Upon opening his eyes, Beelzebub found himself back in his room. Looking toward the window, the sun was beginning to rise on the horizon.
Last night had been quite a hectic day, full of discoveries and surprises. But it was time to test something he had been waiting for so long, after receiving the information from the Book of Records.
Focusing his mind… he guided his divine energy to his right hand. Feeling a slight burning on its back, a strange tattoo appeared. It was a beautiful card, with a mystical eye in the center.
"As I expected… it's quite easy to manipulate."
The tattoo was striking, but being beautiful was not its function…
Yesterday, Beelzebub discovered that even after being accepted by the key, he still had to manually activate the core. Only then would the true transformation occur.
He closed his eyes, remembering the keywords… Just by thinking, his eyes began to shed tears of blood. But that no longer affected him…
Opening his eyes with determination, he pronounced:
"⟆ᚢ⟊⫽𐓣𖤐"
Before those words filled with power and authority, space itself began to tremble.
Cough!! Cough!!
A mouthful of blood was spat out by Beelzebub. Pronouncing those words had been one of the most difficult things he had ever done. But it was all worth it in the next moment…
Beelzebub's skin began to fall away, followed by his flesh, hair, teeth, nails… In a short time, what stood in the room was merely a strange skeleton with horns.
But even it seemed on the verge of crumbling… cracks began to appear across its entire surface… and everything turned to ashes, leaving the room in complete silence—
But a strange light appeared in the place where Beelzebub had vanished. It began to shine, growing increasingly intense.
With each moment, the glow became more blinding, almost turning into plasma due to the temperature…
Despite his body having vanished, Beelzebub was still alive as a spiritual form. His divine soul now floated in a strange space that was familiar and unknown at the same time.
The white room with a pedestal in the middle.
"Room of Records…"
Beelzebub recognized it easily, especially since it hadn't been long since he had last left that place.
The book in the middle of the room opened again, but unlike before, the pages began to detach and float around the entire room.
"This…" Even at a glance, he managed to see and even read the content with ease.
Diablo (Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken)
Sirzechs Lucifer (High School DxD)
Raizen (Yu Yu Hakusho)
The list was immense. Although he didn't recognize certain names, others were quite familiar.
"Wait…" Remembering the knowledge he had acquired the previous night.
"Is this my gacha?" he asked himself seriously.
As if answering his question, the pages gathered into a whirlwind, and soon after, three of them emerged, now transformed into cards with a question mark symbol.
They positioned themselves in front of him, waiting for him to make his choice.
"Well… based on Caleb's knowledge, this must be something similar to those 'model' stories."
Caleb had always been very addicted to reading fanfics, but his favorite genre was "model systems." In these systems, the protagonist could obtain the powers and even the appearance of a character from some work.
"So those names I saw earlier were actually models…" he murmured, placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully — even though at the moment he didn't have a hand… or a chin, for that matter…
"Well… it's not really that hard to understand, and I don't need to choose much since it's technically random… But could it be—"
As if reading Beelzebub's thoughts, a large strip of papyrus appeared beside the cards.
[Matrix Guidelines:
Whenever the God-King successfully recruits a being that meets the requirements for a Divine Arcana, he gains a chance to use the Pool of Records.]
"I see."
He looked again at the cards before him.
"Technically, 'Pool of Records' is the name of my gacha…"
Divine Arcanas was also quite a descriptive name. When he managed to officially link himself to the pantheon, he received one of the tarot arcanas:
Arcana 0: The Fool
It, along with the other 22 cards, represented the Major Arcana, also known as the Divine Arcana.
"It seems that whenever I recruit a god, they will receive a random card… It's similar to the Evil Piece system from High School DxD, but at the same time different, since I don't choose which piece to use."
Facing the cards, he finally made his first choice…
The middle card.
If you're unsure which path to follow, always move forward.
Upon making his choice, the card began to vibrate, as if it were happy. It slowly began to spin to reveal its content, increasing the suspense even more…
"Does it really need to be so… dramatic?" he muttered. But that didn't make the card turn any faster.
When the entire bottom face was revealed, the image of a handsome man appeared before him. He wore an extremely elegant butler outfit. His crimson eyes, together with his obsidian-like black hair, gave him a demonic charm.
Below the image, a long list appeared:
Name: Sebastian Michaelis
Race: Demon
World: Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)
Supernatural Powers:
• Superhuman strength
• Extreme speed and reflexes
• Advanced regeneration
• Demonic immortality
• Shadow manipulation
• Enhanced senses
• Supernatural perception
• Summoning of demonic weapons
• Partial form alteration (eyes, hands, claws)
• Demonic magic
• Pact/seal capability
• Absolute resistance to human-level damage
Personal Skills:
• Refined hand-to-hand combat
• Mastery of bladed weapons
• Absolute precision
• Aristocratic etiquette and behavior
• Divine-level cooking
• Perfect cleaning and organization
• Total environmental control
• Strategic intelligence
• Analytical observation
• Ability to execute any task with excellence
• Natural charisma and seduction
• Mansion administration and butler protocols
After finishing reviewing everything written, Beelzebub's face showed an amused expression — or it would have, if he had one…
"Hehe… looks like my luck isn't so bad…"
Without hesitating, he used the card.
Little by little, it began to disintegrate into small particles of light and flow directly toward his soul. Beelzebub already knew that these models would only grant powers and some physical traits; they wouldn't affect his personality, which was good.
When all the grains of light merged with Beelzebub's spiritual body, a new physical form began to take shape…
Starting with the skeletal structure, strong and resistant. Even its coloration slightly resembled the metal of Wolverine's skeleton. What followed was the flesh…
Filling every piece of his new being. Then came the blood vessels and organs… In a short time, a body made only of living muscles floated in the void, resembling a miniature version of the Colossal Titan.
Then, flawless skin covered every corner of the body… hair… and let's not forget the pair of horns, which now looked even more elegant.
"Well… I don't remember Sebastian having horns…" Beelzebub murmured.
Then he remembered the strange bat-like wings that sat atop Lilith's head…
A tender smile appeared on his beautiful face.
"Maybe she will like this new me…"
When Beelzebub opened his eyes again, he was back there…
"I'm starting to get tired of this room's scenery…"
Feeling alive again, he walked toward the mirror that stood a few meters from the bed.
Reflected in the mirror was the appearance of an elegant man. Wearing butler clothes, with a pair of golden, hypnotizing eyes — there he was, Beelzebub.
His hair was not as long as before, and the old white streak had now become completely red. His ears, once pointed, now resembled those of an elf even more.
He would be easily mistaken, if not for the pair of black-and-crimson horns emerging from the top of his head…
While checking the new changes in his body, he also felt that his strength had recovered for the most part.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
A soft knock on the door caught his attention.
"Uh… Beel-san, breakfast is ready."
It was Makoto who had come to call him. Perhaps, due to the transformation and all the events, he had lost track of time.
"I'll be right there…" he replied, walking toward the exit of the room…