Interlude 3
"Lord Odin will see you now." The Valkyrie said. "Right this way."
"Thank you" I nodded. The Valkyrie was different this time. Usually Odin keeps his assistant around for much longer. He had… Rossweisse? During our last trade renegotiation, but he had already gotten a new one.
Interesting, interesting. Odin is a creature of habit, and swapping his assistant this fast is out of the norm.
The Valkyrie guided us down the opulent hallway. While most beings the world considers "strong" usually don't care about wealth past a certain point, unless they have traits related to greed like devils or dragons, politics is a game of appearances.
If you look poor, you will be treated poorly, which runs counter to the goals of most any negotiation.
At least Odin had his classy aesthetic down pat. Heavy wooden tones with gold and mithril accents, all in the Norse style. It was really quite tasteful, clearly refined over ages.
"Lord Odin, I have arrived with Serafall Leviathan, Satan of Foreign Affairs." The Valkyrie stopped at the entrance to the room, allowing me to enter. The door closed behind me with a loud thud, and a light sound muffling spell was automatically cast.
It seemed to be built into the door, which made sense since this was a diplomatic meeting. Simple niceties that I wish those morons back home would understand. So much of my job is smoothing over nobles who don't know how to properly talk to people in power.
"So you've come." Odin said cryptically. The old goat was sitting in his chair, looking utterly smug.
Smug is bad for me.
"You know what I want." I tried to put on a bold front, but we both knew I was grasping at straws. He held all the cards, and this wasn't a situation that could be resolved with force.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." The smug deepened, and his monocle glinted like some sort of 2-bit schemer.
We stared at each other for what felt like forever. I hate dealing with gods, they are almost as bad as dealing with the Pillars.
I broke the moment and stuck one hand out, making a grabby gesture.
"The Sage. Give him to me." Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
"No. Denied. Try again." Odin instantly shut me down. It was worth a shot.
"Then at least let me talk to Nathan." I spoke calmly. Not whined. Anyone who says otherwise is a lying liar who lies.
"Still nope. I already told you that you came for nothing. Right in the middle of our discussion of the effects of breasts in media, so I know you saw it."
Tsk, I did see it. Blasphemous old man thinks everyone should be naked, when being tastefully covered is clearly better.
"Come on, Odin. We've been pals for a long time, right? This is really important to us." Isn't that the understatement of the century. Someone finally publicly cracked Ajuka's failsafe, and all of a sudden the foundation of our current society is looking mighty shaky.
"Even more reason for me to shield him. He's still growing Serafall, and that's not something you can interfere with." Odin slowly shook his head, a bit of his age showing through.
"Hey! Is that racism I hear? I thought you were better than that." I won't lie and say that didn't hurt, but it is pretty par for the course. Our ancestors did their damnedest to ruin our reputation via wanton and usually pointless evil, and the newer generation seem to be attempting a collective any% war speedrun with Ajuka's pieces.
If we didn't need to population boost, we never would have been so lax with them.
The Evil Pieces. The devils' greatest triumph, and our greatest failure. If we had been able to control them better, my workload would have been cut in half, easily. But nooooooo, asking for proper permissions and having proper failsafes and tracking is 'infringing on Pillar rights' and we didn't have the clout to bulldoze the opposition after the civil war.
"No, it's ageism. You are too young to understand what a new Sage truly means for the rest of the world." Odin explained, which really surprised me. He seemed adamant about keeping Nathan away from me. Maybe this trip won't be totally useless?
"… what do you mean?" I tilted my head, feeling one of my twin tails brushing against my side.
"I realized that despite the devils being one of the main movers and shakers in the modern age, you are still quite a young race." Odin tilted his head, as if thinking of something not quite what he was speaking about.
"We aren't that young though? Zekram is almost ten thousand years old." I argued back. This conversation was taking a weird turn and I wasn't sure if I liked it.
"And yet, you, at barely 500 years old, are one of the ones leading your race. Even that boy Zekram is still quite spry compared to some of the truly ancient beings still lingering around."
"You can't be that much older, no?" Unsurprisingly, wars have a habit of vaporizing history. Usually with a siege spell straight into a library and lore keeper. Not that we have any records from before the first generation pillars anyways.
Odin looked at me with a mixture of disbelief and scorn, they type reserved for a good student who gave an answer so bad it shocks you.
"Girl, everyone watched YHWH ignore Helel getting more unstable for Ages, and I mean the astrological kind. Do you think Heaven was perfectly happy, and then Helel stubbed his toe so bad he decided to become Lucifer?" Odin casually dropped information that somehow feels super important and also entirely meaningless.
Also Odin is a hoe for using their name like that, ouch.
"Would you believe me if I said we just never really thought about it? It is a weird mental hiccup to think about a time before your entire race existed. There might be a few devils with a history hobby, but we don't really think about before Lucifer fell. That might as well be the start of the universe to any devil."
"Sounds about right, every race is like that to be honest." Odin shrugged, "But that is all the more reason to give you this lesson before someone does something monumentally stupid"
"OK big guy, lay it on me then. What is so important about Sages that has you worked up so much." Clearly we are missing a vital piece of information regarding this new Sage, and Odin isn't even playing coy or charging me out the nose either.
The room was silent for a moment as Odin was deciding how to word it, and I was ready to hang off of every word for Ajuka to go over and cross reference later.
"What do you know about Sages?" Odin opened with a question, surprising me enough to shoot back without thinking.
"What are you, my etiquette teacher quizzing me about history?" Maybe I shouldn't have attitude right now, but nobody can resist the Levi-Tan charm.
"Humor me." Odin smirked but otherwise was waiting for my answer.
Taking a few seconds to organize what I knew, I replied.
"Sagehood is a higher school of Senjutsu, achieved when a Senjutsu user meets the minimum requirements in the Path of Body, Path of Breath, and Path of Nature. It lets them purify natural energy and grow stronger from the act." Listing it out like that makes it almost embarrassing how little we know about Sages. Sure we have some records, but naming Sages doesn't really help label what a Sage actually is.
"That's a good enough answer, if a little basic." Odin seemed to be putting on his grandfatherly teacher act, but I just know he's holding back a smirk. "Let me ask you this. Where are all the Sages?"
Odin's question threw me for a loop. What did he mean by that?
"What do you mean?" I asked as an ominous feeling began to spread, but I couldn't source that instinct no matter how hard I tried.
"What do Sages do, Sera?" He led. What do they do? They use Senjutsu to purify natural energy, but that isn't what he is asking. They are high level Senjustu users, which means they have extreme skill using their lifeforce, which means…
Even if not raw immortality, they should live for a long time. There are no reports of Sages dying in battle, and history records them being created at a decent pace, so where are all the Sages? There should be hundreds at the minimum!
Odin must have seen my emotions on my face, as he started talking again.
"It seems you figured out the issue." Odin took a sip of his drink, but I was too busy trying to map out the possible causes and implications.
"Where are all the Sages? I did my research before coming here, and we could only find 10 confirmed sightings of Sages in the last 10 years." Were they being assassinated? Did somebody not want Sages around?
"I know of 13, but the point stands." He nodded in agreement. "The answer to your question lies in the Three Paths."
The Three Paths? What how do those lead to the death of a Sage? Odin is looking at me like he expects me to figure it out, so I have the pieces. I just need to put the puzzle together.
The Path of Body is all about strengthening the body for Sagehood. Maybe they overdraw themselves to get that power? That feels wrong, that's not it. The Path of Breath is about gaining such absolute self mastery that they can begin to attempt the Path of Nature. I can't think of any issues with the Path of Breath beyond something obscure like soul strain, but that doesn't feel right either.
So then the Path of Nature? It's the only option left, and it feels closer to the answer, but there is more to it. The Path of Nature is about balancing the inner and the outer in order to survive purifying natural energy. That seems like the obvious place for problems to arise, but Odin was hinting to something more fundamental about the Three Paths.
Why are they called the Three Paths? They are the three checkpoints for becoming a Sage, by definition you have to traverse the Paths to become one. Every Sage has to hit… the… minimum requirement.
Holy shit!
"You've figured it out?" I don't like the look on Odin's face. He would look better with a Levi-Tan sparkle blast to the jaw.
"The Paths have no maximum, only a minimum." I nodded to his question and then replied with what I had deduced.
"Correct. It is generally accepted that the Three Paths can be walked endlessly. That is to say that every Sage can continue to improve, which is another way to say that they were doing something wrong." Odin explained.
"And that gap is what leads to every Sage dying?" I pushed, leaning forwards on the table.
"Less dying and more… fading?" Odin tilted his head, but it wasn't cute. Only I was cute.
"Fading?" I tilted my head in the other direction, in a much more cute fashion.
"Do you think withstanding the planet is a simple feat? The Three Paths are the minimum standard survive the experience and come out greater for it. No matter how strong a Sage is, it slowly weathers them down until there is nothing left."
"Wait, what about gods with a nature domain? They seem like they should have a key part in all of this." I latched onto an important point. This whole Sage thing should be part of a nature god's wheelhouse.
"Ha! They are the most terrified. Gods are supposed to be eternal, and they know they wouldn't last more than a few dozen millennia before they were overwhelmed by the Earthmother." Odin laughed out loud at my question. It seemed that was a hot button topic for the related gods. I also filed away that name he used for the planet.
I don't think that is in our records, and we usually have a pretty complete list of titles and alternate names of important things. Names have power, and all that jazz, so its kinda really super-duper important to know all of someone's titles when dealing with them.
I'd be a bad Satan of Foreign Affairs if I showed to meet Poseidon the Stormfather, but ended up offending Poseidon the Earthshaker.
"Why would anyone want to be a Sage, then?" I asked
"Power, duty, affinity, ignorance, arrogance. Take your pick."
"Wait, so if the new Sage is on a timer it shouldn't matter if I steal him away a few hundred years early, no?" I put my hands in a begging gesture and batted my eyelashes.
"Nope. Super denied." Odin put his arms up in an X gesture to emphasize how denied I was.
"Pleaseeeee? Half of my government is 10 layer schemers who can blow up a city, and the other half act like toddlers who can still blow up a city." Maybe Sirzechs will get off his ass and actually handle internal affairs before the pillars do something monumentally stupid?
Nah, he would never. I love him, but I do wish he would just show up and spank some of the extra stupid pillars sometimes.
"And we all hate you for it. Still doesn't mean you're getting your grubby hands on him." Odin shrugged as if saying 'what can you do'.
"Why?" I may have whined a little that time. I'm already imagining all those annoying nobles.
"Why didn't you kidnap the Sage, Serafall?", "Why not steal his daughter, Serafall?", "Think of the stability of our society, Serafall." As if they aren't the ones causing the instability in the first place.
"Sera, what do you think is the purpose of Sages. Beyond purifying natural energy, I mean." Odin asked, and I knew this was going to be another one of his little teacher games.
He wouldn't get the satisfaction.
"I don't know Odin. Why don't you tell little old me?"
"Sages are nature's cleaners. That is their niche. They get power, and they make the world healthier."
"There is no possible way that any amount of Sages could clean the entire metaphysical planet. The scale is too large." Our records said that a Sage could do their home area, and then they were basically spent.
That was why so many factions want their own Sage, as the price to get a Sage to clear another area to a degree that would matter would cost more than any possible benefit, excluding niche extremes. Sometimes an herb or animal needed extremely specific conditions to grow, but at that point it would be easier to find a Sage to foster the creature in their domain instead of getting them to make an entirely new one.
Of course, there was a difference between purifying an area down to the normal concentration of natural energy and purifying an area so much that it brings blessings to the beings living there. Not that any devil on record has been allowed to visit such a hallowed site, but we have some secondhand accounts.
"And you would be correct. Nature already has ways to keep in balance. A Sage's job is to deal with the problem spots. Curses, battlefields, bad feng shui, you name it. There are a million reasons why natural energy would need to be purified." Odin counted off on his fingers.
"If nature can clean itself, why do Sages even exist? That seems redundant."
"What would you like more? Your house being cleaned by a janitor, or your house being cleaned by a volcano and then a hurricane for good measure?" Odin's explanation seemed weird, but I was picking up what he was putting down.
"Oh, I see your point. The planet does not fuck around when there are problems." If the planet is as… independent as he is implying, where does that leave the underworld? Do I need to worry about my entire home dimension?
"That she does not." Odin nodded in agreement. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that he knows something about the planet that he would refuse to explain if I asked. Calling it 'She' and 'The Earthmother'.
I can hear the capital letters you old fart.
"So then that's it? That's what you wanted me to pass onto the rest of the devils?"
"Yes, essentially."
I sighed, since I knew that was all I was getting. Better than nothing, and it does solve some of the doubts we had about Sages in general.
"Thanks for taking time to meet me, Odin." I channeled my inner proper diplomat to end the meeting on a classy tone.
"It's no problem. I like the boy and he did a lot for me. Stopping you devils from doing something stupid out of ignorance helps everyone." Odin waved his hand and all the spells around the room fizzled out, allowing the door to open. The Valkyrie was waiting silently on the other side.
"I'll guide you out, Lady Leviathan." She politely gestured out of the room.
I followed her out of the hall and then teleported back to the underworld as soon as I could.
[LINE BREAK]
"Hey Sera, how was your meeting with Odin?" Sirzechs waved as I entered the room, Falbium and Ajuka pausing their conversation.
"I was stonewalled from meeting the Sage, but Odin did give me a lore dump as compensation." I flopped onto my chair, signaling the official start of the Four Satan's meeting.
A fancy name for us complaining about politics.
"Oh? Anything usable?" Ajuka perked up. More data means his Kankara Formula is more powerful, so he's always thirsty for new knowledge.
I spent the next few minutes repeating what Odin told me, only pausing to clarify any questions the other three had.
"He's hiding something. Something about this new Sage is different." Ajuka instantly said once I finished.
"What makes you say that?" Sirzechs asked, looking at his green haired friend.
"Odin seemed to not really care about Sages in general beyond their use. They are valuable, yes, but they come and go with time. Something about this Sage in particular is worth moving for. Sera?" Ajuka turned back to me, causing the other two to follow.
"I guess so? He mentioned that Nathan did something for him, but no details." I leaned back in my chair to think, but Odin didn't give anything away.
"Either a misdirection or not the entire story." Sirzechs added his opinion. He was probably right.
"So where does that leave us?" I asked nobody in particular.
"I'm interested in how he removed the Evil Piece. I don't have trackers in them due to the pillar treaty, but I do get alerts when someone tampers with the piece directly. I was not alerted, so he must have done something novel." Ajuka explained with the most emotion I've heard in his voice in weeks.
"Thank you Ajuka. I meant in regard to stopping every holder of an Evil Piece set from panicking and doing something stupid." I replied with a small twitch in my eye. They like to complain that dealing with the pillars is like herding malicious cats, but my dear friends are not much better.
"Anyone who treats their direct subordinates poorly enough that they wish to escape was already going to be a problem one way or another. This was simply another consequence of their lacking character." Sirzechs pointed out, once again missing the point. He's so close and he means well, but Sirzechs was never meant to be a leader.
The civil war took his music and he never recovered.
"We both know that some use the pieces for trophy collection." I replied, trying to get the conversation back on track to what the actual problem was.
"And nearly every other group in history has had slavery in some form. It just happens that ours is more visible." Ajuka stated matter-of-factly, as if that was the answer to a massive political issue and not a fun history tidbit.
"This is why we don't let Ajuka do policy." Falbium piped up for the first time in the meeting. Usually takes him longer.
"Thank you Falbium. I do not like dealing with politics either. My lab is much more comforting." Honestly I think it's better this way too. An Ajuka that was interested in making people dance to his tune would be scarier than anything the Old Satan faction could ever cook up.
"That's the prize for winning the civil war, but we've had this conversation a million times. Do we need to do anything about the Sage, Nathan Meyer, or can we move to the next topic?" Sirzechs asked.
"With the backing of both the Shinto and the Norse, we couldn't touch him even if we wanted to. We can only use soft methods and pray he doesn't accidently upend our entire way of life." Falbium shrugged.
"I can keep trying to get into contact with him. Worst case, we throw some honey traps at him. He's together with the Princess of the West Yokai, but reports say his relationship with Yasaka herself was ambiguous. If he's lustful, beauty is the single resource devils are never lacking in." I put forwards, spit balling ideas for what to do.
If we do nothing, it causes issues. If we do something, it causes issues.
I hate politics.
"Works for me. Now onto the next topic. Do we know who's stray he actually healed?"
[LINE BREAK]
With a modified teleportation spell, augmented with 10000% more sparkles on arrival, I arrived at my location.
"So-tan! I missed you!" I threw myself at my ultra adorable, one of a kind, sister.
Who promptly moved out of the way with an annoyed expression.
"Sister." My sweet Sona ground out. Always so shy, never to admit she loves me back.
"Hey Sera, how is my brother?" Asked the red haired devil sitting across from where Sona was.
"He's fine, I just finished a meeting. Normal politics stuff." I nodded and she nodded back.
Rias understood me. She even moved to Kuoh to be with So-tan, which I wish I could have done instead of cleaning up messes all day.
So-tan seemed to be ignoring me from the last time I tried a yuri-yuri hug, so I'll talk to Rias and make her jealous.
The perfect plan.
"How has Kuoh been treating you, Rias?" I asked the young pillar heiress. She in turn scrunched up her face.
"My family tried to move up the engagement agreement again. It was until I graduated university at first, but they keep trying to move it forwards." She explained with obvious distaste. Rias has hated the Phenex boy since their first meeting, and their relationship has only deteriorated.
"Do you need help?" I already scammed away Sona's engagement; I can do it again.
'Beat her in chess' my ass. Have fun winning a chess match when you're frozen.
"Nah, I actually managed to negotiate my way out of it." Rias beamed, but Sona looked sour. Not totally jealous, but it was something.
"Oh?"
"I threatened to back out of all the trade agreements with the yokai that are in my name." Rias conjured and waved around a piece of paper with an official looking seal on it.
"Oh? That worked out?" I was surprised. The yokai have been notoriously hard to get in contact with after the nekoshou incident.
"Yeah! It turned out I had some common interests with the attaché the yokai stationed in Kuoh, and things worked out." Rias explained, so I turned to Sona who had a dead look in her eyes. She understood my look and explained.
"She geeked out over anime with one of the younger yokai that 'aren't here to watch you, we promise'" Sona made air quotes in her frustration, "Then she disappeared for a night and came back with a contract for access to the new yokai markets as the sole contact point for devils." Poor So-tan was nearly frothing at the end of her explanation.
As much as I love her, I am not blind to my beautiful Sona's flaws. Rias is very much the people person between the pair of them, and with the new Sage stuff that contract is much more valuable than its raw economic value.
15 years ago, it was like someone lit the Yokai on fire, and they started getting stronger at a statistically unreasonable rate. With the Sage confirmed to be with Yasaka's daughter and all the new Sage lore that Odin dropped, Rias is firmly in first place for contributions to devilkind among the newer generation.
It makes sense that she was able to use that contract to scare off her family and the Phenex into not pulling anything stupid.
"Good job, I'm going to be in contact with you soon about that. I should have been more involved from the beginning, but you did good work and I've been super busy. Anything else interesting happen recently?"
"I got a new pawn, and he took every pawn piece I had." Rias boasted.
"Oh? Sacred gear?"
"Red Dragon Emperor." Rias was beaming now.
"Ah, that's what set your family off."
"Yup." Now both Rias and Sona looked sour. Rias because she felt betrayed by her family, and Sona because she missed out on such a powerful peerage member right under her nose.
"Since you two seem like you're doing fine, and Sona doesn't want yuri-yuri time, I'm going to head back."
"I'll never want 'yuri-yuri' time, Sister." Sona deadpanned, but I can see the blush of denial across her face.
"Bye-bye, Sera." Rias waved at me as I used a different teleportation spell, this one meant to create a lightshow as I leave.
What a productive day.