This is something that happened before the Devil King Academy Athletic Festival began.
Marios Takakuzure was the Candidate for Tower Arcana in the current Devil King War. In a bit of poetic justice, his base was also a huge tower he had built half for its defensive capabilities and half for the joke of Tower being in a tower.
Marios had holed himself up ever since he became the Candidate for Tower, and only left for the Unveiling because he had no other choice. Even so, he was keeping an eye on everything that was happening during the Devil King War.
His plan was simple. He'd spend as much time as possible simply preparing himself and recruiting Cards. As the Devil King War progresses, the number of Candidates would naturally lessen, and then Marios would defeat whoever remained with an incredible force.
Unlike the majority of his opponents, Marios didn't disregard anyone. To him, everyone was just as much of a possible threat as anyone else. He was even being careful with Lovers.
Of course, Marios came to the logical conclusion that Yuuto would be killed by Ibiza, but, on the off-chance it happened the other way around, he would also be prepared for that eventuality.
"Haah. My masterpiece is still a ways off…"
Marios looked at his so-called masterpiece. It was still only in an early stage, but what Marios was making was the model of a girl.
As mentioned, the model was still in its early stages. The general outline was already there, so one could tell it was a girl, but there weren't a lot of details yet, except for the wings on her back that is. And Marios had a lot more planned.
The girl the statue was based on didn't exist in reality, but only on Marios and his Cards' minds. Though they did base her on something that a lot of people didn't know if it was a historical or mythological figure. Marios was making this model of her, and his Cards were in charge of other things that made up the girl. Some were writing novels in which she was the main character, others made art to illustrate those events, and so on.
Yes, despite not being a real person, the girl was Tower's trump card. So long as they laid low and were able to finish this masterpiece, their victory was all but guaranteed. Of course, this was about quality, the members of Tower's group were in no rush to finish.
*beep*
That was the sound Marios didn't want to hear at the moment. That beep meant someone uninvited had entered his tower. In all likelihood, he was under attack.
Marios fixed his unkempt green hair so it wasn't covering his face like before. His clothes were dirty with paint and dirt, but he could care less about that now.
Marios looked at the screen showing the tower's first floor. There were 2 people being shown, and Marios knew who they were.
Lost Joudougahama and Rinne Shimokadzuma, the Candidates for Death and Wheel of Fortune.
Lost was still wearing his hoodie, but it was easy to recognize him since he looked straight at the camera, and even gave a light wave, as if greeting Marios. He looked happy to be there, Marios could only imagine he had a plan he believed to be unbeatable.
Rinne, meanwhile, only wore a simple dress and had her long pink hair simply tied in 2 parts. Even so, it was easy to see she was a daughter of a noble house, since even such simple clothes make her beauty stand out. The only thing strange about her getup was the knife she was holding in her hand, and her fake smile, though most people didn't notice it was fake.
There were 2 Candidates attacking Marios' tower. At first glance, the situation seemed bad for Marios. However, he wasn't too worried.
As said before, Marios was being careful with all Candidates. That meant he had researched them all. He had been unable to find anything on Lost, so that was worrying, but he had investigated everything behind Rinne.
Despite being a Candidate, she had no attack power, only being able to act as a support. Even if the knife she had was magical, it would be crazy to think she could defeat any Candidate with it. On top of that, she had run away from the Shimokadzuma family, so there would be no consequences even if she were to die here.
So the only question that remained was if Lost would be able to clear Marios' tower with Rinne's help.
The tower is protected by special magic. If one tried to fly in from the outside, they would simply enter a spatial magic trap that would have them fall for eternity until they died of starvation. The only way to climb up the tower was through the elevator, and that elevator would be stopped every 5 floors, where a Card awaited, and the only way to go up again was to defeat the Card.
Currently, Marios only has 10 of his 14 possible Cards. Marios couldn't let any of his Cards get killed, since they're all precious manpower, but…
"Aaah! To lose such valuable people like this. This might be the difference between me losing or winning in the end. That's so exciting!"
Marios was a strange man. He enjoyed winning and getting what he wanted as much as any other devil, but he also enjoyed having that taken from him. That's why he had devised those defense mechanisms and this plan to win the Devil King War. Whether it worked or not, it would bring pleasure to him.
This strange habit started when he was a child. His older brother never let him win, no matter what it was about, so Marios learned to enjoy defeat as much as victory. Or maybe it could even be said he enjoyed defeat more.
Lost and Rinne entered the elevator and started going up. It wasn't long before they stopped on the 5th floor, in which was Marios' Suit Card number II.
"I-I won't let you reach master Marios!"
Marios only expected the young man to become a sacrifice to figure out Lost's general power, but he appreciated the loyalty. To think he was about to lose someone like that… Marios nearly dirtied his underwear.
The young man threw a model he had created to the air. It was a kind of frog. The young man wasn't as skilled as Marios, but he was just a beginner and was still trying to find his preferred art form, so it could be forgiven.
The frog spun around a few times in the air and then started shining. In a second, what had been just a model was now a real living frog, only as big as a small truck.
"What's that?! You could have used something cooler than a frog if you're going to use cool magic like that!"
"…"
Lost's reaction was that of a boy who had just seen something amazing, while Rinne's expression didn't change much. She still had a smile stuck on her face.
What II had just done was Tower's Characteristic Magic, passed down from Marios to his Cards. It was called Materializing. It could bring anything to reality, as long as the creator was the person using the magic.
That's why it was taking so long for Marios to fill all the spots for his Cards, he needed to find people with talents for the arts. Be it painting, writing, making models or whatever else, those are the kind of people Marios needed.
II's frog approached Lost, it opened its mouth to try and swallow him whole.
"Eeh, there's nothing on the inside? Is this because you're II or is it just a limitation of the spell?"
As Lost had pointed out, there was nothing on the inside of the frog's mouth. That was not a limitation of Materializing, but rather it simply meant II hadn't created that, which made Marios disappointed. Modeling clearly wasn't what II was suited for.
Regardless, Lost took no defensive action, so he was crushed by the frog's mouth. Liquid started spilling from the frog's mouth. It seemed rather dark, black even, but it could only be Lost's blood. Maybe there was some problem on the monitor. In any case, Marios was slightly disappointed, but that was the end of that.
With Lost dead, Rinne represented no threat. She wasn't even worth killing, it was more worth it to capture her and use her for whatever was convenient. Marios could think of at least 1 of his Cards who would like to have her.
Marios went back to his model. He could still make more progress before calling it a day. It would also be a good idea to work on some other stuff that wasn't his trump card, after all, he could have an army all his own.
But then he heard it.
*bii bii*
That sound meant his Card had been defeated and the intruders were once again on the elevator. Marios looked at the screen and he did indeed see Lost and Rinne there.
What had happened? Marios only distracted himself for a few seconds, but the situation had completely changed.
In all likelihood… either Lost saved himself or Rinne did. Whatever the case, they made quick work of the frog and II and were now going up the tower.
Part of Marios was afraid, so he got to work on preparing something for if Lost and Rinne managed to climb all the way to the top. But another part of him was excited. Could it be that his supreme bliss of defeat had come so early?
*bii bii*
*bii bii*
*bii bii*
*bii bii*
Marios kept hearing that noise as he worked on his last resort. Each time he heard it, it meant another one of his Cards had been defeated. Killed by Lost.
By the time Marios was done with his preparations, even his Ace had fallen. Marios was literally forced to his last stand.
"Such bliss!"
But he was not sad in the slightest. Would his own life be taken next? Or would he defeat his opponent? And even if he did win, what would happen after? Only time would tell. But whatever the case, Marios was sure to enjoy himself.
*pii pii*
That sound, slightly different from the others, told Marios his "guests" had arrived at his floor, at the top of his tower. Now, all that was left was to figure out who would come out the winner and who would die the loser.
Lost and Rinne arrived at the top floor. That floor was a giant store/workroom for Marios. It was where he worked on his new models, and where he stored all his previous works.
Of course, Lost and Rinne had already realized the general idea of Tower's Characteristic Magic by now. This meant they knew they were essentially surrounded.
But Lost seemed unfazed. He merely whistled as he looked over all the models, as if he was watching an art exhibit.
"As I thought, your statues really are the best. But I don't really know enough about art to compare those with paintings, and I didn't really read any of your Cards' books, so maybe there's someone who's better than you."
"I'm glad you like it. They will be the ones to end your life."
"Ah, wait. Before we get on that, I have a question. Why did you make your defense system like that? I mean, you could have just locked us in that elevator forever, it's like you wanted someone to come up here."
"Hmph, you wouldn't understand."
Not even Marios' family understood him, so how could someone like Lost? He was well aware his tastes were nothing but strange, but the only thing that mattered was his own satisfaction.
Marios activated Materializing, but he didn't bring all his models to life at once. He hadn't been able to see Lost's abilities, so it was smarter of him to be careful and save some strength.
The models that came to life were ones based on knights. Some had swords, some had lances and some had bows. In total, there were about 20.
The situation might have looked bad at first, but, based on the previous models' strength, Lost knew he had nothing to worry about. Until the first model came to attack him, that is. Lost only took the bare minimum of defensive measures.
"Hooh."
That's how he found out these models were leagues above what he had fought previously.
"Surprised? Let's see if you can handle them all!"
The reason for that were Materializing's 2 limitations: only what was "created" can be brought to existence, case in point II's frog, it did not have the insides it should have. That's also why it was so important to literally write entire books on Tower's trump card.
The second limitation was that Materializing can only make the creations as strong as the creator's potential. In other words, Marios' models could only be as strong as Marios' potential.
Marios was not a fighter. Even being a Candidate, he was likely to lose a 1-on-1 fight against any random devil. But he was still a noble, his potential was nothing to scoff at, even if he didn't live up to it.
So Marios could make up for his inability to fight by simply making combat focused models. In other words, it's as if he has an army of noble devils at his disposal.
"Kuh! These guys are though. If all of them are like this and you stay hidden until the end of the Devil King War, you really might just win."
"That's exactly the plan, and also why I'll have you both die here."
The sword and spear handling soldiers kept attacking Lost, but now he knew to properly defend himself. Even so, it didn't seem like Lost was using any magic…
No, it's impossible he's simply that tough. He's likely using some spell like Armored or something, or maybe his Characteristic Magic protects him. That's the only conclusion Marios could make.
Still, Lost was doing fairly well for someone who was keeping the defensive. Marios ordered the archers to fire their arrows, but to aim at Rinne. She was obviously the support, and one didn't need to be a strategist to know that dealing with the support first was a good choice.
"…"
Rinne was perfectly silent and motionless. Did she plan to die? No.
"Can't have you doing that."
Just as Marios expected, Lost rushed to protect Rinne. He was able to avoid either of them being hit with arrows, but once again that was within expectation. That's why there were soldiers waiting for Lost where he would land.
"You're done, Death-! What?!"
When a soldier tried to swing at Lost, it was the sword that broke. That was completely illogical, but Marios was seeing it with his own eyes.
"What can I say? I'm a hard-headed guy."
"… None of the weapons are likely to work against you…"
"Ready to give up? Or do you want to try something else?"
"Ooh, I have something prepared just for you."
Marios took out a small statue he was holding on his hand. It was hard to make out, but the statue looked like… Lost? On his other hand was another statue, that one of Rinne
Marios threw the small Lost and Rinne statues. They spun around in the air and then hit the ground, cracking and breaking. And then… nothing.
Lost was clearly confused, thinking Marios' magic had been some kind of dud. But then he noticed the space around him.
He was no longer in the same room as before. He was in some kind of circular ring, but there was only sky no matter if he looked above or below. It was like he was at the top of a huge tower. He had clearly been teleported somewhere else.
"This is my second Characteristic Magic, Babel Tower! You're as good as dead now, Death!"
The only people in that space were Lost, Rinne and Marios. The soldiers and other models were nowhere to be seen.
This was literally Marios' last stand. In truth, he shouldn't have teleported himself as well if he wanted to make sure he'd win, but the chance of having this sure victory snatched away at the last second excited him so much he didn't even think about it.
Babel Tower required a sacrifice of Marios' models, and it would take the target or targets of this spell to this space. There was no way to escape death here, unless Marios himself let his target out, but why would he ever do that?
Thunder started roaring nearby. It wouldn't be long now before it began.
"Lost…"
"Wait, I want to see what happens."
Rinne wanted them to escape this predicament, but Lost still wasn't done checking Marios, so she had to wait. But despite Rinne's worry, her smile never left her face.
Correctly assuming he was the target, Lost took some distance from Rinne. He simply stood in the middle of the circular arena, as if waiting for the lightning to strike him.
And soon it did. A single strike nearly brought Lost to his knees. Everyone present was surprised, Marios for Lost still being alive and Rinne for seeing Lost almost defeated in a single attack. But even surprised, that fake smile never left her.
"Phew, that was good. You really will make a fine addition to the team."
"Huh?"
"Rinne, do it."
"Yes."
Rinne took out her knife. For a second, Marios thought she would try a desperate attack, but that's not what she did. Rinne used her knife to slice her own wrist.
Marios thought he had seen a magic formula shaped like a clock behind Rinne, but before he noticed, he was back at his usual room. It was as if time had turned back to before Lost and Rinne invaded.
No, there was something different. Lost and Rinne were in the room with Marios. The fight was still going on.
"!"
If time had turned back, Marios just had to activate his Babel Tower again. But when he looked for the small Lost and Rinne statues, they were nowhere to be found. They hadn't been made yet.
Was this it? Would Marios be killed now? But didn't Lost say something strange just before Rinne used her magic?
"That there was Rinne's Characteristic Magic, Revival. Rinne can deal damage to herself to turn back time on a target. The bigger the target or the farther back she wants to go, the more mana it takes. That's why she's so tired there. She can also deal more damage to herself in place of using mana."
Indeed. Rinne was currently lying on the floor drenched in sweat. She had just turned the entire tower, and everyone in it, back to before she and Lost arrived, so it had taken quite a lot of her.
The cut on her arm started shining green, and before long it was gone as if it had never been a thing. Marios knew that was the Shimokadzuma Bloodline Magic, but on Rinne's current low mana state, it did her more harm than good.
"So, now that we've gotten to know each other, I've got an offer to make."
"… I suppose I'll listen."
Lost was already right beside Marios. It would be a simple task for Lost to kill Marios. Marios' best chance of survival was to listen to Lost.
"You see, I'm planning to get a bunch of Candidates together so we can team up against Triumph. And I want you, Tower Marios, to be part of my alliance."
Was that the reason why Death and Wheel of Fortune were together? Regardless…
An alliance wasn't something you usually saw in the Devil King War, after all, you'd have to kill everyone else in the end anyway. That is, until the previous war.
Barbatos had shown it wasn't necessary to kill all other Candidates to win the Devil King War, this was reflected in this war in the form of groups forming. Marios knew that Sun and Moon were together, the same was true for Justice and Strength. And now Death, Lost was offering to bring Marios into his own alliance to defeat the Triumph.
Triumph were the Arcanas of Fool, Magician, Priestess, Empress, Emperor and Hierophant. They were the often winners of the Devil King War, to the point that people believed it was a 50-50 chance of the winner being someone from the Triumph or someone from another Arcana.
So an alliance to take them down should be welcomed by all other Candidates. Besides, it would be foolish to think they would come out of this unscathed. Even if all other Candidates teamed up against the Triumph, there would likely be a number of casualties on their side.
But wasn't this the best scenario for Marios? His plan to stay hidden was now busted since Lost was here, but if he joined this alliance and got rid of Triumph as well as a few other nuisances on the way, wouldn't he be pretty close to his ideal scenario?
And if he made a mistake along the way… he'd be disposed of like trash. This was perfect! There could be no better scenario in Marios' mind.
"Alright, I'm interested."
"That's great. Then, we'll be leaving now. I'll call you when it's time for the first group meeting."
Lost walked up to Rinne, asked if she could stand and waited for her to get up. They then left the same way they came in. The way down was a lot less violent than the way up.
Marios let out a sigh of relief. Things had gone nothing like he imagined, but it could be said he came out on top at the end. He was still alive and now part of an alliance.
And so Marios got back to work on his models, as well as another small statue of Lost. He needed to be ready for after he was done with the alliance after all.
