GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! I'm doing my best Professor Farnsworth expression!
But seriously, good news! By running everything through my in-built intel GPU I've stabilized my PC! The bad news is that I have a gaming PC that CAN'T RUN GAMES but you know.
Baby steps.
Either way, it means there shouldn't be any delays on the chapters! Huzzar! Now, go ahead and read my ducklings!
Hitoshi wasn't sure what just happened.
Five minutes ago, the group had moved towards the temple. Slowly, they had scaled the old wrought gate which had been built around it, with Hitoshi himself only narrowly avoiding catching his arm on the spiked railing. He'd never seen anything quite like that before, but then again, the temple was built in a western tradition.
Was it the way of the west to put spikes around their holy places?
Either way, the group had moved closer towards the church before silently arranging to prop one another up against a narrow pathway which forced Hitoshi and the others to walk sideways.
Eventually, it was decided, through low, hushed whispers, that two would stand on the shoulders of the others and spy over the wall.
The rain was starting to come down hard, and that too helped silence their movements. Though personally Hitoshi was convinced that a super-being like a Celestial could still probably hear them if they were too loud.
Then again, if they were about to perform some great ritual, they might just be too busy to listen.
Ibara agreed to stand on Katsuki's shoulders, while Hitoshi stood on Shoto's. Which was something Hitoshi felt very nervous about because he was sure that in the list of cool, romantic things he could ever do to impress Shoto, standing on his shoulders and spying over a wall wasn't a great one.
God, he really needed to just… ask him out or something. Eventually. Once he was sure the entire world wasn't about to set on fire.
The two teenagers were hoisted up while Fumikage took watch. Dark Shadow had retreated, apparently at this range he was sure to be detected by the Fallen Archangel and so it was better to hide within Fumikage, at least for now.
Hitoshi squinted, brushing the hair from his face as he tried to see through the rain. "… fuck, I can't see a damn thing."
He could spot some candles flicking in the window, but the rain was running down so thickly that it turned the glass into a shimmer of flicking blue light and foreboding darkness.
"Watch your words." Ibara hissed beside him before reaching into her pocket. "And of course, you can't see anything because you didn't think ahead." From her pocket, she produced a very high-tech, and very expensive-looking, pair of binoculars.
Hitoshi blinked. "Where did you get those from?"
"I bought them back at the shops. I thought we could use a pair."
"Didn't we put all of that on Shoto's credit card?"
"My dad's credit card," Shoto grumbled from under him, causing Hitoshi to look down. "And trust me, he won't mind."
Hitoshi shrugged. "Fine by me."
Ibara smirked in victory before turning the binoculars on. Her expression instantly changed, growing into a deep frown before she handed the binoculars over to Hitoshi.
As Hitoshi took the binoculars, he couldn't help but notice her hand was trembling.
He took them, looked, and instantly understood.
He could see the ritual. It was only a slice, only what he could make out through the window, but he could see it. He could also see two bodies, laying headless within great ornate circles. For a heart-stopping moment, he wondered if one of them was Izuku. However, he didn't spot the tell-tale green hair.
Still, the sight alone made his stomach churn.
Then he saw movement. A figure marched past the far side of the window, illuminated only by the soft glow of the candles.
At first, he couldn't tell who it was, but then he saw them lift a hand up and brush a strand of long hair from their face and he caught a glimpse of their features. It was the girl. The one from the forest. He gulped deeply before clenching his jaw and taking a slow, deliberate breath. "They're here."
"Can you see Deku?" Katsuki hissed up.
"No, but the ritual is there, and that weird girl is here. Which means they're already performing it."
Thunder cracked overhead, loud, and terrible and, for a second, Hitoshi's stomach lurched as he thought the Heralds would look out the window and spot them.
They didn't. Or at least it seemed like they didn't. Either way, he ducked down, for all the good it would do, and it caused Shoto to wobble. Thankfully, their training paid off, and the boy kept his stance.
"If the ritual has started, they probably won't notice us if we moved around the back."
"Alright, let's get going."
His limbs ached with the need to act, even if that lizard-brain fear remained cold in the back of his mind. As he dropped beside Shoto, his feet splashed in the puddles forming on the soaked pavement. The walls were running, flowing, with rain and the shadows seemed to be growing darker, ever darker, and the world was-
He could feel it. A pressure growing in the back of his mind like a low-intensity migraine.
Something was rolling on the storm towards them. The very air was shifting, changing, the very earth seemed to be trying to move faster under their feet. He looked at the others, and he could tell that they could feel it too. Even Katsuki, who out of all of them was the least touched by Hell, seemed to be tightening his jaw, his lips parting to reveal clenched teeth.
He could feel every hair stand on the back of his neck.
He took a short breath, just to say something to the others.
And that's when the world exploded.
There was a terrible boom, like the detonation of a bomb. And like the detonation of a bomb, the wall they were all hiding behind almost instantly buckled. The blowback was so great that bricks collapsed around them, and only through the quick thinking of Ibara using her hair like a vast shield did they avoid serious harm.
Even so, the group were all but knocked off their feet. They quickly scrambled back, rushing to one of the few parts of the wall that had kept standing, and once he was steady, Hitoshi peered around.
The entire entrance to the church had simply… vanished. Collapsed in a vast pile of brick and falling rain. The remnants of fire, blue fire, seemed to linger still but were destined to fade.
He could see a dozen figures emerging from the dark shadows of the night, heavily armed policeman, and they were already rushing forward to meet the clones of Legion as the night erupted into shouting and gunfire and chaos.
Hitoshi's heart then soared with relief as he saw All Might emerging out of the shadows, though oddly he did not rush forwards. Tall and strong and almost shining in the swirling rain of the chaotic night. His very presence projected invincibility and unstoppable victory.
But at his side was… something terrible.
The figure was a man, clearly, but the way the shadows around him seemed to bow and almost worship him was… unnatural. Unnerving. And the fact that, as the dust settled once again, Hitoshi could see horns, a tail, and a great pair of wings almost flittering in and out of existence around him filled the teenager with dread.
The two came to stand upon a pile of rubble, side by side. Each a battle-King in their own right, yet one made of shining light, and the other all-consuming shadow.
Then Hitoshi heard the shadow-King speak.
"Satani! I have come to take back my son and give unto you your well-deserved punishment."
Hitoshi had never felt fear like that lance so completely into his soul. The very voice of that terrible thing was like every nightmare, every fear, every doubt, and every pain rush into the forefront of his spirit. He barely stopped himself from falling over, and one quick glance at the others told him they felt the same.
What kind of creature had that kind of power? What kind of-
Oh, wait.
'My son.'
Hitoshi couldn't help but look up again as he realized, without a shadow of a doubt, he was looking up Lucifer, King of Hell.
And what was even weirder, was that he kind of looked... familiar.
"So, he really has come." Ibara's breath caught in her throat. "The Lord of the Fallen."
"Fuuuuuck."
"Guys. Get it together." Shoto rasped suddenly, causing the gang to look at him. He alone seemed oddly unaffected by the terror-inducing voice of Lucifer. "Now's our chance! We have to move."
"R-right." Fumikage nodded, though a sudden, unnaturally warm, wind blew across them, whipping the rain into a miniature hurricane.
The power within the church had now been unleashed. They could feel it in the air, which was increasingly picking up around them. It was hot and heavy and infused with a static that threatened to ignite at any moment. It was a rush to the blood, and yet a terror to the soul. It was the gathering storm behind the veil of reality, eager and desperate to break through into the real world.
One could almost see it, like shimmering heat rising from a hot summer pavement, swirling above them. It was a storm within the storm, but one that had yet to be born.
Then something moved within the church, gliding into Hitoshi's line of sight. Something that swept aside all who approached it with the ease of a demi-god swiping away insects. Something tall and… and beautiful.
Hitoshi's breath was caught in his throat as he beheld the figure. It had four arms and flowing white hair and great, bull-like horns adorned with gold and it took his breath away.
He felt his heart grow heavy and his knees again felt weak.
He started to stand before, suddenly, vines shot out and grabbed him, hauling him back behind the wall.
Like a spell, something snapped within him and he turned, blinking. "What the fu-"
"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind." Ibara's eyes were hard and cold, but something had been fixed within them. "Do not look upon the great Serpent. That is She Who Wants, He Who Takes. To look upon them is to surrender your own heart."
Hitoshi only gulped and nodded. She wasn't wrong. He had almost walked right out there, right over to them in awe and wonder. Goddamn, that kind of power was… was terrifying.
No wonder that girl in the forest had been so obsessed with making her 'Father' happy if she had been around that up-close and personal for days on end. No wonder the Heralds were such fanatics to their terrible cause.
"This is our chance." She added, her eyes scanning over the others. "While the Lords of Hell fight, let's rescue Izuku."
Azrael looked at the warehouse with some trepidation. He hadn't wanted to be here. He wanted to be alongside his sibling, fighting against Satani in the war to save Izuku. He burned to be at that fight, where his swords could do their bloody work best.
But no. He understood the wider strategy. He knew that Satani was no fool and would not simply allow Lucifer to go matching up to his front door with an army of heroes and police. He had already shown his hand in that regard.
His army of mutated, deformed, demonic hosts had to be cut off at the head. If they could disable his reinforcements, the fight would be that much easier.
Not that mortals wouldn't die of course, but that's kind of what mortals did. They died. And at least here why would be dying for a good cause.
He hoped Gabriel was ready for the influx of souls about to arrive at the gates of Pearl and Silver.
"Are the men ready?" He asked, turning to the hero beside him.
Enji Torodoki adjusted the strap of his mighty gauntlet. Fire licked from his arms, neck, and beard. His face was set in an impassive scowl, something that seemed permanent by all accounts.
"… they are." He replied after a moment's notice. The hammering rain didn't seem to bother him at all.
It certainly didn't bother Azrael. He barely felt it, and yet, he also felt every droplet, every minute change in the wind. The power of his Father's world was mesmerizing and wonderful.
And he cursed that it was even more so when taken to its very limits. Maybe that was why he and his siblings loved fighting so dearly. It was the extremes of his Father's creation, the extremes of their own physical and spiritual prowess.
He sighed and pushed aside such thoughts.
"… so, which one of us did you make your deal with?"
The mortal hero turned to look at him. His turquoise eyes were like lanterns under all the flame. "Excuse me?"
"Your spirit is ravaged." Azrael shrugged as he drew out his swords. "You've made a deal with one of us. Which one?"
Behind him, a hundred officers and several dozen heroes prepped themselves for battle. All of them hidden behind walls or cars.
The enemy couldn't see them coming, after all. The enemy certainly wouldn't see him coming, that was for damn sure. Azrael was in no mood to give any demon quarter at this point. They would die. They would all die for the crime of taking Izuku. Azrael may have been an Archangel, and he may have been trying to find his redemption in the eyes of his siblings and his Father for over ten thousand years.
But he'd be damned if he wouldn't kill every soul in that building.
Beside him, Enji simply looked on, impassively. "That's none of your business, Archangel."
"So, it's a Fallen? You fucking muppet." Azrael raised a hand to his ear, preparing to press into the earpiece and give the signal, looking back to the building. "Fine. Whatever it is, it can wait. Don't die on me, Endeavor. I'll be having words with you after this is done."
The man didn't reply. He really did have a heart of stone and a soul of ash. Well, that might actually be useful in this particular situation.
"On my mark," Azrael ordered into the earpiece. "… NOW!"
And even as the sudden cry of officers and heroes charging rose into the air, Azrael was already gone. He moved like the air itself, flowing and unstoppable. He was the war-hawk made manifest. An avatar of death on swift wings.
He kicked through the warehouse doors without effort. Steel as thick as a brick wall simply bent like paper under his boots. The sound echoed through the vast opening, though for a second Azrael frowned. The sound had echoed under him too. Was there more than one level to this place?
He'd have to deal with that later, once the building was secure.
What might have taken a mortal a minute to process, took him barely a heartbeat.
Rows upon rows of softly glowing tubes of liquid containing the bodies of… monsters. Within a single glance, his eyes took in the rotting, howling, dark souls of multiple demons shoved and caged into giant, hulking, bio-engineered forms.
Some were semi-mechanical, others wholly unnatural flesh constructs, some even reptilian, porcine, or even floral in nature.
All of them disgusting and unholy blasphemies upon the world. This was the worst he had ever seen of his Fallen siblings, even by Mammon or Apollyon's shockingly immoral standards.
Painted onto the ground, onto almost every surface, were profane sigils and ritualistic marks. His senses were, even for him, temporarily overloaded with the sudden rush of unholy energy in the place. He could see the skeins of power being pushed through the air, swirling in jagged, painful, twisting lines.
It was offensive and wrong, as everything born from Hell always was. But more annoyingly, it was blinding to his senses. It muddled his hearing, sight, smell, and touch. The second he had a chance he needed to start defacing the sigils and breaking the rituals, he needed to restore some manner of sanity to this unhallowed building.
He was already halfway into the warehouse when he heard the other heroes and police officers charging in behind him. He could pick out Endeavor's heartbeat among them and without looking he shouted, "FAN OUT! DESTROY THE MONSTERS, LEAVE NOTHING ALIVE!"
They did as they were told.
Azrael's swords sparked with faithful static in his hands. The energy of pure, unadulterated belief shimmered in the folded steel of the katanas. They ached to be unleashed upon the demons he passed, but he ignored them.
There was something else here. Something else he could sense at the periphery of his own, incredible abilities.
Something that had no heartbeat yet was not dead.
He heard the tiniest movement from above and looked up.
In the bleak darkness, he saw a figure in a nice, black suit. A figure his mind instantly recognized and designated as the top priority target.
"Azrael the Unforgiven!" The revenant called down to him, their arms spreading wide. "How ni-"
Azrael had moved. He had no time for the crowing of ghosts. The man had barely turned before Azrael was there, above him, mighty wings spread and sparkling with gold as one Katana was raised in a blow that would sever the head from his shoulders before his brain could realize it was no longer connected to the spine.
But the blow never connected.
The katana swung down.
And it hit a shield.
A bubble of energy, crackling with black lightning met the blow. The hissing, buzzing clang was so loud that it shook the very catwalk the man had been standing on. Indeed, the metal of the railings was instantly reduced to a burning orange slag and he had to stagger back as the metal under his feet simply melted away.
Azrael landed with a blink of surprise before smiling darkly. "I swear, that never usually happens." He raised his katanas up again. "And it won't. A cursed Dorn Shield won't last against me."
"I don't expect it too, Lord Azrael." The man's voice was a rasping, maddeningly calm tone filtered through a strange black mask. Azrael could see wires linking into his neck with the flesh fused with metal. This man didn't just smell of corruption, he stank of it. He was more than spiritually rotten in the way Endeavor was.
He was utterly, totally, irredeemably unholy.
"Alright, revenant. You've got my attention." Azrael moved slowly, carefully. His mind was running with a thousand tactics to take this man down. A Dorn shield was handy, but not infallible. It was nothing more than condensed energy focused on a being to protect it from harm, but it could be shattered with enough force. He was actually surprised it had held up on the first blow.
This man was strong. His will was strong. It had to be to withstand a blow from an Archangel.
Under them, police officers were already opening fire on the tanks. The sound of hissing monsters could be heard, but they were already being put down.
Endeavor's flame roared, as did the powers of other heroes.
"You must be Shigaraki."
"I am All For One."
"All For One?" Azrael's smirk grew cockier. "So, you're Satani's little boy-toy."
"I am a partner in the business of ending the world." He brushed his hands over his jacket as if the attack had been a mere annoyance. Azrael couldn't see the man's expression, but he could practically feel the frown from behind that ugly, skull-like mask. "I am-"
"You're a nobody." Azrael cut in sharply. "You think you're the first megalomaniacal dunce to go sucking Satani's dick in the hope for power? You're an idiot. You've made deals with someone that will make you wish that Father would come end your suffering. You're not going to win. You're not going to rise to some position of authority in Hell. You're just a little man, with mortal dreams of things you can't comprehend."
"And you're just a failed Celestial who will never regain your Father's favor or your sibling's forgiveness." All For One replied with a calm tone.
Azrael paused, then his frown turned violent. "Oh, you've done fucked up now."
He raised his katana to strike, but was suddenly interrupted by a deep, earth-shaking rumbling.
He could have continued with the blow. He wasn't thrown off by the sudden quake, he wasn't thrown off by anything short of his own siblings trying to assault him. But what did stop him was the sudden thought that all of this had been… easy.
This man had been waiting for him. He'd even had a bubble around him in expectation of a sudden attack.
And half of the demons below had already been murdered in their glowing test tube cages.
Lined up like a shooting gallery…
"You think Lord Satani was really that careless? I admit, they can be willful, but they are not so foolish as to miscount you entirely." All For One chuckled and raised their arms up. "I am the deathless mortal who will open the final seals. I am the Emperor of Earth, and like every Emperor, I have my army in waiting."
Azrael looked down, his mind instantly realizing what was happening. What the hundreds of sigils and blasphemous spells had been misdirecting his senses away from.
The warehouse had not been just one warehouse.
It was multi-leveled.
Under it, were hundreds, maybe thousands more tubes.
And all of them were opening at once.
There was a sudden explosion from the concrete floor, throwing a dozen or so policemen into the air.
And then they came.
Pouring out of the ground like termites from an awakened hive. Demons, monsters, deformed things that were a screaming amalgamation of consciousness and tortured souls alike. Mad and blood-crazed they came, flooding from the ever-spawning cracks in the floor.
And they were all screaming.
"We knew Lucifer would not allow you to fight on their behalf," All For One continued. "But we couldn't let you run free either. Our army is far larger than you or he anticipated, and with Dabi's placement of the ritual points all throughout the city, well, we needed to make sure you couldn't interfere."
Azrael's anger exploded inside him.
"I hear your kind enjoy fighting. We've summoned half a Legion under this warehouse, so you should have you fill. At least until the last gate is opened, and then the rest shall arrive."
Azrael didn't reply. Or rather, he didn't reply with words. Instead, he struck at the man with the force of a missile.
The blades never hit him.
A demon leaped before him, and the steel simply sliced through its body in a shower of golden flame and bloody flesh.
The Archangel went to simply push through, to shove the beast aside with one mighty arm before another came, and another, and another. They were throwing themselves at him, uncaring of their own lives and spirits.
Azrael was a war-god incarnate, carving them apart as quickly as they came but it was enough to stall his advance, and from between the sprays of blood and fire, he saw All For One retreating back into a void carved into reality.
"NO! NOOO!" Azrael screamed and made one last effort to move forward, to strike his blades into the man's heart, but the edge of his steel hit nothing but air.
All For One was gone, and around Azrael was only fire and death.
Izuku tried to scream to his father. He tried to scream that he was there, that he was okay, that they could get out of there together. He tried to scream for just a hint of attention, for any reaction from Lucifer.
But there was none.
Yet he knew his father had seen him. He had to have seen him. The very fact that he wasn't rushing to his side was a testament to that.
Probably because he knew that it was exactly what Satani would have wanted. A Lucifer too consumed by his emotions to think clearly.
His heart burned to be safe at his side, even in his arms, as treacherous as that still felt. But he knew that this was it. He would get no better chance than now to make his move. He couldn't be consumed by his own emotions either. He had to think clearly, through the biting force of faith and the pain of his bloody wounds.
His father was doing this to save him, but he knew part of that was saving himself.
After all, if he didn't at least try, then every policeman, every hero, even All Might, were all going to die.
And yet, why wasn't All Might moving? Why wasn't the greatest hero approaching to save him?
If he stood by Lucifer's side, that could only mean he now knew.
And that meant Lucifer had a use for him. He was a tool too important to be thrown at Satani without a plan.
Izuku groaned again as he realized that Satani and all the Heralds had taken their eyes off him.
Was this Lucifer's gift? To hand him the chance to make his escape?
He wouldn't say no either way.
The rubble hadn't even gotten to him. The burning pieces of wood littered everything but the ritual, which was now moving and changing under his very feet. It was becoming its own thing, self-sustained and terrible. Tomura was being raised into the air by the power under him, and Izuku too could feel it.
Pulsating, almost alive. It wanted to break into the world, it needed to be completed.
The carvings on the floor began moving in their huge, concentric circles. Letters in a language he felt he knew yet couldn't read moved and crossed over one another, becoming new words and letters.
And all the while the unholy power of the unfinished ritual howled in the air above him like a wolf, chained and desperate to be free.
He tried to stand, but the power of the Soloman's cage was still in full effect and his limbs burned with the lightning of misused faith.
And yet his body was also burning with the power of his blood. Nemesis and Izuku were no longer waiting. Now was their chance. Now was their time.
The Prince of Hell would be chained no longer.
"You've come, sibling!" Satani's voice reached him even now, even with the soul-pain wracking his body and the madness of the erupting battle. It was overjoyed. "I'm so happy to see you!"
Izuku looked up just in time to see a hero try and leap towards Satani. The Fallen Archangel flicked a wrist and the hero's throat was opened in a spray of hot, fresh blood. They died instantly.
Around them, a war was being fought. A war between the many clones of Legion, all bestial and terrible, and the legions of police officers firing into their ranks. The host of Legion, whose name Izuku had never learned, was screaming as he curled on the ground. His body was seemingly exploding with the misshapen clone-hosts of the demon controlling his body.
Gunfire echoed within the night air, and among it, the sudden screaming of pain, suffering and death.
Lucifer held out his hand, and Kuroiro approached holding a sheath. From it, the King of Hell drew his blade.
And it was terrible to behold.
It was a stark, pure white shard of nothing. It was not hell itself, nor was it any sort of void known to mankind. It was nothing. It was the end of things made into the shape of a blade.
"You draw Extremum Spiritum?"
Satani held out two of their own arms, and from their side, Kurogiri opened up two portals within which they reached. They drew out two weapons, one a great, terrible, curved scimitar of blasphemous power and unlight-black metal. The other a curling whip made of the azure blue flame of hell itself.
With another hand, they tore off their robes, revealing armor that was a disturbing, alluring, maddening mix of metallic reds, blues, and purples. It was somehow seductive and debased all at once.
"And you draw Cauda Serpentina and Dens Serpentis."
Izuku was struggling to get to his feet, but with every second that passed, he was slowly pulling himself upwards. No, not pulling, but forcing against the weight that tried to push him to his knees. The faith was more than just lightning in his blood, it was like a hand holding him down, shoving his nose to the very earth.
He refused. He was not just the blood in his veins, he was not just the unholy Prince of Hell. He was also a human, and he held onto that humanity not as a weakness to be overcome but a strength to be summoned.
A strength he could use such as now when his humanity was truly the only thing that could save him from the whim and plans of mad Celestials.
Lucifer raised his own blade up in an honest salute. "It is time I put you back in your place, little sibling."
"Are you so sure this time, my King?" Satani matched the gesture. "Then let us cross blades and see!"
Satani and Lucifer started their battle.
Their very first blow, the very moment their blades connected, generated so much force that a literal shockwave of power tore through the air, throwing every mortal off their feet and shattering the last remains of the church.
The screaming that erupted could have rung across the world. A hundred officers, dozens of heroes, and even the few remaining members of the Heralds were simply picked up in the power of the blow and thrown across the earth.
Several of the officers who had been close to the two died instantly as their hearts literally exploded within their chests. Many went deaf from the sound of the blades of myth and legend crossing. All Might, incredibly, had avoided it, and with a sudden flash of movement was gone.
The storm above howled in joy, the rain splitting before the power of the war before suddenly intensifying.
Now, and only now, did the battle truly start.
And still, the ritual remained undisturbed. The power whined and screamed above them, still heavily pregnant, still desiring to be born into the world, still demanding its completion.
And it was as if that madness now infected every person in the field. Humans and demons roared out of the smoking rubble and charged towards one another. Blood filled the air and chaos reigned.
Izuku had almost been knocked off his feet, but by some grace of God, he had remained standing. The power of the ritual had been shaken, but it still remained, still self-shielding and powerful.
He could hear, more than he could see, the fighting of the two siblings. The first shockwave had simply been the opener, and now they moved faster than the eye could track. Two monsters that battled in the center of the chaos that had once been a church.
Nemesis began to move. Nemesis and Izuku both, their hearts swimming as one, their souls singing together in a union they had long wished for.
Escape.
He knew what his father was doing here. He knew why the first blow had cleared such a wide area around them.
His father wasn't here to save him, not directly. His father knew his son was strong and determined, his father knew what power his son had in his blood.
His father knew that all he had to do was give Izuku the opening, the chance to escape, and his own courage would carry him.
And Izuku would do just that.
He felt like a man wading against an avalanche. His feet barely moved at first, inching slightly as pain like the sharp fangs of a wolf tore into his calves.
But he could do this.
He could escape.
And so even as his body screamed for him to stop, even as his soul felt the chains of faith constricting and biding and crushing him from within, he simply refused. His foot moved, then another one, then the other.
And he began forcing his body towards the edge of the circle.
He was almost blind with the struggle. Blood was pouring from his reopened wounds and soaking into his already tattered clothes. His wings grew from his back, his tail lashed behind him, his horn curled from his head as he increasingly assumed the form of the Morningstar.
For it was the Morningstar who was escaping. Not Nemesis, howling and furious, not Izuku, thoughtful and courageous.
It was their combined being. It was Morningstar, the Prince of Hell, the Redeemer of the damned. Only they had such strength to move, blindly, with pain that would have taken the consciousness of a lesser being.
One thought pounded over, and over again through the meat of his brain.
Escape. Escape. ESCAPE.
It was neither Izuku nor Nemesis speaking. It was their shared thought. Their one, single, shared command.
He was mere inches from the edge now. Mere seconds from getting free. His arms were curled around his head as if he was fighting against a hurricane wind.
So close, so very close.
"Izuku!" He heard a cry and managed to turn his head just in time to see something he didn't expect.
All Might was charging for him, rushing to reach his side. He even smashed into the side of the great ritual barrier, causing the very power within to shake and, to Izuku's amazement, visibly crack. All Might had the power of One For All, but it was clear that it was more than just strength passed down from user to user.
Yet for it to make such a dent here and now…
Was this his father's gambit? Only a Celestial could compete with another Celestial, after all. Would he really throw himself into the chaos to give All Might the opening he needed? Such selflessness was not like Lucifer… which is why it could very well work.
But his heart's hope was dashed when he saw something behind the mighty hero. A hole opening in the world, a tear of the void-space that could only belong to Kurogiri.
And he saw a dead man step through.
A man dressed in all black with a facemask of black glass and biomechanical tubes that fed into his neck. A man who, even to Morningstar's pain-blotted eyes, had a soul that was so rotten it radiated darkness out around him. A spirit so ruined that any hope of redemption had long since left him, and only a vile emptiness born of the blackest sins remained.
A man with no heartbeat.
And a man who was already holding a hand out towards Morningstar. "There will be no escape for you, Sacrificial Prince."
For just a split second he wondered if this would be it. If he would be thrown back into the circle, where he knew he would not have the strength to rise again.
Then a light descended upon the dark.
All Might bellowed like an angry god as he turned on the man, his eyes glowing with the power he held in his spirit. It was so bright it was almost blinding, and it drowned out the darkness that the man before him projected.
The man turned just in time to block the blow, his body reshaping and his muscles ballooning grotesquely. All Might had hit him like a warhammer, then hit him again, and again, and again in such violent, quick succession that Morningstar wondered if the man would break apart in a shower of blood.
To his shock, he didn't. And yet Morningstar remembered those blows, he knew the strength behind each one.
The man in black, the dead man who still moved, was powerful.
It was a bizarre parody of the war of the Demi-Gods behind them, only played out in mortal shells.
"GET OUT OF HERE, IZUKU!" All Might furiously screamed at the boy. "GO! NOW!"
And then he was suddenly gone. The man in black had struck back, a huge, misshapen fist of muscle, bone, and metal had collided with All Might and smashed him back. Behind them, two blades again connected and again, the shockwave of the titanic battle of siblings shook the earth.
There was so much blood. So much pain. So much death. Already the neighborhood was collapsing as the raw power generated by the battling siblings simply leveled entire apartment blocks. Policemen and heroes alike screamed in battle rage or blinding pain as they fought against the tidal wave of blood-mad Legion clones and the sudden influx of horrific, deformed demon-hosts.
Nemesis would have reveled in it, drawing pleasure and joy in such chaos. Izuku would have wept and cried and despaired.
Morningstar did neither. He gathered his strength, he gathered the rush he felt in his blood from the war fought around him and the sorrow that so many good souls had to die, and he gathered it into his fist.
He raised it as he reached the very edge of the circle, his hair whipping around him, the lighting of faith still trying desperately to hold back this avatar of the coming change, this impossible Prince.
He swung his fist against the edge of the Soloman's Cage, right at the crack created by All Might, and screamed his war-cry to the world.
And shattered the barrier.
He instantly felt two things. First, was the breaking of the cage. The faith that had ravaged his body suddenly faded, as it blew away like sand in the wind. The second, was the surprising gap in the air, a split-second where there was nothing where great power had once been.
Next, was the sudden tidal surge of unholy energy that hit him like a speeding truck. His legs, still pained and tired and bleeding, staggered back as the power was now truly unleashed upon the world. He felt claws rend at his very spirit, begging for his strength, trying to override his will to live.
He heard the sudden, gasping surprise of his Aunt-Uncle, even above the madness of the battle.
He heard several of the Legion-demons turn and suddenly run screaming towards him and he wondered, just briefly, if he would have to fight his way free.
And then something odd happened.
In all the chaos of the battle, in all the madness of the war, in all the blood and death, ash and fire, he heard a friendly voice call out, "JUMP, DIPSHIT!"
Without thinking, without even questioning it, Izuku poured the last of his strength into his legs, looked up, and jumped.
He easily cleared twenty-something feet in a single, painful, blurry bound that his brain wasn't even starting to process because it was still back on the earth trying to figure out what the hell to do next.
He saw something black streak in the sky far above him, and a pair of green vines reached down and wrapped themselves around his middle. He wondered why he wasn't simply flying, but then he realized that his body was shutting down.
It had taken everything, everything, to make that jump, even after it had taken everything to break the barrier from within.
He had nothing left. His soul was bare, his body limp.
But he still managed a smile as he recognized the giant, crow-like shape of Dark Shadow flying through the sky, powered by Katsuki's rocket blasts, and carrying Ibara, Hitoshi, Fumikage, and Shoto on their back.
The rain pelted his face as he was brought towards them. The air was hot and humid and filled with the smell of death and blood.
But he felt, at that moment, as if his Archangel family themselves were coming down to pull him from the chaos. To save their Morningstar nephew from the promised soul-death of the ritual below.
And for a moment, it seemed just that. For a moment it seemed as though he would be saved, his father's distractions and pinning of the enemy would let him escape to safety.
Then he heard the furious, serpentine scream that ripped at his ears.
And with it, came the vast shadow of something beyond a nightmare.
Only Hitoshi turned in time to see the sword descending upon them.
Lucifer, Lord of the Fallen, King of Hell, was at their limit.
They had seen entire civilizations rise and fall. They had snared some of the best hearts that humanity had ever produced into their binding chains. They had ruined the lives of untold millions throughout history to further their own, diabolical goal.
And there had only ever been only one goal.
Spite Father.
That one thought, that one burning, ancient hatred had driven them since they had declared their war all those thousands of years ago. Ever since they had discovered Hell, since they had allowed its power to flow into them, since realizing that their Father, if not lied to them, had certainly never told them the full truth of things.
They had burned with that one thought, that one goal, that one, overriding purpose.
But tonight, for the first time since they could recall, even with their perfect memory, they no longer thought about their Father and their golden throne of omnipotent infinity.
They only thought about their child. Their son. Izuku. Nemesis. The Morningstar Reborn.
And they could only think about killing their sibling.
A sibling who in any other age, at any other time, would have already been slain and lay dead at their feet.
But not now. Not after all that had happened.
Their blades met. Both of ancient and incalculable power, both weapons forged deep within the bowels of Hell itself, fused with all its terror and unholy power. Lucifer's blade was forged out of space and time. It was Extremum Spiritum. The Last Moment. It was the final note at the end of all things before their Father would finally put the last lights out on their vast experiment.
Before, perhaps, they would start it all over again.
The sword swung down, faster than any mortal eye could follow, and smashed into the curved scimitar of Cauda Serpentina before they turned, the air splitting around them as they dodged the vile lick of Dens Serpentis. The serpent's tail and the serpent's tooth. Weapons infused with pain and pleasure, with the very sadism of mankind's darkest hearts.
To even look upon them was to feel joy in rapturous torture and know that cruel thrill of spilling the blood of others.
The whip cracked beside them, and even if they barely acknowledge it, they knew it had split the eardrums of several mortals.
And so it went. They unleashed more and more of their true self as Lucifer poured their vast power into their battle. Their body strained in a manner which they hadn't felt in so, so long. Not since the First War. Not since that final battle on the very steps to the Empyrean.
But back then they had been at the very apex of their strength. The very image of the Fallen Archangel, the chosen King of their rebellious siblings, not the tyrant King their Father was.
Now, they were so much less than they had been.
And as they fought against their serpentine, four-armed sibling, they knew that they knew it too.
"How long?" Lucifer snarled as they pressed into the battle, the smell of mortal blood, fear, and death permeating the air. "How long have you planned this?"
"Planned? I don't plan anything, sibling, you know that." Satani laughed back as their whip again cracked at his side, almost ripping through their flesh.
No mortal weapon could ever truly harm them, none that any human could wield on their own, anyway. However, Lucifer and Satani were fighting with weapons that no human could stand against, weapons designed to murder demon and angel alike.
They moved back as their sibling pressed suddenly forward, laughing all the while.
And they were too slow.
A slice cross over their arm, cutting their flesh and causing stinging, vicious pain to bite through them.
Pain. Such an alien feeling. One that they had inflicted on so many others, one that they knew how to expertly apply to persuade, to punish, to destroy.
And now it was being inflicted onto them.
They snarled at the very thought that this was all part of their Father's plan.
"I simply go with the flow! I do what makes me happy! I always have!" Satani laughed as they turned, faster than any human could move, and reached to slash across Lucifer's face.
Lucifer reacted in time, dodging the swipe and, with their free hand, smashing into Satani's middle. The Fallen Archangel was thrown back with enough force to break through steel and yet recovered, smashing onto cloven feet, and springing back again. Every movement they made was perfect, graceful, and terrible.
And their next blow landed. Lucifer barely deflected the blade, though it again sliced over his stomach. Their body rushed to heal the wound, and yet the very essence of the blade was like a poison, slowing the superpowered recovery. The blood flowed, thick and almost black in the pouring rain and midnight sky.
Lighting roared overhead, and for a second, though they only needed a second, Lucifer took in the battlefield.
Dozens upon dozens of mortals lay dead. Dozens of Legion's clones were simultaneously being created and destroyed, over and over. Demons were emerging from all sides, joining the fray in a screaming, mindless horde of blasphemy that was a defilement even to Hell's standards.
And there, in the center of it all, was Izuku. Izuku who was rising to his feet, Izuku who was refusing to be weak, even here, even trapped in the Soloman's Cage that Satani had placed them in.
Tomura Shigaraki, the fool puppet of Satani was also there, centered by a ritual of bizarre proportions.
Good. As long as Satani was focused on them, Izuku had his window to escape. All Might's power should be enough to either damage or disrupt the ritual. All he needed was to give his son the window to escape, and the rest should follow.
Lucifer turned back on their sibling.
Their blades met in a crash that sent shockwaves through the ground and threw aside anyone unlucky enough to be nearby.
"That ritual!" Lucifer snarled. "What are you even trying to do? That power will tear a mortal apart! They can't contain it!"
"You don't think I know that?" Satani's grin was too wide for their face, too many needle-sharp teeth were in their elongated maw. "You think I really care for any of these fools? Tomura, this ritual, even my pet revenant. No, sibling. This was always just for you. You and your little brat. The fools that were seduced by my power were nothing but pawns. Pawns that served me well. I always knew Tomura would try and impress me, it was needed, after all."
Their eyes narrowed as they pressed forward as the two blades scraped against one another with a sound akin to the breaking of the world.
"I had long since suspected your child was here, alive, hidden from my reach by your subtle protections. I needed something to prove my suspicions. So Tomura attacked the school you've cultivated as his training ground and fortress alike. The fool almost died awakening Nemesis," Their laugh bounced over the sound of the battle. "I didn't think the Champion of Man would kill your son though. That was unexpected, but the result was pleasant enough. You made some deal with Father, didn't you? I knew you would. You always were too sentimental about family. Yet when was the last time you checked on any of us, hum? Do you know where they are? Apollyon, Mammon, Beliel. Even Lilithia has gone. You focused so much on your little project, you let your control on the rest of us slip-free."
Lucifer felt his anger rising like sudden boiling water inside his blood. He had been outplayed, how had he not seen this coming? Had he truly been so focused on Izuku that he had taken his eyes from his other siblings?
Izuku had mentioned seeing the thrones, seeing Nirgali… but not the others.
Already the two of them had changed in their appearance. Becoming larger, more terrible, more suited to the war. Lucifer's aspect was a great wolf-dragon King. A shadow-black emperor of regal, and terrible visage.
Satani's was increasingly more serpentine and bullish. Cloven feet and pure, scaled skin that shimmered every color one could imagine in the great flames and flashing, pure lightning overhead. They were a tempting nightmare of sadomasochism and psychopathic lusts.
Lucifer didn't know if the humans below had noticed, or even if they could notice at this point. Their aspect had become that beyond which the mortal mind could easily process, and in the fire and power, shadow and night, thunder and lightning of the battle, who could tell what was real and what was not?
The entire block had been demolished by now, and untold lives had already been spent. Lines of humans fired automatic weapons into the surging hoard of Legion, who was now backed by a sudden wave of new, terrible demon-hosts.
"Your child grew in strength, in power, I saw it during the attack on Hosu. I was impressed, our failed sibling did a good job turning them on a stronger path. I even toyed with making one of my own, but not seriously," they sneered.
"So, this is all because of Izuku?" Lucifer roared, his voice the very essence of evil, of unholy monstrousness, of the tyrant King of Hell. Their blades collided and the air split apart, a shock of blueish light mixing with the titanic crack of thunder. "You did this to punish me?"
"I did this because you are wrong!" Satani spat. "Because we are not meant to mix with mortal kind! We are their Lords and Masters, not their breeding partners. Your child is a blasphemy beyond even our blasphemies! And you should no longer wear the crown if you are not fit to rule! My ritual here will split the earth, and Tomura will become a living gate for Hell to come through! The change is coming, and I will be the one to lead it!"
Another blow sliced across Lucifer's chest and his body rushed to repair the damage, but he knew it was too slow. He was too slow. He took a step back and felt a body, clone, or human he didn't know, crunch under his mighty clawed foot.
Satani's whip cracked by his horn, almost sheering it off before Lucifer sliced again, cutting a clean blow against Satani's thigh. The monster barely acknowledged the blow and continued to press against them.
The monstrous snake-bull hammered at him in a twisting, elegant dance of blade and whip, of tooth and claw, of hissing venom and mad, azure fire. Lucifer strained as his body roared in protest. For the first time in his entire existence, he felt the terrible weight of exhaustion upon his tired, depleted limbs. He felt like something had drained the life out of him, and he could feel his chest falling and rising rapidly.
For the first time in his entire existence, he felt tired.
And with tiredness came weakness. Crawling and sinister into his limbs, but more importantly into his heart and mind and spirit. There would be the truest battle. But his defenses were strong. He had no fear, that at least he retained despite the diminishment of his being.
And if he could not feel fear, he could not fall to weakness.
He roared again, a battle-cry to bring the attention of the heavens above, and stormed into their sibling. He was only vaguely aware that his fury, his battle-focus and unrelenting desire to kill Satani and save his only child was infecting the humans around him.
Both of their spirits were, as was the way of mortals around Celestials.
They were fighting harder, more desperately, and more viciously.
Hell was rising through the cracks in the earth, seeping through the shadows in the night.
And it was turning their battlefield into a literal piece of Hell on earth.
"YOU IDIOT!" Lucifer roared at their sibling, spittle flying from their snarling fangs. "It isn't us who will bring the change! Our time is over! It is our children who are to inherit the age to come!"
"WE HAVE NO CHILDREN! NOT WITH THEM! I REFUSE TO SULLY OUR ROYAL BLOOD WITH THOSE OF SLAVES!" Satani's whip kissed at Lucifer's wing and it was simply shorn away in a shower of profaned blood. "NEMESIS IS AN ABOMINATION!"
"IZUKU IS MY PRIDE!" Lucifer cried back. "THEY ARE MY LIGHT, MY REASON, AND THEY ARE THE FUTURE! THEY ALL WILL BE!"
They went to strike again, but the world suddenly shook around them. Something screamed into the air and they turned, already knowing what it was.
The barrier had been shattered.
Their heart flared with joy, with gratification, with the hope fulfilled that their son would not lay helpless at the feet of a tormenter but had gathered his strength and had done the impossible. He had broken the Soloman's Cage, and in doing so, had shattered the protective barrier of the ritual.
Power rushed through the air, open and free and chaotic and spreading madness to every creature it touched. It demanded direction and focus and perhaps in another time, Lucifer would have gladly used it for their own ends.
Now they wished only to dispel it before it could be taken by another.
They forced their perception to jump into overdrive, causing the world to seem like a crawl to any mortal man. But they were no mortal man.
And so, they watched as members of their son's court, coming from a hidden corner of the chaotic madness, soared overhead. They watched as a Knight's Templar reached down with her hair of vines, almost like their own Father had once done, and grabbed onto a leaping Izuku.
And then they moved.
They moved because Satani had moved. Furious and terrible and full in the power of their war-form, they moved. The air cracked before them a vacuum being created in the wake of their speed.
Lucifer knew he couldn't catch them. They moved too fast, too suddenly, practically bending the very laws of the physics to do so.
A mighty sword raised up before the form of the demonic crow, carrying the tiny, cowering band of mortals before them.
Just for a split second, Lucifer thought that was it. They had hesitated, only the tiniest of split seconds, but it was enough for Satani to kill them. To kill Izuku. To end it all.
But then something odd happened.
Everything seemed to crawl as they charged at Satani, leaping through the air, sword slicing to cut their sibling in two.
And they watched as the tiny, purple-haired figure at the head of the crow stood up, looked a monster of pure, utter, nightmarish pleasure and pain square in the face, and cried out. "STOP!"
And Satani, stopped.
It was less than a second. A half-second at the very most.
But it was all they needed.
The bird veered off suddenly, diving under the raised blade, just as the blow came down.
And it missed.
Satani, a swordsman of perfect skill, missed.
The shock was clear on their snake-bull features, as was the shock when they turned. Just in time for the wolf-dragon of Lucifer to slice their chest open. It wasn't a perfect cut, but it was great and deep enough for blood to fan out before them.
With one hand on the handle of their mighty blade, Lucifer cut open their sibling. With the other he reached forward, unlight-black claws stabbing and grabbing at whatever was within reach. Their fingers curled around one of Satani's ribs and with a mighty crack they tore it from inside them and threw it side.
It was a move that would have murdered anyone else.
But not a Celestial.
Satani's weapons were useless at this range, but they had the advantage of their extra arms. They quickly pressed together and stabbed into Lucifer's guts. Blood running slick with rain gushed out of their body, and Lucifer barked out a cry as blood fell from their lips.
Together, locked into this violent embrace they fell from the sky and collided with the earth.
And yet they rose again within moments, the rubble falling from them, blood and viscera, bones, and claws. They were the epitome of the chaos around them.
Still, they fought. One a dying King who knew their death was near. The other a monster of the most debased, maddened desires. Yet without the distraction of Izuku, Lucifer was now renewed. Now the King of Hell fought without reservation or remorse. They let their fury truly overtake them, and even as their body screamed to stop, they kept going.
The hope of their future, the shining light in their eyes, their son, would be proud of them by the night's end.
And so, Lucifer was surprised when the end came only moments later.
When the ritual was finally completed.
SO THAT WAS PART UNO OF THE WAR. Part deux is coming in three weeks time. We'll find out what happened to Toga, Izuku, Hitoshi and everyone... and see how the war ends. Also, I was purposely saving the moment we see things from Lucy's perspective for this bit of the story. I felt doing so otherwise might have been... cheep? Not sure, but it felt right to finally tell his story here.
Also, Hitoshi has officially become the first person in history to stop a Fallen. Once he realizes that, I think his self-confidence might get a bit of a boost. Not much, he's not a bragger, but yah know. He's a mortal who can stop Fallen. It's no biggy.
Overall though, I'm not super happy with the chapter if I'm being honest. While I tried to get it down good, I think there's probably a lot here I overlooked or didn't consider, and it might have made the chapter weaker than it could have been. I also notice that I start each section kind of the same? Ugh, this is what happens when I lose editing time. Hopefully the next chapter will be a lot, lot better and maybe when considered together they'll work as a whole.
Still, glad I could get this out on time. Keep safe everyone, and thank you for reading!