A black haired woman drums her fingers on her desk, eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hey Hey Serafall! It's me! Luce! It has been a while since my last message, so I thought I might as well check up on you. Your newest season of Levia-tan did as expected. Perhaps next time going over the script a few more times may raise the quality somewhat.
I've been incredibly busy myself. You've probably already heard of me from your spies and whatnot (Tell Sister Bellatrix and Steven Harrison I said hello). They call me the 'Artisan of Heaven'. Yeaaaah. I've been painting a lot personally. Back in heaven. It's a true shame that you'll probably never see it. Heaven is truly beautiful. Oh! I met Gabriel and the other Seraphs. That was neat. I'm honestly kind of surprised that Sariel wasn't added to the 'Most Beautiful Woman In the Underworld' contest as well, but I suppose more people know what Gabriel looks like as the Seraph of Foreign affairs.
Anyways, I've actually been working on a small project, and as someone with years upon years within the industry, even how your show has turned out, I was hoping that you could give me your input."
He just called her old... and called her show bad.
Oh. Also revealed that he knew two of her contacts in DEEP cover.
That totally hasn't been good for her emotions.
Ugh. Bratty angel.
She really didn't expect for the 'Artisan of Heaven' to be the angel to send her messages before.
She's heard whispers of him here and there. Supposedly someone who can paint pictures that become real.
Heaven has gained someone... annoying...
She stares at a video link, a frown on her face as she crosses her arms.
She hasn't clicked on it yet, mainly because it could very well install a virus into her computer.
It's not really a tactic of angels...
But she can't be sure with this new brat.
Regardless, she is REALLY curious, so she grabbed a brand new laptop and grabbed the file.
A tear drips down Serafall's cheek.
That...
Damn it.
From what she can see... the story. The choreography. The music.
The show's a freaking MUSICAL!
Damn it! That's such a good idea! The little snippets of songs that were sent were also so fucking CATCHY!
Why must this little angel continue to bully her so much?
This is a new pain...
She had gotten used to Gabriel's TOTALLY mutual rivalry and spite of her- the other Satans think she's crazy, but she KNOWS that she's not, Gabriel is totally doing all of this to spite her. Call it woman's intuition- but this is a completely new form of irritation!
Why is this boy bullying her?! It's unfair! He didn't even tell her when the series is going to release!
Her eyes flick back to her inbox as she gets another email.
PS: Gabriel seems really REALLY mad at the devil race for some reason. Apparently, some devil did something really stupid- as in 'restart the great war' stupid so... prepare for that. Don't accidentally start a war, please. I feel that the world would be more boring without you or your show.
The woman freezes, eyes growing wide, dread grips her heart, she completely misses the not so subtle threats of violence against her.
Angels...
Angels don't lie...
They can misconstrue the truth, they can stretch it, and even mislead you to come to incorrect conclusions... but they don't lie.
Well, in person, that is.
A flickering halo is kind of a large tell.
But...
Serafall's mind quickly goes over everything that has happened recently and to be honest... nothing is standing out to her.
Could that be a fib?
To get her to stress out over nothing?
No.
Gabriel has scheduled an emergency meeting with her.
She had thought it was something to do with perhaps the Grigori but...
SHIT.
Shit shit shit.
Her hands run through her hair, eyes darting across her desk.
Serafall squirms slightly under the gaze of the blonde in front of her.
She is currently sat within a small town in Switzerland, just past the borders of Italy. Neutral ground.
The blonde in front of her is stunning. A true beauty, even Serafall can agree with that assessment.
But.
Instead of that gentle and impassive, kind of reserved smile that she normally has in these meetings...
It's... quite a serious frown. A glower. Almost a scowl.
She's definitely PISSED.
The black haired devil's gaze briefly darts behind the woman, where a second blonde is stood, this one shorter, petite, with blue eyes and two little wings on her back. There's... something a little unnerving about her honestly.
Serafall's gaze quickly moves back to Gabriel, where she watches as the blonde seraph adjusts a series of papers in her hands. "Serafall. I have taken... great issue with something one of your younger generation has done."
"Yes? What is it exactly?" The black haired woman quickly questions. She needs to know just how badly this could go.
The seraph tosses the papers lazily on the table. They slide forwards in a stack, eventually stopping just out of the black haired woman's reach. she has to stand up to grab them.
She looks over the first page.
It's a timeline of some sort.
Makes contact with church officials... holy maiden walks through garden... devil meets holy maiden-
Serafall's eyes widen.
Shit.
Shit shit shit.
She flicks through the rest of the pages, each of the fifteen showing similar outcomes, her face growing more and more pale with each additional paper.
Fifteen holy maidens.
That is-
All by one singular devil... a devil who's the younger brother of fucking AJUKA!
*Riiiiip*
Serafall stiffens at the iconic noise.
Things have just gotten so so so so SO much worse.
"Oh my... I hope I wasn't too late." A new voice hums.
"I am glad that you could grace us with your presence, youkai of boundaries." Gabriel bows her head slightly.
"Hm. I don't like you very much, seraph. Your little humans have taken quite a lot from us. However... I dislike devils more. I very much appreciate this opportunity to make them squirm."
A new woman sits there in the air, she has blonde hair, purple eyes and wears a purple dress and mob cap atop her head, she sits within a rift in the world itself, a portal of some kind in which the insides look like a mass of darkness and eyes.
Spoiler
The youkai makes a grasping motion and suddenly the papers are in her hands. "Oh my. This is quite brutish."
She pages through the stack of papers quickly. "Quite foolhardy to place the blame entirely upon the devils when your churchlings were the ones to accept those bribes. But... hmm... this is quite distasteful. You sought me out to return them to humans, correct? I may... be convinced. But even as humans... the scars of what this little demented child has done to them will remain. You are aware of this, yes?"
"Yes." The Seraph sighs. "But that come later. I sought you out, Yukari Yakumo, because there's one thing that I have that I imagine you would want."
"Oooooh? The church has taken quite a few holy relics from Japan over the past couple hundred years... they're quite bold in assuming that everything that produces a certain aura is theirs by right. I would hope that you mean those, as it'd be quite amusing for the youkai faction to retrieve these items instead of the principal clans... yet I do not sense any holy relics on you, Seraph."
A stack of papers appear in the seraph's hands and she sits them on the table in front of her. "We of heaven make three demands of hell."
Her eyes narrow. "Firstly. Diodora Astaroth will be handed over to us for immediate execution. Second. We will be granted the fifteen holy maidens that he has kidnapped. Thirdly. Ajuka Beelzebub WILL implement these modifications to the peerage system."
"WHAT?!" Serafall's eyes widen as she rockets to her feet.
The youkai snatches the stack of papers yet again, causing the black haired devil to grit her teeth and cringe. Dread pools in her stomach as the blonde woman scans the papers, a look of surprise on her face, lips briefly turned downwards.
Could heaven know about the inner workings of evil pieces? Or is this more of a list of rules they want Ajuka to implement? Both options have their problems... the prior? They... may have known how to make their own version of evil pieces this entire time... if they haven't already developed them... the latter? It may not even be possible... or Ajuka just simply will refuse to put the time into figuring it out, being too focused on other projects at the moment.
"Huh..." The youkai eventually speaks. "Is this truly what it looks like?"
"That... is the coding language Ajuka used to program the evil pieces." Gabriel casually reveals causing the black haired woman to freeze. O-oh no... that's... bad...
"To explain what those modifications will accomplish... firstly, it takes into account the overall mood and approval of both the reincarnator and the reincarnatee... in addition, it will monitor physical and emotional abuse from the devil king to his peerage members."
The youkai's eyes glint as she turns to the devil woman. "Oh my, this is quite in-ter-es-ting~"
Yukari lazily tosses the stack of papers before Serafall. "For once... I am on the side of the church. Huh. That felt wrong on my tongue. I myself am deeply invested in seeing that these modifications are added to your little abducting pieces."
"Serafall." Gabriel speaks once more. "Heaven has allowed hell to have free reign for far too long. If these three demands aren't met... if you refuse to add simple consent and a method to stop the abuse of your new devils after we have PROVEN that it is indeed possible..."
"War." She glares. "You, Serafall, will have war... not only with the church, but with whatever faction finds out that you weren't entirely truthful about it being impossible to enforce these two simple rules upon your evil pieces... and that you refuse to change."
"You- You're threatening to restart the great war?!" The black haired woman sputters, flinching back in shock. "Even after both of our races have faced so many losses?! Neither of us have even SLIGHTLY recovered. Surely heaven is even worse off than the underworld. This action could doom not only the underworld, but yourselves as well!"
"We have... recovered." Gabriel whispers.
"..."
"The artisan..." Serafall frowns. "You seek to fill the battlefield with painted constructs."
"Hm. Precisely." The angel nods once. "You'd be surprised at what he can create with just simple paint and canvas. He's spoken about painting dragons before. Holy Dragons. Dragons who can wield light as if they were angels. Flonne here is one of his creations."
"Hello!" The small girl waves.
The youkai looks over. "Oh my... that is quite impressive. I can see why you're so confident in pushing around hell now."
She seems to blink twice and smile, tilting her head to the side, eyes seemingly following something that only she can see. "Oh? How intriguing. A hive mind."
Gabriel continues on. "A fight between our races will be disastrous... but we will not lose one-sidedly. If heaven were to fall, it would be after taking out an estimated ninety five percent of ALL devils remaining in the world. New Satans... Great King... Old Satan. Everyone. With more generous estimates expected to fall to only Sirzechs and Ajuka remaining alive."
"But... at a certain point..." The seraph trails off.
Serafall audibly swallows.
She has- she has never seen Gabriel like this before.
"Now." The angel continues. "This can be avoided... we can go back to our regularly scheduled cold war, I can put away my Great War mindset yet again and we can continue inching closer and closer to peace. That is... if you do these three little things."
Yukari takes this moment to speak. "If Heaven decides to go to war against hell... well... I cannot say I will support them, but who's to say that I won't make a little... appearance every now and then? Especially now that I know that your Beelzebub could have tried just a little bit harder and made it so I wouldn't have to attend so many meetings dealing with your kind."
"My time is valuable, and I cannot get it back... so I would suggest that you all choose wisely on if you are going to agree to heaven's terms. Merely so I don't have to do anything like I did just eight short years ago." Yukari smirks menacingly. "Do you remember that, Leviathan? Did your green haired friend ever figure out how to put them back together or are they still living on life support?"
Serafall rubs her face with her hands. Today isn't going well at all. She needs a little more time. She was caught completely on the back-foot here. From what she can see in the papers given about Diodora Astaroth... that's an open and shut case. Giving him over will slightly appease heaven.
As a satan, sometimes she needs to make difficult decisions. The needs of the many type decisions.
This... is not one of those difficult decisions. Ajuka cares very little about his little brother. Wait- could he have possibly known what he is doing? No... even he wouldn't look the other way while people are being tortured like that. It's likely the man saw the brat's 'kind' personality for what it was. Fake. Perhaps he thought his brother was trying to get something out of him. "I will need time to speak with the other four satans. I cannot confirm- nor deny- anything to do with Evil Pieces at the moment. However, I can say that Diodora Astaroth has committed a great crime, and he, alongside his peerage, will be turned over to heaven swiftly. We need to ensure that these changes will not irreversibly damage our peerage system and making those changes could take time."
"You have two months to come to a decision." Gabriel interlocks her fingers.
That is... more than enough time...
It appears that Gabriel truly doesn't want a war... but... Heaven isn't faltering here. It seems like she'll actually do what she says if her demands aren't met.
This is completely different from how the angels traditionally do things.
Gaining access to Luce has made them quite bold.
They feel secure again... and if he was the one to write the modifications...
Heaven likely could develop their very own Evil Pieces... if they haven't already, that is. Which would solve their population issues.
Now she has to speak with Ajuka.
Annnd that's another Flonne finished.
The seraph REALLY liked Flonne, she's a cheerful girl, supposedly quite powerful as well.
I really didn't expect her to be THIS strong.
That's kind of surprising, honestly.
Anyways, with this Flonne, that brings the total number of Flonnes up to four.
I think all the seraphs want one of her as a direct attendant, the hivemind aspect seems to be the part they are most interested in which is... fair. They share knowledge, thus she can be used as a telephone that can also create a number of angels capable of potentially killing someone like Sariel the Angel of Death.
It's a personal immortal guard battalion which can perfectly communicate with all of the other personal guards, getting information to the others in an instant.
Is it time to make a fifth Flonne?
Do they truly want me to just make a brigade of Flonne? Unlimited Flonnes?
Twenty of her might be pushing it. By that point we'd have an entire wall full of her portraits.
"Hmph. I bet they didn't even look at my plans for a dragon." I pout.
"They looked at it, Master it appeared that they did consider it, but liked young Flonne m-" Jibril speaks only to stiffen.
I pause, slowly turning and gazing at a nearby wall. "Uriel would throw a fit if he knew you were here. Greetings Youkai of Boundaries."
"Oh? How interesting... you can see me." The blank wall gains a small tear as a blonde woman leans through, her hands rest below her chin, fingers interlocked as she props her head up as if she's laying mid-air. "And you are scared... yet... resigned?"
"If you wanted to kill me. Is there really anything anyone could do about it?" I question rhetorically.
Her smile grows. "Smart boy."
"I merely wanted to take a look at the boy that had been the talk of the supernatural factions... and was taking the time to decide if you would be better off dead before you become an even larger headache."
"Plus I suppose looking at heaven has been on my bucket list for quite a while~ it's very... white."
"I knooooow." I groan. "Like, there's other colors, right? They always pair it with gold as well. I'd much prefer a nice blue or purple."
"Quite." The woman smirks. "Well. I've seen all I wish to. Quite lacking... the tales everyone weaves of you... but you're just a boy."
"That I am." I agree as I turn back to my drying canvas. "Personally, I don't see why everyone's getting all worked up. It's not like I did anything that impressive. I painted something that came to life. Big whoop. People are out there giving life to stone and metal, raising undead armies, and crafting weapons of legend every day. What makes me so different?"
"Come now... didn't you make an alternative to the devil's evil pieces?" Her eyes glow.
"True." I shrug. "But Ajuka made them first. Reasonably I just copied his work and made it angel-fied."
"Should I give heaven my... warnings... that I gave the devil race on reviving those who do not wish to be revived?" Her eyes narrow.
I turn, giving her a skeptical and mildly disgusted look. "What makes you think that I didn't personally create our system with the exact same rules that Gabriel showed you today? Besides. We're angels. Any who try and... well... force themselves on someone- even if it's not in the traditional sense- will find themselves a fallen angel and stripped of their pieces faster than you can say... ah... something... short..."
the youkai's eyes twinkle slightly, she enjoys how genuinely caught off-guard and scared I am. That's not very nice.
"Your paintings. What are their limits? Could you paint me? Would heaven in turn gain a boundary youkai to do their bidding?"
"Oh heavens above- and below- no." I shake my head. "If I paint you, it look like a youkai, sure, one who looks like you, maybe even have portal powers, but in no way would it be your equal. Nor a true youkai, being more akin to a golem."
I gesture to Jibril. "She's more or less the limit of my creations. I could likely make stronger in the future, but at a certain point the cost per painting becomes genuinely ludicrous let alone the stress it puts on me and the time it takes to complete. In fact, she blew through all the resources I had been given in one single painting. According to Uriel that paint was meant to last me at least a year. Now he's got several exorcist groups diving for sea snails and mining for lapis lazuli."
"Now. If you're going to kill me, can you at least let me write a letter to give to my friends?"
"..."
"You may live." The youkai decides. "Why can't you be some sort of unlikable brat?"
I let out a low sigh of relief as I look back to my painting. "If you haven't been there yet, the second level of heaven is quite nice. It's probably the only place here that's black. It shows a perfect unblemished sky. Free from the light pollution of humans. It's quite dazzling, really. If you want a painting, I wouldn't necessarily mind painting one for you either... but you'll probably have to talk to Gabriel about that."
"Hmph. Why would I want a painting?
"I don't know." I mutter. "I could have made it something to deal with something that inconveniences you and you don't feel like using your powers to fix? A real 'Luce original' titled something like 'Please don't kill me'. Surely worth a lot of money when I make it big and get some paintings in the Louvre! Or I could make a fake copy of you could send to all of the meetings you don't feel like dealing with."
Her eyes sharpen slightly. "Tempting. Truly tempting."
With that she falls back through the rift and disappears.
"..."
"..."
I bring a hand to my beating heart, slowly falling to my knees. "Haaaaah. Frick.'
"Master-" Jibril begins slowly. "The other should be made aware."
"Oh. They're aware. Flonne was watching the whole thing." I gesture to the painting, the blonde girl wearing police regalia has her arms crossed, her gaze sweeping the room."
The door slams open.
"LUCE! Are you alright?!" Uriel is standing there, light spear in hand; his twelve white wings extend out around him.
Flonne eventually comes to a stop behind him after a few seconds, the man having run ahead.
"I'm fine... just very very stressed." I reply before taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, pinching my fingertips together. "Oh my gosh I thought I was going to die!"
That was super fucking stressful.
My flash of omniscience didn't even tell me what I should say! Freaking twenty percent!
Actually... is probably closer to fifteen now.
I rub my temples. "I... am going to go either lay down and pass out or visit my friends now."
I step out from a painting, a smile on my lips as I look around.
"Hey! Anyone here?" I call out.
I can hear rapid approaching footsteps.
"Luce!" The door to the back of the church crashes open, a blue haired woman beams a bright smile at me.
"Xenovia!" I smile brightly, the girl crashing into me with a near bonecrushing hug.
I rub her back with a small wheeze. "It's good to see you too, Xenovia."
Eventually the hug is released as I let out a low hum, gazing around the room. "The others here?"
Lint and the others walk out of the backroom the moment I finish my sentence.
"Well... that answers that." I mutter. "So. What have you all been doing?"
"Schoolwork."
"Schoolwork? You looking to go to school around here?"
"Kuoh Academy is the only school in the city." Xenovia crosses her arms with a frown. "We're being homeschooled because I do not wish to deal with those heathens."
"Ah. Technically and linguistically speaking. You're wrong about them being heathens." I cut in. "The definition of the word means 'people who did not follow the Christian, Jewish, or Islamic faiths'. As devils. By nature, they follow things that are in the bible. Even if they are following the moral opposite of us and even if he bit it a few hundred years ago."
The girl pouts before correcting herself a moment later. "Fine. I do not wish to fraternize with devils. Is that better?"
"Yep!" I beam, causing her to smile warmly and shake her head.
"SO." I clap my hands. "I had a fairly scary day today."
"H-Huh?" Irina mutters.
"You know that super powerful youkai woman that I said to be super respectful towards and to never antagonize... ever?"
"What... about it?"
"She showed up in heaven... like... casually... all the way in seventh heaven... in like... an instant. Mere moments after a Meeting Lady Gabriel had with her in attendance."
"What?!" Xenovia booms. "A Filth-"
"zzt-" I pinch her lips together. "None of that. She was quite concerned with my paintings so she maaaay be watching over me still. Don't talk about her. Don't antagonize her. Do not even bother a youkai unless they're reaaaaally asking for it."
I release her lips. "So! I've actually got something to ask all of you... uh..."
"It's... kind of important."
"What do you need, Luce?" Irina's head tilts slightly.
"Well, it's more of an offer." I smile weakly. "So! Let's so have a talk."