Realization
Pov Alfia Lucifuge.
The fight has entered its final phase. Now it is truly a battle of convictions, not skill. The one who is more convinced of his victory will win.
A duel in the devil world is divided into 2 phases.
1 is what I have already seen. That is, everything that happened before the break that my father announced. Phase 2 is the most meaningless and bloody part of the duel.
This is the difficulty of being a referee in such duels. There were cases when, due to a referee's mistake, phase 2 began later or earlier.
There were also cases when people were killed for this. Each devil has a plan for a duel, and judges' mistakes often ruined them.
It is not surprising that embittered devils rushed at the judges, but my father is the most experienced judge in the underworld, so everyone trusts him in terms of duels.
I saw the future Leviathan in the crowd of nobility. Serafall looked serious and sat with a cold expression on her face. Perhaps this cheerfulness appeared after she became Leviathan?
There are a lot of rumors about the head of the Sitri house and his wife.
There are especially many rumors about their intimate games. They say that Ara Sitri, Serafall's mother, is an incredible masochist who loves it when her husband humiliates her in front of people below her position.
According to rumors, every member of her harem treats her like a slave, just like the girls from her husband's harem, that is, she is the last in the family hierarchy.
Yes, even by the standards of devils, the Sitri family is fucked up. I can't even imagine how bad Serafall is. She was born and lived in this.
And now she listens to everyone discussing it. I understand that she is not very comfortable now and decided to go up to her and talk.
"Hello, I'm Alfia Lucifuge. What do you think about this duel?"
To be honest, I felt awkward, especially after Serafall looked at me with that icy expression.
"Hello, no need to introduce yourself, I know your name. Just like you know mine."
It's kind of hard to talk to her. Maybe I should approach her in 500 years?
"I think the duel is interesting. Both fighters showed a level that was ahead of their peers. Also, Glan showed an unexpected level of strength for him. Before the duel, I thought it would be a one-sided duel. I'm glad I was wrong. What do you think about the match? Especially since it started because of you?"
Serafall asked, turning to me. I didn't expect her to be so talkative. What was that at the end? Does she not like me for some reason?
"I didn't expect this from Glan either. I don't think anyone did. What kind of question is this? I didn't want their duel, but Glan came up to me first. As you probably know, messing with 2 sons in the underworld is not cool. About the same as the fact that he is a member of the Borboros house. Over the past century, this house has had the most troubles, although no, a couple of houses have simply died out. If you look at it from this point of view, their affairs are even going well."
While I was saying this, Serafall looked at me and after my words that I did not want a duel, she looked at me with interest, and after the last words she even giggled.
Perhaps my first judgment of her was wrong?
"Hmm, I thought that a member of the Lucifuge house would have a more cruel character."
"No, I am quite peaceful for a devil."
"Do you want to watch the final fight with me together? Perhaps when the devils see 2 heirs together, there will be more duels in the future?"
I liked Serafall's suggestion.
"Unfortunately, I am from the house of Lucifuge and if I do not sit next to Lucifer, it will be disrespectful and a violation of tradition."
I said the last part with a grimace, which made her giggle again.
"But we can meet later and talk."
I said because I sincerely enjoyed communicating with her.
"Okay, I'll wait for an invitation."
At this point we parted ways and from afar made a gesture that in my past life the entire Internet destroyed one political billionaire.
Eh, now it's just a gesture of greeting and farewell from ancient Rome. But in 500 years it will be completely unacceptable. Sometimes it's completely incomprehensible how history turns upside down. Even in my past life I was fascinated by it.
I am fascinated by how vast and unreliable history is. You never know for sure whether what you read in textbooks was true, or is it a greatly embellished or rewritten history?
What I really loved about this new life is that I can see the history of different centuries with my own eyes. I sat down in my place next to my family and began to wait, but my curious mother did not wait.
"I saw that you were talking to the heiress of Sitri. How do you like her?"
After this question, my mother and sister began to look at me expectantly.
"Well, I would say that we got along and I invited her to join us."
My mother's eyes lit up at this news and she said.
"So my recluse daughter has a friend? What a joy. I already thought that you would spend your whole life in our house."
At these words, she laughed.
"It's not funny."
I answered discontentedly. At that moment, my father announced the 2nd round. The fighters immediately rushed at each other.
Exchanging furious blows. With distorted facial expressions. There was no longer a strategy or any spells. There was just mutual hatred.
Under the joyful exclamations of crowds 2 boys were beating each other. This is the beauty and at the same time the vileness of the underworld.
For devils, this is a holiday. They rejoice and laugh as if today is their best friend's wedding. I no longer looked at the fight, I didn't care anymore.
I looked at how all the nobles hugged and rejoiced, placed bets and drank, each of them had jubilation on their faces. Each of them was in ecstasy.
I stood and looked at this with a tremor that penetrated to the bones. I was scared.
Only now I saw what I had tried not to notice before. No matter how noble and prolonged they were. No matter how much they were forced to learn etiquette, it is impossible to hide their nature. What makes them devils will remain with them forever.
No matter how noble or pure their intentions, they will never be people. And no one strives to be people. Would you want to become a slave when you are a king?
I finally understood where I got to. What should I do? Agree that I am one of them or go against it. But someone moved me here. Why? So that I would see this?
Become a part of this? Maybe in the future this society will be different, but will I remain who I am? Or will I become one of them?
Will I also scream in bliss not noticing the drool running down my chin? The fight finally caught my attention and I saw how Otor dodged the bone using acceleration magic and quickly approached Glan.
At that moment, Otor uses an illusion and I see in this illusion how Glan's father pierces me with a hand made of blood.
At the same moment, a magic circle flashes on Otor's chest. This shows that he used the spell of his house. Glan stopped with his eyes wide open.
At that moment, when he woke up from his stupor, it was already too late. Otor stood next to Glan and punched Glan's head with all his might.
Glan flew to the end of the arena and did not get up again, and Otor stood with his hands raised. The entire arena exploded with delighted cries of devils.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Those who expected Glan to win and liked this character don't be upset because there will be more of him in the plot in the future. I myself didn't know who should win so I trusted my 10 year old sister to choose. And she didn't read this. I just told her the situation and asked her to choose who should win.