Richard sat on a chair, facing Jeanne and Gawain. After greetings and introductions, he thought it was time to share his plan with them.
"I'm very glad to have both of you accompany me in this upcoming project. I'm sure you already know my purpose for coming to this world and how it operates, right?" Richard said.
Both Jeanne and Gawain nodded, but Gawain raised his hand and spoke.
"I understand your purpose, but I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Why are you hiding in Kuoh instead of going out there and rescuing our kind?"
Richard nodded and began explaining the situation.
"That's a good question, Gawain. I can't just go around helping every single person I come across. It's time-consuming and ineffective. There are plenty of human-established organizations already trying to do that. Many people are helped, but the world still runs the same. Nothing really changes. What I want is to change everything—once and for all—so that humanity will never have to worry about supernatural interference again."
Gawain nodded, though his expression showed he still didn't fully understand Richard's words.
"So how are we going to do that?" Jeanne asked this time.
"Now we come to the reason I'm in Kuoh. As you both know from my memories, the Biblical Faction is one of the strongest factions in this world. However, due to the war, it was split into three: the Devil Faction, the Grigori, and Heaven. That's the reason I'm in Kuoh." Richard paused briefly before continuing.
"Currently in Kuoh, there are the two younger sisters of the Maou. This is the best way to build ties with the Devil Faction."
"Why do we even need ties with the devils?" Gawain asked.
"Because devils are the ones who most frequently exploit humans. They have unstable politics, a deeply racist system, and the Evil Piece system directly affects innocent people."
"Then shouldn't we just start a crusade into the underworld and end it all?" Jeanne said.
"No, war would only increase the suffering. While that would certainly be effective, not all devils are evil. And it's not only the Devil Faction harming innocents. If we succeed in eliminating the Devil Faction, the other factions would unite to eliminate us. They won't just stand by while we disrupt the world's balance," Richard replied.
"So do you have a plan for this?" Jeanne asked.
"During my time in Kuoh, I've had time to think. I've divided the plan into three parts. The first is to change the politics and operating system of the Devil Faction." Richard paused to see if Jeanne or Gawain had anything to ask. Seeing they remained silent, he continued.
"And we'll do that by creating a civil war. From my memories, you should know about my secret friends. They will be the key to this. What would happen if Kiba were to reach Ultimate-class strength? The old devils wouldn't stand for it. A reincarnated devil surpassing pure-bloods would be seen as a disgrace. And there are other secret allies as well. We'll stir up discontent among the lower class of devil society and split the Devil Faction into two sides. When the power imbalance is great enough, a revolution will break out. At that point, the discontented class will rise up against the old regime. And the revolutionary army will surely lose~."
"If they're going to lose, why even start a civil war?" Gawain frowned.
"Because that will give us a legitimate reason to intervene. Azazel, the leader of the Grigori, hates war and prefers peace. The same can be said for the angels."
"How can you be sure Heaven will get involved?" Jeanne asked.
"Because their God is dead," Richard replied.
"How do you know that?" Jeanne continued, confused—there was no such information in Richard's memories.
"First, I fought an angel who used a Sacred Gear. From what I've learned, Sacred Gears are human-born artifacts. That means the angels have developed a system to reincarnate humans into angels. That tells us they need to replenish their numbers—because they can't create new angels themselves. Second, Asia was treated unfairly by the Church. A devout believer like her wouldn't be mistreated like that if their God were still alive," Richard said.
"What does that have to do with us joining a devil civil war?" Gawain asked.
"Azazel, the leader of the fallen angels, hates war. Heaven can't create new angels. That makes both sides unwilling to start a large-scale conflict. If a civil war in the Devil Faction breaks out, the Biblical Faction will weaken, and other factions might take the chance to wage war on them."
"When the civil war breaks out, that's when we and those factions intervene. It will give us the opportunity to rebuild devil society and restructure their power system," Jeanne said, thinking aloud.
"But how do you know the angels and fallen angels will ally with us?" she added.
"I can't be 100% sure, but I plan to talk with both of their leaders. Azazel is a curious man, so he'll come find me sooner or later. As for Heaven… when I summoned Jeanne, I set up a barrier around the house. Heaven will definitely notice the sudden appearance of a holy maiden," Richard said.
"So what's step two?" Gawain continued.
"Step two is to revive the Biblical Faction. We'll unite the three parts into a single faction. That'll make it easier to implement step three: use our influence to stop the other factions from negatively affecting humanity."
"However, we'll need more power to make all this happen," Richard shrugged, but then smiled as he looked up at the sky.
"Oh, we have guests. They came faster than I expected~," he said cheerfully, deactivating the barrier around the house.
Suddenly, two beams of light appeared before them. Jeanne and Gawain immediately got into combat stance as they sensed the two mysterious presences. However, Richard gestured for them to calm down.
The first was a handsome man with long blonde hair and green eyes. He had twelve wings sprouting from his back. Unlike other angels whose wings were white, his were golden, symbolizing his position as the former leader. He wore a red cloak with a golden cross over a white robe, gold shoulder guards with a white sash, and a golden halo above his head.
The second was an incredibly beautiful woman with curly blonde hair and a voluptuous figure, known as the most beautiful woman in Heaven. Like the man, she also had twelve wings.
As soon as he arrived, the man looked at Jeanne with sorrowful eyes, as if silently apologizing to her. But he quickly regained his composure and introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Michael, leader of the angels."