33 Chapter 33: The Meeting of the Three Factions (Part - 3)

Chapter 33

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Chapter 33: The Meeting of the Three Faction (Part 3)

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- Damien -

The fights were heating up everywhere and it was fulfilling to see the team I had gathered from scratch able to fight at this level.

These people were no match for any of my core members. After all, they could take on the leaders of the Three Factions and win. Pitting them against these scrubs was plain bullying.

That said, not everyone was a weakling.

I moved aside as a shadow passed over the place I was and a loud crunching sound resounded in the place.

Loki's pet son/dog was playing a dangerous game of fetch with me.

Fenrir kept attacking but not reaching anywhere.

To others it would look as if I was dodging and fighting it but the actual reality is that Fenrir has been under my illusion from the very start.

The people who had gathered here today were the main problem makers in the path of establishing peace between the Three Factions.

They needed to get a good beatdown and the leaders needed a good reason to put forward a proposal of peace.

In the novels it was the attack of Kokabiel on the sisters of the two Satans with stolen Excalibur swords which had almost started a Great War which had finally let them have a reason to put their feet down and establish peace and the threat of Khaos Brigade gave them a common enemy to work together against and find a common ground over time.

This time I decided to provide them with similar things.

This attack would be their reason and Rizevim would become their common enemy.

I wonder how that bastard would feel if he found out that he was being used as a common enemy to actually bring peace between the three factions which he hated so much.

But then again, knowing that freak, he would probably be happy and even enjoy himself.

A wall of water suddenly attracted my attention and I turned to see Ingvild fighting off against Crom Cruach.

- Ingvild Leviathan -

She dodged to the side as she controlled several water dragons to face the figure in front of her.

During her time training with everyone, she had heard about Eclipse Dragon Crom Cruach, the strongest evil dragon alive and his reputation was not unfounded.

The dragon ran straight into the water dragons, its speed only slowing for a few seconds before tearing through the first one and then the rest one by one.

Overpowering him with Water Magic alone wouldn't be possible for the current her. His body was too strong for such a thing. Without any hesitation, she used her Sacred Gear, Nereid Kyrie, further strengthening her attacks as well as weakening her opponent, finally succeeding in throwing him against the barrier.

Her life had changed so much since she woke up.

She had never even imagined waking up to the literal creator of the Devil race or at least the reincarnation of the Devil and then being informed that her illness, even the attack on her family, were all plots by other people.

She had been devastated..

One moment she was with her parents and the other, she was in an almost unknown world, not knowing what to do.

Initially, she didn't even know what to do.

She had never liked violence and didn't think she was good enough to do anything against the perpetrators. She knew this and wouldn't deny it either, even now she probably would have just escaped somewhere and hidden if she was by herself.

But she was picked up, given proper training and a chance to get back at her enemies. The only condition Damien put forward for her was for her to visit Ophelia regularly to get treatment for her mental health.

She remembered his exact words.

'I can understand and allow getting revenge but destroying yourself to do so is not something I will permit.'

Who would have thought that the Devil was so concerned about the mental health of his subordinates?

That didn't sound like anything she had heard about the devil from her mother.

But the surprises didn't end there.

Everything she saw and heard since then was completely different from what she had known.

Unlike the devil, he didn't rule with violence and cruelty but rather treated the people who followed him like members of his own family

He didn't discriminate against anyone of any race. Humans, Youkai and even Fallen Angels were all taken in by him and treated the same.

Vienna, Gretel, Lavinia, Kuroka, Shirone and many others adored him to the point of even laying down their lives for him in an instant.

At first she didn't understand this but slowly she realised that it was the charisma of the man who drew people to him. Even someone like Merlin, who was said to have a great hatred for Devils, chose to follow him.

It was almost like Damien and Lucifer were two different beings.

There, she had met people who had become indispensable parts of her life.

Asia, Tsubaki, Akeno and other girls were her closest friends while Musashi, Lavinia and Gretel were like big sisters.

Sean and Merlin were like big brothers on whom she could depend on and Ophelia and the rest were like guardians with whom she could share her problems with and get help.

She, who didn't even know what she would do after her revenge was over, now had friends and a place to call her own… and now, she wanted to do whatever she could to protect this home of hers.

For that, she was willing to go to any extent.

With this resolve, she let out all her power as her entire form was covered in a purple energy, looking like a shadow.

The shadow-like form of hers expanded and took the shape of a massive serpentine dragon.

The Sea Serpent of the End, the true form of a Leviathan.

All of a sudden, her power over water jumped by an enormous degree.

Her opponent was not to be left out either as a shadow enveloped the building where Crom Crauch had crashed. The dust around the building made it hard to see it clearly.

Gretel and others might have noticed this and the space around them wrapped to isolate them in a different place so that they don't injure any friendlies as collateral.

Finally, being able to exert her full abilities, she went all out.

She prepared for his counterattack and gathered all the water in the atmosphere as several enormous water dragons descended from the clouds, circling around her, ready for offence or defence at a moment's notice.

Suddenly a loud roar sounded from the debris of the collapsed building and all the dust was blown apart, revealing the figure of a black dragon, staring directly towards the sky at her.

It crouched in its position and shot towards her, shattering both the ground and the sound barrier at the same time.

The water dragons around her responded in kind and raced towards the black dragon while her Sacred Gear both empowered her and weakened him.

Even with all that, the difference between them was not much and she only held a bit of advantage.

It went to show the extent Crom Cruach had trained himself to get in the same leagues with the Heavenly Dragons.

He tore through two of the water dragons as he tried to make his way towards her. She shot a jet of water directly at him, far stronger than any of the water dragons.

Pushing him back.

The struggles between them continued but she noticed that the more Crom fought, the stronger he got or rather he was getting used to her attack patterns.

They clashed once more, before separating a distance and staring at each other.

There was a fierce smile on the face of the dragon….or at least that's what she thought it was.

During this she noticed something. Despite his overwhelming battle intent, she didn't feel any malice from him. Thus taking the chance, she asked. "Why are you doing this? You didn't even try to go after others when the space was closing around us which tells me that you want nothing with this attack….then why?"

"Why? Obviously to fight worthy opponents. I was promised that I would get to fight someone strong enough to challenge me in this place….and I am not disappointed either." He replied.

"....just for that?" She asked, incredulously. "If you just wanted a fight, you could have just walked here and asked and people would have accompanied you….why go through all of this?"

Was this dragon insane?

She wasn't even lying when she said this.

There were indeed many people in the faction who would have accompanied him to a fight. She was sure that they would have even welcomed him for such a thing. And he….

….

….

….

….

Even the dragon seems to be taken aback by her sudden outburst.

"Doesn't matter. I have already found a suitable opponent for myself." He roared before charging towards her once more.

She had never felt so annoyed in her life. Angry….sure. Irritated, never.

The demonic power around her flared and almost instinctively, words came out of her mouth. "Balance Breaker."

Her Sacred Gear manifested as blue armour-like scales appeared on her body, making a contrast with her darker purple scales and two bell-like objects appeared on her tail.

She glared at the annoying dragon. "I don't have time to play games with you when my friends are at the risk of dying. If you want a fight, you come when people are not in danger." With that said, all her water dragons pushed him back while she used the strongest power of her Sacred Gear against Dragons.

Taking a deep breath, she began singing while her water dragons were keeping the dragon at bay.

The effect was instantaneous.

His movements became sluggish.

He seemed to have realised it too and tried to break free of the water dragons but to no avail, his movements became more and more sluggish as he finally fell down to the ground.

Her Sacred Gear was made to fight against Dragons. In fact, the power which granted her Sacred Gear the status of a Longinus was not its ability to control water but rather the ability to control an army of dragons and bring ruin to the world. According to Damien, it had the potential of working even on the Dragon Gods if trained to its full potential.

Although she didn't use this ability and only concentrated on her water based abilities, it didn't mean she was completely helpless with this either.

With the fight on her side finished, she descended and sealed the dragon with as many seals as she could to keep him down for at least a week.

Sitting down on the ground, she took a quick breath and called Gretel. "I am done here."

The space in front of her opened up.

Now, how were the others doing?

- Akira -

"These mutts are annoying." He complained as he dodged to the side and showered the wolf that had attacked him with Fox Fire, making it howl in rage.

It was unfortunate that they had an extremely sharp sense of smell to even identify illusions with smell alone.

"Too bad they were not trained properly. They fight like wild animals. No coordination and tactics at all." Hagoromo Gitsune replied, gracefully jumping over the nose of her opponent and landing on its head and in the next moment, two weapons came out from her tails and attacked the eyes of the wolf.

Skoll and Hati, the children of the World Devouring Wolf Fenrir, was their current opponent while their third member was facing the grandfather of these two, the Norse God Loki himself.

"Do you think she will be alright?" He asked, looking at Kuroka facing the God all by herself.

"I think you know the answer to that already. That said it would be prudent to finish this early and assist her. That God is known for his cunning. Although his disdain for those he considers inferior always holds him back from using his abilities to the highest degree." She replied before jumping towards the corner of the field.

Hati's eyes were injured but its nose was still fine and it was upon her in a moment….right into her trap.

"Domain Expansion." She joined her hands in a prayer-like position as a cottage appeared behind her.

Hati sensed the danger but it was too late to move back so it bit towards her only for it to have dozens of spears stuck into its mouth.

It howled in agony but the rain of weapons didn't stop till the wolf was knocked out.

Seeing this, Akira decided to step up his game too.

Nature Energy gathered around him further powering his Fox Fire as he shot from his place towards the other wolf that was distracted by the attack on its brother.

It sensed his attack and tried to bite him only for him to slide under it and punch it in its stomach. Almost immediately, Senjutsu powered Fox Fire covered it, making it roll on the ground to try to put out the flames without any kind of success.

He didn't give up his attacks. The wolf was strong without a doubt. It had only been due to their advanced skill in Observation Haki, Senjutsu and an extremely well trained physique which had allowed them to keep up with its movements.

"Since she is not holding back, it would look bad if I did. So, take a nap for a while. Domain Expansion."

A barrier spread over the two.

His Domain Expansion was inspired from the story which their master had published in the manga called Naruto.

The Manga started with a Nine Tailed fox which was hated and hunted by others for no fault of its own. It was chased down and sealed away to harness its power, against its will….due to the greed and fear of others.

He had felt sympathy for the fox and to some extent resonated with its feelings.

The mighty Nine Tailed Fox Kurama had had it rough.

And the main culprit in all of it was those damned Sharingan eyes of those crazy Uchiha.

But as much as he disliked those damned eyes, he could recognise and appreciate their strengths and the technique he developed was also based on two of those techniques.

The wolf which had been howling till then suddenly fell still and collapsed on the ground.

It didn't even move and the only indication that it was even alive was its beating heart.

His domain was a combination of two techniques, Tsukiyomi and Izanami.

Both of them were based on his illusion making abilities.

But unlike his normal illusions, these ones went a step further.

This one didn't cheat the senses but rather trapped the mind of the target like the Tsukiyomi so it was extremely difficult to break through, especially for beings like these, which acted more on their instinct than their intelligence.

Its Tsukiyomi aspect made a time dilation inside the mind of the target but it was far more than normal Tsukiyomi. Two months inside this dimension was a second passed in the outside world.

The Izanami aspect on the other hand forced the target to live a situation over and over again till they finally accepted the solution he had set for them and only then will the technique be broken.

Obviously such a technique had several restrictions.

He couldn't use it on those who had too big of a raw power gap over him.

He couldn't use it on those who were not actively trying to kill him.

All these restrictions made his technique almost seem useless but when all these were fulfilled, it turned into a technique which could break the minds of even the toughest of beings through a cycle of infinite deaths with no way out.

Fortunately, Skoll had fulfilled all the requirements.

The wolf lay on the ground almost lifeless for around half a minute before opening its eyes. It tried to get up but collapsed back again from the mental breakdown.

"Rest. You look quite exhausted." He patted the head of the wolf before communicating with Gretel and sending it out of the dimension.

Now, for the last one.

- Merlin -

He stepped back to the place where the rest of the leaders were maintaining the barrier to prevent any damage from spreading outside after taking care of the Church people and watched the fight.

"Azazel is not holding back." He commented looking at the oldest of the Fallen donning a golden armour and beating the crap out of his fellow sibling.

"I don't think he is in the best state of mind right now." Shemhazai commented but his eyes were on Celine and the rest taking on the Fallen Angels. "Still….you took out Strada so easily. I can't say I can do the same. I guess that makes you the strongest human in the world now. I don't think I even recognised your attack towards the end." Shemhazai said, diverting the topic.

He accepted his wish and replied animatedly. "Obviously, I have been training. As for the last attack, it is called Mana Burst. It's a new branch of Magic I have been working on."

"A new branch? You really haven't changed at all, have you?" He shook his head with a reluctant smile, although his eyes were still on the ongoing battle.

He noticed this and patted his shoulder and spoke reassuringly. "Don't worry. Damien has ordered her not to go over the top. If someone surrenders, they will be spared."

"....thank you." He said, hesitantly. "Did you guys already know this would happen?"

"He had predicted it. I thought his reasons were valid. After all, it was only a matter of time that people would come for his head. So we prepared. Although there are more people here than expected, it's not something we cannot take care of. I think this is a good exercise for the kids. They have been training all this time and have only fought among themselves. It was not good for their growth."

"So this is just that….a way to gain experience for you guys?" Uriel asked, he sensed that the man was speaking more out of habit rather than having any malice.

"What else do you want it to be? We didn't invite anyone to attack us. We didn't provoke them. They came here by themselves, against the orders of their leaders, rebelling against their own factions….for the head of our leader. You are lucky Damien is taking this as calmly as he is. If it had been Lucifer….you know better than me what would have happened."

That shut him up.

The others like Sirzechs, Serafall and Ajuka were just watching the scene, probably mentally taking note of people fighting. They were more or less left out in today's discussions.

The only one who had been quiet since the beginning was Michael.

"She is holding Loki back by herself." He heard Serafall comment on the battle going high up in the sky.

Kuroka was fighting against Loki.

Loki was showering the entire place with different types of spells and curses.

Kuroka in return was countering it with her Senjutsu and Youjutsu. Her Kasha Wheel was purifying the curses while her Youjutsu attacks were countering the spells.

"She is not holding back but completely countering any and all his moves. Notice that none of his attacks have touched the ground and the people below. Loki was using such attacks to distract her to try to protect her allies….but she is accurately disabling them one on one rather than shielding others with barriers. And even with all this, she is able to attack Loki. If it had been a different situation, she would have completely overwhelmed the god." Ajuka replied, not moving his eyes from the battle.

"Just….how did he gather all these people?" She whispered.

"With a little bit of luck and a lot of work. It was not exactly a question of who he was gathering, although I won't deny it was a big part of it. Damien is someone who could have trained a common human with no knowledge of the supernatural to this level if he truly wanted. He is just that good at it. So in a way, it wasn't his luck to find these people but rather their luck of being found by him." He explained. He wasn't lying either.

These were his genuine feelings.

He had seen it with his own eyes after all.

The Archmage….was a frightening power, even by his imagination.

At this moment, a communication circle appeared in front of Michael. He looked down and opened it to reveal the face of….an injured Raphael.

"Brother, Heaven has been attacked! It's….it's Satanael and….Rizevim." He complained through gritted teeth.

"What?!"

Everyone at the scene froze at the sudden reveal.

It then struck him.

"This attack, all these reinforcements….it was a diversion. Satanael and Rizevim…."

"Brother, we must leave." Uriel urged Michael and looked at him. "Open the barriers."

He nodded and quickly contacted Damien. "We have a problem."

"Yes?"

"Rizevim and Satanael have attacked Heaven."

He didn't need to wait for his words to know his answer as the scene in front of them changed completely.

- Kuroka -

"Aghh, this annoying bastard nyaa!" She exclaimed as she blocked another one of his attacks.

He was continuously attacking others to make her defend.

She was keeping the attacks from landing below to avoid collateral damage but this made it hard for her to attack.

Still the moment that she was waiting for came.

Hagoromo Gitsune had finished her fight and the sound of her opponent being subdued diverted the attention of the annoying god for a moment and she threw her Kasha directly at him, following close behind to throw a Senjutsu infused punch.

He noticed the attack at the last moment and conjured a shield at the last moment, blocking her Kasha but her punch broke through and smacked him directly in the face.

"You impudent….!" he growled and summoned hundreds of Magic Circles, preparing for a massive attack….only for the attacks to be dispelled midway as he was shot down to the ground.

She smirked.

Her last attack was just a cover for Hagoromo Gitsune to sneak in and she didn't disappoint.

She didn't stay idle either and let loose a barrage of attacks at the place he had crashed, not letting up for even a second.

"That should teach that bastard nyaa!"

"It wouldn't be enough to take him down." Akira, who had also completed his fight, stepped beside them and said.

"I know nyaa. It's not like we can kill him or old man Odin would be pissed. But no one said anything about not giving him a good beating, maybe breaking a limb or two. That much he won't mind. I'm sure."

A massive aura rose from the place he had been thrown and the god was visible once more with cuts and bruises all over his body.

"You….you filthy animals….I will crush you all." He growled but before he could do anything,they felt a familiar aura.

Conqueror's Haki came crashing down on the entire field and the next instant, a massive jaw snapped at Loki, taking off his arm and leg.

To everyone's surprise, they saw Fenrir of all people attacking Loki. Even the god himself was shocked at the sudden turn of events.

The Wolf didn't wait long either and jumped to other places, destroying the attacking armies one by one.

She turned back to look at Damien who had just been fighting Fenrir till now and saw him looking enraged and flying towards the rest of the leaders.

"What happened?" Akira asked, also sensing his rage.

They soon found out what had happened.

"Lavy, Musashi, Merlin, Sean. Celine, Magnus, Asia, Kuroka, Hagoromo Gitsune, all of you will follow me. The rest, take out your opponents. No playing around and holding back anymore. If they resist….kill them all."

They could feel the rage in his voice. It was even more for Senjutsu users like them.

"Where are we going?" She asked, trying to understand what had happened.

"Heaven."

- Damien -

That fucking bastard….that fucking insane bastard….

He was with Satanael, attacking Heaven….

There was no information about this. Not even his closest knew about any of this. Not even Euclid or any of those three clowns.

I controlled Fenrir to take down the more stubborn enemies after which I simply cut off all its senses.

The world devouring wolf fell to the ground in a comatose condition as I landed beside the leaders.

"What exactly is the situation Michael?" I asked, as soon as I reached there.

Shemhazai looked stunned at the turn of events. "What….what did you do?" He asked me, looking at Fenrir.

"Trapped him in an illusion." I replied before looking at Michael again.

"It was Raphael. He says some people have attacked Heaven. They were able to identify Satanael and Rizevim among the attackers. Apart from them…."

"What else Micahel?"

"There were Grim Reapers."

"Huh?" I was taken aback at the sudden mention of the withered Skeleton's minions.

"Grim Reapers. They had Grim Reapers with them."

"Hades? Why would he…." Rizevim….was he behind this as well?

"We need to leave Michael." Uriel urged and for once he agreed with his usual impatient self.

My people gathered around me as well. I had made sure to only call for the non Devil members to avoid trouble.

Gretel had opened a path for us quickly.

"I can take us there quickly but…."

"We can lend a hand too." Sirzechs stepped forward offering help.

I looked at them. " I think you all should go back to the Underworld and see what that old bag of bones is planning to do. If he has the guts to send people to attack Heaven, there is no saying what he is up to. Oh, and while you are there, please send him a message from me."

"Yes?"

"Tell him that if I find out that he was in any way associated with this attack….I will kill him no questions asked. If I have to burn down the entire Olympus for it, then so be it."

"Helel." Michael began but I cut him.

"No Michael! You cannot be soft against people like him. They are the kind of fools who won't give up until you remove a limb or two from them. Diplomacy never leads anywhere with his kind."

Fucking Greeks.

"Do you think I am happy about this!" Michael shouted back, taking everyone by surprise when his wings flashed a darker colour for a second.

I don't know why but seeing that I felt my heart stop for a moment and I completely froze. And when I recovered….an intense rage took over me. It was similar to when things had gone all white during Aria's death.

It was the same feeling of having something precious taken away from me or almost taken away from me.

It was odd, as if I knew why I was angry but when I tried to think about it, nothing made sense.

But my anger was not aimed at Michael.

No.

It was aimed towards Rizevim, Satanael and Hades.

Michael seemed to not have noticed and continued. "Do you think I am happy with everything that's going on? Father is no more. Mot….passed away as well….I was there….all that time, right outside the Seventh Heaven and yet, I couldn't do a thing." He clenched his fist and I could see drops of blood flowing from his hand. "I wasn't even able to apologise to her one last time. I couldn't even tell…."

He then looked at me directly into my eyes. "All of you were busy fighting among yourself, plotting and killing each other. Even I dragged myself into all this mess. Do you think it was easy to grit my teeth and do everything I have done, even after knowing everything? And yet, I always have to be calm….because it is my duty. I cannot complain, I cannot even act on my thoughts because I needed to support everything which was left. I am not afraid of them,no matter how strong they might be. I bear everything because we cannot withstand another war, brother. I cannot see any more of my family members die….just for my selfishness."

He tapped a finger at my chest. "You are not the only one going through that pain, do you understand? So you don't get to throw any tantrums alone."

It was the first time anyone had seen Micahel burst out like that.

"All three factions have their own problems right now. The Underworld has suffered loss due to the rebellion. The Fallen Angels are the same and we….we are no different either." He said, looking at the people of the church who were subdued by now. "We don't know if Hades was involved or not. A war, let alone dragging the Greek into this would only make the matters worse. Such decisions need to be thought over properly. Right now, we don't have the time for it. Our siblings need our help there."

Sirzechs intervened. "We will take care of the case with Hades." He assured, pacifying the situation.

"And what about you yourself stepping back into Heaven? They would try to kill you on sight." Shemhazai asked.

I just gave them a look. "I have my ways."

Azazel stepped forward. "I am not staying here." There was no hint of discussing this topic in his tone. Behind him was a battered Kokabiel, unconscious with his magic sealed.

He threw Kokabiel aside and stepped forward.

I looked at Michael and he nodded "Very well."

Azazel looked at Shemhazai. "You should accompany them to deliver our stance to Hades." He nodded too.

Taking one last look at the battlefield, I turned towards Gretel. "I leave everything here to you." She nodded and we all got ready to leave.

Remembering one more thing before I left, I turned towards Sirzechs. "One last thing. Declare Rizevim and anyone who supports him rogue. If anyone complains, tell them it was an order from me."

- Sirzechs -

They left in a grey mist.

He looked back at the battlefield behind him….if it could even be called that. They had more or less butchered the entire force of the attackers.

Today's meeting had been beyond anything he had been expecting.

Sure, he had come in expecting to know the situation about Devil souls but not in his life did he imagine there to be such secrets hidden behind the Three Factions.

The actual progenitor of Demonic energy, wife of God and the mother of Angels. The secret of Heaven's System and the reason behind Lucifer's rebellion.

It was too much for him to process and then it turned into something like this.

"Still, it's surprising that not one Devil came to attack him." Serafall said, looking at the scene.

Yes.

Not one of them came here.

"Why is it that every meeting with him turns into something like this?" He sighed before stepping forward. "Grayfia, please help them seal off the captives. The rest of us will go back and see the situation in the Underworld."

They had more or less taken care of the entire situation. Especially in the last rampage by Fenrir.

"Yes." Grayfia bowed and they left in a summoned magic circle with Shemhazai accompanying them.

_________________________________x____________________________________

He stood with his peerage members near the entrance to the Greek's territory in the Underworld.

Shemhazai and Serafall were standing behind him.

The grim reapers guarding the gates had been alerted as soon as they had arrived and had fled in to deliver the message.

A few minutes later, the surroundings dimmed a little as several Grim Reapers swarmed out of the entrance with Pluto, the strongest Grim Reaper at the lead.

"What are your intentions, Devils?" The Grim Reaper spoke in a hoarse voice.

"We wish to meet your Lord regarding the attack of the Grim Reapers on Heaven." he spoke genially.

Although he doubted that they would act without the express orders from Hades, nothing was still proved about his involvement and they couldn't make any overtly aggressive move.

"You wish to question my Lord?!" The reaper growled. "After all you filthy crows and bats have done, you have the audacity to come here and question us?"

He narrowed his eyes at the man's words.

"And what exactly have we done?" he asked.

"You people entered our realm and stole the souls of the dead for your own purposes. Our Lord only sent his Grim Reapers after them to punish them for their crimes."

"Who exactly stole the souls of the dead?" Serafall asked.

"Rizevim Livan Lucifer and Fallen Angel Satanael." He hissed venomously.

"And yet your people were following the two and attacking Heaven?" He asked.

"They were tasked with retrieving the souls. If anyone stands in their way, there is bound to be fights. After all, guarding the souls is their duty."

"Satanael was declared a rogue by our faction. He is no longer a member of Grigori. He has nothing to do with us anymore. If he did attack your realm, you should have confirmed with us, not directly attacked Heaven." Shemhazai complained. "Even Rizevim was declared a rogue after his attack on Heaven was found out."

"And what exactly would be the use to confirm? Give them more time to hide? If we weren't quick enough, we wouldn't have realised that they were hiding among those doves. All three of your factions are the same." The Grim Reaper shouted.

"You had no proof that they were together. You all attacked Heaven without any provocation." Shemhazai shouted back.

Both were releasing high amounts of power by now.

He put a hand on Shemhazai's shoulder and stopped him as he stepped forward and faced the Grim Reaper. "I am sorry to hear about the incident in your realm but still, I request that we speak to your Lord, if only to clear out these matters so that it doesn't escalate." He spoke calmly.

"There is nothing to speak of." The Grim Reaper answered back, releasing even more of his power. His subordinates joined him.

He narrowed his eyes.

They were sidestepping the subject and avoiding summoning Hades. It looked suspicious.

Why must matters alway come to this? With an internal sigh, he let out his Demonic Power as well, crushing all the grim reapers in front of us.

His peerage members followed as the dozens of Grim Reapers took out their death scythes and took a stance to attack.

The tension increased and was only broken by the appearance of a magic circle between the two groups.

Out of the Magic Circle stepped a figure in a purple cloak, his identity clear by that bony face of his.

Hades, the Greek God of the Dead.

"What is going on here?" He asked in his raspy voice.

The Grim Reapers all bowed while the god faced them.

"We are here to talk about your attack on Heaven."

"There is nothing to discuss. My people were just retrieving stolen goods from those thieves. You should go and keep a tighter leash on your people so that such a situation doesn't arrive. Then again, knowing you people I wouldn't be surprised if this was just another game of yours. Otherwise, why would the son of the devil work with a Fallen Angel and hide in Heaven of all places."

"As we have already explained, Satanael was a rogue and Rizevim has been declared the same. Do not associate us with them." Serafall stepped forward to reply. "On the other hand, the action you took today has crossed certain lines, Lord Hades."

"I did what had to be done."

"Or so you claim." Shemhazai retorted.

Hades' divine aura burst out, falling on the vice governor general of the Fallen but the man to his credit didn't back down either and fought back with his full strength. "Are you insinuating that I am lying….crow?"

"No one is saying whether you are lying or not Lord Hades….that remains to be investigated. What we are talking about is your illegal attack on Heaven, where we have actual proof of your people actually assisting Rizevim and Satanael." He too stepped forward and replied. "You have totally broken any code of conduct and behaviour among factions. This kind of action is generally taken as a declaration of war."

"Are you threatening me, bat?" Hades questioned back.

"We are not threatening you, Lord Hades, merely pointing out your actions to you. You acted outside your authority by sending your people to attack Heaven. This is a fact that, something even you have accepted. But since you say they were stealing souls from your domain, we will investigate it too and return those if we find them. On the other hand, the ones who attacked Heaven….they will also be dealt with suitably."

"Hoh, and what would the suitable punishment for them be?"

"That will be for Archangel Michael and his fellow angels to decide. After all, they are the people who lost their siblings due to your misunderstanding. I hope there won't be any such misunderstandings from now on because in that case, we would be forced to take action." He finished.

To be honest, by now he was sure there was something wrong with the situation with how much they were twisting the subject.

With his words said, he turned towards others. "Let's go."

"Sirzechs?" Serafall asked.

"Let's go, Serafall. We are done here for now." He replied before turning back at the glaring god. "Oh and one more thing Lord Hades. Since you were curious about our arrival to discuss the matters of Heaven, let me be the first to inform you. Our Three Factions have signed a Peace Agreement and are now in an alliance. If a war does happen….anyone against us will be facing the combined might of all three Biblical factions together. But war is a sad thing and I sincerely hope it will not come to that."

The God of the Dead let out his full divine aura and in return he faced the God and removed his cloak and handed it to Souji before releasing the seal on himself.

- Shemhazai -

The area quaked as red and purple tinged Sirzechs' skin. First his eyes turned completely purple, pupils, sclera, everything and the Power of Destruction then spread out to the rest of his body, all the while his Demonic Power kept increasing.

He had heard of it.

The two current Satans, Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub were called Super Devils, similar to Rizevim, and even among these, Sirzechs was known as the strongest Devil alive.

And yet, seeing this for the first time, seeing his form morph into what looked like a humanoid mass of the power of destruction, he found his mouth hanging open.

This power….this kind of power was beyond, it was beyond anything he had expected.

And Damien was waving him off casually. Was he not aware of his full power or was he also this strong?

Sirzechs' aura kept increasing, even slightly overwhelming Hades' own as they faced each other.

The Grim Reapers behind him had all been crushed down to the ground under their auras alone while others were feeling suffocated by it.

Death and destruction competed against each other for dominance.

Even the God of the Dead looked a bit hesitant to continue the battle. He let out a snort and turned back, leaving the Underworld, back to his own realm but not before leaving a last line. "War would only start if you fail to control your people and that time it won't end with just words."

Sirzechs' form reverted slowly to his normal one and his knight handed him his clothes.

He clenched his fist looking at the departing form of the God when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning back, he saw Sirzechs shaking his head at him.

"Starting wars on two fronts is not a good idea. Let's wait for them to return and then we can discuss what we need to do. There are too many variables."

"You do realise that they are working together, don't you?"

"I do….but we have no proof of anything. Hades and his people made a point to repeatedly rub their story in our faces and the God was too calm for such a situation to have actually happened. We need time to prepare ourselves while they might already be ready for a fight. Starting a war at such a time wouldn't be a wise decision. We need to wait till they return and we can regroup together." He replied while fixing his cloak.

"....I understand. I will get everyone ready. Hades….he will not escape this." He said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, he won't. I doubt he would let the matter go that easily."

He nodded as well. Damien might have been shaken out of his anger by Michael's outburst but he was the last person to take such an attack laying down.

"Let us go." Sirzechs said to his subordinates and then turned towards him. "You should also go and check the Fallen Angels side to make sure no one causes any problems there."

He nodded and left.

….this was not how he had imagined this day going.

- Raphael -

"What is the situation?" He asked as he healed Ariel's wounds.

"They have almost broken through the fourth barricade and are going to arrive at the fifth heaven in a short while. We cannot hold them back for long." He heard the voice of Jophiel report through the communication magic circle.

"Make a defensive formation at the gates of the Fifth Heaven. Gabriel will be leading everyone there." On the other communication circle, he commanded. "Assemble the angels in the first and second Heaven and attack their rear. We only need to delay them for a while. Reinforcements will be arriving soon."

"This much should be enough for me." Ariel moved and got ready to leave.

"Wait a moment. I will leave with you too." He said but Ariel shook her head.

"No. You should stay here. We cannot lose our best healer and strategist. We need you to hold the fort till Micahel and Uriel get back."

He clenched his fist but understood her reasoning. Taking a deep breath, he nodded.

As he watched Ariel leave, his mind went back to how this mess started.

Michael and Uriel had left to attend the meeting of the three factions and they were informed that they had been attacked by rebels.

It was disheartening but not surprising to see many of the Church people rebel to go after Helel.

Even the likes of Vasco Strada and Edward Christaldi had left to join the group, each for their own reason.

Thankfully, many of the promising youngsters were left out. Ariel had been escorted by two Exorcists when she came back from the Vatican to inform them about this.Dulio Gueseldo and Griselda Quarta were the escorts.

Led by Kokabiel and his followers were the ones leading the attack. And while he was worried about the safety of his siblings, he knew they would be able to overcome that situation. Suddenly he found himself worrying about a whole new problem.

Out of the gates of the Third Heaven, hundreds of wizards and fallen angels invaded Heaven. He recognised many of them as the ones who fell and were ousted from Heaven when the loopholes in the Heaven's System were fixed.

At the lead were surprising faces, Rizevim Livan Lucifer and Satanael.

They took everyone by surprise, quickly overcoming the focus of the Fourth Heaven by the time they were able to collect themselves.

Without Michael here and running the system, many of the defences of Heaven were barely working, further helping the invading forces.

The stronger angels were not able to release their full powers, fearing the destruction of the surroundings. They were incredibly restrained while fighting back.

But when they thought they had contained the matter, things got even worse as hoards or Grim Reapers came out and started killing anyone they encountered.

And just like that, the entire situation went down the drain.

He just hoped that they could bring the situation under control before more of the surroundings were damaged.

- Gabriel -

She clashed with Satanael once more who defended with his sword, the demonic aura of the sword flaring upon encountering her light spear as sparks of power flew everywhere.

They retreated back several metres, their strengths equally matched and looking at the six pairs of wings behind his back, she wasn't doubting this fact.

However, unlike her, Satanael's energy was not stable. The purple draconic energy she was feeling from him was probably the reason.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked as he shrugged.

"Why else? To prove myself. To prove that my methods were correct too. To prove that even I could rival you all and….him." He spoke as he shot towards her and she defended, stepping back slightly to cushion his blow. "And see, I was correct."

His distraction gave her the opportunity she was looking for as she quickly conjured several magic circles around them which shot out jets of Holy Water to attack him.

He pushed her back and covered himself with his wings but she threw her light spear at him, blasting him down to the ground. Not giving him any chance to breathe, she showered the area with light spears, creating a massive explosion in the area.

She knew it wasn't enough to kill him but she couldn't go all out inside heaven or their home would be destroyed. She just hoped to stall them long enough for reinforcements to arrive and push them outside of Heaven.

Satanael got up, slightly faltering as he had injured his knee in the attack.

"Powers gained through such means are not your own power, brother. If you do not possess the experience to use it, you will never truly reach higher levels."

His face morphed into one of hate. "You! You are the last person to lecture me about how I gain power. You all, who were favoured by Father, just like him, were born powerful while many of us were created inferior to you. How would you know what it takes to gain power?" He shouted.

She winced lightly at his accusations by steeling herself. "But that doesn't excuse your behaviour brother. Father didn't take away your potential. He always did something for a reas…." Her words stopped as she felt a sharp pain on her side.

Looking down, she saw a dagger stabbed on her side and then felt a smash on her face which sent her flying down to the ground. The wound seemed to have been poisoned and she was having trouble displaying her power.

She clutched her side and looked up to see a figure with twelve devil wings and silver hair, slowly flying down towards her.

"Uyahahahaha. This Hades Cap is a great thing. Truly worth it to go through all that trouble. Dearest Aunty Gabby didn't even notice me till I was right behind her. I can truly become the master of Hide and Seek with this, right?"

He stood right in front of her and smiled. "Did I scare you, hey, did I scare you? I was really excited to see you after such a long time, you know? Anyways, we are on a short schedule so I will cut this short." He said as he conjured a magic circle in his hand. "I was planning to leave a surprise for Daddy dearest and I thought long and hard of a plan. He seemed to be recalling memories of his past life and I was wondering how to hasten the process and then I remembered something. He seemed to be oddly reminiscing about old times. when his father had died. I wonder if I should give him another chance to do so by sending his sister off too. Do you think he will recall everything if I did so? Do you?" He asked maniacally as she gritted her teeth remembering the last moments of their Father and brother.

This man….

He was the reason….

"Well, only one way to find out." He waved his hand towards her.

She tried to create her barrier but her powers were not obeying her commands.

Suddenly, a flash of light crashed in front of them and Rizevim was blown back from the shockwave.

She looked and in front of her, embedded in the ground lay the weapon containing the will of their father….its holy light comforting her with its soothing presence.

Looking at the place where it had come from, she saw a figure descending from the lights above as if bringing light in their desperate situation.

Twelve silver wings shining behind his back and a halo adorning his head as he looked down on the devil sharing similar facial features as him with a look of utter fury.

The lightbringer had returned to Heaven.

[IMAGE: Lilith]

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Author's Note:

Wow, this chapter was a pain to write.

Finally, Damien is revealed completely for the world to see….and yes, I planned this cliff.

I was planning this fucking cliff for months, even years.

I was planning this cliff from the time I had the idea about his angelic form.

So it was finally a relief to get to write it.

Things are turning chaotic as usual.

After all, what would one expect when Rizevim was involved?

What exactly are his plans? We will get to know them soon.

I promise it will be good.

I know many have noticed the erratic emotions of Damien in the recent chapters. We will get a proper reason for those by the end of this arc so don't start complaining about it before getting to that part.

As they say, have faith.

All of it is planned.

I won't bore you all with any more words.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.