Grayfia Lucifuge was a veteran of the Devil Civil War before she was a wife and mother and it coloured every aspect of her life even after the ultimate disbandment of the Old Satan Faction. While the war was relatively short overall, only lasting for a few years, and was always overshadowed by the much longer and more damaging Great War, it was still a tumultuous period that had affected her to do this day. Her family had sided with the faction now known as the Old Satan Faction and what remained of the family were split apart by the end of it, not one member of the Lucifuge attended her marriage to her husband.
Her current combat skills were forged in that tumultuous period and she still found herself checking the corners of any room she entered, she always spent an extra few minutes checking her son's room before he went to bed and she always, always evaluated the strength of everybody she met for the first time, a trick she had gotten rather good at over her years of practice. Normally this wouldn't prove a problem, any of those that she met that were powerful or at least powerful compared to her would already be known. Even if they were to appear in front of her she would easily be able to feel their magic from far away and likely recognize them.
That was why when the apparently human stepped inside the room she instantly took notice. She couldn't sense any magic from him at all, but that included the residual scraps of magic power that even those not proficient possessed. The sole human in the room appeared magically dead to an unforeseen degree and as she looked closer it became more worrying and worrying that she couldn't get a single read on his power.
Then he turned his eyes towards her and her breath caught before she immediately raised her guard surreptitiously moulding her demonic power ready to bring up her defensive magic in an instant. She had long grown used to the presence of those who eyes roved over her body eying her up like a piece of meat, but the difference was that the perpetrator felt more like a butcher than a pervert in this instance. A brief image of her body being methodically hacked to pieces torn apart and devoured infiltrated her mind and she forcibly regained calm. As soon as his gaze locked onto her the scales fell away from her eyes revealing a deeply hidden killing intent.
While she still couldn't sense any magic power from him, his movements, intent and body language combined spoke of a confidence and she was forced to acknowledge and return with her full wariness. The young man casually dropped his bag on the floor before carefully setting his umbrella against the arm of the sofa and Grayfia was all of a sudden very wary about that innocuous looking umbrella that was carefully kept within easy arms reach.
"You invited me," the young man said with a disarming smile. "So what's with the chilly reception?"
"Who is this human, Rias?" Riser asked looking towards the person he hoped would become his fiancé. "Are you resorting to grabbing just any human to make up the numbers?"
"He's not involved," Rias admitted although there was a clear note of regret in her voice which Grayfia picked up. She wanted him involved but he had refused or she was inviting him over to proposition him now. Whatever the reason it was clear he had not accepted becoming a member of her peerage. Grayfia was pretty sure that Rias could not even transform him.
"Alright then," Riser said before turning back to the human. "A word to the wise," he continued. "Stay uninvolved on this matter. Go about your normal human life and don't bother those above_"
"Rias, is this your attempt at reverse psychology?" the man said adopting a slightly confused expression (fake her instincts told her). "I already told you that I didn't feel like joining your peerage. You didn't have to try and hire this clown to try and convince me otherwise."
"Clown?" Riser said sounding genuinely caught off guard. "Are you trying to provoke me?" He sounded amused as if it was laughable that a human could challenge him and Grayfia swallowed a lump in her throat. This could proceed rather badly. If a fight broke out she would be forced to defend her sister-in-law and her peerage…and the Phenex if she had the opportunity to. A brief fantasy of getting him killed and then blaming it on the human formed before she dispelled the dangerous thought immediately.
"Would you introduce yourself?" she asked calmly keeping certain circles in her mind. "We arrived on short notice. I wasn't expecting Rias to already have a meeting." Let's walk away now from this. There's no need to escalate the situation with so many vulnerable devils around.
"You can call me Morgan. I was called on short notice," Morgan admitted. "To be honest I'm not even sure why I'm here," he continued. "Except that I was invited all of a sudden of course. Don't worry I set my VCR to record beforehand."
"Wait you still own a VCR," Rias blurted out. "I didn't think they still sold them."
"I'm rather old-fashioned it appears," Morgan responded. "We didn't really have advanced technology where I grew up." That was an interesting titbit. Was he from a lost clan or some isolated magician family? She had heard stories of them and they normally boasted some lost or dangerous magic, even if they for the most part posed little threat to the average High-Class Devil. If there was an entire clan of humans like him then it could prove problematic or a great opportunity. "Nevertheless I believe you wanted to meet me for some reason. Would you care to elaborate?" he finished saying as he sat down on the sofa leaning the umbrella on his lap.
"Last night we went out to find and eliminate a stray devil," Rias began speaking to the human ignoring the visitor which seemed to rile up the young Phenex lord. "The teleport was interrupted somehow and there was a bit of backlash, nothing serious," she quickly corrected.
"It is a common thing for a teleport to be interrupted?" the human asked. "If so, that seems like a dangerous mode of transportation."
"No there are normally no issues as long as the caster has enough magic power," Rias admitted which Grayfia disagreed with. She had seen a few attempts at teleportation fail but the circumstances were rare and most of the time not reproducible. A failure of teleportation plus a new powerful human showing up at the same time was one too many coincidences for her liking.
"Oh, what happened to the Stray?" Morgan asked with some interest. "If it had the ability to disrupt teleportation then it must be very hard to track down. Do you need me to keep an eye out for it?" The offer sounded genuine but Grayfia was already aware that the stray contained no such ability. Still it could be a third party and this human could be innocent.
"We looked around this morning and there was no sign of the Stray, but there was some damage to the building she was suspected to be in," Rias admitted. "It could be a fight or she could have just destroyed the building on a whim. Most strays aren't entirely rational."
That was something Grayfia could agree on and it was something that she knew her husband disagreed with Beezlebub about. The rampaging energy within the body of a stray unconstrained by a King Piece would drive all but the strongest stray devil insane. The upside of that is it provided considerable motivation for reincarnated devils not to stray and discouraged other factions to take them in. On the downside it worsened the devils relationship with both all of the other factions to a certain degree. Most of them understandably still saw the actions of the stray devils as committed by the devils race as a whole.
"And you just called me over to warn me of the possibility," the human said looking slightly concerned and Grayfia was torn between considering the concern real or fake. On one hand her instincts told her that this human was dangerous but on the other there were no concrete feats that he had performed yet.
"Well yes," Rias admitted before she slightly turned towards her head towards her and Riser as if embarrassed. "I also wanted to extend another invitation to join my peerage. It is incredibly dangerous for you as an unaffiliated human right now."
That got a reaction from the human even if it was over so quickly that Grayfia could barely spot it. A flash of contempt crossed his face before it was replaced with a blank look.
"No thank you," he replied politely. "I still have too many of my own problems to deal with and I doubt becoming a devil would decrease them in the slightest."
"It wouldn't_" Rias started only to get interrupted by the Phenex next to her.
"Is this what you are reduced to?" Riser practically snarled. "Begging this human to join your peerage just to beat me?" He shook his head. "I can see how once we are married I am going to have to teach you how to uphold the dignity of the devil race."
"What?" Rias' new pawn exclaimed jumping up from his seat. "President's getting married."
"Okay, clearly missing some context here," the dangerous human stated. "This looks like it's going to be a thing, can I get some tea." Akeno got up as soon as he asked that. Apparently she had taken over the duties of preparing refreshments.
"Well Rias," Riser stated with a smile that somebody less charitable then her would describe as smug. "Why don't you tell them about how we are due to be married?"
"I won't marry you Riser," Rias stated with thinly veiled fury. "The marriage is still years away and I'll figure out a way to get out of it by then."
"Well I'm afraid that is where you are wrong princess," Riser stated and Grayfia got the urge to hurt him. She like her husband was against this marriage in its entirety but they lacked any influence with the Gremory clan ever since he had left them to become a Satan. It was incredibly bold of the Phenex clan to disregard her husband's wish like this. While his parents were mostly safe from reprisal by virtue of their relation the Phenex clan would have to rely on their clan's own power and fame.
"Still missing some context here," Morgan stated under his breath. The human had at least one eye on her the entire time since he was here and in return Grayfia had been watching him. A thin pretence had developed between them unnoticed by anybody in the room.
"The marriage has moved up," Riser stated dropping the piece of news with all the subtlety and tact of a sword to the gut. The shock and slow realisation twisted her guts and she felt a pang of sympathy that she ruthlessly squashed. She couldn't interfere; she would just make the situation worse.
"My parents promised me that it would only be after I had finished college," Rias stated with a voice full of betrayal.
"Can you blame them," Riser stated. "There are rumours of movements from both Heaven and the Fallen. Maybe they are right to want you back in hell and married." That was very easy for him to say since he was benefiting from it.
"President won't_" the pawn started rushing forward only for his arm to be grabbed by the seated human.
"Wait, wait," Morgan interrupted and Grayfia got a sense of foreboding. "Sorry, just could I have some context please because I literally don't understand what is going on here."
"Rias and I are going to be wed, human," Riser stated with his usual condescension towards those he saw as a lower race. "It is an important marriage for the devil race which will help ensure that the bloodline of Pure-Blooded Devils remains."
"So I'm guessing you have some kind of bloodline," Morgan started. "Stop struggling moron," he said towards the pawn who was still trying to get out of his grip with no success. "It must be quite impressive to match up to the Power of Destruction your future fiancé was throwing around."
"The Phenex bloodline is Immortality itself human," Riser stated proud to talk about his race. "Any wound that a Phenex take is instantly regenerated. A Phenex can fight forever without succumbing to his wounds."
"Surely that is a hyperbole," Morgan stated with his eyes wide in awe, no that awe must be fake with his strength. "With the power the Immortality itself the Phenex should be able to defeat gods and dragons that have only one life." They were not. "If there was an offspring between a Phenex and a Gremory which bloodline would the child inherit?"
"The child may inherit the traits of both the parents," Riser stated almost boasting as if the success of that child was ensured. "Can you imagine the unlimited offensive power of Destruction coupled with the Flames of Immortality?"
"Is that guaranteed to pass on?" Morgan asked genuinely curious. "Do you really have a way to only pass on the guaranteed positive traits? Isn't there a chance that the offspring will inherit neither of those traits?"
"A child will almost always inherit the abilities of its parents," Riser stated. "At the very minimum the child will have either the Power of Destruction or Immortality."
"Well honestly that certainty sounds more valuable then inheriting both of their traits," Morgan said sounding rather flippant as he did so. "Imagine if the child regenerated by bursting into the power of destruction whenever they were hurt. They might even die from that. Nah, it sounds much safer to stick with one distinct power rather than mixing it."
"Who they hell are you to comment on the politics between devil-clans," Riser snarled at the human's words and Grayfia had to prevent herself from intervening.
"Oh, I'm Morgan Carolinus. I thought I introduced myself," the human said speaking to Rias' new pawn. "Didn't I introduce myself? I thought I introduced myself."
"You did introduce yourself," the pawn said.
"Yeah, that's right I did," he said nodding before he snapped his fingers as a look of realisation crossed his face. "No wait, I got it. It's nothing to do with creating the perfect devil or anything like that. It's just politics. Your parents obviously want to make a union to increase their influence for something or other and you're just the sacrificial pawn in the business between nobles." He looked genuinely forlorn and for a moment even Grayfia wanted to comfort him. "I'm so sorry."
"They just…" Rias said as if the thought had just occurred to her right now, and maybe it had.
"Forcing you to marry, ignoring your wishes," he said with pity in his voice. "Let me guess they offered you a way out if you managed to defeat your fiancé in battle; a devil seven years your senior. Don't you think it's cruel to give such a small ray of hope and then snatch it away?"
His words were impossibly reasonable and Grayfia felt herself grow angry and then depressed at her sister-in-law's circumstances. Still the reaction that she felt was nothing compared to that shown by her aforementioned sister-in-law who looked shattered; even her fiancé looked slightly guilty at the words.
'No,' she thought digging her nails into her palms as hard as she could. 'No, that's not reasonable.' She refocused on the current situation trying to sense any magic but her inspection proved futile. The young human's words enraptured the room swirling up emotions and steering thoughts like a conductor before an orchestra and it wasn't by any spell but his own powerful charisma.
"What should I do?" Rias said and Grayfia felt a sinking within her stomach. For a moment she saw the image of a devil making a deal with an unsuspecting human, but the roles were clearly reversed. She tried to open her mouth and say something but she couldn't find the words to refute or contest. If her husband was here he would find the words to mitigate or refute the conversation but she lacked his eloquence.
"You don't have to do anything," Morgan said with a smile that seemed to offer a glimpse of hope among the despair. "All you have to do is simply refuse to participate." Grayfia blinked at that. It was a far less malevolent offer than she might have thought and she didn't immediately see how it would help.
"I tried that," Rias said mournfully. "Nothing that I would say could convince them."
"Then don't convince them," Morgan stated. "They may be your parents but you have just as much leverage as any party to the wedding. There are too few devils for them to disown you."
"They might disinherit me," Rias said her voice weak but there was a note of some consideration.
"Seeing how the title drives people to act are you still sure that you want it?" Morgan offered and there was only silence from her sister-in-law as a response. His logic felt flawless but Grayfia had a niggling certainty that if she looked closer she could find the flaws. She just needed to look closer… Yet she couldn't. A cold chill ran down her back as she immediately checked herself for mind-control only to come up empty. Not a single indication that her thoughts were swayed and yet she still believed with all her heart in this person's words. Was this pure Charisma that he was using?
In front of her Rias was twisting as the words seeped in like poison and there was a subtle hardening in her eyes that turned into a designed disdain.
"How dare you," Riser burst forth with rage and Grayfia felt a flicker of joy at the interruption to the spell he was casting before her heart leapt into her throat once again at the reality of the situation. A fireball condensed and was fired at impressive speed for a young devil and she was forced to immediately move to intercept it before she released the full force of her magic summoning forth restraints and pinning the Phenex where he stood as she blocked the retaliatory punch from the 'human' with her forearm. She forced down a wince of pain as a minor fracture formed from the simple blow and she immediately a dozen small circles appeared in front of her casting an equal amount of restraining spells.
The human's eyes flickered downwards at that moment and she followed it casting another three circles into the form of a non-elemental shield blocking the umbrella, that had been 'accidentally' dropped, which cracked immediately on impact. Immediately on collision the umbrella was dropped and the momentum transitioned into a straight blow towards her throat, a killing blow if she had ever seen one.
She was already creating another defence when his hand trembled and he stopped dead for an instant narrowing his eyes at the limb that had betrayed him so suddenly. There was a brief look of disappointment on his features before he suddenly jumped back clutching his wrist slipping out the half-formed restraining spells with ease.
"What are your bones made of," he hissed with an act that would be convincing to anybody who didn't have a fracture in their arm right now.
"I will thank you to hold your temper," she said to the Phenex releasing the restraint magic as well as letting some of the real irritation that she felt at the situation bleed through. The pain in her arm was honestly nothing compared to other injuries she had but her nerves were on edge and she would need to take a calming bath after this whole mess.
"If the Strongest Queen says that then I have no choice but to acquiesce," the Phenex said like he hadn't almost been killed. Enough of the family had died in the civil war that she had no illusions as to their immortality. He sneered at the human with condescending hatred and received a look of playful malice in return.
"Heart, neck or brain," the human said calmly. "Ninety-nine percent of regenerators can be killed by destroying their heart, neck or brain." He smiled then in seeming genuine amusement. "I wonder which one of the three is your weak-spot. Would you mind me venturing a guess?"
"Riser will not hear it," the Phenex said growling out but restraining himself.
"Back of the brain," the human said with cold enjoyment. "By my guess it should be right above the neck. I suppose it compliments your family's method of operation and your own attitude. You have to face things head on because if you turn your back." He tapped his skull in mocking enjoyment. "Still I apologize. I'm sure that's not something you like to think of. Someday somebody might reach around behind you and grasp your neck and just blow apart your only weak point. What an intimate way to die." His words were said with steadily increasing killing intent, every drop aimed at the Phenex and Grayfia forced herself to stand there and try to dull it with her own intent.
"Well if there's nothing more that you want then I guess, laters," the man, Morgan Carolinus said dropping all killing intent and turning around to leave the room without any fanfare. It was only when the door slammed shut that Grayfia allowed her hand to drift to the fracture silently calculating how long it would take her to recover. She silently turned her head back noticing how there was a look of confused fear in the Phenex's eyes but in the eyes of Rias and her peerage there was no alarm.
"So you didn't even see it," she whispered under her breath. Neither of them went all out in that confrontation and the whole affair was closer to a chess match then a battle with the two of them sizing each other up. Even her fractured arm was nothing but an elaborate probe and thus it seemed from the outside that nothing special had happened.
"That_" the Phenex raged recovering some of his courage now that he had left.
"If I hear that any attack had been launched on that human I will take personal umbrage," Grayfia said calmly causing the young man to pause in his words. This was definitely not the time for something like this to go down with the recent secret talks ongoing. She would have to discuss the situation with her husband before they decided how to approach the whole situation. She looked at her arm for a moment. She better get that fixed up. While she loved him he could get overprotective sometimes and she didn't want him reacting with unnecessary anger.
xxx
"What in the name of the Gods are you doing out of bed," Morgan's voice broke the tune she was humming causing her to whirl around on her feet and slip on the tiled floor dropping the eggs she was intending to use for cooking. In a second both eggs were carefully caught by the more experienced Human and Asia hit the ground hard.
"Ow, ow, hss," Asia winced at the slight pain before she pulled herself to her feet. "Why didn't you catch me," she pouted.
"You need to learn how to fall at some point," Morgan said walking over to the pan and easily cracking the shells and pouring them into the pan. "If you're well enough to go walking around you're well enough to learn a lesson. Tell me have you got your first level of Physical Resistance yet? "
"No," Asia said feeling a spike of anticipatory worry at the thought. "I don't suppose it's the same as Pain Resistance?"
"No, but Pain Resistance is often a prerequisite to really digging into the act of training resistance," Morgan said while taking over the cooking. "Most of the time you'll grab a low level of Physical Resistance while getting the crud kicked out of you but we don't generally train resistances until you have at least 8 000 Vitality and normal Pain Resistance. It's just not practical to do it any earlier."
"Aren't you going to ask how I recovered so quickly," Asia said pouting at the lack of care he was showing.
"The First must have healed you," Morgan said casually. "It's not hard to work out," he said as he examined the frying eggs before turning towards Asia. "Comparatively few Humans work with souls. The comparative difficulty of modifying a human soul to more quickly adapt to the human requires an incredibly high skill level. To challenge the default conversion process that was already set up by the First is a very, very bold move and one that I can't see any Human doing." He turned back towards the eggs. "Also we're on another planet and cut off from all but the most powerful Humans until a stronger channel is built."
"So you did know," Asia said timidly before cautiously asking. "Do you still want me to be in bed?"
"No," Morgan refuted. "If you're so eager to get to training then I can only accommodate you."
"I'm suddenly feeling a bit tired," Asia said remembering the hellish training.
"Do you really think_" Morgan began before for the first time that Asia had met him his body trembled. It was such an uncontrolled movement from the usually precise person that for a moment she was just left staring in shock before she rushed over summoning Twilight Healing and trying to help him.
"No, that won't do anything," Morgan said firmly sliding the half-done eggs off the stove. "Finish the eggs and come visit me in the training room." He stepped past her and headed out in the corridor leaving Asia behind to finish the eggs and stew in worry.
xxx
"I burnt the eggs," Asia admitted shamefaced as she walked into the room before she blushed at the sight in front of her. Morgan was lying on his back wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and breathing in and out.
"The four main stages of growth are Comprehension, Integration, Development and Subversion," Morgan said calmly. "In the first stage Comprehension we build up our bodies while deciding how our Will is going to manifest and working towards expressing it in that manner. The end of this stage is marked by bursts of Will exploding from the soul and a loss of control over the body as the soul and body start to properly link together. In other words the body moves from becoming a container of the soul to actually becoming the soul and vice versa."
"Does it hurt?" Asia asked.
"I expect to get at least one or two levels of Pain Resistance out of this," Morgan confessed saying pretty much all that needed to be said. "Now you should probably be quiet and watch."
He breathed in one more time before his body swelled unnaturally as all of his muscles and rippled like worms across his flesh. A gasp of pain left his mouth along with a burst of steam before he convulsed twitching in agony. This process went on for another two minutes and Asia found her nails digging into her palms as she went against every instinct to not help him.
Finally, he fell still and Asia rushed over nearly reaching him before an explosion of power rocked the area and knocked her off her feet. She landed hard on her arm gritting her teeth in agony as she heard something snap.
Minor Physical Resistance Gained
"Still haven't learnt how to fall Asia," Morgan said and there was a rare smile on his face as he moved his body with an almost joyful glee. "The advantage of the body fusing with the soul is a massive increase in the ability to perform Magic and other acts of Will." His smile grew at that point. "As well as this." He breathed out before slowly rising vertically from the ground. There was a look of intense concentration as he slowly, without any visible support, floated above the ground.
"You can fly?" Asia asked. "Can I do that also?"
"Every Human can fly at the Integration stage although some can fly earlier," Morgan exposited. "It really depends on your specialisation. My dad couldn't do it at the Integration stage either." Suddenly, he wobbled and almost overbalanced before slowly collapsing to the ground. "More practice," he said before looking at Asia. "I guess both of us need it." Despite that he didn't seem that eager to get back to training instead just standing there basking in the triumph of his advance.
"How did your meeting go?" Asia asked after the silence dragged on. She knew that he was going to meet the devils but he was less irritated than normal after having to deal with them.
"Excellent," Morgan said with a smile. "The trap has been successfully baited."
"I feel like I'm missing some context," Asia said under her breath. "Um, can you tell me what our goal is?"
"Maybe if you reach level 100 by the end of this month I'll tell you," Morgan said. "Now come give me two hundred push-ups." He smiled in nostalgia as her face went white much like his must have been back then before he silently opened up the Quest Menu.
Long Term Quest:
Create a Dimensional Beacon in Earth and set up Dimensional Flags in neighbouring dimensions.
Reward: 500,000K XP, 1 5,000,000GAU per flag set up, Skill Book Class 2 (Psionics Basics).
"You did always know how to motivate me Dad," Morgan said silently praying. "Um…" he paused. "Thanks Dad." He stood in silence for a moment just thinking then he turned away and went to correct Asia's awful posture.
Author Note: There is no author note.