The Pits
–Magdaran Bael–
His eyes snapped open, a wry smile on his lips as he felt his reserves bottom out. Even his massive reserves were depleted, and yet, he was nowhere near adapting properly to Holy Light.
Even if Big G’s system was not working properly, it was almost impossible to become immune to Holy Light, but his wish to continuously inflict pain on his body and heal it using his mutated PoD meant that at one point, his body just adapted to not noticing the pain. At that point, the damage would be superficial, barely skin deep.
And as a Satan Class Devil, any Angel below 8 wings was not going to even scratch him, so there was that. The system was not as ridiculous as to empower weakling Angels to the point that they could hurt way stronger Devils.
So all he had to do was grow so strong that not even the Archangels could hurt him.
He snorted at the thought before getting up; his entire body felt sore, in a good way. Having damaged it, and healed it in a continuous cycle, all so he could improve the control he had over his Demonic Energy and also to get stronger physically, he expected the pain.
Devil bodies were somewhat weird. Logic dictated that if one was damaging and healing only a few parts of the body, then the healed parts should have atleast a little difference from the undamaged parts, and create some imbalance, if not in strength then at least in appearance, but nope.
Devil physiology was like that. It was heavily influenced by the desires of the devil, and since he wanted everything to look as smooth as possible, the healed parts and the undamaged parts looked the same. No skin tone mismatch there. Since there was no such thing as UV damage to his skin, his skin looked as flawless as ever.
Realising that he was thinking an awful lot about his complexion, as if he was one of those vain devils, he shuddered and hastily made his way out of the Pit. From the clock he kept on hand for occasions such as this, he realised that only four days had gone by.
The last time he tried this, he had been able to hold out for five days, but that time, he had come with the intention of camping out here for months on end, and since he was just the bastard son everyone ignored for some reason, no one cared where he went for months on end.
That treatment in and of itself was odd, since every single member of the House, irrespective of their strength, were trained and given jobs in accordance with their standing. Even if he was the illegitimate heir born to a low-class maid, he should not have been left alone to his devices. Over the years, he had formed many theories, but he couldn’t prove any of them. The fact that there was truly no surveillance on him was the one thing that stumped him.
Sure, Zekram was obviously suspicious, and by all means, he hadn’t been as stealthy as he should have been, on account of being a first time devil unaware of how to hide everything properly, but if he was somewhat important, important enough to keep away from the rest of the world, then there should have been someone who shadowed him.
But nope, he had searched, but nothing of that sort was happening around him. Even now that he had been declared heir, at least inside the House anyway, there was no guard, no assistant, no butler to manage his lifestyle or spy on him, not that he wanted it, but the absence was sus.
Shaking his head, he put the oddity behind him and walked out of the Pit, towards the crude safehouse he had built for himself at the edges of the Pit, far enough that nothing truly dangerous should come from inside the pits and inside the boundary of the Pits enough that no Devil would bother investigating.
The government had stationed multiple devils here, all for the purpose of rescue. So long as you crossed an invisible boundary and were visible to the devils from the government, they would come and rescue you.
Transport. Medical attention. Safe passage to home. All at a minimal cost that could be paid later on.
It could have been free, but the idiots in the Senate raised a ruckus when it was proposed. Something about devils growing soft with all the insurance provided to them.
Idiots. Sometimes, he wondered if the idiots wanted the Devil race to perish early.
Reaching the spot, he used the key to his safehouse. The key was non-existent. No, the key was him using his PoD to burrow into the ground effortlessly, until he reached the small cave he’d carved out here years ago, with a small door that led to a 10x10 space that had basically nothing.
It was just a carved out space, surrounded by dense rocks on both sides, and sealed with enchantments that were taught to him from a very young age.
Demonic Energy poisoning. Bisection. Crushing pressures. Light damage to disorient and energy blades to finish off.
All Bael House specialties when it came to defense wards. The philosophy of the best defense is offense was well embodied in the education given to him. He wasn’t really worried for his safety. He just needed a secure place to rest for a while before he moved on. Aside from very old Satan Class devils and the Super Devils, no Devil could really kill him in a flash.
Still, he reminded himself that nothing was invincible, not even the Big G himself, and it would do him no good if he grew truly bold and arrogant, as was expected of his bloodline. He would happily act like that if needed, but he had to be careful. The canon characters, all of them, were capable of punching way above their weight classes.
Hell, Rias’ peerage, barely High Class at the beginning of canon, had all grown to reach Peak Ultimate class, and some even reaching Satan Class in a very short period of time. Underestimating people in a world where something like that was possible was just foolish.
With that thought, he drifted to sleep.
___xx__
New Lilith [Next Day]
The moment he had come back to the House of Bael, he was informed by the Secretary, Melantha Furcas, the devil from the horse taming house, that he was scheduled to get his Evil Pieces. For some reason, he was supposed to go to New Lilith to get his Evil Pieces instead of getting them delivered to them.
Another deviation from normality for him, but not one that was entirely unwelcome. He was exhausted from the pain inflicting training, self imposed as it was, and needed something else to do, so a trip to the new capital of the Underworld was just the thing he needed to unwind.
Which is why he was here bright and early, roaming the streets. Credit to the New Statans, this city felt more like what a mediaeval capital would have felt, just with towering glass skyscrapers added to the mix.
Sure, he was not alive when Lilith was the capital of the Underworld before, and had only heard snippets about the place, but if what he had heard was right, then that palace was the capital of Devils, capital D devils. Crimes rampant, dirty, slaves running the whole thing. A miasma of death and despair surrounded the city as the powerful devils sat in the ivory towers while the low class ones struggled to live day by day, only to get killed on the whims of a powerful devil.
It sounded truly like…Hell, pun intended.
This city, though? It was…nice. Yes, nice. No beggars on the streets. Clean everything basically. He could tell that proper utilities were run underground. Electricity everywhere. Shops were demarcated properly, with people walking on the streets.
No cars, though. He supposed that to a race that could run faster than the fastest animal on Earth for longer than any human could, the purpose of a car would be defeated. Plus, any moderately strong devil could teleport as well, so there was no need for a car even as a status symbol.
Entering the commercial district, he noted the crowds of people, selling and buying both. Many of them were selling raw materials in the form of Demonic Beasts, clearly brought from the Pits. There were fliers for auctions, the prime attraction of which was the Tears of the Phenex, and more.
Passing through without buying anything, he went to the place his nose carried him. There, he found a lot of good food.
Human Food.
His mouth salivated at the prospect of spicy Mexican food, the urge to stuff himself until he felt like exploding heavy in his mind. So, he did just that. Not the exploding part, but he did stuff himself with food.
He hadn’t been here before, and the only time he even came close was when he had come to the nearest Commercial hub to sell his loot from the Pits, as the closer you were to the capital, the better the rates you got. There just wasn’t any reason to as anything he needed was available in the towns near the Bael House Main Estate, and at cheaper rates to boot.
It was only to sell the Demonic Beasts that he had come here, and only once, having no interest in exposing himself to the Satans before he was ready. Their stories, or rather, slight propaganda of benevolence and righteousness, did not convince him of their intentions.
Sure, they might believe that they are working for the betterment of the entire Devil race, but as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and he was already in hell. He couldn't risk them declaring his existence as an Anomaly and forcing him to align with their government.
That was the best way to gain a giant spotlight on his head, something he wanted to avoid at all costs, at the time anyway.
Now that he had the giant spotlight of the Bael House heirship anyway, might as well make use of it and get the Evil Pieces. Who knows, he might finally get some companions. He was used to being all by himself, but even he could recognise that just training and growing stronger was not the be all and end all.
Yes, he had to find out what happened to his mother, but he couldn’t make that his entire life. The uncomfortable question of what after came to his mind, but he had pushed it to the side, focusing on increasingly greater threats that he had no chance of solving by himself so his mind could ignore the sad parts of his life.
Shaking his head, he sighed and, after centering his thoughts, looked at the New Satan Administrative HQ and walked inside, knowing full well that at least one of the Satans was waiting for him inside.