In the world of Highschool DxD, once Yuuji, Lala, and Yami left, many changes began to occur in relation to the plot he knew, without Yuuji realizing it.
And the origin of these changes was, of course, his actions.
...
In an unknown place, several figures were gathered, the leaders of each faction, with the exception of Lucifer and God, who were in another place discussing matters between themselves.
The rest simply chatted within their own groups, with tension floating in the air.
From time to time someone could not help but discreetly glance toward another faction, and arguments would immediately break out.
In one of those factions, the fallen angel faction to be more specific, a fallen angel with long straight black hair, golden eyes, and a smile that was equal parts malicious and arrogant, was complaining to the leader of his faction.
"The leaders of the Angel and Demon factions gathered but ignored Lord Azazel. Clearly they do not take us seriously, we should..."
"Kokabiel, shut up!" his leader immediately interrupted him before he could say more.
Azazel, the leader of the fallen angels, with a mature appearance and peculiar black hair with blond streaks, had no intention of causing trouble. To him the war was nothing more than a waste of time. But he knew well the intentions of his subordinate, who did not want the war to end and preferred to continue fighting.
"Knowing those two, it is probably Lucifer throwing tantrums the entire time anyway. There is no need to participate in their meeting.
Besides, the chances that Lucifer would actually cooperate without planning something are very low. The less involvement I have in that, the safer I will be.
Remember, Kokabiel, when the cats fight the mouse takes advantage."
While Azazel calmly drank tea while sitting elegantly at a round table, he raised an eyebrow when he noticed something.
In the angel faction, a subordinate hurried to tell something quickly to one of the four seraphs present, who then told it directly to Michael.
Since Michael was the de facto leader among the angels in God's absence, Azazel was certain it had to be something important if it needed to be reported to him.
"It seems those two will take a while, so I will take my leave" Azazel said while standing up, drawing everyone's attention.
"Where are you going?" Beelzebub asked suspiciously.
"I have no reason to tell you that, correct? I simply did not like the air here and decided to go out for some fresh air. Let me know when those two finish" he said, completely ignoring the expressions of the other factions as he left.
Unlike the fallen angels, who only had minor conflicts with the other two factions and whose power was not very large, the angels and demons hated each other to death and their power was significant enough that even the absence of one could cause problems for their faction.
Because of this, aside from the fallen angel faction, none of the other two factions dared to leave.
Neither the demon faction, which strongly suspected them, nor the angel faction, which seemed to have internal problems.
Azazel and his group immediately headed to their base, where Shemhazai was located, something like the administrative manager of the faction, essentially a secretary who handled everything in place of her boss.
As soon as Azazel arrived, Shemhazai already knew what he wanted and spoke immediately.
"We asked Zadkiel. Even though he did not want to tell us anything, lying would cause him to fall, so he told us everything."
"Tell me in detail" Azazel said with interest.
Zadkiel was something like his informant inside the angel faction. Not because he was a traitor, but because his moral integrity prevented him from lying, doing so would carry the risk of him falling and becoming a fallen angel.
However, given his integrity, even if he told them something, he would soon tell Michael or others that he had revealed that information.
For that reason Azazel treated him as a one time trump card, and the fact that Shemhazai had used him knowing this meant something important had happened.
Shemhazai immediately told him everything.
The angels who had fled from the village attacked by Yuuji, Lala, and Yami had reported what happened, and the information had already spread among the higher ranks of the angels.
"A massive machine that gathered holy power and two unknown humans appearing alongside Golden Darkness...
From the description, and also the strange artifact, it matches the two humans who appeared ten years ago. It seems they returned" Azazel murmured.
"Do you think they will attack us?" Kokabiel asked.
"I do not think so. The fact that they ignored all the angels who fled means they were not their target. If that is the case, what could their objective be?"
"The artifact with holy energy?" Shemhazai asked as she realized.
"Exactly. They said they appeared with an artifact with powerful holy energy, but that is impossible.
Based on what they said, that the attacks did not hurt them and that they suddenly felt the holy energy, the most likely explanation is that they absorbed all the holy energy into that artifact. After completing their objective they ignored the rest.
An artifact with astronomical quantities of holy energy... it is clear what their target is" Azazel said. "What is the nearest high level demon base to the location of the angel village?"
Shemhazai took out a map and searched quickly before pointing to a location marked with a red circle.
Seeing the marked place, Azazel smiled with amusement while Kokabiel widened his eyes in shock.
"Impossible. They would not dare."
"Oh, they absolutely would" Azazel said. "But that does not matter. What matters... is how we will take advantage of it."
"Do you think they will succeed?" Shemhazai asked, understanding the implication behind his words.
"Will they succeed? Last time they appeared for less than a day before leaving, and Golden Darkness' style is to eliminate enemies quickly. Why do you think they have not acted already?"
"But if they had already acted, should the demons not be more tense?" Kokabiel asked, remembering that the only ones behaving strangely were the angels.
"Perhaps... no one was able to inform them" Azazel said with an increasingly amused smile.
"Are you saying the entire army under Leviathan, one of the four Maou of the underworld, was completely eliminated with no survivors? If that is the case, it is a situation we can take advantage of" Shemhazai said.
"Exactly. I have an idea" Azazel smiled.
...
While the high command of the three factions participating in the great war were isolated discussing their plans, a rumor began to spread across the battlefield.
It was said that one of the four great armies of the demon faction had been completely annihilated.
The three factions reacted differently, believing it or not, but the result was the same. With the temporary truce between the three factions, none of them were willing to take advantage of the situation, because doing so would not only put the demon faction against them but also the other two factions for breaking the truce.
However, external factions that had been waiting for the perfect moment to act immediately took the bait.
Several powerful entities from different factions appeared on the battlefield and, using the opening left by Leviathan's missing army, managed to reach the demon faction's command center, causing heavy losses and obtaining incredible gains.
The faction that benefited the most from all this was none other than the Yokai faction. Because of the great hatred this faction held toward demons for enslaving their race, unlike the other factions that only sent powerful members but not their true elite, unwilling to fully enter the conflict, the Yokai queen herself acted personally for her faction and obtained far greater gains.
The high command quickly noticed the situation, but with the plans to contain Ddraig and Albion underway they could not intervene. By the time they managed to react, it was already too late.
At the same time, another piece of news further weakened the demon faction, Lucifer and the four original Maou had died during a battle.
The truth was that during the process of sealing Ddraig and Albion by God, Lucifer attempted to betray him from behind along with his three trusted subordinates.
This caused a situation of mutual destruction where God, having already used most of his strength to seal Ddraig and Albion, sacrificed himself and died along with Lucifer and the four original Maou.
However, this is a story known only by the highest ranks, and they decided not to make it fully public.
After all, God is the absolute most powerful among all gods. Without him the entire biblical faction, angels, demons, and fallen angels, would be in danger of being hunted by other mythologies. Hiding his death is of vital importance, especially now that the great war has just ended and they need time to recover.
Finally, the weakened demon faction needed new leadership. Four new Maou had to be chosen.
But while they were doing so, a third piece of news shook the underworld.
Serafall Leviathan, heir of the Leviathan bloodline, the person in charge of the "disappeared army" as it was called, and someone who was supposedly dead, was not only alive but completely unharmed.
Instead of being happy for her, suspicions immediately arose and she was labeled a traitor.
She was only forgiven because the strongest living person in the demon world, Sirzechs Lucifer, stepped forward.
To guarantee her loyalty he made a decision that surprised many, marriage.
Serafall Leviathan would now become Serafall Lucifer after marrying Sirzechs Lucifer and would use her strength for the demon kingdom.
With the Leviathan position vacant, the fifth strongest person, just below Serafall, would be the most suitable to take the position.
The problem, that person was Sirzechs Lucifer's maid.
It was impossible for someone to hold the power of three Maou, two by position and one by bloodline, by themselves, so the underworld opposed it.
Thinking about the demon world before his own interests, Sirzechs Lucifer cut his relationship with Grayfia and set her free.
Thus, after several turns of events, the four new Maou ended up being:
Sirzechs Lucifer.
Ajuka Beelzebub.
Falbium Asmodeus.
Grayfia Leviathan.
Centuries later, while Serafall was playing with her little sister, followers of the faction of the old Maou, believers that only blood heirs should occupy the positions of the original Maou, approached Serafall intending to recruit her.
The result, half of the old Maou faction disappeared that day, while Serafall publicly declared that she has absolutely no relationship with the Leviathan line.
After that she returned to taking care of her sister like a loving older sister.
At the same time, some people tried to cause trouble for Grayfia, saying that she is not a true Leviathan.
That the true Leviathan heir should be Serafall, who not only has the real Leviathan bloodline but is also stronger than her.
However, trying to complain about Grayfia was like punching cotton.
Not only did she not contradict the annoying voices, she agreed with them.
Grayfia agreed, and with a smile declared that she was not born to lead but to follow someone, that she was only guarding that seat and that the day she finds a new master she will leave the position to follow him.
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