Chapter 17

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity for the Devils as they all ran around like headless chickens, trying their best to prepare for the arrival of one of the leaders of their race. As for me? I just stayed in my workshop and chatted with Helel.

I really wanted to jump in the pod and immediately start abusing the information transfer. There was so much potential there, as he could dump all kinds of knowledge directly into my brain. However, they weren't aware why Serafall was visiting, nor did they know how long her stay would last, which meant that I may or may not have to play my role as a chef, as that was the only thing I could do in this situation.

Oh, sure, I could reveal the full scope of my capabilities, but that was just plain dumb. Leviathan seemed like the most fun and approachable among the four Satans, but she was still one of their leaders. I would prefer if she thought of me as this incredible chef rather than a one in a billion inventor, which might just lead to me getting appropriated by her.

My body tensed as I felt her arrival. Her Demonic Power was tightly controlled and kept in check, but that didn't change the fact of how terrifying it was. Leviathan was a walking nuke that could go off at any moment and barely any people could stop her exploding. She was truly dangerous, though…

"Lady Leviathan." I heard the peerage greet her with respect.

"Mou!" I could practically feel her pouting from my workshop. "Call me Levi-tan!"

Of course, none of them obliged to that request. Leviathan was one of their leaders and calling her as such would be disrespectful in their eyes, even though she personally asked for it.

I wouldn't have hesitated to call her Levi-tan. The woman clearly wanted to have some fun and this was her way of destressing from her job as the Satan of Foreign Affairs. She had to deal with multiple different factions every single day, and I couldn't even imagine how stressful that was. If she wanted to play around as a magical girl, then let her have her fun.

And I wasn't thinking of this just because Leviathan looked really nice in her outfit! I only wanted what was best for her… I swear.

I kept one ear on their conversation, listening to the peerage politicking while Levi-tan kept acting like a teenage girl going through a phase. The rest of my attention was on Helel as we discussed how to proceed with the website. We already agreed that the Fate series should all be published in full, but what about the rest?

"I suggest releasing the first volume of the completed manga to grab the attention of the masses. Then we can release one chapter every other day, or preferably once a week. This will boost the website's traffic, which will greatly increase the ad revenue."

"But I don't wanna do that," I whined like a little kid. Here I was, a thirty to forty year old man–mentally, that is–acting less mature than my one day old AI.

"I get your point, I really do," I continued after a moment, getting a bit more serious about it. "But I'm not doing this for the money, that's just a nice bonus. I'm doing this because I simply want to share it with the world."

"My point still stands," Helel argued back with a pout. A pout! He was growing scarily fast, but I supposed that was only natural for someone who could absorb information like an AI.

"We can share the manga at a slower pace to increase interest in it."

"How about we come to a compromise?" I offered an alternative. "We release one chapter a week for the manga that isn't completed."

"Acceptable."

"And we release one entire volume per week for the manga that's completed."

"Unacceptable," Helel refused without hesitation. "At least once a month if we release a whole volume."

"How about one volume every two weeks?" I continued bargaining with him.

"Acceptable," he relented.

"Great!" I clapped my hands. "Moving on. I'm thinking of giving you full authority of Grand Order. You have my notes, and you already know what it should look like from the information I transferred earlier. With all that in mind, you will do a far better job at managing it than me."

Helel didn't answer at first, and it took him almost a dozen seconds before he finally replied, which was a lot for an AI—at least, I thought it was.

"I will ensure that it succeeds," Helel promised, his childish voice filled with determination.

Damn… they grow up so fast, don't they? Just a few hours old and already managing all of my businesses. I came to a startling conclusion by thinking about that.

'Have I… become an Asian parent? No, not just an Asian parent, but a successful one? Helel really is every Asian parent's dream come true. Straight out of the womb–kind of–and already making millions!'

My enlightenment was struck short as I heard what Saiborg and Leviathan were discussing. So far, it was mostly dull stuff with them doing their best impression of bootlicking while she seemed like she just wanted to have some fun. However, things took an unexpected turn.

"How has your mother been?" Leviathan's tone lost all of its playfulness, becoming gentle and soothing.

"Still no signs of waking up." I could hear the anguish in Saiborg's voice. Just from his tone alone I knew how much this was tearing him apart.

I was on my feet before I even realized it. All I wanted was to rush over and deck him in the face at that moment. His mother was suffering from the Sleeping Disease–I made that connection easily enough–and he hadn't informed me about it? Seriously, why the fuck hadn't he told me about it?

Sure, this was a disease that was, for all intents and purposes, incurable. They've had to deal with it for hundreds of years without finding anything that could potentially cure it. Perhaps in their eyes, it wasn't something that could be fixed.

However, I was–almost certainly–an out of context being. I didn't want to toot my own horn too much, but if anyone could find a solution, that would probably be me. After all, I kept doing things they considered impossible, or at least improbable, on a weekly basis!

That stupid dumbass should've at least asked me to check up on his mother and see if I could do something about it! Fuck! There was one potential solution right fucking here! I didn't know if it could wake her up, but it should at least give him a chance to communicate with her.

"Michael!" Helel's voice snapped me out of it.

"I'm fine…" I took a deep breath. I really wasn't. I was angry that he hadn't even thought about asking me for help. Shitty protagonist was one of my best friends. Did he really think I wouldn't try to find a solution?

"Make sure to remind me to punch him in the face at least once every single day, alright?"

"Understood," Helel agreed without hesitation.

"Also, please check all the available information about the Sleeping Disease and compile it for me."

"Done."

AIs were so goddamn useful! Normally, it would take me hours just to search for all the available information on my own. Helel, though? He could do all that in seconds while also compiling it for me. If I entered the pod, he could transfer all that information directly into my brain.

I would go over it later, once the walking and talking nuke has left the vicinity. Saiborg also had to be punched in the face. Multiple times. Couldn't forget about that. Then, I could finally start trying to understand what the hell was the Sleeping Disease, and what could be done to fix it.

"I'm also here about that cute little game, Grand Order." Leviathan's next words made me freeze on the spot.

Why? Caster Leviathan and Satan Leviathan were clearly two different people! Sure, their appearance and outfits were kind of similar, but they were legally different! We made sure of that.

"I'd like to speak with the two that created it," she continued, and I sighed.

I suppose it was time to meet one of the Satans. It was a bit too early for my liking, but we did meet the leader of the Grigori, so this wasn't that strange. Moments later, Misteeta came over to call me, and we walked out of the workshop together.

Leviathan was, like every other supernatural being, beautiful. She was a bonafide shortstack with a tiny body and huge breasts. Her face was cute more than anything else as she looked like a teenager rather than a woman hundreds of years old. Her choice of outfit emphasized her young appearance as she was wearing her Magical Girl uniform and holding a pink wand.

That's when it hit me. Leviathan might as well be a teenager by Devil standards. They were a race that could live for thousands of years, with not a single one of them dying from old age so far. She was really young in comparison to some of the Devils that had survived both of their major wars.

Earlier, I thought that she was someone acting like a teenager, but maybe she wasn't truly acting. Though maybe Leviathan was just coping. After all, she had been forced to fight a war against her own kind when she had been just slightly older than Saiborg and his peerage, and they were practically babies for their race.

Damn, I wasn't sure if I should be impressed or if I should pity the Satans. They had been forced to fight their own people when they were kids, and they had the responsibility of leading their race at such a young age thrusted right in their faces after that.

With all of that in mind… they hadn't done a bad job. Certainly better than anything I would've done in their position. Oh, sure, they could've handled things better in some ways, but they were definitely superior to their predecessor, I was sure of that since the old Satans were hell bent on going to war with Heaven.

"Woah!" Leviathan exclaimed with a mischievous and childish glee in her eyes. "You're big."

I couldn't be blamed for my next words! She set me up perfectly. Threw me a perfect pass, and all I needed was to catch the ball and dunk it.

"That's what she said."

Silence.

Gandoma and Ladora threw their hands in the air. Fake Astolfo had a weird expression, perfectly combining being horrified and impressed at the same time. Misteeta and Saiborg blinked their eyes, both their heads tilted in confusion. Kuisha gave me the stink eye. Liban pursed his lips with a deadpan. Regulus was doing his best to hold in his laughter. Cori blushed, her cheeks slowly turning pink as she thought I was referring to her.

And Leviathan? Her eyes were, quite literally, sparkling with happiness in a subtle and impressive display of Magic.

"You're fun!" Leviathan declared as she pointed at me with her wand and smiled widely. "Now call me Levi-tan!"

I looked at the rest, all of them shaking their heads. I grinned back, and their expression turned ashen.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Levi-tan."

Leviathan squeaked in happiness. I get that she was one of their leaders, but why were they so afraid of playing along? Just look at how happy she was from me calling her Levi-tan. Sure, she was a walking and talking nuke, but she seemed fun!

"I feel like you and I will get along really well, Mr. Wilder!" Leviathan declared while radiating pure joy.

"Me too," I agreed with a smile of my own, though I figured I should move on with the conversation since the rest were looking at me with weird expressions at this point. "I heard you wanted to talk about the game we made with Cori?"

"Oh." Leviathan blinked her eyes and raised one finger. "I have one tiny little request."

Before I could reply, she raised another one. "Actually, two little requests."

"I'm listening," I said, wondering what exactly she wanted. Hopefully, she wouldn't want us to remove her character as she was one of the more popular ones.

"I want you…" She said as she started fiddling with her phone before showing me a picture of a girl I recognized, Sona Sitri. I had researched Saiborg's future opponents, after all.

"To add a character that looks like her. Her transformation should be similar to mine, and… and… and…" Leviathan's breath turned heavy as she looked in the distance. "Her backstory should be that she enjoys doing the forbidden yuri-yuri love with her sister when no one is watching."

I was flabbergasted. This was definitely not what I expected her to request something else! Though it did make an awful lot of sense. In fact, this was exactly what I should've expected from a Devil.

"Yup." I nodded with certainty. "You're definitely my favorite Satan."

"Ah!" She gasped and pointed at me. "A kindred soul!"

"Not exactly, but I understand you."

I had no interest in my younger siblings as I had none. I also didn't believe I would be attracted to them even if I did, but I had seen this trope plenty of times.

"A kindred soul!" Leviathan insisted, and I had to relent. There were some fights you couldn't win.

"And what is your second request?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Ah… um…" She looked unsure and tilted her head to the side. "Can you… make your game better?"

Huh? What now?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, just as confused as her. How was I supposed to make it better?

"Make it… more detailed?" It seemed like she wasn't sure what she was talking about exactly.

"I mean… it was mostly a fun project that we did together with Cori," I said and saw how her lips twitched into a frown, so I quickly added. "But we did just release a whole bunch of extra material for it."

"Oh? Really?"

"Mhm." I nodded and took out my phone.

My eyes blinked in surprise as it unlocked itself, the browser already opened to our new website. However, the page it displayed wasn't on the new Fate series, but instead something else. Oh, yeah, this was the perfect distraction.

'You're the best.' I typed that and quickly deleted it before looking at Leviathan.

"We even released a couple of Magical Girls manga as well," I informed her as I showed her the webpage.

My phone disappeared from my hands in an instant as Leviathan took it from me before I could even react. Saiborg's peerage looked at me in pure bewilderment, all of them trying and failing to understand what was happening. Meanwhile, Leviathan was rapidly reading through the first volume of Sailor Moon, her finger flashing by as she ate it all up in seconds.

Then she moved, turning into a missile that slammed against me, boobs squished against my body as she wrapped her arms around my waist. She stared into my eyes with literal stars in hers. Leviathan stayed like that for a moment, glued against me, before slowly moving her gaze away, focusing on the peerage.

"Sairaorg, this is my contracted Magician," Leviathan declared.

"No, I'm not." My response came out of my mouth before my brain could even process that.

"Ahh!" She gasped and backed away, hands over her heart. "Betrayed by my own contracted Magician."

"No, I'm not." This time I was conscious of my response, and I watched with amusement as she dropped on the ground, feigning death, all while giving me a nice look at her panties. Nice.

Nuke schmuke. She was downright adorable.

Yep. This was definitely my favorite Satan. There were no questions about that.

"You!" Leviathan jumped up, wand pointed at me. "Wanna join my peerage? We can make awesome Magical Girl shows together! You can even participate in my own show! I'm sure you will be a great supporting character or maybe even a good antagonist…"

"I'm more suited for the love interest role," I joked back while thinking of how to refuse her offer.

Leviathan paused, staring at me with a pondering expression as if she was really considering this. However, she shook her head moments later.

"No, no, I can't, I can't. I have only pure yuri-yuri love in my heart," she said quietly before releasing a deep sigh. This somehow seemed to have worked as a refusal, huh?

"It seems we weren't meant to be."

"How unfortunate," I replied with a shrug while trying to suppress my smile.

Leviathan was fun to be around even though she was a nuke. Her appearance even reminded me of Hestia from Danmachi a bit… And now I wanted to see her in a dress like Hestia's… And now I wanted to fuck her…

I could be forgiven for that, right? Also, Magical Girls were meant to be bred, right? So it was only natural that I imagined that, right? Right?!

She looked at my phone, and her eyes opened wide. "Ah! I'm getting late!"

Leviathan's fingers flashed as she typed in something before she threw my phone back to me. "I'm gonna visit again soon! Magical Girl Levi-tan out~"

And with that, she disappeared, teleporting away with a flash of her magical circle. I stood still, just blinking as I went over the meeting with one of the Satans. This wasn't how I expected it to go, but damn if it wasn't better than anything I envisioned.

I turned towards the peerage. Their expression told me they all had so many questions on their mind, but so did I! Before they could even say a word, I stepped forward, appearing next to Saiborg in the blink of an eye. Then I decked him in the face, pummeling him in the ground.

"What are you doing?!" They all jumped in surprise, voices jumbled. Of course, I ignored them, focusing on Saiborg.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me that your mother is sick? How am I supposed to help you if I don't know that something is wrong?" I asked as I watched him stand up before I punched him in the face again. The fucker didn't even try to resist it.

"Michael!" I ignored their calls, my attention focused on the dumbass.

"Did you really think there's nothing I can do?" I asked as I stared him in the eyes. "Fuck, man! I don't know if I can make an actual cure, but the fucking pods should help! They can be used even by those that are sleeping! I don't know if the pod will wake her up for good, but it should at least give you the chance to speak with her again!"

He slowly stood up, eyes and lips quivering as he stared at me.

"You're a big ass man…" I couldn't even finish my words before he was on me, arms wrapped around my body as he quietly sniffled.

"Don't you fucking dare cry…" I continued lamely.

"Thank you." His voice was nothing but a whisper, though I heard it loud and clear.

"Don't thank me yet." I looked away as he stepped back since I didn't want to look at his crying face.

"Instead, clean yourself and bring one of the pods to your mother. We have to see if it works before you can thank me."

"Right… you're right…" I heard him wiping his snot and tears with his sleeve before he rushed towards the workshop. He ran out of it moments later with the pod over his shoulder, his feet carrying him towards his mansion.

"What are you all looking at?" All of them were staring at me with gazes that made me uncomfortable, so I naturally looked away.

Dumb idiots…