Cooled Passion Chapter 76: Out Matched

Chapter 76: Out Matched I could feel it, the energy that had been bubbling beneath the surface of my being ever since I killed Loki. It sur

Chapter 76: Out Matched

I could feel it, the energy that had been bubbling beneath the surface of my being ever since I killed Loki. It surged forth, pooling both in my body and not. It was as if it was going somewhere else, somewhere deeper than I could feel, leaving me feeling more than I was before.

The energy rushed to specific areas, two points on the front of my head and pooling at the base of my spine. I also felt an itching sensation tingling between my shoulder blades, running up and down my back.

I noticed all of that, but distantly. The majority of my attention was focused on the sheer all-consuming rage that was thumping through my head.

There was a reason I was keeping Runeas around, more than the difficulty that would be involved in removing her and keeping my plans for Rias on track. She was disinterested in politics, content to sleep the centuries away, hardly ever personally acting. She had even attempted to stay out of the Civil War, only being brought into it due to a direct attack on her home in an attempt to strike against Sirzechs.

So why? Why was she so interested in me, that she broke from this pattern of behaviour? What was it about this situation that commanded her attention so? What was her goal here?

I finally had my answer.

There is just no way she had ‘coincidentally’ stumbled across this information after Gabriel convinced me to participate in Ragnarök. No, if she actually was telling the truth, this would have been known for years at this point. With as much of a problem I have been making of myself for the New Satans, them failing to discover this was out of the question.

Which meant she knew. Which is why she has been so interested in me. That also meant that she had not told me, for her own ends. Either to manipulate me or to use it against me later, I cared not which. I knew now, both what she had been hiding and the fact that it was hidden from me.

“Do you believe me stupid, Gremory?” I hissed, the overwhelming power settling around us like a cloak, “Some idiot who merely believes whatever is fed to him?”

“I…” She choked out, being squashed to the floor by the pressure, “Don’t think that…”

“How long?” I asked, voice coming out deceptively calm.

“What?” She gasped.

“How long have you known, Gremory? How long have you kept the truth from me?” I growled out, idly noting that Ranni had appeared from my shadow, her cool hand resting on my arm, “Answer me!”

Guided by instinct, my Demonic Power leaping to fulfil my will, I reached into the squirming being before me and twisted.

Runeas panted, a pained sound escaping as she spat out, “Since I first saw you!”

I gritted my teeth, my fury spiking at the answer, My foot lashed out and dug into the soft side of the wretch before me. She was flipped onto her back, her wide eyes staring up, locked onto my own. Rather than fear or distress, the main expression I could see in the purple orbs was awe.

I scowled at that, the energy within twisting even further, causing her face to expand into a rictus of pain.

“Wow.” A nonchalant voice sounded out, completely unconcerned with the swirling energy and palpable tension, “Nice horns, Sagan.”

My attention was turned to the source, blinking as I was greeted with the sight of Tiamat in her human form, looking at me in appreciation. She was floating leisurely outside the windows of the office, which I only now noticed were shattered, as if a bomb had gone off inside the room. I blinked, the upward ascent of my anger paused by the surprise.

“Consort.” The calm voice of Ranni sounded softly, “If thou wish to kill this Devil, I will not stop thee. However, it should be a decision that is made with a sound mind.”

I took in a deep breath, heeding her advice. My emotions, my Sins, were running rampant, completely destroying the control that I had built up so carefully. I rectified that, grasping the conflicting, tangled angry ball of hate and forcing it to submit.

The power that was flowing through me was not so easily contained, the breaking of the seal apparently dumping the entirety of what Ranni had stolen from Loki into me at once. I turned back towards the Devil who was breathing heavily on the floor, sucking in large lungfuls of air as the pressure that had been weighing down on her receded.

“If she pissed you off that much, I could simply eat her.” Tiamat offered, barely sparing a glance at the ancient, eyes still locked onto my forehead.

Reaching up, I felt around the area, surprised to feel the hard bone of horns jutting from the skin. Putting it off for later, I responded.

“Unfortunately, it is not so simple. It is known that she is visiting here, her disappearance would be all the confirmation they would need to know we killed her.” I looked down at Runeas, whose eyes had yet to leave me, “Runeas. What was your plan? Do not lie.”

The last words echoed, reverberating with more than mere sound. Runeas, the target of the command, shuddered.

“I wanted to stop you from fighting the New Satans, while placing you on the Throne of Hell.” She answered,

I frowned, knowing without a doubt that she was telling the truth through this weird additional sense I had acquired. Still, her answer was proof that although I could compel truthfulness, I could not force one to give a full answer.

Why would she want me on the Throne of Hell? How would that aid her? She was very supportive of Rias, making her the new Head of the House before her time and personally tutoring the girl. Additionally, she was very supportive of the girl’s training sessions with me, taking the opportunity to come with and poke and prod every time.

Tiamat had taken my introspection as permission, softly alighting in the office and gently reaching out to curiously touch the horns I was now sprouting. I let her, more concerned with the puzzle I had been given.

She wanted the Gremory to be tied to the one on the Throne? But that didn’t make any sense, its current occupant was Zekram, in all but name. The Gremory were already linked to him, through Venelana’s marriage. My mind turned to the last time I saw the woman, used as a pawn for the older devil. Was that it? She wanted to groom me to view her and the Gremory favourably, thus allowing her to become the power behind the Throne? That could only happen if...

“You really did believe I was a fool, or easily misled.” I spat out, anger sparking once more, “Playing both sides against each other, picking one only once it was clear who would win. Then expecting to be rewarded for it? Why would you think I would possibly trust you?”

She smiled, a pained, difficult thing, “I keep my word, always. Once I make a promise, I follow through.”

“Forgive me for not believing that.” I spat, “Seeing as you planned to change sides opportunistically. Do you honestly believe that you could direct me, even with a formal alliance?”

“I’m still alive, am I not?” Was the sardonic answer.

I was sorely tempted to change that, but was stopped as a swirling vortex appeared near Ranni, a pale, small form stepping out and looking around curiously.

“Why did you leave?” She asked, voice flat.

“My apologies, mine consort was in distress, so I went to lend my aid.” Ranni responded, “I regret that it interfered with my granting of thy silence.”

“Is that the cause?” The little dragon asked, looking down at Runeas, who had finally taken her eyes off of me and was looking at the newcomer in confusion, “Should I kill her?”

She raised an arm, pausing as I interjected, “Please don’t, Ophis. It would cause a lot of trouble and noise if you did.”

“You’re a lot noisier as well. Troublesome.” She remarked, cold eyes turning my way, before her head tilted, “But it’s not annoying? Strange.”

“Wait. Ophis?” Runeas gasped out, eyes welling with fear and terror, “The Ouroboros?”

“Shut up.” The subject of her question snapped, “I’m thinking.”

“Ophis.” Ranni spoke, her eyes asking me a question to which I nodded, “Let us return, so that I may provide thy silence once more.”

“Very well.” The dragon responded distractedly, taking Ranni’s hand as both disappeared in a shimmer of blue.

I could still feel her however, the Dark Moon’s attention remaining fixed on me. Thanks to my new senses, it was even easier and more detailed to feel than before.

I was surprised however, as the shaking, pale form of Runeas rose up, throwing herself at my feet, all but grovelling.

“Lord Sagan. Lord Lucifer.” She pleaded, “I swear fealty to you!”

---XXX---

“So I’m staying for some time to make sure everything is settled here.” She spoke, the phone in her grasp trembling despite her best efforts, “Expect me to come back sometime next week.”

“Are you sure? That’s a lot of time to spend away from the house, especially for you.” came the worried voice from the speaker.

“I’m sure. It’s better that we keep a close watch on the situation.” She responded, swallowing.

“All right then. Would you like to speak to Sirzechs about it, or...?” Her descendant trailed off, unsure.

“No no, you tell him. I should get back to it.” She assured him, swiftly afterwards ending the call.

She threw the phone carelessly away from her, the clattering sound it made doing little to make her feel better.

“I was supposed to take that from you.” Came the dry voice of the green-haired Sagan Queen.

“I’m not stopping you.” She responded, letting out a shuddering sigh.

“Cute.” Her expression didn’t change, but her disapproval was palpable.

CC raised her hand, bringing the phone to it magically as she preceded to stalk out of the room, leaving Runeas alone with the Head Maid. The blonde nodded to her, hands held professionally in front of her stomach.

“The guest rooms are available to you, but please don’t try to leave this wing. You are here as a guest, Damocles asked us to keep you comfortable, but that does not mean you are allowed to look into our private areas.” She spoke, her voice much more expressive than the rest of the Sagan Peerage, yet still full of disdain for her.

Funnily enough, despite her swearing her fealty to Damocles, a contract that even now she can feel tugging on her, it did little to warm up his other servants to her. In fact, they seemed to take it as a sign to drop the thin façade and reveal just how hostile they truly were to her and hers. Something that she thought she knew the depths of, but was apparently severely underestimating.

She bowed her head to the girl, hoping to display submission and bleed off some of that hostility, “Thank you. I will not test my new Lord’s trust.”

Better to keep it simple, for now.

“As you say.” Naomi responded, before she turned her heel and left, not even bothering with a parting.

Runeas was suddenly the last one in the room, causing her to feel free to sink her head into her hands, considering just how to salvage this whole mess. She didn’t believe for a second that they were not watching her closely, but for now, she had absolutely no intention of pushing them any further. She needed to consider just what she had learned.

Her power was that of Fortune. Luck smiled on her, events seemed to arrange themselves in her favour and if she really pushed it, she could even force a beneficial outcome from mere happenstance. She knew, of course, that her power was hardly infallible, there existed many people that could simply ignore it, or suppress its effects.

However, it had never lied. If she determined that this was the most favourable moment to act with her coin, it was the best time possible. There were limits to this, as had been shown recently.

She had almost died. The Sagan, the newly awakened Lucifer, had been perfectly willing and capable to go through with it. The only thing that snapped him out of his rage was the lucky intervention of his Goddess and Tiamat. That, more than anything, proved that her coin didn’t steer her wrong. She was also fortunate that Ranni was not present for the start of the conversation, allowing her to use her Power liberally during it, at least until she suddenly appeared from Damocles’ shadow and suppressed it.

Another factor was the fact that Damocles had to leave immediately afterwards to go to a previously agreed on meeting with the Yokai in Japan. Truly, this was the best possible time that she could have had this conversation.

And it went catastrophically.

She had almost been executed by the newly risen True Devil. She was stronger than him. She knew this for a fact, her reserves of Demonic Power were massive in comparison to his own. Yet, at that moment, it didn’t matter in the slightest. Reaching to her breast, she laid a hand over her heart, remembering the sensation of his Power intruding into her very core and simply refusing every attempt she made at mustering resistance.

She had never felt so powerless, so totally overwhelmed. Even when he had calmed down and his hysterical strength had mostly faded, looking up at him from the place he had kicked her to, her instincts screamed at her that this was not a being she could defeat.

She always wondered why Lucifer controlled the 72 Pillars. She had seen which way the wind was blowing, but the others were all prideful and arrogant, even those created by Lucifer and his Concubine, not raised from the Primordial Demons, should have chaffed under his grasp. Yet they didn’t. Could this strange hold Damocles had over her be the reason? Or was that merely the Power of Binding undergoing an evolution and Lucifer really was that charismatic?

She didn’t know. In the end it didn’t even matter, due to what happened next.

The Ouroboros, hiding itself in the form of a young woman.

It had simply torn its way into the meeting, perturbed with Ranni having been called away from whatever they were doing. After realising just what she was faced with, Runeas had a grim, devastating realisation.

They lost. The Gremory, the New Satans, Bael, the entirety of Hell mustering all its forces and attacking the Sagan at once? With the Infinite present and seemingly allied with the Dark Moon, they lost, easily. They had a discussion a while ago, on whether Sirzechs could defeat Ranni. He was confident that if she stayed at the level of power she was currently projecting, he could, but they were unsure of her upper limit.

Even if this really was the summit, the fact that Ophis was friendly with her meant that it didn’t matter. The Infinite and the Dream was beyond reality, so ludicrously strong that the very thought of fighting them was laughable.

Worse, when the Great Dragon went to strike her down, Damocles told it to stop, and it did. It listened to him, allowing him to direct it.

That was horrifying. The implications... They were in a much worse situation than any of them realised, closer to complete destruction than any of them expected. She had been in a panic, seeing just what sort of force the Sagan had amassed to himself. So seeing him there, so powerful, commanding, six wings spread and rippling with power, horned and tailed, she threw herself at his feet and begged to enter his service.

Then, after ensuring that she was serious, he had branded her with his crest, slapping it onto her thigh almost carelessly. He informed he said it would key her into the wards, then stated that he would deal with ‘this mess’ after he returned, as he was already running late for his meeting.

Surely, she did arrive at the most fortunate time.

She didn’t believe for a second that her brand meant she could freely come and go, no, it was more likely that they would use it to monitor her.

She was a prisoner here, at least for the next week or so. She also had some time, time with which she needed to come up with a plan. She had realised that she was labouring under a misconception.

Damocles wouldn’t take the Throne of Hell because he was a descendant of Lucifer. He would take it because he was Damocles. She knew that he was preparing for conflict, but she assumed it was a play for independence or a role similar to that the current Satans occupied. Now, faced with the fact that he had a goddess of unknown power and the Infinite in his corner, she realised that his ambitions were already much higher, even without her involvement.

Her own plans to mould him into a good ruler were in tatters, now she needed to come up with new ones.

More specifically, she needed to figure out how she could save the highest number of her family members from the wrath of her new Lord, and fast.