DXD SI : Chapter 37 : Sitri Soil Sprinkling, Excited Tinkering & Oooo, New concepts!

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

New Lilith

–Magdaran Bael–

He was so happy and excited to experiment with the Sitri soil that he didn't even bother going to the Head Office and pestering the Secretary about meeting his sperm donor and getting the truth that he was oh so graciously offered a few weeks ago. 

No matter how far Zephyr ran or how much he tried to delay everything, it was inevitable, and as time passed, he only grew more secure in his position. Hell, he was sure that if push came to shove, he could just grab whatever was closest to him, and the Mother Tree, keep it alive using his powers, and go to Odin, and the God wouldn't turn him away.

But that would mean negotiating with Odin from a position of even more weakness than his current position. As he was now, he was desired by multiple factions, and that was the best position to be in, if he wanted to negotiate something for his benefit.

Entering his wards, he idly flicked his hands, sending in multiple balls of Power of Destruction at the usual weaker suspects, cleaning them of the Demonic Energy corruption, as he opened the box and looked at the subtly glowing soil. There was also an instruction note.

According to that, Sitri soil, at its most concentrated form, cannot be used directly for trees, unless the plant was clearly magical and had the strength to withstand the torrent of energy from the soil. Now, he didn’t have any tree like that, and he was not willing to experiment with the Mother Tree.

Thankfully, he didn't need to! The soil’s best use was not in using it for a single tree or plant. That would be overkill, for he had no tree of that calibre on hand, though he would love to do that one day. Maybe the Sitri had something like that? The mere thought of one day having a hand in growing a clearly magical tree made him feel all giddy inside.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the fanciful dreams and focused on the here and now. The soil’s most important use case was in its ability to elevate the soil quality of a particular area, and simulate the conditions of the extremely fertile land near the Sitri Lakes for a short period of time. 

He was fine with the short duration, since all of this was an experiment anyway. He also had the Verdant Crown of Freyr, a divine blessed item, but according to Serafall, it was freshly blessed, and despite his strength, the divine aura around it should still sting him.

As he sprinkled the Sitri soil on a part of the garden he kept reserved for soil experiments, his thoughts went to the warning he got from Serafall. It was, by all means, a genuine warning, as Devils were vulnerable to the Light as well as anything Divine. It was partly the reason why Gods, even if they were weaker than a Devil, were capable of putting up a fight, because Divine Energy, if aimed at a Devil, can inflict far more damage than neutral energy could.

Still, that warning only applied to Devils who couldn't adapt to stuff. Sure, his power couldn’t really erase concepts of that level, but if he could flush any Divine poisoning from his body, he could potentially get used to Divine auras as well, and that was something that excited him the same amount as finally getting his hands on some real Botany related artifacts. 

For some reason, there was a real scarcity of stuff in the market that tends to trees. Hell, there wasn’t even a single Longinus tier Scared Gear that dealt with trees, gardens, or plant life in general. 

Dismissing those thoughts, he carefully stored the box of Sitri soil, and gingerly took the small plants he kept on hand for such experiments. Taking a plant he had poisoned intentionally with his Demonic Energy and one he had purified recently, he planted both of them in the area sprinkled with Sitri soil. The patch of land was already full of blue sparkling dots that seemed to rest on top of the soil.

With a grin on his face, he crouched down and began his work. This was probably the most excited he had been in months!

Also! After this, he had the opportunity to get used to Divine Auras and try to get used to that kind of damage, which was fun in its own way. Not fun as in the pain excited him, no, but fun as in the ability to one day just ignore Divine energy damage was fun to imagine. 

___xx___

He teleported to the Pits, his entire form covered in a tattered cloak, as he began the small walk that would take him to the area seeped in Holy Power. Errant Demonic Beasts or insects that were foolish enough to charge at him were taken care of by an errant wave of his Demonic Energy. 

He was not moronic enough to use his Power of Destruction here. The only place he could do that was in the Holy circle, the one place that was capable of scrambling most long range surveillance that was available to most devils in the underworld. Maybe Ajuka had something that could bypass the Holy interference and keep it undetected from everyone, but if he feared that, then he might as well stop training as Ajuka, theoretically, could do almost anything if he put his mind to it.

With his better relationship with Serafall and Ajuka’s tendency to retreat into his labs and not really care about the underworld around him unless someone brought it to his attention directly, he was reasonably sure that he was safe from any stalking from their resident Super Devil.

Coating himself in his Power, he walked through the creator of Holy Light, sitting in the center, noting that the strain was practically nonexistent compared to before. He experimentally opened a section of his armour and felt the Holy Light frantically burrow into his skin, as if it had an eternal enmity with him.

Well, it kinda made sense. Day by day, he grew more curious about the identity of the Angel who made this crater. The biggest holy was early made by Big G or by a coalition of Archangels, but this one? This was probably done by someone just as significant as one of the Archangels. He just didn't know who, and more importantly, the how still eluded him.

After getting the confirmation that he was still getting stronger because the Holy Light did not sting as much as before, he closed his armour, and then, with a thought, a cube of Power of Destruction appeared all around him, creating a small space for him to work in.

As if sensing the far bigger volume of Demonic Energy, the Holy Light in the surrounding area surged towards him, something he expected but not at this rate. This Holy Light was very odd in terms of how it behaved. The energy should be eating away at Demonic Energy, yes, but the way it was moving right now, it was as if it was being directed by something, a will of sorts.

But that couldn’t be. He had already swept up some sections and analysed the concepts here. Aside from a concept that he just couldn't read without getting a killer headache that almost killed him the first time he tried it, there was no other special concept here that could indicate the existence of any mind whatsoever.

The unreadable concept was likely something related to the Heaven’s system, and it made total sense why he couldn’t even read it properly without his mind getting attacked. While it might not be piloted by its original owner, the Heaven’;s system was still formidable. It didn’t help matters that when he first did it, he was also standing in a hole full of Holy Energy and had suffered extensive injuries as a result. Thankfully, eating Demonic Beasts and then using the subsequent Demonic Energy to power his Power of Destruction to heal himself had done the trick, saving his life and making him stronger at the same time.

Looking away from the bright Light all around him, he looked at the box in his hand, an unassuming looking wooden box that exuded no energy whatsoever. He knew why. The runes etched on the box were not hard to spot with his powers.

Still, the box itself was useful, in case he wanted to contain something or as a learning exercise for later, so he gingerly opened it and had to immediately look away, his energy surging forth instinctively, as he made the rookie mistake of looking at it.

He felt the minor burns on his face and eyes heal as he used his power to destroy the concept that was called Faith Burn, which was a new one.

He slowly set the box down and sat down right in front of it, looking straight at it, feeling the steady drain on his reserves as he had to work on keeping this space from being invaded by the Holy Light outside and keep the Divine Energy out of his body.

It had taken him roughly twice as much energy to heal himself of this Divine Burn. Even with that drain, he had more than enough to last days here, so hunkering down, he got ready to strengthen his weaknesses once more.

An experience, oddly enough, he missed as he only got to experience Holy Light damage in the entire Underworld. He almost couldn’t wait for Rias to get Akeno as her Queen. He wondered what it would be like to experience Holy Lightning damage? Provided her grumpy old Satan of a brother allowed it and did not look at him as if he was some murderer looking to infect his little sister with his tainted ideals.

Boy, he really did not like Sirzechs.

Eh, he shrugged at that. The feeling was mutual, and he had a contact in Serafall in the New Satan government anyway, so who cared?