Chapter 20/Interlude 4
"You are a genius Ryuu-tan," exclaimed an ecstatic Serafall when she received his newest report letter. Since he, his mother Melissa and Serafall were always fairly busy with their own affairs they tended to write little reports from time to time and leave them for each other.
'Now that I think about it, what has Meli-tan been up to,' thought Serafall as she re-read Ryuus' letter and contemplated the feasibility of his suggestions. The letter contained many things. One of those, was a list of capable people to recruit for her unoffical "peerage" as Sirzechs started to call them.
While she appreciated Ryuus' help, she could do much more with his list. For example trading the potential peerage members for others like Ajuka or Falbium for benefits and favors.
Ajuka, he'd love to try and recruit the dying Galileo Galilei given that he was a scientist like him and Falbium would love the capable Elizabeth I of England to take over his paperwork.
Sirzechs would probably love Guy Fawkes if he had a sacred gear to up his potential a bit. If not he'd probably look into creating a variant of those abominal "King Pieces" Ajuka created. Sirzechs could be such a hypocrite sometimes.
Regardless of that, besides the candidate list she also received a tome with every bit of ice magic related stuff Ryuu could've found these past ten to eleven years coupled with some modern day science. Together came a trainings plan and a ritual layout which made Serafalls' eyes nearly pop out of her head.
Rituals weren't all that popular anywhere in the world. They are deemed useless and no one really bothered studying them much aside from gods perfecting their sacrificial rituals. Selfish pricks.
Ryuu left her with clear instructions and an explanation of how the ritual works exactly. He wrote that it is a modified sacrificial ritual that would allow her to break the limits of her race and become, what is commonly referred to as a "Super Devil".
In order to break her chains of fate she'd need a being of divinty corresponding to her own elemental affinity though. Now this would be tricky if it weren't for the fact that gods come and go with the rise and fall of pantheons.
The sacrifice Ryuu recommended was the slavic goddess of winter, death and rebirth. She had never heard of that particular name before, but she trusted Ryuu blindly.
All she needed was figuring out the coordinations of her own version of hell, Nav which wouldn't be all that difficult given the countless favors she's owed. Someone like Hermes woould do the trick.
Did sacrificing a living being for power make Serafall feel uncomfortable, yes. But after everything she has done to get this far, and seeing how Ryuu reaches new heights time and time again she couldn't afford letting her consciousness beat her rationality.
If Serafall were to stand still while Ryuu and Melissa kept on walking forward, sooner or later she'd end up losing them and with them the last trace of warmth in this cold world.
Going back to the letter she also saw a lot of different techniques Ryuu recommended her to learn. Serafall couldn't make heads or tails about how most of them are supposed to work, but she saw descirptions as well as a reminder that "visuals are coming before the clone dispels" which made Serafall very giddy.
Eversince "Naruto" she has been hooked on the concept of manga. She probably re-read Naruto half a dozen of times eversince she first received the books from Ryuu.
She also went above and beyond in an attempt to copy various techniques from the Manga such as [Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu] jutsu by using ice magic-made snowflakes and throwing them around while multiplying them on the fly.
At this point even Itachi would bow to Serafall in respect for her shurikenjutsu. Aside from her newly conned [Ice Clone Shuriken Jutsu] she was also on her way to re-create Hakus' [Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō(Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals)]. As for Hakus' needle technique it was of no use to her.
Such an attack would only work against small fries but anyone above mid-rank wouldn't even feel it if she didn't load them with a good quantity of demonic energy. Which in turn made the supposed low-cost and decent power technique, pointless.
Some other techniques written in Ryuus' letter were Mahapdama from Esdeath, Cryo Bomb Generation used by White Bomberman, Ice Vortex Creation used by Ranma Saotome and many more. The most impressive ones were the concepts of "Slayer" magic from the fairy tail universe.
For Serafall reaching the state of a perfect Ice Devil Slayer would mean a perfect combination of magic and bloodline ability which happens to be what leads to someone becoming a super devil. It was the only other method to become one aside from the ritual she had planned.
The notes also mentioned that after becoming the first Ice Devil Goddess she could try to out something Ryuu referred to as godslayer magic making Serafall nearly scream in shock, fright and excitement.
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After memorising everything she did something not so unexpected. She froze and pulverised the letter. It was to make sure it would never fall into someone elses' hands.
After all not only did it include a ritual and various ideas for never seen before magics, but also an update on Ryuus' personal strentgh.
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"... and this is why we should start pushing the hand out of the Evil Pieces as well as starting preparations for the Rating Games," Ajuka finished after a long time. Right now the entire upper echelon of the devils was gathered here to discuss the future of their race.
A plan first developed by their new Maou Beelzebub a smart man to counteract the possible extinction the devils were faced with after the last war.
But with a fatal flaw; a complete disregard to everything aside his research and best friend Sirzechs Lucifer. It was never a matter of responsibilty for him, never once has he asked himself, "is this truly alright" or "what about the consequences?"
Just like now with his little chess pieces. In theory, it is a nice thing for the devils to be able to add to their military might without the need of propagation. Rating Games would also solve most of the aggression problems plaguing her people.
No, her issues stem from a political point. Would the other races leave them alone knowing that their subject can be turned into a devils' pawn without any say in this matter. Corrupted without any chances to see the gates of heaven.
Before reading the last letter, Serafall was at wits' end. She considered all the work and political bullshit coming at her and was seriously contemplating to just walk out. But now things were different.
"If I may," said Serafall. The devils stopped discussing and turned to Serafall. Some had gloating in their eyes knowing the plight this ordeal was bringing her. Other looked with apprehension, some other with interest.
"I won't repeat myself in this matter as I still believe it to be a bad idea to hand those pieces out indiscriminately," she started. "I have a compromise or more like conditions for accepting the evil pieces in the underworld," she told them calmly.
This made many frown, their faces practicly screaming 'how dare she'. Zekram Bael on the other hand looked calmly and gestured her to go on.
Serafall took a sip of water and began, "the first one will be a rank limitation." This had the council members eyes go wide. They had expected one of their fellow devils to mention it, but not the Satan Serafall.
Ignoring the suprised devils she continued, "unlike you my concerns are more ethical. Anyone below the high ranks would probably be unable to finance an entire peerage and this would lead to a decline in the quality of life of all members.
Aside from that I want every king to register the peerage members, their origin and most importantly; why they decided to become devils!"
Her eyes sharpened and her powers spiking ever so slightly which made everyone, even her fellow satans stiffen a bit. They understood where she was coming from but her anger seemed to catch them off-guard.
This was the start of Serafalls' counterattack!