Interlude - A New Rival

–Serafall Leviathan–

She arrived at the location of their meeting while going through all the information in her head. A group of people going around causing trouble? Nothing new, really. This happened every decade or so. Some people would gather together, thinking they were hot shit, and would start causing trouble before they would eventually get taken down.

However, a group that had two confirmed Longinus users? Well, this made things a bit different. Especially when those two Sacred Gears were Dimension Lost and the True Longinus. This was a deadly combination, one that could potentially even take her down if they managed to catch her by surprise. Underestimating them would be the height of stupidity.

The not so little Bael heir was doing well for himself. People looked down upon him, but he was coming out with one surprise after the other. All of it started when he won back his position by beating his half-brother with his fists alone. Forget about the Power of Destruction, which he definitely wasn't capable of using, Sairaorg hadn't even used a hint of his own Demonic Power in that fight.

Then came the news of what he recently accomplished. According to Grayfia, he had absolutely decimated a massive area, including the destruction of a large mountain. All of that without even using Demonic Power. Granted, though his own reserves were nonexistent, to say the least. Not that it seemed to matter to him.

Demonic Power or not, Sairaorg had clearly climbed his way to a level of power unheard of for his age. Of course, this was not counting the two freaks of nature. They were the exception to the rule and didn't diminish his achievements in any way.

According to Grayfia, he had even snagged a Senjutsu user as his contracted Magician. Certainly, an odd choice, but Serafall could see the appeal. Having a healer on demand was a great thing to have in your back pocket, and Senjutsu users were one of the best healers in the world.

And now Sairaorg even provided them with the information about this rogue group of humans that were running around and taking down supernatural beings. They had no idea what their end goal was, though Sairaorg had managed to confirm that they were recruiting humans. Or at least trying to.

This wasn't as detailed as she would've liked it to be, but this was still a good start as it would ensure they wouldn't be caught by surprise. Either by the enemies or by other factions that tried to blame them for the actions of those humans.

Serafall was going through the information in her head when her body froze as she sensed someone already present in the meeting room. She was usually the first to arrive, Sirzechs being the only other that might beat her to it.

The other two… well, there had been multiple meetings with only two of the Satans. Falbium had slept through more meetings than he had participated in. While Ajuka was usually doing whatever took his fancy. None blamed him because they knew how much he had done for their kind, and anything that he produced was bound to be a boon for their race.

Ajuka Image. 

That's why she was caught off guard when she saw him already sitting and waiting for them. It was especially surprising because if he attended, he would always arrive precisely on time.

"Serafall," Ajuka greeted her with a nod, and she noticed that his eyes were focused on his phone.

"Mou!" She puffed her cheeks and pouted at him. "Juka! Call me Levi-tan!"

"Serafall," he repeated, causing her to narrow her eyes in response. He could've at least played around for a bit before they got serious! She wanted to have some fun, damn it!

"What are you lookin at?" Serafall asked as she got right into his personal space.

"A game," Ajuka answered.

Serafall tilted her head, curiously looking at his screen. Ajuka didn't do things for no reason, so this was important to him.

"And what's so interesting about it, hmm?"

"They beat me to it."

"What?" She curiously looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I planned to release a game… similar to this one. I even ensured that phones in the human world will be capable of supporting it. But they beat me to it."

That was… very much something Ajuka would do. He was definitely someone that would go out of his way to improve humanity's technology just so they could get the chance to enjoy one of his creations. Though it was a bit surprising he was interested in games of all things.

Serafall was also starting to understand why Ajuka was here so early. He had come to complain to someone that was willing to listen. At least, that was what she assumed, and she thought she was right, considering how much he was willing to talk about this.

"Is it any good?" Serafall curiously asked, urging him to go on.

"It…" Ajuka paused and frowned a little bit. "The lore seems to be inspired by the various mythologies, but it's definitely not that fleshed out. The reasoning behind summoning the characters is interesting and… I admit it's better than the one I devised for my own game."

Woah! Ajuka admitted that someone had thought of something he hadn't? Serafall was impressed, even if it was for a game like this.

"They have even included a character that's inspired by you," Ajuka's next words caught her attention, and she focused on his screen. He understood what she wanted, and he showed her this character that was inspired by her, Caster Leviathan.

Serafall hummed as she saw the resemblance, but why was she wearing a robe? That wouldn't do! She'd have to contact the creator and ask to have her magical girl uniform implemented immediately!

"Oh!" Serafall gasped as Ajuka showed off the other stages of her character. Caster Leviathan lost more and more clothes until she was wearing only a uniform very similar to her own! This was perfect! She would have to see if she could implement this in her own show, where she would grow in strength the more clothes she lost!

"You were probably included to ensure that this wasn't interpretred as a shot aimed at us."

"Hmm?" Serafall hummed questioningly, but she wasn't really listening at this point. Her mind was on the new idea about her show!

"The… main enemy of the game are a few Demon Pillars, who are a representation of the Old Satan faction, pretending to be the entirety of Goetia, which is pretending to be Solomon."

That caught her attention for a moment, but she shrugged. It was just a game. There was no reason to think about it too much.

"So you've already beaten the game?" Serafall asked, keeping the conversation going.

"No." Ajuka shook his head. "I looked at the code and… it was interesting."

"How so?"

"It was magical. It jumped around when I tried inspecting it, and it took me a moment to decipher it."

Serafall personally didn't understand what all of that meant. However, she did get one thing from his words. "So you had fun?"

Ajuka took a moment to respond, but he nodded his head. "I suppose I did."

"So what's the issue then?" Serafall asked with a tilt of her head. Clearly there was something that was bothering him.

"It is…" Ajuka took a deep breath. "Unoriginal when it could be so much better. Look."

He opened up a screen filled with characters, and it seemed like he had already acquired all of them from the looks of it.

"Saber Artoria. Alter Artoria. Lancer Artoria. Caster Artoria. All of them are the same character," Ajuka huffed before clicking on two others, Jeanne d'Arc and Emperor Nero, both looking nearly identical to this Artoria. "It's the same art reused over and over again."

"They're cute," Serafall said at first, starting to see the appeal to this game, though she quickly added after, "But I can see your point."

Ajuka offered her a grateful smile. He then closed the game and opened up a folder filled with pictures.

"Take a look."

He showed her all kinds of unique characters, with different hair, eyes, skin color, facial structure, and body shape. Their artwork was exceptionally detailed, and she realized Ajuka had drawn them all himself.

"Woah! That's amazing!" She earnestly complimented him, getting a small smile from him for her efforts.

"The game… isn't bad, and I can see how they are planning to develop it in the future. They can introduce all kinds of characters and make interesting events. The survivor mode is also intriguing and not something I would've thought of, but the game could be so much more."

"Why don't you offer the creators some help?" Serafall urged him. Ajuka definitely needed a few more people to socialize with from time to time.

"I will help them my way," he told her with a shake of his head. "I will spend some more time refining my game. Then I will release it and show them what they could've made."

"Hohoho! It sounds like you found yourself a bunch of rivals!" Serafall excitedly said, trying to push her own agenda.

Ajuka thoughtfully cupped his chin. "Only one, really. The game was made by two people, but one of them was solely responsible for the art."

"Oh? What are their names?" Serafall didn't care that much, but it would be good to know for the future, so she could pester him about this topic.

"Michael Wilder is the creator, and Coriana Andrealphus made the artwork."

Wait a second! Serafall knew those names! One of them was Sairaorg's Bishop while the other was his contracted Magician! What were the chances of that?

Hmm. Maybe she could go and pester them for a bit in the future to see if she could get them to… make their game better? Maybe that would get Ajuka's attention, enough for him to actually go out and talk to someone else! With Magical Girl Levi-tan was on the job, there was no chance of this failing!

Serafall made her plan just as the other two arrived. It seemed that they would have a full meeting today. How wonderful! Maybe they could go and do something together after it. If they had the time, that is.