NOVEL NEXT 66 Meeting Adjourned
Many did not possess knowledge of the existence of the book. The knowledge of its history was even more closely guarded.
As Alexia guessed, the knowledge of the progenitors was known by the masters and main entities of many universes but was actually kept under tight wraps by them as they did not want many to know of the existence of these powerful beings that possessed control over their respective races.
Diablo sighed while thinking about the contents of the last report Cattleya 'sent' to him. Clearing his throat, he spoke out loud.
"We've digressed.
I believe you all know the reason why I called this meeting, you may think that the monsterization of a single devil might not warrant this but it does, because this incident is related to one of you here."
Hearing Diablo's words, except Belphegor, all those in the room showed shocked expressions.
If the matter was truly related to the then it could not be considered trivial anymore. Seeing their reactions, Diablo continued speaking.
"The Marquis of Pear-, Former Marquis, was indeed guilty of dabbling in monsterization magic in an effort to make his son stronger and eventually, himself.
However, the idea was not his, it came from someone else."
They all ignored how Diablo just casually deprived the Former Marquis of his title just like that. Their focus was on the latter half of his statement.
He was insinuating that the idea came from one of them. They exchanged probing gazes with each other.
"So, who's the culprit?"
Creusery broke the silence and asked, the dukes thanked him in their hearts for daring to ask. Slight traces of anger could be seen on Diablo's face so most of them thought twice about asking him.
"It's better to not beat around the Bush. Mammon."
"Huh??!"
Mammon let out a confused voice, he was shocked. He did not expect his name to be called.
The current Holder of greed, Grand Duke Mammon, succeeded his title after helping Diablo reclaim the throne after the coup twelve millennia ago.
Before then, he was nothing but a branch family member of the previous holder of Greed house, currently, he was its only survivor as the rest were all massacred by diablo.
He, alongside Belphegor, Inglis and Conrad were the four who assisted Diablo's return to power, although he was the weakest of the four, he was given the seat of Grand Duke and the authority of greed to hold.
Seeing what happened to the members of the previous house that held the power of greed, he secretly vowed in his heart to never ever anger Diablo in any way or form.
Even though his greed for power made him sometimes covet Diablo's throne, remembering the ends of the previous holder of greed and his co-conspirators snuffed out any desires towards it he may have.
He was very sure that he was completely unrelated to this matter as such he could not hide his shock after hearing his name card by Diablo, luckily Diablo's next words and actions calmed his growing anxiety.
"You really need to watch your descendants properly, well it's a bit too late for that."
Mammon became scared, he began wondering what Diablo meant by his statement however, Diablo just pulled out his phone and placed it in front of him.
Looking at the screen, he could see what he originally thought was the video of Arthur fighting against the monsterized Zach. However, it was not, it was a video of Arthur beating up someone else.
However, he noticed that the person Arthur was battling against seemed to be using a partial version of monsterization magic.
He looked towards Diablo in confusion, Diablo then put his hand on his chin, wearing a pensive look on his face for a few minutes before finally speaking.
"Your great-grand son's, grand son? Or was it your great grandson's, grandson's, great grandson?
This is why I told you not to have too many kids, it's hard to keep track of all of them, now look at what one has done."
Mammon internally sighed in relief before speaking with a slightly shaking voice.
"Your majesty, worry not, I shall sanction this descendant of mine with great haste,"
"I should say that to you; worry not, Arthur has already dealt with him.
I didn't want you all to find out yet so I blocked all news leaving the academy, that video I just showed you was taken five days ago."
Hearing what Diablo said, the dukes finally began to figure out the reason for the postponement of the meeting and sighed.
Duchess Jostron sighed and thought to herself.
'He definitely wanted to watch the prince beat up the descendant of Mammon and spent the next few days gloating about it. '
One thing all the Dukes had noticed was that Diablo surprisingly had a childish side to him. Duchess Jostron and Duke Hollis once walked in on Diablo bragging about Cattleya's genius when a master of a nearby universe came visiting.
Not knowing the thoughts of the others in the room, Diablo continued speaking.
"Too many kids lead to too many problems, this is why I only have two you know? Even still one of them is quite the case to deal with."
As Diablo said that, he felt a glare coming from Inglis' direction, coughing awkwardly, he turned over to Conrad who had been silent since the beginning.
"I heard Layla played a big role in resolving this incident, it seems she has also reached the peak of the superior stage, given a few months, she might become a grandmaster."
"Hmm"
Although he only gave a short reply to Diablo's words, one could see from the look on his face that he was very proud. Looking at him, Duchess Celiosa sighed and thought to herself.
'This guy only shows his emotions subtly, I wonder how my sister even figured out that he liked her.'
If Layla heard this thought, her jaw would definitely drop in shock, she was under the assumption that her parent's marriage was a political one of some sort, however, it was not.
"So, that brat and his family, alongside the rest of the House of Pearce would suffer the same punishments."
"What punishment?"
"Haven't thought of it yet, one thing is for sure and that is they are losing their rank and status as nobles without question. Is that okay Mammon?"
Diablo asked Mammon, who flinched lightly before replying.
"Yes, it's fine."
Truth be told, besides his Eldest sons and daughters, Mammon did not really care much for his other descendants. Especially if they were 6 or 7 generations apart from him.
Whether they lost their status or not was not his problem to deal with, all he had to handle was the backlash that the House of Greed may suffer due to being involved in this incident.
"Now that's settled, on to more pressing issues. I've already told you all about the situation in Chrysa, all contact with them is to be cut off completely, it's a lost cause."
The aura around Diablo changed, and the dignity of a King he possessed manifested itself, the Dukes were all shocked that Diablo was completely cutting off contact with Chrysa.
"Your majesty, isn't that a bit too much?"
Belphegor, who had been silent from the start, could not help but ask. It was fine to withdraw major forces, but cutting off all contacts was going too far.
"No, it's not, they somehow got their hands on a Book of Truth, which means one of two things, either the Ancient Angels have their eye on Chrysa, or the Progenitor Angel himself has taken action.
The strength of a progenitor who is hundreds of billions of years old is not to be underestimated in any way or form; we can't let him have his eye on us, especially when another progenitor is already looking to come here."
Surprise showed on the faces of those who heard his words, they understood the actions he took for the safety of the hell universe, even if it meant cutting off what could be a potential ally, however, his words of a progenitor having their eyes on the hell universe was news to them.
Seeing them urging him to continue with their eyes, Diablo spoke solemnly.
"I haven't figured out what race it is, however, I noticed movements of various beings preparing to summon a Progenitor directly into the hell universe, which cannot be allowed to happen."
"So you're saying the ones making the preparations might not be the ones who are summoning huh?"
"Exactly"
Diablo gave a short reply to Duke Hollis' question, he was in charge of everything related to summoning in the hell universe, if they attempted to summon such a being, there was no way he would not notice when the summoning began.
After that, they addressed other minor issues that needed their concern before adjourning the meeting a few hours afterwards.
After all the dukes had left, only the Grands and Diablo were left in the room. Mammon stood up and was about to leave but the voice he heard next made him stop in his tracks.
"Can I come out now?"
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
_michael