Chapter 166: The Blood of Baal and the Forgotten Summoning
Rias Gremory's expression had shifted from quiet yearning to something more haunted—a wistful melancholy, not the petulance of a spoiled noble, but the sorrow of one who had waited too long for a promise that never came.
"I…" she began again, voice soft.
"Not now," Solomon interrupted, his tone casual, almost dismissive.
Rias froze. Her eyes widened slightly, lips trembling—not from anger, but from a kind of ghostly disappointment.
"You're not going to say it's your spiritual exhaustion again, are you?" Sona Shitori interjected, her voice sharp with disapproval.
"No," Solomon replied, "it's not that."
"Then why?" asked Juno Himejima, now dressed in gym clothes, her tone edged with irritation. Once or twice was teasing. But this? This was cruelty.
Solomon's answer was simple. "I've already chosen someone else for the Gremory seat."
The room fell silent.
Rias's face paled. Her fingers curled slightly, as if grasping at something invisible. For a moment, it seemed she might walk away—reject the entire notion of becoming one of the Seventy-Two Pillars.
"Don't look at me like that," Solomon said, his voice still light. "I never said Rias couldn't become one of the Pillars. Just not the Gremory seat."
That did little to soothe the tension. Rias was Gremory. To deny her that title and offer another was like stripping her of her name.
"Baal," Solomon said suddenly.
Sona blinked. "You're giving her the Baal seat?"
Even Juno, who had been ready to defend Rias, now sounded bitter. "So this is a surprise gift? Because she has Baal blood?"
Solomon tilted his head. "She does?"
He genuinely hadn't known. But it explained everything. Among the cards, the Baal sigil had reacted more strongly to Rias than the Gremory one. It wasn't just compatibility—it was ancestry.
Unlike Juno, whose abilities required careful matching, Rias had drawn the Baal card naturally. The only reason Solomon hadn't initiated the transformation was the complexity of extracting Baal's power from the ancient Solomon ring. The residual energy from the original Seventy-Two was faint—useful only as a bridge to help his own magic adapt to this world.
"Her mother is from the Baal family," Sona confirmed.
Solomon nodded slowly. That explained the resonance. But it also raised concerns. If Rias inherited Baal's seat, it might attract unwanted attention from the current Baal patriarch. Complications.
"So I'll inherit Baal?" Rias asked, her voice steadier now. "Then who gets Gremory?"
Solomon smiled faintly. "When I activated the ring to summon Gremory, someone responded."
"Who?" Rias asked.
"A girl. Younger than you. Twin ponytails. About Aisha's age."
Rias frowned. That didn't match anyone in her family. The Gremory line was small—just her, her brother, and a young nephew.
"There's no one like that in my family."
"Are you sure?"
"I've never met anyone like that. So who is she?"
Solomon shrugged. "I don't know."
"You summoned her and didn't ask?"
Sona looked exasperated. "You didn't even ask who she was?"
"I had just been resurrected," Solomon said. "I activated the summoning by accident. When she began to appear, I shut it down. I didn't trust the old contracts. Didn't want to risk it."
Sona sighed. She understood. But still…
Chapter 167: The Twin-Tailed Girl and the First Gremory
Afternoon light faded into evening. At Rias's residence, her entire retinue had gathered. The mood was tense, solemn.
The cause stood at the center of the room—a silver-haired woman in a maid's uniform. But this was no servant.
Grayfia Lucifuge, wife of Sirzechs Lucifer, Rias's sister-in-law.
Her sudden arrival had startled everyone. Fortunately, Rias had anticipated the possibility of Gremory's teleportation magic being used. She had dismantled the sigils at the Occult Research Club and the villa, leaving only her home's array intact.
Grayfia's presence meant something had been discovered. Something serious.
Her eyes narrowed as she studied Juno. Though Juno had suppressed her aura, Grayfia's gaze was sharp. Rias held her breath, praying nothing would be revealed.
"Rias," Grayfia said, "in three days, the leaders of the Three Factions will meet in this city."
"What?" Rias's voice cracked.
A summit here? That could only mean one thing—they'd sensed something. But how much?
"Why here?" she asked.
Grayfia raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"
She tossed a photograph onto the table. Rias's face darkened.
"You've been mobilizing Gremory resources to hide this person's identity. Care to explain?"
"I don't know who that is," Rias said, feigning ignorance.
"Fine. We'll discuss him later. Don't worry—the angels aren't coming to assign blame. The summit isn't about petty matters."
Rias exhaled. So they thought Solomon was involved in the Church's relic incident—but not the dimensional invasion.
Still, the question remained: how to reveal the truth without exposing Solomon?
Sona was equally troubled. The stakes were enormous, and the wrong word could bring disaster.
"What's the purpose of the summit?" Rias asked, though she knew Grayfia wouldn't answer.
Silence.
"Three days," Grayfia said. "As the future head of Gremory, prepare accordingly."
She turned to leave.
"Wait," Rias said. "Grayfia, I saw someone recently. A girl. Younger than me. Red hair. Twin ponytails. She looked like a Gremory. Do you know who she is?"
Grayfia paused. Her reaction was unexpected. She knew.
"You saw her?" she murmured. "She came to the human world?"
She rubbed her temples, visibly troubled.
"Who is she?"
Grayfia didn't answer immediately. But she didn't refuse either.
Behind Rias, her retainers quietly exited the room, sensing the gravity of what was about to be revealed.
"Now can you tell me?" Rias asked.
Grayfia nodded slowly. "She is Gremory. Her blood is purer than yours."
Rias blinked. "That's impossible."
"She is one hundred percent Gremory. No other demonic lineage."
"That can't be. No one like that exists."
"No one," Grayfia agreed. "Except the origin."
Rias's breath caught.
"The origin… You mean…"
"Yes," Grayfia said. "She is the first ancestor. The original Gremory."
Rias staggered back, stunned.
"But she's dead. She died long ago."
Grayfia's eyes gleamed.
"Or so we thought."