06. A Day in the Life of a Devil

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you!" The old woman sobbed thanking me over and over as she held my hand in her feeble grip.

Her granddaughter of three years old watched with disinterest until she resumed playing with her toys.

I smiled at the old woman. "No thanks are necessary, Karase-san. I simply fulfilled my end of the contract. Shiva Corporation will no longer bother you, and the son of their chairman will repent for his sins."

The old woman had lost her son and daughter-in-law to a car accident. Shiba Haneda, son of Chairman of the Shiba Corporation had caused the accident while driving under influence.

His father had hired defence prosecutors that proved in court that it was not Haneda's fault, but instead Karase-san's son was at fault. The Shiba Corporation had been harassing the old woman and threatening her, while the Insurance company was refusing to pay death benefits to Karase-san citing negligent driving.

The poor old woman had no money to hire lawyers that can compete with Shiba goons, nor could she take care of the three year old granddaughter left behind. The poor woman had no other relatives to help her, and she was at her wit's end. As a last resort, she found the flyer that contained a summoning ritual to summon me.

"No, I had been rude and did not believe you. But you saved me and my granddaughter. I cannot express how much I owe you. Not even my life can compensate for your help! Thank you!"

I smiled as I kissed her wrinkled, shaky hand. "Hold this tome with you. It had the summoning ritual to summon a Stolas Devil. Hold onto it, and upon your death, pass this on to your daughter. When you or any of your kin needs to make a deal, you can summon us to make a contract."

The woman held the tome close as she nodded tearfully. "I will. Thank you."

The tome was not just for summoning me. It was a palimpsest with pages upon pages of magical runes encoding information. When a worthwhile human with potent magical reserves is near the tome, the tome will activate and cast a soft hypnotic charm to open it and read it.

The layered hypnotism will over time make the reader believe the contents as it teaches the magical primer of using human magic based on calculations and mathematics to the reader. It has encrypted layers that reveal themselves as the reader grows stronger and more proficient.

The tome will inform the reader about the wider supernatural world, tell them about factions, how to identify the members of each faction, and which territories are marked by which faction. It offers resources that are available to renegade mages, as well as underground traders, merchants and dealers that are somehow affiliated to House Stolas and House Berith.

These traders would be a bridge between my Pillar Houses and the mortal world, while also acting as Scouts to find potential talents.

Money and resources are not my priority, since my alchemy opens many doors in that regard. But what I lack is talent and talented people I can trust.

I will not use my Evil Pieces, because I do not need to be reliant on servants indentured to me. Rather, I would use my resources to secure a stable support structure and powerful allies bound by necessity.

With that in mind, I created this masterpiece tome called Compendiu al Ocultelor. This compendium will guide a potential mage into fledgling-level mages. And since, at the end of this compendium, the knowledge stops, all these mages would see would be a summoning circle knowing what it does, and knowing what they want.

I used gravity magic to compress protections and bindings that will protect the tome itself or even the reader, if they have potential to be a pawn on my Peerage at the very least.

I created at least thousands of tomes like this and have distributed them over the entire world over the years. And this idea has already borne fruit many times. Many new contractors were brought into the fold and many potential mages found themselves affiliated to my house, and by association, to me.

I didn't need any sacrifice or anything to summon me, as the tome performed the heavy lifting for the summoner. Instead, I sought meaningful contracts from mortals.

Like Karase-san here. She has no value whatsoever. But not her daughter. Her daughter has latent magical powers inside her, and an aura of an unawakened Sacred Gear.

I show no particular interest in the girl, as the old woman remains unguarded towards me, and I teleport as soon as I gave her the tome.

It was years before the cannon really started and I had plenty of time to train. My magic was beyond versatile and with all I did to usurp more and more power, even slaying a God like Angra Mainyu for it, I was much stronger than any Pillar Devils ever realised.

I remained as an outcast in the Devil Politics, hiding in the shadows as I practiced devil magic to its heights.

No magical tomes in Berith or Stolas Houses were hidden from me. And insulating me with our libraries left all our ancient collection more or less intact.

What I truly needed to establish a power base here was a right marriage, and I had potential candidates like Sona Sitri, Rias Gremory and Seekvaira Agares, but they were far too young now to matter.

Serafall Leviathan is a possible match, perfect even. But I do not believe she is interested in dating anymore.

Shadows enveloped me as I teleported across the shadow dimension before appearing in my home. Mira was waiting for me, as she handed me a registry. I used the fountain pen she offered me as I wrote down the name and details of the contract. I also marked down the granddaughter and her latent abilities.

When I was done, Mira took the pen from me and closed the registry. "Master, you have a visitor. It is Falbium Glasya-Labolas, the new Satan Asmodeus."

I nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Mira. I will see him now."

Mira waved her hand as the registry left her hand and levitated to a bookshelf. She turned sharply and began to follow behind me as I entered the living room.

Two maids were serving tea and refreshments to a bald man who looked up as I entered. His eyes were drooped lazily, but his glance was sharp and alert. I could feel his demonic energy as I sensed his surprise as I stood before him.

He stood up as well. "Well, well, well. The only Lord of two Pillar Houses has been hiding his strength, hasn't he?"

I smiled at him. Of course, he could sense my deep demonic energy compressed layers upon layers bound firmly in my corporeal body waiting to be unleashed like a catastrophic disaster. He could obviously sense the energy densely buried in my soul, but he can never sense my skills, my abilities and what I have gained over the years...

"You are too kind, Satan Asmodeus. Welcome to my home. Please have a seat."

I offered with a smile. He stared like a hawk, as I smiled nonchalantly. I remained unfazed as I knew he knew demonic energy-wise, I was stronger than him. This, I could feel as soon as I laid my eyes on him.

And as far as Satans go, Falbium Asmodeus was never known for his brute strength like the other three Satans. He was of course Satan Class, but his true strength lay as a tactician, military strategist and as a formidable general on the battlefield.

Pillar houses who won in the Civil War respected Falbium for it, and he was always well known for it.

That was probably why, as he saw me, I could feel a bit restless, not because of his strength, but what his presence here represented.

And Falbium was never known to beat around the bush.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I am here to merely greet a new Lord joining our ranks. As you know, your Territory is one of the few regions on the boundaries of the devil's part of the Underworld. I am the Satan for Military Affairs and I have heard reports of Old Satan Faction soldiers trying to infiltrate from the west. Your territory is therefore, potentially vulnerable to attack."

I nodded. I had heard reports from Damian recently about the locals worrying about this as well.

"Yes, it was brought to my attention recently. I must confess, apart from the warning, I don't see why a Satan is personally involved in what amounts to mere skirmishes." I asked bluntly as the Satan grunted and a hint of a smile flickered on his lips.

"No courtly bullshit, eh? We'll get along splendidly. Yes, the reason I am involved here is Katarea Leviathan was seen leading a small contingent for the attack. From the potential targets, you are most critical target as well as vulnerable. Despite being Lord of two Pillar Houses, you do not have the army to support your house. Your houses have a lot of potential value, but no one to guard it. And your prowess with Alchemy makes you an even more lucrative target. I am here to deprive the Old Satan Faction of that target."

Straight up. I like him.

"Thank you for your candid answer. I do not doubt the veracity of your reasoning, nor do I wish to obstruct you from performing your duties. My home remains open to you and your forces as long as you deem it necessary. If I may be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to ask me."

I said with a bow as the Satan offered a shallow bow of his own. Despite him being a Satan, he was bound by bureaucracy. He could not just command me and my forces as he pleases, even with crisis on the horizon.

The New Satans won the Civil War but chained themselves to bureaucratic oversight that the Old Satans never allowed. And as a Lord of two Pillars, despite not being active politically, I was nigh untouchable even for Satans without facing grave repercussions.

My ready assistance and offer made it much more efficient and easier for the Satan to perform his duties. And since whatever I wanted to hide was never going to be found lying around in my home, I didn't bother acting cagey.

If your opponent does not believe you have anything to hide, he has no idea where to look for whatever it is you are hiding.

The Satan looked pleasantly surprised as he smiled much more warmly. "I thought I would have to fight tooth and nail, but luckily I was dealing with a reasonable devil. Thank you very much for your cooperation. I will keep you updated on the situation. For your safety, please activate the Wartime wards on alert. If you do not have passive wards, my team can help you setting them up."

I smiled at the Satan. Of course, I have wards. The first thing I did as I crossed Ultimate Class level was updating my wards strengthening my defences.

I have played enough strategy games to know how to really create wards that can hold an invasion of overwhelming forces.

I turned to Mira who nodded. Damian appeared by my side with a key as Mira offered her own key to me. These two were the most trusted servants I have, and they have remained by my side before I was even born. They served my house faithfully and they have formed no connections outside the house that makes them vulnerable.

Mira handed me a bronze key, as Damian handed me a silver key. I put my hand in my dimensional storage and took out an old archaic golden key.

I felt Falbium's gaze on me, as I ignored him for now. The golden key was drenched in dense magical energy as it radiated with magic as soon as I removed it.

I put the golden key facing outward while its ring end was touching the silver and the bronze key forming a trigram of sorts.

As soon as the keys touched like that hundreds of magical circles overlapped each other forming a singularity as a pulse of magic emanated from the key.

The key levitated before me, before it buried itself into the ground intangibly passing through the hard wood floor.

A moment later dense demonic energy erupted from the ground as the wardstone layered around the grounds and inside the manner activated into a glowing dome with a soft incessant hum that only I could hear.

The magical energy was enormous as it accumulated my spare demonic energy over the years, collecting into the wardstones charging them for just this moment.

Even now, passively, the wards were draining magic from any and all beings within it slowly to charge up until they were needed.

The wardstones were made of a giant ruby encased in amber, surrounded by white granite, held inside a gargantuan obsidian slab. This represented the four states of alchemy process Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo. There were 1008 wardstones placed strategically in concentric circles of alchemically powerful numbers. Each stone was washed with symbolically powerful alchemical ingredients that made them nigh indestructible monoliths, and I then compressed them even further using the strongest Gravity magic I knew.

These wardstones were buried along the ritualistic leylines of my territory and the key to the wards were literal keys.

If my golden key is available but the others are not, the wards would focus into a singular target of protection: me. If two of the keys are available, then the wards perform a grid by grid search and isolate whoever holds the third key. And if all three are activated, the war time wards activate as they did now.

The wards raised by these wardstones had been inspired by a Great War strategem from Indian Mythology.

There was a Great War in Indian mythology called Mahabharata. There was a special military formation called Chakravyuha that was said to be unbreachable.

Even to the rest of the supernatural world, the guide to create this formation was a closely guarded secret unknown to many. And Walburga had helped me obtain these secrets.

She was one of the most useful assets in which, I have invested. She needs very little from me, and keeps an eye out for exotic or useful stuff.

Finding out how to create this Chakravyuha was paramount in creating this warding scheme. Now, enemies will face the might of the wardstones while being unable to actually penetrate them without using brute force.

Using brute force, they might have to be stronger than Super Devils, because the pillars together are charged conceptually by the very nature that destroys it. This warding was a brilliant masterpiece that took several trials and errors. I had multiple devils, mages and other contractors test them.

And as such, when the wards were activated, Falbium felt the wards taking hold as he turned to me with wide eyes.

"What kind of warding is this?"

I smiled. "You and your forces will be safe, as long as no I'll intent is directed towards me. These wards are intent based, and also need my approval. You cannot teleport across it or through it unless I let you in. Please let your subordinates know not to the test the wards."

Falbium nodded as his eyes stared at the roof, no doubt admiring the wards.

Well, it is time to prepare. If the Old Satans wants to attack, I should give my support to the Satan who is here to defend me. I don't want to owe the new government for my survival.

Months later

The insurrectionary forces continued their guerilla warfare techniques for months on end. It had only been four days ago that our scouts found their camps.

I was at the Forward Operating Base with Falbium as he received the intel.

I was debriefed about their plans earlier after having proved myself against the hostile forces.

Now, I stood with Falbium as the Satan stared at the camp before us.

"I warn you again, Aracxus. This is a highly sensitive mission. We expect Katarea to be in this camp along with some other HVTs. If you want to stay behind, now is the time to speak up."

I shook my head.

"I am fine. Just deal with the anarchists."

Falbium stared for a moment, before he nodded. "Very well then."

He jumped from the cliff we were watching from, as he swooped over the camp. Shouts and yells were heard as the grunts noticed him and begun to arm themselves as the generals and soldiers rushed to the battle.

Falbium had attacked a part of the camp which was all rubble now, and was fighting a woman.

I looked closely and noticed it was a bespectacled woman. Katarea.

I rose in the air, as I shot downwards like a bullet. Magic and momentum built up around me as I removed my halberds from my storage and was armed in both hands.

The grunts and mooks were several and ranging from Low Class to Mid Class, commanded by High Class renegades.

I activated the Earth Magic as large worms of Earth magic grew from the ground and rose in the sky as they began to attack the Mooks.

I didn't want to cast any AOE magic, since there was intel in the camp which could be destroyed. But I needed a way to destroy the hostiles.

This piece of Earth magic was something I found in the family's tome. The worms had sharp spears within and outside their giant bodies. Anyone bitten at the mouth and swallowed by the worm would die like being put inside an Iron Maiden. But even a grazing blow from the massive worm was devastating enough.

And it proved its efficacy as the worm destroyed legions of devils while the High Class surrounded me with activated magic.

"Die, you traitor!"

"Die in the name of the true Satans!"

"Kill that fucker!"

Three High Class devils surrounded me with volleys of acidic or poison magic being hurled at me.

Clink* *Clink* *Clink*

The magic hit the black discs made of gravity magic as they fizzled ineffectively.

"Shit!"

The High Class were smart, as they immediately started to fly around me in rapid circles, lashing out projectiles of magic hoping to catch me in my blind spot.

One of them had also turned around, and conjured a spear of poison magic.

What the devil did not know was I was training in the gravity magic to such an extent, that I had developed extrasensory perception about things around me. It was a spatial cognition boosted by my affinity with gravity magic.

Even a small mass like me moving in my blind spot was easy to sense now.

I bent over to dodge the projectile heading towards my head, as I twisted under the volley and my left hand snaked out into a swift upward thrust.

Glurrkgh*

The devil behind me gurgled as my spear ran through his chest.

With a swift pull, I pulled the spear out and floated like a bullet.

Whoosh*

The devils were now only two, as the third was down with a severe injury.

My feet created a magic circle under them as an Orb of gravity magic was flung at the downed devil. Never leave the job unfinished.

The orb flew towards the downed foe as the reaction force from the gravity orb pushed me faster towards my enemies still alive.

The two devils were caught off guard, as I controlled my spear in a reverse grip, and like a javelin, released the two spears with blinding speeds.

I landed away from the enemies, as the two devils fell, with one of my spears severing one at the neck, and the other spear shredding the other's torso.

The third had a huge gaping hole in the abdomen with my gravity orb simply passing through his body.

I looked at my enemies before me with a bloodthirsty smirk. I can finally let loose!