High School DxD: The Lucifer's Devil Trigger — Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Devil’s Contract

He was certainly gentle with his own people, and occasionally one could even catch glimpses of an innocent, almost humorous side to him. But in the eyes of strangers, Lord Levi was a devil truly worthy of the name Lucifer.

“Are you really planning to bring that King Arthur over to your side?”

Hearing Kuroka ask from her spot in the room, Levi didn’t bother hiding his intentions. “Yes.”

He swirled his glass, staring at his own reflection distorting on the surface of the amber liquid, and a slow smile curled his lips. “My Knight piece is still empty. If I could take King Arthur as a subordinate, wouldn’t she be the strongest Knight imaginable?”

After all—she was the Knight King.

“…You are the one who binds the seven days of the three great incantations, coming from the wheel of suppression, the guardian of the balance.”

Levi extended his hand, the crimson Command Spells carved into his skin aimed directly at the complex magic circle etched into the floor.

The crimson tattoos and the summoning circle erupted in a blinding, synchronized radiance. Kuroka, crouching off to the side, narrowed her golden eyes against the intense glare.

This time, Levi hadn’t chosen the basement for the ritual. He had specifically picked the reinforced arena where he had previously sparred with Karna. He fully expected his new guest to attack the moment she materialized.

“Looks like it worked.”

As the magical light expanded to its absolute zenith, Levi vaguely made out a slender silhouette forming within the pillar of energy.

The blinding glow slowly dissipated, leaving behind a noble young woman. She leaned heavily on an ornate scabbard with one hand, clad in conceptual armor of striking blue and silver. Long golden hair cascaded down her back, the remaining motes of summoning light clinging to the strands like a divine halo.

She opened her eyes. Her irises were as clear and piercing as an azure sky.

Her gaze locked onto Levi instantly. “Servant, Saber—”

Artoria had fully intended to follow custom and formally introduce herself to the Master she would serve for the next week. But as the lingering daze of the summoning faded, her heightened senses screamed a singular, obvious truth.

It was the exact same foul presence Karna possessed. This man standing before her was a devil.

Her sharp gaze flicked toward Kuroka crouching in the corner. Another devil. Had the magus who originally held the Command Spells already been murdered by these creatures?

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Artoria moved. She drew her weapon in a blur of motion. The invisible blade, heavily shrouded by the Barrier of the Wind King, leveled straight at Levi’s throat.

Kuroka instantly rose to her feet, demonic energy flaring around her fingertips. Levi merely raised a hand, waving her down.

“What’s the matter, Arthur?” Levi asked, his tone light. “Can’t accept a devil as your Master?”

“Isn’t that a matter of course?”

Artoria’s voice carried no hesitation. She was the wielder of the Holy Sword. While she might not be a blind zealot of the angel faction, her stance on devils had never been anything short of hostile. It was basic common sense.

Yet this devil had somehow summoned her.

“Are you truly planning to do this—”

Artoria didn’t wait for him to finish. She lunged, her invisible sword slashing downward with lethal intent.

Levi was already prepared. Demonic energy surged through his veins as Devil Trigger activated in a fraction of a second. Yamato snapped from its scabbard, intercepting the unseen strike.

A deafening metallic shriek echoed through the arena. Sparks showered the stone floor. The sheer friction of their clash seemed to ignite the very air, raising the temperature of the training ground by several degrees in an instant.

Levi applied more force, his muscles locking as he stared at the golden-haired knight through the heat-distorted air. Artoria held her ground, pushing back with equal ferocity. Perhaps because Levi was supplying her with magical energy, her physical strength was vastly superior to Karna’s, nearly rivaling Levi’s own augmented state.

As the two remained deadlocked, blades grinding against each other, Levi seized the opening to speak.

“You came to participate in the Holy Grail War. Your wish for the Holy Grail is to prolong the life of your country, is it not?”

Artoria’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t break the clash.

“Since that is the case, even if your Master is a devil like me, no rules have been broken.” Levi’s voice remained perfectly calm over the screech of straining steel. “It won’t hinder your victory. In fact, it gives your ruined country far more hope.”

He leaned in slightly, the dark aura of his Devil Trigger pressing against her holy wind. “The only price is spending a mere seven days with a devil you despise.”

“Can you truly not accept even that?”

“This is a once-in-a-century miracle. If you throw away this Holy Grail War, you will never get another chance. So tell me, Arthur…”

Levi looked directly into her azure eyes, a mocking smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “You wouldn’t throw away the entire future of Britain just to spare yourself a little personal discomfort, would you?”

If Levi had simply insulted her or attacked her pride, Artoria would have ignored the venom entirely. But he had deliberately invoked Britain. That changed everything.

Levi knew exactly what he was doing. If he had tried this psychological angle on the Hero King Gilgamesh, the golden archer would have laughed in his face and called him a mongrel. If he had tried it on the Conqueror King Iskandar, the massive rider would have scoffed at his childish manipulation.

But Artoria was different. The moment those words left his mouth, it was a lethal, unavoidable strike to her core.

“I assumed you were the type of ruler willing to sacrifice absolutely anything for Britain. Enduring the grievance of standing beside me for seven days should have been a trivial matter for that one and only miracle.”

Levi let out a disappointed sigh. “But looking at you now, the legendary nobility of the Knight King is nothing but a lie. How pathetic. The final hope for Britain slips away just like that. What a pity.”

He layered the sarcasm thick. Immediately, he felt the crushing pressure against Yamato waver.

Taking advantage of her hesitation, Levi swung his arm hard, parrying her invisible sword wide, and smoothly sheathed Yamato with a sharp click.

Artoria stumbled back a few paces, her grip tightening on her hilt, but she didn’t lunge forward again.

Levi extended his empty hand toward her. “To be honest, I’ve been playing this manipulator role a lot lately, but I’m actually quite blunt. I don’t care for flowery speeches.”

His mocking smile vanished. His expression sank into something cold and absolute. “I know very well that you won’t listen to a word I say right now. I also fully admit that I will issue orders that violate your knightly ideals. I prepared for the worst-case scenario from the very beginning.”

He reached over and slowly rolled up his left sleeve, exposing his entire arm to the harsh arena lighting.

Densely packed across his skin, glowing with an ominous crimson light, were exactly thirty-three Command Spells.

Artoria’s breath hitched. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks.

“I know a Saber-class can resist Command Spells,” Levi said, his voice devoid of warmth. “You can withstand one. Maybe even two. But if I crush you with five, or ten, or twenty Command Spells at once, it doesn’t matter how ironclad your will is. You will obediently perform every vile act I demand of you.”

He let the silence stretch, letting the sheer horror of her situation sink in.

“But that is not what I want.”

Artoria’s heart, which had just plummeted into an icy abyss, halted. She looked up, searching Levi’s face. His dark eyes held no deception, only a terrifying, pragmatic seriousness.

“In this Holy Grail War, you want to win. So do I.” Levi looked at the golden-haired girl, his tone leveling out. “We are temporary partners for seven days. I have no desire to maintain a hostile, awkward relationship with a comrade on the battlefield.”

He raised his hand. A pitch-black magic circle materialized, hovering inches above his palm.

“You choose. If your pride truly cannot stomach this, speak up now. Say the words ‘kill me’, and I will use these Command Spells to squeeze out every last drop of your utility, using your corpse to lay the foundation for my victory.”

Artoria’s jaw tightened, her knuckles white around her sword hilt, but she remained silent.

“If you can accept this arrangement, I won’t force your hand,” Levi continued. “We will inevitably disagree. If we truly have a falling out, we will fight. Whoever wins gives the orders. Whoever loses obeys.”

Levi stretched his hand forward, offering the dark magical crest. Kuroka recognized the complex runes instantly. It was a devil’s contract. The exact same binding agreement Levi had used to recruit her.

As Merlin’s former disciple, Artoria recognized the arcane structure as well. She had heard countless horrific rumors about devils, all painting them as treacherous monsters. But devils possessed one absolute, fatal characteristic: they never broke a formal contract. To their kind, a contract was a fundamental law of existence.

Seeing that Levi was willing to bind himself to such terms, Artoria bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

Her internal war raged. If this were merely about her own pride, she would have driven her sword through her own heart the moment she realized he was a devil. But this was not about her. It was about Britain. The fall of her kingdom was a tragedy born from her own failures. If this was the price to save it…

She took a slow, shuddering breath. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and slowly pressed her gauntleted hand against the black magic circle.

Even if it means joining forces with a devil… I accept.

The black crest shattered into two distinct halves, sinking smoothly into both of their chests. Kuroka watched the entire exchange from the shadows, her tail twitching in amusement.

The cunning devil let a warm smile return to his face. He offered his hand in a standard, polite gesture. “For the next seven days, please take care of me, Saber.”

The noble knight was drowning in humiliation. Her chest heaved, but she forced herself to take his hand. She squeezed out a stiff, agonizing expression that was far uglier than weeping, and forced a single sound through her gritted teeth.

“Mm.”

[Sign-in Target: Obtain Artoria’s recognition]

[Status: Incomplete]

“You have already summoned a Heroic Spirit. Shouldn’t this Holy Grail War truly begin now?”

Grayfia stood near the head of the grand table in the Einzbern family’s meeting hall. Her silver eyes drifted toward Artoria, sensing the distinct, heavy aura clinging to the knight—an aura identical to Karna’s.

The entire faction was present. Artoria, Karna, Irisviel, Kuroka, and Grayfia. Not a single piece was missing from the board.

Levi stood at the head of the table. He swept his gaze across his assembled forces and let out a slow breath.

“The Holy Grail War lasts exactly seven days. We are now entering the second day. By this point, all opposing Masters should have finished summoning their respective Heroic Spirits.”

He placed his hands flat on the polished wood. “Until now, we were merely in the preparation phase. I believe it is time I told all of you the true purpose behind my participation in this war.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. The lingering casualness vanished. Every pair of eyes locked onto Levi. Even Artoria stood a little straighter. Though she still felt as if she had willingly walked into a demon’s den, the contract was signed. As a bound companion, she needed to hear her Master’s overarching strategy.

“First, let us discuss the function of the Holy Grail itself.”

“The Einzbern family’s ultimate goal is to manifest the Third Magic. I have no use for the vast majority of what the Third Magic offers. However, there is one specific, incidental byproduct of the ritual that I am deeply interested in—infinite magic power.”

“That is my personal objective.”

Whether the Third Magic could actually grant a devil an inexhaustible well of demonic energy was purely theoretical. Levi wasn’t entirely certain himself. But the potential reward far outweighed the risk of trying.

Having laid his own desires bare, Levi’s tone grew sharp. “Setting my personal ambitions aside, I have one absolute bottom-line requirement for this war. No matter what happens, zero casualties among our ranks is the highest priority. Even if I fail to achieve my personal goal, I will not trade any of your lives for it.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out a thick dossier Grayfia had compiled for him earlier. He extracted a single photograph and tossed it onto the center of the table.

It was the profile of the Lord of the Astronomy Department, Marisbury Animusphere. The future director of Chaldea.

“If the opportunity presents itself,” Levi said, his eyes narrowing at the photograph, “the minimum tactical goal we must achieve… is kicking him out of the game permanently.”

Hearing this specific directive, Grayfia and Kuroka exchanged a brief glance, though neither was particularly surprised. They had known about Levi’s obsession with the Third Magic’s infinite energy for a long time. He had never bothered to hide his greatest weakness from his inner circle.

As a pureblood member of the Lucifer Clan, the fact that Levi’s innate magic power was pitifully weak was an open secret among high-ranking devils. His reserves didn’t even reach the standard of a middle-class devil; on his best days, he barely scraped the absolute bottom threshold of that rank.

Unless he activated his Devil Trigger to force a temporary, explosive mutation in his energy, he relied almost entirely on brutal, hyper-refined physical techniques and swordsmanship to survive combat. If one had to draw a comparison, his fighting style was remarkably similar to the anomaly of the Bael family, Sairaorg Bael.

It wasn’t that this physical combat style was weak—Levi had slaughtered plenty of arrogant elites who underestimated his blade. But if he could permanently solve his crippling lack of magic power, he would become truly unstoppable.

Yet, despite that desperate need, Levi had just focused on the elimination of a Clock Tower Lord over his own ascension.

Hearing the absolute finality in his voice, both Grayfia and Kuroka understood the gravity of the situation. This wasn’t a mere suggestion. It was an execution order.