41 Chapter 41: The police calls in an airstrike

"Ugh…" Suzuki Satorou held to his head as he came back to consciousness slowly on an oddly familiar damp floor. "Did anyone catch the serial number of that mag-lev car?"

Then, Momonga realized he had been unconscious, which in turn meant that he had been stunned, which in turn meant that his racial abilities were once again malfunctioning- something they should not be capable of doing.

His panic meter went from 'green' to 'yellow'.

Then he remembered the 'conversation' Momonga had with 'Lord Phenix' in his mind-scape.

His panic meter went from 'yellow' to 'orange'.

Then he noticed that he was on the floor of a damp cave which should not have felt as familiar as it did, nor should he have memories of getting cut apart in it.

Then he noticed that a red-headed man was looking down at Momonga.

Momonga's 'panic meter' went from 'orange' to 'red' instantly upon seeing Sirzechs Lucifer looking down at him, having caught Momonga red-handed in a necromancer's cave while Ravel was tied up and amputated on a table nearby.

Momonga opened his mouth to come up with a hasty explanation.

Sirzechs beat him to it, causing Momonga's panic-meter to go from 'red' to 'out of scale'

"I heard the Supreme Being was here."

Momonga's fleshy body's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Emotion Suppression came to the rescue, restoring Momonga's rapidly degrading mental state and making Momonga sigh in relief as his racial abilities hadn't failed entirely.

"It looks like that thing has wards or some detection magic. He must have fled before I arrived… If he was here at all." Sirzechs continued while glancing a bit warily at the now-calm 'Momon'. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"...I'm not certain, I fell unconscious after entering. I think there was a trap or something in one of the scrolls there, I was looking for something to cut Ravel's binds with." Momonga used his true signature ability, making stuff up on the fly, while lifting himself up from the floor.

The sudden panic and need to protect and make sure Ravel was alright caused Emotion Suppression to activate again as he glanced at the amputated girl, forcing Momonga to reconsider the wiseness of his earlier actions.

'Did absorbing Lord Phenix's memories also change my personality?' Momonga opened the can of worms. On one hand, he had fairly good idea about the political spider-web of machinations that made the Underworld's power balance, the huge war against heavens and fallen angels, the death of God, and much more. But on other hand he also recalled a life alongside a woman Momonga knew as Lady Phenix, as well as some associated memories that caused an almost irrational need to protect the injured girl lying on the table that his current memories told him was his daughter, but who Momonga knew wasn't actually his daughter.

'This… Isn't good.' Momonga realized that Lord Phenix's memories were only held back by the fact 'Momonga' from YGGDRASIL resisted mental effects, but if it weren't for it, Lord Phenix's extensive memories would have overwritten Suzuki Satorou like a flood of water absorbing a pot full of ink.

After all, the noble devil had lived for hundreds of years and survived as many battles only to die for the sake of his family and for the sake of who he thought was his wayward son.

By comparison, 'Momonga' was barely fifteen years old in terms of 'existing' and having memories of existing, and Suzuki Satoru was only slightly past thirty with extremely bland life outside YGGDRASIL, and since the two were now literally the same person, their combined memories made barely a drop in the ocean compared to the ones held by the soul that had been absorbed into his, severely destabilizing the personality scale- after all, memories of past life shaped most of a person's persona.

Momonga grabbed his head as the memories flooded his mind again from thinking about it, all the while 'Momonga' held to its memories of YGGDRASIL thanks to skeletal creature's racial immunity to mental ailments and Suzuki Satorou, by proxy, still retained a sense of what were 'real' memories of Neo-Japan, as opposed to 'alien' ones of Lord Phenix instead of becoming one and the same- and in turn, neither. '...This was a bad idea. Really bad idea. Magics involving Souls can have very adverse side-effects if used carelessly, and absorbing memories is a seriously bad idea when done at large quantities… I should have known better, judging from how much Gasper's personality changed... I'll need to acquire a few intact souls and start experimenting on them to avoid these kinds of mistakes in the future… In the span of two days, I've almost died twice already- once against Vali, physically, and now almost against Lord Phenix's soul, in personality level…'

Momonga had no doubt that if Lord Phenix's memories overpowered his, he'd turn into a new 'Lord Phenix' that not only had the Phenix's natural abilities, but also likely had Momonga's powers.

It wasn't that the man's soul was more powerful than Momonga, but rather the sheer amount of memories flooding to the disguised Overlord would confuse Momonga as to who he was, changing his personality drastically to the point 'he' would no longer be 'himself', but rather a new person entirely- Ironically becoming exactly what he was thought to be, an amnesiac holding the powers of another's soul.

The rage that rose from the thought of 'someone' merging itself to 'Momonga's and Suzuki Satoru's combined memories allowed him a moment of clarity, and he used the time to build a mental 'dam' of sorts between his 'real' and Lord Phenix's 'alien' memories.

"...Momon? Momon!" A light slap against Momonga's fleshy body's face forced him to pull himself off his mental daze, and he looked up to see that he had nearly collapsed against a 'workbench' of sorts and Sirzechs had come to support Momon..

'Right, those memories need to go to a time-out zone until I can dissect them and slowly integrate what I need, and discard the rest…' Momonga realized that as long as the entire memory of the patriarch of Phenix house was in his mind he'd be in danger of having his personality overwhelmed and overpowered. 'I'll have to probably use [Control Amnesia] on myself to remove what I don't need, and put the rest of the memories to a rat or something… Haah, and now I have to lobotomize myself in order to save my 'true' personality… This world is truly insane…'

"I'm alright, I'm just… dizzy. The trap, ugh..." Momonga waved Sirzech's concern off, keenly aware that his cover was shaky at best considering the surrounding circumstances so he feigned weakness so if the situation turned for the worse, he'd get a cheap shot at the man from him underestimating Momonga's state. He combined it with feigning concern for the body on the table nearby. "Ravel, is she alright? I… Ugh…"

"Take it easy. I think whoever tipped Rias off that the 'Supreme Being' was here was trying to draw us into ambush, and the presence of traps further solidifies that theory." Sirzechs was clearly on guard against everything, seeing that the devil was keeping a good distance between 'Momon' and Ravel, as well as most items and 'items' in the blood-covered cave. "I didn't see Gasper when I arrived, but there were some undead archer-types who tried to shoot me down so I destroyed them. How did you sneak in?"

"Uh… Well, it's a long story." Momonga paled. "I'll, um, tell you later. Right now we should focus on grabbing Ravel and getting out before anything else happens. You said this 'Supreme Being' was on its way here, right? I didn't see one, er, I guess, because I got knocked out by a trap..."

"Alright. I'll incinerate this cave after we've left, there's bound to be more traps in here as well as hidden undead. The fact this cave's location had remained secret for so long, even against my scrying spells means that there are forces in play that can evade even my detection. Which makes me somewhat curious as to how exactly youmanaged to find this place in such a short time without assistance?" Sirzechs narrowed his eyes slightly at Momon, clearly suspicious but didn't argue further. "I believe I'm the stronger of us two at least in terms of combat, so could I trouble you to carry Ravel-san, Momon-kun? I'm not sure I can guarantee her safety if I am forced to fight while carrying her."

"Uh, I had a, hm, familiar help me out when finding this place." Momonga took the role of a stammering, intimidated boy on the outside while internally getting ready for his cover to break any second now, and for the combat which would follow. "A-and, sure, I can carry Ravel…"

The Crow created by [Lead of Yatagarasu] flew through the cave and perched itself on Momonga's shoulder, as the 'bird' had likely been sitting outside the cave and waiting for its master to arrive, serving as a sentry of sorts. However, considering Momonga had been unconscious, he couldn't fault the 'bird' for not alerting him about Sirzech's arrival.

"...That bird…" Sirzehcs seemed to do a double-take as he glanced at the three-legged raven. "Impossible, but… Well, it would certainly explain that… but, isn't it supposed to be in… But the Shinto Gods aren't supposed to..."

"Sirzechs-sama?" Momonga felt that the Maou was seriously re-evaluating 'Momon' based off the look the Maou gave to the three-legged crow. "Is there a problem?"

"No, you're correct, Momon-kun, let's talk later. We're not going to get anywhere if we engage in deep conversation about your nature here." Sirzechs seemed to shake off his stupor and took a step towards the exit of the cave, pausing to cut Ravel's binds with some sort of black needle-like dagger that extended from his hand, making Momon vaguely think of the black energy balls Rias had been able to conjure.

Momon moved next to Ravel who twitched on the 'surgery table' and lifted her into a somewhat awkward princess carry, as her lack of limbs made it somewhat difficult to carry her via traditional method and he felt that just throwing the tortured, weak girl on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes wouldn't endear 'Momon' to anyone.

The [Sealing Cloth] around Ravel's face had come loose from Sirzech's cuts, allowing it to fall off the girl's face and reveal that she was missing her eyes, exposing just empty holes where the sensory organs were meant to be, meaning that the cloth was likely there just to prevent her from hearing normally and screaming properly and to prevent her from using her magic.

Indeed, as soon as the cloth came off, Ravel tried to form a fireball to fling at her carrier, likely thinking that she was being moved by the Elder Lich, who Momonga guessed was responsible for her current state.

From that point of view the lack of eyes made some sense, seeing that it made getting to her tear glands much easier had likely given Lich a quick access to her brand of Phoenix Tears.

The fireball she conjured, however, was nothing more than a small spark which disappeared instantly afterwards. Ravel's hoarse scream that accompanied it however lacked none of the intensity her fireball lacked. The twitching and struggling that came from the girl forced Momonga to stop as he contemplated his options, and Sirzechs stopped as well to look behind him.

'Right, Ravel's probably out of it… I'm not sure what the Lich did to her is permanent or if there's other reasons why she's not regenerating how a Phoenix should…'Momonga gripped the girl a bit tighter, causing her to struggle even more. "Uh, Sirzechs-sama? Do you have any ideas why Ravel isn't regenerating?"

Hearing 'Momon's voice didn't seem to help Ravel's mood as she went from panicking and twitching torso to deathly still one, radiating so much fear that the Overlord within couldn't help but be impressed by it.

"Hm, I'm not all that well versed in healing magic, since my focus has been quite singular, but I feel that she's entirely out of devil energy." Sirzechs glanced over Ravel. "Her body should be alright after some rest and after she regains enough energy to regenerate herself. Her mental state, however, might need a psychiatrist or two. I could try to heal her, but I fear that she's so close to death that my brand of healing might cause her enough damage to finish her off. I believe your Peerage had a healer with [Twilight Healing]? She should be able to heal her."

'Out of energy, huh… ' Momonga contemplated the pros and cons of reaching over the already straining dam of memories to draw knowledge from Lord Phenix's memories and seeing how 'devil energy' matched with YGGDRASIL's concept of 'Mana'. However he chose to abstain from that action, seeing that he had already tempted fate too many times in such a short time frame. 'Technically, this fleshy body I have would now have some of Phoenix's abilities if that Scroll worked as it should have, but seeing how impromptu experiments have had such wild results, I should probably abstain from breaking out of norm for a while…'

Thusly, Momonga figured that if he 're-energized' Ravel it'd help his 'reliability' in the eyes of the Maou who was already looking quite suspicious of 'Momon'. 'I imagine I could just carry her to Asia, but if I heal her instead, I can probably garner some 'affinity points' from Sirzechs and from Lady Phenix and Ravel, not to mention that I don't have to worry about her safety as much… Anyway, this mana-energy restoration method is fairly well tested at this point… I really don't want to use one of my potions to heal her...'

Momonga put Ravel down on the ground, kneeled beside her, propped her limp form against his knee and reached behind his back to pull out a six-pack of mana potions as well as an applicator funnel he had prepared in advance in case he needed to consume large quantities of potions in a combat situation.

A vein pulsed in Momonga's fleshy body's temple as he felt Ddraig scratch his hand again when he put his hand in his inventory. He ignored the trapped dragon while he pulled out the items he'd need to restore Ravel's energy in a cost-effective way. And a YGGDRASIL healing potion just in case, although he hid it behind his back.

He then called for Sirzechs to pause as he started to pour the potions down Ravel's throat.

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Sirzech's eyes widened as Momon pulled a pin that connected to the lids of a six-pack of tantric energy and libido boosters, which were items that were somewhat famous in the Underworld for their myriad of bedroom-related effects as well as six different flavours it came in.

'Where did he pull those from? Did he summon them from somewhere or did he just create them from thin air?' Sirzechs was quite surprised and honestly baffled as to why Momon would bring out the potions there and then, as the Maou was fairly certain that the scenario the trio had found themselves in wasn't one where such 'boosters' were necessary.

The oddly-acting boy then put a funnel into Ravel's mouth and poured the contents of the six-pack down her throat..

Ravel let muffled 'glug' sounds, all the while Sirzechs did a triple-take on Momon and the three-legged Crow that was still perched on Momon's shoulder.

The Three-Legged Crow, which was possibly in some way related to the Yatagarasu, a crow that was the personification of Shinto Gods's will.

The crow turned its head at Sirzechs and… shrugged its feathery shoulders?

Sirzechs blinked, putting aside the issue of Momon force-feeding the Phenix girl enough extra-large libido boosters to cause her a week full of restless nights

"Can you actually understand me?" Sirzechs asked the Crow, and it seemed to sigh exasperatedly in return. "...So you can. So, tell me, what God of Shinto sent you to guard Momon? And why? We still hold a deal to not interfere in each other's affairs…"

The Crow titled its head in confusion, then shook its head and turned away from Sirzechs after letting out a dismissive caw.

'Well then.' Sirzechs eyed the crow warily. 'It's probably not the Yatagerasu, or at least is feigning ignorance… Still, I have to bring this breach of contract on the table the next time I meet Shinto's representatives… The Fox of Kyoto probably knows about why this Crow is here… or she sent it herself, as it doesn't seem to recognize my accusation of it being sent by Shinto's Gods…'

Sirzechs filed the information for later study, but seeing that Fallen Angels were invading the Underworld, Serafall was going berserk and had disappeared who-knows-where, and the Supreme Being was executing a plan of its own while probably being allied to Ophis's faction as well, the Maou had his plate full to point of bursting already. He did not need the Shinto's Gods adding their two eggs and sausage to it.

'...Seeing that Momon has just stumbled into some trap set by the one who tipped Rias off, who I guess was the Supreme Being's servant pretending to mis-speak, I can probably rule out the possibility of Momon being the Supreme Being's thrall…'The Maou sighed. 'The trap was probably set for me, since Serafall had revealed herself and thus the enemy rightly thought that the rest of the Maous would be present as well. Still, I can't quite dismiss the possibility however, and neither can I dismiss Ravel's condition…'

Sirzechs kept a close eye on Ravel while he was thinking about the situation at hand, determined to ensure the girl's safety- although he felt he probably didn't need to interrupt Momon, in case he had some method to heal the girl that Sirechs wasn't aware of.

Still, he remained on guard- While it would be quite hard for Sirzechs to fight at full potential should the Supreme Being appear while Sirzechs was forced to lug the girl's body around, he was determined to not let Ravel die. Thus, having Momon carry Ravel was actually quite an optimal solution.

'Ugh, if Ravel gets snatched like Lord Phenix after she was in my reach, like he was back in the Rating Game grounds… ' The Maou lamented. 'Well, if that happens I can at least guarantee that Lady Phenix is going to explode all over my face and probably join the enemy's side as well..."

Ravel sputtered but gulped the last of the potions, causing Sirzechs to lift his eyebrow at Momon as the girl's physical state hadn't changed.

"I take those were disguised Phoenix Tears you cried beforehand, some equivalent liquid, Momon-kun?" Sirzechs wanted to clarify, just to dismiss his rising fear that what the boy fed to the girl had been exactly what they had looked like.

"Umu... No. Not quite. However these potions should restore her energy if she had ran out, allowing her to regenerate." The boy confirmed Sirzech's rising fear. The boy then scratched his chin as the girl merely twitched in response but nothing else happened, her wounds staying as they were. Then the boy seemed to remember that Sirzechs was staring at him, and had the decency to blush and look embarrassed. "Ah, it seems that the effect on her energy balance is not quite the same for her as it is for me. That's… unfortunate. I thought it would work for sure…"

"..." Sirzechs covered his face with his hands. "Urgh… Momon-san… Unless you're planning on revealing that you knew Sanjutsu and somehow performing Bouchujutsu, commonly known as 'Bedroom method of healing' on Ravel-san in this damp, undead-infested cave, I doubt libido boosters are going to help…"

Sirzechs pulled his hands away from his face as he heard a 'pop' of a cork getting pulled off and a click of a glass, and did a quadruple-take on the scene in front of him.

Indeed, Ravel was quickly regenerating and Momon had quickly put something behind his back. "I hope that was a Phoenix Tear…"

"Yes, quite, it was a healing potion, yes…" Momon seemed to sweat a bit while looking more than a little regretful, which Sirzechs guessed was him feeling regret for his earlier 'healing attempt'.

'...Come to think of it, he tried to heal Rias the same, perverted, way when I first met him as 'Momon', after 'Issei' had died…' Sirzechs seemed to recall something and he paused as something seemed to click. 'Does his power synergize with perversion? That would fit at least on a motivational level, seeing how Issei acted before his… change, but does it go deeper than that?'

'Hold on, tantric energy boosters restore his devil energy? That should only be the case for succubi and incubi that absorb life energy from humans, animals and such and convert it to tantric energy, whereas for Devils the pure tantric energy just induces a state of extreme lust…' Sirzechs went back on Momon's words, noticing a glaring issue in them. '...I'm not even going to ask. Or assume. Beelzebub's theories are insane enough without me adding into them, there's no way what Beelzebub theorizes is correct, nor is what Serafall insinuating correct, and there's no way Momon is an incubi on top of that…'

"Right, anyway, let's… just get out of here." Sirzechs decided to stop the crazy train and step off it before it could depart the station and head to wherever Beelzebub was, and moved forwards while casting bomb sigils on the cave's walls, which would detonate and bury the place after the trio left it.

He ignored the groan-scream-moan that Ravel gave as Momon lifted the girl in a princess carry and carried her behind Sirzechs. The carrying wasn't easy, however, as it looked like the girl had entered a state of confused daze from being force-fed so many tantric boosters at the same time and after recovering her strength so suddenly after experiencing what must have been prolonged torture.

Indeed, she was screaming something about Supreme Beings, begging Sirzechs to help her against Momon who she seemingly thought was the Supreme Being, and about scalpels and stitched-together monstrosities.

Sirzechs felt some sympathy for Momon as Ravel tried to bite his fingers after the boy had attempted to pacify the girl by rubbing her head, but Sirzechs had to intervene as Ravel tried to gouge the boy's eyes out.

In the end Ravel's confused screams for help turned to mumbles as Sirzechs tied a cloth he conjured with [Power of Imagination] around her mouth, arms and legs and put the girl back to Momon's hold.

The fact the girl had screamed something about' Sirzechs and the Supreme Being being in cahoots with each other' when he had intervened had caused Sirzechs even more concern for Ravel's clearly degraded mental state, which, in truth, was something he had expected from seeing her previous condition.

"I'll need to talk to Lady Phenix before we bring Ravel to her." Sirzechs whispered to Momon's ear, causing Ravel to freeze, and then struggle harder than before as she had apparently heard him despite the lowered volume. Since the damage was done, he sighed and continued whispering. "We'll need to work on Ravel-san's mental state before we can show her to her mother. Considering what happened to her husband and son, I doubt Lady Phenix would… take Ravel's current mental state well."

Momon seemed to calculate for a while before signing and agreeing.

Sirzechs wasn't looking forward to that particular conversation.

Nor was he looking forward to getting information out of the fox woman of Kyoto who had probably sent the Crow to look after Momon.

Or, well, anything that was happening currently.

'I hope Beelzebub is having easier time getting through to Serafall… Oh, who am I kidding…'

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Kokabiel popped out of a magical circle in the Human World, teleported to a vantage point nearby and waited.

He barely dodged a spear of water and glanced to the side to see that Kuoh's waterways had ruptured and the sky had turned pitch-black, raining fist-sized drops of water.

"Well met again, Sera-tan!" Kokabiel greeted after melding out of the way of the insane magical girl-cosplaying Maou's lunge, only losing few feathers to the wild attacks. "Right, I'll have to speak to my superiors, so please enjoy some coffee or perhaps tea is more your fancy? I'll pay!"

"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!" Serafall's screams echoed across the darkening sky, the buildings around her crumbling from her rage and causing a chorus of screams to echo as the unfortunate occupants of the buildings perished.

'Oh, this is too easy…' Kokabiel teleported away, completely foregoing offense for mobility and avoidance, which was barely capable of keeping him alive against the enraged Maou. But barely alive was still alive.

He teleported again, targeting a magical circle he had prepared in advance for the second part of his plan.

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Azazel popped out of a magical circle in front of an estate's gates

"Well then, let's go check these angel chicks." Azazel told no-one in particular, drawing a growl and frown from a person accompanying him. "Oh come on, Vali, you told me they were strong and wore maid outfits in human form. That's like two points out of ten already, if they were tomboyish, had tan lines, perhaps blonde…"

"I don't need to have your perfect 'waifu' described to me, again." Vali groaned, rubbing his face and bringing out an umbrella to block the heavy rain that had started to fall. "Right, I've shown you what you wanted to see, I'm out."

"Oh come now, don't be like that." Azazel reached to rub Vali's hair, bringing himself under the man's umbrella and causing the white-haired White Dragon Emperor to growl threateningly. "If you acted less like a massive edgelord you'd have girls crowding all around you like chickens."

"As…"

"If you're going to say 'as if I'd care about those things' I'm totally going to misinterpret that and set up a date between you and some cute boy-toy, and I'm going to have him reveal his gender half an hour into the date." Azazel warned and Vali called his bluff.

"Bring it on, you deviant good-for-nothing lazy couch potato!" Vali growled.

The Leader of the Fallen Angels nodded, appreciating Vali's growing ability to take diss and return fire without resorting to violence.

"Anyway… Come to me, french-maid-angels!" Azazel declared, and rang the gate's doorbell.

A half a minute passed and the mansion's door opened in the distance, and a maid walked briskly to the duo while holding up an umbrella.

"Aw… Super cute, and that face, that behaviour, that face that would look the bestwith a slightly disgusted look… If only she was a tomboy and had a tan…" Azazel cried while falling to his knees, thoroughly confusing the angel who came over and opened the gate.

"Ah… W-welcome to Phenix Estate, how may I help… you." The maid's half-stammer turned lethally cold as something materialized beside Azazel.

"I'd like some, hm, french fries, two-pound whopper, no onions, and a big cola. No sugar, please. And no pickles." Kokabiel, the rogue Lieutenant of Fallen Angels told the suddenly-hostile maid from beside the Leader of the Fallen Angels after teleporting in front of the gate.

"Oh, hi there, Kok-kun." Azazel's friendly behaviour couldn't quite keep the lance of disappointment and anger from piercing his tone as he turned to face his rogue operative and old no-longer-friend. "Did you come over to turn yourself in? I'm not sure I can give you a reduced sentence, but if you pull off a good 'repenting angel' impression I'll promise I'll try~ But for trying to break the peace I love… I don't think I can forgive you for that."

"Not to worry, not to worry." Kokabiel waved his hand with a sickeningly pleasing expression plastered all over his crooked face, ignoring the fact the rain was starting to pick up the pace and turn from downpour to a full-blown tropical rainstorm, which was quite odd as Kuoh wasn't a place where such phenomena was commonplace. "I merely saw some old friends and decided to have one big reunion. After all, it wasn't me who re-started this little war between Three Factions."

Azazel's face fell at Kokabiel's tone, and at the contents of the man's speech. "Don't tell me you've managed to…"

"AAAAHHHHH!" A scream echoed through the skies and a Leviathan of water rose from the now-submerged streets of Kuoh, sparks and strikes of thunder illuminating the creature like if it was bio-luminescent, or ghostly.

It spotted Kokabiel, Azazel, the angel-maid, and Vali from seemingly miles away, and took to the sky like a massive electric leech swimming through the air.

"Oh no." Azazel got the word out before the mass of angry water crashed against the group.

"Oh yes." Kokabiel's cackling didn't help the situation.

Neither did the angel-maid help the situation by suddenly turning twelve feet tall, sprouting two pairs of white wings and bringing forth a huge, two-handed pure white tower shield to block the water-creature from flattening the estate she was serving.

Nor did the five other angels help the situation as they seemed to materialize beside their comrade to form a wall of shields and a dome of gentle, holy energy that encompassed the mansion and its courtyard. Mostly because the seemingly-impenetrable defense left Azazel, Vali and possibly Kokabiel face against the water-creature that on closer inspection had a pink-clad girl submerged into the center of its 'head'.

"AAAAHHH! DIE, DIE! DIE!" Enraged Serafall Leviathan, a Maou of the Underworld, declared her intentions clear for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear as the sky shattered with lightning and the entire Japan shook… and then the earthquake came to an end as a gigantic dome sprang open around Kuoh.

"GRAAAAA! TRAITORS! TRAITORS-TRAITORTRAITORTRAITOR! YUUUU! GIVE SONA BAAACKKK!" The leviathan of water roared to the sky as its attack was blocked, but it crashed itself against the Fallen Angels again, using its sheer weight as a weapon while hundreds of monomolecular-sharp water-blades materialized along the gigantic sea-creature's sides, slicing apart everything on their way.

A water-blade nicked Kokabiel's cheek, and the slice exploded into a flower of ice as Serafall's powers twisted freely between water and ice, suddenly turning the tropical rainstorm into a localized blizzard of razor-sharp ice that forced the Fallen Angels to stick to land instead of trying to fly away, and forced them to take cover in front of the wall of angelic shields in order to not get tossed away by the sudden gale of razor-sharp wind.

Kokabiel couldn't stop laughing.

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"Ngh!" Beelzebub dragged himself upright after getting hit by a car that had been knocked into the air by a strong water current coming from Kuoh's rupturing plumbings.

It didn't take a genius to see that Serafall's anger had gone from 'mad' to 'batshit insane' in the brief time she had been allowed to build her rage, between whatever had happened to her in the Underworld and Beelzebub finding her again in the Human World.

Beside Beelzebub stood Asmodeus, the fourth Maou of the Underworld who had been keeping an eye on the Human World but hadn't been quite fast enough to catch Serafall, or indeed even known that Serafall was in the mood to fight until she had ruptured Kuoh's water distribution network and started raining enough water to make up for the lack of piping.

Asmodeus was a bald, tall man clad in ceremonial armor that served little purpose other than to denominate his position as the head of Military Affairs, which had been little more than ceremonial as the Underworld had long since stood down its conventional 'army', both because of lack of manpower after the civil war and because of the lack of it since the invention of the Rating Games.

Which fit the lazy Maou entirely, who preferred doing as little work as possible. In turn, it had turned him into the most efficient Maou of the entire group, who managed to get the most work done with the least energy, giving birth to his signature ability, Absolute Defense that nullified nearly any attack, until he turned it to Absolute Offense that bounced the attacks absorbed during Defense phase back at the attacker- all the while Asmodeus was free to take a nap.

"This is going to be a pain in the backside." Asmodeus's tone was thoroughly exhausted as he lifted his hand, causing a dome of energy to envelop entire Kuoh and starting to shrink, suppressing many of the wild area-of-effect attacks the ghost-like Leviathan in the distance was throwing around willy-nilly. "I'll leave the heavy hitting to you. I'll just block Sera's more destructive attacks so we don't accidentally flatten the entire continent or do something else that's going to be annoying to fix…"

"Thanks. We don't need any more enemies than we'll have after this stunt… Well then, time to be a hero…" Beelzebub grumbled as he glanced at the property damage around the place, took the 'evil genius' glasses off his face, drove his hair back with his free hand, and stepped forward to cast his signature magic- Kankara Formula, which allowed him to manipulate his foes abilities, phenomena, and even their level of power- Assuming he managed to calculate the exact balance of power between fighting factions, their abilities, capabilities, and associated parameters.

Fortunately, Beelzebub had a very good understanding of Serafall's abilities.

Unfortunately, he was fairly sure that upon realizing that Beelzebub was attempting to hinder Serafall, she'd turn hostile to him as well.

'Well then, this is going to suck…'

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The Hyoudou parents, Miki and Gorou Hyoudou, took a look through a nearby window at the apocalypse happening outside the manor, the latter which apparently belonged to their son based off the quick and highly disturbing conversation the two had with the maids before the girls had suddenly just disappeared, and the outside had exploded in... Insanity.

The two then looked at each other, and came to a conclusion.

Miki and Gorou took a look at the half-empty tea cups in front of them, and turned the cups over on top of a nearby potted plant.

The two then called the police, preparing to cite that the two had been drugged by a cabal of unknown maids who held their son hostage.

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"It's… bad, my lady." A kimono-wearing woman bowed to another kimono-wearing woman, whose massive, gold blonde fox-tails swung gently behind her back as the two stood on the balcony on the top floor of a traditional temple-palace in Kyoto, looking at the horizon from where a violent, cold gale was blowing. "This storm, it's…"

"I am aware of its nature. It's blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes to see." The fox-tailed woman sighed as she looked up at the tumultuous sky. "Yet, this kind of aggression… Is the Underworld attempting to declare war with the rest of the factions of Japan? What are they thinking?"

"Perhaps they aren't thinking at all, my lady." The kimono-wearing geisha-like woman commented.

"...Haah… I wouldn't be surprised. This day has been bad enough without another biblical war taking place in my backyard. At least Azazel-sama's proposed trade deals and political concessions seemed appropriate, for what he came to ask of me." The fox-tailed woman rubbed her angrily pulsating temple while her tails swung open, showing quite a few rub-marks.

"My lady, for you to allow yourself to be defiled so…" The geisha let a tear fall down her eye. "The trade deals, while beneficial to your people, us, were they truly worth such humiliation? Yes, the Fallen Angels had produced an excess of exotic herbs that are going to make Kyoto's craftsmen's business bloom, but… The price..."

"My tails are never going to recover from this 'floofing' he performed on them." Yasaka, the Great Fox of Kyoto, felt her eyebrow twitch. "...At least he didn't dare to request to fondle my breasts. The last slap should have been enough to let him know his place!"

The tails stood upright in anger like the tail-feathers of a peacock, and the geisha knew better than to inquire further.

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