Chapter 21 - Discussion about the Future

"That is a good idea. What are our prospects of the future for the war Lord Zekram? I have personally thought about weakening Church and Grigori on the Earth. We could release some of their confidential information to the several other Pantheons, they will do the dirty work for us. You should have surely thought about something like this."

I said as we were sitting and drinking tea in my library.

"Indeed. The Church is a great weapon of Heaven, though they are also, heavily relying on Heaven. If support of Heaven stops, they would have great problems with defending their own territories, especially those that were taken from other Pantheons, especially in northern countries and easter countries. Additionally, we could weaken their supply of Faith, meaning, they won't have as much of Divine Crystals, that are used to cultivate angels."

Similarly, as Devils were feeding on souls and negative emotions to gain quickly strength, Angels could do the same with Divine Crystals. Those were basically crystalized faith power, which is created by gathering it from followers. It is commonly used by gods to strengthen their Divine Power or create divine messengers, such as Angels.

Olympians use it to create various monsters, Aesir on the other side to strengthen Valkyries or Einherjar, and many many other uses. They could be used in Divine Magic or Holy Magic to boost up its power. And most importantly, they are used in strengthening the Divine Kingdom. That was the reason, why Heaven was practically an impenetrable fortress in Draconic Deus.

The amount of Divine Crystals, used in strengthening Heaven, was eclipsing other Pantheons easily.

"I have thought about selling this information to Asgard, Takagahamara, Vampires, and Olympians. Those prideful greeks have lost many followers to the Church, and the same could be said about Aesir. Vampires would be glad to take revenge upon Church and Takagamara wants to cleanse their territory from the influence of Church that is lurking in Japan."

I stated my opinion, about which Pantheon and Faction should contact.

"Problematic part is, someone needs to go there and negotiate. It would be best if we went there personally. Most problematic ones to communicate with are Olympians and Vampires, so I will contact them. They are not something young devil should bother with."

Said Zekram, and I just nodded in agreement and gratefulnmess. I was aware it was very hard to communicate with stubborn Greek Gods, which was probably more arrogant than Four Satans altogether. Vampires were the same, and I didn't even know their lcoation.

On the other hand, communication with Asgard and Takagahamara was far easier. From what I heard, Odin was a pretty reasonable god, and the same could be said about Amaterasu who was God-Queen of Shinto Pantheon.

"So. That will leave me with Asgard and Takagahamara. I will make it done. Should we also, exchange intelligence, we have gathered? The more damage Grigori and Heaven suffer from hands of other Pantheons, the better."

I know it sounded a bit hypocritical. I was aware of the fact, as weaker we got, I mean whole Three Factions, the worse situation in the future would be for us. On the other hand, nobody would stop the upcoming war just because, I had several very good arguments, that we could be easily targeted of Factions that have Beings of Law. Nobody would listen to me, and there is a high probability of being branded as a traitor. So for now, the only thing I could do is follow the flow.

"Young Lucifer... what do you think, we should do if hypothetically Four Satans perish in the war?"

Asked me Zekram with a glint in his eyes, while I fell into deep thought.

"Kill their descendants, for reason mentioned, and ally ourselves with species that are not part of any factions, as Dragon Clans and Oni Tribes to create a strong nation. During the war, we will lose countless devils, and after the war, I don't doubt descendants of the Satans would be hell-bent on continuing the war. That needs to be prevented at all costs. This war isn't about who will win, as I think nobody will win. Everyone will suffer, subsequently, creating a ceasefire to recuperate losses on lives. My thought is, there are many dragon flocks that would be a great addition to us if we were to create a new nation upon the ashes of the old one. Same could be said about Oni Tribes living in the Underworld. Even in nature, they are similar to us."

I said part of my plan. It was a good plan, a plan for Baator. Dragons were the most powerful creatures, most of the dragons are on High-Class just after a few years of their life, with many of them with sufficient training could reach Ultimate-Class. Also, all Dragon Kings were Pinnacle of their Class, with the potential to reach Heavenly Dragon Class. If dragons united under one banner, they would be probably the strongest faction in Draconic Deus.

Just one word from Great Red and it would be done. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, we could recruit them to create a Faction together. When you think about it, Dragons are pretty similar to us, Devils.

Both of our species are power-hungry, we want to be stronger than anybody, we are greedy and we are also lustful. Just a great combination together.

Zekram was thinking deeply about what I said. He was in a deep dilemma. He deeply respected Four Satans, for what they have done, they have built the Devil Race and cultivated it where it is now. On the other side, he was a pragmatist and was aware of the fact, that they are leading us toward our death, albeit slowly, but for sure.

He was aware that if we continued slowly, devils would be destroyed either by other factions or in endless civil wars that would come.

"I have decided."

Said a Zekram with a deep and stern voice.

Chapter 22 - End of the Discussion

"On what exactly?"

I asked carefully, as I continued observing Zekram.

"If Original Four perishes in the war, I will support your idea for the new form of government. If they don't, I will remain neutral in your endeavors and will not help either side."

Stated Zekram slowly. For him, it was won to win in both situations. He wanted to see and then he would support the winner.

"That sounds acceptable for me, Lord Zekram. If I may ask, how strong are descendants of the Originals?"

I said.

"Lucifer only has one, Rizevim, including you there are two members of the Lucifer Clan. Rizevim is already of the higher ends of the Satan-Class, soon enough, he would even be stronger than his father. Though the man himself doesn't interest in ruling or anything else even if a bit connected with governing. The other three Houses of Leviathan, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub are weak. Only their inheritors are worth of something, while branch members are absolutely worthless."

Stated Zekram. I wasn't surprised about Rizevim. He was around 230 or so years old, and was already nearing Super-Devil Class and soon would reach it. It was terrifying talent. About others, it wasn't that surprising, I remembered that in canon, the last direct descendants were weaklings, barely classified as Ultimate-Class, and couldn't even properly use their Clan Traits.

"I see."

"Only shame that Rizevim didn't inherit Dark Light. Rayla on the other hand did but unfortunately, she is dead. Dark Light is powerful, and I also, one of the reasons why Lucifer could easily restrain other Satans and force them to obey his commands."

Siad Zekram. It was logical, as Dark Light was a mix of Demonic Element and Holy Element. It was lethal to Devils such as it was to Angels and Fallen. Lucifer with this, as elemental advantage could suppress other devils with ease.

"I will. Also, Lord Zekram I have something to sell, that would be very useful in the upcoming war."

I said as I summoned one of the Arcane Mechanical Automatons of the Arachne-type. It only took several minutes for it to arrive. I wanted to sell them to Zekram for several reasons. They are good cannon fodder for taking hits, and also wonderful construction workers, that worked more efficiently on the battlefield compared to the traditional workforce.

Devils, such as many other races during the war had a workforce, that worked on the frontline to create basic military outposts, fortresses, watchtowers, magic towers, and various other things. It mainly consisted of death sentence criminals, prisoners, or slaves that were captured. Slaves were mainly rogues from other factions. Still, that was unreliable and tended to rebel or slack off.

"This thing here is called Arcane Mechanical Automaton. I belong to the Arachne-type Drone, as they are great to balance between office, defense, support, and construction. While their combat abilities aren't something great, just around Low-Class, their true value lies in construction abilities and cannon fodder tank abilities. You see, to destroy one of these Arcane Mechanical Automatons, you need firepower comparable to Mid-Class, as they are rather sturdy and their runic instructions allow them to defend against energy-based attack very well. Also, as basic golems, they don't need to rest and can continue working as long as the runic matrix is undamaged and can convert ambient magic."

I introduced my creation. I also planned to create a Warrior as there would be a need for a Drone that is primarily oriented. For now, it was without my capabilities, as I lacked materials for such feat for now. I relocated most of my resources available, to producing weapons and armors.

Thanks to that, gold was constantly flowing into my pocket, and now I was one of the richest devils in the Underworld. Fortunately, nobody did anything about that, as the only thing I needed to do was bribery.

I directly bribed Noble Houses with discounts on large orders and everyone closed their eyes over my little monopoly. Also, my childhood friend Raykleid Phenex, newly appointed Lord Phenex helped me a bit on how to manage monopoly. His House held it over Pheonix Tears, and other medical potions.

"I must admit, that I am interested. They would be a good boost for every army, as we don't need to bother with Dammed Ones. How are they commanded and how many can you produce? I want to order them for House of Bael."

Dammed Ones were a collective name for expendables working force.

"They can be easily controlled by issuing commands. One of the Drones is called Commander Drone, you will open a runic matrix and basically bind with Commander Drone. Then you can easily just tell Commander Drone what you want. Commander Drone, in turn, will instruct ordinary Drones, as they have a basic level of intelligence."

I explained to Zekram how they worked.

"Splendid. I want one million of them. Is that possible?"

Asked him as I was shocked by the sheer number of them.

"Yes, but I need time and materials. A lot of materials. If I have enough, your Drones would be ready within 4 to 5 months."

Production of drones was easy, currently, I have 50,000. If all of them work, they could create around 10,000 per day, if they work at maximum. The problem are materials, I have nowhere enough to create such large number, I was glad, I managed to boost up the production speed, as all of them now had experiences and perfect method on how to make other drones.

"Hmm... that is indeed problematic. Most of the places are already being used in Underworld, only leaving places like Dragon Mountains or Forbidden Regions, but that is not possible. Maybe you can look for juvenile dimensional space in the Dimensional Gap."

Dimensional Gap was connected to countless worlds. From time to time, if you are lucky, you can find a newly developing world, that is empty of life and full of resources such as metal ores, gems, and magic materials.

Chapter 23 - Dimensional Gap of the Astral Boundary

"Dimensional Gap?"

I muttered out of loud.

"Dimensional Gap is sealed space belonging to the larger one, called Astral Boundary. It isn't known who sealed it, but not even Beings of Law in these words cannot break and reach the wider space, called Astral Boundary. From what I collected, that sooner or enough, the seal would collapse and Dimensional Gap would be once again merged with Astral Boundary."

Explained Zekram to me. As I thought about that, it sounded logical and explained why there weren't existences above Apocalypse-Class.

"How large is Dimensional Gap compared to the Astral Boundary?"

I asked out of curiosity.

"Dimensional Gap with its tens of planes, are just a small speck of the dust in almost infinity evergrowing Astral Boundary. Many Pantheons have countless books about Astral Boundary, from the time of the Primordial Gods."

I needed to learn more. If it was true what Zekram was saying, that when the seal that was separating Dimensional Gap from the rest of the Astral Boundary collapsed, then I fear our entire world would be easy prey.

As he talked about it, I also formed my own theory of who actually put up the seal. It was highly possible, it was Primordial Gods of various Pantheons of surrounding Planes. Primordial Gods were mighty beings, but they weren't omnipotent. Most of them were Half-Step of Apocalypse Class and many of that Class, meaning they were beings of Law. I wonder, what enemy was able to frighten them to the point to create Dimensional Gap. While it would also explain why all Primordial Gods have disappeared from the Draconic Deus and none are remaining.

If my theory is correct, Astral Boundary must have countless beings on the level of Apocalypse-Class and even higher, so Primordial Gods of Draconic Deus, who were aware they were weaker decided to hide. While they may sacrifice their lives, they could reform thousands of years later. As long as their Divine Spark and Divine Body were intact, then they were alright. The body of god was a priceless treasure for Alchemy, Magic, and other disciplines.

"Are other Pantheons doing something similar? Searching for resources in the Dimensional Gap?"

I asked. Generally, Gods shouldn't be able to leave the world or plane, where they ascended as gods, that was one of the ultimate rules of existence. Still, there always existed some way.

"Some. Most notable is Asgard. Aesir is very different from the other Pantheons, as they are not originally inhabitants of the Draconic Deus, they just somehow bound their realm, Asgard to the Draconic Deus, becoming the inhabitant in the process so they have their way around those rules. Their gods could leave Draconic Deus for a prolonged time, before getting weaker over time. What do you think their Nine Realms are? They are conquered different worlds. Other Pantheons while not sending their Gods, they tend to sent armies and their strongest warriors from time to time."

Draconic Deus was limited when it came to resources. There were too many factions, too many Pantheons that fought for each piece of territory. So to prevent useless fights, they searched for resources either in the Underworld, as it was countless times bigger than Earth and only a small part was ruled by someone. The second option was to search the Gap for new worlds.

"Don't worry, If I see someone from other Pantheons I will kill them if they are weaker. If not I will just order to retreat."

I said wisely. During situations like these, it would be extremely hard to find a real penetrator of the attack in the Dimensional Gap, so if I find someone with army and power weaker than myself I could safely kill. If not, the retreat was always an option.

"Good. I will send several of my magicians with coordinates to open up the passageway. Also, Vena would arrive here after several days, she wanted to tell you. And maybe you can take her with you on the expedition. Good opportunity to spend a time together, not talking about the fact she is good combatant, shortly reaching an Ultimate-Class."

Said Zekram as he looked at me.

"Maybe it will be better to post tone the expedition till both of us are Ultimate-Class. I will be reaching the Class soon, I am already on the verge. It will be much safer."

I said and Zekram nodded in agreement.

"Then I will send everything after you reach the Ultimate-Class. Dimensional Gap and Planar Conquests are dangerous, so better be careful now than sorry later."

Stated Zekram with a wise voice. Taking Venelana with me was a good idea. We could spend more time together, and she would be an Ultimate-Class soon, so I get another powerful combatant for free.

With me, there are two and I will also take two of my generals, altogether four Ultimate-Class combatants. That wasn't bad if we are talking about a plane where is no civilization or an extremely primitive and weak one.

"It was a pleasure to speak with you Lord Zekram."

I said as I bid goodbye to the Zekram who teleported away from Castle Fuerig as he returned back to his domain.

When he left, I was pretty satisfied with the results of my discussion with him. Now my focus turned on other things that needed attention. The magic study, manufacturing of Arcane Mechanical Automatons, and preparation for the first Planar Conquest.

I felt, that the world, he talked about wasn't that weak and new. It was a test of my abilities. He wouldn't send Venelana to somewhere that was too strong for her to handle, so his proposition to take her with me meant that, the world wasn't too strong. And it probably had Ultimate-Class beings.

"Old schemer. But I like challenges."

I grinned, as I was thinking about it. Zekram wanted to know at least the basic extent of my abilities, to know if I was worthy something besides political talking and intrigues.

Chapter 24 - Cheated by old man

After finishing the meeting, I immaterially called all of my five Generals and gave them my orders. The first one was to double the numbers of my army, so each legion would be consisting of 200,000 soldiers. Meaning altogether 5,2 million.

It wasn't big enough to compare to some more militaristic Houses, but it was a nice number. During the Great War, a number of devils that fought there numbered in billions, or rather casualties were in billions.

Second thing, I informed them about my plan for small planar conquest and ordered for an army to increase the training regime by x10. I also invested a lot of Soul Coins to buy precious potions and pills for soldiers.

The third thing was about increasing the combat process of the Generals. The first thing I thought about was buying some high-grade magical equipment from other Pantheons, so I gave that responsibility to General Borke.

I have also been thinking about the usage of Sacred Gears, but that possibility was not very realistic for several reasons. The first one was that currently Heaven was at its strongest and controlled tightly all Sacred Gears, all users were pawns and soldiers of Heaven. On top of that, Sacred Gears were tied to God's System in Heaven, and it can know its current holder.

Obtaining Sacred Gears when Big G is still alive, is just pure actions of courting death. Also, I personally disdained depending on the equipment to increase my power. Sacred Gear while it is basically Soul Weapon, still can be rendered useless. I also had the theory, that Big G, could directly control all of them, as he was their creator through God's System.

Rizevim had an ability called Sacred Gear Canceler, which worked on a relatively easy principle. It could nullify Sacred Gears of people who were weaker than the user, on the same level as the user... basically, it depended on the amount of energy used. I remembered that in canon it couldn't nullify Diabolos Dragon mode of that perverted trash, as it was created with the power of Ophis, who was basically a being of law, far above Rizevim's level. So, if he had such ability, it was respectable, that similar abilities, skills, spells, and methods existed in the infinite Astral Boundary.

Still, while I don't plan to use Sacred Gears in foreseeable future, at least not until, I found a way to completely sever them from God's System, I won't be using one. It is too dangerous, to leave something that is connected to Heaven to be bounded with your soul.

Even though, I can later get some of them for my subordinates as they are pretty useful weapons. After Big G is dead, Heaven won't have enough power to protect even the Church, not Sacred Gears, which were in comparison not that important with the source of their religion on Earth. So I can get a few of them.

Getting them was though problematic. God's System decided when the Sacred Gear would be bound to someone. Meaning, host of one Sacred Gear could appear only once for several centuries if unlucky. Searching for such a person, was also pretty hard. Heaven had it easy, they could just look into the System and know who is the host. Everyone else had it hard, as they needed to search for them.

I have even decided on which of them to obtain. The first one was Telos Karma. While I didn't plan on using it, this one was unique, as from what I heard about it, Telos Karma was built with the usage of infusement of Laws of Fate, thus capable of changing the probability of things. I don't want to use it for a simple reason, I will rather study the Laws of Fate itself.

If possible I also aimed to obtain Sephiroth Graal due to its usefulness in genetical manipulation and its ability to the usage of Laws of Creation, Life, and Soul. Other useful Sacred Gears were Annihilation Maker or Dimensional Lost. For me personally Incinerate Anthem for its ability to use the highest-grade Holy Flame.

After the War, I can start my research upon Sacred Gears... maybe even compare notes with Azazel. I heard that even now that man was spending most of his time in research. Then I started to wonder if Grigori could be recruited for my plan... probably not after the war... but later who knows.

Once Underworld is mainly under the control of the Devils, Fallen would be needed to be dealt off. Either by Grigori joining, expelling them, or annihilation.

I sat in my study, as I was looking at the ceiling of the room and thinking about various things. There are currently many things to do, soon the war would start and I needed to be prepared as much as possible, to obtain the biggest gains.

Additionally, I also needed to go visit Asgard and Takagamara to make a deal with the two Pantheons. Zekram would go to Olympus and Vampires.

When I looked for information about the Asgard situation there wasn't ideal. Apparently, Odin has got into conflict with his eldest daughter Hela, and their relationship was almost at the point of the war. From what I heard, God King of Aesir has decided to be a peace-loving fool for a foreseeable period. That wasn't something I wanted to hear. Now I can see, why Zekram left it to me, I was cheated by that old man.

Hela was molded by Odin to be his weapon of conquest, and now that man has decided to end wars in his sphere of influence, she was practically made redundant for him.

God Queen Frigga, Prince Baldur, and Prince Thor have decided to remain neutral. Prince Loki is leaning towards Hela's camp. So... who should I got, that only leaves me one option.

Hela.

She was pretty strong, pinnacle Intermediate Divinity Stage, same Class as old Zekram. She would also soon enough reach even Greater Divinity Stage. Maybe Odin also feels threatened, if she is like I read about her, it wouldn't be weird for her to try to challenge him for the throne.

Chapter 25 - Plans and Visit

Leaving aside my thoughts about meeting Hela, and planning how to survive the meeting with her unscathed, I also needed to meet with Takagahamara gods. Fortunately for me, the situation there wasn't bad, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

When it came to obtaining more resources, I have also thought about exploring Draconic Deus, but not planet Terra, but rather the rest of the planets that were located in the Plane Draconic Deus. There is a lot of planets, that are untouched... probably. I don't know if they really are, maybe there are other species living in the Draconic Deus, besides those in the center of the plane which was Earth.

The problem here was the lack of the Void Ships or proper long-distance teleportation methods. While the teleportation methods could be easily devised, I saw the future in the Void Ships. They would be useful in the future, during traversing the Astral Boundary.

"Architect bring out the blueprints for the Void Ships from my past life."

I commanded my A.I.

In my past life, our civilization was a very advanced one, capable of easily traversing void and stars, conquering worlds, and destroying other space-faring civilizations with ease. Mainly thanks to the fearsome advanced technology that Solar Federation possessed. Not advanced as those stupid pointy-eared bastards, it was enough to eliminate most of the enemies of humanity.

[At once.]

Said the mechanical voice in my head as I was looking through the currently available blueprints. What the Architect brought out, were the only ones, that I would be available to create with my current resources within Architect's calculations. What was problematic, was the energy source.

Here, I couldn't use traditional energy sources and needed to adjust it to Arcanotechnology. Another problem would be FTL, Faster than Light speed.

Aesir had similar vessels and they used some kind of crystallized energy converter as their energy source. Maybe, I can adjust Runic Matrix on the Arcane Mechanical Automatons, to work on a much larger scale, drawing the power directly from the Astral Boundary, in my case the Dimensional Gap, as it was still part of the Astral Boundary.

"After the conquest of the newly birthed plane given by Zekram, construction of one Void Ship would be much easier. I can then explore Draconic Deus to the fullest."

I grinned. Only Pantheon capable of something similar was Asgard, as Aesir were dedicated to the advanced their magical based technology, thus creating many wonders. So there won't be a huge competition. Maybe I can ask Hela, how Asgard has progressed, but probably a lot, they should have controlling several planets already.

I also understood the fact, why not many Pantheons were attempting to the same. When you compare the time needed to develop advanced magical technology, top the opening portal through the Dimensional Gap, then the last one is much easier and faster.

"Architect, start calculating process on adjustments to the Lunar-Class Cruiser. I want it to be done within next year or two."

[As you wish.]

I was aware that such an advanced mathematical and magical project would take a long time, especially when Architect would be dedicated to doing other things aside from this one. I wasn't in hurry.

"Also, add an implementation of the Anti-Matter engines into the model, creating duel energy sources concept engine."

I said after a short thought. Anti-Matter Weaponry was probably one of the most destructive in the arsenal of the Solar Federation Military. Fortunately for me, I was part of a team, that was tasked with researching more advanced usage of energy-based weapons and Anti-Matter weapons.

[Then I will also start adjusting the blueprint to accommodate several Anti-Matter canons.]

I wonder what has happened to my home universe if I really was in a different universe. Maybe my past home was some kind of sealed space just like Dimensional Gap is. Sometimes. While I was happy with my current life, especially due to my high social standing, personal power, and long lifespan, I was wondering how life was going in there.

I don't know even if the time flows exactly the same between the two Universes. I knew that the Laws of all existence were different, so maybe even time flew in different ways here and there. For example, here gods were real, magic was real. In my past life, I only heard rumors about beings called gods, they were just superstitions of various cultures and races. Same thing as Magic, though about that, some people theorised that what those arrogant pointed ears could do wasn't purely because of technology, and there was sorcery mixed in, but I have never paid attention to it.

After finishing these matters of replicating some technological wonders of my past life, especially the Void Ships, I have gone to study magic, once again. As a scientist and researcher, it was in my blood.

As the time went by, soon enough one week passed by from when I started learning the Abyssal Runes from the book Zekram gave me.

My Arcane Mechanical Automatons were working hard as bees, creating countless other Arcane Mechanical Automatons with every resource available. I have also given a blueprint for a weapon system for the Drones, so they would have weapons with the firepower of higher ends of the Low-Class.

I planned to use those Drones as a combat force in the upcoming conquest. I wanted to know, how strong they would be. Unfortunately for me, probably 99% of the blueprints from the Architect's database were completely useless without prior adjustments.

Apparently, most of the energy sources used by the Solar Federation didn't seem to work in this Universe. I think it is due to different Laws of the Universe or probably every Universe has Will that is forcing the Universe to evolve in a certain way, while simultaneously forbidding every other way. So If I want to replicate anything, I need to adjust it to work with "local" energy sources.

It was annoying as hell. If not for that, I would have probably more advanced technology than Asgard, or at least on the same level.

After a week passed I have realized something... Venelana was coming for a visit. I need to quickly take a bath and new clothes, as I have spent last week cooped up in the library again.

Chapter 26 - Of Blood and War (1)

At the same time with Zekram, Romania

Romania was the ancestral home of the Vampire race after the first generation of the True Ancestors waged war on the Primordial Gods of the Greek Pantheon in ancient times and took it by force. Afterward, the Blood Lords went to deep sleep, never awakening in the past thousands of years. Zekram knew that True Ancestors were Beings of Law that arrived from Astral Boundary.

Though Romania remained as the taboo land for Greeks and mostly for other Pantheons, as ruling Blood Lords were too strong, stronger than average Greater Divinity Stage God, and they liked blood of gods, for Vampires, especially for the Kindreds it was the fastest way to gain power. Blood Lords were the second generation of Kindreds, direct children of the True Ancestors.

Greater Divinity God was the same as Super-Devil, and each Pantheon had at least several of such powerhouses, especially strong Pantheons had many of them. Christian God, has Archangels, that while had energy reserves comparable to the Super-Devil, unfortunately, their combat prowess was lacking to defeat one, but their elemental advantage could still cause them a great deal of damage.

Vampires and Kindreds were isolationists. They never left their territory, unless somebody attacked them. Though Zekram would be sure that they would gladly attack Church, they hated Chruch and Angels with passion.

As he appeared in Romania, he was immediate, surrounded by twenty Vampire soldiers in crimson armor, each giving out an aura of an Ultimate-Class warrior. It was understandable, as when peak Satan-Class powerhouse appears in your territory it is bound to cause chaos.

"Zekram."

Said a man voice, as one of the Vampires took out his helmet. He was a middle-aged man with shining azure blue eyes and a stern look.

"Stand down. He is expected."

Commanded man as all Vampires put down their weapons and dispersed into shadows.

"Viktor. It has been a long time."

Said Zekram a bit emotionally. Viktor was Vampire Elder, the same Class as Satan-Class, and was very powerful among the Vampires. He was a direct descendant of the 2nd True Ancestor and son of Blood Lord. More importantly, he was also one of very few Zekram's friends.

"Yes, it has been, my friend. Come, they are expecting you. The Council of Blood Lords is awake in full attendance."

Said Viktor, as he led Zekram deep into a fortress that was hidden deep within the mountain range, hidden and protected by countless magic barriers and spells. Zekram was surprised hearing that even Ancestor was woken up, but it was understandable. Here the final decision-makers are Ancestors, especially if the top is about attacking faction that has also Being of Law. Zekram knew that while True Ancestors were on the same level as Christian God or a bit weaker, they would both lose even if they fought him together, due to elemental disadvantage.

This was why Vampires and Kindreds actively avoided a fight with anyone of Holy / Light / Sun / Pure or similar alignment.

"How is time treating you Zekram?"

Asked Viktor as they were walking through the labyrinth of underground tunnels that were leaving to the city of the Vampires. The Holy City of the Pale Blood, Yharnam.

It was where the Council of Blood Lords resided. Altogether there were four Blood Lords. There were two True Ancestors, from which two Blood Lords were descended from 1st True Ancestor, two were from 2nd Ancestor. Each of the Blood Lords represented the main-line of pure-blood kindreds, namely: Brunestud, Tepes, Carmilla, and Corvinus.

"Not well since I need to prepare for war. Our three factions are finally going all out."

Sighed Zekram. Fortunately, Devils and Vampires / Kindreds had a relatively good relationship as they were pretty similar to each other, creatures of pure darkness.

"Hmm... I hope that I will be able to spill some blood of exorcists and angels."

Said Viktor with a bloodthirsty grin. Vampires and Kindreds hated Church and Angels probably even more than devils in a certain regard.

True Ancestors were not interested in anything in Draconic Deus as they were constantly researching the method of how to return to the Astral Boundary.

"Maybe you will, who knows. I will gladly see your Blood Legions march against the Church and Angels. But the question is, are True Ancestors willing to take a risk?"

The risk I was talking about came from the Greek Pantheon. Who knows, if some vengeful Primordial God remains alive and if True Ancestors made a move, they would attack Romania for sure. Not to mention, that Vampires and Kindreds have attracted the ire of several Pantheons, for their tendency to hunt for Demigods and even weak gods as a source of blood.

While some Pantheons might not have existences on the level of Beings of Law or in god system of power levels, Primordial Divinity Stage or so-called Primordial Gods, many of them have methods on how to severely injure or even kill one. Ancient artifacts, weapons, magic formations, divine weapons, and many more.

"Don't know... though most of our people would be eager to march to war. The problem is we don't know if our current enemies aside from Church and Heaven will attack us. True Ancestors, on the other hand, aren't interesting in the affairs of Draconic Deus, they are interested only in returning to the Divine Blood Plane. Our ancestral home."

Said Viktor as they were walking through the endless corridors.

"I am well aware, and I don't even want True Ancestors to act personally, that would turn this conflict in all our war between higher existence. Your Legions on the other hand are another thing."

Zekram's intentions were clear, he wanted Devils and Blood Races to forge an alliance, they were practically on the same side. That was an ultimate advantage that Devil Race had, they could forge alliances with similar races as them, something that Church and Heaven cannot, due to their aggressive expansion.

"Hmm... that could work. Maybe even one of the Blood Lords would participate. Blood Lord Valerian Tepes is a battle maniac, so he won't miss the opportunity to go to battle and fight Archangels."

Chapter 27 - Of Blood and War (2)

Holy City of the Pale Blood was truly marvelous. It was created with gothic architecture and gave of gloomy and dreadful feeling to everyone who was not a vampire or kindred and visited it.

Zekram visited this place for the first time in his life, as Kindreds were not allowing anybody to lay his eyes upon their Holy City.

This was a place where True Ancestors were sleeping and Blood Lords were residing. Contrary to most factions, it wasn't located in separate dimensional space tied to the Draconic Deus, but rather in Draconic Deus itself, deep under the planet's crust, hidden and protected.

Soon enough, they arrived in the huge castle, of enormous size, dwarfing countless fortresses that the Devils have to build across the Underworld. Zekram could feel countless advanced magic spells protecting the fortress as he was admiring its beauty.

'No wonder that most local Pantheons are not fond and even afraid of these people, arriving from Astral Boundary. The production and advancement abilities are far above natives.' Sighed Zekram as he was looking at the Citated of Yharnam.

In Draconic Deus there were essentially two types of factions. One was the so-called native, which consisted of Pantheons and factions native to the Draconic Deus, such as Takagahamara, Olympus, Hindu, and others. The second one was consisting of those, who in ancient times arrive from the Astral Boundary before it was the Dimensional Gap was created. Those were Vampires, Asgard, and several others.

They were also not too friendly towards each other.

Viktor led Zekram to the meeting hall where four Blood Lords were already awaiting him. It was a very dark room, with only moonlight illuminating four seats where four figures were sitting. Zekram observed each of the Blood Lords. Three of them were men and one was a woman, probably the Carmilla Family. She had long blond hair and beautiful azure blue eyes.

What caught Zekram's attention, was a muscular man, wearing pitch-black armor and gripping a sword in his hands. His crimson eyes were shining in the dark and thirsting for blood.

'That should be Valerian Tepes.'

Thought Zerkam as he looked at the man. He was told by Viktor that Valerian Tepes was a battle maniac, so he would probably support his idea for sure, but other three he was uncertain. Kyrstia Carmilla was an isolationist, while the other two, Alexstrazs Brunestud and Marcus Corvinus were unknown.

"My Honorable Blood Lords, I have brought a guest from the Underworld, proposing an idea to attack forces on Church and Heaven during the war between three Factions of Heaven, Devils, and Grigori."

Grigori was an organization of Fallen Angels, created by very powerful Archangel Azazel that fell from Heaven. Soon enough, countless Pure Angels started falling for committing sins, and they soon enough creating the organization Grigori. The Watchers of the Children of God.

Azazel served as Governor-General of Grigori, but he wasn't too interested in faction management or anything, due to that, Grigori looked more like countless bandit groups banded together. There was no real authority, it was a very loose faction.

"Yes, the Great King of Bael, right-hand of Lucifer. What do you wish to propose to us?"

Said one of the Blood Lords, more precisely, it was Marcus Corvinus. Middle-aged man, with an average look in every way. He wasn't looking anything special, nor powerful, nor exceptional. He deceived countless people with this strategy and all of them became his nourishment.

"Cooperation, between Devil Race and Blood Races."

Said Zekram straightforwardly.

"Be more specific."

Answered back Blood Lord Corvinus with a low voice.

"As you have already noticed, tensions within our Pantheon are becoming too much to bear, and soon enough war would erupt. During the War, one of our targets is the influence of Heaven on Draconic Deus, and we wish to strike Church as hard as possible. During the War, Heaven won't have enough manpower to protect and help Church, as it will have full hands with war with Devils and Fallen Angels. That is an opportunity for your faction to attack and exact revenge."

Explained Zekram his plan, while four Blood Lords were in deep thought.

"And how can we be sure, that Yahweh, won't attack us."

Said a soft female voice of Blood Lord Kyrstia Carmilla.

"He won't. For several reasons. First is that you have behind you a True Ancestors, that could serve as a small deterrent, while not powerful as Yahweh, they could stall him enough for reinforcements to arrive and surround Yahweh. Second, Four Great Satans would be fighting Yahweh, so he won't be away from the battlefield, while the Great Satans are weaker than him, they have created a unique method, to boost up their combat prowess to actually injure him. Third, you are not the only faction that will be doing this, Olympus, Asgard, and Takagahamara will all attack. With the aggressive expansion, Heaven has made too many enemies and no allies. While he is strong, very strong, we could rely on numbers and other special means. Many Pantheons have their methods on restraining Primordial Divinity Stage God or Being of Law."

Explained Zekram with a great headache each time as he mentioned the name of Christian God.

"Your points are valid, Great King Bael. We could indeed rely on numerical advantage, but Yahweh has his advanced magical technology creations and several Archangels. It is still too risky. Not mentioning this is business of your Three Factions, not us Kindreds."

Said back Blood Lord Kyrstia Carmilla with a cold voice. Even Zekram understood the dangers of doing such a thing. While they had two True Ancestors on the level of Being of Law, genius Apocalypse-Class powerhouses, due to elemental disadvantage they can't defeat Yahweh. If by any chance, he attacks them, then they would survive, but costs would be enormous.

"The method of Satans. How sure are you it will work?"

Asked one of the Blood Lords that had closed eyes the entire time and just listened in silence, Alexstrats Brunestud. He was also the strongest out of them.

"100%. They developed a special magic ritual, I won't go to details, but they would be able to fight him on equal grounds. Lord Lucifer personally guaranteed that."

Said Zekram with confidence.

Chapter 27 - Of Blood and War (3)

Hearing this all Blood Lords present fell into deep thought and were thinking about the possible outcome of their decision.

"You can leave, for now, we will decide among ourselves."

Said Blood Lord Alexstrazs Brunestud with a neutral voice as Zekram slowly left the meeting hall. As he exited the meeting place he saw Viktor already waiting there for him.

"So, what do you think their decision would be?"

Asked Zekram his friend as they sat down, at nearby chairs.

"Hard to say. I can be sure that Blood Lord Kyrstia Carmilla would be against interference. That woman is isolationist to the core, so she won't support any kind of military expedition, especially that which is attacking Heaven. You have the support of Blood Lord Valerian Tepes, he will support this with all his might, due to several reasons, but most importantly, aside from his battle lust, Church almost killed his daughter when she was young. For him, it is personal."

Said Viktor with a low voice as he looked at the closed door, which led to the meeting room.

"What about the other two?"

It was apparent that votes of two remaining Blood Lords would be crucial.

"Blood Lord Marcus Corvinus and Blood Lord Alexstrazs Brunestud are hard to predict. They will look at profit first, and only then at consequences. If they judge that profits of this alliance are overshadowing its danger, then both of them would agree for sure."

Explained Viktor.

"What now?"

"We have approximately several hours before they call you back. I am hungry and thirsty, so we should go to eat. We have good dragon steaks and fresh dragon blood."

Said Viktor as he licked his lips.

"I am not a bloodsucker, but that steak sounds good."

Laughed Zekram a bit as both of them went away.

The meeting room of the Blood Lords.

"So, what do you think about the proposition, my fellow Lords?"

Asked Alexstrazs Brunestud with a neutral voice.

"I oppose. We don't need to provoke Yahweh even more than we did. True Ancestors together are no a match for that man, and if he brought here several of his Archangels, our losses would be astronomical, and we could only depend on the Holy City to survive. We are good as we are now. On top of that, this is not our conflict, but the conflict between Three Christian Factions. Let them kill each other, this has nothing to do with us and will bring us only unnecessary damage and danger."

The first one to oppose was Kyrstia Carmilla.

"On that, I don't agree with you sister, this has everything with us. What do you think will happen if Heaven wins? If devils and fallen are annihilated? Who would be next? How much of our blood will die then. If they lose, the blade of Yahweh and his armies would be turned on us next time, and we alone are not enough. Yes, we could escape with help of True Ancestors to somewhere in Dimensional Gap, but what about our offspring and race? Do you want to send your life as a hunted rat? I say we should fight! This is our fight, as much as devils! We are enemies of Heaven and Church. Those shitty priests are hunting our young ones and killing small children just because of their stupid faith! This is our time to strike back! And I will personally lead the charge on the Vatican if it is possible!"

The outcome was expectable, but the process not. No one among them awaited emotional speech for a "brute" like Valerian.

"What about you Marcus, at least you should be the voice of reason!"

Said Kyrstia as she looked at Marcus Corvinus in hope of finding an ally.

"I must disappoint you Kyrstia, as I agree with Valerian. Our Faction too has enemies, and Heaven and Church will do anything to annihilate us. We could save our hides by escaping to other planes in Dimensional Gap, but that cannot be said about everything in our species. Sooner or later, Yahweh's blade will be pointed to us as we are the so-called creatures of the Darkness. With Four Great Satans restraining Yahweh, we could join and attack Church and Heaven, fearing not his retaliation, while we four are could deal with Archangels."

Said Marcus Corvinus, as Kyrstia's fell down.

"What do you think about this Alexstrazs?"

Asked Valerian as he looked at the last Blood Lord.

"Kyrstia is fundamentally right... but she is also wrong. Yes, it is dangerous, but this is also our fight. We need to fight, Church has labeled us as their target of extermination, and what are we doing? Small skirmishes and small fights. We need to cripple them, destroy them, and left them with no power to even think about attacking us for the next thousand years. Without Heaven, Church is nothing, we all know it. Thus I agree, we should help Devils and deploy our Crimson Paladins and Battle Mages."

With this being said, everything was already set in stone. It was three against one, the majority of the Blood Lords felt that it was suitable to be no longer passive and start an active counterattack. If Yahweh would really be restrained by Four Great Satans, then they could safely attack the Church and the forces of Heaven.

"Then it is decided. Divine Blood Faction will participate in the war against Heaven and Church."

Said Alexstrazs in a deep voice.

Chapter 27 - Of Blood and War (4)

Shortly after the meeting of the Blood Lords, deep within Yharnam Citadel, two shadow figures with nothing but crimson eyes visible were looking at each other.

"They have decided to intervene in the war."

Stated one of the figures.

"Indeed. It is was only a matter of time, before Church and Heaven would have forced them upon this decision. They have become too aggressive."

Said another one.

"What if the plan of Satans fails and Yahweh won't be restrained and will attack us?"

Asked the first one.

"What else, we will escape to the Dimensional Gap."

Said the second one.

"That is always a choice. Our aim is only to regain our strength and return to the Divine Blood Plane. Nothing else matters, the only important thing in the lives of the Main Families of our blood, everything else is irrelevant. While I thought that you would have preferred to stay and fight to the death, Alucard."

Said the first one.

"Indeed, but due to our injuries, we are reduced to weak Apocalypse-Class individuals. Without the blood of enough other Apocalypse-Class powerhouses, we won't be able to return to our peak fast."

Answered back the second now, Alucard.

"It is still all your fault. Due to your stupid idea of exploring that creepy newly found Universe and subsequently being attacked by that Chaos God. Both of us were nearly killed and crippled, to extent that even some random new Apocalypse-Class can bully us."

Said the first shadow to Alucard.

"Shut up Brunestud. Who would have known that place will already have four Great Old Ones. It looked like a new Universe, that was only a few tens of millions of years old. Nobody would think such place would have even one Great Old One, not to mention four of them."

Shot back Alucard to Brunestud.

"Ts. Still, we will watch and sit. Maybe collect the blood of Devils, Angels, and Fallen. It is precious of our species."

In the meeting hall of Blood Lords, several hours later

Zekram was soon enough called by four Blood Lords to hear out their decision.

"Great King of Bael, we agree to your proposal, but we have one condition, for us to deploy our legions."

Said Blood Lord Alexstrazs Brunestud, while Zekram revealed a small smile hearing this.

"What condition?"

"We wish to harvest blood from corpses of Devils, Fallen Angels, and Angels."

Hearing this, Zekram was inwardly happy. On such a chaotic battlefield, nobody would care about corpses of killed, maybe with exception of several people who would get a proper burial, but that was all. Practically Vampires and Kindreds would be doing a cleaning job.

"To that, we agree."

Said Zekram slowly.

"Then it is decided. We will meet on the battlefield."

After giving a small bow to the four Blood Lords, Zekram left the meeting hall and went to the waiting lobby where Viktor was already waiting for him.

"From your expression, I can see, that they have decided to wage war?"

Asked Viktor with a feral grin over his face.

"Yes, indeed. It will be a glorious war. Heaven is stronger than us individually, so we need to mobilize our advantages. Also, be careful of Church, they have a lot of Sacred Gear users, if possible, try to capture them alive and extract their Sacred Gears before killing them. As long Church doesn't get back Sacred Gears, its power would be cut tremendously in upcoming centuries."

The power of the Church came from three aspects. The greatest amount of it came from Heaven in form of Angels, that tended to participate in exorcism missions. The second was from the huge number of exorcists that the Church was capable of producing. The last one was in form of Sacred Gear users which were all controlled by the Church. The strongest Sacred Gears users, could rival even early-stage Satan-Class, which was pretty terrifying itself, as we are talking about pure humans that reached this stage, even if it is with help of equipment.

Zekram would rather see those things being locked deep within vaults of the Yharnam, rather than being allowed once again to return to the hands of the Church. Of course, if possible, he too wanted to obtain them, but mainly because of Yahweh, he decided against it. Another deterrent was that all of them were directly connected to God's System in Heaven.

"So we will meet on the battlefield. Are you going to convince more Pantheons to attack them if this mess officially starts?"

Asked Viktor as he was aware that Heaven and Church had away too many enemies. They could enjoy their superior position mainly because Primordial Divinity Stage Gods of other Pantheons were incapable of taking action and Yahweh was one himself, and relatively strong one. But alas, now if Four Great Satans were restraining him, all enemies would start baring their fangs.

"Yes, my next stop is Olympus. My associate would be going to the Asgard and Takagahamara."

Said Zekram to Viktor, whose eyes twitched a little hearing Olympus.

"Hmm... Greeks are arrogant, too much for their own good, but thanks to that arrogance they will probably strike hardest out of all against Yahweh. It was he who ended their golden age. And about Asgard, the only thing I can say... good luck. That place is getting messier with each passing month."

Said Viktor grimly mentioning the situation of Asgard.

"Odin and Hela, I wonder if it will really lead to the civil war. That is not the best outcome for us."

Stated Zekram.

"Who knows. Maybe Hela will desert, and become a local warlord. Who knows. She is no match for Odin, and she knows it, but she has wide support of Berserkers and Einherjar Armies, millions are willing to follow her."

Said Viktor his opinion over the matter.

"It is not surprising. Aesir are battle race, waging war is in their blood."

Said Zekram, while his mind thought about other things.

'I wonder... maybe he can convince her to join. If he did that, it would be wonderful... Emotionally Hela is on the level of a child, maybe seducing her isn't that hard. Seducing Goddes of Death... what a nice shock it would be, young Lucifer.'

Chapter 30 - Spending a Day with Venelana (1)

At the Castle Fuerig

After I took the shower, I picked up some new outfit, that was looking almost the same as one before, the difference was that this one was clean.

I went to the hall, where Venelana was waiting currently. Truth to be told, my heart skipped a beat a little, when I saw her again. I admitted that I harbored some affection for her.

She was very beautiful, comparable to Aeldari Priestesses in my past life. I quickly shook my head and tried to get rid of my anxiety. I was never good with women, in my past, I was fully devoted to scientific research for my entire life of over two centuries.

So yes, my experiences with romance were equal to zero, minus some rejections when I was young, but that was very long ago. And that was more than four centuries ago, in my past life.

Today she was wearing a beautiful white dress with deep cleavage. When she noticed my stare she giggled softly, while I cursed myself in my head for my stupidity.

"Dealing with ladies probably isn't one of your qualities, My Lord."

Said Venelana with a soft laugh.

"Yes, it isn't... my expertise is magic, research, and combat."

I said with an agreement. Though I wasn't good at it, I wasn't bad, probably in middle, If I should add myself some points.

"Shall I give you the tour around the Castle Fuerig, My Lady?"

I asked as I looked at her.

"That would be wonderful."

Venelana nodded and thus we started our tour.

Fortunately, Castle Fuerig was huge enough, so it will be a long tour. The first place we went was understandably the library.

"This place looks a bit messy. There is even a bed there, so I take it this should be also your bedroom Zeoticus? A little daring to bring a lady to your bedroom on the first date."

Teased me Venelana, and after several seconds I realized it. Indeed I ordered servants to bring me a bed here, so I can rest in the library. I spent here all of my free time, due to all knowledge that I need to master.

Knowledge was power. Upon transmigration, I wanted to stay alive, possible for eternity... I once experienced death, and it isn't too enjoyable to be repeated once more.

"I am glad that you enjoy my embarrassment Venelana."

I said to her in a low voice.

"But yes, I live practically here. Due to saving time, I ordered servants to bring me here a bed. It saves time, from moving one end of the Castle to another."

I explained.

"Sounds rational."

Venelana nodded in agreement.

"What exactly are you researching here?"

Asked her while looking all around the place.

"Entirely new magic system. I am trying to fuse Devil Magic, Human Calculation Magic, and Runic Magic to use the advantages of all three systems to create something far stronger."

I exclaimed with a burning passion.

"And how are you progressing?"

I don't really know if she was genuinely interested or just keeping the facade to be polite. I was not good at reading emotions.

"Are your really interested or are you trying to be just polite? If it sounds boring to you, we can go somewhere else."

I said bluntly. I wasn't a person of all of that false politeness and other emphatic crap. Venelana also looked surprised by my statement, as she slowly smiled.

"Haha... this is the first time someone is talking so plainly. You don't need to worry, while it may seem to be boring, I found it intriguing. Not many people could come up with new magic systems. Are you perhaps trying to create it to replace Devil Magic due to its disadvantages?"

Asked me Venelana curiously.

"Yes. Devil Magic while very easy to cast, as the casting process is based on imagination, the firepower of the majority of spells are too weak compared to other magic systems. You can create spells easily, but compared to spells created with the usage of other magic systems, their destructiveness is lacking. That is why only a small amount of devils use magic, while most depend on Clan Traits of close combat."

I explained my idea. If devils could use a stronger magic system, the majority of them could utilize their Demonic Energy reserves to the fullest.

"That is good. That would bring us on the same level as more magically developed factions, and after some development time, maybe even on the level of Asgard or Yharnam in terms of magic."

In Draconic Deus most magically developed factions were Asgard and Yharnam. Aesir was famed for their battle-magic and runic magic, and most importantly their magical technology. While Vampire and Kindreds of the Yharnam were famed for Sorcery, Blood Magic, and their high magical affinity.

"Come, I will show you something more interesting than books."

I said as we went to the place where Arcane Mechanical Automants were working. Arcanotechnology was always a marvel to look at.

We went directly to the underground of the Castle Fuerig, while Venelana was looking at everything curiously. Finally, after fifteen minutes of walking, we arrived at the underground place, where thousands upon thousands of spider-like mechanical creatures were running here and there.

"What are those creepy things?"

Asked Venelana as she took a step behind me and looked at the Ararchen Drones with a bit disgusted expression.

"Those my dear, are Arcane Mechanical Automatons. They are advanced magical constructs similar to golems, but in nature, they are more similar to constructs of the Asgardian magical technology. The one you are looking at is of Drone-type of Arachne Class."

I introduced my creations pridefully.

"Your creation, I assume?"

Asked Venelana as she kept looking at them as they were working.

"Yes, one of my best creations. If possible, they would become main cannon fodder in the upcoming war. Drone-type is not combat-oriented, but even though it has combat prowess comparable to the Low-Class magician in terms of firepower."

I nodded as I explained a bit about them.