It was meant to just be the Faust Castle stuff that was rewritten, but as I got into writing it I realized there were way to many changes and just went "Fuck it" and rewrote the entire chapter.
As he stood with the rest of the gathered capes, Faust was tense, if his plan went well he could have an Endbringer dead (Or at least, extremely damaged), but if it went wrong he could lose a lot. He'd had his agents ready, and now it was time.
He checked with the Einzbern and Harlaown's, making sure each of them were in far away Endbringer Shelters, and Alicia was ready to pretend to Trigger. A quick search had proved that Endbringer attacks always resulted in dozens if not hundred of fresh Triggers, which made things easier.
Glancing to Legend, the PRT cape was warning Tinkers to be careful with approaching Simurgh as she could steal and use their tech for her own purposes. Well, if Faust had to approach Simurgh, then something had gone wrong.
As a roar echoed through New York, a smirk crossed Faust's lips. Phase one of Operation Angel Fall begins.
The Simurgh suddenly stopped mid-air, using her telekinetic grip to lift a massive ship from the bottom of the ocean and use it as a shield against two beams of energy. She then flew to the sky to avoid being rammed by Yasomagatsuhi, the Divine Spirit glowing with energy, and shot dozens of spheres of lights at the fallen angel.
The Endbringer tried to avoid them, but found her right leg suddenly grabbed by a stretchy limb, Infermon glaring up at her with his mouth open and unleashing a barrage of energy blasts to join Yasomagatsuhi's own. The fallen angel was hit directly, an explosion of smoke covering her entire body.
For a few moments, Infermon allowed himself to feel victorious, an Endbringer was powerful but even it couldn't defeat both an Ultimate Digimon and a Divine Spirit-
"GRAAAAAH!". Yasomagatsuhi roared as it was suddenly impaled from below by shattered pieces of boats, sure it wasn't lethal damage, but it still hurt. Light gathered in its maw, which was then released as a beam of energy towards the floating Simurgh, but the Endbringer used her telekinesis to redirect the beam away. Infermon's arms/legs were absorbed into his body, and then launched himself at the fallen angel.
"COCOON CRASH!". The Ultimate cried as he slammed into the Endbringer, feeling as her body was damaged and torn by the amount of power he was hitting with. But near instantly, new false-flesh replaced what had been destroyed. Floating rubble started to slam into him, but in his cocoon form Infermon's defense was raised massively.
As the three titans clashed, the world could only watch in horror and anticipation. But it wasn't the only thing going on...
As Nibelcole hacked into more of the PRT's systems (Of course, with none of them noticing. The fact most of it was Dragon tech made it easier for sure), she quickly noticed as someone was attempting to hack into her Machine Army Drones. While slightly concerning, there was nothing no human hacker could do to take over her systems-
{15% of drones lost, 17%, 20%}
If she had physical eyes, the AI's would've shot wide open. She instantly changed from working on hacking the PRT and helping with Mephisto's communications to countering the hacker, but it was quickly becoming clear whoever she was facing wasn't an ordinary hacker.
{37% of drones lost, south and west sectors of Castle Faust lost}
"I NEED ASSISTANCE!". Nibelcole screamed into the AI communication system she shared with the others, instantly feeling relief as FB offered her full assistance, with Meltryllis offering 20% of her processing power to assist.
"A hacker of this skill, its likely a Tinker or Thinker". FB noted, frowning as she lost some ground only to gain it right back. The AI's were rapidly gaining and losing control of the Machine Army Drones.
"Probably a team, its adapting to quickly, maybe some AI's as well. Dammit, I'm going to have to use more processing power!". Meltryllis hissed, annoyed as she had to give 70% of her processing power to help with the hacker battle. With all their efforts together they were slowly but surely gaining ground.
But while it seemed like a victory, the AI's were unaware of their opponent's more subtle actions.
Wolf One was a simple creature, like the rest of her sisters she was a maid in service to Lord Aleister, Lady Medea, and their allies. Her days were spent cleaning and taking care of both Castle Faust and the home mansion, at least that was what she usually did.
"GRAAAAH!". The wolf-girl growled as she tore the head off another mercenary, her pristine maid outfit covered in a mix of blood and gore. By her side, Wolf Two was tearing into the metallic insides of one of the hacked Machine Army Drones, ensuring it was to damaged for its self repair to activate.
"Lab secured, but messages aren't getting out... Communications with Lady FB, Lady Nibelcole, and Lady Meltryllis aren't getting through". Wolf Three spoke up, she had remained out of battle while attempting to contact their masters. "Likely the same hacker who convinced our systems these... Scum were allies is distracting them".
"Indeed, how are Four, Five, and Six doing?". Wolf Two glanced around the lab, while the mercenaries and hacked drones had managed to get in, the werewolf maids had slaughtered each and every one of them with only minor injuries.
"I believe they have finished with the parahumans among our intruders, One, please ensure the Argon Coin will not activate in all this chaos, Castle Faust cannot handle a rampaging dragon". Three ordered, with One quickly running off to ensure the last defense they had wasn't accidentally activated.
"Should we... Have left some of them alive?". Two gestured to a mercenary that had literally been split in half by One.
"Nah, Master Aleister can just interrogate their ghosts".
As the two maids began to clean up, neither noticed as a small sphere of nano-machines rolled across the floor, straight towards one of their master's many projects.
Faust observed as two Capes from New York were arguing with Legend, opinions between the gathered Capes had been split in three with the current battle of 'Endbringers' going on.
Legend wanted to wait and observe, Endbringers had never fought each other before and if they attacked at the right moment, they could kill one of them.
One of the Cape's, who went by Holy Night, was arguing how they should join the fight now. If the fight kept as it was, New York would face multiple deadly tsunami's.
The final Cape, an older man by the name of Right Hook was screaming how they should evacuate New York. One Endbringer was bad enough, but three meant the city was lost.
All in all, there was far to much arguing for Faust's tastes and not enough action. If he wanted his plans to go off correctly, he needed capes dying.
Thankfully, he was in control of two of the 'Endbringers'. With a smirk, he sent a command to Yasomagatsuhi and the Divine Spirit instantly turned from its ongoing battle with the Simurgh, to focus on the gathered legions of capes.
Light gathered in Yasomagatsuhi's maw, and just as it was released Faust moved away with Flash Air.
Eve Nike, or in her current outfit the vigilante Shock, smiled madly as she aimed her latest toy at Tannin, grinning as a blast of electricity struck the beast right in one of its eyes.
(Tannin is the name ordinary people call Yasomagatsuhi, with Infermon being called Bael).
The Tinker's grin widened, even as the blaster in her hand began to spark and smoke, slowly turning red, blue, and green, that was fine! She was teaching this bastard a lesson. But the Electricity-Tinker quickly had to begin running to avoid a massive claw swipe, thankful for her mechanical boots that absorbed electricity to help speed up (How the fuck they worked she had no clue, Tinker bullshit for the win!).
As she prepared to rush in for another attack, Shock froze for a second as a feeling of absolute coldness swept by her. Glancing around wildly, she noticed a cloud of black smoke moving past her, the Demi-Servant couldn't move, her body frozen solid in fear.
Death, death were here. That was the only thing she could think as she saw the black smoke pass through another Capes, the man falling to the ground dead right after.
"Fuck this! I'm not dealing with the fucking grim reaper!". Eve began to run, there wasn't a chance in hell she was sticking around with that fucking thing murdering whoever it felt like!
Lakshmbibai was not in a good mood, very much so. The tragic loss of life around her was horrible, having true knowledge of what was going on with the Endbringers only made it worst, and add on the fact her master had thoughtlessly told her to kill or kidnap innocent people? Demi-Servant or not, the Saber refused to take part in whatever vile acts that madman was doing.
Taking a few shots at Yasomagatsuhi, the Saber had already decided it was best to focus on the Divine Spirit. Sure she was barely on Aleister's side, but it would look suspsious to everyone if she focused only on the Simurgh (Which was still fighting with Infermon in the middle of the ocean, to far away for her to reach)-
"Gah!". Lakshmbibai groaned as she tripped, cursing her luck she quickly got back up to get back to fighting.
Completely unaware of the woman in a fedora looking confused at the dart that had missed the Saber and hit another Cape, that... Wasn't according to the Path.
Lakshmbibai would be completely unaware of how she had avoided a vibranium knockout dart by sheer unluckiness, the Servant jumping right back into the middle of battle (And getting thrown through a building by the Divine Spirit she was facing, and landing directly in a sewer pipe).
Raiden unleashed another blast of lightning against Yasomagatsuhi, or in her case it'd be Tannin. In truth she should've been battling against the Simurgh, but with the fallen angel still floating above the middle of the ocean, and being apart of a group of PRT parahumans, the infiltrator android could find no opportunities to help her creator, who she had lost track of in the case.
The android barely avoided a blast of light that tore a Ward in two, the poor teenager screaming in agony as his powers kept him alive and tried to repair the damage to no avail. But in all honestly she barely paid attention to her supposed ally, to focused on keeping herself alive against the wrath of a Divine Spirit.
Faust frowned under his helmet as he observed the battles going on, Yasomagatsuhi was helping somewhat by cutting down dozens of Capes, but he'd almost hit Raiden multiple times and seemed to have no concept of friendly fire. A black smoke was also travelling across the battlefield, killing parahumans at random, a smoke he was fairly certain was actually a Demi-Servant, even if he had no idea who the hell the Servant could be.
"Tomoe, can you hit the Simurgh from here?". He asked the Archer, who stood besides him alongside Okita. The white-haired woman narrowed her eyes in the direction of the fallen angel.
"Easily". Tomoe was confident in her skills, while even a sniper couldn't hit the Endbringer with such a distance, the Archer had no such issues.
"Put everything you have into it".
The Archer nodding, taking a deep breath as she readied her bow, her keen eyes had noticed something as the Simurgh healed. It always started from the left wing, taking that into account...
"Flame, grant me strength...". She notched her arrow, sparks of flame beginning to emerge from it. She pushed all the mana she had into this attack. "Namaḥ Samantavajrānāṃ Hāṃ!".
The arrow was released at such a speed in broke the sound barrier, piercing through the sky as it aimed directly for the Simurgh's left wing. Before the Endbringer could do anything, she was hit with an explosive amount of force and sent stumbling through the sky into the ocean below.
Infermon knew he only had so little time to act before the Simurgh regenerated, he threw himself beneath the waves, instantly tracking where the fallen angel floated, flesh rapidly generating from her left wing. His mouth-cannon was fired, but the ground in front of him was instantly lifted and as his blast hit it, he was caught in the shock wave and thrown back.
Breaking his way through the stone wall, the Ultimate growled as he noticed Simurgh's upper body was already completely healed. How fast did this Yggdrasil damn abomination heal!? He prepared himself for another difficult fight against the Endbringer.
Only for it to never arrive, Simurgh stood completely still for a few seconds, and then a minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Four minutes.
Five minutes.
Something was wrong, very very wrong. Those on the surface wouldn't notice, so distracted fighting Yasomagatsuhi that the thought of what the Simurgh was doing under water not even crossing their minds. Infermon opened his mouth-cannon, unleashing a weak blast of energy that hit near the Simurgh, the fallen angel didn't move.
Had... Had Tomoe's attack actually done something? Paraylzed the Endbringer? How had she telekinetically controlled the ground around him then? Slowly, the Ultimate Digimon began to approach Simurgh, thankful he could take his time even under water.
When he was around half way to the fallen angel, she suddenly twitched, her face which had been emotionless this entire battle became a smirk. Throwing all sense of safety out of the window Infermon threw himself towards her-
Only to be hit by dozens of drowned boats, while the Endbringer flew out of the murky depths and to the skies once again.
Offering one last smirk to New York, Simurgh began to ascend to the stars once again. The Endbringer attack was over.
Yasomagatsuhi roared as he vaporized another team of Capes with a blast of light, his entire being driven by one thought alone. Destruction, absolute destuction to everything around him, raze this entire human city to nothing-
But suddenly, the Divine Spirit froze and began to growl, his wings spreading out as he took to the sky. He'd fly away for the next few hours, escaping the sight of any camera's before using a portal to arrive back in the Digital World, and from there back to the Moon Kingdom.
But while he was doing that, Faust was displeased. This didn't make sense from what he knew of the Endbringers, Simurgh had barely dealt any damage to New York, sure there was a lot of flooding and bad waves, but only Yasomagatsuhi had dealt any damage and even then it was nothing compared to the usual Endbringer attack. So why had the bloody pigeon left looking so bloody pleased!?
Fine, if that was the case-.
"Master, we have a problem". Nibelcole's voice suddenly came to life over his communicator, explaining details of the hacking battle, the mercenaries breaking into his castle and attempting to get into his lab, and how despite everything seeming fine, there were far to many questions unanswered. "We have the wolf maids gathering the bodies, you should be able to intergogate their ghosts with ease".
"Thank you, Nibelcole... Please send over the humanoid Machine Army Drones, I want us getting some good PR, help repair the damage to the city. While your at it, keep an eye out for any Demi-Servants".
"Understood". With a beep, the AI disconnected, leaving Faust with his thoughts.
He was happy the attack had failed, but who had hired mercenaries to try stealing from him? The governments? It'd make sense, they knew he had a way to make artificial parahumans and probably wanted it for themselves. Yet... Why did that answer feel off?
Shaking his head, Faust focused. He could investigate later, right now he had other things he needed to do.
"Search the city for any signs of Demi-Servants, if their alone try grabbing or killing them, if not take notes of their identities for the AI's to investigate online". He sent both a telepathic message and digital message to his allies, before using Flash Air to appear elsewhere in the city, he had investigations to get under way.
The work in New York took six hours, six hours of going through streets, helping move the dead, all the while Faust received reports from his allies.
Medea and Nia were using their various abilities to heal people, with the Demi-Servants and Cyber standing guard over them. Already the bodyguards had to deal with multiple Capes or civilians trying to demand healing instead of waiting their turn to be seen.
Okita was racing around the city, taking note of anything she could related to Demi-Servants, but so far she'd only managed to discover that during the Simurgh's attack there was a moving black smoke going about that could kill with a touch. It could be a Demi-Servant, it could be a parahuman power, Faust didn't know but he decided to mark it down just in case.
Tomoe was watching everything from a skyscraper, using her enhanced vision as an Archer to find things the others could not. She'd noted how the Cape Sere had extremely powerful water manipulation abilities, but couldn't confirm if he had a large amount of mana without getting closer, something Okita managed to do while passing by and confirming yes, Sere was defiantly a Demi-Servant.
They had tried investigating the Adept, with Aleister already knowing one of the members was the Demi-Servant of Caster Gilgamesh, but could find no hints towards who it truly was, not helped by so many of the members wielding Mystic Codes given to them.
A quick talk with Gorgon had the Avenger going back to Brockton Bay, asking the Avenger who hated humans to help humans... Well, there were stupider things he could do.
Raiden was still with the PRT, being apart of a team that was going around and checking in on people in Endbringer shelters. It was no surprise when she reported finding dozens of newly triggered Parahumans causing chaos, the aftermath of an Endbringer attack was perfect grounds for new Capes. She had also checked in on the Harlaown Androids, confirming the PRT brought the excuse of Alicia trigger from her panic over the Simurgh, with her and a few other children and teenagers (Along with their worried guardians) being taken to a sight that had been set up to help all the fresh triggers and attempt to subtly recruit them into the Wards. Of course, Alicia would accept.
A check confirmed the Einzbern's were fine, although... Irisviel was showing a lot of concern for her 'children', to much concern for it just to be programming, she was likely to develop into a full on AI soon. If that was the case the younger designed androids wouldn't be far behind.
All in all, it wasn't the worst, sure Aleister's hopes of killing the Simurgh hadn't come true, but he'd damaged her and killed dozens of New York Capes. This would increase the chaos of the city and increase the likelihood of Demi-Servants being forced into the spotlight or even killed.
The Magician sighed, it was time to finally head home, his allies had already left via him sending them using Flash Air or their own means of instant transportation. Sitting up from the rubble he'd been sitting on, Faust prepared to leave-
Before his eyes were caught by a single, perfectly preserved envelop, just laying on the ground nearby. That... That was off, it should at least be dusty right? Approaching it, Aleister turned it over to look at the address a froze. There, written across the letter were only a few words.
A gift to Faust.
For a few seconds, Aleister considered burning it then and there, this had been left by someone who'd managed to sneak past his senses and leave it close enough for him to notice. But on the other hand... What was in it? A quick check with Structural Analysis confirmed it was just a letter inside, nothing else. His curiosity winning, the master opened the envelop and began to read.
Demi-Servant identities.
Prism of the PRT, seen creating multiple weaker copies of herself, each copy is noted to have differing personalities traits.
Shock, a rogue vigilante. Can turn anything she touches into a technological sword with three multi-colored beams of energy composing the blade.
Epoch, can create golden portals and pull various Tinker-Tech staffs out of them.
Suspected Demi-Servants.
Barrow's Cult has been seen using a massive amount of puppets lately, suspected Demi-Servant creator.
A Church on the edge of New York has been noted to have 'miracles' happening around it, suspected Demi-Servant healer.
This was... A list of Demi-Servants!? Who the hell had created this?! Who had known Faust was connected to the Demi-Servants!? Aleister grit his teeth, this was useful information without a doubt but it also worried him. Someone had far to much information about him, and a part of him wondered if this letter was from Cauldron...
Tearing the paper to pieces, it didn't matter. Even if the knowledge was from Cauldron, Aleister knew he had to use it, he'd been unlucky with Demi-Servants, extremely so, this knowledge could be what he needed to change things around. Investigating a church and wiping out a cult would be easy, he could get two Demi-Servants in only a couple hours if he played his cards right.
But first, he needed to actually return to Brockton Bay and figure out what to do from there.
Welp, we didn't lose or break anything, but Simurgh did something from that smirk of hers. I hope people enjoyed this remake chapter, it felt a lot better then the old one which will remain in Extra's for those who wanna read it.
Next chapter will be a sort of interlude with some stuff from Aleister, but for now we're done. And yea your going to need to vote again if you still want your votes to count.