Chapter 2: An Evil Set-up

Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the four Satan's of the underworld stared with bored eyes out of the window before him. As one of the leaders of the underworld he was an important man, as well as powerful, so one would wonder what he was doing waiting for someone to arrive at his vaunted research facility.

Well today there was a special guest that would arrive. Not just any Devil could come inside the hallowed halls of the mad genius himself, but he was giving out a favour to his long-time rival and friend Sirzechs, or better known as Lucifer himself.

There were 2 people actually. One was Sirzechs father, Zeoticus Gremory and the other…. Well the other was someone truly mysterious and the main reason he had eagerly been waiting for the last 20 minutes for their arrival.

Eric Gremory, 2nd son of Zeoticus and brother to Sirzechs. The name was interesting alone, a break away from the Gremory's usual naming habits, it was more….western, modern as well, but that was beside the point. No one outside their family had ever seen the heir apparent, though tales of his prodigy had spread like a wild fire when he was born.

Though it had only been 8 years since then, it was surprising how fast the gossip surrounding the boy had cooled off, though it couldn't be blamed, after the birth of their daughter 2 years later, most of the gossip turned to her, Rias Gremory.

Though some still remembered the forgotten child, he was not in the public consciousness, Ajuka had asked Sirzechs himself once about the boy, the man was crazy about his family and it was well known how he doted on his baby sister, but Sirzechs had been quit, he hadn't said a word.

That was the first clue to his old time friend that the boy was special. The Gremory kept the information under lock and key and he had even heard a maid or two had disappeared when they went looking for answers.

Ajuka frowned for a second, before shaking his head, the amount of security around the boy was well and truly at this point bordering on the absurd. But all those worries would come to rest soon. Both the son and father would be arriving in a few minutes and he could make his own judgment.

Sweeping a hand back through his green hair he looked around the empty room before him. One of the stipulations in the favour he was giving to Sirzechs was that there would be no one else around for the ceremony.

Though it was a weird request and one that he would not have humoured if it was anyone else, after all the secrecy with the boy it wasn't a big ask. The Duo was coming down to his workshop for one reason alone, Eric was about to receive his Evil piece's, something strange on its own, especially for his age.

You see Ajuka had created the Evil piece a long time ago, something that no other pantheon on the planet has yet to crack, though there were other methods out there that could replicate some of what the pieces could do.

Made up of 15 pieces and modelled after a chess set, the evil pieces could turn any being, whether it be dragon, human, spirit or angle into a Devil, one of their own species. Other than prolonging the species as a whole with their low birth rates, it was also a one of a kind piece of magic that Ajuka himself was quite proud of.

Why Ajuka found Eric receiving his pieces strange was how they were made. By this point in history after so many years, there was a regarded science or norm when it came to evil pieces. Most high-class devils born into nobility would not receive their pieces until they were 12 years of age.

Eric receiving them at 8 was unprecedented, but at the same time dangerous. There was a reason that a child had to wait so long before gaining their pieces. The evil pieces were a wonderful piece of magic that was tied to the user.

First by creating and binding oneself to the king piece, the stronger a person's magical ability and presence, some would even say soul, the greater one could bind to their peerage. For example, a child, who has the power of a low-class devil, directly after gaining their set could bind to their service a low-class devil into their Pawn piece, while for their queen piece they might only be able to bind a mid to high class devil at max.

Give that same child 100 years to grow in power, themselves becoming a high class devil in power, then their pawn pieces could bind mid class devils easily and ultimate class devils into the queen spot. It all depended on their level of power.

That what most got wrong about the evil pieces or rather forgot about. The stronger a person was the greater peerage they could build. Sure they could build up their peerage at the start, but it would be a struggle as well as a waste of time, not to mention missed opportunity if you wasted multiple pieces on someone stronger than you.

What people mainly knew and remembered about the pieces were the affects they had on those bound, the increase of strength with a rook or speed with a knight, not to mention the all-round increase in ability with the queen piece. This was actually supposed to cover for a person's weakness in a fight, but is now mainly used by those to increase what they already have.

By giving Eric his set at the age of 8 it could easily hinder the boy's growth, not to mention the other troubles that may occur. Though it wasn't widely know these days, in the past some Nobel children had tried to form their set before the age of 12.

There were varying degrees of success of those aged 10-11, but it provided a new piece of information. If the power of the devil was not strong enough when they tried to form their set, the pieces would come out broken, or cracked.

Such instances would require years of constant energy infusion from the devil to fix, and they would never be as powerful as if they were formed fully. This was why there was an age requirement now. These sets had become known as 'Cracked set's', and were almost a death sentence for any pure-blooded high class devil should it happen. Ajuka knew this, Sirzechs knew this, Zeoticus knew this, they were all old enough to know about this matter.

'To have such confidence in the child was telling… or it was arrogance from the child…. No.'

Ajuka shifted that though from his mind. Even if it was arrogance from the child, his family would never consent to such a gamble. If his set became 'cracked' his life as a prodigy would be over. As he dwelled in his mind finally he felt the presence of 2 devils appear before the facility.

They entered through the door left open for them and quickly made their way up. Finally Ajuka could lay eyes on this prodigy of the Gremory Clan.