The buzz of the machine in the background, the sounds of chattering in the main restaurant. My eyes were closed. I heard her rise from her armchair.

“Don’t move.”

She whispered.

Her wet fingers pressed against my lips.

“Keep your eyes closed, don't open them..”

“Still closed.”

“One moment.. mn.. okay. You may open your eyes.”

She finished by dabbing my lips with a silk cloth. I raised my eyelids and saw Lucifer with a bright red face.

And on top of her head was a floating black crystal with a complex design.

I see. So that’s the crown.

I don’t think I should ask how exactly she activated my system. Better wash my mouth after this.

{REVITALIZATION OF SYSTEM}

{CENTRAL CONNECTION ESTABLISHED: YOU MAY NOW USE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS}

{ERROR}

{ERROR}

{You have been invited to join 4SEAS}

Errors?

“Is this normal?”

“Which one? No, what is this? Did the angels tamper with your system?”

“I don’t know.”

“Normally you only have these two lines. I’m not sure what the extra errors are about,” she pulled her hair around her ears.

“As for this?”

“Join my fleet.”

“I’m a fledgling.”

“You can’t fool a veteran. You definitely have experience.”

“If I join a fleet, doesn't that mean I’ll have to join the demon’s side?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“If that’s the case then sorry. I just want to live a peaceful life.”

“Which is why you should join our fleet. I used to be like you. I thought it was possible to make peace with the angels.”

“Is it really not possible?”

“From my experience at least.”

This is troubling.

“If what you want is a peaceful life, then you need to gain strength and stability. Don’t you agree that-that’s correct?”

“Yes.”

“Even if you don’t actively participate in our activities, you’ll still get some form of benefit. And that benefit you can use to upgrade yourself. That’s how it works. I want to help you survive, now it’s: do you want to help yourself?”

“True..”

“So, what do you say? I’m just trying to lend a hand to a comrade in need.”

“Fine. You win.”

{You have accepted 7SEAS’s invitation}

{You are now a member of 7SEAS}

“Try to bring up your menu by drawing a command.”

Lucifer drew a 7 in front of her. A blue flame trail following her fingers, a purple string of words appeared with a border.

I performed the same motion.

A menu appeared. class abilities, hexes, contacts, and recent encounters. I examined each option.

{Class Operative: Frigate}

{Class Abilities:

1) [PASSIVE] All attributes improve +30% when protecting for each unarmed vessel (effect can stack up to 90%);

2) [ACTIVE] Erosion value bulk of 50 added to current erosion value of target (Uses: 3 [MAX]; +1 added each day until MAX)}

Frigate is something like a healer class, apparently.

{EROSION VALUE: 94}

Erosion value is simply put: our health bar. Though, I don’t know to what degree of damage it helps cushion, just because it says here that I have 94, it doesn’t mean I can’t die from a single headshot.

{HEXES: Echoing Into the Abyss, Arondight}

As for hexes.

What is Echoing Into the Abyss? I know Arondight is a sword, but what’s the other?

“Is it alright if I take a look?”

“Sure.”

“Two Hexes? That’s rare. The names are unusual too.”

“Is there any way to check the effects?”

“You can only check it by using it in the astral plane.”

“That’s too bad. I wonder what this one is about.”

“Mine has a weird name too. It took me a while to understand its use. You just have to try sometimes.”

Lucifer showed me her class abilities. I noticed that some of the abilities had stars on them.

“Does this mean a level up?”

“Something like that. There are many ways to get a level up. I got mine through a tournament reward.”

Tournaments. There’s even something like that huh?

“If you’re wondering what tournaments are, they act as both a ranking measure and an opportunity to receive exclusive rewards. It’s hosted every year.”

“So it involves fighting.”

“Yes. A lot about this world involves fighting.”

Which means our lives are at risk.

“Lucifer, about yesterday night.”

“Yes?”

“What happened, exactly? You said The Seraph went away, right? How? And, why was it here in the first place?”

I appreciate the fact that she risked her life to save me, but the fact that she works here makes it seem as if this place wasn’t all that dangerous.

“We chased it away.”

“Chased it away? You can do that?”

“We had a Rakshasa in hiding. Long story short, it was a trap for the angels. Sorry we got you into that mess.”

And Rakshasas are demon versions of Seraphs ,apparently.

“So the demons won?”

“There are no winners in war. This is still angel territory, as much as we’d like to take back control.”

There are things known as Zones which encompass the different parts of Alska. The condominium and Oala shopping mall is part of Zone 17. The demons had previously tried to take over Zone 21, but it ended in failure.

The leader of the movement tried to take advantage of the loss by baiting the angels to Zone 17, where they set up a trap.

“The Seraph turned tails and ran. We returned The Rakshasa back home. It ended up a draw, with us demons gaining the upper hand.”

Seraphs are machines, she adds.

“Though, the angel forces are still much better than ours. They’re more systemized. Unlike Rakshasas, Seraphs are obedient entities.”

“Is it even safe to operate a store here?”

This place could be the target of angels, couldn’t it?

“If not here, where else can I go?”

I didn't know how to reply to that.

“You see, Avner, that’s why the angels are problematic. They take over the territories, leaving none for us demons. Now we’re left to fend for ourselves. Affecting our daily life, having no choice but to face danger all day, every day.”

Conflict due to territorial rights.

“Though I may be fine right now, I don’t know when the angels will take action and come take my head. That’s how it is, living in enemy territory.”

No matter how strong you are, if you were to face multiple angels at once, your chances of survival are slim to none. How did Lucifer even manage?

“I don’t know if I have the right to even say this, but from what I heard, the angels don’t initiate attacks unless they’re threatened?”

I’m not sure if it was true, so I asked.

“Oh, we demons say the same. But who follows those rules? Neophiliacs and blood thirty people exist everywhere.”

Apparently not.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I don’t know about this world.

“How exactly do territories work? Are there any benefits to claiming a territory? Maybe it serves as a defensive fort? I don’t know what that means though.”

“That’s a complicated topic…”

Her eyes shifted to the bottom right.

“Sorry Avner. We’ve been taking up quite some time. I think I need to return to work. We’ll meet up again and I’ll guide you through the necessary basics you need as a demon. Would that be alright?”

“Then this last question, are there any debuffs for being in angel territory?”

“No. Besides certain functions that become inaccessible, there’s just an increased chance of meeting another angel. It happens almost every week and it pisses me off. Though, I’ve kind of gotten used to it by this point. Still, I wish I could just run the store in peace,” Lucifer sighed.

I nodded, expressing a little sympathy.

“Thank you Lucifer. For today, and for yesterday.”

“I’m just doing my job. Last note, be sure to check out the contracts for 7SEAS.”

Lucifer pushed me out to the room.

===

dotturndot: Yay~ system abilities~

The story is going to be soft on systems, so I won’t be referring to stats often. Since there’s a lot of other stuff I can talk about. The system is just there to inform you of the general traits and adds to the world building (it becomes obsolete fairly quickly). I wonder if the stuff I’m packing into each chapter is too dense? Because the focus keeps shifting. One moment it’s about the social-geo-politics of angels and demons, the next we have a montage of ducks in a restaurant, and then we have fleets, tournaments and contracts (missions).

At the time of writing this, I’ve reached volume 4 (for draft). So while the interlocking bricks behind the different facets of the world have been internalized in my mind, I’m afraid I may be skimping out on the necessary information needed for first time readers.

Welp. If that's the case then I can only blame my writing skillz. Read slowly lol. Try your best to understand lel.