Epilogue: Gathering of Ambitions

"Are you really going to ignore him?"

The office was dimly lit by yellow light released by the glass chandelier hung in the center, giving the office a European touch.

A table was placed near the wall with a window opposite the entrance door—a chair at back and two chairs in front.

Sitting over his chair, the young man in his twenties skimmed through the papers within his hand in silence, not answering the question of his friend who sat on a single-person couch placed diagonally to his sitting.

After a silence of minutes, the young man finally looked up towards his friend—a handsome man in his twenties with silver-white hair and purple eyes.

His brow twitched slightly, seeing the handsome appearance of his friend making him want to punch him.

He must be getting girls easily — he thought.

It was not that he wasn't handsome himself or anything as such—he was a tall man with a twenties look and an average build, black hair with golden bangs, and a black goatee.

If put in numbers, then his looks can easily be put above average.

But that was all… above-average…

In front of handsome people like his friend, he still felt an urge to punch them.

"What do you want me to do?"

Finally, with a sigh, Azazel threw the papers back on the table.

"He already has a huge number of Fallens under him and most that have been left are doubting our ideology. If we did anything right now, we might end up with two factions—fighting among each other. I would rather avoid such a scenario."

With a slight swirl of his chair, he looked outside of the window and continued.

"We are finally coming close to forming a peace treaty within the Three Great Faction. Internal strife is the last thing I would want to see happening." He said with slight tiredness within his voice. "A small mistake… and we might end up with another Great War… and this time the casualties wouldn't be limited to Three Factions."

A silence took over the office with both Azazel and Shemhazel lost in their thoughts.

Grigori… or to be more precise, Azazel has been trying his best to get the Three Great Faction under a peace treaty.

For centuries, he has been trying his best to create peace.

A slight mistake and all of his hard work might end up drowning—he would rather avoid that.

Yet, he knew of the ambitions of his friend and that he wouldn't sit silently until another war happened.

This made Azazel massage his nose bridge, feeling his headache increasing.

He would have easily dealt with the situation if the person initiating this mess was just another Fallen Angel, but the fact that it was none other than one of the leaders of Grigori with his own followers made it all that difficult to be dealt with.

If he deals with the situation badly, he might end up with Kokabiel running away with his followers to initiate a war.

And the fact that Kokabiel was one of the cradles of Grigori didn't make it all that less problematic, since Grigori would also have to bear the weight of his mistake—meaning, the whole Fallen Angel faction would be pulled down with him.

Azazel wanted to avoid such a scenario, thus his headache.

"Should we detain him? His followers can be dealt with easily after."

"If we have some proof that is." Azazel added. "As long as we can put some form of proof for the whole faction to see, we shouldn't have much problem other than his followers. Otherwise, we might end up going against the whole faction."

It didn't take two to start a war.

A single person could very much do the same.

Kokabiel was one of the leaders of Grigori, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he also had his own small faction among them who shared the same superiority complex as him.

If they used their authority over him forcefully, it might end up igniting the fire among those who followed the same ideology, creating a war within Grigori.

Despite a non-aggression pact among the Three Faction, Azazel wasn't naive enough to believe that no one would take advantage of them.

Why would someone deliberately ignore a pie thrown in front of them? It was free for all at that point.

"Should we use Slash Dog to collect information against him? As long as we can get even the slightest info about him trying to initiate a war, we can use it as a basis to detain him within the walls of Grigori. Otherwise, it might end up becoming an international issue outside of our jurisdiction."

Shemhazal sighed before continuing.

"At that point, other factions wouldn't mind using 'words' to destroy or even incite the leftover fire within Grigori."

Azazel became quiet.

Using Slash Dog wasn't a bad idea, since their members were quite strong.

Even if they were caught in some unforeseen scenario, he thought they should be able to deal with it or at least call for their help.

"... If anything, I would rather want someone outside of Grigori to do the investigation but I'll talk with Tobio."

If someone outside of Grigori did the investigation, then the chances of getting caught by Kokabiel were low but he couldn't think of anyone about who Kokabiel didn't know and is willing to work for him.

"You can take it from here." Shemhazel nodded before changing the topic. "Anyway, I heard he is 17 this year. Since that is the case, other factions should be moving too. Should we invite him to join Grigori?"

Azazel sighed, an image of a black-haired kid passing through his mind.

"If only he wasn't part of the Red Clan… And now since he is under the protection of the Red King, any move on him might end up making the Red King our enemy. I don't want that hot-headed youth to go for my head like a madman."

Shemhazel also sighed remembering the image of the Red King and how he almost went to the underworld to enact his revenge.

He sure is a hot-blooded youth — Shemhazel nodded.

"Most Red Kings are hot-blooded… I wonder if it has anything to do with their powers…" Shemhazel softly muttered before looking towards Azazel. "But we should form a friendly relationship with him… especially now that there seems to be something going on between him and the sisters of two Satans."

"Damn playboy…" Azazel hushedly said, making Shemhazel stare at him with a dead look.

"Ahem! Anyway, we should at least keep an eye on him knowing the bad blood between him and his family, it shouldn't be long before he starts his crusade against them. We can give him a hand in it, that should be enough to show our goodwill."

There were already some reports of the Pendragon Family mingling itself with some shady magicians while even some devils have been spotted around their vicinity.

Azazel knew that once Noah gained enough power, his first target would be the Pendragon Family and then Devils. Sending someone to help him in doing so should be enough to show their goodwill towards him.

*ZZZZ* *ZZZZ* *ZZZZ*

"Hm?" Picking up his phone, Azazel stared at the content of the message with a weird gaze, making Shemhazel raise a brow.

"Is everything alright?"

"Nothing. Just a spam message." He said before closing his phone. "Well then, with the discussion here complete, I'll take my leave to stri—the bar where Tobio is."

"... I hope you don't go to the strip club…"

"Hahaha… Of course not…" Azazel said before vanishing in a burst of teleportation circle, making Shemhazel sigh thirdly.

Staring out of the window, he could feel that something big was about to happen. He could only pray it wasn't something bad.

+++

"This should be everything." A girl said, ending her explanation of everything written on the pages within her hand, the information on every one of even a slight significance within Kuoh Town.

"Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri, Noah Pendragon, and the daughter of Baraqiel, what an ugly group of people." Kokabiel said, his head resting on his fist as he stared at the image of the four people in front of him with a bored gaze.

"Any one of them should suffice to start a conflict, but a conflict is not what I desire." He said before looking towards the secretary who explained everything to him. "I heard Azazel sent a group of Fallen to Kuoh Town to spy on Noah Pendragon. Is it true?"

"Yes." The secretary nodded her head. "Noah Pendragon has reached the age of 17, the age where the protection of… "that being" shouldn't be effective. It seems that Azazel-sama wants to form a friendly relationship with Noah Pendragon. The group of Fallens is sent to watch over and make sure if a situation arises, they should help him to gain a cordial relationship with him."

"So behind the scene protection huh… how disgusting. To think we, the most superior race, would fall to nothing but mere bodyguards. It makes my blood boil with disgust."

"Should we take care of them?"

"No need." Kokabiel shook his head before he smiled. "Since Azazel has decided to send them to form a cordial relationship with him, we will use them to do the opposite."

'Though there is no need to provoke a King, a war is perfect to remove the unbalanced factors as Kings from this world.'

Kings were not part of the world during the Three Great Faction but a group that came out some centuries after.

Suddenly, a group of powerful individuals surfaced on the earth, of course many factions would be interested in them.

Yet, despite their effort to erase them, all of them underestimated the Power of the King way too much, resulting in an utter defeat.

And since the civil war happened in the underworld, the devils retreated first to quell the tension there while Azazel, who wanted nothing but peace, talked with the Silver King before retreating.

Michael, being the daddy boy, never wanted a war to begin with. And since the Kings were humans who gave protection to humans, Michael was quite satisfied with it.

Kokabiel couldn't help but scoff.

A new faction arose in front of them yet they acted like it was nothing, how humiliating.

If it were the Fallen Angels of the past, they would never have let the King Faction rise among humans and devoured them till not even their skeletons were left.

'Azazel has become too soft… He isn't worthy to be the leader of the Fallen Angels any longer. Once I start the war, I'll deal with Azazel too.'

"How is the transfer of Asia Argento going on? Are there any problems there?"

"None." The secretary shook her head. "Azazel-sama thinks that she is being sent to Kuoh as a nun. He is still not aware of the underlying purpose."

Twilight Healing — it was a beautiful Sacred Gear.

It was beyond Kokabiel's knowledge why Azazel did not use it.

But since he had already decided to kill the nun to get the gear out of her, it didn't matter any longer.

'Though I would want the gear for myself or someone working under me…'

If going to the Kuoh or sending someone there didn't raise the suspicion of Azazel or the reason he can't kill her when she is in Grigori, Kokabiel would have extracted the gear himself.

It is just a pity he can't any longer.

After his talk with the secretary ended, he sent her away before leaving his office with teleportation magic.

Soon, he appeared in another room… or was it?

There was nothing there, no walls, no ground, no roof— a void with a table floating in the center with chairs around it.

Ignoring the bizarreness of the situation he found himself to be, Kokabiel casually walked towards the table and sat on a chair.

As he silently sat there, another teleportation circle appeared within the void before a being came out of it.

Darkness swept from within his whole being as two torches like flame within his eyes burned brighter as they landed on Kokabiel.

"You are early." His voice was heavy and cold, making the listener shiver in fear.

"Don't make it sound like I was waiting for you, Hades. If not that I didn't need you for my plans, I wouldn't have even spared you a glance."

The red torches within Hades' skeleton suddenly became brighter before they calmed down as he sat on a chair in front of him as if what Kokabliel said didn't affect him in the least.

Staring at him, Kokabiel asked.

"Did you bring it?"

Hades didn't answer but put a helmet and seeds over the table.

"As per agreed before, I want him. You can do whatever you want with the helmet, but the seed needs to be fed to him."

Kokabiel snickered.

"What's the use of humans to you anyway? Or are you after the being behind him? We don't even know if it exists or not."

"You don't need to worry about it. Just remember, you do your part and I do mine. That was the deal. There is no need to question each other's motives."

Kokabiel's eyes narrowed as he stared at the skeleton in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze, his mind working to find the purpose behind his actions.

In the end, he clicked his tongue before storing the helmet and the seeds within his dimensional storage.

"I'll take my leave then."

"Wait… Take this." Hades stopped Kokabiel before giving him a bottle containing red liquid.

Seeing his question gaze, he explained.

"It is the blood of Samael. The content is enough to gravely damage even an Archangel. It might come in handy."

Kokablie's eyes glinted with light as he stared at the face of Hades, unable to discern what he was thinking.

After a silence of staring at Hades, he picked up the bottle and left.

He didn't know what Hades was after, but it didn't matter.

Once the war starts, he will deal with him. For now, he needed to focus on starting the war alone.

After Kokabiel left the void, Hades silently sat on his chair before a soft laugh left his mouth soon changing into full-blown laughter of madness.

"Will of YGGDRASIL… Kekekeke… Once I get my hands on it, removing other factions would be a piece of cake."

He still remembered that dreadful feeling that crushed his very being, shaking the core of the whole world.

Just the thought of making such a being under his control made him laugh in glee.

"I couldn't get my hands on the "Tree of Beginning and the Tree of Exodus", but since YGGDRASIL has taken a materialistic form, it should be easier to get."

Darkness leaked from within his robes before covering him, only his voice was left to echo into the void.

"Noah Pendragon… the Will of YGGDRASIL, I shall make you mine!"

+++

The air blew softly over Jujutsu High, a tranquil and calm aura talking over the mountain range.

On a tree some distance away from the training ground, where one could see a child of age around 5 with a wooden sword in her hand as she swung it one after another, stood a black-haired man with his hair tied in a small ponytail.

He silently stared at the girl that was swinging the sword one after another, causing perspiration and making her body wet enough to make one wonder if she had just taken a bath and forgotten to dry her body.

From the look, one could tell how hardworking she was.

The amount of training she put herself in should have been enough to make an ordinary person fall into a coma, yet her eyes didn't hold any tiredness, only determination to achieve something.

"She really is something. Or should I say this is the result of Heavenly Restriction that made even a child have such a powerful body and stamina?"

Noah didn't reply as he silently stared at Maki before smirking.

"Her soul is burning with determination, otherwise, even with a gifted physique, she would never be able to maintain her current form for long. The more her soul burns, the stronger her determination would be to become stronger. The Zenin have no idea what they have missed. I guess, there is no medicine for stupidity."

"The power has clouded their mind, nothing much." Geto replied. "The power of their clan, their inheritance, and their position in Jujutsu World, all of it have made them blind. It is like they have seen so much treasure and gold all their lives that they have lost their ability to judge the potential of low-fidelity diamonds. Forgetting that only a low-fidelity product makes it to a high-fidelity product."

Without enough refinement, even a diamond wouldn't have much value.

The Zenin Clan who values curse techniques and curse energy over everything have become blind to see anything else.

Their ego has inflated to the point where they only see what they want to see, everything else has become irrelevant to them.

"Anyway, I'll leave Maki and Mai in you guys' protection." Noah suddenly said, making both Geto and Gojo raise a brow.

"You are leaving?"

Noah shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm a busy person, unlike you two, I got shit to deal with." He said before looking towards Maki. "Though I would love to spend my time grooming both Maki and Mai, I can't stay here for long. In fact, the only reason I came to this place was due to my contract with Tengen. I should have left after that."

"Where are you going? Back to your family? To England?"

Gojo and Geto still thought that Noah was from England, so they thought he was going back to his country.

"Something like that…'' Noah vaguely replied. "Maybe I'll tell you guys in the future."

"Being Mr. Mysterious huh." Gojo snickered before saying. "Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing happens to both Maki and Mai. I'll raise them like my kids.."

He gave Noah a thumbs up while Geto gave Gojo a weird glance.

"... I'll leave it at that." Noah replied before looking toward Geto for a second. "Take care."

Saying so, he threw Gojo a glance.

After a second of thought, he used <<Message>> between him and Gojo.

{Suguru… make sure to keep your eye on him.}

Gojo frowned upon hearing it.

But the moment he was about to ask what Noah meant, he saw him vanishing… like literally vanishing in thin air.

"Teleportation… He is becoming more and more absurd." Geto softly laughed before looking towards the frowning Gojo and raising a brow. "What's the matter?"

"... Nothing." He shook his head before looking back towards Maki and became silent, wondering what Noah meant by what he said.

+++

AN: With this, the first arc comes to an end. The next arc is going to be quite big containing at least 4 smaller arcs--while the name of this arc is the title I guess, but I'll not write it as the first arc. Rather, I will write the name of the sub-arcs instead. Also, as I've said before, this arc will contain some stuff from Noah's past arc, but they won't affect the story much so you guys don't really have to worry.

That's all. Peace.