Inevitable

Meredith arrived at the Vatican today. Her anger from before significantly lessened even if it was not completely gone. She was close to going down a dangerous path when she was visited by an interesting individual. He was tall with long golden hair and a body trained for combat.

At first, she was wary of him and rightfully so. After inviting him in, he was far too informed of her and her circumstances, but shortly after she knew why. He was strong, stronger than any existence she met before. Sure, she didn't meet any gods before, but she wouldn't doubt it if he told her that he stood at the top of their world.

This strong existence made her an offer to become part of his team and an angel at that. Now it wasn't a big secret, that the Christian faction signed an alliance, but that the angels had their own version of the Evil Pieces was a surprise for her. Maybe because he knew about her circumstances, he offered her the Queen card. Even if it was nonsensical, it made her laugh and she began to consider his offer. She had one week to sort her thoughts and meet him at the Vatican if she chose to accept.

Her choice was easy to make after thinking it through. In her books it was a way to step higher and it sounded interesting. Even if the higher-ups of the Golden Dawn weren't pleased to lose a new prodigy, it was her decision and they wouldn't want to make an enemy of the strongest angel or so they said. Leaders of organizations are well informed after all.

That said, she now stands before the building designated for their meeting.

"Hey lass, are you here to meet Ezekiel?" A friendly voice of an older gentleman rang out behind her. She turned around to greet the old man properly but froze abruptly. Before her stood a behemoth in human skin.

"Haha no need to be afraid girl, come on in." Vasco just laughed her awkward look away and opened the door before gesturing for her to follow him.

"S-Sorry, my name is Meredith Ordinton and I'm here to meet Ezekiel as you guessed." She quickly answered while running behind.

"Nice to meet you Meredith, my name is Vasco Strada, but Vasco is fine." He answered good naturedly.

Meredith nodded and looked around. They were in a decently sized building without many decorations. Before long they arrived in a big room that was already occupied by another two men and women.

Ezekiel, one of the men, stepped forward in greeting: "Meredith, your arrival today means you decided to join?"

"It does." She smiled while answering.

"That's good news, then let's get the introductions out of the way. You already know me and met Vasco earlier. That over there is Ewald Christaldi and the two young women at the other end are Jeanne and Asia." Ezekiel pointed around the room and introduced the occupants. Ewald nodded in greeting while Jeanne and Asian waved at her with a smile on their faces. They talked for a bit more before Ezekiel got their attention.

"Let's get the formalities out of the way then." Ezekiel proceeded to take out the Hearts Queen before offering it to Meredith. He already explained the process to her, so she showed no resistance. Internally she was nervous though.

The blinding light shot out like with his earlier reincarnations before it died down again and showed the next angel of his group with eight wings sprouting from her back. Her being as strong is no surprise though since she was already an accomplished magician at her young age, and she is the wielder of one of the Longinus Sacred Gears of the holy series. She herself only knew of the Sacred Gear when Ezekiel told her about it. Both were surprised that it was a Longinus, but Ezekiel still let her choose what she wanted to do.

"Now that that is out of the way, let's talk about our upcoming match. Meredith, you might want to check the changes, but please do so after our meeting. And Jeanne? Please show her around and to the place she will stay at for the foreseeable future." Ezekiel concluded.

"As for the coming battle, I will not participate." Ezekiel spoke and showed information about Diodora on a big screen.

"But I don't doubt that you will do just fine without me. Part of the deal was that only you will participate. They will underestimate you because I will not take part personally and I had no time to use all my Brave Saints. Honestly, Ewald or Vasco could easily win as individuals."

Seeing everyone is following, he continues: "I need you to go easy on the peerage members of him and only incapacitate them. As for Diodora…"

The meeting continued and at the end even Ewald had a small but ruthless grin on his face.

-o-

Since there were a few days left, Ezekiel concentrated on his own training while the others trained by themselves. He had Jeanne and Meredith paired since Jeanne could help her with her Sacred Gear and Asia was learning from Griselda.

Meanwhile Vasco was paired with Ewald to spar against Uriel and Raphael. Since they wanted to avoid sparring with Ezekiel, he proposed they helped his newly reincarnated angels getting used to their powers. Ezekiel would still chuckle at the scene from earlier. A buff man who seemed far younger now after being reincarnated was laughing while just shrugging off most attacks fired at him. Both Uriel and Raphael sported some injuries with cut up clothes. They made the mistake to underestimate Ewald while only concentrating on Vasco and when they tried to defend it was too late as Vasco joined.

Ezekiel happily sent the recording to the remaining seraphs.

After getting rid of the distracting thoughts he shook his head. He now had to focus on his powers to get stronger. Since his father already showed him an application by fusing his aura alone with destructive properties, he thought it was a good idea to start there. Thus, he closed his eyes and felt inside of him.

The first step was to feel his destructive energy and its properties. Afterwards he would have to exude that feeling himself.

Time began to fly, and his usual dominating aura was getting more and more dangerous while he sat in silence. He didn't release any energy, but his presence alone seemed physically threatening. Slowly small cracks began to spread around the room as it began to shake.

Ezekiel opened his eyes again as his presence subsided: 'The fine control is really difficult, but it seems I am on the right track. This training will probably bring my energy onto the next level. Simply understanding destruction can have such an effect on my surroundings.'

-o-

"Somehow I have a bad feeling about this." Sirzechs voiced his opinion.

"Are you worried that Diodora wins and we will make enemies unnecessarily?" Ajuka questioned. He rarely involved himself in actual politics and preferred to spend his time in his laboratory.

"No, Ezekiel didn't strike me as someone to underestimate his opponents. And honestly, it was only because of these elders, that Diodora got away until now." Sirzechs answered.

"Maybe I should clean up that family when I have some more free time." Ajuka mused. He was part of the Astaroth family but didn't have any special affection for them. They seemed too keen on keeping the old ways and to hinder progress. Progress however was something that was very important to Ajuka.

"Are you sure?" Sirzechs asked.

Ajuka nodded with a cold glint in his eyes: "I will just see how this plays out and see if I can use it to put them down a peg. If not, I might have to get a little forceful."

-o-

"Soon you will be mine." A young devil sat inside his room while caressing a picture of a young blonde nun. Contrary to his normally calm smile, his face was twisted in madness. The woman standing behind him let out a small shiver but supressed it before he could notice.

For him there was only one obvious result.