Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

Saga 38: Joker and the Thief

Nean, Common Realm, Clover Kingdom, Early Morning

"Oh my god..." Charlotte gasped out as she looked around the corpse-laden streets of Nean.

Every single one of them had chunks of their physical body bitten off, each left behind and discarded like mere leftovers. Men, women, children, civilian, Magic Knight, and even the elderly, none were spared of a gruesome death. All of them, messily devoured, like pieces of meat.

Meat. That's what the Demons see humans as. Nothing more than mere morsels.

"Cholerny, we're too late." Dragunov cursed. "Tiamat's a dire enough threat alone, but when she sneaks in an entire pack, this happens."

"Please tell me that there are survivors!" Charlotte remarked as she began looking around the ruined town for any survivors of the attack. "You there, help me out!"

"First, I need to find Kalashnikov." Dragunov stated. "NIKO! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"OVER HERE!"

The two ran towards the ruined medical tent, from the collapsed sheets emerged the young Inquisitor woman.

"You alright?" Dragunov asked.

"Romulus almost did me in, but now I'm able to walk." Kalashnikov replied.

"Enough of that!" Charlotte snapped. "Any survivors in the tent!?"

"I was the only one in there." Kalashnikov answered as she took out her tasseled pipe. "From the looks of it, the other tents are standing, so if you want to find survivors, I'd say start from there."

Charlotte then takes off running towards the other tents and enters into one of them, only to find herself surrounded by several butchered children.

"Oh god... oh god..." Charlotte hyperventilated.

The Blue Rose Knight Captain herself was no stranger to a scene of carnage, but the scenery before her was simply all kinds of wrong.

The children in the medvac tent weren't just killed. They were slaughtered like animals, in the most twisted and cruel ways imaginable.

There was no intent behind these murders. Just killed off with zero regard to their lives and loved ones.

"Oh god..." Charlotte heaved out before she gagged on a vomit. "... It's the capital's attack all over again-"

She then spots movement at the tail end of the tent.

"... Someone's alive."

The Captain then heads in deeper, finding a small, sprite-like creature squirming on the dirt, and besides her was one of the Junior Magic Knights, with a torn-up Black Bulls robe hung from the edge of his cot, next to his hastily bandaged and dressed body.

".. Is he-"

The sprite shakes her head before speaking.

"He's alive... but he's not waking up." The sprite tearfully remarked. "... If I haven't stopped her, Yuno would've *hic* he would've..."

The sprite breaks down bawling onto Charlotte's chest, sniffing and crying into her as her clothes were being dampened by her tears.

"... Come on. Let's get you two out of here." Charlotte sighed out as she used her [Thorn Magic] to create barbed vines to carry the cot out of the blood-soaked tent.

She then takes out her [Magical Communication Device], only to still hear static coming from the speakers.

"Dammit." Charlotte cursed. "As long as the beacons are down, guess I'm on my own..."

She then opens her grimoire and readies her [Conqueror's Brandish], just in case if any stragglers are still afoot-

"Don't bother, Magic Knight." Dragunov's voice remarked. "Hellhounds eat everyone that gets in their way. The likelyhood of there being looters around..."

He takes out an arrow, points his longbow behind himself, nocks the arrow, aimed right at one of the street thugs looting a nearby ruined shop.

"... Is close to nil."

He lets go of the arrow, the fired projectile blasting loose a ripped sack of yul from his hands.

The looter tries to run for it, but Dragunov immediately teleports where his arrow landed, right before slamming his hand into the wall behind the looter, leaving behind visible cracks on the hand's imprint.

"Repeat after me, you skurwysyn." Dragunov's voice spoke out in a threateningly-low tone. "'I will not loot and steal ever again'."

"I-I-I will not loot and steal e-e-e-ever ag-g-gain." The looter trembled out.

"'I will go back home, and rethink my life'." Dragunov menacingly remarked.

"I-I-I w-w-w-will go-o home... and re-e-ethink... my li-i-ife." The looter trembled out.

"Run."

The loot then runs away from Dragunov, screaming for his life, leaving Charlotte as the sole witness to that man's odd disciplinary action.

"... What?" Dragunov remarked towards Charlotte. "I despise Demons, but I despise the people taking advantage of the aftermath even more! Also, Inquisitor policy dictates that damage control requires keeping the grounds in orderly condition during cleanup!"

"... Oh, I see." Charlotte replied in a blank tone right before seeing Kalashnikov dragging two dead bodies by their wrists to a forming pile.

"Old man, where do I start the fire?" Kalashnikov asked out loud.

"At the town square, away from tinder!" Dragunov barked out.

"Wait, fire!?" Charlotte remarked. "You're going to burn the bodies!?"

"When Demons eat people, they just don't devour your flesh and bone." Dragunov explained. "They also devour pieces of your very soul, carving it away piecemeal to allow survivors to be vulnerable to forced possession of a Demon, or worse, soulless dead bodies make perfect vessels to manifest Demons into the physical world. The least we Inquisitors can do is to deny them of the chance to acquire a physical manifestation."

"Then at least the kingdom's morticians identify the bodies first!" Charlotte pointed out. "We need to notify their next of kin!"

"... Make it quick." Dragunov remarked. "Until we cross that bridge, you keep the boy safe. Niko and I will assist the others looking for any survivors."

The Inquisitor then walks away from the boy and the Magic Knight, walking by several ruined buildings and homes, each ladened with more dead bodies than the last.

For the Inquisitor, the daily life usually involves the fluctuation between tracking down Demons and their worshippers for weeks to even a full year, to the aftermath of cleaning up the scene of the carnage lest the Demons come back and reemerge from the festering rot and pigsty.

The chaotic nature of the combat was the only certainty. It has been that way for the man for the past 15 years of his career of Demon slaying. Every single loss of life was a victory for the Demons. Every settlement and conclave ransacked by them, another cause for the Demons to celebrate the loss of human life and damnation.

To the denizens of the Clover Kingdom, this was an utter nightmare come reality. For Dragunov and the other Inquisitors, this was simply the price of their failure in their eternal uphill crusade against all evil.

Nevertheless, despite the impossible odds, they will continue to fight this losing war, for no one else will. For in their quest to destroy all evil, they've condemned their own souls to damnation so that they may continue their battle against the Demons below the depths of Hell, so that all creation may be freed from sin.

"Beati quam praebuerat vivis servavit. Mors omni malo. Látom." Dragunov chanted his prayer.

After his prayer, he then heard a small cough next to himself.

"... A survivor." Dragunov stated.

He turns his head towards a wrecked, but intact building, heading towards a door jammed behind by something.

"Hello!?" Dragunov shouted out. "Is anyone in there!?"

After another cough, he then hears a groan.

"AWAY FROM THE DOOR, NOW!"

Dragunov then kicks the door down, sending it flying into the other side of the room behind the door.

"Anyone alright!?" Dragunov called out into the wrecked room, striking a match indoors.

From the dim light, he spots three children and one young woman with a baby strapped to her back.

"... Who are you!?" The young woman asked frantically. "You're no Magic Knight, aren't you!?"

"Fret not, just a passing by adventurer." Dragunov greeted. "Come on, we need to get somewhere else safe."

"Wait!" The woman cried out. "... We have two more upstairs."

He then rushes up towards the second floor, kicks down the door, and finds a pair of females, one paler than the other, lying on the beds next to the collapsed rooftop.

He then checks for their pulses, with both somewhat alive, albeit in critical condition.

"... You did good work." Dragunov remarked towards the woman downstairs.

He then hoists the two bodies over his shoulders before coming back downstairs.

He then helps up the redheaded young lady over his shoulder, and kicks the debris around the door down.

"Your name?" Dragunov asked.

"... Rebecca." Rebecca answered. "Rebecca Scarlet."

"Miss Scarlet, head to the town square and find a Magic Knight woman with a silver helmet." Dragunov instructed. "Watch your kids, just in case if there are any stragglers."

She nods and takes the kids towards the town square, with Dragunov carrying the two still-alive bodies on his shoulders.

Upon reaching the two square, Charlotte spots them.

"Juniper!?" Charlotte called out. "Noire!?"

"Put em next to the boy." Dragunov ordered. "They need help, and fast."

The two then lay out Dragunov's cloak on the ground for the two to lay down on.

"What happened to them!?" Charlotte cried out.

"Dunno, but they look as if they lost a lot of blood." Dragunov remarked.

He the looked out towards the ruined town before taking off back into it.

"This all happened because I was incompetent." Dragunov thought as he ran. "All of these casualties, no one in this Kingdom was prepared for this. The Demons are steadily becoming more bolder and bolder in their approach, becoming more and more aggressive in their assaults, now taking their chances in other Kingdoms..."

Dragunov lets out a deep sigh to shake off the unpleasant feelings in his mind before resuming his search for survivors, in spite of his experiences, was still hoping to find more survivors.

Blessed to the living. Death to all evil. So be it. That was the prayer that every Inquisitor recites every day in their duty. No matter who lives or dies, as long as the Inquisitors do not cease in their quest to destroy all evil, whatever comes to them, so be it.

At the ruined gates, he spots several people walking towards him, and upon closer inspection, he recognized them as Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights, Yami Sukehiro, Nozel Silva, Jack the Ripper (he's convinced that the name given is not his real name), and the other survivors of the cavern's carnage, and next to them was that short half-Demon with them.

"... Dagda." Dragunov sourly grumbled.

"Heyo boyo." Daged casually greeted. "... Smell like shite as usual."

"Shut your damned trap and help me clean up, you damn halfling." Dragunov snapped. "The rest of you Magic Knights, call the rest of your lot and help me out. Sooner we gets this over with, the less likely for Demons to reemerge."

"Just who are you to give me orders, foreigner?" Nozel asked as he narrowed. "I must point out that Clover Kingdom is our jurisdiction. We have no need of outsiders to clean up our messes."

"Anywhere the Demons go, that is our jurisdiction." Dragunov replied as he narrowed his own eye towards the Silver Eagle Captain. "Not to mention, your kingdom's little military seemed extremely inadequate to deal with the likes of what we Inquisitors hunt down on a regular basis. I've been doing this shit for 15 years, and lost an eye to show for it. You want to tell me what to do? Then do yourself a favor, and let me do my damn job, you głupek."

"Pft, cyclops over there called ya an idjit, braidy." Dagda giggled out. "... It means idiot, ya wanker."

"Just who are you to insinuate my intelligence, damned foreigner!?" Nozel snapped as several tendrils of [Mercury Magic] emerged behind him. "I'll have your head for your insolence-"

*SWHACK*

Nozel and his silver tendrils freeze up before going completely limp.

... For behind him was Dagda, his boot's toe tip, entrenched upwards between Nozel's legs.

"Thank me later, ya eyepatched bastard." Dagda remarked as Nozel fell onto his face unconscious with a loud *thud* sound.

"I owe you nothing, halfling." Dragunov pointed out as he walked away.

"Love ya too, ya fuckin' prick."

The two then walked back into the ruined town of Nean.

At the same time, the two remaining captains, Yami and Jack, alongside with the other Magic Knights, Jericho, Aion, Bastet, Morrigan, Sol, and Cole were all witnesses to this complete and utter whiplash of events.

"... Doesn't those two remind of anyone?" Jericho pointed out.

Everyone then looks at the two Captains of the Black Bulls and the Green Mantis.

"... What?" Yami remarked.

"You know..." Morrigan remarked as her index finger touched her chin as she looked up. "... I heard... that there's a... closet following... of smut... between those two... over there."

She then takes out a small booklet depicting the two Captains in a questionable position.

"Personally..." Morrigan chuckled out. "... Yami's on... the top."

"Screw you, Morrigan!" Bastet protested. "Jack's on top, and that's final!"

The two walks towards Morrigan, snatch her booklet, which then Jack slashes the booklet into confetti, right before Yami lights a match and sets the paper pile on fire.

"... What are you doing?" Morrigan asked as her sleepy eyes widened slightly.

"Burn the heresy." The two captains chanted in monotone unison as they put their own hands together in prayer.

Jericho simply remained silent upon seeing this bizarre spectuicle.

"... So a pro-feminist Magic Knight Squad has an internal publication of guy-on-guy smut." Cole remarked. "... Now that think about it, am I also being objectified as well?"

None answer.

"... Mr. Evens, I advise you do not touch what shouldn't be touched." Jericho pointed out. "It's safer for your sanity that way."

"Enough of this tomfoolery." Aion pointed out. "We must make haste."

"Right." Jericho remarked as he leaned down and slung Nozel over his shoulder. "Pardon me, mister Royal, but it's better to be touched by a commoner than be left on the dirt face first."

The group then runs deeper into the ruined town of Nean, finding the female Inquisitor Kalashnikov dragging a corpse towards somewhere.

"The hell are doing?" Yami asked.

"Help me out on gathering the dead bodies." Kalashnikov remarked. "We need to burn them before the Demons get to em."

"Wait, WHAT!?" Cole cried out in surprise. "BURN THEM!?"

"Demons can only possess soulless vessels in order to manifest themselves into the living world." Kalashnikov pointed out. "We burn em, then we deny them of a way in, simple as that."

"Yeah, maybe for your kingdom, but THIS IS THE CLOVER KINGDOM!" Cole pointed out. "WE SIMPLY DON'T BURN CORPSES WILLY-NILLY!"

"Don't worry, Dragunov requested a mortician to be sent here to identify the bodies." Kalashnikov remarked as she continued to drag the body away.

"HEY! I WASN'T DONE TALKING TO YOU!" Cole ran towards Kalashnikov, only to stop short upon his wrist being snagged by the thorn cuffs wrapped around both his and Sol's wrist.

"Sorry!" Sol remarked as she ran towards the downed Blue Rose Knight. "Come on! We gotta find Big Sis!"

"You mean the Captain?" Aion pointed out. "Nevertheless, we should proceed."

The Magic Knights then make their way towards the town square, passing by several ruined homes and shops, dodging few loose rubble falling from the second stories of the destroyed buildings.

"... Wait, wasn't she completely knocked unconscious a half-hour back?" Bastet pointed out. "You know, that woman Kalashnikov, who got nearly wasted by that Hellhound a while back?"

"Now she's spry as a spring lily." Cole pointed out. "... I want to accuse her faking her injuries-"

"You think I'm faking my injuries?" Kalashnikov pointed out as she walked back towards them. "Here's proof that I'm serious."

She then takes her top off, revealing a pair of twisted and contorted segments of her lower chest below her bandaged breasts that were discolored purple.

"Both of my lungs are collapsed from the sheer physical trauma I've received three years back." Kalashnikov pointed out as she furled her top back down.

"Forget that! We need you to see medical treatment-"

"Don't bother." Kalashnikov remarked. "When a Demon wounds you, it just doesn't wound your body, but it also wounds your very soul, making sure that both never heal. Ever. So we Inquisitors are trained to fight through the pain until we become completely numb to the concept of discomfort entirely. Old man Dragunov not only had to remove his eye after he'd lost it, but also they had to surgically remove the nerves and veins behind it as well lest it festers and rots."

"Wait, from the looks of it, Mr. Dragunov doesn't seem that old, at least physically." Jericho pointed out. "Out of curiosity, how old are you two?"

"I'm 23, old man's 32." Kalashnikov answered. "In Avalon, a person living past their fifties are almost a myth. The cold kills all vegetation that cannot adapt to the 9 straight months of ceaseless winter every year, the Wilderbeasts roaming the Northeastern lands will kill anyone ill-prepared, and the only civilization out in the frozen wastes is Avalon, our citadel, and our home."

All of them become nauseated and horrified at the Inquisitor's testimony.

"If you have time to vomit or remain silent as dead lambs, then assist the others on finding survivors, or at the very least, don't get in the way of my work." Kalashnikov remarked as she dragged another dead body out from the pile of rubble and taking it elsewhere.

The Magic Knights then disperse without a word, silently agreeing to not press the Inquisitor's past any further.

At the town square, Kalashnikov drags another body towards the center, passing by a silver helmed knight woman and a young red-haired woman with several kids and a baby accompanying her, with two blue-cloaked women lying down next to a familiar-looking cloak.

"... Big sis, who's that scary lady?" One of the kids asked.

"Marco!" The woman chided.

"No, it's alright." Kalashnikov reassured the young woman. "I'm grateful that you and the children are alive after this horrible event. I will pray for you and your little ones."

"... Oh, uh, thank you, miss-"

"Please." Kalashnikov reassured. "Call me Niko-"

"Niko!" Dragunov called towards her.

"What is it, old man!?" Kalashnikov replied to the cloakless Inquisitor as she dragged the body to the center. "Is the mortician here yet!?"

"Was about to ask you the same thing!" Dragunov shouted back from a distance. "At this rate, the bodies will begin rotting!"

Kalashnikov then turns to the helmed Magic Knight.

"You there." Kalashnikov asked the helmed knight lady. "Can you contact whoever's in charge and request a mortician to come here?"

"I can't." Charlotte replied. "The communication beacon has been toppled down, so all I'm hearing is static."

The other Magic Knights then arrive at the scene, each of them with an unconscious survivor on their (Jericho's) back.

"What's going on?" Jericho asked as he laid down the survivors on a loose tent sheet serving as makeshift bedding.

"Apparently, the communications has been proven inadequate to reach a mortician." Kalashnikov remarked.

"And I take it that back in your lands, there was a mortician around every street corner?" Bastet deadpanned.

"It's a respected profession." Kalashnikov replied. "Surely, you lot would at least be competent on dealing with crisis like this!"

"Keh, the bitch's a smart-aleck." Jack spat out. "We've only seen small-scale conflicts with bandit raids and the Diamond Kingdom, ya know!"

"So mere highwaymen and bandits from a kingdom of bandits." Kalashnikov dryly remarked. "I'm amazed that you lot managed to last this long."

"We'll see how long you last against my blades!" Jack bit back as he manifested his [Death Scythes] on both of his forearms.

"Try me, you shriveled-up weed of a man." Kalashnikov remarked back as she drew her own twinswords.

"Oh come on! Infighting!?" Cole remarked.

"Niko, stand down, that's an order!" Dragunov barked out.

"WORKS FOR ME!" Jack replied as he lunged towards Kalashnikov. "NOW I GET TO CUT A BITCH-"

He was then encased in a translucent blue orb with rings of runes surrounding it.

"Forgive me, dear Inquisitors and one bartender." A mannered voice spoke out of the blue.

Next to the orb, a man with an asterisk tattoo on his left brow and regal robes appeared.

"L-Lord Julius!?" Cole remarked as he and the other Magic Knights (sans Jack, Yuno, Nozel, Juniper, and Noire) saluted.

"Do forgive Jack here." Julius stated towards the three Spade Kingdom inhabitants. "He's a little eager for a good scrap, but I assure you, he's a good person."

"In all fairness, I did insult the Magic Knights as a whole, so he had every right to be enraged by me." Kalashnikov replied as she sheathed her blades back into their scabbards. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing."

"Well I don't!" Dagda hollered out. "The suicidal bastard nearly got all of killed at the home stretch! Multiple times!"

"I second that." Dragunov remarked as he raised his hand. "Although in fairness, it was largely due to his ignorance."

"On that, I can agree."

Julius then releases Jack from his [Chronostasis].

"I spoke with you leader, Tokarev Lebedev, on how if I wanted to know more about this... little predicament, I was informed to consult with you two." Julius pointed out. "He even handed me this as proof."

His hand then extends out a sheet of blank white paper.

"Wait, what's on it?" Cole asked.

Dragunov snatches the paper from the Wizard King's hands, and stares into the blank paper.

To an outsider, it would seem to be really odd for a pair of people to stare into a blank piece of paper.

But to the Inquisitors, the so called "blank paper" was actually a covert coded message, written in an ink that only people with an exposure to the [Ambrosia] can read, with the message read as such:

The situation has escalated beyond the borders of the Spade Kingdom. The recent development of the Diamond Kingdom disappearing off the face of this world has all but confirmed the statement as a mater of fact.

Proceed to negotiate with Clover Kingdom's highest authority, and request their full cooperation. Negotiations with the Heart Kingdom are already proceeding as you read this, so I entrust that you be proven successful in your endeavors here.

I've also heard of the long-lost Prince, Yuno Grinberryall, being alive after 15 years, and here's the ultimatum for the boy.

He steps one foot into the Spade Kingdom, regardless of rime or reason, whether Ulster, Libertium, or Sephira forbid, AVALON, he dies on the spot.

With that said, I wish you the best of fortunes on your endeavors to purge all evil treading on this very earth.

Dragunov Smirnov, Kalashnikov Turgenev, I entrust all of this aforementioned in your hands. The fate of all life on this world rides on it.

May Sephira's radiance grace you.

- Patrem Inquisitor, Tokarev Lebedev

"... Well that settles it." Dragunov remarked. "... So, the mortician before we burn the bodies?"

"Wait, WHAT!?" Rebecca cried out as the Wizard King looked at the concerned faces of the young lady.

"... I'll need their consent first." Julius remarked. "So, you mind going over again on why you need to take such measures?"

"Demons can only take over soulless vessels, in other words, fresh corpses." Dragunov explained. "That's why cultists make human sacrifices to summon Demons in the first place, so the least we can do is mitigate the chances."

"It's true." Dagda spoke out. "One Demon jumped me a while back while playing a dead body. Me kicked its are somethin' fierce."

"The point being!" Kalashnikov remarked. "Should we leave them as is, the whole town is going to have an extra asshole ripped open if we leave things as is."

"... Any in favor?" Julius asked the other Magic Knights.

"Nay." All of the Magic Knights (sans Yuno) stated in unison.

"Tch... suit yourselves." Dragunov remarked. "Bury the dead you wish, just don't say that we didn't warn you lot when the dead come out walking... Come on, Niko. We're needed elsewhere."

"The Wizard King?" Kalashnikov answered. "Speaking of which, who and where is he?"

"Right besides you." Julius pointed out.

The two Inquisitors look at the royally dressed man next to them.

"... You're the Wizard King?" Kalashnikov remarked in surprise. "I expected someone taller."

"To be fair, the people of Clover Kingdom seem rather used to relative peace, compared to Avalon, where every day is still a fight for our collective survival..." Dragunov remarked as he cradled his head with his hand right before scratching his head. "... Nevertheless, best we get a move on. The sooner we get this done, the better."

The Inquisitor then turned to the rest of Magic Knights.

"The rest of you lot, I'd suggest you find the rest of the survivors before it's too late." Dragunov suggested.

"... Oh crap, Yuno!" Yami cried out as he looked around frantically before finding him and his sprite companion with him. "... Oh, he's fine."

"So are my own." Charlotte sighed out in relief. "We need help, but we can't even reach HQ with the beacon toppled over..."

"Then that's the next course of action." Jericho remarked as he shuffled through Nozel's robes for his [Magical Communication Device]. "I'll try to get somewhere with better frequency, until then, do what you guys can to gather the survivors!"

"I'll help out with the first aid!" Rebecca stated. "I took a few first-aid [Recovery Magic] courses during my free time! I should be able to administer some healing!"

"Appreciated." Jericho stated. "Captain Yami and Captain Jack, I entrust you with the safety of the survivors?"

"Yeah. Leave it to me." Yami stated.

"Keh keh keh! Anyone wants to slice up these people behind me, they're gonna have to get past me first, because only I'm the one allowed to do the slicing!"

"The Blue Roses, please start with finding the survivors. Split up between the medical tents and the town itself." Jericho stated.

"Well, no one's got any better ideas. Any objections?" Cole asked.

None of them answer.

"I'll take that as a yes." Cole remarked. "Come on, Sol, we got people to save."

"Oh.. uh, right." Sol stated in a shaken tone, clearly disturbed by the carnage left behind on Nean.

The three of the remaining Five Divas then scour around town for any survivors, with Aion's Ki detection as their helm, and Bastet's [Canis Major] sniffing out any survivors, leaving Morrigan to patrol in the air with her custom broom-staff.

"As for you kids..." Jericho remarked towards the kids next to Rebecca. "... Try and stay close to your sister, and don't get lost, alright?"

"Yes sir!" All of them enthusiastically saluted.

"... Eh, good luck with you lot." Dagda remarked at the Magic Knights and their helpers. "From the looks of your starry eyes, I take it that you want me to talk with ya as well?"

"I can use more perspectives." Julius remarked without hiding his excitement. "As soon as I arrive back to HQ, I'll issue an emergency mass-rescue order toward Nean, so hold out until then, understood?"

"Yes sir!" All the Magic Knights present saluted.

With that, Dagda, Dragunov, and Kalashnikov were all teleported back to the Magic Knight's HQ.

"L-LORD JULIUS!?" Marx stuttered out in surprise upon seeing the three Spade Kingdom inhabitants besides him.

"Fret not, they're here to cooperate with us." Julius reassured his aide. "Oh, and be sure to relay the following orders: 'Nean just went through a raid. Send in additional Magic Knights, healers, supplies, and evac teams to Nean. Anyone who participates in this emergency mission will receive a free star.'."

"Uh-h Lord Julius, that seems a little brazen, even for you-"

"Did I stutter?" Julius asked Marx.

"N-No sir." Marx stuttered out.

"Good. Then get to it. On the double."

The aide then runs off as he begins to connect with every terminal that's connected to the Magic Knights' [Magical Communication Devices] to relay the emergency mission.

As the momentum from the news spread throughout the HQ like wildfire, Julius leads the three Spade Kingdom inhabitants into an isolated room.

"Now then..." Julius remarked as he set his [Monadikótita] up around the chambers that the four were in. "... Now no one will eavesdrop on our conversation, so that the information I learn will be circulated at a more... appropriate time."

"Wise decision, Wizard King." Dragunov remarked as he took his seat in front of the desk lit with a small unlit candle. "... May I?"

"You may."

Dragunov then strikes his match and lights the candle in the dim room, illuminating it.

"Now then..." Julius remarked as he took his own seat across Dragunov. "... Where do we start, Mr. Smirnov?"

The eypatched Inquisitor sighed out tiredly as he readied to speak.

"... It all began 15 years ago, during my very first mission as an Inquisitor."

I was sent to the territory of Grinberryall, located at the threeway-crossing of Avalon, Ulster, and Liberatium. My mission there was to scout the whole kingdom for any sightings of Demons.

And were there any?

... You wouldn't believe what I saw. They were walking out in the open, like regular people.

Hold on, may I be a little intrusive, but can you clarify what you saw?

I will if I must. What I saw were mages contracted with Demons such as the Dark Triad and their Dark Disciples, and Adaptors.

Just who are the Dark Triad?

The Dark Triad are a triumvirate of Grinberryall's most powerful mages, each contracted with a Demon of their choosing, becoming Contractors. They consist of Dante, the Crownless King of War, Zenon, the Keeper of a Thousand Graves, and Vanica, the Insatiable Blood Maiden. The three of them are considered heroes to the people of Grinberryall, but we Inquisitors know better. Those three are a powder keg waiting to go off at any moment, and once they go off, they will bring nothing but ruin and misery throughout Spade Kingdom and beyond. They're appetite for bloodshed and malice no know bounds, and they have the power and authority to do so, with each of them having access to around 70% of their contracted Demon's powers.

Next question, who Dark Disciples? I assume they're below the Dark Triad and serve them?

Exactly. They each have roughly 40-50% of their own Demon's powers, but they're no less vicious and exempt from the Inquisition's ire.

And who are these... Adaptors?

Non-magical humans who are contracted with Demons. They directly oppose any and all who have mana, especially the Dark Triad and their Disciples.

And just how are they a threat?

What makes them so dangerous is that Adaptors can tap into their respective Demon's powers at a 100% output without any drawbacks. The reason why the Dark Triad can only output up to 70% is their clashing nature of host and guest. Demons and any living being with mana are complete opposites. The fundamentally opposing natures between the two cause the vessel to gradually deteriorate, first from the mind, then the body, and finally, the soul. However, Adaptors don't have mana for the Demons to begin with, so there's nothing for Demons to latch onto in order to begin the degradation since mana is the force that connects the mind, body, and the soul, so the guest Demons simply stay with their non-magical hosts, forming a symbiotic relationship rather than a parasitic one with Contractors. Simply put, those Adaptors are more dangerous than the Contractors that make up the Dark Triad and their Disciples.

So, were the Adaptors openly hostile to other people?

In Grinberryall? In fairness, they weren't like the ones outside the wilds, who literally attacked anyone within their sights. There, they simply lived their lives, albeit as second-class citizens in ghettos, due to them being non-magical in nature, meaning that they couldn't operate any magic-related jobs, leaving the most of them disenfranchised manual laborers. Just because they were less vicious doesn't mean that they're not vicious.

So why didn't Grinberryall do anything to assist them?

Tell me, Mr. Wizard King. Would your kingdom even go along with the idea of helping out non-magical humans, assuming if you had any?

... I uh... can't say, really. But if it came to it, I'd do it myself if I have must.

Be realistic, Wizard King. In this world, magic is literally everything, and those don't have magic will turn to the Demons to exact vengeance to the world that abandoned them upon their birth. If you don't have any magic or a Demon, you will die. That is the truth of the Spade Kingdom, a land once ravaged by a great evil that left it uninhabitable to any who aren't braced.

... Quick question, just who is this "great evil" that you've mentioned just now?

... The Twelve Tyrants. Twelve half-Demons that were born into the Spade Kingdom that wrecked havoc wherever they went, only to suddenly disappear, leaving the survivors in a barren and unforgiving land after the fallout. No one knows where they came from, nor who they were. All the Inquisition knows that they simply existed to shape Spade Kingdom into what it is today, a complete and utter hellscape of dangerous Wilderbeasts and Demonic hosts, where only the most cunning and ruthless can only hope to survive.

So, that aside from your Kingdom's... rather turbulent history, what happened to Grinberryall?

Would you like the short version or the full version?

The latter, if you will. We have all the time in the world, after all.

Here's what happened.

... Aw shite, forgot me booze.

I was sent to scout around the Kingdom 15 years ago, as I stated previously, and my mission were to track down the Dark Triad and their Disciples. Upon weeks of collecting intel in the shadows of the Kingdom, I ran across a girl who was being beaten by other children. A non-magical human girl, who's not yet an Adaptor.

And what happened?

... My greatest mistake. I helped her. And I fed her a spare loaf of hardtack I had. Little did I know, I would've never thought that girl would become... her.

Who? Who did she became?

... Her name was Tiamat.

"Wait, old man, you were the one who cause Tiamat herself to be brought to this world!?" Kalashnikov remarked in surprise.

"Ohohoho, this outta be good." Dagda chuckled out in anticipation.

"So how did you end up befriending the one who's attacked Nean and killed hundreds of people just last night?" Julius asked. "Does your superiors know of this?"

"... I confessed the deed to the Patrem Inquisitor Tokarev himself." Dragunov stated. "He simply replied..."

She's your responsibility, then. Your mission to kill Demons hasn't changed. Carry on, but if you think that bringing upon the Prince of Conquest is your doing, think what you will, Smirnov.

Kill her like the rest. Dismissed.

"... He then let me go, not even demoting me to a rank-and-file Thaumaturge." Dragunov stated.

"Sephira's radiance... he let you go?" Kalashnikov remarked in aghast surprise and horror.

"For him, the guilt alone is punishment enough." Dragunov stated. "The fact that my perceived kindness is what will end the world if I fail is my own ultimatum."

"So it has been said." Julius sighed out. "But I get the feeling that you weren't sent to Grinberryall just to take out the Demons and their associates."

"How'd you know?" Dragunov remarked.

"Your story." Julius answered. "Just a gut feeling, but there are too many holes in it."

"... You're a sharp one, aren't you?" Dragunov remarked.

"Have to be." Julius pointed out. "Comes with the job."

The truth is, I wasn't just sent to Grinberryall for the sole purpose of gathering reconnoissance on the Dark Triad and their Disciples. Truth is, I was sent as vanguard to scout the area so that my fellow Inquisitors can besiege the whole kingdom and kill everyone in there.

The reason why? Most of the inhabitants there were traitors to Avalon, the ones who ran from battle, abandoning their battle brothers and sisters to their fate. Not to mention, the house of Grinberryall are traitors who dare claim to the rightful sovereignty of the Spade Kingdom.

Such hearsay against the Pendragon line cannot go unpunished, and the people that willingly follow them, no matter who they are, must die.

So why the hardtack then? What made you cave in?

... Even I have standards. I was like Tiamat when I saw her that way, starving, dirty, and sentenced to death upon birth. My only mercy should've been a quick death for her, but I faltered and gave her hope.

I taught her hope. And through it, I've unwittingly unleashed the monster unto this world.

She kept living, and she didn't become just and Adaptor.

... She became a Prince, a special Demon that is one of the four prophesied to bring about [Armageddon], the end of all creation.

Out of youthful naivety, I tried to stop her on my own.

... She took out my left eye with my own arrow. Then left me to the whims of her Hellhounds.

I was left to run around Grinberryall aimlessly as the whole Kingdom of Grinberryall went straight to Hell, my bow being destroyed amidst the struggle, leaving me to fend for myself with only my standard-issue [Mithril Combat Knife M3]. It was until my fellow Inquisitors and their Thaumaturges behind them came through the gates, weapons in hand, ordered to kill everyone within the kingdom's borders on sight.

I begged to participate, but I was deemed too wounded to fight, so I was sent back to the rearguard to treat my wounds and remove my damaged eye before it gets infected.

As I began to file my report and explain the reason why I was absent for the past three days overdue the deadline, the whole gates begun to spill out with canine Demons that I fought earlier before, suddenly eight times the original number of them that I saw.

... Then came a whole swarm of them. The Hellhounds came running over every single Thaumaturge charging towards Grinberryall like great black flood, killing everyone caught in the deluge, eventually, we were forced to invoke Order 564.

What's Order 564?

... We were forced to open fire on our own men, in order to stop the Hellhounds from advancing any further. A last resort order when everything goes to
Hell on a handbasket; kill them all, burn it all to the ground.

And we did. [Thunderbolt Heavy Artillery Railguns M4s] rained fire unto the Kingdom of Grinberryall, killing everyone that got caught up in the blasts.

... It wasn't enough. Enough of the Hellhounds survived the bombardment to make a final charge against our lines. We were forced to retreat that day, with Inquisitor Shpagin and Sudayev Reznov along with their personal divisions volunteering to cover our retreat.

Grinberryall was destroyed, as ordered. But in turn, I lost the following things.

300,000 Thaumaturges, two respected Inquisitors, and any little empathy left for these Adaptors, now completely destroyed along with my naivety.

Now I stain myself with their impure blood on a daily basis, in hopes that I may be able to find atonement for my mistakes that have led to this calamity.

The people of Grinberryall are now scattered, the Dark Triad and their Disciples aren't confirmed to be dead as of yet, but now, after 15 years, I find him here.

... Who?

Yuno. Yuno Grinberryall.

"Wait, that damn pretty-boy I saw at the eatery last night was the long-lost Prince of Grinberryall!?" Dagda remarked. "The fuckin' shite, boyo!?"

"The Morningstar sigil was hanging around his neck as a pendent, did you not notice?" Dragunov pointed out.

"I'm sorry, you're saying that a prodigy Black Bull Magic Knight happens to be long-lost foreign royalty?" Julius pointed out. "... Suddenly, his mana abnormally-large output does make sense on the virtue of him being foreign nobility... But I must digress, and also, point out, the actual fuck."

"No matter your personal reasons, the boy needs to die." Dragunov firmly stated. "But considering that he's now naturalized as a Clover Kingdom citizen, I take it that you won't take it kindly if you find his body floating down the riverbeds."

"Was that a threat against my kingdom, Mr. Inquisitor?" Julius remarked.

"You are not the first [Time Magic] user I've slain, Wizard King. You're nothing special." Dragunov stated as he reached for his combat knife sheathed into the side of his right boot. "So here's the ultimatum presented by the Patrem himself; the boy, Yuno Grinberryall steps into any of the Spade Kingdom's territories, regardless of rime or reason, whether Ulster, Libratium, or Sephira forbid, Avalon, then he signed his own death warrant, and he will be killed on the spot. Those are the words from the Patrem Inquisitor himself."

"The boy had nothing to do with Grinberryall's actions." Julius firmly reaffirmed. "Surely, that's a little extreme."

"The boy's family had the audacity to not only turn their backs onto the Pendragons, but also tolerate Contractors and Adaptors alike and let them live to begin with amongst them is enough of an offense as is." Dragunov retorted. "The sins of his family will end with his head separated from the base of his neck."

"Not to mention, we've been given our orders." Kalashnikov pointed out. "Any survivor of Grinberryall's destruction will be slain on the spot under the decree of heresy and conspiring with Demons. Whether Dark Triad or a commoner, they must die for their sins against Avalon."

Julius tried to reason with the Inquisitors, but it was clear that they weren't having any of it.

"Forget it, boyo." Dagda sighed out from a corner of the room. "I know these Inquisitors. They're a bunch of stubborn bastards, I'd tell ya. You're better off reasoning with a Demon to stop jacking off to casual murder than those two to step away from their given orders."

"Regardless of how view this little predicament, Wizard King, we'll still provide aid should there be a Demon attack in your Kingdom and train your Magic Knights to deal with the coming crisis." Kalashnikov remarked. "We only request that the boy stay within Clover Kingdom borders unless he wishes to die by our hands."

"And what's stopping me from suspecting you two from killing Yuno behind my back?" Julius pointed out.

"Eh, don't bother." Dagda remarked. "These bastards are stubborn, but they're honest folk. You only die the way they say how you'll die. I mean, they let me live even through I'm a half-Demon."

"Only because you've kept your end of your word as we did with our end, halfling." Dragunov remarked hostilely. "... Regardless, the boy will live as long as he stays here. Until then, we'll cooperate with your Kingdom in order to keep the Demons at bay, and not lay a single hand on the Prince unless he violates the conditions set. Fret not, we'll tell him as soon as he's awake and aware."

Julius looks towards Dagda for confirmation on the two.

"... I can help too, if ya want." Dagda remarked. "We Ulsterians in the Spade Kingdom have no reason to invade you lot when there's nothing to gain from it. Not to mention, contrary to popular belief, we Ulsterians aren't bandits looting and killing for fun. We don't kill weaklings like you guys unless ya ask for it. That and well, I'm not here to fight, just here to sell some booze to people I haven't met."

Julius lets out a sigh as he faced the three Spade Kingdom inhabitants.

Fundamentally speaking, they're good people, just like anyone else, its just that they had their own set of values that differed from Clover Kingdoms.

For Dagda, he seems to be a good person who has a bit of an abrasive side to him, but in the end, he's cordial enough to help out, albeit out of pure whim if nothing else. Nevertheless, there's no ill intent behind his words, for they were lacking in ulterior motives and ill-intent, not to mention, Dagda seemed like a person who speaks his mind out loud frequently.

For Dragunov and Kalashnikov, the two of them were clearly driven to the point of fanaticism on their pursuit to rid the world of all evil, but they don't willingly slaughter innocent people unless ordered, and deep down, they are indeed, good people with a code of honor and decency, for they were willing to let Yuno live, as long as he remains an exile from his own home Kingdom.

All and all, Julius saw the three of them were, at least, relatively honest people, albeit a little extreme.

"... As long as it's to help us defeat the Demons, you won't harm any of my people, will you not?" Julius asked.

"We have no reason to unless given the reason to." Dragunov stated. "Even the halfling over there gets it."

"Love ya too, ya damn wanker." Dagda remarked. "But yea, cyclops over here's right. I only gave them a good beating because they try to set me tavern on fire."

Julius lets out a sigh upon hearing their conformations.

"... I'll think about the terms." Julius sighed out. "Until then, try to stay within the Clover Kingdom's laws."

"We'll keep our words as long as you keep yours." Kalashnikov remarked. "Do not force our hand."

Julius then takes down his [Monadikótita] before he walked out the room, followed by the three of them from behind.

"Marx." Julius called from his personal [Magical Communication Device]. "Prepare an emergency address for all Magic Knight Captains and Noble Houses. We have a situation that needs to be discussed, throughly."

(Former) Grinberryall Territory, Spade Kingdom, Evening

The advantage of being a Hellhound is that stamina itself isn't a limiting factor.

To the humans, they can run 15 miles of terrain before resting and resuming back to their trek, not taking into what kind of terrain that they're crossing.

For the Spade Kingdom, the terrain itself wasn't the issue. Sure, the mountainous terrains, the frigid weather, and the craggy peaks were arduous enough, but the real threat in the Spade Kingdom wasn't the environment, but rather its wildlife.

Wilderbeasts. Magical beasts that freely roam throughout the Spade Kingdom, each species adapted to their highest specs for optimal chances of survival. Whether ground, air, or water, these magical beasts are found literally everywhere within Spade Kingdom's borders.

Ulster lives among them, out of respect of the natural cycle of life and death that they live by along with their martial code.

Avalon walls off from them, keeping themselves behind their walls in order to survive in the frigid conditions that they called home.

And for Libratium, they are regularly captured and experimented on, before being released as bioweapons they've labeled [Siths] in form of "tests", or as malformed [Chimeras], whose mere presence disturbs the ecosystem that they're on.

But for Tiamat, all of them were prospect prey and meals for her and her children. Her proudest accomplishment?

Eating 26 entire species of Wilderbeasts into extinction. It was a group effort though, and she had her whole family of Hellhounds to thank for those wonderful past 15 years ever since her resurrection as a Prince.

"Honestly though, I do miss eating [Spriggans]..." Tiamat sighed out as she and her pack walked through a raging blizzard. "... Their sweet and springy green meat was simply mouthwatering, annoying and unappetizing rock shells aside."

As they continue their trek, Romulus walks towards Tiamat, still clutching onto his severed arm that's still not healing.

"Your wound." Tiamat pointed out. "How bad is it?"

"I won't be able to heal it back for about a full week." Romulus growled out. "Also, I lost my immunity to [Burning], [Impalement to the chest], and [Poisoned with 6 gallons of venom]."

"Too many for my liking."

The Hellhounds then look up towards a hill with a ruined city on top.

"We're home, dear pups." Tiamat remarked as the younger [Martyr] and [Crusader]-class Hellhounds began to clamor.

All of them howl in unison, up towards the hill with the ruins, with another choir of howls returned towards them from the hill ahead.

"We're clear!"

All the Hellhounds present around Tiamat hurried towards the hill above, stamping and pawing through the snow blanketing the earth.

All of them eventually reach the gates of the ruined city of Grinberryall, greeted by two [Templar]-class Hellhounds.

"Welcome home, dear mother." The two [Templar]-class Hellhounds greeted Tiamat in unison.

"Ur, Nammu, glad to see my two babies." Tiamat cooed before she smooched them on their snouts. "So how was our little House of Wolves while mommy and the others were away?"

"We killed a [Dragon] and a [Lindwyrm] two days ago. The younger ones will have lots to eat." Ur on the left stated.

"More Thaumaturges and Ulsterian Warbands came to our gates..." Nammu on the right remarked. "Their heads are on pikes now."

"Good boys." Tiamat addressed. "Now let the others have a turn at the gates."

The twin Hellhound brothers walked back into their domain, with Tiamat and her pack following them in.

"It's mother!"

"Welcome back, mother!"

"How was Clover Kingdom?"

"Were there any tasty people to devour?"

All of her children in the ruined Kingdom of Grinberryall clamored for her attention, each swarming towards her enthusiastically.

"The Clover Kingdom was easy pickings, my sweet angels." Tiamat stated. "Unfortunately, bad people followed me here, and daddy got hurt trying to protect me."

"What!? How could they!?"

"How can they hurt daddy!?"

"I'll kill them! I'll fucking kill them!"

All of her children can provide her with all the love and attention that she could ever want. They were miles better than the loveless humans that she lived with back when she was just a frail little girl destined to die because she was born without any magic, while the other Adaptors couldn't care less for her life.

... She took great pleasure devouring them, and sharing their meat with her new, and better family of Hellhounds.

"Now now, no need to rush to kill the bad people." Tiamat reassured. "They'll simply die, later. Just like the rest of them."

"Just like the rest of them", a phrase that echoed repeatedly throughout Tiamat's mind, and the words that she lived by every time that she'd let one of her prey get away out of whim.

As long as they die, that's all that mattered to Tiamat, for these so-called "people" have place in her future, other than as cattle for her kin.

She doesn't need to worry about her future being a pipe dream. Now that she's a Demon, a Prince, and way beyond the Adaptors that neglected her, she no longer has to worry about her future.

Her future, of her and her Hellhounds alone will rule the world as one empire, one home, and one family, is inevitable.

"Now now, my children, mommy needs her alone time, so come now, all of you, run along." Tiamat ordered the Hellhounds to go back to what they were doing.

She then walks towards the ruined castle, with the scratched-out sigil of the Grinberryall's Morningstar above the gates, the once-opulent hallways, now decrepit and laden with skeletons of the castle's former attendees and guards, the masonry crumbling to cobble, and upon entering through the broken-down doors leading towards the King's audience chamber.

... The two thrones currently occupied by a pair of skeletons, one wearing a bloodstained and torn-up dress, and the other next to the skeleton wearing an equally bloodstained and torn robe, wearing an eroded crown on top of his black-haired skull.

"Two royal rulers of Grinberryall, both still having their boney asses glued to their thrones..." Tiamat venomously mocked at the skeleton couple. "... Honestly, you think of yourselves as good people just by the virtue of taking us Adaptors in."

Tiamat then spits on the dead king's bare skull.

"How utterly naive, thinking that you were our salvation even though you don't know what we went through for generations." Tiamat scornfully remarked. "You don't know what the meaning of suffering is, and yet you thought you can save us. We Adaptors gave up on all salvation, we gave up on the concept of love and compassion and turned ourselves into monsters of hate and rage, and despite all that, you think you alone, betraying Avalon, of all places, thought that you can save us, because altruism."

Tiamat restrains herself from knocking the skeleton off of its throne, for she went through painstakingly long and tedious effort to set up the whole thing in the first place, as a memoir of her very first victory in her conquest.

After seeing the boy's Morningstar sigil hung from his neck, her head already began making plans to build a throne for the boy's skeleton to join with the rest of his accursed family, just as her personal commemoration to adding the Grinberryall House itself as her 27th species of creatures that she ate into extinction.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, I've met your son in person, and the rest of the family got to know him really well." Tiamat faux-cheerfully remarked at the pair of skeletons. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to reunite you shits back into the same pot together, assuming if the very bad people that burned your precious kingdom to the ground don't get to him first!"

Tiamat then goes into a fit of demented laughter before stopping herself into a stoic degree of self-control.

"Now sit tight, my former benefactors." Tiamat stated towards the skeletons. "I have to pay an old friend a visit."

She then walks towards the wall behind the two thrones, brushes her right hand onto it, right before pressing a tile against it.

The wall then opens itself ajar as it spins around the segment of the floor with it, taking Tiamat into a hidden passageway behind the Grinberryall's throne.

She silently makes her way down the ancient stairwell, ignoring the rats and cockroaches scurrying about the stone floors that her bare feet touched.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell, Tiamat takes out a match from her cloak, and strikes a light from its tip.

She then begins to light the candles around the underground chamber, illuminating the mausoleum to reveal a white-haired young maiden with smooth, porcelain-like skin, wearing an unstained and untouched white dress, lying down on a bed of black roses, completely immaculate, and completely undisturbed.

After lighting all the candles below, she then stands in front of the maiden, before kneeling down in utmost reverence.

"... The world is a cruel place." Tiamat stated before the maiden. "When Sephira abandoned us, you reached your hand out onto us, teaching us the meaning of hope in a world built solely on despair."

An image of her as a little child left out in the frigid winters of the Spade Kingdom flashes in her mind.

"After I was slain by the unclean and cretinous people of this world, I've questioned the whole reason for my existence, on why I wasn't blessed with a Demon while I was alive, and on why I was born simply to die shortly after." Tiamat stated. "... After reaching the void of existence, I've understood."

The sensation of her being tortured and violated by the Dark Disciples shocked throughout her body.

"... Then I understood." Tiamat continued to speak towards the maiden. "I understood why I had to die, in order to be reborn."

The image of her trial, a desperate swim out of the bottomless marsh of inky muck and grime as hands grasped onto her ankles and her body, trying to desperately prevent her from escaping.

"I understood why Demons don't dream."

The image of her being reawakened as a Prince of Conquest in an alleyway.

"I understand why Demons don't hunger."

She then vividly recalls the sensation of joy and euphoria of her very first Hellhound, Romulus, bowing before her upon her rebirth.

"For if they truly do dream and hunger..."

Her first meal as a Prince, the head of a rotund Disciple with a disgustingly-long tongue, a bland and disgusting soul, but served as an acceptable appetizer before her main course.

"... They will be never satisfied."

Her first rampage across Grinberryall, the mass, indiscriminate slaughter of the Dark Disciples, the Dark Triad, the Grinberryall House, and everyone else within the walls.

"So thank you for guiding me, a wayward soul that was destined to bring an end to this cruel world."

The sensation of glee and ecstasy as she dug her claws and fangs into that bastard Dante's neck after she wormed out of his [Gravity Magic] through sheer force of will, then followed up by an orgasmic euphoria as she devoured Vanica as she and her Demon, Megicula, both begged for their lives as she and her children tore her apart limb from limb in a chaotic feeding frenzy.

"Thank you for leading me to this point."

She then fondly remembers taking their crowns and cloaks as her trophies, right before cutting off both Zenon's arms with his own [Bone Magic] as her temporary shiv, letting him plunge into the swarming Hellhounds that was below his feet.

"Thank you, for giving me purpose."

The images of the horrified faces of the Grinberryall King and Queen as she breached through their palace gates, fully recalling the joy of dominance that she exerted before them.

"Thank you, for letting me play an active role in the game of destiny."

She then recalls the howl of her laughter of pure happiness as she stood over the corpses of the King and Queen right as the whole Kingdom went straight to Hell, ushered in by a hail of thunder and hellfire from the gray heavens that mocked her since her birth.

"... Thank you." Tiamat tearfully thanked the maiden in white on a bed of black roses. "Thank you for guiding my damned soul... Avatar of the Demon King, the Lamb of the Hungry Joker..."

She then leans closer, and kisses the maiden's feet.

"... Astarte."

Agartha, Mimo Amazon, Clover/Heart Kingdom Borderlands, Evening

"Anyone know where my pilers are!?" Rades cried out from another room reeking of dead bodies. "I need to scoop out the entrails and I'm not doing it with my bare hands!"

"Cooking up something extra-special here!" Sally loudly remarked from another room hissing and fuming with steam and smoke. "Can't work with burnt hands!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" Valtos cried out from a room that was completely pitch-black and void of light. "I CAN'T READ WHEN YOU'RE ALL YAPPING LIKE MONGRELS!"

"... Glad they're getting along." Aleister remarked.

"And how?" Helena asked.

"They're not trying to maim each other like last week." Aleister pointed out. "I consider this an improvement."

"For you, not getting maimed every five seconds is an improvement." Helena snarked out. "Speaking of which, how's your ass?"

"Sitting down is still a literal pain in the ass." Aleister answered as he held up a circular cushion with a hole at the middle. "... Stopped bleeding about a day ago."

"You're welcome, by the way." Helena smirked before she looked back at the three occupied rooms within the underground city from her balcony afar. "... By the way, how is that [Spatial Magic] user reading in pitch-black room? Even I need some illumination whenever I crack open a written text."

"Don't ask, don't tell." Aleister remarked. "... That's what he said to me, in verbatim."

From a distance, they hear a knocking sound from the far end of the underground city's hatch.

"I got it." Helena remarked as she floated down from her balcony with her broom.

She then hops off her broom and hustles past the three occupied rooms, and makes her way to the gates standing between Agartha and the outside world.

"You have twenty seconds." Helena remarked to the person behind the gate. "What's the password?"

A muffled voice then begins to speak.

"The word of sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell."

"... This is your last chance." Helena remarked. "The moment you step in, you play by our rules, and you will never the light of day until Clover Kingdom is reduced to ash, understood?"

"Peh, I have no attachments to a kingdom of those filthy ingrates." The muffled voice remarked. "I have brought everything I need for my great undertaking, and I have no regrets whatsoever."

Helena then pulls on the giant stone lever, only to struggle to even move it.

"Ugh... Come on, you son of a bitch..." Helena grunted out. "... Move!"

*CLICK*

The lever pulls back upon Helena falling onto her butt.

"Oww..." Helena grumbled out.

The gates creak open, revealing a figure completely clad in gray-black leather trenchcoat and a full-body jumpsuit, and a pointed mask and hat, with only a pair of circular black lens as the sole eyes right above its "beak".

"Orme Corovan, the 'Plague Doctor'..." Helena grumbled out as she dusted off her clothes. "About damn time you showed up."

"Spare me your prattle, my short companion." Orme remarked through his beaked mask. "When was the last time you took a shower, properly?"

"Ugh..." Helena grumbled out. "... I took one this morning, and for the record, you're the only one who can call me short without getting fried on the spot."

Orme then takes out a device from beneath his cloak, which then he points towards Helena's forehead with a arc of colored light before looking at it before putting it away.

"You're not lying." Orme remarked. "No sign of lice."

"Anyway, welcome to Agartha." Helena remarked as the gates closed behind them. "Make yourself comfortable-"

"WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!?" Orme remarked upon looking into Rades's room. "CORPSES!? LEFT UNTENDED AND EXPOSED TO OXYGEN!?"

"Hey, what are doing here, pal?" Rades called out. "You've got a problem-"

"COMMENCING DISINFECTION!"

Orme then takes out his grimoire, its cover patterned with a cross-like sigils with yellow and black lines running through them.

"[Poison Recovery Magic: Cleansing Acid Stream]!"

Orme then fires out a jet of white vapors into Rades's room, followed up by a loud cacophony of various hissing sounds.

"ARGUAH! WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?" Rades cried out. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY TOYS!?"

"MISTER! YOU NEED A SHOWER!" Orme remarked firmly. "YOU GOT LITERAL BUGS IN YOUR HAIR, YOU SMELL LIKE DEAD PEOPLE, AND NOT TO MENTION, YOUR LACK OF HYGENE IS UNACCEPTABLE!"

"Ooh!" Sally cooed out from her "lab". "Is Rades getting into trouble already-"

"AND THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU, MISSY!"

Orme then grabs her by her unclothes and drags her from where she peeked out of next to Rades.

"YOUR HAIR IS RIDDLED WITH BUGS, YOUR SKIN IS CRAWLING WITH DIRT AND UNKNOWN SUBSTANCES, AND JUST BECAUSE YOU SMELL LIKE CHEMICALS DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU'RE CLEAN!" Orme screeched out. "INTO THE SHOWERS, THE BOTH OF YOU!"

"Ehhh!?" The two whined out as they were unceremoniously dragged by their collars elsewhere.

"... Glad you're chipper as usual, Orme." Helena sighed out before she notices a dropped lantern. "Huh, the doc dropped something."

She then picks up the lamp, only to see a human-like face within the illumination.

"Wait a minute..." Helena remarked as she looked closer at the lantern's "face". "... Why do you look... familiar?"

"Glad you somewhat remember me, Blavatsky."

"Ah!" Helena yiped in surprise, almost dropping the lamp before catching it midair. "Nikolas!? The are you doing in a lamp!?"

"A lot happened while you were gone." Nikolas remarked. "Let's just say that a few unscrupulous sponsors... turned on me, and it was only just until last week that Orme found me in my own basement."

"Guess your research on souls did prove useful in the end." Helena remarked. "Let me guess, Mr. Genius, you need a spare body?"

"Preferably the one coming from over there, by that first room." Nikolas requested. "I can sense mana that's almost... cancerous coming from over there, like gathering storm of lightning that I must muster and tame."

"Alright, but it's gonna be a while until Orme lets em go..." Helena grumbled out as she heard distant shrieks of fear coming from afar the town's fountain. "... Assuming if he doesn't scrub off all of their skin beforehand."

"I'm sure they'll be fine-"

"One was born and raised at a crypt, the other was too preoccupied with her 'research' to even eat." Helena pointed out at the talking lamp. "... Also, I think I saw her eat a live maggot off of her sleeve one time."

"Alright, I'll try to avert my eyes after Orme is done."

Then the two heard another knocking coming from the gates.

"... Oh hell, another new recruit already?" Helena remarked as she headed towards the gates.

At the other side, a cloaked figure with the right side of her face covered in a fringe of loose hair keeps knocking on the stone doors found within a tunnel.

"You have twenty seconds." A female voice called our from within the gates. "What's the password?"

The hooded woman then recited the password.

"The word of sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell."

A moment of silence before another voice spoke out.

"... Let em' in."

The gates creak open, revealing a short lilac-haired woman with a black beret holding onto a lamp resembling a talking head.

"So, new kid." The short woman remarked. "Name's Helena, second-in-command of this whole joint. What should I call you from now on?"

As the gates close behind her, the hooded woman removes her shroud.

"... It's Angra Swing."

Eighth Layer, [Fraud], Hell

[Fraud], the eighth frigid layer of Hell. An endless blizzard that echoes with the whispers and breaths of conspiracy and lies storm throughout this frozen wastes above [Treachery], the Ninth Layer where all Demons are reborn upon every death.

Sinners sentenced here are damned to forever wander the endless wastes, the whispers of lies and malice being the only thing that they hear, slowly driving them to madness, and their souls eventually engraved onto one of the many pillars of ice erected up the endless sky that beyond lies the Seventh Layer, [Violence].

"They really... don't assume..."

Within the endless blizzard, a mouse-like Demon was curled up into a little black fur ball, chattering and gibbering semi-coherently to herself, her eyes shifting left and right at breakneck speeds, as the Demon assumes that something is coming for her.

In [Fraud], only one Demon dares to call these frozen wastes of lies and conspiracy her home.

Lucifuge, the sin of [Paranoia], stands alone.

"They really... don't assume..." Lucifuge chattered out. "... That I'm not onto... THEIR LITTLE BULLSHIT!?"

The blizzard howls throughout the wastes as Lucifuge begins her rant.

"They honestly thought that they can all fool me with their honeyed words and deeds..." Lucifuge chittered out. "They thought that I was like those pissants upstairs just because I happen to be the smallest of the Eleven Elusive Evils, just because I happen to be behind the guy does nothing but eat all day, and some steroid-abusing lizard..."

She digs her claws through one of the ice pillars, said pillar rivaling the durability of creation's hardest mineral, [Admantium], like a hot knife through a block of butter.

"Little did they know, I was the one playing them behind their backs, all to stop this unpleasant feeling of paranoia that wish to be rid of." Lucifuge remarked to herself. "With my [Discernment Magic], not only I've looked into their heads to see what they were planning, but I also knew that what they were letting me see were simply LIES! JOKE'S ON THEM! I ARTIFICIALLY CREATED FALSE DEMONS TO SABOTAGE ISHTAR'S LITTLE BUSINESS VENTURE! LUCIFERO, MEGICULA, ZAGRED, AND WHATEVER THAT DAMN LITTLE SHIT THAT I PERCEIVED THROUGH MY [DISCERNMENT MAGIC], I'VE ALREAD BEGUN TO TAKE STEPS TO ENSURE MY OWN VICTORY OVER THESE LITTLE SHITS! WHAT I ENVISION, WHAT I SEE, WHAT I BELIEVE, ARE FACTS, AND NOTHING ELSE PROVES OTHERWISE!"

Lucifuge then devolves into a cacophony of maddened laughter.

"Ishtar thought that she's the one making a killing on all the souls brought in by the Dark Triad and their little taintsuckers were raking in, but in reality, I was the one benefiting this whole time!" Lucifuge boasted. "WHO'S THE SMART BITCH NOW, HUH!?"

"Still Ishtar, partially because you can't keep your own mouth shut."

Upon hearing a voice that wasn't hers, Lucifuge creaks her head towards her back, to find the crocodilian Demon, Beelzebub, sitting right behind her, munching on a [Stygian]'s head like an apple.

"Yo." Beelzebub greeted in a causal manner. "How're doing, ya damn rat."

"... ARGH! WHY DID I TELL YOU ALL THAT!?" Lucifuge shrieked out. "AND HOW LONG WERE YOU HERE!?"

"Because you're an insecure paranoiac shut-in that can't even trust her own shadow to trail behind her without stabbing her in the back?" Beelzebub pointed out matter-of-factly. "For someone with [Discernment Magic], you really can be oblivious to the obvious, you know that? I was basically here the whole time-"

"GET OUT!"

Lucifuge's [Discernment Magic] then registers Beelzebub as a "threat" causing her to warp the reality around her to evict him out of the Eighth Layer, [Fraud] with just her mere thoughts and words.

Lucifuge's perception on reality itself was so warped, that she can exert full control on what's around her surroundings, that her [Discernment Magic] can not only differentiate what's true and what's not, but can also decide what's the "truth" and what's the "lie" in any given situation.

Her sin, [Paranoia], was no mere title or brand.

It was her very being as a Demon. Lucifuge is [Paranoia] itself.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUUUUUUUT!"

The whole plane around Beelzebub's existence began to twist and contort beyond any recognition.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Beelzebub then finds himself at the [Qliphoth], back on his throne.

"... Prissy little bitch."

The crocodilian Demon then snatches a [Stygian] out of the air, right before biting its head off for a quick meal.

"... It's not like you stopped me from knowing to begin with." The crocodilian Demon pointed out as he chewed on his meal. "That, and well, I let her evict me, because SOMETHING'S gotta happen other than the same ol' shit.

Ulster Territory, Spade Kingdom, Evening

"OMIGOD, IT'S RIGHT BEHIND US!"

"MAN, THIS IS SLAPPN' AWESOME!"

A lone carriage pulled by a muscular man with a youthful face, carrying two terrified families (one legitimate, the other adoptive) and one slate-faced girl clutching onto a severed head of a silver-haired youth encased in a large crystal, was being chased by a large, serpentine creature with blade-like maws, moss-green and soil-brown scales that glimmered off the setting sun above, and a pair of topaz eyes glaring down at the carriage as it relentlessly pursued them on an endless sea of dark-emerald open glades of Ulster.

... That creature behind them, was a [Lindwyrm], an apex-predator Wilderbeast, that which it's preferred method of hunting down it's favorite prey of whatever living being it can cram it into its maw was to tunnel underground, wait for their prey to pass by. emerge from the underground, and devour them from behind, or, as in the case for the Diamond Kingdom Remnants, chase them down to one of the many tunnels that dug into.

This specific variant, the [Guerrilla Lindwyrm], was native to the Ulster Territory, and out of all the variants, this was the largest, clocking in at 45ft tall, 60ft wide, and 900 ft long, weighing over 22 tons, and devours roughly three times its normal body weight to quell its aggression rooted from its titanic hunger.

No creature, whether mage or Wilderbeast, has ever succeeded quelling such monstrosity.

"JUST WHAT IS THAT THING WHY IS IT CHASING IT US!?" Fanzell cried out. "MY [WIND MAGIC] JUST MADE EVEN ANGIER!"

"I DUUNO!" Heracles replied. "I WAS GOING TO FIGHT THAT THING, BUT IT WOULD REALLY SUCK IF YOU GUYS GOT EATEN BY THAT THING BACK THERE!"

"YOU SAID THAT ULSTER WAS DANGEROUS!" Dominante remarked in a panicked tone. "THIS IS NOT DANGEROUS, IT'S SUICIDE!"

"THAT'S THE BEST PART ABOUT ULSTER!" Heracles cheerfully pointed out. "THE WILDLIFE HERE IS REALLY WELCOMING FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME!"

"YOU'RE NOT LIKE MOST PEOPLE, HERACLES!" Violet called out.

"THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT!" Heracles thanked.

"THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT!"

The [Lindwyrm] behind them began to accelerate towards them, gradually opening its titanic maw to scoop them into its mouth and down into its belly.

"IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!" Mariella cried out.

"THEN GRAB ONTO SOMETHING ALL OF YOU!"

Heracles's footstep began to grow heavier, and more impactful, each step emitting a slight tremor.

"[GRAVITY REINFORCEMENT MAGIC: CYCLE STRIDERS]!"

Heracles then began running even faster, with the whole carriage behind them starting to rock even more violently.

Amidst the rocking, Mariella tries to hold on, but as she herself was the closest to the edge of the carriage...

*THUD*

... Upon one of the wheels hitting a boulder, Mariella is then sent flying out of her carriage and into the mouth of the beast behind them.

"MARI!" Fanzell cried out as he futilely reached out his hand towards the flying ex-assassin.

But before the titanic Wilderbeast can claim its meal, a cloaked figure from atop the hill runs towards the Wilderbeast.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" The figure remarked as he opened his grimoire. "[Brimstone Magic: Apophis Exhaust]!"

A giant cobra roughly the size of the [Lindwyrm], made of white-hot ash, emerged behind the figure right before it breathed out a massive stream of scorching ash and smoke towards the Wilderbeast, boiling and searing it alive as the beast began to thrash and coil in the scorching fumes.

... With Mariella still falling towards it.

"MARI-"

"WADJET!"

From the cloaked man, a serpent made of black flames emerge from him, grabbing and coiling itself around her wrist before catching her in the figure's arms.

"You okay?" The figure stated.

"... Uh, yeah. Almost died there." Mariella remarked with a slight heave. "... Can you let me go now?"

"Ah, right."

The figure then lets her down from his arms, with the rest of the carriage coming back towards her.

"MARI!" Both Fanzell and Dominante cried out as both ran towards her before embracing her.

"Oh thank god, you're alright..." Fanzell cried out.

"We weren't ready to lose you, little Mari..." Dominante sobbed out. "Especially not after what happened..."

"Um... pardon me."

The two then look at the cloaked man, who takes off his hood to reveal a blue and red hetrochromia-eyed young man with short, scruffy black hair with a white streak running down his left fringe, and on his cheek and down to his neck was an animated tattoo of a serpent made of black flames.

"Oh, right." Fanzell sighed out before he bowed. "Thank you for saving her from that beast."

"Eh, no problem." The young man remarked.

"Yes, for a fate to be devoured by a [Lindwyrm] is simply too cruel."

All of them take a step back upon hearing the snake tattoo on the man's cheek talk.

"... Don't worry." The young man reassured. "Wadjet doesn't mean any harm."

"Just who are you?" Dominante asked as she slowly reached for her grimoire.

"Well, first of all, I have a name and an occupation." The young man stated. "My name is Dune Pyrite, and I'm a traveling Demonologist."

"... Demon, what?" Fanzell asked as he grabbed onto his sword's hilt. "What do you mean, Demonologist?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Dune remarked. "I study Demons and everything related to them in hopes of disambiguating the enigmatic creatures. I'm currently on my way to Liberatium to submit my thesis on the Twelve Tyrants and their connection to the Eleven Elusive Evils."

"How should we know to trust you?" Mariella pointed out as she placed her hand on her dagger's pommel.

"I assume that you've all been attacked by a Demon, or perhaps, an Adaptor?" Dune hypothesized. "Either way, let me assure you, I mean no harm. I only carry a knife and staff with me for self-defense, and I assure you, Wadjet is trustworthy."

"The boy speaks the truth." Wadjet pointed out. "He has no reason to lie."

"Then why do you have a Demon on you!?" Fanzell snapped as he drew his broken sword and pointed it towards Dune. "No one accepts a Demon willingly unless it's for ill intent!"

"I know, I know, the Dark Triad and their Disciples, they're bad dudes, I get it." Dune annoyingly remarked. "But I assure you, me and a few others are exception to this whole rule. I assure you, our relationship is consensual. All Wadjet wants is to dote on me, and exchange, I become a Contractor to further my knowledge on the Demons."

"Yeah, well, tough luck kid." Fanzell growled out. "The entirety of the Diamond Kingdom got reduced to a flat wasteland thanks to one of your kind."

"And once again, I told you, I'm not that kind of a Contractor." Dune retorted. "... Wait, you guys are survivors from that attack back seven months ago!?"

He then takes out a notepad and a stick of charcoal.

"Tell me more!" Dune enthusiastically asked. "What magic did the Demon use? How powerful was it? What was its behavior-"

"Please, just... just stop."

Fanzell then lets out a heavy sigh before walking away from him.

"Look, we're grateful that you saved one of ours, but as of right now, we're trying to get by after all that." Fanzell stated. "It's probably for the best to not get involved in this-"

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Next to Dune and Fanzell, a burly man with a flowing black cape and light silver plate armor crashed besides them, carrying a massive double-bladed battleaxe over his shoulders, and his short, spiked hair bristled in the evening wind.

"Don't you think that you can get away from me, Demon." The armored man growled out as he dragged his axe across the glades. "My [Beast Slayer, Labrys], roars out for your filthy blood to be stained onto its blades."

"Aw goddammit. You again!?" Dune exasperatedly remarked. "I thought I lost you three days ago!"

"A sad attempt, regardless." The armored man with an axe stated. "No Demon, or their sycophants will ever escape might righteous wrath!"

"For the last, fucking, time! I am not, like them!" Dune loudly protested.

"YOU'RE ALL THE SAME AND WILL END UP THE SAME!" The man bellowed out. "DEAD ON THE DIRT, RIGHT WHERE YOU BELONG!"

He then charges forth, with his axe raised up into the air, as he leaped towards Dune with bloodlust akin to a raging ocean.

"[Gravity Magic: Meteor Guillotine]!"

The head of his [Labrys] becomes surrounded in a translucent dark-gray orb of its stated magic, right before crashing down onto the earth in a force akin to a meteorite.

*CLANG*

... Only to be stopped by a bare hand.

"Hey there!" Heracles happily stated.

"My quarrel is not with you, stranger." The armored man remarked. "Do not get in the way of my work!"

"Well, then I'll be in your way!" Heracles remarked much to everyone's surprise. "If I get in your way, that you'll have to fight me, and if I fight you, that means that you'll make me stronger, right?"

"I SAID GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

The armored man's whole body then is shrouded with a translucent dark-gray aura.

"[Gravity Reinforcement Magic: Kinetic Mail]!" The man announced. "One final warning, stranger. Walk away, or I'll put you away, permanently."

"Ooh! I felt that!" Heracles remarked. "You're really strong, aren't you? In that case..."

Heracles then lets out a yell as the ground beneath him cratered while his mana signature skyrocketed instantaneously.

"BRING IT ON!" Heracles roared out enthusiastically. "THIS IS WHAT I CAME FOR! I AM HERACLES, AND I'VE COME TO BECOME THE STRONGEST BEING IN THE WHOLE WORLD!"

"... So you've chosen death."

The armored man's mana signature then spikes immensely, rivaling Heracles in sheer force exerted, sending Fanzell, Dominante, Mariella, and Dune tumbling back.

"THEN REMEMBER THIS NAME WHEN YOU ARRIVE STRAIGHT AT THE GATES OF HELL!" The armored man roared out. "I AM BIZON REZNOV! SON OF SHPAGIN AND SUDAYEV REZNOV, INQUISITOR OF AVALON'S ORDER OF THE SPADE CROSS, THEIR SOLE AVENGER, AND YOUR EXECUTIONER! PREPARE TO DIE, DEMON-WORSHIPPER!"

The two men then clash, sending everything around them, from person to every blade of grass on the everglades flying into the air.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" Fanzell cried out as he and the others were sent hurling into the air.

"We might want to find cover as soon we land." Dune nonchalantly remarked.

But as there were two, [Gravity Magic] users clashing against each other, none of them even reach the earth below.

"... Assuming if we don't up as dinner for the passing [Wyverns]."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: And with that, the transition to another arc of pure insanity begins.

The Inquisitors are now readying themselves for a joint front against the Demons with the Clover Kingdom and the Heart Kingdom, Tiamat's revealed to have eaten 26 species of Wilderbeasts to extinction (Toriko reference), plans to add the Grinberryalls as her 27th, revealed to be worshipping the opposite of Sephira, Astarte, The Neo Eye of the Midnight Sun/Illuminati are steadily gaining more recruits, with Magna's older sister among them, Lucifuge couldn't even shut her own trap to save her own life, Beelzebub makes it clear that he's clearly above her in Hell's pecking order, and to top it all off, a Demonologist and an Inquisitor show up before the Diamond Kingdom Remnants.

... Oh, and also, gave the manga's canon a giant middle finger by having Tiamat be the cause of Yuno's little Kal-El backstory, right down to her erecting the skeletons of his parents as trophies commemorating to the beginning of her conquest.

Onto hypothetical voices for our new players into this game of [Armageddon]!

Orme Corovan: Kenji Fukuda (JPN), Ian Moore (ENG)

Nikolas Tesla (in a lamp): Kaito Ishikawa (JPN), Matt Shipman (ENG)

Dune Pyrite (with the blessing of Masked Spider, my fellow fanfic writer, collaborator, and best conversationalist): Daisuke Namikawa (JPN), Alejandro Saab (ENG)

Wadjet: Yoko Hikasa (JPN), Ryan Reynolds (NOT the one that played Deadpool, the Voice Actress who has the same name, yes, SHE; ENG)

Bizon Reznov: Takuma Terashima (JPN), SungWon Cho/ProZD (ENG)

So, what do you readers think of this Saga?

Please leave a comment or a review, for I'd like to know what you guys are thinking!