Chapters 81-85

Chapters 81-85

The Seraphim Michael, the current leader of Heaven, sat upon his throne in the Seventh Heaven. The seventh realm was reserved only for the archangels and his father himself. It was where the Heavenly System was located; it was the throne itself. While sitting upon it, Michael could hear every single prayer in the world in real time. He could then influence the system to bestow blessings onto the people praying who were worthy of them. Michael ignored the prayers of the wicked and cruel. Even if they were ironically devout, they were still not worthy of Heaven's blessings.

Another thing the throne could do was show him the information on all of the world's current Sacred Gear holders. That's why he was currently very confused at the information he was receiving. A new Sacred Gear had entered the system. Another [Twilight Healing] had come into existence! That shouldn't have been possible, and yet it had happened. What shocked him even more was when he received the information of who was in possession of the Sacred Gear. His youngest sister, Layla, had it...

He wondered how this had come to be. Their father had NEVER given a Sacred Gear to any angel before. Although, Layla wasn't just any other Angel. She was his final child after all. Michael wondered if their Father might have foreseen his own death and chosen to bestow his last child with one last parting gift. It was odd that it had only awakened now of all times, but then again, some humans could go their entire lives without ever awakening their Sacred Gears. Michael was just glad that his youngest sister was still okay and within reach of the Heavenly System. He was sure Gabriel would be ecstatic to hear the news.

...

[You have leveled up!]

"Here is some tea; thank you for healing my daughter. When those monsters return, I will break them!" Yasaka declared with a grunt that promised vengeance upon the Khaos Brigade.

"This is quite good. It is also strange to see a queen preparing her own drinks. Your culture is fascinating," Sif commented.

"I'm not really a queen per se..." Yasaka stated.

"Were you elected to lead the yokai?" I asked her.

She shook her head no. "I inherited the position from my mother, as Kunou will one day from me."

"Then you are a queen." "That's the definition of a queen." Sif and I bluntly stated at the same time. We turned to each other and laughed. Yasaka blushed but didn't argue our logic any further.

"Will you require further assistance to deal with the perpetrators of your daughter's poisoning?" Sif asked Yasaka.

The fox woman shook her head. "I thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid this is a Kyoto matter and should be dealt with as such. It was some of my retainers that betrayed my family and let the intruders into our home in the first place," she explained. "I would actually like to ask you what you desire as a reward for saving my daughter, Layla?" Yasaka asked me.

Oh right, the quest reward also said I would receive "Yasaka's Favor" as well as a Level Up. I wondered just how far I could push such a favor, though. A thought crossed my mind... The Yokai have a lot of reach within the human business world as well as the supernatural, do they not?" I asked Yasaka.

She nodded to me. "Could you offer a very lucrative job to a man in Kuoh that requires him and his family to move to Kyoto?" I asked her. "Without making it look suspicious?" I had just thought of the perfect way to use her "Favor" to help further relations between our two factions and completely screw over the Devils at the same time.

Yasaka frowned a bit. "I admit it shouldn't be too hard. You want to relocate a family out of the devil territory? Might I ask why?"Findd new stories at novelhall.com

"The son of the family is the next Red Dragon Emperor. He currently should be or will soon be in the crosshairs of the two Devil princesses for enslavement," I said as I spat out that last word. That's what peerages were from my memories. Enslavement. Found Family? Camaraderie? Love? Hell no! The evil pieces came with built-in mind control that made the peerage members naturally inclined to love their "Kings" over time. Baraqiel was furious when he found out his daughter was taken by the Gremory Clan. She was spirited off to the underworld for years after that, and it was only years later that Rias and her slaves started attending human school. By then, Akeno would have been fully indoctrinated. One of my goals was to eventually give my niece back her freedom, but for that to occur, I would need a way to safely extract the evil pieces without killing the Host. Ajuka was very thorough when he created the things unfortunately. I knew with the power of the system though, I'd be able to do it.

[Damn right! I'm way better than anything some paltry mad scientist devil could ever make!]

Yasaka's eyes widened. "The Red Dragon!? He's in Kuoh?"

I nodded. "We can't let him fall into the devil's hands." Judging by Kunou's current age, which appeared to be very close to canon, he could be recruited very soon. The only reason I knew canon hasn't started yet was that Asia Argento was still currently a revered Holy Maiden in the church.

"Very well," Yasaka said. "It will be done. Now, why don't you tell me a bit more about the young man?"

XXX

"Thank you so much for this opportunity, Miss Yasaka! I promise you won't regret making me the head of development for your new string of apartment complexes," Gorou Hyoudou, an older human man and father, said to the currently disguised Fox Woman. Yasaka had her ears and tails hidden and was wearing a VERY tight businesswoman suit. Her shirt's seams were holding on for dear life, doing everything to not tear and cause her shirt to bust open from her impressive bust. No pun intended.

[That pun was absolutely intended, you liar...]

Yasaka and I were sitting in the Hyoudou family's new home in Kyoto. It had been about a week since she sent out the anonymous job offer to the Hyoudou family to try and snatch the Red Dragon Emperor away from the Devils. There was just one small caveat—

"Care for some tea, Miss Layla?" Miki Hyoudou, the mother of the current Red Dragon, asked me. She held out a teeming cup for me to take.

"Thank you," I smiled at her and took a small sip. It was hand-brewed and not instant, which I appreciated.

"Wow, DAD! These are your new bosses. Both of them are so beautiful! And their Oppai are amazing! I hope mine grow that big someday!" And there was our current problem speaking now...

"Isane Hyoudou! That is no way to talk to guests, let alone your father's new bosses! Apologize now!" Miki scolded her daughter—yes, daughter. There was no Red Dragon Emperor. There was, however, a Red Dragon Empress this generation. Issei had been gender-bent. That wasn't exactly a big problem per se, but it did throw all of my meta knowledge into question now.

The teenage girl apologized to me. "I'm sorry. Sometimes my mouth just gets ahead of me, and I say stuff before I know what I'm saying!" Isane explained.

Yasaka giggled nearby. I could tell she found the situation hilarious. She had also laughed at me earlier for trusting whoever my "information broker" was, considering he was so unreliable. Yasaka was under the impression that I had a terrible broker who gave me the information about Isane being a boy and not a girl. I found it was easiest to run with stories that people came up with on their own, so I just went with it and told her I would fire the nonexistent guy.

"Well, at least he was correct about her actually being the Red Dragon Empress," Yasaka said a few days ago. "Otherwise, all of this would have been for naught."

"It's fine, Miss Hyoudou. Just know that most women will not be comfortable with a young girl like you talking about their chests so openly," I explained.

Isane pouted. "I'm not young! I'm 17, I'll have you know!"

"Talk to me in another year then," I muttered.

The girl heard me, though, and perked up. "Is that an invitation!?" She asked with excitement.

"Isane! No flirting with older women until you're 18, we've talked about this!" Her mother scolded her again. She then apologized to Yasaka and us and explained that Isane was very much into girls...

We had noticed... Isane couldn't take her eyes off of either Yasaka or myself for hardly a few seconds. Isane was cute, I'd give her that. She had short brown hair and a heart-shaped face. But she was currently jailbait, and I wasn't going anywhere near that.

Isane quieted down after that, and Yasaka started hammering out the details of Gorou's new position with him. The job did, in fact, exist. The apartments were just being built to house yokai and not humans. Gorou didn't need to know that, as he was just the construction general manager. It was the same as his job in Kuoh, except Yasaka had offered him twice as much money to move to Kyoto and start immediately.

Sif conjured a small dagger and pricked her palm with it. A line of blood temporarily spilled out before it turned orange and shot back inside her skin! A second later, her skin completely sealed shut. There was no scar or evidence of a cut at all. "Wow!" Sif squealed in excitement before she wrapped me in a tight hug. "I can't wait to spar with Thor soon with this on my side! Let's see him win now when he can't even hurt me!" She boasted with pride. Now that she was completely over Thor, she wanted to defeat him in combat for some reason. I'm not sure why, to be honest.

With our slight distraction over with, we headed back towards the supposedly abandoned church at the edge of town. As we approached, I got a feeling like I was unwelcome to be there. I frowned at the sensation. It had been a while since I'd felt like that.

"Are you alright, Layla?" Sif asked me.

"Yeah, it's just that this is consecrated ground, and I'm technically not welcome here as a fallen angel. It's not so bad, just feels like a mildly unpleasant tingle. It's not that strong since it's been abandoned for so long," I explained. I had to give it to Raynare. It was smart that she chose this place. The devils wouldn't think to look here as they would assume we Fallen wouldn't want to stay in a place that makes us uncomfortable either.

The doors of the church were closed, and I didn't feel like knocking. I lifted my foot up and kicked them inwards. With my 35 strength, the already rotting wooden doors immediately ripped off their hinges and were flung across the room. "Raynare. Get your ass out here!" I yelled loudly.

Inside the church were about two dozen ex-priests. They were all looking at me like I was crazy.

"Who the hell dares yell at Raynare like that!? Do you have a death wish, bitch? Huh? Do you—oh fuck, Layla..." A short blond Fallen Angel came rushing down the pews and screaming her head off. That was until she saw my face and turned meek in an instant. The old Layla and her might have been similar in power, being both low class, but in the hierarchy, I was far above any of them.

[Good ol' nepotism.]

'Damn straight!'

"Hello, Mittlett. I know what you and the three other idiots have been up to. Now, where the fuck is Raynare, and where is Asia Argento?" I asked her as I glared down at her. Mittlett started shaking with fear in her eyes. That was a good start...

XXX

Mittlet shook in fear! What the hell was her youngest sister doing here? Layla was supposed to have been missing because of one of Azazel's crazy experiments. Had that been a lie? All so that Azazel could secretly send her after their group? Did Azazel know what they were up to? Mittlet's mind was racing as she tried to come up with a reasonable explanation.

"Don't hurt yourself there, Sister," Layla said across from her. "Critical thinking was never really your thing after all," she said as she snickered at her own joke. The armored blonde woman next to Layla also started giggling. Mittlet had never wanted to stab someone so badly, but she refrained. She could feel the power almost seeping off the armored woman. Clearly, Azazel wouldn't let his precious little Layla go anywhere without a strong bodyguard. Mittlet could tell the woman was easily strong enough to beat everyone here without breaking a sweat. And speaking of everyone else. Where the hell were they?

"Hey! Dohnaseek, Kalawarner! I can sense you two hiding! Come out now!" Layla yelled loudly enough for her voice to echo across the church.

"H-hiding? We weren't hiding, younger sister. We were just um... taking a nap," Dohnaseek emerged from the church's backroom wearing his stupid fedora. Kalawarner was right behind him.

"Hey, Hey, Hey! What's going on here!? Why are all you mighty Fallen Angels acting so scared just 'cause two fuckable pretty little things showed up. Come on! As your loyal follower, I'm embarrassed!" From a nearby pew, a man who was laying down and catching some shut-eye sat up. He had silver hair, red eyes, and a manic expression on his face when he spotted Layla and her guard. Mittlet cursed in her mind. Freed Selzen was batshit insane, and she had no idea why Raynare let the crazy fucker stay around!

"Shut the hell up, Freed! Couldn't you hear us calling her sister! This is Layla, she's a Fallen Angel as well," Mittlet yelled at the crazy exorcist.

"Well, if they're here to ruin our plans, then we might as well kill them, right? Ugh!" Freed said before he suddenly coughed out blood. Mittlet's eyes widened in fright at what she had just witnessed – except she didn't! Layla's bodyguard had moved faster than her eyes could track and had impaled her sword right through Freed's torso. A second later, she pulled it out. Blood splattered onto the holy ground before Freed dropped to his knees, clutching at the hole in his chest.

"That's the second time you've insulted the lady I love with such a foul mouth. I won't be hearing it a third time," the woman said as she swung her sword and all the blood dripping on it flew off. She sheathed it before turning back to Layla and smiling at her.

The other nearby stray exorcists all shrank back in fear at the display. Mittlet knew that Freed was pretty much as strong as they were, and he was disposed of just like that. And by a woman who claimed to be in love with her youngest sister...

"Mittlet!"

"Eeeeep!" Mittlet jumped as Layla called out her name.

"Well, that was unpleasant, but we're wasting time now. Where is Raynare?" Layla asked her again. This time the woman with her also glared and released a bit of her power into the air around them. It felt crushing and smoldering as it pressed down on everybody in the room.

Mittlet peed herself... and then fell backward.

...

Oh for fuck's sake... Mittlet wet herself in fear and then passed out. That was gross, and I feel bad for whoever will be cleaning that mess up. I turned toward my other two siblings. Dohnaseek and Kalawarner were both cowards at heart and had been keeping themselves relatively quiet.

"I'll tell you where they went! Just don't sic your paramour on us! Please!" Kalawarner said as she stepped forward.

"Kala, no! Raynare will punish us!" Dohnaseek said.

"I will punish you two if you don't tell me!" I said as I let my 8 black wings emerge from my back. The expression on the two's faces upon seeing them was pure shock.

"E-eight!? HOW!?" Dohnaseek trembled as he asked. None of us his business, that's how.

"Oh fuck! It's a high-ranking Angel!

"We're screwed, man, screwed!"

"Game over, run for it!"

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!...

I watched the comical scene before me as the dozen or so stray exorcists remaining all started fleeing wherever they could. Considering there was only one entrance to the church, they all started giving out the windows. Glass was shattering everywhere as they all dove out the windows in fright. It didn't even take 20 seconds for them all to clear out of the church. I considered capturing them, but chose not to. That many stray exorcists running throughout Kuoh town was sure to draw the attention of the devils. I could use that as a distraction.

Kalawarner looked gobsmacked as she watched all of her henchmen run away. She turned back to me once they were all gone, though, and let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, Asia Argento ran away and is hiding somewhere in the town. Raynare told us all to stay here and keep a low profile while she went out and searched for the girl.

"You could have just started with that instead of wasting all this time!" I yelled at her, and she shrank back.

"You two, pick up Mittlet over there and get the hell out of this town. I have no doubt the Devil princesses are going to be on full alert soon," I told them. My two conscious siblings nodded vehemently before I spun around and headed back out the way Sif and I came in.

XXX