It Started With Devils & Artefacts

Around a year has passed since that book appeared in front of me.

That means I was now twelve years old and... boy oh boy, how much I did…nothing…

Normally I would beat myself up for wasting a whole year and not even fixing up a mere totaled car. But, no! I had instead spent the entire year reading and memorising the grimoire, or is it a book? More like a journal… yes, a journal it is then.

By this point, I came to realise that I was the successor to the guy who had lived around 1000 B.C… meaning 3000 years before me.

The summoning circles were easy, so was the whole alphabet of runes. The Solomon dude constantly mentioned how difficult these runes are and how factions like the Norse are extremely proud of their runes.

I found them ridiculously easy, maybe that's just the inner programmer inside of me, I was the person who programmed an A.I after all, several of them, in fact. Mainly for my cars and homes. 

Nonetheless, the summoning circles I had mastered in the first week. And in the next few weeks, I got the whole Hebraic, Norse, Egyptian, Greek and Japanese... runes, I mean Calligraphy down. All that was left was to test them out. That's where the hardest part was. Meditation, accessing magic and drawing magic letters.

Well, for that I had chosen the attic since the basement is where all the firewoods were kept… yeah… I am now back to an era where firewoods are still in use…

Nonetheless, after I was done with cleaning, and moving some scraps… like an old TV… From around ~1990, which I was planning to turn into scraps and reuse, and now that I have magic I can quite literally use alchemy to remould it into the parts I know from ~2030 and use them just like that…

And yeah. Solomon learned some alchemy and enchantment from Big G, so all that stuff was also in his book, which is now mine. I'd already found some ways to improve the formulas that they used back in the day with the stuff I had already developed through programming since higher level enchanting is pretty much just the magical version of programming.

Well, that will come when I start making stuff, but for now, it's time to call forth my first familiar.

Using chalk to write on the wooden floor was child's play. It felt quite weird to undertake in occult. Especially since I'd always teased my sister about it. Thankfully she graduated and moved away from home… otherwise she will be the one teasing me for doing the exact same thing she did!

Eventually, a perfect circle was drawn with runic letters in Hebraic language written in between creating a complex system in the circle.

What Solomon and Big G devised was to use their own devil essence against them. Since Devils were basically preying on humans. The Big G decided to also allow humans to prey on Devils. And basically turn them into human slaves.

By using Lucifer's Pillars and their own devil summoning against them, a devil is summoned through this specific circle. It only works with pureblooded devils though, so half-bloods who were born from a devil and a human are impossible to bind since Ars Goetia doesn't recognise them as a pillar devil.

And so once the circle was done, I started channelling my magic. The only issue with this was that the summoning requires a considerable amount of mana, well for me that is.

It took me a whole year of pure magic training to even reach the level where I could summon the devils through the circle.

The circle had a drawing of the Bael symbol of the Great King Pillar. If I am to summon a Familiar then it will be the best one it can offer!

"By the covenant drawn between God and the Human King!

For punishment against humankind! The 72 Pillars of Lucifer shall be punished by the power of Ars Goetia!

Come forth Pillar of The Great King Bael! By the Will of Ars Goetia, you shall be bound to the King of Man!"

As the chant was completed, the circle was already glowing white and gold. The glow continued to increase to the point where I needed to cover my eyes.

~~~~~~Underworld~~~~~~

A brown-haired woman with a voluptuous body to kill for was enjoying morning tea when suddenly underneath her feet. A white circle started to be drawn on its own.

"Hmm? What is this?" She looked underneath her feet and then looked around, she saw white letters as well as the symbol of ten rings…

"..."

"..."

"Where have I seen this before?" She tried to remember the symbol without thinking much on this for the simple reason that she can feel it's a devil summoning. Meaning a…

Then she remembered who used ten rings as his symbol!

Her entire face turned pale.

Before she could even do anything the summoning had already been finished and she felt her Devil energy rebelling and doing... something to her very being!

"Solomon's magic! H-How!?" She said with a horrified look. And again, before she could do anything she was teleported away from her house!

And just like that, one of the Pillar devils was summoned away without anyone ever realising what had just happened, after all, it was just a simple devil summoning that was used in the first place.

~~~~~~Back with Marcus~~~~~~

When the light had settled down and I was able to see who I had summoned. 

My eyes slightly widened.

What I saw was a woman with shoulder-length brown hair. What truly stands out about her is her enormous breasts which defies the physics of the world. With a rack this big, she should definitely have a lot of back pain.

But, what truly stands out is that… I think I recognise her from somewhere else.

Nonetheless, the summoning was a complete success as I could feel her being completely tied to me. Ars Goetia was successfully formed.

"You must be the Devil from the Bael House?" I asked her while walking over with crossed arms. My mind was already coming up with how useful this Devil could be. 

I went with Bael because it was the highest house right after Lucifer. It means they should be quite powerful and knowledgeable with magic and magic-related stuff.

"I am by birth, though I am now a Gremory." I could tell Ars Goetia was working successfully, as it's already completely overwriting anything dodgy the Devil is thinking.

The Big G and Solomon were extra careful as to mention all about devils and their nature, so countless amounts of runic programming, as I call it, went into finding solutions to make them tell only the truth and no lies. 

Nonetheless, this was still not enough because half-truths can still be told by the devils so wording has to come into play as well.

"I see… well it doesn't matter since you are now my Bael Pillar," I said with a shrug. The brown-haired woman slightly frowned, from the looks of it, she wanted to be extremely angry but Ars Goetia binding is absolute.

"You know what you did with this summoning?" She asked cooly.

"I used Ars Goetia's summoning to summon myself a Devil from Lucifer's 72 pillars. Since you were pulled, that means you'd sinned enough to be pulled by this circle." I explained smoothly, I am not feeling bad for doing this. No matter what I am, I have summoned someone quite evil, not that I am hiding the fact that I am not a good guy either.

"Sinned enough?" She asked with disbelief.

"The Biblical God saw us all as sinners, regardless of anything we did."

"Oh, I know that. That's why I altered and improved the requirements for the summoning circles. Even so, you met the criteria." I said with a shrug.

"And what is the criteria?" She asked seriously.

"Killing an innocent, ruining innocent life, and several others, if one of those are met then I can summon someone as my Pillar."

"Those are quite… simple requirements… Devils, one way or another, did one of those things… especially in the older times." She said while grimacing, I assumed that she just remembered her past. 

"I have no idea what 'older times' you are talking about, and that's why you are here. You will be teaching me everything I want to know." I said as her eyes widened.

"I-I-I see may I know, how you achieved this? Where did you even find the means to summon a devil and bind one to yourself?" The brown-haired devil asked me curiously.

"Hmm, maybe I will tell you one day. Tell me what's your name?" I asked curiously now myself, since I definitely did see her somewhere before.

"It's Venelana Gremory." The brown-haired devil lady introduced herself.

That moment I remembered where I saw her before.

'I see… so... somehow… I got transported to my alternative self in that weird reality where the main character gets stronger from his perversion and women with physics-defying breasts.'

'Well, none of that matters, Ars Goetia which I improved, made my identity top priority to my pillars. Unlike the original Solomon, I won't be telling just anyone that I have bound devils to serve me.'

I thought with a frown about my new circumstances.

"I see… I suppose we should start with the overall history first, from the supernatural point of view." 

"As you wish." She said with a simple bow.

~~~

Never in her life did Venelana think that she would be summoned to become a servant to a mere human child.

Especially when the child, from the looks of it, has Solomon's knowledge. The human mage who was a taboo between the pillar members.

The Bael Devil only knows about the man's existence because she was taught about him by Zekrom Bael himself.

The human mage with help from vindictive Biblical God created the Ars Goetia summoning system based on the same teleportation principle, of which the devils of old used, to prey on humans.

Reverse summoning a specific devil and binding it to himself for the rest of the human's life…

But Venelana realised that her summoning was even more special, as her new Master has said, he improved the circle considerably. Making her incapable of lying to him and incapable of telling anyone about him.

How this works she has no idea, but she was utterly terrified of this boy, the boy was not just a boy at all, he reminded her of Ajuka… 

The very same Ajuka who became one of the Satans and a Super Devil. If this boy is anything like him then the Devil race could be in extreme danger or… if she is smart enough they can profit from this… Depending on her actions and how good she is at manipulation.

But… The more time she spends around him the less confidence she has in manipulating him. The boy had no interest in politics, he had no interest in women, since he was just a boy…

Worst of all she could only tell the truth and nothing else, making manipulation very difficult. Not only that, but she could not make him see devils in a good light.

The argument they had about the evil pieces only made her cringe in defeat.

And so… she spent several weeks teaching anything she knew about devils, angels, fallen angels, all the tricks he needed to be hidden from them, the theories on barriers and such…

After that, it was magic… all her life's work on magic knowledge was drained by him in less than a year.

She taught him all about how magic flows, the difference between devils, angels, fallen angels, and other species and their unique magical energies.

After that… Venelana was finally able to see the boy's genius in action.

That moment the comparison of Ajuka and her new Master was very evident. First, she saw what he calls a transmutation circle… Magic that she had never seen before. She assumed that it was the very same magic that allowed Solomon to craft his artefacts, the infamous ten rings.

Changing... everything… including dust into a plain-looking material of which she can only assume was some sort of clay. Then what followed was the use of runes from various different pantheons… She has no idea how he made them all work together just like that…

And all to craft a ring made from pure looking gold.

"Is this… one of Solomon's rings?" She asked with some trepidation.

"No, this is my foci." the boy explained to her as he picked up the ring from the circle.

"Foci? Like a mage's staff?" She asked with much more relief.

"Indeed, this will allow me to cast magic similarly to how devils do." He very simply explained to her.

His tone was that of someone who did something extremely simple, but if information about this kind of foci was to be spread out then the Devils will lose a large edge in their human recruitments…

After all, Devil magic is one of the main reasons humans accept the proposition to become a reincarnated devil.

A magic that can be used through nothing but imagination is extremely versatile and deadly.

And this boy who was no older than twelve created an artefact which can utilise it…

What could he achieve with more resources? Or just…time… it made the brown-haired woman shiver in fear just from the thought of it alone.

~~~

"You can use your magic to build a floor below that garage, yes?" I asked Venelana who was standing next to me.

The Ars Goetia abilities were quite fascinating as I could just summon Venelana anywhere I wanted. The devil's magic were quite something else, and using their own magic against them gives me a sense of satisfaction.

I did also remember more about high school DxD, I remembered watching it when I was in that horny teenager stage back in the day.

After that, I barely remember following it since I'd spend most of my time buying stocks and getting rich by selling licences from phone apps to computer apps.

It was a time where I went from mindless fan service anime like DxD to Seinen in my free time.

The amount of plot I could remember is bare-bones, all I remember was that Kouh, a city on the other side of the globe, is the pivotal point of all action.

That means that I will be staying right here. More than 8 thousand kilometres away from Japan.

"Yes. All devils can do basic things like these. Do you have any specifics… Master?" She asked simply, still trying to get over the fact that she is calling me Master subconsciously. 

A trick old Solomon added to the system it seems, I'd glossed over it since I found no point in checking the part of how devils will be addressing their Master.

As expected from a man who had a harem and an army of wives…

"We will start with the stairs. Then a main room followed by several sets of corridors…" 

"You wish for an… underground base? That's quite…childish of you Master…" Venelana said with a giggle.

*Snort*

"I do not think a lot of people will take a liking to the light show I would be doing in the attic," I said with an eye roll. Her trying to poke a reaction out of me like this was not the first time it has happened. I can assume she was trying to find more about me as we progressed through this Master-Servant relationship.

"Yes, I suppose you are right… I could use some of my family resources to buy you some land." She offered with a very 'kind' smile.

"Nice try. But, no." I shook my head at the devil lady's try to snag me into their network.

"What about your family? Should I continue to alter their memories?" She asked me on another note.

"Yes, but once you are done with the basement, we won't be needing to hypnotise them anymore." 

Yes, my family almost immediately found out something was not quite right with me when I had summoned Venelana. The devil lady needed to alter their memories with hypnosis. I haven't learned any hypnotic magic yet, but I will touch on that once I start studying mind related arts.

After some alterations were done I was able to move around my house more freely. No major alteration was done though, only the fact that I can now freely practice magic.

And of course Venelana's existence, the less they know the better.

Once we walked over to the garage I found the spot on where I wanted the stairs under the garage to be.

The brown-haired devil lady with a casual hand-wave summoned several Gremory magic circles and started quite literally digging the ground.

Well more like removing it from existence.

And in less than thirty minutes, I was now standing in a room of which the newly created stairs descends to.

"Hmm...while the creation of the room was rapid there is quite a lot of ambient magic in the air," I said after feeling the magic in the air.

The method of which was quite simple, it's part of the training to strengthen one's body. You channel magic through your body as much as possible until you are tired, rinse and repeat.

Eventually you will develop a natural sense of magic. It helps having a magical connection to someone as well. For me, it was the brown-haired devil woman next to me.

Thus accelerating the whole process of developing the sense.

"Is it bad?" Venelana asked with a raised eyebrow as she heard my comment.

"Normally? No. But I am planning to make artefacts and tinker with rituals and magic circles, so devil energy will be mixed in with regular human magic energy or whatever else energy I will be emulating in future." I explained casually to her since there was no need for me to hold anything from her on that front.

"What kind of artefacts are we talking about? Like the ten rings?" I could hear how on edge she was when the topic of the ten rings came up.

Yeah, the rings are simply absurd even by DxD standards, the Solomon dude could negate any type of energy, including Touki, the only way to beat him was through pure physical combat. Which was also quite impossible since he could use any magic from any pantheon plus his 72 pillars.

One could say he was the Biblical God's trump card against the devils.

In other words, if the dude didn't die, the Underworld would have lost and Lucifer's 72 Pillars would have become Solomon's Ars Goetia 72 Pillars.

"Hmm? The rings are quite good, but I'd already improved on that formula when I was reading up on Sacred Gear construction. I am planning on making much greater stuff." I said with a shrug. As I was looking away from her and looking around imagining how I would want to make my new workshop.

I could feel how the devil lady turned completely stiff for a moment.

"So it's true that the Biblical God had left the method of Sacred Gear creation to Solomon?" She asked with disbelief.

"Not quite. There is no true 'method' or specific blueprint. They are all artefacts of which are two dimensional." I decided to explain this since she needs to be on the same wavelength as I am.

"Two dimensional?"

"Indeed. A Human is a three-dimensional being, made from the physical body, soul, and essence or spirit energy. The Sacred Gears upon creation are transformed into a spiritual item then it is attached to one's soul. And detached after host death. There are ways to make the gear physical. But, two dimensionality is much safer as one can't truly touch it without some sort of training." I explained to her as simply as I could.

Big G has a system or a foundation of how all his gears were made physical and spiritual, but that system by this point already has many cracks in it. Especially by the Fallen who is trying to crack the mysteries of his items.

It's like a firewall for one's OS… now that brings back some memories…

"I see… I am sure the Fallens would like to know where you live." The brown-haired devil lady said with a fake smile.

Sorry Venelana, but after spending that much time around you, I'd already cracked some of your personality. She always likes to 'joke' around when she is nervous. Especially when it's around me. It seems she is quite terrified for her Devil Race.

Hmm, should I tell her that if they are not naughty, they don't need to fear me?

Well, I doubt it, since I had already kidnapped one to be my familiar…

So, she is probably afraid I won't be holding back since I think they are evil…

"Maybe? By the time we are done here Venelana, I doubt many will be able to simply enter my garage." I said with a smirk as I was thinking of things to add to my 'garage'.

"You are still going to call this a… garage?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"A garage is man's fortress…" I said sagely, I still remembered my past-life's garage! A five stories down, with more than 50 super and mega cars, some of them were even my creation.

While I had never added any lethal security there. I had one of the best securities available on the planet.

"But… you are not even a man." The Bael devil said with an eye roll.

"... Are you talking physically or mentally?" I asked her with crossed arms.

She raised both hands in defeat. Not wanting to go in that direction it would seem.

"You forget that I am almost 13. My point is that a man would naturally want his special place, Especially me. Since all I want is to tinker with stuff in peace." 

"Very well, since this is what you want. Not that I could say no to you." My devil familiar said with a sigh. I can see that she doesn't understand. Well... she is a female…

"Good. Now we need to adjust where the main workshop is… it needs to be just below that parkway. So that once a car is finished the section can lower itself and the car can drive out." I said while remembering my villa in Germany. The nation where I used to test my cars out on their highways.

*Sigh*

"As you wish…" The brown-haired devil lady just sighed and continued with her work in expanding my garage.

~~~

By this point, Venelana was already a builder, a teacher, a psychologist, a profession where a person is listening to another person's story for money...

And then the reverse happened when she ended up being taught by a 12-year-old nearly 13... about magic of all things which she still can't wrap her head around!

Nonetheless, she finds this time of her life quite fascinating…

But then… it happened…

Her husband with quite an...arbitrary decision decided to engage their baby daughter to the youngest Phenex…

It was so random, that even Venelana was out of words… and her baby daughter Rias? She went hysterical that they took the choice away from her hands …

"Master… please… I need to return home… Can I take a week off?" The Bael Devil pleaded to her Master who has finally moved into his new garage.

"Hmm? Sure. I don't have any use for you right now." He motioned for her to leave.

Marcus had several white circles drawn and a bunch of plain-looking clay laying next to them.

The very same material he will use to make his artefacts. The Bael can assume her Master was already thinking of plans to make some of the crazy artefacts he'd told her about earlier.

Not that Venelana can remember much, as she was still in shock that her master knows how to make Sacred Gears and she can't tell anyone or write it down to anyone! Her brain does not even operate in that direction when she is not around her Master.

Meaning that her train of thought was already affected by Ars Goetia!

That is just terrifying!

Well, for now, she should stop thinking about this, and focus on her baby girl who had just learned the grim truth of being the Heiress of a Pillar House.

~~~~~~Few Days Later~~~~~~

While Venelana did her job perfectly, she uses her magic extremely… loosely… meaning the moment I dispersed and collected it the whole underground garage of mine turned dark…

Meaning that I needed light, and then I realised that I needed water as well. Since I was not planning to go to the surface just to wash my hands or take a piss…

So, first light. Extremely simple, with magic especially, I was done with that in just a few days. 

I could have gone with a simple runic cluster to illuminate the room. But instead, I decided on a perfectly sealed glass container that gives pure LED light.

No magic was used after alchemy, the electricity is also flowing through the wires as energy for the ceiling. 

And the energy source? The magic generators were stupidly easy to make in this lax world. 

If the devils or any race knew of this simple concept I am using right now then they could easily take control of the world's energy issues. And monopolise energy…

Oh, well… anyway… After creating a simple air to magic, magic to energy-reactor I was done with the light issues and had enough energy to power my garage and run some PC's…

But, then… the more difficult problem came up… and that is plumbing.

*Sigh*

"I should have learned that Devil magic trick before I send Venelana away," I said with a sigh while crossing my arms.

Thinking for a solution to this problem…

Oh well…

"I suppose I should just summon someone who knows water better than anyone else." Thinking for a moment I recalled what my devil familiar told me about devils…

A specific pillar came to my mind.

"Serafall it is then… A Satan that will also serve me as a muscle if needed. Since she is one of the strongest beings the devils can offer and is knowledgeable with water and ice…" With that idea in mind, I went to the room that will serve as a summoning station.

Moments later I started drawing another Ars Goetia summoning circle.

~~~~~~Underworld~~~~~~

In the capital of the Devil Race, the city Lilith, in the main office of the Satan Leviathan, a certain Satan was doing her work with a slightly annoyed look.

The black-haired devil was annoyed with the amount of paperwork she had to do every single day. As someone responsible for diplomatic relationships between her Devil race and other pantheons she constantly has to deal with things related to High-Class devils snatching humans from right under some deity's noses.

Most of the time it's just for some Gods to bitch around since they are bored and looking for an excuse to cause some trouble.

Then she also had to deal with the elder council who were bitching about some nonsensical things…

Serafall couldn't even remember if there were even any real issues she had to deal with apart from those hot air nonsense constantly popping up and making her deal with the paperwork…

"Hmm? What now!?" She snapped out from her documents and looked around. Her sensitive magical senses were picking up some weird devil energy that had just appeared underneath her.

Her gaze went down and she saw a white magic circle forming there.

"Hmm? I don't remember having a scheduled contract summoning?" The black-haired devil said to herself before she noticed the symbol of the house of which belonged to the person that was summoning her…

"This is… what house is this!?" Her mind quickly went through all the lists of symbols she used to see. But, this was none of those!

In truth, she doesn't even remember any white colour that was used for summoning, she was about to call her magic power but…

"What…" her eyes widened to a comical level when she felt her magic not listening to her!

"No...way the ten rings… the ability to nullify and take over demonic energy! This… is…" Serafall's facial expression turned pale… there is only one being who could do that… no! There was only one mere human who was able to do this to the devils!

But how!?

Before she could make another noise, this time to call for help, she was summoned from her office just... like... that…

~~~~~~Back with Marcus~~~~~~

When I thought about Serafall, I thought it would be a devil obsessed with magic girls.

But, when I summoned her… it was nothing like what I had thought…

In truth, she was dressed in a blue dress, reminding me of those silly balls people used to hold for me for any silly achievement I'd achieved... they would hold it! But it was truly annoying, the only good thing about it though were the female dresses that had those exposed backs.

"You… you are the next Solomon?" She asked with disbelief.

"Hmm? Next Solomon? I suppose I am." I said with a shrug as I looked at the current Leviathan.

"I see… so you are like Ajuka then. I can tell that my thought process is being severely affected by this. I'd never heard of this from the original Solomon. I heard he liked his devil women as little affected as possible…

This means you have upgraded the summoning circle devised by Biblical God and Solomon… you are a little monster aren't you?" She said with a twitchy eyebrow and her lip was slightly quivering. The Satan lady was pissed but at the same time very much… well…

*Sigh*

"I have heard the legends. My life now is yours, isn't it? I have heard that Ars Goetia Pillars are fully connected to the owner."

"Hmm, indeed the devils know quite a bit about Solomon. Especially since the book was never even studied."

"No devil can touch it. The moment Solomon was a corpse, the book was destroyed by the devils. How do you have it then?" Serafall asked with narrowed eyes, this was the limit of the amount of anger she can show to me.

"That my Devil lady is something you might learn one day. Now, however, I need your expertise in water manipulation." I decided not to answer that. It was quite satisfying seeing Serafall pout like that.

"Fine… not like I can say no to my...Master…Grrr, you… this...just how powerful is this binding!?" The black-haired devil's shoulders shook for a bit.

"The more powerful you are the more powerful the binding is… in your case, it's off the charts. Since you are an Ultimate Devil." I said with a smirk.

"Nonsense! The stronger I am, the weaker it should be! It's common sense!" She said with an angry and pouty look.

"The binding was made from your energy and carved into your very soul by the Ars Goetia summoning. The only way to take it off is for me to die, and in turn, for you to die. The moment your soul leaves your body and demonic energy evaporates, your corpse will still have echoes of Ars Goetia. The biblical God was very thorough with the design and Solomon only relished the fact of enslaving the bad devil ladies…" 

Serafall was utterly pale after hearing about it. It seems that the stories were not as scary as reality, a rare occurrence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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