Chapter 561: Schemes Everywhere.
[Haaah, as expected of my master, he is so brazen that not even the Seraphim can handle him.] Kaguya sighed in relief.
[Isn't he just very handsome? And they didn't know what to do?] Bruna spoke.
[I say it's his charisma.] Maria spoke while Eve and Roberta nodded.
[Haaah, don't you understand, desecrating a Seraphim like that is reason enough for all of Biblical heaven to hunt my master.]
[.....] Everyone gulped when they heard what Kaguya said.
[Nothing will probably happen because Master saved that Seraphim, but... Master came very close to making an enemy he was trying to help.]
??
[...That was close, huh.] Eve spoke.
[Yes...] Kaguya replied.
[...Master, Master.]
[Hmm? What is it, Medusa?]
[... What do the lips of a Seraphim taste like?]
[....] The Maids looked at Roberta, or specifically Medusa now.
The only way they could identify that Roberta wasn't in control right now were her reptilian eyes.
[Sweet, it's different from vampires and the goddess... Does it taste more innocent?]
[Oh... Innocent, huh.] Medusa nodded:
[Did you like it, Master?]
[It would be a lie if I said no.]
[Fufufufu~] With a rather sensual laugh, she returned to the depths of Roberta's soul.
[....] Everyone didn't know how to react to Victor's thick skin.
Victor, who was looking at a fight from a considerable distance, examined the demon metal bullet.
"That little thing was able to harm a Seraphim and reduce her to that deplorable state… She became frail, and her body began to be corrupted." Victor's eyes gleamed slightly.
[A bullet capable of corrupting a Seraphim... If the master hadn't interfered, she could either die or... Turn into a fallen angel.] Kaguya spoke.
[And that can't happen, the angels can't lose power now.] Eve commented in a cold tone.
In the grand scheme of things, only a force like angels can oppose demons. Yes, humans borrow strength from 'Heavenly Father', and over time, they have developed tools that are capable of opposing demons and beings of the night.
But when someone of the level of Demonic Duke entered the fight, no matter the tool, strength would always speak louder.
And the only ones who could fight the highest level demons were the highest level angels.
Humans, only a select few like the generals and the leader of The Inquisition, could do that.
But even if these humans run into one or two more demonic Dukes, they can only clench their teeth and be wiped out. There was only so much borrowed strength could help you.
In the grand scheme of things, does The Inquisition matter?
Yes, but not as much as the angels.
An example was the current state of affairs right now.
A Seraphim of the seven virtues can single-handedly change the course of a war. If not for her, the demons would have won.
The Inquisition was... Dispensable, in a biblical war like this, humans were just foot soldiers. It didn't matter if you were a general or not.
In a war like this proved why humans were called the weakest race.
The strengths of humans were numbers and their ingenuity.
'... If humans put their differences aside and supported each other in this time of crisis... The result would not be like this.' Eve thought.
[Unfortunately, that won't happen. Maybe if it was some time after the invasion, the humans tried to join in, but now? They'll just exploit each other.] Alter Eve spoke.
"...." Eve just fell silent in agreement with the woman's words as she looked at her master.
Darkness moved around Victor, and a rifle was seen, the same rifle the human used to attack the Seraphim:
"Norse runes, and the rifle is made of a material I've never seen before."
[A combination of Nordic runes and the powerful soul of a demon, not to mention the powerful miasma contained inside... Diablo is getting more dangerous than I initially thought.] Kaguya analyzed.
"Hahaha~. My beloved maid, if anyone has the balls to do what he did in what amounts to the UN of the supernatural world, he is certainly more dangerous than anyone thinks."
[....] Kaguya couldn't help but agree with Victor.
Diablo's posture at the meeting was one of pure confidence as if everything was going according to his plan.
[What are you going to do with this, Master?]
"I will have Scathach, Aphrodite, and Morgana check these items." He spoke as darkness covered the objects, and they disappeared.
He turned his gaze to the fight taking place in the distance.
A man in full armor and a large Greatsword was attacking a golden-haired man in paladin-like armor.
Victor could also see another being in black armor, with a hood that covered his face made of darkness. That man used two scythes that connected together to form a large scythe as a weapon.
[Horseman of the Death and Horseman of the War.] Kaguya muttered.
[The horsemen of the apocalypse, huh...] Maria muttered. [I knew they were real, but seeing it in person is... A big shock.]
Victor focused his gaze on the knights.
'Strong... Not just in power, but their martial arts are at the level of a master as well.' Victor's smile grew, he wanted to jump into the fray and fight the knights, but he held back and watched the fight, or precisely speaking, an execution.
The blond-haired man simply didn't stand a chance against the two beings.
War and Death were simply on a level of their own, and the paladin could only defend himself.
[Aren't you going to intervene?]
[No, I've already done my part, it's up to them to try and help the blond-haired man.] Victor mentally replied as he looked at the three Seraphim in the distance, who seemed to have no interest in intervening.
The Seraphim man named Daniel was even holding Leonardo, preventing him from interfering in the fight.
"Heh, it seems that even angels are vengeful." Victor chuckled, but inside he narrowed his eyes, his distrust starting to rise over this situation.
[The angels' stance is quite clear. They don't care about humans, they are just doing what they were ordered to. The way angels look at humans is as if they were looking at a pet.] Bruna spoke with a frown. As an ex-nun, she couldn't help but feel her previous feelings trampled.
But she didn't feel too much. After all, these beings were no longer the target of her faith.
Unlike an imaginary god she had never seen or these beings, she preferred to put her faith in a man who saved her and gave her one of the greatest gifts she could ever receive.
Force.
[We cannot judge an entire race on the basis of a few individuals.] Maria spoke.
Maria, of all people, knew not to do that. She had learned a lot from her past.
[The lesser angels, Daniel and Zaniel, may not care about humans... But Ariel, that seraph genuinely cared about them.]
[From what I judged, she wouldn't throw her life away for the humans, but she wouldn't ignore them either if she had had a hard time.]
[That's because she is the very virtue of 'generosity'.] Roberta snorted in disdain.
The Maids began to argue about this matter as they watched the fight through Victor's eyes.
It wasn't until a certain gorilla spoke that everyone fell silent.
[I don't know if it was Diablo's plan or not, but putting in a traitor and using him at this very moment caused a serious rift in the alliance of The Inquisition and the angels, The Seraphim's own stance is now a perfect example, even Ariel who is the 'incarnation' of generosity, is not moving.]
[They'll never be able to trust each other's back now, and in a war... That's deadly.] Big Guy finished speaking.
"..." Everyone, including Victor, couldn't help but internally agree with what he said.
Victor thought about the reasons why Ariel didn't do anything, and only one thing crossed his mind:
[Does she know what the generals are doing?]
[Is Master talking about the experiments?] Eve spoke.
[Yes.]
[...Yes, she should know. She's one of the highest level angels, after all... Could that be why she doesn't help?] Kaguya spoke.
[I don't know if Heavenly Father is involved in this or not, something like that happening right under his eyes, how can he not know? And if he knows, why didn't he intervene? Many questions, few answers, but... One thing I'm sure]
Victor turned his gaze to Ariel, [That look of contempt and disdain in Ariel's eyes was authentic, and the target of all those bad feelings was the man with the blond hair.]
"..." The Maids were silent as they watched everything, and just like her master said, that probability was very high.
[There was no trust from the beginning, huh... The incident with the traitor was just the trigger for everything to blow up.] Bruna commented.
Again, everyone nodded in agreement with Bruna.
Victor watched the fight for a few more minutes, and deciding he had understood enough of the two knights' swordplay and their power, he spoke:
"Looks like the pope lost… Huh." The second he said it.
Death cut off both of Alexander's arms with his two scythes.
War stabbed his Greatsword into the Pope's heart.
"No more Inquisition." War's eyes glowed with a hot fire that seemed to come from the depths of hell, and soon Alexander's entire existence began to catch fire.
At that very moment, Alexander felt something.
"... He abandoned me..." All his strength, all his power, everything he had was taken from him.
His body began to age at an extremely rapid rate, and soon only an elderly man was standing in front of War.
'Father... Why...?' A question he didn't expect an answer to, and he was shocked when he heard an answer.
[I gave free will... And that free will expanded to your organization. And once again, my children abused that free will and committed sins that would make the demons of hell stare in awe.]
[Disappointing.]
A solemn feeling settled into Alexander's entire existence. He did not fear the anger or hatred of his god, he knew that what he did, and what he allowed his subordinates to do, was against the whole purpose the Inquisition was created for, but even knowing this, he couldn't help but feel sad.
Disappointment is much worse than anger or hatred.
[You are not welcome in Heaven, Alexander. And hell would just be heaven for you.]
[Only The Limbo is a place worthy of someone like you.]
The moment the statement was heard for Alexander, things started to change.
War quickly backed away from Alexander, and soon a giant door appeared behind the decrepit old man.
The door opened, and the pure abyss of darkness was seen, and soon thousands of hands came out of this abyss and penetrated Alexander's decrepit body. Soon Alexander's visible soul was ripped from the body by those hands.
"... It seems that even your beloved god didn't care about you." War spoke in a dismissive tone.
Alexander just stood there and did not resist. He had no motivation to do so.
The moment the door closed and disappeared.
Ariel flapped her wings and floated in the air, and soon she proclaimed:
"The heavenly father delivered his punishment. The Inquisition lost its free will, you will no longer have autonomy, your entire organization will be investigated, and those responsible for the atrocities that happened here, as well as Alexander, will have their souls thrown into The Limbo."
A silence fell around the humans, and most were confused by what Ariel said.
"What atrocities?"
"What's up?"
Others were afraid and scared by what they witnessed, and the presence of two horsemen of the apocalypse also increased this fear.
"Hmm... Now that wasn't in the plans." War held the Greatsword on his shoulder.
Death appeared beside his brother with his two scythes:
"What should we do?"
He looked at the three Seraphim.
Unlike before, the three were in complete disposition to fight them to the death.
War, at that moment, realized what had happened.
He and his group were thrown into the hands of Heavenly Father, and the man used the demons to eliminate the most influential person in The Inquisition, so he could 'clean' his house.
It is worth mentioning that this is not a pleasant feeling, and War was extremely irritated right now.
A feeling Death shared with his brother.
"Back off."
"The king needs to know what happened."
Flames erupted from the ground, and soon a demonic horse with hooves, eyes, and tail on fire appeared.
Death nodded, shadows left the ground, and soon a black horse with eyes, paws, and tail on fire with a green tint appeared.
The two knights exchanged glances with the seraphim for a moment.
"See you on another battlefield, pigeons."
Ariel's eyes flashed in disdain:
"Next time, you won't be able to run away like this, abominations."
War and Death's eyes sparkled for a few seconds when they heard the word 'run away', but they controlled their anger and left this place.
"That was unexpected." Victor, who was watching from a distance, spoke.
"Looks like Heavenly Father is a crafty guy, huh."
[...To think that he would use the demons' plan against them.] Maria was in mild shock.
[Did he foresee his involvement?] Roxanne spoke.
[Probably not, when I got here, it was clear that Ariel was waiting for someone, she was biding her time.] Victor looked at the Seraphim.
[She is strong, extremely strong, if she intervened with the motivation she is now, she could fight Duke Sitri and win.]
[And the other two seraphim protect the inquisition.]
[Master's appearance just sped everything up, huh?] Roberta spoke.
[...Yes.] Victor spoke.
??
Victor's eyes gleamed slightly:
[They knew that there were two more powerful forces lurking, specifically the horsemen of the apocalypse. The ally Ariel was waiting for was a guarantee that these forces would not cause so much damage, so if I hadn't intervened, this war would have lasted a few more weeks.]
[The ally Ariel wanted would arrive, and the two would 'fight' the demons while the two seraphim, who are bodyguards, would protect the humans.]
[In the meantime, realizing that the barrier of light was gone, War and Death would do what they came to do, they would assassinate Alexander.]
[Seeing that the pope died, the Seraphim would fight with all their strength and end this war, and the scene we just saw would repeat itself.]
Victor explained everything as if he were seeing the future, his ability to plan and understand movements in the shadows only grew with Adonis' memories.
[.....] The Maids and the gorilla didn't know what to say when Victor finished speaking.
[So everything we did here was pointless?] Roxanne couldn't help but ask.
[... Not quite.] Eve began to speak:
[Remember what happened.]
[Humans betrayed the angels.]
[...Oh...]
[Had Master not appeared, Ariel would have turned a fallen angel or been killed, I don't think even Heavenly Father foresaw that there were 'traitors' in the organization.] Eve finished.
[And by making their presence known, and helping the angels, most notably by saving Ariel's life, the angels now know that vampires, specifically my master, aren't their enemy .] Kaguya continued.
[They owe us a debt.] Kaguya looked around and displayed a small smile:
[A debt that we will collect in the future.]
Victor just laughed a little when he heard his Maids arguing as he looked at the place where Alexander was:
"I guess you can't go that far with borrowed power." Victor spoke as he turned around and soon disappeared from everyone's view leaving only a trail of lightning.
......
