Thomas Prest: A Simple Magician

With Natasha on his lap, even if she was a bit disgruntled and unwilling... Well, nothing a bit of tickling wouldn't fix... Tom started explaining as he received a weak bite on the shoulder from his girl who tried to suppress her laughter.

Oh, he knew exactly where she was most ticklish.

With his hands around her torso, she would be unable to escape and he would make sure she listened to every single word of his lecture. Natasha learned the meaning of... evil.

According to the general knowledge of devils, their children inherited their bloodlines usually through the genes of males. That's why Sirzechs Lucifer was such a special case.

While the devil society revered strength most and some Pillar Houses were actually ruled by women, the devil females usually sought strong males. The Pillar Houses themselves looked for strong males to marry their daughters off. Not only to make sure they would be safe but because it would bring them more benefits if their new 'ally' is a strong one.

But it was different with Zeoticus Gremory and Venelana Bael.

Venelana is an Ultimate-rank devil with a very strong bloodline while Zeoticus is only High-rank, also with a bloodline.

Despite the male genes being usually dominant, with Sirzechs, Venelana's stronger genes that were more charged with demonic energy didn't just give a way for Zeoticus's bloodline to take over. But fighting was unadvisable for the survival of the baby so they merged, creating Sirzechs who had both Gremory and Bael bloodlines in him.

Of course, devils had no idea it worked like this. They had many assumptions and the like but their theories were usually so far from the truth it was hilarious. Some spouted purity of their blood while others thought it was due to how noble their bloodlines were... just utter rubbish. The only thing people agreed on was that Sirzechs was a one-in-a-million miracle.

To be honest, it was a plausible assumption that Sirzechs was just a special freak of nature. Sirzechs was like someone with heterochromia or someone born with both penis and vagina. It just didn't happen all that often...

But Tom had now enough information about devils thanks to his Sacred Gear to determine that Sirzechs's 'breeding' was completely replicable. It was just unnatural for devil females to have a weaker partner. Not only the desire for a strong partner was ingrained in every devil female but it was a source of ridicule in the higher devil society to be satisfied with a weaker one.

Venelana's situation was that special and the devils still had no idea what the grandpa Gremory used to blackmail Zekram with to hand over his granddaughter to the Gremory Family.

Of course, commoner devils didn't care much about these 'rules' and oftentimes a stronger female had kids with a weaker male. But commoner devils were usually weak and without bloodlines so it really didn't matter.

But that was also what misled the other devils, making them think the strength didn't matter in this case. There were a ton of strong females in such a situation and their children were nothing out of the norm.

Tom was glad about that kind of ignorance. He didn't need the Pillar Houses to realize how to produce dual bloodlines in their kids. Even though the female devils would be dissatisfied with weaker partners, Tom had no doubt that most Pillar Lords would marry their daughter to whoever if it produced strong children.

Frankly, Tom found it ridiculous how many advantages the devil race had and how many of these biological shenanigans of theirs were not even discovered by them yet.

That said, Sirzechs was really a happy coincidence of bloodline merging. The Bael and Gremory bloodlines had incredible synergy between them so Sirzechs was unusually strong even for someone with two bloodlines.

The Gremory bloodline was nothing flashy and before scanning the sleeping Gremory grandparents, Tom had no idea what it did since there were no records of it but when he found out, he almost started salivating.

The Gremorys were known for their incredible ability with magic and now Tom knew why. The Gremory bloodline simply increased the control one had over his energy.

It sounded uninteresting compared to other flashy bloodlines but... coupled with demonic energy that was hard to control as it was? It was the Gremory Bloodline that made Sirzechs so different from the Bael Family when it came to the proficiency in wielding the Power of Destruction.

He simply had more control over it. He could almost control his demonic energy instinctively so he didn't need to spend centuries trying to get his control up to snuff in order to be able to control enough of his Power of Destruction for large-scale spells.

The Gremory bloodline was like a permanent performance-enhancing cheat.

Naturally, Tom didn't intend to miss the chance to get some of that for himself and Natasha. Not when he had two Gremory devils just waiting to be deprived of their bloodlines.

These two were not like Misla Bael. These two were asleep for centuries already. Nobody could say what effect being asleep and having their magic under strain for so long could have. If they suddenly became much worse at magic, most devils would assume it was simply because of their sickness since they were unaware of what their bloodline was supposed to do.

And the Gremorys would have no proof even if they suspected foul play. After all, the sheer notion of some human stealing bloodlines from devils was ridiculous at best.

Tom finished explaining to the starstruck Natasha and grinned, "So, up to getting yet another power-up, darling?"

"This psycho wants to rob the grandparents of Lucifer of their bloodlines? And I voluntarily work for him? What was I thinking?" Natasha tiredly asked herself out loud, inwardly groaning at how crazy and risky this was but... she knew she wouldn't say no. Not when Tom explained the benefits to her.

Honestly, she really, really wanted the Gremory Bloodline. Her training with the Power of Destruction was progressing but it was kinda hard.

Unlike Demonic Energy, mana was less potent, which didn't matter since Power of Destruction was not affected by that at all. The energy would be imbued with the concept of destruction and that was that. It didn't matter how potent the energy was.

But humans had an easier time controlling their mana and that was, according to Tom, a huge boost for Natasha's training with said ability. Getting even more control over her mana? She was sold.

Seeing her dreamy expression, Tom snickered, "I'll take that your silence as a yes."

That pulled Natasha out of her brief reverie, giving Tom a sensual smile before she pecked his cheek, "You are too good to me." She whispered, a bit embarrassed.

Tom returned the kiss on the cheek, "I couldn't agree more. If in a few years you can't get stronger than Sirzechs with both Bael and Gremory bloodlines, centuries of his combat and training memories and insights, and the fact that human mana is overall more efficient with the Power of Destruction, then my efforts were wasted." He cheekily joked.

But unlike some scathing remark in return as he expected, Natasha just bowed her head a bit and mumbled with a conviction in her tone, "I will beat him. One day, I will show you that your faith in me is not a mistake."

Tom didn't have an answer to that. He was a bit speechless and could only put his arms around her, pulling her into an affectionate hug while quietly whispering, "I know you will."

They enjoyed the embrace for a few seconds and when they pulled away, Tom wiped a stray tear from under Natasha's eye, making her smile happily...

Unfortunately, the mushy atmosphere had to be interrupted because their time was running out.

Tom planted one last kiss on Natasha's lips before gently ushering her out of his lap. "Well, then, now that my Natalianium is recharged," Tom quipped, getting an eye roll from the blushing Natasha, "I guess we have a job to do here."

His eyes slowly landed on the two middle-aged Gremory devils, and his lips stretched into a smile. It was time to get a much-needed power boost for himself alongside some magic and life energy.

As for morals...

These two were old. Old enough that they definitely 'stole' a massive amount of souls from humans in the past. Tom felt no sympathy or pity for them.