Chapters 116-120

"And we are back!" I exclaimed thankfully as I stepped out of my portal back into Azazel's lab. I was not expecting a multiple day long adventure when I was supposed to be popping in and out of other dimensions to find Earth Marvel.

[It was the fact that the portals cost so much of your MP that screwed you over. Now though, that's no longer the case.]

'Yeah I've got plenty of MP to spare now don't I?' That was a nice change. Being able to spam endless [Lightspear] attacks was pretty awesome! The expression on Hela's face when I matched her hundreds of conjured weapons was priceless!

[You didn't notice? That portal you just made didn't cost you any MP at all.]

'It didn't!?' I asked the System in surprise. I checked my stats real quick and saw that my MP remained unchanged. That was cool! I guess I now know at least one effect feeding the Space Stone to my Sacred Gear had. I could spare portals now as much as I wanted! I wonder if I could even use them in fights? I'd have to practice that a bit. I've only ever used portals for long range transportation before.

Sif popped out a second later behind me carrying Andrea over her shoulder. Andrea was still passed out with a pained expression on her face. The process of becoming a higher level being was not supposed to be pleasant. All of her organs and muscles literally had to destroy themselves and then be rebuilt by the power of the apple. I had the other apples tucked away in my inventory for now.

"What should we do with Andrea?" Sif asked me. I turned and gave the unconscious human/ soon-to-be-Asgardian a once over. She was going to be out for the next couple of days at minimum. I also didn't want to risk trying to ease her pain with my Sacred Gear lest I accidentally screw up her transformation.

"We can take her to my room." I said. " Cmon, it's this way." I led Sif out of Azazel's lab and into the hallways. I noticed that there weren't that many other Fallen Angels meandering about. Glancing at a clock on the wall, I noticed that it was currently the middle of the night. "Why don't we call it a night as well? I'm pretty mentally tired from all that fighting we've done the last few days." I suggested.

Sif looked like she endorsed the idea. "I would like to bathe first please. I am covered in Draugr guts…"

Yeah…We both could use a bath to be honest. Andrea's bunker didn't have a shower and magical cleaning spells don't exactly work that well.

…

I awoke the next morning well rested in my own bed. I let out a yawn as I opened my eyes. Right across from me still passed out was Sif. Her beautiful blond hair was messily draped all around her. Last night she had been so exhausted that she pretty much passed out right after she rinsed herself off.

She'd had quite a few life and death battles lately and had been under a lot of stress so I decided to let her sleep in more. I didn't think I'd need her with me if I decided to search for Earth Marvel again later anyway. Now that I could spam portals with no MP requirement, I could just pop in and out of each dimension until I found the one I was looking for. I got dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a white t-shirt and quietly made my way out of my room. The grigori HQ was set up like a commune with hundreds of rooms on the upper floors while the lower floors contained recreational areas and meeting rooms for the various businesses that our race ran. I passed by Asia and Akeno's room and could sense that they weren't inside. They must be having breakfast right about now.

When I reached the cafeteria I saw it was almost completely packed with my Fallen brothers and sisters. There were hundreds of them inside. I wouldn't expect it to be so full this early in the morning. That was odd, because we were an entire race of immortal lazy beings that love to sleep in…

The reason for why it was so full became clear when I saw Gabriel. She usually spent the majority of her time holed up in Heaven. It was a rare opportunity to lay eyes upon her, especially down here in the Underworld.

Gabriel was sitting down casually at a table next to Asia and Akeno. It looked like all three of them had just had breakfast. She was chatting with the younger blond exuberant. Whatever they were talking about was halted though when I noticed Gabriel stiffening. Behind her, her twelve white wings ruffled. She spun around and looked directly at me with wide eyes.

I walked over to the group with a smile on my face. It was so nice to see people who weren't zombies and trying to eat me.

"Layla?" Gabriel looked at me questioningly. She stood up, walked over to me and put her hands on my shoulders. Gabriel stared me right in the eyes. "What happened to you!?" She asked in concern. "You were gone for days and now your power…you've become a 10 winged Angel!" She exclaimed with her eyes glowing gold. I could feel her magical sight wash over my being and inspect me for injuries. Thankfully, I couldn't even get those anymore as a Gamer.

Even if my wings were not currently exposed, nothing could escape a Seraph's sight it seemed. I let my wings spill out behind me and I could hear dozens and maybe hundreds of gasps from everyone in the room.

"Ah, I can explain…" I said. "But first, I want some pancakes."

XXX

I was sitting at the table, enjoying some delicious blueberry pancakes. Even if I didn't need to eat, that still didn't mean I would ever give it up!

I was also doing my best to ignore the hundreds of eyes staring at me as I ate. Apparently, my transformation into a 10-winged Angel was a bigger deal than I thought. While Ultimate Class wasn't the pinnacle of strength in this world, it still put me on the same level of power as the majority of Gods and Goddesses. For most supernatural beings, the gap between High and Ultimate class was so vast that they would never cross it, even in thousands of years.

"So, Layla? What exactly happened? You weren't supposed to be gone for days. And when did you even get back?" Gabriel asked me as I took another bite. She was looking at me with a lot of concern.

"Well, Azazel's Artificial Sacred Gear worked. It effortlessly breached the dimensional gap and took me to an alternate dimension as planned–" I started explaining.

"What!? Lord Azazel actually made a working Sacred Gear!?"

"That's amazing!"

"Lord Azazel is the best! This is a sign that our time has come!"

I had to pause my explanation as all of my eavesdropping siblings in the cafeteria started to cheer at Azazel's accomplishment.

A flare of magical energy originated from Gabriel and burst through the room. "Our youngest sister was speaking; show some decorum and don't interrupt her again," Gabriel said, and all of the Fallen in the room fell silent at her command. Asia, who was sitting next to her, was looking at Gabriel with stars in her eyes. I noticed that even Akeno was looking at her oldest aunt with respect. I wondered when that had happened? I'd have to ask later.

Hundreds of eyes were still on me, but the room had gone completely quiet. They were all waiting for me to continue my story.

"Right… So I was trying to find Earth Marvel, or the missing half of our world as most people refer to it."

Gabriel nodded. "That's where our Aho brother Azazel trapped himself, right? Did you find it?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No, but I should be able to by the end of the day or tomorrow at the latest. Anyway, Sif and I ended up on an alternative Earth where everyone was dead… a zombie apocalypse had completely overrun the entire planet," I explained.

Asia gasped in shock while Akeno just gave me a deadpan look. "You're full of it…" She said dismissively. "Zombies aren't a real thing."

Gabriel took a second to scold Akeno. "Akeno, this is a serious discussion, and there's no way Layla would lie. If she says she ended up in a dimension with zombies, then that's where she ended up," Gabriel said with a small shiver. Akeno put her head down and apologized to me.

From there, I gave a short summary of everything that went on up until I ended up meeting Lady Death.

"Lady D-death…" Gabriel voiced her name with trepidation. "A being that even our Lord Father feared above all others..." I almost wanted to scold Gabriel at the moment as she accidentally used "feared" in the past tense. Thankfully, it seems that Asia was still scared of hearing about zombies and missed Gabriel's slip-up. I noticed that Akeno did not, though, and she narrowed her eyes.

Gabriel continued. "Truly, your life has become complicated ever since you left Heaven, sister." She said while shaking her head with a faint smile. I could tell she was still concerned for me but knew I was strong enough to protect myself now. Maybe not quite as strong as her, though.

My life definitely was complicated, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Gamer System, the adventures, meeting unbelievably beautiful women, and all the excitement! I wouldn't trade any of that for anything.

[Damn right you wouldn't!]

I then told Gabriel how "I" had made a deal with Death, and in return, she granted me a massive powerup. I kept the contents of the deal private, along with the fact that Sif and I ended up destroying the planet. We'd promised Jarvis not to say anything about it, and I didn't need any rumors spreading across the supernatural community that I was capable of destroying worlds. There was a big difference between being able to travel through the dimensional gap vs. being a planet killer…

The former was something the majority of the world would come to know I was capable of in a few years anyway once we started implementing our plan to save humanity once our worlds recombined. Getting the information out there early will just add to my credibility with the fact that I wasn't hiding this information. And with that, my tale came to an end. I glanced around the room, and a blush formed on my cheeks when I saw everyone looking at me like I was their new idol.

I'd long since finished my pancakes, and all the staring was getting to me, so I decided to head back out for now. My crowd of siblings parted before me as I excused myself and headed towards the cafeteria doors. I exited without looking where I was going and ended up bumping into someone.

XXX

"Watch where you're going!" An angry voice spat out. "Oh… it's you." Their tone changed and added even more unsubtle loathing.

I looked up and spotted someone with whom I had rarely ever interacted in my memories. Every single one of them was negative, as they would always speak to the old Layla derisively. "Hello, Kokabiel," I greeted the watcher of the stars, and also somehow the only 'ugly' Angel I've ever actually seen. There's no way I'll ever be convinced that Father wasn't drunk off his ass when he made Kokabiel…

"Little sister… I heard rumors that you had gone missing, followed shortly by that fool Azazel. I decided it was prudent to return to our HQ even if I haven't been back in years. I see you have returned but haven't heard anything about our dearest brother Azazel, though." Kokabiel said with fake sincerity. I imagined he was probably plotting something stupid in Azazel's absence. How long has he even been away from our headquarters for now? A lot has changed in these past few years.

"Thank you for your concern," I told him. "You can rest assured that Azazel is fine and will be back soon." I said. I didn't miss the slight scowl Kokabiel had on his face…

Kokabiel continued. "I also heard that you went out of your way to pick a fight with that Devil maid and even almost killed that wretched child of Lucifer. Is any of that true?" Kokabiel asked me with actual interest. From what I could recall, he was always jealous of the attention I received despite being only a two-winged Angel.

"Yes, I honestly wish I could have finished off the little monster and his vile mother, but I wasn't strong enough at the time… and the repercussions would have been bad," I said to Kokabiel. That was an understatement. Sirzechs would have gone on to basically nuke our entire faction and then probably the entire world with his destruction magic.

Kokabiel's eyes widened. "You? You of all people want to kill the devils and are against the peace treaty?" He asked with shock in his voice.

I sighed. "Kokabiel, every Angel and Fallen is against the peace treaty! We're all just pretending we're not until we're strong enough to take out the Satans without them laying mutual destruction upon us." He could never quite grasp that concept. He wanted the great war to restart immediately, but he never truly comprehended that even if we won, there would be so few Fallen Angels left that we essentially have doomed ourselves!

The other factions would never miss the opportunity to finally wipe us out after that. We had reigned supreme for all this time across the world even with Father himself no longer in the picture. Every day, other gods across the world grow a bit weaker as their followers dwindle while our faction's numbers continue to slowly grow and we get stronger still. The Evil Pieces made the other supernatural communities incredibly nervous; I can only imagine that the brave saints system will throw them into a complete panic. That's on top of the world finally coming together again and all the powerful beings of Earth Marvel once again having access to our world.

"When did this attitude come about!?" He asked me with anger. "Azazel was all buddy-buddy with the Devils last time I checked. And what do you mean the Angels? They hate us all except for you last time I checked," Kokabiel said.

"How long have you been gone, Kokabiel? Has it been decades? The hatred between Fallen Angels and Angels is mostly gone at this point. Gabriel is literally in the cafeteria right now. She just finished eating breakfast amongst us with no hatred at all," I explained and gestured to the door.

Kokabiel blanched and rushed towards the door. He threw it open, and his eyes widened when he saw Gabriel sitting in our cafeteria like she belonged there. She turned her head and gave the two of us a small wave and smile. "Koka-kun! I haven't seen you in ages! I hope you're doing okay. I know the war was rough on you!" Gabriel called out to him with concern. Hundreds of eyes turned towards Kokabiel, and he froze in shock temporarily before he slammed the cafeteria doors closed again and turned back to me.

I giggled at his indignation and confusion. He looked like he truly had no idea what was going on anymore. "I left for a mere two decades, and it's like everything I know has changed! Where is the hatred!? Where is the Gabriel that donned her Heavenly Armor and cut down her siblings by the dozens in the name of our dead Father!" He spat out.

I walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Honestly, that should have never happened in the first place. There was never any reason for us to fight when the true enemies were always the Devils after all. I think Gabriel also severely regrets turning her weapons on her siblings. I'm sure a lot of Fallen Angels feel the same. I know you must have had friends in Heaven that died during the Great War as well."

Kokabiel grimaced, and I know I hit the nail on the head. Even an asshole like him had to have had some friends in Heaven amongst the millions of former siblings we had. I highly doubt all of them ended up falling as well…

Brother killing brother and sister killing sister… The Great War was truly messed up when it came between the Angelic factions.

XXX

I headed down towards Azazel's lab, and Kokabiel followed behind me. "So what were you up to all this time, Kokabiel? Scheming some nefarious and overcomplicated plot to restart the Great War?" I asked with a laugh, knowing that was exactly what he was doing.

Kokabiel grunted in annoyance as he looked around Azazel's lab. "I've never actually been here… I didn't expect it to be so messy... And my plot wouldn't have been over complicated! That is… if I did want to restart the war…" He defended himself.

"Uh huh… sure it wouldn't have. I'm sure that tediously collecting all the Excalibur fragments, reforging the sword to actually work even though you're not a blacksmith, and then using it to kill the two Devil Princesses who could at any time just run away or call their siblings for help isn't overly complicated…" I listed off.

"How do you know about all that!? I've been secretly plotting it for 20 years!" Kokabiel asked in fear. "Does Azazel know?"

I shook my head. "It's not like you've even implemented it, so what does it matter? You can't be punished just for thinking about doing something in our faction anyway," I said as I picked up the book with all the dimensional coordinates and double-checked them.

The reason I'd invited Kokabiel down here was that I wanted to turn him away from his pointless path that would start our inevitable war with the Devil prematurely. His reactions to finding out he essentially wasted 20 years of his immortal life plotting for nothing were also pretty funny. "Your plan wouldn't work anyway because after I attacked Rias Gremory and her nephew, I doubt they're not under heavy security."

Kokabiel scowled, but he knew I had a point. I had inadvertently killed his plan from the start. Rias was probably back in the underworld and on her way to be safely married off to Riser Phenex. I had taken Isane, Asia, and Akeno from her. She was screwed.

"So then? What do you suggest I do now?" He asked me bitterly.

"Train and get stronger. When we eventually do go to war, we will need a decisive win against the Devil's. The world is changing, and it won't be long before this half of the world finds out about the supernatural side as well," I said. If—when humans found out that Devils still hunted them and ate human souls, the nukes—metaphorically and literally—would start flying! The Great War would be back on. We had to be ready to win before that happened.

"This half?" Kokabiel asked with a raised eyebrow.

Oh right, he had no idea what I've been through. I smirked at him and deployed my 10 black wings while releasing my magic power.

"T–ten!? You're as strong as me now?"

"Like I said, a lot has changed since you've been away scheming. This is what happened to me…" I started to give him a run down of my adventures. Everything leading up to where we were now.

Hopefully, they would make him realize it was better to come back to the Grigori and stand with our group than go off on his own and die as a two-bit villain.

By the end of it, he was looking at me in shock. "T-that was quite the tale. And you're returning to our original dimension to retrieve Azazel soo?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Yes. That's the plan. Hopefully, I don't have to check all 14 left first. I doubt I will though. I'm pretty lucky, you know," I said as I laughed at my own inside joke.

"Very well, then I wish to go with you as well. I would speak with Azazel myself to hear the truth from him directly. If this upcoming peace treaty truly is a facade, then I will admit to him that I was wrong about him and that he is a far craftier individual than I gave him credit for," Kokabiel said reluctantly.

He wanted to come with me? I didn't mind because he was about as strong as I was currently. I wouldn't have to waste time protecting him at least.

"I would like to come as well. Last time you ended up in a death world, and I just want to make sure you are safe," a new voice spoke up. I glanced behind us and saw Gabriel entering through the door.

As in—she literally phased herself through the door like she was Obito Uchiha. So much for Azazel's state-of-the-art security system for his lab…

"Can we do that?" I asked Kokabiel. That was really cool…

He scowled. "Only Seraphs can do that. They can also turn almost completely invisible to most beings' physical and magical senses." I could tell he was jealous of only being a ten-winged Fallen Angel.

Gabriel let out a small laugh as she approached. "Yes, it is quite fun being able to sneak right into Serafall Leviathan's office and rearrange her furniture or even steal her magical girl figurines. There's a reason she hates me and is so paranoid about me. I've just never been caught yet. Messing with the filthy devils is a great way to relieve stress." Gabriel said with a gentle smile that did not befit the dark words she just uttered. I couldn't help but laugh at her audacity as well.

XXX

"Hello again, Koka-kun! You ran off so quickly back at the cafeteria that I didn't get to greet you properly," Gabriel said to Kokabiel.

"I have no words to speak to the woman who butchered thousands of my brothers and sisters," Kokabiel spat out with a scowl.

Gabriel flinched, and I could tell that his words really hurt her. Her white wings drooped down behind her.

"Woah now, there's no need for such hurtful words," I said as I got between them. "Both of you killed our brothers and sisters during the Great War. It happened and it was horrible, but we have to get past it in the end."

"Thank you for your kind words, Layla. But I still know I deserve Kokabiel's hatred. Along with the hundreds of other Fallen Angels that still follow him and I know hate me as well," Gabriel said.

Kokabiel said, "So you know it's not just. You are correct, Sister. I do have an entire legion under my command currently just waiting for me to give the order to restart the Great War at any time." He bragged, and Gabriel looked horrified at the thought. "But," He continued and turned towards me, "If Layla's words hold true, then I will order them to stand by for now once we return. They will save their strength for the real battles we'll need to face in the future."

Gabriel gave me a grateful look.

"Alright then. Enough of the guilt trips and mushy crap!" I said as a purple portal manifested in front of me. I pointed towards it. "I still need to find Earth Marvel, and I don't want to spend another 3 days in whatever world we land in if it's not that." I explained. I also took this moment to swap out my current clothing for the black dress that Lady Death had granted me. It was supposed to shield me from the eyes of "higher beings" when I opened portals into their realms.

"While I am curious about alternate dimensions, I agree. If it's not the correct world, we should just return immediately and try again until Layla gets the correct one," Gabriel said. "I've kind of treated these last few days as a vacation, and I know Michael is slowly being drowned in paperwork in Heaven without me there to lighten the load…"

Even in Heaven, you can never escape paperwork…

I stepped through my portal, and my two very different siblings followed behind me. I was hoping I wouldn't end up anywhere too weird this time.

…

SPLASH!

And I hoped to soon…

SPLASH! SPLASH!

My portal apparently manifested above the ocean. Possibly the Arctic Ocean judging by how cold it was. As a 10-winged Fallen, I could survive in almost any environment, but that didn't mean that being dunked in freezing cold water was particularly pleasant. Under the water next to me, I could see that Gabriel and Kokabiel were just as annoyed. I kicked my feet and swam towards the surface.

All of our heads breached the surface at the same time. I could see ice caps surrounding us as we treaded water. My wings sprang out behind me, and I started floating above the ocean. The freezing saltwater clinging to my skin and hair felt unpleasant. At least until a wave of warm light washed over me. Gabriel had cast a useful spell that immediately dried us all off.

"Thank you, Gabriel."

"Anytime, Layla."

"Tch…" Kokabiel didn't thank her… "Where are we, besides the Arctic obviously? Is this 'Earth Marvel' or whatever you call it?" He asked me.

"I don't know. We'll have to find some people first, I suppose." I said.

"There's ordinary humans about a mile away that way," Gabriel said, pointing off into the distance. Her senses were pretty amazing to sense them. I still had trouble sensing non-magical beings.

"Let's go then." I said as I started flying to where she pointed.

When we got there and hovered over the ice caps, I saw a bunch of men standing around a giant excavator that was digging into the ice. This scene oddly looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. What—or who—I could place though was Agent Coulson of SHIELD standing below on the ice watching other people dig.

I flew down towards him until I was about 10 feet over his head. It was so cold and windy here that he didn't notice me. "Agent Coulson!" I called out to him. He startled and jumped in place before looking up. When his eyes met mine, I could see that they were filled with shock.

Damn, I don't think this was my Coulson. He didn't recognize me at all.

"Hello there? You seem to recognize me? I'm afraid I don't know any of you though." This dimension's Coulson said as he eyed the three of us wearily. Maybe his human instincts were warning him that he was completely outclassed against beings of our caliber…

"Tch… We're in the wrong dimension. Let's try another one, Layla. No point wasting our time with boring ordinary humans. I'd like to speak to Azazel sooner rather than later," Kokabiel said as he floated towards me. He didn't even bother looking at Coulson. He outright dismissed him.

"Wrong dimension?" Coulson asked in obvious spy intelligence gathering mode. "You all don't have to leave immediately? Why don't you stay and we can all talk? Are you here to find the Captain's body as well?"

I snapped my fingers. That's why this scene looked familiar. "This was where they uncovered Steve Rogers alive after 70 years in the ice!" I said out loud in excitement.

"He's alive!?" Coulson asked in shock.

"Yeah, he is and—"

"Coulson, Sir. We've found something and what the fuck!" Another agent ran up to Coulson to report something but freaked out when he saw the three of us floating in the air nearby. He immediately pulled out a pistol and pointed it at us. "All of you land right now! You're all under arrest!" The guy who was looking more familiar by the second shouted at us.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing.

BANG!

He fired a warning shot off to the side. "I mean it!" The agent ordered all of us again. He then pointed his pistol at Gabriel, who probably looked like the most innocent out of the three of us.

Ironically, she was the one with the highest body count by far…

"Hahaha! A human pointing a gun at the Archangel Gabriel herself. Now I've seen everything!" Kokabiel started laughing at the situation. "Now I'm glad I came just to see this!"

I saw Coulson pale when he heard Kokabiel's words. "A-Archangel…!? Agent! Lower your weapon immediately!"

"But Sir!"

"Lower your weapon!" Coulson ordered.

Now I got it! "I finally recognized this guy!" I said while pointing to the other agent. "Yeah, you're the guy who shot me in my dimension! You're a double agent for Hydra!"

""What!"" The two humans exclaimed at the same time. One in shock and betrayal, and the other in anger that I just outed him. He tried to raise his gun towards

us again. A quick flick of my hand and his own hand holding the gun fell to the icy ground…

"AAAaaaahhhh! You bitch!" He fell to his knees and held his already cauterized stump to his chest in pain. That felt good. Cathartic even. I didn't get to take revenge on that guy in my dimension because he got popped as soon as he attacked me at the racetrack.

"Good luck with Captain America and Hydra, Coulson. FYI, half of SHIELD are Hydra spies at this point. See ya!" I gave him a wave before opening a portal and hopping through it.

We were off to the next dimension.

XXX