Chapter 42: Azazel's Plan for Peace

(First PoV of this novel I think)

Azazel PoV

Another weekly report from his newest interest about his sacred gear progress but as previous week, the gear is still dormant but he didn't mind it as he is more interested with his other abilities that he divulged with a lot of bribes and promises on Azazel's part.

He wouldn't lie about his abilities' usefulness. Its usefulness triumphs above all other sacred gears in terms of utility to Ray's own group. Even Raynare, Mittelt and Kalawarna had made extensive measures to conceal their abnormal growth in power. He wouldn't have the title of Science Prodigy along with a few others like Ajuka Belzebub if he couldn't notice their changes.

Azazel saw the solution to his problem from Ray's ability to accelerate someone's growth to obscene speed however it has a condition. The individual must be 'enslaved' by him through a method that he, the Great Researcher himself, couldn't detect. However its effectiveness is undoubtedly effective even against being more powerful than himself like Kokabiel who is currently held in his lab in an unconscious state. Whatever that control Kokabiel can enforce obedience without their consent while he is conscious. He tested it with Ray's help even without needing him to be physically there at the moment. He tried to ask Ray to divulge the condition of enslaving his target but Ray refused and he can understand why he did so.

For this, Azazel is tempted to recruit Ray into the rank of leadership to maximize the potential of his ability. Azazel made few meetings to address this decision however was unsurprisingly rejected by the Cadres. Their reason is they have no real way to make sure Ray wouldn't betray them or mutiny after they allocate their forces to him and 'enslaved'. The majority however will agree if Azazel has a way to ensure his loyalty and maintain the interest of Grigori as an organisation. Even then, they wouldn't agree to allocate more than a small portion of their forces which amounted to a small group of elite that they hope Ray can nurture to high class.

In this DxD world, Ultimate class is a very high rank which usually holds the office of military general or even leader of a faction. High class is enough to be entitled to a high rank like commander or chief of a division, a rank just below the highest or held high rank within the society like nobles or ministers. A High class combatant worth a thousand middle class and a hundred high class combatants? It would be worth an army of its own.

The other Cadres understand the benefits which outweigh the risk if their investment is successful. If Ray is truly trustable, why stop at hundred? They can go for a thousand or more. The fallen angels will be the strongest race again. However this thought is like a poison to Azazel. He indeed wants ro restore the glory of the Fallen Angel Race however he also understands the importance of peace especially the supernatural world now is a very murky water to tread on thanks to the discovery of Khaos Brigade from Kokabiel.

For that reason Azazel and the leader of Heaven faction and New Devil faction are pushing for peace which will soon be achieved by the peace conference that they planned to bring together cooperation of the other two biblical factions. Their cooperation is mainly to fight against the Khaos Brigade and Azazel with his incredible genius mind will make Ray the cornerstone of this new alliance.

Since they need a strong forces to fight against the terrorists group, Khaos Brigade. What better option than someone that can promote strength in obscene speed like Ray? He can create a special force for the alliance the three factions will create with Ray at the centre. All three factions will contribute their good seedlings to Ray and let him raise their power and form a strong elite force to combat the threat from Khaos Brigade.

This way, it would not only strengthen the cooperation of the alliance members, promote the power growth of each individual faction and receive good public support from their people because they didn't want to get stronger in this world where power defined their influence. This is literally killing three birds with one stone!

Besides, his lack of previous affiliation as a otherworlder can assure them at least Ray himself is only motivated by his own interests and not the interest of another group within the DxD world.

Just thinking about his brilliant plan is enough to put a widest grin on his own face. Ray's arrival is god sent and he even suspects that his father had a hand with his arrival to this world due to how convenient the timing of his arrival was with the appearance of Khaos Brigade.

If he were to further analyze Ray's ability, he would be able to relate it to the Evil Piece system created by Ajuka Belzebub. Both share similarity with each other but Ray's is more long term and less restrictive than Evil Piece. But the latter one has many restrictions, however it has immediate effect and also benefits the devil by solving their population problem with the reincarnation effect when the piece is used.

Azazel then picks up the file that he asked Penemue to assemble for him. The file contains names of exactly a hundred Fallen Angels and all females because he imagined that Ray himself and his group will be more comfortable if their new members will also be females. Azazel also takes their synergy into consideration. If another male joins the 'pack' there will inevitably be relationship conflict as compared to all females that can be Ray's mistress if he wants to.

(DxD is ero world… Do I still need to explain?)

This hundred female fallen angels are selected with few criteria considered. First is their willingness to obey a human because most supernatural races look down on humans unless they are exceptionally strong. Even if Ray can enforce their obedience, it will be detrimental because it's not permanent and they might bear a grudge which will jeopardize the whole group. Second is their combat ability since they will become an elite group of soldiers fighting against a terrorist group. Third is their loyalty. He discovered a disturbing fact from the interrogation on Kokabiel and found out the Khaos Brigade had deep roots in all factions. He must screen out all the traitors from the very group he is going to assemble to fight against Khaos Brigade.

Azazel is also painfully aware that her adoptive daughter, Valina Lucifer is one of the spies and he still will wait and see for now because now is still not the time to act. They might step on the lion's tail too early and suffer later because of this. He must not alert the Khaos Brigade that he is already aware of their existence when the biblical factions are at their weakest and vulnerable to be exploited.

"Hello" Azazel called his secretary, Penemue using communication magic. "Yes, Lord Azazel?" "Help me contact the Heaven and inform Michael I want to hold a meeting with him and inform Ray to meet me at his earliest convenience. I remember today he will be busy with Observation Day at Kuoh Academy and a celebration later in Gremory territory." Azazel informs Penemue of his request while multitasking to check the file.

"Will be done immediately, Lord Azazel." Penemue replied before ending the transmission. Azazel then sighed before continuing flipping the file while thinking about all the plans he had to do for securing the future of Grigori and the biblical factions by extension. Yet many said he is slacking off to have fun with his crazy experiments. No one understands the importance of everything he did other than a select few that he can trust with those informations.

…

While Azazel is hatching a plan to use Ray as cornerstone of his plan for the alliance, Ray himself just wake up and freshen himself from the exhaustion of having sex with Raynare and Mittelt that lasted the whole night to morning.

Thank god he has Arondight that provides Blessing of the Lake which is able to rejuvenate his body just by having it near his body. All his exhaustion melted away like snow to a hot surface. The rejuvenation isn't instantaneous and requires a few minutes to totally rejuvenate to his top notch state but just holding the sword can temporarily remove all his exhaustion.

Looking at the clock mounted on the wall, it's still 7 am and he needs to arrive at 8 am. Ray went to the kitchen to make breakfast but he heard the sound of someone cooking inside the kitchen. He felt strange because Raynare and Mittelt were still on the bed sleeping. Kalawarna wouldn't be able to cook since he just saw her in her room sleeping because she isn't a morning person.

Ray tiptoed to the kitchen and peek at the door to see Lancelot in his white knight armor wearing a pink apron that he didn't know where it came from. The food he is cooking also looks very appetizing to his starving stomach.

(Lancelot is a weapon soul and separate from the sword. He is like the Djinn from the Magi series and Arondight is like a metal vessel. Ray can bring the sword away and Lancelot can still stay manifested regardless of distance. In a way Lancelot is similar to Servant since they are also a manifestation of the hero's soul.)

"Ah, morning Ray. I made you breakfast because I thought you would be hungry after your intense activity last night." Lancelot greeted Ray after noticed his presence near the door. He took out a plate from the cupboard and served Ray his breakfast of scramble eggs, bacon and toast with a cup of black coffee. Ray nodded before starting to eat while Lancelot brought another portion with him, probably for Cheshire since she should be awake at 7 am.

After his breakfast, Ray and Cheshire take a bath together. The mischievous kitten would always play in the bathtub if he didn't pay close attention to her. Then he dressed up Cheshire in a cute white dress with black polka dot pattern and black ribbon bow that looked like her default outfit cat ear bow. Meanwhile Ray wears a formal suit he bought from Marketplace since none of his clothes are appropriate for formal wear.

"Papa, Cheshire wanna bring kitty too! Nyaa." Cheshire said as she brought up her meowing kitten. She even helped her kitten wear a red ribbon bow on her neck. "Of course you can." Ray agreed and head patted both kittens before he swooped them into his arm. It's 7:40 am and they should get going now or he might get late.

"Yay" Cheshire cheered in Ray's arm.

Ray bought a few dishes from Marketplace and stored it in the fridge for them to reheat later along with a note before he left. Lancelot waited at the door for Ray and dematerialised into Arondight when he closed the apartment door.

Then together with Cheshire, Ray walks to Kuoh Academy. He didn't call a taxi instead because he wanted to let Cheshire sightseeing for a bit since she rarely gets such opportunities lately. After he moved to the dorm prepared by Grigori.

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(Rereading my novels, I can't help but be aware that my writing quality is declining a lot because unlike my first novel when I just started. My ideas are running dry and inspiration is a rare thing to come by.)