Silence permeated the battlefield. No one dared to say anything. Veles was the only one who dared stand defiantly before what could only be described as a real monster. That woman was no Devil. She was the truest definition of a monster. A monster that could obliterate the entire world if she wanted to.
"Levi…"
Issei saw Mastema staring at the blue-haired woman with a melancholic expression on her face.
"Hey, Azazel, that girl. Isn't she?" Baraqiel asked.
Azazel nodded his head. A grim expression was written all over his face. As he was right now, he wasn't sure if he could fight her evenly like he did 500 years ago.
"Azazel, who is she?" Rias asked, overhearing their conversation.
"That… is Leviathan," Ingvild answered. "The Lord of Envy and one of the original Four Great Satans, Leviathan. She's also… one of the Cardinals of Serpent's Seed. Not just any Cardinal. Grandmother is… the highest ranked Cardinal of Serpent's Seed standing in first place above all of them."
The weight of her words was setting into everyone's minds. First-Ranked Cardinal. The meaning of that title was just beginning to hit everyone. This woman was a monster among monsters.
"Her…? The first-ranked Cardinal? Haha, Blacklight's intel really is no joke," Azazel said.
"I only recently learned about this from Mom before we came here to Asgard. All our data on Serpent's Seed's membership comes from Lady Asmodeus. She was more than glad to give us info after the whole Beelzebub debacle," Ingvild explained. "But it looks like… from the last time Lady Asmodeus saw her… Grandmother was definitely still within the organization."
Her voice cut their conversation short.
"No hello? Not even a thank you? You know you left me hanging last time, Ise-chan~!" Leviathan's sweet words dripped like poison. The way she referred to him so affectionately was so mocking that it almost made him want to cringe physically.
"I have nothing to say to you," Issei said, glaring at her with utter defiance. Yet inside, he felt a bubbling fear.
"Hmm? Wow, how rude. After all the trouble I went through for her soul. Oh well," Leviathan said, waving off his apparent rudeness.
"S- Soul? Aniki, is she…?" Mitsuki asked.
Issei said nothing, opting instead to clench his fists tightly. A bitter look spread across his face. That look was enough for Mitsuki to connect the dots. This woman. She was the one who… Rage overtook her sense of reason.
"Give it back…," she murmured.
"Mmm?" Leviathan raised an eyebrow when she sensed an influx of demonic power from Mitsuki.
"I said give it back!" Her hair turned white, and a large amount of demonic power exploded from her.
Veles was caught off-guard by the sudden surge of power and the barrier faltered.
"Mii! Wait, don't attack Grandmother-!" Ingvild's words fell on deaf ears.
Mitsuki shot off from her spot, eyes filled with a psychotic rage. Lightning gathered around her body and formed into an odachi. She spun in the air and brought her sword down with all the strength she could muster.
As soon as it made contact, the entire area was engulfed in blinding light and smoke. A maddening silence followed the deafening clap of thunder.
The smoke cleared, revealing everything except for where Leviathan sat had been completely destroyed.
Leviathan sat there, calmly holding Mitsuki's lightning sword between her middle and pointer fingers.
"!?"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock. Mitsuki's Qliphoth Form, which had previously been able to force Beelzebub, had been rendered ineffective with just a simple gesture. Mitsuki pushed forward, unable to make Leviathan's hand move even a single centimeter.
"Oh? You're quite lively, aren't you? Much more lively than you were when I last saw you," Leviathan said.
"Give it back-"
"But deals are deals, and there's no such thing as takebacks~!"
Mitsuki felt a force slam into her. It felt like an astroid had slammed into her at full force. She flew away from Leviathan and slammed violently into the rubble. Dust and debris exploded everywhere, forcing everyone to shield themselves from the oncoming rain of concrete and stone fragments.
"Mii-chan!" Issei yelled. He quickly got up and sprinted frantically over to her.
"Ise!" Akeno called out, trying to get him to come back.
However, her words fell on deaf ears. Issei slid to a stop, seeing her injured, unconscious body. He held her in his arms, sighing in relief after he saw her chest slightly rising. Her hair had returned to its original brown shade.
"You…" he turned his attention to Leviathan, who had been sitting on the ruined perch with a bemused look on her face.
"Now, now, don't get your wires crossed. She's not dead. A simple love tap like that isn't going to kill her, especially if she's in Qliphoth Mode. Now…," she brushed her hair aside.
"Leviathan!"
Leviathan's eyebrow twitched as she felt a pinprick of annoyance run through her. Her poisonous yellow eyes gazed on Perun, who had a look of fury and utter indignation on his face. He swiped his arm across the air angrily, trying to emphasize the fury he had felt.
"Stay out of this! The battle is not over yet! I can still-"
"Shut your mouth, please~," she said in a sing-song tone.
Perun's eyes widened. His body stiffened in fear. The primal instincts in his brain were telling him not to move or even make a sound. Frustration welled up within him. He begrudgingly lowered his head, staring at the ruined ground below him.
She stood up and hopped off her ruined perch, landing gracefully next to Perun. Leviathan mockingly gave him a pat on the back as if she were trying to reassure a child. Yet her smile was anything but reassuring. Her eyes held an untold malice within them. She turned her yellow gaze toward them and they all stiffened instinctively.
Every part of them told them not to fight her. Veles's eyes briefly glanced over to the people behind him before facing Leviathan.
"Oh? Hello, Old Man," Leviathan greeted nonchalantly.
"Levi, what have you done?" Veles said, narrowing his eyes.
"Me? I haven't done anything. At least, not yet," she said. "But you know. I've been here and there. Watching over a few things. Doing a couple things. Of course, I'm just here to watch and act as the getaway driver if things go haywire which, hey surprise! It does. I never thought I'd ever see Perun lose so badly… oh wait, I have." Her laughter was barely concealed.
"You… bitch…," Perun ground out, glaring at her fiercely.
Leviathan simply smiled and waved away his glare like a breeze extinguishing a candle flame. "But I guess playtime is over. Enough is enough. It's time for the kids to go home, wouldn't you say, Old Man~?"
"What are you…?"
"Leviathan, wait! I can still-"
His sentence was cut off as Leviathan snapped her fingers. The ground beneath him rippled like water. A serpentine mouth erupted from the ground, swallowing Perun whole in a violent crunch. Everyone's eyes widened in shock.
The mouth retreated back into the ground like a shark returning to the depths of the sea.
Leviathan clapped her hands together as if she were dusting them off. She stood up from her perch and looked upon a sea of apprehensive gazes. She had no intention of fighting them but their fear and anxiety almost made her want to laugh. Perhaps she had been around too many bad influences in her life.
"Now then… what do I do with the rest of you?" Leviathan said.
Brynhildr- no, Edelweiss, had no idea that such a monster could exist. Her sisters all lay broken and beaten around her. Eir had been the first to fall. That monster targeted her in an instant the moment they had confronted him. The rest followed soon after. Her white hair was matted with dried blood while fresh one flowed down her arm and head.
No matter what they threw at him, all of his wounds would vanish in an instant. Their attacks, no matter how powerful and complex, were all canceled out.
Several dark circles hovered over him.
A golden spear rested in his hand. Not just any golden spear. It was a perfect replica of her own spear, possessing the same weight, strength, and even abilities.
"So this is the extent of what Odin's famed Valkyries are capable of. I have to say… based on a cost-benefit analysis of you and your squadron, I'd have to cut all of you off," the man said, allowing the spear to disperse into golden dust. The black circles behind him continued to emit a soft golden glow that pulsated with each passing second.
He raised his hand. Dark energy began to gather at the center of his palm.
Edelweiss's body stiffened. The sheer density of the demonic power contained within that spear was growing by the second. At this rate, she and her entire squadron would be wiped out in an instant.
Not having any time to think, Edelweiss quickly got to her feet and stood protectively in front of her sisters.
"Mm?" Mammon raised an eyebrow. "Is this an attempt at some grand final stand?"
Edelweiss said nothing. Her spear shifted and split into two twin swords. She widened her stance slightly and faced the man without fear in her eyes.
Her tenacity managed to break through his calm demeanor, causing a look of surprise to manifest on his face. Said surprise gave way to a smile. Whether it was annoyance or respect, she couldn't tell.
"Well then, I'm not so petty as to not oblige by your request. I'll let you taste a Miracle that Heaven keeps a secret even from the other gods," the man said.
He raised his hand into the air. Several rings of black Hebrew text began to revolve around his arm. However, before anything could happen, the spell was cancelled by a gust of emerald green wind.
The man dodged, jumping back but was soon impaled by an all-too-familiar golden tri-pronged spear. He slammed into the tree at the center of the lake, impaled in the chest by the divine weapon. Blood poured down his mouth as a small smile appeared on his face.
"And the cavalry is here," he said.
Edelweiss turned around and saw Odin and Raphael standing behind her. A soft green glow was emitting from Raphael, healing the wounds of all her shield sisters. The Chief God walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Go. We'll handle this."
Edelweiss grimaced, looking between Odin and the man impaled on the tree. She nodded and began to help one of her sisters to her feet. She stole one last glance at the two before leaving with the others.
"Aw? Sending the others out already? It was just beginning to get fun. We were even starting to get to know each other better," he said.
"500 years has done nothing to that mouth of yours, hasn't it, Mammon?" Raphael said, narrowing her eyes.
Mammon's eyes brightened with glee. He walked forward, ignoring the fact that he had a spear on his chest. He walked until he had completely freed himself from Gungnir and stood before them. The hole in his chest healed rapidly, emitting a faint black mist.
"What can I say? My charm is the type that gets better with age. It ferments like fine wine," Mammon said. "Though, I have you to thank for that, don't I, Aunt Raphael? You managed to kill me all those years ago, and I spent the 50 of those years reforming slowly."
"This attack," Odin spoke up. "It was your doing, wasn't it?"
"Oh? I got caught already? Well, I guess it just had to happen, didn't it? I did make it a little too easy to guess, didn't I, Odin," Mammon replied.
Odin let out a hearty laugh. He snapped his finger, and Gungnir returned to his hand, vaporizing Mammon's top half in the process. However, just as it did, Mammon's upper half reformed quickly.
The Lord of Greed stretched his neck, eliciting a satisfying pop. "Rude."
"Hmph, so it is true. You Prime Demons are like cockroaches. Annoying to try and put down," Odin said.
"Sorry, Geezer, but I am the nature of all living things. As long as you live, I'll continue to come back," Mammon said, shrugging. "Though, I have to ask. How did you figure out it was me?"
"Perun can never plan something like this. Subterfuge and distractions. Do you really think someone like him would even have the iota of intellect to craft a plan like this?" Odin said.
This time, it was Mammon's turn to laugh boisterously. He gripped his side and wiped a stray tear that tracked its way down his cheek. "Ahahaha! You're right about that… if this plan had gone according to him, we would have lost before entering Asgard. But… considering that you're still alive and down here… and Big Sister is also here, I take it that Perun already lost?" Mammon asked.
Raphael narrowed her eyes. So she wasn't mistaken. That overwhelming blip of demonic power earlier. That was…
"Leviathan is here too? I guess we have our work cut out for us," Odin remarked.
"So… Mammon, let me ask you this? What was the point to all of this? You could have easily broken into Mimisbrunnr without anyone noticing yet you had Perun cause mass chaos and devastate Asgard. Yet, you took a route that I would have never imagined and only ended up drawing more attention to yourself. Why?" Raphael asked.
"Why? Of course, I wanted to see the Lamb in action. And to prepare him."
"The lamb?" Odin raised an eyebrow.
Azazel stepped forward, causing Leviathan to raise a delicate eyebrow in curiosity.
"This was… or well, I can't imagine Perun being the one to do all of this by himself. I knew someone else had a hand in it but I didn't imagine it to be you, Levi," Azazel said.
"Mmm? You're giving me too much praise. As much as I'd love to take credit for something like this, I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on this one. After all, he'd be up in arms if I stole credit for something he planned," Leviathan said, standing up.
He? Azazel thought.
"My role here… is just to be the get-away driver," she said.
"If you're the getaway driver, then… there Perun must have been the decoy and… there's someone else here, isn't there? And… this isn't some random enflamed terrorist. This is a deliberate distraction," Ingvild said..
She blinked in surprise. "Mmm? Oh? My, my, what a surprise. Ingvi, you've woken up~! No wonder Faa's been ignoring all my calls," Leviathan said.
"Mmm. It's been a while… Grandmother."
Everyone else's eyes widened in surprise. Ingvild Leviathan. They knew she was a descendant of the Primeval Demon standing before them, but none of them could have ever imagined that their relationship was much closer than that of ancestor and descendant. Of course, Issei and Irina were already aware of this, but that didn't stop the shock from hitting them. There was a difference between knowing something and experiencing it firsthand.
"So, Levi. Where is this third person?" Veles asked.
"Mmm? He should be finishing up right about now too. Unfortunately, things got out of control here so I had to come here first," she said.
"And… if what Ingvi says is right, then… what are they stealing?" Azazel asked.
"Unfortunately, I can't really say. NDAs and all that. You know how it goes." Her smile never wavered as Leviathan mockingly dismissed their questions. "But to answer your… well, your why. The why we had to… level Asgard just to get something. I would say that it was… merely because we wanted to see how our little insurance is going."
Her eyes flitted discreetly to Issei.
"Insurance…?"
"Mmm, but don't expect an answer for what they are. All I was ordered to do was to prepare the Lamb. After all, having the Lamb die prematurely before we get what we want from them wouldn't work too well in our favor. And Perun was more than happy to get on board. The moment I mentioned Veles's name, it was all too easy to goad him into serving as a distraction while I went here and got what I needed," Mammon said.
"And what is that exactly?" she asked.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Mammon replied.
"What insurance?" Azazel asked, noticing the brief gesture. A growing pit of anxiety festered in his stomach. It was as if she was giving him an obvious answer yet it was obscured to the point where it lay just out of his reach.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out. But I will tell you this… at the rate, it's developing. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that our added plan to… 'level' Asgard was a great success," she said, making air-quotes as she said the word "level".
"We can always force it out of you. I have my fair share of ways of getting people to talk," Odin said, pointing Gungnir at him.
Mammon merely laughed at his words. "Ahahah! I almost forgot that you're also the God of Death. Ahhh. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a hard pass on that," he said.
"So…"
The black and gold rifts behind Mammon began to pulsate violently. "Instead, allow me to leave you all with a gift."
Several chains burst forth from the portals, ripping through the surface of Mimisbrunnr and tearing through the soil. The others, with their bladed ends, snaked their way to the two powerful beings.
Odin jumped and threw Gungnir at full force. The throw shattered the air and ground, ripping through the world like a comet.
Mammon's grin widened to comical proportions. He gathered demonic power into his hand and threw it forward.
A golden shield appeared in front of him, completely halting Gungnir in its path.
Raphael's eyes narrowed. The golden energy morphed and coalesced into a brilliant golden shield with multiple ancient greek etched into its outer rim, spanning the whole thing. At its very center, there was the likeness of a serpent's face etched into it.
"Well, I'll be damned… he managed to add the Aegis to his collection," Odin mumbled.
The two forces, one being unstoppable and the other being immovable, canceled each other out, releasing a violent shockwave that displaced the waters of Mimisbrunnr.
Raphael gathered divine power around her body. Air began to collect in the palms of her hand, rapidly heating and glowing as it condensed into pockets of gas. She swung her arm, unleashing a nebula of flashing lights that violently detonated around Mammon, scorching a large portion of the central island and severely burning the Yggdrasil root that grew.
Mammon flew into the air, unfurling all twelve of his wings. His body sported several burn marks that were rapidly healing.
"Unfortunately, I have to go. I already got what I wanted. And our little Lamb is developing nicely. Soon, this world will be washed away. Slate wiped clean…" He began to release demonic power, causing gusts of wind to batter the two.
"Paradise is the ultimate treasure that people seek. To me… this is the ultimate form of Greed."
Leviathan blinked when she sensed a massive surge of demonic power coming from the damaged Gladsheimr. Her eyes lit up in anticipation.
Everyone had sensed it as well.
"Ahaha, no way. That fucker is still alive," Azazel said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Ah. Mammon," Veles commented.
"Sorry to cut this reunion short, Old Man. But I have to pick up my annoying little brother. I'll see all of you very soon… especially you, Ise-chan~! Don't go dying before our due date!" Leviathan said.
"As if we'd let you escape," Rias said, powering up her Power of Destruction. She lobbed a massive ball of dark energy at the Prime Demon.
Leviathan simply stood there and took the attack in its entirety. The orb violently detonated, causing violent gales to wash over them.
Issei raised his arm, shielding the unconscious Mitsuki from the rubble that flew past.
When the dust cleared, Leviathan hovered in the air without so much as a scratch on her body. She checked her fingernails for dust.
"Was that it? If that's all…"
The air beneath her rippled. Teeth began to protrude from the ripples within the air and a mouth rose to swallow her whole. Before it closed, she gave them one last smile.
"Remember… Ise-chan. 11 months left~!"
The mouth closed with a crunch before retreating back into the watery air and vanishing.
Mammon weaved his way through the attacks. The endless onslaught of corrosive death magic from Odin and the searing stellar gases of Raphael's Power of God.
"An Authority of Death and a Power of God! I haven't faced something like this in a long while!" Mammon snapped his fingers. Several ornate spears manifested out of thin air. Each of them crackled with demonic power.
He flicked his wrist and the spears shot forth, moving in dizzying, high-speed movements. Their metal bodies whislted through the air only to be erased by Odin's Death Authority.
Raphael followed up by condensing the air in her hand into a bright, luminescent sphere. The heat it emitted was unbearable, causing the grass to instantly ignite and the water to boil. The sphere expanded to the size of a basketball and she threw it at him.
However, before the sphere could hit its mark, a beam of black fire sliced through the sphere, causing it to explode violently. The black fire cut through the flames and smoke, aiming for Raphael.
Odin jumped in front of her and slammed Gungnir on the ground, erecting a powerful five-layered barrier.
The beam pierced through four layers instantly before coming to a screeching halt at the final one.
Odin's arms shook as he struggled to keep it at bay. "This is… a Miracle? How the hell? Demons can't cast Miracles!"
Raphael began to gather divine power. He was right to an extent.
Miracles were a form of magic unique to Angels and Heaven. A semantic magic that allowed for the manifestation of phenomena via evoking the System. Primes, however, could perform it. After all, they were the first children of her sister. They were much closer in existence to an Angel rather than the Devils that came after.
Raphael moved past Odin. She held her hand out. The barrier Odin cast finally gave way. However, rather than incinerating its targets as intended, the beam instead bounced off a translucent violent hexagram.
In Raphael's left hand was a shimmering blue spear. Its main body had a jewel-like quality and the light it gave off was similar in sheen to that of lapis lazuli. The blade resembled a heart and had golden accent marks adorning it. Despite its simplistic design, the spear exuded an extraordinary amount of energy.
"Divine Key - Tiferet," Mammon said.
"Oh?"
Raphael and Odin froze when the voice entered their ears.
The air next to Mammon rippled, and Leviathan appeared from a mouth that had seemingly appeared in the fabric of reality.
"You deflected my Miracle," Leviathan said.
"Leviathan," Raphael said.
Odin tightened his grip on Gungnir, prepared to skewer the two devils that had run amok within his realm.
"Unfortunately, I'm not here to fight. Let's go, Mammon," Leviathan said, holding her hands up.
"Took you long enough."
A mouth burst from the air beneath him, swallowing him whole.
"Wait-!"
However, before Raphael could do anything, a mouth erupted from beneath Leviathan, swallowing her as well.
"Damn it!" Raphael cursed.
Odin walked over to the shores of Mimisbrunnr and dipped his finger into the water. The waters were dormant once more, refusing to reveal their nature to anyone.
"Looks like… whatever they were looking for, they got it," Odin said.
Raphael closed her eyes in frustration.
The enemy had gotten away and Asgard lay mostly in ruin. Though the others may have been successful in driving away the enemy, in the end, whatever victory they had scored, had merely been a pyrrhic one.
While the battle had been short, the aftermath was extensive. It had been centuries since Asgard had suffered such a direct attack from anything. Yet the chaos and death that had been wrought that day had equaled the amount of damage they had suffered if they were currently at war.
Issei didn't want to look any further. There were thousands upon thousands of people looking for their loved ones or being treated for injuries of varying severity within Gladsheimr, one of the only structures that hadn't been obliterated thanks to Veles. The rest were in the halls of Valhalla being treated by the Einherjar.
While there were thousands of survivors, there were many times more that were either missing or dead. Odin had sent all of his forces to search in earnest and sent Heimdall to the Vanaheim to request help from the Vanir Gods.
How that would go, Issei wouldn't know. He lacked the talent for politics or directing massive amounts of resources to handle such a catastrophe. Nor did he even want to be in charge of something like this. It was at times like these that he wondered how Sirzechs handled everything he could. The aftermath of Beelzebub's assault on the Underworld, while barely as extensive as this, must have caused mass hysteria.
"Issei."
Issei turned around and saw Veles standing behind him. The God nodded in the direction of an open door by the balcony. Issei nodded and followed him, walking carefully through a sea of Aesir desperate to get medical treatment or find their lost family members.
Issei remained silent as the two came to a stop. Before them, the ruins of what was Asgard spread far beyond its walls. A beautiful landscape lay in ruins. Mountains reduced to rubble. Lakes and bodies of water vaporized, leaving nothing but large depressions of land that dotted the horizon.
"I'm sorry about Perun. I never expected him to attack us like that," Veles said.
"No, it's fine. None of us knew he was going to be like that," Issei said.
Veles said nothing in return. Instead, he raised his hand and ruffled Issei's hair, causing the boy to reflexively swat his hand away. He gave Veles a confused expression, seeing the small smile on the God's face.
"But… you survived out there. Against Perun of all people. Well done," Veles said.
"But… Asgard is…"
"Don't beat yourself up over it. There was nothing you could have done. Destruction is a consequence of war and battle. The Aesir know this better than anyone and rebuild in time," Veles said, looking sadly over the ruins. "We, the Slavs, will help since it was our God that instigated this fight in the first place."
Issei nodded.
"It seems though, that you have more pressing issues on your mind."
Issei remained silent, wondering if Veles would know what to do about his unique situation.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Mastema said.
Issei's eyes widened slightly before sighing. "I… Don't tell anyone else that I told you this. I…"
"It's about the Faustian Bargain you made with Leviathan, isn't it?" Veles said, finishing his sentence for him.
Issei looked at him with shock. "How did you…?"
"I'm an Ascendant, kid. And before that, I am the God of the Underworld. I can just tell these things. Besides, your light is weaker than everyone else's in this room. I've only seen a flicker of an ember where a person's soul should be when they're near death or suffering from something terminal. Yet you, a completely healthy person, possess the soul of a dying man," Veles said.
Issei remained silent.
"Is there… Is there any way to fix it?" he asked, praying fervently in his mind that Veles had some sort of miraculous cure-all of his predicament.
"I'm afraid not. If it was a standard Faustian Bargain, I would have just used my Boundary to break it but…," Veles trailed off.
"But…? Your deal is being reinforced by a Boundary."
Issei and Mastema's eyes widened considerably. Even Ddraig was shocked into silence.
"A boundary… but how? Leviathan's not an Ascendant… unless…"Horror filled her gaze as she began to mentally put the pieces together.
And it seemed to Issei that Veles had a person in mind as well, yet it looked like he wasn't as sure as Mastema was.
"You're telling me that Serpent's Seed has more Ascendants on their side. Aside from Perun, I'm sure they do. Otherwise, your deal wouldn't be like this. And I doubt Perun has any hand in this. I'm sure you can tell that he's not the type to play the long con," Veles said.
"Then… who… who do you think…?"
"Lilith."
"Lilith."
"Lilith?" Issei raised an eyebrow. He vaguely remembered learning that name during his stay in the Underworld. It was during one of their off days where he met with Rias's mother for etiquette lessons or as he liked to call them "bridal lessons for men". And the other time was-
Issei's eyes widened. "That… Lilith? The one called the Origin Demon? The one whose blood is inside me?"
"Mmm. Lilith is the only other Ascendant that I can think of and the only person I know that can command Devils like Leviathan and Mammon. If her blood is running inside you, the same that turned you into an Ascendant, then I have no doubt she's playing a role in this somehow," Veles said.
"Then, what do I…? How the hell do I get out of this?" Issei asked.
"My best bet for you is to seek out Ereshkigal. Either her, Izanami, or Hades. I don't really remember which one of them has it," Veles said.
"Has what?"
"The Divine Key Da'at."
Mastema's eyes widened considerably. She looked to Issei, who nodded discreetly.
"Divine Key… Da'at?" he asked.
"Lucifer's Divine Key. The medium and crystallization of the Shevirat Ha-Kelim. Unlike the other Divine Keys that were made from the Ein Sof, hers is made purely from her own power," he explained. "It may… be able to overwrite your deal. Problem is… the Key went missing after the Great War. All I know was that Izanami, Hades, and Ereshkigal were involved and came to an agreement. Kali, Angra Mainyu, and I know that one of them has it but which one, neither of them will say it."
"I… see," he said.
"The others probably won't be as accepting as Kali or I. But… considering your will burns as brightly as hers once did, I have no doubt they'll come around," Veles said.
Issei felt something warm swell up inside of him. Ever since people had told him of her and the achievements she accomplished, he couldn't help but look up to her. The sheer irony of it all. His idol was now the Devil herself and now he was chasing along the path of a woman who had died long ago.
"Veles."
The two turned around and saw Mokosh standing at the door.
"Ah, Mokosh."
"Odin is asking for us. We need to finish our talks since we have to add relief aid," she said.
Veles nodded. He patted Issei on the shoulder before walking off.
"W- Wait! Where do I start looking for Da'at!? I can't just go ask all the Great Evils!" Issei said.
"Go find Lotan. Or Metatron. Either of them can point you in the right direction," Veles said, waving his hand.
"Damn… 11 months huh?" Issei said, looking wistfully over the balcony.
"Aniki."
"Ise."
He turned around and saw Irina and Mitsuki walking through the door.
"Eh? Where's Ingvild?" he asked.
"Talking to Tsufaame," Mitsuki replied.
"11 months, huh?" Mitsuki said, leaning on the balcony.
"Yeah."
"Issei. We'll get through this," Irina said, planting a hand on his shoulder.
"I… Yeah. I promise both of you. And Ingvild too. That no matter what the four of us will get through this together. I swear," Issei said.
Irina and Mitsuki exchanged glances before nodding.
"Yeah, better get your soul back. Don't want to die now before your harem is complete," Irina chided.
"Yeah, I wanna add you before I die. Dying before I get to snag you is going to be my biggest regret," he said.
Mitsuki almost cringed physically at his response. "I'll leave you two alone," Mitsuki said, stalking off, noticing an increasing sense of intimacy between the two.
Issei nodded before turning back to Irina.
"I… I do mean it, Rin. No matter what, I'll get it back. I'll get out of this. You're not going to lose me, I swear," Issei said, looking into her lavender eyes.
"I…" she smiled. She leaned in and planted a brief but chaste kiss on Issei's lips. "I'll hold you to that, Ise." Irina pulled back slightly and leaned her head on his shoulder. The two stood there, bathing in each other's warmth underneath the shimmering rainbow lights of the Bifrost.
Unbeknownst to them, Mitsuki had not left completely as she had said she would. Instead, she walked around the corner. There, plastered with her back against a pillar was Rias. Her eyes were wide in horror and despair. Tears streamed slowly down her cheeks.
It didn't take long for Mitsuki to figure out why she had been reduced to this state.
"Ne, Mitsuki. It's… not true… right? That Ise-kun has 11 months to live. You guys were just… kidding, right?" Rias said quietly in a begging tone.
Well, that wraps up the Ragnarok Arc proper. In the next chapter, it will be a short epilogue chapter and then we'll go on a short intermission so I don't burn out! Remember to leave a review and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!