Romulus dashed through a forrest, branches and twigs snapping under his feet as he went. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end a second before his instincts took over. Turning in the direction he had been running from he threw up his strongest shield. He was not a moment too soon as a blast of white energy slammed into the Titanius style magic circle.
The blast rocked the earth, levelling the surrounding area as the ground gave way beneath him. As the light faded Romulus could see that where there had once been smooth earth and wilderness there was now nothing more than a barren crater, with his spot being the only area that had not been flattened.
Romulus breathed a sigh of relief, unfurling his wings and taking to the sky as quickly as he could, barely dodging another blast that destroyed the position he'd occupied moments earlier. Getting above the tree-line he saw in the distance the opponent he'd been tasked to fight.
Adrianna Lorelei was one of his best friends, maybe even his best, but ever since he's reincarnated her into his queen less than a day ago she'd become his most challenging opponent.
She was definitely not the strongest, as powerful as his new queen was she had nothing on Tannin or Mephisto, who had sparred with Romulus on multiple occasions, but they had always measured their power, making themselves just powerful enough to challenge him without vastly outmatching their student. Adrianna was different.
Even as a human Adrianna was as powerful as Vali or himself, and with her incredibly expansive list of magical abilities she could even last for a while against both of them before she was overwhelmed, though that could be said about any of the three of them. The reason she hadn't dominated then as she was doing with him now was simply because as a human she didn't have the same magical strength as them. Now she was a devil, a being with far superior magical reserves and far more potent magic. Where once she'd have needed to cast a dozen spells to break his barriers now she only needed two or three.
And she didn't hold back.
His new queen came at him with all the power and enthusiasm of a being who was incredibly powerful and wanted to test their limits. A wonderful and exciting thing for Adrianna, a nightmarish survival exercise for him.
He could see her in the distance, a small dot close to a kilometer away from his position. She had been firing on him like an artillery cannon, testing out just how far her spells could harry him before they stopped being seriously damaging. So far this appeared to be on the upper end of her limit.
Romulus opened up a communication circle with his queen, a spell that although difficult at first he managed to get down enough that it didn't take more than a moment's concentration.
"You happy now?" He asked, voice haggard.
"Not quite." She said.
Romulus dove out of the way a split second before a lance of purple light arched past him, hitting a series of small hills in the distance. Romulus watched in awe and a healthy amount of fear as the top of one of the hills was severed and launched into the air by the force of Adrianna's magic. He turned back to his queen who was flying towards him with her new wings.
Like Romulus' wings Adrianna's were not the standard black, batwing-like appendages that most devils had. Alternatively her's were not the same as her King's, who's wings were metal bases with lengths of energy pouring like curtains from them.
Adrianna's wings were metal like Romulus' but that was as far as the similarities went. While only the bases of Romulus' wings were metal with lines and rivers of energy forming the remainder, Adrianna's were made completely of metal, but were considerably smaller than any other wings possessed by beings of the supernatural. That being said her wings didn't move or flap, instead they leaked out several streaming tendrils of pure magical energy that acted as controls, allowing flight.
Romulus had to say that the new wings suited her. They gave her an etherial look that seemed to add to her natural beauty, constantly providing a flattering light. He blushed as he thought that her smile was even more pretty than usual with her wings out.
"Were you trying to kill me?" He asked her.
"Maybe just a little." She responded, sticking out her tongue playfully.
"Alright, Alright, we can stop with the flirting, you two are done for the day."
The two children looked over to see Tannin and Mephisto descend down to their level.
"We weren't flirting." Romulus shouted at Tannin, who only responded by laughing. Hovering just in front of the Dragon, Mephisto coughed into his fist to get his wards' attention.
Romulus turned away from his trainer, instead looking at his guardian.
"Sorry Mr Mephisto." Romulus apologised, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "I guess we both got a little carried away."
"Both?" Tannin asked with a raised eyebrow. He glanced at the destroyed hill, which was already beginning to reform. "If we weren't inside a dimensional pocket built for rating games you two might end up levelling half the countryside."
"Sorry Lord Tannin." Adrianna bowed apologetically, her face tinged red with embarrassment. "I was just really excited, I've never felt so much magic before. I wanted to try it out."
"That is a good plan Ms. Lorelei." Said Mephisto. "But if you over exhaust yourself so soon after your reincarnation there may be serious damage to your magic system, there's a reason why most new devils are told not to use magic right away. I fact, didn't I tell you two to take it easy for the first week or so to make sure there were no complications? Especially with your Sacred Gear?"
"I get it Mr. Mephisto, it's just that-"
"I asked him, Lord Mephisto. Romulus was going to go and study but I really wanted to try out some of the spells I'd been researching. I didn't think it'd be that bad."
The old devil sighed. It seemed Tannin was right about the lady Lorelei having Romulus wrapped around her finger. Ever since her reincarnation he seemed unable to refuse her. Mephisto shook his head. Her reincarnation had been done just the day before, this was her only demand that he'd submitted to but if he knew Romulus and Adrianna's relationship it was starting to look like he'd been right to move up his bet with Azazel, Albion and Tannin.
"Be that as it may, I want you two to get back the manor, you may continue to study spells Ms. Lorelei but you are not to perform any serious training until we have made sure that your new body is settled."
The two children bowed their heads, acquiescing to their mentor's demands. Their wings flashed and in an instant both of them were flying away at top speeds to the exit to the small pocket dimension.
"Damn 'Phisto, you were right. That queen and her Longinus, she'll be damn near unstoppable. Did you see those spells?"
"I did. It's why I'm so concerned. No one has ever reincarnated a being using multiple queens, let alone a Longinus wielder. We don't know what kind of effect it'll have beyond what is normal for reincarnated devils."
"Like turning her into a god damn artillery cannon that shoots destruction spells."
"Yes Tannin, like that. Most queens can't fire that kind of magic from that far away, let alone a queen who's only been a devil for less than a day." Mephisto shook his head as the final repairs were made and the remnants of the destruction caused by Adrianna's spells were undone. "We'll need to train her to control herself."
"I'll move Romulus' routine up, maybe get him to drop his blacksmithing to make room for more training."
"A bit rash, don't you think my friend?"
"Girl's stronger than him, it's never good to have a piece that much stronger than the master."
"I highly doubt that Ms Lorelei will turn on Romulus."
"I hope not, but better safe than sorry."
"... Very well, move up his training but remember that a more rapid acceleration could trigger some negative consequences from his magic's chaotic nature. We don't want his body to destabilise. And leave his blacksmithing classes be. The trainers are quite pleased by his dedication, I doubt they'll be happy should one of their prized pupils be forced to withdraw."
"Fine."
The two began to fly after their young charges, though at a considerably slower pace.
"Have you talked to the candidates?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"They're eager to meet a devil with so much potential, though I wonder how they'll react when they see him."
"Dragons are prideful beings, especially the older ones, you fear when those two see he is a child they won't follow."
"They aren't the candidates."
Mephisto looked confused at his queen.
"Then who is?"
"That's a surprise 'Phisto."
"I don't like surprises my friend."
Romulus and Adrianna laid on a set of couches in Mephisto's private library, reading books about various forms of magic. Romulus still had some time before his blacksmithing lessons were meant to start and spending it helping out his queen seemed to be a nice way to kill some of the time.
"I wonder if I can use some of these norse shield spells?" He thought out loud as he read one of his mentor's books on defense spells.
"Do you know norse magic?"
"No."
"Then I don't think so, nose spells need norse magic. I bet I could use it."
"Probably, you can do anything, but I don't know... If I could use my heavenly power instead of norse magic maybe I could make my own versions of it."
"But then it wouldn't be a norse spell, it'd just be a heavenly spell that looked norse."
"But it'd work the same way, just with different magic."
"I guess."
"You two look very comfortable."
Mephisto and Tannin walked into the library, watching as Romulus laid upside down on a couch, his legs hanging off of the back, while Adrianna had selected her normal plush armchair/recliner.
"I am." Said Romulus, not taking his eyes off of his book.
"Me too." Adrianna agreed as she read through a new spell book.
"Well unfortunately we need you two to come with us, we have someone we'd like you to meet."
The two children shared a glance, confused.
"Who are we meeting?" Asked Romulus.
"An interested party." Replied Mephisto cryptically.
"What do they want?" Adrianna asked.
"Just to meet you two." Tannin said, ushering them out of their chairs and to the floor next to him.
"Are we teleporting?" Romulus asked his teacher.
"Just to the underworld station."
"Underworld station?"
"All new reincarnated devils have to be registered during their first trip to the underworld. If it was just you Romulus it wouldn't be a problem, but Ms Lorelei has not yet been registered as your queen in the official capacity."
"Ok, let's go."
The four gathered together, before they were engulfed in Mephisto's magic circle.
The group emerged in the center of a massive train station. Romulus had to move out of the way to avoid being hit by a pedestrian who was looking at his watch instead of where he was walking.
"Mr Mephisto... we're in a train station."
"We are Romulus."
"Why are we in a train station?"
"To catch a train."
"But what about the people, won't they notice us? Mr Tannin is a twenty foot dragon. Why aren't they running and screaming?"
"Magic, Romulus."
"Oh."
"Come on, we can probably catch the next train to Lilith, I think it leaves in a few minutes." Tannin said, him and Mephisto leading their little group through the crowded terminal. Adrianna and Romulus looked around, staring at the high ceiling.
"Where are we anyway?" Adrianna asked.
"Gare de Nord." Said Mephisto, turning back to the two as Tannin walked up to a large wall. "It's the busiest train station in Europe. When the current Satans started instituting the registration of newly reincarnated devils they placed a connection to the underworld on each continent to allow for easier transport and less backlog of devils hoping to register their peerages. This is Europe's connection to the underworld and because of the high volume of supernatural beings using it humans eventually formed their own transportation systems on top of it. It's the same with the portals on each of the other continents."
"Wow."
"Come you two, I believe Tannin has secured our seats."
The three walked over to the massive dragon, who seemed to have just finished talking with a man at a counter.
"Tannin." Mephisto called. "Have you sorted it all out?"
"Of course I did. We're good to go on the next train, and I've had them hook up the Titanius family cars so we can ride in style."
"Titanius family cars?" Romulus asked. He hadn't heard of anything like that.
"Ah, we never told you did we." Mephisto said, stroking his chin. "As one of the largest extra-demon families the Titanius' were very well connected. Even without officially being part of the main underworld government they managed to use their political pull to obtain many of their benefits form themselves and their allies. I heard that one of the subordinate families under yours is almost on the verge of recreating the evil piece system for the extra-demons."
"So I didn't even need to register under the Maous?"
"I said they were on the verge of recreating it Romulus. With how long they've been working on it that might be as close as a year far away as a decade, either way not soon enough for our purposes."
"Oh, that's to bad then, I guess."
"Now then, let's get on the train shall we? We have places to be and people to meet." The four made their way through the station, the two young ones following the leads of their older mentors. The platform they arrived at was full of people, mostly younger ones, with adults accompanying them.
"Wow." Adrianna looked in awe of the dozens and hundreds of others on the platform. "Are all of these people reincarnated devils?"
"Not all of them." Mephisto said. "Most of the young ones you see are devils with peerages and are bringing them to the underworld for the first time. Most young devils are encouraged to recruit young so as to form strong bonds with their peerage members, it lessens the chances of them becoming strays."
"Strays?" Romulus asked.
"Devils who leave or kill their master." Tannin told them, casting a suspicious eye over the hoard of demons that had turned to look at him the moment their group had arrived. "Stray devils are the kinds who lose themselves to their desires and sins, warping them into monsters worse than any devil."
Adrianna looked out over the sea of faces.
"So, no devil can ever leave their master?" She asked. "What about if they have a family or find another master?"
"Oh, Devils can leave their masters." Mephisto said to the young girl. "It just usually happens later in a devil's life. normally they stay with their masters for a few years or decades and then go off and form their own families, or peerages if they achieve the necessary rank, but they usually stay under the employ of the master who reincarnated them."
Mephisto gestured to Tannin.
"Tannin here is technically a part of my peerage but has his own and operates more independently from me than as my representative. Still he is considered a member of my peerage and is thus compelled to come to my aid when called by the contract we formed upon his resurrection."
As he finished talking there was an announcement over the intercom on the platform.
"Dear passengers, the one-forty-five train to Lilith is now boarding at platform one, we hope you enjoy your time with us and we hope to see you again soon. Have a nice trip and have a good day."
As the announcement cut off the closed train doors opened and a number of devils entered into the main cars alongside their chaperones. Romulus and Adrianna walked towards the nearest set of doors to them before they were stopped by Tannin.
"Where do you two think you're going?" Tannin chuckled.
"In the train." Adrianna said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Not yet you two." Tannin told him, bringing them back to where Mephisto was patiently standing.
"Mr Mephisto, Tannin won't let us get on the train, we're gonna miss it."
"We won't Romulus, because this isn't our train, or at least our part of it." Mephisto just eyed the train.
"What do you mean our part of it?" He asked.
"Dear passengers, this is the last call for the boarding of coach, business and first class sections of the train, repeat, last call for boarding for coach, business and first class."
"Come on Mr Mephisto we're going to miss it."
"Hold on Romulus, patience is a virtue."
"I thought we were devils."
"We are Ms Lorelei, but patience is a virtue amongst devils as well as angels, really all living beings should learn of its value."
"Dear passengers, boarding for coach, business and first class have all ended. We will now proceed with boarding for the clan cars."
"Clan cars?" Adrianna and Romulus asked together.
Mephisto and Tannin shook their heads in exasperation.
"I told you both to be patient. I was waiting for you to notice the other devils who haven't yet boarded."
The two looked around, and sure enough, they had been so focused on possibly missing the train that they hadn't noticed numerous devils who also hadn't entered the imitation locomotive.
The PA system came back on.
"We would now like to announce the arrival and boarding of the clan cars for the houses of Astaroth, Paimon, Beleth, Barbatos and Titanius. He hope you have a pleasant ride."
"Now we can board." Mephisto said, walking with Tannin onto the silvery-grey cars.
Romulus and Adrianna watched the two disappear into the car, before turning and watching the remaining devils, now numbering somewhere a little under two dozen, enter into four other coloured cars.
Within moments they were the only two people left on the platform.
"Wow." Adrianna said.
"What?" Romulus turned to her inquisitively.
"I knew your family was important, but I guess, this really makes it feel real."
"The train cars?"
"No you idiot." She huffed. "They put your family name beside members of the 72 pillars. I read about them, they're a huge deals. I guess before I just never really... saw that."
"I guess, come on, we don't want to miss the train."
The two rushed up onto the silver car with the Titanius clan symbol on the side. Once inside the two saw that the entire car was a stylish and spacious lounge area, complete with couches, tables and a bar, which Mephisto was behind shaking some drink while Tannin was sitting on one of the large couches eating some kind of fruit and relaxing.
"Ah." Mephisto caught the two coming through the doorway. "You two finally came aboard, I thought that you two might stand out on the platform until one of the attendants got you to stop holding up the departure."
"They wouldn't stop everything just for us... right?" Adrianna said.
"You two are the only devils left of the Titanius clan, I am quite sure half the underworld would go out of their way to help you if it meant gaining some kind of support."
Romulus and Adrianna looked around at the lavish car they'd been given.
"So, how long is the ride?" Asked Romulus.
"About half an hour, after that we'll just need to put Ms Lorelei through the registration process and she can travel in and out of the underworld without a problem."
"Then we take you two over to my territory to meet the new recruits." Tannin said, having just finished his fruit.
"Your territory Mr Tannin?" Romulus asked before his eyes began to sparkle. "So we're gonna meet some dragons? Are they going to join us?"
Adrianna stiffened slightly beside Romulus while Tannin chuckled.
"Only if they think you're strong enough for them to obey you kid. dragons don't let people give them orders unless their strong enough to force those orders through, so you probably won't be getting and of the older dragons to join you."
"Oh." Romulus looked downcast.
Tannin ruffled the boy's hair, drawing a giggle from Adrianna as Romulus struggled under his mentor's grip.
"But some of the younger dragons might join up. In fact it'd be better to recruit younger dragons, they can grow in strength alongside you and if they achieve the rank of Ultimate-class devil, they can even gain a portion of the underworld's land for themselves. It's the the reason I joined old 'Phisto over there."
"Really?" Adrianna asked.
"Indeed Ms Lorelei." Mephisto said, sitting at one of the tables with a drink in his hand. "Tannin became my queen and and Ultimate-class devil in order to gain land in the Underworld. He used that land as a sanctuary for dragons and an orchard to grow the dragon apple trees to feed his people. If you similarly achieve the rank of Ultimate-class, you'll receive your own piece of the Titanius clan lands. from Romulus or an allotted plot from the devil ranking commission, in fact any devil who reaches Ultimate-class gains such privilege."
"Wow, so... I could build a house, or a giant magic ground? And no one could say no?"
"As long as you have the resources to finance such a venture, yes."
"Oh!" Romulus yelled. "You could build a giant amusement park, and you'd get to cut all the lines and go first on all the rides."
"Or maybe a library like Lord Mephisto's." Adrianna's eyes sparkled. "I could get all the books I want and no one but me could read them."
"Or maybe a castle like back home, with a lake and a forest and you can be a real queen."
The two continued to trade ideas back and forth about what to do with her land. On another couch just opposite the two Tannin and Mephisto watched the two enthusiastically debate.
"They're so sure she's gonna be an Ultimate-class."
"Aren't you?"
"Well of course, That girl might well become the strongest queen in existence. Not even Grayfia or Serafall were that strong at that age, but they shouldn't be so sure about it."
"I don't believe they don't understand the full ramifications of it yet."
"Well they'd better learn quick if they keep talking about ideas like that."
"Romulus could always just give her the land without her needing to be promoted."
"I know people like those two, If they don't feel like they've earned it, it's not as satisfying."
"A true Titanius."
"Right, so... how much you wanna bet those two tie the knot."
"I'm already thirty-thousand in on their kissing sometime after they turn thirteen... I'm not partial to making bets I'm confident I won't win."
"Damn, I've been trying to find someone dumb enough to take it, Azazel, Albion, even the white dragon brat Vali, all of them tell me it's a fool's bet."
"It is Tannin, and none of us are fools."
"Yeah Yeah."
The group spent the next half hour relaxing in their train car, Mephisto and Tannin discussing various things amongst themselves that neither of the two young devils thought were important enough to listen to. It was an uneventful trip, until the PA system came on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have now crossed the dimensional gap into the underworld. If you look out your windows you will see below us the territory under the command of the house of Astaroth, and in a few minutes, we will arrive at the underworld capitol of Lilith."
Adrianna and Romulus rushed towards the windows, looking out to experience the view.
Below the train, the massive capitol of the underworld was spread out in all of its glory. It was leagues larger than any human city, easily stretching out as far as the eye could see in any direction.
"Impressive, isn't it." Mephisto said, getting both of the children's attentions. "The city of Lilith is by far the biggest in all of the underworld. In fact just this city is larger than the amount of land most of the pillars hold individually. The only main underworld family to possess more land is the Baels."
"Wow, I didn't know cities could be this big, does it go all the way to the ocean?"
"There are no oceans here Romulus."
"What do you mean?"
"The underworld isn't like the human world Romulus, up there, only one third of the world is above the sea level. In the underworld there are no oceans, just a series of large lakes that are land locked."
"That's kind of sad, so there's no beaches or boats or anything?"
Mephisto chuckled.
"There are, many of the lakes are quite large, One of them; called Lake Rhea in your family's territory is half the size of the indian sub-continent, it's just that none of them are so large to qualify as an ocean."
The train began a sharp descent, though it wasn't felt by those on the train, and soon enough they had stopped at a platform identical to the one in the human world.
"We have arrived at Lilith's European station. We hope you have enjoyed your ride with us and look forward to serving you again soon."
The doors of their car opened up, letting the group file out. Romulus and Adrianna marvelled at the grandeur of even the station they had pulled in to.
The place was by far larger than the Gare de Nord. The high ceilings housed murals depicting what looked like a very short history of devil kind, most likely to introduce new devils to the history of the underworld.
Adrianna and Romulus walked alongside their mentors towards a line of devils that had queued. They stayed in the line for a while, moving slowly along the line.
"Mr Mephisto, why are we waiting?" Romulus asked, looking out down the queue which split off and ended at several plain-looking doors.
"I told you Romulus, as it is your first time in the Underworld with Ms Lorelei, you will need to register her with the rating games comity."
"Got it, but why do we have to wait in a line, can't we just tell them to register her?"
"Some things can't be rushed, Romulus." Mephisto said. "Besides, the rating game comity is supposed to be an independent organization, no special treatment it allowed. They couldn't let us ahead even if they wanted to, it'd be a obvious sign of favouritism."
"So we'll have to wait."
"You'll have to wait Romulus, Tannin and I are going to go and get something to eat. Meet us at La Diable in the meeting area."
"Wait, Mephisto, you can't leave us here." Romulus called out, but the old devil just walked off, waving to them mischievously, with Tannin following behind giving them a smirk.
"Great." Romulus huffed, turning to Adrianna. "So, anything you want to do while we wait?"
"We can't practice magic." Adrianna bemoaned. "And I didn't bring any books, this is gonna be so boring."
"Are you Romulus Titanius?" A voice asked.
The two devils turned to look at the older girl that was standing in front of them.
"Um, yeah, that's me."
"Wow, I heard that you pulled out a peerage made of mutation pieces. How'd you do it?"
"Um, just lucky I guess." Romulus rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Seekvaira Agares, I'm just here to register my first peerage member. Alivian, this is Romulus Titanius."
"Hello."
Romulus and Adrianna looked at Seekvaira's piece.
He was a dragon.
Alivian wasn't as big as Tannin was when he was amongst other, and compared to how the Dragon would look during training he was minuscule, but for the two almost ten year olds the young dragon's five foot nine frame was certainly quite intimidating.
"Hi." Romulus shook off his nervousness and gave the dragon a cheerful and friendly greeting. "I'm Romulus, and this is Adrianna, she's my queen."
Alivian smiled at Adrianna, holding out his hand to shake her's.
"Nice to meet you Adrianna, I'm also a queen."
"You too."
The two newly reincarnated devils shook hands, smiling at each other.
"They seem to like each other."
Romulus turned to see Seekvaira looking at the two with a pleasant expression. Romulus in response just smiled and nodded.
"I guess."
The line moved forward again, and Romulus and Seekvaira found themselves ushered down different lines with their new queens in tow.
"It was nice meeting you." Seekvaira called out, waving to them.
"You too." Romulus called back.
"Nice meeting you Alivian!" Adrianna said, smiling at the dragon.
"I hope we can meet again soon." Alivian replied, his loud voice having no problem carrying to the two of them.
Romulus and Adrianna waited for another few minutes, making conversation about their newest acquaintances and Adrianna's upcoming registration. It wasn't long before they found themselves in front of the door of the registration officer.
"Next." A voice came from behind the door, which prompted the two to walk through and find themselves face to face with a young looking man wearing glasses who sat at a desk with a pen in his hand and a somewhat tired look on his face.
"Name of King." He droned.
Adrianna and Romulus exchanged looks, it seemed the man wasn't going to be all that friendly.
"Romulus Titanius."
The man's face rose an inch from where he'd been staring; down at the paper without looking at them.
"So it's true, the early admission." Unlike most who seemed in awe of that fact the man just seemed frustrated. "I wonder how much paperwork was needed to make that happen."
"Um, is this part of the registration?" Asked Adrianna.
The man turned to look at the young girl. His face relaxed as he let our a sigh.
"My apologies miss. Just tired, but you're right, that was hardly appropriate. Name of the piece and name of the subject of reincarnation?"
"Queen, and Adrianna Lorelei."
"Very well."
"Date of reincarnation."
"Yesterday."
The man looked at the two.
"Quite quick."
"My mentor wanted to take us here, so we thought we'd register her on the way."
The man nodded sagely.
"Right, right. Always good to get them registered early, makes things easier on everyone."
He placed a crystal and a paper form on the table in front of him.
"Please channel and store your magical energy in there and fill out the form, after that we'll register you and provide you with a temporary underworld ID card and send your permanent copy to the address you provide on the form."
Adrianna and Romulus looked over the form, it asked for a few details, like date of birth, full name, address, and a bunch of other things that they filled in together. Adrianna then grabbed the crystal and channeled her new demonic power into it, making it light up for a few moments. She put the crystal on the table with the completed form, which the man took and filed in a small folder. Afterwards he pulled out a small white card and stamped it before handing it over to Adrianna.
"Thank you, you're both free to head on through. The man pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "Have a good day and remember to register any new pieces as soon as possible."
The two thanked the man and walked out into the open air food court that made up the other side of the registration desk.
"Wow." Adrianna looked back between the door, the food court and her new ID.
"What?" Romulus asked her.
"My ID." She told him. "There's no picture."
"Really?" He asked, looking over her shoulder at the card. Sure enough, though there was a square where a picture would have been, it instead only had a pattern that seemed to change color as they moved it.
"It's your magic." Romulus muttered, looking at the card.
"What?" Adrianna asked this time.
"I can sense your magic coming from the card."
"Does that help?" She asked.
"Don't know." He shrugged. "But we can ask Mephisto and Tannin when we see them, they said to meet us at La Diable. I wonder where that is?"
"Is that the place?"
Adrianna was pointing at a building a couple dozen meters from them, it was built and decorated beautifully with red french designs but was obviously sporting a more occult look. The two young devils walked up to a man who was manning the door.
"Um, excuse me."
The man looked over his counter at the two but didn't speak, only raising an eyebrow.
"Are you two lost?" He asked, though his voice was haughty. "Perhaps you can tell me what dinning establishment you wandered off from and I can get someone to help you look."
"It's this place." Romulus said to the man, frowning. If there was one thing he didn't like, it was being talked down to. Adrianna seemed to share his sentiment because she too glared at the man.
"I think not." The older man replied with a wave of his hand. "Our establishment is one of the foremost providers of fine demonic cuisine from across Europe, certainly not the place for two children."
"We're here to meet our guardians." Adrianna interrupted her her King before he could shout. "Lord MephistoPheles and Lord Tannin."
It was a fascinating thing, watching bewilderment, recognition and terror appear all at one on the man's face as he looked at the two children he now knew to be under the care of such a devil as Mephisto.
"Of course." He amended himself with a falsely wide smile. The man ushered them into the restaurant, guiding them through the myriad of tables over to a table at the back of the restaurant.
"Lord Mephisto." The waiter said, a nervous tick showing when he glanced down at the two children. "Your guests have arrived."
"Ah, Romulus, Adrianna." The old devil beckoned them to come and sit, which they did.
"Thank you." Mephisto addressed the man, who seemed more than happy to get out of their way.
"How'd it go runts?" Tannin asked the two.
"Great." Romulus said. "They just had us fill out a form and then Adrianna had to put some magic into a stone and they gave us an ID with her magic on it, but there's no picture."
"Why isn't there a picture?" Adrianna asked the older beings, bringing out her new ID and placing it on the table. "All IDs in the human world have them."
"Transformation magic Adrianna." Mephisto said, as if that explained everything. "Transformation magic allows anyone to look like anyone else. A photo ID would be quite useless when someone else can just copy your face. A magical signature on the other hand cannot be faked save by the greatest of stealth magicians. In a world that uses magic it's far easier to recognise people by their magic than their looks."
"Never mind that." Tannin said. "Now that their done we can head to the forests and get Romulus some more pieces."
Mephisto nodded, getting up from his seat. "I believe we've waited long enough. Come you two, It is time."
The group together got up from their places, disregarding the fact that none of them had ordered or eaten anything, and walked right out of the restaurant and into the New Devil Underworld faction.
A Black teleportation circle appeared, a forest filled with sound quieted, and four figures emerged from the glow into the territory of a dragon king.
"It's a little different than I remember." Romulus said. It was true, the forest was more vibrant, and the trees were brimming with delicious looking fruit.
"Back then, there was an infestation of scavengers." Tannin explained. "Dragon apples taste terrible to anything not a dragon but that doesn't make them any less nutritious. I spent months rooting out those damn pests. But thankfully since then the trees have been blooming better than ever, and more dragons than ever before have come to live here."
"It's beautiful." Adrianna whispered in awe. "I can feel the magic here."
"The underworld is made of magic Ms. Lorelei." Mephisto explained. "You'll get used to it eventually, or you'll have a psychotic episode."
"Bah, enough talk." Tannin roared. "Barren, Mizuchi come out, bring your clans."
At his call dragons of all shapes and sizes came out of the forest, seeming to appear out of the woodwork and before long, Romulus could see surrounding them was a mass of reptilian mythical creatures.
"Woah." Romulus looked around and spotted Adrianna doing the same.
As the two examined their surroundings they noticed two large dragons emerge from the sea of scales.
"You've summoned us Lord Tannin."
Looking at the two Romulus' eyes widened in recognition. The two dragons who had emerged where the same two he had seen fighting the same day he'd escaped the Maou's attack on his home. Despite this he could see differences in the two. Both of them had scars littering their forms, the most prominent being a long scar on Mizuchi's snout and one running along the right side of Barren's broad chest.
"You two have been fighting for nearly three years now, I want you to bury your feud."
"Impossible!" "Lord Tannin!"
The two great dragons exclaimed to the dragon king, behind them, their packs chattered and grumbled, many with rage and indignation, but a few let out murmurs of excitement.
"All of you quiet, you'd do well to remember who owns these lands."
The two sides immediately stilled, each and every one of them terrified of disobeying the sole provider of the Dragon Apples.
"Be that as it may Lord Tannin." Mizuchi exclaimed. "I will not make peace with that bastard. My mate's death at his hands must be avenged!"
"Your mate's death!?" Barren retorted. "The dragon apple forest was in the middle of an infestation, everyone's trees but your's were picked clean by them and you and your mate would not give a single apple to others who were starving! You act as if we had any choice in the matter, it was to take what we needed to survive or let ourselves and our children die."
There was a roar of approval from Barren's camp and Romulus found himself nervously watching as the hostilities of the two factions rose with each roar and growl.
"ENOUGH!" Tannin's raging voice drowned out the force of the arguing sides. "I won't allow this any longer. In order to stop this feud, I will be taking one of each of your children as apprentices under my tutelage. Perhaps this will get you to stop fighting and let some form of peace be established."
All the dragons on either side turned to the two leaders, it was a transparent 'gift'. Whichever children the dragons gave up to Tannin would learn under him yes, but they'd also be hostages to be used should any violence break out between the two factions in the territory. Both Mizuchi and Barren exchanged glances, it seemed neither of them was happy with the plan, but even with all of them together, Tannin was a dragon king and a powerful force, not to be trifled with.
Begrudgingly, the two replied.
"Very well." "Fine."
"I'll be back in a few weeks to pick up your chosen children, in the meantime I want all of you to meet someone, come forward boy."
Romulus gulped nervously, but stepped forward until he stood in front of Tannin.
"This is Romulus Titanius, he is here to see if any of you are worthy of becoming a part of his peerage."
That was confusing to the young devil. Tannin had told him that he'd be trying to impress them in hopes of some of them asking to join, now it seemed like they were the ones having to prove themselves to him.
"Mr. Tannin." He asked. "What're you-"
"I understand Romulus." Tannin cut him off. "But we must see if any of them are worthy of joining your side. What do you say Mizuchi? Barren? Care to try your luck?"
The two great beasts looked down at Romulus, observing him with slitted, reptilian eyes.
"I smell strong magic from him." Mizuchi said, thoughtfully.
"It's chaotic, a good match for a dragon." Barren seemed to agree.
"But is he strong enough?" Mizuchi wondered aloud.
"Strong enough for you maybe, but not for my kind." Barren insulted both Romulus and the female dragon who was his rival.
"Grrrr." Mizuchi growled back.
"Enough of your childish fighting." Tannin ordered. "Any who wish it may challenge my pupil's strength."
"I will." A voice called out from the crowd.
"Dreki." Barren addressed the young dragon who came from the crowd. "You?"
"Yes father." The young dragon puffed up his chest to look larger. "I'll prove our strength is greater than those eastern dragons."
"Ha! A dragon amongst dragons." "Go Dreki." "Show those easterners who's boss." There was a chorus of cheers amongst the dragon's in Barren's camp, who Romulus now recognised as being made mostly of western dragons.
"I'll fight too." Another voice rose, also a male but this time from Mizuchi's side.
"Fubuki!?" Mizuchi called out, surprised.
"The western dragons claim such strength. I'd see it for myself."
"Ha." Barren laughed. "At least your young do not appear so soft as you, Mizuchi."
"Very well." Tannin said. "You two may face my pupil. It'll be a free-for-all." Whoever is the last man standing wins. Agreed?"
"Yes sir." All three agreed with the aged dragon. Off to the side, Adrianna and Mephisto were sharing an exasperated look.
"Romulus." She said, walking up next to him.
"Um, what's up Ari?" He asked, nervousness colouring his voice.
"Don't do anything stupid, idiot."
"O-ok." Romulus blushed slightly.
"Let's go kid." Tannin pushed Romulus over to a large space the dragons of both sides had made for the fight. On either side was Dreki and Fubuki, while Romulus took up a position in between them.
"Three...two...one...Fight!" Tannin yelled, and and in an instant both of the young dragons charged towards each other and Romulus.
Fubuki arrived first, being slightly faster than Dreki, and found himself engaged in a fight with the young devil. The eastern dragon with his relatively shorter arms and longer body found himself off-put by the heir's styles. Romulus himself had learned many form of fighting over his time training under Tannin, but found himself most successful with the forms of Aikido and Hung Gar.
As a Titanius, defense was his strong point, and though through his three years of training he was proficient in many forms, he had found that two of those forms, hybridised to form something new, were where his talents lied.
Romulus ducked quickly as he felt the air rush past him. Dreki's punch would have knocked him out cold had it landed and he'd been caught unawares. Instead his strike hit Fubuki in the midsection, sending the eastern dragon falling backwards and his tail's swipe attack off course, slashing across Dreki's exposed torso.
Romulus didn't hesitate for a moment, he grabbed Fubuki's tail, stopping the dragon before he could be sent further back. Instead he swung his body around to send the young eastern beast's form slamming into Dreki's surprised, retreating form.
The two dragons slammed together, sending them both crashing to the ground several meters away. Both of them pushed the other off of themselves, growling they got ready and unconsciously charged the devil together.
Fubuki's longer body swam through the air around him, striking at him from all angles as the boy's tail tried over and over to pierce Romulus' defense. Alternatively, Dreki spent much more time in close quarters. His much more humanoid and solidly proportioned body took my hits well and dished them out as frequently as they were taken.
As time went on blows continued to be exchanged. The two dragons together came at the young devil, who was weaving past their strikes and blocking attacks while sending out the occasional punch or kick to disrupt the flow of battle.
"That's enough." Tannin's voice cut through the air and with a quick weave past a hard punch launched by Dreki Romulus jumped and twirled out of the foray, leaving the other two dragons panting on the other side of the field.
"Well done Romulus." Tannin praised his student. Turning to the two dragon factions that stood apart from each other he addressed the leaders. "I'll be back before the end of the month to take whichever of your children you choose to place in my tutelage. Come Romulus, it's time for us to go."
The dragon and devil walked back over to Mephisto and Adrianna as the eastern and western dragon factions parted and retreated back into the forests of the territory.
Romulus walked with Tannin over to Mephisto, who was reading a scroll he'd pulled out while the fight had been going on.
"Mr. Mephisto." Romulus complained. "You weren't watching."
"Apologies Romulus, I received a rather urgent and distressing letter."
"What happened?"
"The Phenex family has moved up your match with the young Lord Riser. It is to take place in two days' time."
"Those cheats." Tannin growled and seethed. "They know he's looking for peerage members so they want to move up the date to cripple him."
"Most likely but that does not mean they will succeed. Romulus, did either Fubuki or Dreki feel like good additions to your peerage? We may need to rush their reincarnation."
"I don't think so Mr. Mephisto." Romulus answered. "I don't think they could work together. Even though I was stronger than them they didn't try to work together or anything."
"Hm."
"That's not good, we were counting on you having more pieces before this fight kid."
Romulus' face took on a determined look.
"It doesn't matter." He said. "Adrianna and I can win this with just the two of us."
"Romulus." Mephisto, Tannin and Romulus turned to look at Adrianna, who looked worriedly at the ground. "What if we can't?"
"We will." He said with determination.
"You don't have a choice." Mephisto informed him. "Come, it seems that Ms. Lorelei's hiatus from training will have to be cut short. We will need to ensure you are both fully prepared."
Together the group teleported away, out of the underworld and back home to the holdings of the Magician's Association, ready to begin training more intensely than ever before. Defeat was unacceptable, and victory a necessity.
Damn, new longest chapter. It dethrones Brother of Wonder Woman chapter 6 by just four words, not including author's note. I hope you enjoy and sorry for the delay all June. I just moved to Germany and I have been busy settling in. Hopefully the next chapter will come out sooner and the new story poll I hope many of you are voting on will close soon so get in there.
I know many will be wondering about why Romulus didn't reincarnate the two dragons after fighting them since he needs pieces but I already have it all planned out and Dragons are not going to be his next pieces. To give a hint I hope most people won't understand his next pieces will be from the Mac Roich family. (Anyone who knows who this is without google gets a cookie)
Like Romulus' wings Adrianna's come from Diablo but her's are more similar to Tyrael's, the difference is that Adrianna's wings have tendrils of various colours, symbolising her omni-talents in magic. All of Romulus' Peerage members will have wings like Tyrael while Romulus' are like Imperius, denoting his status as king and their's as pieces.
You will see some more of Fubuki and Dreki in later chapters. For information Dreki is the oldest son of Barren's latest clutch and has two younger brothers and two younger sisters. The name Dreki is the old nordic word for dragon which I liked.
Fubuki means blizzard in Japanese and Mizuchi is a water dragon as well as a descriptor for an entire type of dragon in Japanese mythology. Fubuki has a younger sister and three younger brothers.
Also the bets on Romulus and Adrianna love life amongst the two of them are:
Albion: Kissing: Before 13, Mating: Before 15
Azazel: Kissing: Before 11, Mating: After 15
Tannin: Kissing: Before 12, Mating: After 14
Mephisto: Kissing: After 13, Mating: After 16
Total Pool: Kissing: €100,000 Mating: €200,000 (They live in Europe- Germany to be specific, I said so in an earlier chapter- so it's in euro)
RedSS (Loyal Reviewer): Kissing: Before 14: N/A,
Speaking of Pools and bets I'm hosting one (Segway) It's a poll about which of two ideas I should post next. Poll will close the day after this chapter is posted and the first chapter of the winning story will be posted after the next chapter of BOW.