The wind gently blew across the large grassy field at its whims- flowers bloomed as the warm sun hovered above the clouds casting away the darkness easily. Lying against an oak wood tree stood on the outskirts of the fields was a brown-haired teenager with his eyes gently closed. He took a soft breath as he enjoyed the shade and tranquility; this was one of only a few areas where he could enjoy the peace.
Truth is, a war had been ongoing for as long as he could remember which rendered the concept of "love" fiction. Angels from the golden Heavens fought with their Fallen counterparts. Both were also engaged in battles with the Devils, of which he belonged to. He was no ordinary Devil; he was the Colonel Akihito-Raijin, a descendant of the Japanese Shinto God of Lightning, Raijin.
He was a treasured possession of the Devil faction, and whilst not a Devil (not even partly), he offered his services up in exchange for asylum in the Underworld as he was being hunted in his homeland for comitting many taboos and was subsequently branded the Shinto equivalent of a Stray Devil or Church Heretic. The thing is, his "taboos" actually made it easier for the humans. It wasn't his fault the Gods didn't want the humans being able to protect themselves from the supernatural.
And thus, as part of the blood oath he signed, he was to provide his vast magical power to the Devils whenever they needed it. Akihito was not a push-over though; he knew they didn't need him most of the time, and thus he demanded his own land no smaller than two square kilometers with which he had total judgement over. They reluctantly accepted, but only after he threatened to join the Angels instead. Almost immediately after he was given his own land (which was already hard to find considering the greed of the Devils), he set up his own magical barriers which gave a near-fatal surge of lightning when touched by an entity not strong enough to withstand the electricity.
Akihito's eyes fluttered open when a magic circle with the Lucifer insignia appeared a few meters besides the tree he was lying against. His fists clenched slightly as not one, but two Devils appeared.
"Colonel. We need to talk... now." the white-haired Satan said as he stepped out of the magic circle, followed by his wife. He approached Akihito and handed him a single piece of paper containing just two bold paragraphs. Akihito stood up and took the file off of Lucifer's hands, reading it as the Satan watched.
Once done, he handed the file back, "I see. Lucifer-sama, for once in my life I'm actually willing to help you... regardless of our agreement."
The white-haired leader eliminated the file making it forever inaccessible, and looked at the descendant of the Shinto Thunder God.
"I want you at my palace in an hour sharp with as many soldiers as you can muster. If you don't come, I shall terminate the agreement and send you back to the Shinto faction. Understood?" he said firmly as he turned away followed shortly by his wife.
Akihito nodded. He didn't need to say a word because he already knew Lucifer had blackmailed him into submission. He did want to help but he didn't want to gather every single last one of his soldiers up in a hurried soon-to-be conflict. What Lucifer had demanded was more of a deathwish rather than support... what he wanted was for Akihito to crush a newly-created faction which had already gained enough power to rival the leaders.
He didn't directly like the Satans as their rule was far more authoritarian than even the Shinto Gods themselves. They had total control over almost everything, but at the same time he liked them for accepting the agreement on his terms. Akihito wasn't powerful enough to equal a Satan, let alone Lucifer himself and thus he knew it was serious when a faction could nearly match the strength of all the leaders combined.
'Ugh. That damned Lucifer needs to learn his place. He sounds like no one has ever said no to him in his life... spoiled brat.' he thought, snapping his fingers and teleporting in an instant to his estate. Opening the door he was surprised to see everything was a mess; drawers were overturned, furniture ripped, windows shattered. Clothes had been tossed around resembling the appearance of fabric mauled by a wild animal.
"The fuck happened here?!" he yelled. He usually kept his house clean but he had two maids to look after it whilst he was gone. He slammed the door shut, almost ripping it off its hinges and ran upstairs to his bedroom, staining the wooden floor with his muddy shoes whilst not caring for the glass shards digging into the boots' leather.
He noticed the wooden door had what looked like claw and scorch marks. He knew his first maid known as Amaya Yukimora possessed fire magic, but it wasn't very powerful. It was similar in strength to a Mid-Class Devil and surely wasn't powerful enough to combat the creature who had ripped into the softwood of the door. He kicked what was left of the door over and walked inside, noting that there were bloodstains on his bed sheets. Thorny, jet black hairs lay around the floor, and some were even on his bed in his maid's blood.
"Amaya! I swear to the Gods this better not be a prank!" as his usually-bright-yellow bolts of lighting turned a bright red in colour, arcing off his finger tips to a distance of about half a meter. The whites of his eyes faded from their normal colour to an almost pitch black shade, his irises forming into two red rings as the lightning grew in intensity. Unlike normal masters he had a close relationship with his maids and treated them as close friends. They did some of his chores whilst he bought them everything they needed, ranging from normal equipment to entire furniture and housing.
Suddenly he heard the faint sounds of muffled crying coming from his closet where he usually kept his clothes. Almost as quick as light itself he flashed over to the closet and punched a gaping hole in it with ease, breaking the magical barriers he had set up on it (as it contained his very expensive battle uniforms). He was about to fry the lifeform inside it to a crisp until he noticed it was his other maid, Harumi Kawaguchi. She was a very beautiful, petite blonde girl about seventeen years old biologically but almost two-hundred years old chronologically.
At the sight of her master breaking through the barriers and leaving a burnt hole the shape of his fist where he'd punched she started shaking. She had never seen Akihito this angry; the bolts of lightning arcing from his fists didn't particularly help the fact either. Slowly he came to, his eyes returned to their normal colour and the lightning shortened drastically as they also went from a bright red colour to their usual shade of yellow.
"H-harumi.. It's me, don't worry... Are you okay? And more importantly, where the fuck is Amaya?" he said, completely stopping the electricity coming out of his fingers. He swung open the closet doors and held out a hand, to which she grabbed it and stood up, carefully making sure not to step on his battle uniform.
She stood up and quickly ran into him, making the two fall into a hug, her tears soaking the casual attire of her master. He patted her head softly, reassuring her nothing would hurt her again from that point. She slowly lifted her head out of his uniform, and began to speak, "M-master..."
Before she could continue, Akihito interrupted her, "No. Call me Akihito, please. From now on, I am to be referred to as that. You're my friend, not my servant. Understood?". She nodded and continued her sentence.
"Akihito-san, I was cleaning your bed sheets and the floor until I heard this horrible growling noise coming from downstairs, sounding much like a demonic Youkai or a wild, evil dog...", she said, wiping her tears and furthering her statement, "I quickly ran into the closet of yours and started peeping through the small gap in between the doors.
"That was when Amaya-san ran up here and summoned her magic, trying to stop the creature from getting through the door. I couldn't do anything; I was too scared to even move a single muscle. S-she... jumped on to the bed as she could no longer fend off the beast." She said, her tears returning as she recalled the sight. She stuttered more and more as she approached the part explaining what happened to Amaya.
"Then, she started firing balls of fire to try and burn the beast, but they ended up burning the door instead. After that, I closed my eyes as I heard screams of pain and terror as the beast started clawing at her, eventually either she got knocked out or... died..."
Akihito clenched his fist, "She can't be dead... I will hold on to the hope that she was captured and taken away by the so-called beast instead of being killed by it. After all, there is no body, just blood stains and ripped fabric."
Akihito let go of Harumi, "Well, at least you're alive... That's good." He walked away back to the closet and picked up the cleanest battle uniform he had, "Harumi."
"Yes Mast- Akihito-san?", correcting herself before he interrupted her again.
"I want you to have this, it's a talisman." he said as he opened a personal pocket dimension and reached in to it, eventually retrieving a very-old looking bright red ruby, outlined by solid wood enchanted with the seal of the Gods. He gently placed it into her now-open hands and began speaking, "Lucifer has demanded I lead a charge against some rebels on the outskirts of Lucifaad."
"I shall get dressed and lead as many soldiers as I can. I'll be on the battlefield, if it is an absolute - and I mean absolute - emergency, you are to hold the talisman and press your thumb into the ruby gemstone. If done correctly, it will place a magical barrier around your very body much stronger than the barriers on the closet doors. This can only be applied once in a lifetime, so you can only use it if your life is in danger." Akihito said.
She nodded and placed the talisman around her neck, "Thank you Akihito-san. I promise Amaya-san will be okay, just don't die on her... or me."
He smiled making her blush and set his clothes on a drawer besides his shower. She quickly rushed out so as to avoid certain sights, jumping over the door that had been kicked down and half-ripped up by Akihito and the beast. Akihito chuckled slightly, grabbing a towel to dry himself afterwards and placing it besides his folded-up uniform. Minutes later, he was stark naked in the shower letting the warm water run down his muscular body.
He ran a hand through his soft brown hair, loving the warmth. Suddenly he blanked out in thought, pondering as to where Amaya went. He was glad he could save at least Harumi but he really liked Amaya too. Admittedly she wasn't as stunningly pretty as Harumi, but that wasn't what he cared about. She had always been a great maid and the fact that she risked her life trying to fend off a beast much more powerful than her just goes to say how much she liked her job.
A few seconds later he was awoke by a soft knock at the door, "Akihito-san? You've been in there for quite a while, are you alright?" a voice said from behind the door.
"Woah! Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking. Go and enjoy the estate if you want; it's quite peaceful by the trees and flowers." he replied over the sound of pouring shower-water splashing everywhere.
"Hai! Thank you, Akihito-san!" she said, running off again but this time outside the house so she could enjoy herself. He lightly smiled; he knew she loved peace and quiet just like him and even more so nature. Letting her outside and excusing her from her duties was a dream come true to her.
A few minutes later, the shower tap was off and he was getting dressed. He looked at his watch, 'Fuck. Only got forty minutes left before he wants me and my men there...'
Akihito hurried up and then walked outside of his room. He sent out a magic circle which instantly alerted all four-thousand of his trustable men, inviting them to his estate. Usually he could get more, except most of them were fighting against the other Factions occupied in the Great War. He knew it was more important to have those men guard their half of the Underworld rather than wasting them on a petty little group inside the borders.
Almost immediately Devils of many different Classes and families started gathering just outside his house in an orderly fashion. He walked outside and hurried outside the broken front door to greet his soldiers.
"Afternoon comrades, as you all know I'm Colonel Akihito-Raijin. It's easier to just call me Colonel. In thirty minutes we will teleport to Lucifer-sama's palace in the center of Lucifaad. I demand the highest level of respect you can give to both Lucifer-sama and I." he began after waiting for all four-thousand of his men to show up.
Every soldier there nodded in agreement, "Now. Before we teleport, is there any being in this entire group that does not want to attend? There will be many hundreds of deaths, and if you aren't prepared to accept this I don't want you under my leadership." A few seconds passed, and just to make sure no one really did disagree, he hovered over the group and asked again and just as last time, no one refused.
"Good." Akihito said, teleporting in an instant to his former position, "We shall begin the teleportation now. Remember, you are not to disrespect any of our leaders even a bit. If you do, you should expect a subsequent annihilation from them. Now, stay still."
Akihito smashed his fist into the ground creating an electric-arc tree spreading through the grass, connecting to every soldier there. He snapped his fingers and in an instant everyone the tree had branched into was teleported just outside the beautiful, marble palace of Lucifer.
Instinctively, everyone got into the best formation they could as they watched their leader step outside his palace, an evil grin present on his skin. Akihito teleported a few metres infront of him and began speaking.
"Lucifer-sama, I brought roughly four-thousand, battle-hardened troops. All of them trust their superiors with their lives. I couldn't bring any more as the rest are being used to guard the conflict-ridden borders and to protect us against other harmful entities." he said, as the soldiers behind him smiled due to the fact that their colonel put his trust in them.
Lucifer looked at Akihito dead in the eye, "Colonel... are you sure these troops will be enough? Keep in mind this faction is similar in power to me and the rest of the leaders combined."
Akihito paused and thought about it for a second, "I'm pretty confident. In the unlikely case that they win, I shall withdraw with as many troops as possible and mount a defensive position as far away from Lucifaad's center as possible." he reassured the Satan Leader.
Lucifer's wife walked outside the palace with a young boy who looked no less than thirteen years old. He followed shortly behind her with an ominous grin resembling that of the leader standing right in front of Akihito. The Colonel's eyes widened a bit, a gesture that Lucifer quickly picked up on. The leader waited for the woman and her son to get to them.
"This, Colonel, is my son Rizevim. He's what I call a Super Devil, a very rare breed of Devils with power greatly exceeding that of even me. I'm currently aware of three Super Devils: A man known as Sirzechs Gremory, another on the same side called Ajuka Astaroth and my son Rizevim Lucifer." Akihito looked down at the boy who flashed a cheeky grin.
He knelt down and held a gloved hand out to the young Super Devil, "Nice to meet you, Rizevim-kun." to which the boy held on to it, returning the handshake. Lucifer and his wife were happy Akihito was instinctively kind, even though he didn't need to be.
"Same to you, Akihito-Raijin-san." the boy replied, letting go of the Colonel's hand.
Akihito stood back up and talked to Lucifer again, "He's a good son. Congratulations on the birth, unfortunately I hadn't known of his existence and thus I could not congratulate you two earlier."
"It's fine, we didn't want to reveal his existence yet. Regardless, his power is roughly similar to mine and will continue to grow until he reaches his prime once matured. He shall be joining your soldiers in the battle against the rebels." Lucifer noted, smirking at Akihito's stunned grin.
"Rizevim. You are under the direct and total control of Colonel Akihito-san. Understood?" the leader said. The boy nodded and was about to go to the rest of the troops before his mother pulled him in for a hug which he embarrassedly blushed at.
"Mom! I'm not eight, you know!" Rizevim said as he struggled to break out of the iron grip his mother had on him.
"I don't care. You are and will always be my son whom I ever so dearly love." she said in a serious tone before looking at Akihito, "Akihito-Raijin-san, please look after him; his life is critical to my feelings."
Akihito nodded, "Understood, Mrs. Lucifer. I shall not let him die." he stated, making Mrs. Lucifer thank him. He turned around to face his soldiers, "Hear that lads?! Do not even think about letting Rizevim-kun die or I shall personally punish you severely."
"With that said, let's go." Akihito said as he touched the ground, a tree branching into Rizevim's legs. He snapped his fingers and subsequently the two were teleported instantly to the Colonel's former position, except facing the soldiers.
He turned around and yelled, "Farewell Mr and Mrs. Lucifer!" before once again doing the same teleportation ritual, appearing on the outskirts of Lucifaad just like he'd intended, the compounds of the rebels less than a mile away.
"Alright, men! Listen up! I want the scouts to travel around the edges of the compounds, preferably without being noticed. Report back any significant information. Go!" he yelled.
"Furthermore, I want the more powerful of you on the frontlines taking the force of the attacks. Your main role is to defend the weaker ones and, if possible, launch a counter-attack. Everyone ultimately will advance, with support on the edges. Rizevim, although you are the most powerful here, I want you back with the weakers ones as I don't want you dead. For everybody here, kill as many of the rebels as you can, regardless of their relationship to you."
The scouts quickly found intel without being noticed and reported it back quickly, allowing Akihito to adjust his plans to support the intel.
After some changes, everyone set off as followed. The more strategic even tried some flanks and ambushes.
Akihito quickly summoned wings of lightning and flew around at supersonic speeds electrocuting the weakest rebels with lethal surges of energy, burning them to a crisp. He heard the cries of his men and others as they all attacked each other as planned. The Ultimate-class Devils of his easily defended the rest from almost every rebel there except the most powerful ones. They launched counter-attacks which wiped out hundreds of rebels easily.
He stopped mid-flight when he saw Rizevim taking on a Satan-Class rebel, and just as the unnamed Devil was about to conjure a massive blast of energy Rizevim snapped the full-grown man's neck easily and fired the signature Lucifer magic at the Devil, wiping him out easily. Akihito was shocked but not for long as he too found himself surrounded by many High-Class Devils.
The yellow lightning of his turned from yellow to ruby red again as his eyes started changing to their black-with-red-rings appearance, meaning he was starting to activate his massive reserves of power. The High-Class Devils tried throwing attacks but they all disintegrated on contact with his red lightning.
He effortlessly and flawlessly executed each one before they could even react. Their corpses fell to the ground as he let out a truly-demonic laugh. His lightning started arcing multiple metres through the air as the red intensified. He cracked his neck and watched the rebels fighting his men. He noticed Rizevim was easily killing even Ultimate-Class Devils. 'I guess that's the true power of the Lucifer bloodline... Jesus.'
His head winced in pain as he realized simply saying the name of angelic beings reacted with his evil body, but started laughing again. Devils everywhere turned around as he flew at hypersonic speeds effortlessly through the air, forming blades of energy which cut through the flesh of the devils easily. That was when he was stopped by an immensely powerful barrier of red magic. He was about to obliterate the user when he noticed it was the Super Devil Sirzechs Gremory, one of the leaders of the rebels.
"Not so fast, Akihito-Raijin." he calmly said as he readied a ball of destruction which attracted his body. Akihito cursed Sirzechs, but knew he wouldn't let himself die there. He surged the matter around him, including Sirzechs' magic. The magic turned jet black as it turned into lightning which Akihito absorbed.
Sirzechs didn't know Akihito was this strong, but he wasn't taken back. Akihito was barely at the power of Lucifer himself, let alone a Super Devil many times the power of Lucifer. He cracked his fingers and started engaging in hand-to-hand combat which left the both of them bruised. Their injuries recovered as Akihito took a breath and spoke up in an ominous tone, "HAH. THIS IS FUN. BUT IT MUST COME TO AN END... SIRZECHS GREMORY, DIE!" he said as he used the last of his magic reserves to form the biggest bolt of electricity he'd ever formed in his life.
It arced around like crazy, branches reaching several hundred meters high. Thunder clouds circled overhead rumbling away as his lightning grew in intensity even further, even going from a red colour to the highly-feared jet black shade - a mode which could kill even Gods, except it quickly drained his vast reserves.
Sirzechs gulped and formed a similar ball of destruction which ate away all matter, except it wasn't working. Devils everywhere stopped fighting to see the two clashing in the air. The jet black lightning started clipping to Sirzechs' Destruction Magic, and neither did anything. It was as if the magic neutralised itself on contact. Akihito could no longer hold on and could feel his reserves crumbling. Rizevim went from behind Sirzechs and hit him with a Satan-class attack which cancelled the ball of destruction he was forming. Sirzechs started cursing and was about to activate his True Destruction Form when he noticed Akihito had let go of his lightning.
Instantaneously the lightning started ripping through devils everywhere, arcing into them with voltage and amperage strong enough to break away the atomic bonds keeping the molecules in their bodies together. Suddenly, Ajuka teleported to Sirzechs and teleported him to a secure bunker underneath the mountains. He was just in time as the lightning killed everything in its path. Rizevim teleported away too to avoid it, and was also successful. But others weren't so lucky. Every soldier, belonging to both the rebels and Akihito was wiped out and practically eliminated from existence.
Akihito fell from the sky as all of his energy was used up, fainting in the process. Rizevim was about to save him but Ajuka got to him first, teleporting Akihito away into a secure prison in the same bunker Sirzechs was held. Rizevim cursed the rebels and flew back to Lucifaad's center to report to his father and mother.
"Ajuka. You didn't need to save me, you know? I could've destroyed him easily..." Sirzechs said, frowning that he didn't get to use his full power.
Ajuka took a sip of coffee and then focused his gaze on Sirzechs, then to a comatose Akihito, "Quite definitely, it's just you would have had to activate your true form. Need I remind you that you cannot control yourself in that form?"
Sirzechs grunted gloomfully and began to speak, "Did you not see him? That lightning of his wiped out all of his and our men. Only the Satan-class Devils survived, and even they had serious injuries."
"I saw. It was quite an attack, I've seen it before used in Shinto Mythology. It's a form of God-Slaying Lightning used by the original Raijin. As you saw, Akihito-san is merely a descendant of Raijin-kami, meaning he has large reserves but nowhere near as much raw power. It's what caused him to faint since he had to use the last of his magic reserves."
Sirzechs then looked back at the Colonel, stood clad in a shredded battle uniform. Very small bolts barely a centimeter were being released from his fists, signifying the reserves were regenerating albeit slowly. "Ajuka, you see that don't you?"
Ajuka focused his eyes on Akihito's fists amd chuckled, "It's nothing much. It's barely enough to kill a normal human. It's just a sign that his reserves are regenerating." he said as he continued further, "More so, this bunker is strong enough to contain Gods. Even if he launched that same attack again it'd only break a few inches of rock before it reformulated."
Sirzechs smiled before glancing down at the stone floor, "Regardless, how must I explain to the rest of my men and the other leaders that barely a single soul survived that attack?"
"You won't have to. I already did- why do you think I have all this paperwork on my desk?" he said as he held up a few files containing many paragraphs of black ink and an Astaroth insignia on the bottom right corner.
The red-haired leader looked at his friend and noted, "Ajuka, it's fairly obvious we will defeat the Satans soon..."
"Yes, and?" the green-haired Devil replied quite rudely.
"I was just thinking, once we win this war and successfully repel the Angels and their fallen counterparts, how will we reshape this unholy land?" he asked as he looked at Ajuka, "Furthermore, excluding what's left of this Faction, the Devils here are all loyal to Lucifer and the other Satans."
Ajuka chuckled, "Aha! That's where you're wrong, Sirzechs. The constant bickering between the leaders and the Great War killing countless members of every race means that the majority of the Devils in this entire Underworld are actually against the continued leadership of the Satans; we are the peoples' last hope at ending the tyranncial rule of their current leaders."
He cleared his throat before continuing himself, "We, the New Satan Faction - under the assumed leadership of you and I, will defeat them and revolutionize the community we grew up in... When I'm in rule along with you, Serafall and Falbium, I shall see to it that we turn the race of Devils into a modernized, happy race not fueled on the greed that started this war."
Sirzechs was astonished, this was the first time he'd seen Ajuka so deeply care about such a task. He paused for a few seconds and smiled, "Ajuka, I couldn't say any less myself. These Satans are going down, and we shall establish ourselves as the real rulers of this Underworld. We will further advance this place until even the Angels are jealous - and that's saying a lot."
Ajuka nodded before summoning a green magic circle around his paperwork. It engulfed the paper in a green aura before disappearing away to an unnamed location, ready to be received by others. He stood up and walked outside the room where Akihito was held, leaving Sirzechs to do his own stuff.
Almost immediately the leader got up out of his chair and sat down by the enchanted cage holding the Colonel. "You know, Akihito, I don't know if you're hearing this but you're a pretty decent fighter. If Ajuka hadn't teleported me you quite well might have killed me. It's been a while since I've had to actually summon my magic to protect myself. Thank you, but please understand that we won't be letting you go for a long time. You're an asset to us and won't be released until at least after the Satans are out of power."
He frowned and then got up to do his own tasks, away from Akihito. On the way out he took Ajuka's cup of coffee which he had left on the table by accident, "Silly Ajuka."
"What do you mean he was captured?!" said a white-haired Satan as he smashed his fist down on a metal table, denting it with ease.
"I told you, Father-sama, Akihito-san was captured by the enemy after using this really scary demonic form." the young Rizevim said, remembering the appearance of the Colonel's form.
Lucifer's entire body started emanating an unholy red aura before his wife went to calm him down, "Rizevim-kun, did anyone else survive?"
"I don't think so, Mother-sama. The attack wiped out everything except the Super Devils, me and a few other Satan-class Devils who barely managed to survive..." Rizevim quickly backed away when he saw his Father getting even more furious.
"Rizevim... You're telling me the bastard wiped out all of his soldiers just so he could kill those damned leaders?" he said with a deeper voice this time.
The white-haired boy gulped, "Uhh... Yes. Sirzechs would have killed him otherwise."
"No... That's bullshit!" the leader yelled as his aura got frighteningly strong, "I refuse to believe Sirzechs managed to threaten his life! He's not a Colonel for nothing!"
Rizevim frowned, "Father-sama, you understand Sirzechs is a Super Devil in his prime, right? Not only that, but Ajuka managed to teleport Sirzechs away and capture Akihito at the same time. If Sirzechs hadn't had been moved I'm sure that lightning would've vaporised him - it looked that powerful."
"Rizevim, get out of here please. I need to talk to your mother privately." he replied.
The young boy hadn't even bothered to respond, he just quickly ran away to avoid his Father's wrath.
Thanks for reading peeps, first story in a while. I made this chapter pretty long for my standards. Oh, and I hope you each had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year! Enjoy it!
As usual if there's absolutely anything you don't like submit a review constructively. I got a new keyboard recently (super clicky) and thus there may be some grammar or spelling mistakes here and there. If you like it please favourite this story or submit a review; you don't have to it's just writers love getting feedback!
Kinda lost on where to start the next chapter from, so just send me a message with any ideas you may like implemented.
Once again, thanks for reading!
Cya! c: