"Face-to-face?"
Elias asked.
"Where is he?"
"He is waiting for us at a secure location not too far from here,"
Baraqiel said.
"He wants to keep this quiet."
"I'm coming too!"
A cheerful voice called out from the front door.
Everyone looked over as Dee stepped out onto the porch.
She had finished watching her television show and was currently snacking on a bag of potato chips.
She walked right up to Elias and grabbed his arm, looking at Baraqiel with a bright, stubborn smile.
"If Eli is going to meet the big boss of the Fallen Angels, I am going with him,"
Dee declared.
"I want to see what this Azazel guy is like."
Elias just chuckled and patted her hand. He never minded having Dee around.
"Is that okay?"
Baraqiel looked at the teenage boy and the pale, happy girl holding his arm.
For a second, Baraqiel didn't say anything.
Then, the serious, stern look on his face broke.
He covered his mouth with his hand and let out a quiet, amused snort.
He actually smirked.
"What is so funny?"
Elias asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing,"
Baraqiel said quickly, trying to hide his smile.
"I am just... thinking about how Azazel is going to react when he finally sees you two in real life."
Baraqiel knew a secret about his boss.
Azazel was a brilliant inventor and a powerful leader, but he was also a massive nerd.
Azazel had read the exact same American comic book that Dee and Rias loved.
In fact, Azazel was a huge fanboy of the cosmic entity "Elias" and the Goddess of Death.
Baraqiel remembered how Azazel used to rave about the comic.
Azazel absolutely idolized Elias's character.
He thought Elias was the coolest guy in the multiverse because he had a massive family full of incredibly powerful, dangerous, and beautiful women—absolute "baddies."
Azazel loved beautiful women himself, but he openly admitted that he would never dare stick his nose—or anything else—into crazy and powerful women.
He valued his own life way too much to date terrifying, overpowered women.
But he deeply respected Elias for actually doing it and surviving.
Knowing that Azazel was about to meet his literal comic book idols in the flesh made Baraqiel want to laugh out loud.
Azazel was probably going to lose his mind.
"Yes, Dee can come,"
Baraqiel said, finally getting his smirk under control.
"In fact, I think Azazel would be extremely disappointed if she didn't."
Elias looked at Baraqiel with a slightly suspicious frown.
"Okay... lead the way."
Elias turned to Asia, who was still standing near Xenovia on the grass.
"Asia, stay here,"
Elias told her gently.
"And Xenovia, since you are her knight now, keep an eye on things while I am gone. Don't let anyone bother them."
Xenovia stood up straight and gave him a sharp, serious salute.
"You can count on me!"
Xenovia promised proudly.
"I will protect the Saintess with my life!"
Elias smiled. He grabbed his confiscated holy sword, threw it over to her before he went with Baraqiel.
Baraqiel led Elias and Dee to a quiet, empty warehouse near the edge of town.
It looked dark and abandoned from the outside, but inside, it was set up like a small, comfortable lounge.
Sitting on a leather couch was a man with black hair and bright golden bangs.
He wore a simple jacket and had a relaxed, lazy posture. This was Azazel, the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels.
"Finally,"
Azazel sighed, standing up from the couch.
"You took your time, Baraqiel."
Azazel turned his eyes to Elias. He blinked a few times, tilting his head. He rubbed his chin in deep thought.
"Huh,"
Azazel muttered.
"You are Elias, right? You look... really familiar. And your name… Have we met before?"
In the comic books that Azazel loved, Elias was drawn as an older, fully grown man with a sharper face.
Because Elias was still a teenager right now, Azazel didn't connect the dots right away.
"We haven't met,"
Elias answered simply.
"Nice to meet you!"
Dee chirped cheerfully.
She stepped out from behind Elias, crunching loudly on a potato chip.
Azazel looked down at Dee.
He saw her pale skin, her dark, endless eyes, her simple black clothes, and the silver necklace resting against her collarbone.
Azazel completely froze. His casual, lazy attitude disappeared in a single second.
His eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and his jaw practically hit the floor.
"No freaking way,"
Azazel whispered. His voice was actually shaking.
"It can't be."
Without caring how crazy he looked, Azazel reached quickly inside his coat pocket.
He pulled out a worn, colorful magazine.
It was the exact same American comic book that Rias had.
Azazel rapidly flipped through the pages until he found a big, full-color picture of the Goddess of Death standing next to the cosmic entity Elias.
He held the comic book up right next to Dee's face.
He looked at the drawing of Dee, then looked at the real Dee eating chips.
Then he looked at the drawing of the older Elias, and back to the teenage Elias standing right in front of him.
"Oh my god,"
Azazel gasped, taking a stumbling step backward.
Elias just let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead. He was getting used to this reaction.
Azazel slowly turned his head to look at his trusted general.
Baraqiel had his hand firmly clamped over his mouth. His wide shoulders were shaking violently.
The big, serious Fallen Angel was trying so hard to hold back his laughter that his face was turning red.
"Baraqiel..."
Azazel said, his voice high and breathless.
"Are you seeing this? Tell me I am not crazy!"
Baraqiel finally let out a loud snort of laughter. He just nodded his head.
"I can't believe it,"
Azazel practically squealed. He sounded like a little kid on his birthday, not a powerful military leader.
He dropped the comic book on the coffee table and grabbed his own hair.
"You are real!"
Azazel shouted, staring at them with pure awe.
"My favorite characters! And you are actually in our universe!"
Dee just smiled her sweet, ancient smile and held out her bag of chips.
"Do you want one?"
Dee asked politely.
Azazel looked like he was going to faint from pure happiness.
He had invited them here to talk about Kokabiel and a very serious, bloody war.
But right now, the most powerful Fallen Angel in the world looked like all he wanted was an autograph.
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