“So, Why is this all so complicated again?”

Basara massaged his brows as he muttered softly in a tone of subtle complaint. 

After Basara accepted Asia’s offer and decided to include her in his peerage despite his earlier wish to not create one whatsoever, he was about to use one of the pieces on her; just then, Lucia suddenly barged into the room and stopped him from continuing on his inclusion of his first peerage member.

Now they were in the living room with all the curtains closed and the room plunged into a stable coalescence of darkness.

The only source of light in the room was a glowing magical circle drawn on the ground and the ones present before it was Lucia and Basara. Maria and Mio had been sent away to their home thanks to Lucia’s portal delivering them to their destinations safely. The two fallen angels on the other hand were still sleeping and unaware of the messy situation they were in.

As for the main perpetrator of all the events — Asia, Lucia had sent her to her room so that she could take a bath and change herself and overall ready her psyche for what’s to come; she needed it.

“Master-Servant Pact magic.”

Lucia answered with a straight face, accompanied by her seemingly ever-stern expression, and continued with her explanation.

“Basara-sama, did you know that my mother, Maria, and I are most likely the last of the succubi race still alive in this plane?”

Basara frowned deeply at the abrupt and extremely disheartening revelation.

“In the history of the supernatural world, there were many races like ours that got erased, or were brought to the very brink of extinction, because they possessed a special talent, a talent that could forcefully change the trajectory of the power dynamic, but didn’t have enough strength to protect themselves. One such example is the Nekoshou, a branch of the Nekomata race that were born with the power to use Senjutsu naturally.”

While she revealed the fate of that particular race, Lucia thought about Shirone, the little girl that went through hell and beyond. Though now, she went by the name of Koneko — Koneko Toujo.

“As for us, succubi, the reason for our extermination dates back to the great war that almost brought the underworld to ruins. During this period, we were revered because of our special skill, the power to form a Master-Servant pact. This could create a group with one person as the Master and a number of servants that could grow in power together nigh infinitely. It wasn’t impossible for one such group to all see their power grow two or three times or even more in a short time and long time immersion into the technique would unlock a future filled with infinite potential for all the individuals involved.”

Basara tilted his head, a glint of understanding flashing in his green-tinted pupils. He could understand why the succubus would be hunted down to their very last remnant. The war between the three factions was extremely brutal mainly because the side had more or less the same level of power.

But, if one side suddenly gained a way to boost themselves in such a way, and with a potential of infinite proportions, the balance they held would completely collapse.

Some would hunt them to have that power for themselves and some would do so to make it so no one else had that power.

Still.

‘It feels like…’

“The current Evil Pieces system was based on the Master-Servant Pact system. It’s a downgraded version in that it cannot give as much as a power boost but the fact that it can change the race of the one using it is still very impressive. Ajuka-sama is really a genius seen only once in many an eon.”

Basara opened his eyes wide at the sudden reveal of a core secret among the devils. The history lesson was eye-opening, to say the least, and it made many things clear to him that he held doubts about previously.

“Now to describe the situation we have at hand, normally, to activate the pact, we need a precise time — a full moon. But with your pieces, it’s possible to activate the contract at any moment. My mother helped in creating those pieces so they are bound to have some special privileges.”

Lucia sighed. Even though the master-servant pact was powerful, it had a limit and that limit was the race of the servants and the masters. The more talents they had the greater the boost the pact would allow them to wield.

Meanwhile, the evil pieces had a limit on how much boost they could give but in exchange, it could change the race of the one receiving it and increase their innate talents to a great margin so as to sublimate them to the overarching standards of the race they are being turned into. 

Many people had asked her mother to help Ajuka create special pieces for them and were ready to use force if need be. But with Ajuka adamantly refusing to create such a thing and her mother marrying Zeoticus, they had no other way to coerce her anymore. They could only bite the bullet and leave with gritted teeth at their failure to gain more power.

“Sapphire-sama managed to convince my mother but it was on one condition. This magic doesn’t trigger automatically. Without the power of a succubus, the piece will just act as normal pieces.”

“Meaning…”

“Without my, my mother or Maria's approval, it would be impossible to unearth the true potential of these pieces. During these few days, I have observed you and have judged that you would not misuse this power. After all, you know more than anyone the pain that uncontrolled power can bring.”

Basara was not surprised at Lucia’s speech, he already had an inkling about being tested by her. From what he could understand, this magic had basically unlimited potential. There was no way they would just let anyone use it no matter how close they were to his mother.

“Okay, I understand. So what now?”

Basara only wanted to be left alone and live normally. But he knew that this was now impossible. He had already been pulled into a whirlpool of conspiracies and the only way to get out of it was for him to become stronger, strong enough that no one would even dare to cross him in fear of being annihilated from existence. Such was his determination.

He didn’t have the leisure to refuse such a gift and he knew that this was his parents' way of giving him more protection. He would need to be a buffoon to not accept the love and care his parents projected towards him.

“Hum….L-Lucia-san? Are these clothes really alright?”

The stuttering voice of the angelic nun — Asia came from up the stairs and Basara opened his eyes wide, filled with incredulity and embarrassment, when she finally came down.

Currently, Asia was wearing a transparent pure white camisole with no bra underneath and her bottom was covered by a simple pair of white panties.

With her golden hair, the overall impression was a fusion between lewdness and purity that dealt a severe blow to Basara's heart. 

“Of course. I have prepared those clothes for you after a short trip to the underworld.”

Lucia's magic was incredibly useful since any distance was basically meaningless for her. Of course, Basara didn’t have the mind to think about this at the moment.

Gulping rather audibly, he asked in a tentative tone, “Why is she wearing that?”

Lucia kept her face straight and her expression stern as she explained, however, the amusement oozing out of her flat tone couldn’t be hidden from others’ ears. She was having the time of her life.

“Of course, for you to subjugate her.”