Chapter 32

Devil Peerage System

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With the tacit three-way truce between the Three Biblical Factions in place, the newly crowned Maō were left with a simple quandary; over half of the Devil population had been killed during the fighting with the other two factions and more had died during the Devil Civil War. This left them at less than a third of their pre-war population, and Devils do not conceive easily. In their lifetimes, which can easily be thousands of years depending on their strength, a Pureblooded Devil couple might only have two children, with a long, long time between each.

It was the new Maō Beelzebub, Ajuka, formerly of the Astaroth Family, who conceived of the way forward. In addition to normal population increases, he advocated and created a way to reincarnate other beings, aside from gods and higher-tier dragons (Ophis and Great Red), into Devils. After some consideration and consultation with his peers, it was decided to also use this as a way to teach young devils, which are, as a general rule, arrogant and prideful, about combat situations without the risk of actually dying in combat.

Based upon chess pieces, the newly coined [Evil Pieces] were designed to add a shadow factor into the beings they are inserted into, as well as a weakness to light. By any standards, they are Devils. Each [Evil Piece] was also designed to offer an enhancement to whosoever bore it that best represented its abilities on the chessboard.

- Rook: These pieces vastly increase the physical strength of those who bear them, but also reduce their speed. [Kings] can also use the special technique known as [Castling] with any [Rook] piece, regardless of whether they are in use or not. [Rooks] are worth 5 Pawns.

- Knight: The [Knight] pieces vastly increase the physical speed and agility of the user at the cost of lowering their defence. Cripple the legs of the [Knights] and you essentially end their usefulness on the battlefield. [Knights] are worth 3 Pawns

- Bishop: The [Bishop] pieces vastly enhance the potency of any magical abilities that the user possesses. It should be noted that while the potency of their spells are increased, it only slightly adds to their Demonic Power, so casting powerful spells will drain [Bishops] quickly, leaving them vulnerable to physical attacks. [Bishops] are worth 3 Pawns.

- Queen: Out of all of the pieces, the [Queen] piece is the one considered the strongest. One who bears a [Queen] piece has access to the amplified abilities of [Rooks], [Knights] and [Bishops] all at once. Thus they are considered the most balanced as well as the most powerful. A note that should be made is that more often than not, the physical abilities of the [Knight] and [Rook] are neglected in favour of the magical powers of the [Bishop]. A [Queen] is worth 9 Pawns.

- Pawn: The humble [Pawn] piece. Oftentimes seen as the weakest piece and used in sacrifice gambits for other pieces to advance, the Pawn can be a surprisingly devastating wildcard, depending on how it is used. To represent that, any [Pawn] can use, with their [King's] permission or in enemy territory, a power known as [Promotion], which allows them to temporarily assume the characteristics of the other pieces. They have no particular weaknesses, but no particular strengths. [Pawns] are, funnily enough, worth one [Pawn] each.

- King: Unlike the other pieces, the [King] 'piece' is used by the Master of the Peerage, who is either a High/Ultimate Class Pureblood Devil or a High/Ultimate Class Reincarnated Devil. In each territory of the four Maō, there exists a monument that each [King] touches that acts as a [King] piece proxy for them. [Kings] are similar to [Pawns] in that they have no strengths or weaknesses to them. [Kings] are also not ranked by Pawn pieces.

Issei felt his eyes cross at that info dump. While this was fascinating, it wasn't what he wanted to know, so he skipped to the bottom and resolved to read the rest later.

Class: [(Devil Peerage) King]

A class given to those who touch the [King Monuments] in the territory of the Four Maō. It offers several skills that interact with other Evil Pieces within that King's Peerage, but doesn't boost any of the class holder's stats or abilities.

Stat Boosts: None.

Class Skills Gained: [Evil Piece Reincarnation], [Master-Servant Circle Teleport], [Castling], [Devil Contract Magic Circles], [Servant EXP Sharing].

Issei's eyes narrowed when he read the last skill and he reached out to tap it.

[Servant EXP Sharing] (Passive)

A Devil makes contracts with humans. Similar to a quest, the contracted Devil receives rewards upon the completion of the request of their contractor, usually money, precious metals, valuable artwork or favours owed. They also receive a chunk of experience, the amount of which varies depending on the type and difficulty of the request, as well as the social status of the contractor. A King receives an amount of EXP whenever their Servants complete a contract, which varies depending on which Evil Piece the servant possesses, how many of the piece they have or if it's a Mutation Piece and the rank of Devil that the Servant is (Low, Middle or High).

"Ok, that just isn't fair." Issei muttered in complaint. If ALL of the ORC and Student Council were Reincarnated Devils, or even if most of them were, then it wasn't any wonder Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri were jumping up in levels so quickly; even if each of their Servants only completed a single contract per day, then they were still receiving a good chunk of EXP every single day, and judging by the speed of their masters' levelling up, there was no way that each of them were only doing a single contract a day!

It would also explain why Sona was a higher level than Rias; the Kaichou simply had more Servants completing contracts than her redheaded counterpart did. Rias was catching up though, which probably had to do with how much EXP it was taking Sona to level up rather than extra diligence on Rias' part.

Closing the window, Issei turned his attention to the other two windows. Once was a notice that his Relationship with Sona Sitri had been reset to Neutral from its former position of Dislike. After checking the table of Relationships, Issei found she hadn't disliked him that much, as [Disliked] was only two steps down from [Neutral].

The other was a list of two skills that had been created when he had been talking to Sona.

[Lying Through Your Teeth] (Active) [LV1, 00.00]

Everyone has a particular style of lying that suits them. Some lie by telling the truth, some lie by omission and some, like yourself, specialise in lying by telling brazen untruths. Oh sure, the truth was mixed in there somewhere, but you never said any of that and you know it.

- While [Lying Through Your Teeth] is active, you will brazenly lie. The likelihood of being believed by your target is determined by taking your CHA stat and comparing it to your target's CHA stat, after altering yours and their CHA stats with modifiers (How smart your target is, how likely they are to belief you, how likely they are to think that you are lying to them, etc, etc). If your CHA score is higher than your target's, you win and your lie goes through. If less, they win.

- If you fail the Lie Check, there is a 10% chance they will not call you on the lie.

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