Chapter 5: Knock over the punch bowl
'[Silent Magic: Delay Magic: Create Undead Third], [Silent Magic: Delay Magic: Create Undead Fourth], [Silent magic: Delay magic: Undead Army]...' Momonga rattled spells off as the Lord of Lies and Great Fly of Hell were staring at him with naked hostility, aiming the spells away from the room and with the summons in 'attack at will' order, in an attempt to create enough chaos to flee in case he was forced to fight not only one but two raid bosses at the same time. The fact YGGDRASIL's spells and abilities worked in the 'new world' that he had found himself in, real as it might be, made him fairly certain that the presence of YGGDRASIL abilities also meant that YGGDRASIL's 'concepts' and 'enemies' were present in the 'new world' as well- That is, raid bosses.
And now, two of the strongest raid bosses of their expansion, Lucifer and Beelzebub, were staring at Momonga, both in their human forms and both with naked hostility in their eyes.
He tuned out the pained wails of the red-headed girl seated on the other side of the dining hall, on the other which a confrontation of truly one-sided proportions was about to happen. And Momonga held no illusions that he'd be on the receiving end. 'I need distractions, more distractions…'
There was no way he could expand his whole mana reservoir before getting flattened into thin bonemeal if he was charged by two bosses at the same time so he rattled off silent, delayed spells to create undead in random places around his current location, as well as placing traps. Casting silent spells already doubled the mana cost of the spell, and that was then doubled further by having it be delayed as well. The mana drain meant that he couldn't afford to spam silent and delayed spells in a normal combat scenario, but he wasn't preparing to fight properly in the first place, instead aiming to throw a necromancer version of sand in someone's eyes and running for the hills.
"Well, Lord Riser?" Lucifer's tone could have turned raging volcanos into icebergs. "Have you anything to say for yourself?"
"I.. don't really know what you are saying, Lucifer-dono. I've never heard of this 'Riser' person before." Momonga answered honestly, the panic he felt clear in his voice as the stress overwhelmed even his emotion suppression, which was likely having a mental breakdown of its own due to the amount of work it had been forced to do in the past few minutes alone. " I woke up suddenly in a field, stabbed through the chest, and my attacker disappeared somewhere, and I wasn't sure if this was reality or not so I thought to fondle Rias-sama's breasts since it seemed like something that would make it clear if everything was real or not!"
"..." Lucifer seemed to do a double-take from Momonga's words while Rias let a somehow reassured and almost glad sob as she heard of Momonga's 'reality check'. "Are you saying, then, that you truly have no clue as to what you've done, are you truly that unrepentant?"
"L-Lucifer-dono, I truly have no idea what you're saying. My memories of this place stretch only to yesterday, and if this is about me fondling Rias-sama's breasts, I truly apologize…" Momonga delayed for time as he kept casting silent spells, ignoring a chorus of angry hisses and snarls and a single hiccup from behind him where Rias and the girl group around her sat on their chairs, presumably supporting their friend who had been wailing non-stop since Lucifer's announcement of Momonga's 'real identity'.
"...You truly have no idea, then?" Lucifer seemed to deflate, much to Momonga's surprise before the lord of Hell turned towards Great Fly whose expression had turned calculating. "I apologize for the accusation, Issei-san. Beelzebub, your theory is either incorrect, or Riser-san is better actor than I ever gave him credit for. I could not detect hesitation nor lie in his words. He's telling the truth, or at least what he believes is the truth."
Grayfia snapped her fingers in front of Lucifer's face in a way that clearly displayed her annoyance. "My lord, I believe Issei-san is not the only one you have to apologize to."
"Ah… Rias, I'm sorry, but I had to make sure…" Sirzechs seemed to bite in his tongue, confusing Momonga to the point he almost stumbled on his incantation of silent and delayed [Summon Middle-tier Undead: Elder Lich]. That spell alone, when silent and delayed, took more mana than the summons he had performed so far combined.
"If Issei-san would have been Riser, there would have been a sign from his 'real' personality due to the factors involved. I've had multiple dealings with Phenix's heir due to Phoenix Tears which are quite valuable to my research, and knew Riser's history quite well also." Beelzebub continued where Lucifer left off. "He would have never missed the chance to take the center-stage and reveal himself, it would have fulfilled his 'goal' if our theory had been correct, and for that I needed your reactions to be real. I'm truly sorry, but the circumstances were too suspicious for us to risk it."
Lucifer nodded severely. "If what I suspected had been correct, Riser's cruel plan would have destroyed your will and soul utterly once sprang, Rias. I had to do it in a controlled environment if that had been the case. Fortunately, it hadn't been. At least yet."
The sobs seemed to subside and a shaky voice emerged from behind Momonga. "Y-you're s-saying Issei…"
"Issei-san is, indeed, likely to be just Issei and not Riser, but I had to make sure. There were too many coincidences. There's still a small chance that Riser-san is indeed possessing Issei-san in one way or other, but judging from the recent actions and events I doubt Riser-san replaced Issei-san." Lucifer nodded to Beelzebub.
"Indeed, there's a high chance the two souls, Issei's and Riser's, amalgamated together into something new entirely, displaying pieces of personality from both yet not truly being either. I will have to research this further to receive any concrete results. Furthermore due to the extent of the amalgamation I doubt this exchange was initiated by Riser, but instead by Issei-san in a final act of desperation." Beelzebub paused to adjust his glasses, turning them ominously opaque while looking seriously at Momonga who hadn't really understood anything that had come out of the Great Fly's mouth. "This would also go further into explaining the instability of his body as I doubt Issei-san's body is durable enough to handle a soul that is suddenly twice as big and many times more powerful than the soul inhabiting it thus far had been. His regeneration, for example, doesn't know when to stop, so it acts more like a reactionary cancer than a healing factor"
"We all know Lognius gears are capable of truly outstanding feats, to the point only their wielders truly know the true extent of their strength, so this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since the ownership of the gear was sacrificed to make it happen." Beelzebub continued and bowed his head to the red-headed girl behind Momonga. "I understand the rage both of you must feel for my theories and for my test. I shall gladly shoulder your disapproval, Issei-san, Rias-san."
'I didn't really understand anything Lucifer or Beelzebub said just now except that they spoke words, but are they implying they're not going to attack?' Momonga stopped casting his silent spells just before going to the part where he'd materialize a number of bone traps around the room alongside exposives around Lucifer's chair as the situation seemed to paradoxically unravel around him instead of turning into a bonus raid boss stage where you face two raid bosses at once. "Lucifer-dono, is everything truly alright? I'm honestly more confused now than I've ever been before. I'm not sure who this 'Riser' person is, but..."
His focus had been entirely on the Lord of Hell and he never stood a chance as the attack came from behind, in the form of a red-tipped soft missile impacting him square in the back and tossing him across the room. "ISSEI-KUN!"
The spells he had been casting were unleashed at the same time as Momonga's concentration broke.
The body of Riser Phoenix groaned
A group of maids screamed from the top of their lungs as a group of skeletons burst out of the walls, rusty spears, swords and maces in hand.
A gardener swung his shovel with practised ease as the ground of the Underworld began to stir with hundreds of rotten hands breaking through the earth, the hit severing
several hands but didn't slow the building tide of the living dead.
A fifteen feet tall dragonoid form sniffed the air of the Rating Game arena- the physical one as the pocket dimension, or rather a doorway to the walled-off portion of the interdimensional gap, had been temporarily taken down after the disastrous Gremory vs Phenix game.
The stench of death entered the human-shaped dragon's nostrils and the dragon turned towards a huge, nearly nine feet tall and four feet wide, fully armored knight-like undead wielding a cursed-looking flamberge and a tower shield.
The dragon's eyes narrowed as the undead let a howl and charged.
"Guh!" Momonga groaned out as he struggled under the stress of realizing that he had almost pulled two raid bosses at the same time, being drained of a sizable chunk of mana thanks to the silent spells, and getting knocked over. Luckily [Emotion Suppression] saved him once again and returned him to a state of normalcy. "Rias-san?"
He heard a wet crunch and quickly cast another [Silent Magic: Stitch] as he felt his host body's cosmetic lungs nearly burst as Rias hugged him with her full strength. "I-It's alright, Issei-kun, as long as you're here…"
She sobbed slightly while still hugging Momonga's back, before she turned her attention elsewhere and caused a sudden wave of dread to spread in Momonga's chest, albeit it seemed that the dread wasn't directed at him.
"Nii-san…" The girl's voice caused Momonga to wonder if she was capable of inflicting frostburns with her voice alone, as it was packed full of ice-cold anger.
He looked up and saw that Lucifer and Beelzebub were both held down in their seats, with Grayfia having placed a hand on each of the raid boss's shoulders. The gray-haired woman's face had a well practised emotionless look that didn't quite hide a vein pulsing on her forehead.
"Really, Rias-nee, I only meant to ensure everything was alright…" Lucifer struggled to breathe under Rias's glare, surprising Momonga.
'Did I mistake the balance of power here? Is she truly this powerful, that even Lucifer shakes in front of her rage… Although, granted, they are siblings so it shouldn't be surprising, Bukubukuchagama had similar playfights with Peroroncino... ' Momonga looked at the exchange about to take place with wonder and nostalgia in his eyes.
However the sibling fight didn't happen as a maid burst through the doors of the dining hall, bleeding from a stab to her arm and holding onto the wound for her dear life.
"Lucifer-dono! There are undead... AAAH!" The maid fell forward as a Skeleton Warrior followed the maid through the open door and ran through her with a spear from the behind, the rusty weapon piercing through her lower back and coming out of her stomach.
'Oh. Almost forgot. The summons.' Momonga blinked as he looked at the undead stabbing the downed maid.
Almost immediately afterwards a huge ball of black flame incinerated the skeleton, blasting burning bones all over the hallway where it had come from.
"What… what is going on?" A black haired and well-endowed girl from Rias's end of the table asked in pure shock as she looked at the bleeding maid and the vaporized undead. "Asia! Wake up!"
The girl reached under the table to pull out the unconscious nun Momonga recognized from the infirmary, Asia.
'How did she end up under there?' He watched as the shrine maiden-looking girl slapped Asia gently a few times to wake her up.
"I'm awake!" Asia blurt out. "What's going on?"
"Asia-chan, sorry for waking you up so suddenly but please heal her." The raven-haired girl pulled the nun towards the maid.
Screams echoed from the hallway outside the dining room and before Momonga properly realized it, a shadow passed over him and Rias who were still lying half-seated, half on the table with Momonga facing down the table and Rias lying on top of him. He glanced towards Lucifer's side of the table to see that the seats on that side of the table were now empty. 'Oh… Don't tell me I pulled the raid bosses after all...'
Momonga felt like adding his voice to the chorus of screams that had started to echo around the place.
"Report! What's happening?!" Sirzechs demanded from one of the guards holding back a horde of zombies. A flick of Lucifer's hand formed hundreds of small magic circles and sent a wave of arrows formed from [Power of Destruction], obliterating the wave of undead with contemptuous ease.
"Thank you, Sirzechs-sama!" The guard breathed out. "All of a sudden a group of undead appeared from nowhere! We've been fighting for our lives here for a few minutes now, how did they get past our perimeters?!"
'Interesting. We might have a traitor amidst our ranks.' Sirzechs pondered while he sighed aloud. "Good work. Fall back for now and treat the wounded."
The guard nodded gratefully and grabbed one of his wounded comrades, dragging them off.
"We are currently within Rating Game's grounds, an area that has been agreed to be off-limits for territorial aggression or inter-family squabbles. Agreement made by all of the Pillars and families, outside of the Old Maou faction of families." Sirzechs pondered to Grayfia as the pair ran towards the next fighting hotspot. "Who'd be insane enough to arrange a full-blown attack here? They'd make enemies of all noble families of devils since attacking Rating Game grounds is tantamount to attacking the heirs of the families who come here to participate in the Games."
"Someone who is either seeking to challenge the whole Underworld, or is trying to distract us from something happening somewhere else. By now, the attention of everyone in the Underworld would have converged here." Grayfia mused as the pair crashed into a group of skeletons with force of a thunderstorm, scattering the pathetic force like leaves to wind without even breaking stride. "Or perhaps they were not expecting two of the Maous to be present? The skeletons seemed to give the guards a good match. Given enough time, they could have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of the dead. That leaves the question- where did they get the bodies?"
A thundering crash came from nearby, followed by another one, and then a third and final one as a massive draconic form broke through the walls of a nearby building from the inside, slamming a slightly smaller form of an undead knight held in its grasp to the ground.
A sickening crunch accompanied the man-shaped dragon crushing the undead knight's sword-arm with both of its tree-trunk like hands, followed by chaining a series of punches while the knight was pinned to the ground.
The battered-looking undead knight underneath the Dragon let a soul-chilling shriek before the relentless battery caused the creature to expire and disappear into dust.
"Tannin-san!" Sirzechs called. "Are you alright?"
"I am unhurt. A pathetic display like this is not worth even my flame." the dragon scoffed, dusting himself off. "Sirzechs. I'm assuming you know what's happening?"
"I'm afraid I'm just as much in the dark, I believe." Sirzechs motioned for the now-trio to continue running towards what he assumed to be the next fighting hotspot. "An unknown group of undead attacked the Rating Game grounds. We've had multiple injured personnel and heavy collateral damage but aren't yet certain of the number of deaths so far."
"Amateurs. No centralized attack, or clear battle plan if what you told me is correct." Tannin scoffed as Sirzechs went over the descriptions and tactics used by the undead, the group crashing through another melee while talking and moving forwards, pausing just to order the survivors to make their way to the others.
"These may be just skirmish groups. The leaders must be still keeping themselves in reserve until they know how the initial push went." Sirzechs mused. "It makes no sense to send groups of undead all over the place otherwise. They are just testing us."
"Then let us show that they have no chance of victory!" Tannin roared, the power of the roar shaking their surroundings. "COME AT ME, WEAK COWARDS!"
A blast of fire hit the dragon, cutting off the roar midway through and knocking the dragon off his feet.
"Who uses fire against a dragon?!" Tannin growled as he the looked towards the direction where the fireball had come from.
"Oh my." Grayfia couldn't quite keep her shock from showing in her voice as she too saw the person in question.
"Oh, I must confess, I did not see this coming." Sirzechs nodded, his voice carefully calculated to be both pleasantly surprised and mildly entertained as he took in the visage of the attacker, positioned on the roof of a specific devil family's reserved quarters within the Rating Game grounds. "Neh, Riser Phenix-san?"
The pale but very much animated young man responded with a growly chuckle that would have caused lesser man's hairs to stand on ends, a testament to its unnatural properties that the sound could be heard from hundreds of feet away. A long yellow parchment seemed to float around the man as he lifted his arms forward, then flicked his fingers up while a magic circle formed in front of him
Another ball of fire careened towards the group of devils, forcing the trio to scatter as the area they had been standing on exploded.
"We need to help them!" Rias herded the group of girls, Momonga, and the katana-wielding boy into the hallways outside the dining hall after the initial shock of sudden undead attack wore off. "How did these things get here? What are they?!"
A Skeleton Warrior tried to run through the red-headed girl with a rusty sword but was blown apart as a small ball of black energy left her hands and impacted the skeleton.
'Huh… That skeleton was around level ten-ish. I can't really judge strengths with that display alone…' Momonga was using the distraction to gauge the approximate strengths of the people around him while he was flanked on all sides by the group, who were seemingly hell-bent on keeping any harm from coming to him. 'I kinda wish I hadn't unleashed the spells, specifically with just general orders of creating havoc, but it's too late now to lap up the spilled milk. At least I'll get some useful data out of it.'
He figured that he could technically order the undead to stop rampaging around, but he felt that the discussion afterwards with Lucifer might not go in his favour should anyone learn he had made the dead in the first place. 'Then again, I thought the guy would attack me at any second… Oh well, I can use this.'
Suzuki Satorou felt a twinge of regret as Momonga stepped over a corpse of the maid with glasses who had made Momonga's suit, while the girls balked at the sight of massacre in the hall in front of them- Bodies strewn all over the walls and floor, and in the middle of the corpses stood... 'Oh, this might be good…'
The Death Knight in front of them let out a roar of challenge as it turned towards the group, bloodied flamberge swung horizontally during the turn to clean it of blood and chunks of flesh. The massive tower shield it bore on its other hand impacted the ground with enough force to shake the floor and almost toppled over the nun who was standing behind Rias in shock.
Asia screamed.
The blonde swordsman lifted his katana to a fighting stance with calm of a seasoned fighter, surprising Momonga.
The shrine maiden covered her mouth with her hand, her expression behind it warring between fright, determination and disgust.
The cat-girl let out a shaky breath before lifting her hands up and placing herself to a wide stance in front of the group, almost as if she was a Tank. 'Huh, she wasn't an assassin after all?'
Rias grunted and lifted her hand, a golfball of black energy forming on it. "Issei-kun. Stay back. We'll take care of this."
"Very well, Rias-sama. I'll try to avoid combat." Momonga bowed out as he moved to the back of the group, his eyes narrowing slightly as he relayed an order to the Death Knight. 'Well then. Let's see how strong Lucifer's sister is…'
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