Chapter 39: Facing off against the Bael's

"Do you understand who the people are you have to target?"

Ajuka was carrying a stack of papers while giving out orders for the staff members to clear out the large open room on the ground floor at the back of the Research Facility that is rarely being used, Masaru was also going to help out while wearing staff clothing under the orders of Ajuka to get "used" to being a staff but actually it was to make up for the lack of manpower to help with these kinds of task.

"Yes, I have already memorized it but Teacher Ajuka, did you set up the magic sense disrupt device?"

It has been four days ever since Masaru saved his aunt Cleria and the plans he with Ajuka made to deal with all the king pieces in one fell swoop has started, Ajuka simply told Masaru that he will be his official student from now on and did not accept any complaints.

Well, Masaru did not care. being a disciple of this Monster Genius, will he become a monster of such standards in the future that he can survive in any worlds?

"Yes, I have already had the men lay down a formation underneath this wooden floor that will make it difficult even for a high Ultimate Rank to detect magic uses. However, you have to be careful as well since this plan is a double-edged sword, just as they can't sense you as well won't be able to, which is why I have already contacted Sirzech to send his peerage over to move along with Mine in the shadows"

Masaru nodded since this kind of formation was something they did not actively research in the past the development was only to disrupt everyone instead of selective. Naturally, this formation will be perfected in the years to come should they have to set up a plan like this to deal with several people at once undetected.

"Then I suppose my peerage members---"

Ajuka looked at him

"I'm sorry but they have to stick at the Safe House to guard Cleria since Diehauser and his entire peerage needs to be here in order to make it less suspicious"

"Understood"

Masaru picked up a box as wide as an adult body.

"Also Masaru, once you finished your task here as your sensei I order you to stay out of it okay? Because the moment I move from Hospital to Hospital will politically get in this mess as well, your reputation is already delicate as it is"

Masaru stopped then looked at Ajuka,

"I can agree with that, however, I want the rights to visit the Bael Family. Since we can't touch them, I at least want to have a talk with them."

Ajuka looked thoughtfully at his disciple

"You want to do something towards them?"

Masaru shook his head

"No, since I kind of owe them a debt I will use this to write it off plus demand something from them. Because we can't make big movements against them, I can at least exploit a few things out of them for making a move on Aunt Cleria" Masaru smiled sinisterly

"Well that is fine, but be sure not to go overboard, they are after all the shadows of the Devil and their existence is necessary for now"

>\/<

Later that night the banquet started no one was suspicious about this Banquet since Ajuka used this moment to personally start a tournament under his name with a prize for the winner, while he was giving speeches Masaru began to move to scan each body he came across and only tampered with those he sensed the king piece from since he himself had a king piece he had more than enough time to study the properties to give the most favourable result to their plans.

The Banquet may appear to be anti-climatic since there was not much that happened other than the few people who knew of a smiling Staff member that "served" drinks to the majority of the people alone which earned the admiration of the devils thinking he was working really hard for their sake.

But little did they know that tomorrow the biggest shock in the Devil society would be struck one after the other. The next day statement of several top rank Rating Game peerage leaders was spotted at the hospital with a dangerous disease, the entire devil world common people praised Ajuka to the skies when it was reported that Ajuka was visiting each of the tops ranked players.

But things were not quite the same in the background, the families and relevant people involved in this scandal were all swiftly being replaced from the shadows.

It was only once Ajuka had all the players at the Hospital that was under Serafall's control, did each family start to announce their new head as for the previous head of families all mysteriously died due to illness while some families were completely crushed.

Sirzech made sure to promote another family to take their place of the crushed families.

The power scale started to tip towards the four devil kings ever since most of the traitors they knew of were cleaned out, however, the power the council hold was still too strong to go against since the Bael Family who was also involved was a family they could not carelessly touch.

On the fourth day Ajuka contacted Masaru to tell him he could now make his move, and here we are. Masaru was sitting in the carriage alone, at first, his peerage wanted to come along with him but he refused.

Just for their safety, he had to undertake this mission alone, to exploit this giant and get a favour out of them is what he really needed for his current situation. If everything goes well, then his family can once again pick up their pace once again since the expansion and branch plans they held back needed to go soon or they will lose initiative.

"Welcome to the Bael Family, We have been expecting your visit Young Master Belial"

The butler who is responsible for the current head of the Bael Family was sent to welcome Masaru, because of the gap between their status it was only natural that the Bael family would not welcome him as the Gremory had.

"I appreciate the welcome"

Masaru smiled warmly speaking respectful enough for the butler, the butler thought something was wrong since they were expecting him to be angry because of the scandal but here he is being friendly and even respectful!

'Could it be he doesn't know? No! Lord Bael mentioned one of our men got captured so they know, but why is he being so friendly? It makes no sense unless...'

Masaru followed the Butler towards the guest room prepared in the Bael Family Manor when they enter three people were inside the room. There was a resemblance between the three but the younger boy appear to look slightly more different perhaps he got it from his mother? He does give off a strong presence and Masaru could detect his KI was quite vigorous.

"Welcome to the Bael Family, Masaru Belial. We have not met face to face before but I am the current head of the Bael Family. This is our Ancestor who has been watching over our family for many many years, and here is our recent appointed Heir of the Bael Family, Sairaorg"

This was the second news that shook the Devil world after the sick news of the players, a devil who did not inherit the power of Destruction managed to train nothing but his body to the point he defeated his brother and took the place as Heir.

The people were naturally wondering why this boy who suffered a fate worse than death under the Bael Family would choose to become a part of this family, not to mention the story of his mother being in a coma with the common sleeping disease that slowly kills its host is quite known although they have no knowledge of where his mother is being held.

"It's an honour to meet the Lord and Ancestor Bael"

Masaru bowed respectfully towards the two adult men, but for Sairaorg he extends his hands and the latter gripped his hand as well. a Trace of Surprise flashed in Sairaorg's eyes as an almost impossible to detect smile form on his lips when he locked gazes with Masaru,

'He trains his body like me'

The two of them looked at each other like they have been friends for years yet this was the very first time they met.

"My name is Masaru Belial, heir to the Belial Family. It's good to meet you at last young master Sairaorg"

Sairaorg shook his hand firmly

"I'm Sairaorg Bael, heir to the Bael Family. You can drop the young master and just call me Sairaorg, it's a pleasure to meet you the wonder child of Belial"

Masaru cringed a bit

"That title..."

Saraorg who saw this laughed heartily.

Since this was an informal meeting the two older devils were not privy about such exchanges, when all of them took a seat on the couch Lord Bael's eyes turn sharp

"May I know why the young master of the Belial family has come to visit us?"

Masaru leaned back on his chair, his eyes too became serious,

"Honestly I want to complain you know, to your family that is. Members of your family target my aunt to safeguard a useless secret, yet here I am I can't easily make a move of your family... for now that is"

"Is that a threat?"

Masaru who heard the ancestor shook his head,

"Wrong, this is my advice to you all. The devil world is changing and soon the ways of old will soon wither under the currents of time because the survival of the Devil race is required to adapt to these changes, and with changes, it could also affect family household powers who do not follow the trend. And a family household that made enemies with too many people could easily become a target in such times"

Masaru began to tell a little tale, Ancestor Bael could not help but release a sliver of pressure upon Masaru who felt it but was not disturbed,

"If that is not a threat then I don't know what is"

"Well it's not like your destruction is invincible, atleast against me it's worthless"

Hearing this both the Lord and Ancestor of the Bael family flinched as what Masaru said was true, unlike the other members of the Belial family. Masaru had the divine grimoire that will allow him to understand the principles behind the Destruction special ability of the Bael.

"No need to be so stiff, I am using this to complain to you, after all, I am grateful for the Bael who supported me but you should understand my character as well especially in regards to my family. You should have been prepared to face a threat like this, however, I will not make any movements now or in the future.

"As I will be counting this as returning the favour I owe the Bael Family for their support, unless you try your luck with me again. I will not hesitate even if I end up being enemies of the devil"

Both the Ancestor and Lord Bael had a stern look, what Masaru said was no different from saying he would turn his back on the devils if they target his family again. The two of them finally realized just how dreadful this boy could become if his reverse scale is touched, not to mention he used their actions as a way to write off the debt they hope to regain from him.

In the end, Masaru will walk out with the most benefit.

"So I am here to offer something to your family, two things in fact"

Lord Bael and the Ancestor was already formulating plans on how to turn this around, Sairaorg who was listening to this exchange did not actively get involved since he only recently became the heir but the most important was because he has no plans on staying in the family for too long after all.

"My Family will join to support Sairaorg in his endeavour in the Rating Games and Dreams"

This shocked the three as they could not understand how this is offering something to the family, but the next one was enough to make them realize.

"Here is the list of possible traitors within your families, this list was split up between the four devil kings. Since your family can't be easily be 'touched' I can only let you clean your own household unless you wish for us to take action instead.

"I am sure you might have already known about them but I suggest you move now before the weed grows too resilient and kill your crops. Because if I was them, I will not care a bit about Sairaorg who is simply too strong to secretly kill off. Not to mention he is not even important for the family in the first place, except for using him for his dreams!"

Masaru said those words without care of offending the two old coots, even Sairaorg did not flinch as what was said is indeed true after all, Masaru leaned forward with a sinister smile

"But the situation changes when the target is the brother who inherits the power of Destruction, his weak! He does not train and prefer to take care of flowers, after all, not only that. But he is the favoured son to become the next head of the family! Which makes him more important to deal with than Sairaorg"

No one refuted it because it was the truth,

"Since your family are supporting Sairaorg only to keep the truth of the real heir hidden from the world, you did not expect others to know of this did you? You all sure are naive, your place is full of gossiping servants that talk with money or women. So tell me, which target to eliminate to give a blow to the Bael Family other than that child?"

"What do you want for giving us this?"

Lord Bael could see these two things does balance the scale between Belial and Bael however there is no such thing as Free.

"Simple, I only need you to act as my supporter as you have up till now. I have no need for real support, I only need to temporary borrow your power as a shield to allow my family to continue their plans for our future. Should the Bael have trouble and require help, I will naturally come to assist"

Lord Bael thought for a moment realizing that nothing really has changed between the past and now, the relationship between Masaru Belial and the Bael was the same. The only difference was that the Bael Family could only "Request" his assistance and not "Demand" it.

'Well since he promised to help us, we can still make use of this'

Lord Bael thought for a moment, Ancestor Bael looked at Masaru meaningful

"You made quite a good move brat, and for the things you gave us including your word to assist us I will write off the threat you gave us before. But just like how your family is your reverse scale so is the Bael Family to me, don't threaten the Family again"

Masaru naturally understood this, he only used the threat to tilt the initiative in his favour during the negotiation as he needed to ensure the other side does not tilt it towards them,

"Then be sure your family keep their hands where they belong, then we won't have any problems. It's only because your hands moved that I moved mine after all"

Masaru rebuked the Ancestor's threat to the point he said nothing in return.

After an hour of chatting while setting up a few business propositions with the Bael family did Masaru leave, it was true like Ajuka said the Bael family was needed as there needs to be someone who can control the shadows while the Devil Kings controlled the light of the Devils.

'Phew. That old monster is scary, just the pressure he gave me felt like he could erase me in a blink of an eye. But luckily with this, they can no longer control me so easily while I am making use of our relationship with them to increase our expansion pace'

Masaru could not help but laugh, for once he was in control of his own fate, for the sake of surviving in this unreasonable world.