104 Within Death, Life is Found

Quis' POV:

Spiravit walked away from us two, and like that, our plan was underway.

Our plan was quite simple. There are two different ways I could explain it. I could explain it through the lens of Spiravit and the old man, or I could explain it through my vision. What they have in mind is quite different than what I have. Spiravit is doing this as a way to act under my subordination, and, the more substantial of the two, he's helping me because he knows that we could all be killed if he didn't. The old man is helping out because he's a part of my faction, and this is just an extension of our main plan. But this is only true when you look at the plan I told them.

The plan I had for myself, however, was quite different. I still had the goal of putting our new faction on the tip of the sect's tongue, but I also had a side objective; I had to kill Spiravit. At first, I used him to search for the inheritance. Then, when he blackmailed me, I planned to indoctrinate him into my alliance by using his insecurities against him. But now, that was impossible.

I didn't expect that he would twist in such a direction under the pressure of death, as such a response was rare for even geniuses. As far as I knew, his pride had disappeared, or he had learned how to resist it. He isn't scared of being weaker than others now, which makes him all the more strong. Being able to allow others to walk over you gives you a certain power otherwise unobtainable. But if that were all, I might still have a chance to use him, sort of like Onvima, but his unique personality is what cut that off.

Before this, he was already developing a view of the world very similar to mine; the view of, "How can I maximize the benefits to get what I want." The only thing that stopped him from truly getting the most out of that point of view was his fear of being weaker than others, but now with that gone, he was a lion who had grown its wings, soaring ever higher. His growth potential was scarily high, but that was only potential. I still had a way to get rid of the future threat, stomp it out while it was still a sapling.

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. First I was interrupted by Capcis and Iusus, and then my plan to have him die from the Salamander burnt up in flames. It was as if the world itself was on the side of this boy. I've been having great luck recently, so I guess this is the world's way of punishing me... as if.

Luck was only an excuse to me, an intangible way of explaining that things didn't work out the way you wanted them to. The idea of luck was interesting for sure, but if you had to rely on something so volatile, then the way you were going about something was wrong. If something "unlucky" happens, then your plan has a flaw, whether you realize it or not. It wasn't unlucky that I messed up with Pulchra, it was my own fault for not understanding the dangers of heightened emotions. My attempt to kill Spiravit being interrupted was because I didn't do it quickly enough. Killing him during the Wild Beast fight was something that relied on "chance", so it was a bad idea to begin with.

But this time my plan, to my knowledge at least, was perfect. It wasn't something unreliable like the Devil killing Spiravit, we've already gone over the contingencies for that, so that wouldn't happen, he would have to be killed after the Devil's death, after all, I still had to kill the Devil. He was an integral part of that process. He and the old man were bait.

Spiravit looked at the Devil whose face had just eaten a pile of dirt and sneered at her, "Oh Devil, why don't you come over here and give me a try?!! I've been dying to test some new techniques out! You'll work perfectly as a practice dummy!" He snorted snot into his mouth loudly, and then spat it onto the back of her head, "Oh wait, don't tell me that one attack took you out? Damn, I thought Devils were stronger than the average human, but I suppose that was all bullshit. You guys must be weaker than us, I mean, I was able to kill your friend while a whole Class below him!... I'm sure you're not much different."

Suddenly, a sword flew at him. He was able to move his head just barely out of a fatal blow, but the sword still grazed his cheek. The body lying on the ground began to shake as it slowly raised itself up. Soon it got on its feet and it stared right at Spiravit's smug face. Her face contorted for a moment, and then it suddenly turned intense, "You're dead."

I turned to the old man and patted him on the back, "You're up."

He nodded, and then at the next moment, he disappeared. Once he was gone, I turned my attention to Medisma and walked over to her, "You can leave the area now, we have this under control. Instead, you should take him to the hospital as soon as you can." I pointed to the bleeding body on the ground next to us.

She nodded her head and then looked at me, "I trust you understand what you're saying... Alright. Go on then, kill the thing. I've known you long enough to trust you now. Make the Sect Faction proud."

After she said that, she too disappeared. With the witnesses now gone, I turned around and began to observe the fight between the three of them, waiting for my opportunity to strike.

The Devil was just about to slice Spiravit when the old man appeared in front of her, blocking her attack with his wooden arms. He then swept with his legs, causing her to take a step back. While she stepped back, she swung her daggers a couple of times, sending flame-covered swords at the old man. Instead of dodging out of the way, he gave a chaotic laugh and jumped forward, meeting the swords.

The swords collided with him, but once they did, they were sucked into his body like a pebble entering a lake. This gave her face a shocked expression; it seemed like she expected her fire to penetrate through everything. Nevertheless, the old man moved unwavered by her shock, and the Devil acted in kind, taking another leap back. But as she was moving, her head bumped against a tree that had suddenly appeared behind her.

Before she could react, the old man was in front of her and was throwing a punch right at her face.

Slam!

Her head was knocked between two pieces of wood, with one pressing her against the other. Her head squished against the tree truck until it finally broke through, tossing her across the crater. With it, I could see blood flowing through the air, and teeth flying. It was an incredible strike.

But then I took a look at the old man. He was shaking his arms around, and as he did, blood from the cut wounds dropped to the ground. He wasn't able to attack her unscathed. She flipped through the air and ended up landing on her feet, before glaring at the old man. She spat out blood that was piled in her mouth along with an extra tooth and gnarled at him. Although she was looking angry, I could see desperation in her eyes. At this point, she must have been running low on Genesis Liquid.

I made devil horns with my hand and pointed them to the ground while getting the old man and Spiravit's attention. This was to signify that it was time to get her in position for my attack. Since she was low on Genesis Liquid, she had two options. Either run away with the amount she had left or attack with one final big move, and that big move would be a Spell. In the best-case scenario, only one of us dies from an attack like that, but more likely than not, we'd all die. So we had to take the amount of strength the old man built up in her mind and run with it as far as we could.

They both nodded at me, so I ran to them to take my position, and waited for the old man to begin talking, "Alright you Devil! You're strong, I give you that, but I believe I'm stronger! How about this?! I'll use my strongest move, and you'll use you, the last person standing is the one who deserves to live!"

A bloody smile grew on her lips as she yelled back to him, "That sounds great to me! Why don't we start now? Three, two, one!"

As she counted down, her body grew larger and larger until she was about half the size of the Salamander I fought earlier. She had two large horns cloaked in black fire that protruded out of her skull, long and wild black hair that ran down her back, glowing scarlet eyes with pulsating black veins, and a sharp grin. Her body was weirdly shaped with blackened swords poking out every now and then, feeling proportionate in some places, but not in others. She looked like an abstract art piece.

As she counted down I also began to charge up my move while positioned behind the old man. I pulled back my arm with ease as I had activated my magic circles to the maximum already. This would have to work, as my next attack would suck up all of my remaining Genesis Orbs. Click! One lock is unlocked. Clack! The next sounded out. Clook! And finally, the last, and most deep-sounding lock, was broken open.

It was at this point that the Devil started running at the old man like a gorilla, which made more sense than actually running for her. As she ran, the swords stuck into her body flew out, and began floating in the sky near her, one after the next, creating an even higher pressure.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the end of this fight before I sent a Fruit into my gullet and manipulated the resulting burst of power into the same area where my Bed Crossbow Fruit was residing and bubbling. The two powers collided, trying to fight for supremacy over my arm, but I acted as mediator, instead merging the two of them.

Back in the surface of my arm, as I pulled back, and instead of it being loose like it normally would be, it was taut and full of tension. As I pulled farther back, the aura around me grew stronger, and slowly a silver string was exposed to be holding the bold back. I pulled it back as far as I was physically able to, making a slightly loose V shape in the string.

By now the Devil was almost at the old man's feet. The many swords that were surrounding her launched their attacks on the old man, and at the same time, I released mime, aiming right at the Devil's chest, calmly saying, "Bolt and String."

BOOM!!!

The sound of my bolt being sent flying boomed through the ears of everyone present, and perhaps even more, as it pierced through the air itself. I saw the shadow of the old man barely diving out of the bolt's trajectory, allowing it to fly through the swords of the Devil. The bolt shattered the black swords, unhindered, and eventually, it found itself in front of the beast. The spear made contact with her black exterior, before coming to a stop.

However, even though it was stopped, it didn't stop going forward. The acceleration of the bolt was so grand, that it didn't come to an immediate stop after making contact with the brick wall that was this Devil, and instead continued to try to go forward. It slowly dented the Devil, making her face contract as the feeling of death sank in. And then, with one last push, it went through her.

SPLASH!!!

Like a water balloon, her body exploded into guts, blood, and bones. The maroon rain didn't stop me though, I still had a job to finish. I used the same Fruit from earlier and projected it far away from me, right in front of the bolt that was moving. Like it hit an invisible wall, it came to a stop, and as if the air itself were bending, the bolt bounced off of this wall, changing its trajectory. The bolt, in a flash, turned around with its blunt side now at the forefront. Its destination? Spiravit.

Earlier, I had placed Spiravit next to the Devil saying that he would be able to save the old man in case he didn't get out in time, but in reality, I planned to bounce the bolt right back at him from the beginning. The bolt in question was nearing him. But as if he sensed the danger a tree suddenly appeared in front of him, and at lightning speed, he phased into the tree. This only resulted in a smirk growing on my face.

I had done my research. Spiravit had two Fruits and one Magic Art. He had a Dirt Class Wooden Stake Fruit, a Wooden Stealth Fruit, and his Magic Art: Tree Creation. At first, I was a bit wary of his Wooden Stealth Fruit because of how invincible it seemed, but when I did some research, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be a problem. The Fruit didn't make you invincible, it simply phased your physical body into the trunk of the tree, allowing you to hide within it. This meant that as long as you pierced through the trunk, blood would still spill.

And like that, the bolt flew through the tree trunk, causing broken pieces of wood to go flying everywhere and the top of the tree to fall... but there was no blood. A bad feeling crept down my spine as I thought about what that meant for my future before I pulled back with my shooting arm and caught the bolt in my hand.

In my other hand, I simply held it up, and let it grip onto the falling Devil's head. I gripped onto the head that was almost half the size of my body and yelled to the heavens above as its blood dripped into my already blood-soaked clothes and hair, "This is what happens when you attempt to harm my sect! My family!!! I am Quis!! The leader of the newest Faction to be formed in this sect!!! THE RESISTANCE!!!"

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Opacus' POV:

Tap, tap tap.

My fingernails slammed against the top of my wooden desk as I sat with my back bent over and my eyes wide open, 'Oh, this isn't good, not good at all. I spent a lot of money and resources on those Devils, yet they didn't even kill one person. Now I have an entire faction to take care of, but with no money to do it. This isn't good at all.'

I sat up suddenly as my nerves reached their limits and I walked around the room searching each and every slip of paper I had, looking for a solution, any solution, but there was nothing. I had no idea how to get out of this one. From the lens of others, it probably looks like the sect has been split into three even sections, but the truth wasn't so simple.

Normally, when running a sect, you would have all the resources pulled at the top to distribute it to those at the lower levels, it was how the system worked, but this sect was different. Because of some incidents, the sect split into three factions, each having their own claim to resources that they gave to their subordinates. So even as Sect Leader, I didn't have access to everything. Now, because of that, I was running out of resources to give and money to pay with.

Maybe I could keep things together for a bit longer because of the idea of us being a huge family, but that would only last so long. Humans are vicious creatures, and once they realize that they aren't getting enough benefits, they'll switch sides. I'll start losing my followers and therefore my power. Eventually, I might just have to leave the sect itself without ever completing my family's task. And that isn't all. There is also that new faction: The Resistance.

It was led by none other than the golden boy himself, Quis. It was a bit humorous. Medisma and Convir were so confident because they had Quis in their corner, and were right to be so, he was able to kill a 2nd half Coal Class Devil! But in the end, he betrayed them, so now he was also their enemy along with mine. But I'm not too worried about it. Quis was still only 16 years old, he may be strong for his age, but that doesn't correlate to the battlefield of politics. If I had to guess, I'd say that he'd be out of the running in about a month.

But that didn't do much for me, I was still at a huge disadvantage when compared to the Sect Faction. They had a boatload more resources than me, which meant they could easily win a war of attrition, thankfully however, I was still beating them in firepower. Quis had somehow managed to steal all of their manpower, and now they were weakened considerably. But once The Resistance's shine dulled and it fell, they would all return to where they came.

Soon enough, I'd find myself alone, against a united sect that no longer needed me... What could I do to prevent that? 

'Should I just take what I have now and leave? I guess that I could stay and hope to the Wood Sovereign that something lucky happens... But I shouldn't. My luck has never been good, so I can't rely on something like that. What can I do that will guarantee my survival?-'

Knock, knock, knock.

My attention was diverted to the sound of knocking, so I turned around and walked to the door before opening it. However, what I saw surprised me more than I could have thought just opening a door would, "Hello Sect Leader, I would like an audience with you." He was the same person that I saw on the big screen alright. The same man who wore that same cracked smile with the same white hair, the same white robe, and the same ocean eyes. It was the leader of The Resistance: Quis Quiliae.

I moved out of the way of the door and said, "Come right in." I wasn't exactly sure why he was here, but I was sure interested.

I didn't have any real furniture, so I sat down at my desk and he took the only other seat in the room, the one on the opposite side of the desk. I put my hand up in confusion and asked him, "Why has the leader of The Resistance sought me out?"

He, with a confidence I never could have expected from a person his age, said to me, "I wish to form an alliance with you."

End of Part Two: An Unlikely Ally