Chương 400: Rise

After the party finally ended, and Alex was at last able to collapse into bed alongside his children, many of the most important beings in the world gathered in one of the Gremory family's many lounges to discuss the day's events. Among them was Azazel, Barakiel, Michael, Gabriel, Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall, Sona, Ravel, Rias, Sairaorg, and the Gremorys themselves.

For a while nothing was said as those who had either been sealed with Trihexia or left in the DXD world remained silent, and those who had been traveling with Alex waited for them to say or ask something. Azazel however was only staring at a single pure white feather, which he had plucked from one of his own wings before making himself 'fall' once again.

Though he had asked Alex to revert him back into a servant of Heaven, Azazel had no interest in remaining a pure angel longer than confirming if Alex could do it or not. As such, after he was returned to grace, Azazel showed off his pure white wings for several minutes before grabbing one of the female Fallen Angels that he'd had a few trysts with over the centuries, and dragging her into one of the spare bedrooms to 'fall' once more.

Now he was pondering on what Alex had actually done, which was directly competing with, and beating, the most powerful force that existed on their world, the will of God. This was a feat that wasn't just impressive, it was completely unheard of as God was one of the most powerful beings that ever existed(barring beings like Ophis and Great Red), and was presumed to have only died due to his efforts to seal away Trihexia.

However the most concerning thing about this and his many revelations was Alex's future place in this world, as many would now see him either as an obstacle, or a threat to be removed. This would undoubtedly place himself and anyone around him in danger, especially his children.

Repressing a shudder at the thought of what might happen if someone was stupid enough to target Alex's children, Azazel suddenly looked up as Michael said,

"Perhaps this would be a good chance for the Angels of Heaven to be able to break away from the system of God..." Everyone looked up at him curiously as Michael continued,

"If Alex truly is able to sever us from the system of God, then perhaps the Angels should enter a new era where we can try to multiply without the fear of 'falling'." While normally Michael's suggestion would be met with agreement, since they had been trying to increase the populations of the Angels without the risk of 'falling' for a while, instead both Azazel and Gabriel said at the same time,

""That's a bad idea.""

Though everyone looked at Gabriel pointedly, it was Azazel who continued,

"All you stuffy guys in Heaven have to keep you in line is the system of God. Because of this there's no need for any kind of law enforcement or punishment, if you're bad the system makes you 'fall', and you're kicked out of Heaven. While this may seem like enough of a punishment for those of you still up there, that means that WE have to deal with angels who are experiencing real 'freedom' for the first time in their existence."

As he trailed off Azazel recalled the numerous Fallen Angels that he'd had to deal with over the years after they were 'free' from the system of God. While a number of them, such as Barakiel, did reflect on what caused them to be kicked out, it was much more common for newly created Fallen Angels to go on a rampage of sorts as they reveled in the taste of 'freedom' from God's influence. It was mainly because of these rampages that the Fallen Angels had such a bad reputation, while Azazel was the one keeping the rest of them in line despite being known as 'the most sinister Fallen Angel'.

Focusing back on the conversation they were having, Azazel continued,

"If we free the Angels of Heaven from the system and leave them be, then we may have a disastrous problem of an unprecedented scale since Heaven won't be able to keep these Angels in line." As he spoke Gabriel nodded in agreement as she added,

"I experienced something similar with the Angels of Asora when the realization that God's system didn't affect them anymore eventually hit. Thankfully though we already established a series of laws for all of the residents of Asora to follow, but I shudder to think of what would happen to Heaven without any kind of preparation."

When she finished speaking Barakiel, Yasaka, and Serafall all nodded in agreement as every one of them recalled the first few months of living in Asora with their people, in which there were numerous skirmishes and arguments between the different factions. Within a shockingly short amount of time though, as none of them were a part of any of the factions any longer, a sense of unity began to grow amongst the residents of Asora until they willingly marched into battle against Darius's forces side by side.

Now they were one people, united under Alex along with the others he'd brought to Asora over the years, which was becoming increasingly apparent to Michael and the others.

It was at this moment that Rias decided to deal the finishing blow to those around her though, as she then said,

"There's more." She then produced a single tiny vial with a heart shaped symbol on it, and asked, "Do any of you have any idea what's in this bottle?" Of course those not from Asora shook their heads while looking at the bottle curiously, before Rias stated with smug smirk,

"When ingested, the liquid in this bottle acts similarly to a an aphrodisiac, increasing the arousal of the person who ingested it. This is just a side effect though." Their curiosity increasing, everyone listened intently as Rias stated,

"The main effect of this solution is to temporarily increase the fertility rates of whoever drinks it, almost assuredly guaranteeing them a child." Her words brought the room to a dead silence as the higher ups took in what she just said, and the implications of it.

"Rias..." Ajuka eventually got out. "Are you saying that this little bottle can help cure the population issues currently plaguing the Underworld and Heaven?" As the Maou gave voice to everyone's suspicions, Rias nodded in confirmation as she then tucked the small bottle between her breasts and continued,

"But that doesn't mean that anyone who wants a child will automatically get a dosage. Those who receive one get screened at our hospitals before they're allowed to have one, and even then in most cases one won't be given to a couple for at least a hundred years after the last child they had."

This was the biggest issue with the usage of the elixirs, as they could easily lead to a massive overpopulation if misused by races that were as long-lived as Devils and Angels. As such, numerous restrictions had been put in place to prevent this such as a limited number of elixirs that would be available per year, and the time limit between children that the long-lived races would have.

Despite the restrictions in place though, all of the higher ups knew that any one of the factions that would have even minor access to such a thing would benefit greatly from it. Seeing their expressions, Rias and the others smirked lightly as Ravel added,

"And this is just one of the advantages of being under the authority of the Dragon Emperor. Imagine what other benefits there are, or what would appear in the future." As her words hung over them, Michael, Azazel, Ajuka, and Sirzechs all looked at each other pointedly, the hidden meaning in Ravel's words being fairly clear to them.

***

While the others were meeting with higher ups, Alex was crashed out in the middle of a massive bed with all of his children similarly sleeping contently around him, while Lana was peacefully sleeping in a crib next to the bed. All was peaceful, or so it seemed.

In the shadows of the night, a figure appeared in the room that began to creep slowly towards the sleeping Saiyans with murder in their eyes, and a sinister looking knife in their hand. The assassin crept towards them silently as they formed their plan of attack in their mind.

They'd start with Alex as the biggest and most obvious threat, before moving on to each of his children as quickly as possible before they woke up and alerted someone with their cries. With no notable flaw in their plan, the assassin was about to reach the bed when suddenly something sharp and metallic was pressed against their throat as a voice just barely whispered in their ear,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, now back away slowly unless you want to wake the Boss and his children, and go through a hell worse than anything you can imagine." The assassin paused as they considered their options in the current situation, which were either to try and fend off his attacker and definitely wake Alex up as well, or he could simply do as his captor said and try to escape after they weren't in danger of waking the Dragon Emperor.

After all, while an assassin's own life was usually worthless, the most important thing was making sure no one found out about their employer. What the assassin didn't expect though, was to suddenly feel space distorting around them until they came face to face with two very angry and scary looking women.

"How many does this make now Kuroka?" The silver haired maid asked her companion.

"Too many for my liking~Nya." The angry aunty practically growled while her cat-like eyes narrowed. The would-be assassin gulped, before noticing numerous other hooded figures nearby along with a small pile of bodies, who were obviously other would-be assassins.

Despite the daunting sight though, the assassin said to them,

"Do whatever you want, I'm not so petty as to give up my employer that easily." When they heard this Kuroka and Grayfia shared a look before both girls smirked at each other.

"Did you hear that? He thinks we need him to talk to find out who hired him~Nyahahahaha!" The assassin's heart sank when they heard that, and even more so when Grayfia made the air shimmer to show them a scene of their employer hiring them, and what they asked them to do.

Seeing that Cam narrowed his eyes before asking, "Are we going to go deal with them too?" Grayfia however shook her head and replied,

"No, we'll let Alex deal with him specifically. You're all free to deal with the rest as you see fit." When they heard that sinister smiles broke out on the faces of the Haulia members who were gathered, before they promptly vanished into the shadows to eliminate the rest of those who dared to send assassins after their beloved boss and his children.

By the time morning arrived, almost every underground organization within the world had been wiped out.

***

The next morning an unprecedented gathering took place as members of every faction gathered together in the same hall as the day before, except this time those who had been sealed with Trihexia were also in attendance, as well as representatives from factions that had been isolated and silent for hundreds and thousands of years.

On the Norse side it appeared that Odin had resumed his command from his son, Vidar, while Zeus had done similarly on the Greek side with his son, Apollon. Even beings that didn't normally attend such functions, such as Indra or Shiva, arrived to see and judge Alex's claims and abilities for themselves.

Meanwhile especially reclusive and ancient gods made their first appearances in centuries, or even millennia. One such being was a hawk headed figure that had a beautiful woman at his side, who was wearing a headdress with cow horns and a golden disk between them. Another duo consisted of a giant of a man with thick dark mane and matching beard, while a woman with long black hair walked beside him, who looked positively tiny in comparison.

They were the pairings of Horus and his wife Hathor of the Egyptian gods, and then the Dagda and his wife Morrigan of the Celtic isles. Both were part of mythologies that had been isolated for so long, that they were often forgotten about compared to the Norse or Greek. But, like almost everyone else present, they had come to see Alex and those with him.

His presence was so great now that even such infamous recluses had made their appearances to see what it was Alex wanted from all of them.

The man himself only made his own appearance after everyone else was seated and silent, as he strode into the hall while being flanked on both sides by numerous women and several men who represented all the parties related to Asora. With Anne at his side as his 'Dragon Empress', Hisui was there for her father and the kingdom of Fiore, Tio for the dragon-kin, Shia for the Haulia, Altina for Verbergen, Liliana and Tracy for their respective kingdoms, the Snow Priestess for the Yuuki-Onna, and surprisingly Myuu's mother Remia had been elected as the new representative of the Dagon race.

Each of the representatives took their own seats around the impromptu platform Alex had created the day before, while Alex and Anne took their places on matching thrones at the top of the elevated platform they sat upon. It was only once both of them were seated and settled that Alex finally said,

"Now then, if anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask." Immediately Alex was bombarded with numerous questions regarding the world's he'd been to, and the others like him that they might need to worry about. Again Alex didn't withhold anything other than the extra sensitive information, and through their questions he learned that there had been another reincarnator that entered the world after the copycat, an apparent Slayer that had stacked different attributes like the copycat had Longinus Sacred Gears.

It was only then that Cao Cao stood up and told them that his colleague, Georg, had trapped said reincarnator with his Dimension Lost after he battled the former Dragon King Tannin. While the former Dragon King did end up sustaining several injuries, he was able to overwhelm his opponent through his extensive experience and long history of harrowing battles.

The thing Alex found most curious about all this though was the fact that, according to Georg, the reincarnator was still imprisoned in his Dimension Lost instead of using their shared ability to transport to other worlds to escape.

Filing that tidbit away for later, Alex continued the question and answering session for a while as the gods of this world learned more about Asora and its people.

"You mean to tell us that there are other gods out there that not only share our names, powers and legacies, but could even be stronger than we are?" One of them asked testily, to which Alex nodded and replied,

"Of course. There are even universes where the gods are beings that regularly destroy entire planets as a part of their duties, and the average 'mortal' makes even Shiva look like a pathetic little bitch." His words caused a mild uproar as everyone looked fearfully at the aforementioned God, who held the undisputed position of the world's strongest being barring exceptions like Ophis and Great Red.

With him possessing enough power to destroy the entire world if he felt like it, Shiva narrowed his eyes at Alex's claim before asking in a slow and steady voice,

"Are your claims true?" While everyone else was still scared of Shiva blowing up at being insulted in such a way, Alex however smirked as he used magic to project images of Goku, Vegeta, and Beerus using their powers.

"The two with spiky hair similar to mine are 'mortals', meanwhile the cat is a God of destruction of that universe, capable of destroying not only entire planets with a tap of his finger, but even his entire universe as well." Shiva cocked a brow as he heard that, before looking up at the projected image in silent contemplation.

Meanwhile everyone else was shuddering at imagining numerous universes with such powerful people, and couldn't help but to wonder why Alex could possibly want to go there. Of course that question was answered when one of the gods actually asked him, and Alex responded with a large smirk,

"For the challenge of course." Dead silence met his words as Alex continued,

"There's no telling how powerful any of those others will be, and the best way I can guarantee myself even more strength is to go to a universe with such powerful people. Besides, it's not like I'm not already at that level myself." When he said that Alex let just a little bit of his own aura out for everyone to feel, making the entire hall rumble lightly while the gathered gods, youkai, and other powerful supernatural beings shuddered, some in fear, and others in excitement for the things Alex offered them.

There was more than a few battle maniacs gathered in the crowds, and as they imagined a universe filled with beings on the level of Shiva and beyond, their minds quickly transitioned to forming brand new training regimens for when they returned home. Of them there was of course Cao Cao, Typhon, numerous dragons, gods, and other Longinus and Sacred Gear possessors.

It was also at that moment that Ajuka, Sirzechs, Serafall, and Falbium Asmodeus, all four of the most widely recognized Maou, stood up and approached the foot of Alex's throne. Ajuka, as the only Maou that had been active while Sirzechs and Falbium were sealed, and Serafall was with Alex, then stated in a loud and clear voice for all to hear,

"We Devils have always followed the strongest, the original Lucifer and his Maou, and then the four of us. It is obvious that that title now belongs to someone else, regardless of if they're pure blooded or not." Serafall nodded and added in her chipper voice,

"Yep yep! Hubby here is one of the most powerful people I know, if anyone's qualified to lead the Underworld it's definitely him~💕!" Of course Falbium and several others rolled their eyes at her, before the third Maou gave voice to what they were all thinking and said,

"And the fact that he's your husband and the father of your child has nothing to do with it?" Serafall simply stuck her tongue out at her fellow Maou playfully while Sirzechs remained silent at the side, his feelings regarding his 'brother-in-law' still very mixed.

Ajuka then got things back on track as he said seriously,

"We four have reached an agreement, and have decided that the Underworld will prosper under the Dragon Emperor's rule. HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!"

As Ajuka then kneeled before him, the three Maou at his side then declared the same before similarly kneeling, prompting every single devil present to do the same as an entire section of the hall proclaimed their loyalty to him.

Though Alex was actually surprised at the rapid development, he didn't get any time to let it sink in as the current Governor-General, Shemhazai, also stood and proclaimed,

"We Fallen Angels have the lowest populations of the Three Factions, it is known by all. Our numbers have only dropped even further after the Dragon Emperor's disappearance with a large number of our people, who I'm happy to report have not only been doing well, but have been thriving. As such, after a lengthy discussion with my fellow Cadres at the Grigori, we too have decided to pledge ourselves under the banner of the Dragon Emperor.

"HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!"

"""HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!"""

With the rest of the present Fallen Angels following Shemhazai's lead, yet another faction bent the knee to Alex, sending a fresh wave of muttering through the hall. Meanwhile the masses outside and around the world in each territory were practically going insane, as, for the first time since the first Angel 'fell' from Heaven's grace, the entirety of the Underworld was united under a single ruler, but the excitement didn't stop there.

The most shocking thing was when Michael then stood along with the other three Great Seraphs, and the remaining six lesser Seraphs, and proclaimed,

"Since our creation the servants of Heaven have remained loyal to our lord and creator, God himself. He was our father, our guide, the light that cut through the darkness! But alas, it was not meant to last. After using the majority of His power to craft the seal to hold Trihexia in place, our Lord and creator perished in the following battles between the Three Factions, leaving us lost and alone."

As Michael paused his speech, the entire world went nuts at the massive bombshell that he just dropped that dwarfed everything else that had happened so far that day.

God was dead.

These three words echoed across the entire planet many times over as the one truth that no one, not even the followers of Heaven, was allowed to know about was revealed. Until this point only a select few had known the truth regarding the fate of the Lord, and every single one of them were key figures in the Alliance that formed in the wake of the Three Factions declaring peace with each other.

This was to prevent any more damage being done to the Holy System left behind by the Lord, which would destabilize Heaven even more than the loss of their shepherd had done. But now it was apparent that Michael was going all in as he not only revealed the death of God to the entire world, but then continued to say,

"Since that dreadful day we have been struggling to continue on as He willed, guiding our flocks as He wanted and trying to maintain what was left of Heaven. However the loss of our creator would have far reaching consequences that echo on even until only recently, as His death meant that no more Angels could be born, and that the power of Heaven would steadily become weaker over time. It was then that we took a leap of faith and joined hands with the same Devils and Fallen Angels that we once fought against, and as a result were able to create the Brave Saints system that has once again allowed us to replenish our numbers, much in the same way the Evil Pieces helped the Devils."

Michael then looked directly at Alex and stated,

"I and my fellow Seraphs wish to take another leap of faith for our people, and our flocks." He, the nine other Seraphs behind him, and all of the attending Angels then got down onto one knee and lowered their heads before declaring,

"We of Heaven offer ourselves to thee, Dragon Emperor. We pledge ourselves as your shields, your swords, your teachers, healers, and heralds. So long as our faith in thee is not misplaced, we pledge to follow thee to the ends of every universe, and beyond. We of Heaven kneel before the Dragon Emperor, long may he reign."