5 Resignation

Vali waited until they were out of earshot before talking with Archer. He didn't want anything to be accidentally revealed if they stayed near the Gremory group. like his affiliation with a certain group. He didn't need that to be announced anytime soon, or at least until he no longer needed to stay with Azazel.

"Why are you here?" Vali wanted to get to the purpose of his visit. It's better that he knows now than later. When it comes to Archer, finding motives now is preferable to later. It had been a few months since he first met him, and he had sparred with him numerous times.

With all this, Vali came to one conclusion...

Archer wasn't bad, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy messing with people who were left in the dark.

And Vali hated to be the person on the receiving end of Archer's fun.

"Just here to visit an old friend, brat." Archer teased the silver-haired youth, which only annoyed Vali further.

"Why are you really here?" Vali asked again with more force in his tone of voice. He already felt a headache forming just by being around this human.

"Ophis sent me..." Vali waited for Archer to continue his sentence, "she wants the Khaos Brigade to attack the faction leaders." Vali was shocked at the news. For as long as he knew the Ophis, she was unconcerned about the affairs of the other factions.

"Do you think?"

"Yes, those three idiots, along with anyone who is willing to agree with them, demanded Ophis allow them to attack during the peace treaty. And Ophis, being too carefree, actually agreed, but on a side note, she asked me to eliminate them after they finished their attacks, not leave any loose ends." Archer's tone showed a small amount of disdain while discussing about the three.

Vali rubbed his forehead, knowing full well who he was talking about. Idiots were the best way to describe those three.

"Those three don't even hold a candle to the leaders of the current factions," Vali mumbled to himself. He believed that they had a death wish, but it was not his concern. He didn't care for them. In fact, he was annoyed by their beliefs. But they were too prideful. And that pride was going to be their downfall.

"Thanks for the lead, Archer. I guess I will cover your stay in Kuoh for now; that would make us even." He walked up to the white-haired man before slipping some cash into Archer's hand. "Don't cause a ruckus, please." Vali didn't say anything afterwards and walked away from Archer.

Archer couldn't help but grin at this boy—did he really think he was that poor? More money isn't necessarily a bad thing, but he could have traced it as well, but whatever...

******

Serafall Leavathian was a magnificent Maou, a raging demon lord. She possessed tremendous power, was stunningly gorgeous and had loving parents and an adorable sister.

Everything was normal except for the twisted personality she had developed over the years.

Sigh.

Her life isn't easy, especially as a devil; Her life is full of nonsense, and dealing with the old-timers is especially tedious at this stage. Why on earth should she have to listen to them? Is she not the devil? And the devil pays no attention to anyone, especially someone far lesser than herself; she is not Sirzechs, who has peculiar masochistic inclinations.

She had to stop herself from freezing those idiots who referred to themselves as the devil council, those fuckers compelled her to do paperwork, what the hell is the paperwork?

Signing nonsense contracts with other factions on something as insignificant as negotiations and trading?

Why should a demon complete paperwork? And for the record, she isn't an office slave!

She had already resolved to resign from the role of Satan and retire somewhere peaceful.

After all...

She fought enough.

She cried enough.

She killed enough.

Yet it still isn't enough. If it is, she will quit because....

She has had enough.

Just look at her. She is so old that she couldn't even get married at this point. Who will be willing to get married to a monster like her? And even if someone is ready, are they really marrying because they love her or rather only lusting after her and her power?

This peace treaty meeting would be her last appearance as an official Satan; she has already made up her mind, and the devils may cry or die. She didn't care.

She decided to start her life over in Kuoh, after all, she wanted to see what was so special about this place that her sister spoke so highly of it.

It definitely must be something, right?

That's why she decided to go on a small stroll around the city; rather than being dressed in her obnoxious pink magical girl outfit, she was dressed in a casual outfit with a peach-coloured turtleneck and a magenta-coloured skirt. While her usual twin tail was done in high a ponytail, this getup was completely different from her magical girl persona.

While walking down the streets, she couldn't help but smile at looking at these people. Humans are so unique in their own way, completely free and careless, not caring about the dangerous world lurking beneath the shadows.

She walked down the lane for quite a bit before entering a dango shop that was in the way; it was a random thing to do, even by her standards, and more so considering she wasn't even feeling that hungry.

After entering the shop, she found that the shop itself was jam-packed, considering it wasn't even peak time yet, so it must mean the shop is quite popular in this town. And one more interesting point to note is that almost all the customers sitting around were couples; the ages varied, but the fact remained throughout the shop consistently, as much as it amused Serafall.

There was literally no room to sit, but she soon spotted an empty seat. It was a table for two; one was empty, and the other was occupied by a man wearing a black shirt and black trousers, but his most redeeming feature was his white-coloured hair and tanned skin; a very exotic colour for a country like Japan.

"Hey! Is this seat occupied?" she asked the tanned man with her usual cheerful smile.

******

Rias Gremory was tired.

First, there was Hakuryuukou, and then a mysterious man appeared out of nowhere, and for the most part, his identity is unknown. Though Hakuryuukou did vouch for the unknown man called 'Archer,' that doesn't exactly give her peace of mind considering how easily he broke Kiba's most powerful sword.

And it is even more troubling considering the peace treaty is to be conducted this evening. An unknown variable appearing suddenly at such a crucial time only spells trouble.

Trouble, which she didn't know whether she could face or not.

She has already informed her brother of this, and though his response was as clumsy as ever, he did say that he would see up to it. But Rias knew her brother more than anything, and considering the way he responded, he doesn't see any problem with this mystery human and believed he is affiliated with Grigori.

And more so, Sirzechs doesn't believe that a single human could do much against them, especially considering the report she had given: that 'Archer' guy seemed pretty lax in their first encounter, so Sirzechs believed that the human's goal wasn't them, and told her he did take some minor precautionary steps, for the worst case.

But Rias knew that Archer was something big; her instinct told her that. Rias trusted her instinct more than anything; after all, it had led her to many valuable encounters and even life-changing opportunities. And for the time being, she felt it was best to avoid Archer's path; after all, he doesn't appear to be the bad guy; rather, he appears to be just a guy doing his job.

Rias sighed and moved to the couch to relax for a moment, only to hear a knock on the door.

A beautiful bespectacled black-haired girl walked inside the door with an angry, confused, and slightly scared face. Rias did have to say that it was the most expressive expression of Sona in a long time that she had seen.

"Ah! Sona, I didn't quite expect you at this time. What happened? Did Issei again do something to offend the student council?" Rias asked with a strained smile, thinking about her naughty servant and his adventures that would have made Sona angry.

"No, Rias! As much as I want to reprimand you for backing up your perverted pawn for his unethical activities, this time around, I am here for another reason. A much more serious one," Sona said as she slammed a parchment down on the table.

Rias curiously picked up the parchment. It was a notice from the underworld, and it was signed by the four great maou and the devil council themselves. It could only mean one thing: something of extreme importance, and with a straight face, Rias read the notice.

The more she read, the paler her face became and the more her body trembled with shock.

'Maou Serafall Levathain has made the decision to step down from her role as Satan and member of the Devil Council. She has also submitted the official letter necessary to cancel her status as an ultimate class devil, and member of the 72 pillars as well as to officially dismiss her from the New Satan faction.'

"What in the nine circles of hell is this?" Rias yelled as if divine lightning had struck her.

After all, the underworld won't be happy with this kind of news.

At least the certain white-haired man would be happy considering he won't be on the radar of this redhead for now.

~~~END~~~