Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 46) (Patreon)

Several figures sit around the table while others sit at the edges of the room.

"I'd like to start off by saying that I'm sorry for the trouble Kokabiel has caused... he's made a real mess." Azazel states with a small frown. "My bad. Should have kept a tighter leash on him."

"Kokabiel has caused numerous casualties for the church." Michael begins slowly.

"Yeah, and I plan to compensate you for those." Azazel says with a disappointed huff. "I never expected the bastard to do anything like this."

"The devil race could have also had tremendous loss of life if Kokabiel accomplished his goal." Serafall adds in.

"But in this case, he didn't." Azazel cuts in. "You will still be compensated for the trouble, yet as it doesn't look like you were any real trouble thanks to the red dragon emperor there, I don't feel as if I need to offer you all too much."

"The heirs of four clans could have been killed by his reckless actions." The magical girl points out. "Along with one of the Phenex clan... and several pendragons."

"We shouldn't worry about 'what ifs'." Azazel shrugs. "I had Vali nearby just in case something did happen."

"In this case. Kokabiel would have murdered two of the exorcists sent here by the church before Vali even showed up." I state, throwing my hat into the ring as I steeple my hands in front of my face. "Vali was nowhere to be seen when I stepped into the fight, and I myself was almost too late. So, I fail to see how having him 'Nearby' means anything when he isn't doing anything."

Serafall nods slowly. "Gaius has a point. Even more people could have very easily died. It should be your responsibility to take care of rogues in your faction."

The fairy in my shirt floats up and sits on my shoulder.

The fallen lets out a quiet sigh. "Alright. I see your point. I'll be giving both some serious compensation."

"I believe we should move on from this scenario." Michael begins slowly. "This is a true effort for peace. We shouldn't be looking back over the events that transpired a week ago. Kokabiel's effort for war will backfire and it is our hopes that they will create a lasting peace between our factions."

"We should set aside our differences." Azazel nods. "Every other pantheon is unified. The only reason we have been able to last so long is because the other factions fear that if one of the three factions is targeted, we will group up and strike back... I say we make it official."

"The angels cannot live through another war." Michael sighs with a small head shake.

"Eh, we're about the same." Azazel shrugs. "Most of our work force have below six wings."

"The devils are doing far better for themselves in this scenario." Sirzech states. "We could probably outlast an attack from most pantheons."

"Big words, Sirzechs." Azazel hums. "Doesn't your kind have super low fertility rates?"

"We can manage." The red-haired man replies.

"…"

"You figured out a way to get around that, didn't you?" The fallen suddenly questions with narrowed eyes.

"To forge a lasting peace with the Grigori and Heaven... I will say that yes... we have found a way to get over our fertility problems." Sirzechs confirms.

"Hn. I thought there were slightly too many high-class devils being born. Enough to make me believe that your race had perhaps the luckiest year since your creation, or there was something else at play." Azazel mutters. "Tch. Yeah, no. If you got rid of your fertility issues, we're boned. You'd absolutely steamroll over us in a couple decades if we came to blows. It's in the Grigori's best interest to ally with the devil faction."

"The same goes for the heavenly faction." The blond haired man nods slowly. "It has been... rough... since father passed. We are unable to create any new angels beyond the stray miracle child here or there. But that holds far too many risks. Numerous angels have fallen in an attempt to create even a single life... it just isn't sustainable."

"Then we're in agreement, then?" Azazel asks with a smirk. "Peace?"

"One more thing... Azazel... why have you been gathering sacred gear users with such haste over these past few decades?" Sirzechs asks with his eyes narrowed.

"That is a good question." Serafall nods. "When we saw that you were amassing humans we thought you were preparing to attack either heaven or us devils."

"it was the same for us." Michael agrees. "However, as years passed... and you never made a move... we were all put on high alert when you gained the Vanishing dragon, yet you still did nothing."

"I'm just researching sacred gears." The fallen shrugs. "Want me to forward my research to you? I'm far too busy with that to bother with war... battles no longer hold any interest to me."

"I'm good with the world as it is. I've told my lackeys to not interfere with the politics of the human realm, nor are we messing with religious matters either, nor the devil's work."

"Except Kokabiel." Serafall points out with a half lidded stare.

"I told you, he's not part of the Grigori. He went rogue ages ago." The man waves off. "Geez. Why does it feel like I'm the least trusted one in this three-way meeting?"

"You wouldn't be wrong." Sirzech mutters.

"Quite right." Michael smiles 'kindly', the same way Kiba smiles when he's insulting someone while hiding behind his pretty boy persona.

"Correct." Gabriel nods.

"It's true~" Serafall hums.

"If you didn't have that squinty smug look on your face all the time, maybe people would trust you more." I deadpan.

The man runs a hand through his hair. "Tch. My feelings. I didn't think it was possible, but you lot are even more annoying than God and the last Lucifer."

"So, my secret research doesn't jive with you all? That's fine." The man sighs dramatically before placing a hand on the table. "Let's make peace... it's why we're all here today, isn't it?"

"It is." Michael nods. "If our current tension were to continue, I believe that the entire world would suffer for it. There is little use for pining about what's gone... we need to move forwards. Watching over and guiding the children of God is our holy mission, and all of the seraph are in agreement. We must make peace."

"For the good of Devilkind we must also look to the future." Serafall says with a small smile on her face.

"Another war would be disastrous for us as well." Serzechs agrees.

"It'd be mutual destruction... and the effects on the human world would be of apocalyptic proportions... it'd eventually draw in the other pantheons and we'd be lucky if anything survives." Azazel states, suddenly extremely grim and Serious.

"We need to lay out our conditions." Serafall points out

"The fallen faction is prepared to offer up our numerous advanced facilities, in addition to our sacred gear wielders." Azazel slowly says as he slumps back in his chair and crosses his arms.

"Could you clarify if you mean 'offer them up to be reincarnated' or merely letting them work for us sometimes." Serafall asks.

"The second thing. I'm not just going to willingly toss you numerous sacred gear wielders." He scoffs with a half-lidded slightly squinty stare. "But they will help you... I've got quite a few Twilight Healing wielders who could be of some use."

"The devil faction is prepared to offer up the method to creating evil pieces so you two can create your own variants."

"Pssh. Don't need it."  Azazel waves off. "I've heard that you lot have gotten your hands on Absorption line... that might interest me a little more."

"Considering I would need to rip the subspecies absorption line out of your daughter, Azazel, I don't think that's much of an option." I slowly reply with a half-lidded glare.

"Wait... you managed to bind a sacred gear to a soul?" The fallen blinks.

"It's as if she had it since she was born." I deadpan.

"Fuck." He lowly curses. "Is that how you use the boosted gear?!"

"It's an unrefined method, my first attempt." I nod slowly causing the fallen to let out a low whistle.

"Damn. You need to let me see that one day." The fallen sighs.

"If you give me the pieces of Vritra's gear you have, you'll have three opportunities to watch." I shrug with an impish smirk.

"I believe we have gotten horribly off topic." Michael begins. "The heavenly faction does not have much to give for this extremely generous offer... to be able to reincarnate new angels... that... sound extraordinary."

"At most, we can offer is numerous holy relics... but those aren't of great use to devils, are they?"

"There are a couple demonic weapons in the armories." Gabriel adds in with a small frown on her face. "Most of the stronger ones including Gram, where stolen, however."

"If they weren't truly yours to begin with, is it really stealing from you?" The fairy asks suddenly, not so subtly glaring at the two angels.

An awkward silence falls onto the conference.

"Q-Quite." Gabriel stutters as she looks away from the fairy.

"The lack of exorcising and whatever items you can offer us will be enough." Serafall eases while smiling slightly, a deep part of her seems to be pleased to see Gabriel squirm. "The main point of this is for the three factions to unify and put our past behind us."

"Hn, true... but... while we have the chance, why don't we ask the two dragon emperors what they think of Peace." Azazel shrugs with that classic smug smirk. He's got it down to an art form. "After all, weren't the two dragons the reason we had a truce- regardless of how brief it was- in the past?"

"Are you talking Ddraig and Albion... or Vali and myself." I question slowly.

"Yes." The man smirks.

I summon a ring on my finger.

"Your politics bore me, Fallen." The ring glows. "I have no strong feelings whether you make peace or you tear each other to shreds... all I know is my partner will come out on top if you come to blows."

"Are you quite so sure about that, Ddraig?" Another voice asks as Vali's wings appear on his back.

"Yes. I am. My gear has evolved beyond our petty squabbles. You can't hurt me or my wielders anymore." The ring drawls.

"You may have unlocked one of the abilities sealed away by god, but my partner has gained control over Juggernaut Drive." The wings reply.

"And my partner is beyond even that. In our last bout, no boosts or divides were called, yet my partner easily overpowered your own without even activating balance breaker. Penetrate is barely a fraction of my new abilities... and perhaps not even my most dangerous one."

"Is that a challenge, red dragon emperor?" The vanishing dragon hisses.

"I want to fight strong people." Vali states slowly. "Red Dragon Emperor. Our last fight ended before it began... I want to fight you again."

"Oh, are you recalling how Albion told you to run with your tail between your legs?" My ring questions.

"Alright, that's enough." I sigh as I de-summon the ring.

I give the Lucifer descendant a half lidded gaze. "You can fight people while you are at peace, you know... if you really want to fight, fine, we can throw down, just not here. Nor at this very second. Maybe later... but it will happen... eventually."

My eyes stray back to Azazel. "As for my point of view... I want you to make peace because frankly I don't have time to deal with war."

"You make it sound like you have better things to do." Azazel mutters.

"I do." I nod slowly. "Numerous things."

"Like?"

"Trying to find a reasonable asking price for a devil train, forging swords, forging those shards of Excalibur I found into rings of power with my hot fiancee, figure out how the hell I turned a sword into a little girl and how to replicate it, and to cap off this list of just a few of the numerous options I have, contemplate this world's dark secrets that would shake men like you to their very core."

"I'm calling your bluff on that last one." The man scoffs.

"Female dragons in humanoid form should all be flat as boards because they biologically shouldn't have breasts... as they do not feed their children milk... yet for some reason they have breasts anyways."

The fallen freezes in place.

My eyes stray over to the Angels. "So, are we making peace or not?"

Azazel steeples his hands in front of his face, staring down at the table with a serious expression on his face. He seems incredibly deep in thought.

"Yes." Sirzechs nods slowly. "Let's draft up an official treaty."

**Linebreak**

"As for the final clause, I believe that we should make an agreement to reveal the known locations of any and all Longinus sacred gears. The stronger ones can change the world. And getting slapped by one while being unprepared sounds annoying" Azazel sighs with an eye roll, he props his head up with a hand as he looks positively bored.

"Seconded." Serafall pipes up.

"I agree." Michael accepts with a slow nod.

"It's probably for the best." I shrug.

"I've got three. Divine Dividing, Absolute Demise, and Canis Lycaon." Azazel states while holding up three fingers.

"The church only has Zenith Tempest." Michael announces with a slow nod.

"I've got two in total." I grin as I hold up two fingers. "Boosted Gear, Sephiroth Grall."

"Those are the only two the devil race has. That we know of at the very least." Serafall adds in while crossing her arms over her bust.

There's a slight silence as I cup my chin and let out a low hum as I look around cautiously.

"Is something wrong?" Michael asks slowly with a small frown.

"It's nothing... I just... expected someone to attack us by now." I state slowly. "Hn. Oh well. I'm not all that torn up about it. I'm pleased to be wrong in this case."

"You know, I didn't want to say anything..." Azazel begins slowly as he signs a thick stack of papers and passes it along to Gabriel, the girl ignoring how his hand brushes against her own for slightly too long. "But why is the kid sitting here with the big boys instead of over with the other mooks?"

Vali gives him a half lidded stare and Grayfia shoots him a chilling glare.

"That's quite simple." Serafall intones slowly as she cups her chin. "He is acting as the unofficial, soon to be official, fifth Satan. Gaius Sathanas."

"Wh- wait what?!" The cadre shouts.

"Yep." I nod slowly.

"What do you mean FIFTH satan?! There WAS no fifth satan."

"I just did an extremely large feat- or several large feats- for them to consider making a fifth spot. I've even got the power to back it up... the upside is that this causes my pride to explode. The downside is that I'm always fucking busy." I sigh dramatically.

"…" Azazel looks absolutely stunned. "Seriously?! What the hell could some brat do that gets you all to consider a fifth satan position."

"Well, I mean, I make holy sword on par with the completed Excalibur, and I am the red dragon emperor, that's two things." I shrug with a smirk. "But neither are exactly why I was granted this position."

"…"

"Are we done here?" Azazel sighs as he looks in between Serafall, Sirzechs and the two angels.

"I believe so." Sirzechs slowly states.

"Actually... I believe we need to speak with Gaius here." Gabriel quickly answers while gesturing towards me.

I glance to the fairy sitting on my shoulder. "Hm. Yeah. Alright. I'm guessing it's more a request to speak to my Fiancée than myself, but sure, I've got time."

"The real question is, do you want to speak to them, Vivi?" I ask the fey.

The fairy frowns and slowly looks over to me, she nods her head once. "Yes. I believe we need to have words about their back stabbing, little rats of underlings."

"Alright. Let's go."

**Linebreak**

Pov Elsewhere:

A red haired girl sits in her bed, staring across the room to her phone sitting on her dresser.

He should have apologized by now...

It has been four days.

What Gaius said hurt... his arrogance is unbridled... to think that he would DARE slap her precious servants... he thinks he's better than her... tch... he's acting just like Riser now... it's not merely their clan traits that look similar. Gaius even has a peerage full of women. He probably only sees her for her body... why didn't she see this before?!

*Knock Knock Knock*

The blue eyed redhead turns to glance at the door, and watches it slowly open, revealing a busty brown haired woman in a regal gown.

"Rias..." She begins slowly.

"Yes mother?" The red head questions.

"What's wrong, dear?" The woman frowns as she steps into the room. "These past couple of days you just... haven't been yourself."

"I don't want to talk about it." The girl frowns as she crosses her arms

"Rias..." The woman sighs as she takes a seat on the girl's bed. "Talking about it will make you feel better."

"I-I-" the redhead begins. "I stop being friends with Gaius."

"Hm?" The older woman hums. "Whatever for?"

"He is DISPICABLE. He hurt my servants and had the gall to be happy about it!"

"Is that so?" The big breasted woman asks, her eyes narrowing as there's a slight dangerous undertone to her voice.

"I-I thought he was different than Riser, but he's nothing more than an arrogant, rude, despicable, disgusting playboy." The Gremory heiress is growls, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "H-He said that I wasn't worthy of my peerage! I-I thought he was my friend!"

"Surely there was a reason why he snapped at you, so?" The woman asks, a frown on her face.

"Not really." The girl whispers as she brings her knees up to her chest.

"…" the two Gremory girls sit in silence for a moment.

The silence is eventually broken by the older woman who's face softens. "Rias... I've already spoken to your peerage... you lying to me isn't going to help any... from what I heard, Gaius was only doing what's best for you..."

"Who is HE to decide what's best for me?!" The red haired girl snaps.

"From what I have heard... Kiba could have caused a second great war. If I was there, I would have slapped him as well." The woman states with a slightly displeased expression on her face. "It was incredibly foolish to berate lord Decarabia like that, because he was right."

"What..." The girl whispers.

"Rias... your father and I have- for the longest time- have let you do more or less as you wish in your childhood. You did well on your classes, were respectful, and learned etiquette masterfully... of course you had some hiccups here and there... primarily Riser, but it has come to my attention that maybe your father and I were too soft on you." The Flaxen Haired Madame of Extinction begins as she crosses her arms over her bosom, crossing one leg over the other as she shoots the girl an irritated glare. "On the topic, of the Phenexes... The old lord of the Phenex house was attempting to speed up your marriage far sooner than it was stated, yes... however... you always had a chance to escape from it... you were made aware of the rating game clause years ago... yet instead of actually training your peerage, you went to play school girl in the human world. It would have been laughably easy to get out... you could have probably bested that boy after merely a year of not even intense training... yet you never did. You simply procrastinated, hoping and praying that a solution would fall into your lap... and it did... yet you shouldn't be rewarded for doing nothing."

The red haired girl's stomach drops, her throat clenching up as anguish floods her body.

Her... mother is taking sides with Gaius...

"I am not about to say that you don't deserve your peerage, Rias... nor do I think Lord Decarabia said those words either. But he has a point about several things... Kiba confided in me that he is far more clear headed than he has ever been, this was a result of Lord Decarabia's actions... he is also far stronger than he used to be... a result of Lord Decarabia's actions. Your father and I didn't want to say anything... we wanted to treat it as a learning experience and allow you to figure it out on your own, yet... Rias... your peerage is full of broken individuals. Ones who haven't been healed, their wounds have merely scabbed over, waiting for the day something scratches away, hurting them potentially even worse than they originally were. Kiba nearly snapped, murdering the exorcists from the church, dropping us into the center of a third war. The great war and the devil civil war was bad enough, the Gremory house may not survive a third war. Especially if we were the cause of it."

"Finally, you were incredibly disrespectful. While Gaius is indeed around your age, and he may have allowed you to speak casually with him, as up until recently, you were friends, you must never forget that he is the lord of his two houses, and your actions reflect on not only yourself and your peerage, but to the entire Gremory family. To your father and I, Millicas, and even your grandmother. And from what I have heard and..." The woman looks down at her stomach. "Experienced... it was an absolutely horrendous move belittle him like that. Gaius Decarabia is going places... he is already taking the food industry by storm, and is set to marry the lady of the lake, potentially reopening the Fey to the supernatural world at large once more... he is already one of the larger players in the underworld after dragging his house back from obscurity, and if what I heard about him is true, he could well and truly be the largest in the underworld... you severing ties with him is by all means tactically a bad move, even if you truly didn't like him... but as you are now, you seem to be overreacting. You need to learn that a devil having a harem and not rolling over whenever you tell them to doesn't make them the scum of the earth."

"Your father has a harem, your grandfather did, numerous lords and clan heirs across the underworld have harems... its normal... frankly, your brother is the odd one out for only having a single wife." The woman chastises. "You need to grow up, Rias."

The woman's annoyed expression softens. "Rias, I didn't want to have this conversation with you, but I don't want you to ruin your future... and if you continue to act so recklessly, I fear that you will."

"How many bridges will you burn as you grow older? Devils are an extremely long-lived race... and a majority hold grudges for longer than they should. You will certainly regret acting rashly at some point in your life."

"…"

The red head stares blankly at the floor.

"Please think about this, Rias." The woman states as she slowly gets up. "You can always ask your family for help... we never expected you to singlehandedly fix the traumas of your peerage, but it does fall to you to make that first step to ask for help."

The brown haired woman leaves without another word.

**Linebreak**

Pov: returned

I sit across from two incredibly powerful angels within my mansion, a small fairy sits in my lap as she crosses her arms over her chests, looking disappointedly at the two.

"I want Excalibur back." She demands.

"Yes... I-uh believe that could be arranged." Gabriel weakly smiles.

It's honestly a little amusing to watch the leaders of a race squirm like this.

"And I'll be compensated for all the damage you have done." The fairy growls. "You ruined it. And you took Fey lives for your own mistake."

"Those fairies should have never died!" Gabriel exclaims a horrified expression on her face. "We had no idea what the inquisitors were doing... they were all put to death as soon as we found out... they should have never sought out the fey to fix the blade... we were fully willing to respect your wishes. But the church took matters into their own hands... that... is a sin all of the higher-ranking angels have carried since that day."

The fairy's expression softens slightly, I look down at her and decide to toss a little gas on the fire for a little chaos.

"Yet you still used the fragmented Excalibur swords regardless." I point out with an annoyed frown.

"The fey had sealed off themselves completely." Michael speaks for the first time since we got here. "We couldn't return them even if we wanted. This happened mere years after the great wars cataclysmic battle and we were... distracted... by our father's passing. We were extremely desperate, and seeing as how you wouldn't take it back, we decided to make use of it."

"Which resulted in your murdering a bunch of orphans." The fairy hums with a half-lidded stare.

"To be fair to them, Vivi, they weren't the ones who killed them... they can’t completely control what the church does. But it is their responsibility to keep tabs on the human counterparts of the heavenly faction."

"So... you're basically saying it IS their fault?" The fairly blinks slowly as she looks up to me.

"Not entirely... more along the lines of... eighty percent their fault." I shrug. "Maybe seventy percent because I'd imagine that heaven was quite chaotic back then... of course they are far more responsible for the holy sword project."

"That does not make it better." The fairy growls while shaking her head.

"It doesn't, but still... we can't control what the Old Satan faction does, and they are technically- and I mean in the most roundabout, loophole-esque way- connected to our faction via race."

"But you are at war with those guys... the church are literally just these guys' minions." The fey points out.

"You know... I'm just trying to give them an easy out right now so I don't have make the effort of being all 'ANGRY' with them."

"Be ANGRY with them!" The fairy pouts up at me.

I look up to the two angels and continue in a deadpan tone. "Michael, you look like a girl.  Gabriel, your appearance is only incredibly above average. I'm really mad with you two."

"Gaaaiiiuuuuuusss" The fairy growls cutely. "Stop being mean!"

"Pfft- yeah I'm only teasing you." I snort down at the fairy and look up to the two angels, both of whom look amused, basking in this pure 'young love' Vivi and I share. "Turn over the Excalibur fragments, the official ownership to Galatine and Arondight, and toss in as much of the holy grail as you are willing to part with, and we'll call it even."

"That's too little!" The fairy snarls.

"Nah. It isn't."

"Turning over the Excalibur fragments is the least we can do... the same goes for the official ownership of Arondight and Galatine... Vivianne here made both of those swords, so reasonably what happens to them falls to her." Michael agrees easily, his expression hardening slightly. "I will warn you, though... we don't exactly have either Arondight or Galatine despite being the official owners of them, Arondight was taken by the fallen as spoils of war hundreds of years ago and Galatine has recently found its way into their- you already have both swords... don't you?"

"Yep." I nod.

"I see... we will grant you ownership of them as soon as possible. As for the holy grail that is... a little bit tougher of a request."

"Brother... it is only right." Gabriel sighs as she looks to her blond sibling, a wide-eyed expression of self-loathing on her face. "I doubt that Galahad would have ever managed to claim it without Vivianne's help. It should rightfully fall to her as compensation for the church's betrayal."

Michael gives me a hard stare. "What do you hope to accomplish with the holy grail."

"My queen piece has Sephiroth Grall... I thought you would have known what I plan on doing with it merely from that little piece of information." I point out idly with an almost bored expression.

"And what do you plan on doing with Sephiroth Grall?" The man asks with a guarded frown. "That gear alone already has potential to rock the world... even if it does strain the wielder. If you took that away said strain or limited it in some capacity, it might very well surpass the strength of the True Longinus."

"I was personally planning on just letting her do her own thing more or less... I am aware that the sacred gear can pull the souls of the dead from the afterlife or something along those lines, and that would indeed cause quite a bit of anarchy but-

"Wait what?" The angel blinks as Gabriel's eyes widen.

"Wait... can Sephiroth Grall... not... do that?" I blink slowly.

"It's a boosting sacred gear that can modify the bodies of others, potentially removing the weaknesses of some races... and it has a decent healing ability with some nuances about restoring someone's youth..." Gabriel whispers. "That's it."

"Huh." I blink slowly.

"Well, it's a subspecies, so y'know." I shrug as I look thoughtfully at the floor. "Probably should have researched that. Bit of a fumble on my part."

"I can revive the dead. So what?" I huff as I cross my arms over my chest. "I've only used it once because even the healing parts of the gear strained my friend's mind, and the strain is proportional to the thing she does... so don't see me as some guy who'll revive Lucifer or whatever. The only time I ever used it was to revive one of my peerage's contractors who were murdered by that stray psycho Sigurd of yours... I think his name was Freed or something? Eh it doesn't matter. If regular humans are strenuous for her to revive... and those who had been dead for mere hours at that, you don't have to worry about me reviving any ancient evils with the Grall... frankly because I can't."

"Besides." I sigh. "Doesn't shit like this happen all the time? I mean, didn't Odin revive Fafnir?"

"That is... fair... but we should perhaps add in a Sephiroth Grall clause to the earlier peace contract where you should only revive people that a majority of the faction higherups agree on." Michael nods slowly.

"Eh, I'd rather not. Or if required, have it be in word only... If people know that Valerie could revive anyone- as that apparently isn't a standard power of her gear- I'd be bothered a lot... and we'd lose a major tactical advantage merely because someone decided to take a look at our peace contract... Primarily I'm thinking of the great king faction as they would need to see and sign our current contract for peace to truly happen... and I don't trust those guys as far as I can throw them. Which admittedly might be pretty far, but I digress."

The two seraphim share a look, the older brother letting out a sigh as Serafall's tormentor smiles slightly.

"I believe we could part with the holy grail." Michael quietly mutters. "All it has been doing so far is collecting dust. We can't exactly use it for much. But it's an... icon... it would probably cause unrest if we just simply traded it away... could you maybe... consider making blades for us again?"

He looks hopefully at the fairy in my lap.

She smiles brightly and with a small headshake she lets out a cheerful chirp. "Absolutely fucking not!"

"Come on now Vivi..." I sigh down at the fairy as I brush a few fingertips across her head. "Would you consider making swords for heaven, and not the church?"

She pouts slightly and leans her head back to glare at me. "Ffffffine... but if a blade EVER even ONCE finds its way into the hands of the church, deals off, no returning the Grail and I'll be taking back the swords."

I look up to the two angels. "Sound fair?"

"The fact that she would even consider making anything for us at all is already a massive gift... you have my word, you will be getting the holy grail." Michael nods slowly.

"Good good." I give the two a bright smile. "I'm glad we could clear this up. Is there anything else you needed?"

"There is one more thing." Michael frowns, suddenly far more serious than he was before.

"Hm?" I hum with a blank expression.

"How are you able to wield holy swords and say our father's name without feeling any pain."

"Oh. Right. That. Of course, you probably would be minorly unsettled by that." I nod with a small smile. I have expected this... which is why I have already used my omniscience ability for a logical excuse. "You see, the answer for that is quite interesting. I, absolutely adore loopholes. One of my favorite things... I also try to never lie. Another quirk of myself... however that won't stop me from using aforementioned loopholes, or incomplete truths to absolutely manipulate a situation in my favor... in this case, Jesus said to Peter, the first pope, basically along the lines of 'everything you hold true upon this earth, I will hold true in heaven'. And, well, that brings me to a lovely little statement the catholic church has, where they like to say 'Even the devil can site the scripture for his own purpose.' So, you can see where that might create a few loopholes."

"…"

"As for the swords, why shouldn't I be able to wield them? I make them." I shrug with poorly hidden arrogance and a raised eyebrow. "For someone like myself who has the ability to create powerful holy weaponry, shouldn't he also be able to wield them in battle?"

"I... see... so you don't know?" The angel says, probably noticing how I didn't exactly confirm anything in that paragraph of words."

"Not really, no." I sigh as I cross my arms, bringing a hand up to my mouth as I frown. "I assume it has something to do with my holy sword wielding ability, but frankly I have zero idea."

Michael lets out a quiet sigh as he brushes a stray strand of hair out of his face. "I see... well, this was to be expected."

"Is this all?" I ask with a small smile. Quietly and subtly hinting at the phrase 'get the fuck out of my house I have things to do today'.

"One final thing." Gabriel cuts in. "The exorcists that we sent here... I would like to know how they are."

"They are doing... about as well as they could be at the moment." I sigh as I scratch my temple idly with my index finger as I look away. "They... were crushed by the news... Xenovia is doing surprisingly well, but she seems to be pushing her shock and surprise aside by focusing intently on other things. She's acting like a pillar for the other two to lean on. Asia was hit by it hard... but I believe that she is finally starting to move on and accept it, and Irina has been... more or less unresponsive. She's still eating, and is in good health, just not very well off mentally."

"Her belief was the deepest of the three." Michael sighs. "It pains me to see those poor girls suffer in that manner."

I nod idly as I watch the two slowly stand.

"I believe that we have been here for far too long." Michael calmly states. "While we weren't attacked, I don't exactly want to remain and push our luck... besides, if we remain gone for much longer, Metatron might try and convince Uriel to change the official Angel attire to a ninja uniform."

Gabriel lets out a melodious laugh. "Y-Yes that does seem like something he would try to do."

Michael nods his head. "Goodbye, Satan Sathanas."

"I'm sort of miffed they made my official title 'Satan Satan'." I sigh as I brush a hand through my hair. "I get that the Mammon clan still exists out of the seventy two pillars as extra devils, but wow, I would much rather have that name."

Gabriel shoots me a bright smile. "I like it. You shouldn't change it!"

"Noted." I deadpan with a half-lidded stare.

The two leave shortly after that.

My eyes slowly stray down to the fairy in my lap. "Well. Since that is out of the way... there's something really cool that I want to show you and the peerage."

"Hm?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll love it." I smile brightly as I stand, shifting the girl to my shoulder. "You'll certainly be surprised at the very least."