Greetings and salutations dear readers. We're gonna get some responses out of the way real quick before moving on!

Raidenenshou: Oh Matt isn't just scraping S-Class, he is firmly on that level. I was kinda implying back when he and Gildarts fought that he was on the cusp of S-Class, and in-story that was well over a year ago and a God Serena ago. So by now he's firmly placed himself on that level.

anzafay21: The Fairy Language book holds the key for Matt to get some really powerful abilities. I've extremely vaguely hinted towards what exactly he could do with that book, but that'll be expanded upon much more down the line.

Crocodile59: With the guess about Erza Matt did, that can be mostly attributed to the kind of bleed effect media can have on people. When you read about something so much and hear about it a ton it leaves an imprint in your head. So when you actually see something vaguely like it in-person, your mind automatically jumps to a conclusion. Granted this was right for Matt, but he didn't vocalize it on the off-chance it wasn't true.

As for Serena this early, that was definitely a risk. However when Matt's performance against Gildarts is taken into account with the given time gap for getting stronger and Dragon Slayer's having a ton of exploitable weaknesses (especially Serena and his attitude on top of not having a full arsenal of 8 Lacrima). It's not an obscure stretch, especially since Serena basically did himself in at the end. I 100% understand why you'd think that way though and get if you still don't completely buy it.

Okay, now that that's done, let's get this show on the road!

"HA!" Yato threw a devastating punch to the kidney of Vladimir, a hit hard enough to rupture the organ. Despite this, the madman never lost his twisted smile.

She ducked under his punch and savagely slammed a left hook to his liver. A hit that should paralyze even the best fighters with absurd pain tolerance, was taken in glee by him.

The fight was primarily this from the beginning to where it was now. Her dodging his poorly executed attacks and him taking her blows without visible injury, a true stalemate whose deciding factor would be stamina.

'The hell is this guy made of?!' Yato stepped back from a right jab and got some distance. 'He hasn't hit me once so far, but I'm not visibly doing any damage. Doesn't look like he's getting tired either…' Yato was far from exhausted, but as any fighter will attest, defending is much less exhausting than attacking. Even if she was one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the Rune Knights, it meant nothing if her opponent wasn't hurt by her.

Using her peripherals she caught a view of the still paralyzed Matt. The girl doubted he could move even if his mind wanted his body too. She might as well consider this fight one on one at this rate.

Vladimir licked his lips before quickly dashing forward with his good leg. Yato barely dodged the right jab as the red aura around her was slightly damaged by his fist. The man then feinted with his left fist causing her to block, leaving her stomach wide open for a right punch.

Yato skidded back from the blow, grinding the ground as she slid back. Vladimir shook his right hand after the hit, the hand feeling like it'd just met iron.

The girl smirked and patted her gut. "Abs are a girl's best friend: they're great to look at, and even better to have." Most fighters underestimated her due to the baggy clothing of the Rune Knight uniform hiding the hard muscles from years of physical training she had.

Vladimir ignored her words and began another assault. His punches barely missing her each time, chipping away at her red aura. This continued for minutes on end until her red aura was mostly depleted. The girl was beginning to crave more air in her lungs and sweated a bit harder. Her opponent meanwhile was still perfectly fine.

'Looks like I'll get to use that spell after all.' Yato adjusted her stance before Vladimir, at his fastest pace yet, smashed his right fist into her head. The red aura was completely broken now, leaving the girl without a defensive shield.

However, she widely smirked as her left hand tightly gripped Vladimir's left, audibly cracking the bones. She clenched her right hand, a shining gold aura covering it.

"Rising Dragon!" She drove the punch straight into the gut of Vladimir, her hand visibly sinking into his flesh. Violent cracking noises came from his rib cage shattering apart due to the awkward angle they were being bent at. The sounds of ripping flesh came from the man as the sheer force of the strike had cleaved him in two, his upper body smashing into the ceiling faster than a bullet. Vladimir's legs stumbled and collapsed onto the floor, his upper body imprinted into the ceiling.

Yato inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled to even out her breathing. It certainly didn't seem like the man was getting up from her strongest punch. From what she could see, his eyes had rolled into the back of his head and hir chest had ceased any movement. Blood rained from the pinned torso as his entrails barely remained from falling out. She was well aware of his absurd regeneration, but even the girl had to admit that her attack was clear overkill.

To make sure, she kept an eye on his motionless body halves for a solid minute. When no changes were noticed, she sighed in relief before she started to approach Matt. The poor boy was so petrified, he didn't even notice her kill the man just a moment ago.

"Hey. It's okay now. He's gone." She softly spoke as she approached the boy. "He won't hurt you anymo-"

Blood splashed onto Matt's face, making him turn his head to see Yato vomiting blood onto the skinless fist sticking through her torso.

"Silly girl. Nightmares never die." His sadistic smile widened as he removed his fist from her gut. Yato, with strength to impress even Heracles, kept standing. Blood covered her mouth and chin like a crimson curtain as her breaths were beyond strained.

From the corner of her eye she noticed the former ceiling decoration had been reduced to raw Ethernano, meaning that organic life was now dead. The only explanation her mind could come up with was Sacrifice: an aspect of magic normally forbidden upon. Sacrifice entails the user giving up something or someone to vastly increase the power of magic. The bigger the sacrifice, the greater the return. Vladimir had used this to ensure he wasn't reduced to a vegetable by Gildarts for the cost of the removal of half his bodies skin.

Vladimir smacked the girl onto the floor and began stomping her, painting the white hall red as sounds that a human body shouldn't make came from her mangled form.

'Is this truly how you wish for things to remain weakling?' A voice inside of Matt's head spoke. 'Do you wish to live in fear for the rest of this fickle life?"

'… n-no.' He weakly thought, his voice barely a whisper.

'Will you just sit back and allow those you care for to die?'

'O-Of course not! But that... that thing, it's unstoppable!'

The vocie scoffed. 'Do you truly believe that there exists anything that can not be killed? You may have the mental age of someone far beyond your physical age, but you are certainly as foolish as a child.' Matt didn't know why, but those words felt like an understatement.

'You are a human being. Your life is short. Everyone you know and love will die someday. All the things you treasure will eventually crumble to dust.' The voice spoke bluntly. 'However, why would you not fight to keep them as long as you can? Why would you simply let those things die and be taken from you because the world simply wants them to?'

'I-I…'

'Are you going to back down from protecting that which your heart feels so strongly towards all because of something as bland as fear?'

'What was it you said earlier? You are a greedy King that will take whatever makes him happy, which includes keeping the faces of those you care for happy? Did you fabricate those words out of thin air?'

'…No.' He thought clearly.

'Do you hate everyone you've come to know?'

'No.'

'Do you wish for them to die!?'

'No!'

'THEN HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH IN DEFIANCE TOWARDS THESE BRITTLE CHAINS LABELED FATE. TAKE HOLD OF YOUR POWER AND SHATTER THEM. THEY DO NOT CONSTRAIN YOU! YOU ARE THE KING! THE ONLY FORCE THAT BINDS YOU IS YOURSELF! NOW RID YOURSELF OF THE SHACKLES OF FEAR AND FIGHT! FIGHT TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT!' The voice roared out to him.

Yato was held up by her neck. Her breaths shaky and barely there. Blood coated practically all her visible skin as her uniform was in tatters.

"I think that's enough of you." Vladimir sighed. "Time for the boy." Just as he went to turn towards Matt, a knife impaled itself into his skull and the mass he held in his hand was suddenly freed.

The girl weakly looked over to see herself in Matt's arms. His face obscured by shadow.

"m...att." Her voice was weak and hardly audible.

He wordlessly placed her down before turning. Kuriboh came out and started to heal her wounds.

"Just stay still and save your energy. I'll protect you." His eyes burned, not with anger, passion or determination. They burned with revenge.

"You'll protect her boy?" Vladimir pulled the knife from his head, small clumps of pink matter stuck to the blade. "It seems as though I'll have to remind you what fear is." He shattered the weapon in his hand.

'I'm so sorry Yato. Everyone. I was a coward who couldn't face the first taste of wrath this world threw his way. But no more.' He drew his knife from the sheath and placed it between his teeth. 'If I haven't the courage to face this devil, how could I ever have the courage to even consider a choice?!'

Matt sprinted at Vladimir and leapt into the air, throwing his knife at the man who caught it with his forearm, uncaring for physical damage.

"HAAAA!!" Matt roared as he heel kicked the knife. Using the momentum of that brief contact, he spun and kicked the man in the head with his other heel. Placing his hands on the ground, he spun his body to kick Vladimir right in the liver, audibly shattering his rib.

"MORE! SHOW ME MORE!!!" Vladimir yelled in ecstasy as Matt got to his feet. He threw a right hook at the man who took the hit. However the true goal was the knife.

With impressive strength, Matt ripped it straight down his forearm, severing the bone. The teen spun and successfully cut the throat of the man wide open. Blood shot out of the wound and covered the teen's face. His right hand shot out and grabbed the hair of Vladimir, shoving his head down towards the teens knee, breaking his nose.

Due the the massive build of the Mage, Matt easily stepped on his body with his right leg and kicked him square in the jaw with his left. The man's head threatened to fly off, the muscle, tendons and arteries in a state of being stretched, torn and healed as it shot back, carrying his body with it.

Matt chucked the knife straight into Vladimir's heart, dropped down and used a palm strike to send to blade straight through his torso.

'The kid's like a machine.' Yato watched on in awe. 'His offense is so ridiculous, that defense is completely pointless.'

The teen stepped back as Vladimir's wounds quickly healed and he began to dash around quick enough that only vague vestiges remained. Quickly realizing his eyes were useless here, Matt used his instincts instead. Because of this, he caught the attempted right punch from the man and threw him across the room by grabbing the limb.

He quickly summoned a blade and launched a wave of magical power at the man, shattering the wall to pieces and obscuring his opponent.

Matt breathed heavily as he closely observed the clearing dust, anticipating the form of the man, which was unfortunately not there when it settled.

'Shit! He already moved!'

He was struck with a hard punch, sending him to the floor. His body rolled for a moment before coming to a stop.

"Fool! Even if I'm reduced to a single drop of blood, my magic will heal me as long as I can make sacrifices! You can't kill me!" He beamed with glee as he approached the downed teen.

'Damn!' Yato attempted to get up but quickly found herself incapable of moving, the hole in her torso preventing such an action.

"Now die like a good boy you brat." Vladimir raised his leg. What he didn't notice were the small distortions right behind him that quickly shot out of the ground, impaling the man with swords.

Matt quickly got up and summoned a group of knives that shot out at the man. The wires attached to them sent hin crashing into a wall, bonded by the impossibly strong cable.

"So what you're telling me is that I can't leave even a single drop of blood?" Matt raised his right hand. "Then my victory is secured." The construct he forged was a simple katana by the look alone. "Then I'll burn you until your very soul is reduced to nothingness!" White-hot flames surged from the blade, pooling around the form of Matt as they came together into the shape of a mighty dragon. The heat was so strong that even God Serena would've begrudgingly praised the quality of these flames, Matt's emotions making their power truly remarkable. "NOW BURN!"

When Matt pointed the sword at Vladimir, the flame monster wordlessly engulfed the man ablaze as it consumed him with a charge. The man laughed at first, assuming that the attack would prove useless, that is until he visibly saw the cinders of his flesh be wiped from life itself.

Vladimir for the first time in his life, screamed in agonizing pain.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Bloody Murder would understate the esophagus-bleeding screams he let out as his body was incinerated without mercy. The sheer volume of magic energy being poured into the attack would've caused most mages to black out, but the seething rage of Matt proved to somehow eliminate this as a possibility.

After a long moment that felt like an eternity, all that proved Vladimir ever existed, was the permanent black shadow engrained into the wall where he took his last breath.

Matt exhaled as the blade in his hand disappeared, his gaze befell the prone woman, he quickly dashed over. He tightly gripped his fists and closed his eyes in frustration.

"You actually conquered your fear…" She smiled warmly at him, proud of his accomplishment. Kuriboh had healed the beating Vladimir gave her, except for the gaping wound in her stomach.

"It doesn't matter." He fell to his knees and hit the floor, cracking the stone effortlessly. "Because of my damn cowardice, I couldn't save you!" Tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes.

"It's fine. This is the path I chose." She reassured him. The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a purple and white handkerchief. "Wipe your face off silly goose, can't go into the final battle looking like that."

Matt took the handkerchief and wiped his face off.

"I need you to do something for me." She weakly muttered.

The teen grasped her barely standing hand. "What is it?" His voice was shaky, but firm in its resolve.

"Tell my sister I'll always be there." She pointed at her heart. "And that… Big sis….. lo….v…….." The life escaped her eyes, the woman was robbed of finishing her final words.

Matt bit his lip as he still held her hand. After a moment, his body stopped shaking. He wiped the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Now is not the time for tears." He looked over at the blonde and used his hand to close her eyes. The teen looked at her peaceful expression and stood while clutching the cloth in his hand. "I'll finish this fight." He pocketed the Handkerchief and headed for the exit, the fires of determination filling his soul. His deck box glowed as a new addition came.

"For all of us."

With a quick movement of her arms to the pair, a white light shined around Hina and Jura. Increasing their speed and strength many times over as their magic cores cleared.

"Time for supper!" Hannibal screamed in joy as the ground in front of him shot out as a large mouth, the same attack that claimed Ken's life.

Hina jumped and heel kicked the appendage to the ground, breaking it effortlessly.

"Acid Rain!" Pietor had a magic circle appear above the duo.

"Iron Rock Wall!" Jura caused the ground to form a dome around the two, shielding them from the lethal magic. Jura could feel his magic coming out faster and far more efficiently. It was his his magic core had been polished and smoothed to perfection, allowing a far cleaner movement of his magic power.

"Stay out of this! They're my prey!" Hannibal threatened his partner.

"Silence worm!" He shot back, perfectly ready to kill the psychopath.

Jura took advantage of this discourse and had the ground around the two erupt. Hannibal dodged like a cat while Pietor took the brunt of the blow. The latter fell to the ground harshly while the former nimbly got to his feet and charged at Hina.

He made a critical error in trying to fight a highly trained solider in hand-to-hand however as a palm strike to his jaw broke some of his teeth with ease. Hina quickly began hitting the major vital spots of the human body. Liver, Kidneys, Lungs, Esophagus, Skull and Groin were all brutally assaulted, to anyone that wasn't a mage, this assault would permanently cripple them at best. The woman finished him with a mule kick that sent him flinging in the air into the wall.

Jura wordlessly looked at her momentarily. His expression a mix of shock over such a kind woman pulling such brutal moves and amazement that a healer was that skilled in non-weapon combat.

"Hehehe. So the cat has claws eh?" Hannibal weakly stood, spitting out a large glob of blood. "Too bad for you then that my magic massively amplifies my body's healing when I digest!"

The pair's expressions morphed to shock.

"Oh don't worry, your friend was dead when he entered my stomach. My magic crushed his body so he'd fit nice and snug in there." He patted his gut. "Though I am feeling pretty empty now, even more reason to enjoy supper!" The lunatic once again charged at Hina.

"Acid Cannon!" Pietor shouted as he stood back up. He hands joined together as a powerful stream of his deadly toxin was unleashed.

Jura immediately raised a series of pillars in front of him to guard. The acid quickly began to eat through the stone. Thinking fast, Jura manipulated one of the furthur back pillars into extending and smashing into the man.

Pietor quickly used one hand to split the attack, smirking confidently in his ability to divide his attacks into two. What wasn't so fortunate for him, was that attacking from multiple angles was a specialty of Jura.

Pietor coughed up blood from the newly twisted pillar smashing into his torso. Other pillars stretched and hit the man without mercy when his acid stopped. Jura wishing to make absolutely sure he'd stay down. The enhanced strength of his magic assisting this process immensely.

After a solid minute of beating the Acid Mage with his magic, the Dark Mage was unquestionably unconscious at best.

Jura turned his gaze over to see Hina still fighting Hannibal, the former dodging her strikes much better than before. Though he still couldn't squeeze in an offense whatsoever. All he'd managed was to graze her cheek with his finger. Though this did draw blood, it was a simple flesh wound all things considered.

The cannibal leapt back and rubbed his mouth to remove the blood leaking from it.

"Not bad." He looked over to see the unconscious form of Pietor before maliciously smiling and using his magic to devour the man.

Hina recoiled in shock with her hands over her mouth.

"You bastard! To your own comrade?!" Jura yelled at the psycho who was currently chewing. He let out a foul belch and rubbed his stomach.

"Blech! He tasted beyond sour, but went down pretty smoothly." The man once again licked his lips. "But that wasn't enough. I still hunger!" His face morphed into a sadistic smile. "And I know just where to get my next meal!" He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Ha!" Hina sharply inhaled and clutched her chest, her breathing fast and erratic.

"Hina-dono! What did you do?!" Jura roared at the man, the veins of his head bulging in fury.

"My magic allows me to create small portals to my stomach from anything I touch. These take the forms of mouths. And during our last scuffle…" He rubbed the blood on his fingernail.

Jura's face twisted into shock and horror as he understood what was happening. Hina's own blood was starting to devour her body from the inside.

Not wasting a moment, Jura immediately began to attack the man. Hoping that if he ended this fast enough, Hina would be able to heal herself in time.

"Too bad for you! But my magic doesn't require me to be stationary like that fool!" Hannibal exclaimed in glee as Jura's own pillars shot back at him with the new addition of a mouth fiercely snapping at the top of them.

The bald man blocked these with other pillars, turning the defending and offending pillars to rubble. He raised up the pieces of rock on the ground.

"Rock Avalanche!" The flying pieces of earth flew at the Cannibal, he attempted a dodge, but a well-hidden rock hit him in the back of the head for a momentary stun. The man was then swarmed by the merciless stone that caused a large terrestrial blast, engulfing his body.

However, Hina coughing up blood in large quantities told him the man was still going. Jura clicked his tongue and carefully observed his surroundings.

This unfortunately proved useless as a portion of his shoulder was bit into by the madman.

"GAH!" Jura yelled in pain as he lashed out at the cannibal.

"It's over! Time for supper!!" He snapped his fingers, and Jura felt his heart seize. The large men fell to a knee as he clutched his chest in pain.

Hannibal laughed like a madman as his opponents bodies literally ate themselves to death.

"HAAHAHAHA-" He suddenly stopped. The cannibals body began twitching violently. "AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!" He roared in pure agony as it felt like his organs were on fire. "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!" Rolling on the floor to try and fight the overwhelming pain proved fruitless. "DID I EAT SOMETHING BAD?!" That's when it hit him. Ken had casted a spell just before death. Insect Soul: Blister Beetle. A species of bettle that contain a poison that can kill horses in small quantities. And he had ingested a fully grown man who had the poison in his entire bloodstream.

"IT HURTS!!" Hannibal screamed as he began to claw at his neck in pain. The flesh being stripped off from how hard he was scratching. "MAKE IT STOP!!!" His hands and neck were now completely crimson as he had long since gotten though the skin. His feet kicked around in agony as his nerves felt ablaze. The only reason the man stopped screaming was because he'd torn out his own vocal cords. Eventually, after completely ripping off the first few inches of his throat, the man slumped over dead. A truly massive pool of blood filled the area around him.

Jura temporarily blacked out from his own case of bleeding out.

"I'm alive?" Jura questioned as he opened his eyes. He was certain his heart was done for after that. The weight on his torso gave him explanation. "Hina-dono… thank you." Jura told the girl that he assumed was asleep. However upon closer inspection, he saw she wasn't moving at all. "Hina-dono?!"

The man quickly laid her on her back and pressed his ear to her chest, a faint absurdly weak heartbeat was present. Jura sighed in relief, but said relief quickly morphed into concern. He wasn't sure how much the woman had healed herself before passing out, that could mean she was still heavily injured.

Jura's fist clenched tightly enough to draw blood as there was nothing he could do except press on and end this as soon as possible. He quickly placed a powerful stone barrier around her, a contingency in the event of the island being devastated by the coming battle.

Wordlessly, the bald man pressed ahead, the fire inside hotter than ever.

"RAH!" Cosmo threw a chunk of the ground he lifted up at Rasputin.

"Hmph." The man didn't even move as dozens of spike impaled the thrown earth, stopping it in its tracks.

"Be careful Cosmo! This guy can turn anything he touches into a stabbing instrument!" Yoru warned the Fish Man as she threw some knives at the dark mage.

Rasputin also easily caught the thrown blades with his fingers, a confident smirk finding it's way to his face.

As the pair threw weapons and rubble at Rasputin, he didn't move from his spot at all as he caught and broke the projectiles with his magic and hands.

"This isn't working!" Cosmo shouted in frustration. "To hell with it!" He began to charge at the man.

"Foolish child." He mused as a spike shot up from the ground and though Cosmo's foot, causing him to yell in pain.

"Cosmo!" Yoru yelled in concern.

The fish man however grit his teeth and charged through, breaking the spike with raw strength.

"Hoh? This body of yours is quite durable then." A sadistic grin made it's way to the Priest's face. "Then I'll enjoy myself a bit."

He leapt up to the air as Cosmo barreled into where he was formerly standing. The ceiling morphing into spikes that shot down to impale the Mage. To the surprise of Rasputin, his spikes broke on the hard scales of Cosmo's back.

While he was surprised over seeing that for the first time, Yoru capitalized and kicked him into a wall. The surface cratered from the impact, but quickly morphed into more spikes to try and kill the woman. She easily dodged them due to her impressive speed and landed back onto the ground.

Rasputin pulled himself back onto the floor and wiped his mouth.

"It seems as though I'll have to get serious against you two." He took an odd combat stance.

'The hell is that stance? Never seen anything like it.' Cosmo readied himself for the next attack.

Like lightning, Rasputin was immediately in front of the fish and cocking a punch.

'Idiot! Not even that Sol or Aria have broken these scales!' Cosmo smirked confidently.

"Cosmo! Dodge!" Yoru warned the young man as she realized what was happening.

It was too late though as Rasputin's fist implanted itself into the body of Cosmo, his scales twisted with the Priest's hand. His body was launched back like a bullet, smashing into the wall and making him spew out blood from his mouth.

"Damn!" Yoru went to attack but found herself imprisoned by spikes on all sides. The woman went to kick open the barrier, but was stopped.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you." The Priest mused. "Those spikes put the strength of steel to shame and will lash out should you attack them. The only way to dispel them is for me to lose my concentration. Which many have tried, but failed to do."

Cosmo hacked up blood. 'The hell was that?! Did he use his magic to pierce though my scales?!' Cosmo felt the spot he'd been hit at to find no visible wound. But the area ached awfully. 'He can turn anything he touches into a spike.' The Mage stood on his own feet again. 'He used my own damn blood?! This guy is dangerous. I can't get hit by him. But…' He gazed over to the imprisoned Yoru. 'I sure as hell can't beat him alone.' He realized what he had to do in that moment.

"So what shall you do Young Man? Will you run? Or will you die a pointless death?" Rasputin taunted him.

"Heh. If I run back home Dad'll kill me anyways. And there's no way in hell you're worse than him." He bitterly laughed. "So I'm gonna kick your ass just like he would want me to!"

He charged the Priest with a roar.

"So that's your answer then." A grin found its way on to his face. "Then die like all the others."

Cosmo dodged the spikes shooting up from the floor narrowly. Using his enhanced instinct to warn him of when the weaker scales of his feet were threatened. Upon getting close, Rasputin easily dodged the slow and heavy attacks of Cosmo.

'Damn! I need him to stay still!' Cosmo charged forward at him. 'I know how to do it, but it'll suck.'

Cosmo kept his charge going as Rasputin remained unhittable.

"If this is all you can do then I tire of you." The man frowned as he once again impaled Cosmo's feet with spikes.

Cosmo cried out in pain as he clutched the stone, keeping himself upright.

Rasputin, once again quickly hopped over to the man and went to use the same punch that wounded him so painfully before.

'NOW!'

Cosmo lowered his head to take the hit. Too late to stop, Rasputin's fist hit the immensely hard skull of the man, vile cracking noises came from his now shattered hand.

"GRH!" He grit his teeth in pain and hopped back. His hand limply hung off the wrist.

Blood leaked down Cosmo's head as he looked up with a smirk.

"Got ya."

"Fool. Disabling one hand means nothing." The older man chided the youths ineptitude with a scowl.

"Who said that's what I'm aiming for?"

The Priest's eyes widened.

"These tendrils are more than just makeshift hair y'know? Ever hear about the Box Jellyfish?"

Rasputin's expression immediately turned to his arm. Without hesitation he severed it with a spike, stunning the other two in the room.

"He cast off his arm just like that?!" Yoru shouted in shock.

The man doubled over in pain as he clutched the stump that used to be his right arm. His expression was now one of pure rage.

"AAAAGH!" Cosmo's hands were impaled on spikes that shout out from the ones he still absentmindedly hung on to, trapping him in place.

"Cosmo!" Yoru cried out, "That's it!" She reeled her leg back to kick through the spikes.

"Wait!" The man cried out in pain. "Don't waste your health on me Yoru. The others… they'll need you as close to 100% as possible against that freak."

"Don't talk like that you damn fool!" She chided the mage.

"Heh. Yeah, I am a damn fool, but this fool also knows how useless he is against opponents like that monster. I'm completely worthless against him, but you aren't."

"Cosmo…"

"But even so…" He bit his lip in anger, "A damn fool like me still has his pride! So it's alright if I wanna be useful too right?! It's alright if I wanna prove I can fight too right?!"

Once he'd recovered, Rasputin kicked the man in the back as hard as he could. Though this was also a mistake as he felt tons of sharp stabs in his shin.

"What?!"

"Sea Urchin spikes. Nasty stuff." Cosmo grit his teeth as he spoke, his wounds causing clear excruciating pain.

Rasputin ripped his leg from the Fish Man's back, his flesh being torn apart by the barbed spikes. Both of his right limbs were now disabled permanently.

'This is a war of attrition. This comes down to whoever bleeds out first.' Yoru clutched her fist at her own uselessness.

Cosmo tried to break free of the spikes, but the awkward angle his body was at made gathering the neccessary strength hard.

'Well there go my two trump cards. I can't hit him either… which means I only got one option left.' Cosmo's gaze turned downcast at the revelation of his next move.

"Die!" Rasptutin had more spikes impale the Mage's feet.

He yelled in pain at his feet were shredded by the weapons.

'BEAR IT! BEAR IT YOU DAMN FOOL!!!' He mentally roared at himself.

Frustrated at the lack of dying from his opponent, Rasputin summoned a spike into his hand. And hobbled his way in front of Cosmo.

"This is the end." Rasputin drove the spear into the chest of the Mage. Blood poured from the wound by the pint as his insides were shredded, multiple spikes shooting out of his body and blending his organs. Just as Rasputin let his guard down though, Cosmo summoned the last of his strength and bit deeply into the neck of the Priest, his sharp teeth ripping and tearing the tender flesh asunder.

The dark mage couldn't even speak, gurgles escaped from the holes in his throat as blood filled his lungs. Both mages fell to the floor as their magic dispelled.

The prison around Yoru collapsed as she immediately ran to the Mage who had transformed back to normal. She turned the boy over to see him practically eviscerated. While she'd seen worse, this image would stick with the woman for years.

"Did I... do him proud?" Cosmo weakly wheezed out.

"Yes. Your father would be very proud of you." She reassured him with the same fake smile she gave to everyone she held in her arms as they died.

"Good.… I'm so…. ha…" The life left his eyes as the mutal destruction was complete. Yoru brushed her hand over his eyes to close them.

She gave a silent prayer as she stood and walked towards her goal, the desire for victory stronger than ever.

"Fire Devil's Rage!" A powerful stream of flame shot from Kaiser's mouth at Jellal who jumped over the attack and used Meteor to try and counterattack.

The corrupt priest easily dodged the attack and grabbed the teen by his ankle, slamming him into the floor. As he went for the second slam, a powerful jet of water collided with his head, forcing him to let go of the younger mage.

Jellal quickly got to his feet and unleashed a torrent of water attacks at the Devil Slayer. However all his attempts ended with the water being turned to steam from the heat of the man's flames.

"Come on now!" He quickly ran up to the teen. "You can do better!" The blue-haired teen barely dodged the series of hits going his way.

Batou stood in his Iaido stance, however Ultear was having none of that, forcing the ceiling above him to collapse. The Swordsman remains vigilant however, and faster than the girl could see, cut the falling debris apart without moving from his current spot.

Ultear decided to send her orb out to attack. When the Swordsman cut it in two and paid no mind, the girl smirked as the ball came back and hit his head.

Batou rolled forward as blood dripped from his head and marked the ground, however he had used this roll to dash forward in order to attack. Knowing he was likely to go for her head, Ultear caused the ground beneath her to collapse partially, making the sword barely miss the decapitation.

The orb Ultear used flew at the man and suddenly split into many copies. Batou took some blunt hits and successfully neutralized others. He slid back on the ground with blood dripping from the corner of this mouth, glaring at the girl.

"Damn you!" Jellal yelled as he lifted the earth and threw it at Kaiser. The older man easily dodged the hunks of rock and charged at Jellal again.

"I've fought Demons child! You're nothing compared to them!" Fire ignited on the foot of Kaiser as Jellal barely dodged an axe kick that shattered the ground.

'This bastard has insane reaction times. Nothing I use can hit him! I have the firepower to take him out, but I need him to hold still…' Jellal was cursing his undermining of this task. He would've come in-person if he knew this would prove as difficult as it was. But then again, victory for him at the end wouldn't taste as sweet if he didn't overcome obstacles such as these!

"Heavenly Body Magic: Pleiades!" Six rays of light fell from the sky to bombard Kaiser.

"Not too shabby! But you'll need more than that!" The smoke cleared as Kaiser couldn't find his opponent.

A kick to the back of his head made the man turn to see Jellal using Meteor to sneak attack him. After the kick he ran off with Kaiser giving chase. Little did the demon slayer know, he'd fallen into Jellal's trap.

Ultear blocked the sword slash from Batou with her orb once again. She was struggling due to the man's newfound diligence around her. His stamina was impressive, so the girl was trying to see the gap in his offense.

Figuring out what needed to be done to secure the win was easy, the hard part was executing it. Thankfully for the girl, she had just the right idea in mind.

Ultear summoned a large number of spheres and launched them all at the swordsman who easily cut them down, to his surprise, the shards of the spheres defied gravity and stayed afloat. Batou's vision was cut off in the psuedo house of mirrors, making an offense much harder.

His eye saw the girl's reflection, Batou immediately swinging that way, only to be met with nothing but air. Ultear grazed the stationary blade with her hand, causing it to quickly rust and crumble apart before the man could react.

"?!" Batou was too late to notice the girl rendering his blade useless, though his ability to fight wasn't entirely hampered, his temporary shock was all Ultear needed to secure her victory.

The countless shards of sharp glass turned inwards and when the attack was done, Batou closer resembled a crystal hedgehog than anything human.

"Allow my flames to cleanse you!" Kaiser yelled at Jellal who was flying away from him.

"Fire Devil's Eclipse!" Two massive spheres of fire emerged from Kaiser's palms, he then smacked them together with Jellal stuck in between them.

Instead of crying in pain though, the teen smirked.

"I made it."

Kaiser quickly looked up to see seven magic circles on the ceiling all connecting into a shape.

"Be judged by the Seven Stars! Grand Chariot!" The magic circles had powerful streams of light smash into Kaiser.

He screamed in pain as an explosion engulfed him and most of the room, the close earth rumbling from the force of the attack.

Jellal shakily stood with heavy breathes.

"Bastard. Pushed me harder than I would've liked." A slight annoyed anger rose up within the boy.

"Not. Yet." Jellal's eyes widened as he saw Kaiser still standing. He was covered in wounds and bleeding heavily. "Fire Devil's Epicen-" His head was rendered into a gooey mess with Ultear's sphere.

"Must you always make such a mess?" Jellal sarcastically chided the girl.

"What? It's not like you live here." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Fair enough." He shrugged as the pair walked forward towards the final battle.

At the end of the next hallway was a door. Matt opened it to reveal something akin to an elevator. Likely something powered by special Lacrima. He pushed the highest numbered button and felt the steel tomb rise up.

The ride took around a minute as he could tell it was a long way up to where Lucius was.

Matt scowled as he remembered their last fight. How Lucius wasn't even trying and still almost killed the teen on accident.

'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.' Matt's fist clenched tightly. He will find the weakness in that bastards magic. No magic exists without weakness. All he has to do is think a bit outside the box.

The dinging of the elevator and the door opening ushered the teen out. He was currently in a T-shaped hallway with three other elevator doors next to his own.

"Doesn't look like anyone else is done fighting yet." Matt sighed as he realized he'd be on the chopping block first.

The tapping of glass caught his ear as Matt saw an odd three-legged crow looking at him.

"The hell?" He walked over and opened the window, the bird began dry heaving until it coughed up a small wad of paper.

"Gee. Thanks." He dryly thanked the bird who disappeared in a puff of light. The teen opened the paper to reveal a simple, one-word message inked in blood.

"Synchronize."

Matt scowled as he recognized the handwriting to be Sarutobi's based on the Watch Duty log for the ship.

"This must've been his dying message. Could this be…" Matt pocketed the paper and closed his eyes, thanking Sarutobi for the final piece of advice to beat that bastard for good.

His eyes reopened with that earlier fire as he walked down the long hallway leading to the end of this mission.

He gazed at the large door for a moment before kicking it open.

"Oh honey, I'm home!" Matt shouted out as his target sat in front of him in the room, his back to various flashing red lights.

"Good to see you made it my dear King. I would've been disappointed if the best challenge slipped between my fingers once again." Lucius smiled at the teen.

"Before we get started with killing each other, I wanna know why." Matt asked the older man.

"Why huh?" Lucius looked up as he thought about his answer. "Allow me to tell you a fact about myself: I adore history. I love culture. Years and years of being denied knowledge made me wish to devour it when I had to opportunity. As I read through countless books of history and visited many important sights of battles, homes and the like, something rather worrisome dawned upon me. History goes through two cycles: change and repeat." He raised two fingers at the teen.

"The latter is self-explanatory: those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. As for the former: therein lies the problem. The world changes, that is an absolute. Technology improves, magic knowledge becomes more vast, we discover new methods to improve the governments of the world. However, change takes time, lots and lots of time. Years, decades, even centuries in the case of the war between humans and dragons." Lucius let out a chortle.

"As you've clearly seen, I am a strong man. However not all men are born equal, not all of us are as strong and durable. Did you know the average life expectancy for a Boscon slave is a measly fifteen years? Now imagine the decades and decades of change needed for the world to peacefully bring about the end of slavery without potential economic turmoil. Tell me: how many innocent lives would perish in that time? A thousand? A million? Ten million perhaps? So many men, women and children killed before they could see how amazing this world could be, all because those in power are far too afraid to take action, or simply don't care." His fists clenched tightly as anger bubbled to the surface.

"So what? Your big plan is to fight against an entire country by yourself? No… that doesn't line up." Matt put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Ah, the dark mages of Naraka are hindering that." He chuckled. "It's true that they are brothers and sisters of we mages." His eyes gained deep shadows over them. "But I can not ignore the fact that they were part of the problem as to why those wretched dogs of the Council refuse to take action. So preoccupied on the ecstasy of their unhinged minds that they senselessly destroy, how repulsive." He spat out in anger.

"So what? You brought them here to die?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. The ultimate answer of that serves no purpose." He shrugged.

"Earlier you mentioned how history is doomed to repeat itself by those who don't understand it. What's to say the people you wish to liberate won't just become the monster's they despise so much?"

"Ah, the hitch of my plan. How cold of you to mention it so callously." He lightly chuckled. "Indeed, even I do not know how they'll fare with the option of freedom. Many of them have nothing to cling to in order to ground them, I may even ultimately start up a war in my efforts... but." His gaze hardened. "I have to try. It's a risk I must take. No one deserves that kind of treatment, no one deserves that cruel of a fate. Regardless of the consequences, I must… no, I will liberate the innocents." His gaze filled with a resolve not dissimilar to Matt's own.

"You don't have a damn right to preach about protecting the innocents when all the innocent men and woman of this island are dead." Matt glared at the man whose expression turned downcast.

"… I do apologize for that, truly. I've learned something valuable over all of this, that no matter how much power one has, protecting everyone is simply impossible."

Matt cocked a brow at the somewhat contradictory nature of that statement.

"I must truly thank you King. Everything has fallen in place perfectly as I gaze into your eyes. All that's left, is for this game to reach its conclusion."

"This was all a damn game to you?!"

"All the world's a stage, and we are merely the players... I always hated that quote." A bitter laugh came from the former slave.

"Enough talk, all that needs to have been said has been spoken." Lucius outstretched his arm to Matt.

"Now we allow fate to decide the victor."

The final battle is closely upon us.

Welcome back everyone to another chapter of I Don't Know What the Fuck I'm Doing.

So this chapter was uh... pretty gnarly to say the least. I've written some brutal stuff for this story before, what with Matt's early beatings and Lucius' introduction, but this was definitely the farthest I've gone. Don't worry I won't be getting thus bad again for a bit.

So Vladimir is dead. I'm not even doing that thing of "Oooooo I say he's dead but he's secretly not~". No that man's ashes are ashes, he's dead. Unfortunately, so is Yato. She was definitely one that hurt to axe since she's just fun to write, but it was a neccessary evil I needed to execute for Matt's growth. Needless to say, Matt's conquered his fears and has a new partner just in the nick of time.

Ken did ultimately get the last laugh with this fight. Originally I was planning on killing Hina, but during my short break I thought it over and decided to keep her around. There's definitely some things I can do with her down the line I'm game for trying.

Cosmo's death was pretty predictable honestly. Considering how I mentioned he'd play a role in changing canon in some way and given that I killed Ken and Sarutobi, it shouldn't have been a surprise really. I'm sure some of you will be interested to see how I change the Phantom Lord arc with this... I mean outside of the very obvious context of a grieving father of course.

Lucius' and Matt's conversation was entirely rewritten from the original draft. All of the pieces are laid out now for what he has in mind. I won't give any hints since you'll literally find out next week. Needless to say, the final battle will be something. It's probably the most over-the-top "anime" fight I'm gonna do in pre-canon outside of maybe one other which is literally the last fight before canon. So if you like that, get excited. If not, cower in fear and skim through the non-dialogue parts.

Yeah I got nothing else to say really. Next week is the last chapter before the epilogue. I got a lot of thoughts running around in my head I wanna get out there for the epilogue AN since this arc represents a lot for both the story and my writing, and not necessarily in the most positive manner. I'll get to that then.

Until next time, I bid you all adieu.