56 Chapter - 56

Vali crashed into the ground, chunks of soil and rock filling the air as one of the seewahs landed on his armoured stomach with a double heel strike. Divine Dividing broke a little bit more, white plates cracking beneath the force.

Bright beams of multicolored light impacted the triumphant dusky skinned woman, peeling burning furrows along the skin of her arms and back. The seewah snarled, ochre eyes feral and midnight hair flowing as she lit up her fingers in preparation for a spell.

The moment of distraction cost the cihuateotl, letting Vali reach up with a hand to dig the claws of his Sacred Gear into her thigh. Muscle gave way as the half-devil rent right through her flesh, bringing the screaming woman toppling down on top of him. His other hand came up as she stumbled, peeling right through the enchanted green leather covering her chest.

"Get it together!" Vali roared at his fellow soldiers. A sudden rumble was his answer, the familiar smell of crystallized wyvern's blood being burnt for magical energy filling the air.

Another heartbeat passed, sheer panic flooding the face of his assailant as she scrambled to get out of the way.

Then the entire upper half of the seewah's body was gone, vaporized as she was struck point blank with a shot from one of their conjuration cannons. The lower half of her body dropped down on Vali, innards burnt to a stinking crisp. Vali grimaced in disgust and shoved the corpse away.

Pulling his battered body out of the hole he'd created while being beaten down, Vali turned exhausted eyes over the battlefield. He hadn't slept in three fucking days, and hadn't eaten in half that time. There wasn't any time to do anything but fight and fight and fight.

If the Grigori was full of decent warriors Vali could afford to take some time off. But there were only a handful of combatants that were strong enough to beat the Mictlanese in a fight without being too strong. Most of the living fallen angels were either too weak or they were those who'd survived the Great War and become ultimate class fighters.

Part of him wanted to say fuck it, and let the most powerful warriors take the field. If half of Gehenna was turned to glass, it was what it was. They might even be lucky enough to press back through the gate to Mictlan and wreck things over there instead.

The rest of him accepted that he was being just a little sour about it. Escalation might be inevitable, but no one wanted it to happen on or near their territory simply because of how world destroying it was. Given the choice between an extinction level event and having to skip sleep for a few days, Vali had to pick the latter.

It would be nice if the devils got their heads out of their asses though. Their two armies had formed an encirclement around the entire Limbo Strip, but they weren't integrated. It was a weakness in the chain of command that was going to bite them all in the asses one day.

Plus, what the hell was with the whole 'no women and purebloods on the lines' thing? The Diabolical Senate hadn't even started conscripting reincarnated devils and commoners yet. Their entire army was being run on a volunteer basis. If they wouldn't send out their strongest pureblood fighters, they had to at least begin conscript the commoners; holding the lines would rely on lot of bodies.

The sound of spellfire and enchanted mortars died off as the Mictlanese sounded their retreat.

Watching as the cloud of bats that had blotted out Gehenna's moon to cover the Mictlan advance peeled back, Vali dismissed his Sacred Gear and ran a hand over the silver-blond stubble of several days. "God damn."

"Captain Vali!"

"I've told you a million times, you don't need to bother with the formalities." The half devil reminded the bearded fallen angel who'd skidded to a stop in front of him to offer a salute. "What do you want?"

"Half our men are out and wounded, sir. What are your orders?"

"Fuck off with your sir." Vali grunted, pinching at his nose and shutting the tired grit of his eyes. "Call back to the reserve trench for extra hands to transport the wounded. Now that the assault's over we're pulling back to the support trench. Keep a handful of eyes up here to see if the Mictlans come back on over."

"What about the dead?"

"Do you even have to ask? Get them moved to the rear lines and leave orders to have them cremated. We're not leaving them lying around here for the seewahs to come play with or germinate some superdisease for us all."

"Right away, sir."

"And I'm not your sir." Vali complained halfheartedly to the corporal's back as the fallen angel turned and rushed away. "I'm not getting paid enough for this shit. In fact, I'm not even getting paid at all. Where's the union when you need it?"

Sweeping the matted unwashed strands of his silver hair out of his face, Vali crept up to the bank of the trench and peered over the lip of soil across no man's land. Call him paranoid, but something just wasn't sitting right in his gut.

The Mictlanese had been planning the invasion for months. They'd done all the necessarily scouting. They'd identified the ideal places for sabotage and crippled several of their smaller industrial centers. They'd been waging a shadow war via the bonespiders and culling the commoner population.

Even taking and fortifying the Limbo Strip was a stroke of pure genius. There were a few much smaller and much less convenient ways in and out of Gehenna, but the vast majority of the easy ways to travel to and from Hell passed through the barren streak at the southern pole of Sheol. It gave them a foothold the size of a small country and prevented any army they didn't permit from travelling into or out of the realm.

Until now, everything had been done with cold cunning and forethought. So why were the gods of Mictlan suddenly doubling down for a grueling and costly war of attrition? Maybe he was just too paranoid after a month on the front line, but it didn't feel right.

Sudden pain shocked through Vali's next, making the White Dragon Emperor reflexively slap his palm against the skin on his nape. The sting cut off, and with a tired glare Vali brought his hand away. Smeared across the surface of his palm was a thick clear liquid, mingled in with tiny legs and swollen body.

Spiders.

"Pull back to the support trench! Get out now!" Vali shouted, words already beginning to slur off his too thick tongue. "It waz a wuze!" he mumbled as the world went dark.

*

"How about you fuck right off, Sairaorg?" Naruto growled, clenching his fists at his side. "You're not my fucking father. You invited me into this, so pick up your god damn balls and get with the program."

Folding his arms over his chest, the Bael heir narrowed violet eyes and stood his ground. "No means no. I understand that you want to help, but the last time we went out you ended up in a mess. Look, just sit this one out."

Sairaorg's voice dropped to a more conciliatory tone. "Take some time to really get your head in the game. The next time we're going out for a raid, I know you'll be fighting fit. So just take a break, okay?"

"No, not okay!"

Ravel watched the argument between the two nobles build up steam and wondered if she should have bothered picking out another possible target when Sairaorg asked. If the end result was going to be a grudge match in the Gremory family's library, it probably wasn't worth it in the end anyway.

A week had passed since the last assault on the Aztec gods' human believers, and Naruto was better than he'd been, but Ravel had to silently agree with Sairaorg. There was still a certain reckless brittle shine in her fiancé's eyes, and some more time to come to terms would definitely help the redhead.

Ping.

The auditory spell that popped up next to Kuisha's ear was almost drowned out by the rising shouts of the two cousins, but it was loud enough to make Ravel shift her focus to the leggy blonde.

Most of Sairaorg's peerage tended to stay out of the way unless they were strictly needed, but the Abaddon woman stuck to her King's side like an extra limb. The Bael heir responded to her affection much more subtly, doing nothing more than letting his hand linger on Kuisha's back a little too long or giving the woman a soulful stare when he thought no one was looking.

It made Ravel a little bit jealous that she didn't have something like that yet.

Kuisha's face shifted from detached to disbelieving, and then settled on utterly horrified. Trouble in paradise? Ravel couldn't help but wonder a little maliciously what sort of news would make the ponytailed blonde look so worried.

Unless somehow they'd all been caught.

Suddenly, the Bishop began to fret herself.

"Sairaorg?" Kuisha began a little meekly, her soft voice easily smothered by the back and forth yelling between the Bael heir and the Gremory heir. "Sairaorg." The Queen tried again, failing to cut through the machismo. "Sairaorg!"

The high-pitched screech of the Queen cut through the rowdy argument like a knife, shocking both young men to silence.

"What is it, Kuisha?" Sairaorg instantly wheeled about to give all his attention to the mixed blooded girl. The aggression totally drained out of his body and voice, leaving only focused softness. Behind the dark-haired devil Naruto subsided into irritated silence.

It was a bit fascinating to watch, Ravel decided.

Wringing her hands, Kuisha bit her lip nervously. "I don't think you're going to be going anywhere today, so fighting about it is kind of pointless."

"And why, exactly-" Sairaorg began slowly, filling each word with building strength. "Would I not be going to the human world today?"

The cloud of suspicion laid heavy on three of the devils in the room, all of them waiting eagerly on the beautiful woman's answer.

"Because Coriana just called and told me that the fallen angel line has collapsed. There was some kind of sabotage that hit the whole front at once, and the Grigori are pulling back to Shamond."

Naruto drew his hands to his temples, massaging the sudden ache of stress that had bloomed there. "Fuck," he grunted succulently, giving voice to the common thought that rocketing through their brains.

When the Great War had raged on, the Limbo Strip had served as a demarcation between the fallen angels and devils. Since it was the only simple way in and out of their contested realm, the 72 Pillars and the Grigori had grudgingly agreed to designate it as neutral territory. Each species had a single city built near the edge of the strip to process any immigrants to the realm or emigrants from it.

The devils had built Trand and turned the settlement into a bustling trade city. The Grigori, true to their origin as a military institution, had preferred to build Shamond as a bare-bones forward outpost.

However, Shamond hadn't stayed a military outpost, spreading out into a haphazard chaotic metropolis as various outcasts from different species settled there.

The end result was a ridiculously indefensible city, filled with half a million souls that had little desire to listen to a strong central government like the ones they'd fled from. In times of prosperity it was a libertarian's wet dream, and in times of war it was a death trap. There were no common procedures to evacuate Shamond, no central figure all the people would obey unflinchingly.

If not for the fact that it was the only city near to that side of the Limbo Strip, Naruto doubted the Grigori would have ever taken the risk of making the fucking kill box their main point of supply.

"I think..." Kuisha began, taking a steady breath before clenching her jaw. "I think it's going to be pretty bad. "

Slamming fist so hard into one of the wooden tables that the thing collapsed, Sairaorg shook his head before focusing on his Queen with fire lighting his purple orbs. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Get over here, and let's go."

"The legality-"

"Fuck the legality!" Naruto barked, stepping up to grab his cousin's belt in a death grip. Ignoring the annoyed glare Sairaorg sent down at him, the redhead grinned with resolve. "The Senate banned us from being deployed. They didn't ban us from visiting a free city and just 'happening' to be there when something goes on."

Huffing a laugh at Naruto's ballsy determination, Sairaorg gave up on keeping him out of the fight. Maybe going after some real enemies might even straighten the kid out. Who knew? "Let's get a move on then."

Naruto watched the taller devil wrap his arm around Kuisha's thin shoulders before turning to Ravel. Struggling with the outward hypocrisy of his decision – because inwardly he was more than thirty years old – Naruto slowly shook his head at his Bishop in denial. It was one thing to take her along to what was basically disaster relief. It was another to take her to the open battlefield.

"Stay here."

"I don't think so!" the blonde girl grit out as she shot to her feet and rushed across the room.

"Sorry." Naruto apologized as his body began to break down in motes of light. "But I need to know you're going to be safe." Then they were gone in a whirl of runes and teleportation magic.

"Fucking asshole!" Ravel shrieked, picking up a book and throwing it through the library window.