The first time that Serafall Sitri met Raise Gremory was at one of the many social functions that she was invited to, as one of the heroes of the underworld. This time the hosts were the famous Gremory family who boasted the honour of being both one of the remaining 72 pillars of the underworld as well as being the family that Sirzhecs, her friend and ally throughout the devil civil war was originally born into. Not that the newly crowned Lucifer could or would ever maintain any degree of separation from his family despite not being considered a part of it. That closeness between families and peerages was apparently a Gremory family trait or so the family liked to portray it as such. Serafall was never very enthusiastic about these things. While she enjoyed the opportunity to needle Sirzhecs and Ajuka she hated the dry topics and power grabs that were promulgated by the fossils that typically attended these family meetings.

After the eighth head of their family engaged her in topic about something that would be to their mutual benefit she decided to abandon the hall and get some fresh air. Cutting off those who were trying to further occupy her attention she gave a sign that hopefully meant 'I am occupied by something important and regret not being able to talk to you' and not 'I hate you and your family and want to break off relationships for a few centuries.' Finally as she approached the door she grabbed one last cocktail off from a scurrying waiter and exited into the cool night air.

As the door closed behind her all the tension that she felt left her body. Breathing in the crisp air of the night she sipped at her cocktail before realising that it was cherry flavoured and very deliberately setting it down on the ground away from her. Taking a deep breath she scanned the night and realised that everybody else was still in the party. But where her eyes told her that the night was empty her ears expressed a different story.

The soft sounds of a piano playing in the distance impressed itself upon her mind and she tilted her head trying to triangulate the position of the mysterious musician. Looking up her eyes fell upon a balcony and then with a single flap of her wings she was speeding through the air and soaring over the terrace. The sight that greeted her there was that of a single boy sitting on a bench in the middle of a garden with no musical instrument in sight.

The boy had the red hair and brilliant blue eyes that identified him as a member of the Gremory family. He looked to be about twelve in age and his wings were held aloft as he hummed along to the music. He wore what amounted to an old-fashioned business suit that looked slightly absurd on his small frame. As Serafall ascended past the floor of the balcony he turned to inspect her, his eyes scanning her body once over before they came to rest upon her own.

Serafall landed and she was about to inquire both his name and the source of the music when something changed. The world seemed to flicker and a drop of sweat ran down the back of the female Satan's neck as she was taken off guard. No piano music ran through the grove and the young man changed. His right wing became a parody of its former self as a twisted and torn ruin and as he stood up Serafall became aware that his right leg was also similarly twisted.

"Are you enjoying my garden Leviathan," the young boy said calmly to Serafall.

The Satan started to reply and then stopped. Inspecting the six by eight metres balcony she realised that besides the plain stone bench and some grass it was devoid of any other greenery or ornamentation. All in all it looked bare and simple compared to the ostentatious finery that festooned the many yards that she had seen as part of the devil nobility. She grasped for words to describe the situation and came up with the perfect set.

"It looks incomplete," she said more to herself. She puffed out her chest and held her magic wand aloft. "Right now this garden looks like it needs some Leviathan magic."

"Stop," the boy said cutting off Serafall to her surprise. "It is my garden," the boy said emphasizing his ownership of it. "It is my prerogative to complete it in a manner that I wish."

Serafall recovered from her surprise and a smile adorned her face as she took in the frank response from the boy whose name she still had yet to discover. It was quite refreshing compared to the double speak and polite denials. If she had offered to one of the devils downstairs she probably would have gotten a polite 'such a simple task is beneath the attention of the Leviathan' or 'we couldn't ask you to do such a small thing.'

Instead he had essentially told her to mind her own business. Intrigued she watched as he sat down and patted the bench next to him. "If you're going to remain here you might as well sit down," he said. He snapped his fingers and Serafall watched as a plate of sandwiches appeared next to the bench and he picked it up and set it upon his lap. "You can have some if you want," he offered holding out the plate of sandwiches.

"Illusion magic," Serafall remarked hitting her fist into her open palm. "That's what you're doing. You're pretty good."

"Compared to the average devil I am," the boy said modestly. "But devils have never quite specialized in this particular breed of magic. There are probably others against whom I would measure up less favourably."

"So why are you up here instead of downstairs with the rest of the party," Serafall asked intrigued.

"I could ask you the same Miss Hero of the Underworld," the boy said back and now Serafall was feeling rather foolish for not knowing his name. "I'm sure there are countless people down there to whom talking with you would be the highlight of their evening."

Serafall frowned at the reminder that his words had brought. There had been a lot of people recently who had started bringing up the subject of marriage contracts. Their subtlety varied depending on the devil but without fail in almost every conversation that she had been part of the subject of marriage had been brought up. Even her parents had gotten in on the act with her father pointing out prospective suitors that would be a good match and her mother often tried to get her to talk about any cute boys. Any names mentioned would often be introduced to her in a week or two under some pretext.

"I got a bit tired of the chatter so I decided to get some fresh air," Serafall only partially lied.

"I doubt there is anybody who would want to talk to me," the boy said as he flapped his wings causing his right one to flop around pathetically. "The underworld is a society based on power. I highly doubt that a cripple will be worth the illustrious lords' time."

Serafall hummed over that. While the child in front of her had an undoubtable handicap, his illusions were superior to anything that she had seen. She watched as he snapped his fingers and his leg and wing returned to their pristine state and the music resumed. Both auditory and visual illusions would make him a catch for any peerage. Still Serafall refrained from offering him a spot amongst hers. While they seemed to get on well together she didn't really know him well enough to make that commitment. Hell, she didn't even know his name.

"What is your name anyway?" she said curiously awaiting the answer.

"Raise Gremory," he replied back immediately. "And you are Serafall Sitri," he said using her family name instead of the name she had earned. "It is nice to meet you."

They sat in silence for a few moments and Serafall helped herself to one of the sandwiches, to her delight the insides were a meaty cheesy mix that stimulated her taste buds. The piano melody transitioned between tunes as her fellow devil conducted an imaginary musician to serenade the pair.

Finally after minutes of idle chatter amidst the harmonious illusion, Raise straightened up and tilted his head to the side as if listening to a sound only he could hear. "They are finishing up for the night," he said. "You should go; whatever spectacle that ensues they will probably expect the Leviathan to be there for it."

"Hmm," Serafall pouted at his reason for getting rid of her. "And how do you know this," she questioned.

"I have a few pairs of eyes on the inside," Raise said reclining on his bench again. The music had died down by now and only the stillness of the night remained. "You have been excellent company Serafall Sitri. Feel free to drop by anytime to visit my garden. Hopefully the next time that you arrive it will look far more picturesque."

Serafall nodded to that and it was with no small amount of regret that she stepped off the balcony and landed gracefully on the floor. The music faded as she moved away from the younger Gremory's balcony and closer to the hall until it faded into nothingness as she reached the door.

The rest of the night was wholly forgettable.

xxx

Serafall was having a bad day as she sat at her desk furiously making use of the quill that had been given to her by some or other well-wisher. As a Satan she normally did not have a large amount of paperwork as the mundanities of running the foreign affairs office were taken care of by junior staff and she often had a lot of time to just sit back and write a script for her upcoming show.

All her free time in the conceivable future had dried up as swiftly as a puddle in the desert. Due to the actions of some inconceivable idiots, Olympus was now upset with the entirety of devil society. Despite the power of some of the ultimate class devils, and Sirzhecs and Ajuka's power in particular, the underworld would be completely crushed by the comparativeness cohesiveness of the powerful faction of the gods.

Putting the latest in a long line of newly revised treaties down onto her desk Serafall Leviathan stood up and stretched. There was a slight pain in her back from being hunched over her desk the whole day and she rubbed the base of her spine cursing her larger than average breasts as she did so. She picked up her mug of coffee and found to her disappointment that her drink had turned ice cold. Grimacing at the thought of having to drink reheated coffee she instead decided to leave her office and go to visit Sirzechs. The Lucifer should be having just as hard a time with this whole mess and with any luck he would welcome a distraction.

Summoning a teleportation circle she teleported herself all the way to the gates of the Gremory mansion. While normally she would have teleported directly into his office the last time she did that she found both Sirzechs and Grayfia christening his desk and she didn't want to chance an encounter like that one again.

Unfurling her wings she soared over the gate bypassing the security that didn't even try to prevent her access. Whistling cheerfully to herself as she strolled through the garden she walked up to the front door and picked the lock. Opening the door she was confronted by the stern visage of Grayfia Lucifuge wearing her traditional maid's uniform.

"Sirzhecs Lucifer is not here at the moment," she said without any prompting. "If you have an urgent message for him tell me and I will relay it to him when he gets back."

Serafall puffed out her cheeks at her statement. Despite being fond of Sirzhecs she really didn't like his wife. It wasn't for some stupid reason like she also used ice magic and was the strongest female in the underworld after Serafall herself or even because the strict authoritarian maid had the exact opposite personality as her. She didn't like Grayfia because she represented everything that was wrong about marriage in Serafall's mind. The marriage between Grayfia and Sirzhecs despite the fact that they were obviously in love always looked like an inescapable prison that constrains both parties. Sirzhecs was always forced to tone down his antics around his Queen and similarly Grayfia had to devote vast amounts of time to looking after Sirzhecs. Honestly the Leviathan could never imagine having that kind of relationship with anybody.

"Nah," Serafall retorted ignoring Grayfia's disapproving look. "Everybody else in this house is boring." Except one she amended in her head. "Be seeing you," she said giving a cheery wave as she exited the room.

Instead of leaving the manor she took off into the skies above the manor and sped away to the second floor balcony where she had met the youngest son of the Gremory family four months ago. Arriving at the balcony she was pleased to see that grass covered the entirety of the balcony and there were several flowers that grew in beds around the border of the garden. Raise sat in the middle of the garden on the bench in his pristine yet old-fashioned suit and with his superficially undamaged wings held aloft.

Serafall had spent a few nights since she had first met the boy reading up on illusion techniques and how to break them. According to the book there were two distinct types of illusion, namely internal and external. One focused on transmitting the fantasy directly into the senses of the opponent and the other used magic to coat the external environment and create external visual and auditory stimulus. They both required different approaches to dispel. To that end Serafall coursed magic through her body unpredictably in the hopes of throwing off the illusion.

"It's external," Raise said taking a sip of orange juice that had just appeared in his hand. "Go ahead, try to remove them."

Serafall blushed at being found out so easily but she decided to take advantage of his invitation. She summoned her magic and flooded it throughout the environment willing it to crush the illusion. The air turned colder due to the natural inclination of her magic but she was used to this. What she wasn't used to was when her eardrums nearly burst to a massive roar and three massive dragons soared down from the sky poised to devour her. Instantly she was on guard and preparing an ice spell to take down the draconic beasts when she suddenly stopped.

Sitting there and not moving an inch out of place was Raise Gremory still sipping at his orange juice. "I'm in an illusion aren't I," she deadpanned to the calm child. His only response was a nod of his head and with a snap of his fingers the illusion dispelled. "No," the Leviathan thought. "The illusion has been reapplied," she noted out loud as she saw the pristine state of the young Gremory's wings. "Was that a layered illusion?" she asked impressed. The books had made mention of them as the part of the ultimate level of an illusionists ability. It was quite frankly an illusion hidden behind an illusion so that if a single layer fell it would be immediately replaced by another layer.

"Greetings, Serafall Sitri," Raise said shuffling to the side of the bench allowing her to take a spot on his left. "I see you have done some light reading on illusionist techniques."

"Didn't do much good against you," Serafall said playfully pouting.

"Did you expect it to," he replied. "You can't read a few chapters in a book and expect to bypass my illusions."

"Is that offer to visit your garden still valid?" Serafall asked still hovering over the balcony. When he nodded affirmatively she let herself drop down to the floor and took hold of the glass of orange juice offered to her.

"I'm going to manage to break through your illusions eventually," Serafall said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

Raise just shrugged but the expression on his face told her that he doubted she would manage. "So you don't get on well with Grayfia," he said letting nothing slip into his voice.

"Yeah," Serafall said. "I just can't stand her. No offence if you're fond of her but our natures just clash."

"Hmm," Raise said. "You don't have to live with her. I can't count the number of times I've used my magic over illusions to get myself out of some or other thing that she wants to make me do."

"That sounds like her alright," Serafall empathised.

"I know," Raise said with exasperation toning his voice. "I mean if you're going to dress as a maid can you at least stop trying to boss me around while doing so. I'm not really nor will I ever be part of the whole serving hierarchy."

Serafall nodded at that. "Wait a minute," she said trying to go through her memory. "I didn't actually ask. Where do you fit in the family?"

"Sirzhecs brother," Raise said taking another sip of his orange juice before putting it down. A snap of his fingers and a snippet of piano started playing.

"So does that mean that you're the Gremory heir," Serafall asked curiously. She was under the impression that she would have heard his name if he was.

"It's complicated," Raise began and ended ignoring the look on the Leviathan's face. He reclined in the bench with his arms crossed clearly unwilling to talk any further about the topic.

"Okay then," Serafall reached around for different topics. "Why are you so certain I won't be able to break your illusions?"

"It is for the same reason that I will never be able to freeze you," Raise said. "A person who looks up books on illusions for the purpose of breaking them will never be able to match somebody who lives and breathes them. Despite your level of power and your expert control over your magic you will never attain my abilities with illusions."

The young Gremory's words were logical and calm but still they lit a fire under Serafall. "I'll prove you wrong," she said to the much younger devil. "I'll learn how to break all your illusions in less than one year and once I do I'll have you teach me how to make illusions of my own."

"You are so eager to steal the one talent that I can truly call my own," Raise said in reply and there was a note of something that Serafall couldn't quite decipher. "I will however accept," he said. "In return you will hire for me a practitioner of Youjutsu and Senjutsu in order to help me practice my illusions."

"Deal," the Leviathan said a bit less eagerly than before. "I can give you an advantage," she reluctantly said acting against her nature.

"The fact that you are challenging me to my own speciality should be enough to win for me," Raise said waving off her offer.

"But I'm both older than you and have way more magical power than you," Serafall said refusing to let go of her generous offer. "Besides there are only a few more illusions that devils have discovered and for all of them the counters are known."

"That just means that I have to create my own," Raise said smiling. "Did you not think of doing the same thing at your age? After all you were a devil with ice in her veins surrounded by a clan of water users. Do you deny you experimented when you had the same number of years behind you?"

"That's true," Serafall admitted. "But there was a war going on at that time. My magic was the only thing standing between my life and death."

Raise acknowledged the statement with a nod of his head. "That's true, for you mastering magic was a necessity. It was a way to increase your power and stave off your demise while you believe that for me it is a simple hobby or past time." He shook his head. "You downplay my immersion within the illusory realms. For me the art of casting illusion is a way of life"

For a few moments the two of them sat silently contemplating the challenge. Another illusion dispersed to Serafall's right and she turned to see a platter of chocolate chip biscuits appear on Raise's knees. She swiped two mischievously ignoring Raise's disapproving look.

"Of course you can eat my biscuits," Raise said sarcastically. "Why are you here anyway?"

"If I remember correctly you invited me here," Serafall said cheerfully. "Don't tell me you're sick of my company."

"If you wanted my company you would have travelled directly to my garden," Raise said finishing off his juice before setting the glass down. "Instead you went directly into the house. Obviously you wanted to talk to somebody else initially, most likely my brother."

"You are pretty clever," Serafall complimented him. "I initially wanted to meet with Sirzhecs but he was currently out."

"Yeah, he's been busy with that whole nasty business with Olympus," Raise said to the Leviathan's amazement. "Yes I know about that mess. I do live with the guy and I regularly check his paperwork just to see if there's anything interesting going on."

"Are you sure you should be admitting that to a Satan," Serafall said but her lip was twitching at the thoughts of Sirzhecs documents being raided by his baby brother.

"If you see one be sure to tell me and I'll stop," Raise said dryly. "Come to think of it don't you have plenty of work to do as well? Aren't foreign affairs basically your whole job?"

"I have been working," Serafall said defensively. "I was signing papers until my writing hand was busted," she said holding the appendage limply and dangling it about. "What do you think about the whole situation anyway?" the Leviathan asked curiously.

"Are you asking me my opinion on politics," Raise said raising one eyebrow. At Serafall's nod he sighed. "I think that it was caused by devils being devils. Instead of being satisfied with their lot in life they fell prey to their greed and decided that they could kidnap members of the Greek faction and no harm would come to them. In a way they were acting as the archetypal devil. Greedy, self-centred and entitled, if any of them come out of this alive I will be very surprised."

"They are important members of the remaining pillars," Serafall played devil's advocate. "Very important people will want them to survive. Besides," she said with a bitter smile. "There are so few of us left." She spoke the truth. Just after the devil civil war the total number of devils was only slightly over five thousand. Even many years after that the total population has still never broken ten thousand.

Raise just shook his head at that. "You won't have a choice. If Olympus turns against us we will not survive as a race. Despite all our power it would only take a few gods to descend to the underworld and in a few minutes our race's population will have dropped to the extent that it will be impossible to recover. There are no factions that will come to our aid and many factions that will seek to plunge a knife into the corpse. "No, it will not be willing but in the end the stolen peerage members will be returned and Olympus will be getting their heads."

Serafall frowned but didn't disagree. "How did you even know I was here by the way," she said trying to change the subject to a less morbid topic.

"Let's just say I have extra eyes about the mansion," Raise said mysteriously.

A few seconds passed and then the pieces were put together. "A familiar? I didn't see… oh," she said realising that she was talking to an illusionist. "What type of familiar do you have?" she asked curiously.

"A secret one," Raise replied and offered Serafall another biscuit. Suddenly he straightened up. "Shh," he whispered to Serafall and then Sera could feel a slight fluctuation of magic and when she looked around she realised that her body had turned invisible. Suddenly footsteps were heard and she stayed very still. "Master Raise," the voice of her least favourite maid rang out. "It's time for your lessons."

No reply came from the empty looking spot next to her and after a moment Grayfia Lucifuge stepped through the door. "Why did I know that he wasn't here?" the maid said wearily. "For somebody with his circumstance he can move very fast when he doesn't want to attend his lessons."

The maid shook her head and left the balcony and about ten seconds later the pair shimmered into existence. "Devil etiquette lessons," Raise said answering the devil girl's unasked question and causing the Leviathan to look sympathetically at him. "I'm leaving," he said standing up and brushing himself down. "Once again, feel free to drop by my garden anytime you want to."

With a last wave Raise shimmered from sight signalling the end of their chat. Serafall smiled back and stole a last handful of cookies before she took off from the balcony and soared away back to her own home.

xxx

Serafall was packing a picnic basket. Unlike the previous times that she had met with Raise and eaten all of his food this time she was prepared to bring her own share. She had seen him a few times over the past few months when she could spare time from her day job of trying to keep the multitudes of devils from rioting and doing something the species would not survive after four devil heads were handed over to Olympus. That series of events had eaten up all of her time and she had barely had enough time each day to devote to learning how to break illusions.

Whistling a merry tune Serafall summoned a teleportation circle beneath her and within a minute she had infiltrated the Gremory mansion. Circling the perimeter she ascended over the gate and slipped past the boundary magic. Accelerating through the skies she reached the garden balcony within half a minute. As per normal Raise sat there on his usual bench although this time he sat under shade courtesy of a tree that had grown in the middle of his garden.

This time however he didn't seem to have noticed her yet as he sat in his standard suit with his eyes closed. A devilish smile fell over Serafall's angelic face as she dropped down silently to the floor and then snuck slowly towards him.

"Hello Serafall," a familiar voice whispered in her ear causing her to whip around. When she turned back she saw a wide awake Raise stretching out his arms. "How are you coping after all the unrest in the underworld?"

Serafall scowled at the illusionist and then sighed and sat down throwing an arm over the shoulder of her younger friend. "Not great," she said sighing. "I'm just so busy. Being a Satan is no fun; don't let anybody tell you differently."

"I have no intention of ever acquiring that job," Raise said trying unsuccessfully to loosen the Leviathan's grip on his shoulder. "You are rapidly making me regret inviting you over Serafall," Raise said with annoyance in his voice.

"Many boys would have actually enjoyed that," Serafall said jokingly but she let go.

"Well go hug them then," Raise said. "Besides I haven't even gone through puberty yet. That stuff is kind of wasted on me."

"Really?" Serafall asked. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm fourteen," Raise said causing Serafall to revisit her mental guess at the boy's age. "Next week," he continued. "Want to come to my birthday," he offered casually.

"Sure," Serafall replied. "Any there any requirements? Anything I need to bring?"

"Nah," Raise said. "It's just a small occasion. I haven't yet been officially introduced to devil society so they can't have a big thing."

"Ahh," Serafall said feeling as if she had stumbled someplace very uncomfortable. "That's a nice tree you have," she said dumbly. "Very leafy."

"Thanks," Raise said a large smile upon his face. "It's a pipal tree. At seeing Serafall's blank look he elaborated. "Under this very species of tree a bit over two thousand years ago, a man meditated on the ground. For forty-nine days he sat and on the last day he achieved enlightenment and became the very first Buddha."

"I've met some really powerful Buddhas," Serafall admitted nodding her head.

This wasn't the correct thing to say however as the only response that was given by Raise was him shaking his head. "I really do find the devil obsession with power weird," he said leaning back on the bench. "The prospect of true enlightenment and being freed from the suffering inherent in the material world and all you think about is whether it will make you hit harder."

Serafall looked at him slightly confused where he was going with this. "But then why do you practice your illusions. Don't you also want to become stronger?" she questioned.

"I don't practice them for that reason," Raise defended himself. "I use illusions because I like illusions. I have no interest in gaining power."

They sat in silence but the quiet was far from comfortable on Serafall's part. The youngest Gremory had just shattered the principal rule of being a devil. All devils sought power, whether political, via wealth or just power of the body and magic. For a devil to not seek supremacy was akin to a fish avoiding the water. It was concerning and actively dangerous in the underworld, a place of shifting loyalties where everybody was only out for themselves and their families. It was no wonder the Gremory family hadn't introduce him to the remainder of the underworld, it would be like throwing a sheep to the wolves; he would be eaten alive.

The Satan suddenly recalled a weight in her shirt pocket and Serafall came to a resolution. Reaching into her shirt she withdrew a box that really shouldn't have been able to fit in the small compartment. Raise watched curiously as she stuck her finger on the latch and let loose with an infinitesimal amount of energy causing the box to flip open. Scanning the contents of the box she quickly came to a decision and in one swift movement she withdrew a red pawn and held it aloft. Turning towards the young devil she watched him scrutinizing her and decided to make her appeal.

"Raise," she began. "You have a lot of potential. You can be great." She held the solitary chess piece aloft and the young Gremory's eyes tracked it. "I really enjoy talking to you and I think you're a great person. If you join my peerage you will never want for anything. Both money and p…" Serafall cut herself off. He had already stated that he had no interest in power and he wasn't yet through puberty so he couldn't be bribed by women. "Everything will be taken care of for you. All you have to do is lend me the strength of your illusions."

"No," Raise replied instantly cutting the confidence of the older devil.

"I can come back with a better speech," Serafall added hopefully but that hope was dashed by the shaking head of the Raise Gremory.

"You offered me nothing that I wanted," he explained. "In fact the one thing that I do want is not something that could be obtained by joining your peerage."

"And what is this thing?" Serafall asked in response to the mysterious statement. "Come on Raise," she said pouting. "I can't even try to get it for you if I don't know what it is."

The youngest Gremory leant back on the bench and adopted a thinking position with the knuckles of his right hand on his cheek. "The thing that I want is not something you can give to me. Try guessing what it is," he smiled invitingly.

Serafall thought on the question and for a few moments the garden was quiet in that time. She watched as butterfly's danced around the flowers that seemed to have doubled in volume and variety since she had last been here. A light string instrument started playing to disrupt the silence and Serafall started tapping her feet to the tune.

"Knowledge," she said after a while causing Raise to look at her. "Your idolisation of enlightenment, your spying on the guests of the Gremory mansion and you wanting a teacher as the reward for a victory. You want to learn about illusions because the endlessly fascinate you. In the end you, Raise Gremory, are a seeker after knowledge," Serafall said pointing at him.

"Incorrect," the younger Gremory said immediately.

"Oh come on," the former Sitri said. "You could at least give me some victory time before cutting me down."

"I find it best not to let misconceptions stand," he replied waving down the objections of the excitable Sitri. "Made any progress on trying to disrupt my illusions," Raise said changing the subject.

"Yeah," Serafall said. Shaping her magic she released it trying to brush away the illusionary reality. The world flickered and Serafall watched as Raise's right wing became twisted and mangled before his usual image snapped back into existence suddenly.

"Well done," the young Gremory clapped. "It was a perfectly adequate first attempt. Nevertheless you were miles away from getting all of my illusions."

Serafall moped at his words before she perked up. "Any hints," she said hopefully.

"You think I'm just going to help you win," Raise said shaking his head. "Alright one hint," he amended due to Serafall's pleading look. "You've started at the completely wrong place. In order to dispel illusions you must first be able to see through them. To first learn how to see through illusions you must learn to see the world as it is."

"And how long would that take me to learn," Serafall said as she contemplated his words.

"A few years," Raise said causing the Leviathan's head to whip around to look him in his eyes.

"You nearly got me," Serafall said chuckling as she shook her head.

"I don't need to get you," Raise defended himself. "Whether you listen to me or not you will fail this challenge. The only question is whether you will learn something from it."

"No," Serafall said her fist raised and an expression of determination on her face. "Just you watch Raise. I will pass this challenge."

"You've already failed," Raise said shaking his head. "Nevermind. Here," he said as he handed Serafall an envelope that suddenly appeared in his hand. "It's an official invitation to my party."

Serafall took the professional looking letter with ornate lettering and got the feeling that Raise had nothing to do with any of it. "How many people are going to be there?" she inquired.

"My parents, Sirzechs, Grayfia, the servants and you," Raise said listing them off. "Personally I would rather stay in my garden but I think my parents actually shed a tear when I mentioned I was bringing a friend. It was pretty awkward."

"You don't have a lot of friends do you," Serafall observed.

"Congrats Sera, you're number one of one," Raise replied dryly.

"Sera," the leviathan mused. "Okay but I'm going to call you Rei," she retorted.

"Let's not do that Serafall," the youngest Gremory said with a deadpan look upon his face.

"Too late, see you next week Rei," Sera Sitri said leaping off the tower. The last sight she saw was a visage of despair on her new friend.

xxx

Serafall was dressed in a well-tailored jacket and dress as she teleported to the gate of the Gremory mansion. Smiling at the incredulity of the gate guards as she presented a legitimate invitation she strolled into the front door and knocked on the door. Instead of the expected butler she was greeted by Sirzechs who donned a look of exasperation at seeing the bouncy Satan before him.

"This isn't really a good time Serafall," he said with weariness in his tone. "We're a bit busy at the moment."

"For the party," Serafall said causing Sirzhecs eyes to widen. "I know about that, I was invited," she explained as she presented her invitation.

Sirzhecs took it with a dazed look on his face. Rubbing his eyes he examined the invite stating that Serafall had a right to be there. "How in Go… Just how did the two of you become friends?" he said flabbergasted.

"He's a good musician," Serafall said. "Now lead me Sirzhecs, I have to give him my present," she said holding up a small rectangular box. Sirzhecs nodded at that and turned to lead Serafall into the hall. Stepping into the hall Serafall was assaulted by the smell of food.

A single musician sat at the side of the room playing a piano and regaling the small audience with cheery tunes; although Serafall got the distinct feeling that if Raise tried he could blow him out of the water. Servants bustled here and there but for once Grayfia was not among them as she sat in casual clothes at the table in deep discussion with Lady Gremory. Raise sat to the side occasionally engaging in awkward looking conversation with his father. For once he did not bear the illusion of repaired wings but kept them safely tucked away.

Right now the collective few who were actually present had turned towards Serafall, who was pre-emptively holding up her invitation, in astonishment. Slowly the eyes turned towards Raise who ignored them.

"Serafall you came," he observed calmly.

"Wouldn't miss it," the Leviathan replied. Walking forward she put the present on the table and slid it forward towards Raise. "Your gift."

Raise caught the box and neatly opened it pulling out a golden pocket watch; a recent invention in the human world. Flipping it open he examined the face of the timepiece before snapping it shut and sliding it into his pocket.

"Thank you Serafall," he said. "I will find some use in it."

"Hopefully it will allow you to attend your classes on time," Grayfia remarked from a few seats away with no optimism in her voice.

Raise didn't reply and instead beckoned Serafall to sit next to him. The food had not been served yet and the delicious smell of cooking meat wafted through the room causing Serafall's stomach to growl unnoticeably.

"So what do you normally do at one of these things?" Serafall whispered to the birthday boy. Usually for a high-class devils birthday hordes of other devils would be invited and they would host a large party displaying the wealth and prestige and they would use that opportunity to gain allies and revel in the attention. This small relatively quiet gathering was so unlike one of them that Serafall was a little lost.

"Nothing unusual," Raise said picking up a nearby glass containing a familiar orangey liquid. We usually have a little music, some food and then we go on an excursion somewhere. Last year we went to the familiar forest to get me my familiar. This year we're going to the Arena," Raise said with an almost unnoticeable amount of contempt in his voice.

Serafall eyes sparkled at the thought. The Arena was a relatively new invention of devil-kind. It consisted of a massive stadium modelled after the Colosseum. But the inside was far removed from the sand pit in which the Romans did their battle. The stage consisted of an artificially created territory which was modelled on very different landscapes by warping space. In the arena a system existed that prevented lethal damage being done to the competitors and it was not usual to see lethal spells being thrown at their opponents. The Arena was quickly becoming a place for devil-kind to settle their disputes and show off their strength and the strength of their peerages.

But judging by the look on Raise's face as well as his casual contempt of power he did not seem that excited. Suddenly Serafall remembered another point of the conversation. "Wait you never did show me your familiar Rei."

"Didn't I?" Raise said stalling. At Serafall's look of disappointment he relented. Raising his hand Serafall watched as a single yellowy butterfly flew and landed on the tips of his fingers. As the Satan made to speak more and more Lepidoptera flew in from the surrounding room and circled the youngest Gremory. "Behold my familiars Serafall," he said.

Serafall raised her hand and felt some of the insects alight upon her skin. The tingling of their feet gave proof that they were real, physical beings that had bonded with her friend.

"They're not illusions," she remarked to Raise as the young Gremory relaxed in his chair raising his orange juice so that the insects could also partake.

"I'm not allowed to cast illusions on my birthday," he replied with a relaxed air. "I do find it nice to just relax and observe reality sometimes," he said in response to Serafall's shocked look.

"How did they ever get you to stop casting illusions," Serafall whispered to him under her breath.

"They are my parents," Raise said with an air of quiet dignity. "Besides I got an advantage out of it also. As long as I obey this rule I never have to ever meet Zekram Bael again."

Serafall nodded her mind connecting the dots. Zekram Bael was one of the most respected devils in the underworld. In addition he was said to have a fixation on both maintaining the strength and purity of devils. She could easily think of a thousand ways that the initial meeting could have gone horribly. Looking at her younger friend she didn't even know if he could use the power of destruction and she didn't know how to politely ask.

Suddenly she was saved from her thoughts by the smell of cooked meat reaching its pitch and the Gremory servants bustled into the room carrying the large carcass of an animal coated dipped in a thick brown sauce. The sounds of conversation died down and in less than a minute the meat was expertly carved and served onto the plates of the diners followed by buttered and steamed potatoes and a variety of perfectly steamed vegetables.

Conversation slowed down as the collective devils dug into the food. Sirzechs joined them sitting on Serafall's other side. He made small chat as the three of them watched the butterflies. The flapping of their wings was mesmerising and as Serafall watched she noticed something. Every single one of the butterflies had a pair of blue spots with black centres on their wings that resembled eyes, or more accurately a specific pair of eyes. The effect was quite creepy once you noticed it.

"Raisy," Sirzechs said suddenly from next to Serafall. "You may want to put a lid on the butterfly activity. "You're scaring off your guests again."

"Actually I find the butterflies quite cute," Serafall lied with a smile on her face.

"You hear that Raisy," Sirzechs said leaning past Serafall to pat the younger devil on the shoulder. "She's a keeper all right."

Raise shook his head in exasperation but he smiled as he did so. He waved his hands and the butterflies exited the room and dispersed in all directions. He bit into his dinner ignoring any contemplative glances that were thrown his way by those overhearing.

The rest of the meal proceeded smoothly besides Serafall accidentally imbibing a cherry cocktail and accidentally spraying the concoction over the face of the birthday boy. Once the main course had been consumed; a large chocolate cake was brought forward and divided amongst the guests. The assembly picked at their cake and chatted while they waited for the time to arrive so that they could depart to the arena and even the usually stoic Raise seemed a lot more lively than usual.

But soon enough the hour arrived and it was Zeoticus Gremory who eventually got everybody moving when the hour struck four. A standard sized permanent teleportation circle was used to transport the assembly directly into the reserved box. First the parents of the birthday boy went through and then Sirzechs and his wife and last of all Serafall and Raise shared the final trip through the teleportation circle.

The sight that greeted them was of the typical opulence that permeated devil design. A room made of white marble with plush carpets and finery that had one of the walls replaced by a balcony that extended so that the devils could better see the competitors in the arena. At this point there were already two devils that were skirmishing in the arena, most likely devils that had not attained fame or popularity.

Serafall drifted over to the edge and set her sights on the duelling pair below. No magic was used in the duel but the two of them had decent physical condition and were clearly not holding back in their attempts to harm the other. Raise joined her a second later and silently observed the duel with a faint hint of distaste on his face that he couldn't really hide from eyes tracked the pair of duelling devils for a few moments until their thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the Lucifer.

"The one in the black armour is going to win," he said as his eyes joined the two pairs.

"It seems so," Raise agreed causing Serafall to inspect the fight more closely herself. While both fighters were proficient in their choice of weaponry, a mace for the black armoured one and a sword for the brown armoured one, there was a certain efficiency of movement that spoke for Mr. Black armour that didn't seem present in his opponent.

"I didn't know you knew anything about fighting," Serafall said to Raise watching Sirzhechs shake his head out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't," Raise replied back stiffly. "It's in their body language. To put it simply Yellow initially looks more confident as opposed to Black's, more cautious demeanour. However Black is not submitting to pressure despite being on the defensive which shows he has experience. This leads me to believe that Yellow's self-assurance is simply due to not knowing he's outclassed."

"Or he could have studied Black and came to the conclusion that he would be able to beat him," Serafall argued for the sake of arguing.

"Do you know that people keep trying to mug Sirzechs whenever he goes to the human world?" Raise said causing the crimson haired Satan to wave his hands in a feeble attempt at denial. "That is because my brother looks like a fruitcake to the casual eye. I can guarantee you that Yellow's skills of observation at its best would be considered casual."

Raise and Sirzechs observations held out as within the next few seconds a mistimed lunge caused Black to disarm his opponent of his blade and thrust his own through Yellow's chest. A polite clap rippled through the stadium as they were both taken off and the next pair were announced. This pair seemed to mix it up and spells as well as more classic fighting. This time both Serafall and Sirzechs predicted the correct winner while Raise didn't.

This continued throughout the event with the eventual tally at the end being Sirzechs first, then Serafall with Raise very close behind the two. After the last two were taken off the field the announcer came on and informed the crowds that the main even would take place within the next half hour.

"Wasn't that exciting Raisy," Sirzechs said with a small amount of hope in his voice. "We actually had a few strong competitors today."

"They could both possess the unparalleled power of the Ourobourus Dragon and I still wouldn't find the act of hitting each other to be one which is worth much of my time," Raise said with a deadpan look on his face.

"Yup that's the response I expected," Sirzechs said. "And speaking of dragons I almost forgot to give you your present." The Lucifer withdrew his hand from his pockets and threw a wooden dragon towards his younger brother which Raise plucked out of the air.

"You really like your dragons," Serafall said patting his back.

"Oh Raisy has always loved dragons," Sirzechs spoke up. "His entire room is covered by the things."

"That's pretty cute," Serafall said smiling.

"I know right," Sirzechs said with a look of contentment on his face.

"If you've had enough fun mocking me," Raise said slipping the blue dragon figurine into his pockets. I believe that the match of the evening is about to begin."

"Are you finally getting into it, Rei?" Serafall asked.

"Hardly," Raise said. "But I believe that it is a fight between a Bael and a Phenex and quite personally I would take any opportunity to see the Bael get put down."

"I'm going to support the Bael. There's really no way that anybody with the Power of Destruction wouldn't be able to bypass the Phenex's 'immortality'," Sirzechs said with a massive amount of mocking when he mentioned the Phenex's supposed immortality.

"I'm going to side with Raise on this one," Serafall said. She also had no love for the Bael clan.

"Care to put your money where your mouth is," Sirzechs said with a grin.

"Deal," Serafall said with Raise nodding. Terms were agreed as the starting siren went off.

xxx

"Wow Sirzechs you sure are unlucky," Serafall said as she walked out of the teleportation circle with her wallet heavier than before.

"When you have took the devil's name it seems that you missed out on taking his luck," Raise said as he counted out the notes.

The Crimson Satan didn't respond and instead just shook his head. "I can't believe I bet on that unskilled amateur," he ground out. "Grayfia is not going to be happy with me."

"What am I not going to be happy about now," the voice of the ice maid appeared from behind Sirzechs like a sudden winter's breeze causing the Lucifer to shiver. She glanced over and noticed both Serafall and Raise standing and watching with no small amusement. "We will talk about this later."

"Are you ever out of the dog box Sirzechs," Raise said as his wife walked away. "I have to go feed my butterflies. Thank you for attending my party Serafall," he said as he slightly bowed. A snap of his fingers later and he disappeared. Serafall turned to look at Sirzechs who was looking somewhere else. A few seconds later he exhaled and turned to face the Leviathan.

"Okay, he's gone," Sirzechs said.

"You've learned how to see through his illusions," Serafall observed. "Is there a special trick or technique you need to know."

"I can't see through them," Sirzechs rebutted. "None of my family can. If you specifically train and focus on your ability to sense magic you can sort of get a feel where he is but as for seeing through them..." Sirzechs shrugged. "Don't you find it quite funny," he said with a slight trace of bitterness in his voice. "Power over illusions that can fool two Satans and yet the wielder is the closest thing to a pacifist that you can find in the underworld with absolutely no desire for power at all. My parents are at their wits end. They love him but they have no idea what to do with him." The Super-devil turned towards the only female Satan with gratitude all over his face. "Thank you for being his friend Serafall."

Serafall blushed at the sincere thanks. "It wasn't all altruistic," she said. "He interested me and…"

"You've offered him a spot in your peerage, didn't you?" Sirzech's said. "How did that go?"

"He turned me down," Serafall said pouting. "Hey do you know what he would accept in exchange for being part of my peerage."

"Nothing," Sirzechs answered back immediately startling the former Sitri. "There is absolutely nothing that you can give him that will force him to willingly join your peerage. You may as well give up on that Serafall. Now while Raise has gone to rearrange his dragons why don't we have a drink for old times sake."

"You just want to avoid a scolding from your wife," Serafall accused but there was a definite twitch on her lips.

"Do you hear me denying it," Sirzechs said as he headed into the kitchen with the Leviathan following him.

xxx

"Today is the day," Serafall said as she stared in the mirror. "Today is the day that I will beat Raise Gremory." It had been a year since she had challenged him to a contest of illusions. "Honestly there was no real material benefit for her to winning. Senjutsu and Youjutsu masters were rare but hiring one for Raise's benefit would still not set her fortune back that much. In addition while she was interested in illusions she did not have the time to improve them to the level require to be useful in combat.

In the end the reason that she had devoted so much time into learning how to break the illusion was that she wanted to prove her abilities to her opponent and to establish a friendly rivalry with a person who was rapidly becoming a trusted companion to her. She ran a comb through her hair and completed her last morning ritual. She contemplated the rules as she took out a pair of pink ribbons from the cupboard and tied her hair into two pigtails. She had to eliminate all of Raise's illusions. He would not inform her how many illusions that he had cast. She had an unlimited amount of time in which to destroy the illusions but when she declared that all the illusions were gone she would either pass or fail depending on whether there were still additional illusions.

A teleportation circle appeared beneath her and she instantly appeared at Raise's garden in the hopes of preventing him from setting up any further illusions. But the garden appeared to be empty. Serafall's brow scrunched at the thought. Raise Gremory was never late. Whenever she arrived at the Garden the young man was always waiting for her there. He especially wouldn't be late on the day of their contest. Taking a deep breath she took Sirzech's advice and sensed the magic around her. Most of it was low level but there was a slight spike that she wouldn't have noticed without the training she had done on detecting magic.

Turning around she expelled her magic linking with the illusion and with great concentration tried to get it to match the frequency of her opponent's magic. The trick according to the books she read was to get the illusion to resonate with your own magic before you tore it down and results spoke for themselves as Raise's method of concealment broke and the youngest Gremory flickered into being in front of the Leviathan's eyes. Raise said nothing in response to his illusion being dispelled and merely handed Serafall the glass of orange juice in his hand, which the Satan gladly accepted, before he sat down on his bench.

The competition was on and Serafall had no intention in taking the younger devil lightly. Firstly Serafall focused on the flowers. While she knew that Raise devoted a lot of time to watering and planting them she also knew that not all of them were real. Her attempt was initially unsuccessful and she came to the conclusion that it was a great deal harder than any of the previous times that she had tried to dispel any of Raise's illusions. Coming to the conclusion that Raise had previously gone easy on her she turned to look at her friend and saw him smile at her and give her one thumb up which only had the effect of ticking her off.

Redoubling her efforts Serafall increased and decreased the frequency of her magic trying to get a hold of the illusive illusion but it wasn't easy. She could feel the magic but its frequency seemed to shift like up and down as she focused it. Pushing her concentration to the utmost she sent several waves of fluctuating magic at the same time trying to overpower the illusion. This was possibly the least efficient way of ever dispelling an illusion but it appeared to work. The flowers first wavered and then the illusion flickered before it shattered like glass revealing a less impressive garden with a smaller variety of flowers.

Serafall turned back to Raise with a smug expression on her face but the young devil was ignoring her and instead gazing at the reduced state of his garden with a noticeably forlorn look upon his face. Serafall suddenly got the impression that what she was doing was not going to endear herself to her friend. Shaking her head she resolved to get it over with and then deal with any fallout later. Turning her attention back to the garden she scanned for more illusions by trying to detect any surges in magic but that quickly turned out to be useless.

After that came the trial and error. She threw her magic at the tree, the walls (they were a different colour, Raise himself; (this revealed some sandwhiches which Raise noticeably didn't offer her). Eventually Serafall was about to give up and the words were partially out of her mouth when she stopped. She noticed a distinct absence of sound that permeated the garden. Summoning an icicle she dropped it and watched as it silently clattered against the floor. "An auditory illusion," she thought with a frown across her face. Every book she had read on the subject had said that illusions based on sound were both harder to cast and harder to dispel than their visual counterparts.

According to every book that she had read on the subject auditory illusions could not be dispelled by larger amounts of magic but rather a greater ability to emulate the wavelength of the illusionist's magic. If she didn't get the precise frequency her magic would just phase through Raise's like water through air. She summoned up her immense magical reserves and got to work.

Failure after failure resulted but Serafall only grew in determination. While she never was able to achieve Sirzech's or Ajuka's control over their magic she still was no slouch in the precision department. You had to be when a single spell of yours was able to destroy a battlefield. Mess up your magic or put too much in and suddenly you have just as many dead on your side than the opponents. That was not something that the only female Satan could stomach handling and so she had always done the extra amount of practice necessary so that she could be absolutely certain that the situation could never come to pass.

The method to dispel illusions by matching the wavelength of the illusion required more control than she had ever demanded from herself but it was not out of her reach. As the seconds ticked into minutes and the minutes rolled over into hours Serafall inched closer and closer to dispelling the illusion. Finally after a tremendous effort for a second the frequency of the illusion matched the frequency of Serafall's magic and a million little sounds reached Serafall's ear.

"I got all your Illusions," Serafall said triumphantly feeling a little drained due to the workout.

"You lose," Raise replied handing Serafall another glass of orange juice.

"What, there is no way. There are absolutely no illusions in the garden," Serafall said. She took a sip from the orange juice as she glared at the young Gremory daring him to prove her wrong.

"Would you like to see which illusion you were not able to dispel, Sera?" Raise asked.

The female Satan nodded and scanned the courtyard eagerly as Raise raised his hand and very slowly and carefully snapped his fingers. For Serafall who was expecting maybe a minor change what happened next was a nasty surprise. Her mouth was instantly flooded by the hated cherry flavour and she spat out the juice that she had not yet swallowed.

Coughing and hacking Serafall glanced down at the traitorous orange juice when the thought hit her. "How did you do that?" she asked dumbstruck. "No book I've ever read said anything about taste based illusions."

"I've told you before Sera," Raise said. "I create my own illusions. Just because the previous ones were close enough to the ones you occasionally read about doesn't mean that they all will be."

"I lost," Serafall admitted bitterly. "I'll bring you your Senjutsu teacher within the week," Serafall said. "I've already had my eye on one." Left unsaid by her was that she intended to hire a Senjutsu teacher if he lost as well, as a gracious gift for the victor and to enable his illusions to grow in power. She still had her eye on him for his peerage and the combination of bribery and a genuine will to see him get stronger meant that she would have long ago hired a teacher for him if he had asked.

"There is no need," Raise said. "I would not have kept my promise if you had won."

"Wow," Serafall said dully. "You really don't let me get any time to catch my thoughts do you." For a devil to break their given word would mark them forever no matter the number of centuries that had passed. A broken oath had driven many devil families extinct or into exile. To proclaim that he wouldn't have kept his word was a new kind of madness to add to the multitudes he already had displayed.

"So when should I start teaching you," Raise said baffling the Satan.

"Wait slow down a bit," Serafall said holding her arms out in front of her. "Did you just offer to teach me when you said you wouldn't if I won?"

"Exactly," Raise said holding his finger up and pointing to the Leviathan. "I wouldn't teach you illusions if I was forced to but I will gladly offer to teach you any illusions that I know."

Serafall stared in incredulity at the younger devil that was currently availing himself from his platter of sandwiches. Her mind worked in overdrive until it clicked and all the puzzles fell into place.

"Freedom," she said staring at him as the truth dawned upon her. "That's the one thing that you want more than anything. You don't want anybody to be able to tell you what to do."

Raise didn't respond for a moment before he dropped the sandwich in his hand and turned towards Serafall. "That's a very poor understanding of what the word freedom means," he said seriously. "To be truly physically and mentally free is to be unable to be constrained by one's situations, one's society, one's own instincts and even one's own body," he said while flexing his warped wing.

"But you could gain all of that by getting strong," Serafall protested.

"And how well is that working out for you?" Raise said raising an eyebrow. "How much free time have you had since the latest disaster?"

Serafall winced and wished that he was talking about the Olympus situation. It was a pretty futile wish as she was well aware as by now Raise would almost certainly be cognizant of the newest incident that got them in trouble with the Youkai. A couple Nekomata had been killed by a member of a peerage belonging to a well-known pureblood devil and all of the Youkai were not happy. It had actually had the effect of uniting the Japanese and the Chinese Youkai against the devils and while they were by no means the strongest faction they were allied with the Shinto faction as well as some of the Chinese gods. It was when Serafall had heard rumours of them making overtures with heaven that she had to indulge in some hardcore diplomacy. Serious concessions had again been made and Serafall almost prayed out of relief that the Shinto faction did not get on at all with the Olympians.

"Do you see what I'm talking about?" Raise said his voice gaining volume. "When you gain power, people give you duties or an image is permanently welded to you that you are always forced to fit. Not to mention that every day you are forced to train to retain that power and are forced to always be on the alert for people who want to usurp your position. No," he said shaking his head in disgust. "Lusting after strength is like forging your own chains and willingly becoming a slave to power."

They both fell silent after that impassioned speech and Serafall realized for the first time in their friendship that she was seeing the real face of Raise for the first time. The two sat in silence for a while before the younger devil got up. "I've got stuff to do," he said not even bothering to think up a good excuse.

He turned around to leave but was halted by the older devils voice. "Hey," Serafall said. "I should have your new tutor by Monday. Why don't we have a session together?"

Raise was still for a moment. "I'd like that," he said with genuine gratitude in his voice. And then he walked inside leaving Serafall standing alone on the balcony.

xxx

"Remember to breathe deeply," a childish voice came out of the mouth of a woman who was anything but. Standing over five feet with two black ears that jutted out from her equally dark hair Lilika, a nekomata woman and a friend of Serafall, stretched her arms into the air emphasizing her sizable breasts. She wore a tight pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt and sat on the floor in a strange parody of a yoga pose.

Serafall watched from the sidelines occasionally glancing at a piece of paper that she held in her hands. On it were instructions from Raise on how to see through illusions and Serafall was currently trying them out. Oddly enough there was no complex magic involved but more of a perspective shift that had to take place and Serafall found herself trying to attain the proper mindset while gazing at the real or imaginary landscape ahead of her.

Raise sat on the floor with his right leg jutting out at an awkward angle. He was trying to learn how to become one with the world, something that was supposed to be utterly possible for a devil, and learn Senjutsu. Senjutsu was not something that Lilika had already been hired to teach but since Raise had quickly devoured all of her lessons in crafting illusions and swiftly adapted her Youjutsu illusions into his devil magic the Nekomata had decided to reward her promising student and teach him something that he couldn't easily master. As a side-effect Serafall had to relearn how to destroy internal based illusions that comprised the bulk of Youjutsu techniques.

"Very good Raise," Lilika said as she moved behind the young Gremory placing his hands on her shoulders causing Serafall to lift her head and watch the two of them intently. While devils were not naturally predisposed towards Senjutsu Raise was not naturally predisposed towards being a devil and it seemed as if his unique personality allowed him to be able to better attain the state of mind to achieve the Sage arts. Serafall was not present for all of their lessons but according to both him and Lilika he had twice in the last six months of teaching obtained it, only to back out claiming that the malevolence had almost overtaken him.

"Not today Lilika," Raise said slowly standing accepting a hand from both Lilika and Serafall. "I'm going to have to take a break for a while. Deal with some stuff. Then I'll resume the lessons. Is that okay?" he addressed the cat woman.

"That's okay Raise," Lilika said but a small movement in her lips said that she wasn't very pleased. "You're by far my best student ever," she said smiling coyly. "Maybe one day I will give you a reward.

"My success in this venture is its own reward," Raise said and snapped his fingers causing the illusion over his wing and leg to be reapplied.

"And some great success it has been," Serafall said thinking of the things she had also learnt. She could now see through Raise's illusions unless he was specifically hiding them as well as cast her own illusions that she had tried on a few annoying devils to humorous effect. The one thing that she could do without was that cradle robbing cat getting a bit too familiar with her friend. Serafall shook her head at the thought. She had never met a nekomata that wasn't a pervert and Lilika had done nothing to change that point of view. But she was still a good friend and one of the few nekomata that would actually work with a devil after the latest unpleasantness.

"Let's go out for dinner tonight," the only non-devil among them said swinging her arms over the pair's shoulders.

"Serafall's treat," Raise replied instantly shifting the responsibility of paying to his best friend.

"Only if I get to choose the restaurant," Serafall conceded but not before adding that concession. She was well aware that Lilika would have chosen an all fish restaurant and Raise would eat literal trash if not stopped, his prodigious illusions making creating a taste even greater than the finest of meals. "And I know just the place. Raise put on your good suit, I know you have one, and meet me outside in thirty minutes. Lilika," she stopped for a moment contemplating the nekomata in front of her. "Just try not to be yourself." Ignoring Lilika's indignant hiss she turned around and vaulted over the balcony.

Forty-five minutes later the three of them stepped into the lobby of a high-class devil restaurant. It was a relatively new addition to the underworld and served recipes that were created by the humans just as most new enterprises seemed to be nowadays. Devils tended towards a greater creative sterility than the shorter lived species to the extent that despite all their many natural advantages their arts and technology actually lagged behind.

A waiter took their coats giving both the nekomata and the cripple a slightly dismissive look that vanished at the sight of Serafall Leviathan standing in front of him. She frowned but both Raise and Lilika ignored the rudeness and simply sat at the table. Raise had his wings hidden but his bad leg was on full display and the female devil noticed with some aggravation that several devils gave him a contemptuous look.

"You shouldn't concern yourself about what the public thinks about you Sera," the younger devil said picking up on her mood. "Societal expectation is just another of the many shackles that prevent you from achieving freedom."

"Raise is right Serafall," Lilika spoke up from next to him. "Who cares what a bunch of prickly old devils think. Not me, that's for sure."

Serafall frowned buy sat down and was presented with a menu by another one of the many waiters that littered the floor. Raise and Lilika got matching menus which the two took to perusing with furious intensity. Lilika was first in choosing her meal, flipping to the seafood menu and eventually picking raw fish. Raise took his time and eventually chose some grilled meat dish. Serafall ordered her regular and the three of them sat back in wait for the various waiters to provide their sustenance.

"This looks like quite a elegant restaurant Serafall," Lilika spoke up. "Just how much do you have to pay to get a table at a place like this?"

"My family has always had a table here," Serafall said. "Well for the last few years that it had existed. They were involved in providing the capital and even now we still own a portion of the restaurant."

"That's so cool," Lilika said enthusiastically. "Isn't that cool Raise?"

The younger devil merely shrugged his shoulders. "Not my type of place," he admitted.

"Stop being antisocial," Serafall teased him.

"I'm not antisocial," Raise said defending himself. "I am merely selective in whom I choose to become my friends. It is hardly my fault that devil society is full of both vultures and leeches."

"He really does love us," Lilika said almost succeeding in hugging the slippery young devil.

"And speaking of vultures…" Serafall began her sentence as she saw another devil approach her.

"Greetings Lady Leviathan," the handsome looking man said respectfully as he approached the seated three. With barely a pause he swiped a chair and seated himself at the table among the three of them. "If I had known you were attending tonight I would have worn something nicer than these dusty old things," he said gesturing to his clothes that looked like the height of fashion to all the observers.

The devil had blonde hair that was neatly combed and cropped just above his shoulders. A wolfish smile sat upon a chiselled face and below a neatly trimmed moustache. He wore a look of great confidence upon his face and his rose coloured eyes were firmly fixed upon the Satan of the group.

"Severean Agares," Serafall replied with only the slightest bit of weariness in his voice. "What brings you here today?"

"To this restaurant, the delicious food," the man said smiling at her. "To this table, to enjoy the pleasure of your company. Do you come here often? I had no idea you enjoyed Chinese food."

"It's Japanese you pillock," Raise said stopping the man's speech dead. "Before you start throwing out compliments make sure you know what you're talking about."

The man blinked at Raise's rude interruption but swiftly collected himself. "And who might you be," he said scanning the young Gremory up and down. To his credit he only took a swift look at his deformity before focusing again on his face.

"Raise Gremory," Raise Gremory said offering no further information besides the basics.

"A strong family," Severean said. "Tell me why I haven't heard of you before today. I would think that the Gremory's would have been proud to announce a new heir."

"I lack the patience to properly perform the duties of an heir," Raise said bluntly enough that the other devil was taken back. "My temperament does not allow me to deal with idiots with a false sense of importance that enjoy playing word games over trivial things."

"Okay," Severean said looking as if he was chewing on his words. "What are your intentions towards Serafall?"

"She's my best friend," Raise replied instantly causing Serafall to use a bit of magic to cool down her cheeks. "I would say my intentions toward her are to make sure her quality of life is maintained."

"And you know what is best for her," Severean asked sceptically.

"Not you," Raise said his blue eyes glitteringly dangerously. "You have rudely interrupted our conversation and overstayed your welcome. I am not a violent person but I will only ask you once to leave."

The Agares and the Gremory faced off against each other, their eyes boring into the others skulls. Eventually the table invader let out a chuckle. "What do you know about the Agares bloodline," he said as his laughter subsided.

"Time," Raise replied and for a moment Serafall could almost detect a note of reverence in his voice.

"Yup time," Severean said smiling. "It's a mysterious force that only allows us to draw the faintest conclusions about its true nature. Even the humans have not yet figured out how it works properly," he said ruefully. "I have by far the strongest abilities of the Agares in memory," he continued with no boasting in his voice. "I have trained for hundreds of hours and immersed myself in the very nature of time in an attempt to truly understand." At this point Raise was nodding along with him. "So let me tell you this; I have seen that you and I will fight in the future and on that day I will either get to witness your original talent or the true power of the talent that you have painstakingly cultivated. If you fail, you will die. If you succeed, I will die," he said to the shock of those around him. "Until then," he said seriously. "I will just have to work harder to make Sera fall in love with me."

"Like hell," the Satan yelled disturbing those around her. "I don't have time for your bullshit Sev."

"She called me Sev," the man said clutching his cheeks looking totally different from the image of nobility that he had portrayed. "I will see you at the ball Serafall," the man said before dashing off.

"What an absolute fruitcake," Serafall said shaking her head. "Are you okay Raise," she said with some concern as she watched her friend stare blankly at the wall."

"Fine," he muttered. He took a deep breath. "I'm just fine," he said. "I was just thinking about something."

"You should relax," Lilika suddenly spoke up from her long silence. In an instant she was behind him and had her hands on his back. Serafall watched with amusement and a slight amount of envy as she managed to pacify the younger devil with rhythmic massaging motions along his muscles. This continued until the food arrived and by that point the solitary Gremory was bonelessly face down on the table with only the occasional moan to inform of his continued state of existence.

Serafall watched this state of affairs with amusement as the waiters brought their dishes. Lilika eventually gave up on kneading his tissue and returned to her seat to eat the raw fish that had been rolled into cylinders. Raise lifted himself off of the table giving the two of them a death glare before picking up a pair of the twigs that Serafall had been informed were called chopped sticks.

"That's a very interesting fellow," Raise said as he plucked a piece of meat off the grill that was presented. "It just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover."

"He basically threatened you Raise," Serafall said. "Should I try doing something about it."

"Even if you could," Raise said. "He wasn't threatening me but merely making a prophecy. A prophecy that I have no intention of following. Really Serafall you should know me better by now than to believe that I would listen to anybody telling me what to do."

"Was your original talent the power of destruction," Lilika asked and there was a physical silence that fell over the room that Serafall recognized as a silencing illusion that Raise occasionally broke out. He glared at the nekomata for a few moments before he sighed.

"Yes it is," he said with a final tone to his voice.

The older pair looked at each other and decided that it was best to let the topic go for now.

"So Lilika," Serafall started. "Do you think I could also learn Senjutsu."

"Nope," Lilika said covering her fish with some sauce and then popping it into her mouth. At seeing Serafall's annoyed look she elaborated on her statement. "Senjutsu is super rare. Only some species of youkai can do it normally."

"Like Nekomata," Serafall said.

"Like Nekoshou," Lilika corrected. "Normal nekomata can't really access Senjutsu, only the subspecies can. I also think that some kitsune can also use it and I know of a couple monkey youkai that can also. Besides that I know of nobody else."

"Then why did you see fit to teach Raise," Serafall whispered.

"He was interested and picked up on my use," the now revealed Nekoshou said. "I honestly thought he would fail."

"Senjutsu requires a good critical eye," Raise spoke up and it looked as if he wasn't in such a poor mood any more. "To be more specific it requires you to see the natural energy of the world around you. To accept that it exists and it is different from your own energy but that it is also very much the same." Raise pursed his lips. "I'm explaining it poorly," he said giving up. "Maybe when I get a better understanding myself I'll be able to advise you better."

"That's a pretty good description Raise," Lilika said. "You'll be a good sage in time, I just know it."

"Thank you Lilika," Raise said finishing up the last of his food. "I know I will be."

Serafall smiled as she watched the two of them chat and discreetly summoned the waiter to pay the bill. She enjoyed moments like this. Hopefully things would continue like this forever.

xxx

"What do you mean when you say that you and Lilika are no longer talking," Serafall said with shock apparent in her voice. She hadn't met up with the pair for the past few weeks as the murder of a few pure-blooded devils had been causing her to run damage control. It had grown worse when the murders were traced back to a stray devil that had killed her master and spent weeks masquerading as him. This event had tensions rising and it was no surprise that a few more strays had popped up as a result. Eying the young devil sipping orange juice in his garden she contemplated the fact that she might have been gone too long.

"We haven't been on speaking terms for the last two weeks Serafall," Raise said sipping his juice. "You really do take your work to seriously. You haven't even seen how my garden is doing."

Looking around Serafall did just that and acknowledged the superiority of Raise's current garden compared to its prior iteration. The flowers had multiplied and encircled the entire space with a bounty of colours and smells. The grass was neat and uniform and the tree had sprouted branches that covered the area in shade and sprouted small purple fruit from them. Almost absentmindedly she picked a fruit off the tree and bit into it savouring the flavour of the fig.

"I will admit your garden is really coming along well Raise," Serafall said crunching down on the fruit. "But try not to change the topic. What exactly happened between you and Lilika?"

Raise sighed. "It started about a week after you left. While Lilika has always been a bit flirty as soon as you were not in the picture her ardour increased. Eventually despite the fact that I had made clear that I wasn't interested she offered to teach me Bouchujutsu, also known as the bedroom method. I turned her down and things got a bit heated. We both said things and took it a bit too far and when the dust had cleared our bond had irreversibly shattered."

"Wow," said Serafall trying to think of a more appropriate word to convey her surprise. "Just wow." She could actually see Lilika trying to do something like that. Despite his crippled limbs Raise had obtained both the Gremory good looks and had powerful illusions, an almost irresitable combination for the nekomata. She was a bit surprised that Raise had turned her down but the young devil never acted in a way that she could comfortably predict. She idly wondered what it was that was said that was so bad that caused them to never want to see each other again but decided that she didn't want to know.

The pair of devils sat down on the bench in silence. Serafall was contemplating the good times that the three of them had spent in the garden and Raise merely sat in silence slowly sipping at his orange juice. In two weeks' time it would have been the anniversary of when the lessons first began and Serafall had planned to do something else special for that time, although now she found herself needing to scrap those plans.

"Would you like me to find a new teacher for Senjutsu," Serafall offered. Despite being not part of the original deal it would be a shame to have Raise's lessons stop here. She had long ago given up on ever recruiting him as a peerage member but her pride for her friend's development would not allow his powers to languish half grown.

"There is no need," Raise said. "I have already learnt Senjutsu." At Serafall's look of disbelief he elaborated. "I had already learnt how to tap into the energy around me six whole months ago. The remainder of the next six months was just learning how to conquer my own rage."

"What rage?" Serafall asked bluntly. "You don't get angry about anything."

"Not all of us wear our hearts on our sleeves," Raise stated. "I've always had a lot of anger, at society, at other devils, at my own family sometimes." He shook his head and a smile formed on his face. "Now I've stopped caring. I figured out that by caring about somebodies actions or opinions it gives them control over you. I took away their control and finally achieved Senjutsu." With a snap of his fingers Serafall watched with amazement as the flowers in his garden bloomed and grew further.

"That doesn't sound very healthy," Serafall said tearing her eyes away from the flowers and focusing on him. "Everybody needs to care about something."

Raise just shook his head. "Ever since I've stopped caring I've been happy," he said crossing his arms over his chest. "You've never known how it's like when all the little aggravations form into hate. You don't know what it's like to feel the urge to destroy bubble under your skin. You don't know what it's like to want to turn your surroundings and everybody in them into dust and ash."

"I do know that Raise," Serafall defended. "It's called living. Every day I have to deal with my parents trying to get me hitched or the entire populace causing troubles that give me weeks of paperwork. You just have to learn to cope with these things. You can't just cut out all the annoyances in your life; dealing with those little annoyances is what makes you a devil." Serafall thought for a moment. "Besides you get things out of it as well."

"Really," Raise said sceptically.

"You know you do," Serafall said. "You get food and shelter, your garden, all these luxuries that you enjoy."

Raise frowned for a moment and then with a bit of concentration Serafall watched as he tapped his foot and a tree started to grow. "Hmm," he said contemplating. "I'm sure that I could create some form of shelter. My garden goes wherever I go and I honestly partake in fewer luxuries than you believe I do."

"What brought this on Rei," Serafall said with no small amount of concern. "This is all coming out of left field and I'm getting quite concerned."

"My parents are talking about a marriage contract," Raise admitted after a moment of silence.

"To whom," Serafall replied her throat feeling dry.

"I have no idea," Raise stated. A swarm of butterflies appeared from the ether and alighted upon his shoulders. "My little friends overheard them speaking about the possibility and considering canidates." Raise shook his head. "Still it turned out to be a good thing in the end. That conversation was the tipping point that finally convinced me to let go of my wrath towards others and the very next day was the day that I achieved Senjutsu."

"Is marriage really that bad?" Serafall asked with a bit of apprehension in her voice.

"Marriage is the worst prison I can possibly fathom," Raise said without a moment's hesitation. "It's a hellish penitentiary where you are trapped and forced by your 'partner' to conform to their expectations. The only way that I will ever be married is posthumously."

"Wow," Serafall said. All other words failed her as she digested the statements that were put forward by her younger friend. She had her fair share of marriage contracts put forward by opportunistic devils that were either awed by her power or desired the use of her status and while the prospect often made her feel uncomfortable she had nowhere near the detest for the practice that the younger Gremory had.

"Do you want to go to the Revolution Jubilee with me," Serafall said spontaneously. Raise turned towards her giving her his blankest look yet and after a while Serafall blushed in realization. "I meant as friends," she clarified. The Revolution Jubilee was an event that was held every twenty five years since the end of the devil civil war. The reason why Raise had given her such an utterly deadpan look was that it was also the event at which a lot of lovers were announced for the first time and thus had gained a reputation for being a place to which you would bring your significant other.

"I don't know Sera," Raise said reluctantly. "I'm not exactly enamoured with the idea of devil nobility right now."

"But if you don't come it will be boring. I will have to endure devils politics the whole night."

"Then you should just resign," Raise said bluntly. "But fine I'll come. What is the date?"

xxx

"Two weeks fly by quite fast," Serafall said waiting in the lobby of the Bael hall. As one of the most influential houses they were the ones that had the honour of hosting the grand event despite the ambiguous status as to the actual side in the civil war.

Multiple devils had arrived to talk to her and offered to invite her inside but they had been politely rebuffed with the wholly legitimate excuse that she was already waiting for somebody. She had arrived early because her workload was for once devoid of anything critical and she had spent the next half-an-hour waiting for her wayward companion.

She wouldn't have to wait much longer as the air rippled and Raise stepped from the void. He wore black suit that looked uncharacteristically fashionable. While there was still an obvious limp in his right leg he moved eerily smoothly across the polished tiles. Stepping up to Serafall he offered her his hand.

"Shall we," he said. She smiled and took his hand and the two of them strode into the main ballroom. Stepping into the room they were confronted by a living mass that moved and shifted forming into smaller parts that constantly broke apart and reformed. Many of the richest and most powerful of the devils were there and nearly all of them paused for a moment when Serafall Leviathan walked into the room accompanied by a young unknown and crippled devil.

"Friendly looking faces," Raise said dryly. "Remind me how you convinced me to come."

"Free food," Serafall guessed trying to think back to the two weeks. "Oh I remember," she said with her face lighting up. "You didn't want to abandon a friend to go to a party by herself."

"What a self-sacrificing gesture," a regal voice sounded out from behind them and the two of them turned to see the dignified form of Zekram Bael in his immaculate noble clothes.

"Zekram," Raise acknowledged with naked hostility in his voice and Serafall suddenly remembered that the Gremory heir did not get on well with the former Bael head. This didn't seem to be reciprocated as Zekram Bael merely returned his hostility with a closed lip smile.

"I see your arm and wing still haven't improved," the aged devil said scanning the right side of Raise's body. "I cannot understand your stubbornness. While your condition is bad there could be healers available that would be able to fix that defect. Your lack of any credible attempt to even try restoring your form is one of the things that truly irritate me."

"I would say that I'm sorry but we both know it would be a lie," Raise said enmity dripping from his every word. "I thought I made it quite clear the last time that we spoke that I have no interest in talking to you."

"And yet you so easily step into my manor," Zekram said raising an eyebrow. "You should at least make an attempt at greeting its lord should you not?"

"I wasn't informed that the jubilee would be held here until a few hours before the event started," Raise said sending a sidelong look at Serafall who looked away. "I very nearly called the thing off."

"A pity that would have been," Zekram said with a slight hint of annoyance in his eyes. "I doubt there are many who would have stood up the lovely Leviathan. What is your relationship by the way?"

"Friends," Raise said a split second before Serafall did the same.

"Oh," Zekram said what a pity. "I think that you would make a good match and I've heard from your parents that they were looking to arrange a marriage."

Serafall wasn't sure what happened in the next moment but well-honed instincts flashed to her mind as Raise's face briefly contorted in fury, Zekram Bael took a step back and the air became charged with power. It was gone as quick as it started with only a change of expression on the two males that told her something had happened. Raise now wore a blank expression that revealed nothing about his current emotions and Zekram had a small satisfied look on his face.

"You should be careful lest you lose anymore limbs," Zekram said.

"Serafall let's not let him monopolize any more of our host's time," Raise said turning away.

"If you need anything you only have to ask," Zekram said to the retreating duo.

"What the hell was that?" Serafall said as soon as they got far enough away to be overheard. "I'm surprised that nobody else noticed, for a moment I thought you were going to kill him."

"I'm sorry," Raise said holding a hand up to his head. "Zekram just brings out the worst in me."

"And what was that about losing a limb," Serafall said trying to decipher all the information she received in that conflict of words.

Raise glanced at her reluctantly. "I'm not going to go into details but the first and last time that I met Zekram at the Gremory mansion he obtained permission from my parents to test my powers of destruction. The end result of it was that my power outstripped my control and most of the muscles in my leg and wing were destroyed."

"Wait a moment," Serafall said barely keeping the volume restrained. "I thought it was genetic and you were born without them working. Now you're saying that they were just battle damage. Zekram even offered to hire a healer for you. Why aren't you healing them?"

"Because I don't want to and it's my choice," Raise said. "Damage from the power of destruction is not so easily healed and the caveat that Zekram gave for the specialized healer was that I would train under him in order to master it. But I'd had enough of this cursed ability at that point. I gave up the power of destruction and haven't touched it since. It's caused huge rifts in my family but I'm happy. Yes I may be crippled Serafall but I am content with my life at the moment. Please leave it."

Serafall couldn't accept it. She had often allowed for Raise's different mindset and been tolerant with his differences but this was too much for her. "That's stupid," she growled out. Ignoring the slight look of betrayed surprise on Raise's face she pressed on. "You have the ability to be healed and you don't take it. No wonder they're angry at you. You're wasting your potential Raise," Serafall implored the younger devil. "If you can just heal your leg and wing then you can…"

"Then I can what," Raise said with an almost palpable lack of anger in his voice. "You may think I am wasting my potential, but it is my potential and I will use it how I see fit. Since you apparently consider both my illusion skills as well as my ability to access Senjustu useless I'm going to have to go along and ignore your advice."

A devil approached the couple but a combined glare was enough to send him off. Serafall took a deep breath trying to regain her calm. "I don't understand why you're so against healing your arm and leg."

"Then maybe you don't really see me," Raise said. "I thought you could see past my leg and wing but if this is too much for you then maybe I should leave the great and perfect Leviathan alone."

"You're being unreasonable," Serafall said raising her voice with slight anger.

"Maybe so," the younger devil conceded. "But it is my choice to be unreasonable. Good night Serafall. I hope you enjoy the party."

And with those last words the Raise the youngest Gremory turned his back on the Leviathan and headed out into the cold night.

Author Note: I had originally intended for this to be a one-shot that I would complete and go back to White Ink. Unfortunately this proved harder than I thought. It is really hard to write for so long without feedback and so I only managed about half of the story in all the time I used. So quite frankly I will return to White Ink and finish this 'one-shot' after White Ink is completed.

On a side note and as a word of warning I am not a huge fan of DXD despite loving a great many fanfics of it (something about it rubs me the wrong way). You can consider that a great amount of spite took place to motivate the writing of the story.