Everything is according to the plan

Time stopped, except for those who were strong, such as Azazel, Michael, Sirzech, Vali, Serafall, and Greyfia, who weren't affected; the others stopped moving and were unable to move, affected by the time-stop power. 

Still, soon, Issei and Rias also inexplicably woke up from their standstill state, and like those who had woken up, they weren't affected by Gasper Vladi, Rias' Bishop, who was also the holder of Forbidden Balor View, the Sacred Gear, which had the ability to stop the time, and also the cause of their current predicament. 

"Wh-What's happening?" 

Nevertheless, after Issei had woken up, he felt confused and wondered what the situation was, especially when he saw many seemed to stand still as if time had stopped for them. 

"Onii-sama... is this...?" Rias quickly realized everything. 

"You two must do your best to help him." 

Sirzech looked at Issei and Rias and quickly talked about their predicament. Currently, they were attacked by a certain group.

Azazel also joined and added information that the reason why he had been collecting Sacred Users was also due to this organization. 

"The reason is due to the Khaos Brigade." 

"Khaos Brigade?" 

"You can say that they are a terrorist organization in the supernatural world. Naturally, when they hear that the three factions will have peace with each other, they will come to attack us as they won't let us do it." 

"Wh-What...?!" Issei was startled. 

"You should have realized our current problem is all due to the Sacred Gear of your Bishop. They must have taken your Bishop and forced him to activate his Sacred Gear." 

"How dare they?! Their actions have warranted a thousand deaths!" 

Rias was enraged when she thought her cute servant was being forcefully used by the terrorist organization. Nevertheless, she was also clueless about what to do as she knew the moment she walked out of this barrier, she would be affected by Gasper's Sacred Gear. 

Watching Rias, who got angry, Michael, Sirzech, and Azazel nodded as everything had gone according to their plan. 

As usual, in this situation, Azazel became the interpreter and explained to everyone what their current situation was and how to escape from this problem. 

"I see! I will use Castling!"

When Rias heard Azazel's explanation, she knew she needed to use the special technique of the Evil Pieces, Castling. It was a technique to switch the position of the king and the rook. 

One of Rias' Rook Pieces happened to be in an old school building in the clubroom of Occult Research Club, and by using that technique, she could save her servant! 

That plan was agreed upon by everyone, but before Rias left, Sirzech told her to bring Issei with her. 

"You need a helper. Bring Issei-kun with you." 

"....." 

Rias hesitated, but in the end, she agreed as her other peerage members were still affected by Gasper's time-stop ability. Yet, if they thought carefully, she would notice much strangeness as to why she and Issei were the only ones who weren't affected by Gasper's time-stop ability even when Sona, Akeno, and the others had a strength that was comparable to her. 

Still, if she looked at her older brother, she would notice his smile as everything had gone according to his plan. He had given up on making his little sister closer to Riser to mend up the relationship between Rias and him. In the end, he decided to put his bet on Issei, believing he could become the enormous umbrella that could protect everyone, a hero, and also an existence that could defeat Riser. 

To be honest, Sirzech knew that he didn't have the confidence to win against Riser. Moreover, if he fought him, no matter what the result was, everyone would favor Riser as Riser was young. Riser's influence was already crazy, and his little tricks were no longer useful, as no one was blind enough to think that Riser was weak and good for nothing. 

In the end, the only way to beat him down, putting Riser into his place, was to defeat him. 

However, Riser's opponent had to be someone his age, and the person he had chosen was Issei, as he knew Issei was the only person who had the potential to defeat Riser. 

As the holder of the Boosted Gear, Issei could become the Red Dragon Emperor. 

The Heavenly Dragon that once rampaged around the world. 

More importantly, Issei was Rias' peerage member, and with his simple, perverted personality, who was just satisfied with a harem, Sirzech was relieved and knew that Issei wouldn't mess up anything. 

'Everything will go according to my plan.' 

Whether it was his heart and actions, everything was for the future of the devil. 

Peace. 

This is what he sought, and he will do whatever he needs to do to get it, yet when he mentioned "peace," his eyes flickered strangely. However, no one paid attention to Sirzech as the culprit of this attack had come out. 

"The magic circle of Leviathan." 

A single woman appeared from the magic circle. She was wearing a dress that was extremely low-cut and had a high slit on it. 

"How do you do, Maou Sirzechs-dono?" 

The woman greeted Sirzech with a fearless tone. 

"The one descended from the blood of the previous Levithan. Katerea Leviathan. What is the meaning of this?" Sirzech asked with a mix of anger and tension. 

"The members of the Old Maou faction have nearly all decided to cooperate with "Khaos Brigade." 

When Katerea Leviathan said those words with a defiant smile, she didn't realize that Sirzech smiled inwardly. Previously, during the Devil Civil War, even if the Old Satan Faction had been defeated, many were still living, hiding, and living like a tumor that slowly spread into the devil. 

Sirzech knew that to achieve peace, he needed to clear up all the Old Maou Faction from the Underworld. 

Hearing Katerea, who had announced that nearly all the Old Maou Faction decided to join the Khaos Brigade, Sirzech knew that he had a reason to kill all of them now. Previously, he was unable to do so since they had given up and joined the new government led by the Great King Faction. 

Zekram Bael also didn't do anything and agreed since, unlike Sirzech, his power wasn't that good. 

To be honest, it was something unthinkable for the existence of the devil to be able to match or even above its progenitor, Lucifer. 

Yet, when God died, many things could happen, and no one could control them. 

It was also the reason why many never thought of Sirzech and Ajuka as devils, as they were like different beings. 

Nevertheless, Sirzech didn't care about their opinion as they were weak. 

What could the weak do in the supernatural world?

Still, as everyone did a question-and-answer session with Katerea answering all of their questions confidently as if she had won, Sirzech wondered whether it was possible to push Riser into the "Khaos Brigade." After all, as long as Riser was labeled as a criminal, he could do something to him. 

While Sirzech might not be confident of defeating Riser alone, what if he came with Ajuka?

As long as the two were together, everything was possible. 

Yet, what Sirzech didn't realize was that his plan had already gone awry from the beginning, especially when he was still in the dark by an existence that was targeting him from behind. 

Vali stood behind Sirzech like it was the most natural thing, and no one paid attention to him as they thought he would follow their plan. However, what they didn't know was that his eyes had been staring at Sirzech's back, right at his heart. He knew that it was possible for him to kill Sirzech and did what he was told, but—

As Vali looked at Sirzech, he wondered whether he should really do what Riser told him.