When Yhwach saw her for the first time, he instantly knew that the girl was unique, and on top of that, he didn't need The Almighty to tell him that. While The Almighty was undoubtedly a very powerful ability, Yhwach didn't need to use it on every single occasion, that was for sure.
He knew from his instincts that she bore a very special Lineage and the power that was slumbering within her. Yhwach didn't know if it was some passive effect from The Almighty, but he could always see and sense if someone was "special" in one way or another.
Not to mention, he could clearly sense the power she was giving off... it was rather a subtle feeling, but if someone really bore very special and powerful Lineage like the girl in front of him or he, and wasn't actively doing to hide it, then it was possible for the others to sense it.
Certainly, it wasn't Yhwach's case because he was given protection from this Pantheon to hide the aura, but he was sure that if someone very powerful looked through him, they would be able to tell his heritage straight away.
In the end, it was still meant to keep the masses in the dark, and that was enough.
As he looked at the girl, his Divine Heritage was telling him much more in its own subtle way.
He was a Demigod from one of the strongest Gods of the Draconic Deus and was a fairly powerful one, trained to his Divine Powers, not like the Greek Demigods that were not trained to tap into the Divine Powers of their parents...
His second side came from Level 7 True Seraphim and not from humans, which was the case for the majority of the demigods in the world. For some reason, the Gods produced most Demigods with humans.
Though from what Yhwach knew, since the Prophecy that one child of the Big Three of the Olympian Pantheon would bring end to the Olympians, Zeus grew increasingly paranoid with each passing decade.
He even enforced an Oath to the River Styx that none of the Olympians would have regular contact with their Demigods and that they would never teach their children to tap into their Divine Abilities.
Olympians were one of the most paranoid and degenerated Pantheons, from what he knew, good at pretense and grandeur, or else they wouldn't be right now having entrance to their Divine Realm in New York, USA.
Though if he had to admit, they were the greatest degenerated Pantheon, and the sole reason why they were not wiped out and still held rather strong political pull was mainly attributed to the slumbering Chaos, a Level 10 Origin God, and partially to several slumbering Level 9 1st Generation Primordial Gods and the existence of Hades.
As he looked closer, he recognized the girl, albeit only superficially, as he saw the image somewhere during his lessons on the all important people in the world that the Hindu Pantheon was keeping an eye on.
Valianna Lucifer, great-granddaughter of the Lucifer, formerly known as Helel, was a being of unprecedented power before his fall. From what his father told Yhwach, Helel, and Michael, in their true forms, were more powerful than most of the 2nd Generation Primordial Gods.
It wasn't that surprising that he dared to rebel against Yahweh...
Even after he fell and took the name Lucifer, he was still an extremely powerful being, far more powerful than the current Satans. In the end, he was the Father of Devils and creator of their species; even as Lucifer, he still retained a large part of his power.
Enough to rank him among the upper Top 10.
That was another proof that his canonical knowledge of DxD was becoming more and more useless as time went by. On the one hand, it wasn't that bad as he held a strong disdain for the franchise as everything was turning around boobs, and on the other hand, it was rather bad because his meta-knowledge was useless, and anything could happen.
Even two Heavenly Dragons were like oversized lizards compared to the Helel, and even as Lucifer, he could still easily suppress both of the dragons.
And there she stood...
Descendant of Lucifer, the Morningstar, Helel, most beloved son of God and also the bearer of the Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing that housed the Heavenly Dragon, White Dragon Emperor of Supremacy Albion Gwyder.
Most surprising development.
"Hello there..."
Yhwach said to the girl the moment as he channeled his inner Kenobi and landed down while she was trying to put up a tough front that she wasn't intimidated, while he could clearly see that her hands and legs were shaking a bit.
Perhaps it was from his very own nature because he was, technically speaking, releasing Divine Energy and Holy Power, albeit at the subconscious level. While it was a minuscule amount, it was still a lot to make her uncomfortable.
Noticing this, he retreated his presence, because even though she was only half-devil, partly human, the Holy Power was highly poisonous to her. The Divine Energy of the Gods and the Holy Power of the Angels and Fallen Angels acted like poison to anything Demonic.
And Devils, as the spawns of Demons from Hell, which was, by the way, forgotten lore knowledge that his father only told him about, were especially sensitive to the concept of Light.
[What do you want here, son of Shiva and Thashamal?]
Before Valiana could say anything, familiar blue wings of the Divine Dividing materialized from her back, as deep draconic sound was heard from the wings themselves. Suddenly, a rather oppressive aura burst out from the small body of Valiana Lucifer as he could sense the draconic power of once one of the most powerful Level 8 beings in the Draconic Deus.
Albion Gwyder was a mighty Heavenly Dragon that, during his life, killed a fair share of Level 8 Beings, be it Gods, Magic Beasts, or other creatures. Although a large part of his strength was lost when his soul was transitioned into the Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear Divine Dividing, an even larger part remained.
Yhwach wasn't surprised that the White Dragon Emperor knew about his parentage... Albion was one of the strongest beings of the Draconic Deus, and he fought against his father and mother on several occasions.
Especially his mother, because it was the Red Dragon Emperor of Domination and White Dragon Emperor of Supremacy who decided to disrupt the great battles between the Devils, Fallen Angels, and Angels.
In the end, their arrogance cost them their lives, and they were confined to a fate that was much worse than death itself, especially considering they were dragons. Proud creatures were meant to be free, so for them, being trapped on some kind of equipment was the worst fate possible.
Not only the humiliation from the loss was eternal for them, but they were also deprived of their most precious freedom.
"Would you believe me that I came to the Underworld by accidental teleportation?... Even I am not that stupid to wander into this place..."
The Underworld was too dangerous for someone like him, especially the Domain of the Abrahamic Pantheon or as they were more commonly called, Three Factions. Devils were troublesome to deal with, especially since they got another monster at Level 8 that boasted even higher destructive prowess than the original Lucifer.
Neither the White Dragon Emperor sealed within the Sacred Gear, nor the Vialana Lucifer said something; probably, they were communicating with each other.
***
Meanwhile in Valiana's mindscape
"What do you think, Albion?"
She herself was unsure of what to do... if what the Albion told was true, then he would be the perfect target.
[You should ask him for Asylum... if you truly want to go somewhere where you would be without the possibility of your grandfather finding you, then there are only three choices within Draconic Deus. Either go to the Celestial Court, Hindus and Nordics...]
All three of these factions were among the strongest of the Draconic Deus and there was practically zero chance that her grandfather would find here there. Even if he found that she was there, he couldn't do anything even remotely to her.
All three of the mentioned factions were far stronger than her grandfather Rizevim could handle. Even though Albion knew that Rizevim was fairly powerful Level 8 True Form Super Devil, a stronger than Level 7 Super Devils.
To reach Level 8 for the Devils was relatively straightforward as they needed to unlock their True Form, so even though it was straightforward, it was also an extremely arduous thing to achieve because it required absolute mastery over their powers.
So far, only Sirzechs Lucifer could freely access the True Form, while Ajuka Beelzebub and Zekram Bael could do it only for a very limited amount of time, thus they were classified at best as Pseudo-Level 8.
Rizevim was a peculiar case because while his strength was clearly at the standard Level 7 Super Devil, the man could freely enter his True Form for some reason. As Albion could observe him for some time, he noticed that it was most probably some kind of mutation, like his ability to use Soul Gear Canceller.
Hearing that, she was already shaking in a mixture of anger and fear...
He was the person that she wanted to kill the most, above everything else.
"Better than going to the Grigori?"
She asked while thinking over the matter...
She herself didn't really know much about the outside world, and what bits she knew was with something that she had heard before she escaped her home or learned from Albion himself.
[Going to that dammed Crow is only the last resort; if possible, I would rather go to Jade Emperor Okhwang or Odin the All-Father and ask them for mercy. Azazel cannot be trusted; even though he acts like a total idiot and pervert, he is still one of the most powerful and cunning Fallen Angels. He ranks enough to be as strong as some weaker God-Kings, and is extremely dangerous and crafty. He cannot be trusted at all...]
Albion suggested going to the Grigori for the sole reason that he knew that she would be relatively safe there under Azazel's protection. Even Rizevim would be wary of Azazel, even though the Governor-General of Grigori wasn't one of the most powerful Level 7 True Seraphims...
He was still as powerful as Super Devil, and most importantly, that man was far more cunning and had genius intellect. During the Great War of Supernatural, Azazel managed to kill a few of the more arrogant Level 8 2nd Generation Primordial Gods with his cunning, not just the raw power that, while insufficient for the task, if supplemented with his intelligence, was an entirely different story.
He didn't want to deal with the Fallen Angels if it was possible; he didn't trust even a single word that came out of Azazel's mouth. While many could be fooled by the Crown, Albion knew better and he was aware of the Azazel's treacherous nature.
How else would the man be able to create Grigori and remain its ruler for many centuries, essentially unchallenged in his rule, because even those who opposed him didn't dare to voice it openly.
Not to mention that there were some unsavory elements within the Grigori that would probably be a great danger for Valianna, especially Kokabiel and Satanael... those wished to restart the Great War of Supernatural, to continue the eternal carnival of carnage and destruction.
The other possibility would be going to the Olympian Domain, where Hades ruled as undisputed ruler and that was another no-go zone. Hades was one of the Gods who was known for his great hatred for the Devils and every single thing related to their dammed species because they were disrupting the natural order of all things.
Something that was unacceptable to the God of the Dead and Underworld. Aside from the fact that he was an extremely powerful God, someone who already surpassed most of the Second Generation Primordial Gods.
It wasn't really secret that most of the Gods across the vastness of the Draconic Deus held a great distaste and disdain for the Three Factions of the Abrahamic Pantheon for various reasons.
Some more and some less.
Some held it due to petty reasons; some held it because the Abrahamic Religions managed to put a dent in the coffin of many different regions on Earth. Not like it would do something to the Gods if the people were not worshipped them.
It was a commonly known myth that the Gods existed only because the mortals worshipped them, purposely spreading the misconception that nobody really bothered to clarify or correct.
However, at the same time, the worship had its place because it generated the Faith Energy.
Faith was a very powerful tool in the hands of Gods because they could directly absorb it to increase their power, or they could refine it into Divine Energy and then absorb the said Divine Energy subsequently.
Gods of Dead hated the Devils more than anything because, after the creation of the Evil Pieces, the Devilkind were stealing Souls from them and, technically speaking, breaking the Balance of the World.
Fortunately for the Devils, their breaches were not that serious because the Souls didn't cease to exist and would return to the cycle of reincarnation. If the souls ceased to exist, then it would lead to far worse consequences, but the Devils have apparently stopped eating Souls, since the Great War of Supernatural.
One of the fastest ways for the Devil to increase their power, especially the reserves of the Demonic Energy, was through devouring Souls. It was widely practiced by the Devil Nobility during the reign of Lucifer Morningstar, but after the Great War of Supernatural, the Devils stopped with this practice.
Yhwach could see the reason, as most of the Devils would become the enemy number one; rather, after the death of Yahweh, their Pantheon lacked backer. Even though Yahweh didn't really like the Devils, the fact that they were part of his Pantheon was unquestionable.
So, even if the Devils were attacked by other Pantheons for their practices, Yahweh would for sure intervene in the matter.
However, that didn't change really anything about the fact that the Gods of Dead and Gods of Death didn't like it when someone was taking what was theirs. And taking even a single soul from a God of Dead or God of Death was the gravest taboo that one could commit against such a person.
So, there were not many choices for Albion to navigate his newest host.
He knew that her grandfather, Rizevim Livan Lucifer, was a fairly powerful Super Devil on his own, a very powerful one with the special ability of Denial of the Divine, which allowed him not only to render any Sacred Gear useless but also worked well in countering Divine Energy and Divine Abilities of Gods.
So, they needed to find a place where Valiana would be safe, and unfortunately, there were not many such factions in the Draconic Deus that were fulfilling criteria in Albion's mind or those who wouldn't want anything in return.
***
Meanwhile, the two were having their conversation in her mindscape; Yhwach was curiously observing the blue wings of the Divine Dividings. Since he could walk, he was pretty much fascinated by the Sacred Gears themselves.
As a weapon manufacturer in his first life, what was a better weapon than the Sacred Gear developed by the Yahweh?
After he bugged his parents, they even gave him some Sacred Gears to play with, most probably to shut him about them. From his preliminary research, he managed to find a few interesting things about the peculiar devices.
The first thing was that since Yahweh had died, the bugs in Heaven's System had accumulated to such a ridiculous degree that the Balance Breaker appeared. From what Yhwach understood, the Balance Breaker should not exist and was unnatural.
It wasn't something that Yahweh planned for the Sacred Gears to have because it was lacking in the original designs after they took some of them apart, so he came to the conclusion that it was just some sort of mutation.
Basically, it's a bug in the system that was created from the utter neglect of the Heaven's System, which didn't have an administrator, and negligence of the maintenance of the Sacred Gears themselves.
This made him wonder...
All Sacred Gears appeared randomly in the humans and, in some cases, in the half-humans; most people who had Longinus barely managed to live past their fifties or sixties, and many of them died even sooner.
Not like being killed, but dying a natural death due to strong health problems. This led him to the theory that continuous usage of abilities like Balance Breaker or, in some cases, Juggernaut Drive, was basically killing the user by either tremendously pressuring the Soul of the user or burning the Lifeforce.
In the case of the Juggernaut Drive, both of them are together.
Basically, using the Balance Breakers or anything like that, essentially everything that wasn't included in Yahweh's original design, was severely damaging to the host of the Sacred Gear; that was one of the reasons why the hosts, especially if they were humans, couldn't live long.
Even for the hybrids whose other half came from species with huge vitality, nothing changed and most would perish before their 100th birthday.
What he right now wanted the most was to study Longinus.
He wanted to develop his own version of the Sacred Gears because that would increase the power of his faction several times. And he could fulfill his dream of creating weapons that would be immortalized in the annals of history.
For that reason, he wanted to recruit at least some of the Sacred Gear Users so he could study and experiment on their Sacred Gears to gather necessary data. He wholeheartedly believed that once he presented his idea to his parents, Uncle Indra and Trimurti, they would support his ambition.
In the end, it would strongly empower the Hindu Pantheon. If he managed to disconnect some of the Sacred Gears from Heaven's System and make them individual soul-based equipment, it would be best, but for that, he would need to conduct in-depth research on the topic.
Unfortunately, in the entirety of the Draconic Deus, aside from the Azazel, Ajuka Beelzebub, and Hephaestus, there were not many people who researched and studied the Sacred Gears thoroughly.
"I want to ask for asylum from the Hindu Pantheon."
Suddenly, when she finished conversing with Albion within her mindscape, Valiana courageously shouted to the Yhwach, the son of the God of Destruction.
'This certainly saves us some time...'
He already predicted such an outcome, but until he was powerful enough, his prediction was not necessarily always true. Such a thing was also taught to him by his father since it was found that he had precognitive abilities.
Even Shiva's prediction were not always 100%; it depended on many different factors. Still, his father was one of the most powerful gods when it came to prophecies and predictions, specially when he used his Third Eye, then the accuracy of his foresight was no less than his when he used The Almighty.
"From what or whom are you so desperately fleeing?"
Yhwach asked with faked curiosity because he naturally knew that she was fleeing from her grandfather, Rizevim Livan Lucifer, and the Old Satan Faction. But he didn't want to tell her outright that he had precognition abilities.
That would certainly complicate some things and made Albion wary of his intentions because usually, the Seers didn't really have the best reputation around in the world, as most were viewed as too shrewd for their own good.
[From her grandfather Rizevim Livan Lucifer and the Old Satan Faction. She is not really good at the social aspect of the relationships due to her unfortunate upbringing, and we would be glad to obtain Asylum from the Hindu Pantheon.]
Seeing Valiana squirming in the place, not able to properly say anything, Albion took the matter into his hands. It was understandable; she was very untrustful towards almost anyone due to her past abuse by her father and grandfather.
"That could be easily done... with a few conditions, of course, nothing serious, but I need to ask for permission to study your Sacred Gear and Geass of Loyalty toward the Hindu Pantheon. Aside from protection, I am sure that my father would invest a lot of resources to cultivate you into a true powerhouse."
Yhwach stated that because he knew that providing Asylum to Valiana Lucifer, who was the great-granddaughter of the original Lucifer and holder of the Divine Dividing, was something that his parents would certainly agree to.
And even Uncle Indra just to piss off the Three Factions of the Biblical Pantheon. And Indra was someone who had great hatred for Yahweh and everything related to him, but he also knew the value of taking in someone like Valiana Lucifer.
In this world, there were only three factions that knew that Yahweh had perished.
This information was only known to the leaders of the Nordic Pantheon, Hindu Pantheon and Celestial Court. Though, if Yhwach had to guess, then many more were aware of the fact, mostly the most powerful beings in the world, have certainly noticed that when Yahweh perished but, nobody really bothered to say anything.
This world was far more realistic than the anime. Even though he remembered that the DxD verse was mythologically oriented, it was much more "carefree" and everything. Still, Yhwach would much more live in this world, because it was more exciting and challenging.
[Those conditions are doable.]
Hearing that, Albion decided to agree with the conditions because it was the jackpot.
His host would obtain protection from the strongest faction in the Draconic Deus and, together with it, also support in training and resources she would need to get stronger, so the deal was certainly worth it.
And the conditions were not really that bad because, considering the fact that only some basic loyalty toward the Hindu Pantheon was required, it was already a perfect situation for them.
Even those who hated the Devils to the core would gladly take Valiana in because they were aware of the possibility of political pull she would have in the future. In the end, she was a direct descendant of Helel the Lightbringer, Lucifer the Morningstar.
One of the strongest, and to this day, she is still able to amass many supporters among the Devilkind. Especially from the Devil Aristocracy, be it from the Pillar Houses or the Extra Devil Houses.
And that would, in turn, strengthen the Hindu Faction as if some powerhouses of the Devil Race left the Abrahamic Faction and moved to the Devil Factin. Unbeknownst to Albion, this was also what Yhwach was planning to happen, and he was rather set on his goal to make these plans come to fruition.
Now that it was all decided, Albion retreated back to the Divine Dividing as the blue wings of the Divine Dividing disappeared, and only Valiana remained there looking with a mixture of curiosity, a bit of fear, and anticipation at Yhwach.
While she didn't trust him, she trusted Albion, and she knew that the Heavenly Dragon, the White Dragon Emperor of Supremacy, was a good judge of character. For sure, he would be able to tell if the boy in front of her was lying to them.
"What now?"
She asked him while putting up a strong front as much as she could.
"We need to get out of the Underworld, princess... and for that, we need to go somewhere secluded."
Yhwach stated that he didn't have enough power to teleport them even to the Earth as that would require more power than he could currently muster, far more power.
Teleporting between Earth and other Dimensions that were anchored around Earth was very hard and required a lot of Magic Energy or very high mastery over Space Magic or some kind of Innate Spatial Ability.
Obviously Yhwach lacked all of these things and unfortunately, the Great Sage could substitute for their lack.
He got into the Underworld by a mistake he made, and he didn't have enough power to carry out such a huge teleportation without injuring himself. When he was experimenting with the Space Magic, he was experimenting with the Runic Magic, and he managed to stumble upon the Underworld by chance.
'Great Sage, what are my chances of successfully creating a teleportation circle to the Kailasa? Or at least to the Earth.'
The chance of teleporting to Earth was good enough for him, but it had one great disadvantage. Still, he was rather very about it, because the chances were not absolute and there was still rather big space for accident.
An accident for teleportation typically meant death at worst and crippling injury at best.
"Valiana, are you currently pursued by the members of the Old Satan Faction?"
He asked directly because her escape for sure wouldn't be missed at all. Yhwach was sure that her escape would create chaos among the Old Satan Faction and sooner or later, they would start searching for her en masse.
That was when the problems for them would start.
"Yeah... but I have managed to avoid them most of the time with Albion's help."
While the Old Satan Faction wasn't particularly powerful in the great scheme of things, they had their fair share of Level 4 begins and a lot of Level 3 beings. Not to mention, they were led by Level 7 Super Devil in the form of Rizevim Livan Lucifer, who could push his power to Level 8 for some time.
He also heard that Euclid Lucifuge was also a Level 6 Pseudo-Super Devil, reaching power above the Satan-Class Devil, mainly due to his expertise in Magic and various forbidden rituals that he seemingly carried on himself.
Yhwach was drilled the knowledge of basically everyone above at and above Level 5 because it was necessary to know and recognize everyone who had destruction prowess on the Tecnotic Lelve already.
That was the Level where one started to be considered as a true powerhouse on the Draconic Deus. One could say that below Level 4, everything was just cannon fodder, with the Level 3s like him or most of the High-Class Devils, Angels, Magic Beass, and so on were only stronger cannon fodder.
Starting from Level 4, which stood for the Ultimate-Class, 8-Winged Angels, Minor Gods, and so on, one was already a minor expert as these people were powerful enough to flatten entire cities if they wished with their full power.
"So there is no choice; we need to summon Vritra."
Yhwach muttered because experimenting with Runic Teleportation Circles was right now out of the question, considering the fact that his newest companion was pursued by the Old Satan Faction.
While he was confident to fight against a good number of High-Class Devils if it came to it, he could still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. There were, for sure, hundreds, if not thousands, of Devils searching for Valiana Lucifer.
It was even highly possible that some of the Ultimate-Class Devils of the Old Satan Faction searching for her, that would be even more dangerous. So, he needed to get out of the Underworld as soon as possible to prevent any unnecessary problems from happening at any given time.
With the precise usage of The Almighty, he managed to find the best spot where he could summon Vritra without many problems and attracting attention. Fortunately enough, his Familiar Bond was not disrupted by the distance between the Hindu Divine Realm and the Underworld.
[What do you mean by summoning Vritra, son of Shiva and Thashamal?]
The very moment he finished that sentence, Divine Dividing materialized from Valiana's back and Albion's most shocked voice was heard from them. Even the current White Dragon Emperess was shocked to hear that; apparently, Vritra, the Prison Dragon King, was resurrected.
"What I said... can't you understand a single sentence?"
Yhwach was pretty much irritated that the White Dragon couldn't properly understand it at a first go. He was getting irritated with repeating himself, as he wasn't some kind of parrot that would be repeating the same thing for hours and hours.
[Vritra was sealed into Sacred Gears long ago! How is it possible that he is free?!]
While the White Dragon Emperor was pleased with his host right now, and Valiana had grown on him, that didn't mean that he didn't wish to roam free in the skies once in the future.
There was nothing more humiliating for the once proud Heavenly Dragon than to be sealed into this prison and be nothing more than a tool for some humans or hybrids. While the Dragon had already gotten a bit used to it, it didn't mean that he was contemptuous of the situation.
"Several years ago, my father, together with Heavenly Emperor Indra, collected Vritra's Sacred Gears, broke them apart, and resurrected Vritra to his true nature. While the side effect of the resurrection was the loss of some of his strength, as he fell from the previous Dragon King Level to Level 4."
According to the standardized Power Scale of the Draconic Deus, Vritra fell two whole Levels from his previous Level 6 Dragon King on the borderline of the Level 7 Dragon Lord to Level 4, and right now, he could at most rival that of Ultimate-Class beings and Minor Gods.
But, in the great scheme of things, it was rather a small price for the ultimate freedom.