'Wait, the divines have power-ups in this world? Great, as if I didn't have enough things to worry about already.' I groaned as Loki was obscured in a pillar of malevolent deep green aura, the air twisting and turning around him as the sound of chains rattling echoed throughout the air.

The next moment, my senses roared at me to move and I listened, quickly activating Storm God's Aura and Gram's demonic aura before jumping away just as the ground where I stood was completely shattered.

However, it was not fast enough and I stifled a scream as a gaping wound opened on my arm, staring at the jagged cut before quickly burning it close with lightning as I heard Okita landing next to me.

Swiftly spinning Gram in a reverse grip whilst Kyoka Suigetsu appeared in my free hand, the world around us twisted before a fake Okita and Isaiah launched themselves towards Loki, the real Okita trailing after them as I took a deep breath.

The next moment, the air quaked as I ran around in a wide arc as fast as I could, appearing behind the still hidden Loki just as the other three appeared for us to make a four-point formation around him.

"Sandanzuki!"

"Unsheathe Technique: Demonic Brilliance!"

"Ryuubiken!"

"Tsubame Gaeshi!"

"Fools." However, there was only a moment of silence before I felt myself freezing midair, the world around me twisting and warping before I blinked as I found myself standing in front of the Gremory Castle.

'Damnit! Quick, break!' I thought urgently as I activated Kyoka Suigetsu and the world around me shattered before my eyes widened as the shattered fragments stopped themselves from falling before the illusion restored itself with ease.

"Wait, what? Break! Break! Satan damnit, break!"

"Isaiah, everything okay?" My eyes widened at the voice and I slowly turned around, completely shocked at the person standing behind me as she smiled and opened her arms.

"What? No hug for your Big Sis Lisa?" Lisa asked with a soft smile and despite how much a small part of me wanted to believe this to be real, the rest of me was bubbling over with blinding rage.

Feeling Gram respond to my rage as it began to overflow with demonic power, Lisa flinched back as the energy flowed over her and as much as I wanted to go over & soothe her fear, I gritted my teeth as I unsheathed Gram.

The next moment, I felt Gram's glee echoing in my mind as I turned the blade and stabbed it deep into my chest, blood spewing from my mouth as the world around me cracked & shattered

"LOKI!" I roared as I felt myself waking up, staring at the shocked divine being as he quickly disappeared before he wheezed as I appeared in front of him, my free hand wrapped around his throat while Gram was stabbed deeply into his gut.

Without giving him a chance to attack, I quickly tore the blade out while dropkicking him in the chest, flipping around as he was sent skidding across the ground before I launched myself after him.

"Satan's Vengeance!" Raising Gram above my head, I roared as I poured a rather absurd amount of demonic energy into it before bringing the blade down.

However, a curse escaped my lips as Loki shattered like glass the moment Gram's demonic energy touched him, my head turning to glare at the divine standing besides me with his own glare aimed at me before we lunged at each other.

"Whoa there. Can't believe you would leave me out." I grinned at Okita appearing behind Loki, his blades pulled back before he swung them forward.

With a flourish of the chains wrapped around his arms, Loki quickly caught Okita's blade before pulling him forward and into my path of attack, but I smirked as I moved out of the way while unleashing a slash, Okita gripping his freed blades just as I drew Gram back.

The next moment, my eyes widened as I quickly blocked Okita's slashes with Gram, a cage of holy-demonic blades shooting up from the ground to capture him only for Okita to disappear and reappear right next to an amused Loki.

"You may have learned how to break my illusions, but for your teacher here, it's going to be a bit harder." Loki spoke with a smirk and I said nothing as I launched myself forward just as he went to stab him, blocking the attack only for a sharp pain to erupt in my right leg.

Quickly pushing Loki away while also dodging his follow-up slash from his other dagger, I gritted my teeth as Okita ripped his blade out before swinging at my other leg, quickly jumping over it and kicking him away.

Skidding to a stop, Okita swiftly sheathed one of his katanas while gripping the other with both hands, settling into his opening stance as I sheathed Gram and took a deep breath.

"Sandanzuki."

" Tsubame Gaeshi." Storm God's Aura erupted to its full power as we blitzed towards each other, the air screeching as I unsheathed Gram and watched as three precise stabs were aimed at my chest.

With the first and second slash, I quickly parried the first two thrusts off to the side before I stopped my third attack, maneuvering around his blade before giving a mental apology as I unleashed my third attack.

Okita was quick to move his hands back, but not quick enough as I swiftly sliced off his left hand, Okita's eyes widening before he gritted his teeth as I spun around and blocked a sneak attack from a growling Loki.

However, he did not stay long and quickly teleported away as a flurry of holy-demonic blades erupted from the ground, to which I just took a few deep breaths before smirking as I heard Okita groan.

"You good?"

"Yep! You only got the left hand. I can still fight."

"You're a liability, old timer. Unless you can stop yourself from falling for his illusions again?" I asked before raising an eyebrow as he chuckled, reaching into his kimono before my second eyebrow joined the first as he pulled out a four-tailed fox with bushy white fur.

"Tenko, time for a little eyesight." Okita spoke, to which the fox just gave a thumbs-up before I visibly reeled back from shock as the fox stabbed its four tails into both of his eyes and his ears, Okita chuckling at my horror as blood flowed freely from his wounds.

"Don't worry. Tenko here is probably one of my most loyal youkai that have been with me since I was a human. He gives me the ability of clairvoyance in exchange for my eyes & ears and the wounds can easily be healed with a Phoenix Tear, so no need to worry about that. Now then, let's get back to our fight here." Okita spoke with a smirk as he created a fireball and cauterized his amputated arm, to which I just shook my head as I turned back to Loki.

"Time and time again, you filth have defied me. Out of the goodness of my heart, I try to help end your suffering by putting you in the illusion you desire most and in return, you hurt me."

"Eh, kind of your fault since you attacked us first with your children."

"No more words from you, filth! I swear on my name as Loki I shall-!"

"You shall what, Trickster?" I looked up as Poseidon's voice came from above us, smirking at him and Beowulf floating towards us as Okita let out a sigh of relief and Loki frowned.

" Where are my children?"

"Your clones of Jörmungandr were bested by Surtr Second & my friend Beowulf here and Thor & I killed your grandchildren before besting your son Fenrir and taking him back to his cage. I'm not certain of how Odin's battle went, but given how I can't feel him or Hel near us and since Surtr Second went to help, I can be certain they have killed or captured her as well. Now, I will ask once and only once. Stand down, Loki. You can't win this battle."

"Hahahaha! That's the thing, Poseidon! I never wanted to win. I was simply here to test your capabilities and if you were a second late, I would have killed them, but I suppose the information on all of your battles will be enough for my new friends."

"Do you actually believe you're going anywhere?" Loki's along with our eyes widened at the sight of Odin appearing from thin air right behind him, Hel tied up in what appeared to be heavy silver chains whilst an entire army of men made out of silver ethereal energy surrounded them.

"Great, now we have the Einherjar also here." I heard Loki spoke with a sigh as his aura calmed down, his chains disappearing as his daggers floated back to his side.

"One chance, blood-brother. You either give up and go to jail or I seal you away for the next five hundred millennia."

"And risk losing one of your strongest fighters?" Loki asked with a smirk, to which Odin didn't answer as his frown deepened before I rolled my neck.

"He said no. Does that mean I get to kill him now?" Odin didn't answer as he simply stared at Loki before shaking his head.

"It's too late. This is simply an avatar of him. Your real body was never here, was it?" I raised an eyebrow at that and turned to Loki only to stare at the manic grin on his face as a cackle escaped his lips.

"Ahahahaha! Well done, old timer. I forgot how good your eyes are. Yes, this is an avatar, but it is close in strength to how powerful I am, so I must applaud you, Isaiah Azathoth. It appears that your declaration all those years back were more than just mere hot air."

"Huh, it's a good thing I didn't go all-out as well then, too." I answered with a nod as I sheathed Gram, Okita just chuckling as he sheathed his katana before giving Beowulf a thankful smile as the man pulled out a Phoenix Tear.

"Hmm, that's good to hear. This will just make my final victory all the more glorious. Until we meet again." Before anyone could stop him, Loki gave me a malicious grin before he shattered, to which I just smirked and stretched as Odin sighed.

"I suppose him not attacking is as good an option as we could ask for. Einherjar, take Hel to her domain and hand her over to Vidar. I've already contacted Thor to take Fenrir to him instead of Tyr as he is the only one immune to her death magic and Fenrir's fangs."

"Yes, Jarl!" I watched as the Einherjar give a unified salute before a group of them pulled on Hel's chains and dragged her away, with the goddess of death aiming a final glare at Odin just before they all disappeared in a silver flash.

"Hah, I'm getting too old for this shit." I turned back to Odin and chuckled as the divine cracked his back, sending Gungnir back to what looked like a pocket dimension as Poseidon chuckled.

"Yeah, you definitely are, old timer. You guys ready to continue the rest of this trip or not?" Poseidon asked as he turned to us, to which Beowulf and I gave a thumbs-up while Okita groaned before shrugging.

"Sure. The quicker we get back home, the quicker I can sleep off all of this pain."

" 'No pain, no gain', right?" I reminded him of his motto with a smirk, all of us chuckling as he gave us the middle finger before we headed back to where we last left Zeus and the two ladies.

"Wait…where's Surtr?"

"You're not beating me! Just give up, Surtr!"

"Ha! We'll see about that!"

"…Should we ask?" Odin asked with a raised eyebrow at the sight of Zeus and Surtr clashing in a vicious battle of arm-wrestling, to which Hera rolled her eyes as Frigg looked amused.

"When Surtr returned, my husband was bored and so, they've been stuck in this match for the past few minutes." Hera answered with a shake of her head, to which Odin and Poseidon just sighed as the devils looked at each other.

"Eh, they're divines. Their understanding is beyond us." Okita muttered with a shrug, to which Isaiah and Beowulf looked at each other before shrugging just as Zeus let out a triumphant laugh while Surtr groaned in disappointment.

"Hahaha! You were no match for the great Zeus, Surtr! Now, Isaiah, come and let me see your power."

"Just do it or else, he's going to keep bothering you until you do, my dear boy." Odin muttered with a sigh, Isaiah blinking a few times before shrugging as he took off his coat and unclipped Gram from his side.

"You can use your Touki if you want, but you must only use your raw physical power. Nothing else, understand?"

"Got it." Isaiah nodded in agreement as he sat down in front of the boulder they were using as a table, reaching out to grasp Zeus' hand before planting his elbow firmly into the boulder.

"Ready…go!" Immediately, a pure white aura surrounded Isaiah as he gritted his teeth, flexing every muscle in his arm and Zeus' eyes widened slightly as he could barely move the boy's hand.

Frowning a bit as he added more power to his arm, he was surprised as how that was barely enough to move Isaiah's arm before letting out a surprised hum as Isaiah slowly moved their hands back to the initial position.

'Quite the surprise how a young devil is capable of keeping up with me at this level of strength, especially for a devil reincarnated as a Knight piece. Not bad, Lucifer. You found yourself a gem in the rough.' Zeus thought with a smirk as Isaiah struggled to push his hand back before letting out a sigh of defeat as Zeus pushed his hand onto the boulder with ease, standing up and putting his jacket back on as Zeus nodded with an impressed smirk.

"Not bad, young man. The only being under the age of thirty to ever last that long against me in pure power other than you is my son Heracles."

"That's because you went easy on him for the first few seconds of your contest, Zeus." Poseidon spoke with a smirk, to which Zeus went to respond before slowly trailing off.

"That is true. Well, congratulations on being the first person under the age of thirty to make me actually try to win an arm-wrestling competition."

"It was a pleasure, Lord Zeus."

'That and now I know how powerful I am in my base form against the average divine being of this world.' Isaiah thought with a smirk as he clipped Gram to his side, chuckling at Okita's discreet thumbs-up as Zeus climbed back onto his chariot with Odin and each divine sat down next to their respective wife.

"Now, let's not waste any more time. I'm certain Lord Lucifer must have been waiting for the past five minutes or so on our arrival."

A/N: And there we are! The last chapter of this arc done!

Another quick chapter, mostly because I could not for the life of me figure out how to extend it without making it tedious.

However, I can guarantee that the moment I hit post, ideas are going to come flying to the forefront and I'm going to regret it.

Hah, at least I can save that for another chapter.

Anyway, next chapter is another feel-good chapter before the next arc and the beginning of the true war!

As always, read, enjoy, review and until then…

Ba-Bye~!