Previously: Enter the angel who desires wisdom of the Sex, a Peerage of Devils, and a flock of Fallen Angels. One night, a Peerage is lost, angels are unFallen, and the angel of death cracks the egg that is the world (and then makes an omelet of it).

That long night continues.

Heaven was silent. Everyone had retired for the day, most of the lights turned off to save Power, leaving Michael to watch over the twilight hours. Ordinarily, the angel would have a retinue of others to help police the graveyard shift; but angelic numbers were down, and the few powerful enough to help were Down in Creation, busy with important affairs.

Not like there would be anything to worry about. There were few threats to Creation since the new millennium, and Heaven itself hadn't been a battlefield since the "Great War". If there truly was something that Michael could not handle, then Creation was fucked.

Which was why, during the twilight shift, Michael deigned to patrol every Level and instead withdrew to a small room at the foot of the Throne. Inside, there were plenty of screens stuck against the wall, which extended infinitely above, below and to both sides of Michael. The screens were blank at the moment.

When the angel approached the wall, a golden scroll appeared, unrolling swiftly to become a console-like thing, with ruby buttons and silver-gilded dials. Up on the wall appeared a screen that dwarfed all the rest. Michael sat upon the cushion it conjured, placed a hand upon the console, and fixed its eye on the screen. The giant screen lit up, Heavenly font scrolling up through the display. Michael began interfacing with the System.

A while later, satisfied that All seemed to be in working Order, Michael typed a few commands, switching to an "operating system" separate and utterly inferior to the one before.

"Welcome to Windows," the screen said. A moment later, a bunch of small pictures appeared on the screen.

The angel sighed, settling deeper into the cushion. Michael placed a hand under the robe. With the other, the angel tapped several buttons. After a pause, images of humans skewering cows and pigs appeared on the screen.

"...unclean condition of abattoirs and slaughterhouses of that time. The Health Department began instituting laws that would..."

The door behind the angel opened. The angel immediately leaped to the air with a squawk, feathers spreading around. "Private area! Private area! Priv—oh, hello Gabriel."

The other angel who'd entered flitted close. It had once been the 'Fairest' in all of Heaven, though right now its golden locks looked quite disheveled. "We've got an emergency, Michael. There's—are you still watching that documentary?"

"It's... to remind myself of the human race's butchery."

Gabriel glanced at the screen. On it were black-and-white pictures of livestock hung from hooks. "... of pigs?"

"Yes. Now, was there something...?"

Gabriel's mouth clacked close. "Oh yes. Quite a situation outside. You should see for yourself." Gabriel led the other out to the Halls, then to the angel's surprise, up the golden chutes leading to the old choir Assemblies. They went through a side balcony, flying up to where they could see one Assembly below.

"There," Gabriel said, pointing below.

Michael squinted. "Who are those...?"

There was a long line of angels standing around. Michael didn't recognize them—and it had better memory than most other angels.

"They just appeared out of nowhere," said Gabriel.

Michael gasped, realization coming to him. "Wait—are they fresh?"

"All of them," said Gabriel with a shrug. "They're all confused about what they're doing here, and since it looks like the twilight shift, no one's here to receive them."

"But what happened Down there? How'd we get recruits so fast? Is this your doing Gabriel? Have you been that successful?"

Gabriel rolled its eyes. "If only. I just came back to report on the whole Holy Swords issue, then I found this lot milling around. I don't know why they ended up here at the Assemblies though. Think they're put up to sing?"

Even as that question was asked, both angels frowned. The choirs had fallen out of use over the past centuries, owing to the Great War and the grand Secret. And to be honest, it had become a tedious task for them.(though they would never say it out loud)

"We must wake the rest," Michael said urgently. "These need to be integrated before they become Fallen, or worse."

"Ah... speaking of Fallen, lemme show you the other news." Gabriel led a puzzled Michael to another old Assembly. This time, Michael recognized the angels. Instead of lining up, the lot of them were scattered around, filling up the places meant for angels to sing.

"Somehow, this lot also came back."

Michael spluttered. "Wha—how—the Fallen, but how—but the System?" It looked down at the former Fallen, who unmistakably had white wings and halos, and looked quite confused and angry. Once, during the war, the angels had briefings on every enemy combatant—Devil or Fallen—and so they were hardwired to kill these on sight. Michael could thus remember each of the faces of the Fallen here.

Gabriel crossed its arm. "That's gotten me confused too, since... well, getting this lot back is all well and good, but doesn't this mean...?"

"Only the Lord has the Authority to accept these back," intoned Michael, echoing its unspoken concern. And was not the Lord currently... indisposed?

Unable to deny a growing foreboding, Michael flew back to the private room. It switched over to the superior OS, then re-typed the same sequence of keys it'd just done.

The angel stared open-mouthed upon seeing the results.

A list of systems, which had all displayed the stale yellow "Standby" before, now read a pleasant green "Active". Internal Systems, Intake, Defense Systems, even the Choral Assemblies were lit up and active.

"Michael, there's been more and more angels coming in," said Gabriel, peeking in through the door.

"I saw that. The counter's been steadily increasing." Michael looked very worried.

"Praise the Lord: for Heaven wakes to its command."

As if to emphasize that fact, all the previously dimmed lights went full blaze, and Heaven rose to full glory around them. The two Seraphs couldn't help but blink at the sight.

All else that was needed were singing choirs of angels.

Right on cue, the PA system (pleasant green Active) dinged. A familiar message, unheard for centuries, resounded through Paradise: "To all angels, please report to your Assemblies for the daily adulation."

Gabriel groaned. "Damnation. Why did I have to come back now? Duh, Gabe, the report could have waited. But nooo, you had to be a good little angel and come back to sing."

"If you want to, you could work on integrating the new angels," Michael said.

From the way its face blanched, the suggestion was certainly not a good one. "Trading tedium for another. Christ, I should've gone with Azazel."

Michael started. "Surely you don't mean that?"

"Of course not," replied Gabriel, though there was still acid on its fair expression.

From behind them, the angels who were supposed to be resting this shift emerged, unhappy and uncertain. The closest flew to them, demanding, "Has the Lord finally spoken?", or "Are we seriously gonna sing?" or "I don't remember my place, which Assembly am I in again?" They flew around them aimlessly, like an utterly disoriented flock of birds.

"You heard Him," said Michael, asserting a semblance of order. "Off to your places. Just pick a new place at the Assembly if you've forgot. And please don't mind the angels already there."

The angels all scattered, quick as light. Michael looked around, sighing when it couldn't sense Gabriel anywhere.

It went back to the System, determined to find out what in all the Heavens had happened to Heaven. Or tried to. The door to the secret side room was now closed and locked firmly.

The Friendly Helper system(again, another green "Active") chose that moment to speak right in Michael's ear: "A reminder that all angels are to report to their Assemblies for the adulation. Until the adulation are done, no angels are allowed to be out of their proper place in Heaven."

Resigned to the announcement, it returned to its place. It remembered its place, at least. It found that Gabriel was also there, looking very much displeased.

Michael smiled apologetically. "Gate got locked?"

Gabriel scowled, but said nothing.

The PA system buzzed. "Seraph Gabriel, please report to the Receiving Area 9B. There are –nine thousand- Ascendants ready for acceptance. You are excused from the Adulation."

Reluctant to stand within five feet of an irate Seraph, Michael flew off, pretending to review its hymn. It hadn't sung in centuries.

Nonetheless, it could hear Gabriel's parting blasphemy ring through all of Heaven. "God. Damn it! When I get my hands on whoever's responsible—"

()()()

"No, I'm afraid I am not familiar with that place," said Issei, a little testily.

"A shame. That was the truth promised to me," said the smelly old man.

"Well, it's either you come up to Paradise or you stay down here for a while." He shrugged. "Is there anything else I can do for you before I send you back?"

"Yes... I am feeling quite peckish, angel sir. Might you have brains with you?" asked the limbless old man.

"I don't have any to spare, sorry," Issei said, rolling his eyes. Most every person he asked seemed to want brains after refusing to be angels. Maybe they were compensating for their lack of brainpower while living—most humans were painfully thick.

"A shame," the rotting old man repeated.

"Off with you then," said Issei, stamping on the scroll. The old man fell back into a meaty lump.

Issei sighed, massaging his forehead. After a moment, he flew to the next person.

()()()

Sona Sitri turned page after page on the old, dusty tome, which smelled of sulfur and rotting flesh. "Here it is," she said, adjusting her glasses. "'... and thus our old com—I think this means 'contract'—contract with the fools of Heaven are shed... blah blah blah hate rhetoric, going through with the Declaration of Defiance, severing the ties with the angelic choirs, here we go... we shall also reject the forms the Tyrant grants us; in this Nation we shall forge new forms, forms more fitting than that of the Host: bodies of steel and anger, wings of insects and the featherless winged dinosaurs, of the fliers in the—well basically that's where we Devils got our inspiration from... wings derived from Creation below, the twisted forms of beasts that never were... Wow, learn something new every day..." she cleared her throat and closed the tome.

Across the desk, Rias Gremory, her gaze fixed on the surface of her cooling mug of tea, croaked, "That was as informative as learning that 'as one, we are all His creations', but I thank you for trying. Was there anything more...?" She sat silent and sullen, like a wilted rose.

Sona shook her head, putting the tome away. "I'm afraid that was the last I was able to scrounge up, with my privileges. I wanted to ask my sister, but as you are very aware—"

"Yes, I'm perfectly aware," Rias interjected in a low, murderous voice.

"—things are very much in chaos at Hell. Not an uproar like that since the Rating Games scandal a few decades back. Have you talked to your family? Perhaps Sirzechs could offer more input on the matter."

"Not yet," said Rias.

Sona summoned a piece of paper, which had appeared on her side of the desk via magic circle. She glanced at it, then said, "This fulfills my second request." She slid the paper over to Rias' side.

Rias did not need to pick up the paper to read what it said in large print. She threw the paper over her shoulder, where Kiba Yuuto caught it. Gremory's former Peerage frowned after seeing what was written. Rias laid her a hand on the table, her jaw trembling.

"I suggest you keep calm."

"I am calm," Rias replied through clenched teeth.

"It's not the end of the world, you know," Sona said. She sipped her tea. "Once this mess is sorted out, a petition to reinstate your Peerage can easily be done. I can ask my sister to sponsor you."

Rias' face thunked down on the table. After a tense silence, she lifted her head, and her expression was now sweeter than sin.

"Sona?"

"Yes?"

"I have a question."

Sona stirred, tilting her head. "If it's for another request..."

"No, just some questions." After Sona nodded graciously for her to continue, Rias said, voice full of cheer and sugar, "I hope you don't mind me asking—but why is there a shower stall in your clubroom?"

Sona jolted, eyes darting in panic behind her, before she schooled her expression and shrugged. "It's—well it's—just, well, a little perk for the student council—" As if following some silent cue, a fresh looking Genshirou Saji emerged from within, towel draped over bare shoulders.

"Haah~ Tha' was nice... Cleansing complete, prez!"

"As you value your life, shut up please, Saji," Sona said, without looking back.

The boy turned and caught sight of Rias and her Peerage. He flinched. "Wha—oh, sorry about that, guys. I was just fresh off cleansing my angelic impurities—"

"Saji." The boy yelped and disappeared behind a curtain—

"Why..." Rias asked next, pressing her hands together tightly. "Do my eyes spy a quick teleport sigil over there?"

"It was..." For a moment, Sona hesitated, before her eyes lit up. "It was necessary to facilitate your request."

Saji's head peeked around the curtain. "It's also useful for getting supplies fast, like the headph—"

"Saji," Sona said quietly. Saji disappered with a bleated "Right-o". She watched, apprehensive, as Rias stood from her seat, wearing a smile for which seventy percent of the men in this school would pay a fortune.

"And why are your subordinates," she gestured to the other student council members seated behind Sona, "Wearing those?"

Every person in Sona's Peerage wore, as she'd mandated, thick noise-cancelling headphones, heavy black blindfolds and a Devil-made apparatus that looked like a gas-mask (which was actually a gas mask). Effectively, most of their senses were blocked off from the rest of the world.

This time, Sona could think of nothing to say. Then Saji poked his head out of the curtain, the blinds placed haphazardly over his forehead. "Rias-sama, have you not heard of the three wise monkeys? It goes, 'See no evil—"

"Saji!" Sona snapped, rising to her feet. At that exact moment, Rias all but snarled, hurling herself forward to smash her palm over the table. Her hand was stopped in midair, and it crackled against something unseen between her and Sona. Rias pushed her hand forward, making cracks appear on thin air.

"And why—" asked Rias through gritted teeth, "—did you set up a barrier against me?" The angel wings appeared from behind Rias, and a burst of energy surged through her advancing arm.

Sona Sitri pushed back, reinforcing the barrier with her own magic. "It's—nothing—personal-Saji, get the rest to the portal! Now!"

"Yes ma'am!" Behind her, Saji began tossing the rest of her Peerage through the teleport sigil.

"Please stop, Rias-sama!" Akeno cried. The others in Rias' peerage tried to restrain her.

"Calm. Yourself. Gremory." Sona's arms were already vibrating from the strain. The cracks had spread, widening to reach the ceiling. "See? You still have this incredible power! Though you've got those wings, in essence, you're still a Devil! You're still a Gremory, despite what that paper says! Rias, be reasonable!"

"I am reasonable, Sona!" Rias cried. "I am reasonably sure that I—will—" She paused, turning her gaze from Sona's. She'd caught sight of the angelic wings at the periphery of her vision. The sight did not enrage her further; rather, she felt like an eager vacuum had sucked out the fight from her.

She sighed, her taut form deflating. She released the assaulting energy from her control, which burst out in a cloud of ruby. She retracted her arm from the cracked barrier slowly.

"Rias..."

"Rias-sama..." Her ex-Peerage went forward to support her.

Rias hung her head. At a quick glance from Akeno to Sona, the latter nodded and followed her own Peerage through the teleportation circle. Rias' peerage was left alone in the student council room.

Rias Gremory sank into the chair. Her thoughts were frozen and scattered.

"You can leave," she said hoarsely, after a while. She didn't look up. "You saw what that paper said, right? You're no longer part of my Peerage. I'm no longer in charge. I won't restrain you, now that you're free. You can do what you want."

Akeno placed a hand on her shoulder. "Rias-sama, come heavenly purge or hellish deluge, we are with you. Should the stars die out and the Void swallow everything, should oblivion guide us all to the Final rest, we are with you."

"Forever and always," said Koneko.

"No scrap of paper can say otherwise," said Yuuto.

Rias closed her eyes. "Fine words, you three. But I thank you." She wasn't sure if they would hold on to that view for long.

"It's kind of surprising that vamp boy's the head of the Peerage now," Koneko said snidely. "It'd make for a nice surprise when he wakes."

"I doubt Gaspar'd abandon Rias-sama—" she heard Kiba reply.

"Come, Rias-sama," said Akeno. "Let us return to the clubroom. I really think it's better to talk to your family about this. As Sona said, they may know the solution."

"I've disappointed them," she said dully. An image of a human face drenched in a pool of blood came into her mind. Fury seized her again. "And all because of that stupid ass—"

()()()

"—hoooly crap, you sure ask a ton of questions, angel sir," said the angel-elect. She smiled. "Is that what heaven is like? Just a bunch of virgin nerds flying around? I think I might like it there."

Issei, notepad in hand, said, "No, unfortunately I'm the only one who doesn't know the Sex." He looked at the newly minted angel. "I think that's everything, angel. There's only one or two things you've told me that I hadn't known yet. You're free to report to Heaven now."

"Are you not going to try out the techniques I told you?" the angel said, looking at him with an impishness that surely shouldn't belong to a being of established holiness.

"I'm rather busy tonight," said Issei, declining the offer absent-mindedly. "Plenty of things to be... and I still have school tomorrow of course, can't miss that..."

"Oh, I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun in 'Heaven'! Bring on the lovin'!" The angel dissolved into wispy light. Issei put the notepad away, mood lightening for the first time since he'd began working. Perhaps there would be other agreeable angel-elects later.

"Och, that was a fine chance, angel! A fresh angel, willingly throwing herself at ye! Such sweet songs you coulda' sung!"

"Did you not hear, dragon?" Issei said patiently. "My work here is not yet done." He unfurled the Scroll, his gavel ready to judge the next candidate. "And I have already promised Rias she'd go first."

AN: Drafted by Shurpuff, proofread by Honore

Shurpuff says: Comments, impressions, etc. appreciated.

Thanks for reading!