The Chaos that consumes the world

XIV

The distance he kept from the battle down below was far enough that not a single soul would have seen him.

Not if they were not actively looking for him, at any rate. They were not going to be doing that, not when they had bigger problems of their own to deal with.

Keeping himself back was something of a challenge, watching the way this individual fought was something of an intriguing notion. It wasn't just that they were using animals to fight their battles for them, it was as though they and the animals were one in the same. The flow of magical energy between all of them was so tightly bound.

And it was not a Sacred Gear.

It was something entirely new, something that he was sure not even Azazel had heard about before.

That made him rather excited, he wanted rather desperately to go down there and test himself against their collection of monsters. He wanted to see what else they had lurking beneath their skin.

Not to mention all those other characters.

He'd thought this assignment was going to be boring, but this?

This was getting very interesting.

More so when even Albion perked up in the back of his mind.

{That guy…How is he still alive?}

He sensed the direction the dragon spoke of, his eyes flickered to the location and zeroed in on the man ripped straight from the pages of history. They burned with power but there was something else about them, there was that Holy aura centred on their right arm, that arm which glowed ethereal silver.

Then they absorbed the Excalibur into the arm and it made so much sense.

"You know him?"

He kept his voice even, but there was no disguising his intrigue in this.

{Sir Bedivere}

He fell silent for a moment, letting the words bounce around in his head.

It sounded impossible.

Because he knew what Albion meant, he was familiar with the heroic reincarnations of former heroes across history, he was allies with some of the most famous of them. But when Albion declared that this was Sir Bedivere of the Round Table, they were not speaking of some descendant or some reincarnation of the soul.

They were speaking about the original.

How were they even alive?

He found that he didn't care about the answer, all that really mattered was that this was a member of the vaunted Round Table. The legendary Knights of King Arthur, that man down there was supposedly one of the first.

Though…he found himself drawing a blank on quite what it was they were known for.

Lancelot, Gawain and Galahad were all the most well known for varying reasons, even some of the other knights had their own feats attributed to them.

Bedivere was…a one armed attendant and that was the extent of his knowledge, he'd never focused much on the history of the Round Table beyond daydreams over what it would have been like to fight any one of them. Though he'd never even assumed he would get something of the chance.

The closest he ever thought he would get would be Arthur, and while the blonde was certainly a worthy opponent, it only made him more curious as to how powerful their original namesake would have been.

Watching Bedivere fight, watching them power through the battlefield in an instant, matched only in prowess by the Burial Agent - because wasn't that just another incredible occurrence - and the Knight of the current Lucifer.

It puts everything into perspective.

If Bedivere was this strong…

…What would the others of the Round Table have been like?

{Don't get drawn into that. Bedivere is only winning because of his experience and whatever that arm is…Still. He's stronger than I remember. Though it has been a long time.}

Yes, a very long time.

His arms folded over his chest, a metallic echo drifted through the air as he drummed his armoured fingers along his bicep with increasing pace.

"Hey, Albion?"

{Hmmm?}

"Didn't the Red Dragon Emperor seem…weak?"

{...You're undoubtedly stronger than him at the moment, yes.}

That wasn't what he meant and they both knew it, there was no disguising the disappointment in either of their voices. When among such company, even including Penemue though he was a little shocked to find her here of all places, she'd put up a decent fight against the dragon as well but she'd let it slip when she had to save the Red Dragon Emperor.

…The Red Dragon Emperor was much too weak.

This was the sort of situation where they should have absolutely thrived, he knew he would have, but watching their counterpart land only a single noteworthy attack before getting punted into the ground like cheap garbage was rather disheartening for him to watch.

It wasn't that he expected them to be his equal, as far as he heard they had only awoken a little while ago and it was only as much as he sensed, but all the same. He would have expected them to have made a little more progress than that.

They were outstripped in terms of power by a plain looking guy who fired only a single shot and then dropped down, completely out for the count.

But…it was a good shot.

If it had been a little more to the side, they'd have cut the dragons head clean off and won in a single blow.

But their aim wasn't all that good, it seemed…or they were drawing it out?

…No, that didn't seem it.

"If that shot hit me-"

{You'd live.}

Albion answered in the flattest voice possible, he rolled his eyes at the comment and then resumed speaking, after making a small correction.

"I know that, but if it had hit, how strong do you think it would have been?"

There was a silence from the dragon, they were pondering the question for a couple moments, then they replied to him with a mild touch of interest.

{You'd suffer some decent damage from it. Nothing to put you down for good but it wouldn't be a blow you could immediately have recovered from. Not surprising, they drew in Od directly from the leylines.}

Now that was something he didn't know.

"They did?"

{Hmmm. Very quick. Sucked it right up around the same time as the other dragon was getting ready to attack. Not surprised you didn't notice.}

His right hand moved up, cupping the underside of his armoured chin and scratching a finger back and forth. If that was the case, then it was a very specific sort of attack that could only really be used in certain locations. That was certainly a mixed bag, and judging by the results of the attack, it was something the user wasn't familiar with.

A desperate last stand, was it?

…Well, not like it wasn't a useless one, just timed wrong.

Better in planning than execution, the dragon was right there…speaking of which…

"Do you know who that was?"

{The dragon? Hmmm…Huh. I think that might be…Yes. That's Dreq}

He'd never heard of them.

{He was always arrogant, thought himself bigger than he was. Certainly inspired enough hatred that the humans thought he was the Devil…Vanished just before the great war kicked off. Guess that's what happened to him. Hmph. Idiot.}

He barely even paid attention to the explanation, he didn't find himself all that interested in what was going on.

"...I really want to go down there."

{So why don't you?}

Now that was the question, why didn't he go down there?

It wasn't as though he was forbidden from doing it, the interference of Penemue had already given him an excuse to step in. Though at this point, if he tried to do anything, it would look more as though he was stepping in to save everyone. That and he was sure there was still something amiss.

They chose this location and hadn't tried to flee again.

That wasn't the sort of hit and run behaviour he'd expect from Devils.

They were forcing a confrontation, but it should have been obvious they were outclassed by whomever this mysterious figure was. Yet they hadn't tried to cut their losses and escape, which meant they were waiting for something.

He figured out what it was.

Stepping in now would drag it out and while he was sure he could defeat them, he wasn't so confident about defeating them and then making an escape before either the Lucifer or whichever other Satan was coming down to assist them.

Because who else would show up for the Gremory or the Sitri?

What a let down.

He'd go down there and get a fight that was astounding, but being caught out by one of the Satans or even two of them was something he wasn't going to do just yet. It wasn't the right time for that sort of thing. It would have been different if it was just Kokabiel, he'd have gone down there and been out before anyone could do anything about it.

But more than that…

"I'm curious to see how this all turns out. I suppose I'm a little invested in seeing how strong they actually are."

{Heh. True. Not often you see this sort of teamup. Well…At least, not twice.}

Ah yes.

The battle that Albion only ever spoke of once and that was to say he wouldn't speak about it again.

All he got was that it involved the moon and something in europe.

Nothing else.

"What do you think? Suppose they'll hold out until help comes for them or do you think they're going to get wiped out?"

{Hmph. Killing their pets is one thing. I've yet to see a single scratch on the owner.}

And that as the crux of the matter.

No matter what attack was thrown at them, the pale skinned man was just standing there and letting the attacks run clean off their back as if it was water. There wasn't anything magical about it, not anymore than he could sense. He saw no barriers and now chants, there were no circles or equations.

It was just pure simple toughness.

He wondered about that.

Were they that tough because they had so many animals to call upon…or did they have so many animals to call upon because they were that tough?

They hadn't tried to overwhelm them with sheer numbers yet, which meant they couldn't afford to lose as many of their pets at once. They were keeping some in reserve and only deploying them quickly for swift engagements before they returned them. It could be a cost of magical energy with each attack, but that felt like a simple answer.

Perhaps it was akin to a bag.

The more you put into the bag, the heavier it got and the denser it became.

Take stuff out of it, and you would be left with just a bag.

It was only a theory though.

He'd have needed to fight them to try and form any conclusive arguments.

Though even without their pets, the owner was proving to be a rather skilled mage.

It was almost gratifying to see that they weren't just a one-trick pony that relied on using beasts to fight their battles for them. But their firepower individually wasn't comparable with their fighters.

…He was stronger than them, but he wasn't certain he was more durable than them.

Immovable force?

…Did that make him the unstoppable object in the equation?

Well, he'd probably get a second crack at them in the future, this was a good chance to build up some expectations for a fight, to make sure he didn't get caught out in a surprise attack. He could see himself being shocked by some manner of nasty beast, he wouldn't put it past this man to have a creature that held a deadly poison or a potent venom.

Taking in a short breath, he resigned himself to being a member of the audience.

Watching down with a flicker of interest through his eyes.

He really hoped they didn't prove to be boring.

Obsidian flashed through the sky, it howled as it met magenta light, the flames of the dragon burned through the attack, the sweeping roll rippled across the ground.

Rias flicked a hand out, sweeping a whip of darkness up and splitting the wave of fire right down the middle, the ground either side of her was set aflame, the once solid ground turned to molten slag, she pushed off the ground and into the air, the dragon paid little attention to her.

Another resounding echo of the knights attack rang through the air, the beast stumbled as the spear thrust to the head rolled it onto its side, sweeping around on the ground and throwing up a rolling haze of debris and dust.

Her hand swung forth, the barrier held back the worst of the debris from hitting her directly.

She shot downwards in the next moment, skipping along the ground with each step and carrying herself closer and closer to the rest of her peerage, her heart clenched as she briefly caught sight of a wounded Issei with Asia hovering over him, the Bishop trying her clear best to remain conscious-

Debris hurtled towards them, her eyes snapped to it and her hand came up to destroy the large mount of earth-

Koneko slammed into it like a battering ram, the rubble fragmented around the body of the diminutive girl, pushing right the way through and striking the ground like a meteor, their hands pierced the earth and pulled, tearing up a chunk of rock the size of a car above their head, with a grunt the girl flung it forwards and directly onto the dragon.

It broke like sand of the scales of the monster, but it halted its writhing to level a hefty glare-

She unleashed another bolt of Destruction, it speared into the side of the monster's head and burned a hole where its damaged eye was. The monster roared, throwing its head back and falling onto its haunches, standing on its two back legs in a mockery of walking upright, staggering around and anchoring its tail into the ground to keep it upright.

They were making progress, it had her heart leap with a hidden hope that hadn't been there before.

They could do this.

They could actually win-

Lighting crackled around, her hair stood on end.

Rias whipped herself about as a streak of electricity propelled itself through the air at sharp angles right towards her. Too late to do anything else, she swung her arms up in a guard right in front of herself and grit her teeth for the inevitable impact, briefly catching sight of a large bird in the centre of the electrified comet before it pounded into her guard.

Pain rolled through her body in sharp waves, the feeling of burning pushing across her skin ripped a scream from her as she was forced from the sky, her muscles locked up and spasmed without any control from her, yet the attack did not stop there.

The bird pushed forwards, breaking through her guard and hammering directly into her chest, forcing her downwards and into the ground, all while it continued to eject lighting from its body in increasing droves of pain.

It-

A foot crashed into the side of its head, punting the bird away from her and onto the ground, a shadow passed above her before she heard a hefty grunt and then a wet splat.

She breathed in, taking in greedy gulps of air and turning her head to her saviour.

Kaiba loomed over the corpse, leaning on the sword pierced through the body of the beast and using it as a crutch to keep himself upright, her knight was similarly taking in very loud pants as they turned their worried eyes onto her, opening their mouth to say something before closing it again at the sound of trembling earth.

Rias whipped her head past him and towards the dragon, it fell forwards onto the ground but did not completely slither around like a worm. It's single remaining wing folded over and then took over the spot of the arm, the claws at the joint pressed into the dirt and kept itself pressed up as the single remaining eye glared murder at them.

She really hoped Sona knew what she was doing.

Because otherwise, her plan was just going to be attacking the dragon until it eventually died, and with the possible intervention of more beasts at any moment, she wasn't certain they could actually manage that anymore. Maybe, but not certain.

The dragon opened its mouth to roar-

A ball of ice formed right in its mouth, the beast paused and then started to press down, cracks ripped through the giant snowball and threatened to shatter it.

It turned into water before that happened, the water spread across the length of the dragon's face and expanded outwards, soon covering its head like a mask. Bubbles flooded out from the mouth and nostril of the beast, only a second before the mask of water was bound to explode from the sudden change in pressure-

Lighting sparked through the water, she watched the bolts arc through and strike the scales directly. That earned a roar from the dragon, the muffled noise being only a couple seconds long before it tore the mask apart, water splashed over them as the howl of rage echoed across through the night sky.

Rather than doing any damage, it looked more as though they had just made the dragon really angry.

The knight appeared behind its head, spear pulled back like a club and then swung down. She heard the crack of the scales, watched the shattered remains of the armour on the head of the dragon fly off into the distance as the head was abruptly slammed down into the floor, cutting off the roar with a sharp hacking noise.

Rias shot to her feet, mustering up her strength and forming the magical circle in front of herself once more. Gritting her teeth as she poured every ounce of power she had left into that single attack. Her eyes shot up, meeting that of the knight whom gave her a single nod of the head.

They pressed off the dragon, driving the head further into the ground and shooting up into the sky and out of range.

She released her hold on the power of destruction, in the same moment the dragon pulled its head free of the ground.

It struck dead on, the beast jerked with the attack and snarled as it scored a rather ugly mark across the side of its head, tearing clean through the left side and right the way through, it was an attack that took everything she had. When the dust cleared, the dragon hobbled forwards on its stump.

The left side of its face was burned and gored, missing a good chunk of the flesh and showing the fragmented bone of its skull. It was a rather viscerally sickening image but for Rias, it was more than that. It was the first real hit that she had actually been able to land on the dragon that did something.

She felt her lips pull up, meeting the dragon with a rather triumphant smirk.

The best part was that it clearly understood her, the single eye burned.

A blur shot past her, the blue haired exorcist who wielded a rather oversized Holy Sword.

They pushed off the ground with a crunch and threw their entire body at the dragon with the sword held aloft. Rias took a single second to come to terms with the utterly insane thing that they had done, if only because the dragon could actually see them-

A whip of steel coiled around the right horn of the dragon and pulled, the light tug jerked it slightly in the direction of the movement. Rias turned her eyes down to see that it was the other Exorcist, the one with the shape changing Excalibur, pulling the reins with her own waist being gripped by Koneko and Tsubasa, the trio pulling with all their might.

Water splashed across the throat of the dragon coiling tight like a noose and joining the fray.

For a single moment, the dragon stumbled as it had little way to brace itself, that single moment allowed the Exorcist to slam into it.

Thrusting the sword through bone.

A roar split through the air which had her instinctive cover her ears, feeling the power behind the agonised yell in her very bones.

A flash of light, then an explosion.

The dragon fell to the side, now the entire left side of its head was nothing but a smoking ruin and Rias was more horrified to learn that even after all that, it was still alive, sweeping itself to the side and throwing the Exorcist from its head, at the same time swinging itself around and hurling the other three from the ground and shooting them through the air.

Purple glowed in the back of its ruined throat, the mana shifted in the air once more as it pulled its head back-

A single shout cut through the air, a desperate yell from Sona.

"Now, Tsubaki!"

Ah.

So that was why.

It made a great deal more sense now.

On cue, the Devil in question flung herself right in front of the dragon and swept her arms out, drawing the pattern through the air and holding it out. Light shimmered before the bespectacled girl, shifting into a decorative rectangle with a single reflective pane directly in the centre of it, the oval stretching from the base to the top.

The dragon swung its head forwards, fire burst from its maw like a jet.

Like a howling storm, it struck the mirror of Shinra-san, Rias saw the girl struggle and flinch as she held back the full weight of the dragon's attack, the flames arriving seemingly without an end to them, all while the heat clearly took its toll on the girl.

Then the fires cut short, for only a split second.

Perhaps the dragon was confused as to what happened, but it would never get the answer.

The mirror in the hands of the Devil screamed back, twice as loud as the flames surged directly into the attack and bathed the dragon in its own magenta flames. The scream broke the ground itself, the dragon pressed off the ground and flung itself into the air to escape its own fires.

But it was useless, with only a single wing and moved by desperation, it achieved nothing more than throwing itself to the ground and exposing its underside to the torrent of fires.

The screaming fell silent before the flames ceased their attack.

Rias felt her heart start beating again, the smile that bubbled on her lips was one of desperate relief as she realised what they had done.

They'd killed it.

They-

She froze at the loud hiss from behind her, the churning of the earth.

Her head rotated like a poorly oiled machine and her eyes climbed up.

The shadow stretched upwards, half a dozen eyes peered down at her, gnarly serpentine heads with purple oily liquid dripped from their fangs, its body splitting apart at the necks. The many necks, each one stretching for perhaps half a dozen metres before ending in the rounded skulls.

Rias felt her heart plummet.

The hydra started down at her, then released another wet hissing sound.

Smog of ugly purple poured forth from each panting breath, she knew what it would be.

A toxin that was so potent that not even Gods were immune to its pain.

…It was stronger than the dragon.

That…that was just cheating.

Kiba pushed himself forwards as fast as his legs could carry him.

He was in front of his King before he could even blink, surprising himself with the sudden burst of speed, but even then, he watched the heads of the hydra coil themselves backwards, saw their fangs glisten with venom and their breath pour from their mouths as a dense smog of toxin.

There was little else he could think of in that one moment.

This was probably the last of his strength.

Even if it wasn't, even if he had been fresh…

It was a Hydra.

Honestly, this was just absurd at this point.

He didn't know how long they had left until their reinforcements arrived, he didn't know what else was happening or where everyone was. Right now, it was just himself and his King, sure that the others would probably be on their way right now-

Movement in the corner of his eyes stopped that thought dead in its tracks.

They burst forwards like a tidal wave, dozens-no…

Hundreds.

Hundreds of monsters of varying sizes and shapes poured forth from a river of black oil and fell upon the Devils within that single moment, obscuring them entirely from his field of vision amidst a shower of body parts and cries of alarm, flashes of light and the sounds of battle roared next upon his ears.

Kiba stared, blankly, at the sight of what might very well have been everyone he knew dying in the most horrific ways possible.

A breath escaped him.

He turned his head back to the hydra and stared up at him, keeping his expression even before he let out a humourless snort. Twice in as many minutes he was being faced with certain death, though he wondered if it would be too much to hope for a second Deus Ex Machina this time around.

…Yeah, he figured that was the case.

Raising his arms, he held the cracked sword up, assuming his stance and taking in one final breath.

His arms trembled, his muscles burned and protested even the slightest action, the dark spots in his eyes grew denser and denser. Really, the idea of dropping to the ground and just falling asleep was the most appealing thing to him right now.

That notion was stomped down ruthlessly, his eyes snapped wide and he pushed off the ground.

He didn't need his hearing to know that his King was shouting out his name in a mixture of shock and horror. She was probably about to watch him die as well.

Honestly, that was probably really cruel of him.

Here he was again, doing his own thing without ever really thinking about how it would affect others.

What an incorrigible person he was.

Well…maybe if he survived, but he didn't thing that-

The head surged forwards, mouths open and poison billowing from their throats.

Something gripped him and pulled him back, Kiba watched as the world passed him in slow motion, the flutter of white and silver, the flowing platinum hair as the knight - as Bedivere - accelerated past him, the spear in their hand pulled back and then hurled forwards like a missile.

It struck one of the heads centre on, passing clean through it and out the back, goring a hole through the body.

Yet Bedivere didn't pause their charge for a single moment.

Their right arm, their throwing arm, started to glow.

It was Holy Light, there was no doubt about it, the sort of thing that he should have been utterly reviled by. It was the most toxic thing for a Devil to be stood before and yet…

And yet…

The glowing arm was utterly captivating, the fingers clenched into a fist as the knight jerked themselves to a halt.

Swinging their entire body into the haymaker, light peeled from the arm and for a brief moment, it looked like a shining meteor had grown from their body.

But more than that, he felt something…

Something about that arm…

…It was really beautiful.

His unblinking eyes remained on it, flakes of the golden light peeled away and fluttered towards him, the embers pressed into his body. It was something that really should have been utterly agonising to him.

…But he felt nothing.

His eyes remained on that arm as it swung forth.

…No wonder everyone had been so obsessed with it, that glow was really-

"Ex-"

The words passed through the lips of the knight, quiet as a whisper but as loud as a shout.

Kiba knew what they were going to say.

He knew in his heart it should have been disgusting, he should have been reviled beyond words in the presence of it.

But in that light…he could have sworn he saw their smiling faces, for only a fraction of a second.

"-calibur!"

The fist slammed into the closest head of the hydra, light burned his eyes and forced them shut, turning his gaze away. But he heard it, the howl of an explosion and the scent of something burning. The shockwave came next, slamming into his body and driving the air right from his lungs.

Kiba twisted through the air without control, he wasn't sure how long he flew for, it might have been a single heartbeat or it might have been seconds. It didn't matter, all that mattered was that when the impact came, it hurt.

His body struck the ground with a hefty thud and rolled for some time, only when he opened his eyes did he find himself aware of where he was, the dust raining around him and the falling rubble. A cough escaped him, pressing down on the ground to rise up, only to slump back down.

Yeah.

He figured he'd be out of strength.

…But what about-?

His thoughts ground to a halt.

His eyes remained fixed on the hydra…or what remained of it.

From the top down, it had been completely obliterated, the light had burned clean through the base of its necks and right through the body itself, a trench carved right through flesh and then cauterised. The remains slumped to the ground with a splat, chunks of burnt reptile splashed against the ground.

Kiba blinked twice.

That was-

His eyes snapped onto something else.

Bedivere staggered backwards, their right side steaming as their expression warped with pain, stumbling for a moment before dropping to their knees. He saw the sweat on their brow hiss and bubble, the glow of their arm more like hot steel pressing against their skin.

There was no doubt in his mind that the attack the knight used was self-harming.

The proof was right there.

And yet…why would they…?

Shakily, the Knight pushed off the ground and clambered back to their feet, the glow of their arm still hissing away. The smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air, growing closer as the knight shambled towards him with struggling steps, their eyes flickered to something else before pausing.

They exhaled, turning their body and holding up their right arm.

He heard their hiss of pain.

The spear slammed into their waiting palm with a metallic thud, twisting the spear and thrusting it forwards, clean through the head of some wolf he hadn't even seen coming and tossing it aside.

Abruptly, the knight stopped and whipped their head towards the sky.

Kiba blinked, then followed their gaze-

He froze.

Her body rolled over the top of the next attacker, her arm swung down and clasped the top of its jaw and pulled, yanking it free and tossing it aside in the same movement, the pseudo-projectile obliterating some manner of dog that just happened to be in the way of the attack, she wasn't paying too much attention to anything else.

Not even the release of such explosive levels of Holy energy.

Because her preparations were all set.

Sliding to a halt, she clapped her hands together and brought silence to her mind.

Everything focused, her eyes closed and she took in a single breath.

"Hmph?"

A curious hum from the pale faced man, her eyes opened slightly as she beheld their expression. She could see them gathering their forces once more, preparing for another attack.

"What is this? Another spell you're deploying." They sounded disinterested, no, it sounded as though they were merely trying to humour her.

That was fortunate, they were clearly an individual who was overconfident in their abilities.

There was reason to be, their toughness was rather frightening.

But it wasn't matched by their power, or she supposed this would have gone an entirely different way by now. Or if she had been alone, then she would have likely been defeated. In this instant, the Devils and Traitors had made for very worthwhile distractions for her.

"Or is this some manner of trump card you have been saving up? I'm impressed by your confidence." Their arms fell to their side, their expression turned blank and if there had been amusement, it was long since gone.

"However, to think that a mere church dog would try to stand against me with such unwavering confidence…it is rather annoying." Their eyes narrowed. "No. A mere human thinks themselves able to harm me? Blind faith has awarded you much, unable to even see the dead figure who no longer pulls your strings."

She ignored their lies, of all the things they could have said, claiming that the Lord had perished was so amusing it wasn't even worth a laugh.

"You could call it a trump card." Ignoring their remark, she responded. "The disadvantage is that it takes time to set up. But…" her lips pulled up into the tiniest of smiles. "I'm lucky that you're the sort who plays around with their food. You really don't have much of a mind for tactics at all, do you?"

A flash of annoyance flickered across the face of the man, their arm swung forwards and the hordes obeyed their master.

But it was much too late for that.

She saw the exact moment they sensed something was amiss, their eyes swung up to the skies-

It had taken longer than she planned, but it was prepared.

It hovered in the air as a ring of light, twinkling brighter than any start in the sky and forming a perfect circle.

But it wasn't.

When they first taught her about it, she'd been more than a little puzzled as to why, but they said it would be useful.

She wondered if this is what they had in mind at the time?

If that was the case-

"Wh-at?"

Their flabbergasted face is almost funny, but she doesn't waste the time to laugh.

Seventy-Two mirrors hover in the light of the moon, they had been drinking in the reflected gaze of the sun for several minutes now. Bouncing that light between each reflection with greater intensity, each one magnified the power a dozen times over.

And it was reflected seventy-two times.

Her hands parted, her mind focused as the light between the points intensified, unified under a single string which completed the circle. It burned like a cage around the moon, trapping the rays of the night sky into a single point, the target being directly beneath it.

They stepped to avoid it, but they would be much too slow now.

There was no chance of escape for them.

The beasts shattered into muck, flowing right into the body of the man as the words passed through her lips.

"Calvaria Galgalim."

The light collapsed inwards, forming a single ray which accelerated from the heavens to the ground in a single moment.

Reacting to it would have been impossible for anything other than the fastest of Gods.

It wasn't that it was a boast, it was merely that the attack was light itself.

Within a single span of time, the heat of the attack had turned the ground where the target stood into a river of orange, a reservoir of white hot magma spread out within the next, bathing everything in a burning heat, the ground caught aflame and the bricks turned back into sludge.

The leaves of the trees were set aflame, the air itself became ash.

Yet the shockwave produced ensured that there was no chance of it clouding her sight, she watched the silhouette disappear under the spear of pure light, kept her eyes narrowed as the attack stretched on from second to second, without even offering a single moment of respite.

Vaguely paying attention to the Knight of the Lucifer streaking past as a ball of flames, right above her head and towards somewhere else. Perhaps it was an effort to try and save their fellow Devils?

Not that she cared, if anything it was something of a boon.

Her eyes narrowed, the attack faded away.

Ten seconds, it had lasted for ten seconds.

In that single rush of time, there was no battlefield, there was only a mass of boiling hot stone and liquified rubble.

The crackle of flames in the distance was accompanied by the groaning of trees and the snap of wood.

Her brows pinched, the light dissipated fully.

…They were still there.

It wasn't that they were uninjured, but the fact they were still alive was…concerning.

One side of their body was charred black, having pulled themselves over to cover their body as best they could. They moved, the burnt sections of their body halted for a moment and then broke apart, shattering like dust as fresh skin and bone wove itself in place of where the previous damage had been dealt.

They were breathing heavily now.

In and out.

In and out.

Their eyes fixed themselves upon her, the snarl of aggression plain for her to see.

Her stance adjusted, her arms came up, assuming a basic stance and staring at them.

Hiding her alarm was difficult, because that was her strongest attack.

It should have been able to cause some serious damage to them, it would have certainly killed any Devil that had been standing underneath it, the aura of Holy Light should have turned this creature into nothing but dust.

How were they still alive-?

"An impressive attack." They remarked, dusting down their coat with a flick of the wrist, their expression shifting into amusement. "Though it is only further proof of what I have long since deduced. Surely you should be aware of it? The invoking of a miracle such as that blow would have harmed even one of the Satans...Even I should have suffered greater harm than some mere burns."

She flattened her features. "You would still perpetuate that lie?"

"Lie? The evidence stands before you even now." They explained with a wave of the hand, then paused and exhaled. "But I lifted the confirmation from the mind of Kokabiel himself, your quarry was a rather bountiful meal when it came to magical energy and information."

A beat, they leaned their head back and raised a brow. "That is why I know with absolute confidence that God is, in fact, dead. That Sacred Gear the heretical nun wields, Twilight Healing, yes?"

A chuckle. "But I did not need even that, for when I consumed the host of the Vritra Gear, I shattered the barrier containing the fragment of the dragon's soul, incorporating it into my very being. Do you not see? If God were alive, then not even I could have performed such a feat."

She scoffed but said nothing, entertaining such pointless claims was beneath her.

"What drivel do you spout, monster?"

The shout came from the direction her allies, Xenovia used Durandal as a mere-

Durandal?

Why was she wielding Durandal? What happened to the Excalibur she was supposed to have been wielding instead? She had sensed the sudden influx of holy energy but to think that she had actually brought forth Durandal of all things…

"Should it not be obvious? God is dead and has clearly been dead for some time…I would assume the end of the Great War marked the death of not just Lucifer and his Satans."

Another dismissive wave of the hand, they brought their arms about and folded them behind their back.

"That's-!" A half gasp from the Heretical Witch, the small blonde looked on in horror.

Further proof of how far she had fallen if she actually believed this things feeble lies.

"Twilight Healing being used by a Devil? That was not its intended purpose. An aberration occurs because of the lack of direction in the system itself. The weakness you displayed in that miracle? It should have forced me to retreat but did nothing more than delay me."

Bringing an arm about, he raised a single finger. "The question is not 'Is God dead?' because the answer is obvious. The question is 'why has he not returned?'"

Their expression shifted, a touch of a cruel sneer. "The answer means nothing to me. But holds more weight for you, as I intend to make you a single offer before we continue. This has proven to be a far more wasteful venture than I intended. Grant me the Red Dragon Emperor and I will depart without further hassle."

Lowering their hand, they tilted their head. "It is a mutually beneficial deal. You remain alive to fight another day and I-"

"You may hold your tongue." She spat back at them before they could finish. "Leaving such a Sacred Gear in the hands of Devils disgusts me, but putting it into the possession of an abomination such as yourself would be a much greater stain."

"...I see."

Their voice didn't waver, it sounded neither disappointed nor excited.

As though this was just a chore for them.

It was a bit of a chore for her as well.

"In that case-"

Their body went tense, she watched the black tar that was their skin rippled and expanded, bubbling beneath their coat as the early traces of bone and limb pushed through. Sharpanded appendages, claws and wings, all manner of limbs from varying creatures.

She prepared herself for the next assault-

…

A blink.

That was all it took.

Then half the face of the man was missing, a streak of darkness shot down from the sky and claimed half their head. The body stumbled backwards, now bereft of balance, as the obsidian light swung down, burning through the limb and claiming the entire right side of their body with its gaze.

But the man was still standing, the damage recovered in mere seconds and without any evidence they had been harmed at all.

Blades of ice formed around the man, then their body burst into a brilliant display of fluorescent blue, the ice swung inwards and smashed into their body like as many hammers on an anvil, the monsters were crushed to pulp before they could even get out of the body, soon they vanished amidst a storm of explosions and darkness.

Two figures dropped from the sky.

Her stomach tied itself in knots as she stared at the pair of them, there was no denying the identity of either of them.

Striking red hair on one and an outfit utterly ridiculous upon the other.

The current Lucifer and Leviathan.

Saved by these things…how embarrassing.

…She could already imagine the comments from Narbeck about how much of a disaster this mission had been.

This was problematic, his body was withstanding the damage but they were attacking him with more and more power.

He couldn't get any of his beasts out before they died.

His arms came up, light burned across them and into his eyes, a hiss escaped him as the forced stumbled him backwards, struggling to catch himself-

A grip found its way onto his arm.

His eyes swung onto it and then widened.

Sirzechs Lucifer stared down at him with an utterly blank look.

A tugging sensation and then nothing, Fabro stumbled forwards and then blinked as he stared at the item in the hands of the Lucifer.

It was an arm.

Darkened skin with a texture of tar or wet rubber, he glanced down and stared at his own numb limb, which was now absent, having only a moment to come to terms with what happened before he saw a flash of movement.

In the next second, the entire left side of his face went dark, his single remaining eye tracked the fist passing right in front of him, coated in the Power of Destruction.

A blur moved before him, Levithan swung her toy into his gut and in the next moment he found himself moving higher and higher into the sky without warning.

The damage was regenerated quickly, but he knew this situation was untenable.

His single chance to get the Red Dragon Emperor while they were weak had long since been and gone, at this rate he was going to have to retreat if he hoped to conserve enough magical energy to avoid being forced into a problematic situation. It wasn't what he had hoped for, it was the worst case scenario.

But it was something he could wait for.

He had time-

A flair of his instincts, his back split open as beasts surged forth towards the sudden presence behind him.

Catching only a flash of silver before an armoured fist smashed into the front of his face and snapped his head backwards.

A blink.

Who was-

They appeared in front of him, reflective steel armour and fluorescent blue wings stretching from their back, piercing jewelled eyes stared down at him as the impossible emerged in front of him. There was no doubt who this was, but there was no reason for them to have been here of all places.

They moved faster than he could register, pounding a fist into his face and propelling him back towards the ground.

Though it was not nearly enough, they battered their shoulder into his gut and forced him down faster and faster, moving as nothing more than a comet. He felt his back strike the ground with a crunch, the impact reverberating through his body as his attacker rose up onto their feet above him.

"So you really are durable, huh? Interesting. I wonder how far that can be pushed."

His chest exploded, the serpent battered his attacker away and granted him enough time to return to his feet-

An orb of darkness punched clean through his gut, staggering him backwards and earning a cough of pain from him. He grimaced as he felt his flesh knit the wound closed, snapping his eyes up and seeing another orb already forming in the fists of the Lucifer-

Light burned behind him, he turned and was met by a silver fist to the face, the holy aura of the punch burned across his body with a wince, stumbling backwards only to be met with a blow to the back of the head, his face smashed into the ground with a grunt. Everything poured outwards-

The air turned to ice.

His body locked up at the frozen tomb that now surrounded him.

Flexing everything, he shattered the prison and brought his head up-

Another punch to the face, he couldn't see who it had been from, his beasts lashed out in response only to be cut down by something, the others that reacted were burned away before he could get them very far, by the time his eyes opened he was being met with a sword to the face from the knight of Lucifer.

It shattered over his forehead, he slammed his own punch into the Devil and jerked them away from him.

This was bad.

He needed to get away.

There was only one thing for it.

His hands flexed outwards, mana channelled around him and formed a barrier around him-

It shattered in the next moment, but that was all the time he needed.

The teleportation spell was already in effect, the fist which had broken the barrier and accelerated towards his face passed through nothing but empty air.

His expression twitched.

The only visible evidence of his frustration.

Reigning himself back, he dismissed the power of destruction from his hand and brought it back down to his side. Taking in a breath before exhaling in an effort to calm himself down. He wasn't sure how well it was working, but he considered the lack of destruction going on around him to be proof of it.

"He ran away?"

Turning an eye to the speaker, he watched Serafall grit her teeth in frustration and flex her grip on her magic wand.

Her twitching eye was followed by her pointing to the spot where the man had teleported away from and stomping her foot. "Coward! He should have stayed and taken his punishment for daring to hurt my precious So-tan!"

Yes, well.

He could empathise with that.

Though…

He'd planned for every one of his blows to be a kill shot, yet they managed to survive each one of them.

Their durability was nothing to scoff about.

That being said.

His eyes turned to the unexpected visitor, raising a brow at them, he cleared his throat. "This is a surprise. To what do we owe the sudden appearance of the White Dragon Emperor?"

The armoured figure remained silent, then folded their arms over their chest and shrugged their shoulders. Their voice echoed out a moment later. "I just happened to be nearby and saw something interesting. Don't read too much into this, just flexing my strength against a punching bag."

He adopted a thin smile. "And does this relate to the current Pawn in Rias Gremory's peerage?"

Silence, then a grunt. "Surprisingly, no. I was here on my own business, no relation to that guy. Really, they just happened to be there."

Sirzechs wasn't totally convinced by that, he suspected they were still interested in the Red Dragon Emperor - it was impossible for them not to be - however, he could believe that they didn't intend to cause them harm at the moment. Or rather, they would doubtless be waiting until the Red Dragon Emperor got to a point where it would be a worthwhile battle.

The difference between these two was startling to behold.

"Well. Not like it matters much now. They ran away. No more reason for me to stick around."

They started to float into the air with those words, their arms still folded over their chest.

"...Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan, though? To think someone who could take blows from you was unknown…I'm a little intrigued now."

A beat.

"Until next time, then."

They turned and accelerated high into the sky, soon moving beyond his ability to sense them.

"...They just happened to be here, huh?"

Serafall remarked in the flattest tone possible, he felt his lips quirk in response to her dry commentary but said nothing. Neither one of them were utterly convinced of that, maybe they weren't here for the Red Dragon Emperor, but they had certainly been here for some reason.

The question was what.

Though…it was a question that could be answered later.

He turned and moved without pause, advancing on his sister and her peerage without breaking eye contact with her. She must have seen the intense worry in his face because her own expression twisted for a moment before she made a visible effort to right herself.

"Lord Lucifer, I-"

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up before she could even get a word out, glomping her in a hug and lifting her off her feet. Acutely aware of her embarrassment at having this done in front of everyone, but he didn't really care much about that sort of thing right now.

All that mattered was that his sister was safe.

"Onii-sama! This is-!"

Ah, yes, now she was trying to pry herself free of him.

It was useless at the moment, she was much too weak for that sort of thing but…that was what stung his heart most of all.

Setting her back to the ground, he stared down at her and looked her over. Littered with cuts and bruises, her hair was a mess and her uniform was nothing more than ribbons. He felt himself burn up with a sudden fury that he hadn't been able to do more damage to the fiend who did this before they made their escape-

"So-tan!"

The horrified wail of Serafall echoed through the air next, Sirzechs inclined his head just in time to see them fling themselves into a hug with their own sister who looked no better than Rias right now, it was clear to him that this had been a hard fought battle.

For all of them.

Closing his eyes, he took in a breath to steady himself, opening them up and turning down to Rias with a softened gaze, keeping his hands on her shoulders and smiling down at her.

"I'm sorry that I arrived so late."

Rias stared back at him for a half second, then her shoulders dropped.

She looked utterly exhausted.

"I think you arrived just in the nick of time, Onii-sama…" She muttered, falling forwards and into his chest. For a moment he was rather panicked, until he pulled her back and saw that she had passed out, likely from pushing herself much too hard.

"Lord Sirzechs, I-"

"Vlov." He turned to his knight, then offered them a thin smile. "Thank you for keeping her safe in my stead. Truly…"

They stared at him, then shook their head from side to side. "No, there is no need to thank me for doing something like that. It would not have been possible for me alone to have achieved this…I am ashamed to say."

Yes.

He was getting that idea.

His eyes hardened, he spared Rias a glance as he looped his arms around her and pulled her up into a carry, much like he had done when she was much smaller. It was amazing that she was still so light for him to hold, almost as though she'd never really grown up in the first place.

Turning his gaze from Vlov, he was met by some rather unexpected faces.

That being of the Burial Agent and the man with platinum blonde hair.

"Peace, please." Calling out to the knight, he did his best to assuage their fears. He was not going to do something as savage as try and attack them here and now, nor would he ever think to do so. Even if it turned out they were enemies, they had protected his sister from harm. That was worthy of a favour. "I think that there has been more than enough violence for a single evening…"

His eyes drifted from the knight onto the Burial Agent. "Or would you push the matter further?"

He got a slow shake of the head from the woman.

"Now then…Might I know the name of the man who helped my sister?"

A beat of silence, then a sigh.

The platinum blonde pulled a troubled face. "Since they have already spoken of it, I see no reason to hide my identity further…I am Bedivere, Knight of the Round Table and adjutant to King Arthur."

Sirzechs blinked slowly.

"...You don't happen to mean you're a reincarnation, do you?"

A slow shake of the head from Bedivere. "No."

"...I see."

This was quickly turning into the biggest whiplash of a night that he had ever experienced.