Chapter 290:
–Layla–
I stepped through a pair of wooden doors that led to one of the Vatican's secret inner chambers. I admired the ancient architecture and the beautiful stained glass windows as I continued inside, my heels echoing across the floor. I spotted a familiar blond figure standing near an altar.
"Layla!" Michael's voice was warm and filled with relief. His bright, golden wings were tucked behind him as he stood underneath a window with sunlight shining down on him. I wondered if he had any idea just how much he resembled Father right now. The second he saw me, he crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. "Thank God," he whispered, his chin resting on my head. "I was so worried when you disappeared for so long. Gabriel told me you were all right, but I had to see for myself."
I was caught off guard by his sudden hug before wrapping my arms around him. He was warm—hugging him felt reassuring. It reminded me of a time before everything had gotten so complicated. I hoped we could go back to those times someday soon. "I'm happy to see you too," I mumbled against his chest.
He pulled back a bit, still holding onto my shoulders, his eyes searching my face. "What happened to you? Where did you go? Why didn't you—"
"I'm fine, Michael. Really," I cut him off, giving him a small smile. "I handled it…" I didn't want to spend any more of my life talking about the things I had missed out on. I got my revenge already. It might not have been as bloody as Hela would have liked, but that's not who I was at my core.
[I thought it was a fine punishment. There's nothing worse for someone with amazing superpowers than turning back into a regular person…]
Michael didn't say anything and just patted me on the back.
A smooth, cocky voice came from behind us. "Well, well, if it isn't our prodigal sister. You didn't come to visit me after returning either. I would be offended if I didn't know you were spending so much time catching up with your harem." Azazel stood there, leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed. "I wasn't worried at all, just so you know. I knew you would come back to us just fine. Better than fine, apparently! I can't even begin to sense the depths of your power."
I stepped away from Michael and nodded. "Yeah, it's taken some getting used to." Eight sets of black wings spread out behind me. Michael gasped, and Azazel let out a startled whistle.
"You really went and did it, huh? You surpassed our old man. Good for you, little sis. Have you thought about how you want to decorate your throne yet? Wait, let me guess—any color is fine as long as it's black?" he asked jokingly.
[He's got you there, host.]
I raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh myself. "I can't help it if black is my best color," I said while tossing my hair behind my shoulder. I allowed my wings to recede back inside me. The power they emitted could get a bit overwhelming for anyone not used to it. "Thanks for believing I'd return, big brother." I stepped forward and hugged him next. "Although I'm a bit upset that you weren't worried about me at all," I pouted playfully.
Azazel's smirk faltered for a second, then he shrugged. "Okay, maybe I was a little worried. But you're the toughest woman I know. I knew you'd make it back." It wasn't much, but coming from Azazel, it meant a lot.
"We're just glad you're safe, Layla. That's all that matters," Michael said. "Although I wish this reunion came under better circumstances."
I reluctantly nodded in agreement. These shitty devils really had the worst timing!
There was a table in the center of the room with a large map of the world spread on top of it. Michael had marked out locations where the devils attacked and the positions where the forces of Heaven were strongest. Unsurprisingly, Europe and the majority of the Middle East were where most of the angels were stationed. I could see on the map that we did have small contingents of my other brothers and sisters scattered throughout the world, though.
"The devils have thrown the world into chaos," Michael said grimly. "But we've been pushing them back, step by step."
Azazel nodded with a serious expression on his face. "Indeed, we've given them a few hard smacks. They definitely weren't expecting us to hit back this hard and fast." He glanced at me. "And speaking of hard smacks—nice job with Riser Phenex and his brothers, by the way."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You already heard about that?" It had only been an hour since I'd gotten rid of them.
Azazel gave a low whistle of appreciation. "Oh, trust me, everyone who matters has already heard about it. Taking down Riser and his brothers like that on camera— the devils took a massive loss on this one. Their supply of Phenex tears has now been cut in half. Maybe even less, since Ravel Phenex is reported to be pretty weak; she can't produce even close to as many tears every day as her brothers could."
I expected Michael to chime in, maybe tell me I was too heavy-handed in how I dealt with the devils or that I should've held back more. He was always the voice of mercy. But to my surprise, he nodded in agreement. "Azazel's right. You did what needed to be done." His eyes met mine supportively. "I never wanted to be responsible for eliminating an entire race, but… the underworld has gone too far this time. They're not giving us any choice."
A few years ago, Michael would've never said something like that. The idea of wiping out devils had always seemed unthinkable, but now, with the world in flames and innocent lives lost, the line between right and wrong felt blurred…
"The world's not going to forgive them after this war," Azazel added. "This was the last straw."
I sighed and crossed my arms. "I guess this means my plan to repopulate the underworld with devils from Earth DxD-C is screwed. There's no way they'll welcome them now, even if I vouch for them."
Michael shook his head, looking regretful. "No, devils will never be welcome on Earth again… besides your two brides and children, of course. And even then, they'll always be looked at with scrutiny."
"They're not my brides… yet." I blushed. "We've been so busy that I've never had any proper time for a real ceremony. As for my children, anyone who tries to bully them for being half-devil will learn that's a very bad idea!" I declared.
The ground underneath us started to tremble slightly.
"Easy there, sis!" Azazel called out. "We completely agree with you, but your aura is shaking the Vatican."
"Oh, sorry…" I pulled back my angry aura and blushed slightly.
Azazel tilted his head, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "I might have a better idea for you anyway. You told us that the dark elves will return during the convergence that's going to occur soon. After we deal with them next, we'll basically have an entire empty planet. Svartalheim could house all of those devils from Earth DxD-C just fine. It's technically a wasteland, sure, but the conditions there aren't all that different from the underworld when I think about it."
I paused to think about it. "Svartalheim? You know, that just might work, although it is a complete ruin."
"Yeah," Azazel agreed with a grin, "but it's a ruin with potential. The devils might prefer having their own planet instead of having to stay underground anyway. It'll give them a chance to eventually expand into the stars and start fresh."
I told them both that I would go over the details with Serafall and her mother once this was all over. I'm sure neither of them would hate Azazel's new idea.
A flash of golden light erupted in the chamber, momentarily blinding us all. Someone was playfully making a very dramatic entrance. I shielded my eyes and squinted against the brightness. When the light faded, I saw Gabriel standing before us. She was wearing golden armor that was covered in bloodstains. None of the bloodstains were her own.
She unceremoniously tossed a severed arm onto the marble floor. I could sense immediately that it belonged to a powerful devil…
"Serafall managed to escape from me, unfortunately," Gabriel announced, her voice tinged with annoyance.
Michael frowned. "She got away from you? How?"
"A water devil is nearly impossible to capture once she's submerged in the ocean," Gabriel sighed. "But it doesn't matter. I clipped her wings and cost her an entire arm. It would take her months to heal from injuries like that. I doubt we'll be seeing her again anytime soon."
Azazel nodded. "Good work there, my beautiful sister. That leaves us with Falbium and Sirzechs. As a general, Falbium is incredibly annoying to fight, especially when he's on the defensive. He can boost the defenses of his devil troops dramatically. A low-class devil can basically turn into a high-class one when fighting under his powers."
"That won't make a difference. I'll just dispose of him first before the rest of our forces attack," I said. I'd like to see his legendary defenses hold up to my power…
Azazel smirked at me. "Well then, we'll leave him to you." He then started talking logistics. "I've been given complete control of the armies of Asgard by Hela, along with a couple of legions of the Gregori. I have about 20,000 troops total, all middle to high class in power. What else do we have?"
"We can spare an additional 5,000 angels to add to that force," Michael said. It wasn't a lot, but the Angels had been doing the most in this war so far, defending territory all over the world.
"We need to mount our final offensive quickly. Every moment we waste gives the devils a chance to try something else insane," I said. No matter how high my Luck stat got, I noticed that it seemed to only work to my specific benefit. From an outsider's perspective, my disappearing for two years wouldn't even have been seen as bad luck because I came back and got an immediate massive power-up.
Gabriel smiled vindictively. With her usual delicate features, it was hard to remember that she had more devil blood on her hands than any other angel in existence. "It's time to finish the Great War once and for all. They won't know what hit them."
I crossed my arms. "What about the civilians? Are we going to purge all of them after all?" I asked. I knew I always talked big about wiping them all out, but now that it was time to put my money where my mouth was, I found myself hesitating about causing an actual genocide. Even a genocide of cell-leading monsters…
Azazel's expression softened. "...That's something I wanted to talk to you about, Layla. After you deal with Falbium and potentially Sirzechs, I'd like you to sit out the rest of this war," he requested.
My eyes widened. "What!?"
Gabriel spoke up in agreement. "I think so too, Layla," she added. "You never fought in the Great War. The truth is, a battle like that—violence for the sake of nothing but destruction—can change you. None of us want to see that happen to our littlest sister."
Michael placed a hand on my shoulder. "Even after your wings turned black, you've always been the best of us, Layla. Never hesitating to put your life on the line to help strangers and save the innocent. But our siblings are correct, you shouldn't be involved any further."
I bit my lip and felt a couple of tears come to my eyes. Here I was as the most powerful being on the planet, and yet I still needed to rely on my three older siblings to handle the dirty work for me.
[Is that really so bad?]
'I guess not…' I answered the System in my head.
[In the end, the decision is up to you, Host.]
{Quest Initiated: Finish the Great War and eliminate 99% of Earth DxD's Devil Population!}
{Reward(s): +10 Levels if you handle it yourself. +5 Levels if you leave it to your siblings.}
At the end of the day, 5 levels wasn't that much of a difference…
"Everything is settled then," Azazel said. "The only thing left to do is to gather all of our forces and decide on the hour of our attack."
As we continued to plan and catch up, my mind started to drift and wonder how Hela was faring in Asgard?
–Hela–
Hela stood tall and defiant with her arms crossed. Across from her were Sirzechs Lucifer and Rizevim Livan Lucifer, two of the "Super" Devils—beings that even the most powerful of gods were hesitant to fight one-on-one. And she was fighting two of them at once.
Hela wasn't worried, though.
"Who are you?" Sirzechs asked tensely. "I've met Hela before, but you can't be her! She wasn't nearly as powerful as you are, imposter!"
Hela sneered at Sirzechs mockingly. He actually thought she'd answer any of his questions after he tried to kill her? "You don't get to know who I am. You'll die knowing nothing."
Without waiting for a response, Hela attacked. Black energy surged around her as massive, jagged swords appeared from every direction, filling the air and the ground. In an instant, they all launched at the two devils as a deadly storm of death!
Rizevim reacted first, summoning his Darkness magic to form a shield in front of himself. Sirzechs followed right after, releasing his crimson Power of Destruction to block even more swords. Both of their defenses held under her initial assault, but not without extreme strain.
Hela could sense their weakness and didn't bother letting up. More swords appeared around her. She willed the next volley to fly even faster. They came crashing down on her foes without pause. Eventually, their magical shields ran out of power and they had to start dodging.
Both Super Devils gaped in disbelief at the number of blades that were being launched at them ceaselessly. Rizevim cursed as he dodged another sword that almost skewered him. "How are we losing!? What's wrong with you, Sirzechs? You should be way stronger than this!"
Sirzechs, panting and barely avoiding another attack, shot him a frustrated look. "I haven't had time to recharge my demonic reserves after destroying India. I only came here to kill Odin! I thought he would be weak after battling Surtur second!"
Rizevim stared at him in disbelief. "You're not at your full power? You've got to be kidding me!" he yelled, dodging again. "What good are you, then?"
Sirzechs scowled but didn't answer, too focused on avoiding Hela's relentless attack. He clenched his fists, trying to summon more power, but Hela's black swords kept coming, cutting through any destructive attacks he tried to throw at her.
Hela grinned, loving the fact that her enemies were already at each other's throats. Her eyes locked onto Sirzechs. "This is legendary Sirzechs? The strongest devil in existence? Pathetic," she hissed, while holding her right hand above her head. "I expected more," she said, disappointed.
"That makes two of us," Rizevim said begrudgingly.
"Maybe he just needs a little push to show us what he can really do?" Hela said with a menacing laugh. She raised her right hand vertically above her head as her power surged. A massive black blade the size of a skyscraper manifested directly above her in an instant. She swung her arm down, and with it came the gigantic blade, hurtling directly toward the two shocked devils. She wanted to crush them beneath her boots, but she was a bit disappointed they weren't even putting up a fight.
"What the fuck!?" Rizevim cursed. "Are all the gods and goddesses from beyond the dimensional gap this powerful?"
"I don't even know what's going on!" Sirzechs complained. "But I'm not going to lose here! I am Lucifer! The strongest Devil!"
"The fuck you are!" Rizevim cursed at the redheaded Maou. Despite that, Rizevim and Sirzechs were forced to combine their demonic power to stop the gigantic blade crashing down above them. They launched their retaliatory attacks at the same time, emitting a massive black and red beam that collided with the falling sword.
Boom!
A massive explosion ensued, ripping apart the already destroyed battlefield! Hela conjured a large flat sword directly in front of herself to avoid getting pelted with flying debris. As the dust started to clear, Hela smirked when she saw the tattered states of her two opponents.
Hela started to slowly clap her hands sarcastically. It was a mocking gesture she had learned from some Midgardian movies. "That was better. Maybe you two will actually be able to give me a fight. You were both so arrogant earlier after all." Hela said, shaking her head in disappointment.
–Rizevim Lucifer–
This was not going how he planned...
But then again, where would be the fun in that? Chaos was the most beautiful part of life! Of course, he would enjoy the chaos a lot more if he were alive to see it. And for that to happen, he and the false Lucifer were going to have to work together to bring down the monstrously powerful woman in front of them. Or, at the very least, bring her down to the point where Rizevim could escape himself.
"Get your shit together, Sirzechs!" he shouted. "No more holding back! Go all out!" Without hesitation, Rizevim activated his bloodline's most powerful ability—Denial of the Divine. A dark, oppressive energy pulsed from deep inside him, warping the rules of reality itself. Divine Power was no longer allowed within his vicinity! This was his ultimate trump card, it was the reason he never feared any of the dead God's Sacred Gears.
"What is this ability?" Hela asked as she staggered momentarily.
He grinned when he saw the shocked expression on Hela's face. That's right! She thought he would be defeated so easily, but she thought wrong. Rizevim could already feel Hela's power drop by at least half. She might have even been weakened to the point that they were finally fighting on an even level. The only downside to using Denial of the Divine was that it rapidly drained his Demonic Power reserves, which meant that they needed to settle this quickly.
Hela waved her hand and tried to throw another volley of swords at them. Rizevim smirked when all of her swords broke apart and shattered before they made it halfway.
Hela frowned. "Some kind of conceptual ability? My beloved, Layla, told me that she faced a similar attack over two years ago…" she muttered out loud. A small black hole manifested to Hela's left. She shoved her hand inside the hole and pulled out a silver sword. "It's been a while since I've had to use an actual Uru sword," Hela said, gripping the blade with both hands. She then let out a war cry and charged at them!
Rizevim was shocked by how much speed she had despite having her Divine Power mostly sealed away. 'Her physical strength must be enormous!' he thought to himself. That was unfortunately an area most Devils were lacking in, himself included.
"RAAAAaaaaaaggghh!" Sirzechs let out a scream next to him. The false Lucifer's skin, hair, and even organs started to disappear. Standing in the Maou's place was a being made entirely of pure destruction.
Rizevim smirked. It wasn't often the false Lucifer showed anyone his horrifying true form. Was Sirzechs even a devil anymore, or just a mass of sentient destruction masquerading as one? The very ground he stood on and the air around him started to break down.
Hela reached Sirzechs right as he finished his transformation and swung her blade at the Maou's head, separating it cleanly from his shoulders!
The smirk soon disappeared from her face, however, when Sirzechs's body punched forward and nailed her in the stomach with a fist of destruction energy.
Blood and spittle flew out of Hela's mouth as she was launched backward. She shoved her sword into the ground and used it to stop herself. While she was recovering, Rizevim held his hand up and unleashed a blast of pure darkness at her.
Hela's blade lashed out and severed the beam in two. It continued past her and erupted into two identical explosions.
Despite being pushed back and injured, Rizevim was surprised to see a genuine grin on Hela's face. "Now this is more like it! Killing you both wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't even fight back!" Hela declared before immediately charging at them again.
Sirzechs's missing head fully regenerated. The living mass of sentient destruction held up both arms and began to unleash waves of crimson ruin at the charging goddess. Her momentum didn't stop as she continued charging, all of Sirzechs's attacks were either deflected by the goddess's sword, or she simply tanked them with her body and armor.
She once again reached the two of them, this time far more injured and bloody. That didn't stop her, though, as she quickly lopped off Sirzechs's head a second time. She didn't stop there either, her blade lashed out with insane speed and precision, removing all four limbs from the mass of destruction. His limbless torso flopped onto the dissolving ground.
"Die!" Hela slammed her sword directly through Sirzechs's torso before it had the chance to regenerate. Her sword was shoved down all the way to the hilt.
Rizevim couldn't help but smirk at the sight in front of him. Watching this bloody goddess cut the false Lucifer to pieces was actually making him hard. Rizevim was a true Devil, and he would have loved nothing more than to pin down this haughty, powerful goddess and claim her for himself then and there!
But as much as he would have loved to do that, he was still intelligent enough to recognize a lost cause when he saw one. Sirzechs Lucifer—no, Gremory—died then and there. The mass of destruction began to break down, along with Hela's weapon that she'd sacrificed to kill him.
Instead of taking the opportunity to attack her when she was unarmed, Rizevim chose to use the moment to escape. It hadn't just been himself, Loki, and Hades who came to Asgard. He had other hidden agents as well who were breaking the seal while the three of them caused a distraction. He was sure that they had completed their objective by now.
"This has been fun, Queen Hela! We will meet again. I hope we can have much more fun together then," Rizevim left those words behind as he departed from the battlefield.
–Hela–
Hela was annoyed that the Uru weapon in her hand had been destroyed. It might have only been a ceremonial weapon she had forged for her inauguration ceremony, but she had expected better from a dwarven creation. Had they scammed her…?
She would be having words with King Eitri once she returned to Asgard!
With a sigh, she stood up and glanced around. The silver-haired descendant of Layla's evilest brother had fled while she was finishing off Sirzechs Lucifer. "What a disgusting coward," she scoffed. She had also noticed the way Rizevim had looked at her before he fled. The desire in his eyes disgusted her even more. "The next time we meet, I'll be sure to take his head personally."
With that said, she decided to see how Thor… and Thor were faring against their skeletal opponent. Hopefully, they had finished him off already so she could finally meet up with Layla again.
XXX
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