On the other side, that young girl—a member of Serafall's peerage—was also trying to break the barrier.
However, the magic bullets vanished the instant they touched the barrier.
"It's a waste of effort."
After glancing at the two of them, Rias left with Sona.
"What should we do?"
The girl asked, "Even communication can't be established within the barrier. We are completely isolated here."
"Even if we keep firing magic bullets, it will take five hours to open it. By then, the young ladies will be far away."
"Then there's nothing we can do." Okita Souji shrugged and said, "With Lady Rias's power, she will surely be able to protect Lady Sona."
"No, what I'm afraid of is that the two young ladies are inexperienced in the ways of the world..."
The girl frowned slightly.
"There's even less to worry about then."
Okita Souji stated with certainty.
"Why?"
The girl was somewhat curious.
"If someone tries to kidnap Lady Rias, it's more likely they'll be the ones played like a fiddle."
It wasn't impossible for them to be sold off in return.
As a member of Sirzechs's peerage, he still had a bit of an understanding of Rias.
"Born with complete wisdom, huh."
The girl said thoughtfully.
"I'm more worried about what comes next."
Okita Souji said with a grim expression.
"What comes next?"
The girl came back to her senses, blinked, and asked in confusion.
"The matter of whether I'll be beaten to death by Big Sis Grayfia for failing to watch over them..."
Okita Souji murmured.
Sirzechs acted as the Devil King, while Grayfia was his internal assistant, managing the 'Lucifer' peerage.
Given Grayfia's rigid and strict personality, it was no wonder Okita Souji was scared like this.
The girl also went stiff all over.
Although Serafall was easy to talk to, that was only provided her own sister wasn't involved.
If she found out about this... they might be in for some serious bad luck!
The two looked at each other, and energy bullets condensed in their hands.
They compressed the energy bullets as much as possible, then launched their attack.
At the very least, they had to break out of here as soon as possible and then report the matter.
They hoped things wouldn't reach the worst-case scenario.
——————
"So amazing."
Sitting inside the train, Sona was still savoring Rias's attack from just now.
The two of them took the train through the Gremory territory toward the capital of the Devil King's territory, Lilith.
The capital of the Underworld is Lilith; it is Sirzechs's territory and also the territory of Lucifer.
And the old capital, which holds a special status in the Underworld, is 'Luciferad'. Although the previous generation of Lucifer no longer resides there, it still holds a significant position in the Underworld.
"Power is something magnificent and potent. Whether it's power itself or the process of seeking it, both are things worth enjoying."
Rias looked around curiously while responding to Sona's admiration.
It wasn't that she hadn't ridden a train in her past life, but the trains in the Underworld were completely different.
The magic drive, the operation of the Formula, and so on—Rias was very interested in every aspect.
"Power, huh. I also want to be like Lady Rias and unleash all sorts of magnificent attacks."
Sona couldn't help but say, "Just like a Magical Girl!"
"Magical Girl?"
Rias was surprised.
The concept of Magical Girls had been born long ago, but it was an anime genre that had recently become popular.
Frilly outfits, cute appearances, fighting evil enemies with a magic wand, secretly protecting world peace—
It was generally that type.
The dark, grim, and twisted types didn't seem to have appeared yet.
Even though it was the early stages, it seemed Serafall was already obsessed with it.
She had even influenced her sister Sona to say such things.
Dark history +1?
Rias thought, and an interesting idea couldn't help but arise.
"Sona-chan~" Rias revealed a cute smile and said, "Do you want to become a Magical Girl?"
"Yes!"
Sona nodded excitedly.
"Then wait for me for a moment."
Rias smiled and unfolded a Formula in her hand.
She took out a diamond-shaped crystal from sub-space and then placed it in the center of the Formula.
The crystal floated and rotated continuously; the transparent light of the Formula looked very beautiful.
Because Rias had booked this entire carriage, only the two of them were around.
It would take about another hour to reach the capital.
Rias figured she might as well find something for herself to do.
"What is this?"
Sona asked curiously.
"This is a Magical Girl transformation device."
Rias gave Sona a playful look.
"So amazing..."
Unfortunately, the current Sona didn't understand the look in Rias's eyes; she just looked at Rias with adoring eyes, which Rias enjoyed very much.
She felt that this child would bring her a lot of fun in the future.
Thinking of this, Rias became even more motivated.
The material of this crystal was the same as the raw material for Devil Chess Piece. The difference was that Rias created an artificial soul to merge into the crystal, constructing a weapon similar to an Asauchi.
However, Rias crafted weapons directly through Formula synthesis rather than picking up a hammer to forge them, so she could completely customize the form freely.
The artificial soul technology was something she had grasped from the core Formula of the Flugel; after all, she wasn't so deranged as to use someone else's soul to create a weapon.
Rias added basic transformation abilities into it, as well as an 'ultimate move' after merging with the soul essence.
And she added many interesting functions to it.
Basic attack, defense, binding, healing, flight, transformation, and artificial intelligence.
Before merging with a personal soul essence, the transformation was equivalent to a Shikai.
If the soul essence was merged into it over time, the Bankai would be equivalent to the ultimate move.
It was used similarly to the Juggernaut Drive of a Sacred Gear, but the limit of its growth was slightly weaker than a Sacred Gear; it was a field similar to but different from artificial sacred gears.
Because this crystal had already been largely designed, Rias only took half an hour to finish constructing it.
During this process, Sona kept watching Rias.
As the saying goes, a woman is most beautiful when she is serious. Sona was clearly captivated by Rias.
Especially Rias's Formula; every time it unfolded, it was very eye-catching.
"Done."
Rias let out a breath, then strung the crystal on a cord and hung it around Sona's neck.
"Input your magic power into it to complete the ownership ceremony. From now on, it will absorb your soul essence and slowly take on your personal mark."
Rias said.
Sona didn't understand the latter part, but she understood the part about channeling magic power into it.
She obediently did as told, and soon a light lit up on the crystal.
"Magic power characteristics recorded—"
"soul essence absorption—"
"Starting ownership ceremony—"
"——"
"Please enter master's name:"
"Um... Sona Sitri."
Her name subconsciously surfaced in Sona's mind, and then a slightly mechanical but pleasant female voice sounded from the crystal again.
"Master's name: Sona. Ownership complete—"
"Hello, I am Magic Sapphire. From now on, I am your magical device."
The mechanical female voice said, "Would you like to try transforming into a Magical Girl, Master?"
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