Chapter 143: Half-Devil or Half-Human?

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More years continued to pass. In Europe, tensions were becoming heavy between some countries and any wrong move could result in a war that would involve the entire continent. Erik knew that the First World War was coming and he could do nothing to stop it from happening because, as he had already concluded before, some things were destined to happen in one way or another. But that didn't mean that Erik would stay put while innocent people died left and right while getting caught on battlefields. His business, the Ravens' Mercantile Group, which was still running strong and was considered the oldest running business in the entire world, would work to relocate people in danger of being caught in the middle of the war. If they ended up being relocated to places that needed a workforce, it was not their fault. It would be a bonus in truth. After all, the great problem with refugees was that the place receiving them would normally find themselves saturated with people and many of them would not manage to find a job to feed themselves.

It was by this time too that Erik got winds from his 'spies' between the Old Satans Faction that a witch contacted them about a child that was born between her and a member of the Leviathan house. She didn't mention if the relationship was consensual or not, but all things pointed to no. The 'why' she was contacting them now was because she was sick and could not take care of her daughter, who was sick too with a disease that would put her to sleep for long intervals of time. It was the sleeping disease. It was not a common disease but was something that affected a lot of Devils in the Underworld since a long time ago. Unfortunately, there were no cases of a Devil ever recovering from it. After discussing between themselves, the members of the Old Satan Faction decided to magnanimously help the half-Devil girl by taking her in. Unfortunately for them, Erik would not let them get things their way.

Before delivering the girl to the Devils, the witch received a visit from Serafall and Erik. At first, she was scared for her daughter because she thought that Serafall being the 'new' Leviathan would not want a descendant of the old Leviathan family alive. But she could not be wronger. Serafall just wanted the poor girl to be happy.

Even so, the witch's mother didn't believe Serafall at all, but then Erik introduced himself. It turns out that the witch was a former Hogwarts student and a Ravenclaw to boot. The witch simply swooned over Erik after that, trusting him completely. Erik then told her that he had 'spies' among that faction that 'reported' to him that they planned to use her daughter, Ingvild, as a breeding mare to put more 'Leviathan blood' in the world using the 'right sort of Devil' as the fathers. The witch was simply horrified about that. The simple thought of leaving her dear daughter with those Devils was simply sickening for her now. It was then Serafall offered to take Ingvild in, allowing the woman to live her last days with her daughter since her disease was terminal.

A week later, a group of Devils from the Old Satan Faction went to get the Leviathan bastard girl from her home but only found a burned-down house. When they asked around with the use of magic to be certain of getting the truth, they discovered that mother and daughter died in the fire. Disgruntled and sulking, the group returned to their holes under Erik's eyes, who watched them from a hidden position. Mother and daughter had already been moved to a hidden location inside the Sitri territory under Serafall's protection. Both of them had been admitted to one of the hospitals for treatment while under false surnames, of course. The mother's disease could be terminal, but the Devils could at least prolong her life a little so she could get more time with her daughter, even if the second would be sleeping all time. That gave the witch time for her to write a lot of things for when her daughter eventually woke up. Eventually, the woman passed away due to her disease, leaving behind her sleeping daughter.

After cremating the mother's body, Erik was accompanying Serafall to a visit to Ingvild. Serafall looked at the sleeping girl and let out a sigh.

*sigh*

"She is so young and will not get to live her life because of a disease."

Serafall commented to Erik.

"She will get cured and wake up eventually."

Erik said with certainty in his voice. Serafall smiled at that.

"It is good that you are so positive sometimes, Erik."

Serafall said to Erik, who shook his head at that.

"It is not 'positivity'. It's a fact. Her Sacred Gear is healing her. Very slowly, but it is."

Erik said to Serafall, shocking the Satan.

"She has a Sacred Gear?"

Serafall asked.

"Yes."

Erik replied and looked at Serafall with a confused look on his face.

"Have you not felt it?"

He asked Serafall again, who shook her head negatively.

"No. You are the one with the monster senses here, Erik.

Serafall replied to Erik while giving the man a small glare. Erik scratched his head sheepishly at that.

"Here. Let me show you how."

Erik said and pulled Serafall by her hand until they both were by the side of one sleeping Ingvild. Erik then took Serafall's hand and guided it until it was just above the sleeping girl's chest.

"Now, move your vital energy, without your magic, to your hand and slowly, very slowly, make it enter Ingvild's body."

Erik said, starting to guide Serafall on the process of doing an 'invasive scan' with her vital energy. With some difficulty, Serafall managed to do it by following Erik's guidance to the letter.

"Now, will your vital energy and thinly spread it through her body and tell me what do you get as feedback."

Erik added and Serafall did exactly as told. Her vital energy started to thinly spread through Ingvild's body while sending feedback to Serafall. Inside the Satan's head, a very detailed image of Ingvild's body was forming itself. Strangely enough, she could 'see' three types of energies inside.

"I can see her body in great detail."

Serafall said to Erik while keeping her eyes closed.

"What more?"

Erik asked Serafall.

"There seem to be three kinds of energy flowing through her body. Two of them are more active than the other one."

Serafall said, making Erik nod his head in understanding.

"Focus on the three energies. Have feel for them and tell me what you can get from it."

Erik said again, guiding Serafall through the process and she did exactly that. Serafall concentrated a little more and focused on the energies.

"The first one is very familiar to me. It is a Devil's energy. And… Wow. She has a lot of it. As soon as she learns to control it, she will be a powerhouse in no time."

Serafall said with a smile on her face, having recognized the type of energy that ran through all Devils' bodies.

"Correct, continue."

Erik said and asked for Serafall to continue. She then focused on the second energy to get a feel for it.

"The second one is kind of familiar to me… But I don't remember where I saw it…"

Serafall said to Erik while trying to remember where she had felt that kind of energy before. It was then that it clicked for her. Ingvild's mother gave the same feeling that this energy was giving to her.

"Ah! It is mana. The magic energy present in a wizard and witch's bodies."

Serafall said happily. It made sense. Ingvild was a half-Devil with her human mother being a witch. Then some shame overcame her. Erik was a wizard and Selena was a witch. Serafall should have been more 'intimate' with that kind of energy. But then she remembered that Erik and Selena were not your common type of wizard and witch for more than nine hundred years now. Both of them had evolved to be… more. Erik smiled at Serafall's realization.

"Correct again. Now focus on the third one."

Erik said again and encouraged Serafall to continue. The Satan did exactly that and focused on the third energy. A few seconds later, she spoke.

"This third energy… It is strange. It is like it is dormant but it is starting to wake up while moving very slowly through Ingvild's body. Is this her Sacred Gear? And it is moving slowly because it is dormant?"

Serafall said to Erik and opened her eyes. Erik nodded his head at that questions.

"Exactly. Here."

Erik said and took Serafall's hand from over Ingvild's chest and brought it to his chest.

"Do the same with me. I will not resist your vital energy."

Erik said to Serafall, who nodded her head and closed her eyes to concentrate on the task at hand. Soon enough, Serafall was 'seeing' Erik's body inside her head with a lot of details. Inside him, he could 'see' two types of energy. The first one was his magic energy that freely flowed through all his body strongly. If she compared with Ingvild's, Erik's magic was much denser and strong. It was like comparing the water in the ocean with the water dripping from a hole in a cup. It was incomparable. The second energy, who was flowing freely together with the first one, was Erik's Sacred Gear. It had the same feeling that the one inside Ingvild's with the obvious difference in the volume of it that was available.

"I see now what you are talking about."

Serafall said to Erik while retrieving her hand and opening her eyes. She then took a 'thoughtful' pose before asking.

"But why are you saying that she will wake up? Is it just because she has a Sacred Gear?"

Serafall asked Erik.

"Not exactly. Let's think together, okay? You, Devils, have knowledge of this disease for a long time, correct?"

Erik asked Serafall, who nodded her head.

"And you are trying to find a cure for it for a long time, having tried a lot of methods for treatment, correct?"

Erik asked, again, and Serafall nodded her head in agreement, again. Until now, everything that Erik said was the truth. The Sleeping Disease was known to the Devil kind since the creation of their race and healers, before, and, now, doctors have been since that time trying to find a cure for it with no success whatsoever.

"I have been reading through the research that the Devils made about this disease. They had tried every possible treatment for it. But, they had only tried to heal the bodies. What if the disease's origin is not on the body of the Devil and it is on his soul instead?"

Erik said to Serafall, explaining his thought process to her. It was then that a light bulb lit up inside her head.

"So you are saying that, since the Sacred Gear is something that is housed inside a person's soul, the moment that Ingvild's one wakes up it would stimulate her soul and at the same time heal her?"

Serafall said, hypothesizing it together with Erik, who smiled at her and nodded his head.

"It, strangely enough. makes sense. And the same case never happened before because all the prior victims were complete Devils and since they could not be born with a Sacred Gear, they would not have something to stimulate their souls."

Serafall said to Erik, who continued to nod his head. He was waiting for Serafall to realize something else. And she didn't disappoint him. Like being struck by lightning, Serafall's eyes widened and she looked at Erik.

"Then… Then… Wouldn't an Evil Piece have an effect similar to the Sacred Gear in stimulating the soul since it would 'mess' with it to reincarnate the person as a Devil?"

Serafall said to Erik, who nodded his head at her.

"Supposedly, yes, it would. But who would 'waste' one of his Evil Pieces to try? Then, we have the problem that the reincarnation process is permanent, turning the person into the Devil's servant."

Erik said to Serafall. And she agreed with that. The person who received the Evil Piece would become a servant to the other King permanently, so no one would risk it. But Serafall was happy with what she got. Now she could pass that information to her parents and they could work with Ajuka in finding a treatment for the disease without the need of turning the sick person into another's servant. Since Ajuka was the one that created the Evil Pieces, he would know how to proceed with that new information.

Three years later, Ingvild opened her eyes after receiving treatment for the sleeping disease. Lord Sitri and Ajuka Beelzebub had spent the last three years working on a viable treatment for it. It turns out that Erik and Serafall's hypothesis was right. The sleeping disease had roots in the soul of the Devil. What happened was that the soul would slowly get out of sync with the body, causing the Devil to develop the 'sleeping disease'. The soul would then need a strong stimulus for it to 'go back' and synchronize with its body. Why this desync happened was still being researched by the doctors but at least now they had a treatment for it that worked. That year, a lot of other Devils' families gained some members back.

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