"Lord Shadow." Alpha kneeled, letting Cid drink in the sight of the empty room with only the two of them in it. The perfect image of a secret meeting, where the truth unravelled, and only those that crept in the darkest corners of the world could have known of this meeting: The perfect image of a 'behind the scenes' scene.
"Alpha. I take preparations are going according to plan?"
"Indeed they are." The dark clad elf bowed "We've activated another Box, and soon we'll be able to jump between Draconis Deus and our "pocket dimension"."
Cid nodded, not too sure why Alpha put those quotation marks there, but letting her explain herself. Unless…
"Alpha… Have you forgotten the relationship between this and that world?" He asked honestly, although he turned around to face the window curtains that obscured the vision in both ways.
"There's no way I'd forget a single word of your wisdom!" The elf sounded genuinely offended, such a good actress she was. As expected of the one that had spent the most time with Cid. They were basically childhood friends, if such things were allowed. But alas, the Eminence couldn't have a past, or present. He had to be unnoticeable, untraceable. So Alpha had to make her own background without him.
"Recite it to me." Cid ordered, since he forgot. But he couldn't say it out loud.
"Yes. Once upon a time, the world of Draconis Deus was split between warring factions of myth and legend. Creatures of great power and might, wielding arcane blessings the likes of which had never been seen again… Until you came around." Wait, the last part wasn't in there when Cid told her the tale… Oh, well. It was a nice touch, he would allow it. Although he added in a deprecating chuckle, as an Eminence in Shadow couldn't just gloat about his strength freely.
Once upon a time there were devils and angels, clashing ceaselessly in a battle for dominance.
Once upon a time there were dragons, conquering lands and besting gods in duels to the death.
Once upon a time, mankind bled and fretted. For they were too weak to fend off against the armies of heaven and hell. They could not live in that world any more than flies can live amidst carnivorous plants. It was a matter of time before they were either slaughtered or enslaved.
But from the ashes, hope emerged. A group of people chose to make a deal with the devil… Quite literally. They sired the children of powerful demons. Beings of raw power that were only denied their right by the human blood they carried.
The power of time. The power of space. And a myriad of other smaller, more esoteric powers were combined in one final push for survival. Risking everything, taking an even darker source of power with them and using the hybrid children as catalysts for their spell.
The descendants of those Lords of Hell cleaved the world with this power, and took a piece of it with them. Falling back into the void and disappearing forevermore from Draconis Deus, sealing the gaping wound in reality they left behind.
And thus… This world.
"We are the direct descendants of the cursed children." Alpha finished "We carry demonic blood within our bodies. The beast-folk, the elves, the humans… The races that left behind Draconis Deus and made a world so they'd not perish…"
"Yet the world survived." Cid nodded sagely.
"And we are still cursed." Alpha added "I do not resent my fate, for I would have never met Milord otherwise. But I must ask: What was the point in the end? The Cult of the Beast still found a way to traverse between realms. There's still children falling prey to their cursed blood… This sacrifice was for nothing, the suffering has no other purpose than to ruin lives."
"Indeed, there is no greatness in suffering. There is no salvation brought forth from despair." Cid placed down his cup, standing up and kneeling in front of his oldest ally to bring her chin up "And yet we fight. The sacrifice is meaningless, so we make it in someone else's stead, so they may never see the dark. We do it knowing it's useless, and we do it accepting that it won't always make a difference."
Alpha smiled, such a good actress. Cid always had a blast whenever she was around.
"Will you keep fighting uselessly by my side?"
"You know my life is yours, Lord Shadow." Alpha turned her face down and kissed Cid's fingers "Now and always."
"Well, well, well." The smug voice made the Demon Lord of Lucifer frown, his sister and her peerage froze in place as the figure mocking them showed himself "Look at what we have here. Some filthy taint has fused to the walls and floor. Absolutely disgusting."
"Kokabiel, please." Azazel sighed, looking at his brother's ear-to-ear grin like a person would a dog that just got a bath jumping into the mud "We have not come to fight."
"Why, of course not! Do I look battle ready?" Kokabiel jeered, bringing his mojito to his mouth and gasping with delight as he took a sip. He didn't wear a Hawaiian shirt, but it wouldn't look out of place in his festive mood "Marvellous, we should come down to the human world more often."
The poorly veiled threat lingered, but Azazel didn't plan to let his brother do as he pleased for long. So he turned to Sirzechs to cut right into the main topic.
"I'd have loved to have this meeting in a more friendly setting, but alas, that seems to be nothing but a dream of mine."
"Governor General." The younger Gremory greeted the fallen, her manners stiff and a bit on the ironic side. He didn't mind, she was still a child after all.
"Azazel." Sirzechs kept looking at Kokabiel, giving the fallen angel a more neutral expression as he studied the strange goth businessman clothing Azazel's brother had going on "It is indeed regrettable, especially since I have the suspicion your appearance has negative connotations."
"C'mon, don't be like that." Azazel grinned "Yes, the situation is less than ideal. But that's besides the point."
The red haired Demon Lord raised an eyebrow.
"Our dear brother is very interested in the matters of the esoteric, and Azazel wants to try out the new toys he developed." Kokabiel shrugged while shaking his head, smiling like he was talking about children "I'm sure you devils have the scar under control, but it's exactly for that reason that we're reaching out."
"You want to study the portal?" Sirzechs sounded a little surprised.
"Yes!" Azazel cheered. Maybe his brother was right, and he was acting a bit childish. It didn't matter, this was interesting. He'd make first contact with the rulers of hell if he needed, in order to come close to the hole in the sky.
Reckless, yes. But, like, whatever. He was known to be a researcher, and it was worth a shot now that the Demon Lords weren't burrowed amidst their legions of devils.
A peaceful, maybe even playful, first contact after the war. Would he have imagined it like this after his Fall?
"I see… Ajuka is doing exactly that right now, he's very good with magic." That had to be an understatement, but Azazel nodded.
"If he doesn't mind, I'd like to tag along." Azazel gave the redhead a thumbs up, and the man's troubled expression told the old fallen that he was actually considering it seriously.
He let his smile grow wider, he couldn't help it.
"...Let me ask him myself." Sirzechs finally conceded "I'll take the opportunity to see how he's doing. In the mean time, why don't you look around town? My Rias has been in charge of it for a bit, I think you'll find it homely at least."
The younger redhead stiffened at the attention, almost panicking but kept herself rooted in place by sheer will force. How cute, Vali did something similar when he was a kid and met one of the Cadre for the first time.
"If Nii-sama wishes…"
"I don't think we require the… Company." Kokabiel interrupted the younger girl, his smirk not fading at all when the red haired demon lord furrowed his brows at him "We've been around for far longer than this neophyte, we can find our way just fine."
"Besides, we're not really interested in your sister's territory." Azazel tried to get the attention back to himself "But rather…"
"You want to cross the dimensional border." Sirzechs completed.
"Correct." Azazel nodded.
"I'm not sure I love the idea." The devil admitted.
"You wouldn't, would you? I can't blame you. But still thought it was worth a shot asking." Azazel shrugged.
"Will you fight your way in, then?" Sirzechs asked with a dangerous tone, and Azazel felt his brother flowing with energy as the words were spoken.
"I am content to observe." Azazel said before the tension could raise any more.
Now the devil looked worried "Why? What is on the other side? What is so important that you'd leave your Sacred Gear research for this?"
"That's—." Azazel stopped in his tracks as he felt a distinctive pull in his being.
The [Blaze Black Flare] he contained in one of his devices reacted, stirring as if it wanted to slip out of Azazel's possession. It was a distinctive enough reaction to trip all of his measurement units, but also that he could feel it. Almost demanding. Like the Evil Dragon King of Pure Darkness was trying to piece itself together.
"...?!"
The sky darkened, with magic flaring out in all directions as if a mini-eclipse engulfed Kuoh Town in a heartbeat. The devils and fallen angels alike could feel the miasma surrounding them. With the young red haired girl and her peerage being the most disturbed by the intrusion, and Kokabiel being the most excited about it.
"...Exactly this." Azazel grinned, although he didn't like how things had turned out. Not with the seal on the portal seemingly undisturbed, at least "Something truly outrageous."
A man clad in black appeared out of thin air, followed by half a dozen masked women. They were all powerful, trained, and with enough talent to pull off that instant step spell all together. But the guy? Azazel couldn't feel anything coming out of him. Rather, it was almost as if all the power in their surroundings was being pulled toward him, as if he was an abyss trying to fill its bottomless hunger.
"Ah…" Azazel realised it then, something clicking in place as he saw the young man stand there, watchful. He must be the one holding the rest of the Vritra set. But more importantly: He finally realised how he had been collecting the set to begin with "Broken Vessel…"
A broken Sacred Gear, pulling in everything and anything in an attempt to repair itself. But how did he survive having his soul drained for fuel? To oppose such an intricate, faulty, artefact it'd require someone like Vali to…
"The time is nigh." The young one spoke out, and spread his arms to either side in a fluid motion "Children of the Heavenly Host, heed my words: There shall be a time when your ancestral foes will be no more. In those times, you shall see each other as kindred. For the woes to come are millenia too old to hold onto old grudges."
Kokabiel sneered, and even Azazel felt a smirk creep on his face.
"Brat, do you reckon we're too old to be talked down by some greenhorn like you, yes?" Kokabiel flared out his light aura, forcing Sirzechs to protect his little sister so she wouldn't be vaporised immediately by the deadly energy.
That one would hurt relationships later on.
The young man smirked.
"You have been warned." Then, he disappeared.
The women bowed at once, and they too vanished.
Kokabiel spread his wings.
"Brother." Azazel lifted a hand, and Kokabiel growled at him with a hatred Azazel hadn't seen in a while.
That was fine, he didn't mean to deny him his fight.
"Bring him back alive." Azazel told him "That's it."
Kokabiel looked puzzled for a moment… But then just smirked before lifting off.
Crazy bastard.