Chapter 79: Satan-Class
Alduin woke to a myriad of aching sensations: strained muscles, a splitting headache, and weakness coursing through his body like a plague. His eyelids woozily opened and closed, slowly greeting his faded verdant pupils with the sight of a hospital room.
"Massster!" Sylvie yelped, curled up on his stomach like a white noodle.
"Hey there…" Wearily, he reached his finger out to give her a light scratch on the head. "Any idea how long I've been out?"
"Four days."
A voice that came not from Sylvie, but someone positioned beside his bed replied.
A voice that made him freeze.
With quickened breath and dilated pupils, Alduin's head stiffly craned over to his left.
A graceful, green-haired woman was sitting there, calmly sipping on a beverage with a distinct herbal aroma, and a book on botany in hand. The cover of which depicted one 'Magdaran Bael' as its author.
"Mother…" Alduin rasped in a mix of surprise and trepidation. "What are you doing here?"
"What kind of question is that?" Martha's lips curled up in a slow, deliberate upturn, forming into a cold, gut-churning smile. "My son was injured after putting himself through quite the gauntlet, what kind of parent would I be if I didn't at least pop in to check on him?"
"Yeah? I'm honored…" Alduin drew a weak chuckle, a mutual confirmation between the mother-son duo that they were both aware of the complete bullshit the former had spouted. "I suppose that means you brought the son you love oh-so-much a get-well gift?"
"I might've," she maintained her callous smile. "Though I'm not entirely sure if I feel like giving it to you or not, you did lose after all. You should know by now I'm not the type to hand out consolation prizes."
"Oh, give me a break…" He rolled his eyes. "I was up against five Satan-Class Devils, without any breaks mind you… give your son a lil' credit will ya'?"
"Credit?" She sneered. "For what? You could've succeeded if you planned this little stunt of yours out more carefully, you're the one who decided to be so overzealous."
"Maybe," Alduin shrugged. "I still got the job done though, didn't I? My supposed grandfather's probably seething the rest of hair white by now, if he hasn't already done so."
Like his mother, he decided to plaster on a hypothetical smile of his own, one that sent chills even through Sylvie's cold-blooded figure. He couldn't help it, the image of Zekram losing his shit in his overpriced castle was just far too satisfying to let up.
"That's putting it lightly." There was a faint twinkle in her eyes, the kind that betrayed the faux seriousness she was trying to maintain. "He's the reason I found out about all this in the first place. Honestly, I'll never understand why that man insists on clinging onto faded power. I tried telling him to hang up his coat after the civil war, but he refused to listen. Now look where that's gotten him."
With what little strength he could muster, Alduin angled himself, both suspicious and intrigued by his mother's remark.
"You don't care about him? Or at least the fact that I pissed him off?"
He understood her attitude around everyone else, but Zekram was, or at least should be, different to her. He was the one who raised her after all.
"Why would I?" Her surprise was unmistakably genuine. "He's a deluded fool. Unless he can make it pass Satan-Class, he has no place trying to command the Underworld. All his failings are the product of his inability to realize that simple concept."
"Past Satan-Class…" Alduin paused, his gaze lingering on her. "Like what you're trying to do?"
He rubbed his own cheek, insisting she place her attention on the grotesque, black veins she had embedded inside him.
Her own Demonic Ki.
"Yes, sweetie. Like what I'm trying to do." Her already intense stare sharpened like a predator's as she leaned in towards him, the back of her hand pressed against his cheek. "Speaking of which, it's quite impressive what you managed to pull off here. I didn't know you had that kind of finesse in you."
"Pull off?" He repeated in question.
"The suppression," she stated as if it were obvious. "Don't tell me you thought I wouldn't notice? The fact that you depleted your demonic power reserves to zero should've weakened, if not eliminated your natural defenses outright. Thus, the Demonic Ki should've had an easier time spreading throughout your body."
Anxious, Alduin's fingers fidgeted a little. "Didn't Lord Beelzebub mend me up? I'm still in his territory, aren't I?"
"You are," her eyes narrowed skeptically. "But I talked with him after seeing your initial condition, and he says he didn't do anything, or rather, he didn't need to."
The tone in the hospital room underwent an immediate shift.
She wasn't just toying with him like usual.
This was an interrogation.
"Not only that, but the natural spread of my Demonic Ki appears to have slowed somehow." She reached behind her seat, pulling out a golden, short-handled lance. "It wouldn't have anything to do with this, would it?"
His lips trembled.
Downfall Dragon Spear was in his mother's hands, she wouldn't be able to do anything with it because of the explicit contract between himself and Fafnir. But her possession of it was still immensely worrying.
"You used it during your battle with one of the rankers, didn't you? I can tell it's some kind of vessel for draconic power, but beyond that, not much."
Fortunately, being a half-step into Super-Class wasn't enough for her to see through the Dragon King's cloaking mechanism.
Although, Alduin doubted the same could be said for Ajuka. Hopefully, the Satan believed stealing an object from someone as comparatively weak as the Buné was beneath him.
Hopefully.
"They're unrelated," he answered with deliberate ambiguity.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it is." He insisted, deciding to make an effort to steer the conversation. "You… Why do you even want to become a Super Devil in the first place? What's the point?"
"Who says there has to be a point?" She tilted her head, her verdant strands of hair pooling onto her lap. "If I can be stronger, then I should aspire to be stronger. That's all there is. That's all there's ever been."
"That can't be all there is to it… right?" Single-minded people existed, yes, but he highly doubted his mother was such a person. From his perspective, her brain was a complex culmination of thousands upon thousands of webs, not a straight, simple path.
"Why not? Do I have to have a reason to want to be more powerful?"
Martha's tone was light-hearted, but her words carried a distinct weight that could only be the product of centuries upon centuries of focused, almost obsessive dedication.
"I wasn't born with the same potential as Sirzechs, Ajuka, or even Rizevim. But so what? If being a Super Devil is what I want, then I'll just work at it until I make a reality."
Alduin's mouth opened, but no words came out.
How was he supposed to respond?
Wanting to steer the conversation was only half the reason he had asked that question, the other half was his innate desire to want to understand his mother. Who she really was, why she did the things she did, what it was she aspired to.
The last thing he expected was an answer that sounded so… hollow, as if his mother had no other purpose in life than to climb.
It would explain the ever-present detachment she carried with her, but Alduin didn't want that to be true. He wanted there to be something more, something deeper to her.
If there wasn't… then what was going to happen to him? He knew he wasn't exactly like his mother, in fact, he probably never would be.
However, he had inherited quite a few of her personality traits, ones he deemed to be rather negative, and with each passing day, he could feel those traits strengthening.
He was his mother's son.
"Let's assume you succeed? What then?" He paused in worried silence. "What'll you do with yourself when you're a Super Devil?"
Martha's eyelids lifted to a marginal degree, her index finger tapping against her lower lip as she hummed in deliberation.
"Huh, can't say I've really thought about that." That sentence alone bothered Alduin. "I'll probably try to test myself against Ajuka and Sirzechs, having power isn't much fun if you don't let it loose every now and then. And if I end up getting bored of that, I guess I'll start looking for whatever exists above a Super Devil."
Alduin was at a complete loss.
He didn't want to accept it at first, but the truth was clear. She truly believed there was nothing wrong with such a way of life, as if it was the natural way to exist.
Yes, devils loved power. Their entire hierarchy was based on it, however, that didn't mean strength itself was their sole obsession.
Strength was typically a means to an end, a tool a devil wielded to make a wish of theirs come true: elevating the status of one's family, fighting for wealth, even the simple peace of mind of knowing that you were strong amongst a race that would trample on you if you weren't.
"That's… it?" He murmured in disbelief.
"You seem perplexed," she noted calmly. "Did you think I had some kind of grand reason for doing the things I do? If that's the case, then you're solely mistaken."
For a moment, he allowed his maternal genetics to take over. His eyes scrutinized his mother's face with fierce intensity as he looked for a tell.
"I think you're lying."
Her brows lifted in amusement.
"This should be fun to hear."
Though weakened, Alduin still found the strength to lift himself up.
"If strength was all that mattered to you, why do you bother putting all that time and effort into cultivating that garden of yours? It doesn't make you stronger, in fact, it's time you could've spent cultivating yourself. Instead, you used it to carefully raise and care for your plants."
"That's it? That's your argument?" Her eyes mocked him. "The fact that I like to garden every now and then means I have some special reason for making myself stronger?"
"Of course not." He exhaled, continuing. "It's the love you have for that place, you don't let either me or father so much as graze the grass there without your explicit permission. And you can't tell me it's just because you want to be left alone either, you simply don't want us touching the creation you've poured so much time into. You care for it."
Gracefully, Martha folded one leg over the other, propping her knuckles up against her cheek in boredom.
"You're saying a lot, but none of it has any substance. Alduin. What's your point?" Contempt crept up her face. "Is it love? Is that seriously what you're trying to use to describe me?"
Alduin knew he had just struck one of his mother's no-no zones.
And like the wise man he was, he decided the best thing he could do in this situation was to push further.
"Is that so far-fetched? Everyone wants someone. You and father don't like each other, that's obvious. But that doesn't mean you don't like, or don't want to like someone else—"
A thin needle of wood shot right up to the base of Alduin's neck, pricking his skin.
"Enough."
'Gotcha.'
"It looks like I struck a chord," he let his cockiness show. "There's no shame in it, mother. I'm not too different, at least in principle. The harder it is for the people around you to understand you, the more you yearn to be understood by them. It's the nature of any creature with higher cognitive function."
The needle pressed further, drawing a thin line of blood.
"You know better than to test me."
Usually, this was the point where Alduin would back down, scared shitless of his mother's bellicose mood shifts.
But not this time.
This time, he was more than happy to push her all the way.
After all, there was no way for her to seriously injure him while he was inside Ajuka's territory, a place that always had its owner present. It was probably for that exact reason her hands hadn't already found their way around his throat.
"I don't see why you have to interpret my words as a challenge," he wore a weak smile of confidence. "I'm just trying to understand you a little better, is it so shocking that I want us to have a little mother-son bonding time?"
"You know what you are to me," her tone was colder than usual. "Save yourself the trouble and stop trying to delude yourself by thinking otherwise."
A slow smile graced his face.
"You're annoyed."
"You're being annoying, it's the natural result."
"Good, I want you to be annoyed." Boldly, he reached his hand out towards his mother's face. "It means my words are having an effect on you."
Before he could make contact, she clamped her fingers around his wrist, holding his hand in place and tightening her grip, the pain of the woman's pure physical strength.
"I hope you realize what it is you're setting yourself up for once you leave this place."
"Oh my, is that a threat?" He reached his other hand out, gently placing atop the one she was using to clasp his. "How pitiful I am to have such a terrible mother. Sniffle. If only she'd turn a new leaf and finally mend her relationship with me, maybe then I'd be willing to tell her how I contained her Demonic Ki."
Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
If one thing was evident, it was the woman's raging desire to become a Super Devil. It was for that very reason she wanted to study the way Demonic Ki blended with his paternal bloodline.
Martha swatted his hand away.
"Are you drunk?"
"Yup! I'm drunk with love for my adorable mother!" Languidly, he extended both arms towards her. "Now come give me huggie-wuggies and kissie-wissies!"
She pinched her nose-bridge, breathing a deep, frustrated exhale.
"I don't have the patience to put up with this." Without further ado, she got up and walked towards the door. "We'll talk once you have the strength to move, and by then, I expect you to address me with an actual degree of maturity. Understood?"
He turned his head and pouted. "Hmph, I'm not giving you anything until you show me your undying maternal affection! Bleh!" Like a proper adult, he stuck his tongue out at her.
///
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Hours later, Alduin could finally feel his demonic power reserves replenish to a comfortable level. Strength ushered itself back into his bones, muscles, and flesh as he gripped the side of his bed, supporting his body weight and lifting both legs over and onto the tiled, sterile floor.
"Mm. Not bad." He nodded to himself, flexing his hands.
For a bit of extra support, he created a wooden cane to prop himself up with. The gravity-based attack Bedeze had used on him while he in his fully dragonified form had done a serious amount of damage to his limbs, unlike the rest of his body, they still felt a bit wobbly and feeble. Like his bones had been partially hollowed out.
It was a deeply unpleasant sensation, but he'd just have to make do until his natural regeneration kicked in.
"Hold on a second…" Alduin murmured aloud.
When he had used his demonic power to create his cane, he noticed something… off… with his energy. Not in a necessarily bad way, but different enough to catch him by surprise.
He flexed his hand, coating in a dim-green hue that belonged not to his Dryadic Blessing, but simply the natural color his demonic power possessed.
It was clear to him, this wasn't the same demonic power he had used in gauntlet against the rankers. It was heavier—much heavier, almost as if it had its own gravitational pull. The fluorescent light in the hospital room bent around it, only slightly, but to a visible degree nonetheless. The shadows beneath Alduin's feet stretched awkwardly. Even the temperature around his demonic power felt like it was spiking up and down at random.
This was not the power of an Ultimate-Class Devil. It didn't have the 'rawness' and 'immaturity' it used to possess. No, this was refined. Dense even, like compressed darkness. Its flow was smoother than ever, no leakage, no waste.
Alduin's aura didn't flare up like before, it settled, deep and immovable. Like a boulder's incomprehensibly long lifespan.
"Would you look at that?" He let out a gladdened chuckle. "My stubbornness actually rewarded me for once."
This was Satan-Class.
The lowest echelon of the realm, but Satan-Class nonetheless.
It was Alduin's reward for going back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back with five Satan-Class Devils, beating four of them, losing to the last only after making him truly work for it, and depleting his demonic power reserves to zero.
"Congratulationsss, master. Even if it wasss only a matter of time."
He smiled. "Thank you, Sylvie."
Everything felt sharper for Alduin.
Everything.
His naturally impressive draconic senses had been taken to the next level. His body's ability to circulate Ki throughout his meridians advanced in efficiency. The illusory power he had obtained from Tiamat's blood. The link between himself and the Gigantis Dragon Fafnir.
He remembered his awakening ceremony a few months ago like it was yesterday, yet here he was, Satan-Class in an absurdly short amount of time.
His genetics truly were a thing worth envying.
Step by step, he carefully carried himself out of the hospital room, his senses immediately picking up on three figures awaiting his presence within the Beelzebub's facility.
Sirzechs, his mother, and Serafall who had arrived here at some point in the past four days.
"And so my reckoning arrives…" He breathed a self-depreciating exhale.
Ajuka was probably somewhere around the facility, but since he didn't appear to have any interest in discussing anything with Alduin, he had chosen to keep his presence concealed.
At least, anything he hadn't already figured out merely by looking at him.
The three signatures led Alduin towards a strange, yet strikingly beautiful indoor garden. One not cultivated by his mother's hand, but by that of Ajuka's scientific mind. Filled with all kinds of flora that gave off a cumulatively calming and tranquil aroma, as if Alduin had just stepped through the doors of a luxury spa resort.
"Congratulations on your advancement, Alduin." Sirzechs was the first to call out to him. The Super Devil sat with the Half Super Devil and the Satan-Class around a mahogany table, sipping on a cup of tea paired with a few crunchy snacks.
"Thank you, Sirzechs." If he wasn't all caned-up, he'd perform a respectful bow.
"Honestly, I knew you were a talented one but isn't this a little too fast? Think about what this'll do to your fellow youngins!" Serafall grumbled, her expression stained with a hint of bitterness as she swirled her cup.
Alduin was a long way away from the same echelon of Satan-Class as her, however, he had proved that his true strength was the product of a lot more than just his demonic power.
If he and Serafall were to go toe-to-toe right here and now…
…he'd probably lose.
Or maybe he wouldn't, who's to say?
Speculation is just speculation after all.
"Haha, I'm not sure what to say to that." He shrugged in indifference. Alduin had known this for a long time, his path, and that of the other members of his generation were unlikely to converge, if ever.
He wanted to see them grow, succeed, and flourish, but now that his assignment to train Rias Gremory and her peerage had come to a close.
That said, thinking in absolutes was a fool's errand. The future always had a tendency to be chock-full of surprises.
"Satan-Class stopped being special when this one and his friend were conceived." Martha commented idly, holding her teacup and pointing at Sirzechs with her pinky finger. "Within the next century… No, perhaps even within the next decade, it'll become utterly and completely irrelevant. I guarantee it."
Serafall side-eyed her with both pre-existing and newfound disdain. "Oh? I didn't know House Sallos had a Clan Trait that could read the future as well?"
With a simple glance from Martha, Serafall's posture shrank, her fear mitigated only by the presence of her infinitely more powerful colleague.
"It's basic math, snowgirl. The future generations always surpass the preceding ones, the longer successful procreation goes on, the stronger the genetics passed down from one devil to another become. Bloodlines refine themselves, and the base potential embedded in an offspring's genome skyrockets."
The Leviathan clicked her tongue. "If that's the case, shouldn't your ancient ass hurry up and retire already?"
"The rule I stated is very much true, but it also has a limit, a ceiling if you will." Martha let out a bemused chuckle. "It loses all meaning when one becomes a Super Devil. After all, a Super Devil isn't really a devil. Isn't that right?" She gestured towards Sirzechs.
"That's Ajuka's leading theory," he returned an affirmatory nod. "However, I don't think now's a good time to discuss such a matter. We're here because we have a few questions for Alduin, aren't we?"
He pulled out the fourth chair situated around the table, motioning for the young man in question to approach with a simple look.
With a deep breath, Alduin stepped forward.
He knew this day would come sooner or later, and now it was here.
It was time for the questioning to begin.
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