement of the mark and sneak into unauthorised places protected by barriers, one must be very skilled with transportation magic.
Under normal circumstances, only the faction leaders could teleport between worlds without permission, or it'd be considered illegal.
As for those who wished to travel through worlds, they had to go through the official channels. It was a rule decided by both the Devils and the Fallen Angels for the safety of the Underworld, although they both had different means of transport. Devils usually used trains that could travel between the Underworld and the Human world.
Within the Devils, even Clan Leaders from the 72 Pillars weren't allowed to teleport between worlds, as they would need permission from one of the Four Great Satans.
I planned to bring many things from the Human World, from Sacred Gear wielders, Normal Humans, Magicians, Youkai, Vampires, Half-Devils, and so on. It'd be inconvenient to bring them on a dimensional train.
Or maybe I could set up one of my laboratories within the Human World? That'd be very convenient if I were to become an overseer of a territory.
"And you've been staring at me for almost an hour. Why can't you do something meaningful? How about training the [Power of Time] with Vanessa…"
Along with the Astaroth Clan's [High IQ], Latia also inherited the Agares Clan's [Power of Time] from her mother, an ability that held a lot of potential. But alas, as far as I knew, the best Devils from Agares Clan could accomplish was to create a barrier and slow or increase the flow of time inside it.
The concept was similar to Time Dilation but on a much smaller scale.
Talk about a waste of potential.
"A book about Sleep Disease, huh?"
Leaning forward, Latia took the book from my hands, skimming through the pages, occasionally reading a line or two.
"Well, I'm very interested in Sleep Disease."
Sleep Disease was simple—an uncurable coma for Devils, regardless of their lineage and strength.
It'd be good to have control over such a disease.
'How convenient will it be that someone in my way falls into an uncurable coma out of nowhere?'
That sounded even more pleasant than 'death due to natural causes,' or someone committing suicide with seven gunshots on their back.
'Still, it can only be used so much before it becomes obvious...'
"Hey, do you still have the book about the Original Satan Clans? I wanna read it."
And she called me a bookworm.
It hadn't been long, but Latia had started to develop an interest in the history of the Underworld.
"Yeah, I'll give it to you later... Is that all?"
"Ah, right. Grandmother told me to tell you something."
"What?"
"Lady Gremory and Lady Sitri will visit us tomorrow, so she wants us to accompany Rias and Sona."
Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, the heiresses of the Gremory and Sitri Clan.
Rias was Sirzechs Lucifer's younger sister, while Sona was Serafall Leviathan's.
Our mothers had formally introduced the four of us at the age of three, and we had been friends for a little over two years, at least according to them.
We had also been in constant touch thanks to our mothers meeting each other on every occasion they could.
Generally, they'd meet at the Gremory Castle.
And if my memory served right, Rias was most likely the main heroine of DxD since she bore a striking resemblance to the girl I saw on the cover.
Much like Latia, Rias was my second self-proclaimed best friend.
As for Sona, she was my self-proclaimed rival. Within the last few months, she had challenged me to a chess match over a dozen times, and she never won.
I couldn't understand how a five-year-old kid could develop an interest in a game like chess, but then again, she was a Devil.
It was only a matter of time before Devils learned how to play chess, thanks to the game being the base of the Evil Piece System and Rating Games.
The first and second matches were devastating for Sona, as she lost in around two minutes, almost crying out loud before asking for a rematch.
Thanks to the 'Don't bully that poor girl' look my mother was giving me, I decided to let Great Sage take care of that match for me, and much to my surprise, Great Sage was ruthless.
After a few seconds, I was snapped out of my thoughts when Sona started crying. Looking at the chessboard made me realise that this time, she lost in under seven moves. It was so bad that it was hard to believe.
After crying her lungs out, Sona vowed to defeat me in a chess match and left. Although unrelated, Rias stated that she wouldn't pick a side to support because we were both her best friends.
The only thing that relieved me was that Serafall wasn't with us, or she would've thrown a tantrum even larger than Sona and Rias combined.
As for my mother, she didn't talk to me for the next few days, saying that her son was 'into' bullying little girls.
How did she even reach that conclusion?
"Wait… Lady Leviathan isn't coming, is she?"
"Why do you avoid Lady Leviathan so much?" Latia tilted her head in confusion, and her hair fell to the side. "Not only is she super nice, but she likes you a lot, too. According to her, you were the first baby she ever held, so you have a special place in her heart… Not only that, but she brings a lot of gifts every time she visits, too."
"... You have no idea."
Thirty-seven times.
That was the number of times Serafall had almost choked me to death during a hug. Until I grew physically stronger than her, I wouldn't go anywhere near that walking baby killer.
But even then, Serafall was still on my 'To do' list, as she was simply too perfect to pass on.
But that was for the future.
Thanks to my illness and weak body, the last time I had sex was at the age of 17, and after counting this life, it had been almost 18 years of no action.
I needed to make up for lost time in this life.
[Notice. Master promised Seafall Leviathan to explore the 'Serafall Memorial Hospital' with her.]
'Right, that also happened...'
While I had a general idea of what the Devils were capable of in terms of medical facilities, there was still the idea of visiting the best hospital in the whole Underworld.
Although it was a random thought, my mother, for some reason, asked Serafall to show me around the hospital, to which the latter agreed.
'Ah, well, what can happen? It's just a visit to the hospital, right?'
Jokes aside, the person who worried me the most was Serafall. Unlike Latia, Rias, and Sona, she treated me like an adult based solely on her intuition.
With Great Sage's help, it was easy to maintain the character of a mature child, but I had a feeling that Serafall never bought my act, and she confirmed that when the two of us were alone.
"Azu-chan, you know… You look at most people as if you're looking at an object of interest, and your eyes almost resemble Ajuka-chan's, although I doubt you realise it yourself right now."
That was what Serafall said to me when I was four. At that time, I only tilted my head at her question, not saying anything, and she soon waved it off.
The scariest part was that Serafall's words were a hundred percent accurate.
Even if the Four Great Satans acted like fools, all of them were sharp individuals, and that was why I always tried my best to maintain my character in front of them, not slipping up in the slightest, but Serafall's intuition was a bit too good.
But other than that, why the hell does she use Japanese honorifics, and how did they bypass my translation spell?
Devils, in general, spoke English, and although their writing system was different, it was still covered well enough by the translation spell.
Thanks to the fact that I knew way too many languages, it gave me the ability to switch between the base language to hear through the translation spell.
To keep me entertained, Great Sage frequently changed between the languages I had completely memorized, like English, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French, Hindi, Arabic, and Russian.
Even without the translation spell, I'd do well in the Human world.
Why would I think about all this?
To flex my knowledge that was useless in a world filled with magic.
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Words: 4352
A/N:
How's the clan trait?
I took some main points from some suggestions in the comments for it. Has the potential to be broken if someone uses it correctly without being something that could simply be improved with training like POD.
Additional Lore:
Azrail placed first in all tests conducted by the Astaroth Clan (obviously, he's an adult in a child's body), so in that regard, everyone considered him a genius above even Ajuka.
However, the reason his talent is regarded as second best within the clan is because of his natural demonic power reserves.
He isn't a born Super Devil with a shit ton of Demonic Power since birth like Sirzechs and Ajuka.
'The Uncrowned Super Devil' will be his title in the future and has nothing to do with his potential.
Now, I have a question. How many words does a novel require to make it into the Power Stone rankings?
The current word count is almost 17,000 (without counting the author's notes).