The trembling earth suddenly fell silent, as though someone had pressed a pause button on the world.
The arrival of the strongest Maou and the leader of the fallen angels forced both Leo and Vali to rein in the power they had been about to unleash.
"...Why are you here?"
Vali was silent for a moment, then asked, his expression flat.
"Because of you, obviously." Azazel could see the displeasure in Vali's eyes and sighed helplessly. "The commotion over here was this massive. Did you really think I wouldn't figure out what was going on?"
Because of Kokabiel, the area around Kuoh Town had already become a focal point of attention for every major faction.
Under those circumstances, a battle of this magnitude suddenly erupting on the outskirts of Kuoh was impossible to ignore.
Azazel, in particular, knew full well that Vali was in the area. He also knew that with Vali's personality, there was every chance he would be at the center of whatever had just happened. So he had rushed over from the Underworld without a second thought.
It was fortunate that there was nothing in the vicinity to interfere with magic circle transportation, or he never would have arrived this quickly.
"Long time no see, Sirzechs." Azazel turned to the red-haired Maou standing beside Leo and greeted him with a smile, looking perfectly at ease. "You came too?"
"I should have come sooner." Sirzechs responded with an equally composed manner, as if the man before him were not one of the devil faction's greatest enemies. "After all, this disturbance in Kuoh directly involved my sister."
Indeed.
Sirzechs had arrived in the human world, in Kuoh Town, after Leo reached Kuoh Academy.
Seeing that Kokabiel had already been dealt with by Leo, Sirzechs had initially planned to leave without revealing himself, to avoid drawing attention from those who were keeping a close eye on the situation.
What he hadn't expected was that before he could leave, Leo and Vali had started fighting, escalating into this fierce battle.
This was a clash between two beings with Maou-class combat power. If things went wrong, the consequences could be catastrophic. So Sirzechs had stayed hidden, ready to intervene at any moment.
He certainly hadn't anticipated that Azazel would also come to the human world, and that they would both step in at the same time.
"Vali Lucifer, is it?" Sirzechs clearly already knew Vali's identity. His gaze as he looked at the young man was complicated. "You actually recruited a descendant of the original Maou's bloodline into the Grigori, and one who also happens to be this generation's White Dragon Emperor. Azazel, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Honestly, learning of Vali's identity had unsettled even Sirzechs.
After all, he was currently using the name Lucifer as his own surname. Strictly speaking, one could say he had usurped the throne of this young man's ancestor.
He bore no animosity toward the Maou bloodline. If anything, he had always felt regret, feeling that perhaps they should never have gone down the path of civil war.
If they had been more cautious back then, more patient, could they have avoided the slaughter? Could they have found a way to coexist?
This was a thought Sirzechs had always harbored, a reflection of his compassionate nature.
He had always believed that what they did back then was not entirely right. They shouldn't have driven the Old Maou faction out so thoroughly, but should have sought a path of coexistence. Then today's conflicts would never have come to pass.
Of course, anyone who heard this would call him naive.
Because while he wanted coexistence, the other side did not.
The Old Maou faction was, by and large, a group steeped in past glory. They believed all devils should naturally bow before them and could never let go of old grudges, insisting on waging war against the angels and fallen angels to the bitter end, even if it meant extinction. That was something the reformist faction could never accept.
Given the circumstances of that era, if they hadn't stood up to resist the Old Maou faction, the devil race might truly have fought itself into oblivion. They had no choice but to wage that civil war.
This was also why the Old Maou faction could never forgive the reformists. In their eyes, these were the people who stole their thrones, betrayed them, and brought them humiliation.
An irreconcilable contradiction. Sirzechs was not ignorant of this, yet he still naively believed they should have tried harder to seek change.
But none of that was relevant to the situation at hand.
Vali was indeed a descendant of the original Maou's bloodline, but he clearly had no ties to the Old Maou faction. Instead, he was deeply entangled with the fallen angels, serving as a member of the Grigori.
The critical point was that Vali was a half-blood, born of the original Maou's lineage and a human. He had inherited not only the power of Lucifer but also the power of the White Dragon Emperor.
Either one of those powers alone would be enough to propel someone toward the pinnacle of strength. Yet Vali possessed both. It was simply inconceivable.
The descendant of the original Maou Lucifer had become the current White Dragon Emperor. It sounded like a joke.
And for such a supremely gifted existence to have been recruited by the Grigori... Sirzechs couldn't help but read into it.
"Would you believe me if I said it was all fate?"
Azazel spread his hands and grinned flippantly.
With that look on his face, no one who saw it would choose to believe him.
Only Leo knew that Azazel genuinely had no grand scheme.
In many people's eyes, the Governor-General of the fallen angels was no different from a final boss villain. Everyone assumed he was always plotting something in the shadows. In reality, Azazel was a remarkably simple-minded researcher whose only true passion was studying Sacred Gears.
He didn't even care much about his position as Governor-General. If he could, he'd happily resign.
But others didn't buy it. They only assumed Azazel was preparing to cause trouble and said things like this to throw people off.
Leo felt that Azazel's own attitude was the main reason this happened. When you always act so flippant and shady, and look like the textbook template of a villain, and then refuse to give serious answers, of course no one's going to trust you.
If Leo hadn't known the Governor-General's true nature from the original story, even he wouldn't have believed the man with that carefree, devil-may-care demeanor.
"Fate, you say?" Sirzechs looked at Vali for a long moment. "Then fate is truly cruel."
His heart was heavy.
For this generation's White Dragon Emperor to be this exceptional, this terrifyingly talented, how was Hyoudou Issei supposed to compete?
As the current Red Dragon Emperor, Issei still hadn't even figured out the full capabilities of his own Sacred Gear, let alone mastered it to the point of approaching Balance Breaker. That was still impossibly far away for him.
Right now, Issei would struggle even against a mid-class devil. Unless he risked destroying his body or lost control and awakened the power of Juggernaut Drive, he was the weakest person in the Gremory peerage besides Asia.
Vali, on the other hand, was already an eight-winged Ultimate-class devil who could use Balance Breaker at will. He even seemed capable of activating Juggernaut Drive on his own. The gap was simply enormous.
If the Red Dragon Emperor and White Dragon Emperor were to have their fated showdown now, Issei would have only one outcome: annihilation in less than a second.
One could barely hold his own against a mid-class devil. The other could briefly wield power rivaling a god. There were at least five or six tiers between them, enough for Vali to crush Issei with a single finger.
And yet, one was a descendant of Lucifer while the other was a servant of his own little sister. Both were devils...
Sirzechs felt more and more that fate was unbearably cruel.
"Don't be so tense." Azazel caught the deeper meaning in Sirzechs's words but deflected with a sidelong grin. "Your side gained a supremely gifted existence of your own, didn't you?"
Azazel's gaze shifted to Leo, his eyes brimming with unmistakable interest.
"You must be Leo Eligos, the host of this generation's Zenith Tempest, right?" Azazel clicked his tongue in wonder. "Another human-devil half-blood, another Longinus wielder, and another inheritor of an outstanding devil bloodline. I originally thought having one Vali was astonishing enough. Turns out there's another one walking around in this world."
In terms of devil bloodline, Vali was a descendant of the original Maou, while Leo was a descendant of a pure-blooded devil house among the Seventy-Two Pillars. While not quite on Vali's level, that still put him far above ordinary human-born Sacred Gear wielders like Issei.
In terms of Sacred Gears, both Leo and Vali wielded Longinus. But Leo's Zenith Tempest was one of the four supreme Longinus, ranked second among them. Vali's Divine Dividing, while equally formidable, ultimately stood a tier below in status.
One had the superior bloodline. The other had the superior Sacred Gear. Weighed against each other, Leo was by no means inferior to Vali. If anything, he was subtly the more impressive of the two.
The proof was right before their eyes. Despite having the lesser bloodline, Leo's rank as a devil was higher than Vali's, a descendant of a Maou, no less. His mastery of his Sacred Gear also exceeded Azazel's expectations. To have defeated Vali's Balance Breaker without even using his own, forcing Vali to resort to the extremely dangerous Juggernaut Drive. If word of that got back, the entire Grigori would be losing sleep.
"Your Zenith Tempest seems to be even stronger and more unusual than what's recorded in the Grigori's files." Azazel looked at Leo as though he were gazing at a treasure, and grinned. "How about considering coming over to my side? When it comes to understanding and researching Sacred Gears, if the Grigori claims second place, no one in this world would dare claim first."
This much, Leo already knew.
That was precisely why he had considered reaching out to this Governor-General before, hoping to receive guidance and help reaching Balance Breaker.
But now, he no longer needed that.
"I'll pass. I'd rather not end up on your operating table getting dissected."
Leo tossed out the line casually.
Azazel looked like he wanted to say more, but Sirzechs cut him off.
"Are you going to explain what happened here, Azazel?" Sirzechs's gaze turned sharp. "What Kokabiel did cannot simply be swept under the rug."
He didn't particularly want to pursue the matter. After all, he had no desire to spark another war.
But endless appeasement would only make things worse, and this incident had directly involved his sister.
Even someone as mild-tempered as Sirzechs was not prepared to let this go quietly.
"Everything worked out in the end, didn't it?" Azazel still seemed intent on deflecting, scratching his head. "Besides, whether it was stealing the Church's treasured Holy Swords or making a move against your sister, all of that was Kokabiel acting alone. Myself included, none of the other fallen angel cadres knew anything about it. Surely that counts as innocent by reason of ignorance?"
"Do you really think that argument would convince us?" Sirzechs frowned, his tone stern. "Plotting to dismantle the balance of power among the three factions, attempting to reignite the war. You expect a simple claim of ignorance to make that disappear?"
If that level of naivety were possible, it wouldn't be Sirzechs. It would be Azazel.
"That's exactly why I sent the White Dragon Emperor to clean up the mess our own people started. Doesn't that demonstrate our stance clearly enough?" Azazel said, sounding a bit annoyed by the hassle. "What's more, Kokabiel is already in your hands. However you want to deal with him is entirely up to you."
"You're willing to let us handle Kokabiel's punishment?" Sirzechs was genuinely surprised. "Is that just your personal position, or does it represent all the fallen angel leadership, including the other cadres?"
Kokabiel was, at the end of the day, a fallen angel cadre, a colleague and even a friend of Azazel and the others. Even if he had committed a crime, handing his punishment over to a rival faction would only make the rank and file feel humiliated and disillusioned with their leaders.
Sirzechs had expected Azazel to push for Kokabiel's extradition. He hadn't expected him to simply give up the right to handle the matter.
"Relax, I'll convince the others." Azazel knew what Sirzechs was thinking and smiled, unconcerned. "If a dispute, or worse, a conflict, breaks out over something like custody rights, then Kokabiel's scheme might actually succeed."
To prevent that outcome, Azazel would do his best to bring the others around.
"If you still don't trust me, why not invite Michael as well and hold a three-way summit?" Azazel shrugged. "A representative of the angels, a representative of the devils, and us fallen angels. It's about time the three of us sat down and had a proper talk."
At those words, Sirzechs fell silent. Leo, too, murmured quietly in his heart.
"A three-way summit... so it's finally happening."
This meeting, the one that would reshape the world's future balance and direction, had arrived on schedule after all.
In the end, Sirzechs nodded.
"Very well. Let's sit down and have a proper discussion."