Interlude 1 - Better than Kill

"Working means losing."

He was often ridiculed by the new blood for his motto, thought of as slothful and ineffective.

The old guard, those who fought under his command against the Satan Faction, knew the truth behind those words.

They paid for it in sweet, tears and blood, after all.

They knew him for the brilliant strategos he was, and still is. Oh, Ajuka most certainly had him beat in terms of intellect, and he had no reason to deny it, but his own schemes always lacked the flair, the pizzaz, the cunning needed to truly bleed the enemy, the extra je-ne-sais-quoi to make them think twice before attempting an ill-fated assault where their armies will be ground to so much dust.

But, try as he might, born to be the conductor of the symphonium of war as he may be, the victory was never perfect, never exacting, never flawless. He could run himself ragged, work himself to the bone -Lucifer only knows how much he did back in the old days- he always ended up losing a piece on the chessboard, more often than not a lot of them.

He kept winning, and he still did, but at what cost?

And those who remember the days of the war, well, they got that. They could pretend all they want, embellish the stories at length, the truth remains.

War is the nastiest business there is, and you've already lost when you take the decision to wage it.

It was easier to swallow, at least for him, when the enemy didn't give them the choice, forced him to move his troops, to retaliate, because it then became a necessity, and the sacrifices, while remaining as wasteful as always, could at least be waylaid at the feet of the oppressor.

The new blood kept bemoaning his laziness; most of the old guard prayed that no one roused him in truth.

Him? Well…

…In truth, he was exhausted. Had been the case for centuries, by this point, as if each death he had been responsible for weighed him a little bit more.

Soldier after soldier, tombstone after tombstone.

He couldn't help but take the losses his troops incurred on a personal level, a failure he could've, should've prevented, even centuries after he had realized that it'll never be the case.

The mind, as it turns out, isn't rational one bit.

War's toll had taken a different color on him than it did with his closest friends and long-time colleague.

Sirzechs, once his rage had been quenched, had draped himself in the attire of the aloof king to deal with the masses, helped in his attempts by his ever dutiful wife, to distance himself as far as he could from those who lauded him yet he didn't want to rule.

Serafall, after reaching the pinnacle of her magic, hadn't wanted to do anything more with Devil's internal politics for decades, having seen first hand how those had turned out, and had sought a way, any way really, to have as little to do with those as she could. She had taken to her new station as the premier diplomat of their race like a duck to water, always trying to smooth out the edges to avoid further bloodshed. Her being this active, this involved with their own race as she had been in the last two decades was only a recent development, having left the majority of the work to her cabinet before.

Ajuka never came back quite the same. The scientist grew cold and detached from everyone once he got the confirmation that his warspells weren't needed anymore and that he could focus his intellect on less destructive forays. He had been the one the most broken by the events of them all, and only managed to claw his way back to a semblance of sociability after finding them all a way to save their race from the slow decay they condemned themselves.

As for him? Well, he heard that the humans had managed to coin a term to his particular condition, and he begrudgingly agreed that it wasn't that far off the mark, even if he didn't belong to their species.

Falbium knew, after all, that sleeping at least for half a day's worth each day for centuries on end, to the detriment of everything else, wasn't normal, and he was self-aware enough to admit that he was depressed.

"So?" Sirzechs asks aloud, wrenching him out of his brooding, and forcing him to pay attention once more to what was happening in this council session.

Even as his friend pulls down his blouse, smoothing it out distractedly, Ajuka straightens up from his bent over position, inquisitive -and spelled- blue eyes still boring where he was previously looking seconds ago, his hand rubbing at his chin distractedly.

"From what I can see without specialized equipment, it is perfectly mundane, albeit remarkably striking." The Belzebuth ends up saying, leaning back in his chair, his hand dropping at his side and the glow of his formula vanishing from his eyes, "The inks used are of high quality and it settled well into your skin. So well, in fact, that I doubt your own self-image will clash against it."

"What do you mean by that?" Serafall interjects, knees bouncing under the table and twirling her 'wand' with one hand.

"I think the blessing -if it is indeed one- bound it to Sirzechs' being." The seaweed green headed devil elaborate, his eyes unmoving despite the Lucifer's straightened posture, "I posit that, if the skin were to be damaged, it would eventually come back as long as he will so.

"Your Power of Destruction could probably erase it if you tried hard, and precisely, enough. But, otherwise, it is here to stay." He ends, blinking once, before unlocking his gaze from its previous focal point.

"Of course, this is only a preliminary analysis, and you're only the lone subject, if we could-"

"We're not involving Rias in this." The crimson headed devil interrupts with a raised hand, "I'll swing by your lab when I have the time, but I do not want to drive a wedge between my sister and her friend because of my paranoia."

"Woah, you sure about that, Sirzechs?" Serafall immediately bounces on the subject, and Falbium cannot help but agree in the privacy of his mind, "What if this is some kind of long con?"

"Doubtful."/"I don't think so." The Belzebuth and Lucifer echo each other, prompting the two to trade a glance, Ajuka easily waving in Sirzechs' direction for him to take point.

"I interacted at length with Prima Hanako, and I do not think she's a sleeper agent." He preludes, his finger drumming on the table, "The girl is driven to an impressive point, and seems to have her life all pathed out. She's also extremely free-spirited, and I can't see her curbing under another's rule."

"She DID butt heads with So-tan over a few things." The Leviathan admits, head bobbing up and down while staring at the ceiling, a finger on her chin, "She's an 'at my own rhythm' kind of girl. Who also happens to enjoy her yuri-yuri times with one of her schoolmates~." She adds with a lecherous grin.

"Exactly." The Lucifer nods, "She mentioned having a girlfriend in passing during her heart-to-heart with my sister, something which Rias' Knight confirmed having had a visual confirmation, with much awkwardness. Or it just happens that, last time I checked, homosexual relationships weren't exactly endorsed by the church."

The nasty business with Sodom and Gomorrah served as a grim reminder of that particular fact, Falbium muses.

"So, unless they massively upped their game in the last decade or so, I really do not think she is a plant. It's both way too subtle and convoluted to be one of their plans." The crimson headed devil concludes, before adding, "Especially when you take into account how my sister and her met for the first time."

"Oh?" The twin-tailed woman perks up, the bouncing of her knee stopping at last and to Falbium's relief, inching herself closer over the table to Sirzechs, "Gossip?! Please, do tell!"

Chuckling, the Lucifer shakes his head once in amusement at their friend's antics.

"Rias approached her first." He explains, "My sister noticed her 'distinct appearance' and the fact she was sitting in the -I kid you not- 'protagonist seat', which instantly intrigued her, so she went to say hi during lunch. The two have been friends since."

The dark-haired woman takes a second to let that sink in-

-before roaring with laughter, smashing her fist against the table for emphasis a few times, making the whole room shake with each strikes.

Ajuka's lips quirk up minutely in amusement and even Falbium himself can't help but let out a discrete snort.

Their friend's sibling's mind really runs on its own paradigm, doesn't it?

"Y-You're telling me," Serafall starts, still shaking with laughter, "That your sister befriended a blessed mortal because of an anime trope?"

"Yup." Sirzechs answers amusedly, popping out the p as he reclines a bit further in his seat.

"Ha ha, I can't believe this!" The Leviathan guffaws once more, before whipping out her tears of laughter, "Lucifer, why does this kind of thing never happen to my precious So-tan?"

"She's too serious for her own good." The crimson headed devil commiserate with a one-shoulder shrug.

"That she is." The twin-tailed woman admits in a slow, droned out exhale, before straightening back in her chair, "You were saying, Ajuka?"

The Belzebuth and Lucifer trade a look, the latter confirming that he is done talking with a nod.

"The process is too unwieldy." He begins, gesturing with a hand, "It is, for all intent and purpose, similar to the one a mortal tattoo artist would use. I'm sure a few things could be done without in a pinch, like the sterilization process or the onguent used to staunch out the bleeding, but it still requires the subject to be immobilized for an extended length of time. Or, if you're able to incapacitate someone as part of the prep-work, why not simply kill them and be done with it?"

Falbium silently nods in assent, conceding the point, a gesture easily echoed by his colleagues.

"Yes, being able to pierce through the mana-weave of the skin could potentially be weaponized, by inking a spell circle, for example, but the person of interest has the same mana levels than any other mundanes, which doesn't indicate a knowledge of human magic." The seaweed green headed devil laces his fingers together atop the table, and Falbium knows he is about to conclude his thoughts, "In conclusion, without further in depth analysis indicating the contrary, I'm not inclined to think that we're dealing with a foreign agent."

"Yes, I'll play the dutiful lab rat, Ajuka." Sirzechs grumbles, a hand coming to massage one of his temples, "I swear, you're somehow worse than Grayfia with your nagging at times."

Falbium feels privately amused as he sees through half-lidded eyes the minute shift of the Belzebuth's lips at the jab.

"Vote?" The crimson headed devil eventually calls after giving a roaming look at his colleagues.

"Tolerate." Ajuka answers clinically.

"Hmm," Serafall hums, her eyes staring at the ceiling and her knee bouncing once more, arms crossed under her bust, "Subjugate."

Three pairs of eyes slide to him, awaiting his answer.

Those votes always brought him back to the war, where those words were uttered dozens upon dozens of times every day, sculpting his decision process and his strategies.

Tolerate the party. Subjugate the party. Drive away the party. Kill the party.

He should know, he was the one who normalized the decision process.

Falbium squints his eyes in thought, reviewing the data gathered so far, before coming to a decision.

Not too threatening to force an immediate answer, but the untapped potential was there.

Sword-dancing was a thing, after all, and an art in itself. Nothing said that the person of interest couldn't learn it.

"Subjugate." He answers, his voice as flat and emotionless as always.

Better than kill. Always better than kill.

"And I'd say we tolerate." Sirzechs concludes, before gesturing with a hand, "It's only a matter of time before Rias makes her an offer, anyway, so the problem will resolve itself. Once she's in her peerage, we-"

Wait and see, then, Falbium deduces.

All right.

Losing interest, Falbium feels himself starting to doze off, the lure of a dreamless sleep calling him sweetly.

And, as always, he gives in to the call.

[AN: The Falbium PoV no one really expected!

Of course someone who's able to pierce through the skin of a super devil was going to be talked about with the other Satans. Even if it is, in appearance, ridiculously convoluted, it is still a potential weapon.

I wonder if some of you will catch on to where I got the inspiration for their vote? It is relatively well known for webnovel readers. :3

Hope you enjoy, xoxo]