NMHA Ch. 48 - Schema


A/N - I'm glad for the positive feedback I received last chapter - it's heartening to hear that others agree with my stance on Rias and Sona, and like the direction I've taken Issei. Validation is a hell of a drug, I'm not gonna lie.

In other news, Elden Ring has been quite a time sink. Over the course of 4 days I managed to reach Level 54, though there's still some notable instances where I just get gimped. Such is the legacy of the Souls-like franchise, I suppose. At least it's been a good game all the same.

Also, had to redo the dream scene, since the other one didn't quite set the atmosphere as I'd hoped.

Anyway, you know the drill. It's storytime. Sorry for the late chapter - this thing fought me tooth and nail for the scenes, and that really dragged out the production time.


As the soft grass bent under her footsteps, Lunarunn Bael knew immediately that she was dreaming. She remembered full well going to sleep, the quiet hands that stole away her consciousness in bed.

Yet it wasn't always that sleep led to her inner world: indeed, it often took her

She supposed it had been a while since she last paid it a visit, though.

Ulan still was missing from the scene, or perhaps Luna just couldn't recognize her patron any longer. Either was intimidating, though in this case she could at least enjoy the atmosphere.

Granted, she was naked as the day she was born, but that just helped confirm the fact that she was unconscious - normally she entered her inner world with whatever she was wearing.

In.

Out.

Luna breathed, knowing full well that she wouldn't be called here without reason.

She looked up, at the stars that twinkled high above despite the intransient dawn of her world.

She lifted a hand toward them, covering them with a hand that she had used for over two decades by this point.

It was harder day by day to determine what memories were real and which ones were mere fantasy.

Luna supposed it all was.

'Real? Or fantasy?' a part of her whispered.

She wasn't sure. She certainly remembered a mundane life, lacking in the supernatural.

Though to call what she was part of now 'supernatural' was something of a misnomer, considering how ubiquitous the realm of gods permeated the human world.

It was still a term coined by and large by that very same world though, so Luna would have to be forgiven for her indiscretion with the word.

In.

Out.

Luna lowered her hand, breathing out a long sigh as she recognized that she'd have to turn around at some point.

And so she did.

Her eyes lifted to the sky; the eye of oblivion, a pocket of empty space where light distorted and no stars were to be found, stared back.

Funny, how she could tell if the black hole was looking at her, as there was technically no pupil to focus on.

The brunette closed her eyes.

In.

Out.

She fell upward.

In.

Out.

A chill to the bone, a permeating silence that snuffed out the sound of the breeze rushing by her ears and along the grass far below.

She reopened her eyes, and the world had gone dark. Nothing surrounded her, except a veil of darkness from which she could make out flickering shadows.

The whispers returned, the murmurs in the back of her mind that validated her blackest thoughts, her most destructive impulses teased and brought forth.

Luna grit her teeth and drew her hand upward, clawing at the fabric of the world around her before ripping it away, revealing the creature behind the veil.

It wasn't as big as she remembered.

Then again, this was just a taint, not the real deal.

But given the pressure it emanated, and the hostility behind the multi-headed gaze, she knew it was far more than a simple stain on her soul.

WHY?

A single word, but even a mere shade of the real deal possessed the presence to nearly floor Luna. Perhaps it was proximity, but even so she couldn't help but wonder how Masaomi and Ruval had withstood the true beast's pressure.

"You tell me. I'm not a fool - If Ulan had summoned me from my dream she'd have spoken with me already. The only other thing in my inner world that can do that is you, and even then this is... what, the fourth time?"

She crossed her arms beneath her bare bust, meeting the creature's lone opened eye evenly.

FEED.

Though it only spoke a single word, Luna could understand exactly what it was getting at.

"I answered your summons, but that doesn't mean I'm beholden to you. If you try to consume me, I'll take the opportunity and wipe myself clean of your essence."

She closed her eyes, taking a hand to run it down one of her extended wings. "Then again, you were already aware of that, so even that answer isn't entirely truthful."

The beast hissed, but didn't move. Instead, it laid its heads down on the stone, the serpentine one remaining upright even as it eyed the confines of the cavern around them. Luna was briefly reminded of the first time she joined the FFP, but unlike then there were no decorations to liven up the environment.

It was cold, desolate, barren. Empty, even.

Now the serpent's head came to rest alongside the others.

Luna let out a low sigh, walking up to the beast many times her size before sitting down, unafraid of the manifestation before her.

"So give it to me straight. What do you want?"

The eagle head lifted up, opening its own eyes to meet the Worldweaver.

COMPANY.

"You'll have to forgive me if I find that somewhat hard to believe," Luna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Especially given how you always try to hijack my body whenever I utilize Cataclysm Eclipse. Now you want... companionship? For me to treat you like, like a companion instead of a parasite?"

FRAGMENT.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that. I might flirt with darkness more than the average Devil, but I'm not an idiot." The hand on the brunette's nose flicked away, arm extending to the side. "Even if you're just a fragment of the original, I'm not going to forget what you come from."

The eagle head tilted in a remarkably natural motion for an unnatural beast. TRUTH.

"If you really think I'm going to so much as give you the benefit of the doubt, you're sorely mistaken, especially after the shit you pulled."

SAVED.

"You also tried to hijack my body on no less than three occasions, and that's not even including the Naberius incident," she shot back. "I might be glad to have Cataclysm Eclipse to fall back on if all other options fail, but I know full well it's a monkey's paw of a power."

DUST TO DUST.

"I don't care. What I care about is that I'm putting myself at risk of handing myself over to you every time I use it." Luna glared at the being before her. "Even if I know that you're stoking the flames, just waiting for me to reach that point again, knowledge can only go so far."

TRUTH.

"And so shameless about it," the brunette drawled. "That's almost respectable, if you weren't trying to use me to go on a mindless spree of destruction."

WHY?

"There's a certain charisma to be found in shameless conviction." She waved the question off. "But that is aside from the point. Do you even see how I might take offense at having my body puppeted, my soul devoured, and the world I lived in for decades now brought to ruin?"

NO.

Again with the shamelessness. Was it just that ingrained for the thing before her to be a being of destruction? "Why?"

ALL THINGS END.

"This spat's gonna have to end, one way or another." Luna turned around, crossing her arms behind her back. "I was marked by your progenitor for a reason. I'm not sure what that reason is, but I'm going to assume it's not good. But you know what, it seems like a real waste if I don't try and use you. But if I keep having to run damage control then it's not gonna be worth it."

ALL THINGS END, it repeated.

"Yes, but if I have to choose between losing to you or losing to the likes of Sirzechs, Zekram, or god forbid Rizevim, I'd much rather choose the side that lets the people I care for survive for longer."

SPARE.

"And if you do that, you'd just be saving them for last." The Worldweaver rolled her eyes. "Not what I would call a good deal."

ALL THINGS END.

"Yeah, well maybe I want their end to be a bit farther off. Maybe I want them to keep living, keep surviving, until time finally claims them. Is that such a hard ask?"

No answer.

"You keep saying all things end. I'm not gonna pretend they don't, but if you're so insistent in running that point whenever you can, then I have to wonder: just who are you trying to convince?"

Luna turned back around and spread her arms wide. "If you really believed that, you wouldn't be so hell-bent on claiming everyone's lives. Shit, you probably wouldn't have even marked me, since no matter how long it takes you'd get your dues!"

The multi-headed creature started to growl, but Luna growled back and stepped forward. "So stop making excuses for yourself. You just want to see the world burn to the ground and salt the ruins."

THE SAME, it hissed, squawked, brayed, bleated, howled, roared, and yowled, swiftly rising to its feet in a wave of hostility.

"I want to burn it down," she agreed, but then lifted a finger, stopping the beast in its tracks. "But unlike you, I want something new to rise from the ashes. Something better."

LIAR.

Luna scoffed. "Maybe I was one before. But even so, I was no worse one than you. And unlike you, I'm through making excuses for myself. I'd have gotten nowhere near where I am now, if I wasn't."

That earned her a sniff from the creature, which laid back down and rested its heads. If the brunette believed it capable of human emotions, she would have thought it affronted.

But she knew better.

That she was its host, that it had latched on to some part of her, made no difference. Luna just had the dubious honor of having the sort of power that would allow her to call on something so corruptive.

She turned around. "Seriously though; instead of attempting to overthrow me time and again, try working with me for once. If you don't... well. Next time we face Kokabiel, I doubt I'll be so lucky as to have an out."

Luna doubted her advice in the form of a warning would work.

But it cost her very little to extend the offer, especially compared to what she might be able to pull off.

Given her goals, she needed everything she could get.


Diodora Astaroth was not the Devil he used to be.

Oh, certainly, he still held the same countenance, a smiling mask hiding a burning passion.

Indeed, even as he sipped at his tea, he was thinking, the ever-present bubbling in his gut particularly hot as he thought about his current situation.

Namely, the fact that he'd recently rejoined the Young Devils' Gathering, only to find that he'd been slapped with a probation for suspected ties to terrorist organizations!

Granted, they weren't entirely wrong, but it was the fact of the matter that they shouldn't have known.

"Then again, Zekram always was the nosy type," that oh-so-familiar voice in the back of his mind sneered. "Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised if he was tipped off by one of his plants."

The alternative was that blasted she-serpent Serafall had gone behind his back to tattle about their call all those years ago. The Assembly could have been just waiting for him to show, so they could place him firmly in their purview.

'Yet the Sitris had abstained in passing the motion, apparently.' That didn't give him any inclinations to believe either side, but certainly it meant he'd need to watch what he said around Serafall far more carefully going forward. Though to be fair, Ajuka might have said something as well. Though with him, Diodora had been far more explicit in his membership. That they didn't imprison him though meant that Ajuka was playing the long game.

That was fine.

"We can work with this legroom anyway."

As Diodora lifted the teacup to his lips again, he heard the beating of feet at his door. He took a low, deep breath.

"Master, Sister Isabel awakened just now," his oldest living Peerage member called, face remarkably impassive considering her following words. "She's having an abreaction."

"Carlamine." Diodora hummed, setting the teacup down and rising to his feet. As he walked up to his first Knight, she met his gaze evenly.

His smile widened. "Thank you for telling me. I'll go calm her down. Get some rest - you had a long night watching over your new sister."

"...I would like to come with you," she denied.

"You're exhausted," Diodora pressed. "I do not want you to fall asleep because you were too stubborn to recognize when you need to lay down."

"For a sister, I can wait another fifteen minutes. At the very least, let me help settle her down. I've been in her place before, after all."

The teal-haired Devil met Carlamine's gaze, then let out a huff. "Bah, very well. If you're so insistent then I won't stop you. Will the others be joining us?"

"Minimizing the number of people to speak with Sister Isabel will help keep her from being overwhelmed. But as your eldest Peerage member, it falls upon me to smooth her transition into this new life."

Diodora could accept that line of logic, even if his mask twitched at the implication of Carlamine being the oldest member of his Peerage, period.

The former nun bowed her head and stepped aside while her King strode past, not paying her another glance. She, however, followed him down the hall, the corners of her lips twitching faintly.

Indeed, when Diodora and Carlamine stepped inside the guest room he typically held reserved for his newest peerage members, the woman within was hyperventilating, pupils dilating and constricting as her sizeable chest rose and fell beneath the nightgown, hands in her gray hair. knelt over a large bowl in the corner of the room, and.

Immediately, the teal-haired Devil set to work, striding over and kneeling down, before setting both hands on Isabel's shoulders, causing her body to tense up. Carlamine knelt down not too far, though a few feet away to prevent Isabel from being closed in.

"Shhhh, shhhh," he soothed, voice low and sibilant. "It's okay now, I'm here."

"A-ah..." the soft voice of the former nun seized up. "B-back... w-w-why am I..."

"You don't remember?" Diodora tilted his head. "You were thrown out of the Church. Something about giving food to a Fallen heathen? The Vatican's ranks have certainly become more radicalized these days."

She whirled on him, fury blazing brightly. "That's not true!"

"Of course not. The Church may be corrupt, but they aren't so foolish as to throw out everyone who doesn't snugly fit their dogma." Carlamine jumped in, causing Isabel's head to swivel to the other former nun. "If they did, I doubt that they would still have the likes of Zenith Tempest or the Ubermensch in their ranks."

Diodora leaned in, as though whispering conspiratorially, into Isabel's ear. "I can take a guess as to what really happened, though. You were looking into rumors of abuse from the powers that be, stumbled onto something far larger than you were prepared to uncover, and so were promptly excommunicated. Any credibility you had was stripped away in an instant when you were labeled a heretic, saved only by the 'goodwill' of the diocese you were looking into pleading 'clemency on your behalf'. They get a boost to their reputation and wash their hands of a potential leak."

Her silver pupils locked with his smile.

"How... how do you know that?" she breathed, trembling even more.

"When you prayed to God-" he hid the wince from saying the biblical deity's name behind a slight frown. "You begged Him for forgiveness, for a sin not your own. You pleaded for a chance to return to the place you belong, for respite from your woes... but most of all, you prayed for someone who would believe you."

"A-and... and you're supposed to be the one He sent to me?" Isabel whispered, aghast at the very implication. "A Devil who stole me away from my home and... and..."

"It's starting to come back, I see." His smile widened faintly, squeezing the ex-nun's shoulder's gently and eliciting a brief whimper from her. "But just remember, I've done nothing that you haven't asked for, and nothing you've protested against. I gave you respite, I gave you peace, I took away your sorrows, and put them out of your mind."

For a brief moment, rage flared up, but even then it was replaced by another look that sent shivers down Diodora's spine. "B-by mind controlling me?"

"Is that really such a bad thing?" he whispered, one hand sliding from her shoulder to the place between them. "Even now, if you wanted, I could help you. And is it really mind control when all I'm doing, even now, is guiding you?"

"Master?" Carlamine recognized the motion the Devil was about to make.

His fingers trailed down Isabel's spine from the nape of her neck, and as he did the tension flowed out of the knelt-over woman. Forewarned thanks to Diodora's motions, Carlamine quickly provided support to Isabel, so the silver-eyed former-nun didn't fall over outright.

"Just relax," Diodora murmured into the ex-nun's ear. "Just let yourself go, let all that pent-up fear and confusion just drain out of you. It's so overwhelming that it feels better this way, doesn't it?" After a brief moment and a soft sigh from Isabel he continued. "Excellent. Just let yourself come to slowly now, and know that all those negative feelings will return, as they should. But you may just find yourself able to handle them this time. They will come as a river, instead of a bursting dam. A source to push through and overcome, rather than a force to be consumed and overcome by. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

With a low hum, the gray-haired woman's head swayed slowly from side to side, and over the next several seconds Diodora felt strength returning to the woman's body.

"...I see why Devils are such masters of temptation," Isabel swallowed hard. "That... that is dangerous."

"It is, isn't it?" Carlarmine agreed, though there were hints of a smirk placed across her lips. "...Remind me to speak with you about how Diodora and I met once you're feeling better."

"I'm truly flattered," the teal-haired Devil demurred, running a full hand down the newest nun's back repeatedly, now a gesture of comfort rather than anything else. "Are you feeling any better now?"

"No." She swallowed. "But... it's more..." her eyes flicked back up to his, still faintly hazy from her prior panic and the brief trance that Diodora had put her under. "m-manageable?"

"That's good. I'm glad." Diodora's eyes opened faintly, his smile softening as he continued to rub her back. "The first time Carlamine had a bad night like yours I tried something similar, but it didn't work quite as well as I had hoped. When I tried again with Veronica I ended up stuck halfway through a wall!"

Once more, his Knight followed up. "Sister Veronica was quite taken aback at how much stronger she had become upon accepting Master Astaroth's Rook piece. It took us an hour to dig him out without bringing the whole room down."

Isabel didn't laugh, but her lips had quirked upward. The teal-haired Devil took it as a good sign. "I would try talking to your sisters, if I were you. They went through very similar issues - maybe you could pick something up that will be of use. I won't use my powers on you all the time - only when you ask for it."

"You could; it'd be far easier to make use of these fallen maidens that way."

The teal-haired Devil refused to deign the voice with an answer to that. "Even if it would be interesting to see the result," he did, however, admit to Isabel, though that got him a look from Carlamine. "I'm better than that. And I'll prove it."

"But are you really?"

Diodora refused to give the voice an answer to that.

The former nun said nothing more, instead nodding slowly while Diodora reached out to take the bowl.

"Will you still need this?"

This time, Isabel shook her head, prompting the Astaroth to rise to his feet, mask firmly in place as he fought off the urge to snarl at the stench wafting from the bowl. 'So unpleasant.' Still, the benefits certainly outweighed these particular costs.

"T-thank you." It sounded like it took a lot for Isabel to say that. Even if the Church had betrayed her, she still clung to its teachings.

"Hypocrite. She was quite enthusiastic in giving you everything she had last night."

Carlamine took up the place that Diodora had vacated, rubbing Isabel's back and speaking silently to her fellow heretic.

It wasn't like he planned on using her for anything she didn't want, though. If Isabel wanted to pretend that nothing had changed despite her excommunication and the bed they'd shared, then Diodora was more than willing to oblige.

He didn't really need her in the end like she needed him now.

A brief image of a bloody and mutilated corpse flashed before his eyes, and so he firmly locked his eyes on the task before him.

Diodora would rather focus on the bits of vomit washing out of the bowl into the toilet than let his mind wander back there.

"Enjoy the respite while it lasts. We still have plans to unfold."

To that, however, the teal-haired Devil couldn't agree more.


"Brother."

"Riser. Please, make yourself comfortable."

"I'll stand."

Lord Ruval Phenex breathed out a slow sigh, pressing his fingertips together as he rested his hands on the desk. A stack of paperwork was set to the side, a number of treatises and proposals from the surrounding territories that he had taken upon himself personally to address. This was going to be one of those discussions, wasn't it? "Very well."

There was a tense pause as older and younger brother stared each other down.

"Your 'Phoenix Initiative' is proving costlier and costlier with each passing year," Riser commented. "The Phenex coffers are impressive, but this personal project of yours is beginning to make a mark in the budget."

"It always has been," Ruval replied placidly, leaning back in his seat. "There is much ground to cover, and given how stagnant our lands have stood I believe that bringing new blood into our yard serves our future selves well." He lifted a hand, palm-up. "Besides, you aren't typically one to complain about expenditures. If I recall correctly, you recently bought your Peerage a luxury yacht as a gift for them all."

Riser's face rose in a brief flush, but he stood his ground. "This is far more than a single expenditure for a significant other, Lord Phenex. As you said - this has been a costly endeavor that has been spanning years now. Mother and Father asked me to try and talk some sense into you regarding your reckless spending."

Ruval's lips thinned. So his parents wanted to bring Riser into their conflict? That was a low blow, especially considering that Riser had little actual say in their discussions. He was a Phenex, certainly, but he was second in line for the headship if something were to occur to Ruval, after even Rexen.

But the Phenex Flame of Sinai had dealt with worse.

So instead of getting angry, he instead spoke of double standards.

"And what are Mother and Father doing right now, exactly?" Ruval asked in turn. "Enjoying their retirement? I heard they recently went on a trip to scout out another manor."

"There is a marked difference between taking on more rabble to the point of stretching our resources and searching for new land to invest in."

"And that difference lies solely in returns on development." Ruval took a moment to look through the papers on his desk before sliding a piece of paper over to Riser. "But for a species so long-lived, we seem to forget that we are just as valuable as the land we walk on. Any skills we train in someone can provide productivity for centuries, if not millennia. Lands may last longer, but it takes people to make a land profitable."

Riser took the proffered paper and looked through it, eyes widening briefly before he set it back down. "Just because your reports predict such a marked increase in returns doesn't mean that the family should spend everything on... what, increasing the population of Devils under the Phenex banner?"

Ruval rested a hand on his cheek. "Is that not how the Ratings Games go? We're supposed to fraternize with our own and those close to us, take what strong and skilled individuals we can, and turn them into our servants, in order to gain the greatest edge over our rivals."

Riser furrowed his brow. Ruval couldn't blame the younger Phenex for his moment of introspection. Their world was a complex web of hypocrisies, and one needed only the perspective to see how it served to maintain power at the very top.

"This and that aren't the same," Riser protested.

Ruval tilted his head. "How so?"

When the younger brother didn't immediately answer, Ruval shook his head and gestured to the prediction results laying on the table. "Times are changing. For starters, we only pay lip service to the idea of self-improvement beyond who is the strongest, or the best at bedding others, or possesses the silverest of tongues. We emphasize entertainment of the self, even if it means operating at the expense of others, and we are lauded for it. If we don't change with the times, and Devils by and large aren't doing so fast enough, then nature would dictate we go extinct."

"Just because you were too slow to save your fiancee doesn't mean that we as a species are moving too slowly to save ourselves."

The temperature in the room rose to near paper-inflaming temperatures as Ruval extended his ghostly, white-burning wings, eyes narrowing slowly.

"I would welcome you to not invite the failure of my past into the present," he warned, "lest I see fit to punish you for such a tasteless comment."

Riser shivered, but held his ground. "Mother and Father pointed out that you only started coming up with this plan of yours after you had to kill Lunarunn Bael."

"Then it merely shows how effective my mask was beforehand." Ruval clicked his tongue. "I always believed we were acting too selfishly - and I bought into hypocrisy for the longest time. All Lunarunn did was inspire me to put my money where my morals lie. And so that is exactly what I am doing."

"It's not just your money. It's the wealth accumulated over countless generations of Phenexes, borne of alliances and marriages, but you have completely forsaken these ideas in favor of... what, expansion of the commoners' standard of living? How can you expect to see such returns when they are so weak compared to the Pillars?"

"The Phenex holdings are mine to use all the same," the nobleman corrected Riser. "I am the Lord Phenex of this household, Riser, by blood, by strength, and by will of the people. Perhaps you should visit the rabble you speak of so dismissively, and speak with them about how the Phoenix Initiative has improved their lot. Talk about the opportunities they can now pursue. Take some time to learn perspective. You may be surprised at what you find in the hearts and minds of the common Devil."

"I think I will decline out of principle," Riser sneered. "There is a reason why we are above and beyond the means of those with diluted blood, and it comes down to just that: blood. We are stronger. We are faster. We are smarter. We and they are of a different breed, and so should be separate as such."

The arrogance of nobility.

"Yet a commoner nearly killed me."

"But she didn't."

"Only because she found enough reason within herself to spare me in the last moment." Ruval closed his eyes and chuckled. "Even then, I was forevermore marked by that power. One need only look at my wings to see the impact that Lunarunn had."

Yet Riser didn't call Ruval weak. He couldn't, not without suffering consequences in turn. The younger brother may have been arrogant, but Ruval was glad to see he had enough reason not to try and press home on that supposed 'weakness'. Even scarred, Ruval's strength had soared well into the Ultimate Class.

He continued. "If a so-called 'commoner' could rise to such heights despite all the setbacks she encountered, how many more like her might come about were the Assembly more amenable to nurturing talent outside the circle of remaining Pillars?"

"We already do - we bring them into our Peerages."

"I am not just talking about joining Peerages. That's a vassalage and represents a limitation to the inductees' potential based on their King's ability to rule - a pyramid scheme whose turnout is only as good as the Devil at the very top. I'm speaking of a new expansion of Pillars outright."

Riser blinked.

"...You mean to say you'd offer the Extra Devils extinct Pillars?"

"Not just the Extra Devils, but branch families, Outlanders, Cambions, or even Reincarnated. And why not?" Ruval expounded, almost casually. "We have lands, titles, artifacts, and scriptures laying around gathering dust, so much potential wasted because the Assembly so stubbornly clings to past glories. I would even argue that in making use of their legacies, we honor the original Pillars by utilizing their passing as an opportunity to become stronger as a whole. Why not give those Devils a chance to prove their worthiness of the headship?"

Riser's nose scrunched up. "Do you not realize how, how mad it sounds to offer nobility like that? To unblooded rabble, bastard sons, and adopted children? There is no legacy to their name, no reason to expect them worthy of the noble titles!"

"I'm only expanding on the idea that Zekram Bael himself suggested for the Dark Moon, shortly before she went berserk," Ruval lightly pointed out as he retracted his wings, the ambient temperature falling once more. "My words only sound 'mad' because it's unprecedented at the scale I'm suggesting. I will gladly accept the notion that I was mistaken should the results prove as such. But so far, the predictions and initial results are incredibly promising."

He rapped the tests he'd shown Riser with a knuckle to drive home the point.

"This is only the beginning. We may feel the squeeze now, but in the next one to two hundred years, when our lands are flourishing and the Phenexes have outstripped even the Baels, my directives will not be considered madness but brilliance."

"You cannot be sure of that!"

"I can't," Ruval agreed, meeting Riser's gaze. "But I have faith that the seeds of the present will become the fruits, if not jewels, of the future." Then, the Phenex Flame of Sinai smiled. "We will continue to grow. We will continue to evolve. We will continue to flourish. From our stagnated past we shall take flight, and from the wide wings of the Phoenix Initiative, the Phenex Pillar will carve a stronger, nobler path for the rest of the Underworld to follow."

The younger brother was pale. His eyes had widened, and beads of sweat dotted his brow. "...You... you sound like you mean to claim the title of Great King for the Phenexes."

Ruval leaned back once more, crossing his arms with a sigh. "...Perhaps I am. If a King does not lead, how can they expect others to follow? If the Baels don't step up to the plate and practice what they preach, then I will do so in their place."

Riser didn't take up any more time after that, turning around to leave. "I need to think over your words. Excuse me."

Ruval would be well within his rights to punish his brother for that brusqueness, but he didn't.

That didn't stop Ruval from calling out before Riser could escape, however. "Bring Ravel in. I'd like to speak with her, now that we have finished our own discussion."

There was an "Eep!" outside the door, then a young woman with blonde hair styled up in twin drills stepped into the room almost sheepishly, a pout on her face.

"S-stupid big brother!" she huffed. "How did you know?!"

"You're too curious to not want to know why Riser wanted to talk to me. We do not speak much outside of family matters." He nodded at the obstinate Phenex in question. "Admittedly, that is more my fault than any of yours. I've been... busy. Busy in a different way than before, but even so I apologize."

Though he was looking away, Ruval knew that Riser had rolled his eyes at that, but let the matter slide. "You are free to leave, Riser."

He turned back around, narrowed eyes glaring at Ruval. "I will stay with Ravel."

Ruval raised an eyebrow at the other male Phenex's wariness.

'Maybe I'd miscalculated.'

"R-Ruval." Ravel took a deep breath, as though steeling her nerves, before blurting out what was on her mind. "Do you really mean to start another war?!"

'...I definitely miscalculated.'

"Of course not," he denied flat-out, swiping a hand to the side to emphasize his point. "I may not be pleased with the current leadership but I am not fool enough to think that starting an uprising would provoke anything other than needless bloodshed."

"I never said anything about an uprising," Ravel fired back.

"No, but I know my family well enough to determine that you came to such a conclusion. I may be busy, but I do still try to keep tabs on you all," Ruval crossed his arms. "You're a bright girl when it comes to wartime tactics, and it serves you well in the Ratings Games. But you focus too much on the militaristic flavor in the actions of others."

He breathed out a sigh. "Honestly, were you not so good at what you do, I'd tell you to stop playing all those Sidney Moyet's Civilization games. Don't think I haven't seen all the domination victory achievements you have with the Huns and the Mongols."

His sister flushed prettily. "You play it too?"

"Every once in a good while. Try giving the Greeks a shot." Ruval chuckled. "You might find juggling all those city-states a bit more in line with what it's like to be Lord of a household."

"Ah, well... er, w-wait, that's not the point!" Ravel recovered, pointing a finger at Ruval. "Then why go through all this trouble building up the militia?"

"Because I am expecting armed conflict to erupt at some point."

The open admission briefly stunned the youngest siblings, before Ravel gathered her wits enough to speak. "...What?"

"I know full well that compared to the closed walls of the other Pillars, the Phenex's rapidly expanding borders are alarming, the livelihoods of those we take under our influence notwithstanding." Ruval gestured to the side. "Compared to the status quo, taking undeveloped territory and rapidly pushing through development is completely alien to the usual stance Pillars take. They're wondering, when will my ambitions lie? When will I stop? More importantly, when will I come for their lands?"

He set his elbows on the table, making a steeple with his fingers. "They may not even think of such, but I have the impression that their largest concerns in the back of their minds are thus: how willingly will their people welcome the Phenex banner if I do? That is not to say the lives of the commoners in the territory of other Pillars are bad - many have lives and careers quite comparable to modern humans, if much longer-lived, but the question remains."

"If," Ravel noticed. "You say that as though you don't plan on actually launching an invasion."

"Of course not. I have no plans on casting the first stone. I'd much rather focus on internal affairs to do my due diligence and then some for those I rule over." Ruval pinched the bridge of his nose. "But allow me to emphasize what I said - commoner Devils have lifestyles comparable to modern humans. You two may be all but physically and mentally mature, but I am centuries older than the both of you combined. You may not even know of a time where humans lived in huts and lacked such things as firearms. I, however, remember them clearly. Ravel, how long have computers existed like the one you play Civilization on?"

"Uh... You mean the current operating system, or...?"

"Just home computers in general."

"I think they started somewhere in the 1980's?"

"The first was made in 1977." At the blank looks on Riser and Ravel's faces, Ruval sighed as he recognized the need to elaborate. "Not even forty years has passed since the first commercially-available computational device was created. Not even forty years since humans began using numbers to create operating systems, and they are able to create games - games, I must emphasize - that can simulate and emulate the rise and fall of entire empires, with mathematically-generated graphics that simulate enough realism to provide a highly engaging visual, audio, and gameplay loop.

"They can also automate processes, communicate near-instantly across vast distances as effectively as a master mentalist, and provide access to a near-entirety of the wealth of human knowledge by merely typing in your query. To say nothing of everything else a computer, for civilians, can do. All this, created in the last forty years."

He turned his head to the older Phenex sibling. "Riser, what was the most recent major technological advancement that Devils personally created and pioneered?"

"The Evil Piece System, in response to the dangerously low population levels by the end of the last Civil War," he replied, eyes narrowing as he caught on to what Ruval was insinuating. "That development last occurred hundreds of years ago. But implying that creating a fancy box that acts as a personal servant and literally converting other species into our own while maintaining their previous attributes are the same thing is a grossly inapt comparison!"

"But that's just the most recent development that humans have made, and it should be mentioned that computers and the Evil Piece system were both just as revolutionary to the societies that first created them." Ruval held up a finger. "We can also go back another thirty-five years, when humans created a weapon that lets them, if for but a moment, emulate the power of an Ultimate-class Devil. Within fifteen years of that first test explosion, they produced enough of those weapons to destroy the entire planet were the Top Ten to not get involved."

He continued on, noting Ravel's rapidly paling complexion and Riser's tensing posture. "Thirty-nine years prior to the creation of the fission bomb, in 1903, humans first began traveling though the very mode of transportation that the supernatural by and large held over them, despite their lack of wings. Twenty-one years before that, and New York first starting widely using electricity. Six years before that, humans were able to successfully capture air and use it to breathe in places that would suffocate us. And the invention of scuba gear is only eleven years after the most militaristically and economically powerful human country to exist, the United States of America, ended their own civil war over the fate of chattel slavery in their country.

"This is not even including how a small island nation named Japan, not even a tenth of the size of the United States, is the most technologically advanced one, only seventy-one years after it was devastated by nuclear bombs." He stared at Ruval and Ravel, briefly gesturing to himself to emphasize the point. "It only took that long, despite the average human being weak enough to be obliterated by you two, for them to get back on their feet and become one of the world's most powerful nations despite their small landmass. But since we're talking about the closest equivalent to the Devils that humans have, we'll set that trivia aside."

"One hundred and fifty-one years," he finished, rising to his feet. "In one hundred and fifty-one years, humans have invented, developed, and utilized no less than eight technologies that completely shattered the bounds of what was and was not possible. Perhaps our best and brightest aided here and there, but the vast majority of the actual learning and implementation was done by humans alone. Compared to the hundreds of years since the last wholly Devil-made invention, or the last new branch of magic, what sort of conclusion can you derive from that?"

Ravel looked down. "...We aren't as technologically productive as humans?"

"Heh. Not quite, but close enough." Ruval gestured to the papers before him. "I would argue that it's not that we are technologically unproductive, but that we place so little priority on it due to our small population and inclination towards demonic power, of which we can argue the Evil Piece system stands as the scientific capstone for the foreseeable future. Ajuka Beelzebub is a genius among geniuses, but even he can only do so much. Then comes Lunarunn Bael, a pure Devil who bore a human soul. But even as a Devil, she was of a commoner branch, the only gifts she possessed were the remains of a ritual gone wrong and parents that were willing to support the pursuit of her dreams."

"Then she bit off more than she could chew, went insane, and died." Riser lifted a brow and crossed his arms. "What are you getting at?"

The Phenex Flame of Sinai leaned forward, propping his arms on the desk. "She accomplished in a decade as a human-turned-Devil what a 'pure' Devil in her place would have taken centuries to do. Personal feelings I held toward her aside, is it so hard to believe that I wouldn't be inspired to try and follow even a fraction of that example?"

"Even if you were forced to kill her for her arrogance?" Riser insisted.

"Even then. But that's just the way life works - we must learn our lessons from those who have come and gone before us, so that we may continue moving forward whilst avoiding the traps that caused them to fall." Ruval rose from his lean, crossing his arms behind his back and exhaling. "That's why I'm pushing so hard with the Phoenix Initiative; by emulating humans, I'm attempting to emulate that pace of progress, that spark of creativity and innovation."

Ravel lifted a hand to one arm, but didn't look back up just yet. "And by doing so, you mean to get a leg up over every other Pillar?"

Ruval nodded once. "There is a world out there ripe for the taking, if you're willing to get your hands dirty and start digging. Which leads back into my heavy investments into the Phenex militia. Riser, what do you do when a potential enemy starts becoming too strong?"

The older of the two youngest siblings still seemed recalcitrant, but provided an answer. "You put them down however you can, even if it means making allies with those you would have little intention working with otherwise." Then, Riser's eyes widened as he recognized the implications. "Oh."

The Phenex Flame of Sinai nodded once, and continued. "Ravel, what do you, as a society known for its opportunistic and aggressive behavior, do if you see that a neighboring country is proving highly productive, is a technological or economic powerhouse, but lacks in defenses?"

She got the point immediately. "You... you take them over... hard and fast so they can't bring that strength to bear. Ruval, is that why you're so insistent on all these massive expenditures?" Ravel looked back up, eyes wide. "Is that why mother and father are so concerned over your expansion?"

To that, Ruval simply smiled.

"Before, I failed to follow my beliefs or save my fiancee. I refuse to let what happened to Luna happen again to the people I call my own again, even as I strive to be the nobleman I always aspired to be."


A/N -

Okay, so the Ruval scene was approximately the same length as the other ones before I thought that including Ravel would be a good choice, both to make the discussion more dynamic as well as to add some more characterization to each individual. Somehow it spiraled from a brief easter egg into an outright comparison of history between Devils and humans, as well as an exposition on the Phoenix Initiative.

yes i gave tactician chicken a hobby in playing civ, it fits and you know deep down that im right

So yeah. Ruval is basically spitting in the eye of the status quo with his Phoenix Initiative, recognizes the other houses won't take to such a development so kindly, and is rushing to prepare his house for the inevitable shitstorm. Unlike Luna, he has resources, contacts, and allies already in place, as well as a highly respectable and influential title. Will it make a difference? This might be exposition, but we'll keep moving forward with the next one! Stick around to find out what happens next time, on Dragon Ball Titties!

...Geez, tough crowd. Tempura Wizard out.