Things went back to normal more quickly than I think they probably should have. After all, one of the walls of my room had been broken by a corpse flying through them.

 

Sure, just with one flick of his fingers, my brother was able to create a brand-new one but it didn't change that a corpse had landed in my room, the corpse of a pillar devil.

 

There was also the fact that my brother was still covered in blood. The metallic smell was strong, almost nauseating to my senses. It was as if was smelling rotten meat, something that once could have been delicious but was now totally disgusting.

 

“If you expect me to hug you while you still look like an overblown Pad, you're mistaken brother,” I told him.

 

His eyes widened “Overblown pad?” he repeated my words as if he couldn't believe the words I just said.

 

Behind me, Akeno didn't even try to keep her composure. The expression My brother had on his face made him look like a wet outraged kitten.

 

Sirzechs shook his head “An overblown Pad,” he whispered. “I have heard it all.” Dark scarlet flashed over his form leaving behind a pristine Satan.

 

“Is this better?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, I now recognize my brother,” I teased him before crossing the distance between us to hug him.

 

I felt his body stiffen for a moment before he hugged me back as if it would be the last time he would be able to do so.

 

‘ Are you alright?’ I asked him using my demonic energy as a medium to telepathically talk to him.

 

‘Yes, I am Rias. Better than ever,’ he answered me. I would have left it at that if my senses didn't indicate that he just lied.

 

‘I thought you were never going to lie to me,’ I told him.

 

‘It’s not that Rias. It's just that I ca-’

 

‘Hush,’ I cut him. ‘I am your only sister, your only sibling Sirzechs. I don't care if you did the most despicable things. I wouldn't be mad at you even if you forcefully removed a baby from their mother’s womb. You've always been there for me. Since the beginning, you've always been there. Why don't you allow me to do the same? Do you think I don't love you enough?’ I asked him.

 

‘The self-inflicted rules I never wanted to break. I broke them Rias. Those last days showed me that I needed to do what needed to be done if I cared about our people, my family and you, my sister.’

 

Breaking his rules? I felt my eyes widen in realization. ‘This was a devil lord staining my beautiful carpet! I wasn't wrong! The members of the parliament you didn't like, you killed them all, didn't you?’

 

‘I wasn't the only one to kill them. The other Satans are also doing their part. It's not even finished. Probably because Falbium likes to take his time with things.’

 

‘The remaining pillars won't like this even if they were unaffected,’ I warned him ‘but you probably already know this.’

 

‘I know they won't like it but I don't care anymore about what they think Rias. All this time, I tried to lead toward something better. If they don’t want me to… I'll just drag them to this better future whether they want it or not.’

 

He seemed resolute. I couldn't see hesitation and doubt. I just felt sadness. He felt like the master of many pets who had to put one of them down because that animal became rabid, dangerous to the other pets.

 

I retreated from the hug to look at him in the eyes  ‘No matter what happens Sirzechs, I’ll be at your side.’

 

He kissed my forehead softly before retreating ‘I know this Rias. I know this.’

 

The clock was ticking, the pieces were moving. It was a new age. Queens, Lords and kings died. Gods fell and devils rose.

 

No matter what happens. There was no point In hesitating except courting death. I turned toward the corpse.

 

“What do plan to do with it?” I asked my brother out loud.

 

“He was my last target. I'll put him back in my spatial inventory and wait until we've all finished.”

 

“Good,” I simply said. Smoke poured from nothing and fell obscuring the body of the once devil lord. It disappeared leaving nothing behind.

 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” I said to my brother. “Why was he here in your castle, in my room?”

 

“He was paranoid, more than expected. I counted. He had exactly 666666 wards supposed to protect, attack, defend and in the worst case teleport him away. Cliché but effective. I guess when you’ve been alive for millions of years, you learn to be cautious. He almost escaped. At the last moment, I modified his last ward and that made the two of us reappear here instead of wherever he wanted to flee to.”

 

“Good,” I simply said.

 

I heard steps echo loudly as they came closer and closer to my room. It was the guards and the servants.

 

Circles and weapons made of demonic energy were displayed seemingly ready to take out any possible threat. I saw at their front coming closer to us a particular maid, a sliver-haired one.

 

“Grayfia,” I greeted my step-sister as she came closer.

 

Her frigid gaze softened a little bit. Coming from Grayfia, it was as close as screaming in joy “Rias, I'm glad to see you are here unhurt.”

 

Her gaze turned toward my brother “Husband? What did I see flying the corpse of the head of a pillar clan?”

 

“I don't know, maybe he wanted to have a breathtaking, life-taking new experience. You never know with old Devils and their fetishes.”

 

“I see, it must have been a particularly stupid lord. Such a shame.” Her gaze flickered toward the members of my peerage before going back to Sirzechs.

 

“It seems the disturbance was handled without problem,” the queen of my brother said. I recognized the dismissal in her voice and the servants and guards did too, leaving at that moment.

 

“Rias, Grayfia,” my brother said recalling my attention toward the Demon King. What looked like a phone had appeared in one of his hands and pressed against one of his ears.

 

“I may have completely crushed all of those annoying flies but there is something important that must be done. I have to go now. I'll try to be back as soon as possible.”

 

“Understood brother.”

 

“Understood my king.”

 

A red demonic circle began to form under him “Also before I forget. I think it would be a good idea to watch the national channel in the next hour. I'm sure interesting things will be announced”. With those words, he sank into the magical circle under his feet disappearing.

 

I couldn't wait. I felt anticipation bubble into my body. I knew things would be changing. I couldn't wait to see the chaos that would unfurl.

 

“Grayfia?”

 

“Yes Rias,” she answered me.

 

“Are the other members of my brother’s peerage there too?” I asked her.

 

“Yes,” she confirmed.

 

“I was the last one to come back one hour ago. We knew the last days were hard on you. We knew you wouldn’t have wanted to be disturbed.” Her gaze turned toward Akeno “We thought you deserved some rest.”

 

They knew didn't? Of course, they knew, I was the sister of a Satan and the pure-blooded devil heir of the Gremory clan. I should have expected myself to be under surveillance.

 

Akeno’s gaze locked with Grayfia, my brother’s queen. Her head stood proud, unbent, not scared.

 

“Yes,” I said to Grayfia. “One of the best rest of my life. I only hope it won't change in the future. It would be something irritating.”

 

A tense silence was left as Her gaze stayed locked with the one of Akeno. “We'll soon be going to war. You're a pure-blood devil, the heir of a clan, the future of our race. Your actions could be seen as displeasing.”

 

I understood her words. Akeno was due to the fact she was a reincarnated devil a low-class devil in status even if I knew she would probably been able to crush most pure-blooded devils with ease. More than that, she was the Nephilim daughter of a fallen angel cadre. Devils hated fallen angels, some would say even more than pure angels.

 

“I don’t care Grayfia,” I told her. “With the actions my brother is taking, I would be surprised if anyone dared to complain and even in that case, they did.”

 

I released the hold of my demonic energy letting my essence permeate reality, destroy it, corrupt it. It was a warning more than anything else so the only thing that was destroyed was everything in a small radius around Garyfia and me. Colours, matter, time, space, logic, they died under my presence. They were destroyed. We were in a breach. A kaleidoscopic sea of colours out of the human imagination surrounded us before beginning to break too. Far away, I could feel a roar, an angry one, the roar of a dragon.

 

“I'll make sure they regret ever trying to dictate my choices.”

 

 

 

The queen of my brother finally turned toward me. I couldn't read her but I didn't care “Is there a problem Grayfia?” I asked her something more, something hungry laced into my voice.

 

“No, it won't be a problem Rias.” For an instant, my gaze remained still on the ultimate class devil before me.

 

“Good,” I simply said before putting a lid on my demonic energy. The world around us corrected as my oppressive demonic energy stopped it from doing so.

 

We were back in my room as if nothing had happened “You've changed,” Grayfia simply said. Her smile bloomed on her face. “Good.”

 

She began moving toward the door “Just like that?” I asked her.

 

“Just like that. I'm not one to speak on what kind of relationship should be proper. The both of you didn't back down. It means that this relationship is important for the two of you, that you are ready to fight for it. That's all that matters.”

 

She stopped in her walk “Also, your brother talked about an announcement, interesting news. It would be a shame if we missed it. The other also wants to see you Rias,” she spoke her back turned toward me before leaving.

 

I turned toward Akeno. A smile split her face as she looked at me ‘Love you,’ I told her telepathically.

 

Her smile grew even more radiant, as bright as a star. She moved, more stepping through the crack of space than anything else, her hand, appearing and touching softly my right cheek before she kissed me.

 

I closed my eyes and let myself lose myself in her touch. It hadn't been the first one she and I shared yet it still felt that way. It was everything that had stopped existing around us to only leave behind bliss.

 

“Akeno and Rias together?!” Gasper’s voice said brutally making me come back to reality. Damn it! I had forgotten that Koneko and Gasper were still present. I had forgotten that no member of my peerage had known that something was different between Akeno and us.

 

 

“How?!” Koneko's voice reached us, the rook seemingly too shocked to speak in her usually quiet manner.

 

I gently pushed Akeno away. I could see displeasure in her eyes. I understood it but making sure that our relationship didn't negatively impact or affect our peerage was primordial. Sure, I didn't expect my family members to be girls-kissing haters but hey, some easing into things before always helped.

 

‘Later,’ I said mentally to Akeno. I watched her nod. I watched mischievousness bloom in her eyes before she turned back toward the other member of my peerage.

 

I wasn't able to stop what I knew was going to scar Koneko and Gasper forever. Akeno was a sadist after all. “You see, when two devils really like each other,” she began.

 

“Come on!” I cut her up. That was really hell, truly hell. I understand it now.

 

My gaze fell on the back of Yuto, my knight. He was talking to someone, a man. The man was dressed the way you would have expected a traditional samurai to dress. He wore the traditional Shisengumi uniform, which consisted of a haori and haori over a kimono, with a tasuki crossed over his chest and tied to his back.

 

His hair was long. He had chosen to tie back his black hair in a ponytail. More than that, he looked young, painfully young, almost as young as the youngest member of my peerage. If I didn't that the man before me talking to my knight wasn’t Okita Souji, first captain of the Shisengumu, I would have mistaken him for a teenager. The only telltale sign of him knowing I was there was his gaze briefly switching to me quickly than most would have been able to see before going back to my knight.

 

“They’ve been talking non-stop about swords since They saw each other,” I heard a smooth voice say to my right.

 

I turned toward the owner of the voice. Before me was the Bishop of my brother, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers more simply known as Macgregor Mathers, a renowned occultist and the founder of the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn.

 

His appearance was that of a skinny man in his late twenties with sharp eyes and long and slightly wavy hair that was a mixture of black and blond. I could only describe his appearance as bewitching. The long slits of his eyes and his shallow smile only made it more appropriate to think such a thing.

 

 

He was wearing a crimson robe with a distinguished design. Every one of His mannerisms could be described as being elegant. Each of his micro actions from breathing, to blinking screamed perfection. It was as if every action had been trained to perfection. What made me cautious of him, reminded me that before me was a legendary cultist and the literal Bishop of Lucifer was the seemingly limitless creepy feeling coming out of his body. Even as a devil whose nature was to revel and bask in everything spoiled, corrupted, Mathers still didn't feel right.

 

“Mathers,” I greeted him politely. No matter my personal feelings about him, he hadn't shown any reason for me to despise or be cautious of him openly.

 

“Lady Rias,” his smooth voice greeted back “You've grown stronger.” His eyes stayed fixed on me. I didn't know why but it felt violating. It was as if I was a mystery he was trying to understand and resolve.

 

His gaze shifted to behind me where I knew stood Akeno, Koneko and Gasper. I moved to cut his gaze away from them “You've all changed in such a short amount of time. It's prodigious, miraculous, novel. The growth you all exhibit is one most devils don’t experience in a millennium.”

 

“Sucks to be them. I guess we're just built different.”

 

“Yes, different. Your growth isn't the only thing spectacular that came from you and the members of your peerage.”

 

Through the recordings of your rating game and a magic spell allowing me to see details of everything that happened in a certain place at a certain time, I was able to also see the newly made spells created by all of you.

 

The reincarnated devil lifted his hand at the level of his head “Black Flash,” I heard him whisper before his hand lit up in black Sparks, familiar black sparks before my shocked eyes.

 

“At first, it seemed only as a novel personalized way to strengthen yourself. if activated at the right moment, A guaranteed critical impact it could be said,” the bishop spoke.

 

A smile almost orgasmic split his face “I couldn’t have been more wrong. What makes this spell a true masterpiece isn't the fact it allows someone to hit above their weight class. The true genius here lies in the focus, the zone it puts in you and the self-understanding it allows you to accomplish. This spell allows someone to break through their limits, to realize their potential!”

 

“I'm glad you like it Mathers,” I told him pushing down the uneasiness I felt.

 

“I don’t like it! I adore it! With this spell, I was able to further my research, my understanding of innate magic. The only downside was that this understanding was limited in time but I was even able to change this, to improve the spell to make sure this understanding would stay!”

 

For an instant, black glimmered all over his skin covering it before flashing back out of existence “The black Flash, it's still activated,” I realized.

 

“Bingo! It is not a voracious spell at least for an ultimate devil like me. Breathing takes more effort than maintaining it.”

 

“You learned it through the tapes of my fight, am I right?” I asked him.

 

“Yes, also from your rook. She was able to trigger the same phenomenon. Unfortunately, it didn't land,” he answered.

 

“If you could learn it, does it mean others can?” I asked him already knowing the answer but wishing it wasn't the case.

 

His eyes widened in realization seemingly finally understanding why I was asking him such a thing “Yes,” he said reluctantly confirming what I already feared. “If it makes you feel better, the only ones who would be able to copy you are devils with either a very precise amount of control over their demonic energy, devils with so much demonic energy that even without it, they would be really dangerous and legendary magicians like me.”

 

A new thing to deal with. Of course, if something could be created, it meant it could be understood and copied. Euclid, Grayfia’s brother had in canon been able to clone the boosted gear completely in mass. What would the Lucifuge be able to do with a spell allowing someone to reach their potential and even go further?

 

“Mathers, we're going to create new spells together,” I told the devil. I already knew that no matter what would happen, I would never stop growing strong. I just needed to get stronger faster. There was no point in strength if your castle was already destroyed the moment you gained enough strength to repel the invaders who looted it.

 

“We're going to create spells together? Of course!”

 

“It doesn't matter what could happen with the spells already created. We just need to create new ones, better ones.” When everyone had a gun, the winner was the one with the most powerful one. I had also ‘created’ those spells so why couldn't I make other spells especially to counter them?

 

“I have a question Lady Rias,” the bishop of my brother said bringing back my attention to him.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I wanted to ask you how you created spells. Some people do it by studying the natural world around them and recreating the effects. Others just combine preexisting ones to make new ones. What is your method if I may ask?”

 

I couldn't say hey, it was because I was such a copycat Shirou Emiya would look at me in disgust “Anime,” I said. It wasn't a lie. I was copying things I had seen before in different media from my previous world.

 

“Anime? Anime?” he repeated as if he had reached an epiphany. “All this time, how none of us was able to see it! Instead of trying to learn from a rigid system, you learned through things that were not real and due to the fact that our demonic energy is shaped by our imagination, you were able to create new things none had seen in our world before!”

 

“Yeah, something like that.”

 

“Does it mean that the path of growing in strength is Anime? It is imperative that we make sure manga and Anime continue to be produced!”

 

A red circle appeared around his right ear and the reincarnated devil began to speak “Merendino, my friend, I have a new assignment for you!”

 

The circle flashed as if words were said on the other side “No! Not that assignment! The manga industry, that it is imperative for the survival of our kind it continues undisturbed! Call Lee too! Tell him he's given the order to diffuse on every station and every website of the Devil Net Anime!”

 

The circle flashed again “No, I didn't go mad from experimenting with some of the artefacts we were able to retrieve from Snowflame! Just do what I say!”

 

The circle disappeared and he turned back toward me “So, Anime. Let's talk more about this.”

 

“I'm going to see what the others are doing with Koneno and Gasper,” Akeno whispered in my ear. “Don't do anything reckless.”

 

“We’re in my brother’s castle Akeno.”

 

“Rias.”

 

I sighed “Understood.” With Zekram, Issei and the boosted gear, the bathtub and a pillar head destroying one of my walls, I couldn't blame her.

 

I turned back toward the Bishop of my brother “So, we were talking about anime.”

 

“Yes! I wanted to know, this black flash of yours, I’m unable to find an anime displaying such power. While you were talking with your queen, I used my magic to browse the entirety of the human internet and didn't find it.”

 

It was time to bullshit “It's simple. I wasn’t able to wait for the authors to create new chapters so I used my demonic energy to simulate new chapters.” This should explain how I could be doing things that didn't even exist yet in some mangas.

 

His eyes widened “Of course! Why did I never think of it? It could even be used in other ways! It could be used to simulate rare natural or magical phenomena to copy them, to understand them more! This black flash, it hadn’t been written yet, am I right? Is it a result of a simulation of Killer X Killer?”

 

“I thought you didn't know anime,” I told him.

 

“It was the case before this conversion but I created a thought partition, a second train of thought that is by itself watching and reading every major anime.”

 

Wasn't that a spell created and used by the alchemist of the Atlas association I don't know what was their name again?

 

It was a spell allowing a person to create multiple thought partitions. In other terms, it allowed you to not think quickly but to create let's say in the mind another chamber unrelated to the first one. Rare were people who could truly multitask. Thinking about two different things without confusing them, mixing them was what thought partitions allowed. It meant that you could become perfectly ambidextrous, doing multiple tasks without diminishing your efficiency in each of them.

 

it was something that would propel them a normal person to the intellect of a genius. In the mind of a genius like Mathers? It was like giving them godhood.

 

“You are close but you are wrong Mathers! I went even further! I simulated together Menma and Killer X Killer to create a new manga! I partially added some of Amok into it to create something new! This is how I was able to create the black flash and my new teleportation spell!” I lied. I blinked switching our positions. I wanted to curl myself in a blanket and forget the words I had just said. It was so cringe.

 

The man was looking at me with a gaze that bordered too much on adoration for me “Incredible Rias-Sama! I thought you were impressive but I was wrong! You are a genius, a true one!”

 

He bowed his head “Excuse me Rias-Sama to not have been able to see it before.”

 

“Please, don't do that,” I begged him. “Please don’t do that while I was feeding you a lot of bullshit.

 

Fortunately, he raised his head “I'm sorry Rias-Sama but I am more than impressed! You don’t know what you gave me! You don't what you gave to our race!”

 

“You’re exaggerating,” I told him. Most Devils were cruel, most devils were evils and most devils were not dumb. “I'm sure I'm not the only one to think about using my demonic energy to create simulations.”

 

“You weren’t lady Rias,” he admitted.

 

“You se-”

 

“No one had been able to create simulations in such an innovative way except Satan Beelzebub. His Majesty was the only one to go so. Some say with his innate intellect, he had been able to do such a thing since his birth without the help of demonic energy.” Envy, so deep, so raw that I could almost taste it coloured his voice “Not everyone is Ajuka Beelzebub.”

 

There was a story behind his words, something that only left behind scorn and envy. Even without knowing it, I think I could kinda understand. Mathers studied, trained and fought to become what he was. Ajuka was a super devil. He was born more than most mages like Mathers became before dying.

 

His gaze locked on mine “You are Rias Gremory the second person capable of doing such a thing. More than that, you created a method one could learn from, one that could be improved! I still see you don’t seem to realize the importance of your actions!”

 

“We had thought we would never be able to breach time’s domain but you showed us what we were doing was wrong! Instead of focusing on a whole, we should have only focused on an individual thing. It sure isn't the omniscient sight of an oracle, but it is the next best thing. More than that, because it can be taught, it can be improved!”

 

Magic circles appeared in his eyes. His gaze travelled past me to the castle itself “I just need to use the spell I created to see past things and from those past things create a simulation!”

 

Did I actually create a new spell by lying? I tried to copy the Bishop or at least do something similar. I guided my demonic energy to my eyes.

 

Understanding, commanding, simulating. My demonic energy like a wave flew to the ground, to the wall, to the integrity of the castle and I Saw.

 

I saw destruction run from the sky. I saw obsidian spears launched at beings made of divine light and might. I saw war. I saw Death.

 

I cut the link between my demonic energy and the castle “Mathers, I sa-”

 

“I understand Rias. I saw it too.” The magic circle in his eyes had faded leaving behind normal eyes “Let's keep it a secret between the two of us. I'll make sure it is handled.”

 

Before I could answer or say something more, a shout stole my attention “There is a live announcement from the parliament!”

 

I turned to look at the bishop of my brother saying it to him silently that we would have to be talking later. He only nodded.

 

I moved outside to the gardens from where I heard the shoot. Akeno saw me and came closer taking my hands to drag me toward where she and the other members of my peersge had chosen to stay.

 

Their gazes were turned toward the sky. I copied them. Brother, you didn’t want anyone to miss it but how could they miss it when the sky itself had changed, twisted to reflect, show what I knew was happening right now in our parliament? The pieces were in your hands Sirzechs. Looking at him, I only felt the certitude that no matter what would happen, I would be doing everything in the future to support him.

 

*scene*

 

Sirzechs knew that all the eyes of devilkind and more were on him and the other Satans. This was the last line that needed to be crossed. This was the last step, one he knew he wouldn't be able to back off from.

 

The others stayed silent behind him. Sirzechs knew they were there as his support, there for him. No matter what would happen, Sirzechs knew that they'd have his back.

 

The parliament had been in session when Sirzechs and the other Satans crashed into it. The only remaining devils sitting in the different chairs were ones Sirzechs knew he could consider allies, people that even though they would always hate him would always put Devil Kind first before their own feelings.

 

They had been smart enough to realize something had changed. They had been smart enough to shut up.

 

“We have failed,” Sirzechs began knowing every one of his words was listened to, heard by the entirety of Devilkind and more.

 

“We have tried to make sure that our race would thrive! We have tried to make sure our race would reach heights never thought possible. We wanted change! We promised change and we failed to give it to you!”

 

“We let our ideals, our promises be broken! We are devil-kind! It doesn't matter if one is a low-class devil if one is a reincarnated devil or even a pillar devil! We should all be treated fairly! The other Satans and I saw the corruption and how it was destroying our race from the inside.”

 

“We are right now on the verge of an all-out war against Heaven and all the opportunists who would try to exploit what they see as weakness! It is now on the thread between destruction and survival that some pillar devils chose to continue to exhibit, showing their malignancy! I killed with those hands for a better tomorrow for all of us! I didn't fight for singular individuals! I fought for our race.”

 

“I have a son and a sister who are young! Painfully so! I asked myself what kind of future I wanted to give to them and I realized, it was one where they wouldn't be crushed by an amoral system favouriting the few! I want them to be treated fairly! I wanted it to be the case for the integrity of our race!”

 

“I tried doing this for centuries and failed because I let them use my morals against me, because I let them chain me, something they should have never been able to do! I am Sirzechs Lucifer, A satan! The sin of Greed! If morals aren't enough, I’ll break them! I'll now do whatever I want, whatever it takes for our race!”

 

Sirzechs released a fraction of the hold he had on his demonic energy. The other Satans copied him. “The institutions of our race will continue to operate but under a different management! Under us! We are the kings of devil kind and it is time you all remember!”

 

Their demonic energy pooled like miasma travelling through the underworld, reminding sinners and devils that they were not called demon lords because they had been chosen. They were monsters each capable and guilty of terrible things. They were Satans because they usurped the old order! They were Satans because they were the strongest and power was the only universal rule.

 

A demonic circle opened in the middle of the parliament. “Sirzechs,” Ajuka’s voice told him softly “It is time.”

 

The Beelzebub had been adamant about Sirzechs executing one single action, saying one word. Ajuka could see the future and Sirzechs trusted him so he opened his mouth to say the unique word “Arise.”

 

The moment the word left Sirzechs’s mouth, the dead rose from the circles. They were the ones that had been killed by Sirzechs and the other Satans. The signs of their brutal demise were clear to see, a reminder of the violence the Satans had mustered. Simultaneously like a singular mind, the moving corpses kneeled before the Satans.

 

Sirzechs heard movements coming from the members of the parliament. He hid his shock under a stoic mask as they kneeled too. He didn't need to stretch his awareness to know the same thing was happening all over his kingdom. They kneeled before Sirzechs, before the Satans. Devil kind was finally completely theirs. He crushed the sadness and guilt he felt in his heart. Sirzechs was a sovereign and sovereigns didn't hesitate. They went forward following their dreams until they either won or died.