The underworld capital, Lilith. Or at least it was the capital as far as the devils were concerned. Perhaps the fallen might contest that appellation, or maybe the fragments of other factions that reside in the underworld.

It certainly had the look of a capital even though it wasn't originally, having replaced Lucifaad as the Satans' seat of power at the end of the civil war. It was still difficult for Lelouch to adapt his mind to how devils operated on a societal level. The Devil Civil War had ended over three centuries ago, the same four devils nominally in charge since then. The city, on the other hand. The city had technically existed for centuries more still, yet not a single building still stood from that time.

For humanity, buildings, districts, cities, nations. They were monuments to their builders, their culture. They were proof that humans lived and made their mark on the world. For devils... A building could rise, stand taller and prouder than any other for miles, and yet the devils responsible for its creation would likely outlive it. With devil birth rates, a newborn devil was a greater triumph than the greatest architectural marvel. That Lelouch and Sairaorg were born only two years apart was comparable to a miracle. To think the creatures humanity have feared for millennia would have such commendable priorities, putting lives before commodities. It likely helped that standard construction was made much simpler via magic. Shaping metal and concrete was little issue. A house could fall and be rebuilt in the same day.

That wasn't to say the disposability of infrastructure meant construction remained simple. Devils were still devils, after all. And if a simple home was easy, an ostentatious one would only take a little more effort. As a result, devils had a rather higher standard of what 'ostentatious' meant. Which was once again where Lelouch's problem lay. From the car he could see the lines of fairly standardised comfortable homes, then the wealthier regions with homes that aimed for a specific architectural style. A victorian manor house here, a gothic tower there. Any and every culture of the human world was represented, even ancient Greek, marble with a pillared entryway. What he didn't see were any slums, shanty-towns or anything of the sort. Not even a cramped apartment building. Space wasn't at a premium with the underworld being of similar size to Earth without the vast oceans. Land and construction was cheap.

It was easy to believe from what his eyes were telling him that devil society was without poverty. He refused that conclusion out of hand. There was never and likely will never be a society that has no underclass, especially in a stratified society with explicit classes. The advantages of the devils simply made the signs of such a thing harder to see, not to mention Lelouch's privileged status would make it all the more difficult. Gods knew how little idea he had of the suffering of others while playing with Nunnally in Aries Villa.

Seeing as today would be the day he would gain some greater measure of freedom, he would need to exercise it to get answers to his questions first hand. But that would need to wait. This day was a day of ceremony. The day he officially took his place as a High-Class Devil, as the official heir of the House of Bael, the day he would receive his Evil Pieces.

His mother and father paid no attention to the passing scenery, having likely seen it a thousand times or more. Instead, Lord Bael waited patiently for them to arrive, eyes forward, hands on his thighs. Next to him Lady Bael checked over her appearance in a hand mirror. Lelouch watched as her finger lit up with a magic circle. Waving it in front of her closed left eye, the spell seemed to even out her eyeshadow, a flaw so minor Lelouch didn't even notice until she fixed it.

Such an everyday use of magic. Lelouch looked forward to when Lord Bael stopped micromanaging his education, focusing all of his arcane learnings on the Power of Destruction. He could make decent progress with self-study but with how wide-ranging magic was as a discipline he knew he would manage better with an expert willing to instruct on a wider range of topics. At the very least, someone who could point him in the right directions for what he wished to learn.

Misla Bael looked at her son, frowning as she swiped at his face with a finger, clearing a smudge that only a mother could notice. "Honestly, a cape Lelouch?" she asked with a disapproving frown at the garment folded in his lap.

"Image is everything, Mother," he answered, memories passing through his mind of commanding armies, a fighting force the whole world feared, all with a cape fluttering behind him.

"Leave the boy be," Lord Bael rumbled, "Either he lives up to his flamboyant fashion sense or he doesn't and it can be dismissed as the whim of a child. It hardly matters."

And of course, there was no ulterior motive in those words. It certainly had nothing to do with the draping cloth that had been handed off to Lord Bael's Queen before getting into the car.

On the subject of his Queen, "My Lord Bael, we have arrived," the musclebound man in the opposite seats intoned as the car slowed to a stop. As was protocol, he emerged from the car first to check for threats even this deep in the Satans' territory before the first family of devil society were invited to exit the armoured and warded vehicle. First emerged Lord Bael, then his wife, then after one final sweep of the crowd by parents and servants, Lelouch was allowed to emerge into the open air. Camera flashes went off by the dozens as Lelouch Bael was revealed to devil society at large for the first time. With a smirk and a flourish, he donned his cape and let it flare behind him with a flexing of demonic power, causing another wave of camera flashes.

Lord Bael gave his wife a look, to which she rolled her eyes. "The cape is fine," she admitted reluctantly.

The crowd were held back by police with additional security provided at the Satans' expense as the group of five, the Baels and the two Queens, moved toward the ceremonial hall. They passed by Misla Bael's Rook as the blonde woman entered the car and took off, ready to bring it back around once the young heir's king piece ceremony was complete.

The ceremony itself was not as bad as Lelouch worried it might be. The hall itself was empty save for the five of them and one other, a man with slicked back green hair and calculating blue eyes. The wide open, empty space of the hall felt somehow foreboding, giving the moment a strange energy, the group's steps echoing off the walls. Dominating the space, an enormous king piece stood behind the waiting man.

"Lord Beelzebub," Lord Bael acknowledged with a nod, not a bow despite the Satan nominally being of a higher station than him.

"Herodotus, Misla," the apparent Satan returned the acknowledgement with nods of his own. Whether referring to them by given name was meant as an insult was irrelevant, Lelouch knew his father would take it as one.

It was, after all, the first time he heard his father's first name.

"And you must be young Lelouch," Lord Beelzebub greeted the boy of the hour finally, the parents stepping back from hovering over their son. "Eager to get your own set of Evil Pieces?"

"About as eager as I am curious how this system works," Lelouch answered, looking significantly at the enormous King piece.

"Ah, well that's part of the mystery of my creations. I encourage any and all to try to figure out their secrets," the devil gave as a meaningless answer. "Suffice to say I'll repeat what your mother and father likely informed you of. You shall touch this King piece with flesh and demonic power. The pieces in this box that have been attuned to this King piece will then be bound to you to use as you see fit. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Then," Ajuka gestured at the monument, stepping aside.

It was a small moment artificially made grand. Like graduating from elementary school it was something every child of his station went through. Even so, the extra pomp did add a little gravitas to the proceedings as he pressed his palm against the surface of smooth, red stone. With a twitch of focus, Lelouch called up his demonic power which caused the king monument to glow, shimmerings of red passing over the surface before dying out.

"Excellent," said Ajuku as acknowledgement, not praise. "Here are your evil pieces young man. Use them well. As a word of advice, find servants worthy of your trust before any other concern." The Satan's attention shifted to the father of the small family unit. "Lord Bael, I regret I may be a tad late for the festivities but I shall arrive as soon as I am able."

Lord Bael nodded in understanding before briskly escorting his son out of the hall and back to the car that was already waiting for them. Nobles and servants sat in the back, Sara staying in her place as driver.

"Well?" Lelouch's mother asked, "Are you going to take a look?"

He looked up at her in confusion. "I know what they are though." Perhaps the solemnity of the ceremony affected him a little more than usual. He felt opening the box without the intention of using a piece was... Wrong, somehow. Or perhaps that was memories of where treating great power casually had led him in his first life.

"Yes, but you should see if you got a mutation piece!" Misla explained with barely held excitement. Her son only regarded her with continuing bewilderment. "Did we not mention those in your lessons? Hm, perhaps because neither your father or I received one. Mutation pieces are special evil pieces that allow you to bind a servant of greater power with a lesser piece. Like a Bishop is worth three Pawns, a mutation Bishop would be able to bind someone with a value of far more than that." The excitement seemed to finally win out and her restraint broke, bouncing in her seat, "Now, come on! Let's have a look!"

Lelouch was mystified at seeing his mother as excited as a small child using one of those Japanese capsule machines that gave out a random toy. With a flick of his fingers he unlatched the clasp on the box and lifted the lid. Two rows of red chess pieces lay inside, save for the King piece that was solid black. Not actually an evil piece, just a regular piece to give the illusion of a complete set.

And it wasn't the only irregularity of the set Lelouch noted as he pulled out two pieces that should be identical, but weren't. One was a smooth red like every other piece, the other warped and appeared to have its own internal shine.

His mother let out a gasp, grabbing his shoulders excitedly. "Honey, he got one!"

Lord Bael's eye drifted over to his son and the mismatched pieces in his hands. "A mutation Rook. Quite the lucky acquisition."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed at that one particular word. "Was it luck?" he asked, his voice filled with doubt.

His father scoffed. "I can near guarantee it was. Beelzebub guards his creations jealously and has a strangely even-handed approach to distributing them. Many pillar houses have attempted to ensure their heir receives one or even more than one mutation piece."

"And none did?" Lelouch asked, knowing that would also be suspicious.

"Oh, some did. Approximately one in ten sets of evil pieces has a mutation piece. And of those that tried to improve their chances, one in ten received a mutation piece. Strangely even-handed, as I said." The lord's eyes averted to face forward once again. "If it were possible to influence the system, I certainly would have received one."

"So you didn't try for my set?"

"Of course I did," the bearded lord scoffed. "We all try. At this point it would be an insult to Lord Beelzebub if someone didn't. While opinions may differ on how the pieces should be used, none deny they are one of the greatest boons given to devil kind." The man's head leaned back into the cushioned headrest of his seat. "A mutation Rook. That is an opportunity to have a great deal of power on your side, perhaps even a bodyguard greater than your Queen. Be sure to keep Lord Beelzebub's advice in mind for that piece. Power is one thing but trust is equally valuable. Perhaps even more so for a Rook."

Trust. Lelouch nodded slowly as he replaced the pieces back in the box. "I understand, Father."

-(-)-

"Lords and Ladies, it is my great honour to present to you today Lord and Lady Bael and for the first time, Lelouch Bael, heir to the House of Bael."

Polite applause greeted the three as the great hall doors opened to reveal them to their many guests. The debut of the Bael heir was a significant event and none of the invited guests elected not to attend. The great space was awash with every highborn devil worth naming. From pillar heads to heirs to extra houses to the Satans themselves who already seemed to be the life of the party before the hosts and guest of honour arrived. Well, two of them at least. Sirzechs Lucifer was of course a very charismatic man and Serafall Leviathan had a dedicated following in some circles. Falbium Asmodeus however was as uninterested in anything as ever, keeping to himself. And of course Ajuka had not arrived yet.

"Come, Lelouch," his father ordered with a hand on his son's shoulder. "We must introduce you to the pillar heads. Remember what I told you. Polite and courteous. No weaknesses."

"Yes, Father."

Whether out of mercy for a boy taking his first steps into high society or merely practical propriety, they started on familiar ground greeting the Gremory. A pleasant and easy conversation to ease into things. Rias of course was not present. While Lelouch would have liked to see her again, devil children did not attend gatherings like this until they made their own debut. By definition, he was the youngest devil present.

From the Gremorys, they moved on to another family Lelouch had learned Lord Bael had an interest in and thus would be the second to receive the hosts' attention. "Lord Phenex, Lady Phenex, how good of you to come on this special day."

The blond lord and lady returned the greeting with equal formality, certainly they knew who they were dealing with and elected to act accordingly. "Lord Bael, we were overjoyed at the invitation and delighted to attend," Lord Phenex said with a light bow. "Young Lelouch, a pleasure to meet you and congratulations on your debut. Your mother and father have spoken to us at length about you."

An alarm bell began to ring in Lelouch's head. It could have been mere politeness. Or it could have a deeper meaning regarding their intentions. Intentions Lord Bael had elected not to share with his son. "All good things, I hope."

"I believe your father's exact words were 'he is precisely what the House of Bael needs him to be'," the Lady Phenex answered, her eyes turning to the lord she was quoting. "I believe that might be the most effusive words of praise I have ever heard you speak, Herodotus."

"My son is strong, intelligent and capable," Lord Bael nodded, "Provided he continues to work hard, I could not ask for more in an heir."

"Yes, we look forward to seeing him grow into a fine devil," the Lord Phenex smiled genially. "Lord Bael, you have our sincerest condolences for the state of your second son."

Both father and son's faces fell into deep frowns, though for different reasons. "Lord Phenex, I am not aware to what you are referring."

For an instant, the blond lord looked lost, but quickly rebuilt his courtly mask. "Oh. My apologies, it seems I was mistakenly informed your second son has not expressed the prized power of your house."

The situation had turned complicated very quickly. Lord Bael had only two choices. Answer honestly which would be admitting a weakness of his house, something he would never do. Or deflect, merely delaying it which would look even worse.

How fortuitous for Lelouch then, that it allowed him a small measure of freedom to express his true feelings on the matter. "Respectfully Lord Phenex, I do not appreciate the insinuation that anything about my brother merits condolence."

"If you will excuse us, Lord Phenex. Lady Phenex," Lord Bael spoke, a sharp tug by his son's arm saw the father and son moving away. "Boy, what were you thinking, speaking so rudely and out of turn!" the severe man whispered harshly.

"I'm currently thinking I just saved you from a difficult situation using the social naivete they expect of me," Lelouch answered quietly. "Something you can brush over with an apology for my youthful indiscretion."

It was as though Herodotus was seeing his son with fresh eyes. "I see." No word of appreciation. The Bael heir had grown used to it at this point.

And so the two moved on to the next guests in order of priority when possible. The parents of the Satans first, the Glasya-Labolas and their son, the Sitri, the Astaroth. Not the Satans themselves, however. Lelouch could see as the night wore on and the hosts continued to move from guest to guest, the gatherings about the Satans slowly drifted away. The control and attention of the festivities returning to the 'proper' place, each guest awaiting their turn at meet and greet after noticing the Satans were being avoided.

It wasn't a subtle tactic by any means. The Baels stand proud outside or even above the Satans was the message being conveyed, a message Herodotus Bael wanted to reinforce at every opportunity. Lelouch could admit it wasn't wrong, per se. Just somewhat excessive. Reminding their society of their power was one thing but Lord Bael seemed not to care if he pushed the matter to outright enmity.

With the pillar houses done, it was on to the Satans. Asmodeus was brief, curt, and rather a terrible conversationalist. One word answers were the norm with him and they moved on quickly from him.

Then, "Lady Leviathan."

"Levia-tan," the centuries old devil with the face and body of a teenager dressed as a magical girl corrected.

Propriety be damned, Lelouch's jaw hung at the sight of the woman.

"Lady Leviathan," Lord Bael repeated again.

One of the most powerful devils in the underworld stomped her foot like the pouty teenager she appeared to be. "Mou, you're such a stuffed shirt, Roddy!"

A titter from the guests nearby at the nickname forced Herodotus to visibly regain his calm.

And that was what Lelouch needed to get it. To understand what Serafall Leviathan was doing with her weird dress and refusal of respectful decorum.

She was a Milly.

"Aww, and this is Lelouch?" she cooed, pulling him into a hug that smashed his face directly into her cleavage, "Aww, you're such a little cutie!"

And the trick with a Milly was to play along just enough that she wouldn't feel the need to 'loosen you up'. "Thank you, Lady Levia-tan. You are also very pretty."

"Aww, such a little charmer! Stay away from my baby sister and I won't kill you, m'kay?"

… Wait, what?

But before he could question it his father was dragging him away. A moment was spent to see if Ajuka had arrived yet. Seemingly not, so the pair moved on to the literal last person Herodotus Bael wished to speak to.

"Uncle Herodotus, if I didn't know any better I would think you were avoiding me." Sirzechs Lucifer was a rather handsome man. Lelouch felt comfortable thinking that, considering aside from the hair and eye colour, the Satan looked rather similar to Lelouch when he was older. The man also had an easy charm to him, the air of a natural leader, and a power near unparalleled in devil society.

Essentially all of the qualities Lord Bael believed should belong to someone with the name 'Bael'. "Not at all. You seemed to be enjoying the festivities and I wouldn't dream of interrupting. You so rarely get time away from your work after all." Glancing about for show he added, "Your wife is not in attendance?"

"I asked she look after Rias while our parents are away. I couldn't bear the thought of her being lonely."

And suddenly Lelouch felt his respect for Lord Lucifer rising several levels with that single statement.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Lelouch," Sirzechs greeted the smaller Bael. "My sister was quite animated, telling me all about meeting you and your brother. She's taken quite the shine to you!"

… While the Satan was outwardly smiling, Lelouch felt a creeping dread trickling down his back, the redhead's closed eyes nonetheless seeming to express some carefully contained malice. "Err, I'm glad. I... Wouldn't want to make her sad?"

"Good. That's good." Somehow Lelouch felt relief when the Satan's eyes opened again to look at his father, and away from him. "Well, I won't keep you any longer, Uncle. Congratulations on your debut, Lelouch."

Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief as the Satan walked away and not just because those few seconds made him fear for his life. Hundreds of people filed away in his mind, names and faces he would need to remember or risk offending them. It was tiring. After so long being out of practice at this sort of thing it taxed his mind more than it used to.

Which was why as Lord Bael excused himself to do something or other he felt no compulsion to inform his son about, Lelouch's stomach dropped as his mother looped her hand around his arm and led him out into the throngs of devils once again. "I have a surprise for you," she singsonged, nimbly making their way through the crowds and tables to stand before a pink-haired woman in what appeared to be her twenties (and therefore was somewhere between twenty and six thousand years old). "Lelouch, I would like to introduce you to Roygun Belphegor, head of the House of Belphegor and current second place in the rating game rankings."

The boy's ears perked up. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Belphegor," he said politely, mind already filling with questions he wanted to ask.

"Likewise," the woman responded in surprise, "And, er, congratulations on your debut." Lelouch quickly got the impression she was rarely invited to events such as these.

"I felt that since my son has such a keen interest in the rating games, you might answer a few of his questions. That is, if you don't mind?" Misla requested with eyes that screamed 'If you don't do this for my son I will make sure you suffer more than you can ever imagine'.

"Of course! I'd be glad to!" the rating game second ranker answered with a wooden smile.

"Excellent. Lelouch remember to be polite."

"Of course, Mother," Lelouch said to her retreating back, noticing how Roygun relaxed a little with her gone. "Sorry about that."

"It isn't a problem! You had questions...?" she trailed off, wanting to get this over with.

"Oh, yes. Several. First, I understand the castling rule of chess is possible in a rating game."

"Yes, though it doesn't quite work how you might expect. Rather than the Rook crossing over and guarding the King, the Rook and King swap places. And it's possible outside a rating game as well."

Hm. That changed things. And added several more questions on top of the ones he already had. "Have you eaten? This may take some time."

Roygun couldn't have opted out of this situation but she wished she had been a little more prepared for it. What she had expected was a fanboy asking about some of her matches. He was ten. Something silly or simple like asking about her favourite match. Not an in-depth discussion on the tactical merits of specialised Queens versus balanced Queens, or an exploration of whether she thought a greater number of pieces was superior to greater value pieces. She was expecting an excited kid and instead got a match for some of her worst hardball interviewers.

Mercifully, an hour later Misla returned to rescue the haggard rating game veteran. "Lelouch, I think it might be time to meet with some of the other younger devils in attendance," she cut in.

For the first time during the celebration, Lelouch looked more like the ten year old he currently was. Like he wanted to refuse and keep pestering the woman. But, "Of course. Thank you for your time, Lady Belphegor. This was very informative."

"Uh huh," the pink-haired woman acknowledged with a grunt, eyes twirling dazedly in their sockets as she was finally given a reprieve.

Once again weaving through the crowd, mother and son reached a table with two very bored-looking preteens. Both he had met earlier under more formal circumstances. The tanned, blue-haired boy Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas and the blonde, bespectacled girl Seekvaira Agares. Misla quickly made herself scarce to let her son socialise with his peers without his mother hovering over him. "Good evening."

"Oh, hey! It's you again!" Zephyrdor spoke with a grin as he leaned back in his chair. "So how's it feel being the littlest tagalong?"

"Zephyrdor..." Seekvaira sighed.

"What? That's what we are. We get dragged along to these things, make the rounds for eight word conversations then get dumped somewhere to be bored until it ends." The boy's eyes glanced through the crowd to the slumped form of Roygun. "Though I guess it ain't like that for you being the man of the hour though. So what's the champ like?"

"Impressively knowledgeable and insightful," Lelouch answered. "I believe I've gleaned a great deal of useful information from her." Taking his own seat at the table he extended a hand to the boy. "Under less formal circumstances, Lelouch, nice to meet you."

"Zephyrdor," the older boy answered, taking the hand and shaking it. "Likewise."

"Seekvaira." the girl reintroduced herself, offering her own hand. Lelouch took it, turning it palm down and kissing her knuckles. "Ah, what happened to less formal?!"

He shrugged and smiled at her before frowning to himself. He didn't have a good explanation even within his own mind. "I was expecting more people our age to be here," he noted, changing the subject.

"Pfft, not likely," Zephyrdor scoffed. "We're pretty much at the top of our age bracket I guess. You should've seen my one of these. It was miserable. All the other noble scions are either years older than us and have better things to do, or younger so they can't come at all. There was one other but she's from an extra house so I guess they didn't merit an invite from the House of Bael. Seek, you went to hers, right? Kusha? She nice?"

"Kuisha," the Agares heir corrected, adjusting her glasses. "Kuisha Abaddon," she added for Lelouch's benefit. "She was... Personable. If a tad skittish."

And that was how the rest of the evening went. The three pillar children exchanging (mostly) polite conversation until Lord Phenex came to fiery blows with Lord Shax and brought an early end to the festivities. So Lord Phenex's faux pas earlier... He would need to think on that. Already he was getting caught up in the games of nobles.

As he retired to his room to sleep, reflecting on the day, he realised one thing. He would be attending a lot of these in the future.

He would need to find a way to make them worth the excessive use of his time.