Heaven.
The upper ranks of the Angels were in turmoil as they ran around like headless chickens as Heaven's System suddenly went into overdrive over Japan and started doing random things.
But the ones who were the most affected were the Four Great Seraphs, the leaders of Heaven.
Michael closed his eyes with a frown, connecting with the system and trying to understand what was going on.
Gabriel paced near her brother. Her emotions were in a constant flux as she tried to come to terms with what she had felt just a few minutes ago.
Ureil frowned as he looked at the supernatural phone in his hand, trying to see if there was any news in the supernatural community about what was happening over in Japan right now, which was a lot since the Heaven's System was going into overdrive in that section of the world and was causing significant damage to any and all things and people that held even a shred of demonic energy or even the dark Touki of the Youkai, forcing the East and West Youkai factions to set up barriers around thier homes to protect themselves from heaven's system.
Raphael, for once, lost his playful personality as he too stared at his phone while sneaking glances at his little sister, worried about what she might be feeling after what just happened.
The moment Michael opened his eyes tiredly, Gabriel was on him with a mix of worry, excitement, and sadness.
"Brother! Is what I felt true!? Is he-"
Michael placed his hand on Gabriel's head, making her stop talking as he gave her a small smile.
"The power of his Light is far too great, and his presence is completely different from what I remember. But there is no doubt about the soul that was detected by the System. It is Him."
Raphael nearly dropped his phone in shock when his doubts were confirmed, while Uriel's frown deepened with barely withheld rage and anxiousness flashing within his eyes.
"Those damned devils. It has to be them. They must have done something to him-"
"Uriel. Now is not the time to point fingers. One of our brothers, long thought dead, has returned to the realm of the living. It is imperative that we retrieve him as quickly as possible."
"But how is any of this even possible? We were there when those damned traitors proclaimed his death with glee on the battlefield and fled before Father would notice him."
Uriel held a thoughtful face at that question before he put forth his own doubt.
"We never saw his corpse. Lucifer never showed us his corpse when he proclaimed that declaration. Who's to say that he did not imprison him somehow?"
"For all this time? Over a thousand years? How would that traitor maintain such a prison so long after his own death?"
"I do not know, that is why it is only a theory. But I do know how to get some answers."
Uriel punched his palm as holy energy erupted from his body along with his twelve wings and halo, showing his willingness to march into the Underworld to get some answers.
But he was stopped by Michael's steady words.
"You won't do anything like that. Right now, Heaven is in no position to take on Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub."
"Are you kidding me? Have you even felt how the Heaven's System is responding to us down there?"
Michael simply raised an eyebrow at those words.
"Strong enough to take on those two Devils in their true forms?"
Instantly, Uriel fell silent, unable to delude himself any further since he knew that only his Father would have been able to face and defeat those two so-called Super Devils.
Michael spoke once again, repeating what he said before.
"I will say again. All we will do is bring back our lost brother to Heaven, and nothing more. At least for now. If our brother is really responsible for how the System is responding, then maybe, in the future, we will have the chance to truly regain our former glory. But until then, we will continue to maintain our low profile."
"...Fine." Uriel bit out those words with frustration.
Raphael simply nodded his head.
Gabriel's excitement was clear for everyone to see.
With no other opposition to his words, Michael closed his eyes one more time and mobilized the power of the System, moving the sixth Heaven from within its dimensional pocket to the skies of Japan.
If they are to recover one of their lost flock, then they must do it in such a way that nobody would dare cross them again.
Michael knew that this move was nothing more than false bravado since they were in no shape to truly fight any other pantheon, or even the Devils and Fallen Angels, for that matter, but appearances must be maintained.
So, despite the strain he felt, he made this overt move.
'Hang on, brother Arael. We are coming for you.'
—————————————————————————————————-
Cleria Belial felt despair.
She should have listened to her uncle. She should not have dug into whatever that old man Zekram was doing with the King pieces.
She should have stopped when she found out about the truth behind how most of the top players in the Rating Games gain their status and money, along with their families.
No, she should have stopped even before. When she found out about the greatest mistake made by Ajuka Beelzebub, by creating the King pieces.
But now, it is already too late.
She felt tears gather in her eyes, but she would not give her opponents, these mere pawns being used by Zekram to get rid of her and her boyfriend, that satisfaction.
"Oh? Is the little bitch going to cry? Worried about that shitty exorcist of yours? Don't worry, by this point, he should already be dead at the hands of his own people."
The brat from the Barbatos clan's branch family gleefully spoke, making Cleria's heart break even more.
Suddenly, the brat threw an explosion spell at her, making her use her clan's ability, the power of 'Worthless', to nullify the concept of explosion behind his attack. However, he took advantage of this momentary distraction to run towards her and deliver a knee strike straight to her abdomen.
With a wheeze, she nearly fell to the floor, but she managed to hold back and tried to retake her stance, but she was forcefully pushed to the ground by Barbatos.
She felt her heart nearly stop as a chill shot down her spine, as his lecherous gaze roamed her body.
"You know, it is such a shame that we need to turn your body to ash. So, I'll give you a chance. Submit to me, become my pawn, and I'll let you live as my toy. What do you think?"
Cleria kept silent, but she still responded to his 'offer'.
With a spit on his face.
Incensed, the boy gathered his Demonic Energy, which was strengthened by his peerless talent in magic, a trait that every Barbatos has along with minor precognition abilities.
Yet, even his precognition, which warned him of an incoming attack, was not fast enough to save him when a holy sword ran through his heart, killing him then and there.
The last thing that the Barbatos brat heard was the cold voice of the human exorcist that should have been dead by now.
"Anyone who touches my girlfriend must die."
Seeing her beloved safe and sound, Cleria nearly wept in joy, yet her joy was short-lived as a colossal wave of demonic energy erupted in the area, followed by a bored tone that sent shivers down their spines.
"How interesting. I knew we should not have trusted the humans to keep their end of the bargain."
Cleria gritted her teeth in frustration and terror as she beheld the bored man with long blue hair and green eyes who floated in the air lazily.
"Amonel Barbatos."
"Belial. Been a while. A shame that you need to die today as per Father's orders. But, before that, I have something else to say."
The heir of the Barbatos clan turned in the same direction from where Masaomi had arrived and spoke out.
"Come out, Angel. Why are you meddling in the Underworld's business?"
"Ho? You detected me through my illusion? How curious."
The sudden voice made Cleria's grip on her boyfriend's sleeve tighten while the human just stared with reverence as an angel with two wings materialized out of thin air.
Amonel just gave the angel a dismissive look while charging his power.
"Of course, I would see through such a weak illusion. But, what else should I expect from a weakling like you?"
The angel chuckled at those words.
"True. That illusion was not even strong enough to be Tier-1, given that I just created it on the fly. So it is no surprise that you saw through it."
"Flattery will not save you, angel. For the crimes of meddling with the Underworld's business, Die!"
The angel did not even bother dodging as the concentrated demonic energy collided with his body, only to disperse harmlessly, unable to even scratch his form.
Shocked would be an understatement for what Cleria and the other devil followers of the Barbatos clan felt while Masaomi only gave the devils a smug look.
The angel, on the other hand, was still giving the devils an amused look.
"Is that it? I was hoping for something much stronger. I wanted to experience the power of the so-called High-Class devils and see if I can't decode how you guys work."
"HOW DARE YOU! DIE!!"
Barbatos fired volley after volley of attacks, mixing in elemental, conceptual, and pure demonic attacks at the angel, but he still floated there harmlessly. Even more humiliatingly, he took out a journal and started to write something in it while he was still being bombarded by the Barbatos heir.
Now thoroughly incensed and the infamous Barbatos clan's temper provoked, he charged a colossal ball of demonic energy, uncaring if his own subordinates would be caught in the blast range, and threw it to the ground, intending to annihilate the entire block along with the 'weak' angel.
However, before the ball of energy could land, it was forcefully dispersed by the sheer holy power of the angel whose body erupted with pure light.
Gone was the amused look on his face, and gone was the curiosity in his eyes.
Now, all that was left was a cold look and a rage-filled gaze as his soul-chilling voice rang out in the area.
"Now, that was excessive. What would you have done if the humans had died in that attack?"
Barbatos snorted at that question, suppressing the surge of instinctual fear that rose within his heart.
"So what if some insects died? Why should I care about their petty lives? Instead, they should be honored to have been given the chance to die at my hands."
"Hm. I see. I will ask you one final time. Do you really feel that way? That everyone who does not follow you is beneath you and their lives don't matter?"
"Of course! Only the lives of the pillar families, especially those loyal to-never mind. Anyways, only those lives matter. Everyone else is but tools that should feel honored-"
"[Holy Ray]"
His words were not even completed when his head disappeared from his body, courtesy of the concentrated beam of holy energy that erupted from the Tier-4 spell unleased by the angel.
The potency of the ray was so high that the High-Class devil's body ignited on its own just by coming into contact with that beam, being reduced to nothing in a mere few seconds.
Everyone stood rooted in their place, their hearts filled with terror, except for the sole human in the group whose heart was filled with awe, as the angel's cold voice once again rang out in the area.
"You know, I was not going to intervene in this fight at all. Because, like I said to that kid, this has nothing to do with me, and I have no right to interfere. But that Barbatos brat was the one who called me out and attacked me, so this can only be called self-defence."
"My Lord, if this is called self-defence, then the Great War was the greatest example of self-defence in all of existence."
The angel gave the smug human an annoyed look before flicking his hand, sending a small stone straight to his head and giving Masaomi a bright red mark on his forehead.
"Ow!"
"Shush now, kid. The adult is talking here."
The devils in the area, including Cleria, shivered as one as the angel's gaze fell on them. Being the intelligent girl she was, she had already noticed the way Masaomi was standing confidently. Coupled with his earlier words and the way the angel did not take offence, she put two and two together and wisely chose to hide behind her boyfriend to escape the angel's gaze.
The angel let go of his control, revealing all of his wings and his halo's full power, which sent a new wave of terror through the hearts of the devils, as he leaned forward playfully.
"Now then, what to do with you lot-"
Suddenly, the night sky of Kuoh was illuminated as if the sun was at its peak, an illusion that was created due to the potent light energy that erupted from beyond the sky, as a beautiful realm of light manifested into reality.
Its sheer presence, its holy radiance, its elegance, all of it was enough to make anyone stare with awe and reverence.
Yet, for the devils, this was no different than death personified as they frantically tried to escape the area with their lives. In their hearts, they cursed the Bael clan and the Barbatos clan for putting them in this situation.
Fortunately for them, their foe in this situation was far too distracted to care about them right now.
Aetherion, the Angel from YGGDRASIL, felt pure confusion and caution as the sixth heaven manifested above Kuoh town, followed by four bursts of light that appeared just a few feet in front of him in the air.
"Oh, for the love of- What now?"
Masaomi fell straight to his knees in reverence as the four clusters of light materialized into humanoid shapes before finally solidifying into the Four Great Seraphs of Heaven, ignoring Aetherion's mutterings since he did not believe his pay grade was high enough to interfere with any quarrels between the heavenly host.
The Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Michael.
The Messenger of God, Gabriel.
The Angel of Flame, Uriel.
And the Angel of Healing, Raphael.
Yet, instead of acknowledging the human who was clearly praying to them, the angels had their gaze locked onto Aetherion as complicated emotions flashed through their eyes.
Michael felt relief and joy fill his heart, emotions that reflected on his face, as he beheld the familiar face that had long since faded from his memory, only to reemerge after all this time.
Gabriel's eyes held unshed tears as she held back the grief and joy that threatened to burst through her heart. Beholding the familiar presence and soul of the angel that was once thought dead.
Uriel also felt joy for the return of his kin, yet his attention was mostly focused on the Devil girl hiding behind Masaomi, daring her to make a move.
Raphael, out of the four, was the only one to keep a somewhat level head as he spoke in a gentle voice.
"It is good to see you again, Arael. It has been a long time. You do not know how much Brother Michael and Sister Gabriel grieved for you and the rest of our kin after that battle."
To such heartfelt words, Aetherion only had a single sentence to speak. Words that nearly shattered the hearts of all the angels gathered in the area.
"I'm sorry, but who are you again? And who the hell is Arael? My name is Aetherion, please remember it properly."
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1