The Abyss, a torrent of realms where chaos reigns over all, from the molten brimstone of the first, of the desert's embrace, chaos consumed it all.

The icy realm and the fleshy realms were just as bad before the party encountered Abaddon, the lord of locusts, thankful that Dario's Agni allowed him to use the Buer's abilities as well as those bugs were disgusting to handle before they slayed it with the Horror Seal before Dario spoke, dusting a charred locust off his shoulder. "Am I allowed to say that I am glad that I can easily deal with bugs like this, no problem, but I got a problem with authority?"

"Nope, you are allowed to say that."

"Thanks." He took a breath and Shanoa cupped Mist's ears for the rant as Dario erupted. "HOLY FREAKING CRAP, WHAT IS MY LIFE IN BEING AFRAID OF SOME POLICE FORCE, BUT NOT BLINKING A FREAKING EYE AT LOCUSTS THE SIZE OF MY FISTS!?" He panted as Alex asked while Soma got some whiplash from it.

"Better?"

"Much better, bossman." They proceed on to some galaxy realm and then to the inside of some tree, complete with large insects as part of the bark before they entered the next part of the Abyss, this time being a tunnel of bodies as they found Genya wounded as the agent commented with surprise.

"Soma?"

"What happened?!"

"He arrived too late, quite simply." Dmitrii mused as Genya answered what had happened while Alex glanced up, Dario following the sight before they nodded and Alex subtly made a puppet and Dario took it before teleporting up.

"He gained dominance over a calamitous demon. I tried to prevent the summoning ritual from happening, but..."

"Your dark power failed to overcome the power I gained from the sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Dmitrii pointed up and Soma gasped to the body of Celia, unmoving while Dario returned with the ...puppet.

"C-Celia!"

"Such an unseemly sight. Be gone." Dmitrii then destroyed it with Celia crying out as the body cross was fragmented and pulled int othe abyss beyond as Soma stepped forward as he exclaimed.

"You killed your own ally?"

"She had always dreamed of seeing the dark lord. She served me to the end in my becoming. She should feel honored. Not only that, she even helped me take care of that pesky Arikado." Soma didn't show it, but that surprised him, Alucard was much stronger than that, what happened?

"He's right. His sacrifice reversed the flow of my dark power." Soma nodded as Dmitrii voiced the end of the conflict.

"The stage is now set. We shall see whose power of dominance prevails..." He started to channel the power before he started to lose it to Soma's exclaim.

"Wh-What?"

"Th-This cannot be... My dominance should be complete!" Dario looked to Alex as he wanted an answer and he got one.

"Dmitrii, you are such an idiotic and moronic sort of fool, you have copied the power, you have mustered the energy, but you suffer from the same flaw that Graham did, you were overconfident." Alex stood tall in the face of the power as he stood beside Soma. "Your soul can't handle that much chaos energy, you are not the chosen vessel of Dracula's power, so it is feedbacking on you, ripping you apart and sundering your soul, you just became the equal of a atom bomb; mindless, unhindered, and rigged to blow on a supernatural level."

"Liar! I've heard enough from you!" He blasted at them, but Alex blocked it with Soma before he called out to the party.

"Get Genya out of here, now, Dmitrii is going critical!" They nodded as Dario pause before he nodded too in lifting Genya up.

"Come on, pale rider! We're getting out of here, now!" They rushed out as the two turned back to the uncontrollable power and its unstable host.

"I am the chosen one! I am the dark lord! I shall not succumb to the power! Wroooooooaaaah!" But it was far too late as Soma spoke to Dmitrii losing full control and becoming too unstable to survive.

"It's useless. You can't control it." He cried out in succumbing to the intense energies before his body erupted in flesh and muscle as a monstrous voice surged out, it now looming over them in a gargantuan abomination as Soma exclaimed in shock.

"The demons under his dominance... They fused as one?" Even Alex shuddered with his souls as this... this was the most unholy thing ever to exist, he could feel the vomit surging through the rank and bile, even from those that excel and thrive off it. "Letting this out would be a disaster... It must end here!" With that, they fought the monster known as Menace, the failed being brought on by Dmitrii's own arrogance, in believing that he could control the power that resided in Dracula.

They dodged flesh spikes and poison breath to destroy the chest face cavity, but it stood up and they quickly struck at the face emerging from the knee, Alex providing that support in Alphonso using Eligor's essence to keep Menace back some, before they focused on the face hidden behind the skeletal jaw, Blackmorre prying it wide open for the continuous attack while Menace's random jaw spirits were blasted by Rusalka and Olivia, before they banished it to the beyond, never to breath life again before the dark energy started to surge for Soma and he collapse before Alex could help him as images of Dmitrii and Menace appeared before him before he shouted to remembering Mina. "Stop!" The dark energy lost the battle as Soma shove it clear out and into the Abyss before the whole place started to tremble as Arikado arrive to aid them as he exclaimed.

"What are you both doing? This place won't hold. We have to get out." Both nodded as they escaped form the now-decaying castle, the cult only gone, fragmented to the winds...

They watched the castle crumble form the distance, pieces falling into the waters below, what once was a threat to humanity, now laid a ruined castle of once-dark strength as Arikado breathed.

"It's finally over. We're finished here. Let's go." But Soma stood silent as he looked upon the mess before Arikado spoke again, asking for Soma's pause. "Soma, what's wrong?"

"Tell me. Just what is the dark lord?" Arikado sighed as he wasn't not getting help from Alex, but maybe he didn't want to to let Soma hear it himself.

"What Celia told you wasn't necessarily wrong. The dark lord is the entity opposite to God."

"Then that means there will always be a need for a dark lord." Soma breathed as he rubbed his head for any answer that could help him understand it much more. "All because I ducked out from becoming the next in line!"

"Don't misconstrue me!" Soma didn't move to that as Arikado continued to explain. "Perhaps there is a need for the dark lord... But there is no reason at all for you to become the dark lord."

"But if it weren't for me, none of this would have happened!"

"You're neither a god nor a demon. You're only human. You have no chance at ever achieving perfection. Or are you saying you want to be the dark lord?" Soma paused before he shook his head.

"No... Of course not."

"Then stay true to that. Look." Soma looked past Arikado to see the others that got out, Dario himself not looking quite free, but he didn't seem to be too upset about it. "There are people waiting for you. Don't break their hearts."

"Everyone..." Soma voiced as Julius nodded to him.

"You kept your promise." Yoko smiled as she nodded as well.

"Welcome back, Soma." Hammer beamed when he spoke.

"Looks like you're all done! Your face says it all." Next was the party that protected the village.

"You came through to the end, that's the least anyone asks of you." Walhart nodded to Kenmur's words.

"You stood strong in the face of adversity, you have proven your might."

"You got the duds for the job, you came out alright." Morgan mused as Sapphire cheered.

"You won! That's what matters!" Dario huffed as he spoke.

"I want to test myself against you again, but a death match ain't my style, so when you can..." The handcuffs were undone as Dario nodded. "...Find me blazing some jerk, I got a lot to learn from the boss man." Soma was in awe at how many were on his side, even Dario somehow, how did Alex do that? He blinked as he nodded to Arikado showing them to him.

"Arikado... You're right..." But he gaped at another appearance, this one being Mina as he exclaimed. "Mina! What are you doing here?" He rushed over as Mina spoke.

"What do you mean? I was so worried..." Soma panicked as he tried to keep the tears form falling off her face.

"Oh, Mina, I'm sorry. Don't cry." But she cheered right up as she beamed.

"Gotcha! Welcome back, Soma." Julius shook his head as he voiced.

"Poor Soma. She'll have you wrapped around her finger."

"Oh, without a doubt." Yoko chuckled as Hammer whispered that he would like to be wrapped around Yoko's finger before Soma exclaimed.

"Wh-What are you saying? We're not like that!"

"Sure..." Dario mused with a smirk as the others laughed as Mina tried to support Soma with a flush.

"Th-That's right!"

"No need to be bashful, you two." Genya watched it happen as he spoke to himself, Shanoa and Mist joining the fun.

"If the world needs a dark lord, it will emerge. Even if it's not you, Soma..." Alexander Helmsmith nodded as he looked out to the horizon, sure that the world has yet to be done with them, not a chance.

'If it's one thing I've learned, it's that there will always be trouble and I will see it to the end, especially since now... I can do something a bit more creative than just running a shop again...'