Cooled Passions Chapter 74: In the Wake of Hope

Chapter 74: In the Wake of Hope

“So?” CC asked, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face, “Are you going to accept?”

“I haven’t made a decision yet.” I answered, elbows on my knees and fingers crossed as I looked at the table, “I told her I would have to discuss it with you all first. After all, if we are going to war then we all will have to participate.”

We were in our usual meeting lounge, Having gathered all the residents of my Manor except for Valerie, Tiamat and Ophis. My Peerage and allies were scattered across the walls and couches of the room, Shiro having claimed her spot on my lap from a pouting Selene, who contented herself with leaning against my side.

Naomi was the next to speak, “Did she say anything about this bloodline? Why couldn’t she just tell you or break the seal now?”

“She said it was unsafe to do so while I was in the underworld. I take that to mean it is something that a Devil could sense immediately. I could block people’s ability to sense me, but I don’t think she knew that.” I mused, “That means it would be immediately recognisable. To my mind, that means that it’s either Divine in some way, or Holy.”

“Is that possible?” CC asked, frowning.

“No idea.” I responded, shifting slightly as Shiro perked up from her perch in my lap.

“It is theorised to be.” She said, voice calm but still somehow smug, “Devils’ low fertility makes it hard to test, but Half-Gods or Half-Fallen should be physically possible.”

I smiled, stroking her head to praise her, “Due to the contrasting energies, there have been discussions that the baby would not survive the formation of their powers in the womb. Their Devil blood will either be dominant, or they will be killed by their other energies attempting to purify them.”

Kasane was the first to realise what that could mean, “Remora had the power of Binding. She could bind those powers until your mother was born.”

“Yes.” I nodded, “That’s as far as I have thought it through. Gabriel asked me to not pursue the matter further myself. I have confirmed through study of the Seal, now knowing what to look for, that it is locked behind this knowledge.”

“Why?” Melina asked, her mismatched eyes boring into me, “I would think you would brush off this Angel and pursue your own path.”

“If we decide to not take her up on her offer, that is exactly what I will do.” I confirmed to her, “But to do so before we make that decision will burn bridges we cannot afford to at the moment.”

“Our enemies in the Satans are difficult enough to deal with.” CC spoke, confirming my thoughts, “With Heaven backing them it will make our lives even harder.”

“So if we can appease Gabriel, we might get Heaven’s support?” Kasane considered this, her militaristic leanings shining through.

“I don’t trust her.” Selene spoke, nuzzling into my shoulder.

“I don’t either.” I agreed, softly patting her head, “This could well be an attempt to drag me out of Ranni’s protection, in order to capture or kill me.”

“I do not believe the Seraph wishes for that.” Ranni spoke, hands gently pressing on my shoulder from her place standing behind me, “I did not feel any hostility from her. In mine estimation, she has been truthful in her dealing with thee.”

I nodded, trusting her intuition, “I see. It doesn’t change the fact that this is risky, however. Gabriel herself might not be hostile, but can we say the same for the rest of the Angelic Host? Supposedly she will be instructing one to teach me about whatever my bloodline is.”

“It doesn’t change much.” Melina spoke, arms crossed and on the other side of the room from my Queen, “You will be going to war if you go regardless. One more enemy will not make a difference.”

“As much as I don’t like agreeing with her, she is right.” CC chimed in, “More than her motivations, which we are unable to determine, we should be considering the actual effect of joining in such a conflict.”

Melina looked like she had sucked a lemon, but nodded regardless.

“Do we even have a choice to avoid this?” Naomi questioned, causing me to tilt my head at her, “You killed Loki, which is what caused this whole thing to kick off in the first place, right? Wouldn’t his people try and get revenge for that?”

“Eventually, sure.” I conceded, “But when they have to contend with the Aesir, they don’t really have time to deal with me. After the war, whoever wins would be too broken to attack for a while. Basically, the two sides would keep themselves occupied with each other and out of my way.”

“If we were to aid the Aesir against Loki’s faction, would that not possibly be removing a potential enemy before they have the chance to become a problem?” Kasane flicked her eyes up in thought, “Considering that we are getting the final piece of Tiamat’s horde for it, it doesn’t seem to have a downside for us.”

“I appreciate your unwavering confidence in our ability to win.” CC’s voice was dry, “But this will be an actual war, involving Gods and armies. The risk will be immense some of us could easily die.”

“I trust Nii-san.” Shiro spoke resolutely from my lap, “He won’t let us die.”

“Thank you Shiro.” I smiled down at the girl, “But CC is right. This will be dangerous, if we accept.”

“Mine Consort, would an increase to thy forces not aid thee in this endeavour?” Ranni asked, the Goddess staring at one particular member of the meeting intently, drawing the rest of our gazes to her target.

“What are you all staring at me for?” Melina spat out, looking away from us, “I will help, of course, but that’s it. I’m not letting you put one of those trinkets into me.”

“Thank you Melina.” My honest statement caused her to flush, but aside from slight shifting she didn’t react, “But you do bring up a valid point, Ranni. If we agree to fight, I will need to go bring back the final member of our little family. I can’t afford not to.”

“Uhm.” Naomi started, raising a hand slightly, “I am still a bit confused. If you killed Loki, doesn’t that mean you’ve already taken out the strongest of their faction, seeing as he was the leader?”

“He was weak.” Shiro answered, causing me to laugh.

“She’s not wrong. All Norse gods have battle and War as part of their domains, but Loki was one of the least suited amongst them for open conflict. Even then, I only won by taking him by surprise and hitting him with a weapon he had no knowledge of. Other Gods in his group might be much more directly powerful than him, not to mention that other factions will be getting involved, our doing so will be an invitation for them to escalate as well.”

“I see, thank you for answering.” Naomi nodded, glad to have cleared that up.

“Anything can be killed.” Selene’s voice was matter of fact, “We just need to help each other find out how.”

There was a beat of silence after that statement.

“Should we move on to the vote?” CC asked, causing everyone else to agree.

“To clarify;” I raised a finger, “If you vote yes, we will go to war in the Norse realms, accepting Gabriel’s offers. If you vote no, we will stay uninvolved, burning our bridges with her and investigating this bloodline of mine by ourselves.”

Everyone understood, so soon we counted the vote, Ranni aiding us in that role.

Ranni abstained, not able to go to war with us without bringing forth more of her power.

My reasoning for my own vote was simple.

My own experience in the Orcus Labyrinth taught me that Devils grow immensely in active conflict. This war will likely boost our Peerage’s power more than months of training could do, even if we participated in a single battle. More than that however...

I wanted answers and it was darkly amusing that the only one willing to give them to me was an Archangel.

The final tally:

For: Shiro, Kasane, Selene, Melina, Myself

Against: Naomi, CC

The Sagan were going to go to war.

---XXX---

“I’m sorry Rias.” Her friend smiled, although the expression was tense, “I will have to postpone your training sessions after our next one indefinitely.”

She noticed that Melina, who was standing next to him, seemed more apologetic about that than he did.

“Can I ask why? Do you need help for anything?” She asked, worried about what could cause him to have to take such an action.

To be fair, she would be going without training, even in his absence. Ever since her Ancestor had returned from her visit to the Manor with Rias’ mother, she had been an absolute taskmaster. Every spare moment she had was consumed by the short stack, either training her in combat directly or drilling her in tactics and politics.

It’s not that she didn’t understand why, she had seen the Rating Game that Damocles and Shiro had participated in. She knew her friend was much stronger than her, but seeing how stark the divide was… It was humbling and aggravating in equal measure. She had been pushing herself rather hard, or so she had thought, but apparently that was paltry in the face of Shiro’s efforts.

Given the fact that she was publicly training with Damocles, people would be expecting that same level of combat from her, something she was not able to deliver just yet.

Still, she was miles better than she had been, so she wished to repay Damocles for the aid if he needed her in any way.

“I thank you for the offer Rias, but I am going to be participating in something that I am certain you will not be participating in.” His eyes were cold, “As the instigator of Ragnarök, I have been dragged into participating.”

She stilled at that, breath catching in her throat, “Y-you’re going to fight the Norse? Why?!”

“I was asked to.” He shrugged, obviously keeping a lot of the details from her, “Apparently there is a coalition of the three factions that has been brought together to aid the Aesir, I was specifically requested by one of the others to join the Devil contingent.”

She furrowed her brows, worried deeply for her friend. Fighting Gods is not something to be done on a whim. Of course, Damocles had been preparing for open conflict for years at this point, that much she had put together. Still, it always seemed to her like he was defensive, reactive, not one to actively seek out battles.

Whoever had requested him must have offered something especially enticing to get him to break that pattern.

“I see. Well, any support I can give I offer freely.” She swore, impressing on him that she wanted to help in any way she could.

“Thank you. Could you tell Runeas for me? The Manor will be closed to visitors, so I don’t want her ripping through the wards before she realises I am not home.” He asked her, causing her to nod in agreement.

“I will do that Damocles. Are you sure there is no other way I can help?” She reiterated.

“No, just stay safe and cheer for us. We will be back before you know it.” He ruffled her hair causing her to pout, “Oh, by the way, don’t worry. Before I leave, I will break off your engagement with Riser.”

She stilled at that, eyes staring unblinkingly up at him, “Just like that?”

He laughed, mirth genuine, “No, not ‘just like that’. This took a lot of preparation, you know? I wanted to surprise you for your birthday, but seeing as I will be missing that this will have to do as an early gift.”

She slammed into him, hugging him with all her strength, “Damocles, thank you. Thank you so much! I know you said you would help, but it just… It didn’t feel real, you know?”

“I know. It’s one thing to say something, another entirely to actually do it.” He hugged her back, “I know this was stressing you out, sorry it took so long.”

She shook her head, nuzzling his chest, “Don’t be. Just knowing that you’ve been putting effort into it is… I am so lucky to have you as a friend.”

“...I don’t know how to respond to that without making myself sound arrogant.” He admitted, causing her her to pull back and hit him on the arm, making him laugh and raise his hands in mock surrender, “Alright alright, I’m lucky to have you as a friend as well, Rias.”

She nodded, hands on her hips, “Of course you are!”

She was worried for her friend, but she would trust that he knew what he was doing. Besides, if he really could do what he said and free her of this engagement… something even her brother failed to do? Then that just proved that he knew how to handle himself.

Soon enough, she was sparring against Melina and no longer had time to worry about anything else.

---XXX---

“THAT FUCKING GLOWING WHORE!!!” A chair sailed overhead, causing Sirzechs to lazily dodge it, the piece of furniture shattering into pieces as it impacted the wall behind him.

“I share the sentiment!” Serafall chirped, before wincing as the withering glare of Runeas fell upon her.

“Oh don’t you start. We are only in this situation because of your fuck ups. Your immense bungling of this whole mess is biting us in the ass in new and interesting ways every week.” She growled, causing Sirzechs to attempt to defend his colleague and friend.

“Now, Runey, don’t be too harsh of Serafall. This has spiralled beyond what could reasonably be predicted.” His words were ineffectual.

“Oh, I have issues with you too, don’t you worry.” Her eyes turned to pierce through him, “Her mother might have gone easy on her, but I won’t. Damocles has been snatched up by Gabriel right under your noses, a situation that could only occur because Serafall’s saggy tits are bigger than her brain.”

“Hey. I know I fucked up, but that is no excuse to be so disrespectful. I am still a Satan, you know?” She asked, room growing colder at her anger.

“Yeah?” The short Gremory replied, flippantly, “You are welcome to do something about it while I think of a way to get us out of this mess.”

Scoffing, she turned around, staring out of the window of the room while she chewed furiously on her nail, her back completely exposed to Serafall. Tension briefly ramped, before releasing as the Leviathan released a breath.

“Whatever. Either way, there is no possible way whatever you come up with will involve me, so I’m leaving. Sirzechs, those folders I gave you earlier contain the shortlist for the candidates to send to Ragnarök. Falbium had a recommendation.” The black-haired Satan informed him, before she stalked out of the room, waving goodbye as she did so, “I need to have a chat to Michael about messing with our internal politics.”

Sirzechs raised an eyebrow at part of that, wondering who could possibly have impressed Falbium enough for him to personally recommend them. Personally, he had been thinking of recommending someone of his own, that being Sairaorg. If the commander of the military had another suggestion however, he would have to give it all possible consideration.

Turning back to the other matter at hand, he examined the still furiously chewing Ancestor. As he did so, a question came to mind.

“Do we know why Gabriel even wants Damocles to awaken to his bloodline? Do we even know that is what the goal here is?” He questioned.

Runeas snorted, “I recognised him the moment I saw him through a picture. You think the Hope of Heaven didn’t immediately realise who he was when they had actually met in person? She knows. She also knows that throwing him into a Divine conflict will only have one result, no matter how his Blood has been suppressed. As for why…”

She trailed off, narrowing her eyes before continuing, “Lucifer was the favoured of the Angels. The foremost son. That must have imparted something onto him, something the other Angels didn’t receive. Perhaps she thinks it can still be recovered, or wants to use it for something, even with Damocles’ Devil blood? Don’t ask me why though, I barely understand how Angels think in the first place.”

“I see.” Sirzechs had some idea, but he didn’t dare voice it.

Still, if he was right, this just became a lot more complicated.

“There’s no other choice.” Runeas sighed, “If Gabriel gets her way, it’s impossible to predict the results, or the way she could frame it, or the conclusions Damocles could come to.”

“So? What do you suggest we do?” He asked, tapping his fingers on the table.

“I suggest you do nothing.” She stressed, “I will go to Damocles myself and tell him of his heritage before Gabriel can.”

Sirzechs jumped up in alarm, “Absolutely not! Do you want to spark an open rebellion?”

“Sirzechs. Child. Sit and listen.” Runeas was unnervingly calm, “If Damocles goes to war, covers himself in glory, learns that he is the Descendant of Lucifer and returns to the Underworld, do you think a rebellion wouldn’t occur? The secret is out, or will be soon, there is no putting it back in the bottle. So unless you want to march to Sagan Manor right now and erase it off the face of the earth, our only choice is to ensure that Damocles learns it in a way that we can control, that makes him sympathetic to us.”

He chewed his cheek, realising she was absolutely correct. Damocles was too entrenched, likely had several escape plans and was behind two Goddesses, with a possible third one if what Ajuka suspected was true. Simply destroying him was unlikely to be successful, meaning that he had to explore other options.

Quickly, he ran through various scenarios in his mind, trying to find a better one. The only other option that appeared in his mind was using Rias to reveal the secret instead, as Damocles was closer to her, but he refused to use his sister as a pawn like that. Additionally, he admitted that he was not sure she could successfully manipulate the young devil, to ensure that he took the news well and came out with a favourable or at least neutral view of them.

In the end, he sighed, “Very well Runeas. I just hope that this won’t restart the Civil War again.”

“I hope it does.” She responded, causing his eyes to fly open in shock, “The Great King faction is unlikely to support him given his antagonism towards them, he certainly won’t ally with yours, which means the only ones that will rise up in support of his claim are the Old Satans. In which case, Damocles would join us against them.”

“He would?” He questioned, before quickly figuring it out, “He accepted Gabriel’s offer. That means he understands the necessity to not antagonise the other Factions. The Old Satans would want to restart the War against Heaven.”

“Something Damocles would be emphatically against.” Runeas confirmed, “So long as we don’t poke him, he would likely return to his defensive stance, even with this new factor.”

“This is such a mess.” He groused, picking through the edges of the files on the table.

“There is an easy way to simplify it.” She stated confidently, “Just marry him to Rias.”

“Don’t even joke about that.” He wanted to both laugh and cry at the thought, “Besides, Ranni already claimed him.”

“We are devils. He can have more than one wife.” His ancestor rolled her eyes and to his horror, he could not tell whether she was joking or not.