The Devil's Last Hope I
"Hmph... we can discuss that in private" Richter coughed a little, secretly holding a smile. Creating a lot of cute offspring was naturally one of his objectives but it wasn't something to mention right in the middle of a diplomatic meeting.
"Yes, master. We're looking forward to it" A blushing Benneth sat down, having finished her piece. Layla then spoke loudly for everyone to hear, taking over.
"Then what follows is related to the official rating games between the Devils and the Fallen God Faction. The opposition leaders are The Archangel Azrael who is the current Goddess of the Underworld after taking over Hades' authorities. The Primordial Goddess Nyx is the de-facto leader of the faction. Brahma and Vishnu have joined and declared war against the devils. There was also Indra, but due to the master being missing he grew some backbone and tried to challenge us".
"What did you do with him?" Richter lifted up his eyebrow in amusement, he shot a sidelong glance to Annette who started to whistle.
"Annette didn't think he was too funny, so she fought him, defeated him... bisected his head and impaled it for display at the top of Mount Kailash. Morrighan told her to put 'don't mess with the golden dragon' written in gold colours just so the divine factions know to not mess with us" Layla explained herself rather proudly, by the end of the explanation, the shinto faction was sweating profusely.
Even Jie Yuan was looking at Annette as if she was a psychopath, which she was.
"..." Richter didn't say anything, instead his complex gaze focused on Annette, a little frustrating to her considering that she worked so hard to impress him and yet didn't even get a single word.
"You can praise me, master... I won't bite you" She rolled her eyes, crossing her legs and displaying hubris beyond arrogance. She worked hard so it was natural for her master to spoil her, there was no other way around it.
"I will praise you tonight, Annette".
!!!
The girl blushed and nodded, not saying another word. Yasaka's tails were wiggling back and forth, interested yet unable to voice it out. Little did she know she didn't have to voice anything out, her tails were doing the job.
...
"Now, due to the increasing number of gods willing to participate, we've had to increase the number of rating games taking place during the war that is going to happen in seven months from now. Azrael, Nyx, Erebus, Brahma, Goddess Chang'e, Zeus, Loki... a lot of gods are going to be leading a group each to fight against the devils... they don't have enough numbers and so... they decided to have the heirs of the pillars go through intensive training. Sirzechs has been severely injured by Aphrodite and for the following months, he won't be able to participate".
Layla's words didn't contain sadness, if anything Richter perceived vindication.
"Ajuka and Serafall will be leading a group each. Diehauser Belial and Lord Bael shall also lead a group each... another group of devils to join our ranks were the old satan faction. They have their own group which is led by Katarea Leviathan. The leaders of each unit have to be early satan class devils at the very least. There are not enough groups unless the heirs are trained. Everyone is aware of how impossible it is for them to make any remarkable progress for the next seven months, but there is no other choice... all of the underworld's resources are being focused on them and even Hephaestus-sama is crafting weapons for them and their peerages to use. Any treasure that hasn't been plundered by Aphrodite is being used to pay him and for the first time ever the underworld is indebted to the Earth's politicians... they had to take loans of gold in order to pay Hephaestus"
"Hephaestus wants gold...?" Richter inquired to Grayfia who nodded her head in affirmation, a little puzzled as well. After all, what could a god possibly want with gold? It was valuable and worth worshipping indeed, but not for gods in this universe.
"That is what he required as a payment, yes... he didn't specify why, but... he said he'd speak to you directly about it some other time, Richter-sama"
"I see... continue".
"Those heirs are the spectators that I was talking about, master... although we won't be participating in this war, I accepted to at least help train them as hard as they can... if they still don't manage to survive this hurdle, then... there is nothing we can do" Layla continued, she placed her hands on his shoulder as if trying to convey a message.
"Is this your personal desire, Layla?" Richter understood that this was her and the Nephilims acting independently.
"That and also... Millicas. You know my son is quite fond of the Gremories and the Sitris. He told me that he'd be sad with that outcome so... he's also been training together with Rias in his aspect of destruction, he's working hard" She accentuated her last words, running her soft fingers along Richter's chin as if she was talking about 'their' son.
At this stage, Sirzechs was left completely out of the spectrum.
"I told you that you were free to do whatever you wanted with the topic related to this war. I shall keep my word. If you desire to train them, so be it, I won't meddle" Having said those words and therefore ending the topic, Richter's gaze switched towards Amaterasu and Yasaka who were having their tea, "What about you, Amaterasu?"
Just in time, the waitress came with their food. He wasn't surprised to see seafood of all kinds on the plate. Mainly an absolute delicacy, king prawns. Richter resisted the urge to whistle, he was being spoiled this time around.
Yasaka and Amaterasu giggled in amusement when he started digging in, more so when they saw his expression of joy.
"What is this?" Jie Yuan asked, taking one of those 'small' curly things.
"Something tasty, just give it a try".
Jie Yuan did as he said with absolute confidence and gasped at the taste, "It is... nice".
"Right?~ you can have some but if you take more than half, I'll spank you".
"Hmph!"