Underworld. Lilith.
Within a secret meeting place within the Bael territory, a lot of noise rang out as the various family heads of the 72 pillars bickered among themselves.
The members of the Great King Faction argued among themselves about the recent developments that had happened in the past few months, pointing fingers and insulting those who were no longer present.
Zekram Bael, however, watched on the spectacle with a neutral look for some time, knowing that it was better to let these fools get these things out of their system before getting to the really important talk.
But as the bickering grew into a state that was just a step away from violence, he finally released his power, making the hall go quiet and turn to him.
"Are you all done? Because we need to get to the real things that need our attention."
"Easy for you to say, Lord Bael. It wasn't your sons who were killed by the enemy's hands."
Zekram raised an eyebrow at Lord Barbatos's words and spoke with mild amusement.
"And how many other 'backup' sons do you still have? Lord Barbatos? If I remember correctly, you still have five more legitimate sons and a few more half-breeds, don't you?"
At those words, Barbatos fell silent and looked away while the other lords looked at Barbatos's head with clear jealousy in their eyes.
It was a well-known fact that the Devils had a notoriously low fertility rate. So much so that Ajuka Beelzebub was forced to create the Evil Piece system after the Civil War just to ensure that their race did not go extinct.
Granted, the Evil Piece system came to be used for something other than its original purpose nowadays, but that was a discussion for a different time.
So, in such a race with such a low fertility rate, it was practically a miracle that the Barbatos clan head had so many heirs. But the way he treated them, as if they were disposable pawns, made the other clan heads' hearts bleed with envy and anger.
If only they had such luck, they would not have to rely on political marriages or, in some cases, marriages to lesser nobility, to ensure the continuation of their bloodlines.
Zekram sighed and sat up straight.
"I know that all of you are distressed about what has been happening in the past few months, including the recent issue with that damned Belial girl who has joined hands with the heir to their clan and publicly released the details about the King piece."
"...We really should have killed her when we had the chance."
Zekram nodded at the Amon head's words.
"We should have. But who could have predicted that something like that thing would suddenly emerge from his prison all of a sudden and meddle in our affairs like this?"
At those words, the lords fell silent as a collective chill went down their spines just thinking of the angel who now calls himself Aetherion.
However, for devils like Zekram and a handful of others, who remembered the Great War, he was not Aetherion.
He was Arael. The weakling of an angel that was a menace to their forces during the war. Not because of his raw power, but because of his cunning and bizarre spells. Not to mention how much the Biblical God seemed to love him, shadowing him everywhere with a thread of his consciousness, always keeping an eye on the angel.
In fact, it was this special attention that Arael always received from God, even before the fall of Lucifer, that is said to be the root cause behind Lucifer's extreme hatred towards said angel.
Zekram theorized that this might also be the reason why Lucifer specifically imprisoned Arael in such a secretive prison and probably tortured him as long as Lucifer was alive.
And given that the Civil War happened right after the Great War with barely a year or two of gap, everyone forgot about the prison that existed below Lucifaad.
'A massive oversight on our part' Zekram could not help but lament.
If he had known that such a threat was quietly sealed away within the Underworld and was not dead like Lucifer had claimed all those centuries ago, he would have long since found a way to kill that angel while he was still imprisoned to get rid of that cunning Angel who did not behave like an Angel at all, even in the old days.
'Maybe this was also another reason why Lucifer hated Arael? That Angel got away with committing a lot of sins in those days without falling, while Lucifer and Samael and others like them were literally thrown out of the heavens and straight into the underworld for their sins.'
Shaking his head, Zekram sighed as he leaned back into his seat.
It was too late to regret his lack of knowledge about Arael's survival.
Now, that angel had returned with a new name and a new level of power, making him everyone's problem.
Looking down at the lords, Zekram spoke with a measured tone.
"It is no use thinking about what has already happened. That girl survived Lord Barbatos's attempt at removing her as a threat. Worse yet, she has publicly outed the details about the King Piece and the existence of our group. Given how Diehauser Belial has joined hands with her, I am inclined to believe that Lord Belial has also given his support to those two in exposing us."
Lord Paimon gritted his teeth in anger and spoke with a cold tone.
"Why didn't you retaliate against Belial when he attacked you that day? Lord Bael? Why did you let him go like that?"
Zekram raised an eyebrow and looked at Paimon as if he were looking at a retarded man.
"And what would you have me do? Paimon? Kill him? Then, how am I to cover up the sudden disappearance of a lord of one of the 72 pillars? And, even if I covered up his disappearance, who would manage the Belial house from then on?"
"That brat Diehauser? I give two weeks before the Belial territory officially joins the Gremory and Sitri clan in open support for the four Satans and exposes all our secrets."
"Lady Belial? She was originally from lesser nobility, so it is not possible for her to manage the assets and territories of the Belial clan by herself, which would once again give the opportunity for the Sitri clan to step in to help her manage things, given the close friendship between Lady Sitri and Lady Belial."
His words made Paimon and many other lords who were eying the Belial territory fall silent.
"For better or for worse, Lord Belial is still someone who does not trust the four satans just as much as he does not trust us anymore. This is a good thing for now, since it would mean that he will not throw his lot with the satans and break the delicate balance that we currently have politically. He is also a rather sensible person and a very competent ruler of his territory."
"That is why it is better to have him be in charge of his house for now. Does that answer your question? Lord Paimon? Or do you need even more elaboration?"
"....But, what about the girl?"
Zekram sighed and shook his head, already writing up Paimon as a lost cause and mentally noting to see if Paimon's daughter could be groomed by someone from his faction to be a better leader than her father.
Better yet, if she could be convinced to marry one of his descendants, so that he could have some level of control over the Paimon family.
"Cleria Belial is now out of our reach, permanently. She has chosen to become a human and stay on Earth with her lover. This means that we don't have to worry about her anymore."
Amusement flickered in the old devil's eyes.
"All we have to do is wait for a century or so before she dies of natural causes due to her human physiology. Then, we can sweep all of this under the rug and make everyone forget about this."
Lord Beleth chuckled at those words.
"I guess we have to thank the System and Aetherion for giving that girl such a choice and making things easier for us."
Zekram grinned at those words.
"Indeed. At least this much, we can thank that accursed System for. Even if we are currently being suppressed from going to the human world."
Many of the Lords simply shrugged at those words.
Originally, they managed all their industries and organizations in the human world through proxies, so they only ever went to Earth once every few years, as a form of vacation or to see how things were going.
So they really were not affected by the System's suppression of their power, as it only suppressed them when they went to Earth.
And even though its reach extended even to the underworld, it was still not strong enough to affect them in the same way it could if they were in the human realm, so the majority of the nobility ignored the system's existence.
As for the Karma system, they couldn't care less about it.
As Devils, it was a given that they would be evil by nature. In fact, many of the old devils saw the way the young devils strived to be 'good' as a weakness.
To them, selfish young devils were the ones who should be truly called devils, not those who were influenced by the silly morality that the four satans of today loved to preach about.
However, they also could not deny that the System's actions were now hurting their military strength, which was unacceptable for them.
The Reincarnated Devils, originally meant as a way to replenish their numbers, now serve as a part of their military force with their sacred gears and special bloodlines, and powers that they retained thanks to the way Ajuka created the system.
But now, with the System giving the former humans the chance to become human again and permanently disabling or removing the Sacred Gears of those who chose to stay devils, while also giving the other races that were specifically chosen by their kings for their genetics and powers the choice to go back to their original races, the Devils were losing their strength fast.
It enraged Zekram and the other lords to see that the kings of these factions were now forced to act 'good' and 'loving' to retain their peerage members and keep them from choosing to go back to their original races.
In their view, this was a direct insult to their race.
Unfortunately, they could do nothing about this situation for now.
Lord Berith looked up at Zekram and spoke words that made all the other lords fall silent.
"Have we received any word from our 'allies'?"
Zekram nodded at that reminder.
"Yes. The Wizards of Oz are done testing the prototypes. They say that the Vampires of Romania served well in showing the limits of what their artifacts can do and that they have improved upon it."
"We should have a shipment sent to us within the next week or so."
Lord Berith nodded his head.
"Good. With those artifacts, we can finally walk on Earth for a limited time without having our power suppressed by the system. This will give our subordinates enough time to complete missions without relying on the human organization and subordinates, eliminating their incompetence."
Slowly, the talks devolved into other things within this hall as various things were brought up for discussion.
However, none of them, not even Zekram, were aware that their entire conversation was being observed and recorded by a black cat with two tails who blended completely with nature through her senjutsu.
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Author Notes:
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