While Finn was momentarily speechless at Zekram's blunt demand, he knew the Great King was fundamentally correct. He was a High-Class Devil and the sole heir to the Balam Pillar. While romantic ideals dictated that one should marry purely for love, aristocratic reality demanded a marriage that solidified political power.
Akeno was incredibly talented and devoted, but her origins were highly controversial. Even though Finn loved her deeply, he knew that making her the official 'Lady Balam' would invite endless political friction and assassination attempts from traditionalist purists.
Frankly, he also understood Akeno's twisted nature perfectly well. Despite her immense power, she didn't actually want to stand beside him as his political equal in the light. She vastly preferred the role of the devoted, deeply secretive mistress—the one who operated in the shadows, orchestrating his dirty work and maintaining their intensely private, lewd relationship behind closed doors.
"Also..." Zekram spoke, breaking Finn's train of thought.
"Hmm?"
"How many people currently know about your adaptation ability?" Zekram asked, his violet eyes narrowing sharply.
"Only a handful. My parents don't even know about it yet," Finn replied casually.
Finn had only fully synthesized the Self-Made ability recently, so it wasn't publicly documented. And even if it were exposed, he didn't particularly care. In fact, broadcasting his absolute adaptation might be the perfect bait. It would force his hidden enemies to step out of the shadows and attempt increasingly desperate assassination plots, allowing him to systematically execute them all.
He had absolute confidence in his survival. Between his Absolute Redaction (Invisibility), Wukong's Cloud Somersault for instantaneous leaping, and his adaptation, nobody could catch him if he truly wanted to vanish.
Unless the entire pantheon of Satans united to cast a localized, inescapable isolation barrier—similar to the suicidal seal Sirzechs and Serafall used against Trihexa in the original canon—Finn knew it was impossible to corner him.
"Good. Tell those who know to take that secret to their graves," Zekram ordered, his gaze turning utterly ruthless. "If they ever try to leak the exact mechanics of your ability... then you had better clean them up."
"You're exaggerating, Grandpa," Finn chuckled, completely unfazed. "I'm not exactly weak. And besides my Queen, Akeno, the only other people who know the details are Indra and Sun Wukong."
"....."
Zekram blinked slowly, processing the names. "...How exactly did you end up negotiating with the Hindu King of Gods and the Victorious Fighting Buddha?"
"Well..."
While traditional Devil politics dictated absolute secrecy regarding foreign Pantheon encounters, Finn didn't see the need to lie to Zekram. Excluding the existence of the Manager and the multiverse network, the rest didn't matter. Zekram had personally invested the priceless King Piece into Finn's survival when Finn had absolutely nothing to offer in return. Finn wasn't the type to betray a highly profitable, reliable business partner.
"The young human wielding the True Longinus is backed directly by Indra," Finn explained.
"Indra?" Zekram's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Yes," Finn nodded. "It appears Indra is using the Hero Faction as disposable vanguard pieces for his shadow war against Shiva. I don't think it's a bluff. As long as the God of Destruction is breathing down his neck, Indra doesn't have the spare divine energy to openly attack other Pantheons unless provoked."
"This organization... the Khaos Brigade. It runs far deeper than our initial intelligence suggested," Zekram said, his expression turning solemn. He looked at Finn intently. "Do you believe the Old Satan Faction has secretly aligned with them?"
"I can't deny the statistical probability, but I haven't acquired concrete evidence yet," Finn replied.
He knew from his meta-knowledge that the Old Satan faction was indeed co-founding the Khaos Brigade alongside the Hero Faction, but they hadn't publicly revealed themselves in this timeline. "If I uncover a paper trail or a magical signature, you'll be the first to know, Grandpa."
"Thank you," Zekram nodded firmly.
Zekram was profoundly glad he had invested in Finn. Compared to his own biological descendants—many of whom were arrogant, politically inept, or functionally useless—he relied heavily on this brilliant, ruthless 'grandson' he had effectively adopted.
In a way, their dynamic mirrored the relationship between Queen Victoria and Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler. The monarch held the absolute authority, but the young, calculating noble handled the darkest, most violent shadows of the empire.
However, unlike Ciel, who was tragically bound to his duty, Finn viewed Devil politics as a casual corporate venture. If the Great King Faction ever entirely collapsed, Finn wouldn't go down with the ship. He would simply liquidate his assets, pack up his territory, and relocate his corporate empire to China, India, or even low-earth orbit.
Hmm... Finn rubbed his chin. The universe is vast. Why restrict my monopolies to a single planet?
Still, Zekram's primary concern was always the Old Satan Faction. They were the ultimate existential threat to the current Devil society.
The catastrophic Civil War had decimated the Devil population. While the original Lucifer loyalists had been thoroughly defeated by the Anti-Satan alliance (which eventually split into Zekram's Great King Faction and Sirzechs' New Satan Faction), many powerful Old Satan remnants were still hiding in the dimensional gaps, obsessively plotting their revenge.
"Honestly, if I locate their hidden bases, I'll just leak the coordinates directly to Sirzechs and the New Satan Faction," Finn said, stretching his arms casually. "They're the ones eager to play the heroic saviors anyway. When the New Satans go to war and the Old Satan higher-ups inevitably die off, I'll step in during the chaos, buy up all their abandoned infrastructure for pennies on the dollar, and establish an absolute monopoly over their former territories."
Finn was far too lazy to fight a direct, bloody political war against the New Satans. Making grand, idealistic promises he had no intention of keeping was exhausting. He preferred to let Zekram handle the tedious political maneuvering while he strictly managed the economic hostile takeovers.
"So, Grandpa, please don't neglect the political board while I'm gone."
"Do not worry. Even if I sat here and did absolutely nothing, the sycophants within our faction would tear each other apart just to secure our victory," Zekram smiled a terrifying, absolute smile. It was the smile of a man who would gladly sacrifice his own biological sons if they proved to be a liability to the Bael name.
Did genuine love exist within the massive, ancient Pillar families?
Perhaps. There were certainly Devils who cherished their families. But in the vast majority of cases, aristocratic relationships were hopelessly twisted. Because noble Devils possessed absolute privilege, massive harems, and near-immortality, they could simply produce an endless supply of heirs. If one child died in a power struggle, they just made another. Time and empathy were resources they rarely spent.
"So, what is your plan after you leave here?" Zekram asked, changing the subject.
"I'll likely return to the human world to oversee my corporate expansions," Finn replied, taking a final, deeply satisfying sip of his apple tea. "Besides, I still have a few loose ends to tie up with the idiots who put that bounty on my head."
"Well, seeing as you've successfully negotiated with the Hindu Pantheon, extorted the Chinese Pantheon, and survived a point-blank assassination from the True Longinus, it feels incredibly redundant to tell you to 'be careful'," Zekram chuckled.
Considering the sheer scale of the mythological chaos Finn had just casually waltzed through, Zekram found it highly amusing that the boy had simply returned home for afternoon tea and fruit.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot. I met the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels, Azazel, right before I came here," Finn mentioned casually as an afterthought.
Zekram's amusement vanished instantly, his brow furrowing deeply. "Why did Azazel seek a private meeting with you?"
"It seems one of his top fighters happens to be sleeping with the female head of the Himejima Clan. Azazel essentially came to my doorstep to buy her clan's survival in exchange for the fighter's eternal loyalty."
"What an absolute idiot," Zekram snorted, thoroughly disgusted by Azazel's sentimentality.
"Actually, no. Azazel isn't that sentimental. He absolutely wouldn't risk a war with a Devil Pillar just to appease a mortal fighter, even if that human wields a Longinus," Finn corrected him.
Zekram's eyes narrowed slightly. "Grigori has acquired a Longinus wielder?"
"They have two, actually," Finn held up two fingers. "The first is the human whose lover runs the Himejima Clan. He wields the Canis Lykaon (The Slash Dog)."
"Ah, the shadow hound," Zekram nodded dismissively. He didn't take the Canis Lykaon seriously. If Finn could casually face the True Longinus, a mid-tier beast-tamer artifact was practically suicidal to bring against him.
"The second wielder is the actual problem," Finn continued, dropping his hand.
"What kind of Longinus does this second operative possess?"
"The Divine Dividing."
"That specific Longinus is not inherently an existential threat," Zekram analyzed quickly. The Divine Dividing was highly tactical—it absorbed and halved a target's power—but if the user lacked a massive biological container, absorbing too much energy would cause them to violently explode. It wasn't an absolute, world-ending weapon.
"You're correct. The artifact itself isn't the issue," Finn agreed softly, leaning forward. "The issue is that the user is a half-human hybrid... and the direct, biological descendant of the original Satan Lucifer."
"...."
In that exact moment, the temperature in the Grand Library plummeted. Zekram understood perfectly why this was an absolute, catastrophic political nightmare.