章 310: Back Home

While Alex was relaxing and enjoying the company of his harem, in another world another person let out yet another sigh as they looked through yet more troubling documents, while the recent meeting they just had replayed itself in his head. If Alex had seen the man it was doubtful that he would have recognized him due to his usually light green hair having acquired several lines of gray through it, while his complexion and shadowed eyes also told the story of the amount of stress he had been under. After reading through the document he had in his hands the man shook his head in exasperation, before glancing at the clock nearby and realizing it was time for the video conference he had painstakingly arranged earlier. He then put away the documents and cleaned up his desk a bit before activating the nearby monitor, to see a familiar crimson haired man staring back at him along with a small group of people around him. The tired man smiled genuinely in what felt like a long time as he said,

"It's nice to see you again Sirzechs." In response to his greeting however the Crimson haired Maou frowned when he saw how his old friend looked, and demanded,

"What's going on Ajuka? I thought it was weird that you requested to talk with so many of us at once, but it looks like you're suffering more there than we are." As if to punctuate his words there was a sudden roar in the background from their opponent, Trihexia, before a massive sounding explosion answered it. Not even bothering to look back at the explosion, Sirzechs along with his entourage, which included Azazel, Michael, Odin, and Zeus, stared pointedly at Ajuka as they waited to hear why he requested to talk with all of them at once. The tired Maou didn't bother being around the bush before saying,

"Then I'll get right to it, Michael I wanted to let you know that there was attack on Heaven recently." The already somewhat tense atmosphere became even tenser as the usually calm archangel agitatedly demanded,

"Who was it?!" In response Ajuka sighed once more before projecting an image of a young man with gray hair that went down to the middle of his back, before saying,

"That's the problem, other than this image we don't know. He just managed to appear in Heaven a few days ago and caused severe mayhem before mysteriously disappearing, as of this moment we don't know what his motives are or if someone was backing him." Michael's expression darkened as he asked,

"What about the other angels or Raphael? None of them managed to capture or repel him?!" In response to this Ajuka simply pulled up some of the footage that was recorded during the attack, that made the five viewers gobsmacked when they saw it. In one hand the mysterious intruder wielded fire, while in the other he wielded what appeared to a swirling vortex of water as he used both to fight and spread wanton destruction. Soon however the figure of Raphael appeared as he confronted the mysterious attacker, however the groups earlier surprise was nothing compared to what happened next.

Summoning a spear of light so large that one would think that it could gouge out the earth and even create small canyons if it missed its mark, Raphael threw it at the mysterious attacker only for him to dispel the fire and water that coated both of his hands, and catch the massive spear suddenly. Thankfully it appeared that the attacker's strength couldn't contend with a seraph, as he was instantly thrown back with the spear as it plowed its way through the buildings of the city that the attacker had already destroyed, creating a long and wide trench that extended for several miles before taking the attacker out of the city and away from the device recording him. When he once again appeared on screen the attacker was covered with several injuries from the attack, but unnervingly he had a smile like a madman on his face while he continued holding onto the spear of light desperately. Then, to the disbelief of everyone watching, he then leaned forward and bit into the spear of light before 'chewing' the raw light and swallowing it.

This continued for a couple moments as even Raphael didn't know what to do in this situation, before the man suddenly threw the remains of the spear at him, making the Angel dodge to the side instinctively right as the man appeared out of nowhere and suddenly punched him with a fist coated in light. The battle then began in earnest as the man shot around the seraph at the speed of light while wielding it in his right hand, and amazingly a black substance that appeared to be demonic power in his left. Eventually Ajuka stopped the recording and turned towards the silent group before saying,

"The battle continued while Raphael seemed to start pressuring him, but when reinforcements arrived to help him the assailant let loose an intense flash of light and disappeared altogether. Currently the DXD is trying to chase him down and we have confirmed a few things about his powers, such as how he can apparently wield the elements of holy, demonic, fire, water, and wind, but everything else about him is unknown." The group was silent as they took in what Ajuka was telling them, before turning towards one person at once expectantly, making Azazel ask confusingly,

"What?" Sirzechs sighed, as apparently everyone else besides Azazel reached a similar conclusion, and stated,

"Does this person possess a new type of sacred gear or not?" Azazel snorted at the question and stated irritably,

"If I had thought so then I would have mentioned it. Though it is entirely possible that it's a new type or something I've never seen before, nothing he did indicates a usual style of sacred gear." To add to Azazel's assessment Ajuka added,

"When he fought him Tannin mentioned feeling as though the attacker possessed the energy of a dragon, does that help at all?" Azazel shook his head and answered,

"Sorry, doesn't ring any bells. If it is a sacred gear I would love the chance to be able to examine him though." Ajuka nodded while glancing at Odin and Zeus, neither of which were offering any input, concluding that the mysterious assailant wasn't related to either mythology. He then started adjusting a few things on his keyboard, and said,

"I understand, then perhaps you can give me your opinion on this, as an expert." Before Azazel could ask what Ajuka meant, the image of the assailant was suddenly replaced by a new one, causing all five of them to show a look of confusion, before they each developed very different reactions. Zeus, Odin and Michael were mostly shock, but Azazel and Sirzechs' expressions quickly turned from shock to anger as they took in the image. On the screen was a person that was wearing a really familiar crimson red and white armor, while wielding two other familiar weapons, one being the True Longinus, and the other being the Regulus Nemea. Immediately Azazel demanded,

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS AJUKA?!" The Maou merely shrugged however as he plainly stated,

"As the world's leading expert on sacred gears, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me. The person in this image appeared roughly a year ago right after Alex, Rias, Vali and the others disappeared; starting in Kuoh town, he also made appearances in various other areas such as the Gremory territories before going on the run after causing several uproars." As Sirzechs and Azazel tried to take in what Ajuka told them, Odin asked curiously while stroking his beard,

"Is it possible that the Heavenly Dragons disappearance was related to him, and that he stole their sacred gears along with the True Longinus and the Regulus Nemea?" At his Question Ajuka immediately shook his head and answered,

"We thought the same thing at first, however one of the first people to engage him in combat was Cao Cao, and he still has the True Longinus in his possession, plus Tannin also stated that he couldn't feel either Ddraig or Albion's presence within the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing. We can only speculate that he managed to obtain or create copies somehow, as you can imagine there have been several parties that were very interested in getting their hands on him once we became aware of this." As they heard this all five faces darkened as they imagined an entire army of Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing users, or worse, and entire army of wielders of the True Longinus, each capable of killing any gods in their path with ease. Sirzechs then immediately demanded with one of his rare furious tones,

"Why are we only just now hearing about this if he's been around for more than a year?" Ajuka sighed and was quiet for a moment, before responding,

"Because there's nothing you can do from there even if you knew, it would only add to your stress in an already stressful situation. In fact the only reason I've even brought it up to any of you is the sudden appearance to another irregular person, even though it's been more than a month since the disappearance of the first one." They were all silent when they heard Ajuka's reasoning, as he was actually correct in his logic, until Odin spoke up once more,

"Do we at least know what this one was after?" At this question Ajuka's expression turned awkward as he glanced at Sirzechs cautiously, making the Crimson haired man worry before he finally stated,

"All we were able to determine about his intentions was that he was after Rias, and intended to claim her after he defeated the 'fake' Red Dragon Emperor. It was all he'd rant and rave about whenever someone tried to fight him, he'd just demand to have the 'fake' come challenge him if he was a true man, despite the fact that he is currently missing." When he heard that this particular assailant was after his beloved little sister, Sirzechs' expression darkened as a dark red aura started radiating off of his body, before Azazel smacked him in the back of the head while stating with an expression of amazement,

"Behave would you? This wouldn't be the first time a creep's set his eyes on your little sister, and we all remember how the last ended up. Just hope that wherever this bastard raises his head next Alex will be there to chop it off, but knowing him it'll probably be after he makes the guy's life a living hell." Everyone else nodded in agreement while Sirzechs made an awkward expression before saying apologetically,

"Sorry, it just made me mad that someone was specifically targeting my beloved little sister. I'm calm now." Noting that he didn't say anything about Alex, the others shrugged it off before returning to the battle after confirming that Ajuka had nothing else to tell them. With Sirzechs being the only one left, he then asked Ajuka with a serious expression,

"So what didn't you tell us? Just those two things wouldn't have left you looking like you've aged a few hundred years in just a single one, what's going on?" Ajuka sighed at Sirzechs question before asking,

"It was that obvious?" With the Crimson haired man nodding in confirmation, Ajuka sighed once again before launching into a detailed explanation of what he had been dealing with for the last year. Before Alex and co. disappeared, he had been working on dismantling the current devil ruling system and intended to remake it to displace the current corrupt officials that had used the last several hundred years to sink themselves into their system. These individuals were so desperate to hold onto their power, that they even tried to turn Grayfia into their scapegoat now that Sirzechs was no longer around to protect her, and even tried to drag their son into it to try and turn into their own puppet Maou; a situation Sirzechs had already heard 'every' detail regarding from his mother, as she scolded him for the first time in centuries for what he did to his wife. It was for this reason alone that Sirzechs no longer held slightly murderous intentions onwards Alex for stealing his wife, even if he admittedly did at first, as even his own mother had harshly lambasted him for getting angry at him when he was the one who made the decision to leave his own wife behind defenseless.

Drawing his attention away from such dark thoughts, Ajuka then went on to explain that the same corrupt individuals were now using the disappearance of Alex, Rias, Sona, Serafall, Sairaorg, Vali, Ingvild, and Seekvaira to try and justify their hold on their former authority; and were even using the appearance of the sacred gear copy user to publicly criticize Alex, Vali, and Sairaorg as the current owners of the Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, and the Regulus Nemea. Of course the trio were well known throughout the underworld as 'heroes' through the Chaos Brigade, Qlippoth and Trihexia incidents, each one protecting the citizens of the underworld in their own ways time and again; and so it would take significantly more to damage their reputations even if they weren't here to defend themselves. The problem was that all three were potential candidates that Ajuka was considering to become the new Maou in the 'Seven Deadly Sins' system he was trying to implement, alongside Serafall and Ingvild. Now, instead of being able to adequately set up the new system he was planning and having their support, he was instead trying to singlehandedly fight of the political advances of the annoying and corrupt old monsters, while simultaneously running the entirety of the underworld by himself, and dealing with the sudden appearances of two new mysterious powerhouses, the last one thankfully wasn't all on just him to deal with though. After spending longer listening to Ajuka's concerns than he probably should have, considering he was supposed to relieve some of the fighters against Trihexia soon, Sirzechs sighed as well before asking,

"Have you looked into my theory that I told you about?" Ajuka nodded tiredly as he said,

"I've sent several drones that I personally created to scour as much of the Dimensional gap as possible, but none of them have discovered anything. Either this 'Asora' doesn't exist there, or something happened and we have no way to access it. I've even told your theory to each of their families, but all they've told me is to 'search harder'." Letting out what felt like the hundredth sigh that day, Ajuka recalled the meeting he had just earlier with the people from the Gremory, Sitri, Phoenix, Agares, and Bael families. Though the Bael family seemed more concerned with recovering the property Sairaorg 'stole', namely his peerage members and the Regulus Nemea, the rest were concerned that their children/heirs had not yet been found after they all disappeared suddenly. The matter was even more urgent after the lord of Sitri fell ill, and was now suffering from the same sleeping disease that once afflicted Sairaorg's mother, leaving Sona's mother as the acting head of the Sitri family until she could be found.

As he listened to his close friends concerns, Sirzechs couldn't help but feel yet another pang of guilt at dumping all of the responsibility of the underworld onto him, giving him enough stress that it was even started to effect his own appearance. As Devils they were able to alter how they appeared at will, with his own mother even looking slightly younger or the same age as him despite the fact that she was actually nearly a thousand years older than he was, however their appearance also changed automatically depending on the situation. The fact that Ajuka now had a few streaks of gray in his hair, along with a few wrinkles, told exactly how much stress he had been under recently with the current events. After saying a few things of comfort, as well as an apology to his old friend, Sirzechs returned to the battle against Trihexia with renewed vigor as his determination to finish the fight as quickly as possible burned even more.

While Sirzechs reentered the battle Ajuka let out yet another sigh, however this one had more relief to it than his previous ones as he did actually feel a little better after confiding in Sirzechs, enough that he immediately dove back into the mountain of work waiting for him. One of the things he was currently working on was the positioning of each of the Seven Sins, and the names for the potential Maou candidates. For Sairaorg, Ajuka felt the lion's sin of 'Pride' was the most fitting, as well as the name of Asmodeus since the former Asmodeus, Falbium, was in charge of military affairs. One of the bigger concerns was Ingvild, as with Serafall still around it would be difficult to have two Maou Leviathans, however for her sin Ajuka felt that the sin of 'Sloth' would be the most fitting, even if it did seem more like a cruel joke.

The one saving grace in the current situation was the fact that there was one candidate he had that was still around, the former champion of the rating games, Diehauser Belial. Not only had he been the instigator in the revelations of the 'King' piece and the corruption of the rating games, Diehauser had also returned to the games during the Azazel cup in order to help ensure proper representation for the Devils side after several of their teams failed to do well after the exposure of the 'King' piece. To many he was a hero due to his actions in the games and exposing the corruption, and to Ajuka he was a perfect candidate for the position of Maou, and the sin of 'Greed'.

With Ajuka then deciding to arrange for himself and Serafall the sins of 'Gluttony' and 'Envy' appropriately, the only real issue remaining was Vali and Alex. Traditionally the name of 'Lucifer' went to the Maou that had the most authority over the other three, and was unconditionally considered the most powerful devil in the underworld, so normally Alex would be the one granted this honor. The problem however was that Vali was the last of the line of Lucifer, and so it was of course be the most fitting if he was the one given that name, as well as the dragon's sin of 'Wrath'. For Alex, who was left with the most fitting sin of 'Lust', Ajuka only had a form with a list of possible names for him in the future, the top of which stated, ALEXANDER (MORNINGSTAR?).

***

While the battle against Trihexia continued, another battle had started in a remote corner of the underworld as the members of DXD surrounded a certain individual.

"'GALE DRAGON'S TEMPEST!'" The young man with gray hair shouted, as a series of winds powerful enough to put even hurricanes to shame surged forward from his outstretched hands, pushing away the various elemental attacks that Dulio, the trump card of heaven, had sent his way. Rather than show his frustration though, the taciturn man merely clicked his tongue before a certain figure rushed past him, his lance already rushing forward only for the mysterious man to use both hands to sandwich the blade and halt its advance. Cao Cao's eye twitched when he saw that, as even the holy energy radiating off of the True Longinus didn't effect the man, making him cackle almost insanely as he declared,

"Did you forget already?! Holy powers don't work on me, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Before Cao Cao could retort, the man suddenly took in a deep breath while also seemingly taking in the divine powers of the Longinus, sending alarm bells through his head as he quickly pulled his Longinus free and retreated, right before the man bellowed,

"'HOLY DRAGON'S BREATH!'"

As he shouted the entire region they had been fighting in was bathed in holy light that was almost as intense as what a seraph was capable of, which burned away at the demonic environment of the underworld for several miles. As the blinding light finally faded away after several minutes, they found their target already outside of the ring of destruction, somehow 'grabbing' the remaining demonic energy in the air as he shoveled it into his mouth ravenously to power himself up even further.

"This guy is seriously starting to annoy me..." Cao Cao muttered irritably, earning him a nod of agreement from Dulio as the duo contemplated how to attack next. Though the former hero felt that he might be able to take care of this opponent if he went all out, he and Dulio were both hesitant to do so after what happened with the previous world hopper, who had managed to somehow evade them long enough to escape into another world. Initially, once they learned that he also wielded the True Longinus, Cao Cao had headed into battle against him to teach the bastard a lesson for copying him, however the unthinkable happened and the copy cat was actually starting to learn from him how to better handle his weapon. As a result everyone in the DXD was taking a more cautious approach to the world hoppers due to how strange and unique their powers were, with this opponent who was able to 'eat' the various elements around him to power himself up being a prime example.

Currently, the only advantage they had against them was the machine developed by Rizevim that had been modified to track the energy of those who were not from this world, however even that had its limits as the world hoppers, such as the one before them, used some form of transportation that was obviously from the world they resided in before. Thankfully though, they had Georg constantly analyzing the details of their fights with these people, meaning that hopefully in the near future he'd be able to create a type of prison to hold them until Alex returned to kill them properly, though a few of them would just like to kill them now and be done with it. Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a thunderous voice suddenly growled behind them,

"Let me take care of this. This pest wants to act like he's a dragon? I'll show him a true dragon!" The duo backed off as the newcomer, the Dragon King Tannin, stepped forward, drawing the attention of the mysterious invader as he cackled,

"Haha, FINALLY this dragon slayer will be able to kill a real dragon! You have no idea how frustrating it was that there was no dragons to fight in the previous world's I was in! COME! HELP ME PUSH MY BOUNDARIES EVEN FURTHER!" Annoyed at the young man's taunt, Tannin didn't hesitate as he readily charged at him while the young man did the same.