102)Preparations for War

Sona sighed as she walked into the Azathoth manor, not surprised to feel the sombre atmosphere as Valerie, Samson & Meredith sat in the living room.

“I'm guessing everyone's still a bit down?” She asked, shaking her head as Samson sighed while Meredith looked at the floor & Valerie gave a nod.

“Indeed. Issei & Saji are currently training themselves to death on the first basement's training floor in battles against each other.”

“And the others?” She asked and Valerie simply pointed up.

“The three ladies are in Lord Isaiah's room along with Bardou, since he's the only one keeping them calm right now. Lady Rias came earlier and I can still feel her inside the room as well.”

“I see. Well, thank you.” She said with a slight bow and Valerie simply nodded before Sona turned & began walking up the stairs towards the master bedroom, taking a few minutes to maneuver through the hallways before sighing as she turned the corner to see Rias leaving the room with a downtrodden look.

“How bad is it?” Sona asked as Rias looked at her and sighed as she saw the pain in her friend's eyes that she tried to mask up with a soft smile.

“Very bad. Tsubaki & Kuroka are keeping it together, but Akeno…” Rias trailed off and Sona nodded before looking at her best friend with a frown.

“And you? How are you holding it?”

“One day at a time, I guess.”

“It's been two days since Isaiah has been kidnapped and you haven't taken time off to process it.”

“Because if I do, I'm going to crumble and I need to be the pillar right now while he isn't here. Asia thinks it's her fault for not breaking the barrier quick enough, Koneko doesn't want to talk to anyone, my second-in-command is nothing but an empty husk right now and I'm currently operating on nothing but coffee and two hours of sleep so sorry if you want to see me breaking down, but I can't, okay?!” Rias exclaimed as she punched the wall in front of her, Sona simply standing in silence despite the sparks of reddish-black lightning that completely tore chunks of the hallway away.

“Feeling better?”

“…Hah, a bit. Thank you.” Rias spoke with a smile, which Sona reciprocated as she nodded & walked towards the door.

“My pleasure. Now, your brother told me to come fetch you all.”

“For what?” Rias asked before her eyes widened as Sona simply raised an eyebrow.

“Important meeting with the Alliance leaders. I'm sure you understand what that means, right?”

“I-Is that true, Lady Sona?” An empty voice asked and Sona turned to the door in front of her to see it open, not surprised to see the pleading & hopeful looks in Kuroka's, Akeno's & Tsubaki's eyes despite their rather dishevelled appearance, red eyes & the dried-up tear marks on their faces.

“Like I said, I'm simply here to come fetch you for the meeting. Now, get ready and let's go rescue that idiot. Then, you three can shout at him all you want and make sure he never goes out on another mission again.”

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“I hereby call to order the second meeting of the Utopian Alliance. Firstly, I'm certain everyone has heard the news by now, correct?” Sirzechs began and everyone around the table frowned as they nodded.

“You mean the fact that we lost one of our stronger fighters? Yeah, that's quite the setback.” Odin spoke bluntly with a frown, the others grimacing as even Azazel looked serious & a bit sad.

“That and he's the glue holding most of our younger fighters together. How are these going with his peerage by the way?”

“The fact that none of them has felt his link being severed through their pieces is the only reason why they're still compliant, but that could change any day now, depending on how Rizevim feels.”

“And everyone knows that mad bastard is ready to just turn around & kill him at the drop of a hat. What about the secret runes you engraved on him? Will those help find him?” Azazel asked before raising an eyebrow along with everyone as Sirzechs sighed & shook his head.

“There will be no need for that because Rizevim sent back Akeno & Tsubaki along with his coordinates and one instruction: 'Come meet with me.'”

“In other words, an ambush?” Ajuka asked with a raised eyebrow, shaking his head as Sirzechs nodded while sitting back.

“If it isn't, I'll retire from my job as Satan Lucifer.”

“So, what are we going to do? I'm certain he gave conditions for if we decide not to, right?” Zeus asked and Sirzechs glanced over at Serafall to see her gritting her teeth.

“For every day we miss, he's going to torture Isaiah for that day and we've missed two.”

“Ah…shit.” Azazel cussed as he leaned back, the others staying silent before turning their heads as Yeshua cleared his throat.

“We must not dwell on the negative as that is what Rizevim wants and to be truthful, I believe that young Isaiah is more than capable enough to withstand whatever torturous treatment the madman puts him through.”

“Christ is right. Isaiah's probably the toughest one out of our younger combatants so if anyone can take a few days of torture, it's most definitely him. How he's going to be after it, though, is a whole different story.”

“We'll worry about that once we get him back.” Serafall spoke and everyone glanced at her to see the determined look in her eyes, Sirzechs & Ajuka sharing a glance before both turned to see Falbium shaking his head.

“Agreed, Serafall. However, if we want to get him back, we're going to have to fall for Rizevim's bait and trigger his trap, which leads me to the second part of our plan. Can you ladies come in?” Falbium spoke and everyone frowned slightly in confusion before their eyes widened slightly as Rias, Sona & their respective Queens along with Kuroka walked into the room.

“From their testimonies, Akeno & Tsubaki know the general layout of the enemy's base and Kuroka here can hide herself using Youjutsu so I'll be letting them be the ones to rescue Isaiah.”

“And why are Rias & Sona here?”

“Because we are going to help them. If they get discovered, the Queens are going to need all the fighting power they can get.” Sona answered before Falbium could, the leader of the Alliance nodding in agreement before Serafall stood up.

“You won't. I've already had Isa taken from me. I won't lose you too.”

“You can't coddle me forever. What am I going to do when I am head of House Sitri and need to fix a problem? Call you to do it for me?”

“No, but until you do become the Head, I'm going to keep you out of danger for as long as possible.”

“Then, you'll have to chain me to my room and seal me away because I'm not backing down.” The others had decided to not say anything as the two sisters glared at each other, Serafall gritting her teeth as she saw the determined look in her younger sister's eyes before cursing as she fell back into her chair.

“Fine! Hah, fine, you can go, but no fighting, understood? That goes for all of you. Avoid fighting like the plague and focus purely on saving Isaiah & getting out of there as quick as possible.”

“That was the idea, Sera. Besides, they're not going to have to worry about many enemies when we're attacking because I have a secret trump card.” Falbium spoke and Odin raised an eyebrow as he turned to him before everyone's eyes widened at the spark of lightning that came from behind him.

“What's up, dickheads?! I see war is on the horizon and I'm finally going to help you idiots win it.”

“…Hah, he takes a while to get used to.

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“A night of bathing in diluted holy water, a day burning inside the flames of Creusery's poisonous flames, an entire day of spending time with Merlin & Masaomi and not a single cry for help? Come on, you had to have felt at least something, right?” Rizevim asked with an amused smile as he stood in front of Isaiah, who was taking shallow & raspy breaths as he was crucified to a wooden cross that had been doused in holy water.

The nails that were used were also blessed as the skin on his hands & feet were sizzling & darkened and numerous jagged chains were wrapped around him, their edges stabbed into his body as Isaiah simply looked up with the one eye he had left.

“Is…is that all, Rize? If so…I'm bored.” Isaiah rasped out with a bored smile, Rizevim simply looking at the bloody teeth before shaking his head as he turned to the amused Evil Dragons sitting around.

“All right. Creuserey, Merlin & Masaomi gave something and none of them worked. Euclid, Sieg, Satanael & Crom, you four got any ideas left?”

“I've already tried stabbing him with Gram, but the blade kept trying to hurt me instead.”

“Ah, so that's what the burn marks on your hand & the stab wound in his leg was?” Rizevim asked as he looked at the Strongest Demonic Sword, amused to feel the malice radiating from the blade despite the fact that it was sealed away behind numerous barriers of various pantheons thanks to Merlin.

“Well, then. Anyone else?”

“Not the torturous type./ Same here.” Crom & Satanael answered respectively, the silver-haired man pouting as he turned to Euclid before groaning as his attendant shrugged.

“Most of my torture methods are illusions, but since he's fought Loki a few times, I'm certain that he will most definitely see through all of them.”

“Hah, so no one has anything to offer?” Rizevim asked, groaning as they all simply looked at each other before shaking their heads in unison.

However, they all blinked as an ominous chuckle echoed through the room, Rizevim turning to see Isaiah chuckling to himself while still crucified in the middle of the room.

“Want to share the joke with us, Isaiah buddy?”

“O-Oh, it's…it's nothing much. Just…that I've figured out…who you all are.”

“…Is that so? Did you hear that, guys? He figured out who you all are.” Rizevim spoke with a grin, the Evil Dragons simply looked amused as Siegfried leaned forward.

“That's nice to hear, Isaiah, but no one knows who or what we a-!”

“Yamata no Orochi…is in Creuserey, Ladon…in the body of Masaomi…and Grendel is in…Satanael. Should I go on?” Isaiah asked with a bloody grin, the silence deafening as they all were now serious while Rizevim had a frown on his face.

“Would you look at that? It appears you are not called a prodigy & a genius for nothing, Isaiah Azathoth.” He spoke, his normal child-like tone now gone and Isaiah gave a raspy chuckle as he nodded.

“Thanks…for the compliment. Now…would you like to know the others?”

“We need to kill him.” Euclid spoke with a frown, the other Evil Dragons nodding as they stood up before being surprised as Rizevim raised a hand to stop them.

“No. I want to keep talking with him. Go ahead, Isaiah Azathoth. Tell me the others.”

“Hah, from the looks of the runes…being used on me in the past few days…as well as the fact that most of them had a Zoroastrianism marking in them…makes Merlin Azi Dahaka. Euclid uses the Lucifuge's Clan's Abyss, but with how much more powerful it is compared to Grayfia's…he's most definitely Apophis. That leaves just one and since you're named & genetically descended from a Norse hero…what better body could there be for the dragon Nidhoggr?”

“Rizevim, we really need to kill him. He knows too much.” Azi Dahaka spoke with a frown as he stood up, the other dragons nodding in agreement before they all gritted their teeth as Crom Cruach spoke up.

“Why should we? Simply because he knows your identities does not mean you've lost the battle.”

“Information is crucial in a war. Have you forgotten that or was your brain destroyed by Lugh & Balor during their battle?” Yamata growled before freezing as Crom turned to glare at him, the other dragons all frozen still in fear as the Evil Dragon turned & slowly walked towards him until coming to a stand still in front of the shaking dragon.

“Repeat that last sentence.” Crom's voice was calm as he spoke to Yamata and yet, there was no hiding the burning rage in his voice as he waited for the dragon to speak again.

“I-I-I-I apologi-!”

“I didn't ask for an apology. I asked you to repeat your last sentence.”

“Crom, we still need him ali-Argh! He was supposed to keep them busy~!” Rizevim whined as Yamata's body was obscured by a black-gold blast of energy, the energy fading after a while to reveal not even a speck of dust left from the dragon as Crom huffed.

“He would have just been useless.” Crom spoke as he walked back, the others not daring to take a break until the Evil Dragon stopped back at where he stood & closed his eyes while Rizevim simply grumbled as he turned back to see the slightly shocked look in Isaiah's eyes.

“Pretty strong, isn't he?” The Super Devil spoke with a grin, cackling as Isaiah turned his gaze towards him.

“Don't worry, the big guy has no interest in you or anyone you love. Well, except for one person. Apparently, he wants to fight what's his face. Uh, Crom, who did you want to fight again?!”

“Sirzechs Lucifer.”

“Sirzechs! Right, the pretender! Yes, he wants to fight Sirzechs since he's supposed to be the strongest Devil in history and Crom wants to see if that is true.”

“He'll lose.” Isaiah muttered, but even as he said that, he didn't feel as confident since he didn't know how Sirzechs & Crom scaled against each other.

“Haha! Good, then he will be a worthy foe.” Crom spoke with a manic grin before Isaiah turned as Rizevim cleared his throat.

“Anyway, we need to go now and see if your friends are still not coming so until next ti-!” Rizevim was cut off by the doors blasting open, turning around with a frown to see a devil out of breath while standing in the doorway.

“You better have a good excuse for doing that.”

“M-My lords!! S-Sirzechs Lucifer! On the edge of the barrier!” The devil gasped out, everyone perking up as Rizevim hummed with a slight frown.

“Just him?”

“N-No, my lord! We also spotted an army behind him…along with Odin, Thor, Zeus, Poseidon, Ra and…”

“And? Who else was there?” Rizevim asked with a raised eyebrow before freezing as the devil responded.

“A-And Indra along with his battalion of warriors, my lord.”

“…Well, that is quite the surprise.”

A/N: And the war is underway~!!!

Like usual, this is a short chapter to get ready and next chapter, talking & battling!!

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!