An hour later, just as Rod was getting drowsy from watching his movie, Michael finally took the lead and said, "Now that we've fully exchanged our views, let me also state Heaven's position. If this continues, the three great factions will all head down the road to destruction together."
Sirzechs nodded slightly at the side, while Azazel still wore his usual flippant air.
"Azazel, to be honest, you're the least trustworthy one among the three great factions. Even so, I still want to know, do you fallen angels truly have no desire to enter into serious conflict with us?"
Since the territories of the fallen angels and devils were both in the Underworld, friction along their borders happened from time to time.
Hearing that, Azazel nodded without hesitation.
"That's right. I've got no interest in war. Back when Kokabiel was still alive, he was always criticizing me for being unworthy of my position. To be honest, the only thing I'm interested in is the Sacred Gears created by God."
At those words, Michael and Serafall both turned their eyes toward Azazel at the same time.
Sacred Gears were the last relics God had left behind in this world, but at the same time, they were also among the most influential.
In the past, the other two great factions had not thought much of them, treating them as nothing more than ordinary equipment that could slightly strengthen humans. But once the existence of Longinus had also been discovered, they finally began to take the significance of Sacred Gears seriously.
If a human successfully awakened a Longinus, then in the vast majority of cases, they would gain the power to kill chief gods and Maou.
And yet, which chief god or Maou had not reached that position only after accumulating power and training over thousands upon thousands of years?
Now, however, an ordinary person only needed the good fortune to awaken a Longinus, and in just a little over a decade, they could gain power comparable to theirs.
Even ordinary Sacred Gears, if properly trained, could rival high-class devils.
That was why the three great factions had always secretly investigated humans who possessed Sacred Gears and tried as much as possible to bring them into their own ranks.
Compared to the angels and devils, however, Azazel's actions were much more suspicious. In addition to gathering Sacred Gear users, he had also killed some of them, extracted the Sacred Gears from their bodies, and used them for research.
"Don't look at me with those distrustful eyes. I'm just doing research on Sacred Gears. As for why I killed certain people, it's because they couldn't properly control their own power or their own will."
"In any case, a lot of ordinary people lose themselves the moment they suddenly gain great power. They start thinking they're invincible and go around committing evil. The ones I cleaned up were only people like that. As for their Sacred Gears, I just treated them as my reward for carrying out justice on Heaven's behalf."
"I've already said this much. Whether you believe me or not, I do."
"You betrayed God. Your credibility is obviously the lowest."
Michael narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. You've got more sneaky ideas than all the rest of us put together."
Serafall agreed wholeheartedly.
Azazel, however, clicked his tongue.
When it came to having too many tricks up his sleeve, who could possibly compare to that guy over there watching a movie?
To actually declare he was about to unleash his trump card, then ambush him instead, and leave his eyes still not fully recovered even now.
Just how had a brat barely in his teens grown into something like this?
"Forget it. I wasn't expecting your trust anyway, so I'll say it plainly. How about we sign a peace agreement? That's what both of you want too, isn't it?"
Hearing that, Michael and Sirzechs both considered it seriously before nodding in earnest.
Seeing that, Azazel finally put away his frivolous smile and said, "Heh. In the past, you all thought a world without God was wrong. You believed that once God was gone, the world would decline. But unfortunately, that isn't the case. You, me, and all of us are living just fine like this."
At that point, he spread his arms with a touch of arrogance.
"Even without God, the world will keep running just the same."
Michael and Gabriel offered no comment, while Sirzechs and Serafall gave slight nods.
After all, after God's death, the impact on devils had been negligible.
But just then, a burst of laughter suddenly rang out.
The leaders of the three factions all turned toward Rod.
Azazel had already been a little displeased with him to begin with, and upon finding an opening, he immediately pressed the issue. "You've been sitting there listening this whole time, so why don't you tell us what you think?"
"Nothing, nothing. This is internal business between your factions, so I won't say much."
Rod waved his hand.
"Then why did you laugh just now?"
Azazel frowned slightly.
"Because I just thought of something funny."
If Rod had not known the plot, he probably would have thought Azazel's words were c onceited, but correct.
After all, Azazel was a fallen angel. He had no faith in God and no reverence toward Him.
But Rod knew very well that the God of the Bible had grown weak because He sealed the Beast of Revelation, and in the end died from exhaustion during the great war between the three factions.
And the reason the God of the Bible sealed the Beast of Revelation was simple enough.
Just looking at the Beast of Revelation in the original plot, where it held back every chief god and Maou in the entire world, and even after being reduced to only its core, still required those gods and Maou to attack it continuously for a thousand years before it could finally be destroyed, was enough to understand the God of the Bible's painstaking effort.
And that was in the late stage of the story, after the strength of many pantheons had already grown by another step.
If the God of the Bible had simply hardened His heart and chosen to wash His hands of the matter, deciding not to seal the Beast of Revelation alone, the result would have been that, aside from Heaven under His protection, every other faction would have been annihilated by the Beast of Revelation.
At that point, even if the God of the Bible had then moved to deal with the Beast of Revelation and still ended up weakened as a result, Heaven would still have remained the number one divine faction in the world and ruled the entire Earth without lifting a finger.
But the God of the Bible had not done that.
As for why, in Rod's view, perhaps only four words could explain it:
God loves the world.
That was why, when Azazel said that last line just now, Rod could not help laughing out loud.
Although the country Rod was born in had a saying that ignorance was no sin, that did not stop Azazel from looking like a circus clown to him right now.
"Forget it, forget it. Don't mind me."
Rod waved his hand again.
What he was more concerned about now was exactly when the Khaos Brigade would launch their attack.
And about ten minutes later, while the bored Rod was staring at the system map, he suddenly discovered that in the old school building area, several green markers representing allies had abruptly appeared on the map.
Considering that the shut-in vampire was still being kept in the old school building, Rod immediately guessed that it was probably Walburga leading the witches.
As for how they had managed to transfer in silently under so many layers of barriers, the answer was obvious.
An insider had made their move.
The next second, an enormous surge of magical power came rushing in like a tidal wave.
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