A Shark King's Hell Chapter 56, a Hellsing + High School DxD/ハイスクールD×D Crossover fanfic

Somewhere out in a vast forest like area

BOOM!

Deep within a vast forest-like area, a half naked Theseus could be seen slamming a giant hammer into a boulder he had conjured with his sacred gear, his steel hammer also a construct willed into existence via Zenith tempest. The boulder was slowly chirping into pieces from the amount of force he's putting. Currently his arm muscles were drenched with sweat thanks to the male using only his human strength, refraining from using anything supernatural-related

With each strike from the hammer, the plague called fatigue gradually increased and formed a pit of weariness within his limbs. Nonetheless Theseus didn't let this beat him since the feeling was why he was even doing this in the first place. He kept his focus on slamming the steel hammer into the boulder until he destroyed it. Not only did his arms sweat a ton, but his brow could be seen glistening with it, it had been a wise choice on his part to take off his upper body's clothing and hang them atop a tree branch for the exercise's duration.

In all his previous battles, Theseus had come to the realization that he had been simply relying on his supernatural strength for sometime, to the point where he had almost forgotten about his own strength. That assassination attempt back at that embassy had been one of the few times when he had resorted to his hand to hand combat skills and nothing else, to which upon replaying the memories from that time gave him cause to cringe. His movements were heavily criticized by his mind the more he replayed those memories, he could spot countless areas where he could have done better and more than enough places to improve on with further training.

Thus, that was what he intended to do here.

Using his supernatural gifts may get the job done effectively but relying on them like they were a crutch could only end in tragedy in the end. A lesson that he had to learn the hard way thanks to Meredith's meddling. He needed to get back to the basics and refine them better, so that he could better develop his more 'human' strengths till they were of considerable level. His status and pride as Alucard's apprentice wouldn't accept anything less.

A while passed before he paused his swinging, the fatigue getting close to the point that his muscles could be felt tearing themselves apart if he pushed himself further.

SLAM!

"(PANT)(PANT)(PANT)(PANT)."

Slamming the hammer by it's head into the ground beside him, Theseus leaned on it while placing his forearm atop it's butt for support, heaving heavy sighs as he leaned his head backwards. Thanks to the sunlight above, the male's sweat-covered frame could be seen glistening like it were a priceless jewel's surface, highlighting the male's rock hard pecs and abs honed to these states from the intense training they had been put through.

'Whew… haven't felt the burn like this in quite a while…'

Briefly closing his eyes till the wearness ebbed away slightly, Theseus opened them and glanced downwards towards the boulder for some time, a melancholic look soon overtaking his features. Looking at the boulder reminded him of a certain event that almost caused his life to end, the male reaching up to his face, which had been laid bare to the world thanks to him having removed his mask alongside his upper body's clothing. Rubbing his scarred face, feeling the scraping sensation beneath his fingertips, he hardened his eyes and stood up straight before lifting his steel hammer and roaring out loud.

"RRRRAAAAAHHHH!"

BOOM!

With the massive amount of adrenaline, he resumed his training. Though as he did so his thoughts randomly went towards one of the few 'loose ends' from that zolgear incident. 'I wonder what that homunculus is doing so far in Hellsing. I bet she didn't last a single day.' Apparently thinking about that boulder brought his thoughts to the current status of the one who had scarred his face in the first place, Zest he remembered her name being from the file they had devised from their interrogation of her once everything with Zolgear had been sorted.

The last he had heard, she had been sent back to Hellsing's homeland of London for some reasons that he hadn't really cared for at the time, since he had been unconscious from the whole thing. If he hadn't been unconscious, Theseus doubted he would have cared anyways since he had managed to accomplish his objectives anyways. Whatever she was doing in London he had no care for, Theseus didn't really believe she would be foolish enough to try anything either since he believed without a doubt that Alucard would have been chomping on her neck the moment she did so. Sir Integra had always been a woman who'd been on the ball with tense situations like these, which he guessed came from her experiences with both politics and potential assassinations.

It hadn't even been a day since the challenge to Riser, and the group had been relocated to this forest for a training trip. Meredith had suggested they do this after everything had been taken care of with Inari and that wimpy Satan, so they could in her words 'sharpen their fangs for the banquet' which had been something that each of them could really get behind. The forest iself was located far from the city itself, so they didn't have to worry about humans spotting them for the most part and there had been measures taken to deter hikers from getting too close. Meredith had seen to that and if there was one thing she prided herself in it was her barrier magic.

Though recent events may have caused her some manner of doubt, naturally.

Speaking of the city and forest, only Meredith, Kuroh, himself, Vali, Mio, Maria and Issei had embarked on this trip. Kuroka had to be house confined due to her potentially being a target for vengeful devils and the incident with Rias spoke volumes about what lengths they were willing to go to. Karasuma remained in the city because of his teaching duties though he would also be helping Hijikata with patrols around the streets alongside Shelia, who had been given a bit more freedom to move about for her good behavior.

Hijikata himself had been given temporary leadership duties by Meredith for the trip's duration, and Arthur himself had been allowed indefinite leave for some sort of prolonged search mission, one which would likely take a long time for him to achieve so it'll be unlikely that they'd meet prior to the Rating Game.

Finally, their resident Doctor had remained at his post so he could tend to any times their remaining operatives were wounded, though last Theseus had checked he had been immersed with helping aunt Chisato get used to her office. The two apparently got along real well, something Theseus never expected to see himself though he did acknowledge that getting along with work colleagues was a natural part of adult life.

They sure got along better than he did with many colleagues back in London…

Thanks to being so immersed in his thoughts, the usually alert Theseus remained unaware of how he was being spied on by a certain succubus who hid behind a nearby tree trunk, holding out one of her arms while filming him with a digital recording camera. "Hehehehe. Work those abs Theseus, show me more of that delicious summer bod you're always building!" This culprit was Maria the succubus.

She was secretly recording Theseus' training(Mostly zooming closely into his abs) for her and Mio's viewing pleasure. Maria snuck off during her and Mio's training sessions with the latter still practicing with herself to get this 'motivation material'. Maybe she can use this for Mio to inspire her to train harder, get those feminine wiles of hers to the boiling point till she was one step away from pinning the man down and claiming him right then and there. Maybe she would even be willing to do a threesome in that state of mind, Maria certainly believed Theseus had the stamina for such a thing.

Just look at those abs Theseus was building! It's like he can literally grind meat with those!

Unbeknownst to her, Maria had started drooling at the images of her rubbing her hands or her crotch over Theseus' abs circulating throughout her mind. Accompanying these images were a bunch of perverted giggles reminiscent of those dirty old men in anime as Maria indulged herself in the eye candy before her.

Perhaps that was her greatest mistake however, because those giggles soon reached the blonde males' ears. "Huh?" The blonde stopped what he was doing when he sensed something wrong.

Immediately noticing this, Maria widened her eyes in surprise and horror at her slip up. "Oh crap!" she whispered in a hushed tone while quickie going for broke. She did so by diving into the bush beneath her next to the tree. She'd chosen this hiding spot exactly for this eentuality, so when she'd put herself in the prone position beneath the bush Maria cupped her mouth with her free hand to silence herself. Her eyes trembled as panic flooded her chest at the possibility of being discovered, something she kept chanting in her mind not to happen.

Back in the clearing, the scarred boy looked around for a bit, trying to inspect where did that noise came from. Raising an eyebrow, turning his head back to its first position with a pensive look forming over his lips. "Could've sword I heard something." He said to himself before he shrugged his shoulders. "Must've been my imagination." He resumed back to training.

Now that the coast was clear, Maria got out of the bush, with sticks and leaves on her hair while looking gloomy and frustrated. "Ugh, I just had my hair brushed. Can't this day can get any worse?" She wondered in frustration, an annoyed pout on her lips.

Sadly for her Maria had forgotten about a little something called 'Murphy's Law', which soon came calling in the following seconds to add another soul to it's collection. When she was about to clear her hair from the leaves and branches, she turned her head and came face to face with Theseus familiar.

A certain Catachan devil.

…

They both had a stare off that seemingly lasted for an eternity, one that Maria freeze in place and lose her annoyed expression while the CD stared at her with its eyes.

Sweat started to pour down her forehead while her expression slowly turned to horror. Her fear grows more when the Catachan devil smiled. Revealing its sharp and vicious teeth.

"...nice scary….scorpion?" the rapidly paling Maria stammered, trying to soothe the CD in the hopes that it wouldn't neuter her with the ease she knew it had the capacity to do. She'd seen the spars that it had with Theseus ever since it came to the human world, and she had NO desire to be bisected by it's massive claws.

Though such efforts proved futile as proven when the creature shook it's head at her, some of the legs it wasn't using wiggling with increasing franticness. The creature then started to 'smile' showing it's array of sharpened fangs due to the mouth structure it sported… something which only enhanced the sheer dread that flooded Maria's system more than the creature probably intended.

These manners provided a single thing that Maria understood: 'Run.'

So she did. "Right." Maria simply said before taking a runners position and practically BOLTING away from the CD.

WHOOSH!

"WAAAAAHHHHH!" She screamed in fear, like she were an elden ring player on low health fleeing from that golden sentinel early into the game. When she turned her head around after a few moments, her pale features turned corpse-like when she saw the CD rapidly catching up to her. That 'grin' was still present on what could be described as it's lips, perhaps one can understand why it chose to be Theseus' familiar, the two had similar grins when they wanted to be sadistic assholes.

Before long, she couldn't take it anymore and voiced out her opinion out loud by screaming to the heavens above. "WHY DOES THESEUS ALWAYS ATTRACT THESE TYPE OF CREEPY THINGS?! WHY COULDN'T IT BE SOMETHING CUTE AND CUDDLY?!"

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to yell, cause it just pissed the CD off evident by the tick marks forming atop it's head, resulting in it increasing speed with a look of bloody murder on it's face.

SCCCRRRREEEEEEEE!

Timeskip one week later

"Alright boys, lets go over what we have been doing for the past week." Meredith had her hands on her hip while looking over the trio.

It was early in the morning, and the Hellsing group had assembled in a small clearing after having been called in by Meredith. They all now sat on a checkered white and pink blanket the woman had prepared, while having brought various snacks and drinks. To the casual observer, they would see them as a bunch of people enjoying a picnic instead of a battle-hardened set of veterans discussing their training progress, which had been the auburn haired woman's intent behind calling this meeting.

Theseus, who had put on his checkered green shirt before assembling to this meeting but left his coat off due to the nice weather, crossed his arms beneath his chest and huffed. His familiar was with him as it laid at his side looking peacefully. "I've been doing some heavy ton workouts. Trying to improve my human strength" He idly glanced down at his red, bruised hands before clutching them tightly, making two shaking fists. "But so far nothing."

Kuroh went next, having stayed standing while the majority of the group had sat down atop the blanket. "I have been training with Hijikata for a while. I'm still learning the basics. His instructions were that I need to have patience in order for me to properly grasp my skills." Essentially, he was saying that he'd made a similar level of progress to Theseus: nothing

When Meredith turned her attention to Vali who had his hands crossed. He looked at Meredith before glancing at the side. "You already know my answer Meredith. I don't need to tell you."

The auburn girl narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue in distraught. "Tch! Useless, all of you!" she insulted the trio who wasn't affected by her words. She raised her hand and placed an index and thumb over her nose's bridge. "Still no results even after a week of training? Back in London the three of you always grew in strength even just for a week. But now, all I see is some shriveled up husks."

Off to the side, their newest member Issei Hyoudou winced as he tried to make himself seem as little as possible. To him, Meredith seemed like a woman who could scare the living daylights out of him on a dime, a woman who didn't put up with any bullshit. So if she was scolding three of the strongest people he knew (though he hated admitting that Vali was stronger than him for reasons he didn't fully grasp himself) for not getting anything done, how would she react to HIS lack of progress? Ddraig had been helping him train with his Sacred Gear, a strategy Theseus had recommended for him, but things were going just as slow for him as the rest of them.

"Well excuse me, we're not back in Hellsing. Instead of a place filled with life or death battles, we're in this godforsaken country." Vali retorted back at Meredith, narrowing his eyes at her. His expression clearly declared how affronted he felt at her jabs towards him and his homies. "Besides me being a half devil what can you expect, we're not like those other beings like devils being empowered by emotions almost all of us are human and we barely have the time to even grow our strength. Unlike some people who just can't keep their pride instead of dignit-OOF!" Vali spoke in a low tone when all of a sudden, Kuroh jabbed him with his elbow.

The samurai shifted his attention to Sir Integra's apprentice. "Forgive me for my unrequested input, but during our time here in Japan our strength has diminished somewhat due to the lack of direct threat compared to life in London. Japan's a damn peace-filled haven in comparison. I daresay it would take more than a month for us to regain most of our strength." Kuroh spoke to Meredith in a butler manner while voicing his opinion.

The queen's granddaughter hummed in thought, not saying anything initially. She could see Kuroh's input and she can't get mad at him for his logic reason. Their time in Japan had lulled them all into a sense of peace for the most part, due to the lack of supernatural threats compared to their lifestyles in London, where they were constantly sent throughout the UK and the commonwealth to deal with all kinds of supernatural enemies.

Whats worse is because of this, she almost ruined the reputation with the West Youkai side faction due to them blaming Hellsing for their presence, almost ruining the entire operation which also almost killed Theseus thanks to their enemies being more cunning compared to their usual 'clientele'.

Losing ANY of the members in this group would have been a deadly blow for Hellsing's combat power, but losing Theseus of all people ran the risk of inciting Alucard's wrath since he was his student. A pissed off Alucard was a sight NOBODY ever wanted to see, the last time that had happened a mass genocide had followed suit.

These incidets reaffirmed one fact for her: that the entire Hellsing group needed to get back into their prime strength, to the people they once were back in london.

But the problem was, how were they supposed to do that? Japan didn't have as many threats as London did, and none of them could put up much of a fight either. Not only that, but if she thought about it the reason for Theseus and the boys' rapid growth in strength was the necessity to do so amidt constant battles that actually threatened their lives. Take out that element, and one could observe a drastic decrease in progress, something she found herself cursing that she had forgotten that fact.

Her lips pursed themselves whilst Meredith wondered on how she could speed things up, multiple ideas cycling themselves through her mind of which she weighed their pros and cons. However, no matter how many ideas came to her Meredith just couldn't decide since most of them didn't fit into the timeframe of a month.

While she kept mentally deliberating, Mio subtly shifted nervously on her sitting spot. The Hell's princess sat with her legs bent in an 'r' shape, looking worriedly over the Hellsing group as they all discussed about their training routines which weren't going so well. The more she heard, the more worried she grew that they wouldn't get strong enough in order to deal with the Phenex brat. She could guess that each of the groups' individuals could easily wipe the ground with that arrogant bastard, but sometimes one can't be too paranoid whenever an enemy catches their foe off guard long enough to pull out some hidden weapon or powerup. It happened in anime way too many times, and while people say that anime wasn't real life, that wasn't necessarily the case since many of them do take inspiration from real life events/tragedies.

This upcoming Rating Game… it had a lot of stakes to it's name. Not only would it decide Rias' fate (although to be frank she, like Theseus and the rest, cared little for that bitch) but it was also a battle to defend Hellsing's honor as an organization. Something told her that Hellsing would not let anything slide when it came to that, they were a prideful bunch and that pride had been reinforced with centuries of history. She couldn't even BEGIN to imagine what would happen should they lose this game.

WHOOSH!

"?!"

"What the fuck?!"

Before she could delve into her worries further, Mio's eyes shot wide open when she heard some kind of wind blowing and hot air. She idly heard loud curses and exclamations from her companions when various whipping winds picked up throughout the clearing, all originating from behind the redhead.

In an effort to find out what had happened, Mio turned around while remaining seated, resulting in her being on all fours as she saw a circle of crimson flame swirling around, reflecting Mio's red hair color. At the center of it was a dark abyss, one which she stared at for a second before a massive paw came out of the portal. It slammed into the ground afterwards, and the Hellsing Group quickly got into defensive positions in case it was an enemy attack.

Before long however, this tension dissipated when from the abyss came Karanak: Mio's canine familiar which pulled itself out the abyss like it were climbing up from a steep cliff. Once it had left the makeshift 'portal', the demonic creature stepped forwards with it's transportation closing behind it.

At the sight of it, Mio widened her eyes before she got up and stood before her familiar. Thanks to it's size and her height, the two of them were about eye level with one another. "Karanak? What are you doing here?" She called out her canine familiar, worriedly. The last time her familiar had appeared before the Hellsing group, there had been… no small amount of chaos. Although it had also reminded her of the shopping date she had with Theseus which warmed her heart every time she thought about it, she didn't want to imagine her familiar making her new comrades attack him out of a misunderstanding.

Wars have been started for less.

Karanak stared at his master for a while, keeping his three heads gazing into the eyes of his mistress, before he looked to the side towards some seemingly empty space. This confused not only Mio but the rest of the still cautious Hellsing group who had opted to remain quiet during this exchange. This silence got broken however when the canine being lifted his front left paw and swiped it downwards.

BOOM!

SHHIINNG!

Following his paw's motions, everyones' eyes became bug-eyed when they saw what could only be described as the paw tearing through reality itself. The downward motion created claw marks in the air itself as black as the abyss that Karanak had come out from, and once the motion had completed the slash marks started to transform themselves. They quickly knitted themselves together and expanded, forming an oval shape before widening into a circular one, much like the prior portal. Before long, the group stood before a portal the same size as Karanak the one who had brought it into existence.

"Intriguing, very intriguing." Meredith raised her eyebrow whilst looking at the portal which Karanak has conjured. She wasn't just looking at it with her eyes though, as a magic user she could examine things with her magic which was what she was doing right now. "It would appear that this is some long-distance space magic, from the looks of it Mio's familiar wishes to take us somewhere." she theorized, though it soon turned to solid truth when the demonic canine nodded his three heads in her direction.

Kuroh furrowed his brow as he cupped his chin, staring at the portal with no small amount of wariness. It wasn't like he distrusted Mio's familiar since familiars could be punished for doing such thighs to their masters, but something about this portal just rubbed him the wrong way. It… reminded him heavily of something damn cultists would utilize for their own ends. "Wonder where it would lead us straight to?"

Issei looked weary at that portal since it literally looks like it came from one of those horror hell movies he once watched before with his friends. "You think it's safe to go in there? I'm getting the chills just by looking at it." Issei said while adding his opinion.

Theseus looked at the portal for a second before he answered. "In retro speaking, no. It might lead us to a death trap which could potentially kill us all." he stated like he were a reporter on the weather.

This caused the brunette to aim a dry look at the blonde shark king, momentarily forgetting the dear of being shredded by shark fangs. "Is that supposed to cheer me up?" Issei asked Theseus.

"No it wasn't. Who says I was good at cheering people up?"

Issei sweat dropped, he could see that Theseus had a point. The dude was more of a blunt hammer than anything. But then he glanced to the redhead daughter of Satan and something came to his mind. "Uh, maybe Mio san would say so since you cheer her up nearly all the damn time."

"..."

In that moment, the shark king tensed up on the spot while keeping his expression. The sight of this caused the brunette to snicker somewhat mischeviously, like a gremlin as he gestured to her. "Hey Mio, do you think Theseus can be a good supporter?" the male asked, ignoring the blonde in favor of pursuing this path.

"Eh?!" Surprised by the question, a light squeak escaped Mio's lips as she tried to think of an answer, though the abruptness of the question and how she had several eyes focused on her threw her off her game. So she couldn't really formulate any coherent sentences thanks to being put on the spot like this. "I, um…"

Before Mio could respond however…

"Issei." Theseus spoke in a low, yet undeniably dangerous tone that pretty much described what he would do to Issei in the next few seconds, droplets of water starting to gather around him. "Shut your mouth before I have ol CD peel your dick like a fucking bannana." He snarled, crossing his arms beneath his chest while his hands gripped his biceps tightly. Whats worse is that the CD (which had been hiding within the forest) opened its eyes and stood up a little bit so that it's head could be seen peeping over the top of the trees, successfully intimidating Issei.

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now then back to the portal." After going to a nearby tree and retrieving his coat alongside his mask, Theseus put them both back on before he went back to the original topic. "If this portal thing is as dangerous as it's implying with that ominous feeling radiating from it…then it could be exactly what we're looking for." the scarred boy stated his opinion to the group.

Off to the side, Vali and Kuroh each entered deep contemplation. They knew fine well what the blonde meant by that last sentence. Since they all had grown under intense adversity, maybe something that could provide those conditions could be just what they needed for their training. From that perspective, Theseus' words made sense they could each detect the maliciousness behind that portal, which could only mean something dangerous lay on the other side.

As for the auburn haired woman, she found herself facing a conundrum. Normally Meredith would reject this idea out of sheer principle, investigating something that was clearly dangerous wasn't a smart decision unless ample preperation was made beforehand. As the leader of the Japanese Hellsing organization branch, she had to have some second thoughts instead of immediately listening to her subordinates, she had to weigh in all the variables/factors that would arise from her actions, something she'd clearly been dropping the ball on lately. But those thoughts were left in the back of her mind like world leaders ignoring their peoples' opinions, while caution was a good trait to have as a leader, another necessary trait was the ability to take decisive action whilst accepting whatever consequences befall them.

As such, she walked forward to the portal while declaring. "I'll take my chances." she declared before entering the portal. She had been the first one to head in, instead of waiting for one of the others to make the first move. She hadn't gotten far in her research task provided by the leader of the Exorcists, but one fact that had been made readily apparent to her already had been how leaders got their subordinates respect by leading by example, such as how napoleon remained in the fray during the battle of Lody which earned him his men's respect and devotion.

After her form completely merged into the portal like she were sinking into quicksand, soon the three male powerhouses began followed suit by strolling towards the portal. Just before he could leave however, Theseus stopped for a moment while his two bros faded into their ride, and turned his attention to his familiar. "You stay here and guard hellsing territory until we get back, got it?" He told the CD, before turning back and heading straight into the portal.

Issei looked straight ahead at the portal before he took a big sigh and walked forward. "I'm gonna regret this for the rest of my life." He said while entering the portal.

Mio and Maria both stared at the portal warily, still having second thoughts about this since the way the portal looked like that of the formers' fathers. It might lead them straight to hell or a horde of hungry maws waiting to clamp onto their necks.

Before long, the silence between them got shattered when Maria glanced towards her through the corner of her eye. "Mio-sama….do you think your father might be there? Waiting for you?" she questioned slowly, no small amount of anxiety seepingg from her words.

Mio did not answer right away, too busy staring at the portal for some time. After a while she lifted her head to then head into the portal without saying anything at all.

Maria looked worried and concern over Mio as she hadn't said a word about her father, but as sadly she couldn't tell whatever Mio was thinking. But with a resigned sigh, she could only hope for the best whilst strolled straight into the portal, followed by Karanak whose entry caused it to close behind it.

Somewhere

"Whoa!"

"Such magnificence…"

"This is…."

"Holy shit…"

"Its….its…"

"...Well, you don't see that everyday."

All of the Hellsing group entered the portal, they witnessed what it seemed to be a tower.

A massive colossal tower, made from seemingly pure ebony in which one could even look at their own reflections if they stepped up to it's walls. One could describe it as a tower made of mirrors with how clear such reflections were, although this provided a sense of frailty to the tower that was betrayed by the sheer wicked MALICE radiating from it. The tower definitely earned it's namesake, for they couldn't see it's top due to the tower having stretched up into the crimson lightning-filled clouds themselves. Spikes protruded outwards from each of the ledges, resembling countless spiked rings that lined up the tower whilst being accompanied by countless gargoyle statues that lined various indentations into the structure.

"Never thought something like this could exist…" Meredith whispered breathlessly, standing in front of the group as they beheld the tower's looming presence. Never before had she felt so small, so insignificant, when standing before something in her life, not even Alucard made her feel this small. Skyscrapers had nothing on this thing, it reminded her of a little brother raising hsi head and craning his neck as much as possible to look upwards at his 7 foot tall father or something.

Off to the side, Vali narrowed his eyes after looking around at their surroundings and quickly snarled like an animal. "This place would definitely be a paradise… for necromancers I mean." he stated while trying to keep his cool and failing. He could even hear dark, ominous growls within the back of his mind that obviously came from Albion. The White Dragon of Supremacy being uncomfortable with their surroundings? That HAD to be something.

Before long the group stared at the hybrid of human and Devil in confusion for a few seconds, and then they looked around to see what the heck he meant by that. Soon enough, they ALL immediately understood the situation, quickly forming similar conclusions in their minds as their faces twisted into varying levels of disgust.

The surrounding landscape… well, it could only be described as a fucked up wasteland resembling a depraved lunatic's wet dream, a vast one which once looked to have been a grassy plain. Now however, everything in the vicinity looked to have been turned crimson as if so much blood had been spilled that red had permenantly merged with the environment. Clouds covered the skies and concealed the sun from view, just as bloody crimson as the rest of everything, constantly crackling with thunder and lightning every few seconds like they were about to erupt at the slightest provocation at any time.

In the distance one could see countless ruins that had once been various different buildings such as churches, towers, stone gates, with many more being completely unrecognizeable. One could say that something had stained this land a horrific red, rotting away at even the land itself with a few areas being occupied… but not by anything natural. Shambling, frail and slender corpse-like creatures wandered about like lost lambs, searching for an end or their salvation in a cruel, uncaring lifestyle.

Was that some kind of bird looking up at the bloody clouds with a stupidly large skull for a beak?

"...Ok, this looks like the classic christian depiction of the Underworld." Kuroh stated, practically summarizing everyone's thoughts in a single sentence. No amount of words could describe how uncomfortable seeing all this made him, none of this looked natural and everything felt like an affront to the natural order, reminding him of the countless cultists that he had provided a final solution to the issue of life.

"Where are we anyway?" Issei questioned, barely stopping his legs from losing all strength which would have resulted in him falling on his ass. He did NOT fancy the idea of putting his ass on anything in this place, which felt sicker than an overcrowded hospital wing. Though him maintaining balance did little to detract from the chills he got just from looking the area around here. What's more he could hear Ddraig growling angrily in the back of his mind, yet no matter how much he asked the Dragon wouldn't elaborate on his reasons for his sudden fury.

DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!

Soon, everyone started blinking when they felt a wet sensation apply itself onto their bodies, causing them to look upwards. Up above, crimson droplets resembling blood begun falling from the clouds that applied a new crimson layer to the practically dead environment, further staining it red under a bloody rainfall. Yeah, it had started raining blood, a further indication that this was not a place for normal people.

Theseus looked up at the storm clouds, having sensed some kind of energy coming from the tower itself. A rain drop almost hit his eye but his mask was able to cover his upper face. When he wiped the wet droplet from his mask, he takes a look and becomes surprised to see red liquid on his hand. "Blood?" he said while announcing what the rain was.

The rest of Hellsing heard him saying the name blood as they also checked the crimson water. Kuroh looked up at the sky. "Its raining blood?"

Maria brain went to hardwire, working in millions of ways before she widened her eyes. "Of course! I know where we are! We're in….the bloody palace!" she explained, her body trembling violently like she were shitting bricks

The Hellsing group shifted their attention to Maria, unfazed by the blood dripping down their persons… save for Issei who kept trying to shake the droplets off to no avail. "The bloody palace? Is that what the tower is called?" Meredith asked with a raised eyebrow.

The succubus nodded her head. "Yes and there is a reason of this. My mother told me about this place, but I thought that it had been destroyed when Satan's reign came to an end post his demise." She began, taking a gulp. She did NOT like this place, nor would she ever want to have come here if she could help it. In all honesty, Maria would never have come to this place if she had a choice, but now that she was here Maria could tell that he mother SEVERELY understated how twisted this place was. "The Bloody Palace… a remnant from Satan's era. Back then, Satan wanted his army to be as strong as possible as there weren't nearly as many Demons compared to the army of Heaven led by his nemesis. So he had went with the 'quality over quantity' approach, constructing this place."

"I heard something about that in my studies…" Meredith mumbled, cupping her chin and drawing everyones' gazes to her. "I heard that Satan couldn't corrupt or tempt many Angels at the time to his side of things due to their nigh-fanatical devotion to the Biblical God. The Fallen Angels had proven to be an enemy of his kind too when he had tried to recruit them for his own ends, only for them to fight against him uncaring for their new status. Thus, he decided that of the Devils that did remain with him following his failed rebellion against his counterpart, he would cultivate them with his own hands into a force that'd make thei so-called 'order' be reduced to a pile of ash before the 'chaos' of individuals."

'Now that sounded almost philosophical…' Theseus thought, referring to the whole thing about order and chaos. But he could see why Satan would think that way, and he could also see the results from it. He remembered how the 72 pillars each had their own unique bloodlines and abilities that made them monsters on the battlefield, especially their upper ranks who had more resources allocated to them than the common rabble. As much as he loathed the asshole for what he almost did to his own daughter, the blonde could see that the dude did care for fostering individual strengths.

Nodding her head, Maria stepped forward with her succubus Tail swishing nervously behind her. She didn't know why, but looking at this tower caused faint, feminine screams to echo throughout her mind mixed in with savage growls, roars and the sound of flesh being ripped apart. She supposed that was just an aftereffect of this place's presence, though she wasn't completely certain. "The Bloody Palace functioned like those boss rushes in videogames. It would transport people into a pocket dimension where they'd fight a bunch of Demons in an array of different environmental arenas tailored to their specifics. Don't know what that last part means, but mom said that the Bloody Palace would attack the paticipants in the body as well as the mind, hardening all aspects of an individual to steel. It's structured in the form of 100 floors, and each 10th floor so the 20th, 30th etc had a 'boss monster' dominating it, with those in between being filled with Demons."

"...How strong are we talking here?" Vali asked after a moment of contemplation, a smile indicating his inner battle junkie nature was starting to surface. His heart started pounding with his blood increasing it's speed throughout his veins. This sounded like goddamn heaven to him, constantly fighting a battle with loads of enemies sounded right up his alley.

Maria looked at him for a moment, her gaze bearing into his own without a shred of her usual shrewd demeanor. As unsettling as seeing a serious Maria was, the succubus continued her explanation regardless. "To the point to where most of the original Devils could only get halfway through the floors. Even the original satans couldn't get through them, and regarding the current ones I doubt they would ever go through this place due to what it represents." She told them. She then tilted her head as another aspect to the building popped into her mind. "Oh, and I heard from mom that if one gets to the 100th floor they get rewarded somehow. Not sure if that's true or not, but it must have inspired the Devils to keep trying."

"A prize you say?" Vali mused, putting his hand on his chin while thinking. "Now this got me very intrigued. I don't care about the reward but 100 floors of powerful demons…. This is paradise specifically for me." He formed a fanged smile to himself with the thought of battling demons across each floor.

Maria hummed in acknowledgement. "The reason it's called the 'Bloody Palace' is connected to how much blood has been spilled in this place. So much of it has been spilled throughout Satan's time that it has permanently turned rivers red, stained the environment forevermore, and as a result even when it rains it rains blood droplets." She explained gravely, casting her gaze out into their surroundings. As a succubus, Maria knew her race would have seduced many a male into their arms to be used as playthings, toys or to lure them into deadly traps that'd cost them their lives.

However, the combined total of men affected in these ways by her kind felt like a mere puddle compared to those affected by the Bloody Palace.

"Well, that explains the blood." Issei commented, eyeing his companions who were mostly covered in blood, not that each of them cared. Though Issei, Mio and Maria were still a bit grossed out at the sight, one could call them the ones who still stood on the light side of morality and thus were rather innocent of the world's horrors. Even Mio. So it made sense for them to be affected by the sight compared to the dark, hardened warriors Theseus, Vali etc.

Speaking of said male, Theseus stared at the bloody palace for a while before turning his attention to the group, not before looking at Karanak. "Good job boy, have a treat." He conjured a magic circle on his right hand, pulled something out before throwing a dead dear to Karanak as a treat.

Karanak caught the treat and the main middle head tried to devour it… but the two heads on the opposite sides didn't appreciate that judging from how they had begun struggling with it in a tug of war.

Shifting his attention away from Mio's familiar and back to the rest of the group, Theseus stepped forwards till he stood in front of them, hands in his coat pockets. "Alright guys, this is a two-way trip. This is what we've been looking for, something that can help us get into shape. Once we're in there, we won't be together as each of us will have to face our own demons. There is no backing out of this, we may not be able to live through this but if we do….I can say that almost all of us will have accomplished something out of this." with that speech, Theseus turned around and looked at the entrance to the Bloody Palace. "The time has come, for all of us to see the result of our strength and power, how much we pulled through."

Theseus' face darkened as Kuroh, Vali and Meredith mimicked his actions before their eyes glinted with malicious intent on their eyes. "Lets show the might of Hellsing to those arrogant devils who believe they are still on top of the food chain. Specifically that Phenex brat, we'll show that fucking devil who he's pissed off." they all walked to the entrance to the bloody palace where the tower awaited the next challenger, the first set in thousands of years.

In Takamagahara

Across a vast, open room that looked to belong in a japanese-style castle surrounded by forest-life, one could see a bunch of figures in a big group. These figures were multiple men and women, all sitting in the traditional japanese seiza position, dressed in formal-looking traditional Kimonos.

A combination of factors determined their identities as the Shinto deities of Takamagahara, the first of these being various antiques that were associated with their domains. The second was the massive amount of divine energy they were giving off, the kind of energy that would make a religious priest wet the bed for it'd signify he had god's attention. Then there was the formal-looking kimonos they wore that looked like they came straight out of medieval era Japan.

Soon, an almost spectral-looking japanese sliding door made from golden energy conjured itself into existence in front of the Shinto gods. Immediately, everyone tensed up in preparation for what would be happening in the immediate future, each of them fully aware of what that door signified.

One of the Japanese gods walked to the side of the spectral door, opening a paper fan before taking a deep breath.

"(INHALE) Hira~Nii~!"

From the formal presentation the god spoke, they all immediately bowed down.

"Hira~Nii~!" He continued to repeat the words.

At that point the spectral door began to open, and some figures were seen walking through the brightness of the other side is emitting. The servant waved his hand and present the figures who were approaching. "Presenting the Shinto Trinity, the ones who govern the Land of the Rising Sun! The one who controls the lightning and sea! The one who Shines the moon brightly! Amaterasu-sama and her brothers Susanoo-sama and Tsukuyomi!"

The three main shinto gods walked through the spectral door, revealing themselves to the minor and some major Shinto gods. It didn't matter their standing, their faction alignment, or even their power levels, all of them still bowed down with respect to the Shinto Trinity.

Said three main gods of Shinto each had a stoic demeanor before they clicked their fingers in unison, to which several thrones each unique in design to their domains shimmered into existence a if they were an optical illusion conjured within the sahara desert. Their thrones conjured, each god planted themselves on them, finally ready for the meeting they would be attending.

"And now!" But the presenter wasn't done. He pointed to the top of the vanishing spectral door where a purple magic circle with skulls flying around it and the symbol of two scythes connected to each other could be seen. "Introducing one of the founders of the Japanese/Shinto faction. She who governs the dead, the primordial goddess of creation and death, one of the two gods who created the bridge between heaven and earth, ruler of Yomi, the mother of gods! Izanami!"

A figure floated out of the divine circle, practically phasing through it like they were floating on air itself. That figure took the form of a fully grown, adult woman in her mid to late 20's to early 30's, sporting an hourglass figure professional models would go green with envy towards. She possessed long black hair which fell to her ankles, held up high behind her head with a darker black ribbon. Two piercing blue eyes scanned the vicinity with an arctic coldness, filling her onlookers with a sense of dread like they were standing before the grim reaper.

Atop her head sat two fox ears, similar to those Inari wore which wasn't that surprising considering that Shinto deities usually had animal features as part of their anatomy. Only the stronger ones could decide whether to hide them or not, whereas some chose not to hide them at all. Inari had been one of those hence why she was one of the few Goddesses known by the past humans to have animal traits. This Goddess was just another example of this. Accompanying her ears were a set of long black fox tails that protruded from behind her waist, lazily swaying behind her as if expressing little interest in what was going on around her.

As for attire, the woman wore a crimson kimono that was open at the chest, exposing a bunch of bandages over it as well as her own paleish skin. Though the size of her cleavage would have enraptured many males' gazes, nobody dared stare for fear of retribution. The Kimono had dark black outlines whilst it split into three tails at the waist, exposing her long legs that were covered by a pair of thigh high, nylon stockings and ended in a pair of brown japanese sandals. Her hips were covered by waist guards similar to those that a Samurai would wear on their shoulders, with similar pauldrons attacked to her arms by belts around her biceps. Her hands remained covered by a pair of black gloves while nylon arm sleeves adorned said bodyparts. A single steel plate wrapped around her abdomen like a corset, hidden beneath a large black ribbon with golden outlines, said color scheme being the same for her armor.

Atop her back, sat sheathed a katana as long as she was tall like those weapons used by characters in that game about hunting giant monsters. It even put nodachi's to shame in terms of length.

The woman, named Izanami, remind silent after her entrance. Her eyes passed over the heads of the bowing gods for some time before she turned her back to them and floated to the side, where a magnificent throne rose from the ground as if to meer her. The throne in question looked completely the opposite of the extravagant-looking thrones that belonged to the Shinto trinity, hers being ebony black with many sharp edges like one small misplacement of a bodypart could end up with that part being severed from the whole body.

Izanami took her place at the throne before she crossed her legs and put her hands on the armrest. Soon the rest of the gods stood up straight and paid attention to the main Shinto gods. The Japanese servant god raised the fan before announcing. "Let us commence the meeting!" he brought his fan down, closing it before he walked away and stood at the side with the rest of the servants.

Susanoo looking bored as he leaned his head on his fist. "Let's get this over with. I already know its related to the Devils so what is there need to be discussed?" he rudely said, making the two sibling look at their brother irritated.

"Behave Susanoo! Don't irritate Izanami's patience." Amaterasu reprehends her brothers' behavior since it was unsettling as a God while they are also in their mother's presence.

"Your brother is not wrong Amaterasu," Lady Izanami spoke in a divine tone, befitting of her status.

Amaterasu was baffled before shifting her attention to her mother. "Wha-but mother-" One glance from Izanami was enough to silence Amaterasu, the said goddess shrinking in her seat like a loyal cat. It wasn't a secret to anyone that Susanoo was Izanami's favorite(much to the displeasure of Izanagi and the two children displeasure)

One of the Gods, Omoikane stood up from the seiza position and went to the center of the room. "(CLEAR THROAT). As for what Susano-sama has said before, today's meeting is indeed related to Devil-related matters."

At once, the whole room's atmosphere underwent a dramatic shift. From the sense of reverence and respect that filled the air, to now when everything felt heavier than lead. Even breathing felt like the most some of the weaker Gods could do with how much tension got developed just from the mention of the race that had caused them all so many problems. It didn't help that many of the Shinto Gods had ough experiences with the Devils either stealing their followers away through subtle manipulations or outright theft using diplomatic immunity as an excuse. Many cases of this happening existed throughout history. But this combined with the lack of competence from the Devils alongside their crimes left a REAL sour impression on the Shinto faction.

They turned their full attention to the God of Knowledge. "From the reports we received from the fox goddess Inari-sama, ONE of the devils attempted to break the treaty by illegally breaking into Hellsing territory, but she also tried to 'steal' the Red Dragon Emperor for her own gains." He sharpened his eyes and looked at Izanami stoic demeanor, his words inciting anger and disgust at a high enough level to outmatch his fear of her gaze. "Not only did she try to violate the agreements that were made, but there was another pillar devil that has approached our lands without permission, displaying their real side." He walked forward close to Izanami's children. "My lords, I must strictly call for something decisive to be done, instead of observing from atop our ifle towers. We must take action, we can't allow those filthy beings to walk all over us and our pride like it was their playground!"

"I strongly agree with him!"

"He proves a point!"

"We're just sitting ducks while allowing those beings wander around in our lands!"

"I say we execute them! Kill them for their arrogance!"

"Yeah!"

"I won't stand any longer observing while my followers are in desperate need of my help!"

At once a massive uproar swept across the group, with gods and goddess raging as they demanded their leaders take action instead of observing the human world from atop their thrones while the devils freely roamed around the world and infiltrated them.

Before long, various veins could be seen on the announcer god's forehead, his face reddening from the incessant chatter he was being forced to listen to. It didn't take long for him to lose it with them, they were supposed to be gods, not damn fucking children. "I ASK ALL OF YOU TO BE SILENT!" Omoikane bellowed into a megaphone, his voice laced with his divine power. "Please let me proceed or else it will take what humans call 'a long time to be finished'." From the huge tone Omoikane has released and the last part was enough for all of the Gods and Goddess to be silent.

This was something that was practically the norm whenever such meetings like these took place. So often that these Gods devolved into petty bickerig as a result of maintaining traditions that were centuries old, something which a small portion of their faction members constantly pushed to change so things could progress. It sort of resembled the russian situation prior to the first world war when it had been still a technologically backwards nation compared to estern powers who had modernized themselves a full century earlier.

Seeing every gods and goddess were quiet now, the god nodded his head in quiet relief. He was getting too old for this shit "Thank you, now what are your opinions Lord Susanoo, Lady Amaterasu and Lord Tsukuyomi, regarding to this matter?" He shifted his attention to the Shinto trinity when he asked them that question, wondering what their leaders would do to solve this issue..

The shinto trinity stayed quiet for a moment or two as everypnes' gazes fell onto their shoulders, a thick tension starting to fill the air as a result. It didn't last however, because a snort came from a certain storm god. "Hmph, you already know my answer Omoikane. I don't need to explain it." Susanoo stated with a huff, looking away and crossing his arms under his chest like a petulant manchild.

Following that statement, the moon god had his eyes closed while speaking his opinion. "We should probably look into the Devils' side of these matters. Looking at this from both angles seems the logical conclusion."

Finally, Amaterasu also stated her opinion as well. "Rias Gremory is still a young child, its normal for people like her age to make mistakes. I am willing to overlook this matter but if she ever were to commit or break our law then I'm not giving her or the devils any chances."

Obviously, these two statements did not go down well with their onlookers, but more importantly Susanoo glared at his sister with annoyance. "So you two are basically allowing Lucifers brat of a sister to get away scott free with breaking the agreements signed by her own kinds' hands." He spat.

Amaterasu shift her attention to her brother, her eyes betraying nothing of the weariness she felt inside at having this discussion with him. "Not all devils are the same as the old satan faction, brother. The younger generation still has much to learn. Rias Gremory would see this mistake as a lesson to not ever step beyond other people's boundaries." she told him in a pacifying manner.

A manner that got slapped rightback into her face by the furious snarl that escaped the storm gods' lips. "Thats bullshit and you know it Amaterasu." Susanoo retorted back at his sister. "We have given the devils many chances, the number of which I can't even count with my fingers anymore, and look how much they have messed up. Countless times we have forgiven them for their offences since Cleria Belial, and every time we do consequences arise. Our people bear the price for our own weakness!"

"Your letting your anger get the best of you susano-"

"STOP TRYING TO AVOID THE SUBJECT!"

BOOM!

"WHOA!"

"SHIT!"

"LORD SUSANOO IS GETTING ANGRY!"

All this back and forth quickly rose Susanoo's anger to it's boiling point, to the point where violent-looking storms were being conjured outside and lightning stroke around them. The storm god stood tall from his throne and held out his hand. From outside, a bunch of lightning bean to condense around one of the clouds before it shot down as one big clump, gathering into his hand to make a makeshift sword

Ignoring all of this of which came from his rioting divine energy, Susanoo continued to speak. "Our pride was tarnished many times by those filthy beings in the underworld, I tried to overlook this so many times but you two always BEND YOUR KNEE TO THOSE DEVILS! ALWAYS ALLOWING THEM DO WHATEVER THEY WANT!" At this point, the storm god had brandished his sword towards his 'siblings' with the fury of a thousand roaring soldiers about to charge into battle. "I WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE BOTH OF YOU AS MY BROTHER OR SISTER NO MORE, ALL I SEE ARE COWARDS! YOU ARE NOT GODS, YOU ARE THE SAME AS THOSE DEVILS!"

HIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS!

"ENOUGH!" Amaterasu anger erupted as well, matching Susanoo's anger and unleashed her sun authority. Her body started radiating with her own energy that resembled the sun that she was associated with as she too stood from her throne, facing off against her brother. Her energy condensed in her hand to form a golden katana which she levelled at him. "I won't tolerate your behavior anymore Susanoo! If war is what you want, then so be it!"

"Brother, sister please!" Tsukuyomi got up from his throne as well and attempted to stop his two siblings from fighting each other. Panic flated within his eyes at the possibility of these two going at it, for while publicly its stated that between the two of them Amaterasu was the stronger of them, in truth her and Susanoo were about equal. She was only selected to be the leader because she had the knack for leadership while the storm god personified the samurai spirit. So for them to fight here would only spell disaster for their faction. "Calm down, or else you'll destabilize the whole Takamagahara!"

"HAH!" Susano, ignoring Tsukuyomi, spat in his sister's face after closing the distance between them. His actions temporarily shocked her out of her anger whilst a crowd of gasps escaped the onlooking gods. Even Izanami raised a brow in curiosity. "YOU'RE QUICK TO RAISE YOUR SWORD AGAINST ME, BUT NOT TO THOSE WHO HAVE REPEATEDLY TAKEN OUR TRUST AND STOMPED ON IT! DOES THAT NOT SHOW US WHERE YOUR PRIORITIES LIE? WHY DO YOU THINK RADICALS HAVE BROKEN AWAY FROM YOU AND EMBRACED THE MILITANT FACTION OVER YOUR IDEALS? IT IS SIMPLE, YOU HAVE LET THEM DOWN FAR TOO MANY TIMES, HOW MANY HAVE LOST HUSBANDS, FATHERS, WIVES AND MOTHERS DUE TO DEVIL INCOMPETENCE? HOW MANY CRIES FOR JUSTICE WENT IGNORED BECAUSE OF SOME BRAT WHO DIDN'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT RULING? YOUR 'ARRANGEMENT' WITH THE UNDERWORLD NOT ONLY UNDERMINED OUR PRIDE AS A FACTION BUT MADE US A LAUGHINGSTOCK, WE HAVE FALLEN FAR FROM OUR FORMER GRACE BECAUSE OF YOUR LACK OF A SPINE! GODDESS OF THE SUN, NO, YOU ARE A GODDESS OF COWARDS, THE NOTION THAT SOME TIME AGO PEOPLE BELIEVED WHOLEHEARTEDLY YOU WOULD BE A LEADER WHO WOULD STICK UP FOR THEM IS NOW A DISTANT MEMORY, A SHADOW OF A GODDESS NOW TAKES YOUR PLACE!"

Amaterasu snarled and was about to unleash the full force of her sun divinity due to how much light energy she was emitting. "HOLD YOUR TONGUE, STORM GOD! YOU FORGET YOUR PLACE!" She bellowed, her energy starting to swell. Even while their fellow gods began to quiver in fright of this display knowing that it usually meant a bloodbath was to follow, Susanoo remained unaffected since he flared his own power in response. It perfectly split Amaterasu's energy in two, keeping him safe. "AT THE DAWN OF OUR FACTION FATHER GAVE ME THE POSITION OF DIVINE LEADER, SO YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO QUESTION ME! TO DO SO WOULD BE TO QUESTION HIS WISDOM, DO YOU DARE TO DO THAT, SUSANOO?!"

"AT THIS POINT, YES I DO!"

BOOM!

Tension rose between the two gods, the god of storm and the goddess of sun. All the Shinto gods, both minor and major, could only watch with trepidation as they released their combined energies to form a protective barrier around themselves to prevent the shockwaves from their clash from ripping them to bits. They were terrified of the possibility that Lord Susanoo and Lady Amaterasu would break the heavens apart due to their conflict. They all prayed to Lady Izanami to stop this before its too late.

Fortunately, the mother of Gods was able to hear their plea.

SNAP!

With a snap of her fingers, the woman dispelled the mighty storm and the powerful heat permeating throughout the room with a pulse of her own energy. The two children widened their eyes when they sensed this, before shifting their attention to their mother.

"Enough with this childish act." Her majestic and powerful voice overwhelmed the duo. She looked at Susanoo. "I know how much you want to go down to the human world and help your followers my son, but as per divine law we can't interfere with the human matters unless it relates to supernatural events. Even if you were to go to the human world, our divine intervention will be the likes of the Greeks, causing more tragedies and suffering for humans." She soften her eyes. "My son, I know this is very hard, it is good you didn't lose your faith in humanity. Let them handle the problem and someday when the time comes, then you can lend your hand to your worshippers."

Susanoo gripped his sword hard, veins showed around his hand. Displaying how much anger he has inside of him, how much he wanted to go down to the mortal plane and help his followers, he couldn't find any reason to argue with his mother because every word and sentence she made was correct. Nothing could put into words the shame and humiliation he felt inside at the reality that he couldn't help his followers as much as he wanted to. "I…understand, mother." He stated respectfully, before turning a scornful gaze towards his sister. "My words still stand, 'sister'" he stated with barely contained disgust. Like the fact that the two were related was more revolting to him than drinking oil. He cupped his hand together and then bowed to his mother, one of the few beings he respected before he returned to his throne.

"And you." Izanami shifted her attention to Amaterasu who flinched under her cold, hard gaze. If there was anything the Goddess of the Dead could pull off to perfection it was the glare that made one wish they had never been born. "Just because my former husband made you the leader/overseer of the Land of the rising sun, doesn't make you have authority over your brothers. You rule this land alongside with Susanoo and Tsukuyomi. Showing off your position and authority will not solve anything, it will make you a tyrant. You won't gain anything from this, you are a god, act like it instead of the spoiled child you were acting. I'm disappointed in you, daughter."

This was a harsh blow coming from her mother, the Sun Goddess cringing as she fought to hold back the shame swelling in her gut at the vicious dressing down she had received without mercy. Amaterasu couldn't argue against her mother either, because again her words were not wrong. She was acting out of turn for a leader, being a childish god instead of a proper higher being, one who refused to hear the honest criticism her brother had for her.

Izanami shifted her attention to her third child, Tsukuyomi. "Now that we have resolved these differences, I believe we have another topic of discussion at hand, Tsukuyomi?"

The god of moon stood up straight and put his hand together with his sleeves. "Yes mother." He bowed with respect before lowering his hands and taking out his hand from his sleeves, conjuring a divine circle in the middle of the room. Briefly several confused voices rang out amongst the crowd of Gods as everyone looked in confusion at one another. This didn't last though thanks to the Moon God providing the following explanation. "As you can see, Elizabeth granddaughter Meredith Ordinton has allowed us to view the meeting with the devils to discuss with Lucifer's little sisters punishment, courtesy from the Inari. She reasoned that because this incident has happened on our territory, we have a right to watch the proceedings." He said before projections started to appear, projections that showed the whole meeting from start to finish.

Initially, the Gods all grew increasingly furious with the way that the Devils had been behaving in the meeting, trying to scurry Rias away so that they could 'punish' her in private which to them, meant nothing more than a slap to the wrist. This hatred did get mollified somewhat though whenever they saw how that human woman who commanded the Helsing forces didn't put up with any of that bullshit. Some of them even conjured a bag of popcorn like they were watching a soap opera or something, much to the mild annoyance of Izanami who clicked her fingers and summoned skeletons to 'remove' said Gods from the premisis. Nobody dared question those poor sods' fates.

This rage soon got turned up to eleven however when Riser entered the scene, acting as arrogant and cocky as he did. In fact he became the most hated figure in that meeting whilst many gods found themselves shocked into disbelief at the sheer unruliness that this blonde devil exhibited. Not only did he seem to openly disregard his 'leader' who was said to be one of the 10 strongest beings in the world, but the way he just callously acted like he owned the place and didn't believe he'd get any commeuppence due to his family background rubbed many of the Gods the wrong way. Chief amongst them being Susanoo.

"That bastard Devil…" The said Storm God growled under his breath, his eyes flashing with lightning as his previous anger started to surface once more. This time nobody blamed or admonished him, they didn't need to since they felt similarly to him. "And people say Devils haven't change…"

Amaterasu ignored her brother while Tsukuyomi frowned in silent disapproval of this Devil's conduct. The sun goddess DID have her hands gripping her elbows tightly though, her eyes slowly gaining their prior glow especially when she heard Riser boasting about how 'great' his family was. She even had to mentally commend Meredith for keeping her cool like she had, such conduct conducted in her own presence would not be so easily disregarded no matter what her brother said.

But then…

"?!"

"Huh?!"

Everyone gasped/widened their eyes when Riser, after making some moves on some of the female members (despite being engaged no less which irked the few females in the group), found himself being pinned to a wall by one of the human woman's subordinates. Let it be said that many Gods considered it a form of sexual-driven pleasure seeing that bastard get his comeuppance in the form of being scarred horrifically, though several gods did indeed notice something odd.

"That boy…" Tsukuyomi's eyes narrowed at the energy he could see travelling through Theseus' arm. What was more alarming to him was that it felt divine in nature, which implied this person was either a demigod or had divine ancestry in his blood. "There's divinity in him… but there's something wrong with it."

Susanoo, now uncharacteristically calm, nodded his head in agreement. "Doesn't feel as calm as any of ours does, even mine and I control storms as part of my domain. This boy's divinity feels wild, chaotic and beastly like something out of a straight-up horror movie." He commented, worry starting to seep into his words like blood oozing from a wound.

His comments pretty much summarized how everyone else felt about it, even as Izanami narrowed her eyes as a suspicion formed in her mind. She remembered a long time ago, years even, when she had sensed a distant surge of divinity in the human world which got accompanied by many lost monster and mortal souls being sent to the afterlife. As a Goddess who had such a thing as part of her domain, she could tell something had gone wrong there but hadn't investigated it too much because it didn't occur anywhere near the pacific region.

Perhaps she could launch an investigation after this meeting, those souls should still be in the process of being filed to their eternal fates if she remembered correctly.

Once the bastard Devil Riser Phenex had been tossed to the floor and everyone saw how Meredith delivered some sick burns (pun intended) his way, shock flooded the room once more when they heard him challenge Hellsing to a Rating Game with countless hushed murmurs and frantic discussions beneath clenched teeth ran throughout as the Gods debated what they had seen.

By the end of it however, everyone felt somewhat satisfied with the meeting's end especially those who wanted to see Rias punished (a not so small amount taking pleasure in seeing her getting manhandled by Theseus the way she did). The roasts Meredith blasted Sirzechs did were just icing on the cake with some Gods even chuckling in a clear approval of her actions.

Before long, the recording finished and the circle got dispersed by Tsukuyomi, allowing them all to progress what they'd seen.

Izanami shifts her attention to her son, the moon god who returned the gaze once he felt hers on him. "Was that all Tsukuyomi?" She asked slowly, her expression as unreadable as it had always been..

Said deity cupped his hands together, his sleeves hiding them due to their size, though his gaze indicated he was showing respect to his mother. Although she hid it well, years of experience knowing his mother told him that she had already gone into pondering mode, but nevertheless he gave her his response anyways as if he were fanning a bonfire. "Yes Lady Izanami. After Meredith Ordinton challenged the third child of the Phenex family, they disappeared a week later and currently their whereabouts are unknown. The ones monitoring our city in their places are TOSHIRO which I suspect is not his real name, and a new recruit named Karasuma Tadaomi. If there are others, then they are busy in their own affairs."

The ruler of Yomi hummed at that thought before leaning on her fist. "I see..." She muttered under her breath. From the sounds of it, it would appear that this Meredith person may be gathering her forces' strength together so they could combat this threat effectively. She believed this to be the case because her limited viewing of her mannerisms, actions and how she has treated the Shinto people thus far showed her that she was not one for cowardice, seeing it as a slight on her organization's honor if she were to flee from a challenge.

Suddenly, Omoikane spoke out but his tone was slowly shifting from political to something else. Something… dangerous. "Don't all of you find this….suspicious? That Hellsing has been gathering more forces into their ranks?" his tone and expression sounded like came from a horror movie whilst an edge gradually made it's way into his tone till it could be clearly heard by the end.

Off to the side Inari, who had turned into a brown colored fox with red eyes so she could perch herself atop another God's head (much to said God's dismay), narrowed her eyes at the god of knowledge. "Why are you so worried about those kids, nerd? They haven't posed a threat to us as far as we know."

"But think about it!" He shouted all of a sudden, he twirls around at the gods and goddess. "They have both the red and white dragons into their ranks! They even have inducted Alucard's student and Integra's apprentice! If that's not enough, then think about the sudden return of the Egyptian pantheon, one of the oldest pantheons around! They surfaced only after an interaction with Hellsing when the no-life king defeated Set, the god of chaos and slaughtered most of their magicians that were part of the house of life."

Murmurs among the gods and goddess were spreading, hushed for the most part but those words spouted by the knowledge gods did get their mental gears turning. Now that he had brought it to their attention, they DID recall hearing about the Egyptians emerging from hiding thanks to their emmisaries to other factions reporting the change to them. Not only that but their magicians got brought to heel by Alucard himself, which may not have been as surprising considering who he truly was… but the fact that he was the one who merely finished the weakened God off whilst his apprentice had been the one to weaken the deity wasn't forgotten either.

Seeing that the various gods were starting to change their tone, Omoikane continued to spit his theory with a hard edge completely audible in his tone. "Hellsing has been gradually strengthening their forces over the years as if their trump card wasn't enough for the UK faction. Their building up the new heirs to the organization! Think about what having two of those monsters in the world means for the balance of power!"

The more that Omoikane spoke, the louder the chatter became as a sense of anxiety and tension started dripping into the atmosphere like blood from an open wound. His words reverberated within their minds and filled their hearts with fear like molten hot water from a biled over kettle. One could see various gods looking to one another with expressions akin to ones made before one went into a panic attack.

It wasn't hard to see why, Alucard himself was a problem of cataclysmic proportions. From his early days as the origin of all Vampires to a nigh-immortal entity fuelled by carnage and destruction, his countless genocides both for himself and then for the Hellsing organization in the centuries that followed still remained fresh in these entities' minds as if they had happened yesterday. Yet despite this terror that his name invoked, the facts of him being shackled by Hellsing who merely kept to it's own borders and left them well enough alone unless they were threatened or supernatural threats erupted on their lands kept these fears at bay. There was a reason why few supernatural beings tried to pull anything in British territory, it may not have an empire no more but the supernatural world still feared it like it still did. Alucard was mostly the reason why.

Now that the knowledge god had enlightened them to the fact that OTHER beings with powers and potential to surpass Alucard to become powerhouses in their own right, one of which being the Shark King who had already demonstrated great power over the forces of nature AND had singlehandedly conducted a genocide of the Hero Clan like his mentor before him, did NOT bode well. Alucard may be the no-life king, but his apprentice known as the Shark King had already started earning himself an infamous reputation in his own right as the Hellsing Organization's SECOND 'attack dog'.

Then there was the two Heavenly Dragons of Domination and Supremacy, dragons who had been so vicious and powerful that the three biblical Factions had to temporarily cease their Great War to team up against them and only BARELY managed to come out on top. Initially it had been reported that the White Dragon had been a part of their ranks for some time now, probably been years which meant that he could be firmly counted as part of the UK Faction. He too had grown an almost kinship with the Shark King as well as was known to be a massive battle fanatic, constantly brutalizing his opponents whenever he found them. Now that the Red Dragon who had previously been counted as unknown had joined them it looked to be like Hellsing's power in the supernatural world had SWELLED in potency.

Potency which possibly surpassed their days when they were part of the British Empire.

Looking across the room at the slightly panicking gods, Omoikane knew that things were going to get gruesome and frantic actions could immediately follow if the figurative balloon popped. He only needed to say a bit more to incite such a response so he could sway them to his cause. 'Retsuza was not wrong in his opinions regarding that infernal group. The Hellsing Organization has grown too powerful, and he was right to be afraid of them. Such a group will inevitably be a sledgehammer that will smash the balance of power to pieces if they get the chance.' Omoikane thought, gripping his fists at the thought of the faithful Yokai who had been punished severely following his accusations being laid bare before their leaders. Last he heard, the Yokai had been incarcerated somewhere he couldn't find the location of, something which irked the God since knowledge was supposed to be part of his domain. But this knowledge had been kept classified beyond even his authority and the only beings who could do such a thing were the Shinto Trinity before him.

So he had to incite the masses aganst Hellsing just like Retsuza did before him, so they could realize the folly of allowing such a group within their borders and claim back what was rightfully theirs. A few sacrifices will have to be made, but that would be necessary for their glorious country to be back in their hands instead of those scumy, dick-sucking pig sows.

"Hellsing are something we cannot underestimate. Do you not see the signs? All of you? All these casualties and destruction, all of these happened when Hellsing arrived at our territory!" Omoikane strongly voiced his opinion to the other gods. The god of knowledge has fear and terror on his expression as he continues to speak. "Have you all forgotten how many lives were lost from the night lords at Kuoh city? 20%! Even if Hellsing wasn't involved but the world and fate is against Hellsing, they want them dead! If this continues then imagine if we got involved with them."

"Everyone, I beseech you! Hellsing's power has grown too great, they are a threat to our way of life, our borders, and everything that makes up our culture! They do not care about sacrificing the peace many gave their lives for if it suited their own ends, they would willingly brainwash our followers to turn them against us, just like the Dutch who brought that damned christianity to our shores all those centuries ago! We must unite brothers!" he bellowed, throwing his hands up to the air like a preacher, ironically enough. Though considering that he was getting increasing support judging from the looks on each god's face, he was obviously doing well. "Hellsing need to be repelled from our lands, we must push their claws from our throats then cut off theirs with one fell stroke! Hellsing must be brought to heel, they must have their arrogance shattered beyond recognition! They must-"

"Silence."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

With the sudden emergence of Izanami primordial divine power that shook the very heavens itself just from her divine presence, everything got rendered silent. Omoikane, the rest of the gods, including her children widened their eyesa brief second before it happened as a sense of impending doom washed over them. Then when the pressure slammed on top of them with the force of a thousand bullet trains at full speed, all but the strongest of them fell onto the ground unable to move an inch, looking like they were junk seconds away from being ground into paste within garbage disposal.

The source of this pressure, the goddess of death, had her face darkened, a single eye glint through the darkness much like a certain group being discussed, her almost predatory gaze bearing down upon the god of knowledge. She pulls back her divine pressure, making everyone sigh in relief which soon turned to anxiety once more when the goddess of death spoke.

"You are a fool Omoikane, thinking that Hellsing are becoming a threat to the world. Have you forgotten what their original purpose was, 'God of Knowledge'? Let me enlighten your divine knowledge, it is to defend their country's shores from any and all supernatural, extraterrestrial and satanic threats. To defend both the UK's territory alongside the humans that call it their home."

"If…..If their task was to….defend humanity….why is it that there's always casualties whereever they go?" Omoikane still has some bravery to question the goddess of creation. "Blood always trails behind them, leaving a trails of blood! How is it that their protecting humanity when their killing them!"

"That, you simpleton, is because they don't involve the innocents in their operations. The trails of blood they leave behind is that of their enemies not innocent blood. However, if people stood in their way of their mission, they don't hesitate to finish their mission."

Those words roused Omoikane's defiance, the man stepping forwards and throwing his arm out towards the various gods. "See! Even you admit it lady Izanami-" he began to say, before a burst of divine pressure released from Izanami snapped his mouth shut.

"That does not make them enemies towards humanity, god of knowledge. They try to not get the humans involved, but what of the rest of the supernatural world? The other factions treat them as their playtoys, playing with their lives for their amusement and relish in humanity's suffering. This is most prevalent with the Greek Gods and their ilk, them, the Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, and countless now extinct races who did the very same, arguably even worse. If they want to fight back against them…..they have to become monsters the likes of which the world has never seen."

Standing up from her throne, Izanami slowly raised her falsely dainty-looking right arm and pointed it's index finger at Omoikane, her gaze somehow intensifying.

"They work to set an example to all, to inspire terror, the FEAR you and the rest of the gods are expereincing now. Fear is what makes every supernatural beings, even the Hindu gods keep in check when they mess or make humanity their playtoy. The fear in which if they do, Hellsing shall find each and one of you towards the end of earth itself. Fear from not being able to hide from the likes of them."

She descends slowly down to the ground with her kimono waving around before she dropped to the ground, making Omoikane kneel down before her. Stil having a terrified expression on his face.

"'The two things that allows the humans to be safe are both 'strength' and 'fear'. Basically speaking, Hellsing strikes the enemy in the most gruesome strength possible, leaving trails of blood and devastation in their wake. Stories about them told to the younger generation makes them think twice before even touching a human in their lands. To invade the hearts of supernatural beings from the lowest servant to the highest divine entities was not achieved by peace and love. This could have only been achieved with the threat of Fear and Domination, they are our version of 'nukes' and their wrath is the radiation that poisons the land for centuries to come."

She narrowed her eyes at every god and goddess who flinched at her gaze. But even so, Omoikane still had a surge of defiance left in him with his teeth gnashed together, his very soul REFUSING to believe that Hellsing weren't the cause of everything that had gone wrong in their territory. "Then what of those damnable Night Lords? What of the Hero Clan? Those two forces infiltrated our lands and did as they pleased, yet Hellsing failed to protect our followers from them. 20% Of our followers died under the Night Lords hands alone, and the Hero Clan have been known to hunt any supernaturals regardless of whether or not they have committed crimes! They-"

"You are all hypocrites, thinking that Hellsing is the cause of destruction. Casualties inevitably happen, but there were many dangers laced within our territory. You think that all these incidents happened only because they arrived in our lands? No, instead you see them as a cursed existence instead of seeing the bigger picture. Those enemies had plans to infiltrate the land of the rising sun long before their first steps atop our soil, Hellsing was coincidentally there just in time to stop them. 20% of population was lost in Kuoh city due to those Night Lords? Nay, Hellsing saved 80% of our beloved followers in Kuoh. This all happened because of both our negligence, not paying more attention to our territory, and Devil incompetence. Those were the factioes that allowed this to happen. Hellsing have gone through much difficulty to fix both the devils and our mess."

The primordial goddess shook her head, already feeling some incoming headaches from this political meeting. 'These so-called 'gods' are a buch of incometent riffraf. Is this how you allowed them to rule, Izanagi? I don't know why you even allowed Amaterasu to rule over the Shinto Pantheon, she's a disappointment as a leader. You shoud've thought of a more experienced leader than assigning our daughter just because she's your favorite.' She mentally complained to herself while insulting her husband for the gods behavior. Then again insulting her former husband was just par for the course in her life especially with his betrayal of her trust.

After regaining his own voice and being silent this whole time, Tsukuyomi spoke once more. "Then how do you know that Hellsing won't become a threat? Didn't they want to spread their influence around the world? What guarantee is there in that they won't steal our lands or followers?" He asked his mother, his words laced with distrust, paranoia and caution all mixed into one ugly passage.

Izanami turned around and shift her attention to her son. "Because son, they would've already done so the moment they stepped foot in my land. I have kept an eye on them using my familiars, kept tabs on their actions down to their slightest movements. That is what allowed me to confirm that unlike those Devils, they have no intentions of usurping our territory. They didn't destroy any shrines, they don't conduct mass conversion operations and there have been incidents of Yokai's visiting Kuoh and have thus been treated with respect by them. They don't gain anything just from being here. From their arrival, Hellsing have been keeping their word to us, and don't think I am not aware of their cooperation with us regarding the Sacred Gear users."

"Urk…!" Both Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu winced at that last part, knowing that there wasn't any way they could rebuttal that little titbit. To keep their word, Hellsing had indeed submitted reports to them about the number of Savred Gear users amongst Kuoh's domain with almost inhuman accuracy. They had listed them in order of type, awakening possibility and even the lifestyles for their wielders. Even if they just did that it was more than enough to show their competence compared to the town's previous overseers.

A while of silence dominated the room for a short while, each God reeling from the rebuttals that had been launched by the gattling gun called Izanami with some lowering their heads in shame. Others looked confused and torn over what to believe like they were headless chickens needing a voice to rally behind, a far cry for what a japanese shinto deity should be. It was no wonder why the Devils had been able to encroach so much into their territory unopposed.

Before long that changed however, when Inari hopped off her makeshift perch (to said perch's relief) and reassumed her human form. Fortunately her clothes manifested alongside her transformation since they were made using her power, normal clothes would have left her naked between transformations. Once she stood upright, the woman looked towards Izanami and lowered her head in reverence. "Lady Izanami, what should our next course of action be? Personally I say we should focus on the immediate concerns of protecting Kuoh's borders. We can have our own agents watch over things alongside the remaining Hellsing members for the duration of Meredith's absence, that way we may project a strong security for the city."

Izanami thought about this for a moment before she then nodded her head in agreement. "That shall be done. Since you recommended the option, I shall place you in charge of Kuoh city security measures."

"I shall do my best Lady Izanami, you can count on me!" Inari nodded her head in acceptance lowering her head briefly before turning on her heels and proceeding to head out the room to perform her task. She hadn't refused since she was apparently one of the few competent goddesses in the Shinto Pantheon, many of them focusing more on beautifying themselves or lusting after their husbands/being social climbers. If the other gods was assigned to her postion, they would have chickened out or come up with with some excuse to not be near Hellsing.

"I expect results and reports from you Fox goddess." Izanami turned her attention to the rest of the gods and goddesses after watching the fox goddess leave the room. "Since there is nothing left to be discussed I hereby decree this meeting is over." She declared before summoning a divine magic circle, walking straight into the magic circle which disappeared once she entered.

A process which everyone followed suit in and eventually, the entire room became deserted.