Shin High School DxD-Volume 2 Chapter 8

Gods of Hell

The Underworld — the place where Devils and Fallen Angels live. In the lower layer of that place lies the Netherworld, a place that Hades, one of the three Gods of Olympus, controls, a place where the souls of the dead are judged. On top of that, at the bottom of the Netherworld, was the lowest level, called Cocytus. In this Cocytus, there was a laboratory that belonged to Rizevim Lucifer, the son of the previous Maou Lucifer, as well as the head of the terrorist group Qlippoth.

After Rizevim's death, Hades had turned the laboratory into a base where the rulers of Hell would gather after it was renovated by adding additional facilities. Inside that laboratory was a chemostat containing the remains of Lilith, the mother of all Devils that was rumoured to be owned by Rizevim. Lilith, the mother of Devils who was used for numerous ceremonies and rituals from the moment Hades found her, was nothing but a giant lump of meat. Hades had used those body parts of Lilith and created artificial Devils using the [Book of Lucifer] that he had received from the Evil Dragon Apophis.

—All in order to create artificial Transcendental beings.

They had succeeded in their experiments, starting from the creation of Balberith and Verrine whose power levels were Transcendental-being class, as well as Gressil and Sonneillon, who were said to be Maou-class. The pack of mysterious Devils that appeared in Kuoh town were failures from their attempts to create Balberith and the others. The rulers of Hell of other mythologies were interested in the mysterious Devils, Balberith, and their creator, Hades. Hades was a skeletal figure wearing a priest-like garment with an ominous aura overflowing from his entire body. As the rulers of Hell gathered around a round table, they started their meeting. The topic was the report of the artificial transcendental beings, who were made to participate in the tournament to gauge their power. Other than Hades, the ones sitting at the round table were nothing but their phantoms. The rulers of Hell only sent their consciousness to attend this meeting. However, the number of phantoms were fewer compared to their first meeting.

All the former participants' phantoms like Olympus' primordial God Tartarus, who controlled hell, the God of Darkness Erebus, Goddess of Night Nyx, and Zoroastrianism's Evil God Angra Mainyu were present, with the exception of Erebus and Nyx. Previously, Nyx accompanied the Devils that Lilith gave birth to (The Mysterious Devils) and challenged the anti-terrorist team [DxD], but…due to the strength of [DxD] that rivalled God-class beings, and despite the fact that most of them didn't participate, Nyx was defeated and got captured as a result (The fact that this place wasn't yet attacked possibly indicated that Nyx hadn't informed them about this base.)

The revival of the Red Dragon Emperor Ddraig, the partner of Hyoudou Issei who had Pseudo-Dragon Deification, was no match even for the primordial Gods. Since that time, there had been no sight of Nyx's brother Erebus. The meeting started despite the lack of members. Hades's right hand Grim Reaper then reported.

<<Hades-sama, the defeat of Balberith and the others was within our expectations, but…to think that they would have this much weakness…>>

That was the result of team [Black Satan of Darkness Dragon King]'s participation in the world tournament. Since they added Balberith, they improved a lot and managed to become one of the sixteen teams that was selected to go in the main draw. However… a most concerning thing happened and led the team to lose in the first round.

It was — the childish mental states of Balberith and the others. While Balberith was conducting research into his future nemesis, the Red Dragon Emperor Hyoudou Issei, he became fascinated by the SFX Program Chichiryuutei Oppai Dragon that was popular in the Underworld. It even affected him during the match. Balberith's talent and instinct gave him a wild yet strong fighting style, yet its influence made him change as he started replicating the moves of [Oppai Dragon] during the match, which revealed many openings. This led to the opponent taking advantage of those openings and defeating the [King], the High-class Grim Reaper Zeno. Despite his physical growth, his inadequate mental growth and inexperience became his weakness. Chichiryuutei Oppai Dragon did have a big influence on the children of the Devil race including Balberith. Like Balberith, the mental growth of his siblings was that of a child, becoming their weakness. Although their talents were overwhelming enough, if they encountered someone who knew their weakness, Hades knew that they would be defeated. Verrine, a jade-haired girl who was also one of the artificial transcendental beings, stood next to Hades and apologised.

"I am sorry, Hades-sama. Balberith was so mesmerised by Hyoudou Issei that it made him develop such an attitude. As a result, Sonneillon and Gressil were also dissatisfied and were about to rampage."

Hades then patted Verrine's head.

<<Hahaha, Verrine. It's fine. You did great. Even if your power level is Transcendental-class, there must also be limits to you guys who were just born. If you guys meet our expectations, that's enough. And above all—>>

As Hades made his eye sockets glow, he looked towards the seat where Erebus was supposed to be seated, which was now empty. .Hades questioned his underling.

<<You couldn't get hold of Erebus huh?>>

<<…He's been hiding since [DxD] defeated Nyx-sama.>>

His underling Grim Reaper then continued.

<<At the same time, Gressil and Sonneillon have also disappeared>>

Gressil and Sonneillon—. They were the guys with power exceeding that of a Maou-class being, born using the same process to make artificial transcendental beings. So they've also disappeared. Verrine said,

"…Erebus-sama once offered [If there's something you want me to do, I will lend you my power] …But I think he'll reject the offer considering Sonneillon and Gressil's current condition."

It seemed like the God of Darkness Erebus persuaded Sonneillon and Gressil, who had lost their place to fight after they lost in the tournament. Hades believed that he must've brought Sonneillon and Gressil together and was currently planning something. The phantom of Tartarus, the God of Hell, was laughing bitterly as he heard this..

[As expected of the Greek Primordial Gods, they sure do like their pranks.]

<<It was the world where Zeus was the chief God once after all. What do you expect?>>

As he said that, Hades, who wanted to use Sonneillon and Gressil for the topic of this time's meeting, thought for a while. As he rested his chin with his hand on the armchair, he looked at Verrine and asked,

<<Hey Verrine, would you listen to my request?>>

"What is it? Is it an interesting one?"

Verrine got excited and seemed to be hooked onto Hades' words. Hades then raised his hand and ordered his underling Grim Reaper. Following that, the giant monitor in the room started to play a recording. Hades then ordered Verrine,

<<Look at the recording,>>

The giant monitor — started to show a peculiar thing. There was was a silver humanoid thing which was emitting light. Even though it was humanoid…its body looked tough and it seemed to be like a machine. However, its body was still shaped with smooth curves, similar to a living being. The rear of its head was sticking out, consisting of five eyes. No mouth or nose was visible on its head. The monitor labeled this silver humanoid as [Data not found]. Verrine looked at the silver humanoid thing while being puzzled. Verrine then tilted her head as she couldn't seem to identify that thing even though she had been taught about monsters — and other creatures ever since she was born.

"…What is this?… A living being? CG?"

Hades said.

<<According to the information that only the chief God knows — this is a living being that has the body of a machine.>>

"Really? Wow~, so things like these exist."

Hades then said this to Verrine, who seemed excited.

<<It shouldn't exist. However, we found this five days ago. I want you to go with a Grim Reaper and investigate this.>>

Following his instructions, one of the phantoms at the round table — a being with a jet-black and chaotic aura, Zoroastrianism's Evil God Angra Mainyu said,

"Now, this has become interesting. It is somehow different from what Azazel and Ajuka Beelzebub had predicted."

Another phantom — the God of Hell Tartarus said,

[There might be some misses even on the information only they know. I don't know the reason, but whatever it is, this must be outside of their calculations.]

Hades glared at the [Data not found] humanoid shown on the screen.

<<The point is, we are lacking information. However, this must be the being that the Longinus and [DxD] invited. I wonder how the Devils (read: bats) and Fallen Angels (Crows) would react upon learning this.>>