Chapter 124: Explanations And Invitation

a/n: Power is back. Managed to finish the chapter just ten minutes late. Enjoy.

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Antis, South America

October, 1480

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"We are at the top of a chain of mountains that the locals call Anti. We are at one of its tallest peaks, at six thousand meters above the sea."

Erik replied to Leona and added something more as a curiosity.

"For comparison, Mont Blanc in Italy is four thousand and eight hundred meters above the sea."

Erik added. Leona's eyes went wide again.

"That… That's high…"

Leona said in a very unintelligent way, making the women giggle.

"Yes, but what my husband forgot to mention is that we are in a continent that had not been 'discovered' yet by Europe."

Selena added.

"A new continent that was not discovered yet? How?"

Leona repeated and asked.

"How do we know this place? Hmm… Around two hundred years ago Erik built a ship. A very fast ship that worked on magic. And while using the ship, we traveled the entire world by sea."

Selena replied to Leona, making the young blonde eyes go wide again.

"A-Around two hundred years ago? Just how old are you guys?"

Leona stuttered out a question.

"Hmm… The youngest of us would be Joan, while the oldest would be Hestia or Calypso, I'm not sure now."

Serafall was the one to reply this time. Erik sagely chooses to not answer this question.

"I think I'm older than Hestia. I have around two thousand and five hundred years."

Calypso replied to the group.

"Yes, I am around two thousand and three hundred years old."

Hestia said, adding to Calypso's reply. Leona's eyes couldn't go wider than they already were at the moment. The shock combined with the low oxygen in the air due to the height was enough to make the girl faint. Joan, who was by Leona's side at the moment, quickly caught the blonde's body.

"I think that we broke her."

Selena commented.

"Wait until she knows that she was having tea with two goddesses, one Satan, and three High Humans… "

Erik added while chuckling.

It had taken fifteen minutes for Leona to wake up. When she opened her eyes, she slowly looked at the one person closest to her, Joan, and mumbled.

"I had the weirdest dream…"

Leona mumbled while putting a hand to her head.

"I hate to say this to you, Leona, but it was not a dream."

Joan said to Leona, who immediately finished to wake up. She then looked around and saw the sea of white clouds again.

"Holy hell…"

Leona swore, making the people around her chuckle and giggle. Leona then looked at the people around her while thinking about the early conversation.

"So Calypso and Hestia, more than two thousand years old each, are the oldest ones of you and Joan is the youngest one with…?"

Leona repeated the information that she got, wanting to review everything.

"I'm sixty-eight."

Joan replied.

"Right… Sixty-eight… And she does not look older than twenty-three… I never thought that I would say this, but I think I need a drink."

Leona said to herself. She then looked again at the people around her, now with curiosity in her eyes.

"And what are you all?"

Leona asked. She had just been said that the supernatural is real and that powerful beings walk among humans. Now she suspected that she had just found such a group of powerful beings walking among humans. Serafall smiled at Leona's fast recovery.

"Well, Hestia and Calypso are both goddesses that come from the Greek pantheon. Erik, Selena, and Joan are what they call High Humans. And I, I am a Devil."

Serafall said and for some more theatrics, unruffled her black leathery wings. The effect was not the one that she expect though. Leona didn't faint again, she just looked at her wings with curiosity while raising one hand to her chin.

"Hmm… So, two Greek goddesses, three High Humans, whatever that is, and one Devil. Does that means that you go around making contracts and collecting people's souls as payment?"

Leona said and asked while looking at Serafall, who chuckled at that.

"No, no. Devils, in general, stopped taking souls as payment for deals thousands of years ago. They now normally only take material things as payment or favors. It gives less power to the Devil but it is much safer than taking a person's soul."

Serafall replied to Leona, who nodded her head in understanding.

"And you said 'they', as you don't do that?"

Leona said, pointing out the wording used by Serafall in her reply. Serafall nodded her head happily. Leona was managing to impress her more and more as time passes.

"Yes. I don't do contracts anymore, at least not low-level ones. When They named me Satan Leviatan, I got a small power boost due to the people's beliefs."

Serafall replied to Leona, who blinked slowly while looking at Serafall.

"You are Satan Leviatan. As THE Satan?"

Leona asked and Serafall shook her head.

"Not THE Satan. One of four Satans. The Underworld, that is where the Devils live, is ruled by four powerful Devils that were titled after the name of the old Satans. They are Lucifer, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, and Leviatan."

Serafall said, explaining to Leona a little of the power structure of the Underworld.

"And you are Satan Leviatan?"

Leona asked and Serafall nodded her head in confirmation.

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought Devils lived in Hell."

Leona asked again.

"Hell is just a place where the sinful souls are punished in the afterlife in Heaven. The tale that Devils live in Hell and punish the sinful is just Church propaganda."

Erik was the one to answer this time. When he saw Leona's face to his answer, he continued explaining.

"Different Pantheons have different ways of treating the afterlife. For example, the Greeks have their Underworld, which is a different one from the one that houses the Devils. The Norse have Valhalla and Hel, that's probably where the Church took the name Hell from."

Erik said, explaining a little to Leona, who nodded her head in understanding.

"Devil, Goddesses and High Humans… What is a High Human?"

Leona asked. She had never heard of High Humans.

"Hmm… A better way to explain it is by saying that it is a human that reached the peak of what a human can do with mana and did a ritual to evolve to a higher stage. With it, the person gains some benefits, like your body goes back to its peak and you don't age anymore."

Erik replied to Leona, trying to explain to her what High Humans are.

"So, you are immortal?"

Leona asked again and Erik shook his head.

"Not immortal. I will still die if someone puts a sword through my heart, that is if he manages to put a sword through my heart. I just don't age anymore. Old age is not something that could cause my death anymore. It is important to state the difference so it doesn't go over put heads."

Erik said to Leona, who nodded her head in understanding. The blonde young woman then went silent for a time while thinking about all that was told to her today. It all started with a seemingly innocent question and evolved into a conversation that blew up her mind.

"What I don't understand yet is why are you all telling me about all this?"

Leona finally said, asking something that was bothering her from the beginning. Ok, maybe not from the beginning, but since the middle of the conversation. Erik smiled at that question and looked at Serafall. The Satan was also smiling widely at Leona.

"Well, that is because I have a proposition to you. Hmm… More like an invitation if I have to say it myself. But to do it, I will have to explain a little about the recent history of Devils. Some three hundred years ago, there was a Civil War in the Underworld involving the Devil Race. The leaders of that time, the Old Satans, were ruling the Devils with tyranny and things were walking towards a reignition of the Great War, that is, the restart of the war between Heaven, Fallen-Angels, and Devils. Since our race had not recovered from the war, the restart of it could very well mean the extinction of the Devil Race and a lot of people were against it. Even more the new generations. So a new faction appeared between Devils to go against the Old Satans' rule and a Civil War started. It took a lot of fights and lives, but the Old Satans' side was defeated and four new Satans were titled to the position of rulers for the Devil Race. But the Civil War had its costs too and the number of Devils was even thinner now than before. It would take dozens of thousands of years for the Devil Race to start to recover from it since our reproduction rate is very low. It was then that, after a lot of thinking, Satan Beelzebub came up with an idea. 'Why not recruit and reborn people from other races into Devils?'. With that in mind, he started his research and finally came up with something that he called the Evil Pieces. They were pieces of enchanted stone that had their shapes based on the pieces of the game of chess, where the King would be a High-class Devil who would use the other pieces, queen, bishops, towers, knights, and pawns, to reborn other races into new Devils as their peerage members, giving them all the abilities that a normal Devil would have, bar the lineage attainable ones."

Serafall said, finishing her very long explanation. She then extended her hand, with palms up, and summoned one of her pieces. A deep blue chess piece appeared in her hand with an ice blue shine of light. It was a bishop piece.

"The 'why' we explained all of this to you, Leona, is that I want to invite you to join my peerage, as my bishop."

Serafall said to Leona. The young woman stood in 'shock' just looking at the deep blue chess piece on Serafall's palm. She had so many questions about so many things.

"Can I ask some questions before giving my answer?"

Leona suddenly said, making Serafall smile even more.

"I would like very much that you clean all your doubts before accepting, Leona. Once the 'rebirth' procedure is done, it can not be reversed."

Serafall said to Leona again, stating that should she accept the piece, her decision would be final with no chance of going back. What followed was a long conversation where Leona would ask questions that she had about becoming a Devil and Serafall, or one of the others, would answer them. Things like what meant to be a member of a peerage, what were the pros and cons of being a Devil, the political state of the Devil Race internally and externally, etc. During the ping-pong of questions and answers, she even asked why Erik, Selena, and Joan were not revived as Devils too. They told her that the King would need to be stronger than the person being reborn to it to work, and Erik was stronger than Serafall. In Selena's case, it would be because being a Devil didn't give her anything that she didn't already have with being a High Human. And in Joan's case was because she didn't want to lose her blessing from God. It was then that Joan told Leona her full name and the young woman recognized her as being the French Heroin from the Hundred Years War between France and England.

Since the time that they had was getting short and it had already gone dark in Italy, the group had to stop their talk. Erik teleported them all back to Florence with a snap of his fingers and they delivered Leona to her home with a promise to answer more of her questions next time they reunite.

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