18

Nero and Buddha are close to where the others are. They continue to talk.

Buddha is still fascinated by the boy's resemblance to a certain someone. "Nero, correct? What is your influence in the underworld?"

"Not much, I'm just the eldest grandson of Rizevim Livan Lucifer. I'm not as talented at manipulating demonic energy as other members of my family are, and I'm much weaker than my younger half-brother. As you can see I have the power of a middle-class devil." Nero explains with his head down, while speaking the truth. "But I'm not going to give up, I'm going to keep trying because that's going to be the only way for me to develop. If I can't use demonic energy efficiently I'll use magic, I can use dark magic so I can still get stronger." The young man then smiles.

Buddha is confused as to why someone of such lineage and resemblance to such a powerful person should be able to be so weak. He activates his ocular ability and starts analyzing the boy superficially. He then realizes the influence of a very well hidden inner seal, normally this type of seal would go unnoticed by anyone who is not specifically looking for it.

"Well actually, raw training may not be the only way for you to develop."

"What do you mean?"

"You're not a simple middle-class devil, you're a high-class devil whose power has been sealed."

"What you mean? How is that possible, since my childhood I've always been a middle-class devil and I had poor talent."

"You are very mistaken young devil, you are not weak, like I said you just had your bloodline sealed. From what I saw of your body, the power was sealed away through a ritual performed with demonic power."

"Can you find out more about this ritual?"

"Of course, let me analyze your body and I'll do my best to get information." Nero stands still allowing Buddha to use his energy to study Nero's seal. The process took a few hours and a lot of specific investigative techniques, but it brought results.

"Look kid, I'm not going to be negative but I just saw your soul is pretty unstable."

"You didn't say my power was sealed, what does my soul have to do with it?"

"Your soul is unstable because you've been reincarnated twice."

"H-how do you know about my reincarnation?"

"I don't want to be boring but even my weapon has the title of staff of the 6 kingdoms referring to the planes in which a soul can be reincarnated, so how its owner would not be able to find out if someone had their soul victim of the cycle of reincarnations is something kind of basic for me."

"OK I understand. I'm sorry for questioning you."

"Alright, as I was saying someone performed a demonic ritual on your body to reincarnate an old and powerful devil."

"Buddha could you be more specific with what happened to me without my consent?"

"Sure, no problem. The devil whose soul they were trying to summon was the original Lucifer, your ancestor, and because of that ritual you got closer to the essence of the original devil increasing your potential and purity of the powers inherited by your bloodline."

"But I don't have the powers of my bloodline and I also doubt I'm the original Lucifer."

"In fact, you are far from the original Lucifer as you are still pathetically weak. However, you are very wrong if you claim to not have the powers inherited from Lucifer's bloodline, those powers were sealed because your soul did not have enough energy to keep these powers permanently active. It's as if your own body has sealed off the powers due to the inability to use them without destroying itself, basically it's a limiting seal or safety lock.

"Well that's a reasonable explanation, it explains why I'm unable to use my demonic energy efficiently."

"The seal explains far more than his powers being limited, it is directly related to his two reincarnations."

"How?" Nero asked with a skeptical look.

"Simple, when you died to your grandfather's violent behavior the seal automatically deactivated making your body extremely powerful for the millisecond needed to cast a reincarnation spell in yourself. Your body based this spell on the ritual used on you, your subconscious saved you by making that decision."

"So it was my seal that reincarnated me. Interesting now I know why my grandfather came looking for me when he found out I didn't die, he must have felt the surge of power that was emanated from my dying body and came to satiate his curiosity when he saw me alive." Nero mutter to himself in a low voice.

"The reincarnation was primarily aimed at maximizing the accumulation of spiritual energy to sustain his soul and allow his body to break through the protective seal. That's why you were summoned into another world as a human, the race was chosen for having the lowest energy expenditure, and the other world must have been selected among the possible ones for having an environment rich in energy to be absorbed by your body."

"So let me guess, my seal let me live as a human to accumulate enough energy to break through the limiter and be able to sustain my body without risking my physical integrity. When I got to the proper level he forced a cardiac arrest on my human form to take me back to my place of origin."

"Exactly, your soul got the necessary power to break through the limiter, but due to the two reincarnations the soul itself became unstable and is not able to efficiently use the accumulated power. This string of misfortunes resulted in the limiter remaining in your body until now to protect you."

"I have a question about something you haven't mentioned so far, is it possible to identify who used me as a sacrifice for this ritual?"

"In fact I already know the origin of the energy used for this ritual after all I have dealt with many devils and asuras over the years, these evil energies are very easy to identify when you have a lot of experience and a divine eye that allows you to see through the truth."

"I understand that you want to brag about your unbalanced eye power coming from your pure enlightenment, but could you tell me who did the ritual, this information is important to me."

"You're just jealous of my eye, but it's okay, the one who used your soul as a sacrifice was someone from one of the Six Houses of Lucifer."

"I've heard about the existence of these houses, but apparently they are a defunct system of allegiance to the Lucifer family."

"It's normal that you don't know them after all they were theoretically extinct after the civil war. They were Lucifuge, Nebiros, Satanachia, Algaliarept, Fleurity and Sargatanas. One of them is responsible for the ritual performed on you."

"Could you give me a more specific suspect? How is the situation of each of these families?"

"The Lucifuge family has only two recognized members with one confirmed and the other supposedly alive. The former lord Lucifuge is already dead, so the only members alive are Grayfia who became Sirzechs queen piece and Euclid who went missing. Grayfia would have no reason to perform such a ritual after all she has allied herself with the rebel faction of the devils, as for Euclid he has the ability to do this type of ritual but he has been missing for a long time and he was Rizevim's assistant in the past. He was a fanatical follower of Rizevim taking his words as truth to be realized by his actions, he was also one of the devils who most hated the idea of new satans arising and hated Sirzechs who he believed had stolen his dear little sister from him."

"Well, I already have a first suspect. But if he has that direct connection to Rizevim it would make it impossible for my grandfather not to be informed, except if my grandfather ignored me in disappointment at the plan's failure."

"That's a plausible hypothesis, but let's move on now to the Nebiros family. They were one of the Extra Demon clans that had served the Lucifer Clan for generations, the Nebiros Clan is noted to excel at scientific research, being the leading clan in the Underworld that specialized in a variety of research subjects. The last known living member was Zaorama Nebiros who left no descendants in the world, his current status is unknown. Zaorama was Rizevim's closest scientist, though he researched for the sake of science and innovation which he found interesting, being able to revive one of the satans through advanced magic seems plausible as one of his possible experiments."

"Great first a fanatical follower, now a mad scientist. This one at least is not submissive to my grandfather, if he has performed this ritual on me I can try to acquire information from him if he offers an adequate price."

"The next family on the list would be Satanachia. This family, like Nebiros, only has one last living member who perished in childbirth. That devil was your mother, and she had a natural aptitude for dark elemental magic and her demonic power was famous for being capable of using soul manipulation powers and divination. Considering the power pertaining to the soul of the Satanachia family she is a strong suspect of having performed the ritual, even more so if we take into account the fact that the Satanachia family was the great general of the Lucifer family and they were replaced at the time of Rizevim because he preferred the young Euclid Lucifuge who was manipulable."

"I see, my mother could have used me as a sacrifice to try to reestablish her family's power and honor. Indeed, she might be one of the top suspects for that ritual."

"The fourth family is Algaliarept. This family possesses the power to discover all secrets and is especially proficient at stirring up enmity and distrust among enemies. They are a harbinger of distrust and hostility. Considering the fact that this clan loves general chaos, resurrecting the original Lucifer would suit their plans well." Buddha wore a disapproving expression as he commented on their attraction to chaos.

"Well I can't rule out the possibility that someone from that family actually did this for their own entertainment, do you know if there is anyone alive among the descendants of Algaliarept?"

"I don't know of any descendants of that clan still alive, but you never know in this wide world. As for the fifth family, they are the house Fleurity. This clan used to be the Royal Scientist of Hell, they were known for their dangerous and morally questionable experiments which includes body transportation, mind changing and life creation. They were also a medical clan, though not as good as Sitri that currently control most of the medicine and hospitals of the underworld."

"Another family of mad scientists, but I see no reason for them to try this ritual in me?"

"Didn't you pay attention to what I said? Mental change and creation of life, reincarnating someone in another body falls under the conditions. Fleurity members had internal competition with the Nebiros, so the fact that her life was used by one of the two in a project is possible. Oddly, they came to serve the Beelzebuub clan near its downfall, this is due to the fact that they also possessed insect-related power similar to the mighty 『Lord of Flies』of the Beelzebuub family, The whereabouts of the members of this family are unknown after that."

"Then they would just use me as a guinea pig, impressive. I don't have any connections with the descendants of Beelzebub to confirm, but if they had acted like this it could have been a well thought out plan for the return of the original Satans."

"In fact, well now let's go to the last one on the list, Sargatanas. This clan was known for his brainwashing abilities, necromancy, mind reading, and memory erasing and stealing. They were also experts in using rituals to apply their powers. Brainwashing and necromancy could explain about his ritual and the fact that you don't remember him doing it."

"Great so my list of suspects is a fanatic who would commit any atrocity to please my grandfather; a scientist obsessed with his project; my mother to regain family honor; maybe a devil who just wants to see the circus burn; another mad scientist who wants to prove he's the best and bring back the golden era of the satans; and finally an idle necromancer who can bring my ancestor back using me as sacrifice."

"Relax boy, you will encounter many problems throughout life, the important thing is to learn how to deal with them in the most effective way."

"Then, how do I fix the problem of my soul's instability?" Nero, still a little crestfallen, asks, receiving an excited smile from the dharmic god.

"It's quite simple, just erase the memories of your other life and fortify your soul using external means."

"Whaaaah?"