Another wave passed through the purple skies and they slowly changed to a snow-white color.
Demons, fallen, angels and everyone else present stupidly looked up at the vast heavens of the artificial sky, only faction leaders, clan heads and other powerful beings frowned at the strange anomaly.
It was not normal and no one liked it at all.
But the leaders had another task – to save Riser, they could not just stop halfway.
Sazex understood that, first of all, everything that happened to Fenex was entirely his fault. He miscalculated. I didn't expect that Welsh would have such a weapon, but besides that, he strengthened the holy poison with his mechanism, turning an ordinary bullet of light into a deadly and very dangerous weapon.
Fortunately, Mikhail and Azazel were here, and they know how to handle this like no one else.
But still... Riser's internal injuries are monstrous. He did not die only because the blood of Fenex fights the poison, but even without this, he will recover for more than one year, if not a century. The boy's father will not pat Sazex on the head for such a thing, even though he has a peaceful nature, but any "Phoenix" will stand up like a mountain for his offspring.
- Look, something is happening!
A rift in space appeared in the sky. The long black crack began slowly, with a monstrous creak that made you want to wince, to expand itself, like a giant mouth of a huge monster.
Gray smoke poured out of the rift, after which six pairs of huge scarlet eyes lit up inside the darkness, and space was struck by a monstrous animal roar:
- SHAAAAAAAAA!
Expanding the "door", six hefty snake heads emerged from the rift, each of a different color, denoting the elements of the monster: yellow, red, black, green, purple and white. Each muzzle is covered with sharp smoking spikes and thick armored scales.
- Mikhail, take Riser and leave, please, heal him! Sazex was the first to wake up, staring wide–eyed at the legendary monster.
- Lernaean Hydra... Azazel whispered, gasping, restraining the flared enthusiasm of the researcher. "It's sealed in the underground waters!"
- All right, – Mikhail answered Sazex, picking up the bloody body of the guy in his arms, – don't do stupid things...
He was prevented from leaving the territory by twenty-three runic barriers surrounding all the leaders.
The space trembled again and the sound of a ticking clock passed through it, accompanied by someone's childish cry. Demons, angels, and the fallen froze like statues frozen in time.
The whole environment acquired a dark red color and only a few among the whole people remained untouched by the power of the "forbidden gaze of Balor".
- What's going on?.. Mizuki stupidly shifted her gaze between the demons frozen in time. From her sector, only she, Sona, and Neo remained untouched by a strange force. – N-no, we need to leave! If what Azazel said is true, then we are all in big trouble!
Sona slowly shifted her gaze from the monster that filled the sky to the smiling Mori.
She was not a complete fool and drew a parallel from his strange snap of his fingers to the appearance of an anomaly in the sky followed by... everyone. The mind screamed one thing, but emotions with feelings built other arguments.
One half of the girl just screamed that she needed to take Neo away from here and run for help, and the other half... the other didn't know what was going on.
- Sona, – kitsune grabbed the hand of the startled demoness, then grabbed the guy's palm and began pulling her friends towards the exit, – Neo, let's go!
But Mori stayed where he was, carefully freeing himself from ayakashi's grip.:
- I'm sorry, but... – the guy chuckled faintly and slowly walked to the first snake's face, which almost descended to the ground, – this is for me.
- Mizuki stupidly looked at the retreating back of the guy going down the stairs. – Neo?.. Neo!
The girl tried to run after her, but her way was blocked by a grayish barrier that appeared out of nowhere.
Sitri stared expressionlessly at the back of the departing Mori.
Up to this point, a raging hurricane had passed through her head, but now... now a ringing void filled her mind. Even the aching heart could not reason with the demoness, over whose pale cheeks two paths of salty tears slowly flowed.
Out of the corner of her mind, the girl noticed a lot of shuddering demons, fallen and angels, who had been standing frozen in time statues until that moment.
The people looked around and exchanged glances, smiling happily, after which each of them took out of his inner pocket a snow-white mask crossed with a golden cross and, after a few moments, all resolutely moved down to the snake heads that had descended, on whose huge muzzles stood hundreds of sentients in snow-white robes and identical masks.
Kitsune, in love, screamed, growled and roared, trying to break through the barrier and smashing her fists into blood on it, but nothing came of it, and her lover still walked forward, never turning back.
It was only at the moment of parting that she noticed something in his eyes, but what... the girl couldn't tell.
Mizuki didn't want to think about everything that was happening. She denied reality, thus saving her heart, which was torn from mental pain.
Issei, reunited with Rias and his friends, frowned at the hundreds of strange people lined up in identical robes and masks. From their backs could be seen a variety of wings, both demonic and fallen and even angels.
Giant snake faces, whose aura terrified the pervert, greeted the approaching people with a loud hiss.
- Rias-senpai, what are we going to do? Issei asked slowly, noticing the familiar smiling face of his friend. – Neo? There's Neo!
- I see ... – Rias whispered, also not understanding what was happening. – We are... we have to help my brother with the rest of the leaders. But first... Something happened to Gasper. This is his ability. Where is he?
- He said that he would go to the bathroom, – Kiba created a blade in his hand, feeling painfully familiar energy. – I feel it... Excalibur!
Issei had never seen so much rage on his friend's face. Even his aura has acquired a dark color from anger.
"Whoever they are, I doubt they're friendly. Akeno took a deep breath, calming the emotions that flared up. – Madam, I suggest we split up. Some will help your brother, others will go after Gasper.
- And the third will go for questions, – Issei answered in the same tone. – Eva-chan, can you help?
- of course. The girl replied softly.
- No, Issei, you are injured and still have not recovered!
"Assia-chan will help me. Really? – the guy gently stroked the gray hair of the startled girl, who looked up at the guy with eyes watering with fear.
The exiled nun was terrified of a repeat of that terrible day that haunts her every night.
Meanwhile, Neo went down and went to meet the masked man who had separated from the line:
- Hello.
- Hello, – the stranger answered in the same tone, nodding his head in greeting. – Shall we flip a coin?
"There's no need," Mori replied calmly, taking off his glasses and turning back for a moment, looking into the faces of Sona and Mizuki.
A trail of blood started from the corner of his mouth and the guy, coughing strangely, turned back, looking down at the golden blade that pierced him.
- NOOOOOOOO! Kitsune's voice came from behind the barrier.
Her pain-filled scream surpassed the hydra's hiss and rang through the space.
Sona covered her mouth with her hands and barely whispered the guy's name. She wanted to shout his name, but nothing came out of her parched throat except a wheeze.
Issei, watching his friend's body slowly fall to the ground, roared and, enveloped in a scarlet glow, rushed at great speed to the fallen body of his comrade, in whose dark eyes there was no life.
After a heartbeat, the guy's body slowly turned into golden dust, sucked into the stranger's chest.
- Hmm... is that how it is? the man laughed faintly. - Yes... now it's clear.
- BASTARD! The scarlet–armored guy who appeared in front of the masked assassin of a friend growled.
The outburst of rage with an inhuman desire to take revenge on the killer allowed Issei to use the "Balance Breaker" again.
But... Issei's fist filled with energy was stopped by the stranger's one finger:
"I have to ask you to stop, Issei-kun," the stranger pushed the boy's fist away with his finger, causing his armor to crack and crumble. – Stepping on a bug in order not to harm it... requires great control.
- You... Issei stupidly fell on his ass, staring in shock at the crumbling armor. – How?!
The man did not answer, starting to slowly pull off the mask.
Sazex and the other leaders watched the show unfold. It was immediately clear that this was someone's show. They are still alive, trapped, from which they cannot get out.
No, they could easily escape, but then the leaders would harm each other, and all the forces spent on healing and stabilizing the state of the Riser would go to waste – the guy would simply die from the aura and strength of any of those present.
Even more so... there was a lot to see. Hydra, this stranger, who stopped the Red Wali balance breaker with his finger, and the strange murder of that man.
Plus, Sazex felt several dozen very strong auras gathered in the ranks of the intruders, he felt something familiar, as did Mikhail and Azazel, judging by their frowning faces.
Well, and also clothes with symbols and holy crosses – all this indicated that these were the very "enemies" that the three factions were looking for in vain. Or else...
Sazex frowned even more, and a stream of holy energy hit from Mikhail, which Azazel restrained in time.
"Do you know this man?"
"This is our Paladin,– Mikhail said softly, which seemed to destroy the barrier with a glance. – Eisen Souske.
-= Same time. Eisen. =-
I stood and looked into the face of my figure. Maybe he belongs to someone else, that red-haired demoness, but that doesn't change the fact that he is my pawn, that he will become a queen in the future.
He doesn't understand.
He doesn't understand who I am and where he saw this face. Dark hair and a little haze hide the face of his friend and comrade. The face of a man who created from an unwanted schoolboy and human garbage what he is now.
Man, dragon, demon, beloved and revered. With its ups and downs. With their desires and dreams that have come true.
He does not know this, continuing to burn my eyes with a blazing rage. Continuing to growl, wheeze and wonder how I managed to stop him with one finger.
I would have opened his eyes to the truth, but why? Will he understand that the laws of nature are created for those who cannot live without them? Stupid restrictions that humans and other races of this world have set themselves.
I have gone beyond any laws and realities. I don't need them, I just discarded them as unnecessary, like rusty chains that are trying to restrain a titan.
None of the inhabitants of this world even thought about the fact that fundamental laws can be circumvented. Close your eyes to them, throw them away, forget... just ignore it.
Perhaps they tried to get around them, something even worked out, but these are sluggish attempts of the body agonizing before death. Those individuals did not fully believe that they would be able to realize their desires and dreams. There was too little madness and logic in them, tightly restrained by cold calculation.
My lips slowly curved into a smile, and I turned off the gloom hanging on my face.
The stupid pawn recognized me. I recognized the face of my friend and comrade who helped him so many times.
Tears of relief flow from his eyes, because I am alive. If I had looked up a little higher, I could have noticed two more girls who are in a similar state to the guy. So naive and so stupid.
How little does reason need for attachment and faith?
- N-neo, so you're alive? Why scare me like that, bro!
He sees only what he wants to see. He doesn't look beyond his own nose.
- First of all, hello, Issei-kun. We haven't seen each other for a long time... I crouched down in front of him, looking into his eyes.
He still doesn't understand what's going on. He doesn't even think that the troops behind my back can wipe everyone into powder.
The perfect figure. "Hero". The proud title of a being with an illusory choice. Straightforward and bright, like a ghostly image of distant happiness.
That's how a hero should be. Obedient, strong, determined, loved and hated. He must believe that he is fighting for a just cause, without even thinking about the consequences and pain that he will surely bring to others.
But my hero... he's still not ready. The embryo that did not have time to form.
He has no right goal, which will be followed by reasonable ones. There is no required strength that will allow him to reach the heavenly peak. And he has no losses... he still hasn't lost anything to realize his weakness, insignificance and the solid foundation of reality against which hopes are being dashed.
Well, that's easy to fix.
I will become the engine that will make my stupid hero move forward, lose everything and gain nothing.
- Issei-kun, are you happy with your life?
- Why such questions? And anyway, what's going on?! What kind of people are behind you, what kind of snake that crawled out of the rift... how did you even stop my punch?! I could have killed you!
- Are you happy that your dreams have come true? – I touched his forehead, disabling the mental barriers. –Tell me how happy you are, Hedo Issei." After all, it was I who fulfilled your dreams and desires.
My creation, Eve, slowly descended from the air near the guy. My hero's dream come true. Most desired by him.
I wonder what would happen if I opened his eyes to the truth? The fact that, for real, no one was attached to him. No one has fallen in love with him for who he is and everything he has achieved is an illusion.
The only choice he made was to say yes when I offered him a wish.
Ironic. After all, he himself called the "malleable doll of reason" an abomination. What happens when he realizes that all the creatures around him are ordinary dolls that are happy to be near him? And not because of who he is, no... because of the glove and the dragon aura.
Will he love Eve with the same intensity when he realizes that he has become the same doll? If it weren't for the dragon organ implanted in Eve's uterus, resembling a small red crystal that produces a special pheromone that attracts male dragons, would my hero be as happy? Or would he call it "abomination" again?
It's too early to open his eyes to this yet...
- You... so it was you? – the unlocked memory slowly opened my hero's eyes. He just remembered the one who "fulfilled" his wish. The one who gave Adam the beautiful Eve. The one who asked to take care of her. The one who helped him defeat his enemy. – Biblical...
The troops behind me simultaneously dropped to one knee.
"You're right, Issei-kun," I rose back up and spread my arms out to the sides, allowing the crown of golden light to finally incarnate over my head. Flashes of light trembled, trying to go out, but it won't last long... now my hero will personally make me a God. "I am your God, Hedo Issei. I have fulfilled your wish. I have given you strength. I created an ideal for you. I helped you get back on your feet and defeat your enemy. Are you happy to be alive? Are you happy that you have your own God?
I turned for a moment towards Mikhail's shocked face. He realized what I was trying to do and what I was striving for. He started hitting the barrier with his hands, shouting for Issei to stop, but... they won't hear him or see him.
"Yes," the guy nodded seriously, opening his mouth.
"Not like that, Issei-kun. Don't you know how to thank God properly? my lips curled into a sad smile.
- By prayer? understanding flashed in his eyes, quickly replaced by sadness. "But I'm a demon and I can't pray to God...
- Don't worry, Issei-kun, for me you have always been a person, so you can pray to me without fear and doubt...
The guy nodded stiffly, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in a prayer gesture.
Now he will make the greatest mistake in the life of this world. Will make a man a God.
But is it possible to stop what was predetermined in advance? No. And no one can. Now the man kneeling in front of me will once again prove that people are capable of anything.
I'll prove it.
It's a pity that this is only the beginning of my path to the heavenly throne.
I chuckled faintly, looking at the seal in the shape of a cross, slowly embodied on the back of my hand. The crown above my head wavered and went out, only to flare up in a golden prominence the next second.
Space trembled and creaked, the howling of the trumpets of the universe was heard, signaling to all worlds that a new God had just been born. That the impossible had happened. Miracle.
That ancient seals and laws were broken by man.
- Thank you, Issei-kun, – I opened my eyes and looked at the person sitting in front of me, then turned my gaze to my spoiled creation. – Eva, please... kill Issei.
- Eh?
- Yes, – the will disappeared from the girl's eyes, – the Creator.
In the next second, a projectile of black and white energy came to the place where the guy was sitting a moment ago. Intuition saved Issei from death. He dodged attacks, jumped, shouted Eva's name, asking why she was attacking him. But she didn't hear him, continuing to attack nonstop.
"I'm sorry, Hedo Issei, neither she nor I need you anymore. Eve will kill you, then she will kill you... Rias, then Akeno, and then Koneko or Kibu. I wonder why? Simply so. You know, you're so weak and pathetic that I want to cry. But to get my hands dirty on you... my face twisted in disgust. – Let my pathetic creation do it better. After she destroys everything you hold dear, she will kill herself. Isn't that the perfect ending to the play?
- How can you say that?! You're a God, you've done so much for me! And you're my friend, why-!.. Ugh! – the guy's side was noticeably scorched by a clot of light, causing him to stumble and draw the ground with his face.
"Finish him off, Eve.
But she didn't follow my order. Tears flowed from her eyes, and her hand, enveloped in black and white flames, trembled, and the blow landed on the ground, not on the boy's head.
"Isn't that amazing?" The way my creation disobeyed my Father's order for the second time? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
- Eve?.. – the guy whispered the name of his beloved, after which he growled softly and jumped to his feet, glaring menacingly in my direction and running towards me at full speed. – Ddraig, give me strength!
- [AMPLIFYING!]
I let his hand touch my face. But his punch didn't even move me. I just didn't feel it:
- Wrong choice, Issei-kun, – the scarlet glove began to slowly crack and disintegrate into bloody parts, causing the guy to scream wildly from unbearable pain. – You have just rebelled against the God to whom you sent a prayer. And it brought its consequences...
My calm gaze fell on the body writhing in a pool of its own blood, cradling the stump.
A silver-haired guy in a dark suit appeared behind me, a pair of segmented blue wings sticking out of his back, denoting him as a carrier of the "White Albion".
- Vali-kun, calm down, – for a moment I look behind my back, pressing the hot-tempered guy with the released aura to the cracked ground. – Okay?
Without losses, my hero will not be able to go further. But this is not enough...
- Eva, come and look into the eyes of your Creator, – the obedient puppet moved stiffly in my direction. The third time she failed to resist my will, even though she tried. "You betrayed your father. I disobeyed His orders twice... everything has its price. I want you to tear off all your wings and give them to me.
- E... va... Issei whispered, trying to get up on trembling legs and, at the same time, ignore the monstrous spiritual pain. – Eva!
The girl slowly tore off her wings, accompanying this action with slurping sounds and wet crunching. First demonic, then fallen, and then angel, all six bloody wings were in my hands and immediately melted into golden light.
- Thank you, Eva.
- How could you... How could you do this to her?! – burst out of the mouth of my hero, burning me with a murderous look, accompanied by a monstrous thirst for blood. – You're the Creator of it! Her father!
- Ah... it hurts you to see that, doesn't it? – I looked mockingly at the guy, stepping into a pool of blood and, bending down, met his gaze, patting his cheek. –I'm sorry, I should have ordered her to deprive you of your sight, and then disfigure your body beyond recognition, so that even you, Issei-kun, could not recognize your stupid girlfriend.
- You... You're not Neo... – horror flew through my pawn's gaze. – Not the Neo I knew! What happened to you?!
- The whole truth is that-... – my face was distorted with fear. – No, Issei-kun, save me! Pull it out, did I f-... fall for it?
- ... – tears of pain and resentment poured out of the guy's eyes. "You're not Neo Mori...
- "Not Neo Mori"? I stepped back and slowly took off my glasses. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Issei-kun. You need to start with the fact that "Neo Mori", whom you knew... never existed.
The glasses fell to the ground with a thud.
First of all, I never needed them. I have always had good eyesight, both in this world and in the past. Why are shinigami glasses that can feel the world with his eyes closed?
The black-rimmed sunglasses slowly faded into thin air, as did my two disguises that disappeared with them. I combed my hair back, letting a single curl fall over my face. The cold gaze automatically completed the picture of transformation and focused on Issei:
- My name is Aizen. Aizen Souske, – a gray fog swirled behind me. – Nice to meet you.