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Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 75
🕑 Added 2025-03-01 01:48:53 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
February 10, 2008 - Grayfia Pov .
"There is news about Lady Prince," I said once I entered Sirzechs' office, who looked up from the documents in front of him and looked at me curiously.
" Oooh? Something interesting?" Sirzechs asked curiously. I approached the desk and handed him several papers. Sirzechs took them between his fingers and looked at them quickly, his eyebrows raised slightly.
"Rating Game? So soon? " Sirzechs asked in disbelief. I nodded.
"Yes, Lady Prince has just enrolled in the Rating Game. I have personally confirmed it with Pandemonica-sama." I confirmed with a nod. Sirzechs frowned before flipping through the pages in his hand.
"Does she have a Peerage?" Sirzechs asked. I nodded.
"It already has four members. A queen, a bishop, and two pawns." Sirzechs frowned again.
"Not even a week has passed." Sirzechs pointed out as he looked through the papers. "Queen Piece: Bellatrix Black. Princess of Wallachia. A mage of the Golden Dawn. Prodigy in offensive spells and magic dueling. Nothing else of note."
"Bishop Piece: Enid Sinclair, a member of the Quileute tribe, is a shapeshifter. She possesses an unknown Sacred Gear."
"Pawn Piece: Narcissa Black. Also, the Princess of Wallachia. Mage of Golden Dawn, no notable field."
"Pawn piece: Lucius Malfoy. Member of Grauzauberer. Nothing remarkable."
"This is all the information we have on her Peerage?" Sirzechs asked with a frown as he looked at the paper. I nodded.
"It is, that was all I could find on them without involving Golden Dawn or the Greys directly. There is also some mundane information that is not worth mentioning. A few days ago, they took the train to reach the Underworld, so they are properly registered as reincarnated devils under Lady Prince, all living in her new territory."
"Yes... the island near the Sitri territory." Sirzechs hummed before stopping stiffly. "This... is this wrong? It says here that only she and her queen will participate in the Rating Game." Sirzechs pointed at the paper. I made a slight grimace.
"Again, confirmed with Pandemonica-sama, the information is correct; no reason was given as to why their other three members will not be showing up for the fight." I said quickly, Sirzechs wrinkled his nose slightly.
" Mmm… the only contracts Miss Prince had were with her queen and bishop. It was possibly a non-negotiable condition on her queen's part to join her Peerage, to use her pawns for her sister and her fiancé. They may be simply non-combatants." I frowned.
"Wasting two pieces, even if they are pawns, to bring a single person to her side, and even offering her the queen piece… she must be somewhat powerful, but what could convince her? " I said as Sirzechs nodded thoughtfully.
"And that's the question, isn't it? To make those concessions, it would have to be something on the level of a Longinus at least, or close to it. There must be something really special about her not to mind that waste." Sirzechs hummed. "Something's odd about her bishop? About why she won't be participating? " he asked. I shook my head.
"None, she's a shapeshifter, from what I could tell, a wolf several times larger than normal. Faster, stronger, more durable. She's definitely several steps above your average newly reincarnated devil. That's not even taking into account her unknown Sacred Gear. It's... weird that she doesn't participate." I said, confused.
"Interesting, the only thing I can think of is that either she thinks her bishop isn't ready, or she wants to hide her for some reason." Sirzechs said before shrugging. "It doesn't matter, either way; sooner or later, we'll find out. Stay tuned."
"Yes, Lucifer-sama," I said simply.
"Is there a set date for this Rating Game and an opponent?" Sirzechs asked, and I nodded.
"3 days from now and her opponent has already been chosen…" I said before stopping, making a face. "…and it's Riser Phenex." Sirzechs went completely still before slowly turning towards me.
"A Phenex… against a rookie, a low-class devil like a succubus… was it fixed?" Sirzechs asked in a deadly serious tone. I grimaced again.
"I didn't find any obvious signs of tampering, but… It's almost certain that it was." I finally said, Sirzechs sighed.
"6 Rating Games, all victories, even though Riser is strong for his age, he didn't have to fight against anyone who is used to the Phenex's regeneration, and all the types of Rating Game were favorable to his combat style. Someone is definitely pulling the strings." Sirzechs said tiredly.
"It's not like the other Pillar Devils don't do the same." I said dryly before I could stop myself. Sirzechs let out a tired laugh but didn't deny it; after all, it was true. Every family, if possible, tried to arrange fights against favorable enemies for their younger members.
"Unfortunately, there is nothing to be done at this point." Sirzechs said, "Still, leave some space in my schedule to watch the Rating Game."
"Of course, Lucifer-sama, should I reserve seats at the stadium?" I asked quickly.
" Satan, no! " Sirzechs snorted, "If I'm seen in a rookie Rating Game, I'll draw too much attention, and while I can use the angle of being there for Riser, Ria-tan will definitely get mad at me." Sirzechs pouted.
"I definitely won't be talking to you for weeks."
" Gah! What cruel things you say, Grayfia-chan! " Sirzechs said dramatically while clutching his chest. I smiled lightly. "But back to you, no, just make sure it's transmitted properly, we'll just be watching it on the screen." I nodded at his request. "Alright, en-oh? A message from Ajuka-chan? " Sirzechs hummed as he played the message.
"Come," Lord Beelzebub's voice echoed through the room. Sirzechs snorted.
"As eloquent as ever." Sirzechs said amusedly as he stood up and stretched lazily. "Come on, let's see what he has to say." I said simply, I walked over to him before a teleportation circle enveloped us. "Ajuka-chan!! I'm here!! " Sirzechs exclaimed once we appeared in Lord Beelzebub's laboratory.
"Sirzechs." Lord Beelzebub frowned. "Who is she?" He asked directly, pointing at one of the screens. Sirzechs blinked several times as he looked at where Lord Beelzebub was pointing.
"Mmm, Lady Prince, a newly promoted succubus." Sirzechs said, 'Confused,' and Ajuka shook his head.
"No, not that. Who. Is. She? " Lord Beelzebub asked slowly again while emphasizing each word. Sirzechs frowned in disbelief.
"That's what we were hoping to find out from you. There's a reason I sent everything to you." Sirzechs said simply. Beelzebub frowned slightly before sighing.
"Come," Lord Beelzebub said before he started walking. "None of my information-gathering methods worked on her." My eyes widened slightly.
"They failed, how? " Sirzechs asked in surprise. Lord Beelzebub grimaced.
"Something or someone is shielding this… Miss Prince's information. Any attempt to acquire information, by divination or scanning, both magical and not, either fails splendidly or there are notable errors in the information given." Lord Beelzebub explained.
"That… that's impressive and terrifying." As Sirzechs said that Lord Beelzebub had dismissed him.
"Not really, it's not the first time someone has been able to hide information. There are hundreds of ways to do it. But by the same token, there are several ways to… bypass those information blocks. It's just that Miss Prince's defenses are some of the strongest I've seen, if not the strongest." Lord Beelzebub said with a small smile. "Whoever is behind this, they knew what they were doing, and they're definitely above the level of a high-class devil."
"You think she has someone protecting her." Sirzechs said simply, Lord Beelzebub nodded.
"It's definitely the most likely option, but we can't rule out that she's the one doing it herself, after all, I found more interesting things about her," Lord Beelzebub added.
"Um, excuse me, Lord Beelzebub." I interrupted both of them. Lord Beelzebub looked at me and nodded. "How did you know you were getting wrong information if you have no way to verify it?" I asked curiously, Lord Beelzebub nodded.
"Good question, and it's for the simple fact that nothing made sense," Lord Beelzebub said simply.
"So you didn't find out anything?" Sirzechs asked incredulously. Lord Beelzebub snorted.
"Now, I didn't say that," Lord Beelzebub said. "At first, I started to look at it sideways while I was putting off another project of mine, as a favor to you. There wasn't really anything interesting, all the data looked normal, until I started to look through it properly and I realized that none of it made any sense."
"She may have an… information defense that prevents magic or technology from gathering information about her, or worse, gives completely wrong information, but any information that can be deduced from simple observation is completely valid."
"And all I had to do was start doing all the necessary calculations mentally and check it against what the sensors were showing me to verify that they were giving me erroneous information. From there, it was just a matter of checking how far those defenses extended." Lord Beelzebub said simply, Sirzechs nodded slowly.
"Okay, I can see how that's a problem. Did you find out anything about her?"
"Actually, several things. Let's start with the easiest." Lord Beelzebub said as he manipulated the screens, one of which showed the back and palm of Lady Prince’s hand, specifically her tattoos. Which had been copied onto other screens for clarity. "While any form of research on the Succubus failed, if I started taking data on the surrounding area around her, I was more successful."
"What I discovered is that her ability to use fire and ice magic is rare. There is an initial spark of demonic power, but she doesn't seem to use any more demonic power to create the fire. Normally, when a devil uses magic, the demonic power leaks outwards, so the sensors should be able to detect it. When some kind of sustained effect is created, the magic continues to leak out constantly, but in this case, it doesn't, or it uses so little that the sensors placed in the stadium failed to pick up."
"It doesn't use demonic power? How? Even the pillar traits need demonic power to work." Sirzechs said, confused.
"And that's the question, I don't know for sure, I’d have to see her personally to understand what she uses, but what I found out is how her fire magic works. If you can even call it that." Lord Beelzebub said with a smile. "Look here." He said, pointing at one of the screens, which began playing clips of Lady Prince snapping her fingers in slow motion.
The spark shot out from his fingers, like a thread or a path that seemed to ignite, and at high speed, it connected with his opponent before creating a burst of fire on its target. Lord Beelzebub manipulated the screen once more. It was not the first time he had seen the image that Lord Beelzebub was displaying, an image that captured the use of demonic power. The videos began to repeat, with a spectrum of colors overlaying the image. And sure enough, there was a barely noticeable and very irregular spark of demonic power only when she snapped her fingers. It was so fleeting and so fast that it was barely noticeable.
The image on the screen changed once again. Now, I didn’t know what I was looking at, but it looked like a light blue shadow that covered the entire screen. When Lady Prince brought her fingers together, the light blue shadow immediately deformed, and even in slow motion, the movement was fast; the entire light blue shadow gathered around the devil named Hood, and a thread connected him to Lady Prince. The instant the light blue shadow completely covered its target in an intense blue, Lady Prince snapped her fingers, and a spark was generated. Then the entire blue shadow caught fire.
"What is that?" Sirzechs asked directly.
"All the fields created for the Rating Game have many sensors, all to make sure that it remains stable even in the harshest conditions. One of them is capable of tracking specific particles and molecules within the field. That was the succubus, manipulating oxygen as she pleases, without a shred of demonic power." Lord Beelzebub said with his eyes fixed on the screen. Sirzechs's and my eyebrows rose.
"Manipulating oxygen?" he asked incredulously. Lord Beelzebub nodded.
"She's not creating fire, she's manipulating oxygen and gathering it to create a highly flammable substance. The initial demonic power is when she creates just the spark, that's all she needs to ignite the manipulated oxygen and, boom, instant fire." Lord Beelzebub explained.
"Now, the only question is, how does she manage to manipulate oxygen without any demonic power or other energy powers? Because, believe me, I checked all the energy spectrums that the sensors can pick up, and the only time she uses demonic power is either at the beginning, for the initial spark. Or at the end, to directly manipulate fire and add properties to it, such as more heat or even making it solid." Lord Beelzebub said, slightly impressed.
"No idea?" Sirzechs asked with a frown. Lord Beelzebub shrugged.
"The stadium's sensors aren't the best, so it's not possible to do a full study of what's going on, but there are two very likely things. Either she's using soul energy or natural energy." said Lord Beelzebub.
"Soul energy? Isn't that exaggerated? " Sirzechs asked in disbelief. Lord Beelzebub shrugged.
"I said, maybe, I certainly lean more towards natural energy, maybe not completely senjutsu, but something close to it." Lord Beelzebub said before pointing to another screen. "Now, on to HOW she does it." The tattoo on the screen enlarged, this
"A magic circle?" I asked, confused.
"That's the interesting thing," Lord Beelzebub said noncommittally, "I don't recognize the circle from any magic I've ever seen." Again, Sirzechs' and my eyes widened. That was worrying, Lord Beelzebub was practically a bible of all magic in the world, after all, it was necessary for his Kankara Formula. "But I do recognize the symbols from something else." Sirzechs and I sighed in relief.
"Where did you find them?" Sirzechs asked.
"Alchemy, human alchemy." Lord Beelzebub said with a smile.
"Wait, wasn't human alchemy just... useless? It was the attempt to create human magic before it was completely ignored by mages when Faust and Mephisto Pheles created Grauzauberer." I said quickly, Lord Beelzebub nodded.
"The same." Lord Beelzebub said as the screens changed once more, this time showing the more precise circle as its symbols separated and showed to the side. "Interestingly, it's quite simple, the triangles with lines pointing down represent earth, the ones pointing up represent air. The triangle in the middle represents fire."
"The salamander, again representing fire, humans believed that salamanders lived inside the fire itself, appearing spontaneously when the wood burned. And the flame at the top is the final product."
"If interpreted correctly, it would be that an earthy substance is flammable. But the air is what keeps the flames burning, or what is used on the air; it depends on the interpretation. The salamander is the spontaneous appearance, while the flame is the final product that is expected to arrive. All of that somehow allows it to manipulate oxygen to create fire. It is simple but effective."
"Now, the big question is... was she able to interpret and make human alchemy work properly? Or, did she use the basics of alchemy to create her own personal magic?" Lord Beelzebub asked with a huge smile. He was completely excited, and there was no need to ask why.
Personal Magic. Magic that is rarely seen among Devils. Most Devils, especially Pillars, are… lazy, relying too much on their bloodline trait so they never explore magic to its full extent. Sirzechs was one of them. He pushed his clan trait to the highest limit and broke through it, creating a new level. He was a prodigy, but if he were to use only magic? He would be left far behind.
Lord Beelzebub was one of the few who had created his own personal magic, and he was a scholar who took great delight in discovering and creating new things. Seeing a devil with a fully functional new personal magic? It would definitely make him excited.
Lady Prince had become more interesting than before.
"Wait, that would be just amazing, but wasn't human alchemy about converting one element into another? How does it work to manipulate oxygen? " Sirzechs asked, confused. Lord Beelzebub nodded.
"Humans were trying to manipulate and alter matter. That's what human alchemy is all about. They certainly weren't very successful. At least not more than they could already do with the already established magic system. However, it appears that Lady Prince was able to complete the magic system and make it function. Or at least the part about manipulating matter."
"The circle on the back of her hand manipulates oxygen for fire, while the circles on her palm manipulate water molecules. If I'm right, not only can it freeze anything it touches, but it can manipulate water in any of its three states and do whatever she wants with it." Lord Beelzebub explained as he showed the second circle.
"Water and fire, good combination, covering their bases." Sirzechs said honestly. "But what are the circles necessary for?" he asked, confused. Lord Beelzebub shrugged.
"It's her magic system; she has the answers." Lord Beelzebub said simply. "It could be anything from completely necessary for the magic system to work, to purely aesthetic. Or perhaps it's just to help with speed. Many times, there is an initial delay when devils want to use more complicated magic, maybe she's not really good at casting magic. But as you can see in the videos, Lady Prince's magic is practically instantaneous, and that could be thanks to the tattoos."
"More and more questions," Sirzechs said as he sighed tiredly, while Lord Beelzebub looked excited. "At least you found out something about Hrunting?" Lord Beelzebub's eyes shone slightly.
"That is a completely different beast." Lord Beelzebub said excitedly. "Everything you could deduce is correct, especially the chant. It was only one sentence, but the amount of magic power it gave off was impressive for a high-class devil. And so was the effect it had on the battlefield."
Lord Beelzebub manipulated the screens again to show Lady Prince as she summoned Hrunting before a specter filter appeared over the screens again.
"Whatever that chant did, it began to warp the entire pocket space. Almost as if it wanted to take over and change it into its own image. I have no idea what the result of completing the chant would be, but it was definitely trying to summon something. Place something over reality."
"And that's what she did with Hrunting. It wasn't created on the spot; it was 'summoned' from somewhere else." Lord Beelzebub said, fascinated.
" Wait, summoned? Like she's pulling it out of another dimension? That's not particularly rare. I mean, there are plenty of people who do that with mighty weapons when they don't want to carry them around all the time. Vasco Estrada did exactly that with his holy swords, especially Durandal." Sirzechs pointed out.
"Yes, but whatever Miss Prince does is different. As you know, people don't really create new pocket dimensions; it's cumbersome, it's difficult, and it's inefficient. The amount of magic needed to create and maintain a stable new dimension is not something just anyone can do."
"So most pocket dimensions are the same. You isolate a piece of the dimensional gap, anchor it to a person, and all you have to do is open and close a path to them. It's quick and easy, that's what we do with the dimensions used for the Rating Game."
"But whatever Miss Prince was trying to bring into the world, it was definitely not within the dimensional gap. The gap emits a distinct and recognizable energy. Since the battlefield is within the gap, there are sensors everywhere to keep the field stabilized, making it easy to notice this kind of energy —an energy that Miss Prince did not emit.
"So, all I can tell you is that Hrunting was real, or at least real enough to fool all my sensors and calculations." Lord Beelzebub finished, fascinated, as Sirzechs massaged his temple.
"Okay, again, that leaves me with more questions than answers. Luckily, there's going to be a Rating Game soon; it's possible we can find out something more." Sirzechs said with a few sighs.
"Oh?" Lord Beelzebub looked excitedly at Sirzechs, and Sirzechs smiled at his friend.
"Don't worry, I'll tell Grayfia-chan to tell you the schedule." Sirzechs looked at me, and I nodded.
"Of course, Sirzechs-sama, I'll take care of it." I said simply as I bowed. I definitely didn't know if Lady Prince was lucky or not. We'll see.
