Chapter 82: Try to advertise it as landmark

Rias Gremory lifted her head up from a pillow as she felt a sudden premonition.

"Ara?" Akeno turned to the side to poke Rias's cheek. "Did you sense something?"

"I could have sworn something bad happened…" Rias relaxed back down to a comfy cushioned couch where she was currently sitting and eating ice-cream, with Akeno sitting beside her and doing much the same.

After the past few weeks of action, horror and war that had plagued Rias, her entire ex-Peerage as well as pretty much the rest of the Underworld's population, it felt quite wonderful to just spend a day off doing absolutely nothing but eating tasty and sweet things, watching Underworld's television, and generally lazing around.

"Ufufufu… Are you sure you aren't becoming a seer of some sort, Rias-chan?" Akeno teased while reaching to lick a drop of ice-cream off Rias's nose, drawing a shocked squeak from the red-head.

"I-it's nothing like that! Ugh, forget I said anything…" Rias grumbled and reached for a cookie, dipped it into the ice-cream that had turned to a slushy and then bit into it. "...I hope Sirzechs-nii is doing well. This whole situation must be stressing him badly…"

"You could go and see him, hm?" Akeno rolled back to her earlier position and put her ice-cream container between her breasts for ease of storage while she grabbed a spoon. "Sirzechs-sama is a bit of a siscon so he would surely cheer up if you went to see him."

"Haa… I suppose I should ask Momon about it. Technically I'm part of Momon's Peerage now, so…" Rias sighed. "I'm not used to this whole 'not being a King' thing. I've come to realize that losing the right to full autonomy is quite… unpleasant. I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. You were a fantastic King for us…" Akeno consoled Rias. "Besides, if you want to whip yourself over it for some reason, then just consider that you're a Peerage member now as well so you're in the same soup as the rest of us!"

"Thanks, I suppose… Hya!" Rias let a squeak as Akeno flung a piece of ice-cream so it landed between the red-head's breasts.

"Stop sulking, Rias-chan." Akeno childed her. "Or I'll have to get serious!"

"You wanna go?!" Rias flicked a spoonful of ice-cream at Akeno, which landed on her hair.

Akeno froze, glanced upwards to see a drip of creamy white stuff flowing down her face, poked her tongue out, and then returned fire while Rias was busy blushing over the implication of the face Akeno had pulled.

A few minutes later the situation had devolved into a full-blown projectile ice-cream warfare with no survivors.

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Momonga kept patting Lady Phenix's hand as the two sat in the Phenix castle-mansion's garden while the woman seemed to be in stupor.

'Hm, I hope dismissing Ravel and Rossweisse for now helps her snap out of her stupor…' Momonga sighed as the woman was just staring ahead like if she was a porcelain doll. A particularly curvy and soft doll, but equally stiff and lifeless. 'I think Ravel's words might have adversely affected her mother's mental state… Then again, Ravel is somewhat perverted so I should have guessed…'

Nonetheless, Momonga persevered as getting a good surrogate mother for his soon-to-be child overrode his awkwardness for being basically an aide for a noblewoman who was in shock after her daughter had… offered... some questionable things.

"Hm?" Momonga turned his attention to a servant who practically stumbled over his feet in the process of running to the pair.

"Young lord! Um… my lady?" The servant came to a skidding stop, out of breath, and seemed quite confused on how to address Lady Phenix as she was, technically, no longer the lady of the house. "There has been… haa… an attack…"

The woman beside Momonga seemed to shiver awake from the words.

"Please explain." Momonga felt a bit apprehensive as he motioned for the servant to continue… And felt his mood drain as the servant detailed what it had learned of an attack happening in the Dragon Mountains.

Or rather, a place where the Overlord Wiseman had gone to.

'...Don't tell me, he took some liberties with my orders as well? I ordered it to not use its abilities… Then again, it has broken that order once already…' Momonga felt quite wary as he thought about what had happened.

He contemplated contacting the undead creature through [Message], but he knew that if the Maous suspected him of something then they'd have all their scouts spying on him in order to see what he was doing when the attack happened, which means that if he disappeared somewhere or used his anti-divination countermeasures to block the external spying- Or worse, if he didn't manage to block the spying- then his cover as 'Momon' would be blown instantly.

"Hm? Didn't you order Lady Phenix's sons killed anyway?" Ddraig pointed out. "I'm personally against sneak attacks, as they are unworthy of me, but I suppose I won't have an issue with slaying the devil nobility… The pompous gits that they are… But are you starting to worry over nothing? Everything's going as you planned, no?"

'I suppose…' Momonga turned his attention back to Lady Phenix who was staring at the messenger, seemingly even more shocked than before. "Hm, my lady?"

"What… but… Tannin… he was supposed to… but… My children…" The lady's voice was broken, breathless and full of fear while she seemed to shiver on the spot, whatever rage that she might have felt having disappeared under a layer of despair. "H-hubby… H-he left to see them… d-did… How did you l-learn this?!"

"My lady, the lord arrived few moments ago and explained the situation…" The servant looked a bit awkward.

"B-but…" Lady Phenix slapped herself, shaking herself off her stupor and a fire returned to her eyes. "No- I can't… I can't fall to despair in time like this! Tell me everything! I need to mobilize our security forces, get to the… the…"

A form walked past the garden, covered in wounds, and Lady Phenix's breath caught even more. "H-hubby…"

She stumbled up from the garden bench, knocked the servant aside and sprinted towards the form that was taking a walk past the garten towards his quarters.

'Hm? The Overlord Wiseman returned already… So I'm guessing everything went as planned, more or less…' Momonga followed the woman with calm, controlled steps in an attempt to hide his own nervousness. 'Well… Political assassinations are the base requirement for any successful corporation, even more so if it's a medical corporation, so I shouldn't feel too bad… It's just the norm.'

"That neo-japan place was fucked up, you know." Ddraig noted. "I haven't really bothered learning about the local 'companies' but I feel things are done somewhat… differently here."

'I'll keep that in mind… But please be quiet for now…'

"H-hubby! What- What happened?! You're wounded! What, how… but… oh…" Lady Phenix seemed to fall into confusion and then to despair as she ran to the disguised summon and hugged him desperately… Only for him to push her away so the two were at arm's length.

"We can't do this." The Lord's words were simple and quiet, causing the woman to fall to her knees. "You know as much. Must you force me to reject you time and time again?"

"B-but… hubby…" Lady Phenix fell to all fours in despair. "But… I love you…"

"...That time has passed us now." The 'lord' walked past the woman without so much as a second glance, and came to a stop in front of Momonga. "My lor- son. I bring ill tidings. The Dragon Mountains were attacked… It seems that the Maous came just in time to help me get away. But it was not without difficulties- The Supreme Being attacked the stronghold, wiping out everyone."

"I see… What about the rest of my, hm, new brothers?" Momonga improvised. "You survived, did they survive as well?"

The disguised Overlord Wiseman seemed to be a bit wary and a bit uncertain, as if Momonga had asked an odd question that he didn't quite know how to answer. "...Ido not know. However, Sirzechs Lucifer knows. Yet I believe that they might not have survived."

'Hm, so something happened… Don't tell me, Sirzechs became aware of 'Lord Phenix's true nature? And by using roundabout words is he trying to tell me that he's being observed? I should tread carefully...' Momonga felt quite puzzled by the Overlord Wiseman's roundabout words and started to communicate with the summon through the short-ranged wordless link between a summon and a master, getting a response that roughly matched the theory Momonga had made. 'Hm, so he killed the sons as planned, but was forced to kill two of Sirzechs's Pieces and Tannin in the process and was almost caught when Sirzechs showed up… Not good…' "I see… In that case, I'll wait for Sirzechs-sama's news."

Momonga felt quite apprehensive over the way the Overlord Wiseman had carried out his orders. And he noticed quite a few wounds on the 'Lord's host-body on closer inspection. "Ahem… Please drink this."

Momonga offered the summon a small vial that contained a few drops of tears he had produced from his host-body as an attempt to make a substitute for YGGDRASIL health potions. The disguised summon took the vial and drank it in one go without further ado, and the wounds on his body closed instantly. 'Well, I suppose that's another win for the books… I can monetize this quite easily…'

In truth, Momonga was quite conflicted as on one hand things started to go more or less his way… The church-business and potential suspicions notwithstanding. But on the other the fact his summons more or less kept running along with his orders and carrying them out in haphazard but ultimately successful ways was causing him quite a bit of dread. '...Not to mention that the more specific I am with my orders, the greater the havoc they seem to cause… Haa… I'll just have to roll with this...'

"Ha- ahuu... " The miserable crying of the woman that was on her arms and knees nearby drew Momonga from his considerations, and he looked over at Lady Phenix who looked positively insane in her despair and misery. "H-hubby… I'm sorry, I just.. I didn't… I- I still love you… Please… t-talk to me… What happened? W-what happened to you? A-are our children… W-what happened to them? You went to the Dragon Mountains, r-right?"

The disguised summon sent Momonga a sideways glance and Momonga dismissed the creature with a wordless message, figuring that he should explain the situation lest the summon blurted out something unnecessary.

"I'll go and prepare for Sirzechs-sama's arrival, once he deals with the situation in the Dragon Mountains. Excuse me." 'Lord Phenix' nodded slightly and departed, leaving the crying, miserable woman alone with Momonga. "Hm, son. See to your mistress. Her state is unbecoming of her."

"H-hubby… whyy... " Lady Phenix was utterly lost to despair as she tried to futilely reach for the disguised summon, and grasped only air as it was already beyond her reach.

"There, there. Hm, let's go back to the garden?" Momonga offered as he took the outreaching hand. "My lady?"

"Sniff… hic… H-hubby… Y-you idiot! Idiot! Fool! You…. Dammit!" Lady Phenix's despair seemed to turn to anger over the situation. "Please… Momon! What happened? Why is he so distant?! That wasn't what we agreed upon when I asked you to resurrect him!"

"I did my best, but his… State might be affecting his judgement. It is permanent, I fear." Momonga explained to the woman as he led her back to the garden and sat her down on the garden bench. "Anyway, it seems that Sirzechs-sama knows more about what happened to your sons, and my new brothers. It seems that the 'Supreme Being' has attacked once more and Lord Phenix barely managed to survive… He seems to be in some sort of shock or state where he can't quite see to your needs, my lady."

"Ah…" Lady Phenix shivered harder than ever while tears kept running down her face and ruined her make-up. "H-haa… I- I can't just wait here, I must… I must… I have to go… Momon! Please accompany me, you are strong- You can defend me if the enemy shows up… Please!"

"Hm... " Momonga weighed the pros and cons of the decision, and finally nodded. "In that case let us go to the courtyard. We can form a portal there, as I believe Lord Phenix has reinforced the anti-teleportation countermeasures after Rossweisse-san's… Intrusions."

'Of course, that wouldn't hinder [Gate], but I shouldn't reveal my cards more than I need to…' Momonga offered his hand to the woman who seemed to find her resolve.

"T-thank you, Momon… We need to go! Now!" Lady Phenix stumbled up, swiped her tears to her sleeve and practically sprinted to the courtyard with Momonga in tow.

However, before Momonga could finish wondering if he was supposed to gather his Peerage for the task at hand or not, the courtyard's teleportation circle flashed and two forms emerged from it.

"Hm… Welcome, Sirzechs-sama." Momonga offered the Maou a small bow as the man walked towards the two with Grayfia in tow.

Grayfia's expression was pale and sunken, while Sirzechs was stuck between anger and despair.

"...Momon-kun. Lady Phenix." Sirzechs paused in front of the two. "...Lady Phenix. The Dragon Mountains were attacked, and…"

"I know- My… Ahem, Lord Phenix arrived already. W-what happened? Did you find my children? A-are they in hospital…" Lady Phenix's voice quivered… and then broke entirely as Sirzechs produced a small pouch from his pocket.

"I am sorry. The enemy got to them first…" Sirzechs offered the pouch to the woman. "This was all I could recover from them. I am truly sorry."

"Ah…" Lady Phenix reached for the pouch with shaky hands while her face was utterly colourless and her eyes were wild. "Ah… M-my beautiful sons… My gentle sons... "

The woman hugged the pouch to her chest while crying bitterly.

"And… I lost two of my own as well. Alongside Tannin, and the entire garrison of Dragon Mountains." The Maou produced two more pouches of dust… And then offered them to Momonga with steady hands but with an uncertain tone. "You are capable of performing resurrections, Momon-san. What price must I pay if I asked you to resurrect my Peerage members? They are so strong that no-one else could raise them through the Piece system as there is no King strong enough beside me. I am referring to how I hear you raised your Peerage members."

"Um…" Momonga felt as if Sirzechs had managed to put him between hammer and anvil. 'Hm… True, the value of my resurrections would go down if I couldn't have someone resurrected, but at the same time if I resurrected those two then they might blow my cover due to the involvement of Lord Phenix… And Lady Phenix would also request resurrecting her sons, which would defeat the whole point of this…'

"Hm, I'll try… But I can't say what might happen. The power of whoever is resurrected and the condition of the body are directly linked to how well the resurrection succeeds- Lord Phenix had been tortured, mutilated and was in bad condition with only his head remaining, and that caused quite bit of complications during his resurrection. And he was quite strong, further increasing the risk of an accident." Momonga leveraged his new 'class' as Actor to do his best at lying to the Maou's face. "I'll try to resurrect them, but I fear there may be… Problems. Even more so if our enemy has learned of my resurrections and did something to booby-trap the bodies against resurrection..."

It seemed that the Maou wasn't in the mood for Momonga's words, though, so he turned towards Lady Phenix. "Um, i feel this might be an inopportune moment, but I'd like you to testify for my words being true…"

"I… Can testify… The difficulty of resurrecting hubby..." Lady Phenix hiccupped as she cried and wobbled back and forth while hugging the pouch of dust to her chest. "Hubby… Ruval… I'm so sorry... I wasn't… I just wanted… Aaaaah! Momon! Please! Can you..."

"I can try to resurrect them as well, but alas, the words I spoke to Sirzechs-sama apply to your sons as well." Momonga nodded his head at the woman who reached to grasp his shoulder as if her life depended on the grip. '...I should be able to fudge the resurrections up and then blame it on the 'Supreme Being'... Hm. I suppose having a convenient scapegoat is fairly useful… I'll just have to be careful not to blow my cover and become that scapegoat myself.'

"Please… If… If you can bring them back to me…" The woman seemed to be on the verge of hysteria.

"Alright. In that case…" Momonga hoped against hope that his 'Actor' class would hold up as he performed a grand pose while casting the same roleplay-rune visual he had used when 'resurrecting' Lord Phenix, and turned over the bag containing presumably either Souji's or Mather's ashes into the circle to create a small mound of dust. "Sirzechs-sama. Please be on your guard- The enemy might have booby-trapped these bodies."

"...I'll be ready, then." Sirzechs nodded warily while Grayfia was holding to her apron with both hands in a death-grip.

"Alright then… Resurrection!" Momonga vocalized words, but instead of actually casting [Resurrection] that he couldn't use without a ring, he cast a wordless summon that caused the ground below the dust to turn black… And then it let a hollow roar as the head of a Death Knight burst out of the circle, soon followed by the rest of the body. "Oh- It was a trap! Sirzechs-sama!"

"It's one of those damn monsters!" Sirzechs's words turned into a frustrated roar of anger which was followed by the Maou charging the Death Knight, swatting the Knight's sword out of its hand with casual ease, and then toppling over the creature so he could start punching it with blind, all-consuming rage. "Dammit! Damn you all! Mark my words and bring this to your master- Your final death has come, and it bears my name!"

Momonga ignored the wordless master-summon message the Knight sent to him before perishing as Sirzechs had punched its face in until it had turned to the consistency of a burst rotten pumpkin, and fading back into the dust that had been Sirzechs's Peerage member. '...I mean, I get why it sent that, but… ahem…'

"Dammit- Damn it all!" Sirzechs keeled over to strike the ground in blind anger one more time, sending cracks throughout the entire courtyard. "That… I'll never forgive that monster… Just you wait…"

"Sirzechs-sama…" Grayfia placed a shaky hand on her husband's shoulder and Sirzechs seemed to finally get a grip on his anger.

"Haa… ha." Sirzechs lifted himself up on his feet… And then reached back down to scoop whatever remained of the ashes back into the pouch. "I apologize for this unsightly display. I'll best be on my way. Thank you for trying, Momon-san, even if it was useless in the end..."

"No, It is I who must apologize for failing, Sirzechs-sama." Momonga did his best to look disappointed and sad despite doing the mental equivalent of leaning against a wall and holding to his heart like if he had managed to fool a prowling beast with a scrap of food so it wouldn't eat him instead. "...Excuse us. I feel Lady Phenix needs some time."

Indeed, the woman was shaking from head to toe after the display and was holding the pouch of dust to her chest as if her life depended on it.

"Momon-sama… Momon-sama… Y-you can develop something, right? Something to dispel the trap, right? You beat Serafall-sama against all the odds, you brought back my husband, you… you can do anything, so please… please…" Lady Phenix's words were quiet, broken and desperate. And turned to bitter tears when Momonga shook his head.

"I fear… It might be best if you decided for the best way to honor their passing."

"NOOOOOOOO! There must be something! Some way- some… please…" The woman fell to her knees, then to her rear, and finally fell over to the grass of the courtyard in a miserable pile that had once been the illustrious lady of the noble Phenix family.

"Ahem… Excuse me…" Momonga reached to lift the woman up into a princess carry, and then cast [Perfect Warrior] in order to actually gain enough strength to carry her without issues as the woman was surprisingly heavy despite having a tight waistline. "...I feel it might be the best if I broke the news of what happened to my, umu, brothers to Lord Phenix, Sirzechs-sama."

"..." Sirzechs sent Momonga a glance that was somewhere between grateful and sorrowful. "I see. Thank you. In that case… Until we see again. Ah, and please don't tell Rias about the passing of my Peerage members… She was quite fond of Souji, and I need to find a way of telling her about it in a way that won't break her heart."

"Of course. You can trust me." Momonga thanked the new-found 'Actor' class for allowing him to keep a straight face when saying so. '...Ugh, and now I feel like some sort of monster… Growth pains, I suppose. No successful CEO got into where they were without dirt in their tracks…'

He adjusted the body in his carry a bit and then started to make his way towards his quarters… And noticed a small flaw in his plan. 'Come to think of it… Um, how exactly should I break this news to Ravel, since she probably guessed who I really am?'

[Emotion Suppression] activated instantly.

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"...Ahem, yes, of course. You are blessed in the name of the True God." Xenovia Quarta placed her hand on the head of a devil who had come to the Church of the True God.

The Church of the True God felt quite homely to Xenovia and even a bit so for Irina, even if Asia was squeaking and covering her eyes every time she found a worshipper 'worshipping'.

"Thank you. While I fear this might be a bit premature, may I hear your name, miss…?" The man who Xenovia had blessed lifted his head so he could look directly into Xenovia's eyes.

"Ah, wait! You're that man who I… um…" Asia squeaked as she seemed to recognize the devil. "I… healed you…"

"Oh?! How fortunate I am to meet you here, Asia-san!" The man seemed quite surprised and happy. And then moved closer to Asia in order to take her hands to his. "I feared that the Church had killed you as an apostle. I am glad to see you are alive."

"...That was the original plan, yes, but the True God showed us the way." Xenovia interrupted. "Myself and Irina-chan were Holy Sword wielders of the Church before we were drawn to the True God's cause… er, even if the recruitment method was somewhat unconventional… But you haven't told us your name?"

"I am Diodora Asteroth." The man introduced himself and lifted Asia's hand to his lips to place a kiss on the back of her hand. "I fear that the war calls for me, as I have been drafted to Asmodeus-sama's army. So while our meeting might have been brief, can I ask you to weep for me should I die… Asia-chan?"

"Ah! O-of course, please be safe…" Asia squeaked a bit as the man took her hand with both of his. "U-um, please accept the blessings of god-ow."

"Hm? You inhabit the palace of True God but believe in the christian one?" Diodora tilted his head while rubbing his temple. "I do not mean to disparage your faith, of course. I apologize for assuming…"

"No- no, it's all right, it's just, um… things have happened really fast and True God's, um, ways are really lewd so… it's inappropriate, and… um…" Asia blushed up to her eyebrows. "B-but since it's technically Issei I'm not sure if it's bad, but.. ahem… it's…"

"It's alright. I understand. Please forget I asked." Diodora let the girl's hand go. "Will I find you here again?"

"O-of course, I guess, I mean…" Asia stammered and Xenovia moved between her and Diodora. "X-Xenovia-sama… um, Diodora's not a bad person, so please…"

"Hm, quite so. However, I sense quite heavy lewd intent on your person!" Xenovia pointed at the devil while Irina covered her face with her hand. "That is good!"

Diodora froze, almost as if he hadn't expected the words. "E-excuse me?"

"Myself, Asia-chan, and Irina-chan have been annoited to the True God's exclusive use, but you have strong lewd intent! That is good, as it is one of the core tenents of His litany!" Xenovia reached to pull out a hefty book and plopped it into Diodora's hands.

The devil opened it and saw quite a few 'helpful illustrations' within. And then shifted a few pages forward. "Um, this seems to be mostly porn?"

"I tried to object, but…" Irina started, but Xenovia spoke over her.

"Indeed!" Xenovia struck a wide-legged, headstrong pose. "Within are core tenants of the True God, the proper ways of worship, and guidelines on leading a healthy and profitable life! Think of it like a holy book of the order!"

"I… see. Thank you." Diodora accepted the book with clearly troubled expression. "I'll keep that in mind. Well then, I must go. I hope we meet again soon, Asia-chan."

"I-I'd like that, Diodora-san… I hope to see you too..." Asia pat her forefingers together awkwardly. "U-um, go with the light of god-ow. S-sorry..."

Xenovia sighed while rubbing her head.

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