DXD SI : Chapter 78 : Ongoings Pt.3 (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

Grigori HQ

–Azazel–

He was in the middle of his paperwork, somewhat happily this time as the source of this explosion of paperwork was Magdaran and his products, and since he was getting a handsome cut of the profits, all for the cheap cost of handling the paperwork and anybody coming to look for him, he was more than happy to deal with it, only for his head to snap up, sensing the incoming teleport.

He knew of only a single person who was coming to meet him today, though he did not know the reason why they could not just meet like they usually did. In between one of their parties, in the lower exclusive floors of the Club.

A flash of Gold heralded the arrival of Odin All-Father, a partner who had only grown in value for all the invaluable advice he had given regarding Magdaran and how best to handle the situation regarding that extremely volatile Devil. Though, of late, Magdaran had been feeling more akin to a blessing in Devil disguise instead of an issue.

The money, and more importantly, the political capital, just kept on flowing into the Grigori coffers, even if he intellectually knew that most of it was just because the Norse had thrown their weight behind Magdaran. The Grigori, being the sole partner in the venture, meant that even by association, they had surged up in terms of importance in the supernatural world hierarchy.

It did come with some negatives as well, but all that paled in comparison to the sheer wealth that was being generated, in terms of both money and political goodwill. 

His face immediately turned flat as he realised that Odin was not alone, which was technically not in good form as this was his office, and he would have liked some kind of intimation before Odin brought along guests, but that argument died instantly when he saw that, on top of both of them being kids, they were unconscious as well.

A girl and a boy. Both Dhamphirs.

Huh.

Odin really brought him the–

His thoughts stuttered to a halt as he looked at Odin with wide eyes, as the God had let the unconscious kids hang in the air and had proceeded to sit down at his desk. “Sacred Gears?”

Odin nodded, “Yes. The System is really glitching, it would seem. You should warn your elder brother before the System goes truly crazy and starts handing out Longinus to other supernatural races.”

His neck snapped towards the kids. “Longinus?”

Odin waved him off. “Calm down. The boy has a mutated subspecies, pushing it pretty close but not truly a Longinus. The girl, on the other hand…”

Here, Odin went silent before he snapped his fingers, a wave of his power enveloping the girl before a White Aura leaked from the golden energy, dispelling Odin’s power before revealing….

He went rigid in his seat, his mind freezing as he let the Aura of the Sephiroth Graal wash over him, one of the Thirteen Longinus and one of the most coveted ones. “T-The Graal?”

His neck remained on a swivel as he looked at the Graal, then at the Dhamphir, then at Odin, then back at the Graal before he finally felt his mind come back to awareness as he hastily punched the panic button, isolating the entire office from everything basically, as far ashe couldanyway.

After all, it was the natural reaction to have when you have just seen the Graal in front of you. There was a reason it was one of the most sought after Sacred Gears, and not for the usual reason. 

Entire factions had specific teams tasked with locating and eliminating any known user of the Sephiroth Graal, and that included the Church as well. They just packaged it well and called it a search for retrieving the Holy artifact, when in fact, every single faction out there did their best to kill off the host of the Graal before they could do something irreversible or go mad and unleash the Graal on the world.

It was one of the Holy Artifacts that he suspected Michael could not see through the System, same with the True Longinus. He had long since known that Michael could do something about the whole Sacred Gear theft, which is why he made sure that he did not go too far. Even with his own academy, he made sure to tell Michael who was admitted, on top of the assurance that no mind magic would be used on any Sacred Gear User under his watch, which was enough for his elder sibling because, in his opinion, Free Will was supreme and couldn't be overruled when it came to humans. So, any human choosing to join any other faction was not something that Michael objected to.

Of course, he knew that should any faction truly go overboard, then Michael had the Nuclear Option, and day by day, they were getting closer to that day with the Devils and their reckless actions, but his lips curled a bit at the fact that the Devils had been very silent for the past five years. He had a hunch what it was, but he knew that even confirming it would bring down the might of the green haired Devil, so he refrained from digging any deeper on that front.

As for the Graal, the reason everyone sought it was because of their sheer potential. Technically, the Graal could do anything. It dealt directly with the concept of life and souls. All Souls. All souls that have ever lived and all souls that will ever live. 

Manipulating that river of Souls, the Graal user can not just create life, but they can create life with specific powers, and that makes them a threat of the highest order. Until now, it was limited to humans, which meant that it only took a dozen or so serious attempts to actually use the Graal before the human was far too gone to care about the world or the people around them killing them.

But now?

His gaze slid back to the Dhamphir floating midair, the Graal having disappeared back into her soul, before it went back to Odin.

“What do you plan to do with her?” He whispered to Odin, actually somewhat afraid of what Odin could do with the Graal, especially with just how many advancements Odin and the Norse have undergone because of Magdaran. It was not just their overall strength that had risen sharply and showed no signs of stopping, but also Odin’s research.

His magic, particularly his soul magic, had advanced to the point that he was pretty sure that Odin could extract someone's Sacred Gear without killing them, without the use of any equipment. Magdaran’s readily available healing on top of his conceptual destruction meant that Odin of five years ago would be instantly defeated by the Odin in front of him.

That alone was more than worth the trouble Odin had to go through to make sure that Magdaran was safe, stable, and somewhat happy. Of course, the brat had grown strong too, but that was beside the point. He was always strong, but Magdaran was now happy as well.

With all of those skills under his belt, Odin could do so much all on his own right now, but with the Graal added to the mix? It would not be an exaggeration to say that Odin might just begin approaching the upper echelons of power within the Top Ten Most Powerful Beings List.

Odin smirked at him before replying, “Nothing too nefarious, I can assure you. I just happened to come across them during one of my excursions.”

He deadpanned at the God, as there was no way that was true. Also, another thought came to him, “Wait! How did you get them from the Vampires? I can sense the Tepes Clan locks on their beings, so I assume they knew of the Sacred Gears?”

If they knew of the Sacred Gears and Odin was here with them, it meant that either Odin had just destroyed most of the Faction itself or he had cast some pretty high tier soul/mind magic to make everyone involved forget, which was not always foolproof but was always a better option than just outright—

“The Vampires are gone.” He nodded at Odin’s casual reply. Of course, the Vampires were—

“G-Gone! What do you mean?” Did Odin not know about Dracula and his curse? As strong as the God might be, why would he risk unleashing Dracula back on the world? That would be the height of recklessness, as they couldn't even properly kill Dracula until–

“Magdaran killed the higher ups of both the factions during his final battle with Zekram.”

He stood up at that. “What? Zekram? When did that happen? Why wasn’t I informed of this? We have to prepare for the Devils moving now. The Satans can’t take this standing down; Zekram won’t let them. We will have to move– Wait!”

He paused, looking down at the now openly smugly smirking Odin, a hope rising in his chest. “Final? Did Magdarn actually kill that old fuck?”

Odin nodded. “Vaporised down to the last atom. I personally checked the soul erasure. It was weirdly damaged, far more than it should be, even with the forbidden ritual, but Zekram is gone, as far as I can tell.”

And Odin could tell a lot, especially when it came to souls.

Also, Forbidden Ritual?

He was slightly curious about that, but right now, his sheer relief overshadowed his curiosity, which is why he just collapsed in his chair and relaxed into it, sliding down a bit as he glared at Odin. “I assume you came here just to brag and watch me panic?”

Odin shamelessly nodded. “Pretty much. I would prepare for renewed inquiries from the Devils about the Pharmacist. I assume you can handle that front?”

He waved Odin off at that. The question was rhetorical, and they both knew it. He didn't even react as Odin stood up and left, with both the Dhamphirs, of course.

They might be close allies, and outside of his faction, Odin might be one of the few people he ever trusted, but he knew that there was no way Odin was going to leave even the other Dhamphir with him. 

Still, “The Graal, huh?” He whispered to himself before cancelling the lockdown of the office, confident in Odin and his hiding abilities. It would not do for anyone to know that the Graal was in Odin’s hands, even if most of the world did not know about the Sacred Gear extractor, not that Odin needed it anyway.

He was pretty sure that the Church would go to war with the Norse if they ever learned that someone of Odin’s Calibre now had the user of the Graal, as Odin was one of the few Gods who could probably figure out a balance between actually using the Graal effectively without killing the mind inside the human.

Not to mention, the mind this time was of a Dhampir. Far stronger than just a regular human’s.

He was half interested, half horrified about what Odin could do with the Graal.

Either way, it was going to raise a storm, or maybe it might be dwarfed by the one that Magdaran is going to raise in the coming future. 

Sighing, he snapped his fingers, and only a few seconds later, the eternally frowning face of Penemue entered his office. Before she could say anything snippy about the paperwork that never seemed to end, he ordered her in his Governor General voice, so that she knew that he was not joking around.

“See what is up with the Vampires. DO NOT INTERFERE. Just observe and report back to me. Go personally.” 

She just nodded, wide eyed at the order before retreating from his office.

Even if Magdaran had wiped out only the higher ups of the Vampires, it might just be enough to awaken Dracula, and he could not risk getting caught with his pants down if that happened.