The following day Issei was dragged into his room by Asia and Irina and closed the door behind them. He saw Xenovia sitting on the floor in front of a laptop that was connected to the TV that had all the video games consoles sitting next to the tv.
"Glad you could come Ise!" Xenovia looked over excited for what was to come. "I wanted to show you something."
Issei was suspicious of what was to come if these three were involved. "You want to show me something?"
Xenovia had sparkles in her eyes as she nodded her head as she showed off a box to him. It was a box for a video game there was no mistaking that. "I got an eroge after talking with Kiryuu." She was proud to announce that as she showed the box off to Issei. A woman was being shoved up to the cover as it implied she was taking it from behind. "It's called The Fallen Angel Sisters Within the Boundary of Faith and Lust."
Issei figured out the point of the game from the name alone. They may be servers of god but the cock is mightier. "I'm well aware of the premise of games like these. Are you planning on playing it?"
Xenovia nodded "I was thinking about using this as research. With Rias being absent due to work I figured this would be a fantastic time to do research."
Issei found it odd that she chose an eroge game of all things for research. "We could just watch porn if you wanted, there's plenty of it out there. Well, three of us could, I don't know about Irina." Xenovia looked as if there was no convincing her to change her mind. So Issei took the box and opened it and pulled out the disc so he could install it on the computer. After a few minutes and intense stares burning a hole in his back, the game was installed. Issei sat down on the floor between all the girls and handed Xenovia the mouse and keyboard "Here you go."
"You're not going to play it?" She looked somewhat lost.
"Nope. I'm going to watch you play it as you chose this game." Issei watched as they started the game up and the madness was about to ensue.
After about 20 minutes of playing Asia and Irina had taken hold of Issei's arms as Xenovia was sitting on his lap as they read through the text of the game. It was already off to a rocky start and there was no saving it from getting any worse. That's when the door opened as Kiryuu came in holding onto a book as Katase and Murayama were standing at the door. "Hey, Issei are you in here… Is that an Eroge?" Kiryuu's eyes lasered in on the tv.
"What? You're playing an eroge?" Katase was shocked to hear that.
"With these girls around you no less, how crude can you be." Murayama wasn't happy to see Issei corrupting the church girls, how little did they know.
"This is not my eroge." Issei said only to receive doubt from the two girls "It's Xenovia's, I'm keeping mine away until a later day. I asked them if they wanted to just watch porn but you can see how that turned out. But what do you need?" He leaned back as Asia and Irina let go of his arms for a bit.
"We think we got everything picked out. But there are some pages in the back that are stuck together, I hope it's not what I think it is." Kiryuu passed the book back to him as he looked at it.
Issei looked at it "Oh yeah, the back is sex toys. Didn't think you wanted to see that."
"I guess it is best that way." Kiryuu thought for a moment "Still better than Murayama's idea of it being stuck together with cum."
Issei laughed hearing that as he flipped through the pages "You made all your choices?" He saw them give him the go ahead "Okay." He looked at the book as there was a message in it "It will be ready tomorrow." Issei said as the book disappeared from his hands.
Katase pointed at the bed "So uhh who's bedroom is this?"
"Technically it's mine." Issei said pointing to the two doors on the side "Asia and Rias's bedrooms are on the other side. But I think those beds have only for a few nights as they sleep in here all the time." Issei looked at Irina and Xenovia "As does everybody else."
"There's no way Rias…" Murayama tried to object but stopped when Asia shook her head confirming it.
After a moment of silence as they got their bearings together, they heard running in the hallway. Katase and Murayama saw that Ravel was coming towards them as she stopped in front of them. She poked her head into the room "Issei we have a problem, Azazel contacted me and the situation has changed." Her focus quickly changed as Xenovia turned the game off only to see a nun taking a comically large cock in her mouth as it was shut off.
When Issei was freed from the constraints of ladies he stood up "Has Sona been notified?" He asked Ravel.
"Yes, Sona and Heaven's assets in the area will be in the VIP room soon."
Issei snapped his fingers at the Church girls "Go get changed."
After a few minutes of getting changed everyone including Sona, Tsubaki Griselda, and Dulio were gathered in the VIP room at the top of the house. There was a prepared open coms channel with Azazel already set up as he was standing there looking at everyone. From the sounds of it, there was a huge military movement between the Tepes and Carmilla factions. Everything is a mess right now and we can assume there has been a coup d'etat in the Tepes faction. Rias and Kiba have most likely gotten mixed up in it as well as I can't contact them on any channels. Akeno made a magic circle as she tried contacting Rias but there was no response. According to the Carmilla side, the Tepes faction already has its new leader.
"That was fast for them, these things generally take longer." Issei saw that Gasper was stiff as a board listening to all of this.
Yeah, the Head of House Tepes was seen fleeing from the capital.
"King of Tepe feeling alone says a lot about what would make him run." Akeno said.
"The Carmilla spoke earlier about the Holy Grail, so I would assume that the Khaos Brigade has intervened. The head of the Tepes faction right now is most likely a puppet of the Khaos Brigade." Sona brought up a valid point to this as the Holy Grail was far too useful.
The Carmilla faction is of the same thought, they also believe the Khaos Brigade is behind this somehow. The vampires of the Tepes and Carmilla factions avoided conflict and focused on domestic affairs. This most likely gave rise to the opening for the Khaos Brigade. There's always somebody in your forces who is not a fan of the current leadership.
"Sounds like all of the years of fighting each other might bring their cohabitation to a crumble."
Yep this is the result of pride. They didn't seek help in a now obvious attempt to hide the existence of the Holy Grail. Still ironic as Vampires hate holy objects, but I'm planning to head to the Tepes HQ from the Carmilla. Azazel looked around I need all of you to come here, right now. We need to search for signs of the Khaos Brigade and find Rias and Kiba. So all of your powers will be needed with who knows what kind of extremists in the new Tepes Government.
Everyone was in agreement that they needed to go.
We can't have everyone leave the town however in case of an emergency. So we will leave the Sitri group, Griselda, Dulio, and Tobi there just in case.
Griselda looked over to Dulio "Sorry about this but you need to play defense now."
Dulio shrugged "You know I could just box them in with bad weather."
Griselda smacked him over the head hearing that idea" Do you want to make the relation between heaven and Vampires any worse?"
"What relation? They hate you and what's to lose." Issei said as Griselda shook her head not wanting to deal with that can of worms.
It's best we split the Longinus users up anyway.
"Kinda hard to split three who else is over there?" Issei asked Azazel
Vali has been sneaking around over here. And if we leave Slashdog and Dulio in Japan it evens out. I'm somewhat interested in seeing the Two Heavenly Dragons over here as well.
"If that's the case can you take my new servants as well? Both of them are on the inexperienced side when it comes to fighting as devils so this would be a great time for them." Sona asked as they saw Azazel thinking about things.
Bennia and Rugal. I don't see an issue with that and Rugal would be a good thing to have over here as well considering the circumstances. Azazel turned back to look at Issei Only bring Asia and Xenovia.
"Yeah, I figured as much when you told us what happened. It's far too dangerous even for Ravel." Everyone knew the risks and it was best to leave the newly initiated girls behind.
We can talk about specifics once you arrive. But get ready to teleport to the Carmilla HQ.
Everyone scrambled to get ready. Issei looked to Ravel as he placed a gold coin in her hand. "I want you to take these three to Artemis while she's still here. Give her the coin and tell her that I want her to work with Katase and Murayama to do sword work."
"Isn't Artemis a bow user from the legends?" Katase asked as Issei nodded.
"She prefers it, but she is no stranger to using a sword and is good with it." He looked back to Ravel "If you can't find her just ask my mom. And you know how to get into the training dimension?" Ravel gave a nod with a smile as Issei patted her on the head. "Well let's get ready to leave."
After a few minutes, Issei was down in his room packing the bare essentials needed for a short trip. There was a knock at the door as it opened, he looked back to see Saji walking in the door. "What's up Saji? Rare for you to come around here."
"I got a question, Rias went over to the vampires to ask about Gasper's secret?"
"Yeah, I didn't get to see it but I heard it was interesting." Issei moved over to his chair and sat down. "Enough about Gasper. We do all the heavy lifting while your group is off doing other things so what is the Sitri group doing."
"Our group is progressing but our main focus is almost ready, a school for rating games."
"Oh?" Issei was interested in this.
"It's a place for all devils regardless of low or high class. Sairaorg has been helping us and expediting much of the issues we would have. We plan on starting classes soon so we are already recruiting children to join the school with or without demonic power. Parents have been bringing their children to ask us to take them in." Saji explained as he seemed happy that he was doing good for something. "I always wanted to be a teacher. And as the days progress, I feel like I'm getting closer to reaching that dream. But I'm limited because I'm still a low-class devil and the underworld requires a license to be a teacher that requires mid-class."
"Don't feel so down about it." Issei tried to cheer him up "You heard Sirzechs say that there was going to be plenty of promotions coming up in the future."
"I know but there's that and the fact that I wasn't able to reach Balance Break after the training recently."
Issei could only laugh hearing that "It's never that simple, Balance breaker requires something more from the user, training is great but there needs to be a change. Look while we're gonna just work with those two and maybe you might find it. We all have areas that need improvement. The upside is, you already know what yours is. But it was cool hearing about the school, it should be interesting to see how it goes." Issei stood up as he moved over to his bag and zipped it up as the two of them headed out of the room and downstairs where the magic circle to the Carmilla territory was waiting.
Ravel, Katase, Murayama, and Kiryuu walked into the living room area as they saw the two older ladies watching underworld TV. "Excuse me Lady Artemis." Ravel bowed her head as she continued "Issei asked me to have you train Katase and Murayama in sword combat for awhile. He also wanted me to give you this." Ravel handed over the gold coin to Artemis.
"A Gold Drachma?" She inspected the coin, noticing the patterns on it we're not like the current ones in circulation "Do I want to know how he got a hold of one of these? We are older than this coin."
Aphrodite looked at it "Wasn't that in silver back then?" The two adults looked at each other as they tried to remember. "Have Plutus look at it. He should remember."
"Whatever" Artemis stood up as she looked at the girls.
"Before you girls leave." Aphrodite looked back at the group. "I know the two of you don't think too highly of my son."
"He's a pervert." "A cruel joke to all women."
"That may be true. But has he peaked on you since you joined the other side of the world? Or even groped you." The silence was damming as they didn't have a comeback. "We all know he's a pervert and he gets it from me. His two best friends are a dragon in his head and Kiba. He's surrounded by girls who love him. Rias wouldn't touch him if he wa a bad person, and those two get it on. No, seriously if it wasn't for the others I would have to separate the two of them." Katase and Murayama had that image run through their brains as they were overloading "I want you two to do something for me and I want you to try to prove me wrong." Aphrodite had a wicked smile on her face as she knew the outcome already.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the teleport, everyone appeared in a spacious yet empty room with Azazel waiting. "Good, you're here. We're moving out and I'll explain everything while we move. Elmenhilde please guide us to the location."
"Very well, I'm glad that everyone came. Even if we only needed Gasper Vladi." Issei felt like smacking her for her disrespect but decided against it as she led them up a flight of stairs and into a large garage area. The air was cold and heavy as there was a large open door.
They could see outside that it was late at night and the surrounding area was covered with snow as when they breathed out they could see their breaths. "It's cold" Gasper was shivering as the girls looked out the garage door seeing the snow that was covering the castle that surrounded the area.
"To think the base of the Vampires that the church was searching for so long is in the deep mountains. Ironic that I would see it as a devil." Xenovia said as her thoughts were conflicting. That's when they heard the cars start up as Azazel and Rossweisse were in the driver's seats as everybody piled in.
A comlink between the two cars was established as they could hear Azazel speak. "So the new leader of the Tepes faction is Valerie Tepes."
Everyone was shocked to hear that as Gasper began panicking. "Strange that the Tepes chose a woman let alone a half breed to rule over the faction. It sounds like a plant from the Khaos Brigade." Akeno was observant of what was happening so far with what everyone was told.
"Agreed, The Khaos Brigade has to be guiding somebody from the shadows. My guess is they plan on using the Grail to gain immortality, but we don't know that yet. There's far too much politics going on right now for the King of Tepes and Queen of Carmilla that right now it's a rescue operation to get Rias and Kiba out. And as it stands I can see doing that much is going to be bloody. The town Tepes faction holds is currently being surrounded and they found a way that we can go in."
"The moment you called us we all knew it was going to be shitty. We get involved because it seems like nobody else in this world is capable of doing anything." Issei said as everyone felt as if he was right. Nobody ever helped them when it came to the fighting, it was always them.
"I don't if I should call you all dependable or everyone else being useless." Azazel said as the cars crossed over a bridge changing from Carmilla to Tepes's territory. "We rendezvous with Rias and Kiba and see if we can take Valerie with us. The current governments can sort it out later."
Gasper looked up to Issei "I'm going to save Valerie." Issei smiled and gave Gasper a thumbs up. This was a new side of Gasper that was emerging for the best.
After a few hours of riding in the car, they came up to a Gondola station at the bottom of the mountain. When everybody got out Azazel opened the door to the gondola. "This is one of the routes to the Tepes castle town that the Carmilla's were about to get ahold of. Fortunately, the gondola bypasses the barriers." Everyone piled in as they prepared for the ascent up the mountain.
Issei looked out the windows seeing nothing but a dreary sight of snow everywhere. When he looked back into the cab he saw Xenovia holding onto a small book as she was reading it. It wasn't a bible as it was far too thin to be that "What are you reading?" He asked.
Xenovia turned the book so he could see the cover. "Japanese Vocabulary." She said as Issei read the title at the same time. "I'm trying to improve my Japanese and kanji."
"Was your last test that bad or just trying to improve?" He asked as he remembered that everyone in the ORC gets good test scores as he rounded up the bottom while doing well enough.
"My scores are average, but I'm just bad with Japanese." Xenovia continued reading her book "I found something I want to do so I'm studying for it."
Issei tilted his head to the right as he looked at her. She found something she wants to do that requires the use of her brain power. It's best that she did find something other than wanting to make babies with him. Asia whispered into Issei's ear "Xenovia has taken a liking to school events and wants to enjoy her status as a student." Hearing that from Asia made Issei even more confused.
"I can teach you Japanese." Irina leaned over as Xenovia had her doubts hearing that.
"You got a section of idioms completely wrong on the last test. I think I'll forgo your help, Irina." Xenovia told her "Self-proclaimed raised in Japan."
Irina puffed out her cheeks "I was born in Japan even Issei can attest to that."
"Don't get me in on this." Issei held up his hands
Asia leaned over and looked at Irina "It's okay you can study with me."
Issei smiled seeing the antics of the church girls. He leaned over next to him and looked at Akeno "So I heard from Saji that Sona is building a school."
"I've heard about that as well."
"I heard about it and even received an offer to be a teacher in her school." Rossweisse chimed in.
"Seriously? That was fast."
"What did you tell her?" Akeno asked Rossweisse.
"I don't have a reason to decline, but I haven't accepted it yet. I like teaching at Kuoh right now, but I plan on looking at the school after it's finished."
"Why don't we go after we deal with this mess?" Issei asked
Rossweisse smiled and nodded "I would love to do that."
The castle town came into sight as the Gondola came into its dock. When they exited a few Vampires were awaiting them as Azazel led the group. "Former Governor Azazel and Gremory Group I presume? The Tepes faction sent for us." Azazel nodded as the Vampire continued "Please follow us, Rias Gremory is awaiting you in the Tepes base."
They were led to a horse-drawn wagon as everyone got in but Rugal and Bennia disappeared into the darkness without a sound made. They boarded the wagon as they went into town but something was off. Azazel noticed it as he spoke quietly. "Looks as if the coup d'etat went off without a hitch. The town is in perfect condition and it looks as if nobody is none the wiser that something happened. Guess they used the Holy Grail as bait to quell the nobles."
After a few minutes of traveling through the town, the wagon came to a stop outside of a large castle in the town. "Wait here." The vampires said as they disembarked.
They waited for a few minutes as a familiar voice was heard "Ise!" He turned his head around and saw Rias walking out of the front door with a maid next to her and Kiba following behind Rias. "Everyone it's so good to see you again."
Everyone got out of the wagon as they made their way over to Rias. She had her arms out as she grabbed ahold of Issei and looked over to Azazel "Seeing as you're all here I take it you noticed the coup d'etat Azazel?"
"I summoned them all here after I lost contact with the two of you. And everything went down as it was for the best."
"I was thinking of calling everyone here. But we got imprisoned in the castle before the coup happened. We weren't even able to meet the king who invited us here. Then we were led out here just as we were told guests had arrived." She explained to everyone.
Issei looked over Rias's shoulder seeing that Kiba was in the same shape as when he left. "Take you weren't involved in the conflict as well."
He shrugged his shoulders. "They left us in our rooms and didn't seem interested in us." Kiba turned around seeing that soldiers were standing in front of the door "Until now."
There was a metallic clank getting everyone's attention as one of the soldiers spoke up "Please come inside and have your meeting with our new King." The massive double door opened up as Issei let go of Rias while Azazel led the group into the castle.
When they entered the castle there was a spacious room lined with a massive red carpet that sprawled all over the floor. As they made their way through the room they came to a raised section further back that had a large throne in the center of the area. Something was off to Issei as he could smell something that permeated the castle but couldn't figure out what it was when walking through. Sitting on the throne was a young woman and next to her was a young man off to her right side. Up above them, nobles were watching the meeting.
There were nine of them but only two vampires on the floor. It wasn't a smart move on their part but the Khaos Brigade was most likely watching them from the upper section. The woman on the throne had long blonde hair but unlike Asia where it was bright and vibrant, her hair was a dull earthy tone of blonde. She had on a dress that wasn't luxurious like a noble vampire would have on but she had a soft smile on her face when she saw everyone in front of her. The only downside was she had red eyes just as all purebloods did but they were dull as if she was losing something from them.
"Hello everyone, My name is Valerie Tepes." She put on a small but everyone could see it was empty. "It has been decided that I would be the current Head of House Tepes and Queen. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." Her voice was quiet to the point that if a human were around they wouldn't be able to hear as her eyes lazily looked around as if she was looking for something. She found it as she spoke up "Gasper you have become so big."
Issei could see that Gasper wanted to see her like that but he put on a smile anyway. "Valerie I wanted to see you for a while."
She motioned for him to come closer to her and even her hand movements were slow. "Come here Gasper, I want to see you as well."
Gasper walked over to her as Issei looked around and saw that nobody was making a move. Valerie wrapped her arms around Gasper "I'm glad you okay."
"I became a devil but I'm doing fine."
She rubbed his back "I heard about that. They're taking good care of you and that's all that matters."
"I have friends so I'm no longer alone."
She looked at the group "So all of you are Gasper's friends?" She asked as her head snapped to another location looking at something as she spoke in a gibberish tongue that nobody could understand. Soon her words became blended between the known and unknown language as she was talking to a void in the sky.
Azazel put his hand in front of the church girls "Don't look at and you three look away. She's under the effects of the Holy Grail. We don't need you seeing things because of it." The church girls understood as they all looked away. "This is the outcome of those who are possessed by the Grail."
The pureblood standing next to Valerie clapped his hands snapping her out of her trance. "Valerie it's rude to be speaking to those people when we have guests. You need to act befitting of a Queen."
"Oh Excuse me." She turned back to her normal self "I'm sorry you saw that. But under my reign as Queen, I will be creating a peaceful society for Vampires. No more discrimination…" She looked at Gasper as he moved back to the group. "No more of the days when we were children." Everyone saw through her words as nothing was backing up her desires.
Azazel looked over to the pureblooded man "You trained her well enough, but what do you plan on achieving by using her? From the way she looks, you must be the ringleader of this show."
A disturbing grin appeared on his face. "If you are insinuating that I'm the ringleader then by your logic I must be. I am Marius Tepes fifth in line to the throne. Currently, I'm the mayor of this Government as well as the chief advisor of Sacred Gear Research. I'm also Valerie's brother and I want to make sure her goals succeeded."
"Then you do know that we have been in contact with the Carmilla faction."
Marius shrugged his shoulders hearing that. "The new government wishes to form friendly negotiations no matter if it's the Carmilla or even the Governor of the Fallen Angels." He tried taking that sentence seriously but couldn't "To be honest I don't care that much for politics. I leave that to my associates who agreed to the coup d'etat. Queen Valerie wanted to meet all of you and I wanted to see if the rumors of our supporters are true."
"Alright then, So why did you start the coup d'etat? Was it the bastard child's idea?" Azazel asked, holding back no filter. Rias was trying to figure out who it was Azazel was referring to.
"All I want is to prepare an environment where I can do whatever I want with the Holy Grail. Valerie's Grail is a masterpiece that amuses me and I never get bored with the experiments I've performed. So we got rid of the previous king, my father and my annoying older brothers. As for the bastard you speak of, this is our plan, our goals."
"Highness that is not something you should be talking about." "Restrain your words" "That is the former governor of the Grigor and heiress of House Gremory, your tongue will lose our credibility." A few Vampire nobles shouted from the upper balcony trying to scold him.
"I'm sorry." Marius shrugged his shoulders "Please come remove me from my position then."
"I take it you can't release Valerie Tepes then?" Rias asked
"Why would I do that?"
Xenovia saw this as she pulled out Durandal "Talking to him is useless. I say we kill him and go home. If we let him live there will on be more problems."
"He's the mayor Xenovia." Rias tried to calm Xenovia down.
But Issei wasn't helping much. "No no, I think she got a great idea. Durandal will make quick work of him and it's cold outside, it's too early for this weather."
Marius smiled hearing the conversation "I'm so terrified! Maybe you should see my bodyguard." He snapped his finger as a tall mall wearing a black coat appeared. He had a mix of a section of black and blonde hair with one eye gold and the other black.
His aura washed over everyone "He's in a different league from us, and he doesn't seem like a vampire at all." Kiba felt the massive power wash over them.
"The coup d'etat makes too much sense if he was here then." Xenovia said as she wasn't as sure of herself.
'That's the Crescent Circle Dragon isn't it Ddriag?' Issei had to make sure.
[Yeah Crom is a much higher level than everyone combined. He has to know who you are by now just don't fight him.]
Issei spoke outward "The Crescent Circle Dragon Crom Cruach. The Evil Dragon of all Evil Dragons" Issei said as he knew what an impending shitstorm could be.
Marius clapped his hands getting everybody's attention once again as he pointed to a door. "We will be ending this discussion here today. But for now, we have rooms prepared for you. And the current head of House Vladi is in the basement of the castle if you want to speak to him."
They took his suggestion as they headed through the door making their way down a hallway to the prepared rooms. When they were in one of the rooms Azazel looked at the group. "Vampires like that are few and far between. Rarely do they take their greed over pride let alone blood."
Rias agreed "It's hard to believe he's a Vampire at all."
"At this rate, he might not be. But he is dangerous, He started a coup d'etat and got politicians to cooperate for his sole ambitions." Azazel said looking at the group.
"I take it he used the Holy Grail for the Khaos Brigade to bring back those evil dragons?" Issei asked about getting a nod from Azazel.
"The Khaos Brigade is involved in the shadows. He would have no other reason to bring them back to life."
"Who was she talking to?" Asia asked as her feet swung back and forth as the chair she was sitting on was taller than normal.
"The souls of the dead residing in the realm of the dead."
"How can she talk to them if they are in the underworld?" Xenovia was just as confused.
"The power of the Holy Grail when used too much causes the mind to connect with the underworld. In turn, it allows her to speak to the souls of the dead. She might also be speaking with other beings that are in a state of limbo of sorts." Azazel saw that Gasper was intently listening "Being in contact with the principle of life isn't a good idea even for a deity. She has been forcefully told how life and souls combine the more times she uses the Grail. Information that we think is endless is crammed into her head along with the thoughts of others. It becomes natural for wielders of the Grail to become broken because of the use of the Grail. Sephiroth Grail is one of the few Sacred Gears that should have never been created."
"Is she…" Gasper tried to ask.
"No, she is not in a normal state. Marius must have made Valerie use the Grail quite a lot. The fact that the evil dragons have returned to this realm proves that much. The Grail's powers have most likely been abused to bring her to the point where she can do that."
The door to the room opened as it squeaked, getting everyone's attention. When they looked in the doorway they saw a tall man with silver hair wearing an outfit similar to Sirzechs but silver instead of red. "Uncle Azazel it's been a while."
'Uncle?' Issei asked in his head as Rias looked over to Azazel "Who is he Azazel?"
"You may be young but you should know the name Rizevim."
Rias tensed hearing that name utter. "You must be joking." Rias was in disbelief hearing that name as her face scrunched up.
Rizevim smiled as he spoke in an upbeat attitude "Don't make faces like that. You're going to get old fast."
"Rizevim Livan Lucifer, Vali's grandfather, Leader of house Lucifuge and current boss of the Khaos Brigade. A bastard child no matter what." Azazel introduced him as he was out of their realm of knowledge. Everything about why there was a coup d'etat fit together now for everyone and even how and Evil Dragons sided with them.
"In the past when the previous Maou ruled the underworld Rizevim Livan Lucifer was counted as a Super Devil that could rival with the other two my brother Sirzechs Gremory and Ajuka Astaroth."
"Yes and after he disappeared the remaining Super Devils led the underworld out of chaos and strife into what we see now. The way the underworld would be if Rizevim was leading it would be in shambles just like it was all those years ago." Azazel looked Rizevim in the eyes "For an aging man who hid in the shadows during the end of the civil war I hope you don't hold a grudge that the Old Maou faction isn't in charge."
Rizevim let out a laugh that was an ominous yet creepy laugh " I returned to the world because there's something I want to do. What about you Azazel? I heard that you want to make peace, good for you." His tone was almost sincere if it wasn't for that he is a person of pure evil. He looked over to Rias "I take it your brother has been doing well Miss Scarlet?"
Rias was happy hearing that "Do you have a grudge against my brother?"
"Oh no." Rizevim brushed it off "It's not as if we are using the same name of Lucifer but only one of us has any real claim to it. But do tell your brother that I will be seeing him soon." Rizevim looked over to the rest of the group "I don't hold any grudges over the deaths of the other Maou descendants. They never listened anyway and got what they deserved."
"This country is still neutral and we have yet to form a proper alliance with them, so I can't beat the shit out of you yet. So why are you here?" Azazel said, revealing a side of him that he hadn't shown to anyone.
"I'm a special guest." Rizevim's laugh was now even more disturbing as he looked Azazel in the eye with a smile on his face. "I'm Marius's investor in research and Viva la revolución." He threw his hands up and waved them at the end "Besides it's not wise to attack me. Even if you could it wouldn't be good for you." Next to him, a small shadow appeared as it formed into a small girl wearing a black dress. It looked just like Ophis just now more child-like. "This here is our mascot of sorts that we made from Ophis power. We call Lilith so get along with her."
[That explains what you were smelling.] 'Yep'
Issei and Lilith had an impromptu staring contest as Rizevim was getting ready to leave. "Vali is looking for you Rizevim."
Rizevim put his hand up to his chin as if he was thinking of something. "Vali that name sounds familiar. Isn't he that kid you took to the Grigor and raised him as your own? I trust he got stronger under your tutelage."
"He's going to lop off your head."
Rizevim shrugged, hearing that "Anyways whenever you're ready to start this battle we will be ready." The two of them stepped back as Rizevim closed the door to the room they were in and left Azazel to stew in anger.
A few minutes of silence passed as everyone was getting ready to leave again. Issei looked at Azazel as he held out his right and as there was a blue magic circle in his hand with a head of a dragon in the middle. "Should I call her if things get ugly?"
Azazel took a look at it and was able to figure out who it was. "If things go south and Crom gets involved then we will need that kind of power to escape. Alert her to what might happen.'
Issei nodded as he placed the magic circle on the table as his hands covered it. "Who is that?" Asia asked.
"You have already seen her." Issei said as the blue glow got brighter. "Tiamat." He called out as he pulled his hand slightly still covering it.
Through the crest, a voice was heard, "So you finally call."
"Yeah about that, are you dressed?" He asked knowing how she was.
"What do you think?" She asked as Azazel spoke up "Tiamat." They heard some drawers open up as clothes were being put on. "Alright," She said as Issei pulled back as the crest displayed a video feed. She was sitting down in a simple blue outfit that went with her color scheme. "Oh, there's a whole gaggle of you and it's mostly girls. I would have been fine if Azazel wasn't around."
"As much as I would love to make jokes Tiamat we might need your help." Issei said as that got her attention "We're in the vampire homeland right now, and if things go bad we could use some backup."
"It's Vampires what's the worst they can throw at you."
"Jokes aside," Azazel said "Rizevim is here with a clone of Ouroboros and Crom Cruach. The source of the Evil dragon's revival is here as is the Sephiroth Grail user as well."
"Okay" She nodded her head. "I understand your plight then. If it gets to that point call me then. I heard you got your hands on some girls Issei."
"How the hell do you know about that?" He asked as she shrugged her shoulders and waved her hand, swiping at the magic circle as it disappeared. Issei looked at the group "She's going to mess with the three of them."
"Three?" Rias asked, "WHo did you recruit?"
"The pervert behind glasses Aika Kiryuu, and the Kendo duo Katase and Murayama." As he said those names Rias and Kiba's eyes went wide hearing the names.
"That's a thing then." Kiba was surprised to hear that Issei got a hold of the Kendo girls.
"That's a problem for later." Rias said as she looked over at the door. "For now we need to meet with the Head of House Vladi." She stood up and pushed a button next to the door "We wish to see Lord Vladi."
A voice came through "One moment." In a minute a knock on the door was heard as she opened it up as a maid was standing there. "Escort to Lord Vladi's chambers will take a few minutes to arrange a meeting. Rias Gremory and Gasper Valdi please come with me and another maid will come for the others her Highness wishes to speak with you two."
True to their word another maid came to the room to escort them. They walked through the castle and down a few floors as they reached a room that the maid stopped in front of it. "This is the guestroom of the Head of Vladi." A knock on the door came "The guests are here to see you." They heard a click as the door unlocked as she opened it up and let everyone in as Rias and Gasper were still tending to their business and Azazel disappeared off somewhere.
They walked into a spacious room that was lavishly decorated but not gaudy. On one of the couches, they saw a pale man with blonde hair that looked to be in his mid-thirties with red eyes as he was an aged up gasper. Akeno stepped forward "We are the servants of Rias Gremory, I am her Queen Akeno Himejima."
"Please sit." He pointed to the couches and chairs across from him "You are here to speak about Gasper correct?" Akeno sat down as everyone else stood behind her. "I have already spoken to Rias and swapped some basic information about dealing with that thing. I was summoned to this castle to speak with her about how the two Houses would deal with that. But I ended up getting locked in here due to the coup d'etat and King Tepes has retreated. Marius's group is no doubt using Rias to bring my son here." He was calm and collected with his words
"That?" Akeno asked.
"That…." He picked his words carefully "Gasper is functioning as a Devil. I assumed he was dead but I heard otherwise from Rias."
The discrimination was felt by everyone "Then what of his mother?"
Lord Valdi shook his head "She passed away after giving birth to that."
The word that came up once again "Are you saying that there were complications?"
"No." His vision focused on Akeno. "She died from the shock." Shock was not the word everyone was expecting to come from his mouth. "What she gave birth to was not a child it was something wrapped in a frightening aura." He saw that they weren't following along with it. "When that thing was born it didn't take the shape of a person. It was a black thing that crawled out of her womb. It wasn't human nor vampire let alone any monster known. When she saw it she broke down and she died."
Some people were slightly disturbed by the imagery they were given. "Is Gasper aware of this?"
Lord Vladi shook his head at Akeno's question "No we never told him about his powers. We had no idea what could trigger his powers. So we kept it a secret so it wouldn't creep out. Only some of my closest relatives were aware of his \sacred gear ability to stop time. As Vampires, we don't consider him as a Vampire or a human… only a different creature. We did however treat him like a half breed even then I don't know if that was the right decision."
"Gaspy is my friend, my first friend who is the same age as me." Koneko said as she was the closest person to Gasper.
"Have you seen his true form?" Lord Valdi asked the group even after hearing Koneko's plight.
Everyone except Issei gave some sort of acknowledgment. "Rias had the same thing as all of you." Lord Vladi looked over to Issei "What about you, Red Dragon? You made no form of an answer."
Issei shrugged "I was busy saving the underworld. The creatures of Annihilation Maker with their power to destroy anything in sight was far more disturbing than what you have spoken of." Lord Vladi was too happy to hear those words. "I've fought against Two Dragon Kings. Bore witness to the savagery of Ares in combat. I've watched Gasper do all he can to become stronger and be able to help when called upon. Then we come here and see that his best friend is in a near deranged state. And yet you still call him a thing, a monster. The real monster is you." Vladi wasn't exactly happy to hear that as everyone braces themselves for what was to come next.
"You knew that something could trigger his power, yet you treated him like a half breed. A fate destined to be abused. Not by adults but by the children. Children are assholes and you know that so you degrade him and subjugate him to that treatment. Something that could have activated his powers, but I guess we know why he crossdresses and why he was a mess when I first met him." A knock on the door interrupted Issei's beratement as he answered "Come in."
In came a maid and looked at the group "Issei Hyoudou and Koneko Toujou your presence is requested by her highness, Valerie." Issei and Koneko looked at each other as they were going to follow the maid.
Issei had one more thing to say however as he looked at Lord Vladi. "I'd rather be speaking to the Queen than a man who has nothing to say other than to berate his child. Gasper will be stronger than you, he will have more clout than you. And if he never speaks to you again even on your deathbed you will know why." Following the maid out they left the room to head off to the next destination.