Ajuka decided to lead us to another room with less sensitive equipment for his testing of Raphael. Since he was unable to detect Raphael during his scanning, besides the signs that my Astaroth clan trait was active, he decided that he would have to test it since he couldn't directly observe it.
This time he led us into what looked like a scientists lab rather than a hospital room. The large room had one large desk filled with several computers, another with what looked like an alchemy set complete with flasks and bottles filled with fluid.
A third table had various machines presumably analyzers of some kind. Whilst the walls were covered in bookshelves, some filled with books others various artifacts and even some minerals.
Ajuka rummaged around the room for a bit collecting various machines from different boxes stashed under the desks or in what looked to be a storage room attached to the side.
After setting them up and connecting them to his computers, he gestured me forward.
"Cain will Raphael accept my instructions for a bit?" He asked since as my ability he assumed it would listen only to me and he was right.
'Raphael help Ajuka with his test I am also interested in your full capabilities.'
[Understood.]
"It will now, go ahead." I prompted him to begin.
"From what you've told me we can essentially split Raphael's abilities into two categories." He began explaining.
"Firstly there's its external influence which you would use primarily to control magic and then there's its internal processing power which you can use to analyze information."
"We'll begin by testing its external influence. This includes various magic control factors such as how small or large an amount of magic it can influence, how far that magic can be from you, how complex a magic can be, and the efficiency of each factor."
"First, Raphael can you—"
I just tuned out Ajuka as he started his tests and joined Serafall's discussion with Lillian about her magical girl show. I felt the stirring of my demonic power in the back of my mind as Raphael directed it in my stead.
-----
"— if you're going to do that you might need to give her a redemption opportunity."
"But Kay-chan, how can she be the bad guy if you let her come back to the good side? There'll be no baddy left for the future."
"You could have one normal villain then, one then corrupts one magical girl who then misleads her friend into joining them as well. Then you can have the one who got misled get redeemed through the power of love and the other who can't."
"Oh, Kay-chan that's the best idea ever!"
"What if you made the normal villain a mad scientist who wanted to make his own magical girls?"
"Ohhhhh! So he corrupts the magical girls to then experiment on them to try and make his own. That's so evil!"
"That's right, so if you had two magical girls get corrupted, one could be under mind control or something and the other followed her friend and got misled. Then you show the misled one the truth and go on a grand quest to rescue the brainwashed one fighting evil magical girls on the way."
"That's great, that's great! But won't having evil magical girls be bad? We're supposed to be the defenders of love and justice not evil."
"Then don't have evil magical girls, have monsters with magical girl powers. Also, you're showing that people aren't inherently good or evil. Sometimes people become evil without a choice and others are led to evil without understanding it."
"This is going to be the most fantastically amazing, sparkly magical season ever! But who to cast? I know, I can have Mina-chan and Ren-chan and maybe Lilly-chan oh and if we make a whole team of magical girls this season then we can add a magical boy and you can do that Kay-chan, and Juka-chan is perfect for—"
"No stop! I'm not joining your show and neither is Lilly." I interrupted Serafall's machinegun speech. I didn't want to get drafted and I wont let Lillian either, at least until she's old enough to understand the consequences.
"Me neither Serafall." Ajuka provided support.
"Owww but Juka-chan your the perfect evil scientist." She pouted and, though didn't want to, I had to agree that if he let go of his noble demeanor, he could probably do a really good evil scientist.
"No, I have no time to be on your show." He denied participation but not the evil scientist part.
"Cain I've finished this round of tests and I have to say I'm astonished. Raphael has exceeded every measurement device I've used."
"It can exert such fine control over the surroundings that I wouldn't be surprised if it could control individual magic particles. Its efficiency is also incredible, as far as I can tell there is no waste when controlling magic."
I had expected this, in the story Raphael came from it could directly control magicules, the building blocks of magic, smaller than even atoms. It could even control spiritrons, the constituent parts of magicules and the souls.
Raphael's control was so fine that it wasn't just atomic it was subatomic and its efficiency would naturally be astonishing. With its computational power it could individually control all the magicules when casting spells reaching as close to 100% efficiency as possible.
"Additionally there seems to be no limit in size or distance to the magic it can control so long as it's formed of your power."
This was expected too considering, Rimuru was able to cast Megiddo with Great Sage's help. This was a physics-based spell that used water vapor in the air to form lenses that focused sunlight to form laser attacks.
Rimuru cast the spell over an entire army indicating that Great Sage could manipulate magic over huge distances so long as it was Rimuru's. Considering Raphael was the ultimate skill produced when Great Sage evolved, it should be possible for Raphael to manipulate magic at even greater distances since it was an order of magnitude stronger than Great Sage.
"Frankly, this might be one of the most terrifying abilities I've ever come across," Ajuka said, shaking his head in exasperation.
"What do you mean Juka-chan, having long range magic manipulation and exceptional control are good abilities but they aren't that scary?" Serafall was surprised by Ajuka's statement and had I no knowledge of Raphael's abilities I would have been too.
"They aren't that scary individually but together they could be really dangerous. Normally when someone uses long-range magic you can detect it heading towards you and have time to prepare."
"In this case, it's different, since Raphael's control extends so far and is so precise and efficient, it could cast magic right behind you with no fluctuations to give the attack away whilst Cain was on the other side of the planet."
Serafall slowly turned her head to me mechanically in a perfect impression of an actor from a horror film.
"Kay-chan, don't do that. It's scary."
I just smirked in return.
Raphael was such a cheat when it came to magic control and ability development.
It could definitely do what Ajuka suggested but if I ever have to assassinate someone, Ill have to make sure not to leave any of my magic aura around as that could be traced back to me.
"Cain, whilst Raphael is incredibly powerful don't neglect your own control training, it would be too easy to start using such a powerful ability as a crutch." Ajuka offered advice and I accepted since it was sound.
"Next I'll test its processing capabilities. This is a bit harder to do since I cant analyze it directly. Instead Ill set up an isolated computer with several sets of information on it hidden behind increasingly complex defenses."
"Raphael will have to break through the defense and use the information hidden behind to answer a set of increasingly complex questions. This will allow me to test both its processing speed, the complexity of information it can handle, and its ability to extrapolate new information from existing data."
Ajuka would be surprised again.
Whilst Raphael's computation speed is never explicitly stated in the story, its capability is far beyond even quantum computers, being able to support accelerating a human(slime) temporal perception a million times over.
Raphael also manages to come up with army teleportation magic within a few minutes of Rimuru realizing he might need it, showcasing its ability to create new techniques from old data.
It took a few minutes for Ajuka to set up the test, during which I returned to my conversation with Serafall about her show.
-----
Ajuka just stared in disbelief at the screen of his computer. He had declared the test over a moment ago and was now checking the results whilst the rest of us waited for his analysis.
"This is amazing. No, it's incredible. No, I don't have a word for this." He just muttered to himself.
"What's wrong Juka-chan?" Serafall asked, after having taken a sneaky picture of Ajuka's surprise, probably to tease him with later.
"The results are just too amazing to be believed. I made this test focused primarily on spell craft, whilst I added many questions that would need deductions to be made based on the knowledge I included, some of them should have been impossible to answer."
"A couple of questions were based on entire subjects that could be considered the opposite side of the knowledge spectrum to what I gave it. There was even a question that I haven't figured out yet. And the times recorded are just too fast, fractions of a second."
Ajuka began going through the solution to the problem he hadn't figured out yet, checking to see if it was possible.
"That's why I chose it in my past life. Raphael is like an omniscient computer, give it some knowledge and it would be able to calculate every possible derivative knowledge. So long as a solution is possible based on the data it has, Raphael can reach it."
"It's the ultimate comprehension ability." I felt a surge of pride at that thought.
"That's supercool Kay-chan. What else can Raphael-chan do?" Serafall asked ignoring Ajuka who was now furiously scribbling notes.
"So long as I can imagine a technique and Raphael understands enough magic rules, it can figure out how to make it work. Additionally, it can deconstruct almost all phenomena and understand their mechanism allowing me to gain the ability to cast my opponent's magic after seeing it once. In battle, Raphael can control my demonic power and cast magic for me, as you've seen, and is capable of accelerating my thought processing speed."
"That's OP!" She exclaimed. "It's also like Juka-chan's Kankara formula."
"Cain," Ajuka stated in a serious tone. "I'd like to propose a marriage between you and my niece Latia Astaroth."
""Huh?"" "What?"
All three of us were stunned.
'Where did that come from?' Was the question that flashed through my mind.
"Juka-chan, where did that come from?"
"His Raphael is an ability based on his Astaroth clan trait. Even if it was influenced by his reincarnation it has still manifested through his clan trait."
"This is such a unique and powerful ability that it gives you a certainty of reaching the absolute pinnacle of Satan class and a very high chance of breaking through to Super class. Also, the fact it's a support type intelligence ability will allow rapid breakthroughs in magic theory and spell craft."
"It can essentially be considered a strategic weapon and since it's based on a clan trait can be shared with an entire bloodline. The best chance for you to pass the ability on would be to produce an heir with another Astaroth and Latia is the most suitable candidate considering she is close in age to you. Even if a lesser version of the ability like the Great Sage you mentioned is passed on, that's still an incredibly potent ability."
Ajuka's explanation made sense. Raphael was so broken that anyone would want to produce more users of it.
He was slightly wrong though, based on Rimuru's story, Raphael probably wouldn't have any problem helping me grow in power up to Dragon God level.
"Sorry Kay-chan but Juka-chan's right. Your ability is just too good to not try and pass it on, so if I'm going to adopt you, I'll accept an engagement to Latia-chan."
Serafall looked a bit apologetic since I didn't have a choice.
I wouldn't just be able to leave the devil faction even if I wanted to, Serafall and Ajuka wouldn't let me, I was just too valuable. Both my knowledge of a possible future and Raphael were things any faction leader wouldn't let slip through their fingers.
Since I couldn't escape I would inevitably become Serafall's adopted son since the other option would be as a captive. As Serafall's son, she would have the right to arrange marriages for me as my guardian.
I had expected to be in an arranged marriage when I joined the devil faction but I didn't expect it to be so soon.
I thought back to what I knew of Latia from DxD.
She only appeared as a side character so there was not much to analyze but she was shown to be bold and determined when trying to restore her family's reputation after becoming heir due to Diodora's sandal. But she could also be humble and polite as well when she apologized to Asia after Diodora's attempted rape which transformed into murder.
I then compared them to the other possible girls I could get engaged with who appeared in DxD.
Rias; too proud despite being spoiled rotten and too lazy to put in effort to solve her problems.
Sona; too strict and a perfectionist who whilst being a genius didn't seem to know how to relax.
Seekvaira; she was alright but was shown to be a bit cold and detached, only really showing much emotion when talking about Mechs.
Ravel, she probably hasn't been born yet.
Compared to the others Latia seemed the best fit.
She wasn't too prideful or lazy having a passion for magic research, she also knew when to relax and when to act like a noble. In fact out of all of the devil girls I could be engaged to she seemed the most like a normal girl if a bit of a magic nerd.
The other option was Roxanne who may or may not be a reincarnator, if she was things could get incredibly awkward and if she wasn't then I knew nothing of her personality.
Overall Latia was the best option.
She wasn't a spoiled princess, a strict taskmaster, or an heir burdened by expectations. She was a relatively normal girl who liked magic, someone I felt I could form a meaningful connection with as I was also quite interested in exploring magic and its possibilities.
She was also very beautiful, like every other girl in DxD but her blonde hair with blue tips gave her a more exotic look.
I looked between Serafall and Ajuka and saw their serious expressions while watching me.
"I'll accept, from what I know of the young female devils, she's the most compatible with me anyway."
"Phew, that's good Kay-chan. Juka-chan you'll have to arrange it with the Astaroth clan."
He nodded in response whilst the serious expression disappeared from his face at my agreement.
"Does that mean I can't be with Cain anymore?" A sad voice piped up.
"Why do you think that Lilly-chan" Serafall asked.
"Doesn't becoming engaged mean Cain's going to get a wife? That means he has to stay with his wife so I won't be able to stay with him."
"Oh Lilly-chan you're so cute! Even if Kay-chan doesn't want you anymore you can join me in being a magical girl."
"Hey! Just because I get engaged doesn't mean you can't stay with me Lillian, you're going to join my peerage after all."
"And you," I said turning on Serafall, "don't go trying to poach her like that."
"Oh look Kay-chan doesn't want to let you go Lilly-chan, maybe you could be his wife too."
"I can be his wife too?" Lillian asked surprised as I started glaring at Serafall.
"That's right, devils can have many partners," Serafall replied, ignoring my glare intensifying.
"Then I'll be Cain's wife as well. Oh, and he has to call me Lilly like Levia-tan from now on." Lillian declared with a smile.
I was now trying to burn Serafall with my gaze at her entirely unnecessary suggestion.
"That's great." She just clapped while flashing a smirk at me.
I was not pleased.
What did she think was going to happen by telling a young girl who has no home or family, and has latched on to someone in similar circumstances to her as emotional support, that she can become his wife?
Especially after she was just worried about being left aside due to that emotional support becoming engaged.
I just glared at the now giggling Satan, unable to deny what Lillian said without her thinking I'd leave her behind.