Teleportation, like all times, was the method used by Magdaran to travel to Mount Kailash.
Magdaran was not quite sure of what the reaction of Shiva would be to the rumors which had spread throughout the underworld, he simply did not have enough data to speculate any meaningful results.
He had met Shiva only once, and the feeling he got from the strongest god... was not like one would expect from the strongest god.
Especially one who was the god of destruction, because just the title is enough to depict an image of a guy who loves destruction, but Shiva's actions were almost opposite.
There were many mysteries which surrounded the most important god of the Hindu pantheon...
Like his abode, which was not like what one would expect... from someone of his stature.
Rias was the first to notice it.
"…Huh."
That was all she said at first. And it was not due to shock due to grandiose, but rather, the lack of it.
They stood on a wide stone platform carved directly into the mountain, smooth underfoot but not polished. The air was thin but comfortable, cool without being cold, carrying a faint scent of snow and incense and something she couldn't quite place.
It felt old. And it felt natural, barely carved, as it nature had been left to decorate the place as she wished, without any interference.
"This place feels…" she searched for the word, "…nice." Her expectations of the place were based mostly on the descriptions of heaven, filled with clouds, and light. Considering Shiva had similar stature as the Biblical God.
So, although the scenery of the place was rather mesmerizing, it was not what she had expected.
Magdaran glanced at her and smiled faintly. "Yeah. That checks out... Shiva is known for being an ascetic, not much involved in materialistic things, his abode being a place of natural beauty instead of an architectural wonder makes sense."
Rias nodded at his words, not replying, but checking out the surroundings, there was
Scathach was quieter, her gaze moving steadily across the peaks in the distance. Kailash rose around them like a natural throne, layers of white and stone and cloud stretching endlessly upward.
"This doesn't feel like a God's home... I mean, it's beautiful, but it is lacking, gods are rather pompous..." she said at last.
"That's because I prefer the quiet beauty of the mountains, building anything grand here would merely be polluting it's serenity," a voice replied cheerfully.
All three turned.
Shiva was sitting on a low stone ledge a short distance away, legs dangling casually over the side, trident resting against his shoulder like a walking stick.
And then, he started laughing, as if something funny appeared in his mind.
"Oh gods," Shiva said, wiping at his eyes, "you should hear the things they're saying about you."
Magdaran blinked. "…About me?"
"Yes," Shiva replied, grinning. "Apparently you're three times stronger than Yahweh, five times stronger than Indra, and strong enough to punch the Dragon Gods into next week."
He leaned back slightly. "Very creative. I especially liked the part where I apparently refused to fight because I was afraid."
Rias froze, Scathach tensed visibly, and Magdaran was just standing there looking plain awkward.
"…You're not mad?" He asked out meekly in the end.
Shiva looked genuinely surprised by the question.
"Mad?" he repeated. Then he burst out laughing again. "Why would I be mad? That's the funniest thing I have heard in centuries. Honestly, I even purchased a Devilphone, and some of the stuff there was put on by me...
And Indra hasn't stopped sulking since he saw it."
Scathach raised an eyebrow, then sighed. "Obviously... because he didn't lose."
"Oh, I know," Shiva said, waving a hand. "That's what makes it funny, doesn't it? He didn't lose, sure.
But, he didn't win either, and now half the world thinks he got carried off by a devil who is like a million times younger than him. Everyone is teasing him now, I mean, such opportunities are rare."
He chuckled. "He's furious, about everything. I am about fifty percent sure he has placed Magdaran's figurines as target practices on Devloka.
Though, everyone thinks that he has finally lost it, the loss was too much for him to recover from. He keeps saying 'I almost had him' all the time. As if that helps... I mean, all he has been getting with that is pity, which angers him even further."
Magdaran scratched the back of his head. "Uh… sorry?"
Shiva hopped down from the ledge and landed lightly in front of them.
"Don't be," he said. "It's refreshing. And, Indra lowkey deserved it.
From what I have heard, he was even planning to make up some mess in other pantheons to bring forth more chaos and fun, at least, this escapade would set him straight, after all, although it was fun, he was the one who ended up becoming the joke.
Maybe that will result in some meaningful realizations?"
That was when Parvati approached.
She didn't announce herself either. She simply walked up from the temple path, carrying a warm tray of food, her expression amused and sharp in equal measure.
"You're encouraging him, he was clearly being a bad child, the rumors were orchestrated by him personally." she said lightly to Shiva.
Shiva grinned. "I'm appreciating creativity. And you are speaking as if you weren't clutching your stomach with all that laugh after checking out the comments."
Parvati blushed a bit, "T...that does not mean I support his actions, children should behave like good kids..."
Parvati's gaze moved to Rias and Scathach, lingering just long enough to make both of them feel seen.
"So," she said, smiling, "these are your wives? Well, at least you have a good taste in women, and looking at them, they seem innocent, I am sure they would ensure you are not doing any mischief later."
Rias flushed immediately. "W-We will definitely make him behave."
Parvati laughed softly. "Relax. I'm just teasing. If children don't do mischief, wouldn't life turn simply too mundane? To have some fun is good, as long as you do not hurt anyone."
She set the tray down on a nearby stone table.
"I went all out for the feast, hope you enjoy it." Parvati smiled as plates filled with food appeared as if they'd always been there.
The food itself was rather different from what they were used to eating as devils, it was not by any means bad, but meat did make up a large part of devil diet.
And here, it was all rice, lentils, vegetables, desserts, breads, filled with fragrant spices. No meat. Not a trace of it. And there were dozens of dishes.
Rias was somewhat surprised. "…It's all vegetarian?"
Magdaran smiled and explained, "Yes, unlike us, the cultural diaspora here is more attuned towards vegetarianism. And Lady Parvati, you did not have to prepare so many dishes... I am not entirely confident whether we would even be able to finish it."
"Of course I had to," Parvati replied waving her hand. "You're guests."
And there was nothing more to complain, Magdaran was surprised by how smoothly this meeting with Shiva had went, and with the attitude Shiva had shown towards him, it was clear that he was interested in forming a connection with him.
It excited Magdaran quite a bit, a proper bond with Shiva would mean the support of the Hindu pantheon, although Indra paraded around as the Godking, in major matters, what the Trimurti said was the final word.
And Shiva's support would be essential in his plans, an alliance can be formed with him, strengthening him politically, paired with Odin who had expressed his interest in forming an alliance after his breakthrough to Super devil, Magdaran could easily place himself as the highest authority of the underworld.
His current forces were limited to the Great King faction, which, to some extent lacked when compared to the Maou faction, although he could probably defeat both Sirzechs and Ajuka himself, but if a fight really broke down, then by the time he would deal with the two super devils, their forces would wreck his forces.
Although he was certain that in the end, he would win, but that would mean a near complete devastation of both sides.
And considering that any fights between them would only weaken his race, Devils, as a whole, not fighting at all is much more preferred.
And alliances was just the way to ensure that, especially with him being the forefront of said alliance.
Odin might ally with the entire devil race, but clearly, Magdaran was the reason for his actions, and if Magdaran managed to get Shiva into the fold, that would mean the support of the strongest God would befall on him first, and in extension, the entire devil race.
And, most importantly, now, with Shiva's help, even the plan for kidnapping Forseti for research purposes can be ignored, if Shiva himself, the strongest God, with the same destruction powers as him was willing to guide him, then there was no reason for him to research it pointlessly himself.
What he needed to do instead, was to train hard, and attain divine energy, once divine energy mixes with his demon energy, the resulting reaction should be enough to elevate his strength further, maybe comparable to the Biblical God and Shiva.
For now, that would be enough, thought Magdaran, he was certain that his act of killing Rizevimhad significantly delayed the threat of ExE invasion, by his calculations, even if the ExE were to eventually find this world and invade, that won't happen in this century.
This gave him something precious. Time to grow.
ExE beings weren't omnipotent, it was just that their strength was overhyped, all that fanon about them one shotting Great Red was stupid, it was just that Great Red decided not to fight, choosing strategy over a mindless charge.
Besides, even if he couldn't find a solution for ExE in this world, can't he just figure out a way to go to some other world and become stronger? After all, they do exist for sure.
"Lord Shiva, you mentioned about me having the same Destruction as you, and Indra said the same thing, but my Destruction can be said to be a mutated evolution of my bloodline power of Destruction, which is completely different from you, a God...
And, when you used your power last time, it was somewhat different too, why was that?" Magdaran asked with a thoughtful expression, Shiva was known for his gullibility, Magdaran still had to carefully lead the conversation to that direction without raising any suspicions.
"Oh, that's a good question, but Indra and I were correct, our powers are indeed same, even if they felt different to you.
Here, consider two factors, first is Destruction, which, is same for both us, we both use the very same concept of Destruction, although our understanding of it aren't quite at the same level. This part is what makes us our similarity.
Now, you may ask what makes us different, then it would be the energy we use to fuel it. You see, once you can use a power at a conceptual level, you can use any energy you wish, and possess to unleash it, for example, you could unleash your Destruction with your Senjutsu, Touki and Demonic energy.
And, the interesting part is, all these energy would unleash different results, it's like fire, both petroleum and coal could produce it upon burning, but the two fires appear somewhat different, in simple terms, it would be different efficiency with each fuel, but since it is a spiritual aspect and not a physical one, it naturally goes beyond just that.
What I mean to say is, there are even different results with each energy, I know that makes my example somewhat insufficient, but that really is the best one I can think of at the moment." Shiva explained it calmly with a smile, Magdaran was surprised by how detailed he gave the information.
"So, you mean, if I want to become stronger, the two viable paths currently are improving my understanding of the concept, and increasing my energy quality to go beyond just demonic energy?" Magdaran asked with a serious expression, he really went into an overdrive mode planning it ahead.
"Yes... To some extent, but, you could also just attain more conceptual powers, that would also significantly strengthen you..." Shiva nodded.
"I see... say, your divine energy... is it the same for all Gods? And how powerful is it compared to my demonic energy?" Magdaran asked, genuinely curious.
"Hmm... Not really, in essence, divine energy can be said to the same, but also unique to each god, because a God's traits influence their divine energy, for example, your Biblical God, his powers were more attuned towards holy and light natures, so his divine energy reflected that, my divine energy reflects destruction and rebirth...
But, if we get to the base of it, yes, divine energy is about the same for each God, and comparing it to your demonic energy, well, it's superior... significantly so, since divine energy can produce much more powerful beings, even the weakest are high class.
But, divine energy is far too rare, and not many possess it." The answer was vague, Magdaran had realized himself that Divine energy was superior, but the fact that the divine energy was mostly the same for all gods did help him quite a bit.
"So, if I want to attain divine energy, could I do it?" Finally, Magdaran asked the most important question.
"Of course, it's not that hard, you can do it, especially if someone guides you. But, the difficult part is not that, your demonic energy would surely conflict with your divine energy, if you want improvement, what you need to do is form a proper ratio, mixing the two properly.
Only that way, they might react and push your energy to further level to make you stronger." Shiva smiled.
"I see, then I suppose I would be under you guidance, Shiva-sensei." Magdaran smirked.
"Huh?... Hahahaha, I suppose that's good, you can rest assured, Magdaran-chan, I would try to help you to the best of my abilities." And, so, Magdaran managed to learn from one of the strongest beings in existence, making his growth ahead even smoother.
To learn what happens next, stay tuned in.
Would Indra throw a tantrum, or he just being Tsundere?
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I know, this chapter was a bit late, but yupp, regular updates from now onwards