The Deal: Chapter 20: Ending the war (Patreon)

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Chapter 20: Ending the war.

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- Damien -

The Archangel mode, as I call it, was different from anything I had experienced before.

It made my emotions calm. Obviously I could get angry and feel other emotions too but they couldn't overwhelm me that easily.

I hadn't gotten the chance to experience it the last time because I was too surprised by the change.

I just tried to use some light manipulation and it came to me just as easy as breathing.

Finally, I wrapped a cloak around me, enough to cover my face completely.

The cloak was charmed by Merlin and covered my face from any cameras and would prevent anyone from seeing what's inside.

The target was right in front of me.

The huge building, guarded by several exorcists and magical enchantments which would make even an Ultimate Class being think twice before trying to attack it.

The enchantments were done so they would recognize any demonic being entering the place so even if I used my Illusions to sneak in, it would have been useless as the alarm would have gone out anyways.

The only way to sneak in was to… not sneak in and come through the front door, only disguised.

I made Sean stay away from the place just in case he was noticed by anyone.

- Unnamed Exorcist -

He made his usual night rounds around the church building.

The days guarding this church were boring. It's not like anything happened here.

Many others among his brothers/brethren were out there on the front lines, fighting against vampires, devils, monsters from the myths and he…

Yes, it was safe here. But as a man yearned for that adventure, which he was unlikely to find, simply guarding this place.

He sighed once more.

This place was so fortified that even the Devil himself wouldn’t dare to attack it.

Just as he thought of this, he felt a presence behind him. Turning back quickly and getting into a defensive position, he saw a cloaked figure walking towards the building.

When did he…?

“Sir, please stop. This area is off limits. Who are you? Identify yourself.”

The figure stopped.

“I am an angel of the Lord.”

With those words said, a massive aura of holy power emanated from him as a halo appeared on his head. He was pretty sure he saw a visage of wings behind the cloak.

Twelve wings.

Archangel.

A chill ran down his spine as he quickly kneeled. “My apologies, Sir. We were not informed about your arrival.”

“It’s fine. You were just doing your work. Have a good night child.”

He didn’t dare look up.

Meeting an Archangel. It might not be as exciting as facing the Devil but… it was still something he could brag about.

- Damien -

I walked inside the building quite uninterrupted. Just flexing a little bit of my holy aura was enough to get these idiots kneeling down. It was both amusing and disappointing.

Merlin had already researched the place where the Shroud of Turin was kept as well as the things guarding it.

Even the Bishop guarding the Shroud left the room when I requested him to. They didn’t even check my face.

On second thought, it helped that I was here on a day when none of the higher ups were present.

I was in the room with the shroud. And that’s where things were interesting. The shroud in the glass case in front of me… was a fake.

I just knew it.

Even when Merlin’s information said it was the real deal, even when it was radiating Holy Aura,, I… knew it, almost instinctively.

I just didn’t feel any pull from it. I mean in the case of the Alpheca Tyrant, there was a… a pull too. Nothing like the True Longinus but more like an instinct about it being something related to me. This time however, there was nothing of that sort from the Shroud. I did however feel a pull from the room behind this one. The room that was marked as the Maintenance Room.

I walked towards it and saw several formations spring up one after another.

They were good but in front of the Essence of the Archmage and Worthless… not so much.

Behind the doors, was a maintenance room. Went up to the cupboard and removed it to the side, making a way for the hidden door. Another simple spell later, the door opened and inside was a small white room, with a frame holding a piece of cloth.

It didn’t have that overwhelming Holy Aura radiating outside but...I knew it. I knew that this was the one.

I went ahead and more formations sprung up, only to dissolve under the Worthless.

The frame was separated and I laid my hands on the piece of cloth. The Shroud of Turin.

The world flashed in front of me.

- Flashback -

This time, the room was different. It was still heaven. I had seen this place a few times.

It was the top most layer of Heaven, the Seventh Heaven.

I heard some footsteps and turned around to see the familiar figure of the silver haired boy come in. But he was not alone this time. A woman followed him too.

Silver hair, blue eyes….the only words one could think about when looking at her would be… beautiful. She looked as if she was ethereal. She had the kind of aura that… I… had...

My train of thought was broken by the voice of Helel.

“And then, I totally scared Michael…” He was bragging about something which seemed like a prank to me.

The woman just looked at him with a smile but I could see that she was thinking about something.

“What are you thinking, Mother?”

…

What!

“Nothing, my son.” She looked as if hesitating for a moment and then she looked at him. “I want to ask you something.”

“Yes.”

Then without a warning, her form changed. Her hair turned black, eyes red. The wings on her back shed their feathers and became wings covered in darkness, eerily similar to Devil Wings.

Her power felt as pure Demonic Energy like my own.

There was a period of quietness in the place and I watched as the woman looked nervously at the boy. It was until the boy exclaimed.

“This is so amazing! Can you teach me how to do this?”

The woman’s eyes widened and she looked nervously at him.

“Really. You are not afraid of me?”

“Why would I be afraid of you?”

“Michael seemed to be awfully put off by this.”

“Eh, Michael’s scared of even his own shadow sometimes. For all his calm and forgiving nature, he is very bad at forming opinions of his own.”

“Michael is your brother, Helel. Everyone is different. They have different qualities. Michael’s quality is his belief, his obedience. This makes him a great soldier. This has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Once he doesn’t have anyone to follow, he will be lost. You on the other hand question things, don’t take everything at face value. This is the quality of a King. A King has to question others and question himself to know of the problems and make good decisions. You don’t let yourself depend on the judgments of others and so, you can keep on going despite having no one to follow.”

“Really? But Father…”

“These were your Father’s words.”

…

“Hahahaha take that Michael. I am the best.”

“Now Helel, don’t let that make you proud.”

“Yes Mother.” He gave the woman a quick.

She looked at him with kind motherly eyes. I could see the same look in her eyes Aria used to have for us.

“Are you really not afraid of me, Helel?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because of this power? This darkness? Are you not afraid?”

“...What’s there to be afraid of, Mother. Light is important, but so is darkness. I mean light gives us our sight to work everyday, becomes our guide… but… at the end of the day, when we are all tired, we take the embrace of darkness to rest our eyes and minds. Without darkness, what importance does light have? and without light, there is no point to darkness either. They are of equal importance… Also, this is you. Why would I be afraid of you?” he then went ahead near her ears and whispered, “Actually, to be honest… it’s a little boring with all this white in Heaven. I think some other colours would do it well.”

She looked at him stunned before hugging him.

“You really know how to bring light into my life, Helel. You are my Lightbringer.”

“Lightbringer?”

“Umm, you are my Lightbringer. My Lucifer.”

- Flashback Ends -

I woke up from the daze with the Shroud still in my hands. I could sense some wetness on my face. The scene was bizarre to say the least.

Lucifer had a mother?

So, God had a wife?

Why doesn’t anyone know of her then?

I couldn’t think of anything and this was not the time to think either.

I got up, and kept the shroud back in its place.

Today was weird.

I left the place quickly, thousands of thoughts running in my head.

It was outside the church that I encountered another hiccup, this time in the form of what looked like an enderly English gentleman.

Edward Cristaldi, the wielder of Excalibur.

“I was informed that an Archangel had descended to inspect the church, without any prior notice. Did you find problems with the place, Sir?” He asked but I could see a look of suspicion in his eyes.

“None so far. Do strengthen the wards around the Maintenance Room. They were awfully weak.”

I said as I walked past the man casually.

“I will do it, Sir. But, whom should I address this complaint from?”

…

…

“An Angel of the Lord. Is that not enough for my identity?” I replied but didn’t wait for further reply.

“It is for me but I am afraid it might not be for others.”

“Then, I am afraid they will have to live without knowing.”

The next moment, I felt a cold blade on my shoulder. “I insist, Sir. Please identify yourself.”

…

…

These church idiots really have the audacity.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this, honestly dumb situation.

Did he really think this was a good idea?

I know that things hadn’t been very smooth between the two since the fiasco with Odin but this, wasn’t this trying to hit the hatchet on their own leg?

I mean I was not even a real Archangel and I was feeling offended.

Well… since I did take this form, let’s throw in a lesson for this lost lamb.

I held the tip of his Excalibur Blade between my two fingers.

“My my. Since when did the little lambs grow so big to judge an Angel?”

My power soared.

The Shroud had increased my power as well. If I had to make an estimate, I was around eight and a half times as strong as Serafall. Almost as strong as Rizeim and Sirzechs from what I have heard of them.

This time however, I didn’t hold back.

That flashback had made me remember some unpleasant things and now this idiot was pulling a stunt like this. I was quite pissed.

He tried to pull back the blade quickly but it didn’t budge.

I had trained my physique to be able to bear my Haki. Even without any Demonic Power, my current Physique would be on par with some named Dragons.

The holy aura of the blade increased but the Armament Haki on my fingertips was not bypassed by the power of a broken and incomplete sword.

The area started to tremble as every exorcist ran outside to check up on the clamour.

The man in question himself had fallen down on his knees and by now was only relying on the aura of the sword to protect himself from my radiating power.

“Trying to judge an Angel… Do you fancy yourself as God, child?”

The surroundings were starting to wither away and he was starting to have burns from my holy aura alone.

Realising, I had sent the message, I left the sword and the man fell to his knees gasping for breath. “I found out that the church was becoming corrupted. Playing with the lives of innocent children, experimenting on them, all in the name of God. I thought it was only a select few who were so… but now… I will rethink everything. Do not for a single moment think that your sins will be overlooked just because you are from the church. If the Vatican follows the path of Sodom and Gomorrah… it shall meet the same end as well.”

I didn’t wait for them to recover and teleported from the place as fast as I could.

This will surely be spread like wildfire.

Poor Sean.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I returned back to Kyoto a few hours after the incident.

I didn’t tell anyone about this.

On second thought, this act,while done impulsively, can be used quite well.

If nothing else, it will keep the three factions busy for a while.

The church had been getting jumpy.

Hopefully it will keep them reigned in for some time.

“Boss, why did you do that? Now, the Boss Lady and the little Midget will tear me apart.”

I looked at him who was just a small distance away from the place when I had released my energy, ready with the True Longinus out to assist me at a moment’s notice.

He acted like a goofball but was always ready to assist us. This guy cared about the team a lot.

I guess it was time.

Sean had got his Binder’s Mark previously.

I need to collect some more  marks for Valerie and Gasper.

There were several changes in me due to the Shroud.

Was the Shroud of Turin different somehow?

It was the only one of the Holy Relics that was not made into a Sacred Gear. Why?

I shook my head for now. The changes will be addressed later. My Observation Haki sensed something interesting going on near the main battlefield.

It looks like things are picking up pace.

- Merlin -

Merlin looked at the kids fighting against the Ayakashi forces.

They were doing things quite admirably.

He was mainly here to keep any devils from interfering in the fights as well as keep an eye on the kids.

Another thing was to keep the little miss in front of him from realising what his little brother was up to.

Damien Lucifer… Asmodeus.

In his previous incarnations, Merlin would have scoffed at the idea of him joining forces with a Devil, let alone ‘The Devil’. And yet, here he was… with someone carrying the Asmodeus blood as well.

The flashes of the future he had seen were enough to convince him that despite his prejudice, this was the best path that this world could take in general.

Thus he chose his new King and fair to say that he wasn’t disappointed in the least.

The gift of his new powers alone would have had a man of knowledge like him sold in the first place but Damien Lucifer… Merlin saw him as a person who could change the world. And when he did so, he wanted to be standing beside him.

He watched as the kids held back the commanders of Nue but were just short of preventing the revival. The Phenex Tears with the commanders was one of the reasons behind it.

Nue arose from Yomi.

“Should we intervene, Merlin?” He heard Gretel’s voice.

“No. Kuroka is there. If we show ourselves, there is a chance that Nue might change his plans.”

“So, what did I miss?” They both heard a voice from the back.

Turning around, they saw Damien coming in followed by Sean. he looked at the nervous look on Sean’s face and realised that something might have happened.

He still decided not to bring things up.

“Nue has just been reincarnated. Not a perfect reincarnation but still enough. Kuroka gave the children some chances to fight. They did but the difference in experience, alas, they are still too young and don’t train often enough.”

They waited and looked at the scene in front of them.

Nue had attacked a part of the town and would have laid waste to the place if not for Kuroka redirecting his attack upwards.

He saw Sean whistling, “The wild kitten has gotten really good. This Senjutsu thing seems to be very great, Boss.”

“It is. You should try learning. I mean, you could try the one that combines with Chakra.”

“Oh! Is it the sage mode thing you had talked about? It had been quite interesting along with that Yin-Yang Release stuff. If the current research in Magecraft wasn’t keeping me busy, I would have even tried to work on that but alas, even with my current power, I can only make and maintain five hundred clones at best and Reality Marbles are endless ditches that keep taking more and more research.” The Archmage was beyond anything he could have imagined. It just opened too many paths for him and he wouldn’t be his own self, if he left those paths unattended.

“I… will probably give some more time to my Haki first. My lessons with Runes have been quite helpful but I don’t think I can take much more than this at the moment.” Sean raised his hands. In this matter, Sean was always quite aware of his limits and never took on jobs he couldn’t handle. It was an admirable quality for a person to have. “By the way, Boss. Who is that girl you asked for Rossweisse?”

Oh! Now this was news. He looked at Damien who was still watching the fight.

“She is someone with great magical talent. I dare say, she could even rival Merlin if guided properly. She has a bit of an inferiority complex due to not inheriting her family Magic. Due to this, she was always sidelined by many except her grandmother. She took refuge in books and that’s where her talents lay. I want her to be a part of my team. Did you meet her by any chance in Valhalla?”

“Hmm. She is being personally coached by Lady Brynhildr about the Norse Magic.”

Sean came in and whispered into his ears. “And she looks a lot like the Boss Lady, except with blue eyes.”

Oh! That is quite interesting.

“Looks like things are about to end there.” Damien said as he watched Kuroka facing Hagoromo Gitsune, only for Nue to attack them both together.

Kuroka due to her superior senses and skill in both Senjutsu and Haki was able to dodge. The other… was not so lucky.

Nue didn’t show any sign of remorse either.

“Looks like the deal is already done, my King. Should we intervene?”

“Hmm. Did you analyse the method used by Nue to break his limits?”

“I did. It was a ritual of sacrifice to create a better vessel to suit his strengthened soul when he reincarnated. Abe no Seimei was originally half human and that limited his potential quite a lot. His ritual however used his human side to be completely changed into an Ayakashi. The sacrifices didn’t actually create a body but rather strengthened his soul. The Fear that they had been collecting around all this while was then used as a medium to manifest a body inside his mother’s womb. The new body will be of greater power as it will be made according to his now stronger soul. I have to say that it was quite a well thought and brilliant plan. Too bad, the kids ruined the supply of fear and he couldn’t manifest completely. He will gain strength over time and might rival the likes of a sage with his new potential when he is complete, even more if he trains himself.”

“He is still a Kitsune, right?”

“Yes. Kitsune Ayakashi.”

“Alright. That’s what I needed to hear. We take him in alive. Hagoromo Gitsune is already with us now, so let’s clear this mess.”

Merlin watched in fascination as an overwhelming pressure fell on the entire area. The Conqueror’s Haki.

A vortex of clouds formed in the sky.

He had mastered this technique too, although he was nowhere near this level of expertise. Weaponizing someone’s will was a thought that hadn’t even stuck him before he was introduced to Haki.

The entire opposing army except for Nue and Hagoromo Gitsune collapsed in the very next moment.

- Damien -

“Kuroka, Akira. Take the top brass prisoners. Seal Nue but don’t attack Hagoromo Gitsune.” I spoke through my Binder’s Link.

With my stronger soul, my Conqueror’s Haki was probably the Skill that was strengthened the most. I could get a much better control of the skill with much less effort.

“This Conqueror’s Haki is such a cheat. I kinda feel sorry for those people. They couldn’t even get a warrior’s end.”

“They didn’t get a warrior’s end because they were not warriors in the first place. A warrior wouldn’t have collapsed from just that. Conqueror’s Haki attacks the spirit and I wasn’t even focusing on them. They didn’t have the heart of a warrior.”

“I don’t think you realise that your current attack would have crushed even Ultimate Class beings. The weaker ones are probably in a comatose state already.”

I looked down and yes, some of them did look like they were comatose.

“Remind me to train our armies to resist Haki. Withstanding this pressure is a good way to strengthen one’s spirit.”

Nue tried to oppose but under the attacks of both Akira and Kuroka, he was taken down in moments because he was not even at full strength. Although he had enormous experience, he was ultimately just reincarnated and that too not completely. And on top of that, the Haki must have disoriented him.

Akira was stronger than Kuroka in terms of raw power while Kuroka was more about skill at this point. It was due to the increased training that Akira had had inside the Innovate Clear. He was using a disguise in case there were any spies from any factions watching this scene. Him being my subordinate was kept hidden for now to avoid some trouble.

With everything done, I went to meet with Yasaka and Nurarihyon.

– Yasaka –

"Just what in hell happened there?" She heard Magari's quivering voice as she looked at the massive vortex covering the skies of Kyoto. One moment, it looked like Nue was going to attack and the very next moment, everything was over. He was on his knees, holding and screaming his brains off while the status of his entire army was unknown.

“It’s the Boss. He took action personally.” One of Akira’s clones answered their doubts.

“A type of Mental Attack of sorts?” She didn’t sense anything.

“It’s Haki. Something we were taught. Although, this particular  type of Haki is rare. According to the Boss, only one in a million can awaken this. It’s a type of Spiritual Attack. Haki in the loosest of terms is just as it sounds, Willpower. The User exerts their will power over others and subdues them. Sometimes they can even use it on the world, to cause this kind of phenomenon. It simply surpasses the normal barriers and is nigh impossible to defend against. As the Boss says, ‘Numbers don’t matter against Kings.’”

“Are there other types of Haki?” She asked, not taking her eyes off the scene.

“There are but I am not permitted to say what those are or what they can do. My apologies.”

She then watched as both Kuroka and the real Akira fought Nue. The fight was a bit lacklustre as they had just overpowered Nue with brute force.

She did notice something off about it.

“Akira seems to be well-versed in Senjutsu, especially the sensing part. It looks as if he is dodging Nue’s attacks which is quite astonishing as Nue himself is extremely versed in Senjutsu and his attacks are hard to detect even for us.”

“He is not using Senjutsu.” The clone replied, without going on any further. She understood that she wouldn’t get anything out of it and didn’t ask further.

Finally Kuroka did something 

Surprisingly, none of them touched Hagoromo Gitsune and neither did she retaliate. She seemed to still be in shock from the betrayal.

Inside, Yasaka felt a hint of vindictive pleasure at seeing that look on the other Nine Tailed Fox’s face for the betrayal she had to face because of her people, because of him. But somewhere, she did feel a good amount of pity for the mother, being betrayed by her child. She guessed that Karma was a thing.

“You all should send people to take in the unconscious Ayakashi and Youkai. Some of them might gain consciousness soon.”

She did just that. She could always discuss the new systems of magic with their Boss later on.

- Damien -

The entire fiasco of the Youkai was resolved in a few days after their leaders were captured.

Merlin took Nue to extract information from him.

Hagoromo Gitsune asked for permission to give birth to her child again but this time without any memories so that she can help him out once more.

This woman.

Even after being betrayed by her child, she was still trying to protect his life.

We agreed on the condition that he willingly gives up his power to her. All she asked was for the contract to be made.

She was already brokered into loyalty to me. I didn’t have any reason to fear her rebelling.

I don’t know what she did but she got the contract signed. We never saw Nue’s body but she confirmed that he would never bother us again.

The guy, crazy he might have become was an inevitable genius is magic. Someone that even Merlin accepted was not less than the normal or rather previous him.

He had extracted all of Nue’s knowledge and boy was it a lot.

He had single handedly developed the Onmyoji Style to the level of an art.

Abe no Seimei was called the father of Onmyojutsu in Japan. Before him, the only Onmyoji clans were those associated with the Shinto, namely the five principal clans and some other loose Onmyojis. He devised an entire system of magic to be taught to people with any affinity with Spiritual Magic.

The knowledge we extracted was shared with the Himejima Clan under Suzaku and among my subordinates too.

Tsubaki was progressing extremely well with the added techniques. Akeno on the other hand was concentrating on the Purifying Flames and Holy Lightning.

With the added power from Nue, Hagoromo Gitsune was far stronger now than before, her power rivalling the likes of Serafall easily and I added a Negative Fruit on top of that, getting ourselves another beyond Satan Class member for our team.

The incident and betrayal of her people had left a massive effect on her confidence. At least a saving grace was that around fifteen of her subordinates were still loyal to her and followed us.

They signed a contract as well to avoid any problems later on.

“Are these all?” I asked, looking at the people in front of me.

“Yes. For now. I got the non devil prisoners from the dungeon first. Are you going to tell me what you want to do?” Merlin asked, looking at the gathered group. Fallen Angels, Youkai, Ayakashi and even some Vampires.

“I might have figured out what my power is as a Lucifer.”

“Oh, what?”

“According to Razevan, it is always something related to the myth of Lucifer. Although I don’t think he is particularly on point about the thing, it did give me a hint. Considering that I am a soul reincarnation of Lucifer or something, this thing did apply to me. Now, tell me, what was Lucifer most famous for?”

“There were many things. Most famous would be… The creation of the Devil Race?”

“Technically yes. Do you know how he did that?”

“I think it was both his and Lilith’s joint effort.”

“Well, here’s a clue.” I walked over to the first Fallen Angel. He was someone even Azazel had rejected to bring into Grigori. A Fallen Angel completely fallen into depravity, no pun intended.

I had most of my soul repaired and thus merged with Lucifer’s soul. It also awakened the power of the Lucifer Clan when I touched the last one, the Shroud of Turin.

I concentrated on the feeling, got the image in mind and let my Demonic Power do the rest of the work.

The feathers on the Fallen Angel’s wings fell off as it turned into a black wing like a bat’s.

Demonification.

“Lucifer was the first being to reincarnate into a Devil. Lilith was the first reincarnated Devil. He later changed the other Satans into Devils too. If he could, there should be no reason why I couldn’t do the same.”

I saw the stunned look on Merlin’s face after which he quickly ran some tests on the subjects. “I will observe them for a while.” He said when he completed the tests.

I went on changing the other races into Devils as well.

“Check if they retained their original powers. All the mutations and changes in their personalities. I don’t want to use this on any of my subordinates unless we are completely sure of all the side effects.”

He nodded and got to work once more.

If there is something I have learned about Merlin, it’s that he can get completely lost in work.

In these last few days, almost all of my main subordinates got marked.

The Youkai were collecting themselves.

The children had progressed but they were still far behind real monsters of the world.

I had another meeting with them after the war ended.

Some things were decided.

Yasaka wanted to trade for the methods to use Haki for Youkai specific skills for Akira or any other subordinate we might have.

Surprisingly, Nurarihyon requested the same in return for their techniques.

Apparently, my show of the Conqueror’s Haki had shaken them as well as the entire Youkai faction watching the scenes. I didn’t know about any spies but I am pretty sure, anyone doing so would have reported this to their factions as well. I am pretty sure that there were several spies from the Devils keeping an eye on the scene. It was just something any sane faction would do.

The negotiations were fairly simple. I promised to train a few of their best in return for them doing the same for some of my own. They won’t be able to teach everyone my techniques that easily because most of them required the assistance of the Archmage Essence. While they can be recreated, it would be immensely hard.

I did get them to negotiate with the current government to send some of their people back while publicly executing several of them. The Naberius and the Nebiros being among them.

The executions will take place in a week while the ones being sent back included the two King Piece users that were captured.

They were already made to sign the contracts. Surprisingly, they gave up very fast. All I needed to do was disable their King Pieces temporarily and both of the main fighters were crying babies in no time. They weren’t even proficient in their own power, just brute forcing things with the power of the King Piece. It was honestly annoying to watch them waste that much power.

There were six or seven people among the top ten Rating Games players who were using the King Pieces.

Diehauser had been waiting for the signal. As soon as he got it, both he and Cleria ambushed three other King Piece users.

They got the same treatment as well. We now had five King Piece users as spies, just waiting for action.

The best part was the billions we got for the ones we returned as compensation for the damages they had caused. Those idiots were among the Top Ten Rating Game Players and as funny as it sounds, among the strongest forces of the Devil Race, right behind the Satans and their peerages. Sending them back was something Yasaka especially didn’t want to do and the only reason she did so was on my request. In the negotiations with Serafall though, she made the Devils bleed for taking them back.

Two dozen Phenex Tears for each person. Forty Eight Phenex Tears is something that the entire Phenex Clan produced in a year or so. The other peerage members were released for money. It probably emptied a lot of the money they had earned from the fixed Rating Games, not that it matters. The five were going to go bankrupt anyway.

Serafall obviously wanted to get the others too but was rejected.

This time, Serafall’s attitude was much better than the last time.

As expected, several other factions found out about the Unnatural Phenomenon that ended the war. It was guessed that the Youkai had a trump card or someone extremely strong backing them up. 

Everyone was tense but none of the Youkai leaders made any statements. Even the Shinto hadn’t asked for any statements ‘because this was the Youkai’s matter’ as Nurarihyon had kindly reminded them when they tried to take a feel of the situation.

The Three Factions on the other hand were already tense because of the appearance of a so-called ‘Super Archangel’ all of a sudden and Michael had no idea what was happening.

The funny thing was that, although he didn’t know anything, he still kept quiet and didn’t downright deny the statement.

Even Angels were doing politics now.

Add this on top of what happened in Kyoto and the Devils side was much tamer than normal due to the sudden arrival of two insanely strong unknowns.

Azazel called me instead to ask if I had anything to do with the Youkai mess. He had doubts about my involvement with the Youkai because of Kuroka and I confirmed it, finally making the man calmer.

Some people decided to sit on the fence and wait for some idiot to poke the nest and see if the beast came out.

I returned to my room and saw Gretel cleaning.

She never allowed anyone else to take care of this room.

I spread my Observation Haki around the area to confirm no one was around us and walked in. She noticed me and nodded before continuing her work.

Gretel was opening up in the last few months. Especially the relationship between us.

I walked behind her and hugged her, resting my chin on her shoulder.

“Master!” She yelped, her face growing red to her ears.

“Yes.” I replied nonchalantly.

“Someone will come in.”

“Let them. Do you think I am afraid of anyone knowing about us?”

Her blush deepened and I hugged her closer before turning her towards me.

“You are a little miffed with me, right?” I asked. She found out about the Super angel thing and had looked at me first thing. I pretended to not know anything but it’s better to clear things out than to keep her worrying unnecessary.

“I-I no. I am… I am just… worried.” She looked down, not meeting my eyes.

I cupped her face in my hands and made her look up towards me.

“You are important to me, Gretel. I… I love you.” Her eyes widened as she looked at me directly into the eyes. “What? Did you think I would do this to just anyone? We both have had… An unusual childhood with each other being the main people we relied on. I was afraid that me approaching you would force you to accept and reciprocate my feelings and I don’t want that. I would never force you.”

“You aren’t…”

“I know. I know this now.” I paused before collecting myself and speaking again “These feelings… I struggle to handle them sometimes. I am trying to get better but sometimes I… I am broken, Gretel. So, if I do something wrong, please tell me directly. If not in front of others, then privately. In relationships like these, we give our partners some power over us as a sign of trust. I want you to use that power. Understood?”

“I… you are not broken, Master. I am. I am… dirty.” She looked down and suddenly my urge to kill Euclid in the bloodiest of ways ignited again. Although no lines were crossed, the abuse she endured left a mental scar and a massive inferiority complex in her, which can only get better with time and nothing else.

“Gretel! Look at me.” I raised her face to look into her eyes again. “You are not dirty. I forbid you from saying that again. You are my Gretel and I won’t let anyone insult you… Not even you yourself. Understood?”

Her eyes teared up lightly as she nodded. I wiped her eyes with my fingers, our faces close to each other. I leaned in as she closed her eyes in waiting.

The door slammed open. “Dummy!”

We got back quickly, Gretel becoming quite flustered.

I looked at the little gremlin who had stopped my first kiss with Gretel although accidently.

The said gremlin however was narrowing her eyes as she looked at us. “What were you two doing?”

“I was looking into her eyes.” I blurted.

“Hah?”

“Umm, Master was looking into my eyes to see if there was any dust in it. I got some when cleaning the room.” Gretel said.

Good save.

“Really?”

“What else would we be doing?” I asked.

“N… nothing. They were calling you. Merlin made that Reality Marble thingy. We were going to test and see how it works.”

Fucking Merlin.

I saw Gretel’s eyes twitch slightly. Merlin was in for a bad day. Not that I cared this time.

“Oh. This one was rather fast. Sure, I will be there in a minute. By the way Vi, I need you to do something for me. Can you go to the labs and call for Helena and Cleria? They will need to be present for this one too.”

“Oh, okay. By the way, the location is the eighth training ground.”

I nodded as she left the room quickly.

A moment later, Gretel looked at me and then walked towards the door and I followed her, only to pull her back into my arms and capture her lips while my other hand closed the door behind us.

Her lips were soft and after a few moments of surprise, she melted into my arms and moved her lips to reciprocate.

Her hands wrapped around my neck and mine around her waist pulling each other more into the kiss.

We broke our kiss after a minute and looked into each other’s eyes. No words were said as we communicated with our eyes and in the next moment, jumped in for another one.

As if I would let our intimate moment get ruined by anyone.

I am ‘The Devil’. I don’t get blue balled.

- Vienna -

Vienna walked quickly towards the lab, her speed only sort of running.

They were about to kiss.

Gretel and Dummy were about to kiss… and she accidentally interrupted them.

Damn, Merlin.

Couldn’t he make that whatsitsname at a later date.

Everyone was rooting for the two to get together and she almost blew it up.

Good thing, Dummy was not a coward like those dumb anime protagonists.

Oh, yes. If he wanted to hide then he should have waited till they were out of her Observation Haki’s range.

She was happy for them.

Now all she needed to do was go and collect her winnings from the betting pool. She and Charlene had won the bet about when they would get together and have their first kiss.

- Michael -

“This was all, Sir. I couldn’t see his face and he didn’t give any name either. I apologise for my rude behaviour.”

Michael looked at the man kneeling in front of him, eyes to the ground.

“Did you see how many wings he had?” Raphael asked.

“I didn’t see any wings either, Sir. I was called when the guard had informed me that an Archangel had arrived and was going to see the Shroud. I knew that none of the Archangels had descended because I just had a meeting with Lord Ariel so I headed there. The guard had seen the shadow of twelve wings and a halo above his head. And his power…”

Yes. The Power.

The amount of holy energy was so high that it could still be felt in the land after an entire week. And this was just from him flaring his aura. Such power… Michael could only remember one being but…

"Did he say anything before leaving?" Michael asked.

"He…"

"Don't be afraid. Speak up. You were just doing your duty. We don't blame you for anything."

"Thank you, Sir. He said that the church should not think themselves above justice and… and if the Vatican follows the path of Sodom and Gomorrah, it shall meet the same end. He was mentioning the experiments, the Siegfried Project, I think."

… 

… 

"Thank you for your report, Edward. You may return to your position again."

"Thank you, Lord Michael."

Seeing him leave, Michael turned towards his siblings. "What do you all think of this? Do you really think any of our brothers had survived in the Great War and refused to return like Metatron?"

"It could be… but their power doesn't make sense. If we had someone like this on our side during the Great War… things would have been very different." Uriel said.

"Strength can be increased through training. If someone trained all this time, achieving this level of strength… is not impossible. The question is, why now?" Raphael asked.

"This exorcist was hiding something. Did the person do anything suspicious to the Shroud?"

"He… walked up to the shroud, took it and then… he fell to his knees and shed tears. He got up after a few moments and put the Shroud back and left without any words. The only reason he even stopped was because Edward interrupted him or he would have left without any words.” Michael reported.

The atmosphere grew quiet for a while and Michael voiced out a thought.

“If such a person were to return back and take charge of the System… things would have improved a lot.”

“Michael, you can’t be…” Uriel started but was stopped by Raphael.

“Why would it matter, Uriel? Didn’t you sense the Holy power in the area? He was without a doubt a brother of ours. Someone who came out because of our incompetence. He came out because nowadays children are being killed in the name of our Father while we do nothing and sit here in fear to maintain a hoax. Had Father been alive, he would have…”

Raphael left the words alone but he didn’t need to say anymore.

All of them present here knew of the answer already.

“Finally, thinking things through,” Michael ordered. “Raphael, send an investigation to all the facilities of the Church and have them checked. If you find anything illegal, suspend the research and have the ones in-charge tried. Azazel and Sirzechs have called for a meeting. Gabriel has gone to meet Serafall and is keeping her busy. Everyone has been shaken due to the appearance of this Archangel. I need to make a statement. The only reason I could keep this up was because of the things going on in the Youkai Faction. There have been a lot of rumours coming from Kyoto and the Devils are busy cleaning up the mess. I cannot keep this up any longer. If this brother of ours is unsatisfied with us, then let’s work to make Heaven better and hope he returns back.”

- Serafall -

They watched the video once more and then sat back in silence.

“Are you sure there was no tampering with the video?” Falbium asked for the umpeenth time.

"I checked the ones involved in the incident myself. There was another Eight Tailed Kitsune who is also suspected to be a sage and was working closely with Kuroka. They were both at least beyond normal Ultimate Class beings. I questioned the prisoners and found out that it was mainly the Kitsune who captured their entire peerages all by himself."

"How do we not know of such a Youkai? Even Yasaka herself would be in danger against them and their entire peerages."

"He is a sage." She replied quite curtly.

Sages are known to be able to use Nature Energy to use strengths beyond their own.

"Are sages so easy to come across? Two of them came out of nowhere. Add them with the existing forces of the Youkai and they are becoming a decently strong faction."

"They are, and that's not mentioning whatever it was that happened during the war recently causing the rebels to lose instantly. Is it another person or did Yasaka use the Leylines? You said that the Nekoshou had said that only the children were fighting and that none of the adults had made any moves. There were over a thousand Youkai and Ayakashi being subdued almost instantly, even Ultimate Class beings like Nue weren’t able to escape and yet….none of the allies were hurt.. Do you think they have someone else that we don’t know about? Maybe….”

“I don’t know, Falbium. Although, I don’t think it could have been Yasaka. The fight was at the castle where the node of the Leylines were. Moreover, Yasaka was poisoned the last time I met her and wasn’t in any condition to fight. She was sitting in front of me due to sheer willpower and hatred because someone from the Devil’s side had kidnapped her child.”

“On that matter, what is the situation with the captured Devils?” Ajuka looked towards Sirzechs as it was his job to take care of the matters on this end.

“Several of the houses are ready to revolt at the mere mention of sentencing them. There are many who want to attack the Youkai and get the others back, including the Nabiros Head whose son is about to be executed.”

“Mostly related to the ones who were punished the last time, I guess. They were informed about the treaty and expressly forbidden from doing just this and yet….”

“Some of them said that since I said that they could fight this fight on their own, they did just that. They attacked the Youkai on their own.” Sirzechs held his head.

….

“If that’s the case, then they can save their people on their own too. No need to say anything in these matters. The attackers will forever be banned from any Rating Games. The compensation we had to pay will all be deducted from their properties. If they refuse to pay, remove the rights of anyone from their houses to participate in the Rating Games. There is an unknown Archangel with powers comparable to our own or maybe even surpassing us like their father out there. We have neither the time nor patience to deal with this.” Ajuka said, looking annoyed. It was very rare of him to show his annoyance but she understood his feelings well.

It was the Archangel.

This time, they hadn’t needed any spies to know about this matter. The entirety of the country and even some neighbouring ones had felt that aura. The area was saturated with Holy Power for over a week.

“I think it’s exactly because of this that they are pushing us more. The Great King faction thinks that they can get away with this because we don’t know of the Archangel and are busy worrying about him. We cannot focus on any of the internal matters with such an emergency. They don’t understand what could happen if someone of that strength decided to take action. Normal Ultimate Class Devils wouldn’t even be able to stand in its presence alone. But that’s not even the worst part. The System of Heaven will be far more effective and the Angels will be able to act more freely. Do you think Michael was hiding this trump card?” Falbium said.

“Not really. It wouldn’t have made any sense. The Angels have been in a very dire situation and if they had someone like this, they would have brought him out beforehand if for nothing than to keep us and the Fallen in check. Even the matter with Odin and the church would have been handled much better. I think it might be one of those who had left after their father had passed away. Michael would be just as surprised as us but still, get a meeting with him. But before anything, we need to settle this matter inside our own faction. Things would become extremely messy if they attacked the youkai during the execution.”

Serafall had to agree too. “The Great King faction has been too much of a pain lately. We need to find a way to restrain them. This time, we just don’t have the leeway to go out and pressure out the other factions with our power. Has Zekram made any moves?”

Sirzechs just shook his head. “He’s quiet. Probably looking for an opportunity for us to mess up and make us owe one to him. These types of waiting games are his forte.”

“We could always get some other houses to support us. I think your father was planning to engage your sister to the Phenex boy. “ Ajuka commented only for Sirzechs to wince.

“She didn’t want it, did she?”

“Riser has….a very strong personality.” Sirzechs started to speak only for her to roll her eyes.

“He’s a jerk. We know. No need to mince your words in this room, Sirzechs. So, what happened, Rias threw a tantrum?”

“Throwing a tantrum would have been better. When father had revealed about the contract, she had downright denied it. She said that she will challenge him to a Rating Game. Riser didn’t make it better and just mocked her and her peerage instead. He said some offensive things about Akame and while father and Lord Phenex blew it off as children’s fight it was anything but. Now, she is downright murderous. She has increased her training.”

“Is this still about that person? She’s still hung over the Lucifer boy?”

“It is. Father was worried about her crushing on the guy and thus pushed the engagement talks faster. He thinks that Riser would help her forget about that guy but it had the opposite effect instead. Father and Rias are both stubborn and are not backing out. Now, I rarely see her. She’s either in her lessons, training or visiting the Paimons for the treatment of her Queen.”

“Is Akame-chan doing fine?”

“She is. She trains all day with Rias and is progressing quite well. Apparently, Ophelia Paimon has a Youkai well versed in Senjutsu in her peerage and is offering her advice with her training. Beowulf has met the person and he seemed amicable enough.”

“The Paimons have a very good network. Especially now with their rapidly spreading medicine Industry. Many small factions trade with them and they were one of the houses who were affected the most when this debacle with the Youkai happened. They have stayed out of this entire mess while trying to soothe their contracts. Ophelia has managed the situation quite well. They are also not really a part of the Great King faction, being one of the last houses to change sides during the Civil War, only after the previous Lord Paimon died. Ophilia has managed her house quite well in this cesspool and she is currently very close with the Salos and even the younger Dantalion sister. I think she is close to your sister as well, Falbium.”

“Well….she is. Charlene and Ophelia Paimon get along quite well.”

“We can try approaching her to support our side.” She suggested.

“I don’t know. The only way Ophelia has managed to keep herself out of all this is by ardently avoiding politics all together. She has mainly kept the members of other extinct or bankrupt devil houses among her employees to avoid getting influenced by any other houses. She is a pure businesswoman.”

“And she is also someone who is being inconvenienced by this entire matter. Not to mention, there have been some undercurrents of others eying her growing businesses. We don’t need her to become a politician, just a good enough businesswoman. If we could get some control over the economy of the Underworld out of the Great King faction’s hands, we will get a lot more breathing room. Ophelia is looking to expand into other fields but is worried about others. All we need to do is support her and we can not only gain her goodwill but also help weaken the Great King faction somewhat.”

“….we can try but we need to clear our internal matters first. A super strong Archangel and a Lucifer look alike appearing at the same time, is this the prelude to another Great War?”

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Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author’s Note:

This chapter marks the end of the Kyoto Youkai arc. The war itself might have been a little lacklustre but its effects will be anything but. To be perfectly honest, the fights had to be that way because Nue’s side were set up from the very start. They were more like puppets dancing to Damien’s tune than anything.

Damien flexes for the first time and half the world is in chaos.

About the Flashback. God’s wife’s idea came from the Lucifer show and Lucifer’s mother. I just put my own twist in all this.

She will not be making any appearances nor would there be any major dramas regarding her but it will explain several of the actions that previously didn’t make any sense.

When will all this be cleared up?

Well, God knows but he’s dead, so he isn't telling anyone anything

I am not trying or even planning to bash anyone. Everyone will have their own point of views and we will understand their thoughts later too.

For now, just roll with it and just keep these at the back of your mind.

Also, Gretel and Damein finally had their first kiss.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.