Chapter 34: The Return

Deal with the Devil

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 34: The Return

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- Damien -

We raced towards the gates of Heaven at our fastest speeds.

There were only two routes to Heaven. One was through the front gates of Heaven. It was also the only one known to most people.

The second one was something only a handful of people knew about. It was through the Underworld and opened up in the third heaven. This Gate was made for God to travel to the Underworld, unseen and check up on his wife's body.

Later on, this was the very same route used by Lucifer to take away Lilith and that's how she found out about this gate.

We didn't have the time to go through the back door so we were currently heading towards the Gates.

These gates were always guarded by hordes of Exorcists and Angels with the sole duty to prevent any attacks. Not to mention the gates themselves were strong enough to halt attacks from even Satan Class beings for a long period of time.

Attacking through the front gates would be the stupidest thing ever that meant Rizevim had attacked from the back door.

"I think you should control yourself Damien. With your aura, we would probably get attacked before we can even start entering the other dimension." Azazel said.

I looked back towards him, who was following me. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen."

He looked at me weirdly but didn't question as we were in a hurry at the moment.

As we reached near the gates and into the Heaven controlled area, I ordered everyone to stop.

They did although they still seemed to be in a hurry.

"Sean." I asked and he knew exactly what I was asking for.

- Azazel -

He looked at Damien, not understanding what he wanted….that was until Sean summoned the True Longinus and threw it at him.

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't think waving Father's Spear at Heaven's Gate would help. The problem is with you being the De…."

His words got stuck in his throat as he saw him catching the spear.

A wave of power passed through them.

'I am an angel of the Lord.'

Before he could register the words, a wave of holy energy erupted from Damien and a silver light covered his form.

When the light dispersed, Azazel's eyes widened and his jaws hung open.

Gone were the dozen bat-like black wings and suffocating demonic power which was a trademark of a Lucifer.

In their place were the familiar and yet nostalgic six pairs of silver wings and three halos. The dark and gloomy demonic power was replaced by the bright silver light which gave him his title and was the trademark of the Lightbringer.

"You….how…." He stuttered out.

Damien looked at him, his gaze completely different from before.

He looked calm but Azazel could still feel the rage it was hiding underneath.

"I was about to show you the entire story but Kokabiel interrupted. I promise I will answer all your questions when we are done with this entire mess." He promised and Azazel controlled himself, taking a deep breath.

"Since when?" He asked finally.

"It happened a few years ago. In fact, I….didn't even know such a thing could happen. I just….lost control and was attracted towards the Spear the first time I encountered it and that's it."

He let out a sigh. "You will be answering everything."

"I gave you my word."

Without any more interruptions, they reached the Gates of Heaven which looked to be in chaos.

Angels were fighting against several magicians and fallen angels.

The Magicians seemed to be members of the Wizards of Oz and even some members of the Utsusemi Organisation.

They were about to help but before they could do anything, they noticed something weird.

A group among the magicians used a spell on a defeated two winged Angel. The Angel screamed in agony and writhed on the ground but in just a few moments, his wings turned black….he fell.

But that was not the end either. His screams of agony didn't end. His feathers looked like they dried away and his skin became greenish as eyes erupted from his body, all the while his aura kept increasing. He grew another pair of wings.

When the transformation was completed, what lay in place of the Angel was a monster-like being with four wings and dozens of eyes all over its body.

He stood up a second later but Azazel noticed that his eyes were vacant.

"Attack them." The Magician ordered and the Fallen rushed into the barricade of angels like a wild beast. He didn't have any care for his safety or even consciousness for that matter.

"What in Father's name is that?" He asked, shocked.

Those magicians….just what did they do?

All of them paused on seeing this and Michael was the first to burst into action.

He rose to the skies, summoning his sword and raised it to the skies. Thousands of light spears lit the skies and everyone present turned towards them.

The Magicians hurriedly raised the shields and made barriers, looking pale at the sudden attack but Michael didn't give them any chance as the light spears rained death on the intruders, taking out the makeshift outpost of the magicians almost instantly.

"Brothers! Do not hesitate. Do not panic. Our chaos is their weapons. I plead to you all, do not empower our enemies. Get into formation and come, let's defend our home."

The Angels looked like they had seen hope all of a sudden. The entire scene reminded Azazel of the wars they had fought before their fall.

Michael was always an able general, quick to gain the trust of his soldiers and with the ability to boost their morale with just a few words.

This Micahel had disappeared since Father's passing as the man had become almost a shell of his former self. Today however, he looked every bit as the foremost general of Heaven's once more.

The troops rallied on his commands and he looked back at them and spoke. "Uriel, Helel, you all go inside and take care of the other side. I will clear things up here and then go to the Seventh Heaven to take control of Heaven's system."

"I will stay here and check what they did to turn Angels into those….monsters." Azazel said, earning a nod from them.

"Merlin. You stay here and assist Azazel. Find out what they did and if there is any way to reverse it. You can contact the base and get help if you want."

"As you command, my king."

He then looked at Michael. "Do you need someone else to help you out?"

Michael shook his head. "No. I can handle this by myself."

"Alright then….take care."

With that said, both groups separated and he quickly went forward and checked on the transformed angel.

The eyes of several angels dug on him as he knelt before the body but due to Michael's presence, no one took action.

He quickly cast several spells to check the situation.

Merlin did the same.

"This….what exactly is this? I don't recall seeing anything like this before." He spoke after his checks were completed.

Merlin's spells were completed soon after.

"This looks like some kind of a curse." He said, his eyebrows furrowing as he used several more spells. "A curse to bring out the monsters from inside them." Suddenly he paused as if recalling something. "Azazel, do you recall the information about the Utsusemi Organisation?"

"The Utsusemi Organisation? Yes, they have been causing ruckus in Japan. I know that they have been working together with the Wizards of Oz and Satanael and also have some connection with Ophis but apart from that I don't know much. They have been in hiding most of the time."

"I see. Well, thankfully, we do have some members in their ranks as spies and were able to glean some information. They are working on creating something similar to the Independent Avatar Type Sacred Gears. One of our members, Lavinia, was the student of Glenda, the Witch of the South. She is also the wielder of the Absolute Demise and the Wizards of Oz already have Augusta, the Witch of the East, as the wielder of the Incinerate Anthem. With research on both these Sacred Gears, they collected data and they have created these….Utsusemi using the people they had kidnapped to fight against the Five Principal Clans."

Azazel frowned at the information. "But these do not look anything like any kind of Artificial Sacred Gears, Independent Avatar Type or else."

"Hmm….from what little we were able to find out, they draw out the inner monsters of humans, their inner hollows if you will. Now apply that logic on Angels….from what you know now, what do you think their inner demons are?" Merlin concluded.

Azazel found his mouth hung open as the thought struck him.

"But then…."

"This is what Angels could have become if your Father hadn't made you the way he did, although unlike these, you all would still retain your minds but in terms of form, you would most likely become something like this….an eldritch looking being."

Azazel looked at the unconscious monst….Angel in front of him and then at his own hands….his brain struggled to find any semblance between the two.

What even was going on?

At this point, he realised that he didn't know what was going on anymore. He, someone who had prided himself on his knowledge of this world….didn't even know what he himself was….

The realisation was frustrating and yet….humbling and all these feelings had left him completely exhausted.

He was tired.

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to meet with his father and ask….ask what he was.

What even was his purpose?

"....zazel….Azazel!" Merlin's voice broke his thoughts and he looked at the white haired man in front of him. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes….yes, I am fine. Is there any way to change them back?" He asked, pushing the stray thoughts out of his mind. They had to concentrate on the situation at hand first.

All these….had to be left for later.

"Probably. But this is simply beyond our abilities right now. It would take us extensive research to develop the method to do such a thing but they don't have that much time on their hands. To be honest, right now, there is only one person I know who can reverse this."

"Damien?" He asked, already knowing.

Merlin nodded. "He is the only one even remotely aware of the method of creating life and the intricacies of the races in the Three Factions."

"....I see."

As they were in their thoughts, Michael flew down to their place.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes. We have a slight idea of what might be wrong with them but I cannot do anything. Maybe Damien can, so we need to subdue them first."

"....I see. Very well. That's what we will do. They will be subdued and kept in captivity till something can be done for them."

"What of the magicians?" He asked.

Michael's face took on an emotionless look. "Take them in and interrogate them about the curse. If they do not cooperate….eliminate them."

"....Got it."

With that, all three of them got to work.

Azazel and Merlin went after the Magicians first as they possessed the most danger to the Angels with their curses.

He could feel the eyes of many angels looking at them unkindly but no one spoke anything with Michael beside them.

The main battleground between the angels and the magicians was in the second Heaven. 

It looked like there were more than one Ultimate Class Magicians.

"Did they bring out their entire organisation here to attack?" He asked, surprised at the gathering.

"Oh my, is that the Witch of the West and beside her seems to be the Witch of the North. I didn't expect them to still be alive." Merlin commented as he strutted forward, ignoring the barrage of attacks.

"Obviously, I last saw them three hundred years ago. And going by their looks, they look fairly young. Maybe they are using sorcery of some kind." Azazel commented.

"Hmm, perhaps. It looks like they have changed bodies though. Their magic seems slightly different than before." Merlin said, narrowing his eyes.

"Does it even matter? They have attacked Heaven with the intention of war. Any time for words is gone. We need to take them down. Those two would most likely know the details of the curse."

Not to mention, he was not as forgiving as Michael.

"That's true, I guess."

Azazel didn't want to delay anything either so he directly brought out his trump card.

"Balance Breaker!"

'Golden Dragon Balance Breaker: Downfall Dragon Another Armour.'

With his golden armour donned, he rushed into the crowd of magicians. The fight with Kokabiel hadn't helped him get rid of his frustrations. Maybe these magicians would help.

Anyways, he just needed to keep the two witches alive for questioning.

- Merlin -

He watched as Azazel shot into the crowd of magicians, like an arrow from a divine bow. Everywhere he went, light spears rained, crushing the enemies below.

His progress was halted only when the leader of the other side came personally to fight.

The Witch of the West fired a large fog of miasma to stop him from coming near them. Several of her own people crumbled under its effects and her power increased simultaneously. It was nowhere near the level of Azazel but was enough so that she could stall him for a while with the help of the other Cardinal Witch as Azazel would resist going all out to not destroy parts of Heaven.

It was a good plan….But that was only possible if Merlin were to sit back and do nothing.

He wondered if Satanael or Rizevim even imagined that Damien would come here to lend a hand to Angels of all people?

Well, since Azazel wanted to do the fighting, Merlin decided he would let him do that. All he needed to do was to prevent the surroundings from getting destroyed.

Thankfully, he had just the thing for such cases.

'Balance Breaker.'

Innovate Clear was a wonderful piece of art and among his favourite Longinus'. In fact, it was his second favourite one right after the Sephiroth Graal as the things he could do with it were nigh endless and only limited by his power and imagination.

The Longinus spread its magic, changing the pure white of Heaven into an expanse of endless golden clouds.

'Avalon.'

Innovate Clear was a Sacred Gear that allowed one to drag people into the world created by Innovate Clear where he was basically God. The world could become anything he desired and laws of physics would mean nothing inside.

But this was just the basics.

Creating a world was far more than just manipulating the Laws of Physics.

What Innovate Clear did was create a Temporary World itself. A whole new world according to the user's desires. The only reason this world had any similarities to the normal world was because of the user's mind.

After all, normal people wouldn't even be able to imagine a whole new world and all the work that took to create it….so the Sacred Gear just uses the outside world as a template for them.

The more the user learned and explored the Sacred Gear, the better they could use it and obviously the more power they have, the stronger the effects will be.

Not just the Laws of Physics, he could make and change anything inside the Sacred Gear's domain.

New Laws of Magic, new kinds of life, anything.

He could in theory stop any magic from happening inside his domain by making a new Law which prevented any magic.

Obviously, even he would get caught in this and so it was hard to practise but that's only when you didn't have the cheat called the Archmage's Essence.

Someone like him or Damien who can understand the Essence of Magic itself, are the only ones who can fully utilise this power.

This is exactly how he had been able to tamper with the Law of Time and alter the flow of time inside this world for his teammates to train longer. It was only the lack of his own power that prevented him from dilating the time even more.

And all this was only the function of the basic form of the Sacred Gear. As for the Balance Breaker, that was a whole nother beast.

The Magic of the Wizards of Oz was of the corrupting nature which was affecting the minds and very souls of Angels, turning them into those….abominations, not to mention the damage it was causing and the negative effect it had on Heaven's System.

This was one of the major reasons why the Angels were desperately holding back to prevent the already fragile system from collapsing and failing to even defend themselves, thus putting themselves at a disadvantage.

And that's where his Balance Breaker came in.

The Balance Breaker of Innovate Clear did exactly what the name suggested. It broke the balance of the world, allowing the Longinus to perform beyond its stipulated limit….of only changing the world inside it by temporarily overwriting the real world by the world of its creation.

So when his Balance Breaker spread, it rewrote the current Heaven….with the world of his own creation….the everlasting eutopia….Avalon.

Avalon- the place which was exactly that….a utopia where everything was perfect, where no one got sick, where no one died, where everyone was healed….a perfect place where everything was good.

It was his greatest dream and the first part of his biggest trump card, something which he had prided himself on….at least before being humbled by the words of his new King.

When he had told Damien about it, his King had laughed.

Merlin smiled remembering his words from that day?

'Perfection? I can see how that curse can make for the best weapon.' He hadn't understood the words, Damien further explained.

Perfection meant that there was nothing else to improve, that one had become stagnant. Not being able to die might sound good, could also mean losing the choice of completing the cycle of life.

What might seem like an utopia, could instantly be transformed into a hauntingly painful prison for the unwanted….all he needed to do was change the laws slightly.

And sure enough, any damage caused by the Miasma was healed as soon as the golden clouds spread over the area.

The angels who had been transformed into monsters were returning back to their original shape….temporarily and helping their brothers and sisters turning the tides of the war.

Such change caused even the leaders fighting in the distance to stop their battle and look at him. He gave Azazel a nod. "You wanted them captured, right? Go on, let it all out. No one will die….even if they beg."

The man was donning a scale mail and Merlin couldn't see his face but he was pretty sure the man was grinning maniacally before his entire aura erupted, stunning the two witches in place.

All it did was disperse the golden clouds a bit before more took their place and all the damage was restored.

What came next was the show of power by Azazel as he showed everyone why he was called the strongest Fallen Angel and the scariest of them all.

It also gave Merlin an idea on the limits of Balance Breaker.

The witches stood no chance against Azazel's assault.

The man tore them apart, only for them to reform, healed….at an agonisingly slow pace.

They could see their entrails knit back and crown slowly in their bodies before their wounds closed, only for them to be torn apart by another light spear.

Sometimes the angles at which they saw things were completely different as their heads were flying after being lopped off.

It was like being thrown into a blender of light spears while making sure they would never die.

Within minutes, the magicians who saw the condition of their leaders panicked. The angels being immune to their attacks didn't help either.

In general, Magicians were physically weaker than even two winged Angels. They stood no chance as they were captured and tied up….that was not mentioning the fact that a large part of them surrendered after realising the futility of their efforts when even their suicide attempts didn't bear any fruits.

The witches had it the hardest. By the time Azazel was done, the repeated deaths and the horrifying scenes of their guts being healed over and over had almost broken the wills of the witches.

Yes, it was one of the drawbacks of his Balance Breaker. His targets can still feel despair.

With them captured, the following barricades fell down quickly one after another and the 2nd Heaven was also recaptured.

He just hoped things were this easy on the other sides too.

- Sean -

He slammed his spear into the ground as runes lit up in the air in front of him, protecting him and several angels behind him from a barrage of light spears from the Fallen Angels on the other side.

When the barrage ended, the whole place was covered in the bright explosion of the light spears, obstructing the sights of most although it did nothing to his Observation Haki. He picked up his spear and taking a deep breath, threw it towards the Fallen Angel leading the attack on his group.

It went piercing the air and was at the face of the eight winged fallen in less than a second, undetected under the cover of the light explosion.

The Fallen had not expected this attack and as someone who had been in combat for more than hundred times his age, he erected a barrier but….the spear imbued with Armament and Conqueror's Haki was not that easy to stop. It effortlessly ripped through the barrier and pierced the Fallen through its heart.

Even as the Fallen….fell from the skies….the look of disbelief was etched on his face.

Sean raised his hand over his head and the spear reappeared in his hand.

This was his spear, Fur Cor, meaning the Thief of Hearts in Latin.

It was made by the Norse Blacksmiths and enchanted with Nordic Runes by their best enchanters. While not as good as the named mythical weapons, it wasn't far from them either. Especially with the constant nourishment of his Armament Haki, it had gained a black edge, similar to the Black Swords that the Boss talked about, increasing its power even more.

Merlin and Hagoromo Gitsune analysed this and came to a conclusion that continuously nourishing a weapon with his Haki, which was similar to Spiritual Power, awakens some kind of spirit inside the weapon, raising them above normal weapons.

He agreed with this theory as he could feel a bond with this Spear and it felt even better than what he did with the True Longinus to some extent. Then again, it was understandable as that weapon contained the will of the God of the Bible while this one contained his own will….obviously it would match him the best.

It had the ability to return to him from anywhere at his call and get restored even when shattered into pieces as long as he called its name. The runes gave it the power to buff the power of his attack in accordance to the willpower of the wielder. 

"Take them down!" He shouted and the Angels, taking the advantage of the delay in command order of the Fallen, retaliated quickly.

He joined them and dodged the volley of light spears, deflecting some of them with his spear and struck down a Fallen with a thrust of his spear.

Most of them took to the air to avoid him when they sensed they couldn't beat him in a head on fight.

That was of no use though. In all his time, he had learned more than one technique to combat enemies in the air just to avoid the boredom of fighting against enemies who tried to kite him from a distance. Among them, his favourite one was most probably -The Moonwalk.

He was about to stamp his foot on the ground and walk through the air when he sensed something and ducked.

A foot landed on his shoulder as Musashi used him as a platform to jump into the air and slice off one of the Fallen Angels and then using that Fallen as a foothold, jumped towards another.

She blitzed through the sky.

Sean didn't want to be left behind so he stepped up his game too and began taking down the opponents.

As they were doing so, they heard a loud explosion and saw a huge wave of Holy Flames rise from a distance and rush towards a crowd of Grim Reapers on the other side of the battlefield, drowning all of them in the purple flames and wiping them all at once.

In the skies above the wave were two figures, two angels with twelve wings, one pure, one fallen.

Celine was fighting there with her father, Archangel Uriel.

"I was expecting her to snap at the man." He said to Musashi who landed beside him the very next second.

"Celine-sama has a lot of self-control. After what she has been through, her previous grudges with her father were almost normal for her. Moreover, she is under orders and you know how particular she is about following orders."

"Well, I can't argue with that." He nodded.

Celine was almost fanatical when following orders. Ultra focused on her goals, not deviating at all.

As the boss said, 'She's a woman of Focus, Commitment and Sheer Fucking Will.'

"I personally think encountering Akeno has helped her to deal with her own past. They have been very close to each other since the first time they met, so much so that Akeno taught her how to use the Purifying Flames."

"Eh, when did that happen?" He asked.

"When you were in Asgard to train." Musashi answered before turning back and slashing her swords, sending a wave of energy behind him to take down a light spear that was coming towards him as well as the Fallen who attacked.

"I see. Well, they don't look like they need any help on that side. We should clean up here and go and give the boss a hand. He has gone after the big ones after all."

He was about to step towards the Fallen when a huge aura erupted from the Grim Reapers, making him freeze in his place. His head snapped in the direction of the power as did Musashi's.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked, astonished at the sheer power of the aura.

That aura was just that strong.

In intensity, it felt similar to the Boss Lady's power if not a bit higher. It had created tremors throughout the entire Third Heaven.

He had heard from the Boss that the Third Heaven was the largest layer of Heaven with the size similar to that of the Earth and although not completely, this monster was shaking a large part of it with his aura alone.

In the distance, the place where the holy flames had lit up the ground, a violent aura of death erupted soon after and completely annihilated the holy flames, dying the area around it black smoke.

The smoke twisted and formed a gigantic figure in a ragged black cloak formed from clouds of death energy, red flame in place of eyes and a hugged jagged scythe lit with purple black flames, which looked like it would fall down at any moment but still gave Sean chills when looking at it.

A Grim Reaper?

They didn't know of any Grim Reaper of this strength.

At this level of power, he might be close to his master's level. How was such a Grim Reaper unknown?

No.

It had to be something else.

The only reason why Hades still lives in the Underworld is because both Zeus and Poseidon work together to keep him there. Individually, he is stronger than both of them so….if he had such a strong subordinate….there was no way he wouldn't take control of Olympus and still be rotting in the dark place called Hades.

Was this a new experiment?

Too many questions swirled around his mind but he didn't have time to think about all of this. That aura couldn't be allowed to rampage in heaven.

They were just outside the Third Heaven, the place where the souls of the dead resided. These souls were here to rest in peace and didn't even have any means of defence.

If that….thing were to rampage here, it would cause too much damage.

He looked at Musashi and they shared one look, their years of partnership coming to work as they understood each other's thoughts and rushed towards the Grim Reaper.

Meanwhile, he called for backup.

'Emergency. Need Backup.' He said through their link. 'We have encountered a Super Level threat. I repeat, we have encountered a transcendent level threat.'

As they neared the giant Grim Reaper, it raised its death scythe and swung it.

Both Celine and Uriel created hundreds of barriers to stop the attack from affecting the surroundings but as soon as the attack landed, most of them shattered as they barely contained the attack.

The Grim Reaper wasn't done however as it just spun around, further increasing the power behind his next attack.

Sean used all his power and threw his spear at the monster and spun around using the momentum of the throw, preparing for a kick.

Musashi jumped and stepped on his leg as he shot her towards the Reaper for the follow up attack.

The Spear shot forward as if a red meteor and crashed with the scythe of the Grim Reaper as waves of Conqueror's Haki swept across the surroundings. The Spear was knocked back but it had reduced the momentum of the attack and Musashi who was just behind them slashed down using both her swords, finally pushing away the second attack of the Grim Reaper.

Sean watched in astonishment as he summoned back his spear.

Those two attacks would have gravely injured any Satan Class devil and all it had done was push back the monster.

This was going to be a long drawn battle.

"Who are you, soldier of Hades!" Uriel shouted as he fired a wave of holy flames at the monster which the monster casually waved off.

The grim reaper looked at the Archangel and to the surprise of everyone, it answered.

"I am no one's soldier. I am….the Goblin."

- Damien -

I looked around the place as I rushed at my fastest pace towards the Fifth Heaven, the place where Gabriel and Ariel were fighting with Rizevim.

The scenes which flashed past me were….nostalgic. It was almost as if I was continuously in a deja-vu. As if I had already seen everything and knew what was going to happen when I turned the next corner.

Not a surprise though as I had indeed seen some of these places in the memories of Lucifer….but it was different somehow.

I was actually feeling everything.

My heart rate was rising as time went by as I looked around. New memories kept on flashing as I turned each corner. The scenes from Lucifer's life.

This time however I was not closing my eyes….I didn't need to.

I was….almost hallucinating everything.

My mind was filled with these while my body was acting completely on instinct.

Anywhere I passed, silver coloured light spears rained down, sniping any one not a pure angel, taking down an enemy in one shot.

Behind me were Lavy and Michael. Others had stayed behind to help the angels at the lower levels.

As for Michael, he went ahead, teleporting to the Seventh Heaven directly as the person who controlled the System.

The effects were visible too as the power of faith collected in the Heaven's system empowered the pure angels as well as increasing the stability of Heaven so we could fight without restrictions.

I reached the entrance of the Fifth Heaven finally

The level of angels had increased as he went forward.

Most of them in this field were either High Class Angels but there were also over a Eight Winged Angels, who were already fighting.

Still, the battle was in a stalemate.

Perhaps due to the Fallen Angels who were using Ophis' snakes to increase their power.

Even normal fallen angels were buffed up to High Class level and any High Class one was pushed up to Ultimate Class.

They obviously wouldn't have lasted for long but they would have caused utter destruction to Heaven before they were taken down, ensuring that the Heaven's system collapsed and the result from that would have left the entire Heaven and Church devastated.

I was going to fly forward when I noticed a figure down below, surrounded by several others who were defending her.

Ariel?

She had her right arm pierced by a light spear and was stabilising the wound while the rest were holding the attacks from the other side.

I raised the True Longinus and Holy Power roared at my command, drawing the attention of everyone below. I swung the spear, sending a wave of holy power towards the attackers.

Their defence was nothing in front of the attack and they were all knocked out instantly.

I looked at them and saw many faces from my memories. Their eyes were wide, jaws slack as they stared at me.

Without minding them, I descended down.

The whole group separated to make way for me.

At the end of the group, Ariel was gawking at me, her eyes flickering between me, my wings and halo and the True Longinus in my hands.

I looked at her hand once more.

"Asia."

"Yes!" The girl behind me answered quickly.

"Go and heal Ariel." I commanded and turned back.

The girl nodded and stepped forward.

I noticed that some of the angels had broken out of their stupor due to my voice and were looking warily at Asia and were about to step forward to stop her but then something happened which made them all freeze in their tracks.

Asia closed her eyes and joined her hands in prayer and eight pure white wings burst from her back and a golden halo on her head as holy power radiated from her form.

Yes.

Asia Argento was now a pure Angel.

I looked at the angels who looked like their eyes would pop out at any moment at the scene. Most of them were high ranking Angels and they were highly likely to know who Asia was, after all, that was a scandal, wasn't it so to see the former human turn into an angel….

I didn't blame them though.

I was the same when I had discovered this power of mine.

When experimenting to find out what my Lucifer Clan trait was, I encountered Demonification and began to explore it more.

We had many captives from different races, some enemies and some were criminals we had just captured for the bounty to collect funds.

I discovered many astonishing results from these experiments.

Any devil I reincarnated from other races became pure devils unlike the Evil Pieces which only produced a cross between both races if the other race was anything except human although I guess even humans were not changed into pure devils.

They still retained their original racial powers though but it became a part of their new devil physiology….similar to a Clan Trait in other Clans.

It was understandable as Leviathan had been a Sea Serpent and a Dragon before she was turned into a Devil by Lucifer, Asmodeus was an Incubus and Beelzebub was a demon.

Another difference was that any person I changed into Devils had multiple pairs of wings depending on their power. This was true for even the humans I changed.

Then again, this was true for Lilith too who had been reincarnated by Lucifer. She had multiple pairs of wings too.

The real interesting change came when Sean joked about Angels giving away their balls to have the ability to change others into Angels.

It made me pause and think of something and the next thing I knew, I was in my Angel form, True Longinus in my hand and tried to use the Lucifer Demonization Trait….only with Holy Power this time.

And lo and behold, the first angel reincarnated by someone other than Father was born.

Unfortunately, the man I tried it on was a criminal, a serial killer. He was born with a Sacred Gear which made him invisible. The man had used this ability to cause quite a lot of chaos before he was caught by Merlin who had taken Arthur and Meridith out to teach them about real combat. The guy was involved in many kinds of crime so he fell almost instantly after being reincarnated.

I still got a lot of data from the experiment after which I started a completely new series of experiments which concentrated on exploring the effects of Angelification.

What I found out was that creating Pure Angels was much….much harder than creating devils.

For one, the base for creating angels had to be at least neutral.

It was hard, nigh impossible to do so for creatures purely related to the dark like youkai and ayakashi for example.

They were creatures who were born out of the fears and negative emotions of humans in most cases.

This made them a complete apotheosis of Holy Power and thus changing them was extremely hard and almost impossible.

I was not saying it was completely impossible as Father had in fact created angels from the energies of mother but that involved changing a part of their souls and using the holy part as a seal on the other part kinda like the Fallen Angels.

I was not even close to that level yet. Maybe something could be done in the future? But not now.

I could however change a Fallen Angel back to their Pure Angel form although they rarely lasted. In fact, I had offered to do the same to Celine but she had rejected my offer.

She said that she was no longer a part of heaven and so it didn't matter if she wasn't a pure angel anymore. Moreover, she wouldn't be able to take it if she were to be turned back and somehow….fell again.

There was someone who had accepted my offer though.

Akeno was quite eager to get rid of her Fallen Angel part. She wasn't the angsty girl whom we had rescued from the Himejima clan members due to the regular therapy sessions but she still held a grudge against Baraqiel who let her wander around, getting chased.

I didn't blame her either. Baraqiel did fuck up.

The only problem was that I hadn't worked on half fallen and while I knew there might not be any problems, I didn't want to risk it before I had confirmed it completely so she was in line to reincarnate into an Angel.

Finally, after all my research was concluded, I turned Asia into an Angel yesterday.

It was mainly to pull a prank on Michael and give him some hope that not all Angels will go extinct. It would have been a nice thing after Kokabiel's dumbass plan to attack….and Rizevim ruined it all.

The more I thought about it the more annoyed I became.

Asia, on the other hand, kneeled in prayer when she reached the middle of the crowd.

"Balance Breaker."

'Twilight Healing Balance Breaker: Holy Mother's Lullaby.'

A soothing green light spread out from her and covered everyone nearby and their wounds began to disappear one by one. Even poisoned flesh was cured and broken bones attached as the green light seemed to sing to everyone like a mother's lullaby.

I looked at Ariel who was coming towards me, still unsure about everything.

I think Michael had told her about me but hearing is something and seeing is something else completely.

"So it's true. You are…."

I just looked at her, my emotions complicated at the moment.

"Where are the rest?"

Suddenly she seemed to recall the situation and quickly answered. "On the other gate. Both Satanael and Rizevim are there. I don't think Gabriel can hold on for much longer."

"Lavy, let's go. Asia, you stay here and heal everyone." I ordered before looking at Ariel. "Take care of Asia and back us up when you are healed. I will go and lend them a hand."

She nodded and we left quickly.

The scenes here were completely different from the previous level.

Whereas the previous level reminded me of the memories of Lucifer and gave a sense of deja-vu at every turn, this level was like a nightmare.

The actual scene was completely different from the ones in my memory.

In my memories, this place was the Silver City, the place where angels lived. Every corner gave the feeling of peaceful ambience by which even a fool would know this was Heaven and yet….now, in place of those scenes what lay were burned and broken buildings. Bodies of angels and fallen, magicians and grim reapers laid at random corners, tainting the place with the scent of blood and war.

It was painful to watch it.

It was infuriating.

I felt like burning the world with each scene that passed in front of me.

The True Longinus pulsed as if sensing my emotions and its presence worked to soothe my feelings but it was hard to control.

All of this….Satanael and Rizevim.

I will make them pay.

I grit my teeth and increase my speed once more going ahead of others.

And soon enough I came near my destination.

My Observation Haki caught the presence of the ones I was targeting.

Three presences were standing out among all others.

I could recognise Rizevim's presence even in my sleep. It was vile, almost nauseating.

I hadn't encountered Satanael so I didn't know how his presence felt but I was pretty sure that he was the strongest fallen angel I was feeling there.

His own power had the tinge of draconic aura from Ophis like many others.

And finally, the third presence who seemed weakened. It was almost as if it was injured and was weakening but even then, it felt calming like pure water.

Gabriel.

As I reached nearer, I could catch their words through my Haki and what I heard made my blood boil even more.

That bastard Rizevim….he wanted to kill Gabriel….just to see if I would get angry….if it would hurt me….

I didn't think I could get so angry and yet….here I was.

The True Longinus pulsed in my hand once more and as soon as I spotted the bastard….I poured my power into the Spear, throwing it with all my strength.

Rizevim was going to attack Gabriel but he sensed the spear approaching and barely moved back as the spear struck the place he was standing, blowing him away into a nearby building.

I landed in front of Gabriel and pulled out the spear from the ground and looked around me.

What greeted me was utter silence.

Satanael was staring at me, fear and anger evident on his face.

Why the fuck was he angry?

The angels had similar reactions to what Ariel had a while ago.

I looked back and saw that Gabriel had a stab wound on her side so I brought out one of our newly developed healing potions and threw it towards her.

"Drink this. It will heal you." I said.

She looked at me and then at the vial and nodded.

"Who?" I uttered through gritted teeth.

"Huh?"

"Who did that?"

Her eyes widened and for a single moment her eyes went towards Satanael before coming back at me again but she didn't answer.

"I see. Stay back and create a barrier with the others. I will take care of the rest." I said as I walked towards the enemy side.

"Don't! They are far stronger than before."

"It's fine. They might be strong….but I am….the strongest." I replied as my wings spread wide and I slashed my spear to cut an attack which came towards me from the ruins of the building where Rizevim had crashed.

"Uyahahahaha you really are great at giving surprises, father. To think you would fall to this….this level…." The bastard walked out of the rubble, dusting his clothes.

Just at that time, Lavinia landed beside me.

"Lavy, protect Gabriel. If anyone attacks her….kill them." I ordered and gripped the True Longinus tighter.

- Lavinia -

She walked in front of Gabriel and created a barrier to protect her until she was healed.

"Seriously….to think you gave up….and for what? A few words said by your father?" Rizevim shook his head.

Damien was looking at him with a completely blank expression. There was no anger, no pain, no disappointment, no emotions at all in his eyes but after knowing him for so long, Lavinia knew that he was beyond angry right now and as could be seen if one looked at his hand which was holding the True Longinus.

It was bleeding.

He was gripping the spear so hard that his nails dug into his own skin and his blood coated the spear, dripping on the ground from the pointed end.

"I was truly sad when you died, you know? For once, I am not lying. I truly thought that if I killed you that day, I could preserve the image of your ideal self, the image of 'The Devil', in my mind and not that pathetic emotional coward who broke down from a few words of his dying father."

Everyone in Heaven looked at the madman with different expressions. Some were stunned, shell shocked at the revelation while some incensed, so angry that even their wings flickered black several times.

Lavinia understood their feelings, after all, she was feeling the same.

The monster continued. "When you returned from death, I was over the moon. I even planned all this to get you excited, to bring out the devil in you….and you….what did you do….turned into….this….into this….abomination….as if everything you were….everything you stood for….was all a lie…."

A look of sheer hatred enveloped Rizevim's face as he looked at Damien.

….

….

….

….

"You disappoint me, father."

There was pin drop silence in the battlefield as if no one even dared to breathe loudly at the moment.

Finally Damien opened his mouth. "Are you done?" He asked in a low voice, his voice extremely calm.

Rizevim narrowed his eyes. "Yes….I have nothing more to say to you."

Damien nodded. "Good, then die."

Rizevim's eyes widened and he spurted blood from his mouth.

His eyes went down to his chest.

There, poking out from his chest….was the Spear of Destiny.

He looked at Damien and saw his figure fading away as the real figure of Damien appeared behind him, holding the spear which was currently piercing through his heart.

Before he could do anything, the spear was pulled out and the spear was slashed twice, cutting off both his arms and then finally with a spin, Damien cut off his legs, making him crumble to the ground.

The mad man looked at Damien who stood above him, True Longinus in his hand.

"I want to hate you….for all you have done….for people dear to me that you have hurt….Aria, Razevan, Gloria, Gretel, Vienna, Lilith….Father," Damien took a deep breath and continued. "….but I can't….because hating you would mean devoting my time to actively think about you….you Rizevim….are not worth it."

Rizevim snarled, his power rising but before he could do anything, Damien pierced his skull with the True Longinus.

His eyes widened and his energy dispersed and his body followed soon enough as it turned to ashes, blown away by the wind.

And just like that, the first Super Devil of the world, Rizevim Livan Lucifer….died.

Damien turned towards the rest of the attackers. "I will give you all one and only one chance….Surrender….or Perish."

[IMAGE: Lilith]

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Author's Note:

I am back with another chapter of 'The Deal'.

I always say this and I will say it again, writing this story exhausts me.

So, a lot of things happened in this chapter.

We saw some of the things the enemy side had prepared to go up against the entire Heaven.

I know there are a few unexplained things in this chapter like the Angels turning into monsters and the Super Grim Reaper, they will be explained in the next chapter.

Trust me, things will start making sense soon.

As for Rizevim dying….well, it would have been odd if it had been any other way.

Damien didn't want or rather couldn't afford a fight between two Super Devils, one of them wielding a Longinus in the middle of Heaven.

That would have shattered the entire structure of Heaven or whatever was left of it and damaged its foundation beyond repair.

That said, he couldn't allow Rizevim to leave either.

On top of that, he had Observation Haki Future Sight, a weapon which was the very antithesis of anything demonic and an illusion which he had developed since his childhood which could trap the likes of Ajuka Beelzebub.

Combine all this and he would have to be completely stupid to do it in any other way.

Next chapter will be the end of this battle….and some big revelations and I mean some very big revelations.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.