" Let's get this over with quickly. I have other matters to attend to. What is your first wish? "
Penelope was stunned for a moment. All her life she had worked and tricked and slaved for this moment. This moment where she could through some way give her brother a chance at life and now this moment which she had thought would never belong to her had suddenly arrived.
Taking in a deep breath she looked at the cat that was staring back at her with a teasing look. " I wish you would give my brother a way to use his gifts as his strength. "
" Oh, why not wish his gift away? "
" I refuse to believe that his gift is completely calamitous in nature and cannot be used. "
"Indeed while there are indeed some useless abilities, there is no such thing as a useless gift. What's your second wish?"
There was no need for Penelope to think " I wish you would give me a way to grow stronger and this way should be able to be enhanced with my gift but should still be very powerful without it. "
She had to leave herself a way out. If she got an ability that was completely reliant on her gift to bring out its strength, what if by some chance she lost a gamble against him?
" So smart. Any other wishes? You still have 3 more. "
Penelope thought for a bit and looked around at the shelter and people that were frozen in the gray world.
"The most important thing in the Outland is resources. Food, Battery Cells, Weapons, Martial Arts, Unique items like the Dawn Flower and Uncle Don's Knife and many more. With these things a shelter can become an entity that even the Union would not easily go against. "
" Your meaning is? "
" I wish for a way for me to be able to get this resources as I need them. " Now that her brother will no longer be facing the calamities Penelope was left with a new problem. How do they live their lives from now? They could go to a Union Dome and through some way get their way in and from there leave a quiet simple life but Penelope found herself disagreeing with such a thing.
Peter by the side was confused. Why would his sister wish for that? Was it for Uncle Gale but she doesn't seem like the type to be so charitable to others. Unless... Peter's eyes widened with realisation.
" Quite ambitious aren't you? Alright done. Is there any other thing. "
Penelope thought about it and in the end shook her head " I don't have any other wish for now but I do have a request. "
" Go on. "
" I remember you agreeing to the fact that as a bonus if I win all 5 rounds you would take care of that beast? I would like for you to subjugate it to me. "
" Haha really ambitious aren't we? Very well I did agree to such. Since that is all I must be on my way. When you want to make another wish speak to the cat. I'm leaving it behind and although I won't tell you my true name, it's good enough for me to tell you the name I used before my ascendance. You can call me Lucius. "
The cat waved it's paws and 2 globes of light flew into the twin's chest. With another wave a sigil floated before him and descended on Penelope's wrist leaving behind a mark. He looked across the walls and saw the behemoth standing there and waved his paws again and a similar sigil appeared on it.
Finally he thought for a moment before pulling out a ring from the void and flicking it towards Penelope who caught it.
" The behemoth is subjugated. You can control it however you want. It's talent isn't bad, it's already at the 4th evolution and it hasn't reached its limit. I've given you each a globe containing a Martial Art that can be used by each of you as a Divine Class technique. I've also influenced the awakening of you're abilities and made them fit according to your wishes. Lastly, with the ring you can get the resources you mentioned but nothing is free in this world and there is an exchange system in place. Though you also have a monthly free quota. I believe we're done here, till another time when you decide to put your fortune to the test. "
With that, the cat was still there but it seemed to have lost something. The Gray colour slowly receeded and the world shone with colours. Penelope looked on as the world regained its life and marveled at Lucius' ability. She decided that she wanted such power, only that kind of power can make her feel safe.
She looked at the behemoth standing outside and then the confused Peter by her side before taking a deep breath. There was a lot of work to be done this time.
.
.
.
Clear blue skies. White fluffy clouds slowly drifted over the earth. A bunch of mountains seemed to form a natural fence that closed off the plains within. The plain seemed to not hold any life, not even insects.
The greenery consisted of green fields and sparse trees and a peaceful silence spread through the plains.
At this moment a squarish altar was erected at the centre of the plain. On the altar, a woman was bound. She had silver hair, a devilish figure and seemed to be no older than 20. She was dressed in a sack cloth but it did nothing in the way of obstructing her beauty.
Around the Altar stood 4 figures. All of them looked to be in their youth and consisted of one woman and three men. Three of them were dressed in white armour of various styles and they had 4 pairs of wings on their backs. They looked at the woman on the altar with solemn expressions, their thoughts unknown.
"Mael this time the heavenly court has gone all out to capture a Devil Lord for your True God sacrifice in the hopes that you can gain the strength to resist the momentum of the Devils. With this another Ark Angel will be born among the True Gods and you might end up being one of the strongest True Gods in history."
A young brown haired man in a full body, white plated armour with gold linings stood at the head of the altar as he addressed the young man on the opposite end. He held a helmet in one hand and the other hand was gently caressing the sword at his waist.
"Lord Gabriel is right. The Devil Lords have become to rampant seeing as only a large number of True Gods can suppress them in the absence of Ark Angels, they have been bolder recently up to the extent of extending their claws towards Union Domes."
A man stood at the west side of the altar. His armour wasn't as encompassing as Gabriel's and had more breathing room to allow flexibility. His long hair fell down his shoulders and he had a bag at his waist that held javelins within them.
"Hmph. Those bunch of useless things, they can't even handle some rebels. They should just die. If it weren't for the 5th Devil Lord, would we have lost so many Ark Angels? Would we be facing the issue of lacking manpower at the moment?"
The only woman amongst them spoke out. Her armour barely covered what was necessary and she had a bow in her hand and a quiver by her waist. Her dark hair was cut short and she had a fierce look in her eyes.
"Sigh. It can't be helped. We underestimated his strength and we paid the price. Even Arcadia suffered then how can us humble servants escape unscathed." Gabriel's eyes glazed over, his thoughts wandered back to that day. A mad man stood against Arcadia and not only did he not lose, he drowned the world in the blood of it's servants and in the end even struck a heavy blow to it.
"But he was too ruthless. Besides us three, all the others fell to his hands and even a large number of the heavenly court's members were taken down by him. If not how can those other Devils ride over us and even that Union government is having second thoughts towards the heavenly court, showing signs of rebellion." The long haired youth looked to the skies and a troubled look rested in his eyes.
"You worry too much Ludociel. Even someone as powerful as the 5th Devil Lord had to pay the price for his actions and was heavily injured. A mere Union is not enough to threaten the position of the heavenly court, they should obediently serve us as they have before." The short haired lady sneered.
However Gabriel shook his head " The Union alone is indeed not enough Muriel but if you add on the Outland's Sanctuary and maybe some help from the Devils then the Heavenly Court now cannot afford to look down on them. Isn't that why we took such a risky move by capturing the 10th Devil Lord despite knowing that she's his favourite? On one hand it is because she was more convenient to apprehend and on the other hand it can count as a bit of payback towards him at the same time helping us to gain much needed assistance."
The youth at the other end of Gabriel looked up. He was very burly and over 2 meters tall. His hair was shining like flames and his eyes shone like the sun. Although he wasn't at the True God level and only at the False God stage, his aura showed that he would be able to take on some weaker True Gods and win.
"It's time."
At this Gabriel, Muriel and Ludociel nodded towards him before flying off to guard him and make sure nothing interferes with the sacrifice.
Mael looked down on the girl on the altar and after some time he sighed. " In actuality I admire Lord 5th and the other Devil Lords very much. When they saw the path towards the natural order was cut off by Arcadia instead of accepting their fates, they decided to defy the natural order and seize it.
Under normal conditions no one will want to walk the path of the Devil. They would have to face the tribulations from the natural order at every turn and they are resented by everyone. Normally, one would interact and assimilate with the natural order reaching a point of unity with it being able to draw power from it and at their end going back to nourish the natural order. Devils however seize what they want from the natural order for themselves and at their end what they seized fades away with them.
Humanity under Arcadia, signed off their right to interact with the natural order to Arcadia allowing it to monopolize the natural order. Unless one stood with it, they would never be able to interact with the natural order and under no condition would they be allowed to go beyond the heavens however it made it much easier for us to interact with the natural order.
Every other human submitted to Arcadia but the Devils rose up to oppose it. By taking the path of the Devil they hoped to overthrow Arcadia and in doing so, indirectly allow the future generation the chance to directly interact with the natural order without having to face the oppression of Arcadia as well as fight for the chance to fulfill their selfish ambitions.
Each Devil Lord is a threat to Arcadia indeed but none is or has been as deadly as the 5th. If not for Arcadia holding the essence of his seniors as the stakes, the 5th could have easily destroyed it's will.
Unfortunately....sigh....the path of the Devil is too unstable however to submit completely to Arcadia...I am unwilling...so I can only forge my own path. Where this path will take me, I know not but I will follow it to the end and it is for this path you must be sacrificed."