I don't own Highschool DXD! Only OC's and all the bullshit I come up with!

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When Flames Rise – Chapter 9

Decent

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Electing a new Satan Asmodeus was one of the hardest tasks Sirzechs was ever faced with.

Not only couldn't he ease the pain from the loss of one of his closest friends, due to being constantly reminded of his demise, but there was also another very big problem.

How do you elect a new Satan?

As unlikely as it sounds, there had never been elections for Satans. The four original Satans were literally created to be leaders and until Satan disappeared nobody questioned their authority.

The new Satans had been chosen because the four friends had been the leaders of the Anti-Satan Faction and thus logically got the leader position once the war was won.

But with the sudden decease of Falbium, nobody really knew what to do.

Due to the remaining three Satans being greatly distracted the Elders took advantage and announced that the new Satan Asmodeus would be voted through majority votes with the only special rules being that said candidate should be at least Ultimate-Class in both power and rank and that the candidate wasn't to be part of a peerage, having a peerage on their own was ok.

While the first rule was logical and understandable, the second one was only to stop Grayfia or any of the other peerage members of the Satan's to gain such a position of power, because only peerage members of the Satans were considered Ultimate-Class in rank.

But if the type of election had already been decided, why was Sirzechs still having trouble with it?

Simple.

Well, actually it wasn't.

Devil politics were very… dirty.

There were multiple High-Class devils that could vote that gave him their vote and like other influential devils of the Underworld he had to pull some strings so that none of his enemies could sneak any of their personal candidates into the Satan position gaining immense power.

Just imagining some elders with a Satan under the thumb made him shiver.

And now he tried to filter out who he could entrust with being a good Satan that wasn't easily corrupted or under someone's control.

And while many devils seemed to fit those requirements, only a few actually did.

He looked down at the folder in his hands.

This one had passed all his background checks and seemed to be the most logical.

He sighed and made the first communication circle of many. It would take a while until he had phoned all of his associates to reveal his decision.

==X==X==

Azazel was nervous to say the least.

He was in close proximity to the one individual that eradicated an entire pillar family in less than a minute.

He knew that this meeting with the man would be different from most that he had. Normally he was one of the strong leaders of a faction, having enough power to compete against most other supernatural leaders in a one-on-one. The fact that most other leaders or individuals he met weren't strong enough to simply beat him without trouble was good because it meant that neither had control over the meeting and both sides were forced to handle it on a logical and practical basis.

But this time he knew that he was outmatched by a longshot.

There was no doubt that this Issei Hyoudou was strong enough to wipe him out without breaking a sweat, meaning that Azazel would be at his mercy during the duration of the entire conversation.

It wasn't fair and he couldn't do shit to make it fairer.

Hell, even the information he got on the man was close to nothing due to the fact that he lived his entire life in devil territory never leaving the area.

But there was nothing he could do about it, so he had to use all his available tools, mainly his skills at talking, to the absolute maximum.

But even though he had a whole speech mentally prepared with multiple diverting paths he felt like this conversation would go an uncontrollable and uncomfortable direction in a matter of minutes if not seconds.

And once again he couldn't do shit about it.

So he decided to knock.

It took less than two seconds for the door to open and- yep things were already spiraling into chaos.

What the fuck was Tiamat doing here.

"Azazel?"

She seemingly had the same question about him.

"Hello Tiamat, long time no see. I wanted to know if I could talk with a certain Issei Hyoudou."

Tiamat visibly hesitated, which worried Azazel greatly.

"Didn't you already sent someone?"

What?

"What?"

"Yeah. Like the white-skinned one…"

Oh.

"With those red eyes and pointy ears…"

Oh no.

"Honestly looks more like a vampire than one of you Fallen…"

OH NO!

"And why would you ever sent a warmonger to a meeting?"

"Tiamat."

She raised an eyebrow at his dreaded serious tone.

"… What?"

"That's Kokabiel."

She clearly didn't get the problem.

"… And?"

"And I'm the one sent to represent the Fallen."

Her eyes grew wide.

"Oh."

"He went rouge a few months ago."

"Oh no."

"He has plans of restarting the war between the biblical factions."

"OH NO!"

Tiamat rushed into the house, prompting Azazel to follow right after. He just realized that if he would be a second too late that not only would the Great War restart, but there would be a winner that was none of the three actual factions, but more a third, or fourth in this case, party.

The door to the living room was slammed open by a panicking Tiamat who was still followed by the leader of the Grigori.

There he saw the individual he had been seeking to speak with, Issei Hyoudou, sitting on an armchair that was in front of a small table with a couch being parallel to him and two other armchairs being to the other sides of the table.

On one of the said armchairs was a certain Fallen he had been searching for what felt like years.

That Fallen had frozen the moment the door had been slammed open with a smug expression on his face and leaning slightly forward as if he was trying to reel Issei in with no visible success.

Issei was completely sunk back into his chair almost sinking into the foam it was made out of. He had a clearly bored and grumpy expression which made Azazel wonder for a moment why Kokabiel was so smug even though Issei didn't seem convinced by anything he had said until now. This was supported by the fact that Issei wasn't even looking at Kokabiel, but rather at a random wall not even slightly in the direction of the warmonger.

And while Kokabiel remained completely frozen Issei immediately turned to Tiamat and Azazel. His face slightly lit up when he saw Tiamat, but immediately fell into a much more serious one when he realized how panicked she was. His eyes shifted to Azazel who immediately felt under pressure when being focused on by the golden orbs of pure energy. Thankfully, the pressure fell as he noticed that Tiamat wasn't panicking about Azazel, having let him follow her so deep into the house and his expression changed into a slightly confused one clearly indicating that he was trying to figure out why exactly Tiamat was panicking.

But while Issei was trying to figure out what exactly was happening Kokabiel slowly turned towards the now opened door, his face still frozen.

When his eyes met with those of Azazel his eyes slowly widened, and his mouth went from smiling into a deep frown.

Neither moved a muscle, staring each other down, both channeling hate for each other, both wanted justice, just was the problem that neither had the same views on what justice was.

One wanted to win a war that wasn't fought for anymore and desired to make a mark in history via bloodshed.

The other wanted to punish a former ally for backstabbing his old friends for nothing more but a childish need to battle a battle long lost.

But the stare down was interrupted when Azazel felt the golden orbs of power-seeking his attention, which they immediately got.

With a head nod, Issei directed him towards the free armchair.

Azazel didn't dare to refuse.

After sitting down he thankfully felt Issei's eyes leave him, letting him release the breath he didn't know he was holding.

Issei leaned forward, closing his eyes, and folding his hands in front of his face.

The silence that followed seemingly stretched into infinity.

That was until Issei's left eye snapped open and focused on Kokabiel who was sitting on

The cadre class fallen stiffened, not knowing how to react. It didn't take too long for him to realize that Issei wanted him to speak.

"As I was saying…"

Kokabiel sent a glare towards Azazel, who replied with his own look of hatred.

"… if you were to join me in my quest to eliminate the angels, devils, and..."

A feral grin made itself onto the warmonger's face and he once again glanced at Azazel, this time his eyes were filled with confidence and bloodlust. Azazel would never admit that the look had scared him.

"… the Grigori…"

For a single moment, Azazel's neutral face broke into a snarl-like frown that expressed just how much he had to hold back to not just launch towards Kokabiel. The next instant and he once again looked completely neutral.

"… I would not only give you the entirety of the Underworld, but also allow you to use the devils, angels, and… traitors…"

Azazel's eye twitched.

"… That we imprisoned for whatever you desire whenever you desire. We would leave you completely at peace as long as we aren't under attack and just request to have heaven for ourselves, nothing more nothing less."

The following silence made Azazel question if Issei had even been listening.

Then said man closed his left eye.

Another minute of awkward silence.

And his right eye opened staring right at Azazel.

At first, Azazel had believed that Kokabiel had only flinched because of the sheer power that Issei was radiating, but now he knew why the cadre class had been intimidated.

It felt like he was before ultimate judgment.

The eye staring right through him was one of a creature that was too powerful to even care about his predators predators. It did not matter how much he would run, how much he would hide, how much he would struggle if it wanted him dead, he would not stand the slightest of chances. There was no doubt that his entire race could be gone from one day to another if this was the beast's desire. He wasn't even sure if the Dragoon Gods would be able to stop such a monster in its wake.

The shiver down his spine visibly shook him, but he quickly got himself together and started speaking.

"My name is Azazel, leader of the Grigori, where most of the fallen reside and representative of the same faction. In great contrast to Kokabiel, who not only betrayed us but is now trying to start a war out of selfish desires, we desire peace between all factions…"

Kokabiel's glare was intense enough for Azazel to notice without even turning towards the cadre class.

"… We don't truly know your standing in this, but from what we have seen from you, your desires are once of peace and silence even though you could easily take most of the supernatural by storm. I respect that and thus desire to ask for a peace treaty between you and the Grigori…"

An angry huff came from Kokabiel, that was cut short not even halfway through. And although Issei didn't even twitch when hearing the sound, Azazel was sure that it was thanks to him that Kokabiel had been silenced.

"… We are also trying to achieve true peace between the three biblical factions and others all around the globe. If we succeed, we would be able to keep the other factions from interfering with your life and annoying you any further."

Like many times before that day, there was a tension-filled silence, that was broken by Issei closing both of his eyes.

After what felt like multiple hours for both fallen, he reopened them and turned towards Kokabiel…

… extending his right hand.

Both fallen looked completely flabbergasted, but Kokabiel regained his smugness from before Azazel's entry and now looked like a wild animal that had its prey right where it wanted.

Azazel's heart seemingly stopped.

He had failed, not only this mission, not only himself, not only the entirety of Grigori but the entirety of the biblical faction.

In a few days, top everything he had worked for would be broken.

The books he had written for his father, burned to less than ash.

The friends he had made throughout his life, left behind without even a single goodbye.

The Grigori he had built up and lead for almost his entire existence, broken beyond recognition.

This could be his very last moments in the mortal realm before death could lay claim on his soul.

A small part wanted to stand up and fight. Never give up and keep going whatever might happen.

But.

What was he supposed to do?

His opponent was somebody who killed Satans with ease. Someone that could rush him in mere seconds. Someone that he stood no chance against.

Like the rest of Grigori.

There was nothing he could do to stop his world from ending as Kokabiel's hand slowly made its way towards Issei's.

And for the first time in what probably was centuries.

He cried.

It was a silent cry that only allowed a single tear to slip through, but he still was crying.

The two hands met.

Kokabiel felt ecstatic.

There was no way he would lose the war with something like this on his side.

No weapon could compare. No shield defend. No magic negate. No creature overpower.

It was the strongest weapon, and he was now in possession of it.

He was the one to rekindle the flickering lights of justice and punish both the pure angels and the dark devils.

A sadistically evil smile made itself on his face as he turned towards Azazel who had seemingly shattered. He was happy.

But then.

His hand felt warm.

He froze.

It was not a welcoming warmth to greed him. Nor the warmth of the enemy's blood that would drip from his hands. Neither was it the warmth in his heart that would come up once he had won the war.

It was a burning fire.

A fire fueled by rage and disgust towering over him and everything he had ever dreamed of. Able to turn the biggest of mountains into less than ash within seconds.

And he was its target.

The weapon he had tried to tame was an uncontrollable tornado of utter power that had a will on its own.

And its will wasn't even remotely similar to his own.

He had attempting firing a weapon without a trigger and now it would go off in his own arms.

White flames hungrily coiled around Kokabiel's hand.

His expression slowly dropped from the borderline insane smile to a face of utter fear.

The white flames grew slowly, eating away at the outer layers of his skin, easily evaporating the dense leathery tissue as if it was nothing more than foam.

Fear turned into pain.

And then Kokabiel started to struggle.

He tried pulling away from his hand with one swift pull, not even coming close to moving Issei. He summoned a ridiculous number of spears of light, aiming to stop his suffering, firing them straight at the beast's hand, hoping it would do something to ease the insane pain he felt.

Surprisingly, he severed the monster's arm. A short moment of relief overcame him as he fell back from his constant pulling.

Yet the hand didn't let go of his.

Still severed, with both wounds, out of which blood should be shooting out, instead burning in white fire, the hand refused to let his own go, allowing the white flames to expand on his arm.

Before he could even attempt to use his new still limited freedom to somehow get rid of the hungry flames, he was pulled back towards the Monstrum, as its hand reattached itself onto his now regrown arm.

The beast's eyes met his own.

The world around him grew insignificant as he felt himself shrink in front of the golden orbs of utter and pure untamable energy. He was nothing in front of those orbs. No leader. No fallen. No warrior. No man. Nothing.

He felt like the day he was brought into the world by god. Weak, vulnerable, tiny, insignificant. And that last one scared him. To be of no use. To be just a waste of space. To be nothing.

But everything the angels were ordered to do was already being down by others only multiple times better.

He was nothing more than a burden.

Then Azazel fell with many others, and he saw an opportunity. An opportunity to be useful. An opportunity to be needed. An opportunity to be something.

So he took it.

And fell.

At first, it was hard.

Like the angels before, the fallen left him no place to fit him. Having him be a leader person with no power. Just a man maintaining the image as lower more talented fallen did the work for him.

He felt regret for being pulled away from purity for an opportunity that was never there.

He once more was insignificant.

Then the war started.

And for the first time.

For the first time in his entire life.

He felt useful.

He was the one leading the troops.

He was the one charging into battle.

He was the one announcing victory after victory.

He had a purpose and was happy about it.

But then.

Everything stopped.

The fighting. The brawling. The destroying.

The ceasefire began.

His uselessness returned like it did so many times. Haunting him even more as the one thing holding him together was forbidden from him and after decades of holding back and forbidding himself from letting go of his desire. The pressure became too much and he broke.

And now after multiple months of running free and preparing to put himself back together, he now saw how foolish he had been. How he had let himself be driven by his own fears. How he had never considered that attempting to help was more than enough. How he had always been loved and respected by most of his fellow comrades and that even after his descent into madness there were still many loyal to him.

But it was too late.

With that last thought, he closed his eyes and embraced the cold yet burning hot embrace of death.

==X==X==

Rias didn't feel comfortable.

Not only were there those who spread theories about her having a hand in causing Raiser's demise due to her hate for him and the upcoming marriage, but there were also some that genuinely believed that she grieved for him.

It angered her.

Even if it was true that she despised him, she never intended for his death and had no control over Issei who had caused said demise.

She hadn't known that Raiser would show up out of nowhere. She didn't want Issei and him to meet without having a word with the Phoenix first. She could have never predicted that he would not only kill Raiser but the entirety of the Phoenix estate and family.

There was no way she could have done anything to stop the destruction of the Phoenix pillar.

Sure, if she hadn't invited Issei it would have never happened, but there was no way she could have known that Raiser would show up a full day before his planned arrival without any kind of warning.

So why did she feel guilty?

Why did she feel responsible for the grief of all those devils that had friends or even family in the Phoenix pillar? Why was she angry at herself for not preventing something unpreventable? Why couldn't she rest at night without thinking about all those lost due to her failure?

The answer was simple.

She didn't tell them.

Issei remained a secret to devil society and that secret ate her up from the inside. Revealing who had killed so many devils would just cause more death and destruction. Mostly on their side.

Staying silent made her guilty for not helping. Speaking out would make her feel guilty for all the deaths it would cause.

It was pure and utter torture.

And all because of Issei.

All because he decided to not only kill her fiancé but do so in a display of his overwhelming power that caught everyone's eye.

And yet she couldn't do anything about it.

She couldn't scold him, punish him, anything really.

He was just too powerful.

It was so unfair.

Why did the powerful ones get to decide everything?

Every leader was powerful.

Zeus, the mightiest god of the Greek pantheon.

Odin, the grandest of the Nordic gods.

The biblical god, the absolute leader of the biblical faction.

Azazel, strongest fallen alive.

Michael, the strongest angel alive.

And even her own brother and the other three… two Satans.

It was always those with the most power that ruled, never those that had the spirit and ability to rule, but those with the power to.

For hell's sake! Even the humans had a better system!

Yeah sure, everything was going fine and nothing bad was happening, but when was the last time that devil society had a revolutionary idea that wasn't straight-up stolen from humans?

Evil Pieces had been invented way back before the Civil War, being the cause for it.

Nothing.

There had been no new ideas since the creation of the government and that meant one of two things.

Either humankind was the only species capable of creating incredible things that would then go on to be copied by almost every faction ever.

Or the unchanging government was the reason for why there was no development in society that wasn't caused thanks to another species that mostly didn't even know that the supernatural existed.

Rias believed it was the second.

The government had to be changed. To be replaced. To be renewed.

Yes, that was what devil society needed.

Rias was going to create a new government, not where the powerful but the talented ruled, where ability was judged over energy.

Maybe then she would feel better about being silent about Issei.

Maybe they could even create something to lock him away or even damage him.

She had made her decision.

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A/N:

It is I Task Failer and I have once again risen from the dead.

I should now finally be able to write more shit in less time.

This was another chapter of WFR hope you enjoyed it!