Heaven Under Attack

Heaven, Second Heaven.

After waking up Ayame and a short tour of First Heaven, where the Brave Saints, the humans who have reincarnated as angels, and the lower ranked angels reside, Michael, Gabriel, and Irina led the group of Devils to Second Heaven.

"This is Second Heaven." Michael said with his usual kind smile on his face. "This is where we, the angels, come to observe the stars."

With Michael's introduction, the group took a chance to look around at their new surroundings. What they saw was an area entirely filled with darkness. In this darkness, the silhouettes of angels could be seen staring off into the darkness with concentrated expressions.

"So, Second Heaven is an observatory?" Shuna asked while scanning the area.

"From what I can sense, there are more angels in here than just those watching the stars." Irene said while scanning the area. "And not all of them are angels."

"Your senses are impressive." Michael said maintaining his smile. "The angels who have sinned, yet not enough to fall, and the perpetrators of the Tower of Babel incident are also imprisoned here."

"Isn't imprisoning angels a bad idea?" James asked curiously. "I mean, wouldn't the chances of them falling rise with that?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Michael said with a bit of sadness in his tone. However, his tone turned back to normal quickly afterward. "But those are the guidelines that Father made."

"So, you blindly follow all the supposed guidelines He made." Scathach said in an uninterested tone. "Allowing the dead to dictate how the living live is the reason you have had the least progress out of all the Abrahamic Factions over the last millennium."

Frowning slightly at Scathach's reply, Michael knew she was right. However, he did not accept it. Following his father's will would never be wrong in his book. Thus, he would never admit anything that the Biblical God did could be flawed.

"Scatti, even I wouldn't criticize the way someone lives in their own house." Leona said with a shocked expression on her face.

"No, Leona would wait until she was in her own house to criticize them." Shion said with a smile.

"That's right." Leona said while puffing her chest out proudly.

"Can we get a move on already?" Dante asked while standing among the group with his arms crossed and tapping a finger on his arm. "There's nothing to see here in the dark."

"What were you hoping to see on this trip, anyway?" Cu Chulainn asked.

"To find the answer to a question I've been asking myself for years." Dante said with a faraway look in his eyes.

Seeing the look in Dante's eyes, Cu Chulainn decided to drop the topic. As everyone has their own secrets, Cu Chulainn knew better than to start prying into them.

"Very well." Michael said with a nod. "As the Son of Sparda said, there really isn't much to see here."

A moment later, the entire group teleported away from Second Heaven.

Heaven, Third Heaven.

A moment later, the group appeared on an expanse of clouds with what appear to be humans walking or floating between them.

"This is Third Heaven." Gabriel introduced the level with a smile. "This is where the humans, with enough merit to be accepted into Heaven after their lives have ended, reside."

"Yeah, Lord Michael told us that earlier." Cu Chulainn replied.

Hearing that, Gabriel's smile disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with an expression that was about to cry any second. When Cu Chulainn saw that, he did not know what to do. All he did was inform Gabriel so that she would not have to say anything unnecessary.

"Way to go, Lancer." James said with a slight smile. "You made her cry."

"No, that's not what..." Cu Chulainn tried to explain frantically.

"Calm down, Gaby." Leona said, coming over and patting Gabriel on the back. "He wasn't trying to steal your spot light, he just didn't want you to have to explain something that was already explained again."

"So... He was... just trying to help?" Gabriel asked, her expression slowly regaining its cheerfulness.

"That's right." Leona said with a nod and a smile. "If you want to be upset with anyone, you should blame your brother, Michael. I mean, it's clear that you two had planned out which of you would introduce which part of Heaven, right? He's the one that messed up in the first place."

Although Leona was usually all about causing chaos, seeing those innocent eyes filled with sadness caused Leona's instinct to protect to flare up. Like James, she could not stand to see those innocence filled eyes show any sadness. Something that neither of them could explain.

On the other hand, Gabriel stopped to think about what Leona said. Then, she remembered that Michael, in fact, did explain about Third Heaven in response to the question Kahlua asked when the devils first arrived. She then turned her gaze towards Michael with a pout on her face.

"Brother is the bad one." Gabriel said while pouting, she pointed a finger at Michael.

Michael felt as if an arrow had pierced his chest.

'Am I truly the reason for Sister's sadness?' Michael thought to himself while stumbling back one step. 'How can this be?'

Seeing Michael's reaction, James narrowed his eyes. And scrutinized Michael's expression and micro expressions more carefully. When he found what he was looking for, he began to shake his head, not believing it, yet completely accepting it at the same time.

"James, is everything alright?" Mizore asked after noticing James' changes in expression.

"Yeah, everything is fine." James replied with a smile and patted Mizore's head.

Immediately, Mizore's eyes narrowed in pleasure while James thought to himself about his findings.

'Really, another one?' James thought to himself. 'Why is everyone over a certain threshold of power a fucking sis-con? Is that something written into the world laws? No, I'll hold judgement on that until I meet the other two Seraphs.'

While James felt like he was pondering the Dao, the group walked around Third Heaven, just observing what they could see. While the group wandered around, another woman, one with three pairs of white feathered wings, blue eyes, beautiful facial features, appearing to be in her mid-thirties, and wearing a nun's habit, landed next to the group.

"Lady Gabriel." The new arrival said as she approached the group. "I have returned."

"So, you got it?" Gabriel asked with a bit of anticipation.

"Yes." The woman replied while holding out a bag in front of Gabriel. "The limited edition tiramisu that you wanted."

When The woman raised her hand, James noticed a "Q" on the back of her hand. When he did, he looked at the woman more carefully. Then, he smiled and approached.

"The [Queen] of Gabriel's deck." James said with an outstretched hand. "Then, you must be Griselda Quarta. I'm James Alaverus, it's nice to meet you. I must say, you're much more beautiful than I expected. Judging by how scared of you Xenovia always seems to be, I thought you would be a six and a half foot (1.98 m) tall monster of a woman."

Griselda had already turned her attention to James when she noticed his approach. And when he complimented her beauty, she could not help but smile slightly. Regardless of what they tell you, there are no women in existence who don't like being called beautiful. Then, she stretched her own hand forward and grasped James' lightly.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Griselda replied in a polite tone. "So, you're the boy that Xenovia seems to have a crush on."

"I guess she does." James replied with a wry smile as he released the handshake. "But as of now, she keeps telling herself that she just wants to experience having a baby with me."

"*Sigh* I guess that's my fault." Griselda said while shaking her head. "Since I'm the one who raised her, I guess I spent too much time trying to raise her into an exorcist and not enough time raising her as a girl."

"As a person, really." Mizore interjected. "That girl's common sense is..."

"Yeah, but it's usually pretty funny." Moka said. "Especially when the church trio are together. I mean, none of them really have much in the way of common sense."

"What do you mean?" Irina asked. "My common sense is much better than those two."

"Oh yeah, a girl raised by an exorcist to be an exorcist would naturally have much more common sense than a girl raised by an exorcist to be an exorcist." Moka said in a dry tone, causing everyone who was listening to snicker a bit.

"Moka-Chan, you're so mean." Irina said, puffing out her cheeks as she spoke.

Seeing the interaction between Mizore, Moka, and Irina, Griselda smiled.

"It's just like you're thinking." James said with a smile. "Xenovia has become much more expressive since she started living with us. She's a lot more cheerful, too."

"I'm glad to hear that." Griselda replied. "Unfortunately, most members of the exorcists don't know much outside of being an exorcist. So, it was hard for me to teach Xenovia much about other things."

While the others were talking about how the church trio was getting along, Dante was walking around with his sense spread as far as they could go.

"Damn it, this place is huge." Dante muttered to himself. "At this rate, I'll never find her."

"Are you looking for someone in particular, Dante, Son of Sparda?" Michael asked after seeing the frown on Dante's face.

Seeing that it was Michael who was asking, Dante exhaled a sigh then answered his question.

"I was hoping that I could find my mother, Eva." Dante explained. "She was such a kind woman, so I have no doubt that she should be up here."

Hearing that, Michael could not help but sigh helplessly.

"Unfortunately, she is not in Heaven." Michael replied.

Hearing that, Dante was shaken. Before he could ask why, however, Michael continued.

"Had Father still been alive, she would most definitely have made it to Heaven." Michael said, continuing his explanation. "She was kind and helped others no matter what. Unfortunately, after Father's passing, his system became unstable. And because I'm not strong enough, I was unable to allow her, someone who fell in love with a devil, entry into Heaven. Instead, her soul was sent into the cycle of reincarnation."

Though Dante was a bit sad that he would not be able to see his mother again, he also found relief that the devils from the Old Satan Faction had not done anything to her soul.

"Now, I think it's time to continue the tour." Michael said in a louder voice, gaining the attention of the others. "Next, we'll move to Fifth Heaven."

"Wait, what about Fourth Heaven?" Irene asked curiously.

"Fourth Heaven is the fabled Garden of Eden." Michael explained with a kind smile. "The place where Adam and Eve resided. And where the Tree of Wisdom is planted. It's off limits to everyone other than the Four Great Seraphs. So, even if I wanted to give you a tour, I'm unable to."

'The Garden of Eden also known as Paradise, huh?' James thought to himself after hearing Michael's explanation. Then, he glanced at Gabriel's breasts for a moment before turning away. 'I wonder if it compares to the paradise I found earlier.'

While James was lost in thought again, everyone gathered around Michael. As Michael prepared to teleport everyone to their next destination, The entirety of the Third Heaven shook, and Michael's teleportation failed.

"What's going on?" Michael muttered while watching all those residing in Third Heaven beginning to panic.

A moment later, a communication magic circle appeared next to Michael's right ear. Once it began to glow, Michael could hear the voice of a panicked angel.

"{Lord Michael!}" The panicked angel shouted. "{The four Evil Dragons under the Son of Lucifer's command have broken into Third Heaven! On top of that, a horde of weaker Evil Dragons are also rushing into Heaven!}"

Hearing that, Michael's face paled while his holy energy began to leak due to his loss of composure. All the devils present, with the exception of James, Scathach, Irene, and, to a lesser extent, Cu Chulainn felt uncomfortable when they felt his aura.

"How did they get in here?" Michael asked after quickly regaining his composure.

"{They broke through Purgatory.}" The angel replied. "{Lord Michael, what should we do? We have lost the connection to anything higher than Third Heaven.}"

"The connection to the higher Heavens has been cut?" Michael asked in surprise.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Gabriel asked.

"Since Gabriel and I are on Third Heaven, we'll come to provide back up. Keep them where they are for as long as you can." Michael said before ending the communication. Then, he turned toward the rest of the group. "Rizevim's Evil Dragons have infiltrated Heaven."

Hearing that, everyone's expressions turned serious. Everyone except for James, that is. At present, James was wearing a bloodthirsty smile.

"Oh, so did those two that ran away last time show up as well?" James asked with wrath swirling in his eyes.

'Incredible.' Michael thought when he looked at James. 'I can sense so much wrath in him. However, he's controlling it perfectly. None of it is leaking. His sin suppression device isn't reacting at all.'

"Hey, Michael." James said, not losing his blood thirsty smile. "Why don't you let us handle the Evil Dragons? That way you can focus on getting the residents to safety."

Michael contemplated for a moment as the group began to move in the direction where they could feel four powerful auras. Then, when he looked at the line up James had with him, he nodded his head.

"Very Well, Gabriel and I will take command of the situation and help as many people as we can." Michael said. "Since the connection to the higher Heavens was broken, I would guess that Ladon, The Insomniac Dragon has erected a barrier around the lower levels of Heaven."

"Don't worry." James said. "When we're done with him, he'll be nothing but a pile of fire wood. You can handle his barriers, right Master?"

"There should be no issue." Scathach said confidently.

"Alright." James replied with a nod. Then, he looked at his mother. "Mom, even though you've raised your strength to high-rank, I'm afraid that a battle at this level is still out of your depth."

"I know that." Leona replied while rolling her eyes. "I'll help Mike and Gaby save people. I'm still pretty fast, ya know."

"Mike?" Michael said but was easily ignored by the others

"Alright, then let's go." James said with a savage smile on his face.