"What do you mean you might be able to figure out who the others are?" Rudeus asked as he turned to Seekvaira, who simply smiled as she took off her glasses before everyone watched as her eyes shifted from a light pink to a deep gold while runic patterns stretched across her sclera.
"The Agares, unlike other clans, have two innate abilities to our bloodlines. The first is Time, which allows us to manipulate the flow of time within a specific radius around us. The second is Emperor's Eye, something that only appears within the main bloodline of House Agares. With it, we can perceive the flow of energy & blood throughout a person's body and thus see if they are telling the truth or not."
"The Last Judgement. I understand why your house is known as that throughout history, Ms. Agares." Rudeus said with a smile, to which Seekvaira gave a thankful nod before they turned as Rias spoke up.
"If that's the case, then we'll need to make sure they can't run away if they are traitors. Lord Rudeus, do you perhaps have any place where you can apply anti-teleportation to make sure no one can run away?" She asked and Rudeus just grinned.
"Oh, not just one, Ms. Gremory. I have dozens."
"Everyone remember the plan?" Rias whispered to her friends as they hid in the shadows behind the curtains of the stage they were on, Rudeus waiting patiently for all of the mages under his command to arrive while Meredith, Seekvaira and Samson stood waiting besides the man.
"Yes, because we went over it 23 times, Rias."
"Lady Sona speaks the truth, Lady Rias. Your plan is beautifully thought-out, but no plan survives first touch against the enemy, which is why we have twenty contingency plans already set up." MacGregor said to Rias from where he was floating above the large group of magicians, expertly hidden with a mixture of Norse & Black magic and Rias took a shaky deep breath as she nodded.
As soon as the last mage arrived, Rias & Sona glanced at each other and nodded as Rudeus gave them the signal, funnelling their demonic energy into an energy pipeline that led directly to Rudeus while MacGregor linked the man's runic patterns with his own as he swiftly traced a giant runic cage all around the mages.
"With Frigg's loving heart, let the warmth of her flames embrace us." Rudeus chanted as he knelt and slammed his hand onto a runic key right besides him, the mages quickly leaping to their feet and a kaleidoscope of runic crests lighting up the inner cage as runic chains shot up from the ground & linked up.
"Apologies for taking you all from work and locking you all in this cage, but as you all know, earlier today there was an attack on our Council building and half of the Council were found out to be spies for the Khaos Brigade. Thus, I have given free reign to Ms. Agares here to help me make sure they were the only ones. Ms. Agares, if you will."
"Thank you, Lord Rudeus. Now, listen closely for I will only explain this once! If I point at you with my left hand, move to my left! If I point at you with my right, move to my right! Understood?!"
"And what if we don't?!" One of the younger students shouted back before his question was answered instantly and everyone was left in shock as a pillar of hellfire erupted around him.
Waiting until there was nothing but smoke left of him, Rudeus dismissed his spell and lowered his hands, the rest of the mages freezing up as the man's eyes glowed with power.
"Anyone else wish to ask questions?" Not surprisingly, everyone shook their heads and Rudeus nodded before nodding at Seekvaira to being, who looked a bit pale but nodded in thanks as she cleared her throat & began.
"First, left! Second, left! Third, left!"
"320 on the left and only 74 on the right. Are you sure of your final counting, Ms. Agares?" Rudeus asked with a frown as he glanced at Seekvaira, his frown deepening as the devil heiress nodded before letting out a sigh as he nodded and dropped from the stage.
Walking out into the field until he was halfway between both groups, Rudeus looked at each group with a slight look of sorrow before gritting his teeth as he snapped his fingers, the magicians on the left not even given a chance to scream in pain as they and the barrier field behind them was erased by a monstrous beam of light.
"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUCK!" Rudeus roared as he completely shattered the barrier cage, MacGregor quickly appearing besides his grandson and locking the two of them in a cage as he wrapped his arms around him.
"Is…is this how you felt with the Revolt, Grandfather?" Rudeus muttered and MacGregor smiled sadly as he remembered the time his own students betrayed him & nearly destroyed the Golden Dawn.
"Betrayal always comes from those close to you, my boy, but you should not drown in your sorrow. Right now, you have other students that you can train up and perhaps make sure that they don't turn to the dark side of magic again."
"I…I think I'll do that." Rudeus muttered with a soft smile & a nod as he stepped back, MacGregor chuckling as he nodded while dispelling the cage around them.
"Apologies for my uncouth behaviour and language from earlier. It was unfitting of my status."
"Y-You don't have to apologize, Lord Mathers. We understand the pain of betrayal, right everyone?" Liliana spoke with a smile as she turned to the rest of the group, who all looked nervous but agreed with shaky smiles as they nodded.
Rudeus simply chuckled as he nodded before turning to Seekvaira, who was blinking a bit more than needed and rubbing her temples.
"Do you have need for a moment of rest, Ms. Agares?"
"N-No, I'm quite alright." Seekvaira said and Rudeus frowned as he saw the corners of her eyes twitching before shaking his head with a smile.
"No, you need the rest, especially for the next part of the plan."
"Next part?" Rias asked as she & Sona helped their friend up, Meredith and Samson landing next to them after leaping out from their hiding spot as Rudeus chuckled & nodded.
"Of course, they were simply the First Order of the Golden Dawn. We still have the Second, Third and Fourth Order to check out."
"…Perhaps I should take that break."
"That…was one of the most stressful jobs I've had to do." Rias groaned as soon as she & her entourage appeared from a teleportation crest in the Underworld, Seekvaira and Sona nodding along as Samson, Meredith and MacGregor chuckled.
"You will all get used to it, especially since you are the future ladies of your respective Noble Houses."
"Please don't remind me of that, Sir Mathers. I can barely see clearly and I'm having flashbacks of the times my father used his eyes for hours without complaining." Seekvaira muttered as her eyes were closed & her glasses tucked safely in her pocket dimension, Meredith helping her walk as Sona simply snorted.
"At least we did not have to fight anyone, so I'll count it as a win."
"You didn't get to do anything, so of course you'd say that." Rias grumbled as the group began walking towards the Government Office in front of them, the guards letting them in as Sona rolled her eyes.
"That's because my skills were all but useless in our current mission, so I'm most certainly using this as an opportunity to grow & perhaps branch out my skillset."
"Be careful there, Sona. You're starting to sound like Isaiah with that mindset." Sairaorg said with an amused smile, the group turning to see him along with Regulus & Poseidon already waiting.
"I'm guessing from your smiles that your mission was successful?"
"Indeed it was, Lord Poseidon, though we had a few minor problems along the way."
"No need to tell me then. I'm certain we'll hear it during your debriefing." He said before Rias could go further, the Gremory heiress nodding before they turned as Samson groaned.
"Well, I suppose you all do not need my presence here no longer, so I'll be going back to the Azathoth castle and take a nap or two."
"Wait, since when does Isaiah have a castle?" Rias asked with a frown, Samson blinking before giving a sheepish grin as Meredith shook her head.
"We were supposed to keep it a secret, Sam."
"I-I know. It just slip out."
"Samson, where is this castle?" Rias asked as she turned to him before cursing as Meredith quickly cast a teleportation spell that whisked the two of them away, everyone just watching as she stomped her foot and grumbled under her breath.
"She's not really considering stalking the young Azathoth, is she?" Poseidon asked as he caught that small bit of info, blinking as the others simply sighed while Sairaorg chuckled.
"Oh, she's probably going to pin him down to the Gremory castle until he lets her know where it is."
"And I thought we Greeks didn't know what personal space meant."
"Finally, Lord Rudeus with Heiress Agares' support was able to route out all of the spies that had infiltrated the Golden Dawn, but since it was nearly two thirds of his faction, he asks for another two weeks to gather those out on quests and/ or vacation before sending them down with all the information that he has procured."
"Thank you, Heir Gremory." Zeoticus said with a proud smile, Rias smiling and nodding back as she took her seat besides Sona, who gave her friend a comforting pat on the thigh to help her calm down.
"As you have all heard from Heiress Gremory, my fellow lords and ladies, it appears that we need no longer fear for the Golden Dawn or the Egyptian Pantheon to join the Khaos Brigade seeing as they were also attacked just like we were." Juvano spoke as he glanced at the gathered Lords of the 72 Pillar Clans as well as Odin and Frigg sitting next to Azazel and Yeshua.
"Unfortunately, I have some bad news." Azazel began as he raised a hand, drawing looks from those gathered and while some of the devil lords gave him looks of disdain, the rest looked interested & a bit worried as Sirzechs spoke.
"What news would that be, Azazel?"
"Two days ago, Tamiel disappeared from the surveillance of both Penemue, Shemhazai & the unit Baraqiel was commanding along with the ten thousand Fallen Angels & researchers under his command and every bit of research he did on how to forcibly activate a Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker."
"So, our enemies, one faction of which are nothing but Sacred Gear users, now have a way to give any Sacred Gear user a Balance Breaker without any type of training whatsoever?" Lord Glasya-Labolas asked with a frown, taking a deep breath along with the other nervous lords as Azazel scratched the back of his head.
"Yes. It's a serum that forces any Sacred Gear user who takes it into a berserker-like state where they do not care about their own well-being or the well-being of anyone around them."
"Wonderful." Odin muttered, Frigg just smiling as she patted her husband on the back before they all looked up as Juvano cleared his throat.
"Needless to say, this war is now to be taking serious. I must ask of all the gathered Lords to submit the full combat capacity of your house. Anyone who is combat-ready is to be put on this list and submitted to the Alliance Commander Lord Asmodeus. I ask this of the gathered allies as well."
"As you wish, Juvano." Odin spoke in agreement, Azazel and Yeshua nodding in agreement as Lord Agares gave them a thankful nod.
However, peace did not last long as the roof caved in, a barrage of destruction blasts from Sirzechs easily destroying the rubble before everyone's eyes widened at the sight of explosions and chaos in the air.
Unfurling their wings, the Satans, Yeshua and Azazel were out of the building and in the air by the time the other lords managed to get their wits together, staring in horror & shock at the absolute carnage happening in the city of Lilith.
Beasts of unknown origins rampaged through the streets and easily destroyed any angel or devil that tried to stop them while devils & fallen angels walked alongside them and killed any that escaped the reach of the beasts.
However, what caught their attention was the trio of beings floating in the back, Loki waving cheerfully at them while the two next to him turned to see what he was looking at.
"Y-You're…you're supposed to be dead." Sirzechs whispered, staring at a handsome man with long silver hair and dressed in a black vest, a white long-sleeved dress shirt, silver dress pants and black dress shoes.
"Sirzechs, is that…Euclid Lucifuge?" Ajuka asked, just as shocked as his best friend as they watched the younger brother of Grayfia Lucifuge giving them a disdainful glare.
"So, you actually survived, Nael?" Azazel spoke with a look of regret, watching as his younger brother floated in the air while twelve jet-black wings flared out behind the Fallen Angel Cadre known as Satanael.
"But of course, brother. Lady Ophis healed my wounds and gave me the opportunity to achieve the same level of power that you possess, though I have to admit that I might be a tad bit stronger since my research was always superior." Satanael spoke with a soft smile as he unsheathed the blade at his side, Azazel just staring as the Holy-Demonic blade known as Arondight shone beautifully in the dim light of the Underworld's sun despite the pulsing red veins that ran along the sides of the longsword.
"Now then, Devils, you have a way to stop this and it's with one simple request." Loki spoke with a happy smile, Odin snorting as he and Frigg floated besides the gathered devils & angels before speaking.
"And what may that be, sworn blood-brother?" Loki just chuckled at the question before his smirk was replaced by a baleful look as a pair of twin daggers appeared in his grasp.
"Nothing much. Just hand over Sephiroth Graal & Isaiah Azathoth and we'll all leave with no issues whatsoever."
"Fuck you, dipshit!" Serafall exclaimed with a middle finger aimed at Loki, who simply glared at her as Sirzechs chuckled.
"Serafall, calm down."
"…Fine~" The Satan Leviathan grumbled with a pout, the red-haired Lucifer simply shaking his head before turning back to the other group.
"However, Serafall shares the emotion that we all do. What happens if we don't?"
"Simple, oh dear brother-in-law of mine." This time, Euclid spoke up while floating closer to the group of leaders, everyone readying themselves as a silver magic crest appeared on his hand before he snapped his fingers.
The next moment, all hell broke loose as giant magic crests surrounded Lilith, everyone watching as tens of thousands of supernatural beasts & monsters rushed through the gates and yet, they stopped just as they reached the walls of the city.
"We will kill everyone. Now, what is your answer?"
A/N: And just like that, the meeting arc is over...I think.
This arc was just me trying to do some world building/ get away from just writing action. Don't worry, the action will be coming back soon.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
P.S. we have officially started our latest Pat-reon-exclusive for the next ten weeks and then it will come to here. For those that want to know and want to join, it is a OOC System Bleach Fanfic(both because I can't exactly find as many of those and because I've grown tired of self-inserts myself).
So, yeah, if you want, come on over to the Pat-reon and come read it at your expense.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!