I have been wanting to write something like this forever- so I did. Enjoy.
Chrono the Sinner, a devil of the highest caliber, watched silently in his childlike form as his partner Rosset Christopher knelt with the other sisters, brothers, and everyone else from the New York branch of the fairy new exorcist organization known as the Order of Marie Magdalene listening to the branch leader Father Remington as he read from their Holy book.
Chrono sighed, most would assume it was due to having to listen to the Holy scripters and the pain it must cause him, but such things had little effect on a devil of his level. No the thing that irritated him was his involuntary silence about the truth of his partner's god, for you see no matter how much they prayed to Him or praised His name, He would never answer them, He would never even hear them. Not because He did not exist, no He did exist… once upon a time anyway.
Yes, their god the God of the Bible- or as he called Him the God of Abraham considering his affiliation with other texts- was long dead.
It was the greatest secret of Heaven, known only to the Seraph and a select few high ranking members of the Grigori and Devil factions, the only reason he knew is because he was there when the god was killed, along with the first Satan, the original Lucifer.
He had been young then, a literal teenager who had no right walking the same battleground as beings as strong as the God of Heaven and the First Devil Lucifer, but what he had lacked in power in those days he had made up for in unmatched skill and control of his demonic energy; allowing him to more than hold his own against all but the most powerful Angels and Fallen. By the Satan he had even been able to draw blood from Michel and Metatron the two strongest warriors in all the Heavens before he was defeated by the same men. If he was honest with himself, he would admit he had only survived that day through sheer luck.
Just as Metatron had raised his Blessed spear for the finishing blow, Lucifer had scored a lucky blow on his divine counterpart laming one of His arms and effectively securing his victory.
Chrono remembered it well.
He was flat on his back in a shallow pool of his own blood, his right arm and leg broken beyond any sort of usefulness, his face covered with blood that seeped from a deep gash above his left eye while the rest of him was littered with cuts, scrapes, and bruises along with another, deeper gash just below his ribs that he was desperately trying to stem the bleeding from with his one good arm. 'So this is it huh?' Chrono resignedly asked himself. At the very least he was granted an honorable death, and at the hands of Heaven's greatest no less. Chrono smirked at the armored man above him, a man who's only wound was a shallow cut along his neck between his helmet and chest plate, a single drop of blood leaking from the wound.
"I must admit that I am impressed devil." The Archangel told his defeated adversary, his voice echoing with his might, "For one not even two decades old to have spilt my blood, even if only a single drop, is nothing short of miraculous. Of course I would expect nothing less from the one who was able to give my brother his first and only scar." The Voice of God continued.
"Spare me your hollow words angle," Chrono had shot back, "I know my accomplishments better than even you, there is no need to remind me of them, nor of my failures." He spat bitterly. "Just finish me so we can be done with this."
The golden winged warrior above him was not effected by his acid tone, or his words, "Take comfort in the knowledge that you will not be forgotten young one. Tell me, what is your name?"
"I am Chrono, spawn of none." He told him.
"A bastard son then. A pity. A warrior of your caliber should bear a title far greater than that wouldn't you say?"
"You are the scribe here Metatron, not I. If a title is to be given you are the one that marks the records." Chrono rebuked uncaringly. At this point he really just wanted the angle to kill him and be done with it. Its voice was painful for a devil like him to listen to.
The archangel seemed to think for the briefest of moments before speaking again, "You speak the truth, devil… You are born from darkness and have cut down hundreds if not thousands of Heaven's angles and just as many Fallen in this accursed war. You have scard the body of an archangel and drew blood from another. All great sins, sins greater than most of your kind may ever commit. Yes, let the records show this for all time. You are the Sinner among sinners, Chrono!" The angle declared, lifting his gold and ivory spear high, poised to strike the newly christened Sinner of sinners, the blood of devils and fallen alike dripping from its tip.
Chrono only laughed. Here he was, broken and bloodied after getting his demonic ass handed to him on a gold encrusted platter and this was when he was finally given a title that he could have carried with pride? He had lived his short life being treated like the dirt his fellow devils trod upon, with no great power or even a family name he had been nothing but one more bastard child among countless others throughout the Underworld, but now in his final moments he was given a title that named him to be the greatest of his kind by none other than the highest of angels. Truly fate had a wicked sense of humor.
However, before the archangel could deal the finishing blow to the downed devil an agonized scream pierced the previously still air. Both supernatural beings' heads quickly snapped around to face the source of the cry, only to be met with a site that would forever be carved into their minds.
There on top of a small rise surrounded by the lifeless bodies of their followers were the bloody forms of Lucifer and Yahweh (*) the first devil standing above his old master exhausted and covered in wounds both big and small, but still standing with his bastard sword held high. Which is more than could be said about his opponent who he had forced down onto His knees clutching His nearly severed arm as blood gushed from the now useless appendage, His gladius laying several feet away, just out of reach.
"NO!" Metatron yelled before taking off at his fastest speed in a desperate attempt to stop his former brother from killing his father, even casting aside his own weapon in an attempt to gain more speed.
'Fool…' Chrono thought, 'even if he can make it in time, without his spear he cannot hope to stop Lord Lucifer's sword.' However, it did not seem like Metatron realized that, or perhaps he just didn't care.
What came next happened so fast that Chrono almost missed it despite his supernatural senses. The Sephirah of Keter took every ounce of his angelic power he could grasp in his panicked state of mind and focused it into his twelve wings, and released it all in a single burst propelling him forward like an arrow from a bow (**). This action proved to be foolhardy however, as while it had the desired effect of allowing Metatron to make his way between the two fighting Biblical Lords it left him vulnerable having taken all the power that he typically used to shield himself in his race against Lucifer's still falling blade.
A blade currently filled to the preverbal brim with enough demonic energy to kill even the strongest of gods if given the chance. The Sephirah's armor never stood a chance.
The blood stained ebony blade crumbled Metatron's magically forged armor like cheap paper before cutting into the angel's flesh, ripping through skin and bone as easily as the air around them diagonally bisecting the now dying warrior from shoulder to hip in a single strike.
Chrono could not see Yahweh's face, but he knew that if he could he would have seen an expression of pure horror and despair as the god watched His son die before His eyes in order to save His life.
Enraged by Lucifer's actions God gathered His power into His functioning arm and molded it into a spear of pure light- the typical weapon of the angels and fallen that did not have the luxury of having more powerful permanent weapons- and thrust it past Metatron's falling body piercing the shocked Lucifer through his own chest right where his heart lay.
For a moment all was still, for what seemed like an eternity Chrono watched the scene before his eyes. Metatron, the highest of the angels, was dead. Lucifer, the leader and most powerful of the devils, was soon to fallow. And Yahweh, one of if not the most powerful god of any pantheon was crippled and drained of all but the smallest wisps of his once massive reserves. It would be a miracle if He survived to see the next sunrise.
Despite this the immortal slowly rose to His feet, His golden blood flowing like rivers from His countless wounds, and cast His all-seeing gaze across the battlefield around Him, taking in the sight of all those who had died on the blood soaked plain with sorrow, be they angel, human, or even devil the god silently wept for them all.
For several minutes they remained like that, Chrono unable to move his slowly healing body and God looking sorrowfully across the scared land.
'… How long is he going to stand there crying?' Chrono asked himself, 'If the idiot finds Gabriel soon she might be able to save his sorry ass. Just standing around feeling sorry for everyone like that is sealing his death warrant.'
Still, the god stood there beside the bodies of his fallen sons in silence, head bowed in respect, sorrow, or thought, Chrono could not tell. Then after what seemed like a century later God raised his head and slowly brought his working hand up in front of his chest positioned in such a way that if he could have moved his other arm as well his hands would have been together in prayer and began to gather the last wisps of his power, bringing it to the surface.
And more.
'What the Hell!?' how was he doing this? Chrono had just sensed the deity's power mere moments ago and it had been lower than the average low class devil, but now it felt like it did when he had first started his battle against Lucifer. It made no sense! Despite what His mortal followers would have liked to believe, Yahweh was not all powerful, nor was He truly omnipresent, all He had was immense reserves of holy energy and an unmatched ability with scying type magics, it should be impossible for Him to draw upon more power than He had especially in His near dead state.
Yet there He was, surrounded by a halo of golden light so bright and all-consuming that it was almost like His body was part of it. 'Wait, it is part of it! The bastards converting his body into energy for some kind of ritual!'
Chrono had not known it at the time, but what he had witnessed was the creation of the artifacts known as 'Sacred Gears'. God had used the last of his power, along with the power that made up his godly body to enact one last miracle upon the Earth. He had spread His power to the farthest corners of the world, into every holy ground of every pantheon and found many of the strongest and most dangerous beings in existence, and sealed them into different relics that He had then implanted into the souls of new born humans and part humans. Then, deeming this not enough He forged countless more from the power of mages, devils, angels, and even more of His own power to create 'weaker' Gears and implanted those as well.
But this act came at a high cost. Without the energy to perform such an outstanding feat God had converted His very flesh into mystic energy, something only natural born immortal beings can do. This had given Him the power He had needed to create the Sacred Gears, but it had turned His body into dust.
'If Rosette were to find out that her god had died…' Chrono violently shook his head to banish such thoughts. While he did not hold romantic feelings for his partner- despite what many of their colleagues seemed to think- he did see her as his closest and dearest friend and did not wish to see her hurt, physically or emotionally.
Looking down at his now clenched hands Chrono felt a wave of self-hatred worm its way into his heart. If he had not been so foolish back then as to side with Lucifer and instead fought alongside heaven as he did now he could have saved God that day, he could have prevented so much suffering both on his part and on others… He could be with her…
Shaking his head again, Chrono looked around the congregation he was in taking in the faces of those he had worked and fought with for several years. The semi immortal Father Remington was still reading from the Bible beside the elderly Sister Kate and the crazed inventor known as the Elder, his partner Rosette was sitting beside the young apostle Azmaria Hendric and the busty Jewel Witch Satella Harvenhei along with the other members of the Order. It was peaceful, Aion had been killed just weeks before, Chrono had reclaimed his horns that served as his astral organs and with it his full demonic energy that had grown to rival that of the first Lucifer as the years past.
'I'd like to see Michel try to take me on now.' Chrono smirked. With his now immense power along with his skill in combat and still exceptional control of his energy he could very well take the place of a Satan- heck he had been offered the title after the Underworld's civil war where he had gotten most of his over one hundred million kills of his own kind, though obviously he had turned it down. After all, if he held the title of Satan he would never have the chance to be with his love…
'Damn it Chrono, stop thinking about her! You haven't even seen each other since the reign of the Old Satan before the civil war so stop torturing yourself over her!' Chrono angrily thought to himself.
"I'm not interrupting anything am I?!" A jovial voice rang out accompanied by the banging of the churches main doors.
'No fucking way…'
"Sir, we are in the middle of Sunday mass, if you would please be quite until we are finished-" Remington began before the eternally youthful Father was cut off by the intruder.
"Oh don't worry, this will only take a minute. You see I'm here to extend a special invitation to an old friend." The new comer continued.
Chrono chose this moment to make himself known, "We are not friends Azazel," Chrono began ignoring the gasps from the others in the hall at the name of the leader of the fallen angels, "And whatever it is I'm sure it can wait. Now either shut up or get out." Chrono ground out farther shocking those who knew him. Chrono had always acted polite and was more often than not soft spoken, to hear him sound like he wanted to strangle the fallen angel was nigh incomprehensible to the members of the Order of Mary Magdalene.
"Oh come on Chrono, after all the time we've known each other how can you be so mean?" Azazel dramatically cried.
Chrono just gave him a deadpanned stare, "The last time we saw each other you drugged me and dragged me off to Lilith's castle saying I needed to 'get that pity stick out of my ass and get laid', right before asking me to describe my former lover's breasts to you in detail." He told the fallen dully hearing the Elder give a perverted giggle at the thought.
"Wait, former lover? Who the hell are you talking about? Why have I never heard of this? And how the hell do you know a fallen angel depicted in the Bible?! Well?! Answer me Chrono!" Rosette demanded, understandably overwhelmed. Here she was hearing that her partner and oldest friend not only had a lover at one point that he had never bothered to mention in the ten years they had known each other (***) but he also knew a high ranking fallen angel! She knew her partner had a history in the supernatural world, what with being known by every devil they had come across as 'The Sinner' and having apparently killed over one hundred million of his own kind, not to mention how Aion and his followers had reacted when Chrono had reclaimed his horns and power, but this was getting ridiculous. 'Not that it already was, but still.'
Chrono sighed at his partner's frustrated screams, "Rosette, I'm over a millennium old of course I've had lovers in the past, though the last one was over five hundred years ago. As for how I know Azazel here, we met during the Great War between Heaven and Hell and later met again after the devil's civil war when the new leaders of the Underworld were being coroneted."
"I still think you would have made a better Satan than some of the current ones." Azazel cut in, "Why'd you have to turn down the title? It would have given us so many more chances to see each other!" He cried dramatically.
"WHAT?!" The whole crowed screamed.
"Oh you didn't know? Sinner here was given the offer to be made a Satan, would have turned the Devil ruling system back into a monarchy if he hadn't decided to up and vanish after turning down the promotion." Azazel told them.
"W-what do you mean 'back into a monarchy?" A sister that Chrono had never learned the name of asked the Fallen.
Chrono made sure to answer before the duel hair colored man least they be given a whole lecture about the history of the Underworld, "After the death of the original Satan Lucifer at the hands of God his four children, Lucifer the second, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus took control of the devil race for about two decades pushing to continue the great war despite heavy losses on all sides. After a while the devil race was split into those who wanted to continue the war and those who wanted to stop before they ended up destroying themselves, which lead to a civil war amongst the devil faction. I was among those who wanted the war to end, though my reasons were different than the others of my mindset, I was known as one of the deadliest devils to ever live- still am in fact- and I along with several other powerful devils lead the revolution against the children of the first Satan, personally killing two of the four of them and raking up the highest kill count of anyone in the whole war. After the dust had settled I was encouraged to take up the mantel of Satan seeing as I was seen as the strongest and most capable leader. I refused and instead put forth the names of four other rebel leaders to take up the names of the fallen Satan and lead the devils, and after seeing them coroneted I left the Underworld and came to earth traveling around until I met Mary Magdalene and, well you know the rest." Chrono explained to those gathered.
Rosette was stunned. Chrono, her friend and partner, was recognized as the strongest devil alive? He was offered the position of leader of all of devil kind? AND HE NEVER TOLD HER!?
The next thing Chrono knew a sharp pain bloomed on the top of his skull and he was forced to face plant into the stone floor, "Damn it Chrono, we've known each other for over ten years and you never bothered to mention any of this!?" Rosette demanded of her partner, who was now trying his best to calm the angry girl down.
"Rosette, please." Chrono begged.
"Oh no, you are going to tell me exactly why you never told me any of this! I didn't even know the original Satan was dead and here I am hearing that not only did he die who knows how long ago but you were offered the chance to take his place! What the hell Chrono don't you think that's something I would want to know about my friend!?" The blond girl demanded.
Chrono was sweating now; he may be able to fight practically anyone or thing and win but an angry Rosette Christopher was way out of even his league.
"W-w-well you never really asked…" Chrono mumbled.
"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO ASKED ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" The girl demanded, "Should I have just brought it up during lunch or something? 'Oh, hey Chrono I was wondering did you ever lead a demonic revolution before becoming my partner?!'"
"Well when you put it like that…"
"Oh, oh does she know about the time you tried to merge heaven and hell to try to change the laws of heaven?" Azazel asked, having way too much fun messing with the young looking devil.
"YOU WHAT!?"
*: Okay for those of you who don't know, in the Jewish faith God is known as Yahweh (I'm also using the Jewish angel hierarchy for those interested) . The reason I used this name instead of just constantly calling him God is because 1) It would get irritating, 2) Despite being seen as the Christian god, the god of the Bible is the same god from both the Torah and Qur'an where he holds actual names. This is also the reason Chrono will mostly refer to him as either Yahweh, or the God of Abraham seeing as all three religions recognize Abraham as a prophet, instead of simply 'The god of the Bible'. On a side note that is also what I call Him. And 3) in the DXD universe every religion and their gods exist making 'god' more of a race in that universe than a name. Please don't be offended, that's just how I see it.
**: The actual expression is bullet from a gun, but considering I mean for this fight to take place sometime in the third or fourth century at the latest I'm using a bow instead. (Does the manga or anime actually give dates for the Great War or Civil War by the way? I can't remember)
Also as you can see I made everyone live and not be crystallized after the final battle with Aion and changed Remington from being an angel into... well I don't know what to call him but he was either blessed with being able to keep his youth until his death by Michel or he has some kind of body based sacred gear that I need to make up. Either way he is not an immortal angel in this story but a gifted human who might be reincarnated later on.
Also, on the subject of astral organs: Angels and Fallen have their wings serve as their organs because more wings means more power. Devils on the other hand come in two types, those that grow multiple pairs of wings like angels and fallen angels to show their power and those with horns that have no outward showing of their power.
Okay, I think that's everything. And now please...
READ AND REVIEW! (Seriously Review, this is the first story in this category and I want to know if people like the fusion.)
Wingd Knight out.