Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Council's verdict: Traitor (Hero?)
"UUUOOOOOH!" A vicious swing of a tail hit a horror from beyond the stars, sending it reeling away.
Another horror swung its tentacles, raking deep gashes into the red scales that made the armor of the Great Red, the True Dragon of Interdimensional Gap.
Roar of flames engulfed the assailant, causing the living tree-goat to turn into a bonfire.
The bleating was ear-shattering, and the Great Red's eardrums had blown a long while ago, while his armor of scales was starting to show scarring and his rapid blows and fire-breaths, while spirited and furious right now, would eventually slow down.
The Great Red knew that.
The thousands of Dark Young in the Interdimensional Gap knew that.
But the Great Red knew that if he fell back, and exited the Interdimensional Gap, the Outer Beings would have gained a foothold into the material planes- And from there, a war of extinction on unimaginable scale would begin. Nay, eradication of unimaginable scale, for the Great Red knew that the warriors of the material world would stand the chance that was equivalent to a lit candle in a rainstorm when facing the horrors from beyond the stars.
One such Outer God had blown the Great Red away in it's passing, broken his barricades he had put up against the horrors from the stars, but luckily the Mother of Dark Young had paradoxically entered and left the material plane while staying in it, from what The Great Red could tell.
However, there was another problem.
Some of the goatish trees that had suddenly invaded the Interdimensional Gap had reached the massive seal the Great Red had erected to keep an unknown evil at bay… And the mindless beasts began swatting at the seal with their tentacle-like branches.
"No! You imbeciles!" The Great Red roared as he breathed fire upon the 'trees', causing them to become smouldering piles while the Dark Young around him used the distraction to inflict more wounds on the True Dragon.
The True Red Dragon did not know what lied beyond the seal, only that it smelled foul in a way beings like Trihexra, the Great Evil and Devourer of Worlds, smelled.
The Great Red knew that if such evil was allowed to rampage, the worlds would die as surely as they would if the Outer Beings invaded.
While the Great Red enjoyed solace and massive explosions, he also knew that if the worlds fell, he would fall with them, instead of trying to flee or tuck his head to the sand and hide.
Not only was he a part of the worlds separated by the Interdimensional Gap, but he also knew time- And that an eternity of absolute solace in an existence where all other beings of living world had ceased to be would be a sad fate that would eventually drive the True Dragon to loneliness and eventually his self-inflicted end.
He wondered for a while if that was what had happened to the Ouroboros Dragon to turn her into a scatterbrained idiot.
And so, the Great Red fought in the Interdimensional gap.
'Dammit, Ophis! If you weren't such an idiot, we could fight together against this… We need to stand together!' The Great Red felt anger and sadness for the Infinite Ouroboros Dragon's pitiful state, as she had become scatterbrained, weakened and had fallen to the Human World.
If the two dragons joined their forces, the horrors attempting to siege the Interdimensional Gap would be blown away, and such display would teach the Outer Beings that the worlds connected to the Interdimensional Gap were not easy prey, for they were defended by beings of unquestionable might!
Yet, the Great Red knew that such a sight would not come to pass, and so he fought alone, knowing that if he fell… All creation would die with him, devoured by the Outer Beings who'd flock to the unprepared world like carrion to a sickly animal.
"UOOOAAAAH! COME AT ME AND DIE, YOU ROTTING IDIOTIC TREE CARCASSES!" The Great Red charged against the charging Dark Young again, causing a massive explosion in the Interdimensional Gap alongside a challenging roar that echoed throughout the dimension that knew no dimensions...
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A voice that was not voice, a thought that was a ripple, a message that was known by only those who comprehended knowledge reaching from the birth of the stars themselves.
The last breath, the last message of a Fallen Dreamer, the last Priest of the Fallen city of R'lyeh, of an ancient and lost colony among stars.
The message echoed, like a whisper in a canyon. A message of hatred, of betrayal, and of…
Warning.
The pale blue dot among the stars, a world insignificant in the Grand Design but part of it, housed a horror to the terrors among the stars.
A warning that there was a creature capable of truly destroying even the beings that resided in the outer deep, in the outer dark of eternal void within voids.
The terror had a name, and the Outer Beings whispered it in their accursed tongue- It was one that knew them, who had spoken to the Fallen Dreamer in an ancient tongue, and had understood the words that had come to being during the birth of the first dark star.
The word of the Great Destroyer spread, alongside the name of the guardian- Or perhaps, the hunter that resided in a long-forgotten world.
The lesser of the Outer Beings knew fear, for the first time in their ancient existence, for they had not known death or destruction. The Greater Outer Beings knew anger, but wariness, for they knew that while the Dreamer was not strong in the whole of the Great Plan, it was neither one that was destined to be erased that day, that moment, in a forgotten backwater.
Yet it had been destroyed.
And at the same time, the Destroyer had tricked the Fallen Dreamer to imprison his great-grandmother to a accursed existence, one that was neither a true Outer Being nor one of the young races, but rather a misshapen horror destined to linger in the shape of a black star, a semi-permanent reminder of her folly to both the self-aware black hole and the observers from afar, waiting for one of the Ancient Ones to come and untangle the Shub-Niggurath from the Young One.
And, as such, it was akin to an anglerfish's lure, a screaming bleat for help, that would lure unaware Outer Beings within the reach of the Destroyer, the Terror.
The Terror had a name, one it had told the Ancient Beings itself.
The creatures that were more like concepts or ideas, repeated the name in defiance, fear, and warning to others of their kind, warning them to stay away from the terror among the stars, and to not fall to the lure.
They spoke the name of Umu, the Destroyer of Star-Gods.
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Momong kept sneezing for some reason as he rummaged through the kitchen of Phenix estate in the underworld in his search for ice-cream.
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"What… is this?" Sirzechs took a stumbling step towards a baffling sight in Kuoh city- Or rather, the ruins of the city of Kuoh, for there was little left of it.
Broken houses littered the landscape, roads were cracked, already-worn construction cranes had been toppled over, and the forest surrounding the land had stood up and had become horrors, only to be devoured into a shimmering rift that persisted and spit both the land and the sea.
And, now, the Angels and Fallen Angels returned to Kuoh… Only instead of trying to fix the dimension that had been broken, they started to load up the corpses that had been left in the mud-strewn battlefield into pallets and ferried them to a teleportation circle that transported them to who-knows-where.
"What are... " Beelzebub was in an equal state as he observed the sight. "...They are gathering the corpses? Why? Unless…"
"...Momon is the Supreme Being. No, one of them." Sirzechs breathed out in a reminder to Beelzebub. He had known it before the peace meeting, as did Beelzebub- The fact Momon was Hastur, that the cloaked Outer Being was the one tormenting the Underworld.
Momon's lie that he 'couldn't resurrect Souji Okita because the Supreme Being's trap', and the state of 'Lord Phenix' had effectively revealed the plan to Sirzechs- That Hastur was using his ability to visit beloved ones in the shape of undead to unify the living against a 'Supreme Being', under a cult that he himself formed to oppose his own ability.
And then, he revealed himself to Odin, causing the old god to bring his own forces to bear… Allowing Hastur to use their fear to push them to the extreme, so that Odin betrayed all creation by allying himself with Cthulhu, likely in order to forge a pact that Sirzechs had thought would ensure the survival of Norse at the expense of all others.
Yet, Hastur had planned for that to happen as well, and had somehow contracted Shub-Niggurath, and had used the latter to unify the Three Factions under his banner by using the Dark Young as a threat to unify against.
Indeed, Sirzechs had initially thought that was it, but Hastur had betrayed his ally, Shub-Niggurath, at the last moment and allowed Cthulhu to exile its grandmother to the sun- And that too, had been within Hastur's plan, as he had taken the unified Three Factions to an unknown dimension, which Sirzechs guessed was Carcossa.
The fact both Rias and Grayfia had been with the teleported group, latter of who Sirzechs saw in a pillar of water that the traitorous Serafall had conjured, had enraged the Maou to no end and it had taken both a full power of Beelzebub's syringe-injector and Asmodeus's strength to keep Sirzechs from charging forward in a desperate attempt to snatch two of the most important people to him away from the traitor, Hastur.
Yet, the fact Odin had betrayed Cthulhu after betraying all creation by allying with it, had caused Sirzechs a lot of mixed feelings- Not only was the web of betrayals so thick that it could probably catch plankton if it was used for fishing, most of the betrayals had made little to no sense.
Until Hastur returned, to kill his weakened half-brother, devour his power, and claim the power of Yggdrasil to himself, and Sirzechs realized that they had all danced to Hastur's tune, even though they had tried their best to alter His plan.
Or rather, they had tried to alter what they had thought to be Hastur's plan, but that plan had in fact been within Hastur's plan to plan around the plan Sirzechs had planned around his initial plan.
In other words, it had been all within Hastur's plan.
"Haaa… haa." Sirzechs felt his fingers curling into a fist, and he resisted the urge to slam it down in frustration to the concrete in the small fortified position in the center of the ruined city, where the few remaining and surviving Maou-aligned devils in Kuoh had hunkered down.
"First things first, we need to get information about this to the Underworld. I was relaying info to the council of Pillars who had an emergency meeting, but they cut the communication as apparently an emergency came up." Asmodeus explained, having lost much of his drowsiness in face of the seriousness of the situation. "I don't know what those angels are doing, but we should first take care of our own."
"Oi! You-" A voice came from the side, and Beelzebub hurriedly slammed his injector to tied-up Azazel's neck, causing the Governor of the Fallen Angels to go limp again after he had recovered from his earlier nap while he was still tied-up with the bindings Beelzebub had made specifically to contain Cadre-class Fallen Angels.
"We should take him as well. With hope… I don't know what Has- Momon is planning, but if he has use for Azazel, we can use him as a hostage and exchange for Grayfia and Rias." Sirzechs was resisting the urge to pace around and reveal the state of his frayed stress nerves to the other Maous and more importantly, to the devils who had survived and were looking up to Sirzechs to lead them. 'I'll kill you, Momon, I'll definitely kill you if you even so much as touch a single hair in Grayfia's head, or put your hands on Rias… I don't care if you are Hastur, if you have the power of both yourself and Cthulhu, don't underestimate the rage of a husband and a brother!'
Yet, he had to remain calm, for the sake of his people. So he put on a calm face like a mask, feeling the irony of him cloaking his true expression under a mask of calmness to face a foe who had done the same for who-knows how long.
"I'll create a teleporter. Beelzebub, if the angels try to intercept us, stay behind and make a fighting exit. You should be able to slip away since those angels don't seem to have either Gabriel or Michael with them." Sirzechs instructed as he took another glance at the 'cleanup crew' that was pouring out of the ruined estate in the distance. "Right, let's go-"
A massive red circle formed around the Maou-aligned devils, and Azazel, who Asmodeus had lugged to his shoulder like a sack.
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A moment later the Maous were in the Underworld, as surprisingly enough, the Angels hadn't attempted to intercept their escape.
Sirzechs looked up at the building that was the House of Pillars, where the heads of Pillar families gathered to make their decrees and lead the Underworld's politics, and where he had teleported the group so he could go in and alert the Pillars to the threat they were all facing. Asmodeus's and the rank-and-file devil's teleporters had been aimed towards the central hospital in an attempt to get them back to fighting condition as soon as possible.
Yet, instead of seeing House of Pillars that was akin to a unwavering bastion of Underworld's might, Sirzechs saw a burning building and the smoke coming out of the myriad of marble entrances of House of Pillars.
"Sirzechs!" Beelzebub was too late to grab Sirzechs's hand as the Maou sprinted at full speed through the entrance, passing through the gore-streaked hallways in a flash, until he reached the Chamber of Judgement, where the Pillar Families would have gathered in their emergency meeting…
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Roughly an hour ago:
The Overlord Wiseman breathed out with his organic body.
'Indeed, and it is so decided.' The Overlord Wiseman saw as his Master exited the Underworld after 'kissing' the girl he had taken as his 'wife', after the group of devils, angels, and Fallen had appeared into the Underworld using the mass teleporter between 'Momon's mansion' and 'Phenix grounds'.
Of course, the Overlord Wiseman knew that both the act of 'kissing' the girl and the title of 'wife' were little more than tools in the Great Game. He knew that in reality his Master cared little for the mewling insect like the red-headed girl, or the living beings of the worlds.
In truth, all those were but a momentary amusement for Him, the inscrutable master of all creation.
Yet, Master had chosen to play the Great Game as the hidden master, so it was the duty of a servant such as the Overlord Wiseman to accommodate to the whims of his Master.
The 'kiss' had, thus, not been intended for the 'wife', but rather to signify to the Overlord Wiseman, who he knew that the Master knew would be watching, that the pack of creatures in the prepared killzone were needed for his next amusement and thus, the killzone should not be activated.
Indeed, the Overlord Wiseman realized that perhaps the true purpose of the killzone was precisely to drive the heads of the Pillar Families to a frenzy, seeing that their old and hated enemy was within their mercy.
And by doing so, the Pillars turned themselves to the enemy of the True God, whose belief had infected many of the young devils, who had been discriminated against by the Underworld's politics and pureblooded devils.
After all, the meetings of the Pillars would be recorded for proof and to avoid any 'misunderstandings' when it came to deals between families. And thus, the Overlord Wiseman merely needed to declare his true allegiances, and procure the recordings.
He had been ordered to not let his nature as an undead be revealed, and the Overlord Wiseman had obeyed Lord Momonga to the letter- After all, he had used the cover image of 'The Supreme Being' to cloak his actions in the Dragon Mountains, and now, he needed to eliminate the 'traitorous' Nobles without revealing his undead nature, and while keeping his act up.
The Overlord Wiseman cloaked in the flesh of 'Lord Phenix' realized that the initial 'acting ability' that his Master had imbued him with was precisely so he could convincingly pull this one act, his performance in front of the entire Underworld, and felt amazement over the farsight of his Master.
"Lord Phenix! The Pillar Families order you to activate your killbox! Slay the damned Angels, the filthy Strays who have betrayed us, and the traitorous Fallen!" The Great King of the Pillar Families, Lord Bael pointed his gnarly finger towards the disguised Overlord Wiseman while ignoring a shout of anger coming from Zeoticus Gremory and a few voices of disagreement from the few other families who voted against the decision to 'fight' the weakened factions who had appeared in Phenix killzone.
"I cannot agree to this! Your orders are a blasphemy to the True God, and go against the future of all devilkind!" 'Lord Phenix' announced while pointing his hand towards Lord Bael. "I refuse this order, and do not recognize your authority! You are but a false prophet, a puppet of your father and the Maous, whereas the True God seeks to lead us to a new age of prosperity and peace! We are on the verge of a final peace between the Three Factions, and face an enemy known as 'Supreme Being', and you'd seek to slay or exile the only one who is truly capable of defending us, and start anew the war between the Three Factions when we are besieged already?! You have seen how the Maous fail us time and time again! You are a traitor to the devilkind, Lord Bael! I refuse your order, and your authority!"
'Of course, all of that is but a fleeting amusement to Master, until he decides to remove his disguise, and allow all to feel true despair…' Overlord Wiseman thought as Lord Belial's face turned red from outrage and anger.
The voices of the protesting families became quiet from hearing the Overlord Wiseman's proclamation, and all turned to stare at him- After all, it wasn't unheard of that a lord would resist an order from the unified Pillar families, but it was utterly unheard of that a lord would brazenly declare his nonconformity to the ruling system and essentially spit in the face of the whole system.
"In that case, you leave me with no options- The Great Clan of Phenix is hereby declared a traitor to the Underworld, and the whole clan is hereby Stray from our society!" Lord Bael's face had the colour of a ripe apple and spittle flew from his mouth. "Guards! Escord Lord Phenix out and to a prison to wait for his sentencing! Phenix, do not resist, or you will lose any chance of making amends and undoing the sentence upon your entire clan!"
While such a declaration normally required extensive meetings and decisions between all of the Pillars, the fact a martial law had been enacted in the Underworld, and the fact 'Lord Phenix' had declared his open opposition to the entire Underworld by defying the lawful order of the highest ruling system of said world, meant that such a drastic order from the Great King was, indeed, lawful if extreme. And the 'slaying of clan' was effectively never enforced, and was more akin to an ultimatum for the heads of the family to submit quietly to save their clan and family.
Overlord Wiseman resisted the urge to smirk with his organic lips. "I see… In that case, I am left with no other options but to resist. And so, in turn, I declare you a traitor to the True God, and to the unified Three Factions under the banner of the True God! May he judge you, as he does all, in all balance!"
The Overlord Wiseman extended his hand towards Lord Bael who grabbed his chest as the old lord was clearly near to suffering a heart attack from sheer outrage alone.
"[Grasp Heart]!"
Lord Bael would not need to worry about such trifles as heart attack, however, as the lord's heart materialized into 'Lord Phenix's hand.
"For blasphemy towards the True God, for becoming the enemy of True God and the future of devil-kind, I hereby sentence you to death!" The grip around the heart tightened as the Overlord Wiseman embraced the dramatic acting ability that he had been 'born' with, but which had been somewhat suppressed by 'Lord Phenix's true memories.
The heart let a wet crunch-sound as it exploded, and Lord Bael fell to the ground like a doll with its strings cut.
There was a moment of silence in the hall.
Then, there was fire.
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Hour later, a Maou known as Sizechs Lucifer fell to his knees at the entrance of the quiet Chamber of the Pillars, which was strewn with bodies.
And among them was the lifeless, lightning-scarred body of Zeoticus Gremory.
Beelzebub reached for the fellow Maou, and placed his hand on Sirzechs's shoulder.
"I swear… I'll kill them all… I'll bring Grayfia back… I'll bring Rias back…" Sirzechs muttered as he reached to close the eyes of his dead father. "I… I'm… I wasn't strong enough… I wasn't smart enough… Haha… I was such a foolish child, to think that I could out-scheme a Outer Being… I'm sorry, dad, I think mom is going to lecture me..."
Beelzebub slapped Sirzechs to bring him back to reality as he was lost in his insane muttering, causing the Maou responsible of governmental affairs of the Underworld to turn his eyes towards the Maou responsible of scientific affairs of the Underworld.
Sirzechs's eyes were bloodshot and wild, and his mane of red hair had turned wavy and unkempt, like that of a homeless person who had gone months without a proper shower.
The [Power of Destruction] was going haywire around the Maou, and Beelzebub had to pull his hand back from Sirzechs's shoulder as a needle-thin spike of darkness pierced through his palm.
"Sirzechs! Snap out of it- This is what the enemy wants, you have to control yourself, we need to think-" Beelzebub started, but Sirzechs was on his feet before he could finish his sentence.
A hand was pressed on Beelzebub's mouth, silencing him.
"No. Thinking and planning is what got us to this in the first place." Sirzechs's voice was outright insane, like that of a mad prophet realizing something what should have been obvious. "This… This is an Outer Being that we fight. It fights in the shadows, and we have fought in it's chosen ground- In planning and scheming. In other words- To win, we must stop thinking altogether, and just fight. Any plan we make will just lead us astray, any trap we place will just detonate in our face. He must be exhausted, he just consumed such a large 'meal'... So… We just need to fight, and to kill Momon. No more elaborate plans."
Beelzebub's eyes widened, but before he managed to do anything else, the form in front of him was starting to draw in the power of the Underworld itself- Like how Odin had drawn from the power of Yggdrasil.
A shadowy, dark shape took form around the Strongest Maou, and the armored shape took a step forward, pushing Beelzebub away.
Beelzebub had seen Sirzechs do such a thing only once in the past- Drawing from the power of the Underworld to augment his [Power of Destruction].
It wasn't quite as final as the power Odin had drawn from Yggdrasil, as Yggdrasil was a living being and the power of the Underworld flowed from an immaterial source, so Sirzechs didn't actually kill the underworld by tapping into its power.
The dark knight he had seen before had born a visage of a noble knight of the Underworld… But this shape, as all things that were at their core created from the imagination and desires of devils, was influenced by Sirzechs's current mood.
And so, the dark shape was like that of a mad, masterless knight with a long, unkempt mane of wavy hair made of darkness woven with Sirzechs's true hair, and the plates of armor of the 'knight' were misshapen, battered, bruised and liken to the plates of a insane gladiator who nailed his armor to his very flesh.
The shape lurched forward, almost as if he was sniffing for something. "But before that… The root of corruption must be cleansed entirely. So, let us not leave even a single spot of Momon's taint."
Beelzebub collided with one of the speaker's podiums as the maddened form of Sirzechs extended wings cloaked with [Power of Destruction], exploded into a sprint, or rather a misshapen land-flight, and in doing so released a shockwave of power so potent he knocked even a Maou like Beelzebub aside.
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The Overlord Wiseman felt like a cultist praying to one's god as he downed a healing potion containing black liquid that had been made of the rarest resource possible- The tears of his Master. Or rather, of the body he wore.
The fact He had created a small row of 'healing potions' that way and had pushed them to the Overlord Wiseman after the 'Dragon Mountains Incident' in order to help His servant keep his cover in the future had moved the Overlord Wiseman to his core. The disguised undead servant had been quite taken by the fact His master would value him so, and that He would be willing to go through something as humiliating as 'crying' in order to assist someone as feeble as the Overlord Wiseman in his task.
The wounds on his body disappeared as the black liquid was absorbed by it, as the fight against the heads of the Pillar Families had been quick and brutal.
While the ancient heads of the Pillar Families had been mighty in their day, and many were still today, they had been woefully unprepared to face the Overlord Wiseman in a surprise one-undead ambush.
That wasn't to say that the fight had been easy- The fact the Overlord Wiseman couldn't use his auras or his undead summons had hampered him quite a bit as using either would defeat the point of the execution of the noble heads of the families since the Overlord Wiseman planned on distributing the meeting of the Pillars to the rest of the Underworld to see.
So, he had used the 'standard' complement of abilities usually found in Overlord Wiseman-class undead, in a way that he had seen his Master use.
Indeed.
[True Death], [Grand Fireball], [Explosion], [Hellfire Wall], [Dimensional Lock], [Insanity], [Wave of Pain], [Astral Smite], [Call Greater Thunder]... The list of spells that Overlord Wisemen, the magic caster-type undead, had available to them was quite extensive.
Moreover...
The Overlord Wiseman had watched and re-watched the 'Rating Game' between 'Momon' and Serafall Leviathan a total of two hundred and twenty-five times, and memorized the exact manner his Master used the spells, how He had avoided using his main complement of abilities and instead relying on supplementary spells and skills to great extent- Even though the Overlord Wiseman lacked 'Boosted Gear' to make up for the difference in his case.
But neither were the surprised, off-guard and laxed devils that made the heads of the Pillar Families the fighting equivalent of Maous.
And so, the Overlord Wiseman had managed to devastate the thirty heads of Pillar Families that were present in the emergency meeting, excluding himself, before many of the Pillars truly realized what was happening.
Overlord Wiseman had first focused his attention on some of the more dangerous Pillars, such as Zeoticus Gremory and Lord Belial, who had hesitated and had died on the spot from [Call Greater Thunder] and [True Death], whereas some others managed to stand and fight.
The memories of Lord Phenix suggested that Zeoticus Gremory might have sympathized with 'Lord Phenix' and might have even joined his side in battle, but at the same time it was a small chance since Zeoticus Gremory stood to lose his daughter if he didn't fight the Pillars… But if he did, and lost, he'd stand to lose his wife and his clan. So, the man might just as well choose the latter, and if that was the case, the Overlord Wiseman would have to fight someone proficient in [Power of Destruction].
And so, Zeoticus Gremory had been killed.
Of course, the quick and brutal battle with the rest of the noble lords had left the Overlord Wiseman wounded as well, but while his flesh-body had been on the verge of death, his 'skeletal' body was still roughly in half-health.
Granted, the latter was more of a problem as the black healing tears only healed his flesh body and not his skeletal one.
The Overlord Wiseman made his way to the recording studio of the House of Pillars, sending lighting or fireballs to sear and electrocute any servant- and guard-devils who stood to stop him, but allowing the ones who fled to escape.
After all, Overlord Wiseman knew that the point of the whole performance was devastate the old devil rulership, and to establish one where 'True God' reigned supreme, while the mundane day-to-day tasks were taken care of by the Overlord Wiseman, or rather, 'Lord Phenix' and the religious manners by the Dominion Authority- All consolidated under one lord, one people, one banner.
Overlord Wiseman felt like singing in German for some reason, but suppressed the urge as he reached the recording studio where the recordings of the meetings of Pillars would be held.
The room was hall-like, with a control-desk at the end of it and with the walls of the room plastered with rows and rows of bookshelves containing stone tablets, scrolls, old books, tape-recordings, recording disks, and more modern electronic hardware, each used to catalogue the meetings across eons and across technological progress of mankind, from where the technology was imported.
The Overlord Wiseman reached the desk and saw that a devil had hunkered down under it for cover, or perhaps to hide.
'Ah. I suppose this saves me the hassle of figuring out how the recording is extracted and distributed. I need to have it aired in Underworld's media without interruptions to control the narrative...' The disguised Undead nodded to the air and addressed the cowering devil that looked like a librarian, complete with a pencil-skirt and glasses. "You. Stand up."
The devil-woman quivered in her boots but did as ordered.
"Are your loyalties with the old system, or True God?" The question was a distraction, as 'Lord Phenix' knew that the Pillars would not let anyone who was not absolutely loyal to them to handle the recordings of the meetings.
The woman's focus was distracted, and Overlord Wiseman grabbed her head. '[Silent magic: Charm Species].'
The Overlord Wiseman did not know a more effective mind-wiping spell such as [Control Amnesia] as such abilities were either restricted to more specialized builds, or Supreme Beings. However, the 4th tier spell [Charm species] would confuse a weaker enemy to think the caster to be their friend, allowing them a degree of influence over them.
Of course, such a spell was limited as the suggestion was limited to what a 'friend' could suggest, so it was hard to 'suggest' someone to stab themselves or do something extreme like that.
"Stand up, my friend. Do you not recognize who I am?" The Overlord Wiseman offered his hand to the woman who had fallen to her butt as the spell hit her.
The woman shook all over and stood up with help. "You… My lord Phenix? But- My lord! You have done such horrible-"
"It was for the good of us all. Stop shaking, I am your friend, no?" The Overlord Wiseman leveraged the memories of Lord Phenix and ignored the disgust that came from having to play nice to insects that should have just keeled over before His grand design.
"You… We're friends, yeah!" The record-keeper sounded a bit drunk. "But… I'm friends with a stray? I can't be friends with a stray, that's against the law..."
'Hm, annoying…' The Overlord Wiseman sighed as he felt a surge of power from somewhere within the building and realized that he was running out of time. "Indeed, I am a stray right now. But we were friends before, and are friends now, no? And since the Pillars other than me are dead, then that means the rule of Pillars no longer applies, no?"
"But… laws don't cease to be even after the law-markers are dead, right?" The woman sounded drunk and her head swung from side to side. "But.. my friend is a murderer… that's horrible…"
"If the laws are unjust, then surely it is a moral obligation to disobey them, no?" Overlord Wiseman realized a problem with his plan- Namely, that his persuasive power, rather the [Charm Species]'s persuasive power might not be enough when faced with someone who is doggedly loyal to the old rule. "There is more to law than mere words on paper- If laws are made without justice, then they are but words on paper. You are my dear friend, seek your heart. The wars of the past have left us all wounded and bleeding, so instead of continuing and allowing the wounds to fester, now is time to gouge the pus and infection and suture the wound that has bled us too long."
"But…"
"The Devils of the Underworld, no, all beings of Three Factions deserve to know what has happened today. To know that we devils are not opportunistic traitors who'd seek war when it suited us, but ones who keep our word, and can be trusted not to stab others in the back when they are turned!" The undead piled on the verbal garbage. "Please, let me access the recordings from today's meeting of Pillars, and distribute it across the Underworld! You have access to the media channels that air the judgement of Pillars, so please… feed the video to the media, and show people the truth!"
Overlord Wiseman drew from 'Lord Phenix's memories to make a grand speech, and the librarian's eyes grew a bit moist as, from her point of view, 'her exiled but beloved friend was making a grand speech to appeal to her sense of justice in face of unjust laws'.
The door to the recording room exploded with the force of a thunderstorm and black energy blew outwards, taking the shape of spears that careered right towards the Overlord Wiseman.
"[Shield Wall]" An invisible barrier formed around the Overlord Wiseman, who was between the librarian and the dark creature that rampaged it's way to the room.
The barrier stopped three of the spears, but two broke through the weakened barrier and speared right through the Overlord Wiseman whose fleshy eyes widened as he felt his health get drained a massive amount by the hit and the 'pure' damage it dealt.
He glanced back at the librarian who let out a scream as she saw her 'friend' get stabbed 'in her stead' as the undead had been in front of her.
The Overlord Wiseman connected a few dots, and resisted the urge to smirk as the sudden appearance of what 'Lord Phenix' could only guess was 'Sirzechs Lucifer' in his [Power of Destruction]-wreath form charged forwards.
"Take cover! I'll protect you!" 'Lord Phenix' put as much emotion to his voice as Overlord Wiseman was capable of, and the librarian took cover as another wave of dark spears flew towards the undead creature.
'...Indeed. My persuasive power was not enough… So instead, I can use this.' The Overlord Wiseman felt regret that he failed to persuade the librarian in time as he realized that there was another way to accomplish the goal that the Supreme Being Momonga expected him to fulfill.
It was something that would cause the Overlord Wiseman to fail at his 'other' role, of leading the Phenix family, but…
The fact was, the Overlord Wiseman had failed, and Sirzechs had caught up to him. So his 'life' was forfeit, as he knew he couldn't win in a single combat against the Strongest Maou, nor could he get away, or explain his way out as Sirzechs didn't hesitate to instantly beeline to the Overlord Wiseman, cluing the undead to the likelihood that his cover had been blown.
The undead creature felt intense shame, to the point he felt as if he would disappear on the spot. But he couldn't do that, both because [Emotion Suppression] brought him back to reality, and because he still had one job he needed to do.
Indeed, he had failed to persuade the librarian in time, and had been seen through, but he still had the chance to turn into a martyr for His sake, to do one more thing for the True Supreme Being, as a recompense for his failure.
Sirzechs charged forwards, and the Overlord Wiseman charged to match…
.
.
The librarian who had served as the scroll-keeper of Pillar families was scared.
She was in tears.
A monstrous creature was fighting against her dear friend. She had known Lord Phenix for a long time, and had occasionally dealt with him with requests of recordings and such, but… She felt that he was a dear friend. Someone she wished to cherish and help.
She felt suddenly sad as she remembered having read from a newspaper that Lord Phenix had divorced, even though at the time she had felt nothing particular. She wondered for a moment if the divorce and the deaths in the lord's family had something to do with his sudden rebellious streak- Before she realized it.
The losses, the horror Lord Phenix had been forced to feel, had likely caused him to crack and convert to True God's side. Moreover, he had attacked the Pillars, and had killed them.
In other words, he was an enemy of the underworld.
But, she had watched the meeting, as was required of her, and the fact he had stood to defend his family and ex-wife, and a potential peace between all of the factions… It made her feel odd.
She still remembered the horrors of the civil war, and knew that the truce between the Three Factions was in shambles, and it would eventually break and lead to another great war that would probably wipe out the Underworld.
If there was peace, a true peace… It would be nice.
But the Pillars had wanted Lord Phenix to execute wounded and tired angels and fallen, leading to a definite war between the Three Factions, and probably to the win of the devils if Michael and Gabriel of Heavens were to die in the Underworld.
A true victory would be nice as well.
And at the same time, the Maou who she was supposed to be serving…
The creature in front of her was truly monstrous.
Lord Phenix, her dear friend, was being tossed around like a stress toy, and the shadowed, horrifying Maou was punching the Lord's face with enough force to expose bone and cause geysers of blood.
The lord tried to cast spells, but a massive fireball the Phenix conjured was knocked aside by a flick of a wrist from the Maou.
"No! Lord Phenix! Don't die!" The librarian screamed and felt more doubt than ever as the Maou growled in anger and vengeance while he tore Lord Phenix's arm off and hit the man with it, causing him to spin around and get plastered into a wall.
The Maou turned to look at the librarian, and she felt the hatred, the malice, the anger coming from the devil whose mere presence let alone look made the librarian feel as if she'd disintegrate on the spot.
A lance of darkness formed above the Maou's hand as he lifted his arm, and the lance flew right at the librarian who didn't even have time to dodge-
And Lord Phenix appeared in front of her, while a shield formed in front of him… Only for the lance to break through it, penetrate the ragged body behind it, and come through Lord Phenix's back.
The librarian stared at the tip of the lance which was mere inches away from her temple, and she fell to her knees in shock.
"...Told you to take cover, no?" The lord didn't sound too worried about the darkness that expanded and was starting to eat at the flesh of his body. "Ha… You should flee. Sirzechs over there seem to think you're on my side… You're practically a Stray already. What a messed up system we follow… or do we?"
"I… my dear friend…" The librarian felt her eyes tear up, and then she was tossed to the side as Sirzechs appeared to grab Lord Phenix's throat and lift him up from the floor.
"You… I know who you are. You are not Lord Phenix, but just another servant of your twisted, monstrous master. I'll destroy you. I swear, I'll leave nothing of your ilk, and I'll destroy your lord as well… There will be nothing left of you and your wretched, traitorous kind after I am done. My vengeance is long overdue." Sirzechs's words were twisted with anger and caused the Librarian to flinch.
'S-Sirzechs- sama!' The Librarian felt more doubt than ever- But she knew that she couldn't do anything to help Lord Phenix.
'If the laws are unjust, then surely it is a moral obligation to disobey them, no?' The words of her dear friend who was getting tormented to death in front of her echoed in her head.
For her life, she had served the Maous, and the Old Rule… But…
'Is… is this really justice? And what did Sirzechs-sama mean by 'eradicating Lord Phenix's ilk'? Is killing an entire clan for the crimes of their lord justice? The Pillars… But my friend... ' The librarian crawled towards the control station of the room, from where she could access the recordings.
'If… My friend said I'd be a stray as well… Sirzechs-sama saw me speaking to Lord Phenix, when he had committed such a crime… And I wasn't fighting him…' The Librarian realized that she was, indeed, effectively Stray for assisting a stray who had committed a capital offense- Or more accurately, for 'not attacking, hindering or reporting' a stray like Lord Phenix. And she still considered him her friend.
She knew that Strays couldn't become regular devils anymore. They could clear 'stray' status under exceptional circumstances, but even if they did, they were forever condemned to be little more than pests or outcasts.
Her life which she had held until now was over. She was done for. When Sirzechs destroyed Lord Phenix, she would be next and die for the association.
And, if she was indeed an exile already…
If her dear friend had taken such extreme measures for the sake of justice…
What kind of friend was she if she couldn't even help him?
It was childish to think that 'friendship conquered all', but… if she was effectively dead already, then she could at least give the people of the Underworld a chance to decide their fate for themselves, unshackled by Maous or Pillars.
The librarian hadn't realized that she had a rebellious side to her as she quickly typed a few passwords to the control panel while darkness-clad Sirzechs tore Lord Phenix's legs off and kicked the one-armed torso to a nearby wall, and sent a wave of darkness at Lord Phenix that melted the skin and flesh of his chest, showing bone underneath.
The librarian opened the media channel that announced a recording from the Pillars, which would contain an emergency broadcast from the leadership of the Underworld. In other words, it was something that most of the 'rank and file' devils would be practically guaranteed to watch.
She had her finger on the 'enter' key, but… she hesitated
Something crashed next to her, and she turned to see a limbless torso that only had the upper part of his chest and a mangled face that had bone visible through the flesh.
"Do it. For the Underworld." Lord Phenix was in a sorry state. "Do it for me. For True God. For all devils…"
She felt a paralyzing presence as she looked up, and saw Sirzechs Lucifer turning his eyes to look at her.
She had her finger on the 'enter' key.
Sirzechs clearly realized it.
She knew she would die if she pressed the key.
Lord Phenix closed his eyes and coughed wetly.
"My friend... " The librarian pressed the button and closed her eyes. "For the Underworld… for our future…"
The recording of the last meeting of Pillars, and also the last recording from a surveillance camera that kept an eye on the recording room itself, was sent to the emergency channel of the Underworld's media.
The Librarian felt as her body fell to the floor next to the Lord Phenix, whose breathing had stopped.
Surprisingly, there was no pain.
.
.
Momonga paused making an ice-cream sandwich when he felt the Overlord Wiseman die.
'Oh no.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone