{The Next Morning, Ancient Forest of Familiars}
I denied a Devil King. I really did. I rejected them.
Though the issue with this was… they can deny your denial, reject your rejection.
"Faiser!!"
And that's what Serafall did. She denied my denial of going to the Familiar Forest today and rejected my request to push it to another day.
"You came!" she said excitedly.
"Not like I could say no…" I answered, barely holding back a sigh.
I had just closed the deal with the Phenex pillar, kept my promise to Sirzechs, and immediately had to come here the next morning.
Imagine that.
Though, there was something that did make it worth coming.
"You are staring~" she smirked, and I had to turn my head.
"Well, you do look good."
She did. And surprisingly, she was neither in her magical girl costume nor in her work attire.
"I know~" she giggled. "I had to look good, this is a date after all~"
A what now?
"Wait, what?" I could barely hide my surprise. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten something.
"Look at that face!" She laughed out loud. "It was a joke~ I was kidding!"
She was a jest. An annoyingly good one at that. She had long since mastered the art of catching others off guard.
"But really," she gave a twirl, "how do I look?"
And once again, "You look beautiful."
She did.
She still had her hair in twin tails, but now she wasn't wearing those tacky pink ribbons. Instead, she wore purple ones that matched her clothes.
She had her signature pleated mini skirt, this time in black, with a black cami top. Black shoes as well. And over her outfit, she wore a kimono-like layer.
Sheer kimono, that's the one. Or maybe I'm wrong.
But overall, she looked pretty. And it was a very different style from her usual one.
It almost made the whole trip worth it.
Almost.
I still wasn't forgiving her for calling me out on the day I wanted to rest.
"Thank you~" she said. "You look good too."
I did? I hadn't really paid attention to it.
I was in all black—black shirt, black pants. Topping it all off were my black boots. I wore them because I didn't know what kind of place the Familiar Forest was, and I didn't want dirt or mud on my better shoes.
"So, why today?" I asked. "And why was I not supposed to bring Ingvild?"
She specifically said to come today—and alone.
"Because this isn't your usual Familiar Forest. This is the Ancient Forest of Familiars, once controlled by the original Beelzebub, and now under me. I also kept the tradition of not having a caretaker and let the place grow on its own." She explained, "This forest is more wild and dangerous than any other Familiar Forests. The familiars here are beasts. Not just anyone can tame them."
That… was interesting.
"I had to clear out everything myself so you wouldn't get attacked by some wild dragon or monster. That's why I called you today, after I cleared it out a bit." She shrugged. "And usually, the master of the peerage is supposed to find a familiar first, which is why I asked you to come alone."
That last part, I didn't know. Maybe it was a tradition. Or maybe she was just messing with me, like always.
"So, this date~" she teased again, "is only for us, and I promise we'll find you a familiar today."
I didn't really plan on getting a familiar yet, but this wasn't bad.
[Quest alert!]
[Quest: Be Familiar with a Familiar
Objective: Find yourself a familiar that is perfectly suitable for you.]
[Rewards: Recipe Book for Familiars]
I guess I'll have to find a familiar now, won't I?
"So," I asked her, "what kind of familiars can we find here?"
Her smirk wasn't too comforting. It looked almost sadistic.
"Oh, well, the usual ones like bats, slimes, falcons, bunnies," she paused, "to ones like wyverns, lesser sea and sky dragons, hydras, griffins, and mutated or ancient monsters that most people don't even know exist."
Yeah, no. I wasn't so sure about this.
"Don't worry," she laughed, smacking my back. "We won't die!"
For the first time, I wasn't confident in a Satan.
"Let's go!" she said, grabbing my hand. "We'll only find slimes in this place."
She wasn't wrong. I could already see them roaming around.
[Race: Slime]
[Rank: Lowest-Class]
I didn't know there was a class below Low. This was a first.
That's just how useless slimes were.
"Come fast!"
She pulled me by the hand, practically dragging me deeper into the forest.
And with each step, I could sense the danger rising.
[Race: Mutated Elephant]
[Rank: Low-Class]
The deeper we went, the stronger the creatures became.
[Race: Wyvern]
[Rank: Middle-Class]
After pulling me around for a while, she led me into the forest's depths, where I saw some interesting things.
[Race: Lesser Sky Dragon]
[Rank: Middle-Class]
Some were almost terrifying.
[Race: Sea Serpent]
[Rank: High-Class]
It was only Serafall's presence that kept them away. Without her, I'd be fighting for my life.
"Is there anything that you like?" she asked, excitedly.
And honestly, I'd be lying if I said none of them caught my interest.
The dragons were always a tempting choice. Even the Shadow Monkeys—who tried to hide inside my shadow before Serafall scared them away—were fascinating.
It was confusing, very confusing.
The choices were great, too many options. But which one was right for me?
I knew devils could have more than one familiar, but the more you had, the weaker your control.
So, it was always smarter to have one, maybe two at most. And for now, I wanted only one.
"Made a choice yet?" she asked. "If you like something but can't capture it, I can catch it for you."
She demonstrated by pulling a Shadow Monkey out of a nearby tree's shadow.
[Race: Shadow Monkey]
[Rank: Middle-Class]
They were really cool. A familiar that could hide in someone's shadow and erase its presence?
Or maybe a literal wyvern as a pet? Both sounded amazing.
But something about it still didn't feel right.
"I'm still conflicted," I admitted. "All of these are good choices, but it's overwhelming."
That made her put her finger to her chin, thinking.
I wouldn't even mind if she chose for me. None of these were bad options.
"You know, it's best to choose a familiar that suits you," she explained. "Why don't you release your demonic energy and let it guide you to the right one?"
That made my eyes widen.
I had totally ignored the most important part of the quest.
Find the most suitable familiar.
It didn't say pick anything. It had to be suitable. The compatibility had to be right.
"My demonic power will find it for me?" I asked, unsure what she meant.
"Don't release it destructively," she explained. "Just let it ooze out, let a little escape. It will find its way to a suitable familiar. You'll know when you see the reaction."
Her explanation was a bit confusing, but I chose to trust her experience.
"If you say so…"
I closed my eyes and followed her instructions. I kept my heart steady, my mind clear, and let my demonic power leak out. Not in a harmful way, just letting it flow freely.
I felt the energy spread out from me, sweeping across the forest.
It brushed past many beasts, making them glance around curiously, but none of them reacted in a way that felt right.
The worst part was when the energy washed over the Shadow Monkeys—and they didn't even care.
It flowed past wyverns, sea serpents, even dragons and hydras. That one hurt, since they were clearly the best choices on paper.
I couldn't find any griffins, but I did spot some creepy-looking lions.
Then, after minutes of searching, something clicked.
Though it wasn't what I expected at all.
"You found something?" Serafall asked, just as my focus broke and my demonic energy pulled back inside me.
"Yeah," I said, though I wasn't sure how to feel about it.
"What was it?" she asked curiously.
Instead of answering, I held out my hand. "Trust me?"
She smiled. "Of course."
That was all the confirmation I needed before teleporting us to a big tree nearby.
"So, what am I looking for?" she asked, scanning around eagerly. "A dragon? A wyvern? Maybe a hydra?"
I wished it was something like that.
Instead, I pointed at one of the tree branches. When she followed my gaze, she froze.
"Oh?"
[Race: Bee Hivemind]
[Class: Low-Class]
They were bees. Creepy fucking bees. The hive looked normal enough, but the bees themselves had no markings at all—they were completely black, with no visible body segments.
"That's a scouting familiar," she said, a little amused. "They won't help you much in a direct fight—they're still bees, after all—but they're very useful in other ways."
"What do you mean?"
How could some damn bees be useful?
"They are a Hivemind, so what one bee sees and senses, every bee sees and senses. Another thing is that they can travel at ridiculous speed and even cover the entire world's distance in less than a day. So, in a way, you have a surveillance system that can encompass regions while sharing senses."
That's when she dropped an important piece of information.
"Since their major trait is Hivemind, forming a connection with them will connect them to you. What that means is that what they see, you see. Even mild disturbances around them, you can sense too. They're extremely sensitive to magic, making them perfect surveillance familiars."
That… that wasn't bad, right?
No. No, that was great. Wait—amazing!
"I take it you like what you hear?" she smiled, noticing the massive grin I failed miserably to hide.
"I… do."
Them being everywhere, traveling long distances, and sharing sight meant I finally had a way to use Traverse and Transit almost anywhere in the world.
The problem with the skills was that I could theoretically teleport to places I couldn't see by teleporting by distance instead of location—but I could also end up inside a volcano if I did that.
With this, I basically had teleportation to any corner of the world at any moment without worry.
This was amazing!
"How do I form a contract?!" I asked quickly. She chuckled.
"Let out your demonic power again, and let one of them come to you. When they do, keep your energy active. If they feed on it, they agree to being your familiar."
I didn't waste a second. I let out my energy softly, carefully, almost lovingly. Then I waited.
They picked up on it immediately but didn't react right away. Instead, after a few seconds, one bee—same size as the others—flew toward me.
"This specific bee species doesn't have a queen. Every bee is valued equally," she said, but I could only focus on the buzzing around me.
The bee took its sweet time before landing on my hand and finally sipping my demonic energy.
[Familiar Contract Initialized!]
The system registered it instantly.
[Bee Hivemind wants to join as your familiar. Would you like to accept?]
Yes! It wasn't even a question.
[Establishing Bee Hivemind as your familiar.]
The moment the contract sealed, I felt a strange connection—like the bee was part of me, buzzing in sync with my presence.
[Congratulations! Bee Hivemind has been added as your familiar!]
[New category added! Familiars!]
[Familiars: Bee Hivemind (+)]
Suddenly, I could see what the bees saw. I could even feel the air around them.
"It's… it's amazing!"
I realized I could turn these senses on and off with just a thought.
"Told you~" she teased.
[Race: Bee Hivemind
[Rank: Low Class]
[Abilities: Sense Sharing]
[Sense Sharing: Whatever one bee senses —sight, taste or tremors— every bee senses. If the bees sense it, you sense it. Can be turned on and off with a thought.]
[Would you like to name your familiar?]
Eh? Whatever. Name them Buzzer or something.
At least it sounded funny in my head.
[Name established: Buzzer]
[Familiars: Buzzer {Bee Hivemind} (+)]
"So, what would you rate Serafall's Forest Tour~?" she asked.
There was only one correct answer.
"A ten out of ten."
A perfect score. The only acceptable answer.
* * *
{Unknown Time, Tannin's Mountain}
—Tanin, The Blaze Meteor Dragon—
Sitting atop a massive mountain in his humongous dragon form, Tanin read the tiny letter before him.
He couldn't help but laugh as he went over the contents.
"He wants Bova to serve a devil?" Tanin chuckled louder.
There was nothing wrong with serving devils in his eyes—he himself was under the servitude of a certain devil. And it wasn't something he hated.
He respected the choice of joining someone's peerage. While he was concerned about his son being part of an unknown devil's peerage, the fact that Sirzechs himself vouched for the kid was enough to put him at ease.
Even so, he couldn't stop laughing.
"Good luck to this devil, whoever this kid is." He turned toward the east, where a mountain once stood. Now, only a humongous crater remained. "Good luck to him. He'll need it if he wants to tame my nuclear bomb of a son!"
His laughter echoed across the mountains, scaring many devils and beasts alike.
"Oh, I would love to meet this devil!" he roared with laughter. "This brave and foolish devil!"
************************************************************************************************************************
{A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters.
Till Chapter 67 available on Pat reon for this story and till Chapter 33 available for DxD: The Black Dragon Emperor.
Since there has been a lot of new things added to the system screen, here is what we currently have:
Faiser's Status:
[Name: Faiser Valefar-Barbatos]
[Age: 18* (518)]
[Rank: Pure Blood Devil]
[Class: Ultimate Class] (Around the late-middle stage of it)
[Bloodline: Valefar, Barbatos]
[Valefar Abilities: Bind, Disperse, Temporal, Absorb]
[Barbatos Abilities: Blink, Traverse, Transit, Severe, Penetrate]
[Asura Abilities: Mind of Asura, Asura Body, Eyes of Asura, Mark of Asura]
[Items: Bracelet of Shapes, Ring of Wealthy Luck, Golem Core, Recipe Book for Familiars]
[Treasury: (+)]
[Familiars: Buzzer {Bee Hivemind} (+)]
[Peerage: Ingvild Levaithan (Queen)(+)]
Familiar's Status:
[Race: Bee Hivemind
[Rank: Low Class]
[Abilities: Sense Sharing]
Peerage: Ingvild's Status:
[Name: Ingvild Leviathan]
[Race: Half Devil (Human-Devil Hybrid)]
[Rank: Ultimate Class]
[Abilities: Sea Serpent of the End, Demonic Power, Advanced Defensive Magic, Basic Teleportation, Flight, Stealth]
[Items: Nereid Kyrie {High Tier Longinus} (soul bound)]
}