Evil Pieces

Sitting on the throne designated for the Maou Asmodeus within the Ars Groetia chamber I tuned out most of the complaints and ramblings of the nobles sitting in the their designated seats before me.

Ars Goetia is held every three months, and more often than not it's the same shit spewed over and over again by the exact same people. Most of which has nothing to do with the military.

That's why I tune most of it out.

Otherwise I might go a bit crazy.

Moving on, I semi-listened and payed attention as Sirzechs, Serafalla, and Ajuka, listened and responded to the nobles and other members of Ars Groetia as they spoke. All with smiles on their faces.

It's beautiful.

After thirty years as Maou they have learned how to bullshit like proper politicians. I am so proud of them I am about ready to cry.

But I held myself back when a noble suddenly addressed me.

"Lord Asmodeus!" A noble shouted to me.

I turned to look at him. "Yes, how may I be of assistance?" I asked the noble.

"You can have my son released from the custody of your military police." He all but demanded from me. "He did nothing wrong, and yet he has been jailed."

"Sorry, but what is your son's name my lord?" I asked him. "I go through so many reports in a day its hard to keep track of them all."

Which is true.

Although I get less paperwork than Sirzechs and the others, I still get it.

Thankfully my glasses and self-writing quill help me get it done and over with like that.

Speaking of which, I am going to introduce these two items through Devi-Tech soon. I can't wait to see the nobles at my feet, begging me for the glasses and quills.

Ah, it's going to be a joyous day when this happens.

Anyway, the noble told me his boys name.

Once he did I instantly recalled the report I had received about him.

"I am sorry my lord, but your son cannot be released from custody. For he is a disgusting piece of shit." I said, all with a smile on my face.

I then snapped my fingers and multiple copies of the investigation done on his son appeared in front of several nobles within Ars Groetia.

The moment some of the nobles picked up the copied report and started reading it, they got looks of disgust all over their faces, and I don't blame them.

Because this nobles son blackmailed and raped several of his female subordinates.

And despite being creatures of sin, we devil's still have morals. So rape is not tolerated my most of us, unless the person asking for it has a fetish, but this and that are certainly two different things.

Bottom line is, this nobles son is going to spend the rest of his life working in our prison mines.

Another idea I came up with over these past thirty years. Why should those prisoners get to sit comfortably in a cell while their victims can't rest? No, no, no, we can't have that.

Which is why I introduce the prisoner mines, where prisoners work their fingers to the bone to excavate precious metals like mithril and orichalcum, all with magic sealing cuffs and seals attached to their bodies so that they will actually feel the pain of the work and not be able to escape.

It's one of my crowning achievements if I do say so myself.

The nobles face went white as he read through the report on the atrocities his son had committed. Then the moment he was finished he ran out of the Ars Groetia chamber like a dog with his tail between his legs.

Seeing this I put a grin on my face. I then looked out as the rest of the Ars Groetia members here today. "So, anyone have anything they would like to ask me?" I asked them. "Come on, don't be shy now." I said.

...

...

...

I heard the sound of crickets in my ears as no one dared say a word.

Because they knew that unless they could make a good case I would not review any actions taken by the military forces and personnel under my command.

Seems that noble just now forget what I told these people thirty years ago. That's why I had to remind him.

It's tough being me at times.

"No questions then, good." I said. "Let's move on." I spoke.

"I will take it from here then." Ajuka spoke up.

He then teleported himself to the middle of the chamber.

A Maou only does that when they have something of extreme importance to announce, and wants everyone to listen to them while they talk.

For instance, I would do it if I announced we were going to war. Meanwhile Serafall would do it if she was announcing a major peace or trade deal between us and another faction.

You get the idea.

And since Ajuka is doing it it means he has invented or discovered something that will alter the devil race as we know it. So with the current year being 1570 I can only think of one thing that he is going to present to us today.

Evil Pieces.

"Members of Ars Groetia and my fellow Maou I have chosen to address you all today because I have made a very important discovery whilst doing my research. A way to help us repopulate the devil race." Ajuka spoke.

"What?!"

"Show us, tell us what it is."

"This better not be a joke."

That and several other comments started flying around after Ajuka made his announcment.

"Silence!" Sirzechs yelled, releasing a bit of his power.

Everyone went silent after he did.

"Ajuka, please continue." Sirzechs said.

"Yes. Thank you." Ajuka said. He then held out his right hand and a magic circle appeared on it. A second later a small black box appeared in Ajuka's hand, the magic circle disappearing. "Lords and ladies I represent to you the evil pieces." My fellow super devil spoke.

Then for dramatic effect the box in Ajuka's right-hand opened, revealing a full set of evil pieces.

'Called it.' I thought.

And so it begins.

The entire chamber began silently muttering as they stared at the evil pieces set within Ajuka's right-hand.

I did as well. Seeing that there was no king piece.

Which means they won't appear until the Rating Games do. No, actually they won't appear at all since I am going to make sure of it.

"Over these past 20 years I have been studying the special crystals from the floating city of Agreas located within the Agares clan territory." Ajuka began. "Through my research I discovered that these crystals possessed highly unique properties, and so I began to investigate them. Then after much testing I found out that the power of these crystals could be harnessed, allowing for the race of another to be changed. Upon further study and research I devised this system, which I have dubbed the evil pieces. Taking a page from the human world, I modeled this system after a standard chess set, with fifteen pieces in all. One queen, two bishops, two rooks, two knights, and eight pawns." He explained to us all. "And by using these evil pieces, we devils can transform other species into devils, thus repopulating our race. The Great War and the recent Civil War hurt us greatly, and with how our birth-rates are I wanted to save our race from extinction. This is the way I have devised to do it." He said.

The box in his hand then closed.

"Ingenious!"

"Incredible!"

"So amazing. Now we can stand against the other races!"

The chamber got loud again, and I sighed. I then blasted out my power and yelled.

"Quiet!"

When I did everyone stopped talking.

"Thank you." I told them. "Now then, before all of you go overboard know that before anyone gets a set of evil pieces strict guidelines will be put into place about their usage, and about how reincarnated devils are going to be treated." I spoke. "And just so we're clear, if anyone steps out of line I will personally see to it that you never recover." I told them all.

"Now, now lord Asmodeus no need to be so hasty." Zekram spoke up from the Bael designated seating within the chamber.

But I am not surprised at all. I was just wondering how long it was going to take him to open his mouth.

"Why muddy such good news with threats of violence?" Zekram asked me. "These evil pieces that lord Beelzebub has developed will help us strengthen the devil race as a whole." He said. He then looked at Ajuka. "Lord Beelzebub from your explanation, am I to assume that despite using the evil pieces on other races to change them into a devil, they will still retain their skills and abilities of their original race?"

"That is correct." Ajuka stated. "Their bodies will physically and gentically become that of devils, but their souls will remain the same. So if a human with a sacred gear was reincarnated into a devil, they will still retain that sacred gear. However, although the evil pieces allow for racial changes they are not all powerful. Gods, Bhuddas, and other god-class beings cannot be turned into devils. Conversely to change someone into a devil you must be of greater or equal strength to them, or use the appropriate number of evil pieces to do so. Otherwise it will not take affect. Also evil pieces cannot be used on the dead or departed." He explained to us.

"Really wonderful." Zerkram said.

"Yes, and while the evil pieces are wonderful, they are also a giant cluster-fuck waiting to happen." I spoke, everyone looking at me when I did. "Just think about things for a moment. Leaders of peerages abusing their members. If enough of them get fed up it will lead to an open revolt and another possible civil war. That's not even mentioning if an idiot decided to reincarnate a member of another pantheon without permission. If a yokai of a Valkyrie is reincarnated against their will, then we can be looking at war with the Norse or the Shinto pantheons. But those are just examples. Don't be fools. Once the news of the evil pieces gets out the entire supernatural world will be looking at us devils with fear and suspicious even more than they already do. So once again, no evil pieces for anyone until strict guidelines are put into place." I said.

Voicing valid concerns and scenarios that everyone knew was probably going to happen eventually. Even though no one wanted to admit it.

Zekram also shut his mouth, knowing that what I was saying was true.

"Lord Asmodeus is correct." Ajuka spoke up. "I only introduced the evil pieces today to let you all know that there is hope for our race to not die out. But until the rules and regulations are in place regarding the evil pieces, non shall obtain them. Except for the Maou." He spoke. "We need people to test them besides me, and who better to do than my fellow comrades and your leaders? Any objections?"

No one spoke a word.

"Then it is settled." Ajuka said.

Once he did I started thinking about who I wanted to make apart of my peerage.

This is only the 16th century after all.

On Earth, some of the greatest scholars, inventors, thinkers, etc haven't even been conceived yet.

And I can't wait until they are.

Then I will be able to pick and choose who I want to add to my peerage.

I'm like a kid at a candy store.

Moving on, once the evil pieces were introduced Ars Groetia was adjourned for the day.

After it was I immediately and then sent out a message to my most trusted generals and personnel.

There lives are about to get really hectic after all and being a good boss I want to give them the news myself.

That's just the kind of guy I am.