Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.
Oppai Club
–Azazel–
Just as he finished accusing/asking Odin, the God looked up at him with a smirk, as if he was privy to an inside joke that he wasn’t aware of.
“Oh, I am not protecting him. I was saving you from having to deal with a vengeful conceptual Devil. Might as well develop a good relationship with him before you inevitably start fires you have no ability to put out.”
What?
His confusion was visible on his face, intentionally, as he was talking to Odin, one of the few people he could talk freely with. It was one of the biggest achievements of his role as the Leader of the Fallen. Getting in roads with the Norse had been a big boon for Fallen as a whole, giving them trade opportunities as well as protection. It was a giant sigh of relief as the burden on his shoulders was cut in half simply because of his one action.
Which is why he wouldn't move against the boy if Odin didn’t want him to.
Smirk still etched on his face, Odin replied with a false cheer in his voice, “The Devil brat is not an Ultimate Class.”
“Then…” his voice trailed off as he realised what he meant. His eyes widened in realisation. Realising why targeting someone on his level would have been a supremely bad idea, he slumped in the booth, tapping his finger on the table, ordering a stronger version of the ale he gave to the kid.
“I really could have screwed up, huh?” he asked listlessly, because sending numbers after an Ultimate Class Devil was one thing, but to try and do that to a Satan Class devil? A totally different thing. For one, they would need both quantity and quality, and if not that, then at least someone who could match him, and then for everyone else to provide the numbers to exhaust him.
Even then, Satan Class Devils rarely went down without a fight. He might have caught the brat by surprise here, but unless he went all out at the start, the chances of him killing the brat without being severely injured in return were less, not to mention containing someone of that level took extensive preparations.
All in all, it was quite hard to kill them, and going in with his earlier estimates of his strength would have been the height of foolishness. He would have failed in his endeavour and made an enemy that could conceptually erase stuff.
A disaster on all counts.
“His power is also weird,” Odin added with a thoughtful voice, “It is probably because of his soul. It has been exposed to something alarmingly similar to the Gap and somehow survived. I would not be surprised if the brat reaches the level of the Two Devil brats in a few decades at most.”
Hmm. That was worrying, and also an earth shattering prediction for most of the supernatural world, who were of the opinion that the two Super Devils currently running the Underworld were a one-off thing. That it would be impossible for Devils not just to birth but also train Devils to that point of strength, especially in the current times of pace.
Most of the world knew about the right conditions required for Devils to grow optimally.
“It might spark a war that no one needs right now. I like things the way they are. Also, find out more about that Garden of his. I need to talk to Freya about his Garden. There was something else about him, aside from his Destruction power, and I think we can succeed by exploiting that angle.”
“Succeed in doing what?”
Odin looked him right in the eye as he replied, “To tie him to our side. The boy is a ticking time bomb. His soul is messed up. It’s dim in some places, extremely bright in others. His mentality doesn’t seem fine, either. I see imbalance everywhere that matters. If nothing is done, he will implode, and I, for one, don’t want that. He could be far more useful if someone knew what was happening and did something about it.”
“So, you want him in your faction?”
Odin waved him off, “No, that is unnecessary. Even being a regular here should be enough of a start. We can see what the future brings anyway. What I can tell you is that I have seen enough,” His eyepatch glowed a bit at that, his eyes widening at the significance of that, “And I can tell you that the boy is important. Far more important than he or anyone else thinks he is. Do with that information what you will.”
Saying his piece, Odin disappeared, and he was left sitting in the booth, deep in thought, right up until reality caught up to him and scrambled out of the Club. He had work to do.
Odin doesn’t give anything out lightly, but for him to warn him in such an overt manner? He would be a fool to ignore him.
__xx__
Underworld
–Magdaran Bael–
He appeared back near his garden, pausing as he realised someone had left something at the edge of his wards. Flying out, he noticed that it was a magically sealed box. It opened up as soon as he approached it, as he inspected it and found two letters inside.
One from Cleria Belial, and one from Serafall.
They were delivered here the day he left to find Georg. He opened the letter from Cleria, and it was just a standard apology letter from the Overseer, with a standing invitation to visit once more. It was written in a formal tone, telling him that he didn't really have a chance of friendship with her.
As for the letter from Serafall….
Dear Magdaran,
I am writing this letter as the Head of Foreign Affairs, regarding the incident in Kyoto.
Don’t worry, you are not in any trouble.
We just had a few questions regarding the incident. I would like a meeting at your earliest convenience.
Attached below is a standard warning set for any Pillar Devil that wants to travel extensively on their own. It is quite extensive and constantly updated for areas with different levels of threat for devils.
Hope to see you soon.
This was not written by Serafall, likely by one of the people working for her, which made sense. He would not be surprised if she had a former human diplomat working for her in some capacity.
Opening the book, and it was a small book, based on its thickness, he saw a world map in it, along with multiple red places, some yellow, and only a few green places. There were black ones that were documented pocket dimensions where Devils were not invited.
There was no map for devils of proportional strength. No area where High Class devils could not go, but Ultimate Class ones could go. He could understand why. After all, it would be obvious that the Devils would look at that as a challenge, going to places where they shouldn't go and get themselves killed.
Shaking his head, he entered the Garden, and after taking stock of the damage, he began undoing it. It was expected, as the damage was limited to the new plants he was growing, the ones that hadn’t yet gotten used to the toxic energy that continues to flow under the soil. Oh, what he wouldn't give to have the soil from the Sitri lakes for his garden.
….
…
..
Huh.
Maybe, he could just ask Serafall about it?
They normally didn't sell it as they themselves were always in short supply, but if he could work out a deal with Serafall, then he might get it? He would have been wary of doing this before, but things had pretty much been exposed now, at least to the Satans anyway.
It was worth a shot, he thought to himself, as he got working on reversing the damage. His thoughts went back to the demonstration he gave to Odin, and winced at the second hand embarrassment he felt at exposing his number one trump card over something as banal as pride.
Even so, he considered that trip a net positive. Not only did he get to meet Odin and Thor, and see just where he was on the power scale of the universe, but he also got a membership to a very exclusive club. A move that was very unlikely to bite him in the ass later on.
The fact that he was much weaker than the people running the club was the one thing that didn’t spook him about returning there. It was practically a treasure trove of connections and safe conversation, and he was left wondering why something like that was just handed to him. No, he knew why Odin did it, but not exactly.
Odin saw something in him.
That much was certain. What he saw was something only he could answer. Hopefully, it was something good.
He would hate to eat a hammer to his face.
__xx__
New Lilith
–Serafall Sitri–
She was in the middle of reading the reports she received from her spies in the Church and the Youkai about the whole incident involving Akihito, a half Youkai with the most Heavenly looking Sacred Gear she had seen in the past century, when she felt it.
A priority mail was delivered right to her desk. She set down the reports and looked at the note on the letter. The name of the sender alone had her eyes sharpening as she opened the letter immediately.
Magdaran Bael was someone who was proving himself to be less and less of a headache as time passed. Everyone else had just jumped to conclusions about him and had assumed the worst about him.
So far, she hadn’t seen anything that would warrant using the nuclear option, as Sirzechs suggested. He really was too loving about his family for his own good.
His theory about Magdaran knowing something about the Sleeping Sickness that afflicted Misla might be true, but that didn't mean Magdaran himself had done it. He might know something about it, but that could be any number of things.
She had already snet in the multiple report she got from multiple people that interacted with Magdaran, both in Kuoh and Kyoto, to Sirzechs, to get him to change his opinion about the Bael heir, because if things were heading in the direction she was predicting, then Magdaran might not be Zekram’s trump card that he’d hidden and trained to be exactly like him, but someone who had actually slipped from under his radar, despite living in the same compound his entire life.
If doing so didn’t lead to her giving away her advantage over him, she would have really loved to rub this in Zekram’s face the next time they met.
Alas, her duty, more often than not, came in the way of her fun.
Dismissing the sour face of Zekram that appeared in her mind, she opened the letter and began reading through it.
By the end, her face had an odd expression on it.
Magdaran wanted Sitri farm soil?
He was willing to pay for it, but everyone knew they didn’t sell that for money. It was one of the ways her family extracted political favours from the rest of the Pillar Houses. The Phenex had their Tears, the Sitri had their fertile grounds and their massive lakes.
But she would gladly give some of it to Magdaran if it meant she knew more about the Bael heir.
Was his garden really that important?
If it was, could she tempt him with some land in the Sitri lands? Prime location, right next to the lakes? If she could convince him to move the entire garden to Sitri, then, consequently, the Bael Heir will travel to Sitri territory regularly. Things could easily spiral from there.
A win for House Sitri.
A win for herself and her department.
A win for Magdaran.
A loss to Zekram.
If nothing else, it was a show of trust, as the Sitri didn't invite anyone into the most important place of the Sitri lands.
She resisted the urge to squee as she mentally patted herself on the back for her brilliant idea. Hastily summoning two papers, she began writing the response to Magdaran and the letter to her father.
She had a Bael Heir to tempt to her side.