章 2: Chapter 2: Odd

"Sirzechs what is it?" Lady Venelana quickly asked her voice now less exhausted and more panicked, bits of concern entering her violet gaze.

"Is there something wrong with Aureolus?" The concern and anxiety of a mother were apparent as she questioned her eldest child.

"N-no that's not it Mom…" Sirzechs fumbled over his words very unlike the calm and confident super-devil he was.

"Just spit it out already Sirzechs, Surely it isn't something horrible Aureolus seems healthy does he not? Even he looks stronger than the average newborn." Zeoticus snapped at his eldest son growing impatient, it didn't even cross his mind for a moment that Aureolus lacked demonic energy, Considering just how much of an outlier that was.

"W-well father and mother…i-i checked Aureoles's body and…He is completely devoid of demonic energy, Not even a drop could be found." Sirzechs said anxiously his voice dropping a bit.

Zeoticus's face bleached rapidly matching Venelana's Whose lips opened in a silent gasp of astonishment, Grayfia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and shock taken aback.

"Sirzechs is this a joke? If Aureolus has an illness or lacks the power of destruction that is fine, Just be honest with me I'm sure me and your mother would much prefer the truth." Zeoticus said flatly quickly composing himself, Thinking of this as merely a joke or just a miscalculation on Sirzech's part, just because of how irregular and just unimaginable it was for a living being to not have mana or demonic energy.

"I'm not joking nor am I lying Father, Check for yourself." the vermillion-haired Lucifer shot back quickly growing annoyed at his father's dismissal of him, He was first and foremost Lucifer the ruler of the underworld, Second a family man the eldest child of the gremory household and a sibling-con.

His father didn't reply merely putting his hand atop his youngest Child's head, His hand shimmering a blue light his demonic energy entering Aureoles's body gently, extremely careful to not disturb the sleeping baby.

Venelana just watched this all exhausted and hollow eyes she seemed to have aged decades in a second, Tracing every bit of her husband's expression before laying back down, She didn't need her husband to tell her directly she already knew it was the truth, Hundreds of years of marriage did that.

Zeoticus retracted his hand sighing, his eyes becoming more haggard and cold, a frown replacing his previously happy expression, He rubbed his temples opening his mouth several times to get the words out, but it seemed almost impossible.

"Sirzechs…this…have you encountered something like this ever?" The king of the house asked now with more authority and distance.

"No, I haven't…This is meant to be something only written about in books or novels yet…." Sirzechs sighed in defeat "Maybe Ajuka would know something…"

"Dear I know this is very sudden but what if Aureolus is a late bloomer?" the ice queen said in a rare instance of breaking formality "Surely there have been rare instances of Devils awakening demonic powers later on in life."

Sirzechs traced Aureoles's cheek with his index finger while thoughtful "While that's true I've never read about an instance where a living being was born with none…"

"Maybe his demonic power is just so little currently that you can't fully sense it?" Grayfia replied with uncertainty.

"…that may be a possibility…Sirzechs is Ajuka free?" Zeoticus asked flatly while taking Aureolus in his arms before giving him back to Venelana's outstretched arms.

"Ajuka said he's working on a project currently, You know how he is with his projects….they take maybe a couple of days or even a couple of decades before he is done." Sirzechs sighed rubbing his temples.

"I think it'll be fine for now…Maybe Grayfia was right Sirzechs, perhaps Aureolus was just born with tiny amounts of Demonic energy, Maybe his body isn't strong enough to handle the true amount of Demonic energy it holds, so in an effort to protect itself it locked the vast amounts of energy somewhere else, hoping to release it at a later date." Lady Venelana said with a small smile, She didn't fully believe her flesh and blood could lack demonic energy, Her pride was too high to believe in something like that.

"And stop being so grumpy please today is a joyous occasion, Even if Aureolus doesn't have demonic energy, If he is smart with his chess piece I'm sure he'll be very powerful in the future," Venelana said teasing her eldest, and her husband as well.

Zeoticus rolled his eyes amused, He didn't think of that, surely even if Aureolus couldn't be powerful on his own He could collect powerful chess pieces, A true king always had pawns to do the hard labor right?

Zeoticus didn't care much for how his child obtained power, As long as he wasn't completely useless he wouldn't be too disappointed.

Though he couldn't lie to himself and say he wasn't slightly displeased at this outcome, He was looking forward to another devil of his bloodline becoming a true king.

He was looking forward to his family name and reputation being spread across the dimension once more.

Venelana yawned holding her child close to her, Looking down at his sleeping face gently.

Venelana was first and foremost a devil, a devil of pride, and a devil of sin, While she was a very kind person in essence, she was a kind person and a mother second a devil foremost.

There were still bits and parts of her that couldn't help but feel disappointed at this outcome.

It was only because she believed in what she said that she didn't outright show her dissatisfaction, still holding onto the hope that her baby could be as powerful as her oldest.

Zeoticus leaned forward planting a kiss on Venelana's lips "Well we won't stress you out for long, get a good night's rest I'm sure Aureolus and you are exhausted."

Zeoticus singled to Sirzechs with his eyes in a quiet wordless conversation.

The three devils teleported out of the room, Sure they could just walk but were they truly devil if they didn't do some flashy things here and there?

They didn't have to even speak a word to the other as they all appeared in the gremory main living room, It was lavish and enormous with Trinkets of gold and silver everywhere.

"Father, what did you want to say?" the red-haired maou said quickly getting to the point, He and his father didn't even have to speak a single word for him to know Zeoticus wanted to speak to him.

Zeoticus sighed lazily sitting down on the main couch, apparently just as if not more exhausted than Venelana in the other room, He didn't mind Grayfia here she was his daughter-in-law after all, and she'd have to know ultimately nonetheless.

"We can't announce His birth to the underworld." Sirzech's eyes widened anger seeping into his expression before sighing letting his father continue.

"It'll ruin our prominence if it got out that the Gremory household gave birth to a child with no demonic energy, Or such little demonic energy that it's completely worthless." Zeoticus paused before continuing "And if Venelana's conjecture is true then we'll announce him of course, But for now…I want to wait till we can speak with Ajuka about this abnormality what do you think?"

Sirzechs also sat down mentally depleted with this whole thing, He felt it was too harsh to his cute little brother to hide him away as if he was a stain to the family.

He also understood that Aureolus was a stain on the family's prestige, he was caught in a choice between his love for his brother and the logic of not damaging the family's reputation.

Sirzechs looked to his wife for any ideas, She was always his piller or adviser when caught in a tough spot.

"I think it'll be fine dear, Surely when Aureolus grows up he will understand your piglet," Grayfia whispered into his ear nodding with a small smile of reassurance.

"I think… that will be fine for now…I agree father." Sirzechs relented that all he could do was hope that his mother's conjecture was true, he didn't want to know the cruel fate that would await his baby brother if he truly lacked demonic energy.

Today was meant to be a very great and joyous occasion, In sirzech's long life there were very few things he looked forward to except a sibling, Yet today was anything but.

Zeoticus nodded before a teleportation circle appeared underneath his feet disappearing almost instantly.

"Grayfia come with me, I have to visit Ajuka and make sure he doesn't take decades to finish this project of his." His wife shook her head a bit.

"Sirzechs please Not right now, it's better to go tomorrow morning, I'm sure Ajuka wouldnt like it if you appeared randomly in his lab in the middle of the night," Grayfia said in an effort to help her husband relax.

She knew he was more stressed than he let on, wanting to persuade him to stay home and rest for today.

"Grayfia are you sure? Wouldn't it be better to get it done sooner than later? Isn't that what you always say?" Sirzechs asked back confused, Grayfia was always the type to get things done sooner than later, quite out of character for her to say not to.

"It's only one day…rather we can have some fun." Grayfia winked.