A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 31: Trial by Fire.
The Underworld.
Dante Andromalius.
Cute. She was still pouting. That distrustful look on Tandy's face made me laugh, which only served to fuel her anger.
"Why can't we fly there, Dante?" Her bottom lip trembled as she looked at me with those big eyes of hers.
"I know you love flying, Tandy," I shook my head amusedly, "But the underworld is big, and even if we devils don't control it completely, the travel will still take days if not weeks. Also, you'll have enough time to practice, believe me."
"You still haven't told me anything," Tandy protested, pouting even harder.
"Nope," I grinned. "It's called a surprise. Ever heard of them?"
I snaked my hand around her waist, bringing her closer to me.
She smelled of Celestine's shampoo.
I scrunched my nose for a moment before letting it go. I should have thought of grabbing more of her things before we came here, but honestly, we were having fun, and I had to hurry making the jump because I didn't want to keep Mother waiting.
At least we could go shopping here, that way she could learn more about the underworld.
Tandy pressed her body against me, and I took the chance to enjoy her warmth as I put my chin on top of her head.
"You wanted to be stronger, so I'll make that possible," I said softly, "It's a good thing that you can't die, right?"
Tandy's mouth opened as her eyes took a worried look, and I suppressed a smirk.
The Dark Force enveloped us, the cold of the fog not bothersome in the slightest when Tandy's light came out in equal measure.
Before she could do anything but pinch my arm, we were already gone.
Serafall had sent me a picture of where I should teleport when she sent me the deed, along with a rough explanation of what I needed to do.
It wasn't something simple, at least politically speaking, so I was grateful for her help.
The Gusion territory was vast, more than enough to serve as a base of power and then some. Not only that, but it was also filled to the brim with things that weren't that common in the Underworld.
Yet, it was overrun by Demonic beasts. From weaker ones to something that could threaten ultimate class devils, according to the diminutive Satan.
For that reason, the surroundings of the territory were controlled by the standing army under Satan Asmodeus. And it showed.
The place we teleported to was interesting, to say the least. Tall walls, reinforced stone, and a veritable battalion looking down at us from the highest tower.
"Identify yourself."
The voice came from above. I didn't focus on him immediately, taking my time to survey the walls, the impressive wards etched into the stone, and more importantly, the quality of the soldiers manning them.
They looked disciplined and surprisingly well-equipped. But what took me by surprise was the flinty look in their eyes. They were a real army, one that deserved respect. Asmodeus for sure ran a tight operation here, which was not what I expected from the rumors I heard about him.
I finally looked up.
The man leaning over the edge was old. To the point that I wouldn't be surprised if he were someone who grew in importance during the Civil War, if not before.
He looked older than Lord and Lady Sitri, by a significant margin at that, and they were the oldest Devils I had met since I got my memories back. But his life force was still strong, and his soul? It was a fascinating thing, really.
His demonic power easily dwarfed mine. An Ultimate class devil, possible around the middle.
Interesting.
"Dante Andromalius," I said pleasantly, "Lord of the Gusion territory, as of three days ago."
He paused, looking at me a bit more seriously. His eyes narrowed almost unnoticeably as he tried to get everything he could. And with his experience? He would have gotten a lot more if it weren't me.
My expression didn't change despite the subtle weight of his demonic power crashing on us.
A hint of respect showed through his soul, but his expression didn't change. Seeing that I wasn't affected, he turned to the weakest link.
His eyes moved to Tandy.
To my light.
I didn't say anything. I didn't even move. My magic didn't act out.
And despite that nothing happened?
All the hair on his body stood on end almost immediately.
Nothing showed as his eyes met mine once more, but Tandy got even closer as she hugged my body.
"Documentation," he grunted, finally tearing his gaze away.
The Dark Force consumed the deed for a moment before it dropped next to his hand. Once more, his eyes tightened in surprise, but he didn't do more than that.
He read it. Carefully, over three times if I wasn't wrong.
At least he was thorough.
Finally, he looked back down.
"Everything appears to be in order, my lord." The word didn't have respect, but he wasn't looking down on me at the very least. Completely professional, if a bit curious.
"My name is General Mikael, Lord Andromalius. Of the Asmodeus Fourth Battalion. My kids and I have taken care of this territory for fourteen years."
"A pleasure, General," I nodded, my voice calm and collected. "And I'd appreciate it if we could talk for a bit before you call your brave men and women back."
"The whole battalion, my lord?" He glanced from me to Tandy, noting her weakness.
"I believe that's what I said, General."
He stood silent for a bit, just observing us. He then sighed and waved his hand through the air.
"Understood." He nodded firmly. "Lower the bridge."
The very stone groaned as it lit up, the defensive wards lowering their potency for a second before a passage opened. Then a drawbridge descended with a loud thump that made the ground tremble.
I offered Tandy my arm.
She accepted, leaning in to murmur on my ear, "He looked at you like he didn't buy it."
"He probably doesn't," I shrugged, pulling Tandy with me, "You'll have to show you have what it takes to be my bishop, no?"
Tandy's lower lip trembled for a second before a firm look overcame her nervousness. "No one will look at you with pity, my Dante. You'll have the best peerage this world has ever seen."
"That's my girl," I grinned, pinching her ass when no one was looking and enjoying the heated glare she sent my way. "Now let's see how many times you almost die before that."
Gusion Defense Bastion.
Dante Andromalius.
"So, General," I sat in the surprisingly spare office. "What information do you think we'll need for the upcoming weeks?
I had expected that devils, no matter the situation, would paint everything gold or things like that from my previous experience, but I supposed that somewhere like this, wealth didn't matter much.
Tandy sat next to me, making me smile at the effort she was putting in. She tried to act like she wasn't scared by the grizzled old devil and was doing an acceptable job at it. For a normal mortal, that is.
Neither the general nor I was fooled, but he didn't say anything.
Good for him.
Mikael took a deep breath before continuing, and I felt a wisp of his demonic power leave his body for a moment into a rune on his desk.
"The territory is a mess, Lord Andromalius," he shook his head grimly, "As you may know, it was one of the key locations during the civil war. In fact, it was here that Lord Lucifer killed the son of the previous Beelzebub. And that was a mess and a half, I tell you."
"Oh?" I asked curiously, for both my sake and Tandy's. I knew that Sirzechs got him, but not the details. It was surprisingly spare on the net. "And drop the honorifics. I don't care about that."
Mikael nodded seriously, his eyes glinting knowingly.
But surprisingly, there was a bit of dread at the memory.
"Aye, I was there," his gaze grew distant, "Something happened to Lord Valak."
Hoh?
"You sound like you respect him, General," I said leadingly.
"Aye, he was a good lad," he said with a deep sigh, "At least before the civil war started. I won't bore you with the details, kid."
Tandy leaned on her seat. Adorable.
The General expression softened when he looked at Tandy.
"He was courteous and didn't have a single evil bone in his body. At least compared to the devils back then," he chuckled, "he respected even low-born devils like me."
We stayed silent as his gaze grew stormy.
"No one knows what happened, but after the civil war started, he grew into something monstrous. The Gusion were part of the Old Satan Faction back then, and they were on good terms with him. There were rumors that he was in a relationship with the Daughter of the family, even when Satan Beelzebub prohibited that union when he was alive."
Tandy now looked really interested in the story, and I could feel my lips quirking at her excitement.
"Then that fateful day came," he looked almost daunted. "Those weren't good times. Your generation was lucky to be born after it. Someone approved the attack on the Gusion family without the knowledge of the new Satans, and it was a complete bloodbath. A message, you know?"
"I understand," I said neutrally.
Mikael sighed. "Poor lass, her head was on a spike after the event… and her body was mutilated beyond anything I had seen coming from the side I fought for. It was a mess, and as I told you, they were one of the 72 pillars, so the information was leaked before even a day had passed."
"And Valak didn't take it kindly," Tandy spoke for the first time, a look of disgust and sadness on her face.
"Indeed, he didn't," Mikael chuckled darkly, the sound booming from his throat. "He attacked here and didn't hold back. I think it was the fight with the most casualties for our side in the whole war. He did something to himself, and people always suspected that the Old Satan Faction had some hidden laboratories in here."
"The Beelzebubs were always the crazy doctor type, you know," he snorted, and I matched it. No wonder Ajuka took that title. He fit the mold.
"Did you find any after all this time?" I cocked my head.
"Not a single one," he shook his head, "but they are here. It's the only thing that explains it."
"Explain what?" I asked curiously.
"The inexplicable things that happen here, what else?" he snorted amusedly, but before he could continue, the door of his office opened, and a pretty devil waited near the entrance.
"Thanks, dear. You can put it in here." He smiled, surprisingly gentle as he motioned to the youngish devil inside. "My family rose through the ranks during the civil war, and Lord Asmodeus was kind enough to allow me to pick my chain of command."
He then smirked, "My niece, Nyra. She'll explain the data we've collected during our stay."
"A pleasure," I nodded, looking curiously. Solid mid-class. A bit above the current Tandy.
She smiled sweetly, "The pleasure is mine, Lord Andromalius."
She put some teacups on the table, one for each of us.
"As I was saying," he smiled genially and motioned for Nyra to sit next to him, "Valak Beelzebub let go free whatever it was that they were working on, and probably experimented on himself for good measure. He was always strong, don't get me wrong, but by the end, he forced Lord Lucifer to show his true form."
"He mutated himself." I could see that he wanted to shiver, but his iron will worked wonders in hiding it. "He grew four arms, multiple mouths, and could command insects in a way that not even his father was capable of. All of them mutated the same way, and there were millions of them."
"Still are," Nyra scowled cutely, "We lost over forty soldiers to some remnants that are near the inner ring before we learned how to avoid them."
The general sneered, "Aye. Dangerous little things. They will burrow inside your body and eat their way out. Worse, with time and whatever remains in the territory, some of them have grown and gotten new abilities. I will give you a dossier."
"I think my dear bishop would appreciate it," I grinned, looking at Tandy amusedly as she froze in her seat. "I'm half a mind to let her go blind, but she deserves at least this."
There was a horrified silence in the room as soon as I finished speaking, one that made me crack a grin at my frozen bishop. Her mouth opened, then closed. But not a single whisper came.
To my surprise, Nyra stood up angrily. Her eyes were cold as she glared at me.
The general lifted his hand, almost placatingly, but the firecracker ignored him.
Oh, she was gutsy.
"There are tells, and everyone here can see that she's a newly reincarnated devil, Lord Andromalius." My name came out like it was poisonous. "How can you make someone like her do something like that without backup? The general let us know we were to take back the army, and here you are saying you plan to let her do everything by herself? When she's this weak?"
I smiled at her, which only worked to egg her on, "I didn't remember asking how to deal with my peerage, my dear. I believe it is one of the laws in the underworld that a king can do as they see fit with theirs, no?"
"That doesn't mean it's right!" Nyra raised her voice.
"Will I grow stronger this way, Dante?" Tandy asked quietly.
The worry didn't disappear, but resolution was entering her eyes.
"Like no one else, Tandy. You know that I want you to be the best you can be."
My eyes locked with hers, and we didn't speak for a moment.
She looked serious, then determined.
"I understand, Dante. You know best." She smiled nervously.
"Strength doesn't mean anything if you're dead!" Nyra's voice shrieked, "You have no idea how many of my friends have been lost to the monsters there, and they all were stronger than you!"
"I trust Dante, Nyra," Tandy shook her head with a small smile, "And if he believes I can do this, it means I can."
Nyra opened her mouth, but the general beat her to it. His eyes were disapproving, but he didn't voice it.
"Enough, Nyra. The king has spoken, and so has the lass. Leave it be."
"But grandfather!" she glared at him.
"Drop. It." Mikael grunted.
Nyra sat down, glaring at me in… was that disgust? Oh boy. I expected better from the devils if I were to be honest. Especially for the ones in the army.
It's not like Tandy could even die from something inside this place, and even if there was something scary inside, I'd obviously keep an eye on her.
Did she misunderstand me? Meh, it didn't matter much.
"The information?" I asked casually.
Nyra didn't speak, and the general sighed as he stood up and unrolled a map on the table.
A hand-drawn map.
"We're located outside the outer edge. We call it the scrubs, and it's basically the forest and the corrupted ruins of some minor lords who lived here. The beasts here are mostly low-class, nothing you can't handle." He looked at Tandy instead, "We call them scavengers. Think of them like hyenas; they hunt in packs. Fast, more so than what their rank suggests, and they never fight alone."
Tandy nodded seriously.
"The middle ring is a bit deeper, and it's where our main patrols focus most of their time. Basically, it is the perfect training ground for mid-class devils. The demonic energy there is different than the outside. It's denser, significantly so. And… corrupted."
"By the experiments you mentioned?" I tilted my head.
"Indeed," he nodded, "The beasts in this zone have fed on the corrupted demonic energy for centuries, and it shows. There are a multitude of different types here, and some of them even have weird abilities. Poison, curses, pure physical strength. You name it, there's a good chance you'll find it there. We catalogued over twenty different types before we didn't bother anymore."
"Oh, that's absolutely perfect for your training, my love," I smiled at Tandy, "You'll see."
Tandy smiled slightly.
"Why did you stop, though? I expect that there are many more there."
"The last volunteer didn't return from her last survey," Nyra hissed, "And after seeing how her body ended up, no one was interested in continuing."
"Oh," Tandy swallowed thickly.
"And the inner ring?"
"We don't have information about it. No one dares to enter but Grandfather." Nyra sneered, "And even he can't do it safely. The last time someone entered was Satan Asmodeus himself, backed by a team of four ultimate class devils."
"And only I returned from that team," he said grimly, unbuttoning his shirt.
Oh damn.
His skin was charred, his chest hollowed and discolored. There were blue veins growing in his skin, and when I focused, I could feel a faint…
"That's a strong curse," I whistled curiously, focusing on the feeling. "You were healed, but…"
"Blindness, rot…" I mumbled, furrowing my brow, "A sonic attack, too. Damn, you were fighting a losing battle there, general."
Mikael's eyes had widened a lot; each word I spoke shocked him to the core.
"You are quite knowledgeable, Lord Andromalius," he finally spoke after a moment of silence, "it is as you say. I only survived because I was the closest to Lord Asmodeus, and he protected me with his family magic. The rest of the group? They weren't so lucky."
"Now I'm getting excited, then." I nodded, grabbing the map and the dossiers of information for later, "It was an enlightening conversation. You have my thanks."
"Lord Andromalius?" Mikael looked up from his seat for a moment.
I lifted my gaze to match his.
"Lady Leviathan has high hopes for you. I trust you know what you're doing."
"Of course, general. Wouldn't want to let her down, eh?" I laughed, pulling Tandy's hand with me.
"Appreciate the help. I believe it's time for Tandy to meet her new friends."
Later.
Tandy Bowen.
The territory swallowed us whole the moment we crossed the gate.
I was nervous. Really, really fucking nervous. But Dante knew what he was doing, and I wasn't planning on falling behind.
I was the first of his peerage. The only one, but I wasn't naïve to think it would stay that way.
Dante was mine, and I would never give him a reason to doubt if I deserved to be next to him. I might not be the Queen, and that honestly stung for a while, but as long as I could be with him for eternity, I'd be happy.
The air felt different here as soon as we walked for over thirty minutes. Dante wasn't using his clan trait and said that he still felt eyes from the battalion, so he didn't wish to fly for now.
Later, he said. That I would have time.
I hated him as much as I loved him. He was an asshole, but he was doing this for my own good.
And I didn't doubt that for a single second. I could feel what he felt through our connection, and there was not a single ounce of cruelty there. Just eagerness.
The demonic energy in the air was different from that at Dante's house. Heavier, and significantly so. It was almost like it pressed against my chest.
But my new instinct as a devil reveled in it. It felt just so… nice. So at home.
But those new instincts were also screaming at the same time.
"It's so quiet," I murmured, looking around. "Is it normal?"
"You could say that again," Dante snorted. "We're far enough. I think. Prepare yourself, my love."
"That's not good, is it?" I felt a shiver run through me.
"For you? Not exactly." He didn't look concerned.
I was jealous of his confidence. Would I grow to be like him?
"You remember how Mikael called them, no? Scavengers. Think like them, what would you do?"
"Study us for a while?" My eyes lit up, and I looked at Dante, "Are they here?"
He looked around for a moment. Then the bastard shrugged.
"They have been following for over forty minutes, my dear."
I stared at him.
He looked back at me with that expression. That fucking amused expression that didn't fail to start my engine.
I was going to kill him. Lovingly. But thoroughly.
He said that my light could purify, right? Maybe I should burn him for a bit.
Knowing him, he'd pamper me after that.
I did what Dante and Wong always taught me. Keep the energy ready, not flashy, but there, ready to call at a moment's notice. My wings came out of my back, the light-coated membrane thrumming.
It helped me calm down.
The wings twitched minutely, and I felt something approaching.
I couldn't see them. But I felt them. The demonic power merged with the Light Force under my skin, wisps of light falling onto the floor like molten gold. The floor hissed when they made contact.
I also felt the coldness of the Dark Force deep inside my soul. The portion of Dante's soul that would always be with me. The assurance that we would never be apart.
Right.
He wasn't worried.
Which meant I shouldn't be either.
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply.
Then I opened, just to see the claws of a beast not even a meter away from me. A low-class, exactly like Mikael said. I still didn't understand how each 'level' felt, but I knew deep inside that the ugly dog in front of me was weaker than me.
I could do this. I could absolutely do this.
My light came to life in a burst of energy, sending it flying before it could cut me down. The beast hissed and shrieked in pain, just like the other two that burrowed from the ground.
Pack hunters.
I planted my feet and extended my arms.
The light came more easily than before. Ever since I became a devil, I felt like I could call more of it with less effort.
But I didn't need a burst now that I had made space. I needed something more controlled. More cutting. The light followed my command; threads of light force mingled with demonic power to give it form and flew out of my fingertips. Then I brought my hands low.
The first one hit the light and screamed.
And it dropped to the ground, cut to pieces.
I felt like vomiting, but I kept it inside. I couldn't waste time with something like that.
I didn't give the rest time to attack like a pack.
I wasn't a graceful fighter, I knew that. But that's why I was here, to learn. To get experience.
By the time the last one stopped moving, I was still standing, my chest heaving, and sweating from nerves more than exhaustion. My light still felt warm, sharper than before, but as welcoming as ever.
I turned to look at Dante.
He was watching me with his hands in his pockets and a neutral expression.
The monsters had completely ignored him. Bullshit clan trait, I was so jealous.
"See?" I grinned victoriously, "I told you I could do it!"
I didn't hear anything.
I didn't sense anything.
Didn't feel anything at all until something hit me from behind with the force of a moving car, and my vision darkened almost instantly.
There was pain, so much pain, a cold agony unlike anything I had ever felt spreading from the center of my chest outward.
I looked down.
Something had gone through me.
All the way through.
"Huh. Five minutes," Dante murmured curiously. "Wonder how long she'll last after a week."
Then I didn't hear anything at all.
Author's note: Here's the chapter! It was fun to write and I hope you guys enjoy it. Dante is an asshole, and Tandy is in for a fun time. Let's see how it goes lol.
Also, sorry for the late update. Felt sick as hell during the weekend. But all is better, thankfully.