"Really? What is now so important that you all have to come visit me personally?" Hades asked with a sigh as he watched his brothers walk into the castle, to which Zeus didn't answer while Poseidon frowned as he saw the rather large group of powerful Grim Reapers stationed around the throne hall.
'Before he only had Pluto & Orcus. Now, I can count every single one of his head officers stationed in the room and there's not forgetting the only person he would listen to.' Poseidon thought as he looked back at his oldest brother's throne or more specifically, the auburn-haired woman standing at his side.
Her hazel-coloured eyes matched the burnt orange sundress she had on, deep scarlet flames licking at the edges of the dress while a golden skull necklace hung around her slender neck.
"Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon. As my husband asked, what brings you to our humble abode?" Persephone asked with a soft smile, the brothers glancing at each other before Zeus sighed as Poseidon gestured for him to speak.
"Persephone, brother, it is good to see you two i-."
"We saw each other less than a week ago, brother. Now, please, my beloved asked a question." Hades cut off Zeus with a sigh, to which the youngest brother simply glared at the eldest before huffing.
"Very well. You try to be nice and they kick you away."
"Zeus, we don't have time for your drama." This time, Poseidon was the one who stopped his brother from ranting, Hades' soft chuckle echoing in the hall as Persephone just gave a small smirk of amusement.
"Fine. Hades, I wanted to personally inform you that as of last week, we have now forced an allied alliance with not only the Norse Pantheon, but also the newly formed Christianic Pantheon."
"Yes, I've heard. Congratulations."
"You don't sound too happy about it." Zeus said with a smirk and Hades simply gave his brother a look that Zeus knew to be irritation.
"You understand how I feel about those filthy crows & bats and yet, you still made the alliance. Forgive me if I'm not as enthusiastic about it as you are, brother."
"Eh, that's quite alright. So, one of the conditions is that all sections of the Underworld dimension are now seen as allied grounds, including those that are allied with the Greek, Norse & Christian Pantheon."
"I am not allowing bats, crows or any other wretched beasts on my grounds, little brother." Hades growled as the atmosphere grew tense, the Undead King taking a deep breath as Persephone placed a soft hand on his shoulder while Zeus frowned before Poseidon spoke.
"Unfortunately, it's not like we have a choice. Odin, our little brother and Yeshua have opened up Asgard, Olympus and Heaven respectively to each other in order to trade research while also opening them up to the Devils & Fallen Angels. I myself have also decided to open up Atlantis since the cyclopes, Fallen Angels & dwarves would be able to work together to make some powerful weapons for our armies."
"Hah, why don't we cut the pleasantries, brothers? We all know that this is just wasting our time. Why exactly are you here?"
"To test where your loyalties lie, Hades." Zeus answered instantly and the Grim Reapers around the room frowned as a dull buzzing began to echo in the air.
"Oh? What loyalties are we speaking of here?"
"Your loyalty to me as your Chief God, your loyalty to Olympus as a whole, your loyalty to keeping the peace and most importantly…your loyalty to your family."
"Well, in order, I'm loyal, I'm loyal, I'm not loyal and one needs to visit someone more than once a year for something other than business to be considered family. Hell, Odysseus visits me more than you two and we hate each other to our very cores." Hades answered with a simple shrug as he leaned back in his chair, Poseidon simply staring at his brother before turning to Zeus as the Greek Chief looked at his older brother.
"Did you work together with Loki & the Khaos Brigade to assassinate myself, Poseidon, Hera, Odin, Thor, Frigg and the devils with us?"
"I worked together with Loki to assassinate Isaiah Azathoth." Hades answered, to which Zeus frowned as Poseidon spoke.
"What do you mean just Azathoth?"
"Exactly what it means. If the boy had not been as talented as he was, I would have simply let him go, but how many teenagers do you know that can toe to toe with Pluto here?"
"I know you ordered Pluto to hold back in order for you to figure out how strong the boy is. Otherwise, I would have to ask how much your army has deteriorated over the past decade."
"I ordered Pluto to hold back with the first strike if the boy is too weak. That attack he used with Gram would have been enough to kill the Grim Reaper whether he held back or not. However, I suppose I shouldn't be telling you all this given that you have all seen how strong he is in his battle against Loki."
"Yes, but the boy has his faults. Just because he's powerful does not mean he's a threat to our pantheon. In fact, dare I say, he might be willing to work with those that have hurt him in the past."
"And how long would it take him before he's considered a threat on the same level as that of Lucifer & Beelzebub? A year? Two? Five?" Hades asked, leaning forward as Zeus just sighed before shaking his head.
"Answer me this, Hades. Are you working with them for the opportunity that I might die and that you might be able to become ruler?"
"No, brother. If you die, Apollon becomes the leader after you with our brother & your wife there to guide him. Like always, my job is protect Olympus from all threats that seek to destroy it, whether it is from attacks inside our pantheon or outside it."
"…Swear it to me. On Mother's mind, body & soul. Swear to me on her and the River Styx that you were purely doing it to protect our pantheon." Poseidon said with a frown, Zeus glancing at his older brother before turning to the oldest as Hades looked back at them.
"I, Hades, Lord of the Underworld, hereby swear on the name of the Titan Queen Rhea and the great River Styx that I worked together with Loki to protect our pantheon's future by ordering the assassination of Isaiah Azathoth. I am also not allied with the Khaos Brigade in their pursuit to destroy the peace of the allied pantheons across the world." Zeus and Poseidon watched as Hades finished his statement, the air growing tense in the throne hall as it felt as if three pairs of powerful eyes looked directly at Hades for a full minute before everyone let out a sigh of relief as the three eyes disappeared.
Lifting his bony hand to his face, Hades activated his domain and smirked as an azure fireball appeared floating above his hand, looking at his brother with a raised eyebrow as Zeus had a relieved smile while Poseidon sighed.
"You really need to stop doing shit on your own and not tell us. Also, no more murdering Azathoth."
"…Hah, fine, but don't come crying to me when he does become a threat."
"If that happens, you have my permission to take him out. Hah, at least I can rest easy knowing that you're not the threat."
"Truthfully, I was expecting you all to go to Ares before coming to me."
"Why?" Poseidon asked before his & Zeus' eyes widened as Hades simply raised an eyebrow before answering.
"How do you think I was able to get into contact with the Khaos Brigade & Loki without leaving the Underworld?"
"…Huh, I guess I was right."
"Shut up, Poseidon."
"Our patience is waning, pretender. What is your answer?" Euclid asked Sirzechs once more as he snapped his fingers again, the sky lighting up in silver crests that sent out hundreds of magicians & devils.
Sirzechs simply frowned as he looked up at the sky & back at the ground before turning towards Ajuka.
"What do you think?"
"If we do surrender & hand them over, we have no guarantee that they'll keep their promise."
"That is true. How do we know you won't just kill us all the moment you get them?"
"You don't. Now, are you going to keep wasting our time?" Satanael asked with a sigh as he held Arondight in a loose grip before he & Euclid were surprised to see Sirzechs unsheating a beautiful Holy-Demonic katana with a light green hilt from his pocket dimension.
"No, I simply needed time of my own to prepare. Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu." The invading army watched as the air around the entirety of Lilith cracked before it shattered, revealing the city completely gone & their army surrounded.
Flying in the air above the magicians were thousands of angels & Valkyries, each holding a wand & a spear of light in their grasps. On the ground surrounding the army from all sides were devils, Spartan warriors, Atlantean merfolk, Einherjar and Fallen Angels, all geared up in their war armours as Euclid glared at the smiling leaders.
"You know, I can see why your army was as formidable against our army, Alliance Commander." Odin said to Falbium with a smirk as he rubbed his beard, to which the Satan Asmodeus simply gave a lazy shrug.
"What the hell is going on?!" Loki exclaimed and Sirzechs chuckled as the blade in his grasp shattered.
"You can thank Falbium for this little strategy. We knew that the week of calm we had was just for you all to get your forces ready, so we baited you to attack us during the meeting in order to make sure you can't have any way to exit."
"Impossible! No one in the Alliance is capable of that level of illusions!" Euclid spoke with a growl, but everyone was surprised as Loki spoke up.
"No, Azathoth did this, didn't he? I remember him using a blade that can conjure illusions that took me a while to destroy."
"Ah, you remember well. Yes, Isaiah made me a sword and Falbium then made the plan around the blade."
"How? Azathoth's blades are not powerful enough to keep up that illusion for a week and our spies tracked him to still be in the Human Realm." Satanael spoke with a frown, to which Azazel snorted as he shook his head.
"Actually-!"
"I'm right here, fucker." Isaiah growled with a grin as he appeared next to Loki with the deafening boom of thunder, the illusion god's eyes widening as a hand grasped him firmly by the face before the two of them vanished.
"Fuck! Euclid, we need to-!"
"Nope!" This time, Azazel appeared in front of Satanael and lashed out with a light spear, the younger Fallen growling as he blocked the attack before his eyes widened as shadows stretched out from Azazel's clothes & enveloped them both.
"And then there was one. I'm certain Grayfia would be mad if I killed you, so I'm going to give you one opportunity to surrender, Euclid." Sirzechs said with a frown as he unclipped his cloak & let it fall to the ground, to which Euclid frowned before the devil chuckled as he began rolling up his sleeves.
"Did you know that I used to look up to you? You were destined to be the most powerful servant that could serve Lord Rizevim and protect him from all harm. Then, you went & rebelled against your betters & stole their rightful thrones."
"I would have stayed out of the war if your 'betters' didn't massacre my youth choir." Sirzechs growled as the Power of Destruction coated his body, to which Euclid scoff as he pulled out a vial filled with a purple miasma.
"Foolish children of dissidents that would have joined the enemy side if they were left to live."
"Shouldn't we stop him?" Ajuka asked his friend with a raised eyebrow as they watched Euclid popping back the vial of liquid, the man's body pulsating & cracking as his demonic energy surged drastically.
"It doesn't matter whether he uses that boost or not. He is still nothing more than an insect before us." Sirzechs answered and Ajuka could only sigh before turning back to see Falbium & Serafall already gone.
"Don't you worry, Astaroth. When I'm done with this Gremory filth, you shall be my next target." Euclid growled as a pair of ebony horns grew out of his skull, to which Ajuka simply raised an eyebrow.
"You heard the man, buddy. Looks like you get to fight him, after all."
"Great. Now, I have to help. I should have just teleported away when I had the chance." Ajuka muttered, to which Sirzechs chuckled before turning to Euclid as the devil glared at them.
"Now then, let's get this over with. I still have a family picnic to get to."
A/N: Okay, this one is very short and the reason for that is because I believe I had sort of been burned out with this story, but I didn't want to just stall it again for another week so I uploaded it and yeah, here's the result.
Trust me when I say the chapters get a lot better and longer as you go on but just remember that this was at the point where I was tired of writing about DxD.
I can see now why most stories are unfinished but I won't do the same. I finished one DxD story and I'll finish this one.
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~!