Capítulo 85: Chapter 85: Turns out it doesn't
"Haa… Home, sweet home?" Rias sighed as she saw the estate in the distance. Or rather, what remains of 'Momon's Estate' after Serafall had effectively leveled Kuoh during her rampage only a week or so ago.
"I suppose?" Momonga offered diplomatically as he eyed the destruction that had effectively forced Kuoh to evacuate its civilian populace, as the disruption of vital logistics such as heat, water and roads had effectively shut down the city until it's logistical infrastructure could be built.
Of course the destruction wasn't as total as what Momonga had done to fake Kuoh during the Rating Game, but it seemed that Serafall's rampage had effectively turned Kuoh into ghost town. Which was a blessing in a disguise, as it allowed the Three Factions to have their conference with relatively little worry about the safety of the occupants of the town.
Or at least Momonga guessed that at least one of the factions would care about humans, as he felt Devils couldn't care less about them, the same was likely the case for fallen angels, and Heavens, from what little he knew, would probably feel fond of humans.
The body-snatcher Overlord shook his head to clear it of stray thoughts as his Peerage marched right behind him, and he himself walked near the spear-head of the Devil formation that had been reinforced by Devils that had now teleported into the battlegroup from the Underworld.
Momonga's quick calculations suggested that there were thousands of devils present, all armed and armored to the teeth, or in the case of high-ranking Rating Game champions, armed with their esoteric and arcane tools or [Sacred Gears].
All in all it looked more like a well-armed and relatively organized riot mob than any army Momonga knew, but since his knowledge of armies was more or less limited to well supplied, cyber-augmented, bio-engineered and chemically emotion-deprived 'corporate security forces', or the factions of Euro-arcology wars that had quite strict dress codes, he couldn't really tell if the 'Devils' represented a proper army or not.
What mattered, however, was that hidden in the rag-tag formation were multiple entities that could easily level the whole city and even continent, all the while the four 'big hitters' of the Underworld walked partially in front of Momonga.
Partially, because while Sirzechs took the front position as the leader of Underworld and thus displayed his status as the leader of the Underworld as well as its strongest defender, Beelzebub was practically stalking behind Momonga.
Momonga had no clue why the green-haired Maou was acting so shifty, but he chalked it up to nerves and just kept his guard up. Meanwhile Asmodeus, who had introduced himself to Momonga as the 'grand general of the Underworld', was currently being dragged by pissed-off and stressed looking Grayfia after the Maou had dozed off during the formation of the regiments.
Serafall meanwhile… Was quite upset.
'Women…' Momonga sighed internally as he rubbed his nose. The Magical-girl Maou, or rather 'the blue-uniformed and professionally clad Maou' had came to see Sona as soon as the Peerage had dismounted the train between Underworld and Human World, and she had hugged the lithe girl who now held the title of 'Young Lady Sitri'.
And afterwards Serafall had spotted Momonga, frozen still, gained a few conflicting emotions on her face, and finally marched up to Momonga… And punched him in the face with enough force to cave his face in. At least the fleshy part of it, as Momonga kept his [Body of Effulgent Beryl] active at all times nowadays, which had saved him more than once.
The Maou had then huffed and strutted off without so much as a word to him, much to Momonga's confusion and Sona's puzzlement as she had looked between Serafall and the disguised Overlord multiple times before drawing some internal conclusion from it, chuckling a bit, and then falling lock-step with Momonga with her Peerage behind her.
'Regeneration is quite handy for times like these…' Momonga re-adjusted his nose's position as while it had regained its earlier shape, the tingling of having it embedded in his brain for a moment was causing it to itch something fierce. 'While not reacting to Serafall's provocation could be seen as weakness, I doubt that going against the flow of things by starting a altercation in the middle of the devil formation would end up in anything good… Or was that something Sirzechs-san ordered? That Serafall needed to somehow 'show the pecking order' so that the cultists within the devil army wouldn't get rowdy? Seems counterproductive…'
"I kinda wish I had regeneration, it could have fought Albion for hundreds of years without pause with something like that… Oh, don't mind me…" Ddraig was adjusting his position in Momonga's mental-scape and from what Momonga could tell, the dragon was preparing snacks and drinks like a sports fan in preparation for a long-awaited finals game. "Although if you make up with Serafall-sama that'd be great… She seems quite upset."
'I caught that, thank you…' Momonga noted somewhat sarcastically while he pulled his hand away from his nose to keep himself from acting in an undignified manner while there were so many eyes on him. After all, a 'True God' picking his nose in front of a crowd in a diplomatic event like this would send… mixed messages.
"I trust you have prepared appropriate quarters for the negotiation, Momon-kun?" Sirzechs turned his head minutely to address Momonga, and he took a couple of long strides until the two were walking side-by-side. The move seemed to annoy the Maou but he didn't look like he'd do anything about the breach of protocol.
"In truth… I learned that my humble estate would be hosting the event just hours ago, on the train." Momonga confessed. "However, I seem to remember that the manor has a conference room… That should be enough? The grounds around the manor should be extensive enough to accommodate the, um, security forces of the factions?"
Sirzechs paused for a moment which incidentally caused Momonga to walk past him, a gesture that caused Grayfia's expression to darken and quite few devils around them to gain surprised expressions as the switch in leadership position carried quite a lot of symbolism.
Rias, who had been walking right behind Momonga as protocol dictates for Queens of Peerage, tried to reach for Momonga's sleeve but was held back by some memory almost as if she had remembered something scary and had halted the instinctive action.
Sirzechs shook his head and took a few quick steps until the Maou was in front of the marching Devil formation once more, as Momonga had accidentally taken the lead for a moment while the rest of the devils had adjusted their speed after Sirzechs's stumble.
"Please adhere to the protocol, Momon-kun. We're showing force, and that could be constituted as undermining Maou's authority…" Grayfia's voice was whisper-quiet but Sirzechs waved her down.
"It's alright, that was my fault. Anyway, Momon-kun… Ahem, well. If you say that the room is good enough then it should be so… Ahem, didn't Serafall-san tell you about this?" Sirzechs seemed somewhat shaken by the information as he glanced at Serafall, who just glanced back at him while the normally-cheerful girl was unusually gloomy.
The gloom didn't help Sirzechs's clearly mounting paranoia.
"Ahem… A cup of tea?" Grayfia seemed to produce a cup, cup-holder and a tray from nowhere, cuing Momonga to the fact that the Queen could likely use [Power of Imagination] to a ridiculously accurate degree.
"Thank you." Sirzechs took the offered cup and sipped from it while walking. "Hm, it seems that I am on edge… Ah, and that would be the other two factions entering this material plane."
In the distance the sky turned dark and roiling, and a portal seemed to open in the air that vomited out black-winged forms in a torrent of scantily-clad men and women, alongside some that could be only called 'armored BDSM gimps' for the lack of better word.
Momonga decided to utterly ignore the latter's existence for the sake of his sanity.
On the other end of the 'city-scape', near the mountain overlooking Kuoh, the roiling sky parted to show a ray of sunshine that bathed the clouds golden and from the radiance descended a well-organized flight of angels that mostly looked like humans with wings on their back, but alongside them were some creatures that while winged, resembled something more akin to what had been in YGGDRASIL. Strange formations of interlocked, almost organic rings covered in feathers, a ball of armor that had eight wings pointed out of its center like a star, and other oddities such as a constantly-shifting polyhedral cube.
"Hm, the heavens aren't pulling any punches... " Sirzechs sounded a bit wary. "Ramiel and others seemed to have recovered from the war quite nicely… I didn't think Michael-san would be willing to wake them for an occasion like this, though. We should tread lightly- They may be preparing to make ultimatums..."
"I prepared for such an occasion." Beelzebub noted. "I believe that Michael-san is bluffing. While the arch-angels are powerful, they revealed many of their weaknesses during the last war… "
"Ahem, yes, indeed. Moving on…" Sirzechs jumped from the subject of weaknesses before Momonga could wonder aloud about the particular weaknesses.
'The Elder Lich I made should be getting ready to ambush the conference… Since re-igniting the war would be profitable for my resurrection-business, I should let it do so… And at the same time leads the 'enemy' faction to its defeat while disposing of itself in the process. It'll both get rid of the loose ends, and also hopefully stabilize my position in this world… After all, the dead would need resurrections, and in turn, drive business. Or religion, I suppose.' Momonga thanked [Emotion Suppression] for keeping his rising nervousness in check. 'Knowing Heaven's weaknesses would be advantageous… I wonder why Sirzechs chose to jump subjects? Us knowing those weaknesses would be good…. Unless he doesn't want us to know about the potential enemy's weaknesses?'
'Keeping strategic information about the enemy from allies… It's like going to a raid boss but not telling everyone that they heal from fire damage…' Momonga started to feel a bit odd. '...Could it be that Sirzechs is actually a traitor himself? The Elder Lich mentioned that the Khaos Brigade which had conscripted him had sycophants and spies in the Underworld… And apparently some of them had 'snakes' and were in high-ranking positions within the Underworld…'
The march continued in uneasy silence until the battlegroup reached the entrance to 'Momon's estate, and the way was instantly blocked by two angel-maids.
"Greetings." Sirzechs opened the conversation, although to say 'opening' was a bit misnomer as the Cherubim Gatekeepers Momonga had brought into the Human World through super-tier spell, [Pantheon], looked quite hostile despite staying in their maid-like human-form and being equally tight-lipped.
Or perhaps it was just their regular expression, as the maids had looked quite cold and distant during the short time Momonga had to interact with them before being whisked off to 'rescue' Ravel in the Underworld.
"Ah- Mo- Ahem. Master." The maid's stoic expression cracked into one that could, technically, be called tearful and happy as she spotted Momonga who was behind Sirzechs, except that the maid caught herself instantly and the coldness returned. "Welcome back, master."
"We're back." Momonga greeted the maid. "I hope you've been keeping my estate in good condition during my… leave?"
"Yes, master." The maid curtsied slightly. "We are ready for Master's inspection at any time."
"Good, good… Ahem, I believe that there were six of you?" Momonga walked to stand beside Sirzechs so he could talk properly with the maid. "Where might they be?"
'Well, I know where they are since they are in this plane of existence but I should keep my cards close to my chest…' Momonga hoped that the maids wouldn't blurt out anything unnecessary as the four not-present Angels would be confronting the two other factions arriving at the estate. 'Hm? There's only one confronting heaven's approach? Where is that one going… Haa, my stomach is cramping...'
"That is correct, master. We have taken the liberty of labeling ourselves for ease of identification, as per suggestion by… ahem… 'teacher'." The maid turned to point in three directions, one at a time. Momonga noticed that the girl had either painted or tattooed a stylish number two on the side of her temple. "One and Three have gone to apprehend intruders from the west, while Six has gone to apprehend intruders from north, and Five has gone to apprehend…"
"Ahem! I apologize for the lateness of this information but I am expecting guests… Namely the Heavens and Fallen Angels, alongside their representatives." Momonga realized his blunder. "Umu, yes, the battlegroups converging upon this area are here to hold a negotiation in my mansion…"
The maid froze for a moment and then sprang into action. "Ahem… I, ahem… [Message]- Stop! The intruders are master's guests!"
The woman seemed to pause further and then pale. "Ahem… Master, it seems that One and Three have, ahem, caused an incident… Please, accept my life as an apology."
The white-haired maid reached to produce a short katana-like dagger and placed it in front of her chest with the blade pointing at her stomach, and Momonga stopped her before she could do anything too hasty.
"What's the damage?" Momonga dreaded the answer and the maid blinked as she had been spared from her own fanaticism.
"T-there was an intruder a week ago who attempted to gain access to Lord's mansion, and, since he appeared again…" The maid stammered as her cold and stoic expression made way for panic. "One and Three made battle-plans from what they observed, and launched an ambush…"
"Haa…" Sirzechs sighed in concert with Momonga, reminding him that the Maou and the devil battleforce were present. Alongside the other Maous, Sona, and hers and Momonga's Peerages.
"We should probably proceed to see the damages…" Momonga resisted the urge to panic at the unexpected event and instead waved his hand to ease Sirzechs who looked quite apprehensive. "Ahem, sorry, but I think I should go see the damages by myself, I mean, after all it'd be bad if you went as the other factions thought you to be behind the ambush…"
Sirzechs nodded, albeit he looked quite wary, while the other Maous looked somewhere between suspicious or high-strung. Except for Serafall who just gloomed harder to the point where Momonga could have sworn she was beginning to develop some form of [Black Halo].
'Oh, here we go again…'
Ddraig opened a can of popcorn inside Momonga's head.
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Sirzechs moved himself subconsciously so that he stood between Rias and departing Momon… Or rather, a Supreme Being.
In retrospect, it was quite simple.
The situation had both solidified and dawned on him the moment an undead horror rose from Souji's ashes. Indeed, it was said that Hastur approached in the guise of a beloved's corpse, and the Outer Being had power over both the dead and living. The latter of which was further supported by the 'church' of the Being.
The fact the undead creature had been akin to those who had attacked the Rating Game grounds was also a clear sign, as well as those of Phenix family in the great swamp.
Why Hastur tormented the Phenix family was something that didn't make sense to Sirzechs, but the fact the Phenix family seemed to have become the target of the Outer Being's ire caused the Maou more than a little dread.
He had consulted Beelzebub as to why it might be the case, and the other Maou had been as puzzled as Sirzechs was…
Until the two remembered the 'start' of the whole incident.
Indeed, Riser Phenix had died the moment of his 'triumph', as he won Rias's hand, as he was at the peak of his power, as Phenix family's fortune and power was at it's all-time height... Or in other words, he was at the end of his 'deal'.
The fact the young King had risen so rapidly in the Rating Games, the presence of a King Piece, the decadent life… It had hit the two Maous like a slap to the face.
In other words, Beelzebub had deduced that Riser Phenix had, somehow, acquired knowledge about the Outer Beings and being the foolish yet ambitious young man he was, had somehow contracted Hastur of all beings.
And thus, the Outer Being had granted the foolish son all he desired… Yet, it seems that the boy had not seen the barbs in the offered fruit until too late. And now both him, his family and the entire Underworld suffered for it.
Riser was a puppeted corpse, likely a passenger in his own body and a witness to the horror of his own making.
Ravel was broken in both body and mind, a mindless thrall to the Outer Being's whims. Her terror was clear for anyone with eyes to see, yet most disregarded it as her coping with her previous capture or as her acting as she usually did, but Sirzechs was not fooled by her act.
Lady Phenix was forced to betray her husband, and had been turned into a mistress to the very being who had tormented and ruined her family, all the while she was forced to watch powerlessly from the side as her entire life and all she loved was dismantled in front of her.
Ruval was dead, as was his brother. Murdered by their father.
Indeed, it was clear that 'Lord Phenix' was but a puppeted corpse. The fact he didn't regenerate, as Sirzechs had seen with his own eyes, and the unnatural feeling the lazarus body gave off when touched made the whole thing clear.
Thus, Sirzechs had deduced that 'Momon', or rather, Hastur had sent 'Lord Phenix' to 'visit' the sons, in the disguise of a beloved, and in turn visit horror upon their home.
The fact the dragons, Tannin, Souji and Mathers were killed in the process further solidified the theory- Or rather, it was Hastur's indirect way of telling Sirzechs that meddling in Its business would end with the guests being escorted out of the grand act the Outer Being was making. Quite violently and permanently.
The sheer arrogance Hastur displayed by bringing forth a undead to the ashes of Souji was no mistake, but a direct warning to Sirzechs- That it was strong enough to spite the Maou directly, seeing if Sirzechs would 'break from his act' that Odin had detailed or 'play along' and swallow the story that 'the Supreme Being had boobytrapped the body'.
Odin's warning, as well as what had happened to Serafall, was a clear indication to what would happen if Sirzechs chose to go against the monster's act at that stage, at the stage it had prepared for itself and to which Sirzechs was but a starring guest.
Instead, he chose another stage. One where Hastur would be center-stage, but on Sirzechs's act.
After all, the Three Factions, as well as the Shinto faction and Norse faction would be converging on Kuoh, preparing to fight off an 'ambush'… Or rather-
Preparing to fight Hastur.
Sirzechs wished that there was some greater power he could pray to or seek help from as he strode forwards, leading the Underworld's army with the heavy weight of the mantle of responsibility on his shoulders.
'Azazel said that his agent found that 'the Supreme Being' is planning to ambush the peace conference… Whether it is the doing of an agent of Hastur, or agent of Cthulhu, I do not know… Either is possible. Both control the dead, as kins...' Sirzechs felt the familiar tingle of adrenaline starting to churn in his system. 'The Norse are already on our side...I just need to put forth the evidence at the meeting, and after I've convinced the three other factions… The Shinto faction has had their crow follow Momon all this time, so they probably already know what I know, and are just waiting for their chance, but Heavens are likely unaware of what's happening… And Fallen Angels…'
Sirzechs sighed. '...Fallen Angels would probably just try to betray us and ally themselves with Hastur… But they will probably reconsider that, after I tell them of Riser's fate, and the fate of his family…'
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Rias felt a sudden chill and tied her hands around her body. "I feel a premonition… This isn't good…"
Grayfia produced a mug of cocoa and offered it to the red-head, who took it without a moment's pause. The gray-haired maid then turned back towards Sirzechs and the other Maous who walked forwards, and after whom the Peerages and the Army marched.
'There's no way… Sirzechs-nii must be mistaken. It can't be… Momon is Issei, not some… elder thing…' Rias's emotional self fought against the revelation Sirzechs had given her the day before departing to the peace conference. Yet, her rational self had already drawn quite a few parallels, including but not limited to Gasper's sudden growth, Momon's ability to ignore the 'madness', illogical amounts of power and quite a few other things.
She had thought that somehow a shard of the Fallen God of Heavens had been somehow embedded in Issei's body and soul by the Great Red, and that explained away some of the oddness, but… There were too many inconsistencies.
Yet, Rias felt her heart getting torn in two directions as her mind tried to simultaneously find a flaw in the truth she had been told, a way of explaining away the oddity that was Momon's entire being.
'But, he told me he loved me… And, well, sex isn't probably the best way of proving eternal love but I guess that he cares for me… It isn't just an act, right? It can't be…'Rias shambled forwards while a faint 'kukuku' came from the side. "Ravel-chan…"
"Hehe… Don't mind me. I'm just marveling at the… possibilities." Ravel commented something cryptic that Rias didn't have the energy to even try to decipher. Or had the desire to. "And what brings you down so low? Did you perhaps hear some rumors down the grapevine and thought you could yet be the master of your own fate? Kukuku… Take it from a fellow slave, you are shackled to this depravity for all eternity, so surrender your will, and wallow in your wretchedness… like us… Kukuku..."
Rias shook off the latter part of Ravel's speech as she once again went into creepy theatherics. "No, it's just… I heard some distressing things. About, um, Momon-san."
She knew she shouldn't talk about it, and Sirzechs had her swear a contract with him that she wouldn't name Hastur, so she had her hands tied twice over. But she could still mention Momon.
"...Rest easy. Those too are but a part of his plan… " Sona came into the conversation from the side. "Calm your nerves, Rias-san. This is a glorious day, no?"
"I, um, don't understand…" Rias felt wary as she looked at Sona's face which, while professional on the outside, had an eerie 'evil' tone below its surface. It reminded her of Lady Sitri in a way, or rather the cruelty the old lady of the house could commit if it benefited her. 'Bah, of course Sona wouldn't resort to the same cruelty… She saw what Lady Sitri had done, the old values the cold lady of the house held, and decided that she wanted to be different, pursue something noble… Sona isn't like her. I'm just taking my paranoia from Sirzechs-nii and applying it where I shouldn't…'
"It's alright. That too is planned." Sona adjusted her glasses. "Don't be afraid. Your lack of knowledge is but another piece on the chessboard, to be used to his advantage as surely as a blunt sword would be, when placed into the scabbard of the enemy at the cover of night."
"Um… Right." Rias was fairly sure Sona was making some sort of joke, likely to cheer Rias up, but once again the president of student council and now Young Lady Sitri showed her complete inability to tell jokes. Not that she had attempted to make many in the past. But the fact she attempted to make one anyway eased Rias's tension. "Right. Thanks, Sona-chan."
"Kukuku…" Ravel chuckled once more and fell lock-step with Rias, all the while the eerie sense of foreboding grew in Rias's mind.
She felt as if she was becoming insane. 'Just… Get it over with…'
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A woman with six fox-tails stared at a maid.
The Fox of Kyoto narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, 'this way is blocked, it belongs to the dead, and the dead will keep it?'"
The maid, who had introduced herself as Six, narrowed her eyes. "You shall not pass."
"We are the envoys of Kyoto, of Shinto. We have been invited to this 'peace meeting' and we will use force if required to reach it." Yasaka, the nine-tailed fox, growled at the maid.
"...You will fall before Master's might." The maid took a combat-stance and four wings extended from her back. And then she stood back, like if some switch had been flicked in her head. "You are invited in. Please follow me, honoured guest."
"You will regret this, gir- eh?" Yasaka stumbled a bit as the arrogant and hostile maid did one-eighty in her attitude and pose.
"I have been instructed to direct thee and thine entourage to the mansion's grounds, please follow me." The maid repeated as Yasaka weighed the pros and cons of flattening the arrogant maid anyway.
The Fox of Kyoto shook her head after a while to mentally reset herself as well. 'What madness is this… Fine. I'll play along for now, Sirzechs, but I will expect reparations for this disgrace!'
The woman growled 'very well' at the maid and followed her, alongside her entourage of Tengus and other associated Youkai who had been waiting nearby with weapons at hand.
'But just who is this maid? She has angel-wings, but even angels would be wary of going toe-to-toe with the full might of Kyoto, specifically in Japan, at the locus of our power, and even more so when they are alone and we're armed…' The nagging feeling of something being wrong caused quite a bit of worry to Yasaka as she followed the maid while the Tengus stashed away their fan-blades, tessins, and other weapons… But kept them close to hand anyway.
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"Ah." Michael of Heavens hid his hands to his sleeves as the Heaven's delegation was stopped by a single maid-dressed angel. "Greetings, sister. I..."
"Greetings, intruder."
Michael stumbled in his thoughts a bit as he heard the cold, impersonal and utterly emotionless response to the arch-angel's calm, quiet but nonetheless joyous voice.
"Ah, ahem! I apologize for interrupting, but… Could I ask…" Gabriel seemed as shaken by the stern and cold behaviour of the maid as Michael as she stood beside the current leader of Heavens, clad in her usual while flowy gown-like dress.
"You may not. Leave this place." The maid with the number 'Five' tattooed on the side of her temple looked utterly emotionless. "This is the domain of the Lord, and you are not welcome."
"Ah…" Michael felt quite conflicted. On one hand the subtext of the maid's words caused giddly butterflies in his stomach, yet the stern rejection caused quite a bit of guilt and shame to well within the arch-angel. 'We are not welcome? She speaks of the Lord, but… Could it be? Could it be that Father is here, in some capacity… I had hoped for the possibility, but… Why would we be barred entry to his domain?'
Gabriel put Michael's thoughts to words. "Why are we not welcome, sister? Are we not kind? We serve the same Lord…"
The maid blinked, and then she tilted her head to the side almost as if she was listening to something.
"...Guests?" The maid's expression became complicated for a moment before returning to usual coldness. "I… If… A-ahem, I apologize for not recognizing that you served Master. Yes, of course, I shall inform Him of your arrival. You are expected. I apologize for my earlier rudeness, please accept my life as an apology."
Michael felt his stomach spin as the maid's tone shifted, all the while Gabriel was busy paling to the complexity of a white sheet and then trying to stop the maid from committing a harakiri. 'Was it just a misunderstanding? ...H-haa… I almost thought that Father was disappointed in me, that I had failed him…'
"Please follow me. This humble mansion unfortunately cannot hold all of you, but I shall find suitable accommodations within the estate's grounds." The maid looked quite pained for some reason while she whispered something to herself, although the tanto she attempted to end her life with had not managed to reach her skin due to Gabriel's interruption. "...I am eternally curious as to why our illustrious Lord has chosen to reside within this meager shack, yet I am but a servant. I will not question the Lord's will..."
Michael knew that the maid would know he could hear her easily enough, so he guessed that the maid had intended him to hear her puzzled words. '...Ah. I wonder… Could it be that Father is feeling conflicted? The last time he sent his Son to the Human World ended in a massive fiasco, so perhaps He decided to resolve things more personally this time around… With the caging of Trihexa, and the subsequent war between the Three Factions that resulted in His… disappearance… Perhaps he used the chance to just go under the radar and reside in the Human World in order to gain a new look in life?'
A meager thousand years or so was barely anything as far as Angel's life span went, so while the disappearance had felt like eternity, it wasn't that long in the grand total lifespan of the majority of the Angels.
Yes, Michael felt a tingle of betrayal in his thoughts as he considered how his Father had just dumped all the responsibility of managing Heavens to him without so much as a 'Heaven's System for Dummies' guide to maintaining the system, or letting him know that He still lived… But at the same time Michael realized that the disappearance was also a chance for Angels to start becoming more autonomous and less reliant on Him to lead them. And if Michael knew of His status and place of residence, he'd be bugging Him for guidance all the time, defeating the whole point of the exercise.
'W-were we so spoiled that He felt we needed to be brought into the harshness of independence?' Michael felt his body shudder, and it seemed that Gabriel had much the same thoughts as she did so as well. 'This method… It's cruel, yet we have inflicted the same cruelty on humans while we have led them... Was it our turn to taste the sour fruit of autonomy?'
Indeed, it was almost as if a heavenly plan unraveled itself in front of Michael's eyes as the thousand years of strife without His leadership started to make sense. 'Father… That you'd care so much about us, that you'd not only be kind to us, but also harden your heart to be cruel to us to teach us to become more self-reliant…'
"Excuse me…" Michael swiped his tears off with his sleeve, yet before the cloth could reach his face the maid had turned around and had offered a napkin with perfect japanese offering form, two hands on the piece of cloth and presented with a small bow.
The arch-angel took the napkin and wiped his face, marvelling at the cloth.
It was quite ordinary cloth in terms of physical properties, but it was imbued with the power of creation- The cold-looking maid had not so much offered a piece of cloth, but rather existence was molded to create an item. It was not quite the same as the devil's [Power of Imagination], but rather an alien form of innate magic. A creation of faith, or at least that was what Michael assumed it was, rather than a dream.
'Is this what Father has been making in secret? An ability for Angels to have the same power as Devils, yet retain powers of our own?' Michael felt quite euphoric, but at the same time he felt shame as he realized that he had assumed the Lord had departed just to tinker with his creations, something he very much doubted He'd do.
Or at least without good reason.
Most of the time.
Michael felt a vein pulse in his forehead for just a moment before he managed to calm himself down.
"Michael-sama?" Gabriel's voice was uncertain and she was gripping the front of her white gown somewhat nervously, likely thinking the same thoughts as Michael. "Should we…"
"Ahem. Yes, of course, let us follow her." Michael shook his head to clear it of stray thoughts, and folded the front of his robe to clear his stomach of butterflies. "Father awaits."
"Hm!" Gabriel nodded in a spirited fashion, as did the angels behind her. "Let's!"
"Forward, Heavens!" Michael's words set the army of angels back into motion, towards the mansion at the center of the estate and after the maid-angel with an odd tattoo on the side of her temple.
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"Oi." Azazel lifted his hands up in mock surrender. "I'm invited here this time."
"Grr…" The pair of massive lion-headed angels with four wings on their back growled at the Fallen Angel while keeping the pair of halberds they wielded on the Fallen Angel's throat.
"Oh come on, I didn't leave that bad a first impression the first time we saw eachother?" Azazel mocked horror. "Oh the nonexistent humanity!"
"Just say the word…" Baraquel, Azazel's second-in-command and lieutenant growled under his breath while the Fallen Angel stood beside his leader, except without the bladed instruments held against his throat.
"Oh calm down, Baraquel, we aren't here to start a war. Contrary to what popular sources might claim." Azazel rolled his eyes. "Hey, maids, or whatever you are. We're actually invited- oh?"
The pair of lion-headed monstrous creatures seemed to blink in unison, tilt their heads to the side, and then pale to the complexity of a sheet of paper.
And afterwards there were two maid-clothed tall angels on the ground, bowing in seiza-pose towards Azazel. One of the maids had number 'One' tattooed to the side of her head, and the other had 'Three' tattooed to her cheek. "We apologize for our rude actions! You are expected and invited, please-"
"Nah, none of that. Stand up." Azazel kept waving his hands. "Although…"
The maids stood up, their emotionless faces betraying their nervousness as their eyes darted from one person to another in a panicked fashion. "Please accept our lives as recompen- Eh?"
The pair of maids blinked in confusion as Azazel swished his hands up, masking a small magical circle he had made with the tip of his shoe that sent a gust of wind upwards from the ground. Which happened to flip the maid-angel's dress upwards.
The angels themselves didn't seem embarrassed at all, only puzzled- until Azazel disappeared from where he stood, leaving only a faint outline behind.
"Hm, ooh, those are nice legs…"
"My lord…" Baraquel covered his face with his hand as Azazel had teleported under one of the maid's dresses and was stroking the girl's thigh. "I understand your foot fetish, but if you ask one of these fair ladies to step on you then I swear I'll-"
"Guh!"
"...Right, nevermind." Baraquel sighed as the maid whose thigh had been stroked had stepped on Azazel's face and was stomping it to the ground, and had lost her shoe somewhere along the way… Except Baraquel noticed that Azazel had taken it off the maid so she was using her bare feet to stomp the Fallen Angel.
Which might have become a diplomatic incident for more than one faction, if not for Azazel lifting his hand up and giving a 'thumbs up' gesture towards Baraquel.
The maid seemed to realize what she was doing and quickly backed away. "I am-"
"Don't sweat it, we're even stevens now." Azazel waved his hand while he lied on his back on the ground with his head buried into it. "Hoo, so that was what properheavens was like, hehe… Hey, here's my number. Let's go to a beach sometime and get you a tan, no?"
The maid seemed incredibly creeped out by the Fallen Angel's speech, and by the fact a calling card seemed to have manifested between her breasts and was sticking out of them.
"We- ahem…"
A swirling portal that emitted foul energy came to life behind the maids, forcing the conversation to come to a halt as the maids turned to bow towards it, and even Azazel resisted the urge to take a look at the offered 'glance'.
Baraquel narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard as a fairly tall young man walked out of the portal while carrying a ornate golden staff that clashed spectacularly with the ordinary red-themed clothes he wore- The staff looked and felt like it was made of stuff of legends, but at the same time Baraquel got a faintly creepy sensation from it.
A normal Fallen Angel might have ignored the sensation, but Baraquel had learned his lesson from the tragedy of the past and had sworn to never again ignore his gut feeling- And for years he had blamed himself that if he had just been a bit faster, been a bit less careless, his wife would still be alive, and his lovely daughter, Akeno, would still be with him.
He had recently learned that Akeno was still alive and in the Human World, as part of Rias Gremory's Peerage and thus had been turned to a devil, so he had chosen to leave her be with a heavy heart. The girl would be safer that way, away from the enemies of her mother's family and those targeting Baraquel.
Not to mention Baraquel was a fallen angel and Akeno was now a half-devil, which meant that the two meeting could cause problems in the political sphere, since Akeno was Queen to Rias Gremory. After all, the second-in-command of the Fallen Angels faction approaching the Queen of the sister of the lord of the Underworld could be seen as the Fallen Angels trying to gain power over Rias Gremory by proxy, and in turn be constituted as an attack against Sirzechs Lucifer.
And now, those same senses which Baraquel had ignored and in doing so allowed a tragedy to happen years ago screamed to him that the staff was bad news.
'...Something doesn't add up here.' Baraquel nonetheless took a relaxed stance while his mind was slowly beginning to prepare counter-attacks and stratagems, just in case.
"Oh! Well if it isn't the illustrious man of the house!" Azazel commented as he lifted himself on his feet. "I hope you don't mind me ogling one of your maids… Or should I call them 'sisters'?"
"I…Umu, I'd hope that you wouldn't ogle your sister…" The man who had come from the portal seemed a bit disturbed by Azazel's speech. And then he glanced at the maid who readjusted her dress and had the faintest blush on her cheeks. "Please don't worry too much. I'll handle this."
"Yes, master!" The maids seemed to be incredibly re-energized by the young man's presence. "Please command us!"
"In that case, please prepare some space for my guests. I am expecting two more groups such as the one here, and…" The young man quickly detailed some accommodations, making Baraquel a bit confused.
'Huh, so he's responsible for making the accommodations? But they're not ready yet? Is this the ambush Azazel-sama mentioned?' Baraquel felt a picture starting to form, and he did not like what he saw. The presence of maid-angels and the whole True God-thing was also causing a bit of worry, but he dealt with things one at a time. "And who are you, young man?"
"I am known as Momon Phenix. Greetings, and welcome to my estate. It seems that my… contact failed to mention that the peace meeting would happen here, so please excuse the hasty accommodations…" Momon sighed while leaning on his staff. "Actually, I need more service staff… It can't be helped…"
The man reached to some kind of portal and pulled a ring, put it to his finger, and then clacked the staff against the ground. "[Summon Angel 4th: Principality of Observation]"
A white circle formed on the ground and an armored angel with four wings came out of it, causing both Azazel and Baraquel, as well as the Fallen Angel army behind them, to become absolutely quiet.
The armored angel floated above the ground while holding a flanged mace, its faceless visor looking over the Fallen Angels. And then it looked over to Momon, waiting for orders.
"Ahem, please go assist the Cherubim Gatekeepers in preparing the mansion for guests and ask them as to what you can speak about and how. Don't speak to anyone else until the Gatekeepers have filled you in to the rules of the house." Momon explained after creating four more angels. "Go."
The armored angels nodded and took the sky, leaving just the stunned Fallen Angels to stare at Momon.
"Ahem. Welcome to my estate. Please follow me. Ah, and I apologize for the scene just now-" Momon started, only for Azazel to interrupt him.
"Oh, oh wow… Hahaha…" The leader of the Fallen Angels was rubbing his face while tilting his head back. "So you were here all along, huh, pops?"
"Umu…" Momon became incredibly nervous for a moment before returning to calmness. "Well… It's a long story, but, yes?"
The fallen angel teleported away instantly and-
Momon's golden staff moved itself between its master and Azazel's fist which would have impacted against Momon's face, almost as if the staff had a sentience of its own.
Azazel grind his teeth as he stared at Momon, his fist still stuck in the punch that landed on the staff instead of Momon's face. "A long story, huh?! That's all you have to sa-"
"[Hold Species]"
Azazel keeled over, frozen like a statue while Baraquel sprang into motion, drawing his blade and-
"Please stop. This is meant to be a peace meeting." Momon seemed to disappear away from Azazel in a blink of an eye, no, almost as if time had come to a halt and had restarted so that Momon was behind Baraquel while pointing the golden staff at his back. "Ahem, if you are angry over the incident earlier then let's discuss it over a tea like civilized people, no?"
Baraquel assumed that the God behind him was referring to the war between three factions, but at the moment that wasn't his primary concern- Rather, it was determining if the Heavens had their god at their side again, since if that was the case, the Fallen Angels might as well stop existing right there and then.
"And on whose side are you?" Baraquel growled out at God over his shoulder as Azazel seemed to regain his mobility. "The Heavens? Have you come to finish your war against the devils? To finish 're-educating' the fallen to the ground?"
"Umu, if I had to pick a side then I guess I'd be on the underworld's side, but I don't really have a side… If I'm perfectly honest, I'm on my own side." 'Momon' seemed to hesitate for a while before answering, and the contents of the words caused Baraquel to almost stumble.
"What? The devils?!" Azazel seemed to be equally shocked. "You-"
"Well, my wives are devils, so…"
Azazel stumbled while getting up. "You- What?!"
"I got married recently, but I suppose that's not really important for this meeting…" Momon moved the staff away from Baraquel's back and walked in front of him, while Azazel fell back to Baraquel's side so that the 'faction lines' were restored. "Ahem, but please rest assured that I hold no ill will or hostility towards you."
Azazel opened his mouth and closed it. "You… Married a devil?"
"Yes." Momon seemed to sigh. "I don't see how that is relevant, but… Yes. Three of them, to be exact…"
Azazel covered his face with his hand and threw his head back. "Ha… Hahaha…. And you had the gall to exile me from the heavens for sleeping with a human, huh? Talk about hypocrisy… Or what, did you do a 'oopsie' and fall as well? In that case, welcome to the bunch, pops?"
"Ahem, well, umu…" Momon seemed to be incredibly nervous for a second before he stabilized again. "The thing is… I don't really remember anything past a few weeks, so…"
Baraquel was silent as he stared at his maybe-father. Or rather, the maybe-father of all angels, and the proto-progenitor of devils. "You're amnesiac."
"Yes. Umu, that is definitely the case." Momon seemed to be relieved as Baraquel voiced the elephant in the room. "In truth…"
"Phahahaha!" Azazel seemed to be losing it. "What, you got knocked in the head a thousand years ago and just now started to remember things, huh? And where's that 'Obey me or be smitten, foul creature'-rhetoric you were oh so fond of?"
"Well, to put a long story short… Sort of? It's complicated." Momon seemed to go with the flow. "Ahem, I'd prefer if you didn't call me 'dad'..."
"Sure thing, daddy." Azazel clapped his hands together. "Say, what exactly is up with the whole 'True God' thing I've been hearing about? You must know what's up, no? What happened to you?!"
"...Haa."
Baraquel kept his silence while Azazel prodded at Momon verbally and the young man-looking Creator answered somewhat awkwardly- Something which was completely unlike the God that Baraquel knew from thousand years ago. '...What happened to him? Surely he can't be Father… Or did the amnesia wipe his personality as well?'
On one hand Baraquel was feeling a bit queasy over calling a fairly nervous and seemingly clueless young man his father, but at the same time… 'He said he got married to a devil? Does that mean he no longer desires to eradicate the devils and the fallen? If so... Is he trying to change his ways, to show that we can coexist? He said he's his own faction, so… Is he trying to unite us all while working from shadows, as opposed to purging those going against him in flame like last time? Is… Has he truly changed this much? He claims amnesia, but has this world, his time in the Human World changed him?'
Baraquel felt conflicted but hopeful. 'Perhaps… Perhaps if… If we can put aside our differences, become one people... I could see my daughter again…'
The hope was, however, tampered by the oddness that was the staff. '...Could it be that the staff is of Devil creation? If… If he was using devil technology… Marrying a devil… But making angels… He's trying to merge the two sides- But where does that leave the Fallen Angels?'
"Huh. And that sex-cult was…?" Azazel's voice brought Baraquel out of his thoughts.
"Result of… well, miscommunication. But I don't think that it's all too unfitting of this ero-world…" Momon seemed to grumble the last part of his answer under his breath. "Haa… Anyway, please don't jump to conclusions. Ah, and the maids would have prepared the conference room, so please follow me to the mansion."
"Ah-hah. Right." Azazel leaned back. "So you accidentially created a sex-cult that follows you as the god of- what, love?"
"Something like that."
"Pfft. I can't wait to see the faces of the maniacs over there when they find out they've been worshipping you of all things when they've been having their orgies in the name of 'True God'..." Azazel seemed amused by the connection, while Baraquel's face fell in realization.
'...Don't tell me… That's the way he's integrating Fallen Angels into the new society he's trying to make?'
Baraquel was starting to feel a bit queasy over the whole thing.
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