Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.
Chapter 58
— I remember Kodlak always telling me to put stealth aside, that only cowards attack silently, but sometimes it's necessary to use it to avoid unnecessary deaths. —
Edzard's reflection after the «Rescue of Fort Kastav».
Heaven, a place that was very common in the various mythologies of the human world, so that name was very common for various places. Unbeknownst to most of the human public, there were many heavens, one for each mythology, one of the best known being the heaven of Christianity. Said heaven was made up of various regions, also known as heavens. The general appearance of heaven was that of a place sitting on white clouds, with a high sky, which is white and very bright. The entrance door was a large door, which was followed by a path, which crossed the various areas that make it up.
While there were many regions, such as the first heaven, home to the lowest rank angels, as well as the place where reincarnated angels lived, there was also the seventh heaven, which was the place where the Sacred Gear system was, just like the system created by the Biblical God for his miracles.
In the fifth heaven, the place where the angels that currently belong to the Grigori once lived, there were two angels, well, a reincarnated angel and a fallen angel. Said beings were Lint and Mittelt, who were here for a visit. Although, the more correct way of saying it was that Lint was visiting for routine check-ups, while Mittelt had slipped into the trip, as a companion of "the little dove", so that she could see her old home.
"This place hasn't changed that much." Mittelt said as she looked at the buildings in the fifth heaven.
"Oh really?" Lint asked curiously.
"Yes. Well, the truth is that there are more research facilities than before, but other than that, there haven't been any big changes."
Mittelt's words made reference to the fact that, in the past, the fifth heaven had been a place just as full of research areas, but now, after the fall of those who lived there, that number of facilities increased, as the Mittelt's words made reference to the fact that, in the past, the fifth heaven had been a place just as full of research areas, but now, after the fall of those who lived there, that number of facilities increased, as the angels replaced housing with laboratories and research areas.
"Wow. I thought the heaven had changed a lot since you fell."
"Not really, but that's not what matters to me right now." Said Mittelt, stopping to look at the place and fixing her gaze on Lint. "Little dove, why do they make you come to this place?"
"Oh, that. What happens is that I must undergo certain regular checkups from time to time." Lint replied with a smile.
"That's weird. Only you or do they also call the other reincarnated angels?"
"The truth is that most of the time it's just me, but there are times when they also call Irina, but they call her less often than me."
The answer that Lint gave her made Mittelt curious about it, because it seemed super strange to her that they were doing so many checks on Lint.
'This is super weird. Why do they only call the little dove for checkups? I mean, it's okay that they want to know how they're doing, I mean, they're reincarnated angels and it's unknown how their bodies will react in the long run, since there might be some kind of problem, but why just focus on her.' Thought Mittelt, who began to think to try to see what different factors surrounded Lint as to be worth regular checkups. She was thinking for a long time, but in the end, she couldn't come up with one.
"Hey, Mittelt." Lint softly called to her companion.
Lint's words caused Mittelt to snap out of her thoughts and come to. Seeing that Lint had been calling her, she looked at her and asked what had happened.
"What happens is that we already arrived." Lint answered as she began to move towards the interior of the building in front of her.
Mittelt watched as Lint entered the building casually. After seeing her enter, she looked at the building and easily recognized from the facade that it was new. From the shape, it seemed to have been built after the formation of the pact. After seeing the building for a few seconds, she decided to go inside.
When she was inside the building, she saw how it was full of angels, who stopped doing what they were doing the moment they saw her. She didn't need super hearing to hear the whispers being said about her, as most of them were said almost out loud.
"Hey, that's not Mittelt."
"What is a Fallen doing here?"
"While we are now supposed to be allies, that does not give the fallen the right to return."
The continuous words that those idiots began to babble, believing that she could not hear them, caused Mittelt to be about to take out the weapon that her lover had given her. However, before she did something idiotic that could cause her trouble, a new voice spoke up, calming everyone down almost at once.
"Wow, that's Mittelt-chan." said a soft voice, which sent a chill through Mittelt's body.
The fallen angel looked towards the source of the voice and saw a woman approaching. The woman was extremely beautiful with curly blonde hair and a voluptuous figure. This woman was called Gabriel and she was considered the most beautiful woman in heaven. She was one of the four great Seraphs, along with Michael, as well as being the "king" of the Heart-type Brave Saint cards. She was considered the strongest woman in heaven.
"H-hello, Gabriel-sama." Said Mittelt, who felt uncomfortable being in front of the seraph.
"How long has it been since we saw each other? a thousand years?"
"I don't remember, but I think it's been less time than that."
"Oh yes, it can be. You were one of the last angels from the fifth heaven to fall." Gabriel commented with a smile, to later remember something. "Though it's good to see you. Why are you here? I mean, I know we're not at war now, but Michael hasn't mentioned anything to me about you coming to heaven to visit."
"Ah, it's just that I didn't come for a visit, but I have come to accompany Lint to her checkup."
"Oh...so Lint-chan is on her biweekly checkup." Said Gabriel, whose smile, which she'd had while talking to Mittelt, was fading slightly. "I still don't understand why she has to have so many checkups. I know it's because she was sent with young Edzard and that there's a high risk of her falling, but-"
"So that was it." interrupted Mittelt, finally understanding why Lint was the most checked out of all the Brave Saints. Although, she not only realized it, but she also understood something else. She, along with Asia, Aika, and Valerie, had wondered during this time why most of the faction representatives sent to their group were women. And now she knew the reason, they had been sent to seduce Edzard, that's why they had been chosen. Knowing this made her angry, as she knew that what Lint wanted most was to be an angel, and now finding out that she had been sent with a further mission that could turn her into a fallen angel, which would destroy her dream, made her angry. So, looking at Gabriel, she was about to say a few words, but before she could say anything, the door of the room Lint had entered opened, revealing a surprised angel, who was followed by a smiling Lint, the who, upon reaching Mittelt's side, approached her ear, began to tell her the results of the exam.
"Gabriel-sama!" cried the other angel upon seeing the seraph. "It's good that you are here. You're not going to believe this."
After those words, the angel approached the seraph and gave her some papers, which had the results of Lint's exams.
Gabriel took the papers with the results and began to read them. The Seraph's eyes widened when she saw that Lint had lost her virginity, but that she also showed no signs of corruption. While that seemed surprising, the truth was different, for it was possible that angels could mate with humans without falling. What really surprised her was that there were no traces of the ritual that she had to do to prevent the fall of the angel. In addition, it was detected that the young woman had had sex again the day before.
"T-This is amazing." whispered Gabriel, who stared in utter astonishment at the data collected from Lint's examination, not only for the fact that Lint was apparently able to copulate with her lover without the need for ritual, but also because there was something off about her body, something who maintained her angelic being immaculate, immovable, and incorruptible. This was something that had never happened before, something of which there was no knowledge.
"It seems that you have seen something amazing." Mittelt said with a mocking smile on her face. The truth is that she had just found out about the results from Lint, and she was having fun seeing how Gabriel and the other angel had looks of total astonishment. Although she was angry, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to upset two angels, especially a seraph.
Mittelt's words caught the attention of Gabriel and the angel, who looked at both angels.
"Do you know what happened?" Gabriel asked curiously.
"The truth is that-"
The words that Lint was about to say were interrupted when a magic circle appeared in her ear, which also appeared in Mittelt's ear. Those circles shone for a second, after which both women looked at each other and, after nodding, looked at Gabriel.
"Sorry, Gabriel-sama. But something has happened, and we have to leave urgently." Lint said, while behind her and Mittelt a purple portal opened, which ended up swallowing them.
When they both disappeared, they left some confused angels, who didn't understand what just happened. However, after a few seconds, Gabriel felt that something was wrong, so looking at the angel who had checked Lint, she told him that she would go see her brother. After which she flew away to go to Seventh Heaven to tell her brother what was happening with Lint.
The door of the room that used to be used for strategy meetings of Edzard's group was thrown open abruptly. The causes of this were Mittelt and Lint, who had just returned from heaven, since the call they had received was from Aika. When they entered the room, their eyes fell on the room and what they saw left them cold. There in the middle of the entire room, Asia could be seen, whose face was full of anger, something that shocked those present a lot, not only them, since it was well known to everyone that Asia did not usually get angry. However, something had happened to make her angry.
"What happened?" Lint asked as she and Mittelt walked over to their friends, and she sat down on the sofa next to Ingvild.
"We do not know. We've only just arrived, but it seems something has happened." Ingvild replied, which she felt a little afraid, since the irises of Asia's eyes were a disturbing blood red color.
"They took her away…" Asia said with a hard and low voice, almost sounding like a muffled whisper.
"What?" asked Aika, who, along with the rest of her classmates, except for Lint, was wearing her academy uniform, since when Asia told her to gather the group, she was in class.
"They took her..."
"We don't understand you Asia, please speak more clearly?" asked Valerie, who began to approach Asia.
Asia's mind, which was only focused on finding the one who had dared to take her daughter, did not respond correctly, but that changed when she heard Valerie's request. Valerie's question, added to the stress she was feeling caused the young ex-nun to explode.
"Some members of the church took Marie away!"
Asia's scream echoed not only in the room but was heard throughout the halls of the palace and was therefore heard by the maids and someone else. Said person began to run towards the room where the scream came from when she understood what was happening.
The words that came out of Asia's mouth ended up astonishing and at the same time frightening those who heard them, since they did not expect this event. Panic began to set in as Rossweisse took Asia in her arms to calm her down.
"How? How did this happen?" Aika asked with concern, for she knew that if Edzard found out about this, well...the maps of the earth could always be reshaped, and some natural disaster could be blamed.
"I was visiting the church where I grew up." Asia said, beginning to tell them what had happened. However, she couldn't tell everything, as the room's door was opened, revealing an agitated Yasaka, who had heard what was happening and had run as fast as she could to check on Asia.
Asia's forehead wrinkled slightly upon seeing the Kyubi, but she was quickly surprised, in fact, everyone in the room was surprised when she approached Asia and after hugging her, began to whisper some words of comfort in her ear. Those words caused the strong front Asia had been putting up to collapse like a house of cards. Edzard's wife's eyes began to fill with tears, finally bursting into a muffled cry.
When Asia's friends saw her in that state, they began to surround her and try to comfort her. When she stopped crying, she began to tell those present what had happened, while she was held in Yasaka's arms.
"Have you told Edzard yet?" Rossweisse asked after hearing what had happened.
"No. I have tried to communicate with him, but I cannot." Asia replied. "I have tried using a magic circle, also with the coin we have, but nothing. Nothing seems to work."
"Where did that idiot go to at a time like this." Mittelt commented as she tried in vain to communicate with Edzard through a magic circle. "Dammit, Asia is right. I have not been able to communicate with him, not only is he not answering it is as if he were in a place where it is not possible to communicate normally."
Mittelt's words caused the girls' concern to increase, but despite that, they did not give up.
"If we can't count on Ed, we need to talk to the rest of our allies." Ingvild said as her words caught the attention of everyone present.
"In is right. I'm sure if we all move the pact members, we can find the kidnappers easily." Lint said as she got up.
"The little dove is right." Mittelt commented as she looked at Asia after saying those words. "Can you call an emergency meeting of the pact?"
Hearing Mittelt's question, Asia shook her head, as only pact leaders could make that kind of call.
After those words, Mittelt was about to say something, but was interrupted by Yasaka's voice.
"I'll call the emergency meeting." Yasaka said, drawing everyone's attention.
The words that came out of the Kyoto youkai leader's mouth caused everyone to let out a sigh.
"Are you really going to do it?" Aika asked.
"That's right." Yasaka replied with conviction. "Like Asia-san, I am also a mother and I think I can empathize with what she feels. Therefore, I will do everything I can to help her."
"T-thank you, Yasaka-sama." Asia said after hearing the words of her husband's "fiancée".
"You're welcome. It's the least I can do. Also, if Kunou finds out that this is happening and that I didn't help save her friend, I'm afraid she would never forgive me."
"Yes, I think that could also happen if Kunou-chan was also kidnapped and Marie found out about it. She also would not forgive us if we did not save."
After those words, both Asia and Yasaka smiled at each other.
Asia's friends felt calmer when they saw their friend smile again, at least for a moment. So, deciding to end the mother-mother bonding moment, Rossweisse fake coughed to get the attention of the two mothers. As they both looked at the gathered group of girls, Aika stepped forward and asked her a question.
"Now that the matter of the pact meeting is no longer a problem, we must think about what to do. How should we move?"
The magician's question left them frozen for a moment, but after a few seconds, Asia responded quickly and precisely.
"As much as I would like us to move now, we must wait until we have information. So, we must prepare for this."
"Good." All the girls said in unison.
"Well, with that settled, I'm going to make the call." Yasaka said as she got up and started walking towards the door. "As soon as I have the necessary information, I will send it to you. So, prepare everything you need."
"Good. We will be waiting for your call, Yasaka-sama." The girls said in unison.
The interior of the sewers of the palace where the two heroes of the elder scrolls had slipped in stank in the same way that the sewers of a human castle would, something that somewhat puzzled Edzard, because he did not understand how that was possible, because it was theorized that the grim reapers were skeletons in robes, so they should not create this type of waste.
"Ugh, what a pest." Edzard commented with annoyance, who suffered a lot in this environment, since his enhanced senses amplified the stench of this place.
"Don't mention it to me, this stink." Zakir pointed out, who was having a worse time than Edzard, because unlike the earlier one, he had his senses fully amplified, contrary to Edzard, who although he had amplified senses, they were not fully, since that only that happened when he was in his dragon form.
"Do you think this is the correct castle? I mean, we entered the first castle we saw in the vicinity."
"Um. I really don't know, but if it's not Hades' castle, we can keep looking. After all, we are in no hurry."
"Okay, yes. But the truth is that I'm a little strange, almost as if I feel that I'm needed elsewhere." Edzard commented as he and Zakir turned a corner, entering a new sewer corridor.
"Maybe but believe me. What I need your help with is something that will surprise you a lot." Zakir said, making Edzard curious again.
"How like that?"
"The truth is that I don't want to tell you about it, since I prefer that you see it for yourself." Zakir answered while he stopped, because he saw that in the upper part of the place where they were there was a kind of entrance. "Looks like we found an entrance."
Hearing Zakir's words, Edzard looked at the roof of the sewer and indeed, saw that there was a place to exit. Noticing that, he moved his right hand and using «Detect Life», he began to check if there was anyone near the entrance. When he finished doing it, he saw that there was no one around, but still he didn't go up, because he started to use the other spell, which was «Detect death». As with the earlier spell, with this one he also didn't see that there were any enemies nearby, so looking at Zakir he nodded, and the old fox seeing this, used the «living lightning» spell and turning into lightning, flew towards that entrance.
The impact generated by the blow that Zakir gave to the entrance caused it to shoot towards the roof of the corridor of the palace where it was found. In addition, the impact also caused the place to shake a bit, along with a rumble that had surely been heard several meters away.
Seeing all the noise his companion had made, Edzard could only roll his eyes, then jump up and follow. When he landed in the palace corridor, he saw that the place was empty, but he knew from experience that it would not last. So, when he saw Zakir, he quickly grabbed his robe and pulled him with it a bit. When he took a few steps, he released the Lilmothiit, which began to follow Edzard.
Both heroes ran through several corridors, knowing that soon this place would be bursting with grim reapers.
"What the fuck did you have in your head to do that?" Edzard asked as he ran.
"The truth is that I wanted to make a striking entrance." Zakir answered almost without concern.
"How the hell do you do that in a castle we're secretly infiltrating?"
"Because the thing was boring." Zakir answered as he brought his hands to his swords, as he felt some presences approaching. "I think you'd better get ready, since I sense some presences approaching our position."
"Damn." Edzard said as he brought his hand to his sword, which he was hanging from his waist on a black leather baldric. The sword was black in color, both on the pommel and on the blade. Its guard was circular, having an unusual size. The circle had in its center an engraving which had the shape of a bird with its wings extended towards the sky. Said blade was the sword that he had "inherited" from Galo Desidenio, the former leader of the Thieves Guild.
Keeping his hand on the hilt, Edzard raised his senses as high as he could, and as he did so, he saw that Zakir was right, for several presences were approaching.
As the hero duo turned a corner, they ran into their enemies, who turned out to be a pair of Grim Reapers.
"Intruders!" yelled one of the grim reapers upon seeing them.
Hades's servants took their scythes with both hands and without thinking twice, they rushed at them. The speed of the Grim Reapers was amazing, far exceeding the speed of a Low-class Devil. Unfortunately for them, both Edzard and Zakir knew they had to be fast and precise for these fights. So, both of them were willing to use a good part of their power.
Clank!
The sound of metal colliding was present when both Edzard and Zakir stopped the attacks of their enemies, causing surprise to appear on the faces of the grim reapers, who did not even have time to be surprised, as both heroes moved their weapons with great speed and ended up cutting off their heads.
Before the eyes of the two heroes the bodies of the grim reapers dissolved into black powder, leaving behind only the hooded cloaks they wore.
"That was easy." Zakir commented as he moved his swords from side to side, almost as if he wanted to remove some blood stain from the blade, something that was unnecessary, since the bodies of the grim reapers didn't even have time to bleed.
"Yes, but it seems they were low-level grim reapers. So, I guess the higher-level ones will be a problem." Edzard pointed out as he began to walk to wherever the room would take him.
Hearing Edzard's words, Zakir just nodded and started to follow him, both of them going inside the palace.
The room found in Lucifer's palace that was used as one of the four main locations for Kuoh's pact meetings was plunged into a tense and worrying atmosphere, since almost all the leaders of the conforming members, that is, the three factions, Asgard, and the Kanto Youkai, were gathered.
"Yasaka-dono. Why have you called this emergency meeting?" Sirzechs asked curiously, since the leader of the Kyoto youkai made use of one of the clauses of the pact that allowed the leaders to be summoned almost instantly.
"Yes, I also have that doubt. Although, I also have another. Where is the brat from the other world?" asked Odin, who, like the others, was also curious about the absence of the young dragon.
"The old man is right. It's weird that Ed-chan isn't in a meeting." Azazel commented as he looked at the empty seat that Edzard used to occupy in meetings. "Is he entertaining himself with his lovers?"
Azazel's question was answered by a fake cough coming from Michael.
When the Fallen leader looked at his brother, he just smiled amusedly, causing the Heaven leader to let out a sigh.
"I guess something happened, right?" Michael asked, who stopped looking at his brother, to look at Yasaka and speak again. "Gabriel told me an hour ago that Lint and Mittelt had been to the fifth heaven. Apparently, Mittelt was accompanying Lint, who was having some routine checkups. Thanks to those checks, some things have been discovered that I would like to discuss with Edzard-dono. However, she told me that after the exam something happened and that was that both Lint and Mittelt received a call and abruptly left heaven. Does this have something to do with that call?"
The words that came out of Michael's mouth left those present like stones, who began to look at Yasaka, expecting the answer she would give them.
Seeing that she had everyone's attention, Yasaka sighed before beginning to speak. She first had to order her ideas, because she had to be as clear and precise in her words.
"I called this emergency meeting, because today, not more than a couple of hours ago, the daughter of Edzard-dono and Asia-san was kidnapped by what is thought to be a renegade member of the church, who managed to sneak into the church where Asia-san grew up."
The words that came out of Yasaka's mouth completely paralyzed the people who were present, who went blank for a few moments. Moments that were followed by some words and reactions from various members.
"How did little Marie get kidnapped?!" yelled Serafall, who had been somewhat upset earlier, as she had been brought back when she was finally about to close the negotiations for the introduction of the Greek pantheon into Kuoh's pact. However, knowing that she went for this reason, well, she was very worried and when she looked beside her, she saw that she was not the only one.
At Serafall's right side had been Falbium, who had been half sleepy, but the moment he heard Yasaka's words, well, whatever tiredness he had had vanished like water in the desert. The devil's eyes widened, and he jumped up.
"This is bad, very bad." Started to say the devil as he moved from side to side, bringing his hand to his chin.
"Falbium is right." Commented Ajuka, who looked at Sirzechs. "We know that Edzard-san is strong, and we saw some of his power when he got angry seeing his parents as Molag Bal's pawns. If anger from him back then was of such size, now I fear the situation could escalate to something worse."
"It seems so." Sirzechs said as he thought of a way to fix this before Edzard did something crazy. So, looking at Yasaka, he decided to ask her something. "Yasaka-dono. Tell me, does Ed-kun know about this?"
"No. He went out to do someone a favor after receiving a call last night and all attempts to contact him have failed." Yasaka replied.
"I see. That's good, that means we have time." Sirzechs said.
"Yeah. Now we need information." Azazel commented as he looked at his brother. "If this has to do with heaven, surely you have information to share, right, Michael?"
The seraph looked at his brother and after nodding began to speak. "Yes. The truth is that we have a problem with certain sectors of the exorcists, who did not agree with the signing of the pact. However, the appearance of the daedras had calmed them down, but that seems to have changed now. That's because there have been rumors that the daedras are actually devils from another world, which has made them start to think that they are in league with the devils of our world. That has made them think that it is necessary for us to get out of the pact."
"That's serious news, Michael-dono." Sirzechs said, understanding the information that Michael secretly said in his words. "Maybe if you had told us about it sooner, maybe we would have had a way to stop it before it escalated."
"Yes, but it's late." Azazel said looking at his brother with a smirk, almost as if he found his brother's mistakes amusing him. "Now that little problem has escalated into something that could potentially cause us a lot of problems. So, there is no other way out, we have to act fast and be precise. And, above all, no one, apart from those who already know about it, should find out."
Azazel's final words were spoken while he looked at Sirzechs and Serafall, who understood what he meant. They weren't to mention any of this to their sisters, as the news could leak out and reach Edzard's ears, which would lead to having an angry, berserker dragon on the loose. So, understanding that, they decided not to tell them anything.
"Good. We have to know everything that's going on, so, Michael, start singing everything you know." Said Azazel looking at his brother seriously.
Despite not liking the way Azazel spoke to him at this point, Michael nodded and began to talk about everything he knew about this splinter group.
The words that the leader from heaven began to say caused everyone who heard it to start to worry, especially when they heard that possibly all of the Abrahamic religions were involved. Although it would already be difficult to deal with Christians, if Muslims and Jews got into the bag of problems, well, things would escalate to global levels. That could cause the secret of God's death to be made public.
"This is a mess of an unprecedented level." Sirzechs commented as he put his hand to his temple, as he felt a headache coming on.
"Yes, but we must solve it quickly and accurately. So, for that we need all the information you have, Michael." Said Azazel, without any hint of mockery in his voice anymore, because what was happening was something very serious.
"Yes, don't worry, I will send all the members of the pact the information we have." Michael answered, to then give a little news, which he hoped would serve to increase morale on this issue. "If it's any help, I'd like to point out that we have hints at some possible locations of this group's main hideout."
Michael's words seemed to do the trick, as several of the concerned faces they were all wearing softened slightly.
"Really?" Serafall asked with joy in her voice.
"Yeah."
"Then you should have started there." Azazel pointed out as he let out a sigh. "With this news, we may be able to reduce the search time. Unfortunately, we are still against the clock, so we have to send the best teams we have for this. When the meeting is over and we have the information, we will meet by magical projections to decide which teams will attack each possible location. The team I will send will be the «Black Dog» team, which is one of the best teams we have in Grigori."
"For our part, heaven will send a team made up of some of the best Brave Saints." Michael said.
"I will send some members of my peerage for this." said Sirzechs, who, despite wanting it to be his sister and Sona, knew that this mission had to end quickly, so he could only send capable people, but not only that, but also people who could keep their mouths shut. So, for that, he would send members of his own peerage.
"I will send some very trustworthy Valkyries." Said Odin, who had been silent throughout the meeting, because he wanted to see how those present reacted. And seeing that they had taken very quick actions, he was more than pleased with the way the leaders of the other factions acted.
"I'll send some high-ranking youkai for the mission." Yasaka said, before speaking again. "Besides, I will convey this to Edzard's group, as they also want to go look for little Marie."
Yasaka's final words did not surprise anyone, because they knew that they would also join.
"Good. So, let's move and prepare everything. We have an hour, after that the operation will begin." Sirzechs said getting up, being followed by everyone.
The artificial light created by a spotlight caused Marie's eyes to move, waking her from the sleep she had been induced into not long ago. As she blinked, the little dragon rose from the hard ground and saw that she was locked in some kind of cell. The room was made of stone, something she knew was unusual in the human world in this age. In front of her there were no bars, instead there was a small steel door, big enough for a single person to pass through.
'Where am I?' thought Marie as she got up. When she stood up, she saw that her dress, which was a light blue sundress, had gotten dirty. This caused the little girl to pout, as it was her favorite dress.
When she stopped pouting, the little girl approached the door and when she was in front of it, she began to hear voices behind it. Blinking with confusion, the little girl was about to ask what was going on, since she didn't quite remember what had happened. However, when she was about to speak, her sensitive ears picked up the words of two people. By the tone of voice, they were two men, who were speaking in Latin.
"Why do we have to be the ones who have to take care of that little monster?"
"Because the bosses have ordered it so."
"Damn. And how long will she be on this base?"
"Maybe until tomorrow. I heard rumors that she might be moved to another base at midnight."
"I hope so. I can't bear to see that little aberration."
"Me too, friend, me too."
The words that Marie heard caused her small eyes to sting, as it was obvious that they were talking about her. The derogatory way in which they spoke of her caused her little heart to feel heavy. However, when she was about to burst into tears like every other girl her age, she remembered that she was not just a little girl. No, she was not just a girl, she was the daughter of one of the most powerful dragons in the world, her mother was one of the magicians with the greatest potential in restoration magic in the history of the College of Winterhold, her blood ran the blood of two heroes from the elder scrolls, along with the blood of two kings.
Raising her hands to her eyes, she wiped away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. Looking back at the door, she began to use her mind to try to figure out how to escape, because after hearing that conversation, she remembered that she had been kidnapped by Father Marcus, who had attacked all the children to force her to go with him. While a part of her wanted to wait for her parents to rescue her, another part, symbolizing her rising pride as Dovah, told her that she had to stand up for herself, that she had to show the world what she was capable of, that she should show the world the power of her thu'um.
Oddly enough, the Dovah part that demanded her to display her power seemed to be gaining ground, causing her to open her mouth and begin preparing to unleash the power of the two words of the thu'um of Unrelenting force. However, when she was about to do so, a voice sounded directly in her mind.
'That would be unwise, little one.'
The sudden voice caused Marie to stop preparing to use a thu'um and start looking around the room, searching for the source of the voice speaking in her mind. She was doing that for a couple of minutes, until the voice spoke again, preventing her from saying anything.
'It is useless for you to look for me in that world, little one. I don't live there, I live in another world, a place where your parents have been, your mother once and your father more than once. Now, if you want to speak, just think of your words, but do it in Tamrielic language and don't do it in any language of the earth, but if you want you can also speak in dragon language.'
'Okay.' thought Marie.
'Good. Now, listen, because I don't have much time. You are in great danger, they have kidnapped you and they want to hurt you, but please don't do anything stupid like charge and use the thu'um indiscriminately. You do not have the ability of your father; you can be left without a voice and that would leave you vulnerable. Although it is true that they will not want to kill you at the moment, that does not mean that they will not harm you. So be careful. You understand?'
'Yeah. Do not do crazy things and do not shout in vain.'
'Good. Although I have told you not to do crazy things, that does not mean that you cannot escape. If you manage to find an opening, use it and when you are outside, shout the following words «Dov» «Ah» «Kiin».'
'Dovahkiin? Isn't that my dad's title?'
'That's right. You see, little one, names and titles given by dragons are also a thu'um and if you shout it, you can let it be known that you want to speak to the owner of that name or title.'
'That means that Dad will know where I am and could come and rescue me.' Marie thought with joy upon learning this.
'That's right.'
'Thank you, thank you very much, unknown voice.'
'Don't worry, it's a pleasure to help a little girl like you. Now, if you want to tell your parents if someone helped you, tell them that you received help from «The Gray Wind».'
'The gray wind?' Marie mentally asked, but to her misfortune she didn't hear a word.
Blinking, the young daughter of Edzard and Asia realized that she was alone again, but unlike the previous time, this time, she decided to stay seated, waiting for the best moment to run away and while she waited, she began to internalize those words, the words that made up one of his father's Dovah names, so that she could use the thu'um to call him.
The room that was Edzard's personal study was full of people, being all of Edzard's group, along with Yasaka. These people were gathered at this time and place because the folders with information about Marie's kidnappers arrived a few moments ago.
"So... are there six places that are possible locations?" Aika asked, looking at a map of the human world, which was being projected by an artifact created by Edzard.
"That's right, the locations are the Italian Alps, a mountain range in Lebanon, a chain of caves in Mexico, an abandoned mine in the Peruvian Andes, a castle ruin in the Scottish Highlands and an abandoned diamond mine in Russia." Yasaka said, as the mentioned locations were marked with red dots. "Fortunately, we are six groups, so each one will take one of the locations to be able to attack them simultaneously, in order to prevent them from supporting each other, thus cutting off any type of escape that those subjects may think of."
"I see. So, we must choose a location, right?" Ingvild asked as she looked at the map.
"That's right, they will choose one and the rest of the teams the others."
"Good. So, which one do we choose? Mittelt asked as she looked at the rest of the girls.
Despite the question said by the fallen angel, none of the members of Edzard's group said a word, since no one felt they had the authority to decide anything. This not only because the affected was the daughter of one of its members, but also because while Edzard was away, the leadership of the group fell to Asia. So, no one did anything until Asia finally stood up, since she had been sitting on Edzard's chair, watching the meeting. Walking, Asia looked at the locations before closing her eyes. In doing so, she decided to let her maternal instincts tell her where her daughter might be. After a few seconds, her being felt a pang, which caused her hand to move towards the country where she grew up.
"Here." Asia said, pointing to the base that was in the Italian Alps.
"Are you sure?" Yasaka asked.
"Yes, my instincts tell me that it is there." Asia replied with conviction.
"I understand. I will tell the other groups to prepare for the attack." Yasaka said as she watched the girls move.
"Good. So, I guess we'll have to prepare to fight. But first, does anyone else know about Marie's kidnapping?" Rossweisse asked with a bit of concern, since she had left the school asking for an emergency leave for a family matter, something that was surely already being discussed among the students of the academy.
"If your doubts are whether the news has reached the ears of Sirzechs-dono's and Serafall-dono's sisters, the answer is no. They have said that they will not tell their sisters anything, so it is almost impossible for them to find out what is happening until it is all over."
"Well, we don't want them to get caught in the crossfire." Lint said as she prepared to leave the room.
"That's right. as much as it hurts us, they are not yet ready for something like this. So, it's best to leave them out." Valerie commented, as she thought of Gasper, who despite having become stronger, was still too weak for this kind of mission, as strength, precision, and speed were needed.
"Yes. For now, we must wait until everything is ready. That might take an hour, until then, prepare yourselves." Said Yasaka, who got up and walking towards Asia, put a hand on her shoulder, because she saw that she was restless. "I know that it is difficult and that you feel that the wait is killing you, but please, trust us. For now, we must stick to the plan."
Yasaka's words caused Asia to look at her, before answering.
"I know, but it hurts to know that my little girl is out there, at the mercy of people who may want to hurt her."
"I understand, but to save her it's necessary to attack all the enemy bases at the same time, so please, Asia-san, just hold on for a while, it's possible that by dawn tomorrow we'll have Marie-chan with us again."
Hearing those words, Asia looked at Yasaka and nodded. That reaction caused Yasaka to give Asia a smile, before separating from her.
After that brief moment of comfort from Yasaka to Asia, the people inside the room began to come out, each one to make last-minute preparations before the mission.
When the entire place was empty, from under Edzard's desk the door to one of the compartments opened and a very distraught Kunou stepped out.
The young kitsune had sensed that something was up, as she saw her mother busier than usual, along with a face of almost constant concern since she arrived from the pact meeting. Also, for some reason she hadn't been able to find Marie, and that surprised her, because she knew that her friend had gone with her mother to visit her hometown, and Asia had already returned, but it seemed that Marie had not done it. That led her to spy on her mother and when she found out that she was having an emergency meeting with Asia-san, she decided to hide in Edzard's desk. And thanks to that, she now knew the truth.
'Ma-chan has been kidnapped.' Kunou thought with worry and panic.
Various feelings began to swirl in the girl's heart, causing the young kitsune to not know what to do for a moment. However, after a few seconds, she decided that she should find someone who could help her with an idea that she had. For a second she thought about telling her mother that she knew, but she quickly dismissed it, since her mother would send her to her room and not allow her to go, but at that moment she remembered something.
"Maybe the Sekiryuutei can help me contact Edzard." Kunou said as she began to walk, because the idea that she came up with was to tell her friend's father what was happening, because if anyone could find Marie in a heartbeat, it would be him.
So, leaving the room, she began to run towards her mother's room, since there was a magic circle there, which would teleport her to the place where the youkai residence was being built in this world. Once there, she would take the door that would lead her to Kuoh.
In a room in one of the safest places in Hades' castle, a meeting between two factions was taking place. One of them was the Hero Faction, while the other was the Greek faction, although more precisely it was the god of the dead Hades, who was acting behind the backs of his fellow gods since he was acting on his own without informing others.
"So that's your request?" asked Hades, whose voice was deep and sounded like a voice from beyond the grave. The appearance of the God of the dead of the Greek pantheon was that of a living skeleton, which wore the same clothes as the high priests, that is, a very elaborate and ornate tunic along with a hat.
The god of death was sitting on a comfortable sofa and in front of him was sitting Cao-Cao, who was together with George and Jeanne.
"That's right, that's what we ask for in order to fulfill your request, Hades-sama." Cao-Cao replied as he looked at the god.
The young human's gaze was somewhat strange, because unlike when he was in Kyoto, right now, one of Cao-Cao's eyes was a deep and sickly blue. That was the result of being forced to drink some Plasma Azure, that is, the same poison that Edzard's parents were forced to drink long ago. Unlike them, however, Cao Cao's mind had not been completely corrupted, as it seemed that the poison from Coldharbour acted differently on humans on Earth. While just drinking that poison should have destroyed Cao Cao's body, the young human had survived thanks to the power of his Sacred Gear, which had largely mitigated the effect of the poison.
"Good. What you ask for is something I was willing to offer so that you can weaken Ophis to allow me to capture her, after all, "he" was created to deal with dragons."
The way Hades spoke caused a chill to run through the backs of the humans present in the room, but that was not all, for those words caused Cao-Cao's right eye to throb, causing a slight pain, which was accompanied with words that were whispered directly into his mind.
'Good, now that the bag of bones that is that God has agreed to give them that weapon, play his game for a while longer. When the time is right, you will use it to kill the Dovahkiin once and for all. I hope you don't fail me this time, my servant, because if you do, neither you nor your little band of stupid humans will get a second chance.'
The voice that echoed in Cao Cao's mind was none other than the voice of Molag Bal. While the Sacred Gear True Longinus's holy attribute managed to block a lot of the power of Coldharbour's poison, there was one thing it couldn't block and that was the poison's ability to create a mental link between Bal's champions and the Daedric prince, a bond that could only be sealed if the champion was in an area littered with Aedric runes designed to sever that bond.
'Yes, my lord.' Cao-Cao replied meekly.
After that answer, Cao-Cao's eye stopped throbbing, indicating that the Daedric prince had stopped observing what was happening with Cao-Cao for the moment.
"Now, I guess I have to start the deal. So, I will send you to the place where Samael is sealed. When you're there, use this to break the seal." Hades said as he moved his skeletal right hand, summoning a magic circle, which was engraved on Cao Cao's right hand.
"Thank you, Lord Hades. Don't worry, the Hero Faction will not let you down."
After the answer, Cao-Cao got up from the sofa, being followed by Hades, who fixed his gaze on the human and letting out a bit of his divine aura, decided to speak, releasing a threat against the young man. "I hope so, Cao-Cao, I hope so…"
After that threat, the god of the dead of the Greek pantheon moved his hand and made a magic circle appear on the ground.
"Stand on that magic circle and when you do, I will send you to where Samael is sealed. Take it with you and prepare for your attack on the underworld. I will support you by sending some of my servants when the time comes."
Hades' words were answered by a nod from Cao-Cao, who walked with his companions towards the magic circle. When they were in the center, the circle glowed and after that, the members of the hero faction were teleported towards the place that was their destination.
After seeing how his "allies" left, Hades began to walk towards his personal study and while he did, he was thinking about how to use his new pawns, because yes, for him the heroes faction were not his allies, but rather they were his pawns in his desire to eliminate not only the devils and fallen angels, whom he considered unnecessary beings, but he also wanted to eliminate the Longinus-type sacred gear, since he considered them a danger to the world, so he thought contact several like-minded gods to form a kind of pact with which to not only oppose Kuoh's pact, but also the daedras.
However, his thoughts were interrupted when one of his Grim Reapers appeared out of nowhere.
"Hades-sama!" the grim reaper yelled.
The grim reaper's yell caused the god of the dead to look at the being that yelled.
"What's going on?" Hades asked.
"My lord, intruders have entered the palace and have started killing all the Grim Reapers they come across."
The answer that Hades heard left him perplexed, because he could not believe what he was hearing. While it was true that many of his subordinates were not ultimate class, it was well known that even a low-ranking Grim Reaper had power that was far above the power of a low-class devil. So, it could be said that many of his grim reapers were on a par in power with mid-class and high-class devils, so if they were being attacked and eliminated, then the combats should be rumbling. However, during his entire meeting with the hero faction, he did not feel any kind of combat in his entire palace, which was leaving him speechless.
"What have you said?" Hades asked as he started to snap out of his shock.
"Intruders have infiltrated the palace and killed several low-ranking Grim Reapers, my lord."
'What's going on? How is this possible? So that I can't detect signs of a fight it's obvious that those who have dared to invade my palace are beings of great power, perhaps at the level of an Ultimate-class Devil, since they couldn't kill my soldiers easily otherwise, which would make there no signs of battle.' Hades thought as he tried to discern who the being was or, rather, which faction dared to attack him. For a second he thought it was Kuoh's pact, but as soon as he thought about it, he dismissed those thoughts, as the pact had no reason to attack him, at least for the moment.
"Where are they headed?" Hades asked once he stopped thinking about the identity of the faction his unwanted guests came from.
"From the traces of corpses, they have left, everything indicates that they are heading towards the laboratory at the eastern end, my lord."
The response that Hades heard caused his jaw to almost drop in surprise, since he had not expected that.
'I can't let them get to the bottom floor of that lab, not especially now that Zeus is finishing up negotiations with Leviathan. If news of what I have down there gets out, it would be a real pain in the ass.' Hades thought with a bit of concern. So, knowing that he couldn't let those individuals reach the final floor of his laboratory, he summoned a magic circle nearby where a flesh and blood being would have his ear and began to speak.
"Pluto, we have unwanted guests. They are going to the final floor of the eastern laboratory of my castle, eliminate them before information about what is there is leaked. We don't know how many there are, so tell Thanatos to accompany you as well."
After those words, the magic circle disappeared, and Hades began to walk towards his office. However, before he took a step, a magic circle appeared in his ear and the voice of Zeus came through. The leader of the pantheon indicated that they would have an emergency meeting, since Leviathan had paused the talks for a while, something that would allow the faction to meet to discuss the clauses for admission to the pact. Despite the fact that finding out about this bothered Hades greatly, the Greek god knew that he could not be absent, since he would look suspicious if he was absent. So, confident that his strongest subordinates could handle his unwanted guests, he used a magic circle and headed towards Mount Olympus.
Edzard's and Zakir's swords were extracted almost at the same moment from the bodies in which they had been impaled. Said bodies belonged to the last three grim reapers of a group that they had found before arriving at the place to which they were going. The path they were following had been created by a scroll of the clairvoyance spell that was being used by Zakir.
"How much left?" Edzard asked as he started to follow Zakir, who had started to run.
"Not much." The Lilmothiit replied.
After that answer, the duo of heroes continued running through the corridors of the palace. Running through various passageways and turning almost twenty corners and in every certain section of their journey they were forced to kill more than one grim reaper, because the corpses they were leaving had been discovered, so the alarm had already been raised.
The sound of metal colliding was heard in a room, this because a fight was taking place between Edzard, Zakir and a group of grim reapers.
"Stop them! Don't let them reach Hades-sama's laboratory!" yelled a grim reaper, which lunged at Edzard.
That grim reaper's action was copied by his companions, who also launched themselves against Edzard and Zakir, to overwhelm them with their numbers.
Edzard swung his sword to parry the grim reaper's scythe that got there first. The resonance of the clash between both weapons was a sharp sound, which was silenced as the grim reaper jumped back to take another stance. Taking a new attack stance, he charged again at the Dovahkiin, which stood still to wait for his enemy. The grim reaper moved at high speed, managing to sneak behind Edzard's back, where he swung his weapon over his head, then slashed downward.
The grim reaper's attack was stopped by Edzard's own sword, which had foreseen the attack, since it was a classic attack to defeat someone quickly. However, after that movement, the young dragon saw out of the corner of his left eye how another grim reaper appeared on that side. Said enemy moved his scythe horizontally, with the clear goal of cutting him in two. However, to the surprise of both grim reapers, the attack was blocked by a dagger. The dagger that Edzard had used to stop the grim reaper's attack was a weapon called the «Blade of Woe», which had previously belonged to Astrid, the leader of the dark brotherhood. The dagger had a single-edged blade of black color, the spine of which was decorated with diagonal lines. The guard and pommel had spikes, which were placed in such a way that they looked at each other, leaving the handle in the middle, which was lined with leather strips.
The way in which Edzard managed to stop the attacks of both grim reapers surprised them, since they had not expected this. Being in that state of shock, neither saw Edzard drop both weapons, and then conjure up a large amount of magic, with which he used the «Electro Sphere» spell. When both servants of Hades came to, they were shocked when they saw two spheres made of lightning being fired at them point blank.
Edzard's attack hit the two supernatural beings squarely, causing the spheres to explode, creating explosions of lightning, which killed the two grim reapers, turning their bodies into ashes.
When the Dovahkiin saw that his enemies had been cut down, he quickly moved his hands and managed to catch their weapons before they hit the ground.
"That was a nice trick, brat." Zakir said as he approached Edzard.
Roland's son looked at his companion and saw that behind him were the corpses of the other two grim reapers. When his gaze landed on his clothes, he saw that they were burned in a certain part, indicating that Zakir had used «Igneous Weapons» to kill them.
"Yes, but not as much as your way of defeating them." Edzard commented as he approached the door of the laboratory that was in front of him.
"It's something you come to learn over time." Zakir replied mockingly.
"Sure, whatever you say, old fossil."
After that exchange of words, Edzard and Zakir reached the door, which opened, allowing them to see that this was just the entrance and that to get to the laboratory they had to go down several floors.
"Umm…. This looks deep." Edzard said as he walked towards the edge of the floor, to see what was below. "It looks like it has several floors underground. To what floor do you calculate that we should go down?"
Hearing Edzard's question, Zakir approached the edge of the floor and narrowing his eyes, kept his gaze fixed on the bottom. His eyes looked at the purple line that was the result of the clairvoyance spell scroll. The way in which it was lost in the darkness that was the end of the path to the underground floors indicated that what they had come looking for was on the final floor, which would surely be the most protected place in this entire building.
"In the end, the clairvoyance line gets lost in the background of it all."
"I feared that."
Zakir nodded, understanding why Edzard said that, since he also wanted this to go faster. However, it seemed that they would not have that choice.
"Looks like we'll have to fight our way through floor by floor." Zakir said.
"So, it seems. The best thing will be to start now." Edzard said as he started to take steps towards the stairs. However, he didn't take three steps when his gait was halted by a few words.
"I'm afraid you can't go any further." Said a voice behind both heroes.
Author's note:
To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Because being honest, I don't know how to write much in English and I'm relying on Google translators and the dictionaries that come with office 2019.
Well, chapter 58 is ready.
In this chapter we see that things intensify a bit, showing Asia's emotions a bit when she finds out that her daughter is kidnapped. We also see how Asia and Yasaka's relationship, which was tense due to the impromptu marriage issue, improves when the leader of the Youkai is the one who understands Asia's situation the most. Also, we may see some other characters act in this "mission", but that will be in the future.
We also see that Molag Bal has forced Cao Cao to drink the poison from Coldharbour. In addition, it is seen that they are negotiating with Hades to obtain Samael.
Finally, we see that Edzard and Zakir are already in Hades's castle. Now, what is it in the laboratory that has made Hades worry? Will Kunou get to talk to Issei and the rest? Who is the voice that helped the Dovahkiin's daughter? An aedra? A daedra?... well, that will be seen in the next chapter... Or maybe not… XD
Well, I apologize for any misspelling. Do not forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter or if there is something that needs to be improved or if you have any questions about the story. Also, any constructive advice is welcome. With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.