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The Deal:
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 22:44:09 +0000 UTCDeal with The Devil
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Chapter 27: Project Regicide (Part - 2)
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- Damien -
I looked at the screen in front of me, memories flooding the back of my head.
"Damien?" My thoughts were broken by Merlin’s words.
“Hmm.”
“Our spies have sent reports. The Old Satan faction is moving.”
I looked at the figure on the screen once more… and then ordered.
“Prepare everyone Merlin. Today, the Underworld… will see the Devil once more.”
And Zekram Bael will regret the day he put his hands on Lilith.
- Sirzechs -
He watched the screen in frozen shock. He was pretty sure that everyone was the same at this time.
Everyone had forgotten why they had gathered there and what the situation truly was. Even the ones who had entered the place to attack were the same.
Lilith.
She was alive?
And with Zekram?
The condition in which she was however didn’t present a good picture.
Lilith was the mother of Devilkind.
Her position was comparable to the original Satans, even greater than the other three and comparable to Lucifer himself.
There was a reason why they had named their capital city as New Lilith as a show of respect for her.
While it was true that only two of the devils created by Lilith and Lucifer were still alive, it was not completely true.
It was only true for Pillar Devils.
There were still the others.
A decent number of Mid and Low Class Devils were first generation Devils created by Lilith.
They were all in high positions and held a lot of important posts and an immense amount of influence in the Underworld due to their age and contribution to Devilkind.
And this was not even including those who had directly fought under them were still completely loyal to them. There were also the hardcore loyalists of the Old Satan faction. All of these people would move all at once at this news.
No.
They were probably already moving.
Finally there was the Lucifer House itself.
Rizevim… and him.
Even he felt his heart sink at the thought. It was hard to even imagine the severity of the mess.
But first things first. “Souji, take the entire Peerage to the Bael territory. Set up a blockage around the place and evacuate everyone. Take the members of the Bael Branch House into protection and for questioning. Grayfia, send people to the Bael territory to calm down the people and stop riots from happening.”
Even his mother was trapped among the people of the Bael House. He couldn’t lose his cool right now.
His orders shook many people from their reverie and pushed them all into action.
Falbium mobilised the forces and Ajuka took control of the digital network.
Serafall was left to guard Zekram to prevent the matter from going south because he was pretty sure there would be too many who would be coming after his head.
While this was happening, the attackers had moved too. They scoured the room where Lilith was being held and it was revealed that she was under the Sleeping Sickness and his heart sank even more… if that was even possible.
In the next fifteen minutes, the fact that Zekram Bael was responsible for the creation of the Sleeping sickness and everything related to it was revealed.
The news of tension in several parts of the Underworld had already started.
“Sirzechs, I think you should give a public statement.” His father stated. “If the matters are left till the investigations are done, it would be very late. Everything will just get harder the longer we wait.”
“I don’t think that would be wise.” A voice interrupted them.
Looking at the speaker, it turned out to be Archduke Agares.
“What do you mean by that Lord Agares?” He asked, confused.
“First of all understand that I am not blaming you for anything but look at this from an outsider’s perspective. This incident will question the credibility of the Satans. And especially you due to your connection to Zekram Bael.”
“Are you insinuating?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
The old Lord let out a sigh. “Sirzechs. Please see it like this. You were supported as the Lucifer not only due to your personal strength and contribution in the War but also due to your connection with Zekram. This is a fact that no one can decline. Even your own power of destruction is the Clan Trait of the Bael from your mother, who is also present at the scene. No matter what you say, people will always remember this.” Lord Agares explained. “If today, you were to get involved in this investigation and they are found innocent, some might raise questions about the veracity of the investigation.”
He clenched his fist but listened because the point he was raising was a fact.
“We need good leaders like you four. Especially in a rough time like this. But please understand, this is a place where one wrong move will lead to a political suicide. Lilith… is a name none of us can compare to… and I will be honest. With the information that has been revealed, it is more or less sure that Zekram is going to fall. I just want you to not get dragged into it. Let any of the other Satans handle it. You should go and suppress the riots instead. Make a public statement and then control the public.”
He looked at the man and then to the other heads of the Houses. Looking at their gazes was a good enough answer.
His grandmother was the next in line to speak. “Lord Agares speaks quite reasonably. This matter is no longer something which can be taken lightly.I will go and awaken her too. At such a time, we need all the help we can get. If we try to solve this by strength, too many people will revolt. We are going to have too much on our hands as it is. You should concentrate on maintaining the peace of the Underworld.”
He took a deep breath.
“Very well. Serafall will take care of the investigation. She won’t let any crime go unpunished. I will give a public statement, pulling out of this matter.”
- Chysis Gremory -
She let out a sigh as Sirzehcs left, heavily dissatisfied. She couldn’t blame him for it. After toiling so hard for the Underworld, to hear such a thing, could be depressing for anyone.
But they had no choice.
At this point it was sure that Zekram and the Bael House would fall. With all the information which was found in the room and provided, there was hardly any room for second guesses. But Lilith’s appearance alone made this matter beyond complicated for them anyways.
What Agares said was not wrong.
In such a time, if Sirzechs were to get involved, it would lead to a massive political scandal, despite his good intentions.
At such a time, voluntarily backing away and giving the charge of the investigation to someone else will clear the doubts of many as well as gain him the sympathy of some.
The Bael House was going to fall. She didn’t want the rubble to harm the Gremorys. Although, she wasn’t sure she could do all that by herself anymore.
For something of this level, she needed to awaken her to personally appear and try to quell the matter.
The only thing she could pray for was that this doesn’t result in a war.
“Where are you going Mother?” Zeoticus asked.
“To get help.”
- Alicia Sallos -
“There is an emergency conference of the Satans.” One of her subordinates informed her.
As expected. They do need to make a statement. No matter how useless it would be in such a scenario.
It was all taken into consideration when making the plan.
“What do we do, my Lady?”
“Nothing. We watch and we show the members of the Bael House what is being said. Tell me about the situation of the Underworld.”
“Our people have started working in different parts of the Underworld. Gathering people who had resentment against the current way of things was not hard. As soon as the Satans get busy, we can start the next phase of the plan.”
This was the first major operation they had in the Underworld. Every detail was thought about and they ran several simulations to make sure it doesn’t go awry.
They had to balance everything so that the Underworld suffers the least amount of damage or it would be complete antithesis to their original goal.
Ophelia was currently among the Lords who were pressuring the Satans and sending the information about the situation there to Damien.
The conference started in fifteen minutes and she made sure that the broadcast was shown to even the captives.
According to Ophelia, Sirzechs would be backing away from the investigation personally and Serafall Leviathan, who is currently beyond pissed at Zekram, will be taking control of the situation.
What reaction will the Bael House have about this?
Will they break and reveal some more of their buried skeletons?
Their expressions were interesting to say the least.
Lord Bael looked like he had seen a ghost. He went from cussing and enraged to quiet and in shock.
“Did you ever think that you all would face this situation someday when you were suppressing and killing the members of other houses, driving them into extinction and smearing their names with mud?”
It was a bit cathartic to see them kneeling like this.
She had faced a lot of problems from their faction when she had ascended to her position too. Her House had to struggle to obtain a fair deal in any place due to the suppression of the Great King faction because she hadn’t accepted to be a part of that faction.
They had first tried to have one of their people marry her and ascend to the position of the Lord of her house.
She had downright rejected it.
This had led to the eventual suppression.They refused to do business with her even when her house asked for the least amount of margins.
It was only her Clan Tait which helped her escape the eventual attack of the Sleeping sickness.
Her Father was not so lucky though.
Finally, she had to shift her business to the Human World and gain a foothold to support her house. Unlike most of the Houses, she had maintained a good hold over several businesses in the Human world and this money translated back to the Underworld currency.
It took her over a century and making deals with the Archduke Agares faction to finally be able to return back to the Underworld and establish a business here.
From there, she had stepped foot into the entertainment industry and established herself as the foremost actress in the Underworld.
She managed to make investments guided by her Power of Insight and in four hundred years, she was able to stand firm in the Underworld.
When she was marked by Damien, she found out the truth about the Sleeping Sickness and how they had attempted to attack her family.
It was one of the main reasons why she personally asked to be assigned to this position for this mission.
She wanted to see them suffer as well.
“My Lady, the barrier has been surrounded by the forces of the Satans. They are not attacking us but they are not leaving either. And we have received information that the Old Satan faction is moving too.” Victoria said.
“Is that so? Very well. Let us move. Just render the ones inside unconscious temporarily when we leave.”
And just like that, they moved to one of the empty rooms which had been emptied beforehand and Gretel who was hiding all this time transported them all away with her Dimension Lost.
The same thing was done in the other places that they had taken control of.
Without anyone powering the barriers, the devices will self-destruct in fifteen minutes which was more than enough time for them to disappear.
- Serafall -
She was outside the Bael House which still lay under the barriers.
Those darned barriers which just refused to break no matter what.
It was all Zekram’s fault.
Not just Sona getting captured but also this entire mess.
Lilith.
He had kept Lilith captured under the Sleeping Sickness.
That insane bastard.
Did he not know what kind of mess it would be if he ever got discovered. The Lucifer House, the Old Satan faction, even the entire underworld and not to mention that scary new Lucifer who ran the bar along with his subordinates…
There were far easier ways to commit suicide than this.
She wasn’t even sure what kind of punishment they could sentence someone to for that kind of crime.
Because she was sure if it didn’t satisfy everyone, things would get chaotic very soon.
Not that it won’t get chaotic.
While she didn’t like it that Sirzechs was told to leave the investigation to others, she understood the need for it and also somewhere in her heart, she was a bit pleased that she will get to dig out each and every bit of information from the Bael Family, by any means necessary.
The only reason she was even working at such a time was because the attackers hadn’t shown any kind of violence towards the hostages and that Sona was under the protection of Helena and Charlene.
Even she was surprised by the power shown by those two. They seemed to be at least a Satan Class being from the brief display of their power.
Right now everyone was tense as the video feed for all the locations were cut off. No one had any idea about what was happening inside.
Just as she was thinking about what to do, the barrier to the place dropped.
What?
Were they testing her?
Or was this just a bait?
Right at this moment, she received a call from Ajuka who was coordinating everything. Barriers had fallen everywhere.
The hostages were safe.
“Behemoth.”
“Yes, my Lady.”
“The barriers have fallen at other locations too. You go ahead and pick Sona up. Bring her back home with Mother.”
“As you command.”
He left instantly and she commanded others.
“Set up a perimeter around the place. Let no one in or out without my permission.” For the rest of her peerage she ordered. “Get in. Our first job is to secure Lilith and Venelana Gremory. Then collect the proof of the crimes. Make sure you don’t leave anything behind.”
With the orders in place, she led the attack herself.
But what met her inside first was something else entirely.
“Lord Bael, please cooperate with us. We don’t mean any harm to you. If you had nothing to do with this, you will be safe. I promise this to you in the name of the four Great Satans.”
“Hahahaha do you think I’m a fool, girl? The Bael house is done for. After that accursed broadcast everything is over. If you all really mean no harm, then why isn’t Sirzechs here? You have all given up on us because you just want a convenient scapegoat to slaughter. But I will not go down so easily!” He roared.
She prepared to attack but stopped at the sight in front of her.
The gate behind him opened and there, Venelana Gremory lay captive by the Peerage members of Lord Bael.
She stopped her move immediately. “Don’t be foolish, Lord Bael. This will only make your position worse.”
“Shut up! That bastard has everything because of the Bael House. His position, his name, his power Everything! And yet, he betrayed us at the first sign of trouble. Does he think he can leave that easily as we burn? Do you all think you can betray the Great King and be happy? I will not allow that!”
He gathered the Power of Destruction in his hands but Serafall was faster. Before he could attack, she had already frozen his limbs completely.
Even the peerage members were unable to do anything.
She took the advantage of their surprise as she attacked, freezing them before they could do anything.
Her peerage members rushed to recover Lady Gremory.
She quickly picked her up but felt something odd.
Her body felt heavy somehow.
A pit formed in her stomach as she quickly checked her for signs of life only to hear a crackle behind her.
“Ahahahaha, I knew it! I knew this would happen. Do you fools think you have won? Hahahaha I already poisoned her before bringing her out! She was already dead, hahahaha! The property of the Bael will go down with the Bael!”
She threw a spell at him, knocking him out.
"Go and check if Lilith is alright.” She ordered her peerage members as she held Venelana’s body in her arms.
Several spells all gave the same result. Venelana Gremory was truly gone.
And she had thought things couldn’t get any worse.
When Sirzechs finds out, he’ll…
Thus she called the only person who could keep him in control at such a time.
“Ajuka… we have a problem.”
She ended the call and waited for them to arrive while she moved Venelana’s body into a different room to hide her death from others.
Thankfully, there was a barrier around Lilith’s body. Those bastards had made sure that the barrier would break only after an hour.
She couldn’t even imagine the amount of shit they would be in if that madman had accidentally killed Lilith in his madness.
One by one, the Lords of other Houses be it Pillars or Extra Demons started appearing.
Falbium was the first to arrive as he was nearby.
The only ones left were Ajuka and the Gremorys.
"What happened, Serafall? How is the situation of the hostages?" He questioned. She merely shook her head in negative.
He frowned. "Did they take Lilith? If so then…"
"Lady Gremory is dead."
"... what?" His words stopped in between, not realising the situation.
"Lord Bael. He killed her before the barriers fell."
She quickly led him to the place where her body was kept.
Falbium checked her body before getting up and looking at her.
"How?"
"She had already died before the barriers fell. Lord Bael admitted to the crime. I left him alive for interrogation."
"Sirzechs is out clearing the riots. He will…"
"I have already sent a message to Ajuka. He will inform Lord Gremory about it."
"What about Lilith?"
He asked when he finally collected himself.
"She is fine. The attackers made a barrier around her before they left. It will last for an hour or so."
“Okay. I will order the area to be surrounded. Other Lords will be coming here soon. See that they don’t cause any trouble at such a time. I have sent for Charlene to help us to back us up.”
“Alright.”
But as if the whole world was turning on them.
Falbium's peerage member came in running. "My Lord, we have a problem."
They rushed outside at the message and sure enough a while later a magic circle appeared but to her misfortune, it was not the one she was hoping to see.
The silver magic circle disappeared and out of it came two people and as if a signal was given, one after another magic circles started appearing above the sky.
The Old Satan faction had come.
Leading the group was the monster whom they were taught since childhood to avoid.
Rizevim Livan Lucifer.
Behind him were the other Satan descendants.
The area already had a few other Pillar Lords but at such a time none of them stepped forward to face the monster.
“If they take Lilith…” Falbium whispered.
“And what can we do in this case? Stop them? They have every right to take her away. Especially after the whole debacle. No matter their stance, she is still his mother, a member of her family.”
“But he… killed Lucifer. There is a chance that…”
“Don’t you think I know that? But what else can we do?”
It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
No matter what they do, they will be screwed.
Why the fuck did Zekram have to do something like that?
“Uyahahaha little Sitri and Glasya-Labolas. Two of the little Satans are here guarding my mum. Is she well? I heard that a few kids were up for some mischief and watched the fun. Imagine my surprise when the comedy show turned into this. To think mum was alive all this time and just taking a nap. Zekram has been quite naughty.” His words were casual but and all the time, he smiled but the power he was radiating made it anything but a greeting. “Say… did you guys know about this?”
“We had no idea about any such thing.” Falbium spoke, trying to clear the misunderstanding before anything.
“Liars! Do you think we would believe that? You pretenders, especially that abomination who dares call himself Lucifer is related to that traitor Zekram. And you say they had nothing to do with it.” A man beside him shouted. It took her a moment to realise who that was.
Euclid Lucifuge.
He looked completely different from before. She couldn’t even recognise him for a moment.
“Zekram Bael is being investigated for his crimes. Sirzechs has voluntarily given up the investigation to other Satans and abstained from taking part in it. We will give you a proper answer when the investigation is concluded.”
“We don’t want any fake investigation that you can just use to wipe out their crimes. We want him to pay for his crimes.” He shouted.
By this time several Pillar Devils had gathered in the place. The fact that they stayed at a distance and didn’t intervene, just watching everything from a distance didn’t help either.
“Now now Euclid. All that will come later. First, let’s get my mum back. I have been missing her a lot.” He turned towards her and asked. “Where is she?”
Although it seemed like a harmless question, she knew that it was nothing of the sort. The worst part was that she couldn’t resist even if she wanted to. Because she had no reason to.
What he was asking for was nothing strange.
She let out a breath. “She is inside. There is still a barrier around her. I will lead you there.”
“Go on then.”
She led them towards the barrier, praying in her mind that Ajuka would come as fast as possible. If things got worse, she didn’t think she could manage things just between her and Falbium considering they might have those strange artifacts Sirzechs had spoken of before.
Falbium stayed behind to monitor the rest of the Old Satan faction.
A few minutes later, they were at the barrier. Thankfully it was still holding on.
Now she only wished it held on till the backup came. Strange how in just a matter of half an hour, she went from wanting nothing from wanting the damned barrier to disappear to wanting it to stay.
“Go on, remove the barrier.” he asked.
“I’m sorry, Lord Rizevim but we cannot remove the barrier. It was put there by the attackers.”
“Is that so?”
He walked up to the barrier and a massive amount of power burst out from him. He conjured a spell which made her feel that she would be downright erased if she were to get hit by it directly.
She quickly made a barrier of her own.
He attacked the barrier. The whole dimension where the room was shook. Her barrier cracked even when not being attacked directly. The surroundings were crushed.
As the dust settled, she looked and saw the barrier around Lilith to be as it was, completely undamaged.
“Well what do you know, you were telling the truth. I guess we’ll have to wait then.” He laughed, conjuring a chair in front of the barrier as he took a seat there.
She let out a sigh of relief.
Time passed.
Each second seemed as if it was an hour.
Around fifteen minutes later, she felt another aura rising outside the dimension.
Sirzechs.
It attracted attention too and a look of hatred appeared on Euclid’s face.
Did he?
The aura however calmed down soon.
Yes. He must have found out about Venelana.
Sure enough.
In just a minute, the members of Sirzechs’ peerage came in as backup. Even Ajuka’s followed behind them.
She finally felt an invisible load lift from her shoulder.
“Serafall.”
“I am fine.” She quickly stopped them from doing anything stupid. “Sirzechs?”
“Lord Gremory and Falbium are there.”
She nodded.
The atmosphere in the room just became more tense with Ajuka's presence.
Maybe encouraged by Ajuka’s presence, several other House Heads also entered the place but maintained a distance to watch the show safely.
Time ticked by.
An hour later, as expected, the barriers came down.
Rizevim got up from his seat and walked towards Lilith. She tried to interrupt but Ajuka stopped her from interfering and she realised what she was doing.
Ajuka however intervened. “We would like to check Lady Lilith for some verifications. There is still a chance that she could be a fake planted by the attackers.”
“Preposterous. Do you want to cover for that abomination too?” Euclid roared.
Rizevim also paused and looked at Ajuka with a smile and she had a very bad feeling about it. “Go on. I will give you a minute. And no matter the result, I will take her with me. After all, there is only so much I can agree to after the grave negligence from your side. To think my poor mother was trapped in this place for such a long time. I want to take her home as soon as possible.”
And that’s when she realised that they were trapped. He wanted them to check and verify her in front of everyone to cause even more chaos.
Ajuka however was completely unphased by them and quickly scanned the entire place.
“She is suffering from the sleeping disease but there is nothing else wrong with her. She is… Lady Lilith.”
"Awesome. Then I will be taking her." Rizevim gleefully clapped his hands and then he turned towards Ajuka. "Oh… and I will be coming back for Zekram. I don't care what you people investigate or find. I will be the one to deliver the final judgement."
"If he is found guilty. There will be a public sentence." Ajuka replied, not backing down.
"What?" Rizevim questioned, narrowing his eyes.
"Lady Lilith is a member of your family so I will not intervene if you take her but the sentence of Zekram Bael will be carried out in accordance with the laws of the Underworld.”
They stared off with each other till Rizevim began to laugh.
"You can dream whatever you'd like to dream."
With his words said, he turned towards the case where Lilith was being kept and reached out to pick her up… only for someone to hold his wrist and slowly push it aside.
She looked up to see a guy with silver hair and blue eyes.
Damien Lucifer Asmodeus.
Behind him were the same faces she had seen a few hours ago.
Merlin Ambrosius, Ingvild Leviathan as well as several other faces which she had no idea about.
Even Rizevim was taken aback at his appearance and didn’t react when he moved towards the case and picked Lilith up in his arms.
Then he turned his head back to look at Rizevim and Serafall found herself frozen at the coldness in those eyes. He didn’t look even remotely similar to the person they had met two hours ago.
- Damien -
I was ready to leave the bar with my team to go to the underworld, when I sensed a pair of guests arriving at my door steps.
Musashi relayed that they wanted to talk to meet me.
“Bring them in.”
Soon, two figures walked in.
“I would have thought that you would visit the Bael Mansion instead of this place? After all, that’s the place which needs you more… Runeas Gremory.”
“Oho little Chysis was correct. You do look like him. Almost so much that even I was fooled.” The twin tailed Devil stared at me, looking smug.
She was always like this. I have several memories regarding her too.
But at this moment, her gaze was kinda annoying me.
“Damien… we have come here… to ask for your help.” Chysis opened the conversation.
I just looked at her unmovingly.
Merlin took care of the conversation instead.
“And what help would that be? We have already stated that we want no part in the mess of the Underworld.”
“You are…” Runeas looked at Merlin slightly confused.
“Merlin Ambrosius.”
“Oh… yes. Now that I look closer, you do seem a little familiar.”
“I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, maybe even invite you for a drink and talk about old days but I believe this is not a time for that. Can we leave aside the reminiscence for now? Why exactly are you here? If you want our help, I have already stated what our opinion is regarding the matter. Damien has also done the same when he met Sirzechs.”
“The Devil race was created by Lucifer. Can you just sit aside and watch what is happening today?” Chysis questioned.
“Sit aside? No. We were in fact going there to bring back Lilith. Apart from that, what does it matter to us what happens to the Devil race? Not to mention, don’t you think you are being too presumptuous to think that only the Devils living in the Underworld constitute the whole Devil Race?”
“But they do constitute a majority.” She looked at me. “Please. You are the only one who can stop this whole mess.”
Runeas took the opportunity to throw her two words in. “Alright, let’s get down to it. What do you want in return? You already have a pretty good team here but joining with the Underworld can provide them a stronger backing. With your blood and face, you can easily become the Satan Lucifer and no one would question it, especially with me backing you up. Aside from you, even the Leviathan girl and Merlin establish the Satan clans once more. Evil Pieces can take care of their Human Side. Quite a convenient piece of invention. So many things happened while I was asleep…”
I stopped her from her rant with a raised hand. “Before anything, tell me something. This Sleeping sickness… did you know that Zekram had used this on Lilith?”
This is something I needed to know. My information was only about Zekram but I didn’t know anything about her being involved or anyone else for that matter.”
Her face took on a serious expression. “I had no idea she was even alive, let alone under the Sleeping sickness.” She replied quite sincerely.
No lies.
Well then, I had nothing to say about this anymore.
Now to put her back in her place.
“Alright. I believe you. Now onto the second part. To promise me the position of a Satan Lucifer.” My smile grew feral as I channelled the side of Lucifer I had witnessed. “Who died and made you the king… little Runi?”
She almost recoiled at the sudden reply, taking back two steps in shock, her eyes wide open as her smug attitude disappeared.
“What did you…” She began but I interrupted.
“I don’t remember you being so courageous when Leviathan had tied you up and hung you on top of the Pits for destroying her wine collection in your drunken brawl? Tell me, do you remember the first words said to you all when you were created?”
She looked at me, muscles tense as her mouth opened but no words came out.
“I warned you all of something that day… and today one of you did just that.”
“Who are you?” She asked, shaken. I was talking about the day they were all created. Something only Lilith and Lucifer know apart from the original pillar devils.
My forces had gathered. Cleria had informed me just a moment ago so I too got up and left, her question answered.
One stunned and one confused devil were left behind as I walked out of the room. At that moment a voice sounded in my mind.
“Damien. Can you hear me? Please… I need your help. Answer please.” It was Rias’ voice. But unlike her usual shy and cheerful self, her voice was broken and filled with pain and sorrow. She’s crying.
“What happened Princess?” I questioned.
“Mother… she’s not breathing. She is not waking up. She is….please.” Her voice choked.
I froze in my place, flashes of the past appearing in front of my eyes. My hands clenched at the painful memory.
“Where?” I forced myself to speak.
“The Bael House. Damien… please… help me.”
“I will be there soon.”
As soon as the connection was cut, I called Ophelia. “What happened to Venelana Gremory? I remember telling you that she should not be touched.”
Ophelia told me about the situation.
Lord Bael…
I clenched my teeth.
It was just like back then.
Due to my own foolishness….
Back then my sister was crying and this time it was my friend.
Back then it was Rizevim and this time Fucking Bael…
“Damien.” Merlin questioned seeing my sudden change in mood.
“Let’s go, Merlin. Today, we won't hold back.” I had to hold back the last time due to my own weakness as Vienna cried in my arms. I did everything I could to never be in that position ever again.
This time… screw holding back.
“As you order, my King.”
- Michael -
He watched as the whole place became quiet at the mention of the name.
Even after so long, Helel’s name could have such an effect inciting both good and bad memories in all the angels.
“What are you saying, brother?” Raphael asked, confused.
“I met Helel.” He repeated. “The mysterious angel who had appeared near the shroud was none other than our brother.”
“That’s impossible.”
“He is dead.”
“The Dead cannot come back.”
Several calls sounded in the room as Raphael became the voice of reason once more and calmed them down. This gave him a chance to explain things.
“He was the one who showed me the last moments of Father… and to prove his words, he held the True Longinus possessed by one of his subordinates. As we had already seen Father’s Blessing for him was stored inside the spear by him before passing. As soon as he held the spear, light enveloped him as his devil wings changed into twelve wings of pure silver colour. The aura he was giving, the power… it was unmistakably the same… Holy power.”
He explained everything that happened in the meeting and by the end of it everyone was completely silent.
“Why did he appear near the shroud?” Uriel asked.
“His soul is injured. Every time he touches one, his soul heals a bit and he….he believes that… if he can collect all the Five Holy Relics… he can gain an audience with Father’s spirit.”
“What!”
“He has already collected four out of five of them and only requires the Incinerate Anthem, which is in the possession of another one of our wayward brothers, Satanael.”
Everyone listened and he knew that he had to give orders now.
“What we need to do is try to find a clue about the Incinerate Anthem. He will not take any help from us, trying to solve everything on his own as a form of repentance but… we are family. And family helps each other. So, I request all of you, to please try to see if you can find any clues about the last Relic. If there is even a slight chance we can meet the spirit of Father…”
“I will deploy the spies to search for Satanael’s whereabouts.”
“The Church also has a good network. We have caught some people from the Fallen who had infiltrated the Church. We will try to make them speak.”
“Helel also gave me some information about the Heaven’s System. It seems some of our brothers and sisters are using loopholes in the System due to Father’s absence to escape falling.”
“That’s…”
“How many?” Uriel asked.
“Quite a few. Fortunately, I was also given a method to reduce the loopholes. I will be working on it to get the system back to its previous condition. Till then, I request you all to keep the Church in check. We don’t want any war with his faction.”
Over the next few hours, they discussed the plans for the future.
When everything was done, the rest of the Seraphs left the place and the only ones left were the Great Seraphs, he looked at Uriel.
“In Helel’s bar… I met Celine.”
Uriel paused, his eyes widening slightly. Even Raphael and Gabriel looked at him in surprise. He continued. “She looked better than before. She sings there sometimes. You should go and visit sometimes.”
He looked lost at the reminder and absently nodded.
- Zeoticus Gremory -
He lay on his knees beside his wife, looking at her cold lifeless body.
On his side, Sirzechs was in a similar situation. The only reason he was not in his true form, going on a rampage was because of Rias beside them.
As someone who had fought in wars and led people, both life and death are something they had come to accept a long time ago. He had seen several close relatives die in both the wars including his own father.
But this never got any easier.
To lose his life partner was the hardest.
To see his children crying in pain beside him was even harder than trying to stop himself from.
But someone has to hold themselves back to support the others.
Sirzechs didn’t look like he was currently able to do so and Rias… she had been furiously praying…
He got up or rather forced himself to do so. “Let’s take her back home.”
“No!” Rias shouted. “It will be alright. Mother will be alright. We just need to wait here a bit.”
“Rias” he tried to make her understand but she just refused to listen.
Before he could say anything, someone entered the room quickly. “L… Lord Asmodeus, Lord Luc… Sirzechs… it’s… it is…” He looked like he had seen a ghost.
Falbium who had stayed behind to support Sirzechs questioned.
“There outside… it’s….it’s… Lucifer! It is Lucifer.”
Lucifer?
Oh!
It must be him.
So he came here too.
However, before he could say anything, Rias, who heard this, got up and ran outside. He followed to see a strange scene.
The entire place was eerily quiet.
Every Lord and Lady, every single devil from the Pillar Houses was looking at a figure in the middle of the hall with a wide eyed shocked look.
There were even some reporters.
Behind him was his entire entourage. Ones he had seen in the bar and the ones who were not there.
Merlin, Grayfia’s sister, the Leviathan girl, Cleine of the Holy Flames, there was even the infamous Kitsune, Akira as well as several under masks whom he didn’t recognise.
Over a dozen people followed closely behind him.
To his surprise, his daughter ran directly to him and hugged him.
“Please… help Mother.” She cried. “You said you are the Devil right? You can help my Mother then. Please… help us.”
The whole scene was attracting too much attention.
He let out a sigh as he walked.
“Rias. Please don’t disturb…”
His words however weren't completed when she took him by his hand and led him towards the room where Venelana’s body lay, passing by him without a word.
“Stop this, Rias. Venelana is…”
Damien turned back and looked at him, a finger on his lips, signalling him to be quiet.
He walked behind Rias and he followed. The other Lords looked at the scene and followed too.
Inside the room Sirzechs looked at them but didn’t do anything, too emotionally exhausted to even speak anything.
Rias looked at Damien and continued. “I… I will make a deal with you. If you help mother… I will give you anything you want for me.”
“Rias!” He shouted.
The man in question however kneeled in front of Venelana, completely ignoring everything.
Sirzechs narrowed his eyes.
“Losing one’s mother is… extremely painful. I know it better than most. But… it’s not time for you to lose yours today.” He put a hand on Venelana’s head.
“I… the bringer of Light and the Prince of Darkness….order you….live.”
“What do you think you…”
Before Sirzechs could complete his words, light erupted from her body and lit the whole room up brightly.
What happened next made him forget his words completely.
Gasps rose around the room while Sirzechs, who looked like he was about to attack, completely froze in his place.
Several people in the room fell to their knees, heads bowed low, not even daring to look at the man.
But his eyes were only focused on the figure of Venelana which shook, her breath returning before she slowly opened her eyes.
He walked forward, as if in a daze as she completely opened her eyes.
“Sirzechs. Rias. What is going on here?” She whispered softly.
Both the children hugged her and he too walked in to join wondering if all this was real or he was actually dreaming.
Sirzechs looked up in shock and uttered only one word. “How?”
“I told you that I am the Devil… and that I do not lie. You all just didn’t want to believe it subconsciously.” He whispered back lightly.
And with his words said, he got up and began to leave.
Sirzechs quickly got up and followed, catching up to him and bowing deeply in front of him. “I...have no words to convey my feelings right now.”
“Then don’t. I didn’t do it for you.”
“But you did us a favour I don’t think we can ever repay. If there is anything I can…”
“Just stay out of this… Today, whatever happens… stay out of it. I have returned the life of her mother to the princess. It would be really sad if she has to lose a brother today.”
“I…” He hesitated for a moment before looking up resolutely. “I Promise.”
While he was leaving, someone gathered their courage and asked. “Who are you?”
The man left the room only leaving a few words behind him.
“I am… who I am.”
- Victoria Valac -
She stood in front of their actual goal as several of their members worked furiously to complete the work.
While there were other reasons like destroying the Bael House’s influence over the underworld as well as punishing the ones who were involved in the whole mess with Lilith and Cleria.
Alicia was out for blood too since she found out about the truth of the Sleeping Sickness.
Victoria herself however didn’t have any reason other than following orders. She was obviously thankful to both Ophelia and Master Damien giving her a chance so that she doesn’t get sold off by her house to the highest bidder in the name of marriage.
Right now, she was one of the strongest devils in the Underworld even though most people didn’t know of it.
She no longer needed to fear such a fate as she could decide her own future. So she wanted to help out those who gave her this chance.
They needed to complete the work before the Satans became free and realised something was going on here.
Her job was to find and remove the surveillance devices from the place with her Clan Trait.
Diehauser Belial would assist her in this work.
“My Lady, we are done with the preparations.” One of Alicia’s peerage members came and reported.
According to Ophelia, Damien had reached the place too, which means that the Satans will not be moving from that place anytime soon.
“Prepare the illusion. We move at their signal.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
It was almost time for the True Project Regicide to commence.
- Damien -
I walked towards the place where Lilith was being kept.
On the way, I encountered some familiar faces.
The idiot trio.
It looks like they were done gathering their armies. The skies above the mansion were covered with their people being confronted by the armies of the Underworld.
Creuserey Asmodeus looked at me with hatred while Shalba frowned looking at me but kept his anger in check.
Katerea on the other hand, looked much tamer than before.
“Why are you here, traitor?” Creuserey shouted. “Do you think you can just come and go wherever you please?”
I was however not in the mood to argue with idiots today. “Move aside. I am not in a mood to play around today.”
“Who do you think you are to order us? Are you really that delusional to think that you can take on all of us, our armies just with a bunch of half breed trash.” He barked looking at Merlin and I sensed Merlin frowning.
I looked at him and nodded.
All of my subordinates with Conqueror’s Haki let it roar together.
Even though they were not at my level yet, they were still extremely strong when it came to willpower.
The sky was divided into several parts under their combined Haki as red lightning flashed all over the sky.
The armies in the sky were struck by the sudden attack, falling down from the skies one after another under the horrified gazes of the two.
Katerea had some idea about our levels so she never said a word.
In a few moments, the entire sky was clear once more.
“Army? What army?” Merlin asked.
We walked past the stunned fools who were too shaken to even move let alone answer.
I could sense the people inside as soon as we crossed the walls of the dimension where the room was.
I heard the argument between Rizevim and Ajuka.
Even in such a situation, the new Beelzebub didn’t back down.
This man really deserved the title of the Beelzebub.
I entered the room but everyone’s focus was on Rizevim. Only Ajuka noticed me, his eyes widening slightly but he didn’t make any moves.
Rizevim was extending his hand to pick Lilith up from her place.
Several scenes flashed in front of me.
Aria.
Razevan.
Gretel.
Leviathan.
Lucifer.
Him.
And before I knew it, I was holding him by his wrist, pushing his hand aside.
The guy was not expecting me and was taken aback for a moment.
I took the advantage of the situation to go and pick Lilith up. Recalling the last moments of Lucifer, I turned my head back and the words came to my lips on their own.
“Touching my Lilith’s body… you’re not worthy… boy.” I said icily.
Rizevim took an unconscious step back, his hands protecting his eyes. In the middle he realised what he was doing and then realised the situation. His eyes widened as he looked at me as if he had seen a ghost.
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Beta Reader: @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)
Author’s Note:
And there it is….the moment which everyone was waiting for.
Yes.
As many had guessed, Lord Bael did something stupid.
But most of you would have rioted if the Milf had stayed dead.
It was a good opportunity to recall the situation with Aria, only with a different ending this time.
A poetic situation.
As for Rizevim….well, we will see everything in the next chapter.
[Beta Note: Once again enjoy the Cliff ‘;..;’] [AN: It was the perfect place to stop.]
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.
