Georg, Jeanne, and Siegfried hadn't been killed by Jalter; instead, they were taken prisoner and handed over to Azazel.
Although they had long fought against the Khaos Brigade, they still knew precious little about the organization's internal structure—its powerful members, factions, or even overall hierarchy.
Azazel intended to extract precisely this information from Georg and the others.
"Speaking of which, what happened to Pluto?" Azazel lifted his gaze toward Jalter, curiosity in his eyes. "That skeletal bastard Hades really threw caution to the wind this time. Not only did he hand over the [Dragon Eater] to those terrorists in the Khaos Brigade, but he even dispatched so many Grim Reapers—including his strongest servant, Pluto… Given what I know about you, there's no way you'd let Pluto off easily. So, what happened to him in the end?"
"He died, obviously. What else did you expect?" Jalter crossed her arms disdainfully, lips curled into a contemptuous smirk. "I'm not one to buy into nonsense like 'revenge is best served cold.' If someone dares to target me or Ophis, I repay the debt on the spot. Honestly, killing him outright was letting him off easy... Although, that Grim Reaper was pretty good at running away. He made it all the way back to the Greek Underworld, probably thinking Hades could save him."
"He ran all the way back to the Underworld?!" Azazel's eyes widened in alarm.
"Wait, wait, wait! You're telling me… your attack chased Pluto all the way into the Greek Underworld?!"
Jalter understood exactly what Azazel was worried about, and quickly explained:
"Yeah, even I was surprised. That's the trouble with gods of death—they're annoyingly connected to delicate balances. To prevent breaking the boundary between life and death, I had no choice but to pull back most of my power at the last minute." She spoke with genuine annoyance.
In truth, she'd wanted to conveniently finish off both Pluto and Hades together, but she simply couldn't. Hades was the god of death and the Underworld itself; killing him meant shattering the Underworld, causing utter chaos to the balance of life and death in this world.
Hades surely knew this, which was likely why he dared to openly cooperate with the Khaos Brigade. To avoid collapsing the world's order, nobody could touch him.
Azazel opened his mouth, intending to scold Jalter, but ultimately said nothing. After all, even he knew that Hades had gone too far this time; even Azazel himself was simmering with anger.
"Dammit, why does someone like him have to be the god of the Underworld…?" Azazel muttered irritably.
From ancient times to the present day, death had always been an absolute taboo. All mythologies had their gods of death: Thanatos and Hades in Greek myths; Osiris and Anubis in Egypt; Lady Houtu and Emperor Fengdu in China; Ereshkigal in Sumer; Izanami in Japan. Though none of them were supreme deities, even the kings of gods feared their authority.
Even gods feared death.
Those who governed death held powers untouchable even by kings of gods.
Usually, such gods were unable to leave their realms freely. In exchange, they held absolute dominion within their territories—even supreme gods, upon entering the Underworld, had to submit.
Queen Ereshkigal was a prime example.
Logically speaking, a unique position like that should go to a god who could endure loneliness and remain neutral, like Ereshkigal herself—ever since becoming queen of the Underworld, that silly woman had not once acted selfishly, to the point that even the spoiled goddess Ishtar found it baffling.
Yet Hades—at least this world's Hades—was clearly nothing like Ereshkigal, whom Jalter knew so well.
No wonder Azazel was annoyed beyond belief.
He probably wanted Hades dead even more than Jalter did. But the Greek god's special role was a foolproof shield, effectively allowing him to cause trouble without fear of reprisal.
"Alright, calm down." Seeing Azazel's angry, foot-stamping tantrum, Jalter spoke coolly. "Leave Hades to me. Rest assured, he won't have any chance to cause trouble again."
"…You purposely held back from killing that bag of bones earlier, so I suppose that means you know your limits... right?" Azazel asked, clearly uncertain.
After considering it further, he quickly added:
"When you deal with him later, please go easy. Hades's Underworld is directly beneath where we live. If you smash it, Sirzechs and I will end up homeless."
"You can relax a hundredfold," Jalter replied haughtily, chin raised proudly and hands placed on her hips. "When I handle things, is there ever reason to worry?"
…Why did hearing that suddenly make me worry even more?
Azazel rubbed his forehead in resignation.
"I'll handle interrogating those brats from the Hero Faction. This is the first time we've captured such high-ranking members of the Khaos Brigade; I'm certain we can squeeze useful intel from them."
"Do as you please," Jalter replied disinterestedly, barely glancing at Georg and the others.
"But… their [Sacred Gears] belong to me. You don't have any objections, right?"
"…You already have so many powerful divine weapons—do you really need these too? Don't you already have the strongest Longinus, the [True Longinus]? And now you're after [Dimension Lost] as well? What will you even do with that many [Sacred Gears]?"
"Quit whining. Even if I can't use them, can't I keep them as collectibles?"
"You're seriously wasting combat potential here," Azazel protested weakly. "Two high-ranking Longinus could raise our power considerably if given to suitable wielders... Although I'd love to lecture you about this, you're the one who brought both the prisoners and the [Sacred Gears] back. They're technically your spoils, so I don't really have the right to interfere. Fine, I'll extract the [Gears] from them later and hand them over."
After this incident, Azazel's evaluation of Jalter increased yet again. The appearance of the [Sword of Salvation] fully convinced him Jalter was part of a grand design by the Biblical God, so unless her demands were too outrageous, he wouldn't refuse.
They were just two Longinus. He could spare them. Besides, if this was indeed all arranged by the Biblical God, even these Longinus ending up in Miss Witch's hands might be part of the divine plan.
"So, do you have anything else? If so, say it now. I'll probably be busy for a while after this."
Aside from interrogating Georg's group and extracting their [Sacred Gears], Azazel also intended to speak with Michael and Sirzechs about this entire affair, as well as contacting other factions.
And then there was the [Sephiroth Graal]…
If Miss Witch was created by the [Sephiroth Graal], wouldn't possessing it mean creating another Witch—or perhaps discovering a weakness in her?
Azazel knew he couldn't be the only one considering this possibility. When Jalter explained her origins, plenty had been listening. The Khaos Brigade and Hades had likely realized the same thing.
They'd surely pursue the [Sephiroth Graal]. Azazel couldn't allow that. He had to find it first.
He made an immediate mental note: gathering intelligence on the Holy Grail would be his highest priority.
"Ah, there actually is something else."
Jalter placed her palm gently atop Ophis's head, softly stroking.
"This incident gave me a wake-up call. I wanted a peaceful life, yet troublemakers keep popping up one after another like grasshoppers after autumn—utterly infuriating. Seems like my 'can't be bothered' attitude has been mistaken for 'easy to bully'?"
She sat back down on the sofa, oppressive pressure seeping into the air, heavy as thunderclouds about to unleash a storm. Azazel's panicked expression clearly reflected in her indifferent golden eyes.
"Contacting the leaders of the other factions—that's your job, Azazel."
"And if they refuse, if they try to put on airs or act arrogant—I wouldn't mind personally paying them a visit."