18. Flames of War, Birthed by Sin(Flashback Chapter)

[A/N: This chapter is completely AU... So, it doesn't follow canon explanations.]

Love. What is love? Grandma said that when you care for someone deeply, it turns into love. According to her, love can be of eight types. Eros which is romantic love, Philia is affectionate love, Agape is selfless love, Storge is familial love, Mania is the obsessive love, Pragma is the enduring love and Philautia is the self-love.

She said that out of all the eight types of love. Storge is the only love that a person receives from the moment of his birth. It also includes Philia, Agape as well as Pragma. 

Familial love is selfless and enduring. Parents love their children with everything they have, they never differentiate between their children. They love all of them equally and selflessly.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

All lies! If familial love was selfless, enduring, and affectionate. Why was I never loved? I am their son as well but they never loved me. As a matter of fact, they never loved any of us 72 children. They only loved one person… their true heir, Rizevim Livan Lucifer. The only son they allowed to use our father's name. Whereas, the rest of us were to find a name ourselves and were left to be taken care of by a childminder.

There is no such thing as love among the devils. The only thing they care about is success, profit, and luxury. 

Rizevim is a prick. Father and mother always showers him with love but he doesn't even seem to care. As for us… their 'created' children, only get their attention if they need something from us.

I was thinking about my life when I heard my nursemaid's voice.

"Young Master, it's time for bed." She said.

We all have a strict time table, and if we don't follow it. We get punished. But my nursemaid is very kind and so I call her grandma.

"Coming, Grandma." I said before rushing towards my bed. I need to wake up early tomorrow, as father said he was going to announce something.

Better not make him angry.

[Next day]

I hate it! I absolutely hate it! I hate that he always gets whatever he wishes for. Whenever he needs something, everyone comes running for his aid, while us 'created' devils need to tend to our own needs. Father sends a pretty carriage to pick up Rivezim, while we need to go there on our own.

And now… looking at him standing next to father and mother on top of the stage, while we are standing below them. Makes me jealous and angry. 

"So little devils, do you know why we called you here?" Everyone shook their heads, at father's question. Even Rizevim seemed confused.

Father was about to answer when the crests of the other three Devil kings appeared on the ground, with the Kings and their children coming out of it.

First to arrive was Lady Leviathan and her daughter Tsufaame Tereaku Leviathan, then there was Lord Beelzebub with his son Bidleid Bashalun Beelzebub, and finally there was Lord Asmodeus with his son Damaidosu Zereikel Asmodeus. 

All of their children looked proud to be standing alongside their parents, above us. Arrogant little pricks if you ask me.

"Ah, just in time." Father said patting, Lord Beelzebub's shoulder. "I was just starting my explanation." 

All the three Devil Kings nodded. "You should start, you are the best at explaining among us." Lady Leviathan said winking at father… Mother looks angry. I wonder why?

"Yes, honey. You should start "explaining." Mother said with a smile, but it looked scary for some reason.

"*Ahem* Very well then. Listen carefully children of the underworld, for what I am going to discuss is very important. After we got cast out of heaven, we lost our right to be called the children of God. Unlike our other brothers who became 'Fallen' we ended up becoming an entirely new race. We became 'Devils.' But... what are devils? Do anyone of you know?" He asked us.

Everyone looked towards each other before shaking their heads. None of us knew what it meant to be a devil. How are we supposed to know? All we were ever taught was the history of the world.

Seeing that no one was able to answer he explained. "Being a devil means to do whatever your heart desires. Accepting your sins, embracing them, no matter what your sin is. We are creatures of sin, doing what is wrong is our nature. Angels are bound to do only the righteous things. While we are not bound by anything! God cast us aside! For what? For accepting our sins?"

He sounded almost enraged.

"We were created by him! It was his responsibility to look after us, yet he didn't. If he wanted perfection why create sins? Why let them influence us?" He roared.

Ironic… considering he totally ignored us for his son. *Sigh* If I say that, I might be killed. So it's better to stay quiet.

"Now we are free from him. We are free from the shackles he placed on us." He looked towards us. "But should we let him and the angels get away with treating us like monsters? Should we let them keep calling us monsters? NO! We shouldn't and we won't! We will pay them back for what they did to us. We will fight. They oppressed us for so long… but no more!"

Grandma always taught me that violence is never the answer to anything. But father doesn't seem to agree with her. 

"Angels are bound by God's shackles, Fallens are cowards and Humans are pathetically weak. It makes every one of them unable to rule! But we devils are neither bound by those shackles nor are we cowards and we are definitely not weak. So what does that mean for us?" He was driven. Driven by anger and pride.

Every devil seemed to think about it. What does that mean? What does freedom, courage, and strength give us?

"It means that we are the only race that is capable of ruling." Everyone was silent at this point. While the Devil kings and their children had a smug appearance.

"It gives us the authority to rule... the world!" He said, which made everyone shocked.

There is no way the angels, fallens, or humans will allow the devils to rule so easily. And to make them accept it, we will have to defeat them. And defeating them is only possible when… there is war. 

I feel my breath quicking. War? That is dangerous. Us devil children cannot even use our powers properly.

"Do not worry, we won't go to war before a few centuries. You 72 devil children will be the pillars of our community, our race. You will be responsible for the creation of our future generations." His face suddenly morphs into sadness. "But forgive me children, for I... wasn't able to give you the same potential as any of our direct children."

Potential? What does he mean? 

"In order to create you all with our 'seed', we had to limit your potential. Unlike our children Rizevim, Tsufaame, Damaidosu and Bidleid, your potential is limited. Unlike our children… You cannot grow beyond a certain level. At max you will reach the Ultimate-class. Which will also be next to impossible for you 72 children."

His words felt like thunder to me. Limited potential? Unable to grow as strong as Rizevim? With a single sentence from my father, I felt my entire world falling apart.

"But do not worry, you might have limited potential, but will be the first pillars of the devil race. You will be the lords of your pillar, higher ranked than any other devil and just below our direct children." He sounded happy when saying this.

He gave us the position of Lord, should I be happy? Or should I be sad that I have limited potential?

"And do not be sad, because all of you are special. You might not grow to be as strong as our children but all of you will have unique abilities to make up for it. You were born of my and Lilith's 'seed.' Thus making your DNA special. You can create your own ability, that is the benefit of sacrificing your potential." This made some of the devils gasp in surprise.

I have the ability to create my own special power? But is it enough to make up for limiting our powers? 

.

.

.

.

.

.

"*Yawnnn….*" This single yawn made me shocked. Someone was foolish enough to yawn when father was giving his speech! Who was this fool?!

Turning around to see who it was, I find a certain black-haired devil with semi-closed golden eyes scratching his head. "I should have slept early last night… This is so boring." He mumbled, and if not for me standing right in front of him, I wouldn't have heard him either.

"*Shush* Quiet Silas! If father hears you, you will be punished." Said a cute blue-haired girl who elbowed him in the gut.

"Ouch, that hurts Lorelei. Don't worry no one heard me." He said, almost too confident in himself.

"Matter of fact, I did hear you." I could not stop myself from bursting his bubble.

This made both of their eyes widen.

"Err… I was just joking. It's nothing serious… So ermm.. Can you not tell this to anyone? Please?" He said scratching his chin with an awkward smile on his face.

I raised an eyebrow. "*Sigh* Alright, now keep quiet and focus on father's speech. I don't want to be punished because of you guys."

"Thank you." Said the girl, smiling cutely.

"Thanks man… you are a good guy. My name's Silas by the way. What's yours?" He asked with the goofy smile he had in the beginning.

I raised my eyebrow again at how easygoing this devil was, but I ultimately decided to give him my name. "Zekram. My name is Zekram." 

[A/N: Thnx like always, Geir.

Now,

You guys must have already figured out, Zekram's sin... Yea, it's Envy. CYA~ till next chapter~]