Chapter 24: A Bleeding Heart in Hell

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but imagine if Ichiei created a fanfiction and posted it here, he could say he does. I own the OC's. I, unfortunately, cannot. Damn.

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – "Jumon"

2 Hours Later, The Great King's Castle

Under the ever bright purple sky and in one of the most prosperous regions of the Underworld laid a large city. Surrounded by multiple tall mountains that surpassed Mount Fuji in height with lush supernatural forests on all sides, this piece of land was a beautiful sight for all. Many of the buildings in the city were grandiose with statues littering every corner and countless fierce soldiers patrolled around. Not a single square inch of the city was simple in nature and in the center of it all stood a massive stone castle. Many elite Devils guarded the castle and if a magician were to sense around with their Spiritual Energy then they would find the 50 extremely powerful barriers that intertwined to protect Bael Castle. The inside was even more beautiful with all kinds of facilities for relaxation, to training, to board meetings, and even theater.

Inside one of the rooms sat a male Devil. He was a middle aged looking man with black hair and violet eyes. He was wearing fancy looking noble attire and sat behind a desk, looking through a pile of documents. The man looked bored in a way, his eyes shifted around the pages lazily like it wasn't important.

Tensions from the War Faction have increased in the last couple of weeks. Moves have been made with the descendants going out for long periods of reprieve with no one knowing where. I fear for the eventual retaliation and wonder if we should commence the Operation?

It was a simple message that a yes or no could answer and to anyone else this would have seemed like an easy answer. That would be if the "Operation" wasn't to blow the war horns, fully attacking the Pro War Faction and beginning a Great Devil Civil War. Many would pale at being the one who would choose the race altering decision but the man didn't bat an eye as he read. Where was this unrivaled calm and confidence coming from?

Because this Devil had lived since the beginning. He was one of the first Devils to ever be created by Lilith, survived the Great War even with his status and single handedly took command of the entire Devil race after the death of the 4 Satans. The First Bael and the Great King himself, Zekram Bael.

'…I'm hungry.' And he really wasn't fazed. Zekram sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking back to the last couple months. The old descendants were a pain that Zekram found to be the source of his headaches and more than once did he consider just saying "fuck it" and flipping the switch, finally putting an end to this farce. It was his own experience with war that stopped him from doing that. 'And it would be so easy too…' The Great King sighed once more and pulled out a bottle of wine from his space ring. Being the de facto ruler of the Devil race came with some quality perks.

Being able to declare war against another faction of Devils, plunge the Underworld in a Civil War and effectively changing the entire system with no one questioning it, is such a perk. Unfortunately, Zekram was not that irresponsible and had to think about the well-being of the entirety of the Devil race. That was his priority when the Satans died and that was his priority now.

'Even in death, you continue making my life difficult don't you?' Zekram wryly smiled and lifted a full glass to his now dead creator in arms. The Great King will be the first to admit that Lucifer was not good for Devil kind. He didn't care when it came to thinking about his lesser subjects, got in over his head because of his pride, and his views negatively impacted the Devil race till this day through his descendants. But damn was the Morning Star something else. Even among the other extremely domineering Satans, Lucifer was the one true king and convinced billions of Devils to follow him to wage war against God. Convinced them all to face two other factions with holy powers (their greatest weakness), to continue fighting even when countless had fallen, and after his death, his influence was not fading in the slightest. Zekram truly did respect Lucifer for his capabilities but he was a fool and more importantly, Zekram was tired. Tired of war, tired of fighting for no real gain, and tired of spoiled brats who had no idea of what they were talking about.

"My King?" Zekram opened his eyes and looked over at his servant that entered the room. "They're ready."

"Oh, I didn't realize the time." Zekram got up from his seat and followed the servant down the luxurious halls of the Bael castle. Passing by a couple of war trophies and the room of his son, they eventually reached the exit. Making sure no one was around, Zekram looked at his servant. "Take care of things until I return, it won't be long."

"Yes my king." The servant bowed low and Zekram nodded before waving his hand, a magic circle appearing under him. It shone brightly and a second later, the First Bael was gone.

Outskirts of Bael Territory

Zekram found himself outside a small castle that had no real magnificence to it. Few guards walked around and the walls were barely kept in shape, looking worn down. It was an unremarkable piece of land that few would turn their heads to look at and that was exactly the point. No one would imagine that almost all the Lords of the Anti-War faction were here for a secret meeting. The Great King nonchalantly passed the sleeping guard and entered the front gate, walking to a random door. He opened the door and walked in to see many Clan Heads sitting together, waiting for him. He looked around and raised a brow.

"Where's Kilen?" Zekram did not see the Lord of House Naberius and the Lord of House Amon, Ionald, shrugged.

"He had to call out, something about not being able to make it." Zekram frowned at that news. To call out at the last minute of a secret meeting about the future of the Underworld was very suspicious.

"Let's begin." Nevertheless, things needed to be done and one Lord being absent was not to stop this meeting. Sitting down at the head of the table (where else is he going to sit?), Zekram looked over all the attendees and made the first point clear. "The old descendants are planning something."

"When aren't they?" The Lord of House Barbatos, Crises, said sarcastically then his face became solemn. "Movement has been seen in Lucifaad. Many supporters have entered the city and one of the descendants was also seen moving around, whatever they are doing it's going to happen soon." The room got silent at the new information and Zekram took a moment to process the new information. Things were coming to a head if they so gathered a crowd like that, hesitating would only hurt them. Murmuring started rising from each member and the Great King noticed how the Lord of House Gremory was oddly quiet.

"What is it Zeoticus?" The First Bael discreetly sent his son in law a message and he locked eyes with the worried Gremory. Zekram always had a neutral opinion about his son in law and personally had nothing against Zeoticus…okay that was a lie. He resented him a little but that wasn't because of his loving personality and informality. It was because Venelana chose to take up the Gremory name and give up her chance to become the Bael head. He would have much rather preferred for his daughter to become the Bael Head instead of her brother. Some would call him cold for that but Venelana was smart, powerful, resourceful, was educated, and had an overall broader vision. Her younger brother…wasn't. He was honestly too prideful and jealous for Zekram's tastes. He was prideful too but his son took it to another, shameful, level.

"It's...it's my son's choir." Zeoticus finally said what was on his mind and Zekram raised a brow.

"What about them?"

"They were sent to sing the song of peace at the capital to decrease tensions but if what Crises said is true then…" Zeoticus became even more worried and Zekram stared at him before sighing.

"After this meeting, we can inform your son of our findings and have them picked up." Zeoticus was shocked at the offer.

"R-Really?" This was a secret meeting, meaning anything spoken about would stay between the present parties until it becomes irrelevant. Zekram offering to tell Sirzechs about the situation is very generous.

"Yes, I will personally message your son." Zekram nodded to the now grateful Zeoticus and turned to the other Lords. "Well gentlemen, our decision seems obvious and I believe it to be necessary. For the preservation of Devil kind and betterment of our race as a whole, we need to fight the old descendants. And no, the irony that we need to wage a war to prevent another is not lost on me." That got a couple of chuckles from the Lords. "All in favor?" All present hands were raised and the Great King nodded his head in finality. "Alright then, let's-"

Then the rumbling began.

"!" Zekram looked around in surprise and had to hold on to the table when he felt his energy being drained. Many other Lords were also feeling the weakening effects and Lord Glasya-Labolas, Falbin, covered them all in a dome of protection. The weakening effect diminished and Zekram finally had a moment to realize what it was. 'A powerful Demon Suppressing Barrier.' Frowning, the Great King was reminded of a similar barrier used against him in the Great War and he activated his Power of Destruction.

"Magna Kings Macc." An orb of destruction with spikes and a chain appeared in Zekram's hand. Taking a wide swing, the entire castle wall was blown to atoms and a cloud of dust rose up. When it cleared, all Zekram could see was a large barrier with holy symbols on it surrounding the castle and the gate completely destroyed. Multiple figures in priest robes stood at attention and a blond haired man was kneeling on the ground, his hands together in prayer.

"For the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I offer the tears of a believer. May your grace reach me and help in the extermination of these plagues. May your…" The blond priest never stopped his ceremony even when Zekram threw a ball of destruction his way and it was blocked by a yellow magic circle. The First Bael frowned as the holy energy seemed to rise as the Exorcist continued chanting and he took out a large claymore. Zekram's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the weapon.

The Holy Sword and sister blade to the Flaming Sword of God, the Sword of Attila. Making multiple appearances in the Great War, Zekram had personally seen the Holy Sword's capabilities and was confused on how much holy energy it was emitting. Like many other Holy Swords, the Sword of Attila was weakened in the war and shouldn't have so much power. The Great King's confusion was quickly cleared up.

The blond Exorcist took out a bottle of glowing water and dripped a couple of drops on the Holy Sword. It absorbed the droplets and shone in a brilliant spectacle of yellow and white. The sword's aura skyrocketed and the holy energy inside became at twice as dense than before.

"The Dew of Saint John…" Zekram was getting surprises left and right today. While seeing the ancient Holy Sword was shocking, seeing the Dew of Saint John was another level of surprise. What was the Dew of Saint John? It was the byproduct of the Sacred Gear, the Holy Baptizer's Gift. Like many Sacred Gears that have spirits within them, either by God's actions or by circumstance (Balor View), the Holy Baptizer's Gift contained a fragment of Saint John the Baptist's soul.

The priest who baptized Jesus Christ. The Sacred Gear chooses humans that contain the Property of Light and it allows them to basically give the light within them liquid form. One of the purest forms of holy energy, anything holy that comes in contact with the liquid increases in power and it can even repair Holy Swords like the Sword of Attila. It was a formidable Sacred Gear that had more than one user and they changed the course of the Great War multiple times, causing the Devils to destroy all of the Holy Baptizer's Gifts.

Guess they missed one.

'…This is not a coincidence.' Zekram frowned as the blond Exorcist stepped forward to face the Devil Lords and the rest of the other Exorcists took out their own holy weapons; they were also brimming with holy energy. For a bunch of Stray Exorcists to make it from Lord Belial's territory to here, on the day of the secret meeting was too suspicious to be a fluke.

"Someone told them about this." Lord Agares, Sevier, gave his piece on the situation and stood next to the First Bael. Zekram nodded and watched as the Exorcists slowly walked up to the Lords.

"My name is Ethan Cristaldi, we are Stray Exorcists and have come for one purpose." Zekram couldn't help but admire the man's choice of wording.

'At least he knows what to say to avoid larger repercussions.' If Ethan was to say he was still with the church, then that would be a blatant act of war from the Angel faction, effectively restarting tensions by both factions (granted, enmity never lowered between Angels and Devils but it would rise back to how it was in the Great War). What he said next did not amuse Zekram however.

"We have come to rid the world of its greatest scourge and the one who keeps that scourge afloat." Ethan pointed his Holy Sword at Zekram, along with the rest of his subordinates. "The Devil race should have ended when the Holy Father destroyed your Satans but they were wrong. They forgot one vital leader, you." Ethan drank a bottle of the Dew and holy energy started rising from inside his body, becoming brighter every second. Even for a natural born Holy Sword user like Ethan, the increase in holy energy seemed to sear his flesh from the inside but he ignored it. "We have come to finish what Heaven could not. Today is the day you die and the day we finally bring peace to all worlds. It is God's Will!"

"For God's Will!" The rest of the Exorcists chanted and drank their own bottles of Dew, holy power radiating from their bodies as well. The silence was deafening as Lord Bael stared blankly at the group of Exorcists, who invaded the Underworld just to assassinate him.

"…Brats." That was all Zekram said as his demonic power rose. He felt annoyed. "…Fucking brats." He felt insulted. "You're all mother fucking brats!" And most importantly…he was done dealing with snot nosed brats.

The rest of the Lords present were shocked at the normally calm Zekram's outburst and they stepped back when his Power of Destruction radiated out in a visible wave. The holy barrier shook under the First Bael's power and the Exorcists stumbled back in fear, Ethan didn't flinch at Zekram's glare.

"200 years…" Ethan raised a brow at that. "For 200 years I've kept the Underworld in peace. I've toiled to make it so that the remaining Devils could live on. I've made sacrifices!" Zekram's power rose to the point that the other Ultimate Class Devils present started to sweat. "Yet you all keep making a mess of everything! Those idiotic descendants, you worthless Exorcists, even that ridiculous war crow, you just can't just let things be! You can't just accept this peace and quiet! War this, war that, is that all you fools can think of!? We fought for over a thousand years and we've proven nothing! Gained nothing! For fuck's sake why is that so hard for any of you to understand!?" Zekram stopped to take a couple of deep breaths before chuckling. "And do you know the funniest part?"

"…What?" Ethan couldn't stop himself and asked.

"That you honestly think you can kill me. Primum est rex exstinctio eventus est scriptor." Zekram's Power of Destruction wrapped around him, morphing into a black and red armor. A crown made of destruction appeared on his head and he conjured a large magic circle. A 10 meter tall monster walked out of the circle. It had two heads, a cat and toad respectively, and it had a dog's body covered in thick brown hair. It stood tall next to Zekram and the Great King pointed his spear at Ethan. "I have survived the Great War, I've survived the Seraphs, I have survived your "almighty" God!...And I will survive you." Zekram's aura suppressed the other Exorcists and only Ethan was the only one left standing, ready to fight. "Now let's get this over with. I'm still hungry." Ethan lunged forward with his Holy Sword and Zekram faced it head on.

The collision between Holy and Demonic powers could be seen for miles with the already demolished castle being flattened further.

This was the start of a hectic day for the Underworld.

Lucifaad

When people say that Lucifaad was the capital and central point of the Underworld, they mean that literally. A nexus point that leads to every other territory in the Underworld and the place where Lilith created every Devil of the 72 Pillars; this city was where the Devil kind began. Lucifer built this city himself and made it his base of operations during the war. His descendants occupying it after his death.

That was until Rizevim Livan Lucifer got bored of it. The self indulgent Super Devil wanted to go somewhere "new" and "exciting", so he left his ancestral home. While he didn't force the rest of his clan to leave with him (more like he didn't care enough to), Rizevim was the direct son of Lucifer and the strongest Devil in the Underworld. The Lucifer Clan didn't want to leave him alone for too long and made their new base where Rizevim was. An exotic region of the Underworld that was known for its beauty and hedonistic spots.

And was a couple thousand miles away from the Devil capital.

'Thank every God and Goddess in DxD for that.' I gratefully thought as I walked with Grayfia down the main street of Lucifaad. It was only thanks to Grayfia explaining the current location of Rizevim and double checking with Jack through my communication ring (it was common knowledge apparently) that I willingly followed the silver haired Devil into Lucifaad. No reward was worth getting anywhere near that psychotic, apocalypse bringing Super Devil. So after using Grayfia's authority to get through the protection barrier, we made our way to the capital and looked around for any evidence of the Stray Exorcists.

We didn't find any.

"Well that was anticlimactic." I said as I ate rice and some weird looking chicken from a restaurant we found (I give it a 6/10). Grayfia was busy looking through a magic book, trying to find any reports of holy related incidents in the past 24 hours. The Chi Trail said they went through the gate yet it disappeared the moment we got to the other side. We figured that they would attack Lucifaad but the city was perfectly intact and no one had seen any crazy Exorcists. So either they went somewhere else, left the Underworld, or were wiped out by a strong Devil. "…Yeah, I can live with that."

"What?" Grayfia looked at me in question.

"It's been 3 hours and no reports have come back of an Exorcist attack. We could wait a bit more but with the roll they were on earlier, I doubt they just up and stopped attacking for no reason." I gave my reasoning and Grayfia thought on it before shaking her head.

"We should still wait and see if anything comes up. I can't stop searching for them on a hunch, especially now that they're in the Lucifer Clan's territory." I shrugged and went back to eating my meal. I didn't have a problem with sticking around a bit longer, the Exorcists were out of the Belial's territory and I killed a bunch of them before getting here. I should already be able to cash in that reward and I could explore Lucifaad until they showed up. It was a win-win for me either way. Though I did have one question.

"Why are we wearing cloaks?" I asked because Grayfia gave me a cloak to wear earlier and she had one on as well.

"I'm…technically not allowed to be here." Grayfia said this bashfully while scratching the back of her head.

"What do you mean technically?" I frowned and asked.

"My masters didn't explicitly tell me not to come here but they did give me the day off to go meet a friend. They seemed pretty adamant on me leaving too."

'…Well that's suspicious.' Considering what I've remembered, the old descendants were dicks and did not care for things like friendships. Yet they gave their strongest combatant the day off to go meet a friend and even supported it? That's very suspicious. "So how come you came to help us?"

"I was on my way to my friend's house before my masters called me and informed me about Lord Belial's defection. I didn't have a choice at that point." Grayfia gave a bitter smile and I felt a little guilty.

"Oh…sorry about your day off being ruined." Grayfia quirked a brow at that.

"What are you sorry for?"

"No reason, it's just something you say." I lowered my head and continued eating. I wasn't about to tell her it was me who gave Lord Belial the letter that made him defect. She probably wouldn't care but it never hurts to be safe. "Though if subtlety was what you were going for then cloaks were not that way to go."

"What do you mean?"

"…Really?" I deadpanned and seeing her confused face, pointed to the left. She turned her head and saw the majority of the Devils on the street giving them odd, passing looks. Lucifaad was in a perpetual warm climate with the most seen clothing either light dresses (the women) or short sleeves (the men). Grayfia and I, in our thick, black cloaks stood out like sore thumbs. '…You know I never understood that phrase. Are sore thumbs that noticeable? Or is it just because the thumb is such a sensitive finger that you notice when it's sore?' While my mind wandered on the (stupid) topic, Grayfia saw my point and blinked.

"O-Oh, I didn't notice." She lowered her head and blushed. "I've been told that black cloaks are the main equipment for sneaking around."

"Who told you that?"

"My friend."

"...And you didn't question why they knew what you needed to wear to sneak around?" I made an amused smile and Grayfia shrugged innocently.

"She's a little weird so I didn't ask. Just seemed like something she would know."

"…We'll come back to that later." I shook my head and took off my cloak, Grayfia doing the same shortly after. Standing up, I tilted my head in the direction of the city center. "Come on, let's explore. I've never been here before and having a personal guide sounds great."

"Um…" I stopped at Grayfia's "um" and turned around to find her scratching her cheek. "I've…never actually explored the city before."

"Really? How come?"

"I've never been given that kind of free time before. I've always had to be close to my masters whenever they wanted something and did lots of errands for them. I was born here but I've never been able to really explore it." Grayfia sighed at that and I gave her a strange look.

"Hey Grayfia, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." She stared at me for a second before giving a silent nod. "You probably have your reasons but…why do you follow the Lucifer Clan?" I never understood the silver haired Devil's reason for following them. I mean at the end of the Civil War she defected from the Old Satan Faction and joined the Anti Satan side. She obviously has no problem leaving them but Grayfia herself said she didn't agree with the Lucifer Clan's views. I get the leaving for love but I thought that was because Sirzechs changed her world views and taught her about family and compassion. Yet here she is, already having a kind heart and disposition, the reason for defecting so late didn't make sense. Grayfia hesitated for a second before speaking.

"Because that's what I was born for. I was born to serve the Lucifers; anything they needed, I was to provide and if I were to fight or lay down my life for them…then so be it. My parents raised me and my brother to follow this one principle. It's all I know." Grayfia's voice became hollow near the end of her confession and I could see her unwillingness to follow those teachings.

I get it. It makes sense how even when she wanted nothing to do with war she still stepped on the front lines to face the Anti Satan Faction. No matter how strong you become, where you came from molds you in ways that's very difficult to overcome. That works both ways actually. A guy who's known hate, pain, and misery will most likely grow up to be a psychopath. Just like how someone who was shown love, understanding, and support all their life will mostly likely become a kind person. I say most likely because there are always outliers.

Grayfia was one of those outliers. She grew up around nobility, deceit, anger, and arrogance but she somehow kept a little part of herself that became understanding and open minded. But even the strongest woman or man will be molded to what they were raised to be, even when they don't want to.

'…And it took a great civil war to finally help her break that mold.' I sighed, finding the psychological moment tiring, before bowing and reaching out with my hand dramatically. She stared at me in confusion. "Well my lady that just can't do. Will you come with me on a lovely stroll through your home land while we talk about the weather, tea, and the economy?" I tried to say in the most snobbish voice I could and Grayfia gave me a weird look.

"…What are you doing?"

"I'm being a high class douche…did I do it wrong?"

"…Why?"

"Well since you grew up around that I thought we can walk around doing stupid stuff while we talk shit about everything you hate about your job. What do you say?" I shrugged and offered, leaving Grayfia in complete bewilderment. Nothing was said as we stared at each other before a Grayfia gave a small smile.

"You really are weird, you know that?" I snorted.

"Tell me something I don't know." Giving a small chuckle, Grayfia stood up.

"Then what are we waiting for?" She walked past me and down the road. Maybe I was seeing things but she definitely added a small sway to her hips as she went. The fact that a lot of other male (and some female) Devils stared as the beautiful silver haired left the area proved my suspicions. Ridding my head of the thought, I caught up with Grayfia and selectively ignored the side smirk she gave me. She knew I was staring.

'Down boy. You have an awesome and beautiful girlfriend who likes you very much…and has hinted she was fine with a polygamous relationship…you know, at this point being reincarnated is starting to be the least weirdest thing I've had to deal with.' Reviewing the abnormality that was my life once again, I walked down the street with the silver haired Devil.

Center of Lucifaad, Lucifer Castle

A large and grand looking castle sat at the center of the Devil capital. Being the original home of the Morning Star, it was naturally protected by high level barriers that were on par with the Great King's castle and elite soldiers patrolled the grounds. Granted, the number of soldiers were severely lacking compared to a couple of years ago because of the Lucifer Clan's relocation, it was still kept in tip top shape. The Lucifer Clan typically kept an ambassador here to oversee the city and keep order. The current ambassador, Mulen Lucifer, was a low ranking member of the Lucifer Clan that had no real authority but that did not stop him from doing his job competently. Especially for today.

"Is everything ready?" Mulen turned to the teenage Devil that was looking out of the window at the city. He was tall, had long brown hair that reached his shoulder blades and he was handsome.

"Everything should be in place. The men are meeting with the leaders around the city and we still have to wait for the afternoon." Mulen said and the Devil nodded in response before turning to look at the ambassador.

"And the kids?"

"…We have them in the prison but are you sure we shoul-"

"It's none of your concern if they're necessary. Just have them ready for the announcement." The Devil coldly cut off the lesser ranked ambassador and he just stared before lightly bowing.

"Very well, I should be off to make some last minute arrangements. I will see you later Young Master Tylin." Mulen made his exit and left Tylin alone to stew in his thoughts. He looked out into the streets, watching the multitude of ordinary Devils going about their everyday lives, not knowing what was about to happen.

'As they deserve.' Tylin thought derivatively as he watched a group of orphans walking with their matron. Low class Devils with no drive for power or authority are the worst kind of Devils in Tylin's eyes. Coming from the noble Leviathan Clan, he was taught that Devils should always strive for anything they wanted and that a true Devil will fight for the domination of everything. He was told Devils were the greatest race in the world not because of their powers or their heritage, but because Devils were free. They reveled in sin and that put them far above the rest of the morally aligned world. Devils did what they wanted when they wanted and that mentality sparked one of the greatest wars the supernatural world has ever seen. The Satans died but the descendants still held that belief close to their chests and wanted to continue that glorious dream.

And the first step to fulfilling that dream will commence today.

"S-Sir…" Tylin turned to look at one of his subordinates that he sent out to watch for any irregular activity. He was sweating and jittering, like he did something wrong.

"What?" The Leviathan descendant asked, annoyed that the subordinate entered without permission. His annoyance became greater when the subordinate took an unnecessarily long pause before answering.

"U-umm, we may have a p-problem." Tylin frowned at that.

"What is it?" How big is the issue that his subordinate personally needed to come tell him about it? This was a day of great importance and the descendants covered all their bases well. What could possibly derail-

"L-Lady Grayfia is in L-Lucifaad."

"…"

"…"

"…Oh."

2 Hours Later, Back to Pierce

After getting advice and directions from passing Devils, we made our way around the Devil capital. Lucifer may have been a crazy, world conquering asshole but man did the guy have good taste in architecture. Countless buildings of different sizes and odd forms littered the city with space magic made to warp the insides. Grayfia and I visited many stores in the city with Grayfia falling in love with a store that sold only maid outfits (from a variety of cultures). Why that's a thing I have no idea.

'Actually, that may be why she likes maid outfits so much in the future.' She probably found this store and became enamored with the trend.

"…They also need to have a good reading on people so they can always know how their masters feel and attend to them properly. They need the patience to learn and study the habits of their masters to always keep them in a good mood. Additionally, maids are known for being around for countless millennia. They go by different names like handmaidens to Au Pair to even wet nurses but they are all the same thing in the end. People believe that they are a new current thing but maids predate even Devil kind! With ancient Gods and kings naturally having a form of maid to cater to them. Furthermore…" Oh yeah, Grayfia's been going on for the last 20 minutes on her strange fetish on maids. I shook my head in amusement as the silver haired Devil went on and on about her odd passion.

"You really like maids huh?" I asked rhetorically and Grayfia stopped her rant to lightly blush.

"Sorry, was I talking too much?"

"Nah, I just find it weird how a noble seems so interested in a low class job like a maid…okay, I know how dickish that sounded but you get what I mean." Grayfia's fixation with maids was one of the many questions I had on DxD lore. That and how a Seraph like Gabriel who has lived for over a thousand years, has participated in the Great War, and is one of the leaders of the Angel Faction was clueless on Issei's perverted nature. 'Ichiei was definitely high when he made that scene.'

"It's just something I've always found impressive. I was mainly raised by my parent's maid and she taught me all I knew today." Grayfia made a fond smile as she remembered her parent figure.

"…Where is she now?" I asked after a second, hoping I wasn't stepping on a landmine (don't want a repeat of the Maven's parent's question).

"She's with my brother in the Lucifuge estate." Thankfully it was nothing like that and Grayfia answered. Sighing in relief, we continued our adventure around the city, finding an ice cream store, a weapon's store (I didn't find anything interesting like a Demon Sword but there were some sharp daggers I bought for Melissa) and we found a statue dedicated to the Original Lucifer himself.

'So that's how he looked like.' I stared at the large, gold statue in fascination. Vali sure did look like his ancestor, I'll give him that. Long wavy hair with a built frame, strong handsome features and he had piercing eyes. '…How the hell did they get his eyes to look like that on a statue? Definitely some sort of magic.' I marveled at the sculpture before I felt a shift behind us and I turned to look at Grayfia. She nodded back.

"Let's go." The silver haired Devil walked to a nearby ally and I followed, the auras I felt earlier scrambled after us. Just as we got out of sight, I channeled Chi into my legs and hopped high into the air. I sank my fingers into the brick of the tall building and held myself high in place, looking down. Two Devils walked into the ally and looked around but couldn't find either one of us.

"Where the hell did they go!?" Devil number 1 said as he walked further into the alley.

"Are you sure they came in here?" Devil number 2 asked in hesitation.

"Of course I did! What kind of question is that? You also saw them comin-" Devil number 1 stopped and looked up, seeing me high up on the wall. I smiled and lightly waved. Not giving him a chance to react, I Chi Burst to the ground and slammed Devil number 2's head into the ground. Cracks appeared on the concrete and the Devil was swiftly knocked out. Devil number 1 stumbled back in surprise and conjured a magic circle; a blade of water flew out at me. Tilting my head, the water blade harmless passed by and I punched the Devil in the face. "Arghhh!" He flew back, landing on his back with his nose bleeding heavily and a dazed look in his eyes. I got to his side in a second and placed my foot on his chest, keeping his place. "W-Wait! This isn't what you think this is!"

"Okay then, explain." I crossed my arms and stared down at the struggling Devil.

"I-I just wanted to know if you had any questions about Lord Lucif-"

"Oh yeah, I also have the power to tell when someone's lying. Just thought you should know that." I smirked when the Devil stiffened at that and got real quiet. This Devil wasn't a Chi user and if he was, then he wasn't a very good one. His aura said he was lying when he offered to answer any questions I had on the Morning Star and his disdain at me for being human was clear as day. Seeing him not responding, I started pressing harder on his chest and he resumed his fruitless struggle. "Getting harder to breathe?"

"W-Wait…I can…explain…this." His face got redder as time passed and I lifted my foot once he started turning purple. He took in deep gulps of air before glaring at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh I am not in the mood to deal with this." Grabbing him by his shirt, I slammed him against the wall and punched him on the mouth. He bled from his lip and I punched him in the ribs, hearing a faint pop. He dropped to his knees in agony and hauled him up once more, forcing him to look me in the eye. "Now listen very carefully. I don't know who you are, I don't care who you are and I don't give a backward flying rat's ass about who you work for. Now you can go on a long villain's speech about how low and pathetic I am compared to the almighty master you serve, forcing me to rip your head off and shove it up your ass. Or you can just tell me what you want so you can crawl back to whatever hole you came out of. Choose." The Devil stared at me in fear but I didn't care. Whatever this Devil wanted wasn't good and I wasn't about to tempt fate in the Underworld; I needed to know if they were just some stupid guys who wanted to steal from me or if it was something bigger.

"W-We're here for L-Lady Grayfia." The Devil confessed his reason for being here and I frowned.

"What do you want with me?" Grayfia chose this moment to put down her invisibility spell and glanced at the Devil in suspicion. He looked like he found his savior.

"L-Lady Grayfia! Thank Maou, help me! This human has gone mad-" Grayfia lifted her hand to stop the Devil from continuing and spoke.

"I do not like to be followed nor commanded. You chose to trail us and he has every right to treat you like this." Grayfia's cold words stunned the Devil. "Who sent you?"

"…" The Devil stood silent for a minute and just as I was about to force him to continue, he reached into his shirt. We watched him in caution as he took out a silver engraved ring and Grayfia went rigid.

"What?" I asked, confused about her reaction but she didn't answer and stared at the piece of jewelry.

"Where did you get that?" Grayfia glared at the man and he seemed to gain a second wind, grinning in triumph (though all the blood on his face ruined it).

"I was ordered by the Lucifer ambassador to give you a message."

"…What message?"

"Do not interfere no matter what." The Devil said this with finality in his voice and turned to look at me. "Unhand me." He said this in a haughty tone. My lips warped in amusement.

"Sure…but was that all?" The Devil frowned at the question.

"What? Yes! That was all now let me-" I slammed my fist against his temple and promptly knocked him out, his body falling to the dirty alley floor. Grayfia didn't react; instead she knelt down and grabbed the ring, looking it over multiple times. By her frown I could tell she was not happy.

"We need to go." Grayfia said this and started walking out of the alley. While confused, I followed after the silver haired Devil and we rushed through the city.

"You mind telling me where we're going?" I asked as I poured Chi into my legs to keep up with the now running Grayfia. She didn't say anything as we blurred through Lucifaad and eventually stopped in front of what looked like an inn. She entered and made her way to the front desk. The female receptionist looked up and seemed surprised by Grayfia's arrival (either surprised by her beauty or if she recognized Grayfia is beyond me).

"C-Can I help-"

"Where is the Gremory party's room?" Grayfia demanded and the receptionist hesitated.

"Umm, we can't give out that kind of information without proper authori-"

"Grayfia Lucifuge, direct heir of the Lucifuge House and the Lucifer Clan's representative."

"…Oh." The receptionist's eyes widened and started sweating before stuttering out a quick "R-Room 31". Grayfia gave a small thanks before walking upstairs and I smiled apologetically to the receptionist. I mean Grayfia could have just forced her way through but she didn't want to throw her weight around more than she needed to. We eventually reached room 31 and Grayfia didn't bother knocking, opening the door straight away. It was a normal high class room. There were two large queen sized beds with an adjacent door that led to a large living room and a fireplace. It was quite nice.

"Shit." Grayfia seemed to disagree though.

"What is it?" I watched as Grayfia looked around the room, trying to find something before turning back to me.

"Can you sense anything? Anything at all?" I narrowed my eyes at the desperation in her tone but relented and scanned the room with Chi Vision. I could send multiple Chi Signatures in the room and most of them seemed to belong to young Devils. One of these signatures led out into the bustling street but it was fading, their signatures were being slowly covered up by the passing citizen's.

"Follow me." I didn't waste time and opened the window to the outside, hopping out. Grayfia landed next to me and I followed the trail through the city. Whoever Grayfia was looking for, they were with other older Devils and they took a roundabout way through the city (mainly through the alleys and darker regions). I lost the trail after a couple of miles and frowned. "That's a first. I'm sorry; this is where the trail ends." We scoured the area but there was nothing to pinpoint where the group went.

"Damn it!" Grayfia became visibly distraught and I had to ask.

"Now can you tell me what's going on?" I asked as nicely as I could and Grayfia stared at me for a second before sighing.

"Do you know who Sirzechs Gremory is?" Do I know the soon to be Super Devil turned Lucifer and big brother to the girl who will make the main protagonist of DxD her bitch?

"…I've heard of him."

"Well then you should know that he's a kind of a pacifist and a hopeless optimist." Grayfia said that but there was no bite in her voice. "He made a choir of Devil children from his home city and sent them here to sing the song of peace but…"

"…They were still supposed to be in their room, weren't they?" Grayfia grimly nodded at my guess.

"They are to perform in the afternoon and Sirzechs gave explicit orders not to leave the inn until then." Grayfia started pacing; trying to figure out what could have happened and I tried to calm her down.

"Okay look, let's not jump to conclusions. They either teleported out of the city, unlikely but possible, or the amount of people walking around here covered up their trail." We were in some kind of market and it was pretty busy, the odds that the trail was just walked over till it faded was high. "We shouldn't assume the worst, okay?" That seemed to calm her down since she took a deep breath and nodded. "Good. Now, let's ask around if anyone saw anything."

So we asked around to every Devil that ran a stand and Grayfia took out a picture of the kids. It reminded me of those elementary school things where a professional comes in one day and takes a class picture (it even had Sirzechs on the side, like where a teacher would usually be). Sadly, no Devil vendor recognized the kids and Grayfia became increasingly worried until we showed a fruit seller the picture. He leaned in to take a closer look before nodding.

"Yeah, I've seen that kid."

"Really? Which one?" I brought the picture closer and the Devil pointed at a small boy with short blond hair.

"I saw him earlier around…9? That's when I put up my stand so yeah." I made a confused face.

"Uhhh…this is completely unrelated but how do you guys keep track of time here? I mean there's no day or night cycle so how-"

"Pierce." Grayfia deadpanned.

"Sorry." I smiled in apology and pointed at the kid that the vendor saw. "Was he alone? Did he look hurt or frantic?" The Devil vendor rubbed his chin in thought before nodding.

"Yeah, I mean he wasn't hurt but he did rush into the area with this scared look on his face and ran into that alley over there. A group of guys entered after him." The vendor pointed at an alley across the street and thanking him for his help, we made our way over. I could immediately feel a young Devil's signature in the area (probably because it looked abandoned so no one came through here) along with a couple others but it was abruptly cut off. Not faded, cut off.

"Grayfia, we may have a problem."

"What?"

"Whoever was following the kid has some sort of connection with the Lucifer Clan." To be able to freely teleport within the capital of the Underworld, the assailants must have been given permission by a member of the Lucifer Clan. 'Or some really powerful beings that can bypass the barriers kidnapped them…actually that's not any better.' I grimaced at the thought and Grayfia sensed around with her more powerful Spiritual Energy, finding traces of Space Magic in the area. Teleportation guess for the win.

"You can't track where they teleported to or something?"

"That's not how that works." Grayfia shook her head. "When you teleport, you create a tunnel in space that you open to another location and that's why most people set markers to where they want to go undetected, it's like a pre-prepared entrance. Lesson number 1 is how to collapse the tunnel behind you on every jump."

"Ah…good to know." I crossed my arms and tilted my head in thought. 'I guess that explains why whenever an enemy uses teleportation magic to escape they never follow after them; they can't.' I watched as Grayfia started to pace, trying to figure out who would do this but was coming up blank.

"…What should we do?" Grayfia asked in uncertainty and my communication ring rang at that moment. I lifted my hand and saw that it was a message from Jack, he made it to Lucifaad. Messaging him to meet them at the inn we were at, I turned to the worried Grayfia.

'It's weird seeing her like this when in the Light Novel and anime she was so unfazed by everything.' Guess it goes to show, having mountain busting, sea surging power does not solve all your problems. '…Someone should really tell all the edge lords in the world that.' I told Grayfia about going back to meet Jack and she agreed that three heads were better than two.

Making our way back to the inn, Grayfia started messing with her bracelet and seeing her so concentrated, I chose to leave her alone. I looked around, trying to keep myself entertained as we walked and I noticed something. Devils in strange outfits that had silver linings and a sigil on their right breast were starting to become more common. They walked together in groups and I could see them herding some groups of Devils off to somewhere else. One even locked eyes with me and took a step forward before seeing Grayfia. He quickly backed off then. I frowned at the scene and activated Chi Vision. I turned back on the emotion sensing aspect and I had to hold back a wince at what I was seeing.

Malice was high in the air. Very high. Every Devil that wore those uniforms seemed to be filled with a blend of passion and hate. An odd combination but it seemed like the groups that were being taken away also shared that sentiment. I channeled some Chi into my ears to listen in on some groups being talked to by the uniformed Devils but each one had a soundproofing barrier around them.

'What is going on?' As we got closer to the inn, more and more Devils that had the same feelings as those uniformed Devil's increased. It was like a plague. Some stores even closed down and the owners made their way to the center of the city. Grayfia eventually looked up from her bracler and she had a frown on her face.

"I can't get into the Intelligence Hud." I tilted my head in confusion.

"What is that?"

"It's a magic channel where the Lucifer Clan gives out orders to every officer under them." Grayfia explained and I was a bit impressed. It made sense; a communication ring is a thing so having a magic page where your employees can see their orders saves way more time than personally calling them. But…

"What do you mean you can't get in? Aren't you pretty important?"

"I can contact my masters in the Lucifer Clan but any information about what's going on in Lucifaad is unreachable. I'm locked out." Grayfia noticed the odd atmosphere in Lucifaad and tried to get answers but wasn't successful.

"…Okay, let's pick up the pace." I did not like the sound of that and activated Touki, picking up Grayfia (she can't fly in the city without drawing suspicion and I was overall faster than her on foot). Leaving two footprints on the concrete, I blazed through the city and picked up a fierce wind as I reached the inn in under a minute. Jack was already there.

"Hey what's-"

"Not here." I grabbed Jack by his shoulder and pulled them both up to the choir's previous room. Locking the door, I looked out the window and saw that no one followed us. Sensing around just to be safe, I turned to face the 2 other Devils. "So to recap, the Stray Exorcists who made it pass the gates can't be found. Grayfia, an ultra strong Ultimate-Class Devil and the literal strong man of the Lucifer Clan is locked out of her information network. And…we may have a case of lost Devil children that should be here and safe but aren't. Did I miss anything?" Jack said nothing as he blankly stared at Grayfia shaking her head and after a minute, he sighed.

"I was gone for a couple of hours…" Jack rubbed his face and I shrugged.

"Welcome to my life. Now, you guys have any ideas?" They both shook her head. "Well that's fine, because I do." I rubbed my space ring and my chalkboard came out in the room, chalk in hand. I wrote down the title. "I call it: When in Doubt, Get the Fuck Out."

"…Did you really have to take out the chalkboard for that?" Jack deadpanned.

"Never underestimate the chalkboard." I warned Jack and he scoffed. "There will be 2 teams for this operation. Team number 1 is Grayfia and I; we're going to ask around and try to find those kids, forcefully if we need to. Once we get them, we are to get the hell out of dodge." Grayfia nodded in agreement. "Jack, you're team 2. Try to get information on what's going on, follow the Devils wearing those outfits and message us if anything happens. Something's going on and if shit gets bad then I want a heads up." Jack nodded and we quickly got to work. We gave Jack a copy of the picture and we split off. I headed off with Grayfia to the last place we got the trail.

1 Hour Later

While she couldn't trace where the assailant took the kid, she did know of a couple locations in the city that were used by the Lucifer Clan to cage their enemies (I did not want to ask what they did to the prisoners). Sadly that wasn't it as every location we went to had no prisoners and even the soldiers usually stationed there weren't around. Then we tried to find that fruit vendor once more to get information but the entire market was gone, all the stands were smashed. Things only got worse from there because we found multiple stores destroyed and houses that were on fire. Grayfia quickly sent a water spell to those burning houses and we found families that were trapped inside. Healing them and sending them to the city gates, we kept moving through the city. Grayfia wanted to know where the soldiers that protected the city were but they were nowhere to be seen.

But things kept escalating. More houses burned with those soldiers in silver outfits cutting off access to certain sections of the city and people moving in waves towards the center of the city. Of course to Grayfia, there wasn't anywhere she couldn't go in Lucifaad and used that authority to get past the soldiers. We got to helping putting out the fires and saving the normal Devils from the burning houses. I didn't understand how fire was a danger to the Devil citizens who had magic but I quickly found out why.

'What is this?' I frowned and picked up a burnt holy relic, my Chi coated hand protecting me from being burned. It was a cross with beads and glowing sigils etched on it. Grayfia was walking back to me after stopping another fire and frowned at the relic.

"Demon's Bane."

"What is that?"

"It's used by priests to protect a house from demonic beings. It can also be used to trap Devils inside a home." The silver haired Devil waved her hand and the relic in my hand was splintered to pieces. "Are the Stray Priest's here?"

"I don't know. I doubt it though, it seems like this is being done by those silver Devils. We're missing something." I fell into deep thought and Grayfia looked around with narrowed eyes. Something was going on and we were still nowhere close to finding the kids. Grayfia didn't recognize the symbol the silver Devils wore and they actively avoided the silver haired Devil. Like they were ordered to. None of the Devil citizens we saved knew anything and the ones going to the city center didn't give anything either. Mainly saying how it was "time for the true kings to rise" or "Back to ancient glory". 'Great, old timey supernatural propaganda. It's as cryptic as the modern version when you don't get it!'

"Pierce." I looked down at my communication ring and brought it up to my face.

"You got something? Because we're running around blind here." I answered Jack and heard his sigh.

"Sorry but I'm not doing any better. Whatever is happening, the silver outfits don't know much about it either. They just have explicit orders to gather supporters of the Pro-War faction to the center of the city and attack those that were staying behind. They were also given holy relics to use." Jack explained his findings and the frown on my face became even deeper.

"…Okay." I made up my mind. "Jack follow the people, Grayfia and I are heading over now."

"Roger." Jack gave confirmation and I looked over to a confused Grayfia.

"Whatever's happening, the answer is where everyone's going. What are the odds the kids disappeared and the city goes to hell? And no that was not a pun." I answered Grayfia's confusion and she nodded in agreement. We made our way through the city, seeing the increased amount of destruction and silver outfits grow in frequency. We eventually reached the massive castle I saw when I first arrived, this time with a large crowd of Devils gathered in front of it. A large platform was resting in the center.

"Hey!" I looked over and saw Jack jugging towards us, I nodded at him.

"Hey. Have you found anything since coming here?" Jack shook his head. "Damn it…"

"I don't know what's going on but it appears to be some sort of announcement. Guess we just have to wait." I frowned at that.

"How long do we need to-" A loud gong rang out, cutting me off and the rest of the chatter in the center also stopped. Then a young Devil wearing noble clothes walked up on the platform. He looked around at the gathered Devils and spoke.

"...Pathetic." The silence in the venue was deafening.

Tylin Leviathan looked out at the supporters of the Pro War faction and was not pleased. He made that real clear by his facial expression and the gathered Devils started getting riled up at his word. "Silence!" Using magic to project his voice across the center, all the Devils complied and silence reigned once more. Tylin humphed. "Good. Now can someone tell me why I'm wrong?" He waited for a second before a tall Devil with brown hair stepped forward. Tylin tilted his head at the Devil, waiting for his response.

"You're wrong." The Devil glared up at the Leviathan descendant.

"And why is that?"

"Because we're Devils! We served the Satans in the Great War against the Fallen and Pure Angels! We've proven our place! What gives you the right to call us pathetic!?" The retired war Devil exclaimed in anger, his words motivating the rest of the current Devils. Things started to get more heated and the gathered Devils found their voices, shouting at Tylin on the stage. He waved his hand once he saw the silver Devils move to split up the shouters and Tylin patiently waited for the yelling to stop. Besides being the capital of the Underworld and the original home of Lucifer, Lucifaad had one main form of resident. War soldiers. The ones that survived the Great War under the banner of the Lucifer Clan stayed here and that's who were mainly gathered here. While some had families, the low birth rate among Devils made it so they were in the minority and the only Devils here were the ones without family.

And that's exactly what Tylin wanted.

"...Are you finished?" Tylin looked around, finding no one yelling anymore and made his first point clear. "Then why do you all hide in this majestic city? Why don't you all go out and take what is rightfully yours? You all fought and bled for your kings so what's stopping you? Is it Fear? Compliance?" No one answered. "I thought as much." Tylin sighed before giving a mock chuckle. "It's truly laughable you know. Devils were once one of the most feared beings in the world, in all worlds. And now? You're all nothing!" His voice rang out once more, with greater vigor than before and it caused some Devils to stumble back. "My parents told me of a time where Devils had the most freedom in the world! They did what they wanted, when they wanted, and no one could tell them otherwise! Is that not what you all had!? What you all want back!?" No one said anything to Tylin's questions.

"...It's not that simple." The same browned haired Devil from before spoke through clenched teeth and Tylin looked down at him.

"No, it's very simple." He shook his head. "You all followed the Satans without question. Followed them when they promised you the world, believed that they could give you the world. They couldn't." The Devils present became confused at his words, wondering why he seemed to be bringing up the Satan's failure. "They died. The Fallen take up residence in our Underworld and God retreats back into Heaven. But you're all right; we should just give up, let them go off without a scratch and never leave the safety of our homes. Like rats. Right?" Tylin asked the question with full honesty and looked at the faces of all those gathered.

It really was too easy.

"No!" Like it was practiced, the refusal vibrated throughout the center and Tylin made a confused face.

"But isn't that what you all want? To live in dull peace? To not honor your creator's will and let sleeping dogs lie?"

"NO!" The word was said with even better synchrony.

"Then what do you want!?"

"I want to invade Heaven!" A tall, male Devil from the side screamed. "I want to kill Metatron for killing my father!"

"I want to kill that pointy eared fucker! He killed my brother and sister for kicks!" A scarred, female Devil added on the side.

This seemed to set off a wave because many Devils yelled out their goals and ambitions, some in revenge and others to gain what they fought for. A few were shameless and exclaimed how they had "helped" many female Angels fall. It was chaos and many started getting riled up, causing the silver Devils to break them apart. Yet Tylin watched this all with a blank face and spoke.

"Then let's do it." He said this softly yet every Devil in the center heard it, silence reigning once more. "Let's invade Heaven. Let's kill that pointy eared fucker. Let's show the world what it means to be a Devil!" They became restless once more but one Devil spoke out. It was the same brown haired Devil.

"B-But the Bael Clan will never-"

"Did you swear loyalty to Bael?" Tylin quirked a brow at the Devil. "Did Bael create the Devil race? Did he bring the Devil race to it's golden age? No? Then allow me to tell you what he did. Bael...fled. He saw his leaders die and did what he knew best. He ran. Then he took over the Devil race and told it to no longer fight, to hide from the world. Like rats. Are you seeing a pattern here?" Tylin asked rhetorically but acted upset when no one responded. "Are you all rats!?"

"No!"

"Are you Devils!?"

"Yes!"

"Then start acting like Devils! No more hiding! No more waiting! Take what you want, do what you want! And if Bael wants to stop us then...we'll just go through him too." Tylin didn't even wait a second before the gathered Devils screamed in agreement with such volume that a regular human probably would have had his ear drums burst. 'Time for the main event.' Tylin nodded at Mulen who was behind the stage and the Lucifer ambassador waved his hand, a magic circle appeared on the ground next to the Leviathan descendant. Tylin smiled as the circle shone and a group appeared on the stage next to him. 8 Devils that looked like children fell on the ground, they had multiple bloody marks across their bodies and they were tied up. This was the choir of the Prince of the Gremory Clan, Sirzechs Gremory.

"W-Where are we!?"

"Please! Let us go!"

"I-I want to go home..."

"S-Sir Sirzechs...please..."

The children reacted in different ways to the new surroundings but they all were scared and wanted some clarity. Tylin ignored them however and faced the crowd of confused Devils. "You all are ready to fight for glory and I will give you that chance but first, let's deal with one small issue." Tylin turned to the children and grabbed one, roughly bringing him up. He waved his hand and a magic circle appeared in the boy's mouth. "Tell us, why did you come to Lucifaad?" The boy didn't speak. "Answer me!" Tylin yanked his hair and the boy screamed in pain.

"W-We came to do the s-song of peace..." The boy said this through gritted teeth and Tylin snorted.

"We've had enough peace." Tylin threw the boy back to the others. "200 years we've kept quiet. No more. What say you?" Tylin spoke to the audience but frowned when no responded, hesitation on many of their faces. "Do you still want this hollow peace?!"

"N-no!" While refusal was lackluster compared to before, Tylin smiled victoriously.

"Then let there be war." Waving his hand, sea water came out from magic circles in the air and twirled around the choir. The water slowly wrapped around them and raised them high in the air, ready for execution. Tylin wasn't stupid. He knew what would happen to him the moment he killed the Gremory Prince's choir, especially considering how much they cared about their servants but that's exactly why he was doing this. It would destroy Sirzechs and cause him to spiral into a fit of depression and despair. The Satan families were ready to go to war and they needed that monster out of the picture for a while. News of what's happening had probably reached Sirzechs and he would be on his way here if it did but Tylin would be long gone by then. Was that cowardly? Very. Did he care? Not even a little.

"Sir..." A silver Devil warned Tylin and he looked out at the crowd, immediately finding the problem. A silver haired, red eyed problem walking through the crowd of Devils to the stage.

'Grayfia Lucifuge...' Tylin could feel the power radiating from Grayfia and knew she was seconds away from firing off her magic. Most definitely meant to save the choir and wipe him off the face of the map. The compassion within the Lucifer Clan's enforcer was well known and any other time Tylin would be shitting himself being on the receiving end of the she Devil's cool gaze, let alone her stone cold fury. Yet, tapping into his reserves of calm that he had no idea he had, Tylin calmly lifted his hand and traced a finger over a silver ring that was on his pointer finger. Grayfia stopped in her tracks and stared at the ring, internal conflict showing on her face. A small (read: very large) part of Tylin was nervous, worried that Grayfia's loyalty to the Lucifer Clan may snap and she may kill him because of how her magic kept fluctuating. Fortunately, Grayfia's magic power finally calmed down and she stared down at the ground, her entire demeanor ashamed and angry (at who is up for debate). Sighing in relief, Tylin smiled victoriously and clenched his fist.

"!" The water wrapped around the kid's heads and they started struggling, trying to get the water prison off their heads. They slowly drowned and the Leviathan descendant laughed, seeing his plan going perfectly. Nothing could stop him now. Civil War was declared, that monster Sirzechs will soon be wallowing in his grief, and Grayfia was still a loyal tool to the Lucifer Clan. It was all so perfec-

"Sir!"

"What!?" Tylin yelled in anger and exasperation, getting tired of his soldier's voice. He saw the Devil guard's frantic look and how he moved towards him. Confused, Tylin turned around and finally saw what was wrong. It was a young man. He had short black hair, brown eyes and an unremarkable face. There was nothing about the man that would catch Tylin's notice.

He was completely and totally normal. If you ignored his currently glowing aura, the fact that he was flying through the air towards him and that the man's fist was getting ever closer to the Leviathan descendant's face.

'Oh-' Then Tylin's vision went black.

Back to Pierce

A shockwave rang out as my fist connected with the asshole descendant's face and he was sent flying through a building. Then into another one. Then another one. After slamming into a fourth building, Tylin finally stopped and dust covered his unconscious body. A pin could be heard in the large space as the choir children fell down, being freed from their watery prison and coughed. I looked around and noticed how everyone from the silver Devils to the normal Devil citizens and even the Devil kids (after they got their breath back) stared at me in absolute shock.

"..."

"..."

"...I really wished I had a camera." That was all I got.

"Get him!" The Lucifer ambassador commanded and jumped off the stage, fleeing back. The Devil soldiers quickly rushed at me and I sent Chi Hammers at every soldier, slamming into them. They were all flung back and I punched down on the platform, shattering it to pieces.

"Jack!" I yelled out and Mephisto's Devil minion did not disappoint. Air tentacles reached out and grabbed all the kids, pulling them to a corner of the collapsing stage. Silver Devils tried to fly after the kids but I didn't let them. Chi Bursting to them, I sliced 3 Devils in a row and kicked one in the stomach, sending him flying into a house. More Devil soldiers started getting their bearings and tried to rush us but Jade was a step ahead. She froze the dust in the air, creating a massive barrier around us and stopping the Devils in their tracks. Though, judging from the attacks hitting the barrier, we didn't have long. Jack came into view and checked on the kids before looking at me. His face was a mix between confusion, exhaustion, and a faint hint of acceptance.

"...If it makes you feel any better...I have no idea what I'm doing."

"It doesn't." Jack deadpanned.

"And that's why I said if." I retorted and a loud bang rang out, cracks started appearing over the ice barrier.

"What do we do?" Jack asked and I looked at the ice barrier, as more cracks started appearing over it, before looking back. I had a plan actually. They wanted the kids, then we just needed to split up. I take 4, Jack takes 4 and we book it for the exit. With Jack's illusion spells and my Chi Vision monitoring the enemies then our odds are pretty good.

'Except if Jack gets caught, it's over for him and the kids he's with.' More cracks started to appear. 'He doesn't have my fighting capabilities to fight off the Devil soldiers.' Another bang. 'They'll die.'

I'm not a hero. It's not my job to save everyone who can't save themselves. I have goals and dreams I want to accomplish. I can't-

"Pierce!" Jack yelled and I came to, just in time for another large bang from outside the barrier. "Well?!" I stared at Jack's franticness and made my decision.

"Lets-" I stopped, noticing one of the kids in the group. They were huddled together and shivering, some blocking their ears from the chaos. There was a girl, with long brown hair and a yellow dress. She was holding a smaller boy in her arms and giving soothing words to the boy, telling him everything would be okay. She looked just like-

"Pierce!" Jack's voice became even more frantic now as chunks of the barrier started coming down and I had to slice a large one that fell on us in half. I sighed.

"...Get the kids out of here Jack." He looked at me in shock.

"B-But what are you going to do?" I stared at the illusionist and cracked a mad smile.

"I'm going to make some new friends."

"..." We said nothing and it got quiet outside the barrier and Jack nodded in the end. He held onto the kids and they slowly disappeared.

"Don't die." That was he said as he and the kids fully left. I sighed at the scene and looked down at my familiar.

"...Whatever happened to good luck?" I shook my head in amusement and picked up Jade. She jumped to my shoulder and stood high, ready to go. "Good girl." I petted the green rabbit and took out a Light Sword. Touki on, my regular sword in one hand and Light Sword in the other, I didn't wait long before the barrier was completely shattered. On the other side stood a bunch of Devil soldiers and one very pissed off Leviathan descendant. Tylin was floating in the air, his glare harsh and piercing with his left cheek bleeding. I watched as he scanned over me before a look of confusion appeared.

"A human?" He said this with shock in his voice. "...A human?" There wasn't much shock that time. Veins started appearing on his forehead and his magic power started to rise, magic circles popping up all around him. "Why!? Why would you save them!? Do you have any idea what you just messed up!? Answer me!" Tylin screamed at me in anger, as if he didn't just try to execute children to declare war. My amused smile must have set him off as he blasted me with a stream of condensed water, forcing me to duck and watch as it cut cleanly through the house behind me. "What's so funny!?"

"Oh nothing it's just...you are one warped bastard." I stood up straight and cracked my neck. "Why did I save them?...Because they were just a bunch of kids who were doing what they thought was right. That's all I needed." Tylin only got angrier with that but I didn't care as I pointed my sword at Devils. "Now then...who wants to go first?"

Then they all charged at me.