Chaos at Naberius'

" It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Aethernum Agares. " A firm handshake was shared between the two of us, after which we sat down across from one another.

The man in front of me had turquoise colored hair and eyes, with a middle aged yet clean appearance, and thin build. His reserves were definitely on the lower side for someone his age, and using Inquiry, I could tell that he wasn't much better physically.

" The pleasure and the honor is all mine Lord Naberius, I'm a huge fan of your work as an amateur researcher. Please feel free to call me Aether or Aethernum. " The guest room was an impressive one, with expensive art pieces of paintings and small statues decorating it in a truly old-fashioned way.

" I must say, I was surprised to learn a young devil like yourself was interested in the field of science. Before we begin making any sort of deal, would it be acceptable if we get to learn more about each other first? " He signaled a servant, his Queen, to bring us tea.

Researching him throughout the years, I learned that he only had a Queen publicly. Since I knew he only reincarnated the Nekoshou sisters for research purposes, his lack of a public peerage could mean two different things.

" Please ask away if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. " Either he kept his strength a secret;

" Well then, let's start of light shall we? What are your goals for the future Aether, I've heard about some sort of bounty hunting job of yours and find myself curious as to why? Why would you ever accept jobs from other factions? " Starting light, my ass…

The second possible reason as to his lack of public peerages was, he believed the Evil Peerage system to be a failure, and thought of reincarnated devils as 'inferior'. His alliance with the Old Satan Faction, his attitude at the word of other factions, the fact that his Queen was already a devil before becoming a queen; all pointed towards him being a 'Purist'.

… A fucking racist, in simple terms.

" I would like to consider myself a pragmatic person. Accepting jobs from other… races, no matter how annoying or pathetic, gives me extra targets. Targets for me to hunt, belonging to other races. " His eyes searched into mine, to see if I was lying or bullshitting him.

Devils, especially older ones, were exceptional at picking out lies and hesitations from body posture and facial expressions, so my technique was really simple, I just didn't lie.

Everything I said was %100 the truth, just not in the way I made it seem like. The jobs from other factions were annoying, not because I hated their race or their alignment, but because people like this sack of shit existed and judged me for it.

" That pragmatism could be a great boon to our kind Aether. Although, I hope you don't lose our traditions and values on the path to achieve results. What about your peerage, would you mind telling me a little bit about them? Normally a King only brings their queen along, so it is quite surprising to see two servants next to you. "

Oof, playing this one off is going to be a bit hard. Both of them were not devil's prior to joining my peerage, and this guy's displeasure of them being in the room could not be more apparent.

" I would never look down on tradition Lord Naberius. I know the new generation can be quite… disconnected from their roots. However if a system of belief or rules helped us survive a Great War, and brought our race to these days; it has to be of value. To answer your second question, these two are my Queen and my Rook. "

Again, not a lie. I believed that traditions could be of great value if it helped society get to a worthy place… Devil society was a shitshow though, so fuck our traditions.

" My rook is my newest and also second recruit, so I wanted her to have some experience on how to act around nobility as a proper servant. She is also my concubine, so I plan on teaching her to be a secondary 'Queen', in a case where my actual one fails her duties. If her existence here is unwelcome, I can send her away immediately. " I cringed internally at calling someone I felt I was in love with, a 'concubine' like that… Yet it wasn't a lie once again, as she loved to be that in the bedroom.

I was proud of my partners' calm and collected stature though, they didn't give anything away by making a scene.

" I don't think that will be necessary at all, they seem very well trained. What do you think of reincarnated devils in general then? " He was referencing the fact that I made them wear maid outfits.

I made sure it wasn't the sexy kind though, if I saw this fucker look at them the wrong way, I'd probably end up killing him myself.

" I think they are a good addition to devil society. More soldiers to throw into the battle especially before Pure-blood devils, would end up with less of our actual kin dying. The damage to our numbers was severe in the last Great War, and who knows if another one will happen or not. "

A simple fact, if you throw more reincarnated devils on the front line, less pure-blood devils would die. Not something I remotely wish for, yet easy to say out loud since I 'believe' that it is true.

" While that is true, some of them can even become nobility now… Thanks to our Satans. What do you think about that? "

Ahh, one of the two rumors about me was that Ajuka was interested in me. This one, I hadn't planted myself, so I wasn't aware where it might've leaked.

" An unfortunate reality. Reincarnated devils will never be the same as us, and I believe that the system that lets them become nobility is a failing one. It needs to change. "

Now this, I believed in %100. The system that let's them become nobility, was the system that had a concept of 'nobility' in the first place. I hated people being born unequal to each other on a social standing from the bottom of my heart.

" You're quite the different young man compared to your father. I don't remember him having such traditional values at all… "

" Lord Naberius, with all due respect, could we not talk about that man? I lost my Heir status, thanks to him and that sister of mine. I'm not some half-breed hybrid, and my new control over our Clan Trait is even better than that woman's. It was my birth right to be Heir since my mother is a pureblood devil. "

A brief, almost instantaneous smirk flashed his facial features. I could tell, due to seeing in slow motion, that his true feelings came out for that brief second.

He thought my 'sore spot' over losing my Heir status was something he could use to his benefit.

" Of course Aether… There were some rumors going around that said you had a… rocky relationship with your family, I just didn't want to assume such rumors to be true. Feel free to call me by name as well, Aether. "

He finally started asking me 'lighter' questions after this point, seemingly satisfied with the previous answers he had gotten.

We talked about some future goals, some of the current political news, our areas of research, how I got into medical research, my Clan Trait, and a few more things of similar nature.

" Do you have any questions for me before we begin talking business? You had this offer for a partnership, and what you offer is quite valuable, yet I know very little about what you want in return. "

" Thank you for this opportunity once again, Lord Niall. I-… As you might know, I was born with reserves rivaling our two Super Devils, when they were also kids at least. My new appearance is a result of me trying to reach that power level a little too soon due to my greed actually, as I used too much of my Clan Trait without knowing the consequences.

I wanted to get your opinion,and see if I could learn something. Like, if there could be any side effects to my sudden growth, or if you could help me manage this new body.

Your research in drugs and devil medicine was what got me started on learning devil anatomy, and I thought an expert like you could maybe help me… Help me become a Super Devil… "

… Hook. Line. Sinker.

" I would love to help you if we could get some samples and different tests done to understand what went wrong. Being able to help a promising young man like you reach his true potential would already be an honor, and if I could get your help from time to time to utilize your talents… "

I smiled at him, trying my best to make it seem as genuine as possible. Knowing that what he truly wanted was my samples so he could try to figure out the secret behind Super devils, was extremely creepy.

" Thank you so much, Lord Niall. They say, you should never meet your heroes, yet I am glad- " Before I could finish my sentence though…

" NABERIUS! I KNOW YOU PLAN ON HURTING SHIRONE NEXT, I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU TOUCH HER! "

Fucking finally, that last sentence wasn't a half truth at all, do you know how hard it is to straight up lie like that to assholes like this?

Thank god for the perfect timing.

A black haired girl with cat ears blasted through the damn wall behind Naberius, screaming out in rage.

She was covered in a black aura, with her Kasha spiraling around her and raising the very temperature of the room. She was letting off enough energy to drop Naberius (Who looked terrified out of his mind) to his knees, and to at least impress me as she was quite young.

I also 'fell' down to my knees, and so did my peerage members.

I saw the Queen of Naberius try a close quarters attack when the girl blasted off a Ki-ball that contained the 'Sleep' spell of Senjutsu.

After knocking her out in one shot, the girl looked around the room to properly see everyone, to properly see someone.

… And our eyes met, and she had a look of curiosity and expectation.

Those golden, cat-like orbs were clinging onto a sliver of hope, and I would protect that tiny bit of dream left behind.

I winked at her, signaling what she wanted to see.

The plan was finally in motion, and there would be no going back now.

[}-o-{]

Let's rewind about an hour or so to the past, and ten minutes before my talk with the asshole started.

Right before we teleported to the entrance of the castle, I actually teleported behind the castle and broke a piece of the 9 layer barrier while covering that area with a time bubble to delay the signal.

Using the cracks, my new familiar entered the castle and fully concealed himself. And we opened a telepathic communication line through our bond, so I could see from his eyes. I teleported myself, and my peerage members, outside of the front entrance right afterwards to begin 'negotiations'.

We entered through the barriers since we were allowed to, and made our way into the castle to end up in that guest room. I could feel the nerves of my girls, and I couldn't blame them.

I didn't tell them jack shit about the plan after all, they just knew that I stabbed my own eye out yesterday, not even being aware of the reason. I also used Lin's eyes, but without actually ripping it off, I just 'borrowed' her sight temporarily.

My plan included them not knowing about the plan, after all.

However, the more interesting bit of the plan was me splitting my brain in half and using super speed thinking at 100x to easily think through two separate bodies, a technique I came up with to better control a familiar.

So I was now moving through the castle, controlling my familiar's body in total concealment, and searching for the little kittens. While my main body was chatting up the shitbag to create time.

After finding my way through the castle while dodging the few amounts of servants here, and channeling my Inquiry through our bond to make my route easier, I managed to enter the dungeons. Most castles in the Underworld had their basement, their underground floor turned into a dungeon for prisoners.

There, I found my next goal, an illusive barrier that looked like a wall, and looked like the end of this makeshift prison. I played way too much Dark Souls to fall for such a rookie attempt at hiding a secret room.

(It wasn't a rookie attempt at all, I combined Inquiry, Senjutsu and my anti-Illusion all together; And I could still barely see that there was an illusion. I'm guessing the Naberius assholes had a special affinity with illusion magic, since their official powers weren't public knowledge.)

You see, while Imp-kun was a fantastic addition as a familiar, I actually didn't need him to start this mission. I had crafted a perfectly good concealment cloak, which was the reason for this mission starting now instead of last year. Any familiar would do the job after my concealment cloaks were done.

At least, any familiar that had fingers that could wear rings, could do the job.

I wanted to find a way to help the sisters earlier, yet I just didn't have the necessary items. My level of concealment cloaks (that were finished the week prior) were easily Epic tier, and I didn't have enough resources to buy them, so I just had to create it using Cathy's darkness expertise for silence, using my Illusion for invisibility, and using all of my concealment abilities on both reserves and Ki.

After that, thanks to my two extremely hot and extremely convincing partners, Lady Gremory accepted our offer of a debt. I'd have to give her two Epic tier artifacts, for her one Epic tier artifact. She held the power in that deal since I needed that ring.

What I got in return though, was a Spell Storing Ring. A ring that would let you 'download' two types of spells into it, and someone else could use those spells if they provided the necessary energy to support them. It was barely %50 the same strength, and it cost a lot more energy per cast, yet it was exactly what I needed for this mission.

The two spells I chose? Fucking Counter-barrier and Time bubble, innit.

Now seeing this illusive wall all I had to do was, cast the bubble once again to delay the signals, break the illusion, and enter into the hidden research facility that was home to our captive kittens.

It sucked just a little bit, having to rely on a piece of equipment to recreate my own spells, but familiars couldn't just copy your spells no matter how unique they were. And this was the only way I could be at two places at once for a mission like this.

… For now. Hehehe~

Controlling a body that was 15-16 inches tall was kind of interesting, especially since my arms were as tall as my body now, but it was kind of fun sharing thoughts with Imp-kun. He was an interesting character for sure, as we both enjoyed the feeling of fucking with Naberius to a high degree.

Did you know that your connection with your familiar and how much power you could utilize through them depended on how similar your goals were? Kinda like that whole Venom-Eddie Brock dynamic of having similar emotions-

… I'm getting sidetracked. Now moving through this 'research facility' I came across, was something I didn't enjoy whatsoever.

It brought up a lot of bad memories involving dead children and their severed body parts. There were so many devices that would gather 'samples' and inject 'substances'…

And he was using these towards a child, and was going to end up using it against a toddler. A small amount of regret filled my heart since I would not let Kuroka kill that shitstain, but it wasn't her trigger to pull. She was too young to do such a thing.

The facility was a giant, multi-room, greatly futuristic and extremely hygienic 'separate' building from the main castle. I traveled through room after room to see all of the different appliances, and while disgusted for the most part, I kind of wanted something like this for my own research projects going forwards. Without the black haired kitty as my test subject though.

Talking about the black haired kitty,

" Who is there!? " A high pitched voice called out to me, and I looked that way to see the girl behind a cell.

I canceled my invisibility, except for my horns and fangs, and looked as cute as I possibly could. Without the creepy smile and the horns, it turns out, gray imps looked kind of like small furry animals, as the girl looked more relaxed when I appeared.

" You're Kuroka-chan, correct? My name is… Impy (Real creative there, asshole) (Shut the fuck up, dumbass). I'm a familiar, belonging to a devil upstairs that wants to save you and your baby sis from this prison. "

Surprisingly, my voice also came out kinda cute, normally this imp had one of the most annoying sounds I've ever heard in my whole life. It was a nice little surprise.

" Leave this place now! If he comes and sees you, he'll hurt me… "

" Kuroka-chan, my master is keeping him busy upstairs, and he has a plan to get you out of here. Would you listen to me so I could help you? Also keep it a little more quiet will ya, we don't wanna wake the sleeping cutie up. "

I saw her look back at the white haired child, sleeping in her bed, twitching around slightly. She started whispering afterwards.

" I- I can't trust you. As long as I do what he says, he won't touch Shirone… That's good enough, I'll manage. "

This girlie had to grow up a little too early it seemed. She was maybe around the same age as me, as in my actual age of 9, and yet she was willing to go that far to protect her baby sister.

" Kuroka-chan, you're a smart girl, right? You know he won't be satisfied with torturing just you. It's only a matter of time before he targets Shirone, and once he does, can you protect her at all? " Some strands of her mid-length hair stood up, and her pupils got sharper.

" I'll kill him if he tries, I know I'm stronger than him after everything he forced me to do! " Even her tone of voice was different, proving to me that her control over Senjutsu was barely passable, even though she had the Ki reserves of a proper genius.

They were the size of mine, and she was also at the second chakra, fucking bullshit talents. Or was she just that far experimented with and trained?

It was probably both.

" And then what, you cute kitten? People will hunt you down for killing a Clan Head. No one will believe you and the entire devil race will be chasing you as criminals. You and Shirone both. " The look of devastation and desperation in her eyes was hard to see,

… but I needed her to see the truth now.

" Why would they come after her?! " The question she was unable to think about in the timeline I knew of, the reason for her murder, and the reason for years of trauma for little Shirone… All of that, I would be able to change now, due to just one simple question.

" Because of the risks, even now you are having a hard time controlling your Ki and your sister won't be much different once she unlocks her own, they will blame your lineage and try to kill both of you. Both of you will be too dangerous to let live. "

This poor girl was about to cry, just the thought of people hunting Shirone destroying her from the inside.

" So what do you want me to do? Trust some weird muscular rabbit/rat thing to save me? Leave her fate in your hands? " That was a great description for how Impy looked actually.

" I want you to try and kill him today. " Her eyes widened.

" But you just said- "

" Don't worry, the nice blonde devil upstairs with purple eyes will stop you. He can see through my memories so he'll know what you look like as well. And you can be sure that you're looking at the right person, since he's a Senjutsu user just like you.

He will legally guard you and your sister, after 'accidentally' finding this place and just 'learning' the truth. The asshole upstairs works for the Old Satan Faction, right? "

The girl, starting to understand the plan, nodded quietly and deep in thought.

" Fantastic, that means if he has enough reason to believe suspicious activity, he can get you into a 'witness protection' program for your information. Will you help us help you, Kuroka-chan? "

The moment of truth girlie, show me your resolve.

" Why… Why would you help me? And why would I trust you? "

" Because no one deserves to go through what you did. Being treated as a test subject, having a shitty father, having the only good person in your life being in love with that shitty father, then losing your mom, then being picked up once again by a different asshole to be abused once again. That's why he wants to help you. "

" Y-you know?! " I nodded at her, which calmed her down a tiny bit more. That told her that I wasn't Naberius' agent since he didn't know the story to that level of detail.

" A- and why should I trust you? "

" Because we are the only thing you can trust now.
If you just wait around, he will target Shirone, you know this already.
If you kill him, then both of you will be hunted and killed.
And even if you escape you will be S-rate criminals throughout all the realms for having the strength to kill a High-class devil.
Shirone will never have a safe life, and you might not even be there to protect her if you get caught.

… It might damn well be the case that you shouldn't trust me, Kuroka-chan. You just don't have any other option. What do you have to lose if you go up there and attack the Clan head? That's all you could ever do anyways. "

The girl, finally realizing the truth of my words, curled into herself similar to a cat. She was consoling herself, trying to calm herself down while considering her options.

Small, very quiet sobs could be heard from her, making me regret my harsh words slightly.

After thinking for a few minutes, she decided it was time to get up.

" What do I do? "

" Now we're talking. Here, this little pill is filled to the brim with my master's positive Ki. It will help you temporarily open your next chakra due to the boost of energy, and will give you a fighting chance to attack the Clan Head. Take one and give one to your little sister, we'll move out afterwards. "

" Why would I give it to her?! "

" Cause, he needs a damn reason to visit this place. You can tell that it's safe already, right? "

" W- well yeah, it feels like warmth and love… It feels like Shirone. B- but, is it necessary? What if unlocking her powers early affects her? "

Honestly, it definitely could. It was the best bet I had though. Think, Aether, think! What can you do in this situation that would help you 'stumble' across this room in the middle of combat?

… In the middle of combat…

" UGH! Fine you sis-con, take both and throw my master so hard to the ground, in this direction, that his body breaks the castle and he reaches this room on 'accident'. He'll have beat you right back to calm your ass from over stimulation though, so don't go crying to him! "

" Thank you! " The girl hugged my Imp/me, happier now from the fact that she could protect her sister even further.

I watched as she swallowed the two pills, and broke through the cell with ease afterwards.

" Now, Kuroneko-chan, time to beat Lord Naberius black and blue! Keh keh keh… "

" What's with the nickname ?! "

[}-o-{]

" YOU STUPID GIRL! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR SISTER IF YOU ATTACK ME?! " The asshole, finally finding his strength, got back up to his feet.

" I already broke the barrier, I'll take her and escape. YOU WON'T TOUCH HER! " She threw a fireball at him, which would burn him to a crisp.

I had to move in front of him to stop it though, and took the damage instead. Holy fuck this girl packed a punched.

" Lord Niall, you have to run! She seems to be in a crazed state! " I yelled out to him, which wasn't a lie. She really was losing control from having so much power.

" I'll bring help! You three keep her busy. " The man tried running away, leaving us behind to 'die'. Kuroka, seeing the opportunity of him turning his back, rushed towards my side and used a Touki boosted kick to send me tumbling away.

I might've used a tiny bit of gust to increase the damage done to the walls, as I crashed towards the basement and broke the floor.

She threw a Ki-ball his way, making him pass out before he could teleport. My recommendation to her was to never use the actual fire other than against me, if she ended up killing anyone here it would be a hundred times harder to defend her actions.

Now though, she was looking at her tormentor with hatred present in her eyes. There was enough hatred there to easily kill him without regrets, yet the trauma of such an action would haunt her and I couldn't let that happen, not now, not when she was already so vulnerable.

Also if she did that, all of my work would be pointless since she would be labeled a criminal no matter what.

" Don't do it, kitten. " I used the most loving, most caring voice I could muster up to ease her worries and soothe her rage.

" Do you have any idea what he put me through? Do you know what I had to put up with? He's just there, waiting for me to kill him for his crimes, and you want me to let him go? " Her Kasha danced around her hand now, waiting to be released and waiting to melt the dirtbag into nothingness.

" Just for now girlie. Just let him live for now. " Her ears drooped a little bit, wanting nothing more than just exterminating him then and there, yet knowing she only had one chance at freedom which was through me.

" He'll get what's coming to him on a later date. Right now, our priority is you and the smaller kitty sleeping from your spell. " The girl, finally calming down and agreeing with me, canceled the ever growing fireball into nothingness. Which meant that my girlfriends could also cancel their protective barriers.

She glanced back one last time, and jumped down from the hole I created with my body. My girlfriends followed after her as well.

" Are you okay, Aether-sama? " Val decided to check up on me to help with my injuries, and I stopped her swiftly as she could ruin my 'proof'.

" Kitten, punch these two lovely ladies in the stomach. You two, don't resist, I need this as believable as possible and you girls suck at lying. That's why I kept the plan hidden, and that's how I'll be the only one questioned. " The two of them sighed and nodded, waiting to be punched, questioning why they were in love with me.

" Honestly Ace, you dragged us around the last two days saying that we'll save the kittens, and our job is to get punched? We're not fucking you for a whole week after this, just so you know. "

" There is a little kid here, you perverted Ex-orcist, shut your mouth. "

The deed was done quickly, and Kuroka used small amounts of force mixed with Forced Sleep from Senjutsu not to hurt the two nice ladies. Cute.

" Now what? " She turned to me after fighting away her blush.

" Now you punch me through more walls, we're not at the research facility part of the building yet. You might've made everyone pass out, including the other servants, but they will eventually wake up. We need to be quick. "

" Why do I feel like you're enjoying the idea of breaking his castle a bit too much? " I could see her sweat drop. Which was an interesting sight since she was still in that Super-Saiyan glowing form of hers.

… Two pills might've been a bit too much, considering I still don't know the side effects, and considering that over 9000 form was definitely not supposed to happen…

But I was sure I could fix it later on. I was a good doctor.

" Shut up or I'll punch you through the walls instead. "

That got her going, as she was somewhat afraid of me, after seeing I was unaffected by her increased strength, and she proceeded to throw me towards multiple walls until we reached the research facility.

Then I made her 'force' me to look at everything around this place, including the terminals and the cells and the torture devices, all the while screaming her lungs out at what she had gone through.

It would be somewhat of a release for her.

" Now kitty, I'll make you pass out and lock the memories of you meeting my familiar. For you, you just realized that he was going to use your sister next, you got angry, took in a shit ton of Ki from around you and went insane.

You beat everyone up and brought me here since I promised to listen to you, then I backstabbed you and made you pass out.

You will trust me due to me listening to you and also keeping your sister safe throughout what will happen next. Since your memories will be inaccessible and all messed up, we can hide that behind your excuse of insanity, you ready? "

" I… I trust you. Please keep Shirone safe. "

" I will kitten. "

I chopped her in the neck with small amounts of force and the Sleep technique, letting the poor girl rest before the second shitshow started. Modifying memories was incredibly hard, but locking them, especially in such a small child, was really easy.

Now to move on to Mission: Save the kitties, Phase two.

…

" What happened?! I got your… distress… call… What the fuck did you do this time? "

" Hehe~ Funny story actually, I found an Old Satan member in the 72 pillars… " The man in front of me cracked his knuckles with an evil smile on his face, letting out a scary aura.

" Tell me everything, now! " I tried to crawl away, I really did…

Before I was slammed to the ground with a giant green magical hand punching me, breaking all of my ribs easily.

" Please don't kill me, uncle… " I managed to speak out in pain.

" No promises, now talk. "

I probably should have called Sirzechs, he was nicer to me than this asshole. I was going to lie either way so who cared which Satan, right?

… Right?

[}-Chapter End-{]