Chapter 27 - Power and Vengeance!

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[POV - Grayfia Lucifuge]

[Sainan City - Morning]

TICK... TICK... TICK...

The invisible clock in my mind marked each second as I observed Rias and Akeno walking with that boy - Yuuki Rito. My body was perfectly still, hidden in the shadows of a nearby building, like a marble statue forgotten in time.

Rias seemed... different. She smiled too much. Got too close. Her behavior was so obvious that even a child would notice her intentions. But the boy... he seemed impassive, as if he were used to being the center of attention for powerful women.

"Interesting," I murmured to myself.

WHOOOSH!

Suddenly, he vanished. Simply disappeared into thin air, like a drop of water on a hot plate. No magic circle, no light, no indication whatsoever. One second he was there, the next...

I felt a shiver run up my spine. A presence behind me. An energy so dense it seemed to distort the air itself.

I turned slowly - very slowly - with my throat suddenly dry as a desert. And there he was, with that casual smile, as if teleporting without a magic circle was the most natural thing in the world.

THUMP!

My heart skipped a beat when our gazes met. It wasn't fear. It was something more... primordial. As if every cell in my body recognized something ancient, powerful, inescapable.

My legs weakened. I felt a wave of heat so intense course through my body that I almost fell to the ground right there. An embarrassing moisture formed between my legs.

"By the ancient Maous..." I thought, horrified by my own reaction. I, Grayfia Lucifuge, the Strongest Queen, wife of Sirzechs Lucifer... having an involuntary orgasm before a schoolboy?

But he wasn't a boy. He wasn't human. He wasn't... anything I knew.

When I opened my mouth to speak, my legs faltered again. I silently thanked the long skirt I wore - the only barrier between my dignity and complete humiliation.

"Good afternoon," he said calmly.

"R-Rito-sama," I managed to say, bowing formally and rigidly. "I am Grayfia Lucifuge, head maid of the Gremory family."

The word "sama" escaped my lips instinctively. As one would address a god.

"Pleasure to meet you," he replied, as casual as if we were discussing the weather. "So, came to spy on the girls?"

GULP!

I swallowed hard. How did he know? So easily, so carelessly.

"We're... happy about a possible suitor for Rias's fiancé," I said, throwing my sister-in-law under the bus without the slightest remorse. At this moment, self-preservation spoke louder than family loyalty.

His eyes... his eyes seemed to contain entire galaxies. Ages of knowledge. When he smiled, I felt my entire body tremble again.

"With your permission, Rito-sama," I murmured, invoking the fastest magic circle I've ever made in my life.

VVVZZZZZT!

[Gremory Mansion - Sirzechs's Office - Minutes later]

CLACK!

The heel of my shoe hit the polished marble floor as I landed in the office. My entire body was shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind.

"Lucifer-sama!" I called, my voice coming out more desperate than I intended.

My legs finally gave out completely, and I fell to my knees on the crimson Persian rug. In a millisecond - literally - Sirzechs was at my side, his blue eyes wide with concern.

"Grayfia?!" he took me by the shoulders, lifting me gently. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

I looked into the eyes of the man I loved, the most powerful Maou in the Underworld, and realized: he seemed like a child compared to that boy.

"Sirzechs..." I used his name, not his title. A sign of our intimacy. Of how grave the situation was. "I found something... someone..."

"Breathe deeply," he instructed, guiding me to the sofa. "Tell me everything."

TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK.

The clock on the wall seemed deafening in the silence that followed. I composed myself as much as possible, smoothing the maid uniform with still trembling hands.

"The boy that Rias went to see... Yuuki Rito," I began, keeping my voice low and controlled. "He's not human."

Sirzechs raised an eyebrow, not particularly impressed.

"A yokai, perhaps? Some renegade devil?"

I shook my head.

"No, you don't understand," I insisted, my fingers gripping the fabric of my skirt so tightly that my knuckles turned white. "He is... stronger than you."

CRACK!

The crystal glass on Sirzechs's table spontaneously cracked, as if the mere suggestion was too absurd to exist in the same environment as him.

"Impossible," he stated calmly. But I saw the doubt in his eyes. "Besides the God Dragons, there is nothing stronger than me on the mortal plane."

"I know what I felt!" my voice rose slightly. "He looked at me and... and..."

I blushed, unable to explain the rest. Sirzechs narrowed his eyes, reading between the lines.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No!" I replied quickly. "He was... polite. Gentle, even. But Sirzechs, his power... it's as if the entire ocean was compressed into a teacup. You can't comprehend it, only feel it."

He remained silent for several seconds, processing. Then he stood up, walking to the window that overlooked the artificial garden of the Underworld.

"That explains why Rias is so enchanted," he murmured. "She's always been attracted to power."

"And for the first time, she found someone more powerful than her own brother," I completed softly.

Sirzechs turned, an ironic smile on his lips.

"Do you think I should be jealous?"

"I think we should be worried," I answered seriously. "If he wanted to, he could destroy all of us without effort."

"But he didn't."

"No... not yet."

THUD!

Sirzechs lightly hit his fist against the window frame, thoughtful.

"We'll observe for now. If Rias is safe, we can wait and see how this unfolds."

I agreed with a nod, rising to leave. But before reaching the door:

"Grayfia."

"Yes, Lucifer-sama?"

"When you saw him... did you feel fear?"

I hesitated for a moment.

"No," I answered honestly. "I felt... reverence."

[Castle Astaroth - Sublevels of the Underworld - Same time]

BAM!

The sound of Lord Atticus Astaroth's fist hitting the obsidian table echoed off the walls of his private chamber. The table cracked, a diagonal fault crossing the polished surface like a foreboding of fate.

"HOW DARE THEY?!" he roared, his eyes glowing with hatred so intense that the servants around him involuntarily retreated.

Images of his son, Diodora, still danced in his mind. His boy. His heir. Disintegrated. Erased from existence by a... nun?

CRASH!

A goblet flew against the wall, shattering into a thousand pieces. The glass fragments reflected the torchlight, looking like crystallized tears on the cold stone.

"My lord," dared one of the counselors, an elder demon with skin wrinkled like ancient parchment paper. "We must be cautious. If Lord Lucifer is involved..."

"Lucifer!" Atticus spat the name like poison. "Always so concerned with peace. With balance. Meanwhile, my son is dead!"

"It's possible he doesn't know," suggested another counselor. "The nun is being protected by someone in the human city of Sainan. Someone powerful enough to..."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT HIS POWER!" Lord Astaroth's shout made the chamber itself tremble. "I demand retribution. Justice. BLOOD."

The counselors exchanged nervous glances. Atticus noticed and smiled - a twisted smile that didn't reach his cold eyes.

"You are afraid. All of you."

"We are merely prudent, my lord," replied the eldest. "A hasty move could lead to the ruin of the entire Astaroth Clan."

Atticus walked to the window, observing the eternal flames of the Lower Circles. His reflection in the glass showed a face contorted by hatred and pain.

"If my son can be erased without consequences," he said, almost whispering, "then what kind of future awaits us, the devils? Will we become cowards, bowing to any power that appears?"

A heavy silence fell over the room. The counselors knew there was no right answer.

TICK...

A drop of blood fell from Atticus's hand - he had clenched his fist so tightly that his nails pierced his own palm.

"Prepare the teleportation circles," he ordered, his voice now deadly calm. "Choose our best warriors. And send a messenger... to the Hero Faction."

The counselors gasped in unison.

"My lord! The Hero Faction hates all supernatural beings! We cannot trust them!"

"Precisely," Atticus smiled, a feverish gleam in his eyes. "They don't discriminate. To them, a blessed nun, a human with power, an angel or a devil... all are targets. And they have the equipment to deal with any of them."

"This is madness," murmured one of the younger counselors. "They'll take us down with them."

"Then we'll die together," Atticus replied simply. "But not before we have our revenge."

WHOOSH!

The torches flickered when he turned, his black cloak billowing dramatically.

"Go. Now. The blood of my son calls for justice, and I intend to give it to him."

The counselors withdrew, dejected, while Lord Astaroth continued to stare into the abyss beyond the window. In his chest, his heart beat with a single rhythm, a single word:

Revenge. Revenge. Revenge.

Little did he know he was playing with forces far beyond his comprehension. Forces that, when provoked, can erase not just one devil...

But an entire bloodline.