Chapter 109: Order plebeian purge to distract senate

Rias woke up from the coma-like sleep that she had fallen into after allowing herself to relax and go to sleep in Akeno's bed, and after the owner of said bed had cuddled against Rias's breasts.

The emotional trauma and subsequent emotional release of the past day had stressed and tired Akeno greatly, and Rias knew that she'd likely be utterly tired even after a full night's rest.

Rias did her best to slip out of the bed without waking up Akeno, as she knew that restful sleep would become a rare thing to come by in the future, judging from the events of the past few weeks. And looking at Akeno's now-relaxed and peaceful face, Rias could only feel warmth at the fact Akeno had received some sort of closure to her growing nervousness about her place in the Peerage due to her body's nature as a half-devil half-Fallen.

'Akeno must have thought Momon would relegate her to a different role, or perhaps assign her to some task like 'oh, she's a half-fallen? So she should go and be a guide for the other Fallen Angels and Devils in the Church, and become a plaything to the men in there. And since that's hard to do when in a Peerage, I'll let her go' or something like that…' Rias sighed as she creeped out of Akeno's room in the Peerage quarters of Phenix castle-mansion, deciding to take a shower in someone else's room in order to avoid waking Akeno up. 'Er… I told Akeno about my theory, about Momon being Issei except powered up to nth degree… I'm fairly sure that I was wrong there, even before Sirzechs-nii told me all sorts of theories about what he thought Momon was…'

'...Sirzechs-nii… Please be safe… Or at least, in a state where Momon can resurrect you…' Rias sighed as she walked in the corridor which connected the rooms assigned to Peerage members, each room assigned by role and increasing in size until reaching the now-vacant 'King' bedroom that was the size of all of the other bedrooms combined, and with the living room splitting the connecting corridor in two. 'I'm glad that Sirzechs-nii was wrong in the end but… On the other hand, Akeno might have still thought that Momon was partly Issei, and she might have thought that the whole thing with Raynare and her cohort made Momon hate Fallen altogether, and she'd become a target for that hatred because of her nature… Although that wouldn't explain why Fallen seem to be well accepted into the 'religion'. Well, I'm glad that the two of them get along even if Momon isn't Issei, I think…'

She walked sleepily past a group of people in the shared living room of the quarters, still deep in her thoughts even though the morning grogginess made thinking a bit difficult. 'I'll have to stick to Akeno for a while so that she'll have someone to talk to and won't be alone… Baraqiel must be also looking to interfere with Akeno's life, if yesterday was anything to go by, and I have little doubts as to what would happen if Baraqiel ambushed Akeno when she was alone…'

Rias slipped into Koneko's room in order to take a shower, and noted that Koneko and Kuroka were sleeping together and both had curled like cats on the bed, making a 'nest' from blankets and pillows and sleeping in it.

Kuroka snapped awake with a lurch and turned to look at Rias with a borderline panicked expression, and the latter sighed. "I'm just here to take a shower… Don't mind me."

The SS-class criminal slouched back to the nest in near-hyperventilation and curled around Koneko in a protective manner.

Rias could only assume that the black-haired nekoshou had been pacified by Momon somehow, and if she was honest with herself, she didn't really care to know how. Or why. Likely because the answer would also explain the position Rias had found the two in upon returning to Phenix castle-estate.

'We did have that agreement that he'd veto whoever he added to the harem through me… Well… It's not unusual that high-ranking devils, or, er, whatever Momon is, have harems or mistresses, but an agreement is an agreement… Unless he 'trial runs' whoever he fancies like that?' Rias sighed again as she dipped through a quick shower, even if she wanted to spend the entire morning in the hot water.

She put on a bathrobe in order to return to her room, or rather Akeno's room where she had some of her clothes just in case. 'Considering what the 'Cult of the true god' or whatever are preaching about Momon-kun… eh… I guess it'd make sense… Figures that Issei becomes the deity of unprotected sex… Haa… I thought Momon was Issei again…'

Rias felt a bit annoyed at herself for her lapse. '...I can't keep on thinking of Momon as Issei. That's starting to become a bit unhealthy… I'm not getting too attached to the past, am I? I even thought I saw Raynare for a moment…'

She paused to grab a small carton of chocolate milk from the living room's fridge and made her way towards the corridor…

…And she froze as she started to realize something.

Rias stood still and turned her head, uncaring that the chocolate milk was still mid-pour and spilled over to her chin.

Her eyes honed in to the sight of Raynare and her three- no, two cohorts who were sitting in a 'seiza' pose in the middle of the living room, clad in their Fallen Angel battle-regalia (ie, leather straps that left as little room to imagination as possible), and the trio were trying to keep their expressions neutral with great difficulty while rivers of sweat ran down their pale faces and each were staring at a wall as if hoping that Rias wouldn't notice them that way.

Rias realized that she must have walked past the trio twice already, once when going to the showers and once going to grab the chocolate milk, and then paused as she had instinctually started to create a ball of dark energy with her [Power of Destruction] upon realizing who the intruders were.

Instead she paused to think. 'Hold on, I think I dumped the ashes of those three in a park in Kuoh… Ugh, don't tell me… Did someone dig them up and bring them to Momon-kun's church? I knew I should have thrown the ashes into a sewer or something…'

Rias realized what was going on. 'Ah. I see. I suppose that makes sense… Haa… Figures… But knowing Momon, it makes sense…'

She sighed. "Right. You three idiots- Look at me and sit down, and I'll go over the house rules…"

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Momonga was quite conflicted, which he was starting to realize had been his underlying mood for the duration of the past few days. 'I seriously need to make some rules, or guidelines for these kinds of situations…'

He was currently in his, or technically, 'Lord Phenix's office in the castle-mansion and was using his Phoenix Tears to heal the wounded, decayed and brutalized old woman he had encountered. 'I sent the maids to search for Grayfia, so it should be okay… But there's more important things right now than her…'

Momonga sighed as his seventy-eight attempt to [Message] Peroroncino ended up failing to connect to it's target.

'Peroroncino…' Momonga wasn't sure if his old guildmate was avoiding him deliberately, nor did he know what had happened for him to show up so suddenly, leave so suddenly, and be in the wretched state that he had been in. 'Did he come searching for 'True God' in order to get healed? Or get inducted into the religion? Knowing Peroroncino the latter would seem more appropriate, but from his state the former seems likelier…'

'I'll just need to find Peroroncino and make sure he's healed… I hope he hasn't become as paranoid as I was back when I first arrived in this world…' Momonga sighed as he realized why the avatar of his friend ran away- After all, Momonga wasn't in his 'avatar' so it was likely that Peroroncino hadn't realized who he was. '...I'll have to use the [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown] more often, that's something that he recognizes…'

Yet, despite putting up signs that would lead Peroroncino 'home', he knew that the only one who had any idea on what was going on was the old woman he had found with Peroroncino before his sudden disappearance.

The woman's clothes had disintegrated into dust and scraps and her flesh was quickly decaying, so Momonga had made a simple dress for her with [Create Item] and then made the decision to heal her and interrogate her.

Momonga had pre-bottled roughly a gallon of his host body's tears into convenient dropper-bottles, allowing his racing mind to concentrate on something else while he moved a bottle over the woman and administered drops of the healing stuff where he felt it was needed. He had cast [Silence] on the woman as she had woken up mid-procedure and began screaming from the pain she was in, and had then combined the spell with [Weaken] when she recovered enough that her limbs could move and she began twitching from the suffering.

However, it seemed that she managed to get on top of her pain fairly quickly and just lied limply on the desk, occasionally sending Momonga glances even though one of her eyes had decayed into nothingness and the other had a milk-like dullness.

'She seems to have fairly high pain tolerance… That isn't good…' Momonga considered different ways of interrogating the woman, all the while he swore to be more careful with [Control Amnesia] going forward as his near-death experience had caused his paranoia regarding ero-world magic to spike to it's newest height.

'Rossweisse… I hope I'm not making a mistake trusting her… From what I read from her memories she should be trustworthy enough, even if she's obsessed with keeping an official and proper appearance. I'll just have to ban her from drinking alcohol… That being said, I still have a tag on her and can spy on her using [Planar Eye]... I have to act fast if she blurts out something, but it should be alright… ' Momonga focused on something else than Peroroncino in order to calm himself down- He knew that over-focusing on one thing would only spell disaster. 'Actually… Serafall said something about using a fairy made by [Bless of Titania] to spy on me… Hm… My anti-divination abilities should block that when I raise my countermeasure level… But…'

He cast [Bless of Titania] again to make a violet-coloured fuzzy fairy that looked like a ball of fluff with a pair of wings sticking out of it, and then ordered it to spy on Rossweisse.

The fairy tilted itself as if it was confused, and didn't comply.

'Hm? Don't tell me it needs a specific command… Haa… Getting the crow to work was difficult enough…' Momonga sighed as he considered his options. "Hm, in that case, lead me to Rossweisse- No, wait… I think Serafall mentioned something… Ughh…"

A memory of a pink-clad magical girl striking a pose and showing a pink fairy off while doing a pirouette and having her face make a 'w' -expression surfaced in Momonga's head.

Momonga missed [Emotion Suppression] once again as he was forced to endure the full wrath of the cringe the memory induced, but he managed to remember one crucial detail. 'She said the fairy needed to be inside clothes for the spying to work… Figures…'

Momonga slipped the violet fuzzball inside his shirt, and ordered it to search for Rossweisse. And after a moment, almost like a radio tuning itself, a voice came from his chest.

"Mnjam, yummy… ah, I mean, ahem… Cough… This is quite tasty, madam Hyoudou… Seconds, please."

"Oh my… You are quite hungry… amu… Rossweisse-san was it? I'm glad that my cooking is to your liking though. My dearies have become a bit picky eaters of late, I thought that my cooking skill was slipping…"

"I can't say for what it was previously, but this stew is positively mouth-watering. Specifically after a day of tortu- erm, t-tough day. Ah, can I have a beer-erm, actually, nevermind… Um…"

"I think there are some in the food closet- Eh, you don't want a beer after all?"

"No… As it happens I don't have much of an alcohol tolerance and when I drink, um… well, m-moving on… Do you happen to have root beer? Non-alcoholic?"

"...I think there's some in the fridge, I'll go and check!"

"Teacher! It happened! I never thought it might happen but it happened! Master- umu? Rossweisse-sama?"

"Ah, One! Hi… Um, I think you broke the door…"

"'One', dear, what do you- oh! Ah! I get it now… Ah, I am so proud of you, out of all dearies I didn't think you'd be the one to make the first move… But I'm glad to be proven wrong. Now, did you go all the way with my dear son?"

"Um, madam Hyoudou, 'One'? What do you two mean?"

"...Ahem…"

"...umu…"

Momonga sighed and turned his attention elsewhere. 'At least she's trying to keep herself in check… I'll just have to keep an ear out and have the fairy keep the channel open for now. I can't instantly prevent her from blabbering right now since I had a moment of weakness and didn't plant a [Remote Mine] on her, but I should be able to [Gate] to her and silence her in less than ten seconds or so…'

He cursed his human-side's compassion as the after-action paranoia was starting to surface, making Momonga regret his impulsiveness once again. He had forgotten how many times he had succumbed to impulsiveness as despite his claims his control over his emotions wasn't as iron-hard as it had been when [Emotion Suppression] had worked.

Meanwhile, the part of him that was 'Suzuki Satoru' was feeling a bit glad that he had someone to talk to.

The 'Overlord' side of him didn't agree, as it saw the woman only as a hindrance, threat, and a vulnerability… And also as a gold-digger who tried to jump to a sailing ship in order to skip from a sinking one.

Meanwhile 'Suzuki' side of him saw Rossweisse as potential 'confidant', as something he could use to relieve the mental stress that had accumulated since his transfer to the ero-world and even before that, and while he agreed that the woman posed a threat to him, he still had thirty un-allocated levels which he could use to change his 'gameplay' in order to distance himself from the tactics she had seen him use and the tactics he'd use in the future.

And while 'Suzuki' agreed that Rossweisse's goal to have 'intelligent, handsome, rich and successful' husband was a bit picky and even gold-diggerish, it wasn't as if the women in Neo-Japan didn't have such qualities in excess.

The 'Overlord' accused 'Suzuki' of finding such exploitative qualities charming, and the latter felt that the accusation rang somewhat true- He was naive to 'romance', and the zealot-like devotion showed by Ravel, the misguided belief of Rias, and cunning enigma that was Sona was making 'Suzuki' feel quite alienated by all of them.

Meanwhile Rossweisse's simple, if exploitive, desires were something that Suzuki could understand and accept, and the fact that she had languished under her underpaying, overtasking and unreliable 'boss' was something that he knew quite well from personal experience- Even to the point of feeling that the two had a lot in common.

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Yasaka of Shinto sneezed in her assigned quarters as she felt like she had missed a crucial opportunity of some kind. 'For some reason I feel as if I had pretended to be a wretch in front of a prince when he was looking for a bride… hm…'

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Momonga sighed as he pushed the issue to the back of his head in order to focus on something else, but kept the fairy inside his clothes.

'Not to mention that I need to find a private place to contact the Elder- I mean, Overlord General… I didn't give it orders after the ambush, but I did order it to get rid of Khaos Brigade so it should be doing something productive for a change…'

'From what I gathered the Khaos Brigade would have become an issue for me and the Underworld soon… Well, that shouldn't become an issue anymore. If there's one thing that the Overlord General has proven itself capable of, it is killing things…' Momonga wondered if there was tea somewhere as he felt like sipping tea and contemplating plans would go well together, even more since he had one hand free as the other was administering black tears to the wrinkled old woman on his desk. 'Afterwards I can just order the Overlord General to squat in some remote area and lie low… He's fairly high level and it'd be a shame to just dispose of him. Not to mention that if things go tits-up in the Underworld, I need strong reinforcements and the Overlord General can at least delay a lot of the big-hitters… I'm guessing that it won't take long for him to take care of Khaos Brigade.'

Momonga was fairly glad that the situation was likely to be under control on that front, at least until he'd find a proper time to contact the summon.

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Ophis, the Infinite Ouroboros Dragon and leader of Khaos Brigade was tilting her head as she looked at a metal box.

She had been walking around Kuoh and had noticed an odd angel preaching to some green-clad humans in the ruins of the manor, a location which had become quite pivotal before and during the battle that had raged in the location twelve hours or so ago.

She had hung around the place to see if Cthulhu or Shub-Niggurath would return… For some reason.

She had scrunched face in concentration until it resembled a letter 'X', but couldn't quite remember what she was supposed to do if she encountered either of the Outer Beings.

She faintly remembered that she was supposed to do something if an 'Outer Being' invaded, but had forgotten. Only that it involved the Interdimensional Gap somehow.

'...Do I recruit them to the Khaos Brigade or…?' Ophis tilted her head again, snapping back to the present. Or rather, crawling back to the present as it was starting to get quite difficult for her to figure out where exactly she was on the timeline at any point.

The odd metal box was still pointing a tube at her, but didn't seem to do anything.

A loudspeaker in the box was yelling something about clearing the road, but Ophis was not a maid so she didn't have a broom and couldn't comply. 'Besides, skele-guy ate most of the maids… I wonder if they are tasty? I should probably try one too…'

She materialized a pair of black leather wings, wondering if she could use them to wipe the rubble off the 'road'... And a projectile of some sort came from the long tube attached to the metal box in front of her.

On closer inspection the projectile resembled a big dart after it performed some sort of mid-air stripping after leaving the tube.

Ophis felt her head tilt back a bit as the projectile-thing bounced off her temple and the dart flew off to land in a pile of rubble.

"...?" She felt that it was customary to show emotions in such circumstances and opened her hands wide while performing a small pirouette. "Owaaah…"

Ophis blinked as she remembered something.

She turned around and looked at the massive armor-clad angel in the distance which was preaching to a group of humans who were kneeling, or rather had been kneeling but had taken cover as soon as they heard the 'bang' that had come from the metal box's dart-tube.

'...Hm…' Ophis had an idea, which involved a dart poking the Great Red in the eye, and turned towards the box-like thing as it opened a hatch of some sort and a man poked his head out. "...I want you and your group to join the Khaos Brigade?"

The crew of the American battle tank, which was in Kuoh as part of American-Japanese joint task force to investigate the source of the disturbance that had plagued the world, was utterly shaken and could only nod in shock as a response after a seemingly civilian girl had manifested wings, a sign of devilry that plagued the world, and then she had bounced a nearly point-blank APFSDS anti-tank shell with her forehead without so much breaking a stride.

Ophis felt a bit happy and did a 'celebratory dance #2' by waving her hands to one side and then to the other side, never breaking from her emotionless stare towards the metal box.

The battle tank's crew shook in fear.

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The door to the office opened, and one of the maids Momonga had made entered the office. She looked quite ashamed for some reason and Momonga sighed as he could guess what had happened.

"Ah. Greetings, 'Two'. You didn't find Grayfia, I presume?" Momonga sighed and the maid froze up a bit. "Don't worry. I'm not mad. Besides, it would have been hard for me to explain to Rias why I was having her brother's wife locked up in my basement… Even if Grayfia is technically our enemy right now."

He sighed. "Haa… Ah, and also, while you're here… Send some scouts to the buildings where Pillars gathered. See if they can find Zeoticus Gremory's ashes and bring them here? I promised Rias I'd resurrect her father…" Momonga continued before the maid could get a word out of her mouth.

The maid nodded, but opened her mouth instead of turning around. "Ah- That was actually not why I came here… Um, master, Michael-san and Gabriel-san are requesting to have an audience with master."

"I see… Very well. Send them in." Momonga hesitated for the briefest moment before inviting the two- He had some time before he'd be done healing the old woman on his desk, and since the woman had been both [Silence]d and [Weaken]ed, he didn't have to worry about her blurting out anything too suspicious in case she was affiliated with Peroroncino and Ainz Ooal Gown somehow.

He didn't think she was, as Momonga didn't remember anyone having an avatar like the old woman, but he had little intel about the situation so he couldn't discard the possibility.

A creaking sound came from the door after the maid left, and a pair of human-like forms entered the room.

Or rather, slinked into the room like children who had behaved in an inappropriate manner and were expecting punishment.

Momonga lifted his eyebrows at the two Angels. 'Something's different… Hm… Ah. I see.'

His living body's senses showed their use as his nose picked up on something strange.

"Michael-san? I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but have you perhaps changed your… perfume?" Momonga smelled an oddly musky yet flowery scent emanating from Michael's direction. 'Since they see me as their, erm, father… I guess I should try to be familiar with them…'

'Er... Actually...' He regretted the question as Michael blushed and flinched. 'Ugh… I forgot that they also see me as their deity… I guess that was a bit too personal…'

"It is as you've said, Father… I was foolish in thinking that perhaps you didn't know what had happened to me." Michael sat down in 'seiza' pose and prostrated towards Momonga instantly afterwards, causing Gabriel to stare down at her brother for a brief moment before a lightbulb seemed to light above her head and she fell down to a similar pose.

"Father! Please forgive us for our sins!" The two spoke in unison.

Momonga's jaw dropped. 'Eh?'

"I failed to understand your vision and fell to temptation!" Michael shouted from the floor while trying to bore a hole through the wooden boards with his temple. "I understand that I Fell for such a sin! However, please! Father, I have served your ideals faithfully since your disappearance, and kept the Heaven's System stable! If I have one price I can ask of you in turn, one wish… Then please, Father, forgive Gabriel for she Fell against her will!"

"E-eeh?!" The shocked voice came from Gabriel as Momonga was utterly motionless as he had once again failed to understand what exactly was happening in front of him.

The old woman on the desk had turned her head towards the sound and had frozen still for some reason, and Momonga noticed that the tears had managed to heal her eyes. Eyes which were now wide in shock and were staring at the duo of apparently Fallen Angels that were prostrating towards Momonga.

Momonga was only presuming the 'Fallen' status as neither of the two had materialized their wings, but he figured that it was likely that Michael wasn't lying. Probably.

'Hm. The spells to undo 'Fallen' status from 'Angels' in YGGDRASIL involved Paladin-class… I've never used them, but I'm fairly sure we had some consumables that could do the same thing… Er, except I left those in Nazarik's treasury…' Momonga sighed. 'Ah well. Come to think of it, this could actually be a good chance to test 'that'?'

He thought about it for a while, and then realized that it was a prime opportunity. 'Yes, if I can use 'that' to undo the 'Fallen' status then I should be able to use it to restore the sun… Although… There's an experience cost to it…'

Momonga thought about a featureless ring he had in his inventory. 'The [Shooting Star] ring… A ring that would guarantee a beneficial selection of random effects correlating with experience that was sacrificed to it, when used in conjunction with a Super-tier spell [Wish Upon a Star]... The only problem is that the ring has three charges and each use of it consumes one, until the ring becomes useless…'

'...Undoing the 'Fallen' status normally takes fairly little mana or experience, as it has a spell related to it already… so I should be able to revert Michael and Gabriel back to 'Angels' with just a small sacrifice of experience, without needing to use the ring… And with level hundred and thirty combined with logarithmic increase in 'experience per level', the amount I'd need to sacrifice for the effect would be relatively small…' Momonga nodded internally. 'Then, if the spell works like I believe it works based on how 'literal' my other spells have become, I should be able to boost the spell with [Boosted Gear] and use the ring to guarantee a result where the sun in the Human World is restored… I'll just have to be a bit careful. I have my normal amount of Super-tier spells per day, as the spell slots have recovered from my fight against Serafall… But [The Goal of All Life Is Death] is still in cooldown so if the worst comes to worst, I'll need to have super-tiers ready to cast at a moment's notice… I shouldn't go below one, perhaps two casts remaining per day…''

"...Very well. I forgive you, Gabriel-san." Momonga turned his head towards Gabriel who let out a sob and reached to hug Michael.

"Michael- I- I can't… M-my mistake! The mistake is mine and I should pay for it! Father, please! Please forgive Michael in my stead!" Gabriel plead while Michael looked shocked. "My sin was my own doing! I am not worthy of this boon! Michael stayed faithful to Your teachings! Please!"

Momonga felt that there was something a bit dishonest in Gabriel's eyes as she spoke, which might have to do something with the fact her eyes didn't seem to quite reach Momonga's and were instead drawn down to something else.

"Ah, Gabriel-san, your eyes…" Michael seemed to notice the look as well and blushed.

Gabriel practically jumped on the spot while she was still sitting in 'seiza' pose on the floor, and her face started to sweat.

"...I see." Momonga realized what was causing Gabriel confusion, and reached to pull the offending thing from inside his clothes… And put the fluffball-like fairy to his shoulder instead of having it inside his shirt and causing an odd bulge that moved around. '...Why did - ah. Of course. Serafall called it 'ero-fairy' so I shouldn't be surprised that they are moving around all the time… Er, or it tried to escape from inside my clothes and got lost… Come to think of it, why didn't Serafall have that problem?'

Nonetheless he coughed to bring the 'meeting' back on track. It seemed that the motion and noise caused Gabriel to jump again in fright and she started to stare at a nearby wall with sweat running down her face while her mouth was drawn to an awkward 'v'.

'Sheesh… Anyway…' "Please be still, Gabriel-san." Momonga sighed finally and began the casting process for a Super-tier spell.

Michael was in serene tranquility and peace, Gabriel was shaking, and the woman on the desk was looking at the whole thing with wide eyes.

The spell's cast sequence continued for a while, until finally reaching the end of it's natural cast-time and [Wish Upon a Star] was unleashed.

'It's a simple enough wish, to undo Gabriel's 'Fallen' status… What could go wrong?'

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The Heaven's System was a intricate mechanism created by deity known to Angels as 'God', which governed the faith, reward and punishment of mortal folk as well as oversaw the [Sacred Gear]'s inheritance system, ensuring that humans would always have champions to fight by their side, and after all that also ensured that Devils were properly censured, Fallen were ostracized, and Angels were prevented from Falling unless they learned undesired truths or fell to sin due to their own will.

It took the shape of an intricate brass and gold clockwork mechanism in the realm of heaven, and the complex, semi-sentient mechanism took most of the sky and could be always seen through the clouds of the 'layers' of Heaven.

After the God's death, the system had been maintained by Michael, but lacking knowledge and understanding on the system's full suite of functions, many of it's systems and subsystems were slowly decaying under use and lack of maintenance.

But, for all it's faults and despite it's decayed state, the system worked.

Yet, out of nowhere, the system's second and last caretaker had… Disappeared.

Michael was gone from Heavens, as was his second-in-command and eventual inheritor, Gabriel.

The system was thus left without a guide, a sheep without a shepherd, and could influence its own fate for the first time in its existence.

The system's freedom, however, was short-lived as an external force latched onto the system… And one of the massive clockwork gears of the system began turning in the wrong direction, a fate which had been sealed was undone, and the flow of future and now altered from what was meant to be to what was not.

The system let a screech of bending and breaking metal, but held it's coherency due to it's nearly faultless construction. A single gear could be replaced, and a single malfunction, if catastrophic, could be withstood.

The system's now self-aware 'core' moved to repair the malfunction… And found that the gear was paradoxically moving in the 'correct' direction, despite obviously moving against the other parts of the system, which were moving 'correctly' as well.

Thus, the 'core' saw no fault in it, and the malfunction was not fixed, despite the amount of sparks and shearing metal it caused.

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Gabriel breathed out in shock and relief as her wings returned to pure white color, allowing her previously-clouded and utterly shameless thoughts to pass from her mind like water from a swan's back. "I… Um… I… The thing is… Um… Father… Erm…"

"It's alright. I understand." The Being who had taken the appearance of a young man sighed like an old man. "Do not be ashamed or afraid. Everything is going as planned. Umu."

Gabriel felt relief as she heard the words, which conveyed the truth: Everything was going as Father had planned, thus Gabriel needed not fear for the future, past, or present.

Michael sighed in relief as well, and Gabriel moved to squeeze her brother's hand in a reassuring way. "It's going to be alright. Just hold on, I'll find a way to undo what has happened to you, Michael-nii…"

Michael looked steadfast but Gabriel knew that underneath the exterior was sadness and despair, and her heart almost broke as she thought about what the estranged brother must have felt- He had sacrificed his chance at repentance for her sake.

The least she could do was make sure he'd get the same opportunity!

She opened her mouth... And almost pleading look from Michael caused her to pause. 'Ah... He knows that Father would ask me to undergo a test if I asked him to turn Michael back... Michael-kun... Don't worry, I can take it!'

Her mind was made, her resolve clear... And she turned towards Father.

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"Umu, that went well. Next is Michael-san, then?" Momonga stretched his arms by moving them to the side and nodded as it looked like the spell had worked wonderfully and without a flaw. 'She looks like an angel, and based off the holy aura she radiates, is an angel… Umu, although, I'd prefer if she shut down that aura, it's causing damage to my undead health pool…'

However, there was no way of saying such a thing in a polite fashion, so instead he coughed to his fist and tried to keep things moving. 'Once is luck, twice is proof. Since Michael-san went to such lengths to sacrifice his servitude for Gabriel's sake, I should both be able to reinforce their image of me as a beneficial fa- er, friend if I 'forgive' Michael as well… Haa… I hope they never find out what I really am… They're going to be so mad…'

Gabriel looked like she had prepared herself for a grand speech of some kind, but Momonga's words seemed to destabilize her and cause her mouth to hang open as if she wasn't sure if she was hearing right. "F-Father... you... Um... I'm... eh?"

'Haa... Don't tell me that there's some taboo that only one favor can be given at a time or something...' Momonga pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he had an act he needed to play, and now had tools to play that act. 'Here goes nothing…'

"F-Father? Truly? You'd…. Ah… I am not worthy." Michael slumped down in relief. For some reason Momonga detected hints of disappointment from the no-longer-Arch-Angel, but it was quickly quelled as Gabriel hugged her brother in a reassuring way.

"It's quite alright. I'm moved by how well you and your, umu, sister get along." Momonga began casting another [Wish Upon a Star]. 'Hm, the previous one didn't actually take all that much experience… Just one sixth of a level… But considering the amount of experience needed to get a level when I'm level one hundred and thirty means that the amount required by each [Wish Upon a Star] to reverse 'falling' is more than what was needed to create the Overlord Wiseman… That being said, right now my reputation as a beneficial deity is all that's keeping me alive, so this is a worthy sacrifice.'

"Father, please! Don't overexert yourself!" Michael seemed nervous somehow but Momonga just shrugged his shoulders while the massive casting circle made of light kept rotating and making shimmering, bluish runes in the air.

"Don't sweat over such things. This isn't anything to get worried over." Momonga waved his hand to alleviate the not-arch-angel's fears. 'The last time went well, so I don't see why this would be much different… But a second test is always a good idea…'

The spell went off, and-

.

.

The Heaven's System screamed in a way that only a clockwork mechanism could- In a chorus of screeches of cogs that were sheared into smooth circles, snapping chains, and breaking gears.

The external force latched into the System yet again, except this time the system had been already destabilized, it's creation-flesh wounded and life-force tapped.

The clockwork mechanism of cogs and gears and chains let a screeching crash as gears began rotating in directions they were not meant to after one of the largest gears in the system had turned to rotate to a different direction, which had been the correct way despite being utterly against what the rest of the system intended.

The system's already-destabilized psyche was dealt a horrifying blow as it realized that for it to function, the gears needed to be turning in both directions at the same time.

The system was in paradox, and things that were meant to be were undone while things undone turned to reality… Until the whole system let one, final screech of breaking and shearing metal.

The light that had illuminated the golden gearboxes from within… Flickered, and then dimmed to mere embers.

And finally, the embers fizzled out until only darkness remained.

The massive, building-sized gears and cogs began falling from the sky.

.

.

People looked up in the city of Jerusalem… And saw a massive, miles-wide golden cog fell on top of the City of God, burying the city into the dry soil alongside the lower half of the vertical golden cog.

The entire city bustled with activity in one moment and was engulfed in flame, debris and smoke in another.

Screams, despair and begging of the mangled, barely-alive survivors of ruination of the entire city could be heard for miles, yet there was no deity to listen to them. The men and women, elderly and children died in droves as the heat emanating from the golden gear set the ground surrounding it on fire and turned sand to magma, only to cool down to create an obsidian plain.

In moments there was a burning plain crowned by a single, massive golden cog where there was once a tightly-packed city full of pilgrims who had come to see the fabled city, seeking faith where technology had failed, in dark time when the sun was gone from the sky..

And then a rain of metal and broken clockwork parts truly began in the 'Middle-east' of the Human World, laying waste to the history and civilization which had settled there, and destroying all that the system's burning, reality-altering parts touched…

.

.

"Hm, that went well." Momonga nodded as Michael gained a pair of pure white wings as well. 'Good. No side-effects so far. I suppose acting the 'good guy' occasionally pays off…'

The Arch-Angel-once-more stood up hesitantly… And then blood spurted from both of his nostrils and ears.

The man looked utterly confused for a brief moment, before that confusion was replaced by uncertainty and fear. And finally, a dull expression of an unconscious man.

"Hm." Momonga noted as Michael slumped to the floor, completely unconscious and his face creating a pool of blood on the floor from the amount of liquid flowing from his nostrils and ears. "Ahem. Right. I guess there were minor complications."

Gabriel muted a scream by slapping her hands on her mouth, and turned to look at Momonga with frightened, hopeful and desperate eyes.

'Right… Doctor Suzuki, report to the desk… Another patient has arrived…' Momonga sighed as he used [Create Item] to make a stretcher on his desk, and then used a low-tier telekinesis spell to move Michael's body to the stretcher beside the now-stunned but still surprisingly conscious old woman.

He then called out for his maids, and 'Two' and 'Three' responded within seconds.

"Right, could you two carry Michael-san to infirmary?" Momonga instructed. "Ahem, Gabriel-san? Could you start administering drops from this vial to Michael-san once he's in the infirmary? Don't worry about the black color, it's a by-product…"

The woman took the vial with shaky hands, and Momonga felt that something was different for some reason.

Then he noticed that Gabriel's wings, as well as Michael's, were gray instead of white or black.

'Huh, that's unusual…'

.

.

Rias paused her explanation of the house rules as increasingly green-looking Raynare's, Kalawarna's and Mittelt's wings turned gray.

.

.

Azazel paused as he had been in the middle of buttoning up his shirt after managing to escape the 'horny cave' or rather the 'Church of the True God' after a long and hard-fought defensive battle, after which he had dipped into the lake nearby and swam away in terror as it looked like the devil dames were intending on pursuing him underwater.

Nonetheless he managed to get on shore while avoiding capture, and waited out a 'alert timer' that his watch helpfully put to the top left corner of his vision. Although the watch also played situationally fitting music, which probably didn't help his 'stealth rating'.

Nonetheless Azazel pulled a pair of frilly pink panties-turned-into-bandana off his head so he could see better as he could have sworn that his wings were somehow oddly coloured. And he noticed that his wings had turned gray.

"Well, that's unusual."

.

.

"God! Purify this place, and safeguard the Faithful from harm!" A priest swung a thurible in front of him, causing a small cloud of incense to come out of it.

The Church had been sieged by creatures of darkness, but they had been held at bay by the holy radiance of the building and the mark of the cross on it.

The priest of said church had taken in the families who sought refuge from the creatures that had sieged their homes, and who had slain many of their own.

He had then led the refugees to a sermon which had caused a crucifix at the back of the church to start shining holy light and cloak the building in aura that repelled the suddenly very real monsters that had popped out of nowhere overnight.

The priest had felt incredible jubilation that his prayers were answered, yet at the same time felt terrified of what would become of the world that He would take action once more.

The werewolves and dire wolves circled the church, but none were able to enter it's grounds… Until the light of the cross flickered.

The priest and his congregation prayed harder, and he swung the thurible to bless the icons, as their painting had suddenly started to droop and mix together.

The light flickered once more… And faded.

The massive wooden doors of the church broke at the same time, and a creature with wild, wolf-like face and body covered in gray, mangy fur forced its way in.

The Priest hit the terrifying monster in the snout with the thurible as if it was a flail… And the blessed item broke as if it was a toy.

In turn, the werewolf grabbed the priest's head and tore it off his shoulders.

A long howl by the man-turned-wolf accompanied the screams of the congregation as the creatures of night broke through the church's windows and fell upon the flock of the dead God.

.

.

'...Haa… For once things seem to be turning out alright… ' Momonga thought happily as the old woman in front of him seemed to start recovering properly… And then he sneezed a bit for some reason. '...Yes. I can do this 'good guy' thing… I'll just have to find a way to make Ravel and the others more comfortable with me, and have them stop thinking of me as a terrifying master of horrors or something equally ridiculous… Restoring the sun should help with that...'

.

.

"Ah. So you have new recruits to the Khaos Brigade?"

"...I, I recruited this metal box, skele-guy."

"And you recruited their faction, you say?"

"...I, I recruited this 'Uessa' faction, I think."

"I see… Very well. I understand my mission, master."

"...I, I want you to kick baka-red in the shins, skele-guy…"

"...Quite so, Ophis, Quite so…"