A legend among Devils

by theLawbringer

The devils face a power vacuum thats divided the species in two with the death of the originals. with this, The Underworld is consumed into a Civil war that threatens the eradication of the very species itself. however, a new arrival appears at the peek of the conflict, a man with potential far beyond imagination... (Civil war timeline/OP OC/Harem/Canon time line coming soon...)

12. Brink of Retaliation

-Brink of Retaliation-

I can remember the day before my real deployment with the Red legion very clearly...

While at first the military presence at the crucible was nowhere near outfitted for an offensive retaliation, the morale of the men and woman present was exponentially high when news of the oppressive force of 10,000 Old-Satan's withdrew from the wasteland. This was all because of the obvious explosion of news about Lucifaad's destruction and the combined efforts of me and my team.

And believe me, I was shell shocked as well at how fast that got around...

Then the flame was lit – and the fires of determination was burning brightly in the eyes of almost everyone with the territory; the old and the new within the red legion was brimming with the desire of a firm and violent push into the territory of thorns.

Morale is a strong factor in war, just as important as supplies was, so judging by the looks in the three generals eyes told me at that moment that we'd be seeing some action very soon.

The time was right after all, with the Old-Satan's retreat – their tails tightly tucked between their legs – the Anti-Satan forces had the best opportunity to step onto the plate and make another valiant push into the heavily fortified territory of thorns and establish a foothold.

I remember that day being one of the busiest days of my life... and the most stressful; Aside from toppling an impervious empiric castle city to none existence, I still had many things to do before the deployment...

Politics and past grudges being two of them... wonderful!

Well I guess I did have that slab of dragonite to fiddle with, so I guess I had that going for me.

---

To say the atmosphere in the Command tent was stifling would be the biggest understatement of the eon, and Ryden knew perfectly well why that was the case. A number of individual's was in the room; the three generals – obviously being the biggest presences in military authority – sat just before him and his allies in throne like seats. To the right of them sat Zekram Bael, the devil smiling the most subtle smile Ryden had even seen, and framing the four terrifying devils was Praetor Saladin and Praetor Eris, the latter having introduced herself to him only a few moments ago when they all consolidated into the command tent.

There was one other devil as well, black hair – short into a taper styled trim – no beard, and outfitted in the most spangled roman armor he'd ever seen. The devil had introduced himself to be Praxis Bael, his commanding officer and THE biggest hardass in the red legion. Joy.

He got a good 'whiff' of the devils personality just from the hand shake alone. Excessive strength was applied and a slight undertone of disgust was also present within the devils tone upon the verbal greeting; other than his horrendous first impression skills the devil carried himself with a poise most military officers dreamed of and fell in perfect line at the left flank of Sirzechs, which is where he'd been standing... silent... and fuming.

It had been a few hours since their return from their small vacation to the Northwest Territory, and during most of that time they'd been grilled with question after question regarding their conduct, and success in eradicating Lucifaad from the map. While it was boring as hell at first for all present, it quickly began to be enjoyable when the questions finally reached the point in when they all arrived in the Territory of Lucifaad. Safe to say the others – not being his team – were not at all prepared for what they had to tell them.

"H-How did you manage to keep the prisoners safe while you infiltrated Lucifaad?" questioned a stuttering Sirzechs. Serafall look like a ghost had taken residence within her and Ajuka was mildly contemplating his own intelligence. They had just be bombed with his fully explained – basically essay detailed – response on how he managed to open a scar fissure and manage to project the jumps coordinates perfectly to match the former users trajectory.

Apparently it's impossible... Ryden doubted that – but he was an open minded individual.

"I escorted them to a small pond area so to clean their wounds and find them something to drink" Ryden then tittered slightly in preparation for his follow up "From there I made contact with the Chaos Karma dragon Tiamat who—" he paused suddenly when the analyst in charge of keeping track of what he was saying did a sudden spit take at his rather casual wording of meeting a terrifying dragon.

One awkward moment of silence passed before the madly blushing analyst suddenly got up and was quickly replaced by another... the motion was so efficient, Ryden wondered if regular spit takes during debriefings was a thing. Who knew?

Sirzechs played it off while Serafall was still unresponsive to everything around her and Ajuka was simply drinking in every word spoken with rapt attention. Sirzechs gently coughed into his hand and pressed his question "And how did you handle the legendary dragon?" subtly, Ryden noted a small shot or reprehend within the devils question but ignored it. His response was a good enough retaliation.

"After a few words I managed to get the dragon to agree in taking care of the POW's while I in return would remove Lucifaad from HER territory – this being a deal I struck with her" he replied calmly, intentionally adding in the hint that Lucifaad was actually her territory. He guessed if the devils before him, and around him, assumed that he merely used the dragons own pride against it. That would be a better substitute then telling them that the dragon had merely spared him due to her curiosity and the fact the he was human.

Its best that door never opened... just a slight peak could blow his cover.

There was a long silent pause, the eyes of the devils present were simply locked on him and again... he could tell why.

No one makes a deal with a dragon and gets away with it cleanly... there's usually some blood involved and it's usually not the dragons. To them, he was the first devil in recorded history to speak with the Chaos Karma dragon king on friendly terms and come out the other end with something to show for it. Such a notion was unheard of, yet to both Sirzechs and Ajuka, they could fully agree that anything branded 'impossible' or anything related to 'unheard of' was in direct view of Ryden's range of expertise.

The silence was awkward for Ryden, mainly due to the looks of awe he was receiving from beings twenty times his age and maturity, but what really set him up for a trip down awkward avenue was the heated look from Serafall. There was no passion in her eyes – before there could be a misunderstanding – but it was clear his actions had gone light-years beyond what the general of the blue legion expected of him. Arguably she only managed a few moments of conversation with him, but from that small exchange he managed to rub off onto the petty devil in an extremely positive light. From his own humble view, he was at least knowledgeable on military actions to a degree that favored Serafall's interest, and possessed a fair amount of natural skill in combat that branded him the good ol' prodigy curse – similar as to what all generals had.

He was flattered by her words before but the look the devil was giving him kinda made him nervous. To summarized the look in a simple sentence...

She looked as if she wanted his autograph... and her eyes made it damn well clear that it wouldn't be on anything else but on her.

He had a mild flashback to the woman in crowd upon his entry to the crucible and their open comments about his physical appearance and masculine beauty – two words that have never been put together ever – and then his mind jumped to the time he chanced upon the crowds comments on his action in the match with Valeria on live devil TV... that memory wasn't going anywhere, and Fulgur was making dame sure of that.

Serafall wasn't unbuttoning her coat to reveal her rather healthy bust nor was she spreading her legs vulgarly; she was obviously tamed by her natural noble poise and training well enough to keep the 'low-born' actions at bay. However her eyes damn well screamed something unnerving, he deeply hoped it was the natural female reaction to power that had masked over the petty devils natural control of herself... he had his doubt though.

He wasn't alone in this interrogation as everyone that had been with him during the silent siege on Lucifaad was in the room as well. Nyx and Abigail sat to his far left, their eyes locked and trained onto their superiors with militaristic discipline – a deep contrast as to the bickering couple they were – while he himself was framed by both Rosalina – on his left – and Rivia Abaddon on his right; and during the debriefing the two for some reason decided that it was perfectly fine to slightly close the distance between themselves and him... key word being slightly.

To make matters more awkward – for him at least – both blondes at his side seemed to emit a kind of 'back off' vibe or aura that was combined and focused only onto the petty general, leaving everyone else in the dark as to the small war displayed before them. while Sirzechs and Ajuka thought and mulled over the subjects discussed the others merely stood at attention, Saladin obviously wasn't open to speak among his superiors about such a 'trivial' confrontation and Eris was standing frozen at attention behind her commanding general, silently shaking as the aura that was emitted from the two ultimate-class devils at his side, actually bled off onto her as well in slight collateral damage.

He wanted to show some kind of apology to the unfortunate Praetorian but his eyes needed to remain poised on the generals and their questions, the slight glare he was getting from Praxis was clear enough that he knew what was happening, but didn't word it for some reason.

The only one finding amusement so far was Zekram Bael, who was quietly snickering to himself at the battle of female dominance before him. All in all, it was a subtle aspect within the room, not really noticed by all but Ryden and by a slight olive branch – Praxis Bael and Zekram, but otherwise the generals pressed their questions – minus Serafall of course...

Ajuka piped in for the first time in a while "This is regarded to Rivia Abaddon..." he began; garnering the attention of the eldest devil among Ryden's miry band of badasses. "From what Ryden has revealed, you were incapacitated severely from harsh wounds; how did you manage to regain enough strength to assist them in their endeavor?" he asked calmly, ignoring the annoyed expression subtly adopted on the elder devils brow.

Her answer was easy "Tiamat assisted me in my recovery as per our agreement in a deal I made with her as well" she replied evenly.

The devils slightly shifted in surprise at that, having not expected the other devil to manage making a deal with the dragon. This was so off the beaten path of their understanding that Ajuka quickly added a second question.

"What deal did you make?"

Rivia didn't even stutter or falter in her reply and even developed a confrontational edge to her retort

"To ensure the survival of the Arbiter... by any means necessary"

It was clear the word Arbiter had a lasting effect on all present – minus Ryden's crew of course – and among the numbering officers before them, only one showed a slight glow in his eyes – mirthfulness bred from a fond memory.

Zekram piped up "Ah! That's the word I was looking for..." he spoke, uncaring of the breach in protocol. His eyes trailed over to Sirzechs and Serafall – the latter having snapped from her heated gaze on Ryden. "When you spoke of him possessing an Infernum Armis I couldn't help but remember something important in regards to a certain legend associated with them..." he informed cryptically, his eyes returning to the former Lordess of the Abaddon house.

Rivia didn't even skip a beat "He who wields the ancient guardians of hell shall become... hell itself" upon the reveal in legend, Rivia slowly looked to Ryden who had adopted a slightly paled expression, evident by the widened eyes and thinned lips dotted upon his face. "The one to gather the scattered calamities is the one to govern the very nature of Hell and the denizens within"

Ryden's eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head at the info drop while the others slowly grew odd expressions of apprehension and even fear at the legends fully disclosed meaning. At first most of them only knew scattered bits of the legendary weapons of hells very nature and only drew some idea's of the weapons origins – which apparently date back well before Satan dominated hell – but to hear it spoken so clearly and with such resolution defused all forms of arguments against its truth.

Because the truth was right before them...

Ryden felt the connection with Fulgur strengthen – an after effect to it opening communication with him – while the blade sheathed on his back slightly shimmered crimson, small arcs coursing off his form in calm and positive droves... a moment later, and he had his answer.

"Rivia speaks the truth it seems... Fulgur praises your knowledge" spoke Ryden as he glanced to a slightly surprised Rivia. It was obvious the devil didn't expect an open mention of appreciation from the ancient sword, as revealed by her shock, yet the devil quickly composed herself and bowed to him lightly – not to him of course – but to the blade on his back.

The blade shimmered in gratitude at the gesture before it died down

It was now Ajuka's turn to cough into his arm, clearly at a loss of choice reactions towards what was before him so instead the green devil chose to change the subject – much to the incredible annoyance of Rivia.

"With that aside, I have a small question for you Ryden" he started before gently rubbing his chin "On the subject of Tiamat; do you have anything else regarding your interaction with her?" he asked, a slight hopeful gaze noted the devil deeply wished this was the extent of the interaction... he was wrong.

"Well..." Ryden hesitated, clearly not seeing any good way of rationalizing his pressed interaction with Tiamat and by his hesitance, the devils before him slightly shuddered at his clear sign of there being yet more shock in store for them.

Biting the bullet, Ryden caved and just dropped it on them "I decided I had the best opportunity in acquiring a small sum of Dragonite so I tossed that into the deal... see what would come of it..." he slowed his response down when he noticed the very visible twitch in Sirzechs' brow while the heated expression on Serafall returned with the vengeance. Hell even Ajuka suddenly adopted a look – a strange one at that – that seemed to emit a kind of scolding and reprehending glint within. Soon enough, Ryden felt like the biggest idiot in the room – off to his side – Nyx was currently giving him the biggest 'I told you so' look he'd ever received, and it was at that point Ryden knew that Nyx was probably the most 'sane' of the group... because he was the only one doing it...

After a moment, Ryden merely brushed that off. Because of his ballsy move, Tiamat had seen him as a perfect asset or even ally (big 'maybe' that was) and had invested in her interest by gifting him a small token of 'friendship' to solidify it... or just to use that to guilt trip his ass if he failed in their deal.

Seeing that as a good response to the silent treatment he was getting he pressed on just to prove them that being a dumbass sometimes gets you shit.

"In the end – she agreed, but under the condition that I retrieve a treasure of hers"

Sirzechs spoke suddenly, having finally snapped under the weight of Ryden's craziness "Did you – at all – think this through thoroughly?"

Ryden easily nodded at his comment "I had no choice but to engage in conversation, running or simply remaining silent would have only aggravated her" he then scratched his chin awkwardly "Plus she seemed like a nice person – get past the fear of the dragon part and she's actually decent"

Rivia actually add in her two cents at that, her head bobbing slightly in a casual nod "I concur..." she said, garnering the glances of the three generals and one commander "While at first she appeared aggressive, she however showed a glimpse of cooperation when she realized that we we're not from the capital city"

Her words suddenly sparked a small glint in Sirzechs' eyes – and glint that was mirrored by two other people in the room – one being Ajuka and the other being Zekram; there was an opportunity present and they had noticed it very quickly. Rivia's words suggested that the dragon was much more violent towards the Old-Satan faction then theirs, It was slightly unnerving in a good way that such an unmoving force of nature actually considered the benefit of the doubt for their side rather than Rizevim's, which in the end, spoke of a possible ally.

This was noticed by Ryden however, who smirked knowingly at the three while the others simply took notice of his sudden change in expression.

"I can see you've noticed the opportunity..." spoke Ryden as the three devils previously mentioned eyed him suddenly. The edge in his tone suggested that he already knew something that they didn't.

Ajuka tried to play it off "what opportunity?"

Ryden rolled his eyes at that, clearly spotting the political underhand tactics – making Tiamat an ally was gonna be an 'off the record' task; judging by the dismissive nature the three exhibited made Ryden fully aware that he was correct in his observation. He sighed deeply and loudly "Tiamat is considerate of allying, but there's catch... do you wanna know what that catch is?" he spoke forcefully, his question all but forcing everyone listening to find an answer for it.

Ajuka had found his but withheld it "And what catch would that be?"

Ryden glanced around the room – his eyes focusing in and responding to his desire and for the first time they became like unseen lasers that carried a deep weight that everyone felt. His naturally blue eyes shown faintly and his gaze possessed a judging edge within them that all fell into submission to... subconsciously.

He blinked momentarily after looking everyone in the eye and then pinched the bridge of his nose tightly – staunching a small headache that swelled up upon using his unspoken ability. All present had felt the weight and then its subsequent banishment when Ryden's gaze had left them, leaving everyone to look at the devil with a slightly newer light – even the formerly fuming Praxis Bael seemed interested.

Ryden's hand then pointed to Sirzechs and then to Serafall and Ajuka before he regarded them calmly with slightly tired eyes "The three of you are the most powerful present, Sirzechs being the strongest of everyone by miles while general's Astaroth and Sitri possess tremendous power in their own field" he paused and glanced at everyone present – ignoring the intrigued look he got from Zekram Bael – and downloaded their individual expressions; some possessed blank interest, others rapt attention. He filed them away before continuing "You may ask why I'm pointing this out; all I have to respond with is this... what does a dragon respect the most?"

His eyes shifted to everyone until his eyes fell onto Ajuka – having seen the devils realization dawning upon him

"Power... dragons have always respected power above anything else" the emerald haired devil answered plainly

Ryden nodded "Exactly..." he agreed before looking all three generals in the eye "If you have power... then why is Tiamat not allied to us yet?" his subtle question spurred a series of expressions from all devils present, however before some of the obvious excuses could come flying out at him, Ryden pressed his issue more clearly "I do not mean to undermine your power and authority... I just wanted to make sure that everyone is on the same page"

For the second time in this debriefing Zekram opened up, his eyes layered with hidden interest.

"And what page are we on?" he asked

"The page in which no one severely overestimates the legendary dragon's hospitality and decides to make it an ally with sweet honeyed words – democracy isn't the way of a dragon, and forcing yourself on them only makes them your enemy..." his eyes returned to Ajuka and Sirzechs "... to make a dragon an ally, means you have to have the hardest skin and the strongest of wills... and who has the strength to face what could possibly be their end"

"you think we lack the will?" asked ajuka, his eyes slightly narrowed at the persevered insult, it was marginal but ajuka seemed like he was aware of what Ryden was meaning

the aforementioned human shook his head quickly "I'm merely stating, that if you did possess those qualities; then Tiamat would already be an ally" he reasoned, surprisingly getting a small look of understanding from ajuka and sirzechs. his reasoning was correct, should they have possessed harder skin and a stronger will then they would have already challenged Tiamat. sure they did possess strong abilities, they didn't however posses the durability of a dragon which was key in facing a dragon - getting taken out in one hit was a deep insult to bother parties, the loser would become the least respected and the winner would have full authority on the former's fate, which usually led to death... the lack of will to face the dragon was merely a step towards preserving strong fighters, should they have prioritized the dragon before, then they would have possibly lost a good chunk of potential soldiers to a means that didn't justify the end result.

still, the information provided did prove to show an opportunity was present and they wanted to see to it

Sirzechs questioned him this time "So you suggest we ignore this opportunity?"

Suddenly, Sirzechs deadpanned when Ryden gave him the smuggest expression he had and fought tooth and nail with himself to not glare at the snarky brat; obviously the human knew something very prominent. Over the course of the week training a small bond had been created between Ryden and Sirzechs, and while it wasn't a solid and palpable brotherhood it did create a small series of banter between the two – most of it having to do with Ryden's smug nature at times in which Sirzechs dearly wished never happened.

His trusty sword skills never failed him... nope, won't even admit to that loss... not even to himself.

"What?" he all but breathed out, barely containing his annoyance.

Ryden's expression of supreme smugness lasted for a second longer before the devil released a chuckle under his breath "how can I pass up this opportunity... when I've already taken the chance at it?"

Everyone and that literally means everyone in the room developed a shocked expression, even Zekram looked baffled and the meaning behind Ryden's counter question shook everyone present. While the devils simply stared at him, that also included Nyx, Abigail and Rosalina, Ryden found Rivia merely shaking her head at him; he titled his head at her in confusion to which she merely responded off handily.

"I told you it would have been wise to tell them before-hand" she said plainly, sounding like a slightly miffed mother of all things.

He blinked softly before smirking at the older devil "And miss out on this reaction? Yeah right" he replied, garnering a small smirk from Rivia

"I guess it is amusing..." she added in agreement

Sirzechs coughed into his hand and then pinched the bridge of his nose in order to fight away his incoming head ache. No matter the situation – no matter the stakes – Ryden always seemed to find his way out of it with smooth ease and possible luck unlike anything the crimson devil had ever seen. It was so unnervingly smooth that Sirzechs felt his reactions to certain problems as a waste of brain power

Why waste time fretting over a Ruina Imperium threat when he could just throw Ryden at it and destroy a territory as a bonus?

He rubbed harder as that memory passed through his head.

While Sirzechs was fighting away a potential migraine, Serafall looked to Ryden with a surprisingly cool headed expression – something he'd not seen on her since their initial meeting. She looked at him for a moment, seemingly fumbling around with a set of words before she sighed.

"By the fact that Tiamat is not with us means that you lost, right?" she asked plainly, sounding slightly deflated by her own words.

This time Rivia shook her head "No, The Arbiter only established the challenge; Tiamat had actually been the one to postpone the fight until he became stronger" she informed dismissively

At the woman's words Serafall looked to Ryden who in the end, nodded in agreement to Rivia's statement. The room grew mildly silent – the generals and the lone commander Bael mulled over the subject for a moment before opening up again.

"We will discuss this matter at a later date..." spoke Sirzechs before his eyes shifted over to Rosalina "can you tell us what happened afterwards?" he asked.

The formerly silent and shell shocked devil of the Phenex family was taken by surprise by the change of subject mildly but quickly filled in the gaps from Ryden's and Rivia's return, to their planning phase and then towards the execution segment. While this started up – most of the attention having been directed to Nyx, Rosalina's and Abigail's side of the operation – Ryden simply tuned out the questions and answers and mulled over his own train of thought. Most of it centering on the slab of dragonite he had gotten from his ballsy move in Lucifaad, all he needed now was an idea as to what he was going to make from it.

The slab was roughly the size of a kids-sized volley ball – easily gripped in ones palm – which severely limited his creative freedom down to small weapons; like a knife or rapier, however he wasn't the kind of person to favor small arms weaponry though, and while he did appreciate a good blade, it was the size of the stick that one carried that mattered most.

Talk softly, but carry a big stick...

Motto to live by

Now that Ryden thought on the mathematics, he soon realized the slab was a little too big to create a dagger – more like a Bowie knife if he used all of it in one creation – which wasn't going to happen. Considering the enemy type he was facing meant the idea of small arms was more stupid then his initial conduct towards the legendary dragon. Talking softly and causally to a dragon was idiotic but Ryden had a thing for idiotic acts of sheer stupidity at times, which was a good source of amusement for his sister; but facing said dragon with a small weapon seemed insulting to the large being.

If he sacrificed a rare – nearly indestructible – metal ore to someone who could get his blood pumping, then seeing that sacrifice turned into a literal butter knife would surely annoy him to great lengths... he knew for a fact the dragon desired something with incredible 'humph!' and not something it would use to pick its teeth with later on.

Then came in the other side of the topic;

What is a viable weapon to use against a powerful dragon?

CQC against a threat twenty times your size was a fantasy and not at all a viable way to harm a dragon as it moved much faster and hit much harder than anything he could dish out– perhaps for him it was possible, but he knew it wouldn't be his main source of damage output. Infernum Fulgur had that covered well enough so he needed something with range and stopping power, he needed a...

He paused momentarily when a thought crossed his mind – a very tempting thought. His hand reached up to rub his mouth in contemplation while the others continued their conversation on their stealthy insertion into the castle city; Serafall listening with extreme intensity.

His mind continued in wonder. The devils didn't seem like they lacked in technology – as considering they had a whole network of television sigils and graphs built for entertainment services and news outlets. It was clear that they would probably jump in technological innovation well before the human race reached the industrial age. This was both good and also unnerving fact for him but it did help him consolidate his idea well enough to plan on it further.

All he needed to do was drop the idea on Ajuka's lap; see if the devil of invention would be interested.

With that thought in mind Ryden slowly returned to listening in on the conversation; conveniently snapping back to reality early enough to hear the new question directed onto him – all eyes being on him again for what felt like the 16th time that hour.

Sirzechs eyed him closely, the previous number of expression's the crimson devil held had folded down into a calm and serene professional gaze, most likely due to the fact the others had done a relatively exceptional job in a means close to reality, unlike Ryden's constant tests of insanity and sheer acts of impossible feats... Sirzechs would need to get used to that soon.

Sirzechs held his gaze calmly but it was clear the older being was apprehensive in hearing his story. Ryden simply made sure his smugness remained dormant – a small mercy towards the crimson Devil.

"You were the only one to infiltrate the castle, what did you learn while you were within?" he asked clearly

Ryden huffed in amusement when a small memory passed by his thoughts "well I learned that Rizevim is a very fast runner... if that counts" he spoke simply

Praxis Bael stepped forward suddenly, eyes lit with interest upon the mention of the Old-Satan's head honcho "You spotted Lucifer's son? Did you pursue him?" inquired the black haired devil urgently. Ryden merely shook his head, causing the devils eyes to narrow "He got away..." he muttered out, not at all pleased by his response. The others seemed to be in agreement until Ryden retorted

"I told this to lady Rosalina before – not sure if she mentioned it – but simply killing an easily replaceable enemy only creates more heads to deal with" he blinked once while keeping his eyes on Praxis "I learned that a small chunk of the population over in the city of Lilith believe that we're terrorists; so killing someone they most likely see as their hero would only make him a martyr and it would solidify the people's opinions on us, which in the end, guarantees the continuation of the civil war as a whole" he explained calmly

Everyone simply listened while Praxis seemed miffed at being told off, but considering the truth behind the devils words only made him remain silent, lest he make himself a fool.

Ryden continued "Take away the riches, the fame and the publicity and you have victory... no kingdom survives without a foundation"

"Indeed" spoke Zekram in agreement, smiling subtly at his words

Sirzechs pressed on... "What else happened besides that?" asked Sirzechs, eyes subtly glancing to see the older devil silently staring at him – a small message was relayed between the two that no one noticed before they broke off.

Ryden didn't notice the small exchange.

"After Rizevim escaped I remained behind in his little meeting room and engaged a small squad of ten Death knights" the three generals eyes slightly rose at the mention of the elite faction of knights but remained silent "I took them out and then planted the bomb, however the bomb was in an unstable state so it nearly went off prematurely; I had to contain the energy and reroute its core back into a stable state and then I activated it" he paused to take a breath before continuing

"Once it activated I had to evacuate as soon as I was able, once I was clear of the main castle I encountered a small hiccup down the road but Rivia showed up and got me out of it easily enough... then I found myself in Tiamat's enclosure, with all the POW's, and we stood and watched the bomb literally destroy the sky... and the territory Lucifaad sat in, of course."

He stopped and took in the expressions of all the devils in charge of this debriefing. Sirzechs, Serafall and Ajuka looked pleased, Zekram himself looked pleased – for reason's he was unaware of – and commander Bael looked well enough pleased to withdraw his sharp gaze from him. What surprised Ryden were the looks of awe he was getting from Saladin and Eris; while he had not really known the two very much he did identify 'reverence' when it was shown before him.

To them, he had done something impossible – something he was never gonna get tired of hearing – and because of his actions, he had saved hundreds of lives in the process. Saladin and Eris were praetorian's – the most elite fighting force the devils of the anti-Satan forces had among the ranks of mid-class devils – and naturally, they possessed immense skill in multiple forms of combat and ranked among the most daring within the military force. But even with all that, they didn't possess the power to topple a legendary city with only FIVE combatants... something like that demanded the attention of talented devils with extraordinary gifts from their ancestors.

Currently five of them stood before them...

Sirzechs nodded to himself after a moment before looking to Ryden "I assume from that point you all returned here?" he asked

Ryden shook his head "It was at this point in which I dropped the offer of allying with Tiamat, in which she responded by giving me this..." upon finishing his comment he summon the small slab of dragonite and presented it to the Generals, only one of them took in the sight of the metal slab with interest; That being a certain jade General. "Initially I thought I wouldn't receive this until I returned her treasure but surprisingly the detonation of the modified Ruina Imperium was so strong that it shattered the eternal spell within the territory... Tiamat rather appreciated that side effect"

Ajuka lit up upon this being mentioned "The eternal night sky of Lucifaad..." he muttered before grunting "so this whole time it's been nothing but a fake..."

"Yes, once the explosion reached the higher points in the sky, the darkness above began to melt away – I didn't get a full chance to see the process but once it was gone all was saw was a massive purple sun in the sky... Tiamat told me that it had been created by Ignis himself many years before our time" added Ryden

Ajuka took the slab from his hand and inspected the slab with interest, for some reason the devil took notice of a few oddities and decided further inspection was needed. Ryden didn't react to the metal being taken but decided to fill them in on its presence.

"Tiamat had given me that in order to forge it into a weapon for our fight" he commented while Ajuka inspected the metal with clear confusion

The devil glanced to him

"This is dragonite? It's weaker then I remember..." he commented before he started lifting and lower the slab to test its weight "... and lighter too" as he inspected the slab further, Ryden nodded at the devils observation.

"It is... Tiamat simply weakened the molecular bonds in order to speed up the time it'll take to forge it into a weapon" he then showed the devil the small gem "This is what I'll use to temper the weapon back into its former glory – she said doing this will actually strengthen it better then normally forged dragonite"

Ajuka hummed in interest at Ryden's scientific explanation while the devils around the two look on in confusion. Nyx, Abigail and Rosalina – even Rivia – were taken slightly off guard at Ryden's show of intellect. While Serafall merely continued to re-forge her opinion on the young lord of the Gremory house, both Sirzechs and Zekram simply discussed matters off hand and silently from everyone else, making a slight reprieve in the meeting that let the others slightly loosen up.

Nyx looked at Rosalina and Rivia, a small look of surprise held on his lips "I didn't realize he had a brain" he jested.

Ryden, without even looking, leaned over Rosalina and gently bonked the smirking devil over the head with a closed fist.

"Oi..." barked Nyx as he recoiled at the sudden hit which caused Abigail to chuckled at Nyx

Rosalina shook her head at the small moment before returning back to listen to Ryden's small conversation with Ajuka – Rivia having already followed her example.

"... So she used the gem to 'unlock' the minerals molecular bonds... interesting" muttered Ajuka with interest

Ryden shook his head "No, the gem is what I'll use to lock the ore back into its prime density; what she did was super charge the ore with her own draconic element; apparently only a dragon that matches the element can do this" Ryden corrected as he patiently sat by while Ajuka scanned the slab from inch to inch.

Ajuka took one last once over of the slab before handing it back to Ryden, his eyes then locking with his with clear signs of even more interest "What idea do you have?... for the weapon I mean" he asked, curious as to what the human had planned.

Ryden smirked before disposing the slab into his pocket dimension along with the gem "I was actually wondering if I could talk to you about a curtain project – you might be interest in what I have planned"

At Ryden's words Ajuka blinked before he smirked slightly and nodded "Meet me after this... it would be wise to make the weapon as soon as possible, before your deployment" instructed the green haired devil

The five devils other then the higher ranking ones suddenly developed surprised expressions at the news of a deployment; most of them didn't expect it to be so soon after their return but all of them saw the looks in the eyes of the devils outside... they were pumped

"Then when will our deployment be General?" asked Abigail, her eyes curious as to the intended date of the invasion

Ajuka regarded Abigail calmly and with a blank look – the devils naturally resting expression – and glanced over to the conversing Sirzechs and Zekram, watching as the two spoke about private matters. Since he wasn't involved meant it was more of a personal conversation then militaristic, perhaps it was both – the odd few glances the two sent towards Ryden was a slight give away but Ajuka had his mind open, albeit slightly... he never knew what the older devil of the Bael family was thinking and so far it was positive but there had been the few negatives – his eyes just for the briefest of moments crossed over to glance at Rivia Abaddon.

He shook his head briefly before relocking his gaze on Abigail

"Tomorrow most likely..." he said simply

Ryden nodded in understanding while Rivia fixed her dress slightly before nodding as well

"Good time as ever to do it" spoke Ryden as he gently stroked his beard "the quicker we take advantage of the morale, the faster and more powerful the advancing force..." he paused before looking to Ajuka again "is it just the Red legion invading?" he asked

Ajuka shook his head "One legion isn't enough to push into a major territory, the red legion will be assisted by the jade and blue legion's so to make sure we establish a foothold – it's imperative we establish as much before we plan any other offensives inland"

"What out the attack on the eastern border?" asked Nyx

"It's been handled, the majority of the forces have withdrawn while a small pocket of resistance remains; General Glasya-Labolas should be able to hold the line there until we make our break through here" replied Ajuka calmly

Nyx blinked in surprise while Rosalina slightly swallowed at the previous information provided. Powerful as she was, she never actually participated in open combat before, much less trench warfare but it seemed she had a small period of time to get her head in the game; a small glance to a calmly expressed Ryden slightly made her rapidly beating heart a moment of reprieve. It was a small thought in the back of her mind but it corrupted her none the less. Both Ryden and Rivia had already experienced their own forms of hell so the thought of combat was most likely nothing to them – while she found herself suddenly nervous.

Perhaps it was the 'wyverns in her stomach' that was getting this rise out of her, the sudden swell of anticipation, nervousness and anxiety culminated within her a sudden shiver that didn't seem like it wanted to go away and no matter how annoyed she became it didn't do anything to relieve her of the sudden nuisance. She wanted to growl at her own show of weakness and fought tooth and nail with her own nerves just to make sure Rivia Abaddon didn't see her weakness, her fear. Too little too late for that it seemed as the woman was already regarding her blankly, her gaze held with the older devil before the woman merely gestured for her to breath.

Great, now she was being treated like a child...

Rosalina suddenly found herself fuming at her own weakness, a new drive to do away with it as soon as she could...

While the Phenex devil growled lowly at her nervousness – a new profound hatred at fear – Ryden found himself suddenly flanked by a deadpanned Serafall, eyes locked on him and holding a very peculiar expression – an expression of interest and intrigue, a look one had when they believed one could understand something that no one else had.

Very descriptive observation if Ryden had to believe but her face practically screamed it.

"Hi..." Ryden said awkwardly after a moment while both Rosalina and Rivia felt a pang of shame in their pride at having their defenses breached so easily by the threat.

Serafall didn't budge from her proximity and simply held a blank expression on Ryden "I wish to speak with you after this, I have a few questions of my own that I believe you'll come to agree with" she all but demanded. Her words sounded persuasive but the tone left no room for disagreement. So much so that Ajuka piped up.

"I guess if this matter is so important then I can wait for you in my lab, no need to ignore a general upon a request" he said with such an uncaring expression Ryden believed the devil must have been heartbroken at the prospect of waiting

For a blank and arguably boring devil, he did express himself a good bit. As unorthodox as it was, he seemed to express emotions in a manner unnatural to Ryden, yet he understood the look easily – maybe he could tally the feeling to the disappointed aura that clouded Ajuka. That might be the reason.

Ryden simply nodded along, seeing no benefit in turning down a general and a woman so quickly in the time they've met, first impressions matter at this point so he really needed to sell himself to the General if he wanted to remain on the good side of her spectrum.

Ryden nearly blanked when the woman's previously deadpanned and serious expression sprouted into a smile. It wasn't beaming but it did create one hell of a contrast to the scrutinizing expression the devil had on before.

They had to be Bipolar... had to be...

"Great!" beam Serafall; positively thrilled in having the chance to converse with the devil "once this is done, I'll have you join me in my quarters so we can converse in private" once those words left her mouth Ryden swore he heard two intakes of breath – sharp and sudden – coming from both Rosalina and Rivia but when he glanced over all he saw was nothing coming from the two, no sign of issue or problem to be seen. He looked at them in confusion for a moment before turning back to Serafall – barely missing the smug expression on the petty devil – and nodded again towards her.

"I would be honored to join you General Sitri" he said, feeling slightly off at having used a formal tone for what felt like weeks. While Ryden immersed himself in the odd feeling, Serafall yet again smiled before walking casually back to her seat beside Ajuka, shooting the inventor a triumphant look, and plopped down into the seat – barely caring about the murderous looks coming from the two blondes framing Ryden.

For the second time that day, Ryden was unaware of the second declaration of war...

A couple moments passed by with an awkward feeling permeating the area, leaving Ryden to stew in the moment with not a clue as to the source of the feeling; oddly enough though, Ryden felt like the butt end of a joke – or ridicule. It reminded him of his sisters comments on his rare occasional obliviousness to the obvious that which sat before him. Turns out she was right in her observations as he really couldn't find the main source of the odd feeling and immediately tallied the reason to his sisters specialize. Considering there were five woman in the room there was the possibility of a shadow war going on, but he couldn't really know for sure.

Oh If he only knew...

Whatever the feeling was, it vanished quickly when Sirzechs and Zekram broke their small conversation and returned to the main subject.

"This marks the end of the debriefing..." started Sirzechs – his eyes looking towards the analyst before he regarded the five devils before him with a small smile, eyes holding a professional degree of pride along with the other two generals "...I cannot speak of the degree of Valor that which you have all shown – all of you..." his eyes briefly met Rivia's who locked gazes with him momentarily before she slowly lowered her head in a slight bow. Sirzechs smiled gently at the action, his eyes shown with concealed guilt before he looked everyone else in the eye, the guilt having vanished within his "You honor our cause with your actions, integrity and strength and because of it... you have given all of us the opportunity to strike a decisive blow to the Old-Satan's, you have all been marked for the commendation; The platinum Pentagram"

"Unfortunately, we cannot hold a ceremony at this time, so we will postpone it until after the deployment" added Ajuka as he regarded everyone with a serious expression.

"For now I recommend you all get some rest, the deployment tomorrow will happen directly when the sky is darkest..." expressed Serafall as she smiled to everyone "good luck to you all... You'll need it" she added with a bit more morbid expression.

That warning fell over everyone's heads besides Ryden's...

For a brief moment, Sirzechs' expressed slight mirth when everyone but Ryden and Rivia widened their eyes at the praise and given award. Ryden wasn't at all aware of the degree of the medal, but considering the looks of awe within the eyes of the three other devils besides Rivia, spoke volumes of its meaning and value. It took him a moment but his eyes soon rose slightly in content at the feeling but it dwindled down when he considered the uncaring look in Rivia.

He glanced to her slightly but she refused to look into his eyes.

Something was wrong with the picture before him. Before it was a sharp tone directed towards Serafall and her caring nature and then it became more noticeable by the lack of respect she displayed towards the three generals and their lack of looking the devil in the eye after it. The guilt Sirzechs had within his gaze was telling enough to him that there was obviously shit under the rug and if Rivia displayed such disrespect towards the Generals of the anti-Satan forces – literally a capital offence – then it was clear there was some serious beef going on.

Ryden had to deal with it before the deployment tomorrow or he'd be running around with someone with emotional baggage and possibly an agenda of some kind. It's not totally unheard of for assassination during conflict to happen among allies, nor was it strange when the person beside you suddenly snaps under the emotional stress and jumps you with a knife.

It wasn't like Rivia was that kind of person; out of all the things she's been through she still displayed a considerate heart and a passionate desire to be loyal. The target of that loyalty was now being mostly directed to him and Tiamat. Sirzechs only got a small nod at the end due to some unspoken message but it was clear that Rivia Abaddon didn't see the general as her superior and for some reason or another; was responded with understanding by all three generals present. Though Praxis Bael showed disdain for the lack of respect, he dared not confront the former Abaddon Lordess and simply regarded the devil with ZERO respect.

Praxis was not good at getting into the good books was he?

A small tinge of annoyance sprouted within Ryden when he actually noticed the Bael devil still regarding Rivia with disdain – even disgust – while Rivia didn't even register the devils existence, which honestly increased the devils negative expression to an immense degree. Ryden didn't like it; Rivia had been through enough and didn't deserve the treatment, not when it was clear to him that someone was responsible for her suffering. His eyes glanced over to Sirzechs who – after a moment – noticed his gaze and locked eyes with him, the devil sent a small smile towards Ryden at first but it vanished when Ryden merely shifted his eyes onto Praxis, his eyes being the gesture sirzechs needed, which led the high ranking devil to notice the look his commander was holding towards Rivia.

Ryden watched Sirzechs sigh at the expression on Praxis and the intended target that which it was directed to and shook his head lightly at the image before him and then relocked his gaze onto Ryden before shaking his head again in order to say 'don't worry about it'. The devils exasperated and oddly enough, disappointed expression, spoke a loud enough message to Ryden that Praxis must've been notorious for being an inconsiderate ass hat and a stickler for the rules to such a degree that it hurt to look at.

Slowly – like a blob of molten lava – Ryden felt his opinion of his commander drop below the acceptable range or even the tolerance range for that matter. It was either the devils ignorance towards what Rivia had been through or he was really just an ass beyond what Ryden could fathom.

He knew then that he'd be butting heads with this character very soon and the reason he knew this was because of the looks Praxis had sent him occasionally during the debriefing. Whether it was his tone of voice or his lax mannerisms he didn't really know but he could almost feel the devils disgust directed towards him only for it to be cut down to size after a moment.

Occasional emotional flips were becoming normal for Ryden but sheer opinion flips was well into the legitimate medical issue and Praxis was diving head first into that category.

Whether he knew it or not...

Ryden got the message just fine and knew Sirzechs would do something about it, but he made sure that was the case when in response to Sirzechs' message, he directed a dead serious expression that basically said 'are you sure about that?'

Sirzechs got the message...

"This will be all for now... dismissed" called out Sirzechs after a moment

The command tent was soon rife with action upon those words. From outside came in analyst's – even the one that spewed his drink – and other officers of military importance dropped through the tents entrance, even a hand full of advisers stepped in. Ryden had gotten up by then and walked out with the others in a controlled pace – being escorted by the two praetorian leaders – and spotting a few nods and courtesy glances from the men and woman he walked passed.

It was odd to see all the devils viewing him with such degrees of respect and awe, considering the ones giving him such praise was higher in military rank then he was. He had a hard time adjusting to the praise. The others however held their own expressions as they shuffled out of the command tent. Nyx and Abigail were sporting small smiles that seemed ready to burst into full blown shit eating grins while Rosalina stone walled her emotions and merely retained her noble facade like a highly trained poker player – focused solely on making sure her image among the nobles stayed as pristine as possible.

Ryden knew full well that the harder she tried to do that, the dirtier it'll get when her image crumbles and he knew it would... it was only a matter a time, so why lie about who you are?

Ryden shook his head as he followed the devils out, closely flanked by Rivia Abaddon all the way

"Lady Abaddon... can I have a word with you please?"

Before he could fully step out of the command tent, Sirzechs' following words gave him pause, making him give a slight glance over his shoulder to see Rivia looking back to a hopeful Sirzechs, an expression of annoyance worn plainly over her face. Ryden didn't leave immediately, only stopped in the tent's entrance way and stood there, much to the relief of Rivia who turned back to Sirzechs with her annoyed expression still held strong.

They stood there momentarily until all the analysts and Advisers that had funneled into the tent grabbed what they needed before funneling back out – off to do their jobs and completely unaware of the Mexican standoff they had just been in.

Once the last adviser stepped out, Rivia opened up...

"What words will you trade with me?" she asked sharply, eyes holding nothing but an uncaring edge.

Sirzechs didn't skip a beat "The kind that pertains to your estate, your servants and your sister... they are alive" was all he said, shocking the devil mildly – indicated by the slight hitch in her throat.

Ryden didn't look at anyone else in the room but Rivia, who stood frozen before him after Sirzechs delivered the news. Ryden was glad of it, honestly speaking on his part actually he was elated to know that Rivia's sister – he didn't know she had one at first – was still around and even confirmed to be alive. It was the first bit of good news that Rivia needed to hear, as it was one thing to be saved by an ancient prophetical legend of great renown but another thing entirely to learn of a family member's survival during a gut wrenching loss.

"Their alive?" muttered Rivia as she glanced down to her hand, namely to a small etching upon the woman's right wrist – its design wasn't view able by Ryden's angle but it seemed to glow a pale white. "All this time I believed my sacrifice was in vain..." she muttered while gently running her finger down her wrist – directly over the etching in her skin.

Sirzechs sat forward on his small throne like chair "They are alive because of you... what you did was beyond anything we believed possible"

Rivia's head shot up to glare at Sirzechs "No thanks on your part..." she sneered, garnering a look of surprise from Ryden and a look of guilt from the three generals.

Praxis sneered at the woman "Watch your tone Abaddon... were it not for the mercy of General Gremory, your sister and servants would have perished"

Rivia blinked, her eyes locking onto Praxis like a predator tasting blood in the water and from the corner of Ryden's eye... he saw Zekram wince and curse to himself at the realization in Rivia's eyes.

"From what I understand imp, is that General Gremory wasn't even near my territory when it was attacked, yet your words speak of his presence?" by the end of her sentence, her words were but a violent sneer that carried such degrees of venom that Ryden wondered why Praxis still existed, he'd seen what Rivia used during the Lucifaad escape, the power of... whatever it was, had completely erased the existences of all the devils before him, with the simple command of a swiped wrist. Rivia's tone and expression of anger was so prominent that it seemed like it was possible for the woman to just will the destruction of anyone by glance alone and to be fair... it kinda unnerved Ryden.

Praxis hesitated at the words spoken in retort, a fumble that was noticed by the blonde woman who crinkled her nose in disgust when her suspicion was answered.

"Disgusting... are my secrets so important that you would go so far as..." she froze and immediately looked to Ryden – suddenly remembering the devil had been there the whole time.

Ryden's eyes had closed when Rivia's previous words had sunken in to him, the picture had been painted and the deep and dark political schemes of devils had been painted before him. He took in a deep breath and released it before opening his eyes to see the whole room regarding him. Serafall, Ajuka and Sirzechs looked at him with apprehension, Zekram with... was that hope?

His eyes glanced down from them – completely disregarded Praxis – and soon found the luxurious rug floor of the command tent his next gaze. His mind was moving so faced it nearly hurt him, leaving his normal mental speed in the dust. The first thing that came to mind was anger, not really inescapable considered that Rivia had basically been left for dead by the devils before him – or even sacrificed – for whatever secrets Rivia possessed.

Rage was the most understandable reaction he could feel at first. He wasn't exactly capable of feeling hesitance or considering the benefit of the doubt for devils, especially one that made himself the good guy; Sirzechs at first seemed like an understandable individual but with the news before him... he wasn't impressed.

And Fulgur wasn't either...

However, before the others witnessed the most powerful devil present suddenly upholster the soft furnishings with his guts... Ryden's rational mind slammed into his quickly growing anger and diluted it, leaving him with a memory

A Geass scroll... an official note of authority that cannot be ignored and or disobeyed.

And recently... one had been forged... at least Ryden hoped so...

That was an opportunity, and Ryden dearly wished that opportunity was the answer to this situation before him.

He looked up, noticing the expressions on apprehension on the devils before him – all of them sitting frozen stiff in wonder. Ryden locked eyes on Zekram Bael, the devil in question held the gaze immediately... that hopeful expression suddenly dawning brighter, albeit only to him at least.

"Are you familiar with a Geass scroll?" he asked suddenly, no honorifics; no title... just a flat question and his tone left ZERO room for lies.

Zekram nodded "yes..." he said simply

Ryden then locked onto Sirzechs, his eyes briefly conveying a very clear message similar to Zekram's "On the day of lady Abaddon's attack, did you receive a Geass scroll?"

Sirzechs' eyes widened considerably at that question and for a moment Ryden noticed relief in his eyes... very strange.

"Yes I did... we all did" he said, Ajuka and Serafall nodded in unison upon Sirzechs elaboration

"The details..." he started before taking a deep breath and releasing it "... what were they?"

The others glanced to the other, their eyes holding a degree of understanding before all three of them summoned a small scroll into the hands. Ryden nodded at that while the three generals placed the scrolls on a suddenly summoned magic crest that floated before them – acting as a table; Ryden went to inspect one of the scrolls but froze when a fourth one was place on the table by Zekram himself.

He paused before looking Zekram dead on, the devil in question merely stood before Ryden calmly, smiling knowingly

"Where did you acquire this?" asked Ryden

"I got it from Indris Phenex, he approached me on it after the medical teams released him" replied the Bael lord before regarding Ryden with a small impressed gaze "I didn't think you'd be able to make the connection boy, yet here we are..."

There was a moment of silence; the generals regarded the transition of words between Zekram and Ryden with a breath held tightly to their chests while Rivia stood before the scene in confusion, her eyes regarding Ryden with yet another change in opinion... a deeper one. Zekram noticed the confusion on Rivia before looking back at Ryden "Perhaps you should elaborate your findings... it might shed light on Lady Abaddon's poor understanding of the true culprits and the ones that caused her isolation" spoke the eldest devil, his eyes more serious then mirthful.

Ryden chewed on it for a moment before looking Rivia dead on, the woman's response to his gaze stiffened briefly at the seriousness within but she stood fast in keeping her eyes locked on his.

"They didn't wish for your fall Lady Abaddon... it was all a forgery; a lie orchestrated by traitors within the Anti-Satan forces" he revealed plainly, sighing after his message was conveyed

Rivia felt a small – yet cold – feeling over take her senses; euphoria created upon realizing that she wasn't surrounded by traitors; she blinked at the realization – the anger within them vanishing within seconds – before her eyes glanced down to the etching on her wrist, a hope being reignited at the sight. However the feeling only lasted so long before doubt crept into her mind, a habit born from her time in captivity and the long hours she'd spend thinking about the traitorous generals that had forsaken her to a hell left unexplained.

She had her questions and her doubts... and Ryden was the source in which she'd get them

"Why didn't they tell me?" she asked, her tone slightly cracking

Ryden glanced to Sirzechs, enticing him to answer instead. The man in question didn't hesitate, the answer having always been there in the first place yet only now did he have the opportunity to convey the answer. He took a deep breath in relief upon realizing that, before looking Rivia directly in the eye – far longer than he had before.

"By the time we learned of this forgery, you had already fallen into the hands of the Old-Satan's" he said solemnly

Rivia looked to him "But you –"

"—had come anyway, yes" interrupted Sirzechs, catching Rivia off guard – slightly shocking her. He smiled gently at that before looking down at the scroll on the table, his eyes holding a dangerous edge no one saw "When I had gotten the scroll I had already been on route towards the Abaddon territory when news of the attack reached me, but I..." he paused slightly, clenching his fist in shame before continuing "...Hesitated... upon receiving my orders directly from the scroll" he revealed with disgust "the orders given to me, ordered me to stay my position and forsake the Abaddon territory – saying that it had already fallen... however I ignored those orders and pressed on anyway, in order to make sure I could rescue any survivors... when I arrived I was too late, but had managed to rescue most of not all of the servants – including your sister" once his message was received, he stopped, having conveyed his side of the story perfectly. Ryden crossed his arms, a slight look of understanding dawned on him the more the canvas before him was painted.

Rivia was frozen in silent confusion and shock, her mind rolling about the many things she had once believed that now seemed to only be a fantasy built up by her unfortunate capture and subsequent torture. Ryden wouldn't deny that her torturers had a hand in forging her despair – dropping venomous and smug comments on how she had been 'left to die' by those she considered allies. It was a wound – a wound they most likely constantly forced open.

He could understand her fury... hell hath no fury after all.

Rivia glanced around the room, eyes meeting all the others briefly; drinking in their own looks of seriousness and guilt, before looking back to Ryden – the arbiter – and the one to have seen through the machinations and manipulation of the Old-Satan's ploy. Ryden could see hope within her eyes as well as confusion and doubt, he merely nodded to her in understanding of her desire of him to elaborate further – it was clear to him that Sirzechs' words weren't fully able in providing the information to the Abaddon devil.

"Before we 'jumped' to the Lucifaad territory Rivia; Nyx, Abigail and I were tasked with defusing a Ruina Imperium within the crucible" he shrugged when the woman's eyes briefly flashed with understanding, having heard his part on that in the debriefing. He then smirked at her for no reason before continuing "long story short, we wiped out the insurgence..." then his eyes rolled "However... during this time I was unaware of the fact that the Phenex family and The Stolas family had been in a... shall we say... 'Falling out'" he paused, watching the woman's eyes slightly droop into disappointment

"Let me guess..." she started, voice dripping with sheer annoyance "the foolish council saw it fit to force an arranged marriage between them?" she asked, by that time having basically drowned the devils present in her sheer disdain towards the topic. Ryden noticed the others in the room – surprisingly silent – merely took the venomous comment with a grain of salt, yet only Zekram looked mildly insulted... if even a slight wince could be branded as such.

It seemed now to Ryden, that the more she spoke, the more he was beginning to really like her... ten points for her.

"Yes" was all he said in response

She face palmed at that, clearly annoyed, before glaring at the ground in a heated battle of frustration. Before she went off on a tangent however, Ryden cut in quickly to fully paint the picture – again – for the woman on the verge of rubbing her eyes out in sheer annoyance.

"While I do agree on the stupidity of the tradition, I must inform you that it wasn't an official one... rather a ploy on part of the old-Satan's" he spoke clearly, ignoring the slightly annoyed expression from Zekram Bael.

Rivia's eyes lit up at that, her posture bearing interest in his follow up "How?"

Ryden merely quirked a brow and glanced down – bent over – and picked up the Geass scroll Zekram had placed on the magic table. He unraveled it and read through it briefly – smirked when he found his target – and then read it out loud for all to hear.

"By order of the Great king Bael, and by authority of the Council of the 72, I hereby place the grand command of union onto the families of Phenex and Stolas... by my command, and by my ultimate authority, I hereby command silence onto Indris Phenex regarding this command and I bless full authority onto Lady Stolas; the marriage between Brinyalf Stolas and Rosalina Phenex is at hand, rejoice in this honor" Ryden paused before skipping a few lines.

"By authority of Lady Stolas, an ultimatum has been granted. Should Lord Brinyalf claim Victory over Lord Ryden Vale Gremory during the recruitment tournament, then the marriage is sealed. However, should defeat claim the Stolas Heir, then freedom is granted to Rosalina Phenex..." Ryden paused before looking further down the scroll and then flipped it so Rivia could see the full signature of Lord Zekram Bael on the bottom right of the scroll.

Ryden noticed the swell of anger on the devils face well before a slight swell of demonic energy filled the room. He smirked slightly when the others grew on edge by the reaction but merely shook his head towards them, defusing their nerves slightly, before his hand fell onto the woman's shoulder – catching her by surprise. Ryden smirked after meeting Rivia's annoyed golden orbs before placing the scroll into the woman's hands "It's a forgery" was all he said

Her eyes narrowed briefly at his words while her hands gripped the scroll before scrutinizing it with the harshest of glares. After a moment of intensely glaring at the scroll in her hands, her eyes locked back onto Ryden, doubt swelling clearly in her eyes. "How can you tell?"

Ryden hummed visibly and audibly, his eyes meeting the roof of the tent before they slowing glanced over to the man that had supposedly signed the forged document; Rivia followed his gaze until her eyes met a calm Zekram Bael, once she got the message her nose slightly crinkled at the sheer obviousness before her but she still clung to the doubt within her.

"How are you so sure he is actually here? For all we know he could be an illusion" she suggested but Ryden merely shook his head before gesturing to the scroll in her hands

"That was on his person..." he said before shrugging when her unconvinced eyes returned to look into his. He knew she needed more valid proof, so all he did was – first sigh in slight annoyance – before reaching out towards the devil... and then pinched the air before him.

Zekram's reaction was immediate.

"Ow..." he said suddenly, his hand gripping his neck while his eyes glanced over to Ryden, annoyance being very prevalent in his eyes.

Ryden ignored that before smirking to Rivia "See?"

Rivia however kept her eyes on Ryden, her expression not even changing for a moment before she looked down to the scroll and then to Zekram. The devil in question saw the look and immediately fell into a serious expression, ignoring the sharp tick on his neck that had suddenly sprouted up when Lord Ryden pinched the air... as interested as he was in how he did that, he knew it wasn't the time.

"The Young Lord speaks the truth Lady Abaddon, we've only recently come to the realization that my signature has been replicated somehow by lady Stolas; she had been the one that had kick started the siege on the crucible and we suspect that she was the one to have forged the Geass scroll that had forsaken you" he revealed, showing a slightly angered expression at reasons relating mostly to the traitorous devil.

Ryden then lit up after his words, remembering a small point he wanted to make sure stood out for everyone "Lady Stolas was part of the council right?" he asked, Zekram nodded which caused Ryden to click his tongue "I neglected in mentioning that both Lord and lady Lucifuge had been present during the siege... the latter having been the one to take down Rosalina and indris" he suddenly revealed, garnering looks of shock from all present, even Zekram.

Serafall slightly winced "That would have been good to mention earlier..." she muttered in a slight reprehending tone... Ryden winced as well when Sirzechs and Ajuka gave him a small frown at the neglected information.

"Would it help that I current have a mild headache? One that kinda makes me forget things?" he asked, hoping his actual mental fatigue was a good enough excuse

Sirzechs hummed in understanding before giving the others a small pained smile "I should also mention that his powers do often affect his mental awareness, should he use too much then it's possible he may suffer from mild memory loss"

Ajuka nodded simply at that, having already branded Ryden's mysterious power as a mental ability while Serafall simply shook off the issue – not really caring at the moment.

Zekram however grunted in slight annoyance at the slip up "Just so long as he doesn't bloody forget again" be barked before gripping his chin "It would have been nice to know that that Euclid brat had been the center of the operation, wherever that blasted child goes, something seems to sprout up" he added with a growl while Ryden merely smiled apologetically towards the political powerhouse.

Rivia then opened up, annoyed at the deviation on the subject. "Aside from that, what makes Euclid Lucifuge so important? What connection does he have with this forgery?" she asked in confusion, obviously not fully in the know of the Old-Satan's most intelligent asset.

Ryden scratched his head "Most likely the whole thing..." was all he muttered

Ajuka nodded in agreement before he snapped his finger – causing the scroll involved in the marriage proposal to suddenly appear in the devils hand. "I concur with Lord Ryden, after the events of your fall lady Abaddon; I did a bit of investigation into the making of Geass scrolls and found a few anomalies within the archives at the council" he paused before looking the scroll over, his nose crinkled for a brief second before he glanced back to the Abaddon devil "even now I still can't see the difference on the Scrolls themselves but when I investigated the source I found the system had been hacked or at least tampered with"

"At a distant location..." added Serafall, the petty devil shuffled in her throne seat before elaborating when Rivia locked eyes with her "we collaborated our resources to try and triangulate the location of the hack but its location was erratic; changing locations every second to flash freezing our systems the next... we just couldn't find the culprit" she explained

"However..." she added in, a small smirk of pride welling up onto her lips "my analysts did some digging into intelligence specialist's within the Dantalion nexus and learned that only two beings could create such electorate formulas and counter offenses at such speed and range, given the resources of course. The two beings listed within the nexus were Ajuka Astaroth... and one Euclid Lucifuge; a prodigy in self replicating magic formulas and revolutionizing warfare to a terrifying degree. We knew then that it was him when we found out that he logged in multiple magic crests into the Dantalion Nexus pertaining to invention and creative foundation spells prior to the rise if the Civil war" her words garnered a small expression of understanding on Rivia but her doubt was still there.

"If you knew this... then how come no one knew of the arranged marriage?" asked Rivia, her eyebrow quirked in wonder at the second slip up on their end. If they had known this before the crucible match then the attack wouldn't have happened.

"We didn't..." replied Sirzechs "We had no idea the marriage between the Stolas family and the Phenex family was forged by command of Geass scroll; as the scroll itself implies, Indris had been silenced – meaning he couldn't tell anyone about the full specifics on the marriage and discuss the matter with anyone. He'd been silenced completely and because lady Stolas was the traitor within our ranks, all she had to do was play the tune Euclid had written up and that had been easy... until the match of course" once he finished, Sirzechs tossed a small smirk to Ryden

Ryden smirked to himself at that. It was a good thing he had been present during this time or else many things wouldn't have happened or would have happened, had he not been present. Sure Nyx and Abigail would have been capable of reaching the Ruina imperium but he'd been the only one to defuse it – without him the Bael territory would be in ruins. Rosalina and indris would have been annexed by the Old-Satan's, suffering a fate he didn't want to think about and Rivia... well... he didn't want to think on that either.

He slightly bristled at the mental topic but dropped it in order to try and keep him from thinking about the 'what ifs' and what could have been. At the end of the day, Rivia was alive and well, the Anti-Satan's weren't the political assholes he thought they were, Rosalina was free of any arrange marriages and all five of them were getting medals of some esteem after giving the Old-Satan's the most brutal retaliatory strike ever recorded in military history.

Whatever that was in the end... it was damn good day in his book.

Ryden sighed to himself while Rivia stood before him, eyeing the three generals and Zekram with a slightly unreadable expression, her eyes then glanced down towards the many scrolls on the table – the faked orders forged by the manipulative Old-Satan's sat there – for the most part the flimsy scrolls of slightly high grade match paper seemed harmless to her now but previously they had been the very items that had been her downfall – or in this case 'would' have been her downfall. The whole time of her capture she had believed herself to be totally alone in the world – left for dead by her allies to a fate worse than death itself. She had moments when her mind kept telling her that her sister was killed at the hands of Old-Satan's and that her valiant defense of her retreating servants – while an heroic deed – only served to deepen her despair the more she thought on the possibilities that maybe, they didn't make it.

Her secrets... her family... and her legacy

Gone...

But now... now she stood strong. After three months of wallowing in despair and pain, she now stood before the ones she had assumed her enemies; now learning that they had all been innocent this whole time. The weight that started to lie on her shoulders grew stronger when she remembered the words of Sirzechs, and her sister's survival by his hands – her servants as well had survived. She didn't know it then but her eyes burned with raw emotion; it was one thing to survive a grueling period but another to know that the pain and despair... weren't in vain.

"I..." she croaked out, voice failing "I..." she tried again but still her voice failed her

A small source of warmth fell onto her shoulder, stopping her words and garnering her to turn and see a kind smile on Ryden, his eyes carrying a degree of understanding that Rivia clung to like a life line and small spark that she felt she desperately needed. He had been the one to open her door to freedom, had saved her on the brink of her ultimate despair and had been a small source of comfort in her silent moments of weakness. She barely knew the devil before her, but it felt almost like she knew more about him then she would ever realize. His understanding was familiar – like a kindred spirit – and his passion in seeing to her health was... saint like...

She couldn't stand to be seen by him in this state of hers, she refused to shame herself before him by expressing such fragile emotions... never again.

"Forgive me... but I..." her words only got half way out before she froze. A mad blush sprouted upon her due to the sheer weakness in her own voice and upon realizing this she summon a portal and vanished within the black mass unceremoniously, leaving the room silent for a moment.

A shocked Ryden blinked at the space in which the main subject of the conversation had been standing, he blinked again and then glanced to the devils before him in confusion... all of them blinking in similar confusion at the rather speedy retreat by the Abaddon devil.

Ryden clicked his tongue "well... safe to say we fixed that issue, huh?" he asked plainly

Serafall nodded along with Sirzechs "Seems that way..." muttered the petty devil

Ajuka however took the moment in stride and easily disregarded the emotional retreat by Rivia like it was a normal occurrence and regarded Ryden with clear interest "aside from our friend's departure, I would like to ask you how you came up with your realization – how did you figure the orders were fake?" he asked, easily the most interested in Ryden's deduction skills

Quiet honestly Ryden was surprised it had been such a sticking point for Ajuka, he honestly believed the answer was more obvious then what the subject before him was. On two separate occasions, fake Geass scrolls were distributed and while the first distribution succeeded – for the most part – the second one was more behind the scenes then openly noticed. The Anti-Satan forces had been aware of the forgery of Zekram's signature but they couldn't follow up on who it was until later on, but by that point the damage had already been done.

The Old-Satan's took a risk by trying the same trick twice and it didn't pay off, maybe it would have, had Ryden not been a part of the Gauntlet, but he was. It was clear the Old-Satan's and lady Stolas didn't do their homework on him, or maybe they had but didn't consider the possibility of him possessing far greater power then Brinyalf... not really a big accomplishment but then again, Ryden had been the one to garner the presence of the high-class devils within the gauntlet – had he not been their then Rosalina might not have gotten her Ultimatum.

Ryden wanted to snicker at that bit. It was funny to him how easily he had used the devil's own pride against them – unintentionally no less – and foiled the decade long plans of a woman with more ambition then brains. And now that he thought on that, it was no wonder Abigail's 'headshot' was so clean... there was nothing there to begin with.

Oof

He mulled over Ajuka's question for a moment, his hand scratching his chin momentarily before he nodded at a collected answer "It was more obvious to me..." he started, squinting slight at the ground and then looking up to Zekram "same reason I gave Rivia; The main culprit – if he actually was the culprit – would be Zekram himself, but considering he's present only suggests forgery, which is confirmed by the presences of his signature on all four scrolls"

Ajuka nodded at that, slightly miffed with himself for no reason that could be classified as 'rightful'. It was the intelligent devils habit of competing when it took someone else – other than himself – to figure out an issue faster than he could. His only excuse for himself right now was that while Ryden had figured out the issue on the forgery's, it was mainly due to the fact that he had more evidence provided before him then Ajuka – who had to dig around in order to come up with the evidence Ryden had used to forge his answer... simple, and he was the one to have provided that information along with the assistance of Serafall's analysts.

Ajuka mentally patted himself on the back, trying to ignore the slight disappointment within himself...

"Now all we need to do is figure out who or what had managed to get into the system within the archives and access the signature records" commented Sirzechs, his eyes skimming over the scroll indris had received.

Ryden didn't skip a beat "it was an internal hack from within by lady Stolas" he provided casually. The others merely paused and glanced to Ryden, slightly taken off track by the sheer confidence Ryden exuded from his theory – Ryden noticed the stares and merely blinked "what?"

Serafall deadpanned "how would you know for sure?"

Ryden shrugged "I don't, but I do know that it's the easiest way to acquire classified information with the smallest risks; why risk the possibility of hacking into what I can only assume to be top grade protection Sigils from general Astaroth at long range?" he asked before shrugging again at his own comment "Only an idiot would try that. I'm pretty sure the archives is swamped with defenses and contingencies on all fronts so the best chance someone has is actually the easiest"

Ajuka's eyes rose to meet Ryden's slightly knowing smirk, an understanding dawning on his face at where Ryden's point was leading to. "Lady Stolas..." he muttered, making Ryden's smirk grow just a tad bit larger "... she had access to the archives data from the get go" his hand reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose why Sirzechs hummed at the answer before him.

"That seems more plausible then some kind of advanced hacking sigil" muttered the crimson general

Ryden shrugged again "could've been both..."

Sirzechs glanced to him in wonder again, a deadpanned expression laden on his face as he regarded the human flatly "I'd ask again for you to explain but I fear it would be something obvious... and I fear that it may affect general Astaroth's confidence" for a moment Ryden watched Ajuka shoot a slight glare at the suddenly smirking Sirzechs before sighing out loud... exasperated.

"Well... Lady Stolas didn't strike me as the kind who knew what to look for" Ryden commented, garnering a slight snicker from the silent Zekram Bael. He regarded the devil for a second before continuing "so... maybe she simply brought in an item specifically tasked with hacking; seems much better than relying on a magic sigil as there are too many liabilities in using that. She could have been compromised by magic signatures and possible detection the second a breach is noticed; considering the stakes and the years of preparation for this plan to take fold, they needed to make sure there was no possible way of detection" for the fourth time Ryden shrugged at his words "seems smarter to use a less noticeable item of some kind then risk a sigil"

Once his reasoning was complete a moment of silence descended upon the occupants within the room, Zekram was merely looking at Ryden before shifting his eyes onto Sirzechs for some reason before clicking his tongue while Serafall kept muttering something under her breath; something along the lines of: 'want him' 'need him'... Whatever the petty devil was saying, it slightly unnerved Ryden when the words matched eerily close to the gaze the woman was driving his way and for some reason he felt oddly... 'Unprotected' at the moment; a slight feeling that he was missing something or someone – preferably two people – at his side.

In a rare moment of denseness he couldn't figure out the feeling and merely chocked that up to some innocuous reason he could simply ignore.

Ajuka on the other hand was looking at him with a slightly narrowed gaze, a knowing gaze to be more precise and with every second his eyes remained on him, he felt like he was being put through a CAT scanner set to maximum... it was deeply uncomfortable.

Sirzechs as well... same gaze...

"What?"

The two devils remained silent before the glanced to each other and nodded

Sirzechs locked eyes with Ryden "General Astaroth and I wish to have a conversation with you... privately" was all he said before the two stood up and filed out the tent entrance.

Ryden blinked, Serafall blinked... Zekram Blinked...

Ryden pinched the bridge of his nose "It's like Rivia all over again..." he said before standing up – arms tossed into the air in exasperation "... everyone is just leaving at random" he said with mild annoyance.

He sighed, bowed to the three remaining devils within the room – mildly taking noticed of Praxis still being present – tossed a small apologetic smile to a pouting Serafall and then filed out the tent in order to follow the two strangely silent devils.

Once he was gone though, Zekram released a loud bellowing laugh, shocking both Serafall and Praxis to the core at the sheer genuine nature of it. They both knew the devil was a serious player and a very dangerous enemy in the political field, so dangerous that it even scared the four Generals to a moderate degree. However, to see the normally stoic or often sarcastic devil openly shed humored tears for no reason to their understanding, easily made grasping reality a priority... a laughing Zekram didn't exist in their world, it wasn't normal.

The aforementioned devil released a calming breath when his bought of humor ceased enough for his words to finally escape him "Not once have I witnessed such a devil in my long years..." he breathed out, a content smile adoring his lips as he merely stared at the exit of the tent "... not only does that devil possess great power – like his brother – he also has the smarts to make Ajuka Astaroth feel the need to get competitive, HA!... I never thought I'd see that devil think so much in one time!"

As the older devil laminated, Serafall sat slightly wide eyed at the sheer praise radiating off of Zekram. In her own thoughts she expected to be victim of a long winded bitch fit from the elder devil – she didn't know much about Zekram but he gave off the classic 'old man vibe' and seemed a few choice words away from whining about the old days and respect... this was completely different.

He wasn't like the older nobleman she had been surrounded by... he sounded like an ancient Devil

And they respected power like no other...

Praxis however didn't understand his ancestor's words; quite frankly he disagreed with them completely. He was not willing to admit the disrespectful brat that was Ryden Vale Gremory fully understood who he was talking to and throughout the whole debriefing and the event after, it took all his energy to not give the devil a verbal thrashing... but Sirzechs was present... and considering what happened the last time he opened his mouth about the devil in question, he got the biggest verbal thrashing he'd ever gotten.

General Gremory wasn't well known in giving lessons about respect, but he practically ordered the devil to give Ryden the respect he had suffered for and for the most part, Praxis did. To be the one among five devils to destroy an ancient city like Lucifaad was beyond what he could expect out of his soldiers... But character always changes opinion, and the younger Gremory wasn't a good character in Praxis' book, good soldier? Yes, no doubt but he feared the attitude the Gremory had towards his superiors would most likely be a problem...

...And he hated problems

"With all due respect Ancestor, lord Ryden displayed nothing but disrespect towards you and the other Generals; can he truly be as prodigal as you think?" reasoned Praxis

Zekram actually sneered momentarily before clicking his tongue "Respect had no part in his actions... they didn't need to be" he replied simply

Serafall perked a brow "how so?"

Zekram merely shrugged "respect is only earned, not given just because you got a fancy family name..." he answered, flooring the two devils by his clear disdain toward the most noticeable devil tradition – they didn't expect that opinion from him at all.

"A-ancestor!" stuttered Praxis, his eyes wide at the words spoken by his ancestor "do you not care for his negligence towards your authority? You are the Great King, by law it is required by all to respect the authority of –"

"Political power means nothing towards someone that has absolute power..." interrupted Zekram, coldly shooting down the words from his descendant; he clicked his tongue again before grunting under his breath "harshly spoken words and lethal threats only paint targets for the ones with power... you don't threaten someone's life without taking a few hits in response, that's been the way of hell since its creation eons ago"

Praxis swallowed a lump that had found its place in his throat "you don't mean...?"

Zekram only smirked darkly towards the two devils "You felt it didn't you...?"

The suddenly darker tone coming from Zekram quickly caused Praxis and Serafall to halt their raging thoughts, a cold sweat slowly taking them over when the older devil actually shivered when a fond memory passed him by. The slightly fearful yet nostalgic smile that took Zekram over only sparked confusion within the two devils while the devil in question merely hummed in content.

"I remember the day we allied with the angels and the fallen... the day the dragons made our battlefield their own battle ground for their own squabble. It was such a magnificent sight to behold – terrifying to be sure – but the devils of old always respected power over silver laced words" he paused in his reminiscing and shot Praxis a casual glance "contrary to common belief, we didn't follow Lucifer because of his words alone... no... He was the best of us because he had the power and the intelligence to make the factors of a born leader... truly the finest work of god, tsk... failure as he was" he gently chuckled morbidly at his casual shot at God before falling back into his memory.

"On that day I was only a lowly commander, a peon among the demons, but I got my fair share of combat, however nothing prepared me for the day I had to bath in that powerful aura... it dwarfed Lucifer's by miles, and caked the battlefield in this commanding aura that order submission... Ddraig was his name – the heavenly dragon of domination – power incarnate..." for the first time in a hundred years, Zekram's eyes shown purple in delight – again shocking the two visibly. "Ryden Vale Gremory feels very familiar to that dragon... the whole time I felt like I was sitting before Bael again – a commanding figure – a true being worthy of my respect" he revealed, eyes slowly dwindling down to normal.

The others didn't really know what to say, this feeling Zekram spoke of never reached them as the only thing they saw in Ryden was a kindness unprecedented among devils, yet for some reason the older devil had noticed an undertone that they hadn't? Serafall was exceptional in demonic energy detection – same as Praxis – yet they felt nothing and it was clear to the older devil that they had failed to notice what he had felt...

He chuckled to himself mirthlessly, more frustrated than pleased by the younger generation.

"I didn't expect you to understand, you both never lived under the weight and shadow of the old demons, nor did you fight beside them – experience the beauty in annihilation with them beside you – and because of that you never developed the instinct to detect and recognize power when it stands before you" he said before scoffing "whether it be a mask of kindness or a shroud of malevolence – it matters not in the end"

Serafall swallowed – standing from her throne "Lord Ryden couldn't be what you think he is – he is Sirzechs' kid brother, not a demon of old" she tried to reason but immediately knew her words garnered no change in Zekram's opinion, the devil merely shrugging in response to her words – it was a dodging shrug, not one linked to confusion but rather indifference.

"Believe what you wish General Sitri but be warned..." he said, smirking slightly "... always be aware of the details... it is where the devil is after all"

His word of warning was heard by both devils present, both of them understanding the words clearly, but for Serafall she found herself not agreeing with the apprehension coming from the oldest devil, With both that and the seemingly endless words of praise towards Ryden, created a very ominous image surrounding the hero of the crucible. While she was the youngest general among the others, she was still vastly competent then the rest, so in the end she refused to believe that her earlier assessment on Ryden was misinterpreted – that she had neglected to see the devil within the details.

This was the crux of her frustration, so much so that she excused herself from the command tent in order to clear her mind and gather everything she could on Ryden Vale Gremory.

She just hoped that the devil wasn't what Zekram was painting him to be...

---

Ryden sighed – loudly – while leaning on the back of a brick wall closest to where Sirzechs and Ajuka had disappeared to. He remembered where they vanished but had to stop his tailing in order to staunch the literal automatic fire coming from his nose.

Eight times... he sneezed eight times in a row...

He crinkled his brow, annoyed at the sudden development of what he assumed to be allergies before sniffling and continuing on his trek towards where the two generals vanished. He never sneezed this much in his life and he damn well doubted the cause was because someone was talking about him extensively. Word about him and his – what he now considered 'friends' – accomplishment hadn't gotten around as of yet as it had only been a couple hours since they dipped back into the Bael territory, so it wasn't possible for everyone to know about it yet. He was confirmed in his mental reasoning when he passed a small collection of female lancers and Knights – all of them giving him very open looks of interest – before they carried on about their business when he didn't dive in to mingle with them. Sure he was known, by looks and face right now, but he hadn't been bum rushed by the literal hundreds of other lancers, knights and initiate's scattered around the large fielding area that had been set up a few blocks from the crucible.

That and no one was proclaiming him as a hero while tossing him up in the air followed by a chorus of 'hip-hip hooray'... was that too cliche?

Whatever the case, he wasn't inconvenience on his trip to where Sirzechs and Ajuka disappeared to and by that he actually meant that it wasn't hard to find out where they went. Among the several tents of varies sizes stood something that really wasn't a tent at all. It bared the markings of the Astaroth sigil – an 'A' within intricate markings of some satanic meaning – and was black in color, surprisingly. No green was dominating the building before him, only slight decals of emerald green and jaded glows of some kind of energy shone within a few creases within the outer walls; considering the general that it was owned to, Ryden expected the damn thing to look like a green lunch box.

It was like an F.O.B – Forward operating base. Small, roughly the size of a medium sized condo apartment and a couple stories tall, maybe two and possessed only one window which was tinted enough to look more like a slightly shinier portion of the dark black coating outside and faced towards the large majority of tents and buildings. Ryden stood rooted momentarily; drinking in the sight of the rather futuristic designed building before suddenly shaking his head and approached the side door – which slide open upon his proximity – a small green sigil having lit up just above the door upon his approach.

He quirked a brow at the feature, did the system within possess a selective targeting system?

...or was he over-analyzing things?

Once Ryden stepped inside he made sure the two devils he was searching for were there – they were – before suddenly feeling like he stepped through a time warp. He couldn't really word it, the interior of the building, or whatever it was, was almost exactly like a prop from a star wars movie – arguably more modern then the older ones – and was dominated in a white polished color, accented in varies spots by softly glowing green sigils and light sources – a complete change from what was outside. Directly in the center of the room stood a massive rectangular table that sported varies sigils and holographic formula's that took multiple shapes and features, some even possessing small oddities within them, which ranged from plant life to inorganic matter. Small vial's and scientific items scattered the table in an organised clutter and once Ryden approached the two silently conversing devils he noticed the table surface itself was more like a giant TV screen laid flat like a massive OPSAT station – 'Operational satellite up link' – and was fixed with hundreds of complicated formula and mathematics equations.

"Well shit..." he found himself muttering while making absolutely sure he didn't touch anything. Once his words left his lips he heard the two devils slightly chuckle at his choice of words.

"You're not familiar with this are you?" asked Ajuka with an amused glint in his eye

Ryden nodded his head "No, I'm not familiar with seeing – what I had assumed to be – a technologically underdeveloped species actually possessing advanced technology" he countered, garnering Ajuka's amused glint to slightly plummet. Ryden ignored the look before glancing off to varying items and images displayed before him – nodding as he did so. "You got holographic displays on multiple mathematic formulas regarding what I assume to be relativity... that's pretty neat. You have perfectly designed 3 dimensional displays on geometric maps that span a few thousand miles in all direction on – Again, what I assume to be – your OPSAT computer... or whatever term you guys created" after his list was done he crossed his arms and nodded contently to himself before turning back to the two now stunned devils.

He sighed at their confusion "...What?" he drawled out, annoyed by their continued shock at his show of intelligence.

Ajuka went to say something but caught himself. Sirzechs wanted to say something but seemed more likely to drool out his brain then ask what Ryden knew was his question. He wanted to answer them but fought the desire, it was pointless to divulge his knowledge on his observational skills and knowledge on mathematic equations – it wasn't really hard for him to spot a Seismic Tomography scanner either.

His dad was an engineer of sorts after all.

Sirzechs shook his head in order to rid himself of his confusion while Ajuka merely pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance with himself.

"I take it back..." started Ajuka before he locked eyes with Ryden "...You are very much familiar with this"

Ryden shook his head though "In a sense I am; but I'm sure my knowledge on some things is more limited in the more advanced criteria's because of the lack of magic in my time... I'm sure if my people had a grasp on magic's existence then we would have already colonized a few planets by now" he replied before scoffing, he really wanted that to happen but it seemed like a distant dream with how his species was feeling.

Ajuka's eyes bulged "Colonize... planets..." he repeated in shock.

Sirzechs shook his head at the topic, clearly not believing "That's not possible; the lack of demonic energy on those derelict rocks can't support devil life" he shot down with a shake of his head.

Ryden merely snickered at that, knowing full well the history before dropping the subject "Right... anyways, you guys wanted to talk to me about something?"

Both Ajuka and Sirzechs nodded at his question, following Ryden's train of thought quickly before they fell into action. Sirzechs didn't do anything but gesture to the table before Ryden which lit up when Ajuka tapped the screen – suddenly revealing the display of something of great importance.

"What's this?" he asked with a simple gesture of his hand.

Before him floated the image of a 'T' shaped item of some kind of importance, its make was simplistic in design but arguably supernatural in its entirety. The center portion of the item shown with a green energy with the holographic display showing the item itself was also shrouded in some kind of energy – once his eyes locked onto the shroud, a readout popped up which listed the shield as [immune to conventional means: further investigation required] before vanishing when his eyes turned to look at the two general's now standing to his right.

Sirzechs grunted in response to the question, his eyes locking onto the displayed image "A key – derived from the Dantalion nexus – it's called the 'Omni-key' due to its supposed ability to unlock all locked sigils by a mere touch" he revealed plainly

Ryden quirked a brow "That's kinda foreboding to think about but what's this gotta do with me?"

Ajuka tapped his chin in contemplation "You mentioned the concept of using a physical item in order to access highly classified information without triggering fail safes. We happened to have come across this topic in one of the few classified documents we acquired in our siege on Leviathia"

Hearing that Ryden quickly pinched the bridge of his nose in sudden annoyance, garnering apprehensive looks from the two generals

Sirzechs leaned forward "You've heard of it?" he asked quickly

Ryden tittered his head "I have, yet I haven't – I'm not sure, but I bloody hate myself for forgetting this... again" he replied before pulling the manila folder he acquired from the prisoner carriage back in Lucifaad. "Found this in a carriage that had been escorting Rivia Abaddon to the capital city, it's got contents regarding HVT targets..." he paused before regarding the two devils with a deadpanned expression "All female targets, take a guess as to what those lonely virgins are planning?" he asked with an annoyed glint in his eye.

Ajuka grunted audibly "Nothing I'd repeat in good company..."

Sirzechs nodded, eyes shimmering with clear disgust "I can only imagine..."

Ryden smirked at their knowing gazes before placing the folder on the table and sliding it over to Sirzechs "not sure what you guys were thinking but I thought they were planning a panty raid party... "He shrugged "sounds funnier, less creepy – well... you get the idea"

Sirzechs grunted in slight amusement to Ryden's comedic outlook before handing the pages to Ajuka, already seeing that reading it now was pointless considering the degree of black ink.

"I also came across a project or operation further deeper in the folder, it spoke in regards to an operation: Revenant... ring any bells?"

Sirzechs nodded "Somewhat, but we need to be sure we have all the chips placed in the right area or we'll only ruin our chances in disrupting whatever they are planning" replied the crimson devil who simply glanced over to Ajuka.

Ajuka said nothing in regards to the look Sirzechs gave him; merely taking the folder and stepped off towards a device that resembled a microscope in the far right corner of the room. He placed it on the glass pedestal at the base of the microscope before an array of formulas sprouted from the microscopes 'muzzle', soon after that a beam shot down onto the pages, slight shows of smoke rising from the pages signified something intricate was at play.

"You seem tired..." called out Sirzechs, catching Ryden off guard slightly when the crimson devil was spotted standing beside him

Ryden nodded slowly, eyes feeling slightly heavier by words spoken which actually forced a yawn from him "Seems that way..." he said after his yawn, eyes blinking the blurs away while he regarded the table before him distantly "I didn't expect my first day playing with your team to be this... hectic. But I guess the pay off was worth it" he replied with a small smirk, eyes meeting Sirzechs'.

The devil simply chuckled before turning and leaning slightly on the large computer table beside Ryden "Still gives me slight chills when I remember what you said over the Comm sigil" commented Sirzechs

"What was that?"

"'Give the old Satan's back their bomb'..." he said before smirking at the quote, Ryden gave a small 'ah' in understanding. Sirzechs hummed to himself contently, suddenly showing a side of reflection rather than his usual stoic professionalism "never would have thought those words would have led us to this moment" he paused before locking eyes with the wall ahead of him "...Only time will tell how far we'll make it in this war..."

"You should enjoy it..." replied Ryden, making Sirzechs glance to him in slight shock.

"What do you mean enjoy it? Enjoying the bloodshed of my people isn't something I relish" shot back Sirzechs, clearly not liking Ryden's comment.

Ryden merely raised his hands in surrender "fair enough... I guess opinions differ from grunt to General; while all I got to do is follow orders and kill my enemies, you guys got more on your shoulders then I can fathom... but still..."

"Why would I enjoy it?" Sirzechs suddenly asked, clearly not understanding Ryden's previous words

Ryden nodded before he locked gazes with the wall before himself, but this time his eyes glanced out the window before him – catching sight of the many devils moving about outside. Many of them appeared content, even resolute at the sudden distribution of orders regarding tomorrow's deployment. Ryden studied them closely and from his observation they all appeared, sheltered in a way... untouched by the ungrateful and merciless hand of despair.

Unaware of how much they could loss with a snap of a finger...

Life had a way of creating periods of peaceful solace, even before times of great loss and death there would always be a period of peace, tranquility and acceptance and it was clear to him that the devils before him were experiencing that very feeling. Morale was a double edged sword, he knew that, but it was hard to recognize when it was your time to feel it and it blinded you to the reality of what was to come.

...many called it 'the calm before the storm'

"I saw her you know..." started Ryden suddenly before he looked the devil in the eye "I say Rivia Abaddon at her weakest; the wounds, the blood and the despair in her eyes... I hated it" Ryden suddenly looked down to his hand, clenched tightly and arcing with red sparks – customary reaction when his anger spiked.

"The look in her eyes shown with acceptance... Sirzechs her entire being was already accepting of the fate those bastards orchestrated" very briefly his eyes flashed crimson upon remembering the expression on Rivia – The image causing him to grow cold.

"What happened to her was monstrous; unacceptable and the fate that would have awaited her would have only destined the fates of her killers" spoke Sirzechs

"It shouldn't have come to that in the first place..." replied Ryden, a small frown etched on his brow

Sirzechs only nodded "We are aware of that... the four of us – including Zekram – have come to the conclusion that the Geass scrolls have been compromised, so we have implemented the idea to the council... won't be long before they announce the disposal of the act"

"Regardless of your action's and contingencies and whether you agree or not; I will enjoy taking from them..." he said before looking Sirzechs in the eye again, the blue orbs slightly overshadowed by a crimson hue "the damage they've done is irredeemable, not just to me, but to everyone that has actually lost their lives to them, their despair and anguish snuffed out silently – gone without anyone to hear them but the ones that laugh at their pain" Ryden flexed his hand, hearing the few cracks from his knuckles before stifling a shuttering breath – the memories coming back to him slightly "I'll start one by one... the Lucifuge family, the four descendants, the history they own and the foundations on which they sit upon... everything. The only problem however, is that I only get to do it once"

Sirzechs simply sat there, leaning against the table while listening to the human before him repeat his vows. His mind played on repeat the same thought and feeling he had when Ryden had taken the bomb to Lucifaad; 'pity' being the central aspect of that very thought and now it had come to him again, the feeling that he had unleashed something terrible upon the denizens of the Old-Satan forces; That feeling now however, caused the same reaction when it first appeared, pleasure – a sense of Euphoria – a small feeling that made him believe that whatever Ryden did, somehow extended to him in return. Sirzechs understood the words now, to enjoy it. It may have been because he was a leader and great leader's factor in everything; morale and reputation being the key two aspects in leadership. Happy soldiers that faught under the command of a strong and compassionate leader always led to victory and never to self orchestrated defeat – no general that is hated lives long enough to see the end of a conflict and no one sheds blood for a tyrant willingly. With leadership however, comes a price and that price is personal pleasures – pleasures of the flesh was out of the question, he wasn't like the Generals of old – but he was similar to them. Back before his rise into leadership, he had been something of a 'war hero', but that term was loose when it came to devils. Angels regarded their hero's as 'The blessed honored' while the fallen regarded theirs with great praise and bountiful prizes. Devils however, regarded theirs the same way one would address an apex predator, arch-demon... or primeval.

He didn't possess the title of 'Ruina Nex' for nothing...

That title... bared a steep price.

During this time and era, Sirzechs wasn't raised to be compassionate and caring of others but rather to be brutal, violent, and bloodthirsty and to show zero mercy towards his enemies, be it angel or fallen; nothing would or should have stood before him. His mother had berated him when he sold his freedom to the demon Gremory but she had known that running from the demons would only ended horribly, both for him and for her. Thankfully though, his father had been the pillar his mother had needed; Zeoticus having bared the title of prince among the Gremory family had been the boon for both him and his mother which had set him up quite nicely when he had been drafted into Gremory's legion... all that time after, built up his view on power and hate, it was a darker period in his life but it had been the experience that which had forged him, into the devil he was today... It just seemed now that some old habits still remained.

That bloodlust was still there... having only been tempered down into a calm fury.

Soon after his little trip down memory lane, Sirzechs only nodded before placing a hand on Ryden's shoulder, a small smirk playing on his lips when the human regarded him plainly "I guess we are not so different after all..." commented the devil

Ryden blinked – offhandedly glancing to the hand on his shoulder – before regarding the devil with confusion "How so?"

"We both possess a form of darkness within us..."

.

.

.

Ryden's eyes rose slightly in befuddlement before he coughed into his hand, the slight looks of disgust plainly worn on his features "imma keep it real with you chief, but that... that was cheesy" he said bluntly, flooring Sirzechs with his reply "Take a little of that edge off next time"

Sirzechs stood there momentarily, eyes blinking at Ryden's change in tone before he started mulling over his comment. Slowly, Sirzechs started to nod, his hand meeting the bridge of his nose with a clear sign of resigned annoyance "Aye... I guess it was a bit cheesy"

"Could have just said that we both have issues"

"Pff, you're the one with issues..."

"Ha! Whatever you say you demonic sociopath"

"At least I wasn't the one openly mouthing my deepest desires"

Ryden shrugged "Seemed to fit the moment, sounded cool"

Sirzechs scoffed "It sounded cheesy..."

"Not as cheesy as yours... that's some next level shit right there" Ryden countered with a small chuckle

"Are you both done?" very quickly both Ryden and Sirzechs nearly jumped from their skin when Ajuka seemingly appeared between them, regarding them both with a peculiar deadpan, conveying a unique mix of interest and disinterest so perfectly balanced he looked emotionless. Ryden had to get this devil a piece of pie or something, anything to get a measure on the emotional range the devil was capable of because what he saw only spoke of one love... and that was of invention; everything else matter little else.

So many messages... so little an expression

Sirzechs coughed into his hand before taking the presented document folder from Ajuka, a small nod of thanks in appreciation before he dropped the conversation of banter match against Ryden all together. With no words Sirzechs dived straight into the documents and its contents with gusto.

After a moment of reading – both Ajuka and Ryden simply standing by and waiting awkwardly – before the crimson devil dropped the document down on the holographic table

"Well..." he started with a small sigh "...this answers more than I expected" he muttered.

Ajuka and Ryden met glances, Ryden sporting a much larger degree of confusion then the latter before Sirzechs elaborated on his findings

"The document mentions troop movements towards the cities of Ashfeld and the necropolis as well as increases on border security from both the major capitals like Lucifaad. However we both know what happened to that" his words garnered a small smirk from Ryden before he continued on "It also mentions this operation called 'Revenant' multiple times but the crux of the topic is actually led to the territory of Malphes which honestly makes no sense to me"

"Malphes is where I landed upon my initial arrival here in hell; you said afterwards that it was caked with an energy you don't fully understand – maybe it's actually useful" reasoned Ryden but Sirzechs shook his head

"Not possible, the energy there is toxic beyond the term; I lost two knights to the mist within the second they touched it and they both wore protective suits – whatever it is doesn't like life very much" replied Sirzechs shortly, not at all liking the memory.

Ryden's brow rose at the mention of life being lost while Ajuka hummed at the reply before regarding the image of the Omni-key with an idea folding open in his head "I skimmed over the documents a little and I noticed it mention the Omni-key so I think they will try and use it to lock away the mist's natural toxicity; dilute this toxic effect to a more stable and less volatile state" he said, Ryden found himself considering the idea himself.

Sirzechs simply shook his head, his eyes wielding doubt. "That's a big 'what if' on their part. Even the protective gear my knights wore was corroded down into simmering embers and that was Dragonite metal plating. Why would they think some simple stick made out of black iron and terranite metal could beat what dragonite couldn't?"

Ajuka rose his hands in surrender at Sirzechs' words "Just a guess, the Omni-key is capable of diluting magic energy to near uselessness for as long as the key is present, I was only hypothesizing the idea"

By the sounds of it, Ryden figured this key could do some pretty impressive things if a genius like Ajuka was considering it to be a useful item to dilute a killing mist – that just kinda seemed unrealistic but then again... a key that can unlock anything was unrealistic as well... guess he had to start considering everything when it came to the supernatural. His eyes blinked away his skepticism before they glanced up to Sirzechs and Ajuka "By listening to you guys, I'm assuming we don't possess this Omni-key?" asked Ryden and immediately upon asking a slight deadpan over took his eyes when Sirzechs shook his head at his question.

"You are correct... they managed to destroy the original one many years ago and created a perfect copy from its stolen blueprints during a riot some couple decades age" he informed

Ryden's brow quirked at that "That seems impossible to accomplish, considering its ownership is to the Dantalion family; I highly doubt creating something like an Omni-key would be easy – if I'm factoring in its capability right then mimicking the concept should be near impossible" Sirzechs lightly smirked at his reasoning but it was clear Ryden didn't know the full picture.

"That may be so, but if one controlled the mines and refineries within the territory of thorns, they would control the rare resources within. Remaking something such as an Omni-key is relatively easy in that case; they have the blue print and the resources to make them and I believe Euclid Lucifuge had a hand in its creation" replied Sirzechs.

Ryden rubbed his chin "if that's the case, is it possible there could be multiple Omni-key's running around? This Omni-key you speak of would've been the perfect item to use for an infiltration job – or an inside job really"

Ajuka's brow flinched upon hearing the words from Ryden before glancing to Sirzechs "Ryden has a point. For all we know there could be hundreds of these keys in creation" Ajuka paused before he snapped his figures when a further theory reached him "speaking of which, you didn't happen to find any sigils on Lady Stolas' person did you?"

Sirzechs mulled over the question before he shook his head "No, the autopsy team scanned everything; they didn't find any sigils or even scars on her body" he replied

Ajuka didn't seem fully convinced so he pressed his reasoning – though he seemed more anxious in his words "The Old-Satan's have proven to resort to... 'Questionable' methods in order to make sure information is not divulge..." Ajuka paused, appearing to be slightly sickened at an idea in his head but with a deep sigh he pressed on "...did you check the three orifices?"

Ryden blanched as did Sirzechs upon Ajuka's question; the both of them suddenly becoming greener then Ajuka's hair. Ryden shook his head and cleared his throat, stanching a very awkward image from invading his mind before regarding Ajuka with a troubled gaze "I really hope what you just said was a hallucination... I just – no, that was a joke right?" Ajuka crinkled his nose at Ryden's words, feeling the same amount of disgust at the idea but didn't relent – much to his own pressed disgust.

"It's a possibility the Old-Satan's used a life link sigil – a door way spell that allows one to summon an item of importance from a collective nexus space – upon death the door closes and access to the space is canceled but the sigil on the individuals body remains" Ajuka's voice surprisingly wavered, his eyes closing in annoyance before he pressed on with a continued nausea "its location is custom, it can be placed anywhere on the individual's body, even... there"

Ryden's eyes bulged from his sockets before he immediately turned from the table and the two devils "Aw hell naw!" he wailed before he began pacing around the room

Sirzechs however, remained much more calm and merely rubbed his face harshly, his eyes becoming more resigned then appalled before he pursed his lips and took a deep breath in "This has gotten out of hand – surely you can't truly believe lady Stolas would resort to such lengths as this?" he tried to reason but Ajuka simply shook his head, his eyes shone with understanding but it was clear he was resolute in his theory.

"The Old-Satan's resort to dirty tricks and use our moral's against us – if it means underhanded principles then I'm sure they would use it; if anything, I'm surprised I haven't realized this sooner" he replied with an equally troubled look as Ryden's, the only thing missing was the hand that covered the latter's mouth and the energy to pace around the room in extreme disgust.

"Old-Satan's are sick as fuck!" he wailed

Sirzechs cursed to himself "by Satan's balls, I didn't think this day would reach this level of depravity" he said while rubbing his face even harder. The crimson Satan merely stood rooted in his spot for maybe a few moments before sighing loudly, his resigned eyes locking onto Ajuka's "promise me this old friend..." he started, garnering Ajuka's attention fully.

"Yes?"

"...Should the day come when I find a wife, promise me this conversation never reaches her ears... under no circumstance should this conversation ever be repeated"

"I understand Sirzechs... lips are sealed"

Sirzechs then looked to Ryden, the human looking every bit as awestruck that he was actually following through with the task at hand – he didn't even get picked to do it! All Sirzechs was doing was grabbing it by the short and curlies and going the distance... Ryden was impressed... and disgusted...

"Did you hear me brother?" asked Sirzechs, snapping Ryden from his mind

He blinked at the sarcastic tone before tittering on the idea, soon enough a look of pain over took his expression "aye... I don't think I'll remember this after a good night sleep so you're good to go brother..." he assured before adopting a small smirk"...just don't make eye contact"

The words from the human only caused the devil to groan at the morbid joke "Please... don't make this harder than it already is"

"Good thing she won't be..."

Sirzechs' eyes shot wide open – much the same as Ajuka's – when the comeback was fully registered by the two generals. Ajuka shook his head in a shudder while Sirzechs reached up slowly and rubbed his face for the third time, both devils completely floored by Ryden's morbid joke while Ryden himself actually developed a massive grin – pained and disturbed as it was, it still showed clear amusement at the comment.

"Scratch my earlier comment, I didn't think this day would reach this level of depravity... by the Satan's" commented Sirzechs with such high levels of exasperation, he looked more akin to a ghost then a devil.

"I second that..." agreed Ajuka, appearing more gray then green

"Oh come on! I don't care who you are but that was funny" laminated Ryden as the two devils regarded him hesitantly

Sirzechs sighed "Whatever you say Ryden..." he said before nodding to Ajuka "I'll be back with news if I find anything..." he informed before sighing again "I bloody hope I do"

Ajuka nodded before waving to the slowly retreating devil "I'll be here if you do find anything"

Without another word Sirzechs disappeared through the door, resigned to the task at hand but resolute enough to get it done.

With the soft hiss of the slide doors closing followed by a small click signified the two were alone. An aura of silence dropped over the room. Ryden softly chuckled to himself – a progressive show of amusement – before staunching it with a small comment "Is he always this heroic?"

Ajuka had no exact answer but he did have an accurate one for this specific moment. He coughed to himself mildly before answering "For this I highly doubt... but he has his moments – for one I'm surprised he did, considering it related to a woman's dignity. He's not one to shame a woman... dead or alive"

Ryden's expression shifted to disgust again when the full meaning of the green general's words reached him before he violently shook it off "Change of subject, please... my limit is two morbid jokes a day, any more and I think I may become a memer"

"That makes two of us... though I do not know what this 'memer' is"

"Don't worry about it"

Without another word Ajuka turned and stepped over to the left side corner of the room and tap a small data pad that sat pressed to the wall. He installed a code before a large sigil sprouted from the ground; as the green sigil began constructing something, Ryden stepped to Ajuka's right – eyes watching as a table of some kind began its materialization. Its resembled a normal science table usually found in a lab, however this one didn't contain an array of beakers and vials but rather sigils and 3D imaging displays that merely floated weightlessly in the air above it. Once the table appeared so did a single chair which was placed at the foot of the long lab table. The chair itself resembled the table's futuristic design – tall and sleek white with comfortable padding and adorned with a series of sigils located around the area where the head would rest.

Ajuka clicked his tongue; the materialization could have been faster which meant he could try and increase the speed later during his free time but for now he had a small task at hand. His eyes glanced to a confused Ryden before adopting a small and rare smirk of interest.

"So... about that weapon..." he inquired

Ryden's eyes lit up "Ooohohoho" he chuckled before rubbing his hands together "this'll be fun..."

Ajuka rolled his eyes at the human's sudden enthusiasm but found he could not disagree with the notion. Unlike what his eyes said, he was genuinely interested in what weapon Ryden had chosen to forge and while his interest in weapon forging was abysmal, he found he could pass up the opportunity to see what the advanced human had in mind... key word being the final two words.

"Take a seat in the chair and relax into the sigil scanners..." he instructed

Surprisingly though Ryden didn't immediately jump into the chair but rather regarded him inquisitively – eyes shown with interest in the procedure. The look was surprising to him; while he was best friends with Sirzechs, the bond they shared was forged in combat and not by a shared interest, Sirzechs was bold and brash and often times seemed far to reckless for a General. He on the other hand didn't pick battles at random and chose to approach conflict with a sort of strategy rather than sheer will power and brute force... Sirzechs would always disagree with him on this which only enforced the idea that if they hadn't met on the battlefield then they would be complete enemies – share the same goal yes but there would be a tension present... a very noticeable one at that.

War forges the strangest bonds it seemed

Aside from that however, Ryden appeared differently and seemed more different then Sirzechs to a few degrees that Ajuka could fully appreciate. One was the human's clear intelligence and extremely potent common sense and observational skill as well as charisma – Sirzechs did possess these traits but seemed more interested in blowing stuff up rather then consider the options. His observations were so good that he actually sent himself for a loop during the debriefing and the following event regarding Rivia Abaddon's tragedy. The second was the human's interest in his inventions and skills as a prodigal magic caster – which was visible now. Rather than jump head long into a process he hardly knew, the human merely stopped and listened, clearly showing signs of interest in the process. It was beyond Ajuka's ability to describe it but having no one to express his inventions and magic formula to at length and detail was extremely exhausting. Serafall was a patient woman but didn't posses his level of intellect so she couldn't really follow no matter how long she held that smile of hers... he could tell someone was confused just by their silence alone.

Ryden however inquired on subjects, sought knowledge on those subjects and challenge it with counter arguments and observations, EXACTLY what Ajuka sought for himself... someone who could listen and learn and benefit from his lessons. Sure the human didn't possess his level of intellect but it was there... the potential was limitless with what the human was made of... his brain had a lot more going for it then even his and he knew some time in the future Ryden would push to a mantle far beyond his.

The only question Ajuka had was 'what the hell did he care so much!?'

His brow creased before he shook of his own annoyance, his excitement was beginning to bother him so he staunched it with a small sigh, his eyes regarding the inquisitive human with an almost bored gaze – countered by a small barely noticed smirk.

He grunted in question to the humans stare

"What's the sigils do?" was all he asked, showing signs of apprehension towards the aforementioned spell constructs

He blinked before easily replying "I wish to get the mental image for the design of the weapon you wish to forge, the sigils help in clearing one's mind of the usual clutter so I can get an exact image to use as a blueprint" he explained, leaving Ryden nodding along with clear interest.

"T-that makes this a lot easier..." replied Ryden, eyes blinking in surprise "does it allow for demonstration? Or is it just imagery?" he pressed.

Ajuka blinked before gathering his memory on the chair and its sigil's. Truthfully the jade devil hadn't a clue; he had tried it a few times a few decades ago but it was mostly in forging the other commodities within his large mobile lab. The only thing needed was a mental image, nothing for demonstration but he sometimes outdid himself on curtain inventions so it was worth a shot.

"We shall see; I've have a small time with this invention so it's a possibility that it may only be imagery... why do you ask for it to demonstrate?"

Ryden shrugged at the question before sitting in the tall chair "The weapon I want forged is a common weapon used in my time but it's incredibly complex in its creation. I can't say I'll know the full means to its construction so I was hoping by demonstrating its function and what it does would spark understanding in you... magic might help – hell I think magic might make this normally under powered weapon a bit overkill, which is exactly what I want" he said clearly, head slowly resting into the gentle head rest – sigils glowing as he did so.

Ajuka nodded at the explanation and slightly grew more restless at the weapon this human would construct. He nodded to Ryden who returned the gesture before taping a small sigil by the end of the table in front of Ryden. While Ajuka tapped some more on the table, Ryden drew up the image of the weapon he wanted forged and slightly smirked at its design when it popped up clearly in his head. It was like a picture was placed perfectly in his mind, completely alone and unblemished by mental fog and rapid thought drifts which allowed him freedom to create details designs and symbols that normal would appear fuzzy in the mind. Ryden nodded contently at his already established design but the image didn't display itself before him as Ajuka hadn't connected the link to his thoughts yet... he worked fast.

Seconds later, Ajuka caught up...

The jade devils eyes lit up slightly while Ryden smirked along with the devils show of surprise at the weapon displayed. By Ryden's own mental description the weapon was in fact the most common and modern weapon in the 21st century

A gun...

With the amount of dragonite he had at his disposal, he only had enough to forge small arms weapons and his three major options where a short sword, a rapier, or he could shoot for the skies and build a freaking hand cannon...

Obviously, Ryden chose the latter almost immediately...

"Keep hold of the image, fine tune it and make sure you have every detail you want in the weapon, everything from engravings to an insignia or even a name" instructed Ajuka as he hovered over a small sigil and waited for Ryden.

the fake Gremory nodded before thinking more freely on the weapons engravings and identification before smirking and adding details along the barrel, cross hair, and handle before adding in a small demonstration on how he believed would be the most efficient way in using it constantly... every man or woman dreamed of infinite ammo and only nerds liked reloading, so Ryden did away with the idea and decide to show the weapon absorbing energy from the wielder before discharging the shot off screen. Ajuka nodded at the display – showing more signs of intrigue – before looking to Ryden.

"Is that every detail?"

Ryden nodded, Ajuka tapped the sigil an instant later, freezing the image in place before standing back to drink in the image of the weapon. He was impressed by the mental craftsmanship; everything looked sleek and nothing stood out like a sore thumb. Ryden smirked as well at his creation before standing up and looking the image over completely.

The weapon was close to a western revolver before it was dipped into both the anime pool and the edgy pool of awesomeness. The design was heavily detailed by base design of Vincent Valentine's Cerberus handgun... mental imaging technology sure did help in making small dreams come true and Ryden had wanted to hold that beauty in his hands ever since stumbling upon it some years ago, and when Ajuka said he'd be using mental imaging technology to capture the full image let Ryden get carried away with the design.

It was a double action, triple barreled, triple cylinder revolver and triple hammered revolver ornamented with scroll work patterns that led up to a triplet set of small dog head's in place of the iron sights on each barrel, the additions Ryden had added were slight tweak's to the bulkiness of the weapon itself, so to allow for quicker handling. The cartridges were narrowed down and stood out less and the barrel was slightly extended by an inch to accommodate the drop in caliber which turned the previously humongous weapon into a slightly smaller brand of 'big'. The break action reload function was done away with as he intended to use the weapon without need of reloading, while the rest of his additions only seemed to be slight inscribing's and personal decals. On the right side of the handle was an symbol he had made on the spot; it was a standard 'ace of spades' card design with a Gothic 'V' in the center which stood in reference to the Vale family name. On the left side of the handle was the Gremory family crest – a small token towards the hospitable devil family.

The original Vincent Valentine revolver possessed a Cerberus chain that dangled from the handle but Ryden had dropped the idea and simply added in a small inscribing on both the left and right of the barrel which read 'Facta, Non Verba' meaning 'actions, not words' in Latin.

He smirked almost darkly as he drank in the image of the fully detailed revolver "I never thought I'd get to see this thing up close and so perfectly designed – even the small additions I made only sprinkle a little splendor to it" he said contently

Ajuka glanced to Ryden "Why do you say that? Isn't this a common weapon in your time?"

"In most people's dreams yes, it is, but its practicality for use is absurd and the design is well beyond the term 'overkill'. The size of the weapon is relatively close to a larger Caliber magnum – my times description of a cannon in one hand, commonly known as a 'hand cannon' in simplistic terms" replied Ryden as he glanced from his creation to Ajuka "The weapon discharges a payload measured in Calibers; the largest being .500 caliber rounds for small arms weaponry which creates 3000 foot-pounds of energy and moves at 2000 feet per second... that's 2x the speed of sound"

Ajuka's eyes bulged, shocked at the speed in which these weapons could achieve "That's the maximum speed these can achieve?"

Ryden smirked again "For a hand cannon sure, but we usually use these weapons for 'show and tell'; only idiots and flashy warlords carry magnums around because they are probably lacking something below the belt"

Ajuka sprouted a rare and teasing smirk "Are you lacking something?"

Ryden's head bobbed to the side while his eyes regarded the devil lazily, sparking a slightly larger glint to appear in the devils eyes "Ha. Ha. Very funny, but no" he drawled before collecting himself and defending his dignity "The reason I say that is because using a .500 caliber weapon is literally the dumbest thing to use against a human target. First reason being the obvious; humans are generally weaker in the physical department, so a .500 caliber round is so far beyond overkill it kills the word to describe it! The only valid use I can see it being used for is when you have a burning hatred for the person your shooting and your wrist; the recoil will rip the shit out of it!" shot back Ryden with gusto

Ajuka merely nodded at that before ushering the human to settle down which he did with no further bout of loud words. Ajuka would make sure he didn't insult the human's masculinity again – he was oddly tender on that subject

Moving on

"Anyways... aside from its conventional uses in my time, I was wondering if you can magic the shit out of it so it can be used indefinitely; the weapons in my time use a finite ammo supply which is one of the biggest issues it has... ammo shortages is never a good thing to have" explained Ryden, gently coughing into his hand.

Ajuka didn't say anything, rather he turned to the image of the gun and mulled over the options he had. Frankly, it wasn't as if the options were limited but so vast in number that Ajuka had a hard time coming up with an optimal outcome. He clicked his tongue "Perhaps if I... that may work" he muttered to himself. Ajuka was at this for more than a minute until he snapped his fingers five minutes after dwelling in deep thought, his eyes locking with Ryden with clear pride in his outcome like a hawk spotting prey.

Slightly unnerved the human...

"Did you figure out an option?" he asked

Ajuka nodded "I've come up with a large variety of concoctions that would be best suited for this weapon" he revealed, Ajuka cleared his throat before continuing "since you desire it to be used indefinitely, I can add in a few demonic sigils into the metal frame work and create a vacuum function; this will automatically absorb energy from whoever wields it"

Ryden nodded "What about adding a biometric security feature?"

Suddenly Ajuka smirked, almost darkly at the idea before nodding "This will prove to be a slight challenge but I can see what I can do – I've always enjoyed a challenge after all..." the tone coming from the jade devil was in short very spooky but very quickly the odd aura around Ajuka faded with the shaking of his head. The devil apologized under his breath before gesturing towards the three hammers at the back of the revolver "I noticed the placement of these... what where they?"

"Hammers... originally they were used to prime the chemical in the ammo which is the magic behind the modern firearm" informed Ryden

"Right... then these 'hammers' prove no use for you, but I did find an alternative function..." Ajuka tapped the screen on the table before grabbing the holographic image and holding the weapon by the barrel, his finger gesturing to the spot in which the hammer should strike "... what if I added a different type of 'shot' with each different hammer?" he asked

Ryden's eyes nearly bulged from his sockets at the brilliant idea before he smiled darkly at the prospect, his hands rubbing together diabolically "what 'flavors' you got in mind?"

Ajuka shrugged "that depends... what's this weapon gonna be used against? Against devils I have a few in mind but they only share slight difference in effect"

Ryden had an easy answer "The dragonite was gifted to me by Tiamat in order for me to forge a weapon to fight her with..."

"Oh right, you told me that already" replied Ajuka before eyeing with hologram in his hand "I can see the uses of this weapon to be more appreciative towards a variety style of use; bottom left hammer could absorb elemental energies – like the Infernum Armis on your back. Bottom right hammer could absorb anti infantry..."

Ryden's eyes shot up "Anti-infantry?"

Ajuka smirked before answering "Explosive spells, armor piercing spells, incendiary spells, hellbite spells... the list is endless"

Ryden's eyes lit up again for the hundredth time that day "The heck is hellbite?" he had to ask

"A spell that sends a small fire based projectile that burrows into the skin and ignites when the energy enters the targets demonic energy stream, turning the individuals own power source into a bomb, the bigger energy source, the bigger the explosion... it's a fan favorite" drawled Ajuka before his nose crinkled "a very messy one..."

Ryden blinked rapidly, his eyes wide in shock and horror before his head slowly slide back – his look of horror morphing into a grin, that is until that very grin grew further into a very disturbing smile. His hands slide down his face in a sensual manner, while his eyes closed gently... a shudder escaping his lips. "~Oooooh baby yes...~" he moaned

Ajuka took one step back "stop that..." he said curtly, awkwardly looking anywhere but Ryden's direction

"Stop what?" replied Ryden, his little moment vanishing the second Ajuka spoke

Ajuka merely shook his head with a small disturbed frown "Nothing..."

Ryden hummed at the reply before gesturing with a nod towards the top hammer "so what's the top hammer gonna do?" he asked before waving his hands suddenly "Just so we're clear, I'm not trying to kill the dragon – the whole point of the fight is to get her to fight with us"

The jade General nodded "I'm aware... I think the top hammer should be a Zenith spell – a spell that absorbs an absurd amount of archaic energy from the caster and the area around him into a finalized state before releasing it. It's completely controllable in its measurement, but its cost is nothing to scoff at" he explained clearly

Ryden nodded before tapping a finger to his chin "so by doing this feature means I can only shoot when the hammer is pulled back?"

Ajuka shook his head "I know that in combat, the less choices present leads to fewer fatalities afterwards, so the hammer feature is strictly optional. All it'll do is open fast options in more controlled areas for situational responses, otherwise the weapon fires regular spell bullets – higher caliber then normal of course and can be modified on the fly when needed just as you would when casting a spell"

"Perfect... so how do we start the building process?" inquired Ryden, eyes brimming with excitement

Ajuka merely stepped back from his spot by the table and tapped a lower function below the surface; Ryden heard a small hiss from the act before the devil held out his hand towards him. The devil didn't really need to word the obvious question because Ryden already had the slab ready, which Ajuka took and placed within what Ryden assumed to be a compartment.

Soon enough Ajuka rolled his shoulders before rubbing the bridge of his nose "This should take a while to complete the forging process. It should be done before the deployment hour tomorrow; just come by when you can and pick up the weapon... I think I can even whip up a holster for you"

Ryden flinched back in surprise at the bonus "how did you know I needed a holster?"

The devil merely shrugged "because swords need scabbards, this may not be a sword but its best to have a weapon at the ready whenever possible; popping weapons from rifts in space takes too much time and concentration" reasoned Ajuka, a small smirk developing when his point hit home

Ryden deadpanned before releasing a small sigh "...Sirzechs tell you?" he asked, obviously knowing the crimson Satan had told someone that little mistake he made with Brinyalf... always the minor mistakes.

"Mhmm..." hummed Ajuka as he plopped down into a chair by the forgery table "He told me everything about all three of your battles, and then Brinyalf's... impressive skill by the way"

Ryden coughed into his hand, embarrassed by the call out "eer...right, thanks" he muttered awkwardly before piping back up "...make it a thigh holster?"

"Left leg or right leg?"

"Right leg... if it's not enough trouble that is..." added Ryden with a slightly troubled expression

Ajuka shrugged "Not really; most of the briefings and meetings are complete, every soldier from here to the end of the Bael territory knows the objective we will be doing tomorrow so I have nothing to do... for once I actually have time to do what I want. Fortunately for you, I find forging this weapon to be quite the task" he said before eyeing the holographic image of Ryden's revolver "I'm normally running around trying to gather materials for my future project but right now I seem to have time to myself"

Ryden nodded with a small smile before giving the General a slight bow in appreciation "this is all the more reason for me to voice my appreciation... thank you, general, for doing this for me"

Ajuka nodded back "your very welcome Lord Ryden" he replied before tapping his chin in wonder "by the way...What shall I name this?" he asked while gesturing towards the Holographic weapon "I like to keep files on all inventions and creations I create, it makes remaking them or duplicating them easier... perhaps I could even upgrade the weapon sometime in the future"

Ryden stood there for a second, frozen in place while processing what was happening before him. His eyes looked slightly wide and his lips where slightly parted in a state of silent shock. Aside from feeling like James bond, the idea that Ajuka was going to file away the weapons blueprint unnerved Ryden to an extent, but he easily dropped that notion. Even if this was the point in devil history when they gathered the know-how on creating simplistic firearms, IE; guns; the damage they could already deal was higher than humans. With everything they possessed already – spells that make nukes look like fire crackers, personal inherited powers that can level continents – a simple desert eagle in the hands of a common devil would only make them more acceptable in modern times... and it may even give the lower ranking devils a way to defend themselves from the more 'morally challenged' nobles.

All he had to do was wait for the royalty check in the mail...

However, even with this knowledge, Ryden knew he had to make sure history was not overwritten by his actions. Should the devils begin mass production of firearms, then when the devils travel to earth – and they have already – then they are susceptible to sharing with their human contractors. Humans are naturally curious in nature, especially towards technology and knowledge in advancement for science, all a devil would need to do is play a small game of 'show and tell' – demonstrate the devastating power of a revolver – and then make a trade when the ambitious human drops to the floor in awe and begs for any kind of deal... that was not acceptable. If the human race developed firearms now, then he had no idea what state humanity would be in, in the future. With his knowledge on the existence of devils, angels, fallen angels, dragons, monsters and – god forbid – aliens, then the outcome of the advancement in technology may make humanity a even bigger target then it is already... well... it's really not considered a threat at this point but rather an easily manipulated and tempted child.

God only knew what would happen they experienced a singularity at this point in history. The humans would either become the strongest species to ever walk the earth or fall into extinction when the angels or devils finally snap and go 'fuck it' and jump the child with a big red gun... Ryden didn't want that outcome and he had to make sure that that path was never explored... so he had to make sure it never opened up in the first place.

Ryden cleared his throat, his eyes locking onto Ajuka's with clear resolve "Before I give you a name, I need you to promise me that this information is never made public... no replication is to be made, no information on the weapons construction is to be distributed and above all else... this conversation and the product that was developed never existed" Ryden informed seriously, causing Ajuka's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

The devil mulled over the words for a second before nodding slowly "You wish to safe guard the continuity of human history, make sure the advanced technology of your time never intertwines with this time period..." Ajuka sighed before nodding again.

Ryden nodded resolutely "yes, humanity is to evolve on its own... not by the hand of a species that could manipulate it"

Ajuka nodded a third time before commenting "Then this conversation never existed, lord Ryden... I will keep the file of the creation and its name but its details and recipe for construction will be destroyed upon the finalization of its creation, I will even make you be the one to destroy the information, in order to make sure there were no backups made before completion"

Ryden bowed again, slightly deeper than before "thank you for your understanding, General"

Ajuka stood up calmly "think nothing of this Lord Ryden..." he said before resting a hand on Ryden's shoulder "we both have our species' best interest in our minds and hearts; mine is the devil race, yours is humanity. Sacrifices will be made and blood will be split to safe guard our own and the survival of our own species..." he said before locking eyes with Ryden's. "I'm glad you are aware of the responsibility you bare... at first I didn't think you knew"

Ryden blinked "responsibility?" he asked in confusion, mind not at all grasping the burden he had born on his back the moment he arrived in hell.

Ajuka gave Ryden a small look of pity, before replying – words solemn in their execution "he who knows the future, bears the burden on its fruition; take heed lord Ryden... while others believe knowledge of the future is a gift, there are those that know of its price... from here on out, the changes that befalls history... are on you" warned Ajuka, hand dropping from Ryden's shoulder.

Ryden wasn't aware of it before but now he was. The words that came from Ajuka caused a wave of Goosebumps to line his skin and the air in the room grew heavier than it had before. He couldn't explain this feeling and he doubted he ever would; to sit in hell of all places and realize that your history – as well as the history of your species – rested on your shoulders alone... kinda made you feel relevant for once.

"Clutch or kick..." muttered Ryden, a small morbid grin gripping his features before he nodded to Ajuka, a resolute breath escaping him "I'll keep that in mind General... one step at a time, right?"

The devil smirked lightly at the reply, having expected apprehension and fear within Ryden's eyes yet strangely he noticed the smirk the human picked up after a moment of taking in his words... the follow up words only sparked a light etching smirk on the corner of Ajuka's lips.

"Indeed..." he muttered, silently in awe at the human's resolution and strength of will. Ajuka clicked his tongue at the thought before walking back to the table "So... what shall the name of this weapon be?" he asked after a moment of tinkering with the control panel before him, the tab for the file name induction primed and waiting.

"Cerberus..." was all Ryden said, not even giving a moment of thought on the matter.

Ajuka blinked at the odd choice before noticing the weapons biggest feature... the jade devil smirked soon after realizing the brilliance with the choice; completely unaware that Ryden merely chose to keep the original name of the weapons design in homage to its origin and original creator.

"Three heads, born in blackened steel, wielding flames that none shall feel" quoted Ajuka, garnering an oddly intrigued look from Ryden. The aforementioned human blinked into nod, his lips turning into an appreciative frown. The quote or poem spoke in perfect tune to what he had been thinking... no one in front of a gun – a loaded and ready one – usually lives to feel the bullet... Ajuka was directly on point with that idea.

Ryden smirked "Add that to the left side of the barrel... it fits the description of the weapon perfectly"

"You think so?"

He nodded "Damn right, I'm slightly bummed out that I didn't come up with that first"

Ajuka nodded, tapped a few panels before nodding to himself and then to Ryden "The file is up for only today... when you come here tomorrow, the weapon will be finished and waiting" he then placed a small piece of paper in Ryden's hand "This sigil will destroy the details of the file and everything regarding the creation, just place it on the table when you arrive, the system will do the rest"

Ryden nodded once before looking the paper over and then nodded again towards Ajuka, paper sigil disappearing into his coat pocket. "I would say thanks again but I think you're getting tired of the formalities"

A small chuckle ripple through Ajuka before he nodded "And I'd ask how you knew that but I think you're getting tired of all questions"

Ryden laughed, mirthful at being called out. He didn't think anyone had noticed his annoyance during the debriefing but now he knew at least one had noticed... thank god Praxis hadn't... or had he? Ryden shook his head to rid himself of the thought before standing up and stretching – unknowingly having sat back down in the chair behind him some few minutes ago.

"Guess I'm off to rest..." he muttered before chuckling to himself again "wonder what legendary city I'll get to destroy tomorrow?" he asked himself, garnering a slightly sheepish glance from Ajuka.

"I'd take a break of breaking the impossible lord Ryden, Sirzechs nearly had a heart attack when you told him about Lucifaad" he commented

"I know... damn near saw his heart spring from his chest" replied Ryden with a shit eating grin. "Anyways, I'm off... eer..." he paused before looking to Ajuka, a slightly hopeless expression laid on his face "you wouldn't happen to know where I'm sleeping right?"

"Do I look like your mother?" asked the slightly miffed General

"No... Nowhere near actually, but you do look like someone with information" retorted Ryden with a clear expression, no sarcasm or anything... literally a genuine response.

Ajuka grunted at that; Serafall said he was bad at teasing but he didn't really know how bad he was. He shook his head to rid himself of the shameful title the petty General had branded him with before replying "whenever you're close to base camp, always keep an eye out for your family sigil... basically just go and look for a massive tent with the Gremory sigil on it, the field maids and butlers are in charge of making sure your belongings are always within your tent so don't be afraid of leaving personal items within"

Ryden nodded at the information before giving the devil a thumbs up gesture "ten-four chief, thanks a million" thanked Ryden before he stepped out the sliding doors, clearly intent on find his personal quarters.

Ajuka blinked "Ten-four? What the hell did that mean?"

He didn't get a response to his question but he didn't really care, he had a weapon to forge after all...

-X-

Sirzechs was unnerved, understandably so with what kind of task he had before him. The conversation he had with Ryden and Ajuka was quick but its contents left much to the imagination. For Sirzechs his task clear but rift with a disturbing end... a more disturbing 'dignified' end, mind you.

He found himself frowning deeply when his thoughts rolled back to his – rather disgusting – task at hand. In regards to finding out how the Old-Satan's had managed to acquire classified data on high ranking signatures and the process in which they had kept it secret. The theory was simple to understand; Lady Stolas was most likely the one to have assisted in acquiring the classified data by use of an Omni-key, this in turn was theorized to be a mass produced key – by actions of the Old-Satan's – that had drastically assisted Lady Stolas in her theft.

However, the means in keeping the object secret was the main culprit in his nervousness. A Nexus sigil was a self explanatory spell that linked multiple items to a gate way vault in demonic space – a pocket dimension that which multiple people can access, should they have the sigil imprinted on them. It was a common sigil used in military operations and used in the Dantalion library, but now it seemed the Old-Satan's found a use for it as well... they just had to spice up the placement of the sigil.

Bloody perverts...

Sirzechs lightly growled to himself as he walked at a brisk pace through the halls of the medical building within the Bael territory. It was located a few blocks from the central military camp and had been turned into a quick medical response building when the attack had started. All around Sirzechs were windows facing in towards rooms with a large collection of wounded men and woman – most of them servants – while some other rooms were filled to every inch with body bags of the hundreds of deceased devils that had lost their lives to the attack. The once normally calm and peaceful hospital had been turned into a hectic and Chaotic nightmare filled with blood, tears, crying and the silent dead within a manner of hours.

This proved only to sour Sirzechs' mood further, evident by the small frown permanently etched on his brow.

Thankfully the morgue was upon him in a manner of minutes, thankfully taking him into a room much more silent then the last. It was a cold room – obviously needing to be refrigerated – and only had one other person within the room; she was a simple nurse or medical specialist working on the final processes of marking the dead maid before her. He didn't look need to look further into it because with his entrance the woman regarded him instantly; she slide the cadaver into the sarcophagus and tapped the sigil close by her hand which shut the sarcophagus lid down on, a small hiss and it was vacuum shut.

"May I be of assists, High lord?" asked the nurse, face covered by a medical mask.

Sirzechs nodded gently "I need to see the body of Lady Stolas; I have an investigation I need to see through" he informed

"I see... I should inform you lord, that another one of yours came through here a few minutes before your arrival; she said the same thing" replied the morgue attendant

Sirzechs' eyes slightly opened in surprise "She?" he asked

The woman nodded "Lady Abaddon was her name, she requested access to subject: D-36 the same as you have... she is still inside the inspection chamber right now"

Sirzechs stood there momentarily; eyes slightly held wide open before he blinked away his surprise "I wish to join her" was all he said in reply

The morgue attendant nodded before pointing to a selection of masks and rubber cloves by the utensil tray to her left "Please take those with you, sanitation is our most crucial of policies, high Lord"

Sirzechs nodded in thanks, took a pair of rubber cloves and medical mask and approached the chamber provided. Wordlessly, he placed on the rubber gloves and mask and entered the room with a slight hiss from the door, slightly garnering the surprised look from Rivia Abaddon within.

Sirzechs gave the woman a small lopsided grin which was hidden beneath his mask, before stepping further into the room. The room itself was as standard as it could be; white walls, white tiled flooring, isolation sigils and ambient sound cancellation along with a single one person body table in the center – and it practically smelt sterile. To his surprise Rivia was indeed within the room – as much as he believed his imagination had been tricking him – she was indeed present. Her previously shocked eyes had dropped into her usual deadpan and her posture remained the same as it had since he had first met the devil.

Rigid and poised like steel, a gaze that pierced any manner of mental fortitude and an aura that spoke of years of experience. Sirzechs wondered why the devil was here but disregarded the idea the minute it came to his mind. Rivia Abaddon was a smart one and he had no issue with downplaying his own smarts when it had come to the devil before him... she was twice his age after all.

"General..." mouthed Rivia, tone as cold as it normally was

"Lady Abaddon..." replied Sirzechs evenly, his position stopping directly across from Rivia's

The woman was staring at the body of lady Stolas before her, most of it being undisturbed in its entirety. The only portions of the body that were exposed were the abdomen and the majority of her legs, the navel and below, as well as her breasts and face was covered under a thick white blanket.

Sirzechs didn't regard Rivia for a moment, his mind doing rounds about what he had to do while his eyes were slowly taking on a look of horror towards the daunting task at hand. His gaze however, was so intense that Rivia took notice and matched his, her eyes landing directly on the loan cloth protecting the deceased devils modesty.

Rivia deadpanned deeper, her eyes taking on such a display of disappointment that she had a hard time keeping herself from snarling towards the devil in front of her. Her poise was on point however and her words easily slid out in reprehend but they were laced with clear venom.

"Staring at a corpse won't get you anywhere with woman, General" she muttered clearly

Sirzechs visibly recoiled, his mind reminding him on what he had just been doing during his hesitance which caused him to shake his head rapidly at his actions.

"T-That's not... I wasn't... Gah! Curse this deplorable task!" he wailed, garnering a mild look of curiosity from the Abaddon devil.

"What task do you speak of?"

Sirzechs shook the last of his annoyance away before pinching the bridge of his nose and regarded the woman with a slight look of shame "I came here to inspect lady Stolas"

The woman quirked a brow, a brisk nod following close by "that much is obvious"

Sirzechs deadpanned before filling in the full picture "Right... I came to see if Lady Stolas possessed a nexus sigil on her body; Ajuka believed the Old-Satan placed it in a compromising location, one that we would never look at"

Rivia glanced down after that, her eyes looking the body before her over before she remembered what kind of person Lady Stolas was. Riva's eyes narrowed slightly in memory when she remembered a few banquets she held when she had been the Lordess of the Abaddon family; the woman in question was no strange to mingling with the male populace and when compromised by the alcoholic spirits, the woman would usually give the devils she found interesting a 'tour' around the manor... such a refined devil in the day but give the woman liquor and she'd be the topic of a few tales the couple days later.

Long story short... she was no stranger to pleasures of the flesh

It seemed the Old-Satan's had taken a likening towards lady Stolas' kinks. Rivia swallowed deeply, reached forward and removed the blanking covering the devils modesty. Sirzechs' eyes bugged out when the woman literally jumped at the task at hand before he suddenly twirled around in embarrassment at what he saw afterwards.

That would be in his head for a while...

Rivia simply paid no heed to the act, and merely pressed on with a slightly disgruntled glaze in her eyes. She checked every nook before her – even stopped before checking the entirety of the woman's breasts – before returning to the woman's navel, and scanned every inch before pausing.

"Found something general; inner thigh, looks like a sigil... take a look" she said before looking up towards the General before her

Sirzechs glanced over his shoulder, his eyes looking surprised "Huh?" he squeaked

Rivia rolled her eyes at the general's show of innocence before she slightly spread the woman's legs and pointed to a small sigil located on the devils upper inner thigh, mere inches from...

Sirzechs' eyes shimmered before his head shook away the image and his body pivoted to look directly at the wall behind him, his right hand slamming into his face in a rough manner "By the Satan's... I hate this job"

Rivia frowned at the actions of the blood soaked demon of the Old war before shaking her head in exasperation, as dark as the devil before him was... he still was an innocent mamma's boy

"Have you not seen anything like this before?" she asked "surely you have had some experience in this field" she added before closing the deceased woman's legs and covering her up.

Sirzechs snarled "If you must know I have seen this before... just not on a corpse!" he wailed in reply, his professional walls crumbling

"Your mother doesn't count" teased the older devil, a very small playful smirk developing on her lips

Sirzechs froze, his hand slowly rising up to point at Rivia heatedly; however the innocent look in Sirzechs' eyes... diluted the scolding retort.

"That was uncalled for..." he muttered

Rivia shrugged "Seemed appropriate... Venelana did enjoy telling me all those times she caught you in the bath"

Sirzechs' head slowly rolled around, not at all being aware that his mother of all people had told others of her odd habits of bathing with him. All the contingencies he had placed to make sure that mother of his didn't ambush him were always foiled by that woman and now he was reaping them... in a morgue, with a naked corpse between him and his old commander.

Such moments likes these reminded Sirzechs why he kept a spare bottle of hell water in his personal safe...

He shook his head, intently focused on changing the subject before he went to battle tomorrow with a massive hang over "Aside from my lack of interest in gazing at the naked body of a dead female, what reason do you have on being here?" he asked

Rivia merely shrugged again "I wished to see the woman that doomed me lay dead before me... I have gotten my wish and am most satisfied with it... I think I should compliment Lady Abigail on her a skill with a bow" the woman nodded to herself before regarding Sirzechs "Did you get what you wanted?"

Sirzechs nodded begrudgingly, memory rolling that image around in his head multiple times "I have..." he replied

"Then explain to me what the sigil means?"

Sirzechs sighed "It means the Old-Satan's used mass produced Omni-keys and distributed them among key allies for their cause, this means it could be anyone on the enemy forces to allies in our midst"

Rivia nodded, eyes shimmering in thanks at the information "What action will we take in response to this information?"

"I think my choice in action will be to conduct a large scale inspection, we'll front it with a medical examination and test it on all high ranking officials within the council... we'll move on down the ranks and squeeze out any traitors into the light" explained Sirzechs

Rivia nodded again, a small smirk playing on her lips before she stepped towards the door "As expected of you General..." she said before looking back to Sirzechs, her eyes then holding a slightly apologetic look within "Give my regards to Ajuka when you can, my earlier display was unbecoming of me"

Sirzechs shook his head "It was only natural; you have always been the stickler for prime image" he replied jokingly, Rivia slightly smirked in response. Sirzechs then blinked in curiosity when he noted the woman's motion to leave "what will you do now, Rivia?" he asked suddenly, using the devils first name

Rivia paused before looking Sirzechs in the eye again "I wish to apologize to the Arbiter for my earlier conduct" she informed, her hand clenching at the memory of her sudden disappearance.

Sirzechs chuckled "I don't think he was insulted as much as you think" he said, garnering Rivia's attention "Sure he was surprised by your retreat, but he seemed more relieved that the 'situation' was done with than anything else"

Rivia hummed at the news "he is a kind man..." she muttered gently

"Indeed he is..." he said in agreement before nodding to the devil before him "Go to him if you wish; he should be done with Ajuka by now, if so then he should be in his personal quarters... go and give him company, yeah?" Sirzechs smirked but it quickly dropped when the woman regarded him playfully

"Are you so eager to fall behind your younger brother?" she teased, her eyes holding a mirthful glint when Sirzechs slowly swallowed at the second meaning behind his words... he really didn't think on that.

Sirzechs said nothing, only shrugged at his continued show of innocence before shooting a comment back "If you wish to give yourself to him so easily then I have no argument... you held that title longer then I have, after all" Sirzechs suddenly smirked when Rivia regarded him with a glare.

"At least I'll have lost it, unlike you..." she countered

"Not like I won't in the future..."

"Keep working this much and you'll have to ease your hunger with woman like Lady Stolas..."

.

.

.

"Now that's cold..."

"Well you seemed interested in her before..."

Sirzechs coughed loudly, his hand reaching his lips to staunch the sudden ripple from his throat while Rivia smirked victoriously at a horrified Sirzechs.

"By the Satan's... are you related to Ryden at all? You both got some dark jokes rolling around in your minds" commented Sirzechs

Rivia chuckled "Dark minds correlate with intelligence..."

"Ok stop, you won this round Rivia" Sirzechs shook his head at the savage devil before shaking his head at the constant bombardment of shots to his person.

Rivia smirked slightly wider "As I have won all the others; past, present and future"

Sirzechs sighed "Right..." he muttered before giving the devil a small wave of farewell "Tell Ryden lady Stolas wasn't as hard as I thought" he informed casually

Rivia nodded plainly at it before opening the door, her eyes suddenly regarding the roof with an inquisitive gaze, she clicked her tongue before muttering a small comment... one that Sirzechs heard perfectly.

"She really wasn't that hard actually..." Rivia quickly disappeared into a black portal, leaving Sirzechs standing frozen in the empty room with the lone cadaver. His hand reached up and gripped his face harshly when the woman's words reached his ears, dark meaning and all.

"for Satan's sake..." he groaned out "There's two of them..." he added in a mellowed drawl

Sirzechs eyes glanced to the body in the room, his eyes barely lingered before they averted, his head shaking rapidly before he made his own exit, the rubber gloves and mask disposed of in the trash bin before he made a B-line to the exit

"I need a damn drink..." he muttered aloud, leaving a confused nurse to stand in confusion at the lack of context before her.

-X-

A/N:

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FUCK!

I swear to all that is holy I deeply wanted this chapter out a long time ago but my dumbass has the attention span of a moth in a fireworks convention.

And that was Destiny 2: forsaken... that's right, my writing time was forsaken to destiny 2... Please, someone hit me! The grind for Exotics is hella dumb in this expansion, so much so I think Xbox will get an exclusive game before I so much as get a damn drop... yay

Anyways

I have to give a small shout out to the two royal badass readers of mine – you know who you are. They were the ones that check in everyday for an update and the ones that find my story to be a small light in their day... seriously boys, it feels really good to know I'm making someone's day just a tad bit better and honestly, those two reviews alone had been the biggest sources that got me of my ass and back to writing. It took a shit ton of time but you can't rush marginal effort; I'd say perfection but I still seem find mistakes in every chapter I do... regardless in how fiercely I edit.

Soon I will understand the difference between 'shone' and 'shown', 'curtain' and 'certain'... probably have a few of those scattered throughout the damn chapter now that I think about it... whatever! I need this out now.

Anyways... this chapter was a fun/nightmarish journey from start to finish, no action was present but drama (if you can call this drama) was mostly in the picture, that and a sweet scene regarding Ryden's now revealed responsibilities and how he alone holds the knowledge on humanities history and future... the jokes that followed?... well, I'm just that fucked up.

Next chapter will be out – Hopefully – soon, which will start the first invasion in this story... seriously; we're 12 chapters in and were not even racking up the body count. Some may say Lucifaad was a big deal but if you knew what I have in store... that city barely registers on the importance meter.

Soon... you will all see what I have in store

AH! I can't wait... see you all soon boys/girls. Review at your leisure; follow for updates or favorite if you really liked the story... stay frosty out there.

Peace!