For several seconds there was only silence within the hall as everyone took in one simple undeniable fact, Alex was back.
Though he had almost no actual political presence or power, Alex himself was almost like a force of nature that disrupted everything in his path, leaving those around him only the choices of going along with him, or getting caught up in his path. Now, the only questions on people's minds regarding his return was 'how powerful had he become', and 'what was he going to do next?'
With no one answering his previous question, Alex's brow twitched in annoyance as he then used Spatial magic to instantly teleport Ajuka to his side, a feat that surprised the Maou until Alex then remarked,
"You look like hell Ajuka...let me fix that real quick." With another snap of his fingers, Ajuka's appearance, which had become gaunt and unhealthy looking from all the stress he was under, was quickly reverted back to the healthy way he looked when Alex saw him last, stunning him even further. Before he could say his thanks though, Alex cut him off by ordering,
"Now, explain to me what has been going on while I was gone." For a moment Ajuka didn't say anything as he looked Alex over in awe, feeling like the man before was a completely different person from the Alex that disappeared more than two years ago. Though he wanted to ask where they'd been and what they were doing, Ajuka decided to focus on the more immediate concern and explained,
"Ever since you disappeared those who were involved with the corruption of the Underworld have been trying to regain their lost authority by any means necessary. Before, they had been nothing but a mild annoyance, but after you disappeared they started taking more radical steps." Ajuka then explained some of the methods that Katerea's supporters used to regain their authority, ranging from things such as simple slander and bribery, to even blackmail and hostage taking.
This was the biggest reason for Ajuka's lack of taking action, as if he did then he risked another civil war and the lives of everyone they had taken hostage, even those of the civilians. Katerea and her supporters cared nothing for 'inferior' beings that were the low and middle class Devils. As such, the only real options Ajuka had were to either go against them anyways regardless of the casualties, or try to wait things out until Alex and the others returned. At least, that had been the case until Zeoticus and Venelana were arrested.
As Alex listened to Ajuka's story, he couldn't help feeling both irritated and responsible for the current situation. He was irritated at Ajuka for allowing things to get this bad, but he also knew it was mostly his own fault for disappearing the way he had when Ajuka's plans were centered on him and the rest of the younger generation Devils.
While there were talking though, Katerea and the Devils that supported her were nervously sweating, as now the very person they never wanted to see again had returned with the most promising youth the underworld had ever seen, excluding Super Devils like Ajuka and Sirzechs of course.
Katerea in particular felt an annoying itch in her guts, where Alex had once stabbed her with the holy sword Ascalon, with the only reason she even survived the holy wound being her powerful bloodline. As the sensation of fear filled her body though, it was quickly replaced with anger as she thought to herself,
'How dare this filthy dragon try to intimidate me!' With all her fear evaporating on the spot due to her arrogance(and stupidity), Katerea then declared,
"How kind of the Dragon Emperor to show himself here, so that we may immediately arrest him for his numerous crimes!" With her voice booming through the hall once more, and many of of guards under the control of the Ultimate class Devils that freed her surrounding him, Alex turned towards her with bored and slightly annoyed expression as he said,
"I don't recall giving a criminal like you permission to speak, so hold your tongue before I remove it." Then, without any other shifts in Alex's expression, every single one of the guards that had surrounded him dropped to the ground unconscious, their mouths foaming while only the whites of their eyes showing.
Though she momentarily paused at the display, Katerea haughtily continued,
"Obviously your information is out of date. My release and pardon were granted by-"
"Maou Beelzebub?" Alex cut her off suddenly, making Katerea look at him in confusion and ask, "What?"
Rolling his eyes at her, Alex then looked at Ajuka and asked,
"Maou Beelzebub, did you authorize her release?" Without any hesitation whatsoever, Ajuka answered,
"No, I did not. Her release came about from the rouge faction of High and Ultimate class Devils." Turning back towards Katerea, Alex then said loudly and clearly,
"Katerea Leviathan, your so-called 'release' was not authorized by the highest level of authority in the Underworld, which is Maou Beelzebub. Instead it was perpetrated by a rouge faction of Devils who's authority was stripped from them due to their corruption. As such, your criminality status has only increased since you've now not only attempted to murder the leaders of the three factions while committing other terroristic actions, but now you've unlawfully escaped from your containment."
When he finished speaking Katerea looked as if she had been slapped across the face, while many of the Devils that supported her began to raise an uproar. With a look at the girls behind him though, Kuroka quickly laid out a spell that forcefully silenced all of them, even as their mouths continued to open and close without making any sound.
With the hall quieting down once more, Alex looked at Katerea and said clearly,
"Not only will Katerea be punished for unlawfully escaping prison, but those who helped her escape with similarly face punishment as well as for their actions against their liege, Maou Beelzebub." Though Ajuka looked momentarily concerned due to the threat that Katerea and her supporters posed to general populations, he never got the chance to voice them as Katerea then smirked,
"And how exactly do you plan to impose such a ruling?" Suddenly there was a flash of demonic light as half a dozen of the Ultimate class Devils supporting Katerea teleported around Alex, before they then began to activate some kind of spell.
"This pattern...a sealing array?!" Ajuka uttered in shock before he began to use his own special magic, 'Kankara Formula', to hijack the attempt to seal Alex. Katerea however sneered at him,
"Surprised Ajuka? They've been working on this formula for years since the sealing of Trihexia! We even prepared a few upgrades to the original version!" Though he didn't pay attention to her at first, Ajuka frowned slightly when he noticed that the sealing formula that the Ultimate class Devils were using was constantly and rapidly shifting, as if to prevent his magic specifically from analyzing it.
His specially developed magic, 'Kankara Formula', was a type of magic that allowed him to control any and all phenomenon around him as long as he could analyze it, but the magic circles around them at the moment were more complicated to analyze than he expected, showing just how must Katerea's supporters prepared for this moment. The object of their attack though, Alex, simply smirked as if he found their attempts to seal him humorous while he then said to Ajuka,
"Don't bother, I'm kinda curious what their best effort to deal with me is." Then, before the Maou could look at him in surprise, Alex use Spatial magic to send him back to his original seat while he patiently waited for the Ultimate class Devils to finish their attempt to seal him, his entire entourage similarly seeming amused by their actions.
Seeing this, Katerea couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right. The sealing formation they were using was based off of the one used on the most powerful being in existence aside from Ophis or Great Red, Trihexia, except that several altercations had been made to make it even stronger specifically for Alex. Yet he and those with him, who all should've known enough about the technique to see what it was, were acting as if it was humorous.
Neither she nor Ajuka had any time to worry about why this was the case though, as a second later Alex was enveloped within a bright flash of demonic light, before he suddenly found himself someplace different altogether.
Alex looked around the six foot by six foot cement room he was now in, which was completely bare without even a seam between the floor or walls.
"They didn't do a half bad job on this." He casually remarked as he took in his prepared jail cell, which was a sealed room created within the Dimensional Gap.
Ddraig said with humor in his voice, while even Lauren chuckled lightly in the back of Alex's mind. The Skeleton Key not withstanding, the current Alex had so many ways to leave this trap, that the biggest issue was trying to figure out which one to use.
Eventually Alex recalled a particular scene from Dragon Ball of how Gotenks and Piccolo escaped from a similar situation, and a wide smile spread on his lips.
"Saiyan rule number one..." He muttered as his figure grew and red fur started to cover his body.
"When in doubt, shout it out!"
...
While Alex was busy in his prison, the hall that everyone else was still erupted with laughter as Katerea howled from how well their plan worked.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TALK ABOUT ARROGANCE!" She screeched victoriously while several of her supporters chuckled along with her, and everyone stared at her blankly. While she and the others had been momentarily worried with how casually Alex had been acting, the fact that he was now sealed told them that his attitude had been purely his own overestimation of his own abilities.
Only a few were still cautious as they watched the reactions of Rias and all of those behind her, who were all still acting as if there was nothing to worry about. Instead, their expressions were saying that they found this situation fairly humorous, something that confused everyone around them.
"Now then!" Katerea began after she had her fill of mocking Alex. "How shall we deal with the rest of these little traitors?" She cackled gleefully, as she imagined all of the ways that she'll torture and humiliate those who had aligned themselves with Alex and Ajuka.
Naturally all of the women would be used as sex toys, both for the humiliation it would bring them as well as so that they could be bred to continue on their high class devil genes. The men however would be tortured extensively, before finally being executed in the most horrendous ways possible.
Her daydreaming was then interrupted as Shias voice suddenly filled the hall.
"I know you guys said they were arrogant and stupid, but I never expected it was this bad..." With everyone turning to look at Shia, and wondering who the hell she was, Katerea demanded,
"What did you call me you filthy animal?"
Rolling her eyes at Katerea, Shia then stepped forward and said loudly,
"I said that you were stupid and arrogant, should I have added a few others in as well though?" With Shia once again blatantly insulting her, Katerea snarled,
"I don't know who you think you are, but I'll have you tortured in the most horrendous ways imaginable for talking to me like that, starting with those ludicrous ears of yours! TAKE HER!" At her command more Ultimate class Devils started to move towards Shia menacingly, prompting her to take out her massive hammer as she sung it around threateningly.
Though surprised at first at the sudden appearance of Shia's hammer, the Ultimate class Devils still prepared to attack until a new a voice calmly said,
"Let me take care of this one Shia." As one, everyone turned to look at the new speaker, none other than the infamous 'Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation', Grayfia.
The moment Katerea laid eyes on Grayfia the most intense wave of killing intent yet filled the hall, as she recalled how Grayfia betrayed the Old Maou Faction for Sirzechs, which helped cost them the war against those worthless 'fakes'. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she had also been one of the two women to compete to become the next Leviathan against Serafall.
"The nerve on to appear before me, traitor! Or do you prefer whore?" Following Katerea's words, numerous supporters of hers began to call Grayfia a variety of names regarding her past as a defector from the Old Maou Faction, or how she had almost immediately clung to Alex after Sirzechs left, which she had only done because of the corner they had forced her into.
Rather than taking offense to the barrage of slurs she was receiving though, Grayfia only smirked before remarking,
"If that all the 'great' Katerea leviathan and her faction are capable of, then it appears as if we arrived grossly over prepared." In an instant all of the slander and name calling stopped, as Katerea started turning completely red in fury before sneering,
"You're nothing more than another worthless fake, and a servant who's ambition outweighs their capabilities!" To punctuate her declaration, Katerea then began to exert a massive amount of demonic energy along with the majority of the Ultimate class Devils behind, all to pressure Grayfia and show her the difference in their status. After all, while Grayfia was exceptionally powerful, against so many High and Ultimate class Devils she would of course be overwhelmed since she was no Super Devil...
Feeling all of their collective energies bearing down onto her, Grayfia only smirked once more, and asked,
"Is that so?"
What she did next stunned and terrified every single one of the beings, including divine, gathered in the hall as the demonic power radiating off of Grayfia's body began to increase at an alarming rate, while the whites of her eyes began to turn pitch black. Her skin began to gain a silvery metallic sheen while a foot long horn grew from the center of her forehead, and five sets of pitch black wings spread from her back that were comprised solely of demonic power.
When her transformation was complete, all of the Devils before trembled in fear as a certain realization washed over them, Grayfia had somehow become a Super Devil.
Normally this would be a good thing, as it meant that it would be possible to turn all Devils into Super Devils, but the fact that they were now against her automatically erased any positives in the current situation. Grayfia meanwhile directed a fierce glare toward Katerea and her supporters, and growled in her demonically distorted voice,
"You threatened to take my son away from me, ruined any real hope I had for happiness or peace in the Underworld, tried to execute my father-in-law, and then humiliated the woman I respected more than anyone else." As she spoke thousands of magic circles formed around Grayfia as she prepared enough attacks to level an entire continent without any discernible effort, before concluding,
"I am fed up with it!"
At that moment the power Grayfia radiated easily dwarfed all of the hundred or so High and Ultimate class Devils before her, making them all realize that there was no chance of victory against her as she stared them down. Katerea meanwhile had collapsed backwards out of sheer terror, while a puddle of piss spread under her from her bladder emptying itself.
Just when the tension in the hall had reached an all time high, something else began to happen that left everyone that hadn't arrived with Alex speechless.
"..."
Gradually, the space itself around them began to vibrate with an increasing intensity as an incredibly powerful aura began to to bear down on everybody.
"What is this?!" Ajuka demanded in both awe and exasperation, while also wondering if this was a side effect of Grayfia's transformation. However, the woman herself looked similarly exasperated as she muttered,
"Of course he shows back up now..." She then canceled the thousands of magic attacks she had prepared, as well as her transformation as she returned to her previous place. While her action confused many of those around her, they didn't have time to think about it as the spatial vibrations around them intensified until the point where it felt as they were experiencing a spatial earthquake.
They continued to intensify until the space around them began to fracture, cracks spreading around them like a fractured window as some kind of muffled noise met their ears. Just as some people began to panic from the phenomenon though, a hole was blasted through space itself before a hulking figure appeared, covered in red fur with a wild mane of pitch black hair.
"...Alex...?" Ajuka muttered when he saw Alex's current appearance, which was unlike any of the forms he had seen before. Alex smirked at his, and everyone else's, reaction, and said,
"Yep, this is the most recent transformation that I acquired by mastering my golden ape form. Along with multiplying base my energy by several hundred times, it also drastically multiplies my physical strength." As he explained his new form, Alex returned to his previous seat upon his throne, which had appeared to be a bit large beforehand, but was now the perfect size for his enlarged figure.
He then looked out over the hundred or so Devils behind Katerea, and began,
"Now then, as I was saying before, Katerea and those who helped her escape from prison will be punished. Now however their sentencing will be decided and carried out immediately." His voice booming across the hall, no one questioned or argued against Alex's declaration since the actions of Katerea and her supporters made it abundantly clear that something needed to be done, plus this was also a good chance to see what Alex himself was capable of.
Before that happened though, the tense mood in the hall was mostly ruined when Shia approached Alex with a less than amused expression as she asked,
"Hey, why'd you take so long? Did you decide to just play around while we did the fighting or something?" Rather than be annoyed at Shias question, Alex adopted a smug expression as he simply recited,
"Rule number one in the Saiyan handbook, 'when in doubt, shout it out'. Or in this case, it would be more accurate to say 'shout your way out'." Though Shia was going to make a remark regarding Alex's method to escape a trap, Sun Wukong this time interjected,
"You mean you escaped from such a powerful sealing formation, just by shouting?" Turning towards his old teacher, Alex adopted a respectful expression and tone for the first time since his arrival and answered,
"Yes, it's something I've actually wanted to try for a while now. also, it's good to see you again teacher Wukong." With Shia and those who only joined him after Alex left the DXD world looking at Sun Wukong curiously, as Alex very rarely actually spoke respectfully to someone, the man himself looked towards Katerea and her supporters before continuing,
"As I was saying, Katerea will receive a different punishment as she is one of two remaining descendants of the house Leviathan. For the rest of you however, for the crimes of conspiring against your Maou, releasing high security prisoners, falsely arresting the Duke Gremory and his wife, and humiliating her while trying to murder him, I sentence you to immediate execution." The moment the word 'execution' left Alex's lips, the Devils in question tried to raise an uproar as they tried to protest his ruling, but were immediately silenced as Alex raised his hand.
All that filled the hall then was sound of over a hundred people choking as the Devils were slowly raised up from their positions, their hands at their throats as if they were being choked. Meanwhile Alex's hand was positioned as if he was choking someone, making it obvious to everyone that he was somehow choking over a hundred Ultimate and High class Devils at once, while also apparently preventing them from using magic after a few failed to send spells his way.
For several minutes nothing could be heard except the suffocating choking sounds coming from the Devils, as everyone else around Alex watched in awe as he effortlessly killed so many powerhouses at once. It was only when the last one stopped twitching completely, that Alex flicked his wrist and the hall was filled with the sounds of over a hundred necks snapping for good measure.
Letting their bodies fall to the ground, Alex then produced a plain looking glass jar before pulling the cork from it. Waving the bottle in the air, eerie purple light began to rise from the bodies of the Ultimate and High class Devils before flying into the bottle, filling it with the same eerie light before Alex placed the cork back into it.
He then looked back at the beautiful Mirajane, and tossed the bottle to her while saying,
"I made this for you not too long ago, to store demonic souls to devour later at a more convenient time." Mirajane looked at the bottle briefly in surprise, before giving Alex one of her characteristically warm smiles and saying,
"Thank you Alex." Judging by her attitude, bearing, and dress, one would never think that Mirajane had just received a bottle filled with over a hundred High and Ultimate class devil souls to devour, a fact that made many of those around them look at her in terror.
Neither one paid any of them any attention though, as Mirajane pocketed the bottle to consume the souls later and Alex turned to look down upon the only person left before him, Katerea leviathan. Glaring down at her, recalling the things she did to Venelana no Zeoticus, Alex barked a single word to the woman who was still shuddering in fear,
"Strip."
"Wha....?" She uttered, looking up at Alex in confusion, before he ordered once again in a firm voice,
"Strip. Completely naked." Katerea's eyes widened in surprise before she glanced around to see no one standing up for her, defending her from whatever Alex had in mind.
While a large part of her wanted to refuse Alex's order, to spit in in his face and spout any number of profanities at him, her hands were automatically moving to undo her clothing as quickly as possible. This wasn't the result of Alex using some kind of control or technique on her, but simply from the fear he and Grayfia had ingrained into her as a result of their respective transformations.
Not even Sirzechs or Ajuka had demonstrated the amount of power Grayfia showed off after she had transformed, while Alex had easily broken his way out of one of the most complex and powerful sealing formations set up in the history of the races, just by shouting. As such, her body moved in autopilot as she instinctively did what Alex ordered.
Quickly Katerea stripped off each of her outer layers of clothing, until she was left in nothing but a black lace bra and matching thong. As per the DXD world standards when it came to women's breasts, Katerea's were also excessively large in comparison to the women who came from other worlds, making them click their tongues as she removed her bra, and allowed them to bounce free.
As could be expected there was more than a few wolf whistles when her breasts were exposed, making Katerea's cheeks turn red as more shame than she ever felt filled her. This helped her 'come back to her senses' a little bit, but, as she raised her arms to cover her breasts, Alex barked out,
"I didn't say you could cover yourself! But I did say 'completely naked'." Naturally, Katerea jumped as Alex barked at her, giving her exposed breasts a slight jiggle as her arms moved back downwards.
She then gritted her teeth before looking down at the last piece of clothing she was wearing, her urine soaked thong. Taking a deep breath, she then slipped her thumbs under the bands at the side and moved the cloth down her legs, prompting another round of cat calling as her neatly trimmed pussy came into view.
Alex however remained expressionless throughout the entire ordeal, and when Katerea finally removed the last piece of fabric, he commanded,
"Now crawl to me on your hands and feet, kiss my feet, and beg for mercy." Though her face momentarily twisted as she was about to tell him to fuck off, Katerea recoiled as Alex applied a tiny bit more pressure to her, sending her down to her knees so that she was already part way there.
Then, slowly but surely, everyone watched as Katerea leaned over to put her hands on the floor in front of her, resulting in her sticking her butt out in the process, before she began to crawl towards Alex at a snails pace. Alex however didn't tell her to hurry up, as the longer she took, the longer her humiliation would last.
Normally Alex wouldn't resort to public humiliation to punish a woman, as even the Pandora who rebelled were isolated in the space-time orb, so the only ones who reveled in their shame and nakedness were those they had once tortured. This time however he had made an exception, due to Katerea's own useless sense of pride, and mostly because of what she did to Venelana.
That was why Alex made no attempt to make her speed up her crawling towards him, nor to quell the numerous wolf whistles and cat calls that the gathered gods sent her way, humiliating Katerea even more. Any time she thought about teaching them a lesson though, a single glance at Alex was enough to douse such thoughts for the moment.
Eventually she reached the base of the stars leading to Alex's great throne, and began to climb them until her face was level with Alex's feet. Pausing before the bare appendages, which were now had a patch of red fur on their tops, Katerea momentarily tried thinking of a way to escape having to kiss them when Alex's voice sounded from above her,
"Well? I'm waiting." Wanting nothing more than to kick him off his throne to take it for herself, Katerea was tempted to use the the short distance to attack before he could react.
She was just about to summon a power blast of magic in her right hand to strike him from point blank, when Alex's left foot suddenly came down on her hand before it could even twitch.
CRACK!
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Katerea screamed in pain as he mercilessly shattered every bone in her hand with his foot, before snorting and saying in boredom,
"Did you really think that such a pathetic attempt would work on me Katerea? I saw your attack coming before you even considered doing it." Rubbing his foot onto her hand a little bit more to get his point across, Alex then lifted it before placing it back with his other foot right in front of her face for her to kiss.
Though she remained in place for a couple minutes whimpering from the pain Alex inflicted upon her, Katerea eventually bent down further to place her shaking lips upon the top of his right foot, before doing the same with the left. She then said in a shuddering voice through her sobs,
"P-please grant me mercy..." With her small voice echoing throughout the hall, Alex was silent for a moment as he adopted a contemplative look, before turning to someone and asking,
"What do you think Venelana? As one of the primary victims of her actions." As he called out to her, Venelana stepped forward proud and tall, as she looked down at Katerea in contempt.
As Alex said, she could be considered the one who suffered the most from Katerea's actions, as with a bit of healing Zeoticus would be good as new, however her image was irrevocably ruined. So, for a moment, she allowed herself to picture any number of outcomes for Katerea, from a quick and clean execution, to having her tied up outside and left as she currently was for 'public use'.
These thoughts only filled her mind for a second though, before she said to Alex,
"Do with her as you will, she's not worth my time." Venelana then turned back and rejoined her husband, who put a comforting arm around her shoulders as he held her close.
Alex however turned back towards Katerea, and declared in a stern voice,
"Very well. As I mentioned previously, as one of two remaining members of the clan leviathan, it would be a waste to simply execute you here and now." For a brief moment relief filled Katerea as the thought that Alex would spare her appeared in her mind, but it was quickly extinguished as he continued,
"However you still deserve to be punished. As such, from this moment forth you will be branded a slave, and forced to labor for others for the rest of your life." Punctuating his decree, Alex immediately knelt down and placed his slave mark upon Katerea's shoulder blade, marking her as his slave before saying,
"Now stand!" Immediately Katerea's body moved to follow Alex's command, filling her with horror as the realization that she would be forced to follow his every command dawned upon her.
"Looks like you have another one to train Grayfia." One of the girls behind them remarked, making the silver haired maid adopt a contemplative look since she never thought she would one day have an actual descendant of one of the Maou working for her.
Alex however was already moving onto the next topic, as he then used magic to make his throne rotate to face the rest of those gathered before saying,
"I apologize for high jacking the assembly the way I did, but I hope you all would see the necessity of my doing so. With that being said, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we should break for the day after everything that's happened, and meet again tomorrow to properly discuss everything, especially since there's several other people that need to be present that aren't here."
Though at first every one of the important figures gathered agreed with Alex, as his return and the strength of himself and those with him was something they all needed to discuss with their relative people, everyone was confused at the latter part of his words though, as every one of the most important people currently active in each faction WAS present. speaking for them, Ajuka hesitantly asked him,
"Who are you talking about Alex?" To his question, Alex smirked humorously as he then seemingly changed topic and asked Ajuka in return,
"Do you know the worst part about becoming as powerful as I am now?" His confusion only growing, Ajuka shook his head before Alex continued, "It's that it becomes harder to find anyone able to properly take out any irritation I have on."
Alex then stood and pulled out the Skeleton Key before pointing it at an empty area, and saying,
"I'll be right back, I'm going to go bully Trihexia for a bit."