DXD SI : Chapter 94 : What in the F was that?! (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–

He was in a more formal meeting setting than the informal one they had been in earlier, waiting for the Devil side to arrive. Well, two of them, to be precise. Ajuka and Serafall, two Satans, with no entourage or other guards, as were the rules laid down by Odin. Not that either one of them needed any guards. Ajuka alone being here was a massive security threat to Asgard, actually, but he supposed that Odin was just that confident in his own and Thor’s strength.

Odin was right when he told him that the Devils were desperate, and that they would accept Asgard as the meeting location within the hour, even if the Norse were no longer as neutral as they were just a scant few years ago. The entire supernatural world now knew that the Norse had thrown their weight behind the Pharmacist. Some suggested that it was just a cover for Odin himself producing those things, or some new God from Asgard doing so; otherwise, why would the Norse risk their vaunted neutrality for just a few supernaturally good products?

Either way, it was something that was deemed an acceptable trade for Odin, so he was not really worried about the Norse and their neutral reputation. Reputation didn’t mean shit in the supernatural world if the person did not have the personal power to back that reputation up, and as of now, the Norse were more powerful than ever, partially because of him. 

He was aware that without them, he would not be in the current mostly stable phase of his life and also aware that without him, neither Odin would have advanced his soul craft to such a high level, nor Thor would have undergone that Lightning tribulation and reached a whole new realm of power.

A mutually beneficial relationship, he would call his overfall relationship with Norse. IT was different with Odin and Thor, though, as those two were kind of his mentors who had taught him much. Which is why he was even going through with this meeting in the first place. To be frank, aside from his passing wish to cure Misla and ensure that Sairaorg did not suffer, he did not really have anything left in the Underworld.

The only Devils he would hold in even slightly favourable light were Mia, Vali, and Aldric. He would not even feel anything if he didn't see any of the other devils ever again in his life. At some point, he had expected to be welcomed into the Gremory Family, like Sai was in canon, but the realisation that this world was not canon, and that the Gremory Family was not going to accept him just because he had the Bael blood and the bloodline trait, especially if he had some suspicious qualities, had hit hard at the time.

Sure, he hadn’t had the bandwidth to process it at the time, but when Venelana Gremory snubbed him, and Sirzechs barred him from seeing Misla and Sai, it was something that affected him deeply, and it affected his future interactions as well. Had he been welcomed into the Gremory family, or atleast if someone had really looked into what he was doing, where he was going, who he was meeting or fighting, or what his future plans were, instead of looking at him and treating him like a ticking bomb waiting to go off, he might not have had so many issues before he was basically forced to interact with Odin and Azazel, who somehow, miraculously, even managed to pull him out of the Underworld.

After that, it was only a matter of time; a stress free environment, his hobbies, and regular appointments with  Doctor Gablehauser allowed him to mellow out a bit and even process some of the previously unresolved stuff. Truly, the Good Doctor was a miracle worker.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a spike in Demonic Energy far east, where the teleport location was set for any incoming teleports, which meant that the gigantic magical signature he could feel was Ajuka, which just confirmed a few things for him. One, while he was stronger than most Satan Class Devils and even now could probably wipe the floor with the likes of Serafall and Grayfia, he was not strong enough to take on the likes of a Super Devil like Ajuka, let alone Sirzechs, who was touted to be the strongest Devil alive.

There was something that put those Devils into an entirely different category, some imaginary line that he hadn’t crossed yet. He hadn’t been in a hurry to cross that line because, according to the Good Doctor, Demonic Energy was an expression of both mind and body, and while he could train his body continuously, the mind was a different thing altogether. There was no set way to train one’s mind and grow their power. It had to happen organically, and it had to happen over time, which is why over the past five years, he had grown a lot, but not in the same desperate manner he did back when he was still stuck in the Underworld.

Some qualitative change had to happen before he could actually become a Super Devil, and sending Ajuka right now, he could definitely say that he was nowhere near that level. No one knows exactly how Super Devils were created, or if there was some process like the Lightning Thor had to undergo to reach a higher level of power.

Dismissing those thoughts, he looked at the spike of magic in front of them, though this time, it was Odin doing the magic as both the Satans were transported directly in front of them. 

“Odin.” “Odin.”

“Serafall. Ajuka.” 

Azazel had left early for some reason, telling him some nonsense reason about some emergency at work, so that left only the four of them in the meeting room.

“Magdaran,” Serfall greeted him as he nodded in return, with all four of them taking a seat. Ajuka was looking at Odin intently, his brows creased, while Serafall was looking at him with a complicated look on her face.

Ajuka began the meeting, though not with the words he expected, “You have advanced….considerably. Congratulations.” 

Odin remained silent for a second before replying, “Thank you. I have had a few fortuitous encounters. Now, let’s get to the matter at hand. You all wanted a meeting with Magdaran.”

Serafall nodded, “Yes. We need to talk to Magdaran about a Devil matter, and if possible, we need his help.”

Serafall glanced at Odin, likely to ask for some privacy, but when Odin didn’t even change his expression, Serafall realised the futility of the request, especially since they were on Asgard itself and he struggled to think of anything that could be hidden from the current version of Odin, on Asgard itself. So, Serafall just looked at him for an answer.

“I can’t guarantee any help, but go on.” 

Serafall and Ajuka exchanged glances before Ajuka nodded. Serafall steeled herself, took a deep breath, and began, “It is about Sirzechs. We have found that….”

And just like that, he had found out partially why Sirzechs always seemed to have an issue with him. To think it was due to a bad power interaction? So that’s what it meant to the  Super Devil? You ended up becoming the personification of something to become an actual Super Devil?

Sirzechs was Destruction itself, so he became a Super Devil. So, what path could he take that would lead to him becoming a Super Devil? No, that thinking would not make him a Super Devil. Sirzechs probably did not lead himself down that path, it just happened. 

Then, he was brought out of his thoughts by Serafall telling him and Odin, a foreign power, about the vulnerability in the Underworld, because Sirzechs was currently in a coma, trapped in a contraption that made his fight rebel against itself slowly until it was effectively destroyed by fighting itself, leaving behind an extremely weakened Sirzechs.

He raised an eyebrow when Sirzechs admitted that after the procedure, he barely had the strength of an Ultimate Class Devil and needed years to recover. 

That was….bad. Really bad. If news about this spreads, then…

He exchanged glances with Odin, a mental conversation happening in an instant, as Odin sighed and looked at Ajuka. “Send me the schematics of the ritual. I need to know what I am dealing with. Also, this could be something else, not just a bad power interaction. I would need to examine him to know more.”

Ajuka handed over the Ritual schematics, but Serafall and Ajuja looked hesitant at the second part of Odin’s request, which made Odin interject, “What? You were here to ask for help, correct? Well, the brat is not going to go anywhere near you without me. Also, he is useless to you people. His power will not work on Sirzechs, and I doubt you want that to happen as well. So, I ask again, why are you here?” Odin stressed the last part and looked straight at Ajuka at that, and at that moment, he saw something. Something within Ajuka’s expression changed. Something within him screamed about getting away, so he did.

In the split second that it took Ajuka to explode with a truly massive amount of power, he had already retreated far away, his attempt to move Odin rebuffed effortlessly, as the Norse God erupted with an even more massive amount of energy. Oddly enough, both of the energies did not clash with each other as he had expected. Both of them hadn’t even moved from their positions. 

Serafall had been thrown away by the energies, so he had to flash in front of her and stop her from attacking anything by enveloping her in his power. Seeing the power, she flinched, but once it was clear that he was not going to hurt her, she calmed down, as he removed his power as well, looking down at the mass of power that had gathered around Ajuka and Odin, both immobile, but looking at each other.

Something else was happening here, something they could not understand or see.

“What is happening?” Serafall asked him.

He looked to the side as Thor flashed right on top of the forms of Odin and Ajuka, and raised Mjolnir in the sky, drawing yet another supermassive bolt of white lightning, and then sent it hurtling straight down at the form of the Norse God and the Super Devil. 

His eyes widened as, instead of the lightning damaging the energy concentration or attacking Ajuka, it melded in with the energy, flowing around it to create an odd mixture of white, blue, and yellow energy that continued to swirl around the still forms of Odin and Ajuka. Soon enough, he couldn't even see them inside that storm of energy, as Thor continued to float up there and send in truly ludicrous amounts of energy towards Odin.

But to what end? For what purpose?

Serafall’s entire form was trembling as she looked at the scene in front of her. From her perspective, it must have looked like the end of the Devil race as a whole. After all, with Sirzechs extremely weakened, and Ajuka fighting here with two beings who were both supposedly stronger than him, with the knowledge of Sirzechs’ weakness now public, it meant that the Devil Race was barely strong as a mid class faction, especially with all the internal division and the powder keg that was the Evil Piece situation.

The moment it was revealed that both the Super Devils of the Devil Race were either incapacitated or unable to defend the Underworld, they were going to find themselves under the combined assault of their enemies, of which they had many.

Still, he didn’t think Odin was the type to do that. He had literally no reason to. Holding out a hand, “Wait a bit. I don't think they are attacking each other.”

Serafall opened her mouth, likely to scream at him or attack him, but the stream of lightning stopped as Thor flashed away, just the way he came, without talking to them at all.

The energy storm beneath them continued to shrink as Thor was no longer around to provide energy to it, revealing the still seated forms of Odin and Ajuka, both having stayed in the exact same position.

He and Serafall both flew forward, extremely curious as to what the fuck that was. 

“What–”

“Serafall, we are leaving." Ajuka stated, and with a flex of the massive Demonic Energy pool Ajuka had, both of the Devils disappeared, straight from the meeting room itself, which meant that Odin had let them leave intentionally.

Turning to Odin, “What in the fuck was that?”

A/N - Things are heating up.