Chapter 132: The nuclear blast forms an advert

"Haah." A sigh came from somewhere.

A voice that was rough akin to the growling of a rockslide of moldy tombstones, yet faint as a breeze in a still, deathly and foreboding forest.

"My lord, if you wish, I can wake him up…" A voice that was soft and pleasant, yet carrying an eerie sense of wrongness on account of being too perfectly loving, permeated the air next.

"It's alright. I know him. Let him wake on his own. Ahem… Put the tongs away, please." The ancient-sounding and crypt-like voice spoke next.

"Ah, as expected of my lord. Please forgive this foolish servant her arroga-"

"It's… Alright." The ancient voice seemed to sigh again, as if it was troubled somehow. "Wake up. Saji."

Saji woke up as he heard his voice called, and the torpor he had been in broke and was replaced by a surge of pain- Namely, pain in his back, legs and head, as if he had been tossed off a cliff or something, had landed on something hard and unpleasant, and had then been dragged like a sack through a valley of sharp rocks.

"Owww… W-what…" Saji turned to his side and crawled to his knees, all the while keeping his head against the floor from the pain. "Sssh… Hrgh, it's… I'll…"

"It's fitting for worms to writhe and squirm on the ground, but your lack of focus insults our Lord's magnificence. [Command Mantra: "Stand"]." A new voice, a calm and pleasant akin to a soft hiss yet foreboding to the highest degree came from somewhere… Followed by a command that was much stronger than mere verbal command, as if it was imbued in some sort of magic.

Saji found his body straightening against his will, even if the motion caused his back-pain to intensify tenfold while he felt cracks and pops across his body, akin to if Sona had ordered her Queen pull and stretch Saji's limbs straight after a particularly hellish training session.

"G-Hrhg-" Saji bit his lip hard enough to draw blood while his body spasmed up to his feet… And then to one knee, as if he was puppeted and forced to pay homage to a great lord. "W-what is this?"

"Calm down. Release, ahem, that control you have over Saji. And please leave the two of us alone- I wish to interrogate him myself." The grave-like voice spoke again, followed by the sweet-sounding voice and the sly-sounding voice agreeing in unison, followed by a pair of footsteps leaving the room they were in. "See to the other intruders in the meantime. Demiurge, I trust you have a plan for situations such as this?"

Saji couldn't quite tell what kind of room he was in, as his face had not been allowed to lift from pointing to the floor, not that he was particularly keen on moving around anyhow thanks to every movement causing a huge surge of pain across his body.

The compulsion to stay kneeling lifted all of a sudden, causing Saji to spasm a bit and fall to the floor… Before he struggled to roll to his back so that he could at least get a look at where he was and who he was talking to. 'This… This isn't Beelzebub-sama's fortress? I… I wanted to tell him the Supreme Being's weakness, his ultimate downfall, but… Hrgh, that monster must have gotten ahead of me, and somehow convinced Beelzebub that I was his spy… Probably by attacking Beelzebub-sama's camp and claiming to rescue me 'as a present for Sona' or something vile like that… That must have caused Beelzebub-sama to have his guards capture me and chain me up… That damn monster- eh?'

Saji managed to turn his head to look at the source of the footsteps that approached him… And then he froze utterly.

'No. No- It can't be! But…' Saji's eyes opened wide in terror, despair and anger. 'But I escaped! This- You- YOU- You damn monster!'

Indeed, it was clear as day.

The Supreme Being stood before him.

The tall, skeletal creature looked down at Saji, a pair of red-glowing dots shining bright in its empty eye-sockets.

The monster was made of sharp, inhuman bones and cloaked in some kind of dark cloak that radiated power. A scepter of some kind of dark metal was in his hand, and held in a somewhat loose grip as if he had no need to posture or even try to pretend that Saji was a threat to it in any way.

Saji recognized the shape of the staff- He had seen it before, held by the very same creature yet clad in flesh, and the scepter covered in gold to hide its vile nature.

And then the monster opened its mouth. "It's been a while, Saji-kun. Something has happened, and… We need to have a talk. But before that- Is Rias-buchou alright?"

'You- What the hell did you do to everyone?! Sona?! What did you do to Sona?!' Saji wanted to scream, but his body could only let a hiss of pain from between his lips. 'Is Rias-sama alright? Is that some kind of a joke? What the hell?'

Yet, Saji could tell that the monster was mocking him as its voice was eerily hopeful and fragile, as if he was an old man meeting a long-lost friend… But before Saji could get his body to do anything more than spasm on the ground in pain, he passed out from his pain and anger. 'I'll… Never forgive you… Monster…'

And then there was only blissful darkness.

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Momonga was having a bit of a problem.

'Hm…' He rubbed his chin a bit while thinking about the 'sun' in the sky, after having [Gate]'d to Human World with his Cherubim Gatekeepers as bodyguards.

It was a bit worrying how it should have been summer, but there was a thick sheet of snow everywhere and more was raining slowly all the time, while the sky was deep, dark blue as if the night sky was visible even during the day, while the massive accretion disk in the sky continued to circle the black hole that took the place of the sun, somehow appearing utterly, incomprehensibly massive in the sky like if the whole planet had been dragged closer to it.

And thus, Momonga had sat down on a piece of masonry and had a small thinking session about the problem. '...Should I try to cast [Wish Upon A Star] on something else first to see if it'd work? I'll have to use [Boosted Gear] to multiply the effect of the spell anyhow, and since it's a Super-tier spell, the boosting will cause the spell's daily usage limit to burn up for quite some time… The situation seems to have calmed down now so I'm not in immediate danger. I should probably try to use a month's worth of casts since the casts regenerate daily, whereas the ring that gives me favorable results from [Wish Upon A Star] only has three charges… So I'll have to nail this in one.'

He cast a quick [Detect Life] around himself once again, as he had been doing so since appearing back to the Human World, and noted that Baraqiel was apparently digging in a shrine that was a few tens of miles away.

The man's acting had initially worried Momonga somewhat, as he had initially thought that the Gray Angel lieutenant had gone insane… before Momonga remembered that he had tasked the man to recover all that remained of his wife in preparation for resurrection, and realized that Baraqiel's wife's body might have been cremated and scattered from a cliff or something so finding all of it might prove tad difficult.

'Still, he must care a lot about her if he's willing to shift through half a mountain of dirt just to find all the specs of ash that remain of her body… Then again, he's pretty lucky that whoever dealt with the body didn't just disperse the ash over the sea or something.' Momonga distracted himself for a brief moment, and then distracted himself from his distraction by remembering that his second Dominion Authority was supposed to be in Kuoh, but it was nowhere to be seen. 'Odd. I doubt it has gone rogue, and I haven't received reports of a gigantic angel going on a massacre so it probably hasn't pulled a 'Elder Lich 3: The Lichening' over some perceived mistake or insult towards me… Hm, if I check where my summons are through the master- summon link, then- It's somewhere over there?'

Momonga turned to scratch his head a bit while turning to the direction of the invisible 'string' connecting him to the summons, and noted that there was nothing but ocean in the direction of his second Dominion Authority. 'Odd. Did it go fishing or something? Wait, I think that's the pacific ocean, in which case… Ohno.'

'Don't tell me that Angel went to America?'

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"...And give praise to Lord Momon, for in his name all is wrought, and in his name…"The Dominion Authority who had self-titled itself 'Second-Da' preached to a huge group of listeners, which had started as quite massive crowd as people flocked to see the 'real actual biblically correct Angel'- And the crowd had exploded into a huge gathering after the Dominion Authority had started to heal and resurrect the dead after their handlers had sworn fealty to the Lord.

A lot of the people seemingly came from the 'south' of the nation, for some reason. But the angel didn't discriminate.

It had been somewhat surprising to see how easily the locals accepted the word of the Lord, albeit there had been more than a bit of resistance once the Dominion Authority started to explain proper ways of worship, which it had asked from it's 'senpai' through a [Message].

Words such as 'deviancy' and 'sodomy' were used by some in the crowd, alongside a vocal minority rejecting the message of the angel's Lord, and Dominion Authority's mace quickly put a stop to such deviant thinking.

'I shall not let down senpai or Master! Master's will be done!' The second Dominion Authority was determined to not lose to the one that had come before it, and kept preaching.

Someone asked about the black hole sun, the diseases, the foul creatures in dark forests, and the chaos that wracked the realm, and the Dominion Authority had an answer ready before the question ended.

"It is the Lord's punishment for the unfaithful, for failure to follow Lord's ways. Repent for your sins, and the Lord shall provide."

And the crowd kept growing.

Then someone mentioned other gods and their worshippers.

The Dominion Authority thought about it, and realized that such things would be an opposition to its Lord.

And thus, naturally, the Dominion Authority had only one answer.

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Momonga sighed. 'Well, I suppose I should contact that Dominion Authority at some point. The last Dominion Authority went and made a cult in my name, so it's probable the second one is going to do the same… Well, at this point I suppose it's fine if the sex-cult grows in number. It's going to do that regardless, so might as well swim when in water. And if I'm to be a pretend-god, then I probably should at least have a lot of followers so I look the sort. As long as I don't cross my own 'teachings' anyway…'

He shook his head to clear it of stray thoughts and focused his attention back to the sun. 'So… Here we go.'

"[Scale Mail]" The khaki-yellow armor materialized around him, and he began to use [Boost] while mentally considering if he should order one of the 'maids' to go and knock Baraqiel out so that if Momonga failed to restore the sun, then there'd be no witnesses to his blunder.

He shook the thought off, as he figured he could just make an excuse if Baraqiel confronted him about it. 'I've had enough people die because of my decisions already. Besides, Baraqiel is Akeno's dad and she'd be crass if she found out I had his dad whacked over the head for something as silly as that…'

Momonga wondered for a while if he was getting old as his thoughts seemed to wander as of late, and decided to try to focus on one thing more in the future.

"Or perhaps you're relaxing a bit, hm? You've been under a lot of stress of late. Or at least I guess that's the case, I can't really tell with you so…" Ddraig noted while the dragon was sitting in a dragon-sized chair while Momonga realized that his mental-scape 'self' was lying in a recliner, and the dragon had a notebook in one of its claws and a quill on the other.

Momonga's mental 'self' stood up instantly as it was quite embarrassing. 'Maybe, but I should open up my suit only after I've ensured I'm actually safe. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd like to reschedule our psychiatric appointment.'

"Certainly, certainly. Next Monday perhaps?"

'That'll do.' Momonga played his role with a straight face, which was a testament enough of his growing endurance of chuuni and corny acting. 'Now then…'

"...[Boost]." The chain of [Boost]s that he had been casting in the background ended, and Momonga pulled the ring for guaranteed [Wish Upon A Star] castings from his inventory before sliding it to his finger.

Momonga realized that his wedding ring blocked his usual 'number one' slot for a 'Ring', so he instead slid it to the next available finger before lifting the finger up at the black-hole sun with the ring toward the sky. 'I hope this works… Ddraig, wish me luck.'

"'G'luck a' ye lil' shit ye better get that thing done, ye daft cunt, or I'll shank ye."

'-What was that?'

"Scottish 'good luck' wishing. I'm from Wales, right? It's close enough, I think."

'Wasn't Wales part of Britain or something? Moreover, wasn't that accent just now Australian?' Momonga half-remembered some geographical details that were glossed over during his single day of high-school in Kuoh.

"I dunno, I was never really into local politics outside of fighting Albion and eating random sheep and cows when I was free of the Sacred Gear."

Momonga realized he was getting sidetracked again and pulled himself up by his mental neck. "Right- [Wish Upon A Star]"

The Super-Tier spell began to cast, making Momonga feel a bit awkward as he realized that the spell's cast-time wouldn't be negated by [Boost] unless he used a cash-shop item to skip the cast-time, and he wasn't willing to spend a precious consumable when he could just wait.

Even if that meant he'd be stuck giving the black hole sun a middle-finger for the next minute or so.

'...So…'

"It's a bit rainy outside, yeah?" Ddraig noted while he was lying on a pile of gold with his head propped up with his claws and legs kicking like some kind of dragon-child.

'You're in a good mood?'

"Well, for once you aren't destroying everything permanently and without recourse and chance of restoration. I'm not the greatest fan of building up and restoration and whatnot, but it's hard to blow things up and burn them down if there's nothing to blow up or burn down." Ddraig noted. "Speaking of, you should probably consider spending some time with your entourage. I've looked from the side and I feel as if some of them are getting more than a bit alienated from you and falling back towards the 'Issei singularity'."

'That is worrying. Thanks for the heads-up- Any ideas on how to work on it?'Momonga decided to just sigh and keep on the mental conversation as he realized he was stuck doing nothing anyway while the cast-'timer' ticked down so he might as well get something semi-productive done while at it.

'Well, I feel as if that blonde girl, Asia, is feeling a bit neglected, since I think Issei-kun was pretty close to her. That young nekomata's probably fine all things considered, but since her big sister was found, and subsequently screwed senseless by you, she's probably more than a bit confused as to what she's to you and what her role in the Peerage is and whatnot.' Ddraig noted while counting with his claws as if to signify each person with a claw. 'Sorry, Peerages were disbanded, right? So I guess that's not really an issue in terms of where she stands in the Peerage but rather where she stands between you and her big sister… But that 'dismissal of Peerages' might breed a bigger issue."

'...Namely?'

"Namely that your 'allies', your Not-Peerage, might start to drift apart now that they don't have a physical bond to tie them together. Those two that you yoinked from that Phenix kid's Peerage are probably going to have that issue, you know, the violet-haired one and the chinese girl? Those are likely in the greatest risk of that." Ddraig finished by closing his claw. "Outside that, I don't see much problems in that regard."

'Thank you for your help, Ddraig.' Momonga was honest for once. 'Hm, not to mention I need to have a talk with Rossweisse about possible Norse pantheon defectors who might join my ranks, and figure out some sort of cover-story for that noble girl that I mind-wiped in anger… I can't really send Seekvaira back to her noble house like that or she'll just be disposed of internally, and I'll lose a valuable pawn.'

Momonga winced a bit as he felt his Super-tier spells get consumed for a month to the future, causing a huge surge of vertigo.

Almost immediately afterwards the cast-time for the Super-tier spell ended, and the spell was unleashed to the sky…

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Rizevim Lucifer was making a huge house of cards, and was about to put the last two cards in place…

Before an ethereal surge of power washed over the world that had been cloaked in darkness, and sent an immaterial wind blowing across the room where Rizevim was.

The house of cards fell, which left Rizevim frozen still in a pose where he was holding the last two cards in preparation to put them in their place.

A vein began to pulse in Rizevim's temple.

"Hey, Belial-kun?"

"Yes?" Belial turned back to face Rizevim as he had turned to look at the direction from where the wind had blown.

"Release the Evil Dragons to the world. Japan, specifically."

"Excuse me?" Belial double-took Rizevim's orders… And then paled a bit.

"Every single Evil Dragon." Revizim repeated while holding the crumpled cards in his hands A second vein had started to pulse in his forehead.

Diehauser Belial thought about it for a nanosecond… Before deciding that whatever synapse-spasm that had struck Revizim was not worth arguing over, and did as ordered.

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The build-up of power of utterly absurd degree had been felt by pantheons around the world, but none were in position to interfere- Even a dragon who had been flying above China was too slow to make it's way all the way to Japan, to the ground-zero of the cataclysm that still wracked the world…

And the build-up of power was unleashed, causing all pantheons to dread and lash out in fear, feeling the premonitions of another Outer Being invading their world and sinking it to a colorless kaleidoscope of insanity.

Even Humanity saw it, for even in their blindness they knew something was happening.

Griselda Quarta stepped out of her church as she felt a change happening.

She blinked as she saw a trio of girls at the gates of her church… Before the centermost of the girls stepped forwards.

The girl's smile was quite fond and warm, although it was lined with darkness that instantly revealed her true nature to Griselda. However, the words leaving the girl's mouth caused the nun more than little confusion.

"The Lord sees all, and sees that your heart is fierce and pure. Come with us. This world is shrouded in heresy and darkness, and now is time for the truly devout to depart." The girl's back sprouted a pair of wings, yet their color was gray.

A bright halo formed above her head… And Griselda was confused.

'...I thought her to be a Fallen Angel from the gut-feeling? But… How?' The nun was confused- She was aware of the ancient schism between the Fallen and the Angels, and that Fallen had been rejected from Heavens by God… But at the same time, she had received some concerning reports from the Vatican regarding just about everything concerning the faith. 'Has… God forgiven the Fallen, and uplifted them while marking them for their past sins? What does this mean?'

"I… Cannot go with you. My flock-"

"The impure have been punished for their sins. You have stayed true to your faith, and your reward is due." The winged woman put her hands together as if praying.

However, Griselda noticed that there was a momentary flash of something akin to annoyance in the woman's expression, and, beneath that something akin to existential fear.

'What exactly is happening here…' Griselda thought of her options. 'I'm not a Holy Sword wielder like my Xenovia, and light-based weapons probably won't be too effective against Fallen Angels, no matter which shape or fake-color of their wings. However… What exactly is going on with these three?'

Indeed, now that Griselda looked closer into the women, past the calm and holy facades they put up, she saw that all three of them were deathly afraid for some reason.

"You fear. I can see this clearly from you. What is that hunts you, friend?" Griselda would have normally used 'my child' instead of 'friend' considering the difference in perceived age, but she knew that the trio in front of her out-aged her by a factor of hundreds or thousands. "Come. My church may be but mundane stone and wood, but it is clear that your souls are haunted, even if you are creatures far higher than me. Speak with me."

The centermost of the trio was surprised by the offer, and Griselda confirmed her earlier hypothesis on the woman's nature as past Fallen Angel based on the dark look that passed the winged woman's face just before she adopted a bit teary and vulnerable expression.

Meanwhile of her two companions, the taller and bustier one looked a bit wary and the younger and shorter one looked haughty, yet behind her strong appearance it was clear she was the most afraid of the three.

'These are ill tidings, these…' Griselda knew well that she would die if she tried to fight the trio off, but at the same time, a part of her was curious as to what exactly was happening- And she had a fairly good guess that there would be no better source of information for her than the three in front of her.

She led the trio into her church, and closed the doors and windows behind her. Not so much to prevent their escape, or hers, but to prevent any wanderer seeking aid from entering and being caught in the middle should the conversation turn to blows.

And by closing her church, she missed what happened in the sky…

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Diodora leaned against a tree while looking at the trio of 'angels' entering the church. Or rather, the trio of spent goods that his 'master' had tossed onto him in order for him to torment them to his heart's content.

Not that Diodora particularly wanted to torment such miserable pre-broken subjects.

However, that had given Diodora an idea. 'Heh… I overheard Xenovia speak of 'Griselda' and how pure she was and how true to the ideals of 'God' she was… Gushing, even… Heh, naughty, naughty, what a bad daughter you are, Xenovia-sama, to tell such juicy tidbits when I'm around the corner to hear… How could I resist?'

Moreover, Diodora had used his devil-magic to listen in to the conversation between the trio of 'Gray Angels' and the motherly, older, if still quite spry and shapely, woman. 'I'm not normally into older women, but I'm willing to make an exception this time… If only because I look forward to just what sort of face Xenovia will make when I present her mother to her, broken-in and mindless, ready to be 'purified' or 'discarded' depending on my fancy... And that goodie-two-shoes will have no choice but to swallow her pride and smile, after all, our 'god' has sanctified my mission… '

'Those three were supposed to rope that woman into thinking that 'God' had sent them to bring her to heaven, or otherwise uplift her from this doomed world as part of the 'chosen few', before casting her hopes and dreams to the mud so I can pick her up from there as the 'righteous devil coming to save a forsaken nun'. But it seems they didn't manage even that much…' A sadistic smile spread across Diodora's lips. 'And, if I heard that conversation right, it looks like Griselda-sama is trying to 'heal' those three spent cumrags… I was initially not interested in breaking used goods, but if she manages to soothe that trio's spirits and give them hope… hehehe… How delicious it would be to break them again after they have recovered, had regained their hope… and I cast their feeble hopes to the trash?'

'Indeed, maybe 'Master' is also hinting to me about other ways to torment my prey? We are the same kind, after all… His ways, however, are quite exquisite… Haa, I'm a fan…' Diodora thought back to his meeting with the God, aboard the train headed to the human world. To the moment when Diodora had struck the deal with his current 'master', and he recalled the slavish look on Sona's face… and then contrasted it to the look of absolute despair the girl had been in mere few weeks ago during her wedding, the video of which Diodora had watched since the 'rescue attempt' by Sona's rogue Pawn had sent a lot of rumors flying around. 'Ha, that kind of look on Sona Sitri's face… And without any physical marks, which means his means of tormenting her was purely psychological. I wonder if I can learn how to do that someday if I hang around Him for long enough…'

Diodora scrunched his eyebrows a bit as something seemed to happen, and he looked up with his naturally-narrowed eyes to see something happening to the 'sun'-

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The surge of change, an alternation in unnatural order, latched onto the unholy amalgamation that formed the center of the solar system… And separated the two that should have never existed as one.

However, unlike a scalpel of a doctor, the separation was akin to surgery performed with a sledgehammer, and as a result… Neither of the two shards that separated were truly 'complete'. Or rather, 'themselves'.

The ethereal, horrified wailing of Shub-Niggurath, or what remained of it, filled the eternal void, casting deep shadows over immaterium and permanently disfiguring the kaleidoscopic void that surrounded the solar system in its immaterial level.

Likewise the miserable aberration that remained of Amaterasu screamed in her abject horror and torment as she was launched from the sun as soon as it re-ignited.

At the same time, the re-ignition scorched the half-merged remains of Shub-Niggurath, causing the weakened Outer Being to relapse and fuse with the sun… And merge its life-giving curse with the energies of the sun.

The last scream of the Mother with Thousand Young sent reality roiling in it's wake, and permanently disfigured the Interdimensional Gap… Before there was only deathly silence, and the hum of unnatural fusion radiating energy and heat all around it like a candle made of was that both was and was not.

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The tales among the Outer Beings of the terrifying creature known as 'Umu' only grew, who would only be described as 'inescapable forest, a monster prowling in tombs of old, the predator of the foolhardy who sought what was never theirs.'

The idea known as Hastur had been dragged out of it's shriveled den, and was emptied of whatever it knew in to spread every possible idea on what exactly 'Umu' was- After all, out of all Outer Beings, Hastur was the only one who had come into contact with 'Umu' and 'lived'…

And then the Scream of Shub-Niggurath's doom was heard, and much of Hastur's ramblings of inevitable end in terror suddenly made sense.

The Outer Gods knew that Hastur was marked for death- It was, but not as itself, and instead as a concept tormented beyond recognition.

Shub-Niggurath's death was likewise premeditated, and her torment had marked her end.

And thus, 'Umu's legend of terror only grew, while Hastur was forced back, driven from it's hole back into the Tomb World to face it's doom:

The Outer Beings would not risk the chance that 'Umu' might leave its Tomb World in order to drag Hastur to its marked death, even if it meant sacrificing one of their own to the Beast...

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Yasaka bent over in cold sweat while her face had grown as pale as a sheet in an instant.

"My lady?" One of the kitsune maids, who had started to wear a riddiculous 'french maid' outfit after being 'trained' by one of Momon's maids, moved to support Yasaka and guide her to sit in one of the chairs of her 'office', or a radically transformed Peerage Quarter that she had commandeered and re-built to her temporary office in the Underworld.

"Something… Something is going wrong, I can… I can feel it… The powers of Shinto Gods course through me- And so does their pain…" Yasaka panted while her chest felt as if it was burning, as if someone had put a heated brand against it and was driving it deeper with both hands.

"My lady- One moment, I shall send for Momon-sama! I've been told he has miraculous healing powers, so-" The maid made a motion for another to come and take over her duties, but Yasaka stopped her by grasping her wrist.

"No- This… Isn't something Momon… Can alleviate… Hrgh…" Yasaka slouched on the chair, utterly spent after the meager physical action of grasping the maid's wrist. 'This is bad… Something… happened… to- aaaargh!'

The pain intensified and Yasaka nearly blacked out… Before she saw a vision.

A vision of what was happening.

What remained of Amaterasu, the pain, terror and anger she felt as she flew in the Interdimensional Gap after being split so that she existed in both material and immaterial world-

Before the Sun God of Shinto, simply, ceased to be.

It was as if Amaterasu had been grabbed by something foul and snuffed out, like a revealing candle put out to usher in the night… Or rather, to usher in a looming darkness that camouflaged the horror that lurks in the dark.

Yasaka saw the horror by a glance through the vision of the dead sun god, saw the horror's many withered limbs, yellow rags, it's terror-streaked concept before it latched onto Amaterasu-

An Outer Being, invading the Interdimensional Gap, and hiding in its shadows.

Yasaka passed out on the couch before she could alert a messenger to warn Momon.

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Ophis blinked a bit while rubbing her eyes as she had returned to the Interdimensional Gap in order to try to shoo the stray goats off her home, or at least try to use them to get some sleep. After all, Rizevim Lucifer had given her advice regarding 'counting sheep to go to sleep', and she was quite determined to try it out on the black goats. Assuming she managed to silence them first.

However, when she had reached the Interdimensional gap… The goats had been gone.

Ophis had sighed in content relief and happiness for the first time in a long lime, and had curled up in the colorless void to have a small snooze of at least ten thousand years.

And then the screaming started.

And then the quaking started.

And then the kaleidoscopic colors of the Interdimensional gap began to screech in terror and torment.

And then something ragged and foul-smelling was tossed into the Interdimensional Gap from somewhere outside it.

And then Ophis's patience snapped.

"HURRRRAAAAAARGGGH!"

The deep, guttural sound was utterly unbecoming of a girl of small stature, but was well becoming of the insane, maddened and bestial form that now occupied the Interdimensional Gap in her stead.

And thus, the Infinite Ouroboros Dragon began tossing out the intruders from her home with reckless abandon.

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Momonga covered his face with his hands as he looked at the sky. Or rather, at the sun.

'Of course. I shouldn't have expected any less from the Ero-world.' The not-quite-undead not-'god' wanted to sit down and just rock back and forth while cradling his knees against his chest in despair, but he got a grip on his impulses just in time.

Unfortunately, with no [Emotion Suppression] to help him, he was forced to ride down the surge of existential dread and despair instead of just washing it off like water from swan's back… But Momonga endured the feeling with as much dignity as he could.

A chorus of polite and somewhat enthusiastic claps came from behind him, and Momonga knew without looking that the gaggle of Cherubim Gatekeeper maids were clapping at him while looking at the sky with amazed expressions.

"As expected of Master!"

"That is so cool!"

"Incredible! As expected of Momong- Momon-sama!"

"Such power!"

Momonga was not consoled by the amazed voices at all as he looked up at the sky, where the black hole had been replaced by a sun surrounded by an accretion disk…

And the sun had tentacles, somehow.

'Right, I've had enough of the Ero-World for one day, thank you.' Momonga sighed while taking a look at his surroundings out of habit. He noted subconsciously that the kaleidoscopic shimmer of the open wound to the Interdimensional Gap which stretching from his ruined 'manor' in Kuoh to somewhere in the sea had changed, and was giving off a feeling of being a lot more violent…

…But Momonga had ran out of his tolerance of insanity for the day, and thus cast [Gate]. "Our job here is done. And I'd like to have lunch."

"Of course, master!"

"I shall fetch The Cook at once, Master!"

"Please call Akeno-san with her name…" Momonga sighed while walking into the [Gate] followed by the gaggle of maids who had formed a neat line behind him, with their hands held peacefully on the front of their aprons, yet with a considerable skip in their steps. 'You're just looking forward to eating the leftovers again…'

The [Gate] closed, leaving Baraqiel as the sole witness of Momonga's 'casting' the Super-Tier spell, some ten miles away.

.

.

A small hand-spade had fallen from Baraqiel's hands as he stared at the spot from where the creator clad in the flesh of one of his creations had stood.

If Baraqiel was honest with himself, he wasn't entirely sure if 'Momon' was actually who he claimed to be, even if a lot of his mannerisms matched with the God that Baraqiel remembered, if one replaced near paranoid strictness and expectation of unquestionable, mindless loyalty with lewdness and with somewhat relaxed approach to individual actions.

Or in other words, if Baraqiel believed that He could learn from his mistakes.

Baraqiel didn't think that to be the case, and had been expecting the inevitable rug-pull whereupon it would be revealed that Momon was not truly the god he claimed to be, or that the old strictness would make a sudden return… but it seemed almost as if his seeming 'amnesia' had truly changed him for the better. Or if it was a mask for something far worse.

Baraqiel knew Azazel thought as much as well, and Baraqiel could see Azazel's approach to the problem in his actions- Namely, by trying to infiltrate and integrate himself to Momon's system as much as possible so that he could influence it from within, should Momon not be what Azazel expected him to be. Or, indeed, if Momon was what Azazel expected him to be.

Albeit, Baraqiel was fairly confident that if the 'True God's Cult's teachings were true at face value and wouldn't change considerably once the facade fell off, Azazel would likely be its number-one fan.

Nonetheless, whatever concerns regarding Momon being a skilled impostor had instantly dissipated upon seeing him unleash a ritual of such ridiculous power that Baraqiel had almost felt his soul fragment from merely being near its origin point- And Baraqiel was fairly sure pretty much everything in the world had sensed the buildup of power be unleashed.

It was a bold, headstrong declaration of power, of one's supremacy.

And that definitely was something Baraqiel expected of Him.

Baraqiel knelt to pick the hand-spade again, and pat the small pouch of ash on his waist a bit fondly. "Soon, Shuri… You'll see your daughter again soon. Please wait for a bit longer."

However, before Baraqiel could get back to shifting through the entire mountain in search for all the flakes of ash that remained of his wife, he saw something happen in the shimmering void that led to Interdimensional Gap- In the portal to the 'realm between realms' that stretched from Kuoh to the sea.

There was a spew of energy and… spew of yellow pus and bale, white-and-black fire that flew like geysir from the Interdimensional Gap, before something let out a huge crashing sound.

Entire Kuoh shook, and Baraqiel was knocked off his feet as he felt as if a giant had taken hold of Japan and given it a spirited shaking… Before stabilizing with an almost eerie lurch.

Baraqiel was on his feet instantly, looking for threats- And saw a peculiar sight.

The kaleidoscopic portal had closed… And in its place was a huge mausoleum.