บท 35: Devil Afterlife
In the middle of the abandoned lands of devils, a tall castle stood. An array of concealing spells protected it from outsiders.
"Did you feel it?" A black armoured devil watching the castle walls complained to his buddy
"Hmnn? What are you moaning about?" A fellow guard with a snappy voice exclaimed as he looked to the side.
Nothing was there!
"Huh? Where did you—" He grabbed his neck as blood started to leak from his neck. He tried to scream, but his voice was gone!
There was a hole in his neck! Such a wound was done by a projectile!
Before the body can land on the ground, it is collected and stored in inventory.
"Let's feast, boys."
With a hand motion, wolves started to spawn around Raynor.
"Slaughter."
The beasts spread in all directions, starting a coordinated slaughter.
While Raynor walked towards the main doors of the castle keep.
'Deja vu…'
He kicked the main doors as he walked in.
"Who's there!? I thought I said no interruptions!" A man with black hair exclaimed as he glared towards the main doors.
The man next to the black-haired one had brown hair, and his hair covered one side of his face. This reminded Raynor of an emo.
"So an elf and an Emo. Here, I thought the remnants of the originals had something impressive going on."
"A mere human! I have no idea how you got here, but— Agh!!!"
Raynor simply motioned with his hand as one of his ivory knives flew out from a sleeve and ended up piercing the black-haired one's neck.
The guy was in disbelief as he was choking on his blood.
"Sweet God. You finally stopped talking."
Just from mentioning God, the other twitched from pain.
"Oh, what's wrong? Did a big and mighty God get in your way?" The Shaman teased with that word.
Once again, the brown-haired devil focused all of his hatred on Raynor. He even ignored his senses, thanks to the pain. He didn't notice that there were several wolves behind his throne.
"You brat! For a human to stand here is the highest disgrace a True Satan like myself has faced! I will kill you where you stand!"
Instead of saying anything, Raynor shot several ritualistic arrows at the last remaining Beelzebub.
The 'True Satan' snorted and used his magic circle to block the arrows.
"You are only good for surprise attacks—" His eyes widened as he swiftly turned around and tried to block the incoming wolf.
But his expression changed to horror.
The claws of the wolves shredded the magic circle like it was nothing.
"W-What is this!?"
The Beelzebub expected Raynor to explain. But at that moment, a knife slammed into the last remaining Beelzebub's forehead.
"...This is hilarious. Does he truly believe I would explain? What is with this place? He expects me to face him in proper combat? This is not Yu-gi-oh, where a card duel decides everything." The Shaman snorted at this.
He walked over and yanked the black-haired devil from his throne before this 'True Satan' could fall on the ground. Raynor tore the black cape hard, ripping it off.
Then he collapsed onto the throne and leisurely cleaned his bloodied ivory knife.
"Hmm…" He pondered on something.
"I was wondering who it was. But now I can make it out—miss maid." The shaman said that casually as he looked towards a specific location.
"How did you sense me?" Reality crumbled around a side of the keep, and a silver-haired, big-breasted devil lady walked out, revealing herself.
"Not hard. You might hide your smell and energy signature, but you didn't hide your soul." He pointed it out with his knife, which made the devil slightly twitch. The one thing she has learned from this is that even a knife thrown by this man can kill her.
He smiled, seeing her twitch, and then proceeded to clean his nails with the same knife. By this point, his wolves collected his arrows and other knives and brought them to him.
"...I will keep that in mind."
"If you need a couple of tricks on how to learn to sense souls, you can always come to see me."
She slightly narrowed her eyes at him.
"I do apologise, but I serve Lucifer." She bluntly declined whatever he offered.
"The man? The title or the bloodline? You devils are weird." He enquired with a curious look.
"The current Lucifer is my King."
"Hmm, I see… I thought Lucifuge served Lucifer's bloodline. But, oh well."
"I don't need to answer your questions."
"True. These two didn't need to talk either. But they did." He motioned to a couple of dead 'True Satans'.
"This makes three. To finish the collection, I need a Lucifer. Do you know where to find one?"
Grayfia twitched some more. His casual tone for killing Ultimate Devils made her back crawl with goosebumps.
He feels no fear of killing beings who could crush him like a bug given a chance.
But that's the thing: he kills them before they move; this is what made her get defensive around him. One will never know when he will let that dagger fly.
"Rizevim Livan Lucifer is the last remaining Lucifer; he is reclusive and doesn't intervene in Devil business."
"I see. Then why are you here?"
"I am here to make sure you don't die."
"Oh, so you are my guardian angel? Or is it Guardian devil?" He joked when he heard that.
"None of those. I am simply following my King's orders." She said that with narrowed eyes.
"Whatever you say, miss Lucifuge." He shrugged at her cold look. He has seen worse.
After finishing cleaning his nails, he proceeded to collect the gathered corpses of the devils. His wolves brought close to fifty devils.
"Pity, I can't pick up any unique abilities. Only the emo Satan had something special."
"Not everyone is born with unique clan traits. That includes the original four Satan descendants." The maid explained to him.
"I figured that much." With a casual hand motion, Raynor stored all the corpses away.
"What are you going to do with them?" She asked with some concern. This guy is a blood mage. He could quickly cook up all sorts of spells or curses to weaken devil kind.
"Maybe a totem or weapon from their souls. The blood can be used to enchant arrows and things like that. Curiously enough, devil souls are uniquely tainted.
Your kin doesn't have an afterlife."
"!!!"
"So when you die, you die for real. Lucifer was very reckless with your kind creation. Your kin doesn't have a governing God or a system.
When you die, your soul wanders into a strange place, a pitch darkness where you just stay—forever."
"...You speak—nonsense."
"Heh, I can teach you soul magic, and then we can discuss what is nonsense and what is not.
Each and every soul is part of something. Like a cycle or has a 'destination'. When I killed your kind, you didn't have that. It's like you end up discarded into something."
After saying that, he proceeded to walk away. He will check the castle for any loot before returning to his forest.
While leaving a dumbstruck Grayfia. The maid pondered for a bit before disappearing in a red circle.
She needs to report to Sirzechs about what she heard.
~~~
"This is disturbing."
The Crimson Satan was happy until this news ruined his day.
"No one knows where Devils go after they die. It appears they go nowhere."
"...You trust his words?" The maid frowned
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because it's something he will use as a card to play. He is confident of it. In other words, we will use our methods to look for answers, and then we will only confirm what he said to you. Do you understand?
He is proud. So, he would only look stupid if he was to make it up." He answered her question with a pondering look.
"If people learn of this— It will be chaos. Not to mention long-term consequences." Serafall said with a severe look.
It's ironic how her species, over the years, developed the belief that they will go to some sort of afterlife—forgetting the minor detail that they were created to combat angels and the Biblical God.
Unlike the Angels and the God, Lucifer never cared about the details and never considered that he would lose or die. He never pondered what could come after.
However, the Biblical God did care about his followers and made heaven and the system—a system where Devils are not welcome.
So now they know. They go to the abyss without knowing if they will sleep there or just float for the rest of infinity.
"You are not wrong. Since Raynor Valeron pointed it out, he has an idea or means to give devils an afterlife."
Sirzechs said that while thinking on this more until he concluded something which made his smile thin out.
"What is it?" The maid asked after seeing his expression.
"He is domesticating us." The Crimson Lucifer said with a self-mocking frown.
"...You saying that—"
"Yes. His opening move was on Sona Sitri, where he mentioned fertility; this got our attention. He no doubt knows that we are trying to replicate the method, which is why he only gave water with mana. Then, the moment he got his first Devil kill, he proceeded to expand on the hold he had on us.
Coming to devil lands helped him. I helped him. He is banking on all the opportunities which come his way."
'Just like a predator.'
Show a defenceless back, and he will stab.
"Shouldn't we try to eradicate someone like that? It's like inviting a wolf to a sheep pasture." Grayfia commented that while all the perks are good and all, however, the things they can lose are big as well.
She saw in person how he could casually kill an Ultimate Class devil. With him having land in the Underworld only makes him stronger.
"You are not wrong. However, it's too late now." Sirzechs sighed.
"The Council knows of his existence. In turn, the Fallen know of it, and if the Fallen know, then the angels will know it too."
"Even if they do, what of it?" The Silver-haired snorted. Honestly, she just wants to kill him. The way he looks at her, his aura. All that screams at her that he can do things to her if he wants to.
It has been a long time since she had such an instinctual fear towards something.
"Heh, Grayfia, you sound like you.are.afraid~" Serafall noticed that, so she teased her.
"And you are not? He killed all three original Satan descendants with minimal difficulty. All it takes is a knife the moment our defence is lowered."
"I am. That's the point. If we fail to kill him, we most likely do since he can pull some sort of totem or soul magic out of his ass and escape. He will return to slaughter us and blow up the cities because it's the fastest way to do it." Serafall pointed out with an uncharacteristically heavy tone.
"He is as petty as the original Satans. He will kill everyone just out of spite that we double-crossed him."
'Not to mention, he doesn't fully trust me or Sona. From the looks of it, he is waiting for us to betray him.'
"There won't be any war or conflicts while I am around." Sirzechs stopped the pair as they were building up the heat.
"We will discuss this with him. That is my decision. His special abilities are too valuable, and we know his desires. He wants to hunt, so we will give him the prey to hunt. There is nothing more to it."
'Of course, in the meantime, we must stay out of that prey radar.' That part, he said to himself.
"As you wish, Satan Lucifer." Grayfia cutesy bowed to him. While Serafall slightly smiled at Sirzechs. She was relieved that she didn't need to pick sides.
Knowing Raynor, she would most likely become his meat shield—something she doesn't want.
With new objectives set, the Crimson Satan waited for the Hunter to return to his camp.
~~~
"I do hope that the meat you are cooking is not devil flesh." Sirzechs enquired with a strained voice. He tried to sound nonchalant.
His gaze scanned the surroundings. It appears Raynor decides to use the original castle village as his base.
The current Lucifer can see a tent built from furs, a tannery, a totem which sends shivers through his body, and another totem which is under construction.
He could accept this as a hunter's camp if not for the fact that there are rows of hanged devils leaking blood into buckets.
These corpses are treated like prey instead of devils or human-like creatures, which deserve specific procedures for burials.
"No, it's a Gusion Elk. I don't eat certain meat, like Bears, for example." Raynor leisurely declined. He was sitting on a wooden stump, watching over how his food was getting prepared.
"You are here to discuss your species' afterlife, are you not?"
"Precisely."
"Then take a seat. The food will be ready soon."
With a sigh, Satan walked over and sat beside Raynor. The way he sat down was to make sure he didn't see the hanging corpses on the side. Yep, he is going to ignore that.
"I did have my suspicions for your kin when I heard the story from Sona about the origins of your kin.
When one is attuned to nature and souls, one develops certain perceptions related to the afterlife. A human is a creation of nature. We can argue that it's the work of a God or whatever. The key point is that this human is part of a cycle.
While devils and angels are not, they are creations of a higher existence, like a Progenitor devil or an Angel.
However, since they are creations outside the original cycle, they have different sets of laws regarding death."
"...In other words. When Lucifer created the original Devils, he never finished the job as he never cared for our afterlife." Sirzechs finished for him.
"Precisely. He never considered that he would lose, and the big God who created angels and Lucifer doesn't want anything to do with your kin. So he never assisted with your afterlife."
Crimson-haired one nodded as he received a slab of meat on a stick.
'This smells nice for some reason—' Satan smelled the food.
'Spices? Hmm—' He took a bite.
His eyes widened a bit.
"This is good."
"Yeah, the meat is rich in mana, giving it a unique taste, mixed with my spices— well, you know the rest, back to the whole afterlife thing.
You could discuss this with one of the Gods governing Death and establish a pact or—"
"You could make a totem." Sirzechs went straight to the point.
"Or that."
"While it sounds great. What could my people pay you with? This is the afterlife we are discussing."
Even now, Sirzechs is pondering how to make this man not speak about the darkness in which the deceased devils end. This is not even talking about the potential creation of the afterlife.
"Depends. The forest you gave me is great. But it lacks more serious prey."
'Thought so.'
"Hmm, I could make a list of things we could deliver to your forest. However, you shouldn't expect truly dangerous mythical things. For one, they are under the jurisdiction of their pantheons."
"Fair enough. Secondary is plants and vegetation. I assume it could fall under similar circumstances?" Raynor pointed out another thing he would want. And that is impressive and unique plants and vegetation.
"Indeed. I will add this to the list."
"Good. Then lastly. You want that fertility fix? Get a piece of land under my name and make it with hot springs. I will turn it into a totem and sell the bath treatments to your species.
A bath treatment could keep high fertility rates for a while. We could turn it into a spa."
"...You want money?"
"Hmm, in a way. Look around you. This place has been abandoned for years. I will rebuild it with money that the spa gets me."
'Hmm, this could work, but the spa would have a limited amount of space. We still need those potions.'
"...And Afterlife?"
"We will see how this next business venture pans out."
*Snort*
Sirzechs laughed for a bit with a snort.
"Are you sure you are not related to the devil kind?"
"No. a Fire Demon named me the 'Great Wolf Which Swallows the World'."
"..."
For some reason, a cold chill ran down the body of Crimson Satan.
~~~
"There you are! It has been over four days! Where have you been!?" Sona was seriously nervous. She tried to look for him in his forest, but that place was massive and sent chills down her spine.
On top of that, some devil families got arrested for treason; the Underworld was in upheaval.
"Oh? Someone missed me?"
"Are you serious? I had to hypnotise people in school and come up with excuses to say to your mother." The Sitri Heiress buffed and then puffed at him.
"Oh, right. I forgot that people put a lot of emphasis on just a few days." Raynor forgot about that minor detail people have in the modern world.
"...You— *sigh* let me guess, you just went on a hunt?"
"Yep! A big one at that. This big tits Leviathan devil girl popped into my forest and tried to flex on me about something, so I killed her, then I went to hunt down the rest of these Old Satans."
Sona pushed her glasses back; she quickly processed his absurd explanation. Then, she connected the dots.
The Old Satan faction tried to kidnap him, but they ended up getting exterminated; Crimson Satan used that to arrest spies and supporters of the Old Satan Faction.
'I don't know if I should be happy or concerned about this.'
~~~
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