LP CH 29 (Patreon)
Content
After leaving the bath with a satisfactory result, Lucia was humming happily, the expressionless visage never leaving her exquisite face. She not only accomplished her mission but also finally did something truly lewd as a succubus for the first time in her inexplicably long life.
She was positively brimming with energy. It was just a pity that the joy and positivity she was feeling never showed on her cold and blank face without any form of expression.
However, it was not the time to celebrate; what she ought to do now, was something entirely different, something very important for the future of Kuoh town and its supernatural society.
Once she reached her room, she waved her hand and made a magical circle appear on the floor—it was a communication circle intended to connect dimensions for a swift conversation. It didn’t take long for the face of a crimson-haired middle-aged man to appear, curiosity evident on his face at the abrupt and unanticipated call.
“How have you been, Zeoticus-sama?”
“Lucia. It has been a while, hasn’t it? You vanished once again without saying anything to us.”
At the sight of Lucia giving him a courtesy full of elegance, her face completely blank—a reaction of a servant to her master—Zeoticus could only answer with a bitter smile forming on his handsome face.
While Maria was his daughter with Sheila, Lucia on the other hand was the daughter of Sheila from her previous marriage. One with a direct descendant of the Asmodeus clan.
Even so, he had never discriminated against Lucia and had been very happy when she had taken the Gremory name, despite her name as an Asmodeus being far more illustrious and famous.
Sadly, it seemed that Lucia never really managed to become close to any of them even after the passing of such a long time.
“I am very sorry for acting without any form of warning. I initially planned to wait for a while, but the situation seems to be quite dire.”
When Basara came back with an unconscious Asia in tow, he had also explained to her everything that happened to them. Lucia was quite powerful, but her power did not lay in a direct confrontation—her battle power could be said to be quite low.
Furthermore, she could not guarantee if Basara could protect himself as he was currently, and she was unwilling to gamble with the life of her little master she came to like very much over the short span of time they interacted.
Zeoticus focused immediately on Lucia’s words. Lucia was usually someone who liked dealing with her own problems by herself and employing her own methods. For her to judge that the situation was dire and then ask for help—it could only be attributed as a prelude to an imminent catastrophe if not given immediate attention.
“What is the problem?”
“I believe Kokabiel is trying to incite a conflict between the church and the devils.”
Basara did not have access to enough information so he could not make any affirmation but it was different for her.
In the supernatural world, the vehemence and warmongering side of Kokabiel was well known to all the factions giving him a kind of extreme notoriety.
A few years ago Satanael had made the relationship between the five Shinto Families of Japan and the Fallen Angel quite stiff by using exiled members of the five clans as subordinates and allying himself with the stray mages of Hexennacht. In the past, that organization was known as the Wizards of Oz. [1]
If Kokabiel was to wreak havoc now, the fragile peace they painstakingly held together would be broken. Even more so since his targets were without a doubt Rias and Sona.
“*Sigh* So it’s the Fallen Angels again?”
“Indeed. I believe it’s necessary to contact Azazel urgently and to have someone from our side come as support.”
She then proceeded to inform him how a stray ultimate devil was roaming the streets of Kuoh Town with an unknown agenda.
“I see. Who would you like to have as support?”
Lucia hesitated in her choice. Ideally, she would have requested for her half-brother, Sirzech, but not only was there the facet that he was awfully busy all the time, if the leader of the Devils and the leader of Fallen Angels were to meet secretly, the Angels wouldn’t take it well and might grow restless and do something incredibly stupid, further worsening their situation.
Nevertheless, it was impossible to request the presence of Azazel without someone of a certain high enough rank on their side.
“Grayfia and Serafall-sama. I believe those two will be ideal for this situation.”
———
“I see, so the useless bastard died.”
Sitting on a luxurious chair of ivory and black, a man clad in black attire with elf-like ears was listening quietly to a report.
The mirror in front of him was projecting the image of four Fallen Angels as they kneeled with their heads hanging low in reverence.
The reason for their show of respect was simple. The man they were reporting to was none other than—One of the Cadres of Grigori, the organization created by the Fallen Angels.
The reason they were reporting this detail to him and not Shemhazai—the second in command in Grigori—was because Freed had been sent under the direct order of Kokabiel.
Standing up, Kokabiel waved his hand as a form of dismissal, "Very well. I will send the report to Azazel later. Also, I want you to find the one who killed Freed and eliminate him."
““““Understood!!””””
On the other side of the mirror, Raynare and the others accepted the order without a shred of hesitation.
For Raynare, the fact that Freed died a few hours after he came to the town was like a slap straight to her face. She couldn't even imagine how disappointed her superior would be in her—the team leader of this operation.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, her plan to steal and use the sacred gear of Asia Argento—Twilight Healing—might fail since she couldn't find her no matter where she searched. It was as though the earth had swallowed her whole, leaving nothing of her existence behind.
Those two reasons made her hate the killer with vehemence. She couldn't wait to plunge her finger in his brain and slowly break him down in front of her.
———
When Kokabiel ended the conversation, his eyes grew cold as he fought to contain his surging wrath.
His plan was on the verge of failing. While Freed wasn't an essential piece, he was still somewhat useful and had few roles to make the plan a success.
Furthermore, he had few dealings with the Sigurd Institution and he didn't know how he would explain the situation to them now.
The Sigurd Institution was created with the purpose of producing the [True Descendant of Sigurd]; someone capable of wielding the Demonic Emperor Sword Gram among those who had inherited the blood of the legendary hero Sigurd. The institution used a variety of genetic modification and artificial human creation techniques in their attempt to create the [True Descendant of Sigurd].
Unfortunately for them, even though they managed to create successful experiments, all of their efforts had been for naught since Jin Toujou had easily obtained the acknowledgment of the sword and brought a power higher than anything ever recorded from the mighty diabolic sword.
Thinking about these events, an idea flashed in his head as he remembered a deep secret.
"That thing should still be alive, right?"
After the original goal of the research institution had been accomplished, albeit, in a way they couldn't really appreciate, the institute changed its goal afterward into seeing how many descendants of the hero Sigurd the researchers could produce.
To this day, there were four of them—now three since Freed was dead.
But that fact didn't interest Kokabiel. The one he was really interested in was the second branch of the Sigurd Institution.
The one that decided to target the genes of another person. [2]
A smile full of mockery formed on his lips.
"Azazel. I will show you just how fragile the peace you sought is."
It was time to bring his plans forward.
————
[1]: Those events happened in Slash Dog.
[2]: Only those who read up to vol 10 or read spoilers of Shinmai might be able to guess who I am speaking about. Anyway, this is a Shinmai x DxD fic. How could I only bring the DxD plot?
Man, this will be chaotic.