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He cupped a hand to his chest, reaching where her fingers had danced before, and waited. Seconds later, it emerged, an inconsequential thing, materializing through the fabric of his shirt, freeing itself inch by inch from his body before landing softly in his waiting palm. He let it rest there for a brief moment, feeling the ridges and serrated edges that decorated its otherwise smooth surface. Then he placed it on the table, setting it upright, a figurine of a small tower ringed with crenelated battlements.
The silence that resulted from this simple action was almost gratifying in a way.
"Please don’t do that again," the head of Phenex sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily, "I have seen enough impossible things for one day."
"Hmm," Sirzechs stared at the piece he had set on the table in bemusement, "Rias will be most disappointed."
"It had always been a temporary arrangement," he said in response.
Somehow, he was not surprised the first thing he would say since the conversation started would be to him. The man had a curious effect on people in that regard.
"I know," Sirzechs smiled at him, "but she has always hoped."
"I do not sense Belial’s presence anymore," it was Diehauser who led the subject back on track. The devil sounded slightly disappointed, "That is a shame."
"If you can do that," Lord Phenex had seemingly recovered enough to stare at him, "then it was not the Archdemon that influenced you to be so brutal in the Rating Game, but yourself?" recrimination shone in the man’s eyes.
He was not incorrect. Sometimes even the members of SEES became uncomfortable with how merciless he could become towards his enemies. But they had grown used to that in time, and took it to be one of the characteristics that defined him, along with apathy and silence. It was only later that they found themselves to be wrong.
These devils had not the time to discover that about him.
"His pieces," he found himself saying, "are they badly hurt?"
The inquiry was met with a grunt from the one his question was directed to.
"Much of the Rating Game is simulation," Lord Phenex supplied, "but some serious wounds will still carry over. The injuries you have inflicted. They are all significantly more than serious. They are grievous, and some of those girls might be crippled for the rest of their lives."
"They will not be," he met the challenge in the man’s glare with his own, "I will heal them."
Cautious surprise set in on the devil’s face.
"You would venture into the home of your enemy and heal his followers? The same ones that were seeking your defeat not moments ago?"
He nodded to the piece he had set on the table.
"They are not my enemies anymore."
He could feel Lord Gremory’s gaze upon him, and the approval that came with it.
"I accept this gracious offer," the head of Phenex said after a moment of thoughtful silence, and then shook his head resignedly, "It should be a crime to like the one who has defeated my son so profoundly."
"It is better to respect your opponents than to hate them," Sirzechs mused, "We have learned that the hard way from both the Great War and our civil one."
"Does that assuage your worries, old friend?" Diehauser tilted his head towards him, "Stray devils do not offer their enemies relief from their wounds, though I doubt our young friend here can be considered such a thing"
Stray devils? He filed that under information he would have to ask Rias or Sona about later.
"It does," Lord Phenex nodded regally, "As long as these so-called Personas can be controlled I am satisfied."
He deemed that it would not be prudent at this time to mention that Personas could break the chains that held them in check if their users were unprepared. Shinji had been the proof of that. Strega, to some extent as well.
"Quite," Lord Gremory’s gaze flickered towards his son, "Though something tells me that Belial is not the only Persona he can summon."
"You would be right then," Sirzechs shrugged apologetically towards him, "There are more."
He understood. Even though the devil had taken most of the attention off him when it came to the subject of Personas, there were still areas where he could not help or would not. He did not mind. He was relieved that there would be no long-winded explanations of what Personas were, and he was grateful that Sirzechs had chosen to take that particular mantle from him.
"More..." Diehauser said slowly. The man seemed like he was savoring the thought.
The rest looked at him expectantly.
He fought the urge to sigh. He knew what they wanted. A demonstration. A part of him resisted the idea. His ability was not given to him so he could parade it around like a circus act. The other part of him, the logical part, knew that leaving these beings in the dark about his talents would not be well received.
And as always, it was the logical part that won in the end.
These devils respected power. He could show them that at the very least.
He called and it answered.
Like a poisonous miasma it oozed into his mind and immediately his conscience became thick with black thoughts. Even though he had summoned it before, used it against the Shadows in Tartarus, relied upon it in that last cataclysmic battle against Nyx, the sheer weight of its presence still surprised him.
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