Second step of the plan.

"How many are there?" I asked my partner in crime in all this.

"About 1500. 300 of them were recruited from the Paimon territory, 200 from the Gremory territory, 200 from the Sitri territory, about 100 were recruited by Astrid on her travels. It would seem these distinct houses still had some loyal followers. Or maybe they were just stranglers. The blacksmiths and dwarves are people you yourself recruited while traveling. The rest are old soldiers and their retired generals, or just workers who agreed to work for money." Replied Kaya.

Currently, we were both overlooking a ruined city. One that had a long history and legacy, and that was exactly the reason why it had to be destroyed.

It is the legacy of a throne and a king.

However, killing the king wouldn't solve much of anything. You would only replace a single asshole with another one. So the better solution is to destroy the throne itself, piss on their legacy and ruin everything they have built.

Belief is what makes a ruler. So long as people believe you to be invincible, they will follow you even if you challenge the heavens. But if you lose all of your legacy, then you will also lose all of their beliefs.

If you make a god bleed, people will cease to believe in him.

Afterall, what is a god that bleeds? A fraud.

A ringed wall could be distinguished from the ruins, making a circular shape with 4 different districts dedicated to different jobs for the people. Not that much of it remains anyway.

In the center of the ruins, should've been a massive castle. Taller than any other even in the current underworld. The place where the castle was supposedly meant to be, is the most damaged area of this massive city.

This is Lucifaad. The previous capital of underworld and the territory ruled by house Lucifer, and later, house Lucifuge since Rizevim was unwilling to rule.

On the western side of the city, the buildings and the walls were slowly being rebuilt. Some people could be seen, resting or dining in the newly built houses.

The second stage is just this. Getting prepared for the time of resurrection.

The entire ruined city was cleared out from outside. An application of Kaya's voice with Archmage. It creates a barrier with her voice, that convinces any onlooker's brain, that there is nothing in the city but ruins.

Its been a few months now since i have revealed my plans to my people and distributed the work between them. Things are progressing, ever so slowly, but still progressing. It feels like that whole plan was no fantasy afterall. I am getting closer to my goal.

"Take Astrid here and tell her to manage the construction workers. Give them extra money and better conditions in exchange for harder work. Get the money from Phenex family in accordance to the deal we made. We want them to live here after rebuilding it after all." I told her as i was leaving in a magic circle.

There are many other things to take care of than watching people building houses. Its been busy lately.

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Now, i am sure you are thinking, how did i get to rebuilding Lucifaad? Well, it all started from a few months ago.

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"So first of all, i want to thank all of you for participating in this meeting. I am Antares Gremory, the host of this meeting." I started.

"Some of you may be wondering, 'Why is such a diverse gathering of people happening right now? Why am i here along all of these crazy people? Is this an attempt at the creation of a terrorist group? What the heaven did i got myself into?' I am here to answer these questions."

"First of all, you people, are all here, because you are all in some way connected to me. You are either my allies, my friends, the people i recruited, or the people that my allies have recruited. And no, this is not a terrorist group."

"So, some of you already know this, but to give context to our newcomers, the goal of this group of people, is in smart terms, rebelion What does that imply? It implies that you are currently a part of a group that is led by someone trying to overthrow the current government. Why? Well, the root of my actions are three most basic desires of any living organism. A desire to live happily, a desire to be free and a desire to survive. I am sure some of you, who descend from extinct houses can relate to that." As i said that, some people nodded their heads, agreeing with the notion, but still confused about why i would feel that way.

"Lets start with the very beginning. I spent the majority of my early years, studying, training and generally preparing to interact with the devil society, and what i learned is that, this is impossible. Between me, and the government, we are like oil and water, we just don't mix. As a future super devil, i am bound to eventually choose a side, or become a stray. I can't be neutral because i happen to be the son of a important figure, and if i stay neutral and do nothing, i will eventually have to take my place as the next head of house Gremory, which would plunge me back into the political mess anyway."

"And that wouldn't change anything in the government at all. Sure the power scale would tip, but what about economy? What about influence? This is due to the very nature of house Gremory. Even after marrying a Bael, getting their blood in the family, producing a satan and owning one of the greatest territories of the underworld and profiting from the civil war, this house is still merely a duke."

"The reason for this, is simple. We are traditional, aristocrats in nature. In fact i am pretty sure devils were the original inventors of aristocracy. A house that has always been Duke, would at best become an Arch-duke after 10000 years of glorious service. Doesn't matter how many ultimate classes you produce, doesn't matter how many satans you make, your progenitor was born as a duke under the rule of Lucifer. That is the ultimate truth of your house. highest standing, belongs to houses that have ruled since the beginning of their time. By becoming the head of this house, i would merely become another cog in this machine. Just another super devil that has a clear standing, beneath the Bael family, that currently rules the underworld. So i would have to follow their rules. In this scenario, my freedom is stolen."

"Becoming a stray was never an option either. Abused, neglected and betrayed cliches don't work out too well in reality, as leaving house Gremory would just make everything worse than it is. I would lose all my money, all the potential allies that are attracted to me because i can support them, lose my most comfortable king sized bed, and i would have to start from 0. Literally 0. And if that wasn't enough, i would also get hunted down by idiots."

"So the obvious Solution is to do something. Not doing anything, or going stray will result in bad endings. As such the only solid ending is to work hard for a few decades, change the world to my liking and then enjoy myself for the rest of my immortal life. Therein lies the plan to overthrow the Bael family. In a single sentence, it is to resurrect house Lucifuge and vie for the government. Shoot your questions."

As i said that, a few people raised their hands.

"Yes, please introduce yourself and ask your question."

Standing up, a female blonde with beautiful green eyes looked at me.

"My name is Diana Abaddon, as an extra demon myself, i simply wanted to ask, why would house Lucifuge succeed in a place where house Gremory fails. They are extra demons so they should be lower than house Gremory." She asked.

Taking a deep breath, i started the historical lecture.

"It is the origin of house Lucifuge that makes it special. Their origin allows them, to vie for the position of government's ruling force. While this house cannot take the position of a great king, it can become the head of the government by rights."

With that, many people raised their eyebrows.

"You see, originally, house Lucifuge was built when Lucifer found an extremely talented devil to whom he gave his own blood. This man was named Lucifuge Rofocale, Lucifer's greatest simp. This man was appointed to multiple positions after he proved himself worthy and competent. These positions are: The leader of the 6 great officers, The treasurer of hell and finally, the prime minister and head of hell's government. That last title is what allows house Lucifuge to succeed where Gremory would fail. That house has a right for that position by Lucifer's appointment and can vie for it. The very same logic that doesn't allow house Gremory to become anything more than a duke, supports house Lucifuge to take over the government."

There was a look of realization on her face as she understood "The actual plan", before she nodded, satisfied.

Seeing that Arturia had raised her hand, i nodded my head to incline her to speak.

"If i understand this correctly, in order to achieve this goal, we will need allies, Money, a large amount of it, and devil resources to resurrect the house and not get crushed by your enemies instantly. How do you want to proceed with all of that?" She asked.

That is in fact the main problem.

We need money, we need a lot of it.

We need labour force, maids, servants, citizens, all kinds of people to rebuild a broken territory.

These things on their own wouldn't be that big of an issue. The problem lies in the fact that they all need to be done secretly. If i just announce that i want to resurrect a dead house, maybe Graymama would support me to some extents but thats about all the support i would get. Everyone else would simply disagree because it is too much work and it breaks the current balance, making everyone'a lives harder.

So basically i need to act like Aizen-sama. Not the illusion part, but the planning part.

The reason why Aizen-sama was so successful is that by the time people realised what they are in for, there was no stopping it anymore.

So i have to make this work in the background, so that by the time i reveal myself to the underworld, nobody would actually be able to stop me anymore. They would only have a Choice to choose a side.

Basically we have to make a tsunami and then ride it.

"The problem of devil resources is something that will be taken care of by Kaya, due to her voice ensuring that the people who will work for us, won't betray us and will keep their lips shut about it. The money problem is gradually going to get easier. Between all the money i am making from the entertainment industry and everything that Astrid is stealing from the old houses, there is practically no need to worry about money at this stage. As for the future plans, our contact with house phenex, and an alliance with house Sitri are the best ideas for making money. Sitri would be more inclined to accept our cooperation due to the essence of mad doctor and how useful it could be for their line of work. As long as they pay good money, we can provide them with practically all of their medicines."

This does remind me that i need someone to work on that project. At the moment the guy who is experimenting on that field is my parallel existence. But thats just it, experiments. I can't mass produce anything. To do that, i need someone who is delved deeply into researching that shit, and provides the ability to mass produce them too. And it can't be Sitries themselves, obviously, i want to sell it to them, not give it to them.

"As for the allies, we are bound to recieve many allies from the council in this campaign as our path intertwines with many other houses. There is also all of the current, distinct houses, that will be resurrected along with Lucifuge. Their influence won't match the people who currently have a seat in the council, but they will regain their territories and take a seat, even if a lower one, in the council. The challenging allies that will be extremely beneficial to have, are house of Belial and house Belphegor, both of whom currently support the Bael faction."

As i said that last part, i noticed Cleria Belial giving me a sheepish look for a moment.

Which brings me to the second project. Cleria's research on the king piece needs to happen much faster and more discreet.

This is perhaps the most important operation to damage the great king faction. If i succeed in the Rating games, i will be able to not only ruin their betting site, but also fracture their alliances and take some of them for myself. Specially the 2 houses i just mentioned, since they produced the current rank 1 and 2 of the league. Those with high standing in Rating games also have a high standing in the underworld. Rating games are the new culture of underworld, leading to influence in high class society, and popularity within the low class society.

The rest of the people up there, are too corrupt for my taste. Too much delusion, too much hypocrisy, too much stupidity.

"For these goals to align, we will be distributing the work. Astrid, will now be responsible for stealing gold, and recruiting whoever she encounters while stealing gold. Kaya, will be responsible for managing everything regarding the remaking of lost territories and our funding. Also tell the members of the extinct houses to contact anyone they know from the personnel that served their houses. Cleria, will be responsible for Scouring the human world and finding the devils who ran from the underworld and talented individuals. After that, reincarnate them as peerage members to Astrid, or Kaya's servants."

Having those empty spots in peerages is incredibly useful, as everyone has an average of 10 servants and those 10 servants are all high class. It pretty much fixes the number issues. Of course, this number won't suffice as labour force, but it will be alright as officers that can lend us their hands and spread our connections. 5 people can't be everywhere.

They all understood their responsibilities and nodded their heads to that.

"Morgan, Bova, pack our things up. We are going traveling. Both to make connections and to recruit people. Arturia, you are coming with me to the Phenex manor."

She nodded and came towards me, as i prepared the magic circle.

The world around us changed instantly, as we appeared in front of a gigantic castle, even bigger than Gremory's.

Multiple towers, surrounded the main building inside, with fire protruding from the top of them. A golden statue of a Phoenix in the middle, proudly showing the identity of this castle's owners.

The doors open up as maids came out with Ruval and Seraphina Phenex along with lord of the house, Rex Phenex. A man, looking to be in his thirties, with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing an extravagant red suit.

Apparently magic circles work like doorbells, as long as you have already told them you would arrive.

With a slight bow, we greet them.

"Hello again, lord, lady and heir Phenex."

Lord Phenex came ahead and with a bow, returned the greeting.

"Hello, prince Antares. It is my greatest pleasure to welcome you and your servant to my castle. Please come in."

Accepting the invitation, we went inside and saw the interior of the castle, which was decorated primarily with red, with almost all the objects inside being made from gold, making a perfect mix of red and golden colors, also screaming wealth. So much so that my dear companion could not help but make an stupefied face. This is how rich people use their money when it gets too much.

Reaching the main hall, we exchange some pleasantries while Arturia started eating everything that the maids brought to her.

"Lord Phenex, forgive my impatience, but i wish to proceed with the main reason why i have come here."

As i said that, the warm and welcoming atmosphere in his and Seraphina's eyes were replaced by a sharp, calculating look.

"I wish to propose a business partnership with you."

Hearing that, they both had a surprised look on their faces. Its not every day another heir comes to you and so boldly proposes such a thing.

"That is an interesting thing to say. Well, i am curious, what does this partnership entail?" Lord Phenex asked.

Taking a breath and preparing for the inevitable chaos i started talking:

"It entails 2 things from my side, one thing from yours. Firstly, what if i tell you that i am capable of mass producing Phoenix tears?"

The moment i said that, the atmosphere went eerie silent. They most likely took that as an insult to themselves and their ancestors.

"Explain yourself prince. I am willing to hear you out." Said Rex Phenex, after looking at me with a dangerous edge in his eyes.

Meh.

"Exactly what i said. You must know by now that i have become a researcher of some sort. My proposal to you, is quite simple. I can help you mass produce Phoenix tears and i can also improve their usage. I am willing to back my claims." I replied, meeting his challenge.

"Excuse my rudeness, but i will not believe anything without evidence. Since you are willing to demonstrate your capabilities, please follow me." He said, as he dismissed the maids and went towards the door at the back of the hall, gesturing me to follow him.

If i was a normal 11 year old boy, i would be very suspicious. Bringing an 11 year old boy, alone to a door, leading to a most likely empty room at the back of the hall? Yeah, i believe FBI would like to check your house sir.

But as a devil, i simply followed him in, with Arturia and Seraphina following behind us.

Walking through the corridors, i review the plan and the trick i am about to use to bait house Phenex into funding me.

An advantage of having Ruval as a friend is that i could ask for a vial of Phoenix tears for free.

I thought long and hard about what i could do, to receive the support of Phenex family, and produce items that have the same affect as Phoenix tears, such as healing potions, at the same time.

Generally speaking, the price of a product can't get that much higher than the time, effort and materials put into making it. Naturally, an elixir that is made in an hour and is capable of being mass produced, will have a much lower cost than Phoenix tears, that cannot be mass produced and take hours to make.

So basically healing potions are just better in every way.

Here is the one million dollar question, and no i am not kidding this question literally does make money.

'How can Phoenix tears compete with healing potions?'

To answer that question, one must understand the process at which Phoenix tears are made in the first place and how they gain their effects.

A member of Phenex family, has to sit in a special magic circle, with a cup filled water, which has gone through an special ritual, and then shed a tear with an empty mind. This process, produces a phoenix tear.

The inner working of these tears is very obvious, scientifically.

A tear is basically "clear blood". They are made of plasma, excluding the red substance in blood. It is as if you are injecting a piece of a Phenex member into yourself. And some of the cleanest parts of them at that.

The water has to be pure and clean, to make sure the tear won't get exposed to any extra substances, it is merely a container. And the cup, has to be made, in order to protect the water, from outside substances as well. Anything extra, would basically make the tear useless, so the rituals are there to make sure of it's purity.

The point is, all of that process can be made artificially.

Mass producing them is super fucking easy. Come on, we are devils who made something capable of changing a person's soul into demonic spirits, purifying water and making a protective container is not even a concern.

With that, the obvious conclusion is to donate blood, purify said blood from it's red substances and then throw it into the purified water inside the container. Easy, right?

Reality is often dissapointing.

Phenex clan members rarely bleed because they instantly heal from all wounds, and even then this whole process only works if the person does it all with a completely empty mind.

So its a bust.

Which is where me, Archmage and Arturia come into play.

Opening the door at the end of the corridor, we enter a completely white room, with a massive magic circle in the middle of it. This is where they produce their magical drug.

Lord Phenex nodded his head to me and laid on the magic circle in the floor.

I had already analyzed the cicle's effects so there wasn't any problem there, copying the shape only took a few seconds, and then 9 identical magic circles appeared by my will, trapping Lord Phenex in the middle of them.

Now the entire space around will have the same purifying effects, making it easier to move the materials to the cup.

Next step is to make him bleed.

I gestured for Arturia to come close to us, which she did.

"Arturia, i want you to use one of your holy swords to cut his arm, and then hold the holy sword right next to it, while channeling energy to make sure his demonic power won't regenerate anything. Do this when i tell you to." I told her.

Hearing that, she got to work and summoned Excalibur ruler from her spacial storage. Since this one can only be traced back to house Pendragon, it would arouse less suspicion.

Seeing that, the 2 Phenexes how a raised eyebrow but nothing more really. I am not just gonna assassinate them like this you know, even if i was, he won't instantly die to a holy sword.

Moving on from that, as Arturia put the sword close to Rex's arm and prepared to cut it, i got to work. It is necessary for the Phenex to have a completely empty mind when they shed tears because otherwise it would be "their own tears". I thought about how to fix this issue and eventually arrived at, Occlumency. Typically used as a defensive spell, in simple terms it pretty much clears the mind to stop it from being read by outside forces. Its more than that, but the rest of it's implications aren't important now.

It clears out the mind and thats all that matters here.

Putting both my hands around Lord Phenex's head, i focus on his mind and attempt to brain fuck him into peace and calmness.

Just a few moments later, his eyes blanked a bit and his body relaxed. No extra movements at all. Just the necessary functions still working.

Weird. It wasn't supposed to work like that. But his mind is clear anyway.

I gestured for Arturia to start, and as she cut his arm ever so slowly, i kept applying the spell just in case. Lord Phenex doesn't even look like he feels anything.

The flowing blood was being collected into a bottle that had the same purifying magic circleon it. The bottle i had just prepared and took out from the spatial storage. I love Archmage.

Moving on.

Letting go of my newest lab rat's head, i brought the bottle to the place where cups of water were put, to finalize the operation and make Phenex tears. For this part, it is necessary to remove all the red substances and make something similar to tears.This is basically a chemical purification in some way. Which means i don't even need to think about it to do it. Essence of mad doctor for the win. In combination with demonic power, i can just will them to be separated.

The white substance, is then, put into the water cups, a few drops of it should be more than enough for each cup.

The water starts reacting to it, heating up just a bit and changing color to a beautiful bright red color. Now each cup would produce about 4 vials of Phenex tears so the speed of their production is about 5 every day for each family member. But i still have a lot of material from his blood remaining and the whole operation took 10 minutes anyway. In other words: The production speed is going to explode with this method. Just need someone to actually work on it every day.

I really need a scientist on my team.

After a few minutes, i picked up a new cup, and for the show off and dramatic effects, decided to make an ice sword, and almost bisected myself. About.....like 5 centimeters more and i would have been in 2 pieces now.

I saw the widening of the audience's eyes and Arturia wanting to rush to me, but i simply raised my hand after dissolving the damn sword, gesturing them that everything is under control.

Next, i simply brought the whole cup to my mouth and gulped everything down. Not even 3 seconds later, my stomach was already healed. Back into the game baby.

The drama was effective, if the stupefied faces of the Phenexes was anything to go by. And i think i just got a business contract.

Though i would have liked to do test all of this on Ruval before coming here, i figured making their heir into my test subject isn't gonna start a healthy alliance.

What? You thought i was doing this for money? You aren't wrong, but you are missing the point by a few centimeters.

If i wanted money, i would make a large amount of tear containers, and fill them with healing potions. They have literally the same effect as phoenix tears so its fool proof. Not like anyone understands what phoenix tears are anyway, they just know it heals people.

The problem, is that i can't sell that officially, as the members of Phenex family would eventually expose me and my fake product.

The solution? Black market. Easy enough.

Make fake Phoenix tears with healing potions and sell them on black market, with the price of the genuine Phoenix tears. The best part is these tears get a hell of a lot more expensive if the customer isn't a devil. Easiest business strategy of my second life.

Just have to make sure to make another item to counter their effects. You know, just in case we sold too many of them to terrorists.

So then, why am i wasting my time here? My friend, the money i make from this contract isn't going to be that much lower than black marketing, but more importantly i just made a life long ally.

I can't just waltz into council and be like:

"Hi bitches, long time no see, i am Lucifuge, i am the head of government, i own this place."

Doing that, sounds pretty tempting, but if i do it, it probably wouldn't work out too well.

Which is why i am willing to let go of some money in order to make an ally like this.

This is the second step of this plan. Make a faction with your allies.

Currently the main, big dick ones i can afford to befriend, are Phenex, Sitri, and....hear this out, Bael.

This is gonna be so much fun. I can already tell.