“Thirty-Seven. Here is your new mission objective. You and Number Three will coordinate together to find a method to obtain Asia Argento. Use all available resources to complete this mission.”
Gradually, two red eyes glowed in the darkness.
“By any means necessary.”
.
|DxD|
.
A few minutes passed since the meeting concluded. The elders had reluctantly passed their votes for Ajuka’s Peerage Overhaul System before their departure. Right now, Sirzechs and Serafall were already pulling some strings so that knowledge of the passed vote would be put in circulation. The faster the knowledge spread, the less the impact the loss of three elders would have.
Because of how vital this piece of information was, another hour passed and it was already all over the Devilnet. Rampant calls were being made for the satans to release an official statement regarding this issue.
Ajuka and Aurelia were the most vital part of confirming this rumour and they would be needed in regards to this statement. But while Ajuka was ready, Aurelia had delayed the issue a little.
Currently, she was heading towards the lounge where Igor was. The blonde wanted no part in the subsequent talks and only asked for food to pass the time.
Dakaang~
True to her estimations, Igor was consuming plate after plate of food. He briefly gave her a look before biting into his steak with gusto. He stripped the meat from the bone like a ravenous animal before throwing the remains onto a plate.
“Hey, sister. You need something?”
“...”
Aurelia couldn’t respond immediately. He seemed to be back to his normal self. The small smile he had on his face was genuine and he ate like he didn’t just kill two people and cripple another one.
“Igor…”
She walked over to him and sat down. She wasn’t sure how to begin so she decided to ask about his state of mind.
“Are you…alright?”
“...heh? Why are you…”
He was a bit confused about her sudden question until he realised.
“Ohhhh. Hehehe.”
He almost had the urge to ruffle her hair.
“Lia. Did you expect me to be sad or something?”
“Are you not?”
“Hahahahaha!”
He couldn’t help it. How his sister came to such a conclusion both confused and humoured him. In his honest opinion, who would feel sad about swatting a few flies? Because that is what they were to him. An arrogant statement, but one that was true without room for dispute.
“Sister. Don’t worry so much, alright? Stomping a few miscreants won’t affect my psyche or anything else.”
“...”
This…was he sprouting a god complex? If he could speak like this about the lives of sentient beings, then this didn’t bode well for the future. Too many gods of mythology were killed by those they looked down on.
“But, Igor. You were angry at them just prior.”
“That’s true. I won’t deny it. But…how do I say this? I wasn’t angry at them, but their actions. ”
He casually popped a dumpling into his mouth before he continued.
“Aurelia. Every person I’ve met, everyone who had a high position always had the strength to back up this position they had. When I saw those elders, they held high positions but never trained a day in their life.”
He raised his head in contemplation.
“It’s similar to…hmmm…it’s like seeing a bratty child become CEO or something because of their father’s connections. That’s enough to make anyone grate their teeth. But what made me angry sister, is that they had the liver to pretend to be big bosses in front of their leaders and in front of me. I don’t care for devils in general, but I’ll happily eliminate scum like them. Think of it as me doing the community a service.”
“...”
Amidst the silence, he took another dumpling and began chewing it. Aurelia silently observed him. He truly had no palpations, like all he did was take out the trash.
“Igor. Do you take enjoyment in what you did?”
“ *COUGH!* ”
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The question caught him so off guard that he choked on the dumpling.
“ W-Wha- *cough!* *cough!* *cough!* wh- *cough!* what?!?! Why are you asking that?!”
Was he some scum killer? Did she mean he derived pleasure from spilling blood? Did she not know him at all? Bloody hell! He’s a fighter, not a serial killer in the making goddamnit!
“Igor. I know it may upset you but please answer me truthfully. I promise I won’t judge you.”
It seemed like a redundant question, but she needed to grasp his mental state. Regardless of the benefits she could glean from the devils, she didn’t want him to be darkened prematurely.
“Aurelia. Enjoy? ENJOY? Me? ENJOY? Me? MEEE?”
He looked at her like he just found out she had a little brother down there.
“Sister. ONLY PANSIES enjoy killing weaklings. Do I look like a pansy to you?”
“...”
That raised question and genuine look of surprised disgust made Aurelia laugh softly.
“Fufufu~”
She could rest assured. He was still the same stupid fool who derived enjoyment from hard-fought battles.
“No, Igor. You neither look like, nor you are a pansy.”
“Hmph. Glad we could come to an understanding, sister.”
.
|DxD|
.
Aurelia returned to the three satans at the council with a relieved smile, something Serafall picked up.
“Did you sort out your worries, Aurelia-san?”
“I did, Serafall-san. None of you also have to worry as well.”
Sirzechs chucked when he heard her words.
“You knew?”
“Yes, Sirzechs-san. I know you were worried my lord might harbour racial hatred for devils. But that is not the case.”
“Oh? Please enlighten us, Aurelia-san.”
“Of course. From my understanding, my lord will only recognise family and people of sufficient strength as subjects for conversation and possible relationships. People who lack strength will be ignored by him unless they did what the elders did.”
Ajuka interjected.
“Which is treat him like a lower-caste entity. Interesting. I really would want to have an in-depth talk with Dimori-sa-”
“Mouuu! We’re wasting time here. Let’s go already!”
Serafall evidently couldn’t take it anymore. Her device was being pinged multiple times over with messages from various media sources. Why they called her instead of Sirzechs, she didn’t know. What she knew was that they were in the golden hour of finally crushing the Old Satan Faction’s chances of retaliation
But instead of striking, they were WASTING TIME TALKI-
“Alright, alright, Serafall. Let’s depart.”
Sirzechs felt he had to placate the mascot of their group before she froze everything out of rage.
.
|DxD|
.
Turmoil. There was absolute turmoil in the Underworld. Only five minutes had passed since the official broadcast ended but the streets were flooded with jubilant cheers from numerous devils.
From the capital city to the smallest town, the streets were completely clogged with devils celebrating the new announcement that was just released. There were so many devils that one would simply not believe they had been on the verge of extinction a few centuries prior.
If the streets were chaotic, then the forums had completely descended into insanity. User after user flooded the comment section under the official video. Each social media company uploaded the video and each post had millions upon millions of views.
Anyone who tried to speak against such a change was immediately swallowed by so many curses that they couldn’t raise their heads. Videos that tried to dissuade the public from believing in the lies of the satans were reported so many times that the video had to be taken down.
The people on the streets were even worse. Anyone who said the satans were lying was immediately drowned under the spit of the populace. Which of them wasn’t an old devil? They were not oblivious to the corruption of the upper echelons. They just couldn’t do anything about it so they chose to ignore it.
But what the Four Satans were doing today was proof that somehow some way, they managed to push forward a policy that would finally benefit the common populace. They were commoners, not retards.
If this policy went through, the amount of enemies they’d have in the human world would decrease. Landing contracts with humans would become easier, meaning that as time passes, hopes of ranking up would no longer be a dream.
So no matter what was said, no matter what ‘professional’ tried to disprove this theory, they were all cursed to the point that their faces turned ashen. Those ‘certified professionals’ and ‘independent analysts’ had them, their fathers, their grandfathers, and their ancestors cursed to the point that they deleted their accounts and hid from the public.
The pressure for this law to be passed was high. No matter how much a clan head disliked it, they had to vote ‘yes’ in the next upcoming meeting. They could look down on the commoners and reincarnated devils all they want, but they could never underestimate public fury.
It was a well-struck blow from the Four Satans. Instead of announcing the death of three elders and one crippled by their alliance member, they released this distasteful policy that now had to be voted into law.
Very few clan heads were satisfied with this policy. The benefits were obvious, but their interests would be harmed. The amount of power they would lose should this policy come into effect was incalculable.
Their ability to trade reincarnated devils would be abolished, diminishing their ability to foster political relations and extend their outreach. Many nefarious deeds that they did would be exposed to the entire world.
No. This policy could not pass through. Under no circumstances could it pass through. But they couldn’t see any way to prevent it. If such a policy passed, there is no doubt that balance would be disrupted.
One person who did not want to see such a balance disrupted was Zekram Bael. The Bael Progenitor was in his private mansion that overlooked the Underworld. He reclined comfortably on his chair while a video of the announcement Ajuka made played on repeat.
In the dark room, the screen was the only source of light.
“An intriguing turn of events…and an unwelcome one.”
For centuries, he had been the centre-hold that sought to manage the balance between the Old Satan Faction and the New Satan Faction. If Sirzechs and his friends managed to pass this policy through, then balance would be broken and he would be forced to align his Great King Faction with Sirzechs’s faction.
“Hmmm…”
As a juggler who controlled the political landscape of the Underworld for so long, he knew that only a bigger wave could cancel out the firestorm that had been ignited. It would need to be an event that would completely turn the topic from the Peerage Overhaul Policy and simultaneously, cancel it out.
“I seem to recall that the Naberius have two Nekomata in their employ?”
It was a very old report he received from his descendant, Zelefam. He initially dismissed the issue as something inconsequential, but he realised that if everything was planned well, he could get the policy to be immediately overturned.
“Hmmm. Perhaps it will work.”
It was a daring thought he had, one that might sour relations with multiple factions and pantheons, but that could be recovered with time.
“Yes. It is a gamble, but one that might work if given the time to flourish.”
Blood would be spilt, but balance would be kept.
.
AN
.
Zekram bears his fangs. I believe some of us know where this is going and I sincerely wish the outcome won’t be what I think it will be. Hopefully this old schemer will fumble somewhere.