Observatory. High above Hellnia.
Right watched as Hannya finished off the remaining dread spiders in the feeding den. The girl walked at a leisurely pace, wrapped in the skin of a golden backed dread spider, using a spider foreblade as a dagger to pierce the vitals of the ones still living.
The eye was impressed with the little one's display of power. It has been a long time since such a talent for slaughter has been seen in the devil's younger generation. Killing a hundred dread spiders and incapacitating the other two hundred in such a short amount of time was not something most young devils were capable of.
It was not just her quick learning in the utilization of her superior body, getting sharper with her movements and attacks as time went on, but the ruthlessness and cunning of her tactics in battle.
'Truly a tenacious and formidable child.' Right's attitude towards Hannya had changed significantly after watching such a brutal display. She had assumed the new environment would prove too difficult for the former demon, living a life of peace and little conflict in her technologically superior world. But the transition was flawless, had she not known of her origins, she would have assumed a new prodigy had been born from the platform.
"Is this the result of the vessel adapting her like the Master mentioned?" she mumbled
She wasn't too familiar with soul laws nor how they adhered to the chaos law for a devil's body, she could only speculate from her master's words.
The observer glanced at the floating eye beside him, but did not say anything. He had done his own research of the girl and her world after they found the mark the other day. After conducting his investigation and grabbing souvenirs, it was clear he needed to teach his subordinate a thing or two about doing background checks in the future…
'Well, too late now.' He shrugged in his mind. Besides, the little one was performing well and his beverage was divine, no need to worry his angsty subordinate any further. He knew his subordinate well, he had warned her of interfering, but as her creator, he was aware of her crippling compulsion for having things go according to plan.
While her shameless master was sweeping more issues under the rug, Right turned and asked curiously.
"Master, are all young six stars this strong early on?" she questioned, most of the six stars she'd seen were already evolved by the time of her birth, and the only other one she had witnessed in the past was apparently a 'special case', so her master had said.
The observer nodded. "They are. She's a bit physically weaker, but only compared to other six stars really." He grabbed his chin, thinking of a better way to explain.
"Hmm, let's go in terms of the [Quantifier]. A level 1 six star young devil can be compared to a level 15 demonic beast, and a level 15 demonic beast can be compared to a level 25 magical beast." He stated.
Right nodded, but then she had a question. "Why did you compare her to beasts and not things like elves or humans?"
The Observer suppressed a joke about what she was wearing, some eyes don't appreciate jokes about appearance, so he swiftly pivoted to a serious answer.
"Its hard to gauge strength with more sentient beings, depending on arts, abilities, and optimized control, a level 10 human can very well devastate a level 20 elf."
Right nodded once more, a newfound understanding in her red eye.
While she was thinking, she noticed Hannya letting out a sigh and moving the bodies of the spiders strewn across the wide den towards the feeding altar in the center while lost in thought.
"Hm? She doesn't look too proud about her victory…could it be, she does not like killing? Regret maybe?" Right wondered out loud.
The Observer, leaning back comfortably, let out a snort at that.
"Oh please, you saw how hot and bothered she was getting ripping out those creatures' organs."
He replied, gulping down his drink lazily.
"I'll admit, she did better than I expected with her first encounter, an enjoyable display, but she is most likely thinking the same as I am right now."
"The same as you Master?" Right hovered to the side of The observer, curious about the meaning of his words.
"Yeah." he began, shifting his head on the comfortable neck rest. He would never leave this seat. "She knows the current path ahead of her is filled with creatures and entities that are far more formidable than these spiders, only their venom was a bother. Their poor intelligence and lacking fighting ability, coupled with her new unique physique's awakening gave her the victory, and she understands that."
"I see, a good quality I suppose." Right replied.
"It is, I'm curious what she will choose to do to close the gap in power between her and the- huh?" The Observer stopped his words as he peered at the cave below strangely.
Right, following his lead, looked over as well. What she saw was foreign to her. Hannya had stacked all the spider corpses onto the altar, and with their blood, began to draw sigils around them. When she finished, a complex array had been made, a circle containing a heptagram filled with circles and words written in ancient devilish glyphs.
The eye frowned at the array, she understood the sacrificial patterns in some of the points, as well as the sigils for communication, but not the entire thing. This was not an array recorded in her masters library.
The observer on the other hand began to laugh rather uncouthly.
"Hahaha she really is determined, she must have really liked my retelling of the young genius. Hahaha!"
The Observer's obnoxious laugh made Right even more curious about the Array.
"What sort of array is that Master? It's not from your library." It seems her master knew exactly what it did, she wondered why he found her actions so funny.
"Haha it isn't in the library because it was not yet completed, that array was a theoretical project formulated to directly ask for what would be considered 'temporary blessings' from devils, a form of risk free, convenient contracts. The devil that created this has yet to start her research on it. It seems little Hannya has completed it herself and plans to make contact with the young genius in the abyss."
The Observer stroked his chin as he watched with interest.
Right direction could glean two things from her master's words. First the array Hannya was using was completed by her, most likely a project she did while she was still a demon. Right was not aware of such writings in Hannya's blogs or community posts, meaning…
'She had other writings of theories pertaining to Neel that she had not made public.'
This complicated things even further. If she has theories they are not aware of, predicting her routes, and the subsequent end of her journey expanded to near unpredictable outcomes, on top of the fact she possessed the mark of madness, this was no longer a calculated risk. Aren't they just releasing a wild tiger into a glass house, hoping they would just break the useless things, then live comfortably?
Right peeked at her master. Seeing how he showed no care for the implications and possible outcomes that came with it, she pushed that worry to the back of her head for now. Her job was not to interfere, her master had already warned her.
The second piece of information her master revealed to her was the fact that Hannya had finished the array from the future, not the devil that started the research. Meaning, in the future, the devil in question would either run out of time due to the mana well severance or die before finishing it.
She was interested in such a genius, advancements on the devil side have long since stagnated due to the current Devil aristocracy dominating the east of Hellnia.
The west was a lawless and savage place where mud huts still reigned supreme.
The south was led by singular powerhouses like the gluttonous Queen of Feasts and the senile Dream Eater, their territories are relatively stable but they were not known for their intellectual populace.
The north is monopolized by the greed devils and their lackeys, slaving demons and any devils they can get their hands on.
With such places like this in Hellnia, a scientist with such an ability to push the times forward is a boon. Right felt it a pity not to keep an eye on such a person.
'I should ask the Master his thoughts on this later.' She considered it. Perhaps such a person would be useful as well.
The Observer, keenly watching Hannya, was unaware of his subordinates' thoughts of interference. As Hannya finished her drawing and began to bow in front of the circle and began to chant her incantations, he couldn't help but chuckle, amused.
"You want to see him that badly? Sadly it won't be that easy little one."
This little devil seems to have a few hidden tricks up her sleeve, he was enjoying this spectacle to the fullest. Though her actions to bend the rules to communicate with a devil imprisoned by sacred laws showed quite the ingenuity, he could see her plan would not fully succeed. But the thought process and applied skills were interesting to see. He wanted to see how far a devil from another world could go with the knowledge he bestowed. He could tell things would finally get interesting.
"Haha Gulp Gulp Gulp, I'm curious how the young genius will react?"
He shifted his gaze northwards, to the domain of greed. His eye sockets brimmed with playfulness as he peered deep into the endless abyss.
~~~
Unknown location. Greed's Abyss.
Within the total darkness, a place meant to house the treasures and riches of a singular being, had all been swept clean of its previous mountains of gold and priceless artifacts. The abyss has been empty for the past six hundred years now.
Its purpose changed. A place once used to show off precious gems and decadent objects, now changed to a prison that needs no warden.
The magic in the area made the abyss in a way that the depth had a limit but the length did not. One could walk in this place for years and see no indication of an endpoint, such was the unique magic of a archdevil. Greeds ability, [Deep Pocket] could house living and non-living beings alike in an endless expanse. One of his many abilities that made him formidable.
But since his hasty retreat from Hellnia, Greed only had time to move his riches along with him, leaving behind his precious 'store house'. So he decided to make use of it for his future plans.
And part of his plan required a certain individual, with a certain power.
Said individual sat in the deepest part of the abyss. His eyes were closed, while white glowing chains wrapped around him tightly. A red sigil surrounded the place he sat, constantly emanating an oppressive aura around him pressing down on his athletic yet thinning build.
Silver stakes were pierced into his limbs and torso, repeatedly sending waves of destructive energy into his body in cycles. As the energy sent in pulses, energy returned to the stakes, repeating the process.
Thorns from a blue tree branch that wrapped around his head like a crown and down his spine pierced into his mahogany skin, twisting in sharp angles the deeper they penetrated. Every few minutes, as if it were alive, would snake through the young devils broad back and out his chest at new places, ensuring his rapid healing process never gained any ground.
Any onlooker would be sure such confinement would make any person writhe and scream in pain constantly. But the young devil had long since gotten used to such afflictions. He ignored the periodic discomfort and sat quietly.
He had been here for so long, in such darkness, in such discomfort that time now felt alien. He did not know how long he had been there for, but he did not care. He would wait, as long as he needed to.
A single opportunity, a single mistake.
They would regret such a mistake dearly. The thought made him smile slightly. He was glad they looked down on him. Leaving him alive for some further purpose, or perhaps they truly feared another birth of a Vainglory. Only one can exist at a time, of course.
Both reasons to him were foolish. Did they truly believe the phrase 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't'?
"Kekeke." he chuckled at the phrase.
Does such a phrase apply to a Vainglory? The young devil knew the answer would disappoint his betrayers. He smiled wider, showing his white teeth and gold plated canines that shined faintly in the darkness.
He felt a strange amount of energy today. As if the winds of change were blowing in his direction. As he thought of such nonsense, as if on cue...
DING
Vainglory's smile froze. He could recognize that sound anywhere. His impaled heart skipped a beat. When was the last time that sound popped into his head?
'...Log'
[
Timed contract requested: An [Unwavering believer] has sacrificed [dread spiders x350] for a temporary boon from the contractor.
Contractee: [Name blocked by Order law]
Conditions: 3 hours of [Guiding hand] for [Dread Spider Queen] subjugation.
Payment: 350 essence of Glory, 1 greater essence of Glory
Message: [10.5k words blocked by Order law]
Accept?: y/n
Reply: [Reply blocked by Order Law]
]
…
After reading the message, the young devil was at a loss for words. He had never seen a prompt like this before.
Someone was offering him a temporary contract for a blessing from him?
Questions began to flood his mind as he sat and observed the transparent panel in front of him.
"It's probably some sort of trap, maybe to test your willpower by sending you a bit of essence?"
A cool and carefree voice beside him gave its thoughts.
"Unlikely, the contract is real. My opposition wouldn't dare give me a drop of essence. Such a risk goes against their current standards." He answered.
He gestured to the collection of binding tools continuously sapping the power from his body.
"Perhaps they consider contingencies?" The voice probed.
"Maybe, but what's the point of using a devil contract? Most of the information is blocked by the order law's silencing spell. Moreover, the contract seems to be bypassing some rules rather than working traditionally, thus why it showed up in the first place."
"Greed could have a devil in his ranks with such capabilities."
"Greed would never agree to such an arrangement, his fear and shrewdness wouldn't allow him to test the waters with something like this, even if I'm considerably weaker."
"Hmm…you're quite optimistic today Samael… you don't really care if it's a trap do you? Too desperate for a sliver of hope that you'd take the risk?"
The voice asked. It could understand the young devils' need for opportunity. He had been here for quite some time.
"Kekeke, maybe I am becoming desperate. Desperate for freedom, desperate for blood…"
Vainglory shifted his gaze to the first line of the contract.
"...But something tells me this contract is genuine." He muttered, a devious smile crossing his face as he read the first line again.
[Timed contract requested: An [Unwavering believer] has sacrificed [dread spiders x350] for a temporary boon from the contractor.]
'Unwavering believer'
Such a title was written in the world's words. He had seen many titles when offering contracts, [New believer], [Strong believer], [Greedy believer], [False believer], the contract of [Glorious Vanity] attracts all types of individuals in search of power and worship. But he had never seen this one before.
Many titles gradually change to [False believer] the second they taste the boost of strength and worship of others.
The gods and devils could do many things, but they couldn't forge the words of the world. He wondered what an Unwavering believer truly ment.
His grey eyes slowly let out a golden glow, returning to their old color. The three circles intersecting his circular irises in a 'Y' formation slowly began to spin.
"Ho? You're gonna accept? Haaaah…. I hope you know what you are doing, Samael."
Vainglory snorted at the voice, always the negative company.
"Your caution could very well lead to our death here as well. No guts, no glory."
The young devil grinned.
"You know it too, right?"
"..."
Ding
[Offering accepted]