Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.
Chapter 64
—Pocket kingdoms are very peculiar, they have their own rules, and some can simulate the conditions of Nirm, but they are never the same —
Tolfdir to Edzard when he was a student in Winterhold.
BOOOMMMM!
"Run!"
"Let's get out of here!"
The explosion generated by several elemental spells caused several parts of the enemy base to be destroyed, which in turn caused several of the exorcists who were in this place to run away, as they had seen how several of their members were annihilated by those attacks. Those attacks were unleashed by a beautiful woman, with long blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes, whose clothing consisted of standard hooded magician robes. This woman's name was Lavinia Reni, one of the greatest human magicians alive and a member of the Slash Dog team.
"Oh, no, they won't." Lavinia said as she waved her hand and screamed. "Do it!"
After that scream, behind Lavinia's back, a huge three-meter-high doll appeared, which was Lavinia's sacred gear. This one was an independent avatar type, and its name was «Absolute Demise». Upon hearing her master's order, the sacred gear avatar wasted no time and generated a wave of ice, which ended up freezing all the exorcists who were escaping from it.
After seeing the group of living popsicles, Lavinia looked to the side and saw her two teammates, who were killing all the enemies that were left alive. Although the team had more members, the rest were checking the rest of the base, while they had headed to take down the leaders of this base. The team had been sent to Mexico to deal with the enemy base that was located here, meanwhile, the Youkai had been sent to Lebanon, the Saints Brave had been sent to Peru, the Valkyries had been sent to Russia and finally, the two Members of Lucifer's nobility were sent to the last enemy base.
"Looks like we're done." Said a male voice which came from Lavinia's right side.
Hearing the voice approaching her, Aika's teacher looked that way and smiled when she saw her teammate. The person speaking to her was a young man in his twenties, whose name was Tobio Ikuse. The young man's appearance was currently that of his balance breaker, called "Night Celestial Slash Dogs", which was the balance breaker of the sacred gear called "Canis Lykaon". This balance breaker gave Tobio the appearance of a humanoid covered in darkness with six tails, while next to him was a large hound, said hound was the avatar of the sacred gear, whom Tobio had named Jin.
"Yes, Tobi, and I see that the rest do too."
"Yes, the truth is it wasn't very complicated, but we have realized that the girl is not here." Tobio said as he deactivated his balance breaker, causing the shadows to retract and show Tobio's true appearance. Tobio's appearance was that of a handsome young man with short black hair and pale gray eyes. His clothing consisted of a black combat suit along with a black coat. Beside Tobio, Jin also stopped being covered by shadows, allowing the sacred gear avatar to return to the way people normally saw it, which was a large black dog with red eyes.
"You sound worried." Said a new voice which belonged to a woman.
The two members of the Slash dog team, or as Edzard called them in a friendly way, the wet dog team, looked towards the source of the voice and saw their other teammate. The owner of the voice was called Shigune Nanadaru, and she was a member of the Slash Dog team. Shigune's appearance is that of a beautiful biracial young woman of Japanese and European descent, she has long blonde hair that is tied with ribbons and tied in a braid that looks a lot like a crown, her eyes are heterochromatic with a blue right eye and a black left eye. The young woman was wearing a black battle uniform.
"I am, you haven't seen the father of the kidnapped girl." Tobio said as he looked at his friend. "He's nice as long as he's in a good mood, but I've never seen him let his guard down even in the meetings he has with Azazel, who is supposed to be his friend."
Tobio's words made the woman surprised, as it revealed that the boy did not seem to feel comfortable with the fallen leader or at least he did not consider their meetings a safe place.
"That's…" Shigune began to comment, only to be interrupted by Lavinia, who said a few words.
"Disturbing?"
"I would say, strange, but understandable."
"Really why?" Lavinia asked.
"We're talking about Azazel; you never know when that fallen one will do something crazy." Tobio responded with an awkward smile, remembering how in some cases Grigori members ended up being unwilling test subjects in some of Azazel's non-lethal experiments.
"If we look at it that way, yes, it's more than obvious because the boy would never let his guard down around Azazel." Shigune commented with a smile.
That smile made Tobio and Lavinia smile for a few moments, and then gave way to serious faces.
"How do you think the other groups are doing?" Tobio asked.
"I guess the same as us." Shigune responded quickly. "Just like us, the members of the other sent groups are not weak, they are very strong."
"That's right." Said Lavinia, who began to walk around the place, aiming at the table where the exorcists had been before. When she stood in front of the table, she touched the edge and frowned when she saw something inscribed there.
"Lavinia?" Shigune asked, seeing her friend frowning.
"It already seemed so strange to me that we can't communicate with anyone. This place is protected by not one, but five largest security barriers, not only to prevent external teleportation, but also has other types of security such as avoiding communication with unauthorized magic circles."
"That doesn't sound anything out of the ordinary for enemy bases we've been to in the past." Tobio began as he walked towards the table.
"That would be true, but there is something else in these magic circles." Lavinia commented, who began to examine the magic circle. And the more she did it, the more she realized what was behind those circles. Although that was surprising, it was seeing who the person behind those circles that was left her completely amazed.
"What's wrong Lavinia?" Tobio asked, seeing her friend's normally cheerful face turn sour as if she had sucked on a bad lemon.
"This magic circle has been created by Walburga." Lavinia responded, leaving the other two members of the Slash Dog team in shock.
"A-are you sure?" Shigune asked once she came out of shock.
"Yes, I would recognize the style of magic that has been used to form this anywhere."
"We have to quickly notify the other groups, maybe that crazy woman is in one of the bases." Tobio said as he looked at his friends.
"Yes, we must leave this place immediately to report to the central base." Shigune said seriously as she began to leave the place.
"Yes, Ok." Tobio and Lavinia responded as they left the place, followed closely by Jin.
The wind blew, causing the hair of all of Vali's team members outside the cave that was their temporary hideout to sway. The eyes of all the members looked at each other, causing the atmosphere to become a little tense. However, fortunately for everyone, that atmosphere changed quickly when Vali answered the question that the Lilmothiit had asked.
"As you see, we are being attacked by some third-rate magicians."
"Yes, I see that... but why?"
"We do not know." Arthur replied, approaching Zakir. "We had planned to capture one of the enemies to get information about the attack."
"I see... I guess that won't be possible now..." Zakir commented with some... Pity? In his tone of voice.
The way the humanoid fox spoke caused those who heard him to feel confused, since it was not at all normal for him to apologize.
"...Zakir...has...apologized?" asked Kuroka, who, out of surprise at having heard the hero of the war of the three banners apologize, did not use her iconic verbal tic.
"That... That seems..." said Bikou, who in surprise had dropped his cane to the ground, while his eyes widened.
The reactions of the other two members of Vali's team were just to look in surprise at Zakir, who began to get angry at how they looked at him.
"If you continue to look at me like that, I will send your minds to a hell of pain so great that it will make your nightmares the most beautiful dreams you have ever had in your entire life."
Zakir's new words caused everyone to blink and tremble slightly, as they knew that the Lilmothiit could carry out its threats, so not wanting to know if he could accomplish that, each of them stopped thinking about the way he had previously spoken. Fortunately, for them, before anyone could speak again, the ground shook and the sky lit up again, drawing all their attention.
Those present in that place raised their heads and looked at the sky, seeing how a new magical circle appeared. From that circle several small circles appeared, from which several hooded figures appeared, which were obviously magicians from Nilhrem.
"It looks like things are about to get better." Zakir said, placing a bestial smile on his face while two swords appeared in his hands. "I hope you can keep up with me, brats."
Zakir's words were more of a challenge than an insult, so when the members of Vali's team understood the meaning of these, they quickly smiled as they prepared for the battle they would have, a battle that did not seem complicated at all.
"Let us begin." Zakir said as he flexed his legs slightly, then gave a powerful jump.
The rest of Vali's team members made their own moves, those who could take flight and those who couldn't, just staying on the ground, biding their time to attack any enemy that was stupid enough to dare to get low enough to enter their attack ranges.
Gorou and Miki Hyoudou's eyes slowly began to open, allowing them to have an unfocused view of whatever was happening around them.
"Anatta…" Miki said when her vision returned to normal and she could see her husband, who was leaning on a wall next to her.
Issei's father did not immediately respond to his wife's words, but first he put his hand to his head and gave himself a small massage there, as he felt like his head would explode at any moment. The pain he felt was like what anyone with a hangover would feel after several hours of uncontrolled drinking. However, Issei's father knew that he hadn't been drinking any alcohol, since he had gone to buy some groceries for the house when those guys showed up. After remembering the subjects who intercepted them when they were leaving the convenience store, Gorou quickly felt worried for his wife, so, in a panic, he began to look around and nodded that the soul returned to his body when the saw, sitting there next to him. His wife's eyes were focused on him, showing great concern.
"Are you okay, honey?" Gorou asked as he approached his wife.
"Yes, and you?"
"Also, I just have a slight pain in my head." Gorou replied as he rubbed the sore spot. "Do you know where we are?"
"No, the only thing I remember was those hooded guys who attacked us when we left the store."
"Me too-" the words that Gorou was about to say died in his throat when he looked at the sky and saw in amazement how there seemed to be a kind of blue whirlpool above his head.
Issei's father's eyes widened in total shock, causing his wife to worry and end up looking at the same place as him. The moment Miki looked towards that place, she was also amazed, because she also saw that whirlpool.
The minds of both humans were in complete shock because they did not understand what was happening. At first, they thought it was an illusion, so they quickly shook their heads, but to their total surprise, that image did not fade.
"A-a-anata... What? What is happening here?" Miki asked as she looked at that whirlpool in terror, but her fear grew even more when she looked ahead and realized that they were on a kind of platform, which had the same shape as the floors of the medieval castles, but that was not what was surprising, what was surprising was that there were no walls, but that place expanded as far as the eye could see.
"I-I don't... I know..." Gorou replied as he looked at the place with as much panic as his wife. However, before the panic he was feeling increased, a peculiar sound reached his ears. Raising his head, he recognized that sound as the sound that some street fights made.
"What's going on?" Miki asked as she looked towards the possible place of origin of those sounds.
"I don't know, but from the sound it's more than obvious that there's a street fight going on over there." Gorou replied as he slowly stood up. When he was standing, he extended a hand to his wife. "I don't know what's going on, but if I remember correctly in all action movies, it's never good to stay in one place. We must find a way out of this place."
Hearing her husband's words, Miki nodded and taking the offered hand, she stood up from where she was sitting. As she stood, she put on a smile and looking at her husband she smiled at him before speaking. "Come on."
Hearing his wife's words, Gorou nodded and without wasting time began to walk around the place, following the sound that came. For their good, or rather bad luck, they quickly arrived at the source of the sound and what they saw there destroyed what they thought about his son, but not only about him, but also about his friends. This was because the sounds of the fight were from a combat where several subjects were engaged, who were throwing fireballs from their hands, lightning bolts, and ice spikes at Edzard, which dodged all the attacks in a way that was more than surprising to the mortal eyes of Issei's parents.
"What's going on...?" Miki asked as she watched in horror as Edzard used a sword to stop the attacks of three subjects, who used somewhat translucent purple dark-looking swords.
"I don't know-" the Hyoudou patriarch's words died in his mouth as he looked to the side and looked at his son, who was wearing a crimson gauntlet with gold details on his left hand, which had a green gem in the center of the dorsal side of the gauntlet.
When they saw their son, they realized that he was not alone, but that there were all the women who used to be with him, but in the distance, they could also see something, they saw that Xenovia and Irina were carrying two small bodies in their arms.
Seeing that, a part of them, which did not understand what was happening, began to make their minds start to think about what could be happening, but before they do anything, the entire place shook when the spells of Edzard and his enemies collided, causing a large explosion, which reached the barrier, causing the place inside it to shake, but to the fortune and unknown of those who were inside the barrier, this had managed to suppress much of the power of the explosion. However, the movement was still able to cause Issei's parents to trip and fall to the ground, causing Issei's mother to let out a small scream, which caught the attention of the ORC.
Issei and the rest of the ORC were staring at the battle that was taking place in front of their eyes, watching in total amazement as it happened in a very different way than they imagined, because to their total surprise, they could see the battle clearly, something they did not understand, since it was more than obvious that both Edzard and the "exorcists" were fighting using a great amount of physical skill.
"What's going on?" Issei asked in amazement, because he did not understand how he could see the course of the battle so clearly.
"I-I-I don't know…" responded quickly and simply Rias, who, although she was very knowledgeable about the supernatural world, did not know what was happening. After those words, she turned her head and looked at her servants and Irina. The ORC members saw that Rias was looking at them and understood what she wanted to know, so being in the same state as her, they gave a negative response, which caused Rias to sigh.
However, even though everyone had given a negative answer to Rias' question, Ravel was intensely watching what was happening outside the barrier that kept them isolated from the battle. A part of her was upset at being treated this way, but another was grateful not to struggle for the moment, as something strange was happening outside the barrier.
'The battle takes place abnormally outside this barrier, not only because of the movements, but also because of the power they unleash in their spells.' Thought Ravel, who felt a chill run through her body when she remembered the battle they had had with Edzard's group, because the taste of defeat had left her with a very great desire for revenge, so she asked for the videos of all the battles and had been secretly examining them, trying to find a way to defeat them, in order to challenge them again and this time win. It was the memory of what she had been doing to her after her defeat in that Rating game that she understood or at least she could theorize was happening outside the barrier.
"Other rules…" Ravel said with a low tone of voice, but loud enough to be heard by her friends, who quickly turned their heads and fixed their gaze on her, causing the young devil to startle slightly.
"What did you say, Ravel-chan?" Rais asked, looking at her bishop. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Not entirely, but I have a theory…" Ravel responded with a bit of nervousness.
"Which one?" asked Xenovia, who had Marie in her arms and next to her was Irina, who had Kunou in her arms.
"Everyone knows that our world has its own rules, right?" Ravel asked, causing Rias and Akeno to nod, as they knew about it.
"Rules of the world?" Issei asked with confusion since he had never heard of that. "What's that?"
Issei's question caused Rias to look at him and after remembering that he had never told her about it, she began to explain to him what the rules of the world were. "Ise, the rules of the world are a way of calling the characteristics that a world possesses. In other words, it is a somewhat colloquial way of mentioning the characteristics of a place or plane, such as gravity, type of wind, oxygen content, power capacity that can be deployed and how this manifests itself in that terrain... Did you understand?"
"A little, but I don't understand what that has to do with the battle that's happening behind the barrier."
"Issei-sama." Ravel called, causing Issei and the rest of her friends to look at her. "It seems the environment outside the barrier has changed drastically, that's why we can see them fight, something that from experience we know we cannot do easily, since the power that Edzard-sama possesses is much greater than ours, and from what we can see in his features he is putting in some effort in battle, so he should-"
"He should be faster when moving and his spells should be more powerful." Akeno said, finishing the sentence for Ravel.
"I see..." Issei said, understanding something of what was happening. After those words, the Sekiryuutei was about to say something else, but his words died when the barrier shook, causing a small movement inside, which made the ORC stagger a little.
While they were stabilizing, they heard a scream, which instantly caught their attention.
The scream was from a woman, which caught the attention of those present, who looked towards where the scream originated. When they looked at that place, they saw with amazement how the owner of the scream had been Issei's mother, who had tripped.
"Kaa-san!" Issei shouted as he saw her mother fall to the ground. When the place stopped shaking, he quickly headed towards her, being followed by his friends, who were also worried about what was happening.
When Issei arrived at his mother's side, he saw that she was not injured, which caused Issei and company to let out a sigh, and then make terrified faces when they realized something... Issei's parents had just woken up and it was more than obvious that they had just seen what was happening outside the barrier. So, this fact made the entire ORC begin to feel panicked, since they did not know how to explain what was happening in this place.
"Issei...What's going on?" Miki asked, causing beads of sweat to begin to form on Issei's forehead, and not just his, as Rias was also making her nervous.
"…" Issei's first response was silence, as he didn't know how he would explain to his parents what was happening. In fact, something primal began to emerge in the Sekiryuutei and that was fear, the fear of his parents' rejection since he was now a devil. That feeling made Issei turn pale, something that was noticed by Rias, who upon seeing her beloved pawn in that state quickly decided to take action to save him from this problem.
The Gremory heiress began to move a hand, ready to use magic to put Issei's parents to sleep. The redhead's action was seen by Issei's parents, who looked at her with confusion, but before they could even say anything, their eyelids felt heavy and in less than a second after that feeling, they had fallen into a deep sleep.
The bodies of Miki and Gorou Hyoudou collapsed, but never touched the ground, as they were caught by Issei and Kiba, who had moved quickly to catch them.
"Buchou?" Issei asked as he looked at Rias, waiting for her to answer what she had done with his parents.
"Calm down, Ise. I just slept them." the redhead replied calmly, giving Issei a smile. "We cannot erase their memory in the middle of a battlefield, for that we need to be in a quieter place. When this is over, we will erase their memory of what happened today."
Rias's response made the devil let out a sigh of tranquility, and then looked at his parents. Part of him wanted them to know everything, but part of him didn't... luckily, he still had some time to decide. So, shaking his head, he looked towards the combat that was happening outside the barrier and waited for his friend to end everything soon.
Edzard's eyes moved rapidly, following the movements his enemies made around him in a stupid attempt to confuse him and create openings in his guard, something that was very difficult for many beings, and they were no exception. However, even though his eyes followed the steps of his enemies, Edzard's mind was divided in two at this moment, since he was not only fighting, but he was also analyzing what was happening around him.
'The weight of the weapons, the way my Magicka flows and how the spells behave is very different from how they normally do.' Edzard thought as he crouched and rolled on the ground, thus avoiding the attack of one of his enemies, which had tried to cut him horizontally. The bound sword passed just a few centimeters from the head of the former imperial general, which devilstrated the skill of these subjects with weapons.
While the skill they were displaying was more than worthy of praise, for Edzard it was almost nothing new, since he had arrived at this place he had faced some more than acceptable swordsmen, in fact, he knew that if it weren't for the ability he inherited from his ancestor it would have been a little more difficult for him to adapt to the way they fought on earth. However, to the misfortune of all his enemies, the reflexes that he had inherited from him made him the worst enemy for hand-to-hand fighters.
After dodging the enemy attack, Edzard quickly jumped back up and while in the air, changed his grip on his sword, taking it with a reverse grip. The moment his feet touched the ground again, he quickly jumped and as he did so, he spun on his own axis, causing the sword to move like a small whirlpool, with which he attacked one of the "exorcists". The unorthodox form of the attack he used caused the enemy he was targeting to not react well at all, receiving the attack directly. However, although the attack was direct, it did not manage to penetrate the flesh of its enemy, as it was protected by magical armor.
The moment Edzard's sword hit the flesh, he saw how the Earthling steel blade could not penetrate the magical armor. The sword bounced rather pathetically as it impacted the armor, something that made Edzard frown. The moment that attacks ended, he wasted no time and when he touched the ground again, he jumped back.
"Ha, ha, ha! It seems your pathetic toy can't get through the spells protecting us!" Marcus shouted in amusement as he watched Edzard's attacks miss.
The voice of the "priest" only irritated Edzard more, who, despite wanting to gut them all like a fish, wanted to discover how much offensive capacity these guys had, since it was more than obvious that they were some kind of artificial hybrids between Nirmnians and earthlings.
Edzard's eyes moved in two directions, and he quickly moved the hand with which he used the sword and with a very fluid movement, he raised the sword and with it stopped two attacks from two of his enemies.
'Their speed is good, I'm sure they are at least on par with some well-trained soldiers or mercenaries.' Edzard thought as he used a bit of strength to keep his enemies' struggles at bay. 'The strength they show is not negligible at all, in fact, it is more than obvious that they are using more strength than Aika, but less strength than Asia... although-'
Edzard's thoughts were interrupted when he was forced to swing his sword and jump back, as his remaining enemies began to gather a more than considerable amount of Magicka. So, not wanting to get trapped by struggling with two "exorcists", Edzard quickly lowered his sword in such a way that the butt of the weapon collided with the blades of the enemy's bound swords, causing them to fall to the ground, temporarily disorienting and unbalancing to its bearers.
The moment Edzard was in the air, the "exorcists" cast their spells, which were lightning bolts, which were quickly directed against Edzard, who upon seeing them arrive moved his free hand and created a ward to protect himself.
Edzard's ward received the impact of the spells, managing to stop them easily, but that attack had been more than illuminating for Edzard, who was able to see the level of magical threat that these guys were. So, as he fell to the ground, the former Herald of the Companions took a breath and after that, decided to discard his current weapon, since it was more than obvious that the Earthling steel would do nothing to penetrate the magical armor of his opponents.
Edzard's action of throwing his sword aside caused his enemies, especially Marcus, to look at Edzard with surprise and confusion, as they did not know what was going through the head of the son of Akatosh.
"What are you planning?" Marcus asked in a whisper, narrowing his eyes at the son of Akatosh's actions.
The moment Edzard dropped his regular sword, he summoned a purple portal from which the hilt of a sword emerged. Said hilt was the size of a one-handed sword, being completely simple in design, that is, it was just a simple oak wood hilt covered with strips of black leather. Seeing the handle of his new weapon, Edzard took it and in one completely fluid motion, pulled the weapon out of the portal. The weapon that appeared before the eyes of everyone who could see it was a somewhat strange weapon, as it did not appear to be a normal sword. The dimension of the weapon was about sixty centimeters, having a single-edged blade, which was curved and had the shape of a sickle. The blade that emerged from the hilt was straight for a few centimeters, and then gave way to the curve, which was not very pronounced. The color of the blade was as black as night, indicating that it was a weapon made of ebony.
'This is the first time I've used this weapon since I forged it.' Edzard thought as he looked at the weapon he had made. The weapon itself was a replica of a weapon used in ancient Egypt and whose name was Khopesh. This weapon had been created by Edzard as part of his studies of the weapons of this world, since if there was something that the last Dovahkiin liked it was researching and forging weapons, especially those that posed a challenge to his skills as a blacksmith and until now he had not been able to find many challenges in the different weapons that he had seen in the world of Draconic Deus, but this weapon had been different from others, this weapon had caused him some problems, especially when finding the perfect balance, so he had been forging it for more than three times and this was the final result.
Fluidly swinging his weapon, Edzard took a fighting stance and looking at his enemies, he sighed, letting go of the control of his emotions, with which he had been examining the abilities and potential of his enemies... Now that he had been able to learn everything he could during those small exchanges of blows, Edzard began to let out the anger he had repressed, all the anger he felt at seeing how his two daughters were used as meat shields, the knowledge that his beloved wife and that his lovers had been forced to fight when they should be having a good time thinking about Marie's birthday party. That anger made his body feel completely light, more than normal, so, looking ahead, he waited to take the first step.
The eyes of the "exorcists" were completely fixed on Edzard, looking at him analytically, trying to see any opening, but when they saw none, they looked at each other and charged towards the son of Akatosh, hoping to create an opening so they could defeat him.
The "exorcists" moved quickly, running, and closing the distance that separated them from Edzard. They all moved in a synchronized manner, beginning to move in such a way that they would end up surrounding Edzard, who did not move from his place.
When the "exorcists" managed to surround Edzard, they quickly attacked him with weapons raised, in a clear attempt to kill him. The first to get to within a few meters of Edzard, seeing that he did not move despite his proximity, he moved his weapon quickly, trying to take him by surprise. The movement assigned for this was a simple horizontal swing, which was driven by the speed at which that "exorcist" had moved.
The blade of the bound sword was approaching dangerously close to Edzard's head, but before it managed to impact his flesh, he quickly moved his weapon, stopping the blow in its tracks.
"That was a very weak attack." whispered Edzard, who, after stopping his enemy's attack, quickly moved his Khopesh in such a way that the corner where the curved edge of the blade joined the straight side caught the edge of the enemy's sword, and after a sharp movement, Edzard quickly lowered the enemy weapon, leaving the "exorcist" unprotected. After that movement, Edzard moved his wrist quickly, releasing the enemy weapon from his khopesh, then raised his weapon and launched a powerful downward vertical slash.
Edzard's weapon descended quickly, managing to hit the "exorcist's" right shoulder, but unlike the previous time, this time the edge of Edzard's weapon pierced the enemy's magical armor, managing to reach the flesh. The edge of the khopesh made its way through the enemy's body, cutting everything in its path, tendons, muscle, bone, blood vessels... there was nothing that that edge could not cut, which ended up dividing the "exorcist" into two.
Edzard's action took everyone watching the battle by surprise, as he had killed one of his enemies in less than a second and with a single blow. However, that was not the only thing that would astonish them at that moment, because after the death of that "exorcist", one of his companions sneaked past Edzard and tried to take him by surprise, launching himself with the clear intention of impaling the son of Akatosh on the right side.
"Useless…" whispered Edzard, who had already seen his enemy and moving his left hand, pointed his extended palm towards his attacker. Expressively concentrating all the power, he could, he quickly used a spell, which was called «Immolating Blast». This spell was a master level destruction spell and was essentially what the name said, a huge explosion of fire.
BOOOMMM!
The enormous torrent of flames that emerged from Edzard's hand completely enveloped the "exorcist", but not only that, but it also carried away two other enemies who were behind the "exorcist" who was trying to attack him. The power of the unleashed flames was such that the magical armor they wore could do little to protect them, as the magical fire burned at such a temperature that it burned everything, flesh, skin, and bones, but not only that, but when it exploded at the end, the charred remains of those who had been trapped inside were thrown everywhere.
After casting that spell, Edzard looked to his left and saw how his remaining enemies on that side had become paralyzed with fear, as he had just shown a display of skill that they surely had not expected, since he didn't use those spells much. Seeing his enemies in that state, Edzard wasted no time and stepping aside quickly, he shouted. "WULD!"
Before everyone's eyes, Edzard appeared in front of another of the "exorcists", taking him by surprise, which meant that he could not react when the former imperial general moved his hand towards his face and, using two of his fingers, ended up inserting them into his eye sockets eyepieces. That action of the former Archmage crushed the eyes of the "exorcist", causing him to let out a scream of pain so atrocious that it sent shivers down the spines of those who witnessed said act. However, even though what he had just done was painful for his enemy, Edzard did not stop there, but accumulating magic in that hand, he released a powerful spell of frost, which froze the "exorcist's" face. Finally, after seeing his enemy's head turned into a cube of ice, Edzard crushed it, dropping the corpse unceremoniously to the ground.
The remaining enemies, including Marcus, began to tremble slightly in fear as they watched as Edzard approached them with slow steps, while letting the blade of the Khopesh brush against the ground, generating a high-pitched sound that increased the panic of all who heard it.
"T-t-it's... a monster..." whispered one of the "exorcists" who were left alive as he saw Edzard approaching.
"W-we have to get out of here." said another while he looked everywhere, trying to find a way out of there.
While the "exorcists" began to despair about what was happening, Marcus tried to remain calm, but to no avail. He knew the limit of his abilities and as much as he wanted to deny it, he knew that he was far below what the monster in front of them could do. The mind of the first hybrid created by Mannimarco was racing, which prevented him from seeing how Edzard moved quickly and brutally killed the remaining "exorcists", scattering their entrails and severed bodies around the place.
"I hope you're ready, you son of a bitch." Edzard said, snapping Marcus out of his thoughts.
The moment Marcus heard Edzard's words, he felt his body turn cold, as he realized what had happened. His eyes began to look around the place and he could see what was left of the "exorcists" that had been sent with him. Marcus's stomach lurched when he saw how these had been dismembered, but unlike the first to die, these last ones had not been killed with Edzard's Kopesh, no, rather it seemed that the son of Akatosh used his own hands to tear the body of the exorcists apart.
The brutal scene made the little courage or, rather, made the indoctrination that Mannimarco had given him disappear, causing the innate fear that all races possess to activate, causing him to begin to fear for his life.
"P-please... don't... don't kill me..." Marcus stammered as he took steps back, trying to get away from Edzard, who was slowly approaching him.
Edzard's look was complete anger as he saw how the coward who had dared to make his family suffer begged for his life. There was nothing he hated more than the cowardice of people who dared to harm others for pleasure and when they saw that everything was against them, they began to cry out for mercy to save their skin. The disgust he began to feel was such that he decided not to use the weapon he had in his hand, no, even if the "exorcists" he had killed before had been terrified, none of them begged for his life like this trash did. So, unconjuring his weapon, Edzard began to look around the place, trying to see what he could use to fulfill his promise.
Marcus' psyche seemed to calm down when he saw Edzard discard his weapon, giving him the impression that he could escape from there, so, thinking quickly, Mannimarco's first "successful" experiment launched a fireball directly towards Edzard.
The fireball traveled quickly towards Edzard, who did nothing to try to dodge it, but simply let it hit him, generating an explosion, which covered him completely.
Seeing the explosion his attack had created, Marcus quickly smiled, but he didn't stop there, instead he reached his hand into his pocket, trying to grab the object that could get him out of this place.
'Come on, come on, hurry.' Marcus thought as he desperately searched for whatever would get him out of here. However, he was so concentrated that he did not notice that the fire and smoke from the explosion of his attack were extinguished showing that Edzard was standing there, sporting some injuries as a colorless vortex absorbed what was left of the explosion.
Edzard's eyes were focused on Marcus and seeing that he was desperately searching for something, he knew that the son of a bitch was trying to escape, so wanting to prevent him from doing so and wanting to take him by surprise, he quickly opened his mouth and shouted. "WULD!"
Edzard's shout shook the place, drawing the attention of Marcus, who looked forward, only to see Edzard's hand appear in his field of vision.
Edzard appeared in front of Marcus and taking his enemy's face, restrained him while casting the dispel magic spell at point-blank range, as Marcus had magical armor. The instant Marcus's magical armor was extinguished, Edzard wasted no time and in two quick movements, he delivered two direct blows to his enemy's knees.
Crack! Crack!
The sickening sound of Marcus's knee bones being shattered by the force of Edzard's blow filled the room, only to be accompanied by another sound.
"AHHHHH!"
Marcus' scream of pain was so loud that if he had been outside this pocket dimension, everyone in the fortress would surely have heard it.
Hearing his enemy scream, Edzard began to smile macabrely as he began the second phase of his plan. Gathering Magicka in his hand, he unleashed one of the few mind-magic spells he knew of.
Edzard's hand began to glow pale blue, while tendrils emerged in the form of small tentacles, which began to enter Marcus's head.
"ARGHHHHH!" Marcus began to scream as the tendrils began to enter his head, causing excruciating pain, which began to make his body convulse.
Edzard's grip on Marcus's head remained firm even though the "priest's" body moved non-stop. The cause of the pain Marcus was feeling was the spell Edzard was using. Mind-magic was a very dangerous branch of Nirmnian magic, since if you are not careful you could cause a lot of damage to the target's psyche. Normally Edzard used this magic using great and total control, to reduce the victim's pain, but in this case, he did not want that, no, he wanted to cause harm and suffering to the son of a bitch that he had in his hand. Therefore, he was using mind magic in a very rough manner, which made him literally rape Marcus's mind.
While Marcus's suffering should have calmed the anger he was feeling, the truth was that what he was seeing within the "priest's" memories only served as fuel for what could only be considered a cold, icy rage, which It was beginning to spread throughout his being. The anger increased with each second and with each fragment of memory that he observed, which made him instinctively begin to squeeze Marcus's head harder, thus causing him even more pain.
When he finally finished seeing everything the "priest" knew, Edzard looked at the sky of this pocket dimension, because yes, he had confirmed that this was a pocket dimension, which seemed to imitate in a certain sense of the word the environment of Nirm, but it seemed that it was not complete. After thinking about it, Edzard turned his gaze to Marcus and saw how his eyes were without light, an unmistakable sign that his mind had been destroyed.
"I had planned to apply a «blood eagle» to you and tear every muscle fiber in your body with a poorly sharpened dagger, then break your bones and extract your lungs with my own hands, but the spell I used to read your memories has destroyed your mind and no matter how much I torture you now, it will not be the same... so, I will make sure that your soul suffers for all eternity as a toy of ideal masters, but first I will use you as a battery to create some weapon…" Edzard said as his right hand glowed purple, a second later, he cast the spell at Marcus. The name of the spell used was called «Soul Trap», a basic spell to trap the soul of a living being in a soul gem.
Marcus's body glowed purple as he received the spell, causing him to let out a kind of moan, since he couldn't speak, but that moan soon turned into a pained moan when his chest was pierced by Edzard's left arm, which had pierced the "priest" with a single blow, showing that although Marcus was an artificial hybrid, the physical strength of a Dovah like Edzard was far above that of someone like him.
Marcus's mouth began to expel a large amount of blood, as Edzard had pierced his right lung, eluding the "priest's" heart by a good distance.
"Disappear…" Edzard whispered for a second after unleashing a large amount of magic in the form of the lightning sphere spell.
The point-blank attack by the former Archmage of Winterhold exploded inside the "priest", destroying his body, which turned into ashes.
The moment Marcus's body ceased to exist, the reality where Edzard and the others were beginning to shake, causing Rias, Akeno, and the rest to scream, as the place shook like an earthquake, preventing them from being able to stand. Fortunately for them, the place quickly stopped shaking, and then gave way to a sound.
Crack!
The sound of a mirror breaking was present, causing everyone to look at the sky, where they saw that the place was fragmenting like a broken mirror.
"What the fuck-"
Issei's words of surprise died in his mouth when after seeing the sky break, the entire place glowed white, blinding them all. When the light died out, the eyes of those present saw that the barrier that had protected them during Edzard's fight had disappeared and they had returned to the place where Edzard had previously ambushed Marcus.
Seeing that they had returned, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, since no one knew how they would have managed to get back. After those sighs, everyone looked at Edzard, because they heard how he walked towards them, keeping a serious look, something that worried everyone, but before the son of Akatosh reached where his friends were, the place shook, but unlike other times, this time Edzard looked to the side and frowned.
"Stay here." Edzard ordered in a serious voice, scaring the ORC members a little. "Don't move and protect yourselves and my daughters in case an enemy comes, I need to go see something, I'll be back soon."
After those words, Edzard quickly ran out of there, leaving everyone present with doubts and the desire to follow him. While part of them wanted to obey him, another part did not want to. In the end, the part that did not want to listen to him won, so, looking at each other, all the ORC members nodded and after that, they ran after Edzard, staying several meters behind him.
BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM! BOOMMM!
Several explosions shook the entire place, filling it with cracks and smoke, which was dissipated by the strong winds generated by the explosions that continued to emerge.
"Stay still, bitch!" Walburga shouted as they moved her hands and created several crosses of holy fire, which encased Asia, threatening to annihilate her.
Asia looked at the crosses and watched as they began to increase in size rapidly, reducing the area where she was. Knowing that, even though she now had a new form of balance breaker, she did not have enough energy to be able to withstand many attacks of this type, she decided to counter it, and to do so she used the golden flames that she had begun to use since she activated this new power. So, putting her hands together, she quickly gathered a small portion of Magicka and moving her hands quickly, she cast the spell.
A huge amount of golden fire emerged from Asia's body, forming a large explosion of golden flames, which collided with the purple flames of Walburga's sacred gear. Upon impact, both flames began a furious battle for control, which was a draw, since none of the flames prevailed over the others, ending up extinguishing at the same time.
'These flames are very powerful, but not only that. But also, when using them in spells, they tend not to consume much Magicka, in fact, their consumption is so low that I almost feel like I have a reinforcement destruction enchantment to reduce the Magicka cost of the spells.' Asia thought as she watched the flames finish extinguishing, allowing her to see Walburga, whose face was distorted by a hideous grimace of anger.
"Damn, you are fucking brat!" Walburga shouted in anger, who watched in panic as her flames, which were considered one of the most powerful, were extinguished by those golden flames, which caused a very strange sensation in the magician, who felt chills every time she saw them.
After that shout, the Hexennacht magician began to fly faster, moving away from Asia, and when she was at a more than safe distance, by Walburga's standards, she quickly deployed an enormous amount of magic circles, which began to shine and launched hundreds of elemental spells on Asia, which upon seeing them stopped abruptly, since the attack was so numerous that there was practically no way to avoid it.
'The number of spells unleashed is incredibly high, I can't dodge them even if I turn back.' Asia thought as she watched that tide of elemental spells gets dangerously close to her. However, before she could even take a step back, she realized that, if she dodged that attack, her friends who were behind her under a containment barrier would come under attack. 'I'm more than sure that the barrier can contain the attack, but the structure beneath them can't, if they fall, I don't know where they could end up... no, I only have one option... it's not the best of all, but it's the one that would help the most right now.'
After that thought, Asia wasted no time and quickly put her hands together, thus gathering Magicka. The amount of Magicka she was able to gather was not much, but it was the best she could do at the moment, since her reserves were almost at zero and while she was able to recover her magic reserves at a good rate, she couldn't make full use of her reserves at the moment, so she didn't know if the amount of magic she possessed would be enough, but she still didn't waste time and quickly conjured a huge ward, which covered her and also covered her friends in a certain way.
Walburga's barrage of spells fell like a furious gust against Asia's ward, creating several explosions and raising many clouds of smoke. Although Asia's defense was good, it would not stop the attack completely, since she did not have the magic necessary to create a ward that would stop the entire enemy attack, so, to protect herself and her friends, she made the scope of the custody no more than was necessary for that purpose.
Asia's eyes remained completely fixed on her ward, because it was not as powerful as it should be, it was in danger of breaking at any moment, so she had to maintain all possible attention to prevent that.
Walburga's attack lasted a little over a minute, during which time she threatened to destroy Asia's custody, but fortunately she was unable to do so. However, that does not mean that the battle was easy, since the barrier created by the Dovahkiin's wife had been about to break at several moments, but fortunately that did not happen, since she had maintained almost millimeter control of each part of the barrier, quickly filling in every weakening spot with Magicka. Now, with her enemy's attack already stopped, she could no longer stay on the defensive, so, moving her six wings, she quickly headed towards Walburga.
The magician's eyes remained fixed on the clouds of smoke and dust that had risen as a result of her last attack, hoping that she had been able to destroy Asia, since she had used a lot of magic in it, but not only that, but she had also used up so much of her sacred gear, that she didn't know what else to do, not only that, but even if she wanted to use her balance breaker again, she didn't have one more soul to use as fuel, which left her in trouble. So, that made her must be extremely cautious for the moment.
'I just must hold on a little. A reawakening of this kind of power is not something that lasts long, so it is only a matter of time before her new power dies down, and when it does, her head will be mine... besides, even if it doesn't yet I have "that" as my last option... so, to hell with the plan to kidnap her to use her as leverage against that brat, I'm going to kill her and all the whores she calls friends, and then go underground, I don't give a shit about whatever the devils of Qlippoth are planning.' Walburga thought angrily, who was no longer thinking very clearly, as she did not understand what that action would do to the world. However, she couldn't think about it anymore, because at that moment one of the clouds of smoke and dust was divided by Asia, which came out of there like a supersonic rocket.
"Walburga!" was the scream that came from Asia's mouth as she charged directly against the Hexennacht magician, who looked at her with fear and anger, since she saw that she had emerged unscathed from her previous attack.
"Get away!" Walburga shouted in panic as she saw Asia charging at her, so wanting to stop her, she quickly moved her hand and launched several balls of holy fire, which moved like meteorites against Asia.
Asia's eyes moved quickly, examining each approaching fireball, measuring which one was best to cut and which one to neutralize with a magical attack. However, no matter how much she thought, she realized that she was running out of time, so, with no other options, she quickly moved her left hand and quickly launched a small barrage of golden fireballs, which quickly traveled towards Walburga's attacks, neutralizing them, and creating several explosions as they did so.
Despite the explosions, Asia did not stop and continued flying towards Walburga, who continued trying to flee from her, but to her bad luck, the daughter of the heir to the dukedom of Alcaire was faster and managed to catch her by the collar of her dress.
"Got you!" Asia shouted as she grabbed Walburga by the collar of her dress.
"GACK!" was the muffled sound that came out of the magician's mouth when Asia pulled on the hem that was the collar of Walburga's dress, causing her to choke a little.
The moment Asia had the magician in her arms, she thought about piercing Walburga through the chest, because the anger she felt for how this woman had dared to be the head of the kidnapping of her daughter was so great that she could barely stay sane. However, the anger she felt made the plans she could think of to finish off the magician twist in another direction, which began to make an evil smile begin to form on the ex-nun's face.
Being "possessed" by this new facet, Asia tightened her grip on the hem of Walburga's dress, causing her to begin to suffocate more. The lack of oxygen began to cause the Hexennacht magician to move a little erratically, trying to get away from Asia, something that was useless, since the hybrid's strength was much greater than Walburga could use.
Seeing how her enemy was writhing due to lack of oxygen, the smile on Asia's face began to increase, but that does not mean that she was satisfied with that, no, so, wanting to see her enemy suffer more, Asia decided to give her a proper beating, so without thinking twice, she moved her hand and slammed Walburga to the ground.
The magician's body was thrown like a comet, ending up hitting the ground, creating a large explosion upon impact, raising an enormous amount of dust.
"Cough! Cough!" were the strong coughs that the magician began to release, not only because of the pain of the impact, but also because of the ability she had to breathe again after being suffocated by Asia a few moments ago. Therefore, after "breathing" again, she began to get up, but to her bad luck, she couldn't even get up, because after having placed her hands next to her with great difficulty, a metal boot hit her chest squarely, breaking several ribs and part of the sternum.
"AGGHHHH!" Walburga shouted in great pain as she received the blow, proceeding to move under Asia's boot, which continued to exert more and more pressure, thus increasing the amount of pain that the magician felt.
Asia's smile kept growing as she watched Walburga squirm under her foot. For her it was a very strange sensation, but at the same time gratifying to see the person causing her daughter's suffering writhe in pain before her eyes. So, wanting to see her suffer even more, Asia didn't stop doing that for a few good moments. When she finished doing that, she lifted her foot, giving Walburga a small moment of respite, who took advantage of that moment to turn around and start coughing, seeking to replenish the air she had worked so hard to obtain while Asia's foot was in her chest. However, she couldn't do that for long, as her body was thrown out again thanks to a powerful kick from Asia, which impacted the magician's entire abdomen, causing the little air she had recovered to come out of her lungs, suffocating her again, but not only that, but the blow was so strong that it ended up fracturing Walburga's sternum, at the same time causing her to vomit a little blood as she flew a few meters.
The magician's body bounced several times after hitting the ground, as Asia's blow had sent her flying in a parabolic manner. When she finished bouncing on the hard ground, her body was filled with several additional wounds thanks to the debris that was there.
'T-this shouldn't be happening... S-she's supposed to be at my mercy, but... n-n-it's not like that... Why?' Walburga thought while her mind was torn between consciousness and unconsciousness, because the damage she had suffered was enough. Even though she was a magician, she was still essentially a human and that made her very susceptible to harm, especially physical harm. 'If it weren't for the barrier that I created to prevent teleportation that are not made by the teleportation doors that were in the other chamber, I might have been able to teleport to fight and to be able to flee... H-however… I'm not finished yet... I-I still have that...'
After thinking that, Walburga moved her hand as quickly as she could towards her pockets and began to look for that object, as she began to hear Asia's footsteps approaching her. Filling herself with fear and panic, as it was more than obvious that Asia would kill her, she quickly increased the speed with which she searched for the object. To her good luck, she managed to get it and with a quick and somewhat more fluid movement than she would expect from her body, she managed to get it out of her pocket. The object that was in her hands was a scroll, which unlike the previous one she had used, the paper on which it was inscribed was black.
The moment the magician observed the object, she smiled with joy, since this was her trump card. So, feeling more certain of her survival, the magician of Hexennacht stood up with great difficulty. When she was standing, she saw that Asia had stopped a few meters away from her, so, shaking her head, she looked at Edzard's wife and watched as her smile caused her to frown more pronouncedly.
"Y-you should have killed me when you captured me…" Walburga said as she slowly lifted the scroll, at the same time as she untied it. When said scroll was free, she opened it. A second later, both Asia and Walburga watched as the scroll consumed itself in a black flame with red details, turning to ashes in the magician's hand.
Seeing what had happened to Walburga's scroll, Asia felt confused, since she did not expect that to happen, something that she saw that the same magician of Hexennacht also shared with her, because Walburga's eyes were also wide open. This surprise increased greatly when out of nowhere, a huge rune appeared at Asia's feet.
'What?' Asia thought in amazement when she saw said rune appear. The moment her eyes landed on said rune, danger alarms began to ring in her mind. So, not wanting to know why her alarms went off, she began to move, trying to get out of the area of effect of said spell. However, when she left the area of effect, Asia watched in horror as the rune moved at high speed until it was once again under her feet. That was something unheard of for her, since she had never heard of a spell that followed you, but unfortunately for her she did not have time to think about anything else, since the rune shone brightly, creating several rays of red light, which enveloped Asia, causing a sharp pain to run through the body of Nathaniel's descendant.
"AHHHHH!" Asia screamed in pain as the energy of the spell began to penetrate her body abruptly and violently.
The way Edzard's wife screamed made Walburga laugh with excitement.
"Ha, ha, ha! "You are finished girl!" Walburga shouted as she slowly began to heal.
After hearing those words, the pain Asia felt began to intensify, causing her screams of pain to increase in intensity for a few moments. However, that changed a few moments later, as, to her utter surprise, the pain began to subside, and her mind began to feel light and numb.
'What's wrong?!' Asia screamed in panic in her mind, as she realized that she was losing control of her limbs. 'My body does not respond to my commands!'
"It doesn't matter how much you fight, brat! Your mind will soon belong to me!"
Walburga's yell made Asia realize what was happening. So, in a panic, she began to think of a way to get rid of whatever she had done that spell on her body. However, to her utter horror, she couldn't do anything, not only that, but she began to feel more and more restricted, almost as if she was in some kind of invisible cage.
The smile on Walburga's face grew as she watched the whites of Asia's eyes turn black.
"Ha, ha, ha! You belong to me now!" Walburga shouted with a smile when she saw how the spell had worked. The spell she had used had been given to her by Euclid as the last option to control the Dovahkiin and according to the devil's words it would break the target's mind, so right now, that brat would be easy prey for her. "Heh, heh... I didn't expect to use that on you, but you left me no choice... now, I will destroy you when-"
What the magician was about to say died in her mouth when her head was separated from her body thanks to a very clean cut, which came from Asia's sword.
As Walburga's head fell to the ground, she realized that she had let her guard down, preventing her from realizing that Asia had moved to kill her.
When the mage's head touched the ground, the light in her eyes had already gone out, indicating that she was already dead, so she could not observe how Asia began to move her sword to cut the rest her body wildly and carelessly.
The blood from Walburga's body began to splash throughout the nearby area, but not only that, but it also began to cover Asia's body, which did not stop brutalizing the magician's body until something came out of the mutilated body.
Before Asia's eyes, a small purple flame emerged and headed towards the right of the ex-nun, who followed that light, only to hear a female voice calling her.
"Asia?"
Author's note:
To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Because being honest, I don't know how to write much in English and I'm relying on Google translators and the dictionaries that come with office 2019.
And here is Chapter 64 XD
This chapter has been a bit easier to write, as I wasn't very busy XD
As you can see, we are approaching the end of this arc, which, if everything goes well, will conclude in the next chapter. Now, about this chapter, I've written some things like the 'Rules of the world,' which are the rules that govern everything in the different worlds, or at least that's how I interpret them. We also see that, in the end, I'm making Asia more OCC than she already was, but I hope you understand that there is a reason for it, and I hope I have portrayed it well in the chapter
Well, I apologize for any misspelling. Do not forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter or if there is something that needs to be improved or if you have any questions about the story. Also, any constructive advice is welcome. With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.