-----(Azazel POV)-----
Things have gone to shit.
Is it really that hard to stay inside and research sacred gears in peace?
OHHH! Woe is me! Why must the world be so cruel to one such as-
SMACK!
"ACK! What the hell, Shem!?!? What was that for?!"
"I can tell what you're thinking, Azazel. Having the displeasure of knowing your accursed existence for years allows me to know you're whining internally."
"Well of course I am! I was so close to a breakthrough, I swear! And now I have to deal with whatever this is..." The Fallen leader finished with a grumble.
Shemhazai walked beside his old friend, mind racing about how to prevent him from leaving the meeting early and dumping all the work on him...again.
The Vice-Governor suppressed his sigh of exasperation as he sent another look to his left, keeping a watchful eye on Azazel.
"Relax, Shem, I'm sure it's nothing serious. If it was, I'm sure we'd have some of our holier-than-thou siblings or some devil knocking on our door," said the Governor as they turned the corner.
"You're being immature. Even if it turns out someone panicked and slotted it in as a faulty report, you still need to keep your guard up."
"You're going to become ugly if you keep that frown up, brother. What would your wife say?"
Despite saying so, Azazel wasn't as relaxed as he appeared. The only reason his second-in-command didn't reprimand him for his comments was because he knew the truth as well.
Let's hope it really was some faulty report. We're inching closer and closer to peace. We can't have the delicate balance that's currently being maintained be broken. Not now.
The following minutes were spent in silence as each of the millennia-old beings ran through the possibilities in their heads, one thinking of a response that would reduce the damages as much as possible, and the other praying to his dead father that this turned out to be a small-scale problem.
"Azazel, Shemhazai, good to see you two again."
The voice cut through the thoughts of the two leaders as they turned their heads to witness the massive frame of Baraqiel standing by the door of the meeting room with his arms crossed, the only female cadre standing next to him.
Benemune shifted her glasses upwards to cover her orange eyes as she raised the clipboard in her hand in warning.
The twelve-winged Fallen lifted his arms in the universal gesture of peace with such speed they blurred, cold sweat dripping down his back as he was assaulted with the death stare of his secretary.
His words came out in a torrent:
"Hello Baraqiel! How's the wife and kid? Good? Perfect, I'm glad! We have a meeting so we'll talk later, was good to see you."
And with that, he disappeared in a clap of distorted wind.
The woman let out a sigh and stood there for a few seconds in pure exasperation as Shemhazai passed by her, placing a hand on her shoulder in support and understanding, while Baraqiel followed, muttering something that sounded like curses under his breath while shaking his head.
-----(Switch)-----
"Alright, we're all here now, so let's begin this meeting," said Azazel, who was acting as proctor.
The other members of the cadre, all of whom were present, nodded in agreement as a man who looked to be in his twenties stood nervously from his seat, hands fidgeting as he approached the table on which his superiors were sitting.
Azazel looked at him and nodded, allowing him permission to speak.
"Thank you...for, um, having me Governor-General...I was the one who m-m-made the report...You can p-p-probably tell al-already though..."
Before the man could continue, Kokabiel smashed the table with his fist and screamed at him in rage:
"Get on with it already, ant! You've wasted enough of our time, incompetent weak swi-"
"Kokabiel!" shouted Baraqiel in warning.
The two Fallen locked eyes and glared at each other for a few moments while the others stared at them in either interest, amusement, or exasperation.
Azazel sighed quietly before speaking up. "Sit down. Both of you. Baraqiel, calm down, you're going to give the poor man a heart attack. Kokabiel, watch your tongue and do not speak again. Am I clear?"
The mentioned two remained motionless for a few moments before following his commands, Baraqiel out of respect and Kokabiel out of fear. He might've been a researcher now, but the leader of the Fallen is such for a reason.
The aforementioned Fallen nodded in satisfaction before turning back to his nervous subordinate, who was now even more fidgety than before.
"Lomiriel, calm down and finish your report. Do not worry about Kokabiel, he's always grumpy." He finished with what he hoped was a disarming smile on his face.
Lomiriel looked at him in surprise for a few moments, probably because Azazel knew his name, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"Thank you, sir. As already said, my name is Lomiriel, and I am stationed in our Middle Eastern branch. I was flying over the coast of Lebanon when I sensed a massive amount of magic being used. I flew over as fast as possible to investigate and found what looked like a tear in space. When I first arrived, I saw what looked like an ocean and the top of some building that could be seen in the distance. But less than a second later, the tear closed, but a spatial fracture leading to the Dimensional Gap remained. That's everything."
Silence permeated the room as the assembled cadre looked at each other in wonder, fascination, and recognition.
Azazel was silent in thought, hand on his chin playing with his goatee.
That sounds like what we used to do to a certain extent. When we used to attempt to invade Heaven, similar phenomena would happen, meaning that either someone was attempting to invade another dimension or was attempting to enter a separate dimension forcefully, or maybe even accidentally. Sigh... What a headache...
"Thank you, Lomiriel. You may take your leave."
The four-winged Fallen bowed before exiting the room and leaving them alone. Azazel took a glance at all of his comrades, observing their reactions before speaking up.
"I think we all came to a similar conclusion. Someone or something was attempting to access another dimension. Rather forcefully at that."
The others nodded before Armaros, one of the cadre focused on research, spoke up.
"Agreed, though something bothers me. The description we were given doesn't match any dimension I know of. The only dimensions accessible, from Lebanon, of all places, are the Underworld and Heaven. We would've been in a lot more panic if either of those were invaded, so that leaves only one option..."
"A new dimension," finished Azazel, nodding in agreement.
Shemhazai, who had begun frowning again, spoke up once they finished, asking the question now in the minds of most of them:
"Who would be strong enough to create an entirely new dimension? All of those who created the current dimensions that exist are either dead or dormant. If a primordial god were to become active again, then it would be felt by all of the supernatural. Those currently active who are capable of such things are Indra, Shiva, and the Dragon Gods, but the first has no need for it, and the second embodies destruction. The Dragon Gods are known to reside only within the Dimensional Gap, so they're out too. Then who..."
Sahariel interrupted the vice leader's thought process. "Might it be the awakening of the Longinus, Innovative Clear? It would make sense, since all users of the Gear are capable of creating another dimension."
Satanael, the last cadre part of the researching department and a sacred gear specialist, shot down the idea quickly. "That's not it. While the Gear does allow one to do as you say, they would simply be teleported within the dimension, not create a tear in space."
While the other cadre looked at each other in worry, two of them had reactions that stood out.
Kokabiel and Azazel were both grinning like lunatics.
Kokabiel for reasons known to all those present, another opportunity for war.
But Azazel...
A new player has joined the board, it seems. How intriguing. Maybe he can add some excitement; things have been dull recently. As long as a new war doesn't happen, then this mysterious individual will surely be entertaining.
{A/N: That's it for this chapter. A small break from what the MC is doing to see the reaction of the supernatural world. I chose the Fallen because I want the Middle East to be controlled by them since canonically, the west is controlled by the church and the east by the devils. It also makes sense since the Middle East is always in a chaotic situation and the Fallen are the most chaotic. Also, the reason why there was a tear instead of the MC getting teleported into the dimension was because the MC doesn't know how to use magic. Innovative Clear is a sacred gear so it can replace the teleportation magic needed but the dimension itself can't do that. That's everything. Hope you enjoyed.}