Falbium sat up fully now, rubbing the back of his neck, shocked out of his disinterest. "That's… unsettling."
Serafall slammed her hands on the table, standing up. "Oh, perfect! Fantastic! Just what I needed! An untraceable rogue devil with a grudge against the entire Underworld. Because obviously my workload wasn't already a nightmare!"
Sirzechs gave her a dry look. "Please try to keep your aversion to paperwork separate from the meeting."
Serafall glared at him. "Oh, shut up, Sirzechs! If he takes a shit on the Vatican, who do you think has to smooth things over? Me! That's who! Do you have any idea how annoying that will be!?"
Sirzechs sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Try not to interject your personal fantasies into the proceedings, Sera…"
Serafall let out an offended gasp. "EXCUSE ME!?" Mumbling after, "Just cuz it's true doesn't mean you gotta say it!"
Ajuka ignored the exchange entirely, tapping his fingers against the table. "His ability is something that I do not understand. That alone makes this an issue worth keeping an eye on. We must recapture the subject."
Serafall groaned and slumped back into her chair, arms crossed. "What do you think he'll do next?" She muttered. "And how much do I need to start covering our asses?"
Falbium groaned, "Got to let Azazael and Michael know, at minimum, in case he pops up in their territory."
Sirzechs was quiet for a long moment before exhaling. "I don't think he cares about us right now."
Serafall blinked. "Come again?" She put a pinky in one ear digging around, before leaning forward to glare at Sirzechs, "Wanna explain that logic to me, red?"
Sirzechs' expression was tired. "I think he just wanted out."
Ajuka tilted his head, intrigued. "That is an interesting assessment. You believe he can overcome his hatred?"
Sirzechs nodded slightly. "His hatred for us was obvious, but his primary goal - his only goal - was leaving. If he had planned some kind of immediate vengeance, I doubt he would have left the information behind."
If he was capable of breaking out of Ajukas wards, he could have done a lot of damage, instead he choose to leave. That told Sirzechs a lot.
Serafall huffed. "Yeah, well, I'd feel a lot better if I knew where he went."
Ajuka was silent for a moment before turning to Grafiya. "You met with Lord Shax, did you not?"
Grafiya, who had remained composed throughout the discussion, gave a single nod. "I did."
Ajuka studied her. "Any further information on the subject?"
Grafiya's expression barely flickered. "Lord Shax and his peerage claim that they have no idea what Levi is talking about. They insist he has been kept on the grounds due to mental instability, that he was dearly cared for, and that they are worried for his health and wish for his safe return as soon as possible."
Obviously no one had informed Lord Shax about the fact Levi no longer carried his Bishop piece.
Silence fell after Grafiya's report.
Every Satan stared at her, their expressions dubious. Although it was a part of their system that they didn't like to admit. Abuse was common, unfortunately.
It would take time to fix, there was only so much reforms they could do without having the Great King faction throw a fit, or the Old Satans going full on terrorists on them.
None of them were willing to create a second civil war, and kill their fellows again. Not for something that would fix itself in another century or two.
Grafiya exhaled slowly at their dubious looks. "He was obviously lying."
Sirzechs sighed. "I thought as much." The sad thing was that it didn't change much. Going after a pillar clan for how they treated their peerage was a political shitstorm that they just weren't willing to engage with for so little profit.
On a individual level, that was horrific. But they were Satans. They had the whole Underworld to think of.
"Please tell me he was at least lying about Diodora." Serafall said, rubbing her temples.
Again the room fell into silence, and Serafall's expression fell just as quickly, "Figures… Heaven is going to own my pretty little ass for this… Ajuka what the hell!? Keep track of your family!"
Stealing a few humans happened, it wasn't worth kicking up a fuss over. But this risked the peace conference, and as a relative of a Satan, it couldn't be swept under the rug quick enough to avoid someone finding out.
Ajuka hummed, expression unreadable. "As a Satan, I divorced myself from the Astaroth family, Diodora was no business of mine until he became my dear specimen, the power granted to him by Ophis will make for an interesting study…" He trailed off, his mind already on the experiments he'd get to perform.
Serafall pointed at him, incensed, as she berated him. "Oh, that is such a bitch excuse, Ajuka! Don't get into nerdgasms while I'm berating you either! Diodora was your responsibility just like Sona-tan is mine!"
"If Ophis is truly handing out powers, that is something we will need to deal with." Falbium spoke up, seriously, not caring one way or another about Diodora now that he'd been contained.
Sirzechs nodded, yet waved his statement away, "We can discuss that later, and if we need to bring the other factions in, combine it with the peace talks. Right now…"
"I get it! Its my damn issue." Serafall groaned, interrupting, "Well, what do we do about the guy who has total genocidical maniac vibes pouring out of his backstory™?"
"Kill him. He is a threat." Grafiya interjected, getting a tired look from Sirzechs.
Ajuka shook his head, "We need to find out how he did what he did. Capture first."
Serafall put a arm over her eyes, sighing dramatically, "Just do something, I need an excuse to cover our asses when he blows something up!"
Sirzechs disliked the situation, but like always, he'd do his duty. "We'll have him declared a stray devil. That should cover us with the other factions, and ensure anything he says about us, or Lord Shax will be taken with a grain of salt."
"Acceptable." Ajuka muttered.
"Yeah, alright." Serafall acknowledged, "That should give me some room to work with.
Falbium stretched, yawning. "Wake me up when he actually does something."
Sirzechs rubbed his temples.
This was going to be a headache, no matter what.
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