A Different Beginning

III

Elemental Academy

3rd Month

“It’s more troublesome than I thought.”

Akeno leaned back on her chair and released a deep breath. But her eyes did not leave the book on the table, the one she was currently studying.

Among the young devil generation, she was known as the ‘Elemental Queen’. She did not get the nickname because of how many elements she could control, but rather, how skillfully she used those elements on the battlefield.

Instead of using the elements as projectiles or just plain blast-attacks, which she used to do, now she would utilize her opponents or the arena’s elements to boost her own elemental damage. That was how she was able to beat Yubelluna in the tournament. She allowed the ‘Bomb Queen’ to make a mess of the arena and then used the fire, created by her attacks, against her. And then, when she healed herself using Phoenix tears, Akeno struck her down using her favorite element, lightning. Akeno knew that Yubelluna expected her to use the lightning element as a simple but powered-up projectile, but she was wrong.

Lightning element specializes in few areas… cutting, paralyzing, and… piercing. Akeno trained and focused on the piercing specialty of her lightning element. She improved it so much that it became quite lethal. It was all thanks to her mentor, MacGregor Mathars, Bishop of Sirzechs Lucifer. The funny thing was that now she had to be extra careful when using her lightning element. But, in the tournament, it was alright to go all out.

Yubelluna did not stand a chance.

Akeno knew she was strong, many would agree to it in a heartbeat. But she also knew that she could be stronger. Hence, she was studying how to improve her lightning element further.

The easiest way was to combine it with her light attribute and try to replicate the infamous ‘Holy Lightning’ of Baraqiel.

“Easier said than done,” Akeno closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

Her hatred toward that man still remained, but it was different. Before, she hated him and everything about him. And that also meant that she hated a part of herself, of her being a fallen angel. Even after becoming a devil that part still remained. And back then, she vowed never to use anything related to that part of her.

Rias had no issues with that before. But that all changed after that event.

Memories of that event were still vivid in her mind… of how the devil faction was brought to its knees, and the consequences of it.

Sirzechs Lucifer was the strongest devil ever to exist. He had never lost a fight, and the way devils praised and worshipped him, it was like he could never lose a fight. Even if he were to lose one in the future, which was very unlikely, Sirzechs would lose at the very last minute after going blow for blow with his opponents for a long period of time. Just like one of those cliché shows.

That was how Sirzechs was portrayed. Truth to be told, Akeno used to believe it as well. After all, she had seen the man training. Of course, he did not go all out. But the minuscule amount of power he would release during that time, seemed limitless to her. At that time, her young mind could not comprehend that there could be other beings out there, stronger than the mighty Sirzechs Lucifer.

But there was. She was not on the battlefield but she had felt him, his power… even though she was safely hidden in the Gremory mansion, far away from the battle.

Later she learned that everyone in the devil faction had felt it, no matter where they were in the underworld… the power, the anger of the terror known as Naruto Ōtsutsuki.

Fortunately, the Youkai-devil disaster ended on that day, without much bloodshed. At least that was what she had heard.

The ones who took the defeat of Sirzechs the hardest were Rias and Millicas. Even though they were not allowed to see him when he was in coma, they still heard the whispers and the worst was they saw the scars even after everything was over.

Sirzechs had lost one arm.

Millicas became more withdrawn. He would get really upset if he was away from his parents, even if it was just for few hours. He would constantly check on Sirzechs and Grayfia. But, after continuous therapy and care, he improved. Now, he completely reverted back to his older self.

But Akeno knew, from personal experience, this kind of trauma was hard to heal.

Rias, on the other hand, became slightly unstable. It was not noticeable at first, not because of the negligence of her family members, but how well she was able to hide it.

Akeno was the first to notice the signs since she was always with her.

Rias became more determined to be stronger. She studied more diligently, trained more vigorously. She was also pushing her peerages to be better. It was nothing bad. But then, during one of their training session, Rias and Akeno clashed.

Rias directly pointed out how Akeno was wasting her talent by not using half of her power, how her reasoning for doing that was also baseless. Of course, Akeno fought back with words. But Rias just shredded her views with cold facts and scenarios. During the whole ordeal, Rias did not scream at Akeno, nor did she vent on her. She argued back in a very calculative and cold manner, which angered and scared Akeno at the same time.

Rias was losing herself, she was losing her emotions.

Akeno later directly brought this up to Sirzechs.

And the first thing the man did, was to get an artificial arm. After that, he took Rias and her peerages to a training camp where each of them was trained separately by Sirzechs’ own peerages, with Rias being trained by Sirzechs himself.

That training session changed not just Rias, but all of them.

It was that time, under the guidance of MacGregor Mathers who later became her mentor, she learned that hating her father and hating a part of her were two different things. Hating her father, Baraqiel, was acceptable because of what he had done. But what was not acceptable was hating an entire faction because of one’s action. MacGregor showed her how it was corrupting her views in general. He took her to a city under Grigori in disguise and showed her how fallens were living there. Some were bad, true, but many were just enjoying their life normally. And then there were many who were also helping each other. If one were to take their wings and powers away, what she saw that day was very similar to what she would see in a devil city.

That day changed her.

Akeno opened her eyes when she heard the door to the shower room opening. Rias walked out while wiping her hair with a towel, and she was completely nude. This made Akeno to chuckle. Whoever was going to marry her would have a really exciting and hard time.

“I did not get to ask, how was the date?” Akeno asked as she got up and started walking toward the wardrobe.

“To be honest, I was surprised,” Rias sat down on a sofa, “I expected Issei to make a some sort of move on me, but he was, and I am not kidding, a complete gentleman.”

Akeno giggled as she took out a red lingerie, it was one of the comfortable ones, “I have told you before, he may be a pervert but he has morals. And he knows his boundaries. But then again, if he is pushed too far, he may turn into a beast, who knows~” Akeno passed the nightclothes to Rias.

“Are you okay with that? I thought you liked him.”

Akeno smiled at her, “Yes, compared to most of the boys I had seen so far in the underworld, he is a breath of fresh air. I do not mind going out with him, he also has that bestial vibe in him, “Akeno almost shivered when she recalled that incident, “But I will wait and see for now. Also, compared to the Underworld, the Elemental academy has quite a lot of charming boys… and men.”

Rias giggled, “That’s true.”

Akeno could see who Rias was thinking about. To be fair, even she fantasized about that person and his best friend. Those were some raunchy dreams. Then again, she knew that many girls did so as well.

Menma and Thorin, the duo that stole the hearts of many girls… and some boys. Their appearances were too striking, if Akeno was being honest. Menma had the eastern yakuza heir look, charming but dangerous, young but experienced, noble but outgoing. And Thorin had the western muscular athlete look, strong but friendly, flirt but respectful, experienced but honorable.

And when they were together… it was like seeing a scene straight out of a novel.

Akeno was not into BL, but she would not mind a novel with these two as the main characters.

“But, what makes you think that I will share Issei with anyone, if I decide to go out with him,” Rias pointed out after she was done wearing her nightclothes.

Akeno blinked once and then laughed making Rias to give her a blank stare. Controlling her laughter, Akeno looked back at the Gremory heiress, “Rias, Issei is understanding, gentle, and has morals, yes. But at his core, he is a lustful person. Do you really think that when you, or anyone, takes him to bed, he will be the passive one? And… he has the ‘Boosted Gear’. A frightening and exciting combination when it came to any sexual activities.”

Rias crossed her arms, making her breasts pop out, and looked at Akeno challengingly, “You think I will not be able to handle him.”

Akeno snorted at that comment, “Rias, I don’t think both of us together will be able to handle him if he is really pushed. Don’t you remember what happened to Riser at the tournament?”

Rias blinked once and then looked away, but Akeno easily spotted the faint blush on her cheeks. Akeno hid her smile and started walking toward her study desk, knowing that she had won that argument.

Suddenly a thought came to Akeno, making her excited, “I wonder if we will get to see that side of Issei in the upcoming tournament?”

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X

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Avalon Kingdom

The discussion with Azazel went longer than expected. Yes, the governor of the fallen had much to share, but he was also the easiest to talk to among all the Biblical faction leaders. Granted, the first encounters with Sirzechs and Michael happened during a troubled time, so he should not count them. He was thinking of having another meeting with them, probably in an informal setting. It was a thought for a later time. Also, from what he had learned beforehand, Azazel was quite similar to Jiraiya. But Naruto did not see the similarities, and he understood why. It was a formal meeting, and Azazel was treating it as such.

So, in the end, Naruto told Azazel that they should have a drink together, sometime soon. The expression on Azazel’s face was quite hilarious. It seemed that the fallen governor did not expect that. But he was quite eager to agree on it.

After their meeting ended, Naruto and Jiraiya went back to his office to discuss further about what actions to take based on what they had learned. Naruto knew that he was going to be pulling an all-nighter.

At least, that was what he had thought. But here he was, in his home, cradling his wife who was sitting on his lap.

How did this happen? While Naruto was reviewing the information with Jiraiya, few hours after they met Azazel, he felt it… Yasaka was calling him through their psychic link. It was quite rare for her to do so. That was why Naruto immediately dropped everything and rushed to her.

She was at home, in the living room. Asia and Kunou were sleeping in Kunou’s room. And when he reached there, nothing was amiss. Other than Yasaka feeling a little distressed.

Naruto did not know why she was feeling distressed but he knew what to do. He did not push her to say anything. He just picked her up, much to her surprise, sat down on the sofa, put her on his lap, and started stroking her back. And he had been doing it for the last five minutes.

Feeling Yasaka calming down, Naruto kissed her temple, “Feeling better?”

Yasaka just smiled at him, a content smile which he loved to see on her face, and then lightly pecked him on the lips. She got up from his lap and extended her hand toward him. Smiling back at her, he took her hand and allowed her to lead him.

Yasaka took Naruto to their daughter’s room. When she gently opened the door, the first thing Naruto noticed was how cute and peaceful Kunou looked while sleeping. The second thing he noticed, almost immediately, was that Asia was sleeping beside Kunou and… she had puffy eyes.

“Nightmare?” Now Naruto was feeling a bit worried.

“Those were tears of happiness.”

Naruto slowly turned to face Yasaka. He knew that Yasaka did not cry; if she did, he would have seen the signs. But it seemed like she might have wanted to. Naruto raised his right arm and gently touched her cheek. With a tired smile, she leaned into his touch.

“She was a caged bird, Naruto. Everyone demanded so much from her, and yet, they never gave her any freedom. Everyone praised her for her powers, and yet, they threw her away because of her powers,” Yasaka looked at him, the sadness in her eyes was more prominent now, “She had no families, no friends, no one. All she had, when she was thrown out, was few clothes in her bag. She was and still is just a child. Yet, she still did not lose faith,” She turned to look at the sleeping children, “Such a strong child.”

Naruto knew he could be wrong but he took a wild guess as to why Yasaka was so depressed. Maybe it was because she was acting as ‘Hinata’ in the academy, Yasaka was comparing some parts of Asia’s situation to her childhood as ‘Hinata’. Yes, he could see some similarities but both of their situations were vastly different. It could also be that Asia had said or done something that reminded Yasaka of a painful memory. Again, these were just assumptions of his. And, from what he had read, Asia’s past was quite terrible.

Naruto smiled. But, the present could be better.

“Do you want us to adopt her?”

Yasaka sharply turned to face him, the sadness in her eyes was completely replaced with shock. Chuckling, Naruto cupped her cheeks and lightly pecked her on the lips. Then he started walking toward the sleeping children, making sure not to make any sound, “Don’t worry, I remember the complications that will come if we are to adopt a child… any child,” While walking, he turned and his gaze landed on her belly, “Also we are trying for a second child. So, there is no reason for us to adopt her. I mean, that is what many will say.”

When Naruto reached them, he gently touched Asia’s forehead with his index finger. He quickly cast few spells, so that she would have a sound sleep and a really pleasant dream.

Naruto retracted his hand and sighed. This was not the first time. In the past, there were few times when Yasaka wanted to adopt. Not only he was completely fine with it, he even encouraged her. But August and Jiraiya were against it.

Why? It was because of the adopted child’s future.

Yasaka and Naruto wanted to adopt a child because of his or her past, because of what they went through. They wanted to adopt these children because they wanted to give them a better life. But August and Jiraiya pointed out the issue. Their people would accept it, they would even admire Naruto and Yasaka for this. But they would also expect great feats from the child. In their mind, the child should be able to keep up with their King and Queen, as well as their own children. And the expectation would only increase as that child would grow older.

There was a worse scenario, where the child would be compared to Naruto and Yasaka and would be belittled if found wanting. Of course, not many in the Avalon Kingdom would do such a thing, but the same could not be said if the child ventured outside.

This was the harsh truth, something that Naruto and Yasaka hated but had to accept.

“You know we cannot adopt her.”

Naruto smiled and looked at Yasaka, “But you want to. So leave all the rest to me,” He stood up and walked toward Yasaka. When he reached her, he hugged her and rested his forehead on hers, “You know, I am really good at breaking the rules and doing the unexpected.”

Yasaka giggled, he liked the sound of her laughter, “Thank you, but we should wait. I am just overthinking, and it’s only been a day. Let her spend some time with us. Who knows, maybe she is mature enough to settle here by herself.”

Naruto chuckled. He had a feeling that they would be adopting Asia, but for now, he would just keep quiet about it. He hugged her tighter and whispered into her ear, “But, we are still going for our second child.”

Yasaka slightly leaned away and cutely frowned at him, “You are just using that as an excuse to hide your perverted desires.”

Naruto widened his eyes and faked a hurt look, “To think… that my pure intentions are being questioned,” And without warning, he picked her up, bridal style. Yasaka quickly muffled her surprised cry. Naruto then turned around and started going toward their bedroom.

“I think we should have a thorough discussion about this,” He really tried, but couldn’t hold back but to let out a perverted grin, “With our bodies~”

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X

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The Dimensional Gap

“It’s working! It’s finally working!”

Naruto stopped reading and looked at Amun-Ra who was cackling like a maniac. With a smile, he dispersed the book. He got up from the makeshift chair and started walking toward Amun-Ra, who still had not stopped. From the corner of his eyes, he saw others also stopped their tasks and were slowly approaching Amun-Ra.

When Naruto was close, Shiva, who was beside Amun-Ra from the beginning, smiled and patted Amun-Ra’s shoulder, “The stage is yours, my friend.”

Amun-Ra stood straighter and smiled smugly at them, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you,” He turned slightly and pointed at a stone structure which looked like a sundial clock, “The Navigator.”

Naruto felt his eyebrows shooting upward. Did it mean…

“Yes, it is exactly what you are guessing right now. Our navigating issue has been solved,” He then made an exaggerated bow, “By yours truly.”

“So, we have a map?” Thor asked.

“No, we don’t have a map,” Amun-Ra rolled his eyes, and he immediately raised both of his arms, “Let me explain,” Then he paused and frowned, “Wait, let me first reorganize my thoughts. I need to simplify this.”

Naruto smiled as he watched Amun-Ra making gestures as if he was talking with himself. It was quite surprising to find out what Amun-Ra specialized in. Amun-Ra, the Supreme Egyptian God of Sun and Light… with a title like that anyone would think that he had power over sun and light. Yes, he did to a certain extent. But that was not what he specialized in. Amun-Ra knew almost all types of magic that existed in their universe. Be it devil magic, holy magic, human magic, youkai magic, he knew almost all of it. The reason why he was adding ‘Almost’ was because Amun-Ra could not learn spells that were unique to a person. For example, he could use ‘Power of Destruction’ from the devil Bael clan, but he could not use ‘Ruin the Extinct’ which was a special magical skill unique to Sirzechs.

But the scarier part was Amun-Ra’s skill in handling magic. If he were to see a new magic or ability, he could recreate it by combining various types of spells. He saw Naruto using ‘Rasengan’ once in a ruin, and during his fight in a ruin, which was just a few hours after, Amun-Ra used ‘Rasengan’ as if he had been using it for a long time.

Naruto did not see him practicing or even talking to him about it. He just straight up used it after seeing it once. When Naruto asked him about it, Amun-Ra mentioned that he replicated ‘Rasengan’ in his head. He knew which spells to combine to create something similar, and he was able to pull it off on his first try. And from the look of it, it seemed like he was not even trying. Granted, Rasengan was not a very complex technique but it was not a magical spell either.

A question later popped in his head. Why was Amun-Ra not ranked higher? He was insanely skilled and knowledgeable. He was also a ‘Primordial’, a being that existed since the beginning of their universe. So why? The only conclusion that he came up with was that Amun-Ra lacked power. It made sense since not many humans remember him, let alone follow his faction.

“Alright, here goes,” Naruto focused on Amun-Ra who started speaking again, “First thing I need to clarify our problem, what is it? It is not that we cannot create a map. The map is a means to an end. Our problem is that we cannot navigate here, at the core of the Dimensional Gap, with the limited amount of power we are allowed to use. We tried many things, trying to create a map was one of them, but we did not have anything concrete. Until now…”

Amun-Ra turned and pointed at the sundial clock-like structure again, “So how does this solve our problem? What I have created here is a radar. And what we need to do now is to put one of those,” He pointed at small stone tablets beside it, “in an explored ruin. So, next time when we are anywhere near those explored ruins, our Navigator will detect them and steer our ship away. Of course, it will also record everything for us to review later. And no,” He pointed at Naruto who was halfway raising his hand, “I am not going to explain the mechanics behind it. It will take a while.”

“So basically, it will tell us about the ruins that we already explored?” Thor asked.

“When we are in range. And is it not what we came here to do? To explore the unexplored Dimensional Gap. A few of our expedition was a complete waste because we kept bumping into the already explored ruins.”

“What’s the range?” Scáthach followed up.

“Approximately 5 thousand kilometers.”

Naruto whistled out loud. Amun-Ra was right, this would definitely cut down a lot of exploration time, “So, now we just have to wait and place those in the ruins.”

Amun-Ra smiled and walked forward, “Yes, now it is just the waiting game.”

Naruto looked back at where he was sitting, “Well then, since we do not have anything to do now, I want to try something, come on,” He did not wait for anyone. He walked back to his place and sat down. With a wave of his hand, similar seats were created made of old boxes and barrels, placed in a circle. Naruto then snapped his fingers and a small bonfire was created in the middle. He looked at the astonished faces of everyone, “You know, we are having these long expeditions, grand adventures, but we did not do one crucial thing,” He let out a toothy smile, “Sharing stories.”

The first one to react was Thor. He burst out laughing, “Well said, my friend, well said,” He walked… more like stomped toward Naruto and took the seat beside him. He patted Naruto’s shoulder with another boisterous laughter.

“Always doing something unpredictable,” Yasaka chuckled as she ushered Scáthach to take a seat.

Shiva and Amun-Ra looked at each other, smiling, as they too took a seat.

“So, I suppose you are going to start since you initiated this,” Shiva spoke up the moment he sat down.

Naruto shook his head, “Of course, I have tons of stories to share. But I want to start with a question first, not to anyone particular mind you,” Naruto glanced at everyone once before continuing, “Why is our universe called Draconic Deity?”

There was a pause before Amun-Ra spoke up, “You really don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

Naruto gave him a warm smile, “We can always talk about how you created the ‘Navigator’.”

“But that is a really good question,” Amun-Ra smoothly continued as if he didn’t hear Naruto, “One answer is that, power wise, our world is divided into two main faction, Dragons and Deities… or Gods if you want to use that term. Second is that the Dragons and the Gods are the first beings of this universe, so they named it as such.”

Naruto blinked once. This… was unexpected. He subtly looked at others to see that their reactions were the same as him, other than Shiva.

Shiva chuckled and lightly patted Amun-Ra’s shoulder, “I think this is one of those cases where instead of simplifying, we should elaborate,” He paused for a moment before grinning, “You know, I can explain this like a story. The setting is perfect for it,” Suddenly his expression became serious, “Before I start though, I would like to make a request. What I am about to share now, I will appreciate it if everyone present here keeps it to themselves. As for why I am making such a request, I will properly clarify it later.”

Naruto immediately nodded his head, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw others doing the same.

“Splendid,” The amiable smile of Shiva’s returned on his face, “So where to start… Maybe I can start by correcting one misconception. The first faction of our universe is not the ‘Biblical Faction’, it was the ‘Draconic faction’ and ‘Deity faction’.”

Naruto opened his mouth and then closed it. With a sigh, he snapped his fingers. Immediately their seats transformed from boxes and barrels to comfy sofas. Thor blinked and turned toward him, but Naruto did not wait for his question, knowing what it was, “I changed our seats because we need to get comfortable. I have a feeling that this is going to be long and full of shocking revelations.”

Shiva chuckled, “I will have to agree with you on that. So let’s start, shall we,” Shiva leaned forward and made a mischievous smile.

“The story of the First two Factions, and the First Great War.”

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X

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Avalon Kingdom

Kuroka was nervous. She had every right to be. This was the first time she joined the meeting between the ‘Daiyōkai’ as one of them. The last time she was invited, it was to officially accept her current position.

In the beginning, Kuroka thought that the ‘Daiyōkai’ was something like the ‘72 Pillars’ of the devil factions. Later she found out that it was not the case. ‘Daiyōkai’ was a title given to individuals who acted as the guardians of the Kingdom. How were they chosen? Kuroka was still not sure about it. But one thing was for sure, Social-rank and Familial-ties had nothing to do with it.

As for their tasks, they had many, some of them had very specific ones which they had been carrying out for decades. But they had few tasks in common, one of them was to maintain the order of the kingdom.

Kuroka was currently assigned to help their queen, Yasaka Ōtsutsuki. Many might think that her job was just to be an assistant, a secretary. They were just envious of her position. She was learning directly from their queen. It was an honor, a privilege.

Lady Yasaka informed her, so did Lord Jiraiya, that when she was ready she would be given a specific task to be carried out.

“Glad that all of you are here,” Jiraiya’s voice made Kuroka to sit straighter. She turned to see their famous, or infamous to outsiders, spymaster looking at her with a gentle smile, “I will start by welcoming Kuroka, our new ‘Daiyōkai’.”

Four heads turned to face her and send a nod of acknowledgments at her. Kuroka smiled and nodded back, acting calm even though inside she was anything but calm.

“We will be having a welcoming party for you, later tonight,” Kuroka almost gulped when she heard Jiraiya saying that. She wanted to say that there was no need for it. But all she did was just smile and nod.

Jiraiya chuckled, as if he read her mind, “The welcoming party is an informal one, always had been. It is to get to know each other,” Then his smile turned gentler, if it was possible, “Kuroka, I will say this now. It does not matter if you are young, inexperienced, or a devil; you will always be treated as our equal. Remember what I told you before, none of us here can order you around. Only our King and Queen can. We can only ask you to do certain tasks, and you have all the right to decline it,” Suddenly his face became cheerful again, “That’s all I will say for now, rest is for the welcoming party.”

Kuroka almost felt like crying but she held herself back. But she had a feeling that she would not be able to control her emotion during the welcoming party.

“With that, let’s jump into the main topic.”

“I thought we have multiple topics to discuss,” Mephisto Pheles interrupted Jiraiya.

“Whatever topics you have, all of you, put it aside for now,” It was as if a switch had been flipped, Kuroka noticed that everyone was giving their full attention to Jiraiya.

“The day before yesterday, Our King and I met Azazel who shared some sensitive information. Yesterday, I confirmed the validity of that information using my spy network,” Jiraiya tapped the table two times and immediately holographic images of few swords appeared behind him, “Approximately, five weeks ago, three of the Excalibur shards were stolen from the Catholic Church and Protestant Church of England. Both churches here hit at the same time and the culprits were able to bypass most of their security.”

“An inside job?” Sesshomaru spoke up. It sounded more like he was talking to himself rather than interrupting Jiraiya.

“With the backings of some powerful and influential beings. Now how does this affect us? 25 days ago, we apprehended some unregistered stray exorcists and fallen at Kansai International Airport. And all of you know what happened 13 days ago. Our patrol unit encountered a group of heavily armed stray devils. There were no casualties on our side because of Sesshomaru’s timely arrival, but we were not able to take anyone alive,” Jiraiya tapped the table again and the holographic image was now showing the crime scene, “And we know that it was not suicide.”

Kuroka frowned when she saw the dead mutated bodies. One thing all of them had in common was that they all were missing their heads.

“And the best part,” Jiraiya tapped again, and the image was replaced once more. Immediately the tension in the room skyrocketed, “Rizevim Livan Lucifer was sighted in Xi'an, China, 17 days ago.”

“Who is going after him?” Magari asked, some venom leaking through her tone.

“No one from our kingdom,” The swift answer of Jiraiya surprised everyone, but he was not done, “Do not forget that he survived multiple wars and he is one of the three known Super Devils. With the limited information we have on him, I am not sure even I can win against him one on one.”

“You said no one from our kingdom,” Mephisto spoke up.

Jiraiya nodded his head at him, “Here is what we are going to do. There will be two taskforces. One will go to the Underworld and inform the Satan about this predicament. And another will work together with the Angels and Exorcists to retrieve the swords.”

Kuroka took a deep breath, and raised her hand slightly, “Why do we need ourselves to be directly involved in retrieving their holy swords?”

Jiraiya smiled at her, “To make sure all of them doing their parts right,” Then he turned to face everyone, “This is my hunch, and I believe many here already thought about it as well… Rizevim, for some damned reason, wants to create a rift between the Avalon Kingdom and the Biblical Faction. Last time he succeeded, and that would be the only time. I know that our Kingdom will be vigilant in handling this situation, but this time we will make sure that the Biblical Faction will do so as well. That is why we will be working together with all three sides of the Biblical Faction.”

Jiraiya glanced at them and smiled. Even though it looked like a gentle one but for some reason, Kuroka found it extremely scary.

“There will be no excuses this time around.”