Good Evening,
I hope all of you are doing well. I received quite a few good reviews this last time around, and though it's not a regular habit of mine I would like to give a few shout outs to some of the reviews this past week. To Duracomp, thank you for your kind words and I wish you a speedy recovery in the hospital. To Toshiro Ricky, thank you for being the first reviewer to give many back to back reviews and not trash the fic. I always groan when I see a number of reviews bunched together because it is usually one reviewer going off on things they didn't like in each chapter, so thank you for breaking that trend. To Broken Tiles, thank you for appreciating the attempt at realism; with far too many vocal "Sasuke should never struggle with anything in life because he is awesome" fans that will not be satisfied until he one shots the Trihexa and Ophis simultaneously while flossing and doing his taxes, I appreciate you.
To all those that reviewed in a positive fashion and were not mentioned, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your input (this includes past chapters as well).
I did want to reiterate a note for going forward; Sasuke will lose at some point. There may be (probably will be) extenuating circumstances that soften the blow, but it is very hard to have the main character an unbeatable force of nature unless it's a gag fic. If we never fall, what reason is there for us to grit our teeth and force ourselves back up? I'm putting this out there for all the reviewers that feel the need to correct me every time Sasuke WINS A FIGHT, but is not doing it impressively enough for their taste. They feel the need to cite some reference to cannon where "Sasuke clearly did this thing that I want to see fixed in the fic".
I don't mind true corrections, like when I got the snake name on Sasuke's summon mixed up (it was initially Aoba instead of Aoda until some helpful people pointed it out). Something like that, by all means let me know and I will usually correct it. However, power levels especially in crossover fics are completely subjective and this is my fic, so Sasuke's power level is up to my discretion. If you want to read some wank fic where Sasuke becomes God of everything and they somehow find a way to fill pages with him never experiencing adversity, please do go and find a fic like that. I realize this is the minority of the audience I am addressing, but it is unfortunately a vocal minority that often feels the need to leave negative reviews so please ignore this if it doesn't apply to you.
Enough said on that front though; we have an extra meaty chapter this week so I hope you enjoy.
As always, ignore any errors you come across and please do enjoy yourself.
It was a matter of moments for Sasuke to make his decision; it was better for him to be at this council and know their decision rather than just see the after effects if they chose war.
"Irina, please return to the church with Xenovia and return the shards of Excalibur. If the church agrees with your proposition to become my student Xenovia, I expect you to return with the Breastplate of Woe and the Helm of Perdition as promised so we can begin training. If the church would rather you not leave, coordinate with Rias or myself as to the pickup of the artifacts in a suitably neutral location."
The two church maidens bowed their head in acknowledgment as Sirzechs perked up behind them.
"Excuse me but I couldn't help but overhear; is it true that the church is handing over the Breastplate of Woe and the Helm of Perdition to you Sasuke-san?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Yes Sirzechs, I was planning to turn them over to your care. Rias was of the opinion that their return would strengthen both of our positions."
Sirzechs chuckled.
"That's putting it lightly lad; the return of those artifacts will lead to weeks of celebration among my people, their loss was one of the greatest blows in the aftermath of the war between the faction. I will keep my mouth shut until we have them in hand and are ready to use them, but mark my words when I say you will immediately gain a huge reputation boost. Which may not be a bad thing considering recent events."
Sasuke looked at him askance.
"Oh? I take it then that my nonexistent reputation in the underworld has somehow become rather infamous in nature?"
Sirzechs winced.
"Well, let's just say that Beelzebub's announcement of a human inheriting the Pillar of Andromalius has not been well received. Very few believe it is true, many of them citing the flying pigs reference you humans are so fond of. Either way though, the sentiment towards you as either a fraud or a hated inheritor are definitely rather grim."
"I take it then that Beelzebub's assertion that general acceptance would come after my arena fights was a bit premature?"
Sirzechs snorted.
"That old fraud just wants his arena fights to happen. Don't get me wrong, you would gain some recognition as a celebrity from the fights but I sincerely doubt it would do anything to curb the people's prejudice."
Seeing Sasuke's rapidly darkening face, Sirzechs rushed to reassure him.
"I don't believe Beelzebub intentionally led you astray; he suffers from both being a noble and an inventor. It's not unsurprising that such a figure would not have a very good read on the populace as a whole, given his limited interactions with the common devils."
Sasuke gave Sirzechs a considering look.
"Do you think I should cancel the fights then, if they won't do anything to gain the people's approval?"
Sirzechs thought for a long minute in silence as the crews of soldiers began magical reconstruction of Kuoh Academy in the background. Judging by their current progress, Sasuke judged it would be a matter of hours before everything was back in place exactly as it had been before the battle. Asia was continuing to heal the injured when she caught Sasuke's look, immediately giving the other healers a sign that she was leaving. Though dissapointed, they waved their thanks as they turned back to the many injured that had fallen during the battle as Asia made her way over to Sasuke. Once she had safely made it to his side, Sasuke searched for his other charge and found him in animated discussion with the Gremory and Sitri peerages. Thankfully they all appeared to be healed and in reasonable spirits, likely discussing the possible upcoming war. Seeing that Serafall was likely going to eschew the meeting to stay with her sister, Sasuke felt safe in leaving Issei with the peerages for the time being.
Turning back to Sirzechs, he saw the older devil giving him an approving look.
"A good commander always checks up on his people, it's one of the best signs of leadership I look for. To answer your question, I would suggest you go through with it. The fights will gain you a large amount of goodwill with Beelzebub, and if nothing else will cement your strength in the eyes of the people. Much as I would like to pretend otherwise, it is true that much of our society is built on the idea of strength and personal power. It is not a coincidence that the strongest devil of the age usually becomes our leader."
Sasuke nodded.
"Very well, I will consider it. In the meantime, will you have your most trusted men keep an eye on Asia-chan? I would keep her with me but I am loathe for those in the underworld to become too interested in her."
"Of course, my personal guards will accompany her until your return."
Sirzechs made a gesture at his attendants, which they obviously understood as they bowed and took up guard position around Asia.
"Now then, shall we go Sasuke-san?"
With a grunt, Sasuke turned and began walking towards the portal leading back to the underworld. Chuckling, Sirzechs followed in his wake.
As Sasuke emerged on the other side, it was directly outside what appeared to be a large atrium where he assumed the war council was to be held. Sirzechs appeared behind him and closed the portal with a gesture.
"Before we go in Sasuke-san, let's go over a few ground rules. You are mostly here to observe and to show your face among the Lords. I will address you at least once as Lord Andromalius, which will immediately create a stir. Do not engage the Lords unless they directly attack you, which will not happen with my presence and obvious approval of you. Even still, expect slights and verbal abuse as they deal with the idea of a human holding one of our most prestigious positions."
Sasuke laughed humorlessly.
"Tempted as it would be to start a fight with them, I realize a losing battle when I see one. If all of them are slightly less powerful than you, it would be foolish to engage them directly. Even still though, don't expect me to roll over; if you poke a tiger in the eye, you can expect to get bitten for your foolishness. They will learn this if they decide to provoke me overmuch."
Sirzechs huffed in exasperation.
"Very well, I suppose it would be foolish to ask you to roll over for them. Keep in mind though, the Lords approval has much sway over the populace; if you ever hope to gain enough approval to marry my sister, this will be the first of your hurdles."
They both nodded briskly and approached the door, Sirzechs leading in the front as would be expected.
As the door opened, Sasuke was struck with a wall of chatter as the nearly full atrium housed literally hundreds of conversations and arguments. Tensions were no doubt very high given the nature of the meeting and what the results could potentially lead to.
All of the conversation began to quiet down as Sirzechs took center floor, motioning for Sasuke to sit at the guest table for now even as the other Lords took their seats. Many a curious eye regarded the young human who had arrived with the Devil Leader, a few in obvious consternation.
Before Sirzechs could speak, one of the Lords piped up in the silence.
"Sirzechs-sama, why have you brought this human filth in one of our meetings? He's the wrong gender if you were trying to bring us some entertainment to take the edge off."
Chuckles rang through the hall as most of the Lords either agreed with the anti-human sentiment or were also wondering what the human was doing here.
Zeoticus Gremory also stood.
"Surely you fine gentleman haven't forgotten the alleged servant that single handedly saved my daughter and her friends from The Phenex boy's blind stupidity in the arena?"
Lord Phenex stood in clear anger from one of the balconies.
"I'll thank you to not slander my house Zeoticus! Riser has been punished for his shortsighted actions and will not ever shame the house in such a way again. However, this beast of a human should be euthanized before he can breed. No human should be this strong, especially without any sacred gear!"
Roars of approval were heard from multiple places in the atrium as the anti-human contingency wholeheartedly concurred with the sentiment to kill the human.
Zeoticus gave Lord Phenex a poisonous smile.
"Oh? And are you in such a position to threaten a sitting Pillar Lord, Julius?"
Sirzechs briefly facepalmed even as the Phenex Lord lost all color in his face.
One of the more vocal anti-human Lords rose from his seat to point a shaking finger at Sasuke.
"You mean this is the fraud we have heard so much about that claims to have inherited the Andromalius Pillar? Funny, all I see is a pathetic human without a hint of real power. He has personally offended me through his lies and I demand his head!"
The cry was taken up throughout the atrium as the incensed Lords all turned to rail at the human calmly lounging on the guest chair as if it were a throne fit for a king.
Sirzechs tried to restore order, banging the ceremonial gong multiple times to no avail. Things were getting out of hand as the personal guards were beginning to move towards Sasuke in a threatening manner, clearly ready to execute the upstart human on the spot.
Suddenly, everyone in the room was deathly silent as a massive pillar of energy erupted from the human. They watched in horrified silence as his hair lengthened and became a golden color, even as his Iris color changed to a warm ruby red to match his energy signature. There was no mistaking the overwhelmingly strong nature of his power, that of a Pillar Lord at the height of his strength.
The lounging Pillar Lord laughed mockingly at their dumbfound expressions.
"I thought Andromalius was exaggerating when he said the blood had been diluted over the millennia, I see now he was being quite literal. I carry within me the essence of a true Pillar Lord, unlike you pretenders, you so called "Devil Lords". My blood, the blood of a human, is worth more than all of yours combined."
The Lords were practically gnashing their teeth at this stage, especially the anti-human groups. Only a few Lords looked unfazed, or in the sole case of Zeoticus highly amused.
Sirzechs attempted to regain control of the meeting.
"As you can see, Lord Andromalius has every right to be here. There will be no further talk of executing him, as such foolish decrees obviously do not apply to him given his status as a Pillar Lord. Now, can we move on to the true purpose of this meeting and discuss the recent fallen angel aggressions?"
There was much grumbling and many a hateful look thrown at the grinning Pillar Lord as the Devil Lords reluctantly agreed to move on.
"Excellent. As most of you know, a group of fallen angels led by Kokabiel recently attacked Kuoh Academy in an obvious effort to capture or kill Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. Such actions cannot and will not be tolerated, even if the answer is to resume war. I, more than anyone, know that war is the last thing our weakened population needs at the moment. Frankly, none of the factions are in a good place in terms of population, even all these years after the war. Even so, we cannot allow the fallen to perpetrate such blatant acts against us without any form of repercussion."
Zeoticus stood back up.
"I would be most interested to hear what Lord Andromalius has to say about recent events."
Sirzechs shot his father a pained look as Zeoticus gave him a cheery wink.
All eyes, mostly hostile, turned towards the golden figure on his throne of a guest chair.
Sasuke yawned briefly, much to the increasing ire of the lords and the delight of Zeoticus before answering into the strained silence.
"As many have been quick to point out, I know very little with regards to the politics of the situation. I am curious though, does anyone know whether the action was officially sanctioned by the fallen leaders or was this a splinter group within their ranks that perpetrated the operation?"
More than a few eyebrows raised at the relevant conversation point before Lord Phenex rose.
"Obviously my 'Lord', this would be a nice thing to know; unfortunately, if we outright ask the leaders of the Grigori whether they were involved they will claim it was a splinter faction and deny any involvement."
Quiet laughter was heard at the sarcastic reply from Lord Phenex.
Sasuke snorted on his throne.
"I had rather hoped you might have spies that could provide you with this information rather than asking them directly, but I suppose asking your enemies for vital intelligence would fall right in line with your poor performance in the last war."
A stony silence was heard through the room outside Zeoticus silent laughing in his seat while holding his side. Obviously, he was the only one in the room not feeling the burn from Sasuke's cutting rebuttal to Lord Phenex's sarcasm.
Sighing deeply at his father's antics, Sirzechs once again attempted to bring them back to order.
"Thank you for your input Lord Andromalius; we will consider it moving forward. Are there any other thoughts on the matter?"
One by one, various Lords stood and made rather long winded speeches, mostly in favor of war. Personally, Sasuke thought they were all rather foolish for engaging in such Pyrrhic conflict over and over, but perhaps it was for the best. Humans were not meant to compete with elder races such as these that could kill thousands of humans on a whim if they were so inclined. Perhaps it was best that the monsters kill each other off in this world so that humanity could better spend its time on killing each other, as humanity was inclined to do in any universe it seemed.
Hours passed as the consensus seemed to shift further towards war. It seemed that these species were not so different from the humanity they disdained, always so eager to embrace war as a means to solve problems when it never did. All war showed was who was the strongest, or who was willing to go the furthest in the deadliest game of chicken imaginable. The enemy is overrunning your position? Kill the peasants, slaughter and poison the animals and salt the fields. Sasuke had seen it before during war; such tactics usually proved horrifyingly effective. In the end though, all you had was a devastated group of survivors and veterans that had to spend the rest of their lives picking up the shattered pieces of their lives. Depending on the war, this could continue for generations until the land and the people were able to return to their previous state of happiness and prosperity.
Sasuke was roused from his musings as Sirzechs called for a vote with a resigned air about him. It seemed that war was coming to the world once again.
Even as the votes were being tallied, a messenger burst into the room to stand before a stern Sirzechs.
"You know that we are not to be disturbed for any reason during a council of war and I can't wait to hear why you decided to break the law."
The messenger gulped and bowed to the assembled Lords and then to Sirzechs.
"Sirzechs-sama, a peace delegation from the Grigori has arrived! Azazel himself is leading the procession!"
Mutters quickly rose around the chamber as the Lords discussed the possibility of keeping the peace. Obviously they were serious if Azazel was coming himself; maybe they could milk some sweet concessions out of them.
Clearing his throat Sirzechs lightly rang the gong to silence the Lords.
"Very well messenger, your violation will be forgiven just this once. Please escort the delegation into the atrium immediately."
Bowing deeply, the messenger skittered out of the atrium quickly to carry out his orders. Within a minute, a group of high ranking Fallen Angels from the Grigori appeared within the atrium. All of them bowed deeply to the sitting Lords as they joined Sasuke at the guest table.
Azazel had a brief conversation with Sirzechs before being allowed to address the assembly.
"My Lords, there is no excuse for the reprehensible behavior my subordinate showed by attempting to kill the blood family of your highest ranking leaders. We are still searching for him, but rest assured he will be caught and punished accordingly. I wanted to personally appear here today to offer my sincerest condolences for Kokabiel's actions and to assure you that peace is still paramount in our minds."
One of the more belligerent Lords stood up.
"So that's it then? You come and say sorry for attacking us and all is forgiven? You must be joking."
There were rumblings of agreement from the assembled devils, even as the Grigori delegation shifted uneasily at the guest table.
Azazel raised an eyebrow.
"I realize that a mere apology is little recompense for the wronged parties in this. Thus, I will agree to any reasonable compensation that the Gremory and Sitri families find suitable as they were the victims in this reprehensible act."
Sasuke smirked; this Azazel certainly had a silver tongue. He could begin to see why the fallen had been so obsessed with him if he played them as easily as he was playing the assembled Lords now.
Sirzechs nodded in agreement and retook the stage from Azazel, making sure to shake his hand in front of the assembly.
"In light of the Leaders of the Grigori putting themselves in our hands to make this right, I move that we consider this issue resolved for now. If the Grigori renege on their offer of compensation or another incident occurs, we will once again reconvene this council."
There were nods all around as even the war mongers sullenly agreed to keep the peace for now.
The Lords began to file out of the room as the Grigori leaders stayed to talk with Sirzechs. Sasuke dropped his Pillar Lord form and resumed his usual visage as the Lords all sneered at him on the way out. Zeoticus was the only exception, smiling at Sasuke and shaking his hand firmly.
"I would love to talk with you about your future young man, would it be possible for you to visit my estate?"
Sasuke inclined his head.
"I would like that very much Zeoticus-san, I will send you a message through Rias when my schedule permits. I am afraid I have become very busy of late but I will endeavor to come see you at the first opportunity."
Zeoticus waved him off.
"Of course! I remember what it was to be young once, and you seem like the kind of man that already has quite a few responsibilities. I eagerly await your note and look forward to our visit."
Shaking his hand once more, Zeoticus took his leave. Seeing Sirzechs in deep conversation with Azazel, Sasuke was about to take his leave as well when a familiar figure appeared from the back of the Grigori delegation.
Silver hair and a devil may care smirk, Sasuke wouldn't forget that face anytime soon.
"What a delightful coincidence human. I don't suppose you would like to fight me right here, right now would you?"