Dance With the Devil
Betrayal Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved, for if I did there would be a lot more sex.
Review answer time:
Mr. Haziq: Would you believe I had forgotten about Toma when I wrote this? Because I did.
Two months ago in Nepal...
Landing on the floating island, Ranma grimaced at the strong winds that nearly sent him flying off the island. "Shit!" He grimaced, glad he had wings to fly with, because otherwise this would have sent him off the edge. With a flap of his wings, Ranma flew towards the doors of the temple in the middle of the small island. 'Seriously, how does this place stay floating in the air?' He could feel magic in the air powering the winds that were threatening to throw him off. Pushing the doors open, he walked inside and was greeted by a circular room that had pillars evenly spaced out. Looking around, Ranma could see a second and even a third level of this place. "It looks like a coliseum."
"That's what I intended when I made this place." A female voice spoke up from above and Ranma looked up to see a woman with long green hair with streaks of blue and pink done up in a simple ponytail. She was wearing a green Chinese combat dress that emphasized her legs and showed off her slender body and modest bust. The woman had a staff in her right hand that reminded him of a Khakkhara, or Buddhist monk staff, complete with several rings on each side of the ring on the top. "I see you finally answered my calls. I had almost given up."
"Were you the one going 'can you hear me' over the past few months?"
"Indeed. I heard about you." She pointed her staff at Ranma and he was rather surprised at how it didn't jingle. "Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes school of martial arts who wishes to become the next Master."
"Well, you have me at a disadvantage. Who are you?"
The woman smirked at him. "I am the current Master. My name is Sen."
Ranma stared in shock.
She grinned at him. "Tell me something, Ranma, or should I call you Saotome? I do recall that the Japanese are sticklers for calling people by their family name."
"Either's fine, you aren't Japanese." Ranma dismissed her concerns. He watched as she jumped off the second floor and landed in front of him. She was a little taller than he was now that they were face to face. "So now what happens?"
"We can fight a meaningless fight where you put up an amazing amount of resistance but ultimately fail, or I can train you to a satisfying point or you can leave. Your choice."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Lady, are you saying you're that much..." He was cut off as a burst of power caught him off guard and sent him flying into the far wall. Grunting as he crashed into it, Ranma gasped as several blasts hit him in rapid succession. "Got it!" He gasped out when they stopped and he slid off the wall, falling to his knees.
"You may, one day, be strong enough for me." Sen shook her head. "However, that day will be a long time away from now." She turned away from him and walked to the door in the back. "Follow me, or not, it's up to you."
"Wait." Ranma pushed himself to his feet and smirked at her as she turned back to look at him. "You hit me fifty times in an instant. I can see why you're the Master, but..." He smirked at Sen's raised eyebrow. "Give me ten, no, five attacks. If I can't tag you at least once in some way, I'll leave."
"Five attacks, huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Very well." She didn't move from her spot. "I will only counter attack when you attack."
There was nothing but silence for a moment before Ranma moved, practically disappearing. Sen merely closed her eyes before spinning to the side and slammed her staff down, hitting Ranma in the back and sending him straight to the floor. "That was one."
Ranma pushed himself off the ground and rolled away from her. 'Well, that sucked, Happosai wasn't kidding when he said she was good.' Still, he couldn't help but grin.
Up above, unseen by Ranma or Sen, another figure watched as Ranma's next three attacks were easily defeated. 'Pathetic.' The figure sighed as he leaned against the pillars. 'I guess it'll be a lot longer before that promise can be kept. At this rate I'll have to find the current Dragon Emperors, maybe I can have a good fight from them.'
Back on the ground, Sen shook her head. "If you stop now, I won't hold you to your promise, but if you fail..."
Ranma shook his head, smirking. "Nah, I've got this, I think I got it figured out." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Indeed?" She narrowed her eyes. "When you're ready, come at me and fail then." Sen turned to face him fully.
Ranma continued to grin as he closed his eyes and felt her aura out. "I'm seriously impressed, never thought I'd find someone as good as you are." The most impressive thing he found was that she wasn't even using an ounce of wasted power or movement, it was like she had spent centuries learning martial arts.
Sen smirked at him. "Should you not fail in this last endeavor, I shall tell you my story."
"Good to know." Ranma had briefly thought about removing the seal on his King's piece, but decided against it, they weren't fighting for real and this was just a test. 'Besides, if I have to rely on that power I may as well leave right now.' Still, he had one trick he hadn't used in awhile.
Sen raised an eyebrow as she felt the air seemingly waver. 'What is he?' Her eyes widened as she saw him take off like a rocket and started bouncing around the room at ever increasing speeds. It was an unconventional tactic, she knew what he was doing however, having seen it before. Closing her eyes, she spun around and thrust her staff where she knew Ranma would be...
...Except that he wasn't there.
"What?" Her eyes widened as she felt something grab her from behind.
"Got'cha." Ranma smirked at her. Letting go, he felt his legs give out and he flopped onto the floor. "FUCK!"
"What did..."
"I figured I couldn't land an attack on you since you seemed to be reading my intentions." Ranma chuckled and winced. "Never going to use the Amaguriken on my legs again."
"You know the Chinese Amazons?" Sen asked him, much to his surprise. "Skilled warriors, but their most promising warrior in the past three hundred years never answered my calls."
"She wouldn't happen to be named Cologne, would she?" Ranma grinned as the woman nodded. "Thought so."
Before Sen could respond, another person dropped down with a heavy thud and Ranma stared at the large man with gold and black striped hair who was grinning at him. "I've never seen the Master get fooled like that." Blood-lust was starting to creep from him as he looked at Ranma.
"CC, stop." Sen ordered and the man sighed as the blood-lust left the room. "Really, what am I going to do with you?" She asked rhetorically, not getting an answer nor was she expecting one. "Follow me." She said as she walked away from Ranma. "I must say, I'm impressed, I haven't seen anyone fast enough to pull that strategy off in over fifteen hundred years."
"You aren't human, huh?" Ranma asked, causing her to look at him.
"The body is human, if that makes you feel better. But I am not. I did promise you my story." After entering the door, the room revealed was a hallway, she continued to walk through the barren hallway. "It was about seventeen hundred years ago when I found myself in China and I settled down in a magical valley and took a nap."
"So what happened then?"
She smirked at him. "Some annoying gnats had built a small kingdom over my sleeping body. I woke up and destroyed their precious palace. They weren't happy about their palace that they had in place for almost five hundred years being destroyed by me."
"...You slept for five hundred years?!"
"Dragons tend to sleep a long time when we're tired yes."
"...You're a Dragon?" Ranma looked at her. "How come you feel human then?"
"I was getting to that." She smirked at him. "Anyway, as I was saying, they weren't too happy about it and after a rather... Foolish and short battle where most of them ended up flattened, the King of those pathetic people called for a halt to the fighting. I was curious, so I waited for him to talk to me." She laughed at the memory. "He made me a rather unique offer."
"...What?"
"He wanted to have children with me."
Ranma face-faulted and CC just chuckled as he listened to the story. "WHAT?!" He yelled as he got to his feet.
Sen laughed at him. "I had the same reaction. Turns out the King was in a three-way war with the Amazons to the South and the Phoenix people to the East. Maybe you've heard of the Musk Dynasty?" She frowned as he shook his head. "Well, the legend has it that the King and all his men wrestled a Ki Dragon, that's me, by the way, into the Spring of the Drowned Girl and then used a locking ladle on her to keep her in human form so they could easily breed her. Truth is, he offered me all the bananas I could ever want if I willingly let him turn me into a human woman, lock me in that form and have a few kids for him."
"...And you went along with it?" Ranma deadpanned and sweat-dropped at the looks that Sen and CC gave him. "Uh..."
"Bananas are delicious things." CC said, getting a nod from Sen.
"How could I resist!? Besides, what's wrong with spending a little time as a human?" She sighed and shook her head. "Turns out that I didn't think that through completely. See, Dragons don't breed easily with humans, that's why they needed the cursed spring to give me a human body. Funny enough, I'm still ageless, how does that work anyway?"
"Because you're a Dragon and people who are cursed to be animals still retain their human abilities?" Ranma deadpanned, remembering stories about the Phoenix people from Cologne in that they had only lost their wings but still had all their other abilities, "so why wouldn't a Dragon still have all their other abilities?"
"See, that's what I thought too, but it seems that the locking ladle..." She sighed. "Well, I agreed to let them lock me in that human form, after all, the agreement was until my husband died I would stay in human form, afterwords they'd use the unlocking kettle and I would leave."
"I take it something happened?"
"THEY LOST THE FUCKING KETTLE!" Sen yelled, causing Ranma to sweat slightly. "Worst part is, that damn ladle prevents me from shape-shifting freely. I left them after my husband died and took a journey."
"And now you're the Master?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I spent a few centuries learning from the previous Masters." She answered him. "Afterwords I challenged the last Master for the title and won, becoming the new Master in the process and meeting CC."
"That was a fun fight." CC grinned at her.
"If you wish to become the next Master, Ranma Saotome..." Sen pointed her staff at him and tapped him on the chest. "You'll need to train with me and defeat me. However, there's a small problem." She looked at his right arm. "You have a seal on your power."
"Because if I don't my power goes out of control and I can't control it."
"Then guess what I'm going to be teaching you how to do?"
(-)
A few days later...
"GAH!" Ranma slumped to his knees, his aura gutting out again.
"Pitiful, even with that enormous power boost you can't control it?" Sen asked as she lowered her staff. "Perhaps I over-estimated your control?"
"Not easy when this thing seems to get stronger constantly." Ranma grunted as he got to his feet, his aura reigniting. "Dunno if you know, but I'm not used to being with so much power flowing freely."
"Indeed, perhaps you did need the seal." She frowned and walked up to him, tapping him on the chest and Ranma watched, shocked as the King's piece was removed from his body. "There." She took it away from him. "Can you control your power now?"
"I...Huh?" Ranma gawked, getting a sigh from Sen.
"I see now," she looked at the piece in her hands, "this is an amplifier, one with almost no control, it constantly pushes and enhances the user beyond what's safe, no wonder you can't control it." She gave him a pointed look. "Yet I sense a lot of its power has been absorbed by you."
"Hard not to when that thing's part of my soul. How'd you pull it out?"
She just grinned at him. "Gain control of your power, maybe I'll tell you someday."
Ranma just grunted.
(-)
Training went on like that for the next two weeks. CC merely watched as Ranma seemed to increase his ability by leaps and bounds during his time with the Master. Looking at the King's piece that Sen had told him to hold onto, he merely shook his head in amazement. 'Such a powerful thing in a small package.' He could tell, just from looking at it, that it was linked to Ranma and wouldn't react to anyone else.
"I am seriously impressed." Sen was grinning at him. "At your current rate of growth I may run out of things to teach you in fifty years."
Ranma grunted as he launched a storm of vacuum blades at Sen, who merely danced around them. 'Perfect.' He smirked and clapped his hands together, a ball of Youki forming in-between his palms before he threw his hands up and that ball expanded in size until it was larger than he was. "TAKE THIS!" He yelled as he flew into the air before throwing it down at Sen.
Sen merely smirked as a blue aura surrounded her staff. Spinning to avoid another attack, she thrust her staff at the large ball of energy.
Ranma's eyes widened as the ball seemingly burst like a water balloon before a spiraling wave of energy came rushing up at him. Crossing his arms, he tried to block it but found, to his shock, that the energy bypassed his defenses and washed over him before exploding into a beam of energy that had him screaming in pain before it subsided and he fell out of the sky with a loud thud. "What?" He gasped out after several minutes and Sen standing over him with a blank expression on her face.
"Reverse Strike Wave." She said calmly. "Based off the Amazon's move the Hiryuu Shoten Ha. You're lucky that you weren't using anything stronger, the attack's power is proportional to the strength of the aura of the opponent, in other words, the stronger you are and the stronger your attack, the stronger this attack is."
"I see, just like that tornado attack, you attack the aura and not the person, huh?"
"Close." Sen smirked at him. "I think that's enough for today." Turning, she left him on the ground.
Ranma sighed as he flopped onto his back. 'Fifty years, huh?' He could see it. She had hundreds of years to hone her abilities and who knew how old she was before she was trapped as a human. "Hey, Sen?"
"Hmm?" She stopped and looked back at him. "What?"
"I have to leave in a few days." Ranma answered her. There was silence from Sen and Ranma took it as a sign to continue. "I've enjoyed this, I have, but I do have stuff I need to do." He was beginning to miss Lilith and the others.
"Tis a shame, I would have loved to continue to train you. As a Devil you wouldn't die of old age by the time my training was done."
"I know." Ranma sighed. "I've got family back home, plus I need to deal with something." As he sat up, an idea came to him. "I wonder, you said your shape-shifting's limited, yes?"
"I can't turn back into my Dragon form or anything like that, yes." Sen answered him.
"I wonder, is it possible for you to make a pact that requires you to change forms?" Ranma asked, getting a confused look from Sen. "See, there's a Dragon King, Fafnir, that made a contract with this guy, Azazel, and turned into a gem for a Sacred Gear he had made. Can you do that?"
"Hmm, perhaps, but I don't see why." Sen looked at CC, who was quiet. "Give me a reason why I should."
Ranma held out his hand and a large knife appeared in it. "This is Azazel's first perfected Sacred Gear, would you be willing to make a pact to do to this what Fafnir does for Azazel's Sacred Gear?"
"No." Sen shook her head. "At least, why should I bother helping you out when you haven't earned it?"
Ranma thought about it for awhile before a thought came to him. "Your Reverse Strike Wave. If I can use it, just once, before I leave, you agree to make the pact with me."
The only warning Ranma got was Sen's eyes narrowing before an explosion of power erupted around her, sending Ranma flying back. "I grow tired of your arrogance!" She held her staff up as power condensed at the tip. "If you think you're that good, use it now, concede or perish, those are your only options."
As the power continued to build, Ranma took a deep breath. "Fine then." He held the knife in front of him as his aura surrounded him while battling against Sen's aura. "If you want to be a wall in front of me, then I'll punch right through you."
Watching this, CC wondered just what was going to happen, he didn't care one way or the other, but this was exciting. 'I haven't seen Sen like this since that time we were in the desert to the West of here fighting those weak-ass Gods.' That had been a fun time.
Sen gave him a stern look. "If that is your answer, then don't complain if you die." Spinning around once, she pointed her staff at Ranma. "Dragon Buster CANNON!"
Just as she was about to fire, Ranma swore he saw a faint crackle of lightning in the air. Taking a gamble, he rushed forward as the torrent of energy came crashing down on him. Focusing his aura to his Sacred Gear, he slashed upwards where he swore he saw the lightning just as the energy wave collided with him, his Sacred Gear stabbing into the beam as his aura swirled within the beam of energy.
"Come on," Sen, who was still firing at him, "if you want to survive you need to take control of the energy, harness it and make it your own!"
Ranma was gritting his teeth before his eyes widened. 'This is going to hurt, isn't it?' He could feel everything slipping at that moment. 'Fuck!'
CC shook his head, he could feel Ranma's control slipping. 'Well, that was a promising one.' It was too bad, he was kind of enjoyable to be around, never asking stupid questions.
Ranma grunted and felt himself sliding back against the ground. 'NO! I can do this! DAMMIT!' He cursed before letting out a yell of frustration. 'Nabiki...' Images of the brunette flashed through his head, her annoyed looks, her smiles, the time he spent with her. 'Atsuko...' Images of sparring with her, hanging out with her flashed through his mind. 'Mittelt...' The blonde's looks of concern, her smiles, her frustration, her vulnerable moments, they flashed through his head. 'Kunou, Yasaka...' The two fox Youkai were smiling at him in his mind. His friends at the Occult Research Club flashed through his mind as he remembered how he had first met them and how they were now. 'Everyone...' Finally, a familiar mop of purple hair and red eyes appeared in front of him. "Hey, Master! We'll always be together, right? You won't forget me, will you?" 'Lilith...' As images of her flashed through his mind, he could see her smiling, he saw her frowns and worst of all...
He saw her crying.
"Fuck that... FUCK THIS!"
Both Sen and CC could only stare as Ranma's aura suddenly erupted around him. "I wonder..." Sen mused, but didn't let up on the attack. "Are you going to surrender?"
"Fuck that!" Ranma yelled, his skin burning and bleeding. "You, Sacred Gear, you don't have a name yet, that's fine, I'll name you someday if we survive this. But if you and I are going to survive this, respond to me!" There was a throbbing sensation in his hands from the Sacred Gear before Ranma let out a yell and slashed downwards, causing the beam to shatter into motes of light, much to both Sen and CC's shock. "Good job." He grinned as he looked at his Sacred Gear, which had changed, turning from a hunting knife into a large dagger.
"Impressive." Sen said as she walked up to Ranma's panting form. "Not quite the Reverse Strike Wave, but I am impressed."
"So?" Ranma panted heavily, getting a smile from Sen.
"Very well, I, the Life Giving Dragon, Sen, shall make a pact with you to become the power of your Sacred Gear, in exchange, I shall teach you when I can. When I deem you far enough along, we shall fight for real." She turned to CC. "CC, I wish for you to follow him."
"Master?" CC asked her in confusion.
"You do not need to, but think of it as a favor to me." She smiled at Ranma. "I, admit, I'm curious as to where you will go, Ranma Saotome." She pointed her staff at him and touched his Sacred Gear. "Show me that you are worth my time."
There was a flash of light and Ranma looked at his Sacred Gear, where before it was a large dagger, it now had a green and pink gem in the middle of where the hilt met the guard. Looking up at Sen, he nodded at her. "Thank you." He sighed and flopped onto his back. "That was... Intense."
"Indeed." CC walked up to him, holding the King's piece. "What will you do with this?"
Ranma held up his hand and CC dropped it into his hand. "...Hey, CC, are you and Sen lovers?"
"If by lovers you mean we loved battle, then yes." CC replied curtly.
"So, tell me..." Ranma looked at him. "What will you do now?"
"I shall follow what the Master's orders." He looked at Sen, who had turned to leave. "Since she gave you that gem, I shall follow you. Just let me fight someone strong."
Ranma smirked at him. "Yeah, I can do that. I know a few people strong enough to give you a good fight." Idly he wondered how strong CC was but dismissed it, he'd find out in the future he was sure. Looking at the King's piece in his hand, he looked at the Sacred Gear and a random thought came to him. "I wonder..."
CC watched, wondering what he was doing as Ranma sent a quick surge of power to the King's piece before putting it against the Sacred Gear's blade.
"Considering that Issei took in Vali's power and that Dragon slayer sword..." Ranma muttered before a bright light surrounded the King's piece and the Sacred Gear. "What the hell?!" When the light ended, his Sacred Gear had changed again, the blade itself had become a large dagger and several lines seemingly carved into it. "...I was just testing this, I didn't think anything would happen!" Closing his eyes, he tried to feel his connection to the Evil Pieces that he knew he had, plus to Mittelt, Atsuko and Nabiki and sighed as he felt them still. "Well, this is just weird."
CC was silent.
Ranma sighed and made the dagger disappear. "I think I'm going to crash, see you when I wake up."
CC nodded and walked off as Ranma fell asleep right there.
(-)
Later that day...
"You didn't really master the Reverse Strike Wave." Sen said as she looked at Ranma when he walked into her room.
"Yeah, I figured, I thought you'd become the gem, not give me one." Ranma looked at the gem, slightly disappointed it wasn't her actual self. "I'd ask how you did that, but you're a Dragon, so I'll just chalk it up to Dragon abilities."
"Indeed." She smirked at him. "Alas, you didn't live up to your end of the bargain, either way, that has a portion of my power, and with it, you can contact me and I can contact you." She waved him off. "You'll need to train your body then, but I guess this will suffice for now."
"So why did you agree?" Ranma asked, curious. "I wouldn't have blamed you for refusing."
"...I wanted to see the world again. Sadly, as the Master, I cannot move freely without drawing the attention of all the other major powers of the Moonlight World." Sen shook her head. "This way, however, I can."
"Ah." Ranma nodded, he could understand that. "So, I have to ask, since this gem is a copy of your power and some of your essence, will it run out of power?"
"Eventually it will." Sen answered him. "Depending on how much power you draw upon and how long, but unless it's completely drained out, it should recover, maybe."
Ranma sweat-dropped as she looked away, her face red. "You don't know, do you?" He asked as he gave her a flat stare.
"W-w-well, it's not like I've ever done this before." Sen scratched her cheek as she giggled nervously. "You're the first person that's been here in over six hundred years other than CC."
Ranma sighed.
(-)
Three days later...
"You'll be leaving today then?" Sen asked, getting a nod from Ranma.
"Yeah, going to need a few days to get back to Japan." Ranma answered her. "I don't know teleportation magic after all."
"Tis a shame, I enjoyed training you." Sen said before turning and leaving. "Continue your training, use that gem to contact me if you wish." She looked at CC. "Help him get to Japan, after that, I wish for you to follow him."
CC raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "Fine." He didn't care, he was hoping he could find a good fight somewhere along the way.
(-)
After leaving the island and flying to the ground below, Ranma looked at the island and frowned. "How comes no one notices a flying island in the sky?"
"No one bothers to look up." CC answered, causing Ranma to sweat-drop heavily.
"That's a lame..." Ranma trailed off as he felt a magic build-up from behind him. Turning, he watched as a tall, blue figure appeared in front of him. "So you're the Devil I've heard of that caused so many problems for my wife. Jedah Dohma." He narrowed his eyes at the tall Devil. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tear you apart for what you did in Kyoto."
Jedah held up his hands. "I'm terribly sorry, but I assure you that the whole thing was not a plan that I participated in."
"Don't give me that shit, you're the one who encouraged them to make Yasaka go berserk!"
"Indeed I did," Jedah nodded and noted that the big guy behind Ranma was starting to release some blood-lust. "However, had I not interfered, they would have did that anyway and may have summoned Great Red to this world. Imagine what would have happened to your wife if Great Red decided that she was an enemy? In a way, I saved your wife's life." He held up his hands at Ranma's glare. "Before you decide I'm an enemy, how about we talk?"
"If you don't convince me that you should live, I'll let the big guy back there tear you apart." Ranma could feel a wave of excitement from CC at that prospect.
"Fair enough." Jedah nodded, "tell me something, Ranma Saotome, you know, as well as I do, that the Almighty is dead." Ranma gave him a sharp look of surprise. "Oh please, don't be so surprised, I saw when it happened hundreds of years ago." Jedah shook his head. "Such a waste, if not for that beast, things would have been better."
"What do you mean?"
Jedah simply cupped his chin as he thought about what happened back then. "You know that He is dead, do you not know how He died?" Ranma shook his head. "Right before His death, the Almighty fought against a powerful beast, one strong enough that even Ophis and Great Red would be hard pressed to win against. Being unable to slay the beast, the Almighty used over forty forbidden seals to seal it away, severely weakening him. Had he taken time to rest and recover, his fight against the four Great Devil Kings would not have been his last."
"Cool story, I'm not seeing how this matters right now."
Jedah sighed, young people were so impatient, always wanting everything right away. "Just wait and I'll get to it, I promise." He waved Ranma down. "Anyway, after I saw what happened, I knew that the world would eventually be doomed."
"You know, this sounds familiar." Ranma muttered. "But the person who said that wanted to kill everyone."
"Ah yes, Kokabiel, a small-minded fool who cares for nothing but war and destruction." Jedah shook his head. "Fools like him should never exist. No, I care not for war, though I do believe that everyone should be pushed to survive to bring out the best in everyone."
Ranma gave him a flat stare. "Don't tell me that you're someone who believes in an extreme version of survival of the fittest or something."
"Hmm, perhaps I am." Jedah merely smiled at him. "But regardless of how much value life does or does not have, let's get back to the story. Anyway, as I was saying, after seeing the Almighty die against the four Great Devil Kings, I knew that the world would eventually stagnate and rot. The four Great Seraphs didn't have enough power to maintain what was left behind by their Father, I knew this. I also knew of one being who both had the power needed to keep the system running and was, as much as I despised him for it, good enough that he would rule the world in a manner similar to what the Almighty did."
Ranma stared in shock. "Wait, what?"
Jedah sighed, a forlorn look on his face. "I turned to one of the rulers of Makai, Belial Aensland and asked him to ascend to Heaven and take over. He was one of the ten strongest beings when alive and I knew that his power could run Heaven." The Devil started to chuckle, but it was hollow, empty. "He told me, the fool, he told me that even if he was to ascend to Heaven that none of Heaven's followers would listen to him, as he was a forsaken child of Heaven."
"Forsaken child?"
"A Nephilim." Jedah clarified for Ranma. "Despite being one of those giants, he detested his own brethren and tried to protect humanity."
"You almost sound like you admired him."
"I hated him." Jedah answered without hesitation. "But I could respect him. After all, if not for him and Garunan Bostial, Makai would not exist at all. Before you ask, Bostial died a long time ago and is unimportant to this story. Anyway, Belial foresaw the flood that would wipe out the rest of his brethren because of his grandfather and helped create Makai and many Demons, Devils and even Youkai, those of us who were simply too dangerous and powerful for Earth, fled to Makai. The rest of the Youkai, Demons, Devils and other supernatural fled to what would become known as Hell."
"So..."
"Fine, fine." Jedah sighed, he really wanted to keep talking about this too! "Anyway, I tried, several times, to change Belial's mind, but he eventually told me that anyone who wanted to become the ruler of Heaven is someone to avoid for they would doom reality. But I knew, I knew that he could rule Heaven, after all, the son of an Angel and had powers that dwarfed most Gods in the world? He would be perfect. I visited him one last time, around three hundred years ago, where I saw his daughter, Morrigan."
"What does Lilith's other half have to do with anything?"
Jedah smirked at him. "She's his flesh and blood, I don't know who her mother is, likely a succubus, but that girl was born with powers that actually surpassed Belial's and, even more interesting, she could use both Holy and Demonic powers."
"Wait, what?!" Ranma yelled in shock. "I know Lilith is very strong, compared to most Devils, though she restrains herself because it's not as fun to use her full power."
"And that's only half of her true power." Jedah chuckled as Ranma staggered in shock. "Then again, she gave up some of her power to you, didn't she? But I suppose as a Devil Queen that should off-set the loss."
"You're too well informed." Ranma narrowed his eyes.
Jedah chuckled at his look. "Calm down, she was my greatest creation, I've kept a close eye on her and on you since she left me almost nine years ago." Turning away, Jedah continued. "Anyway, I have a question. Haven't you found that you've been able to do things that shouldn't be possible in your life?" Jedah looked over his shoulder at Ranma, smiling. "For example, being able to activate a Devil King piece when you weren't a Devil? Or turning an android into a cyborg? A fully functional cyborg with reproductive organs and everything at that!"
"Yeah, there's other things, like her being able to revive me when I died when I was twelve, but I've long since stopped wondering how that works. Why? Do you know?"
Jedah smirked at him. "Yes. Because, you see, Lilith is the reason you can do all that." He spun to face Ranma fully and threw his arms to the side. "Her very existence is an impossibility. Half of a soul should not be able to survive for hundreds of years, even with all that power, yet she did. She also has a body, thanks to me, and she even woke up powers inside of you that were long dormant." Ranma raised an eyebrow and Jedah chuckled. "You don't think you could have survived fucking a succubus for years without something helping you, do you?"
"Let me guess, you're talking about the Sacred Gear I have that's linked to sex?" Ranma smirked at Jedah's surprised look. "After finding out about Irregular Sacred Gears and talking to Lilith and Azazel, I found out that I have one in me. Nabiki already told me it's related to Asmodeus."
"That's not fair, I wanted it to be a shock." Jedah actually pouted at him. "Anyway, she woke it up, because without it..."
"She would have killed me when I first met her." Ranma answered him, causing him to sulk more. "It's also why Lilith had no trouble molding me into an amazing lover and why it's easy to seduce people."
"You're no fun!" Jedah groused, glaring at him. "Seriously! Let me have some fun! I want to drop bombshells too!" After a few moments, he sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, Belial worried that Morrigan's power would destroy her, Makai and most of reality, so he split her power in half, the dark half stayed with Morrigan, but the light part of her soul eventually became Lilith."
"Explains why she has light-based magic." Ranma muttered, having wondered why it felt closer to Azazel's own power than anything else. "So how is that an impossibility?"
"It's a contradiction of nature itself. Morrigan was born right after her great-grandfather died and already had access to both light and dark powers. I was surprised, I wanted to see what would happen, but Belial split her in half, which was something even I, someone who can see into souls and manipulate them, could not do."
Ranma raised an eyebrow at him. "Isn't that just because he's that powerful?"
"You would think so, but Belial had the power to manipulate reality in ways that I had never seen before. How do you think, despite having Devils, Demons and other monsters, some as powerful as the Devil Kings and some even stronger, surrounding him, he was considered the true ruler of Makai, even with myself and Garunan ruling our portions of Makai, none of us could do anything with Belial there, his power was far and away many times greater than ours." Jedah suddenly grinned savagely, "despite that, I still killed him. When he wasn't paying attention, I attacked his soul, weakening him so much that he died only recently."
Despite the grin on Jedah's face, Ranma thought the Devil sounded almost... Remorseful for what he did.
Jedah sighed and shook his head. "Even if he was a Nephilim, Belial could have ran the system that was left behind, made it work properly." Ranma was shocked when tears started to come out of Jedah's eyes. "He could have made the world run properly! He could have stopped the rot that consumes all the worlds! He could have made it so that this world would stop slowly dying off! But no! He wouldn't do it! Belial, you fool! I didn't want you to die! I wanted you to do the right thing!" Lowering his head, Jedah sighed again as his body slumped. "But Belial wouldn't do it. He could have done it, I know he could have."
"So why did you want him to take over?"
Jedah looked at Ranma sharply. "Simply put, despite being a Devil in Makai and enjoying conflict and seeing people fight each other, what I desire is making sure that this world continues to thrive. Since God is dead and I would not dare ask either Ophis or Great Red to even attempt it, much less any of the other Gods in the world..." He trailed off and shook his head. "No, I won't say any more."
"So why tell me all of this?" Ranma asked, curious.
"Because, you're not a fool, unlike so many others. Oh sure, you don't have any real long-term plans, nor do you have any goals like I do, but you are someone who can understand." Jedah grinned, his eyes seemingly glowing as he held up his hand. "I want you, Ranma Saotome, to join me. With your help, I know that I can gain the resources I need to fulfill my plan. In fact, if you join me, I'll give you what you want." Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I know where Cao Cao and his group are. I can not only get you the information, but I can direct them to wherever you want them to go. Surely you want to get back at them for what happened in Kyoto."
"...You aren't wrong." Ranma said slowly, this was actually a pretty tempting offer. "But even with that, if you've been paying attention, you know that I can..."
"Use Nabiki Tendo's Sacred Gear and find out where they are at any time?" Jedah chuckled at him. "Indeed, you could probably find out my true plan. But let me say this... Cao Cao's use has... Come to an end for me. He merely runs around like a child, doing what he wants for Rizevim Livan Lucifer."
"Lucifer?" Ranma asked in surprise. "...Is he related to Vali?"
"He is Vali's grandfather." Jedah nodded. "However, he is merely someone who wishes to cause chaos, carnage and destruction and is incredibly short-sighted and uncaring about what happens afterwords. All because he wishes to show that Devils are the most evil of the races." Jedah scoffed in annoyance. "He calls himself a Super Devil, but he's nothing more than a brat." Jedah sighed and shook his head. "Sadly, Rizevim is very powerful and on top of that, Cao Cao has the backing of Indra."
"The Buddhist Wargod?" Ranma looked at Jedah in surprise.
"The very same." Jedah had a very annoyed look on his face. "These factors limit my actions against Cao Cao unless he tries to attack me directly. But as it is, I know that he will only cause me trouble in the future." A small smirk came to his face. "But you? Even if Indra were to get upset at you for doing stuff to Cao Cao, you have a legitimate grievance with him and Indra's options would be limited. After all, Yasaka is your wife."
"So you want me to eliminate Cao Cao for you?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.
"More than that." Jedah grinned at him. "That's what I offer if you join me. In fact, I can offer you things that you can't get in your life right now. You have a... preference for younger looking girls, do you not?"
"Who's a Lolicon?" Ranma asked, giving Jedah a flat stare. "Don't tell me you have a bunch of young girls tied up naked in a basement or something."
"Just one." Jedah grinned at Ranma, his eyes seemingly glowing as he looked at Ranma. "You know her as Ophis." Ranma and even CC jerked in shock at hearing that. "If you join me and... prove yourself. I wouldn't mind letting you... Have her for whatever you wish. After all," Jedah chuckled at Ranma, "surely it must be getting hard for you to deal with the fact that you haven't gotten any since you came here."
Ranma scoffed and looked away. "I don't see why I should bother joining you though. CC, you can..."
"Tell me something, Ranma Saotome, could you handle being the same as Belial? Knowing you could have made a difference and save the world but refused to do so?" Jedah asked, a serious look on his face. "My plan, if you wish to know, is to simply make the rot of the world disappear, but for that to happen, someone has to get the system God left behind working again."
Ranma looked back at Jedah. "...Do you intend to take His place?" Confusion was in his voice and on his face as he wondered what the point was.
"Oh no." Jedah grinned as he flexed his hands. "Not at all. I do plan to bring order to this corrupt and chaotic reality, but I do not dare to try and replace Him. I have something else in mind. So tell me, Ranma Saotome, will you join me and save this world? If you do so, I shall give you Cao Cao and you can do whatever you want to him." His grin widened as a thought came to him. "I can even make it so that if Lilith and Morrigan were to fight in the future that Lilith will win her fight," he saw Ranma's eyes widen, just slightly at that, "after all, you do love her, do you not?"
"...And you're going to trust me, just like that?"
"Of course not." Jedah chuckled and sighed. "See, for my plans to work, I've discovered a very potent Sacred Gear. I want you to help me secure it."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Why me?"
"Because my ability to move is limited due to me being watched by the other factions of the Khaos Brigade. At least for now."
"If I was to join you, and I'm not saying I will, you have to give me one more thing." Ranma said, causing Jedah to raise an eyebrow as Ranma pulled out a small piece of paper and looked at it before nodding and holding it up to Jedah. "I want you to send Bishamon to this address tomorrow. I need to talk to the spirit that inhabits it."
Jedah chuckled, that would be a simple matter. "Perhaps, but why should I? Perhaps you would be... Willing to work with me?" A grin came to his face. "So what say you? I will give you what you want and all you need to do is join me. But alas, I do not know if I can trust you fully." Jedah stroked his chin as he turned to the side and thought about it. "I've got it!" He snapped his fingers. "A trade. As a sign of goodwill, I will send Bishamon, alone, to the location you have indicated. In response, I want you to lead an attack for me."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "So if I join you, you'll give me Bishamon and Cao Cao and..."
"I'll let you... How do they put it online these days? Ah yes, I'll even let you lewd the Dragon Loli." Jedah laughed at Ranma's confused look. "Just something I came across once, don't worry about it. Anyway, if you join me, I'll give you Bishamon and if you prove yourself, I'll give you Cao Cao and the Dragon Loli later."
Ranma was silent for awhile, this wasn't a bad offer, he had to admit. "What would you have me do?"
"Join me." Jedah held out his hand. "If we shake on it, I'll give you Bishamon and then you prove that you can do what's needed."
Ranma looked at the outstretched hand and closed his eyes. "Fine." He took a few steps forward and grabbed Jedah's hand, squeezing it and shaking it. "I'll join you, what is your plan?"
"I simply want you to lead an attack on Kuoh Academy." Jedah smirked at Ranma's shocked look. "I'm not asking you to kill your friends and family, calm down." He held his hands up to try and calm Ranma down. "You know that Nabiki Tendo has a very dangerous Sacred Gear, but also a very useful one, now that she has control of it. I merely wish to extract her from Kuoh City, but I need you to make sure that the forces there are... Properly distracted."
Ranma closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "...You really are a scumbag, aren't you?"
"But you did agree, didn't you?" Jedah chuckled softly. "Don't tell me that your word and honor means nothing."
Ranma gave him a sharp look. "Fine, I'll keep my end of the deal. But I want Bishamon first."
"Of course, oh, before I forget, you seem to have a new Sacred Gear there." Jedah smirked as Ranma held up his hand and a dagger appeared in it. "Would you like to draw out the full power of this first?"
"Are you telling me..?"
"Think of it as a show of goodwill, I'll let you achieve the Balance Breaker of that thing. And thanks to my abilities it won't even be that hard to do."
"Fine."
Jedah smiled and looked at the Sacred Gear in question. "Okay then, so this is how..."
Ten minutes later, Ranma looked at the green scale mail surrounding his body. "...You weren't kidding."
"To those who are allied with me, I give them the best gifts, to those who are my enemies, I torment them." Jedah smirked at Ranma. 'Well, so long as they're useful to me, but you don't need to know that, do you?'
"Keep your end of the deal." Ranma said as he returned to normal.
Jedah bowed as a black sigil appeared above his head. "Of course, I shall see you."
"Wait!" Ranma called out, causing Jedah to blink. "You said I was leading an attack, who will be there?"
Jedah smirked at him. "Leonardo was a little... Reluctant to help me, so I had to scramble his mind a bit, now he's completely compliant. He'll make the monsters that will be used to attack Kuoh Academy and keep people distracted."
"Fine." Ranma nodded at Jedah, who disappeared.
"Is this what you want?" CC asked.
"...No, but it needs to happen." Ranma sighed and shook his head. "So, CC, can you help me get to Japan by tomorrow?"
The man grinned at him. "I can get you there tonight."
Ranma watched, shocked as he transformed into a huge western gold and black Dragon. "...Wow, I don't know what I was expecting, but this was not it."
CC chuckled as Ranma climbed onto his back. "Hang on then and remember your promise."
"Of course." Ranma nodded as they took off to Japan.
I can just hear more hatred coming my way. Just so you know while the arc is named Betrayal due to what Ranma did, that's not why I named it such.
BTW, can you figure out who CC is? He's actually a canon character.
As for Sen, well, it's one of those things that just synchs up between Ranma 1/2 and DxD perfectly. After all, Dragons in DxD can't die unless killed as they are the only truly Immortal beings in the series. Just in case it's not 100% clear, Sen is Herb's ancestor.