26: Start of the War

Sorry everyone, but I won't be able to post another chapter for over a month. I have double classes and my job, so my free time is nonexistent. Not dropping it or anything, but I will be tight as hell for time for the upcoming weeks.

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Over the last 8 years, things have been getting progressively worse and worse between the factions as small skirmishes turned larger and larger. I've debated during these years on whether I wanted to change the outcome of the great war or just keep things on track. I could easily make the devils win the war, but the devils were arrogant even when they didn't win, a large part of me didn't want them to win.

I won't be changing anything major, the Biblical God, the four Satans and the Heavenly Dragons will still die by the end, even if I have to kill them all myself. Though with that being said, I will also be killing most of the other devils and fallen that will give me a headache later on, and saving others that I've gotten acquainted to, and ensuring certain people survive due to my other actions. All in all it won't be a huge amount of effort and I can spend most of my time with my girls and training.

On other news, Ajuka's parents had another son, which they named Diodora. I honestly didn't think he was born so early on, and he might not have been, but it was never actually stated, only that he was younger than Ajuka, so I didn't think much of it. Apparently, Sirzechs was also born just a few months after the party where Lucifer announced the upcoming war and he just had his 12th birthday party this year.

I looked up at the man in front of me with six pairs of white, feathered wings. blonde hair and green eyes. "Michael, I know for a fact you don't want the other angels to die. I for that matter don't want my subordinates to die, so how about a one on one fight. Whoever wins, leaves this territory." (Keep in mind, Michael doesn't have control of heaven, so his wings aren't golden yet.)

He hesitates to answer but looks back at the thousands of angels behind him and agreed, "I agree, neither of us want to lose our kin. I have to admit I'm surprised you care so much about your subordinates. Most devils aren't that kind." He said it with a smile.

I shrugged, "What can I say, my mother raised me well." I finished my sentence by creating a barrier around us that separates us from our respective subordinates. "Shall we start?" I asked and shifted my stance.

"Very Well. I'll pray for you." He said with a kind smile.

"You're too nice Michael. It's going to cause you grief in the future." I say and teleport behind him, throwing a punch at his back in the middle of his wings. My punch connected, but he was able to turn in time so it only hit him in the arm, which sent him flying into the barrier with a crack as his arm broke.

"Yeah, you're probably right, but I can't help it." He said and started to heal his arm, which took less than a second. By the time he was done, I was in front of him again with my fist flying at him. A light spear appeared in his hand as he brought it in front of my fist and blocked my strike.

I didn't stop, and kept attacking him for the next three hours, never pulling out my sword or using any magic, just pure physical strength. The surrounding members of the two factions had stayed at the ready during the whole fight.

Michael had started to slow down from a mix of his physical exertion as well as using his holy power to heal himself through out the last three hours. I on the other hand was still completely fine. "Michael, this fight is over." I said to him in a harsh tone.

"Hah... Hah... I-I guess your right. What now?" He asked.

"What now? You and your troops pull back, that's all. I have no hate for your kind, nor the fallen, but I won't let harm come to my family and my subordinates." I replied as I dropped the barrier and walked back to my troops.

Michael gave a relieved smile behind me and spoke, "Do you mind telling me what clan you come from... I'd like to repay the favor, of letting me, my brothers and sisters leave unharmed from here, once this war is finally over."

I stopped and looked back at him, "I'm the heir of clan Maara, Valerian Maara." I mentioned. I saw him look at me with a puzzled face but nodded before getting up, thanking me once again and leaving the area with his troops.

This wasn't the first skirmish I've had with another force, though almost all of the fights with the angel's ended similar to the one with Michael, the fallen were a different story. There were only two fallen that had agreed to my terms, the first was Penemue, who was confident to beat me, but once she noticed the difference, she agreed to pull back in fear of dying, while Azazel agreed because while he wasn't the peaceful researched he would be later on, he was still a genius. We had his forces out numbered and as far as he could tell, I was even in power with him, which caused him to agree to the duel, and retreat after his defeat.

The battles were getting more and more frequent in other territories that bordered Grigori's territory, however for our territory they had lowered significantly. The 'battle' I just had with Michael was at the edge of Purgatory, which had an entrance into the underworld directly from Heaven. By holding this location, I was able to keep the angels from going into the underworld directly, especially since Michael didn't want to lose any strong angels unnecessarily, and as the third strongest of the angel faction, the other two being Azrael and the Biblical God himself.

I had admittedly formed a somewhat of a cease fire with the angels after my fight with Michael, the angels weren't particularly displeased with it, the less they have to fight, the less angels they will lose, which in the end will be better. The main fighting happened farther north bordering the fallen, but again, they hadn't won a skirmish against me and had much heavier casualties in our territory. It honestly had nothing to do with me being a good leader or anything, but if the leader that I offered declined my fight, I killed them as fast as possible, which was ultimately immediately every time, and then helped kill the others as fast as I could.

This led to the fatality rate on the fallen's side to be massive and ours to be astoundingly low in comparison. This led to the fallen to focus their main attack force on the territory to the north of us, which was run by a vassal house under the Asmodeus House.

Overall, the state of the war was still just getting started, but I had done my best to make my territory a deterrent. I would step in for any of the people I cared about if they were attacked, but otherwise I let the war happen naturally. Though I had a small feeling that later in this war I would have to make a much more active role due to my interference.