Chapter 87: Remember that you designed the house

A wave of darkness cascaded upon the neatly-formed battle-lines in the City of Kuoh, where the peace meeting between the Three Factions was taking place.

A group of angels was submerged in it instantly and they stumbled to the ground, lifeless and motionless as if they had been mere humans.

Across the field the same sight repeated with Fallen Angels, and Youkais of Shinto who had taken their place next to the Fallen.

A massive barrier of green light sprang forth, shielding the mansion as well as the Devils, who had taken their place behind the mansion, from the dark wave that seemed to part before it like a wave crashing against a rock.

A cardboard box flapped open as a small girl with fox-tail sensed something wrong, and she took a look around her surroundings, seeing the Youkai envoy-convoy of Shinto around her as she had perched herself on top of one of the carriages the convoy used for their food and stowage.

Kunou had promised to her mother that she'd behave, and she had- After all, she hadn't played any pranks on the Tengu's or other Youkai during her sneaky mission to sneak away with her mom, even when one of the Tengu's had sat on the box she had been in and she could have poked the uptight and proper Tengu in the butt with a needle to make him jump like a cat. Although she resisted the urge to do that only barely. Her mother hadn't exclusively forbidden Kunou from 'hiding in a cardboard box', however.

Kunou's eyes widened as a wave of dark energy approached her, and the feeling it gave off sent hairs standing on her tail… And then the wave reached her.

Kunou, the daughter of Yasaka of Kyoto, flopped over from the box while her eyes turned milky and unseeing, dead.

Roughly three seconds later a Howl came from the mansion beside which the convoy had stopped.

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The sky ruptured with dark void, and the shadows of the dead congealed into tangible matter that rose up as if an invisible tree sucked them from the ground, akin to letting the observers see the flow of nutrients within the tree but not the bark, leaves nor the wood.

The mass disappeared into the void in the sky, and from it descended a ball of tar-like blackness… which landed gently on the soil of Kuoh, and promptly ruptured like an egg under its weight.

A second wave of darkness washed against the bulwark that stood firm against the dark, and from the epicenter of the rupture rose twelve, gigantic forms that resembled uprooted trees that had hooved legs instead of roots, and whose bark was filled with goat-like mouths that let out horrific bleating.

A tangle of leafless branches swayed upright, taking the form of smooth, black tentacles that seemed to have life of their own as they entwined each other and sprang down as if they were spring-loaded, each slap causing deep gouges on the ground.

One such tree-form stepped on top of an angel who had managed to survive the blast of energy that inflicted instant death, silencing her scream and reducing the winged woman to a thin paste on the ground with a wet 'splat' sound.

Fallen Angels and Angels wavered, having lost many of their number outright, and at the same time the more disciplined among them remembered the orders they had been given- That they were not allowed to attack, unless an undead enemy attacked them. That had been their deal with the Underworld, as a prerequisite for them to come into the meeting as well.

Yet, what was before them was not undead, but instead something far more horrifying.

A furious howl came from within the mansion that the three factions flanked, and a massive fox-like creature made of yellow light burst out of the building.

Yasaka of Kyoto, in her true kitsune form, howled bloody vengeance… And lunged after Sirzechs Lucifer, who dodged a hundred spears of light thrown by Arch-Angel Michel of Heavens.

And Beelzebub joined the traitorous Maou, as Azazel of Fallen Angels defenestrated the Maou. However, Beelzebub materialized a pair of leathery wings and took to the sky before he could impact the ground after getting thrown out of the window. Yet, that turned to a stumble as Azazel dove out of the window and threw some sort of tangle-device that tied Beelzebub with hundred ropes… And then ruptured as Beelzebub used a device of his own that conjured a sphere of scalpels around him.

The two angelic factions, one with black wings and one with white, looked at eachother.

Then the two looked at the devils, who were mostly unharmed due to the barrier that had protected them, and then the two feathered factions turned to look at the approaching stampede of tentacled horrors. And then the two noticed that the Fallen and the Angels were caught between the two foes.

The devils saw that their Maous were under attack by the leaders of the three other factions, and the devil-soldier's eyes gained a steel-hard glint as they turned towards the Angels and the Fallen.

The charging forms of the twelve tree-like aberrations seemed to come to a halt, however, as a light shone from the mansion beside which the battle groups were- And the two feather-winged factions turned to look at the sight to see a figure cloaked in holy light, holding back the tentacled tide of darkness with a staff of gold.

Angels and the Fallen glanced at each other… And the long-sworn enemies nodded at each other, and for the first time in history Angel and Fallen Angel stood back-to-back against the coming tide, and charged the traitorous devils.

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Roughly sixty seconds earlier.

"[Time stop]!" Momonga gulped nervously as he stopped time once more to think.

Indeed, the scene in front of him was quite… Interesting, to say the least.

The woman with fox-tails, Yasaka, was watching the scenario unfold with an unfolded fan in front of her face, covering her mouth and hiding her expression with expert ease that made Momonga wonder if the woman had emotion suppression of some kind.

Sirzechs Lucifer had leaned over the conference table, and was pointing his finger at Momonga. Beelzebub, in turn, had prepared some sort of long, steel-coloured instrument that looked quite deadly and unpleasant, as it reminded Suzuki Satoru of highly invasive probes the doctors of neo-Japan would use when applying or changing microchips in the rank-and-file citizens's cybernetic implants. Moreover, the said instrument was pointed at Momonga.

On the other side of the table was 'Michael' 'Gabriel' and 'Azazel', all three of whom somehow had confused Momonga to be their father because he could create Angels.

Granted, they were YGGDRASIL angels, but it seemed that they gave off a holy aura that seemed to confuse the local 'real angels'.

The whole thing made Momonga more than little nervous, awkward and fearful as the situation he had found himself in was essentially the one he had tried to avoid the most- Apparently the Maous had finally called Momonga's bluff, if the speak about 'Hastur' was anything to go by,

Momonga had heard of a creature with such a name, as it had been a secret boss in the 'Outer Gods' expansion of YGGDRASIL. However, while he was worried that Sirzechs had confused Momonga to be the secret boss in secret, he had a feeling that Sirzechs had figured out that Momonga was the 'Supreme Being' and had just used the name as a proxy of sorts until he found out just what Momonga's exact nature was.

Momonga's mind was working overdrive as he tried to rationalize the situation and come up with some sort of idea on what to do, as the situation had started to dawn on him that there was not one, two or three but nine potentially Maou-level combatants in the room, two from Fallen Angels, two from Heavens, one from Shinto, and four from the Underworld.

And if Sirzech's words were anything to go by the Maous had gained evidence that Momonga, or rather, 'Momon' was not what he pretended to be and Sirzechs was about to call Momonga's bluff in front of everyone in the room, which would turn the tables on the disguised 'Supreme Being'- After all, while his Elder Lich had planned an ambush on the peace conference, he hadn't thought about the possibility that the Maous might have also used the conference to ambush him.

Momonga realized that his cover had not been nearly as good as he had thought it to be. 'The Rating Game between me and Serafall… Of course. While I was curious about the power of Maous… They must have been as curious about mine. In other words, Sirzechs must have realized that I was 'the supreme being' from the very start, but merely pretended to believe my lies in order to get a good idea on my exact combat strength and specialization. As expected of the Lord of Lies himself…'

'So, he used Serafall to gauge my fighting strength in a scenario where she wouldn't be in any real danger, preserving their strength while getting a good glimpse at mine while holding most of their cards close to their hand. After all, while I have a good idea on Serafall's weaknesses, that's only one Maou out of the four. And Sirzechs is most likely stronger than Serafall, since he is the leader of the faction…'Momonga realized. 'So, they planned this peace meeting… To bring the other faction's Maou-equivalents, and ambush me. Moreover, they chose to ambush me on a ground that they wouldn't care about destroying, since Kuoh is more or less evacuated, and where there is something they think is precious to me... My Peerage- or rather, Rossweisse, who bears my child… And which's existence in the first place was machinated by Odin who is in cahoots with Sirzechs.'

Momonga felt as if his feet would dig a trench in the floor as he paced back and forth. ' After all, I demonstrated the power I had when it comes to area-of-effect attacks in the Rating Game dimension, and that kind of hostage would stop me from using those attacks here because of friendly fire. In other words, if I don't act fast it'll be a checkmate… Against me.'

In retrospect it was such an elementary thing to overlook.

'I was arrogant… I pushed my luck, so I guess it's inevitable that this would happen… I bought into my own success like a fool or an upstart celebrity.' Momonga paced back and forth faster, feeling as if an invisible hourglass was trickling down it's last grains of sand which represented the time Momonga could still buy with his excuses. Or his Mana, which was being drained by [Time Stop]. 'If I was still in my old workplace, I'd be scolded so hard… Such an elementary mistake...'

He held the spell for longer than ten seconds as he felt his next action would be the most crucial one in his brief stay in the ero-world, so he could afford himself extra seconds to think over preserving his combat strength- He knew that he couldn't just brute force the situation with his magic considering the strength of his opponents, and considering that Rossweisse would get caught in the blast. Moreover he had a feeling that the norse spy would likely kill herself, and by proxy Momonga's child, if he just teleported her away from the battle using [Gate].

After all, the woman had been more or less forced on him in more than one way by Odin. It wasn't hard to guess as to her true loyalties, and it wouldn't surprise Momonga if she used his unborn child as a hostage to keep him still while the other factions flailed on him.

He glanced at Ravel's time-frozen expression which looked utterly insane and terrifying, Sona had a faint smirk on her face, Rias was utterly horrified and was in the middle of taking a step that would bring her between Sirzechs and where 'Momon' had stood before Momonga had stopped time… and he noted that Serafall had an expression of dour duty on her face that clued Momonga to the possibility that the normally-pink clad Maou had likely been informed of Momonga's true nature by Sirzechs, and the previously-cutesy acting Maou had probably chosen the Underworld when her loyalties had been put to question.

In other words, Momonga realized that he was more or less alone since if he allowed Sirzechs to speak and to present his evidence, whatever that may be, Momonga would be done for as he'd be forced to fight one-vs-nine against Serafall's level of opponents or stronger.

And while he was fairly sure Gasper could at least hold one of them back for a brief moment, he'd still have eight big hitters to contend with.

Momonga sighed at Ddraig, who had frozen still in his head due to the time stoppage. 'You're not helping the situation…'

Indeed, the dragon was frozen still to a pose where it was stuffing it's draconic maw with popcorn on one hand and taking a deep slurp of soda through a straw with the other, while it had what Momonga presumed to be some sort of antique 3D-glasses on his head.

Momonga wondered just for a moment where the dragon had gotten the items it was consuming, but realized that he had more or less imagined them into 'being' inside his head due to his own nervousness and desire to take a 'spectator seat'. Which was now taken by the big scaly winged lizard in his head.

Momonga walked to one of the windows that showed a side-view of Kuoh City and at the distance the mountain overlooking said city,

...And he paused as a solution seemed to come to him, almost as if it was served on a plate. Although, in retrospect, it was something that Momonga knew from the start but had forgotten as soon as the panic of his cover breaking washed over his mental state.

'Huh, [Iä, Shub-Niggurath]... ' Momonga looked at the wave of darkness that seemed to be careening right towards him, but what was now frozen in time. Or rather, the wave was careening right towards the Three Factions and the Shinto convoy.

Except that in the frozen time it looked more like an avalanche of darkness that had come to a perfect halt just before crashing on top of the formation of Angels and Fallen Angels that were closest to the mountain.

The disguised 'Supreme Being', or what the caster of the time-frozen super-tier spell referred to Momonga as, sighed. '...Normally NPC's aren't capable of casting super-tier magic. Summons even less so. But since that one had surpassed my wildest expectations with the [Scroll of Dark Wisdom], I trusted it when it said that it'd learn Super-tier spell to attack the conference with. I suppose this solidifies the theory that 'summons', while dependent on me to a degree, function more or less as mini-players. Or rather, when I summon something, it's not just a temporary remotely controlled body, but I create something that has its own life and will. I knew this for a while, but I suppose the fact that the Elder Lich I made managed to learn Super-tier spells, something that was exclusively reserved for Players, just… makes it more real.'

It was quite a frightening thought to 'Momonga', as the fact the summons were sentient also meant that they could turn on their creator, but the thought of his summons being sentient was somehow fulfilling to 'Suzuki'. It made his human-like self feel like a father of sorts, and in a sense the fact his summons could live and learn made him feel like a father watching over his sons and daughters forge their own life.

Suzuki Satoru wondered for a while if what he felt right now was what Touch Me had felt, when his daughter had taken her first steps or when she had gotten her first job at age of ten. Indeed, he felt somewhat proud that his summon could cast super-tier spells… but [Emotion Suppression] brought him back to reality and reminded him that he was wasting precious seconds. And more importantly, precious mana.

"Right. In that case… [Delay magic: Blessing of the Magic Caster], [Delay Magic: Anti-life barrier], [Delay Magic: Anti-magic barrier]..." Momonga began recanting buffs for himself and prepared a barrier between the approaching wave of darkness and the mansion as it'd block the super-tier spell from inflicting [Instant Death] against his Peerage, and would also safeguard the Devils that had taken their place behind the mansion.

[Iä Shub-Niggurath] was a super-tier spell that was designed to clear 'chaff' or low-tier enemies that didn't have defences against instant death, and then use the combined experience of the players and NPC's killed with the instant death to form a number of level 90 'Dark Young's that correlated with the amount of experience the spell 'killed'. In other words, it was quite a situational spell and was relatively easy to resist- But at the same time even a high-level player couldn't ignore the Dark Young should any of them be summoned, thanks to the summon's high health pool and relatively high damage, even though the beasts had low speed and no ranged attack options.

Which, when combined with Sirzechs's last words before the [Time Stop], might help Momonga turn tables on the Maou. 'Well, I intended for a conflict to start so I can sell healing wares… Although I intended to be on the Underworld's 'side'. Ah well.'

[Time Stop] expired.

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Yasaka felt as if a vacuum of magic had exploded somewhere in the distance while another imploded right next to her.

She recovered with a twist of her hand-fan, and used the motion to cover her stumble from view and glanced out of the window… And her eyes widened against her will as she saw what was happening outside.

The view outside became obscured as a wave of foul darkness washed over the house… and Yasaka noticed that Momon had 'blinked' from one place to another, almost as if time had stopped and restarted to a parallel universe where he was beside the window.

And the tall man was holding his hand towards the wave of darkness, repelling it and creating a barrier that blocked it from entering the manor.

Yasaka knew instinctively that only oblivion waited for anyone who was touched by the dark… And indeed, the wave passed, showing that the battle-lines of Angels and Fallen, who had been exposed to the darkness, had practically evaporated with scores dead on both sides.

Only Underworld's forces were left unscathed… and Yasaka's eyes widened as she looked through the window, and saw that Kyoto's convoy had been partially caught in the blast as well.

No, more importantly, Yasaka saw something that chilled her very soul.

Her dear daughter, Kunou, was standing up from a cardboard box on top of one of the luggage-carriages.

And as Yasaka watched, the girl slumped down and fell from the carriage… limp and dead.

"Ah- Beelzebub! Hurry! Incapacitate him before-" Sirzechs motioned towards Momon, who had protected the delegation group from the wave of darkness, and Beelzebub drew his injector back for a piercing strike aimed at Momon's neck. "Michael-san! Azazel-san! We must take down Hastur before he can strike again!"

'That… Sirzechs Lucifer... ' Yasaka's mind boiled over with flash of rage as Sirzechs's earlier words, that 'his time to strike had come', coursed through her head like molten steel circulating in kiln.

The nonsensical accusation, the call for Yasaka to help him, and the Maou's attempt to pin Kunou's murder on 'Momon', or rather, 'God of Heavens', even if the Maou likely hadn't known that the girl was in the carriage, revealed the Maou's plan- To drive Yasaka into rage, direct it towards the Heavens, and use Shinto as his cannon-fodder while the Maou engaged the Fallen one-on-one combat.

...After which Sirzechs and the Maous could destroy the weakened Heavens faction, after they had spent their energy killing Yasaka and the Shinto faction.

"YOU CUR!" Yasaka launched herself at the cunning, traitorous Maou who had brought war to a peace meeting.

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Michael, the Arch-Angel of Heavens, felt… Conflicting emotions.

A wave of dark energy passed over the peace meeting, laying waste to both the Angels and the Fallen.

The energy was akin to [Power of Destruction], but instead of wiping out everything like a dark plasma flare of a sun, it was cold and insidious, like a cold wind blowing through the cracks of a house to chill those who had huddled for warmth within.

In mere seconds Michael felt hundreds of lesser angel's lives get snuffed out, like candles being blown in a hurricane wind.

If it wasn't for Michael's nearly unbreakable self-control over his emotions, he would have burst into rage over the deaths. But he chose not to, and instead allowed his eyes to shed tears for the loss.

Michael had come prepared for a fight, yet his heart had been hopeful. The information Azazel had forwarded about a possible ambush had been concerning, and Michael had brought a formidable force to counter any assailant, as had the devils and the Fallen.

Sirzechs had cautioned the two other factions to hold their blade should an ambush happen, citing an unknown foe or 'The Supreme being' that would likely attack the conference, to avoid the ambush causing another war between the three factions by mistake.

Yet, it had been Sirzechs who launched the attack through some foul, unholy variant of [Power of Destruction], which practically wiped out the lower-ranked Angels and the Fallen, leaving the two angelic factions between a hammer and anvil.

Moreover, Michael instantly recognized the creatures that had risen from the rogue power to charge towards the feather-winged factions- Indeed, Father had told Michael of such 'Beings' in the past before the war between the Three Factions, and warned him severely of trying to contact them or attempt to forge treaties with them.

The Outer Beings. And now, there were twelve Dark Youngs, 'children' of Shub-Niggurath, charging at the angels who were sandwiched between the children of the star-gods and Devils- In other words, ambushed from both sides.

Michael felt as if time had turned to slow motion as Sirzechs ordered Beelzebub to try to assassinate Father after accusing Him of being an Outer Being without evidence, and when Father had his attention tied up in blocking the wave of darkness that threatened to kill them all.

Azazel's eyes widened as well as the Fallen Angel must have drawn the same conclusions as Michael.

Yasaka, on the other hand, saw something through the window… And the room exploded in yellow fire as the woman's shock turned to molten rage in an instant.

Sirzechs was clotheslined through the wall as a massive fox grabbed the Maou by the throat with its maw and threw him, followed by the divine-form Nine-Tailed Fox diving right through the burning wall and broken ceiling after the man.

Sirzechs unfolded his wings midair and attempted to form a orb of darkness, which further exposed the Devil's sin to Michael, and the Arch-Angel interrupted the Reigning Maou by throwing a wave of light-spears at him.

Beelzebub lunged desperately for Momon with his injector aimed solidly at his neck, as Momon had now lifted his golden staff towards the charging Dark Young, as He no doubt realized the danger the scions of Outer Being posed. Indeed, Michael could see the Dark Young slowing their advance as Momon whispered something about messages and the glow of the staff brightened, driving the foul beasts back.

Azazel was beside Beelzebub instantly, and before the Maou could react, the leader of the Fallen Angels had grabbed Beelzebub by the shoulders and redirected the charge into a defenestration as Beelzebub was flung out of the window.

Michael and Azazel looked at eachother, and an unsaid understanding flashed between the two ancient enemies.

Michael nodded his thanks, and Azazel rolled his eyes… Before jumping after Beelzebub, to stop the traitorous Maou from dooming them all by killing the only one who could hold back the Outer Being's darkness.

Grayfia attempted to charge at Michael who was preparing a chain of light that would constrict Sirzechs and bring him to justice, but the gray-haired maid was held back as Gabriel moved between the leader of heavens and the charging Queen of the Underworld.

However, Michael knew that the situation was not good since Serafall Leviathan was still in the room, even if the Maou had taken the place of a retainer and not a diplomat- Something that had seemed odd to the Arch-Angel as he had thought the female Maou to be the one representing the Underworld.

Indeed, it seemed that Serafall was preparing an attack-

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Sona chuckled internally as the room exploded from a calm, maybe even joyful conversation to a full-blown war in mere seconds.

'Just as he planned…' Sona glanced to the side almost lazily, disregarding the horrific bleating that echoed the whole area and came from the twelve building-sized 'living trees'. 'Hoo… So you need some motivation, Serafall-chan?'

The Maou in question was stuck mid-scream and seemed to be utterly indecisive as to what she should do… And so Sona forced her hand by making a water whip from the moisture in the air and slashing it across charging Grayfia's back.

The hit landed, causing the gray-haired woman to stumble and turn towards Sona. Her eyes widened in realization but before she could launch a counter-attack against Sona, a spear of light pierced her previously-injured leg and pinned her in place.

"Please don't make this worse, Grayfia-san!" Gabriel pleaded with the gray-haired woman. "Your betrayal is bad enough! Don't- ugh!"

A lance of black energy flattened Gabriel against the floor, courtesy of Sirzechs who was dueling against both Yasaka and Michal in the sky above the building.

The Reigning Maou paid for the rescue of his wife, however, as a spear made of light pierced his shoulder and threw off his aim. And so, the black sphere of energy Sirzechs had attempted to make to stun Michael instead launched itself half-baked, and almost took the Arch-angel's head off his shoulders.

"Gabriel-san! This is a massive misunderstanding, you must-" Grayfia began her speech, only to be interrupted as Sona's water armor appeared around Grayfia and constricted her movements.

The Strongest Queen broke Sona's interference with ease, and turned to look at Sona with narrowed eyes. "I see- You are on Hastur's side… Serafall-sama- Please restrain Son- Hng!?"

Indeed, a new prison of water formed around the strongest Queen in a flash, except this time she couldn't break out of it.

"Kukuku…" Ravel's chuckle was joined by Sona's as the latter turned to hug Serafall who was shaking from head to toe from indecision, her face was pale, yet she had lifted her hand towards Grayfia and encased the woman in a prison of water.

"I'm glad… Sister…" Sona whispered to Serafall's ear. 'Kukuku… And all you needed was for me to place myself in danger- No, to make my true allegiances clear to the other Maous… You're adorable, my cute, strong, and airheaded big sister… And you, master, are perfect...'

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"S-Serafall-sama?! Grayfia-neesan! What- what is happening?!" Rias made frantic motions as her mind was torn between the sight of her brother fighting alone against two leaders of two factions far above, Momon seemingly holding back the charging Dark Youngs by holding his staff towards them and causing the monster's charge to halt, almost as if they were pacified somehow, and Grayfia getting attacked from two sides at once- While Serafall turned out to be a traitor! "Stop! Please stop this!"

"Rias-san… You're Sirzechs-san's sister, yes?" Gabriel's calm eyes turned towards Rias, and Akeno practically dove forwards from the two stunned Peerages that were in the room as retainers, and the busty girl placed herself between Rias and Gabriel.

"..." Akeno gave Gabriel a hostile glare...And Rias realized that she'd make a perfect hostage to hold Sirzech's hand. In addition to Grayfia. But since Grayfia was securely sealed in the prison of water, out of Gabriel's reach... That left only Rias.

"Ah, Rias-san. Please, for the sake of all our people, you must turn yourself in to my custody so we can negotiate Sirzechs-san's-" Gabriel began while lifting her hand slowly, but was stopped as a Fallen Angel grabbed the Arch-Angel's wrist with a steel-hard grip. "Baraquel-san?"

"Take Rias if you want. But you won't touch my daughter... Akeno." The Second-in-command of Fallen Angels let a gruff sound as he forced the Arch-Angel's hand back down.

"You- You-" Akeno's surprise was replaced by cold anger. And the girl took a wide-legged stance while opening her arms wide so she was as large a target as possible, and hid Rias behind her. "And what, you'd have me leave Rias behind and flee while she dies or worse? Like how you ran with your tail between your legs and left my mother to die?! Your wife?!"

Baraquel flinched hard from the words that seemed to physically injure the Fallen Angel. Gabriel used the clance to twist her hand out of the Fallen Angel's grasp and take a step away.

"Baraquel-san! You must realize that we have to apprehend-"

"Silence, pidgeon. Akeno has made her decision… And I stand with her." Baraquel's words seemed to surprise both Akeno and Gabriel. "I'll not see you slay my daughter to get to her King."

"Please, Baraquel-san, I do not wish to fight you over this- We must work together!" Gabriel seemed to despair, but remembered something and turned around. "Father! Father, please, you must-"

"Ah, umu." Indeed, it seemed as if everyone had more or less forgotten Momon's presence in the corner of the room, near the now-ruined window wall where he was still pointing his staff at the seemingly-pacified Dark Young.

The six still-human form maids of the mansion had taken combat-positions flanking the man, and were pointing their halberds in every possible direction, while they had unfolded their wings and used them to cover Momon, illuminating him in the holy light that the angel's wings seemed to radiate.

However, the exertion of holding back a pack of such powerful dark, eldritch creatures must have been immense on Momon, as the man's face was streaked with sweat and the back of his shirt was practically soaked from the amount of sweat running down his neck. "Please don't fight… u-umu, m-my children. Moreover, Rias over there is my wife, so…"

Gabriel stumbled, and would have likely fallen unconscious from the realization and the implications of Him marrying the sister of the Reigning Maou, a Maou who had just attempted to kill his brother-in-law, who was also technically now Gabriel's uncle. While Michael was currently in the clouds, dueling with the said uncle, who was now also Michael's uncle.

Fortunately, there was a gallon's worth of adrenaline running through her body, preventing her from fainting. "Wha- wha- ah?"

"Umu, yes, ahem, anyway…" The distraction from Gabriel's plea must have multiplied the exertion of holding back the dark creatures as Momon's hand holding the staff shook a bit.

A howl came from the distance, but this time it wasn't the mournful, rage-filled scream of the fox, or the battle-cries of the angels, devils or Fallen, but deeper and accompanied by a series of thunderclaps.

Gabriel rushed to the now-broken window, dodging a thrown scalpel that Azazel's and Beelzebub's duel seemed to produce in excess… And she saw a long row of longboats in the distance, on the seashore that flanked Kuoh City. Each of the ancient longboats had their sides covered with round shields, and flew a dread two-colour striped sail, and each carried a cargo of Norse warriors- Vikings and raiders, as well as mystical races of the Tree of Yggdrasil- elves, trolls, and other creatures of ancient lore.

Above them flew an armada of Valkyries, and amongst them walked a trio of Norse Gods- Those being, Odin, Thor and Loki.

"Herlið enda fold! Rågnarök! Herlið dauðadagr!" A unified battle-song sung by thousand hoarse throats of raiders, thieves, rapists, and warriors that formed the Vikings seemed to echo among the empty buildings of the city, and the day darkened as the clouds above the Norse Fleet blot out the sun's light.

'"To end of the world, to armageddon, to the dying of days"?' Gabriel's mouth opened, and then closed as she quickly translated the song from ancient Norse. And then she opened her mouth again, only to let out a small 'eh' sound as the Norse Gods in the distance looked at the situation… And the unexpected Norse invasion joined the devil's side as Odin threw a storm of lightning at the nine-tailed fox who was blasted back from her attempt to tear Sirzechs's throat open in mid-air.

"Wha- wawawawa?!" Rossweisse stared at the armada with her eyes the size of saucers. "L-l-lord Odin?! Brynhildr? L-lord Thor? Lord Loki?"

It seemed that the trio in the distant sky she mentioned hadn't heard her, or chose to ignore her as Odin's next attack was aimed at the mansion… Only to be stopped by the same barrier that blocked the wave of darkness from before.

Gabriel's wings drooped in despair as the Vikings seemed to get carried by Valkyries from the shore, or rather Kuoh's docks, where they had come to shore and from where they were flown into the fight between the Three Factions.

Indeed, the Valkyries normally carried the souls of the fallen Vikings from the battlefield, but this time their role was reversed- And that simple gesture was something which clearly conveyed what the Norse had come to bring to pass- Ragnarok, the Apocalypse.

Gabriel felt a seal beginning to burn a hole in the 'pocket' of the dress she wore, and decided there and then that she wouldn't unleash Heaven's Four Horsemen to counter the Norse charge- If she did so, then there would be no returning back. That would be the spark of a biblical apocalypse- The Judgement Day, and the Heavens were not yet ready for the influx of souls that it would create due to their low numbers after the previous war and due to His disappearance. And even though He was back, she assumed that her Father wasn't yet ready to re-make the world after the apocalypse, if He was still partially amnesiac.

"Ahem… well then. Oh no!" Momon's hand seemed to shake even more as he spotted Odin. "G-Gabriel-san?"

"Father?!" Gabriel felt her stress relieve instantly as her father addressed her.

She knew he'd take control of the situation, offer her his deep wisdom, and guide them from the darkness that was about to swallow them whole. Hearing Him speak her name lifted the heavy weight of stress from Gabriel's shoulders- However, she remembered that He had amnesia, so she worried a bit nonetheless. "Father, what do you need me to do? Please command me!"

"Umu, yes, ahem. I'll be going for now, so I trust you, my d-d-daughter, to handle things from here." Momon spoke, and Gabriel felt her face freeze still. And the next moment Momon was gone, almost as if time had stopped and he was no longer there when it resumed.

Gabriel opened her mouth, closed it, opened it, and with herculean effort, did notfaint on the spot from the runner her father had pulled.

It seemed that Baraquel was equally shocked, but more along the lines of being resigned than about to faint. "Figures…"

"Kukukuku…" A voice of an unknown devil woman entered the room, and Gabriel looked at a blonde-haired girl who was chuckling to herself despite being in the same room as the Arch-angel, who could easily flatten the girl. "Ahaha, Gabriel-san, no? I hope you are finding my husband to your liking?"

Gabriel's head flashed with light as suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together. "You. You corrupted Dad! He's like that because you three corrupted Him, you fiend!"

Ravel's positively insane expression turned even more crooked, somehow, as if the girl had heard something so amusing that she was about to burst from the seams. "Hehee… hahahaha! Aaaahahahahaha!"

The laughter was analogous to confession for Gabriel, and she realized that the devils had started their attack far before the meeting had even began- By capturing and corrupting Him.

Gabriel lunged at the blonde-haired devil, feeling rage for the first time in her life… And was stopped as a black-haired girl took a step forwards so she was between Ravel and Gabriel, and the next moment Serafall Leviathan had lunged at Gabriel to hold her still so she couldn't run the interfering black-haired girl through with her light-spear.

"You- Traitors! Corruptors! Give him back! Give dad back!" Gabriel screamed at the Maou while trying to stab her with the light spear, only for the Maou to block the attacks- if barely.

The cabal of devils behind Serafall could only stare at the whole thing that was happening, stuck in abject shock.

And in the distance, the Dark Young let out a bleating war-cry and charged… Against the Norse.

.

.

A great form moved in the Pacific Sea, sending small tsunamis with each 'step' it took, while the day turned to night around it and the sea turned tumultuous.

The water in ITS wake turned to oil-like ink with each passing step, submerging a Chinese border patrol fleet that had come to investigate the disturbance, and then another, larger battlefleet that had come to investigate the disappearance of the previous fleet. Neither of the incidents even registered in the ink's creator's mind, however.

The Awakened Great One, Cthulu, smelled the hateful smell, even though it had washed it's facial tentacles in the deep ink. It sensed the hateful energy from a distance… And, now, it smelled the familiar, irritating scent of a dark goat.

Another massive vein began to throb in the Outer Being's mollusc-like temple.

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