Chapter 133: It is a PSA about not getting stabbed

"Hghaah!" A spurt of blood followed a half-blocked blow, which nonetheless managed to clip and penetrate the defenses of it's target.

A swarm of darkness enveloped another swarm of dark bat-like creatures, swallowing the familiars whole like if the animals disappeared into a lake of oil.

A stab at the shimmering shield bounced off, and a snap second later the shield was gone, replaced by an orb of dark light- A orb that then shot a needle-like beam of darkness that sliced right through its target.

"Hguaaah!" The crimson-clad vampire fell to her knees while her left arm lolled powerlessly on her side, and her legs shook from the puncture-wound that ran through the side of her stomach.

'Hmm…' Beelzebub motioned for Nyx and Asmodeus to stay back as something wasn't quite adding up. 'This level of power doesn't make sense… It has to be a trap.'

Indeed, the vampire-angel in front of the two Maous and Primordial was… weak.

Surprisingly so- While the vampire's armor was quite intimidating and it's blows with the odd lance it wielded carried quite devastating power due to their ability to sap energy and life-force from whatever it struck, it was quite easy for the two Maous to combine their attacks into nearly ceaseless crescendo much like they had done during the Old War, minimizing the openings either showed. And thus forcing the vampire to strike at perceived openings that were in reality traps, or force her to try to go for less-advantageous counter-attacks, which resulted in the vampire being hit during her counter-attack.

The vampire-angel had healed herself at one point using the lance to strike at the bat-like familiars that she brought out, but that had been quickly put to an end by Nyx who had enveloped her darkness around the arena and causing whatever familiars the vampire put out to be consumed in an instant.

'Yet... This is too simple. The attacks follow a clear pattern, and seem premeditated as if she's going through pre-programmed motions.' Beelzebub stayed on his guard while he looked at the wounded vampire.

The vigilance paid off as the vampire growled in blood-thirst and charged at Beelzebub despite her wounded state, albeit she had slowed down enough to let Beelzebub dodge the attack by simply turning sideways with an elegant step so that the tip of the lance barely passed by his chest during the wild charge, and in turn Beelzebub's needle-injector reached the vampire's neck as she passed, injecting the liquid within into her.

"Hr- Ghraaah! It burns! It burns! Arrghaaaaaa!" The vampire fell to the floor on her face a few feet away from Beelzebub and began spasming in torment while holding the side of her neck, and the lance fell from her hands.

'Hm. Indeed. While the garlic and crosses failed to have any effect on her due to her angelic hybrid nature… A vial of untainted angel-blood carries a potent charge of holy power, and is lethal to just about any devil- And any undead being. I'm thus deducing that this creature is undead first and foremost, but retains some resistances from when she was an Angel- But while it is capable of dealing holy damage, she cannot resist it nearly as well.' Beelzebub refilled his injector from a vial that he pulled from within the folds of his suit while Nyx walked leisurely to the vampire and kicked the pipette-like lance off her reach. 'I'm surprised that the blood has retained its lethality to such a great degree for hundreds of years, as it dates back to the war between Heaven and Hell… Or, alternatively, the vampire is pretending that the holy blood has a greater impact than it actually has. This would be the highest probability, as I calculated the dosage to be roughly enough to force that vampire to drop her weapon so we can interrogate, yet she's spasming on the floor with foam coming out of her mouth… And I don't do miscalculations like that often.'

It seemed that Asmodeus had come to a much the same conclusion as he kept his shield up even when the vampire looked disarmed and near-death.

Nyx stepped on the vampire's back as she tried to crawl after her weapon, slamming the armored if petite girl's chest against the marble floor with enough force to cause her to vomit a spurt of foamy blood from her mouth while her helmet flew off her head.

"Not so cocky now, are we?" Nyx smirked at the vampire who kept squirming weakly as she grind her heel to the vampire's back, causing the crimson armor to start cracking. "Where's that 'I will destroy you'-attitude now, hm?"

The vampire tried to say something, but Nyx slammed her heel against the center of the petite girl's back again, causing whatever words that came from her to turn into bloody coughs. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Do tell me again."

The vampire squirmed weakly, and Nyx pulled her foot off her back… Before slamming her foot on the vampire's wounded arm, causing it to let a sickening crack and start to point at an unnatural angle.

The vampire let out a miserable screech, which was silenced as Nyx stepped on the back of the vampire's head and buried her face in the marble floor, accompanied with a crunch of breaking teeth, which repeated as Nyx continued to stomp on the back of the girl's head.

"Nyx-sama. We should interrogate this creature for what it knows before we kill it." Beelzebub showed the Primordial the now-filled needle that glowed slightly from the holy blood. "Please keep your guard up. We are in his treasury of collections- There is no saying that this isn't a trap within a trap."

It seemed that the vampire's struggle slowed as she heard Beelzebub's words. "Hee… Hehe… Inf ofher wordf… cough… you are them. Ahah- cough… Yes, Demiurge said that you'd come… And…"

Beelzebub narrowed his eyes while he prepared for the deception to end, considering that the vampire's lisp from lack of teeth had changed during her speech, while Asmodeus kept a sharp eye on their surroundings. "'And'?"

"...When you… foolishly thought… You had killed our lord… You already failed." The vampire sprung up from the floor, causing Nyx to take a quick step back as the trio saw that the vampire was now completely unhurt, somehow. "Did you think we wouldn't prepare for you?! Fools!"

Beelzebub charged in with high-speed movement, reached the vampire in an instant and struck out with the injector-

A huge crash rang out in the arena as if something big had hit it from the underside, causing Beelzebub's strike to only scrape the vampire's armor while she tossed herself back with all her might…

…And a swirling portal appeared at the back of the arena, into where the vampire disappeared, but not before her last parting words. "You will pay! Mark my words! You will suffer!"

"Stop!" Beelzebub put his hand in front of Asmodeus before he could pursue the vampire, but Nyx had clearly grown annoyed by the vampire and didn't heed Beelzebub's warning as she charged into the portal in pursuit.

…And as Beelzebub guessed it, the portal-gate disappeared as soon as Nyx entered it, while revealing a tall pair of gothic-themed double-doors behind where the portal had been.

Asmodeus motioned for Beelzebub's attention and pointed at the center of the arena, which now had a pedestal on top of which was a red velvet pillow, and on the pillow was a ancient-looking key.

'Hm…' Beelzebub cast a few devil-magic circles to analyze the pedestal as well as the items on it for any signs of traps, and found out that both the pillow and the pedestal were made with unknown magic, while the key itself seemed not so much a item but rather 'part of' the whole structure where they were. In other words… 'So, that vampire left a key behind herself for us to proceed. Hm… Indeed, it looks like those double-doors have a keyhole, and I'm guessing that the key fits in there.'

The Maou took the key. "In that case… We'll proceed. Hastur must notice our presence soon, so we'll need to prepare for our hasty exit when he does- But until then we must make as big of a ruckus as we can."

"And Nyx?" Asmodeus asked.

"If we can't find her deeper in this hellhole… Then she is a regrettable loss. I'm sure Zeus will understand once you report to him."

"Hm… Indeed. I'll prepare a spare suit of clothes for when Zeus rolls me in tar and sets me on fire, considering that I'll be the one to break the news to him."

"I appreciate your sacrifice, Fabium-kun."

"...Haa, what a pain… I want to sleep… Lead the way, Ajuka-kun."

Beelzebub nodded while opening the double-doors with the key, and he walked down the stairway that was behind the doors… Until he and Asmodeus they reached the end of the stairs and the hallway into which the stairs had led.

"Oh no." Beelzebub stopped as if he had walked into a wall while Asmodeus crashed to his back.

"What's happening?" Asmodeus asked as he looked past Beelzebub's back at the oddly still lake that was deep blue and seemed like a calm ocean

"Look below the surface… It's…" Beelzebub shook from head to toe in shock. 'It… It can't be that he's already prepared this far… He's already managed to move this into his realm?!' "We saw Hastur fell his half-brother… And he has taken his power, alongside his home! Hastur has brought the First City, the Sunken City of R'lyeh into his lair!"

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"...And that concludes my report, my lord." Shalltear curtsied in the Throne Room. "As Demiurge predicted, the enemy is strong. I gathered as much information about their abilities as I could while holding them back as long as I could, before retreating with the help of Aureole Omega and Gargantua. An intruder entered the gate as well, but Aureole-san was able to redirect her to somewhere more manageable. Aureole's World-Class item enabled me to stay in the fight for as long as I did, but seeing that it is no longer necessary I shall return it to you, my master..."

"I see… Where is the intruder now, then?" An imposing skeletal figure motioned with his hand for Shalltear to continue while he simultaneously reached down with his other hand to take the darkness-inscribed ring that the vampire gave to him.

"She was moved into Frozen Prison as she entered the Teleportation Gate that Aureole-san opened for me. However the intruder was able to teleport out of the Prison. Yet, Aureole-san managed to intercept the teleportation, and teleported the intruder right back into the Frozen Prison, whereupon the intruder attempted to teleport out, and Aureole-san teleported her right back. The situation is in a deadlock for now, but from what I gathered of the intruder's strength, it's possible that she'll be able to break out of Frozen Prison even with her pure strength if she has enough time." Shalltear explained.

"I see… And the other intruders?" The skeletal figure glanced at Albedo who was standing beside him.

"The two other intruders are about to enter the Fourth Floor, the sunken city. However, it seems that they have stopped at the entrance of the floor after descending the stairs, and seem to be in a state of internal quarrel regarding entering it." Albedo noted as she was standing beside the Throne of Kings on the skeletal lord's side with an orange-glowing panel in front of her.

"I see… That gives us an opportunity to deal with the enemy one at a time, as planned." Demiurge's smirk reached from ear to ear as he was standing on the throne's other side. "In that case I believe that our new training is about to pay off. We are ready for your order, my lord."

"Hm... Indeed. On the account that the intruders have struck at us, have refused to talk, and have attempted to murder Shalltear-chan… We shall strike!" The skeletal figure stood up and the trio of Guardians who were present knelt in front of him in an instant. "We shall strike out and defeat the intruders- Together!"

The three Guardians spoke as one. "Yes, Lord Issei!"

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Momonga sneezed.

'I swear my allergy of something is getting worse…' The flesh-clad Overlord felt as if he was missing something crucial.

Nonetheless, he was glad to be back in the Underworld, specifically as he was privy to a quite happy event for a change, namely…

"Mom…"

"Akeno…"

"Shuri…"

The Himejima trio was hugging each other in Momonga's office, after the Fallen Angel lieutenant had arrived at the Phenix castle in Underworld and had promptly run to Momonga to present a bag of ash to him.

Considering that not only one but two important alliances depended on the successful reanimation, Momonga felt that sacrificing a [Wand of True Resurrection] to ensure that Shuri's resurrection passed without flaws was justified, even if he felt an instinctive tug to the contrary. 'Akeno is a key piece in helping Rias stay loyal to me, and serves as a good lynchpin to anchor Baraqiel to my camp, while I feel as if Baraqiel would relinquish Azazel and remain under my command if I brought his wife back and asked for his loyalties… Well, I haven't asked Baraqiel to do that, but having the governor and vice-governor on my good side is a definite advantage…'

Irina, who was present alongside Xenovia, sneezed into a handkerchief while crying a bit at Akeno's touching reunion with her mother and father, even though Akeno was most decidedly keeping Baraqiel's hand from touching her shoulder so that the group-hug was more like Akeno and Baraqiel hugging Shuri.

Xenovia, on the other hand… Was writing a receipt?

'Wait, do resurrections come with a receipt now? 'Revived successfully at date xx due to appropriate reverence to True God, resurrection guaranteed to work until yy or unless mortally challenged or if faith is broken…' Momonga read the receipt from the corner of his eye. 'Erm… I did want to make healing and resurrections a ware to sell out to people. I figured I needed to include terms and conditions with it, but Xenovia's version seems quite good as it absolves me of sin if the revival doesn't work, ironically enough. Good thinking, Xenovia-san!'

It looked like Xenovia realized what Momonga was thinking and nodded slightly to him, and Momonga gave her a thumbs up.

"Akeno-san. Baraqiel-san, Shuri-san. If you wish to catch up, could I ask you to go to one of the relaxation rooms of the estate? I'll ask one of my maids to serve you refreshments, so please take your time." Momonga lifted his hand to draw the trio's attention. "There are some things that I need to work on, so…"

"Ah… Yes, of course." Akeno looked quite fragile as tears kept pouring down her cheeks and she hesitated for a moment… Before she took a pair of quick steps towards Momonga and kissed him without further ado. "...Thank you. Thank you so much…"

"It's alright. Go, catch up with your mother. A lot has happened, so don't worry about your duties as my Pawn, ahem, or as part of my retinue." Momonga reached to stroke Akeno's head a bit and she nodded seriously, before she stifled another sniff and nodded a bit more playfully.

"I see… But before I go, do you happen to have any plans for the night?" Akeno asked a bit coyly, causing Momonga to blush slightly from her sub-tone.

"I have not made any yet. But don't feel pressured over such things, while I won't say no to your offer, I did this for your happiness, so go ahead and catch up with your mom and have fun. If you want to go out somewhere and need funds or something then tell me and I'll send some over, as well as one of the maids to ensure Shuri's safety, considering we're still in a partial civil war with the non-compliant Devil Houses." Momonga made a small 'shoo' gesture. "Go and catch up. Don't worry, everything will be here once you come back."

Shuri had been blinking at the interaction at the start, before she seemingly realized what was happening and put one of her hands on her cheek in a classic 'Oh? My daughter has a boyfriend?' expression and stance.

The trio filed out while Baraqiel gave Momonga a grateful look… And then he seemingly remembered something.

"Ahem, Father, there is something in the Human World that concerns me." Baraqiel motioned for Shuri and Akeno to wait, although the way Baraquel referred to Momonga caused Shuri to blink a bit… Before she seemingly realized something and looked rapidly between Akeno and Momonga while her eyes opened more than a bit in surprise.

"I repaired the sun… And yes, it has tentacles now. It was an unfortunate side-effect." Momonga let out a long-pained sigh. "I know."

"That's not quite it… The portal to the Interdimensional Gap has closed in Kuoh. There seems to be a grave of some sort in its place." Baraqiel noted.

"Fitting, considering how many died there. However, I thought I asked the Dominion Authority to bring back the dead… Ah, of course. Nevermind, I know what it is." Momonga thought a bit back and realized that only told to get the 'loyal' dead back to the Underworld, which means that the angel would have likely buried the 'enemy' dead, ie, the dead from Norse who still retained bodies after death. "I'm a bit surprised that the portal closed… But I suppose it had something to do with the way I fixed the sun. Hm…" 'I tried to 'restore the sun to how it was before it turned into a black hole' with the [Wish], and it must have caused some butterfly effect that also closed the Gap… Or something like that?'

'Haa, the property value is going to go down if my estate in Human World gets turned into a graveyard… Ah well. Considering how Phenix's finances are now that it's the de-facto leading faction of the Underworld by the merit of being my 'home', I can just buy more land if I need to construct something in the Human World. Not to mention, Kuoh is in ruins so owning a plot of land in a devastated city is not particularly good for the property prices…' Momonga waved for Baraqiel to go like he had waved for Akeno, and the vice-governor nodded once with a severe look on his face before bowing deep, and leaving with Akeno and Shuri.

"Now then… I have some other issues to see into. I believe that you said that there would be a report regarding the force deployment of your, um, paladins?" Momonga turned to address Xenovia who produced a slip of paper.

"The gaping hole left behind by the rogue Maous has been placed under guard, and there are nothing to report from that end. There were some casualties when the paladins began to suppress the devils in Devil Houses that chose to rebel against us, but the vast majority of the battles have resulted in our victory with relatively few actual casualties once resurrections were taken into account." Xenovia read out from the report. "The majority of the 'lasting' casualties came when the enemy started to take our dead with them after a successful ambush or engagement, but considering that such removal is only ever temporary, we expect that we'll be able to revive them in the coming months or years once their bodies are found somewhere."

"I see… And how are they feeling about being sent to a fight?" Momonga felt a bit odd that people were out fighting in his name and he was effectively twiddling his thumbs- Not that he wanted to go out and fight, but having command over the life and death of hundreds if not thousands if not tens of thousands was making him feel a bit odd.

"The morale is quite high, considering that even if the paladins get hurt they can be healed, and if they die in the name of the cause then they are revived." Xenovia noted. "Irina?"

"Erm… That being said, the angels have been… a bit problematic. Mostly because while Angels and Fallen Angels can't really tell eachother apart anymore, there are still some lingering resentment between Devils and Angels." Irina looked a bit down. "Well, it hasn't gotten bad, as in casualties-level bad, there is definitely some friction between them still…"

"I imagine that it is something that can only be healed with time and enough interactions between the two. Are the Devils and Angels existing in their own bubbles or are they interacting with each other on the regular? Have you made a class-system of law enforcement among them yet?" Momonga asked, wondering if he could help avoid a disaster before it happened. 'That being said, troublemakers need to be separated out and dealt with… If I'm to be a cult leader of sorts then I need to ensure that my followers are busy with something, but not busy killing each other in my name. Or over some ancient-old grudge that has popped up.'

"The teachings of our lord are guiding them, but the troublemakers are clearly deviating from scripture so they are collectively deal with!" Xenovia looked quite harsh while Momonga sweatdropped.

'Institutionally mandated lynchings, then. Incredible…'

"...And they are deal with according to True God's doctrines, in other words, they are tied up as 'town cumdumps' at the market!" Xenovia looked quite proud while Irina blushed to her eyes and covered her face with her slip of paper.

"Er… What if the offenders are male?"

"The punishment knows no biological bounds!" Xenovia pointed out while having her finger pointed up to the heavens. "Moreover, usage of toys is permitted!"

'...Right. Umu.' Momonga sweated quite a bit as he considered that Xenovia might be quite terrifying for multiple reasons when she was whipped into religious fervor. "Right… I'd like to make a ruling, though. I feel as if a punishment like that is too… er, visible and inappropriate. Could you make a degree where such a punishment is changed into prison-time? I feel like that would be more appropriate."

"Ah, you're correct, my lord. Such a light punishment could constitute to increase crime instead of decreasing it. I shall send a word out to change the punishment to prison-time." Xenovia looked a bit ashamed but nodded nonetheless.

'Good, now that's taken care of…' Momonga stood up from his chair. "Ahem, now then, I have something to take care of, so please excuse me."

"Of course, my God." Xenovia nodded… before she sent Momonga a look. "And, whenever you have time and feel like it… I still want your babies."

"E-uhu- umu, I'll see, umu, about that." Momonga stumbled a bit on his words after Xenovia's bold declaration while a pillar of steam had started to rise from behind the slip of paper that Irina held up in front of her face.

He excused himself out of the room, not because he didn't want to take Xenovia up on her offer, but he had to put out at least some of the fires that the recent events had caused before he could indulge himself. 'Sheesh, having this fleshy body is seriously turning me into a pervert… I wonder how Peroroncino got anything done…'

"I'm pretty sure he just didn't get anything done, if he was in reality like he was in that notebook of yours." Ddraig noted. "By the way, I… got an odd feeling a while back. it's kind of weird…"

'Can you elaborate?' Momonga asked as Ddraig was shuffling a bit from side to side inside his head.

"I'm not sure if I can, but it's… a bit familiar feeling. I got it when I was used by Issei Hyoudou, but… hm." Ddraig seemed thoughtful.

'If you want to say that I'm turning into Issei-tier pervert then just go ahead and say so.' Momonga felt resigned as he kept steady pace towards his next objective- Namely, his 'Peerage Quarters' 'Sheesh…'

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Vali Lucifer walked along the hallways of Phenix mansion as since Azazel had gone off to herd the Devils over the whole mini-civil war issue, the white-haired bearer of Albion had been left to his own devices. 'So you're saying you smell Ddraig here somewhere?'

"Indeed. The scent is so thick that I can pretty much taste it, and it tastes awful." Albion noted while the dragon with white feathers instead of scales sounded thoughtful inside Vali's head. 'I'm surprised that he has manifested again this quickly. With God reappearing and everything, I'd thought that Ddraig would lie low… Or try to contact me and try to strike some sort of deal to fight God again."

'...Can you leave me out of it?'

"Hoo? I thought you'd enjoy a challenge."

'A challenge, most definitely, but I'm not suicidal. God already showed me that if he wants to turn me into mochi, with the group of angels with mallets and all, then he's quite capable of doing so.'

"Yet you took that order to go and infiltrate that Khaos-organization and shadow that skeleton-guy?"

'...That's different. Besides, I lost Bikou during that, and if I had tried to fight then I would have definitely died like him. That skeleton was… Unnatural. It still gives me the creeps…' Vali sighed. 'Not to mention, Arthur Pendragon hasn't answered my messages, and the news are reporting that London is pretty much just a sea of fire and smoke so there's a chance that Arthur got hit, alongside the rest of that human hero-organization… Then again, I'd be a bit surprised if Cao Cao or the meatheads of that group allowed themselves to get ambushed and killed that easily.'

"London's a ruin? I'm not sure what has changed."

'I take it you were not fond of the place?'

"When I went to fight with Ddraig when he was squatting in Wales I flew over England, and some guy in a castle hollered at me that I smelled like elderberries so I turned the whole place into a crater."

'A reasonable response and appropriate application of force, as always.'

"Snark all you want but that guard's mustache was a war crime."

The two of them walked along the hallway while arguing inside Vali's head… Before Vali rounded a corner and hit something in his distracted state.

"Ah, sorry, sorry… Hm?" Vali paused while he looked at who he had bumped into… And saw none other than his old teammate.

Kuroka, meanwhile, was looking slowly up from roughly Vali's chest-height after taking a few steps back from the impact… And Vali saw as Kuroka's face lost all it's color and her eyes became panicked and depilated.

"Ah, good to see you, Kuroka. So you made it out after all. I'm glad that you survived- I thought you were a goner after that skeleton latched onto you." Vali spoke while Kuroka began to shake. "What's wrong?"

"...Ghi… No, nonono, no… this… D-does he know, that I know, that..-" Kuroka slapped her hands on her mouth instantly as she realized that she was speaking aloud. "H-haa- haa- haa…"

'...What is going on?' Vali got suspicious instantly. 'Albion?'

"Dilated pupils, signs of panic attack, shaking, all triggered when she saw you. I'd wager post-traumatic stress disorder, but considering that Kuroka has access to Senjutsu she should be able to clear such troublesome mental problems by herself without being too badly afflicted. That was why you left her to that skeleton's 'care', knowing that she'd be able to escape eventually and get back on her feet, right?" Albion analyzed.

"Kuroka, has your Senjutsu malfunctioned?" Vali asked… And Kuroka's shaking became even worse while she was starting to send glances everywhere as if she was expecting an attack at any second- Which also made Vali a bit concerned that something was going on. "You're acting like you did when we were spying on Khaos Brigade, and on that skeletal-"

"Stop! Stop! Don't- haa… haa… Everything is in place, everything is good… I'm in my happy place… haa…" Kuroka slapped both of her hands on Vali's mouth in an instant while her eyes bulged to the size of bowls in abject terror. "That… Past has nothing to do with this! It is over! I am not in your 'team'- I was never in your team! I don't know what you're talking about! I don't know who you are! I did not try to seduce you or want to have your babies! Go away!"

'...Hm.' Vali narrowed his eyes while taking a step back so that Kuroka lost the hold of his mouth. "So something has happened… Tell me. I left you alone with that skeleton because I knew from past experience that you could handle it, and I needed to relay information to Azazel which would lead to its destruction… But it seems that I miscalculated. Tell me, what happened? You're not acting normally. And we are a team- Of course I'll help you if I can."

"No, no, no, nononono, this isn't happening, this can't be happening, not now, not now, not when Koneko is- Not when she is in that state- Stay away from me! I don't know who you are, who- AAAAAAHH!" A terrified scream escaped Kuroka's mouth and she fell to her knees in an instant as if she had seen something horrifying.

Vali looked behind himself, and…

"Greetings, Vali. Fancy meeting you here. Did Azazel tell you to come and see me? Moreover, there was a scream just now? I was on my way to see my Peerage, umu, or my retinue as they are now I suppose." Momon was walking towards the two of them in the hallway at a leisurely pace. "Ah, Kuroka-san. I was just about to look for you- It's about Koneko, and- um?"

Vali's eyes widened in surprise.

Momon's as well.

Indeed, as Vali looked down… He saw that Kuroka had a manic expression, and she had closed the gap between the two in an instant.

And also saw that there was a dagger in Kuroka's hand that she had buried hilt-deep into Vali's chest.