Chapter 44: Hostage-inquisitor bats her eyelids

Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers was feeling as if he had missed something crucial as he sat on a plastic chair in front of a round picnic table.

Tannin exhaled smoke from his nostrils while the humanoid-shaped Dragon kept his arms crossed on ahis chest, looking every bit a disappointed father to the people around the table.

Indeed Mathers, Sirzechs Lucifer's Bishop, had been found approximately three seconds after he had landed to the area Tannin called his home, and the dragon had pulled the not-quite-priest out of a bush and slapped him on the plastic chair like some sort of forced picnic guest, and had interrogated the Bishop for the last few hours while the security team departed from lady Phenix's mansion and her two Peerage members milled about, keeping an eye on Lady Phenix's two remaining sons.

"I feel like we're missing something crucial." Mathers noted to Tannin who huffed more smoke out of his nostrils.

The dragon glanced at the sky which had turned dark for a while and then had returned to its normal, sunny state. "Don't know, don't care, Lady Phenix asked me to keep 'er sons safe, so that's what I'm going to do. If you ask me to turn them over to you, I refuse. I know what sort of things you creepy priest-like types are into when it comes to little kids, or in the case of Ruval there, handsome young lads."

The tea cup on Mather's hands developed hairline cracks. "Spoken like a true garden lizard."

"You wanna go, punk?"

It had been surprising that the cordial conversation had managed to last for the last few hours, although that had likely been so because neither side had spoken.

And as the Not-Priest Creep and Blast Dragon went at it, the Phenix entourage dived for cover.

.

.

Grayfia let the last of the Fallen Angels fall to his knees with a fist-sized spikes of ice through both of his thighs, the BDSM suit of leather straps and other unspeakable 'items' that made the Fallen Angel's chosen combat uniform forming a poor defense against physical attacks.

The central market district of the capital of the Underworld looked like a battlefield, which was appropriate as that was exactly what it had become, with Devils and Fallen Angels engaging each other in reckless melee.

Grayfia had managed to teleport in with Gremory's reinforcements and had turned the tide of battle to the Devil's favor, and had forced the few surviving Fallen Angels to retreat back to the Human World through a series of teleporting circles.

However, the losses both sides had suffered were unacceptable- The devils had lost tens of their number outright, and it looked like at least ten times as many would perish from lack of immediate medical care.

The medics Grayfia had brought were scrambling to stabilize the hundreds of wounded Devils, many of whom had gotten caught in the middle of the battle without weapons and had to do with hastily-made improved weapons through [Power of Imagination], with majority not being able to manifest so much as a sharpened sword much less a weapon of proper quality.

Due to the number of critically wounded the healers had focused on just stabilizing the wounded and moving them to the hospital to receive proper healing since healing the wounded to 'full health' would be inefficient use of the field medic's limited resources, and would leave many dying devils without proper medical care.

Grayfia sighed as she began using her own healing abilities, which while meager were better than nothing, on the fallen Devils.

'Sirzechs is going to grab Azazel by the prostate and tear it out like a tape measure for this… And I'm going to hold that worm by the shoulders while Sirzechs does it.'Grayfia grind her teeth together while she thought some things which she would never be caught speaking.

Groans, cries and screams of the wounded and dying echoed Grayfia's thoughts, and the sight of the battlefield was bringing up some bad memories of the civil war in the maid-dressing Devil's head.

.

.

Sona felt like she'd start hyperventilating as Beelzebub walked into the hospital section of Gremory's grounds, that now housed Momon's Peerage as well as Lady Phenix and Ravel, with Belial and Sirzechs having left to get a grip on the unfolding situation and to 'interrogate' a certain Fallen Angel.

Momon was patting Rias's hand while she slept on a hospital bed nearby, the girl having enough sedatives in her system to knock out an elephant, and the same treatment had been applied to most of the man's Peerage including Ravel who had been twitching and screaming incoherently once the doctors pulled out the binds from around the girl.

The diagnosis of 'externally inflicted insanity' had been the same for the entire Peerage as well as Ravel. Meanwhile Lady Phenix had been merely prescribed a hefty pile of stress-relieving medications.

Momon had asked for some as well, but to the boy's disappointment it looked like he hadn't been affected by the drugs.

Sona, however, had been declared to be right as rain with exception of needing a long shower, but had chosen to stay in the infirmary after cleaning herself as Sirzechs had let her know Beelzebub would be coming with Serafall in tow.

Indeed, Beelzebub came to the infirmary like a hurricane and quickly tossed Serafall from his shoulder to an empty bed, causing Sona to double-take the situation as her sister's normally jovial features had turned bestial and honestly very disturbing, indicating that the 'girl' had lost control of her powers entirely and had turned to more beast-like form resembling a hybrid of a lahmia and a sea dragon, but it looked like her features were slowly returning towards her humanlike 'normal' shape.

"Sona-san? Good, you're here." Beelzebub turned towards Sona. "We feared someone had done something to you, for Serafall-san to blow her fuse like she had. It looks like that fear was unfounded. But I have to ask you to be present when Serafall-san wakes up, or I fear her rage will re-ignite and set the Underworld in fire- or rather, drown it in a flood."

Sona nodded slowly, feeling more and more like her normal everyday life was getting torn from its roots and thrown into a woodchipper.

'Is this what Rias has to endure daily?' Sona glanced at the unconcious girl and felt more sympathy for her than ever.

Serafall let out a groan and Beelzebub glanced at his wrist-watch and evacuated the room, making Sona sweatdrop from the sudden feeling of her being told to defuse a bomb with both hands tied and blind.

Serafall's eyes opened and met Sona's, and the world seemed to freeze over.

Quite literally, as the entire hospital flash-froze, royally scaring the doctors and the nurses who suddenly found their tools frosted over.

"Sera…" Sona opened her mouth, but was knocked to the floor as Serafall bounced off the hospital bed and impacted against Sona's chest.

Sona, once again, felt a twinge of envy towards Rias as air was knocked off her lungs from the impact, which likely wouldn't have happened if she had sizable shock absorbers in her chest like Rias had.

"SOO-TAAANNNN!" Serafall cried to Sona's chest, causing the latter to gasp for air as Serafall's grip was preventing her from breathing. "YOU'RE ALIVE! YAY! YAY! SO-TAN! I LOVE YOU!"

The ball of pink joy that bounced all over Sona's body seemed to pause for a while and the hospital thawed, allowing the doors to open and flowers to wilt as they hadn't survived the sudden cold.

She then looked at Sona's eyes, looking for something and then kissing her cheek. "So-tan… I'm so glad… I- I couldn't save you, I'm so sorry… H-how are you here? How are you alive?"

"Ah I happened to find Sona-sama floating in the swamp and had her resurrected." Momon noted from the side. "Good to see you again, Levi-tan."

"Ah… Ah…" Gears seemed to click in Serafall's head, and Sona got a bad feeling.

The weight disappeared from on top of Sona's chest and she managed to draw breath to her lungs, which was then exhaled immediately afterwards with a cough as she saw what Serafall was doing.

In truth, Sona wasn't all that shocked, as crazy and perverted things seemed to follow Issei no matter what, and regardless if he was 'Issei' or if he was 'Momon'.

Still, seeing Serafall throw herself at Momon and kiss him like a hungry wolf descending on a piece of meat was enough for Sona to worry about her future.

'...Is this my life now?' Sona's sympathy towards Rias turned to outright sisterhood.

.

.

Momonga sighed in relief as everything seemed to pan out somewhat alright, the sudden deep tongue-twister Serafall had given him notwithstanding.

'So to recap, The Elder Lich is still rampaging based off the quick recap I got from Sirzechs and Belial, apparently Sirzechs didn't approve of my plan to have my Peerage make a distraction while I snuck to the Elder Lich's base, and my cover seems to be mostly intact even after all that.' Momonga recounted the events. He had gained a report from the maids in his mansion, stating that apparently Hyoudou couple that were the progenitors of Momonga's current host body had come to visit, and that the mansion was alright but the estate's grounds had been mostly leveled by the battle between Maou, two Fallen Angels and the devil who had fought Momonga in the estate's forest, Vali. 'Well, I guess I'll have to get someone to fix the estate's grounds, perhaps plant some trees or something. Ah, and I'll need to find a chance to talk to Ddraig, something's bugging him…'

Momonga pat Rias's hand with one hand and pat Serafall's head with the other, seemingly stuck between the trio of girls as Serafall had pulled apprehensive Sona to her hug and had plopped the girl on top of 'Momon's free leg while she occupied the other. '...Well, I guess my plan of increasing my value in Serafall's eyes succeeded. Now I'll just have to figure out how to twist the situation so that my initial mistake of summoning the Elder Lich and the rest of the undead won't haunt me to the far future… I can't keep relying on accidents and misconceptions for long, the house of cards only lasts until the first mis-placed card…'

Indeed, the Elder Lich had performed far beyond what had been required of it, but that did pose a problem of its own, as it had acted as if Momonga's intention was to conquer the world. He'd need to set the undead creature straight the next time he managed to contact it, and see if Momonga could get the sentient undead to start working on some sort of peace treaty.

'I'll just have to make sure I'll be clear with my orders... ' Momonga sighed once again. 'Come to think of it, with my cover being reinforced even more and my spell-casting being generally acceptable unless I veer too deep into necromancy, I should be able to start ascertaining the true strength of the creatures keeping an eye on me… I already know Serafall has a frankly ridiculous amount of health, so I should start poking around her combat potential as well, then work on other Maous...'

"Levi-tan?" Momonga turned towards Serafall who was hugging Sona and mumbling something to her ear. It seemed that Sona had long since stopped thinking as she was wobbling like if she had heard the largest wad of rubbish in her entire life and had been forced to recognize it as reality.

"Mhm?" Serafall mumbled as she put her head against Momonga's chest, forcing him to pause for a while. He flinched instinctively as he looked towards Sona and the look on her face promised retribution should he go too far with her sister. Still, Sona seemed somewhat muted, likely due to the fact she owed her life to 'Momon', a fact Momonga would likely leverage to all its worth.

"I was wondering, would you be interested in sparring a bit with me after we get everything up and running? I feel like I need to get my Peerage's fighting strength up, and sparring with Maou would likely help me learn how to fight against opponents stronger than myself." Momonga asked the Magical Girl Maou. 'As long as I don't reveal any of my big trump cards, I should be alright with giving them a bit of new information about my abilities… More importantly, I can check how well Serafall can withstand different tiers of spells and abilities...'

"Wuh?" Serafall seemed surprised, then her face lit up. "Mo-kun! Are you going to show your deep dark side to me in battle? A-are you coming onto me? Please wait, Mo-kun! I need to get myself ready mentally and physically, but an evil villain corrupting a young and impressionable magical girl sounds super hot!"

Momonga froze as the magical girl's mental state seemed to do one-eighty heel-face turn once again. 'Oh yeah, what was that thing Touch Me said about his ex-girlfriend? Don't stick to the crazy or something?'

"I-I don't know if I'm ready to go that far just yet." Momonga stalled for time while Serafall blushed and Sona coughed. "Ah, anyway, we should probably get Sona-sama back to the Human World…"

"Denied." The word came from Serafall, causing Sona and Momonga to stare at the girl for a bit. "No-one is getting back there until we have cleared this situation with the Three Factions, the chance of getting attacked or provoking a war is too high with all the factions prowling Kuoh as it is. I can't risk Sona-chan getting ganked and killed again! Even if Mo-kun would gallantly ride to her rescue and bring her back again!"

"My Peerage is still in the Human World." Sona pleaded to Serafall who instantly melted in front of her sister's glare.

"W-well, I'll get someone to fetch them, that stare is too unfair, So-tan…" Serafall fumbled a bit and froze as she seemingly remembered her phone had been destroyed. "Uuuhh…."

"Later, then." Momonga waved the conversation forward, and glanced to the side as a groan came from the direction where Lady Phenix and Ravel were located- it seemed that Ravel had woken up and was struggling weakly against Lady Phenix who was hugging the girl to her chest while the two rested on the same, extra-large hospital bed.

Momonga wondered for a while why the hospital had two-person beds, but discarded the thought as he was fairly certain the ero-world would find an ero-way.

Ravel let out a scream as she spotted Momon, hugging her mother desperately. "M-mom! Wake up! W-we need to get out! Hurry!"

"Ravel…. What's wrong?" Lady Phenix snapped awake as she seemed to have dozed off. "What is happening?"

"T-The Supreme Being! Momon is the Supreme Being!" Ravel pointed a shaky hand at Momonga. "We need to get away!"

'Just as planned…' Momon feigned ignorance by tilting his head. He then moved Serafall and Sona off his legs so he could get up.

Serafall let a 'muuh' sound, making her displeasure known even though Sona looked relieved as her seat on 'Momon's thigh had been forced on her by Serafall.

Momonga walked to the bed where Lady Phenix and Ravel lied, glad that his plan to make Ravel a mockingbird was succeeding as Lady Phenix had tied her arms around the twitching and blushing girl, letting reassuring and calming sounds to the girl's ear.

"Shh… Everything's going to be alright… Everything's fine…" Lady Phenix hiccupped a bit as she mumbled to Ravel's ear, and the Phenix daughter froze utterly as Momonga reached to rub the girl's head a bit.

He figured it wouldn't hurt to reinforce his status as benefactor of the Phenix family a bit, not to mention that him acting kind and Ravel accusing him at the same time would cause the idea of him being 'the supreme being' become ridiculous, thus reinforcing his cover even more. '...Ahh, for once my plan is going as I intended…'

Serafall exchanged a few words with Lady Phenix, mostly centered around the reason for her sadness, considering Ravel seemed to be alright, and found an answer from the woman.

"Uwah, so Lord Phenix died…" Serafall seemed to buzz around the grieving woman. "Hey! Mo-kun! You resurrected So-tan! Can you resurrect daddy Phenix-chan too?"

To say that the words caused a reaction in lady Phenix would be an understatement.

"M-Momon-san!" Lady Phenix grabbed Momonga's hand and pressed her temple against it. "Please! Please resurrect my husband! I'll do anything! Anything you want!"

"Uh…" Momonga would have normally had no trouble accepting the woman's trade, as him requesting majority shares of the woman's 'company' in exchange for resurrecting her husband would essentially eliminate his major rival in his side project of establishing healing item monopoly in the Underworld.

Problem, however, arose from two factors- one, Momonga had absorbed Lord Phenix's soul and had his memories sealed away in a dam-like corner of his mind. Two, if Lord Phenix was resurrected with his memories intact then it was likely he'd realize what was going on with Elder Lich and Momonga, and the latter's cover would likely evaporate in an instant because while Ravel's 'discovery of Momon being the Supreme Being' would be swept under the mat, Lord Phenix had actual say in the matters so his word would be taken far more seriously.

Yet at the same time, if he turned down lady Phenix's request with some half-thought excuse, he'd undo much of the goodwill he had garnered from the woman, not to mention he'd establish that the 'Resurrecting' service he was about to unveil would be flawed, diminishing its sales.

'...I shouldn't think that my plans are going my way, something always happens afterwards...' Momonga blamed himself as he racked his brains. "W-well, I don't have Lord Phenix's body…"

"I gave you h-his head…" Lady Phenix's eyes widened and Momonga hurriedly corrected himself.

"I mean, full body. I'll have to research a bit, since if I have it done the wrong way then there's a chance something unexpected happens…" The woman clearly sensed Momonga's hesitation in the words and grabbed his forearm, pressing her face against his chest.

"Please! Please, resurrect him! Just bring him back, and I'll do whatever need, whatever you want! I'll be your mistress if you need me to be, just bring him back to me!" Lady Phenix's words caused Ravel to start screaming again, and she moved to cover her daughter's mouth with her hand. "If- no, if… if… I- I- If… If you wish to have Ravel's hand… I..."

"You're not thinking straight, Lady Phenix." Momonga patted the woman's back and pushed her down on the bed as the panic and desperation cracked the woman's vulnerabilities open.

Ravel hugged the woman tightly and placed herself between her mother and Momonga, glaring at him threateningly.

Momonga continued, ignoring the girl. "I'm glad that you value your husband so much, but please, consider what you offer beforehand..."

"I mean it!" Lady Phenix hiccupped, her eyes wild and Momonga felt that the traumatic events of the past day had just broken to the surface, causing quite a bit of mental stress to the woman despite her medication. "Just, bring him back! Please! If- If this body of mine pleases you, then take it in exchange! Or is it something else you're after?!"

Normally Momonga and Suzuki Satoru would have jumped at the chance to essentially de-throne Lady Phenix from her seat as 'CEO' of a very successful 'company' and place himself on it, but with Serafall watching and Sona staring at him, he'd be a bit hard pressed to demand everything Lady Phenix would give and then some in exchange for resurrection of her husband, or rather a 'resurrection', as a plan began forming in Momonga's head.

Lord Phenix had been a King of his own Peerage, even if he had none remaining after the Civil War, but his status ruled his resurrection via Pieces out of the picture.

However, Momonga recalled another precedent, one regarding resurrecting things into corpses.

Indeed, he had already started to form a plan, and figured that it'd also give him a way of off-loading the dangerous flood of unnecessary memories sealed in his head. 'I'll just have to word things really, really carefully…'

"Stop! You've done something to mom's head!" Ravel hissed at 'Momon', even if she was wobbling and panting heavily as the effect of the 'potions' Momonga had fed her hadn't calmed down. And likely wouldn't calm down for a while as long as nothing was done for it "Your plans won't work on me, so you've chosen to have a go at my mother instead! You- you fiend! You're in league with those Undead, and I'll find a way to prove it! Your mind reading won't catch me off guard if I speak my mind aloud! Y-your attempt to seduce me by drugging me won't w-work! A-and I wont let you t-take my mother, you'll ha-have to go through me first! No, I mean, not literally, you pervert! It's not like I want you to take responsibility for what you did to me!"

"It's alright, everything will work out eventually. Just you wait." Momonga pat Ravel's head, pausing to wave his hand a bit as Ravel bit down on it like an angry shark and even her teeth seemed to become saw-like for a moment.

"Uwah- Mo-kun is a netori protagonist…" Serafall was blushing and holding to her face. "So… Evil! So despicable! I love it! Your method-acting is even better than mine! Your villain persona is incredible! I'm feeling super bad for daddy Phenix-kun now!"

Momonga wasn't happy with Serafall's assessment, and neither was Sona who came to Momonga's rescue.

"He said he wasn't going to take Lady Phenix up on the offer." Sona poked Serafall's cheek. "You're being lewd again, sister."

"Uwah, So-tan thinks I'm a pervert…" Serafall hugged Momonga while looking back at Sona. "Hey, Mo-kun, I don't like it when Sona-chan is wrong so let's prove her right!"

Momonga sighed as the pink Maou reached up to give him a kiss, causing Ravel, Sona and Lady Phenix to pause.

"AAAH!" Ravel screamed desperately and tore at her own cheeks in horror. "No way, nowaynowaynoway! Serafall Leviathan is in cahoots with the Supreme Being too?!"

Lady Phenix put her hands on Ravel's mouth and the girl gulped instinctively, and her eyes rolled back on her head as the sedative kicked in instantly.

"I'm… incredibly sorry for Ravel's insinuations, Momon-san." Lady Phenix bit her lip. "I- If you want…"

"Cait-chan, please, consider..." Momonga reminded her, then scrunched his face as he spotted a rogue memory in his mind-scape which had leaked over the 'damn' in his mind and quickly scooped it up by throwing Peroroncino-plushie at it and then squeezing it dry over the slowly leaking damn holding the flood of memories back. 'I'm running out of time…'

Lady Phenix hiccupped, then hugged Momonga to his surprise. "H-how do you know, how, only he…"

"Well, I figured, erm…" Momonga felt sweat falling down his fleshy body's eyebrows as he realized that the name he had called the woman with might have been analogous to the 'bellu-chan' Riser had called Yubelluna. 'Oh no…'

"In truth, when I asked for Lord Phenix's head, I was already getting ready to resurrect him and went through his memories, figuring that I'd probably need to cut out the part where he was tortured…" Momonga used his trademark skill, making stuff up on the fly. "You see, otherwise he'd be utterly insane. You've seen Ravel's condition, I imagine Lord Phenix would be worse since he's been captured by the enemy for far longer…"

"A-ah…" Lady Phenix shook like a leaf so Momonga decided to turn up the fire on the stove.

"As it turns out something happened and his soul somewhat, hm, merged with mine. I think." Momonga monitored Lady Phenix's reaction, then realized that what he had done was quite close to what Beelzebub had accused 'Issei' had done to 'Riser', even if the latter had been rubbish. "Ah, I think I can split him and me apart again so it's not like what happened to Riser and me…"

Lady Phenix let a long sigh of relief and slumped down. Momonga guided her back on the bed and the woman took the assistance gratefully. "Momon… While Riser's death still rends at my soul, I am… grateful to you. That you're here. Without your help, Ravel would be dead or worse, and, if you can bring my husband back… I... I'm truly at loss for words. Please excuse me."

"Of course, my lady." Momonga felt like further dilly-dallying might not be a good idea as his original plan had come incredibly close to unraveling and he didn't want to risk it imploding utterly. '...Of course this would happen the moment everything seemed to go according to my plans…'

Rias let out a groan from the other side of the infirmary and Momonga hurried to resume his patting of the girl's hand while he put finalizing touches on his new plan.

'Well, at least I can salvage this…' Momonga sighed in relief.

.

.

[Dominion Authority], meanwhile, was floating above the Gremory's hospital which was slowly getting filled by Devils that had been wounded in the capital's invasion.

The Angel spread its wings wider and held to its pole-mace with pride as the devils gawked at it on their way to the hospital. Indeed, the Angel was determined that it'd show the devils the appropriate aura, and make them follow the teachings of Its Master and Lord.

It wasn't named [Dominion Authority] for idleness, after all.

Its master had forbidden it from speaking, however, so it couldn't sing the psalms upon the land and gather the lost and the damned to hear the word of its Lord, but it could still display its divine radiance upon the masses below, and bestow upon them the blessings of its Master, like it had graced the devil-girl upon Its summoning.

Indeed, reverence and authority towards the Lord was but expected of the masses, and [Dominion Authority] was determined to see the masses recognize His glory.

To that end it released an Aura that would slowly heal good-aligned creatures. However, since the concept of 'Good' and 'Evil' was vague, and considering that the [Dominion Authority]s summoning had been botched due to wrong Karma, the Angel considered 'Good' to be all those who served its Lord, and 'Evil' those who did not.

It was fitting, after all. Such division would bring the masses to heel, and would spare [Dominion Authority] the worry of having to individually judge the creature's sins as it couldn't sense a true 'karmic' state from the devils like it should- either the ability didn't work, or the devils didn't work 'with' Karmic system.

[Dominion Authority] wasn't the brightest of Angels, at least in terms of intelligence.

However, what it didn't understand, it knew to leave to its betters. It was the mace of the Lord, not His quill.

The Angel nodded to itself as the Devils slowly lifted their hands in prayer towards the massive, thirty feet tall and forty feet-wingspan angel as it radiated healing, and so the Angel decided it would continue to heal them. And those that wouldn't pray, it would not heal.

At first the Angel had merely drawn glances, but then a few young devils had nodded to it, then few others had bowed, then a few young devils had stopped and lifted their hands towards it.

Soon a considerable mass of wounded devils had gathered in front of the hospital and were openly holding their hands in prayer towards the [Dominion Authority], and the wounds they bore were slowly healing from the Aura that radiated from the Angel.

Indeed. [Dominion Authority] lifted its pole-mace to heavens, feeling happiness as the lost masses would soon find their Guiding Light.

In the [Dominion Authority]'s Master.

Only if [Dominion Authority] was allowed to lead the lost and the damned in a prayer, but it figured that its Lord had a plan, for which the Angel's voice needed to be silenced.

Indeed, everything was going as the Lord planned.

And so, [Dominion Authority] continued to heal the wounded.

Read, Vote, Review.