Hope everyone enjoy the latest chapter! ^.^
A thunderous shockwave explodes from the sky. Its so booming that it creates violent tremors down at the earth. A dense cloud explodes, where Sirzech burst out from and numbers of yellow orbs follows behind him in rapid speed. The Satan cuss in annoyance and quickly halt, turning around and release an equally amount of destruction orbs that collides with all the yellow ones.
Numbers of massive crimson explosion appears in the skies, eclipsing a large portion of the land while an even more violent tremor radiates for miles and miles away, leveling the land beneath the battle. When the blast and smokes disappear, Sirzech sees Rizevim hovering at the other side, grinning sadistically. With eyes narrows, Sirzech finally comes up with a conclusion after battling with the Former Satan "You're still stalling" "You've just noticed?" Rizevim reply in mockery "This stalling must involve the alarm I've just gotten from my Castle…" Sirzech accuse and gets a chuckle, confirming it "Correct, I guess I shouldn't put it past you to figure it quite soon" "The question is… What are you after in the vault?" "Why should I ruin the surprise?" Rizevim retorts, the smirk in his face grow, the very smirk Sirzech utterly loathe.
Sirzech lowers his power and drop his arms to the sides, finding it pointless to continue "I'm not going to waste my time with you anymore" "You think I'll let you leave?" Rizevim question in amuse. Before the conversation could continue, a booming shockwave erupt from the east, causing the men to turn and see Freyja blasting towards them with missiles of ice spears speeding on her tail.
Rizevim raises his right hand and opens the palm. A gigantic exploding wave burst from the ground, shooting up in a huge yellow destructive magic pillar that swallows all the ice spears, annihilating them to oblivion. When the fierce magic pillar dies down, what's left is a massive and smoking crater that could fit a huge comet in it. Freyja stop next to Rizevim and gives him a wink "Thanks, dear" "Enjoy toying with Serafall?" Rizevim question, smirking in amusement "It was mildly entertaining."
The Leviathan appears next to Sirzech, not looking to sustain any major injuries except for some minor scratches, just like Freyja. "She wasn't putting a serious fight?" Sirzech ask, glancing at his friend "Yeah, she was stalling… They're playing us" Serafall reply through gritting teeth, glaring at the smirking woman standing at Rizevim's corner.
"Since we got our partners joining…" Rizevim powers up and extend his right arm to Sirzech "We might as well have some fun instead of floating here, wouldn't you two agree?" Sirzech tries to contact his wife, but due to the distance it proves impossible 'I sensed her mana near the castle… Nawin is also there. If Grayfia is there, then I trust her to stop the intruders.'
Sirzech takes a deep breathe and exhales 'I'll have to put trust on Rias, Nawin, Grayfia, Hunter, and the rest of the people in Vesarima to win this war. Keeping Rizevim here is the best thing I can do in this. If he were to go unhinged, he can erase Vesarima in seconds.'
"You won't have to worry about Vesarima, Lord Sirzech" a view voice joins, and everyone moves to the right to see Hunter floating in the air, standing on it without the need of wings. Her signature massive sword rest on the right shoulder and it's drenched and coated in thick blood that drips down to the earth.
Hunter's piercing gaze slowly moves to Rizevim, who holds a dark glare, clearly annoyed by her sudden appearance. "I guess you didn't calculate me to be in Vesarima, were you, Rizevim?" Hunter question in mockery manner though her face remains stoic as ever "Bringing Dragons while I was present, you'd be a bigger fool if that was intentional."
Hunter ignores the heated glare and turn to her teacher "Like I said, Vesarima is retaliating. Issei and his friends were able to activate the defense mechanism which cleared the North and South Gate. Your sister and her team are assisting with the remaining gate" she informs and Sirzech is able to let out a huge sigh of relief, glad to hear his home and people are doing well "Good to hear."
"So… You're are a member of this famous and elite Archdevil group… Vesarima's Aces" Rizevim speaks, distaste lace in his tone "Us Satans training some minor to become as strong as us… Another one of Sirzech's absurd ideas" he spat with venom "Minor? That's a rather tamed insult coming from an out of touch Bastard such as yourself" Hunter retorts, slowing moving her glance to Rizevim, not showing intimidation by the descended Lucifer.
A scowl form on Rizevim's lip and in blinding speed, he sends a concentrated yellow orb to the Archdevil from his right hand. Hunter response by bringing her sword forward. The orb hits the blade and ignite in a massive explosion that covers a large portion of the sky. All four looks at the dense black smoke and hears a roaring wind boom from the inside follow by a powerful air current that push back all the smoke. Hunter is revealed floating at the same position she was at, her sword in front and the blade steaming in smoke, but other than that, the Archdevil is unharmed.
Rizevim's eyelid lower slightly at seeing this "Guess you bunch aren't just talked" he states and chuckle, turning to Sirzech. He was about to speak, but halt when a voice invades his mine 'I see it…' it simply informs and disconnect. A big smirk form on Rizevim's face "Seems like our mission is close to success" he states, catching the three's attention "But," he starts and powers up, releasing more mana than ever before. Yellow aura explodes around him, shooting up in the air, looking like it's trying to claw the skies "We ain't done yet!" he yells and with each of hands pointing at Sirzech, Serafall and Hunter.
Rizevim discharge a blazing fast magic blast that impact the three and two massive explosion erupts in the skies.
Vesarima
"Wooooooo, hell yeah!" Lucy comes blasting down from above like a blazing comet and crash land right at the center of a Black Knight's battalion. An explosion of fire and shockwave sends the Knights blasting away while some that are unfortunately near the Makasha's landing sustain hideous burns that renders them unable to return to their feet.
Lucy slowly extend her knees to stand straight, hands rests on the jacket's pocket while a big and exhilarating smirk is plastered on her lip. Blue flaming aura comes to life and radiates around her. The Knights quickly gets on their feet and set sights at the Makasha. "Can you guys and girls give me some form of entertainment?" Lucy question out to the men and women "I'm blue hot right now!" she shouts, and the aura around her release a torrent of flames to the frozen army.
"Looks like she's going all out" Lenna muse, staring toward the right to see a massive blue explosion appearing in the distance, the shockwave can be heard in her ears and felt pass her body. The Grasher hears dozens of rush footsteps and looks down to spot a small group of civilians guided by an injured single guard. They are desperately running away from a sizable group of Black Knights, and they are quickly gaining distance. Clearly the chase been going for some time with how tired the Civilians looks, and the one guard looks like he's on the verge of passing out.
"Hehehe, you can't run forever!" one of the Black Knights men shouts, taunting the agitated innocents. All of the Black Knights wore a craze look on their face, bloodlust is what to describe in their expression and eyes, they are all coming for blood and chaos. "It's only a matter of time before you all fall from exhaustion!" "Yeah, just give up and we might give you all a swift death!" one of them comment and all laugh manically, clearly not intending to keep their words.
A sudden earth walls ascent from the ground, between the Civilians and Black Knights. Some of the Knights crash face-first into the wall in comical fashion and falls on their behinds. "W-what?!" "What's t-that?" the panting Civilians stop, noticing the wall and turns around to see Lenna descending from the air, dropping on their side of the wall. "It's alright," she speaks turning to the men, women, and children, offering them a reassure smile "I'm here to help, you all can relax now" she said.
The innocents smile in relief and all drops to the ground in pure exhaustion, inhaling deep breathes, taking air in their aching lungs and relaxing their equaling aching feet. Lenna turns around and place her right palm on the wall then in an abrupt movement, push her hand in the wall. "What the hel—" one of the Knight that's gotten up was about to strike the wall with his sword until a shard of earth shoots from the wall and penetrates through his right eye socket, going straight through the back of his head.
The Knights froze, but before they can even move away. Dozens of shards shoot out from the earth wall and pierce all of them, the shards were long enough to stretch to the back line. All the Knights are skewered from their heart, brain, eyes, pelvis, and every place possible, leaving a gruesome and bloody scene behind.
Lenna opens her eyes, feeling all the Knight's mana signature are gone, signaling their deaths. She releases her hand from the wall but keeps it up, so the civilians and more importantly the children wouldn't have to witness the gruesome scene. Lenna turn around and makes way toward the injured guard, seeing him kneeling to the ground, gripping his right shoulder that suffers from a deep cut that surely come from a sword.
"Thank you" many of the civilian utters as the Grasher pass by. She response with a smile to them and continues toward the guard. "Here," she kneels in front of him and pass a potion, the exact one she gave to the Makasha's "This'll heal you" she informs, and the guard takes it then without hesitation, drinks the whole thing.
Lenna watch the guard's wound heals slowly, feeling his mana recovering, and sees life shine in his expression and eyes. She gets up and offer a hand, which the guard takes and is help up to his feet. "Continue to guide the civilians to the Royal Hill where all the Major Clans lives, there's lots gathering there" she informs and the guard nod "Understood, we aren't far from the stairs… Thank you" he said with a bow.
The Guard stop in front of the civilians "This lady has saved us and given us a room to breathe, but now we must continue on before more of the Knights shows up. We're heading to the hills, so let's move!" he shouts and start marching forward, guiding the innocents. Lenna smile at the kids looking at her with great curiosity, watching them leave and when they are out of sight, she releases her wings and blast to the air.
East Gate
"W-what the—" Rias whispers, landing on the road with the party. All of them stare onward with wide eyes that is filled with astonish cause by what they are witnessing in front of them. Corpses after corpses of the Black Knights and Giants are splattered on the red dirt ground. Lots of the corpses are dark and steaming, showing signs that they are burnt to oblivion while all the Giants are mutilated to pieces, their body parts are scattered around the ground.
Sited on the center of the largest pile of corpses is Rizel, who's smirking in satisfaction, resting his right arm on his knee in a cool matter while, standing beside the pile is Zeoticus, who's have his arms cross, holding a muse expression on his face. "You calmed down?" the Gremory ask, opening his eyes and looks up at the Phenex with a deadpan gaze, and sees his smirk widen ever slightly "Yeah… I'm cool." The fathers turn their head forward to see Rias and the group walking toward them, all still shock by the display and the pile of corpses they pass by.
"Guess they earned their high status" Xenovia comments, crossing her arms behind her head and just stare at the steaming piles of dead Knights "I've never seen a noble fought before, but this is beyond my expectation" Yuuto reply in honest, resting his sword on the shoulder and stop beside the Quarta. "Hello Rias" Zeoticus greets his daughter with a smile "Son," Rizel speaks and Riser response with a nod "Father… Looks like you had… Fun" "Indeed I have…" he reply and drops to the ground, landing in front of the group "It's nice to finally burn some fools" he said with a trademark cocky Phenex's smirk.
"Otou-sama," Rias stop in front of her father then scan her surrounding to search for even a single Knight but sees none "I guess we needn't to worry" she utters with a smile. Zeoticus chuckle and clap his right hand on Rias's head, giving her hair a soft ruffle "We took care of everything here" he states and pull his hand back "With you all here, I take it that your side is the same?" "Yes, we were able to hold the North Gate until the Defense Mechanism was activated and finished off the rest of Khaos Brigade's forces."
Rizal cross his arms and perk up "So that would explain the sudden thunderous noise we heard from the north then south" "That's it" Rias confirm. "Then all is left is west gate" Zeoticus assert "I doubt we have to worry much" Rias speaks up "I informed Issei and his group to head there to help clear the remaining Black Knights" "Sounds like you took the commands, impressive, Rias" Rizel compliments "Indeed, sounding like a true leader" Zeoticus agrees "She has certainly been a leader during the invasion on the North Gate!" Xenovia informs with a smirk "She took command like a boss" "I saw it first hand and agree" Riser vouch for his friend. Rias is just blushing furiously at all the praise which led to the rest chuckling in amusement. Zeoticus place his hand on her shoulder and gives a smile "You've done me proud, Rias" he utters and the young Gremory smile in response.
West Gate
"What the…" Issei utters in speechless tone, floating in the air with the girls and all of them have a look of dumbstruck on their face, seeing the unexpected quietness in the West road. Piles of corpses littered the ground and they see many Vesarima's guards collecting the bodies, dropping them on a carrier. "What the hell happened here?" Kokoro question "We should ask the commander" Elise suggest and the rest nod, descending to the ground.
"Oh?" the commander halts, noticing group landing in front of him. "You… Issei Hyoudou, from the tournament?" he questions and gets a nod "Yeah, that's me. What happened here?" Issei question, looking around "Funny you should ask," the old man chuckle "Another contender of the tournament came to our aid and singlehandedly destroyed three battalions in seconds" he informs, stunning the group.
Irina step forward "Who?" she directly asks "The mysterious guy… Micheals was his name" he answer, stroking his beard. "Commander!" a guard call "Ah, sorry kids, but I'm busy right now. Anyway," he turns around and walk off, waving at them "The West Gate is clear and with reports I'm hearing from the rest of the gates and in the Capital… We've won this war!"
Issei cross his arms and a smile plaster on his face "Guess he's right" "While on the way here, we haven't seen any of the Black Knights running amok. Most of them have been defeated" Elise state "Yeah, guess it really is over" Irina said and sigh in relief, a bright smile grows on her face. Issei looks toward the open gate, his eyes sharpen "I've been wondering… Where is Nawin? I haven't been able to sense his mana signature for a while now" "Good question," Kokoro rest her hand on her hip "He's been awfully quiet lately" "He may still be in the hospital?" Irina question, concern start lacing in her tone.
"Nawin… Are you kids talking about Nawin Makasha?" one of the main medics pass by them. The blonde-haired woman halts and turn to face them, adjusting her glasses "Yeah," Issei answers "He left the hospital and joined the battle against Khaos Brigade. The boy made quite an entrance by standing on top of a Hydra that appeared out of nowhere and massacred through few dragons. The whole war paused at that moment." "Hana?!" Issei utters out in shock "It's definitely him," Irina whispers and turn to the woman "Do you know where his current whereabouts is?" "I'm not sure, but the latest report I've gotten from the guards is that his sister, Lucy Makasha is clearing the remaining Black Knight's battalions at the center of the Capital. I suggest you go there and find out, she may have the answer" she advise and leaves toward the Gate.
Irina turn to the three, her expression sharpens to seriousness "We should help Lucy with the remaining forces then ask her about Nawin-kun" she asserts. Elise turns to her "Is something wrong?" she asks "You seem worried" "I… I just been having this bad feeling for a while… I want to make sure he's fine" Irina answers in honest, looking down at the black ring on her right index finger. Issei stare at Irina for a few second and nod "Alright, let's go find Lucy" he said with a smile and release his wings to blast to the air with the girls following behind.
Lucifer Castle
'Why… W-why are you here?!' Kuroka stare in the Makasha's brown orbs and her heart quickens, then it aches, knowing what's to come next is unavoidable. With gritted teeth, she quickly resolves and push down her emotions. Kuroka tries to pull her hand back, but it doesn't budge as Nawin's tightens the grip. "Let g—" Kuroka is interrupt when she is suddenly pull in and receive a brutal left knee to the gut. The blow is so powerful and stiff that it creates an audible noise while cracking the walls and ground. Kuroka cough out air, her eyes widen significantly before being blast away in rapid speed.
"Use your remaining mana to heal yourself and Akame, Hana" Nawin orders, his tone is overwhelmed with seriousness and authority. Taking one step forward, Nawin appears in front of Akame and kneel to her. "N-nawin-kun" she utters, looking up at Nawin's blank expression. The Makasha's brown eyes turn red when seeing the injured state of his Knight "You did good, Akame… Now relax… I'll finish it" is all he whispers before picking her up and appears beside Hana.
Nawin carefully set Akame down and stand back up "Master…" Hana utters in hesitant, just feeling the emotion of rage bubbling in his eyes "Stay here" he replies and turns around. Kuroka opens her eyes to find herself in a crater, she grunts and slowly stand up. Feeling blood gushing in her mouth, she spit it out and touch her cheek, hissing at the pain when in contact with it the bruise 'He isn't holding back…' she notes.
"Kuroka…" Nawin appears a few meters away from the Nekoshou "I've promised Koneko that I would throw some punches to you for what you did to her… I'll now intensified it after what you and your teammate did to my group" he state in cold tone. "Koneko?" Kuroka whispers, surprise to hear her young sister's name be brought up "Yes, Koneko… The young sister that you abandoned" Nawin reminds and sees Kuroka's eyes saddens and she face the ground "You don't understand" she whispers softly, but the Makasha was able to catch it.
"I don't need to understand" Nawin retorts, black aura comes to life around him "I'm a big brother to two wonderful girls… No matter what kind of situation, no matter how desperate or bleak it was to be, I would never ever abandon them." Nawin clench his right hand to a fist and raise it up, pointing it at Kuroka "You have my gratitude for saving me from the Akumi's back then, but… Seeing now that you are affiliated with Khaos Brigade, knowing the wrong you did to Koneko, and now hurting my group… I won't be holding back against you, Kuroka" he states in direct tone.
"Guh!" Arthur crash into the wall with vicious thud. He opens his eyes and quickly push out of it then disappears in pure speed, avoiding the shards of ice that were heading toward him and now pierces the dent wall instead. Arthur appear up top and swings his sword down at Grayfia, who glance up and a dense wall of ice form on top of her, blocking the strike. Arthur push down and can crack the ice, but he is interrupt by an ice dragon coming from above, roaring out in booming tone that produce a high-pressure wind blast that push him into the wall.
Grayfia disappears and the Ice Dragon comes crashing to Arthur, bringing him to the floor with the block of ice. A thunderous tremor erupts follow by smoke and scatter ice pieces. Grayfia appears a few meters away from the crash and her cold gaze set at the wooden door at the end of the hallway 'Could they be after that?' she questions and turns around to see Nawin and Kuroka are ready to trade blows.
Grayfia makes way toward the battle, planning to aid the Makasha since he's still recovering and not equipped to face a SS-class criminal. Arthur suddenly burst out of the smoke, blazing toward the Lucifuge with his sword lance forward. Three dense wall of ice shoots from the ground, between the two. Arthur smash through the first one with no difficulty, second wall took effort and broke his momentum and the blade stop at third wall. The third wall suddenly slide forward in rapid speed, taking Arthur with it. Grayfia watch the swordsman smash into the hallway's wall with the ice wall following suit to completely crush him in between.
Kuroka and Nawin disappears and clash at the center of the hallway. The floor implodes, and walls dents by just their right forearm clashing. Nawin push up and slide his right feet forward, then brings it back to knock Kuroka out of balance. Nawin clench his right hand into a fist and slams it down, smashing it at the Nekoshou's stomach and brings her down to the ground in a vicious speed.
Kuroka cough out air and wince in pain, but quickly react by shooting a right palm up, smacking it at Nawin's chin to knock him away. Kuroka sits up and push to her feet. 'What…' Hana quickly notice something different 'She… Stopped using Senjutsu?!' Nawin kicks both his feet up and flip to the right, avoiding the incoming kick from Kuroka. He lands and step back to avoid a kick from the right and counter with a right back kick which gets caught by a right hand.
Nawin quickly goes on alert when seeing Kuroka bringing her left elbow down, intending to dislocate his knee. He counters by jumping on his left leg and swings it to the side of Kuroka's head, nailing it perfectly and creating a stiff noise of a hard blow connecting to the flesh. Kuroka is send blasting to the side and smashing to the wall before dropping to her knees while Nawin bring his right leg back, a sign of relief shown in his red eyes of avoiding a potentially battle ending injury.
Kuroka shakily gets to her feet, clearly daze by the stiff kick, but with her keen senses, she hears and feel the Makasha incoming. She gracefully jumps up and over him. Kuroka lands behind and deliver a right elbow forward to only get caught when Nawin spin around and catch with his hand. "Not bad, nya" Kuroka utters, a small smirk form on her lip 'Even though I don't want to fight him… I might as well have some fun with him until the mission is complete.'
Nawin didn't give his reply, his stoic red eyes bore into Kuroka's gold orb. 'Why does it feel like… She's holding back' he utters then push the elbow away and swings a right foot up but Kuroka jumps up to avoid it and swing her own right foot forward, smashing it up Nawin's chin that sends him sliding away. Kuroka lands softly on her feet and looks down at her kimono "Looks like I'll have to buy a new one of these, nya" she sighs childishly, looking at the many cuts and holes scattered around the black kimono.
Nawin regain his footing and stop, rubbing his bruise chin and look forward. His eyes narrow when seeing Kuroka has lost all the seriousness from before 'What the hell is wrong with her?' he questions, utterly confuse by the Nekoshou 'Probably got drop in the head when born' Tairex lazily throws in the comment 'Doubtful…' Sairex interject. Seeing Kuroka isn't intending to make the first move, Nawin takes a step forward and in a matter of seconds, appear on her right and shoots out a fist which gets block by an elbow.
Kuroka grin and spin to send the other elbow from the side, but instead aiming for Nawin's face, she brings it down and hits him in the chest, sending him blasting away. Nawin backflip to land on his feet and turn around to spot Kuroka appearing. Unexpecting, Nawin wraps his arms around her waist. Kuroka's eyes widen in utter shock and her heartrate quickens in rapid pace, a faint blush appears on her cheeks. Nawin flip Kuroka over him with vicious speed that sends her flipping in the air a few times before she comes crashing to the ground.
'O-of course' Kuroka mentally grunts in pain by the brutal landing on her back. Nawin turns around and watch the Nekoshou slowly returns to her feet. "Nawin-sama" Grayfia calls out, walking past Kuroka without sparing a glance, focusing her sight to the Makasha, who turns to her "Yeah?" "These two are just are diversion… There's another one in the Sacred Vault" "Sacred Vault?" Nawin question "It's a place where Sirzech keeps all kind of weapons, tomes, books, ancient stuff that are forbidden to use" "She's right, Master" Hana speaks up "We saw a person entering there."
Koruka mentally cuss and quickly harness in nature's mana, activating her Senjutsu. She turns to Grayfia and strike her right hand forward. A wall of ice form beside Grayfia for defense, but the Queen's expression crack in stun when Kuroka's fist smash right through it.
Nawin appears in front of Grayfia in black flash and takes the blow in the chest. "MASTER!" Hana shouts while the rest watch in disbelief. The most shocked is Kuroka who's expression change to horror. Nawin's eyes widen and holds agony in them as they return to normal brown color. His body start shaking, and he vomits out a terrifying amount of blood that splatter on Kuroka's arm and floor.
Grayfia snap out of the shock and glare menacingly at Kuroka. In a fit of rage, she swings her fist forward and collide it right at Kuroka's face, who didn't dodge because of the shock and utter horror still washing through her shaking body. Kuroka is send blasting away and crash into the wall, her body completely disappear in the concrete.
Grayfia turns around and catch the falling Makasha, placing him on the floor. "Guh" Nawin coughs out more blood and whimpers in pain, his eyes scream agony in them. "No, no, no!" Hana hurries toward him and kneel "H-he took a full Senjutsu strike in the chest… With his weak condition, he won't make it!" she shouts in fearful tone, then places her hand on the shaking Makasha's chest "H-his lungs… They're fatally d-damaged". Akame march forward "Heal him!" she grabs Hana by the shoulder and pulls so the two are face to face "Now!" she shouts, glaring at the stunned woman.
Hana shakily nod and tries to calm down as much as possible before turning to Nawin, seeing his eyes has close and his breather is dwindling, finding it impossible to take in air with the damaged lungs. She quickly places both hands on his chest and begin applying healing magic. Green aura form around the Hydra's hand, but it quickly fades in color "I-I don't have enough mana" she whispers and cuss, then pushes every single ounce of mana left in her body to her shaking hands.
Grayfia place her hands over Hana "Here… Use as much as you need… Just save him" she whispers in desperate. Hana glance up to see the look of ashamed and regret on Grayfia's face. She can tell the older woman is blaming herself for this. Hana turn her attention back to Nawin and feel a large surge of mana rushing her body, then transferred it to her hand. The green aura glows around Hana's hand slowing glows brightly and vibrantly, signaling the healing magic reaching its full effect.
Akame grasp Nawin's right hand, giving it a squeeze "Please push through" she whispers and begs, staring at the Makasha's face, anxiously waiting for his eyes to reopen. Every second that passes, the feeling of dread start befalling on the three, seeing Nawin isn't opening his eyes, his breather has stop completely, his heartbeats can barely be felt. Tears start dripping down Hana's eyes, she grits her teeth so tightly that she feels her jaw is about to break but she didn't care and continues to add more mana.
Hope start leaving Hana's heart, she was about to give up and just snap, but then she along with Akame and Grayfia are met with surprise when the draconic mark suddenly activates. The green aura around Hana's hand suddenly holds a hue of purple in it, signaling the mark's mana. "I-It's healing him…" Grayfia whispers in astonish, watching the mark trying to keep the Makasha alive. "His lungs…. It's recovering" Hana inform in stun.
A full minute pass and the mark dies down, retracting its mana back to the catalyst. Nawin's eyes snaps open and immediately, he sits up and take a massive breath, giving air to his repaired lungs then hoarsely exhales and inhales again. He starts coughing a bit and grasp his chest, wincing in pain at the dark bruise. Nawin looks around and see the girls staring at him with the look of shocked, all of them are speechless.
Nawin raise an eyebrow "What's with those faces?" he asks with a smile. Hana sniff and tackle him to the ground with a hug "Master!" she cries out in happiness. Nawin wince a bit when the impact spike the bruise on his chest, but he whole-heartedly returns the hug and look up to see Akame looking at him with a bright smile of relief. Nawin smile back at his Knight and nod at her. He glance at Hana and gently stroke her back in comfort "Thanks for bringing me back from the verge of death, Hana" he whispers, and pulls her back to wipe the tears from her beautiful face.
Hana smile and slowly stands up to the side, then helps Nawin up to his feet. The Makasha turn to Grayfia and see the expression on her face "Grandma," he calls, causing her to face him "It wasn't your fault… I'm glad you're ok" he said. Grayfia shakes her head, a smile graces her lip and she pulls him into an unexpected hug "Reckless boy… I should be the one protecting you, not the other way around" she tells him. A chuckle erupts from Nawin's mouth as he returns the hug "You know me… Taking reckless actions when it comes to people I care for" he said which cause Grayfia's smile to widen.
The moment is interrupt when a soft tremor goes past the four and all of them turn to the vault's door, seeing it rattling rapidly, creating an ominous cracking noise that echoes through the hallway. Grayfia release the hug and step in front of Nawin "I'll handle this" she states, returning to the cold persona, her sharp silver gaze set at the door. The door begins rattling even more violently until it slams open. Smoke pours out from the darkness in the room and slowly, Cao Cao emerge from the smokes with a bright golden spear in his right hand.
The golden light dies down to reveal eight ft long spear. The spear's appearance shows to be an ancient one, different from the modern spears. The haft of the spear is polish brown wood with a slab of iron wrap around its tail comfortably. A blue ribbon ties tightly around the socket. The head of the spears is unique, its made of pure silver that's been polished to look as new as it can be. The silver piece of the head is shape to a long and wide zigzag way with incredibly sharp corners and the head stretches out to almost two ft long. To put the best description possible to what the unique head of the spear looks like is to compare it to the lightning bolts that the King of the Gods, Zeus would rain down at his enemy. With that look, the spear gives a very ominous and dangerous impression towards Devils.
Cao Cao looks forward and a big grin can be seen on his face, clearly showing great pleasure at finally receiving his weapon. "I was afraid of this, so you came to steal the True Longinus, Cao Cao" Grayfia speaks up, staring coldly at the man "Steal? This is rightfully mine!" he response with a shout "Your husband stole this from me!" "Because you are unworthy of wielding that very weapon" Grayfia retorts and Cao Cao snaps in anger, feeling offended by that statement.
In a fit of anger, Cao Cao slams the spear's head down to discharge a massive torrent of gold magic blast that covers the whole hallway. Grayfia is surprise by the sudden attack and summons a large, dense wall of ice in front of the group. The ice wall reaches all the way to the ceiling and stretch to either ends, creating a full defense. The blast impacts the wall and immediately the cracks begins to show by the violent pressure pushing from the other side. Grayfia is quick to act and repair the wall, but the blast continues its momentum and push on, getting bigger in size.
Nawin sees the Lucifuge struggling to keep the wall up 'Why is she holding back?!' 'Because you three are here' Sairex answers 'She has the power to freeze half of the underworld in seconds, but she can't tap into that with bystanders nearby. Similar to Sirzech.' Nawin turn to Akame and Hana, they look back at him. He gives a reassure smile and wink at them before disappearing in black flash "Master/Nawin-kun!"
The grin on Cao Cao's face widen as he continues to hold the spear forward, a gold beam shoots out from the head, giving the blast more power, breaking the ice wall bit by bit. Cao Cao is startled when feeling a presence from behind and turn his head around to eat a fist to the mouth, sending him barreling away and disrupt the beam. Nawin looks forward to see the blast is still alive, but at least now it's slowly losing its momentum, giving Grayfia a chance to hold the wall until it disappears.
Cao Cao grip the spear tightly while his right hand goes to his bleeding mouth, he looks up and glare darkly at the Makasha. 'Wait… Nawin Makasha' Cao Cao suddenly chuckles and slowly gets up to his feet, his glare lessens and replace with excitement "Nawin Makasha… You've actually done me a big favor" he utters and brings the spear forward, pointing its blade right at Nawin's eyes view "You'll be a strong ally for the Hero Fact—" Cao Cao is interrupt when Kuroka burst from the wall, out of nowhere and delivers a vicious knee to the back of his neck, instantly knocking the man out of conscious.
Kuroka catch the fallen man and throws him above her shoulder while holding the True Longinus in hand. Arthur appears beside her, looking rough with bruises and cuts scatter around his body and clothes. He pushes his cracked glasses up and send a questionable glance at the Nekoshou. "Explain" he simply said, his right hand firmly holding the Caliburn. Kuroka slowly glance back and Arthur is caught with surprise by the menacing glare in her eyes. Such killing intent are behind the glare that Arthur was force to take a step back.
A familiar large square gold beam explodes from the ceiling and envelopes the three. Nawin looks up and is surprise to see a huge black portal in the sky. Like its ripped open from existence and the gold beam shoots from the world of darkness in it. Grayfia and the girls appear next to Nawin and watch the three are carried up, heading toward the portal.
Nawin and Kuroka stare at each other, their eyes bore into one another, cutting the outside world and just leaving the two of them. 'Just who are you really… Kuroka?' Nawin question in his mind, this whole time to him, it felt like the Nekoshou was protecting him, but he can't find any real reason for that to be the case. What's her motive to do such a thing when they are enemies. Kuroka sends Nawin a unexpected genuine smile, even though it was faint, Nawin catch it and watch her disappear when the portal shuts from existence.
Silence comes down the destroyed hallway and Nawin feels all the adrenaline that kept him standing and fighting is fading away. The feeling of exhaustion creep into him and he drops to his knees before collapsing to the ground. "Master!" Hana rush to the Makasha's side and place him on her lap to look at his face, finding him to have fallen asleep "He must have been exhausted" Akame inform, kneeling on the other side "Yes, Nawin-sama came here after fighting a grueling battle… He was running on adrenaline and a potion that was given to him by Lenna Grasher" Grayfia informs and kneel, placing her right hand on Nawin's forehead, gently moving the bangs away from his face, a small smile grace her lip "He deserves a long rest."
Outside Vesarima
Freyja spread her wings and fly up to avoid a barrage of ice lances fired from the west, courtesy of Serafall. She smirks and turns up to be met with surprise by seeing Hunter waiting there, then brings the massive sword down. Freyja twist her whole body to the left and narrowly, by a few inches misses most of blade. Receiving a minor glaze on her abdomen from the tip of the sword. She quickly does a full circle and speed to the south where another battle is going.
"Flame of Chaos!" Sirzech exclaims and breathe out a torrent of crimson fire from his mouth. Rizevim raise his right hand, intending to stop it but he hears a sound coming from behind and turn to see a destruction orb shoots from below, speeding toward him. Rizevim quickly act and extend both his arms to summon the Omnipotent Barrier.
Sirzech watch his attacks collide with the shield to cause a massive eruption that shook the whole land, but he knows that it didn't do anything. The smoke slowly clears and Sirzech sees the yellow hexagon barrier around Rizevim, perfectly protecting him. Sirzech extend his right arm to the side to block a kick and watch Freyja flying pass him, giving a dark smirk follow by a wink.
Serafall and Hunter appears at Sirzech's sides and the three watch Freyja stop beside Rizevim. "Hmm…" Rizevim hums, his eyes shine in knowing "Seems like our goal is complete" he announces, catching the three's attention. "What goal?" Serafall demands, glaring at the smirking man "Go back to your little capital and find out" Rizevim reply and a gold square beams shoots down and envelopes him and Freyja.
"You bastard!" Serafall powers him and about to thrust her staff forward until Sirzech place a hand on her shoulder "Don't bother" he speaks, watching the two departing to the portal "They're out of our reach." Serafall cuss and lower the staff "We will have our battle someday, Sirzech" Rizevim speaks and chuckle darkly "And I'll come prepared for it… Because I promise" his menacing grin widen "The next time we battle… I'll take the sweet pleasure of ripping your head out of your body then display it to the whole of Vesarima! That I promise you!" he exclaims before the portal shuts from existence.
Hunter glance at her teacher and see the rage shown in his crimson eyes, his hands clench tightly into fists to the point his knuckles turn white. Sirzech's sight set on a single hill up ahead and glares at it which such intense that a second later, the hill combust into rubbles. When the dusts clear it shows nothing but a clean surface land where the hill used to be. Numbers of rocks, boulders, and cut grasses rains from the skies and lands around it.
Serafall teleport her staff away and turn to her friend, seeing him calming down, his eyes return to its turquoise color. "He damned played me" he utters in seething tone "He played us all, Sirzech" she replies "I know you wanted to finally put an end to it, but he came prepared, it isn't your fault… No one was prepared for this attack, though you had a feeling, didn't you?" she ask then glance at Hunter "It's why you stationed Hunter to stay in Vesarima. If she wasn't here then the Capital will surely be in a far worse state" "Yeah, with all the murders, I've got a bad feeling, but" Sirzech looks up to where Rizevim and Freyja used to be "I never expected it to be this, a large-scale invasion."
Hunter click the sword into its hostel, on her back and turn to face Vesarima's direction "What's done is done" she speaks "Let's head back to the Capital… The people need their leader to put them at ease" "Yeah," Sirzech turns and look at distance, he can still see the dark cloud of smoke hovering above Vesarima "Let's head back."
Next Chapter: Meeting With The Council! War of Words!