DXD SI : Chapter 89 : Doomed? Maybe..... (Patreon)

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

Asgard

–Magdaran Bael–

Vali choked immediately. “Wha—Ack! Cough Cough WHAT?!” 

He continued to smile, drawing an infuriated glare from Vali, who hastily swallowed whatever was stuck in her throat before raising her now gauntlet wielding arm threateningly. “Don’t even joke about—”

“It’s not a joke.” He cut through her tirade, making her blink at him in confusion, her arm unconsciously lowered as he began walking to the fountain that now had water coming out of it. As it turns out, it was just an issue with the enchantment working to force the water out of the fountain. He could activate that with a glance these days. There were others as well, likely focused on purifying the water, maintaining temperature, maintaining pressure, and more, but for now, just the fountain’s backdrop should suffice for the serious conversation ahead of them.

Sitting down on one of the steps overlooking the fountain, he watched as Vali did the same, not eating the apples inside the basket, which gave him the opportunity to just yoink it out of her hands and back into his pocket space, prompting a “Hey!” from her, which he ignored as well.

“Vali,” He began, “can I safely assume that one day, once you feel like you are ready, you will go back to deal with a certain Lucifer?”

Vali tensed a bit and stayed silent for an entire minute before replying, “Most probably, yeah.”

“And you do know what kind of figure he is. What kind of power, people, and mind he has?”

Vali shrugged, sleeping on the steps, which, while uncomfortable looking, was nothing for people of their power level. “I mean, yeah? I know he is a Super Devil, one of the only three in the Underworld,” She then gave him a side glance, “soon to be four, I suppose. I know he is absolutely gone in the head. Like, Mad doesn’t even begin to describe him. I know he is dangerous, and I know I will probably lose if and when I go to fight him.”

He shook his head. “Not probably. You will certainly lose, Vali. There is no scenario that I can foresee in the next decade, at the very least, when you will survive even a single blow from Rizevim.”

Vali shot up in outrage. “What? You don’t think that even after a decade of training, I won’t win? You do realise just how strong I have grown in the past few years, right?”

He looked at her before shaking his head. “You are operating on incomplete information, hence the confidence. Not just you; any Sacred Gear wielder, even the Longinus, save for the outliers like the True Longinus, will find themselves at the mercy of Rizevim Lucifer, no matter their personal strength."

Turning to Vali, he spoke with seriousness, “Rizevim Lucifer was born without the Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light. Despite that, he has developed an ability that is arguably just as dangerous. He has something called the Sacred Gear Canceller. A single touch and most of your abilities are sealed away, leaving you at the mercy of an old and experienced, not to mention incredibly cruel Super Devil, without your greatest weapon.”

Vali just sat there, looking at him with wide eyes and an open mouth, her mind blown at the fact that most of the training she did to reach her current level was practically useless in the face of her target. Rizevim was not the type of Devil she could kill, or even he could, not right now anyway. 

Rizevim was Mad, yes, but he was also incredibly cunning and had many strategic people around him, who would not hesitate one bit at having to throw themselves in the path of whoever wanted to kill Rizevim. His madness had an unpredictability to it that would throw most people off balance, what with the sheer resources he had at his disposal.

All of this before he had even moved in an overt manner in the Underworld. He was pretty sure that if Rizevim wished to, he could just move to New Lilith or an adjacent city, and declare himself Satan, and the idiots in the Senate would likely jump over themselves to either align themselves with him completely or at least partially. He could see Zekram maybe holding back a few of them, but by then, the outcome would be the same.

A second Civil War.

Something that was practically guaranteed to herald the end of the Devil species as a whole, something that would eventually snowball into a much larger war, as the prospect of ending the Devils once and for all would rope in other pantheons, and then, the three Super Devils would not only fight themselves but also other pantheons, restarting the next Great War.

It was incredibly concerning, and yet, somehow, Rizevim was not just still alive but out there, free to do his bidding instead of in some forgotten prison somewhere, having been subdued by the combined efforts of the Four Satans, though honestly, most of the heavy lifting would be done by the two Super Devils. 

He refused to believe that even if Sirzechs and Ajuka came together, they wouldn't be able to contain Rizevim. They should be able to do it all covertly as well, and even if someone found out about their role in it, what were they going to do about it? He was sure that Zekram would have supported the New Stans in getting rid of the one Devil who could upend all his efforts that went into creating the current version of the Underworld, if he was alive anyway.

So, why? Why had they kept such a volatile ticking time bomb out in the open, ready to explode at a moment’s notice and take down the entire Underworld with it? Sure, he was far more insulated from the Underworld as a whole these days, but he would not lie to himself that if it had not been for the two Super Devils and for Devil society as a whole, he would have been able to grow to such a level.

The continued existence of Devil society in its current form was somewhat beneficial to him as well, and Rizevim was an obstacle to that, not to mention Vali’s target. Alas, he couldn't do anything about Rizevim, not as he was right now. Colluding with the Two Super Devils was possible, as in it could be done theoretically, but he would never be able to trust them when facing someone of Rizevim’s calibre, as that was a battle he would never be able to both defend himself in case of an attack and continue attacking Rizevim with all he had.

He was snapped out of his thoughts about Rizevim by his descendant, “W-What are you saying? Are you sure?”

“Devil,” The white gem on Vali’s gauntlet pulsed as Albion spoke up, “I find it hard to believe that anyone, even a Lucifer Super Devil, would be able to develop something to bypass God’s blessings. I may hate the bastard, but his works have remained unbroken for centuries for a reason.”

He ignored the spike of pain from hearing Big G’s name being spoken with practiced ease, as Vali winced from the same pain, before replying, “You have not met him yet, then. Rizevim is–”

“Have you?” Albion interrupted him.

“What?”

“Have you met him?”

“.....No.”

“Then how can you be so sure?”

He gave Albion a look before sighing and looking at Vali. “I am sure. You have to listen to me, Vali. Rizevim is not someone who will let you grow to become a real threat to his power. It was probably the prime reason why he let you go. He knew that you would not be able to resist coming back for revenge, and when you do go back, he would be waiting there for you, ready to take your greatest weapon from you and render you helpless in front of him.”

Vali just sat there, looking numb at the revelations. He was sure that she must have known about her escape and how unlikely it actually was. He didn’t actually know the specifics of her escape, but whatever it was, he doubted it happened without Rizevim’s knowledge. The bastard had a mind like that. He probably thought it to be an interesting game.

Because even if Rizevim did not know what Vali was doing or where she was, or under whom she was training, he did know that she would come back. And he was right. He could see nothing happening that would change Vali’s mind, and when Vali went back, that would be game over, and Rizevim would be the owner of this sick game.

He was bringing this up right now because Vali had grown a lot in terms of power very quickly, and he did not want that to get to her head. She would get herself slaughtered even if she somehow reached the Super Devil level and went to confront Rizevim because not only did Rizevim have centuries over her when it came to combat experience, but the most likely path that Vali would take when it came to becoming a Super Devil would be her Sacred Gear, and Rizevim had the OFF button to that.

“There has to be something, right?”

“What?” he looked at Vali, who was looking at him with a hopeful face.

“There has to be some weakness about the technique, right?”

“Well, yeah, it is touch based but so are your abilities.” 

Vali smiled at that, even though she had deflated a bit when told about the touch requirement, as she had the same when it came to her Sacred Gear.

“Yeah, but not all of them. Right, Albion?” Vali said to herself and Albion.

“Ofcourse, Partner. There are more that you have yet to unlock. Also, I refuse to believe that a mere Devil, no matter how powerful, can suppress all my abilities. I might not have my original might, but even this should be enough for any Devil.” Albion boasted, as usual, but it had its effect on Vali, who progressively straightened as Albion continued to boast about his abilities, half of which he did not have access to right now.

“You hear that?” Vali then snapped at him, making him lean away a bit from her, the madness in her eyes a bit concerning as he realised that the topic was still raw for her. “I will have my revenge, no matter what. I don’t need to be a full Devil for that.”

Ah, so that was a rejection then, huh? Well, the first and only person he asked to seriously be a part of his peerage, and he gets turned down. He supposed that he was destined to not have a Peerage then, not that he was in a hurry to get one anyway, as he was not interested in the Rating Games and simply did not need any protection. Not to mention, any protection he might need was not going to come from anyone who could be reincarnated.

He was not like most Devil Houses in the Underworld right now, trading lower tier family members to other Devils’ peerages for political or financial gain.

“Okay, fine,” he told Vali before standing up to continue his patrol, sighing as he felt Vali stay behind for a moment before flying off to the mountains. He felt like he had done slight damage to their relationship, which was fine by him because telling her about Rizevim’s trump card was far more important. Even with that information, she might just be walking to her doom, but atleast this way, he would not have any regrets.

He paused, looking down to see a puddle of water, his reflection staring back at him, his eyes glowing purple because of the amount of power he was still pumping into the curtain, even if he had tweaked the whole thing to be as energy efficient as possible. He looked really different from before. When he was still in the Underworld. He didn’t look ugly even then, but he looked much freer now.

Free to make his own decisions and suffer from their consequences on his own as well. The latest consequence heavy decision he made was this curtain around Asgard.

Why did he have a hunch that the next one was going to be when he goes with Vali to confront the only son of Lucifer and Lilith?