The Swarm Of Iron (3/6)

Once the adrenaline from the fight disappeared, I realized that I had once more lost control of myself. In the midst of the conflict, I didn't even bother extracting information from whoever that werewolf was. I doubted that he was the culprit behind the murders, at least not entirely since the dreadful feeling I experienced previously was not coming from the werewolf I killed. He was quite young, and although I felt a decent power coming from him, it was probably whatever fire magic he tried to use. I was sure that if these yellow flames touched me, I wouldn't come out of it unscathed. Fortunately, the [Fire Manipulation] skill was too powerful against anyone that used some sort of form of fire magic.

I quickly realized when I entered this world that the way magic worked here was directly tied to the fact that anyone could feel approximately at what level you stood if you didn't actively hide your power. In this world, magic could be described as energy and followed specific laws. Humans studied magic just as any field of science in this world. Every other race could bypass this requirement and their intent would directly create the required magic sequence. This was something that I didn't like since while it allowed for more power and more speed, it was like using something you didn't understand, just because you could. I was pretty sure Ajuka, considering his reputation in the original work, went through the lengthy part of actually understanding magic sequences. This gave unparalleled prowess in the magical field and he created his famous Kankara Formula.

This was why human magicians were prized in the devil world, as even if they had none of the advantages being a supernatural race gave, they had near-absolute mastery of their craft for the most talented of them. I had no idea what was the latest conventions on mana and magic in the human world, but from my personal experiences, mana worked just like any molecules. The difficult part to experience and understand was that it could reproduce any other molecules if my guesses were correct. This was the part that required magic sequences for humans since without that they could not use this aspect.

The requirement for the transformation of mana into something useful was that the person had an understanding of whatever material they were trying to transform mana into. That was why demonic energy was exclusive to demons and devils, and why divine power could only be used by gods. There have been ways to reproduce these, but all of them fall short compared to the authentic. Still, it was much stronger than the base mana humans normally have access to. Such an example was the holy power used normally used by angels and the dead God but has been practised by humans that are part of the Church. It was not as potent as the one used by angels, but it was leaps and bounds above light magic usually found within humans.

My [Fire Manipulation] was one such power that could not be reproduced perfectly by human magic, or any other person that didn't have the skill for that matter. It was like the ability to use magic with simply intent found within devils, or the way Gods use their authority to use their powers. It allowed me to control any fire, and only someone with stronger [Fire Manipulation] or high level of fire magic would be able to wrestle control with me. It was strong, but it wasn't as strong as it could be since it wasn't like I could control the temperature as a whole. In the end, fire magic was simply a reproduction of this ability, one that fell short as well. If the skill reached level 10, then I guessed it would become an absolute, an authority. The current way it worked relied on the power of the fire I was trying to control, meaning someone that simply dwelled in the ways of fire long enough and achieved a good level would be immune to this skill.

This was why even though I managed to take control of flames of the werewolf that was dead at my feet, it was far from perfect, due to my inexperience with trying to take over other people's spell, and the strength of the spell. My [Fire Resistance] skill was also far from an absolute, whereas my [Frost Immunity] from my Nord lineage was absolute.

I was now without a direction to go to since I couldn't sense any enemy in the surroundings, and as such, I decided to head towards my original destination, Teioh City, but not before recreating my disguise that I had to dispose of for the fight. I was still a bit miffed that I didn't think of interrogating my enemy in the heat of the battle, but I had to roll with it now.

___________________________________________________________

" President, the magic stops there. "

" I see... Koneko go scout the area to see if there is any traps or anything suspicious... except the overwhelming sense of blood present in this cave. "

" Understood. " answered the Nekoshou with a scrunched nose. Having a much more powerful sense of scent that the other devil in Rias' peerage, even when hiding her heritage, resulted in her nearly vomiting from the smell. She was no stranger to corpses and blood, but it was as if someone drained all of the blood of multiple people for everyone to smell. Her figure flickered into the forest around the gigantic cave that was not present previously, proving that despite being the rook, she was excessively fast. The scent of earth magic used to create the cavity was still perceivable as if whoever did this didn't bother hiding.

" Akeno, I need you to deploy the usual barriers, something's clearly wrong here and whoever created this cave is not weak at all. Be ready to go all out at any moment. " ordered Rias to her peerage. She herself prepared her demonic power. The scent of pure evil oozed from her body and it made the servants that were close to her wince. Although she could use normal demonic power, her largest reserve would always be allocated to her power of destruction, the inherited power of the Bael bloodline. Not many were aware of it, and even if nobody knew how Zekram Bael managed to make this energy hereditary, except himself, the power of destruction was demonic energy with the corruption element pushed to the maximum. It lost its ability to simply influence things and people, and simply corroded all matter. Since the corruption element in the demonic energy was what gave it this evil feeling, the power of destruction was also called Liquid Evil. Though it was extremely powerful, it was ill-suited for anything stealthy, in other words, perfect for the Bael family that was supposed to be the leader and the spearhead of the 72 Pillars Of Hell.

Rias' peerage was now somewhat used to this feeling, but no one, except the wielders, could ever truly be accustomed to it. Even pure-blooded devils were somewhat reluctant to be close to those of the Bael bloodline on that account, so reincarnated devils usually had a worse reaction to it.

" President, the area is secured. " said Akeno who came back from the air. She was the one responsible for the barriers since she was exceptionally talented with them. She also had firepower close to Rias' depending on the weather. Unfortunately, tonight was not a cloudy night so she would not be able to use her more powerful magic, although that didn't mean she wasn't packing a mean punch with her lightning magic. The group advanced with cautious steps towards the entrance of the cave, the scent of blood now mixed with the clear smell of corpses. It wasn't the first time that they dealt with something similar, but they couldn't help but feel like something was amiss this time. They didn't know if there were any still alive humans in it, so they couldn't just blast the magic creation to the ground, lest they incur the wrath of the Shinto Pantheon, since the devils and the Japanese Gods are already in a strained relationship ever since the Nekoshou genocide. If it wasn't for the devils increasing tremendously the resources that they proposed for the pact in the first place, the Shinto Pantheon would have immediately declared war on the devils, and most gods of the Chinese Pantheon would have followed. The devils were not liked in the mythological world, and they could not afford to give gods an excuse to attack them.

Even if the three factions, the angels, the fallen angels and the devils were often put in the same case by the other Pantheon, the gods would not hesitate to wipe out the devils with the help of the two other factions, since only the Heaven faction was truly feared due to the One God's system still giving them power. The only reason they were able to bear the brunt of the peerage pieces in the first place was the power of Sirzechs and Ajuka, something that every devil alive since before Ajuka's invention was aware of. Due to this, the devils could not afford to make any mistake in the human territory they were allocated, especially not the sister of the Strongest Maou. Rias not only had the weight of her family to bear, but she also was technically the representative of the devils in the human world.

Her whole life was filled with ridiculous expectations due to her birth and her wish to study in the human world only added even more weight, but that was a price she was willing to pay if she could break her arranged marriage with Riser.

" Akeno, do you think you'll be able to provide support from the air and penetrate through all of this if you stay outside the cave? " asked Rias, knowing well that Akeno would be disadvantaged in the narrow spaces of the cave. Akeno frowned a bit and shook her head. " I apologize, but the dirt and stone from this cave seem to be reinforced with strong magic. A couple of layers would have been fine, but any deeper than that and I wouldn't be able to reach you. " she bowed, apologetic that she wouldn't be able to help more than that. Rias, aware of her feelings, smiled at her, " No worries Akeno. We'll enter the cave as we are then. " Koneko had already come back from her exploration and found nothing suspicious expect the cave itself.

" Just don't use your lightning until I tell you, don't want any friendly fire due to the lack of space. " said Rias, smiling a bit wryly. Akeno had the same smile on her face.

Inside the cave, the lack of light didn't bother the devils, being gifted night vision due to their race. The cave was straightforward, no labyrinth that would force the devils to be a bit more forceful in their exploration, and no apparent monsters waiting in corners. It seemed that the cave was not expecting any visitors, or at least so soon. Nonetheless, the smell of blood and the dead was starting to become overwhelming for Koneko, who now had a hand over her nose and narrowed her eyes in disgust. Although she had exceptional senses, with such a strong smell, she wasn't able to rely on it.

She was in front of the group, with Kiba just behind her, wearing an armour that Rias commanded from her family to increase her defence. Rias' family was both surprised and happy that apparently Rias was trying to prepare for the inevitable Rating Match between her and Riser, although Zeoticus, the current head of the family was not informed of that, simply because he was the one that sold her daughter in the first place, and didn't want her to defeat Riser. As forgiving Zeoticus' wife and Rias' mother, Venelana wanted to be, their marriage suffered a serious blow due to the Gremory's patriarch decision. She was extremely protective of her children and didn't see the need to sell her daughter to other families.

With these game rules, Rias' only chance at being free was through battle.