70

Arriving home I hear talking coming from the living room, making my way in I spot Athena and Delia. Delia doesn't seem to be sad anymore, when she first saw Athena she started crying her heart out about all her grievances. I gave them space to talk about stuff without me hanging over them, seems it worked out.

"Heyo! Are you guys having fun?" I kiss Athena's cheek as I wiggle in between her and the arm of the couch.

"Welcome back Nova, we were just talking about what Delia wanted to do now." Athena slips her hand into mine and I spot the Leviathan shield on the table. now's a good time as any to ask about the devil thing I guess.

"I told you before to wait till we got back and I would tell you more about some private things, well I am a devil. a devil is a different species from demons and I came from a different world, I can also turn others into my kind with an item called an evil piece. Athena is one and a few others are as well, I would also like to invite you as well to become one." Delia looks over at Athena in doubt, Athena shows her wings and I also let out mine, her mouth drops seeing them. reaching over she pinches Athena's wing and pulls it a little, when she confirmed it's real she sits back.

"Umm, why do you want to make me one?" I point at the shield.

"On top of you being Athena's friend and her likely not wanting to have to watch you die of old age long before her, I also would like to bind the shield to myself. you would still be able to use it along with me but I would gain the ability to use it and it's quite a powerful artifact." she looks at the shield and picks it up and hands it to me.

"I don't need it anymore, I wanted it so I could defend myself from the soul shackles and now it would only bring me trouble if I carry it around. it cant be stored in a space ring because of its nature as an artifact so I would have to hide it to keep it ' mine ' and that doesn't do anyone any good." I grab the shield ignoring the prompt momentarily so she can finish. "so you using it is better anyway, I guess it could be part of my thank you for helping me. I would have never made it to the treasure room if you didn't take me there." she is still wearing the veil but I can tell she is smiling for real for the first time since I have known her.

"And becoming a devil?" I ask debating whether to buy a mutant piece or not, I don't know how many more I can get since it isn't grayed out yet so more are available. if I buy a normal queen and it grays out I would regret it since I want to try to queen Zola the fairy dragon soon.

"I won't say no right away, but what all is included in becoming one, and what are the downsides." Athena lets go of my hand and grabs both of Delia's in her own and begins explaining for me. she is enthusiastic as I expected.

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"Ok, I don't see a downside that will outweigh the benefits. plus I can justify staying around to look out for my friend to make sure she isn't mistreated." she says while raising her chin haughtily, we laugh seeing her perking up a little more. I guess that she just wants to feel wanted somewhere after all the stuff she has been through.

I buy a queen piece and notice it still doesn't gray out, good news for me since I saved Sin and didn't mutate it. if it greyed out I would have felt like I wasted the slot but all is well. I am trying to save to become overlord as fast as possible so I won't be dead weight when we hit blood fall.

"Here drink these first so you can double down after reincarnating." I give her a set of black potions and even hand her the stone from Broc, wondering if it will be consumed during the reincarnation.

"These are?" she reads the label and freezes, shaking her head she drinks all four and then grabs the stone. "what's this? it feels like spirit power, kind of like Broc's?" Wonder if she will refuse since it's kind of her abuser's power condensed.

"Well, it's the spirit power of Broc condensed so you can gain power from it. it will only work with a Leviathan if my current information holds true so I thought I would offer it." she grips it almost like she wants to shatter it but it disappears and after checking I find it located in the same spot as Kia's. noticing the awkward mood didn't go with it I decided to continue with the reincarnation.

The queen piece sinks into her chest and when I check I watch the stone melt into her reconstructing power. her power raises sharply as it does, seems that it was a good idea to try it this way.

Delia doesn't react as I get a status panel showing it worked, she does reach up under her veil as I am reading her stats. soon she gasps and pulls off her veil, pulling a mirror out of her ring she stares in shock. I guess the piece went ahead and fixed her scars, she had cut her face a ton of times after being abused by her brother in an attempt to lower his interest in her or something. her skin is smooth and slightly pale, her lips have a natural sheen to them and her light blue hair and eyes sell her visage.

"It fixed my face." she continues to rub her cheeks.

[ Temple of sin detecting artifact compatible with Alter of Envy - integrate? ]

"Confirm."

[ Congratulations on acquiring the Artifact of Envy! ]

[ Royal Bloodline unlocked - Leviathan ]

[ Trait unlocked - Leviathan - Sea Serpent of the End ]

[ Artifact available - Illusory Magic Shield ]

[ Delia Leviathan - Royal Devil

low demon emperor

traits:

water

Sea Serpent of the End

Soul Shackles

Devils Eyes of Envy

Royal devils physique ]

"How do you feel." Delia stands up her wings come out as she tries to move them around, they don't have the best range of movement.

"I feel good, really good actually." her wings go back and she looks over at me as I equip the shield and feel its weight. it's not unwieldy and feels pretty comfy.

"Try using your eye." she blinks a few times slowly and then both of her eyes change and she is stunned.

"Wow, this is way different. it's like I can see things I couldn't before and also it's both my eyes now, this will take some getting used to though." she holds out her hand observing it like it's an alien as she moves her head back and forward.

Athena chuckles seeing the reaction she has, Delia noticing what she does puts her hands behind her back and her eyes turn back. she looks at Athena with a pout as she tries to play it off.

"It is very different, but I don't dislike it, it is a nice feeling. thank you, Nova." she gives me a quick hug as I stood up when I tested the shield. I give an awkward pat on the back so she doesn't feel like I am weirded out by her. looking to Athena for help, she nods and stands up, getting behind Delia, wrapping her arms around, and sandwiching Delia between us.

"Athena?!" I grin seeing Delia's cheeks go red after she squished between us. putting my arms around and grabbing Athena's sides I pull her in even tighter causing Delia to start squirming for freedom.

I let go and step back as Athena continues to cling to her friend, Delia makes a show of trying to escape but her mood has skyrocketed since she came here. before she was almost a robot going through the motions and now she seems to have some fire in her.

"I am going to check on Kia, she seems to still be fooling around with the stone I gave her." after checking the house I can tell Freya is asleep but Kia is still up and her demonic energy is focusing on the stone. it seems she has figured out how to use her innate Devourer to speed up the process.

"Alright, I am going to help set up Delia's room since she is going to stay here."

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Knocking on Kia's door I feel her stop her circulation of demonic energy and get up and walk toward the door. soon the door opens and Kia stands in front of me, her power has increased a lot and has made it to peak of demon emperor. she might beat most of us if this continues, but she still is lacking territory so she will be behind in that aspect.

"Hey just wanted to check on you since that stone is pretty odd." she steps aside and I walk in.

"It was hard, to begin with, but after I felt my devourer power getting stronger I could actively use it to dissolve the stone into my own power. I am taking it slow so I don't accidently cause any problems, but it seems to be going fine." we sit beside a workstation she is using to design some clothes and I look at her plans as I ask questions. the more I understand the stones the better I can utilize them and maybe duplicate them, or something similar.

"So no pain or uncontrollable power surges?" she shakes her head.

"The only odd thing about it is I feel like it is slowly changing my Devourer physique. it is most likely due to my succubus nature having been mutated by the Beelzebub blood and now it's changing it more." this makes sense if you think about it being two different bloodlines, one is getting stronger and the other is having to adapt to the change. I wonder what the result will be like, and if I get more Beelzebub stones by killing her dad and others will it continue to change or reach a plateau?

"How about territory? you started to learn it but everyone's is different so I couldn't teach you much more than what I did to learn mine. I could lock you in mine and maybe you could try to learn more by experiencing one again after your power has increased." she tilts her head and then nods and smiles.

"I was feeling like I was getting stuck on the progress of territory so I was focusing on the stone since I was making progress, but I would like to progress on territory as well. without a territory, I wouldn't be a real demon overlord even if the stone gives me the raw power of one." I open up my territory in just this room as I explain what it is I am feeling and how I am envisioning it.

She asks questions and I answer the best I can without trying to overcomplicate it. we go back and forth for a while as she attempts to create her own, I let mine disperse so it won't affect her. she goes quiet and seemingly enters a trance, I silently observe and wait to see if she will succeed. if she can progress fast enough she can join in on the raid and be involved in taking her dad down, it would be satisfying versus the original where she was powerless against him up to the point Catherine came around and took the guy in. later he died a miserable death but I always felt it was a bit lackluster.