"No?" Azazel parroted.

Diodora narrowed his eyes.

"No."

What are the most fundamental blocks of society? One might think of culture, of music, and food. But that didn't really help Diodora here. No. Instead, think of what kind of things were thought of as obvious and evident to each kind of people. This might seem small, but that's only thinking of human societies. And that's still a very narrow-minded view. Then and there, Diodora faced three different kinds of beings. And all of that had their ideals and common sense so ingrained in their minds, that Diodora couldn't keep it all in his head.

Devil society was built on power, Heaven followed the angelic order, and the Grigori… Well, the Grigori was led by Azazel and his close aides. A mix between power and influence, of the other two societies. In a way.

Diodora swallowed.

What did they all want? What did they all have in common? According to Stain, Kokabiel had been here and got along pretty well with the White Dragon Emperor. Additionally, Gabriel had made herself present because of her blood ties with Fate Weaver. And both were absent now that it was Diodora's turn of being questioned, or accused rather.

They all wanted peace too. Prolonging this cold war-like state of affairs didn't help anyone, and the peace treaty had been a big enough thing in the original timeline that Diodora seriously doubted it wouldn't happen this time around. He just couldn't piece together why they hadn't started the negotiations yet, with the Miracle Children getting along relatively well with the heirs of Gremory and Sitri.

What is he missing?

"Azazel is the lead researcher in how Sacred Gears work." Michael seemed unwilling to admit it, closing his eyes to avoid looking at anyone in particular "If he thinks this is important, I'm inclined to believe him."

"He provided security for Sacred Gear usage in the past, after all." Serafall nodded. Still not looking too keen to help the other faction leaders, but speaking with enough security that Diodora felt pressured to change his mind "Diodora-chan, we just want a clearer picture of all of this. You're not helping your case here."

Of course, he also knew that. But Diodora didn't want to help his case, he wanted all of this spun around. Legs to the sky, and utterly unrecognizable. He wanted to get rid of the sins of the original Diodora, and in all of his predictions it always came to this.

It always came down to selling his side of things to the Three Factions. But how? What happened in the original timeline? What made them come together and decide that they had fought enough? The Khaos Brigade hadn't been involved, because their attack came during the peace treaty. It had been something else.

Kokabiel. If Diodora remembered correctly, Kokabiel attacked Kuoh when the Excalibur came to town. He couldn't remember how involved the fallen angel had been in that situation. But he did remember that Vali retrieved him and soon after the peace talks officially started. So… The peace treaty started out due to a common threat.

Diodora eyed Serafall.

She didn't look too happy about being there, and avoided looking for too long at Diodora at a time. Like she didn't want to give the impression of secretly conveying any messages.

Michael was the opposite. A bit worried, but otherwise simply allowed things to flow. He didn't mind the way Azazel did things, and Diodora had the impression that the agreements they came to didn't quite suit his needs. But they were far better than the alternative all the same.

"Is that so?" Diodora didn't pay too much attention. He was busy trying to piece all of this together.

Why did the Three Factions stop fighting? Well, it had to do with their declining ranks. Devils have small birth rates, and after the God of the Bible died the angels lost their way to bulk up their numbers. Which consequently meant that the fallen didn't get new recruits from temptation.

No. Ajuka created the Evil Piece system, and fallen angels could always do the dirty to get half-fallen in their ranks. Unlike the regular angels, who were tied to their broken Heavenly System. That is unless…

Diodora blinked, trying to picture the two behind him.

Miracle Children. The only real way for Heaven to get more of themselves would be by birthing Miracle Children. And this process took a lot more effort than anything the devils and the fallen need. They had to do it carefully, or they'd get a new fallen angel instead from falling to sin. And these precious few Miracle Children would only be as useful as long as they were powerful.

Which meant that, even if the Three Factions came together to negotiate, it'd be in Michael's best interest to get Fate Weaver and Star Seeker out of this mess intact.

"That's right." Azazel replied without much thought "Saji's been under my care, I nurtured his Sacred Gears and we've been studying how his body reacts. Right now, he's assimilated all four Vritra Sacred Gears quite nicely… But even he doesn't know where your Shadow Prison came from."

"A Sacred Gear is tied to its host's soul." Michael insisted "It's an engine of God, one that can't just be carelessly taken without very specific procedures that, as far as I knew, weren't possible to accomplish so easily."

That sounded like the church could do it, but Diodora didn't have time for speculation.

"I'm aware." Diodora replied dryly.

"The sort of mechanisms needed to transport a Sacred Gear outside of a host's body are few and far in between." Azazel continued explaining "I'd know. I came up with the artifacts myself. Which, unless I'm growing old, means that you took it from the Grigori somehow."

"A strong hypothesis." Diodora nodded. It might've been a good excuse, if he managed to find Raynare and had her eaten by Stain. But alas, as far as Diodora knew, Stain hadn't ever eaten a fallen angel before. So he couldn't forge evidence about this.

"You're wasting everyone's time, Diodora." Sona spoke up, arms crossed and expression becoming more of a frown than usual "That attitude of yours didn't help you in Kuoh, and it won't help you here."

"And it's not like you really have a choice." Fate Weaver added. Not sounding angry, but smug instead "We're being lenient already, you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you so readily."

Diodora chuckled, he couldn't help it.

"I'm not having an attitude, Sona." Diodora ignored Fate Weaver for now. He probably wouldn't be able to touch him anyway, if his hypothesis about Michael was true "I'm simply exercising my right to privacy. If I did anything wrong, believe me that I'd have spoken up already."

Because his answer wouldn't guarantee that he wasn't digging a deeper grave for himself, because Miyuzuin thought that she wouldn't be heeded while Diodora would be.

Because, in the end, this world had always proven to be more alive than the original timeline ever showed Diodora.

"Really." Sona looked like she couldn't believe Diodora's audacity.

"Really."

Diodora thought and thought again. Why was everyone here? What were they trying to accomplish? Michael wouldn't give up his Miracle Children. But Azazel was willing to give up Kokabiel, two birds with one stone, and while the 72 Pillars would take a hit… Diodora being gone would also help relations improve. The political struggles had already started in the Astaroth household, so it's not like Serafall threatened to make things a lot worse. The case could've been easier like this. Just a public display of justice. It's not like Diodora could forge evidence if they really dug his dirty laundry.

"Diodora…" Rias didn't seem to be willing to speak any more, but Diodora could see a shared worried in her peerage.

Two members of the Rookie Four, the stars of the Underworld… Present in a public hearing. Or the closest thing to it.

Was that it? Did the leaders want to sever Diodora's connection to the high society of the Underworld? The Miracle Children seemingly got along with them. But Genshirou was proof that they hadn't forgotten Diodora. They couldn't. He saved their lives from the very people they were forced to interact with soon later. Did the leaders want to shift Rias' and Sona's interpretation of Diodora? If so, they'd serve as the example of cooperation. Another reason to show to the world that the Three Factions could live in harmony.

They needed Diodora gone, but in a way that he'd believably be the villain of this story.

Diodora shook his head.

Lax so they could gain cookie points with those present, with a strong enough case that it didn't matter how much Diodora struggled against their words. And speaking in a way that it forced Diodora to assume things and reply to unspoken accusations. A very simple tactic but, again, these beings had centuries of life under their belt.

If they wanted some greenhorn devil to stumble his way to becoming the villain, they'd get there.

Okay. That made enough sense for Diodora to believe. It might not be a groundbreaking theory, but at least it fit better than anything he had thought about so far. It might deceive him into thinking he had to gain back the trust of the young devils present, but Diodora didn't forget who the real people with power were.

Diodora glanced at Azazel again.

"Triple G-Man, please don't tease me like this." Diodora spoke without amusement, stretching and contracting his muscles under his clothes to make the gaps in his skin stink. Giving himself a pained expression and tone "You should know better than anyone who you've shared your research about Sacred Gears with. Why don't you tell me where the Shadow Prison came from?"

The girl behind Azazel frowned, and tension grew in the room overall. Diodora couldn't be sure, but he might've screwed up here. Then again, he already started being antagonistic with Michael, and a change of heart might be more strange midway through all of this. Diodora might as well take advantage of his previous screw up and keep pushing boldly like this.

"I'd not give out a Sacred Gear like this." Azazel crossed his arms "I know it'd be dangerous, and very irresponsible. I've made a point of at least knowing this much, even before you came along to screw things."

The other two stayed silent. It'd seem that only Azazel was willing to give Diodora any hints through his reactions, correct or not.

Azazel didn't win or lose anything regardless of how this turned out. He wasn't the one sacrificing an important asset, and he'd be able to study Sacred Gears more freely once the alliance started. He was intertwined in too many things to remove, and he knew enough that he'd never be sacrificed until Trihexa arrived. He was just too valuable an asset.

Knowing. Knowing, knowing, knowing. It always came down to information, to the way Diodora's lack of context came to bite him in the ass. So he couldn't miss this one, he couldn't let Azazel keep the momentum away from Diodora, baiting him like he was.

"That's not what I was talking about." Diodora shook his head. He couldn't be sure whether Raynare knew how to remove Sacred Gears already or not. He didn't know how many fallen knew how to do this either, and Azazel would reject the very idea of anyone knowing besides him.

"Then I'm not sure what you're referring to. The Grigori aren't looking to start a war, we're not stockpiling weapons. And we are certainly not arms dealers of any sorts." Azazel smirked, placing his elbows back on the table.

The teasing almost made Diodora scream. He wanted to shake Azazel, to force him to speak bluntly. But he knew he wouldn't even get to touch the fallen angel.

Another try. Diodora needed another chance. It felt like Azazel already knew everything, like he wanted to squeeze Diodora out of all of his secrets but did so slowly. Methodically. The invader felt between the fallen angel's hands, and the win condition seemed so far outside of his scope that he almost felt physically sick.

"Pretty sure you don't want to imply the Governor General of the Grigori is secretly plotting against this very meeting, but what exactly are you trying to say?" Fate Weaver interrupted again.

Diodora felt his heart stop for a moment. He almost forgot they both belonged to another world, so Fate Weaver would obviously know that Diodora belonged to the Khaos Brigade and had Ophis' snake to boost his power.

"Relax, Fate Weaver. Don't you see you're making him nervous?" Azazel sat back, still mostly affable. Still looking at Diodora like he was daring him to speak.

Diodora blinked for a moment.

"C'mon, Azazel-sensei. This is just mean." Fate Weaver talking "You weren't this vicious even with Star here."

"I'll have you know that I don't get in trouble that much." Star Seeker replied, sounding a bit annoyed at her cousin "Right, guys?!"

Azazel saw them interact, then gave Diodora a glance again. He might as well had moved his eyebrows up and down for all that it mattered.

Azazel neither wins or loses as long as there's a scapegoat to kickstart the alliance, but the one that suffered from the Miracle Children's attack the most would always be in the way. Because the alliance would be built in spite of someone's health, in spite of how they were wronged. If Diodora wanted, he'd only need to show his broken body to those that would hear. And they'd raise in arms against the injustice, or in favor of the Miracle Children. It'd be in vain, and Diodora would become a living martyr of the nepotism of those above.

"Ah…" Diodora couldn't help open his mouth once it clicked. He had always thought of himself separated from the original Diodora but… No one would believe that he was indeed someone but the one and only Diodora Astaroth. Someone who was revealed to be untrustworthy and petty. And very much in cohorts with the enemy.

Give up, Azazel was telling him but… He was giving Diodora a chance. He was telling him to either submit and let this happen, or submit and be sacrificed for the sake of the alliance. He was telling the invader that he'd never be able to pursue revenge no matter what happened.

The Governor General looked up.

"What's up? Feel like talking already?"

Diodora grinned.

"Why yes, but… Can I ask something unrelated first?"

"I don't see how that'd matter here." Azazel stated, looking curious about Diodora's change of mind.

"It's something that I was told about once I woke up, but since information got cut off so quickly I was left without a hint of whether it was true or not." He turned his attention to Serafall, and it seemed like she understood even before Diodora elaborated "It has to do with my family."

"Ah, well…" Azazel scratched the back of his head.

He didn't stop Diodora.

"Lady Serafall, is it true that my parents have died?" Diodora spoke slowly, breathing noisily as he spoke. He forced his muscles again, tainting his voice with physical pain.

Serafall looked away first.

"They've been murdered, yes."

Diodora closed his eyes.

"I see." He stared at the sky, taking a long breath while considering his next question "Who would do such a thing?"

"We don't know." Serafall's eyes dropped to the table.

So in her eyes, Diodora still remained as the unfortunate existence trapped in all of this…

So that means that, if Serafall Leviathan was as much of a softie as in the original timeline, the other faction leaders would've at least agreed to let Diodora off the hook if he was innocent.

Or useful.

"So there's no point in any of this. I've already been forsaken." Diodora dropped his shoulders, looking at the ground in fake defeat.

Azazel kept staring at him with curiosity.

"What is he talking about?" Star Seeker asked, interrupting Diodora as he was about to speak up. He took it in stride and spun the idea around before speaking.

"I give up." He stated, raising his eyes to look at all of the three leaders at once "I was too slow."

Diodora made a finger gun with his left hand, channeling Ophis' snake through it while putting it on his temple. The energy shredded his glove, showing the almost completely mineral appearance of his slow moving limb.

He gritted his teeth as he saw Serafall stand from her place and put a hand out, the other two faction leaders activating their light attributes before Diodora could pull the figurative trigger.

A wave of darkness and demonic power washed over Diodora, forcefully breaking his small magic circle. And making him feel like he was once again under Elijah's Abhor the Witch.

Miyuzuin collided with him a second later, taking his arms and stretching them out and away from his body, forcing him to land on his back and for his muscles to stretch in a painful way.

Diodora howled as some of his imperfectly healed injuries reopened a bit.

The expression on Miyuzuin's face almost made Diodora scared, but his attention remained only on Azazel.

The fallen angel didn't win or lose, regardless of how Diodora took the fall but… Diodora didn't want to take it all. He was a victim in all of this, after all. So, even if he understood the Governor General's unspoken invitation, he'd have to tell him to kindly fuck off. He'd not get his right to get revenge taken from him, and he'd not be sacrificed for the Three Factions to become friends and live happily ever such an option existed, Diodora would never have gotten involved with Rias and co. He'd either carve himself a place above or die trying.

"Oh, jeez. That scared me." Azazel commented while a light box encased Diodora and separated him from everyone but Miyuzuin.

"Enough. This isn't how it's supposed to go." Serafall hissed, particles of snow oozing out of her as she suppressed her anger "This doesn't make any sense. Don't you see something's not right?"

Diodora gritted his teeth, letting his head hit the ground as he tried to calm down his heart.

Miyuzuin was still glaring at him like he was a lunatic.

"Trust the process, dear." Diodora whispered, feeling so tired he could've passed out at any moment "Just… Trust the process."

Miyuzuin shook her head, and released him while she stood up in one quick motion.

"You're insane."

Diodora's snappy comeback was cut short when Sona's Queen grabbed his arms and forced him up.

Maybe Miyuzuin had a point. Diodora had trusted that he meant enough to someone around to take the hint, that they'd stop him. Regardless of it being Serafall, or any of the reincarnated devils. Maybe, deep in his mind, he knew that Genshirou would use his Delete Field to suppress Diodora's magic. Or that Miyuzuin would recognize her own way to fire off spells and use Worthless in time. Putting his life on the line like this, taking a bet so big when he only ever knew them for a small amount of time… Had Diodora completely lost it? Had he woken up wanting to trust them? He didn't know, and he didn't have time to think about it. He'd be able to have all the breakdowns he wanted, if he won. Otherwise, he'd either be unable to punish the Miracle Children or be killed to forward the Three Factions' goals.

Maybe it was madness, but Diodora would do things in no other way than his own. And he'd forward no goals that he did not approve of, no matter how beneficial for everyone else. No matter how unfair his decisions were.

Fairness, after all, does not exist.

Michael glared at Diodora, shining his holy aura and calling forth his halo as if threatening to smite him then and there.

"Explain." The archangel stated, his voice warped. Almost like it didn't just exist in 3 dimensions. Diodora just sighed.

Okay. Azazel's proposal rejected, devils present spooked and worried for Diodora again… The board's clean again.

Time for round two.