Chapter 31

Azazel, Penemue, Baraqiel, Tamiel, and Shemhazai sit down in the available chairs inside Razjeel's office. Azazel and Penemue just in front of the desk, Tamiel and Shemhazai near the wall on the right, and Baraqiel on the left next to the cabinet with alcohol, a place where Azazel wanted to sit but knowing him for so long, Penemue was sure what would happen so she dragged him to his current seat. Much to Azazel's displeasure.

"Can you just stop? You are over 10 000 years old yet you sulk like a child!" Razjeel berated his younger brother.

"Forever young inside!" He shouted but received a scary glare from Razjeel. He apologized and sat properly.

Razjeel sighed and turned to the two people behind him. "You two can sit as well, no need to bother yourself."

"I'm fine this way. With all respect, but I would feel weird sitting together with the government." Raynare politely excused herself with an elegant smile. She trained it for sooo long.

"Thank you, my lord, but I refuse. Standing gives me more freedom in case of emergency." Kael started his reason.

"*Sigh* Suit yourself." Razjeel turned back towards the governors. "Alright, let's get to the point. I met with the Ophis not so long ago."

Everyone's expression tensed instantly, even Azazel looked more serious and concentrated than usual serious him.

"I confirmed that the Ophis is a member of the Khaos Brigade, a leader to be exact." Siad Razjeel without beating around the bush. "But it's not everything..."

A silence descended on the room, the atmosphere become uneasy, everyone tried to process the information that could be equal to their death sentence. What else could it be? This may go over and over, but they messed with arguably no.2 strongest being in this Universe! Before, all of them were aware of that possibility, but deep down they hoped it was just the empty threats, a madness talking through the dying enemy. But now...? What could they do?

*Clang*

Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of colliding glasses. Everyone present knew it was coming from the cabinet with the alcohol, but what surprised them was that it wasn't Azazel who started pouring drinks, as he too started with surprise and a wry smile.

"I'm terribly sorry, my Lord, but I ain't having this conversation sober. I feel this will get only worse..." Surprisingly it was Baraqiel who was first to grab alcohol. He snatched the round bottle with brownish liquid inside and plucked it open before he started pouring it into the glass.

"A glass for me too!" Said Azazel staring at his old friend. The reason could be petty, but he saw Baraqiel drinking since his wife died. Usually, the situation should be the opposite, but well...

"Hey, it's inappropriate! What do you think you are doing in front of the General Governo-" Penemue instantly started berating her fellow governors but someone she didn't expect interrupted her.

"Pour me one as well." Said Razjeel to his Marshall. "It's fine Penemue. They won't get drunk from one bottle. And it's better if they relax at least a bit." He gave her a simple nod to ease her worries. In his mind, it was better if they relaxed. Being tense, nervous, panicked, or worried could bother them and get in the way of clear thinking.

A few moments passed, with Shemhazai and Tamiel also ordering glasses of whiskey, and with Penemue, Kael, and Raynare declining the offer.

"*sip* Okay, so what else did you get to know?" Asked Azazel after a sip.

"We didn't talk too much, but I think that someone's using her, Ophis I mean."

"What? Either someone has sun-sized balls or an atom-sized brain. Are you sure about that?"

"I am. Though she didn't say it directly, that's exactly how it is." Razjeel took a sip from his glass and leaned deeper in his chair. He then described the course of their conversation from not long ago as well as the battle between Issei and Vali, including the mess Devil territory was in.

"...Someone really dared to use her... I'm at a loss of the words..." Shemhazai commented with disbelief painted over his face.

"But how she can't see this? If even we can see through these, then why existence like the Ouroboros Dragon can't? Why did she even leave the Dimensional Gap?" Tamiel voiced aloud what everyone thought.

Razjeel sighed and tasted his drink briefly. "The Great Red threw her out."

...

Again silence embraces the room.

"You kidding me, right?" Asked Azazel with disbelief, but Razjeel just shook his head in silent denial. "So no.1 and no.2 started fighting over the place? Fuck me... Baraqiel, pour another two..."

Razjeel didn't stop him and continued talking "None of you, except Azazel, ever met Ophis, right? No, it's a stupid question, of course, you didn't." Razjeel looked at all of them and confirmed what he said.

"Ophis, in all her great-, no, tremendous power, is not as complicated as you think." Razjeel continued. "She lives here, in this world, since it was created, always residing inside the Dimensional Gap, plunged in eternal slumber. The interesting fact is that she doesn't like using violence unless necessary. Anyway, the point is, she barely interacted with anyone unless disturbed, I can count them using fingers from only one hand. This lead to what you would call 'Emotional Dysfunction' or 'Communicating Disability'."

His words helped others understand the situation, and Ophis herself, a little more.

"Oh, but don't think she's gullible like some human child." Said Razjeel quickly to avoid misunderstanding. "She perhaps can feel any emotion like every other being, she can't distinguish them though. But Ophis can tell whether someone has good intentions towards her or not. That's mean if someone reached to her offering help without intention to harm her, but has something else to gain from it, Ophis won't recognize him as hostile and may even cooperate with him." He then took one last sip of his drink and put an empty glass on his desk.

"But how do you know all of this, my Lord?" Asked Tamiel surprised by the detailed description of Ophis's character.

Razjeel smirked and pointed at himself. "Because she told me. I'm one of the very few who interacted with her and the one who used the same method before."

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise. Azazel chugged the remains of his drink and exhaled loudly.

"Damn, sometimes I forgot how old are you... We should invest in senior homes, you know, with a thought of the future." Azazel said with a straight face.

"Shut up. I'm pretty sure I'll outlive you." Razjeel sent him a mocking smile. "Anyway, what do you think of the current situation?" He asked eying the rest of the governors.

All of them had thoughtful expressions. Penemue was first to open her mouth. "First of all, we should think if we have the capabilities to challenge Khaos Brigade."

"I agree," Tamiel said "When it's true that Grigori is more prospering when Lord Razjeel become General Governor, no offense Azazel-,"

"Nah, none taken." Azazel casually waved it off.

"-We are still licking our wounds from the previous war as well as the civil war. Our numbers dwindled significantly, compared to the others we may be among the least numerous factions." Continued Tamiel.

"I'm aware of it. That's why I want to avoid conflict if possible or take care of it myself. A low rate of births is one thing, but if we start dying needlessly then it's the end of Grigori." Razjeel said with a solemn face.

Shemhazai cleared his throat and started speaking. "In my opinion, we should make some allies. And I'm not talking about Devils or Angels, with our past I don't believe that we can fully cooperate or trust each other. We need to find someone to whom both of the things apply."

Razjeel nodded his head in agreement. During his time as a Seraph, not even Heaven operated alone. They were pretty much friendly with Celtic Pantheon and humans under them, often cooperating or assisting each other in certain matters.

"But who? The Shinto faction? I doubt they would even take us seriously." Azazel pondered while scratching his goatee.

"What about Greeks?" Suggested Penemue. "They have great resources and-"

"Definitely not!" Snapped Razjeel, shocking everyone. "Not Greeks and Chinese!"

"Why? Did something happen?" Tamiel inquired, quite taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"I would rather put my arm inside Fenrir's mouth instead of Tyr than ever deal with them again." Said Razjeel with disdain openly showed on his face. "We would lose a lot more than gain, both of them are worth each other, greedy, treacherous pests..."

His displayed hostility surprised all of them, but when they thought about it, both factions didn't have a great reputation, well, neither has Grigori.

He took a deep breath and calmed down a moment later. "We will talk about possible alliances later. Let's get back to the topic."

"Yeah, so ignoring, for now, a need of allies, we need information before anything else. They may have Ophis but don't have to be necessarily a huge organization. They could be in some kind of internal conflict or something, and that we could use." Azazel said tapping his thing on his chin, staring at a single spot gathering his thoughts.

"We are already working on it," Kael spoke for the first time in a while. "We are investigating certain individuals most likely connected to the Khaos Brigade, including your foster son Vali."

Hearing that Azazel made an unpleasant expression and clicked his tongue. "I still don't know what got into the kid..." He mumbled under his nose.

"He's not stupid nor someone idealistic. I'm sure he has his reasons." Razjeel who heard his mumbles perfectly cheered up his younger brother.

Azazel sighed helplessly. "I hope so."

"We should inform Devils and Angels about Ophis. Reluctance is one thing, but we shouldn't be petty enough to refuse help when we need it." Penemue said firmly, fixing her glasses and slowly eyeing everyone.

"That's already done. Lord Razjeel asked me to do it when we met on our way here." Tamiel said and gained a nod from his fellow female governor.

"Ah!" Suddenly yelped Shemhazai. "Speaking of the Devils! We received an invitation to the Devils Territory for a feast." He searched through his robes until he found an envelope which he handed to Razjeel.

While Razjeel was reading the letter inside, Shemhazai quickly briefed what he knew. "It looked like the Devils have the same idea of finding allies. They presumably invited representatives of other factions, including us, Heaven, and even Norse."

"Norse? Interesting..." Razjeel was interested in it. It was a good opportunity to officially announce his return to the world, though he was sure that some like Odin, Zeus, or Ra were already aware of it and were just waiting and observing.

"What are you going to do? Ignore it or participate?" Azazel asked, well aware that Razjeel wasn't a fan of such events.

A grunt came from Razjeel. "I think I'll. It will be a good opportunity to discuss the matter with Khaos Brigade and explain my barging onto Devils Territory. *sigh*…"

"Hoo, good luck then. Well if it's all, then I'm going to my lab. Have to do some touch-ups of the replicas of the Twilight Healing you asked for." Azazel stood up and stretched his back.

"Sure, you all can go." Razjeel nodded in agreement, conducting the end of the meeting. "But Kael, stay for a minute." A tall man clothed in the black stopped before leaving the door and closed them after Raynare left.

"What is it, my Lord?" His yellow eyes stared at Razjeel, waiting for an order.

"I have a task for The Watchers..."