“I see, this is valuable information. Thank you for sharing it with me on such short notice, this will be highly useful.” Soma said formally while sitting in his workshop, in front of him Mirana was looking at him with wonder in her eyes as she started to understand what exactly Gabriel-sama was so interested in this particular human. The power to borrow the energy of God was something that normally could only be done by those chosen or approved by God or his Holy Spirit, it was the sign of those who had the qualifications to be true Saints of the church.

It was shocking for someone to appear that is able to do just that and making a possible new Saint join the ranks or ally himself with the church was a matter of course then.

“It is no problem. However, I must ask what exactly you intend to do with this information at hand.” Mirana questioned to which Soma freely answered.

“I want to go and exterminate some vampires, nothing much just the Tepes Faction whole if it is at all viable.” Soma said with a shrug, causing Mirana to freeze.

“What?”

“Yeah, I will be going there real quick to kill me some vampire scum, cull their numbers to as close to zero as I can manage and all that. Nothing too personal, it is just that I’ve heard that they have in their hands one of the Longinus and I have no intentions of letting them use that thing to help enslave and kill humans.” Soma said nonchalantly as if he wasn’t talking about facing over ten thousand vampires with one thousand of them being high-class and at least four being Satan Class fighters.

He was acting as if what he was intending to do was only the simplest of things and no different from ordinary.

“Wanna come with?” Soma then said after a moment of thought.

Mirana looks flabbergasted at his words.

“You honestly wants to fight the vampire race, just like that? And by yourself and without any faction or organization helping you.”

“Yeah, it is kinda needed really. With what I know these vampires are a threat to humanity and I can’t just ignore them.” Soma said simply. The longer he waited to try and find reliable and willing allies the more the vampires could grow in power and such cancers should be removed as soon as possible in Soma’s eyes. It was riskier this way, but at least Soma was confident of the need to do it and that he could manage it if he played his cards right.

Mirana looked at him before speaking.

“If you want to face the vampires, why not work with the church as a whole? We could-”

“Get in the way, I am sure.” Soma said, interrupting her with a dismissive tone. “Look, I don’t doubt the church has strong warriors, they wouldn’t have survived otherwise, especially in this world so full of danger and that they are constantly patrolling all around instead of holding up in a stronghold if they truly lacked strength. However, many exorcists are too weak and likely would not be that capable to listen to my orders and would easily get in the way instead of helping. I also have no trust that there wouldn’t be some spy in your ranks somewhere that could leak the information of the attack before I strike, which would just complicate things. I am only really offering if you want to join because I feel that, amongst your friends, you are the most capable and should be of some help. Of course, if you choose to help me I would want you to sign a Geass about you not betraying me or the mission during its execution, part of the spoils would go to you as well depending on how much help you provide, and you would have to promise secrecy until the operation ended. A small price to pay, I am sure.”

“And, what if I refuse to come along?” Mirana questioned to which Soma just smiled and answered.

“I would let you move along, of course. But if you leak what I told you to your superiors and the vampires catch wind of my plans and my operation fails I would be most displeased, and would be sure to have you pay for potentially endangering the whole of humanity. Of course, if you don’t join me but don’t tell your superiors information they really don’t need to know, then I would have no reason to come after you. I would respect your opinion regarding your decision to stay safe in this town, even if it meant you would be on the other side of the world while leaving others to face monsters that are a threat to humanity as a whole and not just a small percentage of it.”

Mirana bit her lip in frustration, she knows that she shouldn’t just go along with Soma without informing her superiors and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave town now of all times.

After some consideration, she spoke.

“We have had some complications. The fallen have attacked the church and Excalibur Fragments have been stolen, considering they already attacked twice they might be aiming to capture all of the pieces. Kuoh has two of these pieces, one in our hands and one in yours. Wouldn’t it be better to stay put for now to defend this town if the fallen do attack.” She tried, wanting to make Soma stay to gain more time to decide what to do and defend this town in a moment of danger like a possible attack of a high-ranking fallen angel.

“No.” Soma said instantly and without hesitation, making Mirana freeze. She thought that Soma might be a good person, but with how he quickly and decisively ignored the possible plight of this town just like that, it was hard to say anymore.

Seeing her expression Soma, with a bored expression said.

“While I do appreciate the information you gave me about the fallen attacking, I don’t intend to change my plans. Any attack in my residence is doomed to fail unless the person is strong to a truly obscene degree so I don’t fear for my residence or those I care for since they can always take shelter here in case of danger. As for the rest, the lives of a single town cannot begin to compare with the lives of entire countries that might be in danger if I do nothing like many of the supernatural side would suggest due to their petty politics.”

Soma explained, making Mirana bit her lip. What he said was true and she was quite sure many of the church itself wouldn’t want to fully engage with the vampires even if the danger Soma said was a reality. They were locked in this cold war for hundreds of years and they would care more about their internal struggles and politics than a potential disaster that hasn’t even been fully formed yet.

“Besides,” Soma continued easily. “the devils like to claim this is their territory, calling themselves kings of this town, and the Shinto Pantheon have a say here as well, if my deals with the Yakuza are any indication, so why not just let those who like to say they have the ownership of this town take care of the problem and prove they have the strength to back their claims of being the owners of this place? Because, if they can’t do that and need the help of a human to take care of their ‘land’ in the human world, why should they still call themselves the leaders here?”

And it was the truth. If someone was the leader or responsible for something then they should protect it. If they can’t do that and depend on one of those they ‘rule’ to protect their things, then they are just weaklings who have no right to claim this land to begin with.

Of course, even if Soma sounded dismissive about the town, he knew that his special projects were almost completed or were already complete and perfectly functional. Considering what Soma is leaving in town, there would hardly be any true danger of the town being destroyed or of a genocide happening.

Still, even if that was not so and Soma had nothing left behind to protect this town, the lives of a single town with about 50 thousand citizens could not match the destruction the vampires might be able to generate with that gear and its possibilities at hand in the long run.

It was an unpleasant and logical judgment, but Soma made it anyway and he did not regret it. This was the sort of thought taught by him by many a king and the Emiyas, even if they all agreed that he should always try to find a way to save everyone if possible.

Meanwhile, as she heard him, Mirana was torn about it all as she spoke.

“Very well, can you give me some time to decide? I, I can’t just decide something like that out of nowhere.”

“Works for me. Just remember, I know where you live. Just keep that in mind.” Soma said with a ‘kind’ smile that give Mirana shivers. “Now, if you are done I have to prepare some more. Here is the information in how to build Black keys as well as a few samples for you guys to have a comparison with the final product.”

With that Soma gives her a few documents and three Black keys to Mirana who absentmindedly nodded her head and got up to leave.

As she walked away she spoke up.

“How much time do I have to make my decision?”

“Three days at most.” Soma said simply. With the information at hand and with the homunculi and golems working together Soma now had quite a bit of thing prepared.

The time of three days being mostly because he would still have his talks with Azazel and time to plan the final details before leaving, as well as making sure that his deterrents for the future were completed.

Mirana nodded her head and left. After she left the place Soma went inside his dimension and asked.

“It seems like you will have to stay behind in the end. Can you take care of town while I am gone?”

“I don’t mind. It is just something I should do anyway… Do I need to help the devils and other supernatural beings as well?”

“No need for most of them. Just help if it is Ravel, Riser and his peerage, and especially if it is Momo. The others have their own backers and I would rather if you did not have to intervene in the possible conflict, to begin with. This is a problem of the Christian pantheon and should be dealt with by them, we should only intervene if there is no other chance..” Soma said.

He would want to protect the innocent bystanders in town, but both Sona and Rias were siblings of the Satans. Let said Satans protect them, they should have access to enough forces to do that at any rate. Besides, Soma would rather not do charity work for the devils by doing all their work for them while also revealing the cards he had on hand.

“Okay… Do you want another spar?”

“Hell no, last time you copied way too much of what I know. Find someone else to steal techniques from, you cheat.” Soma said and turned quickly to leave as he was still slightly irritated at this creation of his.

Sure, it was a freak accident that let this one be created this way, but it was still irritating for Soma as the said creation’s eyes are the purest form of ‘cheat’ Soma has ever seen before.

Having done that, and now confident the town, in general, would be safe, Soma went back to strategize for this strike against the vampires. With the information he had on hand he was much more confident about what he had to do and how to attack the vampires.

Sure, he wouldn’t blindly believe all this information was 100% accurate as he doubted a historical enemy would let all his secrets fall on the enemy’s hands, but even as a rough estimation this would be extremely valuable for planning.

///—-///

With everything set, Soma had gone to reunite every one of those that lived in his house, were close friends, worked for him, or just owed him a favor really.

The group ended up coming together by late afternoon as Soma wanted to deal with these talks all at once instead of repeating himself several times.

When they all sat down comfortably in the dining table of the house Soma looked at each and every person present before speaking.

“Hello, everyone. I am sorry if I troubled you all with me calling everyone just like that for a meeting, but I have important matters to discuss with you all. But first, before I speak I would like all of you to sign this.” Soma said as he put on the table a very simple Geass. “This is a geass, a magic contract so to say. It makes it so that, upon signing it, you cannot speak of what I tell you all to others beyond those present for a period of a week unless there is a risk of death for yourself or someone you care about and this information is vital for your or theirs survival thereafter.”

“Quite extreme there, Soma-kun.” Kiyoharu mentioned as she looked over the Geass before signing.

“I have to be considering what I am trying to do. There are only two people who already know what I intend to do, one I trust enough to make signing this contract a formality, and the other is a test to see if she is worthy of me trusting her in the future.” Soma said as he gazed at Mittelt who blushed as she thought which of the two she was.

Honestly, either would be fine for her, but she would rather it be the former as it sounded better.

“Well, it sounds like something interesting. Tell me, if we help, would our names resound across the supernatural world?” Gentle questioned Soma. The two might not interact much, but Gentle knows he owed Soma a huge debt after being saved by him and even having his arm reattached a while back after Dimaria had cut it off.

If he could help then Gentle would do so, but he would rather do it if there was something for him, like the fame he so desired.

“Yes, if we play it right then our names would resound all over the supernatural world and we would be saving countless lives.” Soma said easily as the truth suited him the best.

“Very well, sign me in.” Gentle said, signing his name in the Geass.

“If Gentle is going, then I will do it too.” La Brava, as she liked being called, said as she signed her name right beside Gentle’s.

Soma was quite satisfied if these two joined as their powers could prove useful. A gear that is able to turn anything into elastic and another gear that can increase others’ powers depending on the wishes and feelings of the user. These two could help in some ways if Soma was honest and, at the very least, they could help with retrieval of the injured or in stealing the whole place up.

Everyone else signed it as well and, after that, Soma spoke up.

“In the next few days, I intend to go to Romania to deal with the vampires. And by ‘deal’, I mean exterminate as many as possible. So, yeah, I am going to war.” Soma said and silence echoed in the place before someone actually threw herself at Soma.

THUD

Hitting the floor, since Soma refused to put even the slightest resistance in fear of hurting her, Soma was pressed to the ground by Momo who straddled him while holding his collar tight. Her face turned red in anger and frustration as thoughts flashed through her mind at high speed and instincts screamed at her about it.

“Why are you doing this? Do you want to die? Fighting a whole race, you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“I have a plan and-”

“NO! You are not going to throw your life away. Just stay here, we still have to go to the family meeting this weekend and I won’t let you go and do something like going into a war.” Momo said as she held him down.

Soma just let her vent before he spoke.

“You can’t stop me. This is important, the lives of countless people are on the line here.” Soma said easily.

“Then, then why don’t we talk with Serafal-sama? She should be able to help and-”

“She won’t be able to help. She would most likely try and stop me instead of helping. Her first priority is the safety of the devil race, just as my first priority is the safety of the human race.” Soma said as he slowly and carefully pried Momo’s hands away from his collar as to not hurt her.

He then looked across the room to see many worried faces. They all understood to some degree how dangerous fighting a war against an entire race would be so they naturally were worried to various extents about it. Noting this, Soma started to explain what he found out about the vampires current situation, his worries for the future in case no one acted, and why he would have to go, and why he could not just ask for help from the three Christian Factions or even parties like the Norse Pantheon.

By the time he finished explaining everything, there was silence. No one spoke anything for a while until.

“So you are going to go out there to fight just like that. Sorry bro, but I can’t help you with that one… well, unless you would like some mercenaries. I might be able to find some of those for you, if it helps.” Riser offered. He was only a third son who would not become a clan head or an actual representative of the devil race, but him participating in a fight like the one Soma is speaking about was just not possible.

He was confident in his skills to survive, knowing that despite not being that strong his survival skills thanks to regeneration are top-notch, but if he went it would be hard to survive and, even if he did, there was all chance of him ending up being called a stray devil as the New Satan Faction couldn’t keep someone who participated in such a war.

Riser couldn’t risk that, and Soma knew it.

“I understand and don’t consider this against you. This is a matter for humanity, I can’t really complain about you not risking your life for us just like that. And about mercenaries, I would have to decline since I doubt they would be a truly reliable fighting force and, even if they are, I wouldn’t be sure of their competence in following orders in an operation like this.” Soma explains, making Riser calm down.

Soma understands the situation of Riser and he never expected him to help directly in the fight. His help in the logistics of materials all over the world was more than Soma or anyone could request normally and Soma appreciated this help that made a hopeless battle possible. Not that Riser quite agreed as he sighed.

“Sorry bro, but here. I hope this helps.” Riser said as he opened his personal space and took out half a dozen Phenex Tears he had prepared for his own peerage a while back. “These should help in an emergency. Also, all the things you requested I will deliver at most tomorrow morning, I hope they can help even if just a bit.”

“They will, no worries on that.” Soma said with a smile of thanks.

Riser looked at him for a while longer before nodding his head.

“Hey, send me a selfie of you on top of their burned castle. I would be able to brag that you are my friend with that photo.” Riser said and Soma actually laughed slightly at the comment about taking a selfie like that.

Leave it to Riser to request such a thing of someone going to fight in a war.

However, Soma was satisfied regardless and the help was certainly appreciated. These Phenex Tears would certainly be a big help moving forward in this operation.

Looking at everybody else Soma spoke.

“I understand you all have a lot to think about. Both regarding the danger I mentioned for this fight and the danger that it represents in case I fail and the vampires have a free hand to act as they wish. If anyone wishes to come with me despite knowing the dangers I would thank you profusely and do my best to equip you the best I possibly can, but I won’t force anyone to come along as it is a dangerous thing we would be doing. I won’t accept anyone saying they will come with me now, you all have until tomorrow afternoon to think about if you want to come with me or not. I won’t put it against you if you decline, and if you want to come along I will do all I can to ensure your safety.” Soma said directly while making eye contact with everyone at the table, his gaze going from one person to another before he settled it on Momo who soon after averted her gaze and dashed away from the room.

Soma sighed at this reaction but did not follow her. She needed her space to think about this and decide what she would be doing now. No matter what her decision was though, Soma would accept it and support her in it. If she decided to stay in town with her King, go to the family meeting, or come along to this mission, Soma would respect what her choice would be.

Looking at everyone and their expressions of doubt about what they should do next, Soma sighed as he spoke up.

“Look, I am not trying to pressure you guys into helping me or anything. All I am doing is informing you about what I will be doing in the next while so that, if anything happens, you know I am not around right now. I will, however, leave some insurance around the house and you are all welcome to come over. If danger shows up then do not hesitate to come and seek refuge in the house as it will undoubtedly be safe inside. Nothing short of something on the level of Albion can hope to breach through and invade this place, and I have some other surprises inside in case a disaster is going on out there and you need help.” Soma explained calmly as to not make the others feel pressured to help him.

Seeing their expressions he continued.

“I will take anyone that wants to come with me, considering what I will be doing all the genuine help is appreciated, but by no means feel obligated to help me in this. This will be a dangerous action we would be taking, so please think carefully before deciding if you want to come or not.” Soma said it again to make sure everyone understood his words.

He then got up, dusted himself off, and left the place as he had two final things to take care of.

The first was going into his workshop to enter his personal dimension. Getting in he walked for a bit until he arrived at his biology lab, walking through the several hundred tubes where more of his homunculi army was being created he nodded his head at the results as, after a while, he would have a much greater force, especially since they would have a diluted form of body modifications that Soma himself had as to make them as powerful as he could while keeping the production numbers in order.

Deeper inside the lab were two larger test tubes with two almost completed homunculi inside. The tubes were in the center of several ritualistic fields and soon the final result would be out, it was just a shame Soma was not confident he would be around for what it happens, but hey, at least they should be completed by the end of the week.

And a small distance away from these tubes, were a pair of blue eyes similar to those Soma had. They were emitting quite a unique wavelength of energy, being the pair of Mystic Eyes Soma had prepared for himself.

“Well, no pain no gain.” Soma said as he prepared himself to start to remove his own eyes to replace them with these new ones. It was a painful process, but Soma had to do it and he didn’t even emit a single grunt even as he removed his original eyes to replace them with these new ones.

It took him about ten minutes to finish the process and, as he did so, he tied his eyes up with bandages as to not stimulate them right away, letting them slowly adjust to his nervous system and magic circuits. Having done that he left the place and, even if blinded, he walked without hitting anything and seemed to be as capable of walking around now just as well as before, despite the blindfold.

Training under the Hassans he learned perfectly well how to move around and identify his surroundings even if he had all five of his senses sealed away, so just being temporarily blinded meant nothing to him, and he has one more thing to do today even while his body is adapting to the new additions.

He had a meeting with Azazel about something that could prove a necessity moving forward with his plans. With some hope, Azazel would be interested in magecraft like Thought Partition and Thought Acceleration which should be able to speed up his research by several times over and let him be more efficient regarding it.

… Oh, who was Soma kidding. That would be something Azazel would likely sell his soul to have, or give up on sex for a whole month to have… maybe, Azazel did love sex way too much after all. It was why he fell.

Mittelt told him, he fell because of huge titties. Go figures. But, to be fair, he was still a mostly innocent angel back then and didn’t know the truth that size doesn’t matter. Perhaps, after these thousands of years amongst mortals, he grew into a proper gentleman.

One can only hope.