"Falbium, will you wake up already?"

Lord Sirzechs was rapping on his door.

He was getting no response. Then Lady Grayfia stepped in.

"Lord Asmodeus, would you please get dressed? The meeting starts in a few minutes."

Mere moments later, Lord Falbium was dressed and out the door.

He yawned. "Alright. I'm up. Let's get this done."

"Well that was easy…" I said.

We went down to the meeting room ahead of Lord Sirzechs and Lord Falbium, who needed to make some last-minute preparation.

There were several high-ranking devils there that I didn't recognize. I guess I'll learn them soon enough if I am to become more than an otaku low-ranking devil.

I did see Riser. His mother was right next to him. I can take a wild guess as to why that was…

There was another that greeted the President.

"Oh hey, Rias!"

"Greetings, Sairaorg."

He looked slightly older than us and had a very muscular build and was quite tall. He seemed to notice my inquisitive glance at his impressive physique.

"Oh. I believe we've never introduced myself to you, young lady. I am Sairaorg Bael."

"Well… I'm Aika Kiryuu."

"She's my Pawn," the President added. "I found she had somehow made a pact with a dragon spirit and I used all of them on her. She has proven to be quite useful."

"So I've heard. I'm interested to see how she fares against mine. I ended up using all except one mutation piece on mine."

"Oh. You also have a mutation piece. I still have a mutated Bishop I have yet to use."

"That could prove quite useful. I'm now definitely interested in seeing how your peerage stacks up against mine once you complete it."

They continued chatting as I decided to take a look around, maybe chat with some of the other people's peerages.

But then…

"Oh. Good evening, Aika Kiryuu."

It was Milcom Amon.

"Good evening…" I said apprehensively. I didn't want to cause a scene, especially since I have no idea when he wants to be antagonistic or not.

"Relax. I said earlier I have no intention of starting anything."

"Well, if you do start anything, you know the person who will stop it."

"Must you insist on giving them trouble, Milcom?" an older voice said.

I turned around. An older man who looked similar to Milcom, with scruffier hair and a graying beard approached us and was carrying a staff.

"Father!" Milcom exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you here…"

"This is an important evening. Why wouldn't I be here?"

"The same reason Mom isn't here…"

"Excuse my son's rudeness," the older man said. "You can call me Lord Amon."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Alright. Sorry for the wait," Lord Sirzechs announced as he entered with Lord Falbium. "Let us begin."

"In case you weren't aware," he continued as everyone sat down. "Leviathan and Beelzebub are not with us this evening, as they are helping provide extra security to the Church's operations in light of recent attacks.

We also have some guests with us who will be helping us – Suzaku of the Himejima clan as well as Shemhazai of the fallen angels. With the powerful enemies that we have encountered, we must make powerful allies of our own.

Isn't that right, sister?"

The President nodded. "It is true. We have encountered numerous dangerous foes over the past few weeks that I doubt we would have been able to face alone."

"I would like to second their statements," Suzaku commented. "My great uncle had perpetuated a culture of antagonism in my clan, particularly against Lord Shemhazai's people and especially to my cousin Akeno and her father. Today is the day where that must end, so we can focus on our true enemy."

"I accept this truce." Shemhazai replied. "I am not afraid of breaking our cultural barriers. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't have married a devil."

I heard a woman nearby giggling.

The two of them stood up and shook hands.

"May I suggest another agreement?"

There was another unfamiliar voice among us.

There was a hologram of a blonde-haired woman in a cloak that had appeared in the room.

"Iblis!" Lord Sirzechs exclaimed. "So, you were the one who betrayed the angels and sided with Halja."

"My sole loyalty is to our true goddess. All those who oppose her must fall. And if you refuse to give us the territory that your family controls on Earth, Sirzechs, they will fall. Choose wisely."

There was much clamor as the woman known as Iblis vanished.

"What are we going to do?" Suzaku asked Lord Sirzechs and Falbium.

"I dunno," Lord Falbium replied.

Lord Sirzechs sighed, "Of course you would say that."

He turned to the President. "Rias, can you and your peerage make it back to Earth?"

"I would tread carefully," Lord Amon stated. "Iblis is no fool. If we send aid, she may act out against the Church's committee she has taken hostage."

"You may be right," Lord Sirzechs replied. "Makoto and Sona may be on their own."

"It will be alright," the President commented. "I have faith in Makoto. I know he can stop her."

As Makoto shattered the barrier, Kuroka lead the charge as she busted through the front door with magic.

Kuroka's blast knocked out some of the exorcists as several others started charging at us.

"Sorry!" Xenovia exclaimed as she knocked several exorcists out with the edge of Durandal.

Lint, meanwhile, was casually shooting down several of them with dual pistols.

"Hang on, Lint!" Irina said as she knocked out one of the guards with Hauteclere, "We're not killing them!"

"Relax!" Lint responded, "These are rubber bullets."

However, as I was using Twilight Healing on where an exorcist had injured Xenovia's arm, several more were rushing down the stairs at us.

However, they were easily stopped as several multicolored energy blasts knocked them all down.

Behind us, Rossweisse was entering the building as magic circles surrounding her vanished.

"Glad to see you have collected yourself, nya." Kuroka commented.

"I appreciate it…" Rossweisse replied.

One of the exorcists was attempting to get up, but the Class President surrounded him with water and Serafall froze it.

Xenovia walked up to the frozen exorcist and tapped the area around his head, giving him enough room to breathe.

"What are you doing attacking us?" the Class President interrogated him. "Weren't you supposed to be guarding the place?"

The exorcist gasped for air, "I- I don't know! I came here for this assignment and next thing I know you have me frozen in here!"

"It's as I thought," Xenovia commented. "Somebody brainwashed them."

The Class President stretched her hand out again and the ice thawed out, leaving the exorcist unconscious on the floor.

"I guess this means we will have to question Iblis herself," Yuma stated.

I rushed through the hall into the room labeled "Conference Room."

I slammed open the doors to reveal Mom and the rest of the committee members sitting while Iblis was standing before me.

"Ah, yes. The much-debated White Dragon Emperor reveals himself at last."

"Give them up, Iblis!" I demanded.

"Even if you have the opposite Sacred Gear of my master, such idle demands won't intimidate me. Mine will pierce right through you!"

I fired off my Power of Retribution at Iblis, with the enhanced power of my Balance Breaker.

However, the intense aura of her spear allowed her to merely swipe away my attack with ease.

She summoned her ten wings and charged at me, forcing me to pull out my Excalibur Mimic.

However, that spear put an amount of force on my blade that I have never felt before, creating massive amounts of sparks as it came in contact.

"That's a cute attempt," Iblis taunted, "but my spear is one-half of the strongest Longinus in the world! Your seventh of Excalibur is a toy in comparison."

Duly noted. I withdrew Excalibur and simply parried the spear with the gauntlets of my Scale Mail.

Her Spear of Longinus is still quite obviously a force to be reckoned with. One false move and this angel will have the ability to reduce me to swiss cheese in a moment's notice.

My course of action must be to make contact with her and divide her power.

I went on the offensive in close quarters. However, Iblis' spear kept blocking my attacks and prevented me from getting a Divide off.

The sheer force of her spear meant that I won't be able to defend for long, especially since I can feel the power I got from the Demon Lords wearing off. If I lose my Balance Breaker before defeat her, I'm going to be a Spear of Longinus kabob in no time.

Simply put, I have to lure her out of defense, her attacks have reach, but not exactly range.

I jumped out of her range and began firing off my Power of Retribution again and kept putting pressure on her to jump on the offensive.

She took the bait and charged at me again, but instead of trying to parry the attack like last time, I dodged it.

This simple change in tactics appeared to throw Iblis off guard, and it gave me the opening I need to strike her in close quarters!

"DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"

She still wasn't letting up, though. She charged at me again, seemingly making up for raw strength with increased ferocity.

I noticed an odd flashing in her wing color.

She managed to keep blocking my blows, but after a while, her attack slipped and I was narrowly able to get another hit in.

"DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"

The increased power from Balance Breaker has allowed me to divide her power five times from these two blows.

Let's see how it has affected our power matchup, I fell back out of her range yet again and fired off my Power of Retribution.

She attempted to dissipate the attack but she ended up being knocked back, with her spear being flung out of her hand!

"For the record, Iblis, it's the Legendary White Dragon Emperor," I commented.

I had disarmed her at just the right time, as my Balance Breaker wore off a moment after I said that.

The rest of the group entered the room as Mom, Baraqiel, Serafall, and Ajuka confronted her.

Asia ran up to me, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, Asia."

"You've lost, Iblis. Give it up." Baraqiel commented.

"No… No…" Iblis began saying. "You're wrong…

She immediately grabbed her spear.

They all fired up our auras.

"It's you have lost, you pieces of shit! BALANCE BREAK!"

She was about to fling that spear at me, but she suddenly froze up as her halo suddenly shattered!

She began breathing heavily.

She summoned her wings, which were now… black!

She was now a fallen angel!

"Impossible! After what I've done for my Goddess!?"

"You let the sin of wrath consume you, Iblis." Gabriel said to her.

"No! My Lady must be disappointed in my defeat! But I will prove myself to her… by destroying the Underworld!"

She then vanished in a flash of light!

"She's gone insane!" Xenovia exclaimed.

"She was always insane," I commented, "But now she's so insane she's pulled a Freed Sellzen."

"I'm going into the Underworld to stop her." Serafall said.

"I'm going with you," Sona said.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure not to destroy the Underworld myself…" Serafall replied.

"I'm going too."

Sona glanced at Saji in surprise as he declared that.

"This is going to be dangerous. I don't want you to be harmed."

"I- I don't want you to be harmed either!"

Saji looked incredibly embarrassed from saying that.

However, I saw a rare smile from Sona, "Alright, who else?"

"I guess I might as well go…" I said.

"I will too," Xenovia said. "Two of each peerage seems reasonable."

"But I'm going with Makoto, too!" Asia said.

"Well, whatever works…" Xenovia commented.

Rossweisse was about to raise her hand when Odin said, "Miss Rossweisse! I think you should go!"

"I was about to say that, Lord Odin."

"Hey, what about you, Baraqiel?" Odin added. "Your daughter is down there, right?"

"… I don't know…"

Now that he mentioned it, I am worried also about Akeno… and Rias too! My manhood be damned if I lose them with my unresolved feelings!

What may be the issue for Baraqiel though is whether or not he can look his daughter in the eye again after he failed her before.

"I have to think about it," he said. "You guys go on without me."

"Alright! What a team!" Serafall exclaimed. "Let's go kick some formerly-pure angel butt!"

We all went to the train station that Rias' peerage went to go to the Underworld.

As we entered the elevator, Serafall reached into her pocket.

"Ah crap…"

Sona sighed and pulled out her own card. Now we were headed down.

"My little sister saved the day once again, we are such an unbeatable duo!"

Serafall glomped onto her sister as she said it, the latter looking like she wanted this to be over.

"We haven't saved the day just yet, Big Sister…"

"So, what are we going to do, President?" Yuuto asked me as we were hunkered down in my room as my brother and Lord Falbium was trying to assess the situation back on Earth.

I sighed. "This is a delicate situation. I did say I trust Makoto, but I still worry."

Akeno looked particularly gloom, and I know why, but now is not the time to bring up a petty rivalry.

"Hey, if the President thinks he can kick her butt, Makoto can kick her butt!" Aika said, clasping her fist.

Koneko nodded and did the same.

"My, my," Akeno said to me, looking much happier than before. "I will have to agree with Aika."

Suddenly, we felt a tremor.

There was a loaded silence as we all were trying to figure out what was going on.

Then, all of a sudden, two robed men entered the room and attacked us.

Akeno immediately took care of them with lightning.

"We need to get out of here!" she said.

"I agree. Something must have happened," I said. "I hope it is not the worst…"

"Promotion: Queen!"

Aika was able to promote to Queen. So, this is like when Milcom and Kokabiel took over the school – the enemy is claiming this as their territory.

"Lead the way, Aika!" I said

She opened the door, revealing more enemies.

Akeno and Ravel was right behind her and they took them out with their Lightning and Fire magic.

We made our advance out. We needed to get to Earth and assess the situation.

Aika blocked and redirected dark magic attacks that came our way while Ravel, Akeno, and I fired back with our own magic.

Some fast ones, however, were able to break through. Yuuto summoned his Holy Demonic Sword and took care of them. Hagane was right behind him and dealt with some of them as well.

Koneko also was able to handle a group of them, but she quickly looked a bit winded.

"Are you okay, Koneko?"

"I'm sorry if I'm having trouble catching up…"

"You don't have to apologize," I assured her. "You're doing great. Let's keep moving!"

However, as we were nearing the exit, there was one last enemy. Akeno and Ravel attacked her, but it had no effect!

She had donned armor that was almost exactly like Hagane's, only red!

"Impossible!" Hagane exclaimed. "When I was recruited by Lord Milcom, he said I was the only one with the Conjured Armor ability!"

The enemy charged at us and Hagane summoned her armor to defend us from the attack.

She blocked the enemy's fierce blows, but was struggling to find an opening to attack.

"How does it feel to know you are aren't the only one who can use Conjured Armor anymore?" the enemy taunted.

"Well, there is one thing I do have!" Hagane said as she finally found an opening to go on the offensive.

She hit the enemy with a fierce blow and had turned the tides. Now the enemy was struggling to find an opening. And something about her attacks had an edge over the enemy.

"I am a Rook of Rias Gremory!"

The next hit Hagane made broke right through the enemy's armor and knocked her out.

"Nice!" Aika said. "And you even kept her clothes on!"

"My, my." Akeno said. "We don't talk about that."

"Talk about what?" I asked.

"You don't wanna know." Koneko said.

However, we were not out of the fire just yet as several enemies entered the room. All with Conjured Armor.

"This is bad!" Yuuto exclaimed.

"One was enough for me," Hagane said. "I can't take all of them."

"Allow me," said Aika.

During the train ride, Sona asked me to rematch her in chess.

"Checkmate."

I sighed. "I lost again. I guess that first time was just a fluke, after all."

"Not necessarily," Sona said. "Like your powers, with more practice, you can become a serious threat."

"So, am I still supposed to marry you?" I asked.

She gave me a weird look that I was having trouble interpreting.

"You're on my short list. I will need more time to finalize who I really want to marry."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"And besides, I think Rias and Akeno like you more. I don't want to rain on their parade if I don't have to."

"Hang on, you're getting sentimental. I thought that wasn't your thing."

"You know from the Sports Festival that I can get serious if I want to."

"You're right. I also know someone who likes you more."

"Really," she said, getting smug. "Then who?"

"That's a secret."

We then heard a rumbling noise and the lights began to flicker.

Saji entered the room.

"You have any idea what's going on, Saji?" Sona asked.

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

Soon after, the lights went out completely.

We had to take a moment to figure out our situation, until…

"Class President, get down!"

Saji and Sona ducked as I narrowly parried with my Excalibur a sword strike meant for her.

As the lights went back on the next moment, it became clear.

This girl was the one who stole Ascalon!