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With a wave of my hand, a flaming tree appeared where the dead one had once stood. "Strike the targets as they appear." I ordered.
Yubelluna's smile turned to a predatory grin as she gathered her magic again. Much faster this time, almost immediately, another explosion shook our surroundings as the area around my fiery tree was sundered.
Immediately, I created another on the other side of the yard.
Yubelluna switched targets and destroyed that one as well. Then the next. Then the next.
This continued for nearly two minutes until Yubelluna was huffing from exhaustion, her body swaying as she desperately tried to stay on her feet. Even still, she held her shaking arms high, waiting for my next target.
"That's enough. You should go get a drink and catch your breath."
She shook her head. "I-I can…keep going, my lord. I can still–"
"Yubelluna. Take. A. Break. Trust me, I get where you are coming from, but you're exhausted. Take a few minutes to recover. I'll still be here when you get back. You have my word."
The girl looked at me with something akin to desperation, but in the end, she stumbled her way back into her house.
I turned back to the now destroyed yard and couldn't help but whistle in appreciation. The ground was no longer brown, it was the color of blackened charcoal.
All traces of what had once lived in this yard had been destroyed and the ground was now littered with darkened craters of varying sizes.
"Your assessment?" I said without looking away from the yard.
"Take her." Clarissa said immediately. "I doubt a pawn will be sufficient, but take her all the same. Give me even a month with the girl and I can triple her combat potential.
Once she knows how to focus her magic through a circle, she will be a fearsome opponent."
I nodded along with her words. "That's what I had put together. Still, I'm not going to take her for her power's sake alone.
It would be rather comedic for everyone other than myself if my first piece turned on me after she'd decided she'd taken all she could from me."
"If she tried, she would die." Clarissa said with certainty as strong as steel.
"Make sure to remind me to compensate her parents for the yard." I said, my mind moving to other things.
"I will do so, my lord."
The door to the house opened once more, and Yubelluna emerged with her parents behind her.
Yubelluna still looked tired, but at least she didn't look like she was about to pass out like she had earlier.
She also wore a determined look on her face, as if she was prepared for the world to collapse around her.
I ignored the presence of her parents, focusing solely on her. "Why should I take you into my peerage?"
Yubelluna's determined demeanor did not shift. "My lord, you've already seen my–"
"Disregard your power." I said, cutting her off. "If your power wasn't enough to impress me, what reason would you offer for me to take you into my peerage?"
Now her determined visage cracked, giving way to a fear-filled desperation. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
She violently closed her mouth, schooling her expression.
Her eyes narrowed, then she knelt before me, bowing her head so her gaze was fixed on the ground.
"I will do whatever you ask of me, my lord. I will be your weapon to wield against any enemy. Your will shall be my purpose."
That was far too eloquent for a twelve-year old. This was another one of the things her parents practiced with her, wasn't it?
Sighing, I sat down in front of her, crossing my legs beneath me as I did. When we were on the same level, I said,
"Let me be upfront with you, Yubelluna. After this demonstration, even if I leave without taking you, devils will be tripping over themselves to have you in their peerage."
Yubelluna looked up in surprise, her eyes widening as her parents gasped behind her, but I continued before any of them could say anything.
"You have potential – a lot of potential. All of the big name devils will know I was here because they're nosy like that.
They'll know I didn't blow up the yard, and, when paired with all of the letters your parents sent, they'll figure out I was here to see you.
They'll bid against one-another until they offer to buy each of your parents a mansion and cover you in so many jewels you'll shine like an earth-bound star. You have the option to walk away and still get what you want."
Now, any sensible, manipulative Devil would never tell her this. They'd make her beg and plead and offer everything she had for a place in their peerage that they would then graciously offer her.
The problem with that strategy was they'd acquire a slave who would eventually grow to resent them.
I didn't want that. I wanted someone who willingly entered my service and wouldn't leave it. Anything less would just cause me a massive headache for me down the line.
If little miss explosion didn't take my offer knowing others were available, I didn't want her anyway. Maybe that made me a bad Devil, but I was alright with that.
Riser Phenex, breaking down stereotypes since…Did I seriously not know what year it was? Not important.
"With all of that in the open," I continued. "I'll ask you the same question I did when your parents first left the room. Do you want to be in my peerage?"
Yubelluna looked uncertain. She briefly looked over at her parents – they seemed to be holding their breath as they held each other close – before she turned back to me, her uncertainty gone. She had made up her mind.
"Yes." she said.
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, I said, "Why? I'm not offering your parents mansions. I'm also not offering you enough gems to gleam like a star. Others would."
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