Bab 23: An Alliance
It has been a week since their confrontation with Kokabiel. The three factions decided to speed up their meeting because of this incident. Ezekiel was currently waiting inside his living room while eating self-made sweets from Abelia. Abelia herself was currently in the kitchen working on the next batch and Ezekiel had to admit that she had real talent when it came to cooking and baking. After their talk, they got closer than before and spent a lot time together doing things normal people their age would do.
"And when your opponent does this, you could either hack or slash! Are you following Asia?"
Ezekiel face palmed. Jeanne tried to teach Asia about sword-fighting and how to cripple one's opponent efficiently.
"Jeanne just stop it. I doubt Asia is suited for direct confrontations. Just look at her face, she can't even follow you." Ezekiel decided to step in. Asia looked lost but didn't want to stop Jeanne since she seemed so passionate.
Jeanne turned to Asia and he was right, she didn't seem too involved.
"Just sit down and eat something, Michael should be here every minute now." Ezekiel stated.
Jeanne sulked a bit, but still sat down.
"What about you Abelia? Do you want to join us today?" Ezekiel asked.
"Eh? Is it okay? Aren't you talking about important stuff from your factions?" Abelia questioned.
"It won't be a problem. You can bet that the peerages of these two young devils will come and whoever the other leaders bring as escorts. I highly doubt they are anymore qualified to share their opinion and it's not like we are talking about any big secrets." Ezekiel waved his hand, indicating that she shouldn't worry about it.
Abelia and Jeanne laughed at that, but he wasn't exactly wrong about that. It's not like factions should decide if peace is a good idea or not just because of a few lightly involved individuals.
At that moment, a light materialized in the room and Michael appeared out of it with his ever-present smile. When his eyes landed on Ezekiel however there was just the slightest twitch in his expression. He had no doubt that peace would be achieved, but he had a feeling that Ezekiel wouldn't make it easy for anyone.
"How have you been Michael?" Ezekiel stood up to greet his uncle.
"I am alright, how about you Ezekiel?" Michael answered with his own question.
"I guess it was alright, considering that school here has few things of interest to me. But there was one good thing. Meet Abelia, daughter of Demeter, professional hobby artist and my favourite cook." Ezekiel introduced.
Abelia gave him the stink eye because of the last comment, but internally she was glad that he liked her cooking. She wouldn't cook for everyone.
Michael turned around and saw a beautiful young woman, comparable to his own sister. But it didn't faze him in the slightest. A barrier built for thousands of years isn't breached so easily by a pretty face or body.
"It's nice to meet you Abelia." Michael greeted while sticking his hand out.
"Likewise." She smiled while shaking his hand.
"Alright then, everyone ready to meet the other leaders?" Ezekiel asked, earning him nods from all around.
"Then gather around, I will take us there."
-o-
When they appeared, they instantly became the centre of attention. They weren't surprised by most of them, but they didn't expect another student to come with them. They still didn't know who Abelia was and why she came with them.
Azazel came together with Vali, who stood to the side. Sirzechs came together with Serafall, his wife Grayfia and they had their younger siblings attend together with their peerages.
Issei stared and made his usual perverted face when seeing Abelia, Jeanne and Asia. Suddenly someone slapped him on the backside of his head. When he turned around and saw the sharp gaze of Ezekiel, he took a step back. Didn't he stand in front of him just a moment ago?
„I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" Issei immediately apologised. He got warned by his King that he couldn't afford to offend anyone in this room, especially not the young seraph. He alone is on par with her brother, but he still has his faction behind him as well as his own father.
„Alright then. Open your mouth."
„Wha-…" Issei's words got stuck in his mouth as Ezekiel threw a small chocolate directly into his throat.
Azazels eyes widened. ‚Is he trying to train him?'
Michaels peaceful smile twitched nearly unnoticeably.
The two Devil Kings just laughed about the situation.
Jeanne and Abelia laughed as well while Asia was confused. They then went over to the young devils to reintroduce themselves and have a quiet conversation.
"Let's start, shall we?" Ezekiel said as he took a seat next to Michael. All of them expressed their consent.
"Let's first discuss the recent attack on Kuoh. Rias and Sona, if you would." Sirzechs stated while eyeing Azazel.
"Of course, King Lucifer." Sona replied before Rias could.
Then they began to retell the happenings around a week ago. How it all started and until Kokabiel revealed himself. How they fought against Freed and later the Cerberus and Kokabiel himself. That Kokabiel was unexpectedly strong and then the part when Ezekiel came.
"Thank you, both of you can step back now." Sirzechs said and turned around to his fellow leaders.
"I would like to express my thanks for your interference Ezekiel." Sirzechs said while he and Serafall bowed slightly.
"Don't mention it." Ezekiel just waved it away. They came as leaders of their factions and he didn't need anyone bowing to him when they wanted to better their relations. They understood his intentions and continued.
"That said, care to tell me what this was about Azazel?" Sirzechs questioned as he turned to Azazel.
"Kokabiel acted without my consent." Azazel waved the accusation away.
"Without consent doesn't mean without knowledge." Ezekiel butted in. He didn't have any strong feelings toward these devils, but he didn't like scheming people that played with other's lives.
"I sent Vali to retrieve him, it's not like I ignored it." Azazel tried to justify himself.
"Why not stop it from happening from the start? My cute little sister was in danger because of your games Azazel. Peace talks were already planned, there is no need for further escalating the situation." Serafall asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes. If she had a reverse scale, it would be her younger sister.
"Alright I am sorry, ok? But since we are all here for peace, let's just do that. Peace I mean." Azazel answered.
Most people were surprised how casual the Governor Fallen Angel was. But in the end, he was right. All of them waited for his next words.
"Additionally we have some strong people from the younger generation gathered. Their potential is very high, especially the two Dragon Emperors. Let me ask them about their opinion since they could influence our factions in the future." Azazel turned toward Vali and Issei.
"What do you think about peace, Red and White Dragon Emperors?" He asked.
Issei didn't know what to say and Vali was about to answer when a slightly annoyed voice rang out.
"Why would you even care for their opinion? Would you stop your craving for an alliance if these two disagreed? Would we start to ask every strong individual or Longinus-user for their opinion? They may be part of your faction, but this decision doesn't concern anyone but the leading figures." Ezekiel stated.
"Ezekiel." Michael nudged him.
"What? I'd rather have a serious discussion than hearing the opinion of a hormonal teenager that doesn't even know what this is about."
"Alright, what are you thinking about?" Sirzechs questioned.
"I guess everyone of us can think of a few conditions. To prevent a fickle alliance, we should talk about each other's demands and find a middle way. I personally have three things I want to address. Two of official nature and one personal."
Judging the expression on their face, they had at least enough shame to feel it was unnatural that the youngest amongst them seemed the most serious about this alliance, but they were intrigued about the topics he wanted to address.
"Let me start with the most obvious then. There are too many stray members of our factions. Devils that took the side of enemy factions, actual stray devils, stray exorcists, deserting fallen angels and even a few angels. They must be dealt with, I doubt anyone of you has objections to this, no?" Ezekiel said.
"You propose to work together to deal with them?" Azazel asked.
"That's what an alliance is all about in the end. Every race has their own advantages and if they are using them, why shouldn't we do the same?" This time it was Sirzechs who spoke. He saw the merit of it and honestly it was to be expected If they worked together. It was just that even they were too caught up in the old ways. He could be called young compared to Michael and Azazel who already lived multiple thousand years. While they wanted peace, it was more about coexistence and not starting another war. Actively cooperating on a large scale was harder to achieve, but in the end far more profitable as well.
Everybody nodded at that and Ezekiel was glad that they began to talk business. They then began to talk about some details regarding their possible cooperation when dealing with stray members of any faction.
"What were the other topics you wanted to address?" Serafall asked curiously. She was especially curious about the personal thing he had in mind.
"The next topic concerns our future exchanges. As you already know Heaven is interested in how your Evil Pieces work and knowledge of Sacred Gears in exchange for whatever knowledge you desire. We can talk about the details of that later, but with reincarnated species comes a lot of problems. To counteract them we need some basic rules and regulations. Stray devils are a big problem and there will always be some people rebelling. Don't misunderstand me, that doesn't only happen because they are devils, the same would apply to angels. There is one questions though. Why is the number of them so high?" Ezekiel explained.
The devils, especially the natural born were a little angry at first, but when they considered his words, they knew he was right. It was a well-known problem, but nobody wanted to address it, especially these old devils that held political sway.
"From how I see it, it is privilege enough that only your high-ranking members get to reincarnate people. But in the end, nobody criticizes them because of their standing, regardless how they reincarnate these pieces. Their standing as subordinates is something I can understand, their standing as servants I cannot. It is alright if reincarnated devils accepted it willingly but if they didn't, this is unacceptable. If they are forced, lied to or just randomly reincarnated after their death, there should be some laws regarding that. Forcefully making someone your servant is a crime in my eyes and reincarnating somebody after his death would force a live onto him that he didn't necessarily want. At least they should have the possibility to live a normal live without serving anyone. Reincarnating a dying person is a great risk, because you can't be sure about their will and loyalty. If they don't accept, then that are calculated losses and nothing more. Those people should get the chance to live a normal life."
"While I can see where you are coming from, we can't just make such a decision. We as Devil Kings can act however we wish for the betterment of our race, but if we were to implement such changes, the old devils won't keep quiet." Sirzechs said thoughtfully. He knew his sister was in the same situation more than once, but if Kiba and Issei would have been against being a devil it would only lead to one outcome. Not a pleasant one, that was for sure. In a way Rias was lucky with them accepting their new lives. Be it out of thoughts for revenge, being granted a new life or just being simplistic idiot.
"I don't expect you to immediately change it just because I brought it up. I know this is a longer process and forcing it might just backfire. But we need to start somewhere, and I will make sure that exactly these rules and regulations will be part of our future system in Heaven. In my book it's already a win if you just think about it." Ezekiel acknowledged. He thought of it as important, but it was not his place to demand these changes from another faction. If they considered it and made adjustments it was already better than it was now.
"While it is personal, I attach the most importance on my last matter." Ezekiel broke them out of their thoughts and waved for Jeanne to come over.
As she arrived on the table, she handed him a file which he opened and showed to the leaders, who quickly began to read it over.
"Since we were at the topic about the problems of the reincarnation system, I present to you Diodora Astaroth. I think most of you are familiar with him and his habits?" Ezekiel questioned.
"You want us to hand him over? That won't be possible." Sirzechs stated while Serafall nodded. Even if they thought his actions were wrong, they could not just hand a noble devil to another faction.
"I am aware of that and normally I would just go and take his head myself." Ezekiel's words made them stunned. Michael sighed, he already expected this to happen. Azazel was amused at Ezekiel's daring attitude while still being so young. The young devils and Ezekiel's entourage kept quiet however since this was not their place to butt in. It was good enough to be present for now.
"Because of our potential alliance I am willing to make concessions, however. I want a duel with this boy. If I win, I will decide what happen with his peerage and decide his further punishment. If I lose, he can have my head for all I care." Ezekiel stated. His words seemed overbearing and arrogant, but he was sure he would never lose against anyone else in his generation.
"We know how strong you really are. There is no way we would accept this. But you already knew we wouldn't, don't you?" Serafall asked.
"You mostly deal with your duels in the form of rating games, no?"
Seeing them nod, Ezekiel continued: "Our new project to imitate Evil Pieces to reincarnate Angels is no secret. I will stay out of it and it will only be my angels against him and his peerage. That should be enough for him to accept I presume?"
"But if you don't participate, he has the clear advantage. You don't even have one angel as of now." Sirzechs chimed in.
"That is not something you have to worry about. I already have some people in mind. I won't go around to reincarnate some old monsters though if that were to be a problem." Ezekiel said.
'No old monsters from a supernatural point of view, that is.' Ezekiel added inside his head.
"Somehow that can be arranged. But they won't accept it if you were to demand his death. Are you sure you want to bet even your life on this?" Serafall inquired.
"I am sure. His actions are nothing else than spitting into the face of the church, but my priority is not his death. What I am after are innocents he is insulting with his actions. He made their lives a mess and is currently planning to go after Asia over there. I will make sure that he understands his place and learns his lesson." He explained while gesturing toward the small figure that he came to care about. He knew it was difficult to actually take care of him completely if he didn't want to threaten a successful alliance, but he could think about this after he saved the women he bore his fangs into.
Everybody could see that he wouldn't back down on this one and even Asia was surprised to hear of that. If it weren't for the other women Diodora abused, she would have stopped Ezekiel. Michael would be worried about him, but they already talked about potential humans they wanted to give the chance at reincarnating, and he knew Ezekiel wouldn't lose, even if he didn't personally participate. Not to mention that most reincarnated devils are at a disadvantage against angels.
"Alright then, we will inform you about the outcome, but we won't promise anything." Sirzechs finally relented.
"That was all from my side then. What about you?" Ezekiel asked.
What followed, were long discussions about details. To what extent they would cooperate, which information they would share and which events they would host together to form bonds between their younger generation. Ezekiel was sure they wanted good relations between their factions since he could feel their emotions. They even discussed which other factions they wanted to contact next, making Abelia perk her ears. Ezekiel noticed her, but only smiled.
It was only an hour later that Ezekiel spoke up again: "It seems not everyone is happy about an alliance being formed."
Aside from Sirzechs everyone was puzzled until the time stopped for the weaker members. As they looked out of the windows, there was a mixed army of different supernatural beings. Devils, magicians, and a few fallen angels made up most of them. It seemed like a bad joke that they were against an alliance, but for the sake of getting more power or stopping an alliance of forming, they were willing to band together with different races.
Ezekiel sent a pulse of his aura around him, waking everybody that wasn't able to do so on their own. If he weren't able to counter a sacred gear, he wouldn't hear the end of it if anyone told his father. It was simple really, he just had to overpower its influence in the area he wanted to stop its effects.
"Vali, why don't you go outside to spread some chaos?" Azazel suggested, as the White Dragon Emperor took off.
As the terrorists started their bombardment, Michael, Azazel, Sirzechs and Serafall raised a barrier together. It was a waste of energy since one of them was enough to stop attacks from low-level beings, but Ezekiel didn't say anything. It was a nice gesture if nothing else.
"Gasper! How dare they do this to my cute servant!" Rias seethed. Ezekiel had to acknowledge that she at least cares for her little band of misfits. It was decided that she would go together with Issei to save her cross-dressing vampire. Azazel even sponsored a few items for them to succeed.
"Alright if that is everything, aren't they are just delusional? Attacking some of the strongest beings they could, they didn't think this was enough, did they? Ah wait, but if that is their reason for their haughty attack, then this is just pitiful." Ezekiel said exasperated until he sensed someone else coming. They others weren't sure what he meant, but they knew he had sharp senses.
"What a sight to see. The three factions are working together to form a barrier."
Suddenly a mature woman stepped into the room and began to blabber about devil supremacy and how the old Devil Kings were better. It nearly escalated into a catfight between her and Serafall. Ezekiel just shook his head in pity. This woman was clearly mad. Sirzechs was said to be even stronger than most of the original Devil Kings and she preached them as superior because of some delusions and envy. Not even speaking about Sirzechs, she would already be hard-pressed to go against Azazel or Michael.
"Let me deal with her." Azazel volunteered and took off into the skies since nobody objected.
"Any of you want to gain some combat experience?" Ezekiel asked, as he turned to the younger devils and the girls that came with him.
Everybody sweat dropped at how casual he was. The leaders though thought it was a good idea. If anything serious were to happen, they could step in to help.
"What about you three?" Ezekiel turned to Asia, Jeanne and Abelia.
"I don't really like fighting, but that doesn't mean that I'm incapable of it." Abelia was the first to answer and shrugged.
"Alright then, do as you wish. As for you Jeanne, you can go have fun. I will look after Asia." Ezekiel stated.
A moment later all the young Devils, Jeanne and Abelia were combating enemy troops. Jeanne just cut up anything that came close to her while Abelia was a sight to see. She was throwing elemental Magic around as if it were cabbages and even summoned a huge golem out of the earth. Didn't she just say she didn't like it? At least there was no hesitation in her actions.
"They did not really expect that to succeed?" Ezekiel questioned to no one in particular.
"Well they probably did, but the other leaders of their organisation just wanted to disrupt us and probably stop an alliance from forming. Even if it meant for these people to be wiped out." Sirzechs answered as he appeared next to Ezekiel.
"That's just dumb." Sirzechs and even Grayfia nodded. They had to deal with the false pride of these fools for a while now. They didn't seem to learn their lesson even after the Civil War.
"Ah that is troublesome. Do me a favour and look after the girls for me." Ezekiel requested of Sirzechs. He took off after Sirzechs nodded.
His foresight warned him of something dangerous being used and letting your enemies power up is not something he would do. Katerea was about to use a small black snake that reeked of power. Even if she wouldn't become a threat, Ezekiel didn't want to take any chances. There were many foul means to grow stronger, most of the time while sacrificing something in return.
Ezekiel quickly took out his sword and swung his wings with his maximum power. He instantly bypassed Katerea.
"Huh-" Katerea tried to turn around when her head separated from her body as she began to fall. It was far too easy, but that woman had no awareness. She only concentrated on Azazel and maybe even thought of something like honour while playing terrorist.
"Now this was anticlimactic." Azazel lazily said. He was curious what would happen after she used the snake. Ezekiel only rolled his eyes.
"That curiosity of yours will be your downfall one day." He commented, as he descended to the ground again and picked up the little black snake.
"Do you know what this is?" Ezekiel asked.
"I do. Do you know about the group attacking us?" Azazel asked in return.
"Only superficial information. I take it you will share your knowledge with us?" Ezekiel questioned.
"Of course. They are called the Khaos Brigade. From what I know, they are made up of different organisations, each with their own goal. The real leader seems to be the Infinite Dragon God and that thing in your hand should be granted by Ophis." Azazel explained.
"That's…interesting. That's why it seems incomplete." Ezekiel mumbled while inspecting the snake, seemingly searching for its secrets.
"You plan to eat that?" Azazel asked.
Ezekiel just looked at him to gauge if he was serious with that question.
"No, I will not eat that. Even if it makes me stronger, borrowed power is nothing I desire and I'm not in some desperate situation at the moment. But maybe this little thing would help me to meet Ophis." Ezekiel explained.
Azazel widened his eyes: "You-"
"I what? Aren't you curious to meet the rumoured strongest existences?" Ezekiel asked as if it was natural.
"Whatever let's meet up with the rest. It seems they are done on their end." Azazel said while walking away, not caring anymore.
Ezekiel sealed the snake away in a separate space and followed along. It was finally time to go back to the Vatican. While Heaven's researchers would develop their own version of the evil pieces, he would be busy to plan his future journey and to talk to the people he had in mind to become his angels. From the corner of his eyes he saw Vali escape with another individual he didn't recognize. Now it was clear how these terrorists could get into the barrier.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Tardigrada
Tardigrada Hello there!
Probably one of, if not the longest chapter(s) yet. Things deviated already and will do in the future. The next part will obviously be his Brave Saints, Diodora and then other pantheons.
If you like some small spoiler about who his reincarnated angels will be, feel free to join the discord. discord.gg/nHmAmeT
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone