95 Chapter 95: Trust the Praetorian Guard

"AAAAAAH!"

The fire burned.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

She couldn't care less about it.

The London bridge was falling down.

The clock tower had been blasted into dust.

The House of Parliament, which had survived centuries of wear and two world wars had been leveled into sizzling magma.

River Thames had evaporated into mist that smelled of excrement, plastic and chemicals, and more and more of the mist was added as the water touched the crater of magma that had mere moments ago been the center of London.

She didn't spare a thought about it, nor for the millions who had died in moments in the blast of superheated plasma that had destroyed the city, and sent a mile-high wall of fire to all directions, setting houses, businesses, skyscrapers and countryside on fire and immolating all who were unfortunate enough to come into contact with the fire.

Le Fay held to the charred piece of jewelry that had been a gift to her from her brother, and all what was left of her brother after Arthur Pendragon had seen the incoming ball of fire, and thanks to the Ultimate Swordsman's superhuman reflexes, had been the only one who had been fast enough to react.

Yet, he did not save himself, but instead used all his strength, all his might and the power from Ophis's Snake to push Le Fay out of the window of the House of Parliament, and out of the plasma ball's immediate splash zone after which the shockwave of the blast had tossed her well outside London in a cloud of fire and debris.

The Hero Association had been wiped out.

Her family had been wiped out.

There was nothing left for Le Fay.

She knew. She knew who was behind it- She had felt her spell focus on the man in the yellow armor, and almost as if the abyss upon which she had glanced had looked right back at her, a connection had formed between her spell and the man.

She had felt as if she had been naked, bare and vulnerable as a duckling that had strayed into land and had ended up in front of a hungry cat, which had leaped up to bounce…

And so, London died.

And so, Hero Faction died.

And so, Arthur Pendragon died.

And so, Le Fay was left with nothing but vengeance.

She did not care if it killed her. At least that way she could be with her brother once more.

"AAAAAAH!" The magician screamed her despair, anger, and fury as she was on her knees and was hugging the burning-hot silver medallion to her chest, uncaring that it left first-degree burns on her pale skin.

And in the distance, London burned as a backdrop against a sunless night sky.

.

.

Momonga sighed in relief as he landed in the Underworld, and more specifically into a well-prepared killzone in Phenix territory that had been prepared in case enemies managed to get to the teleporter in 'Momon's mansion' and used it to invade the Underworld.

The group of Three Faction's defectors took a look around the killzone, with some having more wary expressions than others.

The Fallen looked more than a bit freaked out by the barbed wire, magical circles that would shoot out fireballs, as well as conventional weapons and flamers aimed at the teleporter in case 'traditional' living dead came through the circle.

The Devils looked somewhat wary, but the fact they were in the Underworld made them relax, not to mention that the kill-zone was guarded and overseen by Phenix family's mercenaries and servants drafted sub-families, or in other words, the men and women guarding the kill-zone were servants of Lord Phenix, at least as far as they knew, and whom they knew to be a friend of the 'True God's 'cult'.

The Angels… looked at Momonga, noted that he was quite relieved, and relaxed as well, like ducklings copying behaviour from their mother..

Yasaka and the remnants of Shinto faction looked utterly dumbstruck and didn't seem to even register that they had been transported to the Underworld, or that they were in a kill-box.

Lady Phenix had closed her eyes and was sipping from a cup of tea in an elegant manner while having a tea platter on the other hand and held at stomach level.

"Home sweet home, again?" Momonga motioned towards the verdant, lush forest-scape of Phenix territory and at the sky of the Underworld which was bright and had a Sun in the sky, unlike the world they had just escaped from.

Multiple Fallen fell on their knees in exertion and exhaustion, and were joined by devils and some angels as well.

Rias seemed to struggle in order to not fall on her face as well, but soldiered on as she counted the Peerage members of her ex-Peerage, and now-Momon's Peerage which had fought against the [Necroswarm Giant] that had assaulted the defectors, and which had been destroyed by the combined effort of the Three Faction's grunts and the two Dominion Authorities..

Yuuto had a gash in his face and one of his hands was limp. Xenovia was cradling unconscious Asia as the girl had passed out from over-exerting her [Twilight Healing], and Irina was on Xuelan's back, completely unconscious and with a bloody mark on the side of her head that had likely come from the shield of a Death Knight.

Yubelluna had a gash in her face and her hair was barely shoulder-length now, as she had been forced to cut it short in order to escape after the [Necroswarm Giant] had caught her by the hair and had attempted to use it to slurp her into it's maw like a noodle.

Gasper was utterly unconscious and was gurgling something vaguely eldritch, which was causing a female Fallen Angel who carried 'him' to be more than a bit freaked out.

Akeno was wobbling due to her leg-wound and was leaning against Baraqiel's arm, although it was clear that if Akeno could stand without help, she'd be doing so instead of relying on the Fallen Angel Lieutenant's help. Not that Baraqiel looked to fare any better, as the man's hands shook and his steel-gray hair had turned to a near-bald from the stress of the battle. Although the shaking might be also because his daughter was wounded, and the man was clearly struggling between stoicism and bursting into 'worried father' mode.

Rias paled as she reached a point in her calculation and turned to Momonga.

"Ahem, we should probably relocate to Phenix castle-estate. I'm fairly certain that the Church of the True God has ample space to accommodate the Angels, and, um, Fallen Angels while you recover?" Momonga turned towards the Dominion Authority who merely nodded.

"I shall prepare suitable accommodations, my lord!" The angel bowed slightly and then disappeared in a massive teleportation circle and a shower of feathers.

"Right, now that's over with… Um, Rias-san? Sona-san? Could you make one of those large group-teleporters- eh?" Momonga paused as Rias latched onto his arm like if her life depended on it.

"Koneko is gone!" Rias babbled in panic. "D-did you not get her? Rossweisse is here, and those, um, other girls as well, but where's Koneko? I-Is she back in the Human world still?"

The girl's voice turned high-pitched in the end and her hold tightened at equal measure, although since Momonga was still using his cosmetically modified [Scale Mail] of [Boosted Gear], the grip wasn't doing damage to him.

"Ah." Momonga realized that he had forgotten something in the rush. 'Koneko… While Senjutsu is somewhat interesting, from what I saw it isn't actually all that useful… At best it just makes Koneko behave even more catty. However...'

He had to pretend to be at least worried about the girl's fate- Yet, what worried Momonga more than Koneko's fate was that she had disappeared at the same time as the Nekoshou which had been procured by the Overlord General. And which also happened to know Momonga's secret identity as the 'Supreme Being'.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together, not to mention that the Overlord General had mentioned that the undead creature had used the nekoshou to cloak his Super-Tier spell, and the cat had used 'Senjutsu' to do it... somehow.

Thus, it was likely that the nekoshou had some sort of affinity or semblance to Koneko's ability, which when combined with the coincidental disappearance, cued Momonga into the possibility that the nekoshou had pulled a runner from him, like it had done with the Overlord General and had nabbed Koneko with her.

'I could just grab Koneko, blast the Nekoshou before it can blow my cover, and return…' Momonga was feeling very concerned over the fact Cthulhu was likely to be hanging around the Human World, but he hoped that he could sneak in and out before it'd notice him and aggro onto him.

The next worry he had was that Odin was likely in the human world as well, and he knew that Odin wouldn't pass up an opportunity to ambush Momonga when he was alone.

A teleportation circle formed next to Momonga, and the Arch-Angel who had introduced himself as Michael bowed slightly.

The man paused for a moment as a woman whose white wings were fluttering a bit practically dove next to him and resisted the urge to hug him with visible effort. "Brother! I'm so glad to know you're safe… What happened to our world?!"

"I am glad that Father decided to bring you back, Gabriel." Michael smiled slightly at the worrying woman, and then turned towards Momonga. "Father. I return to your side, for Odin is no more."

Momonga paused. 'Eh?'

Then the words registered properly in his head. 'Could it be… Michael managed to kill Odin?'

He thought about it for a while, and mentally slapped a can of popcorn from Ddraig's hand as the dragon had woken up and had crept his clawed hand slowly towards the can of popcorn with shaky 'fingers'.

'No way… I'm guessing that he allowed Michael to get a few hits in and then played dead…' Momonga shook his head to clear it as he was forced to regulate his emotional state by himself without [Emotion Suppression]. "Are you absolutely certain you killed him?"

"Yes, Father. He was slain by my hand, and I confirmed the destruction of his body." Michael's voice was steady and calm. "Cthulhu, who he attempted to slay, is still alive however. I am most interested to hear how you plan on dealing with the threat he poses upon Your creation, if you choose to share it with me."

"Y-yes, ahem, of course…" Momonga was glad that his face and more importantly his expression was obscured by the mask of the [Scale Mail] as he thought furiously. 'I… I shouldn't be curious about this, but…'

Indeed, if Odin was dead, if Momonga had miscalculated and Odin was in fact not a combat-focused build, but rather a crafter like Amanomahitotsu, the crab blacksmith of Ainz Ooal Gown, then it made sense that Michael could kill him in single combat if Odin got careless and focused all his attention on Momonga, and was jumped by one of the other strong entities of the Ero-World.

Moreover, if Odin had died, he would have dropped his equipment as loot.

In other words, there were free items of potentially World-class strength just lying around in the Human World, waiting for someone to claim them!

It took Momonga's entire self-control to wrestle in his excitement before he'd teleport right away into the human world in a blind frenzy... and likely get flattened by Cthulhu instantly afterwards like a dwarf who ran at a pile of gold, heedless of the dragon that guarded it.

Yet, Cthulhu's existence in the world was enough to remind Momonga that he couldn't just walz in to swoop the loot and get out, and he needed to be tactical about doing it.

So Momonga thought about a proper way of going at it while he mentally adjusted Michael's threat-level as the Arch-Angel had potentially killed Odin.

Meanwhile the Arch-Angel had put his hands on his sleeves and was looking calmly at Momonga.

"Yes, of course. It is all according to my plan." Momonga put as much reassurance to his voice as he could and turned towards Rias, figuring that he could hit two flies with one swing if he went after Koneko and the wayward Nekoshou and scouted Odin's body and the items he might have dropped.

Rias instantly grabbed Momonga's hands, and Momonga gave them a reassuring squeeze. "We'll talk later, dear. For now, I need to go rescue Koneko."

Rias paused, and then she let out a reassured sob. "Momon- listen, do you remember when I told you about the function of the Pieces?"

"Hm… Yes. What about them?" Momonga figured that he should let Rias talk, as he had memorized the 'rules' of the Pieces.

He pulled down the 'helmet' of the [Scale Mail] so he could look directly into her eyes, hopefully making him look more reassuring and likeable as he knew that the eyes of the whole group of defectors were on him and he needed to live up to the legacy his angelic Summons had made for him.

"You can teleport around freely, right? That swirling gate-like thing you made, right?" Rias's eyes had a maniacal glint in them as she practically begged him. "Please, if… I know it's much to ask, but you can perform Castling on Koneko, right? She's a Rook, and you're a King, so you can switch places… And then you can escape back here! And if... If you find Sirzechs-nii... P-please bring him back as well!"

'Huh… Hm, I didn't consider that. It'd save me the hassle of searching for Koneko…' Momonga paused. "Ah. Excellent idea, dear. I think I'll do as you suggest- Could I ask you to take over the leadership of my Peerage in the meanwhile and get them healed?"

Rias seemed to deflate in relief and she turned her eyes towards Momonga with a burning look in them. "Thank you… thank you. Thank you…"

She hugged Momonga and tongue-kissed him in a hungry, possessive and relieved way that caused most of the onlookers to develop a blush of varying degree.

Momonga glanced to the side and saw that the winged white-gowned woman, Gabriel, had a massive nosebleed and looked thoroughly shocked.

He sighed, performed a grand flourish as Rias stepped away reluctantly, and finally performed [Castling].

.

.

To say that the emergency meeting of the Pillar Families was quiet was an understatement.

The focus of the emergency meeting had turned to the dome of light in Human World as it was seemingly the only thing holding back the tide of darkness from beyond the stars, and when it had shattered, the old heads of the Thirty-Two families, with the exception of one who represented two houses, had been utterly dumbstruck.

They had seen Devils, Angels and Fallen fighting side-by-side, seen them stand hand in hand against the darkness, and seen Momon unleash a terrifying power that tore the very fabric of reality of the world into shreds and opened a country-long rift leading into the Interdimensional Gap.

To say it simply, the noble heads of the Pillar families of devils were afraid.

Afraid of the darkness, which had been defeated by Momon. Afraid of the dark Outer God of the Bountiful Harvest, which had been defeated by Cthulhu.

And now, afraid of both Momon and Cthulhu.

When Cthulhu had defeated Shub-Niggurath, and Momon had teleported away, the Pillar families had demanded to know where he had gone- Asmodeus had regrouped with Sirzechs and had taken cover in the ruins of Kuoh, and couldn't keep track of Momon.

Instead, the Pillar Families saw as Odin stood forward to be a hero to save all creation, sacrificing his own people and life to defeat Cthulhu when the creature was at its weakest… Only for Michael of Heavens to proudly proclaim his betrayal of all creation by slaying Odin and saving Cthulhu before glancing at the creature and teleporting away.

In other words, Pillars had concluded that Heavens had likely allied with the Outer Beings, and more specifically Cthulhu.

Lord Astaroth had demanded to know where the defectors from Devil's ranks and the entire envoy groups from Heavens and Fallen had gone, and his voice had been joined by many others… Until Zeoticus Gremory had received word that the wide-area interdimensional teleportation detector that had been set up after the Fallen had attacked the central Underworld mere week ago, had been tripped en masse.

Indeed, the teleportations had seemingly happened in Phenix territory, and Lord Astaroth had demanded to know what Lord Phenix's role was in the whole affair after Zeoticus had been forced to bring the information to light, since it was against the rules between the noble families to withhold information that concerned all of them during the meeting between all the remaining Pillars.

"My role is to be the leader of the noble houses entrusted to me, my people and my wards. Nothing more, nothing less." Lord Phenix's voice was quite bland, and it looked as if the man had grown quite passive after almost smiling as Momon fought back the horde of darkness with but a single blow, after the horde had destroyed the Norse faction without so much as breaking stride.

Normally Zeoticus wouldn't find the sight of his old friend smiling odd, but he had been more than a bit disturbed by the way Lord Phenix's face had drawn itself into a crooked, elated smile like that of a cultist seeing the object of their worship come to life.

"The traitors and enemies land into your home, Marquis Phenix." Archduke of the Pillar families, Lord Agares spoke in a quiet voice which resounded in the arena-like hall. "Surely you realize that this appears… suspect?"

Zeoticus resisted the urge to groan as the more old-fashioned heads of the Pillar families seemed to hone their attention to Lord Phenix, and the fact the Archduke had pulled the Lord's rank card, or that as Marquis the Phenix house was among the 'low-tier' clans among the Noble families. A noble family among devils, but a low-ranking one among the nobles.

Of course, the significance of such titles had diminished greatly ever since the civil war, where many of the families were lost, and after the invention of the Rating Game system. But the old devils still remembered the ranks, the games, and the political intrigue and back stabbings the noble families used to 'enjoy' during the Old Maou's reign.

Thus, for the Archduke to bring up 'rank' into question meant that he, alongside some of the other lords of the Pillars were intending on more or less bullying Lord Phenix into giving up his secrets.

Zeoticus didn't think for a moment that Lord Phenix would have betrayed the Underworld, but even as the de-facto leader of the meeting, he couldn't just veto the voices of other Pillar families's nobles.

That power was reserved to the strongest family of the Pillars, the Grand King himself, who despite his grand name served more as the ultimate head of the Noble Families when dealing with the will of the Pillars, or rather as a glorified messenger, and the ultimate decider when resolving ties in votes between noble families,. or rather a glorified cat-herder.

Lord Bael held the title of Grand King currently, but Zeoticus had little respect for the man. Despite the lord's advanced age, he was but a puppet of the old Grand King who had more or less ditched the title to his son but had retained control over the rule by essentially having Lord Bael be entirely dependent on him for decision-making… Unless the decision fed the current Grand King's spiteful and jealous nature.

"Lord Phenix… It might be best if you explained yourself." Lord Bael's voice was tired, yet it was something Lord Phenix couldn't ignore without risking consequences. "Why have the defectors, traitors, and enemies of the Underworld teleported to your land, specifically? This seems suspicious- By defecting from Asmodeus's army, the defectors have become traitors and our enemies. By factor of siding with the Outer Gods, the Heavens have become once again our enemy. By the surprise attack and ambush against our people a mere week ago, the Fallen have become our enemy. Have you joined their ranks?"

"Ha!" Lord Phenix seemed amused by the accusation. "Indeed, L- My son by adoption, Momon, has chosen to attend a school for 'humans' in the world above. Since the Underworld's enemy, the Supreme Being has decided to attack him, it was decided to reinforce his mansion with group teleporters so he and his Peerage could escape to safety in our lands should the enemy pursue him."

"But for the teleporter to be strong enough to carry that entire group into the heart of the Underworld?" Lord Agares asked as Lord Bael seemed to think about the explanation. "Did you plan for this event to take place?"

"Not at all. That kind of a plan was not mine, nor was it mine to make." Lord Phenix's answer caused Lord Agares to gnash his teeth, as it basically implied that Lord Phenix had expected for a large group to need the teleporter, but omitted as to exactly why.

"Indeed… Then, let us take a look at the enemies who have entered our world. Zeoticus, if you'd please." Lord Bael waved his hand towards Zeoticus. "I'm certain Lord Phenix wouldn't mind if we took a look at what was going on in his lands, no? This is, after all, the most unusual situation and could pose a threat to us all. Remember the horror that stalks the world above- We do not need to have it turn it's eyes to us as well."

Zeoticus realized he had little choice but to agree as the other Lords seemed to agree with Bael, and to be honest, he was starting to get a little worried as well.

And so, he turned the runic scrying hologram from Asmodeus's 'viewpoint' and into the Underworld, and entered the coordinates that had come from the interdimensional teleportation detector.

The emergency meeting of the Pillar Families was utterly quiet as they looked at the sight of the Three Faction's defectors who had landed in the Underworld, and specifically in Phenix territory.

And even more specifically into a well-prepared killzone that had been clearly made in preparation of slaying whoever or whatever entered through the teleporter.

"...Hm, I withdraw my accusations. Good work, Marquis Mengelsk Phenix." Lord Bael and Agares nodded in near unison, although Agares was the one to talk. "You have created a magnificent killbox, and lured our enemies into it."

"Hm?" Lord Phenix seemed to miss the point, before his expression darkened- As did Zeoticus's.

"I veto this decision." The voice came from Zeoticus, although the look on Lord Phenix's face told that he would have spoken had Zeoticus not beaten him to the punch.

"Both of you are too biased for you to have a vote in this." Lord Bael noted to Lord Phenix and Zeoticus. "Phenix, your son, as you decided to call that, weighs you down, and Zeoticus, your daughter's presence makes you too biased to make a level-headed decision. Pillars, a vote if you'd please."

More than half of the remaining Pillar families placed a red flag on the speaker's podium the lords occupied within the arena-like hall, signalling their consent to the decision.

"Indeed." Lord Bael nodded at the gathered nobles, and then turned to Lord Phenix. "You know what is the punishment for disobeying the will of the Pillars?"

"Indeed." Lord Phenix nodded his head just minutely, although there was a calculating expression on his otherwise impassioned face..

"Then activate the kill-zone you have created. Slay the traitors, Angels, and Fallen to the last man and woman. Take no prisoners, and execute all who surrender. The devils who have chosen to abandon their Lords and the Maous are henceforth Strays, and are to be treated as such."

Lord Phenix ignored the order and merely looked at the hologram which showed the image of 'Momon' speaking with the red-headed daughter of Gremory house.

"I object! Where is the justice in this?!" Zeoticus slammed his head against the Gremory's elegantly carved speaker's podium, causing the wood to crack and the centuries-old item to split in two. "This decision will make you an enemy of me, Bael! And of my family, as well as my son!"

"...Hm." Lord Bael turned his eyes towards the rest of the Pillar families. "Final victory is in our reach. Our enemies have placed their head on our guillotines, and are tired from battle. Sirzechs, Beelzebub and Asmodeus are no doubt strong enough to destroy that weakened Outer Being…"

"And Serafall? You'd betray a Maou?" Zeoticus pointed at the hologram which showed Serafall who was shambling like a zombie behind Sona.

The Maou was clearly in a daze, and it was clear that she was little more than a puppet as Sona led her big sister by the hand.

"...It seems that she has been bewitched by our enemies." Bael nodded at the sight, but there was a degree of hesitation in his voice as making a decision to betray a Maou seemed to be too much for the old devil to make alone, without the input of his sire who was not present. "That being said, hm…"

Zeoticus felt victorious and opened his mouth-

"Enough! The Pillars have decided. This is not the time to worry over small details!" Lord Agares slammed his hand down as the thrice-damned Arch-Traitor, Michael of Heavens, appeared next to Momon through a teleporter.

The Arch-Angel spoke with Momon, and the adopted son of Phenix family seemed to pause in shock before shaking his head, and then turning towards Rias as she had grabbed his hand and was clearly begging him for something.

"You will do as the Pillars demand, or you will face punishment! The other Maous would understand the stakes, and agree! They knew the risks they accepted when they donned the mantle of Maou's." Lord Agares pointed his finger at the reason why Cthulhu was still free to recover and potentially destroy the Underworld, once it grew bored of the world above.

It seemed that Micheal realized that someone was spying on him as he turned to glance roughly in the direction from where the scrying spell observed the group.

"You-!" Zeoticus started but Lord Bael lifted his hand, boldened by Agares's words.

"The vote has been cast. The decision has been made. The words have been spoken." Lord Bael invoked his status as the Great King of Pillar families, and then turned to Lord Phenix. "Carry it out."

Lord Phenix, however, only looked into the hologram.

It seemed that Lord Phenix found what he had been looking for as Momon teleported away after kissing Rias deeply, and the lord closed his eyes.

Zeoticus opened his mouth to object once more-

And Lord Phenix opened his eyes, with a steel-hard and deadly glint in them.

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