"You look happy Rias. After skipping school no less." Akeno teased her King with a clearly amused and interested smirk. After an entire day of no contact, something Sona was very annoyed about, Rias had returned with a smile brighter than the sun itself.
"Akeno, you have to hear this!" Rias spoke excitedly, practically bursting with joy as she went into extreme detail about what had transpired the day before. It was something Rias only wanted Akeno to know and she was extremely excited to talk about it.
"Ahem. Please, save that for later." The oddly embarrassed voice of the Mad Dog himself sounded out from behind him, his tone completely unrecognizable to Akeno. That was by no means a bad thing though.
"Alright, let's talk later Rias." Akeno offered with a smile. As much as she wanted to hear about it now, it was hardly the time. Nobody had arrived just yet, but they weren't currently awaiting the presence of the leaders of the three biblical factions.
It only took a few minutes for the first among them to arrive, a crimson magic circle with the Gremory symbol in the center manifesting on the floor as two people emerged from its depths, both arguably the most famous couple in devil society.
"Oh, perfect. We aren't late." Sirzechs spoke cheerfully as he looked around the room, his eyes widening as he looked at Damian's face. "Grayfia, I'm not seeing things am I?" He asked his wife as he rubbed his eyes just in case.
"It's a pleasure to see you back to normal Lord Thaumiel." Ignoring her husband Grayfia bowed to him respectfully, skillfully following etiquette and hiding her own relieved smile. Despite acting as the Gremory clan maid, Grayfia was an in law and therefore was relieved to see the change.
"Sorry for taking so long." Damian replied with a small apologetic grin. While it was somewhat odd to hear his attitude from his childhood referred to as his version of normal he had no right to refute it either. As odd as it was, it was the truth.
"Haha! Ajuka will be glad to hear it. Congratulations." Lightly patting Damian on the shoulder Sirzechs moved over to his seat, chuckling to himself ever so often as they all awaited the rest in relative silence.
"Oh? I told you we could have waited longer Vali." Speaking frivolously the Governer General of the Grigori appeared in the corner of the room with the White Dragon Emperor in tow. Despite his casual tone, his eyes were serious as he looked over the room.
Even if Kokabiel was no longer allied with the Grigori and Azazel had sent a Longinus user to chase after him it didn't change anything. Kokabiel was a fallen and previously an important member of the Grigori which meant Azazel was in the hot seat.
"Damian Thaumiel. Thank you." The White Dragon spoke from Vali, his voice magically projected across the room. For a dragon to thank anybody was rare, extraordinary so, let alone a Dragon Emperor. If he wasn't informed beforehand, Sirzechs may have been bewildered.
Simply nodding his head in acceptance Damian ignored Rias' playful nudge as a golden magic circle formed, a cross surrounded by twelve wings prominently displayed in the center. Rising from the circle the current leader of heaven, Michael appeared.
Unlike in the canon path, Michael and the church had no direct influence over the events of the meeting. As Valper Galilei had been killed by Marco long ago Kokabiel hadn't bothered stealing the holy swords and Irina and Xenovia hadn't been sent out.
The angels were not involved but their presence was mandatory with an event this important. To attend the event the angels had offered to act as a mediary between the two sides, swearing upon God's name to act fairly and impartially even before arriving.
"It seems we are the last to arrive. I apologize." Michael spoke politely as he appeared, calmly taking a seat at the head of the table. The meeting was small in number, with only nine people in attendance, and the power was heavily leaning toward the devils.
By all means, the other two factions should have either requested Damian not to attend or imposed a restriction upon him with a contract. The only reason they had not, was because they wanted to show their goodwill.
Sirzechs alone was a powerful force that they could not dream of stopping and even if they had his sister to take hostage it would fail with Grayfia in attendance. Adding Damian on top of that was too much.
'They've probably all talked before this.' Damian determined easily, only half listening as the three leaders went over the events of Kokabiel's declaration of war. It was the only reason they'd send their most important individuals to the meeting without a care.
Azazel had brought Vali but it was hard to tell if that was because he wanted protection or was forced by the situation but Michael had only brought a six winged angel as a guard. The only reasonable answer was that they weren't worried about their safety in the slightest.
The most likely answer was that Kokabiel's war had only sped up their plans to ally rather than create them. Even in the canon path, their alliance was much too fast considering the discrimination each side held for one another.
'That explains their weird actions.' Damian leisurely thought as Michael finished the opening statements of the gathering and Rias stood up to explain her experience but was stopped as the perpetrator of the entire event spoke lazily.
"Let's skip all the pretense already, we all know what happened. Let's all ally together, we don't need to dance around it for hours." Azazel spoke up lazily, his eyes locked on Damian. "I'm more interested in how you did that to Vali's sacred gear."
"I recreated the shape of his soul and created a body for him from my demonic energy." Damian replied casually despite the absurdity of his words. Touching the soul was hard, reading its information more so, and making a body so large from pure energy was madness.
"Well, fuck me. And here I thought I could replicate that." Sighing in resignation Azazel didn't so much as glance at his laughing adoptive son. Azazel was one of the forefront researchers on sacred gears, and souls by extension, but he couldn't even try to do that.
"If we've come to a conclusion I'd like to speak on our next subject. I was attacked by the Khaos Brigade while Kokabiel attacked." Damian revealed calmly, Rias and Akeno looking at him in a mix of worry and confusion.
"I thought as much. It seemed too coincidental…" Sirzechs spoke solemnly, a deep frown on his face. Rias and Akeno weren't aware of who the Khaos Brigade was but they held their tongue, resolving themselves to ask Damian in private.
"I captured a few of their leaders and learned something important." Damian spoke vaguely as he rose to his feet, a pink energy instantly shattering the barriers previously defending them all from invaders. "I'll give you three seconds. Leave."
With an amused cackle and a battle hungry grin that promised combat upon their next meeting, Vali vanished from his place, a black void in space swallowing him from behind as he was reclaimed by the Infinite.
"So he really did join them…" Azazel murmured with a sigh, a conflicted look on his face that was equal parts amused and disappointed. He had thought as much for quite a while but he ignored all the evidence.
"I take it you have a reason for allowing him to leave?" Michael spoke hopefully, not bothered by the escape of the White Dragon Emperor. While capturing him would be the correct choice, Michael didn't feel like doing such a thing. It was the only kindness he'd give his nephew.
"Among the leaders I captured was Rizevim." Damian revealed casually, the atmosphere in the room instantly shifting.
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