Last Trial PT2

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Sounds of explosions, shockwaves and tremors filled the atmosphere across the entire Trial area. Explosions the size of skyscrapers littered across the landscape, utterly decimating the areas surrounding the competing titans that were Nico, Castiel and the Four Beasts. Each attack exchanged between them resulted in earthquake like tremors which shook the entire landscape like a doll being shaken by a baby toddler, all the while the sounds of roaring fire, blinding light and darkness could be heard from the various familiars: Urthemiel, Solgaleo, Lunala and Necrozma. Each of these four creatures of immense power, speed, and dexterity evaded like their lives depended on it (which it sort of did) whilst launching all kinds of elemental attacks (Urthemiel's role) as well as applying buffs alongside Debuffs to the opposite factions (Necrozma, Solgaleo and Lunala's role). The latter three belonging to Castiel's service kept themselves close to their master according to his orders, allowing him to help protect them when he activated his various light powers, shielding them from a lot of the incoming Tentacles the Four Beasts launched at them as if they were on one big bargain sale.

As for Urthemiel, the Archdemon had orders to follow from its master Nico, and those orders were to fight alongside him on the frontlines, launching sneak attacks in any exposed opening to the creature's defences, getting it to rile itself up enough for the to see any more tricks that it might possess. These attacks consisted of large-scale fire attacks using its Primal fire (which Castiel saw and remarked how it rivalled that of the Golden Crow's flames at their peak), whilst it did all it could to keep those Tentacles from touching it. Just like before when its master had yet to arrive, pretty much. As it fought, the redhead male kept getting the feeling like the Archdemon would be 'peaking' soon, and by that he meant that it would likely be finishing maturing its sentience soon enough, allowing for communication between them and better co-operation for big scale attacks. Maybe even spawning its own little batch of soldiers for them to use to fight their many opponents back home.

Food for thought, maybe.

Nico himself had already see how those Tentacles could easy rival the strength of a continent class DPU once it recognized them as dangerous threats, threats which would make it start being serious for once. Nico also noticed that the creature would split its attention between him and Castiel specifically, and not their Familiars unless they specifically aggrivated it. A small conversation with Biko informed him that this creature had, similarly to the Gene Seed Implants, absorbed the minds of the four creatures they had fought throughout these trials so far, which allowed it to learn what they had learned about their moveset. As a result, the Four Beasts knew the majority of their attack patterns, making exposing ny openings it might have even MORE difficult. A cold snort escaped his lips at the thought as he kept frantically dodging llike hell whilst slashing everything coming his way with his Rinkaku and Bikaku.

His role within the fight, to keep at it whilst eating as much of those Tentacles as he could with his Kagune, had not been an easy one (though to be fair, neither had any of their roles been 'easy' per say). For one, having to slice through and eat parts of the Tentacles before they regenerated themselves left Nico with little room to attack the main body, which had been why he had stuck to constantly firing his Bikaku's many Talons to sever large portions the Tentacles, then let his Rinkaku form may large mouths to devour the severed pieces, keeping up his reserves of RC Cells. Nico didn't try to use much of his SP and Demonic Powers, relying solely on his Ghoul side for the moment, but he did also use his Boar Spirit Bone to occasionally devour any excess energy that the beast unleashed, weakening its attacks if only slightly.

"Tch, this guy really LOVES to be a hardass, doesn't he?"

"My thoughts exactly, Nico."

Castiel had been the one to say that, and he himself had a similar expression to Nico. Both boys then found it wise to do something they should have done since the beginning of this fight: Activate their respective Armours. In the Heir's case, Castiel swiftly activated his Golden Foundation Armour, his mismatched wings shining brightly with their respective elements as he constantly launched curses and blessings all around the battlefield. Even generated a couple dozen Cursed Dragontooth Warriors to help provide a distraction for their foe. Although, that attempt barely bought them a second, as the Four Beasts promptly SMASHED them to nothingness with the tips of its many Tentacles. 'Whelp, guess that's a bust then...' the Heir thought to himself, resuming his support duties whilst strafing side by side, dodging whatever Tentacles came his way and launcing a series of light blades from his wings, allowing him to cut through those Tentacles like paper mache. Not a lot of good it did him though, since they just regenerated whilst receding back to their master's side. 'Motherfucker...'

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Just as the young Heir thought that, the root like body of the Four Beasts instantly unleashed a loud roar, blowing each of the creatures as well as their masters backwards by about 250 meters. Gasps escaped his mouth, Nico himself cringed behind his Helmet whilst trying (and failing) to anchor himself into the ground using his Kagune, whilst his companion had to struggle to re-open his wings to halt his movement. Castiel nearly got blown away, just as Nico had almost done, though both had managed to avoid that particular fate. Their reactions got mirrored by their Familiars, Urthemiel slamming itself into the ground and digging all four limbs into it. All the while Solgaleo helped Lunala keep stable by grabbing onto it whilst Necrozma grabbed on to the Lion-shaped Familiar. That roar also served to create many long fissures in the ground, at lest 60 feet deep and wide on all sides bloated itself, expanding rapidly in a matter of seconds.

By the time that they had managed to halt themselves, Nico, Castiel, and their familiars had all regrouped over at one spot, their breathing slightly uneven thanks to all the fighting they have been enduring along with their endurance. The redhead had been the one to speak first, scowling behind his Helmet whilst his Rinkaku pointed its Tentacles towards their foe in a spider-like formation. "Looks like... we were right on its defensive options. Looks like its smarts are as great as its size, I saw more than a few tactical moves with those root-like Tentacles it has. Its healing abilities aren't anything to scoff at, either, no matter how many pieces I slice off they just keep restoring themselves." Nico muttered under his breath, his hands beginning to heat up as a sign that Hellfire was about to form over them. "From this, we can assume that such a large creature like this MUST have a whole load of energy reserves, it'd need such to be able to function properly. More mass, more energy."

"Yeah, though there were a few things I noticed too." Castiel replied, frowning as his eyes narrowed behind his Helmet towards the Four Beasts. More specifically, at certain parts of its body, something Nico noticed. "Looks like it has some way to reflect the damage our more direct attacks on its body outwards. A few times, I managed to land what few hits I could, and I noticed some other parts of is body explode outwards, which is how I confirmed this theory. Physical strength is a given, and... Wait, what the...?"

Soon, Castiel trailed off as he, Nico and their Familiars became witness to a... rather peculiar and surprising sight. The creature's form, it took on a more humanoid appearance, with two black sockets for eyes and a mouth of razor sharp teeth on it's circular head. Its lower body no longer looked like it was buried beneath the ground anymore like its plant-based origins, implying to the two boys that it now had the capacity of mobility, something which it had lacked previously and thus remained stationary. Aside from that, the creature looked like one of those overly muscular bodybuilders who had way more brawn than brain. After this process finished, the Four Beasts glowered at his opponents, its mouth open wide as if trying to mimic a smile, but instead allowing them to see the abyss-like interior of its internal structure. "Well… that explains a lot." The heir stated after pondering on this for a moment, all the while noting the agitated, nervous and cautious states of his Familiars. Looked like round two would be beginning shortly.

Nico nodded his head in agreement, having had a similar discussion with his alternate Personas. Though when he spoke, his tone indicated that he had confirmed his words before speaking them, leaving no refute on their validity jus like his companion had done. "Yeah, I hear ya. Looks like those creatures we've been fighting have finally been fully absorbed by this thing. My guess is, that because you were hurling curses at it, I was slicing away like a madman, Urthemiel was burning it and your other Familiars were doing their things, it delayed the process What we're fighting right now, will likely be this fucker's full power." He then glanced to his companion Archdemon, and noted the creature's reaction. Urthemiel stood on all fours, each of them spread apart with it's wings open, ready to flap them to make an instant launch into the skies if necessary. It constantly released low, cautious growls, as if aware that this creature would be no small task to overcome. 'Just seeing Urthemiel like this shows me we need to be even more cautious now...'

Just then, the group of them tensed when they saw that the Four Beasts had made the first move. It did so, by rearing its head backwards and moving its mouth as if to blow out air, before exhaling green air out of its mouth and creating one HUGE green cloud which covered over 600 meters in every direction. Just by looking at the cloud above them, Nico and Castiel found themselves glancing at one another through their Helmets and thinking: 'Uh oh, not good...'

"Shit, looks like its a poison." Castiel stated after looking back to the cloud and cursing under his breath. He remembered researching different poisons on his free time in order to better understand Serenity's condition, as well as when he was a kid since he had been curious. This poison had been one of the poisons he'd discovered about back then, but he didn't expect to have to face it. "Nico, whatever you do, do NOT stray too far from my position, the same goes for your flying dragon. Lunala, Solgelo and Necrozma, you do the same."

In response to this, Nico frowned in confusion, wondering what the Heir knew of this cloud. Instinctively, Nico had felt like this was poison, is Implants were already taking care of it. However, it felt like there was something more to it, something he wasn't quite familiar with. Thus, he decided to inquire. "Lemme guess, this isn't your average poison?" he questioned.

"You bet your ass this is no regular poison." Castiel replied, scowling as he prepared his countermeasures. "This poison's called the Green Rain, never mind trying to get away once your beneath it, just being touched by the rain ensures your poisoned by it. Those who have been poisoned by the Green Rain would normally have no more than an Hour to live, as the knowledge of how to make an antidote isn't well known to anyone since it is so damned rare. I honestly forgot about it when I looked it up in passing, but anyways. You guys stay close to me, so the poison can be treated while we fight." the Heir ordered, before continuing when Nico made to open his mouth (though the question of him knowing Nico was about to do that could be debatable in this situation) "Also, your resistance to it will be quite effective, but if I were to calculate, with the lethalness of this poison, you'll last about 5 minutes before the poison weakens your abilities. Same with your dragon friend. It likely won't kill you two like it would a normal person, but it will surely weaken you guys heavily."

Hearing this, Nico scowled as he looked back up at the Green Rain, before his gaze fell onto the Four Beasts again as it began to stomp towards them, leisurely swinging its arms like someone jolly walking through a park. Obviously, this thing didn't see them as proper threats at this point, just seasonings with its poison. "I see. Alright, I'll stick to launching projectiles for the time being, Urthemiel, you do the same, we'll regroup with you every 5 minutes so the poison doesn't weaken us, sound good to you?"

"I would rather a period of 4 minutes to ensure no mishaps happen as this still is a battle and most likely a battle of attrition, managing timing and yourself is the most important. But hey, if you insist in going for five minutes it is up to you." Castiel replied while dismissing Solgaleo and Lunala, much to Nico's confusion until he had sensed their dwindling energy reserves. That prompted him to try and feel for Urthemiel's, resulting in him finding that Urthemiel still had the capacity to fight for a bit longer. At that point however, Castiel had also begun summoning Eevee, the small creature manifesting in his arms as he squeaked happily up towards his master.

A small smile formed on Castiel's lips when he saw this, but soon reverted to a serious demeanour. "Eevee, go to Fairy mode." Castiel stated as Eevee changed forms to his Fairy mode in a bright flash of light. When the light vanished, Eevee had become a quadruped, mammalian being, covered primarily in pale cream-colored fur with pinkish feet, ears, and tail. There were two bows on its body, one on its left ear and one around its neck, from which two feeler-like appendages adorn it. The bows looked to be a pale cream colour, with pinkish centres while the feelers sported pale cream with pinkish and blue tips. It had short, slender legs and small paws with three visible toes on each foot. Its eyes were blue with white pupils and no visible sclera. When its forming finished, the small creature let out a cry like one would when waking up in the morning, two pointed teeth being seen on its upper jaw when it did so. Its furry pinkish tail is slightly curved in a crescent shape.

Needless to say, this one would rival Eevee's base form in terms of raw cuteness appeal alone, let alone the abilities it had. Mentally, Nico began to wonder what kind of powers this form possessed, since from what he could tell this creature held the ability to shift into different forms upon command, each one having their own attributes and abilities. That meant that if one were to discover the weaknesses of one form, Eevee could shift into another before they could be used against it. Although, he wasn't too sure on the specifics.

Hey, cuteness may be nice, but practicality held more importance here!

Though, the question of why his companion had summoned his Eevee and had it shift into this form soon answered when the Heir held his currently active Familiar out to him, the young creature having sat on his forearm whilst regarding Nico with curiosity. "Nico, take Sylveon with you. This little one has purification abilities and probably can help mitigate the poison effect if something happens, just remember that if it obtains even a scratch I WILL hunt you down and inflict you so much pain that you will think everything that happened to you up until this point of your life is easy by comparison." Castiel explained with a threatening tone.

Hearing that, the redhead rolled his eyes behind his Armour whilst Sylveon hopped off his master's embrace and onto his head... mindful of the various sharp edges his Helmet sported. Nico honestly doubted Castiel could even imagine what he has gone through, nor would he understand how much pain he suffered. Though, Nico didn't hold it against him since he had long since deduced that the Heir held the sin of Pride, that self-assuming idiot. But, his instincts and understanding of the other teen told him clearly that trying his luck would not end well by any means of the word, especially since the Heir had such oddly countering skills against most of his abilities and that evil energy of his was not one he wanted to truly face in combat if at all possible.

But to be honest, when Nico shifted his gaze to his shoulder where Syveon had SOMEHOW managed to occupy whilst avoiding the tall spikes his Armour, he could only sweatdrop inside his Armor. 'I'll be frank, Biko. its just luck that dictated Neptune and Compa to not be here right now. If they were and came into contact with this Sylveon creature, then I have no doubt in my mind that they would kidnap this little one just out of how terribly cute it is.' he thought to his Demon Persona, who readily agreed with that notion.

Why did he get the feeling that his Ghoul Persona wanted to hug it, though?


"Whelp, looks like the climactic conclusion's about to begin..."

Sitting in his living room, Zelretch put some popcorn he had conjured from nowhere into his mouth, taking a break from his daily gaming on fortnite to see how his little Guinea pigs were doing with their trial. It seemed that so far, both of them were doing quite well, though that would have been expected of them. One of them WAS his godson after all, and the other had a particularly… interesting legacy hanging over his shoulders. Wonder if his Godson might do something about that in the near future... meh, none of his concern. In any case, both of them looked to have overcome their differences for the most part, as they're working together with their Familiars much better than before. Before, they had each tried to go about things on their own, using their own specific methods. Now though, now it seems that the two were finally beginning to get some common ground between them.

Though, with the finality that he had prepared for them, Zelretch doubted that they'd find it easy.

'Lets see how my Godson will handle this threat to him and his subordinate... his power over purification and poison resistance will likely be used here, not to mention his curses will slow that big ape down some... though, what he doesn't seem to be getting is that these curses have additional affects on his company...' Zelretch thought to himself, raising an amused eyebrow when his eyes, as super talented that they were (all hail glorious science research!), spied the energy released from Castiel's curses gradually floating over towards the emo kid.

Although this wasn't something either of the two boys would have noticed right away (due to currently fighting for their lives against this trial's big boy, and even then unless they were actively looking for it they'd only barely find it), it would be practically GLARINGLY obvious for someone of HIS Calibre (and for once, Zelretch WASN'T tooting his own horn there). Heck, it was happening with both his Godson's energies, his evil energy being absorbed by the kid's body starting to gradually absorb the purifying energy of the Archangel as well. Bet the kid would FLIP if he found that out... maybe he'd even drop the bomb on him like he did with his Godson on the Fire trial, tee hee.

In all honesty, Zelretch had been waiting for something entertaining to happen with these two, and this seemed like a good start. The emo kid had already said it himself when they fought: his body had experience with sensing negative emotions, but what he HADN'T said was that his body could ABSORB them too... and his Godson's curses could sort of count as something like that so it qualifies as negative energy for him to absorb. 'Hmmmm, wonder how that will turn out... looks like the emo kid's going to go through some intriguing developments of his own... but who cares, really? As long as I'm not bored, then that's the main thing!'


'Man, this fucker's annoying...!'

Castiel could only think this as he wrapped his wings in front of him, using his name Castiel to block a barrage of Tentacle attacks from the Four Beast's muscular form. The Teenage Heir gritted his teeth when the Four Beasts tore into his defence with a rapid barrage of strikes from dozens of them, all the while sparing some to try and swat his companion aside like a fly. Unfortunately for it and fortunately for said companion, those Tentacles despite their size, still remained fairly easy for those invisible ones Nico had to cut through like paper mache. Obviously that Blood Pool had indeed made major improvements to it, but Castiel didn't put too much thought into it right now. He had to focus on defending himself and his recovering Familiars from this barrage after they had depleted a lot of their energy with their most recent dual attack.

Like him and Nico had suspected, the full power of this creature hadn't been made available to it just yet, their actions having delayed the process. However, now that it DID have that power, its strikes reached a whole new level of lethality. If it weren't for the defence provided by his name being as absolutely broken as it had been, then any one of these strikes would have knocked him out cold in an instant. Even now, the Heir couldn't help but feel the pressure the strain his Name put on him for blocking these strikes, making him realize just how physically tough this creature had been. Just went to show that he could not afford to hold back, though if he had the chance to he would have tried to access his Evil Spirit Form to try and utterly wreck this guy with evil energy (if his Uncle Zelretch hadn't blocked its use that is, as he felt such a block present on his mind).

Not only that, but in the following combat, Castiel had to use his Purity Halo in order to counteract the poison that the Four Beasts had unleashed into the atmosphere. If it hadn't been for his broken ass purification powers, then Castiel felt like this Green Rail would have killed him within the first hour of combat, for sure. It had also been thanks to these abilities that his powers had not been damaged by this poison.

Eventually, the attacks ceased, allowing Castiel room to breathe and lower his Wings, which had been just enough for him to peek through and see how the majority of them had been burned down to 3/4 of the way by that flying Dragon's azure flames, the creature itself having floated directly above the Four Beasts. More Tentacles grew out of it to try and chase it down, however the creature smashed them to ribbons with just the gusts from its wings, allowing Nico the chance to cut halfway through its right leg. Not only that, but when he looked up towards it, he noticed how his beloved Sylveon was riding on its back, and how when the Four Beasts countered by shooting its own barrage of projectiles from its mouth it reacted swiftly, unleashing waves of primal fire to burn the initial wave before moving out of the way like its life depended on it.

It seemed that Nico had indeed taken his warning seriously, as throughout the fight Castiel had noticed how his Familiar stayed relatively out of harm's way on that dragon's back, which would shield it by using its wind gusts too keep the attacks launched it at it at bay. That way, whenever it was needed, Sylveon would be there to help since the dragon had a great lead in the speed department. That... actually had a bit of a reliving effect on him, more than the Heir would freely admit. An exhale of said emotion escaped his mouth at seeing this, his eyes closing whilst a small smile spread across his lips. Having something as strong as that flying Dragon (he could still feel it's strength during this whole battle, like it had never lost an ounce of it) protecting his beloved Familiar soothed some deep part of him. 'However, should that thing falter for even a second and my beloved Sylveon gets a scratch, Nico better watch out or he'll have to get a new Familiar...' Castiel thought to himself.

Anyways, threats aside Castiel noticed how the Four Beasts now had its attention focused on him, if the massive fist coming down towards him was any indication. 'Good, focus on me...' the heir thought as he unleashed a burst of flames from his body, causing a shockwave which blew the arm to smithereens. The Four Beasts recoiled at this as its arm began to regenerate, only for it to e destroyed AGAIN by one of his companion's sneak attacks. Castiel didn't pay that much attention to it, as he had focused on destroying the emerging roots that tried to ensnare said from the ground. 'Sorry buddy, but you're gonna have to deal with me for the time being...' Castiel thought, his grin turning downright maniacal as he flared his mismatched Wings. At this, he reinforced himself with Mana, before dashing down and smashing the ground with a fist supported by the White Tiger Bloodline, causing a small earthquake which sent the creature off balance. This gave his companion a chance to recover from some of the poison by having Urthemiel bring Sylveon to him, whilst he went on to slice through the creature's body with his own Tentacles and Tails.

Fury building within its core at these attacks, the Four Beasts got up and roared, dozens, and I mean THOUSANDS of roots erupting around them like one big jungle rising through the earth. Castiel didn't wait for them to properly surface though, as he quickly formed a CRUEL STAR to hurl at them whilst his companion and his Dragon flew out of the roots' reach. Just in time too, since the CRUEL STAR pretty much evaporated them out of existence, leaving a residue heat in the atmosphere whilst Nico flew back up towards his companion via his Rinkaku Wings. "Thanks for that."

"No prob. Looks like this guy can grow those roots endlessly, that's like the 50th time this has happened. guess he's got a whole lot of energy."

Nico nodded at this information, looking down at the ground with narrowed eyes. "My guess is that its been absorbing the energy from the soil to refill its powers, and who knows how much is left down there. Its a Plant, and plants take the soil as nutrients after all." he remarked, cupping his chin before Castiel went in front of him and shielded them from a projectile barrage.

"Less conversing, more attacking. Try to see if you can take away its limbs and eat them, keep it still for a moment so we can generate our fire attacks: my CRUEL STAR and your Hellfire, we'll use them to freaking ROAST this turkey!"

"On it!"

With that call, Nico dove down beneath his comrade, dodging several roots which came up to ensnare him, and in the end diving deep into the mass of destroyed roots which had been so un-salvageable that the Four Beasts had just left them there. Whilst Nico advanced through them towards his prey (with Urthemiel floating above them launching fireballs at some roots which tried pulling some fast ones on the two), Castiel glared towards the Four Beasts whilst cracking his knuckles. "Alright you fucker, since you love your roots so much..." he began, a sick grin emerging o his lips hidden behind his Helmet. "Time to RIP them out from under you!"

In response, the Four Beasts roared, launching a fist towards him with the intent of swatting him like a fly. Deciding against taking it head on even with his defence being so high, Castiel spread his wings and flapped them all at once, shooting upwards into the skies in order to avoid the fist. He then began angling his body and twisting it through various evasive manoeuvres, in response to the dozens of Tentacles which tried to impale him, cutting through them with his Wings before launching a series of Light blades from said appendages back towards it. They impaled it on the surface of its skin, although sadly for him, the blades couldn't even put a DENT into the being's hide.

Good thing that this had only been a destraction, then.

A small smirk formed on his lips beneath his Armour, when Castiel held his arms upwards and generated dozens of light blades above them, easily enough to cover a radius which wouldn't lose out to the Green Rain. Each sword looked to have been generate for the sole purpose of stabbing into something, which had been the intent for them in the first place. Kind of reminded him of Yu Gi Oh's 'Swords of Revealing light' that he'd heard about a few times from his fellow Tower agents while growing up. Anyways, that thing about the stabbing? it soon became something which the Four Beasts would soon learn as Castiel, within his protective Wings, brought them down on it causing the Four Beasts to summon a whole army of roots from beneath the ground to defend it. As a result, the swords collided rapidly with the roots, tearing through them thanks to the raw heat that light emitted burning through them faster than a knife through warm tofu.

Seeing his chance, Castiel shot forwards like a bullet, activating the bloodline of the White Tiger and slamming himself directly into the creature's forehead, causing the Four Beasts to stumble backwards whilst nursing a steaming him-shaped imprint on its forehead. An angry glare got aimed at him for that, and in response the Four Beasts roared, peppering Castiel with projectiles fired from its mouth. It did NOT look all that different from a Gatling gun, if he had been in the comparative mood. To counter this though, the Heir commenced flying in erratic patterns in the skies above, zigzagging through the air like a bullet whilst flipping, twisting and spinning through the various projectiles. He eve decided to get some practice in by having his wings swish about like blades to cut through the ones he couldn't dodge.

Though, in the end he sensed a certain someone closing in, and quickly began prepping for the next move too...


Navigating these Roots felt like moving through that one trial with the forest and pyramid again, Nico felt like as he moved about like a wraith. His mismatched eyes kept glancing about as he closed in under the debris of destroyed roots, using them as cover to get in without being seen by the massive beast. His Bikaku Kagune slashed and hacked through the roots like they were nothing but air, whilst his Rinkaku aided them with their superior speed and cutting power.

Up above, the redhead could hear the sounds of fireballs being launched, the cutting of light blades, the furious roars of the Four Beasts and some mocking insults from his companion. 'Looks like that guy's having a blast...' the male thought to himself when he heard the mad laughter of his partner in this when he showered the many roots attacking him with Phoenix Flames. Once again, he began wondering if that Castiel should REALLY be an Angel. Then again, he did know a Goddess who happened to be one hell of a tsundere, so personalities not being what you'd expect kind of had a common occurrence. He wasn't sure I that was a good thing or not, though.

'Still, despite his... quirks, it doesn't feel half bad fighting alongside him like this...much better than fighting against him.' Nico added in his mind, a wry smile ebbing onto his lips whilst he neared the Four Beast's rear. Watching him like this, as well as recalling how he acted in the trials, it gave him much more insight into a... well, a lot of things. Even if he didn't get the chance to ask him about the whole Yvoire situation, with what he had learned from the Heir Nico felt like he could come up with an answer all on his own.

As for this creature, his eyes turned predatory in an instant. He had an idea which had entered his mind not long before that recent regrouping, an idea he wished to test out. 'If fighting with him is this much of an intriguing experience, I wonder what kind of daily life he has... Not an easy one, I'll bet.' Still, his thoughts concerning his companion lingered due to the lack of attention to him that the Four Beasts paid. Under normal circumstances, Nico would have been pissed that this thing didn't regard him very much, but right now with the plan his comrade had devised, it would be a godsend.

Also, he could hear the roars of Urthemiel as it dodged each of the stray attacks from both parties, making sure not to let even a SCRATCH form on Sylveon's body. Castiel's warning aside, Nico recalled some of the past mass extermination operations he'd heard of, and how important the medics of the teams had been. Medics were pretty much like their backbones, essential to their health and mobility. Thus, if they were to be needed, then they'd have to get there pronto. That was why he had Urthemiel carry Sylveon, as its speed would ensure that they could regroup quite quickly.

Shaking his head, Nico pushed those thoughts aside when he came out of the destroyed roots, ending up about 60 meters away from the Four Beasts rear. It had not noticed this, due to paying too much to the storm that was the colossal calamity before it, unaware of the approaching danger behind it. At his, Nico almost chuckled at how exciting this made him feel, both in a battle sense and in a primitive one. He guessed he had to thank his Ghoul side for that, as his Rinkaku wings flapped once to propel him upwards in a diagonal angle.

As he approached it, Nico looked at the various limbs on the beast's body, eyeing their joints and their movements. Fortunately, whilst his main role had been that of the attacker, Nico had also been observing and calculating the motions of his enemy to guess where the joints would be. Or rather, the sockets connecting the Four Beasts limbs to its main body. It may have had a humanoid-esque form, but he doubted human anatomy had a play here. Thus, he wanted to get a clear picture in his mind for what he would be doing in the next few seconds. 'Hopefully this works...' Nico thought to himself, rearing back his massive Bikaku Tails. He could hear the cackling of the Talons, a sign that they were ready to be launched, and thus slashed all 4 at the same time, each one aimed at the socket of a specific limb.

Time almost seemed to slow down as the Talons tore into the creature's body, ripping through their flesh and digging deep into the creature's limbs. Thanks to this, they managed to get inside the Four Beasts as their holes regenerated, allowing them to be securely locked inside... something which caused thee fighting to pause for a brief moment. All parties began to wait for something to happen, and just when it seemed like nothing had...

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Four Explosions ripped through the Four Beast, severing it's arms and legs from its body with dozens of sickening squelching sounds escaping them. Each of the severed limbs fell to the ground beneath them, releasing large smokescreens around them from all the dirt that got uplifted. Howls of pain escaped it as this happened, and the Four Beasts fell forwards thanks to the loss of support. As for the limbs, they each tried to reattach to their main body, however Nico didn't let that happen and engulfed them with his Hellfire, burning them to nothingness. Whilst loving the sight of his beloved flames, the redhead looked back to where Castiel had been floating, shooting some flames into the air and forming the words 'Prep complete!' from them.


Time for the grand finale, Castiel thought to himself as a dark grin split his face in two beneath his armour.

Part of him recalled the time of their first spar back before the first trial when they had been gauging each other, as he held his right hand upwards and generated a CRUEL STAR. The moment that it appeared, Castiel sensed the power building within it, something which had sharply increased thanks to his newfound understanding of the mechanics behind fire. If he were to try and compare it to the one fired back then, he'd feel immense shame for even CALLING it a CRUEL STAR. 'Heh, how far I've grown since then...' The Heir thought, a wry chuckle escaping his lips as he gazed fondly at his attack. The surface of this attack looked more and more like the core of a star the longer he looked at it, spiralling in a clockwise rotation whilst radiating MUCH more heat. To the point where even Castiel himself with his immense fire resistance could feel it.

Sensing a presence, Castiel shifted his gaze from his attack, and looked to its source to find Nico rising upwards to a similar height that he had occupied. The redhead held his hand out with a similar Hellfire ball which he had used back then appearing with a barely audible 'SCREEEE!' Sound. Much like the one made when he generated his CRUEL STAR. The more that the Heir looked at it though, the more that he realized how that Hellfire had also changed, no longer being like it had been back then. In his opinion, his CRUEL STAR beat it in terms of sheer power in this state, but thanks to their greedy nature being stronger, they wouldn't lose out to the current attack in his hand.

Still, this situation called for some quick witty banter before they finished it, they had a couple seconds before the Four Beasts would regenerate all four limbs. "Alright still think this bad boy's a little ember?!" he yelled.

"Ha! Try asking that AFTER we roast this motherfucker! HAAA!"

"HAA!"

Both boys yelled that out whilst flinging their arms downwards. As a result, both their respective attacks slammed downwards with the force of massive meteors, their speed being faster than any kind of bullet ever conceived. The Four Beasts, upon looking up when it felt the immense heat steaming its back, saw the infernal damnation heading its way. If it could, it would have pissed itself at the sight... which would have evaporated thanks to the combined heat coming down on like the gods of flame had decided to smite it off the face of the continent. Desperate to survive this incoming attack, its instincts telling it to haul ass due to the combined threat level, the Four Beasts let out a furious, ear-shattering roar of defiance before the two attacks filled its vision...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sight of the two attacks erupting into one big mass of fire, heat and scorching death forced the two boys to cover their eyes, huge whipping winds whistling through the air and forcing them back by a couple hundred meters as EVERYTHING in the area began to burn. The ground became a sea of demonic flame, the forests got reduced to heavenly fiery nightmares, and the very skies themselves looked like they had been scorched beyond recognition. wisps of fire could be seen floating through the clouds as if mimicking lightning bolts, one could say that the heavens themselves had become an abysmal, scorching wasteland. Pretty much everything became an infernal wasteland… so pretty much just like the fire trial except... they were the responsible ones, not Zelretch.

After Nico Warped back to Castiel's side, the redhead and the Heir looked up to see Urthemiel coming down to thir level, a thankfully uninjured Sylveon riding atop its back. Just by seeing his Familiar, Castiel's eyes brightened in joy as he dismissed his Armour, exclaiming "Sylveon!" whilst holding his arms out.

A squeal of joy escaped the Familiar as Sylveon, after patting Urthemiel on its head with its feelers (Something which, to Nico's utter bewilderment, caused him to purr softly), hopped off the Archdemon and into the Heir's arms. After finding the familiar warm arms belonging to its master embrace it, the small creature squealed more, nuzzling his chest with its face in the cutest manner possible.

Was it possible to get diabetes from cuteness? Cause if this kept up, that would be what Castiel felt would be happening to him.

Looking his Familiar over, Castiel checked him for any signs of injuries, not even the tiniest of details would be unchecked by him during this examination. As he did this, Nico got the feeling like is life would be hanging by a single thread as he floated there, awaiting his response. Even if his Archdemon would try to protect him, it could prove useless in the end. 'Why do I get the feeling that this is what being judged by the court of the damned feels like?' the redhead wondered to himself, before shaking his head to get rid of such thoughts.

Eventually though, the check-up finished as Castiel gave a nod of approval towards his companion. "Not a scratch on Sylveon's form, so you get to live." he stated, and whilst the Heir didn't admit it, the way that Nico sighed in relief much more than he had intended gave him no small amount of satisfaction. Castiel would have skinned Nico alive if his Familiar got hurt, he just loved each of them THAT much.

At this, the redhead could only sweat drop as he too dismissed his Armour, the Armour receding back into its Armour Module on his Chest. Looking up, the young Spec Ops Agent furrowed his brows as he looked at the Green Rain. "Looks like the cloud's dissipating, that combined fire attack must have incinerated it to the point here it can't sustain itself anymore." he theorized, before closing his eyes and mentally checking his health over.

Castiel came to a similar conclusion, whilst Nico then looked back to his companion. "Not a bad plan you made... guess that nobody normal would have been able to do what you did with that thing, stalling it for that long and all..." he remarked, before scratching the side of his jaw with a leather glove bound finger, a nervous and uncomfortable expression forming on his face. "I'll be honest, I'd have just kept fighting until I discovered a weakness. Back where I come from, due to there being so many different enemies throughout my world, properly identifying and learning everything about them is practically impossible. We've had to adopt a 'survival of the fittest' mentality because of this, where we have to keep observing our opponents for any signs of weaknesses, then exploit them as soon as possible. Kill or be killed, its largely why I don't do anything other than fight and kill." he explained.

"... Huh, I see. That does answer a few questions I have had about you." Castiel responded thoughtfully. Looked like he had been right on the money when he had compared Nico's world to one messed up by war instead of politics like his own. Thinking back to his companion's previous battles, this information soon verified a lot of things about him, and whilst he didn't necessarily like them, he could at least understand why he did them the way he did. "That kind of thinking wouldn't do as well in my world though, since like I said before there's so many beings who could destroy it just casually living amongst humanity. Each of them being engaged in politics being why they haven't gone bonkers yet, though I wouldn't say that all of them are happy with the current state of things." He could think of a few examples, like those DAMNED HERO FACTION ASSHOLES, some of the Hindu Pantheon and a FEW other ones. To be frank, his world had so many powerful beings in it, ranging from gods to mythological beasts, that it was a wonder why his world still existed the way it did.

"... Sounds like a hassle. My world's a bit more simple than yours, but both worlds aren't what you would say 'normal'."

"Then again, normal is overrated. If everything was 'normal', then it'd be a pretty shitty and boring world we'd live in, huh?"

"True, true..."

With that conversation (and a bit more understanding between the two), Castiel and Nico decided to wait for something to happen.

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Only, nothing DID happen for some time, causing them to be confused. Both boys looked around, their eyes narrowing in contemplation and concern. "Strange... would have thought that a sign to say this trial was done would have popped up by now..." Nico mused, his senses telling him something wasn't right here. His Ghoulish instincts screaming at him also helped in confirming this.

"Yeah... odds are that the Four Beasts might not be dead yet, see if you can get something on that Bracer thing you have, I'll expand my senses my own way." Castiel ordered, getting a compliant 'roger!' from Nico as the two set about their tasks. The former opened his right Bracer and activated his Motion Tracker, as well as expanding his mental senses to see if he could pick anything up. He also sniffed the air to try and see if he could smell anything to indicate life. On the other end, Castiel muttered a few incantations under his breaths, casting spells which covered a wide area to analyse them for any signs of enemies. He also expanded his own senses, flaring his wings whilst looking around the vicinity.

After a couple minutes, both boys drew their gaze downwards... and then made startled exclamations when a large pure white BEAM made of pure energy shot out of the residue smoke from their combined attack.

"Goddamnit!"

"Oh, fuck!"

Both of them quickly avoided the beam using their own methods, Castiel by empowering his speed with Mana, and Nico by using the Star God's Broken Shadow so that it only hit an afterimage of him. As a result, the two had ended up facing each other on opposite sides of the beam whilst looking down. Peering into the smoke, the two noticed a shadowy silhouette amidst it, two large eyes looking up at them with a glare so fierce that it would make some of the stronger beings in their respective words cringe from anxiety. The smoke soon vanished... which revealed the culprit to be the Four Beasts, arms and legs fully regenerated and kneeling on the ground with its arms being used as supports. Aside from that, the creature looked relatively fine, no signs of damage on is person.

"Oh, that's just fucking perfect...!" Castiel cursed under his breath, scowling down at the beast. He didn't make to activate his Armour though, as he decided to summon Clarent instead. "Looks like this guy's still not dead, this is one persistent motherfucker." Just as he said that, the Heir narrowed his eyes when he noticed something... off, about the creature. Said creature already attacking them by opening its mouth and shooting projectiles from within, forcing them to dodge for their lives. "Hang on, something about it feels... different." he noted, his senses telling him that its power level felt WAY lower than it did before. Its energy reserves had also decreased significantly, only adding to his confusion.

Nico however, soon found an answer when he scanned the Four Beasts with his Bracers. He soon shouted over to his comrade whilst dodging projectiles left and right. "Looks like this creature is more damaged than we think, Emiya. I just did a scan just now, and it detected none of the life signs in it's roots beneath the ground. Looks like even in this form, it still had some roots underground, hence why it could make so many attacks from beneath us. It seems that this thing sacrificed the majority of its roots to prevent our recent fire attack from completely reducing it to nothingness. What we're seeing right now is similar to a fountain that is disconnected from its water supply, the final stretch as it were."

Hearing those words, Castiel heaved a frustrated groan, just wanting to have this trial over with already. He was already done with this shit, he wanted to get back home to his loved ones already. 'Not long now, Emiya, not long now...' he thought, before looking back to his companion. "You still have power for one last attack then? To end this?" he suggested, clutching Clarent.

"Yeah, sure do... huh?"

"Hm? What is...?" the Heir began when he heard a confused exclamation from his companion. Glanding over to him, Castiel soon saw him slowly getting covered by steam, and according to his senses something was beginning to act up with his Demonic Power. "Uhhhh, dude? You doing ok?" he questioned, about to move over and see if he could try to stabilize Nico's energy. He recalled what had happened with that Scythe of his, and did NOT wish to make a repeat of that. "You ned some help, or...?"

Before he could finish his sentence however, Nico suddenly gasped when, in one instantaneous moment, his whole form erupted into flames. Not just any flames though... but BLACK flames, the true form of the Hellfire that Nico commanded. THOSE flames emerged from his body, wrapping around him and forming a large sphere, making it impossible to see what was inside. The Four Beasts below them, thought that this could be an opportunity to take down one of the ones who had injured it so extremely, and promptly fired another beam at it. The creature knew that, thanks to its injuries, its life wouldn't be lasting long even if it DID win, but if it could take those humans down with it, then it would die satisfied.

However, just as the beam touched the flames, the black sphere did NOT get destroyed contrary to what the Four Beasts had intended. Instead, it looked like those flames were eagerly EATING the beam's energy, devouring it and using it to make themselves stronger. It didn't even take that long for Castiel, who had super powerful resistance to fire, to cover his eyes due to the intensity the Hellfire generated. It was NOTHING like what Nico used in his human form, he realized, though that thought flew out of his head and got replaced with 'What the fuck's going on here?!'

'Oh, I can answer that, little Godson of mine.'

'Uncle?! You know what's happening here?!'

'Yup, you should see your face right now, haha! Its quite funny seeing you freak out like this. Don't worry though. Little Emo there is just going through an overdue metamorphosis. Think of it as a caterpillar entering a cocooned state later than expected.'

Right as Zelretch said that, the Sphere of flames dissipated, revealing what lay inside, and...

Holy Shit.


Was this the feeling of giving birth? Cause if it was, then Nico's respect for the female gender SKYROCKETED right now.

Whatever had bee happening, it felt like his body had been reduced to the size of an infant and forced to go through 16 years worth of development all over again... the timespan being in about 5 minutes rather than years however. His Hellfire, the TRUE form of his Hellfire, it surrounded him in darkness, filling his vision and entering his body. He could feel it remaking him, burning something away only to replace it with something else. During this time, Nico tried to contact his other Personas, but sadly he couldn't, making him think that he had been cut off from them during this time.

Still, with what he felt right now, he hoped it would be over soon, cause he had a FEW questions about this phenomenon.

All the while, Nico decided to wait and endure this feeling until it would be complete... whilst enjoying the feeling of being embraced by his Hellfire whilst it did... whatever it was doing. It was like his Hellfire was... merging, with him in some ways, he felt it both inside and outside whilst his body seemed to be undergoing a similar transformation to DDD. But, it didn't exactly feel like the DDD he knew of, so he felt stumped on it.

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… Finally, after what felt like AGES, Nico felt like the process had finished, as evident by the specs of light breaking through his Hellfire shell. Pretty soon, he found himself back into he world of the last Trial, floating in the air with his Demonic Power surging through his veins. That obviously told him that he had transformed during this little... event, he would call it. That meant he had become Crimson Soul, thus he made to inform his companion of this, until he noticed that the guy was looking at him funny. "Is there something of a matter?" Crimson Soul questioned, his multi voice echoing though the atmosphere and shaking Castiel out of his stupor.

"Oh not much, but you MIGHT want to look yourself over."

Crimson Soul arched a brow at this, but did what Castiel said anyways. Though, when he did, then he'd have showed more surprise if he were in his human form. 'Hm? This is...?' he thought, looking himself over. If he had thought he'd see his usual DPU Form, then he'd be sorely mistaken, as instead of his crimson Armour, his DPU Form looked QUITE different. His body looked to be covered in a skin tight black latex suit from the neck downwards. His body's Armour had also changed, as his head now got covered by a pure black helmet, with several black horns protruding upwards, 2 larger ones and 2 smaller ones. The Helmet had areas showing his eyes whilst sporting a V shaped jawline, like a spike while two empty sockets showed his crimson DPU Eyes. Aside from the suit, his neck remained bare, whilst his torso got covered in black slim Armour made from multiple layers of plating. The shoulder Armour looked bulkier and bigger, with multiple plates, super sharp edges curved spikes pointing upwards. More lean armour covered his arms from below the shoulder Armour down to his hands, with larger forearm Amour over said body parts. The legs looked to be covered in this slim Armour as well, ending in sharpened boots which, if they kicked, looked like they could stab someone. Behind him, Crimson Soul still had his Tail, only now it looked more black and skeletal, like an extension of the human spinal column with a sharpened, narrowed blade-like Tip with its length rivaling his height. As for his back, Crimson Soul had Wings of flame still, but these Wings were made from pure Crimson colored flames, shaped like the wings of a Demon that angled downwards... sort of like his Demon Persona's now that he thought about it. Plus he now had a second pair of wings, making 4 in total.

"Hmmm... interesting..." Crimson Soul muttered, furrowing his brows behind his Helmet while looking himself over. He held his hands out at torso level, flipping them about to examine them in their entirety. "It appears that this is similar to an evolutionary shift." Crimson Soul muttered, before he glanced over to Castiel and questioned him. "Was this what you had been surprised by?"

At this, the Heir nodded. "Yeah, Uncle Zelretch told me that apparently this had happened because of you absorbing the ambiance of my Evil Energy, as well as somehow my purifying energy as well. This resulted in you being changed into... well, this, alongside you being 'purified' from some sort of taint or whatever." he explained, frowning. He seemed to be unintentionally throwing this guy a lot of boons, didn't he? The Heir honestly had rather mixed feelings about it, on one hand he felt glad that someone was growing stronger thanks to him since it reminded him of his own power, but on the other it worried him since if Nico ever became an enemy of the tower Castiel himself would feel partially responsible for it.

On his end, Crimson Soul narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful hum escaping his lips. "Is that so...?" he mumbled, trailing off at the end while mentally requesting confirmation from Biko. In the end, the Demon Persona agreed with his companion's assessment. Though, he added on that this was actually part of the DPU's levelling process, each time they broke into another classification of power, their forms would undergo a transformation, overtaking their previous forms like an Evolution. It would happen again too, whenever he entered Chaos Class as well as Primus Class, though Biko also added that this would have happened regardless of absorbing so much of Castiel's evil energy. The only reason why he hadn't done this sooner was due to him not using his DPU Form as much, as well as that Soul Attack he had tanked from Mundus and that Poison, otherwise it would have happened the EXACT moment that he'd broken through into his current class. In addition, regarding the purification, he had explained how his energy had small remnants of Sparda in it, as it had originally been from that DPU of Destruction in the first place, but thanks to this purification Crimson Soul could now truly call himself a successor to Sparda, his own person independent from his influence.

Just as they had this discussion, the furious Four Beasts roared at them, launching several Tentacles the width and size of Skyscrapers towards them. This resulted in Crimson Soul summoning Soul Edge (which had turned into an all-black metallic version of itself, he noticed) to swing it once, releasing a large gust of wind which toe the Tentacles apart, right down to their bases which caused the Four Beasts to how,, stumbling backwards while the creature regenerated its wounds. "Interesting, looks like the healing process has been reduced significantly." Crimson Soul muttered as he observed the creature, before turning to face his comrade. "Shall we finish it off?"

"Sure, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."

With that said, Crimson Soul glared down at the Four Beasts which looked to be fully regenerated from his last attack. It must have focused its remaining power on healing itself, and as he picked up the energy reserves it had left, Crimson Soul deduced that this last round would not be as easy as he had thought. 'It appears that its energy is only half of what it would normally have been, half of what it had been at the beginning of the fight. In that case, it would be wise not to underestimate it...' the transformed DPU thought to himself.

Still though, thanks to this new form he was in... Crimson Soul couldn't help but feel something was a little off. He didn't know why, but when he looked deep inside himself, the DPU felt like there had been a... change, somewhat to his power, a change which had happened recently. It wasn't that of his current form's though, no since it felt way too similar to Castiel's. As he raised Soul Edge and put it on his shoulder, Crimson Soul glanced over towards his comrade. "Your orders? If we go in without a plan like I usually do, it'll end messy."

"Hmmmm, ah yes that'll work. Alright, Nico, see if you can go and distract this guy for me. I'll do what you did before and sneak behind this thing to get in its blind spot. I'll use my Left Arm Spirit Bone to do the rest." Castiel responded after a couple seconds, already making to descend downwards like an owl. "Keep its attention for me, just think of it like that!" And with that, the Heir had dove down and out of sight.

The Four Beasts noticed him, but couldn't do anything since a few shockwaves from Soul Edge slammed into it like a couple sledgehammers able to reduce entire cities to nothingness, intentionally weakened to keep its focus on him. This resulted in Crimson Soul becoming the target of its ire, its rage making it forget about Castiel for the time being. 'That's right focus on me... it'll keep you blind to the real sword behind this offensive.'


Down below, Castiel flew low till he was just about to hit the ground, then banked to the right whilst bending backwards, resulting in him flying parallel to the charred earth beneath him. He of course kept enough height between him and the ground to allow his wings to flap, but other than that the young Heir focused solely on getting to his target. Since the Four Beasts would be occupied in the front, the Heir wouldn't risk approaching directly or the flanks. Instead, get intended to go right for the back of its head, where he would then stick his left arm into it and begin devouring this damned thing's soul.

This plan of his didn't have much room for error, and he didn't want to waste any more time than necessary. After all, their joint fire attack my have severely weakened this fucker, but he doubted that it would let that stop it from going wild. When a beast was cornered, it would be prepared to do whatever it took to survive, making it increasingly dangerous to those around it.

That mentality would be absolutely HAZARDOUS with something of the Four Beasts Calibre.

However, even whilst the soul of this creature would serve as one HELL of a delicious treat for his Spirit Bone, the Heir wouldn't be as foolish as to think it would happen quickly, unlike with regular victims. Those Victims weren't beings who have existed over hundreds of thousands of years, and from what Castiel could tell from this thing's life force, it had indeed lived for a similar length of time. That meant it's Soul would be EXTREMELY powerful and full of vitality, which would mean it'd probably take a while before the Spirit Bone of the World Devouring Wolf would be able to completely eat it up. If he had used this Spirit Bone to try and devour Kokabiel's soul back in that battle, then he felt like it would have quickly eaten it due to the lack of years that this Fallen Angel had been alive IN COMPARISON to the Four Beasts. That guy had way more experience in combat than Castiel though, so he didn't try that since it wouldn't have worked.

Still, the Heir had to try, especially if the rewards for killing this thing would be any incentive. Not only was this one hell of a long-lived beast, but the years it would have lived likely would have garnered it the ability to drop a Spirit Bone or something when it dies. A Spirit Bone which came from THIS fucker of a beast... Castiel honestly had to fight his own desires to drool at such a prospect. The amount of sheer POWER, POTENTIAL and VERSATILITY that kind of Spirit Bone would possess... it could be considered unfathomable.

Shaking his head, Castiel quickly forced his mind back into serious mode. He could fantasise about the potential upgrades he could get later, right now he had a job to do. He'd not make the same mistakes back in the Kokabiel incident, nope not when he had subordinates under his charge. A determined, downright steely look formed on his features thanks to these thoughts, as Castiel flapped his wings with extra strength poured into them, propelling him forwards at a faster level of speed. He didn't have time to waste here, every second was a second wasted.

Not something he'd allow.


Definitely felt wise not to underestimate with what he had been seeing.

That thought passed through Crimson Soul's mind whilst he strafed about, avoiding several Tentacles which tried to impale them, then pulled a circular manoeuvre to avoid a fist larger than he was. The Four Beasts attacks remained ruthless and aggressive, with it mixing it up between its projectiles, energy beams, Tentacles and arm swipes. Urthemiel had been dismissed a while ago, its strength implying that some recovery time would be necessary for it. Not to mention, Crimson Soul had told Biko to try and see what the hell this change he had sensed before was, resulting in this current situation.

'Biko, have you got anything out of it yet?' Crimson Soul questioned his Demon Persona, all the while using his Star God's Broken Shadow to evade the successive Tentacles that the Four Beasts launched. Perhaps it was because of it being desperate, but those things moved about way more erratically than before. He then swung Soul Edge, and thus launched a shockwave with at least continent level destructive power towards it. He intentionally held back his power just like he'd done before, since A: the Beast would be able to mitigate the damage so using his full power felt like a waste, and B: he could sense Castiel rapidly approaching their prey, so if he used Soul Edge's full power carelessly then he didn't doubt the Heir wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

Like that had happened before though, these hits served to aggravate it even more which prompted it to fire more projectiles that Crimson Soul dodged.

'I have indeed, it seems what we now possess is the ability to use Curses, similar to what Castiel uses. I believe it is due to you constantly absorbing that evil energy and, albeit unintentionally, understanding how it works thanks to constantly reading his negative emotions. However, do not think that this would be on the same level of his, this feels more like a basic version which needs to be refined before getting to that level. Try it out, and we will see what it does and how we can improve it.'

Crimson Soul nodded, understanding the urging his Demon Persona had been exuding with his request. Having a lack of understanding on one's own abilities would certainly cause problems down the line, which had been what he had thought about any new powers that he'd awakened and/or gained through external sources. As such, with this knowledge Crimson Soul swiftly raised his hand and pointed it towards the Four Beasts. He had no idea what would happen once he activated this new power, part of him hoping nothing seriously detrimental would result from this, but if he didn't try then he would never know. Soon, his mind connected with the deep seated darkness and evil which rested deep within himself, and Crimson Soul repressed the urge to shudder from the feeling. He soon remembered one of Castiel's Curses, an decided to try it out. "Weak!"

The effects were instantaneous. His hand got overtaken by this black miasma, which then appeared over the Four easts and slammed into its very soul with the force of a dozen sledgehammers. The Four Beasts groaned, feeling a sudden surge of weakness, it didn't even matter how it had only been a slight drop in strength, its soul could STILL feel it. For a brief moment, the creature shuddered under the effects of the Curse as it persisted.

However...

'UUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!' Crimson Soul resisted the urge to curse or let out any kind of sound from his mouth, as he put a black armour-clad hand over his forehead whilst losing quite a bit of altitude. Only by sheer willpower had he not fallen unconscious from the sudden burning headache that assaulted his mind right now. He had to forcibly remove his connection to that evil power lest it cause even more effects, something which would NOT be very helpful right now. 'UGH,...! This is...!'

'Hmmmm, this is most unfortunate. It seems that this power is indeed a type of Soul attack, similar to what Castiel said. The power output it has corresponds to the energy we put in, and we put in enough to destroy a city, which is the only reason why the Four Beasts is even effected by this. The Vitality on its Soul must be exceptionally powerful, however using this power ourselves has a serious drawback. This power must corrupt the minds and very spirits of those who use it, I sensed it try this myself when we used that Curse, only thanks to Soul Edge shielding us did nothing serious happen. Not to mention, it'll likely only be able to be trained outside of your Inner World, due to their corrupting effects.'

Biko's explanation served to answer the unasked questions circulating through his aching mind, though Crimson Soul had a hunch that this was the case. This just proved to him that he would eventually have to find something that could shield his mind and very spirit from these kind of attacks on his Soul, or at least be able to train his soul to be stronger. It was just like Castiel had said during the first trial, this power indeed was his biggest weakness, since his Soul would be considered a free buffet for Soul Attacks due to lack of proper guard. Soul Edge could only do so much as an extension of it, too.

Even so however, Crimson Soul's determination as he recovered from the assault didn't waver, allowing him to avoid the sudden strike of a Tentacle which tried to smash him into the ground. Now that he had the knowledge and the experience with this, he felt more resolved than ever to find some way to deal with this problem. Once he did, and he could start training in these Curses, then they'd be one HELL of a leg up in dealing with masses of enemies. Just recalling what Castiel could do with them had been enough for him, but the potential for... well, MORE, could not help but be more appealing.

As such, the battle between him and the Four Beasts continued.


If he were frank, then Castiel would admit he honestly didn't know what to expect from that sudden move.

He'd noticed what Nico had been trying to do after dodging all those strikes, as well as the aftermath which he couldn't help but wince at. That reaction to using a Curse for the first time reminded him SO FUCKING much of what happened during the early processes of figuring out his own powers when he was a boy, that it scared him. He remembered the feeling of mind numbing pain, of feeling his mind being torn to pieces thanks to his own Curses. Not to mention that for Nico, he didn't even have the fragments of the Holy Grail inside of him, so he felt like the pain would have been wholly worse for him.

Even so however, Castiel wouldn't call him an idiot just yet, as he had only used one Curse, albeit putting a LOT of energy into it which resulted in the Four Beasts being staggered (a plus in of itself) before stopping. Odds are he likely realized just how much of a bad idea using those Curses with how weak his mind is, but he didn't put too much thought into it right now.

He'd used this chance to get closer to his prey as quickly and silently as he possibly could. Only by reaching the back of its head, did the young Heir slam his left arm onto the green muscular surface and activate his Spirit Bone's power.

Of course, the Four Beasts noticed what had happened, feeling an unfamiliar lump on the back of its head. However, two things prevented it from taking any action: One, it already had its hands full with the barrage of attacks this other flying human had been launching at it from the moment it faltered from its own abilities. It hadn't used that power again, leading it to suspect it to be similar to a double-edged sword, harmful to the enemy sure, but also harmful to the user as well. The second reason was that it felt like its energy was being drained, something which it didn't concern itself with for the time being. Its energy may not be unlimited anymore thanks to these wretched humans, but the fact that it still held a LOT of power that it could afford to be wasteful for it still existed in all its glory. As such, the Four Beasts decided to ignore Castiel for the time being.

Something which the Heir noticed, and though the creature didn't see it due to not being able to see behind it, Castiel slowly allowed a wicked, demonic smile to spread across his lips.

This thing had pretty much declared its own funeral with these actions...


BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-BANG-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH!

Hours passed, and slowly Crimson Soul began to realize something amidst all the explosions generated around him like some Michael Bay movie. Something which caused him to frown whilst he avoided attacks like a pro.

His power was draining fast.

The DPU had been fighting this thing for a grand total of 13 hours already, and only 2 hours had passed since he had sensed his companion beginning to use his Spirit Bone. As a result, he had resorted to using his own Spirit Bones to keep his own energy up. His Right Leg Bone kept glowing brightly whilst it continuously got used to devour portions of the Four Beasts energy, using it to replenish his own Demonic Power. It helped that he was using the powers of his two Rings to amplify his Demonic Power as well, leading to stronger attacks too so he had lasted this long through them. Hopefully, this battle would help his body grow more accustomed to fighting like this for long time periods, cause Crimson Soul got the feeling that he'd be doing this a LOT more in the future.

His other Spirit Bones were also put to use, his Left Leg Bone constantly being used for either to generate large explosive trails to stagger the Four Beast and knock it off balance, or to bombard it with Meteors the size of Skyscrapers. Though, when using THAT particular ability Crimson Soul focused more on the creature's limbs and surroundings, careful not to get his companion caught in the crossfire. As for his Evil Orca King Spirit Bone, he either kept some of its attacks locked in space enough for him to dodge in time, or even lock it completely in place. That would allow him the chance to combine its other ability to launch crimson energy waves with his Quicksword, resulting in large showers of crimson energy Waves the size of large buildings to descend on the damned creature. Cutting its limbs and Tentacles off was a piece of cake for these waves, though it just as quickly regenerated them.

Even with all of these measures however, 13 hours (just above half a day) seemed to be the limit to how long Crimson Soul could fight in this form for, likely because the transformation had destabilized his Demonic Power resulting in him using a lot more than what he would have originally. If that hadn't happened, then even with how chaotic his power was, he could have fought for a full 24 hours. Perhaps he would have benefited from learning how to control his energy better, something he'll have to do in order to properly stabilize his foundations again in the near future.

Fortunately, there were a few blessings this form granted him that did NOT require the use of his Demonic Power: such as his Wings and Tail. His Wings always had the ability to reform their shapes into whatever he willed them to, so in this case he had to will them into various weapons and forms to keep up with the Four Beasts' speed and strength. Launching quick successive attacks with his Tail wasn't something he did very often, but with the use that it provided in this battle, Crimson Soul began to see its hidden potential. Perhaps he could incorporate it into his combat style better than he had in previous fights. Additionally, he had the power to use his SP Skills in DDD, something he never really tried before since his Demonic Power took the primary role as a power source in this form. He just had to dig a little deeper to reach his SP, a process which would be flipped whenever he used Demonic Power in his human form, but it worked out.

As a result, things reached the point where Crimson Soul's various energy reserves reached their last legs. His Rings used up their rage and hatred, thus they would need time to restore themselves, whilst his Spirit Bones found themselves in a similar state of powerlessness. His SP reserves got into the same situation as his Demonic Power, not to mention that because of this form, Soul Edge refused to allow him to use the Archdevil and Devil Arms he had on him, probably a sign of its dominance over his Soul. He couldn't use his Ghoul side, either, as his Demonic Power kept it mostly suppressed in this form, not to mention it wasn't exactly at its peak condition either.

At this moment when he was truly running out of options a rune appeared on his side.

"Hey, are you done already?" Castiel's voice came from the other side. Crimson Soul, who was more than tired enough and could feel himself about to fall at any moment, turned to the rune and opened his mouth.

"Where are you? Did you find out a way to finish this thing?" Despite being used to tough fights, the transformed male had to admit that this one was a cut above the rest. It was a dreadful experience where he had to create more and more attacks to counter more and more things this creature did and it was infuriating how it simply would not fall at all. Its regenerative powers were enough to make even the toughest ghoul bow in humiliation, its defenses were hard to pierce, it could redirect most attacks, and it had near unlimited power levels.

Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to end this damn fight already. Of course, Castiel next few words only made his feelings even more full of hate.

"Oh, that? I can go at any moment since like three minutes after I got in position. Since then I was honestly just taking some of its energy little by little to reinforce my current energy level to be more ready for my next breakthrough. It is not easy to find something so easily filled with unlimited energy to work in my behalf in helping my training."

'This asshole... if I get a chance, I will shove a Hellfire blast right up his ass or rip off his balls so he can't procreate.' Crimson Soul thought while gridding his teeth. Castiel, despite feeling good with himself for managing to get so much energy that the next level of energy was not that far away, noticed Crimson Soul's highly veiled irritation and rolled his eyes at it.

"Oh, grow up. You were fighting desperately to survive, true, but it was on a truly controled inviroment where I could stop it if you ever was in danger of actual death. If anything what I did let you experience further with your limits than what you had before. Also, you got a bunch of stuff and, with this final experience, you at least are now more knowledgeable on what your capacity with it is and is now definitely better than before this fight. And, if you are curious, this beast is one that the more damage you give it the more tender and delicious the meat gets as well as it gets more filled with energy and the capacity of evolving the body of the user grows with it, so quit complaining and just accept that it was a good shot from me to let you do this." Castiel explained.

Hearing these words served to ignite more of his internal fury despite the mental state of his current transformation... at first, as he soon began taking deep breaths to calm down and think things over. His own experiences alongside his instincts and... what had happened before, told him that acting rashly would NOT end well for him, or anyone. Thinking about it, Nico soon found himself agreeing with the air. This battle with the Four Beasts had been one HELL of an eye opener for him. It informed him of his current limits, as well as his targets for future training. He had plans thought up mid-battle through all the observations he had made, but if he wanted more concrete ones he would have to go over the experiences he had here in further depth... preferably in a place of isolation with LOTS of time on his hands. As such, Nico begrudgingly put his annoyance aside for the time being. He DID have an opponent to hold off after all.

Speaking of which...

"Then, can you finish it or what?" Crimson Soul questioned, as he avoided a punch that could destroy mountains no problem.

"Sure, give me three seconds." Castiel replied, and in the end he DID count.

'one' he avoided a punch and used his sword to cut the flesh of the beast that regenerated instantly.

'Two' Surprise filled him despite his mental state when Crimson Soul suffered a sneak attack from the back as he got distracted for a second, his body flew straight at the beast's face.

'Three, oh boy.' He thought as the beast opened its mouth to devour him whole, he used what fire power he had left to propel himself away from the beast's open maw and escape it as fast as he could. But one thing weird happened, the beast never even closed its mouth as its eyes turned dim and it completely stopped moving.

At first, the transformed male thought it weird, so with caution he floated over to the beast's back. There, Castiel was sitting calmly on a cloud his right foot spirit bone generated, he had a calm face as his spirit bones were out in the open and seemed to be glowing somewhat. They all seemed to be growing more complete and perfect at every passing second as Castiel bathed on a four colors light that was turning green and all being taken by him.

The moment he saw him, Crimson Soul knew what was going on, he had seen others do what Castiel was doing but his method was who knows how many times more refined and at the same time deprived and powerful than others. He was devouring the soul of the beast itself. Not only that but it was like he had devoured the soul and turned it into pure soul energy and was using it to improve his spirit bones, it was a method similar to the devil worshipers used on extracting souls and using them, but comparing them was like comparing building construction of the first few men against those used on skyscrapers, they were essentially the same but the method and refinement are completely different.

But, it still made the DPU feel a sense of unwell as he could not even imagine how it must feel for the soul to pass on this process, the pain it must feel is beyond anything he could imagine and suddenly Castiel's threats of making him feel more pain than anything he ever faced if anything happened to Sylveon became all the more terrifying.

When the process ended Castiel nodded in satisfaction, his spirit bones had all evolved on about 100.000 years in level making them all systematically more powerful. Not only that but with his higher energy levels he was confident he would be able to advance to Super-class soon, and when that happened he could not begin to imagine how strong he would actually be.

Turning to see Crimson Soul and saw closer the state he was, it was quite clear he had seen better days and was not all too happy with what had happened. Castiel wanted to shrug it off, but this was probably the last time he would be seeing the DPU so it was better not to leave in sour terms.

"Hey, I will cook this thing here for me, do you want some? It is a delicacy, I can assure you that much. One of the best meats there is in the multiverse."

hearing that, Crimson Soul hummed, skeptically. He did not usually could eat anything and with all his recent history with poison, he was fearful of eating things made by others, but he decided to give Castiel a vote of confidence. Not to mention that, if the Four Beasts made those creatures, which he distinctly recalled to be made from something called Gourmet Cells which his Ghoul Side loved, then combined with the fact that Castiel had claimed then the benefits that this would have for his Ghoul Side would be astronomical. It may even rival that of Castiel's powerup, since his Ghoul Side grew with each Abnormal he consumed. Thus, it resulted in him nodding in confirmation.

Castiel gave a slight laugh seeing how seriously his companion debated something so simple, Castiel was on a good mood and was not interested in any more conflict, especially since he already had released all his pent up emotions and was now relaxed and no longer was he focused on the past that much.

He was now strong, strong enough to at least not depend on others at all times for survival and he was on the right track to be the one protecting. And anyway, now that he was calmer he decided to at the very least her that woman's side of the story, she was in the end the one that gave birth to him and the one responsible for his angel body and the fact he was Castiel and Castiel.

Anyway, ignoring that thoughts Castiel moved. With swift and agile moves to the point it was hard even to track it down Castiel started his cooking. He not only used the meat of the Four Beasts but also some precious medicinal, potatoes and other vegetables filled with Gourmet Cells, and water filled with energy and vitality he had collected on the way to take it to the Tower. The end result was a soup that had a smell so divine no one could ever resist it.

Not only that, but as Castiel wanted to show off and so he did not hesitate in using even taking out a Shining Gourami, a species of fish that he only caught by contracting all his energy except for releasing the minimum necessary as well as releasing only light and good energies. It was tiresome to do, but he was confident the taste would make it all worth it.

The cooking took about half an hour total, it was just enough for Nico to at least let his energies return to more normal levels, but he was sure he was in no way ready to fight another such battle any time soon. That had been his conclusion after returning to Human form, shuddering right afterwards when h felt the shifting. For some reason, it felt oddly... weird, shifting back to human form, maybe a side effect of a transformation? The male shook his head, resolving to think more about it later. It was then that the most delicious smell ever entered his nose. '... Holy... shit...' Nico thought to himself, eyes widening as his mouth began to dry. 'What is...?'

'OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH! NOW THIS SMELLS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DIVINE! KING, YOU BETTER NOT SCREW THIS ONE UP LIKE YOU HAVE IN THE PAST, OR YOU'LL FUCKING GET IT FROM ME, YA HEAR?!'

Once the shout that came from his Ghoul Persona happened, Nico blinked in an owlish manner to snap himself back into reality. That had been... something, lets just say that. It wasn't often that a scent so delicious that it would throw his senses out of whack would have went into his nostrils, though he bet that the cause had been the cooking that his Companion looked to be doing. He began to get the feeling that his earlier musings about this so called 'delicious meat' that had once been the Four Beasts had been one of the better choices he had made in his lifetime, a fact which got reinforced the more he smelled it. He even had to restrain his Ghoul Side from running wild just so that it could hungrily devour the fleshy hide of the monster.


After a short while, Castiel served everything out, having chosen to split it into three sections. There was one section for him, another for Nico, and the last piece would be for Saber Sensei and Berzerker back at the tower. Those guys would LOVE something like this, given how much of a pair of food nuts they were. Their portions had been split evenly between them, something which both boys couldn't help but be grateful for. Though, this would be mostly something pleasurable to celebrate this passing of the final trial for him, the young Heir felt like he would relish it nonetheless.

Currently, he and Nico sat on opposite sides of a camp fire, having found small bits of wood which had survived the battle and used Nico's weaker Hellfire to start it. Both of them had a small feast behind them, with Nico having released his Rinkaku and Bikaku Kagune to help him eat (something his Ghoul Persona nagged him to do for some reason, he didn't say much besides that he will be able to showcase 'better potential' in his evolution). Though, whilst on the outside of the redhead's body not that much was happening, hut if one were to look at his insides...

'So... this is what you meant when you wanted to enhance your battle potential...?' The redhead thought as he ate, feeling no small amounts of changes occurring within every single RC Cell inside his body. Though, it felt different in comparison to the Blood Pool, if he were to describe it it'd probably be something like each Cell rapidly decayed and restored themselves every second, remaking their very genetic makeup into something new. Something... strong, powerful, dominating to almost tyrannical. Whilst the Blood Pool increased the overall battle ability his Ghoul Side had to the sheer limits of a Spec Ops' power level, in this case it felt more like he was beginning to break into a new bottleneck of power. Stepping into a new level of power which only had been accessed whenever Nico transformed. He honestly liked it, and worried at the same time, though those thoughts paused when he heard the scoffing of his Ghoul Persona.

'HAH, OF COURSE THIS IS WHAT I MEANT, YA IDIOT KING! THIS IS QUITE POSSIBLY ONE OF THE GREATEST CHANGES I COULD EVER GO THROUGH RIGHT NOW! YA KNOW HOW THERE WERE THE BEAST KINGS BACK IN OUR HOME? THOSE GUYS HAD THIS NIFTY LITTLE THING CALLED GOURMET CELLS, EXACTLY LIKE THE ONES IN THOSE FOUR FUCKERS, AS THEIR MAKEUP! WHEN THE FIRST GHOULS EMERGED, THEIR RC CELLS WERE CONSIDERED CHEAP KNOCKOFF VERSIONS OF THESE CELLS! THAT ABSORPTION THING MY CELLS DO IS LIKE A BASTARDIZED VERSION OF THESE FUCKERS! THANKS TO CONSUMING SO MUCH OF THIS THING, MY RC CELLS ARE GOING THROUGH A METAMORPHOSIS INTO THEIR SUPERIOR FORMS! IT''LL BE A WHILE, BUT I'LL LET YA KNOW WHEN THEY'RE DONE, YA WORTHLESS KING!'

Hearing those insults made Nico roll his eyes mentally, already having grown used to those taunts whilst he ate with both his mouth and his Kagune... which seemed to act more and more like a rabid animal the more cooked food from the Four Beasts it ate (likely a sign of this metamorphosis). Still, he didn't stop the intrigue rising within him about the way his RC Cells were behaving. the thought of them being able to evolve into a new, more powerful form (with the possibility of better control) kind of excited him. He wondered what would come out of this evolution, would he be able to eat different foods like a normal human could? Could he finally be like his comrades and experience Compa's cooking again? By the Goddess he hoped so, Nico wouldn't lie and say he hadn't dreamed of this in the past.

All the while, Castiel would have some of his Dragontooth Warriors (having their curses temporarily removed) hand him one plate after another whenever he finished. One could say that he was the refined, elegant type whilst Nico himself would be the ravenous beast type when looking at their eating methods.

Thus, here we were, seeing two boys leisurely having soup after a hard-fought battle.

"... Wow, Emiya. I will happily admit, this is indeed a great meal." Nico praised, albeit reluctantly. Perhaps it was due to the ingredients involved in this, but he hadn't tasted something so good in a long while. The many Abnormals he devoured didn't even compare to something like this, which... pretty much said a lot in and of itself. He honestly didn't know who would win between them in a cooking battle, him or Compa. Though, that could possibly be attributed to how he could no longer taste her cooking anymore due to his physiology. After taking a sip from his soup with a spoon he made with solidified Hellfire, the redhead finished his sentence. "How did you learn to cook like this? Must have taken a whole long time..." he questioned the Heir.

"To be honest, not so much. I dunno why but I think my father's genes must have made me have a good idea on it somehow, but the effort I put into knowing how to cook was definitely real." Castiel said, he was relaxed enough that he just started talking with no real inhibition. "Back in the Tower I received all sorts of training, one being survival where they would literally drop me in the middle of a forest with no food and water and filled with beasts all around. I knew there were instructors on a safe distance to ensure I would not die, but that is just about it. If I was not on the point of death they would not intervene in the slightest, I had to deal with this sort of situation a lot and I had to think on my feet on how to survive and especially had to think on how to survive well so learning how to properly cook meet and make a decent meal was first priority back then."

"Huh, interesting..." Nico replied, thoughtfully whilst trying to picture what he had been told by the Heir. Honestly, Nico could already picture it in his mind, and deep down his respect for Castiel began to swell even more. For a moment, the teen debated on whether to open up a bit to him or not, since this wasn't something he normally did. Having to be forced to work at a job where he had to kill a lot of fucked up people for a living often tended to do that. In the end though, Nico recalled the last couple events which lead him to meeting Zelretch for the first time, and decided to roll with it. "Honestly, back where I'm from, I also know someone whose a wiz at Cooking. She's a member of the group I'm travelling with... her name's Compa, and she's a childhood friend of mine."

… Now THAT caught his attention, as evident by the slight widening of his eyes in surprise at Nico actually talking about himself. Although that soon changed when he processed what the redhead had just said, and for one Nico suddenly got the feeling that he had made a mistake somehow. "Heh, I never expected that." Castiel remarked, tilting his head slightly with a teasing smile on his face. "Who would have thought mister emo who seems to only think of fighting actually had a girl waiting for him back home?"

"...And what is that supposed to mean?" Nico questioned after taking a small gulp of his soup and lowering it back to his lap, his voice without a hint of emotion as he looked at the Heir with a focused glare. He did NOT like the implications that his companion had been insinuating, in fact if it had been his previous self before coming here, he would have had to restrain his Ghoul side from ripping the person's guts out.

Castiel, however, didn't seem too threatened or offended by Nico's sudden defensive demeanor. To be frank, in a world like his there were way too many times he had to deal with similar people. As such, he was too used to speak under pressure and considering he was not weaker than Nico by any means it was not a situation he would care much to speak without a single care for the stance of Nico. "I mean, you look like someone that is so serious about everything that I can't see you skirt chasing at all. And even if someone does like you, I think you would run away from the said person, boy or girl by the way, I won't judge your preferences. But to think there is a girl there for you, are you a secret playboy...? Nah, now that I think about it, I doubt that one myself." Castiel replied seamlessly with a small laugh, getting a groan of irritation for an answer. Though, it only resulted in his amusement to increase.

"And what about you? You said that you had a bunch of girls back home, so are you a playboy or something?" Nico questioned in annoyance, his opinion on Castiel's comments before about how he had multiple partners being evidently negative. It reminded him far too much of the nobility back home (as well as the majority of the male population) and this was not a happy thought.

"No, not really." Castiel answered, shaking his head as he leaned back on his log. He lifted his left leg and placed his foot on his right thigh. "I right now have a few girls I am on a relationship with. Amongst them I am only dating Seryu, and am engaged with Miku, Kaguya, and Yuzuru through agreements of the Tower and as political marriages, not that I don't like them or would not do whatever it is needed to make sure they are happy and only accept an engagement after the girl herself accepts it too, I would never lower myself to the point of forcing another into an unwanted relationship." Castiel explained, holding up a hand and lowering some fingers to symbolise the girls he was with.

'Well, at least it seems like they are mutually consenting, I can take solace in that at least...' Nico thought to himself.

'SHAME... I WANTED TO TRY AND CASTRATE HIS BALLS, BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE COULD DO THAT...'

'Your eagerness to cut off genitals is disturbing...'

Whilst Nico's alternate selves took turns sharing their thoughts, Castiel's face turned a weird expression. "Then there is Serenity, someone who I honestly am not fully sure of what our relationship is right now but I guess dating would be fitting, she is the reason why I decided for the Aromatic Silk Beauty, her body constantly produces a deadly poison. She suffered a lot because of it and was turned into a killing 'machine' for others because of it, after seeing her past and understanding her I decided that I would be the one to protect her, I do have a skill that would allow her for some degree of freedom of movement without fearing killing others after all. I may not consider myself a hero or a saint, both concepts make me cringe and want to vomit in my mouth, but I would not stand to see someone suffering for something they have no control over." Castiel said that with such determination that Nico could see that it would not lose out to his desire to protect Compa, and that was saying a lot for sure.

Thinking about what he said, Nico honestly couldn't help but think of IF, another member of his comrades. They both had ailments in their bodies which changed their lives forever, though it seems only one of them had much more misfortune befall them. The other only had a bout of depression in the beginning, before finally accepting herself for what she had become and fully assimilating herself into her role. One had poison and the other had a Virus in her system, not to mention that they likely had some differences in their use.

But then, Castiel's face turned a shade of red, embarrassment written all over his face as he continued whilst looking upwards towards his forehead. "And then, there is Yuno, my first fiancee." he stated, scratching the side of his jaw with his index finger. Just reciting that particular memory made him revert to this demeanor, it wasn't exactly one of the more macho moments of his life.

Noticing Castiel's tone and expression, Nico honestly couldn't resist the temptation to ask, probably due to having never seen him look this way before. Nico had always seen him as this domineering kingly figure, but right now he actually seemed more like a teenager struggling to overcome the embarrassment of having his mother show his future wife a book filled with baby pictures. "And why exactly you singled her out? Is her marriage with you different than with others?" he questioned, leaning forwards with a lightly intrigued look on his features.

"It sort of is. When we were small she ended up buying a promise of marriage from me, it is still embarrassing to remember it."

"And what exactly did she pay with?" Nico asked once more, his curiosity again taking the best of him.

"... She exchanged my promise to marry her in the future for one pudding."

...

...

...

"... To be frank, I'm not that surprised." Nico remarked bluntly, his face set in a flat expression whilst he looked towards the Heir. "I know someone who exercises just as much importance in pudding. Though, if you were to ask her, she would likely proclaim herself to be the best devotee to Pudding, praising some form of Pudding God." he remarked, though in his mind he also added on to his words. 'Yeah, she likely would... though, I'm surprised she hasn't tried to bribe the others with Pudding just yet...' the teen couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

"Oh? Interesting... who?"

Nico mentally sighed, since he had started this conversation it would be best if he just rolled with it. "Her name's Neptune, and let me tell you, if you look up the definition of 'pudding-a-holic' then she would have her picture right next to it. She has it for breakfast, a couple snacks between breakfast and lunch, lunch, snacks between lunch and tea, pretty much as often as she can. She and Compa usually get into all sorts of antics, and sometimes I have to play the voice of reason between them. If not me, then another of our group, IF who reminds me of you in terms of being level-headed takes my place. We sort of have some others in the group, there's Noire, Vert, Raven, Lucy, and two other guys: Aiden and Ivan. There's a few who could become part of our group too, but its mostly just the ones I mentioned. We go about between the Nations, fighting monsters and Demons whilst doing what we can to live life." he explained, having had the urge to explain the people whom he had hung out with since Castiel had done something similar.

Just before Castiel could say anything though, Nico narrowed his eyes at him. "... and no, I do NOT act like a player around them. We're comrades on the battlefield. In essence, we're people who fight alongside one another to survive, there isn't much else. Like I said before, fighting to survive is the most important thing, something like... copulating... is pretty much a death sentence. As such, anyone who dared try to harm even a hair on their heads... well then, lets just say they will never find the bodies." he stated firmly, his eyes shining with a look of determination similar to a storm.

Castiel looked towards the redhead, being slightly impressed by the determination in his voice. It even reminded him slightly of his own determination to ensure the safety of his loved ones and those he decided to protect, the same kind that he had when he cut off his own right arm to please that tyrant in exchange for Serenity's life, someone that he decided on basically a whim to protect. And yet he didn't hesitate in the slightest and would never hesitate if this sort of situation happened again.

After a couple seconds however, that storm shifted from one of determination, to one of confusion as he shifted his head to the side. "Though, recently, some events have caused some... strangeness. As a result, its caused me to begin... rethinking things." he remarked, furrowing his brow as he clutched his chin with his left hand.

This caught the Heir's attention. "Oh?"

"Thanks to some special circumstances, the girls I'm with have found out about my Ghoul side, which is a highly classified secret by my superiors. There have been other times when people found out about it, but they always... ended rather negatively. As in, they were forcibly silenced due to their harsh reactions to it, sometimes turning into lines of blood till they got the message: don't talk about it. These girls, they found out about it, and I was ready for them to end up the same, but in the end..."

Soon enough though, Castiel figured it out. He then spoke his thoughts with a knowing look in his eyes. "They didn't care, did they?" To be honest, Castiel honestly saw it coming, especially with how fond Nico had showed himself to be. The guy probably didn't realize it the way that Castiel did, but judging by how he spoke about them, the Heir had deduced that these girls wouldn't be like most of the others he'd probably killed. In his opinion, Nico wasn't the kind of guy who'd trust so easily.

Nico shook his head, frowning as the lights of conflict danced within his eyes. "Yeah... they didn't give a damn, not one bit. It honestly baffles me, since I've seen so many react negatively to it. It completely blew my mind out of the loop, and when I tried to ask for an explanation, their response baffled me more. They said that, even though I'm half Ghoul, it didn't matter since it would be hypocritical for them to hate me. 'We're all monsters in our own ways so what's there to hate'? Ever since then I've been trying to figure it out." Throughout his explanation. Nico's voice grew more and more frustrated, confusion and puzzlement battling within him before he made a tired, weary sigh leave his lips. He let his soup stay on his lap whilst his hands fell to both sides of his thighs. "Even now, I still haven't found the answer."

"...Seriously? What is it so hard to understand here?" Castiel said exasperatedly, already praying for the well being of the saints who had the patience to try and get through the thick head of this guy.

Hearing that question, Nico's brow twitched though he did try to suppress it. What did Castiel mean by that? He DID just finish explaining his personal dilemma to the guy, and he just responded with that? Trying to suppress the indignation about that response, Nico replied. "I just finished explaining it, but why the hell do they accept me so easily? They themselves have seen how the world works, they know what our enemies do, and I'm no different from them. So why the hell are they accepting me so easily?" he stressed, scowling downwards.

"And that is the problem. You are too used to think yourself the monster, you only think of yourself for what I see here." Castiel said, earning a glare from the other teen.

"Yeah, how so?"

"First, you said they all are not humans and neither are you, you never cared if they were not humans but you think they should care if YOU aren't one. Second, while I understand that you suffers for being who you are, it is completely stupid if you ask me. You are you, your species don't define who you are in the slightest, I mean, look at me. I am a fucking angel that should not exist by any logic, but I couldn't care less about it, but you try to define yourself by something you have no control over. And even now that you, apparently, are learning to have the confidence about who you are yet you just continue blinding yourself for something so obvious that it is ridiculously so. Also, if you like them and they like you but you are holding back because of YOUR feelings of inferiority that are uncalled for and is even causing pain on others, then what else can I call you but a self-righteous pessimistic brat emo?" Castiel countered, the rage within Nico getting so strong it was ridiculous but Castiel would not care.

Since the water trial he had absorbed the rage and evil within the fishmen he eliminated, the hatred without a direct reason he felt and how it twisted others was something that made Castiel realize that his own hatred without knowing what happened exactly back then when he was born being ridiculous, and the hatred he felt then, the baseless hatred he felt in those Fishmen, it all could also be felt in Nico's own opinion of himself.

It was not something Castiel wanted to feel or sense again, call it his angelic side or whatever but he wanted to make sure to eliminate such dark and ridiculous emotions the best he could. Nico's thoughts and little tips he gave here and there painted a clear image of someone tormented by who he was due to the environment being so human-centric, and it was a ridiculous, toxic, and pathetically petty view of the world as far as Castiel was concerned.

Everyone had the right of search for happiness, and everyone should have the right to be who they wanted to. Labels such as race, nationality, language, or whatever else were ridiculous concepts to him. All that mattered was that you are alive and that you will get fair retribution for your actions, innocents should never be involved, those who do good deserve better things and those who thrive in suffering and pain of others, well for them the edge of his swords was as good an answer as any.

Hearing his words like that, Nico could not help the shock that flooded through his system. He honestly forgot the budding fury which he had felt before, in place of these new emotions surging through his system. Even his alternate personas were silent by what they had heard from the Heir, and that said a LOT in and of itself. One's species doesn't matter? One didn't have to define themselves by what they were? That basically, in his mind, meant that there wasn't any real need to wear masks, to hide your true self away from the world and can live normally no matter your race. That to him, who came from a world which defined itself on Masks and Reflection, could be considered as unheard of.

Just, who the hell would think that way? None of the people back in his world, that was for certain. In Gamindustri, the world was full of over-zealous, religious fanatical pricks who each devote themselves to one deity and overly rely on them to solve their problems. It was something which disgusted the original Spec Ops Agents, which had been another big reason why they had been founded in the first place over 500 years ago. To be a Spec Ops Agent was to take on the whole world for ones own ideals, to reject the way the current world worked to follow what kind of path one believed in. His world could hardly be considered simple because of this, but thanks to complexity being visible all over the place, the simple truths of the world weren't as visible as they should be. This situation between him and his comrades, for example, was one of them.

But... was that really the case? Could it... really be that simple?

Did Emiya hit the nail on the head with these problems he had been struggling with for weeks?

No matter what answer he arrived to however, Nico did NOT feel like he would be forgetting something like that anytime soon.

It was with that thought, that Nico shook his head whilst chuckling with mirth. "You know something Emiya…" he began, feeling his earlier fury ebb away and a tranquil calm take over him. It was as if he had found someone who could be considered as rare as a legendary item. someone who, under the right situations, could be someone he could let his guard down against... not something Nico would find often, he'll say that much. "You're really something else." he continued, aiming a slight smirk in his direction. "I can only imagine how pissed any religious zealots would be if they heard you say that."

At this, Castiel scoffed whilst crossing his arms. He had to take a break from eating so he could get this off his chest, otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat without the feeling of being tainted, "Oh, fuck them then. I would not fucking care if some religious zealot hated me for doubting his opinion anyway, it is pretty much their function to be idiotic assholes that believe they are the owners of the universal truth. They are only good to go explode somewhere far away or suicide as far as I care, they are on my list of types I hate right with pedophiles, rapists, and people who say they hate pudding. Besides, why should you care if some idiots like you or not? If they don't, screw them, if they try to attack you, kill without mercy, if they try to attack those you love, kill without mercy, and if they try and force your hand on any matter that goes against your principles or desires, then kill without mercy as well."

Taking a moment to take a breath, Castiel exhaled before continuing. "As someone who studied diplomacy a long time there are some things I understand. The most interesting is that only with enough power your opinion comes to matter, if you have enough of it than you can force others to listen to you. If you are weak, then you are meat. And if another side is the weaker link, if they are ones who can't do anything to you, then THEY should be the one watching their words. It is like an adult talking to a child, if they enter a discussion the adult is in the right as he is the stronger side. Strength, only with enough to be an actual treat can you start talking. If those zealots were so strong they would have long since ended you, and those other demons. If they didn't, if they are relying on YOU, than why should you bend your knees to their every whim. For me at least, I would never do as such. If they want to bark, yell, and complain, then let them! Why bother with the empty threats and nonsense others will spread of you? And if they do go too far, well, you do need a bunch of souls to awaken as a demon king anyway."

… Wow. Just, wow. Nico remained dumbfounded as he looked upon the blonde Heir, struggling to find out how the hell this guy could be in the leadership position he had. He could understand somewhat what that guy was trying to tell him, but if he were to try and do that, how would he be any different from those he kills? True, killing was part of his nature, not to mention he would find it easy to kill anyways. But, if he went about killing people who he didn't like, he didn't think there would be much difference between him and those he killed. "Uh... then, what should I do exactly?" he questioned whilst tilting his head, confused on what Castiel was trying to convey to him. "I mean, mindlessly killing people sounds like it'll be one big determent or something..."

"And what is the problem you are having anyway?" Castiel asked. "I mean, if it was just some clowns making noise and you were being this indecisive than I would have to look down on you out of sheer principle, but I somehow doubt that this is what is on your mind troubling you. So spit it out."

Nico was doubtful about what to say next, but deciding to just be honest he opened his mouth and started talking about the problems he was facing. About the situation of his world and how corrupt it was and the fears he has about it all. As Castiel listened he had to suppress the desire to face-palm multiple times, but when Nico finished explaining things the heir could no longer resist it.

"And you guys are troubled on how to deal with something like this? Seriously? Fuck, you guys must be bloody stupid overall if this level of problem is enough to stop you all."

Nico, already with a tick on his forehead hearing such an infuriating answer, was about to answer it with more than a few choice words when Castiel continued.

"Seriously, this seems pretty obvious to me on how to fix it all. First, the problem with the corruption is not that it exists, as that fact is inevitable on any and all societies and pretending it doesn't is simply naive, but the fact it influences dealing with emergencies is a problem. To fix that you must cleanse all of the worse types of corrupt nobles, don't be afraid of causing panic as you can simply position capable people to take their places right away, spares always exist after all. What you must do, however, is to make sure to strike fast enough, make them an example, and don't let it be associated with you. There is a reason why assassins are so darn useful, their capacity to kill undetected is what makes them the most useful by far. As long as you ensure what you do can't be traced back to you and that only those really guilty are killed you don't even have to worry all that much about lesser nobles and weaklings doing anything or even try to explain why you did it, people tend to explain things on their own leisure and they would likely believe it is divine intervention or something along those lines.

"Now, for the second problem. No, you shouldn't wantonly kill anyone that is against you. There will always be those who will hate you, for as much as you obviously and for some weird reason want their acknowledgement too. Don't be afraid of facing them, if they try to attack you must destroy them but if they just want to talk and are too cowards to do shit, why should you care? You are a strong person, a lion doesn't care for the words of the sheep.

"And third, about your situation with these girls that obviously like you, I can only tell you one thing really. BE A FUCKING MAN AND GROW SOME BALLS ALREADY! What do you need to understand the obvious, if both sides like each other, then why care about anything else? If you worry about offspring or something, then don't. This is a problem and concern for future Nico, not the blue balls virgin in front of me." Castiel said, making Nico annoyed at the last comment.

"And do YOU have experience with woman in general like that to tell me this?"

"No, but not by choice I assure you. Yuno, cute as she is, made me sign a magic binding contract that made me swear to make her my first time, and her parents showed me the plethora of torture devices they would use on me if I were to ever cross that line with her before marriage. And trust me, if not for the real fear of having to eat my own dick and balls before regrowing them and make to repeat such an act, I would have long since used it for more fun objectives." he explained, already imagining something like that in his mind. Castiel sometimes wished he could just accept the advances made by the girls in his harem, but the threats that their families made to him kept him from raising his hands.

On the other side, Nico frowned to himself, his mind whirling from the information that he received from this talk, information which successfully answered pretty much all his questions about the problems that he had been facing recently. There was WAY too much for him to sort through in the snap of a finger though, he'd have to spend some time pondering it, if he even had the chance to. However, Nico recognized that he finally had the answer to the problems with Yvoire, a possible compromise which could satisfy both their wants. Nico with his desire to end Count Mott before he could cause greater damage (plus to keep him AWAY from Vert since he did NOT like the thought of her being near a creep like him), whilst Yvoire would be able to help his people in ways he couldn't have done before. Perhaps when he got back, Nico and that man could have a talk, but first he felt like he had to get some research done. He needed to plan this, he needed a LOT of planning, research and information. With this new perspective in front of him, Nico needed to re-check everything, he needed to see it all with this new mindset.

With that in mind, the two boys continued their chatting, moving on to lighter topics such as their respective lives with their comrades. Castiel talked about the hijinks that happened in his world, and soon Nico began opening up in a similar manner, explaining about some of the stunts his group pulled over their travels together. They even went over each other's training, Nico quickly realizing that whilst his training focused primarily on enhancing him via pain and difficulty, Castiel's seemed way worse in comparison. Having one sadistic teacher was enough, something the redhead could attest to, but having SEVERAL? Well, that just sounded like nightmare fuel right there.