113 Chapter 5 - Part 3 - Gasper Balor and the Son of The Morning Star
Japan, Kuoh
…
Jin Skyward's Soliloquy
…
It hadn't been long since I spoke with the group in Romania and things seemed suspicious over there. Right now, I was in school and waiting for Akaza to contact me. However, I felt my phone vibrate and I put my hand up and asked to go to the bathroom. Luckily it was Rossweisse teaching us and seeing my seriousness she let me leave.
I quickly made my way to the bathroom and answered my phone.
"Hello?"
"Aaron, something strange is happening here. So—"
It was Rias again and she proceeded on to explain what she just found out from the two progenitors of the vampire race.
'Someone from the Phantasma… it may be one of the Eradicators, or another group below them. And also, the Tepes faction completely fell. I wonder if anyone there survived…? What about Gasper's dad? He's a piece of work, but he didn't seem like an asshole, even if he had trouble treating his son like that.'
"I can take charge for now and wait for you to arrive with everyone?" she asked.
"Stay alert. I'm going to alert the alliance, and do a few things. We'll join you guys shortly. Oh, and tell them I'm going to be skipping the formal part of entering their realm," I said to her.
"Hmm. Alright, I'll let them know…"
The phone call ended. I wasn't going to move yet. I wanted to wait until Akaza contacted me and give me an update. So for now… I checked the time and saw that we were nearing lunch, so I'll have everyone gather… in the Occult Research Clubroom.
As I left the bathroom, the God of Luck was with me, as I came across Sona. I ran up to her and patted her shoulder. She turned to look at me.
"Oh, hello Aaron. How can I help you?" she asked.
She had left for the bathroom earlier, so she didn't see me run out. Our timing was impeccable.
"Bring your peerage to the Occult Research Clubroom. I'll have Rose bring the relevant faculty too. Something big is happening in Romania. I'll contact the alliance leaders as well."
Her eyes widened and she agreed to do that. Lunch was around 10 minutes away, so we could afford to wait, but I quickly sent a text out to Sirzechs, Penemue to alert Shemhazai, and others. I'll include them in our discussion.
We arrived back in the classroom and the lesson proceeded normally.
…
Once everyone was in the clubroom during lunch, a few others joined us too—Dulio, along with Kanami and Natsume. Since Tobio officially stepped down as leader of Team Slash/Dog to look after Sae Toujou since she was pregnant… I also need to visit them soon, probably before going to Romania…
I had a couple of communication circles around the room, and everyone was just waiting. I called Rias again and she picked up. I explained the situation and she also told her side of the story. Apparently during the time we ended the call, everyone had started preparing to fight off the Tepes Faction controlled monsters and the Khaos Brigade that was behind it all.
Akaza had yet to—
'Aaron-sama.'
Akaza's voice echoed in my head.
'Report," I replied. 'I'm in a meeting right now so… I'll let everyone else hear what you're about to say,' I told him.
"Akaza just contacted me. I'll put him on 'speaker'," I told them and then he started.
[According to my findings, once I entered the territory of the Tepes faction of vampires, I could not sense any normal vampire aura. Most of them were untraceable. Most that inhabited the town were a mix of mass produced Evil Dragons, Divine Beasts, and Cryptids. As well as the robots that attacked the Irish gods and… shadow-like monsters.]
[As I said, there were no ordinary vampires left. However, there were some vampires there. From a glance, I saw someone named 'Marius Tepes, along with 'King Tepes' working alongside the Khaos Brigade. Moreover, I suspected that some had escaped, so I left the territory and searched for them. It took me some time, but I eventually came across some.]
[Lord Vladi, and a few other vampires managed to escape and survive. However, most of them were badly injured, but by Jin-sama's grace, I had some slime pills on me and I gave it to them to heal. Currently, I have evacuated them to another part of the country of Romania.]
As Akaza retold his side of things, Gasper's emotions fluctuated. He went from hopelessness, anger and relief. Even though his father—Lord Vladi treated him badly, he still cared for him and his people. Maybe I influenced him, I wasn't sure, but…
"We should go, Jin-senpai!" he shouted and stood up. "They need our help. If we can stop this and save them…!"
"Gasper, calm down. We will, let Akaza finish first," I said to him.
He still looked concerned, but agreed and sat back down.
[As I said earlier, the territory of Tepes was mostly occupied by those monsters. However, I believe the man named 'Euclid Lucifuge' was among their ranks. But I believe it's just another clone. I also saw an Oni youkai there. However, I suspect they were part of the Phantasma as his power level was beyond any youkai I have seen in this world.]
Akaza then gave us a short description of the youkai.
I also think that Rizevim is in there somewhere, but… who knows? He must be aware that he's already known to be part of the new Khaos Brigade and leader of Qlippoth, so he might not brazenly come out to antagonize us—he's both dumb and smart… the reason for his downfall… isn't contracted with Asia, so I'll need to kill him another way… wait no, I'll need to seal him.
After hearing all of that, everyone became silent. But then—
[Can all of you stop with the doom and gloom? Shemhazai, you're there, right? Have the new Team Slash/Dog defend Kuoh and leave Meruem and Jin's other subordinates—Ezeri and Kishku to protect Grigori. Send a few of our veterans as reinforcements,] said Azazel from the other side.
[That's true, we, the devils will also send some reinforcements for the vampire faction. It doesn't seem like there will be too many left from the Tepes faction's side. So if Lord Vladi becomes the next leader, perhaps negotiations for an alliance will be easier with him. And from what Rias said earlier, the Carmilla side is more than willing,] Sirzechs said from his circle.
[I will also send some angels to the vampire faction, and have Dulio on stand-by in Kuoh, Jin-sama,] said Altaria.
Dulio, who was there, saluted Altaria. The other pantheons also said they'd send their own reinforcements, so it looked like we were going to have an all-out war over there. I was going to say not to do that, but… the alliance would be pointless if I didn't form it. So for now, I'll have my shadows, that are in the millions also protect the reinforcements as well as kill our enemies…
"Then, my group will go there now—I will also deal with the person from the Phantasma's side. The rest of the reinforcements and group deal with the other enemies," I said and got up.
[Oh right! Shemhazai, did you start the interrogation of that Shepherd guy?!] Azazel asked.
"Yes, but he has refused to say anything. He simply stared at us with a grin," replied Shemhazai.
[Keep going then, we need answers. If all else fails, Jin!]
"I know, I know. I'll go and do it myself. Anyway, this emergency meeting is adjourned. My group will immobilize as soon as possible."
…
A few minutes later, most of the people had left, and Sona would give everyone that's part of the supernatural side some absences.
"The Sitri peerage will stay here, Aaron, but…" Sona said to me and glanced at Tomoe, her [Knight] and Gasper's second lover.
"Yeah, it's better to send her with Gasper. I'll get in contact with Sairaorg to ask for Coriana."
"Aaron, Fusae-kun wants to go with your team. She wants to see that faction and help Elmenhilde-chan, apparently," said Lisa as she dismissed a magic circle.
"…Alright, I'll look after her then," I replied which earned me a wink from the Purple Rose as she left.
"Kanami—"
"I know! Kuoh is safe with us! Well, Lianne-san is also here, hehe~" she said while cutting me off.
Smack!
Natsume then kicked her sister on the ass and said, "Come on, Miss new leader! This team needs you! You better not slack off just because this town isn't in immediate danger!"
"I-I'm not, jeez, Natsume! What was that for?!" she asked her little sister.
Bonk! Bonk!
I chopped them on the head to stop them from arguing. I then looked around and nodded. "Everyone here, get what you need. We'll be heading to Romania shortly. You two… head back to Grigori and get your team ready."
Since they're on official business, Team Slash/Dog was required to be back in Grigori, so… both sisters huffed and teleported away. Everyone had mostly left after I said that, so I also teleported to Grigori for a quick visit.
…
Underworld
Grigori
…
"Why'd you follow us?!" Natsume asked.
"He misses you~," replied Kanami.
"Well, I did need to come here for some personal business. But yeah, go ahead and assembl—"
Bam!
"Aaron~!"
I turned around in time to catch Lavinia. She probably sensed me and came running. Both sisters smiled at Lavinia and left saying something about getting everyone else ready. I'm not sure what the situation is with Kalawarna and joining Team Slash/Dog, but…
"Mmm~…"
Should they even keep the name? I mean it was technically based on Tobio and Gin, though… he's just temporarily stepping down since Sae is pregnant. Maybe he'll join in some missions in the future when everything settles down? He'll be a father at that point though, so…
"Is something wrong, Aaron?" she asked while looking up at me.
"No, it's nothing. I'm about to visit Tobio and Sae and give them some… protection and gifts. Wanna join? I'll tell you what's up and what's going to happen."
She nodded and we started to go towards both Sae and Tobio's room in Grigori. They were renting an apartment in the human world since they were still attending college… jeez, being pregnant while in college, huh? I wonder if they'll drop out…?
I mean, Tobio earns enough money from being a field agent for Grigori, right? Supernatural money and human realm money… they're worlds apart. I'll find out in the next few minutes…
After around a minute of walking, we arrived at their room. I knocked on the door and heard Tobio say to come in. I tapped the door and it slid to the side. Once inside, the room was quite spacious, in all honesty it was more like a studio apartment more than anything. One large living room, a few other rooms like a bathroom, bedroom, toilet, and storage spaces.
"Jin, Lavinia, welcome," said Tobio as he came up to us.
Sae waved at us from their coach… she was really pregnant now... what the hell? Did they speed up the process or something…? Both Gin and Nattsu were running around the place playing with each other.
I did wonder if the Gin of this world could transform back and forth from its puppy form to its adult form…
"Hey, Tobio, I'm here to give some gifts and congratulate you again."
He just sighed and shook his head. "I already told you it's fine, Jin. Jeez, you sure are pushy about these things. Anyway, come in you two."
He gestured for us to follow him and we entered into their apartment-style room. We quickly arrived beside Sae and…
"…Congrats again, and also…"
"Mmm, my stomach is this big already, hehe," she replied and caressed her belly.
I crouched down and asked, "May I?" I wanted to touch her belly and got the okay from Sae.
I had a few reasons for doing this. The primary reason was to increase a couple of rates for their unborn child. One, they'll be born healthy with no defects, two, increase the child's potential. They'll definitely be involved in the supernatural sooner or later, so I wanted to give their child a fighting chance.
Finally, I just gave the child some protection charms and spells. So if they do get attacked before the time they officially get introduced to the paranormal world, they won't be hurt. Once I was done, I got up and smiled.
"They'll be born healthy; you have my guarantee."
"You did something, didn't you?" Sae asked with a smile.
"I'm very obvious, aren't I? But yes, I did. You shouldn't have any complications in the future, Sae, so rest assured."
"Thank you, Jin-san. You've done a lot for us; I really can't ever thank you enough…" she said and got teary-eyed.
I heard pregnancies make women very emotional. I mean, if periods are anything to go by for female emotional well-being, then…
Pinch~
"No," Nia said and pinched my cheek.
"…I don't know what that 'No' means, but I'm sorry?"
She let go of my cheek as the two of them chuckled at us. I then looked around the room and nodded to myself. I put my hand up and changed the barrier to the one that surrounds my home. After that I put two shadow soldiers into Sae's shadow.
"Jin, you're even more paranoid than me…" Tobio said with a sigh and sat beside Sae.
"Hey, I have a lot of enemies, and so do you. We are friends too, so it makes sense for me to be paranoid… anyway, I'll be putting shadow soldiers in everyone's shadow including family members. I gotta keep everyone safe after all…"
"Does that mean you'll do the same thing with our baby?" Lavinia asked.
All three of us looked at her in stunned silence. Tobio got up and hugged me for some reason…
"Congratulations, Jin!"
"…Huh?! I-I, w-what? No, we don't—Nia, you're not pregnant!" I said while stuttering.
She tilted her head also confused. "I never said I was?" she asked as she looked at Tobio, who was also confused.
Sae started to laugh at Tobio for misunderstanding and even both Independent Sacred Gears started to bark at him. Tobio's face turned red and he apologized.
"I-I'm sorry, I misunderstood what Lavinia meant," he said sheepishly.
"Jeez, Tobi! If I get pregnant, everyone will find out very quickly! Especially Jin!" she said in almost a lecturing way.
'I would also know, you know… I mean I'm the one controlling whether or not any of you can get pregnant… anyway…'
"A-anyway, I just came here for that. I'll be going to Shuri's next to do the same thing we do have an emergency mission coming up," I said and started to leave. "Stay well, you two!"
Lavinia also joined me after wishing Sae well and saying she'd visit her with the others of the team soon.
"You too, Jin. Good luck!" said Tobio as we left.
"Shuri-san?" Nia asked me as we left the room.
"Yeah, I want to add extra defenses for them too… also, she thinks of you as a daughter too, so don't be scared to call her mom," I said to her and held her hand.
Lavinia looked a bit surprised and smiled. We walked at a moderate pace to their home and arrived there rather quickly. Once near the door, I rang the bell and was pulled in.
"Mo—"
She sat both of us down on their couch and started to ask questions.
"ExE, CxP, emergency mission to Romania?! Jin! –No, Aaron! What is this?!" she asked a bit panicked.
Lavinia and I looked at each other. How did she know about the Aaron part? Did Akeno tell her? How much do they know? I'll just ask Akeno now…
'Akeno… does Shuri—er, mom knows about me?'
'Eh? Ah… no, I just told her that when you moved to Japan you decided to have a more 'Japanese' first name and you chose 'Jin', but originally your western name was 'Aaron'. I'm sorry, did I overstep…?'
'No, no, she just called me Aaron, so suddenly I was confused. If that's the story you told her, then it's fine. I'll tell both mom and dad eventually about who I really am. Anyway, thank you, we won't be too long now.'
'Hehe, no problem~'
"Aaron?! Lavinia?!"
"Mom, calm down… so—"
I told her what I told the leaders during our recent meeting and dad had grabbed a chair for her to sit down on. After processing everything for around two minutes, she suddenly stood up and grabbed my collar. I was taller than her so… she was on her tiptoes trying to reach me.
"Um…"
She suddenly hugged me and then Lavinia. "I know you're not heading over there, Lavinia… but please stay safe too… and you! Mister! You better keep my baby safe, along with everyone in your harem and your friends too!"
"…I already planned on doing that, mom," I replied. "I came here to protect you two, actually… I'll be adding more defenses here, and… here, a gift—"
I created a new necklace for both of them and explained what they would do. Both were surprised but accepted them and put them on. I don't want anything happening to them… for my own sake, Akeno's, Asia's and anyone else that saw these two as parental figures.
Finally, I added a barrier around their home, and sent another two shadow soldiers to their shadows. They should have a total of four at this point.
"Mom, we have to go… you can go with Nia to Kuoh to wait for us but my group and Akeno have to go to Romania now."
"Stay safe…!" she said very worriedly and kissed me on the forehead after I bent down to her level.
"I will, I will…" I replied.
She finally let us go after tightening her hug again. 'I really should tell her about the real me, though… she would probably find a way to worry even more…'
[That, she would, Partner.]
{Mmm. Knowing Shuri's personality, she would do that.}
Having heard the two dragons' comments, we left through the front door as both of them saw us leave, however, Lavinia jogged back to Shuri.
"I-I'll get going, m-mom…" she said a bit embarrassed.
"Mmm. Bring that stupid son-in-law of mine back, okay? You're a responsible one after all, Nia~" she said happily and hugged Nia.
"Y-you too, um…"
"Take your time, I'll be ready to hear it, Lavinia," Baraqiel said gently.
He only ever behaved like that with Asia and Akeno. Lavinia nodded her head and joined back up with me and we finally left—a happy smile stretched across her face.
…
Upon returning to my home, everyone that needed to be there was present and ready. Even though I said 'My group' I didn't have anyone in particular in mind. So… the ones that had gathered up were Rossweisse, Raiko, Inaie, Valerie and Fusae. Not including Tomoe and Coriana since they'll mostly stick with Gasper (The Gremory peerage) and will most likely take orders from Rias once we get there.
The rest seemed to want to stay behind. "I'll leave Kuoh to the rest of you guys. If anything serious happens just know I'm a call away," I said to them.
"We'll be fine, Jin. Just go already," said Latia. It seemed she had taken command of everyone there.
"Alright. Let's go, everyone!"
…
Earlier
…
Rias Gremory's Soliloquy
…
"Are the civilians in the castle?" Azazel asked me.
"Yes, everyone should be accounted for, God Serena made sure of it," I replied.
"Alright, good. Let's meet back with the progenitors and Camilla. Jin should be able to pinpoint your aura and teleport directly to us."
After saying that, Yuuto, Akaza, God Serena, and I followed him. After I informed Aaron about what was happening, I had Yuuto fetch Azazel and got him up to date with the information. Akaza also joined us shortly after, so we have both of them for backup.
We had evacuated the relatively small population of vampires into the castle of Queen Carmilla. There was a large underground section, so the vast majority were sent there and also both God Serena and Akaza increased the barriers around the castle to a considerable degree.
What started out as a normal civil war… had turned into a fight with one of the soldiers of the Phantasma. Whatever that Oni youkai is… he was definitely the one leading the charge. Also, Euclid Lucifuge might be here and another descendant…
It didn't take us long to reach the same meeting room as before, even more higher-ups had gathered there. However, the ones maintaining the room were the progenitors and Queen Carmilla.
According to Kiss Shot-sama, she was the one who created the 'Carmilla side of vampires', while Dracula-sama was the one who created the 'Tepes side of vampires'. However, not many of them remain now.
I looked at Akaza and he nodded. "Excuse me, I have some information regarding the Tepes faction, and survivors," I said to them.
Everyone became silent and stopped whispering to each other. Akaza then stepped forward and told them what had happened. Dracula-sama seemed quite relieved upon hearing that. Even if he didn't show it much with his face—his tense chest had lightened a small bit.
"So there are survivors, and it seems there were some from each house. That's reassuring… however," Kiss Shot-sama said and looked at Akaza again.
"They are still advancing and are getting closer to the border between the two factions. I will take action and personally delay them. Jin-sama along with reinforcements from the DxD Alliance should be here shortly," said Akaza as he vanished from the room.
"Will he be alright?" asked Dracula-sama.
"Yes, he will. We should—"
Shing!
However, I was stopped from speaking when a light emanated from behind me. I felt a familiar aura and when I turned around… Aaron was there along with my peerage and a couple others.
"Aa—Jin," I said with relief.
"I'm here, tell me any updates," he said seriously and looked at the leaders in the room.
…
Jin Skyward's Soliloquy
…
Once we teleported into the room, I saw… quite a lot of vampires, but only a few stood out. When I used [Observe] on them, they were Queen Carmilla, Dracula and Kiss Shot Acerola Under Blade.
[That's one long ass name!]
Both of those vampires were the progenitors of both factions. Interesting… I can speak to them after all this is done… but first…
'Come out, and spread around the town,' I ordered my shadows and they quickly left me.
Quite a lot of them were alerted by this and became tense. I shook my head and touched Rias' cheek. She was a bit startled but didn't stop me. After that I read through her most recent memories, and got the update I needed without them needing to tell me.
"I see," I muttered and looked at everyone.
"I will immobilize any vampire that is willing to fight, Middleman. When will the reinforcements arrive?" Carmilla asked.
"I see, and they'll arrive soon, but for now this will do. Although I would suggest anyone below a certain power level not participate because they will be killed quite easily." I looked after saying that and asked, "Where's Akaza?"
"He left to delay them until your arrival, so he should be fighting them now," replied Dracula.
"I see, well then, let's start this small war," I said and turned around. "My group, you know your roles, I'll leave the Gremory peerage to you, Rias... oh, by the way, if you see Euclid Lucifuge or Rizevim Livan Lucifer contact me and I'll deal with them personally."
I then teleported away
…
Once I arrive at a certain point between the two factions borders, I saw a very large army. I could see that some of the vampires there had been turned into Evil Dragons, Divine Beasts or even Cryptids. There were also those robots from before and shadowy monsters with four arms and glowing blue eyes.
Among them, there were a few vampires and after I used [Observe] on them, I could tell that it was Marius Tepes, Lord Tepes, a few vampires from the House of Mathers and even Vladi. Although, as Akaza said, Lord Vladi wasn't one of them.
I also saw to the very far left large explosions and I felt Akaza's aura over there. It seemed like he was busy over there. If I had to estimate there were around… 500,000 in total? Half a million of them... they really went all out on this... I wonder if they cloned some of the vampires on the Tepes side and turned them into those monsters?
Also, after quickly scanning the entire army, I saw one Grendel clone and... a clone of Crom Cruach. Did he go along with this, or was he captured and forced to be cloned? I wonder what the fate of the [Crescent Circle Dragon] was.
However, unlike canon, these clones were at least dragon god level, so I can assume that the originals were like that too.
[Looks like only anyone associated with you can take even the grunts on, Partner.]
'There are still some weaker ones that are around High-class and Ultimate-class, but the vast majority are Satan-class and up… my shadow soldiers are going to be working overtime on anyone below that level and wanting to fight…'
Finally… the 'Oni' that they described—I was him, and when I used [Observe] on him, his name was Scias and his title was [Right hand of the 16th Eradicator – Elanor]. He was also at least High-tier God-class in strength. Meaning, Elanor was either peak of God-class or Dragon god-class like Caeda.
{It doesn't seem they deem this conflict worthy of having one of the Eradicators to participate in.}
[Can you blame them? Most of the Draconic Deus' power level has a wide range. Meanwhile, theirs is from High/Ultimate-class and up.]
But I didn't see or sense Euclid or Rizevim when I did the full scan on the army. They might be waiting at the castle of the Tepes faction's town. Or they already left and retreated back to their base in the Khaos Brigade.
[Are you going to leave, Partner?]
'I was going to but… a king doesn't or shouldn't be the one fighting all their battles, right? Both in chess and in real-life battles. I'll leave it to my group, Electa and the shadows for now. When I deem it necessary, I'll step in.'
{[…]}
'Why are both of you shocked by this? That will be his role in the future…' said Rudra.
'They're idiots, that's why,' replied Velgrynd.
I started to fly back while looking at the army and once I arrived at the border of the Carmilla faction's town… the Gremory peerage + Tomoe and Coriana, my group and God Serena came out along with a couple of vampires, including Queen Carmilla, Kiss Shot, Dracula and a few higher-ups.
It seemed like what I said earlier made the weaker ones back down from fighting for fear of losing their lives.
"There are around 500,000 of them. These include Evil Dragon clones, a Crom Cruach clone, a Grendel Clone, Divine Beasts, Cryptids, a few vampires from the Tepes side including Marius Tepes, Lord Tepes, some from the house of Mathers and Vladi, and finally, the right hand of the 16th Eradicator—he's the one leading them all. I haven't seen Euclid or Rizevim yet," I explained to them.
"Okay everyone, go eliminate them. After this we'll go find Gasper's father along with Akaza. We said so before you all came here. Be careful, my cute servants!" ordered Rias.
They all responded with 'Yes, President!' before flying away. My group looked at me and I nodded, so they all also flew away. However, Valerie stayed and came over to me, and so did God Serena. The vampires also left while looking amused—well Kiss Shot did. Dracula appeared quite serious and so did the rest of them.
My shadow soldiers around the town stood by on high-alert, while the ones near the border, or beyond were already slaughtering the enemy's side.
"Aaron-sama, if I may? I will go to the Tepes faction's castle and look for those two devils," said God Serena.
"…Very well, go." It wasn't a bad idea, and I supported it. Also, if he can bring those two back, or bring them out of hiding, then all the better. I can stop them here and prevent any more crap happening.
[Assuming they're not Body Doubles, Partner.]
{They're most likely are, but it seems Aaron has some plans for it, like what he did for Beelzebub maybe?}
"I want to confront my brother and father. If either of them has a piece of the [Sephiroth's Graal] then…"
"…Well, I did order someone to join us. She was with us in the Egyptian realm. Elyscia, join her," I said to my other side and the leader of the 16 Battle Goddesses, Elyscia appeared out of thin air.
I didn't include her in my 'official' group. She had stayed in my home after the whole Egyptian realm incident, and I also ordered her to come with us in secret. She had been invisible the entire time, and I also concealed her presence so no one in my group could detect her.
"As you wish, Aaron-sama. Let us depart, Valerie-sama," said Elyscia.
"Yes, and thank you," replied Valerie. She gave me a peck on the cheek as they left.
I was the only one left here, I'll watch everything unfold before making my move... I could feel that Team Vali was also close. So Vali might try to fight the thing called Scias. I'll jump in to stop him, or if he's struggling…
…
Valerie Tepes' Soliloquy
…
Flying away from Aaron made me feel a bit anxious, but at the same time… I understand why he wouldn't come join me. I was glad, and a bit saddened by it, but at least I had Elyscia with me. She's quite reliable after all. Though I do suspect that he's keeping an eye on all of us and will come to help when needed—
"Valerie-sama. Aaron-sama trusts you and the power you have acquired. He wishes to come with you but as you know…" said Elyscia.
"I know, he's trying to be more of a 'king' right? I understand that, but I kind of miss his approach of 'I'll rush in first and kick their ass and be done with it!' kind of thing. Although he did do that for the earlier incident in the week. Maybe it's because this is on a larger scale, he's trying this strategy out?" I asked myself and Elyscia.
Not including the fact that he started to change again. But if it's for better or worse… I don't know, but I hope it's for the better.
"Yes, I believe that is the reason too…" she replied.
As we flew into the air, I scanned the area and finally saw my brother, Marius Tepes and father, Lord Tepes. They were leading a small group of vampires and some Evil Dragon clones. They suddenly turned in our direction and smiled.
"Ah, my Valerie, my younger sister. How I missed you! I do wonder how you left our territory, however… it seems that you're well! Unlike your previous appearance~!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
My father, Lord Tepes simply and silently stared at me with no change in expression. I had conflicting feelings… they did all those things to me, but I couldn't find it in me to fully hate them, because they're still family.
"A family is made. Just because you're blood related doesn't mean much, Valerie-sama," said Elyscia next to me. "Take Aaron-sama for example…"
"Aaron…"
It's true… he doesn't remember his mother's name or his father's from his past life. He knows what they look like but doesn't remember them fully. He made a new family through everyone in his harem and with both Shuri-san and Baraqiel-san. He started calling them mom and dad too. I'm also sure he said something like that in the past.
I took a deep breath and sighed. I looked back at them and said, "You're going to cause trouble, and hurt even more people, so I'll stop you… even if you're my family."
"Stop us…? Ha… hahahaha!"
My brother started to laugh almost maniacally and it was quite disturbing. He put a hand on his face and continued to laugh. However, he put pointed his finger at us and many of the monsters flew towards us.
Elyscia went in front of me. She pulled her sword out and with a calm horizontal swing, the divine beasts, cryptids and evil dragons that came towards us quickly vanished. My brother Marius stopped laughing and had a look of shock on his face. Even my previously stoic father had the same expression stretched across his face.
"…What is the meaning of this? Who is that woman?" my father asked.
"We can assume it's one of the Middleman's subordinates. It matters not. Before we kill you, allow me to share with you something, my dear sister. Do you know what happened after you suddenly vanished?" he asked.
I didn't answer, but Elyscia kept on killing anything that came towards us. So we could speak like this.
"I was approached by a certain devil—Rizevim Livan Lucifer-sama. He along with Scias-kun gave me more information about your Sacred Gear which further my research along. Additionally, they approached me about reviving certain people. I obliged since they helped with my research of course."
An evil grin spread across his face and he said, "Your little friend… what was it? Gasper Vladi…? Yes, yes, did you know that he's a thing that's not supposed to exist? An existence that wasn't meant to be… during his birth, he directly caused his mother's death, yes, yes… and…"
"…No, you didn't!" I shouted back at him. The realization hit me and I felt anger rising within me.
"Aha~, you're quite smart, as expected of my sister, even if you're a hybrid~" he then winked at me and smiled wider. "That's right, my sweet little sister, Gasper Vladi will be forced to fight his newly revived dead mother~!"
He said it so cheerfully that it made me feel sick. Gasper… he's already suffered enough in his life, and he's finally found two people who love him even more than life itself. As well as new friends… I won't let you…
"You make me sick…" I hissed at him and formed a spear made out of blood in my right hand.
Gasper blamed himself for the death of his mother, and he was told that on a near constant basis as we lived in the same place for many years. He would sometimes come crying to me, or he would just hide in a box and cry to himself. Even though he never knew her or met her, he admitted he still loved her because she brought him into this world and he met many wonderful people.
The spear made out of blood left my hand and it then started to duplicate itself into thousands of others. There was a slight frown on my brother's face, which previously had a smirk.
"Hmph, quite a show, however, it won't matter," he said and formed several layers of defensive magic circles.
I then pointed my finger down towards my brother and father—the spears quickly flew towards them and they slammed into the defensive circle. Initially it didn't seem to have worked, as the magic circle stopped it, but…
The grin on my brother's face quickly faded as his defensive circles shattered, and my attack hit him on several parts of his body. His body was riddled with many holes and he was bleeding profusely. However, his smile never left him—the same with my father who was also hit by my attacks.
Both their bodies quickly began to heal and they grinned at me. Is this…
"My, I did not think you were this powerful, my dear sister. That hurt quite a bit, you know? I can see you're confused. It's because of your lovely… Sacred Gear," he said and pulled one of the pieces of my [Sephiroth Graal].
"Immortality—or something near it. You could compare it to the Phenex Clan of the Underworld's regeneration. Our father and I have it… no, no, the remaining vampires here have it. Per the request of Scias', we all have this new 'immortality', kuku."
That isn't true immortality, if it's just like the Phenex clan's regeneration then… I remember back to the time of Rias and her Rating Game with Riser Phenex, according to Akeno she was taught by Aaron on how to use anti-healing… she told us how, and I've been secretly…
I pointed my finger at him again and his eyes widened.
"W-what? I-I can't move…!" he said in a panic.
"I cannot move either…" my father mumbled with frustration.
I didn't answer them or give an explanation. They'll soon die after all. I again created multiple spears of blood and sent them towards my family members. Both of them still held their grins even after being unable to move.
I can control their blood. I can conjure blood from thin air, and manipulate it to my will. This also means I can control other people's blood. Akeno jokingly called it 'Blood bending' and we ran with that name for a while. I don't have a name for it since I rarely used it since Ingvild called it 'cheating'.
However, I prevented them from moving by manipulating their blood. I've already started to slow down the blood that's also circulating around their bodies, but it doesn't seem they've caught on yet. As my spears hit them—I also imbued them with anti-healing, so they can't regenerate or heal anymore.
My brother's body was once again hit. He had holes everywhere, he had a missing eye, his left arm and right leg were blown away and finally, he had a large hole just under his heart. Yet he kept smiling, but…
"W-why… why am I not regenerating…?"
"You—"
"<<Will die,>>" said an ominous voice.
When I turned around, I along with Elyscia and my family saw… some monster made out of darkness, however—that feeling—that aura felt very familiar.
"…G-Gasper?" I called out with uncertainty.
The 5-meter-tall beast that looked like a giant dragon made out of darkness with multiple wings and glowing red eyes looked at me, and seemed to… smile?
"<<Valerie, Elyscia-san, let me end this worthless existence's life,>> he said. <<He did too many evil things, and does not deserve to stay in this world…>>"
…
Earlier
…
Gasper Vladi's Soliloquy
…
I, along with my peerage members and my two lovers were flying to a different section of the areas of the Carmilla faction. My [King] and master Rias Gremory let me, Coriana-san and Tomoe-san leave as a team. We were going to defeat a bunch of these invaders and meet up with the rest later.
"Let's go all out!" I said to them.
"With moderation, Gya-kun," replied Tomoe-san.
"That's right, if we go all out we might accidentally destroy this country at best, and at worst, the majority of our universe," added Coriana-san.
I think I became a battle maniac (partially) thanks to our time in Aaron-senpai's [Pocket Dimension]. I gave them an apologetic smile and agreed. "R-right, my bad."
We quickly arrived at our destination, and I shouted, "Alright, let's go!" I then used my Sacred Gear [Forbidden Balor View] and froze all our enemies within a certain radius! I then summoned large demonic balls in both hands and threw them towards our enemies!
Booooooom!
A large chunk of the land was blown away and killed many of the monsters beneath us who were frozen. In addition to Coriana-san, Tomoe-san has begun to eliminate them as well. Coriana-san and I were both [Bishop] pieces so we excelled at magic, while Tomoe was a [Knight] and used a samurai sword Sacred Gear, so she was on the ground slashing away at the frozen enemies.
[Guhahahaha!] A familiar voice laughed our way.
When we turned our attention to it… it was another Grendel! Increasing my speed, I flew towards it and landed a kick on its face! This sent him crashing to the ground but he didn't stop laughing even while his face had a strange dent that made him look deformed.
[Nice! Very niiiiiiiiceeeee! Let's keep going, Vampire friend of the Dual Dragon!!] he screamed at me.
What a strange title, but I didn't mind! I covered my body with touki and flew towards him! In the many years I spent with everyone, I also mastered my touki and got better at hand-to-hand combat! I landed in front of him and sent a straight punch towards his stomach!
I was much faster than him, so he couldn't dodge! Grendel took it, coughed up blue-colored blood! But he kept on smiling, but he didn't falter and lunged back at me and tried to bite my shoulder.
I easily dodged him, and followed it up by kicking him in the stomach—launching him back into the air. Both my lovers saw this and aimed balls of demonic aura at him—
Boom! Boom!
A large explosion occurred in the air and I summoned a giant spear made out of darkness and threw it at him! The spear was around 20m wide and 50m tall!
[Guuha?!] He cried out. The giant spear made out of darkness pierced him and then exploded!
A large explosion of darkness covered the sky in this area, and when it started to disappear—Grendel the [Crime Force Dragon] was destroyed.
"Aaron-senpai said they were clones and were at least Dragon God-class… but were they always that weak…? Or are the clones just that weak…?" I asked myself, but shook my head.
"No point in asking—…?!" I was suddenly alerted by a malicious presence, and when I turned around… a woman covered in darkness and had dragon-like wings and tail floated there. She also wore a robe covering her face.
She seemed even more intimidating than the Evil Dragon we defeated. Why… why does this woman…?
She suddenly sent an attack at me! I deflected it and when the attack hit something, a powerful explosion consumed it—leaving only a large hole in its place.
"Who are you?!" I shouted at her.
"…"
She said nothing, but… then took off her robe and… I felt my heart stop.
"No…" I muttered.
I had only seen her in photographs that my father, Lord Vladi, had previously taken of her. But when he found out I was looking at those photos, he started to destroy them. In my first act of defiance towards him, I stole one secretly and kept it with me—even now I still have it in my new home in Kuoh.
She had medium-length platinum-blonde hair and purple eyes. Most of her body was covered in darkness and the dragon-like wings behind her were also black with silver streaks.
"Gasper!"
"Gya-kun!"
My two lovers flew over to me after they dealt with the other monsters—only four of us remained. The two of them got ready to fight, but… I put my hand in front of him. These two... they know what happened to me during my time in the Tepes faction. They know how I was treated, and how I was the cause of my mother's death.
I am a strange existence; I was born as a mass of darkness that cursed and killed everything around me when I was born—this included my mother and the nurses that helped with my birth. Since that day, my father has resented and feared me. So did the rest of the pure-blood vampires as hybrids were looked down upon. It seemed like my father—Lord Vladi genuinely loved my mother, who was human…
"That's my mother," I said to them.
""?!""
"T-they…?" Tomoe said in a trembling voice.
"…How sickening," said Coriana.
"I will confront her. Please let me do this alone, please go help everyone else," I asked them.
They looked at each other before agreeing, kissing me on the cheek and leaving. I breathed in slowly. My now-resurrected mother didn't try to stop them. The Khaos Brigade may have sent them—no maybe it was Lord Tepes and Marius Tepes? Either way… they did this specifically to target me… for that I won't forgive them… ever.
<<Then shall we go, other me?>> a voice asked within me.
"…Yeah… To become the night—to become the darkness—we will consume everything for our comrades. Because…"
They were far enough; I could safely transform. I did this a long time ago… I believe around the 40-to-50-year mark in our stay in the [Pocket Dimension]? I wanted more power, and at the end of our stay there, I approached Aaron-senpai and asked him to change my potential to Omniversal. I wanted strength to protect my new friends and family.
I delve deep into my Sacred Gear [Forbidden Balor View]. I found out many things—I also met some of the past hosts of this Sacred Gear. However, none of them were able to come close to what I had achieved at the time. But… they too—like the [Boosted Gear] had souls in them that resent many things.
But I also found out that a small portion of the Evil God Balor was in this Sacred Gear. A small portion of his consciousness and power… we had a long chat after that. While we butted heads a few times, and even disagreed on several things… after a long time of being together, we came to an agreement.
Just like Aaron-senpai—even if it's just my small circle of important people—I—we would protect them. He saw everything through my eyes, and felt the things I felt. An Evil God who did evil for most of its life—a single person started to make him change, as we watched Aaron-senpai, he too wanted to try 'doing good' a chance. Even if he still has some evil thoughts, I will stop him and ask Aaron-senpai to kill me if I become berserk.
I thought it was strange for him to change, but... maybe after spending a long time with me, especially while we were in the [Pocket Dimension]... he might have had a change of heart. But who knows? He never told me the real reason.
If it's for my friends, allies and new family… I would do anything for them…!
"<<—Because we are one and the same… we are—Gasper Balor.>>"
Dooooom! Fwssssshhhh!
My body was covered in darkness. I started to transform into a creature—akin to that of a dragon. I had multiple wings, a horn, and red eyes. I was around 5 meters tall and I felt like I could do anything…!
"<<[Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast]. It's a Balance Breaker, but also not one at the same time. It's a combination of my Sacred Gear and the power of Balor from within me,>>" we said to the woman.
Right now—both me and Balor combined our powers—the darkness I was born as and his powers from back then—even if it's a small portion… it gave me a significant boost.
"Let's go."
<<That we shall.>>
"<<Mother, please forgive me…!>>"
I covered both of us in a large ball of darkness—closing us off from the world outside. Once inside, I ordered the shadows to restrain her.
<<You are doing that?>> the other me (Balor) asked.
"Yeah," I replied. "I want to see if I can remove this darkness from her… maybe when I do—I can release her from their grasps?"
<<We can just combine our powers, other me,>> said Balor.
"I know, but… please let me try on my own."
<<…Very well.>>
After we had an agreement, I rushed toward her, and appeared beside her. She didn't have time to react as I slammed her to the ground! But to my surprise, she only received some damage as the darkness around her protected her. But it did seem like she wasn't expecting that much power from me.
She put her hand out, but nothing happened. Within this sphere of darkness—everything is under my control—especially the darkness, so… she can't use her. She tried again, and again, and again… but her powers didn't work. Seemingly frustrated by this—she flew up and tried to punch me, but I simply caught her fist.
It was cold, yet…
<<Leave it to me, go,>> said Balor.
"Thank you…!"
I then put my hand on my mother's head and dived into her mind—
…
I was in a world of darkness. Everywhere I looked, it was just darkness. I looked at my own hands and they were glowing white. I tried to use my magic and it worked, so I could use my powers here. Apparently, this is like how Aaron-senpai helped and made contact with Valerie when he first rescued her.
I couldn't feel anything in here when I tried to feel the life force of my mother, I don't even know her name… if I can speak to her here, I want to know a lot of things—maybe… maybe I can ask Aaron-senpai to revive her too… and not like what the Khaos Brigade—not like what Marius Tepes did or Lord Tepes did…
But he has that rule so… and I'm not sure if my mother would like to… or is she scared of me? Does she resent me? Those thoughts plagued me as I flew around my mother's mind—or perhaps I was in her soul? I wasn't sure, but—
After a while of flying around, I finally saw it—another person that was also glowing white and she looked like my mother, but much younger. I quickly flew over to her. I wanted to shout her name, but I wasn't sure if she would be happy to see me, so I hesitated.
Once she saw me—she reacted the opposite way, she smiled at me. "Gasper…?" she called out my name in an uncertain way.
I felt many emotions well up in me, but I nodded my head in the end and floated in front of her.
"Mom—"
She grabbed me and hugged me, stopping me.
"…I never thought I would see my own child all grown up…" she muttered softly.
I felt tears hit my face as she silently cried while hugging me. But… I couldn't help but ask her, "Don't you hate me? Don't you resent me? I killed you when you gave birth to me…"
She stopped hugging me and made me look at her. She was frowning at me while still crying which made me feel horrible.
"No, why would I…? I have loved you since the day I found out I was pregnant with you. I have always wanted to be a mother, so when I saw you being treated like that… especially by your father—however, I can understand why… it's in their culture, it was taught to him and drilled into him…"
She seemed and sounded angry with my father. But…
"Gasper… your father loves you, but he cannot show it. Maybe after this event passes, he may start being more open to you. Please speak with him… but if not, then leave him some encouraging words. Please don't hate him… I know that sounds selfish of me but…"
I had mixed feelings about my father. For a certain time, I resented him for treating me that way. However, I came to hate both Marius and Lord Tepes more for mistreating my friend Valerie like that… even after what happened to her after I escaped. I also came to understand that my father might be treating me like that because it is within our culture, but… I just need to ask him, right?
"…Maybe back then I would have said no, but… maybe because a senior at the school influenced me… but… I'll speak to him… if it's not possible, I'll just tell him how my life is and leave it at that. My senior believes in second chances for everyone… maybe my father deserves it too…"
"Thank you, Gasper… this senior of yours has influenced you a lot... But what was this about having a harem?" she asked and directed her frown at me.
"Eh?! Ah… well, t-that's…"
W-why is she asking me this now...? Though I'm a bit glad... I want to tell her about them.
"Fufu, I'm teasing you… I'm aware of the customs of the supernatural. As long as you treat them well and love them equally, I don't mind," she said kindly and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Mom… I can ask that senior to revive you! And not have you controlled like this…!" I said to her… but…
She shook her head and said, "Once you defeat me or kill my body, my soul will shatter and I cannot be brought back to life."
I felt my heart drop… no… no… why…?!
"I heard that you need your soul to be intact in order for a resurrection to happen. However, I am not aware of what they used to resurrect it. It may have been one of those Sacred Gears, or something else entirely. However, as I said, whatever it was, upon death, my soul will be gone from this world."
She started to stroke my head as I felt tears drip down my cheeks. "Don't cry, Gasper… I'm glad we could speak like this, even if it's for the first and last time… I just want to say that what you've done, and what you will accomplish in the future… I am and will be proud of you."
"…M-mom…" I managed to say in between sobs.
"Now go out there and set me free. Show everyone in the world what the man named Gasper Vladi can do!"
I suddenly felt tired, and my eyes started to shut. Was she forcing me out of her mind? Her soul? Why?! I want to speak to her more…! I want to…
…
'Oh, Aaron-senpai, it's pretty late at night. Why are you still up?' I asked.
'Hmm? Oh, Gya-suke, good evening. I was just speaking to Cúntóir about something' he said and gestured to his side.
It seemed like Cúntóir-san came out…
"O-oh, h-hello, Cúntóir-san…!' I greeted her and she waved at me. 'S-so, what were you speaking to each other about?' I asked and sat down with them.
'A way to bring back souls after being gone… it sounds impossible, but maybe when I evolve? I don't know how to save Azathoth—I don't know how long my evolution will take, maybe by the time I evolve she's already gone and dead? So if that happens… I want to force her back to life and complain that she gave me such a tedious role,' he said and chuckled.
'…Is there someone in your mind that you want to bring back?' I asked.
'…I don't know. But I'll still stick with my rules, you know? If they refuse to come back… I won't. But maybe Azathoth will be the first I say 'fuck you!' to my own rule. Maybe my first selfish action as the new ruler.'
'…It's fine, right? Being selfish every now and again. At the rate you're going—you would have done enough good deeds to at least get a pass, Aaron-senpai!'
'What a cheeky junior. When did you start being like this, eh? Was it when you got laid?' he asked and I blushed.
…
I remembered that short conversation with Aaron-senpai during those 100 years… maybe, just maybe if he finds a way then…!
…
<<Other me, are you okay?>> Balor asked kind of worried about me.
"…Yeah, let's end her. I said my goodbyes," I said to him.
<<Very well.>>
We formed a large sword made out of darkness in the sky—it was at least as big as the Empire State Building or it was maybe larger? I wasn't sure, but from where we were standing… I also stopped her movements with my shadow. Since we were still in this sphere, no one could see this attack and I was fine with that.
"<<Goodbye for now, mom…>>"
Booooooooooooooooooooooooom!
We dropped the attack on top of my mother—and for a brief second… it seemed like she gained control back and smiled at us. The attack was powerful enough to threaten to destroy the sphere of darkness, but it didn't. Once the attack and explosion subsided, there was nothing left there—not even her skin or bones.
<<Are we going to him then?>> Balor asked.
"Yeah…Marius Tepes and Lord Tepes… those two…are the only ones I can't allow to have even a fraction of their bodies left in this world."
After saying that, I located Valerie's aura. She might have gone to confront them, so that might be the only place I can think of them being at.
…
From my darkness, I summoned multiple monsters that were constructed out of my darkness. They were as strong as me, so in a way, I had my own army just like Aaron-senpai, but limited. Marius Tepes, who looked to be on the brink of death's door…
I stared coldly at him, as well as Lord Tepes. "<<You hurt us when we were younger, and hurt Valerie more after I escaped—and then you did that to my mother? This world—does not need your existence.>>"
The monsters that I had summoned then rushed towards both of them and started to devour them bit by bit.
"No…! No…! Nooooooooo!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Marius Tepes screamed. Followed by Lord Tepes screaming too…
Finally… these two will—
Booooooooooooooooom! Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooar!
Our 'victory' over these two disgraceful vampires was short lived as… when we looked to our left—we saw eight eastern dragons of different colors erupt into the sky!
"T-those are…!"
"God Serena. From that location, it should be in the direction of the Tepes faction's castle," said Elyscia-san.
"<<Does that mean he got into a fight?>>" I asked.
"More than likely, Gasper-sama. However, we can leave it up to him, Gasper-sama, Valerie-sama… let us continue to defend the Carmilla faction," said Elyscia.
I glanced back to where Marius Tepes and Lord Tepes once were, and Valerie had flown over to the spot and was holding... another graal. It seems she has two out of the three of her subspecies Sacred Gear now...
…
Jin Skyward's Soliloquy
…
A few minutes have passed since all this started. The monsters that were brought here have been slowly killed off by everyone. It also seemed like Gasper found some peace with him since a giant ball made out of darkness appeared and disappeared after a few minutes.
Cúntóir: Answer: 227,817 troops remain.
Everyone is keeping their power in check so they don't accidentally destroy half of the earth, though Gasper did go overboard with that sword he made earlier. It also seems that Lord Tepes was quite corrupt in this universe so he won't be joining the Carmilla side during this, hell, he's dead thanks to Gasper.
I received two updates from Akaza and God Serena. Akaza is near where the one leading this is, and he apparently sensed Vali and his team near him, so he might try to fight the Oni of the Phantasma soon.
As for God Serena, he found out that the [Body Doubles] of Euclid and Rizevim were in the Tepes' castle as he theorized. So… he probably started fighting them. I'll leave them up to him for now and deal with Vali first…
As I turned to look at the Oni youkai, he had stood up and was glaring at me too. However, just then a bright silvery-white light consumed the area he was in and Vali had transformed into his [Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive].
Well… I promised Lavinia I'd look after him so I won't let him get to hurt, well, maybe I'll let him get beaten up a bit, then save him… I mean he and Issei did get stronger after each fight and near-death experience.
No, Akaza is there. I'll leave it up to him. 'Akaza, I'll go check on God Serena. Save Vali if he starts to lose,' I told him.
'Yes, of course, Aaron-sama.'
I nodded to myself and finally joined in by teleporting to God Serena. Everyone seemed fine with the monsters.
…
Rossweisse's Soliloquy
…
"Inaie, don't over extend, and Raynare, please stop torturing them and just kill them right away," I said to them.
Valerie-san didn't join us—Aaron instructed us to move as a unit, so we've been doing that and with me as the leader. Aaron knew that Valerie might want to confront her brother and father eventually, so he didn't include her in our unit.
However, it feels like I'm looking after children, and the only one that's well-behaved is Fusae-san. She's a talented magician, but she hasn't been to our sessions in the [Pocket Dimension], so she's significantly weaker than most here—so we watch her back and the shadow soldiers that Aaron assigned to her are working overtime.
Although she has her clothes that have been enchanted and ring since she's the pact magician assigned to Akeno, she also knows about his real name and circumstances…
Boom!
"Ahahaha~! This is so fun~" cheered Inaie happily.
"Inaie, you're forming your light spears too weakly. Do it like this! We spoke about this for at least 100 years!" said Raynare.
I sighed in defeat and shook my head. Even though I gave them instructions, they heard me but wouldn't listen… should I bring this up to Aaron? I mean, they're still doing their job so it's fine, but…
"Something is coming," said Raiko.
All of us turned to see that it was a tall man wearing a black coat with a long mixture of black and blond hair as well as hetero chromatic eyes where his right eye is gold, and his left eye is black and he has pointed ears.
I believe Aaron said that this was—
"Crom Cruach," muttered Raynare.
We are all aware of his appearance because he told us during our 100 years in his dimension. But he also said that the evil dragons we meet might be clones, and it seemed Gasper defeated one earlier.
He—Crom Cruach did not say anything, but simply stared at us. He then changed into a fighting stance and we responded in kind.
"Wouldn't it be overkill if we all fought him?" asked Inaie.
Those two them started to play rock-paper-scissors between themselves and I couldn't help but sigh. Both Fusae-san and Raiko floated beside me and we stared at them a bit dumbfounded. Even Crom Cruach, the Evil Dragon stood there waiting for them.
'At least he's courteous…?'
After a few games—Crom Cruach got fed up and said, "Both of you fight me then."
""Fine!"" they both screamed and summoned a light spear each and threw it at Crom Cruach.
His eyes widened in surprise. It looked like he was going to take it, but in the end dodged it. The two light spears passed by him and—
Boom!
Eliminated a large part of the army that remained. Crom Cruach looked behind him in surprise, and gained a small grin.
"It seems this fight might be more exciting than I thought," he said and quickly flew towards the two girls. His punch was directed at Inaie's face as soon as he arrived.
Inaie dodged it easily, but it was a distraction as Crom Cruach had appeared behind her and sent another punch towards her back. Again—Inaie dodged it by doing a backflip over the Evil Dragon and swiped her hand at him. Sensing danger, Crom Cruach used his arms to defend himself against the attack, but the power generated by Inaie's swipe instantly sent him to the ground.
However, Crom Cruach landed on his feet, but…
"…I took damage from that, huh? Even if I am a clone… interesting. The women of the Dual Dragon are strong just like the rumors said," he said and smiled to himself.
"Don't get distracted!" shouted Raynare as she appeared behind him and fired a point-blank light arrow at his head.
"?!"
Crom Cruach quickly turned around and blocked another attack from Raynare. However, the speed at which the attack flew towards him was faster than he could react. Therefore, he was hit on the side of his shoulder instead and was sent away again.
He recovered quickly and steadied himself. He looked at his own wound and the light arrow that was stuck on him and pulled it out. Another grin spread across his face.
"I like it! More, show me more!" he shouted.
According to Aaron, Crom Cruach, while a calm and quiet dragon generally, he's also a bigger battle maniac than Vali Lucifer. However, he is also respectable… well that's what Aaron said anyway. Perhaps him letting Raynare and Inaie play rock-paper-scissors was his way of showing respect?
Both Raynare and Inaie dashed towards Crom and started a hand-to-hand fight! Both Raynare and Inaie were working together, as if they were in sync. In the face of their attacks, Crom had a hard time deciding whether to dodge, block or deflect them.
Both women were quite stronger than him, so he was receiving hits from both of them when he couldn't dodge or deflect their attacks. However, his joyful grin never left his face. Even when losing, he was enjoying himself.
Don! Don! Don!
After receiving another handful of hits, he jumped back and his aura increased by several folds! It looked like he was getting heated up and was about to go all out when—
Bam!
Someone landed in front of him.
"?!"
He looked at the youth that landed in front of him and it was Vali Lucifer, who looked quite beaten up, as he had a few bruises on his face, and parts of his armor were missing.
{Vali, retreat! We cannot defeat him, and your stamina is running low!} his Albion shouted at him.
"Heh, but we're just getting to the good part, Albion," replied the stubborn Lucifer. "Who knew that they were this powerful? He said he was at least 'God-class' in terms of our universe's power system, but he seems to be beyond it," he added.
"Hmm? Ah, Crom Cruach… no you're a clone, aren't you? I'll only fight the real one when I meet him. Sorry for interrupting your fight," he said to the Evil Dragon before flying away.
Crom Cruach said nothing and looked back at the two women. He seemed to look at the ground for a few seconds before sighing to himself. He switched back to his normal standing posture and said to us, "The beast that Vali Lucifer is fighting—he is dangerous. I suggest anyone that isn't at least a God-class fighter to leave, or else they'll die. However, knowing the Middleman—no, the Dual Dragon Emperor's personality, he'll find a way to save the day." He then turned around and said, "I'm leaving."
"You think we'll let you just leave?!" Inaie said and aimed a ball of light at him.
"Whether you defeat me or not, it won't make a difference. We—the clones do not have souls, and our memories are left blank like many of the soldiers of the Khaos Brigade. Bringing us to the Dual Dragon Emperor won't matter. We are also massed produced like the weaker Evil Dragons, so we will just come back like nothing happened," he replied.
"Then what about the originals?" I asked and landed beside Raynare.
"They are gaining upgrades, however, I doubt my original will accept them, though… he may be forced too eventually. He can't keep putting it off forever. He is locked in a cell… I have a request, please get him out," he said surprising us a little.
"The rest, with maybe the exception of Apophis do not care and only want to be stronger and cause destruction. I, however, only care about a fair and fun battle. The rest does not matter to me. Farewell," he added before teleporting away.
He… asked us to tell Aaron to save him? I was conflicted, but I or we all will tell Aaron this. For now—
"Let's clean up the rest and tell Aaron after this is over," I said to them and we all agreed before flying off.
…
Vali Lucifer's Soliloquy
…
{Vali!}
'I know what I'm doing, Albion! It's fine, I can keep going, and I can feel another one looking at me the entire time. It's probably Aniki's subordinate! He'll bail me out, don't worry about it!'
{They won't be there forever, Vali, what then?!}
'We'll cross that bridge when we get there!' I shouted back at him.
After arriving in front of the blue-black haired Oni of another universe—I think his name was Scias or something. He just stood there not moving, but he was staring at me intently. He's powerful, probably the strongest I've fought so far! Well, not including Aniki.
"One more them!" I shouted and flew towards him. However, I did several fakes and appeared behind him and fired a powerful ball of demonic energy!
He quickly turned around and slapped away my attack. I knew that wouldn't work, but…!
Shing! Shing! Shing!
"…?!"
"Heh—"
Booooooom!
A large magic circle appeared beneath him and exploded! When I was doing my fakes, I created a large explosive magic circle beneath him. I learned this particular spell from Le Fay. Learning new spells and attacks is part of a good battle after all. All of this is in preparation for fighting Aniki again… I don't care what spell I acquire; I need to beat him one day…!
But… not to my surprise, he was fine—no, he was injured slightly. He may have underestimated me and didn't think I would come up with such a tactic. But this seemed to have angered him quite sig—
Don!
"Eugh?!"
I suddenly received another hit to the side and was blown away! He had already hit me there before, and it seemed like he was targeting that area… was he some kind of sadist? When I looked back up, he was already above me doing an axe kick. I jumped away and evaded the attack.
His attack created a large crater and shook the area. I don't think he's trying yet, but he is using enough force on me now because I pissed him off by injuring him. Talk about having a fragile ego.
{Vali, retreat, dammit!}
'I'm fine…!'
I grinned at my opponent; a small trickle of blood rolled down my chin. This… this is an experience I won't miss! I won't die since I still have a lot of things to do, especially take down that piece of shit Rizevim!
…
Jin Skyward's Soliloquy
…
"Oh? Aaron-sama, it seems you have joined me!" God Serena said and did a pose.
I patted him on the shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, so you found them?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right… although they were a bit disappointing," he said and looked towards a destroyed castle.
Boom!
The debris of the destroyed castle suddenly erupted and out came the [Body Doubles] of Euclid Lucifuge and Rizevim Livan Lucifer. Both of them were severely injured. Euclid was missing an arm and Rizevim had a large portion of the left side of his stomach missing.
"You piece of…!" he started to shout but then noticed me. A large grin then spread across his face. "Dual Dragon Emperor!!!" he screamed and… a silver gauntlet with a red gem appeared on his left arm.
[Partner!]
'Yeah, he has a replica of the [Boosted Gear], but it's pure silver…'
"Surprised?! Hehehehahaha! Do you want to know how I got this?!" he screamed at me.
"Play with Rizevim and prevent him from escaping until I deal with Euclid," I ordered him.
"Of course, Aaron-sama," he replied and grinned.
Bam!
"?!"
"You're coming with me! Let's play for a short while, [Son of the Morning Star]!"
God Serena appeared in front of Rizevim, grabbed his face and jumped away with him. He just did the 'Ichigo', heh…
[Heh.]
{Will both of you focus?!}
I shook my head and focused back on Euclid. His eyes were bloodshot for some reason. I gestured for him to explain himself.
"It's simple, really… thanks to Lapis-sama, and a few of our allies, we managed to replicate the [Boosted Gear], although it only has the basic abilities of a [Balance Break], [Boost] and [Transfer]," he explained.
That's a lot more than what he had in canon… how did they manage to make it without Ise's old body that was left in the Dimensional Gap? Well, whatever… I'll get my answers out of him once I do… 'that' to him.
"Balance Break," he muttered and then he was covered in a red and silver armor just like my regular Scale Mail. However, there was no announcement. "Come, Dual Dragon, I shall show you who has more mastery of this tool."
[Tool…?!]
'Calm down, Ddraig. Let's quickly end it—as the 'original' Red Dragon Emperor of this universe.'
[Right!]
I summoned my [Boosted Gear] and shouted, "Balance Break!"
[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!!!!] Ddraig shouted with more enthusiasm than normal.
However, instead of my regular form, I was already in my [Queen] form.
"Hmph. It matters not, whether you were in the normal Scale Mail, or your '[Queen]' form. I am superior to you!" he shouted and flew towards me! He had his devil wings out and—
The red gems around his silver-colored Scale Mail glowed indicating he was boosting his power. A total of 5 [Boosts] were made. He then threw a straight punch at me with his only arm left! I didn't attempt to dodge, block or deflect it.
Boom!
"That was pure idiocy, or did you give up? You do not deserve my sister, or that Norse woman, you weakling," he said with venom.
"I have faced stronger willed people than you, Euclid."
"Wha—?!"
[EX Impact Booster!]
Don! Boom!
"Agh—?!"
My right arm turned into my [Rook] and I punched Euclid in the face. He flew back down into the rubble and created another explosion. I wonder if he still has that mentality of 'I'm a devil, I'm better than humans!' type of thing going through his head…?
"Damn you, Dual Dragon!!!" he screamed and flew back at me again.
Don! Don! Don!
With his only arm left—he, in a rage started to throw punches at me. However, since he was already weakened by God Serena's earlier attack, he was already quite slow, so I didn't put much effort into dodging his attack.
But then he grinned backed away, and a magic circle appeared beside him. "Transfer," he muttered and the gems around his armor glowed. Suddenly, countless number of magic circles appeared all around me and he started to laugh.
"Die!!!!" he screamed and multiple attacks that were powered up by Euclid's [Boosted Gear Replica] hit me all at once.
Boooooooom!
"That should… wha—?! How?!" he screamed at me.
Once the smoke cleared up, I was fine. I didn't even say anything to him as my [Infinity] protected me. That should be enough…
[Partner, do it while in our armor, I want that asshole to know it happened while the god damn [Welsh Dragon] was present!] demanded Ddraig.
'Very well,' I replied. I appeared in front of Euclid surprising him—he tried to punch me, but I froze him on the spot. I then covered my right arm in a certain energy + [Rook]'s gauntlet and punched him straight in the stomach.
Euclid coughed up blood, and temporarily blacked out. There were several towers and homes around the Tepes' territory that he crashed through. Much like the Carmilla faction, they had the same architecture, but it was mostly night here and it also snowed lightly.
The 'thing' I did to Euclid should take effect after he leaves with Rizevim, or after we 'kill' their body doubles.
{What did you do, Aaron?} Albion asked.
'A little something… that will speed up the process of them making stupid decisions and going after me personally to try to stop it. You could say… I'm mentally torturing them after that attack,' I said to Albion and grinned.
{…What?}
[A small preview, Sir Albion~,] said Ddraig. [Euclid-dono will have constant nightmares of Partner cucking and NTR-ing him in his sleep. Grayfia and Rose will be 'taken' away from him in his dreams—also, his dick will decay and fall off—nothing can repair or fix it, you gotta ask Partner here. And, well, I guess being constantly killed in their dreams preventing any sleep can do it too. This will happen for Rizevim too.]
{You're a damn sadist, Aaron… but that will definitely work on them. If you constantly attack them mentally and emotionally, they will eventually crack and do something foolish. I see, so you're going this route with them, huh?}
'I will eventually do this to all of the members of the Khaos Brigade. Well, I'm hoping it works on all of them. If it doesn't, I'll just kill them. Anyway, let's finish off Euclid first.'
I teleported to where I saw him crash too, and he was still unconscious. I formed a ball of draconic energy and 'added' something to attack his soul too, and increased its power. Making him suffer physically too won't be too bad either.
I finally launched the ball at him and everything there was incinerated. Euclid Lucifer's body double was no more… and he should suffer permanent damage to his soul and entire body after this. All that's missing is the mental attacks he'll receive until we meet again…
In the distance, I could hear some explosions, so I followed it to find both God Serena and Rizevim engage in combat. However, it was clear that God Serena had the upper hand as Rizevim was bleeding profusely. The look of anger was also stretched across his entire face.
God Serena noticed me and quickly punched him on the face—sending him flying to another building and flew to me.
"Aaron-sama, I assume you have finished with Euclid?"
"Yeah, what about Rizevim? Did he say anything?" I asked and looked at Rizevim who got up slowly. It looked like he had stopped the bleeding on the side of his stomach, so he wouldn't die so quickly.
He's a lot more vulnerable in this world since they didn't make Ophis 'finite' and created 'Lilith', the spawn of Ophis, so he doesn't have her as his bodyguard. I do wonder if that Scias guy was supposed to be his temporary bodyguard?
"Uhyahyahyahyah~! If it isn't the famous Oppai Dragon-kun~! Yahooo~!" he waved to me cheerfully, anger still evident in his face. "I didn't think you'd send one of your subordinates after me~! Even more so, he's a rare one, you know? Being able to casually use dragon slayer magic~!"
He looked around and seemed to try to sense Euclid but sighed. "You already killed Euclid-chan~! To be for him, huh? Well, you'll probably see him again soon enough~! I should leave too, uhyahyahyahyah~ hey, hey, did you know? We already made friends with two other worlds~! They're really strong too~! I can't wait to use some of their techniques and abilities because of how strong they are, uhyahyahyah~"
That laugh of his is really annoying…
"You already know, right~? You probably informed everyone in your little alliance too~ that Trihexa (666) is real~ and yes, yes, we have him as our pet. He's quite cute you know? I think someone from the Evie tried to mate with it~! Uhyahyahyahyah~!"
He then grinned and pointed behind us and said, "My silly grandson might die you know? If he keeps recklessly charging at Scias-chan~! He's powerful, even more than me~ I would say he's on par with the God of Destruction, Shiva-kun~! Well, I would like to be the one to end him as his loving grandpa~!"
"He's fine, you don't need to worry," I replied and landed on the ground with God Serena.
"Ohohoh? Do you have another subordinate babysitting him~? My, my, little Vali is so spoiled~! Uhyahyahyahyah~! It see—"
Don! Bam!
I didn't want to hear him talk any longer, and hear that stupid laugh. Therefore, I punched him in the gut, and put the same curse on him, as I did with Euclid... minus the NTR part since I doubt he'd care. I just made his deaths more gruesome, and they were mostly carried out by dragons.
If Fafnir, the Dragon King was the one responsible for it in the original timeline, then I'll be the one to plague your dreams, Rizevim. From this day onward, you won't be able to have a good night's sleep… let's see how long you last this time around.
"Ddraig," I called out to my partner.
[Right.]
From my jewels came out multiple small red wyverns came out of my jewels of my armor and flew around me. Rizevim saw this and was surprised, but didn't have enough strength to stand up anymore. It seemed he had accepted his fate.
The [Dividing Wyvern Fairy] gathered around me and started to [Boost].
"Dual Dragon Emperor… even though I'm no longer one of the main leaders of the organizations, I still hold a significant amount of power and influence, especially after my father was revived. I can promise you this—soon, we along with the Evie and Phantasma will bring destruction to this world… especially to those Sacred Gear wielders—you guys, are the plague of this world," he said tiredly.
[Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!]
[[[[[[[[[[Transfer!]]]]]]]]]]
40 boosts later, they transferred the power to me. It seemed overkill, and it was. I looked at God Serena and he nodded. He appeared in front of Rizevim who didn't say anything anymore, nor did he struggle. Nevertheless, he started to laugh in an annoying manner.
"Uhyahyahyahyahyahyahyah! Just you wait!! We're targeting everyone! The five clans, their families, friends, all the factions, pantheons and anyone close to you!!" he screamed at me after being thrown into the air by God Serena.
During that, the chest and stomach portion of my armor opened, along with my wings and cannons for my [Queen] form. The [Boosts] transferred to both of them, and they were quickly charged up. If I can do this with [Infinite Blaster] and [Longinus Smasher], while in [Diabolos Dragon God], why not in my [Queen] form with my [X Blaster]?
"And I'll kill all of you when you do," I replied calmly. "Do it."
[Longinus Smasher + EX Blast Booster!!!]
Zuuuuuuubaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!! Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!
"Uhyahyahyahyahyahyahyahyahyah...…!!!!!!" The laughter of Rizevim Livan Lucifer echoed through the area as he was consumed by a large draconic beam.
The combined attack of Longinus Smasher and EX Blast Booster tore through the sky, past the earth's atmosphere and into space and beyond our solar system. I'm sure this phenomenon will be talked about in the media around the world for the next few years. The force of the attack also shook the earth, and slightly pushed the planet back. However, I along with Cúntóir moved it back to its original place.
Cúntóir: Answer: The other planets near Earth were damaged, as well as any others that your attack passed through. I have already repaired them.
'Thank you,' I said to her and exited my Scale Mail.
"What about this territory, Aaron-sama?" God Serena asked as he came back to me.
"I'll repair it later. There are still survivors after all, and they may want to keep on using their original home. Though I will have a talk with them later, but first—"
Doooooooooooom! Rumble! Rumble!
"It seems like that soldier of the Phantasma has started to take things seriously. I'll go take care of him."
The entire area shook as a large amount of power erupted from the spot where Vali, Akaza and that Scias person were at.
…
Check the chapter comments to see images of certain characters.
