Aura Bello Fiore watched the door close before her eyes, her eyes tracking the visitor that had just left. Whilst they were quite out of sight, now behind a closed door, they were certainly not out of hearing range, as they loudly voiced their displeasure at the result of the negotiations, stomping away with loud, heavy steps.
"Another one," Aura sighed, closing her eyes slightly and leaning back bonelessly against the back of her chair. "I don't understand; did they accidentally forget to add the word 'loyalty' to the demonic dictionary, or what?"
"I agree, Sis," Mare, standing beside her chair, sighed just as exhaustedly. Usually, thanks to the fact that he usually lacked confidence, he always agreed with whatever Aura was saying anyway, strictly following the order established by the Supreme Being Bukubukuchagama that the younger brother must always obey the older sister; but in this specific case, his thoughts truly fully corresponded to Aura's own.
"Watching a similar scene unfolding time after time is just… unpleasant."
When Demiurge relayed the information that he needed agents to act outside of Nazarick, Aura and Mare volunteered even before Demiurge could finish listing the required parameters for the agents, something that just made their desire to volunteer even stronger. After all, which servant of the Forty-One Supreme Beings wouldn't want to prove their usefulness by executing a mission entrusted to them by Lord Momonga himself?
Moreover, Aura, who couldn’t be called sedentary in any way, simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the outside world and see the sights. Yes, Nazarick will always be her home, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get curious here and then. So, she and her brother jumped on the assignment. As for her brother’s opinion on the matter?
Well, Mare's opinion in this case didn't particularly interest anyone, least of all Aura. After all, once the older sister had decided on something, then the younger brother could only follow her lead.
Aura and Mare had received a fairly simple order: to infiltrate the Khaos Brigade, the organization to which almost every outlaw of the paranormal world seems to flock; introduce themselves as some kind of forgotten deities from the local pantheons; and then create their own ‘faction’ in the organization by pressganging the deities that Cocytus has defeated. Furthermore, other than monitoring and organizing this ‘Old Gods Faction,’ Aura and Mare were to act as spies inside the Khaos Brigade for Demiurge and Nazarick; plus, as a side mission, they were to try and get into contact with Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon, one of the strongest beings in this world.
Whilst it was a side mission, it was a particularly important mission, and having met Ophis, Aura was forced to agree. As blasphemous as it was to even utter or contemplate, the closest being she could compare Ophis to was one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings; even if Aura were to use all her summons and her controlled creatures, with her brother supporting her, the chance that she could win a confrontation against the Infinite Dragon was lower than she would have liked.
Getting Ophis as an ally was a very important task, something that Aura was happy to report she was getting closer to accomplishing.
However, Aura's initially simple task began to quickly become complicated, and it was not because the Old Gods were starting to become unruly and chafe under her control. With Demiurge’s ample support and permission to make any truly unruly gods ‘disappear,’ either quietly or even loudly, by lopping their heads off publicly during a meeting. And Aura was not shy in making sure that her ‘allies’ knew this as well. And it was not like Aura was particularly controlling or anything like that; as long as they didn't reduce the overall combat potential of their faction and didn't try to challenge the leadership of Aura and Mare, and through them the leadership of Nazarick, Aura left them alone.
It was such a ‘fresh’ style of leadership, one that allowed its members many freedoms, that many members of the other factions had wanted to switch teams. It seems that the leaders of the other factions are more controlling of their members. Helped also by the fact that Aura and Mare seemed ‘sincere’ in trying to help Ophis, therefore making the Infinite Dragon pay less personal attention to the Old Gods faction, the prospect of switching sides has become very tantalizing.
Aura welcomed the fact itself; making her ‘faction’ stronger was very much in line with Demiurge’s mission after all, but the fact that each new recruit, especially those coming from the Old Satan factions, kept trying to bargain for a better position for themselves or for resources caused Aura frustration to no end.
She offered them the opportunity to serve her, and through her, Lord Momonga, and they started demanding ‘guarantees,’ ’payment,’ and ‘future titles’?! Even for the lesser beings outside of Nazarick, there were limits to greed!
Demons, followers of those who once betrayed Lord Momonga, demanded not only to be accepted but also to be secured the thrones and titles of those very traitors of Lord Momonga!
A loud crunch snapped Aura out of her furious thoughts, forcing her to notice that the corner of the table she had accidentally started gripping had started splintering under her clenched fingers and was now fit only for kindling the fireplace. After all, Aura had reached level one hundred, and even if her build didn't focus on physical strength, breaking a table because she failed to keep her emotions under control was far too easy for her.
"I understand your frustration, Sis.” Mare, standing beside Aura, placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it a few times, soothing her anger somewhat. "I too feel an itch to just destroy them all, but Lord Momonga is smart and patient, and so we must be patient too."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Aura sighed with force before rolling her shoulder, shrugging off Mare's hand. "It's just… I don't know, they really tick me off!"
"I understand." Mare took another small step back before smiling slightly, trying to support his sister. "How about we have an early lunch? Y-you always f-feel better after eating."
"Lunch!" Aura instantly latched onto the thought. "Yes, excellent! I want a burger!"
"O-of course, Sis," Mare, sensing how sharply Aura's mood was changing from anger to excitement over food as it always did, sighed in relief. "Yemaya sh-should have c-cooked something delicious by now."
Aura, who had lit up with joy for a moment, immediately looked a bit gloomier. "Oh, right… We can’t have food from the Tomb."
Given the fact that Nazarick's existence was still kept as an utmost secret from the Khaos Brigade and the Old Gods Faction itself, Aura's preferred method of dining, using Nazarick's kitchen, was unavailable to her. After all, constantly transporting food from Nazarick to Aura whenever she was hungry, using Shalltear’s [Gate] in the process, would be too troublesome and unwieldy, and a security risk to boot.
Plus, Aura could already imagine how smug Shalltear would be if she asked her for help, and she was already smug enough from being blessed with Lord Momonga’s attention and seed. Having Shalltear holding this over her head too would be unbearable.
So, without access to Nazarick’s kitchen and its excellent cooks, she was forced to eat the food that the gods of the Old Gods Faction could prepare. And, to be honest, their food wasn't bad; it quite satisfied both Aura's hunger and always helped settle her bad mood, but it wasn't food from Nazarick.
It just wasn't the same.
It lacked the special sprinkling of spice from the chefs' desire to die for the sake of creating the best dish in Lord Momonga's name, so all the food seemed to fall short of Nazarick's standards for Aura. But at the same time, it was still decent food, so rising from her seat, Aura nodded.
"To lunch it is, then!"
A moment later, the two twins headed out of their office; once in the corridor, Mare quickly whispered to a passing servant about the need to replace the table in the office, to which the servant only obediently nodded their head. This was far from the first time and the first table sacrificed to Aura's explosive temper, and the fact that they usually needed replacement after negotiations with members of the other factions had become an accepted fact within the Old Gods faction.
Aura, heading forward and not thinking about the damaged furniture at all, or really about anything else at all, quickly covered the distance towards her destination with a one-track mind. Passing by several similar-looking corridors, she reached her destination, a particular room. Aura definitely made her entrance known when, rather than knocking or opening the door like a normal person, she kicked the door, causing it to crash into the wall with a loud bang.
BANG!
Should Mare feel relieved that she hadn’t used her full strength and blown the door off of its hinges instead?
"I WANT BURGERS!"
"Loud," A monotone voice was the only answer to Aura. A moment later, Aura's gaze found the source of the voice – a girl, so small that she seemed younger than Aura herself, sitting on one of the high chairs, the only reason she could reach the table at all. She was right now devouring a whole mountain of dishes set before her; even the burgers that Aura wanted to get her hands on were right in front of her.
To say that Aura was eyeing the burger like a hunter would be an understatement.
However, the child seemed not to notice this fact, taking the ridiculously large burger in her hands, biting off a piece, and swallowing it without chewing. Whilst the size of her mouth was small, she took off a ridiculously large bite, one that seems impossible for such a small girl. With just a few bites, the humongous burger disappeared before she immediately picked another burger and started eating that too. The process repeats again and again, each morsel of food disappearing into her seemingly infinite stomach.
Quite fitting, as the girl is the Infinite Dragon.
"Ophis," Aura instantly raised an eyebrow, seeing the target of her mission and the symbolic, given her unwillingness to act or even do anything to make her title less of an honorary one, leader of the entire Khaos Brigade before her. "What are you doing here?"
"Eating," Ophis shifted her gaze to Aura, answering in a monotone voice, before shifting her gaze back, returning to her meal, deciding that the conversation had ended there.
Aura, looking at such a scene, pondered for a moment on how to most effectively snatch the burgers from under Ophis before she could finish them off completely, but Mare, arriving right behind her, whispered quietly in Aura's ear, "W-wait, sis, we n-need to …"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Aura released a sigh, disappointed that she wouldn’t be eating any burgers anytime soon. She recalled Lord Momonga's order to find common ground with Ophis, and stealing food from her would definitely only lead to hostilities instead; it certainly would if it happened to her after all.
So, rather than doing what she first wanted, stealing a burger from the massive plate, she instead forced a semblance of a friendly smile onto her face before taking a seat next to the Infinite Dragon. She still decided to pick up one of the burgers, though!
Ophis, watching her food getting eaten by Aura, simply watched the gesture silently, staring, before returning back to her feast. It seems that the Infinite Dragon has decided that it would make too much noise to bother Aura for stealing her food. Too noisy.
Mare, ever the most sensible sibling, simply decided to head to the kitchen himself and sort out a salad for himself.
Aura, sinking her teeth into the burger with relish, could physically feel her mood lifting up. As she was happily devouring the burger, though, her eyes slid towards Ophis, who was demolishing her food with mechanical efficiency and in total silence, as if she was less eating food because she enjoyed it and more simply for its nutritional value. She doesn’t look like she was enjoying the food at all.
"Is it tasty?" Unbidden, the question slipped out of her mouth.
Ophis, hearing the question, finished off yet another burger before looking at Aura with a confused look on her face, as if the question could not fit her worldview at all. Which is an impressive feat of silent emoting, as her face remained as impassive as ever.
She seemed to be chewing on the question, or perhaps it was more precise to describe her as a computer that had suddenly received an unexpected instruction, finding its operations halting in the meantime.
She tilted her head to the side, thinking over the words, before giving an answer.
"Don't know."
"Why are you stealing my burgers then if you don't even like them…?” Aura grumbled annoyedly as she took another bite of her burger, as if to express her displeasure that way, and Mare, finding the perfect moment for an intervention, sat down in between Ophis and his sister.
"M-maybe if you d-don’t like the burger, t-then you can try s-something else?"
A moment later, Mare's hand darted into his [Inventory] before a bottle made of pure crystal with a slight golden sheen appeared in his hands, inside of which flowed an appetizing-looking mass of molten chocolate. Something that immediately attracted Aura's gaze.
[Golden Chocolate in a Bottle] – in Yggdrasil, this consumable item was a fairly mundane item, one that didn't even provide a stat boost or even confer any healing. It was only ever of interest to the collectors.
But for Aura, Mare, and the inhabitants of Nazarick, the function of the item was a distant secondary consideration when compared to the fact that it was an item that Lord Momonga himself had personally donated from his personal stash for the mission. In other words, it was an important relic, a unique item that would forever be lost should it be consumed, as returning to [YGGDRASIL] is quite impossible.
It was a symbol of Lord Momonga's willingness to sacrifice for the good of all Nazarick. And so, the way the denizens of Nazarick treat the item could be better described as religious zeal.
However, of course, there was no way for Ophis to know of the importance of the item, and, even if she did, she probably wouldn’t care at all. So, looking at the offered item, she simply extended her hand in the universal ‘give me’ gesture, like a small child that hadn’t yet understood that she needed to speak her requests.
Mare, catching the unspoken desire and seeing that his sister wouldn’t do anything about it, spoke up in her stead. "Ophis, it would be more p-polite to speak up when you w-want something …"
Aura, immediately sensing that the conversation was moving in the direction of her expertise, that is, ‘training,’ immediately joined the conversation.
"Yeah! When you want something, you need to speak up! In this case, it’s 'May I have some, please?'"
"May I have some, please?" Ophis repeated Aura’s words, word for word before shifting her gaze to Mare, continuing to hold her hand extended forward.
"You may," Aura nodded before looking at Mare, who extended the bottle into Ophis's hands, who proceeded to bring the bottle to her mouth, intent on eating it whole, bottle and all, forcing Mare to intervene.
"W-wait! You don't need to e-eat the b-bottle!"
Ophis, pausing for a moment with the bottle raised above her open mouth, looked at Mare with confusion, who, with a quick movement of his hands, uncorked the stopper. Seeing that Ophis was still confused, though, he then mimicked the motion of getting the content of the phial.
Ophis didn’t bother copying Mare, who was mimicking putting his hand inside the bottle to pick out a chocolate, and instead just tipped the opened bottle, releasing the contents of the bottle into her open mouth. Aura almost suffered an aneurysm at how Ophis had treated the [Golden Chocolate in a Bottle].
You were supposed to eat it one by one!
Then Ophis blinked, then again, and one more time, as she slowly chewed the chocolate, she was reacting like a computer undergoing calibration tests having encountered an unexpected exception for the umpteenth time. For a second, there was only silence before she shifted her gaze to Mare.
Perhaps Mare was just imagining it, but when before there was an expressionless face, she could now see a smidgen of determination behind it.
"Tasty. Is there more?"
"N-no…" Mare smiled awkwardly, enjoying the fact that Infinite Dragon appreciated the chocolate but unsure of what to say to answer the question. Before Mare could say anything, though, Aura started speaking, knowing that this is a great chance to get closer with Ophis.
"But we could get more!"
Ophis, fixing her gaze on Aura, blinked before asking the most important question for her.
"When."
"That will happen if we agree with you on certain things, Ophis…" Aura smiled, feeling that she had just hit the jackpot.
"I have snakes." Ophis blinked before moving her hand away to a random space, and with a twist of space manipulation, a writhing black snake appeared in her hand. It was a snake so black that it appeared as if it was woven from the purest darkness, which managed to fit even on her small hand, the snake coiling into a small ring.
"If you eat this, they will make you stronger… May I have more?"
After that, Ophis blinked, as if she had just remembered something crucial, and made an important clarification. "But they are not tasty."
Aura, looking at the writhing snake in Ophis's hands, thought for a second that Demiurge would surely be glad to acquire such material for his research. However, without an order to accept such an exchange, Aura did not intend to do so and thus returned to the original plan. "Thanks for the offer, but we didn't want this to just end with an exchange… How about this: we see what else you’ll find tasty that we can bring you, and you become our friend?"
"Friend?" Ophis blinked, looking at Aura, dispelling the snake in her hand. "What is that?"
"Well, a friend is someone that we do good things for and bring tasty things to, and who would help us with various things in return!" Aura smiled her widest smile.
"Help?" Ophis blinked again. "Is someone… bothering you?"
"No, but maybe in the future we will need your help. But until it is needed, we will still bring you tasty treats. See how great being friends is?" Aura felt like Demiurge for a second; after all, she understood the difference between true ‘friendship’ and ‘manipulation,’ even if it was being done with something as mundane as food.
But if Nazarick and Lord Momonga's plan required it, she felt nothing from such a deception but the satisfaction of a job well done.
"You will bring me sweets even when I’m not doing anything for you?"
Ophis blinked, trying to fit into her mind the strange concept. Usually, she has to give out her snakes for even just a promise for help against Great Red, and so to have someone give her tasty food in exchange for her ‘future’ help was a very strange turn of events. It settled with an uneasy fit – Ophis had never encountered such generosity before; usually, more power was demanded from her before her allies tried to fight Great Red more effectively. Even if Ophis usually doesn’t understand how her allies go about their tasks in achieving their shared goal.
To receive the reverse, where she gained a benefit now in exchange with a promise to help later… This was turning Ophis's usual scheme of interaction with her followers upside down.
However, internally replaying Aura and Mare's offer, Ophis eventually came to the conclusion that a ‘unique’ or ‘strange’ offer did not mean a ‘bad’ one. On the contrary, by virtue of its uniqueness, it was more valuable, especially when it concerned the tasty sweets. So Ophis's internal list, which previously contained three categories of people—Great Red, her followers, and everyone else—acquired a new category.
If the so-called ‘friendship,’ meant that she would get more tasty sweets, then the two suppliers of sweets were from this moment on her ‘friends.’
"Exactly," Aura smiled. "Isn't that what friends are for?"
"Friends… Give tasty sweets to each other." Ophis blinked, rolling the word she had heard repeatedly but never applied to herself in her head, before nodding.
"Then we are friends."
Hearing these words, Aura broke into a huge grin, which she flashed towards Mare over Ophis' head, causing him to shake his head at seeing the brilliance of their Master at work. Indeed, Lord Demiurge is incredibly smart, capable of controlling entire armies and nations using numerous cunning plans and intrigues, but Lord Momonga remains unsurpassed.
Using just one consumable item, he was able to subjugate the strongest being in this world without even having to meet her in person; Aura needed only to use just a few sentences and a couple of minutes of time.
Mare, breaking into a smile, clasped his hands in a prayer gesture after these thoughts and whispered barely audibly, "Amen."
As expected of Lord Momonga.
***
Kiba Yuuto wiped the sweat that had beaded down on his forehead, watching as his teacher sheathed his blade with a smile, showing neither fatigue nor tension in the slightest. As if the two of them hadn’t just been in a pitched battle seconds before.
The training field around Kiba was strewn with blades, most of which were shattered and rendered completely useless, slowly turning to dust and scattering in the wind after he stopped supplying them with energy from his [Sacred Gear]. Kiba himself was breathing heavily, using his blade as a cane for support.
Rather than feeling a sense of satisfaction for a good match, however, he could only frown as his teacher, Okita, only swept his gaze over him and shook his head.
"Overall, not bad; you've become stronger, improving since our last match. But, I see, you still lack stamina."
"My apologies, teacher." Kiba broke into an easy smile and bowed deep to his teacher before straightening up to his full height, ignoring the drops of sweat running down his back. "In the Human World, there was no one who could force me to go all out."
"Bah, youth and bragging!" Okita only chuckled at the response, but without any malice. "You just didn't look for them! If you ran into someone like Arthur or Dulio, you wouldn't say that!"
Hearing these words, Kiba shuddered slightly; it seemed that his teacher was offering him a death sentence. Even though he had never met either of the aforementioned swordsmen personally, he understood the limits of his strength perfectly well and therefore didn't argue with Okita.
After all, the ability to acknowledge one's limits was sometimes worth more than any skill, and so he instantly corrected himself.
"My apologies, teacher. I meant that there were none of such people in my immediate surroundings… At least none that would not be more than happy to cut off my head, as a member of the Pendragon Family and a priest would."
"Bah, then you should have just looked for them!" His teacher, being the old-school, hardheaded sort and a member of the Shinsegumi besides, who would have ample sword friends that would be more than happy to engage in duels, didn't give up in turn. Thankfully, before Okita could descend to a rant about the ‘good old days,’ he realized that bickering with his young student interested him little and changed the subject.
"Alright, go wash off the sweat of labor. Oh, that reminds me, Koneko wanted to invite you to walk around town for sweets."
"Yes, sir, teacher!" Kiba smiled and wiped the sweat from his forehead once more before bowing respectfully towards his teacher, who simply responded with a shooing motion with his hand, and turned away, heading towards the bathroom on legs that were trembling slightly from exertion and strain.
Usually, that would mean going to the apartment that Rias has allocated for him, but seeing as they have been stuck in the Underworld, that meant going towards his room in the Gremory Mansion.
Thankfully, Kiba had spent almost his entire childhood in the Underworld, so the sudden relocation here happened without any problems. He felt a little sorry to leave his schoolmates alone in the Human World, but he had no serious attachments to it. His family was Rias and her [Pieces], and many of his old acquaintances that he knew for most of his life, like his teacher Okita Souji, lived in the Underworld, so his move went without excess drama.
One could even say that Yuuto liked the Underworld more than the Human World; at least here he could regularly spar at full strength without holding back most of his power, actually honing his skills, walk the streets without hiding his true nature, and discuss his paranormal affairs without waiting until he was in the Occult Research Club. No more need to fear that some random student might hear his stories about exterminating a Stray devil that had accidentally wandered into Kuoh.
Furthermore, the Perverted Trio wasn't here, and in Kiba's book, that counted as a separate plus.
True, there was no full-fledged school here, and his education would suffer greatly without a concrete learning environment, but Rias, finally having her feet under her again from the changes dropped on her head, would not leave her servants to flounder without a decent education and therefore resorted to homeschooling. It is the traditional method of education in the aristocratic demon families, usually something that is not available for Low-Class or even Middle-Class Devils, and especially not for Reincarnated Devils. Thankfully, Rias Gremory cared little for such things.
What Kiba found best about homeschooling, unlike ordinary school, was that the intensity of it could be adjusted to both his schedule and his necessities. After Kiba completed the Biology track, for example, they stopped tormenting him with questions about the circulatory system of mollusks and instead concentrated on magical education and methods of counteracting magic.
Of course, Kiba simply couldn't bring himself to say that Zeoticus's death had ultimately had a positive effect on his situation; after all, Zeoticus Gremory was the one who had taken Kiba into his care when Rias first brought him to the Gremory household. But at the moment, Kiba was living perhaps even better than he had been in the human world.
The same could be said for the entirety of Rias’ [Peerage]; Koneko, Akeno, and even Gasper, who is now living in the Underworld, therefore surrounded by people that would be less affected by his almost constantly rampaging [Sacred Gear], is now forced out of his literal box and interacts with the rest of the world.
Therefore, right now, Kiba's mood was positive… Unlike with the rest of the devils.
Having quickly rinsed off and changed from his training uniform into ordinary casual clothes, Kiba left the locker room, heading for the entranceway of the Gremory estate. A place that showed just how much had changed with the Devils. In the past, exiting or entering the Gremory Estate was a simple affair; he could simply walk through the doors. But now, there’s a strict security check complete with a security post, where he had to undergo a quick inspection and record his departure time in the official logbook before he was allowed to leave the estate.
Offering the devil in charge of all the checks a wan smile, he could only squeeze out a wry grin in return. Everyone in the Gremory mansion knew who Kiba was and that he was heading into town for sweets with Koneko—but no one could afford to ignore the checks, not even a member of Rias’ peerage. Not now, and certainly not when Sirzechs was on the grounds of the estate itself.
As usually happens after a tragedy has occurred, people's vigilance and preparedness skyrocketed post factum, and security posts that had long ago gathered dust and become entirely ceremonial were abruptly brought to complete readiness. The security of the devil families wasn't just put on high alert—it was as if it had burst forth from the ground, while in an instant the [Pieces] remembered that they were not only followers of their families and players in Rating Games, but also protectors of their kings.
Especially after Sirzechs reminded everyone that years of peace did not mean the ability to wage war had been erased from the Devils’ memory.
Leaving the confines of the estate after several minutes of checks, Kiba walked outside the mansion, trying to spot Koneko, who had quite likely already walked ahead of him for the sweets, making Kiba, who was trying to look out for her, look foolish. However, if he accidentally overlooked Koneko on his way towards the town and missed her, or even worse, if he walked past Koneko, he would receive a harsh kick to the tailbone from the displeased nekoshou for it.
Well, then he would feel even more foolish.
Looking for the white hair of his friend, Kiba idly thought about how fast things change.
After the attack on the Gremory that had occurred three weeks ago, Devil Society had finally gradually begun to return to normal—restaurants, shops, and cinemas finally opening their doors again. But even so, a subtle note of nervousness still permeated Devil Society.
The issue wasn't just that the aristocratic families suddenly remembering the need for personal security, but that many young devils, especially the Reincarnated Devils who were more accustomed to the fact that the humans ruling them were influential but hardly superhuman, suddenly realized that in the world of paranormal beings, a ‘superhuman’ was the most ordinary inhabitant of the paranormal world. And that their rulers not only possessed political powers but also absolute power if necessary.
Well, at least for the Reincarnated Devils that at least have a kind King, those that are unlucky, would probably not notice anything different.
The world of Devils is one where power matters the most.
The Nobles remembered the Civil War, a stark and recent reminder of that fact; that even while now Sirzechs and Ajuka remained jovial and mostly light-handed in their rule, it was these two Devils alongside Serafall and Falbium that had toppled the old Satans, figures that were once thought of as absolute existences.
It was something that a Reincarnated Devil would have a tough time considering, the Satans being distant figures like a President or a Prime Minister in the Human world. The Reincarnated Devils fought in Rating Games, worked jobs, owned businesses, and assumed that turning into a devil hadn't changed their way of life too much.
It was only after recent events that they began to think about the fact that they were living right next to true giants who could single-handedly pose a threat to nations and entire factions.
It wasn't solely Lord Sirzechs' fault… Although his retaliatory strike against the fallen didn't exactly make things calmer.
The current disturbance in the Underworld was mostly the fault of the recent attack by the Fallen Angels; it was still a shock that echoed among the Devils. If Kiba were to walk around the Gremory town, here and there he could see raised scaffolding, either repairing or erecting new buildings in place of the damaged ones; the bureaucracy was only just beginning to figure out what needed to be done with the space vacated after the Fallen attack.
Kiba heard that right now Rias, as a newly minted Lord after she inherited the position, was involved in these conversations. It was why her presence had been missed lately.
It was the uncertainty that scared people the most, the sense of impending danger, of escalating conflict. The news that the remnants of the Fallen were beset by the Angels was commonly known, and it felt like the beginning of a reignition of war.
The Great War.
To put it in terms that the Reincarnated Devils would understand, it was like a major nation had just been wiped out. It made sense that the Reincarnated Devils that had mostly lived their life in peace, to be disturbed by the prospect of a great war happening soon.
The last time Kiba had heard of news about the Fallen, there was something about them joining some kind of organization. He wasn’t sure about the particulars, however; keeping abreast of the other factions wasn't exactly within his circle of duties.
In other words, many reincarnated devils suddenly realized that they weren't just in another nation; they were in a truly different world, where next to them were not kings, but titans capable of single-handedly destroying their world over an accidental conflict without bothering themselves with the rules of Rating Games at all. And as usually happens with any large group of people, opinions and reactions were wholly divided.
Some, in a quiet panic, now spoke of the need to strengthen the power of the aristocrats as those who could protect them from the threats of other factions. Others demanded this power be limited because they suddenly realized that it was these aristocrats who were stronger than them and therefore believed that they represented the main threat to other devils. Another group, thankfully a minority, tried to escape before unexpectedly discovering that doing so wasn't so simple if you carried [Evil Pieces] within you.
Kiba heard that the number of Stray Devils had practically doubled in recent weeks.
In other words, the Reincarnated Devils’ understanding of the world had crashed against the rocks of paranormal reality for the first time, and the collision ended in an ugly pileup.
Where it would lead next, however, Kiba didn't know and wouldn't even venture to speculate. Rias had begun gradually involving Akeno in the management of the Gremory estate and now spent time with Sona and Tsubaki much more often. But, at least, the moment when someone would start demanding strategic advice from Kiba hadn't arrived yet—and, Kiba hoped, never would.
Kiba's shuffling step carried him to the road ahead, where Kiba decided not to wait for transport but to run ahead a bit, taking advantage of the fact that in the Underworld there was no need to hide his superhuman powers. It always felt freeing when he could simply take full advantage of his [Knight] piece and run like a car on the highway.
But before Kiba could rush forward, a voice called out to him, "Hello, can you help me, please!?"
Stopping, Kiba turned around, his gaze finding the person approaching him—well, or rather the devil, since humans in the Underworld were an extremely rare sight—approaching him. The devil himself looked not particularly remarkable, of average height and dirty-brown hair, but was unfamiliar to Kiba. Which is not a surprise, since it was not like he knows everyone in the Gremory Estate, never mind the town.
Still, since Kiba himself doesn’t consider himself above helping other people, he stopped.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"Haha, it’s a bit embarrassing, really, but I'm a bit lost, to be honest," the man who approached Kiba smiled slightly embarrassedly, "Could you tell me the direction to the Capital?"
"Ah, of course, that's easy to do; Lilith is that way," Kiba smiled, pointing along the road to the South, before thinking for a second, "You know, I'm heading there anyway. So we're going the same way."
"Excellent, mein freund," the man smiled. "In that case, I hope you won't mind if I walk with you for a bit?"
"No, of course not," Kiba shrugged.
After all, meeting a new acquaintance in times of suspicion and instability—could that end in anything bad?