54. Plans in the Darkness: Schemes Unveiled in the Shadows of Grigori.
Grigori
Omniscient POV
In a room on the furthest corner of Grigori, a man with the appearance of a tall, pale figure emerges. He possesses long black hair, narrow blood-red eyes, and elf-like ears. He is Kokabiel, one of the Cadres and Co-founders of Grigori. What sets him apart from other Fallen Angels are his five pairs of jet-black wings. He wears a black robe with detailed accessories and purple shoulder pads with gold streaks on the side.
Before him whimpers and bows a two-winged fallen angel who has one of his hands cut off, blood dripping from it, as Kokabiel growls in anger.
"You useless, pathetic little shit. Can't even do one thing right," growls Kokabiel.
"Please Kokabiel-sama. Give me one more chance. I will make it right this time!" says the injured fallen angel as he holds onto Kokabiel's feet, begging for mercy.
"Disgusting worm! Let go of my feet!" says Kokabiel as he kicks the face of the fallen angel, who falls to the ground, bleeding from the broken mouth.
After that, Kokabiel continues to kick him, creating cracking noises that make the fallen groan in pain. Even the other subordinates in the corner whimper in fear.
"I had already given you one last chance when I provided you with that Orb and the information on that Cluster. You had just one job, but you still failed. Do you know Azazel could have tracked it back to me if I was not cautious enough? I never had any hopes for those bat monsters. But they couldn't even take out even one of those filthy devils or the sacred gear holders in that town! And they even had the delusion that I would give them freedom!" says Kokabiel vehemently.
"Please, just one more—" the fallen angel tried to plead, but he was cut off as Kokabiel severed his head with his yellow-colored light magic.
"Clean this mess," says Kokabiel to one of his subordinates, who is scared shitless in one of the corners of the room.
"Y-yes!"
While they were cleaning the mess, one of the confident-looking eight-winged fallen angels came to the front and made a report.
"What is it, Gadreel?" asked Kokabiel.
"Kokabiel-sama. One of our spies working for Satanael just sent a message. It seems Satanael has found the identity of the holder of the Longinus- Telos Karma. He plans to meet with the wielder this Friday, and he plans to use one of his mock laboratories outside Grigori for this meeting," says Gadreel.
Hearing him, a wicked smile forms on Kokabiel's mouth.
"Give me his location when the meeting happens. Getting hold of a holder of History Breaker is a big deal. None of the factions have ever managed to find them before because of the powers of that stupid gear! I will definitely get my hands on it," says Kokabiel.
"Yes!"
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In the deepest part of Grigori in a secret lab only known to a select few trusted people in Grigori, Azazel vehemently works on recreating his Father's work.
During his time in heaven, he had the privilege of seeing his Father's work on making the Sacred Gears up close, more so than any of his siblings. He was enamored with the idea of creating his own Sacred Gears.
Thus, he chose retreat and peace over the long wars that plagued the supernatural in the past. But even though he wanted nothing more than to just do research about Sacred Gears in peace in his laboratory, his job as the leader of his own faction proved to be difficult.
Just a few days ago, he had a meeting with Serafall, detailing an attack on one of the devil territories and a family member of the Rating Game Champion. It seems someone from his own faction was involved in the attack, as their specially made products were used to maintain communication and give orders to the Cluster.
Normally, he can easily find out about the one who's behind this by using the unique identification code magically inscribed on the Orb, letting him find out who had this registered under whose name. This is only known to a select few people, and the majority of his faction members do not know it, as it helps them easily find traitors who think they are too smart for their own good and use their own products to spy on them.
But when he checked the Orb, everything was erased, as it seemed the person behind this knew about this safety measure, which makes this all the more awful as it could be one of the core members of Grigori. He didn't let his surprise show on his face, and he didn't tell Serafall about any of this.
But it still makes him worry that some core members of his organization are still trying to cause so much trouble. This was the reason he put some surveillance on the people he suspected, with Kokabiel being the major suspect showing some irregular movements with his war-mongering personality.
*sigh*
"I wish I could just work on my projects without all these troubles. And we still haven't found out anything about the Sacred Gear Thief!" laments Azazel.
*sigh*
Then he hears the door of his laboratory being opened. Inside comes a woman with strong-looking eyes who has long purple hair and large breasts. She is Penemue, sometimes known as Benemune in human history, the Chief Secretary of Grigori.
Azazel still thinks she should refer to herself as Benemune, but she doesn't like being called that. The last time Azazel called her that she tried to snap off his precious dick! Since then, he has never once made the same mistake!
[A/N: 'mune' means breast in Japanese. Do you guys have any reference pictures for her]
"Azazel! Why are there so many inconceivable funds stated in the budget? And what happened to the fund for one of our subordinate companies in Iraq?" asked Penemue with a frightening look on her face.
"Ha ha ha! Doesn't it say precisely in that list?" replies Azazel with a frightened look on his face as he laughs awkwardly.
"It only says for 'research purposes'. Nothing else. What did you do with that?" asks Penemue.
"Just like it says. It was used for research purposes. You can just ask Sahariel (Researcher of the Moon) or the research department about this," replies Azazel.
"I just did. But they don't know anything about this," says Penemue.
"And what happened to the fund for the company in Iraq?" asks Penemue.
"Shouldn't you ask Tamiel since he's the Head of the Business Department?" says Azazel innocently.
"I also asked him. But he also doesn't have any clue about the fund," replies Penemue, trying to contain her anger.
"Someone must be embezzling the money! You should probably look more into it. It's your job, I guess. I think I have an urgent appointment right now. So I will leave. See you later," says Azazel as he quickly conjures a teleportation magic circle and leaves.
"Azazel! Stop! Did you again invest that money in one of your sacred gear projects? Come back, you fool!" Penemue yells as Azazel flees.
"What happened?" asks someone with the appearance of a handsome man in his twenties, with silver-white hair and purple eyes. His outfit consists of a purple beret hat, a purple trench coat over a black vest, white pants, and black boots, with ten jet-black wings. He is Shemhazai, Vice Governor of Grigori.
*sigh*
"Azazel again used assets reserved for other purposes for some of his sacred gear projects and ran away. AGAIN!" says Penemue.
"How many times does this make it?" laments Shemhazai.
*sigh*
They both sigh for the umpteenth time, seeing their leader's behavior.
"Don't worry. I will make him work on all the paperwork that he tried to hand off to me when he comes back. I will personally make sure he completes the paperwork for the last six months," says Shemhazai.
Azazel suddenly feels a chill run down his spine for some reason, as he is hung up on who to pick to sleep with today in one of the brothels he frequents. He still hadn't had the idea just how busy he would be in the upcoming days.
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Kouske's POV
"So, let me get this straight. You forgot to tell me about the spirit summoning slot I get when my power increases—that too two times in a row?!" I ask Clarice while reeling in my anger.
[No?! Why would you think that? I was just... simply waiting for it to stack on. Yeah! That's right. I simply planned so that it can stack up, and you can summon a stronger spirit!] says Clarice, at first a bit nervous but then changing to a haughty and prideful tone.
That's not really convincing at all!
"Really? Are you sure you hadn't just forgotten to tell me?" I ask.
[Haha! If you used it when you were just at E~ rank, then the spirit would have at most been at E+ rank. But now you can just summon a spirit who is at most C+ rank, right? No problems at all!] says Clarice.
"But I could have summoned two spirits, right? I could have leveled up the previous one and then summoned another stronger one!" I say as my eyebrows twitch in anger.
"Zip it, kid. You had forgotten too. Just start the summoning," says Vritra.
*sigh*
What's done is done.
"What kind of spirit can I summon?" I ask.
[Fire spirit. But remember, high-class spirits have a deeper, more developed personality, and it's not always easy to make contracts with them, unlike with low-class spirits,] says Clarice.
I nod as I start the summoning. The same familiar blue magic circle lights up, illuminating the surroundings.
After a few moments, a phoenix appears! A literal phoenix! But it had deep yellow eyes, and the right side of itself was engulfed in hot red flames, while the other side emitted a cold blue aura, making itself divided into two colors. In fact, it was beautiful!
It was clear from the aura it emitted that it had the power level of a high-class being, at the very least. Still, I used Observe on it.
Krystelle Emberfaust
- Race: Frostfire Phoenix
- Age: 15 years
- Strength: D
- Endurance: C-
- Agility: C-
- Mana: C-
- Skills: Frosfire Fusion (C-), Immortality (C-)
- Overall Rank: C-
"Are you the one who summoned me?" asked the phoenix with a beautiful voice, carrying a noble tone.
"Yes! I am Kouske Miyamura. And I would like to form a contract with you." I replied.
"Ho? But a noble phoenix such as me will never enter into a contract with someone weak. I am Krystelle Emberfaust, from one of the noblest lineages in the Spirit Realm. Prove your strength to me. If you can defeat me, I will form a contract with you," said the phoenix haughtily.
[Author's Note: What did you think of the chapter? Feel free to share your thoughts, leave a review, and even drop some power stones. Add it to your collection if you enjoyed it. I'm open to constructive critiques that help me improve and grow as a writer, so don't hesitate to provide feedback. Thank you for reading!
Should I genderbend Kiba?
If Kouske ever goes to the world of Solo Leveling, should he become the Shadow Monarch and take Sung Jinwoo's place?
Or should he become some other Monarch, like the Frost Monarch for example?
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