25 The old equation of power

They covered the sky with their menacing dark armour and dark bat wings. They plunged by their presence the world into an even greater Darkness.

They were beings non-native to this realm unlike Sona, me and our peerages, they were not afraid to show the world their ugly nature, the savagery and the violence resting in their souls.

Watching this spectacle of madness, of darkness, I only felt safe as I was a child who had been sick and finally given the medicine I wished for, that I needed for my survival.

He appeared before me clad in crimson armour matching the colour of our hair. He looked disappointed, he looked angry.

His gaze fell on me and those emotions I had been able to glimpse into him were replaced by love so deep, so raw that looking at it hurt.

He took me into his arms and I fell as the world was beginning again to make some sense, as if the nightmare that had occurred was finally finished. I let myself fall more into his embrace and the comfort he brought me.

"You're late," I whispered in his arms.

One of his hands went to softly ruffle my hair and pat my head. "I'm sorry," he spoke softly. "I wished to come earlier. Troubles in the underworld were the only reason why I didn't immediately destroy the barrier when I learned something was amiss."

I didn't ask about troubles that made him stay longer than he wished in the underworld. I wasn't angry that he came only after everything was relatively handled. I just wished that the comfort, the feeling I had that nothing in the world could touch me, hurt me in this moment would last forever.

Everywhere around us, devils moved. Some flew toward the now desolate city of Kuoh to do only Helel knew what.

Some descended at our side forming a protective barrier around us with their magic and their weapons.

Some came close and I heard them asking and checking the well-being of Sona and the members of our peerages.

I felt a thrum of demonic energy flow from my brother into my flesh, my soul. I didn't fight it because I knew he would never hurt me. "What are you doing?" I asked him softly.

"Making sure you are alright. Rias… you changed," he said as if he was on the verge of crying as if he was a man learning that he had lost both his parents and his children simultaneously.

I didn't know what his spell had shown him but it was clear that I had changed. Kagutsuchi and the cannibalism even if I wasn't sure that it could be called such because we were not of the same species, my essence, the encounter with the night, the jagged horn that I could still feel protruding from my head and felt as if it had grown even more.

"I had to if I wanted to survive if I wanted to be stronger," I told him.

I didn't try to look into his eyes because I knew that they would be sad when the last thing wanted to do was make him feel this way. What was my life now? I now feared making Satan himself sad.

Another devil crossed the erected barrier shielding us away from the world. My gaze went toward him. Physically, he looked handsome, a depiction of masculinity that most humans would try to reach and would never be able to with a well-trimmed beard, deep amber eyes like a lynx and long dark hair that framed his face like an ornament. Looking deeper into his soul, I could see a vast ocean of demonic energy. If I had to class him, the devil before me was probably on the lower end of the Ultimate class and that was a feat in itself for someone clearly not descending from a house of the Ars Goetia.

Low-class devils were on average at least ten times weaker than middle-class devils. Middle-class devils were at least a hundred times weaker than the weakest high-class devils. Ultimate class devils? They were at least a thousand times stronger than high-class devils and high-class devils could fight against minor gods and destroy cities in one movement.

When I thought about it, maybe it was the reason why even though reincarnated devils and commoners devils outnumbered devils coming from noble clans with us not even making 1% of the complete devil population, we still were at the head of devil society at every level, owning literally everything and being feared and revered like gods by the masses.

All devils who came from noble clans on average reached the high-class devil level before our teenage years without us even training.

Some of us were even lucky to be born literally with as much power as a high-class devil. If we weren't naturally strong, we would have most likely been all usurped and butchered but in a world, a society where true power, real power can be wielded, is it surprising that only might make right?

The devil kneeling before my brother wasn't a devil from a noble clan or I would have recognized him. We all kinda knew each other whether we liked it or not. It meant that before me was a devil who fought, who trained, who clawed to reach the strength he had now. J didn't know him but my respect for him immediately shot up.

After everything I went through, after the working of my essence, when it came to demonic energy only, his was almost as big as mine.

"My king," he spoke. "The guards that were posted around the city and connected to the barrier died at the moment the barrier was hijacked. We searched for any remaining enemy or survivor. We found none."

"Rise your head, Alexander," my brother told him. "How stupid could they be to attack? Didn't they know that even if they succeeded here, the consequences would have been too dire for their pantheon?" Sirzechs said even though it felt as if he was thinking out loud more than anything else.

"That can't be true," a voice sounded. "My peerage, I'm sure that they are just badly hurt but that they are alive. You must be wrong."

I fell even more in the arms of Sirzechs. The voice had been the one of Sona. I knew that she had lost the other members of her peerage but had she known herself?

"Your grace," the devil named Alexander spoke. "I am really sorry but we checked more than a dozen times. We were not able to find any alive reincarnated devils but we were able to find…corpses," he said softly and hesitantly in the end as if he feared how Sona would react.

"I want to see them," she said.

"Sona, I don't think that it is a good idea. I don't think you need this now," I heard my brother tell her.

I heard her take a deep breath "I know but I need to be sure of that. I know I'll always regret it, harbour in me doubts if I can't confirm it with my own eyes."

I felt my brother sigh, a sound so weary, so human, so unlike him. "Alexander, do what she asked," I heard him tell the other devil.

I felt a flash of demonic energy like a sign, a code and other devils fell from the sky with what seemed to be wrapped bodies.

Even though I didn't want to, I retreated away from the arms of Sirzechs and moved to the side of Sona to grab her hands in support. The way her grip tightened over my hand showed me that the gesture of support was appreciated. Sometimes, words were better than actions.

They placed them before us on the ground softly with all the possible care of the world as if they were holding fragile glass.

Slowly, they began to unwrap them using demonic energy to do it telekinetically. 'They had been cleaned,' I thought as the corpses of the members of Sona's family were unveiled before us.

The blood had been cleaned up. They looked more respectable, more presentable but even with demonic energy, I could still see with my sight the agony, the despair, the pain inscribed on their faces. Their death had not been painless and the missing body parts didn't help to prove this idea wrong.

I turned to look at Sona. The false mask of calm and bravado she was exhibiting was now gone. I could see pain, raw pain, a familiar pain I hope I would never have to feel again in the future.

I had been beaten before by bullies, family members and thugs hired by my dear old mother in my past life. Those things had hurt and I don't think that I could forget them but they could never compare to the feelings I had when I lost my grandparents.

Physical pain and physical trauma were temporary and could be healed. Emotional and mental trauma, they continued to bleed even after wearing bandaids. The only thing you could do was try to ignore them and forget that they were there to make them bleed less.

I felt her begin to shake, tremble. I realized instants after that she wasn't shaking in anger or rage. She wasn't shaking. Sona was sobbing.

I did the only thing I thought could help, that I could do, I hugged her and it was at this moment that all of her weight pushed against me as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

I felt comforting arms close themselves around us, cradling us in their embrace and I realized that Sirzechs had hugged the both of us.

Sona and I were close because our families were linked together, similar and closed at too many levels. I wasn't exaggerating when I thought of her as my sister in all but blood even though we were technically cousins with the fact that we all descended from Lilith and Lucifer.

Serafall had been there all my life and even though I wasn't as close to the Leviathan as I was with my brother, I could not forget that Serafll had literally been in this life seen by the original me as the funt aunt/ cousin that each time you saw her spoiled you rotten.

It had been the same with Sirzechs and Sona. We were family in all but the name. This is why Sona dove deeper into his comforting embrace like a starving man in the desert having found the Ambrosia.

"My sister, why isn't she there?" I heard her whisper.

"You are one of the things if not the thing that matters more than anything for your sister Sona. She was incensed when she learned what was happening here Sona and her anger wasn't something she wanted to inflict on you. She went to the Shinto Pantheon alone to make sure that nothing like this would ever happen again," my brother said to her.

"I still wish Sera was here," she whispered before closing her eyes. I lifted my head, my gaze locking in with the one of my brother.

"Can we leave?" I begged him. Each moment here reminded me of what I had lost, of what I failed to do, of what I could have failed to do.

A mirthless smile bloomed on his face. "You are right. Maybe it is time to leave."

As if words were a signal, the devil around us moved in another formation covering both our sides in straight lines. Alexander moved, summoning a magic circle that grew in size and changed taking the appearance of a door.

I left the comfort of Sirzechs' arms but grabbed and intertwined my finger with his. Sona was held still in his left arm like an inanimate doll. The only sign she was still alive was the fact that I could still see with my sight her demonic energy running through her veins.

The devils moved surrounding the injured members of Sona's peerage and mine with energy bubbles made of demonic energy. Those who could still move came behind me.

I nodded at Sirzechs and together, we left Kuoh, my second escape, my second home behind.

scene*

Things would never change. Serafall had learned it earlier. Love wasn't enough. Hope was not enough. Strength was the only thing that mattered. Power was the supreme constant.

Cladding herself in pink, playing the upbeat magical girl and trying to act as positive as possible didn't change the fact that Serafall was an Archdevil, a devil capable of rivalling with a demon in strength, foulness and darkness.

Love had not been enough or she would have not lost the one she loved to the Lucifuge Bitch! She had given everything to him! She had bled, fought for him! She had loved with all her heart! She still did and he chose Grayfia, fell in love with her at first sight and worse, even married her!

How she regretted not having killed the tramp when she had dared challenge for the title of Leviathan. Even with Sirzechs intervening, she would have been able to kill Grayfia, erase her soul, erase her essence so that she would never continue by her mere existence to be a curse on Serafall.

Maybe if love was enough, she would have not lost her child. Maybe if love was enough, all of her dreams would have come true. Was it truly wrong of her to be loved in return? Why was she the only one that always gave and gave? Why didn't he care as much as she did?!

The birth of Sona was something that had been unwelcome at first. She hadn't cared about her at first when she was born. Her parents who should have been on her side backed Sirzechs when he chose to marry Grayfia.

They said that they made him pay for this and made sure that there would be consequences even Midas would baulk at but she hadn't cared about territories, about wealth! She had cared about the fact that the one she loved chose someone else!

Sona even though she had hated her always came toward her. She wasn't proud of it but she did hurt Sona. All of her frustration, anger, and hatred, Sona who had not been older than two years old had been the receptacle of all of it.

Even then, when she almost died, when Sona had seen the tears of anger and frustration in her eyes, she had been worried and had tried to wipe them away even though Serafall was trying to kill her with her frost.

Sona had been the only love to love her unconditionally even though Serafall pushed her away.

Sona had become her treasure. It was fine if the world was disappointing. It was fine if the world was merciless. As long as she had Sona, everything would be alright. As long as she had Sona, it wouldn't hurt as much that she lost her child and that the man she loved didn't love her back.

Sona, she almost lost her Sona. She almost lost her little sister because of deities with too much self-importance.

She sang not knowing where the lyrics were coming from but finding them fitting even though ironic

"Thy air inspired God to make the breeze

Thy lips inspired God to make a Man

And from his rib an angel born as Eve

Formed into flesh and promised him her hand~"

She continued to walk through Takagamahara or what remained of it. If only they all knew how accurate it was for her to be called Leviathan.

With each step, her cold propagated and froze everything over. Sorceries, curses, divine weapons, magic, Touki and Senjustu-infused punches were sent at her by the divine denizens of Takagamahara. All of it froze and died, life, potential sucked out of all of them.

The gods followed after. The dumbest of them who attacked her were the first to perish, her ice freezing their insides and outside both at a metaphysical and physical level, their energy, their life force absorbed by her and her spell.

The cowardly ones who were the smartest of all of them tried to flee but could you escape Death itself? how could you escape the inevitable?

How could they escape when concepts like time and space were rendered null by her presence?

Takagamara, a vision of gold and diamonds, of extravagance had been turned into a world of frost, ice and snow.

The palace of Amaterasu had fallen from its place and the moon of Tsukuyomi had been rendered cold under her touch. She didn't care about the possible consequences for the people of Japan. Sona had almost died and this was because of their gods. They deserved everything wrong that would happen to them.

"Cause

Thy air inspired God to make the breeze

Thy lips inspired God to make a Man

And from his rib an angel born as Eve

Formed into flesh and promised him her hand~"

She sang softly. She wondered if she could include the song in one of the future episodes of her magical girl TV show. She probably would not be able to do so.

They would soon enter into war with the Heavens. The war itself against Heaven didn't scare her. If the Abrahamic god was still there, she maybe would have been but she knew that the throne of heaven was empty. Michael had been depowered by the curse of Lilith to the point that with Falbium's help, she thinks that the both of them would have enough chance to win against the prince of the Heavenly host.

Gabriel was the only real threat in Heaven but it was a threat that they could win against because they had beings on their side that broke the scale of strength, the scale of the possible. They had Ajuka and Sirzechs.

What really worried them was other factions trying to strike at them when they were weakened. They had been right to think so. The attack on Kuoh was proof of this. She needed to make sure that they would not forget the fact that if they crossed the devil faction, they would lose their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Her show due to its reach and nature would surely be used for propaganda but including the song even though it was beautiful would not be a good idea. They needed people angry, and motivated, not melancholic and sad.

A hand grabbed her ankle before breaking due to the cold. That was impressive in itself. Serafall turned toward the still-living god that had been strong enough to touch her even if it was just an instant and her presence was accelerating the deity's demise.

She recognized the deity. How could she not when she was the Satan in charge of foreign affairs?

Her flames were trying to burn away the ice of Serafall but instead of doing so, they seemed to only make her agonize longer. Her eyes were full of despair like an animal knowing it was its end yet fighting tooth and nail to remain alive. Most of her skin had already necrosed. Serafall was sure that the damage was even greater inside the body of the goddess and metaphysically.

"Amaterasu," she greeted politely. That was all she could give and offer to the dying goddess. The goddess had earned it by surviving this long.

"It wasn't our fault!" she tried to scream at Serafal but was only able to cough painfully. "I told them to not do it!"

"It doesn't matter. Because of a Shinto God, I almost lost her. If we don't react, we are seen as weak and we can't be seen this way right now," Serafall told her softly.

In a fit of strength, Amaterasu was able to continue to talk "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I'll become your servant if I have to but please let me live! I'll tell you everything I know about the Hindu Pantheon! I'll help subjugate every Japanese being! Please!" the goddess begged.

Serafall raised one of her feet over the head of the begging goddess "Goodbye Amaterasu," she said before crushing with one of her talons the head of the goddess.

Strength was the only that mattered in this world. Hope was not enough. Love would never be enough and Serafall had accepted it long ago.