"Hahahaha!"
In the Gremory household's reception room, Azazel was laughing heartily.
"Those stubborn bastards finally gave in one by one, huh?"
At a glance, the table in front of Azazel was filled with neatly arranged documents.
Beside him, Sirzechs held a few of these documents, his eyes scanning through the signatures, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"The Celtic pantheon, Hindu mythology, Egyptian pantheon, Zoroastrianism... even the Greek pantheon has submitted requests for peace. I thought after everything that happened, Greece would have been especially difficult."
"In fact," Azazel remarked wryly, "Greece was actually the first to submit their agreement request."
"Zeus had intended to forge an alliance long ago," Azazel continued with a sigh. "But Hades had been standing in the way. Now, with Hades dead, and having witnessed the [Sword of Salvation] firsthand, everything naturally fell into place."
Azazel picked up the documents again, flipping through them repeatedly, clearly delighted.
All these thorny fellows... He'd been promoting peace for a long time, yet aside from the Norse gods, who'd already committed, every other pantheon had been either hesitant or outright resistant—particularly Greece, due to Hades's interference.
Truth be told, Azazel had nearly lost hope before Jeanne Alter turned everything around.
It's all thanks to that Witch, Azazel thought inwardly with great appreciation.
"Speaking of which... Where's our great heroine now?" Azazel asked Sirzechs curiously.
"If you're looking for Jeanne-san," Sirzechs answered with a helpless smile, "she's already returned to Kuoh Town. As for why… she mentioned something about her leave ending soon and how she'd be marked as skipping classes if she didn't hurry back."
Azazel fell into a brief silence, unsure how to respond.
After a long pause, he sighed, holding his forehead.
"Are you telling me that attending class is more important to her than handling representatives of every major pantheon gathered here? I wonder what expressions those gods would have if they knew about this..."
"Hahaha," Sirzechs chuckled softly. "But it's amusing, isn't it?"
"And isn't the school Jeanne attends your Gremory family's property?" Azazel asked with a complicated expression, glancing back at Sirzechs. "She actually worries about being marked absent? You or Rias could solve that with just a single word… Ah, forget it. As long as she's happy."
Azazel leaned back against the sofa, adopting a lazy posture.
"Well, she is the one who single-handedly brought all the factions together," Sirzechs said with a gentle smile.
"Now, with all pantheons submitting requests for peace," Azazel picked up the documents again, envisioning the peaceful future, "the next step is to officially sign the agreements. Genuine world peace might still be distant, but if we keep at it, once the Khaos Brigade is defeated, we'll at least see a glimmer of hope."
As he spoke, Azazel's expression suddenly turned complicated again as he picked up another document—not a peace request, but something else entirely.
"Whenever I think about one of the world's Top Ten strongest beings currently attending a regular high school, I can't help but feel this world has truly gone mad."
Following Jeanne Alter's battle where she killed Hades, coupled with her prior feats of defeating Indra and Fenrir, she, as a mere human, had unquestionably climbed into the ranks of the world's top ten.
This document detailed the rankings officially recognized by all pantheons:
First—Infinite Dragon God, Ophis.
Second—Jeanne Alter.
Third—Shiva, Hindu God of Destruction.
Fourth—Vishnu, Hindu God of Protection.
Fifth—Brahma, Hindu God of Creation.
Sixth—Thor, God of Thunder, Norse Mythology.
Seventh—Typhon, Greek King of Monsters.
Eighth—Aten, Egyptian Sun God.
Ninth—Lugh, Celtic God of Light.
Fenrir, Indra, and Hades had all been erased from the rankings after Jeanne Alter had killed them. In other words, she had climbed up by stepping directly on these powerful beings and even surpassed Shiva, now second only to Ophis herself.
Despite Jeanne Alter's terrifying display of strength, nobody believed she could surpass Ophis as number one—not only because Ophis was on another level entirely, but also because the Dragon God's invincibility was ingrained deeply in everyone's hearts.
Of course, it hardly mattered who was first or second; it was already widely known that the Dragon Witch and Ophis had a close relationship.
Typhon had filled Fenrir's former position. This Greek King of Monsters was a child of Gaia, and countless infamous beasts of Greek mythology were his offspring. Typhon's mythical exploits were terrifying—he had knocked Apollo's chariot from the sky, severely wounded Artemis, dragged Poseidon's chariot from the sea, scared the Olympians into fleeing disguised as animals, and even stripped Zeus of his power, temporarily usurping the heavens.
Even so, with Jeanne Alter killing so many, there was still one vacant spot.
"How about filling that vacancy yourself?" Azazel teased Sirzechs with a mischievous smile befitting a Fallen Angel.
Though Sirzechs never openly displayed his full strength, Azazel was certain he possessed power capable of breaking into the top ten.
"I'm perfectly satisfied with my current position," Sirzechs answered with a carefree smile. "Besides, I have my duties as Maou to keep me busy."
"Oh, give me a break!" Azazel scoffed with a twitch at his temple. "Maybe others buy your excuses, but you can't fool me. There are four Maou sharing work here, while I'm stuck managing Fallen Angels, making peace with other factions, and even babysitting your sister and her peerage. I barely have time for my Sacred Gear research these days!"
After venting, Azazel rested his chin on one hand, glancing sideways, and added with some irritation:
"Meanwhile, that Witch got to slip away easily, leaving us stuck handling this hot potato..."
His annoyed gaze landed on a black crystal floating gently in midair, exuding a faint aura of death and divinity.
This was exactly the three-quarters of Hades's divinity Jeanne Alter had severed.
Though incomplete, it still held terrifying divine power befitting the former Top Ten God of Death.
Yet Jeanne Alter had no interest.
Divinities related to the Underworld had severe constraints—such as never leaving their realm—and Jeanne Alter intended to continue traveling across worlds. To her, Hades's divinity was only a burden.
Since she couldn't use it, yet couldn't just discard it, she entrusted it to Azazel and Sirzechs, allowing them to either use it or pass it on.
"You don't want to absorb it yourself?" Sirzechs asked curiously. "You've been stuck at Maou-class for ages, haven't you? This divinity could push you into the Chief-God tier—maybe even into the Top Ten."
"Why would I need that kind of power?" Azazel rejected outright, almost disgusted by the idea. "All I care about is my [Sacred Gear] research. Right now, my greatest wish is an early retirement. Absorbing this divinity would only push retirement further away… Working overtime? Absolutely not!"
"And besides," Azazel sighed lightly, "this is a troublesome item. Absorbing the Greek Underworld divinity would force me to manage their Underworld—greatly increasing my workload, not to mention making other pantheons suspicious."
Sirzechs nodded, agreeing with Azazel.
"You're right. We've finally made headway toward peace thanks to Jeanne-san. We should avoid actions causing tension... So, what's your plan?"
"Use this divinity to negotiate with Greece. They must be desperate to reclaim it, so they'll accept any steep conditions we impose."
"And we must insist," Sirzechs added coldly, "that the next ruler of the Underworld won't be someone like Hades."
"Naturally, that's mandatory," Azazel said solemnly. "And afterward, we'll consult Jeanne-san again. Even though she gave us full control, returning the divinity to Greece might not align with her original intentions."
"I think she'll understand," Sirzechs replied gently. "That girl is quite reasonable."
"'Reasonable'? If Indra or Hades heard that, they'd jump right out of their coffins," Azazel chuckled wryly.
...
Over a month had passed since Jeanne Alter's battle against Hades.
In that time, she'd returned to her peaceful campus life, though there had been changes.
Due to the immense divine essence absorbed from the Underworld during the battle, Jeanne Alter's body radiated powerful, dragon-slaying divinity, making things awkward—especially for Issei, both dragon and devil.
After considerable effort, Ophis suppressed this divine aura, restoring normalcy.
Now, Jeanne Alter enjoyed a quiet weekend afternoon, feeding Ophis fishballs, watching as Rias approached, and reflecting on their busy schedules and rigorous training sessions.
After all, their previous helplessness in battle had ignited a newfound determination to become stronger.