Camellya_Addams
patreon
Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 93
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 01:27:48 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"normal dialogue"
"mental link"
~Parsel~
Allomancy and Feruchemy. That's what was described in those papers, everything I could do with my 16 metals. Inside the papers, I listed 32 abilities I had when using the metals in different ways. There was nothing written about Hemalurgy; stealing attributes wasn't something I wanted anyone to know about.
Plus, there were only the basic ways to use the metal arts, nothing about how to combine them to better utilize them, and nothing about Compounding. How to improve Feruchemy through Allomancy to achieve an almost absurd multiplier on all attributes. And there was definitely nothing about god metals.
But it was more than enough. A full Allomancer, a Mistborn, or a full Feruchemist were powerful enough on their own, but both at the same time? It was more than enough to convince any devil.
Pillar traits weren't always that powerful or particularly useful. For example, Vapula and Furcas, lion and horse tamers, respectively. Unless you were lucky enough, like Sairaorg, to manage to tame a Longinus-level beast like Regulus Nemea, some clan traits just weren't strong enough.
Having 32 powers stacked up one after the other, and some of them being extremely useful? Yeah, it was something to consider.
"Hook, line, and sinker," Lucius laughed mentally. "He wants to bring your metal arts to the Phenex family."
"What, how?" I asked without letting a facial muscle move.
"Now? It won't do anything; just guarantee this union. But later? Once you're engaged and you're more attached to Ravel? A marriage contract, like with the Gremorys. Maybe for your children, maybe for your grandchildren. Rely completely on your fertility to have multiple children. The more you have, the more likely you are to accept some future engagement in their names." Lucius said with a frown.
"No! Our children will stay with us! We won't be selling any of them!" Enid snarled through the bond. My eyes widened slightly before I could control my expression. I glanced sideways and saw Enid fuming, her nails sticking out of her hands, almost snarling.
"Enid!" I exclaimed mentally, waking her from her anger. She instantly recovered her expression and put on a calmer one, although she was tremblingly biting her lip and mentally looked as if she was about to cry. "Enid, calm down. I'm not upset, and I assure you, no one will take our children, nor will we sell them. The choice will be entirely theirs." I said softly into her mind.
"I'm...sorry," Enid apologized.
"You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong," I mentally assured her. Enid took a deep breath and nodded almost imperceptibly. I glanced over and saw Enid take Bella's hand under the table, seeking comfort. Bella took it without any problem, causing Enid to visibly calm down.
"Much better?" I asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," Enid said ruefully, biting her lip.
"Don't worry, just remember, no one is selling our 'children" I said playfully. Enid blushed slightly.
"Don't bother me," Enid moaned mentally.
"This… this is incredible," Ravel muttered as she continued to stare at the paper in disbelief, causing us to pay attention once again. "They're 32 completely independent abilities. Can you store multiple attributes at the same time? Can you use multiple instances of them at the same time? Do they use demonic power? How long can you use these abilities? Do they interfere with each other, or can they be used beneficially by stacking them? Like using pewter to increase your physical abilities and then storing physical strength to be able to store more. Or increasing your weight to push metals with greater force. Or-"
Ravel stopped and blushed deeply. I smiled broadly at her.
"Trying to find out the secrets of my clan trait before we get married? How bold of you, Ravel." I purred her name, making Ravel blush even more.
"I didn't- I mean- I didn't mean to!" she exclaimed, embarrassed. I chuckled.
"Don't worry. But let's see... yeah, I can store several at once. I can also use all 32 abilities at once if I need to, but that would be really stupid because some of them cancel each other out. That answers it next: some interfere with each other, but others can benefit from each other's pushes. They do use a bit of demonic power, but I'm more likely to run out of metals than demonic power, except in rare circumstances."
"And lastly, your ideas were certainly correct. I can do that and more." I smiled at Ravel. She had a twinkle in her eyes and bit her lip. It seemed she wanted to continue talking about my abilities, but she held back.
"How strong is this nicrosil enhancement? And how strong are the chromium effects?" Ruval asked, frowning as he pointed at the paper. Of course, I'd chosen exactly that. I'd left out the parts about them enhancing or removing combustions and Allomantic reserves. Instead, I said they enhance and remove demonic power and magic. After all, it was true. And since I'm the 'only one who can use metal arts, there was no point in talking about supposed other people.
"Chromium can remove both demonic and magical power as long as it hits a target. And as for strength? It depends. If they're weaker than me, I can quickly deplete their reserves, but they might be able to resist it if they're stronger than me or have better control over their demonic power." I said honestly. "Now, nicrosil, and by extension, duralumin. It's literally a power explosion. It rips out all available demonic or magical power and instantly enhances whatever you're working on."
"That sounds miraculous," Ruval said, impressed. I snorted.
"It's dangerous," I said tersely. Several of them looked at me curiously. I wrinkled my nose. "Let's take any Bael that has the power of destruction available. Now, suppose we want to enhance one of their attacks. If that Bael devil doesn't have enough control: to control the power of destruction to abnormal levels, it's likely that the Bael devil and I will end up obliterated by the uncontrolled power of destruction." They all grimaced.
"How strong is your regeneration with gold?" Revive asked curiously. The Phenex fell silent, and I smiled.
"As long as I have health left? I'm on par with the Phenex." I said with a wide smile.
"So… how much health do you have stored?" Revive asked carefully. I smiled even wider.
"Yes." I said arrogantly. Revive gulped audibly. I could see Lord Phenex starting to plan in his mind, but I was distracted by Riser's snort.
"So your weakness is having all the gold and metals removed from your body?" Riser asked dryly. I chuckled.
"Riser, I've had years, and much longer within my time bubbles to store attributes and accumulate metals. I have more than enough reserves to keep me alive for a long time." I said amusedly. Riser wrinkled his nose.
"There's a limited amount of metal you can carry," Riser replied. I laughed in amusement and held out my hand. I showed Riser my empty palm, turned it over, and made a fist before opening it once more, this time with a single gold bead between my index and ring fingers. I made a fist again, turned it over once more, and opened my hand again. This time I had multiple gold beads between my fingers.
I closed my fist once more, this time facing down. I made a fist and opened my hand. I dropped hundreds of gold beads onto the table.
"When I realized I needed to carry metals around, the first thing I did was solve that problem," I said playfully. Riser looked on in disbelief, as did the others. I lowered my hand and touched the gold beads, sending them back into my inventory. I wasn't worried that he knew I could carry a stash of metal anywhere. It wouldn't make a difference.
My inventory was practically my entire mansion on my island. I could retrieve anything inside the mansion through the inventory. And there was a lot, a lot of metal accumulated. There was only one vault within the inventory that was special. When it was closed, time didn't run for the items inside the vault.
But with metals, it wasn't necessary. They didn't lose their stored attributes over time. So the vault only contained much more specific things. Like some basilisk organs.
"I refuse to believe it!" Riser exclaimed as he slammed the table. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Which part?" I asked calmly.
"Everything! All of this, these skills! Your metal reserves!" he exclaimed angrily.
"Are you implying that Lord Beelzebub forged the papers? Or that I forged Lord Beelzebub's signature?" I asked again with a smile, Riser gritted his teeth.
"It doesn't matter! The point is, if you had all these abilities, why didn't you ever confront me head-on?!" Riser exclaimed, sounding severely offended. I gave him a mocking smile.
"It must be because you were never really a threat," I said mockingly. he glared at me.
"I want a fight! You against me! Now! No holding back!" Riser exclaimed.
"You never defeated my queen, I don't know if you're worth it." I mocked him again.
"Your queen is cheating; she regenerates!" Riser exclaimed. I could hear a sigh from every Phenex present at the irony of his words.
"I'm sure all the other devils think the same about the Phenex," I said dryly. Riser blushed slightly but was still glaring at me.
"So you're scared?!" Riser prompted me.
"Riser," Lord Phenex said simply.
"b-but father-" Lord Phenex looked at him, and Riser closed his mouth but gritted his teeth.
"Although... Riser's delivery... leaves much to be desired, I must admit that I am also curious about your... capabilities and those of this... trait." Lord Phenex said, staring at me.
"-and also being a succubus." Lucius finished Lord Phenex's unspoken words mentally.
"Father! Brother!" Ravel exclaimed in horror but was stopped by her mother. I looked at Lord Phenex and stared at him boredly.
"And what did you have in mind, Lord Phenex?" I drawled out his name as I asked boredly. Lord Phenex looked at me.
"Since Riser is so…eager and has already challenged you to a duel, let it be exactly that. A showdown between the two of you," Lord Phenex said simply. I hummed and sighed. I certainly couldn't escape this.
"Of course, I'd be happy to show off my abilities," I said simply as I looked at Lord Phenex. Ravel looked at me worriedly, and I just smiled slightly.
"Ha! Finally, you won't be able to escape! And no potions are allowed!" Riser quickly added. I rolled my eyes.
"If I could make a suggestion…" Lucius said next to me with a smile.
"What are you doing?" I asked him curiously mentally, I didn't care if he interrupted the conversation.
"Setting a precedent," he said simply. Now, I was curious.
"It's pretty obvious that, regardless of the outcome of said duel, Ravel and my king's engagement will still take place. So… why not make this duel, a spectacle, let's say…" Lucius smiled "Let the challenge take place during the engagement party; let it be a show of power for the Phenex and my king." My eyes widened slightly.
"Rias?" I asked incredulously in my mind. Lucius laughed.
"Rather, for Lord Lucifer. If we set a precedent among those involved in the engagement, if Rias Gremory fails to break off her engagement in the Rating Game as planned, then Lord Lucifer will not lose any sort of respect for 'suggesting' a duel against the Red Dragon Emperor and Riser as in canon." Lucius said amusedly.
"Lord Phenex will kill me when he finds out," I said dryly. Lucius laughed harder.
"Now, my dear, I would never put you in danger," Lucius said mockingly. "Lord Phenex will only be mildly upset and perhaps go ahead with the marriage," Lucius said jovially. I sighed.
"Mmm, I must admit your pawn just came up with a good idea, Lady Prince," Lord Phenex said, considering Lucius's idea.
"How much should I hold back?" I mentally asked Lucius.
"Nothing, in actuality, the more you brag, the better," Lucius said, and I couldn't help but be surprised. Lucius mentally laughed. "We are about to found a city to protect some devils, especially succubi, from other pillar devils. Most of them, while they are sadistic and like to abuse others, are rather easily scared. If you show most of your power, then we will save a large portion of those devils from making any stupid moves." Lucius said amusedly.
"And those who make moves are simply idiots not to understand that they're completely outmatched," Bella said dryly, but I could feel her bloodlust rising; she was waiting for someone to make an idiotic move. I sighed but mentally nodded.
"Very well, my son Riser will face you, Lady Prince, at the engagement party that will take place in… 3 days." Lord Phenex said, looking at me to check the date.
"So soon?!" I couldn't help but ask out loud.
"Is there a problem? I had the idea that you also wanted this resolved quickly," Lord Phenex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Lucius?!" I exclaimed almost in panic.
"He's anxious. He wants to have you by his side as soon as possible. He wants to prevent you from helping the Gremorys. He wants to draw attention to this engagement. But I don't know why," Lucius said quickly.
"Oh, Rias has been commenting against Riser on social media," Enid chimed in as if it were just something she remembered, which, knowing Enid, is probably true.
"Ah… I see. Thanks for the information, dear. It's just what I was missing. Lord Phenex wants all the devils to focus on this new engagement, on Ravel and you, to shut up and silence Rias. He's nervous, Rias has never been so vocal against the engagement, at least not publicly. He believes you helped them, and they have some secret weapon. The sooner this engagement happens, the less chance there is of you interfering with Riser and Rias's engagement. He believes Ravel can control you." Lucius said quickly.
"Oh? Not really. It just took me by surprise, and it seems I'm not the only one who wants this engagement to happen as soon as possible for some reason." I smiled at Lord Phenex. He simply looked at me without changing his expression.
"I'm merely following my daughter's wishes. She's truly happy and in favor of this engagement, insisting that it be carried out as soon as possible," Lord Phenex said easily. I glanced at Ravel. She smiled shyly.
" She's panicking; she didn't expect it to be in so few days either," Lucius said, and I clicked my tongue mentally. I sighed and smiled at Ravel with a loving look.
"I'm glad she wants this engagement as much as I do. I can't wait until we're engaged." I smiled softly at Ravel. Ravel jumped and looked at me in surprise before blushing deeply.
" And I'm also looking forward to this engagement, Lad -Sera," Ravel said timidly, much calmer and less tense. When I knew what to look for, it was easy to notice. I nodded in her direction and looked at Lord Phenex.
"Then it will be in three days," I said jovially. Lord Phenex nodded, his eyes twinkling. Three days. I guess I'd have to prepare for that.
