Anything you recognise isn't mine.
It took about twenty minutes for Roxas and Valian to walk, in almost complete silence, from the Bael Miracle Flo Garden to the entrance of Erechus Tower. Though Roxas suspected that the entrance of the tower would've been bustling with people in the actual Underworld, it looked creepier and more imposing than anything else in this replica, where, if his math was right, there was only eight people left in the entire city centre, including him and Valian.
Valian took a couple of steps in front of Roxas and opened one of the doors leading into the reception area of the tower, and followed her King in when he stepped inside.
The reception area looked relatively unassuming. There were several (empty) desks lining the walls on either side of Roxas and Valian, and a few chairs and couches (all coloured a dark purple) dotted around the area, close to some magazine racks. Up on the walls, there were eight large plasma screen TVs, which were all turned off at the moment. Beyond all this was a stairwell that led to a balcony, upon which Raven Branwen stood, looking down at Roxas and Valian, with Adam and Reiner standing on either side of her.
"You came." Raven remarked, simply, as Roxas and Valian walked forward. "I see you brought one of your four remaining servants."
"I see you brought both of your remaining two." Roxas replied. "Fancied a climactic showdown, Raven?"
"You could say." Raven answered, a light smirk crossing her face at Roxas' retort. "Follow me. Reiner, keep Valian busy so she doesn't interfere. Adam, help Reiner. You have permission to transform when you deem it necessary."
"Thank you, Raven." Adam replied, a grin crossing his face as he looked at Valian, who brushed her whitish-silver hair out of her eyes and cracked her knuckles. The three peerage members remained silent and still as Roxas walked up the staircase, meeting Raven's gaze the entire time as he did so. When he reached the top, Raven slowly walked away, gesturing for Roxas to follow her into a small alcove at the back that had ten elevators in it, five on each side.
Raven and Roxas walked into the nearest one, and Raven pressed the button that would take the elevator as close to the roof of Baal Tower as it could, and the doors closed, causing the elevator to start moving up.
"None of the elevators go directly to the roof, unfortunately." Raven remarked to Roxas, leaning against one of the four walls as the elevator travelled up. "So we're gonna go as close as we can, then make our way up on foot. Then we can have our fight."
"Sounds good to me." Roxas replied. He and Raven remained silent for the entirety of the travel up, as the silver-haired Nephalem's mind began to wander. He remembered the last time he and Raven had clashed.
And how horribly it had gone for him.
Flashback:
Reeling in pain from a harsh kick to the neck that Raven had delivered him, Roxas spun over in the air and landed, none too gently, on the ground. He rolled over for a second before he came to a stop, clutching his neck and coughing, while a shiver came over him due to the snowy evening.
"Come on, Roxas." Raven remarked, sheathing her sword and not looking even remotely cold as the snow swirled around her and her student. "It's only been an hour and you're already on the ground? Was coming all the way up this mountain a waste?"
"No!" Roxas shouted, breathing heavily and getting to his feet, picking up his sword, which looked extremely close to a Jian, a Chinese double-edged straight sword, and dashing at Raven, who unsheathed her sword and swung harshly at Roxas in the same move, catching him off-guard and sending him backwards a couple of feet. Raven wasted no time in pressing the advantage, dashing towards Roxas and delivering a heavy downward slash that Roxas was forced to parry, at the cost of sliding back and stumbling in the snow on top of the mountain that he and Raven fought on.
Raven pressed still further, catching Roxas off-guard by quickly thrusting forward and trying to run him through, but missing as Roxas rolled to the side. However, the way Roxas got back up on his feet after the roll was sloppy, which Raven capitalized on by dashing towards Roxas and, after feinting Roxas out and making him think she was going to slash at him again, elbowed him in the face, knocking him backwards a couple of feet.
Raven took one step forward and slashed at Roxas again, knocking his sword out of his hand. As it landed on the ground, a couple of feet away from its wielder, Raven swung her sword upward, cutting through Roxas' left eye and half-blinding him.
Roxas shrieked in agony, some drops of his blood flying upwards and landing on his short, silver hair, and most of it landing on the snow and staining it crimson. As he landed on one knee, he reached out and grabbed his sword as Raven looked down at him, an expression as cold as the weather they were fighting in on her face.
"Is that all you've got?" Raven asked, idly tossing her sword into the air and catching it. "You going to stop just because of a little eye injury? Because you can still fight."
"I know!" Roxas growled, getting back to his feet, blood oozing from the wound that had just half-blinded him. Letting out a roar, he rushed at Raven, who smiled and raised her sword to block Roxas' first two attacks. She had to lower it slightly to parry Roxas' third sword-slash, and sidestepped him when he came for a forth, kicking him in the small of the back as he came past her.
"I love I when a man comes onto me extra hard." Raven remarked. "Especially if he can take it when I come onto him in return~" she added, teasingly, while performing a jumping slash on Roxas, who was still dripping blood from his left eye.
The older swordswoman and the younger swordsman clashed for a second, before Raven pulled back and delivered two more blows that Roxas parried, rushed forward to kick him in the stomach and tried to stab him, though Roxas rolled around his teacher (far more neatly this time). Raven spun around and slashed at Roxas. Said blow was parried, and Raven, getting an idea, sheathed her sword and waited, as her silver-haired bleeding student ran at her, preparing to deliver a devastating blow.
Raven never found out how devastating that blow would have been, as just when Roxas prepared to swing his sword down on her, she unsheathed her sword faster than Roxas' eyes could process, and slashed at his left arm, completely severing it at the shoulder.
Roxas shouted out in pain, and as his left arm hit the floor, he lurched to the right. Through the pain, he was unable to stop himself from falling to the floor. Trying as hard as he could not to let the tears out of his one good eye through the pain of losing one eye and one arm, Raven sighed, and after swinging her sword to discard Roxas' blood (which was as crimson as his single eye) from the blade, sheathed her weapon and walked over to Roxas, pulling a vial of Phenex Tears out from a pouch on her dress.
"Alright, we can stop now." Raven remarked, opening the vial with one hand and forcing Roxas' mouth open with the other. After pouring the entire vial down Roxas' throat, she stepped back and watched her silver-haired student's eye and arm reappear, as if they had never left, in a flash of flame. "For the last time for a while, I'm afraid, Roxas."
"Wh-what?" Roxas blinked and sat up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we're going to have to stop our sparring sessions." Raven replied. "Not permanently, mind you."
"Why?" Roxas asked, as he got to his feet. "Is it-"
"No, it's not you." Raven replied. "I'm pregnant with Fafnir's child, Roxas."
"Oh, shit." Roxas blinked. "Well... congrats."
"Thank you." Raven replied, a smile crossing her face. "Now. Don't you have a certain Red Dragon Empress to be getting to?"
Realising that he was late for one of his and Elsha's secret meet-ups in the human world, Roxas went white, and teleported away without even saying goodbye.
Flashback end
"Roxas." Raven tapped Roxas on the shoulder. "Hey, Roxas." she reached out and flicked his forehead, causing Roxas to start.
"What?" the silver-haired Nephalem blinked. "What's happening?"
"We're at the top, genius." Raven replied. "Follow me." She stepped out of the elevator, and Roxas followed. The pair of them walked for a minute or two until they reached a small room that had a roof-access staircase in it, which Roxas and Raven both scaled to reach the roof of Baal Tower.
The silence was deafening as Raven walked about fifteen steps away from Roxas, who remained by the staircase, before turning around and preparing to draw her sword.
"After you, Roxas." Raven calmly indicated to her former student. "Draw your weapon."
Roxas nodded, while shedding the jacket that he had been wearing throughout the entire Rating Game, revealing his toned, muscular arms. However, the first thing that Raven noticed was a tattoo, with the design of a sword, on Roxas' right inner forearm.
Roxas raised up his right arm, and before Raven's eyes, the tattoo that she could see began to fade away, as if someone had snapped their fingers and triggered it to fade to dust right on his arm. At the same time, a sword began to appear in Roxas' hand, slowly forming itself in conjunction with the tattoo disappearing.
Once the tattoo had completely disappeared off of Roxas' arm, and the sword was in Roxas' hand, Raven got a good look at her former student's new weapon (as last time she checked, his weapon had been a near-perfect copy of the Holy Sword Excalibur).
Roxas' new sword was an ornately decorated and very long weapon, possibly even longer than Roxas was tall. On the hilt of this blade was a cross-guard, though the bars between the blade and the hilt were much longer than average. The blade itself was pitch-black with a very strong sheen, and its shape was similar to a German Messer. Overall, the sword looked like a large cross.
"Well." was all Raven could say. "That's some weapon you got there."
"Yup." Roxas replied. "Forged by the three Dwarves of my grandmother's peerage, a fused version of the Holy and Demon Swords in my possession, and featuring the qualities of both... Clarent Galatine!"
"Impressive." Raven remarked, an eyebrow raised. "Did you come up with that description yourself?" she added, slightly mockingly, while looking closely at Clarent Galatine. "Keeping the sword concealed on your arm via a tattoo... not a bad idea. Those Dwarves in Venelana's peerage are a trio of crafty fuckers, I'll give them that."
Raven then got into a combat stance, narrowing her eyes at Roxas, who did the same. There was more silence between the pair of them for a full second, before they dashed at each other, at exactly the same time.
Neither of them outwardly acknowledged the announcement that came in at that moment that Reiner and Adam had both been Retired.
Line Break
"Good question, sister." Arthur replied. "Though I must say that it's nice to see you again. After all, it's been a whole two years since we last met."
"It has." Mordred acknowledged, her hands balling into fists. "But you didn't answer my question, Arthur."
"Oh, yes." Arthur replied, nodding. "Well I must make like Shakespeare and answer your question with a counter-question. How would you like to join us and our allies at the New Round Table?"
From his position behind a tree, Achilles couldn't stop himself from starting slightly from surprise. The 'New Round Table', as he knew they were called, were a little-known Faction in the Khaos Brigade that were comprised of beings that were (or claimed to be) descendants of the Knights of the Round Table, the knights that served directly under King Arthur, the King of Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.
Achilles had a sneaking suspicion that they'd come after his first Rook sooner or later, but to approach her as directly as they did...
"No." Mordred replied, glaring at Arthur and Le Fay (who didn't outwardly react to her curt reply). "I've already found someone I'm fine with serving, and he's a better master than the naïve little shit I've heard leads the Khaos Brigade nowadays. Much better.
Achilles smirked from the tree he was standing behind, slightly touched. Though that warm feeling disappeared faster than someone teleporting away from the scene when the person he didn't recognize spoke up.
"Sir. There's someone here, behind that tree."
"Crap." Achilles muttered to himself, as he stepped out from behind the tree, and looked directly at Arthur, Le Fay and the unknown third person, the person who had spoken.
"You followed me, didn't you Achilles?" Mordred asked, a slight deadpan inflection to her voice.
"Guilty as charged, Achilles replied, calmly ignoring his Rook's tone, before turning to Arthur, Le Fay and the unknown third person. "Who's the other guy, Arthur? At least I presume you're Arthur, since Mordred's told me about you and your little band of terrorists." He added the last sentence in as an afterthought.
"That is my name, Achilles Astaroth." Arthur replied, as calmly as Achilles had replied to his Rook. He discreetly summoned a sword out of a golden magic-circle from behind him, something that didn't go unnoticed by Achilles. "And my assistant over here is Agravain. He takes his job very seriously."
"I can imagine." Achilles replied, forcing down an involuntary shiver that went down his back when Arthur's sword was fully released from the magic-circle. Instantly recognising the sword for what it was, he spoke up again. "I can't imagine your family were too happy with you for taking their most prized possession."
"No, they weren't." Arthur replied, a small smile coming over his face in reply. "Agravain?"
The black-haired man pulled a large sack out from behind him, and turned it upside down. Achilles blinked, and raised an eyebrow, at the sight of several heads (the green-haired descendent of the so-called Invincible Hero counted at least a dozen) falling out of the bag and landing on the ground in front of him.
"This is the fate that befalls any common thug or assassin looking to kill Sir Arthur and Lady Le Fay." Agravain said, without a hint of humour in his voice. He seemed to take himself so seriously that Achilles couldn't help but chuckle.
"So, do you just keep those heads with you at all times, or something?" he asked. "Or do you stick them on your wall when you're not lugging them around in a bag to show to anyone Arthur asks you to? Ooh, better yet, does everyone else in your little band of terrorists have their own butler-bodyguard and you compete to see who can carry the heaviest sack of heads?"
Le Fay giggled at Achilles' question, and Arthur had to stifle a laugh himself. Agravain, however, didn't reply, and merely gathered all the heads up and deposited them back into his bag.
"Anyway." Arthur replied. "Let's get back onto the reason we came here in the first place. Mordred, I believe that your prowess and skills could be very useful to us. You'd be very warmly welcomed at the New Round Table."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Achilles replied, going from humour-mode to business-mode at the flick of a hypothetical switch. He reached into a green magic-circle that opened up to his left, and pulled out a spear. Mordred hesitated for a second, before pulling out a sword of her own, as Agravain did the same thing. Le Fay also raised her magical staff, preparing herself for a confrontation.
"What's the plan, Achilles?" Mordred asked, her voice slightly quiet and wavy at the idea of fighting her half-siblings, the only biological family she knew she had.
"Stall them, hopefully." Achilles replied, his voice also quiet, as Arthur slowly approached him and Mordred. "There's not much I'll be able to do against a sword like Caliburn, but hopefully, you can get back into the gathering hall, gather the rest of my peerage, and get back out here. Before getting out of here yourself." he clutched his spear tightly, as Arthur came within five steps of him.
"No way." Mordred replied. "I'm staying here with you. I-" she fell silent as she (and the other four beings) heard footsteps from more people approaching them. Achilles looked at Arthur, who turned around silently, swung Caliburn in a wide arc to create what looked like a dimensional rift, and walked through it, leaving the scene, with Agravain and Le Fay following. The latter gave an apologetic look to Mordred as she walked away.
Achilles and Mordred silently dispelled their weapons as three Devils, that looked like servants of the Bael Clan given how immaculate their black and purple uniform was, approached them.
"What's going on out here?" One of the servants asked, his voice harsh.
"It doesn't matter." Achilles replied, quickly making up a lie in the two seconds he paused, then speaking. "Mordred and I thought we heard something, and came out to investigate. Nothing here, we're fine."
"I didn't ask whether you were fine or not!" the servant replied. "Get back in the gathering hall, half-breed filth!"
Shooting a glare at the back of the servant's head as he walked back the way he had come, Achilles followed him (with the other two servants flanking him and Mordred) back into the Gathering Hall, where it looked like the Rating Game between Roxas and Raven was finishing up.
Meanwhile...
Music: Taste the Blood – Devil May Cry 3
Roxas and Raven dashed around the roof of Baal Tower, slashing at each other so quickly that even the Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and Sex Demons, with their vision that was naturally enhanced beyond human possibility, could barely keep up with the battle.
Raven jumped into the air and slashed at Roxas, who parried her attack and pushed back, sending Raven back a few feet before she landed on the ground. Roxas dashed towards Raven and slashed at her again, but his attack was parried, making him stumble for half a second before he caught himself and parried another attack from Raven.
Raven suddenly lifted her sword up away from Roxas as the two clashed again and dashed a few feet to the side in order to come at Roxas from a different angle, but Roxas followed Raven and parried her attack, before countering by trying to stab Raven with Clarent Galatine, while focusing his power of Twilight into the tip of the blade.
Raven had to quickly raise her sword and slide backwards several dozen feet from the force of the attack, her mithril blade shattering and the parts falling to the ground around her as she came to a stop. With lightning-fast efficiency, Raven placed the handle of her sword (which she still held in her hand) into her scabbard, pulled it out again after half a second, with another blade attached to it, and dashed towards Roxas, having to roll to the side of a beam of crimson demonic lightning that Roxas sent at her with a swing of Clarent Galatine before rushing at her student again.
If the first few moments of the fight were fast-paced, it was nothing compared to what was going on now. Roxas and Raven span around each other, and slashed, shielded and dodged around and through the other's attacks. Roxas was mainly the one on the offensive, always the one to approach Raven and fight her close up.
"You haven't changed a bit, Roxas." Raven remarked, as the two clashed. "You've become more refined and powerful, but your core style is as if I'm fighting you two hundred years ago."
"Maybe." Roxas replied, as he pushed Raven's sword above her head and quickly kicked her in the chest, sending her backwards. "You taught me well. But I've grown since then."
"Then show me." Raven replied, flipping over and landing on the ground, sheathing her sword. "Come at me and show me."
Roxas furrowed his brow, and paused for a second, before dashing at Raven, who unsheathed her blade in the blink of an eye and slashed at Roxas with such ferocity that he had to quickly dispel Clarent Galatine to avoid it flying out of his hand from how hard Raven's sword would've clashed with it, instead leaving Raven's sword slashing at nothing, and giving Roxas the perfect opening he needed to counter attack.
He ducked down low and delivered a quick one-two punch to Raven's abdomen, before standing back upright and roundhouse-kicking her in the side of the head, sending his former teacher (who was completely caught off-guard by the fact that Roxas' sword had just disappeared out of thin air and back into a tattoo on his arm) flying sideways and onto the ground, though she sprang back up onto her feet (avoiding Roxas' attempt at a follow-up kick).
"Impressive, Roxas." she remarked, sheathing her sword again and looking at her student with admiration. "Most impressive." Raven then rushed towards Roxas, ducking down low, and dodging his attempt to punch down onto her face. She slid around behind her former student, and did a running jump towards him, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
While appreciating the fact that her silver-haired opponent's body was remarkably muscular and toned, and something certainly worth falling for (as Raven had heard a lot of women had fallen for Roxas, both in and out of the Underworld), Raven lifted Roxas up, over her head, and slammed him onto the ground behind her, springing up and over him as he lay on the ground for a second and landing in front of him as he got up.
"You wanna fight hand-to-hand?" Raven asked, rhetorically, as she got into a combat stance. "Fine. We'll fight hand-to-hand."
Roxas smirked, and rushed towards Raven, launching a flying kick at her head, which Raven swung to the side of. Roxas landed on the ground, swung around and was forced to duck under a punch that Raven threw at him. He grabbed Raven around the middle with one hand and punched her belly twice, before lifting her up and throwing her away from him.
Before she could land, Roxas took a running jump towards the black-haired Branwen Head and threw a mid-air punch, which Raven caught after righting herself, pushed out of her way, and returned with a punch of her own to Roxas' head, which she followed up with an axe-kick that sent Roxas down to the roof, making a small crater with him in the middle of it, before she tried to land on him and finish the fight.
However, Roxas rolled out of the way, got back to his feet and threw another punch at Raven, which she caught in one hand, twisted it downward (forcing a yell of pain out of Roxas), before using her other hand to punch him twice in the chest before backhanding him and attempting to kick him in the torso, but barely catching his hip (which caused zero pain whatsoever to the silver Nephalem). Roxas headbutted Raven in order to daze her into letting him go, and after shaking the hand that Raven caught and twisted to stop it from hurting, he delivered an uppercut that sent her flying to the edge of the roof of Baal Tower. She landed on the ground and rolled over a couple of times, before coming to a stop.
When she looked up at Roxas, he saw that her nose was broken.
"You know that phrase 'it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye'?" Raven asked of her student as she got up, wiping her bloody nose on her wrist and wiping the blood onto her dress.
"I think it should be changed to 'it's all fun and games until someone breaks their nose' in this case." Roxas replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes as Raven stalked towards him.
"Good idea." Raven replied, giving the 'come on!' gesture, a gesture that Roxas gladly obliged to, as he rushed towards Raven and did another jumping kick at her head, but Raven dodged to the side, grabbed Roxas' legs, and threw it (along with the sexy 588-year-old Nephalem attached to it) away from her, and ran towards him as he landed on the ground. She threw a punch infused with demonic power at Roxas' head as he got back up, knocking him back down again, but Roxas bounced back up, seemingly not caring that she'd just fucked up his eye from the punch that he just got.
"Never mind." Roxas remarked, as he rolled to Raven's side and delivered a sweep-kick to her legs, bringing her down. "I guess we should keep that phrase the way it is. I can barely see out of my right eye."
"Hehe." Raven laughed, lightly, getting to her feet. "I guess we can say we both have our injuries now!" She rolled backwards, a safe distance away from Roxas, throwing magical blasts at him with both hands in order to keep him at bay, with one catching him in the face, causing him to double over.
Raven then pulled out her sword and swung it at Roxas, and as she did so, she detached the blade from the handle she held in her hand, making the blade spin around rapidly as it flew towards her opponent, with Roxas only catching sight of it when it was too late to dodge, leaving him completely vulnerable to the blade embedding itself in his stomach.
Music end
"AAAUGH!" Roxas cried out from the pain of one of Raven's blades going so deep into his stomach, as Raven placed her handle back into her sheath, and looked at Roxas, who could barely stand.
"That was a good fight." she remarked to him. "Best one I've had in a while, since I lost to Roygun's Queen. But the game is over, Roxas. You couldn't beat me."
"Oh, yes I fucking can!" Roxas growled, keeping himself standing and reaching towards the blade embedded in his stomach. Infusing his Power of Twilight into his right hand, he held onto the blade with his left and managed to break the blade in two using his Twilight-infused hand, giving him an extra weapon. He stalked towards Raven at a surprising pace, given how blood was pouring from his midriff, and swung her broken blade at her.
Raven was so surprised at this that she had barely drawn her sword to defend herself before Roxas slashed at her chest with the fragment of her own blade, cutting through her dress and into her flesh (making her hiss in pain), before pulling back and stabbing Raven through the stomach with said fragment of her own blade.
"I guess we can say we both have our injuries now!" Roxas repeated Raven's own words back to her through gritted teeth, as he grabbed Raven (who was too busy clenching her teeth to stop herself screaming out in agony from being stabbed so deeply) by the head, pulled it down and slammed it against his knee (as he brought it up to meet her) and slowly swung around, raised his leg, and kicked her in her lower back as hard as he could.
The last thing Raven Branwen could think about before she fell to the ground and was Retired, with the splitting pain in her lower back, the sickening crunch of her lower spine shattering and the metallic smell of her own blood, could be summed up in four words.
'He finally beat me…'
Line Break
Roxas could barely stand on his own as he was pulled out of the Rating Game dimension, where there were a number of nurse-Devils standing around, along with Grayfia, who looked concernedly at her son.
"Well done on your victory, Roxas." she congratulated him, before stepping forward as the nurses began applying magic to Roxas' midriff in order to make removing the fragment of Raven's blade from said midriff as painless as possible, as he was still bleeding all over the ground. "Are you alright?"
"I'm f-fine, Mom." Roxas replied, wincing at the sight of the blade being removed and a small burst of blood leaving his body. Feeling unsteady from the sight of that, Roxas would have lurched to the side if it weren't for Grayfia immediately walking over and catching him, holding him up. "Thanks."
Roxas allowed his shirt to be removed in order for the nurses to work on closing the gaping hole in his stomach as Grayfia continued holding him up. Her mutterings about how the shirt, which had cost 400 Souls, had been bloodstained so quickly didn't go unnoticed by her oldest son as the nurses managed to magically close his wound.
Roxas was handed the jacket that he had discarded earlier, which he slung around his shoulder, and followed them, with Grayfia at his side, into the main gathering hall, where loud applause greeted him. Feeling that he should at least do something to acknowledge the applause, he raised a hand in appreciation while turning to his mother and speaking.
"Are the rest of my peerage okay?"
"Akasha, Esdeath, Akeno, Xenovia and Neo are in care at the nearest medical facility." Grayfia replied. "They'll all be back at the Gremory Manor tomorrow. Valian, Rias, Asia and Kuroka are already back at the Manor.
"Cool." Roxas replied, looking up to see the crowd parting like the Red Sea as a certain extremely tall Human stepped through towards him. "Hi, Vasco."
"Hello, Roxas." Vasco greeted Roxas, a warm smile crossing his 91-year-old face as he laid a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Congrats on your victory."
"Thanks." Roxas replied, having to crane his neck back in order to look face to face with Vasco. "Haven't had to fight like that for a long while. Not since I started training you did I have to strain myself that hard."
Vasco chuckled through the shocked silence that permeated the room full of Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and Sex Demons. The Angels (and to a lesser extent, the Fallen Angels) weren't really shocked by Roxas' remark, as it was common knowledge amongst them that the number one strongest current candidate to become a Reincarnated Angel, one who had been approached by all four of the Four Great Seraph (but had refused all four for reasons only known to Roxas, Palutena, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael and Vasco himself) had been trained by the husband of Yahweh's only known daughter, but to the Devils and Sex Demons, including Grayfia...
It was certainly a shock to their systems that Roxas, who was the closest thing to a Prince that the Underworld currently had, had trained one of the most powerful (former) enemies of Devilkind to be as legendarily strong as he was.
"Well, I'd better take my leave." Vasco bowed his head to Roxas, and took his hand off his shoulder. "Until we meet again, Roxas."
"Later." Roxas nodded to Vasco and waved him off, as he left, and another four people came walking up to Roxas, two of which Roxas had seen before: Imogen and Nero. The other two, Roxas could only assume, were Diehauser Belial, Rating Game Champion and Imogen's adopted father, and Vergil Sparda, Diehauser's Knight, strongest Knight in the Underworld (famous for defeating Souji Okita in single combat without suffering a single injury), one of the greatest swordsmen in the entire supernatural world, and Nero's father.
Diehauser was a man who looked to be in his late-twenties with grey hair and matching eyes. He had an extremely muscular figure, and only wore a trench-coat over the top part of his body, along with white gloves. He wore black dress trousers and armoured knee-pads on his legs, and grey dress shoes.
Vergil had fair, yet pale, skin, and white, swept-back hair, which put emphasis on a fierce, yet stoic expression that he held on his face. He had light blue-coloured eyes. In terms of apparel, he wore a long, gold-buttoned blue coat with three separated coattails. A golden lining ran across the edges of the coat, and a silky, golden flower blossom pattern decorated the inner lining. The coat also featured identical straps on each shoulder.
Underneath the coat, Vergil wore a navy-blue ascot wrapped around his neck, which hung over a black, sleeveless vest that revealed his well-toned arms and shoulders. He wore tan finger-less gloves, a brown snakeskin belt with silver buckle, dark green pants with a scale patter running across its surface, and tall, brown boots with two golden buckled straps at the top.
"Hey, Imogen." Roxas greeted the Belial Heiress first, accepting a hug from the black-haired half-Dragon. "Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you too." Imogen replied, smiling as she pulled back. "Good game. Real entertaining."
"It certainly was." Diehauser replied, stepping forward and sticking a hand out towards Roxas, which he accepted and shook. "Not as great as the Rating Game between the pair of you, plus Sairaorg, was-" Imogen rolled her eyes at her adopted father's words, but inwardly agreed with him. "But it was certainly a good game to watch, Roxas. That's the tenth time Raven has been defeated in a Rating Game, out of nearly three hundred that she's participated in.
"Well aren't I part of a lucky ten people?" Roxas replied, slightly jokingly.
"Lucky seven, actually." Vergil replied, speaking for the first time. "Diehauser has overcome Raven three times in a Rating Game scenario, and Roygun Belphegor has defeated her twice."
"Alright, lucky seven then." Roxas replied, turning back to Diehauser. "I was close, though."
"Hmm." Diehauser hummed. "Anyway, Roxas, just know that beating as big a titan of the Rating Games as Raven, even only once, will incite challenge from other Devils. It happened to me, it happened to Roygun, it happened to the four others between the two of us and you, and it'll happen to you. Just be prepared for the possibility of being defeated."
"Oh, I'm sure I will be." Roxas replied, smirking at Diehauser as he let go of his hand. "Hope I can take you down someday, Diehauser."
"I look forward to that day." Diehauser nodded. "And when it comes, I hope it's a good game." he then turned around, and walked away, Vergil following him silently.
Imogen and Nero followed as well, but not before Imogen leaned over and gave Roxas a kiss on the cheek.
"Let's get you back to the Manor, Roxas." Grayfia whispered to Roxas, before taking him into a transportation-circle, and warping him out of the gathering hall.
Line Break
It was a couple of days after the Rating Game between Roxas and Raven. In the aftermath of the victory, Roxas had been having his own little celebration among his peerage... by having sex with each and every one of the gorgeous nine women that served him.
Right now, he was lying in bed with Akeno, who was completely naked, twitching slightly from the ferocity of which she and her King had had sex for the past hour or so, and cuddling said King like a body pillow.
Roxas (who had just shared a nice bath with Akeno) was dressed in nothing but a set of black pyjama shorts, and had an arm around his raven-haired Bishop.
"You enjoy that?" he asked, as his hand trailed down to squeeze Akeno's ass, which had received its fair share of smacks over the past hour. Akeno let out a quiet moan as her King groped her still-tingling butt-cheek.
"Hmm~ I loved it, Roxas." she replied, resting her head on Roxas' shoulder and kissing his neck, her eyes lidded from so much lust. "You know how much I love being dominated by your strong hand~"
"So much for that rumour that Himejima women loved being the ones to dish out the pain." Roxas replied, stroking Akeno's hair (which hung free from its usual orange ribbon, and was still slightly damp) and kissing her on the forehead. Akeno just hummed in reply.
"That's just my mother." she replied. "Suzaku and Koyuki aren't into giving or receiving it, but me..." she shuddered, and adjusted her position so she could be even closer to Roxas. "As long as it's you giving it, I'll take it. And love it~"
She leaned in and pressed her lips against Roxas in a loving kiss, which lasted for a couple of seconds before she pulled back and whispered "Darling~" before pouncing back into the kiss, which was much fiercer and more passionate.
The kiss between servant and Master lasted for a full minute before they were interrupted by Roxas' phone (which was on Roxas' bedside table, charging on the wireless charging pad that Roxas had set up there on the second night after he and his peerage had arrived at the Gremory Manor), which suddenly began blaring out the song 'Rocket Queen' by Guns N' Roses (which was Roxas' ringtone).
"Fuck." Roxas muttered as he pulled back, away from the kiss, and reached for his phone, answering the call. "Hello?"
"Hi, Roxas." Roxas was surprised to hear Raven Branwen's voice on the other end. "At least, I think this is Roxas. Hopefully Sirzechs didn't give me the wrong number."
"That answers the first question I was going to ask, Raven." Roxas replied. "How're you doing?"
"Well for someone who had their lower spine wrecked two days ago, I think I'm doing pretty well." Raven replied. "I'm out of hospital and I'm back home."
"That's good to hear." Roxas replied. "Why'd you call in the first place?"
"I thought it'd be a good idea to have a way of getting to you that didn't involve warping to wherever you happen to be right now." Was Raven's reply after a second's pause. "After all, you could be in the shower, taking a shit, or fucking someone right now."
Roxas had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing out loud from the irony of what Raven had said.
"Yeah, I could be." he replied. "Any other reason?"
"Well, ever since I woke up, I had the idea of making a new weapon for you." Raven answered, bluntly. "As a sort of commemoration of the fact that you surpassed me in one-on-one combat, you know?"
"I see." Roxas replied. "You do this for all your students? Is that why you helped Imogen's bodyguard with making his sword? Nero, I think his name was?"
"Yes and no." Raven replied. "As in yes, his name is Nero, and no, I didn't help him build Red Queen as a reward for him besting me one-on-one. That was because Imogen helped me in a matter involving her first ex, and I thought that assisting her bodyguard make a weapon for himself would be a good way to return the favour."
"Must've been a pretty serious matter." Roxas replied. "What was it, anyway?"
"Go ask Imogen." Raven replied, bluntly. "If she wants to tell you, that's her choice. I agreed to not tell about that event, and I intend to honour that agreement."
"Right, right." Roxas remarked in an acquiescent tone of voice. "Got it. Going back to that weapon, you mind if we talk about it tomorrow? Since I'm... kinda busy right now."
"Sure." Raven replied, before hanging up before Roxas could. Roxas stretched for a second, and then lay back on his bed, placing his phone back on the charging pad as Akeno wrapped her arm around him.
"Roxas…" she whispered. "You want a second round of fun with your favourite masochistic little bitch?" She reached down, took Roxas' hand in hers and guided it down to her pussy, using it to rub her cunt (eliciting a shudder and moan out of her). "You want a second round of me being your good little girl, doing whatever her man asks of her~?"
"I would love that and more, Akeno." Roxas replied, smirking as he felt himself getting hard again. Though before he could do anything, both he and Akeno heard a knock on his bedroom door, before it opened and Palutena entered.
Roxas blinked as he looked over at Palutena, who was in her regular white dress (just without any of the golden jewellery or any other accessories) and smiling at the sight of her husband's first Bishop going down on said husband.
"Oh." Roxas said. "Hey, Palutena."
"Hi." Palutena replied, her eyes calmly flicking from Roxas to Akeno. "Enjoying yourself?"
"We sure are~" Akeno replied, turning around to look at Palutena, not giving a single shit about the fact that she was completely nude. "Do you need anything, Palutena?"
"Not really." Palutena replied. "But Roxas, I... have something to show you."
"You do?" Roxas replied, sitting up. "What is it?"
"Something that..." Palutena paused. "You might want to be alone for. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything between you and Akeno."
"It's fine." Roxas replied. "We can have our second round another time, Akeno." He gently slapped Akeno's ass as she got off the bed, making his Bishop moan as she gathered her clothes and underwear, before teleporting out of her King's room, and presumably over to her own bedroom, which was on the other side of the manor.
"So, what is it you have to show me, Palutena?" Roxas asked, magically summoning his pyjama top (which he had discarded an hour and a half earlier) onto his body.
In reply, Palutena stepped back, and someone (who had been standing out of sight) stepped into the room. A certain blonde-haired, green-eyed former-possessor-of-the-Boosted-Gear someone. Who was dressed in a glamourous-looking pink dress and... little else, it seemed.
Roxas' crimson eyes widened. He didn't even notice the door shutting behind him as Elsha walked towards him, a neutral expression on her face.
It couldn't be her. After all, Elsha had died, and this was centuries before Roxas had gotten his Evil Pieces, so there was NO WAY Elsha could be alive, and walking towards him!
Roxas' mind ran through at least a dozen ideas as to how Elsha could be back to life right now, and at least two dozen more scenarios as to how Palutena had something to do with it, before Elsha spoke.
"Hello, Roxas."
Roxas looked up and saw Elsha standing beside where he was sat on his bed, a smile on her face. The same smile that he remembered her giving him so many times while they were dating.
"It's very nice to see you again. Do you mind if I sit down with you?"
And that's the thirty-second chapter of Nephalem of Gremory (Damn, I really made it this far, huh?). The Rating Game between Roxas and Raven has ended with a snap (eh? EEEEHHH? ...I'll see myself out once we're done), we have the actual introduction of fan-favourites Arthur and Le Fay, and the first mention of the New Round Table, which is another idea of The Last Kenpachi (big up to him for the idea), the introduction of Vergil, the Strongest Knight, and...
Well, you obviously read the ending of this chapter if you made it this far: Elsha is back. As for how she's back? Well that'll be revealed for you next chapter, if you forgot Valian's explanation/idea as to how such a thing could happen, about ten chapters ago.
Anyway, what did you think of this new chapter? Please, review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, or just have questions for me, let me know in a review or PM (or talk to me on Discord (my name for it is on my profile)), as I really enjoy talking to readers!
Next Time: A New Beginning, Ice Cream Truck vs. Spider-Woman
Preview of Next Chapter:
"N-Neo?!" the red-headed Avenger cried in surprise. Neo shot a downright villainous grin at her, before springing off the ceiling and drawing her repaired umbrella, preparing to do battle with the Black Widow.
Seeya!