50 Red & White Emperors
(EXTRA chapter, next week 3 chapters)
After arriving at the Airfield which is part of the barracks, the Inventor took his guests to the maglev station and proceeded to board it.
His guests curiously looked around, but the pair did take their seats this time around.
"I thought that the three factions were already negotiating peace," Marcus commented on what he heard from Serafall some time ago.
Wasn't his mission to obtain the cups from Vampires cause them to get all skittish and start working on that peace?
"We are and we are not," Azazel said with a sigh.
"Devils, us and angels want peace. But we all have elements from the past. I have some Cadres who don't want peace, Devils have their old Satan faction who want to fight, their King faction is full of bureaucrats, and angels are a cautious bunch.
Your presence made them feel pressure to start wishing for peace above everything else."
"I see…sounds bothersome."
"You don't even know half of it." The Governor-General sighed even more as he leaned into the seat.
"These are comfortable!" The Fallen Angel commented on the seats before returning to the mission ahead.
"As I was saying. You have an enormous pull on Serafall, you know…being her boyfriend and all that. You could ask her to push through and put peace to a vote once and for all."
Marcus nodded as he had a pondering look.
"And I will get those Vritra gear you have?"
"Yes."
Hearing such an instantaneous reply made the inventor pull out his phone.
"Very well. My message to Serafall will be very simple. Azazel wants peace. But other factions don't agree. So I will ally with him to put some pressure on Devils and Angels. I am sure when my soldiers walk on Underworld soil they will think of peace as only the solution."
Azazel's eyes widened to a large degree when he heard that!
This kid is hardcore!
While Vali grinned when he heard that! This guy is his kind of guy!
"H-Hold it! There is no need to go overboard like this!"
"This is not going overboard. It's a slap of realisation when someone can't decide whether to slap him or her to get a grip. This is just that, a slap."
Azazel slowly nodded to the explanation.
The moment Marcus sent the message his phone started to buzz…
The teen put his phone on the loudspeaker.
"Marcus what do you mean you ally yourself with Azazel!? You can't do that!!!"
"I can and I will. Tell your old coats to draw a peace plan ASAP. Otherwise, I will build an outpost in the Underworld and feed Fallen Angels with limitless resources."
"Gah! You are the worst! You can't just throw around your weight in politics like that!"
"Just do what your boyfriend says. Otherwise, there won't be any cuddling for a couple of months."
"..."
"...Aghhhh!!! Satans damn it all!!!"
Just like that, she hung up her phone.
"There you have it." Marcus pocketed his phone and looked at the baffled Fallen Angel.
"...impressive. I will be waiting for a response. Once Fallen and Devil Kind strike a peace, Angels will follow."
The Governor-General was certain of that. Angels have the lowest numbers of all three factions. They wouldn't want to face the other two.
One could say he is satisfied with this development. Finally, after so many years they are moving somewhere.
"I will be waiting for those Vritra Sacred Gears."
"No need. I have them with me."
Azazel pulled out a neat-looking box and opened it. There were three orbs inside of it.
"I have three out of four Vritra gears. The last one had eluded me for a while, but my sources say that Sona Sitri Peerage has the last one."
"Hmm, indeed, I have the data from that gear, and I could remake it. With this Vritra will be complete and I will have a full-fledged Dragon King." Marcus commented as he looked at the orbs.
This is just perfect. He has Ddraig and Vritra now.
'Oh, I have the Cups… I could get all the Evil Dragons...ehehehe…'
The inventor started to get all giddy! His collection of artefacts is coming together just nicely!
"You mean to say you would bring Vritra back to life?"
"Hmm, no, not in that way. I could keep him in a gear. But still would have use for it. I suppose one of my officers could have it. After all, Vritra is a powerful Dragon King with an array of unique powers."
"...Oh I see…"
'He would make one of his puppets wield Vritra gear. Making it loyal to him. It's terrifying how he could make all of the gears he collected useful to him.
And if he could replicate them… that would be even more horrifying.
It's a good thing I don't want to pick a fight with him.'
Azazel nervously thought that to himself as he looked at Vali sitting next to him.
'I guess it's time to become friends.'
"There is another thing which I would like to talk about."
"Hmm? I suppose it's related to the person next to you?" Marcus motioned towards the guy next to the Fallen.
"Indeed. Allow me to introduce you to Vali Lucifer, the great-grandson of the original Lucifer.
He is the current generation White Dragon Emperor."
The inventor had the look of realisation.
"I see. That's quite a combination. I assume you want me to check his Sacred Gear?"
"Indeed, you can say this is an offering of friendship. Vali wouldn't mind fighting the Red Dragon Emperor you have stashed in your vault. Such data would be invaluable."
Azazel smoothly mentioned that. Vali grinned when he heard about the possible fight.
"Hahaha, you truly know how to make someone tick! Indeed! I will agree if I can have a full scan of Sacred Gear and a piece of Vali's hair."
"...My Hair?" Vali blinked for a bit, before casually pulling a strand out and handing it over to Marcus.
Artemis and Atalanta who saw this had a pale look. This guy is clueless, isn't he?
Giving a hair to a scientist like him! Even Azazel had a look of shock as he knew what this meant!
He was even about to negotiate something else, but the strand was already engulfed in purple energy and floated over to Marcus' side.
The inventor swiftly stored the hair away.
This was perfect for him! A proper hybrid! Between Lucifer and a human! Another piece of the puzzle with the name 'life'.
"Many thanks. I will make sure I will use it properly and to the full extent."
Azazel and the other two maids stiffly nodded. While Vali simply shrugged at him.
"Sure, whatever. So when can we fight?" The current generation White Dragon Emperor didn't think much about this at all.
His goal is simple, and that is to fight the Red Dragon Emperor.
"After the scans are done. So, I would say…less than 30 minutes from now?"
"Fantastic!"
Marcus simply smiled seeing how easy it is to sway this guy. There is no doubt that he wouldn't mind becoming his test subject.
While Azazel could only sigh. It appears the inventor in front of him realised how easy it is to sway Vali if he has a chance to fight a powerful opponent.
~~~
The maglev arrived at Marcus' home, and the inventor led them through the corridors and arrived at an elevator.
"This will take us to my workshop."
"We are underground, aren't we? I suppose we are going even deeper?" Azazel quickly noticed that there were no windows, only fish swimming above them.
"Yes. Ground is the best place to build, no one even realises that. People could easily build buildings, even cities above us and no one even realised that there was a supernatural faction right under their feet." Marcus explained with a small smirk.
"...That's an interesting way to put it."
The inventor nodded before the lift doors opened in front of them.
The trio entered it. Before the doors closed he pulled Atalanta into his hands.
While the other girls pouted at him.
"The rest of you can go back to your duties. My lioness is more than enough to keep the company."
The maids sighed in resignation, they nodded and returned to their jobs.
Once it was clear Marcus called his A.I.
"Aurora takes us to the workshop floor."
[Certainly sir.]
"...An A.I. That explains a lot of things."
This single clue was enough for Azazel to uncover a lot of things.
"Oh? Do tell. I had Athena here for a while. She was still struggling with certain things."
"...I have no doubt. Athena is old school. Unlike her, I have been tinkering with modern technology as well." The Governor-General explained with crossed arms, but then his eyes widened to a large degree as he realised something!
"But this…it explains your mastery over Sacred Gears. I never considered the fact that they could be ancient computers. My old man was a being beyond his age. Imagine having computers more than 4000 years ago." The Leader of the Fallen Angels said with realisation!
Just by visiting Marcus Goldman, he experienced a breakthrough in his Sacred Gear research!
"Indeed, you are correct." The inventor smirked at the Fallen.
"You will see that first hand."
He said that the lift stopped at the Workshop floor and the group entered the restroom, passed it and entered the wide workshop.
What greeted them was Jupiter and all of its moons lazily spinning around.
"...Impressive. Holograms?"
"Yep. It's a technology I call Realitus, a form of hard light holograms which can hurt. Even kill, if utilised properly. It's shards of small glass mixed with magic. It can interfere with humanoid beings' perception of what they see or smell, the same with a feeling of touch. It can replicate human body heat.
It's a technology I am still developing and researching."
"Fascinating."
Before Azazel could comment more Vali took a step forward.
"This means you could face any opponent you want. Depending on the amount of energy it's given?"
"Correct. This is who you will be facing."
With hand motion, a menu appeared and Marcus went through a couple of settings.
Moments later polygons gathered and a red armoured being was standing next to the inventor.
"...Red Dragon Emperor."
"Precisely. I have fully scanned Booster Gear. This model here knows all about Boost and Balance Breaker. You can use several different difficulties depending on what you want."
The more White Dragon Emperor heard about this the bigger his smile was.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
His 'enthusiasm' made Azazel shake his head. Atalanta just looked at the silver-haired teen with a deadpan look. This guy was feeding from her Master's hand like a big boy.
"Sure. Aurora I need a Sacred Gear scanner set, if you would."
[One moment.]
The floor opened up in front of them and a pedestal with several cables came out.
"Summon your gear."
With a burst of white light Divine Dividing popped out from Vali's back.
Marcus proceeded to put the readers on his wings, on the part where energy is being held together.
"Don't resist the energy. It will wash you over. This will take a moment."
"Right." The White Dragon Emperor nodded as he looked at the Red Armoured being standing not far from them. It had his arms crossed and was waiting for things to happen.
This only made Lucifer's grin get bigger and bigger.
"Aurora, you can proceed."
[Starting gear scanning.]
A floating window screen appeared in front of Marcus and Azazel, the pair were looking at this.
The Governor-General was particularly interested in this.
The percentage started to grow rapidly. Honestly, the Fallen Angel thought it would take longer than just a few moments! This was a Gear made from Albion! One of Two Heavenly Dragon Emperors!
"And done. The scan is complete."
Marcus proceeded to check the data.
"Well?"
"It has the same issues as others I have acquired. The cache storage is full. This causes errors in the system. The reason why it has a Balance Breaker and other forms…
Curious… it appears you have achieved Juggernaut Drive."
Vali for a second was surprised. He hasn't told anyone except Azazel that he can use Juggernaut Drive!
"Yeah? I can achieve it in a couple of minutes tops. Before negative emotions overwhelm me." The Lucifer explained to the inventor.
"...Fascinating. We could use that."
"Use what?"
"The Juggernaut Drive. I will clean the cache and adjust your Divine Dividing. I will add the Balance Breaker as a natural evolution of the gear. THEN you will spar with the red one. We will gather the data, cross-reference it with the data I have acquired and THEN add Juggernaut Drive.
Meaning that you will have TWO natural forms. What do you think?"
Marcus looked at Vali when he said that.
"That's a deal. I have no idea what you said. But If this allows me to have Juggernaut Drive under full control? I am in!"
"Fantastic. Let's get this going then."
~~~
"First we erase all the cache. Then run the maintenance." With a swipe of his fingers, Marcus proceeded to fix the gear.
Azazel looked at this from the side. There was a perplexed look on his face.
He might have overlooked the fact that he just unleashed something horrifying on the world.
Bringing Vali might have been a mistake. But he needed to make sure Divine Dividing went through this maintenance.
The moment he heard about maintenance on Sacred Gears the moment he realised that it was the truth. The Juggernaut Drive was proof of how bad they can end up.
The Governor-General might have done this himself but he had no idea where to start.
But now… he realised that Marcus Goldman didn't just know how to make gears… he even knew how everything was run.
'As if he knows how Heaven's system even works… it's like he truly is an old man's reincarnation…or… OR…'
The Fallen Angel's eyes widened as he turned stiff and then paled. He slowly undid his crossed arms.
'Or he is the reincarnation of Solomon!'
In his mind, he started swiftly connecting dots. How submissive is Serafall, how he summoned her years ago!
All of that falling into place!
His means of understanding the gears, his power over devils, his supremacy over energies.
'By my old man… this is utterly terrifying… if devil kind figures this out… there will be a civil war… paranoia will be all-time high!
But for him to operate in the open like this and for everyone not to realise what is going on… this is just…'
Azazel realised that it was too late. Solomon has created a faction and no one even knows how to stop him.
And this time around. The reincarnator won't die from old age.
With tech like this… he will be a being similar if not superior to Gods…
And he helped him with that! He brought Vali! The moment the reincarnation of Solomon figures out Juggernaut Drive…all of his gears will have something similar!
'I will just pretend I have no idea what is going on…'
Azazel thought to himself as he cleaned off his sweaty forehead.
'Yep, it will be for the best.'
For now, he watched how Marcus proceeded to adjust the very gear from the very core! Adding new lines with the runes of several pantheons.
This was extreme, to say the least. Some gods don't even know all the runes from their pantheons. But this guy is utilising several!
If this is the case then at the very core of Sacred Gears were created from the art of multiple pantheons. Which makes sense since they have artefacts or souls stored from different backgrounds.
'Yeah…I need to write that down…I guess, I should start with Nordic and Gaelic first…then expand…'
The leader of the Fallen proceeded to continue observing and learning while Vali's back glowed white for a second.
"Ugh…what a strange shiver…" Albion spoke through the wings.
"The adjustments are done." Marcus dismissed the window as he proceeded to walk over to Vali.
Once he removed the cables the White Dragon Emperor was free to move.
"... Let's see."
"Balance Breaker! Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail!"
With a burst of white Vali was fully armoured.
"...Impressive…before this it was like a switch but now it's extremely smooth. Feels natural." The armoured Lucifer explained as he looked at his hand.
"Good. Now let's proceed to the next step." Marcus looked at the side where the doors opened.
Vali and the rest looked at the doors.
"With pleasure." The White Dragon Emperor said with an excited tone. He was waiting for this!
The group proceeded to walk there.
When Vali and Azazel saw what was in the room they looked baffled. It was an empty white room!
"Let me explain this as simply as possible. Red's power can change according to what you want. I will set it up from one to ten.
Think of this like it's a game with increasing difficulty.
At level ten red's power will be at Ddraig's 100%. So be careful."
"Are you sure? This place can handle this?"
Albion spoke through the wings.
"I tested the durability of this place by blowing up the Moon in a fight against Superman."
"..."
"..."
"You can do that here?" Vali asked after getting over the idea of blowing up a moon.
"Once you get tired of fighting Red, I can arrange some fights with some exotic beings," Marcus smirked while hinting at something much more interesting than boring an old rivalry between White and Red.
"...Damn… sure! This place is cool!"
The White Dragon Emperor started to get very excited.
'What irony this is…'
Azazel realised how absurd this situation was. Once again Solomon's incarnation is having a Lucifer eating from his hand.
"Great. So we are leaving you here to fight, Red Emperor while we will be watching from the workshop."
"Fine."
~~~
Vali pumped himself as he watched how that awesome researcher left with Azazel and that catgirl.
Honestly, he never thought this boring trip could turn into something as exciting as this!
[Whenever you are ready. Just say 'Aurora, Start Simulation'.] Marcus' voice spread through the room.
"Aurora, Start Simulation."
[Beginning Simulation]
[Activating Hard Light Projection]
[Dispersing Realitus Particles]
[Light Prism Online]
[Activating Adaptive Ventilation]
[Simulation Online]
Vali looked around as he saw how reality in front of his eyes started to shift. The white room shimmered out of existence and was replaced by the city…
A Metropolitan city.
'New York?'
That was his first thought after he saw so many skyscrapers. But then he saw people shimmer into existence around him. Many of them were busy walking back and forth. Many of them started to point fingers at him, as he was clad in his white armour.
[We will be going with New York, I want to see how much damage you can cause. Such a city is the best way to scale your destructive power.
Now for Red's power, as I said before it goes from 1 to 10, each stage represents a percentage of Ddraig's power. So if you pick 3 it means Armour has 30% of his strength.
If you want to change just ask Aurora.]
After Marcus said that, Booster Gear Balance Break armour proceeded to move around as if prowling and getting ready for battle.
People who saw this started to take some distance as they could sense the atmosphere between these two armoured people.
"Vali don't mind them, they are not real. That inventor wants to see how you will react."
Albion said to his host.
"I know!"
The young Lucifer expanded his wings which hummed with power. Then he kicked out, shattering asphalt under his feet and proceeded to lunge into Red Dragon Emperor Scale Mail.
White armour fist collided with a red fist.
[DIVIDE]
[BOOST]
The exchange was short as Vali swiftly overpowered the armour.
"This is not good! Aurora set his power at level 4!" The White Dragon Emperor exclaimed as he sensed how weak was that armour.
[Very well]
"Wait! That's nearly half his power!"
Sure enough red aura erupted from the Ddraig's scale mail.
The Red Being blasted into Vali who tried to block the incoming punch. But ended up being pushed into a skyscraper.
The glass shattered into thousands of pieces as people started to scream.
Ddraig's scale mail blasted Vali through the office floor, going through tables, computers, bookshelves and other things, eventually slamming into concrete support pillars.
"Yeah! That's more like it!"
[DIVIDE]
[DIVIDE]
[DIVIDE]
The red aura shrunk considerably, but it quickly recovered as the Red Dragon Emperor used its signature ability.
[BOOST]
[BOOST]
[BOOST]
Then its green eyes glowed as its other fist went into Vali's gut.
[PIERCE!]
The teen Lucifer coughed blood as his armour shattered into thousands of pieces.
*Cough*
'What the hell was that!?'
For a second his vision started to get dark. He nearly passed out. But, he swiftly snapped out from pain as he was smacked into the side and was sent flying from the office and right into one of New York's streets.
The red Scale Mail followed after as it with a spin delivered a kick and slammed Vali into asphalt. Shattering the remaining armour into pieces.
[Is that all you can do? White?] Ddraig-like voice said from the armour.
"Not in the least… I still have a trick under my sleeve."
Vali slowly stood up as he cleaned off the blood from his lips.
'Damn… this place truly rocks! I need one of these installed in Azazel's place!'
Even though he knows he could potentially die…he doesn't care! Such realism is utterly amazing! And he needs one as well!
"Watch and learn! I am the one who is about to awaken!"
"I am the one who is about to awaken!" Albion repeated the same line which caused Vanishing Dragon's Scale Mail to fix itself.
~~~~~~Workshop~~~~~~
"Albion is repeating his words?" Marcus mumbled to himself as he started to stroke his chin. He was wondering why.
"... Synchronisation?" Atalanta replied with a wondering voice.
"Some wild beasts do similar actions. Mostly wolves when they circle their prey."
The inventor's eyes widened as he finally realised.
"Resonance!!!"
He exclaimed loudly as he swiftly got up on his feet. He used his psionic energy to make sure Atalanta didn't fly off.
The Lioness huntress was shocked the most as she closed her eyes and thought that she would land face-first on the diamond floor.
But the psionic aura saved her and pulled back into the seat.
"Resonance? What do you mean by that?" Azazel, who was sitting on a comfortable couch and drinking beer while looking at the battle, asked with a piqued curiosity.
"It's like Tesla said many years ago! Everything has a frequency!
At this moment Albion balanced out his power to Vali's level and then proceeded to synchronise himself with him!
Draconic energy, mental state, overlap voice, he does that to the point that their power signature becomes the same!
This causes Sacred Gear, which was already in a bad state, to get confuse who is who… the gear after all works like a dam which keeps Heavenly Dragon's energy in check. But what if the gear doesn't know which side it should dam?
It confuses, which causes it to stop the dam process altogether!" Marcus explained with an excited voice as he proceeded to run tests, and simulations and observe what was happening inside the testing room.
"...You might be up to something… but if it's true… then the Juggernaut Drive transformation Vali is about to do will fail."
"Indeed. The gear's failsafe is running at its peak condition."
As the inventor confirmed what Azazel said it happened right on cue.
The white burst which was supposed to happen didn't happen. In truth, the scale mail got dismissed and Vali was without any gear at this moment.
"...Damn…" The Governor-General was spooked by how right Marcus was! It happened right in front of his eyes!
"Aurora, terminate the simulation. I got what I wanted."
[As you wish.]
The simulated New York shattered like a piece of glass. It only made Vali more confused. As he realised that he was in a simulation all along! It was so real that he forgot that for a moment!
"Can someone tell me what is going on?" The teen Lucifer exclaimed loudly as he looked around.
[The doors opened come over here.]
The White Dragon Emperor nodded as he proceeded to walk over.
~~~
"Thanks to you, now I know how Juggernaut Drive works." Marcus started to talk first as he looked at the data in front of him.
"Yeah? But it failed." Vali said with a frown.
"Of course it did. You couldn't access it anymore. Only Balance Breaker worked. I didn't include Juggernaut Drive because of corrupted files.
It always baffled me. But now you showed me how it works." The Inventor clarified some more with an obvious voice.
"...I did? But it failed… I couldn't even perform it." The White Dragon Emperor frowned some more.
"It's the method, not the transformation itself, Vali," Azazel said from the side as he was looking at the data as well.
Honestly, on this trip alone he learned more than he did in the past 500 years researching on his own.
Ancient computers, and Juggernaut Drive… These two things will allow him to have a breakthrough in Sacred Gear on his own!
Maybe if he sticks around some more Marcus will explain to him how he interpreted Balance Breaker as well! That would be just grand!
"Method?"
"The resonance you have with Albion, bypassing the security of Sacred Gear to tap into full power."
Vali blinked a couple of times before thinking for a moment.
"...I guess it just clicks?"
"I see. Since Albion is attached to you at the soul level it happens naturally." The second coming of Solomon said with a thoughtful look.
"Anyway, I am going to add this sequence to the gear. Come over."
The White Dragon Emperor nodded as he walked over and once again Marcus proceeded to attach cables to the Divine Dividing.
The moment he was connected he swiftly checked over the logs.
A small smile appeared on his lips as he saw the log which was recorded over the failsafe.
For a second the Sacred Gear felt that there were two Albions, this forced an emergency shutdown as it was logged as a critical error.
"Just as I suspected, look." Marcus pointed at the screen, and Azazel nodded as well as he saw this on the screen he was still learning the language used to code these gears.
He barely understands several letters. So…one could say he is playing along!
"Yes, it appears so."
The Inventor smirked as he proceeded to remove the log and started to add another sequence to the gear. Just like with Balance Breaker, this sequence only goes to work when resonance is reached, and instead of turning off Vali will be able to access all of Albion's power.
"Just to keep this clear. You may die if you are to use this power. Having limiters removed you will be exposed to 100% of Albion's power."
"That's the point of Juggernaut Drive." Vali rolled his eyes when he said that.
"Technically it's less than that. The gear only holds a portion of Albion's soul." Azazel commented from the side.
"Old man was only able to store some of it. The rest was destroyed through the fight. The pair of Dragon's entered an Outrage. There were not that many means to stop them."
"Does it mean you have been there?"
"But of course. It's an experience I don't want to relive." The Fallen leader said with a somewhat pale look. He recalled something from that time.
"Ha! That's because we were kicking your butts! That's what happens when you intervene in our fights!" Albion spoke through the wings.
"...Indeed. You had. But I am alive and you are a piece of Artefact created by my old man."
"..."
The group except for Azazel grimaced when they heard the burn.
"...Right, I am almost done."
Marcus changed the theme of the conversation, as he was done with sequences. He copied and pasted all that into his database.
Aurora proceeded to run its simulations and run diagnostics on gears it had scanned. In other words, the A.I. already had legitimate 100% copies of these two gears.
It has already started to experiment on other gears which don't have beasts inside of them. But, it was revealed to be a useless endeavour.
Juggernaut Drive soon enough was classified as a dragon-only technique, maybe if they are to find another beast and seal it away they might get something similar. But for now. This only works on Ddraig and Albion gears.
"Done. You can retrain in the testing room."
"Alright."
~~~
With a burst of white, Vali's Juggernaut Drive made his armour look bulkier and much more wild. That 100% release of power has to flow somewhere. So it naturally has altered the armour.
However, this time around the White Dragon Emperor proceeded to waste Ddraig's Scale Mail which was at 40%.
After sending the red armour flying into a skyscraper, Vali was feeling bored.
"...Aurora. If I am to change it to stage 10 will Red's scale mail turn into Juggernaut Drive?"
[With new data we received from you, it's possible, but this is not tested out properly, yet.]
Vali grinned behind the helmet.
"Then let's do it! I will be the test subject for this!"
[Very well. Switching to the difficulty level 10, setting to 100% Ddraig's output.]
Half of the simulated city got illuminated red colour as Welsh Dragon Scale Mail started to change.
"This is just perfect!"
Vali exclaimed happily as he watched the transformation! He can't wait for a real fight! At their maximum capacity! They finally decided once and for all who is the strongest!
~~~
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