Chapter 25: The Confrontation

Ark One: Fate of Eostia Part Five

(Third Person POV)

"You wanted to talk to me?" Crow asked Vult while eyeing the former subordinates of the Dark Queen.

The leader of the Black Dogs nodded. "Yeah, it's a matter that can't be delayed much longer."

"I see," the teen said slowly. "Well, before we talk about that, wanna enlighten me on why they're here?" he gestured toward the group of orcs and male dark elves. 

Vult smirked. "Sure, they and a good portion of Olga's forces serve under me now."

"Is that right?" The teen's tone was filled with amusement, but internally, he was enraged that they betrayed their queen all so that they could get their fucking dicks wet. "How did you manage to get them under your command?" he asked, feigning curiosity. 

"Made them a deal they couldn't refuse," he said proudly, making the teen mentally roll his eyes at the misogynist. 

"Must have been one helluva deal. Imma go ahead and assume you have something similar for me?"

Vult chuckled. "You could say that. However, this is an offer only a man of your caliber can receive."

The Lunarian quirked an eyebrow in genuine curiosity. "Oh? And what is this offer?"

"Why, what else? Power."

The Lunarian hummed. "I do like power, but you're gonna have to be a lot more specific on what kinda power you're talking about, as there are multiple forms of it," he said in a snarky tone, making Vult laugh, and the Black Dogs looked at him in disapproval at how he talked to their leader.

"You're not wrong about that, so let me be more specific," he looked into the Lunarian's eyes. "What if there was a power most couldn't fathom having?"

Crow hummed. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested," he admitted.

Vult smirked. "So what if I were to tell you I could offer you power unlike anything you've seen before? A power so great that it would allow you to free yourself and loved ones from the shackles placed upon you and them. What if I told you all you had to do to receive this gift was to work with me and help destroy all who stood between me and my dreams?" he asked, in a theatrical and charamistic tone that made the Lunarian want to snap his neck.

Crow mentally groaned and wanted to shut the misogynistic the fuck up already as he wasn't interested in anything Vult had to offer as he knew what it was and didn't want anything to do with a demons. However, he had to stall for a little longer until his allies escaped and until Vult confessed his crimes. 

However, Crow will admit if he were a man of low value and even lower principal, he would've been enthralled by Vult's speech and closely listened to every word of it.

Unfortunately for the mercenary, his grant speech went into one ear and out the other, as Crow wasn't interested in his offer and would never allow himself to work with or under a lesser man like Vult.

The Lunarian hummed. "Hmmm, before I answer, what is your dream? It must be important to you if you're willing to have your enemies serve under you."

Vult looked at the Lunarian blankly before sighing. "My dream is quite simple, but yeah, it means more than anything to me, and I'll be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it...since the dawn of time, people like you and I have to struggle to earn a living, put our lives on the line while elitist cunts get to live luxurious lives and never have to worry about suffering the horrors people like us do. Doesn't that bother you?" he asked, looking at the Lunarian. 

Crow shrugged. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't bug me, but truth be told, I never minded it so long as I had something to back home to. However, thats just me, isn't it?" he gave Vult a knowing look. 

The man nodded and looked back out the window. "Yeah, that's just you....my men and I, including our services, will no longer be available to the elite. We have all that we need now that the Black Citadel and its resources belong to us. It's only fitting that it belongs, after all. We fought in the bloody fucking wars, not the Shield Kingdom. We ended the war, not them, and we took over the Black Citadel, not them. We fucking earned this. In fact, we deserve a lot more than this fort and its resources."

"You're planning to revolt against the Seven Shield Alliance," Crow stated in a matter-of-fact tone. 

Vult nodded. "Indeed, and with your help, we can destroy those fucking pricks permanently. Think about it, Crow. With them annihilated, everything will be ours, and no one will be able to stop us. All men will be able to take what they want and have any woman they want and fuck without having to worry about the consequences. Of course, you'll get your first pick of the women all to yourself because, after all, you're the man who helped make this possible. Ain't that right, men?!" Vult shouted, and his men cheered loudly for the Lunarian, who was mentally annoyed by the praise of lesser men. "Right here! Right now, I declare the beginning of the Kuroinu Sex Empire! A nation where all men get to live as kings and women serve all our desires! And it will begin with the Lunarian fucking the shit out of the Dark Queen and her little bitch! So what do you say, men? Will you join me in conquering Eostia?!!"

Everyone in the throne room besides Crow and Kushina was roaring Vults and Crow's name in delight. Many of the men were drooling and getting stiff as a board at the thought of getting to fuck any woman they wanted without no repercussions.

Some men were annoyed the Lunarian wouldn't share his women as they were some of the most beautiful women they'd have ever seen, but the sheer amount of fleshlights that would be available to them more than made up for that inconvenience. 

Crow had difficulty holding in his disgust and rage toward the Black Dogs. While he was in no way ignorant of how terrible the world could be, he had a hard time grasping the fact people could be this horrible and twisted.

The Lunarian knew he couldn't allow the Vult and his allies to live. They needed to be put down like the monsters they were, and they needed to be put down now.

If he could torture every single one of them, he would and would take absolute joy in it. Unfortunately, that would take too long to do, so he had to settle with burning them alive and tearing them bit by bit.

Crow made eye contact with Kushina and nodded, signaling for her to leave so she didn't meet the fate of everyone in the room. She stiffly nodded and made her way out of the throne room while no one was paying attention.

Once things died down, Vult looked at the Lunarian with a proud smile. "So what do you say, Crow? Join us, and I'll give you the power to regain your freedom," everyone in the throne room looked at the young Lunarian expectantly. 

The Lunarian looked at the moment Black mercenary blankly for a moment before he grinned wickedly.

"Well, if you put it like that--" Crow's eyes flashed a brighter shade of red. "No."

[DRACIONIC RETRIBUTION!!]

Everyone's eyes widened as massive bursts of flames erupted from the Lunarian, and all that could be heard were the screams of absolute agony of men deserving a painful death. 

(Meanwhile)

While the Lunarian was dealing with the Black Dogs and their allies, Mikasa, Olga, and Chole escaped from the Black Citadel without issue.

The trio were currently on horseback and were a mile away from the fortress, so they decided to move at a slower pace.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Olga asked Mikasa in a worried tone, making the Eldian scoff.

"Crow's a difficult man to kill. I should know," the ordinarily stoic girl said with an amused tone, remembering all the times she attempted to kill the Lunarian.

The dark elves looked at the Eldian in curiosity. "You've tried killing him?" Chole asked curiously.

Mikasa nodded. "The first time we met, I attempted to kill him, but he was defeated quicker than I expected," the stoic woman explained the rest of her story to the dark elves. 

"I'm surprised you two haven't fucked yet," Olga said bluntly with an amused tone. "Which is odd because from what I've seen, you two seemed quite close," she pointed out, making the Eldian smile sightly. 

Her smile quickly disappeared, and a sad expression appeared on her features.

"It's because I'm still hung up on someone else, and I don't want to use Crow as a rebound...that wouldn't be fair to him..."

Olga looked at the girl sympathetically. "If I may ask, was this other man your first love?"

Mikasa was quiet for a moment but eventually replied. "He was...however, we never got together...things were complicated...it would've never worked out."

Olga nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Mikasa smiled sadly. "I regret how things ended between us, but I don't regret having him in my life."

The dark queen smiled and was about to reply but stopped when she heard an explosion coming from the south of them.

The trio turned their heads and saw a massive amount of smoke in the sky. It didn't take a genius to figure out where it was coming from. 

"Looks like the Black Dogs are giving him a harder fight than we expected," Chole commented, frowning heavily.

The young dark elf may not show it, but she was inwardly worried about the Lunarian. He was the only man who didn't look at her or her queen like they were sexual objects, protected them from possibly being raped, and treated them fairly even though he didn't have to. The young dark elf may not like the opposite gender, but she could make an exception for Crow. 

"That could only mean one thing," Olga said lowly, quickly figuring out that Crow was no longer only dealing with mere mortals.

"We should pick the pace," Mikasa said, and the dark elves quickly agreed to her suggestion.

(Back with Crow a few minutes earlier)

The entire throne room was covered in flames, and the only thing Crow could hear was the screaming of scumbags. When the cries of agony died, the Lunarian absorbed his fire back into his body, and he wasn't so surprised to see that Vult and Kin survived his attack via the latter casting a force field at the last second.

The same couldn't be said about his men and allies, as they were all turned to ash or charred corpses.

Vult was pissed. No, he was absolutely fucking furious! How dare the Lunarian turn down his generous offer! Together, they could've been nearly unstoppable, had all the luxuries of a king, and all the women they wanted to fuck, but no, the Lunarian wanted to be a fucking righteous woman serving cunt! He was going to kill the fucker, and afterward destroy everything he ever loved! 

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Vult yelled in rage before charging at the teen with his sword raised. 

The experienced mercenary horizontally swung his massive sword toward the Lunarian's neck, but the teen effortlessly evaded his attack by ducking underneath his swing. Crow cocked his arm back and landed a devastating blow to Vults abdomen. His attack sent the mercenary crashing into the dark queen's throne. 

"If Olga and Chole together couldn't beat me, what makes you think you could?" Crow asked with an amused and mocking tone.

"Wasn't trying to beat you," Vult grinned at the teen. "I was just a distraction," he chuckled before grunting in pain. 

The teen's eyes widen as his Observation-Haki went wild. He pulled his swords out, turned around, and blocked an attack from an opponent he didn't expect.

In front of him was a massive being that stood nearly twice his height and wore dark, demonic-looking armor.

"Who the fuck are you?" Crow demanded, engaged in a blade lock with the demon.

"None of your concern, filthy mortal!" the demon spat before disengaging the blade lock and kicking the Lunarian in the abdomen.

The kick was powerful as it sent the teen flying through the walls of the Black Citadel and descending to the ground. He was about to stop his fall but was hit with a massive energy attack, causing his descent to accelerate. The Lunarian soon crashed into the ground and made a small crater. 

"Fuck that hurt," the teen groaned. 

The Lunarian slowly got up and stumbled around a bit. Once Crow regained his balance and senses, he scanned the area, looking for the individual who attacked him. It didn't take him long as the individual appeared behind him.

The demon in front of him wore armor similar in design to its comrade, with the only difference being the armor was sleeker and had a black medium-length cape fastened on its shoulders. And instead of wielding a sword, it used a bladed scepter.

"It's been a while since I've killed one of your kind," said a demon with a soft and elegant tone.

Fire erupted from his back, and the demon quickly reacted and teleported in front of him.

Before Crow could defend himself, the demon shot out another energy blast at the teen, causing him to stumble back, but he quickly regained his footing and pulled out his sword.

The teen deflected several energy blasts from the demon, and he then stomped his foot on the ground, causing a Crystal wall to appear in front of him.

The demon growled in annoyance and teleported to the other side of the wall, but the Lunarian was nowhere in sight. The demon, being wary, cast a forcefield surrounding itself and then scanned the area for the Lunarian.

[CRYSTAL BURST!!]

Several crystal spikes burst from the ground and shattered when they impacted the force field. The demon cursed as the spikes nearly destroyed the barrier, so it quickly repaired and reinforced it, but it wasn't quick enough. 

[DIVINE DEPARTURE!!!]

With a mighty vertical swing of his swords, the barrier shattered, and the demon's arms were severed from its body.

Before it could let out a shriek of agony, Crow decapitated the demon, causing fountains of blood to spurt out of where its head used to be, and it collapsed to the ground. 

The Lunarian let out a sigh and turned around. He was about to take flight but stopped when he heard the sound of bone snapping and flesh mending back together. He turned around and saw the demon standing back up. 

"I was hoping that would temporarily incapacitate you," Crow commented with an annoyed tone. 

If he couldn't kill them without blessed weapons and items, he could at least put them out of commission, but unfortunately, that doesn't seem possible anymore.

The demon chuckled. "It's going to take a lot more than that to keep me down, boy. Now, do me a favor and die!" it aimed its scepter at the teen, and multiple blasts of energy shot toward him.

(Back With Vult)

Kin appeared back into the throne room, kneeled to Vult's height, and handed him a health potion. "Here, this will heal your injuries."

"Your timing is impeccable as always," Vult joked before downing the potion and slowly standing up. "Fuck, even with Haki, I could still feel that," he looked at the mage. "Thanks," Kin nodded. 

"Then you shouldn't have charged the Lunarian like a fool," the demon responded with a bland tone. "Be thankful your mage was able to summon us quick enough, or otherwise, you'd be dead."

Vult rolled his eyes and was about to make a snarky remark but paused when he processed everything the demon said.

"Us?" he looked at the demon knight, confused. 

Vult only expected one of the demons to come to his aid, as usually, only one was enough to handle most situations.

"Our prince thought it appropriate to send more than one of us to aid you," Demon said, not bothering to explain further.

Multiple loud explosions could be heard from outside, and the ground shook slightly, causing the trio to stumble slightly. 

"Seems like the Lunarian is giving them a hard time," Vult commented with an annoyed tone.

"It's to be expected from their kind," the demon knight replied before making its way toward the giant hole in the wall. "Me and my fellow demon will deal with the Lunarian," he growled at the humans. "Don't interfere," he then jumped off to join the fight against the teen. 

"Asshole," Vult grumbled. "...hey Kin."

"Yeah Vult?"

"Where the fuck is Hicks?"

Both were silent for a moment, and both logically concluded that Crow had killed their companion with his flames.

"CROW!!!!" Vult roared in rage. 

(Back With Crow)

Crow was not having a good time at the moment as, for the first time in his life, well, from what he could remember, he was actually fighting to survive.

The other times the teen fought, Crow knew he'd come out on top, but now he wasn't so sure because the Lunarian had made a discovery that should've been obvious. 

Crow had no resistance to magical attacks, so every hit the demon landed on him felt like he was getting smacked around by a semi-serious King.

It hurt like a bitch, and to make matters worse, the magic attacks seemed to be slowing down his regenerative healing factor, making it harder for him to recover from his injuries, and he could himself become more sluggish the longer the fight continues.

The young Lunarian felt the most exhausted he had ever been in a long time and couldn't use his Titan abilities as they drained a ton of physical energy from him.

His fire was useless against demons so that only left him with Haki, swords, and his hand-to-hand skills to get the job done. 

Unfortunately for him, using any of those three required him to get within the demon's reach, which was proving to be difficult as every time he attempted to close the distance, the fucker would teleport to a different location and spam the shit out of those energy blasts. And even if he did close the distance, the force field surrounding it was too strong to break through.

Crow even attempted to escape, but the demon was having none of that and managed to cripple his wings.

All he could do now was deflect its attacks back at it and use hit-and-run tactics.

The Lunarian was quickly running out of options, and if he didn't find a way out, he would die. 

The demon was currently floating in the air, looking for the teen who was moving around the city, doing his best to hide from the sight of the demon, which wasn't hard as he used his limited shapeshifting abilities to make his massive wings disappear making it easier to hide in spots that generally would be impossible to hide at. 

"Oh, little birdie, where are you?" the demon sang in a mocking tone. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" when it received no answer, it sighed in frustration. "Why don't you make this easier on yourself and come out and die, Lunarian?! We both know you can't do anything to me and that you can't escape! So what's the point of delaying the inevitable?! Nothing!! You could've just joined us, and our prince could've given you power beyond your wildest imagination, but no, you let your petty pride and morality get in the way!!" he screamed in rage. "BECAUSE OF YOUR SELFISHNESS, EVERYONE YOU LOVE WILL SUFFER A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH AND ETERNAL DAMNATION! EVERY PERSON YOU EVER ASSOCIATED WITH WILL BE SUBJECTED TO SUFFERING BEYOND MORTAL COMPREHENSION!--"

"Do you ever shut up?" Crow whispered to himself and ignored everything coming from the demon's mouth.

Crow knew better than to let all the shit-talking get to him, as the moment he did, he was screwed, but the teen would be lying if he said it wasn't annoying.

The demon just loved to hear itself talk and talk. The Lunarian honestly wouldn't be surprised if the demon had a major hard-on and got off at the sound of its own voice.

However, the demon was right that Crow couldn't defeat him without the necessary tools, but it was wrong about him not being able to escape.

The only issue for him was that his leg was significantly injured, so he had to be quiet while moving around the city and not put too much pressure on his leg, thus making his escape from the demon incredibly slow. 

When Crow gets back to Ken, he's definitely making a commission for a set of magical armor. He's a Lunarian for fuck sakes! He shouldn't be getting his ass beat like this! 

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!!!" the demon roared and began to destroy the buildings, killing dozens of innocents in the process. "I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD, IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF, I'M GOING TO FUCK YOUR CORPSE WHEN I FINALLY FUCKING KILL YOU!" it threatened before shooting multiple energy blasts at the building and the citizens.

Buildings were collapsing, and screaming could be heard from all over the city.

Guilt swelled in the Lunarian's heart, but he didn't stupidly blame himself for all the death and destruction, as either way, the people of the black Citadel were fucked.

The only thing the teen wished he did was to pretend to accept Vult's and then escape when no one was paying attention; then his stupid ass wouldn't be in this current predicament...

The Lunarian was brought out of his musings when he heard a little girl screaming her little lungs out. Crow peaked his head out, and what he saw made his blood boil.

"Please! Please don't hurt my girl!" a young-looking mother begged profusely. 

"SHUT IT WHORE!" the demon backhanded the poor mother hard enough for blood and teeth to come flying out.

"MOMMY!" the little girl screamed, with tears running down her chubby cheeks. 

"SHUT IT, YOU LITTLE CUNT!" she received the same treatment as her mother, but the damage done greater due to how small and fragile she was. "You know..." the demon chuckled. "You're a pretty little thing...I'm sure my prince will grow to enjoy you once you blossom or..." its laughter became more sinister. "...he'll enjoy you as you are, heheheheHAHAHAHAA!!"

The Lunarian nearly snapped when the demon harmed the woman and girl, but he was able to control his emotions quickly as he knew nothing could be done. The Lunarian would only be throwing his life away...but when that statement about the little girl came out of the demon's mouth, all the pain and guilt he felt was gone.

The only thing there was rage. And it wasn't any ordinary rage, the teen felt. No, the anger he felt was overwhelming and unadulterated. His body's temper rose to levels hot enough to melt stone, and his power...his power felt greater. If it weren't for his fury, he would've felt pure ecstasy from the energy his body was producing...

Crow shook his head and growled ferally. It didn't matter how or what he felt.

What did matter was saving the little girl and the young mother from a fate worse than death.

So before anyone could comprehend what was happening, the Lunarian appeared behind the disgusting demon and grabbed by the back of the neck.

The teen then slammed the demon face-first into the ground, placed his foot on its back, ripped its weapon out of its hand, grabbed it by the wrists, and began to pull on its arms.

Before it could utter a word or scream, Crow managed to rip its arms off and toss them to the sides like they were trash.

"FUCKING SHIT!! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU BYPASS MY BARRIER!! I'LL FUCKING--" The demon was cut off from its rant as Crow stomped its head further into the ground. 

"Shut it," Crow growled. He looked at the young mother and her child. "Get out of here!" Not needing to be told twice, the mother picked up her child and ran away as fast as she could. He then looked at the demon weapon, and an idea popped into his mind. "I wonder..." he picked the bladed scepter up and inspected it. "Can a weapon of a demon kill a demon? It would only make sense, but just to make sure..." he grinned wickedly and aimed the weapon toward the head of the demon. "Let's give a test!"

Before he could test his theory, the Lunarian was sent flying towards a building from a devasting kick to the face by the demon knight. The demonic knight lifted its ally out of the ground. 

"Seems like you were having fun," the demon knight said to his fellow demon with an amused tone.

Once his arm grew back, the demon pushed his ally away. "Fuck you, Alastor!" the demon hissed. "Where the fuck were you when I was getting my arms ripped off!!"

"I can't teleport, remember Akuma? Besides, it's your fault for moving around so much and underestimating the boy. Because of your foolishness, he now has a weapon that can kill us," the Alastor told the weaker demon in a cold tone. 

Due to there being little to no knowledge about the demons, most thought only holy weapons, magic, or water could kill them.

However, in actuality, regular demons could be killed with demonic items as well, and their regenerative healing could be overwhelmed if they suffer consecutive damage.

High-ranking demons were the only ones that required being killed with divine magic/items.

"So I was right to assume that. Huh, good to know," both demons turn to see Crow nonchalantly walking toward them and are surprised by his appearance. 

His midnight black hair was now white as snow, his eyes glowed brighter, the right side of his face had a strange moon-shaped marking that glowed red, and his veins glowed white.

However, that wasn't the only thing that surprised the demonic duo. They could sense the power radiating off the Lunarian. It was five times greater than it previously was, making the two demons worry.

However, they buried their worries, and both demons shot energy attacks at the teen, but he quickly created a crystal wall. 

[CRYSTAL BURST!!!]

Dozens of spikes nearly impaled the demons, but Alastor reacted in time and shattered them all with his sword. 

Crow flew over the wall and dashed toward them with the bladed scepter cocked back.

Alastor met the Lunarian head-on and swung his massive blade at him when they closed the distance. Crow parried his attack and was about to thrust his weapon toward the demon knight's throat but had to dodge an energy blast from Akuma.

Crow quickly created hundreds of spikes in the air and threw them all at Akuma. He then returned to his battle with the demon knight. Their blades clashed harshly and relentlessly.

None could find an opening for several seconds, as both warriors had excellent defense.

However, opportunity eventually showed itself for the demon, so without wasting a moment, he thrust his sword deep into the Lunarian's abdomen with a large portion of the blade sticking out the back. 

Crow grunted from being stabbed, but he didn't let the pain deter him; instead, he pointed the tip of the scepter toward the demon's chest, stabbed him, and twisted the blade roughly.

"FUCK!!!" the demon roared in agony and coughed out blood. "YOUR GONNA FUCKING PAY FOR THAT, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" the demon attempted to pull his sword out of the Lunarian's body, but it was budging in the slightest as the teen flexed his powerful abdominal muscles to keep the weapon in place.

Crow chuckled and looked at the demon knight with a predatory gaze, his eyes filled with harmful intent.

"Game over," with all his might, he twisted the blade, slicing through his neck and face like butter.

It happened so quickly that Alastor didn't get the chance to scream before his face was split in two, spilling out all its contents.

His body fell limply to the ground. Soon, his body glowed red and then disappeared, leaving behind pools of blood and demonic organs.

"ALASTOR!!!" Akumu screamed with anguish in his tone. It all happened within th span of a few seconds, and the next thing he knew, Alastor was brutally killed. He looked at the Lunarian with rage and vengeance in his eyes. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" he recklessly charged at the teen, making the Lunarian grin. 

Using the demon's emotional instability to his advantage, Crow, while grunting in pain, pulled the deceased demon knight's sword out of his body, and his injury healed immediately.

He then threw the sword at Akuma with deadly accuracy. The blade pierced the demon's skull, killing it instantly, and its lifeless body crashed into the ground. Its body soon evaporated like its comrades, and the only thing left was the demonic sword.

"Good riddance," Crow spat on the demon's corpse. He then turned his attention to the castle. "Time to finish this."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a familiar voice.

He turned around and saw Kushina back into her true form with her arm crossed.

"And why's that?" his tone was laced with annoyance.

"Because I saw a lot more of those things in the castle," she pointed at the dead demon.

The teen shrugged. "I have these to deal with them now," he gestured to the scepter and sword.

Kushina looked less than pleased by his response. "I saw your fight with the flying demon. You would've been killed if it weren't for the cool transformation," she pointed out. "Do you really think you can handle more of them? Besides, we have no idea how long that form will--"

"Fuck!" Crow fell to his knees, and his appearance slowly returned to its original state. "That hurt," he said between heavy breaths and was shaking uncontrollably. 

"You still wanna fight those demons?" the redhead asked in a snarky tone.

As much as he wanted to eliminate Vult, he was in no shape to fight hordes of demons. So reluctantly, he gave in.

Once he caught his breath, the teen sighed. "Fine, let's go," he helped himself up with the scepter. "Grab the sword and then hold me," he ordered. 

Kushina lightly blushed but did as she was told. Once, she had a firm hold on the Lunarian, she said. "I'm ready."

Crow took off into the sky and quickly caught up to the others.

End.