"Hm. How interesting."
Euclid Lucifuge gave a confused look to his master, who was staring with intrigue at the latest report they received from their agents across the world.
"My Lord?"
"Hm?"
"Are you not angry? The heavens, and that angel called Aetherion, have been causing a lot of problems for your plans for some time now. Maybe we should do something about it?"
"Hahaha! No need, Euclid."
Rizevim Livan Lucifer, son of the original Lucifer, grinned as he continued staring at the reports.
"This is the most fun and challenging event that I've had in a long while. In fact, I think I should thank Arael- sorry, Aetherion, for stirring the pot like this and pushing the entire supernatural community all over the Earth to the edge of war."
The old devil laughed maniacally as he put down the reports and leaned back into his couch.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think that he was part of the Khaos Brigade with how much chaos he is causing around the world."
"But, he has taken away the Holy Grail and the girl. Were you not interested in using its power to search for the man who made that theory about worlds beyond the Dimensional Gap?"
Rizevim continued smiling as he answered the question of his most loyal subordinate.
"True. He did cause all of my plans to derail, even if it was coincidental."
"Then....?"
".....Fine. If it gets you to stop whining, might as well."
Rizevim turned to his subordinate fully.
"Tell the others to gather and inform our allies in the other pantheons to get ready. I'll think of something."
Euclid immediately left happily, getting ready to do his master's bidding.
However, Rizevim only felt amusement as his subordinate ran off to incite a fight against a being he had no chance against.
In fact, Rizevim knew that none of his group or his allies, save for himself, was a match for Aetherion as he is right now.
Not because of pure power, which the angel in question had as well, but in mentality.
Rizevim remembered the old times very clearly. The time when his father was in charge of the Underworld and made all kinds of schemes to capture Aetherion, who was called Arael in those days.
And when he did catch him, he tortured him in such a way that the other three satans started to fear Lucifer more than they hated the heavens and God.
Rizevim believed that this wedge might have been why the four failed to coordinate as they once did and led to their downfall in the war, but he had no proof of that, and he could not be bothered to research such things, so he let it be.
However, unlike his father, Rizevim believed that Arael was not in the wrong for how he and his unit behaved during the war, even if the original Lucifer believed it to be favouritism on God's part.
The ancient devil felt excited for the first time in a long while as his monstrous power flared to life.
Rizevim Livan Lucifer is an evil being. That was never in question. And all of his evil deeds were by choice.
This was because he believed that a devil is supposed to be evil by nature and should be the very monsters that humans fear so much.
He believed in creatures acting according to their instincts and nature.
That is why he did not hate Arael and his actions.
Because it is the duty of an angel to fight against the devils by any means necessary.
And in Rizevim's eyes, Aetherion is a True Angel.
A being that rains down divine judgment based on his own morality, uncaring of how many ants he crushes in his quest to oppose his antithesis.
"Hehe! I guess I made the right call back then when I sabotaged Father's dimensional fracture artifact, eh? Arael?"
As his power continued to flare with his anticipation, he pulled on his power and called upon a holy weapon so potent that any other devil aside from him would have died instantly in its presence.
It was a simple staff, made of wood. It forms a bit crooked with nothing remarkable about it. It did not even have any etchings or polishing on it.
Yet, the holy energy radiating off of it would give nightmares to any devil who remembers the Great War.
Its wood was something that did not belong in this world or the entire universe. Its grain and internal core unidentifiable and incomparable with any single tree in this world, both mundane and supernatural.
Despite being wood, it was strong enough to split the Red Seas when held by a mere mortal who was judged worthy of its power.
Despite look frail, it was capable of calling forth plagues so dangerous that even the supernatural community would not have an answer to them.
Originally belonging to God, with its origin being just as mysterious as God himself, it was originally given to Adam for safekeeping. After the expulsion of Adam and Eve and many other historical events, it fell into the hands of Enoch, who then gave it to Noah, who gave it to Shem, who then gave it to Abraham, who gave it to Issac, who gave it to Jacob, who gave it to Joseph.
Then, it was stole by a certail Pharaoh, who in turn was robbed of it by his advisor Jethro, who planted it in his garden.
Then, a certain legendary human would pull it out of the ground, proving himself worthy, as nobody else was able to pull it out after Jethro planted it in the ground, and then proceed to an iconic moment in Abrahamic history.
However, this legendary staff was said to have disappeared from the line of the Davidic dynasty after the destruction of the First Temple, with nobody, not even the Heavens, knowing where it went or what happened to it due to its very nature.
Nobody could have ever thought that such a holy relic would be in the hands of a devil of all beings.
Looking at the ancient relic, Rizevim grinned maliciously.
"After such a long time, A True Devil like me gets the chance to fight a True Angel like you, Arael. Let's see if you will prove to be just as entertaining as you were back then."
".....Actually, why not give you something to pass the time until I make sufficient preparations to confront you?"
Rizavim used his communication magic circle to connect with a certain someone whom he had under his employ.
"It's me. You wanted to send those two stray exorcists to attack Azazel's children, right? When were you going to start your plan?"
"In three weeks, my lord. We wanted to get rid of that traitor Mephisto-"
"Spare me your lies, Sallos. Those exorcists, how powerful are they?"
".....The younger one is a prodigy who escaped the Sigurd Institute long ago. The older one wields Galatine."
Rizavim's eyes flashed with delight as he heard those words.
"The younger one, tell me more about him. Specifically, I want to know his affinity for demonic swords."
"Given that he was part of the Sigurd Institute, he does have an affinity for both holy swords and demonic swords, although we did not have the chance to test to what extent."
"Test him. And if he is compatible enough, arm him with CHR-02."
"My Lord!?? that's-"
"Are you talking back to me?"
"....It will be done, My Lord."
"Good. Also, move up the timeline. Use our agents, proxies, I don't care about the methods. Move up Mephisto's meeting schedule with Azazel and prepare the boy. I want that attack executed within a week."
"Yes, My Lord."
With his orders given, Rizavim leaned back and smirked, envisioning how busy Aetherion would be while dealing with this, giving him the time to gather his pawns and complete his preparations for a direct confrontation. And while this confrontation would not come anytime soon, Rizavim still could not help the anticipation burning within his heart.
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Author Notes:
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