CH. 463: The Alliance

"Lady Gabriel, that's very dangerous!"

"Sandalphon is right. You can't do that, kid."

Biblical God and Sandalphon both tried to stop Gabriel, trying to convince them from taking a dangerous step.

"What? Why? We have to find out about Hades' dirty trick behind it. Sandra and I can go in like spies!"

Sandalphon regretted speaking her thoughts on the Grim Reaper Pluto's motive. Biblical God looked at her like she was the one to blame for everything. He shook off his negativity with a vigorous head shake and pointed at Gabriel.

"Kid, wait for Asahi," God spoke in an overbearing voice. He may have been one of the strongest beings in the world, but he wasn't a gentle person. Gabriel was near the top of Heaven's hierarchy in terms of raw power. Unfortunately, raw power wasn't enough to infiltrate Hell, where the half god grim reapers could fight god-level beings.

"I can't let him do everything," Gabriel said.

Even in the face of such tyranny, Gabriel's expression didn't falter. "I can't let Asahi do everything. That's not the type of wife I want to be!"

Anime, games, and Klyscha had influenced her more than anyone realized. These were her first real hobbies after living an utterly mundane and pure life for centuries.

Biblical God rubbed his forehead, wondering when his son-in-law will come to pacify his foolish daughter.

"Father-in-law, you're so hopeless without me," Asahi said as he appeared out of nowhere.

God and Sandalphon took a sigh of relief. Right now, Asahi shone like a hero in their eyes. A beacon of hope.

"Asahi!" Gabriel yelled out in excitement. "You're here."

"What happened?"

He acted clueless despite watching the drama unfold between the divine family.

Gabriel pointed at her best friend and her creator like they had wronged her. "A-Asahi, they are not letting me investigate Hades. I want to help you… they think I'm not competent enough."

Her halo flickered black, revealing her straight-faced lie.

Asahi had seen this slightly manipulative behavior of his angel wife on multiple occasions. It still didn't make it any less shocking.

Sandalphon approached Gabriel. "Lady Gabriel, you can't just barge into Hell alone. It's so risky."

"I'm not going alone." Gabriel took out a spartan-looking helmet from her ring. "I have this. The great helm of Hades!"

Asahi blinked his eyes. 'Klyscha?'

(I-I gave it to her to play hide and seek with Sandalphon… I didn't think she would go full chuuni spy with it.)

'Geez, I can't even get angry when she is doing it to help me.'

Sandalphon stared at the bronze helmet. "How will a helmet help?"

Gabriel puffed her chest proudly. "It's no ordinary helmet. It's Klyscha's special artifact."

Before Sandalphon could ask about Klyscha, Gabriel put on the helmet and vanished. Sandalphon and God looked around with wide eyes, unable to find any trace of her.

Biblical God narrowed his eyes on Asahi. "It's your artifact."

"Yes…" Asahi agreed. "Gabriel, let's go together. We'll foil the bad guys' plan right under their noses."

Gabriel quickly revealed herself and pumped her fists. "Yes!"

Biblical God shook his head. "You have my daughter tamed… like a puppy."

Asahi ignored his father-in-law's grumbling and teleported away with Gabriel.

***

Pluto returned to Hell, only to learn Hades was holding a conference with some other gods. As Hades' closest subordinate, Pluto believed he had to be there.

So he entered the conference room. Hades and three phantoms occupied the giant round table. Each formless phantom gave off a malicious aura even though they were just the consciousness of a deity.

Hades looked at Pluto. "Report."

Pluto bowed his head. "Lilith isn't seen by any Youkai. Their leader asked for a day to investigate."

Hades nodded, accepting Pluto's words as facts. Youkai had no reason to shelter an abomination being like a devil. However, had an inkling about Lilith's location—she was hiding with Asahi's help. Some devils had seen Lilith with Asahi on numerous occasions, indicating some kind of relationship between them. But Hades couldn't confront Asahi with this knowledge. Not after he had seen his power.

This was precisely the reason for organizing the peace treaty. It was just an arrangement to bring Asahi's unreasonable power before other pantheons. To create an opportunity to assess the full extent of Asahi's powers.

One of the phantoms laughed at their exchange. "Hades, you can't find one exiled devil. You're bringing down your name, Master of Netherworld. Erebus, I'll hunt her down."

"Send Thanatos on her trail," Erebus said. "He is at least competent."

Pluto stared at the phantoms who indirectly insulted Hades in his face. Everyone in Olympus knew the names Nyx and Erebus, the primordial gods of darkness. The siblings had a powerful influence among the gods for their own strength and their great creation abilities.

Pluto genuinely respected Nyx and Erebus for creating Thanatos. Even though Thanatos and Pluto were Executive-Class grim reapers, Thanatos bested him in combat every time, becoming acknowledged as the strongest grim reaper in existence.

"Lady Nyx, Lord Erebus." Pluto bowed to the primordial gods' siblings. "Pardon me for being ignorant of your arrival."

"Goodness, he is polite," Nyx said with a chuckle. "You can have a vacation because of that gentleman's behavior. Thanatos will finish what you couldn't do."

Pluto had learned to keep his mouth shut after having an unfortunate encounter with Asahi. The Lord of the Underworld had awakened his self-preservation instincts. Even so, he felt rage towards Nyx, who dismissed him like he was useless.

"Pluto," Hades said. "Go."

Pluto suppressed his budding anger and bobbed his head before he headed for the door.

"What drama is this?" asked the last phantom as he folded his illusory arms, his aura more malicious than both Nyx and Erebus. "Anyway, I'll get to reviving some dragon slaves."

Hades nodded. "We'll need them in defeating the crazy strong Devil Emperor."

The phantom dispersed, and the room became free of the three evil presences. Hades leaned his face on his knuckles, tapping the armrest of his stone seat.

"So much work for one man."

"One man named Crazy Strong Devil Emperor."

A voice flowed like a breeze in spring. The calming voice, however, sent chills down Hades' skeletal spine.

***

Cliff~.