DXD SI : Chapter 102 : An unfinished dream & A True Lucifuge (Patreon)

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

Underworld

–Rizevim Livan Lucifer–

See, whenever he imagined, dreamt of the day he would finally be out of the influence of that accursed spell, he imagined spending a few days doing nothing but sitting around while waiting for his forces to accrue. A classic tactic to make sure that his enemies would be stewing in their own fear, exhausting themselves, as he prepared for the final battle. The final battle would not be a one-on-one battle with the brats. No, as loath as he was to admit it, he was no match for the one who fancied himself a Lucifer. 

Maybe the green haired brat could be matched, but he had no shame in admitting that out of the three of them, he was probably the weakest against pure blood Devils. Against Sacred Gear Users? Well, the story would be a lot different then, something that the brats were aware of, hence the absolute lack of Sacred Gear users in their peerages.

So, what was one to do when he was sure he wouldn't win in a one to one confrontation? He took the side route. He was going to make sure that the brats could do nothing but watch in terror as the ship they had tried to divert to an entirely different route was violently brought back to the destined one, one where Devils did what they were engineered to do.

War.

Also, it was prudent not to incite War at the first possible instance. That way, the other devils who had grown docile and fat, indulging in luxury that was only possible without war, would turn against him, and might even succeed. No, the best option was to make sure that when war finally arrived at their doorstep, it came with such intensity that no one could stop it.

Well, not with their current mindset.

He rubbed his hands in glee as he imagined the brats, who had prided themselves on being above the real Satans in making sure that they did not rule with violence, having to resort to using their considerable power to suppress the war that was brewing on the home front, all the while he brought war to them from a different front.

And when they finally realised that they had lost, and the only way ahead was to use overwhelming violence to slay not just him but many Devils, as well as others from different Pantheons he would recruit, which would just lead to a multifaceted war, it would be so delicious to watch them break from inside. 

He would take particular pleasure in watching the Red Haired Gremory break down, as the soft, pacified brat was the sole reason why the Underworld was in its current condition. While he would love to gloat over their dead bodies, that would be an entirely different and, more importantly, long lasting undertaking. Something that he was not in the mood for.

Hence, the visit to an area that had long since been abandoned by everyone. Apparently, one of the uncharted areas of the Underworld was used by one of his father’s most loyal Devils, Zaorama Nebiros. The old Devil had fucked off to unknown areas, but not without retrieving and securing one of the most important and dangerous weapons that, apparently, even Dear Father feared to use. The Nebiros informed him of the location of the weapons before either dying or hiding himself for his future research. Either way, the important part was that the weapons made their way into the hands of the True Lucifer, and that objective was met.

For that alone, he would forgive Nebiros for ignoring his summons. Either way, he was here to get his hands on the Malabranche, as Father had called them. He had glimpsed its might when the Red Haired brat had been forced to use up all his power to erase the Belzebub descendant who had grown mad after being gifted only a smidgen of a Malebranche’s power.

And that was only a fraction of the power of a single Malebranche. Not even the strongest one at that. He could scarcely believe what the brats could do in the face of dozens of such mad devils empowered to the limit, so that only the green harried and red haired brat could deal with them. All other Devils would be at their mercy, and it would serve as the trigger to finally turn the Underworld into the statement it was meant to be.

Total Anarchy.

The Underworld was not meant to be a civilised place, with cities, towns and law and order, with proper systems in place to make sure that the powerful did not tread on the weak, intentionally or unintentionally. No, Underworld was meant to be the very symbol of Might Makes Right.

And this, this was going to help him achieve just that. After all, when it was made clear that the so-called precious protectors could not protect them one bit, then the rest would fall in line just fine. It was not like he wanted someone to bow down to him, or rule the Underworld himself. No, it would be better and far more entertaining to just burn it all down, and watch the world ablaze.

After that, he wouldn’t even mind accepting death. That would be a worthwhile way to go. 

“My Lord.” He looked up at Euclid, who was, in the absence of Zaorama Nebiros, leading the expedition to unearth the Malabranche, and while he did not know that yet, was also one of the targets to be used first for the Malabranche. After all, he would have no use for any servants after this.

Lucifuges served Lucifer until their death.  And he did not want Euclid to turn out to be a liar like his traitorous sister.

“Yes, Euclid?” he asked the man, already imagining the devastated expression on that maid’s face when he revealed the condition of a crazed Euclid. It would no doubt drive her into a frenzy! It would be so—

“My Lord, we have found the seal, but it seems to have some sort of condition on it. I don’t think we can safely extract the Malabrance without fulfilling that condition. The seal is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is basically primed to explode at the slightest hint of tampering.”

He nodded. “I see. What do you propose we do, Euclid?”

“I think we need some time to analyse the seal. We know about the condition, but not what it is. With the Nebiros unreachable, we don’t want to accidentally trigger the seal and potentially damage one of the Malabranche.”

He nodded, agreeing with Euclid. Only, there was one small flaw in Euclid’s logic. See, he knew what the Malebranche were made of, and damaging them was no small feat. Hell, if he unsealed one of them and allowed them to wreak havoc as they pleased, even the Red haired Brat might find it hard to truly kill them without slipping into his Mindless Ball of Destruction mode.

So, the concern was not really about damaging them, but more about uncontrolled deployment. Yes, that would be the word he would use for that. He wanted the Malabranche to run amok, but at his chosen time and place, not by Nebiros’ choice.

Hmm. What to do? What to do? Giving Euclid time was the rational choice, but he did not really have much time before the brat began to move. Hell, he had expected them to do something the moment he had freed himself from that blasted spell.

Apparently, as rumours have it, there was some kind of performance issue with the Red Haired Brat, and that had taken all the attention of the Green haired one, forcing the other two brats to handle the rest of the Underworld, creating a marvellous opportunity for him.

Truly, Fate was looking out for him as well. 

Either way, while it might seem like the brats were in a vulnerable position, he was not stupid enough to try and outright attack them. It would be suicidal, and while he was suicidal, he also wanted to see his goals be achieved before going out with a BANG!

The green haired brat in particular could do terrible things when pushed into a corner, far more so than the Red haired one, hence all this cloak and dagger nonsense for—

His hand shot out and pulled Euclid back from the entrance into the underground dungeon that held the Malabrance, just in time for a golden beam of energy to hit the ground where Euclid was standing. Before he had time to process anything, the Golden light changed form and covered the entire sealed place with a yellow barrier, reeking of Divinity.

A moment later, he jumped once more, a rather familiar magic circle appearing beneath his feet, shooting out concentrated rays of light that were, once more, meant to harm more than kill. After all, that level of output would never—

He had to duck once more, this time having to sacrifice Euclid’s limb as another yellow beam of Divine Energy hit him. Finally landing a fair bit away from the Malabrance, his hand lashed out and separated the half of Euclid that was infected with Divine Energy with a wet tearing sound and threw the untainted half on the ground, soiling it with the Lucifuge blood.

Without even looking, he uncorked and threw a bottle of Phenex Tears at Euclid’s dying form, more than enough to stabilise the Devil, as he looked up at the two floating people looking down at him with a mad smile on his face.

“Ah, what an unexpected surprise!” He exclaimed, looking at Odin, who was looking down on him. Now, that wouldn’t be fair, now, would it?

So, he floated up to match their heights. The green harried brat was, as usual, silent, looking at him while the famed Kankara Formula rotated behind him, his face solemn. Odin, meanwhile, looked like he did not care one bit about what was happening. No Gungnir, no battle armour, no tense body. Nothing.

His smile widened at that, a mad gleam in his eyes. Odin underestimating him, while fair since the God was really strong, really got on his nerves.

“Now, what do I owe this surprise to?”

“You have only one chance. Kneel.” Odin intoned, and as if the words were spoken into reality itself, he felt the world around him warp and shudder at Odin’s words. The Demonic Energy in the area twisted on itself, and even Ajuka’s Kankara Formula flickered somewhat before roaring back to life. 

“Never.” His smile widened further, even as he tried to come up with something that could get him out of here. Upon finding nothing that could make way, he resigned himself to using that, even though he hated the very thought of using that. If only Eudlic hadn’t gone ahead and gotten himself poisoned with Divine Energy, he could have used her Snake on Euclid, and then forced him to run amok, allowing him to slip away in the Chaos.

Fulfilling the Lucifuge requirement of dying in the service of a Lucifer.

Alas, Odin’s presence complicated things by quite a mile. The God was not one to be trifled with, especially now that he could sense the entire space being locked down. He couldn't even use his trump cards against Odin. He was boxed in from all sides, and as such, only had that single desperate option. 

….Welp, it would seem that his time had come. A shame he couldn't see the underworld up in flames.

Atleast he had the consolation that his underlings were instructed to cause the maximum possible chaos if he did not return within a set period of time. With Zekram gone, there was very little that could stop his people from destroying and extinguishing at least a couple Pillar Lines.

Even if that was far from the ending he wanted, he would ta—-

Ophis’ snake appeared in front of him, absorbing Odin’s blow, before exploding in his hands, destroying his body, save for his upper torso.

Through the half destroyed senses, he heard Odin speak, “The Ourbours Dragon’s blessing is potent, and yet, even that has its limits. Without a suitable host to direct its energy, it could prove fatal in the wrong hands.”

That was the last thing he heard, a WARNING! of all things, before a similar yellow beam destroyed him entirely, triggering a series of fail-safes that dear Euclid had so faithfully created for him, including a soul bomb that would kill Euclid as well.

Truly, Euclid was a true Lucifuge, dying in service to the last Lucifer.