Satanic Origins
Arc 1 Chapter 4 - On Magic
January 22nd, 2000 - Border of the Hidden Lucifer Clan Compound, Underworld Wasteland.
POV Rezivan Lucifer
Walking past one of the towering inward-sloping pylons glowing with complex patterns of demonic energy that surround the compound i've lived in for all my new life, I feel as if passing through a viscous yet thin membrane of goo, and despite the uncomfortable feeling, no evidence of it remains on my body as I exit, and looking back, All I see is flat ground, seemingly no different to the rest of this Go-, erm, Lucifer forsaken wasteland. Even the pressure I felt on my magical senses from standing so close to the active pylons suddenly vanished.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
I hear Lucifuge call out - he has been walking about ten paces ahead of me
"Wow… I knew that the compound was concealed, but hiding what is effectively a small town for centuries could not have been an easy feat."
I stretched my hand out towards where I left the barrier only to find that to my surprise, I couldn't feel anything present. I quickly turn and walk towards where I remember the pylon being, shocked to find that I could walk on the very same grounds that were previously occupied by an obelisk of stone nearly three dozen metres tall. Schooling my expression back towards a neutral face, I looked back towards the man who led me here, who was now speaking again.
"It was not. The 12 stones that form the ring of deception which surround this estate were carved by the former Lord Lucifuge, having been entrusted to do so by the Original Lucifer himself. Unlike other wards meant to hide which rely on illusions, the ring of deception distorts reality, creating a pocket dimension which engulfs not only the space within the ring, but even folding the ring within itself, leaving no trace within the underworld despite overlapping with it. This, combined with how far away we are from any civilization, is how we were able to remain hidden for the past 4 centuries, despite the best efforts of many of the most talented trackers in the world."
He is quite evidently proud of this contraption, and while I won't deny how effective it has been, I have to speak up about something else.
"I see… but Lucifuge, while this is all very impressive, why did you bring me here? My birthday is still a day out, and you never brought me out before."
The Lucifuge tilts his head ever so slightly to the right, before responding.
"We will need more space for our next lesson, not to mention, targets."
I cock an eyebrow at that.
"Targets?"
He simply smiles, his wings manifesting behind him as he takes off into the purple sky.
"Come fly with me."
Extending my six pairs of wings, I fly up behind him, struggling to match his speed - he is almost breaking the sound barrier, but I feel that he is still holding back for my sake.
Before long, we reached a short mountain range. Well, calling it a mountain range would be generous - it consists of a couple of rocky hills the tallest of which I'd bet don't even reach a full kilometre in height. Lucifuge suddenly stops, causing me to overshoot him, as I try to decelerate - thankfully, he does not comment on it as I return to his position, hovering half a kilometre above and in front of the tallest of the peaks.
"For the past 8 years, we've been training exclusively in close quarters battle - fighting at very close ranges, and mostly hand-to-hand at that. That is because there simply wasn't enough space in the compound for anything else, but I believe that any further gains in that area will be slow and incremental at best."
He points down towards the peaks beneath us with his right arm, his long silver coat fluttering in the wind.
"In light of your plans, 'slow and incremental' is no longer viable."
Extending his index finger, a blue-tinted silver magical circle with a diameter nearly as large as him manifests in front of it, the Lucifuge crest glowing brightly at it's centre.
"I will be teaching you magic."
A faint glow illuminates the area as a blindingly bright javelin of red and silver, as thick as a person and longer than a schoolbus shoots out from the magic circle, impacting the summit of the hill below with a powerful magical explosion, the blast scattering debris into the air and obscuring our vision. Once the smoke cleared, all that remained of the hill was a kilometre-wide crater.
A few minutes later
POV Euclid Lucifuge
Even as Euclid pushed down the slight feeling of exhaustion he felt at casting the incredibly wasteful high explosive lance, he decided that it was most certainly worth the effort. The young lord seemed to appreciate the display of power at the very least - no matter how much he tries to hide it, it is quite obvious to the experienced Lucifuge that he was awed at the raw might of magic, and is quite evidently very eager to learn.
"Remember - the core of devil magic is one's will and imagination. The stronger your imagination, the easier it is to cast complex spells. The stronger your will, the easier it will be to force your demonic energy to obey your will. Concentrate on creating the barrier, think of an immovable object, perhaps the walls of a castle, and will the concept into existence."
He was giving out some very basic instructions to Rezivan, but truthfully, the basics of devil magic were quite simple. The first Lucifer wanted to ensure that his new race could easily use magic, not be restricted to the complex calculations which force humans and a few other races to provide the investment of advanced education into even the lowest levels of magicians - and what could be simpler than simply willing something into existence? Light weapons of the Angels operate on a similar principle, but they are far more efficient than devil magic. And while devil magic may be less efficient than light weapons, and far less efficient than the aforementioned precise calculations, it is accessible.
Pretty much any devil can use magic, and this gave them a significant edge in the great war. The downside was, very few devils bother diving deeper into the intricacies of magic, the technical workings - achieving precise effects with magic purely based on imagination is both very difficult and inconsistent. This is an issue for effects such as teleportation - even high class devils resort to pre-drawn magic circles for transportation, as even the slightest distraction, the slightest imperfection in the casting process, could cause a severe malfunction in the spell.
The Original Lucifer armed certain bloodlines, including both the 72 pillars and several miscellaneous clans with natural ability to create certain complex effects with great efficiency, the innate ability to do so encoded in their genome and spirit to be carried onto the next generations. Unfortunately, this did not apply to the Six Houses of Lucifer nor the Satan Clans - they were not created devils, after all.
Both the Six Houses and the Satan Clans originate from the original converted devils, the comrades and subordinates of Lord Lucifer that fled together with him into the underworld after his failed rebellion against the tyranny of the Creator, the War in Heaven - this is something that they all took great pride in. On the other hand, thanks to undergoing a hand-crafted conversion process for each individual, they were able to become far stronger on average than any of the later mass produced devils, even the so-called "Elite" pillars couldn't compare.
As Rezivan floated in front of him, his eyes closed and clearly concentrating, Lucifuge took a moment to admire the beautiful pure silver crest of Lucifer, the bringer of light, forming in front of him. The fact that the pillars couldn't appreciate how much the Satans had done for them was infuriating - they were so close to greatness. If not for the petty greed of those damned traitors, especially that damned Gremory, they could have ruled the world already.
Rezivan was a light of hope in the eyes of Euclid - Before his birth, Euclid was quite close to giving up on the goal and was actually searching for a way to "go out with a bang" so to speak. The indifference of Lord Rizevim to the fate of the devil race had infuriated him, but he stuck with him regardless - he was a Lucifuge after all, and unlike his Sister, he would not betray that name. Now however, with Rezivan evidently committing himself to the goals of the Original Satans, with Clan Lucifer once again in the game, perhaps there is hope yet to restore the old ways.
One day later, in the morning.
POV Rezivan Lucifer
Yesterday was magnificent. There is no better way to put it. I had known on a theoretical level what being a devil entailed, but the sense of power that came with the use of magic was amazing. It may have taken a few hours of trial and error, but piercing right through a mountain with a beam of demonic energy had me nearly letting out a cheer - but the clapping of Lucifuge was a more than adequate substitute. Even if piercing a mountain was nowhere near comparable to the absolute destruction that Lucifuge's lance brought upon the landscape, being able to impose my will upon the world simply through the power of thought was absolutely intoxicating.
The Lucifuge did end up explaining several basic concepts of devil magic to me which he emphasised as being crucial. Demonic Energy is stored in the soul, and devils instinctively know how to use it to enhance parts of their body. That being said, there is a limited amount of Demonic Energy available to any given individual. Once someone fully depletes the energy of their soul, they usually have no choice but to let it recuperate. There is an alternative option however, one that Lucifer himself used in his final moments to slay the Father of Angels, sacrificing his life to deliver the killing blow. A devil can, under extreme pressure, directly convert their spiritual lifeforce into demonic energy, sacrificing lifespan for a temporary boost in power.
This is practically unheard of in the modern are very few ways to restore lifespan, but they do exist. Among them the only one even remotely accessible to me right now would be stealing souls by contract, something that the Anti-Satan government explicitly prohibited. Not that I am going to listen to their laws. No, the lifespan theft is not the issue, the other side effect is - forcing the soul to convert spiritual lifeforce into demonic energy is nearly guaranteed to cause a soul injury, something that is nearly impossible to heal. Death by soul injury is even worse - it completely shatters the soul, and prevents any kind of reincarnation. That truly did send shivers down my spine - I had already re-incarnated once, and thinking about a "final death" made me rather uncomfortable. Naturally, I decided that this kind of thing will be shelved as a last resort only.
I will say, my ability to cast magic is not exactly diverse - I could create a barrier, and I could create a giant beam attack, but both were rather rudimentary applications of Magic. When I mentioned this to Lucifuge, he agreed, and said that he'd bring me something that should help "vastly expand" my spell repertoire. What he meant by that, I have no idea, but I look forward to it.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking on the doors of my study. Speak of the devil. The only person who has ever knocked on them instead of simply barging in was Lucifuge.
"Come in!"
Turning around, I see Lucifuge, as expected, dressed in his usual bright silver robes (I sometimes wonder if he has clothing of any other colour?) strolling into the study with a small book in hand, and a smirk on his face as he approaches my desk.
"Ah, good morning, Lucifuge. What brings you here so early in the morning? And what's with the smile?"
I ask, stowing away the notes I was scribbling down.
"It's the birthday of my favourite young lord, of course I am happy. I come to you bearing a birthday gift, if you will."
He punctuates the end of his sentence by dropping the steel-cased tome he carried on my desk, which landed with a heavy thud despite its small size - the dimensions could be compared to that of an A5 paper, and its thickness to that of about 3 fingers. The book appeared to have no cover, nothing to indicate it's purpose.
I simply cock an eyebrow at him, gesturing for him to continue - and so he does.
"This, young Rezivan, is a grimoire - a spell book. You had complained about the lack of diversity in your magic, and while the usual way to go around fixing this would be teaching more spells, we simply do not have the time for that right now. This book is filled with magic circles simply flip to the spell you want from the index-"
He opened the tome to the first page, and it was filled with references to various spells and where to find them - he quickly flipped a couple dozen pages in.
"-and channel demonic energy into them."
He tapped his finger onto the edge of the magical circle on the page below, and it glowed a dirty silver - suddenly, an icicle shot out of the circle and shattered against the roof of my study. I simply stared at Lucifuge in response as ice particles rained down around us.
"Perhaps a different spell would be better in this environment?"
The Lucifuge did not appear to be apologetic in the slightest bit at this, and simply shrugged.
"The compound is built to withstand more than a simple stray icicle, and it seemed that this was an adequate demonstration of the grimoire's capabilities. Also, while it does have combat spells like these, its greatest strength comes in the form of utility spells. An endless source of water is always useful, for example"
As I contemplate his words, I grab the book and flip back to the spell index. Reading it, I can see what the Lucifuge means - this is well over 300 spells from many categories packed in a small book!
"Thank you Lucifuge, this is truly a useful gift. I have to ask, where did you get this so quickly?"
At this, he simply smirked.
"I made it myself."
AN: Arc 1 is nearing to a close, as the MC will soon be leaving the proverbial nest to explore the world and further his schemes. I am surprised at the positive reactions to this fic, as I thought there wasn't much interest in it, given that nobody else seems to have made one like it. Thank you all for your many reviews, I read them all and sometimes draw inspiration from them, not to mention I am always interested in your opinions!
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