Capítulo 4: I-3: The End of One War... Part 2
1529
It had been ten years since the First Battle of Heaven, and sixty-two years since the Great War of the Christian Pantheon had begun. Since the Fallen Angels had withdrawn from the war, things had only intensified between the Devils/Lilim and Angels, with a Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and even Eighth direct assault on the Angels' home. In return, there were similarly direct- similarly brutal- on Hell by the Angels, with Devils, Lilim and Angels continuing to fall by the dozens every moment.
Things had gotten especially intense in the most recent years, with many on both sides certain that one side was going to give in some way, one side would break, thereby allowing the other to take everything and claim ultimate victory, ultimate supremacy over the Christian Pantheon. But just when an already boiling war was seemingly about to hit the absolute hottest point... it was all over, with the highest possible glory and the lowest possible tragedy achieved on both sides.
Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus, the four Devils who had led Hell (or most of it, anyway) from the very beginning, and the four most powerful Devils in existence, had left the Underworld with all the grand fanfare you'd expect out of four night-tyrannical Kings (or more accurately, three Kings and one Queen: Asmodeus) of a species commonly characterised as 'evil'- the truth notwithstanding- for what they had been all too happy to announce was their climactic final battle against Yahweh.
Yahweh, the metaphorical Father and literal Creator of all the Angels that were still alive in Heaven, had left his home realm. Backed by the well-wishes of his creations, the prayers of all those who worshipped Him, as well as his loving wife Asherah, there was no way he could fail in the final battle against Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus, the four chief reasons that the war, over half a century long, hadn't ended yet. No way whatsoever that he, the sole deity of the world's most-worshipped mythology, could lose against four members of an inferior species, even if said four members were the most powerful of the time!
…
Neither Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub, Asmodeus nor Yahweh returned from their final battle.
With the knowledge that none out of those five beings would ever knowingly surrender to their opponent- especially not in a final battle like the one they had travelled to- only one conclusion could be reached by both sides, without even needing to talk about it: The Four Satans were dead, and so was God.
In the absence of their leaders, all of whom had continued to advance the war, those who had taken leadership of either side had mutually agreed to pull back their forces and, for the first time in a LONG time, cease the fighting between the Angels and the hellspawn.
These occurrences had been the trigger for... mixed reactions, throughout the Underworld. Strong reactions, to be sure, but mixed. On one hand, the top leader of the beings that the Devils and Lilim had been mostly fighting for 52 years, and totally fighting for the last ten, was gone for good. On top of that: the fighting, which for a lot of young Devils and Lilim had been going on for their entire lives, since before some of them were even born, had stopped. There would be no more pointless death on either side, for now at least.
But on the other hand, Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus were dead too, leaving the Devils and Lilim leaderless, for all intents and purposes. Zekram, son of the deceased Pillar Bael, had stepped up to temporarily lead the Devils until (according to him) more suitable leaders could be found. There were also whispers throughout society of the Lilim, who had always looked to Lilith as a figurehead and potential leader, splitting off from the Devils, but that was all they were so far: whispers, unconfirmed rumours.
In any case, the Devils and Lilim as a whole spent the aftermath of the end of the fighting as a reason to celebrate, while simultaneously mourning the losses of the Satans, who had been looked upon similarly to Gods, at least among the Devils. However, a certain younger son of Zeoticus and Venelana, as well as his two best friends, weren't among the celebrators/mourners: instead, they had opted to spend most of their days at one of the trio's homes.
Today, in particular, Raylix, Sabemka and Tomosei (now 43, 47 and 44, respectively) were at Sabemka's place, enjoying a meal that Sabemka had cooked up for the three of them. Silence was shared between the three Devils as they dug into their Wulf steak.
"So... what now?" Tomosei asked, after swallowing her mouthful.
"What do you mean 'what now'?" Sabemka asked. "The fighting's over. Remember what Zekram said?"
"He said the fighting was over 'for now'." Tomosei corrected him. "It could very well start up again."
"And then again, it could not." Raylix spoke up, after finishing his own mouthful and wiping his mouth. "If either us or the Angels wanted to keep going with the fighting, couldn't Zekram- or whoever's leading the Angels now that Yahweh's gone-"
"Michael, I think it is." Tomosei cut in.
"Yeah, him." Raylix continued. "Couldn't Zekram just order us to go kill some Angels or assault Seville Cathedral or something? Or couldn't Michael order something similar to the Angels that are left?"
"He's got a point, Tomo." Sabemka replied, leaning back in his chair for a couple of seconds before allowing to drop back on its four legs. "If Zekram or Michael haven't ordered an attack by now, a couple of weeks after the Satans and Yahweh are dead, then I'd be surprised if they end up doing so in the future."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tomosei replied, stabbing at another bit of steak with her fork. "It doesn't stop me from being conscious of the fact that we could be thrown into another life-threatening battle at a moment's notice. And besides... what were we even fighting for? How did the war even start? WHY did it even start?"
"Beats me." Sabemka replied, leaning back again. This time, he almost leant back too far, and jolted himself back to normal before falling over backwards. "But whatever the reason, at least it's over."
"Yeah." Raylix nodded, stretching as he polished off the last few bits of his meal. "Amazing as always, Emka. How do you make it taste so good?"
"Trade secret, my friend." Sabemka replied, a smile coming to his face from his friend's praise. "Maybe I'll teach you, someday."
"Yeah, that'd be great." Raylix nodded, giving off a grin in return as Sabemka finished off his own (larger) portion of food. "But regardless, Tomosei's got a point. What now, now that the fighting's over? It's not like we knew anything other than the war, considering that we were all born after it started."
"I guess the logical thing to do would be to try and fit back into whatever normal that Devil/Lilim society used to be like before the war started." Tomosei replied, standing up and letting out a deceptively loud yawn, for someone as small (in comparison to Raylix and Sabemka) as her. "Whatever that looked like."
Raylix nodded again.
"Yeah, that does sound reasonable." he remarked. "Or whatever the new normal will be. With Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus now all- you know- dead, there's no way that things aren't gonna change, at least a little."
"True enough." Tomosei replied. "Though I doubt much will change too quickly."
"Whatever comes, we'll be ready for it." Sabemka spoke, as he began clearing up the plates that he, Raylix and Tomosei had been eating off of. As Raylix and Tomosei both nodded in reply to his remark, a magic-circle appeared by Raylix's ear. Asking his friends to hold on for a minute, Raylix reached up and touched the circle, answering the call.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Raylix." Venelana's voice sounded from the circle into his ear. "I know you're out with your friends right now, and I'm sorry about this, but we need you to come home."
"Okay..." Raylix replied, his eyes flicking over to Sabemka and Tomosei (the latter had headed over to help Sabemka with clearing up after their lunch). "Why? What's up?"
"It's for something... really important." Venelana replied. "I'm sorry I can't tell you this over communications like this, Raylix, but it's one of those things that's better told in person. Zeoticus and I really need you to come home... alone."
"Alright, alright." Raylix replied. "I'm... on my way."
The magic-circle around Raylix's ear dispelled, as Raylix stood up from the table, prompting Sabemka and Tomosei to look over from what they were doing.
"What's up, Raylix?"
"Mother just called." Raylix replied. "Called me back for something really important. She didn't say anything beyond that." he added, at his two friend's raised eyebrows. "Sorry to cut this short, I have to go."
"It's fine." Sabemka replied, shrugging. "At least we got to have lunch, rather than be interrupted by something or other."
"True that." Raylix nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can." With a final wave to his two friends, he opened a transportation-circle with one hand and stepped through it, disappearing from Sabemka's house and appearing in the kitchen of Zeoticus and Venelana's house, where Zeoticus, Venelana and Sirzechs were all sitting down. They all looked up at Raylix as he entered through his transport-circle, and after seemingly getting the hint, Raylix sat down opposite his father.
"Glad you could make it back so quickly, Raylix." Zeoticus remarked. "Given how important what you're being called up for."
"Mother said that this was really important, yeah." Raylix replied. "So what's up, anyway?"
"Zekram and Lilith have put out a call to all of the most powerful Devils and Lilim in the Underworld." Venelana explained. "Among the four of us sitting here, three of us were selected: Sirzechs, myself, and you."
Raylix blinked, looking over at Zeoticus with a slightly questioning expression on his face. His father just gave a shrug.
"I guess Zekram and Lilith don't want a few dozen thousand Devils or Lilim to serve as cannon fodder against what you'll be going up against." He remarked. "Or rather, Dragon fodder."
"Ahh, right." Raylix replied, nodding. It took him all of a second to fully take in the last four words of what Zeoticus said, causing him to double-take. "Wait... dragon fodder? What the hell, no pun intended, are we going up against?"
"You ever heard of the Heavenly Dragons, Raylix?" Venelana asked. "Ddraig and Albion? Ring a bell?"
"Might've heard those names before." Raylix replied. "What about them?"
"Well, they've gotten into a bit of a battle with each other." Venelana replied. "And it's been causing a good bit of destruction throughout all supernatural worlds and realms. Asgard, Dun Scaith, Takamagahara, Hades, Heaven- you name it, they've been there."
"And if projections from Lilith, Azazel and Michael are accurate, Raylix," Sirzechs continued. "They'll be coming through Hell next. And we, the combined most powerful fighters from the Devils, the Lilim, the Angels and Fallen Angels, are going to bring them down."
Raylix sweat-dropped, and swallowed at the thought. He didn't exactly need for it to be said to know how powerful Ddraig and Albion had to be, if it would take the most powerful of the Devils, Lilim, Angels and Fallen Angels working together to bring them all down. Both of them had to be as powerful as the now-dead Satans, at the very least.
"And... I guess this is happening now?" he asked. "If you called me back here now, it's got to be happening at least soon."
"It is." Venelana replied. "Sirzechs, you and I'll leave for Gid soon, where we'll be being briefed on the strategy needed to bring down Ddraig and Albion."
"R-right." Raylix nodded, feeling a shiver running through his whole body as Venelana answered. Zeoticus summoned a glass of water with a lazy wave of his hand and handed it over, which Raylix was all too happy to down in one go.
A few minutes later, Venelana, Sirzechs and Raylix headed through another transportation-circle to Gid, and gathered in the city square alongside many powerful Devils and Lilim. Raylix found himself reminded of the crowd that had gathered outside of Lucifer's castle for the First Battle of Heaven, ten years ago, but said nothing as the crowd continued to get larger and larger, with the income of more Devils and Lilim stopping at around 2,000.
On a stage that had been erected in the city square that everyone had gathered in, Lilith stepped up, with Zekram coming behind her. Lilith stepped off to the side, however, as Zekram spoke.
"Everyone's attention, please?" he called everyone to attention, with it taking a couple of seconds for all the powerful Devils and Lilim gathered in front of him to quieten down. "Thank you. Now, you've all heard the news of what we're doing, so I won't take up too much of your time with pointless explaining. Ddraig and Albion, according to Michael, Azazel and Lilith-" he inclined his head over at Lilith, who didn't react. "Will be coming through a section of the Underworld around the border between our section and the Fallen Angels' section. The first part of the plan that Lilith, Michael and Azazel have come up with-" he raised his voice as quiet chattering began among the Devils and Lilim in his audience. "Is to contain and keep them there. Out of you gathered here right now, and out of some of the Fallen Angels and Angels that Azazel and Michael have called up for this task, some will remain around the battlefield to hold up a barrier that will keep them contained in the area of Hell that we want them contained in. Any questions so far?"
"Why are we working with those Angelic bastards?!" a male voice spoke up from the crowd. He wasn't stood far from Raylix's location, considering how clearly he could hear him, but he couldn't be seen. "How do we know they're not going to turn on us and wipe us out, along with Ddraig and Albion?!"
"Because Azazel and Michael know full-well that Ddraig and Albion are more of a threat to them than we are currently to them, and vice versa." Lilith spoke up. Her voice was calm, but carried absolute authority in every syllable that came out of her mouth. There was also a hint of sultriness to it, which Raylix almost instantly picked up on. He felt a hardness beginning to form down in his pants just from the twenty-six words that she spoke.
"It will take the full co-operation of all parties involved, if we're going to bring down the Heavenly Dragons." Lilith continued. "Once we've won, we might be able to work from that common ground towards formally ending the war. So that there will truly be no more pointless fighting."
There was silence for a moment or two after Lilith finished her little spiel, after which Zekram swallowed.
"Thank you, Lilith." he spoke. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the plan. Just told you the first part- the second part is the main part of the plan: that involves the most powerful of those gathered here, as well as the Fallen Angels and Angels, doing the bulk of the facing-off against the Heavenly Dragons. Out of everyone gathered here today, we've chosen several of the most powerful of you out of those gathered here today, who will be part of the four main teams facing Ddraig and Albion. When I'm done talking, Lilith will separate everyone into the teams that she, Michael and Azazel have carefully come up with."
Lilith idly nodded, as if to confirm Zekram's words, and to allow Zekram to continue talking.
"And now, for the third part of the plan." Zekram continued, from Lilith's nod. "It involves a key part of the plan to bring Ddraig and Albion down: Distraction. While the main four teams- two for each dragon- are doing their absolute best to bring our Dragonic enemies down, ten teams- five for each dragon, will fly around and distract them with lesser attacks, giving the main team the opportunities they need to fight the dragons. Questions?"
Silence.
"Right." Zekram spoke, after a few seconds. "Just sit tight for a second, and I believe Lilith will separate you all into the groups you've been selected for."
"Good luck, both of you." Venelana whispered to Raylix and Sirzechs, as Lilith stepped up. She pulled them into a brief, but tight hug. "Whatever happens out there... please, please, PLEASE stay alive, no matter what."
"I promise, Mother." Sirzechs smiled, hugging Venelana back.
"Uh, same." Raylix added, hugging back as well as Lilith raised her hand, swung it in a slow, wide arc across the entire crowd, paused for a second, then clicked her fingers. In the span of about half a second, Raylix felt himself forcibly pulled through a transportation-circle, and then deposited at a different position within the city square, by several other Devils and Lilim. Raylix also noticed fourteen other groups of Devils and Lilim now gathered in the city square, seemingly rearranged in Lilith's snap. Venelana was in the largest group of Devils and Lilim, while Sirzechs was in one of the four next-largest groups, with Ajuka standing next to him. Serafall and Falbium were in two of the other three of the four next-largest groups.
As Lilith put her hand down, taking a breath, Raylix glanced at the Devils and Lilim within his own group. He recognised everyone in his group by sight, but the only one he knew by name was Ruvella, descendent of the Pillar Devil Phenex, and daughter of Rika and Renzo. As far as Raylix knew, Ruvella was a good bit older than him: nearer to Sirzechs' age of 69 than his own of 43.
Ruvella was an immense beauty in her own right: sleek back-length blonde hair, with a good portion of it done up into a simple ponytail while the rest of it hung free. Dark blue eyes gazing out on the world from behind her bangs, and just-about flawless skin everywhere there was any skin exposed... and there was a good bit exposed, thanks to the white battle-dress that she wore. Just from a glance, Raylix could tell that it was both sexy and practical: a pretty perfect combination, in his eyes.
"Border Team." Lilith pointed one of her tails at the largest group, the one that Venelana was in, jolting Raylix from his Ruvella-focused reverie. "Main Team Albion-1." she pointed to the only group out of the four next-biggest groups that didn't include either Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall or Falbium. "Main Team Albion-2." she pointed to the group with Serafall in it. "Distraction Team Albion-1, 2, 3-" she began pointing to the smaller groups, with the third of the smaller groups being the one with that included Raylix himself. "4, 5. Main Team Ddraig-1." she pointed to the group that had Falbium in it. "Main Team Ddraig-2." she pointed to the group with Sirzechs and Ajuka in it. "Distraction Team Ddraig-1, 2, 3, 4, 5." she pointed out the last five smaller groups, before placing a couple of fingers to her ear and opening up a communication-circle. "We'll move out when Azazel and Michael are ready to co-ordinate teleportation."
Raylix let out a couple of breaths to calm himself as silence fell over the area again. Every Devil and Lilim in the city square knew what was coming, and they were ready. All of them either looked continuously or shot side-looks at Lilith, who stood still as a statue, hand to the communication-circle at her ear, waiting. Raylix could feel sweat forming on his forehead and in his hands from the tension that was felt all around the area- so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
"Alright, all!" Lilith called, raising her other hand and waving to all the powerful Devils/Lilim in the area to get their attention (as if her voice wouldn't have already done so). "It's time! Let's go!"
Just like before, Lilith swung her hand in a wide arc over all the groups she had just created, and snapped her fingers, casting many simultaneous transportation-circles that activated at the same time, sending all the fifteen groups away from Gid simultaneously, before casting one for herself and leaving a few seconds later.
Raylix blinked as he came out of the transportation-circle that Lilith had cast on his group, and had to unfurl his Devil wings to keep himself from dropping. Ruvella did the same, as did the other Devils and Lilim within the group that he was a part of, with the Devils of the other groups doing the same. The Lilim floated in mid-air without the use of wings, but they also unfurled their tails- either ending in arrows or hearts- as well.
A couple of seconds later, other transportation-circles opened within and around the groups of Devils/Lilim, with Angels and Fallen Angels floating out of them. Most of the ones that Raylix could see, that now floated among the 'Distraction Teams', featured eight wings- either pure white or jet black- with a vast majority of the Angels and Fallen Angels among the 'Main Teams' featuring ten, or even twelve, wings. Lilith could also be spotted among Main Team Albion-1 (the one that didn't feature either Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall or Asmodeus), floating with her six Succubus tails out.
After pulling off the incredibly difficult task of yanking his eyes away from Lilith and her goddamn perfect body, Raylix looked around his own team, and noticed that the Devils/Lilim gave off looks of suspicion towards the Angels and Fallen Angels, with the Angels and Fallen Angels giving just as suspicious looks towards the Devils/Lilim, as well as each other (though to a lesser extent than towards the Devils/Lilim). Raylix couldn't exactly blame them: they'd been directly fighting with each other for over the last half-century, up until a couple of weeks ago. Even at a fraction of a percentage of a Devil's regular lifespan, Raylix knew that it was only natural for the Angels to be more suspicious of them and the Lilim than of the Fallen Angels, who they'd been at relative peace with for a decade.
Pulling his eyes away from the group he was with, Raylix cast his eyes around the area that Lilith had just teleported him and the Devils/Lilim of his group to. He could see a destroyed town in the distance, but that was the only sign of demonic civilization that could be seen for miles around. Apart from that single town, all that could be seen was plain countryside. Pretty lucky that THIS would be where Ddraig and Albion would apparently be coming through, he figured. He could only imagine the devastation and destruction a fight with two Dragons, who required the strongest forces of all four Factions of the Christian Pantheon to fight, would bring if it took place near a populated area of the Underworld, like Gid... and the thoughts he came up with weren't exactly pretty.
Raylix was jolted from his thoughts when he heard a faint rumbling sounding throughout the area. Quick glances around to try and see where the rumblings were coming from revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The mysterious rumblings grew louder and louder, causing Raylix to sweat a bit more as he glanced around again, a little more nervously and quickly. He summoned a ball of his Power of Destruction into one hand, in preparation for anything that was coming, at around the same time as everyone else began preparing attacks of their own.
"Here they come..." one of the Fallen Angels in one of the groups slightly across from Raylix whispered, audibly gulping as they did so. Raylix swallowed, but tried to calm his nerves in the few seconds of silence that passed before what came next... a huge portal opening in the middle of all the groups, and two large Dragons rushing out, one after the other.
The first one to come out of the portal was an enormous Western Dragon, with a body that was white just about everywhere on them. In fact, the only parts of their body that WEREN'T white were their eyes (which were blue, but currently rather bloodshot) and their horns (which were a brilliant gold, contrasting well with their white body). Unlike literally every other Dragon that Raylix had ever seen, including the second one to come out of the portal, this Dragon possessed feathered wings.
The second Dragon to come out of the portal was, like the first, a Western Dragon: just as enormous as the first, too. Very much unlike the first Dragon, however, this one was mostly coloured red. His lower body was a slightly lighter red than the main part of his body, but it was just as vibrant as the rest of him. He possessed a longer neck than the white Dragon, as well as eyes of a soul-piercing green. There were also red and gold spikes protruding from all over his body (mainly his head, back and upper legs).
"So, uh..." Raylix spoke, looking quickly between the red and white dragons, who instantly turned on each other and began clawing at each other as soon as they came out of the portal. "Which one are we fighting? Which one's Ddraig, and which one's Albion?"
"The white one's Albion!" Ruvella replied, readying a large ball of fire, the heat of which Raylix could feel from where he was floating. He also noticed the two teams that would do the brunt of the fighting against Albion beginning to move in against him, while dense barriers formed and fell around the extended area, presumably cast by the barrier team that Venelana was a part of.
"Right." Raylix nodded, readying his Power of Destruction, and noticing the Fallen Angels and Angels preparing various forms of light to throw/fire at Albion, who seemed to be too busy clawing and biting at Ddraig to even notice the Devils, Lilim, Fallen Angels and Angels around him and his arch-rival. The team led by Lilith paused in mid-air for a second, before Lilith let out a yell of "FIRE!" that Raylix could hear from where he was floating, which prompted everyone who was flying with Lilith to fire their most powerful attacks at Albion, all at the same time.
Albion was blown backwards a bit by all the attacks that had slammed into his side all at the same time, seemingly taken off-guard by the sudden assault. The only reason Ddraig didn't take the opportunity to pounce on his now-distracted rival as said rival looked at the source of the assault he'd just taken was that he'd been hit by a similar assault just seconds before, by the group featuring Sirzechs and Ajuka. From where he was floating, Raylix could see the red and black flash of his older brother's Power of Destruction as it travelled at speed towards the red Dragon.
"Focus, Raylix!" Ruvella called out, flinging a large fireball at Albion's back in conjunction with the other beings who aimed various attacks at Albion's back, in a bid to draw his attention away from Lilith, her team, and the other main Albion team. As he joined in, throwing two powerful condensed balls of the Power of Destruction at Albion, around the same time as Ruvella's thrown fireball exploded on Albion's back, Raylix spotted a Fallen Angel at the centre of the other main Albion team, who he recognised (through descriptions of the man, mainly from Sirzechs) as Azazel, the Governer-General of all Fallen Angels. Black hair, golden bangs, goatee, twelve jet-black wings, black and silver battle-suit, two-pronged light-spear in one hand and a futuristic-looking weapon of some description that shot powerful blasts of light at Albion's head, it was him.
Albion let out a roar of surprise and anger as he realised that he was actually being challenged and attacked by beings that, in his mind, were no more than ants in comparison to him, a proud Heavenly Dragon with power beyond all of his kind (sans two certain... irregularities, among their species). Raising one of his large claws, he swung at one of the groups of ants, but they annoyingly scattered out of the way just when his claw was about to sink into their ant-flesh. Every member of the group that he'd just swiped at returned fire upon him, and he was forced to let out a growl of slight pain as he felt the powerful attacks, each of which would've likely been powerful enough to wipe out an eight-winged Devil/Angel/Fallen Angel, or a four-tailed Incubus/Succubus, striking his pure-white scales.
Ddraig wasn't faring much better against the teams of ants that had bravely, but foolishly, challenged him, and now swarmed around his enormous form. His emerald-green eyes focused on one team in particular, that had attempted to distract him with their pitiful excuses of attacks, he took in a short breath and blew out a powerful, concentrated burst of fire that reduced every ant in that specific team to ashes. Apart from said ashes, which now lightly fell to the ground, there weren't any signs that that team of ants were even there at all.
He leapt forward at another team of particularly powerful ants (there wasn't anyone there who had any less than five tails/pairs of wings) and chomped at them with his jaws, in an attempt to either trap them in his mouth or crush them between his teeth, the longest of which were as long as the average man was tall. Just as annoyingly as the team of ants that Albion had swung at earlier, the ants that Ddraig chomped at scattered out of his way, and returned in kind with their powerful shots of demonic/angelic energy. A shot of black and dark red demonic energy hit Ddraig's left eye, blowing it up on contact. The Welsh Dragon let out an ear-splitting roar of pain and anger as he realised that he was now half-blind, and flailed around in all directions in a blind (or half-blind) rage, sending a stream of fire from his mouth as he did so.
The flames engulfed the surrounding area, with many Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and Lilim either being burned by the blaze or straight-up incinerated, with any ground that Ddraig's flames touched being instantly scorched.
"Watch out!" a Devil who Raylix didn't know the name of shouted, alerting Raylix (who had been aiming several more thrown balls of the Power of Destruction into Albion's open mouth, as the Vanishing Dragon roared at anyone who dared attack him) to a part of the fire that was approaching him and his group. Throwing his last Destruction ball at Albion, Raylix flung up his hands and pooled his energy into a hastily-formed magical barrier that the Devil who had shouted out to him had just formed. Everyone else within the group that they were a part of, including Ruvella, did the same.
However, the flames that struck the barrier were so hot that they seemed to burn through it, in spite of all the power put behind it. As soon as Ruvella realised this she let out a scream of "SHIT!", which was the perfect call for anyone who hadn't already rushed as far away from the oncoming flames as they could to start doing so before they were reduced to ashes, like so many other of their comrades. Raylix was lucky enough to escape the flames, for the most part, with the only part of him suffering any major damage being his hands. The red Dragon's flames were so unbelievably hot that half a second of Raylix's raw Devil hands being exposed to said flames was enough to burn them, to the point that skin and flesh had seemingly melted off of them, revealing the bones underneath.
His hands shaking, Raylix was barely able to focus enough to keep his Devil wings outstretched so he could stay airborne, such was his shock at his hands being burnt literally down to the bone. So shocked was he that he couldn't even scream out in pain, as the (most likely) natural reaction would be.
The only thing that snapped the youngest descendent of Gremory out of his shock was Ruvella (who had escaped from Ddraig's flames completely unscathed... either that or she had suffered damage, but had healed due to her inherited power: Flaming Regeneration) laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. With her other hand, she fumbled around in her battle-dress with the other hand, seemingly looking for something.
"Ah, here they are." she spoke, pulling out two small red and gold-coloured capsules from a pocket within her dress. With her free hand, she took hold of one of Raylix's wrists, flicked open one of the capsules with her thumb and poured out its contents, a sparkling liquid of some description, onto Raylix's burnt left hand. The effect it had was instantaneous: the flesh and skin that had been melted away from Raylix's left hand seemed to quickly unmelt, directly before his eyes. Within a matter of seconds, his left hand was as good as new. Ruvella then silently took Raylix's right wrist in her hand and performed the same with the other capsule, with Raylix's right hand being healed just as quickly as his left. "Are you okay, Raylix?"
"I..." Raylix felt his eyes drawn to one of the only beings in his group (sans him and Ruvella) that had been incinerated by the outburst of flames that Ddraig had spewed out everywhere. Though with how he was reacting to having his entire body seemingly engulfed in such hot fire, he'd probably have been better off instantly killed. Understandably unable to focus on staying airborne, he span over and over as he fell down like a flaming rock, screaming for his loved ones before he landed on the ground with a VERY noticeable and VERY unpleasant-sounding splat, and moved no more.
Raylix had to close his eyes and take a breath after he'd seen that, before opening them and focusing back on Ruvella's face. Her goddamn beautiful face...
"Y-yeah!" he replied, shaking his head a couple of times. "I'm o-okay."
"Good." Ruvella nodded. "Come on, we'll join up with Distraction Team A2, they're just over there." she pointed to a team that had pooled their power together to fire an extraordinarily powerful ball of mixed demonic/angelic energy at Albion. However, Albion seemed to have noticed the attack coming just before it hit him, and he turned to face the team that had fired at him. The mixed demonic/angelic ball of energy struck Albion squarely in the nose, but it did seemingly nothing to the white Dragon. In fact, it seemed to reflect the energy-ball that had just been fired at him right back at the team that had fired it in the first place. None of the members of said team had any time to even try and fly away before they were all annihilated by the ball of energy.
"Or... not." Raylix remarked, as both of the main A-teams bombarded Albion's upper back with many powerful attacks, causing the dragon to let out a scream of pain and focus on them before they scattered again. "How about Distraction A4?"
"Good idea." Ruvella replied, flapping her flaming wings (unique to descendants of Phenex) and flying off at high speed, with Raylix barely able to keep up with her as they reached the distraction team that they were flying towards, who allowed them in without question. However, it turned out that their role in distracting the white Dragon had become less needed, as the two main teams dedicated to fighting Albion seemed to have moved in and continued to lay on the attack, with Albion beginning to suffer some pretty major-looking injuries as a result of the constant bombardment. Many of his once-pristine white scales were cracked, blood oozed from his mouth, his eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed to move around far more gingerly than at the start of the fight.
He could see several enormous spikes of ice being conjured from thin air and flung at Albion's feet, where they struck and impaled the injured Dragon, holding him down and rendering him unable to move without letting out screams of pure agony, seemingly enough to dissuade him from moving.
'Serafall's work, most likely.' Raylix thought to himself, but the sight of Lilith flying up towards Albion, raising her leg (what Raylix wouldn't have given to be closer to the Queen of Sin so he could see Lilith's perfect legs better) and AXE-KICKING Albion right in the face with so much power that it sent him down to the ground with such a powerful shockwave that the ground seemed to shake only made Raylix's eyes widen even further.
After Lilith's axe-kick, Albion could only weakly raise his head up as Lilith landed lightly on the ground, still as perfectly clean-looking as she'd been at the start of the fight. Meeting Albion's gaze unflinchingly and unblinkingly, Lilith raised up one hand and formed a spear of pure, concentrated Primordial Darkness in it, before throwing it at Albion's exposed chest. The spear of darkness flew right through Albion's chest like it wasn't even there, with the white Dragon not even having the strength to even scream out in pain again as he flopped down, unable to even move anymore.
He could barely believe that he, a proud Heavenly Dragon, had been reduced to this by ants, but he didn't have time to dwell on it any longer as Lilith calmly walked up to his downed and wrecked form, rested a hand on his giant face, and sent a pulse of Primordial Darkness throughout his entire body. Albion seemingly froze before his body... scattered away, on the wind. His entire body was gone within ten seconds, leaving nothing behind.
"HA! H-HA!" Ddraig's booming voice echoed across the battlefield, with everyone who had been focused on Albion looking up to see the Red Dragon, a toothy grin on his bloodied and partly-destroyed face. "YOU WERE THE FIRST TO FALL, ALBION! PROVING THAT I AM, AS I'VE ALWAYS SAID, THE SUPERIOR OF THE HEAVENLY DRAGONS, AND THE STRONGEST DRAGON!"
The rest of Ddraig's body wasn't faring much better than his face. One of his wings was completely gone, his scales seemed to have been even more badly cracked than Albion thanks to the constant assault and abuse to them, and he was limping badly as he walked, glancing around at the remaining gathered forces of the Devils, Lilim, Fallen Angels and Angels. Nobody noticed this, least of all Ddraig, but a golden tint was coming to the Underworld's dark purple sky.
"YOU DESTROYED MY RIVAL" Ddraig continued. "AND I INVITE YOU ALL, BRAVE ANTS, TO COME AND DESTROY ME! I WON'T FALL AS EASILY AS ALBION DID: IN FACT, I'LL TAKE ON ALL OF-"
A pillar of golden light emerged from above, streaking down from the sky and striking Ddraig with pin-point accuracy. The weakened Red Dragon didn't even get a chance to finish his declaration as he was seemingly smitten from above.
Seemingly as soon as it appeared, the pillar of light was gone, leaving most beings utterly confused as to what in the unholy hell had just happened. Their confusion was brushed aside, however, as triumphant cheers began to rise among the surviving teams of Devils, Lilim, Angels and Fallen Angels. For the first time in their respective histories, the four species had worked together for a single, common goal, and it had worked out. They had won.
Even Raylix joined in on the cheers as they ascended higher and higher in volume, such was the jubilation of all parties involved. The cheering went on for about a minute before the barrier that had surrounded the battlefield seemed to dissipate, and Angels and Fallen Angels began to warp away, no doubt not wanting to stay in demonic territory any longer than they absolutely had to.
It was when Devils and Lilim began warping away as well, that Raylix took the hint and left via transportation-circle. Fatigued and sweaty from the new biggest and hardest battle he had ever fought in so far, only one thing could occupy his mind: He needed to sleep. And to wash, but mostly sleep.
Okay, maybe two things.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Two weeks had passed since the climactic battle between the combined forces of the Devils, Lilims, Fallen Angels and Angels of the Christian Pantheon, and Ddraig and Albion. Celebrations popped up all over the Underworld, on the Devil/Lilim and Fallen Angel sides of things in particular (as the Heavenly Dragons had been defeated in their realm. Lilith received strong acclaim and more adoration than she already had- for obvious reasons- for being the one to lay the final blows on Albion, but no-one among the Devils, Lilim or Fallen Angels had any idea who had been the one to finish Ddraig), but said celebrations were far quieter than the ones that had raged throughout the Underworld a week before, when the fighting between the Three Factions seemed to finally be truly over.
Some of the survivors of the battle in question didn't join in with the celebrations, but instead took the chance to spend the first couple of weeks of peacetime that they had seen in either their entire lives, or for over sixty years, relaxing and recuperating. Two of the survivors- Sirzechs (who had sustained far less injury than his younger brother during his side of the battle against Ddraig) and Raylix- were among the survivors that took this path, with both brothers situated in the living room of their house. Sirzechs had a book open, and Raylix was using an assortment of tools to take apart the projectable sword-hilt that Sirzechs had gifted him three decades ago.
"What's up with your sword, Raylix?" Sirzechs asked, looking up over the rim of his book at his brother for a couple, when the sight of him taking apart his sword caught him out of the corner of his eye.
"Nothing much." Raylix replied. "I was just wondering how it worked while training this morning, and decided to get a closer look at it. You know, in case something ever went wrong, or if I could improve it." he explained, looking up himself from his partly-taken-apart sword and tools. Sirzechs, still looking over his book, nodded.
"That makes sense, as long as you know what you're doing. Just be careful with it, though, I remember how much that sword cost our parents to get it made for you." he replied. "You know, Ajuka might be able to help you with looking at your sword. He's always been interested in stuff like that, and I'm sure he'd be happy to help."
"Sweet!" Raylix replied, smiling as Sirzechs went back to his book. "That'd be really nice."
Silence fell over the older and younger brother again as Raylix went back to working on the sword, occasionally muttering to himself as he did so.
"So that's how the handle comes apart... oh, so the crystal goes there... and the switch connects to it like that. Huh."
Sirzechs smiled from behind his book as Raylix continued to look closely at the sword that he'd been gifted. He'd seen Raylix use it in battle many times, which already brought him enough pride, but seeing him potentially try to improve on what he'd been given?
That brought a wholly different kind of pride to the older brother, which he liked just as much, debatably even more so.
The relative silence was interrupted by the sound of a transportation-circle opening in the house's kitchen, which both Raylix and Sirzechs could see from where they were sat. Zeoticus and Venelana, who had both left the house before Raylix and Sirzechs had woken up for the day, popped out of the transport-circle as it faded away beneath them.
Venelana quickly greeted her two sons before moving away upstairs, while Zeoticus walked to the living room, stretching before sitting down in one of the free chairs.
"Anything wrong with Mother?" Sirzechs asked, putting his book down as Zeoticus leant back in the chair he had sat down in, letting out a breath.
"No, she's just tired." he replied, rubbing his chin-beard. "Just had one of those nights last night, and we had to get up early this morning for the meeting."
"Oh, so that's why you left early. I was wondering." Sirzechs replied. "Raylix was a bit worried." he added, slightly teasingly.
Raylix just rolled his eyes at Sirzechs, not taking his eyes off the sword that he had now fully taken apart.
"What was the meeting about?" Raylix asked, putting down the thaumatium crystal that had powered his sword for the last (approximately) thirty years and picking up the part of the sword that it had been contained in, and beginning to have a closer look at it.
"A couple of things, actually." Zeoticus replied. "First and most importantly for the two of you, Zekram has formally declared that, until new Satans can be found, he will take control of how the Devils are run, and will be forming a provisional government until then. That was a big part of what the meeting your mother and I went to was about: forming that provisional government."
"Didn't everyone pretty-much already know about Zekram taking over, though?" Raylix asked. "With him being who he is, I figured he was a given. Either him or Lilith, right?"
"Yeah, I thought the same." Sirzechs remarked, before turning back to Zeoticus. "What was the second thing, Father? You mentioning that the whole provisional government stuff was the first thing implies that there's more."
"And you'd be right, Sirzechs." Zeoticus replied. "And I was getting to that. The second thing that was discussed at the meeting is that... Lilith and the Lilim have declared independence from the Devils, and have requested a portion of the Underworld to govern by themselves."
"...O-oh." Sirzechs replied. "I thought they were just rumours, but... I didn't figure something like that would actually happen. At least, not this soon."
"Me neither, to be honest." Zeoticus replied. "Zekram has accepted Lilith's independence-declaration, and has negotiated a portion of the Underworld for her and the Lilim to occupy and govern by themselves. Though I'm not sure that many Devils will be too happy with WHICH portion of the Underworld that the Lilim will now occupy and govern: it includes Gid, our capital. Truth be told, I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of our capital being given away like that, but..." he sighed. "It is, what it is."
Sirzechs nodded, while Raylix, satisfied with everything that he'd looked into regarding his sword, began the process of putting it back together: thaumatium crystal into its container, container into magical circuit-board, re-establishing the connection between the switch and the board that the container was held on, and fitting everything neatly back between the parts of the shell that made up the sword's handle.
As he worked, he mentally took in everything that his father had just told them, particularly about the Lilim declaring independence from the Devils: while the idea of the capital of Hell falling out of the hands of the Devils certainly SOUNDED bad, he... didn't have much of an opinion on the matter one way or the other. He'd only lived for a fraction of a percentage of a Devil's supposed lifespan of ten thousand years, and out of that he'd only been to Gid a couple of times, so the city didn't hold much sentimental value to him, personally.
He was sure that some Devils, at the very least, would be mad at him for having that kind of perspective, even call him a traitor to his kind, but... whatever.
After putting his sword back together, and turning it on and off again to make sure it fully worked, he attached the sword back to his belt and stood up, feeling slightly peckish. While Sirzechs and Zeoticus continued to talk about who would occupy what positions in the provisional government that Zekram was planning to build, he headed over to the kitchen, mentally considering various simple foods that he could cook for himself.
It was the anniversary of the deaths of Sabemka and Tomosei's parents, and they had decided to go and visit the graves that they had made for them, so Raylix had decided that it wasn't worth calling the former up to work his culinary magic, not today. Definitely not today.
But before Raylix could even reach up to get anything, there was a knock on the front door of the house. Raylix paused, looking over at the door, but Sirzechs had already stood up.
"I got it." he announced to his father and younger brother, walking over to the door and opening it. Though Raylix couldn't see who was standing on the other side from the angle he was standing at, he certainly saw Sirzechs looking at whoever was at the door in slight shock, before coming to and greeting them.
"Z-Zekram, this is a pleasant surprise."
"Zekram?" Raylix and Zeoticus remarked, simultaneously, with Zeoticus standing up and Raylix turning his attention away from the kitchen and back to the door. Sirzechs stepped backwards, allowing the son of the (dead) Pillar Devil Bael, father of Venelana and maternal grandfather of both Raylix and Sirzechs to step into the house. In stark contrast to the casual wear that Zeoticus, Sirzechs and especially Raylix were wearing, Zekram's attire was the kind that wouldn't look out of place on a King.
"Good afternoon, all of you." Zekram greeted the three male Devils. "My apologies for coming without notice, and for coming so soon after the meeting you just returned home from, Zeoticus."
"It's... no trouble, really." Zeoticus replied. "Venelana's upstairs, if you want to see her."
"Hm." Zekram hummed. "Though the matter I've come to discuss doesn't concern her directly, it's important enough that I must ask if you could bring her down here. I'd rather talk about this with all of you." he replied, taking a second to look over at Sirzechs before casting his eyes to one side at Raylix, who blinked instantly from the sudden eye contact.
"Uhh, alright. Sure." he replied. "Just a minute, I'll go get Mother."
"No need, Raylix." All four male Devils heard Venelana's voice coming from the stairs as Raylix's mother came downstairs, yawning after having dressed into a dressing gown. "I heard someone knocking on the door and thought I'd- oh, Father. I'd have kept my dress on if I knew you were coming."
"It's alright, Vene, it's alright." Zekram held up a pacifying hand. "Don't worry about changing, I won't be here long."
Within a minute, the five Devils were sat down in the living room together: Zekram, Sirzechs and Raylix on the three chairs, and Zeoticus and Venelana on the sofa. Some alcoholic drink with a name that Raylix likely didn't have a chance in Hell of pronouncing correctly had been poured for Zekram. Silence reigned over the room as Zekram sipped from his drink, before Venelana (who looked far more awake now than she had done a couple of minutes ago, never mind when she had arrived home with Zeoticus several minutes before) broke it.
"So, Father, what's this important matter that you want to discuss with us? How important is it, for one?"
"Something important enough that I'm planning to speak about it to all surviving descendants of the Pillar Devils." Zekram replied. "Since you are all..." he smiled warmly at everyone sat around him "family, to me, I thought I'd speak with you about it first."
"Must be insanely important, then." Sirzechs replied. "Something that could affect the entire Devils' side of the Underworld, supposedly."
"Ah, so you've been informed about the... split." Zekram nodded. "But, yes. You are correct, Sirzechs, this is a matter that does, or will, involve all Devils. I'll get straight to it: the surviving children of Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus have expressed opposition to the provisional government that I'm planning to build, and are building up forces to take over the Underworld by force. With goals that likely involve continuing the war that's just stopped after over sixty years."
"What kind of forces?" Venelana asked. "The Extra Demons, I guess?"
"Precisely." Zekram replied.
"Extra Demons?" Raylix spoke up. "I've... never heard of them, sorry."
"They're like the Pillar Devils." Zeoticus explained. "Devils that were recognised for their services to the Underworld and given the specialised powers to signify such. But unlike the Pillars, who were given a portion of the Underworld to govern in place of the Satans, the Extra Demons and their families directly serve the Satans and their families. There are thirteen of them: Lucifer has- or had- four in his direct service, while Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus had three."
"Correct." Zekram nodded. "The thirteen Extra Demons are Abaddon, Belphegor, Mammon, Lucifuge, Satanchia, Agaliarept, Fleurety, Sargantanas, Nebiros, Pheles, Shaiten, Wechuge and Namtar. All of them were killed during the war, so it's just their descendants now. Anyway, the Lucifuge, Shaiten and Wechuge families formerly served Lucifer and his family, but the only child of Lucifer and Lilith- Rizevim- seems to have disappeared. In spite of that, they, and the forces under their command, have joined up with the armies under the command of Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus' grandchildren: the Shaitens now work with Tsufaame- Leviathan's daughter-, the Wechuges now work with Bidleid- Beelzebub's son-, and the Lucifuge family now work with Damaidosu- Asmodeus' son-."
"Hang on, I thought there were four Extra Demons that used to serve Lucifer." Raylix spoke up, again.
"There are." Zekram replied, looking over at Raylix again. "However, Mephisto Pheles, the only surviving descendent of Pheles, has voiced the desire to stay out of the other Extra Demons' business, and seems to have vanished from the Underworld altogether."
Raylix nodded, and sat back as Zekram took another sip out of his drink.
"Now Venelana, Zeoticus, assuming that you aren't in support of this new faction of Devils that seems to be gathering forces, I'm inviting you, Sirzechs and Raylix to attend a meeting of the descendants of the remaining thirty-eight Pillar Devils." Zekram continued. "So we can work out how best to counter this, ah, Royal Faction."
"Of course, Father." Venelana replied, with a nod.
"I'm in." Zeoticus added.
"I'm in, too." Sirzechs added, as well.
"Sure." Raylix finished, stretching.
"Wonderful." Zekram inclined his head to the four of them, before finishing the rest of his drink and standing up, after setting the glass on a small table. "When I have the support of all the remaining Pillar descendants, I'll have someone stop by to let you know when and where this meeting will be, and we can move forward from there. Any questions?"
"Did you come up with that 'Royal Faction' name just now?" Raylix piped up, again. "Or was it something that you spent some time thinking about?"
"...No comment." Zekram replied, before casting a transportation-circle underneath himself. "Goodbye."
The transportation-circle rose, and Zekram disappeared into the transportation-circle, vanishing from the room.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
W_Alderson21
W_Alderson21 Ahh, fuck, I broke my record for 'longest chapter I've ever written' again, didn't I?
...Oh well. I didn't quite hit 20k words (not counting this A/N), but eh. Maybe next time.
Anyway, that's the third chapter finally complete! A bit heavy on the time-jumps, I think, and I'm sorry if you didn't like them here. The only thing I can say is that there'll be less of them going forward. I thought it best to skip through the Great War and get to the Devil Civil War and beyond, though I could easily plan/write a whole fic just about the Great War, with Lucifer and Bible God as the main characters.
And I'm not talking about the OA&A-verse here, either, I'm talking something that would easily fit into canon. But that aside, this fic marks the debut of the third version of Lilith that you'll have seen in my fics (first in that piece of shit RWG, second in Nephalem, third here), and she'll be pretty... different, from the other versions of her that you've seen in my other stories, I'll give you that much.
Hope you readers enjoyed this chapter, and you have it in you to leave reviews to tell me your thoughts, or if you want to chat with me (about the fic, DxD in general or something else entirely), drop me a PM or look me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile). Either method works for me!
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Lilith: 128-54-95
Ruvella (yes, she's a genderbent version of Ruval Phenex. Though you could also consider her an OC, since the character she's a genderbend of shows up ONCE in canon): 95-56-86
Seeya!
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