The casualness by which Lady Beena ignored the people was shocking. She always had all of her attention on the person she was most interested in at that moment, and the rest of the world could end for all she cared. It was how she had neglected the presence of Silver and Victorian, and engaged Viara in a conversation to ask her all about her life. And the two men seemed to be used to her behavior. They were discussing their matters related to their Organization.
Aizen was holding Lia in his arms as she sat on his lap. She had come to the room and stood by his side like an obedient shadow, and it was after he had pulled her in his embrace and made her sit in his lap that she smiled.
He had not asked her any questions about what Mother of Devils had talked to her. He was curious at the brimming happiness that he felt from their bond, but he decided to not invade her privacy. She would tell him the things he needed to know even if he didn’t ask her. For now, he was just glad that Liafina was happy. She was no longer scared of the woman who was now scaring Viara.
“Where’s Xeina?” He whispered near her ear as he brushed his fingers on her soft tummy.
“With Keira. They had to talk about something, and Xeina asked me to go without her.”
Aizen frowned at her words. He wanted to know that the prideful Angel and the crazy princess had to talk about. They had only met once at the Coronation Ceremony, and that was just a formality. It was nothing warm enough to start a friendship, and it was nothing hot enough to start a rivalry or an enmity.
The journey of his thoughts came to an end when Arianna took her seat by his side. She smiled at him with warm eyes and nodded to him. He was not sure if she had read his mind or not, but he felt as if she was assuring him that nothing wrong would happen.
He smiled back at her and then turned his eyes to the girl with emerald eyes. She was taking her seat right on the right of her Master, and he found her squinting at him.
“Worried about Kazumi?” He asked.
Jalaisha looked at him in surprise and then nodded her head.
“She’s young, but she’s not naïve for her age.”
“And why are you worried?” Aizen nodded to her words and asked.
“I am afraid that she would never speak of her expectations with you, and with all the women around you.”
Aizen chuckled at her words and shook his head.
“You have no idea about my little High-Queen. She knows how to get people to voice their true feelings.” He smiled at her with assurance. “That is why I had sent her to Vienna.”
“I have assured her about it, but she is still worried about her little sister.”
Akira took her seat with Jalaisha and gave him a clue about one of the things they had been discussing when he had entered the room.
“She had a reason to be worried.” Arianna sighed. “After that incident… It was Jalaisha who had brought Kazumi here and raised her. The little girl has spent nearly half her life under Jalaisha’s care. They are quite attached to each other.”
“So you are the one where her knowledge comes from,” He squinted at Jalaisha playfully. “She called me out with some interesting titles.”
His words bloomed the smile on Jalaisha’s face.
“She has always wanted to see a Morningstar since the moment I told her what it meant. She’s quite fascinated with the Laws that Ka’zaed Blood hold, and of course, the Evil existence you are.” She playfully winked at him. “If she makes requests to have you display your range of elements, don’t disappoint her.”
“Disappoint her?”
“I have told her that a Morningstar is capable of wielding every Elenemt there is,” She stopped and then mischievously smiled. “She thinks that you can use all of them.”
Aizen shook his head at her words. She had not told Kazumi how a Morningstar could unlock and attain his affinity to all those Elements, and what their significance was. All of his Elements, other than the Darkness, would come from his women. His women would be the life of those Elements.
“I can only use seven of them,” He sighed.
His words caused the two men to look at him as if he was ungrateful. They stopped their discussion when the matter of his Elements was raised, and now they had their focus on hearing about his Powers.
Arianna giggled when she saw the reaction his words received. The way he had said that he could only use seven was as if he wanted all of them, and seven were not enough for him. There were not many people in the world who could use more than one Element, and she was the only person she knew, who could utilize four of those elements. There was no one else in the two realms who had more Elements than her, except for her Husband. And it added to her Sin of Pride.
“What are the Elements you can control?” Silver asked curiously.
He wouldn’t have answered anyone that question, but he knew that Silver was Arianna’s trusted. She trusted in her Generals with all her Pride, and she was not a girl who would gamble with her Pride.
“I have a perfect affinity to Light, Lightning, Wind, Earth, Wood, and Water. They are the ones that I have received from my wives. And I was born with my Darkness element and Ice, but the latter is not on the same cord as the rest. So I say that for now, I can only utilize the seven Elements.”
Victorian and Silver nodded to him, and then they both seemed to be lost in some thoughts.
“The rare ones with will be hard to attain,” Silver whispered after a while.
“What?” Akira asked curiously.
“The rare Elements,” Victorian nodded to Silver’s words. “Crystal, Metal, Magma, Smoke, Ice, and Lightning. We call them rare since people possessing them are far fewer in numbers compared to the other Element Holders.”
“Lord Aizen has Lightning, and Ice is not the issue,” Silver nodded. “But the rest of the four will be hard. It’s not easy to find people with them, and especially the ones who have a perfect affinity to them.”
Aizen smiled when he heard their words. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“I am not really thinking about that for the moment,” He told them, “But yes, I do want them all.” He nodded to himself.
He didn’t feel the need to hide his intentions in front of them. There was this urge in his veins to be one with all the Elements. He felt as if they were his soul, and his Soul was missing several pieces of it.
Elements were the life of their Holders. They were the pieces that made the individual complete. And the Mysterious connection they had with the Will of an individual was hard to understand. Unlike the Laws, where the person needed Mana to utilize the abilities, Elements were simple. As long as the individual had strength in him, and had the Will, the Element would be with him. The Elements would get weaker as the person weakened, and they would get stronger as the person strengthened. As the strength would fade away little by little in battles, with the utilization of the Elements, the intensity of the Element would diminish as well.
The reason why the Perfect affinity was hailed so much was that the individual would bear far less drain on strength when using the Element. A Perfect Affinity would not suppress or be depressed by the other Elements present in the nature of the individual.
Aizen looked at Silver with curiosity.
“What are your Elements?” He asked.
Silver smiled brightly. He was pleased that Aizen had asked him about it.
“I have three of them,” He nodded with Pride. “Fire, Wind, and Lightning. Perfect Affinity.”
His words surprised everyone who had not known about it. Even Liafina looked curiously at Silver. It was rare for people with three Elements to exist. There were not many of them in the World.
“That’s terrifying,” Akira complimented him with a smile.
The rest of the people on the table nodded to her words.
“Thank you, Lady Akira,” He generously accepted her words.
Aizen chuckled at Silver’s behavior. Devils were known to have unique personalities. They were usually quite different than what they appeared to be. And Silver was such a person. The lazy Aura around him gave the impression that he seldom talked, but he was someone who loved conversing with people.
“And you, Victorian?” He asked the Golden General.
“Metal and Lightning,” Victorian answered with a smile.
“Metal?” Liafina curiously asked.
The little dryad had never before met someone with a Metal Element, and she had never before witnessed how it worked.
Victorian could understand the curious eyes that awaited him to show them how it worked. He picked up the silver spoon from the table, and then he raised it in the air at the center of the table for everyone to watch clearly.
The silver spoon melted before the eyes of the witnesses, and then a shiny silver liquid floated in the air. Under the command of Victorian, the liquid shattered in dozens of droplets, and then the droplets transformed into long and dangerous-looking needles.
“That’s handy.”
Akira commented, to which Victorian nodded and proceeded to show more.
The needles merged, forming a thread that was touching one wall of the room to the adjacent one. The thread was thin enough to surprise everyone present there.
Liafina curiously touched it, and it sprang to her touch.
“That’s smooth,” She smiled.
“And sharp,” Silver chuckled as he hit the thread with a spoon, and the spoon was effortlessly cut into two without any noise. There was no noise at all.
“As long as I am on the Ground, I can call forth an unlimited supply of Metal, just like how it works for Earth, Wood, and Magma Elements. Crystal Element is similar in certain ways, but not exactly restricted like the others. I can still create Metal from the Spirit of the World, but is taxing, and dangerous.” He explained and seeing that everyone nodded to his words, “These four Elements may have certain restrictions, but the destruction they are capable of causing could drain the color from the faces of even the most fearless of men,” he added.
The thread then congealed again to form a ball of silver liquid before forming back into a spoon. The spoon then floated back in his hand, and he put it right where he had picked it from.
Victorian called the two pieces of the spoon that were cut by the string. He merged them back together, and the spoon was as good as new.
“Impressive… and terrifying,” Aizen nodded to Victorian with a smile.
The Element of Metal was limited in a sense that it could not be effortlessly created out of the Spirit of the World, but its lethality made the hearts tremble. People used metals all the time. They wore them, and they used them to conduct their daily lives. Just the thought that the armor you wore to protect yourself could pierce through you was enough to send shivers down the spine of people. Of course, the strength of the individual mattered, but the weak ones would die without even knowing what had happened.
The Golden General nodded back in appreciation and then sank back in his seat. His reserved aura was all around him once more. He was a fearsome man, and it was rightly so.
“And Venus?” Aizen asked Silver.
“She doesn’t like battles, rarely fights, but she’s adept at it,” Silver nodded to himself, “Her Elements are Water and Wind. And she gets a little sadistic if people make her mad…” he added.
“Is that so?” Aizen chuckled as he heard the words.
For a Devil to say that the other person was a sadist was not normal.
“And Siff,” Silver frowned, “She had not revealed it to us, but I suspect that she had a third element as well. The ones she has revealed are Darkness and Fire.”
Aizen glanced at Arianna to see her reaction, but she had a pale smile on her face and seemed to be neither agreeing nor denying Silver’s words.
“Lady Arianna knows about it, I am sure,” Silver sighed, “But she never tells us when we ask her about it.”
“Which Element do you suspect that she possesses?” Aizen shook his head and asked.
“Smoke,” It was Victorian who answered.
It was not just Silver who suspected Siff of possessing the Element of Smoke.
“And why would she hide it from you?” He asked confusedly.
The Generals seemed to be getting along with each other just fine. They were all Loyal to Arianna and had been together for centuries. They had even fought battles together. He was confused about why they could not be certain if she possessed the third Element or not.
“It’s her personality,” Silver sighed. “She works alone most of the time. Her specialties are Assassinations. The branch of the Blood-Hand under her command is that of Assassins. She calls them the Shades.”
“So she never reveals all of her strengths,” Aizen nodded to Silver’s words.
An Assassin with no secrets would not be deadly enough.
“Who’s the strongest of the four of them?” Akira asked Jalaisha.
Jalaisha sighed as she saw the smile on Silver’s face. He was telling her to take his name.
“Siff, Victorian, and Silver are perhaps at the same level in deadliness. Just by the realm of Strength, Victorian is the Strongest. In Speed, Silver. And in death counts, Siff. Venus would come at last, but that’s not because of her Strength, but because of her distaste for battles and blood.” Jalaisha revealed to them her assessment.
“Their Strengths are different, and they specialize in them.” Arianna lightly commented.
Silver and Victorian seemed quite satisfied at the words of Jalaisha and Arianna.
“If you wouldn’t mind, may I ask what Bloodline Realms are?”
Viara who seemed to have been let off by Beena asked the two Generals.
“The Golden one is at the Peak Stage of Second-Phase of True-Origin Blood Realm. That Phase is called the phase of Elemental Evolution. The Speedy is still stuck at the Late Stage of Elemental Evolution. The Sneaky Siff is at the Peak Stage of Second Phase as well. And that Blacky is weaker than them. She’s just entered the Second Phase, Rank One in Initial Stage…” Benna shook her head regretfully at the Bloodline Realm of Venus. “That Blacky needs to get over her fear of Blood.”
Her words scared Viara and even the Little Dryad. It was just Akira who seemed to be a little confused about the realms that Beena had mentioned.
“The Bloodline Realm of True-Origin has Three Phases,” Aizen smiled at Akira and proceeded to explain to her, “When one has achieved the Final-Awakening, he enters the True-Origin Blood Realm. The realm, like previous ones, is divided into 10 Ranks with Early, Mid, Late, and Peak Stages. When you have touched the Peak Stage, Rank 10 of the New Realm, you would enter the First Phase if you can understand what it means. The First Phase is called the Law Evolution. It’s similarly divided into 10 Ranks. After the First Phase has been completed, you have to have an understanding of the Truth before you can enter the Second Phase, Elemental Evolution. The knowledge of the Truth is necessary to enter these phases. And not just the Knowledge, but the understanding as well. Lastly, there’s the Third and Final Phase of the True-Origin Blood Realm. It’s called Blood Tribulation.”
“Yes,” Benna affirmatively nodded her head.
“What comes after the True-Origin Blood Realm?” Akira asked curiously.
It was the first time for her to hear all about it. Her knowledge of the Bloodlines was limited to what the Elders had taught the younger generation. They were forbidden to hear anything about what resided in the True-Origin Realm. And Even though Aizen had not mentioned what each of the Phases meant, their names did give her the impression that they were the mysteries of the World. Her mind lingered on the word he had used. ‘Truth’, she wanted to know more about it.
“I will tell you after you have achieved the Blood Realm of True-Origin.” He shook his head and answered.
Aizen had received a handful of knowledge in his memories. It was the greatest treasure he possessed, but he still lacked the knowledge of what these Blood Realms truly meant. His Knowledge was incomplete, and like everyone else, he had to grow, get stronger, and achieve more to learn the Truth of the World. The road to the Truth was long and harsh.
He sighed as he realized that he was the weakest one present in the room. He was still at the Peak of the Royal Blood Realm, the first Blood Realm after the initial awakening. He had to cover two complete Blood Realms, Ancient and Ancestral, to finally enter the Realm of False-Origin. He was not worried about his Final Awakening. It was not an issue for a Morningstar. The real hurdles would start after he would enter the Realm of True-Origin. The realm where the true strength resided. And the Realm beyond that was something that he could not even look at.
His trail of thoughts broke down when he felt the presence of three new people in the room. He turned to look at the door, and he found the three girls walking to him at the table.
“My Apologies for being late,” Keria slightly bowed to the people on the table. Irina did the same, and Xeina nodded as well.
“It’s okay,” Arianna generously smiled at them, “Come, take your seats.”
Aizen curiously looked at Irina. She was not wearing a smile on her face, and her efforts to cover her tension could not be hidden from his eyes. He glanced at the faces of Keira and Xeina, and he found them both wearing expressions that were similar to that of warriors hungry for Battle. There was a dangerous glint in their eyes, and as they sat opposite to each other, the smiles on their lips intensified when their eyes met.
“Ne-ne Aizen…” Benna chimed as her eyes glowed with excitement. The two girls who had caught her attention this time were Keira and Irina. “You have someone crazy in love with you…” She giggled.
Keira’s smile stiffened when she heard the words of the little girl who looked to be around 15 years of age, and before she would turn to look at Aizen to see his expressions, the little girl was right by her side, floating in the air. She leaned on her and whispered in a sweet, yet deathly manner.
“I am his mother, girl,” Beena smiled brightly. “If you want to be his, you need to have my Permission first,” she added and nodded her head. “It’s simple… You have to call me Mother.”
The horrified look on Akira and Xeina’s faces told Aizen that she had already made them call her Mother as well. The Mother of Devils couldn’t contain herself when she saw beautiful girls. She wanted the most beautiful daughters in the world.
♛ Author’s Note:
The Cursed Star is back! The next chapter will be updated in the next hour. Stay tuned!.
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