[Third Person POV]
A few days passed for the trio, with them visiting quite a few of Lilith's attractions, including their Opera House and the 7-Rings Amusement Park.
Monet and Jenny also went shopping, getting a few new clothes, which Hajime was holding onto for now.
Soon enough, it was time to go to the next city.
The plan was to spend a few days in each city, while the stop at Nebiros' territory would be their second-longest stay behind Lilith.
From there, Hajime planned to free any captives on his first night there. After all, he could hide them away in his suitcase with nobody being the wiser, and with him staying for a few days after the incident, he'd be free of suspicion.
His group was only human mages after all, so the odds of him being a spy are lower, and combined with the fact that he wouldn't immediately try to flee, who would suspect him of having done something?
Even better, with his clone skill, he could create copies to give the three of them an alibi, removing even more suspicion. Only yokai and gods had clone skills, and he was neither, at least to any magical sensing.
Though his clones were made with chakra, they, magically, felt like him normally.
Only a yokai with high-level sensing abilities could tell the difference, at least according to Yasaka.
After checking out of the hotel, the trio got on another train, spending the next two weeks traveling the underworld.
They had three clan territories to cross through to reach Nebiros territory: Furfur, Agares, and Stolas.
Furfur was the clan that ran the majority of electricity stations in the underworld, thanks to their clan trait, Lightning. As the name implies, it gives them an affinity for lightning magic on a level similar to Akeno.
At first, their magic was able to make energy more efficiently than anything the underworld had available. When newer electricity-generating technologies emerged, they used their wealth to invest, becoming the premier supplier to devils.
There was still some competition, but that was mostly by the other pillars. To avoid overcharging, they provided their citizens with electricity, driving down the price Furfur could charge and reducing reliance on a single provider.
Aside from having the largest power plant in Devil's territory, they had arguably the most and the cheapest electricity.
That meant they had many electricity-intensive industries, like manufacturing and data centers, but also more electricity-based tourism, such as arcades and multiple 'spheres' similar to the sphere in Las Vegas.
The trio ended up staying at a hotel famous for its roller coaster, which was kept far enough away to avoid noise complaints from guests.
Next, the group went to Agraes, the Agares territory capital.
The capital was split into two sections: the administration/noble district and everything else.
In the middle of Agreas was a large floating island, hovering over a lake, which was where the noble district was located.
It was originally made for Beelzebub to conduct experiments using the rare mineral Agreasite, which had only ever been found in large quantities on the island. Every other discovery weighed no more than a kilogram, usually found sporadically in areas with high mana concentrations.
Aside from that, it was also the current location of Ajuka Beelzebub's research, given the Agreasite's property, allowing for the creation of Evil Pieces and, eventually, Brave Saints.
Octavian Agares, Seekvaira's father, currently ran the Agares family.
Seekvaira, though little was shown of her in canon due to her being a background character, was known to have a love of mechas thanks to her father.
That was something Hajime definitely planned to exploit at some point in the future.
With his ability to summon otherworldly things, as well as increase his technological know-how, he would easily be able to make whatever mecha he wants in the future.
From there, using his skill to pull the Agares family onto his side in any number of ways becomes trivial.
Hajime trusted that the inherent strangeness of devils would make them side with him for that reason alone.
During their time in Agreas, the Agares' love of mechas was evident in the many stores and attractions dedicated to them.
There was a Ferris wheel that, rather than the traditional wheel, used a multi-armed mecha to hold each carriage, rotating the compartments around its body to show off the city from various heights and directions.
On top of that, there was also a motorbike-sharing system where all the bikes looked like Transformers.
Honestly, had Hajime not had something important to do, he would've probably stayed for a few weeks more.
The final stop before reaching Nebiros' territory was that of the Stolas clan.
They, like the Gremory, Sitri, and Agares, were considered some of the better devil clans, treating their servants much better than most.
When the train stopped in the capital, the trio booked a room at a hotel and began exploring.
The Stolas clan dedicated themselves to astronomy, especially since it connected with magic in many ways. Their clan trait, Starbound, played a large part in that.
Starbound was a unique ability, allowing them to create multi-level spells that chained together like constellations, producing unique spells.
There were two documented ways of using it.
First was to chain spells together, like a combination jutsu in Naruto. Fireball and wind spell make a larger fireball, a reinforcement spell could enhance the distance, and an explosion spell lets them preemptively detonate.
The second way was something called a 'constellation spell'. They start by recreating constellations, such as Ursa Major or Cancer, with magic circles using spells like fireball. From there, the spells chain together, combine using family magic, and create a larger spell that 'summons' a fire bear or fire crab. Of course, that's just a simplification of their ability; it's enough to understand their potential.
It allowed them to 'create' new spells that were mixed versions of what they knew. The only reason the clan wasn't stronger or more famous? Well...
The spells ironically only get the maximum boost when the stars of the constellation are overhead, which meant the Stolas clans' magic was weaker in the underworld than on Earth.
Their clan had spent centuries exploring ways to trigger their abilities in the underworld artificially.
Back when Ajuka created a fake moon projection to help reincarnated devils in the underworld transition more smoothly, the Stolas clan asked him if it would be possible to add stars. Ajuka, aware of their intentions, agreed on the condition that, if they triggered their clan magic, he could study the difference between artificial and natural starlight.
Though they agreed, to the Stolas clans' dismay, the stars didn't change anything.
Of course, that didn't mean they'd given up.
They obviously continued their research into the subject, working on creating a portal-like device that connects to the human world, hoping that, by creating a permanent portal on them, they'd be able to use their clan trait in the underworld.
An added benefit was that there was no time limit. Normally, when fighting on Earth, they'd be limited to nighttime for the boost, because the sun blots out the light from the stars and weakens devils. With a portal, however, they'd be able to always open in the middle of the night.
Again, though, that was predicated on it ever actually working, something their centuries of effort have turned into a joke by the rest of the underworld.
It wasn't like they wanted it to become one, but multiple centuries and a cost worth billions with no results, it was no wonder people laughed about it.
Neither the failure nor the ridicule managed to dissuade them, though.
They were already among the least popular pillars, and they weren't unaware of their failings.
So they continued persevering like always.
Luckily for them, they grew quite popular as more reincarnated devils came to be; their underdog-like status, even as nobles, combined with their friendly demeanors, resonated with many reincarnates.
Combined with their astrological motifs, which encompassed most aspects of their territory, they were one of the top tourist destinations among devils.
They had a horoscope-themed amusement park, multiple restaurants and hotels, and even their capital had 88 wildlife parks, each shaped like a constellation.
The parks even had a stamp challenge. Every day, randomly, at one of the locations of the park that would match that of a star, you could get a stamp added to a picture. Once stamped 88 times, the picture would show a beautiful night sky. The whole thing was one of their biggest draws.
(A/N: Real talk, would anyone else want this to be a thing? Because the more I thought about it while writing, the cooler the idea sounded to me. Probably could even do something like it in Minecraft.)
Monet and Jenny, once they learned about it, wanted to try it themselves.
It took practically all their time in Stolas territory, but since they wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, Hajime even spent an extra day there to guarantee the pictures' completion.
Hajime hadn't exactly bought tickets or rented rooms in advance, so he didn't need to reschedule anything.
Finally, though, after a little over 2 weeks of vacationing, the trio arrived in the Nebiros clans' capital.
It was easily the most depressing place they'd visited so far.
Lilith was easily the grandest of all the cities they'd visited so far. It felt like walking through the Palace of Versailles or the White House, but unlike those places, you could live in Lilith, provided you could afford it.
Fulmenhold, the capital of the Furfur clan, felt like you were stepping years into the future. It gave off a sense of progress, like San Fransokyo from Big Hero 6, and while there were places in the underworld with more advanced technology, nowhere was technology as prevalent as it was in Fulmenhold.
Agreas, as previously mentioned, screamed mecha. Honestly, it was so into mechas that Hajime was slightly concerned they might've tried making a public 'Kaiju battle'. Lord Agares had actually done a small-scale battle in the past, but with mixed reviews, who knew if it'd come back.
Lastly, Velastrum, the Stolas' capital, they just came from, whose air felt like there was a mystical energy constantly flowing through the place.
Eboncrest, however, felt like a dusty library where the dust was never removed, just blown out of the way. It gave off a dreary feeling that, once they had rescued the Toujou sisters, ensured he'd never visit again unless he needed to.
Completely contrary to their neighbors, the Nebiros clan practically rejected outsiders entirely.
As one of Lucifer's houses, they believed in devil supremacy, which drove away more visitors than their depressing atmosphere did.
Still, there was probably something to do, even just for the day.
A quick search, and Hajime found out about a Lucifer Museum, dedicated to chronicling everything Lucifer did before his fall. There was some stuff about the few other family members he had, but there were so few you could literally count them on two hands, leaving not much to say about most of them. There were also 6 small wings of the museum dedicated to the Six Houses of Lucifer, including Nebiros.
After returning to their hotel, the trio began preparing everything so it would be ready tomorrow.
Jenny and Monet didn't need to prepare much; they just needed to ensure that any equipment they were bringing was functional. They were mostly going to play support roles in the raid.
Hajime, however, prepared multiple things.
Newt Scamander's Suitcase for transporting the victims, healing potions for any injuries they might have, and Pym Particle disks to transport as much equipment with them as they could.
On top of that, he also brought Benedict, the Excalibur Blessing homie, who was stored in the suitcase for emergencies, even if it meant blaming the Church or Grigori.
If he did use Benedict, Nebiros would either have to risk revealing some of their criminal secrets to get justice, or more likely, sit and stew in their anger.
There was little risk of war, since not only were the current Abrahamic factions seeking peace, but without any clear suspects emitting holy energy, who could they accuse without seeming to fabricate the incident?
The next morning, the three of them were ready for their infiltration.
Creating the clones and sending them out, Hajime grabbed the two girls and, using Danny Phantom's powers of flight, intangibility, and invisibility, carried them over to the Nebiros clan's Mansion, the likeliest place where they'd be conducting the experiments or where that information would be.
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Author's Note:
Definitely more worldbuild-y than other chapters, but I enjoyed it a bit. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!