Aftermath and Invitation

Joint Faction Mansion (4 Hours Later) (Rias P.O.V.)

Sighing, Serefall leaned back in her chair with the most tired expression most of them had ever seen from her. Sirzechs saw this more often than most, but it had certainly been a while. She wasn't alone though. Azazel was slouching in his chair with a cup of coffee in front of him. Michael was a little harder to read, but had a barely noticeable weary continence to him. Sona's peerage had already been dismissed for the rest of the day with a stern order from Serefall to keep a close watch on Kiba at all times.

Considering the identity of the enemy that appeared at end being the one who initiated the holy sword project and killed all his friends, it wouldn't be strange if the boy decided to become a stray devil to pursue him. The problem was that even if he were to do this, he would die. He may have gotten stronger with that step into the balance breaker realm, but he wasn't Satan class and Valper currently was. It wouldn't be hard for Rias to find him, but they had explicitly asked her keep that information to the faction leaders. As long as he wasn't fated to cause too big of a disaster, they could use him for their peace.

Speaking of peace, the three leaders had spent the last two hours coordinating the reports to their internal factions and handling the cleanup of all the witnesses to the event. They had already recieved a message from Odin complaining about all the formal complaints he had been receiving from other factions on the publicity of the dragon clone. Serefall had to bring in one of her news studios and air a quick show live on TV labeling this as a stunt. Contrary to what many devils knew, she had more than just her magical girl show hosted on the DevilNet; She's also the true owner behind quite a few anime, TV, news, and Hollywood Movie Studios; she just left their ownership in the hands of humans she hired to do the job in her stead. These are useful for some of the larger cover ups. With a little bit of hypnosis to the right people and the whole thing became an overly expensive movie prop.

"Man…" Serefall drew out. "Why did Loki have to summon the stupid dragon clone. It's not like it contributed much to the fight? It looked pretty weak."

"Considering his penchant for mayhem, I don't think he's as concerned about moderation as we are." Azazel said

"I'm of a similar opinion, though it is convenient that the Old Satan Faction was taken out of the equation earlier. From the records we seized from Rizevim's mind, it was clear that they were in league with the perpetrators. They would most definitely have joined in the assault were they still active." Sirzechs said with a smile, glad that their three months of work had made this day a go a lot smoother.

"Indeed. It is fortunate" Michael said with a nod.

"Why don't we take a rest and discuss our new enemies after tomorrow's meeting with the Vampire and Norse factions. It's been a long day and it doesn't look like anyone's in the mood for more. I can also use that time to get with Valerie and get more specifics on what Valper's condition is like. She would be the chief authority on the subject after all." Rias suggested.

"It certainly has merit. We have all the information we need in the short term. All of us have already written down our accounts of the event and Grayfia's collecting all the information we have on these threats. We do need some time before we have a full accounting of the matter." Sirzechs said.

"Agreed." Michael said.

"Same on my end." Azazel put in his input as well.

"Then we'll reconvene tomorrow two hours prior to our meeting with the two other factions. It'll give us time to finalize some of the legalities of our three-factions internal treaty." Serefall said causing the others to nod.

"If there are no other matters to discuss, this meeting is adjourned and will reconvene tomorrow." Serefall finished.

'Great! Time to see how Valerie and Ingvild are doing.' Rias thought to herself with glee.

Rias's Room (Rias P.O.V.)

Sitting on the couch in her room, Rias took out her phone, enabled the special encrypted call functionality her brother set up for her, and started to dial for Kuroka.

A couple of seconds later, Kuroka picked up.

"Hello nya?

"Hey Kuro, it's nice to hear from you again!" Rias exclaimed joyfully.

"Yes, it is. Well, it's good to hear from you too." Rias's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "You still running away from your man?" Kuroka asked mischievously.

"Actually, that problem's been dealt with. I'm a free woman now and now I'm in the position to extend the same curtesy to you too." Rias said with an unfazed smile on her face. That joke was much easier to take once the source of the problem was dealt with.

"Oh, do tell?" She asked curiously.

For the next ten minutes or so, Rias recounted the events of the past few months from her ascension to Demon Goddess to her new position as a super devil and even her importance to the new alliance.

"Wow, that's one hell of a story. I heard about the Super Devil thing, but the goddess bit is a bit unreal. So, I'm guessing you're calling to recruit me nya?" She asked playfully. Truthfully, she was trying to hide how surprised she was at the news.

'You let this girl out of your sight for a few months and she becomes a goddess?' She thought while shaking her head.

"That's the plan. This is not an order of any kind. I plan on trying to free you from any charges regardless. This is simply me trying to help you repopulate your species with the additional longevity this would give you, easier free status, stronger genes to pass on, and a family you can come home to every day. You've been my friend for a few years now and I want you to be happy." Rias's tone started steady, but started to get a little emotional toward the end. She really did want her friend to be happy after all the years being spent as a SS-Rank criminal, a status she didn't deserve.

The other side of the line was quiet for a bit. Rias could barely hear an increased breathing rate from her friend; it was clear just how much the offer and the feelings behind it meant to her.

"Of course." Rias heard in a semi-whisper, then Kuroka got louder and more jovial. "Of course, I'll join you! Are you inviting Akeno too? Oh, this will be so much fun!" she started soft and quickly became joyful at the prospect.

If this was a few years back, then this offer would have been taken as an insulting bid toward servitude. Kuroka hated the peerage system with the passion as it enabled vile pureblooded devils to acquire slaves; this pillar system was very similar. Luckily, Rias had become of one her most precious people after they journeyed together with Akeno for a while in the sin lands. Truthfully speaking, they spent the majority of their time together and only separated a few months before Rias arrived in Miam village to allow for some personal development. They each had different specialties and those needed to be cultivated in different environments. All of this really helped grease the wheels for Kuroka's decision. Good thing too, because convincing Medusa would be a challenge. Two problems at a time weren't favorable.

"Great! Yes, I'm planning on asking Akeno. It's just I wanted to prioritize you since I thought you'd be interested in a certain adventure your fellow pillars and myself will be going on."

"An adventure?" Kuroka asked.

"Yes. One of your fellow pillars, Hanabi Hyuga, comes from a line descended from a group of demons in the land of sloth. She thought she was from a different world, but I really don't think that's the case. So, we're going to investigate."

[AN: I'll repeat this when we get to that arc, but I'm not counting Boruto or anything from that continuation as cannon for this story.]

"I don't mind helping, but why would this interest me specifically." A confused tone sounded on the other side of the line.

"From what Hanabi said about the humans in her world, they all used Chakra, even the ones not descended from the Otsutsuki. A few even had a means of channeling natural energy without succumbing to the planet's malevolence. At worst, they had a possibility of turning to stone in the initial stages, but there are mentors that can guide prospects past those stages. I thought this would be the perfect environment to hone your craft." Rias explained with a smile as she heard the rapid breathing rate of her friend, this time in excitement.

"When do we leave!?" She asked excitedly. You'd think she'd reunited with her sister with how excited she sounded.

"In a couple of days. Get here as soon as you can. I promised Adjuka that I would make my next pillar in his lab to help him better understand how they work. Once we're done with that, we'll set out.

"One last question. How are you going to remove my status as an SS-rank criminal?" Kuroka asked, not really sounding like the question bothered her at all. She had long come to terms with the status.

"Technically, it would go away once you're an official part of my pillars. For the evidence though, it was collected during the raid. The house you were formally owned by was part of the Old Satan faction, so their residences were raided. Even if evidence wasn't found; it could be easily fabricated and should we want to be on safe side, we claim you as a spy for the four Satans. Things became much easier after those raids." Rias joyously explained. Her life would have been much harder if those houses still had standing.

"Great! I'll be there tomorrow night then. I gotta wrap some things up over here. See you then!" Kuroka cheerfully said and hung up before Rias could respond.

Shaking her head, Rias proceeded to dial Akeno's number.

No answer. Rias hung up after leaving a short message asking Akeno to call her back. They were busy people, so it was expected that she wouldn't be able to answer right away. It was a little disappointing though.