Chương 2: Ch. 2 - Life or Death

Chamber doesn't know how long he has been falling, all around him is nothingness, only himself and chilling black space combined with the variety of colors that swirls around the black space. Chamber felt very unsettled. As if he was not alone in this weird space.

Soon enough, a small glowing ball with a myriad of colors appeared in front of him, counting up to six different colors in a single ball of light

'What?' Chamber muttered under his breath, his eyes watching as the myriad colored glowing ball as small as an eyeball circled around him, slightly illuminating the dark space he was in.

Just as Chamber was tempted to reach out and touch the glowing ball, It wisped forward on the hole in his chest, as if it had entered his body.

'What?' Uttering in confusion, Chamber reached his hand towards the hole, however before he could do so, his vision darkened again.

***

"Lady Serafall, we received an order directly from Lady Leviathan. The church has dared to tarnish her glorious name, so she ordered us to destroy three of their churches and kill their respective popes." In the middle of lush trees and beautiful mountains, a large glowing circle faded in on the ground and five figures appeared in the middle of it.

"I understand. What's our location now?" In the middle of them stood a long black-haired woman with quite a short stature but big assets. Her magnificent purple bead-like eyes shone upon the sunlight as solemnity bore on her cute and smooth face.

"We're currently 10 miles away from a settlement of what humans call Jerusalem. This place reeks of those pesky angel's scent." The devil servant on her side spoke with an obnoxious tone in his voice.

"Hmm? Isn't that the place where Jesus Christ was crucified?" Serafall questioned with a surprised face.

"Indeed, although this is the place that killed The Big G's son, they have turned their front to him thanks to Jesus's apostles spreading his gospel to them despite what they did to him."

"And now, Jerusalem is currently ruled by the Mamluk Sultanates from Egypt. Christianity is currently one of the dominant religions here aside from Jews and Muslims. So we can find many Christian churches to destroy." After a minute of explaining, Serafall finally got the gist of Jerusalem's slight history.

"Let's split for now. I'll scout the south side of Jerusalem, while you guys go on your own ways." After giving an order, Serafall quickly disappeared from her place before her subordinates could stop her.

"Lady Serafall! Wait!" Unfortunately, it was already too late as Serafall was nowhere to be seen.

***

"Fwoo! I hate this….When will the war end." Serafall sighed, she hated the war. The war started a thousand years ago and now, she has become part of it.

However, from the looks of it, the tension between the two sides is heating up. This means any moment now, the four Satans and the Big G would clash soon and who knows what the Fallen Angels are doing at the moment.

'Perhaps this year would mark the end of the Great War.' She whispered under her breath.

Raising her head, only then did she notice that she was currently standing on the side of Jerusalem's busy streets, watching as the humans and camels walked side by side, some merchants selling vegetables and fruits while others serving as breadwinners in the family, working various jobs ranging from delivery to heavy carriers.

Seeing all this reminded Serafall of something that she never experienced in the underworld.

Peace.

A concept that she never experienced and probably wouldn't in the future. She can smell from years away that the future of the devils will be bloody. Very bloody.

Shaking her head from such naive thoughts, she was about to continue scouting when suddenly, her magical senses flared, sensing a disturbance in the air.

Immediately upping her guard in case of a surprise attack from the church, she was left stunned upon the sight of a magical black hole appearing in the air, gathering not only her but also the humans' attention.

"What is that?"

"It's a miracle! Perhaps the one and only savior, God has come to save us from our sins!"

"Oh no," Serafall muttered to herself, she knew that this would soon reach the ears of the church and would alert them.

"[Camouflage]." Muttering a magic spell to herself, she slowly turned invisible from the eyes of the normal, blending with her surroundings like a chameleon.

At the same time, the black hole spat out an unconscious figure with a large hole in his chest, something that no normal human being could survive.

"A human? No, his magical capacity is too large for a human." Serafall muttered confusedly. However, there's no point in muttering as the figure fell towards the ground.

Using her quick reflexes and speeds, she smoothly caught the figure and carried him in her arms.

Unfortunately for her, that is not the case for others as in their eyes, the figure with a hole in his chest was floating above the ground.

"I-It's a miracle! He's flying!"

Gasp!

Followed by collective gasps, Serafall knew she needed to get out of here.

Using her speed as a High-class Devil, she disappeared from her place along with the unconscious figure.

"H-He disappeared!"

"Quick! Inform the guards!"

***

Appearing at an abandoned and dilapidated building, Serafall uncovered herself from [Camouflage] and gently laid down the dying figure.

"He's dying," Serafall muttered to herself after using her Devil power to sense the man's life force and saw it depleting rapidly.

"Ajuka, if this doesn't work, I'll make sure to give you a brain freeze." She muttered to herself as she took out a small piece of bishop from a famous game called Chess.

However, what she holds is still a prototype according to Ajuka, which means it has still not been officially released to the public in the Underworld and is still in the middle of testing.

Gently pressing it on the unconscious figure's chest, Serafall watched with her purple bead eyes as the Bishop piece remained still for a few moments, as if not responding to Serafall's intentions.

"It's not working. What did I expect, it's just a prototype after al-" With a sigh coming out from her, Serafall was about to retract the Bishop piece when something unimaginable happened.

The Bishop piece suddenly glowed in red light that dissolved and spread across the unconscious figure's entire body, slowly but surely covering him completely.

"It's working?" Serafall hesitantly muttered under his breath and left the unconscious boy, not daring to interfere with the process of devil reincarnation as Ajuka likes to call it.

Much to her delight, the red light dissipated into red particles and it may look like nothing changed on the boy however, the large hole that accompanied his chest was no longer there, replaced by a smooth white chest with a slight outline of muscles.

Serafall slowly approached the figure and crouched, using her finger to trace his chest where the hole should've been.

"Ajuka, you smart dog, it worked!" Serafall smiled, she could already sense the figure's magical power converting into the Devil Power, which means the boy is turning into a devil! A full-fledged devil!

She knows how important this is to the Devils who, unlike humans, have a very low fertile rate, only being able to give birth to a devil once in a hundred years per family.

But with Ajuka's invention, devils will no longer have the population problem!

Sure the population of the devils is still large but according to Ajuka and his supposed vision, the Devil population will decrease drastically if the Great War continues.

Every year, thousands of devils die while only hundreds of devils are born during the same year.

What does that mean? It means the ratio of decreasing devil population is larger than increasing!

***

Chamber can't remember the last time he felt this good. His aching chest which was in searing pain was no longer there.

Opening his eyes, Chamber felt the heat of the sun rays hitting his face, quickly raising his arm to block it, his blurry eyes slowly adjusting and getting sharper as the second passed.

By the time his eyes recovered from the blurriness, he then noticed that his perception was sharper than usual.

Discarded pieces of rotten wood, cobwebs in almost every corner of the room, small flies minding their business and even the tiny specks of dust can be seen with his naked eyes.

His smell was also the same, he can smell the scent of what he assumes to be the smell of sand, sunlight and even a slightly spicy scent from somewhere he can't fully pinpoint.

"What the?" Confused by the situation and where he was, Chamber tried to stand but before he could do so, a voice interrupted him, making him freeze.

"I don't think you're supposed to move after recovering, human." Slowly shifting his head towards the source of the voice, Chamber quickly took a sharp breath upon seeing a piece of art that he had never seen before in his life.

Standing in the corner of the room was a short woman with shiny purple bead eyes, her long and smooth black hair reaching almost below her waist, however, what truly caught his attention was her armored wear.

Unlike several wearings consisting of clothes, the woman in front of him looks like someone that came out of a fantasy novel, she was wearing a mix of red and black shiny armor with a blue tinge on her pauldrons. The most distinguishable about her suit of armor was the large carving on her front armor of what Chamber assumed to be a large snake that looked more like a dragon.

Moving downwards, unlike her heavily armored top, her bottom was nothing like that. Instead, she was wearing a simple but long black skirt that reached below her knees.

"….ello? Hello? Human? Are you okay? Why are you looking at me like that?" Suddenly, Chamber snapped back to reality and noticed how the woman was now really close to him and was constantly waving her hand and snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"I-I'm sorry, but…who are you?"

"Oh, thank the devils you're okay, I thought the Evil Piece had some kind of side effect. Anyway, since you asked for this one's name she shall tell. My name is Serafall Sitri of the Great Sitri Clan, though I don't think you've heard of it considering how I found you."

At first, Chamber was confused by her words. What is the Evil Piece she was talking about and why would it have a side effect? Continuing, however, Chamber's ears quickly perked up upon hearing her last sentence.

'Serafall Sitri of the Sitri clan? Did I somehow portaled myself to the outskirts somewhere in Europe? Is she supposed to be a Noble? If so, why is she wearing an armor? It's already in the 20th century, only cosplayers and such would wear armor.'

'And what does she mean by how she found me?'

So many questions were flashing in Chamber's mind, yet he wouldn't have any answer unless he asked the said questions to the weird but pretty woman in front of him.

"Hm? You're dazing again, should I ask Ajuka to check you up? Maybe the Evil Piece has indeed a side effect." Expressing her concern out loud, Chamber was finally unable to hold his curiosity and barraged her with several questions.

"What do you mean you're from the Great Sitri Clan? Where am I? How did you find me? Why am I still alive? Why are you wearing an armor?"

"Wait wait hold on! Stop asking me so many questions, I'll answer them one by one. First of all, I understand that you don't know about the Sitri Clan, you're a human after all and if ever you've heard of us, I'm sure it wouldn't be something good. Second, you're in what you humans call Jerusalem. Third, I found you coming out of a portal and if I left you there with so many witnesses, I don't think you'd find yourself in a good situation, so I took you with me."

"Fourth, the reason you're still alive was because of the Evil Piece, and before you ask about it. I won't tell you since I'm not even sure if you're a friend or foe. As for why I'm wearing an armor, it's because I'm in the middle of a war and this armor is enchanted to protect me from several holy light attacks."

"Any more questions?" Crossing her arms, Serafall puffed her chest in pride.

Upon the end of her answer, Chamber's mind was already working nonstop, thinking of various questions and solutions. Finally, after a whole minute of analyzing his situation, he finally came to a conclusion that was not yet confirmed but would soon be as he asked Serafall for the last time.

"What year is it right now?"

"Year? In human years, it's currently the year 1410. But in Devil years, it's year 1008 DC or Devil Creation."

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