CH 40: A DATE?
After a fairly debauched wake-up session with Lucia, and a much-needed good bath, Basara found himself sitting in front of his dining table with a set of delicious breakfast in tow while having an important discussion with a happily smiling Lucia and a clueless Asia.
The topic of their discussion was of course centered around their new powers and what kind of change it brought to both of them, the incumbent members of his newly formed peerage.
The conclusion they came up with was that there was a notable increase in the amount of energy they could wield compared to their past selves.
Physically speaking, the changes weren’t much startling in regards to Lucia since she was already a very high-level devil and an expert in fistfights and controlling her powers. But Asia became so strong that she kept breaking everything around her due to a lack of understanding of the gauge of her own strength.
From Lucia’s observations, the current Asia could crush the world's strongest human man without even exerting herself. Of course, when she spoke of this she was comparing her to normal humans rather than the ones already attuned to the supernatural like the exorcists.
“But seriously, the changes are really startling. Technically speaking, Asia's current level is equal to a mid-level devil and a little higher at that. She is still a little away from the High-class threshold but with proper training, it wouldn’t take her long to reach that level.”
Basara was utterly astonished. One had to remember that before the metamorphosis, Asia wasn’t even comparable to a low-level devil. In the first place, she wasn’t even a fighter at all. But now? The changes were earth-shattering…
“The changes in my case were meager if compared with Asia, but they weren't insignificant.”
Lucia chuckled softly, but Basara shook his head as a response.
“You were already an Ultimate class devil from the start. If it was possible to directly bring you from the Ultimate to the Satan class with just one piece then this would be beyond the realm of reality and into the confines of lunacy.”
Lucia just shrugged hearing his argument. That was indeed the case. From the ultimate class onwards, the difference in power and the threshold separating each level became extremely blurred.
If there was, hypothetically speaking, a difference of hundreds of points between someone who just reached the Ultimate class and a top High-class being, then the difference between A Satan class and a normal Ultimate class could surpass thousands or even tens of thousands at the minimum.
That was just a simplification of just how overwhelmingly powerful the four Maou were.
An Ultimate class would have to give it their all to barely destroy a country while a Satan class like Serafall, for example, could destroy an entire country several times over without even batting an eyelid.
In Lucia’s memory, the only piece that could theoretically bring someone directly to Satan class from the Ultimate one was none other than the King piece — A forbidden and extremely secretive piece of which only twelve ever existed and will ever exist.
“Well, Basara-sama I think we should discuss how we will develop the peerage later.”
“Hmm… What do you mean by that exactly?”
“Well… It may be oversimplifying everything but let’s say that there are three types of peerages or rather there are four types in fact.”
Lucia unfolded four fingers in front of her as she continued her explanation.
“The first of the types is known as the power type. As the name implies, it is a type of peerage that specializes in pure destruction. They generally lack the abilities to cope with a multitude of situations that may span on a battlefield but they make up for everything with the sheer power they wield. Rias-sama's peerage is going towards that direction according to my observation.”
Basara reminisced back to what he had seen last time during the hunt for the stray devil with Rias' peerage and indeed; be it Rias, Akeno, Kiba, or Koneko, they all boasted a great amount of destructive power with high potential for development in that field.
“The second type of peerage is what is known as technique oriented or simply a tactical unit. This peerage trades power for diversity. Each member of the peerage has special skills that allow the peerage, in general, to cope with any circumstances that may unfold in battle. Fighting such a peerage is really tiring but they also need a very competent strategist in order to bring it to its maximum potential. The best example, if I had to remark, would be Sona Sitri's peerage.”
Basara nodded once again in understanding. He knew that simply being good at chess was far from enough to make one a good tactician but it was very clear that this was the road Sona was treading on.
“The third type is simply called the hybrid type. This type is honestly the most common and stable way of going on and we can say that this is currently the track our Peerage is heading towards.”
Lucia smiled at Basara as she finished her statement. Her master was a pretty good strategist himself and he didn’t lack power by any means. Meanwhile, they had a great healer like Asia, and Lucia herself could occupy the role of a front liner or a back liner — she was very versatile when the situation demanded it.
The three of them already had a rather stable formation with Basara as the vanguard and Lucia as Asia's guard, she could also open an escape road for all of them with her teleportation magic when things got tight and out of hands for them. Of course, this sparsely formed formation would surely change when more members were added to the peerage but this was a thought reserved for the future.
Basara mused a little and found himself acquiescing with her reasoning. But, there was still something left.
“What about the fourth type?”
Lucia chuckled at his question, giving Basara a slightly bad feeling, “The fourth type is simply called the Harem type peerage consisting of the leader and, you guessed it, his myriad harem of girls. This is undoubtedly the most popular type for many and an assured form of how your peerage will turn into.”
“Wha–”
“Oh… Do you mean to say that you will add a male in a peerage where the main punishment in case of misbehavior is getting horny?”
Basara coughed a little out of sheer embarrassment and swallowed all the rebuttals he might have. While he didn’t necessarily wish to have a peerage solely composed of women, there was no way he would allow another man to look at the bare bodies of Lucia and Asia.
“Speaking of which, Basara-sama, what do you plan to do once you win against Rias-sama and her peerage?”
Lucia spoke in a blunt and matter-of-fact tone. If before there could have been some hiccups because of Basara's mental state, now that Basara had embraced his desire to become stronger, she knew that there was simply no way he would lose against Rias and her lackluster gathering of a peerage. Sure they had potential, but that was about it. The way they were now, there was no chance for them to win against Basara, and that too in his empowered state.
Of course, there was always the chance of a relapse. This was the problem with traumas. But she believed in Basara.
“Before I decide what I wish to do, could you give me a clearer picture of the situation surrounding her?”
Basara believed in wielding the utmost amount of information possible before approaching a problem. Only then could a reliable plan be constructed and Lucia did not disappoint him in that regard.
Not only did she give all the information he needed, she even gave her own perspective on the situation and some hidden information not even Rias and her group were privy of.
This made Basara realize once more how useful it was to have a higher up in your own group. Thanks to Lucia, Basara was privy to information he would never have been able to get his hands into on his own.
The same thing occurred when Lucia was able to directly contact Sirzechs and the others about the situation with the fallen angels.
“Speaking of…”
“I already sent them away to prison through a dimensional portal.”
“You are really perfect.”
Basara could only look speechlessly at Lucia as she showed a V sign while keeping her signature emotionless face.
It was then that a ringtone sounded in the house.
“I will take it.”
Basara stood up and this time Lucia didn’t stop him even though it was her duty as a maid to answer the call. Anyone using a phone to call Basara should be from the human world and it wouldn’t do if they were to know that he was living with a foreign woman.
When Basara finally took the call,
“Hello, this is the Toujou household. How may I help you?”
“Good morning Basara.”
“Hah…Hasegawa-sensei?”
Basara was surprised at the sudden call from the erotic nurse of his school, “How may I help you?”
“....You forgot about today?”
Basara thought for a bit before his eyes opened wide.
‘Shit!’
“From your silence, I guess you really forgot about our arrangement.”
Basara could hear the disappointment and sadness in her voice, “Wait! I know I have no excuse, but I am really sorry. There are just too many things that happened recently.”
Hunting the stray with Rias’ peerage. Killing Freed, taking in Asia, killing the Fallen Angels, revelation about him being a Gremory, taking Asia and Lucia as members of his peerage.
It was incredible to think that all those events happened before even 48 hours passed.
“...*Sigh* Okay. I will forgive you. Thankfully, I felt that something like this might happen so I decided to call you in advance. I will come to pick you up this afternoon?”
Basara hesitated a little but, seeing Lucia wave her hand while giving him an Okay sign, he grinned bitterly and nodded to himself.
“Of course, I will be there.”
He really wondered how the night would end.