Overlord of biblical proportions: The new Three-Sided War (16) (Patreon)

Michael, revered Seraphim and Keeper of His Throne in the temporary absence of the Heavenly Father, was deep in thought.

It was an action that Michael had found he has been doing more and more. To the great regret of most holy Michael, his current role as the appointed commander of the Heavenly Host and guardian of Heaven and humanity, it was an action that was severely required of him.

It was a self-evident truth, that the roles Michael was forced to play, in his own opinion, were being accomplished with damning mediocrity.

After all, Michael's creation was the Father’s act aiming at creating His deputy, or closest assistant, and such positions had certain requirements, and Michael had them with aplomb. It was his reason for living, after all. Responsibility, punctuality, task-orientation, all those Michael has in spades.

And had he remained just that, a deputy, Michael had no doubt that he could perform his tasks perfectly. And yet, now being forced to act as a leader, something that requires creativity and decisiveness, Michael had found himself floundering more and more. Thus, Michael had found himself spending more and more time second-guessing his actions and plans.

Michael, after all, was an instrument of His will, and just that.

While the Heavenly Father made decisions and set tasks, Michael’s sole duty was to flawlessly carry them out. Whether it was an attack on foreign religions, protecting prophets and saints from the intrigues and predations of the Devils or their Fallen brethren, or simply settling the work of the bureaucratic apparatus of Heaven. All were accomplished with perfection.

Of course, Michael was the furthest thing from being stupid, even in his deepest pits of self-doubt, he would never doubt the work of the Father. Of course, as an instrument of His will, he is intelligent in the way of finding the best way to perform the task before him. However, Michael did not have the ability to strategically plan, to see beyond the horizon or the ability to use of the resources he has, like a real commander or leader.

Therefore, Michael thought a lot and thought often. Where [Omniscience] and the decisiveness of his Father pointed him to the best path of all possible, Michael needed hours of reflection for each of the steps. Strengthen the influence of the church in Central America or South Africa? Make a pact with the elves or the nagas? Strike at the now much weakened Fallen Angels, or to let them survive?

Michael, at least in the opinion of other Angels and others who had ever met him, was to the extreme, a positive, or negative depending on whom you asked, embodied the virtues of calmness, forgiveness, and understanding. However, even he was ultimately only a product of His will, and therefore was imperfect.

He, too, was capable of Sin, Wrath being one of his most damning.

He was able to turn the other cheek after being struck, but one should not forget the words of the Son himself, ‘I did not bring peace to you, but a sword’. Michael rightly was the strongest of all angels, and his most holy blade took many lives of Heaven’s enemies. There was enough forgiveness and understanding in his heart to accept the enemies around him, Devils and the Fallen alike.

But that did not mean that there were no other emotions in his heart regarding his fallen brother, Azazel, or the offspring of his Father’s first creation, Lucifer. Azazel had not struck a mortal blow, or even attacked Father at all, in the Great War. But it was his actions that wounded Father’s heart, and his actions the ones that had deprived the Heavenly Host of a third of its strength at the beginning of the war with the cursed traitor, Lucifer.

The current generations of Devils were also, for the most part, with one or two exceptions, were far removed from those traitors that had spurned the Father’s light. Almost all Devils are now simply descendants or even impostors bearing their title, or just even the lost Lambs, who were seduced by the rewards of eternal life or power.

However, it was difficult for Michael to get rid of his instinctive reaction to the very name of their race. When you had fought their kind for centuries, and they had even been responsible for Father’s death…

Should he think about it deeper, or for longer, to nurse the hatred in his heart, he has no doubt that his wings would soon start turning gray.

Therefore, for Michael, any actions to be taken for the Devils or the Fallen were a complex issue. Especially considering the fact that the Great War was still continuing on till this day, even if in general none of the participants were eager to let it continue… With one crazed outlier.

“Well, Kokabiel certainly didn’t think that way…” Thinking of his dead past brother, whose foolish action had almost doomed the Fallen and restarted a war that has long cooled, drew a mirthless chuckle from Michael.

Returning to his thoughts, Michael thought about how the Great War had ‘ended’.

The angels left the battlefield for the sake of mourning their Father’s passing, the Fallen withdrew from the battlefield after suffering more and more deaths after brushing with either of the other two sides. While the Devils had fallen into a civil war and revolution.

The Great war had ended without any sides winning or losing, even if it felt like it was actually the Heavens that had lost the most. And so for many years after the embers of war had cooled, but not gone out completely, a question loomed in the air.

The war was ‘over’, at least so it seemed to everyone, but it was also not ‘over’, as the hostile relationship remained between the three factions. A state of Limbo where no sides could move to end it, but also unwilling to restart hostilities. A state of affairs that Kokabiel had taken advantage of.

But Michael could not fully blame the other two sides for this state of affairs, as Michael was not truly innocent in keeping peace, true peace from happening. Michael, after all, was not sure that in his heart of hearts, that he would ever really be able to, truly, forgive the Devils and the Fallen for what they had done.

But, at least, for the sake of the future, for the sake of the possible resurrection of the Father, Michael was ready to try.

When the Father returns, if He directs the Heavenly Host to the traitors of the human and angelic race, Michael would stand under his banners and bring heavenly retribution to his defiled brothers. Until that moment, Michael had to try with all his might to create conditions for the return of the Father.

If this meant interacting with Devils and Fallen and shaking the hands of Sirzechs and Azazel in order to put a final end to the Great War by making peace… Well, such would be Michael's sin, and he would happily stand before His judgment, when He returned to his lost children again.

However, until that moment, Michael believed, truly believed that putting an end to the Great War was the right thing to do. An agreement, a peace deal and even an enemy that the Three Factions could join hands in handling a mutual enemy.

The Khaos Brigade is the perfect one to be used as this unifying goal.

The Church, as the oldest and most powerful of the secret agencies, knew about the presence, state, even the makeup of the Khaos Brigade; the agents of the church had infiltrated it from head to toe. Outcast mages, Devils with delusions of grandeur, Ophis him or herself, all of them were under Michael's and the Holy See's watchful eye.

And although Michael did not consider the Khaos Brigade a mortal threat to the whole world, at least at the moment and only when taking into account the actual organization rather than Ophis his or herself. There was no mistaking the power of the Ouroboros Dragon after all.

No, it simply that the Khaos Brigade was too fragmented of an organization to pose a true threat. And with Ophis barely interested with what his or her ‘subordinates’ did, and with these ‘subordinates’ in question mostly spending more time and effort fighting each other than fighting for a common goal, they were not an existential threat.

Ophis himself or herself were dangerous. After all, with the Father gone, and Great Red too interested in doing whatever it is it’s doing in the Dimensional Gap, there were too few ways in the world to stop one of the strongest beings in the world. If he or she made any decision, it would take the whole of the paranormal world to stand a chance.

Thankfully, Ophis’ followers only needed a charismatic and pragmatic leader to act as a figurehead to gather those with large egos to pool their power. It would take much effort to turn the disparate metaphorical ‘flock of sheep’ of the various factions of the Khaos Brigade into an armada of lions. The Khaos Brigade was almost an ironic mirror to the Three Factions.

To conclude a final peace with other factions and turn their eyes to the looming problem is simply two birds killed with one stone.

But instead, rather than concluding a peace summit, the three Factions have never been closer to a reigniting of the flames of war. All because Kokabiel decided to do something so monumentally stupid as to attack Sirzechs, a Devil famous for his love of his family, and anyone close to him. It was quite the famous story, how the Old Satan faction managed to draw the Super Devil into the Civil War, by killing one of the students that Sirzechs had been teaching. Sirzechs joining the New Satan faction also drew in his friend, fellow Super Devil Ajuka, and the rest as they say is history, as the two almost single-handedly won the Civil War.

And so, for Kokabiel to attack that same Sirzechs’ father? It was a surprise that any Fallen Angels had survived the Crimson Satan’s retaliatory attack.

And so the Three Factions had become Two, as the Fallen Angel had been spread to the wind, its remnant fleeing in panic to any harbor that would shelter them, any conditions acceptable, as long as what was left of the Fallen could survive. And yet, even with that desperation, the Fallen Angels, Azazel had chosen the most optimal of options.

They had chosen to put their cards in with the Vampires of Romania, almost literally in the back garden of the Angels, a stone's throw away from the Vatican and the seat of Angelic power. A position that would make the Devils double guess any plans of attack, as it could also be taken as a gesture of aggression towards the Angel.

And so, the Fallen Angels found themselves under the watchful eye of the Holy See, one step away from the center of power of Heaven. The last of their kind in Romania, barely covered by the miserable cover of power of the Vampires from their pursuers, a tribe of traitors in the limelight, one decision away from their total destruction…

And Michael was forced to think.

The scattering of the Fallen Angels as a Faction, has completely destroyed the chance to sign a peace treaty between the Biblical Factions. Even the most naive of Angels would unlikely to support the signing of any agreement with the Devils in the coming months, if not years. Of course, any attempt to reach out to the Fallen Angels was also doomed to fail, the Devils would take such an action as an aggressive act by the Church.

Besides, putting his hand on his heart, Michael could not forgive Azazel for his betrayal.

He could understand, smile and shake his hand, but not forgive.

Looking back on the board, the Fallen Angels’ position was highly untenable. They were simply too much of a tasty morsel for the secondary powers of the world to gobble up. Never mind the fact of what would happen if Michael decided to get rid of the Fallen once and for all.

Located in the very center of Europe, perhaps they have managed to find their new place of residence, but what could the vampires do against the Holy See? Just one word, and the whole tribe of black-winged traitors will be completely cut out from what support they’ve managed to gather, destroyed, and then erased from the pages of history.

Of course, Michael would prefer not to fight Azazel or other Cadres in the human world, but at the moment of greatest weakness, the Fallen were as vulnerable as ever before. There was no need to even act, just put a little pressure on the vampires, and the Fallen would lose their home once again.

But then, therein lies the trouble. Who would shelter a faction of apostates?

The Khaos Brigade.

If Azazel is driven into a corner so completely, then he will go to any length and do any sacrifice for the sake of his people…

But what if you strangle the flower in the bud? Burn off that first neck of the Hydra before it could split. Michael could put the final nail in the Great War now. Not through diplomacy, but through the power of the sword?

But could Michael do it? And how many Angels does he need to sacrifice to do so? Could he even live with himself to lose even more of his brothers and sisters?

"Michael?" An unexpected voice drew Michael from his grim thoughts.

"Gabriel?" Michael exhaled, looking at his sister, "I suppose the Seraphim are already aware of the information?"

"Everyone had questions after you locked yourself in your office, so yes," Gabriel, taking a few steps into the office, examining it with curiosity, as if it was the first time she had stepped foot in the room, and not the reality where it was an almost daily destination. It was a privilege reserved for one of the Four Great Seraphim, and that Gabriel had taken advantage of heartily.

"Uriel, Sariel and Sandalphon have already voiced their pleas to start the preparation for a war footing, the Host of the Heavens should be ready for any deployment at any time, is their reasoning."

"Not surprised," Michael spoke cheerlessly. Uriel, the Flame of God, was always quick to rise and massacre, as, indeed, were Sariel and Sandalphon who followed his lead.

"Who is against it?"

"Metatron and Ramiel are the clear dissenting voices, while the others are still… Deliberating." Gabriel couldn’t look at her brother in the eyes, she could not bear to see the disappointment in his eyes.

In the end, even she herself, Gabriel, the embodiment of love and divine grace, did not list herself among those who were ‘against’ starting a war, or rather, the extermination of the Fallen Angels. After all, Gabriel was famous among the angels not only for her outstanding… figure, and perhaps a touch too ditzy personality.

Despite her light-hearted gestures and easy kindness to all, it was her that holds the seal of the Apocalypse, the breaking of which would start the End Times.

"It's a pity that Daddy can't help us," Gabriel sighed, looking away, not wanting to look Michael in the eye and express the thought that the desire to finally deal with her traitorous brethren was also gnawing at her inside. "Daddy always knew what would be best for the whole world…"

"Gabriel, I remind you again, the preferred lexicon of Heaven for our Creator is ‘Father’ or ‘Heavenly Father’." Michael rubbed his face slightly, it was a familiar chastisement he has for her sister. And he knows that it was equally futile.

No matter how many times he mentioned this fact to Gabriel, she always forgot this important detail after a few minutes… Or preferred to forget, but the difference is academic by this point.

"But I understand your words, the current situation is… too ambiguous for my liking."

After declaring his own doubts, Michael could only stay silent as the two siblings pondered on the future. Before feeling a slight tugging sensation in his mind caused him to raise his hand, attracting Gabriel’s attention. Someone was making a magical connection to speak with him.

"I'm listening?"

Only a select number of people in the entire world had the ability to contact Michael directly, especially when he was in his office in Heaven. And only an even smaller number of them would have dared to do it so unexpectedly without prior notice.

[Your Holiness,] The voice that sounded in Michael's head, made him frown. It was not one of those people that usually contacted him without warning.

"Pontiff?"

[Your Holiness, a report just came from Germany… It seems that the Fallen and vampires have begun sending their spies to churches, seeking support.] Michael pondered for a moment whether this meant that the Fallen had decided to make contact with their white-winged brothers for the sake of concluding an agreement, but his thoughts were shattered after a moment as the report continued.

[It seems they are looking for support and… Eliminating those who did not agree to give it to them.]

"Eliminating?" Michael blinked in incomprehension.

Azazel, of course, was a traitor, but he was not stupid, much less stupid enough to get involved in acts that would mean a war immediately after the almost complete destruction of his entire species. Perhaps an attempt to create contacts with the various churches or even find support among the furthest branches, a denomination of the church that had found itself growing bitter over a schism of some kind, and its followers could still be forgivable.

After all, Azazel was in a desperate position in which he could have resorted to any desperate step, but the outright killing of church agents?! This went beyond desperation and into the territory of outright madness.

Has Azazel been driven mad after watching the Crimson Satan decimating his friends and subordinates?

‘Or this could simply be the actions of another madman, like Kokabiel. If there is one, there could be two after all. And with the collapse of the Fallen Angel Faction, Azazel’s control has never been weaker.’ Michael instantly put the possibilities in his head and allowed a deep crease to form between his eyebrows.

After all, despite the fact that Kokabiel and most of his supporters had died in their suicidal campaign against the Devils and Sirzechs in particular, who could confirm that this was the case? The remnants of his ideology, which continued to pit the fallen and their entourage in a hopeless war, believing that only in this way could they achieve a ‘real’ resolution of the Great War, might still survive.

For a moment, Michael pondered the possibility that a third party was responsible. Deciding for some reason to completely destroy the Fallen Angels, but the probability of such a thing being the reality of the matter was negligible.

Who could benefit from the complete extinction of the Fallen? The expected result, with the Fallen Angel now picking a fight against the Heavens, just right after making enemies of the Devils.

No one would be benefiting except for the Khaos Brigade, hoping to drive them into a corner and force them to join it, but Ophis did not use such tricks, if it understood their meaning at all. Not to mention that such actions required an absolute and up-to-date knowledge of the movements of Fallen Angels, knowledge that had not yet had time to become publicly available. Not only that, but extremely long, and discrete arms.

Any failure to mask their involvement could be used by the Fallen Angels, and Azazel in particular, to garner support from the Angels and the Devils. After all, if a third party was capable of doing something like that now, what’s to say that Kokabiel’s actions wasn’t actually just another false flag attack?

Very unlikely to say the least.

“Who exactly reported the incident and how long ago did it happen? What are the losses?” Michael starts to question the Pontiff for details just in case, receiving his quite expected, but extremely disturbing answer.

[This was reported by several of our agents in Germany, having discovered traces of the presence of Fallen Angels in the locations of the attack. The losses were numerous destroyed churches, about ten exorcists and many priests. Information about what happened came a few minutes ago, but the incidents occurred within the past day or two.]

"So we shouldn't expect Azazel or whoever is supporting these attacks to stop anytime soon," Michael sighed, feeling more weary than ever. More than a dozen people lost in a couple of days?

It was as if fate itself was forcing Michael's hand, forcing him to make the one and only right decision available to. Even if such provocations by the Fallen were not in the pursuit of a goal of unleashing a war of extermination, Michael simply could not remain silent about what had happened. Not now, when the Fallen were so weak and vulnerable, when the Angels, his fellow brothers and sisters, wanted to forever blot out the names of the traitors from God’s book.

To bring upon God's Punishment on the heads of the greatest stain on the Angels’ name.

"Contact Sandalphon, he knows all the current ongoing missions regarding the actions of the agents. Tell him to prepare agents to hide information in the Human World. We will try to do everything quietly and quickly, but only the Father can know for sure if we could succeed." Michael gave out his orders with a note of finality, the Pontiff simply giving a feeling of assent, as the magical connection ended.

“It is done.” Looking at Gabriel, who, sensing the monumental decision that had just been made, stood solemnly before the gaze of her brother.

"Tell the Heavenly Hosts that we are marching to war in the coming hours, with a focus on speed and stealth," Michael nodded gravely, before folding his hands in a prayerful gesture as he prayed for absolution, for himself and for his Fallen brothers and sisters. Even though the Fallen were traitors, they were once his brethren, with some having their guilt only inherited by the fact that they were already born with blackened wings.

Children should not have to answer for the sins of their parents, but if a child follows through to wallow and enjoy the sin, then all that remains for Michael to do is to cast them down before they could sin more.

"Forgive me, Lord, for punishing the godless in your name, and forgive them for the sin they have committed," Michael uttered several such prayers, hoping that his Father could hear him, in this the strongest Angel was much like the meekest of the flock he was shepherding. Uttering prayers hoping that someone would hear them.

After several long minutes in prayer, with a deep breath, Michael finished his prayer with a sense of finality to it.

"Amen."

"Amen," Gabriel uttered along with her brother, opening her eyes at the same moment as Michael, before exhaling slowly. "The traitors of the human race and the Heavenly Host will finally deserve their assigned punishment. Daddy would have been pleased…"

"Maybe," Michael didn’t even chastise Gabriel's mistake, who once again ignored the appropriate vocabulary he had previously mentioned, before raising his gaze up, as if addressing the very Heavens itself. That is, despite the fact that he himself was in Heaven.

"If only the Holy Father could guide us on what our path should be again…"

***

"Yes, I found a new corpse, a man… It seems that the black-winged are now not even trying to hide their actions," The voice of an elderly woman in the strict vestments of the special department of the Holy Inquisition sounded on the secure phone, before being interrupted by a sigh of disappointment. "Of course, I’ll continue the search, send the cleaners when I'm done…"

After another moment, the phone, not at all a smartphone, but a massive, brick-like mobile phone, which even for the current time period, which had not yet touched the idea of smartphones, seemed anachronistic. It beeped as the call ended, allowing the elderly woman the privacy to run her thumb across her forehead, exhaling after a moment.

"The imperfection of people is so… enttäuschend."

Of course, Pandora's Actor was not so stupid as to demand the perfection of the creation of Forty-One Supreme Beings from beings living outside of Nazarick. Such a thought would be the height of heresy, after all. But still, the horrifying imperfection of the humans still served as a measure of revelation for him, and not one that pleased Pandora's Actor himself at all.

However, the imperfection of humans was, if not forgivable, then at least understandable… While the imperfection of his ‘older brothers’, the Angels, was a much sadder sight.

Pandora's Actor was a hundredth-level being, a doppelgänger capable of taking on many forms, even if, in return, his abilities in these copied forms fell short significantly than the genuine article.

For him, finding the Fallen Angels, then going on a journey through the churches of Germany unrecognized, fabricating several false flag attacks, was easy. There was nothing complicated about it, in fact, none at all.

What was much sadder was the very fact that Pandora's Actor needed to resort to such actions.

In the end, wasn't it the sacred duty of Angels to destroy their traitorous brethren? So why do the Fallen Angels, traitor one and all to the Vater, still walk in His creation?

That was the sacred duty of every inhabitant of Nazarick, be them of the first level or the hundredth, such was their loyalty to the Supreme Beings. Even the lowliest of the Homunculus Maids would try to kill the likes of Albedo should the Guardian Overseer even show a hint of disloyalty.

Of course, Pandora's Actor was smart enough not to demand such thoughtless sacrifice, out of loyalty or not, not when there are smarter ways to accomplish their goals. Even the nutzlose menschen, useless humans, especially when his Father's very word was imbued with love, albeit very strict by human standards, for the humans. They deserve forgiveness, even with the many times they had scorned their Creators.

However, Pandora's Actor also understood that betrayal was the most terrible of sins. And so, seeing the Angels of this world, having found the fallen so vulnerable to the retribution they had long deserved… Instead, chose the look and wait approach, to Pandora Actor’s great anger.

It seems they did not intend to show what is the wage of sin to the black-winged traitors at all.

But… Pandora's Actor was not ready to judge such events too harshly, at the moment at least. Until he has a personal meeting with the Angels themselves he would withhold judgment, after all, there could be a very logical reason why the Angels have stayed their hands in smiting the traitors.

But he could admit to himself, seeing such a state of affairs had left him disappointed… and sad.

The Fallen were as vulnerable as ever, for this time the strongest of their cadre were taken out of the game, his recovery to full strength in question… And yet the angels clung to the idea of ‘peace’, as if it was worth more than their loyalty to the Father.

Pandora's Actor tried not to let his mind grasp these thoughts, but when they rose in his head, the disgust arising inside himself made him frown. It was only through mediating on the word of the Son of God, his brother in all but name, his message of forgiveness and redemption could Pandora’s Actor calm down.

However, the road to redemption was long, not only for the Fallen, whom the Father preferred to test again for loyalty to His teachings, but also for the ‘real’ Angels as well.

After a discussion with Demiurge about these thoughts on his Father’s plan, Demiurge himself supported Pandora’s Actor thoughts, but in the end they were able to agree that the Angels might simply be too unsure of what their next actions are supposed to be. After all, even Demiurge, Albedo and Pandora's Actor themselves repeatedly needed clarification of the great workings of Lord Momonga and lengthy reflection on his words before taking a step. How much more difficult would the three have it be if they could not find out the opinion of Lord Momonga?

This was the most charitable reason the three could come up with as to why the Angels were reluctant to finish off the Fallen. Of course, the three were lacking when compared to the incredible intellect of Lord Momonga himself, of course. But that is to be expected, He so surpasses the very concept of genius that mentioning him in such a context was meaningless. It was like trying to figure out whether or not water was wet.

Of course, this still did not atone for the mistakes in the execution of Lord Momonga's plan for the Angels, but this issue could be discussed further in the presence of the Angels themselves. Where Lord Momonga could give out His own verdict, of course.

However, after discussing the situation with Demiurge, Pandora's Actor quickly found a way to direct the hand of the Angels and ascertain their intentions. If they were shown the ‘desire’ of the Fallen Angels to continue the Great War, through some simple application of massacres of the Angel’s flocks. Those sacrificed believers would probably be very happy to be part of the Father’s Great plan, Pandora’s Actor himself would be exulted if Lord Momonga ever ask him for it. And if the sacrificed believers would complain?

Well, then they are not true believers and killing them was the right thing to do.

All Pandora’s Actor needed to do next was simply point the hand towards the Fallen, and watch how the Angels would react to the clear ‘provocations’. Would they finish off the Black-Winged traitor once and for all? The fact that their blackened wings being proof of their treachery caused great distress from Albedo, needing a lot of ‘reassurances’ from Lord Momonga that Lord Tabula Smaragdina hadn’t meant it that way, making the Fallen’s extinction that much sweeter.

Or would the Angels try to ‘forgive’ the Fallen again… How disgusting this gedanke sounds in such a context, the traitors of the Word of God being forgiven… If such a thing were to happen, then Pandora's Actor could no longer consider the Angels his relatives. In that case, the Heavens deserved purification no less than the demonic world.

It was to be expected for the Demons to be heretics, not so much for the Angels.

In the end, Pandora's Actor was picked by Lord Momonga, Father, for this mission. In other words, once again, Pandora's Actor and Demiurge could only offer prayers of prayers to the infinite genius of Lord Momonga. His omniscience once again clear, as he shows that he already knew about the behavior of his past creations.

And even from a world away, He needed only to make one movement, say one word that will direct His followers and pawns along the path He needs. For what other reason would Lord Momonga send Pandora's Actor to Germany, if he just wanted to get information about the state of Angels and the church in this world?

He could send a dozen lower-leveled doppelgängers from the Erich String Orchestra under the command of Chacmool to accomplish such a thing. He could have used Pandora's Actor to infiltrate much more protected groups, for example, to gather information on the Devils.

But to see Lord Momonga making this very decision? Was it simply because he forgot about such a possibility?! Of course not!

By sending Pandora's Actor, Lord Momonga entrusted him with the holiest of missions. He was not only to test the Heavens, but also to direct their actions in the direction He needed to!

Therefore, Pandora's Actor easily, needing only to take on the guise of only several Church members, always choosing not the true zealots of the faith as his targets, but sinners and petty people who used His church to cover their petty deeds, to accomplish his own work. It was only a matter of hours for him to get into a convenient position as a member of ‘special department of the Holy Inquisition’.

After that, it took only a few manipulations, without a twinge on Pandora's Actor conscience, he had dealt with many groups of petty fake priests, using his abilities and some help from Lady Albedo. He had accrued enough identities to be able to point fingers at the Fallen Angels.

At this very moment, he had just finished placing the last domino piece, all he had to do now would see where it lands.

However, this whole plan would not have worked if Pandora's Actor had not been able to properly falsify the attack of the Fallen Angels, something made much harder because the Fallen Angels of Yggdrasil were entirely different from the Fallen Angels of this world. Which meant that his Father’s action in taking control of the church in Kuoh had shown just how far in the future he could foresee everything.

In other words, if Lord Momonga had not made the decision to take control of the Fallen Angels of Kuoh, his plan would have been unfeasible. But after he took Raynare, Kalawarner and Mittelt under his wing… Lord Momonga could not have made his plans even more obvious, only a fool would have missed the clues.

If Lord Momonga had not given his blessing for Pandora’s Actor current plan, all He would need to do was to kill or ignore the Fallen in the Kuoh Church. However, his actions in the past only broadcast his unambiguous and absolute support for the plan of Demiurge and Pandora's Actor.

"Ah, mein Vater!" Even just ruminating on his Father’s unfathomably deep plans, Pandora's Actor could only fold his hands in a prayer of praise, as he addressed the prayer to the Supreme Being of Nazarick.

"How blessed I am to be your son…"

A moment later, Pandora's Actor, having fully enjoyed the personal communion with Lord Momonga, dropped his joyful stupor and returned to reality with some sadness.

"However, until the Angels strike…" Pandora's Actor could only look around before his form began to change and flow, turning into his true form of a grotesque monster that instantly rushed away with incredible speed, seeking to find its next victim.

"Let me, mein Vater, purify the heretics who defile Your name a little more…"

***

"It seems I've dealt with all the possible problems," Momonga sighed, as he walked towards Miki's house, while wiping his brow and trying not to break into a contented smile. He felt a little dirty from reminiscing on the memory of the time that he had just spent several hours in the company of girls on the other side of the world on the beach.

Really, having sex in public, with two girls at the same time at that… Momonga has gone really far from where he had come from.

In the past, he had no girlfriend, was a virgin, and even visiting a beach was an unattainable luxury for him, in the literal sense of the word, given the poisoning of all the earth's natural water bodies. But here, in this world, such opportunities were available to him at the click of his fingers.

Moreover, thanks to the help of the director of his school, Momonga also avoided the need to attend the prison. Last thing he heard, the director was going to use some bureaucratic red tape in order to completely hide his presence among other students of the new school. And just to make sure that his stay of freedom is permanent, the Director would allow information about him to get lost among the inexhaustible grinding wheels of bureaucracy.

In other words, in this world, even bureaucracy obeyed his orders.

Moreover, after sex, the so-called sage time, Momonga even had time to talk with Albedo and Shalltear about his future plans… Sure, the conversation might not be so fruitful, when most of his questions were answered with the same answer each time he asked. Answers such as ‘as Lord Momonga wishes’, no matter whether he asked them about future romantic plans or preferred dishes, but this only pleased Momonga.

At least it worked as proof of concept on the possibility of communicating with the NPCs of Nazarick. Maybe it was not a very substantive conversation, but even it was proof of the idea that Momonga could at least theoretically communicate with them.

How much more beautiful would be a world in which such days continued every day. Every day he could go to a new place, even without the sex afterward, take walks to new places with other NPCs, look at the sights, try new activities, get new experiences. A whole beautiful world before his eyes, for him and for his Nazarick…

"As a whole box of jewels…" Momonga spoke unthinkingly before turning around suddenly, looking around him in a paranoid fear, checking that no one had overheard the cringy thoughts that he had spoken out loud.

Shaking his head to clear it of such ridiculous thoughts, Momonga could only scoff. "Of course, managing the whole world is too problematic, we don't even fully know the powers of the creatures that inhabit this world. We can't just decide to conquer this world so easily. Although keeping a small piece of this world for Nazarick’s enjoyment may not be such a bad idea, perhaps," Momonga smiled at the image before dismissing them, taking a few steps to Miki's house and going inside.

And so, his worries, previously distracted by his memories of his ‘vacation’ just a few minutes ago, instantly began to resurface in his head.

Demiurge had already compiled a complete list of information obtained from the captured Fallen, the bandits of Kyoto and even from Tobio, who had finally been broken with the help of Demiurge himself and Neuronist. Momonga could only applaud Tobio's will, few were able to resist the interrogations of the most sophisticated mind and the chief torture master of Nazarick together for so long and so desperately.

Moreover, this information has also been further processed into easily digestible reports. It was simply a master stroke, at least in Momonga’s opinion, when he had used the excuse that ‘this information was supposed to be brought to every member of Nazarick, and therefore should be as simple and clear as possible.’

Of course, it also had laid the trap to himself where he had to force himself to understand all the information contained in the report all on his own, if only to give respect to Demiurge’s work.

Especially since most of the NPCs were busy. Shalltear and Albedo had returned to Nazarick to recover after their date, Cocytus was engaged in subduing minor religions, Aura and Mare were preparing to join the Chaos Brigade, and Pandora's Actor was conducting a study of the local church.

The only level one hundred NPC currently not involved in Nazarick's activities in the outside world at the moment was Sebas… And Aureole Omega, of course. But Momonga did not plan to involve the latter in Nazarick's outside activities at all, while Sebas remained the only level one hundred defender of Nazarick at the moment.

Of course, Nazarick was located in an unknown empty world, protected on all sides not only by the forces of Nazarick itself, but also by its surroundings, however Momonga still had concerns about the protection of Nazarick in this world.

At the same time, he needed information, a lot of information from all possible corners of this world, ideally, Momonga planned to establish a spy network throughout the world… At least, he would like to hope for the possibility of establishing such a thing.

It was pretty much still a pie in the sky, however.

Momonga, seeing Miki emerging from the kitchen out of the corner of his eye, nodded to her automatically before getting lost in thought once again. An unexpected knock on the front door, brought him back to reality.

"Huh, I wonder who would be visiting at this time…?" Momonga frowned for a moment, taking a few steps to the door again, opening it… To find himself face to face with two schoolgirls already familiar to him.

"Satoru!" Murayama, without hesitation, made her way inside the house without even offering a greeting, leading her friend by the arm, before looking Momonga up and down and shaking Katase slightly, who was hanging on her shoulder.

Katase herself, after these actions, blinked and fixed her gaze on Momonga, before parting her lips and saying slowly, "Satoru… Tell us what we need to do. How do we live on?"

Momonga blinked at these words before shifting his gaze to Miki, who was standing behind the two girls, smiling her motherly smile with her hands folded in a prayerful gesture in front of her.

Momonga could only sigh, only not palming his face as he thinks that such an action would be taken wrongly. "Hmm… Déjà vu…?"