The Holy Chronicles of Baator

[Trafford]

Baator, Chthonian Empire, Augustgrad

Augustgrad was a majestic city, filled with high-rise buildings and gothic architecture, creating a unique feeling of the city.

At the center of the city, there was an enormous pyramid that served as one of the Headquarters of the Imperialis Militarum.

"Elder Crom Cruach, what have I thank for your visit?"

Asked Lord General Albion Gwider as his 6th Army Draco Aetherna was stationed at the City of the Augustgrad. In his human form, Albion looked like a handsome middle-aged man, with draconic features such as draconic eyes, white scales around his hands, and some on his face. Over his head, he had two horns, as they stood there proudly among his shining white long hair.

"I think it may be time to unify all dragon factions that are existing at the Draconic Deus under the banner of the Chthonian Empire. Most dragons are either living as hermits or in isolated flocks and when I think about the things that are about to come, I don't want our kind to die a meaningless death."

Stated Crom Cruach.

"Many of them won't listen... unless the Empire has either Ophis or Great Red on their side."

Answered Albion.

Dragons were arrogant creatures, and even though Empire had several powerhouses on the level of Ophis and Great Red, they were not dragons, and there would be a lot of dragons, especially those at the Immemorial Level 2 or Immemorial Level 3, that won't listen.

"You should be aware that gaining Infinite Dragon God is impossible as it is destined to be devoured by his Imperial Majesty... The Law of the Void is surely irresistible. And Great Red is an obstacle that needs to be overcome, the guardian of the Dimensional Gap... but in the end, we don't need them."

As Albion's eyes widened in shock, said Crom Cruach with a grin as he released a bit of his aura.

"An Elder Dragon and I sense Laws comprehended..."

Now that Crom Cruach has reached Elder Dragon Class, he was an extremely fearsome fighter. Compared to Ophis or Great Red, Crom Cruach was far superior to both of them. He had comprehended the Law of Fire and the Law of Darkness, and he had a very high amount of Mastery over them.

Ophis lacked any of that, and while Great Red had some control over his Law of Dreams, its combat experiences were seriously lacking compared to battle maniacs such as Crom Cruach.

"So... who will you visit at first?"

Asked Albion as he deeply looked at Crom Cruach.

"Currently largest dragon flocks outside control and allegiance of the Empire are dragon flocks of Fafnir, Midgardsormr, and former Vritra's flock. After we absorb all these three flocks are absorbed, and this reached the ears of all dragons across many Dimensional Worlds, countless of them would come and join."

Presented Crom Cruach his plan for the so-called draconic unification.

"Vritra's flock shouldn't be any problem, as they are hiding and licking their wounds after Yahweh raided them. Fafnir and Midgardsormr could be a problem, the location of Fafnir is kept a secret after he was revived by Asgardian Gods, and Midgardsormr's location is unknown. If possible, it would be good to revive Vritra; his unique abilities would come in handy."

Said Crom Cruach.

"Any news about the latest holder of the Boosted Gear? Ddraig was Heavenly Dragon with the potential to reach Elder Dragon, same as you Albion. Unfortunately, last holders were avoiding Empire or were already recruited by other factions."

Asked Crom Cruach after a while as Albion grimaced hearing the name of his rival. Though, he could at least boast that he got revived and had the proper body for almost a decade while Ddraig was still locked in the Sacred Gear.

"I have got information from the Department of Intelligence that Boosted Gear has been reincarnated somewhere on the Earth, but it is still not awakened; what is weird as it reincarnated around 13 years ago, so there are two possibilities. Either someone is blocking it and hiding it, or the host is worthless and didn't manage to awaken the Sacred Gear, meaning he will never awaken it without outside help. I have proposed to the Execution Temple to search for possible candidates and use Independent Class Card to reincarnate them as devils to see if they have it; if not, we can always kill them and take just their Sacred Gears; if they have any."

Usually, those with high potential or rather a high Soul Aptitude will awaken their Sacred Gears within their early years, while those with very high will awaken it the moment they are born. Those who have lesser Soul Aptitude will awaken it during their childhood around years 6 to 12, while those with weak Soul Aptitude will awaken it between years 13 to 20, but chances for that are close to zero.

Then there are people with a Soul Aptitude of Level 2 or lesser that won't awaken it in a lifetime without some outside intervention.

If Boosted Gear was with such a person, then it would be for the Execution Temple to find him by using the method of trial and error.

Recruiting Ddraig would be very beneficial for the Empire, as every individual that has the potential to become a higher form of existence, is always needed. Across the Astral Boundary, only Warlock Monarchs and those of higher ranks or their equivalents could have some stable foothold in the universe.

"That would be probably our only chance. Hopefully, it will be done before the final plan starts."

Stated Crom Cruach as Albion nodded in agreement.

Before the final plan starts.

After that, everything across the Dimensional Gap would be meaningless.

If someone survived that thing, then they would be either destroyed or enslaved by stronger factions from the Astral Boundary.

"Then I will depart to visit our dragon friends and get them to our side... it would be a shame if they all died during that..."

 

[Trafford]

The Year 2020, Earth, Japan, Kuoh Town

Kuoh Town was like any other ordinary town across not only Japan but the entire world. It was rather a small town, with a population numbering in several tens of thousands.

At first glance, everything seemed to be ordinary and boring... only under the guise of the fact that Kuoh Town was the only city under the direct control of the Chthonian Empire in Japan and entire Asia.

Chthonian Empire bought this town from the Shinto Pantheon at an outrageous price. Still, in the end, Chthonian Empire obtained a foothold in Japan, from which they could keep an eye on their alliance with Shinto.

Even though they were allies, the Imperial's stance toward the Shinto Pantheon was still cautious. They were not in the Eternal Alliance like the Spirit Hall, so there was still space for betrayal or some other kind of shady deal.

The current Imperial Overseer was someone of a rather prestigious identity.

Cleria Belial, Colonel-Commissar of the Commissariat, sister of one of the commanding Tribunes of the Adeptus Custodes, Diehauser Belial, and second wife of the Crown Prince of the Chthonian Empire, Sirzechs Gremory-Lucifer.

She also bore the title of the Imperial Lord and Chthonian Eques.

She was in the Satan-Class of the initial stage. Like many of the House of Belial that was Chthonian Lord House, she mastered countless martial arts. She was a certified weapon master, coupled with her Clan Trait Worthless made her an extremely fearsome fighter in close combat.

Cleria Belial was a young-looking woman that looked around in her early twenties, with short gray hair and gray eyes.

"My Lady, Lady Sitri, and Lady Gremory are waiting for you; should I send them in?"

Asked her attendant, that was dressed in the standard uniform for members of the Commissariat.

"Send them in; they are probably bringing reports about the development of the territory."

Ordered Cleria, as her attendant nodded and went to call in the guests.

Soon enough, both of them entered the room.

During these two years, Rias didn't change a lot in terms of appearance, but the aura around her changed, not only because she reached Ultimate-Class, but her entire demeanor has changed greatly.

After Rias entered the room, a second person that was accompanying her entered.

It was Sona Sirti, a sister of the first wife of the Crown Prince of the Chthonian Empire and heir to the House of Sitri, that bore the title of Chthonian Lord. She was a bespectacled young woman with a slim figure, black hair styled in a short bob cut, and violet eyes.

As Rias entered, even though unwillingly, the Execution Temple, Sona was gifted with very bright and strategical thinking, so she entered Navis Imperialis and was especially talented in Voidfleet Battles, as she was already a decorated commanding officer during the war with natives of the Earthern Plane's galaxies.

"Lady Belial."

Both of them bowed slightly as they greeted Cleria, as she had much higher social standing than both of them, but most importantly, her personal strength was at the Satan-Class, while Rias was only initial Ultimate-Class and Sona were at the later stages of the Grand-Class.

"Sit; what news do you have for me?"

Asked Cleria as she tipped something on the arcanotech tablet.

While Cleria was the Imperial Overseer of the Kuoh Town, real management of the town wasn't done by her but by Rias and Sona, as it was an opportunity to learn something about the management of the territory.

In the future, Navis Imperialis would task its officers with managing conquered territory until the Magisterium of Domestic Affairs and Territorial Management didn't dispatch anyone, so this was a great opportunity for Sona to learn to manage the town and population.

"There are suspicious movements from the sub-faction of Fallen Angels of Grigori under the command of Kokabiel, several of the Fallen Angels are currently hiding in the Kuoh Town, but we cannot locate them. From the message from Lady Kuroka, even some elements in Church are in contact with Fallens, and apparently, remains of Nilrem are heading towards Japan."

Stated Sona the information she got.

Nilrem was ruthlessly hunted down by Prince Elect Vali Lucifer, who personally killed Euclid Lucifuge by severing his head and displaying it on the spike and slaughtered thousands of human magicians and even more those who were affiliated with Nilrem, everything in the Holy Name of Father of all Devils the Khaos Brigade marched.

"This could be problematic... I will need to contact higher-ups for decisions about what to do. This way, Kuoh may become a battlefield between Empire and renegades."

Stated Cleria in a serious voice.

"That is not, unfortunately, all. There are at least two other factions that are moving this way; one of them is Utsusemi Agency, and the other is Wizards of Oz. The element that binds them all together is Kokabiel, but there are signs that there is someone behind him, that is moving pieces."

Said Rias after a short time.

Utsusemi Agency was formed by outcast members of the Five Principal Clans and was rather a strong faction, as the Five Principal Clans were groomed by Shinto Faction and had no shortage of Ultimate-Class powerhouses, probably more than twenty and several comparable to Satan-Class.

Utsusemi Agency even had access to several Sacred Gears and some strong artifacts.

While Wizards of Oz were nothing new to the Chthonian Empire.

It was an association of magicians who had split up from Grauzauberer, creating a realm in the Dimensional Gap in order to study and enhance their magic or rather hide as their leaders, successfully cheated Magister Mephisto Pheles out of some magic books and knowledge by the huge amount of luck, and since then Empire was searching for their trails, but they were really good at hiding.

"Wizards of Oz... that could be good, as the rats finally left their holes and came to the rattenfänger."

Said Cleria with a wide grin as she thought over this.

 

[Trafford]

"And there is one more disturbing thing."

Said Rias after a short time of consideration.

"What?"

Asked Cleria as she looked at her.

"Hero Faction is on the move once again."

Hero Faction is a group of relatively strong humans; most of them were at the Ultimate-Class and had Sacred Gears and inherited souls of their ancestors, Heroes. It is a faction that solely consists of humans, and all of them had some specialists to them, like already mentioned Sacred Gears, bearers of the Holy Swords or Demonic Swords, and some of them had even Logninuses.

It was created to fight against supernatural existences and protect humanity from them, or rather its goal was to kill everything supernatural. They operated only on the Earth and fought against monsters or even other factions.

"During their last attempt to attack forces of the Empire on Earth, they came across of Imperial Prince Elect, who killed several their members and sent rest of them fleeting, but due to Longinus Dimensional Lost, they were able to survive. Afterward, a sleeping agent among them, Arthur Pendragon, managed to obtain all crucial information about their faction, hidden members, and their exact strength before he deserted. That happened one year ago, a week ago, I have captured one human magician that was affiliated with Hero Faction, and after some interrogation, he spilled everything he knew about their recent movements."

Stated Rias, proud of herself that she obtained crucial information for the Empire.

"What did you find out?"

Asked Cleria seriously.

"They are preparing for some kind of large-scale ritual to obtain some higher form of power. Though this time, it is apparently well planned and everything. I have already reported this situation to the Intelligence Department and Execution Temple, so they could start searching for them. Unfortunately, the one I have interrogated was just a grunt that was supposed to bring some magic tomes. Still, my understanding of Magic is limited, so I cannot decipher them. Still, I can see that they are of the Mysticism branch."

Even Cleria was surprised to hear that.

Mysticism was a very obscure branch of Magic, and not many even across the entire Chthonian Empire delved deep into it.

Even the Emperor of the Chthonian Empire was only a Master of Mysticism with all of the time he spent researching it and his talent for Magic.

Mysticism revolved around various obscure rituals and the most complicated and profound secrets of the Arcane.

Even in the Dresden Arcanum Empire, a number of Mysticism Masters could be counted on one hand. Chthonian Empire had one Master Emperor and several Experts and Adepts.

"It should be for Georg Faust; from information available on him, he was a pupil of Lord Magister Mephisto Pheels before he went rogue; by Imperial Decree, he is targeted as only for capture alive. Even as a human, his mastery over Magic eclipses many young geniuses of the Chthonian Empire, not to mention he also possesses a Longinus Dimensional Lost. Imperial Father wants to recruit him if possible personally..."

Cleria nodded in agreement with Rias's statement.

"I will send this tome to Magisterium of Arcane and Magic Research so they can figure out what ritual are they preparing for. I will also notify HQ of the Imperialis Militarum to send some support to guard the Kuoh Town if it is attacked by forces we cannot handle."

Stated Cleria.

"Whom do you think Empire would send?"

Asked Sona this time, as it was crucial information, as based on the person they would send, their lives here could drastically change.

"Probably Khaos Brigade or Sardaukar forces."

Stated Cleria plainly as both of them shuddered a bit.

Both of them were so-called non-standard forces of the Imperialis Militarum, the Elites of the Elites. They didn't fall under the standard chain of command but answered only to the Emperor.

Khaos Brigade was infamous across the entire Draconic Deus. At the same time, Sardaukar Force was a newly established military force, in nature similar to the Khaos Brigade; its commander was Arthur Pendragon. Along with the entire Pendragon Family, the latter pledged their allegiance to the Chthonian Empire for returning the sword Excalibur to them and awakening their draconic lineage.

Sardaukar Force were similar zealots to Khaos Brigade, and all of them were swordsmen, the best ones recruited across the entire Chthonian Empire from all branches of the Empire.

"What about Boosted Gear? Did you find anything?"

Asked Cleria shortly after.

"Across Japan, there are tens of candidates with an aura that is similar to Sacred Gear. Lady Kuroka has assigned to my Class Servant Peerage her younger sister, so she could cleanly search through the Kuoh Town, as several of the such aura are noted to be here. Up until now, we have found around 3 possible targets in Kuoh Town. Unfortunately, we are searching for someone who is not capable of awakening the Sacred Gear by himself, meaning it makes our job very hard."

Asnwered Rias her findings.

"After you find the host, it will be up to you to negotiate with Ddraig... hopefully, the possible host would be someone that dragon would despise... it would make your job easier."

Indeed it would.

"One of the people is such a person; if he is the holder of the Boosted Gear, then I believe I should be able to persuade Ddraig within a few months, without the assistance of the Elder Crom Cruach."

Dragons were prideful creatures.

Even Elder Dragon Crom Cruach had a lot of trouble negotiating with dragons to join the Empire without beating them black and blue.

"Excellent, then report to me after you have finished the task."

Stated Cleria as both Sona and Rias stood up, and after a small bow, they left the room; Cleria tipped something on the arcanotech tablet she was playing with.

"Connect me to the Lord General Matrix. I have a message for his Imperial Holiness about his daughter; I think he will be satisfied with her growth."

 

[Trafford]

MC POV

Baator, Chthonian Empire, Salusa City

Salusa City was one of the Major Cities in the Chthonian Empire and one of the last that would be built before the last plan happened.

It was also a city where elite forces of the Imperialis Militarum Sardaukar Forces were trained and stationed.

I currently went here to have an inspection of Salusa City and to take a look at the Sardaukar Forces. Like the Khaos Brigade, Sardaukar Forces were all of the Grand-Class, and their specialization was the swordfight.

Each Sardaukar soldier had mastery over the standard Sardaukar Sword style at Master Rank. Additionally, all of them were required to learn at least two additional sword styles and master them to Expert rank, and have dual-wield at least Adept rank.

"Your Imperial Majesty."

Greeted me commander of the Sardaukar Forces, Arthur Pendragon. He was a handsome young man with blond hair with a strand of hair across his face, clothed in standard white runic armor of the Sardaukar Forces.

"Your Imperial Majesty."

Shouted all 30,000 members of the Sardauker Forces as they knelt before me. All of them wore the same white runic armor, similar to that of Arthur, just a less declared.

Runic Armors of the Sardaukar Forces were but special compared to the standard armor of the soldiers of Imperialis Militarum. These runic armors were downgraded versions of the Runic Battle Armor of the Custodians, meaning all of them had an in-built personal shield generator inside them.

PSG, or the personal shield generator, was an arcanotech device that was capable of absorbing incoming energy attacks and storing them inside special containers. Subsequently, this energy stored is used by PSG to power itself up practically indefinitely and also could be used by the user to power up his attacks or enhance his physical capabilities.

These Runic Armors were Mid-Grade Artifacts, so they were incredibly precious in such large numbers, even in the Astral Boundary. Usually, not even large factions in the Astral Boundary cannot afford to arm all of their soldiers with such armor and weaponry.

I could, as I didn't really create any resource reserves; everything that was obtained was instantly used, so the Empire could grow stronger. We could store treasures and resources after the Chthonian Empire had established itself in the Astral Boundary.

"I am especially pleased with the current state of the Sarduakar Forces; they would become the pride of the Chthonian Empire."

I said to Arthur, who bowed in gratitude.

"I have a mission for you, Arthur. In the next few days, Sarduakar Forces will ambush the supply line of the Evies in the Ratan Plane in the Dimensional Gap. The number of Evies soldiers that are coming there is around 250,000, and most of them are of the High-Class. Your mission is to leave none alive; of course, you will get the support of the Navy, and I will dispatch some powerhouses under the leadership of Elder Zekram Bael in case powerhouses of Evies appear."

I stated as Arthur's expression remained unchanged.

"I will complete the mission."

Even though Sardaukar had a numerical disadvantage, Evies in nature fought more with energy-based weaponry, which was primarily ineffective against Sardauakar Forces due to the special nature of their Runic Armors.

During the past years, skirmishes with Evies and Etouldes have become more brutal and common, now even on a larger scale as armies were commonly used.

I had a good idea about the strength of the two races that had been waging war against each other for a very long time.

Suddenly as I was talking with Arthur, my Holo-Brain lit up with an incoming call request.

Holo-Brains were special Arcanotech devices, invited based on the technology of the Solar Federation. They had the shape of a bracelet and could be sued for a variety of functions such as light source, communications, making calls, transmitting messages, writing notes, wallet directly connected to bank account, timer, watch private communication mode, recording voice message and many others, and that was just civilian Holo-Brain.

Then there existed Military Grade and even special models for high-ranking personnel of the Chthonian Empire.

The caller was the Imperial Overseer of the Kuoh Town, Cleria Belial, who was also the second wife of my firstborn son Sirzechs.

"Father-in-Law, I bring urgent news obtained by Rias. Apparently, suspicious movements from Kokabiel's faction are happening, together with remnants of Nilrem and other two hostile factions, Utsusemi Agency and Wizards of OZ; I would like to request support; in case Kuoh is attacked."

I grimaced hearing that.

Now that Underworld had become Baator, it meant that I severed the connection between it and Earth. Teleportation was a very hard thing to do. It was possible only through large-scale teleportation circles, which were not many of those.

"I have just now assigned a mission for the Sardaukar Forces, but Khaos Brigade is currently without any assignment, so I will order Vali to depart to Earth and let Khaos Brigade be on the stand; in case anything happens."

I said to Cleria as she ended the call after everything was resolved.

"One more thing, I have noticed that Sigurn is among your officers; what is that about?"

I said as I looked behind Arthur at one person who tried to hide from my gaze.

"I am not aware of circumstances, but apparently, Princess wanted to be part of the Sardaukar Forces and fulfilled every requirement, so I allowed it."

Answered Arthur indifferently as I shook my head.

'In hiding your intentions in some aspects, you are very similar to your mother, dear daughter.'

I thought as I shook my head in defeat.

 

[Trafford]

One Day Later, Skull Valley Pass

The Skull Valley Pass was a place that divided the entire Ewor Sub-Continent into two parts. Smaller Southern Area and larger Northern Area. While human barbarian tribes inhabited the southern area, the northern area was mainly inhabited by various goblinoid species that were extremely populous.

Each year, they attempted to enter the southern area through the Skull Valley Pass, but they couldn't pass through the Valley and were always repelled due to territorial disadvantage.

Thanks to that, Skull Valley Pass was immediately secured by Devil Legions, who went directly there after the destruction of Tribes A, B, and C. It was a strategic location that needed to be secured as soon as possible.

Currently, it was guarded by nine Legions, which were worth 1,800,000 soldiers, and sixty Anti-Matter Magicule Canon Batteries that were stationed in various positions with good angles so they could be used to their maximum potential.

General Amyke, General Borke Zagan, and Lady Venelana were in the war tent, which served as the temporary command center.

All three of them weren't looking exactly happy as they listened to the report of the scouts.

"This isn't good... though the question is, how they found out about it?"

Asked General Amyke.

"They probably have Ultimate-Class shamans or warlocks, but now that isn't important... right now, more than six million large hordes of goblinoid tribes are going here... that is a problem. This is bad; we need to prepare for the defensive. We are severely outnumbered, and the enemy has even a few General Level Monsters."

Commented the situation General Borke Zagan.

"As long as we properly block the Valley, with Anti-Matter Magicule Canon Batteries, with could deal them a great deal of damage. Our main point should be using defense to lower their number and kill their commanders and beings on the Ultimate-Class. Then the horde won't be much of a problem. The real problem would be taking care of General Level goblinoids..."

Stated Venelana calmly as both of the generals looked at her, mildly surprised hearing her tactics, but nodded in agreement.

"The horde will arrive one hour later, while our reinforcements will take at least three hours from the Fortress Gremory. Probably Lord himself will arrive with reinforcements, taking three legions with him, leaving only one Legion at the Fortress guarding the portal. Right now, as the southern area is clean, our concern is Skull Valley Pass."

Said General Borke Zagan after.

"Then send a message to Zeo to arrive as soon as possible; until that, we will play defensive."

Said Venelana as she went out of the room. She took the role of unofficial commander because of her status as fianceé of their Lord, she held the last word, and both Generals were aware that she herself was no pushover. In terms of destructive power, Venelana may be weaker in Class as she was newly advanced Ultimate-Class, but she was in a higher league in terms of combat prowess.

***

"My Lord, a horde of more than six million goblinoid species is advancing with tremendous speed at the Skull Valley Pass. Apparently, tribal chieftains of largest tribes were defeated by someone that unified north and started advancing to the south, concurrently, as we were conquering human barbarians."

I heard a report from one of my servants as I was reading the grimoire in the library while conversing with the Architect from time to time.

"Interesting. How many beings on Ultimate-Class are there?"

I ask.

"Around seven, My Lord. One of them is even Eldricht Giant that appears to be the leader of the horde... what is weird, the detection spell found signs of Divinity on the Eldricht Giant."

Said the servant as my eyes sharpened.

"Send a message to three Legion Commanders to prepare for the march; we will go with the fastest speed combined with large-scale teleportation; within three hours, we should arrive at the Skull Valley Pass."

I commanded as the servant bowed slightly and ran off to carry my orders.

"Divinity... so this Plane is already starting giving birth to the God Slots. Damm, this is getting problematic; we need to act fast."

When the Plane developed to a certain level, it started creating God Slots.

God Slots were limited on how many gods the Plane could hold. Higher leveled Plane, a higher number of gods. Newly birthed planes usually didn't develop God Slots, not until several hundreds of thousands of years have passed till the birth of the Plane.

Based on records that Aesir and Kindreds brought in, Astral Boundary was a classification of Planes. Planes were Graded from Grade 9 to Grade 1 based on how strong entities planes could bear. Of course, this applied only to the Astral Boundary and not other Universes, the other Realms of Existence, where were different Universal Laws.

For example, Draconic Deus was Grade 5 Plane according to the Planar Classification of Astral Boundary Realm of Existence. Meaning, that the Grade 5 Plane could hold maximally Apocalypse-Class beings and around 5,000 Gods.

However, that could be bypassed by creating Dimensional Worlds by combining the Divine Kingdoms of Gods to create something like a super divine kingdom.

It works like this. A Pantheon of Gods that ascended in some Plane want to bypass this, so they all fuse their Divine Kingdoms to create a Pantheon's Dimensional World; from that moment, their existences as gods are tied to that Pantheon's Dimensional World, which is a collection of countless Divine Kingomds and other special materials, and God Slots are then freed.

Though the danger of this is that, after this transiting, from Plane God Slot to Pantheon's Dimensional World, God would be weakened drastically, for a long time, unless he used special means to hasten recovery.

Of course, the disadvantage of this is when the world is low on population larger number of gods will result in that all gods would be weaker. As they would be forced to fight for worshippers, so Gods usually won't artificially increase the number of Gods.

 

[Trafford]

After I returned from the inspection of the Sardaukar Forces, I went to check up on my Familiars as some of them were already close to evolution.

All of my familiars lived in the Sanctus Imperialis, and the first one to check on, I went to take a look at Dou Dou.

Some time ago, I gave her several corpses of Etoulde Spirits that were on the same level as Super-Devils, and even before that, I gave her corpses of some Titled Douluos. Evolution for Thorny Flower species was very hard in the latter stages as they required a lot of nutrients to push themselves even further.

When Dou Dou reaches Apocalypse-Class, she will be one of the most excellent guardians of the Imperial Palace, making it even more dangerous than it is right now.

As I looked at my familiar, she looked happy, knowing that another source of fertilizer would be now delivered, which is partially true, as I had several corpses for her of high-ranking individuals that I had killed.

When I studied her closely, I noticed that Dou Dou had already reached Emperor Level and had evolved into Thorny Flower Demoness.

[Race: Thorny Flower Demoness

-

Level: Emperor (Pinnacle)

Magical Power: 2,549 (Mortal Stats)

Strength: 3,798 (Mortal Stats)

Agility: 2,654 (Mortal Stats)

Vitality: 4,987 (Mortal Stats)

-

Abilities: Take Root, Corpse Feeding, Poison Spit, Advanced Elemental Magic, Thorny Flower Vines, Spore, Thorny Flower Army, Plant Magic, Great Thorny Flower Treant, Thorny Flower Protector

-

Thorny Flower Army - 50,000 Grand Commander Level

Great Thorny Flower Treant - 500 General Level

Thorny Flower Protector - 25 Marshall Level]

Such abilities and stats would be a problem to deal with even for many stronger Super Devils, especially its vitality was really terrifying, taking into account the fact that Dou Dou became Thorny Flower Demoness and reached Emperor Level only not long time ago.

Additionally, she had an entire army of Grand Commander Level Thorny Flowers as her command, which was enough to draw even Super Devil; coupled with 500 General Level Great Thorny Flower Treant and 25 Marshall Level Thorny Flower Protectors, she was an army on her own.

This army was the result of cultivation through centuries as she ate and digested every death row criminal in the Chthonian Empire and managed to create such a trump card for me. For that reason, I have let Dou Dou stay in the Imperial Palace, so she can protect my family.

Dou Dou didn't do anything through the centuries; she just digested the fertilizer everyone brought to her. Be it me, my family, Custodians that killed strong foes, Commissariat who sent her hundreds of death row criminals every year, or scavenged corpses from battlefields that ranged from Low-Class to even Satan-Class sometimes.

All of that was used to cultivate Dou Dou and her Flower Army.

As I was observing Dou Dou and thinking about how to help her evolve, even more, I heard Isla meowing at me as I lowered down, as I scratched her behind her ears, as she purred at me.

Little Isla was no longer a little kitten as it was during the Great War, but now she was a full-fledged Wampus Cat that was just a bit smaller than Dark Devilgod Tiger Heishen.

After so many years of training, Isla was now Monarch Level Magical Beast. Among my Familiar, one could say she was the most normal one, as she didn't have the soul-devouring ability of Heishen or the ability to digest corpses as Dou Dou.

[Name: Isla

Race: Wampus Cat

Gender: Female

-

Level: Monarch

Magical Power: 720 (Mortal Stats)

Strength: 525 (Mortal Stats)

Agility: 654 (Mortal Stats)

Vitality: 454 (Mortal Stats)

-

Abilities: Illusion Magic, Mental Magic, Elemental Magic - Fire, Wind]

I was happy that Isla reached Monarch Level, even though the environment for Monsters, Magical Beasts, and other similar creatures wasn't that good for them, as Baator only recently recovered and was recovering to a Grade 3 Plane, and magic density was slowly rising, and to increase it, even more, would require more drastic measure, that is not planned to be carried out now.

Unfortunately, they would be truly useful only after my familiars reached Apocalypse-Class in the great scheme of things.

Not that Isla complied as she liked to eat, sleep and cuddle. Every time my daughters or I came, she would always ask for pats, scratching, and cuddling.

Meanwhile, my newest familiar, Heishen, and my other familiar, Jin were more bloodthirsty in nature, and they itched for a fight; thus, I often released them to dangerous areas of the Baator where they could fight.

After the Baator started recovering, a lot of monsters and magical beasts of creatures started appearing in the Baator, creating literally forbidden zones. For example, Sunset Monster Mountain Range now was a true forbidden area, as it was swarming there with Monarch Level monsters and even more Emperor Level ones. Meanwhile, General Level monsters could be seen practically everywhere there, together with Marshall Level.

Heishen, the Dark Devilgod Tiger, was already at the General Level and was growing steadily, while my last familiar, Jin has, reached Emperor Level a long time ago.

[Name: Jin

Race: Wolf God

-

Level: Emperor

Divine Power: 4,895 (Mortal Stats)

Magical Power: 7,982 (Mortal Stats)

Strength: 9,787 (Mortal Stats)

Agility: 12,154 (Mortal Stats)

Vitality: 8,142 (Mortal Stats)

-

Abilities: Darkness Control, Shadow Manipulation, Anti-Divine, Devour]

Jin had the appearance of an enormous pitch-black wolf with shining red eyes.

I have created him from the Sacred Grear, the Longinus Canis Lykaon, through manipulation of Laws, advanced magic, some mysticism rituals, and arcanotech.

I managed to create a geniue living creature by extracting the Soul inside Canis Lykaon, giving birth to the Wolf God. Not only did he retain his abilities to Control Darkness and Manipulate Shadows, but he also gained an Anti-Divine ability, which made his attacks especially effective against anything Divine, and also had the ability of Devour, which allowed him to Devour energy to strengthen himself.

 

[Trafford]

3rd POV

Earth, Japan, Kuoh Town, Kuoh Academy - Occult Research Club Building

"Are you sure it is him, Shirone?"

Questioned Rias, a petite girl with white hair and gold eyes.

The girl's front of her hair has two long bangs going past her shoulders and several loose bangs hanging over her forehead, while the back has a short bob cut. She also wore a black cat-shaped hair clip on both sides of her hair.

She had a pair of white cat ears and a pair of matching white tails, and her golden eyes were more cat-like.

"Hmm... smells like Vali-niisama before they got Albion out... though the smell is very, very weak."

Answered Shirone.

She was a rare variant of Nekomata a Nekoshou.

Nekomatas was one of the Youkai species that bore a striking physical resemblance to humans, albeit with a set of cat ears and generally have two tails. They also have eyes with cat-like pupils. They have great reflexes and heightened senses, with a stunning talent for Senjutsu and Youjutsu.

The majority of Nekomatas and Nekoshou lived in the Underworld, and after the formation of the Chthonian Empire, they were absorbed into the growing Imperium.

Their species quickly proved itself to be crucial for information gathering and producing strong hand-to-hand combatants.

Shirone belonged to the Tojou Clan, which was the leading clan among their species, and bore the title of the Chthonian Lord, as Shirone's elder sister was Satan-Class Nekoshou. Additionally, she was also a fianceé of Prince Elect Vali Lucifer.

"Then I think convincing Ddraig should be easier than one could think. Have you tried to sense his Soul Aptitude with your abilities?"

Those with high-ranking mastery over Senjutsu could learn a Secret Method to check up on someone's Soul Aptitude based on their Chi.

Shirone was able to learn that method from her sister.

"Hn... Inferior Level 1 or Superior Level 0."

Stated Shirone plainly as she continued munching on her sweets. Meanwhile, Rias's expression froze on the spot.

"With such Soul Aptitude, then even after reincarnating as Devil, there is a very low possibility of awakening the Sacred Gear, and if even, it should be only Twice Critical."

Said a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, very long black hair, and violet eyes. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backward, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place.

"I am aware of that fact, Akeno, but right now, the only option. What else could we do... I just need to keep him around as long as Ddraig won't agree to my father's proposal. If not, then I can only call Elder Crom Cruach to make a short process with him."

Answered Rias to her best friend and also a Caster of the Servant Class Card Peerage, Akeno Himejima.

Akeno was the daughter of Shuri Himejima of the Himejima Clan of Five Principal Clans. Baraqiel was shown as one of the newly promoted Twelve-Winged Archangel-Class Fallen Angels of the Grigori, who benefited from Underworld becoming Baator.

When she was young, she and her mother were attacked by assassins of the Himejima Clan and Fallen Angels that were acting under orders of the Kokabiel, who was also promoted to a Twelve-Winged Archangel-Class Fallen Angel.

As the Empire closely monitored the movements of the Kokabiel, one of the commanding officers decided to intervene, killing the assassins and which resulted in Shuri asking for protection from the Empire, which they were granted.

"Empire has means to communicate with Ddraig even when Boosted Gear is not awakened; awakening Twice Critical is enough."

Answered Rias.

"I have seen him talking with Fallen Angel this morning; they probably detected the same thing as us and want to extract his Sacred Gear... though I don't really know how did they do it."

Stated Shirone as right now some Fallen Angels have infiltrated the Kuoh Town, and they didn't really kill them to see what they were after.

"That's okey... it would be a good opportunity for reincarnating him; they probably want to kill him or force him to show his Sacred Gear so they could extract it."

Answered Rias as she had a reason why she left the small group of Middle-Class Fallen Angels alive.

"I will send one of my familiars to deliver him the Magic Circle, afterward observe the movements of the Fallen. They should be related to Kokabiel; Governor-General wouldn't send any Fallen into the territory of the Empire without noticing us in advance."

Ordered Rias as both Akeno and Shirone nodded.

"Also, Empire would send someone as reinforcement due to suspicious movement of several hostile factions, so prepare accommodation for them."

"Who shall be coming here?"

Asked Akeno as she prepared to leave the room to carry out orders from Rias.

"Lady Cleria said that Father has assigned a mission to Sardaukar Forces so that it would be Prince Elect Vali, with Khaos Brigade on the stand by."

Answered Rias as Akeno nodded a bit in anticipation.

 

[Trafford]

Later that day

"Those Fallen Angels are really planning to kill him; I have tallied one of them to their nest. They are hiding in the self-made base in the mountains nearby Kuoh Town. There are roughly fifteen Fallen Angels there, with probably a hundred rogue exorcists. They have built there rather nice magical defenses around the base."

Summarized Shirone her findings, as she deeply frowned upon hearing that.

As the fortress of the Fallen Angels was outside their territory, they could not attack them openly, as they would be trespassing the territory of Shinto, and fighting on their territory was a breach of the treaty between the Chthonian Empire and Shinto Pantheon.

"Go and watch that human low-life; hopefully, he will use the summon I have given him, or my efforts here are useless."

Said Rias, as she was a bit nervous.

If her target died, then her efforts would be turned null, as Sacred Gear would return to Heaven's System, and they would need to wait until a new host of it had been born. She had already developed a strategy to keep him by her side as long as she needed, and that was until she reached an agreement with Ddraig.

Class Cards cannot control someone's mind to follow someone's orders without question; they just reincarnated someone into the pre-designed race. They tied him to the Ruler Card, but the Ruler cannot control his Servants through the Card, as they were not mind-controlling artifacts nor they contained compel spells or similar.

She was very well aware that her target was a depraved pervert that could be fooled easily. It could be seen in the actual case of the Fallen Angel. A beautiful woman that he doesn't know walks up to a famous prevent and confesses to him? Even an idiot could sense something fishy going on here.

Rias only needed to act a bit pitifully and control him through his carnal lust, nothing serious, just a bit of teasing and empty promises. Then they could extract Ddraig willingly with Ddraing's consent or by force.

Suddenly as she leaned over her chair, her Holo-Brained lit up with incoming call requests; when she saw it, she instantly picked it up.

"Hello, my darling."

Said Rias with a soft voice as she picked up the call.

"Guhhh... it still sounds weird when you greet me like that..."

The caller was Rias's childhood crush Prince Elect Vali Lucifer.

Initially, Vali didn't really like Rias as she was more spoiled, but after her father sent her to the Execution Temple, there were many things she needed to learn, such as advanced magic that wasn't taught at the Execution Temple, she really didn't know whom to ask to teach her.

Her siblings didn't have time, or like her sisters, they outright refused her, and the only person to teach her was Vali.

Even though he was a seemingly arrogant and cold person, deep inside, he was compassionate due to his childhood experience when he lived with his grandfather and father.

Vali was rather famous in the Empire for being a ruthless, cold, and arrogant person, who looked down on the weak, and especially those who remained weak by their choice, even though they had an opportunity to get stronger.

In his own words, he helped her only because her mother, Venelana, was kind to him when he was a child, and he considered her as her own mother together with Grayfia.

Even though Vali was a close combatant, his magical knowledge was something to behold, as he was personally taught by her father every piece of magic. Her father even went as long as to use countless precious treasures to awaken Dark Light Clan Trait in his bloodline and used a blood adoption ritual so he could gain one of her father's Clan Traits, and he gained Holy Flame.

Altogether Vali had two Clan Traits and four innate powers that were given to him by Albion when Albion transferred part of his bloodline origin to save his life. It was powers of Division and Absorption, Reflect, Reduce.

"Your father has decided to deploy me to the Kuoh with Khaos Brigade on stand-by."

He said as Rias was feeling complicated emotions inside.

From the day when she was stripped of her title as Imperial Princess, she didn't speak with her father even once. After two years, she learned that life wasn't just having fun and lazying around in the Imperial Palace.

"Do you know that that father was actively keeping an eye on your progress? He even watched you sometimes training; he was happy that you have reached Ultimate-Class and started to be more responsible."

Stated Vali as Rias was frozen in shock.

She never thought that her father would be keeping an eye on her after he banished her in reality. Even though she still retained the title of the Imperial Noble, her status, in truth, meant nothing.

"Probably if you obtain Ddraig for the Chthonian Empire, he would name you Imperial Princess."

Vali said after some time of silence.

"Have you already found the host?"

Aksed Vali as Rias nodded.

"Yes, I will reincarnate him as my servant and try to convince Ddraig. I already have a few advantages, as probable host of Ddraig, won't be awakening Boosted Gear even after reincarnation due to low Soul Aptitude, and the fact that Albion is alive and kicking should also help a lot."

Answered Rias slowly as Vali agreed partially with her statement.

"Be careful; dragons are very prideful; even to father, it took a lot of effort to convince Albion. For them, outside help is a disgrace, especially to strong dragons that were in the Heavenly Dragon Class when they were alive, and both of them had very noble bloodline, so their pride and arrogance know no boundary, so you need to be patient. If I should give you a piece of advice, you need to convince Ddraig that his host is pathetic, or rather you need to force Ddraig to admit it himself."

 

[Trafford]

Rias nodded at his words, as it was undoubtedly true that dragons were especially arrogant creatures. Even though Devils were arrogant, not of them could reach the level of dragons.

After sometime later... in the evening of the same day

The Park of Kuoh Town was filled with trees, ponds, and grass fields. In the middle of it lies a water fountain.

Two people were walking side by side.

One of them was a woman, and another was a man.

The woman was an attractive young woman with violet eyes having, a slender body with a large bust. She had long silky black hair down to her hips and wore a black skirt with a purple shirt.

The man, or rather a boy, was of average height with short spiky brown hair, two short locks of hair behind his head, and light brown eyes. He wore Kuoh Academy boys' school uniform, consisting of a blazer over a white, long-sleeved dress shirt with black highlights with a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes.

Rias watched everything that was happening concealed under stealth spells as she slowly watched the show before her eyes.

Suddenly the woman, whom they identified as the Fallen Angel, walked in front of the fountain and started revealing her true form as she shredded her clothing and changed to her true appearance. In the process of transforming, she grew taller, taking on a more mature appearance, and her eyes changed, taking on a darker, more evil look. Her clothing also changed dramatically, now consisting of black, strap-like objects (resembling leather) around and under her breasts, a thong-like piece held around her hips by three thin straps, gloves that ran right up her arms with small lengths of chains hanging from them, shoulder guard-like objects on her shoulders with three large spikes sprouting from her right shoulder, and black thigh-high heel boots.

'She looked like whore... and her power is only around the initial High-Class... so by this logic, if she is the leader of the Fallen operating here, other Fallen Angels should be only of the Middle-Class.'

Though Rias, as she watched Fallen Whore as Rias nicknamed her in her mind, shot a light spear toward a human named Issei Hyoudou, instantly piercing him. After that, Raynare, the Fallen Whore, flapped her wings and left the place of the crime as Rias appeared next to dying Issei; as he activated the flyer she gave him through one of her familiars.

She took out the Independent Class Card that was used to reincarnate beings into Devils that were not tied to any Ruler. This one was a bit special as it was the so-called Expandable Independent Class Card, meaning it could self-destruct and kill its host when needed.

Usually, it was sued by Devils when reincarnating expandable individuals that are useful only for some specific mission or limited time.

And such as the value he had without his Sacred Gear was zero coupled with his Soul Aptitude. Additionally, Rias hated perverts, so she thought she would do the world a service by disposing of him.

She used the Expandable Independent Class Card. Suddenly, a magic circle lit up under the dying Issei, and everything went black for him.

"Now what... this is the first time I am reincarnating someone like this... troublesome... I will drop him by his home and solve it tomorrow."

Said Rias to herself as she lifted up Issei with one hand and dragged him like a sack of potatoes behind her all the way to his home, where she dropped him onto the bed while casting a few spells on him.

***

After dealing with this matter, she returned to her base at the Kuoh Academy, which was an old school building. It was a three-story building, with the third story serving as a clock tower. It has been painted white with a black roof with vines creeping up to the second story.

After she returned back, she opened her Holo-Brain and proceeded to write a report about everything to send to her superior at the Execution Temple to let them know that the plan has started.

Empire put a lot of importance on the recruitment of the Ddraig, as every being with the potential to reach transcendence, as they called it, was crucial for the future.

While Rias was only Novice Executioner, as a member of the Imperial House, she was aware of what was waiting for them... the wider world is known as the Astral Boundary, where even Super-Devils were only stronger people, and true powerhouses were only those a the Apocalypse-Class, Elder Dragons, Warlock Monarchs or Mighty Stage Gods.

And there were even stronger existences such as fearsome Holy Spirit Warlocks, Warlock Emperors, mighty Arcanists, even stronger Gods, and many, many others.

While Chthonian Empire might seem an unchallengeable faction in the Draconic Deus, they would be just a slightly stronger faction in the Astral Boundary. For example, they wouldn't be qualified to become a proper faction in Canghzi Plane's Core World as they had only four powerhouses comparable to a Warlock Monarch.

When she learned that, she was scared.

Only then did she genuinely realize that her parents could not oversee and guard them all the time, and she needed to depend on her own strength.

She knew that her two brothers, Sirzechs and Sigmar, were very close to reaching that level soon, and her mother and Aunt Grayfia were also not far.

Vali also told her that their father was close to reaching Dimensional-Class.

When someone like them who followed the path of Laws reached Dimensional-Class, they would be comparable in strength to the average Holy Spirit Warlocks moment when they broke through. After some time of accumulating more energy, they would be quickly comparable to Advanced Holy Spirit Warlocks, and talented ones could reach the level of the Great Holy fast.

 

[Trafford]

The next day, Rias went to meet Sona to discuss the problems with the Fallen Angels.

Contrary to Rias, who was more combat-oriented and served as the Executioner of the Execution Temple, Sona was more like an administration officer. She took the role of the Student Council of the Kuoh Academy.

Very similar to Rias, she had only filled three places among her Class Card Servant Peerage, as there were strict requirements for someone to be reincarnated. It was absolutely forbidden to reincarnate ordinary humans, even if they were magicians, and only special ones were allowed, as it was a wasting of the precious Class Cards.

Sona had filled three Classes, namely Caster, Berserker, and Saber.

Caster of her Class Card Servant Peerage was a bespectacled young woman with long straight black hair that extends all the way down to her knees, with split bangs and heterochromatic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye. In addition to wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, she also wears blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses.

Tsubaki Shinra, a former member of the Shinra Clan and host of the Sacred Gear, Mirror Alice, was able to reflect attacks that were weaker or at the same level as the host.

Her Berserker was a young foreign man with a large physique, looking in his late teens. He has gray hair with long bangs covering his eyes and a handsome face, and the highly well-built body of a warrior.

Loup Garou is a former Werewolf/Human Magician hybrid that traded his human part for the Devil Part. He was the son of one of the Werewolf Chieftains that migrated to the Chthonian Empire and became citizens of the Empire. Loup Garou became a Berserker of Sona's peerage to repay gratitude for the Sitri Family, as they cured his father of illness.

And the final member of the peerage was Saber who was a young girl of pale skin. She was rather a cute girl with long, dark purple hair and sleepy golden eyes. Her hair is tied in a long braid by a bow with a purple skull, reaching all the way down to her hips.

Grim Reaper, Bennia Orcus.

Grim Reapers while were citizens of the Empire, not many could get to high positions within the Empire, as they were looked at with cautiousness as they were once enemies of the Empire that fought them to death and were fanatical followers of their God, Hades. This caused a great deal of distrust to form against the Grim Reapers in the Empire.

"Sona, how are you this beautiful day?"

Asked Rias as she sat down across her friend/rival.

"Probably not as good as you... I take it that your yesterday's mission has been successful?"

Asked Sona as Rias nodded.

"Indeed, and I got even awarded with Mid-Grade Demonic Energy Crystals."

Demonic Energy Crystals became more common as the Baator, formerly known as the Underworld, started recovering to what it was once in the past.

Demonic Energy Crystals were very beneficial for the Devils, as they could absorb the Demonic Energy Crystals to increase their Demonic Energy Reserves and reach a higher class.

Rias was already Ultimate-Class, but only at the initial stage, so several Demonic Energy Crystals would be able to bring her power a significant increase.

"I have come here to notify you that Shirone found a base of Fallen Angels that is trespassing on our territory. Unfortunately, their base is constructed outside of our territory and even has some basic magical defensive circles and formations. From what we know, there are several tens of Fallen Angels, with an unknown number of Rogue Exorcists, that could number in hundreds."

Summarized Rias, as Sona was mildly surprised.

"Someone from the Shinto must let them enter... currently, without either huge effort or brute force, it is impossible to enter Japan without the interference of the Shinto Gods. These Fallen don't have anyone strong or skilled enough to enter, and in such large numbers, it would require at least a Legendary-Class individual very skilled in Spatial Magic, meaning someone from the Shinto Pantheon deliberately; let them enter and cause troubles for us."

Analyzed Sona situation quickly.

Japan doesn't have any Churches or influence of the Catholic Church or its branches, so there was no possibility of their personnel coming to Japan.

These days, after Shinto Gods had started meddling in the affairs of mortals, it was almost impossible to enter the territory of Japan without catching the attention of their Guardians. If someone wanted to enter, he needed to bypass the barrier or force their way.

Bypassing would require a skilled and strong magician with specialization in Spatial Magic, and those were rare even in the Chthonian Empire. Forcing their way was impossible, as the barrier would withstand even attacks from Super Devils for some time.

That left only one option... it was a trap for them.

"Even though Empire has a treaty with the Shinto Pantheon, either side never treated the other as an ally. Especially among Shinto Gods, it caused a lot of dissatisfaction, as they are viewing us as the ultimate enemies. The actions of His Holy Imperial Majesty are proving their doubts, so they want to kill us, but not openly, as that would cause instant war. They want to blame Grigori, which was cause war between Grigori and us, with us annihilating them. In the end, we would be weakened from the war with Grigori to some extent, and most importantly, we would be weakened from the fact that Grigori won't be absorbed into the Empire."

Rias nodded at her friend's analysis.

Among high-ranking personnel of the Empire, it was no secret that sooner or later, Grigori would be merged into the Empire.

With Kokabiel basically deserted the Grigori and now was who knows where there was nothing that was blocking the merger.

Unless some Fallen Angels killed the daughter of the Emperor, sister-in-law of the Crown Prince, who was also the daughter of the prominent Chthonian Lord.

 

[Trafford]

"So what shall we do?"

Asked Rias, as she was not as good when it came to formulating complex strategies as Sona.

"Play along... what else is we can do? After Prince Elect arrived, annihilating those Fallen would be secured even if some stronger Fallen Angels appeared. However, we should capture some of them for interrogation. We need to create a pretext for attacking them at their base so the Shinto Gods won't accuse us of breaching the treaty between them and the Empire."

Answered Sona mildly.

"I believe such reason will come sooner or later as the Fallen won't be silent. I think after they learn that I have reincarnated the person that they have killed, they will try once again, and I think I already have some way to find a perfect reason to leave our territory to attack them."

Smiled Rias with a mischievous smile.

"What reason?"

Asked Sona curiously.

"Did you know that injuries by Dark Light are extremely hard to distinguish from those caused by Fallen Angels?"

Said Rias as Sona squinted her eyes.

"You don't mean..."

Rias nodded.

"Yes, after Vali arrives and when Fallen make their move, I will have Vali injure me with Dark Light causing me severe injuries with Dark Light; that would be proof that we need to leave our territory and attack Fallen; without breaching the treaty with the Shinto."

The treaty between Shinto Pantheon and Empire clearly stated that Empire could not provoke any kind of fight in the territory of Shinto that would affect the citizens of Japan.

"That could work; Empire doesn't want any kind of war conflicts right now."

While the Chthonian Empire was the strongest faction in the Draconic Deus, it didn't want to fight meaningless wars, as it would weaken them and hinder their growth for the Astral Boundary.

While other factions were in the dark about the real strength of the Chthonian Empire as due to the fact that Empire had immense defenses and didn't allow anyone to enter Baator, and also as the Baator started recovering and was severed from its connections with other planes in the Dimensional Gap, it was almost impossible to enter the Baator undetected.

The Empire was aware that each Pantheon had at least one Mighty Stage God that didn't participate in the creation of the Dimensional Gap; the Primordial God was the title for any God that lived for a very, very long time.

Such Gods could cause a lot of trouble to the Empire, and gains were far less than losses in these cases.

"I will not take my leave; I have a pervert to introduce to his new life and then try to establish communication with Ddraig."

Stated Rias as she stood up and left shortly after.

***

After that, she returned to the Occult Research Club Building and sent one of her underlings to fetch Issei Hyoudou.

As Novice Executioner, she had under her several Disciples and Initiates to follow her orders; all of them were ar the Grand-Class and High-Class.

Soon enough, after several minutes, Disciple Executioner returned with Issei Hyoudou, who instantly started staring at her chest without even hiding his perverted gaze.

'If not for the fact I need him alive, I would have already killed that perverted trash.'

Thought Rias in her head, as his behavior disgusted her to no limits. As someone who was brought up with a strict code of conduct befitting that of a member of the Imperial House, behavior like this was unacceptable for her.

Currently, there were only Rias and two Disciple Executioners of the Grand-Class in the room, as Akeno was doing something else, and Shirone was having a call with her sister.

"Please sit down."

Rias said to an absent-minded young man as he dumbly nodded his head and sat down at the chair opposite to her, as she stared at her breasts.

'Vali will beat him to death if they meet...'

Thought Rias in her head in the meantime.

She quickly explained to him what had happened and that he had been reincarnated as Devil due to being killed by Fallen Angel called Raynare due to having a Sacred Gear.

Fortunately, in the Execution Temple, they were taught how to handle situations like this with the highest efficiency.

After that, she proceeded to tell him some basic information, to which he didn't really listen, but that was also good, and in the end, she told him that there was a high possibility of him having a harem if he was strong enough and attained noble rank in the Empire.


Throughout the all-time, Rias kept on a seductive smile as she attempted to flirt with him, to create emotional attachment from his side for her as it would be much easier for her to control him in the time he had remaining.

"I will do it, buchou! I will be the strongest servant and become Harem King!"

After some time, Issei shouted enthusiastically as Rias winked at him seductively as he left the room soon afterward.

"Monitor him all the time, in case he is ambushed by Fallen Angels once again. And observe his every movement, and everything about him, I wonder what he will be doing... If he starts training in an attempt to get stronger, it could be problematic, but also good, as he still didn't awaken even Twice Critical; this was he would be killed even by some random Low-Class thug."

Ordered Rias to one of the Disciple Executioners, who bowed slightly and merged with the shadows.

In the Empire, even commoners were at least the pinnacle of the Low-Class.

"Just like Shirone said, his Soul Aptitude is trash; not even reincarnating managed to awaken even the Twice Critical... this is problematic... the spell I know was meant to communicate with already awakened Boosted Gear."

Muttered Rias to herself as she opened her Holo-Brain and wrote a message to the Magister of the Arcane and Magic Research, Lord Mephisto Pheles, as he should be able to provide her with a new spell that would be able to communicate with the soul inside the Sacred Gear even if it is not awakened at all.

 

[Trafford]

MC POV

Baator, Chthonian Empire, Imperial Capital of Anor Londo

Today was a meeting of the Elders of the Chthonian Empire of the Baator and me.

The first one to arrive was Zekram Bael, who was already the same as I reached the Apocalypse-Class, and he reached it in the Law of Destruction.

He often gave me notes about the comprehension of the Law of Destruction. In contrast, I gave him about the comprehension of the Law of Slaughter. Due to that, my comprehension of the Law of Destruction has already reached 62%.

"Zekram, how are you these days?"

I asked as I welcomed my grandfather-in-law/friend.

"Collecting resources and treasures for the ritual... if it goes this way, I will become really broke."

He grumbled as I nodded.

The ritual he talked about was related to one of his descendants, Sairaorg Bael, who was born without the Clan Trait Power of Destruction. When he was born, Zekram invited me to inspect his condition and I found that he wasn't born without the Power of Destruction, but rather it was dormant.

I had a special ritual that could awaken it, but the process would require for the person undergoing it to reach later Super-Devil Class in the physical body first to have a chance at survival.

Because Clan Traits of the Devil have related to the Laws themselves, it was a quite hazardous tampering with them in this way. With Vali, it was a different case, as Dark Light wasn't that aggressive Law in nature. Still, the Power of Destruction originated from the Law of Destruction, which was one of the most aggressive Laws.

On the contrary, young Sairaorg Bael showed an immense talent for the martial arts, Senjutsu, mastered Touki, and became the youngest Prefect of the Adeptus Custodes from its founding. At the age of 19, he was already Legendary-Class Powerhouse in physical strength, though Demonic Energy-wise, he was only High-Class.

That was another reason why later Super-Devil Class for the physical state. When the ritual is successful and the Clan Trait Awakens, it will cause Demonic Energy to overflow the body, and if the body is not strong enough, it could kill the host.

Though even with awakened Power of Destruction, Sairaorg will never use it like others, I can predict that he will incorporate it into his martial arts; coupled with it, he would probably be the deadliest close-quarter combatant in the entire Empire.

"He managed to tame Regulus Nemea... I would like for you to do the same thing as you have done with Canis Lykaon."

Said Zekram proudly. Indeed this was a very good catch.

If I can resurrect it, Nemean Lion, as strong as Regulus Nemea, would easily reach Emperor Level Monsters and could have a solid chance of achieving Apocalypse-Class. He would be a great familiar for Sairaorg.

His other Clan Trait Lion Taming he inherited from his mother, was very strong, and if I mean very strong, then probably the strongest recorded in the history of the entire Vapula Clan.

Due to not inheriting Clan Trait of Power of Destruction, his relationship with his father was very strained as his father outright despised him. His mother was seriously ill, and several years ago, she had fallen into the Devil's Sleep, which was a very rare condition for devils and was hard to cure.

Despite all of that, the only person among the Bael Clan who supported him was Zekram. As he got stronger, he saw potential inside him and was hailed as the strongest member of the young generation after Vali and Renxue in the Empire.

It was Zekram's idea to send him to Custodians as it was the best place to develop someone's latent talent. What was surprising, and known only by Zekram and me, was that Sairaorg was born with Level 8 Inferior Soul Aptitude, which was shocking by itself.

"Of course, I will just send him to be together, and I will have it done in several days."

I stated as I nodded my head.

After we had talked for some time, another Elder arrived, and this time it was Crom Cruach, though he seemed tired?... yes, probably I as looked at him.

"What happened to you? You look like shit?"

Asked Zekram with a mocking voice as he looked at grumpy-looking Crom Cruach.

"Hatchlings are happening, screaming, and screaming and screaming and screaming all the day, all the night... it is terrible."

Oh, I remember that Tiamat was laying down eggs, so they must have hatched up.

"Shut up already, Crom Cruach... can we start the meeting? I have important issues to deal with... Etoulde Spirit at Mighty Stage God has shown up, and I want to obtain its Divine Spark."

Stated Azrael, who had just now arrived.

"Now that everybody is here, the topic of this meeting is about the entrance of the Pale Blood Faction into the Empire. How is the negotiation with them going?"

I said as I aimed my question at Zekram.

"For now, it is going very well. After I passed your message to Alucard and Brunestud, they have reconsidered their movements for the future. As two of them are basically wanted criminals of the Divine Blood Plane, they cannot return there. There is also a high chance they would be hunted down if they entered any other Plane that is either associated with or under the influence of the Divine Blood Plane and its Ancestors. Worlds with other species are out of the question too, and Baator is Grade 3 Plane with enough potential to advance to a Grade 2 Plane. So they are leaning to agree to our proposal."

Summarized Zekram his progress on this matter.

I have also prepared to give them a seat of Elder, which would probably be taken up by Brunestud as Alucard isn't really someone with patience or experience with these things.

"Splendid... Azrael, how are things with Grigori going on?"

I then turned my attention to another matter of this meeting.

 

[Trafford]

Merging with Grigori was necessary for the Empire. While not as strong as a fraction of the Imperial strength, Grigori represented potential that we could significantly use. Especially if Fallen Angels are converted to Azrael's method of how he advanced.

Additionally, while Empire had very advanced Arcanotech, Grigori was far superior in research of Sacred Gear or rather entirely Soul-Bound Growth Equipment and Artificiery due to Azazel's passion.

Imperial technology never delved deep into the research of the Sacred Gears or Soul-Bound Growth Equipment as a whole. While I had to some extent, but my success at reviving Canis Lykaon was more dependent on Laws than on understanding it as a whole.

Additionally, Fallen Angels were populous, numbering around several billion altogether, maybe 7 or 8, which would be a good population boost for the Empire.

"After Kokabiel took his loyal ones, Azazel said that the Grigori is prepared for the fusion into the Empire."

Stated Azrael slowly.

"Splendid. After Grigori has fused into the Empire, the last step in our plan will start. Refinement of the Three Realms will cause huge waves, and when Okhwang reaches the next realm in his cultivation, we can begin tearing down the Dimensional Gap."

I said as everyone turned extremely serious in a matter of several seconds.

"It is highly probable that when I start the ritual to tear down the Dimensional Gap, I would be attacked by all Pantheons on the Earth that wish to preserve it. We are currently aware that there are several Mighty Stage Gods in the Olympian Pantheon, Shinto Pantheon, and Hindu Pantheon. Their combined effort, coupled with their trump cards, especially if Shiva uses his position as God-King, would be enough to propel him temporarily into the Supreme God Stage. We are at a severe disadvantage up here in such a fight. The approximate amount of high-level enemies is more than 10, while we are 5, and if we recruit Pale Blood, it will make 7. Okhwang would be able to handle Shiva in his boosted state, but the real problem would be if some of the hidden Mighty Stage Gods became God-Kings of the Shinto Pantheon and Olympians. And if Evie and Etouldes are counted in too... I fear it would be a tough fight."

I said grimly.

This was the underlying strength of the factions of Dimensional Gap and especially the Draconic Deus factions.

After so many years of gathering information, spying, infiltration, and torture, we were able to get information on the hidden strengths of several factions.

As I predicted, some so-called Primordial Gods were still alive and were slumbering and would awaken only in the direst time of need.

Olympus had only one Mighty Stage God, Shinto had three slumbering ones, Hindu Pantheon, had together four slumbering and coupled with Shiva, Indra, and Brahma, there were 7 Mighty Stage Gods in the Hindu Pantheon alone, which was terrifying.

Even in the Astral Boundary, such force would be unmatched if they ruled in some random Grade 3 Plane. Even in the Canghzi Plane, which was home of the Warlocks, finding a living Warlock Monarch on the surface world of the Canghzi Plane was a rare occasion, as right now, the Core World was still separated from the Surface World of the Canghzi.

"Fortunately, Olympians have been basically crippled after Titans broke out of their prison, so no gods from their side aside from Ouranos will intervene. Asgard is still recuperating from the last stunt Empress Hela did by recruiting Surtr to form a Burning Legion as she fought with Odin, who woke up and he needed to use a lot of his power to defeat her."

Several years ago, Hela infiltrated Nine Realm and negotiated a deal with Surtr to pledge his allegiance to the Chthonian Empire.

Surtr was an Emperor Level Monster, standing at the pinnacle of the realm. Not only that, but he was difficult to kill even for those in a realm higher than him due to his special nature. He had absolute control over millions of the fire creatures in the realm of Muspelheim.

In the end, he agreed, and he created a Burning Legion by combining all the fire creatures until only 100,000 of them remained, each one at the pinnacle of the Grand-Class. By the time the Burning Legion was created, Odin had woken up from his sleep and found out that Hela was in the Nine Realms doing something nefarious with Surtr.

He fought her as Surtr rampaged and slain several Asgardian Gods before he escaped to the Baator with the entire Burning Legion intact.

Meanwhile, Hela fought with Odin, forcing him to use all reserves of the Pantheon that he recovered in centuries to defeat Hela or rather to push her out. In truth, Hela's aim wasn't to even defeat Odin to kill him, but rather to force him to do exactly this. Killing Odin within Nine Realms was virtually impossible for even her unless she was a pinnacle Mighty Stage God, but this result was equally good.

"We need to increase the number of high-end powerhouses in the Empire. Who is currently close to breaking through?"

I asked as I wanted to produce at least 2 Powerhouses that could participate in such a fight.

"Captain-General Diablo is apparently very close, same could be said about Crown Prince Sirzechs and Imperial Prince Sigmar."

Reported Zekram.

"Redirect all crucial resources towards them, and I need for them to reach that level as soon as possible."

For Diablo, he was only recovering where he once was, but it took time a long time. Meanwhile, Sirzechs and Sigmar had their own circumstances for their rather slow growth.

But one was common for them.

When they broke through, they would be fearsome existences at the same rank.

 

[Trafford]

3rd POV

Earth, Japan, Kuoh Town

This morning, Rias Lucifer-Gremory received a report that one of the criminals that were being chased down in the Empire had managed to escape to Earth by using a magic transportation circle after she killed the guards on the service.

This happened from time to time; when criminals were strong, they often searched for weakly guarded teleportation circles that connected Baator and Earth.

Nowadays, most of such teleportation circles are heavily guarded, which meant that this convict had been planning it for a long time and was very cunning and probably even very strong to overwhelm the guards of the teleportation circle in a short time before the reinforcements appeared or other defenses were activated.

"Probably a pinnacle Ultimate-Class powerhouse."

Muttered Rias, as suddenly one of the Novice Executioners assigned under her appeared from the shadows.

"Lady Rias, I bring you a report about your reincarnated servant. Yesterday, Fallen Angel attacked him when they found out that he is alive... of course, the Fallen Angel is no longer among the living."

Reported Novice Executioner.

"Splendid, also, has the word from the Empire arrived about the things I have requested?"

She asked shortly.

"Yes, it will be teleported this evening."

Answered Novice Executioner with a bow as he melted into the shadows.

"I will need to send Shirone to search for the convict."

Muttered Rias.

Shirone, despite her rather cute appearance, was the pinnacle High-Class Devil/Nekoshou Hybrid in both Demonic Energy and Physique; she can even send Rias flying with one punch.

Though one of her strongest abilities was the usage of Senjutsu and Youjutsu and other similar techniques, she was the best tracker and could easily search for targets.

After some time, Shirone returned from the Baator as she was to visit her elder sister Kuroka.

"Shirone-chan, I need for you to search for a criminal that escaped here. He should be hiding somewhere in the Kuoh Town, probably at the Pinnacle of the Ultimate-Class, so be careful."

Said Rias as she watched Shirone laying on the couch and munching on some sweets that she had brought from her trip.

"When I was returning, I saw that pervert talking to some nun, and she had a Twilight Healing to the top of it."

Said Shirone as she was eating her sweets as Rias froze in her spot.

"Nun? Here in Japan? How? Something is not right here..."

Japan was a place where wasn't even a single Chuch devoted to the Yahweh, so hearing that a nun was here didn't sound right.

Rias knew that the nun should be Asia Argento, a former Holy Maiden that healed a devil, Diodora Astaroth, that was executed several days ago for being connected to Rizevim Livan Lucifer and for kidnapping female members of the Church, raping them and torturing them to death.

It was found out by his own mistake by letting himself be healed by Holy Maiden, thus ending in her ex-communication. Intelligence Department investigated that matter and quickly found out that a Devil who was involved was Diodora Astaroth.

Then it was passed to a Commissariat, where they arrested Diodora and quickly found out about his deals with Rizevim, information leaks, and even some suspicious connection to the Fallen Angels, which has not been clarified, but all evidence was pointing to a Kokabiel's rogue faction.

Diodora was sentenced to death, and his executioner was none other than his family, Ajuka Beelzebub, who also came from the Astaroth Clan.

"Hmm..."

Rias hummed about what to do with this situation. On the one side, it was confirmed that the Holy Maiden was already no longer a member of the Church; what still made things problematic was the fact that when the higher-ups of Heaven learned the real reason, she would be immediately put under their protection.

While Heaven was weak, another conflict with them was totally unnecessary, especially over one insignificant human with Sacred Gear.

'Those Fallen are probably trying to extract her Sacred Gear. With their abilities, they could use only some crude ritual to do so, so she will die in the process. This is perfect; I don't really need to deal with this situation and could also obtain a Sacred Gear for the Magisterium of Arcannotechnology to research upon.'

Though Rias, as this would be nice merit for her.

Currently, all operatives on Earth were under strict order to not evoke any kind of conflict with any faction due to preparation for something big, though Rias new that they didn't want any war till the Empire was ready to tear down the Dimensional Gap.

"You can go and search for the target... I will deal with the matter with devil and nun."

Stated Rias as Shirone got up from the couch and went to search for the hiding criminal from the Empire.

***

"Twilight Healing should be useful in research to create a portable healing device, don't you think, Vali?"

Asked Rias to Vali, who teleported her after some time after Shirone left.

"It should. From what I heard, Magisterium of Arcanotech has several prototypes of such devices, but they lack efficiency compared to Twilight Healing. After Michael started tweaking Holy System to increase the probability of Sacred Gears landing to already pre-destined members of the Church, it became significantly harder to get our hands on Sacred Gears."

Stated Vali as he sat on the couch.

Before Yahweh succumbed to his injuries, he made many additions to Heaven's System, the most important ones being that Pure Angels could reproduce without becoming Fallen Angels, or giving full control over Heaven's System to Michael.

This made Archangel Michael a controller of Heaven's System on the same level as Yahweh. All of that was achieved only thanks to the agreement that the Emperor of the Chthonian Empire had with Yahweh, or rather it was due to the fact that he didn't kill him.

In the end, Heaven was still no match for Empire, even if some changes were made to Heaven's System, but it wasn't as weak as everyone would expect from their losses during the war.

 

[Trafford]

"Won't you be joining me in search for it? With your abilities, it could be done in several minutes."


Asked Rias, as indeed with Vali's abilities, finding someone on the Ultimate-Class that was hiding in a small town was nothing, but he just shook his head in denial.


"Nople... deal with it. I am going to take a look at our crow friends hiding at their base. Even if I heard it from you and Sona, I still feel uneasy about all of this. Think about it, why would anyone clear in their mind let them attack you and Sona if their strength is just a bunch of Mid-Class and Low-Class with one High-Class against Ultimate-Class even if they were hundreds? Of like those, it is useless. Most likely, it is a trap within a trap."


Deduced Vali.


As someone who spent the majority of his life in the Amry and learning from the best among the Imperial House, Custodes, and Imperialis Militarum, which was skilled in military strategy as he was in scheming.


"I think that the real aim of the Shinto Pantheon was to kill you indeed, and Fallen Angels up there probably tricked the Shinto by saying that they would kill you, but they want to capture you most likely. Before you make any moves, I need to take a look at the situation myself, and due to the fact that I cannot transport the entire Khaos Brigade here, I will go alone or probably take only some of my subordinates."


As Vali thought, several factions and people were scheming here against the Chthonian Empire of the Baator, as this was a priceless opportunity.


Rarely do members of the Chthonian Empire's prestigious bloodlines leave the Empire's domain or Baator. Usually, no direct members of the Chthonian Empire left Baator and set foot on the Earth, and if they did, they would be accompanied by many powerhouses depending on the Noble House.


For example, the House of Sitri was the Chthonian Lord House, directly related to the High Lord House Leviathan and Imperial House. Under normal circumstances, it was unthinkable that Heiress of the House would leave for Earth basically with no protection.


"I have already reincarnated Ddraig... and from what I have seen, my job would probably be easy..."


Said Rias with a grin as Vali raised his eyebrow; as the former host of Albion, he was a bit curious, and even now, he was still technically Albion's kin, as he was transformed into a part dragon by him, making him a Devil Dragonoid.


"So?"


Vali asked while he looked at Rias.


"Depraved pervert with zero talent... not able to awaken Sacred Gear even after he was reincarnated... that would for sure hit dragon's pride too much. Magisterium of Arcane and Magic Research already sent me a spell with which I would be able to communicate with him."


Rias had a somewhat happy expression saying that as circumstances were doing her job more manageable.


"Still, be careful till you have not succeeded. If he leaves, then all is in vain."


Vali lectured her.


Rias nodded and started unbuttoning her shirt.


"Do you want to fuck before you leave?"


She whispered in a sultry voice.


***


Several hours later, after the pleasure time was over, Rias got a message from Shirone that she had found spaced convict that was hiding in the Kuoh Town.


In the evening, Rias took her servants to an abandoned factory where a criminal named Viser was hiding. She was a dangerous devil at the pinnacle of the Ultimate-Class, charged with casting a forbidden ritual that shot her to Ultimate-Class at the prize of tens of citizens of Empire used as a sacrifice.


Rias stood there with her three servants, technically two, as Shirone wasn't really her servant. Still, as Kuroka dropped her younger sister on Rias, she was in her care, as Shirone didn't want to stay alone in their home, as Kuroka and their mother Fujimai were often not at home. Their father had long perished during the tide of magical beasts when he led Imperialis Militarum to fight it.


Unfortunately, even though he was the pinnacle Legendary-Class Devil, a Monarch Level monster showed up and killed him. Fortunately, he managed to stall for enough time until reinforcements arrived and civilians evacuated and were awarded the post-humanly title of the Hero of the Empire.


"Today, we are going to fight a criminal that escaped to Earth. Issei, you will do nothing and just wait here with Akeno, as this criminal called Viser is at the pinnacle of the Ultimate-Class."


Said Rias as Issei looked at her, or her boobs, or her, but it was clear he was clueless about what she was saying.


"You didn't read the introduction guide or remember anything I have said before?"


She asked, annoyed that she had a useless servant.


"I am going to repeat it only once more. A Power Hierarchy exists that measures how strong a person is; think about it like a level system or cultivation system. From weakest to strongest, there are Low-Class, Middle-Class, High-Class, Grand-Class, Ultimate-Class, Legendary-Class, Satan-Class, and Super-Devil Class, though some classes exist above that; currently, it is irrelevant, as it is almost night impossible that such lofty individuals would spare us some time."


She explained slowly.


"So how strong I am, buchou?"


He asked excitedly.


"Low-Class."


Answered Rias plainly as Issei looked heartbroken that he was on the bottom of the ladder.


"How strong are those classes?"


He asked shortly after.


"Usually, it depends on the individual, on specific abilities and other aspects. Generally, the average Low-Class can destroy an entire building with his strongest attack; Middle-Class can do the same to a small town, High-Class to small City, Grand-Class to a large city, Ultimate-Class can wipe entire mountain, Legendary-Class can destroy smaller sub-continent, Satan-Class can destroy entire Continent at their full force and Super-Devil Class can destroy small celestial bodies or asteroids."


Explained Rias; of course, this was only orientational because, as she said, it depended on the person. Those with high mastery over magic, destructive Clan Traits, or those who learned forbidden magic can possess even higher destructive power.

 

[Trafford]

Issei gulped hearing all of that, as he now realized that Supernatural World, as it was called, was filled with existences that could wipe out entire countries in a matter of seconds if they wished to do so.

Indeed the Supernatural World of the Draconic Deus was a ruthless place, where those with strength reigned supreme and did what they wished.

The only reason they rarely fought on Earth or acted there was a silent agreement between all factions that they wouldn't destroy Earth as it was the source of Faith for many Pantheons and the source of Souls and other resources.

"Right now, I will show you how the fights in the Supernatural World are fought."

Rias stated as she signaled for Shirone to follow her into the building.

They entered together into the abandoned factory, where the criminal devil named Viser was obviously hiding. It was dark here; Rias and Shirone took the lead, while Akeno stayed with Issei in the backlines, as they wouldn't be fighting.

This was a relatively high-level fight, and Issei could quickly perish here, considering that he was only a Low-Class individual.

As they were searching through the abandoned factory, suddenly, several thunderbolts were shot at them, to which Rias cast a defense barrier that protected them all from incoming magical attacks.

Akeno subsequently cast an illumination spell, illuminated the entire abandoned factory, and showed the culprit they were searching for.

It was Ultimate-Class criminal Viser, and she looked like a hybrid between men and centaurs. She had a voluptuous upper body with long, black hair, and her lower body was gigantic and beastly with four legs, each having sharp claws and a snake as a tail.

"Criminal Stray Viser, by orders of the Commissariat, you are hereby sentenced to death for murdering 17 guards, escaping the prison transport, and for the original charge, casting a forbidden ritual that sacrificed the life of tens of Imperial Citizens in order to reach Ultimate-Class. I Rias Lucifer-Gremory, Novice Executioner of the Execution Temple, will carry out the Judgement."

Stated Rias in a formal voice as she observed Viser carefully.

Stray Devil was a term used for devils that cast a forbidden ritual to increase their strength by sacrificing others quickly. Though not the valid reason for that name, but rather each of these rituals had the terrible side effect of transforming the recipient into hideous monsters with grotesque shapes and looks.

The moment Rias finished the sentence, she instantly created several orbs with her Power of Destruction and shot them toward the Viser. Despite her enormous size, she was relatively agile and managed to dodge most of the spheres; as only the last one touched her right hand as it turned it to dust.

Realizing that she was no opponent for Rias, she decided to escape; in truth, she settled for escape the moment Rias introduced herself, as fighting a member of the Imperial House was plain suicide due to their Clan Traits and overwhelming power.

As she was running away, suddenly a white blur appeared before her, and with full strength, she punched her to her stomach, sending her flying several tens of meters and crashing into the wall.

As the dust settled, it revealed Shirone, armed with special gauntlets, who ended the escape of the criminal Viser. Shiro now looked different from her usual self, as she had more cat-like eyes, pair of cat ears, and two tails were waggling behind her.

Despite being only at the High-Class, her physical strength was at the pinnacle of the High-Class, and Viser was Ultimate-Class only in terms of Demonic Energy. Additionally, she was armed with a pair of gauntlets comparable to any legendary artifact in Earth myths.

At that exact moment, Rias cast a binding spell that bound Viser in her place where she crashed, not allowing her to move an inch.

"Any last words, traitor?"

Asked Rias rhetorically as she prepared Destruction Orb in her hand before shooting it at Viser, obliterating her from existence.

"Now we are done; the only thing remaining is to file a report for the Commissariat."

Said Rias as she looked around her.

***

MC POV

At the same time, on the roof of the opposite building.

I stood on the roof while watching the fight below me.

Even though it was between Ultimate-Class powerhouses, it was still entertaining. It appears that Rias had inherited from me, ending her opponents fastest as possible.

That was a good thing to have.

"Father."

Said a voice behind me as Vali landed down.

"So, what have you found out?"

I asked my adopted son/future son-in-law. I was happy that my daughter ended up with someone reliable and of noble blood, especially if that person was Vali.

"There are several Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels and one Ten-Winged Cadre-Class Fallen Angel. The number of Low-Class to Middle-Class rogue exorcists is more than two hundred; other Fallen are numbering in tens. This is a clear trap for them and..."

He stopped in the middle of a sentence.

"Pinnacle Intermediate God was hiding near the base of Fallen."

He finished with a stern voice as I just nodded my head in understanding.

"Kokabiel, Melvazoa, Amaterasu... all of you are nothing more than just stepping stones in the path of mine and that of the Empire."

I said in a low voice.

"It appears that Susanoo cannot wait, and Kokabiel has joined hands with Melvazoa... losses that Evies have suffered in our hands forced them to search for allies here to at least hinder our progress. Fortunately, those Spirit Gods are too arrogant to do something like this. Still, it doesn't matter... Vali, go and capture that Intermediate God alive and give him to an Execution Temple for interrogation; I want to know what they are planning against us; if they realize our true goal, we need to move faster."

I ordered as Vali nodded and teleported away.

I looked at the people there.

"Ddraig, I hope we will meet soon."

I said as I teleported back to the Baator.

 

[Trafford]

MC POV

Several Days Later, Baator, Imperial Capital Anor Londo

"So, what are the results of the interrogation?"

I asked as I was visited by Hilda, who was in charge of interrogating captured Intermediate Stage God by Vali several days earlier.

"As predicted, some kind of three-way alliance has been created between Susanoo, Melvazoa, and Kokabiel; hard to stay what exactly it is, but it is clear that they are working together. Especially Melvazoa and Kokabiel, as Melvazoa elevated Kokabiel to an Archangel-Class and invested a lot of resources into his Legion of Fallen Angels so he could cause problems for us."

An outcome that I have long ago predicted.

"Continue."

I said.

"Certainly. From what we have found out, Susanoo allowed Kokabiel to create a foothold in Japan in hopes that he would target Rias and Sona. Kokabiel wants to kill them, while Susanoo wants to capture them as a form of insurance against our Empire. Meanwhile, Kokabiel was able to convince Suanoo with the backing of Melvazoa, as it seems that other Pantheons are very well aware of the two factions of Evie and Etoulde. The task of this Intermediate God was to capture Sona and Rias the moment they were about to be killed by Fallen Angels; then, they would negotiate their return to the Empire in exchange for resources they planned to use to resurrect another; of their Primordial Gods."

Summarized Hilda everything she has learned.

"While Kokabiel just wants to avenge himself for the humiliation he suffered in the war in your hands, father."

She finished after a short pause.

"This is troublesome; with Kokabiel getting support from Melvazoa is the problem itself; while impossible to solve, it could hinder our progress if mismanaged."

I muttered to myself.

"Immediately contact Grigori and report this situation, and push for the meeting between Grigori and Heaven as soon as possible. Send a message to Celestial Court that we can start, announce a state of emergency, active Judas Protocol."

I said briefly as Hilda bowed and left to carry out my orders.

Judas Protocol was a plan to cut all loose ends; when activated, Empire would send its best trackers and strongest powerhouses to deal with Rizevim, his pawns, and other organizations that threatened the final act.

Empire had many hidden enemies in the Draconic Deus waiting for their time to strike, and that time was coming very soon.

"My Emperor."

Said a voice out of the shadows.

"Lead a group of your best men and assassinate all Susanoo's subordinates in mortal Japan, leave none alive, blame Celestial Court. Okhwang is okey with such development."

I ordered.

Okhwang didn't really care about Shinto Pantheon, even if the primordial gods were counted in; for him, they were just minor nuisances, so he won't care if I blamed Celestial Court for this series of assassinations.

In the end, soon, it would cease to exist.

"It shall be done, My Emperor."

Replied Grandmaster of the Execution Temple Cain Valefor.

***

3rd POV

Around the same time, Earth, Japan, Kuoh Town

"Absolutely not; you will right now cease all contact with that nun! Where do you think you have seen that? A nun fraternizing with Devi? Especially one that is the servant of a member of the Imperial House!"

Shouted Rias at Issei as she once again heard that he was hanging out with the nun. This time, it nearly got him killed as one rogue exorcist prepared a trap for him in an attempt to kill him. He was pretty lucky that Rias ordered one of her subordinates to monitor him, who saved his life and teleported them away.

"But buchou she is..."

He attempted to say something only to step in mid of his sentence as Rias's angry glare silencing him.

"No buts! You will immediately stop contact with that nun, am I clear?"

She asked threateningly.

"Yes."

Issei answered dully as he left the room, leaving there Rias alone.

Soon after he left, Akeno entered the room.

"You sure? He will go there and search for her. If he dies, it will destroy all plans."

Stated Akeno.

"He will not, as we will attack their fortress too. Vali already knows their exact strength and will take several of his lieutenants from the Khaos Brigade to attack the fortress. Issei's attack will be nothing more than just a distraction."

Answered Rias, as already was finished, preparations were complete, and they would attack the fortress of the Fallen Angels.

It was planned to happen today, but since they could create a better situation, then why not? They would use a pawn to create chaos absolute and attack Fallen and their servants in distraction.

 

[Trafford]

The same day, evening.

It was a silent night in Kuoh Town in Japan.

Under the shadows of the night, countless figures were moving to the outskirts of the Kuoh Town area, to the nearby mountains that were the base for the Fallen Angels.

"Your servant has departed to rescue that nun about an hour ago. With this temp, he should have arrived at the location of the Fallen Angels."

Reported one of the subordinate Executioners to Rias.

"Excellent; inform Vali about this development; we are making haste to reach that place as soon as possible."

Ordered Rias, as Executioner bowed slightly as he melted in shadows.

***

Outside of the Kuoh Town, the Fortress of the Fallen Angels

"So, what is the plan?"

Asked Rias to Vali, they were all standing on the top of some random mountain with a good view of the fortress belonging to the Fallen Angels.

Rias was here together with Shirone and Akeno; all three of them were wearing a battle uniform, while Rias was wearing a Runic Armor, in a similar design to the one Vali was wearing, only distributed for the member of the Imperial House.

It also had its own PSG or the Personal Shield Generator.

"You and your servants deal with rogue exorcists in the outer area of the fortress; I, with my men, will dispose of all Fallen Angels that are hiding in the inner area. Currently, your servant is in the inner church where that Fallen Angel Raynare is performing an extraction ritual on that nun. 234 rogue exorcists ranging from Low-Class to Middle-Class, you should be able to kill them all within a short time, then there are around 15 Fallen Angels at Middle-Class, and one at the High-Class here is the map of the fortress."

Summarized Vali the plan that was to be carried out.

"Now that the plan is clear, everybody start."

Ordered Vali as everyone dispersed.

***

After dispersing, Rias took Akeno, Shirone, and her subordinate Executioners to fight in the fortress's outer area to annihilate all rogue exorcists up here. All of them were dressed in white clerical clothing and armed with light swords and exorcist guns.

"This will be, though."

While they were stronger, they had a numerical disadvantage, especially after the Fallen Angels sensed that Rias was here. Hence, two Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels appeared to comfort her, leaving Shirone, Akeno, and two Disciple Executioners to deal with rogue exorcists.

Fortunately, those rogue exorcists were only of Low-Class, and only a few of them were Mid-Class. Unfortunately, several Mid-Class Fallen Angels mingled between them, which was complicating things, but alas... it was time for the fight.

Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels instantly rushed at Rias, knowing her specialty being long-ranged to mid-ranged combat; as they attempted to kill her in the close-quarters, to the great shock of Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, she took out pair of the beautifully crafted daggers and attacked two Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, that were charging at her.

She coated her two daggers in Power of Destruction to increase their attacking power, while at the same time, she skillfully dodged every attack that the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels threw at her.

While they were at the Ultimate-Class, Rias noticed that they had a problem controlling their own strength, as if they were artificially elevated to the Class. She knew that during the war between what was known at that time as Devil Faction, with Heaven and Grigori, Yahweh was mass-elevating Pure Angels forcefully by using an enormous amount of Divine Crystals to build a strong army.

Two Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels were shocked that she was rushing at them while dodging their attacks, as they panicked monetary before they started shooting a large amount of Light Spear at her, to which Rias just active her in-built Personal Shield Generator, which defended her against all attacks, as they were absolutely futile.

She appeared before one of the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, slashing at him with her daggers, slitting his throat in a split of a second. Blood splattered all around as the head sprung into the air, and the headless corpse fell onto the ground. Second Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels panicked and decided to escape.

Most Fallen Angels were cowards to heart that only fought against someone weaker or someone as strong as them. When faced with a stronger opponent, the majority would choose to escape. Of course, this rule applied only to that of Fallen not belonging to the Empire.

As the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angel was escaping, Rias flew instantly in pursuit and quickly attacked him with a Power of Destruction wave, aimed at his wings, turning them to dust as the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels let out a horrendous shriek of pain as he fell from the sky, crashing onto the ground in an instant.

After the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels crashed down, it was a piece of cake to kill him, as she just threw at him several orbs from the Power of Destruction that obliterated his body to oblivion.

"These two were too that strong... fortunately, Vali mentioned that there are even Legendary-Class Fallen Angels up here waiting in the trap."

Muttered Rias as she looked around the fortress and killed all enemies that came at her. All rogue exorcists or Fallen Angels of Mid-Class to High-Class were turned to dust under the might of her Power of Destruction.

As she was strolling the outer area, apparently, all stronger Fallen Angels were preoccupied with Vali and his forces.

 

[Trafford]

Meanwhile, as Rias was dealing with the Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, Akeno and Shirone, together with two Disciple Executioners, were slaughtered their way through the hordes of rogue exorcists and weak trash Fallen Angels that were here and there.

The most eye-catching in this fight was Akeno, with her Holy Thunder she inherited from her father, Baraqiel. While she had not a good opinion of her father, bordering on the level of hatred, her mother convinced her to learn how to use her greatest strength.

If not, she would not be graduating from the Imperial Magic Junior Academy as the best of her class.

Every time she cast a spell, a group of the Fallen Angels and rogue exorcists were blasted to death. None of them could stand against the destructive power of the Holy Thunder.

Meanwhile, as Akeno was doing large-scale damage to everything around with her destructive spell, Shirone was disposing of Fallen Angels one by one in close-quarter combat. Due to her enormous physical strength, every punch took the life of one rogue exorcist or Low to Mid Class Fallen Angel.

These rogue exorcists were only humans; their bodies were just only three or four times stronger than that of an average human due to strengthening from the Holy Power; usually, humans in terms of physique were always weaker than supernatural beings if they were both at the same Class.

Shirone fought in her true form, which was her Neko-mode, meaning it increased her physical strength even more, as she was in the so-called sage mode, by tuning herself with the energy of the world, gaining a significant boost to her power.

Her strength got to increase, and she was healing faster from injuries, and her stamina regeneration was several times more quickly, meaning she could fight for a prolonged amount of time. Additionally, it could even speed up the regeneration of Demonic Energy.

In the Empire, there were only a few Senjutsu Masters, as it required specific aptitude to learn, mostly found only in Youkai, monsters, or magical beasts. Though, it didn't mean that Devils or other species could not learn it or its advanced form of Touki.

After several minutes, both managed to eradicate over a hundred rogue exorcists and Fallen Angels that were protecting the area.

"Akeno-senpai, a large group of more than fifty rogue exorcists and ten Fallen Angels, is approaching from the fortress."

Stated Shirone as she sent the last rogue exorcist flying with her punch.

***

At the same time, Vali and his officers.

Vali took his officers to the place where several Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels were waiting in ambush under the leadership of a Lengednary-Class Fallen Angel.

"Be careful; there may be some traps already prepared for us, though I doubt it as Fallen Angels are not smart enough, especially those under the leadership of Kokabiel."

He reminded his people as they nodded in agreement, though it never hurts to be careful.

Soon enough, they quickly found several Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, numbering more than 10, and among them were two Legendary-Class Fallen Angels, though all of these Fallen seemed to be a bit different in appearance.

They were all pale like a sheet of paper with black lines through their entire face, probably a whole body.

'Artificial Elevation of Mighty Stage God, pretty crude apparently the god who did it regarded them as pawns to be disposed of, so he didn't bother to do a proper job.'

Thought Vali the moment he saw the Fallen Angels. He instantly realized that Kokabiel either must have struck some deal with Melvazoa or become his subordinate, and either of them was bad news and a reason to kill him the moment he left his hole.

Both Pantheons of Evie and Etoulde have the means to mass-produce strong powerhouses through artificial elevating as they have enormous amounts of Divine Crystals. While those powerhouses have an expiration date, as the rituals are not perfect to not waste additional Divine Power on them, they will die within several years after the ritual. Still, till then, they could cause enormous damage to the Empire.

'Wait for my command and ambush them.'

Vali sent a telepathic message to his lieutenants.

They were under concealment spells, so they could silently ambush those Fallen Angels and kill them as soon as possible because Vali was cautious. Now that he had confirmed the connection between Kokabiel's forces and Melvazoa and his Evies, who knows if there weren't even some powerhouse from the Evies.

It could easily be some Greater God or even Mighty Stage God of early-stage somewhere here, and even though Vali was strong, he was not an opponent for someone like that.

Evies and Etoulde were dangerous foes that Empire was facing, and they were maximally cautious when dealing with either of them. Each one of those factions was strong with deep roots, and god knows what they were hiding.

 

[Trafford]

As soon as Vali gave out the command, he and his officers all attacked Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels and two Legendary-Class Fallen Angels. As someone of the Pinnacle of the Satan-Class, Vali used his Clan Trait Holy Flame, which was genetically transplanted into him, through mystic and arcane procedures of his adoptive father.

He created a massive wave of the Holy Flame, which devastated all of the Fallen Angels that came into contact with it. Even two Legendary-Class Fallen Angels were turned to dust as they were devoured by the Holy Flames' wave, which purged their existence.

After Vali's attack killed two Legendary-Class Fallen Angels and several Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels, his officers finished the job by killing injured Fallen Angels or those Eight-Winged Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels who survived and attempted to escape.

"Secure the area, leave none alive."

Ordered Vali as he looked around, and then at the place where two Legendary-Class Fallen Angels were turned to dust by his Holy Flame.

'Our presence on Earth is not that strong, and given enough time, Kokabiel, with his boosted Fallen, could cause us great damage.'

Thought Vali in his head about this mission.

'They need to be dealt with as soon as possible.'

He then started typing something on his Holo-Brain, sending a report to the HQ of the Imperialis Militarum about this new development, as the rise of the high amount of Ultimate-Class Fallen Angels under the leadership of Kokabiel could cause problems for their operation on Earth.

That was because most agents and other military personnel of the Empire that were operating on the Earth were mainly under the Ultimate-Class.

***

Meanwhile, in a church's inner area of the fortress, there was a fight between one reincarnated devil and one Fallen Angel.

After Issei arrived at the place, he didn't encounter even a single Fallen Angels or rogue exorcists. Still, he didn't really overthink about that, and he just continued to search for the nun named Asia Argento.

In the end, he found her in the innermost area of the fortress, in a church that was built there, as she was bound to a cross, while Fallen Angel, he remembered to be named Raynare, was performing some kind of ritual.

"Asia!"

He screamed, but it was too late, and the ritual was complete as a sphere of a green light landed in Raynare's hands.

"Too late human lowlife."

Scowled Raynare at him as she kicked down the cross with Asia's corpse on it, while Issei started crying seeing his friend die like that.

Without thinking too much, Issei charged at Raynare, only to be kicked into his stomach and sent flying, crashing through several lines of wooden benches as he coughed blood.

"Pathetic."

Frowned Raynare as she saw that the reincarnated devil couldn't handle a single hit from her. She slowly walked up to him with a cruel smile on his face as she created a light spear in her hands.

"I am going to enjoy killing you... very, very slowly."

Laughed Raynare.

Unaware to her, she was quietly being observed by Rias and Vali, who were hiding on the high floor of the church, silently watching the show.

"She is going to kill him."

Said Vali to his girlfriend, who just shook her head, uninterested in what was happening beneath them.

"She won't... she is playing with him. I want to watch if he awakens the Boosted Gear; if he doesn't, it would be for the best."

Answered Rias, as she knew that Ddraig was probably observing what was happening, he for sure realized that his host was worthless, and if he didn't awaken the Boosted Gear in a life-and-death situation, she was aware that her negotiation would be much easier.

And thus, they watched as Raynare was toying with Issei by beating him brutally, after which she started stabbing him with her light spear.

"Okey... I don't want him to die... at least yet."

Muttered Rias as she teleported behind Raynare after Issei lost his consciousness, and with one orb of Power of Destruction, she insta-killed her.

After killing her, she picked up the Twilight Healing from her corpse, or from what remained from her, as the upper part of her body was obliterated by her Power of Destruction.

"Vali, could you bring this back to the Empire? Magister Beelzebub is already awaiting it at Magisterium of Arcanotech."

Stated Rias as she passed him the Twilight Healing after turning her attention to a bleeding Issei.

"What to do with you...?"

She muttered as she looked at him.

"Maybe it would be best to negotiate with Ddraig right now, isn't that correct Red Dragon Emperor?"

She asked as she started chanting a particular spell that was meant for this specific purpose.

 

[Trafford]

Sacred Gears created from the strong beings were fundamentally flawed. The first problem with them was that the host could not grow stronger than the being sealed in his Sacred Gear in most cases. The second was that, even when mastered, due to the nature of Sacred Gear, one cannot show the full power of the being sealed inside the Sacred Gear.


As soon as Rias finished the chant, she entered through her consciousness to the Issei's mindscape, where the soul of the Red Dragon Emperor Ddraig Y. Goch.


Rias looked at Ddraig nervously as she didn't know how the Red Dragon Emperor would react.


"What do you want here, young devil princess?"


Asked Ddraig in a majestic voice while he scrutinized Rias from head to toe. Even though the Longinus Boosted Gear was dormant inside its host, and Ddraig spent most of his time sleeping, he was very well aware of everything that took place in the life of his host.


He observed everything, so he knew what was going on and about everything about his host.


"I have come to negotiate with you."


Answered Rias as she looked at Red Dragon Emperor of Domination Ddraig Y Goch.


"Negotiate what daughter of Crimson Emperor?"


Asked Ddraig in a deep majestic voice as he stood up and looked at Rias with his draconic eyes shining. During past centuries, he was very well aware of the strength of the Chthonian Empire, as several of his hosts were killed by the Empire after either offending Nobles or creating conflicts.


His strongest host Belzard even met with the Crimson Emperor of the Chthonian Empire and was killed in a split of a second, even though he fought in Juggernaut Drive.


Only then did Ddraig realize that the Emperor of the Chthonian Empire had reached the level of Beings of Law.


"I came here representing my father to negotiate with you about the offer he made to you a century ago."


Answered Rias as Ddraig roared in rage as he took it as an insult.


She expected such a reaction, as Dragon Pride didn't know an end, but she had something prepared in her arsenal that would probably convince him in one go.


"Albion was revived long ago, and with help from the Empire, he will soon reach Elder Dragon Class."


She stated calmly, as Ddraig stopped in his tracks, frozen in one place, as he started at Rias with rage, thinking about that his rival had already got back his body, could freely fly through the sky and enjoy the pleasures of the physical body.


Not only that, but evidently, Albion was already nearing the Elder Dragon Class, which would mean that his rival would overcome him and leave him in the dust.


Just thinking about it made Ddraig grimace and frown in annoyance that his long-time rival would leave him behind.


Seeing that he was still not decided, Rias decided to push forward.


"Since Albion became a member of the Empire and was appointed as the Lord General of Imperialis Militarum, 6th Army Draco Aetherna, he had earned enormous amount of riches, gold, artifacts, treasures, and countless pretty dragonesses are lining up to him every day, and not only dragonesses but also beauties of other races. Additionally, he is already stronger than you thanks to assistance from Beings of Law of the Chthonian Empire."


After hearing that, Ddraig took an enormous hit, and it wasn't everything, as Rias continued shortly.


"You see that your host is a worthless pervert with zero amount of talent, who cannot awaken Boosted Gear even when he was reincarnated as Devil. And even if he did, what level would he reach with his personality? Probably Ultimate-Class could be considered an impossible achievement for someone like him. And then, with his personality and behavior, it is highly possible that mighty Red Dragon Emperor of Domination would become something along the lines of Breast Dragon Emperor or Oppai Dragon, such humiliation for mighty being as yourself is waiting behind the door."


Everything that Rias said continuously attacked all of the weakest points of Dragons. She instantly attacked his Dragon Pride, which took an enormous hit hearing that his rival was already more powerful and had everything that dragons were actively seeking: treasures, women, and gold.


And then, finally, she squashed the last amount of resistance he had by stating apparent facts about his current host and that he could be highly possibly renamed from Red Dragon Emperor of Domination to something humiliating as Oppai Dragon.


Ddraig was very well aware of what his host was like.


Dragons were naturally prideful, and the stronger they were, the more prideful they were, especially if they were titled dragons bearing some kind of title; they were incredibly proud of that fact, as not many dragons had a title.


After some time of silence, Rias could see that Ddraig's arrogance was broken down.


"So what do you propose, devil princess?"


Asked Ddraig.


"I am not princess, I was stripped of that title years ago for my own arrogance and weakness, but one day, I will get it back for my merits and power that I have achieved."


She corrected the Red Dragon Emperor as he looked at her curiously.


"Now, the Empire is proposing you the same thing as for Albion. You will get your physical body back and will be given an official position within the Empire, preferably in one of the Military Branches of the Chthonian Empire. Additionally, our Beings of Law will help you achieve the Elder Dragon Class. As Elder Crom Cruach has reached that level, he would be surely able to help you in that regard."


Presented Rias proposition of the Chthonian Empire for the Ddraig Y. Goch.


"I accept your offer."


In the end, Ddraig decided to accept the offer from the Empire, as it was beneficial for him.


"Excellent, now you only need to sign this."


Rias clapped her hands in happiness as she took out Soul-Geass and presented it to Ddraig.

 

[Trafford]

Signing a Soul-Geass was obligatory for every citizen of the Empire, so they could not under any circumstances betray the Empire, or the Laws of the Universe would crush their own very soul.

This rule was obligatory for even members of Nobility and High-Ranking Officials. Contrary to commoners, these people were even under the stricter type of contract called Blood and Soul Void-Geass.

Blood and Soul Void-Geass was a new type of Geass developed through arduous research based on the knowledge obtained by Emperor from the Longinus Dreizhen Orden, creating the probably strongest type of contract across the entire Astral Boundary Universe.

It even contained a lot from Okhwang's original Universe, the Ancient Dao Universe, which has extensive knowledge of these things, and Zeoticus managed to convince Okhwang to help him in this one; in a way, the entire Orden could then use them.

In the end, it became some kind of group project, where everyone in the entire Longinus Dreizhen Orden worked on this and created their masterpiece.

Blood and Soul Void-Geass could be broken by force only when someone reached a later stage of the Exarch Realm or by someone in Lord-Class unparalleled in Soul Laws and similar aspects.

It was the crystallization of knowledge of several universes.

Ddraig was given Soul-Geass only for now, as he didn't have a physical body.

"Now, we only need to wait till the Empire gathers all necessary resources for your revival."

Stated Rias after Ddraig signed the Soul-Geass.

"And that would be when? I don't want to be stuck up in this hellhole for any moment longer."

Asked Red Dragon Emperor of Domination impatiently.

"A few months maximally. You need to be aware that Empire needs to gather a few more resources, and several of them are extremely precious even across the entire Astral Boundary, ann only father can procure them."

Ddraig nodded, satisfied with this answer.

In the end, what were a few months compared to entire centuries?

Most of the resources were gathered by Zeoticus personally, through the help of his colleagues from the Longinus Dreizhen Orden, to achieve a perfect revival, which was not an easy feat.

After Rias finished negotiating with Ddraig, she returned to the real world from Issei's consciousness.

While she was there, her Executioner subordinates were already cleaning up the place by disposing of corpses, and soon enough, they would obliterate the entire fortress.

"Bring him to a healer and heal him properly."

Ordered Rias to her Executioner subordinates.

***

MC POV

Some time later

After an attack on the fortress of the Fallen Angels, Empire obtained the allegiance of Heavenly Dragon, Red Dragon Emperor of Domination, Ddraig Y. Goch, and Twilight Healing which would serve the Empire as a model to develop similar artifacts for healing.

They would be specially incorporated into the runic armors of Custodians and Sardaukar. Coupled with the quality of the Runic Armors and Personal Shield Generators, they would be completely unstoppable on the battlefield.

What was disturbing news, on the contrary, was information obtained by Intelligence Department that Kokabiel with his group had appeared; he reached the level of Twelve-Winged Archangel-Class Fallen Angel and raided the Vatican.

They killed several prominent exorcists and severely injured Vasco Strada and Ewald Cristaldi.

Their aim was to obtain fragments of the Excalibur Swords, and they obtained 6 out of 7 fragments. All Fake Excaliburs, namely Excalibur Destruction, Excalibur Mimic, Excalibur Rapidly, Excalibur Nightmare, Excalibur Blessing, and Transparency.

The last piece, Excalibur Ruler, was in the hands of the Empire, namely in the hands of the Chthonian Lord Family, the Pendragon Family that joined the Empire.

After raiding the Vatican and stealing all fragments of Excalibur, Kokabiel and his goons disappeared into thin air once more.

As I heard all of these reports, I knew what Kokabiel would do next.

He would attack Kuoh and try to kill Rias and Sona.

He knew that it wouldn't spark the war between Empire and Grigori, but it would create a great rift between our factions that are soon merging.

"Give the command, Your Imperial Majesty, and this Diablo will exterminate all of your enemies."

Diablo knelt before me while he excluded a murderous aura not weaker than mine own. He has long reached the level of the Abyssal King Fiend that was comparable to Warlock Monarch, though his combat prowess would put many Apocalypse-Class beings to shame.

"No need for that, Diablo... I will dispose of him myself... that pest was getting on my nerves for many centuries, and now, he would finally show himself up."

I said with an authoritative voice as I looked at the gathered Imperial Officials.

For past centuries I rarely made a move by myself and let my subordinates deal with all things regarding attacking enemies of the Empire.

"Prepare contingent of Custodians with my son as Leader; they would depart together with me."

I said.

Diablo nodded at my order and departed to organize his Custodians for me.

"Your Imperial Majesty, we have confirmed the connection. Shinto God Susanoo is in cahoots with Kokabiel, who in turn is the servant of Melvazoa. By our information, Amaterasu knows about everything, but she lets it slide; they fear our close relationship with Celestial Court. After the slaughter of all Susanoo's priests, he got into contact with Kokabiel and supplied him with weapons and Divine Crystals."

Said one of the officers of the Intelligence Department.

I just sighed at that.

Alliance with the Shinto Pantheon was signed centuries ago, mainly because they were one of the strongest Pantheons, and we needed allies with strong influence on Earth.

But... I have long ago predicted an outcome like this, and because of that, I have already prepared for it.

"Good. Active the End Protocol. Let Takamagahara burn."

I ordered with an emotionless voice, as everyone stopped in their place as blood froze in their veins.

"It shall be done, Your Imperial Majesty."

I hated traitors, and alliance with the Shinto Pantheon already lost its meaning the moment Susanoo colluded with Kokabiel.

Their time will come faster than others.

In the end...

When I tear down Dimensional Gap, I doubt that even a single God of Draconic Deus will survive the onslaught of factions of the Astral Boundary that are near.

 

[Trafford]

Kuoh Town, Several days later.

Several days have passed since the extermination of the Fallen Angels, Rogue Exorcists, and their fortress on the outskirts of Kuoh Town.

After that operation, Rias's servant Issei became depressed that Fallen Angels killed his nun friend Asia, but Rias was able to smooth things with a bit of flirting and seduction. Of course, it worked splendidly on the pervert, as she needed to have him in an adequate state.

Rias has him completely wrapped around her finger, as he would do everything she asks him. While compared to her siblings, she was lacking in talent and strength, she made it up in scheming and plotting, and her specialty was emotional manipulation which became her greatest strength.

Right now, Rias was sitting in her office inside the occult research club together with Vali as she leaned over his chest.

"I got the message that Kokabiel has raided the Vatican and stolen all fragments of the Excalibur. It is predicted that he will attack Kuoh Town with his remnant followers, and apparently, he has reached the level of Archangel-Class after pledging himself to the service of Melvazoa."

Stated Vali thoughtfully as he looked at Rias.

While it was confirmed that elevated powerhouses were always weaker compared to those of the same rank that achieved it by themselves, Vali was the only pinnacle of Satan-Class; with his combat prowess, he could fight to stand-still Super Devils, but defeating one is tricky.

Even if Kokabiel is artificially elevated to that level, Vali doubted that his combat prowess would be lacking, as Kokabiel is known for being a fierce and experienced warrior.

"So the Empire is sending someone to deal with it, right?"

Asked Rias thoughtfully.

"Not someone, but the father is coming personally. He wants to kill Kokabiel and also collect fragments of the Excalibur so they could be reforged into the Excalibur as it was once in the past, before being shattered by Elder Zekram during the Great War between our factions."

Answered Vali as Rias was shocked to hear that their father was coming here personally.

Emperor rarely left the Empire or Baator altogether.

"He also sent me a message that he got most of the materials needed for the revival of Ddraig, and he would also extract his soul out of the Longinus after everything is dealt with."

Said Vali after a short time of thought, while Rias sighed in relief.

This meant that her mission was over, and she could finally return back to the Empire, and she had earned plenty of merits.

Merit Point System was established a few centuries ago to motivate all Imperial citizens to work for the Empire. These Merit Points could be used to exchange for precious resources, spells, and many, many other things.

Even social status could be bought with them, as long a person has an appropriate power level.

Those two things were undividedly tied together.

One cannot become noble without Proper Strength and Merit at the same time.

"Ddraig and Albion were very close to reaching Elder Dragon Class during their life, and now after long years, Lord Albion is very close to the Elder Dragon Class. Both of them are great additions to the Imperial Military Strength."

Stated Rias.

After talking for some time, both of them started making out passionately on the couch, forgetting the erect barrier around them.

***

Meanwhile, as Rias and Vali were lost in their passionate sex, Issei finally woke up after resting for some time due to injuries suffered by Raynare's hand.

He laid on the bed in the Occult Research Club House as he was bandaged.

When he woke up, the first thing he remembered was what happened and how he lost consciousness after being tortured by Fallen Angel Rayner after she extracted Sacred Gear out of Asia and killed her.

He stood from the bed to see buchou Rias as he wanted her to ask, why didn't she save Asia. During the short time he knew her, he became attached to her, and rarely not in any perverted means, but instead, he had the desire to protect her.

As he exited the room, he searched for the Rias's room as he barely could walk because his entire body hurt like hell, but yesterday, he got assured from Rias that it would heal quickly as Devils had a high healing factor.

Soon he arrived at his destination until he froze in his tracks when he heard moans of pleasure from the room, as his heart started beating extremely fast and despair overwhelmed him.

Like the fool he was, he was totally engrossed by Rias, and it took only basically nothing for Rias to make Issei fall in love with her.

She was, after all, an expert at emotional manipulation.

Even though she was greatly humbled during her training to be an executioner, she took great pride that her elders at the Execution Temple praised her for being a prodigy when it came to emotional manipulation for past centuries.

Hearing those moans intensify, he started feeling a weird feeling, like something was torn apart from him, and in his last attempt of hope or desperation, he resisted peeking inside, as he feared what he would learn or see.

Like one would say, hope dies as the last one.

He didn't dare to peek through the door, but in the end, his curiosity got ahead of him as he tried looking through the keyhole, which was possible with his heightened senses.

After he looked through the keyhole, unaware to him, tears started flowing down his face as he stumbled backward and fell to the ground.

After he started crying, he stood up and left for his room, with a lifeless expression on his face as if something broke inside him.

 

[Trafford]

Japan, Kuoh Town, Several Days later.

For the past few days, Rias, together with Vali, were preparing for the Kokabiel's attack on the Kuoh Town; meanwhile, Vali was also responsible for preparing Khaos Brigade for the invasion of Takamagahara, as Empire decided to destroy their Pantheon after one of their leaders helped Kokabiel and indirectly Melvazoa.

The plan was to destroy the entire Takamagahara by some kind of arcanotech weapon developed by Lord Magister Ajuka Beelzebub; by calculations, it should severely injure even Mighty Stage Gods to the point of being on the brink of death.

This would destroy the entire Pantheon, leaving Chthonian Empire just to kill those who, managed by some luck, survive, and they could subsequently absorb various Youkai Factions across the whole world. One must know that the Youkai Clans of China have long-ago migrated to the Baator and pledged themselves to the Chthonian Empire with a bit of help from Okhwang.

"Rias, your perverted servant, is behaving weirdly... even though he is entirely weird."

Sneered Vali as he observed Issei, who was like the lifeless husk of his former self.

"I don't really care; in upcoming days, Kokabiel will attack, and after father kills him, then Ddraig will be extracted to be revived, and the pervert will be killed."

Answered Rias, though she had some ideas in her mind about why he behaved like that.

'We didn't erect the barrier the last time? Maybe he heard or saw us? If that is the truth, then hopefully he will not fall... that would complicate things.'

Thought Rias in her head.

Even though his Soul Aptitude was beyond trash, there still existed a slight possibility of something happening due to him being the host of the Boosted Gear.

No matter how small or trash someone's talent was, in the situation of extreme emotional stress or desperation, they could forcefully awaken their Sacred Gears and, even by force, activate the Juggernaut Drive.

Still, with the presence of the Emperor here or when he would be here, it would be no problem, but if he went berserk now... then that would be a serious problem.

Even though Sacred Gears created from some strong creatures or beings cannot display their full strength as they were flawed fundamental, they can still display about 70% of the power of sealed beings, and on rare occasions, this number could reach even 80%.

But even 70% of the power belonging to Heavenly Dragon that was near to reaching the Elder Dragon Class was terrible news for them. Even though she and Vali had some protection artifacts and treasures, they could not directly teleport to Baator, as the plane had already recovered enough, so direct teleportation as it was centuries ago was impossible.

They could only escape and hope he wouldn't pursue them or be slow enough for them to escape.

"I will assign an additional Executioner to observe him, and in the worst case, I can activate the self-destruction of the Independent Card to dispose of him. Then though, I would have only 30 seconds to catch his soul and extract Ddraig, or Ddraig's soul would return to Heaven's System."

Stated Rias calmy as she thought about her possible choices and their outcomes.

Soon enough, it was evening, and Rias was prepared to go to sleep as she was tired from an entire day of dealing with paperwork and directing her subordinates to prepare for Kokabiel's attack.

As soon s she lay on her bed and wanted to sleep, Vali barged into her room with a frown on his face.

"Barrier around the Kuoh has been breached."

He said briefly as Rias quickly stood up.

This barrier was erected by Vali and his lieutenants from the Khaos Brigade and would be hard to breach even form of a boosted-up Kokabiel, which meant only one thing, the enemy was far stronger than they had anticipated.

"Has he shown up yet?"

Asked Rias.

"Not, probably waiting for something... but I got a message from father that he is already here and observing everything from shadows. By his words, Kokabiel won't kill us easily or fast, as he is too confident or arrogant in his new strength, and additionally, he wants spectators to watch his show so that he will be theatrical. Father wants to wait to hear what he has to say. Because Kokabiel believes we are dead meat, he would say to us many things, and father is curious who among other factions of Earth are a threat to our plans... apparently, Shinto Pantheon isn't the only one that is; moving against us and is a threat."

Explained Vali their current plan.

"So we are partially baits, right?"

Asked Rias shortly after.

"Indeed, if you look at it, but nothing can happen to us under the protection of father so that we would be okey."

Answered Vali.

Indeed, under the Apocalypse-Class powerhouse's protection, there was zero possibility that Kokabiel could even tough them.

"Come, we need to go and entertain our guest... Kokabiel should be already somewhere nearby."

Stated Vali as he looked at Rias and left the room.

 

[Trafford]

Soon after, Rias and Vali arrived at the courtyard of the Kuoh Academy, which was empty. Rias instructed her servants to hide, as they would be of no use in this situation, and told them to remain in the Occult Research Club Building because that one was warded with powerful defensive spells.

"Should we erect the barrier?"

Asked Rias to Sona, who was standing near the school's building with her servants.

"No, there is no need."

Stated Vali as he didn't really care if their fight wiped out even the entire town; in the end, the causalities would still be only humans and nothing more or less.

"You with your servants go and hide in case this thing becomes really messy. In the worst case, activate teleportation formation and escape back to the Empire."

Vali stated, and while Sona wanted to refute him, she knew that she was weak, with only a High-Class level of strength, she was not qualified to engage even Kokabiel's soldiers. So, in the end, she just nodded in agreement.

Vali knew that their father didn't come alone and brought with him the entire contingent of the Custodians at the Legendary-Class and Satan-Class, and even Sirzechs was somewhere present, with his strength of Pinnacle Super-Devil Class and having successfully undergone Law Baptism; he was unmatched at his level.

Truth to be told, he would be able to fight and kill weaker Warlock Monarchs and Mighty Stage Gods by himself at his level of strength.

After everything was dealt with, they waited for some time until a creeping presence descended on them.

"Ohhh... you are waiting for me to grant you your death? How pathetic."

Scowled Kokabiel as he looked at Vali and Rias, who were waiting for him in the courtyard.

Soon after Kokabiel had descended, hundreds of Fallen Angels descended after him. Vali could observe that all of them had similar conditions to the Fallen Angels he had killed at the fortress outside of Kuoh Town.

Compared to the rest, Kokabiel was far worse at it, as his skin was almost black from the black veins pulsing through his body.

"So what pigeon? Did Aunt Hela beat you so much that you lost your brain and became muddled inside your head?"

Mocked him Vali, as Kokabiel was visibly greatly angered by his provocations, he took out a sword that looked like an abomination of many swords pitched together by force.

'So he attempted to re-create Excalibur? Even though that sword is blasphemy even to exist, I can feel a dangerous aura coming from it.'

Thought Vali as he observed the sword in Kokabiel's end.

"Another fucking Lucifer... you always ruin everything. The Great War was time for us, Fallen Angels, to rise to the top. Everything was perfect... God died, and Four Satans perished by his hand, devils were exhausted, and Heaven was drastically weakened only if it wasn't four your dammed father. He came with overwhelming strength and developed arcanotech that devastated our armies, and then he established his Empire and crowned himself an Emperor. But, my new ally granted me new strength that will allow me to repay the humiliation that I have suffered at the hands of that bastard and his Warmaster."

Laughed Kokabiel as he flayed his energies at full, showing that he was already the pinnacle of Archangel-Class.

"So you think you will achieve anything by killing us here?"

Asked Rias as she looked at Kokabiel, who stopped laughing maniacally for a second before he released a bloodthirsty grin.

"Yes! If nothing else, I will at least repay that bastard by killing his adopted son and daughter. And additionally, I will still be able to rile up Empire against Grigori, which would cause more Fallen Angels to flock to my banner, and with strength from Melvazoa, we will together attack the Empire and annihilate it from existence. Not only us, but other Pantheons are also riling for war, especially Shinto and Olympians."

Laughed Kokabiel as he explained his master plan.

"Now, you two devils would be the first ones to be killed by this newly reforged Excalibur."

Said Kokabiel as he readied his sword, while Vali frowned.

"With that? It looks like some kind of aberration..."

Commented Vali as Kokabiel's expression darkened slightly.

"It doesn't matter as you will still be killed by it fucking devil mongrel."

Shouted Kokabiel as he slashed at Vali, who stood fearlessly with a smirk on his face as suddenly humongous presence descended onto everyone as Kokabiel stopped in his track, not even able to move an inch.

"Or maybe I will kill this bitch at first."

He stopped in his tracks as he looked at Rias. As he said that, suddenly everyone heard someone shouting.

"Leave Buchou be, you bastard!"

Meanwhile, Rias cursed in her mind at her stupid servant that was causing trouble. This was probably the worst situation that could happen because if Kokabiel killed Issei, then their plans for extraction of Boosted Gear would be null.

"Insect?"

Kokabiel just tilted his head, seeing some devil running towards him, but he sensed that this devil was so weak even a newborn could outclass him in everything. He just shot one Light Spear that instantly severed his legs, as he fell down in a puddle of his own blood while he screamed in pain.

"Now, where were we? Yes, killing you, of course."

Laughed Kokabiel as he turned back his attention to Vali and Rias.

"Really?"

Asked Majestic voice out of nowhere, as it sent Kokabiel flying, crashing into the barrier that was erected at the same time as the presence descended onto them.

When Kokabiel saw the figure to whom the voice belonged, he was instantly overwhelmed by the endless rage and despair that his plan had failed. He was just a pawn on the greater board of an endless game of schemes.

Now he understood why both Vali and Rias stood there without fearing anything, as they were already aware that their father was here and observing everything long ago.

 

[Trafford]

MC POV

"Really?"

I asked in a majestic voice while I released my aura, causing Kokabiel to crash into the barrier that I had erected before I descended down here.

"Don't worry, pidgeon; everything here is just a game, and you have played your part excellently. In regard to Shinto and Olympus, you don't need to worry, as they will be destroyed very soon; as we have reached an agreement with Shiva and together with Okhwang, we have decided to tear down the Dimensional Gap."

I stated as I enjoyed Kokabiel's rage, while Vali and Rias, who stood behind me, were deeply shocked by this revelation. Not only by the fact that two of the oldest pantheons on the Draconic Deus would be soon destroyed but also by the fact that Shiva has joined in tearing down the Dimensional Gap.

In the end, dealing with Shiva was easier than expected.

Hindu Pantheon had several Mighty Stage Gods, so they would be a huge problem if they attacked us during the ritual, but apparently, Shiva, too, wanted to tear down the Dimensional Gap so he could get stronger. I negotiated with him and provided him with the location of the Grade 3 Plane that lacked any strong gods, so he and his faction could safely develop there.

That plane was young and had a great chance to evolve into a Secondary Grade 2 Plane in a few hundred thousand years or a million years if it evolved slowly. Civilization was there on the same level as in any other world controlled by gods, as there were some gods, but they were weak.

The entire plane had only one Mighty Stage God.

"Sirzechs deal with other pests and kill them all... they have inside them residual Divine Power, extract it and condense crystals, it would be then just a waste of resources."

I ordered my eldest son, and he immediately went into action.

As my orders were to extract the residual Divine Power, he couldn't use Power of Destruction as that would disintegrate their bodies. I did it because I hated wasting resources; no matter how rich I was, it remained with me since I was weak and had almost nothing.

As expected from my eldest son, he skilfully used Dark Light to send a wave of Dark Light Spears, instantly annihilating a large number of Kokabiel's subordinates that he brought with him, while Custodians started killing those who were lucky to survive or the weaker ones whom Sirzechs didn't even attack.

"What a symphony of carnage and death."

I grinned as I watched my Custodians butchering the remaining Fallen Angels.

"So, you see, Kokabiel, you were not worth even of being a stepping stone in my path."

I said lightly as I put my hand on his head, as he knelt before me.

"You have confirmed my suspicion about our enemies, sou you can die that your death benefited the Empire greatly, and for that, I hereby thank you deeply."

I said as I could see his rage as he released Holy Flame from my hand and burned the entire Kokabiel to dust; not even his soul was spared from being burned to nothingness, denying it an opportunity for reincarnation.

"Clear this place and repair everything. Erase memories of mortals here and prepare for the meeting. Kuoh will serve as a place of change."

I said to Sirzechs, who appeared behind me soon after I had killed Kokabiel.

"Also, inform Azazel and Michael and the Magisterium of Foreign Affairs that I want this to be prepared within next week."

I said as I turned my attention to Rias's servant and holder of the Boosted Gear, who was still alive after my Custodians stabilized his injuries, and he was still conscious.

"Pathetic."

I sneered just by thinking such a piece of trash wanted something with my daughter as I walked to him.

"You did a good job Rias in securing Ddraig, and during the past two years, you have matured a lot; as a Father, I can say that I am proud of you, my daughter."

I said as I suddenly hugged my daughter because I was really proud of her achievements.

After that, I turned my attention to Rias's servant Issei who was still listening to us, not properly understanding what was going on.

"Even stupid."

I said as I kicked him in the stomach, causing his body to turn backward, laying on his back as I chanted a spell.

In an instant, invisible chains appeared around his entire body that pierced through his body like a hot knife through a piece of butter.

"R-as buc-ou he--pl."

He attempted to say with blood coming from his mouth.

"Don't dare to say my name, you piece of degenerated pervert, if not for orders, I would have castrated and tortured you for your lecherous gaze over my body every time you saw me."

Scoffed Rias as she went closer to Vali, who hugged her.

For Rias, Issei Hyoudou was the most hated person on the planet because every time he saw her, she could feel his gaze at her like she was a piece of meat.

That lecherous and perverted gaze that was stripping her down always felt her with a feeling of humiliation.

In her anger, she threw two mini-throwing knives at him, piercing his eyes but not killing him, just causing him to go blind and in enormous pain.

"Rias, control yourself. Vali, take your her away, or she will kill him."

I said though I wanted to kill him too, extraction of Sacred Gear by the crudest way I have found was better than killing him instantly. This would at least torture him with immense pain.

And to be not left behind by Hela, and because of my pettiness, I have increased his pain receptors to their maximum and cast several spells on him that won't allow him to pass out.

"Pathetic waste... you think you can lust after my daughter and think of her through your degenerate waste? Don't worry; your death will be as painful as possible, and I have already sent my soldiers to torture and kill every one of your blood."

I said with a mischievous grin as I could see and feel the despair, anger, and rage.

 

[Trafford]

Bloodline Extermination.

Something I got from Okhwang as he was talking about his own Universe, the Ancient Dao Universe, and various Universes where cultivation existed, that of the Okhwang's and similar.

Cultivator Clans and Sects would often annihilate everyone for even the slightest amount of offense. People there really had a very high amount of pride, arrogance, and pettiness, and god knows nothing else.

In the end, even though I usually kept it very well hidden, I also had a fair amount of arrogance and pettiness inside me, but I knew how to control and mask it perfectly.

Soon after, I returned from my thoughts to the real space and activated the extraction ritual.

Magic Circles behind Issei's tortured and beaten body activated as he started shrieking in pain because it was tearing his soul apart. After several minutes he shrieked of pain quieted down, as blood flooded his mouth and he could even scream properly, and his eyes exploded from the enormous amount of pain.

If not for several spells I have cast before on him, he would die, but alas, in my sadistic nature, I wanted to torture him even more.

Afterward, I cathed a ball of light that flew out of his body when the ritual was done.

"Finally."

As I looked at Issei's body that was changed to beyond anything before, I muttered... probably even Hela would be proud of me to torture someone to such an extent.

I stretched my hand and cast a particular spell that trapped escaping soul of Issei Hyoudou.

"Even if the chances for your reincarnation are almost zero, but alas, as Son of Destiny of Draconic Deus, it still exists, and I prefer to cut down all loose ends."

I released the Energy of the Fateless One that invaded the soul of Issei Hyoudou and started devouring it like mad until the entire soul was devoured by the Energy of the Fateless One, which then subsequently returned back to my body.

When it returned, I found out that my Demonic Energy Reserves had increased tremendously, reaching almost 700 Units, and even my physique was strengthened by a significant amount.

"Who would have thought that from absorbing the soul of Son of Destiny, I would benefit greatly."

Son of Destiny could be called a protagonist of the word.

The World itself would bend World Laws to help him get stronger, give him fortuitous encounters and basically give him the easy road to power. Usually, people like this would get stronger at an unprecedented rate that opposed all common sense; they are almost impossible to kill once they fully awaken to the Son of Destiny. So basically, they were enormous pain in the ass, like cockroaches.

But in the end, there exists no free lunch.

Son of Destiny was created only for one purpose.

When the World itself felt immense danger from something that could lead to the destruction of the World, it would create a Son of Destiny.

In this case, the danger should be Evies that wanted to invade Draconic Deus, but it then probably shifted to Chthonian Empire which wanted to tear down Dimensional Gap.

Fortunately, Issei Hyoudou didn't ever fully awaken as Son of Destiny, only half-awakened, because the majority of the Son of Destiny Power was dormant and waiting to be awakened. If my guess was to be correct, he would fully awaken as one only when he managed to awake Boosted Gear.

Then he would truly become Son of Destiny of DxD or aka Protagonist of the Word.

Fortunately, he was dead; not even his soul remained.

I conjured a massive amount of Holy Flame as I burned down his abomination of the body till not even dust remained.

I then only stared at the environment of Kuoh Town as I was thinking about something.

"Are you okey, father?"

Asked Sirzechs, who returned to my side.

"Yes... did you know that that guy was Son of Destiny of Draconic Deus?"

I asked as I pointed at the place where the body of Issei Hyoudou was before I destroyed it.

"Really?"

This revelation shocked Sirzechs because he knew what that title represented and the power that came from it.

"Indeed... Rias earned great merit with this, as I think this Son of Destiny was created to destroy Chthonian Empire because of our plans."

I said to Sirzechs as he nodded in agreement.

"I never thought that Rias would mature so quickly."

Muttered Sirzechs.

Because he was the eldest of all siblings, he wanted for all of them to get along well, but in the end, he had his duties, and he wasn't extra close to the younger ones as much as he was to Sigmar or Hildegarde.

While Sigurn and Renxue were more close to him than Rias, even though they shared the same mother, alas, Sirzechs spent most of his time training and fighting or ruling. Sigurn and Renxue were eager to learn from their eldest brother. At the same time, Rias was more interested in lazying around than training.

"Dire circumstances are the best teacher under all of the Heavens."

I answered him with one sentence.

"Come, I need to talk with Rias and Vali."

I said shortly after, as we have left Custodians to do their job.

 

[Trafford]

"You have earned really grand merit yourself this time, my daughter."

I said to Rias as we sat inside her office in the Occult Research Club Building.

"According to the Imperial Law, you can exchange the merit, so what do you wish for?"

I asked as I studied her expression and wondered what she would ask for.

"I want part of my merit to be exchanged to raise my title to Imperial Lord, and the rest I want to exchange for resources for training."

I was somewhat surprised by her request.

'It seems she really matured... if it was still old Rias, she would turn everything to restore her title and return to the Imperial Capital.'

"It seems that you have finally become an adult... good, very good. Everything shall be done by tomorrow, and your resources will arrive this evening."

I praised her after hearing her decision.

"Thank you, father."

She said in a quiet voice.

"Also, I have an additional mission for you."

I said as I conjured something to drink as I was thirsty.

"What mission?"

Asked Rias.

"You will go to Kyoto and bring a message for leaders of Youkai Factions at a later date."

I said lightly.

After Takamagahara was destroyed, I planned to coerce both Youkai Factions to migrate to the Empire. Many Youkai have strong, miraculous, and potent abilities and have the potential to reach the high levels of power that I planned to use.

"Yes, father."

Answered Rias.

During this mission, she would learn to negotiate and diplomacy, which were essential skills for anyone of the Imperial House.

"Also, there is an extraordinary mission for you to complete additionally."

I said in a severe tone as Rias perked up, hearing my words.

"What special mission?"

She seemed curious.

"As you know, the leader of the Western Youkai Faction Yasaka has a daughter named Kunou, around 12 or 13 years old. What I want is to take this jade with you and see if there is a bloodline resonance between it and Yasaka's daughter. She was born a short time after your elder brother Simgar disappeared for a while, and after she was born, I felt something stir in my bloodline, but it was suppressed soon."

I stated as Rias's eyes widened in shock hearing my suggestion.

It was highly possible that my idiotic son didn't even know that he had a daughter with Yasaka. Or rather, due to his battle-maniac tendencies and brash personality, after Yasaka found that she was pregnant, she severed ties with him and didn't even tell him that she was pregnant with his child.

Truth to be told, I would probably do the same thing in her place.

It would explain that stir I have felt in my bloodline, though her if Kunou was really my granddaughter, then her bloodline from Sigmar's side didn't awaken completely, or else I would have clearly felt it, not in just in the form of the stir of bloodline.

"After you confirm it, do nothing and just inform me directly."

I stated as I needed to handle this carefully.

If Hela found out about it... then she would break Sigmar into two.

"Of course, father."

Answered Rias swiftly as this was really a precarious situation.

"And before that all, I have decided to hold a conference between Empire, Grigori, and Heaven. It is time for Grigori to merge into the Empire as it was planned and make some things clear with the Heaven."

I stated with a serious voice.

"I will prepare everything with Sona."

Said Rias as I smiled with satisfaction.

Afterward, I talked with Rias about more things and asked about some things that Vena told me to do; most of them were about when she would have grandchildren from Rias because Abrasax was entering his more rebellious phase and didn't want to cuddle with his grandmother to which Vena was sad, and she wanted another grandchild.

As I left the Occult Research Club building, I opened my Holo-Brain and contacted the Patriarch of the Pendragon Family, who became one of the major Noble Houses of the Empire and held the title of the Chthonian Lord. And with Arthur, I had a hunch that it won't be long before they are promoted to the High Lord, as Arthur has the potential to reach Apocalypse-Class in the Law of Sword.

"Your Imperial Majesty."

Said the voice of Uther Pendragon, who was basically an older version of Arthur, just with a beard.

"I have obtained the remaining six fragments of the Excalibur. You can bring them to Grandmaster Durin to reforge them."

I said to Uther Pendragon as I could see tears escaping his eyes.

It was understandable that after the death of King Arthur, Heaven stole the Excalibur from the Pendragon Family, and they barely survived the attack of Heaven on them during that time.

They were gathering the fragments through the centuries, but in vain, as their power was not enough to even confront the Church who held the fragments.

So he was beyond happy to live to see the Excalibur in his former glory after Grandmaster Durin will regorge it.

"I will depart to Ironforge and notify Arthur."

Ironforge was home to all dwarves throughout the Empire and was the blacksmithing, runesmithing, and alchemy capital of the Empire.

Grandmaster During was the most skilled blacksmith and runesmith of the Empire that was also extremely well-versed in Alchemy and Magic.

Excalibur was a Monarch Grade Artifact of the Growth Type that had the potential to grow stronger. If Arthur reached Apocalypse-Class, he would be able to bring out the full power of Excalibur.

Currently, I have dispatched Sardaukar to pacify a particular civilization in a nearby galaxy. It was a civilization of humans that had developed in a hostile world, were innately physically very strong, and developed a martial society.

Sardaukar Force didn't have a long list of battles as they were only recently established, only a few years back, so they needed something to temper them through fire and blood.

 

[Trafford]

Earth, Kuoh Town, Several days later.

I sat down at my temporal residence on Earth together with Zekram and Azrael as we were waiting for the summit to begin.

During that, we spent our time drinking some fine alcohol that was brewed by the best of the Empire.

"So what do you think, will Michael, in the end, agree to it?"

I asked two Elders/friends as we were sitting around the small round table.

"Hard to say; it will depend on various factors, but it is indeed the truth that they are done in the Draconic Deus, and if your wife takes them in, they would be practically starting over, but as Asura has said, they could thrive there."

Answered Zekram my question.

Some time ago, I gave a proposition to Michael.

To migrate all Angels into the Douluo Universe, where they would be remade into Angels of Douluo Gods, or rather gods that were on the side of Spirit Hall.

I have conversed this with Asura, and he stated there was no problem with this; on the contrary, it would greatly benefit the Spirit Hall and its future Gods, as Angels were powerful, and after conversion, they would grow even more powerful, as Douluo Universe was far more suitable for them, due to greater abundance of Divine Power.

While they would be abandoning Heaven, they would have the path to survival.

Nowadays, Heaven is one of the weakest factions across the Draconic Deus. They lacked powerhouses and even ordinary soldiers. Additionally, because their religion was limited only to a small part of the world, the amount of Faith Energy they got was small, barely enough to sustain Heaven's functioning.

Due to my interference, Christianity as a whole was practiced only in some countries of Europe, mainly Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Russia. After the Great War, their influence dropped greatly, and I had done everything to prevent their faith from spreading.

That was all.

Romania and surrounding countries were under the control of Bloodkins, Greece and surrounding countries worshipped Olympians, which could go so on.

During the years, my relationship with Bibin Dong calmed down, and I started courting her after sometime a year ago; we officially had our wedding. Maximally, she would be strong enough to ascend as a new Asura God in a few years.

Also, I wanted her to take over Angels of Heaven because as the Void Insect Swarm was around the Douluo Universe, she could cultivate another strong force of fighters to combat them if they invaded their Universe.

"It would be a win-to-win situation for everyone. Spirit Hall could absorb Angels, Angels could survive, and we could let Baator devour Heaven. As the strongest Divine Kingdom of the Draconic Deus, it would be good if Baator devoured it and got stronger; it could greatly increase the Energy Density and even expand, especially for the later plans; we need as many of things like this as possible."

I stated in all seriousness.

As Baator has recovered to a Grade 3 Plane, it recovered all of the Laws same as those in the Astral Boundary, and some restrictions started appearing. For example, it was becoming harder and harder to speed run the training and cultivation, so bey bey becoming Ultimate-Class after a few years of training.

But that was not necessarily a bad thing. People would get much stronger, and more resistant to magical attacks, and their combat prowess would be increased by a tremendous margin and other benefits.

I also noticed that the Baator was slowly advancing, and I intended to help it reach the Secondary Grade 2 Plane by tearing down the Dimensional Gap. At the same time, as Dimensional Gap would be torn down, all of the Draconic Deus and all of its planes would be sacrificed to advance Baator and relocate its position within the Astral Boundary.

This was the deepest secret that was known only to Elders of the Chthonian Empire, me, my wives, Okhwang and Shiva.

"Have we already located Rizevim and his goons?"

Asked me Zekram as I nodded in agreement, as several days ago, the Department of Intelligence located the precise position of Rizevim and several organizations that he was secretly controlling or working with against the interests of the Chthonian Empire.

"I will send Crom to clean it... he has been upset over the past years, and after Tiamat had hatchlings, he cannot fight or go away for a prolonged time so he would appreciate this mission. Additionally, we need someone of our Class to deal with this to prevent any kind of missteps."

Dragons were extremely protective of their young ones, and Tiamat was especially so. She basically forced her husband to protect them every minute because she was only satisfied when he protected their offspring when she was attending to her duties.

But in the end, hatchlings were like babies; they cried a lot and demanded a lot of attention, and like most of the men, Crom could not deal with it as well as Tiamat.

As we discussed various things, I felt that Azazel has already arrived with an entourage from the Grigori.

 

[Trafford]

I have arrived to welcome Azazel, as he had grown to become my friend during the past centuries as we conducted many experiments together, as he was a fellow researcher and scientist like me.

Contrary to me, who experienced significant appearance changes due to several evolutions and advancements, Azazel still remained the same as I had first seen him.

Today he wore a V-neck maroon long-coat with a wide, open high collar that opens up at the hem. The long coat also featured two black belts around the waist and four black bands on each arm, two of the bands at the wrist and the other two near the elbow. He wore grey slacks and brown shoes.

"Azazel, my friend, welcome."

I welcomed him happily; fortunately, my wives were not present as they collectively "disliked" the man. Fia had a general disdain for perverts. Bibi Dong tried to kill him once because he stared at her with a perverted gaze. Hela thought he should be castrated, and it would solve all problems. While Vena was more subtle and didn't openly threaten the man, she didn't like him around as he would always stare at her bust.

I knew that Azazel probably hardly could control his Vice, which was similar to the Sin of the Devil, and his Vice was lust; in the end, it was the reason why he fell from Heaven and became one of the first Fallen Angels after Azrael.

Behind Azazel were two of his trusted aides, namely Penemue and Shemhazai.

"Lady Penemue, Cadre Shemhazai."

I greeted both of them, as they bowed in return.

"Your Imperial Majesty."

Both of them greeted me politely.

Shemhazai has the appearance of a handsome man in his twenties, with silver-white hair and purple eyes. His outfit consists of a purple beret hat, a purple trench coat over a black vest, white pants, and black boots.

Meanwhile, Penemue had long purple hair and a rather larger breast with the figure of a seductress. She wore similar clothes to Shemhazai.

"Come; others will arrive soon."

I signaled them to follow after me.

After that, we arrived at the meeting room, where Zekram and Azrael were already waiting, and I started talking with Azazel about new topics of research in the field of Arcanotech and Sacred Gears.

During the centuries, Azazel made astounding progress in his research of Sacred Gears, and one could say he laid down a path for Alchemists and Artificers of the Empire to start refining Soul-Bound Growth Type Artifacts on their own.

This time, I have brought together with me my familiar Heishen, the Dark Devilgod Tiger. He has already reached the Emperor Level and was a terrifyingly strong magical beast, though I still viewed him instead as a cuddly furball.

I loved cats and cat-related species; they were my first choices for Familiar, and after them were wolves and other unique creatures.

After some more time, the final participants of this meeting arrived, representatives of Heaven, Michael, and Gabriel.

Ironically, this is the first time I am meeting Gabriel or seeing her, as I have never seen her during the Great War, and she rarely left Heaven.

I must admit that she was indeed beautiful.

Gabriel has the appearance of a gorgeous woman with curly blonde hair and a voluptuous figure, truly deserving her title as the most beautiful woman in Heaven.

"Welcome, Lord of the Heaven Seraph Michael and Lady Gabriel."

I greeted them politely, and both of them bowed to me slightly.

"We greet his Imperial Majesty of the Chthonian Empire."

They said.

"Now that everyone is gathered here, we can start out a discussion."

I said as we all sat down around the round table. I sat together at one side with Zekram and Azrael, Michael and Gabriel sat behind the other part of the table, and finally, Azazel with Penemue and Shemhazai sat behind another.

"We have gathered here to discuss the future of our factions. Now, Azazel will start."

I said as I wasn't really a fan of useless talks, and I liked saving time.

"From onwards, the Grigori disbands and will be merged into the Chthonian Empire of the Baator."

The moment he saw that I could feel the Will of the Baator stirring in excitement, as now, all living creatures of the Baator were under my control. Meanwhile, Michael and Gabriel, while they were surprised at this development, it wasn't that shocking.

In regards to Grigori, it was only a matter of time until they would be either destroyed by a stronger faction, internal conflict or absorbed into the Empire.

"Now this is solved, Michael; what do you say about our proposition?"

I asked as this was the last thing to be discussed.

Aside from bolstering the power of my wife's faction in the Douluo Universe, there was another reason why I was giving the Angels of Heaven a way out.

After I had ascended to the Being of Law, I could see lines of Karma, and I could sense that If I slaughtered Angels, I would get something bad from the Universal Will or, like cultivators would say, Heaven.

This was the problem.

The Universal Will recognized us, Devils, Fallen, and Angels, as part of the same source, which made it impossible for one of the three to slaughter or annihilate the other two without any side effects, which means that the Universe will punish the one who did it.

While I could suffer more minor punishment thanks to my Fateless One physique, which could affect even Karma to a certain degree, the same cannot be said about my Empire. Probably great misfortune would befall onto the Chthonian Empire.

Okhwang taught me method how to read Luck of my Empire.

While an abstract term, Luck was something that every faction had, but only a few knew how to utilize it properly.

The higher the Luck of the faction was, the more the faction would be favored by the Heavens themselves, or that Okhwang said to me. It meant that factions with a really high amount of Luck could survive any tribulation, and they would find a way to survive in almost every situation.