An hour later, just as Rhode was starting to doze off from the movie, Michael took the lead. "Since we have thoroughly exchanged our views, I shall express the thoughts of Heaven. If we continue like this, all Three Factions will eventually walk the path of ruin together."
Sirzechs nodded slightly, while Azazel maintained his cynical smirk.
"Azazel," Michael continued. "To be honest, you are the least trustworthy among the leaders of the Three Factions. However, I still want to know: do the Fallen Angels truly wish to avoid serious conflict with us?"
Because the territories of both the Fallen Angels and Devils were in the Underworld, border friction was a common occurrence.
Azazel nodded quite simply. "Yeah. I have zero interest in war. While Kokabiel was alive, he constantly criticized me for being unfit for my position. Truth be told, I'm only interested in the Sacred Gears that God created."
At the mention of Sacred Gears, Michael and Serafall both looked at Azazel. Sacred Gears were the final legacy God left to the world, but they were also the most influential. In the past, the other two factions hadn't taken them seriously, viewing them as minor tools to boost human strength. But once the existence of "Longinus" was discovered, they were forced to acknowledge their significance.
If a human successfully awakened a Longinus, most would gain the power to kill a Chief God or a Maou. Yet, positions like Chief God and Maou were only achieved through thousands of years of accumulation and cultivation. Now, an ordinary person could reach that same level in just over a decade simply by being lucky enough to awaken a Longinus. Even common Sacred Gears, with a bit of training, could rival a High-Class Devil.
Because of this, the Three Factions had been secretly investigating human users and recruiting them into their ranks. Compared to the Angels and Devils, Azazel's actions were far more suspicious. Aside from recruiting users, he had even killed some to extract and research their Sacred Gears.
"Don't give me those untrusting looks," Azazel waved them off. "I simply research them. As for why I 'cleaned up' certain individuals—it's because they couldn't control their own power or will. There's a movie in the great eastern nation neighboring this one... I think it's called I Don't Eat Beef? Well, I don't remember the exact title. Anyway, many ordinary people lose themselves when they suddenly gain power. They think they're invincible and start committing crimes. Those are the ones I dealt with. As for the Sacred Gears, consider them my payment for doing Heaven's work."
"I've said my piece. Whether you believe it or not, I certainly do."
"As one who betrayed God, your credibility is undoubtedly the lowest," Michael said, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. You have more tricks up your sleeve than all of us combined," Serafall agreed.
Azazel tsked. If you want to talk about tricks, no one has more than that guy watching a movie over there. The brat had ambushed him during his "ultimate move" announcement, and his eyes still weren't quite right. A teenager... how the hell did he turn out like that?
"Whatever. I didn't expect you to trust me anyway. So let's get straight to it: are we signing a peace treaty or not? You all want it, don't you?"
Hearing this, Michael and Sirzechs shared a long, thoughtful look and nodded seriously.
Seeing their response, Azazel dropped his playful smirk. "Heh. You all used to think a world without God was 'wrong,' that the world would decay without Him. But unfortunately, that's not the case. You, I, and everyone else are all living perfectly fine."
He spread his arms somewhat arrogantly. "Even without God, the world will keep turning."
Michael and Gabriel remained silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Sirzechs and Serafall nodded slightly. After all, the death of God had minimal impact on the Devils.
But just then, a sudden burst of laughter echoed through the room. The leaders of the Three Factions turned to look at Rhode.
Azazel, already annoyed with Rhode, seized the opportunity to snap at him. "I didn't realize you were paying such close attention. Care to share your thoughts?"
"No, no. This is an internal matter for you guys. I won't say anything," Rhode waved his hand dismissively.
"Then what were you laughing at?" Azazel frowned.
"Oh, I just thought of something happy."
If he didn't know the truth of the story, Rhode would have thought Azazel's statement was arrogant but correct. After all, as a Fallen Angel, Azazel had no faith or respect for God. But Rhode knew the God of the Bible had become weakened specifically because He had sealed 666 (Trihexa), leading to His exhaustion and death during the war.
When one considered that 666 was strong enough in the original plot to hold back every Chief God and Maou in the world—and that it would take a thousand years of continuous attacks to kill it even when it was just a core—one could see the weight of God's sacrifice. And that was with the increased power levels of various pantheons in the late game.
If God had been cold-hearted enough to act as a bystander and refused to seal 666 alone, every other faction except for the Heaven He protected would have been wiped out. God could have then stepped in, and even if it weakened Him, Heaven would have remained the world's undisputed number one power, ruling Earth without lifting a finger.
But God didn't do that. As Rhode saw it, the only explanation was the phrase "God so loved the world."
That was why he couldn't help but laugh when he heard Azazel's arrogant claim. Even though there was a saying in his home country that "the ignorant are innocent," it didn't stop Azazel from looking like a circus clown in his eyes at that moment.
"Never mind, never mind. Don't worry about me," Rhode waved them off. What he was actually worried about was when the Chaos Brigade would finally launch their attack.
About ten minutes later...
The bored Rhode, who was staring at his system map, suddenly noticed several green "ally" markers appearing abruptly in the Old School Building area. Given that the shut-in vampire was still living there, Rhode guessed it was the witches led by Walburga. As for how they had teleported inside despite the multiple layers of barriers—it was clear a traitor had done the heavy lifting.
The next second, a massive wave of magic power surged forward like a tidal wave.
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (256 Chapters – Ongoing)
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