Ch. 7 Gathering Power

-Bael territory, Castle Bael

"We can't just let those fools get away with this!! They killed members of over 7 houses and dozens of our men in cold blood and without any explanation or reasons!!" Lord Bardec Vapula shouted as he slammed his hands on the table many fellow Lords had gathered around.

The man was a large devil with a brown mane of hair reaching his back, purple eyes, strong and intimidating facial features with short beard along his jaw. He was also the father of the current Lord Bael's wife.

"We agree with you Lord Vapula, but the question remains: what are we to do about this? We cannot simply force the Satans or the other factions might see this as an opportunity to strike." Lord Furcas countered carefully as he fears this situation might restart the war, but with them at a heavy disadvantage.

Lord Steedlif Furcas was an elegant man of calm disposition, with flowing grey hair tied in a ponytail, brown eyes and somewhat delicate appearance.

His comment opened up the debate between those favoring action and those favoring compromise.

"This is exactly what we need to do." Interrupted an authoritative voice, causing all lords present to pay attention, "The current Satans have shown they do not understand the consequences of their folly nor do they care about our people.

Should we do nothing we head to the end of devils as we know it. So now we must fight for a chance at a future."

The speaker was none other than the first Bael himself, the man who gathered them here and the one who had been organizing their group in an attempt to convince the Satans to focus on gathering their strength instead of foolishly rushing into a war they could not win.

Although he has the appearance of a middle-aged looking man with short black hair, piercing violet eyes and wears a traditional noble attire, the strong aura of dignity he possessed stopped anyone from questioning him.

"I agree with Sir Bael." Spoke up a well dressed man with short greenish blonde hair, a stylized goatee, pink eyes and a dandy appearance. The Lord Chasith Agares. "The Satans have refused any attempts at negotiations or diplomacy. They have gone so far as to threaten myself and my family during my last efforts to convince them to at least wait. Therefor I see no other option but to fight back against such foolishness."

"Even if we fight, we do not have the means to defeat the Satans themselves." The Lord Rizel Phenex suddenly added as he brought up the most important point.

The man was the most extravagantly dressed present with his short blonde hair sleeked backward, blue eyes and a roguishly handsome face. He was also the richest man present thanks to his family's monopoly on Phoenix Tears.

"Then we bring in those who can." Zekram Bael announced as he grabbed the attention of those present once again. "I have heard of four families possessing devils of the new generation holding powers said to match and even surpass the original Satans.

Of those known, I have no doubts about eventually convincing the Gremory and Sitri heirs to join our cause. Sirzechs has a soft heart, but he would not continue to stand the actions of the current Satans. Meanwhile Serafall Sitri is a compassionate girl who has seen the impacts of the Great War firsthand due to her family's status as the premier healers in the Underworld, she will no doubt join.

Besides them, the current heir of House Astaroth, Ajuka, is said to rival Sirzechs and have a good relationship with him, meaning we bring in Sirzechs and likely secure Ajuka. The most troublesome would the heir of House Glasya-Labolas, Falbium, due to his supposed apathy or laziness.

Should we succeed in bringing these four into the fold, we will not only gain four more houses to our cause, but also the strength to defeat the Satans."

"I will go to convince the Sitri Heiress and then head to Glasya-Labolas. I should be able to convince them once we have the other three." Lord Agares responded with confidence.

"Good. I shall personally see to Sirzechs and Ajuka afterward." Zekram said as the other members present silently accepted due to this being their only actual chance to win.

One needs a Satan to defeat a Satan after all.

-A few months later at a battle near the Vapula territory.

"Hold the line! We can't let those bastards get through or they'll slaughter the villages!" Ordered an officer of the Vapula house as he fired another round of magic attacks towards the forces of the Satans.

All around devils were dying by the moment as elemental blasts were fired from every direction and low ranking soldiers charged towards the enemy to engage in close quarters.

Unfortunately for the Vapula forces, they were completely outnumbered and outmatched as the forces of two of the six houses of Lucifer, Satanachia and Sargatanas, hammered through them and blazed trails of carnage wherever they went.

"Hahahaha! This is what you scum get for standing up to the great Satans! You should have just done as you were told!" The cruel and sadistic commander of these forces loudly yelled as he watched his men slaughter the enemy.

"Sir! Our men spotted incoming devils!" A scout suddenly announced, making the commander stop paying attention to the battle.

"From which house?" He questioned seriously.

"It's…" unfortunately the scout didn't have time to answer properly as massive amounts of water flood their troops before they could all here a woman's voice echo loudly.

"Flash Freeze!"

Which immediately froze the water, trapping the majority of Satanachia and Sargatanas forces in a vast field of ice.

"Hail of Hell!" The voice followed up as boulders of ice started raining down from the sky, taking down the aerial troops and further crushing the ground ones.

"Who dares attack us! We are the army of the great Satans!" A furious commander roared as he attempted to hide the fear Those last two attacks made him feel.

"Follow Lady Serafall!! Show those bastards what real devils can do!!" A well armored man shouted as the banners of House Sitri were raised.

This sudden ambush and charge resulted in the Satan army lines to completely collapse as they suddenly found themselves in a real fight they didn't have an overwhelming advantage in.

"Follow them men! Show them what the Lions of Vapula can do!" The Vapula commander shouted as he took advantage of their rising momentum.

"Like I would let you!" Shouted the Satan army commander, spreading his wings and taking flight as he prepared a large scale fire spell to counter.

"Your opponent is me!" The woman who could only be Serafall Sitri said as she fired great spears of ice at the enemy commander, forcing him to cancel his magic and dodge.

Everyone finally got a good look at the girl rumored to be a match for the Satans themselves.

She was a short but beautiful, with long black hair tied in twin tails, her surprisingly well developed body hidden behind her white robes covered by enchanted armor protecting her chest, arms and legs. She also wielded an ornate silver staff embed with a large blue gem as its head.

"Little girl I will enjoy making you my toy before I offer you up to the great Satans!" The commander roared furiously as he turned to fire is at magic at her.

"Little girl!!? I'll show you who's a little girl you ugly brute!!" She shouted back angrily as she almost instantly casted a spell completely freezing her target before her fell and shattered on landing. "Hmph! Calling me little girl."

With Serafall and the Sitri army's presence, it didn't take long to completely rout the Satan aligned army.

Causing cheers in honor of the lady who turned everything around.

-Edge of Gremory territory.

A handsome young man with shoulder length crimson hair, blue-green eyes, wearing a simple white shirt and brown pants, was taking his time walking down a forest path as he enjoyed the sight of the familiar nature around him.

This young man was Sirzechs Gremory, heir of his House, said to hold power surpassing the Satans, but his caring and laid-back attitude make people forget the incredible strength he was born with.

In fact, he was actually on his way to visit a particular village he enjoyed playing the piano in and was teaching the children how to sing as a choir in accompaniment.

He reached the ending of the forest path expecting the see the usual idyllic scene of the peaceful village he enjoyed, but to his horror he was welcomed to a burning nightmare as devils in armor flew around firing magic at the innocent people simply trying to make a living there.

Wasting no time he spread his own wings and took off as quickly as he could in the hopes of saving the ones he came to know over the years and children who's smiles and laughter as he loved to hear as they learnt to sing together.

What he found was death, pain and sadness as he could see the broken bodies of devils he knew, of men, women… and children.

Seeing the faces he could recognize from up high, Sirzechs froze.

"Hey, how did that guy escape?" One of the devils responsible for the slaughter asked his comrade.

"Who knows? Who cares? The Satans ordered this as a warning to the Gremory. They weren't happy when Sitri joined the rebels and didn't want Gremory to get any ideas after Bael visited them. The other units should be done having their fun too, so take care of him and let's go." He replied dismissively as he flew away.

Unfortunately for him, a bolt of black and crimson magic engulfed him before he could even say a word, leaving nothing a moment later.

The original speaker turned towards the origin of the magic to find the red haired man he had been planning to quickly kill, but what he saw and then felt terrified him to his core during the last moments of his existence.

An absolutely enormous burst of crimson energy erupted out of the man as it turned the very sky red, with bolts black and red bolts flashing out of the man, destroying everything they touched.

Suddenly one of those bolts passed by the him, taking his left arm and most of his chest with it. Letting the devil only hear an enraged howl full of sorrow be his final farewell as the man he now realized was Sirzechs Gremory, turned into destruction itself.

In his sorrowful wrath, Sirzechs wiped out every trace of the Satans army within Gremory territory and even beyond, before returning to the smoldering remains of the village he loved to visit.

There, with tears in his eyes, he cradled the body of one of the children he had grown rather close to, wondering how could those supposed to protect the Underworld and the devils within it could slaughter the innocents like this.

Finding no answer, he decided that if they couldn't, he would.

He had no wish to take part in the conflict due to his aversion to solving problems with violence and the fact that he knew the woman he loved, but dared not love openly, would undoubtedly be on the opposing side, but he could not permit the behavior of the Satans any longer.

The Satans would regret they had pushed him so far.

-Some time later, Astaroth territory, Private workshop.

Within was a bewitchingly attractive young man with light blue eyes and green hair that is slicked back, wearing a black coat and a special pair of glasses while seemingly working on a unique set of crystals with various tools scattered around.

The workshop itself was vast and filled with bookshelves, walls covered in drawings or calculations, tables occupied by half-finished devices, tools and parts. It was truly representative of the inventor and genius Ajuka Astaroth.

*Knock Knock knock*

"Hm? Who could that be? I'm pretty sure I told them not to disturb me." Ajuka irritably said as he put down a project he believed would be able to change devil society in its entirety if it works.

He opened the door to his workshop, but instead of finding a family member or servant, he found his close friend Sirzechs Gremory standing there with the most serious expression he had ever seen on the man.

Ajuka then noticed that his friend was disheveled, with mud of his pants like he kneeled in mud, slightly red eyes with dark circles, and seemed to be emotionally unbalanced.

"Sirzechs? What happened to you? Why are you here?" Ajuka asked out of concern for his friend.

"I'm going to fight the Satans. I can't let them go further than they already have. I wanted to ask for your help." Sirzechs directly answered.

"What? But didn't you say no when old Zekram tried to convince you? You said you didn't think fighting amongst ourselves was the right way." A confused Ajuka replied.

"The Satans have gone too far Ajuka. They sent troops to slaughter innocent devils from my house just as a warning when we aren't even against them." A saddened Sirzechs said as he once again thought about the empty faces and cold bodies of the children.

"They did what? For no… wait. Today is… oh. I'm sorry for you lost." Ajuka said as he pieced together his friend's reason for reversing his initial decision.

"Thank you Ajuka. But will you join me? I'd feel a lot better if my friend and rival would be beside me in this fight." Sirzechs responded as he managed a small smile.

Ajuka thought about his project for a moment, but decided that one of his only true friends was more important than something he could finish after the war. He knew the general strength of the current Satans, but he was confident in taking them on. If it was their parents, the original Satans, then he might have been slightly less certain, but he would have still been willing.

"Of course. Wouldn't let you have all the fun of putting down those wastes." Ajuka finally said as he took off his special glasses.

"Thank you my friend." Sirzechs honestly replied as he felt that at least he had someone he could truly trust in the upcoming fight.

"No problem. Just let me grab a few things and we can go." Ajuka shot back as he started looking around his messy workshop for who knew what as Sirzechs could only wait.

-Glasya-Labolas Castle sometime later.

"…um…You…mast… Fal…ng master…bium…Falbium…Young Master Falbium!"

"Ugh, yeah? What it is? Why did you wake me up so early?" A slightly grumpy bald headed young man responded as he seemed very reluctant to wake up.

"It is already well beyond lunch time Young master Falbium." The maid who had woken him replied in a deadpan manner, "But I woke you because the Lord requested your immediate presence in his office."

"Father did? What for?" Falbium asked slightly confused as he scratched his bald head.

"I was not informed young master, but it seemed of the upmost importance. The Lord was very serious today." She answered dutifully, "now please get up so we can have you dressed young master. Sleepwear was declared unacceptable today."

*Groan* "Fine." Falbium replied as he let the maids do the work for him.

Soon after he was sitting in front of his father's desk with a tired look on his face.

"I called you here to discuss the recent events pertaining the rebellion against the Satans. Tell me what you think about it?" The current Lord Glasya-Labolas, Relium Glasya-Labolas, asked of his son.

Relium actually shared his son's dilemma of baldness, but chose to make up for it by growing a rather impressive grey beard to compensate. Both also were quite average in appearance, but unlike Falbium he was quite an energetic person.

"That? Why?" Falbium simply questioned curiously.

"Humor me." His father replied as he chose not to answer.

Eyeing his father suspiciously, Falbium decided to answer, "…From what I heard the servants say, the Satans had the advantage at the beginning… but things are basically balanced out now that Gremory, Sitri and Astaroth joined the rebel side. With people saying that the heirs of their families can match the original Satans… but I'm not sure how much of that if true. I'd say a stalemate unless someone can take down a key figure… or if someone new breaks the balance." Falbium said as he spoke his thoughts.

Keep in my that he basically pieced together the situation of the war and the general flow of it by hearing servant gossiping between his naps and sleeping hours.

"Sounds about right." Lord Glasya-Labolas said as he stroked his beard.

"Why'd you ask though?" Falbium asked as he began to make himself comfortable and thinking about what position would be best to nap in.

"Because you're going to lead our troops and help the rebels." His father answered as he caused Falbium to sit up very quickly.

"No." Falbium firmly replied as he would fight tooth and nail for his sleep and to not have to work.

"Your choice, but if we don't end this war quickly and the Satans win, then you'll have no choice but to fight in the Great War or become a criminal. I doubt you'd get much sleep either way." Relium casually responded as if he couldn't care less.

Those words shook Falbium as he began calculating the results of either outcome as best he could, but soon found out that not fighting now would let him sleep less than quickly ending this conflict.

"Where?" Falbium simply asked his father.

"House Bael." Was the reply.

Thus without another word, Falbium Glasya-Labolas headed out to join the war.

-Azaroth territory, capital city Azura.

"The four points of interest have officially joined the rebels master. Your new orders?" Fia informed her Lord and master.

"Have our spies investigate the closest House the Satans will target within the next two months." Lith said as he continued to work on the large amount of paperwork a Lord had to take care of within a rapidly expanding territory.

"One moment…" she replied as she contacted the various sources 'employed' by the House. "Here we are. House Phenex is said to be targeted due to them supporting the rebels and supplying them ample amounts of Phoenix Tears. The Satans were quite upset and ordered an attack. They assigned House Fleurety, and are forcing Balam somehow, to undertake the mission while supervised by some descendants of Beelzebub. The offensive should occur sometime next week."

"Good. We might even be able to turn House Balam to our side. I quite like them compared to other Houses." Lith replied with a grin.

"Orders?" Fia responded as she kept on topic.

"Have the 1st, 4th and 5th legions ready to sortie, while the 2nd and 3rd are to stay to protect things while we're away. Also give the orders to capture any House Balam members alive." Lith told her as she related said orders efficiently.

"We going to fight Chief?" An excited Lomr asked.

"Yes we are." Lith said as he look in the direction of his first battle.

_______________________________________

EXTRA AUTHOR NOTE:

The above is actually the reason stated for Sirzechs to enter the war. Satan forces killed a choir group of young devils he taught, pushing him into joining. The reason he had not actually joined when Zekram would have went to ask was simply because he didn't view conflict as the right way.

While Ajuka is stated as being very close to Sirzechs, so I can see him joining only if he had. I can also see him just not care and focus on his research should Sirzechs not ask him to join. Also hinted at him already working on what would later become the Evil Pieces.

Serafall on the other was supposed to be the first one to join the rebel side. She will be quite different because Magical girls aren't even a concept yet, much less popular enough for her to have heard about. Instead I'm going to give her a bit of a complex regarding he supposed child-like stature, even though she's also said to have a sexy body at the same time, instead. Her reason for joining first would be that she saw many veterans of the Great War due to her family operating the largest healing grounds in the Underworld, leading her to understanding the consequences of restarting it a lot more than the other future Satans. She will still be compassionate and kind, just not a magical girl siscon.

And Falbium I just wanted to have a bit of fun with by having his father manipulate him into participating, using his extreme laziness and work aversion to make him do the 'less troublesome job'.

My timeframe for all this is within 6 months of the initial massacre of Lucifaad where a Beelzebub descendant ordered the killings of all Pillar House descendant resisting the restarting of the Great War who happened to be in the city, regardless of innocent casualties in the process.

The reason I say six months is because that is when the wiki says the first major battle of the civil war happened. I'm also not calling the civil until after the fact since I'm history of the rebels win it would be a civil war to free themselves from oppression and if the Satans win it would be named a rebellion.

Also as of now the two sides of the war will be something like this:

Satan faction:

* Lucifuge (6 House of Lucifer)

* Asmodeus

* Beelzebub

* Leviathan

* Satanachia (6 House of Lucifer)

* Barbatos

* Agaliarept (6 House of Lucifer)

* Fleurety (6 House of Lucifer)

* Sargatanas (6 House of Lucifer)

* Nebiros (research focused)(6 House of Lucifer)

* Naberius (research focused)

* Bruné (Forced)

* Sobnock

* Balam (Forced)

Anti-satan faction:

* Bael

* Vapula

* Agares

* Astaroth

* Vassago

* Gremory

* Sitri

* Glasya-Labolas

* Gamigin

* Phenex

* Furcas

* Andrealphus

* Belial

Not really sure what to do with other houses or where to even begin about the ones that say extinct on wiki and could have actually participated in the civil way. There's also going to be a certain number who would remain neutral for political or ideological reasons. Then there are houses who just can't afford to lose more descendants or manpower. There's probably some houses who are on the brink of collapse too. So kind of a mess to balance.

Some suggestions regarding some houses to add with details regarding clan trait, overall manpower and general power levels would be better than nitpicking.