22 Chapter 21: Before the Reveal

[Ifrit POV]

In the city was pure chaos, two sides of the same kind are having an all-out battle in the middle of the city.

Fear, confusion, and anger are the feelings that the citizens who are currently experiencing this scene of mass destruction.

Saying "Why is this happening?!" and "Why are the Archdukes fighting?!" Those were the words that the citizens living in the city are saying.

Even if there's a barrier that's supposed to protect the citizens, it didn't work at all.

In the end, they were still affected by the fight of the Archdukes.

Coughing up blood, Ifrit was agonizing in intense pain, both mentally and physically. "Even if I know that I don't have a chance to beat you, I still can't believe that you're still winning when you're fighting three Archdukes."

Vladamir was already at his limit from fighting, so Ifrit and Hans were the only ones standing as of now to fight Satanael.

Looking at Satanael, he was unscathed from their fight, because even if there's three of them, they're embarrassed for the fact that they haven't laid a finger on Satanael.

For them, Satanael was powerful; that one blast from him damaged them a lot; that Vladamir was injured that he can't move anymore to fight, but most of all; the barrier that was supposed to protect the entire city and the people living here was even destroyed in one shot.

They decided to put a barrier to protect the people from the battle at first, but when they looked at it now, it was pointless to even bother to use a barrier as their protection from Satanael.

"How futile it is to put a barrier, and why did you three even think that fighting me was a good idea?" That is what Satanael said with disappointment on his face.

The two remaining Archdukes looked at each other and made eye contact that they can only know.

(Even if we try to attack Satanael, it's an instant lost already.) Was their message to each other.

They both clenched their fist as hard as they could since both Ifrit and Hans acknowledge their defeat to Satanael in less than a minute.

Satanael was trying for another explosion as an attack, but something came up.

A portal appeared in front of him, a guy enveloped in light armor with a cross appeared.

Satanael looked at the unknown guy instantly when the portal appeared and in an instant, he knew who it was and what could he probably wants. "*Sigh* Camael... So Yahweh sent you here to pick me up."

"Glad that you figured it out, so come on now, Lord Yahweh has something urgent to discuss with us."

"*Sigh* I guess I have to listen..."

"Stop right there!" A loud shout came from Hans and he ran up to both Satanael and Camael with his sword.

"Pathetic..." Camael said and when Hans got closer, Camael punched the air and a strong force of air was used against Hans, so he was pushed back.

Ifrit caught Hans when he was pushed back and told him to stop for now. "Hans, right now they're unstoppable, so stay still for now."

Satanael and Camael looked at them both with eyes filled with hostility and disgust, and they set forth and entered the portal to leave the place.

"It's over now... We need to help Vladamir and the residents quick, so Hans goes to the castle immediately to report what happened."

With a sigh and with utter disappointment in his eyes, Hans nodded at Ifrit and ran to the castle while carrying Vladamir on his back.

Ifrit with a worried and painful face. "*Sigh* Now... How do I explain this to the people?"

***

[Haruki Hotaru POV]

In Sora's room were just me and Akemi here alone, and for whatever reason, nobody is coming over here.

Did Sora do something to them so that I won't get disturbed by this scene? That's the most logical thing that I can think of, and maybe even that handsome guy Lucas and little Shota are helping me too.

As of right now, Akemi fell asleep from crying and because she's tired from going to the city.

She fell asleep on my chest and currently sleeping near my leg.

She looks beautiful when she's sleeping, and thinking about it, I feel like some kind of pervert for looking at a defenseless sleeping girl.

What do I do in this kind of situation? Because she probably didn't notice that she fell asleep, and if she wakes up knowing that she fell asleep on me, chances are that we won't talk again due to embarrassment and awkwardness.

My two fathers, wherever you two are now, please guide me to the path of romance, because I don't know what to do now, and especially since I'm a hopeless virgin who has no experience in romance due to my perverted nature.

And Sora and Lucas, I apologize in advance that I didn't do a thing when you created a chance for me to move.

Knock. Knock.

Hearing the knock from the door, in my mind I knew that I need to hide that Akemi is here, or else people would think bad of me.

So I instantly grabbed the blanket that Sora uses and threw it at Akemi to hide her in the blanket.

And I immediately went to the door and opened it to check who it was, and there I saw Luna standing on the other side.

Good thing that I hid Akemi there, good thing... "Hey Luna, so what are you doing here?" I asked Luna nervously.

"My father has returned with Vladamir who's seriously injured, and they have something to report, so I came to get you."

"Really? Let's go they're probably waiting for us."

"Oh... But are you sure you want to go, Haruki? You know that you don't have to push yourself, you were gravely injured in the fight with Milicas, so why don't you rest?"

"No, I'm okay, as you can see I can now stand properly, so no need to rest, come on."

"Really... Then if you say so."

A groan came from Sora's bed, and in an instant, I knew that I'm dead, why would you groan in bad timing Akemi?

"Haruki, what was that?"

What do I say? It looks like Akemi is still asleep, so no need to worry about that, but now that Luna heard her groan, what do I say now?

I looked at Sora's room to see if there's a thing that I can use as an excuse until I saw Flint sleeping in the bed with Akemi. "That was just Flint, he was asleep."

"Really... Then let's go now."

That was close, good thing that Flint was with me, it would've been bad if Luna found out that Akemi is here sleeping.

Luna and I are walking in the hallway to go to the kitchen she said, I guess everyone's hungry and Sora's probably there too eating since he went outside to eat.

Also, now that I think about it, this feels oddly familiar from when Luna found me chasing Master in the hallway.

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, have you seen Akemi here? Lucas said that he was with her, but she went to your room and that's when she disappeared."

"Oh, Akemi? No, I haven't seen her, she went in Sora's room to visit me, but she left a while back."

"Then where did that girl go? I hope she's safe..."

"Come on Akemi's strong and smart, so she won't get in a dangerous position easily, I think."

"You're right, but Akemi can get reckless sometimes, so that's why I'm worried about her."

"That's the first time I've known that Akemi is reckless, but I guess anyone can be like that."

"*Giggle* I guess so because I'm almost the same as her."

My heart feels tingly after seeing her giggle cutely, how cute! Why is everyone here in Hell both beautiful and cute? This should be illegal.

And most of all, I feel like a protagonist in a dating visual novel, because day by day I'm getting close with Akemi and Luna, how lucky.

"Oh we're already near the kitchen Haruki, come on let's go!" Taking my hand and holding it with joy, Luna ran as fast as she can to the kitchen, pulling me with her and smiled at me.

For Luna, this is just normal interaction as friends, but for a pervert like me, this is awesome. Since this is the first time I've held a girl's hand.

We finally got to the kitchen, and when I looked at it, Luna is still holding my hand which makes me more flustered every second.

Luna opened the door with excitement and when she saw the atmosphere of the place she started to lose joy completely, even when I saw the place I was speechless when I saw it.

At the corner of the kitchen were Sora and Shota fighting for food like they were kids.

Lilith has apparently returned and combing Lucas' hair.

And the only normal thing we see here was Millie and Dawn healing both Hans and Vladamir from their return.

I asked myself. "What's with the mood of the place?"

Sora noticed us came and immediately ran up to us crying like a baby. "Haruki! Help me! Shota keeps taking my food!"

Well, Shota eating a lot is not a rare thing since he's gluttony, but Shota stealing food? "Sora... You look weird crying like that, why can't you just take another set of meals?"

"I know! But I don't want to walk and grab my food! I want someone to feed it to me!"

What are you a baby? "Okay, I guess I can help you with that, after all, you helped me."

Sora looked at me like he remembered what he did, and also looked at my hand and saw it holding Luna's, with that he pulled me to the corner with Shota.

And also, it looks like Lucas noticed that we're gonna talk at the corner, so he went there too.

Sora angrily said. "So? When did the Haruluna ship happen? I only remembered helping the Haremi ship."

"Haruluna? Haremi? What are you 7?"

"But... Isn't unfair that you and Lucas are having fun with girls, while I'm here alone?"

"Come on Sora, I know that Haruki and I are getting lucky with girls... But you have Shota with you."

"See, why are you sad Sora? I'm with you because I am asexual after all, but nonetheless, I'm with you, and I can help you with Millie–."

Sora hearing that immediately covered Shota's mouth and choked him and used his skill to make Shota fall asleep.

Even I heard what Shota said, help him with Millie? What did he mean by that? "Hey Sora, what did Shota mean by helping you with Millie..?"

"Haruki... You know as a male like you, it's normal to have fantasies like those."

My eyes went blank since this guy is my best friend, and right now we're gonna end that friendship.

So hearing that I tried to attack Sora with my own bare hands, but Lucas stopped me from becoming a murderer.

"Don't you dare touch my precious cute little sister!" I shouted.

"Haruki not so loud." Lucas said while struggling to stop me from murdering Sora.

"Come on Haruki... It's just a joke, you think that Shota is telling the truth? Of course not."

My mind was now at ease after I heard what Sora said; good thing that it's not true or else I would've seriously murdered Sora.

Sora sighed after our reconcilement and touched Shota to wake him up from the skill that he used on him.

When Shota woke up and was about to stand up, the four of us all heard a loud footstep coming our way.

When we looked at where it came from, we saw an angered Millie coming in our way, looking at her was already enough for us to know that the four of us are all dead. "Hoy! We've been calling the four of you to start the meeting, but you four won't hear us, so go to where everyone is now!"

The four of us all said at the same time "Sorry." And ran immediately to the table where everyone is waiting for us and eating their food at the same time.

"Now that's everyone's here, let's start our conference, so how did things go with Satanael? Hans; Vladamir?"

"We're sorry Millie, but even with the three of us combined we can't lay a finger on Satanael, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but one blast from him made me unconscious."

Vladamir was knocked out with one blast from Satanael... Even if I don't want to accept it, I have to... Since Satanael is one of the original Archdukes that survived the war in the past, so it's normal for him to be that powerful. Also, he's the infamous ruler of the devil's in the Hebrew Bible, which is why it's common sense already that Satanael is crazily strong.

But... For him to beat three Archdukes with just one attack? In any explanation that's impossible.

"I see... Then a possibility of him hiding some sort of power from us is possible, or there could be something that he used to become stronger." Millie angrily snickered.

Shota raised his hand. "Also Millie, if it's true that Satanael used some sort of material that he used to be more powerful, what do you think it could be?"

"That's one thing I don't know, since Yahweh is a God, so getting some sort of item to strengthen his allies is something that he can do and know."

"*Cough* Then it's now mine, actually after Vladamir was beaten, Camael appeared and made Satanael retreat, so what I'm saying is that the Archangels knows about the alliance of Yahweh and Satanael."

"I'm guessing only some angels knows about their alliance since when they attack last month, Michael was aggressive toward Satanael, so I think there's a minority of angels that knows, I think." If Millie's hunch is true, then are the Archangels being betrayed by Yahweh? Maybe... Since he's allied with Satanael, which is their supposed enemy.

"So what about you Lilith? Did persuading some of the people, worked?"

"*Sigh* A little bit, the battle with Satanael and the three are the main reason why some change their minds, but there are some who still thinks that Ifrit and the others started the battle in the city."

"So I guess my plans worked a bit, but it looks like a problem occurred, I can't believe that Satanael was willing to even use some sort of destructive skill at the city, so I'm sorry everyone for making this sacrifice." Millie was sad that she used some of the citizens to her plans, which caused a lot of injuries because she didn't expect that Satanael would go for such a thing.

But even so... It's not Millie's fault, Satanael is just really heartless to his fellow demons. "Come on Millie don't be sorry, Satanael is just heartless that's all." Even if this is the only thing I can do to make Millie feel better, I'm still guilty for the people who were affected.

Even everyone looked at Millie with a smile, because it's just a miss calculation, which is normal for everyone to do.

She noticed that everyone was willing to forgive her, so with a smile, Millie said got back to the topic. "Then, I guess that's for now, tomorrow would be big brother's reveal to the public, so you better prepare a speech for them, big brother."

"Wait! A speech? You know that I'm a little bit introverted, so I can't do that."

With a cute face and a few tears from her eyes. "Please big brother."

"Fine!" Tsk. Millie knows my weakness.

Knock. Knock.

Lilith went to the door and opened it, and Faust and Akemi holding Flint came in.

When I looked at Akemi, I noticed that she avoided eye contact.

Of course, it's normal since she fell asleep in the bed, but I have to do something to fix this later.

"Oh Akemi; Faust, you two are finally here, don't worry we haven't ended yet, so go with your report Faust and we'll fill you in both later about the things you missed."

Akemi and Lilith took a sit, and Faust was standing to begin his report.

Faust was missing when we got out of the trap in the meeting room, so I wonder where he went? "*Cough* The three Generals are still in stable condition, but the sickness of–"

Bang!

A bang from the table came from Akemi "What do you mean Faust? What's with her sickness?" Akemi asked while trembling from fear and anxiousness.

"Just like what I said, her sickness has started to worsen, and the other two are fine."

"I'll go there now!" Akemi said and left Flint here and went outside in a hurry.

"I'll accompany her." Lucas said.

Where are they going? I heard about the three Generals before, being mentioned by them at least, so I'm curious about who they are. "Hey everyone, who exactly is the other three Generals?"

"I guess it's time to tell you about them, big brother. Just like the name suggests, they're part of the Demonic Generals."

"Really... But I thought the Demonic Generals are composed with the Seven Deadly Sins?" So why are there 3 more?

"Yes, but there are three other sins that are hidden and only people with forbidden knowledge knows."

Three other people, now I want to meet them. If they're powerful like the other Generals and they're allied with us too, then we might win against Satanael.

"Those three are Chizuru Belial a second-gen General who represents Evilness; Ruri Astaroth a third-gen and represents Vainglory, finally Talya Purah; third-gen also and represents Melancholy."

"Evilness, Vainglory, and Melancholy, so that's their sins, but why are they hidden? I heard sickness so are they sick?"

"Only Ruri is sick and she has an incurable disease, but the other two have troubles controlling their power and skills, so we're training them in a safe room, which is my lab underground the castle."

A lab underground? That's the first time I heard of it, but better not ask, since nothing surprises me anymore. But... the General of Vainglory has an incurable disease... Knowing this I'm kinda worried about the General of Vainglory...

Bang! The door burst with a bang and Ifrit came in a panic and said. "Come I want to show you all something!"