I own nothing but my OC(s).
Chapter 21: Battle of Kuoh Part 2
Keith didn't know what to think when the new boy, Yuto Kiba, challenged the two exorcists to a fight. He was also surprised when Issei joined him, obviously wanting to 'avenge' Asia by winning against them, as a result of what Xenovia said to her.
Yet again, he was amazed to see how…lacking the two were in the fighting department, of course, he meant no offense.
However, keeping an attentive eye on the Knight, he could see that he was growing more and more frustrated with the fight. His swords were constantly broken by Xenovia's Holy Sword, something which seemed to infuriate him to no end.
"What was it that you said?" Xenovia commented. "That we will lose and you will destroy our swords?" She scoffed mockingly. "As if you'd be able to do anything against our Lord's Divine Weapons."
Gritting his teeth, Yuto began to swing his sword more wildly, fuelled by his anger.
The girl merely kept a trained eye on him and his sword, deflecting and striking when she saw fit, not offering him any opening.
"Sword Birth!" On his command, a multitude of swords burst out of the ground with the intention to impale the girl, but with a swift move, she jumped right before the swords could touch her. She landed safely a few meters away.
"You're becoming desperate." She noted and with a powerful swing, she broke the swords in tiny little pieces which vanished a few moments later.
Issei wasn't faring better either. While he was faster than the average human, he couldn't keep the pace with Irina who was merely dodging him while giggling.
"Oh come on! This ain't fair at all!" He whined trying to touch her with his gauntleted arm.
"Sorry Ise-kun!" She stuck her tongue out playfully. "But Griselda-san is watching so I cannot afford to lose." Dodging another of his lunges, she wasted no time in swinging her katana and slashing across his stomach, making him look incredulously before collapsing on the ground.
"No way…" He muttered.
"Ise!" With a shout, Rias immediately ran to his side. While his cut wasn't deep, smoke was gushing out of it and he was weakened. Asia didn't waste a second and immediately began to heal him. Akeno held a worried expression, while Koneko was indifferent.
Their worries were interrupted when they heard a thud and a sword clanging on the ground. Snapping their heads, they saw Yuto on the ground almost unconscious with a victorious Xenovia above him.
"I appreciate you not killing them." Rias bowed her head slightly, masking her disappointment.
The two exorcists didn't reply.
Keith was having a quiet conversation with Kuroka and Kunou. He stopped however, when he felt Xenovia's eyes on him.
"May I help you?" He asked, the two Youkais watching her curiously.
"Ever since you came, I could sense a faint Holy aura from you." She said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Hmm? Is that so?" He tilted his head, making her frown.
"Enough Xenovia." Griselda cut in. "We need to leave."
The girl wanted to argue, but decided against it seeing the look her guardian was giving her.
"Until we meet again." The Angel bowed her head and disappeared in a magical circle with the two exorcists.
"Very observant, that girl." Kunou said. "I wonder what her reaction would have been if you showed her." She smiled.
"Hmm, who knows?" Keith shrugged.
"Oh please! That sword girl would have bowed to him in an instant, nya!" Kuroka giggled.
"I don't think so." Keith chuckled.
"Yuto! Where do you think you're going?" They turned to see Rias with a stern look on her face and her hands on her hips.
Her Knight didn't grace her with an answer, instead he just bowed and left.
"What's his problem…" Issei mumbled.
"So…could you tell us how did Kokabiel manage to steal the Holy Swords?" Keith asked after he took a sip of his tea. While it was good, Yasaka's was absolutely better.
"From what I've gathered, a man named Valper Galilei helped him." Azazel replied, sitting comfortably on his couch, his hand resting on its arm. "He managed to convince some exorcists to steal them while babbling about how that was the will of God." He snorted.
"And they never ever stopped to question his claim, nya?" Kuroka looked incredulous at the Fallen.
"Faith is a strong element to manipulate." Azazel shrugged. "You have no idea what some…believers would do in the name of God."
"And how did the Angels even allow this?" Kunou asked.
"They are quite busy and don't have the time to keep tabs on every single member of their faction." The Governor replied.
"So, in order to find the swords, we need to find this Valper Galilei." Keith said.
"Won't be that easy." Azazel stated. "The bastard is very sneaky."
"Hmm…" The human rubbed his chin in thought. "Perhaps if we catch Freed…"
"A possibility." The Fallen nodded, then a gleam appeared in his eyes. "Say Keith, I heard you manifested the spear's Balance Breaker." He asked, almost giddily.
"I did." He replied hesitantly.
"What did it feel like? Can you do it again? Can you show me the spear after all this mess gets cleared up?" He shot question after question.
"Woah there." Keith raised his hands. "In order: it felt amazing and right, like I could take on the whole world, I am afraid I cannot do it again and why?"
"Ah well…you see…" He hesitated. "If I tell you this, you must swear not to tell others, at least not yet." He looked at the tree seriously. Seeing them nod, he continued. "I love researching Sacred Gears and for a while now, I have been working on creating some."
He couldn't shake the grin on his face when he saw their gobsmacked looks.
"I almost managed to finish one." He opened up his palm and in an instant, a lance-like golden dagger with a purple jewel at the end of the handle appeared. "This is Down Fall Dragon Spear." He informed. "But as you can see…it doesn't look much like a spear now does it?"
"You made that?" The human asked, baffled. "But…how? I thought that only God had the power and knowledge to create such Artifacts."
"Well, you thought wrong!" Azazel declared smugly. "I managed to crack the code!" He cackled.
"Impressive." Kunou praised. "Mom and Amaterasu-sama always told me that other Gods attempted to create Sacred Gears, but they failed."
"You mean to tell me that Chicken Wings here did something GODS failed, nya?!" Kuroka asked disbelievingly.
"Oi!" Ignoring the indignant sound Azazel made, the cat Youkai continued to stare at the (not spear) spear in his hands.
"So can you show me the spear Keith?" He asked again, his face hopeful.
"It depends on why you are asking me to do that." The human replied, eyeing the Governor distrustfully.
"Nothing too major." He waved his worried with a hand. "All I want is for you to let me examine the True Longinus closely, so I could shape my artificial Sacred Gear to look more akin to a real spear." Azazel then sighed. "And maybe it will help me discover something which will enable the Sacred Gear to keep its form after I exit the Balance Breaker."
"Wait, wait, it has a Balance Breaker, nya!?" Kuroka widened her eyes.
"But of course!" The Fallen eyed the Gear proudly. "My finest work, if I may say so myself."
"What certainty do I have that you won't…steal it from me or something?" Keith asked after he got over his awe.
"Because that is something not even I would meddle with." He stated seriously. "Some of my…brethren did that to someone you have already been acquainted with, namely Asia Argento."
The three gasped.
"W-Why would they do that? Kunou asked, shocked.
"The leader of that group believed that I will…be proud of them, of her, I believe." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But I would never condone stealing other's Sacred Gears."
Seeing how serious he was, Keith took a deep breath and nodded.
"Very well, I will help you out."
"Kei-kun! You can't be serious." Kunou looked at him. "It isn't wise to trust a Fallen Angel so eagerly."
"Perhaps not, but Azazel here looks honest enough." Keith then gave the Fallen a look. "Besides, I don't think he would enjoy to face Yasaka's wrath if he kills me."
And he was right about that, if Azazel's pale face could be any sign.
"I swear on my life that nothing will happen to you!" He promised.
"See?" The human smirked while the two Youkais let out some giggles.
A few days have passed since Keith and his two girlfriends arrived in Kuoh. After his meeting with Rias and the rest, he couldn't help but worry about the silence ever since he fought Freed. Then his mind darted to Heracles…why was the son of Zeus here? Why would he even ally himself with the likes of Kokabiel? Wasn't he loyal to his father? To his own pantheon?
His musings were interrupted by Kunou who placed a hand on his should and was gazing at him in worry.
"Are you ok Kei-kun?"
"Huh?" He looked at her.
"We've been calling your name but you never replied, nya." Kuroka said, her eyes holding equal worry.
"Just lost in thoughts." He told them.
"Thoughts about, nya?" Kuroka inquired.
"Heracles." The two women's faces darkened at the name. "Why is he even here…working together with Kokabiel?"
"He has a superiority complex and wants to show his dominance over all the other factions, nya?" Kuroka offered, placing her head on his shoulder and grabbing his arm between her plentiful bosom.
"That…or he joined him for a whole different reason." Kunou added, mirroring Kuroka's actions.
"I believe we will find out." Keith said while trying to fight down (and failing) a blush. He could feel the softness of their breasts THROUGH clothes damnit!
Kuroka, being the naughty kitty that she was, could feel his arousal.
"Oh my.~" She purred in his ear. "Do we make you…excited, nya?~"
"W-What?" He looked at her, then gasped when she softly traced her hand above the area of his crotch. Sure, he was wearing pants, but that didn't stop the cat girl at all.
"Kuroka-chan!" Kunou frowned.
"What? Don't tell me you didn't feel it, nya." She smirked, giggling seeing both of them blush. "Besides, it is night already…shouldn't we go to bed and perhaps…continue there, nya?" She grinned in victory when she saw Kunou's face twist to one of eagerness.
However they were rudely interrupted when a small red magic circle appeared near them.
"Keith we have a situation." Rias' worried voice sounded from the circle.
"What happened?" He instantly jumped up from the couch, with Kuroka and Kunou letting out indignant sounds. They were quite miffed by the timing.
"Irina was attacked and is currently unconscious." She sighed. "Sona sent her to one of her family's hospitals since they are the best at healing in all the Underworld."
"So Kokabiel has made his move." Kunou said grimly.
"Yes and he is not alone." Here, the redhead's voice became tight.
"We'll be there." With that their conversation ended.
Keith and his two girlfriends appeared out of a magic circle outside where they could feel Rias and her peerage's auras. On the site were Griselda and Xenovia, the former having a halo above her head and her six pure white wings out while the latter held her Holy Sword, Excalibur Destruction in both of her hands.
"Are you hurt?" Kunou asked, then darter her eyes up to see Kokabiel sitting on a throne, a bored expression on his face.
"No, but we need to stall for time." Rias said, then gave Akeno a quick annoyed look. "My brother will come here in an hour." She then looked behind. "Sona and her peerage are currently maintaining the barrier around the school to minimize the damage as much as possible."
"Oh? Black hair and grey eyes." Kokabiel's bored expression turned into a grin. "So you are the infamous True Longinus wielder."
Keith hummed, looking at him. "And you are the warmonger I have heard so much about."
"You did hear about me eh? Only good things I hope." His grin threatened to split his face.
"I wouldn't say being called an insane bastard as a good thing." He retorted. In a brilliant light, the Holy Lance appeared in his hands, the bladed tip glowing with power.
"Y-You a-are!" Xenovia looked at him in shock.
"In the name of the Four Great Seraphs, I demand you to surrender yourself and the Holy Swords Kokabiel." Griselda said, her voice laced with power. "Or I will be forced to use violence."
Kokabiel laughed, not taking her seriously at all, which frustrated the Angel to no end, then fixed his eyes on Rias. "Who is going to come? Sirzechs? Or perhaps…Serafall?"
"Neither of the Devil Kings will waste their time on you, so I am afraid it will only be us." She replied in a strong voice.
"Boring." He drawled out.
"I agree." Another voice joined. Everyone's eyes opened wide in shock when they saw Heracles leaning against a railing. "Hurry up and call your brother girl." He demanded, frustration evident in his voice. "I didn't come here to fight some kiddies."
"Perhaps they will show us some entertainment." The Fallen argued. "But before that, Heracles, call the pets."
"Don't you dare order me around crow." The hero growled, narrowing his eyes at the sitting man. Snapping his finger, an enormous three-headed dog with black fur and red eyes appeared out of a magic circle. It was snarling and grinding its razor sharp teeth.
"Cerberus…" Kuroka whispered from Keith's right, taking a step back.
"How?" Kunou gaped from his left. "Why would Hades even help you?"
"Oh no little girl…my uncle has nothing to do with Cerberus." Heracles laughed. "Let's say that I…borrowed big bad Three Heads here." He the continued. "Hecate's mind control potion never fails, which I am sure she won't be too mad that I used without her knowing."
"You brought such a monster here, in the human world?!" Rias looked at him incredulously. "And for what?"
"I do not answer to Devil scum." He retorted coldly. "Kill them." He ordered as a dozen of wind spirits materialized out of thin air, bowing down to the son of Zeus.
With a loud growl and bark, Cerberus jumped.
"Scatter!" Keith screamed. Without needing to be told twice, everyone followed his command.
Growling, the Guardian of the Underworld focused its attention on Keith since he was holding the strongest Holy Relic, something which would manage to hurt it badly because it was, after all, a creature of darkness.
Eliminate the highest source of harm and everything will be easier, or so the dog thought.
Without wasting another moment, the three headed hound barked and marched towards the Longinus wielder with the intention to crush the human under its massive paw.
"Watch out Kei-kun!" Kunou warned.
In a burst of speed, Keith dodged the attack. Kunou and Kuroka were immediately at his side, both in a battle stance. So that meant the three of them would take care of the pooch while Rias, Griselda and the others occupied themselves with the spirits and Freed.
"Piercing Rain!" Immediately, spears began to fall down upon the hound, making him growl and shield his eyes from the tiny objects. The attack made him back down slightly, offering Kunou and Kuroka a chance to begin their assault.
The fox snapped her fingers and fire surrounded the monster in a huge tornado strong enough to melt steel. The cat gather Senjutsu in her hands and fired a few strong projectiles at the beast. The combined attacks should have definitely killed it, yet after the fire dispersed, Cerberus only became angrier.
Before it could attack, Keith pointed the spear at it and shot a beam of light. The hound ran to the right, yet the beam managed to hit and graze its skin, making it whine in pain as smoke immediately gushed out of the wound.
"Of course it is weak against the stick, nya." Kuroka facepalmed. "I believe we will act as supports this fight, nya?"
"Yes." Kunou said, then looked at her mate. "Kei-kun, be ready to attack it. Me and Kuroka will grab its attention!"
He wanted to protest, but ultimately gave her a hesitant nod.
"We'll be fine." The fox assured him with a smile.
"Yup! It will take more than a stupid mutt to kill us, nya." Kuroka grinned.
With this, the three began their attack, Kunou on the left, Kuroka on the right and Keith in the middle. Kunou jumped above the left head's jaws before they could clamp on her. She landed on its head and with a powerful punch, she made the growling beast stagger, before it fell on its side. Kuroka willed vines to burst out of the ground and latch around it, temporarily rooting it in place.
Seeing the opportunity, Keith powered the True Longinus with magic, making the bladed tip glow and moved to stab Cerberus in its underbelly. However, right before he could do it, the hound growled loudly and in a show of strength freed itself, snapping the vines around it.
"Kei-kun!" Both Kunou and Kuroka shouted in horror when they saw him being swatted away like a fly by a giant paw.
For his part, Keith felt like he was hit by a bus at full speed. He was sent away, skidding on the ground uncontrollably.
Both his mates made to go and tend to him, but were intercepted by the Hell dog.
"Move out of the way!" Kunou demanded through gritting teeth, her eyes glowing in power and anger. She was about to transform in her giant nine-tailed fox form.
Huffing in defiance, Cerberus growled lowly and threateningly, marching slowly towards them, only for it to yelp in pain when a glowing spear was thrown in its back, dark blood spilling the ground.
"First rule of fighting, never look away from your opponent." Both women sighed in relief when they saw Keith stand on wobbly feed, clutching his hand over his side. He was breathing more heavily, yet thankfully, no blood came out. His hellish training paid off, it seemed.
Not wasting a moment, Kunou and Kuroka were at his side.
"Let me help you, nya." Kuroka immediately placed a hand on his shoulder and healed him.
His breaths became more normal as some of his damaged ribs began to heal, the pain subsiding into a dulling ache, until it disappeared.
Letting out an exhale of air, he got up.
"You are a miracle among people Kuroka." He told her honestly, making her blush and look at him shyly. Her blush became more noticeable when he leaned forward and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
"I-I am happy y-you're a-alright, nya." She smiled.
Kunou huffed cutely as she leaned forward, puckered her lips, a longing in her eyes.
Chuckling lightly he complied, both revelling in one another's taste .
Their moment was interrupted by a mocking laugh and a furious growl.
"You are so cute that I want to vomit." Heracles snarled while Cerberus was glaring at them menacingly. Keith could spot that the True Longinus was no longer stuck in the hound.
Before they could continue their fight, the three saw the old man, Valper Galilei and Rias' Knight, Yuto Kiba, in a staring contest, and they could hear the old man's insane babbling. Keith also was surprised to see Yuto holding a new sword in his hands. The blade was longer than usual and spotted both black and white colours while a red inscription was on the blade.
"I see! I now understand!" He cackled madly, grabbing his head, his eyes wide in revelation. "If both the Holy and Demonic energies are out of balance…then…this explains it!" He declared. "In the Great War, not only did the Great Satans perish, but so did-" He opened his eyes wide in shock as a light spear pierced through his chest, making him spit blood and fall to the ground.
"Oh Valper...you truly were remarkable." Kokabiel commented.
"Hmph, he was only a pathetic human." The son of Zeus insulted.
"Well then!" The Fallen got up from his throne and descended to the ground. "It seems you lived enough to play with me!" He laughed boisterously, a maniacal glint in his eyes.
"Cerberus!" At Heracles' voice, the hellish hound grinded his teeth, as droplets of acidic drool fell on the ground.
"Do any of you have a plan, nya?" Kuroka asked as she, Kunou and Keith began to move backwards slowly when the monster began to advance.
The human recalled the True Longinus back in his hand as an idea struck him.
"Kunou can you take your fox form?"
"Yes." She replied, her eyes following the beast's every move.
"Then enter it and try to hold him down for as long as you can." He then looked at his other mate. "And you Kuroka will help her."
"Didn't we try that already, nya?" She inquired.
"Cerberus is very powerful, but you can't tell me that his size doesn't help him." Keith replied. "When me and Yasaka ventured in Helheim to capture Garm, we used the same tactic."
They both nodded and Kunou walked forward as she began to glow. In a blinding light, in her place stood a giant nine-tailed fox, with similar golden fur as Yasaka's, albeit slightly smaller than the Youkai leader.
'I could see this every day and I wouldn't get bored.' Keith thought, watching Kunou's new form with a smile.
"You can gawk at her later lover boy, nya!" Kuroka brought him back to the present time.
"Kei-kun, be ready!" Kunou told him telepathically, secretly delighted that he was awed by her. She initially wanted to show him her form while they were training, as some sort of a surprise, but sadly, her plans were ruined now.
She shifted with amazing speed for her size when Cerberus aimed his three heads to bite her. After dodging, she raised her frontal paws, then with unimaginable force, brought them down on its back, making the hound whine in pain and kept it on the ground.
Kuroka waved her hand and the same vines from earlier latched themselves around the monster, making him unable to move.
Taking caution this time, Keith empowered the Longinus with magic, aimed it at the hound's head and threw it. On the way towards the bounded beast, the spear became surrounded by light.
And Cerberus would have died if lightning didn't intercept the pointy object and sending it away.
"Tsk you stupid mutt!" Heracles glowered at the whining dog. "You can't do anything-"
"So here is where you were…" A cold female voice interrupted him.
"Oh you poor, poor doggy." Another said. "Who did that to you? I will kill them!" She then snarled.
"Hmph, how come we cannot have such structures in the Underworld?" And finally, the third complained.
Three women materialized out of the shadows, each having snakes instead of hair and were dressed in Greek black robes. On their backs Keith could see bat wings, although very different than those of the Devils, the three women's wings being bigger and more leathery. Each had a whip in her hand, made out of red fire.
The human could hear Kuroka gasp as she began to tremble. Kunou wasn't faring much better either as she let go of the now whimpering Cerberus. She reverted back to her human form and immediately made her way to Keith, standing protectively in front of him. Kuroka followed suit.
Keith's breath stopped when the three horrifying women turned his way. Their faces held different emotions: the first woman's face held such anger that he could feel it oozing off her form, the second one was gazing around as if she wanted to skin everyone alive in revenge and finally, from the third one he could sense immense jealousy.
What surprised everyone however…were their eyes: they were black as the void and a red liquid was dripping from them. It wouldn't take one much to realize that the red liquid was, in fact, blood.
The appearance of the three horrid women stopped even the fight between Kokabiel and the Devils/Angel/exorcist as they were all gawking at them.
"Son of Zeus." The angry one pointed at him, showing off her sharp teeth. "You dare steal from the Lord of the Dead?!" She screeched.
"I like the term 'borrow'." He argued rudely. "What are you three hags doing here anyway?"
The three sisters hissed.
"Insolent child."
The angry one snapped her fingers and Cerberus was engulfed in shadows. After they dispersed, the hound of Hell was gone.
"You dare interfere with my plans you wretched crones?!" Heracles bellowed in fury.
The vengeful one snarled and moved to attack him, but the angry one placed a clawed hand on her shoulder.
"No Tisiphone."
"But Alecto!" The now identified Tisiphone argued. "He used our Lord's-"
"I know, but worry not. His judgement will soon come." Alecto said cryptically, glaring at the son of Zeus with such intensity that he took a few steps back.
"Can we go now?" The last of the three sisters asked, her eyes looking with jealousy everywhere as if she wanted to take everything.
"Didn't Hades-sama tell you to control your jealousy Megaera?" Alecto inquired.
"He did, but I cannot help myself!" She huffed.
With a sigh, Alecto's black eyes fell on Keith, then on the True Longinus.
"Hmm…step forward mortal." She pointed a clawed finger at him.
"What business do you have with him?" Kunou stood in front of her mate.
The Fury ignored her, keeping her eyes on the human. After reassuring the fox girl, Keith did as the monstruous woman told him to.
"To think the very spear of the Biblical God would finally make an appearance." She chuckled, an unpleasant sound on everyone's ears. "It seems your soul hasn't yet been tainted by the desire of power." Her gaze then hardened. "Make sure to never fall pray to that, mortal, or I will delight myself on torturing your soul for eternity."
With that, the three women vanished in the shadows.
"Damn they were ugly." Issei broke the silence, scratching the back of his head. "Who were they Buchou?"
"Hades' three chief torturers, known in the Greek mythology as the Furies. Their job is to deliver punishment on the wicked souls which arrive in the Underworld." The redheaded explained, drawing a breath after the three women disappeared.
"Damn those fucking hags to Tartarus!" Heracles growled. "It seems I will have to send your souls to Hades myself." He equipped his trusty club as lightning danced between the clouds.
"Rias, we will keep him occupied!" Keith announced.
With a nod, the Gremory heiress, together with Griselda, Xenovia and the rest of her peerage returned to their fight with the Fallen Angel of the Stars.
Steeling his nerves, Keith turned to the waiting form of Heracles, only to not see him anywhere.
Kunou's ears twitched slightly.
"Watch out!" Thanks to her extremely developed senses, she grabbed him and jumped backwards before the son of Zeus could crushed them under his weapon.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue. "Just let me kill you and be done with everything already."
"Is the caveman upset he lost his doggy, nya?" Kuroka taunted him. Probably not the best idea since he was a God, but oh well.
"The fuck did you say, you stupid bitch?" He snarled, electricity battling in his blue eyes.
He moved to skewer the insolent woman, but had to dodge a beam of light coming his way.
"Colour me surprised." Keith began, his voice betraying no emotion. "I have never thought that the great hero Heracles would ally himself with the likes of Kokabiel."
At his statement, the God let out a boisterous laugh.
"Ally myself?" He sneered. "With that pathetic crow? Ha!"
"Oh? Then what are you even doing here?"
"If you were on Olympus and asked the motives of a God, you would have been incinerated instantly." The formed demigod informed. "However, given the fact that this is going to be your last day of life, I will humour you." He rested the club on his shoulder. "The reason I am even here is to show my father that I am worthy of a seat on the Olympian council!"
The three Youkai Faction members blinked at him.
"Uh…and why would he even consider to place you there if you kill us?" Kunou asked.
"Don't flatter yourself fox." Heracles snorted. "You are mere ants who deserve nothing more than to be crushed under my foot." He spat. "No, the one who I seek to destroy is no one else than Sirzechs Lucifer himself!"
"And what better way to grab his attention than by killing his precious, weak, insignificant little sister. Then my father will have to acknowledge my might!" He added. "Perhaps after I am finished with him, I will give Kyoto a visit and take that slut in heat Yasaka as my wife." He grinned perversely, lust filling his eyes.
At his words, Kunou saw red. Her eyes began to glow with power as a destructive aura surrounded her, making Keith take a few steps away from her.
"You dare…" She hissed with slitted eyes. Two giant hands made out of fire manifested themselves around Heracles and at Kunou's command, they immediately clasped on him.
She knew it wasn't enough to actually kill him, but she wasn't expecting him to be untouched.
"It tickled." He smirked arrogantly while dusting off the fire which clung to his clothes. "Is that all?"
"We will fight him together Kunou." Keith butted in before she could let anger rule her. He gave her a one armed hug and reassured her. "His words against Yasaka won't go unpunished."
"Yeah! We'll make the clown eat his own club, nya!" Kuroka added.
"Yeah, we will." Kunou calmed down and smiled.
"Blah, blah, blah." The God of Strength rolled his eyes.
Not wasting another second, Keith moved passed the distance with immense speed and thrusted his spear at Heracles who parried it with his club.
The human then attacked the formed demigod with a combo of thrusts and slices, all which were parried.
"Weak." Heracles declared and used hid godly speed to manoeuvre around Keith's last swing and appeared on his side. Keith then used his spear to block club. "Oh, you managed to block that huh?" Their enemy inquired, not at all worried.
"Don't forget about me, nya!" Kuroka raised her hands up as a torrent of Senjutsu burst from the ground where Heracles stood.
Given that Zeus is the God of the Sky, Heracles inherited abilities over the wind, thus he used them to become untouchable, making Kuroka's attack miss him. He then used his club to cut through a blazing cone of fire courtesy of Kunou.
Believing the God was distracted, Keith used Light Arsenal. The light spears surrounded Heracles who only scoffed. In a strong rotative strike, he shattered them once they moved to attack him.
Sensing Keith behind him, he turned and brought his club down to bash his skull, but widened his eyes slightly when Keith dodged it. He then began an assault of swings on the human, who managed to parry, dodged or counterattack.
'He's quite fast for a human.' The formed demigod thought. 'But not fast enough.' With a powerful strike, he hit Keith in the stomach with such force that sent him backwards, spit emerging from his mouth.
"Kei-kun!" Both Kunou and Kuroka yelled in worry and anger seeing their mate hurt.
"Know your place mortal." Heracles said. He had to raise his club to block a pair of fire coated claws.
"You dare hurt my beloved?!" Kunou asked in a roar as energy exploded from her body. She surrounded herself with fire and her eyes became slitted. A column of fire shot up in the air where she stood. She grabbed Heracles' stupid club from his hand and threw it away, then clutched his arm in her hand and burned it, making him yell out in pain.
He gathered lightning in his free arm and intended to strike her with it, but before he could do that, Kuroka jumped into action. She struck him in the face with a Touki infused foot, powerful enough to kill a High Class Devil once it hit. Once her foot landed on his face, a resounding crunch could be heard.
"ARGH!" He was sent away.
Before either of the two could check on Keith who was clutching his stomach in pain and trying hard to breath, Heracles began to shout with a bloody nose.
"YOU FUCKING SLUTS! YOU DARE HURT ME?!"Thunder and lightning were clashing above the clouds as he began to fly, his eyes were purely blue and electricity surrounded him.
"YOU ARE DEAD!" He declared. Raising one hand up, lightning fell from the sky towards him. He levelled his other hand at Kuroka and shot a straight line of lightning at her.
The cat girl immediately conjured a barrier around her to protect herself from the beam.
"You are all going to die today!" Heracles declared with a growl. Hearing with how much certainty he said that, Keith attempted to get up from the ground and tried to get his breathing under control.
'I need to do something!' He told himself even if his body was yelling in protest. 'I can't let them die.' Using the True Longinus to get up, he widened his eyes when he saw Kunou and Kuroka fighting Heracles. While they were keeping up with him, he knew they would inevitably lose. He was a God after all, a minor one sure, but still a God. They rarely tired, if at all, and it definitely didn't help that Heracles' domain was Strength.
"AH!" He watched in horror when the former demigod grabbed Kunou and Kuroka by their arms, slammed them together, tossed them over his back in the ground with such force that it shattered. His horror only grew when he raised Kuroka by the neck, his grasp firm.
"Say goodnight forever cat." The hero turned God spat, his grip tightening. He watched in morbid fascination when Kuroka grabbed his hand, trying to dig in his flesh with her claws.
That moment of ignorance was all Keith needed. Forcing his body, he vanished in a burst of speed and appeared right next to Heracles.
"What?!" The former demigod began, only to howl in pain when the Holy Lance made contact with his side. Ichor started to drop on the blade and the ground as he let go of Kuroka who was coughing and trying to breath in as much oxygen as possible. In a fury unseen until now, Heracles roared as lightning exploded from him sending away Keith on his back.
"YOU FUCKING PATHETIC TRASH!"He yelled and flew up in the air, then glared with complete hatred at the human. Creating a spear of lightning, he clasped it tightly.
"I would end you right now…but before that." He grinned evilly and looked at the downed form of Kunou, making her widen her eyes. "What about you suffer first huh?"
'No…' He looked in terror as the God pulled back the spear and hurled it loathingly at the fox girl.
Time seemed to slow down as Keith saw the offending pointy and crackling object fly across the distance towards one of his beloved girlfriends.
Before he knew it though, his legs were already moving towards the same direct, pain be damned. Ignoring the deep aching of his body, he forced himself to move faster than he ever did.
Hokori would be proud if he were to see him.
Kunou for her part couldn't move because of her wounds and the exhaustion from fighting Cerberus earlier and going up against a God.
She closed her eyes and waited for the pain to come, for the cold embrace of Death to take her. Yet that never happened, instead she could feel something dripping on her form. It was warm and the smell of iron assaulted her nostrils.
Warily, she opened her eyes only for them to widen in shock and fear. Dread gripped at her heart and her blood ran cold. Above her stood Keith, his arms placed at her sides to keep him up, while his face was mere inches away from her own.
That wasn't what horrified her though, no, what did was the lightning spear protruding from his chest and the endless amount of blood gushing out.
"I…I made it…" He said softly with a smile, sounding relieved, then he had to turn his head on the side to spit blood out. Then his arms gave out and he collapsed on her.
"K-Kei-kun…?" Her trembling hands slowly embraced him, her eyes intently focused on his face. "Kei-kun." Her voice wavered. "You're going to be fine, Don't worry. We can fix this." Tears began to stain her cheeks.
She quickly got up in a sitting position, placing his head on her chest, rocking him gently and moving her hand through his raven hair.
"I…am glad…you are safe." He offered her a weak grin.
"No, don't speak." She said softly. "Save your energy. You will be ok."
"S-Sorry, b-but we both know that is not true." His breath became haggard.
"Don't say that!" She shook her head in denial. "You will live!"
"I love you Kunou." He then turned his head when he felt a warm hand on his. The Nekoshou's eyes were filled with tears. "And I love you Kuroka." He grasped her hand softly. "I am happy to have met you. Tell Yasaka, Hokori and Rossweisse that I am sorry." His voice was so weak that they almost didn't hear it.
"Kei-kun don't you dare-" Kuroka's breath hitched. His hand, which she was holding like a safety line, fell limp and the cat chocked on her sobbing. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.
"No, no, no, no." Kunou began to panic heavily when she couldn't hear his breath anymore.
"Kei-kun?" She whispered, her eyes glazed. "Hey Kei-kun?" She asked again, this time slightly louder.
"K-Kunou-chan, I don't-" Kuroka was interrupted by her friend.
"NO!" She yelled. "HE IS NOT DEAD!" Her breathing became frantic. But then her world broke down when she saw his eyes.
Dull. Lifeless. Still. Unfocused. No longer the grey colour they shined with. No longer were they filled with curiosity and wonder.
Now they were simply…dead.
Dead.
The word repeated itself in her mind over and over again.
Then an ugly laugh made her blood boil in such rage that the ground began to shake, a bright yellow aura was surrounding her while her eyes turned into slits and were glowing with power never seen before. Her glare had such intensity that it made the God's ichor run cold and stop him from his annoying laugh.
"You have done a grave mistake, Heracles, son of Zeus."
A/N: Woooohooo! FINALLY! Damn…this was a hard chapter to write, only because I had to think a lot on how to make it more…interesting than in cannon and writer's block didn't really help all that much. I hope you enjoyed it. I literally had to think on how to make it as unique as possible. I am sorry it took me this long to update. Oh and I am sorry if you are displeased about the ending, but I promise it will explain stuff in the next chapter! Also! Funny fact: the last part here, I started with Keith sacrificing himself and saving Kunou, then didn't know exactly how to continue from there, so I scraped it and in turn thought about making Kunou be the saviour, only to return to Keith lmao. I have an interesting idea for the next and final chapter of this…arc I guess you could call it, and to finally make Keith more powerful. No, he won't change races, if you are wondering. And I was quite excited to introduce Cerberus and the Furies! I hope it made sense…and that it didn't seem forced or anything else.
Anyway, let's see the reviews!
Guest: I ultimately decided to leave Kiba and his revenge against swords as it is. I felt like it would be a bit weird to have Keith lecture him all of a sudden on the matter of revenge. They didn't meet at all until now so it would make little sense.
Guest: You will remember eventually xd
Guest: Thanks for pointing that out. I am trying to correct any errors before posting the chapters for as much as I can, so I apologize if any make it through. Regarding the conversation with Hercules…perhaps? I wrote what came to mind tbh.
GhostlyDrew: I shouldn't be too worried about that honestly…my story isn't that NSFW imo. However if something does go wrong, I still have my written chapters saved in a folder so all good I guess.
Cesar117: I am still thinking about Penemue, for Grayfia however, I intend to keep her with Sirzechs for this story. However, in the future fanfics I will definitely have her as a pairing.
Marsuvees Black The Dark Lord: I apologize for that. I am trying to correct any errors before posting chapters, but there is always a probability for some to make it through. I hope it wasn't too bad.
Sakra95: I agree, surely Ares would have been a better villain, but totally unbeatable for Keith and the rest. He is, after all, an Olympian. Also, I believe it would have been a bit cliché, since sure, he is the God of War and all that. On the Hercules matter, I would lie if I said I didn't take slight inspiration from PJO, BUT, at the same time, not really. He is seen as a "villain" because he abandoned Zoe, or so I understood. I barely started the Titan's Curse so don't really know much. All I know is from other PJO fanfics. I believe I introduced Penemue in chapter 7. And no, I plan to give Durandal back to the church. What would you say if I were to give Xenovia Ascalon? Instead of Issei since he doesn't use swords and it would still be seen as a "peace offering"? If you have an idea, let me know.
Dante687: Nope! He isn't allied with Loki and Tsukuyomi. He is here on his own accord. Of course, he could be called an associate of Kokabiel, but not really. I heard about all of the fandoms you said, although the only ones I watched are demon slayer(1st season) and a bit of black clover (like a few episodes). And I understand what you're saying about you not really liking harems.
Guest: The harem is already kind of full. At the moment, I am considering Penemue instead of Roygun Belphegor.
Lamont: Watched Naruto when I was a kid (can't remember much of it, if at all), however I like reading crossovers between Naruto and DXD. I also quite enjoy PJO a lot, so you can expect a story with that soon. I tried reading gamer crossovers but I find them a bit exhausting, keeping up with all the stats and everything, but definitely I respect those who write them, since they look like they take a lot of time and dedication.
Guest: I agree lmao.
Guest: Oh wow, I am honoured to hear you say you enjoy Keith, especially since you said you don't like OC very much. I appreciate it.
Godofwar01: Definitely thought about using Zenith Tempest in the future stories. So you can definitely expect one in the future. But what about the MC? What should he be? Fully human turned into Devil or whatever, or a half something? Also thought about Canis Lykaon as well, so probably. For darkness SG however, I do have an idea already: I have thought about a SG by myself which would host Zirnitra (a black dragon from Wendish mythology) but thing is that there are, at best, like 3 sentences of information about him on the internet lol. This gives a lot of freedom imo.
Guest: Divine Crusader huh? Not bad.
Eat datass69: I know, but I decided to take slight inspiration from the PJO universe and make him a God here. It helped with the story, wouldn't you say?
Guest: What do you mean exactly? Like having a normal human in the Supernatural tv serious? Or? I heard about the series, but never watched it myself.
Skull Flame: I initially wanted the conversation to be harsher…but I didn't work really well on paper when I saw it, so I scraped that off. The bringing of Griselda though was solely for the sake of logic, cause in my mind, who the hell sends two teenagers to fight a Cadre alone lol.
JimmySG0: Thank you. I used the PJO universe to help me for their personalities a bit, but their appearances (Zeus and Poseidon) are based on God of War.
Fate chan: Yup! I tried to go for that as much as I could.
Halcyon: I have heard about them, never watched them though.
Guest: Hello! I will be honest and say that I totally forgot about Thor's kids (which proves your point about them not being used that much lol), but yes I actually do intend to use them in the future! Dunno if for this story, but definitely in the future. For example, I am thinking about writing a PJO and God of War crossover story. I stumbled upon Roots of Hope but didn't read it.
So…all these being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and once again I am sorry for delaying it for so long.
I apologize if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes.
Stay safe & sound!