15.Evil Pieces (1/2)

"Are you ready Shisui?" Came a beautiful voice from downstairs.

"Yes, mother." Came the reply of a 10-year-old boy. 

The black-haired boy rushed towards his mother who was waiting near the doorway. Looking at her son's enthusiasm, the platinum-blonde haired woman smiled.

"No need to rush, Shisui. The evil pieces are not going anywhere." Said the mother.

"I know, but I am still excited after all, receiving Evil Pieces is a big event for any devil. And I have been waiting forever to receive them." This made the woman's smile falter a bit before regaining it.

"I know dear, but as they say '"Patience achieves more than force.'" Since you were a bit late with receiving the evil pieces, you had a bit of time to train more, which helped to increase your demonic power. So now there is a chance that you might get a mutated piece, sweetie." She said, trying to cheer her son.

"I know, mother, and thank you." This made her raise an eyebrow. 

"Thank you for what, dear?" 

"I know how many times you had to ask the council for this." This made the woman look at him with wide eyes. "You know… you didn't have to do that. I could have waited for more."

This made the woman's heart ache. "I know, dear. But I wanted you to receive your pieces before your birthday."

This brought a smile to the boy's face. "Now let's not keep Layla waiting. She's been even more excited than you." Selene said.

Both mother and son laughed at that.

"Yeah, let's not keep her waiting." Shisui said while shaking his head.

[PoV: Shisui]

Currently sitting inside the carriage with Layla besides me and mother in the front. I think about my mother.

*Sigh* I hate worrying her but I know how prideful she is and having to bow her head to those devils... just for me to receive my evil pieces a bit sooner was definitely not something I wanted.

Usually, devils get their evil pieces according to their registration order. My parents registered my name a long time ago but it took forever for the council to notice my name. While the devils who registered after me got their pieces early. 

Why? Because of the difference in ranks. Both Seere and Caim are Prince ranked pillars but both of them are considered to be extinct pillars. 

A pillar becomes extinct if there are no surviving devils in it or if they lost all their legions. In our case, it was the latter.

Despite our ancestors sacrificing everything for the devils, we were deemed as extinct pillars. If not for my parents being on good terms with Zekram Bael on top of being Ultimate class devils, themselves… Our pillars would have lost our ranks and deemed as extra devils.

The first to receive their pieces were Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri despite being the last to register. Why, you ask? It's because both their older siblings are the current Devil Kings. This gives them a lot of leeway and Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the Devil Kings being the one to create the evil pieces, considered giving them their pieces to be the top priority.

The Devil Kings owe my parents some favours, (which I am still unable to figure out) that is one of the reasons why they accepted to give me my evil pieces today on my mother's request.

And I hate this feeling.

The feeling of being helpless and begging the devil kings and the council for things that belong to me. This is one of the reasons why I promised myself to gain social standing above every other devil. And to do that I need strength. 

I rubbed the tattoo remembering the day it gave me the power boost, 5 years ago. Currently, the pattern on the seed changed into that of a fully matured Sharingan and with three sprouted roots instead of the single one from 5 years ago.

This gave me a massive chakra boost. The chakra boost was so massive that it almost scared a few yōkais and I had to place multiple seals to prevent it from leaking out and scaring every yōkai.

"Are you nervous?" Layla asked from behind.

"Huh? What made you ask?" I raised an eyebrow while keeping a playful smile on my face.

"I mean… you are going to become a full-fledged devil and a king once you receive those pieces. That is going to put a lot of pressure on you." She said sounding a bit concerned.

She wasn't wrong.

"Indeed, but don't you think that's the fun part? Looking for people who are willing to join my peerage, getting to know different races while going on adventures… Doesn't that sound fun?" I asked her. 

I was obviously bullsh*tting about being excited to go on adventures but I wasn't lying about being excited to have my own peerage.

"Shisui." She called my name.

"Yeah?"

"Can you… promise me one thing?" She asked, which made me curious.

"If it's something that I can do, why not?" She rarely asks anything from me. So, if it is something within my capability, I don't mind granting it.

"Please… please promise me that you won't force anyone to join your peerage." She said looking me dead in the eyes.

Ah, I see. Forced enslavement. One of the reasons for the fall of the old devils. 

All those years ago when Ajuka first introduced the evil pieces, they were not perfect. They were prototypes. They provided a massive power boost which could turn a normal high-class devil into a peak-ultimate class or even low-satan class. 

But they needed to have a perfect set for that boost and made those devils with the king piece forcefully recruit many devils, humans, fallen or any species one could think of just for the power boost.

"Don't worry I don't plan on forcing anyone."

 It wasn't a lie as I had no intention of forcing anyone to join my peerage. I will find them on my own. 

If they accept my proposal, I will gladly accept them and if not… I will let them go.

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But I do plan to obtain an old king piece, no matter the cost. 

Because that piece is vital for my future plans. But it's not something I need to worry about now. At least, not until I turn into a high to peak-Satan class devil.

"So any plans on who you are going to have in your peerage?" She asked curiously.

"Not really. It will depend on my luck and time."

Well not really, I do have plans on whom to revive or more specifically what races to have in my peerage.

"Hmm… I see. What about some humans with sacred gears? They are the most common peerage members." She said with her ironic angelic smile.

Humans huh? They are indeed the most preferred ones for a peerage because of the sacred gears they possess. And we devils being the sinful greedy race, try to get them to serve under us at any cost.

Funny enough… No matter which world you are in, humans will always remain gullible. Devils are indeed the creatures of sin, but humans, the creation of the dead GOD are even worse at times. 

Humans were made to be able to adapt to any situation… and to an extent they are indeed capable of that. Since humans are the only ones with the least number of casualties during the Great War.

But since we devils are the creatures of sin, we learned to adapt and live with our sins a very long time ago. While the humans who are known for their adaptability are still unable to adapt to them.

They are greedy, lustful, envious species. But they have very few abilities to back those up. Because of their gullibility and greed, they believe us devils easily and decide to turn into reincarnated devils… 

*Sigh* Foolish little creatures.

How ironic now that I think about it… after all, I was a human in my past life. But considering I got betrayed by those I cared about, my current attitude is justifiable.

"Do you know the principle on which human magic works?" I ask her.

She puts a finger on her chin before replying. "It's calculations. They need to solve multiple formulas to cast spells." 

Her answer made me smile. "And what is the principle of devil magic?"

"Imagination." She replied instantly.

"Indeed." Imagination and Calculations huh… The world did its best to balance the powers but failed miserably.

Humans are far more imaginative than devils while the devils are more calculative. If the requirements for using magic were reversed, both the devils and humans would have reached unimaginable heights. To prevent this the world decided to make the required difficulty for each race.

But sadly it didn't work, as no matter what, there is a loophole in every plan. And both the races especially the devils took advantage of that.

To continue expanding our race, Ajuka Beelzebub created the Evil Pieces which helps to reincarnate different races as devils. Humans being the most popular ones because of their populace and their gears.

Humans can be very creative with their imagination and if they became devils they could reach unimaginable heights. Reincarnated Devils could have easily overthrown the pure-bloods with their imagination. But were the purebloods going to let this happen?

Obviously not.

No matter how much the current devils preach of equality, deep down they are still scared that their rule might be overthrown like they overthrew the old devils. And letting the human imagination stay at the same level after reincarnation was an obvious risk.

So Ajuka Beelzebub modified the pieces to limit the human imagination once they became devils. This makes it extremely difficult for them to reach the level of those pureblood devils… that is 𝐢𝐟 they don't have a Longinus class gear or a gear with the same potential as a Longinus. Because these bugged gears totally break the system. They can even mutate the evil pieces during the reincarnation process.

Even if the reincarnated devils become strong enough they are still not given the high-class devil rank easily. And when they do, they are turned into extra devils with minimal authority.

Well, my goal is to find at least one Longinus user for my peerage… And increase the rank of both Seere and Caim pillars, which will be difficult but not impossible.

"We are here." My mother's voice came from the front of the carriage. 

Looking ahead I saw the huge Lab of Ajuka Beelzebub. 

"He must have spent millions to build this massive structure." I mumbled.

The lab in front of me was more like a fortress than an actual lab. It can be described in one word "Humongous."

"It indeed is." Layla mumbled as well.

"Let's go, They must be waiting for us." I nod before following my mother.

Let's meet the Genius Maou.

[A/N: Thnx Geir.]