Endless holy light permeated the air, but at this moment, Rias did not look at anyone present.
She simply gazed indifferently at the world; all the gods had lost their voices.
Not a single god could utter a word; in silence, the meeting quietly came to an end.
To mortals, they were gods, existences seated upon the heavenly throne.
But to Rias, these gods were no different from mortals, merely belonging to different races.
The meeting was held in Kuoh Town within the Far East, but after it ended, the gods left from Heaven, which left the guards feeling bewildered.
However, all the gods who participated in the meeting were incredibly silent, their hearts filled with complex emotions.
After the meeting ended, all the Pantheons began to take action.
Yet at this very moment, a shocking piece of news entered the intelligence systems of the various Pantheons.
In the location where the global Pantheon meeting was held, which is the Far East—
The wife and daughter of Baraqiel, a Fallen Angel cadre with ten black wings whose attack power ranks first even among Fallen Angels, were attacked by the Himejima Clan, one of the Five Great Clans among humans.
Fortunately, Rias, who did not participate in the meeting but was also in the Far East, "coincidentally" saved the mother and daughter.
"Really... are they in such a hurry to be reincarnated?"
Rias murmured softly.
Of course, Rias saving the Himejima mother and daughter was naturally not a coincidence.
For Rias, who knew the script, changing a 'tragedy' without affecting herself was also a form of entertainment.
But—
Even Rias herself did not expect them to dare to act at this time.
Japan has a unique talent for being experts at internal strife but amateurs at external conflict, and the Himejima Clan is particularly obvious in this regard.
The Five Great Clans maintain traditions, or perhaps pedantic rules, rejecting everything with non-human blood.
Including—Sacred Gear Wielders!
The Japanese Pantheons have long since perished and can roughly be divided into two forces.
One is the Five Great Clans, and the other is the Youkai.
The remaining territory has long since become dominated by various forces, especially the Biblical forces.
As for the scattered Japanese Exorcists, Sorcerers, and other supernatural individuals, they are primarily led by the Five Great Clans.
Doumon, Kushihashi, Shinra, Himejima, Nakiri—
The five families respectively govern the power of the Four Symbols and the Yellow Dragon, the five types of spiritual beasts, bestowing the titles of the spiritual beasts upon the strongest within each clan.
The Five Great Clans have long maintained the orthodoxy of the Japanese Shinto Sect, slaying demons and exorcising evil, eliminating or suppressing many Japanese Youkai, thus forging a long-standing grudge with the Japanese Youkai world.
Within the families, they also treat members who cannot inherit the family's power as outcasts and purge members who establish connections with other races, mythological forces, or the supernatural world as heretics, resulting in countless tragedies of blood and tears.
These outcasts and those who connected with Sacred Gear Wielders or other supernatural members gathered their hatred to create an organization like the Chaos Brigade, solely to take revenge on the Five Great Clans.
And this organization is named Utsusemi.
Not to mention anything else, if one were to say they insist on being proud of their human status, that might not be the case.
It is simply a pedantic denial of all non-human power other than their own.
Setting aside non-human power, on the other hand—
Even if one cannot inherit the family's power, it shouldn't go as far as treating them as outcasts; they could perfectly well achieve success in the mundane world.
Even following tradition to distinguish between the main family and branch families wouldn't be so unbelievable.
Instead, this practice of uniform abandonment has led to extremely bitter consequences.
On a deeper level, the Five Great Clans that govern the power of the Four Symbols and the Yellow Dragon essentially still borrow the power of spiritual beasts, which is fundamentally no different from Sacred Gear Wielders or magicians.
It is simply internal competition for the sake of internal competition.
And at this time, the protagonist is the Himejima Clan, which governs the power of the Vermilion Bird.
Most unbelievable of all is that they actually dared to attack the wife and daughter of a high-ranking Fallen Angel during the meeting of the gods.
The reason for this was that the Himejima Clan had long harbored murderous intent.
Baraqiel's wife is precisely a member of the Himejima Clan, named Shuri Himejima.
Considering the Fallen Angel bloodline to be incredibly filthy, they eventually chose a time when Baraqiel was absent to strike against the Himejima family member who married a Fallen Angel.
"Shuri, Akeno, it's so good that you're both alright."
Still in the Far East, in the meeting room in Kuoh Town, Baraqiel looked at the mother and daughter brought by Rias and couldn't help but rush forward to embrace them, his words filled with relief.
In the office where the meeting had just been held—
Rias, Michael, Sirzechs, Azazel, Baraqiel, Shuri Himejima and Himejima Akeno, as well as the elite personnel of various Pantheons, were all there.
The Earth Pantheon Alliance, established under Rias's leadership, was not just a hollow covenant but a true integration of the Pantheons' power.
And the headquarters was established in the Far East.
That's right, in Japan!
Because of this, the chief gods of many Pantheons had already returned to consolidate the opinions and voices of their respective Pantheons.
Although there was no warning, one thing was unstoppable: the alliance.
Therefore, many Pantheons left their elite personnel behind to build the 'Earth Pantheon Alliance'.
"Alright, it's okay now."
Shuri Himejima gently patted Baraqiel's back, while Himejima Akeno, beside them, felt moved by her father's embrace but also felt an indescribable sense of gloom.
Because the person who saved them at the critical moment was not Baraqiel, but Rias.
So little Himejima Akeno was throwing a tantrum.
Fortunately, unlike the original story where it became an obsession, it was just a tantrum.
"They really dared to do it."
Looking at Baraqiel and his wife and daughter, a cold light appeared in Azazel's eyes.
To Azazel, Baraqiel, a friend of countless years, could be called a brother for whom he would do anything.
And with his brother's wife and daughter being bullied, Azazel naturally felt angry.
Especially at this juncture, it would also bring a negative impact on the Fallen Angels.
"Fortunately, the worst outcome didn't happen,"
Sirzechs consoled.
"For this, I am very grateful for your help."
Baraqiel's anger was suppressed; after releasing his wife and daughter, he bowed to Rias.
"No need to be polite. We will all be colleagues from now on; there's no need to be so distant."
Rias smiled lightly. "What's more important now is how to resolve this."
"Do you have any suggestions, Lady Rias?"
Michael asked softly.
"Naturally, everyone should already have an answer."
Rias smiled.
Everyone here was shrewd; what Rias thought of, they could naturally think of as well.
From a broad perspective and in terms of values, Rias could understand the thoughts of those people in the Himejima Clan, yet she also despised them.
In the original story, Baraqiel endured and did not go to war with the Five Great Clans for the sake of the Fallen Angels' overall situation.
However, striking now when many Pantheons were gathered, even if Rias saved Baraqiel's wife and daughter, the act itself was a provocation to the Earth Pantheon Alliance.
Not only that, the moment the 'Earth Pantheon Alliance' decided to place its headquarters in the Far East, the Himejima Clan's current performance was completely like a chicken delivered to the slaughter!
Because of this, the several Devil Kings, cadres, and Seraphim of the Biblical Pantheon looked at each other, already having a plan in mind.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.