Chapter 59: Devil's Whisper (9)
A/N:
Since it has been a while, please skim through the last chapter for a better experience.
Thank you.
Other A/N at last.
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Azrail Astaroth Pov:
[Bucharest, Romania.]
"Azrail…"
"You're back…"
Lieselotte and Selina were the first to react when I appeared inside my house. The two stood alongside Le Fay with dozens of magic circles surrounding them.
'It looks like they moved on from theoretical lessons to practical magic classes…'
By analysing their magic circles, I could tell that they had already mastered the basics of Merlin Ambrosius' Magic System.
Le Fay also turned towards me, and after a second, she asked, "Lord Azrail, where is my brother?"
"About that…" At her words, my movements halted. "I'm sorry, Le Fay."
"What are you talking about, Lord Azrail...?"
"The truth is…" My head dropped forward, hair falling downwards as I clenched my fists and continued in a heavy, pained voice. "I couldn't save Arthur…"
My hands trembled from how hard I clenched my fingers. "I'm sorry…"
"What do you mean?"
"After Arthur and I arrived in the Underworld, Tiamat attacked us because she sensed Caliburn's presence…"
"Tiamat…" Le Fay's face went pale, her widening in horror. "You mean one of the Five Dragon Kings?"
Lieselotte and Selina were shocked, too, and the magic circles around them disappeared.
"Yes…" The hopelessness and despair in my voice were almost tangible, weighing down on everyone's shoulders. "Tiamat said she held a grudge against King Arthur and threatened to kill us both, but Arthur willingly gave his life in exchange for my safety. He said it was his first and final duty as my [Knight]…"
Lieselotte walked towards me and rested her hand on my shoulder to support me.
"It can't be…"
The strength in Le Fay's legs disappeared when she heard about her brother's fate, and she fell to her knees with moist eyes.
We all remained silent as the atmosphere grew heavier, and when I was about to speak amidst the deadly silence—
"Did something happen?"
Amy walked inside the room.
"Arthur… He died…"
Selina's words caused my maid to open her mouth and let out the most genuine, adorable, and confused, "Huh?"
Amy stared at the emotionally scarred Le Fay, narrowed her eyes and turned straight towards me.
'Hold on. Why is turning towards me the first thing you do after seeing a grieving little girl?'
[Latia. Rias. Sona. Seekvaira. Your record of traumatising little girls speaks for itself, Master.]
'It seems like someone is getting her internet access revoked tonight…'
[…]
"Don't cry. Nothing happened to Arthur..." Amy walked over to Le Fay and crouched beside her, resting her hand on the little witch's back. "He's in the Familiar Forest training alongside his new [King], alive and well…"
"He's alive…?"
Le Fay's dim eyes brightened, and Amy smiled at her.
"Yes. Arthur became Lady Latia Astaroth's [Knight] and is training alongside her under Tiamat, one of the Five Great Dragon Kings…"
"Lady Latia…?"
"Mmh. Lady Latia is Lord Azrail's [Queen] and Tiamat's student. As long as Arthur is with them, his safety is guaranteed…"
Amy explained the situation to Le Fay in a slow and gentle voice. She made sure that the latter understood everything while lightly patting her back.
After the explanation ended and Le Fay calmed down, I turned towards my dear maid. "How do you even know all that?"
"Lady Latia contacted me in advance because she knew you'd do something like this…"
Latia knew me so well. I'd expect nothing less from my [Queen].
"I see…"
"My Lord, this is why people think of you as a bully..." Amy glared at me from the corner of her eyes and sighed. "I know you think of it as a joke, but please consider other people's feelings, too…"
It felt like Amy was venting her own frustrations for all the times I pranked her in the guise of Le Fay's situation.
I smiled at her. "I was about to tell the truth just before you arrived, you know…"
"Seriously…" Amy gave up on me and patted Le Fay's head with a small, apologetic smile. "His sense of humour is terrible, but he doesn't mean any harm. Please don't mind him…"
Amy was wrong about one thing.
I meant all the harm my actions caused.
It wouldn't be fun otherwise.
"Mmh…" Le Fay nodded, getting up from the ground alongside Amy. "I know, Lord Azrail isn't a bad person at heart..."
I wouldn't be so sure about that, little one.
.
.
.
"Nothing happened, huh..."
Lieselotte, Selina, Amy, and I stood in a circle around Gleipnir, which rested on the ground.
The book looked as hideous as before, with dimensions similar to an ancient manuscript: twenty-six inches in length, twenty inches in width, and ten inches in thickness.
On second thought, it looked worse than before, with blood splattered all over it.
'I didn't think of it before, but Gleipnir's appearance is similar to Codex Gigas…'
Codex Gigas was a medieval illuminated manuscript from my original world, also known as the Devil's Bible. I once saw it as a child at the National Library of Sweden.
Interestingly enough, no such book existed in DxD.
"Maybe Pythagoras lied about the inheritance process? After all, he never planned on passing Gleipnir to us…"
"He talked so much to buy time and cast a spell, so I don't think we should take his words seriously…"
Lieselotte and Selina's conclusions made sense.
Pythagoras told us that Lieselotte could make a contract with Gleipnir through a blood pact, but nothing happened after she poured her blood on it.
I even had Selina pour her blood on it, but it made no difference.
"They are right, My Lord…" Amy also joined our conversation, grabbing Lieselotte and Selina's bleeding hands. "It can't be this easy to obtain a Grimoire with potential greater than a Longinus…"
"I know, but I think there was some truth in Pythagoras' words…"
"Why?"
I was too lazy to explain my detailed analysis of Gleipnir, so I just shrugged my shoulders instead. "It's a gut feeling."
Amy most likely knew I wasn't in the mood to explain and didn't ask further. "I see…"
As our small exchange ended, she used [Healing Magic] on Lieselotte and Selina's hands, healing them instantly.
'Heh…' The use of Healing Magic caught my eye. 'Her ability to use different magic circles has improved a lot…'
While healing Lieselotte and Selina, Amy used multiple magic circles to heal specific body parts instead of brute forcing the healing process with one magic circle.
It was impressive.
For example, using a handful of complex magic circles simultaneously was far more tricky than spamming thousands of attack spells.
The fact that Amy could do it without the Astaroth Clan's [High IQ] showed how hard she worked to improve her [Healing Magic].
'If she keeps improving at this rate, I'll need to hasten my research of [Healing Magic], too…'
Otherwise, I'd have nothing left to teach her.
"Amazing…" Lieselotte stared at her healed arm for a second and smiled at Amy. "Thank you, Ms. Amy…"
"You can call her Mrs, you know…"
Amy's cheeks turned slightly red at my remark, and she shot me a fierce glance. "My Lord…!"
I smiled at her. "Am I wrong?"
"N-No, but…" Amy stuttered, taken aback by how I made her confirm my words. "We decided not to publicise it yet…"
"Liselotte and Selina will live here with us. It's better to be upfront about it…"
Le Fay might move in here with us, too.
As for right now, I sent her to the Familiar Forest because she wanted to meet her brother.
"That's true, but…" Amy tried her best, but she couldn't come up with a reply. "I don't know…"
Surprisingly, she was more shy about publically acknowledging our relationship than in bed.
"Wait. Does that mean…" Lieselotte and Selina exchanged glances between me and Amy. "Azrail and Ms. Amy…"
"Yes, we are in a relationship. A very intimate one at that, too…"
Amy's cheeks turned even redder. "That last part was completely unnecessary!"
"But isn't she almost a decade older than you?"
My lips curled into a sleazy grin at Selina's innocent and childish question. "Exactly how I like it."
"My Lord, please have some decency…" Amy sighed before turning towards Selina. "For a long-lived species like devils, an age difference of a few decades is quite common…"
That was true.
The growth of a devil's mental age wasn't linear.
We aged like humans for the first twenty or so years of our lives, but after that, the situation depended more on our lifestyle.
A hundred-year-old devil could be on the same maturity level as a twenty-five-year-old human.
As long as two people were capable of conscious thoughts, no one in our species cared about age differences in relationships.
If anything, we cared more about lineage and social status.
"But Azrail..." Lieselotte turned towards me with a doubtful expression. "Weren't you in a relationship with your mentor?"
"Who told you that…"
The only relationship Alice and I had was in my head.
It'd manifest into reality soon, though.
In manifestation, we believe.
"I mean, the image we saw back in Pythagoras' cave—Mmh!"
Before Lieselotte could reveal too much, I placed my index finger on her lips.
"We don't talk about that here."
Some memories were better if forgotten.
My sudden action piqued Amy's interest, but before she could speak, I continued. "Anyway, let's finish the blood pact with Gleipnir…"
"But we can't do anything…"
"Do you have a plan, Azrail?"
I smiled at Selina and Lieselotte's questions.
"I don't have a plan. It's more of a gut feeling…"
This time, I wasn't being lazy with the explanation.
It was indeed a gut feeling.
'Pythagoras wasn't lying when he mentioned the blood pact…'
However, unlike what he said, the blood pact wouldn't activate through his descendant's blood.
It required a specific magic circle to work.
As long as someone activated that magic circle, Gleipnir would form a blood pact with them regardless of their strength.
He probably left this function to form a contract with Gleipnir immediately after his resurrection.
If I tried to hack my way through Gleipnir, it'd take me at least a decade to make noticeable progress.
After all, I knew absolutely nothing about his Logos Arts and Rune Language.
Not to mention, I wanted results now.
As for how I'd obtain them—
'Let's see…'
I waved my hand, and a few drops of my blood fell on Gleipnit's cover.
'Providing infinite vitality, reviving Lyra, healing Lieselotte, opening the path to Pythagoras' dimension, and empowering my vampires…'
At this point, calling my blood a plot device wouldn't be wrong.
It'd do anything the plot required it to.
The reasoning behind my bold claims was 10% research and 90% faith, but before I could think further—
'Hold up… It actually worked?!'
Gleipnir transformed into a beam of light and shot towards Lieselotte's head.
No one except me could follow the light beam's movement, and I activated [Way of the Wind] before appearing beside Lieselotte.
'Great Sage…'
[Understood. Activating 'Anatomy Control' and increasing 'Thought Accelaration' to a hundred times.]
At the same time, I placed my hand on Lieselotte's forehead as the light beam entered her head.
'Sure enough, Pythagoras was as much of an asshole as me. There's no way he'd hand over his research so easily…'
If I hadn't helped Lieselotte, the overload of information from Logos Arts would have fried her brain instantly.
Forget about her; the information overflow was enough to make an Ultimate Class Devil a vegetable in less than a second.
For example, it was almost equal to the information I processed while researching [Darkness Magic] after my engagement banquet.
I survived in the past because of [Thought Accelaration], albeit not without significant backlash.
However, processing such information was a simple task now with [Thought Accelaration] and [Parallel Processing].
The difference between the current me and my six-month-old self was incomparable.
'Or maybe processing this amount of information wasn't a problem for Pythagoras. Not being able to do it might be a skill issue…'
That could be it, too.
"Sis…"
"My Lord…"
Selina and Amy couldn't follow the light beam's movements, so after a second passed, they gasped when I suddenly appeared beside Lieselotte.
"Don't worry. I'm just helping Liese process the information regarding Logos Arts..."
"Oh…"
After a few minutes, I removed my hand from Lieselotte's head and asked, "How does it feel?"
She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room in a daze.
"Sister…?"
"You are…" Lieselotte's eyes regained focus when she saw Selina's face, and her lips curled into a small smile. "Selina Sherlock…"
"Sis, what are you…"
Rather than answering her sister's question, Lieselotte slowly turned towards me. "Azrail Astaroth, you are much more foolish than I expected."
Selina's face paled when she realised that Lieselotte's speech pattern resembled another person — someone we both knew.
"Pythagoras!"
Before we could do anything, Lieselotte's magic power surged, manifesting as a purple river filled with countless 0s and 1s circling her body, and moments later—
'Huh?'
My eyes widened when Lieselotte disappeared from my vision.
No.
She didn't disappear.
She teleported.
"Azrail…"
"My Lord, behind you!"
Selina and Amy tried to warn me, but rather than taking their words seriously—
"Your acting is terrible."
I turned around, held my middle finger against my thumb, and gave Lieselotte a forehead flick.
"Gahhh…"
Lieselotte shut her eyes, pressing her forehead while whining in pain.
"The only one who gets away with these pranks here is me."
Lieselotte rubbed her eyes and slowly opened them. "You knew?"
"Yeah."
I ran over a thousand tests on Gleipnir to ensure no mishappenings.
The last thing I wanted to risk was Pythagoras' second coming.
I'd be beyond screwed if that happened.
"If you knew, then why…" Lieselotte rubbed her forehead and stared at me with teary eyes. "That hurt, you know…"
'Children imitate what they see…'
There was a reason Latia turned out like she did.
'But seriously, how did Liese learn [Teleportation] moments after inheriting Logos Arts?'
That was what surprised me.
I obtained the same information about Logos Arts as her but had no idea how teleportation with it would work.
'Is it because she owns Gleipnir now, or is it natural talent?'
[Answer. It's likely a mix of both.]
'Calculations might not be the only thing that power Logos Arts…'
No matter how talented, Lieselotte's mental processing power was nowhere near me or Great Sage.
But one thing was sure.
Logos Arts was one of the most complicated magic systems I knew.
My mind was full of random thoughts, so I replied absentmindedly. "Of course, it did. I fingered you with that intention…"
"…!" Amy's movements paused when she heard my words, her eyes wide as she gave me a bombastic side-eye. "My Lord…"
I raised my index finger towards her. "That's not what I meant. You know it."
Amy smiled meaningfully, and I made a decision.
'Someone's getting bullied hard with these fingers tonight…'
Rather than paying attention to our exchange, Selina turned towards Lieselotte with stars in her eyes. "How did you teleport?!"
"It wasn't easy, and I don't think I can teleport more than a few steps…"
"That's still amazing!"
As someone who admired her older sister more than anyone, Selina was naturally excited, and Amy also commented. "Yes. I have never met someone who can teleport without a Magic Circle…"
"You're praising me too much…"
Lieselotte gave an awkward smile, but before she could continue—
"Sis!"
She stumbled backwards as her eyes lost focus momentarily, and I caught her by her shoulders.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes… I feel a bit lightheaded…"
I gently carried and placed her on the nearby couch. "It's because of the teleportation spell you did earlier."
No matter what, Lieselotte was still a child.
There was a limit to what her body could handle.
"You are right…"
Amy sat beside Lieselotte and started hearing her. "By the way, My Lord, where is Gleipnir?"
"That's right. It disappeared out of nowhere..."
"Ah, about that…" Lieselotte raised her forearm, and a book manifested above her palm out of thin air. "Here it is…"
Selina gasped in surprise. "How'd you do that, sis?"
"I don't know how, but I just had a feeling I could…"
"Depending on the user's talent, Sacred Gears and Magic Items can work on instinct alone. It should be the same for Gleipnir…"
It made sense.
After all, Lieselotte's talent was better than all the Sacred Gear users I had experimented on combined.
Not to mention, summoning and sorting a magic item wasn't particularly difficult.
Even a non-talented Sacred Gear user could do so moments after their awakening.
"So that's it…" Selina then glanced at the book in Lieselotte's hand. "But what happened to its appearance?"
Unlike before, Gleipnir's appearance changed to that of an ordinary modern-day book.
Lieselotte smiled at her little sister. "I can change it at will…"
'Sure enough, there's no better candidate for me than her…' At that thought, I smiled. "Hey, Liese…"
"Yes?"
"Have you thought about my offer?"
Lieselotte slightly tilted her head in confusion. "Offer?"
"You forgot, huh…" I chuckled a little and raised my hand towards her. "In that case, I'll ask again. Will you become my [Bishop]?"
"Ah…"
I wanted Lieselotte as much as Gleipnir.
The two of them combined was simply an irresistible combination.
.
.
.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
"You don't have to be so tense about it. The reincarnation process will happen by itself..."
"You can do it, sis!"
After hearing Amy and Selina's encouragement, Lieselotte's stiff shoulders relaxed.
I raised my hand, and after a few seconds, a Mutation [Bishop] Piece appeared in my hand.
It was one of the two Mutation Pieces I received during the Evil Piece Ceremony, along with the [Knight] Piece I used on Lyra.
As expected, I couldn't reincarnate Lieselotte with an ordinary [Bishop] Piece because of Gleipnir.
"Alright, then…"
The Mutation [Bishop] Piece in my hand flew towards Lieselotte, entering her chest.
The Astaroth Clan's Magic Circle appeared under her feet, only to disappeare after a few minutes.
Like Arthur, the first thing Lieselotte did after opening her eyes was to admire her enhanced senses and inhumane physical abilities.
She observed her surroundings in the dark, jumped over a dozen feet, punched a hole through the door, and broke my adorable coffee maker.
The last one hurt.
After the chaos ended, I spoke, "Try using the Devil's Magic System."
"Mmh…" Lieselotte nodded as the Astaroth Clan'd Magic Circle appeared above her palm. "I'll use a fire spell…"
Usually, humans turned devils were better at casting spells with Demonic Power because it worked on imagination.
And considering her talent, Lieselotte should be better than most devils our age in magic and spellcasting.
However, unlike what I expected—
"Eh?"
Lieselotte's magic circle shattered.
The casting failed.
'Her spell formation was perfect… How? It can't be...' A strange thought passed through my mind, and I frowned. "Liese, do you know how Selina looks?"
She nodded slightly, somewhat confused by my random question. "I do…"
"Then, close your eyes and imagine her face…" She did as I told her. "What do you see?"
"My eyes are closed; I can't see anything…"
Her doubtful tone was enough to tell me why her spell failed, and I opened my mouth in realisation. "Oh…"
"Is something wrong, Azrail?"
"You have aphantasia…"
Lieselotte's face paled at my words. "Am I going to die?!"
"Of course not."
What was with some people linking any unknown situation with death?
"What does aphantasia mean, My Lord?"
"It's the inability to form mental images at will. From what she said, Liese has no visual imagination at all…"
"Ah…"
Amy also realised why Lieselotte's spell failed.
While imagination might not be the most prominent part of our magic system, it was still necessary to cast spells because Demonic Power worked on it.
A spell was around 90% magic circles and formulas, while the remaining 10% was imagination.
It could vary depending on the spell, but that was the ratio for most commonly used spells.
'Liese's the complete opposite of me…'
I excelled in the imagination department. It was enough for me to create [Gravity Magic]'s prototype as a toddler despite having little knowledge of our magic system.
'No wonder she's so insanely good at mathematics and Logos Arts despite her age…'
Since people with aphantasia didn't rely on mental imagery, they often developed strong abstract thinking, pattern recognition, and logical reasoning.
That would only be part of the reason, though.
"Wait…" Lieselotte frowned. "People can form images inside their heads?"
Selina and Amy nodded, which made Lieselotte's jaw drop.
Poor child. She must feel like her whole life was a lie.
I also felt like that when I realised not all people had an internal monologue.
It was devastating.
"Does that mean sis can't use devil magic?"
"She can. The process will be slower than average, though…"
Liselotte's mood dropped when she heard my words, and I poked the side of her head.
"Don't make that face. Not all devils are born with a strong imagination. We have specialised training methods for that."
"Really?"
"Yes, but it doesn't matter. There's no point in you mastering our magic system beyond the basics…"
To begin with, I never planned on having Lieselotte and Selina study the devil's magic system in detail.
"But I'm a [Bishop]… I won't be able to help you if I can't even use magic, Azrail..."
I smiled at her.
"You already have something much better than our magic system to research, remember?"
Lieselotte's eyes widened as her face brightened up. "Logos Arts…"
"Yes."
I needed Lieselotte to research Logos Arts in my stead.
As much as I wanted to do it myself, I had other things to focus on.
'Liese's talent in Logos Arts and Human Magic might be close to my talent in the Devil's Magic System…'
I couldn't have done what she did when I was her age — that was for sure.
Not to mention, her knowledge of Logos Arts would help me a lot when I eventually develop my very own magic system.
"Also, until you learn more about Logos Arts and Magic, don't use your [Teleportation] Spell…"
Right now, Lieselotte's body couldn't keep up with her talents.
Her transformation into a devil would help her, but if she pushed herself too hard, the results would be counterproductive.
"Got it… But Azrail, what am I supposed to do as your [Bishop]?"
"Apart from learning our race's history, culture, and hierarchy, there isn't much for you to do besides researching Logos Arts…"
I held my chin, and after pondering for a few seconds, I turned towards my dear maid.
"Amy, get Liese and Selina to enrol in a school nearby. It'll help them learn more about the human world and settle in."
"That's a great idea, My Lord!"
The Astaroth Clan had contacts in most major institutes in the human world, so it wouldn't be hard to fulfil this request.
Brainwashing the staff was always an option, too.
"We can do that?"
"We can?"
Selina and Lieselotte brightened up instantly, and I smiled at them. "Of course."
"Thank you, Azrail!"
"I'll do my best!"
'Somehow, it feels like I adopted two children…'
[Awwwww.]
'Great Sage…'
[Yes?]
'Kill yourself…'
[…]
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Words: 4224
A/N:
The chapter might feel a bit off since I was kinda out of writing for a while.
Its kind of a weird mood after the whole thing with Lyra, Alice, and Elmenhilde to have this kind of chapter.
I'm sorry.
I know. It has been a month. I won't make any excuses, so here is my life story:
I was in full mood to write and upload after the new year wish I uploaded, but things happened.
The things in question:
I got bald on 1st Jan. Don't ask why. I don't know either.
I was like, "2025 gonna be my year RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH."
Got bald.
Next day, I woke up with a swollen eyelid.
It wasn't painful, but half of my left eye's vision was basically non-existent.
A few days went by.
My eyelid healed after some medication, and I was in the mood for solo writing, but…
.
.
.
I caught a cold.
By the time I recovered, it was 11-12 Jan.
During this time, one good thing happened, though.
I learned how to generate images with AI. Now I can create illustrations for y'all.
However, everything comes at a price.
I got addicted to AI generation…
Wasted like another two weeks on it.
A good thing was that I created a pixiv page with a lot of posts on it — mostly DxD and date a live.
Y'all can check it out if you want to.
The account's name is Eso ze.
---
Anyway, this is the start of the new year. Let's go.
I was about to say I'd upload a chapter by 25, but then I realised it's 26 today… I feel like killing myself.
The next chapter will be before feburary, 2025 (yes, I specified the year).