Fallen POV

Another day, another joyful experiment on the making, sacred gears were truly the joy of discovery for azazel, leader of the grigory, the complexity, soul integration, stabilization, it was beyond even his modern capabilities to truly understand the machinations of his father in making them, the process and sheer audacity to bind a soul to an object that is then again soul bounded to another, but contemplations will be for another time, for right now the bane of his existence was rapidly coming to the lab his secretary, friend advisor, Peneume, the tall buxom and purple, beauty that always brought him the greatest of pains by separating him from his research.

"AAND~~ what brings you today peneume-chan? a new sacred gear I hope?"

said in vain anticipation the angel, she wouldn't come to the lab in person for a notification other than a longinus appearing or the satans string conflict, or he had blown the budget, again.

"The exclusion zone had been breached, there are sightings of activity in the area, the barrier of the dessert is active"

shouted as she entered the gate with a panicked expression

"That was no good if it was a joke peneume, please tell me again which exclusion zone? "

It was an attempt to gain time and recover his bearings, for the implications were astronomically bad.

"the exclusion zone of babylon lord azazel, the barriers are active and there is light in some of the ruins, especially on-site U-1001"

the cursed city of the end as the supernatural called the place, for no-one ever returned from there, be a devil or a god, even some angels were sent by his father in the past and none ever made it beyond the walls, during the great war even the original lucifer and then in the civil wars the current one had tried to break the barrier to no gain, that being the reason why it was called the exclusion zone, were no supernatural meddle and in general very few life could be found, the place was haunted and an unnatural dessert extended, only the suicidal and the unknowing humans dare to trespass.

the fact that IT became active on its own meant that an uproar was coming, if he knew, the devils knew the matter will be who make it first there if not they were there and caused this.

a hand on his forehead, and another reaching for his downed coffee mug on the floor, he could feel it, a migraine was coming.

"get me serafall on the line and another coffee, black, without sugar and without cream on the double also tell satanael and kokabiel to ready themselves in case of deployment"

this was not good her boss never asked for his coffee like this unless war was on the horizon.

Shinto POV

It was not a normal day, It was not a calm day, all day long the divination priests, maidens, and deities were hammering on her about the signs and the end of times coming from a sea of sand, and Amaterasu, head goddess of the shinto, the most powerful deity of the sun (on her region, mind you) was having a very bad day to end a very bad week, it all began on Wednesday, when all gods in her domain felt a chill simultaneously, it was a premonition? the signs of a prophecy? her people would have thought nothing of the sort if it was on only a few gods, even a little paranoia could be the cause, there were devils asking for territory, and the Christians were encroaching, not so long before her precious land suffered an attack from the barbarians across the sea, she would not dignify their existence by calling them a name, americans they said, burning a full city was ground for execution, but two consecutive? her poor children had to surrender, and her protection failed them, susanoo tried but those damned barbarians scratched the realm of the gods, this was some somber decades for the shinto pantheon and when once their influence was in all of asia (all that matters of course), now even devils were coming for their share as well as the church, damned dogs of the old man.

but this was something even the norse had come to her about, as it seems all gods in every pantheon had felt it, the hindu were gearing for war from the first day, but were quiet all too quiet about it, ganesh the usually amicable was silent and elussive, the norse were having the same problem with their divination.

"please bring another cup of tea, and ask yasaka for the latest news on the kitties (nekoshu were the most formidable when reading the flow of the world, and she was proud of that, they were also wonderful at dealing with headaches)"

"at once amaterasu-sama"

this mess was making her work too much how she would love to drop everything into her brother, her former lover, and hide in a cave again just to cope with the depression and the veritable mountain of ice cream waiting for her, ice cream was good.

"ane-sama, (about time you returned you ungrateful baboon, tsukiyomi-baka) I bring news from the hindu, one of my friends got some words from the palace, it is not a smoke and mirror, they are preparing for an all-out war, the cities are empty and no deity shall be left alone, even the budhas are to report in"

he was exhausted most likely from the run to get this perturbing information, the hindu were really throwing themselves at war? who was stupid enough to poke the most powerful pantheon with some of the strongest gods, and to think the delightful ganesh would cover himself in armor again, just who was suicidal enough?

"recover your wind tsukuyomi, just what was said for you to gain such ghastly pale look, your composure was broken ya´know"

amaterasu was nervous as well but tried to keep it together for both of them

"ane-sama your kansai is showing, the old monkey told me, that indra was scared enough to call a truce with shiva, and the destroyer was to return and defend india to the last"

those were indeed news, worrisome news, if the destroyer was to be recalled and made a truce with indra, hardly anything other than the return of draig and albion would merit, or are they preparing for conquest instead? we are all in a weakened state because of the wars and the brute's expansion into the woldworrisome

"what did they say? who is the enemy they are facing? Tsukuyomi ? "

a pause for breath and then.

"the city of the dead had awakened, the dessert is coming back to life"

'this was insane, even if they were to manage to get anubis to fight, the egyptians were in no condition to fight the full might of the hindu, they would let themselves exposed to the devils, or worse, the ... americans, something else must be at play, an alliance maybe, an unseen faction, a drink of tea will help on this inquires '

"then we must call to osiris and get confirmation, we can not risk another war of gods"

the brother interrupted again in desperation at his sister's antics that were already lifting a phone apparatus and jumping to conclusions.

"ane-sama, wait it was not the egyptians, the monkey said the diviners of tibet got the same as everyone else, the god -slayer walks among us once more, born into human flesh, a monster of insanity and dread hast come, or so, they said, from the dessert will rise, the once dead returns and the world of the gods will end"

this was worrisome, it was the celts then, working with the egyptians to fight together against the hindu, but, it makes no sense

"it makes little sense brother, why would scathach agree to work with egypt? has she changed her aligned pantheon?"

another cup of tea flowed into her hands, the repercussions were big, just how would she sail her nation, and her children to safety in this storm that was brewing? the celts must be called, she still had some leverage with the morrigan to get some words with dagda.

"no, ane-sama it is not the celts either, please, put down that contraption, the divinations called to the exclusion zone where the gods go to die"

that was, preposterous, the zone was dead long before the first gods came to be in the yamato archipelago, the work of some long-dead god, the forgotten pantheon as was called only to be referred in the thing the tree biblical faction called holly book.

"ane-sama, Babylon, has returned"

I will need more than tea ya´know

Devils POV

Since the activation of the wards in ancient babylon, several teams of devils were dispatched to investigate and if possible to get the first foot into the ruins, the recovery of any relic of the ancient past was imperative, some believe the place was built by the ancestors of devils, a place that rejected angels, fallen and gods was too much of a coincidence, but devils were also expulsed and desintegrated, even humans who must have been servants to the builders, got a few minutes inside the ruins before they too got killed.

"Those wards are needed for the underworld, destroyed if any other faction was to get the hands on them, ajuka, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

asked satan of red, sirzechs lucifer ruler of devil-kind to his fellow satan of the flies while musing on the problem that arose in the exclusion, part of the current truce was on condition that the exclusion zone was to remain unclaimed, but true to his title, the father of lies, had sent teams over the years to find all that could be learned, once he himself had tried to take down the walls of the city of the end, to no avail, everything was tried and failed, there was no ley line, no dragon vein, no magical output detectable, and no sign of cracking them, even while decoding a part of Babylonian written language was possible, the city seems older than what was possible to recuperate from other sites, thus other smaller wards were already broken in and the treasures were a disappointment, but all pointed to the legend of the last god and ruler of the babilonian after a calamity struck them, He who shall be not be named the king of ancient Ur, ereshkigal.

"sirzechs , I believe that the possibility of the legend being true is high and the slayer of gods might return he paused containing his excitement but barely), ereshkigal is awakening, to have its chief deity walking in the city must have caused the barriers to start acting up and reinforcing one another, most of our efforts in the region were rejected with new barriers very similar to those of Ur, the pattern changed"

It was, intriguing

"then we must go and ensure we are the first to welcome ereshkigal to the new world, having a former god becoming a devil would boost our prestige and power within the devil factions, a proper proposition is in place, keep the watch"

yes it would, and if everything goes wrong, no matter once outside the barrier ancient god or not, ereshkigal will die by my hands to be reborn as a devil, we will see.

"what shall we do with the humans going into the area?"

It was a good question and if the depictions of what this ereshkigal were available to us were correct, then he would demand some blood to awaken, these wondering humans will come into useful peons.

"let them pass unobstructed, their blood might come into use, old gods are like that and after such a slumber he must be hungry"

Celtic POV

A bad day for a bad week for a bad century, that was the definition of time for lugh, god of celtic sun of ireland, but this was a special week, a special bad week, for the gods in particular, the feeling of the chill, as was called was forebodding, It became a tangible trouble when every pantheon came for the queen of dun-scath´s head, they might not be friends, they might not even get along before there was some blood spilled but they were irish and, the people of ireland stick together in good and in worse.

´she kept by my idiot son side, i owe her that much'

"for thee last of times amatatsu, scathach is IN the land of shadows, y'a don't get a prophecy to tell me to chain'er up, either y'a get somethin clear or we have trouble, the dun-scath is closed to visitors, so, next time y'a come screamin wolf about the chill i'mma get you guted like a fish and served with fries to the brits, bye"

'This was the tenth time amaterasu called in to get scathach in chains or murdered by fellow gods when the prophecy of a god-slayer came about, why was all eyes in her, there were some other slayers, she being the strongest human, witch or not, does not make her the origin of the chill, I would know, I AM the one in charge of getting her home when she pas out drunk or stir trouble'

the good side of things, these baseless acusations got the celts together more than ever, foreign gods knocking, demanding, sending the bloody valkyries at one point, why not send the mayor jackass thor for Dagda's beard?

"feeling like taking a breathe already?"

asked the trinity goddess the morrigan who was at some point enemy of lugh but as time passed and other forces came crashing on the island, comrades, even friends, from time to time was more propper, especially in this age.

"not yet y'a old coot, just give me a moment"

and a moment she gave, with concern written on the face, she who was once a goddess of life and the earth now a goddess of death was more attuned to the changes of the realm than any other god.

"how's the lass? feeling at home I hope?"

we knew both who we were talking about, the wine hair red, eyed, pajama-wearing lass from scotland, any other day, any other scot, and she would be chained and delivered to the meddlers, just so they left us alone, but i owe her and we all respect her, even if with some bad blood, respect is what she gained, and respect will she receive.

"dadgda have her in a cozy place in my home, she will manage, a little anxious to rely on gods and that all world came for 'er, not gonna lie, this will be costly for our people, there is a famine brewing again and we know not how to answer some questions, the whole, returning to life from the sands makes no sense, she was never dead to be returned"

'and she was right, some weary times are coming for the land, we kept to ourselves but the humans under our care need us more than ever, especially since our refusal to handle the lass caused this, but the irish were strong and we will endure, it's in our spirit'

"I hanged the amatsusu of the shinto, crazy brat, what are your thoughts on it? about this fiasco?"

'we could never before see eye to eye, but, she is a wise woman '

"to be honest, oberon is being a pain in the ass, calling for the hunt of all humans, that hole in their soul's debacle, and i can feel things are changing on the land, but it feels, odd, the dead are being sent out, not coming back, or that's the feeling I got, we must be careful with who we get allies with, the levi-than of devils offered to "take her from our hands" to give the lass protection in exchange of getting her to her peerage, dagda nearly accepted, the old pervert was looking below the cleavage, that is why you can not trust him with what matters"

'old divorced couple of coots, ya' never change, do you ? '

"and what he said 'bout the lass?"

with a soft smile, she replied,

"no one gets left behind, even if you bring your puppet queen we won't hand her over" he said, the chieftain of the pantheon at his highest, I tell y'a, sneaky devils getting souls destroyed for nothing, I will keep the lass company, no matter who she killed in the past, no one deserves that fate of being a soulless slave"

"then greet her when you get back from my part, I have another call to take from the sneaky roaches, maybe this time uriel will get down instead of a priest"

and with that morrigan went home to check on her charge, the most volatile charge if being objective, it was going to be a great day to roast some roaches over the phone.

"now what'ya wann y'a sleepers wearing roaches? y¿a want a piece of celtic fist to th'a face too?, cu's we ain't chaining no one"

uruk POV

"and... another mosquito fried by the barrier"

there was the warden of ururk, watching as some supernatural idiot managed to touch the wall's barrier to be burnt to a crisp

'at least the roman soldiers and the ww1 era looking left bones and pieces of equipment behind, supernatural just pop out of existence '

At the beginning they were what looked like crows, some cautious some rash running to be fried nut mostly keeping distance and watching from above, then came the bats, and oh boy they were stubborn, at a point they dropped a slave devil into the barrier to bypass while the other was burned and the idiots all burnt together, other, things came to sniff around and set camp around the walls, it would be a siege, were it not for the constant fighting between them.

they were trying to out-smart one another and get into the city, to steal all they could, surely, they can try but unless ophis came herself they will hold the intruders at bay.

'not that it helped with my solitude and the ever harder hunting for food '

As gilgamesh instructed, I downed the setting of the barrier that turns the entire area of Mesopotamia into a ruthless desert, just why? damn gil, that was brutal, the ultimate scorched ground technique using buried pylons between the cities, and redirected all energy into the main barriers of the cities, ...or ruins, the system was efficient, and some kings posterior to gil expanded upon while keeping the main framework, the easy to use and intuitive, red writing means desert, green light means fertile zone was, ...not so intuitive, and I accidentally fried some doves coming over, not that I would regret it, they were trespassers but they were very nasty fried by the pylons and not the barrier so it was slow, and probably scared some of the would-be poachers.

but to return life to the ground and prosperity enough to feed a never growing child it could take years, maybe even decades, that I don't have.

At least they provide some entertainment, supernaturals make some funny fireworks, and there another goes.