Chapter 107: Rearrange the expression

"GHAAAH!" Momonga whacked his head against a hard-wood door alongside letting out an appropriate screech of despair and anger directed at himself.

The door cracked, and Momonga felt as his body's [Regeneration] recovered the damage that the whack had done upon the fleshy part of it, even though the blunt damage that it had inflicted on his 'skeletal' self wasn't repaired.

'I… I can't believe I did that… I lost control, I tried to just seduce Yasaka somehow, get her embarrassed so that I could use it as blackmail in order to not get blackmailed in turn, but…' Momonga knew that it was he who had decided to go for 'Peroroncino-class ero strategy' in order to recover from the mistake he had made mere minutes ago, that of accidentally teleporting to quarters that had been assigned to Shinto's envoys and specifically their leader instead of teleporting to empty quarters in order to have a shower. 'I… I actually splattered some of my stuff on that child's face… I'm… I'm the worst… Peroroncino- No, I can't blame him. He was faultless in this- This was my choice. My mistake, and something that only I can face.'

He had teleported back to his quarter's bathroom, applied [Perfect Unknowable] in there in order to keep anyone from noticing him, and then took a quick shower to clean off the 'stuff' while hoping that the duo sleeping in his bedchambers wouldn't wake up. Afterwards he teleported off to one of the lounges of the Phenix estate in Underworld, and cast [Detect Life] on his immediate vicinity in order to keep the scenario of teleporting to Yasaka's bathroom from repeating.

And also, to keep anyone from seeing him crying, as having Kunou refer to him as 'daddy' had brought to forefront just what he had lost- A chance at a family, of having children of his own.

'I should have just swallowed my embarrassment, gone to my own shower, and done my thing if Ravel and her mother followed… I'm a fool…' He closed his eyes and fixed the door that he had cracked with his head, using a quick [Create Item] to mimic devil's [Power of Imagination]. '...And that child… She thought I was her father, and I… What I did to her, even if by accident… What kind of father would I be… And when she referred to me as her father, I instinctively played along… Did Yasaka plan for that too? How much does she know?''

The part of him that was 'Overlord Momonga' poked at the part of him that was 'Suzuki Satoru' and reminded him that what was done was done, and outside teleporting back to Yasaka's quarters and using [Control Amnesia] to mind-wipe both of the 'witnesses' and then himself, there was no way for him to undo what was done.

'...Yasaka will expect an apology for that… And will probably place some sort of ultimatum or try to blackmail me, not to mention that I did get too carried away and splattered my stuff on her child when she was caught in the crossfire… That was my total loss.' Momonga sighed while rubbing his fleshy face with both hands in desperation. 'Well, it's not like I thought that the panic-plan was a good one, but I think I made things even worse…'

He slapped himself to get himself back on track, and he did his best to push the whole 'ambush at bathroom' thing past him before he'd be lost in his self-guilt and longing. 'I can't get bogged down by something like this… [Emotion Suppression] won't come back if I brood hard enough, at least I'm fairly sure that's not the case, so I should stop trying… I'll just have to face the music when it starts playing.'

Momonga realized that he was starting to slowly get a grip of managing his 'fleshy' emotions without [Emotion Suppression], likely because he had spent the past day in a state of turbo-stress which helped him get more used to being constantly on edge and get subjected to various emotional heights- Something that he didn't need to worry about when [Emotion Suppression] kept everything down to a simmer.

'...Haa…' Momonga walked out of the lounge and onto one of Phenix estate's many winding hallways, intending on just walking for a while in order to clear his head. 'I should probably experiment with something, or do something else to calm myself down… Get a hobby or something… This much stress can't be good for my mental health, even though I am undead at the core…'

"Master." An emotionless voice from somewhere nearby caused Momonga to almost jump out of his skin, but before he could attempt to do so he managed to catch himself and not make an ass of himself for the second time that morning.

'Ha! Take that, emotions…' Momonga resisted the urge to fist-pump in order to turn around in a regal way, celebrating that he had managed to keep his emotions in check by himself for once. Then he realized that he had actually turned away from the speaker, did another turn-around, and promptly felt embarrassed over his scatterbrained state.

"Greetings." He raised his eyebrow at one of the Cherubim Gatekeepers that he had summoned, or rather, created in Human World, and who had approached him from the front but whom he hadn't noticed as he had been deep in his thoughts. 'I doubt that I'm actually 'summoning' anything, since I don't think this world actually has anything that exists as a 'npc' that I just 'bring forth', i.e. a literal 'summoning'... Instead, it seems more like I create them from scratch. However… They are sentient, and 'alive'... But they don't consume 'experience' or 'life energy' to summon for the most part… So are they truly living beings? Where does the 'life energy' come from if they are alive? Or is my 'mana' just getting transformed into 'life energy', like Ddraig suggested?'

Making plans for experiments, even if the experiment's subject was fairly mundane and not something that he really needed to know for sure, cheered Momonga up a bit. Although he realized that he was staring as the 'maid' with a numeral 'One' on the side of her temple was starting to blush a bit.

Momonga wondered about the number on the side of the maid-disguised Cherubim Gatekeeper's temple for a brief moment before remembering that the Cherubim Gatekeepers had named themselves, or rather labeled themselves with numbers. '...It sort of feels like how the maids of Nazarik's ninth level were named… Only a few of them got actual 'names' and the rest were just numbers in latin because we didn't have time or energy to give individual names to every single one of the NPC homunculus maids…'

"Ahem. You said something, One?" Momonga kept his posture neutral, keenly aware that while his 'summons' were forbidden from revealing his secret, that wouldn't mean that they wouldn't overthink everything he did or said and potentially cause a disaster.

He swore he would not let that happen again, even if it cost him his credibility as their master or forced him to detail out every single little bit of his plans (or lack thereof) to them.

"I beg for your forgiveness, Master, but there is a situation regarding your orders to resurrect the dead from Kuoh." The maid curtsied slightly while her face returned to calm passivity, even though she had a slight blush on her face nonetheless. "There were some stragglers whose allegiances are unclear. We resurrected them, and two of them became outright hostile and disrespectful of Master, and were returned to soil. The others have been peaceful, but we are unsure if they are enemies in disguise so we would request that the Master decrees what we are to do with them?"

"Right… In that case take me to them and I'll figure it out myself. There's a chance that they are not enemies… Or… Hm. Could you come here for a moment?" Momonga sighed before he realized that he could test his earlier theory quite easily, which would give his mind some peace through conducting and closing experiments. 'If my 'summons' have 'life energy', and I can extract it, it proves for sure that my 'summons' are truly alive and not just seemingly sentient creatures that I made… I'd also clarify if Ddraig's theory of 'mana' being just 'different types of life energy' holds true.'

"I'd like to conduct a small experiment, and I need your help." Momonga lifted his finger to explain to the 'maid' who had stopped on her tracks after turning to lead Momonga off, and then turned around to face him with a small, and cute, pirouette thanks to her momentum. "Do you mind helping me?"

"Of course, master! Please order me!" 'One' nodded resolutely and was gripping the front of her maid dress. For some reason she still had a faint blush and her lower lip seemed to quiver just a bit before she stabilized herself.

And then she slapped herself a bit as she likely realized that Momonga had realized her blush and quivering. "I-I apologize for that disgraceful display, Master! I am ready to die by your ord-"

"No, nothing that drastic. Just stay still and tell me if you want me to stop." Momonga sighed and reached to stroke the 'maid's chin and jaw, causing her to freeze absolutely still and her blush to grow.

Momonga used the maid's freezing-up and his free hand to take away a small dagger the 'maid' had produced and had put against her chest as soon as she spoke about dying by his order. "I'm going to kiss you. Please tell me if you feel uncomfortable with the idea, or if it feels gross or unpleasant and I'll stop, and I'll consider the experiment to be over and we'll continue with your request. No fault will be placed on you if you refuse, and this is for academic purposes only."

"M-master- a-and me- a-a-a k-k-kiss- e-eh?" The white-haired 'maid's calm facade seemed to break a bit and she blushed to her eyebrows while steam seemed to come from the top of her head. She seemed to shake hard enough for her silhouette to vibrate for a while before she slapped her burning-red cheeks rapidly and stabilized herself by muttering under her breath. "C-calm down, c-calm down, One, you can do this… T-teacher p-p-prepared us for t-t-this… t-thank you, teacher, I didn't believe you were serious, but…"

'A 'Teacher', huh? Who might that be…' Momonga lifted his eyebrow but pushed the issue to the side for now. "Right, tell me when you're ready."

"I am ready, master!" The Cherubim Gatekeeper disguised as a tall, lithe white-haired maid closed her eyes and puckered her lips like a child would, all the while shaking from head to toe.

'Haa… Just a small kiss, in order to see if she can 'give' experience like Rias and others… I already figured that just a fleeting caress or brief touch won't give experience, it needs to be a bit more physical…' Momonga sighed internally as he leaned forwards, trying his best to consider himself a 'creator' and not 'father' as otherwise he'd be kissing his own 'daughter' of sorts.

He closed his eyes and gave the 'maid' a small peck on the lips, and felt the minutest, smallest amount of experience being added to his 'experience tally'. 'Well, that takes care of that. My 'summons' are sentient, living creatures… Not just 'mini-players' or 'NPC's, but people of their own. Haa… I was such a fool when I just considered them as mere pawns…'

He opened his eyes and looked forwards to see that 'One' was shaking and her face was red enough to resemble a boiled lobster.

"Are you alright?" Momonga pulled his hand away from the maid's face as he realized that he had propped her chin up a bit before leaning in for a kiss.

"I am in full health, Master!" The maid's voice was robotic and it looked like she was doing her best at remaining stoic and motionless, even though her eyes were unfocused and her face was bright red. "I am ready to continue at any time!"

"That was it. The experiment was conducted successfully and I received the answer I sought. Thank you for your help." Momonga nodded slightly, and the maid seemed to let out a small 'eh?' sound.

"T-that was it?" 'One' sounded absolutely confused, before she seemed to conclude something. "M-master! If I am unsuitable or not attractive enough or unskilled then I… I…!"

"No, nothing like that. Rest assured, you are my valuable subordinate and you have done well. I am proud." Momonga realized that unless he defused the situation immediately then there was a chance that the YGGDRASIL 'angel' would probably try to pull a 'Elder Lich 2: Lich Harder' and go rogue in a desperate attempt to undo a perceived mistake she had thought she had made.

"M-m-m-m-master…" 'One's eyes teared up instantly and she visibly resisted the urge to fall to her knees. "T-thank you, for valuing worthless maid like me so-"

"Do not consider yourself worthless. You are valuable to me." Momonga handwaved, although he realized that it might have been a mistake as the maid fell to her knees and put her temple against the floor.

"Master… Please… Our beloved master, please order us, until our worth is expended, until we can serve you no longer, so that we, the useless sisters, are truly useful for you!" The maid pleaded, and Momonga realized that the Cherubim Gatekeepers might have felt like they were without purpose.

'Hm, I did tell them to watch over the estate… Oh. Of course. The estate was destroyed, so they must think that their worth is expended and they failed me. And felt that they aren't useful or needed anymore. In other words, they are suffering from low self-confidence.' Momonga pat his palm with his fist lightly in realization. "I see. In that case: Your new orders are to serve as my personal maids and see to the matters of whatever abode I choose to inhabit at a time. Moreover, you are quite strong, so you should be able to serve as my vanguard-huh?"

The maid had hugged his leg, and was crying to his thigh while thanking him through a blocked nose.

"Ah, there, there… It's alright, you are sinless." Momonga reached to stroke her head before she could think that she had done something out of turn and would fall into despair, or do something equally insane. "You have your new duties. When you feel comfortable enough to get to them, then spread the word to your, umu, sisters and get started with those."

It took roughly a minute for the 'maid' to recompose herself and Momonga reached to wipe some of the tears and snot from her face with a handkerchief he made with [Create Item], and finally she turned to lead him off to the direction of the supposed 'resurrection situation'.

'I suppose that went well… I learned more about the nature of my 'summons', I reinforced their loyalty, and gave them something to do… Idle hands get to all sorts of things, and I really don't need more Elder Liches…' Momonga resisted the urge to sigh. 'Thinking of which, I need to contact the Overlord General and see what it is doing… I don't think it died in Kuoh, but I can't feel it's presence in the Underworld so it is likely in the Human World… I have to be much more proactive if I want to avoid this situation from repeating…'

He suddenly realized how exactly he had 'tested' his theory, and suddenly felt horrified that he had started to use 'Ero-World' methods as his de-facto approach to experiments.

Momonga was deep in his thoughts and thus ignored how the outwardly cold maid in front of him seemed to have a small skip in her steps and muttered something about 'I love master, master loves us, I love master…' on repeat.

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Rossweisse was fuming a bit.

Her stomach growled, and she felt thirsty.

"Momoooon-saaamaaa! A valiant knight is supposed to come and rescue the maaideen before she staaarrveeessss…" A pathetic, petulant whine left her lips, even though she had aimed it to be a stern reprimand.

She felt embarrassed, even though the addressed listener was nowhere to be found.

The last time she had eaten had been yesterday, and she felt incredibly hungry as if her stomach had been emptied of whatever food it had contained at some point during the outright baffling battle that had happened yesterday.

The torture-rack into which she had been tied up to was draining her power, and making her feel weak and even more hungry. Not to mention that the rack was digging into her back in a uncomfortable way and was making her feel sore, even though the rack's proper torturing functions were dormant, and it's more gruesome spikes were retracted.

She sighed as she heard hisses from the other valkyries in the torture-dungeon, who were outright paranoid or angry with Rossweisse for some reason, and even Brynhildr had refused to talk to her after she had woken up.

For some reason there seemed to be a group of three Fallen Angels in the dungeon as well, although they were just sitting on a wooden bench and shivering in fear, and there was a strict-looking maid behind them that Rossweisse faintly remembered having seen during her brief visit in Momon's estate during the Peace Conference.

She had tried to talk to the maid, but the maid had outright ignored Rossweisse's words.

"Ugh… This is unfairrrr…" Rossweisse groaned. "Momon-samaaaa! Heeeelp…"

She glanced at one more unconcious woman in the torture-room and wondered for a brief moment why Grayfia had been tied-up into a torture-rack like the others, and why her arms lolled around powerlessly in the chains as if her tendons had been cut.

Moreover the woman had a sizeable bruise in her head, as if someone had used something heavy to smack her in the head in order to have her unconcious while she was transferred to the torture-chamber.

Rossweisse had been asleep when Grayfia had been brought in, but she saw some water on the cobblestone floor which clued that the gray-haired maid must have been frozen in a similar water-cube prison as to one she had been before, when the Maous had attacked Momon for some reason during the Peace Conference and Grayfia had stood forward to strike at Momon.

'There must be some sort of misunderstanding… Grayfia-san was Sirzechs-sama's maid and wife, and I am, er, was Odin's bodyguard-valkyrie and now Momon-sama's personal envoy and erm… l-l-lover… Moreover, something happened in that Peace Council, and then Odin and the others came to the battle… and then Lord Loki captured me, knocked me out… And then I felt pain in my stomach, and woke up to see Lord Loki having stabbed me, and then I fell into some sort of meat grinder… ' Rossweisse felt phantom pain from getting her body ground to paste in a dark horror's flat teeth. 'And… Then there was that dark forest, and the fox-child… And then the tree ate me… And then, finally, I was… In that cramped flesh-like cave, with lord Momon…'

She felt something hot in her chest, and knew that it was a Devil Piece, a tool of transformation that Devils used to transform members of other races into Devils- Or in case of some powerful races like Werewolves, Dragons or Vampires, into pseudo-devils that retained parts of their old races after the transformation.

'Momon-sama made me part of his Peerage… In other words, claimed me as his… I'm kinda mad that he didn't ask me first, but also kinda glad… Is it like proposing for marriage in the devil culture or something? But…' Rossweisse wasn't sure what had happened, other than that Momon had somehow figured out that Rossweisse wasn't actually pregnant and had told her so. 'It doesn't make sense why he transformed me all of a sudden, and more importantly, without asking. He's so gentle and courteous that I'd have sworn he'd ask me beforehand, if he wished to make me part of his Peerage, and give me some time to think about it, so… Oh… Come to think of it, I heard that the Pieces had the capability to resurrect their targets, assuming that the Piece was used on a very recently dead…'

'But I was alive already so why… Oh…' She connected the dots. 'Momon-sama must have resurrected me somehow first, and checked for my supposed pregnancy somehow… But… If he didn't know that I wasn't pregnant for real, and really believed me when I accidentally told him that I was, because a noble knight like him probably wouldn't have suspected that I'd have lied about something like that…'

Rossweisse felt intense shame as she realized what had happened. 'And since I must have died since I found myself that forest, in front of that horror… It must have been an afterlife of some sort… In that case he'd have thought that our child was dead since he wouldn't have found it in my body, and he must have figured that he only managed to somehow resurrect me while our child remained dead… In that case, a Piece would have been his last resort in resurrecting our 'child'…'

Rossweisse felt a surge of anger directed at herself. 'I'm such a despicable woman… Of course he'd act that way, Normally he is a peaceful, gentle and calm person, so when learning that his 'child' would have died… He'd be completely out of it and couldn't think clearly. Ahhhh! I'm such a disgraceful fool…'

'The despair Momon-sama must be in… Because of a despicable lie I made to cover my back, just in the fleeting case if Lord Momon wasn't as generous and gentle as I had thought…' Rossweisse groaned aloud in despair, earning a reprimanding glare from the emotionless-looking maid behind the three Fallen. "I'm such an idiot… Momon-samaaaa! I'm sorry! I lied, I'm a despicable liar… I'm so sorry…"

"Ow…" A miserable whine came from the direction of Grayfia, and Rossweisse re-checked the woman's state visually. It looked like she was starting to stir, although her movements were sluggish and only partially controlled. "My hands… Ow… W-what? I can't… move my wrists…"

"Ah, Grayfia-san!" Rossweisse greeted the woman. "Are you awake? What happened? Your hands… It looks like your tendons are cut!"

"What?! Who- you." Grayfia spotted Rossweisse and her eyes turned to slits… And then widened, as if she had seen a ghost. "What are you doing here? Ah- He must have found you out."

"E-eh?" Rossweisse blinked. "He found me out? Who is 'he'?"

Grayfia's eyes narrowed even more as she realized that the two weren't alone in the room, and there were racks full of captured valkyries as well as three Fallen in the same room… And there was a maid with the number 'Two' on the side of her temple.

Rossweisse felt outright confused. "Ah- Grayfia-san, are you… um… feeling alright in the head? But since you're awake now… The Maous… Why did you attack Momon-sama out of the blue? During that peace conference"

"You didn't- Didn't Odin tell you about…" Grayfia seemed to be surprised, and then her expression hardened as she noticed that Rossweisse seemed to be perfectly alright bodily despite being tied to a torture-rack- Unlike Grayfia whose limbs were limp and powerless due to the incision-like cuts in her body. "Ah. I see. You were on Hastur's side all along. Odin must have told you, and you told Hastur in turn… It all makes sense now. You were the traitor. And now He put you here to get information out of me…"

Rossweisse's eyes widened. 'I heard of that creature, the King in Yellow… Sirzechs screamed something about that, I came across that name when I researched Trihexra as my thesis for graduating to be a Valkyrie… Why is she talking about that thing of all things? Doesn't she understand the risks?'

"Listen, Grayfia-san, it'd be best if you never spoke of that, or never mentioned that name. I don't know how you and Sirzechs-sama found that name, or that creature's existence, but you seriously don't know what you're dealing with if you're speaking it aloud…" Rossweisse felt a bit paranoid as the deepest shadows of the already-shadowy room seemed to darken, and from her fleeting knowledge of the Great Ones, such a change was not trivial.

"So you knew who he was…" Grayfia's eyes narrowed even more. "You were supposed to spy on Momon, but you were Hastur's pawn…"

"Wha- what are you talking about?" Rossweisse blurted out. "Also, that name, stop speaking it! That is a seriously bad idea!"

"You fool… Momon is Hastur, and-"

"Stop! Momon-sama is a graceful, powerful, and noble lord! Stop comparing him to one of those things, and stop invoking their names! Don't you realize- Oh." Rossweisse felt angry over Grayfia's insinuation before she realized what was happening. Moreover it looked like the white-haired maid with number 'Two' on the side of her temple looked a bit approving of Rossweisse for some reason. "Of course… Grayfia! You're trying to destroy the Underworld, and all worlds! You know what would happen if you managed to carelessly summon one of those here! You're a traitor! Did you somehow manipulate Sirzechs-sama too? Get him to carelessly invoke the name of the one who must not be named?! You'd know that careless fools speaking the name of that thing without knowing what they are talking about, is one of the ways of catching it's attention!"

Rossweisse paused her speech and paled a bit as one of the valkyries who had been tied to the racks coughed phlegm to the floor, and her face looked a bit sickly.

"Grh- W-what?!" Grayfia's face turned red from anger… Before a halberd's blade pressed against her throat, courtesy of the numbered white-haired maid.

"Behave." A quiet word from the maid with number 'Two' on the side of her temple was enough to silence Rossweisse and Grayfia, although the gray-haired maid pushed her throat defiantly against the halberd's blade.

Blood trickled a bit from the nick made by the halberd-blade, and the blade withdrew… Before Grayfia was sent back to the realm of the unconscious with a hard whack with the halberd's butt.

"Disgraceful." The white-haired maid sighed before returning to her silent vigil behind the three Fallen who looked like pudding in earthquake as they had seemingly recognized Grayfia and noted how easily the white-haired maid had rendered the gray-haired one unconscious- Even if Grayfia's strength had been drained by the torture-rack.

"What… There's no way that is true…" Rossweisse shook Grayfia's accusation like a duck would shed water from it's feathers. "Lord Momon is a kind, gentle and honorable lord, not a monster… G-Grayfia-san…. Don't tell me that Grayfia-san was behind all of it? No, I was there when Odin-sama and Sirzechs-sama were scheming something… Don't tell me, that jumble of papers and red lines was Odin-sama's plan to fight against Lord Momon but I didn't see it because it was such a jumbly mess?! Lord Odin… But Grayfia thought I was a spy for her side… Wait, when Lord Odin warded me against spying… Did he actually bug me to be a spy, but didn't tell me?! Am I an unknowing accomplice to a crime?!"

She blinked as her ponderings were severely derailed as someone thrust something in front of her face, and she realized that it was the odd 'Two'-maid offering a small skin of presumably water to her.

"Um… T-thank you? I was thirsty..." Rossweisse wasn't sure how she was supposed to drink when she was bound to a spread eagle on a torture-rack, but she appriciated the gesture after a day of not drinking or eating. 'Did she warm up to me when I praised Momon-sama?'

It seemed that the maid realized the problem as well as she blinked, opened the waterskin, and poured the foul-looking, rustic water into Rossweisse's mouth.

'Bitter… ew… Did she poison that, or was that just something she grabbed from somewhere?' Rossweisse struggled to not puke from the overly salty flavor of the 'drink', which was quite hard to do as her head was mostly occupied with the realized that she was a spy without knowing and criminal by association… Before she finally realized that the white-haired maid must know what she was doing and was distracting both Rossweisse and Grayfia intentionally in order to get them to stop talking about the Outer Beings.

The maid tilted her head, seemingly unaware of what Rossweisse was going through both mentally and physically. "I made homemade lemonade… Does it taste good? I want to offer it to Lord Momong-n… ahem, lord Momon."

Rossweisse realized that the maid must have used salt instead of sugar, and probably a lot of other 'questionable' ingredients. "E-eh… It's… certainly an interesting brew… Um…"

The maid tilted her head to the side in a puzzled and borderline cute way, and Rossweisse felt sweat trickle down her neck as she pondered what would be a right answer in the situation. "Um… I think, eh… W-what if you gave those girls a taste as well? More reviewers are better, right?"

She nodded at the Fallen who looked outright spooked, and 'Two' just stared at Rossweisse.

"They don't know Lord Momon's greatness, so they don't deserve limonade." The maid answered in a bland and uninterested way, causing Rossweisse's sweating to intensify while she practically felt her face bloat from the incredible amount of sodium and citric acid the drink had contained.

"Um… In that case… eh… It was… an experience… I probably wouldn't serve it to Lord Momon…" Rossweisse tried to go for a neutral special and answered in a roundabout way.

"I see…" The maid seemed depressed and stashed the skin away, somehow managing to look like a drenched kitten.

'Ugh… ' Rossweisse despaired as she had a fairly good idea on what Lord Momon would do if the maid offered him the 'lemonade', which was that he'd likely drink a bit and thank the maid in a courteous and warm way, all the while his face would turn sickly green. 'It'd be kinda fun to see… But… Erm… It'd be kinda unfair…'

A lock let out a clang-like sound, signaling to Rossweisse that the dungeon was about to have either visitors or more inhabitants.

She looked over and saw that the maid 'Two' had returned behind the three Fallen, and noted that another maid had entered the dungeon… And behind her was Lord Momon.

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Raynare was shaking all over.

'Isn't that one of the Underworld's top dogs? Grayface or something? Wait, no, I think it was Grayfia…' Raynare vaguely recalled that the gray-haired woman was the Queen of Sirzechs Lucifer, the strongest Queen in the Underworld.

The fact that the woman had been tied to an energy-draining rack to reduce her power to a small fraction of her 'true power', her tendons had been cut to limit her power due to her Devil Piece, and she had been reduced into such a powerless state made Raynare even more afraid of her own fate.

'Just what is happening? Did God-ng return and conquer the Underworld or something?' Raynare was shaking in her boots, and the fact that the Heaven's system reached out to punish even Fallen meant that either God had returned to tune his system, or the Heaven's 'representative' Michael had lapsed on his ever-vigilant control on the remnants of the system that he inherited, allowing the self-aware clockwork system to run amok and establish new parameters on it's own.

Raynare didn't know much about God's System, outside what Azazel had taught all Fallen in his drive to ensure that all Fallen knew at least basics on what they were opposing, but even that little bit was enough to make her feel nervous over what was going on.

Mittelt was shaking a bit as well, from genuine uncertainty and fear as well as to reinforce her 'mask' of a scared and helpless young goth girl, and Kalawarna was frozen still and it looked like the business lewd-looking Fallen had turned into an official-and-lewd looking statue from fear.

A white-haired woman tied to a torture-rack bickered for a while with Grayfia before the odd maid who had shadowed Raynare and her fellow Fallen had moved out and knocked Grayfia out cold, and then fed some sort of poison to the white-haired torture subject that made her face bloated like if she had been brutalized or forced to eat a gallon of salt.

Raynare would have normally taken great pleasure from seeing devils get tortured, but the fact that she might be next made it hard to enjoy the sight.

The door to the dungeon opened and Raynare noticed that the angel who had initially led the Fallen to the dungeon, a maid with number 'One' on the side of her temple, stepped in.

For some reason she had a raging blush on her otherwise emotionless face, and her steps were somewhat light.

Then Raynare spotted Issei behind the maid, and her fear turned to betrayed anger.

"You…" Raynare hissed as Issei seemed to look around and spotted the white-haired woman who had been tied to a rack.

Issei closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, almost as if he was trying to calm himself, looked around, reached out… And patted Mittlet's head for some reason.

"You- What are you doing, you worthless dreg?!" Mittlet's afraid facade broke instantly from the overly familiar act that the pervert performed, allowing the girl's vicious nature to break to the surface. "Get your hands off me, pervert! Go and die in a ditch, idiot! Yo- ghu?"

Mittlet's eyes widened and she looked down to see that 'Two' had stabbed her halberd through the blonde girl's body, and the weapon's large axe-like blade poked out of her chest.

The small girl flopped down from the bench and collapsed into a pile like a broken marionette with it's strings cut.

"Ah… Ahem, that was…" It looked like Issei was as surprised by the sudden execution as Raynare who had caught her tongue mid-barb as she had opened her mouth to insult Issei for his failure to save her, back when she had tried to seduce him and that way dodge getting executed by Rias Gremory.

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Momonga felt a bit surprised by 'Two's sudden execution of the random frilly gothic-dressed blonde girl. 'I tried to pet her in order to calm myself after seeing Rossweisse… Petting cute things seems to calm me down a bit, so… Well, it was expected that she'd object if a random person reached to touch her, but… Haa… The Cherubim Gatekeepers are seriously too strict!'

"Listen, it's alright. I forgive her, so can you resurrect her, please?" Momonga sighed at 'Two' whose face paled. "It's alright. I get why you struck her down, and I'm not mad. But could you hold back your rage for now, and resurrect her again? I'd like to ask some things from her… Also, please don't execute people out of the blue like that!"

The fair-skinned black-haired Fallen Angel in some sort of bdsm-suit looked at Momonga and her face was a mixture of abject confusion, anger, and fear, while the businesswoman-looking woman next to her was frozen still for some reason.

"Lord Momon!" A mumbly voice called for him and Momonga froze still in an attempt to stop himself from swinging around in anger and executing Rossweisse with a [Reality Slash].

He closed his eyes, failed to keep his anger entirely in check, and reached to pat the black-haired woman.

She looked like she'd object and let out some sort of vicious verbal barb, but bit her tongue with enough force to draw blood as she glanced at the mangled body of her fellow blonde Fallen Angel.

"Lord Momon! I apologize! I kept some things from you… I'm sorry, I lied, I wasn't actually pregnant, I… I got some things wrong, and, um… I actually thought I was pregnant at the start but then I took a test and it turned out I wasn't, but I tried to keep it a secret because I thought you'd abandon me and… um… A-are you listening, Lord Momon? Momon-kakka?"

'Haa… Non-consensual head-pats…. I've become a monster, and now a molester as well…' Momonga despaired as he kept up the headpatting and blocked out the mumbly voice of the white-haired girl behind him, even as she tried to call out for him and apologize. 'Ha… So Rossweisse knows what she has done, and now tries to manipulate me into releasing her… A fat chance, after her betrayal…'

The black-haired girl looked at Momonga as if she couldn't really piece together what was happening, until she closed her eyes and her face relaxed almost as if she had figured out something.

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Raynare was fairly sure that she had pieced together what was going on as 'Two' waved her hand and Mittelt rose from the floor, patting her flat chest and in a state of confused panic. 'The maids are obeying Issei's orders, which means that Issei has become some sort of celebrity or a big shot… I mistook his [Boosted Gear] to be [Twice Critical], and it looks like he has managed to use that [Boosted Gear] to make a name for himself…'

She glanced at the hand that was petting her head, and she did her best to keep the waves of revulsion from showing on her features. 'His perv-ways haven't changed, and this time he doesn't have that bitch, Rias, to keep his head straight… Kukuku… In other words…'

"Issei-san? Don't tell me you forgot about me?" Raynare did her best to sound innocent while adopting her 'Yuuma' personality that she had used to ensnare Issei and kill him, back before he had been turned into a Devil by Rias Gremory. "I… I was so afraid, and you betrayed me… But I'm willing to give us another shot, if you want us to be together again. Just you and me…. You can call me Yuuma…"

"Ah, Yuuma-san. I apologize for that." Issei pulled his hand from Raynare's head as if he had just realized what he was doing.

"Don't worry. You can keep patting my head, I like it." Raynare purred while lying through her teeth, and scrunched her eyebrows internally. 'Wait, did Issei grow bigger? I swear he was roughly as tall as I was… He was always a ugly but did he turn into an ogre as well at some point?'

"I see. But that is enough for now. My, umu, angels found your bodies in Kuoh. Could you explain how you got there?" Issei seemed to recompose himself and ignored the wailing of the white-haired girl who had bickered with Grayfia for a while. "You seemed to have known Issei, and were close to him…. I understand if you wish to have a moment for yourself, but I must break some hard news for you three. Issei is dead."

"Ah." Raynare's face twisted into a lopsided grin-groan-fear as she mentally rebooted her earlier plan of trying to seduce Issei. She ignored how the room seemed a bit brighter and less imposing after the announcement, as if her mood had gone up after learning of Issei's supposed death- Even though the boy in question was right in front of her. "Eh. Ahe?"

"I- We didn't like that idiot anyway!" Mittelt seemed to adjust in blur, although Raynare wanted to kick the smaller girl as she essentially threw away a chance to squeeze sympathy from 'Issei' in front of them.

Surprisingly enough the executioner-maid didn't react, which clued Raynare to the possibility that the person in front of her and 'Issei' were actually different people. 'Don't tell me that Issei had a tall identical twin or something?'

"In truth I was known as Issei until recently. There was a… Incident during a Rating Game and as a consequence I took the name of Momon, and was adopted to noble family of Phenix of devils." 'Issei' explained, and Raynare's urge to kick Mittelt only increased. "I developed amnesia during the match, so I apologize if I don't remember any of you. That being said…"

'So he's not named Issei, but he's still 'Issei'... Mittelt you absolute whore, you just had to open you dumb slut face…' Raynare kept smiling at 'not-Issei' while reaching to pinch Mittelt's flank as the girl climbed back to the wooden bench.

"Ow! Why did you- Ah, nevermind, Issei-sama. Please disregard my previous words, I was feeling… tumultuous over the news." The blonde gothic-looking girl seemed to get a hint and bowed her head in a subservient manner, even if Raynare could tell that she was seething internally.

"So you're not Issei-kun, but you are still the 'Issei' that I fell in love with." Raynare purred while making her voice appear like that of a teenager madly in love. "I'm so gla-"

"I'm afraid but I must reinforce my earlier words, even if I fear that I sound blunt- I do not remember you. Moreover, I am married." 'Issei' looked somewhat annoyed, making Raynare mentally backtrack her approach. "Regardless, if you were Issei's friends then I feel like this is not a good place to converse- After all, this place is reserved for traitors and enemies. 'Two'?"

Raynare practically felt the situation slipping from her hands and latched onto 'Issei's hands.

"Issei! My love… No, Momon! How could you be this cold?! Can't you remember the dates we went on? It was so romantic, and you tried your best, and I fell in love with you…" Raynare rubbed her breasts against Issei's flank as he had turned to address one of the creepy maids.

"We'll talk later. For now, there are some things I'm about to do that I'd prefer that you didn't see. Interrogation, in other words." 'Issei' reached to put his finger under Raynare's chin and lifted her face towards him. "Two, please lead them to my Peerage's quarters and serve them something to eat and drink. I imagine that my Peerage knows about these three and can fill them in."

Raynare did her best to not slap the hand away in disgust and managed to do just so, although she couldn't avoid shivering in disgust. 'So Issei has gathered a Peerage? I'm guessing that it's full of bimbos or whatever… Also, since he was in Rias Gremory's Peerage I'm guessing that he has managed to earn a rank among devils and broke off to make his own Peerage… In other words, I should be clear of Rias Gremory's wrath for now…'

"I see… But please, come and see us soon! We have so much to catch up on…" Raynare reached closer to Issei and breathed the words to his ear in a seductive, heated purr. 'That should put some movement into his pants… There's no way I can escape if those monster-angel-maids are prowling about, so I'll have to go through Issei… Besides, I don't even have to let him touch me, I can just pretend interest and then drop him as soon as I can manipulate him into getting me into the Human World…'

Kalawarna let out a small 'eh' sound as the maid with number two on the side of her head urged her to get up alongside Mittelt, and then motioned with the halberd to follow her.

'Hm, and if the worst comes to it, I can just toss Kalawarna to Issei… That arrogant bitch has tits for days and Issei was a perv for boobs… That way I don't need to let him touch me if the worst comes to it…' Raynare realized another facet she could use to manipulate Issei tighter around her fingers. "Please, my love… Come see us soon… Promise me?"

"Sure." Issei seemed to sigh in frustration, making Raynare a bit worried before 'Two' reached to grab her shoulder and guide her off.

Raynare pretended to smile in a content, happy way as she was dragged off. 'I should be able to use this… Kukuku… And if I play my cards right, I'll manage to kill Issei on my way out and snatch [Boosted Gear] for myself since [Twilight healing] was denied to me… Kukuku… Azazel-sama will surely praise me…'

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Momonga sighed in frustration as more of 'Issei's sins were tossed onto his shoulders. He felt a bit annoyed at Rias as well. 'Rias should have told me that Issei had a girlfriend… Or girlfriends, plural… Then again, he dreamed of having a harem as far as I know so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he had a good start… I'm not sure if he knew that his girlfriends were Fallen Angels though… Moreover, I think that blonde girl was what you'd call 'tsundere'... I hope she didn't become too afraid after 'Two' overreacted and killed her… I'll have to send that girl a gift basket or something to apologize…'

'Not to mention that I need to find some time to break out a paper and pen and start min-maxing the levels I got, I can't afford to just casually assign them on the fly… Or take a look at my character sheet, since Ddraig is still sleeping so I don't have to worry about him getting suspicious…' He shook his head as he heard a disapproving whine from behind him and turned to give Rossweisse a glare.

The woman whose face looked bloated as if she had been hit repeatedly let out a whine.

"And you lot…" Momonga's voice became a venomous hiss as he addressed Rossweisse, causing the woman to freeze up while the row of captured valkyries in the room turned into quivering wrecks for some reason. "You have a lot to answer for, Rossweisse."

"I'm so sorry, Lord Momon… I lied to you… I'm sorry…" Rossweisse let out a pathetic whine. "I wasn't actually pregnant… I just panicked and said all sorts of things… I thought you'd abandon me…"

"Lies on top of lies."

"I'm not lying! Er… this time…" Rossweisse seemed to wilt.

Momonga closed to the white-haired girl and began circling around her torture-rack. "Did you think that your allegiances would remain secret? You betrayed me and took my chi-"

"Lord Momon! Please! Lord Odin made me his spy without me realizing it!"

"You were a spy without realizing, yet you realized that you were a spy and decided to keep that to yourself?" Momonga wasn't convinced by the panicked lie. "Enough. Your lies end here. Odin is dead. Tree of Yggdrasil is dead, and it's core was formed into a spear. The item itself told me as much when I claimed the heart of your world as my weapon from Odin's dead hands. Your worth to your true master is spent, and your life ends here."

He had learned of the tree of life's fate through doing [All Appraisal Magic Item] on the [Spear of Yggdrasil] that he had in his inventory- That Odin had combined the essence of Gungnir, his own spear, and the power of tree of Yggdrasil to create a world-class item of sorts- Something that exceeded the power of YGGDRASIL's world-class items by a huge metric, and could potentially even rival Boosted Gear- Assuming that Momonga could wield it.

His mouth was speaking words that the 'Overlord' part of Momonga would have not spoken, as it was useless to intimidate someone who was about to die, but Suzuki Satoru was feeling vengeful and seeing Rossweisse's despair was only just to him.

"L-lord Momon… But… That can't be… But…" Rossweisse looked like her entire life had been torn from her. "I… My home… That…"

Momonga would have brought out [Spear of Yggdrasil] if it wasn't for his self-control managing to get a grip on the amount of anger that was about to overwhelm his rational self.

He closed his eyes and breathed deep. "Rossweisse. Thanks to you I've experienced such anger, despair, and rage that I've learned to control even the strongest swings of negative emotions. For that I thank you. Now, it is time for you to bare your soul to me- [Control Amnesia]."

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.

Rossweisse's eyes opened wide even as tears of loss flowed down her face. 'Lord Momon, but… But my people, my home… I knew Odin-sama was a pervert, but for him to do something as despicable as using up Yggdrasil's energies to make himself a weapon... I'm sure lord Momon had no choice but to kill Odin-sama... He wasn't joking when he said he could protect me from Odin if he needed, back when I first met him...'

'No, I can't run away from my mistakes… I should have figured… There's no way that a lying, cluzy, despicable valkyrie like me would be able to be with someone like Lord Momon…' The realization that she couldn't just talk her way out of her situation dawned on her, and…

She remembered the time she spent with Lord Momon, sitting before a tree in a warm summery grassy hill, kissing gently and petting a cute white-haired child between them… And she accepted her just punishment. 'The time I spent with Lord Momon… Even if it was brief, it was such a bright, warm time in my life… And I threw it away with my lies, and by walking with my eyes closed… It was too good to be true… I should have figured out that Odin spied on Lord Momon through me… '

Momon's words, a spiteful declaration of his anger, only reinforced Rossweisse's guilt and determination to bear the weight of her crimes as her neglectful actions had driven even a gentle and calm lord like Momon into anger.

The man's hand reached to touch her head, and Rossweisse's thoughts turned inside out.

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Grayfia's eyes opened just in time to see 'Momon', or Hastur, declare his hatred to Rossweisse whose face looked like someone had beaten her senseless… And saw as he touched the crying, beaten woman's head, and sensed the power that surged into Rossweisse through the touch.

And Grayfia felt fear.