Chapter 26: Back Home (1)
Azrail Astaroth Pov:
"Another Low-Class trash from the Tepes Faction, seriously? Can't you guys go to the Church's Territory instead? I've had enough of cleaning up useless trash..."
My eyes stayed on the Female Low-Class Vampire who stood at a distance from me, disappointment apparent in my voice.
"The last one was at least a High-Class Vampire, so it was mildly entertaining because of his strength, but why is a trash like you even here?"
"You bastard..."
'This vampire's corpse-like skin is different from Elmenhilde…'
Since Elmenhilde started drinking only my blood, her skin tone slowly became much better over time, and rather than looking like a corpse when we first met, it now looked like an average shut-in who hadn't touched grass in years.
Maybe if Elmenhilde kept drinking my blood, she'd one day conquer the sun and brag about being the perfect being?
It was a possible hypothesis.
"What are you staring at, you fucker?"
The Female Low-Class Vampire looked disgusted, surrounded by hundreds of Undead Zombies.
"Do you think I'm interested in you?" I was at a loss for words. "I've seen people overestimate themselves, but not this much."
Even Elmenhilde didn't think that highly of herself, and she was much prettier than the Rogue Vampire.
"Well, it doesn't matter."
I raised my right hand with my palm facing towards my left, horizontally waving it towards the said direction.
[Dismantle]
At that moment, the hundreds of Undead Zombies, along with the Low-Class Vampire, got slashed into two pieces horizontally, falling to the ground before the Vampire could even speak, much less comprehend the situation.
"The amount of Demonic Power used to cast that spell has already been replenished… Nice."
I created [Dismantle] to deal with hundreds of fodder in one fell swoop without wasting my Demonic Power to cast Area of Effect Spells, and the spell had served its purpose well.
[Dismantle.]
[Category: Custom Spell (Wind Magic).]
[Usage: Slashes target with an invisible wind slashing attack at the user's thought with minimum Demonic Power consumption by attacking the target's weak spot. As a Spell created within fifteen minutes, it only works on Middle-Class and Low-Class beings, and the attack can be defended against with a strong physical body or optimum use of Magic Power. The spell can be improved.]
It was a perfect spell to deal with hordes of trash.
The amount of Demonic Power I used to kill the hundreds of Undead Zombies and the Low-Class Vampire was less than what it'd take someone to create a small fireball.
Devils would waste a bit of Demonic Power while casting a spell, regardless of the type. However, with the perfect control granted by the Astaroth Clan's [High IQ], it was possible to reduce the wastage to an unnoticeable degree.
But even then, most Devils from the Astaroth Clan couldn't use the perfect control of [High IQ] to its maximum potential.
For me, the amount of Demonic Power lost while casting a spell was zero, with no wastage whatsoever.
To not leave any doubts, it had nothing to do with Great Sage, and it was my innate talent, as I was a natural-born genius when it came to controlling my Demonic Power, even within the Astaroth Clan.
Great Sage helped me learn about the fundamentals of Magic Power in this world and to create spells that'd require that knowledge like [Life Force Conversion], or use my previous knowledge and magic knowledge to create complex spells that I couldn't work on for a long time because I had a life, like [A Corpse Never Lies].
Things like [Gravity Magic] and [Sound Magic] were created by me when I had a lot of free time, that being my childhood.
Although my mastery of them was good, I couldn't use them in battle.
[Gravity Magic] took a lot of time to charge up because it manipulates the target's Gravitational Field rather than the world's, which made it unsuitable for battle, and depending on my target's strength, they could negate it subconsciously.
Naturally, I also subconsciously resisted [Gravity Magic], so it took a minute to get past that.
For those decently weaker than me, like Latia or Rias, it wasn't a problem to apply [Gravity Magic] much faster.
As for [Sound Magic], it'd be developed as a support Magic rather than a battle-focused one because my current focus was [Darkness Magic], which I had the most 'affinity' for.
My [Darkness Magic] already surpassed that of Elmenhilde.
Honestly, it was funny to think that Elmenhilde seriously believed me to be an Ultimate Class Devil when, in reality, I was a mere peak High-Class Devil.
[Life Force Conversion] did fool her pretty well.
Maybe she had already guessed that it was a lie, but at this point, she didn't have many options.
'Now that I mention it, [Life Force Conversion] also needs some work…'
While I had perfect control over my Demonic Power with absolutely no wastage, the same couldn't be said for the Pure Magic Power created by [Life Force Conversion] because the spell required a lot of upgrades.
"But to improve [Life Force Conversion], I'd need Ajuka's [Kankara Formula], or at least some sort of prototype, to understand how it can perfectly take over another person's Magic Power..."
Otherwise, it'd take me decades to get there despite Great Sage's help.
"I guess I'll ask him when I go back home."
However, it was still a mystery whether he'd come back for the announcement party or not.
The last time I met Ajuka was around three years ago at our mother's birthday, and even then, he only stayed for an hour before leaving.
Although, the look he gave me was a bit weird. It looked like he was trying to figure something out, but in the end, he didn't get anything from me.
It was obvious that he was suspicious of something, but since there was nothing I could do anything to my brother, worrying about it wouldn't help much.
No matter the situation, I needed something related to Ajuka's [Kankara Formula] for both [Life Force Conversion] and my Devil Clan Trait's Research.
I was a genius, yes, but catching up to Ajuka's hundreds of years of research and knowledge within a few short years or so was simply impossible.
After all, having big dreams and being delusional were different things.
"Let's see."
I crouched in front of the upper body of the Low-Class Vampire and placed my hand above her head.
[A Corpse Never Lies.]
"Hmm. It's the same again."
Like the Vampires I hunted during the past months, this one was also a prisoner who escaped from the Tepes Faction along with two other Vampires.
One ran off to the Church's Territory, while the other ran off to the Carmilla Faction's Territory, and as for this one, it came here.
"It looks like someone is purposefully letting the prisoners escape, but these things have no idea that they were set free and still believe that they escaped with their capabilities. What the hell is Tepes Faction up to?"
Soon, my shadow extended towards the Vampire's corpse, covering it before the corpse completely disappeared.
Two weeks ago, Great Sage completed the application of the ability to store things inside my shadow with [Darkness Magic], which also gave me access to another interesting function.
If I stored something inside my shadow and decided to 'let it go' inside, I could dissolve it at an atomic level by letting darkness slowly devour it, and it'd disappear on its own.
It was a fantastic trash disposal on par with [Power of Destruction].
The downside was that it was impossible to bring something back after 'letting it go' inside the shadows, but that wasn't much of a problem.
The only condition was that the item shouldn't be alive, and it shouldn't have any Magic Power inside to protect itself, like Demon Swords or Holy Swords, but that limitation would disappear after my strength increased further.
And so, [Darkness Magic] became the perfect trash disposal I always wanted.
Great Sage also theorised that as long as we kept improving [Darkness Magic], the things it could dissolve would increase exponentially, including Magic Power and living beings, similar to what she had told me five years ago.
As far as my knowledge of Magic in this world goes, I'd say Darkness was the most versatile and powerful elemental attribute.
"If the Tepes Faction was like the Carmilla Faction, enslaving someone with a status similar to Elmen could've solved everything, but alas..."
Tepes Faction wasn't under the absolute rule of their leader, Lord Tepes, but had its power divided among the Noble Households, so having a single person to smuggle test subjects wouldn't be efficient, much less safe.
"Enslaving Krul would be better, especially after the results of her daughter's research..."
Even I was surprised at how much Elmenhilde transformed in mere months, but since she was doing my work without even me telling her to, it wasn't a bad thing.
It was hard to remember how many times I heard her mumble to herself about being an obedient slave or pet, along with how she now belonged to her Master.
Thanks to her efforts, the first part of twisting her mentality was completed, which would've taken around a year if she hadn't started brainwashing herself regularly.
As for the second part, I'd need to slowly convert the feeling of fear Elmenhilde felt towards me into that of 'love' and compassion, along with belonging, admiration, obsession, and reliance.
Right now, the little vampire would die for my sake because she had no other choice, but after the second part was done, she'd willingly sacrifice her life for my sake with a smile.
However, I had no plans of letting my little vampire die.
After all, Elmenhilde was an excellent assistant when it came to research, and since she was already aware of my nature, I didn't need to hold back with my experiments, not even a little.
She was smart enough to pick everything I taught her within six months, and now, she was capable enough to research on her own with Great Sage's help, too.
"Even then, it's almost impossible to use the same method on Krul unless we weaken her first. No matter what I do, she's stronger than an Ultimate Class Devil. She'd be mentally stronger than Elmenhilde, too, so physical torment might not be enough."
Even with all the troubles, enslaving Krul was worth it for me, and she'd one day end up the same as Elmenhilde, nicely obedient and submissive, but that would only happen after I was done with her daughter first.
Their being a mother-and-daughter pair is just a bonus, to be fair.
Oyakodon was supreme. Fight me.
I naturally knew that Elmenhilde was thinking about whether she should try to seduce me or not.
But it was just that my current priority was research, and I'd rather keep my dick in my pants, at least until some of my experiments were finished, along with making sure that I could guarantee my safety in this world, making sure that my 'secrets' never get exposed.
And once I was finished with all that, it wouldn't be too late to spend some quality time with Elmenhilde.
Although, I'd need her to take on a more mature form.
"Since that's the case, I'll keep the matter related to Krul aside for a few years... The Vampires Elmen supplies me are enough for now, so there's no need to take any unnecessarily risky moves."
Honestly, being able to talk to me like this was relaxing, and thanks to [Sound Magic], no one could hear me unless I wanted them to.
Soon, the Astaroth Clan's Magic Circle appeared next to my face.
"Alice, can you pick me up from Bucharest?"
It was my way of saying I forgot to reserve a Dimensional Train for today's trip, and if my parents were to find out, I'd be in for a somewhat long lecture.
{You forgot to book a Dimensional Train, didn't you?}
I loved how Alice understood me on a subconscious level.
"Since you already know, you'll pick me up, right?"
{Fine, I just teleported into your house, but where are you? All I see here is Amy doing her Master's paperwork.}
That was fast.
"I was dealing with a Rouge Vampire, so I'll be there in a minute."
I promptly ignored the topic of Amy doing the paperwork.
{Alright.}
As the Magic Circle next to my face disappeared, I looked around, seeing hundreds of small mountains of ashes left by the now-dead Undead Zombies.
"Well, they'll blow away eventually."
With that, I teleported back to my house.
---
[Bucharest. Romania.]
"Hmm. It hadn't been long when we last met, so I didn't notice, but..."
Before I could even say anything after teleporting inside my house, Alice appeared in front of me, glaring at me with narrowed eyes while examining me from top to bottom.
"What's wrong?"
"You never trained after becoming the Overseer of Bucharest, right?"
"Ah..."
I avoided eye contact with Alice, glancing at Amy, who was standing behind Alice, asking for help from my only [Pawn].
All the best, Lord Azrail—was what Amy's smile told me.
"So, you never trained, right?"
Alice asked again, leaning forward until her face was just centimetres above mine.
"... I didn't."
Alice wasn't wrong.
During the past six months, I never even trained once, not even a single pushup, much less my regular training with Alice.
I was so invested in my research and training Elmenhilde as a Lab Assistant that it completely skipped my mind.
On the other hand, I did train, at least in some sense.
My research improved my magical abilities without the need for dedicated training, but that wouldn't be a good enough excuse here.
"Why?"
Alice was kind of overbearing when she acted like a teacher, especially when she was teaching me.
For four years, I only had one goal during my training—to land a single hit on Alice—and my training would be over, but I never succeeded.
Almost every day, she would train (beat the living crap out of) me until I couldn't even stand on my own, much less walk.
It was traumatizing.
"... I was busy."
"Seriously." Alice straightened her back, sighing. "Do you have any idea how hard Latia has been working to become your [Queen]?"
Ah, I see.
She wasn't mad that I stopped training, but she wanted to remind me about Latia's hard work.
Alice was someone who appreciated other people's hard work and effort, especially if they were close to her, like Latia and me.
"I know how diligent Latia is."
Even if Alice didn't remind me of it, I knew how hard Latia worked when she set her mind on something.
When she said that she would double the proficiency of her [Time Barrier] within two years, I believed she could accomplish it in one year at best.
"How is everything at home?"
Alice shrugged her shoulders at that question. "Nothing much will change in just six months, right?"
The last time I saw my parents was four months ago when they came to talk to me about my marriage agreement, so that should be the only major topic within the Astaroth Clan right now.
"By the way, while we return to the Underworld, who is supposed to look after my territory?"
Well, I never looked after it, to begin with. The one who managed most of the work was Amy, and all I did was take care of Rogue Vampires and Stray Devils.
But as the Overseer, the least I could do was show some non-existent concern about my territory.
"The Astaroth Clan has already arranged a substitute for you, so there's no need to worry about that."
"I see."
"Other than that, where is Arondight? I can't sense its presence on you. Please don't tell me you lost it…"
Man, how careless did she think I was?
"I would never lose a gift you gave me Alice… And Arondight is fine, so don't worry about it."
It'd be weird to say Arondight was getting examined at the Laboratory I used to research Magic Technology and Sacred Gears by doing human experiments, and that I planned to make it a perfectly balanced 'Holy Demon Sword.'
"Is that so?"
Alice looked a bit suspicious, but she saw the reassuring smile on my face, she didn't ask any further. She was a reasonable person who knew not to pry into anyone's secrets.
After talking for a good while, Alice teleported the three of us to the Astaroth Clan's Castle, and there, I was greeted by a very familiar yet unfamiliar scene.
---
[Underworld. The Astaroth Castle.]
"My baby is all grown up now... I miss the time when you asked to sleep with me because you were scared of ghosts."
"You're mixing them up, Celis. The one who was afraid to sleep alone was Sebas. Ajuka and Azrail never asked something like that."
Ignoring the conversation between my parents, I looked at my mother and blinked in surprise.
Unlike what I expected, she didn't greet me with a love-induced hug that was enough to choke me, but a simple, light hug.
Was this my mother's way of showing that she thought I had grown up?
'That's a bit sad...'
I was expecting—or maybe looking forward to—the usual greeting where she hugged me tightly.
A few moments later, Celis released me from the hug, holding me by my shoulders while looking into my eyes.
"How was your time as the overseer?"
"It was very nice, Mother. I learned a lot of things and even got to know new people."
Of course, the things I learned were very questionable, and the people I got to know were just Elmenhilde and Millacra.
"Were there any difficulties?"
At that question, I turned towards my father, who stood behind my mother and shook my head.
"After the Vampire Investigation, nothing much happened."
Not for me, anyway. The next big experiment would happen after my return to Bucharest.
After Celis got up and moved away from me, Alice crouched down next to me, bringing her mouth near my ear before whispering something.
"You were expecting a tight hug, weren't you?"
At her words, my always-active Poker Face almost broke, making my lips twitch slightly.
Damn you, Alice!
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Alice..."
I played it off with a bland face.
"Is that so?"
Alice looked disappointed, but she still backed off.
'Haah...'
I almost had another 'Praise the Sun' moment with Alice, and this time, it would've been in front of my parents and Amy.
"By the way..." I turned towards my parents. "Where are Sebas and Vanessa?"
"They're preparing for the banquet."
"I know it's a bit late to ask, but where is the banquet, and when?"
I seriously had no idea.
"It's the day after tomorrow, and it'll be held by the Astaroth Clan. The security needs to be as tight as possible, so Sebas is giving it his all."
Glad I made it in time. But security?
"I'm not running for the President, so why the security?"
My father looked confused at my question, which made me wonder if I had forgotten something.
"Don't you know about the disappearance of several hundreds of Low-Class and Middle-Class from the Underworld within the past four years? At first, no one paid much attention to it, but a Young Pure Blooded Devil from the Agares Clan also disappeared around a year ago. Ever since that incident, the Underworld's security has been on the edge."
'Ah, so that's what this is about…'
"Don't worry, nothing will happen at the Announcement Party, Father."
"Why do you say that?"
Because I was the criminal who had been abducting devils for the past four years, and I had no plans of causing trouble at my engagement party.
Not only did I not wish to trouble my parents, but since all of the Four Great Satans, Alice, Grayfia, Diehauser, and who knew how many strong individuals would be all over the place to attend the banquet, making a move here was nothing short of suicidal.
"Because I'll make sure nothing happens."
I gave my father a reassuring smile, and he just smiled slightly.
At first, the 72 Pillars never paid much attention when the Low Class and Middle-Class Devils kept disappearing for almost three years, along with the Reincarnated Devils, even after the number reached a little over seven hundred.
They only took superficial precautions to ease the public, giving vague answers to how they planned to catch the criminal.
The only ones who did something about the matter were the subordinates of the Four Great Satans.
However, the moment I got my hands on a Pure-Blooded Devil from the Agares Clan, the security within the Underworld increased a lot, so I hadn't made any obvious moves here for the past seven or eight months.
I was very cautious during this whole abduction process, not trying to go after someone that I couldn't forcefully subdue and teleport to my laboratory within thirty seconds. If the target managed to resist for twenty-five seconds, I'd simply leave them alone, although that rarely happened.
The primary condition was that no Ultimate Class being or above would be around the target and that there shouldn't be a base of an organisation nearby, regardless of its strength.
These rules remained the same whether the goal was to collect Devils, Humans, Youkai, Half-Breeds, Vampires, or Fallen Angels.
With my perfect control over Demonic Power and zero wastage, I left no traces of my presence behind even after utilising magic, so no one had any idea which race the criminal was from.
Except for Elmenhilde, every single test subject I abducted took thirty seconds maximum, regardless of their importance.
Not to mention, I planned on making a big move in the Underworld in two or so years, so it'd be best to lay low for now and not have the Devil Government raise their guard.
Well, even if they had their guards up, they couldn't do anything because my target was a place no one even paid attention to.
And honestly, it wasn't that big of a move, but I was sure it'd be an unforgivable crime in the Underworld.
However, as long as no one found out who did it, nothing would happen.
There was still a lot of time for me to prepare, so the chances of anything happening were low.
"Is Ajuka coming? I have something to ask him."
The one who replied wasn't my father, but Alice.
"Lord Lucifer and Lady Leviathan did say that they'll drag My Lord by force if they had to, so I'll say he's coming."
What helpful people they are, the Satans.
"Then, where's Latia?"
"She's in your room, and Rias is there, too. She came right away after learning that you'll be coming back to the Underworld today."
Is that so?
After talking with my parents for a while, I left.
On the way to my room, I turned towards Amy, who was politely walking behind me, and told her that she could go and visit her family.
It wasn't hard to tell that she wanted to visit them, and the moment she heard my words, her face brightened instantly.
My lovely [Pawn] thanked me once while bowing before she teleported away, and after a minute or so, I opened the door to my room, or at least what was left of it.
On my bed, Latia and Rias were resting on each side, both of them holding a different book in their hands.
[The Lord of the Rings.]
[One Piece.]
It wasn't difficult to tell who was reading which book, and honestly, it was surprising how I shared some brain cells with both of them.
The Lord of the Rings was one of my favourite High Fantasy novels, while One Piece was in my top ten Mangas.
But other than that, my room was a mess.
'These two…'
The furniture wasn't placed correctly, the bedsheets were a mess, the pillows were lying on the floor, and there were leftover snacks everywhere, from the bed to the couch.
It hadn't been long since she left, but I miss Amy already.
"Azrail!"
"You're back!"
Latia and Rias tossed the books they were reading on the bed, running towards me with bright smiles.
"How are you?"
"Weren't you supposed to arrive after an hour?"
Honestly, it took all my willpower not to teleport Latia into a library and Rias in the middle of a group of camels, but I held myself back while looking around my messy room.
"Hm? That is?"
My eyes fell on the girl who was quietly sitting on the nearby chair, and from the looks of it, she was around the same age as the three of us.
She had long, black hair and violet eyes, with a rather cute face, which didn't fall behind Latia and Rias, but from what I could tell, she wasn't a Devil.
For a second, my eyes met with the girl's violet eyes, and she lowered her head immediately.
'It seems like she knows me from somewhere…'
[Notice. That's the girl Master met when he was in Kyoto, Baraqiel's daughter with the woman from the Himejima Clan.]
'Ah, the Fallen Angel and Human Hybrid…'
"Fufufufu."
Probably noticing my gaze, Rias walked over to the black-haired girl before bringing her forward and introducing her.
"She is my friend and soon to be [Queen]. Her name is Akeno Himejima. Be nice to her, okay?" Rias then turned towards Akeno with a big smile. "And Akeno, he is the fiance I told you about, Azrail Astaroth."
"It's nice to meet you, Lord Azrail."
Akeno bowed somewhat awkwardly.
"You weren't this polite when introducing Akeno to me, Rias."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Rias avoided eye contact with Latia, pushing the tip of her tongue out, much to the latter's annoyance.
And so, Rias and Latia's catfight began once again, but I was too used to their bickering and kept my mind on Akeno.
It didn't take long for me to realise that something had gone wrong in Akeno's life, and things probably went the way Alice had warned Baraqiel about.
Akeno's mother was probably dead, and somehow, Rias ended up finding her when she went to Japan after meeting me in Bucharest.
Well, I had no interest in Akeno's past, but from how things turned out, she should be one of the main characters in the plot of DxD, so keeping an eye on her should be worth it.
I walked over to Akeno and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too, Akeno."
On the other hand, it didn't seem like Latia remembered Akeno, at least from her behaviour, but that shouldn't be the case with her memory.
Latia most likely didn't wish to bring Akeno's past up out of consideration after reaching the same conclusion I did.
"Yes, Lord Azrail."
Akeno nodded at me, making sure not to look into my eyes.
'Now, I'm curious as to what kind of people Rias would have in her peerage…'
Considering Akeno's race and past, I doubted they'd be boring, so now I had another thing to look forward to.
---
Words: 4,573
A/N:
The new cover has Elmenhilde now. xD