Lucifaad, Underground Research Facility, 2nd Layer
'We are nearing the main laboratory where the workplace of Zaorama Nebiros is located. Not to mention, it seems that the Ward is falling apart.'
Even the Ward that they were using to prolong their stealth already started falling apart, as it was already being overused too much. They have been using this Ward for more than one hour, and it was on its last legs, figuratively speaking.
Luckily enough, the entire 2nd Layer of the Underground Research Facility was rather small and compact with everything being rationally placed. Looking for the place where Zaorama Nebiros was located wasn't particularly challenging, because the devil was the strongest person in the entire research facility.
Such a thing wasn't that hard to miss.
They were able to pinpoint his location exactly and plan accordingly.
The office where Zaorama was located right now was, in fact, closest to the exit or entrance to the 1st Layer and barely had any guard.
Yhwach suspected that it was because the office itself most probably didn't contain any sensitive information as they had vaults for those and at the same time, if something went wrong, he could escape as soon as possible.
Just to get into the 1st Layer of the Underground Complex, and then finding the man in the endless tunnels, and god knows what was mission impossible. The upper Layer of the subterranean area was almost impossible to navigate through and they were only able to find their way was due to Yhwach constantly using the [The Almighty].
Without it, they would be like a bunch of lost sheep in a maze and would still be searching their way out of the maze. Fortunately, due to the [The Almighty], they were out, and right now, Yhwach was making the final preparations to take out Zaorama Nebiros, but he couldn't really believe that they were this lucky.
They managed to sneak to the office of their target, without being spotted, and with the Ward still holding up, meaning there was almost zero conflict.
Yhwach was cautious about dealing with someone so cunning like Zaorama Nebiros, so he ordered all of his companions to surround the entire office and block the entrances while he would take Valiana with him to take care of Zaorama Nebiros.
With Valiana's Sacred Gear Divine Dividing, she was invaluable in the fight against someone who was one whole Level above them, even though according to Valiana, their enemy was no fighter by any means.
Though he was very skilled as a Magician, and a powerful one at that, being a proper Battle Mage was something vastly different. Not every Magician, no matter how powerful they were, was also a Battle Mage.
Being Battle Mage meant that the Magician was able to use the Magic in the combat as easily as breathing the air and it was natural to them. Yhwach knew that using magic in combat was rather problematic because while it may sound easy, it was far from being easy.
Of course, there were many different factors in that equation, like the type of Magic that one was using or the species one belonged to, because all of these were very important factors.
Still, one needed to have absolute control over his Magic, be very skilled in all stages of the Spell Casting, ranging from the creation of the Spell Matrix to the subsequent Magic Power control and everything in between it.
So, most of the Magicians in the Draconic Deus were like Cat in a Bag.
Nobody knew how efficient on the battlefield they were unless they started fighting. If they were poor at combat skills, then killing enemy Magicians wasn't really that problematic, because in some more extreme cases, the Magicians would somehow dispatch themselves, if they lost control over their spells.
Even though disgraceful, Yhwach saw plenty of cases on the DevilTube.
It seemed that some DevilTuber was making compilations titled "Epic Human Magic Fails" and "Dumbest Human Mages that Killed Themselves"... yeah it was as it sounded and in fact it was pretty funny.
Or...
The Magician could be extremely skilled in combat and then escape was their best bet on survival. Powerful Magicians that could fight well, were a nightmare to confront and fighting one was extremely challenging.
Fortunately enough, Zaorama was the first case and not the second one. Even though the man was fairly powerful and he was one of the most revered Magic geniuses that the Devil Race ever gave birth to, he wasn't any fighter.
When Valiana was little, she saw a few confrontations between Zaorama Nebiros and Euclid Lucifuge, in which Zaorama always lost, not due to power difference, as Euclid was holding bkc.
A lot.
Like a really, really lot.
Valiana told him that Euclid defeated him only using the Demonic Energy output comparable to the Peak Level 4 Ultimate-Class Devil. And yet, Zaorama, who was in the later stages of the Level 5 High Ultimate-Class, still lost.
And lost rather badly.
Even though the old devil could cast extremely complex and destructive spells, he couldn't really fight in the realm of combat and react instantly to all changes on the battlefield.
Due to that, in the large-scale battles, the Mages like him, were usually protected by powerful combatants or legions of Golems or something like that so they could unleash their AOE Magic on the enemy.
"Prepare yourselves, we are going in. I finished the spell. Once it's cast, we would have around five seconds before he could break it and unleash hell, so we needed to knock him down in five seconds and deactivate the Dead Man's Switch during that time. Meanwhile, Arjuna, Karna, and Bikou would guard the entrance, and if anyone came, they would kill them. If they are researchers, knock them out... those are more valuable alive."
Yhwach told the plan to the rest of the group as he finished creating the Spell Matrix for the Null Zone. Rather particular application of the Anti-Magic that was boosted by his [Divine Authority of the Golden Grace] to the limits, but even then, the maximum time that he could maintain the spell before it would collapse is five seconds.
Still, that was far more than enough for them to execute the plan as everyone nodded and went to their stations.
Three of them would secure the area so Yhwach and Valiana could take out the big bad devil as first, and so Yhwach would have enough time to deactivate the Dead Man's Switch entirely, because the last one would require a bit of Magical expertise.
Once the countdown was done, Yhwach released the Null Spell on the area as in a split of a second, the diameter of around two meters became an Energy-Void Place where not even a bit of Magic could be used, but Yhwach had something better in his arsenal.
The Celestial Force, which was several grades above standard Magic Power or Demonic Energy, so it wasn't affected by the Null Spell, as they rushed into the office of the Zaorama Nebiros.
Valiana used the Divine Dividing Longinus and delivered a swift, powerful kick to his stomach while Yhwach used the [Divine Authority of the Golden Grace] in combination with the [Divine Authority of Destruction] to induct Zaorama Nebiros into forced stasis, where he was in the state between life and death.
Everything happened extremely fast within four seconds as Zaorama Nebiros was in the stasis, which now allowed Yhwach to do some diagnostic Spells on the Dead Man's Switch that was on his body.
"Dammed madman... this would take a bit longer."
He cursed under his breath, because he didn't really anticipate that the devil would be brave enough or rather, mad enough to make the Dead Man's Switch in the form of Rune that was then engraved on his chest and interconnected with his heart.
So...
If anything went wrong with tempering, it would result in the collapse.,
"How long?"
Valiana asked because they were in a pressing situation.
This research laboratory was still heavily guarded. A whole bunch of the Level 4 Ultimate Class Devils and the entire Battalion of the Elites of the Old Satan Faction were guarding it.
His plan was to use the defenses of the facility against their inhabitants, especially if they could take control of the Central Rune Matrix that was controlling every single Ward and Barrier in this place, it would have a devastating effect on the forces of the Old Satan Faction.
"Around twenty minutes. The main Rune is interconnected with his heart and brain. Do you see those miniature green runes? The ones with weird shapes in the center of the Runic Matrix? They are the Anti-Mind Control Runes that are directly connected with his mind and preventing any threat with his mind or anything... well, at least the bastard is rather well prepared for every single eventuality if someone got hold of him..."
Yhwach didn't really know if he should curse the man or praise him for his skills, because, well... the work that he did on himself was truly superb.
The Runic Matrix that was engraved through his body was expertly done and if something happened to him then not just everything would be released from the containment cell.
Zaorama Nebiros managed to lock down the Runic Matrix together with some of the original Lucifer Wards and if one didn't leave the entire subterranean complex within three minutes or so, then the entire place would be banished to the Dimensional Gap.
This was the last resource that Lucifer created in case something that he contained broke out...
Namely the Melabrache.
Even Helel knew that in his peak, the Melabranche would be a devastating opponent to fight against. So Lucifer created a method that would banish the entire research laboratory into the Dimensional Gap, as he couldn't really risk of Melabranche wreaking havoc in the core of the Devil Territory.
This was a really nasty piece of Magic, and Yhwach didn't really think that he could safely bring them out of the Dimensional Gap. It seemed that, once the entire facility was bainshed into the Dimensional Gap, it would then initiate self-destruct protocol and everything would be blasted into nothingness.
Though even if they disabled the self-destruct protocol, then even then, it would mean that they would be stuck in the Dimensional God. Most probably forever, because his control and mastery over the Space Magic was far, far from enough to be able to get them out of the Dimensional Gap.
"I need to start deconstructing the entire Runic Matrix step by step, and that will take some time. Hopefully I would be able to do it faster than we are discovered... if they start throwing numbers at us, we are in a deep shite."
Because of the rather sizable garrison of troops in this research facility, dealing with several hundreds of battle-hardened Level 3 Devils under the leadership of several Level 4 Ultimate-Class Devils that were on the top of everything boosted by the Wards, would be impossible even for them.
"Guard this place, and call back Arjuna, Karna, and Bikou. Right now, we will remain here until I deconstruct Runic Matrix."
Yhwach commanded Valiana who immediately went to call the three of them and they remained barricaded within the office of Zaorama while they waited for Yhwach to finish the job of deconstructing the Runic Matrix.
He started working on the deconstruction of the Runic Matrix, which consisted of the Dead Man's Switch, which was proven to be as problematic as he was thinking that it would be.
Yhwach started from the outskirts of the Runic Matrix as he searched for the weak points in the Runic Matrix that were weaker than any other. Fortunately, he was very skilled in the Runic Magic as the Runes were something that he was researching a lot as Runes were the Language of the Universe.
Valiana became bored just three minutes after Yhwach started the process, while the rest of the company was waiting patiently.
Karna and Arjuna knew very well that during this process their unofficial - official leader needed to have absolute concentration on the matter, so both of them were holding back Bikou who was tempted to make a prank on him.
Valiana looked through the books that Zaorama Nebiros had in the office. She was beginning to read some of them while he was working on the Runic Matrix. Fortunately, Zaorama was in the suspended stasis inducted on him by the Divine Authorities, and he had free hands to work on the Runic Matrix.
Once the outer matrix was deconstructed entirely, he started working on the Four Main Runes that were basically something akin to the Pillars of the entire Matrix. These four Main Runes were, aside from that, interconnected with each other in such a way, when one of them was damaged or something happened to it, it would activate a failsafe mechanism.
Now he had around several minutes until the mechanism was fully activated... which would mean that the first wave of the defenses around the place would be activated and most probably, it would lead to a fight.
Yhwach had already cursed several times over and over Zaorama's paranoid mind because that crazy man was probably even more paranoid than him. The number of defenses, traps, and things that the man in question installed in the Runic Matrix.
Practically everything that one could think of was done to the Runic Matrix so it would be safer and so the one that killed Zaorama would get dragged to hell together with him.
He already started sweating as he was deconstructing the Runix Matrix one by one, until the last of the four main Runes was deconstructed and with that, the entire Runic Matrix was gone and deactivated, the Dead Man's Switch was gone.
"Dammed man... well, we are now safe. I am taking over the Ward Network in the Research Facility and transferring the Administrator Rights from Zaorama to me."
Yhwach said as he proceeded to do what he said as he transferred the Ward Network's Administrator Rights to himself so he could control of the Ward Network. This was done rather fast, because Zaorama linked the Administrator Rights over the Ward Network to the Runic Matrix.
Basically, everything was in the Runic Matrix.
"And it's done... we are finished."
Yhwach said when he finally finished transferring the rights of the Administrator to the Ward Network to himself. Through the Administrator Viewpoint, he was able to see the exact position of every single trap, soldier, place, and everything...
Not to mention, he could now activate the defensive Magic and start the fun.
"The control is ours. I am activating the Defensive Wards and turning them against the Old Satan Faction soldiery."
He said as he then controlled all of the Wards and turned them against the soldiers of the Old Satan Faction as he then put the entire facility on lockdown and with a wave of one hand, he also deactivated secondary across the Network for all.
He basically kicked everyone from the Ward Network, leaving him as the sole person with any kind of access.
In split of a mmeoment, pandemonium erupted in the entire research facility as the defensive wards killed a lot of the soldiers of the Old Satan Faction, crippled some more and wekaned all of the Level 4 Ultimate Class Devils.
With the wards in his control and already acting against the members of the Old Satan Faction meant that someone has already taken out Zaorama and some of the smarter devils already attempted to escape from the research facility, but much to their shock and despair, the space was already locked.
The space locking Ward was already activated and prevented any teleportation from the facility or to the facility.
Some of them attempted to forcibly teleport or break the Ward, but it was useless, because these Wards were created personally by Lucifer with top-notch materials, so it was impossible for a few Level 4 Ultimate-Class Devils to break through.
"The research facilities are locked, including the areas where the experiments are carried out. I have also initiated the emergency protocol that initiated complete lockdown of the Prison where their experiments are contained, so there is practically zero chance that the Devil's would release them at us. Right now, the Wards and Arrays are cutting down the number of the Battalions of the Old Satan Faction. We could leave in ten minutes... by then, their numbers would not even be one tenth."
The power of the Wards and Magic Arrays in this place was extremely high and they were highly hazardous. So within ten minutes, as they were activated, they were able to massacre hundreds of nothing, suspecting Devils of the Old Satan Faction like grass.
Though that was to be expected considering the power of the Wards, because once the timespan has ended, Yhwach led the rest of the Star Cross Knight Order to clean out the entire research facility.
The only hurdle for them were the remaining Ultimate-Class Devils that were already weakened by the Wards and Magic Arrays. It was, therefore, no wonder as these Magical Defenses were designed to take care of much stronger individuals than just mere Level 4 Ultimate-Class beings.
Yhwach thought that if they were lucky, they could knock out or even kill all of the Ultimate-Class Devils, and due to the defenses that were in place, that he activated, the entire base was isolated from the outside world.
Nobody would be able to contact the research facility to find out what was happening. When the Old Satan Faction realized what had happened to their most prized research facility, then it would be too late.
Everything would be either destroyed or taken from it, and this entire place would be left empty, as he planned to take even the corpses of the Devils, and if possible, even the experiments that were in the containment.
If they could somehow to transport them at that.
Through the observation screens, they were able to see how the Wards and Magical Defenses were making short work of the garrisons of the Old Satan Faction, as most of them were caught off guard and killed without being able to do anything.
Meanwhile, the entire Research Area where the laboratories were located was on complete lockdown, imprisoning a few of the devils that were in there. However, what was rather surprising was that within one of the laboratories, there was the current Heir Apparent of the House Naberius, Zaran Naberius.
This was probably the most pleasant surprise as they captured one of the very important devils in the great scheme of things that held a lot of information about the dealings of the Old Satan Factions with the not-so-loyal parts of the New Satan Faction.
And there were a lot of them.
Not limited just to the House Naberius, but actually many of the Noble Devils were heavy sympathizers with the ideas of the Old Satan Faction, but due to the presence of the three Super Devils within the New Satan Faction they didn't care to do anything.
Yhwach knew that the most credit due to this went to Zekram Bael.
Even though Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer were too Super Devils, Ajuka Beelzebub didn't really care about the happenings in the politics. This was especially true as Yhwcha knew this from Ajuka himself.
Meanwhile, Sirzechs Lucifer preferred to solve things through diplomacy and resolve everything by talking first. Not to mention, even though the man was the most powerful person in the New Satan Faction, he was rather a kind person who didn't really like using violence as the first measure.
At the same time, Zekram, as one of the Level 8 True Form Super Devils, when it was necessary, he would kill anyone who endangered the internal stability of the New Satan Faction. If there were any traitors found, Zekram would first interrogate them, find everything about them, and then kill everyone involved in the plot.
The existence of the Great King Faction was testament of that. With a wave of one hand, Zekram managed to rally all staunch traditionalists under his banner and expand his influence over the Underworld and New Satan Faction tremendously, while at the same time, he also was keeping these elements in check.
It were these Pillars and Extra Clans or independents that were part of the Great King Faction who were most susceptible to betray the New Satan Faction.
Yhwach planned to use the Zaran Naberius to cause some trouble for the Devils of the New Satan Faction, it would be most welcomed if the Devils started fighting amongst each other, because the weaker they were, the better benefits he could fish for his own faction.
At the same time, Yhwach was also hatching a plot because he wanted to recruit the Lucifer Loyalists that still remained within the Old Satan Faction, New Satan Faction, Extra Devil Houses and also the Independent Devils and rally them behind Valiana.
This would cause Valiana's standing within the Hindu Pantheon to increase and at the same time, strengthen the forces of the Hindu Pantheon by a considerable degree. Most of the Loyalists of the House Lucifer were one of the strongest of the Old Satan Faction and Yhwach knew that not many were that happy about the House Lucifer being in the hands of Rizevim Livan Lucifer.
There were many who only listened to the grandson of Lucifer on the surface, but inside, they didn't really care about him that much. This was especially true for the remnants of the Six Houses of Lucifer, who did not have the best idea about the Rizevim, but alas, they didn't have any other option or place to go.
The only one of the Six Houses of Lucifer that went along with Rizevim was the House of Nebiros. House Lucifuge didn't really exist, as it was reduced just to Grayfia Lucifuge, who was on the side of the New Satan Faction, and Euclid Lucifuge, who was on the side of the Old Satan Faction.
Both of them were serving as servants to their respective Lords.
Other ones not so much.
For Yhwach, this represented a huge opportunity... though he would need to work on Valiana for a bit because she wasn't aware of his plans for her yet.
"Okey... they are mostly dead with only a few of the devils remaining alive. Split up, everyone could go alone. Karna, Arjuna, Bikou. You three will take care of the remaining Level 4 Ultimate-Class Devils that remain within the facility and kill them. Valiana will go to the research area and capture Zaran Nabaries, alive. I don't need to stress how much I need to stress it, alive. Those two idiots are crucial for our next plan. I will go into the Containment Unit and check on the Chimeras and other monstrosities that they are locked up properly and prepare the teleportation circle."
Yhwach gave out the orders as everyone had their own task within a short span of time.
As the Wards and Magic Arrays were absolutely decimated by anything below the Level 4 Ultimate-Class, and most of the weaker Devils that were in the range of the Wards and Magic Arrays were already dead.
While the remaining Ultimate-Class Devils and some lucky weaker Devils managed to survive, they were either injured or weakened. He was confident that Arjuna, Karna and Bikou would deal with the remnants of the Old Satan Faction that could actually put up some fight.
Valian was to go into the research area to capture Zaran Naberius, who was imprisoned in one of the laboratories under lockdown. He would go to check on the chimeras that the Old Satan Faction was experimenting with, because some of them were at the peak of Level 6.
Which was a rather staggering result.
When it came to experiments like this, they were achieving rather very good results, to the point where he was even more interested in the research notes and wanted to get his hands on them and on some of the subjects.
Even when he abhorred the idea of the Chimeras and similar things, because, in the end, in his opinion, they were faulty things.
While it was undeniable that they could achieve staggering levels of power, they lost any possibility for further growth while at the same time, they were unstable.
Sometimes they could suffer from the Genome Decay and could just collapse on their own, their power could degrade over time, or in most cases, their mentality suffered the most, and it was extremely challenging to properly control Chimera and similar abominations.
Yet, they were still incredibly popular among the widower Magician population, because in many cases, the Chimeras were a very dependable and useful method of solving the problems. Even if the Chimera perished in the fight or fell apart shortly after, it wasn't really that much of a problem.
Skilled and rich Magician could always make new ones, and even more powerful, more perfect, and more stable than the previous ones.
It was always a matter of the resources and wealth that one was willing to invest into making more Chimeras.