Scene 1
Ajuka POV
"Please just kill me."
"Another failure."
I snapped my fingers, cutting the connection between this Buné clan member and the magic sustaining him. Before long, I triggered the safety protocol, ordering my servants to enter the room and use fire magic to dispose of the specimens from this unique clan.
The value of this clan had increased dramatically after my encounter with Tenebris, Serafall's fiancé, who had become a thorn in Sirzechs's side. He had directly blocked Sirzechs's path to securing the two deadliest women of our generation of Devils. His pride had never allowed him to accept his failure to secure a union between the Gremory and Sitri houses through Serafall.
He had then switched tactics, attempting to convince Grayfia of the Lucifuge House to betray her own clan after she revealed the truth about Lucifer's only son leaving the Underworld to pursue new experiences in the mortal world. He cited the deaths of his father and the God of the Bible as reasons for why he had waited so long.
That had driven the first nail into the coffins of the Old Satan Families. The only Devil among them capable of competing with me, Sirzechs, Serafall, and Falbium was gone. The Old Satan Families were left without any true fighters or generals capable of commanding their respective forces.
Meanwhile, Sirzechs's decision to bring Grayfia to our side had directly aided in the defeat of the Lucifer minor clans. It had also secured me a meeting with the heiress to the Beelzebub family, allowing me to present the young woman with an offer she could hardly refuse unless she wanted to risk her bloodline's future being decided within these very laboratories.
"The subject survived the process of awakening the Dragon Factor. Failure began during the implementation of the final element, Holy, required to complete the elemental framework."
I noted the failure as I checked the inventory list, discovering that fewer than ten members of the family remained.
After checking their genders and the locations where I had placed them, I realized this was my last stock of Buné members. I decided to begin the restocking process, writing orders for the remaining individuals to be paired off before separating the members of each pair.
It would be a lengthy process, given our low birth rates, which were similar to those of the Yokai.
Still, I could spend the waiting period researching this new subject.
Focusing on a fresh sheet of paper, I began recalling the memories of my encounter with Tenebris.
I remembered the soldiers under his command. They fought with an efficiency that was impossible to describe without experiencing it firsthand. Sirzechs's first encounter with Tenebris at the Lake of the Demon Forest had forced my so-called friend to hand over information concerning the individual who had attacked my rear while I was fighting Falbium.
Tenebris was the only spellcaster among the Devilkin capable of contending with my newly developing magic system. I no longer relied exclusively on the overwhelming capacity of Devil Energy. He was also the only person without a Bloodline ability or affinity who could stand against my three fellow Satans.
Sirzechs's and Serafall's affinities created one-sided matches against weaker Devils, or even those on their own level. My magic system, however, was designed to counter their fighting styles directly, exploiting their lack of technical approaches.
I recalled the feathers Tenebris had sent toward me, stopping just before my chest. They had destroyed my barriers and neutralized my opening attack with casual ease, forcing me to recognize that he wasn't merely a general the Sitri family had decided to employ for his talents during this War of Monsters.
I began sketching his face, its flesh melted away to reveal a golden skeleton. His two wings radiated lightning energy more demonic than even Sirzechs's Destruction energy.
Then I realized I was drawing more than his physical form.
A black sphere appeared above his head, while the shadow cast by his figure resembled a monster lurking within itself.
I cut off the process as I realized I was slipping into a dangerous state. Creating a fireball, I threw it at the paper.
As I watched, the black sphere turned gold, revealing a golden skeleton burning beneath the form I had drawn. It only revealed itself alongside the golden sun after I set the paper ablaze.
"Well, that's interesting. I should scrub everything I've collected about him. A God turned Devil. Quite the dangerous subject. I can't wait to get my hands on him."
Tapping my finger against the table, I decided to visit that bastard Bael. He was the only elder I could trust to either tell me the truth or flatly inform me that the matter was none of my concern. Either response would prove that my interest was justified.
I created a magic circle bearing my family crest. Its demonic features were subtle, much like those of my family's humanoid demon form. I rarely needed to manifest it, having already incorporated its key features into my magic system.
Closing my eyes, I relaxed and commanded the circle to transport me to Bael Castle.
I was finally leaving my laboratories for the first time in twenty years, not since the coronation.
Scene 2
"No, I'm not too sure myself. Or rather, I've never personally encountered such an issue. Tenebris, you say? Interesting."
I watched as Lord Bael drew a depiction of what I had described.
Using a canvas, he mindlessly added color to an increasingly intricate painting while speaking with a calmness that unnerved me. He added several more details, including five stars or smaller suns beneath the black sun above them. An all-white humanoid figure was then placed in the center of the black sun.
A brown tree carried nine fractured realms. Skulls of various species and what appeared to be elemental beings screaming in pain formed the tree's bark.
"What do you think, youngest? This sun energy is worth investigating, especially as a fellow Lightbringer."
He questioned me, but I stopped myself from answering when I realized I wasn't the intended recipient.
Glancing around, I noticed a man standing beside Lord Bael's desk. His silver hair reached the ground, and he carried himself with a grace unbefitting a Devil of the Underworld.
"Quite the Godling, I would say, but that would be understating his value. Although you are correct about this Sun—or whatever this thing is that covers itself in darkness. It is a Lightbringer, but one of Death.
"These five stars are the cornerstones of his divinity: the Golden Sun of Life, the mixture of Silver and White Death, the Darkness that reeks of Nyx, the Star of Lifeless Force, and a budding Star of Time.
"Divinities that should never mix. But focus on the skeleton, brother. It tells us more about his origins than anything else. His bones are not golden, yet they are covered in dense Sun Laws. What divine being do you know of who cares about mortal features?
"Although we have divine bodies as well, our true forms have steered clear of expressing themselves as connected to our Father's creation. Consider the dark demon this beast told you about.
"Why did you draw him in a humanlike form covered in white? He isn't clinging to Tenebris's arm, either. Instead, he is guiding the arm that carries Tenebris's bow."
He paused.
I put a stop to any further thoughts of identifying the man, whose identity I had all but confirmed in my mind. His words prompted Lord Bael to nod in agreement.
"There are a couple of other things buried in there as well. If I continued drawing, I'm sure I'd be inviting a presence here that we don't need coming to the Underworld. The Beast and the Horsemen of the End from the Bible seemed to be directing their weak senses toward me as I drew.
"Subtle signs of destruction arc outward from the Black Sun through its destructive energy. Crimson, but carrying traces of that golden sun, as if he has studied the Laws of Destruction enough to form a loose understanding of them."
I watched Bael place his paintbrush on the color tray. Rubbing his hairless chin, he studied the painting before stepping in front of it, blocking my view.
The man behind me stepped past.
Our eyes locked for a split second, and I felt the weight of mountains descend upon me as he passed. Before I could react, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning, I found Lord Bael standing beside me, his demonic energy enveloping my body.
"That should erase any direct memories of that form. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, Ajuka. It's good that you've already wiped everything you collected, because otherwise, I would have to be more forceful in verifying this claim.
"You won't understand the danger until it's too late, so you'll be accompanied by servants of my choosing from now on.
"You haven't realized it yet, but you have an impending issue coming from the clan you've been treating like cattle. Prepare yourself for the resumption of this war, because Falbium and Serafall are working in tandem now."
I nodded slowly, trying to glance toward the painting, only for my vision to turn crimson as I was teleported away from Lord Bael's study and back into my personal castle.
He had demonstrated the ability to bypass my defensive spells, which were woven throughout my body alongside the barriers designed to prevent teleportation magic. He had punctured a hole where his hand had landed on my body before reversing the magic spell I had used to reach his castle.
His use of Destruction energy left me wondering how far Sirzechs could truly reach if he trained himself to that level.
"Well, there goes my best subject to study, unless I want to face Lucifer and Bael directly. I can always pester Sirzechs for some of those scattered Lucifer subclan members. Their Holy elements are worth studying as well."
Creating a new magic circle, I departed my castle for Lucifer's castle, where Sirzechs was staying.
I vanished in a flash of green energy.
Scene 3
Tenebris's Mindscape
"You aren't Odin the Young Fool."
I watched as a wooden chisel stopped just short of my forehead. A blind man had halted his fist before it could slam into the chisel and drive it into my skull.
"What the fuck?!"
I attempted to push the man off me, but his forearm pressed against me, keeping me pinned to the ground. I looked around in a panic, searching for the stone walls of the Cave of Orthys, which I had been traveling through.
I had left Mari at the entrance after she failed to take a single step into the cave behind me.
My weakened Divine Heart had failed to keep me awake when a wave of Time and Sea Laws slammed into me during my journey into the mountain. Now I had awakened inside this wooden cave, where tree roots larger than an adult mortal breached the walls before quickly extending outward.
"Calm down, you little brat. I knew I was being rough, but I didn't expect the kid to trigger a reality sync from the pain. And Pluto wanted to hog you all to himself.
"Don't move. This moment is connected to the thread that brought you here.
"Bear with the pain, just as you did once before. Now, where did I leave off in my story? Yes, calling me Borson isn't wrong, because I am a son of Bor, just as much as my brother is."
I watched his hand slam down. A sharp prickling sensation spread across my forehead as I realized he was using his words to transfer enlightenment through this ritual.
Calming myself, I recalled Kronos's words concerning the mountain's true purpose and decided to let the process play out.
He began chiseling my forehead with slow precision.
"Although my name was Talos Borson, I was the All-Father of my Aesir Pantheon, while Odin became the King of Jotunheim. A fate he couldn't accept after he decided to take a sip from the Well of Wisdom and received a vision of one of the many realities in which Odin led his own pantheons.
"Whether his visions showed him the results of his lazy approach to kingship was the main culprit behind his numerous failures. Whether it was among my pantheon, where I crushed his rebellion without hesitation, or among the various Odins I've encountered, I treated each with the same fondness I gave my own little brother.
"However, I'm not restricted by the same rules that applied to my own little brother, who was the World's chosen King because of his importance to Fate and the guaranteed chance he represented for a stable world.
"Through various methods, my brother's fall was engineered by no one but himself. Such is the story of every Odin.
"Defeated enemies can be turned into slaves, with no chance of regaining their lost status under their new kings. As we both know, Tenebris, a divine being's lifespan cannot be measured in mortal spans. Such an issue is largely avoidable when it comes to increasing your capacity as a King, especially when you find a worthy enemy who has proven his capabilities against you.
"Why slaughter his supporters when you can convert their king through defeat? A golden branch of opportunity offered by a wise king is not something any defeated enemy could easily pass up. Warriors expect their lives to end in the hands of those who defeat them. More can be gained by treating worthy enemies with the dignity they deserve—or cutting them down so thoroughly that those who submit never entertain the thought of rebellion.
"It pains me to watch every variant of Odin I encounter fall into the same pits of madness.
"Your orbit around the name of Odin has been forming for a long time. Wearing the name of Hades the Hidden One before becoming Odin the Mad. Foreign, yet similar in their approach to mortals, like the Hidden Ones who operate throughout mortal eras as unseen hands.
"And now, Tenebris, the Lord of Shadows. Quite the journey you've undertaken, First Half of the Anomaly.
"Looks like our time together is ending. Nicely done reaching the peak of the Sea. Now you just have to make it back to Earth before the Games begin."
He finished with one final hammer fist.
I watched as a group of silver-boned reapers entered the room, carrying a pitch-black blanket. They laid it over me, and I felt myself falling asleep once again.
It was a refreshing feeling, one I hadn't experienced since my time in Serafall's world.