Draco was halfway through writing another line of information when she heard Jellal's question. She turned to look at him with an unimpressed and slightly disappointed look on her face as she replied, "Uncle Jellal... I literally had a panic attack on the floor of your guild hall the moment I showed up. What makes you think that I was in the state of mind to have logical thoughts of any kind?" She sighed in slight exasperation before she turned back to the lacrima and continued typing as she added, "And anyways, I honestly don't know why I didn't ask sooner. I was more concerned with keeping it hidden to avoid stressing out anyone in the guild even if past evidence suggests that I should have come forth sooner like with my other research." Draco smiled wryly as she thought about the time she finally got the courage to let everyone know that she had been trying to find ways to counter black magic. "Old habits die hard as the saying goes," She lamented.
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Moriko smiled as Fenrir got his spunk back, she hated seeing him down. She followed him with just as much enthusiasm. Draconius replied to Fenrir, "Honestly, it's all up to whether or not we can convince them to help us. As I've mentioned there are seven of them, they are all brothers and fallen gods, fallen gods are the most powerful form of demon in existence since, as the title suggests, they were once gods. In order from the eldest to the youngest, which conveniently is also from strongest to weakest among them, there's Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan,
Satan, Asmodeus,
Beelzebub, and
Belphegor. Their corresponding sins are Pride, Greed, Envy,
Wrath, Lust,
Gluttony, and
Sloth. They were the original sins before they retired and handed their titles off to demon nobles that fit the roles best. However, in order to even get close to the original seven sins power, all holders of the titles since the first have had to take on at least 1 other title. A good example of this is Galrinokus, the current demon that holds the title of the Sin of Gluttony. He is also the demon of Stubbornness and Famine, meaning he holds 3 titles to even come close to Beelzebub's power."
Draconius began riffling through his pockets for something as he added, "The reason for this is because fallen gods are more powerful than regular demon nobility. They don't age or lose power as the years go by, the only way for the original sins to no longer hold their titles would be to get killed by a young demon that had gotten strong enough to overpower them or retire. They chose the latter of the two options." He soon pulled out a piece of paper and a pen before he began to draw a graph.
He continued, "Now, as for whether they are friend or foe is a whole can of worms depending on who you approach first. For example, Leviathan has a bad history with humans, a bunch of dark wizards tried to seize control of him after he retired to dwell in the sea and failed. Now, he has actually encountered Draco when she was still trying to find her way back home as a child. She didn't realize that she has a history with him and I knew it wouldn't have been beneficial to inform her of that until she had some awareness of her past life as a goddess. He doesn't like humans but he would still be pretty easy to convince."
He had finished writing the names of the 7 fallen gods and began to add in basic information as he shared, "Then there's Belphegor, the Sin of Sloth. Convincing him is going to be nearly impossible without the help of his elder twin Beelzebub, the Sin of Gluttony. Belphegor
hates humans with a passion, approaching him first is just going to get you killed before you even get a chance to tell him why you're there, that's of course if he even bothers to get up long enough to do so since sloth and effort don't mix well. I don't know what happened to him to make him hate humans so much but he does."
Moriko asked, "What about the eldest? Doesn't he have the power to make the others listen since he's the strongest?" Draconius laughed and replied, "Sure but Satan and Belphegor used to pull pranks on him all the time and take joy in making things more difficult for him. Plus there's a 50/50 chance that he'll either take offense that you actually came to him for help without having a previous relationship of some kind with him since you're humans and he is a "
superior being who can't be bothered to listen to the woes of some
random humans," his words, not mine, or he'll help because Exphion is involved. Honestly, our best bet is to start with either Beelzebub, Asmodeus, or Leviathan. Mammon won't budge if you don't pay him a sum that's at least 10% more than it should cost for assistance, which would take at least the top 3 guilds in Fiore pooling all their cash and taking out 4 of the largest loans with the price he thinks his time and effort are worth, plus none of his brothers really listen to him since he was such a failure at his job due to his lack of intelligence, he always has some huge debt to pay off, and he also frequently stole things from his brothers to sell. Mammon is more likely to scam you than actually be of any assistance, and even if he
does help there won't be much success. Think of him as one of those broke gambling addicts you find passed out drunk in a sketchy bar except he is more magically powerful than 8 guilds of strong wizards combined. Absolutely zero help but you still don't want to anger him."
Moriko then asked, "Okay, so who do you suggest we try first out of those 3 you mentioned?" Draconius soon finished his visual info graph of the 7 fallen gods and surmised, "Probably Beelzebub to be honest. He's pretty laid back and is a mostly silent, soft, gentle giant kinda guy. Just give him some good food and he'll happily listen to what you have to ask of him. If it's in his power, he'll do it, as long as it won't cause harm to his brothers. He's a lot like Fairy Tail in that family is most important to him. Plus the fact that all of them have a history with Exphion, therefore by extension Draco, he'll be even more likely to help. Honestly, the hardest part in any of this would be finding him. As I mentioned before, sans Leviathan, nobody knows where any of them went after retiring and there's no guarantee that any of them are still alive. Even Leviathan could have been killed since it's been years since Draco's encounter with him."
It was at that point that Lucy approached with Natsu behind her and asked, "You keep saying that they have a history with our daughter. I can understand this Leviathan having a history with Draco since she has actually met him. I can also understand that they all have a history with Exphion, Draco's past life, but I don't understand why they would even help. They are fallen gods and they fought alongside demons if I'm understanding all of this correctly. That means that they would have been enemies of Exphion." Draconius laughed at Lucy's words, he laughed and laughed until tears were coming out of his eyes. Moriko glared at the demon and Lucy shouted, "What's so funny?! My daughter's life is in danger and you're laughing about legitimate concerns about the beings you're going to be asking for help!" Draconius wiped away a tear as he replied, "I apologize but if you knew what I knew you'd be laughing this much too." Moriko snapped, "Well, are you going to tell us or not?!" He chuckled and raised his hands up in a placating gesture as he huffed, "I'm getting there, I'm getting there, don't get your panties in a twist."
He then added Exphion and Ahnkseram on the chart before he began adding lines that connected the 7 fallen gods names much like a family tree and a separate line that connected only the sibling gods Ahnkseram and Exphion before he revealed as he drew the last line, "The reason they will be willing to help is because the retired sins, Ahnkseram, and Exphion have a common link through Lucifer, the Sin of Pride. The seven of them fell not even a full month after Exphion was born but the point is that Lucifer is the father of Ahnkseram and Exphion. That means six of the Seven Deadly Sins are Exphion's uncles. They are all family." He revealed the family tree that had been drawn of the gods and sins.
Moriko and Lucy both gasped at this revelation. Draconius saw Lucy open her mouth and cut in, "Yes, we are getting help from Draco's previous family when she was still Exphion." It took a moment before Moriko joked, "That means Draco has 2 dads. Do you think she'll call him Daddy like she does Natsu?" Draconius laughed, "I know her well enough to say that she absolutely will when she finds out, 100%." He then sighed before adding, "All joking aside, if we want to find Beelzebub we need to look at places with plenty of food that are starting to deplete rapidly. He doesn't mean to but with an appetite as large as his is, he won't be able to stay anywhere long term without causing famine."
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There was the grotesque sound of smacking lips, the tearing of flesh, and the snapping of bone echoing through a giant forest. A large man with bright orange hair sat in front of the carcass of a green wyvern that was much larger than he was, ripping into the beast and eating large chunks of it raw, blood drenching his hands, torso, and face. A blonde demon with bright green eyes tapped his foot impatiently as he held up a dozing man with navy blue hair with white tipped strands. The blonde snapped, "Beelzebub, we need to get a move on. We're going to be late!" The orange haired man, identified as Beelzebub, stared back at the blonde with amethyst colored eyes and replied through a mouthful of raw flesh, "Buf 'm hunry. *gulp* Besides, you never cared about anything Lucifer has summoned us for before. I can finish eating this first, then we can go." Satan sighed in irritation as he scolded, "Don't talk with your mouth full." Beelzebub had the good sense to look apologetic at that.
The man leaning against Satan yawned before glancing up at him with matching amethyst eyes as he said, "Besides, what's it matter if Beel takes a little snack break before we get there? It's not like they are going to start without us." Satan took a deep breath to keep himself from yelling at them before gritting out, "Because, Belphegor, this is the first time that the summons has actually been about anything interesting since that time Lucifer needed our help to locate the ruins of one of the first libraries. Plus, this is Beel's 546th snack break in 3 days. If we keep going at this rate it'll be 5 years before we reach the meeting." The drowsy Belphegor snickered lazily at that before teasing, "Yeah, you would find that interesting you bookworm. Especially since you decided to take up residence in the city with the largest library in the entire world. Besides, if Beel doesn't eat he'll get grumpy and we'll also have to listen to his growling stomach the entire trip." Before Satan could argue Beelzebub gently chided, "Belphie, don't tease Satan, we don't want to make him angrier than usual. So what is the meeting going to be about?" Before he shoved another handful of raw meat in his mouth.
Satan sighed before he informed them rather harshly, "It's about our
niece who has gotten herself in some trouble in her current mortal life." It was at that moment that Beelzebub stopped chewing and was silent for a moment before he stood up and swallowed what was in his mouth. He then picked up the rest of the dead wyvern with one hand and said, "Let's go then. I can eat this on the way." Satan sighed exasperatedly before he started walking while muttering angrily under his breath. Belphegor groaned, "Come on, who cares if she's in trouble as a human? Honestly, it'd be better to wait for her to die and reunite with her then." Satan glared at the former Sin of Sloth and snarled, "What was that you lazy son of a-" Beelzebub interrupted, "It matters because she's still family, even if she is currently a human. Let's help her Belphie, if not for her then for me?" Belphegor eyed Beel seriously before he sighed, "Fine." The orange haired demon nodded at his twin before he continued to walk while carrying his "snack" that continuously dripped blood and was partially dragging across the forest floor, leaving a trail of blood and large impressions in the dirt and mud. However, their short peace was interrupted by the youngest whining, "Only if I get carried there. I'm tiiiiiired." Satan stomped over to Belphegor before hoisting him up on his back yelling his anger out as he ran off with him towards the meeting place.