Author's Note: And here it is! The final chapter! Only an Epilogue after this. It's a little smaller than usual but I hope satisfying enough.
Chapter 44: The Battle Never Ends
The battles had all but wrapped up when Tatsumi returned to the stadium proper.
The stadium that had been emptying rapidly when he'd left was slowly refilling. The devils now driven more by curiosity and the desire to see blood than fear of their own personal safety. Others peaked around seats and fallen debris, those that hadn't been able to flee either due to being too far from the exits, or the enemies being between them and the exit.
Tatsumi wrinkled his nose as he took to the air. The stench of blood hung heavily upon the air. Many spectators laid dead or dying around the stadium, primarily due to the Midgardsormr and its enormous size. The entire north half of the stadium was covered in crushed and broken bodies of devils. Even a few Angels and Valkyries lay crushed on the stands.
The enormous wyrm, one of the five Dragon Kings, wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. It lay dying upon the stands, half its length hung limply over the edge of the stands, dropping to the icy stadium floor. Blood pooled on the ice and ran down the side of the stadium. The huge wyrm was covered in wounds. Many of its scales were crushed or outright missing entirely. Massive holes had been blasted through its body, courtesy of Sairaorg Bael and his enormous strength.
Sairaorg Bael himself stood upon the dragon's head, one large foot propped up on the ridge that served as its brow. His golden gauntlets dripped with dragon blood. His two bishops, Misteeta and Corianna floated in the air nearby. Demonic circles of magic still encircling their wrists as they watched the fallen dragon for any sign of a last ditch final struggle.
Tatsumi only gave them a passing glance though. What happened to devils and their society was of no concern to him. He was more concerned about a spunky little Grim Reaper that loved to play jokes on him.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips when he found her. Not far from where Tatsumi had plowed Loki into the stadium in fact. There was a large empty area of the stadium where most of the seats had been blasted away. Loki himself lay bleeding in a concrete crater. The left side of his face was covered in blood. His left eye had shut from swelling and bruising. His silver hair was matted in blood. The most significant wound though was his left arm.
It was gone entirely, along with the shoulder. Tatsumi could even see a part of Loki's lung.
Bennia had been able to handle him just fine.
A flicker of movement drew his attention to Akame who lurked in the shadows nearby. There really hadn't been anything to worry about. Akame was within striking distance. All she needed was a scratch, and it would be enough to kill him. Loki was fast, true, and a God, but he wouldn't have known she had struck until it was too late.
"I see you didn't have any trouble," Tatsumi said, floating over to her side.
((Of course,)) Bennia said, crossing her arms beneath her now ample bosom. She didn't take her eyes off the injured god. ((He made the mistake of thinking he could hurt me. He won't be hurting anyone anymore.))
"You will pay for this," Loki hissed through clenched teeth.
((No, I won't,)) Bennia said. ((Because no one will save you, not even Odin.))
Loki let out a sharp laugh. It got cut short as a pained groan escape his lips. A trickle of blood ran down his lips. "Odin is probably dead by now. Serves him right for siding with these worthless shits."
"What do you mean?" Tatsumi asked.
Loki grinned at him sending Tatsumi on high alert. That was not the expression of someone that felt he was beaten. Bennia and Akame sensed the same thing, both readied to strike at the fallen god at a moment's notice.
"Because Ragnarok is happening… now. My death is meaningless!"
"TATUSMI NO!" Serafall's scream from behind. It was a cry of warning and horror.
It came far too late.
Intense agonizing pain tore through his body. Like someone was using a thousand rusty spoons to dig out his insides. Time seemed to slow around him as if the entire world was coming to a stop. His second set of eyes shifted from Loki. Slowly, ever so slowly, they turned rearward. He could see the faces of all his friends. Every pore on Akame's face and each minute detail as the blood drained from her face. Her eyes slowly widening in shock and fear. Fear of losing him.
Beside him Bennia was whirling around so fast the still air was streaming off her body. He could see each and every tiny vapor particle, vaporizing as she shattered them with her passage. Her eyes going wide with horror and panic. He could see her divine power, her power over death, blazing to life, swallowing her and everything around her as she summoned everything at her disposal to her.
Even as his human eyes turned downwards to the gaping hole in his chest and the delicate hand that held his heart in its grasp, the Tyrants eyes caught a glimpse of the one standing behind him. A small, diminutive figure wearing a black gothic Lolita dress. Blood splattered across her face, her dress, and spurted across her arm.
His blood.
In her tiny little hand was his heart.
"What?" was all Tatsumi could manage to say.
Below Loki simply continued to cackle madly, heedless to the pain wracking his body.
((No!)) Bennia's cry of fear rippled across the arena. Her reaction was instantaneous as if she'd been preparing for this day. A lance of energy darker than absolute darkness and filled with all the power Bennia could muster hammered into Ophis. The diminutive figure let out a surprised grunt as she was thrown back a ways. ((Tatsumi! Run!))
He instinctively caught his heart before it could drop. His body was already working overtime to save itself. A secondary heart quickly grew inside, nestled just behind his belly button. It quickly took over the functions of the primary as his body quickly worked to heal itself from the grisly, life threatening wound in his chest.
"I…" what the hell just happened?
Then Serafall was there, hovering protectively between him and Ophis, twelve beautiful wings of ice spread out to encase him in a protective cocoon.
"I won't let you die after everything you've done!" Serafall vowed. "I'll stop her with Bennia so run!"
Bennia's sharp cry of pain snapped Tatsumi's attention away from Serafall's back. He felt more than saw Bennia ragdoll into the stadium wall.
"Go!" Serafall commanded before she charged at Ophis.
[Nuisances, all of you,] a familiar voice reached Tatsumi's ears.
That voice snapped Tatsumi back to his sense. Ophis. She was here but what did she want? Had she attacked him first because he was the most dangerous or for some other reason?
Those two weren't going to be able to stop Ophis, not alone. He refused to run like a coward when everyone else here fought for their lives. They didn't even know what she wanted. Running would only matter if she was here for him.
Could he even out run her? Where would he go? He had no means of leaving the Underworld.
And he'd be damned if he fled with his tail between his legs while everyone he cared about fought for their lives against the Infinite Dragon God.
He never got the chance to go to their aid.
A massive stream of ice slammed into him from above, hurling him towards the stadium floor. Tatsumi flipped around in mid air and slammed into the icy floor feet first. Pain wracked his body as the impact aggravated the hole in his chest. But there wasn't any time to let that slow him down. Throwing the pain aside with a shake of his head, he launched off the ground cratering the shattered ice beneath his feet.
He recognized that attack and a quick glance at the monitor confirmed his suspicion. Sona was injured but alive, and Hikaru was at her side, helping her. Syura was dead, his body unresponsive nearby. Esdeath was nowhere to be seen.
Now he couldn't run even if he wanted to. Esdeath wouldn't let him. Ophis might not kill everyone, but Esdeath most certainly would.
Tatsumi slammed into the wave of ice. It fractured and broke apart, shattering. He wasn't like before. He was much stronger now. Her ice crumpled beneath his power now. Thousands of tiny fragments of ice rained down upon the stadium. Erupting from the other side he took only a single moment to confirm Esdeath's position before he attacked.
He had to end it in a single strike. Now. While Serafall and Bennia had Ophis distracted.
He never reached her.
His charge came to a sudden and abrupt halt. As if all the surrounding air solidified in an instant. There standing behind him was Ophis herself. A single finger pressed against the back of his neck. That was all it had taken to immobilize him.
Just how powerful was Ophis? This was just plain ridiculous.
Both Bennia and Serafall were down, each occupying their own crater on opposite sides of the stadium. Ophis had made quick work of the both of them.
"How thoughtful, Tatsumi," Esdeath said as she floated down to his level. Tatsumi blinked at the curiosity spread out behind her. Ten white wings? Since when was Esdeath an Angel? Shouldn't she be a Fallen Angel? "Coming to us like that. You should have run."
"To where?" Tatsumi managed to force out through his teeth. "Can't… leave you… here…" His body started to shift and alter as it tried to adapt to whatever it was Ophis had done to him.
"You really are too good for this broken world," Esdeath whispered softly. There was a strange, gentle look on her face as she raised a single hand to her cheek. "There's a place at my side for you. This world doesn't deserve you." Her eyes fell upon Serafall. "She doesn't deserve you."
"I won't let… you take him!" Serafall gasped out as she climbed to her feet. "My So-tan needs him!"
[You have no choice.] Ophis returned. [I hope you have said your farewells. I cannot guarantee his condition once I am finished.]
"No!"
"Don't worry, if he agrees to join my side, I'll let him live," Esdeath promised. "It is so lonely doing what I do. I could use the company."
[Enough banter] The Infinite Dragon God said as she stared at her arm. There was a slight frown on her lips as if noticing something. [A nuisance is approaching, we leave now.]
"We're going to have a great time together, Tatsumi-chan," Esdeath said, borrowing Serafall's nickname for him. The mocking tone and the knowing look she sent Serafall's way was telling who that was for. "Goodbye, Serafall."
A magical circle sprang up around them. Against his will Tatsumi found himself dragged down into it. Try as he might, he couldn't break free of Ophis. But perhaps this was for the best. If he stayed here, Ophis and Esdeath would continue to rampage. At least this way everyone else would…
"NO!" Serafall's cry of fear rang out.
There was one person who refused to let him go so easily. Serafall rocketed from her crater. Faster than he'd ever seen her move before. She slammed into the three of them with all the force of a comet. Ophis barely moved, but he was ripped from her. The three of them, Esdeath, Serafall and Tatsumi, tumbled into the teleport spell.
"You're not going anywhere!" Tatsumi heard Mine's voice ring out as he disappeared through the teleport circle with Esdeath and Serafall.
[And so the nuisance has arri—]
Whatever else was said Tatsumi didn't hear as the teleport spell collapsed and all three of them were thrown elsewhere.
~o~
[And so the nuisance has arrived.]
Ever since her return from Niflheim, Akame could always feel Mine's presence. That Dominion was a double-edged sword in that regard. It allowed her to see all that there was around her, but at the same time it allowed those sensitive enough to know that she was around. However, always before it was merely this presence. A feeling that she was nearby.
This was the first time Akame ever saw that dominion visible. A thick, heavy pink mist surrounded Ophis. Sweat beaded on Mine's forehead. It trickled down her face, joining others running down her face.
"I won't let you have Tatsumi!"
Despite Mine's best effort, Ophis moved. Sluggish at first. Then with more surety, more strength. The droplets of sweat on Mine's face became streams as she struggled to restrain a power far greater than her.
[Your love for him is strong.] Ophis moved, tearing through the pink mist. Mine tried to fight her. She truly did. It did little more than slow her down. [Whether you live to see him again depends on that little girl, Serafall. Pray that she gives up her desire for Vengeance.]
Akame knew what was coming even before it happened. It was so like Mine that there could be no other outcome. The only warning anyone else got was Pumpkin blazing brighter than the sun.
Mine shoved her hands in Ophis' face. A continuous wave of pure, unfocused divine energy slammed into the Infinite Dragon God. Mine roared. Pumpkin blazed ever brighter. The wave of energy intensified. The roof of the stadium disappeared, utterly consumed by a colossal blast. It continued on piercing the sky. The clouds burst apart, washed away clearing the sky above Agraes and bringing a premature end to the rain. On it continued, shooting out into the atmosphere and beyond, tearing across the solar system at the speed of light.
"How about you die—!" her words were cut suddenly cut off. A little, delicate hand reached out of the energy wave and clamped down upon her throat. The massive wave of pink energy suddenly reversed. Consumed. Inky darkness obliterated it and slammed into Mine, throwing her back down into the hole in Agraes she'd made earlier.
A moment later the world shook as Ophis power detonated on the surface of the world below. Mine at its epicenter. Akame could only pray that she was still alive.
As the pink and black energy dissipated, Ophis stood alone standing above all others. There were none left capable of challenging her. There hadn't been any to begin with.
Then, a strange, pleased smile creased her normally expressionless face.
[Yes, consuming the Evolutionary Dragon God does indeed dramatically increase one's strength. I am very pleased by this. I will finally have my solution to Great Red. Silence is within reach.]
And with that Ophis disappeared. Teleporting away via some unknown means.
Silence settled upon the arena with her departure. The battle was over. At least for them. That was what everyone thought. Akame knew better than to let her guard down. There was still one other here. Loki was still alive, alive despite the fact that he should be dead. Blood loss should have seen to that.
Yet still he laid there, watching everything with those eyes that bespoke confidence. That was not someone who thought they were done and out. So Akame kept hidden, crouching low, silent and waiting.
It had to be when he least expected it. When he thought victory was in his grasp. She'd only get a single chance. If she failed, she was dead. A situation so familiar she couldn't help but smile. It really did feel like she was back in Night Raid with all the others.
Loki didn't keep her waiting long. He fulfilled her suspicion when his form shimmered and all his wounds disappeared. His clothes were ripped and torn, but the blood-soaked hair, bruised face, and missing arm all seemingly healed in an instant.
"Well, now that there is no longer anyone left to oppose me," Loki said as he climbed to his feet, a look of absolute superiority on his face. His eyes fell upon the downed Bennia who was still unconscious from the defeat Ophis had handed her. They moved on to Sairaorg. "I think it's time I cleaned up."
"You're welcome to try," Sairaorg shouted at him from across the stadium.
"Oh please, you're no match for me. I thought I made that painfully obvious earlier," Loki said as casually strolled to the edge of the stadium. He placed a single foot against the railing and glared at him. "You killed my pet. I'm going to have to show you proper… gratitude."
"I'll have to ask you to leave the children alone," a new voice spoke up.
A tall, handsome looking man wearing a formal looking suit floated down from the shattered stadium ceiling. A pair of phoenix wings blazed brightly from his back. The heat was intense. It caused Akame's cheeks to heat up, and she wasn't the only one. Even the ice covering the stadium floor rapidly melted beneath it. Akame could feel the demonic energy rolling off this man. He was no weakling.
And neither were those around him. He hadn't come alone. Almost a dozen others, devils all of them, descended beside him. Streams of demonic rolled off them as well.
Akame recognized the man. Ruval Phenex and his peerage.
"Oh lovely, more guests," Loki said, sounding unperturbed by the sudden arrivals. "You should have stayed away."
"We simply have to keep you busy long enough for the other Satans to arrive," Ruval Phenex told him.
Loki let out a loud, chest shaking laugh. "The other Satans are dead or done! Ophis already saw to them! Odin too and all the others that were watching Rias Gremory's game."
Reinforcements weren't coming. That meant those who were here were all that there were. It was time to strike. Loki, despite his words, was wholly focused on the new arrivals. No one of them was a match for him, but the entire peerage was a different matter. None of them were weak. Loki knew that.
Akame slipped from her hiding spot and started across the broken stadium, slipping from shadow to shadow, always keeping out of sight whenever possible.
"Then we can at least buy time for the children to get away," Ruval Phenex said. His face was pale, but his determination hadn't wavered in the slightest. "Sairaorg, take your bishops and leave, now."
"But I…"
"Leave," Ruval's voice broke no argument. "It is the duty of those that came before to guide those that are to come." Ruval gave the proud man a forlorn smile. "At least let me go out doing my duty."
As Akame moved within striking distance, she saw Sairaorg off in the distance. The proud devil clenched his fists angrily but did as asked. He jumped off Midgardsormr's corpse and started running for the exit. His bishops close behind.
"How generous of you to send him off," Loki said wryly. "Not that it'll matter. I know he'll go to the hospital to gather the rest of his 'friends.' I'll have fun tearing that place apart looking for him and them."
"Are you finished?" Ruval Phenex asked.
For the briefest of moments she thought his eyes met hers. That question hadn't been for Loki. Her expression went flat. She fed her emotions into a burning flame, scattering them to the wind. She embraced Murasame. Embraced her power.
She became death.
"That eager to die are we?" Loki asked.
Akame slipped from behind the shattered piece of rubble and rushed across the ground. Her Trump card pushed to its limits. That brief distance between her and Loki was covered in an instant. So quick it looked as if she instantaneously teleported to the God's side.
Loki must have sensed something. He moved, twisting around to confront whatever threat was striking from behind.
Too easy. Akame had observed him through his battle. He heavily favored his right side. Which meant when acting on instinct, that would be how he shifts. Akame shifted with him, staying out of sight.
Then it was too late. Murasame made a cut across his exposed left shoulder. It was just a single, tiny cut, insignificant and inconsequential. It was all she needed. She blurred once more, rushing away just as fast as she'd charged forward. Looking to all the world as if she disappeared and reappeared a dozen meters away from the God.
She swiped her sword through the air before calmly sheathing it at her side.
"You, who are you!?" Loki snarled.
"Akame, of Night Raid."
Loki simply sneered at her. "Another fool looking to die—gah!" He clutched at his shoulder as inky black scrawling of an ancient, dead text of a world he knew nothing about began to crawl across his skin. "What is this?"
"Your death."
"What have you done to me!" He screamed as he clawed at his skin, tearing chunks of flesh in a desperate attempt to rid himself of whatever it was infecting him. "No! I am a God!"
"And?" Akame asked. What did it matter if he was a God? If it had a heart, she could kill it. That was all there was to it. "If it can die. I can kill it."
Loki gave one last shout of defiance before that markings reached his heart. It stopped. He stopped. Loki dropped to his knees before toppling over onto his side. His eyes open wide in disbelief, even in death.
"This is all we can do, Tatsumi," Akame said softly. "The rest is up to you now."
She only hoped that wherever he was, he survived.
~o~
The teleportation experience this time was unlike any other. It wasn't like the Angels where it felt like you were gently picked up and deposited elsewhere, or even the devils where it felt more akin to be thrown.
This was pure agony. Every nerve in his body burned, scorching his mind. The pain was sheer agony. That was all there was. Pain. No sense of anything else. It felt like it would go on forever. At one point, Tatsumi feared that it would.
But then it ended, dumping Tatsumi somewhere else. The wind howled past his ears as he fell from the sky. Intense waves of hot, humid heat slammed into him. It was oppressive. Sweat immediately beaded on his skin.
Tatsumi forced his eyes opened. Below was a vast, almost primordial looking forest. It stretched out in all directions, disappearing into the horizon. It was a forest unlike any Tatsumi had ever seen before. He needed to stop himself and figure out where he'd ended up. He unfurled his wings to catch the wind. Sharp, agonizing pain shot through his wings as they ripped and tore open. He fixated his two rear eyes on them and noticed the webbing was torn to shreds. Blood trailed in the air above him. There was no using them until he healed.
Crash landing it was.
His draconic eyes caught a second form. It tumbled past him, accelerating faster due to Tatsumi's failed attempt to slow himself.
Serafall.
She was unconscious. The beautiful dress she'd worn to the Rating Game was in tatters. Only the left shoulder strap still held, exposing the right side of her chest. Huge rents and tears all across it exposed a great deal of flesh, and even the black panties she'd worn beneath were on full display. Worse than her dress was Serafall herself. She was covered in cuts and bruises, including a particularly nasty one on her right shoulder. The entire area was turning black and blue.
Had Ophis done that to her or had it been a result of the teleportation gone awry?
Whatever the reason, he couldn't let her crash into the forest below. Not in her condition. Tatsumi tucked his wings in tight and dove. He caught up quickly. He wrapped his arms around her chest and tucked her protectively against his chest. Placing his back to the ground he braced for impact.
It came suddenly and with force. He slammed through the forest canopy, breaking the thin limbs at the top. Further down he simply bounced, his momentum and their thickness reaching that equilibrium. Tatsumi gritted his teeth and stoically bore the pain as his body bounced all the way down to the forest floor.
With one last painful bounce off a large rock at the forest floor, they came to a stop.
"That could have been worse," Tatsumi groaned as he slowly sat up. He took care to be gentle with the woman in his arms. She was breathing but unconscious. "The trees broke our fall." Tatsumi gave Serafall a quick once over to see if there was anything he could do to make her more comfortable. He was quick to avert his eyes from her chest. He knew she didn't care if he looked, but he still refused to look. This wasn't the time or the place to think about a woman's breasts.
Even if they were flawless.
Serafall may not have noticed, but another did.
"Tatsumi-kun, if you need someone's chest to ogle, you don't need her."
Tatsumi's head snapped to the source of that voice. There, dropping down out from the canopy was one of the last people he wanted to see right then. "Esdeath."
"You don't need to take that tone with me, Tatsumi-kun," Esdeath said softly. Her hand came up to the buttons of her shirt. With a few quick flicks of her wrists she undid the buttons and pulled the shirt wide, exposing her bountiful bosom to him. "As I said, you don't need her."
"What game are you playing?" He couldn't for the life of him understand what Esdeath was up to. Perhaps she wasn't up to anything. It was possible, but Tatsumi doubted it. Esdeath, even if she was a cruel, sadistic battle-hungry maniac, never did anything without a purpose.
"No game, Tatsumi-kun," Esdeath said softly. There was a graceful sway to her walk as she approached him, her chest bouncing with each step. "I want you. You're too good for this world. It doesn't deserve you. It doesn't deserve Night Raid. You fight a battle that can never end. There is no victory, only an eternity of suffering, or death. You will fight, you will suffer, and you will experience loss from now until the end of time." She thrust her chest forward, causing her breasts to bounce distractingly. "But it doesn't have to be that way. You can have me and a different purpose. One that while just as eternal as your current Duty, is not nearly as unpleasant."
He was equal parts revolted and attracted by the prospects. Esdeath was beautiful, but the thought of throwing away everything he had now to join someone like her who had delighted in taking Sona apart piece by piece.
It was just like back then. Back when Esdeath had taken him from that tournament. He could feel his body reaction positively to her, even as his mind reeled back.
"No," Tatsumi said. "It will never work, Esdeath."
"Tatsumi-kun…"
"No," he repeated firmly. It didn't matter if she killed him. He'd never sacrifice his ideals. "I do agree with you somewhat. This world is corrupt. There is so much evil in it, so many people being broken and so many people doing the breaking that Night Raid could never fix it all. Humans may have the capacity to be far worse than any devil, any legendary evil nightmare." He grasped his ideals firmly in his mind and held strong. "But that doesn't mean we should give up. Even if Humanity is capable of unspeakable evil, they're also capable of infinite good. The battle I fight for them may never end, the evil may never be vanquished. People will always suffer and I may be broken over and over again but… the small victories I achieve along the way. The small steps towards peace. The people who I save. The smiles I preserve. It's worth being broken over and over again." He captured Esdeath's eyes with his own and sent a look that couldn't be misconstrued for anything else. "I could never join forces with someone that has given up. No matter the color of her wings."
A sad look entered Esdeath's eyes. "That's… unfortunate Tatsumi-kun," Esdeath said. "I had hoped to convince you and spare you the pain that is to come. But those eyes. I see now it is pointless to try." She turned and took a few steps away. "You can have your way now, Ophis."
[Yes.] Ophis said as she appeared out of thin air.
"Ophis!" Tatsumi shouted, jumping to his feet.
[Don't bother] Ophis said. She waved her hand and Serafall was knocked away from him. She tumbled across the thick forest floor before sliding to a stop at the base of an enormous tree. [You're not strong enough healthy. You are not strong enough now.]
"I'll never give up!" Tatsumi said grimly as he crouched low to charge.
Only to be forcefully straightened. Tendrils of black energy coiled around his wrists and ankles. With a wave of her hand Tatsumi was thrown back against another tree, his arms and legs wrapped painfully around behind it.
Tatsumi struggled against the bindings. Touki flared, sending a rush of power surging through his body. Muscles bulged and thickened. The tree itself started to crack and break beneath his strength.
[Don't make this harder than it needs to be,] Ophis said. Then she jabbed him in the chest, right at the central point where his touki originated from. And just like that all that extra power fled from him, sealed up tight.
"So what now? You'll devour my flesh? Eat my brains?" Tatsumi demanded the Infinite Dragon God.
He really didn't think this was how it would end.
[Brain? I don't like brain. Too bland for me.] Ophis said, waving that suggestion away. Her hands went around behind her back. [I will devour the purest source you possess.]
His purest source? His life source? His very soul? If she attacked his soul she may very well kill him for good.
Ophis' black dress suddenly slid down her body, she bent down and pulled her undergarment off. Tatsumi blinked in surprise. What was she doing? Why was the Infinite Dragon God standing before him naked?
Not far away Esdeath snickered softly.
"What?"
[Men get aroused when they see a naked woman,] Ophis said as her hands went to his waist.
Well, that was true. But you'd have to be a complete pedophile to be attracted to someone like a naked Ophis. Koneko may look like a young, but Ophis looked like a toddler! Across the way he noticed Esdeath undo the last set of buttons on her white uniform. It slid down her beautiful form. Her black panties soon joined her uniform on the forest floor. Then she posed for him, artfully in such a way as to put everything on display.
His lower half stood at attention.
[A little encouragement was all it needed.] Ophis said, sounding pleased with herself.
His head snapped down and stared uncomprehendingly. His pants were down around his ankles and Ophis was… playing with him. Each time her delicate little fingers rolled over his balls or stroked his length, slivers of pleasure ran up his spine unbidden.
"I don't understand…" wasn't she going to devour his soul?
[Purest essence.] Ophis repeated herself. In response to her words she sent a short jolt of energy directly into his balls, stimulating them. Tatsumi couldn't stop himself. His body reacted without warning. Without his desire. It rushed from deep within him. A powerful surge.
A pair of tiny little lips wrapped around his member and welcomed the enormous surge of semen. The air was filled with the soft sound of sucking and gulping as a woman barely half Tatsumi's height swallowed every last drop he emptied into her mouth.
Tatsumi had no idea what was going on anymore. He simply stared as the Infinite Dragon God gave him the best blow job of his life.
The only thing he could think of, was that only here, in this strange, perverted world, would the most powerful entity in existence commit mass murder and upheave all of society, just to suck on a man's dick.
Things back in his old world made so much more sense than here.
Seven hours later, Tatsumi realized he'd never been more wrong in his entire life.
Ophis really had planned to suck out his soul. He felt utterly drained. Mentally. Physically. Spiritually. There was nothing left inside him. She had sucked out every drop he had to give and then demanded more. He had no idea how many times she'd forcefully made his balls generate more semen for her to consume.
It was like her appetite was as infinite as her power! Tatsumi had been fairly confident about his stamina before but he didn't hold a candle to this little girl! She had kept sucking and swallowing over and over. It had been the most amazing blow job of his life, and the most painful. She kept devouring his essence long after he didn't think he had any essence left for her devour!
Gabriel's torturous touches from before seemed downright pleasant compared to this nightmarish cacophony of pleasure. Whoever said you couldn't be killed with pleasure had never been on the receiving end of one of Ophis' blow jobs.
His heart had stopped no less than seven times!
He didn't know how long it had gone on for. Only that when Ophis finally had her filled and let his penis drop lifelessly towards the ground, the sun had begun to set. It's light casting an orange glow across the breadth of the forest.
[I am finished,] Ophis said as she stood. She calmly picked her clothes up off the forest floor and pulled them of. Her stomach bulged comically, bloated beyond all reason with all the semen she'd consumed from Tatsumi. [He is yours, Esdeath.]
"Why thank you," Esdeath said, smiling lightly. "Although it's a bit hard to follow that act. I hadn't thought to use pleasure as a means of torture." Her eyes sparkled happily. "Pleasure is far more difficult to resist than pain."
[I care little about the future of this world from here on out.] Ophis said, waving her hand lazily. [I go now to reclaim my silence. Farewell.]
With that said Ophis tore open the fabric of time and space, revealing a strange, multi-colored landscape beyond. She stepped through the rift without a care of what she was stepping into. When she was through, the rift closed, leaving Tatsumi alone with Esdeath.
"Now it's just you and me," Esdeath said, smiling at him.
"And what do you want?" Tatsumi asked, almost too exhausted to care. Ophis bindings were still there, chaining him to the tree. He was almost too tired to care. They were weakening, but he didn't have any strength left. Ophis had devoured all of it. "Torture to me death?"
"I hope not," Esdeath said softly, "but it depends on her." The powerful fallen angel gave Serafall a sidelong glance. "Will she leave you here to die in her desire to get revenge or will she give it up to save you? Your life now depends on her decision."
"That makes no sense." What was Esdeath playing at? It almost sounded like she cared about Serafall, but there was no way that could be right. Not after everything she's done to her.
"Of course you wouldn't understand," Esdeath said, smiling. "You don't need to understand. This is between me and her. You just need to scream." She raised a hand and a spherical structure of living ice formed in the palm. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to make it nice and loud for me. If she's not awake to see this, then there's no point."
Tatsumi really tried to suppress his voice. He had prepared himself. Steeled his mind and his body. But never before had he ever experienced anything like this. The ice crept through his body, splitting every cell, one at a time. Every fiber of every nerve was set afire with pure, unadulterated agony.
He really tried.
But the screams would not be stopped.
~o~
Esdeath would pay. She would die. Once and for all. She had her exactly where she wanted her. No mass, wide area annihilation. Simple. Clean. Absolute. The woman that would dare harm her Sona-chan. The woman that would dare even touch her.
Sona-chan was hers! She wouldn't let anyone else have her!
Esdeath would no longer be a problem. She would see to that. The woman could no longer hurt anyone precious to her.
Not as she was now at least.
She hung upside down on a reverse cross. Her left arm stacked to the thick wood in four places. The right was there as well, but it was no longer attached to the body. Her eyes that had dared to stare at her mockingly. To laugh as she cut her Sona-chan. They were gone. Ripped from her skull. She could still feel their stickiness in her hands. A satisfying feeling. The rest of that woman was just as massacred. Her legs were broken and twisted into a dozen different directions. Her gut had been torn open, her entrails yanked out and allowed to dangle to the ocean of her blood that spread out in all directions.
She had left her tongue in. Her voice and her mouth. Her screams of agony were like sweet music to her ears. Proof that she was dealing with her once and for all.
"This time there will be no mistake," Serafall stated in a voice as cold as the arctic north. There was no compassion inside her. No mercy. Not for this person. Death would come to them by her hands, no matter the cost. "You will die."
"Really now?"
The small disappeared on her face. She whipped around to find the target of hatred standing behind her. Hands on her hips with that easy, mocking smile on her face. Her eyes laughing at her. Those detestable eyes she had just ripped out!
"You will not escape again—"
Esdeath was suddenly beside her. Lips at her ears. "Are you certain that's me, you're hurting?" she whispered.
The screaming change. The pitch dropped yet remaining just as familiar.
"No!" Serafall screamed and whipped back around. It wasn't Esdeath on that cross anymore. It was Tatsumi. It was Tatsumi that was torn apart. His eyes that were missing, his entrails dangling down. The screams that had once brought her so much pleasure, clawed at her very soul.
No, no, no, no, this wasn't what she had meant to do! This couldn't be Tatsumi!
It wasn't Tatsumi! It couldn't be! It had to be Esdeath… Esdeath… She'd thrown Esdeath away and… Ophis…
The memories came slamming back into her all at once. The battle in the stadium. The fight against Fenrir. Tatsumi saving her. Saving her sister. Ophis' arrival. Her desperate to slow Ophis down. Disrupting the teleportation.
Then nothing. What was going on out there? What was happening while she'd wasted her time sleeping here torturing a dream?
"NO!" Her scream of rage shattered the dream, sending the ocean of blood scattering to the winds and replacing it instead with a thick, dense forest, bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun.
The screaming that had haunted her in that dream hadn't stopped.
Her eyes snapped open. They snapped towards the sound of the screaming. Tatsumi was nailed to the trunk of an enormous tree with large hunks of ice, just as she'd nailed Esdeath in her dream. Only what Esdeath was doing to him was far worse than she had ever imagined doing to Esdeath.
Sharp, jagged chunks of ice had ripped out all across Tatsumi's body. His arms, his legs, and especially chest. The ice would melt, thaw, shatter and be destroyed. His body would heal and regenerate, only to be destroyed again by the ice. A never ending battle between living ice and his regenerative capability. A nightmarish torture that only Tatsumi could experience. Anyone else would have died.
"Ah, how good of you to join us," Esdeath all but purred as she tilted her head to grin at her. "How do you like my latest masterpiece? I could never try it on your other lovers. But Tatsumi-kun here? Isn't his regenerative capabilities wonderful? I can do so much to him and not have to worry about him dying prematurely on me. Don't you agree?"
No, no, this couldn't be happening again!
"No? Well, this shouldn't take too much longer. As powerful as his regeneration is, it's tied to his stamina and that stamina is running dry. Ophis saw to that." She turned back to Tatsumi. "I never got to show you my full work on your little sister. Let me instead show you on Tatsumi-kun."
Her heart thumped.
They flashed across her mind. All those she had desired in the past. The men she had hoped to build a life with before Sona had come into her life. The smiles on their faces. The twisted screams of agony frozen on their lips after Esdeath had finished with them. The boxes they'd arrived in. The pieces. Every single mocking message Esdeath had ever left her.
Her heart quivered.
The pain she'd felt then. The way her heart ached. The denials. The screams of rage at an uncaring sky.
None of that compared to the sheer agony tearing her heart apart now. Like a thousand tiny little daggers stabbing over and over. Tearing and ripping, cutting it apart. Stealing from her any chance at a future. Shattering it. Breaking her life into pieces.
Her heart broke.
ESDEATH WOULD PAY!
Serafall didn't even notice the keening wail erupting from her throat. The emptiness inside her was filled with raw, demonic power. It erupted her like an avalanche, consuming everything around her. She levitated off the ground, her arms and legs drooping tiredly. She was held aloft by pure waves of power and nothing else. The surrounding forest froze. The tree. The ground. Even the air itself.
"Oh? Are you going to finish my job for me?"
Serafall froze in place, become as still as the frozen forest about her. The dominion of cold halted. Her head raised slowly, jerkingly, to stare at Tatsumi. Her ice had nearly reached him. It had stopped just at the base of the tree he was nailed to.
Esdeath floated nearby. That same mocking smile on her lips. That same knowing look. "You're welcome to finish it if you want." She offered, gesturing to his broken body. The living ice continued its work tearing Tatsumi apart from the inside out, even without Esdeath's input.
The ice shattered and Serafall dropped to her knees.
She had almost killed Tatsumi.
"Well, my work here is done," Esdeath said, grinning widely at her. "Seeing your face like this. That despair, that agony. That's enough. I don't need to do anything more to kill him. My ice will finish the job without me here."
Esdeath turned and started to leave.
Seeing her back infuriated her. After everything she'd done she thought she could just turn around and fly away? To come back another time to torment her?
NO!
With a scream of primal rage, Serafall launched herself at Esdeath. She summoned every last ounce strength, digging deep within her to find whatever else she could find. She could not let this monster get away to hurt her again! She would have her vengeance! She would kill Esdeath.
Her hand snapped forward, fingers twisting around. An enormous wave of ice easily four times the width of the enormous trees surrounding them roared forth. It was weak, for her, but it still carried enough strength to destroy even an Ultimate-Class Devil.
Her opponent couldn't be compared to an Ultimate-Class devil. She was a powerful Fallen Angel. Ten wings of divine power boosted even further by an incredibly powerful Sacred Gear that gave her the same capability as Serafall. And while Serafall was weak from battling Fenrir and Ophis, Esdeath was still fresh.
Esdeath simply waved her hand and the ice parted in two, splitting off into the tree canopy and freezing dozens of harmless, innocent trees.
"Are you sure you should be following me?" Esdeath asked, arching a brow at her over the river of frozen ice.
"You killed Tatsumi-chan!" Serafall screamed at her. That was more than reason enough to destroy this Fallen Angel.
"Killed him?" Esdeath asked, that mocking smile back once more. "He's still screaming." She didn't need to tell her that! She was the one hurting him! "If he dies because of this, it'll only be because you left him behind. Just like you left your little sister behind to chase me after I tried to kill her instead of making sure she still lived. Just like you left him on that rooftop when I hurt him before. Just like you leave everyone behind to pursue your own, selfish desires."
That brought her up short. She didn't want to listen to anything that Esdeath had to say. She hadn't left her little sister behind. Her mother had been there, somewhere. And before? Tatsumi had others around him. They could have taken care of him. They did take care of him!
But now… there wasn't anyone else.
Tatsumi was still alive. He wasn't dead yet. He was just dying. And she was all there was. She was all he had.
A little, tiny thought blossomed in the depths of Serafall's mind. A thought that quickly grew brighter. Demanding her attention.
It was ice that was destroying Tatsumi. Killing him. Esdeath's ice. Serafall could control ice. She had greater mastery over it than Esdeath did. It came to her naturally, and not through a Sacred Gear such as what Esdeath used. She could stop it from destroying Tatsumi. Give him a chance to heal for real. She could save him.
But it would mean letting Esdeath get away again. Letting her wander the world hurting and killing so many more. What was one man's life compared to the life of the countless others she would hurt in the future? She could stop this for good. Stop her from ever hurting Sona-chan again.
But Tatsumi-chan would die. That too, would hurt Sona-chan. Hurt her more than Esdeath ever could. She knew exactly how much it would hurt her. And what about herself? Always before their deaths were out of her control. She hadn't been able to save them. Esdeath had been responsible. It was her fault.
But if she left Tatsumi to die to kill Esdeath. That reason would no longer hold any weight. It would no longer be Esdeath's fault that Tatsumi died. It would be her fault.
Tatsumi or Esdeath. Love or Vengeance? What did she value more?
It was surprisingly easy to let go.
The rage left her, draining away as if someone had pulled a plug. This woman floating in front of her simply no longer mattered. She was just another threat. One of multitudes that existed. She was inconsequential compared to Tatsumi and Sona. She would never compare.
"Goodbye, Esdeath," Serafall said, before turning her back on her enemy. She rushed to Tatsumi instead. He was all that mattered right now.
"Goodbye, Serafall Sitri," Esdeath said. She sounded strangely satisfied and almost serene. It was such a change that it almost caused Serafall to look back. "We don't need to meet again."
Serafall didn't respond. She didn't care. She didn't even notice when Esdeath's presence disappeared. Her focus was entirely on Tatsumi.
"Just focus on healing Tatsumi-chan," Serafall said quickly when she reached his side. She pressed her hand into the opening in his chest and found the core of Esdeath's living ice. She manipulated the ice with her demonic power, retracting the ice quickly, but carefully. Allowing Tatsumi to seal the worst wounds so he didn't bleed out before moving on. "I'll get rid of this for you and then we can go back to Sona-chan." She gently stroked his cheek and a strange warmth enveloped her heart. "You still owe me that child."
For some reason it wasn't her loins that warmed at that thought. But her chest. It was a pleasant feeling. a comforting one. A feeling she wanted to explore further.
"Just don't die."
"Dying is… very uncomfortable," Tatsumi whispered hoarsely. He barely had the strength to lift his head but he did, for her. There was a warm, grateful smile on his lips that caused the warmth in her heart to spread throughout her entire body. From the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes. Leaving her feeling tingling all over.
"Yes, I suppose it is," Serafall said, her lips twitched and turned upwards in a strange way. Fueled by a sense of warmth and joy bubbling inside her.
"I've… never seen you… smile like that."
"You'll be seeing a lot more of it," Serafall assured him. Her hand tightened around the core as the last slivers of ice retracted back inside. "Now rest. Heal. When you wake up, you'll be surrounded by more love and care then you'll know what to do with."
"That… sounds… nice…" Tatsumi whispered as his eyes slowly closed and he drifted off into a deep slumber.
"I will never thank you for this, Haniel, nor will you ever forgive you," Serafall whispered softly as she cradled Tatsumi against her chest. "But I understand now. That's all I'll give you."
There would be more battles in the future. There were always more battles. But this one had come to an end. This time, they'd earned a reprieve.
It was over.
At least for now.
Note on Ophis: Yup, only in Highschool DxD would something like that Ophis blow job happen. Like seriously, that's one screwed up Universe. But truly, that's all Ophis wanted. A nice, heaping helping of Tatsumi's semen. To that end she waged war against the three factions and all the pantheons of the world.
Well, it was a bit more complicated than that but that's basically what it boiled down to ^_^.
Note on Esdeath and Serafall: First, I will admit this was something that evolved as the story went on. Esdeath, admittedly, started as a very one-dimensional character. Then I threw in sort of a conflict between her and Serafall because they both use ice and I felt that could be cool. That conflict evolved over the course of the story. As the conflict evolved, so did Esdeath, her place in the story and her connection with Serafall.
Thus, something more than just maliciousness was nurtured and grown.
It evolved hand-in-hand with the purpose of the Virtues. With God missing, it became their duty to not only spread the Joy, Courage, Love, Compassion, and the other primary Virtues to all of Gods creatures, but their polar opposites as well. That was why they Fell. They went against their primary directive, what they were created for, but they did it FOR God, which meant they were still upholding His Will. That was why they could Rise and Fall at will. An Angel Falls when they abandon their Duty and His Teachings. But a discarded Duty can be shouldered again, and teachings followed anew.
Esdeath/Haniel became the Virtue of Suffering and Joy. Her conflict with Serafall was a perfect dichotomy of that. The use of extreme Suffering to force her to set aside her base nature so she could embrace a bit of genuine Joy for herself. In doing so, the Leviathan takes just a few steps closer to the Light.
And there, at the end, Serafall did just that. She placed her love for Tatsumi above her desire for revenge. She set aside a bit of the darkness inside her to welcome in a bit of light. Even though she loved her sister, she was still 100% the Leviathan beneath all of that. She's not anymore, and that was, ultimately, what Esdeath/Haniel was trying to achieve. What the initial conflict between the two of them evolved into over the course of the story.
That's also why you might find a few discrepancies between the Esdeath of now and the one at the start. I make no excuses for it. However, I do believe the Esdeath/Haniel we ended up with was a more complete character than the one we started with. Another reason I let the evolution happen was because the original Esdeath of my story was far too extreme. While the Esdeath in Akame ga Kill was someone that thrived on battle and was an extreme sadist, she did genuinely care for her subordinates and was capable of real love such as with Tatsumi. Even after finding out Tatsumi was with Night Raid AND that he was in love with another woman, she was still going to spare his life during the execution. Make it 'appear' as if he died, so that he could live on.
She was not all monster. Not like I had made her in my story originally.
Note on the Ending: Now, I know it's not the ending everyone wanted. I know there are loose ends that weren't tied up. I know people were expecting Ophis to somehow lose. The Hero Faction is still out there, as is Katerea Leviathan and Vali Group. Diodora has Asia. Rias' Peerage is all but destroyed. There's also the question about Tatsumi becoming the concept of evolution. I apologize for leaving so many little side threads hanging. They were elements I wanted to explore, I just didn't have a place to explore them in this story. If I make a sequel, they will be resolved.
That brings us to the reason I'm bringing this story to a close. It really needs a fresh start. Ever since the Gregorius Arc, my story has suffered from a critical flaw.
That flaw? Tatsumi has no purpose. He's been tripping and falling from encounter to encounter like a drunken sailor. Having a break after Gregorious could have allowed me to forge a new purpose, something to 'drive' Tatsumi forward like his desire for vengeance against Gregorious drove him forward for the first half of this story. My mistake there.
There is definitely room for a sequel, just don't expect a sequel any time soon. Another reason I'm ending this is because I want to work on something else, and I can't while maintaining a consistent schedule for this one.
Anyways, stay tuned for the Epilogue. There will be some really interesting things there, and a final farewell from me. Thank you all for those that have stuck with me until now.