POV: Le Fay
I have fucked up. Monumentally.
"Cao Cao, you better have something good to interrupt me from my research," Daedalus shouted boisterously as he entered the chamber, his voice echoing against the high stone walls while his sandals clicked sharply against the polished floor, already crowded with the leaders of the Hero Faction, each seated around the massive oval table that dominated the room.
Seated there were figures whose mere names alone kept gods confined to their divine kingdoms and made ancient beings hesitate before acting; Cao Cao, the Twilight Spear of Heaven and wielder of the True Longinus; Georg Faust, Gatekeeper of Oblivion and bearer of Dimension Lost; Arthur Pendragon, her brother, hailed as the Once and Future King; Samson, the Strength of God; Hannibal Barca, Rome's Nightmare; and Leonardo, the World Forger of Nightmares and wielder of Annihilation Maker.
Le Fay studied the man who had just entered. Daedalus was short, with unkempt brown hair and clothes that looked as though they had survived at least one explosion that morning. There were faint scorch marks along one sleeve, and a smudge of soot near his jaw that he had not noticed.
His sharp eyes moved quickly, assessing everyone in the room with the detached focus of someone who saw people as variables in an equation. This disheveled man was a legend among legends, known as the Labyrinth Maker, the Architect, and one of the greatest engineers in human history.
The Hero Faction was divided into seven orders, each led by one of the original seven heroes who formed what was known as the Heptarchy of the Oath. After the vampire massacre incident caused by Leonardo and Cao Cao, it had been unanimously agreed that no operation of that scale would ever be undertaken again without the explicit approval of the majority.
Which was precisely why they had all been summoned today by Cao Cao to discuss the recent and deeply unsettling events.
They had all been waiting for Daedalus, leader of the Order of the Golden Labyrinth, who was infamous for becoming so consumed by his work that entire wars could begin and end before he noticed.
"What have you been working on that has made you so short tempered?" Samson asked, a soft and easy smile on his lips that did little to lessen the sheer pressure of his presence.
Samson was the complete opposite of Daedalus in presence and appearance. Clean shaven, clear eyed, and built with a physique that seemed sculpted by divine hands, he stood well over seven feet tall and carried himself with relaxed confidence even while seated.
When clad in his golden armor, he resembled a god of war descended to earth, his presence alone heavy enough to make even divine beings tread carefully.
The Lion Sunderer was a warrior whose strength was spoken of in the same breath as natural disasters.
"No doubt his mad pursuit of defeating death," Arthur said with a faint chuckle.
"I assure you, there is nothing mad about that," Daedalus replied evenly as he took his seat, folding his hands together with deliberate calm. "All things that are created can be replicated again and again, even life itself. What is death if not another obstacle to overcome in the pursuit of eternity? A wall that only exists until the correct angle of perception reveals the path around it."
"Perception is a tool that's pointed on both ends," Hannibal Barca said, his voice carrying a strange melancholy as his dark eyes stared into some distant memory. "There are times when the past must remain buried, my friend, when clinging to what once was only ensures that nothing new can truly grow."
"I have no interest in hearing lectures about impossible ambitions from you, Hannibal Barca," Daedalus sneered. "How is my goal any more futile than waging an unwinnable war against Rome itself?"
Hannibal chuckled softly. "For one thing, my goal was never entirely impossible. There is no conceivable path by which you can succeed in bringing back your son."
"I shall either find a way or make one," Daedalus shot back without hesitation.
Hannibal laughed, the sound laced with nostalgia as he heard his own long-ago words echoed back at him.
Le Fay watched the exchange with conflicted thoughts. Daedalus was whispered to be mad even within his own order, and his obsession with bringing Icarus back from death was both legendary and tragic.
By all natural laws, Icarus should have long since passed through the cycle of reincarnation, his soul reborn into some new life with no memory of who he once was. She could not truly believe that it was possible to retrieve someone from that river of souls, and yet the world had recently begun to treat the impossible like a commodity.
The relationship between hero descendants, hero spirit inheritors, and hero reincarnations was a strange and complicated matter that few people truly understood, and it was one of those topics that existed on the edges of both legend and reality.
Most members of the Hero Faction were born from the bloodlines of figures whose names had echoed through history, their lineage marked by deeds and ambitions that had shaped entire nations, and the weight of that legacy was carried unconsciously in the way they moved through the world, the way they spoke, the subtle authority that seemed to cling to them. Cao Cao, Le Fay herself, and her brother Arthur were such examples.
There were hero spirit inheritors, individuals chosen or born with the capacity to take on the essence of these legendary figures, to channel their a fragmented of their strength, their strategy, their insight, and in some cases even their presence lingered like a shadow within their mind, guiding their actions in moments of crisis or opportunity, and yet the inheritor was never the hero themselves.
Thus they are called those who inherit the spirit of heroes, heracles and Persus are one such example.
Then there were the reincarnations, rare phenomena in which the soul of a hero, having never found complete rest, returned in a new form, unaware of its past life at first but gradually awakening to the memories and instincts that had defined them, their talents surfacing in ways that startled even themselves, the emotion and feeling they had in the past even if their memory is not entirely complete.
Daedalus was the only confirmed case she personally knew. He did not remember the full details of his past life, yet his love for his son Icarus had survived death itself, burning so fiercely that it drove every experiment and every sleepless night, all in pursuit of reversing the death of his son.
Cao Cao cleared his throat before Hannibal could reply. "Sirzechs Lucifer is dead, and Ajuka Beelzebub has been sealed."
The room fell into absolute silence. Le Fay watched shock ripple across every face present.
"How?" Daedalus asked at last, recovering enough to speak. "Both were classified as singularity-level threats, beings we agreed must never be confronted without all of us present, and only under the most dire circumstances."
"Yes, that's correct," Cao Cao replied calmly.
"Then what happened?" Samson asked, his expression hardening. "Which pantheon possessed both the power and the motive to strike them down when even we hesitated?"
"It was no pantheon," Arthur interrupted evenly. "Nor was it any organization of renown. No, my friends, it was accomplished through the cunning and will of a single individual, Haruki Yamashiro."
"Surely you jest?" Samson said, his voice carrying a mix of awe and sharp alertness, and from the way his posture stiffened Le Fay could tell he was already recalculating the threat level in his mind, because if a single individual was capable of accomplishing something like this, then that person had to be dangerous on a scale none of them could afford to ignore.
"Haruki… hmm. Where have I heard that name before?" Leonardo asked lazily, seemingly unbothered by the revelation as he sucked on his lollipop with childlike focus, his legs swinging slightly beneath the table.
Le Fay had always found the wielder of Annihilation Maker unsettling in a way she could never properly put into words. He was younger than her, small and almost delicate in appearance, yet he possessed the power to drag creatures born of nightmares into reality, and he wielded it with the detached mindset of someone who saw morality as a simple switch that could be flipped on or off depending on convenience.
"I believe he's the anomaly," Hannibal Barca said, his expression serious now. "The boy who wields both holy and demonic powers."
Everyone at the table was used to staying informed about anything that might shift the balance of the world. Information was as valuable to them as any weapon, and being unaware was considered a flaw unworthy of leadership, with the single exception of Leonardo who often ignored anything that did not entertain him personally.
"I had been greatly interested in examining him," Daedalus said in a distant, almost dreamy tone that did nothing to hide the clinical curiosity behind it. "He's a walking contradiction whose body should have torn itself apart long ago under the strain of incompatible forces, yet he continues to function. There must be a unifying principle that stabilizes him, and if I could isolate that variable I might gain valuable insight into the mechanics of paradoxical existence."
"How did he do it?" Hannibal asked sternly, pulling the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"According to the information we received," Cao Cao began, and proceeded to relay what the newly declared King of Hell, Rizevim Livan Lucifer, had revealed to the Underworld in his public address.
He explained how Haruki had manipulated events from the shadows, creating chaos throughout the underworld as a smokescreen for his true objective, how he had resurrected the Evil Dragons and unleashed them upon Sirzechs Lucifer, ultimately leading to Sirzechs's death, and how Ajuka Beelzebub had later been seen battling Thor of the Aesir alongside an unknown figure, a clash that ended with Ajuka's complete disappearance.
"Resurrected the Evil Dragons, you say?" Daedalus cut in immediately, ignoring the wider implications as his mind locked onto the single detail that interested him. "What ritual did he use? What method did he employ?"
"He also destroyed Agreas Island during his ascension to godhood," Cao Cao added, deliberately ignoring Daedalus's questions.
The room fell into absolute silence once more, the sheer absurdity of the statement pressing down on everyone present. Devils had always been a thorn in the Hero Faction's side, with the peerage system standing as one of the greatest crimes against humanity according to the Hero Code, and it remained one of their deepest frustrations was their inability to dismantle it without igniting a war that could consume the human world.
"This is splendid!" Samson exclaimed suddenly, his face lighting up with genuine excitement. "With the special material destroyed, the devils will have no way to produce their accursed Evil Pieces. We must celebrate this victory and send an invitation to Haruki Yamashiro at once. He has brought humanity one step closer to total freedom!"
Samson was the only one among the original seven who harbored no inherent hatred toward the supernatural. To him, the only thing that mattered was ensuring humanity's safety from forces beyond their understanding, and he preferred diplomacy and cooperation over the outright war the others seemed to crave, a stance that frequently put him at odds with Cao Cao and Leonardo in particular.
"Tough fucking luck getting him to talk to you without him trying to kill you on sight," Arthur said irritably, which earned him a confused look from Daedalus.
"Why did he do it?" Hannibal asked, genuinely curious. "He is a reincarnated devil, is he not? Why would he turn against his own kind?"
"Why don't we ask our special guest?" Georg spoke for the first time, his calm voice cutting through the tension. He had always preferred listening over speaking and only opened his mouth when he deemed it absolutely necessary. "She knows him better than any of us."
Le Fay felt every gaze in the room turn toward her at once, and the weight of their attention pressed down hard enough to make her swallow before she could stop herself.
This was the real reason she had been called to a meeting reserved for the seven leaders, despite not holding a seat among them.
"What say you, Le Fay?" Samson asked directly, his expression open and hopeful. "Why would this ….Haruki scheme against his own kind?"
She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves before speaking. "For one thing, he does not consider himself one of them, and I believe he acted for the sake of humanity."
Several eyes narrowed, but no one interrupted her. "Ever since I intervened and stopped Cao Cao from killing him, I realized he values his humanity and personal freedom far more than any loyalty to the devils. He reacted strongly to the existence of the Evil Piece system and saw it as something unforgivable. That's why I believe he destroyed Agreas Island, to make sure no human could ever be turned into a devil against their will again."
She based that conclusion on everything she had observed about him. Haruki possessed a stubborn sense of morality and a deep attachment to the few people he cared about, which was exactly why she had been able to manipulate him before by threatening his sister.
His pride showed in every word he spoke and every choice he made, and he refused to bow to anyone unless he was forced into a corner with something he could not abandon.
She had contacted Lavinia before coming here in an attempt to piece together Haruki's motivations, only to learn that Lavinia herself had not seen him since his stunt in the underworld, though everything she said had only reinforced Le Fay's conclusions about the kind of man he was.
That was when she fully understood how badly she had miscalculated. She once believed she could guide him wherever she wished and use him as a tool to save her brother, yet that illusion shattered the moment he returned from the vampire world carrying power that rivaled ultimate class beings.
His growth made no sense under any known system. He had no Longinus level sacred gear and no confirmed connection to a legendary figure that could explain such rapid advancement, and even the original seven had not risen that quickly in their prime.
Now he had accomplished something even more unthinkable by destroying one of the most important strongholds in Hell and removing two super devils whose power stood near the top of the world's hierarchy.
It was only a matter of time before he came for the Hero Faction, before he passed judgment on them as he had on every other power that stood in his way.
There must be a way, she thought. Haruki is still a reasonable person, and I still hold one piece that can keep his hand from falling on us.
She hated the idea of using innocent people as leverage for her own ends, yet this was her brother's life on the line, and she would do anything to save him, even if that meant blackmailing the devil.
"An optimistic interpretation, as always, Le Fay," Cao Cao said mockingly. "Was his ascension to godhood also part of some noble plan to save humanity, or was that simply a convenient coincidence?"
She stayed silent, because she knew from long experience that anything she said would simply be twisted to support the conclusion he had already reached.
Cao Cao had already decided that Haruki was an enemy, and every action Haruki took from now on would only reinforce that belief in his eyes.
You will be the death of us all, you moron, she cursed inwardly. As she had feared, she could not reveal her plan to bargain for Haruki's clemency, because Cao Cao would never allow it, blinded as he was by pride and obsession.
She could hardly fault him entirely, since she herself had once been just as blind.
"Speak, Le Fay," Cao Cao demanded. "Now that I think about it, you were the one who begged me to spare his life. I told you it was foolish to leave potential enemies alive, because they always return to haunt you. What were your words back then?"
"That he's a mere pawn in the grand scheme of things," she repeated quietly, echoing her past self. "All we need to do is place him on a board of our own making and use him to serve our agenda."
The arrogance of her past self made her stomach twist, because if she had allowed Cao Cao to kill Haruki back then, her brother might never have been dragged into something far worse than the danger she had tried to save him from.
"I warned you it would be too risky," Cao Cao said, his voice cold with vindication. "I warned you he would turn against us. Well I have been proven a prophet. Now the piece you called a pawn stands as a king in his own right, and sooner or later he will come to settle every score he believes we owe him."
He is scared, Le Fay realized, and the understanding settled heavily in her chest while she watched Cao Cao from across the table. Beneath the confident posture and cutting tone she could see it clearly, a deep and very human fear that he tried so hard to bury.
Cao Cao knew that Haruki Yamashiro had many reasons to come for him, from the kidnapping of his sister to the deaths of people Haruki believed had been innocent in the vampire world, and that knowledge clung to him like a shadow he could not shake.
"It almost makes me wonder if you were hoping for something like this," Cao Cao said, his eyes fixed on her with open loathing.
"What are you accusing my sister of, Cao Cao?" Arthur said at once, his voice losing its usual calm warmth and turning sharp with warning.
"Oh, nothing at all, Arthur," Cao Cao replied evenly, meeting Arthur's gaze without flinching. "I'm merely remarking on how convenient the timing of all this seems."
"Keep your insinuations to yourself," Arthur snapped. "I will not tolerate unfounded accusations against my sister. You forget that it was her foresight that finally allowed us to breach the vampire domain in the first place."
Le Fay smiled faintly at her brother's words, warmth briefly easing the tight knot in her chest.
"Enough," Samson said sternly, his deep voice cutting through the tension. "You are bickering like children, and it's unbecoming of men of your stature. We gain nothing by pointing fingers at one another when there is far more at stake than personal grudges. Let us return to the matter at hand."
Tension still lingered between Arthur and Cao Cao, and the issue between them was far from settled, yet Samson's mighty voice and presence were enough to force the argument to pause.
"You believe he destroyed Agreas Island to prevent future victims of the Evil Pieces?" Daedalus asked, his gaze fixed on her with an unsettling intensity.
"In my past dealings with him," Le Fay said carefully, choosing each word with caution, "he showed a very strong sense of right and wrong. It wouldn't surprise me if part of his motivation was to stop the continued production of Evil Pieces."
"Part of it?" Leonardo asked lazily, stifling a yawn. "And what else could possibly drive him to something so excessive?"
"His sister," Daedalus answered before she could speak, his voice thoughtful in a way that showed he understood how far a person would go for family. "Shortly after the purification of the parasites, you explained that you forced him to cooperate by promising his sister's safety, correct?"
She nodded. The term "purification of parasites" still made her uneasy, and she often wondered whether the dehumanization was born of contempt or if it simply made their consciences quieter by turning their victims into something easier to erase.
"Then it stands to reason that he would hold a grudge against us," Hannibal said evenly.
"That much is obvious," Georg said lightly. "We did take his sister, and regardless of our justification he is unlikely to accept that we were helping her fulfill her true destiny. Moral arguments aside, he is a devil, and Hikaru belongs with us, her people. If he resents us for this, then he proves himself no better than the creature he is. A devil cannot understand self sacrifice for the sake of others, nor our duty."
Several nodded in agreement, though Daedalus remained silent.
"How strong is he now, after his ascension?" Hannibal asked, his mind clearly already turning toward strategy.
"The entire spiritual world trembled at the moment of his ascension," Arthur answered, his usual confidence replaced by something more cautious. "You didn't feel it because you were inside our hidden dimension, yet I was present in the spiritual realm at the time and the scale of it was beyond anything I have witnessed before. I could feel the attention of multiple godkings turning toward the Underworld in that instant."
"Even in the human world there were disturbances," Georg said evenly. "There were minor earthquakes, brief surges in sea levels, and localized floods that occurred simultaneously across different regions. None of it reached a catastrophic level, yet the timing makes the connection obvious."
"To affect the human world all the way from the underworld is impressive," Samson said, with genuine admiration in his voice. "The question is whether it was a one-time phenomenon caused by the circumstances of his birth or something he can do again at will."
"Either way," Arthur said, rubbing his chin as he looked around the table, "we're dealing with something comfortably above satan-class. We must prepare for him."
"Do we?" Samson countered calmly. "So far, all he has done is remove the vampires and accomplish what none of us managed to do, or perhaps what we were too afraid to attempt. Destroying Agreas Island, regardless of his motive, places him firmly among our allies, or at worst a neutral party."
"And do you believe telling him that will lessen his hatred for us?" Cao Cao shot back. "If he had no issue sowing chaos among his own kind, what do you think he will do to those he believes wronged him? He is a manipulative schemer who has shown no hesitation in killing anyone who stands in his way. His actions in the vampire world and in Hell prove that beyond doubt."
Le Fay could not help but find the irony almost painful, since Cao Cao was condemning Haruki for the very actions he himself would have taken without hesitation. He was desperate to justify his hatred, blind to how alike they truly were.
"The way I see it, he only wants his sister," Samson said without hesitation. "Whom you kidnapped against his will. Returning her to him would give him far less reason to oppose us."
A suffocating wave of killing intent suddenly filled the room, so heavy that Le Fay's breath caught in her throat and cold fear ran through her limbs. Before it could crush her completely, a warm and steady aura wrapped around her like a shield.
Arthur had stepped slightly closer without anyone noticing, his power forming a barrier between her and Cao Cao's rage.
The sheer presence of beings at the level of Satan class was overwhelming up close, and in moments like this it was easy to remember how fragile most lives were in comparison.
"Hikaru is not an object to be bartered or sacrificed on a whim," Cao Cao said sharply, his eyes narrowing with controlled fury. "We are the heroes of humanity, its protectors and its saviors. We do not negotiate with bullies or creatures of the dark, no matter how seemingly benevolent they may appear. We will not trade the life of one of our own to appease monsters, for to do so would make us no better than those we claim to oppose. Have you forgotten our oath, Samson?"
Several others looked at Samson with narrowed eyes, because the code of the Hero Faction was clear on this point. Humans were never to be used as currency in negotiations.
Le Fay could almost imagine Haruki laughing if he heard this conversation, his voice filled with scorn as he pointed out their contradictions and accused them of slaughtering their own while convincing themselves they were acting as saviors, twisting every action into a noble cause to avoid facing the ugliness of it.
Yet he would never understand, could never accept, that the husks created by vampires were weapons designed to strip humanity of its dignity and reduce it to nothing more than livestock for the supernatural. She didn't like what Cao Cao had done, but she understood why he believed it necessary.
"Be they god or devil, angel or beast," Samson recited solemnly, each word spoken with unwavering conviction.
Le Fay could only hope that Haruki's love for his sister outweighed his hatred for the Hero Faction, because if it did not, then her plan, and perhaps all of them, were already doomed.
…
POV: Penemue
"Would now be the time to say 'I told you so'?" Penemue asked dryly, her eyes resting on Azazel, who responded by raising his middle finger with the sulky expression of a scolded child rather than the Governor General of the Grigori.
"I should have just had him killed back then. Damn you, Sirzechs," Azazel muttered while uncorking his second bottle of sake within the hour, his fingers clumsy from irritation rather than drink, his voice slipping into a constant stream of complaints about how everything would be fine if he had been a little less soft hearted.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," Shemhazai said with open exasperation, folding his arms across his chest while staring at the fallen governor. "Think about the rest of the Grigori. Your carelessness may have put all of us in danger."
"Will thinking about them improve the quality of my self-pity?" Azazel shot back while taking a long drink straight from the bottle, his golden eyes dull with frustration.
"You wouldn't be in this situation," Penemue said in a calm and measured tone, watching him closely, "if you had not dismissed the boy as boring simply because he didn't possess a Sacred Gear."
"Okay, I get it already," Azazel cried in exaggerated despair, throwing his free hand into the air. "It's all my fault. Yes, let's put every bit of blame on poor old Azazel. Is this what that old man meant when he named me the scapegoat?"
Penemue released a slow breath through her nose, unable to stop the familiar wave of irritation that came whenever Azazel hid behind theatrics, his current behavior clashing sharply with the reputation he carried across Heaven, Hell, and Earth as the most cunning and devious of the fallen angels.
"What do we do now?" Shemhazai asked, his voice losing its earlier sharpness and settling into something firm and serious, the weight of leadership pressing down on the room.
"I don't know," Azazel replied, and the lack of humor in his voice drew both their eyes to him. "That's what scares me. I can't foresee what happens next and I can't predict his next move. Haruki keeps trampling over logic and common sense in ways that make no pattern. I try to map his decisions in my head and every path ends in contradictions. I can't even picture the shape of his next step."
Penemue studied his face and saw the strain he tried to keep buried beneath his casual tone, because Azazel was a being who thrived on understanding others, who prided himself on standing two steps ahead through insight and manipulation, and now he stood in unfamiliar territory where his usual advantages meant nothing.
"What did Sirzechs say to you back then that changed your mind back then?" Penemue asked, genuine curiosity entering her voice. "What did the letter say?"
She still struggled to accept that the great Lucifer was gone, since she had always considered him a monster in the truest sense of the word, a being too powerful to fall by any ordinary means.
Though, when she considered her father, who had seemed equally untouchable and powerful, she realized that even the greatest could fall.
"He wanted to use Haruki as proof that beings of light and darkness could truly coexist," Azazel said with a long exhale. "A boy who could wield holy power and demonic power without losing his sanity, and who spoke about improving the lives of reincarnated devils without hatred in his heart. Sirzechs called him a miracle delivered at the perfect time. He had countless plans, plans to present him as a symbol, to use him as a catalyst for change across all factions. None of that matters now. Whatever Sirzechs intended died with him. As humans say, man plans and God laughs."
Penemue caught the faint heaviness in his voice and found herself surprised by the note of grief that slipped through despite his attempt to sound detached.
"You were close to Sirzechs," she said more softly, recalling the countless secret talks and schemes the two of them had shared in hopes of building a lasting peace between the three great factions.
"I was," Azazel admitted. "I have been close to many like him and they all ended up dead. It's a never ending tragedy. Sirzechs was one of the rare few who believed the next generation could choose something better than endless war. Oh well…"
His gaze drifted toward nothing in particular, melancholy settling into his beautiful eyes in a way that made him look far older than his carefree manner ever suggested. "To think Haruki would go that far. What is he even trying to achieve? Why did he orchestrate Sirzechs' death?"
"Considering what Sirzechs said about him," Shemhazai replied coolly, "he may have destroyed Agreas to prevent the future production of Evil Pieces. I can admire the ruthlessness of that."
The idea itself had never been unthinkable. Destroying Agreas Island had appeared in countless strategic discussions across many factions, including the fallen, because anyone with basic sense understood that eliminating the enemy's source of soldiers weakened them permanently. The problem had never been the logic.
The problem had always been Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub, since no leader wanted to gamble their entire faction against those two monsters when the alternative path of turning devils into allies existed.
"It's a brilliant move," Azazel admitted, rubbing his temple with his free hand. "Improving the lives of reincarnated devils while also cutting off the creation of more reincarnated devils looks perfect on paper. I never treated it as a real option because it felt impossible to execute. Still, something refuses to sit neatly with the rest of Haruki's actions."
"Why did he leave the Underworld in the hands of Rizevim?" Shemhazai voiced the question that had been circling all their thoughts.
"I can understand the destruction of Agreas," Azazel said slowly, his tone thoughtful now. "I can understand, to a point, removing Ajuka, since as long as Ajuka lived there would always be the possibility of another method to create Evil Pieces. I can even stretch my understanding far enough to see why Sirzechs had to die from Haruki's perspective, since Sirzechs could have been used by the noble houses to suppress any rebellion and block meaningful reform. After achieving all that, leaving Rizevim in charge makes no sense. Rizevim is the worst possible ruler if the goal is freedom for reincarnated devils."
Azazel rose from his seat and began pacing across the room in slow restless steps, one hand still holding the sake bottle, the other buried in his coat pocket, a habit he always slipped into during deep thought.
"With his power, he could have taken the throne of Hell himself and enforced whatever changes he supposedly wanted," Azazel continued. "Everything he has done, from the fall of the vampires to the chaos in the Underworld, shows the mind of someone who plans far ahead. He would have considered the risk of a tyrant seizing power in the aftermath. That leaves us with only two possibilities…."
The revelation that Haruki Yamashiro had been the architect behind the extinction of the vampires had shaken every corner of the supernatural world, and Penemue still found it difficult to reconcile that reality with the image of a boy who had seemed barely old enough to stand on his own feet.
Time and time again, humanity continued to astonish her with the sheer depth of its potential.
"Either he is working with the son of Lucifer," she said, offering the conclusion she had reached after long consideration.
"Or he has some other objective than what we have assumed," Shemhazai added calmly, his eyes tracing the shadows in the room as if reading meaning into every corner.
"From all I know about him," Azazel began, voice low and controlled but threaded with unease, "I don't believe he would willingly align with Rizevim. It doesn't fit the nature of someone who killed Raynare and her followers for a nun he did not even know. So let us assume he has a different plan, and that his ascension to godhood is merely a component of this grand plan. What could he possibly be planning?"
"We can only speculate," Penemue replied, keeping her tone even. "And like you said, Haruki is too unpredictable for any of us to say with certainty what he intends. I see no reason why he would infiltrate the vampires and break their barrier, thereby dooming the entire vampire race to extinction. Yet he did. We could speculate endlessly about his reasons, but we need to focus on matters requiring immediate attention."
"The last time I underestimated Haruki Yamashiro," Azazel said with self-deprecating laughter that did not hide the tension in his shoulders, "he orchestrated the extinction of an entire race and the death of godlike beings. I don't intend to repeat that mistake. We must discover everything about him and his intentions. Who can say we're not already on the next list of factions he will destroy?"
Penemue could imagine the same thought reverberating across every pantheon. Haruki had unsettled the supernatural world beyond measure, leaving every faction terrified of what his next move might be and which of them would fall first.
"I understand," she said, her voice calm though her mind raced. "But he has vanished ever since his ascension. And Rizevim has seized control of Hell. I shouldn't have to spell out how catastrophic that is."
Azazel exhaled a long, sharp sigh. "The problems just keep piling up. Why did that bastard Rizevim suddenly decide to claim the throne at this moment of all times? He never cared about ruling before."
She had wondered that herself, and she knew that many who understood the son of Lucifer shared her confusion.
"What do we do against him?" Shemhazai asked, turning to Azazel with measured concern.
"What else but discreetly assist the rebels," Azazel said, voice steady, as though the weight of the world did not trouble him. "We can't let Rizevim rule unopposed. I would rather not involve the Grigori directly in the conflict of the devils, but we will support the rebels in secret, just as we did during the last civil war."
"Very well, I will get in contact with Fabium and see how we can help," she said, already forming plans in her mind.
"He likely also has access to the Sephiroth Graal," Azazel added almost as an afterthought, "or at least a method to resurrect the dead. He probably used it to bring back the evil dragons. And Cain is working with him for reasons that remain unknown."
"Can we even defeat Haruki Yamashiro if he comes after us?" she asked, the fear that had spread across the Grigori and the supernatural world finally surfacing in her voice.
"No way in hell," Azazel said without hesitation, tone darkened with awe and warning. "The sheer power he commands is terrifying. He's a unique existence. There has never been a being like him, nor will there ever be again. We know how powerful the pinnacle of devils are, and he …is their god. He is to devils what Yahweh is to angels. We would need to unite all three factions, and even then we would only have a sliver of a chance to stand against him."
"The angels could perhaps be persuaded to work with us if given sufficient reason, but the devils will never oppose their newborn god," Shemhazai analyzed, folding his arms.
"We can only hope we don't attract his attention and work to gather alliances from other pantheons secretly," Penemue said, her voice carrying the gravity of the situation. "Most of the other pantheons are undoubtedly as concerned as we are," and no one disagreed.
"Damn it," Azazel muttered, frustration finally spilling over into raw anger. "Centuries of careful work, of diplomacy, all for the sake of peace and prosperity, and just when things were beginning to look up… you had to die, Sirzechs!"
Penemue could not help but feel a strange admiration for the boy who had forced Azazel to show genuine emotion for the first time in over a millennium. Azazel had become indifferent to most things, his brilliance dulled by age and the weight of centuries, yet Haruki had provoked him fully.
Humans were interesting, she thought.
If the world were a song, Penemue thought, composed of the notes sung by all intelligent beings across the cosmos, humans had been a wrong note, a discordant chord that marred the perfect harmony of creation. Theirs was an error, a jarring sound that threatened the melody, small and fragile, yet present.
Humans were made in the image of God, and like any instrument capable of creating music, they had the potential to enrich the song despite their flaws, as her father had told her long ago, before her wings had darkened, back when she had basked in his glory. She had never understood it then.
As a watcher and protector, she had observed the creatures of clay and earth and found them ugly, unworthy of her father's love, and wholly incapable of reflecting his greatness. How could beings so quick to fall to temptation, so consumed by weakness and pettiness, ever be made in the image of a perfect God?
Unlike her fellow cadres, Penemue had not loved humanity, nor did she crave their worship. She had tempted them, taught them vanity and warcraft alongside her brothers, hoping to prove her father wrong, to show that humans were undeserving of his love or protection, and history had seemed to confirm her judgments.
But now, faced with Haruki and the consequences of his actions, she could not help but reconsider. Perhaps the enrichment of the song did not refer to good or evil deeds, but simply to the inherent potential of beings made in God's image.
Perhaps every voice, every note, even the flawed, could contribute to a greater harmony beyond her comprehension, and perhaps her father had always been right.
AN: Yeah, this interlude ended up being longer than I had expected, so there will be a second interlude in the next chapter to show the other factions. I felt that since this was a full introduction of the Hero Faction, it was better to show their personalities and who they are, which made it end up much longer than a typical interlude.
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