Side Story 40: The Aftermath

Because of Artoria, Mordred, and Jeanne turned the Astaroth's territory into a holy land teeming with holy energy. The Satans and devil council immediately called upon a meeting.

In a large table, the old coots of the devil council were quiet. Not really knowing what happened. And all of them suffered some kind of burn from the holy energy that was released by Excalibur.

"As you all know, there was an incident last night... A massive pulse of holy energy washed over the underworld. And even if people were inside their homes. Everybody felt the effects of it as nobody was prepared for it." Sirzechs started off the meeting as he was the Satan that controls internal affairs.

He then looked at Ajuka and his green haired friend nodded at him. He showed the attendees of the meeting a bird's eye view of what was left of his clan's land. As he was once an Astaroth.

Ajuka frowned heavily. "This is obviously the ground zero of the attack. The whole territory is just a crater now. And it is teeming with holy energy. Even us can't just go in there without preparations. The Astaroth clan's lands are inhabitable now." Ajuka sighed heavily and looked at Serafall for an explanation. But she was pretty tight lipped.

Their view of the place then zoomed in. They saw something that made every single one of them frown. One Diodora Astaroth was still screaming bloody murder as he got burned to crisp by Jeanne's flames and cross of light.

The heir of the Astaroth clan was crucified and was in the middle of the place where the holy energy is highest. It was like 6th heaven, where the Abrahamic god resided. Any devil would burn to ashes when they even try to get close.

Ajuka tried sending in some investigators, but the nearest they could go was a few kilometers. The mix of Artoria's Excalibur that is a divine construct and Jeanne's La Pucelle is certain death to them.

Everybody then saw words that is burned on his flesh and skin. Making the devils cringe from the brutality. Also wondering how Diodora could stay alive from the unimaginable damage and torture.

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil... That's a Japanese pictorial maxim. But how? The only faction capable of doing this is heaven. And it's a mystery on how they were able to enter the underworld and cause this much damage anyways." Zekram Bael, the oldest devil in the underworld was confused and clueless.

"It is a mystery for sure. The attack that decimated the Astaroth is powerful beyond measure. It would take multiple seraphs to do it. And I don't even believe they could do so in the first place." A sleepy skinhead added with a frown. He is the Satan of the military, Falbium Asmodeus.

"And this has been an attack that singled out Diodora. All the civilians have been evacuated by Ajuka. Can you elaborate more on that?" The other council members got suspicious and Ajuka sighed.

"Serafall gave me a pretty urgent call last night, panicking. She told me to immediately go there and evacuate everyone as fast as I can. And it was a wise choice." Ajuka looked at Serafall and thought she would be forced to tell them who were the perpetrators or how she knew it would happen.

Serafall rolled her eyes at Ajuka and thought it would be inevitable anyways. "I kind of know who did it? Te he~" Serafall put her tongue out and the attendees frowned at her.

"Then tell us!" A council member slammed the table and demanded. Serafall then glared at him, slowly taking off her reign on her powers. About to enter her super devil mode called Cocytus. A mix of the sea serpent of the end and her magic, Celsius cross trigger. Turning into a being of ice that could drown entire countries and freeze everything in an instant.

Roygun who has her arms crossed in front of her also raised a finger. Letting everybody know that she would side with Serafall and use cracking to tear them apart.

"Sera, it was just a slip of the tongue. Isn't that right?" Sirzechs looked at the council member who shouted. He then nodded immediately and Serafall clicked her tongue. Sirzechs gained some brownie points against them too as he saved their lives.

"Anyways, you should just listen and watch the message they left to all of the factions in the world." Serafall showed them a recording.

A video started playing and it showed three blondes that were trying to use a camera. "Hey, Mordred. Is this thing on? I don't know how this works, there's no such thing as cameras in Camelot back in the day. And you are what the people call now as a young'un." Artoria called out to Mordred and she has no clue as well.

"Father, what are you talking about? Of course I don't know how to use it either. Just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean that I can use that technology stuff." Mordred huffed and Jeanne started fiddling with it.

"Didn't Morgan tell us that it would have a light somewhere? Ahhh, I found it! We're live!" Jeanne panicked a bit and the three of them quickly went into position in front of the camera as they posed.

Jeanne planted her flag on the ground while Mordred and Artoria put their swords in front of them. Pointing downwards as Excalibur and Caliburn glowed. Artoria lent the latter to Mordred.

The two royals posed befitting their status as knights and Jeanne gave a pose that suited her status as a general that led the french to victory.

"I am Artoria Pendragon, king of knights." Artoria announced with her regal voice and Excalibur glowed brightly with holy light. Leaking out a golden aura that made the devils shiver. And it was just from a video too.

"Mordred Pendragon, the rightful heir of Britain as I wield Caliburn." Mordred acted elegantly instead of being a Yankee.

"Jeanne d'Arc of France. The saint of Orleans." Jeanne's flag waved with the wind as Ein pointed a leaf blower at it and he gave a thumbs up. Making the saintess blush in embarrassment at his antics.

"And we are the Spanish inquisition, paganos." Artoria announced and Mordred looked at her father. "Is that really the Spanish of heathen, father? Doesn't sound right."

"Shut up, Mordred. We're still recording, why are we even called the Spanish inquisition? I'm french and you two are Brits." Jeanne rolled her eyes and Artoria coughed.

"Ahem, anyways. We are the crusaders of the... Knick Knack Paddy Whack I've Got A Gun. The supreme Pantheon that will conquer this world." Artoria was apprehensive and she blushed madly after saying their new faction's name.

The three went quiet for a second and Jeanne started recounting Diodora's crime. "Diodora Astaroth, a piece of filth that tried kidnapping one of our members. A pious believer as pure as driven snow. Is now an example to anyone who has a thought of opposing us."

"Damned forever without hope of absolution. He will burn in holy fire and experience hell for all of eternity. Such an ironic ending for a devil. And whoever makes a move against us will be next." Artoria squinted her eyes at the camera.

"See no evil." Jeanne stabbed Diodora in the eyes with a cross of holy light.

"Hear no evil." Mordred cut off his ears with Caliburn.

"Speak no evil." Artoria stabbed Excalibur right in his mouth.

"Make a move and you shall be next, heretics." The trio announced as holy aura burned Diodora once again. Making him writhe violently on the cross of light where he was crucified. He then healed up and his endless torture started up once again.

The devils in the meeting were speechless. The three of them basically announced a war against the underworld and taunted every single faction.

The devil council immediately erupted into talks of war. Giving the Satans a hard time to shut them up. As the most influential of them, Serafall. Just watched the chaos with a smirk. Giving endless troubles to Sirzechs, Falbium, and Ajuka.

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Meanwhile, in heaven. Archangel Michael received some pretty troubling news. Some Excalibur fragments from the church got stolen. And that wasn't even the worst part.

Every holy sword in the possession of heaven suddenly floated yesterday and their holy aura rampaged. Causing tons of trouble, the swords tried getting out of their possession which was mysterious.

"Brother Michael, you also got to see this." A female seraph went closer to her brother and showed him the video of Artoria's little group. (pic)

After watching the little clip, Michael frowned a bit. Seeing the swords in it. "Gabriel, did you notice that? The blades they wield... It's Excalibur and Caliburn, but it is way more powerful than ours."

Michael could guess how strong the swords were and it would surely cause an uproar in the church. As well as the angels. Currently, opinions are divided. They all knew that holy swords chose their wielders. And it sure looked like it chose them.

"Sir Michael! Another piece of news! The underworld received an attack! The Astaroth clan's territory got wiped off the face of the underworld!" An angel quickly went inside of Michael's office to deliver the news.

Gabriel and Michael's face soured. They now know why the heir of the Astaroth clan is in that condition. And it wasn't pretty, though the church and heaven won't be under fire from the annihilation of a whole city in the underworld. It will still raise some questions.

The news that the underworld got attacked and a major city was turned into history quickly spread out everywhere. The trio's video immediately went viral in deviltube and every faction received a copy of it as well.

Everybody was both interested and quite terrified of the new faction. They apparently just strolled into the underworld and wiped the metropolis off like a stain with just a few attacks.

The heavy hitters of the other factions can do that too with preparation. But that was the problem, they just suddenly appeared and immediately took matters into their own hands when a supposed offender tried doing something to their comrade.

"This is bad Gabriel. People are not smart, they will try and poke them. And we do not know how strong those people really are. They told everyone they were the crusaders of their new faction. But what about their exterminators and executioners?" Michael had a really bad feeling.

"Brother, should we make contact with them? I think they would be amiable with heaven. They have holy sword wielders amongst their midst." Gabriel suggested and Michael thought about it deeply.

"Give me some time, Gabriel. I think we should send out a message to them for now. They're too volatile, they would destroy a whole clan which is basically Ajuka's territory without fear. And the underworld is not making a move. Just goes to show how dangerous they are." Michael made her wait for now and they would try to establish a connection with them.

Gabriel nodded and thought they were a righteous bunch. Though super violent and decisive. She then showed Michael another flick in how they destroyed the clan territory.

It was a copy that only the leaders of the faction could see. And the both of them were gobsmacked. Jeanne could create a holy sanctuary that encompassed the city.

Mordred didn't use Caliburn, but she still plowed through the defenses of the metropolis like it was a piece of paper.

And Artoria destroyed the whole area, turning it into a smoldering crater with one swing of her sword.

"This confirms it... The one with the flag, Jeanne. Is stronger than us, we cannot make sanctuaries of holy energy like that... And Artoria is probably the real king of Britain, wielding that awe inspiring weapon like second nature." Michael concluded and it would surely be like a bomb in the supernatural world.

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At Grigori, one white haired boy was watching how the trio went with their crusade. Smiling like an idiot, his desire to fight sky high.

"Vali, you should take that grin off your face. You have no idea how fucking dangerous those people are." A dandy man with black hair and golden tips sighed at his foster son. Vali Lucifer, the only descendant of Lucifer left besides another. And Albion's wielder as well, the vanishing dragon. Turned into a sacred gear as Divine Dividing.

"Azazel is right, Vali. Reel in your desire to fight, the one called Mordred. You can still fight, but the ones called Jeanne and Artoria? The former will turn you into charcoal and the latter will wipe you off the face of the earth." Albion's voice sounded out.

"Tch, I totally wasn't thinking of fighting them." Vali clicked his tongue. He then thought about it for a moment and what they said was true. He can't divide their energy and use it as his own. They were monsters that leaks out holy energy like a broken dam. His inside would burn and explode violently with just one divide.

"Hmm, at least you had an epiphany. Listen to me, Vali. Those girls are extremely, extremely dangerous. Especially that blonde bombshell, I received a report that her attack was felt all throughout the underworld. Even Satans received burns from the holy energy she let out. And they were fucking far away from there, so I wouldn't even talk to them if I were you." Azazel forbid him from even going near them.

Their range wasn't small to say the least. And if Vali was in their vision, he was in blasting distance so they could send him back to his ancestor dearest.

"I know, I know... I gotta train I guess." Vali went away and Azazel nodded in satisfaction at his decision.

Meanwhile, back at Kyoto, Amaterasu and Yasaka were looking at Ein with squinted eyes. "Did you seriously attack the underworld!? And it was the area where the Astaroth's were as well! Ajuka Beelzebub is a damned Astaroth before he turned into a Satan you know!" Yasaka shouted out and was feeling a migraine coming.

"Eh, it's not a problem really. You know Serafall and Roygun Belphegor right?" Ein patted her head, soothing her anger and incoming headache. Making her tails sway and ears twitch. But she sobered up and squinted her eyes at him, gesturing him to explain.

"I gave Roygun the powers of Lucifer Morningstar. And Serafall received the sea serpent of the end too. That's two of the super devils in the underworld. Not to mention, I also saved Sirzechs' mother. Three super devils are in debt to me. Debts that they could never repay mind you." Ein shrugged and Amaterasu sighed.

"So you have them on a leash already? Damn... You sure do work fast, you're scary." Amaterasu whistled and thought they were lucky as hell he picked the Shinto pantheon as their base of operations.

"And besides, our faction needs some clout. So we can show them the big guns like Kuku and Arcueid." Ein shrugged and they thought that he was too fond of destruction.

"Wait a minute, where's Surtr-san..." Yasaka knew that his every word has a meaning. Being the Miko of Amaterasu, she digests words differently. And Surtr wasn't added in his earlier statement. Meaning that the flaming giant was already doing something.

She gasped and went wide eyed. "Where is he? Did you send him to the Norse pantheon!? Ein-sama! You can't just kill a mythology like that! An all out war between all the factions will start if we did that!" Yasaka pinched him and started hitting him with her tails out of stress.

"Oohhhh, your tails are so floofy. Hit me more with them, it's like a really soft massage. And don't overreact Yasaka. I'm just letting him have some fun at the Greeks. Nobody likes them, and Surtr will have a happy ass time, burning the underworld there." Ein gave a wide smirk.

The two then shook their heads, thinking that they already have too much clout. Deviltube is exploding right now from their stunt. And all the factions have been paralyzed for a bit due to their grand display. They erased a damned city, so of course everyone would be dumbfounded.

"I give up, do what you want." Yasaka raised her hand and just let her tails be floofed and mofu mofued by Ein. While Amaterasu started watching some anime that Ein and Phyllis produced.

They didn't need that negativity in life. So they just relaxed instead.

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Thanks for reading everyone. Anyways, ciao.