Azazel's expression darkened.
As the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels, the reason he had deliberately left Grigori was precisely to prevent Kokabiel from committing a catastrophic mistake.
The reason he had not personally intervened was because he feared that if the Governor-General himself attacked within devil territory, it would cause severe diplomatic repercussions.
Kokabiel could still be labeled a traitor and treated as acting on his own.
But if Azazel made a move, it would represent the entire Grigori faction.
That was why Azazel had dispatched the White Dragon Emperor, Vali.
Yet he had not expected that he would arrive too late.
"Who killed Kokabiel?" Azazel asked.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before. But he wasn't a Seraph, and he wasn't a Devil King either," Vali replied, shaking his head.
At the same time, the image of that young man surfaced in his mind again.
The agitation that had almost settled earlier slowly resurfaced.
"Not a Devil King, not a Seraph… then who in Kuoh Town could possibly defeat Kokabiel?"
Azazel's thoughts became increasingly chaotic after hearing the answer.
Another reason he had personally come here was to protect Kokabiel under the pretense of capturing a traitor.
After all, Kokabiel's invasion of Heaven and the Underworld was already a capital crime.
Even if he had been killed on the spot, it would have been justified.
But after the great war in the past, the number of Fallen Angel executives in Grigori had already been reduced to a handful.
Azazel had his own selfish motives.
No matter how troublesome Kokabiel was, he still didn't want to see a comrade who had fought beside him for thousands of years die.
Even if Kokabiel were sealed forever, at least there would still be something left behind.
But death meant complete disappearance.
Fallen Angels were fundamentally different from humans, angels, and devils.
Having abandoned God, they were accepted by neither Heaven nor Hell.
Once they died, their souls had nowhere to go and would quickly fade away.
Aside from the traces they had left in the past, there would be no one left to remember them.
"That bastard Kokabiel… why did he have to do something so rebellious?!"
Azazel felt nothing but regret.
Why hadn't he discovered Kokabiel's intentions earlier?
If he had realized it sooner, things would not have turned out like this.
Growing increasingly irritated, Azazel began scratching his head.
But when he looked up, he suddenly noticed that Vali was also wearing an irritated expression.
That was unusual.
Vali had been adopted by him when he was very young. Aside from times when developing his Sacred Gear had not gone smoothly, he rarely showed such expressions.
As for worrying about Kokabiel?
That was even more impossible.
In all of Grigori, aside from Azazel himself, Vali had never spoken more than ten complete sentences to any other Fallen Angel.
"Vali, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm fine."
"Perhaps it's because he saw an old acquaintance. When Vali was traveling and training outside years ago, wasn't he looked after for a while by a girl named Lavinia?"
The one speaking was Albion, the White Dragon Emperor residing within Vali.
"Oh right, I remember now. After you came back back then, you often seemed distracted. Albion also mentioned her quite a few times."
At the time, Azazel had assumed it was simply a normal phase for a boy entering puberty.
To solve what he thought was Vali's interest in women, he had even carefully selected several beautiful Fallen Angel women and sent them to Vali.
Yet Vali had not shown interest in a single one of them.
Whenever Azazel asked about it, Vali refused to say anything.
"Stop talking, Albion."
Vali's expression turned displeased.
"Vali, I don't say this lightly, but psychological issues are serious matters. They can hinder your path to becoming stronger. You haven't fully developed all of my power yet. If problems appear later during your growth, it will become troublesome."
Albion sighed.
"That's true. On the path to strength, your will must remain firm. If you really want to see that girl Lavinia, I can personally go and bring her here."
Azazel said this seriously.
After raising Vali for so many years, he already regarded him as his adopted son.
With no children of his own, he treated Vali as if he were his real son.
"It has nothing to do with her. And she wouldn't like that."
Vali immediately shook his head.
"Then I'll take you to meet her."
"That won't work either."
"???"
Now Azazel was completely confused.
When it came to women, his approach had always been straightforward.
If he saw someone beautiful, he would strike up a conversation. If things went well, they could even spend the night together.
He had never once been troubled by romance.
"Perhaps it's because of the man beside Lavinia. The two of them seemed quite close. And that man is also the one who killed Kokabiel," Albion added.
"Oh."
Azazel simply nodded.
"So that man is both Kokabiel's killer and your romantic rival, Vali?"
After hearing everything, the Fallen Angel Governor-General quickly formed his own conclusion.
After being separated for several years, the girl you had been thinking about all this time finally appears again.
Only to discover she is now very close with another man.
If that was the situation, it made perfect sense.
"Heh. What's the big deal about that? If it's a woman you like, just take her back. You're my adopted son, the current host of the White Dragon Emperor, and practically the strongest among the younger generation. How many people can even compare to you?"
"With a man like you, what kind of beauty couldn't you get?"
Azazel firmly patted Vali's shoulder.
But Vali impatiently brushed his hand away.
Lowering his head, he spoke in a suppressed yet angry voice.
"Lavinia is a woman who has the qualifications to become my mother!"
Albion: "Huh?"
Azazel: "Mother? Lavinia?"
.........
Meanwhile, Rod had already returned to the mansion with Lavinia and Kuroka.
Seeing them return, Asia ran toward them alone.
When she saw that the three of them were completely unharmed, the tension she had been holding onto finally eased.
"I kept hearing explosions earlier. I was really worried about you all. But I'm glad everyone is safe."
"Don't worry, Asia. How could anything happen to us, nya? That bad guy has already been defeated by Master, nya!"
Kuroka demonstrated with a few exaggerated punching motions.
The only thing she felt dissatisfied about was that she hadn't done anything after arriving.
Next time, she definitely wanted to show off something impressive in front of her little sister.
"Everything's fine now. You should go rest as well," Rod said.
At the same time, he looked toward the three Fallen Angels who were standing there with uneasy expressions.
"What's going on with the three of you?"
After being called out by Rod, Raynare nervously stepped forward.
"W-we were worried something might happen… we were worried about you."
"I don't believe that. Mittelt, you tell the truth."
Rod clearly wasn't convinced.
"I-it's like this. Fallen Angels are very sensitive to the aura of our own kind. And earlier that power was clearly at executive level. We were worried that the executive might come after us. We were terrified."
"If it weren't for the curse, Raynare would have already run away."
"OW!"
Mittelt screamed immediately after saying that.
Raynare withdrew her hand from pinching the flesh of Mittelt's backside and shot her a fierce glare.
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