"Hm. I must say, the spellwork in this thing is really impressive. No wonder nobody was able to crack this thing's code for so long."
Michael chuckled at my words as I continued observing the Evil Piece in my hand with my magic and the System's power.
"Well, Ajuka Beelzebub-"
"Astaroth. Don't use that stupid title of theirs, please."
"-Astaroth, then, is considered the greatest genius of devil history. So, it is no surprise that he was able to create something like this."
I nodded my head as I continued studying it.
I may hate the devils on principle because of the way their society works, but I must acknowledge the facts when they are presented. And the fact is that Ajuka Astaroth is a real genius in terms of creating magical artifacts.
It is also because I know the facts that I do not wish to call those four leaders of the devils by their claimed titles.
Because they are not as terrible as the names they claim for themselves.
Like I said, I may hate the devils, but that does not mean that I can't differentiate between those who are good, which are a very low minority, and those who are evil. If I were unable to differentiate that much, I would have struck down Cleria a long time ago.
The current four Satans are idiots and somewhat malevolent. Their negative karma says as much, which is all in the double digits with Sirzechs and Ajuka being above -100.
However, compared to the stuff that the original Satans did in the past based on the information that the System has, they can be basically considered saintly in front of the original four. Not to mention what he did to me down there and how his petty actions cost me all my memories of this world.
That is why I don't want to invoke those accursed names when I am talking about the current leaders of the underworld, even if I don't trust them and am cautious of them, taking every opportunity to supress them and making sure they stay in their own realm and leave the Earth alone.
Gabriel stared curiously as I continued working on the evil piece before asking me the question on her mind.
"Brother, why are you even looking at the Evil Pieces?"
"Well, since a certain someone leaked the news about my Gate plan to the other angels and they all banded together to veto my plan-"
Uriel coughed awkwardly into his fist at my glare.
"- I have to look at other options that can help us fulfill our duty of protecting the Earth."
And wasn't that a gloomy thing?
When Uriel accidentally leaked the details of the Gate plan to the rest of our kin, basically all of the angels united to plead against implementing it.
The reasons they claimed were various, but all of them were valid and logical.
So, in the end, I had no choice but to drop the idea.
That being said, I think this was for the best.
I will be the first to admit that I am a narrow-minded, arrogant, and stubborn person. So it was no surprise that I stubbornly refused to look at the other species on Earth and include them in the protection of the Heavenly System.
I will not debase myself by not acknowledging my own bias and faults.
However, I am also no fool.
In the past few weeks that I've spent travelling the mortal world with Gabriel, I've come to realize that my Gate plan truly would have been a complete disaster if I had been stubborn about it and gone through with its half-assed design.
Specifically for the native supernatural species of Earth, such as the Yokai of Japan, the magical beasts of China, the various nature spirits of Greece, Rome, and other western lands, the Fae, and a whole host of such creatures across the world.
These creatures, which came into being alongside humanity, would be the first ones to suffer after Humanity came to be the ruler of the world and became aware of the supernatural.
I know better than anyone how humanity responds to things that it doesn't understand. With fear and hatred.
Countless lives would be lost before humanity realized that there is a possibility of coexistence between them and the other native species of Earth.
Truthfully, a part of me still wants to go forward with the Gate plan, but I know that if I do so, there will be no difference between me and those damned conglomerates from back home who only saw people as statistics on paper and resources to be exploited.
That is the one thing I cannot tolerate. Ever.
So, I decided to shelve the idea for now. At least until I find a reliable way to strengthen humanity and elevate their status in the food chain without causing needless bloodshed, if possible.
Until then, I will have to work on strengthening the already existing systems and protecting humanity and the other natives of Earth from extradimensional threats.
And I am including devils into that list as well, despite the tentative peace agreement we have come to in the past, since they are not native to Earth. Not to mention their past history.
Again, I am no fool. I know firsthand how monstrous devils can be since the System has thousands of years' worth of data about their actions, and frankly, I cannot help but feel disgusted.
I remember reading somewhere that humans can be sometimes worse than demons in their cruelty in my past life.
You know what I say to that? I say, whoever wrote that shit should see what I saw in the system's database, then look me in the eye and say that shit again.
The point is, I cannot trust the devils to uphold their side of the bargain, given their track record. Especially those older devils that are in charge of the society as a whole.
Thinking about the intelligence reports I got from our agents out there, combined with what my Cherubim Gatekeepers found out by stealthily infiltrating the Underworld for the past month or so, I could not help but sneer in disgust.
'That old fool Zekram is really toeing the line these days. That reminds me, I need to get rid of that damned organization called Wizards of Oz.'
Those bastards that have made a small fragment of the Dimensional Gap their home have been collaborating with Zekram and his goons, providing them with prototype artifacts that can temporarily shield them from the System's power.
A foolish thing to do since I can increase the system's intensity anytime I want, but that is besides the point.
The very fact that they are looking to circumvent the system means that they wish to cause harm to Earth and its inhabitants.
That makes them an annoyance to my plans.
So, that organization must go. Then, I will slowly tighten the noose around the devils-
"Brother?"
Gabriel's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"You suddenly went quiet and started to have strange expressions on your face."
Ah! Looks like I lost myself in my thoughts again.
"Sorry about that. I was just thinking about something."
She smiled beautifully, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Seriously, she is too good for this world.
"It's alright. So, about the Evil Piece?"
"Right. So, what I was saying is that since the Gate plan is out for now. I am thinking of integrating the Evil Piece itself into the system."
The shocked look she gave was enough to tell me that she misunderstood what I meant.
"What I mean to say is that I will incorporate its design and concept into the System so that it will know what to look out for and fight against."
"Oh! So you are basically using it like a vaccine?"
"Precisely. By integrating its principles and concepts into the System, The Heavenly System will know whenever a native of Earth is being transformed into a devil and will halt the process unless the said victim wholeheartedly wants to become a devil, in which case the system will do nothing to protect them from then on and will consider them a true devil."
This idea came to me when I learned about how the Wizards of Oz were working with the Great King Faction to redesign the Evil Pieces in their possession, aiming to circumvent the 'willing transformation' part through the use of faking said acceptance on the victims' part through magical manipulation or flat-out blackmail.
And while it is true that I agreed not to interfere if a human, yokai, or any other race in the world willingly chose to join the devils, what the Great King Faction is doing is not something that can be classified as 'willing' conversion. This means that there is no need to restrict myself (not like I ever restrict myself).
'God, I love loopholes in words and written documents. They always play into the hands of the one who writes those clauses. No wonder the Devils love their contracts so much.'
'It is Ironic that I am using their own tactics against their own kind now.'
Turning to Gabriel, I put away the Evil Piece that Empyrean got after hunting down that bitch Vera Beleth of the Beleth family.
That arrogant brat disregarded the treaty and dismissed the Heavenly System. In fact, I think she was attempting to show me up by blatantly traveling to the human world, which she never does, and trying to kidnap a child of the Pendragon family.
Unfortunately for her, the mother of said child had a Guardian Angel assigned to her due to her high Karma value.
The moment the Guardian Angel spotted her, he subtly guided the Pendragon mother and child away from the area before using the Heavenly System to contain the devil heir.
Then, he called for backup.
Empyrean did not show any mercy and interrogated the bitch for hours on end before annihilating her soul. Then, he brought back the loot to the Heavens, which included this Evil Piece set.
I know that the devils will try to blame the angels for this, so I had the Guardian Angel film the entire interrogation process where she confessed to everything she did and then send the recording to the satans.
For a cautious devil heir that got away with a lot of screwed up things, she had surprisingly low tolerance to blessed needles, scalpels, and other such stuff.
...Granted, Empyrean's interrogation made the Guardian Angel uncomfortable, but since it was a devil, and a truly evil one at that (seriously, from what the system told me, her Karma value was at -400), it was a justified action.
"But, Brother Aetherion, won't this make the devils more agitated and accuse us of deliberately targeting them again?"
I raised an eyebrow at Michael's words.
"And? What are they going to do aside from complain? What can they do?"
"The last I checked, we have a friendly relationship with the Hindu Pantheon, which means that the devils can't enter the Indian peninsula. We have a cordial relationship with the Chinese pantheon and included terms to keep the extradimensional entities out of their territories, which we know also includes the devisl in their list. This means that the Chinese territories are out as well."
"The non-aggression pact we have with the other pantheons across the world also has similar terms, which means that the devils can't go there either."
"Frankly, the only place in the human world where the devils can legally enter without inviting the wrath of the local pantheon is Greece."
I smirked as I thought about the meeting with the Greek gods.
"We all know that the treaty that Zeus signed with us is basically a sham and just a way for him to use it as a shield after he breaks those terms on his own, either through proxies or through divine disguises."
"And as far as the Shinto go, they are basically my subordinates now, so there is nothing the devils can do on that end either."
I am pretty sure that I have a really evil glint in my eyes, given the way my brothers shuddered as one while Gabriel simply stared at me with awe.
"Simply put, even if the devils throw a tantrum, they can't do shit about it. Because the moment they try to mobilize to attack the heavens, for which they will have to step into the human realm first, they will be jumped by the local gods."
"If they defeat said gods, the fight will alert the other gods, who are already cautious of Sirzechs and Ajuaka's power, which will lead to a grand ganking party where every god on earth jumps the devils. Not to mention that the Heavenly System will always be monitoring any devil that steps into the human realm. The only exceptions would be those minorities in the devils who had positive karma value, and even then, the System will still monitor them to make sure they don't harm anyone on Earth unless it is in self-defence."
"This is also the reason why I made sure not to make the matter with the Shinto pantheon public. I cannot have the other pantheons realize that I have grown stronger than the two strongest devils in history. Because I need them to see the devils as the main threat to their dominion and not consider me and the heavens to be too much of a threat compared to the devils."
"This way, the gods of the other pantheons can act as involuntary shields that keep the heavens safe from the devils and their retaliation should the day ever come."
".....Brother, I am really grateful that you have made it much harder for an angel to fall. Because I am sure that you would have fallen long ago with how your mind works."
"Hey! That's rude!"
The way Michael and Raphael remained silent at Michael's words, and even Gabriel averted her eyes guiltily, made me sulk a little.
'Come on! What's so evil about a bit of misdirection, misinformation, and manipulation of the gods for the safety of my kin and home?'
I think I might have been sulking a bit too much since Gabriel walked towards me and patted my head with a tender smile.
"There, there. I am sorry for being mean to you. How about we go down to the human realm for some relaxation again?"
"....Fine. But I am deciding the destination this time around."
She smiled at my words.
"Sure. Let's go."
I always did want to see the legendary Nazca lines that were deliberately erased by my time in my old world.
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Author Notes:
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