A/N: Hey folks!

Sorry for the long wait on this one. This time it wasn't just my fault! My beta reader has decided to not answer my messages nor even read this chapter so, after months of waiting for a response I decided "screw him" and went ahead anyway. Having said that, I beta read this chapter so apologies for any mistakes (please let me know) but I hope you like it all the same.

Moving on, because you guys have waited so long I'm giving you TWO fights in this chapter. Yes, that's right, TWO! I've decided to follow the anime path with Loki, so sorry if you were looking forward to his own arc but I liked how it initially went in canon and wanted to act on that basis. Hopefully you like reading it as much as I had writing it.

In terms of reviews, because of the number I've received since last time I've decided to only answer the ones with questions. This DOESN'T mean I don't appreciate the shouts of praise and encouragement from you guys! I just don't want to bore you guys with the size of the author's note at the end of the chapter, trying to find the answers to your questions.

Also, I won't even bother reading outright criticism for my story or talk about in these notes. Constructive criticism is fine as it helps me become a better writer but anything less than that isn't worth my time. Nobody is forcing you read my story.

With all that said and done, on with the show!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ballroom,

Chaos erupted throughout the ballroom as Fenrir and Dr Animo's abominations roared loudly and charged into the throng of devil soldiers who had quickly entered the room and surrounded them at Loki's sudden appearance. The soldiers didn't know what hit them as the abominations crashed into their ranks and began unleashing bloody pandemonium amongst their numbers.

Screams rang around the hall as the High-class party guests ran away from the destruction happening before their eyes though that wasn't nearly enough to drown the cries and screams from the soldiers as some were pummelled to death, while a great deal of the others were mutilated and torn apart by Animo's monsters.

One such monstrous creature, after dismembering five soldiers in the span of a few seconds, found its mindless, malicious-filled, violet-coloured eyes pointed in the direction of Akeno and the others who were staring back at it with wide eyes at its ferocity. With a spine-chilling, animalistic roar, the monster charged towards its next target, completely ignoring the scattered tables in its path, charging through them in its primal desire to destroy the targets in front of it.

"Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!" Gasper screamed in terror, too petrified to move; a condition also shared by Asia who was likewise rooted on the spot, unable to move.

Luckily for them though, Akeno managed to snap out of her initial shock when the monster was only a few feet away from them when she quickly raised her hands and fired a bolt of lightning towards the large monster charging towards her and her friends. It struck the monster square in the chest with full force but, to Akeno's horror, the creature didn't appear to be affected by her lightning attack. In fact, it seemed to welcome the surge of electricity as the metal coils protruding from its back started to sparkle and crackle with energy as electricity surged around it and pulsated throughout the monster's body down to its hands where electricity jumped between its fingers.

The Animo creation let out another loud roar as it slammed its fists into the ground with a small crackle of electricity and resumed its charge with a lot more energy and ferocity than before.

Its charge was brought to an abrupt stop after only taking a few steps when another bolt of lightning, this one composed of pure light and a lot more powerful than Akeno's, surged through the air and struck the monster squarely in the chest.

Akeno and the others turned their heads to see who had come to their aid; hers eyes narrowed at seeing who it was.

"Begone, monster!" Baraqiel barked firmly as he walked towards the creature, stopping beside Akeno who refused to look at him. He maintained his attack for a few more seconds before cancelling it when the monster fell backwards onto the floor. When the Fallen Angel's attack subsided, they looked down at the damage it had caused to Animo's monster. The pale grey skin around its chest had blackened from the intensity of Baraqiel's lightning attack, the two pylons protruding from its back had melted from the overload of power which had coursed through it and distorted them beyond their original shape.

Baraqiel turned away from the downed monster and faced Akeno and the others.

"Are you alright?" he asked, directing his question towards Akeno who immediately turned away from him and refused to answer him. Looking anywhere else except at her father, Akeno turned her gaze towards the other side of the chaotic scene that was the ballroom where the soldiers had regrouped and, with the help of other, more capable, guests had turned the tide of the fight against the monsters who were very quickly brought down to their last few left. Akeno watched as Sairaorg tore a hole clean through his opponents chest with a single punch and, upon noticing that the creature was still alive took its head clean off with a swift right hook, finishing it off at last.

"Yes, thank you for helping us," Asia replied kindly, answering Baraqiel's question, not realising that he had directed the question at Akeno.

Out of the corner of her eye, it was clear to Akeno that Baraqiel wanted her to give him an answer. Thankfully, however, they were interrupted by the loud roar from Fenrir who, aside from Loki who remained hovering above the battleground, was the only member of the attacking forces left.

The humongous wolf leapt through the air, leaping from the wall to the ceiling as it avoided the numerous magical blasts fired at it while at the same time launching its own counterattacks upon the attacking devil soldiers, either by devouring them whole with single, bone-crunching bites or by swiping at them with its razor-sharp claws, leaving the victims of such attacks in states that death was all but certain for them.

As he leapt through the air, the roof supports became dislodged from Fenrir's erratic movements and fell to the floor, taking large chunks of the ballroom ceiling with them and crashing onto the floor, narrowly missing the majority of patrons who hadn't left yet, but crushing the few soldiers who had been crippled and maimed by Fenrir's claw attacks and unable to move.

"Looks like Animo isn't as clever as he claims to be…," Loki drawled as he looked around the devastation that used to be the ballroom at the corpses and scattered remains of Animo's monstrous warriors. He then directed his gaze across the bodies of the people that Animo's creations had killed in their brief appearance. "…but I guess they weren't completely useless."

"At least you're not a disappointment, Fenrir," the Norse God of mischief muttered to his son who landed underneath him and emitted another spine-tingling roar throughout the room. The two of them were taken off guard when a large emerald-green magic circle suddenly appeared beneath Fenrir's feet.

"What the?!" Loki snarled as he and Fenrir were both suddenly encased in a pale green, translucent pyramid. Loki looked around the room for the source and locked eyes with a green-haired robed figure standing next to Sirzechs and Odin on the raised stage on the far side of the destroyed ballroom.

"You left yourself wide open, lord Loki!" the Devil King, Beelzebub called out to him as he channelled his magic into the prism encasing the Norse God and his son.

"This prison of yours won't be able to contain me for long!" Loki bellowed, failing in his attempts to break out of the pyramid, his anger growing as the base of the green pyramid began to glow brighter. "I WILL bring about Ragnarok! My master's wishes will be carried out!"

With that final proclamation, the pyramid containing Loki and Fenrir disappeared in a flash of light. When the light quickly diminished, it revealed the empty space where Loki and Fenrir had just been, leaving behind the damaged hall and survivors of the sudden, yet brutal, attack.

As reinforcements finally arrived to secure the place and help out in sifting through the rubble in search of survivors and carry them to the hospital, the guests were escorted home safely and the faction leaders had gathered on the stage and were discussing their next steps. Akeno and the rest of the Gremory peerage had picked up some chairs and were now sat down at one of the only few tables still intact as they gathered themselves together over the recent battle.

"How are you kids doing?"

They looked up to see Azazel standing over them, his usual smile missing from his face, replaced instead with a look of concern.

"We're fine," Akeno told him, standing up from her seat. As she did so, though, her eyes locked with Baraqiel who was approaching them from across the room. She quickly tore her gaze away from him again and looked out of the nearby window frame instead.

As the others began muttering their agreement with Akeno, they looked out across the severely damaged hall at the survivors of the brutal attack and knew they were lucky to be okay after who and what had just attacked them.

Their conversation was interrupted when Sirzechs appeared besides Azazel, a similar expression of concern on his face.

"Have any of you seen my sister or Ben? They haven't been seen and, after what's just happened, I'm getting concerned," the crimson-haired Devil King asked politely, keeping the true level of his worry hidden.

"No, we haven't, Lord Sirzechs," Asia said, rising from her seat as she answered him. "They left the party before the attack chasing after Koneko and we haven't seen them since."

"I'll get a search party together to look for them," Sirzechs declared, gesturing for one of his guards to approach them. "After what just happened here, we can't be too…."

Sirzechs was suddenly cut off when a bright light suddenly appeared in the forest, quickly followed by a shockwave which struck the side of the building facing the forest, shattering all the remaining windows facing the shockwave.

"Well…," Azazel chuckled as he walked up to the window frame and watched the light die down to reveal a dome encasing a large swathe of the forest slowly disappearing, a large circle of destruction in the middle of where the dome had been being uncovered in the process and a large figure in the sky that he quickly realised was Tannin fighting with another, smaller figure that he couldn't quite make out. "…I think it's safe to say I know where they are."

Nodding his head in agreement, Sirzechs spun around to face the soldier he had called at earlier and gave the order for a detachment of soldiers to go into the forest at once and make sure that Rias and her two peerage members were brought back safely. With a salute, the soldier quickly ran out of the room to gather more troops together and carry out Sirzechs' orders.

"Permission to go with them, Lord Sirzechs," Akeno pleaded urgently, stepping up to Sirzechs and bowing her head respectfully.

Turning around to face her, Sirzechs saw that Akeno had been joined by the other members of his little sister's peerage and they all had the same determined look on their face as Akeno. Not doubting their commitment to his sister and each other, Sirzechs nodded his head slightly and, without waiting a second longer, they bowed their head quickly in thanks before rushing out of the ballroom to join the soldiers and find their missing friends.


. . . . .

Several minutes earlier, the forest

In contrast to the fierce battle raging between Tannin and Bikou high in the sky above them, the clearing had grown completely silent as the three supernatural beings stared at Ben…or rather the new Nekomata form he had taken. He looked down at his new form and quivered as he felt power completely unlike anything he had ever felt before flow through his body and course through his veins.

In that instant, Ben understood why Koneko had refused to resort to this power. Even though he had slowly grown to handle the demands of his transformations, Ben still almost lost himself to the incredible power that suddenly flowed through him. Once he realised this, his respect of Koneko's strength for her commitment to growing stronger without giving in to such power.

"Valerie may actually have a point," Kuroka relented with renewed interest as she looked down from her perch in the trees. "You really are interesting. I always thought Shirone and I were the only Nekomata left; I never imagined I'd ever see another one…and a male one at that."

The way she said the last part, combined with the strange glint she had in her eye sent a small shiver up his spine which he quickly suppressed.

"I don't suppose it's enough for you to leave us and go away?" Ben asked, already guessing her answer.

Kuroka chuckled behind her hand lightly and, just as he suspected, shook her head. "I'm afraid not cutie. As much as you fascinate me…and you really do, I still plan on taking Shirone back with me."

"In that case, shall we continue where we left off then?" Ben asked as he rolled his shoulders, anticipation for the fight stirring within him due to the Nekomata power he was constantly fighting to control flowing within him.

"Yes, lets…," Kuroka agreed before suddenly firing a large ball of magic so quickly that even the enhanced eyesight of a devil struggled to keep up with it as it streaked through the air towards Ben.

However, Ben wasn't a devil right now.

He was a Nekomata.

Seeing the ball of magic head towards him as clear as day thanks to his heightened senses, Ben leapt backwards, avoiding the magical blast which tore out a large groove in the ground and landing in the treeline, and crouched on the thick tree branch he had landed on.

"Not this time!" Ben shouted over at her as he launched a similar blast of magic towards the raven-haired cat-demon. It struck the tree and seemed to completely disintegrate in a fiery explosion, leaving nothing behind.

"Did you not learn anything?" Kuroka's voice called out among the multiple copies of her which now stood high in the tall trees all around the clearing. Unseen to everyone until it was too late, the real Kuroka suddenly teleported behind Ben and launched a destructive rain of magic bullets at him, tearing through the tree and the branch Ben was in.

"I guess not," she shrugged as the smoke cleared to reveal the destruction left from where her attack had struck.

"Guess again!"

Kuroka only just managed to avoid Ben's fist at the very last second, and that was mainly thanks to her personal experience and skill. She leapt out of the way at the very last second as his blow came down with such force that it caused the tree to split in half, right down to the roots.

Kuroka landed nimbly on her feet in the clearing, just like a cat, as Ben landed in the clearing a second later, retaking his position in front of Rias and Koneko. "You might be a skilled user of Senjutsu and Youjutsu, but I'm a quick learner," he called out to her as he stood up to his full height, preparing himself for what Kuroka might throw at him.

"You don't say," Kuroka retorted as she also stood to her full height and glared at him with daggers in her eyes. "Fine. If you truly want to fight like a Nekomata then I shall show you how out of depth you really are?"

After saying this, Kuroka suddenly teleported back up into the branches in the trees and created a large magic circle in front of her, aiming it at Ben who tensed up his muscles in preparation to lunge forward and catch her off guard.

"Ben! Watch out!" Rias' voice shouted out from the centre of the clearing but her warning came too late.

As Ben turned his head to see what Rias was talking about, he was suddenly struck by a large, thick branch which had grown thanks to Kuroka's magic and had arced round, striking him in the stomach with enough force to send him flying back into the undergrowth. Before he had a chance to recover from the unexpected attack, it was very quickly joined by another rain of powerful magic bullets which tore through the undergrowth like a knife through paper.

Rias and Koneko gasped at the sight of Ben when he slowly rose out of the undergrowth and staggered out of it, holding his side where the branch had caught him. He had taken on Kuroka's magical bullets head on and it clearly showed by the cuts and bruises strewn across his body.

"You might physically look like a Nekomata but that's all it is…an image! It takes so much more than that to truly be one of us. You are nowhere near my level and, after I'm done with you, you'll never get the chance to even try and reach it," Kuroka sighed with slight disappointment in her voice as a huge hand, made out of the roots of the surrounding trees suddenly shot up out of the ground and towered over the treeline.

"You're right about one thing," Ben muttered, spitting out a glob of blood which had built up in his mouth and wiped the trail running down his chin. "I've still got a lot to learn; I haven't even scratched the surface of what my demon forms are truly capable of…."

As the humongous hand clenched into a fist and arched back in preparation to strike, Ben looked across the destroyed clearing at Rias and Koneko and gave them a warm smile.

"But I've got people who care about me and wouldn't forgive me for dying here today. I plan to keep going and learn everything I can about my transformations!"

With a small hand gesture from Kuroka, the gigantic fist came crashing down, right on top of Ben and consuming both him and the fist in large swirling cloud of dust from the heavy impact which shook the trees in the clearing from the shockwave.

As silence swept across the clearing Kuroka smirked and leapt down to the ground and slowly made her way over to Rias and Koneko who were still staring, wide-eyed at the cloud of dust slowly dying down in fear and shock.

"Valerie had to flee from him?" she asked with disbelief in her voice. "He was an interesting player in the game but if he couldn't survive that then he wasn't really worth all that was said about him."

She took a single step towards her sister when the wave of power suddenly struck her, catching her completely off guard. She spun around as the dust was swept away completely by a large wave of energy to reveal Ben standing between the two halves of the large manifested fist which lay on either side of him.

As he stepped out from the crater the blow had created, he revealed another change in his appearance. He now stood before them with crimson armour covering his arms, from his hands up to his shoulders, and his legs, from his feet to his waist. The air radiated with new power with him as the epicentre.

He looked down at his armoured arms and legs and was just as surprised as the three young women in the clearing.

"What the hell is going on, Azmuth? I thought I couldn't activate Ddraig's Balance Breaker until I got Ascalon back from Michael," Ben asked his dragon companion telepathically.

[That is true for activating it fully,] Azmuth answered with his usual deep voice which reverberated through Ben's head. [However, because it has been successfully fused with Ddraig, you can use a weak form of its power. This is the culmination of all you have done over the last few weeks; your own power has grown significantly, and you can activate and sustain both Ddraig and my Sacred Gear for a brief time without aid.]

Ben smiled as what he had achieved and accomplished over the training camp with Tannin slowly dawned on him. Thinking back to how he was when he first became a devil and how far he come since then, he wouldn't be able to recognise himself.

Returning back to the present, Ben pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind and gave Kuroka a small smile. "Is it my turn now?"

Kuroka grunted and took a step backwards as she thought up a new plan on how to deal with the troublesome obstacle standing in her way. Unfortunately, with his new power, Kuroka realised that anything she did to kill him would put Shirone in danger and she couldn't let that happen.

She would have to lure him away from the clearing so that she could unleash her full destructive power.

After a few brief seconds staring at each other, she quickly fired a ball of magic while teleporting into thin air at the same time, reappearing in the trees.

Ben blocked the attack with ease thanks to the armour he now wore and, once he caught sight of Kuroka turning away from him and heading deeper into the forest, launched himself into the air with greater force than before and landed on a thick branch and quickly took off in pursuit of the cat demon, easily keeping up with her speed. As he pursued her, she conjured multiple clones of herself and, because of his inability to sense which one was the real one due to his inexperience at his Nekomata abilities, forced him to alter his course towards each of the clones and punched them. As each one disappeared into thin air Ben knew he'd got the wrong one and proceeded to chain his attacks together, darting between each of the different Kuroka clones and taking them out one by one with his powerful punches as he searched for the real one.

He continued this until there was only one left ahead of him. That had to be the real Kuroka!

"You can't keep running from me, Kuroka!" he shouted out to her. "Not without taking down your barrier!"

At this Kuroka landed back down on the forest floor and spun around, her right arm raised up and pointing at him.

"Who's says I'm running from you?" she sneered as the ground beneath Ben suddenly started launching large chunks of rock up at him blindingly fast. Despite his lightning fast speed and reflexes, Ben wasn't able to dodge every single projectile and was struck by two of them in his left shoulder and shin. He grunted as white-hot pain ran through him with the bones in his shoulder and shin shattering from the powerful blow but pushed through the pain and channelled as much power as he could into his right fist.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

Kuroka saw what Ben was doing and, feeling the rapidly growing aura surrounding him, brought up more slabs of solid earth from the ground, building a wall between her and Ben as his fist struck the ground a second later, surrounding the two of them and everything else in the vicinity with a bright light and powerful shockwave.

From their place in the clearing, Rias and Koneko were forced to cover their eyes from the blinding light and huddle close to the ground to avoid being blown back by the subsequent strong gust of wind that swept through the clearing.

When the gust and the light died down, they looked up and their eyes widened at the scene before them. Through the thin cloud of dust and debris from the forest they saw the large trees in front of them almost uprooted, leaning away from where the explosion came from.

"Ben," Rias muttered with worry in her voice.

In the blast's epicentre, the damage was a lot more extreme. There was now a large crater with nearly all the surrounding trees being blown away leaving behind only a small number which, instead were uprooted and strewn across the crater floor.

At the crater's centre, Ben collapsed to his knees as fatigue overcame him like a wave. His breathing had become ragged after using so much power in his armoured form.

'That took just about everything I have,' he thought as his right hand came up to his left arm which hung limply at his side as pain erupted from his broken shoulder and shin from Kuroka's brutal attack. 'But that should've taken care of her.'

This thought was immediately abandoned at the sound of coughing a few feet in front of him. He looked up to see Kuroka slowly pulling herself to her feet. Her hastily constructed defence protected her from the brunt of his attack but it failed to protect her completely, knocking her off her feet and injuring her.

"You really are fascinating," her voice called out through the dust cloud. As it slowly died and brought her into focus, Ben couldn't help but notice her dishevelled appearance; her clothes had been torn and a large amount of skin was now exposed, including her impressive breasts which were nearly as large as Rias'.

Ben's heart sank at the sight of her. Despite her provocative appearance, he was more concerned that she still seemed able to fight…unlike him. Even with that being the case, Ben slowly stood up to face the raven-haired Nekomata, hissing in pain as he put some weight down on his injured leg.

"However, that won't stop me from killing you and taking Shirone back with me," Kuroka as she crouched down low and prepared to pounce on him.

Just before she launched her attack though, a tear suddenly appeared in the space beside her and two men appeared out of the tear which closed behind them, leaving no evidence it had ever existed.

One was a young man with blond hair with a long strand which swept across his forehead and was dressed in a formal business suit. He wielded a golden two-handed sword with a huge cross-like guard.

The other man however….

Ben had to stifle a chill which ran up his spine as he briefly locked eyes with the other man who had appeared. At first glance he appeared to be a middle-aged humanoid man, but in actuality he was something else entirely. Small flesh-coloured horns protruded from his forehead while long black which trailed down his back covered the rest of his head. He had blood-red eyes surrounded by a ring of black marks. His attire consisted merely of a brown knee-length, open-chested tunic, baggy jeans and a pair of black calf-high boots. His ensemble was completed by a deadly-looking spear which he held in his right hand.

If merely looking at the spear-wielding stranger was enough to send a chill up his spine, Ben downright felt pure fear from the other man, or to be more precise, from the sword he wielded.

Hearing his thoughts, Azmuth spoke up.

[You're right to be cautious, Ben. That's the Holy sword Caliburn, otherwise known as the strongest Holy Sword in existence. Aside from myself, it's one of the only things in existence which can freely enter the Dimensional Gap,]he explained through mental communication.

"You're telling me," Ben said back to the ancient dragon as his body subconsciously reacted to the immense aura emanating from the Holy Sword. It was at this point that Ben spotted the second sword attached to the blond-haired man's waist. "What about the other sword?"

[That would be the long-lost Holy Sword, Excalibur Ruler,] Ddraig answered before Azmuth had the chance to. Ben wanted to ask more questions but now wasn't the time.

"That's enough, Kuroka!" the blond-haired man declared sternly, seemingly unfazed by her state of undress.

"What are you doing here, Arthur?" Kuroka asked with a scowl on her face. "You're Valerie's attendant, aren't you? Weren't you supposed to be bringing the Osmosian chieftain to her?"

She glanced at the other new arrival as she said this.

"I was, but she told me to come and get the two of you and bring you back. Bikou's already departed so I've come to get you. Valerie can't let you continue with your selfish endeavour anymore!"

"I came here to satiate my curiosity and get a quick overview of my future opponents," the black-haired, horned man added in a deep, chilling voice as he looked down at Ben with a cold sneer." He turned to the young man known as Arthur. "Are you sure I can't absorb his powers now?"

Ben shuddered at the malice in his voice but Arthur shook his head and turned towards him.

"I'm sure, Lord Aggregor. Kuroka's barrier has been taken down and with Loki dealt with so quickly, this area will quickly be swarming with devils and unwanted attention at this time," Arthur explained curtly.

"Another time then," the horned man sighed, immediately losing interest in the conversation.

"I'm not leaving without killing this nuisance and taking back my sister!" Kuroka growled in annoyance.

"In the state you are, I highly doubt that. You're putting on a brave face but it's all an act. Now, let's get going before…."

"Ben!" a voice bellowed above them. when they looked towards the owner of the voice, they found it was Tannin who was streaking through the air towards them.

"And I believe that's our cue to leave," Arthur stated as he brought up Caliburn, turned his back on Ben and slashed at the air behind his group. The air itself seemed to cleave in half at the slash and open up a similar tear to the one which brought him there the first time. As Kuroka and the horned man entered the tear, he cast a quick glance back at Ben and nodded his head curtly.

"Farewell for now, Dragon All-Father. Please give my regards to the wielders of the Holy Devil Sword and Durandal. As a fellow swordsman, I look forward to meeting them in combat and testing their mettle," Arthur stated politely as he also stepped into the tear which quickly closed up behind him.

Ben stared at the spot where the tear had just been for a brief moment before the adrenaline finally left his system and he finally collapsed to his knees as Tannin landed beside him.


. . . . .

Back at the clearing,

Rias and Koneko knew that Kuroka was gone the very moment she disappeared when they found themselves able to move again as the poisonous, paralyzing mist dissipated into the air, signifying that Kuroka had gone somewhere out of its range.

As they picked themselves off the ground and were just about to rush off into the forest to find Ben and make sure he was okay, they were stopped when numerous magic circles bearing Lucifer's seal suddenly appeared all around them and soldiers started appearing in the clearing and in the sky above them in droves and began spreading out to secure the forest.

"Rias! Koneko!"

The two of them were suddenly embraced by Akeno, Asia and Xenovia who had rushed across the clearing towards them as soon as they saw them, Gasper and Kiba following behind them. After the ordeal they had all been through, they were so glad to see that the two of them were okay.

"We're so glad you're okay!" Asia cried as she hugged Koneko. "We thought something might've happened to you!"

"Why? What happened?" Rias asked with concern, only just now noticing their torn clothing and minor scratches which Asia hadn't had time to heal yet in their haste to find their friends.

"Loki made an appearance at the party and made his stance on our alliance with the Norse Pantheon violently clear," Kiba explained as he sheathed his Holy Devil sword seeing as Sirzechs' soldiers were quickly securing the area.

"I'm glad you're all okay," Rias replied, hugging Asia tightly with relief in the knowledge of their well-being.

"Hey, Rias, where's Ben?" Akeno asked as she hugged Koneko.

Rias' eyes widened at the question. She was so glad that everyone else was alright that she had momentarily forgotten about Ben.

"He's right here," came Tannin's voice from behind the crimson-haired teen. She spun round and joined everyone in looking at Tannin who had shrunk down to the size he had been in the party not so long ago and was supporting Ben who had his right arm draped over the former Dragon King's shoulders as he limped out of the treeline.

"Hey, guys," Ben groaned waving his left hand weakly and immediately regretted it as pain shot through his body again.

"Ben!" came a chorus of worried cries as everyone suddenly started rushing over to him.

"I think I can leave you in capable hands now," Tannin said to Ben who nodded in response, a smile adorning his face as he saw his friends running towards him.

"Yeah, you're right," Ben muttered. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Tannin replied as he continued to support Ben. "I sensed something was up when you left the party and, when I saw you were in trouble I couldn't exactly leave you alone could I?"

When Rias and the others finally reached them, Tannin detached himself from Ben while Kiba took his place at Ben's side and supported him in Tannin's place. Rias wrapped her arms around his waist and embraced him gently so as to avoid causing further pain to his left shoulder.

"How bad are your injuries?" she asked with concern, noting his dishevelled appearance.

"Nothing that Asia can't fix up," Ben said light-heartedly before his expression turned guilty. "Kuroka got away."

"I don't care about that," Rias told him firmly as she pulled away from him to look directly at him. "I just care that you're okay."

"Kuroka's strength is on the same level as an Ultimate-class Devil. To fight her and only receive the wounds you have reveals how strong you are," Koneko's voice spoke up, directing everyone's attention towards her. Her expression turned sorrowful and she bowed her head. "That being said though, I'm sorry for what my sister did to you and Rias."

"Nobody blames you, Koneko," Rias told her firmly, ending her embrace with Ben and turning to face her. "You're not responsible for Kuroka's actions."

"She's right, Koneko," Ben added, limping towards her with Kiba continuing to support him. "I don't blame you for what Kuroka did to me, and if she tries taking you again, I'll do everything in my power to protect you and that's a promise."

Koneko's eyes seemed to glisten as she came close to tears. She stopped herself from doing so and nodded her head slightly, a small smile forming on her face.

"Now, I don't know about you guys but my arm and leg are hurting like hell and could do with some healing," Ben grumbled with a pained grin on his face which was met with similar smiles by everyone as Rias created a large magic circle which teleported them back to the safety of Rias' family mansion.


. . . . .

The next day,

"This is disgraceful!"

The day after the 'incident' saw the heads of the three factions, Sirzechs and Serafall being the representatives for the Devils, gathered around a conference table at Sirzechs' official residence to discuss what happened yesterday and their next steps. Odin was meant to be attending the meeting as well, but he had yet to appear.

Instead of waiting for his arrival though, Shemhazai, the Vice Governor General of the Fallen Angels and Azazel's assistant and 'handler', couldn't contain himself any longer and had begun by criticizing the way the Devil's handled security at yesterday's party.

"Not only did you allow the Norse God Loki to crash the event, killing dozens of soldiers and several guests but you allowed Team Valerie, the Khaos Brigade's independent attack squad, to show up too," Shemhazai continued, holding up three fingers and counting them off to emphasise his point as he listed them. ""Bikou," the descendant of Sun Wukong, the Nekomata "Kuroka," and a man who wields the Holy Sword Caliburn! Any one of those three represent a sizable threat in their own right, so the three of them together doesn't bear thinking about."

While Sirzechs, Serafall and Michael listened to Shemhazai's scolding, Azazel merely slouched in his chair leaning his chin into his left hand, the elbow of which was resting on the ornate table. Instead of listening to his fellow Fallen Angel's rant, his thoughts centred around Ben's fight with Kuroka and how he was able to don the armour which everyone used to believe was only possible if he actually possessed Ascalon.

'He really is a fascinating individual,' he thought with a slight chuckle…something Shemhazai noted with annoyance.

"Is there something amusing, Azazel?" he asked the Governor General with a dangerous glare in his eyes.

"It's nothing, Shem," Azazel replied, using the nickname he had given his assistant, something Shemhazai took great exception to. "Anyway, you shouldn't take the high road so quickly. Don't you recall that those abominations that Loki brought with him were created by Animo, a Fallen Angel and former member of the Grigori. We're not completely blameless in this this whole debacle."

"Neither are we."

Everyone's head turned to the entrance to the conference room to see the Norse All-Father, Odin entering the room and taking up a spot in his designated seat. He was joined by the same young woman who had accompanied him to the party yesterday, though instead of a business suit, she wore a suit of armour.

"Lord Odin, glad you could finally make it," Sirzechs said in greeting.

Odin nodded his head in response before continuing. "Loki was our responsibility. He has a unique ability of bypassing magical blocks and I failed to anticipate him crashing the event. And, as I understand it, he brought the Nekomata and Sun Wukong descendant with him, using the same method."

"While it is unfortunate that this incident happened in the first, the best thing to do now is decide how to respond," Michael said, diplomatically.

As Sirzechs, Serafall and Azazel murmured in agreement, Odin chuckled heartily and shook his head in amusement. "I still find it difficult to believe that you are all working together after spending millennia being lifelong enemies."

"That's because you're a stale, old-fashioned northern God who's completely stuck in your old ways," Azazel retorted with a smirk. "We happen to believe that working together is beneficial to our own interests.

"Ha! Fitting words from whipped dogs, acting like children wondering aimlessly after losing their precious God," Odin chuckled darkly though everyone gathered knew that there wasn't any malice in his statement.

"As sharp-tongued as ever, Lord Odin," Serafall retorted.

"Ahh, Serafall, so nice to see you again," Odin nodded in greeting before noticing Serafall's choice of clothing. "My, my, what sort of costume is that?"

Serafall stood up from her seat and gave the Norse All-Father a twirl to fully show off her outfit. "I'm a magical girl of course! This is all the rage nowadays."

"Hmm, is that so?" Odin asked with a perverted twinkle in his eyes as he admired Serafall. "I wholeheartedly agree."

"Please, Lord Odin, enough of your indecency!" the young female warrior standing behind Odin told him firmly.

The old god merely waved her away. "Oh, stop being such a stuffy old maid. This is precisely why you'll get yourself a man," he said back to her, obviously striking a known sore-spot for the female warrior as her attitude completely changed, turning gloomy and sullen. She turned away from the table and rested her hand and head against the wall as she began muttering to herself.

"I apologise for her," Odin said to the faction representatives, gesturing to the depressed young woman. "This is Rossweisse, my attendant. While a very capable Valkyrie, her stuffy attitude has succeeded in deterring any man from approaching her."

This only made Rossweisse more depressed and gloomy as she fell to her knees dejectedly.

Ignoring her depressed muttering, Odin returned his attention back to the conference table. "Moving on. I had originally decided to extend my stay here in the Underworld after joining this alliance to watch the Rating Game between your little sisters…," he said, nodding towards Sirzechs and Serafall, "…but we have to deal with Loki beforehand."

"I agree," Sirzechs nodded. "I was informed by Ajuka that, in his haste to cast the spell to imprison him, he was only able to seal Loki and his son away for little more than a day and the time limit is nearly up."

"Hmm, I suspected as much," Odin agreed gravely, stroking his impressive beard solemnly. "Not only that but there's something else that may interfere with any plans we make…."


. . . . .

An hour later, the Gremory mansion's living room,

"And that's the long and short of it, kids," Azazel said gravely as he leant against a cabinet as he relayed what had been discussed in the meeting.

After the faction heads meeting had been put on hold for an hour while additional information was gathered, Azazel had decided to call Rias, Ben and everyone else into the Gremory living room to let them know what was going on.

"So, let me get this straight, just so I fully understand," Ben spoke up from his seat on the sofa facing the Governor General. "Loki's only going to remain sealed for a few more hours until he breaks free, and when he does break free he's going to come looking for revenge. However, it's not possible to send any of the Devil Kings to fight him because it would cause a diplomatic incident which would lead to another war. Am I right?"

"You're absolutely correct, and a large-scale war is exactly the last thing we need right now, but it is also exactly what Loki wants in his bid to bring about Ragnarok and what the Khaos Brigade want in their bid to create pandemonium and chaos," Azazel explained in a serious tone rarely seen by anyone.

"What's the plan so far?" Kiba asked from the side.

"Well, Odin's returned back to Asgard so that he can bring Mjolnir for us to use. Loki might be an incredibly powerful god but even he would struggle against the godly weapon. The real question is who to send though," Azazel replied, his arms crossed against his chest.

'I wonder who'd be crazy enough to volunteer going on such a suicidal mission,' Ben thought to himself, just as a certain redhead rose up from her seat beside him.

"I'd like to speak with my brother, Azazel," Rias requested firmly.

'Oh shit,' Ben thought with an internal sigh.


. . . . .

Back in the conference room,

"You want to be the ones to distract Loki long enough for Odin to return with Mjolnir?" Sirzechs asked with well-hidden concern in his voice.

Azazel had done as Rias had requested and brought her along with Akeno and Ben to the conference room when it resumed. Unlike before, Sirzechs and Serafall were now joined by the other two Devil Kings, Asmodeus and Beelzebub.

When they arrived, Rias was allowed to speak wherein she made her request to be the one sent along with her peerage to deal with Loki.

"Yes," Rias confirmed, addressing her brother directly.

"Before you decide this is what you want, I must warn you I can only send ten people at one time to Loki's location. You won't get any reinforcements," Ajuka said with caution.

"I'm aware of the dangers involved, Lord Beelzebub," Rias said respectfully. "But all the same, I still wish to go."

"That's very admirable of you, Rias," Serafall said with a big smile on her face. "But don't think it's just you who volunteered to go…isn't that right, Sona?"

The doors behind Serafall opened at this to reveal Sona, Tsubaki and Saji entering the room.

"The three of us would like to offer our services too," Sona announced as they walked into the room.

"Quite the unusual team-up when you consider you two were supposed to be opponents in the upcoming Rating Game," Azazel chuckled as he leaned back in his chair.

"This is more important," Rias retorted firmly, looking at Azazel as she said this. Sona nodded her head in agreement.

"I agree. This takes priority for now," she affirmed with a curt nod of her head.

"Well, I suppose if the two of you go then there shouldn't be much opposition or claims that we're showing favouritism," Sirzechs acquiesced with a reluctant sigh.

"It's not like any of us have time to object to this anyway. In any case, we have two people we've already decided on going," Azazel announced, placing his hands behind his head.

"Huh, who?" Rias asked, asking the question that both Ben and Akeno were wondering too.

"The first one…," Michael said, speaking up for the first time that meeting, gesturing to the space just behind him as someone suddenly appeared from a pure white magic circle wearing a white, hooded robe which covered their face. "…is someone you might recognise."

The mysterious person brought back her and shocked Ben along with Rias and Akeno as they stared at a very familiar face, one that Ben never expected to see in the Underworld.

"Gwen?!" he asked incredulously, staring at his orange-haired cousin with wide eyes.

"It's been a while," Gwen said with a small smirk across her face.

"And I shall be joining you as well," the young beautiful woman who had accompanied Odin to the party yesterday declared as she stepped out from the back of the conference room though Ben couldn't recall ever hearing her name.

"And this is Rossweisse, a Norse Valkyrie and here to act as representative of Asgard which is appropriate considering who we're dealing with," Azazel explained for the benefit of everyone who wasn't aware of the young Valkyrie's identity.

"Now that we're all in agreement as to who should go, you should and prepare yourselves as best you can," Sirzechs announced, standing up from his seat. "We don't have much time before the seal containing Loki is broken."


. . . . .

Two hours later, outside the Gremory manor,

The ten who were heading off to hold Loki until help arrived were gathered on the gravelled floor in front of the Gremory mansion. Standing opposite the gathered group of ten were all of the leaders of the three factions, bar Asmodeus, along with Grayfia who stood beside Sirzechs.

Due to the limitation of only ten people being able to go, from Rias' peerage it was decided that Gasper and Asia were to be left behind so that the more combat-orientated members could go and fight the Norse god.

"You'll be safer if you stay here," Rias had told the two of them when she had returned after arranging the plan with the faction heads. They had wanted to protest at being left behind while the rest of them went off to risk their lives but eventually understood why they couldn't go and complied without argument.

"Please be careful, Ben," Asia said, walking up to Ben and wrapping her arms around his broad chest and resting her head over his heart. "I don't know what I'll do if something happens to you."

Ben chuckled in the back of his throat and placed one hand on her back while the other one rested on her head and stroked her head softly. "Hey, c'mon, have a little faith in me. I went through a lot of trouble to make it possible for you to do that, you know?"

He smiled at his little joke and gave her a reassuring squeeze before releasing her and letting her return to Gasper.

Ben then looked around to see how everyone else was preparing for their departure. He spotted Saji ogling Rossweisse with a perverted expression on his face before Sona dragged him away by his ear, much to his agony. In the outdoor light of the Underworld sky, Ben could see why Saji was so captivated by the Valkyrie and couldn't blame him. Her attire was composed of a white breastplate with gold and pale blue accents with matching fingerless gauntlets, boots, hip guards, and wing-shaped hair clips to keep her silver hair in place. Underneath her armour she wore a black leotard, black, thigh-high stockings and pale blue cloth wrapped underneath her hip guards.

His gaze continued to wonder over the group, passing Rias who accepted a pouch from Grayfia which contained three vials of priceless Phoenix tears. He hoped that they wouldn't be put in a situation desperate enough for them to be used.

Ben then looked over at Xenovia to see her and his cousin talking to each other, a smile on their faces. He was glad that they seemed to reconcile after the peace conference where Gwen learned the truth behind the fragile state of affairs between the three factions and the reasons for why Xenovia became a devil.

Though he would never tell anyone, and fervently deny it if asked, he was secretly concerned with how his cousin would cope in the upcoming battle. Unlike himself or anyone else in their small group, she was still a human and, despite wielding a Holy Sword, would have a lot of trouble against the Norse god they were up against.

"Hey, Ben," a female voice called up to him as he felt someone tug on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked down to see that it was Koneko; she wore the same fingerless fighting gloves she always wore for a fight.

He hadn't had the opportunity to speak with the young Nekomata since yesterday but was glad that she seemed to be okay after what she experienced with her sister's uninvited appearance.

"What's up?" Ben asked, facing the white-haired rook. She wasn't looking directly up at him but he couldn't miss the slight reddening of her cheeks nor the fact she didn't let go of his sleeve.

"I'm not scared about our mission or anything…but what would you say to me if I were?" she asked quietly and Ben couldn't help but notice how cute she was right then. He smiled and softly placed his hand on her head, an action which caused her to look up at him and stare directly into his eyes.

"I'd tell you that you're not alone anymore. We're all here to look after each other, and I won't let anything happen to you," he told her with a warm smile. "You're one of the strongest people I know, whether you choose to use your true power or not."

A smile formed on Koneko's lips as her cheeks reddened even more than before.

"My, my, how gallant of you," Akeno's voice called out from his right side as she rested her arm on his shoulder and placed her mouth very close to his ear. "Will you protect me too, I wonder?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," Ben told her just as quietly, turning his head to look directly into her violet eyes barely a few inches away from him. "I'll protect you to the best of my ability too. I won't let you down," he added with conviction in his voice that sent a pleasant tingle up Akeno's spine though she fought to calm herself down. Now wasn't the time.

"The time has come," Sirzechs stated, attracting everyone's attention as he stepped forward from the group which had come to see them off. "Good luck everyone."

"Remember kids, your job is to keep Loki distracted long enough for Odin to return with Mjolnir," Azazel warned them as he walked up to stand beside Sirzechs. "We've received word from Odin as well informing us that, because of Mjolnir's power, only Ben will be able to hold the hammer and defeat Loki with it. It's divine power already allowed it to bypass Loki's magical defences and cause lasting physical damage but he's also adding a sealing spell on it, powerful enough to trap even a god as powerful as Loki.

"So, don't die before Mjolnir gets there or we're all screwed?" Ben summarised, and when Azazel smirked and nodded his head, he sighed. "No pressure then."

"We have faith in you," Michael told him in a comforting tone that did little to quell Ben's stress.

"We won't fail you," Rias declared firmly, several members of their group nodding in agreement.

"All right, off you go," Beelzebub said as he stretched out his hand to create a large magic circle bearing his sigil which appeared beneath their feet and, in a bright green glow, transported them to their destination.

Sirzechs and Serafall stared at the spot where their little sisters had just stood and the warm smiles on their faces were replaced by looks of worry and concern.

"I hate that we have to rely on them," Serafall muttered. "It's meant to be our job to protect them from these sorts of situations."

"I know," Sirzechs agreed, a similar expression on his face. "But we have no choice; as much as I hate it, our hands are tied."

Azazel noticed their expressions and patted the crimson-haired Devil King's shoulder. "Those kids will be fine. They've been through a lot already and they've got the Dragon All-Father with them. We've just got to trust that they'll succeed."

"Yeah, I know you're right but I can't help worrying about them," Sirzechs replied with a sigh. "They've never faced anything like this before.


. . . . .

Somewhere in the Underworld outlands

The bright light from the magic circle dissipated to reveal where Ben and the others had been transported too.

A barren mountainous region of the Underworld.

"Where are we?" Saji asked as he, like everyone else, took in their surroundings.

"Somewhere far away from the Devil and Fallen Angel territory, somewhere where Loki can't inflict any damage while we stop him from bringing Ragnarok," Sona told him.

"Well, no prizes for guessing where Loki is," Ben muttered, more to himself than anyone else though several of them heard him and looked up at the emerald green pyramid which contained Loki and his son, Fenrir. The surface of the pyramid swirled with patterns reminiscent of Beelzebub's sigil. Even as they all stared at it, they could see through its faltering light that it wouldn't be long until it broke completely.

"So, what's the plan?" Ben asked as he summoned his Sacred Gears. Before Rias had the chance to say though, the pyramid began to glow brighter, forcing those with enhanced eyes (that being most of them) to look away from the piercing light as the prison shattered into tiny pieces which disappeared into thin air revealing the irritated Norse god with his back to them, as well as his son.

"Hmm, that was annoying," he muttered with a bored tone at being caught off guard by the Devil King, Beelzebub who cost him a full day in his task to bring Ragnarok.

"Hear me, Lord Loki!" Rossweisse shouted up at him and causing him to turn his head towards the group in mild curiosity. "Attacking the All-Father is an unforgivable act and you must face punishment!"

Loki chuckled deeply and turned to face them fully, his hands behind his back as he floated high above them. "Ha, and you are who they sent to bring me in? Forgive me if I don't take you seriously; I'm sure you are all talented in your own way but you can't seriously believe yourself capable of taking on a god."

The Norse god sighed and shook his head. "Such a shame. This isn't what I planned for the opening of Ragnarok but perhaps I can make things make entertaining," he said as he snapped his fingers.

The ground on either side of Fenrir suddenly exploded, stirring up a cloud of smoke and dust which quickly dispersed to reveal two wolves similar in appearance to Fenrir but about half the large wolf's size.

"Fenrir's runts, Hati and Skoll," Rossweisse said with worry.

"Can it get any worse?" Saji asked as his Sacred Gear materialised on his hand.

As Saji said this, Loki chuckled darkly, snapped his finger again and a massive explosion erupted behind them, completely destroying the peak of a nearby mountain and replacing it with a massive Eastern-style dragon which spanned almost 400 metres long.

"You had to say it, didn't you?" Ben exclaimed sarcastically as he turned back to look up at the huge serpent-like beast towering over them. "Who the hell's that?!"

"That's the Midgard Serpent, Jormungandr!" Rias shouted out above the noise. "Fenrir's younger brother. He'll be the worst one."

"He's not really Jormungandr," Rossweisse corrected her though it didn't make her feel any better. "He's a smaller, weaker clone of the true Midgard Serpent made by Loki to serve him until he can wake the true form. That's very good news for us but don't let that fool you, he'll still be a dangerous foe."

"Hey Guys, hate to point it out but we've been surrounded," Ben informed them, alerting everyone that they had indeed been surrounded by Loki's children and grandchildren who all roared and hissed at them menacingly while the god himself hovered above them all, a malicious smile on his face.

"Now that we're all together, why don't you show me what you can do," Loki declared with a sneer and snapped his fingers yet again, this time to signal the others to attack.

As everyone spread out and prepared for the attack, Ben brought up his left arm, quickly cycled through his selections and slammed down his hand on the dial, his choice made.

[Transform: Fourarms!]

"What the…?" Loki muttered curiously as the bright emerald light, from which Ben's hulking four-armed form leapt out of and landed on a tall spire of rock protruding out of the ground. It took him a few seconds but he recognised who it was.

"Ahh, you must be the one I've heard about from the Khaos Brigade, the one who possesses the souls of the Red Dragon Emperor and the Dragon All-Father. Despite the differences between us back when you mattered, I respected you in a way, respected your strength, but now…now I must admit that I'm very disappointed to see what's become of you; to see how far you have fallen as a god, a Dragon god at that! It's just so sad," Loki said sadly, shaking his head.

[It doesn't matter what you are, Loki,] Azmuth's voice boomed out, echoing across the entire battlefield as he spoke, attracting everyone's attention. [It doesn't matter whether you're a God, Angel, Fallen Angel, Devil, Human or even whether you're a demon. It's useless living your life how you think others should see you; all that matters is how you seize the gift of life and what you make of it.]

Amongst the group of young men and women who had come to hold off Loki, Azmuth's statement reverberated through all of them, though not as much as a certain queen and rook.

"Hmm, that was one thing that I didn't miss when you disappeared. Those emotional little speeches of yours always did annoy me to no ends, something that I shan't miss when you die," Loki retorted as he snapped his fingers yet again.

Suddenly Fenrir entered Ben's peripheral vision and moved at such a speed he thought the large wolf was incapable of that he had no time to react as it struck in a blur, knocking Ben off the rocky spire, destroying it in the process and sending him crashing down in the wall of the large valley below the plateau they had appeared on.

"Son of a bitch," Ben groaned in his Tetramand form's nasally voice as his lower left came up and felt his sore jaw while his other arms pulled themselves out of the wall that he had been launched into. He looked up at the sound of Fenrir's loud roar to see the huge wolf bearing down on him, fangs bare as he lunged at him.

Before Fenrir hit him though, Kiba and Xenovia suddenly appeared out of nowhere, delivering several powerful blows on Fenrir though they seemed to do little more than annoy him. However, they did their job and caused the wolf to abandon its attack and divert its leap to land on the ground a few feet away.

"We'll handle this mutt," Xenovia shouted at Ben as he pulled himself out of the wall. She then joined her fellow knight as they engaged Fenrir, using their impressive speed to avoid the wolf's blows and strike it quickly and precisely. As he watched the two of them fight, Ben could see the effects of their training during their time in the Underworld. Kiba thrust his sword into the ground, activating his "Sword Burst" ability and trapping Fenrir in a nest of blades which appeared out of the ground and the narrow walls of the valley Fenrir had backed up into while Xenovia slashed Durandal at the wolf, releasing a large wave of divine power which struck the wolf full force.

Seeing that they had Fenrir under control, at least for now, Ben looked around to see who needed assistance. He saw Rias and Akeno standing next to Sona and her queen and facing off against the huge serpent-like dragon towering over them. He watched as they used their formidable magical abilities to keep the large dragon at bay, preventing it from being able to attack by keeping it on the defensive with Akeno using her lightning and Rias using her Power of Destruction.

The sound of another wolf's challenging roar drew his attention behind him where he saw Rossweisse and Gwen facing either Hati or Skoll (He couldn't tell them apart) and decided to help them considering Gwen's disadvantage of being a human.

"Be careful, Gwen," Ben warned her as he ran over to the her and the Valkyrie. "You're still only human after all."

"That's where you're wrong, 'cuz'," she shouted back at him as she was engulfed in a pure white light which hurt Ben to look at, forcing to bring up an arm to block his view.

'What the hell?! Why am I sensing divine power?' he thought as he looked back at Gwen when the light died down to reveal a shocking sight.

His cousin was standing before in the same battle-suit she wore in the Kokabiel incident, but she now had a bright gold halo hovering just over her head and a pair of pure white wings protruding from her back and a definite angelic aura surrounding her.

"Since when were you an Angel?!" Ben exclaimed in shock as Gwen now hovered a few feet in the air.

"It's a long story that I'll tell everyone later, but I can say that's it's all thanks to you, cousin," Gwen retorted with a cheeky smirk on her face before returning her attention to her opponent where she then summoned a halo-like circle of Light and threw it at the wolf, wrapping around its neck and smashing it into the valley wall where Rossweisse, not wanting to waste the advantage, released a bombardment on the downed wolf.

With his plan and train of thought out of the window, Ben ran over to Koneko who was left dealing with the last wolf on her own. He leapt high into the with his powerful legs in her direction. Koneko noticed his approach and, seeing what he was planning to do, delivered another right hook to the wolf's jaw before leaping away from it just as Ben, who had pulled all four of his arms above his head, came crashing down on the wolf, smashing all his fists down on its head which, in turn, smashed the wolf's head into the solid ground.

"Thought you could use some help," he told Koneko as he brushed off his hands, backing away from the wolf who was recovering from the surprise attack, and standing next to the white-haired rook which just passed his knee in height.

"No complaints from me," she replied as she took up a fighting stance again and the two of them engaged the wolf when it roared at them in challenge and charged towards them.


. . . . .

The various battles raged on for another thirty minutes with everybody succeeding in managing to hold off their adversaries but they still had no idea how long they had left until help would arrive in the form of Mjolnir but they couldn't afford to fail. Thanks to everybody's training, they were able to cope in fighting Loki's beastly descendants.

In his fight against either Hati or Skoll alongside Koneko, Ben had transformed into his Loboan form from his Tetramand form. His appearance had changed to one reminiscent of a werewolf in folklore, complete with a long flowing grey mane, large bushy tail and three sharp claws on his hands and feet.

Upon discovering the transformation and its powers, Ben had since called the demon form Blitzwolfer.

He used his transformations speed and dexterity to leap around the wolf, moving too fast for it to keep up with him, and then striking at it with his strong claws and teeth, taking swipes and bites out of the wolf in his attack runs. When Koneko launched her own attack, Ben used another of Blitzwolfer's abilities to assist her, splitting his muzzle which was quad-hinged and emitting an extremely powerful sonic howl which hurt and disorientated the wolf, leaving it open for Koneko's powerful blows.

However, as they say, all good things must come to an end. During an attack run, Ben must have stepped over the line and pissed off the wolf too much because, as he was about to slash at the wolf with his razor-sharp claws, the wolf's head shot around, taking Ben off guard by the sudden action and costing him in the form of the wolf's huge paw coming up and striking him on the chest and sending him flying through the air.

Before he crashed into the ground though, Koneko suddenly appeared and caught him, stopping his fall and setting him down on the ground.

"Urgh, thanks," he howled as he pressed his hand against his sore chest as she stood between him and the wolf.

"You said you'd protect me…," Koneko said back to him as a long white tail suddenly appeared from under her skirt and a pair of fluffy white ears protruded from her head. "…but I can also protect you!" she added as she leapt towards the wolf, clamped its mouth shut with her considerable strength and began spinning on the spot, building up her momentum before suddenly throwing it into the air and firing a spiral of bright blue magic blasts up towards the falling wolf and hitting it full force.

Ben marvelled at her new power but then recalled her thoughts about her Nekomata powers. "Are you alright, Koneko?" he asked her worriedly.

"Don't worry, I've got it under control. I won't lose myself in my power like my sister did. I won't let what my sister is define who I am anymore," she stated firmly, Azmuth's words echoing in her mind.

Across the battlefield, Akeno saw Koneko's transformation and couldn't believe how strong she'd become by accepting who she really was.

'If she can do it then I can too,' the raven-haired devil thought as she looked down at Jormungandr who had fallen into another, deeper valley sometime during the fight.

"Hear me! I am the daughter of Shuri and Baraqiel Himejima, a Fallen Angel," she declared loudly, taking to the air as her fallen angel wing sprouted out from her left side.

"But I am also the devil queen of Rias Gremory! I am Akeno Himejima!" she added loudly as storm clouds started to form above her head, catching several people's attention, Ben included.

'Way to go, Akeno,' he thought proudly as he watched her create a large, bright yellow magic circle and fire a bolt of yellow lightning from the magic circle and a bolt of white lightning from her hand, a bigger and more powerful bolt than she had ever created before, striking the Midgard Serpent and causing it to collapse from the damage it took.

High above the fights against his offspring, Loki hovered with his hands behind his back with a look of disgust on his face.

"This has been entertaining and all, but now I'm finding all this extremely tedious. I think I'll just finish off all of you now," the Norse god resolved as he outstretched his hand towards them, magical energy building up within him. Before he could do anything though, a long pale blue line of magic wrapped itself around his arm and he felt an immediate drain of his magic, though it was hardly an amount significant enough for him to worry about.

The audacity to do such a thing however….

"Who dares?!" Loki demanded angrily, tugging at the line and following to find the owner of the line. His eyes quickly found Saji standing on the plateau they had arrived on.

"I dare!" Saji retorted as he pulled on the line to keep it taut. "You're in the way of Sona's dream and I won't allow that!"

Loki chuckled darkly at Saji. "You think this thing can hold a god like me?" he sneered as he blasted the line with his magic to remove it from his arm.

That was the plan anyhow.

"What?!" Loki snarled, the malicious smile wiped from his face as the line of magic wrapped around his arm didn't budge.

"It'll take a lot more than that," Saji shouted as his shins and arms glowed purple before revealing black greaves and vambraces. Even his left eye took on a more reptilian appearance.

"What the hell's that?" Ben shouted over to his fellow pawn in amazement.

"Cool, huh?" Saji chuckled. "Azazel gave me an upgrade during my training. I now possess all the Vritra-type Sacred Gears!"

"Oh great, so the poison dragon, Vritra has decided to join the fight too," Loki cursed as the pale blue line of magic suddenly turned into purple flames.

"Yeah, and not even a god like you can shrug it off like it's no big deal!" Saji exclaimed as he maintained the line and let it do its job taking Loki's power and dispersing it.

"My, my, such godly arrogance!" Loki bellowed as he applied more power to removing the purple flames, this time succeeding, and continued building up his power to put an end to the fight once and for all. He had already wasted enough time with these brats and the fun had run its course.

The sky turned dark as huge clouds started to form and lightning struck several times in quick succession as a powerful gust of wind stirred up too. Sensing what he was about to do, Jormungandr, Fenrir and his two pups backed away from the group.

"Please stop, Lord Loki! If you don't stop now, you'll destroy the Underworld as well as the mythological world too!" Rossweisse tried to shout but, either the Norse god couldn't hear her through the storm or he didn't bother listening to her, Loki ignored the Valkyrie and continued his spell.

"That's what he wants!" Ben shouted, standing a few feet from her and protecting his face with his arm. "He's trying to bring about Ragnarok!"

This time, Loki appeared to hear Ben through the storm and smiled maliciously "And that is what I've been working towards since the beginning!" Loki cried through the storm as it picked up more power and started raining down projectiles down like rain on the battlefield, forcing everyone to take cover to avoid the deadly bombardment. Unfortunately for them though, Loki's attack caught several of them before they could get under cover and Kiba, Xenovia and Saji cried out in agony and fell to the floor.

"And now for the finale!" Loki bellowed as eh outstretched both his arms in front of him and, through several bright purple magic circles, fired a thick beam of magical power which shot up into the where it arced, split into thousands of smaller, more powerful beams of magical power and fell back down on the entire region.

"Watch out!" Ben shouted loudly as he quickly transformed, engulfing himself in emerald green light.

[Transform: Chromastone!]

Not wasting anytime, Ben quickly transformed again into Chromastone's ultimate form….

[Ultimate form!]

Once he had done this, he saw that there were only a few precious seconds until Loki's bombardment came raining down upon them. Without thinking about it, Ben created a large dome around himself, Rias, Akeno, Rossweisse and Koneko who happened to be near him and expanded it as quickly as possible which was harder than it first appeared until his purple protective dome covered everyone in their group. And not a moment too soon as, a second or two later, destruction came raining down on everything in twenty square miles, destroying the mountain range and obliterating any unfortunate demon who happened to be in the vicinity.

Ben realised after only a few seconds that his shield wasn't going to hold up for much longer under Loki's terrifying power and tapped into Ddraig's Sacred Gear.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!] Ddraig's voice bellowed out as the sharp increases in his power allowed Ben to maintain the shield under Loki's bombardment.

The barrage lasted for five minutes before Loki relented and stopped it, cackling darkly as he examined the destroyed landscape.

"And so, it is finished. You should all be honoured that you are the first of Ragnarok's many victims," he sneered as the cloud of dust covered the floor after his attack.

As the cloud dissipated though, a purple shield appeared in its stead.

"What?!" Loki snarled.

"Don't get too cocky, asshole," Ben grunted from one knee as he dropped the shield and took several deep breaths to recover the energy it took to maintain the shield from the Norse god's assault.

"Ben, are you alright?!" Rias asked with worry as she rushed over to him. Even on one knee and hunched over, Rias barely came up to eye level with Ben's crystalline face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How is everyone?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"Thanks to you, nobody's dead. Thank you," she said with relief. Now knowing that Ben was alright, Rias took out the pouch that Grayfia had given her before they teleported there and created a small magic circle in front of her.

"Sona, use this to get everyone injured back on their feet," she said into the circle before throwing the pouch into it with Sona catching it on the other side of the small portal, passing one of the vials to Tsubaki, and setting off to aid the three who had been caught by Loki's initial attack.

As the two of them did this, everyone else re-engaged with Loki's children and, once he had recovered enough strength, Ben stood back up and began firing multicoloured beams of magic up at Loki who deflected them with ease.

"We need to be even more careful now that we've used up all the phoenix tears we were given," Rias told everyone within earshot.

"I've got good news everyone!" Rossweisse, having just received a message from her superiors, exclaimed just as a bright blue light shone down on the battlefield, originating from a pale blue magic circle a few metres away from them. From the large magic circle, a huge hammer, easily two times larger than Ben in his Chromastone form. It had a black outer frame with a blue structure throughout the hammer's entire structure, from its head to its handle.

"Isn't that…?" Ben began to ask but Loki answered him before he could even ask.

"Mjolnir?!" he spat with derision in his voice, a small tinge of fear running up his godly spine as he watched the divine weapon appear and descend to the ground."

"About time," Kiba shouted, fully recovered after Tsubaki had given him one of the phoenix tears. "I don't think we could survive another barrage."

"It's all yours," Rias told Ben who nodded in understanding. He didn't need to be told twice. Taking to the air, he headed straight for the hammer, his hand outstretched as he reached for the mighty hammer.

His fingers almost touched the hammer when Fenrir appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly Ben found himself in Fenrir's jaws as the giant wolf intercepted him from reaching the hammer.

"Crap!" Ben grunted as he looked down to see the wolf's huge, razor-sharp teeth which held his crystalline body in its jaw. He fired beams at Fenrir in a bid to get the wolf to drop him but no matter what he did, the giant wolf just wouldn't let go.

"We're coming, Ben!" Rias shouted as she, Akeno, Koneko and Rossweisse rushed over to him to help.

"Just let go, you son of a bitch!" Ben shouted as he tried a different approach and began punching the wolf's jaw though it had the exact same effect as his previous attempts. "There's no way your teeth can break through my…."

CRUNCH!

Ben fell silent as Fenrir's teeth broke through his crystalline body slightly, several small cracks spreading out from the points of entry.

"…oh shit," he muttered quietly, casting one last glance at Rias who was still racing towards him, as Fenrir applied even more pressure and his jaws, strong enough to kill a god and even a legendary dragon, finally broke through Ben's outer shell with such raw force that his body shattered into thousands of tiny, purple shards of crystal.

"NO!" Rias cried fearfully, similar looks of fear on the faces of everyone who saw the whole thing happen in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Only Ben's severely cracked head somehow survived hitting the floor and shattering; instead it rolled along the floor before coming to a stop where Rias landed, fell to her knees, and slowly picked up the blank head which appeared to be more statue than living thing. Several deep cracks arched across the head.

After breaking Ben's body apart with its god-killing teeth, Fenrir suddenly found itself completely surrounded by every other member of Rias' peerage and Gwen who had taken care of Fenrir's offspring while Sona and Tsubaki continued to hold off Jormungandr while Saji returned to using his Sacred Gear to drain Loki's power.

"Ben?" Rias asked feebly as she held the crystalline head tenderly, tears streaking down her cheeks as no response came from her beloved. As the others unleased all their fury upon Fenrir, none of them could stop the tears trailing down their faces nor did they care. All they cared about was taking down Fenrir.

Even Gwen's eyes were wet with tears.

While all this was going on, Rossweisse merely stood rooted to the spot, staring at the shards which had been Ben a few moments ago.

"He was the only one amongst us capable of wielding Mjolnir," she muttered dejectedly. With him gone, there was no way they could survive now. Loki was going to kill them all.

"That's one less pest to worry about. I'm sure He will be pleased when he hears how I've destroyed Azmuth for him," Loki muttered to himself before looking down at the devils and angel attacking his eldest son and shook his head at their futile action. "If you're that distraught over his death then you have nothing to worry about. Ragnarok will ensure that you'll all join him soon."

He easily knocked Saji away in his stunned state after witnessing what had happened to Ben and wasn't fully concentrating. Once the nuisance had been removed, Loki continued with his plans and the sky above everyone began to ripple as the space around them began to twist and distort as Loki started quietly chanting the spells he had been given to him by his teacher and master.

Below him, not giving a damn of the fight that was still being fought, Rias held Chromastone's head close to her breast as tears trailed down her face, splashing on the crystal structure which had since turned pale in colour and falling in one of the deep cracks running across the head.

"Please don't leave me, Ben," she whispered tearfully, holding the head both closely yet gently, fearful of it breaking apart in her arms. "I'm not ready for you to leave me alone. You're the one I want to spend my life with; I forbid you from leaving me!"

As the fact that he was really gone began to sink in, Rias felt her blood start to boil, not that she cared anymore. She didn't care about anything anymore. She was going to fully unleash her Power of Destruction upon Loki and damn the consequences when her peripheral vision caught the faint glow of emerald green coming from behind a stone, shaken loose from Loki's barrage. Crawling over to it with the head still held close to her chest, Rias moved the stone with her free hand and was met with the sight of the dial that rested on the back of Ben's left hand. She felt the faint traces of power emanating from the circular object and reached down to pick it up. As soon as her fingers clasped it, she felt a tiny amount of her power being absorbed by the device.

She was about to drop it in surprise at the sudden drain of her power but managed to keep her hold on it when she saw the emerald light grow slightly stronger. Her excitement grew and, without giving it a second thought, transferred as much of her magical power as possible into the dial and, for the first time in her life, prayed to a higher power for whatever was happening to work, not even noticing when she didn't feel a splitting headache for praying.

She didn't even notice the lack of pain when she prayed.


. . . . .

Back with the others and their battle against Fenrir, they had no idea what was happening with Rias nor was it their priority at the moment as, all they cared about was killing Fenrir. As they unleashed everything in their power against the demonic wolf, the damage was starting to take its toll; Fenrir's fur had become matted from the blood which covered it, though hidden by its dark fur, and its jaw which had also become bloody from the repeated blows it received. This didn't do anything to weaken Fenrir though, if anything it made Loki's son even more enraged.

After yet another wave of brutal attacks from everyone, Fenrir was about to make its own move, leaping into the air as it lunged towards Akeno when a purple magic circle suddenly materialised beneath it and a series of thick chains shot out of the circle and entwined itself around the giant, struggling wolf and force it to the ground as it struggled to free itself though to no avail.

This even attracted Loki's attention who stopped chanting his spell and spun around to see what had happened.

"That sigil! What's the meaning of this?!" he demanded angrily, recognising the magic circle's sigil.

"What's going on?" Koneko asked anyone who was listening, wiping the tears from her cheeks and drying her eyes.

"I might have had something to do with it," a familiar voice called out from one of the few rocky pillars left standing.

"You!" Loki snarled as he glared down at Kuroka who sat on the edge of the pillar and smirked up at the furious Norse God.

Ignoring him, Kuroka quickly zoned in on Koneko, her smirk growing broader at Koneko's tail and ears. She noticed the evidence of tears on her face but didn't bring it up. "I'm so glad that you've finally embraced your powers, Shirone."

"That may be, but I'll never be like you," Koneko retorted firmly as she glared up at her sister. Ben might be gone but she wasn't going to disappoint him after all he'd done for her.

"We'll see. We are a violent species after all," Kuroka said back to her before returning her attention back up to a livid Loki. "We'll be taking custody of Fenrir as of today."

"What?" Loki shouted incredulously.

"Apparently Valerie's got a thing for teeth that can kill gods," Kuroka said as she stood up, another magic circle appearing beneath her feet though smaller than the one that now held Fenrir.

"How dare she betray me!" Loki bellowed angrily as he fired a beam of magic at Kuroka, completely obliterating the pillar she stood on though missing the cat demon herself who had already disappeared, Fenrir disappearing with her to wherever Valerie was.

"Urgh, looks like I've got to destroy another dragon after I'm done here," Loki growled, glaring at the spot where Kuroka had been seconds before.

"What do you mean "another dragon"? you haven't finished off your first one yet!" a deep voice that everyone recognised called out from behind the group.

They all span round and their hopes were answered.

"Ben!" they called out in relief at the sight of Ben standing before them in his Petrosapien form, Rias resting in the crook of his right arm, her arms wrapped around his neck, and Mjolnir in his left hand and resting against his shoulder.

"The one and only," he said back to them with a smile on his chisled, crystalline face.

"You're still alive?! How?" Loki demanded, hiding the slight fear he felt at seeing the mighty hammer being wielded by someone.

"That's something you don't have to worry about…you won't be around long for me to trouble you with the details," Ben shouted back at him, his smile transforming into a smirk. He glanced at the crimson-haired beauty with her arms wrapped around his neck, gently pressed his forehead against hers and knelt down on one knee to allow her down on the ground. Rias seemed reluctant to let go of him for a second but then she remembered where they were and what he had to do and released her grip on him, stepping back from him as he stood back up to his full height.

'This sucker's even heavier than it looks!' he thought as he found himself boosting his power several times just to allow him to hold the giant hammer easier.

"You damn meddling kids!" Loki bellowed, his fury reaching new levels that he hadn't felt in a very long time. "This ends here!" he added as he aimed his hands towards Ben. Before he could do anything else, he was bombarded by everyone suddenly attacking him, each using everything they had left after the battle which, while it didn't cause significant physical damage to him, it stopped the Norse god from attacking Ben.

Looking at the hammer in his hands, Ben recalled the famous owner of the hammer in his knowledge of mythology and an idea came to mind.

"Hey Akeno," he shouted out, attracting the Gremory queen's attention. Once he had it, he held the hammer in his two hands and gestured to it. "Could you give me a hand here?"

It took less than a second or two before Akeno realised what he was planning and smiled widely. "Of course!" she shouted back at him and fired a bolt of white lightning at the hammer's head. It struck the hammer head and the effect was immediate. The pale blue structure of the hammer started glowing brightly while electricity circled around the head of the hammer with arcs of lightning sparking and arcing around the hammer frequently.

"Now that's more like the hammer of the thunder God," Ben said to himself gleefully as he headed over to Loki who was still being peppered by everybody's attack and restrained by Saji's Sacred Gear for a third time.

"It's time to end this, Loki," Ben muttered quietly before manifesting a large crystalline pillar beneath his feet which shot up out of the ground with such force that it sent Ben flying into the air towards Loki. As he closed in on his target, Ben pulled back the hammer over his head just before bringing it crashing down on Loki.

"Damn you Azmuth! Damn you Odin!" Loki bellowed loudly as he quickly tried to create magical defences around himself but, just like Odin had told them, the mighty Mjolnir broke through every single one of them like paper, striking the Norse god fully and freezing both the god and the hammer in the air as the hammer began its second task of applying the numerous sealing spells and runes upon Loki.

"Where is Loki going once he's been sealed?" Saji asked through deep breaths from where he sat as everyone else watched as the seals were applied to Loki.

Rossweisse, also exhausted from the battle, answered his question. "Once the final seal has been applied, Loki will immediately be transported back to Asgard where a special cell has been reserved for Lord Loki where he will be held and questioned," she said professionally as she nursed an injured shoulder.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke," the Sitri pawn muttered as he slowly recovered his breath.

"At least it's finally over," Xenovia sighed, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"You think this is over?" Loki's voice spoke out, taking everybody by surprise as they looked up Loki who stared down at them with a sly smirk trying to form on his face. "This isn't even the beginning. I may've lost to you today, but my master will succeed where I have failed!"

"Your master?" Rossweisse asked with confusion and concern, for a being to exist that even the arrogant god Loki willingly calls "master", that could only ever be terrible news. "Who is your master, Lord Loki?! I demand to know!"

Loki ignored the Valkyrie's question. "Your days are numbered," he added just as the final seal was placed and he disappeared in a flash of light. With nothing impeding its path anymore, Mjolnir continued on its original arc and crashed down into the ground with a tremendous 'BOOM' that left a sizable crater in the rock.

"Now is it over?" Koneko asked, wiping dirt off her face with the back of her hand.

"Watch out!" Kiba shouted, attracting everyone's attention. They spun around to see Kiba with Tsubaki in his arms, having swept her off her feet, and leaping out of the way of the huge jaw of the Midgard Serpent.

"Shit! We forgot about that thing!" Ben cursed as everyone reacted to the surprise of the serpent's reappearance and headed over to continue the fight against it. Seeing how injured everyone was, Ben couldn't risk anyone getting hurt, especially after succeeding in their objective of beating Loki, and so took hold of the handle of the hammer with both hands and spun it around a few times like an athlete performing a hammer throw before releasing the powerful hammer straight at the serpent's head.

The hammer struck the serpent head with such power that the clone of Jormungandr's head exploded in a bloody mess, its body falling limply to the floor while the hammer continued on and hit the far valley wall before sliding down it, leaving a deep grove in the rock before it struck the ground.

"Now it's over," he breathed as he rolled his shoulders which made a crystalline metallic sound as his joints scraped against each other. In a flash of emerald light, he reverted back to his normal form and immediately regretted it as he suddenly felt as though he had been run over by a train…several times!

As he turned around to regroup with everyone he was suddenly glomped by Rias who, essentially, rugby tackled him to the ground in a tight embrace. This only made his injuries worse but he just didn't have the heart to ask her to get off him.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" her muffled voice called out from the crook of his neck as she fought back fresh tears, though these ones were tears of relief, and held onto Ben tightly.

Looking past the mound of crimson hair in front of him, Ben could see Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia looking at him with similar expression, their eyes watery as they fought back tears at seeing him back amongst the living.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked Rias, confused as to why she was so upset and hugging him so tightly. "I've been through worse before."

"What?! No you haven't!" Rias exclaimed, shocked he could say such a thing. Everyone else looked just as shocked as she was. "We all thought you were dead!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked her, his confusion growing at the obvious relief in her voice at his wellbeing. He looked back at the others and saw the same look of surprise and shock that Rias had.

"Do you not really know what happened?" Akeno asked slowly, stepping towards him, a worried look adorning her beautiful, dirtied face.

"I, uh…," Ben began to say but stopped himself when he realised that Akeno may actually have a point. He recalled the fight in his head but quickly noticed that he had a blank spot in his memory, a spot in which he had no recollection as to what happened to him. "Actually, now that you mention it, I don't remember transforming into Diamondhead."

"What's the last thing that you do remember," Xenovia asked as she, too, slowly took a few steps towards him.

"The last thing that I remember is…." Ben pressed his hand to his forehead as he struggled to remember what he could. "…is Mjolnir appearing in the sky above us and me reaching out to grab it."

"After that, I can't remember anything until I was standing before Loki transformed into Diamondhead, Rias on my right arm and Mjolnir in my left hand," Ben admitted, anxious that he couldn't remember anything other than that.

"And nothing else?" Rias asked as she ended pushed herself off his chest and looking into his eyes, worry clear in her own.

"No. I can't remember anything else," Ben muttered with frustration. "What happened to me?"

Before anyone could say anything though, Azmuth interrupted their conversation. His deep voice echoing across the valley.

[I believe I have a theory as to what happened to you, Ben. However, I suggest that you all leave this place and return back to Rias' family mansion before it's too late and this place is swarming with demons.]

"He's right, Rias," Sona agreed in her usual, formal tone. "Demons from miles around will be drawn to this place and we don't want to be here when they do.

[Don't forget to recover Mjolnir before you leave. I dread to think what Loki's allies would do with such a powerful weapon,] Azmuth added before going silent once more.

Ben wanted to argue with Azmuth, demand that he explain what had happened to him and why he couldn't remember it, especially since it had clearly affected Rias and the others so much. However, he begrudgingly relented as he knew that none of his friends and comrades could fight off an entire horde of demons, even if they hadn't just fought Loki and his offspring.

He would leave the matter until they had returned.


. . . . .

Not more than five minutes after they disappeared through a large magic circle with the hammer Mjolnir in Ben's hands that the area that they had occupied was now crawling with demons of all shapes and sizes, all drawn to the immense power Loki had unleashed in his bombardment of the area. With all these different demons in the same place, it wasn't long before the newly reformed landscape was christened in the savage bloodbath which quickly followed.

. . . . .

Demonomicum extract:

Methanosian

Appearance: While at first glance appearing humanoid, Methanosians are anything but. This plant demon has a green and black coloured body with a flame-patterned head and root-like feet which, upon closer examination, appear to be holding rocks. Its shoulders are adorned with flaming red petals (unknown if this serves any purpose or just used for mating displays). Taller than the average-sized person, one way of knowing whether a Methanosian is nearby is by the distinct rotting smell they naturally emit, a smell which worsens when mixed with heat.

Bio: While it is possible to find Methanosians in any land where vegetation is present, they originate from the vast swamplands of Methanos, a gaseous swampland of which the air is naturally toxic to all except a very small number of demons.

Using their natural affinity to plants, they spend their lives tending to the vegetation of the Underworld. It isn't uncommon to see them in the employ of high-ranking Devil nobles who either employ of enslave Methanosians to tend to their gardens and act as Gamekeepers in their lands, ensuring their growth, cultivating plants and burning away dead vegetation with their flame abilities. The most curious ability that they possess is their powerful regenerative ability. Should a limb be infected, distorted or in any other way unable to function optimally then they have been observed removing the dysfunctional limb…only for another one to grow and replace it within a few seconds! [*This requires further study*]

While they are docile when tending to their precious vegetation, this is untrue should they be aggravated, or their plants be attacked. Should someone be unfortunate to make this mistake then they'd be prepared to defend themselves or flee as the Methanosian will respond with extreme prejudice, using their plant and flame abilities to handle any foe who crosses them. However, the greatest power in their corner is their amazing regenerative capabilities which makes them almost immortal.

Threat level: LOW (HIGH when aggravated)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N: And that's the end of another chapter!

I know some of you may be disappointed with how the end of the Loki fight went but I really wanted to put that bit in from the cartoon, from that fight between Ben and Vilgax (you know the one) and, unlike the cartoon, I will do my best to adequately explain it in the next chapter for you guys.

Anyway, the next chapter is the Rating Game between Rias and Sona. That will also be the last chapter for the Underworld arc. After the Rating Game they'll return back up to the human world for even mire adventure and hijinks. Before that though, I will probably add in a trial omake chapter with stories you guys have asked me for (i.e. Big Chill's pregnancy and the fountain of youth). If that's what you guys still want, please let me know in your reviews.

Speaking of reviews:

. . . . .

Reviews

Guest (don't know who's who so I'll answer them all here): I have absolutely no plans on having a pairing between Ben and Valerie. Sorry if that upsets anyone reading this but there you go. That being said though, I may…I repeat, MAY, have them with a relationship similar in some way to that of Batman and Catwoman (fighting all the time and getting it on in the intervals!)

I have plans for ultimate Humongosaur to make future appearances in my story.

In theory, Ben IS the true leader of the Forever knights by being the possessor of Ascalon. However, the organisation, and sub groups, have changed greatly since when they were first created, a very small number of them retaining the honour their ancestors once had. It is extremely unlikely that the leaders of the separate groups would willingly give up their power.

Sorry if I've contradicted things I wrote in the first chapter. The story has progressed in directions I didn't originally plan for, in some parts due to the suggestions of you readers but I'll go back to it and correct it.

E-BLOK5290: Sorry, Ship won't be joining Ben as his familiar. While I admit it could be awesome if done right, I don't want to give Ben anymore power or it could become silly. He's already got Azmuth's power, Ddraig's power and now he's got Ascalon. I believe it would be going over the top if I give him anymore power.

That fact that Valerie already existed in the DxD universe was made to me before by another by another reader but thanks for also pointing it out. I will most likely change the dhampir's name when we meet her (which won't be for a while at the speed I'm releasing these chapters!). Valentina is a really promising idea and one of the choice of names I had come up with. Bar anything else coming to mind, that might be the one I use.

Personally, I'm against having Celestialsapiens anywhere near my story as they are simply too powerful. It's hard to have conflict and suspense when you have a character who can snap their fingers and suddenly everything works out for you. If, somehow, I did include him in my story, I would call him Deus Ex Machina as that's exactly what he is!

Gwen will definitely NOT be part of Ben's harem (this isn't that sort of fanfic!). I haven't given any thought to an Angel member of Ben's harem.

I had completely forgotten about Zennith! Thanks for reminding me about her. When I read your review an entire range of ideas went through my head that I will act upon. It might not be what you expect but she will be inserted into my story somewhere.

Angelic dragons? Now there's an interesting thought.

Nivek Beldo: Ahh, and here's my favourite reviewer!

Ben might get Frankenstrike in the future; he needs to see one though so that must imply that Animo strikes at Ben once more.

I was tempted to have Rath fight Kuroka but then I couldn't resist giving Ben a Nekomata form which I know at least several readers wanted to see. Wildcat is a good name for the form and one I might use the next time he uses it.

It's nice to see another person shares my distaste for the Ben 10 reboots (I can't express how upset I am with the creators for letting something beautiful become so much…less)

Spider-Man999: I've got several ideas as to what I'll call Ben's Nekomata form as well as a few good ones from other readers, yours included. You'll know which one I pick the next time Ben transforms into it.

Rick: No, Ben won't have those powers. Issei had those because all he had was Ddraig's Sacred Gear and worked with that. Ben has Ddraig's Gear plus so much more, mainly his transformations. When you consider how they can be combined with Ddraig's Gear and Ascalon, I think Ben's got enough he has to cope with. I might put up a formal list of the members of Ben's harem in the next chapter or two. As to the question of magic, yes, Ben will be able to use it to a degree but, unlike Akeno, Rias and Asia, that isn't really his forte in a fight.

Omnimania00: No, Albedo won't be a dragon. That's all I'm going to reveal on that subject.

DaDog: To answer your questions:

1: Yes, Ben could become those species. His forms tend to have some form of sentience, even if basic at times, but he could, in theory, transform into those things if he gets a sample of their DNA.

2: No, it's unlikely any other species could accidently create new demon species. Galvans are unique in the Underworld for their intelligence but they aren't anything like they used to be thanks to them almost being hunted to extinction by predators. In terms of the mechanical Ben 10 alien forms, I'll do my best to convert them into a universe of magic and supernatural beings (i.e. the Mechamorph becoming a Magimorph). Spiritual ones already exist as they exist with the help of magic and the lesser species that you mentioned also exist but are very low on the food chain and keep themselves hidden from the bigger, more powerful demons.

3: Again, technically he does have the DNA of a dragon in the device. However, as I have pointed out before, Azmuth's Gear enables Ben to become the alpha of that particular species in terms of power, strength, and sometimes appearance. With this in mind, what is the highest level of dragon?

Answer: a dragon god!

Not an easy thing to change into without, either help from someone else or training yourself endlessly.

. . . . .

Thank you everyone else for your reviews. I enjoy reading them all so please keep 'em coming!

I don't know when the next chapter will be released but I hope to have it out as soon as possible without it interfering with my studies.

See you guys next time!

Adios Amigos!