We all made it back to Neith's place, where the other teleporting sword Seigi made was. Of course, there was quite a commotion when we showed up.
I lost track of time when we were put to sleep, but it seems we'd been gone for quite a while. So long, in fact, that Rikimaru and Miyabi wanted to use the sword to go and help us, but Reina and Ruki told them to wait, since they had no way of knowing what was going on on our side. Thinking back, we should have found a way to communicate with them.
Oh, and there was also a lot of surprise from seeing the homunculus that looked like Lizel-senpai. Between that and everything from before, we had a lot to talk about, but Lizel-senpai said she wanted to heal up and rest a bit first, so Ruki used healing magic on her and we waited a bit before sitting down to talk.
A while later:
"Now then, I believe we have a lot to talk about, so let's not beat around the bush too much. If you don't mind me asking first, how did Justice and Strength end up here, Yuuto?"
"Ah, right. It seems Yotaka had asked for Seigi's help before coming here to the Devil World. After Lizel-senpai and Poran were kidnapped, they came to help us."
"Death's Group has essentially disbanded, and nee-sama and I weren't seeing eye-to-eye with the other members anyway. That being said, being part of a group has many advantages. That's why we sought to enter Yuuto's alliance."
"I see. If Yuuto has allowed it, then I won't say anything. Rather, you did help with saving me and Poran, so I should thank you."
Lizel-senpai thanked Seigi. Now that I think about it, it really looks like I'm the only one who didn't see this as an alliance. Better late than never I guess.
Ah, by the way, the ones taking part in this little meeting of ours are me, Lizel-senpai, Neith, Ruki, Seigi and Rikimaru. Though it looks like Rikimaru is about to doze off. Miyabi, Reina and Swordia are with Poran and the homunculus and the children.
"I suppose I should also address the matter regarding my magic circuits. Firstly, I'd like to ask that everyone keep this a secret. Secondly, I'll warn you all beforehand that there's not much to tell."
Well, the secret part I got. If everyone knew Lizel-senpai couldn't use magic, lots of people would probably go after her. Unfortunately it seems I'm not strong enough yet that people will think messing with someone close to me is a bad idea.
But how can she say there's not much to tell? How can one losing their magic circuits be a simple matter? It's not like you can go "oh I forgot to put them on today" or something.
"In summary, a certain incident that took place about 4 or 5 years ago made me lose most of my magic circuits. I can use some basic spells, but they also damage my body. The only spell I can use without repercussions is my Bloodline Magic, Cupid. Yuuto prohibited me from telling more than that, so this is all I can tell."
I what? O-oh, maybe Lizel-senpai means to use her position as my Card to not have to tell anymore? I mean, if we're in an alliance, I feel we should share what we know, but maybe she has her reasons so I'll play along.
"5 years ago…? Wasn't that when Lizel was…?"
"Neith *shush*"
It seems Neith figured something out, but Lizel-senpai put a finger to her lip and told her to keep quiet. Now I'm getting curious, I should probably ask about it later. No, maybe not. I literally decided to wait for Lizel-senpai just a while back.
"Well, I can imagine you have your reasons, so I won't pry. … And it also seems nee-sama doesn't mind."
Rikimaru seemed to be already well into dreamland. I have to admire her ability to sleep while sitting like this. It looks like there's 0 risk of her falling down.
"I also won't pry, but I have to admit I'm curious. If you want, when we get to my place, I could ask my dad to take a look at you. He may not look it, but he has healing powers that could be considered divine."
"I'll think about it, thank you."
Ruki didn't seem too shocked from hearing what Lizel-senpai had to say. Other than her and the sleeping Rikimaru, all of us first heard that Lizel-senpai was without her magic circuits from Yotaka, so we had some time to process it. But I expected a bit more of a reaction from Ruki.
Maybe because of what her father does she's seen something similar? That's about all I can think to explain her lack of surprise.
"We should move to the main matter. Yuuto, did you find anything in your investigation?"
"My…? O-oh, right. Yeah, I figured some stuff."
It seems that the main matter is my making Neith into a Card, something that should have been impossible. By the way, Lizel-senpai told me to pretend I'd investigated things, rather than asked Sein. She thinks it's better to keep a few things hidden, even from allies.
Again, personally, I have nothing against telling them about me talking with my Arcana, Sein, but at the same time I feel like we've had enough breaking revelations for the day, so let's leave that for another opportunity.
"In summary, it is possible to make another Candidate into a Card, and they'll be able to have the benefits from both sides. That said, there are some rules, unlike with making anyone else a Card. Those rules are: the Candidate must not have Cards of their own, and the Candidate must forfeit victory for their master."
That's what Sein told me. I'll explain better using myself and Rikimaru as an example, since I imagine Strength's Characteristic Magic is quite simple.
Let's say that Rikimaru's Characteristic Magic makes herself and her Cards stronger based on the amount of mana they have, and I have Healing Lovers, which gives mana to myself and my Cards. And now let's imagine Rikimaru becomes my Card and I also become her Card.
Because a Candidate that becomes a Card has the best of both worlds, we'd basically get infinite strength, using the example from before. The rule that a Candidate who becomes a Card can't have Cards of their own is there basically to avoid stuff like that.
By the way, I have no idea if Rikimaru's Characteristic Magic is like that, it was just for the sake of the example. And it seems Healing Lovers has the special effect of powering up other Candidate's Characteristic Magic, along with it's normal bonuses..
As for the other rule, it's basically there so there's no betrayal. Let's imagine that, suddenly, only Neith and I were left in the Devil King War, in that case I'd automatically win. But if I died, Neith could continue and still have a chance to win. So you couldn't just become someone's Card, let them do all the hard work, and then defeat them in the end.
"Oh, and before I forget, it seems those effects are permanent. So even if I undid the contract with Neith now, she still couldn't win the Devil King War against me. … Sorry, I didn't know at the time."
"It's fine, Yuuto-kun… I would have accepted it even if I knew… Rather, I'm glad I could become Yuuto-kun's Card. I promise to do my best from now on."
I guess it's fine that Neith doesn't mind it, but I still feel a little bad. I feel like I somehow tricked her into giving up all those things, even though I also didn't know about any of it at the time.
But I guess I also have to do my best for her from now on. We talked about it right before this, and Neith said she wanted to continue being my Card. I wanted to at least give her a higher position, since the Ace and Prince spots are still open, but she didn't want to risk breaking the contract for that, and it's not like I really care about which of my Cards is which, so we just decided to keep her as VII.
"Eeh, Yuuto-kun is amazing. Not only did you do something everyone thought was impossible, you even found out that much about it in such a short time."
Well, it was really Sein. By the way, it seems she can now talk with Chariot's Arcana directly, since Neith became my Card. So the 2 of them got together and found out all that stuff.
"I see, even though it's an amazing thing, we can't make light of it. I was thinking nee-sama and I could become each other's Cards to give ourselves a boost, but it seems that it won't be possible."
"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."
"It's not as if you made these rules, so you don't have to apologize. It would have been nice if we could do it, but it's no loss if we can't. We didn't even know it was possible until just a little bit ago."
Seigi's right. It's not like their plans are ruined, after all you can't plan for something you don't even know is possible.
"I wonder if this is how the Devil King managed to win without killing Emperor and Priestess."
That's also something that everyone thought was a rule of the Devil King War. In the past, it seems that Candidates did try to win without killing every other Candidate, but it just didn't work. It's not like there's written rules or anything, so people just guess that, if something hasn't been done before, it's just not possible.
But then, in the previous Devil King War, the current Devil King, Barbatos, won without killing 2 of his opponents. And now I made a different Candidate into a Card. Really makes you question if there are any rules. I suppose those may be related, but at the same time it doesn't feel quite right. I can't say for myself, but it seems that you just know when you become someone's Card, so I feel that if that was the case then at least Fleminar would have figured it out.
"It is possible that that's how it was done, but we can't say for sure. Regardless, I hope this makes it clear to everyone that Yuuto will be the next Devil King."
Lizel-senpai said, I even felt a little bit of hostility in her voice. Is she planning to start a fight here or something?
Rikimaru was still sleeping, and Neith only nodded, but I was curious as to how Ruki and Seigi would react.
"Well, I never wanted to be a Candidate in the first place, so I'm fine with Yuuto-kun winning."
"Nee-sama and I have our own goals in this Devil King War, but neither of us have to become Devil King to fulfill that. And honestly, between fighting Yuuto or surrendering to him, surrendering is probably the better option. So as long as Yuuto won't impair me and nee-sama, then we'd have no reason to fight."
It seems that Ruki is simply not interested in the Devil King War. Meanwhile, Seigi and Rikimaru seem to have an objective that they're striving towards. I don't know their plan, but they seem like good people, so I can't imagine myself having to fight them. For now, we all seemed to be at an understanding.
For the rest of the meeting, we just focused on basic stuff, like how to contact each other and how we were planning to handle things from now on. In the end, we decided that we'd just let things take their course. I'm not going to shout out of my lungs that Neith is now my Card, but I won't go through great pains to hide it either. If people figure it out, let them.
And, as soon as we were done talking, Rikimaru woke up.
"Hmm~ what a productive meeting. Are we going home now, Seigi-chan?"
"*sigh* Yes, nee-sama."
She woke up with such perfect timing that it was hard to imagine she was actually sleeping. Maybe she's actually really smart and pretends to be dumb? … Somehow, I don't think that's the case.
Anyway, after that, Rikimaru, Seigi and Swordia went back the way they originally came. It seems they had their own plans for training during summer break, so they said we'd talk more after classes resumed. By the way, Seigi took Tenka Fubu with her, saying she'd fix the perverted sword and give it back to me once classes restarted.
Oh, Reina and Swordia also renewed their promise for a match after the next term started. I heard Swordia gave Stella a run for her money during the time she was Moon's Card, so I kinda want to see her match against Reina.
Anyway, with this, peace seems to have been fully restored. All we had to do now was enjoy the last day before we head for Ruki's place. Since I'm not sure when I'll see them again, I decided to spend some time playing with Poran and the children.
Then night fell, and it was now time for Healing Lovers. We'd been having trouble doing it thanks to all the children roaming about, but tonight we all put a little extra effort into it, since it was our last night here.
By that I mean we locked every door and window both with physical locks as well as magical locks, and then we even put some furniture to block them just in case. We were all feeling it after holding back for all these days. Though I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that, since I did with with Neith just earlier.
Once that was all set, we began taking off our clothes. Today it's not just Lizel-senpai, Miyabi and Reina, but Neith is here as well. We're going to catch a long flight tomorrow, so it's fine to skip sleeping tonight.
"Everyone, before we start, I have a few things I want to say."
Lizel-senpai suddenly brought us all to a screeching halt. She began to tell Miyabi and Reina about everything, including the stuff about her magic circuits. It seems a lot flew over Miyabi's head, but I think she got the jist of it.
Then, Lizel-senpai prompted me to speak. I didn't understand it at first, but then I remembered I had to tell Neith about my talking with Sein, and I figured I might as well explain about my memory problems.
"So Yuuto's already that aware of it. It means the seal is close to breaking."
"Lizel-senpai, do you… know something about this?"
"Yes. As I told Yuuto, I'll be as honest as I can."
Guess Lizel-senpai is even more full of secrets than I thought. Everyone was listening attentively, except for Miyabi, who seemed like she just wanted to get to Healing Lovers. To be honest, I was the same. How am I supposed to just stay put with a bunch of half-naked girls around me?
"I'll start by saying that I know the cause for Yuuto's memory problems, but I can't speak on the matter for now. The other point I want to talk about is that Yuuto isn't the only one who can hear Sein. I can also hear her voice. Since the beginning, we've worked together to try and do the best we can to ensure Yuuto's victory. Of course, I have also acted on my own a number of times, like with the matter of Aspite, which might be why we're far behind schedule."
Wait… Lizel-senpai can also hear Sein?! I'm so shocked I can't even scream! It seems it's about the same for Miyabi, Neith and Reina. I mean, talking with an Arcana is already a big deal, so 2 people doing it will blow a lot of minds away.
Sein, why didn't you tell me?
[Queen requested we keep it a secret until Yuuto recovers his memories.]
"Yes, it was my idea. I apologize for keeping all of this a secret until now. I promise to tell the rest when I can, but for now I must ask everyone to trust me for a while more."
Lizel-senpai gave a sincere and heartfelt apology, even bowing her head and everything. Despite everything, I don't think anyone really blames Lizel-senpai.
With all the hard talking out of the way, it was time for Healing Lovers to start. Miyabi was the first to get back on the mood, if she ever even lost it, which then got me back on the mood, and from then on was a domino effect.
4 on 1 was a hard battle, but I liked those odds and I did well for such a disadvantage. I'd like to say I managed to satisfy everyone, but the girls were insatiable. It's really hard to hold back my lust at times like this, you know?
It might not seem like it, but I've thought about having sex with the girls a number of times now. I always end up holding back though. Sein said the first time having sex would probably be a big mana boost, so we could save it for a time I needed a lot of mana really fast, and I have to admit I'm also nervous about it. Because of all that, I'm constantly holding back.
With barely any sleep and sticky with each others' body fluids, we arrived at the next day, the day we'd be leaving Neith's territory. After cleaning myself, I just had to get my bags ready to leave.
"Yuuto-kun, I won't be able to go with you… but after we meet again in Ginsei Academy…"
Neith was going to help Poran and the children, so obviously she couldn't come with us. It's a shame, but we'll only be apart for a few weeks.
"Yeah. Let's do lots of perverted things."
I whispered that in Neith's ear. She seemed quite happy hearing that. She gave me a kiss and then lifted her skirt for me to see.
She wasn't wearing anything! The blond pubic hair was the only thing protecting the dark-skinned pussy! She then whispered to me that she wouldn't touch herself until we met again.
… Do we have some time for more Healing Lovers? No? Damn it.
But, with that perverted promise, we said our goodbyes. Our next destination was the place Ruki's family ruled.
