Azazel stared blankly at the report in front of him as his subordinates stood to the side.
"...So. Let me get this straight. You are saying that Tobio Ikuse's Balance Breaker is gone?"
Barakiel nodded seriously as he passed a few more files to his leader.
"Yes. And not only him. Every Sacred Gear wielder within the Grigori who was on the verge of achieving balance breaker, or even evolving their Sacred Gears, has been reset back to their default powers and appearances."
"....."
Azazel continued staring blankly at the documents, his vacant eyes reading what was written on them, but his brain failed to comprehend what they actually meant.
This was such a major blow to his faction's power base that his brain simply refused to compute this fact.
Nearly a day ago, he, along with the rest of the world, had felt the sudden surge in activity within Heaven's System, even more so than how active it had been in the past few months.
Azazel's many spies and agents informed him of the turmoil this had caused across the world, something that made him concentrate on this news more than ever, since this disability could lead to conflict. Something that he desperately wished to avoid.
However, just as he was nearly done making a plan to handle this issue on his side, this new development emerged along with the Heavenly System's activity increasing yet again, leaving him at a loss.
"....What else?"
Benemune passed another document to her leader, making Azazel start glaring at the documents as if they had personally wounded him, which they might as well have done.
"A few seconds after all the sacred gears were reset, the wielders say that they saw this screen appear in front of their eyes with the same message."
"Those who misuse the weapons meant to protect mankind, heed this warning."
"The Sacred Gears belong to humanity, and humanity alone."
"Any attempts made to replicate them by other beings or trying to subvert the users to their side (through Reincarnation, Species change, mind-control, etc) will lead to the Sacred Gears being disabled completely within that particular human."
"Any attempts made to eliminate a Sacred Gear user will be flagged as an attack on the Heavenly System and will mark the attacker's soul with Heaven's Seal. This means that no matter where the attacker hides, the system will always track them, and anyone affiliated with the Heavens will be obliged to kill them on sight."
"The Heavens have allowed all of you to harvest humanity as cattle long enough. It is time for things to change."
"To those factions who think they are strong enough to fight against the Heavens, know this, I, Aetherion, formerly known as Arael, will never let you have a single day of peace as long as I live if you dare to go against this decree."
"And to those humans who willingly join other races out of your own reasons, this message is for you."
"By forsaking your kin for your own ambitions, you have proven yourself unworthy of the power given to you at birth. As such, your Sacred Gears will be reset to their base levels and abilities (in case of the Longinus-class gears) or disabled completely (in case of lesser Sacred Gears)."
Azazel's eyebrows continued to climb as he continued reading this message that could only have come from the System Core, until he finally saw Aetherion's name.
"....MOTHERFUCKER!! YOU PLAYED ME!? YOU MADE ME TELL YOU HOW THINGS WORK FOR SACRED GEARS SO THAT YOU COULD 'PATCH OUT' ALL OF THIS??"
Azazel's roar shook Benemune and Barakiel, while Kokabiel had a barely contained bloodthirsty smile.
However, he soon collapsed on his chair with a wry laugh.
"Well played, brother. Well played. I guess even without your memory, you are still just as cunning and scheming as always."
Taking out a bottle of whisky, the leader of the Fallen Angels started drinking as he looked at Benemune.
"What do our spies say?"
"...Well, the situation is not ideal across the supernatural world, but it is not that bad either. The biggest issue is with the Underworld. The Devils are taking this very badly."
Azazel snorted at those words.
"Of course they would. What's happening?"
"...Many pure-blooded Devils tried to either release their servants that are 'no longer of use' to them or outright tried to kill them."
That made Azazel sit up a little.
"What's the casualty rate?"
"That's the thing. There are no casualties."
"...What?"
The rare dumbfounded look on Azazel's face made Barakiel chuckle as he gave another document to Azazel.
"It would seem that Heaven's warning was not some empty threat. The moment the devils tried to kill the sacred gear users, holy energy erupted from their sacred gears, channeled into them directly from Heaven's System, which, weirdly enough, did not harm the users despite their nature as devils. As for the pure bloods? They got some serious injuries from the gears that acted on their own, which might have been a warning from the Heavens."
"Hold on! Are you saying the Heaven's System is now strong enough to make direct moves like this even in the Underworld!?"
"Yes."
"...Damn it! Arael! You are screwing up everything and pushing everyone back to the edge of war."
Azazel fell to his chair with exasperation and worry.
Barakiel hesitated for a bit before he spoke again.
"That is not the end of it either, Azazel."
"....What can be worse than this?"
"The Reincarnated devils who were expelled by their masters, marking them as stray devils, or those that were attacked by their masters, also saw a new message pop up in front of them."
Opening the image made by his agents based on the descriptions given, Azazel's eyes once again widened dramatically.
"You who gave up your humanity for your ambitions, do you now see the futility of trusting those who only see you as a potential asset?"
"If you do, then we offer you a new chance at life. But beware, this is a choice only given once."
"If you wish to repent. If you wish to once again live as you were supposed to live in the first place. Then, we give you this choice."
"Do you wish to become a human again Y/N?"
This time, Azazel nearly blew up the building with the swirl of emotions brewing within his mind as he read those words.
"This is impossible! The Evil Pieces change the being on a fundamental level. It is impossible to change them back to their original forms! I know it better than anyone since I conducted decades' worth of experiments on this topic!"
"And yet, it is already done."
"...WHAT!?"
Barakiel gave him a file full of names and photos that showed various humans across the world who had escaped the underworld and gone into hiding in the human world.
The interesting fact is that the Underworld could not label them as stray devils, and hence could not do anything about them.
Because they were no longer devils.
"From what we gathered, it seems that the Heavenly System first 'kills' the devil's body with Holy Energy, reducing it to atoms, before somehow recreating the human body for the soul. The few humans our agents managed to contact and talk to said that the process was completely painless."
"And that is not all."
By this point, Azazel had become numb to the shock after shock he was receiving this day. His only solace was imagining how the Devils, particularly the nobility, must be feeling at this point, since they too would have extensive information networks and would have access to the same information as he did for now.
"The humans say that ever since becoming human, they could now see a few 'icons' at the corner of their eyes and could call upon a special screen whenever they desire. Even our agents outside say that the newly awakened Sacred Gear wielders in the past few hours also see the same screen."
He gave Azazel another sketch that was made based on the description provided to them.
"It would seem that the so-called screen has only two values shown in it. Karma, and Experience."
"Like a game?"
Azazel's whisper made Barakiel nod.
"That is what we theorize for now, since we don't know anything about what these values represent yet. But based on the names, we can make a few educated guesses."
Azazel leaned back into his seat with a heavy, exhausted sigh.
"God, this is such a mess."
Azazel did not know that the same sentiment was being shared by the rulers of the Devils at this exact moment, as they too received similar reports.
As for the perpetrator behind this sudden change? He was still holed up within the System Core, still tweaking with the settings of the Heavenly System to his heart's content, causing further chaos in the world.
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