"This is amazing!" Le Fay said with a bright smile on her face as I took her through the ins and outs of her new bracer.
It had been a couple of weeks since I'd shown up at the manor and things had settled into something of a routine.
We'd eat breakfast, someone, or multiple someones as often happened, would get into a brawl in the training field, then we'd chill out and play video games or watch movies.
Whenever I got bored of any of the above, I wandered through the frankly massive library the Pendragon family had accumulated over the years. They had spell books from all schools of magic I'd ever heard of, manuals on how to combat every type of supernatural creature under the sun, and even a handy little notebook on how to properly maintain a garden. If I wanted to know something, I just had to spend the time looking for it. Or cheat and use my magic to lead me. Two guesses as to which method I used most often.
It was nice to have access to a library. For some reason, despite the mind boggling amount of resources he dedicated to me, Azazel never let me into his. I had free reign of the standard Grigori stacks, but there were less there than at a used bookstore. In the Pendragon's trove I was actually able to pick up some new spells, something that hadn't happened in quite a while.
Kuroka and I…. We had yet to discuss what had happened. She was still friendly and didn't act weird around me, so that was good. I got the feeling she was waiting for me to bring it up, which meant it either would never happen, or I'd bring it up just long enough to let her know I would never bring it up again so she could move on. I needed to do the second one sooner rather than later. The whole….thing was hanging over my head and causing me a lot of unnecessary stress.
The world had gone even further down the toilet while we'd been lounging in our pocket dimension. Through my spirits, we were able to learn that the Old Satan Faction was now making coordinated assaults against the New Satans and were slowly taking ground. The spirits I had on Azazel told me that he was considering helping the New Satans beat back the old to help maintain the fragile peace, but at this point it just seemed like a matter of time before everything kicked off.
Another pair of blue energy beams shot out from Le Fay, connecting with two seperate straw targets.
"How did you ever manage to make something like this? It's wonderful!" the young woman said. She had grown somewhat obsessed with the bracer in the short time she'd been in possession of it, and I couldn't blame her. It was a great piece of artifice.
Was I still bitter about giving it away and not getting my balance breaker out of the sucky deal? Absolutely, but that wasn't Le Fay's fault. I wasn't going to be pissed at her for something she had nothing to do with; it was much more productive to be pissed at Ddraig.
It would have worked if the cat hadn't sabotaged my efforts.
Fuck you, too, buddy.
"The process of how I made it would take a full day and a half to explain, even to someone like you who would understand the majority of what I was saying. Since your brother is here, I'll just say it took a lot of hard work and elbow grease." Turning to Arthur, I added a quick, "No offense."
"None taken." the knight assured me. "I am well aware of the fact I lack my sister's talent for magic. Though since the topic has been broached, I must say the sword you use during our duels is a work of true art. Would I be correct in assuming you created it, as well?"
Summoning Boosted Gear to unsheathe my sword, I still hadn't come up with a name for it yet, I held it out to Arthur as I said, "You would. A lot more work went into that than the bracer, and I will not be able to make something even close to resembling its power again now that I don't have Azazel's unlimited resources at my disposal."
Arthur took the offered blade and with practiced ease spun it around, getting a feel for the balance and motion.
"A little shorter than I prefer, but its abilities would certainly be enough to convince me to take it up." Arthur said as he returned the sword.
"Sorry." I said. "This one I'm keeping. If the bracer doesn't cover room and board for at least a year, then you better be spiking the chicken casserole with ambrosia."
Le Fasy laughed and said, "Don't worry. He has a sword already. He's just a sword nerd." She punctuated her sentence by lobbing two bolts of red energy at two more targets; one from her hand, and the other from the gem on the bracer. "Hey, Xarion! Do you think you could teach me to freeze people the way you froze Kuroka?"
I stared at her for a second before saying, "How good are you at space magic?"
Frowning, she said, "Not too great. I've never been very good with it and all the books in the library are for advanced use. There aren't any starter spells or exercises."
I bent over and plucked a single blade of grass, holding it up to Le Fay's eye level. "Then here's your first practice exercise. Take something that is no heavier than a penny, and do this with it." The green blade levitated above my palm and began to orbit my hand, making clockwise circles around it. "As you get better, instead of adding weight, add more coins. It is much more effective at teaching you control, and for space magic, control is the most important thing. All you need to do to pull off something big is to throw more mana behind it." I plucked the grass out of the air as it spun back around and held it out to Le Fay.
Her forehead creased in concentration as she took it from me, placing it in the palm of her hand. The blade wobbled unsteadily into the air, a stark contrast from the fluid movements it made when I manipulated it, and started to drift around her hand. Suddenly, the grass shot away from her and sailed out into the field, going a surprising distance considering how easily the air should have destroyed its trajectory.
"Too much mana." I said, taking note of what went wrong. "It was a good first try though. Just keep at it. Once you can individually control twenty-five pennies on each hand, come see me again. You'll have enough control to freeze people."
Le Fay's jaw fell open. "Twenty-five on each hand! That's going to take forever!"
Raising an eyebrow, I said, "I never claimed it was easy."
Le Fay huffed, a look of concentration on her face as she bent to pick up another blade of grass. Her impromptu spacial magic practice was interrupted by Vali's untimely arrival.
"We have been called in. Get everything you need in case of a fight and meet me in the entry room in fifteen minutes." With that, he turned around and walked back towards the house; likely to find everyone else and give them the same message.
"I'll meet you both in the entry room." I said in parting to Arthur and Le Fay as I headed back towards the manor. The two of them started lightly jogging towards one of the other entrances to prepare themselves.
First mission! This is exciting.
If it unlocks the balance breaker, I will enjoy it. Otherwise it is a waste of our time.
Ddraig, how have you existed for eons being so stuck up? You should have died of stress by now.
I only encourage stress when it is necessary. Such is the case with the balance breaker you have yet to unlock.
I'll do my best to unlock it during this mission. Happy?
It will suffice, but only because I know I cannot hope for better.
You can be a real asshole sometimes, Ddraig.
X
A short while later, all six of us were gathered in the entry hall. Bikou was wearing a set of red armor that I hadn't seen him in before, and Ls Fay was wearing various bits of enchanted jewelry. Other than that, everyone looked the same. Vali stepped towards the rest of us, pulling everyone's attention.
"We're meeting with Ophis to pick up our assignment. She was as descriptive as normal about our missions, so I have no idea what we'll be doing. Be ready for anything." When he was finished speaking, a teleportation circle expanded out from beneath him and we all were sucked away from the Pendragon's manor.
Reappearing in a high-ceilinged room, everyone walked over to a large, circular table and took a seat. Following them, I sat down as I observed the others already at the table.
There was a woman wearing a dark purple dress that was the same color as her eyes sitting closest to us. She had brown hair and looked at each of us with a calculating gaze from behind her square spectacles.
The second figure was a pale man with long, pointed ears protruding out from a thick mane of black hair.
The third was a man in rather gaudy armor with brown hair that fell down in front of his eyes. These three were all seated at the table, while the fourth figure waiting for us was standing in the middle of it.
She looked like a child, but given the power I felt radiating off of her, I knew she was anything but. She had long black hair that was a breath away from touching the ground and wore a dress cut around her chest, two X's of electrical tape were the only thing covering her nipples.
"You're here." the woman standing on the table said in a voice lacking any form of emotion. "They have agreed to help kill Great Red if we kill some devils. You're going to help them kill devils so they kill Great Red with us."
Easily accepting the woman's words, Vali looked at the others seated around the table and said, "You represent the Old Satan Faction, yes? It makes sense why you're after devils, but who specifically are we fighting?"
"The Phenex clan has wronged us." the woman with spectacles said, cutting to the chase. "We graciously offered them a position of power within our faction, but they spit in our faces. They must be made an example of. We will be marching on their estate and killing all within it."
Through my spies, I'd seen some Underworld broadcasts about the Phenex clan's loyalty and how it was a shining beacon or something like that. Had I known it would kick off a revenge attack, I would have told Vali and everyone else on the team.
"I would assume you have a way to get around their regeneration? Killing them the old fashioned way would work, but not soon enough to avoid the reinforcements the New Satans will drop on our heads." I said to the woman who had answered Vali's question. She seemed to be the spokesperson.
The woman looked down her nose at me as she said, "We will deal with the members of the Phenex family. You will face their underlings so no one disturbs us."
Bikou's laughter drew everyone's attention. "You don't know how we operate. If I see someone I want to fight, I'm fighting them. I don't care whether they're off limits or not."
The pale man with the pointed ears rushed to his feet, hissing at Bikou. "Ignorant, flea! You will do as you are told or I will-"
The temperature in the room dropped below freezing as the woman in the body of a girl standing on the table glared at the devil across from us. "My monkey is going to help you fight. If you are mean to my monkey I will kill you."
Somehow, the man paled even further as he sat back down, sufficiently cowed by the gaze of the small child.
The freezing temperature disappeared as the small girl turned to face Vali. "Go kill the Phenex clan, dragon. When you do, the devils will help against Great Red." The girl's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as she turned to face me.
Under her gaze, I felt like a dust mite staring down a mammoth. She was so high above me that I could not even see her across the distance.
"I didn't know I had a second dragon." the girl said in her same, emotionless monotone. "That is good. You will help kill Great Red and return my silence."
Because I had a sense of self-preservation, I said, "Yes."
The girl bobbed her head up and down, then sat down on the table, crossing her legs underneath her. "Go away. You're all loud."
The devils stood and walked over to us.
"I will transport us all to where we are preparing our attack." the woman said as a teleportation circle expanded out from her to encompass everyone save Ophis who was dispassionately staring at a blank wall.
In a flash of violet light, we appeared in what appeared to be a command room. There were several monitors arrayed on the walls and important looking devils squabbled over maps as the woman who teleported us stepped forward.
"Our…. allies have arrived. Make any final preparations for our attack and take your positions."
"Six? Six children?" a devil with red hair said in disbelief as he looked at us. "Lady Leviathan, the dragon must have cheated you. I could slaughter them all on my own."
Leviathan, huh? That meant she was Katarea. I'd already assumed as much given that she was the only female of the three who'd met us and the Old Satan Faction only had three leaders, but it was nice to have confirmation. The other two were Shalba and Creusero...Creutor….Crunio? Something with a 'C'. My spirits weren't able to ever get a look at any pictures of them, so all I had were names.
"By all means, attack them. It will save me the trouble of having to explain this again." Katarea said as she stepped out of the way.
Snorting dismissively at us, the red harried devil held up his hand and a spell circle appeared before it.
Stepping out of an illusion as I went invisible, I brought my own hand up and countered his spell, tearing apart the spell circle he'd just created.
His eyes shot wide as he stared disbelievingly at his hand.
Using the opening, I gripped his shadow with my magic and sharpened it into a spear. All the devils in the room went slack jawed as the red haired devil's own shadow speared through his throat.
The devil went limp, falling to the ground only to rise again, an unnatural green energy present in his eyes that was not there before.
Stepping back into my illusion as my invisibility faded, no one had any idea I'd even moved. My newest zombie walked over to us and took its position behind me. "Anyone else?" I asked the room, looking each devil in the eyes as I gazed around the room.
I heard a whisper of, "Illusive Necrosage." as the devils realized who I was. I would be irritated at their use of that stupid nickname, but it did a good job of driving home just who they were looking at.
"No one else, then?" I said to the room.
"Good." Katarea said, obviously uncaring that her underling was just killed in front of her. She likely valued our aid over a few disposable soldiers. Devils were calculating like that. "Break into your attack groups. We will begin the assault in five minutes. Antioch, you are no longer on overwatch. Take Zetrion's place."
The devils in the room exploded into action, both to follow Katarea's orders and to get the hell away from me. There were more than a few terrified glances sent at the zombie behind me as they fled.
"Where will we be during this attack?" Vali said, looking at Katarea.
"Your group will join our attack force. Your first priority is to keep the Peerage members of the Phenex household at bay while we deal with the Phenexes themselves." the Leviathan answered.
Bikou snorted, which did a good job of saying just how he felt about leaving the big guys to the devils.
"Listen here, you little shit!" the pale devil said as he marched towards Bikou. "Your master isn't here to protect you now, so if I were you, I would show us the deference we des-" A hissing sound from inside his robe stalled the devil's words.
A long, thin, dark purple snake slithered out of his collar and bared its fangs in his face.
Seething, but not stupid enough to miss the blatant threat, the devil backed off of Bikou, causing Bikou's cocky grin to grow that much wider.
Ophis could see and hear through her snakes. That was good to know.
"Enough posturing." Katarea said, sounding irritated with her fellow devil. "The attack begins soon. Everyone gather around me."
We did as she said and were once more pulled away by her teleportation spell.
This time, rather than arriving in a building, we appeared in a grassy area a short distance from a warded iron gate. Beyond the gate stood a mansion more grand than the Pendragon estate. There was a vibrant garden of trimmed hedges leading up to a magnificent castle painted in dark red and bronze. Over a dozen towers rose up from the ground to touch the sky, and a sturdy stone wall was erected just beyond the garden to further defend the home.
"Shalba, signal the attack." the Leviathan said.
The brown haired devil lazily raised a hand and a thin bolt of red energy fired into the air from his palm.
For a moment following his spell, there was complete silence. That silence was quickly broken as a battle cry was taken up by hundreds of devils appearing as if from nowhere.
Spell after spell was launched towards the castle, all stopped cold by the shimmering dome of energy that appeared along the fence's perimeter.
"White Dragon Emperor, if you would?" Katarea said politely.
Vali sauntered up to the barrier as his white armor materialized around him. Rearing back, he slammed his fist into the barrier.
DIVIDE!
A deep, powerful voice rang across the field as Vali continued striking the barrier, each blow noticeably weakening it.
DIVIDE!
DIVIDE!
DIVIDE!
DIVIDE!
DIVIDE!
With an explosion of mana, the dome popped out of existence. A raucous cheer rose up among the attacking devils as they all flew unbarred towards the castle.
From the castle itself, devils began to take to the sky to meet the attackers, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. The Old Satan Faction had brought over a thousand warriors. The Phenex household, no matter how powerful, did not have that many guards on hand. Their only hope was for backup to arrive before they were destroyed.
A victorious smirk appeared on Katarea's face before she quickly schooled herself and said, "We need to move. Creuserey," so that was how you said it. "Find the Lord and Lady. We need to end them now."
The devil in question closed his eyes, then snapped them back open, now fixed on a specific point in the castle. "Follow me."
He and the other two devils shot into the sky, Vali following with his wings, La Fay and Arthur on a magical disk, and Bikou by somehow jumping off the air.
Meanwhile, I just stood there like an idiot.
The balance breaker is looking really good right about now, isn't it, host?
Shut up.
Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted into the air. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Kuroka had looped her hands underneath my armpits and was carrying me after our party.
"Enjoying the view?" she said as she pressed her arms even closer together to accentuate her chest.
"We're in the middle of a warzone." I said in a deadpan tone.
"Battles make me horny. It's totally normal." Kuroka said dismissively as my zombie followed behind us.
A little ways ahead of us, Creuserey knocked down a section of the castle's walls and everyone piled through it as the mooks from the Old Satan Faction distracted the estate guards and servants; they were devil servants, so even they were deadly.
Kuroka followed them through the hole and we found ourselves in a throne room. Our allies were squaring off against a large force across the long room.
"You should have accepted our offer." Shalba said as he let his cloak fall to the floor in preparation for combat. "We were more than gracious to allow you a place in our new world."
"You're all insane." a tall, blonde man in a red suit said as he narrowed his eyes. There were several others with him. A woman standing by his side, four younger devils appearing to be their children, and a host of devils of lesser power I assumed to be their peerages.
As Kuroka put me down, her breath caught in her throat. "Shirone." she said quietly, her gaze fixed on a small girl peeking out from behind a young woman with red hair.
Do you know her? I asked in her mind.
She's my sister. Kuroka said back, impressive given she'd never mentally communicated before, but she was focused on her sister, so there was little to distract her.
If you get a chance to get her out of here, take it. We can handle everything; especially when the devils start dying. I'll be able to raise them to fight for us.
Thank you. Kuroka said, slinking behind the posturing devils to get into a better position to snatch up her sister.
"-ans are false!" Katarea yelled, I had missed the majority of the conversation while I was talking to Kuroka. "You will be our message to the Underworld. This is what happens when you follow pretenders!" She held her hand out and a black dragon's head exploded out from a spell circle she summoned.
With that, all hell broke loose.
Shalba knocked Lord Phenex through a wall and the two started trying to destroy one another, Katarea and Lady Phenex flew up through a fresh hole in the ceiling while hurling spells at each other, Creuserey and the oldest looking Phenex son engaged each other.
The rest of us were left to face the combined might of six peerages and a handful of guards who had been close to the Phenex family when the attack started. Joy.
Wanting to even the odds as quickly as possible, I summoned Boosted Gear and began amplifying my magic.
BOOST!
All eyes turned to me as Ddraig's voice rang out around the room.
"It was you!'' The red haired devil woman Kuroka's sister was hiding behind bellowed in rage. "I'll kill you!" The air around her began to warp and distort as orbs of concentrated nothingness appeared in her hands.
First target acquired.
BOOST!
Ddraig called again, filling me with enough strength to make use of something that, until now, had never worked against devils.
Holding out my hand in the girl's direction, I clenched my fist and the massive power surrounding the girl faded to nothing.
The fledgling battle around me ground to a halt as the woman's body hit the ground with a heavy splat. Before anyone could fully make sense of the instant death spell I'd just hit her with, I channeled mana into her corpse, and she began to rise again under my command.
"Xarion, did you just kill her by looking at her?" Vali said into the stillness created by my spell, sounding impressed.
"Yes, Vali, I did. Thank you for drawing attention to that fact and making me the most desirable target of anyone here."
"You're welcome." he said unrepentantly.
Balance breaker is looking reeeeeeal nice right about now isn't it, host?
Shut up and help me not die.
"You killed Riser's wife!" one of the younger looking Phenex children called, his entire body lighting on fire as two burning wings emerged from his back.
There was the rage I was expecting from killing one of their…. Wait, did he just refer to himself in the third person?
I believe he did.
That's just stupi-
I started to say before I was bulldozed through a wall by the idiot in question. I was able to catch a glimpse of Bikou charging the other male Phenex, Arthur crossing blades with one of their peerage's knight, Le Fay using my bracer for all it was worth to throw spells around like candy, Kuroka blast a pair of devils away from her as she grabbed her sister and fled, I summoned a variety of shields to block the retaliatory spells heading her way so she could escape, and Vali absolutely dominating three devils at once. My zombies did their best to buy time for the others, but they were facing a shitload of enraged devils.
They'd probably be fine. I had more important problems. Like, say, the fact that I was currently on fire.
Snapping my fingers, I swapped places with a hastily crafted illusion to free myself from 'Riser's' grip, gently patting the flames as they danced over my fire protection ward. And to think people had called me paranoid for creating it.
"Riser will kill you!" the flaming chicken yelled as he set a pillar of fire towards me.
Rolling out of the way, I conjured three separate illusions that all dodged the pillar in a different direction. Then each illusion split into four more as I cloaked myself in invisibility.
"Coward! Face Riser!" my opponent called as he sent a shockwave of flame out from himself.
It was time to wrap this up and get back to help my team. This guy fought like a sledgehammer. He had a lot of power and he relied on throwing it around like a sack of potatoes to win. I was a scalpel. Not only did I have a lot of power at my disposal, I actually knew how to use it.
Reaching up and grasping onto one of the only shadows still present that I could see in the wake of the burning sun, the one in Riser's mouth, I forced it to expand outward into a porcupine of spikes.
Riser's magic cut off as he gripped at his mouth, trying to tear my intangible spears out of his mouth.
With his inferno dissipating, more shadows revealed themselves, allowing me to send a tendril up to Riser's leg and pull him down to the ground onto a bed of even more spikes.
The Phenex howled in pain as he was impaled by dozens of shadows, but he forced himself free of them and his wounds healed almost immediately.
Changing tactics, I drew my sword from where it rested in Boosted Gear and distracted Riser with an illusion so I could sneak up behind him.
"Riser will-"
Whatever he had been about to say was cut short as I stabbed my blade through the back of his skull, twisting and prying it around to do as much damage as possible.
I didn't expect it to truly kill him, but it would drain enough of his mana that he wouldn't be able to regenerate as effectively once I removed-
Host, look.
Following, Ddraig's mental direction, I looked down at my sword, my eyes widening in disbelief as I saw what was happening. As Riser's flames moved to regenerate the wound I was still causing in his head, they were sucked into my sword and transferred down its hilt into me. With each passing moment, I felt a powerful, cleansing fire flow into my very being as it was sapped away from Riser.
The devil fell to his knees, still somehow alive even with his regeneration failing him, but he was fading fast.
Removing my blade from his skull I jammed it down into his heart and felt a pulse through the sword as even more fire settled into my soul.
Riser's body went slack around my blade as the fire left him, having breathed his last.
Pulling my sword free from the corpse, I looked down at my hands.
Flexing the new presence in my soul, I summoned the same fire Riser had just assaulted me with into being.
This was…. I'd somehow stolen his power.
It appears your blade is more potent than even you believed. You will need to think of a name for it once this battle is concluded. Such a powerful weapon deserves a moniker.
No need. It's name is Sil Du. Soul Devourer. I said, the name coming to me from long slumbering memories of a land whose hero feasted on the souls of dead dragons.
A fine and fitting name. Now rejoin the battle. Your team needs you.
Throwing a quick spell over my shoulder to raise Riser's corpse, I shielded myself under an invisibility spell as I entered the throne room once more.
The place had turned into a crater. Where before glorious support columns and statues of pure gold lined the walls, now there was nothing but rubble and blood.
Flexing my power once more, I raised the eight dead devils I saw on the ground and rushed towards Le Fay. She was dueling the only daughter of the Phenex clan and, as evidenced by the frustrated furrowing of her eyebrows, was having difficulty beating the girl's regeneration.
"Filthy human! When I'm done with you I'll-"
The girl's taunt cut off with a gasp as I pierced her through the heart with Sil Du.
Just like her brother before her, her healing tried to seal over the wound in her chest, but Sil Du consumed it all, channeling it back into me. She must have been much weaker than her brother because it was only a few seconds before she fell over dead, the last of her power now coursing through my veins.
With a flick of my wrist, her body began to rise again as I turned to Le Fay and said, "Are you alright?"
She nodded and said, "Thanks for the help. We need to finish off the last Phenex and leave. I can already feel reinforcements arriving from the New Satan's faction."
I looked over the rest of the room and saw Arthur, my zombies and Vali holding off a small army of devils while Bikou battled the last of the Phenex children.
While The Monkey King seemed to be having the time of his life, his staff and youjutsu attacks just weren't doing anything to the Phenex that his regeneration couldn't fix.
"Bikou! Switch!" Vali called, leaving the sea of devils behind him as he charged towards the last Phenex.
Bikou, responding immediately, leapt away from the Phenex and landed in the middle of the oncoming devils, rapidly striking out with his staff, tail and legs to knock them all around.
BOOST!
I summoned Boosted Gear as I charged towards the devils trying to break through Arthur and Bikou, raising the devils that fell around them to aid them.
BOOST!
DIVIDE!
I continued to power up while Vali slammed his fist into the last Phenex, using Divine Dividing to suck away the Phenex's regeneration.
BOOST!
DIVIDE!
"Everyone behind me!" I yelled as I faced the door, arms outstretched. Bikou and Arthur disengaged while my zombies covered them, allowing me to cast my spell without harming them.
Screaming as I unleashed my newfound power, a wave of necrotic, green soulfire exploded out from my hands, blanketing every devil trying to make it through the door. I'd combined my new phoenix fire with my necromancy to create an even deadlier flame, and the results speak for themselves.
Any devil that took a solid hit from the flames fell over screaming as their soul was sucked out by the fire. Those who only received small burns fell over in agony as they did everything they could to put the flame out.
DIVIDE!
I looked over as the last of the Phenex's regeneration was sapped away by Vali's Sacred Gear, allowing him to break the man's neck.
"We need to go!" Le Fay said in a panic as she ran over to us, all the devils in the vicinity either dead or incapacitated. "The New Satans just arrived. We're no match for them!"
"Where are they?" I said as I raised every corpse in the vicinity. "I'll send the zombies at them to stall while we flee."
Le Fay pointed out through the hole we'd entered, and I sent an army of undead devils pouring out of it to cover our getaway.
"We need to get past the wards before we can teleport." Vali said. "Everyone follow me." Vali took off into the air, everyone following behind him, once more leaving me in the dust.
That balance breaker is looking reeeeeeeeal nice ri-
Shut up and let me think!
I recalled a zombie to carry me away, but it was crushed under a piece of ceiling as the whole castle started to come down around my head.
Sprinting to the hole the others flew out of, I had no choice but to jump out as the rest of the structure collapsed behind me.
Holding my hands out in front of me, I summoned two jets of fire to try to slow my descent like Iron Man, but I was too low for that to work. I needed to fly! I needed-
An idea came to me, and I forced my new phoenix fire out through my shoulder blades, creating two flaming wings just like Riser had when we'd fought. Instantly, I stopped falling and was able to rocket after my teammates.
"Hell, yeah!" I whooped as I experienced unassisted flight for the first time, easily winding in and out of the devils fighting around me as I flew. It was as if flying was second nature with my new wings, I knew exactly how to maneuver to move a certain direction and I made full use of it to catch up with my team just as they passed the boundary of the Phenex estate.
"Everyone to me." Vali said as a teleportation circle appeared under him.
The next moment, we were back in the planning room we'd stopped in before the assault, the only others in the room were the three descendants of the former Satans.
"It is not for nothing." Shalba said, trying to placate an enraged Creuserey. "The Lord, Lady and heir of the house are dead. That is sufficient to embarrass the pretenders."
"But the line is not extinct! We declared it would be so and will now lose face in the eyes of our followers. We lost too many of our warriors to make an attempt like this again." Creuserey said, seething in hatred.
"Actually," Vali said, hands in his pockets as he strode up to the trio. "All of the Phenex clan is dead. We killed the three you missed. You're welcome. We're going home."
"Wait!" Katarea called to stop Vali from teleporting. "How did you kill them? You should not have been able to overcome their regeneration."
"I have Divine Dividing." Vali said, stating the obvious. "As for how Xarion did it, I have no idea." He threw me a smirk as all eyes in the room turned to me.
"Trade secret." I said, not wanting these insane devils to know I had a weapon capable of siphoning away a devil's family bloodline. Them knowing that little nugget seemed like it would end terribly for me.
Katarea's eyes narrowed as she studied me. "I have a set of unbound Evil Pieces." she randomly declared. "I intercepted them early on so they were never assigned to a King. As a result, they come with no compulsions attached to them. If you join us, I will give you the Que-"
"Pass. I'm not interested in a suspiciously untainted set of Evil Pieces. I don't know you, nor do I trust you. So long as we're on the same side, I'll work with you, but I'm not letting you put one of those things in me." I turned to Vali and said, "Are we done here?"
He nodded and a teleportation circle emerged from him. "If you need us again, make contact with Ophis. She'll coordinate everything." he said, addressing the devils just before we were transported back to the Pendragon's estate.
"Le Fay, do you sense Kuroka here?" I said, getting a little worried that we hadn't run into her yet.
"She's in her room." Le Fay said after a moment. "And she's not alone, there's someone with her."
"Good." I said. "That means she was able to get away with her sister. Now, it's been fun, but I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. See you all tomorrow." I gave a parting wave over my shoulder as I headed into the manor.
Making my way to Kuroka's room, I stopped in front of her door, knocking quietly. If she didn't answer, I would leave her be.
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal Kuroka; there were tear stains on her face.
"Xarion? You're back! Did everyone….?"
"They're all fine." I said in assurance, causing her to relax. "I was just checking on you. Is everything….?"
"No. But we're getting there. Thank you for covering our escape."
"You're welcome. I just wanted to check on you and let you know we're back, I'll leave you to talk with your sister." I moved to walk away, but stopped myself.
"Actually, Kuroka?"
She stopped with the door half closed, opening it once more. "Yes."
"I know this is the worst possible time to say this, but I'll never do it otherwise. I genuinely do not think we would work together. I'm just…. I can't go through any of that again. It's wrong of me to keep you waiting, so feel free to search elsewhere because I-"
Moving quickly, Kuroka closed the door behind her and cut me off with a kiss. She pressed herself into me for several, beautifully long moments before pulling away, putting her hand over my mouth to keep me from speaking.
"Someone hurt you. They hurt you badly; that's plain enough for anyone to see. I promise you, I. Will. Not. Hurt. You. And I'm not going to let you get away. I'll make you happy even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming behind me. Now I would normally jump you right about now, but I need to get back to my emotionally abused sister. The devils have literally been referring to her as 'kitten' the entire time she's known them, and she's still coming to terms with the fact that everything I did, I did to protect her. This discussion is not over, just on hold." She pulled her hand away and pressed her lips into mine once more before retreating back into her room.
That was…. Wasn't I supposed to break things off with her?
At this rate, she's going to walk all over you, host. You need to take some control back.
I'll worry about that when I'm not covered in devil guts.
After heading back to my room, I cleaned all of the devil viscera off of me and laid down in my bed.
You didn't unlock the balance breaker.
Will you give it a rest with the damn balance breaker? I said to the voice in my head with a sigh. I got fire wings and devil fire. Why aren't we celebrating that acquisition?
Because it will not be enough to defeat Azazel and Beelzebub. You will have incited the ire of Lucifer as well now that you have killed his sister. You need the balance breaker.
I'll deal with it later. Now shut up and let me sleep.
Had I known how annoying Ddraig would be, I may have opted not to take Boosted Gear.
I closed my eyes and passed out. It had been a long day.