Chapter 14
DxD Universe-01 - Home-Universe of Issei´s Guardian team
Back in their own world, they rest of Issei´s teammates and the allies they had in the town were standing in front of their damaged based.
Rias Servants Akeno, Koneko and Gaspar, Sona, her Queen Tsubaki and half of her Peerage, their teammate Raiser-01 and his sister/Issei´s lover Ravel and also the three Ex-Stray Devils Ehron, Maya and Rey - who were now living in a house in the neighboring district were standing in opposite to Issei´s remaining team.
Three people labeled Stray Devils, standing peacefully right beside a large group of Devils from different Families. It was a scene that would have been impossible two years earlier.
Sona, Akeno and the others were the first out of them who had arrived.
xxx
Koneko and Gaspar had been standing guard in the small underground prison used by the local Devils. They had however just been frozen in their movement and otherwise completely ignored by the woman who had just teleported in, freed the prisoners and then just left like she had come.
They had instantly informed Sona and then quickly noticed that Issei´s base was under attack as well.
xxx
Ehron, Rey and Maya had also sensed the sudden attack on the people who had saved them as well and came to see if they could do something to help.
Raiser - who had been with his family and Ravel had arrived a few minutes later after Sona had informed them of what happened.
The actual attack however had already been over when any of them arrived and the enemy gone.
They only found Asia, Kiba, Xenovia and Murayama standing in front of their damaged mansion-base. All four however...
"So you can still not use your powers?" Sona said matter of factly.
"No," Kiba answered.
"Funny - for m it is nearly as if I am back two and a half years ago, when I was still a normal person," Murayama mentioned.
Xenovia held her Excalibur in her hand.
"I can still use my weapon. But it is as if it is just a normal sword now," she said.
"But I can feel that it is still a Holy Sword," Akeno stated. "We can also still sense your Sacred Gears active inside you."
"Your powers are still there," Sona confirmed. "You just seemed to have your ability blocked to use them."
"Not that this is much better right now," Asia commented.
"It is better," Kiba replied. "We can overcome whatever block is on our powers. It is much better as if our powers had actually been destroyed."
"We can possibly help you with it," Raiser offered. "Our Phenex Fire might be able to restore it if she caused some kind of damage to you."
"Yes - maybe it could," Raval said as well, "and if not, we will just find another way. I am sure Issei can help, even if we can not."
Raiser gave his sister a small unreadable side-look at her comment. He had come to respect Hyoudou and knew his sister´s trust in him. But sometimes it irritated him a bit that she seemed to see their own family as inferior. (Even if privately he himself admitted they were.)
"Anyway, there is a much more important issue," Sona stated.
She had been looking tense the entire time. So did Akeno and Tsubaki. There was clearly something else going on.
"A few of the more powerful beings had noticed it first," Sona said. "The Gods from the Indian Pantheon were the first ones to figure out what it was and noticed the other Factions. Azazel and Michael confirmed it and made out it´s location."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Xenovia asked her.
"A black hole has suddenly appeared in our star system," Tsubaki stated in Sona´s plance.
"What?!" Murayama, Xenovia and the Ex-Stray Maya called out nearly at the same time.
"S-say that again," Asia said.
"You are serious?" the Ex-Stray Ehron questioned shell-shocked.
He and his friends Maya and Rey exchanged a worried look. Ehron was surprised at himself actually, that he cut into a conversation involving a group of Devils like that. But after the encounters with them here, they had begun to not see them necessarely as hostile. At least not the ones here in Kuoh.
"It is true," Akeno confirmed. "It is somewhere at the outer planets of our system."
"Thenis," Kiba said, "she must have done this while she was here."
"Yes - it is obviously here doing," Sona agreed. "The normal humans will probably notice it very soon too."
"Yes - when it starts to affect the orbits of the other planets," Koneko remarked.
"It must never come to that," Murayama said. "At the time it affects the orbit of the planets, it will be too late."
"Earth would fall out of it´s orbit too and all on it will die," the Ex-Stray Maya called out. A moment later she silenced herself a bit awkwardly, remembering that most of the people she was talking to would have killed her little more than a year earlier.
"You might not care that much since you can just return to the Underworld," Rey exclaimed more aggressively.
"We certainly don´t think that!" Ravel shouted back at her.
"Just because we are Devil does not mean we all are selfish assholes," Akeno agreed.
"Aside from that, even the Underworld might get affected as well," Raiser pointed out.
"You don´t have to be too worried," Sona told them. "Thenis might have created that black hole, but several powerful beings should be able to destroy it. The Indian Gods had already offered to try. They just need to do it quickly.
My Sister, the other Maou and Azazel think that Thenis was trying to set an example of her power. She could have destroyed this planet instantly if she had formed the black hole closer to Earth and she wants us to realize that and scare us."
"She certainly has succeeded in that," Koneko commented.
"It might also not been a coincidence that she did that while both Issei and Sirzechs are not there," Kiba pointed out. "They should be able to do something too here."
"Issei," Asia said, "Thenis said she wanted to look for him."
"We can send him and the others a message," Sona replied. "But otherwise we have to hope Issei, Lord Sirzechs and the others can deal with her. They are undercover at the Erebos-Homeworld right now, right? That is not a place we can simply send troops too. We might cause a battle too early and make everything worse."
"I know," Asia stated. "I just wish we could do something more."
xxxxxxx
M Universe-04
Faust and the woman called Spectre were continuing their conversation... while the star explosion washed over them.
xxx
Meanwhile above the homeworlds of both the Shi´ar and the Kree, hundreds of dimensional portals were opening at the same time and the fleets of the genetically augmented SHA Warriors, along with Thanos Chitauri and other warriors of the Dark Order from different races were appearing in this universe and advancing on both planets.
The defense fleets were engaging them, but quickly overwhelmed by their combined power and numbers. Just like the Guardian´s, the Dark Order´s forces were the cultivation of all it´s sub-faction´s combined ressources and technology. Their forces were a mixture of multiple versions of Earth´s, Thanos Titanian, Celestial and even Apocolypse technology - the Dark Order possessed even technology from Asgard and Cybertron.
So their ships were far superior to either the Shi´ar or Kree fleets. To that came that they outnumbered them.
After just a few minutes the orbits of both planets were filled with floating shipwrecks, the far majority of them of the defending fleets and the combined forces of the Dark Order already begann to send troops down on the planets, while their ships were firing at different targets on the surface - military bases, supply ways, space-ports.
The ones commanding the two attack fleets were two of the Lords of the Dark Order themselves - Thanos at the Kree-homeworld and En Sabah Nur at the Shi´ar Capital. One of the reasons for their presence was that they hoped to recruit new followers out of the populations after they had overthrown their governments.
xxx
"My offer is still standing," Faust said to her. "We can together travel back to the past of your world. We could together create a new timeline and save everyone you have lost... and reform your homeworld into something better. We both know that this is something that you want."
"You know my answer," she replied. "The price would be too great."
"I see. You can change your mind anytime. But if this is your answer, I will accept it." At this he showed a smile on his face that was in a bizarre way at the same time warm and incredible sinister.
"We will meet again soon." With that Faust opened another dimensional portal and disappeared.
xxxxxxx
Erebos Demon´s Capital (DxD Universe 23)
Issei and his allies and the Devil Hunters were standing in front of each other.
With neither side so far making any kind of offensive move or had they powered up fully. The main reason why the fight between them had not broken out yet and they were so far only starring at each other, was the piece of information that Issei had just given to the Devil Hunters.
The fate of his counterpart Issei-013.
"No - That, that can not be," the Devil Hunter´s version of Kuroka exclaimed.
"You are lying," her sister Koneko said as well.
Both of them did just not want to believe what they just heard. They had always known that there was a chance they could loose Vali. Just like both Devil Hunters Kuroka and Koneko had lost their own real sisters in the past. They were after all a combat- and infiltration-group, so death was still always a possibility. (Not that it had not been before when they had been hunted by the Devils.)
Even if the thought seemed unlikely mostly, given how powerful he became.
But not like this. Not by being backstabbed by their own allies, the people who had helped them and given them a refugee and a chance for revenge.
"It is true," Issei´s ally - her counterpart Kuroka-06 called out. "This `power´ they gave to you is only a trap to steal Albion´s and Vali´s own life-energy and transfer it to the ally of your leaders."
"I am not lying," Issei himself said. "To be honest, I don´t really care what you are thinking about it. My priority right now is to find a way to stop the Erebos Demons from causing even more destruction and in the best case prevent this creature named Darkseid from returning. Not to save you from your own decisions.
You have made your bed yourself by making this this... well - pact with the Demons," he stated.
He knew all too well how ironic it would have been to call it `pact with the Devil´, with Sirzechs, Rias and Grayfia standing right next to him.
"You know nothing about why we are doing this?" DH-Kuroka exclaimed sharply.
"No?" Issei replied. "Do you think you are the only former Devil Servants I had met who were in a really bad situation?"
He made a side-glance to his team´s own version of Kuroka, who came originally from DxD Universe-6, as he said this.
They all know that the Devil Hunters themselves were to blame for a great part of Kuroka-06´s misery.
xxx
First they were the ones who had framed her a couple years back. Even if by now she was an established part of their team, a friend and her name in her homeworld was long cleared as well. Not that this mattered much anymore, because she had literally left that world behind her when she had joined them.
But the Devil Hunters framing her for an assassination was nothing in the end compared to loosing her sister or her own world´s Issei, the boy who had taken her in and who she became close to in their shared grief.
Before he died as well, also thanks to the Devil Hunters. What hurt even more was the fact that it were counterparts of her sister and herself who had helped doing this to her.
She could not really find it in herself to feel sorry for this bastards. No matter what they had gone through, it was nothing that she herself and countless others hadn´t as well. And while she had done some things she was not exactly proud of, she had not willingly helped to commit mass-genocide.
In fact she admitted she felt some satisfaction to see them being manipulated and tricked into a death-trap, like they themselves had done it to so many others.
xxx
Issei and Devil Hunter Vali were finally engaging each other. But neither of them went higher than their Balance Breaker modes.
DH-Vali was still not sure if he believed the story Issei had just told them. But it was enough to make him hesitate to use his most powerful state - the form given to him by the Erebos Emperor and the being called Darkside.
What if it was true?
Of course that also meant Issei would have an complete advantage over him if he used his Crimson Awakening now. But he knew that might push Vali into using the dark power-up anyway.
And this was a risk he didn´t want him to take either. He did not want his opponent to loose control, especially not in a city full of civilians, even if these civilians were members of an enemy faction.
The two were now circling each other slowly and exchanging low-leveled physical and magical attacks.
The rest of the enemies however saw less reason to hold back.
The Demon warriors still had the entire area surrounded. A few of them had already errected a ward over the entire area to protect their own civilians and the town itself from the fallout of the fight.
The rest of them were now sending attacks from all sides, that were however easily deflected by Raynare, Sirzechs and Grayfia, who had shown themselves and joined the fight.
None of these Demon Warriors however was even above higher Middle-Class Level in power. And they were facing two Satan-Class and one Super Devil opponents. To Sirzechs, Raynare and Grayfia they were less than fodder. Either of the three could have instantly wiped them out instantly.
But they were still holding back. They after all still wanted to avoid killing civilians and destroying the city - or to warn off the Erebos Emperor over the who exactly it was who had invaded his homeworld and risk him starting an all-out war too early.
But even so Sirzechs instantly wiped out four of them with a couple blasts of Power and Destruction, Raynare two more with a volley of highly powered lightspears and Grayfia two others.
That was more than enough for the rest of the Demon Warriors to fall back to a saver distance and make no agressive move anymore. Instead of actually trying to engage the interoppers, they were just only hoping to keep them at distance long enough for stronger reinforcements to arrive.
"Who in the world are these guys?" one of the Demons - a woman - asked one of her comrades in shock.
"No idea," the other - a man - answered. "They look like a couple of Rogue Demons and one of the Fallen Angel Rebels," he said. "But I heave not heard of anyone gone traitor who is that powerful."
Sirzechs, Grayfia, Rias and Irina were still in their Demon `disguise´, so they had no idea that they were actually Devils and just assumed they were some kind of renegades from their own ranks.
xxx
One other group, who had so far just watched the events playing out so far, were the present members of the Resistance from this world. Who were quite ironically yet another version of Kuroka, Shirone and Akeno.
They had originally only come in an attempt to save one of their comrades, the girl who had an remarkable ressemblance to Freed Selzen, by impersonating their Devil Hunter counterparts and set her free. What had however not worked out as the real Devil Hunters suddenly showed up with a tross of Demon Warriors.
They were now still standing on the execution podium, along with the couple guards who were meant to carry out the execution and were still holding their prisoner.
They had not expected to get into the crossfire of a battle like this.
Now however they decided to get involved and moved. First the native Shirone and Akeno charged at the guards and kicked and pushed them aside from their captive, right before Rebel Kuroka and Shirone blasted them with Senjutsu attacks that killed one of them and threw the others down the podium.
Then Kuroka freed their comrade named Lind Selzen from her shackles while all around them the fighting was going on.
"Thank you," Lind said to them.
They turned around to the two groups fighting each other. The question was, what should they do now?
They had known for some time that the special combat-group called the Devil Hunters had been recruited from other universes. This conclusion had not been far off, since that group included other versions of Kuroka and Shirone, Vali and for some time even their old comrade Issei.
At first they believed this doubles could have been some kind of clones, created by the Demons. But after a few confrontations with them, it became pretty clear to everyone that these other versions had their own personalities and histories - that were similar but subtly and sinisterly different from the versions they knew.
Kuroka and Shirone were not sure of they would ever get used to dealing with exact doubles of themselves.
And this other group the Devil Hunters were fighting right now were obviously from yet another reality as well.
"Let us get away from here," the Resistance Kuroka - alias Kuroka-23 - said. They would flee, but not alone, she thought. "But we are taking them with us," she announced, pointing to Issei and his team.
"You want to take them along? We know nothing about them," Akeno-23 replied. "Most of them are Demons and a incredible powerful Fallen Angel I don´t know of. Even if they are truly from another world like the Devil Hunters, there is no guaranty that they are friendly to us."
"No - one of them is clearly another double of Issei and the Fallen is Raynare. They are just the wrong race. This has to be some kind of transformation. Probably to infiltrate the Demons. You know what kind of opportunity this could be," Kuroka-23 argued.
"These guys might know more about what the Demons are doing in other worlds. We have still questions about this ritual the Demons are trying to perform. Maybe they know more."
"You are right Onee-san," Shirone agreed.
"Fine - I guess you have a point," Akeno admitted. "Then lets do it."
She raised her hand and shot a single bright light-beam up into the air. This had been the signal for their back-up to move.
She doubted that there was still much point in it though. The other had for sure already noticed the broken out fight and were probably already on the move.
The four Resistance members charged forward.
And like expected, a number of flying beings appeared in the sky above the place, heading for them very fast. The most noticable of them was a figure in silver scale armor - clearly the native version of the White Dragon Emperor... and behind in the air was a small group of about a dozen Fallen Angels and Devils, mostly freed slaves.
"Could you please explain this?" the native White Dragon Emperor asked.
it was however not the voice of the Vali Lucifer who was carrying it in most worlds, but that of a woman.
And she was watching the crimson armored figure who looked pretty much like their fallen comrade Issei in his scale armor, fighting the Devil Hunters. Only that Issei´s death was only a couple months ago and it was impossible for a new Red Dragon Emperor to exist in their world so quickly.
There was also a third Kuroka present and their allies Irina and Raynare, who by his knowledge was with the Church right now. Not to mention that the Irina he knew was clearly not a Demon and Raynare not a Fallen.
"Another group from another reality?" The female White Dragon Emperor asked.
"Yes - but this one is clearly against the Demons," Resistance member Kuroka pointed out right from the start.
"I see."
The woman in the white Scale Armor also looked to both Issei Hyoudou and the Devil Hunter version of Vali Lucifer fighting with him and back for a few moments, impossible to say what she was thinking under the armor.
The Resistance members joined the fight. They however had no intention to make this a greater battle. They just wanted to create an opening for them and Issei´s group to get away from here savely.
xxx
But also the Devil Hunters were not too eager to fight after what they just heard. It was not that they simply believed what their enemies told them. But they knew what their Masters were capable of, and given that Issei-13 and Raynare-17 had never returned...
... They just needed time to figure this out.
DH-Vali didn´t dare to use his dark power-up at this point. Or rather he refused to. Why should he use a technique that might endanger his life, when there was a chance that their allies had intentionally screwed him over with it?
So they draw back as well.
"Hey - are you not going to fight them?" the Demon Guard Captain, who had just come up again from the Resistance member´s attack, called out to them incredulous. "That is your job isn´t it?"
The Devil Hunters looked at him irritated.
"We have not intention to," DH-Kuroka replied. "Besides, it is not `our job´. We have been send here to deal with the Resistance members here, not with this other guys. This was not part of the mission."
"We have no other orders right now," DH-Vali confirmed. "So if you want to fight them, do it yourself."
This shut the Captain up very quickly.
It was not entirely true. Issei and his Guardian Team had long been registered as regular enemies. But this guy had no way to know that. And given what they had just been told, the Devil Hunters didn´t feel particular loyal right now.
They both felt the urge to just kill the guy. But they held themselves back. This particular Demon was an asshole, but he had obviously no idea or control over what his rulers had been doing.
Issei´s group and the Resistance Members exchanged a short look.
"We are getting out of here," the Resistance White Dragon Emperor said to them.
Issei and the others reacted with some surprise as they heard the female voice coming from the white dragon-armor.
Had someone else become the White Dragon Emperor in this world? they asked themselves.
"You can come with us," Kuroka´s Resistance counterpart added.
Issei and the others just needed a short moment to make their decision.
This was what they were here for after all. To find out more and these people probably had some information.
And they stepped on the transport-circles that were lighting up on the ground, next to the Resistance members... and they teleported away.
The Devil Hunters had, more or less, let them go. They had other things on their mind right now.
"Vali," DH-Kuroka asked him, "what are we going to do now?"
"I will go to them, I will confront them about this, first Pazuzu, then the Emperor and I will confront them about this," he replied. "And I will find out the truth."
"Not without us on your side," DH-Koneko told him firmly.
xxxxxxx
A few seconds later Issei and the others found themselves standing in an empty meadow landscape far away from the town.
"Okay - that was the first step," the native Kuroka stated. "We teleport right again, for safety reasons."
"Alright," Issei just replied.
This was not surprising. Making multiple transportations to make them harder to track was the least that should be expected.
After they had been transported a second time, they reappeared in a forest, at the edge of a mountain.
Here they were faced by another group of five beings who seemed to have been waiting for them.
They recognized instantly that three of them were Demons.
"It is alright," Akeno´s double said to them. "This is Serena. Despite that they are Demons, she and her unit had defected to our side." He introduced her.
The other two were Yokai - one Kitsune, the other some kind of Snake Yokai. But going by their appearance and their ki energy, neither of them seemed to be a pureblooded one. Both were probably at least half-human.
"I guess it has not worked like expected?" the Demon named Serena asked as she looked from Issei´s group to the rescued Lind Selzen and back.
"The real Devil Hunters had appeared," Kuroka-23 explained. "And this group as well." She pointed to Issei and the others. They are part of the Guardians, by what we heard the Devil Hunters saying," she mentioned. "I guess that means something to you?"
The Demon Serena nodded.
"I was just a lower ranked officer, but I heard that they are one of the groups out in the Multiverse who stand in the Empire´s way and encountered them before," she said. "Are you sure that they truly are who you think?"
"They engaged the Devil Hunters and helped us get away without any losses, that is for sure," the woman in Vali´s armor said. "If they were our enemies they could have easily gotten us all. Their presence was the only reason we had a chance to get away at all."
She now powered down and her Scale-Mail dematerialized.
To their surprise the girl also had the same silvery hair and her features were looking nearly identical to the Vali Lucifer they knew.
Just like that woman named Lind was looking nearly identical to Freed Selzen, some of them noticed.
"Vali?" Issei-01 asked surprised.
"Yes and no," she replied. "Issei..." the female Vali-double said. "I am not sure how I feel about seeing you. Since you are not really the same person, aren´t you?"
"Were we... close?" Issei-01 asked.
"You can say that," he replied. "It might seem strange to you, but we had been together for over two years. But then he, the leader of the Devil Hunters - Vali Lucifer - he killed him. His killer is pretty much a copy of myself. Goddamn.
Or better said, I am the copy of him," she corrected.
"It was the only time we have actually seen him use that strange sinister power. The same one you said is a trap," she explained
"It..."
She started to tremble.
"... It is less than two months ago. Damn it." She sobbed.
Issei´s group were all looking at her sad, but also a bit unsettled. Given who this woman seemed to be, this entire incident seemed a bit bizarre. (But on the other side bizarre was pretty much their standard by now).
Issei also send a short side-glance to their teammate Kuroka-06. She had not said anything the entire time. On the other side, what should she say? The Issei of her own world, who had been a close friend of her, maybe even more, had also been killed by the Devil Hunters. But the fact that another version of him had shared the same fate was hardly a consolation.
Just how many version of him out there met a violent death before they were even 19? he asked himself. Was this the consequence of carrying the Boosted Gear?
("It had always been a risk Issei,") Ddraig´s voice said inside his mind. ("Despite everything what happened, you were lucky in many ways.")
`I know,´ Issei replied silently.
"Who exactly are you anyway?" Raynare asked the Vali double.
"Raynare," Issei hissed.
"Don´t you see that she is close to breaking out in tears?" Irina said.
"What? You are just as curious as I am, you are just too polite to just ask," Raynare stated.
"It is okay," the Vali look-alike replied. "The question is justified. Before you asked - no Vali was not simply born as a woman in this world.
The truth is, we don´t know every detail about my origin, but I am clearly some kind of artificial human, based on the original Vali Lucifer of this reality. Similar to Lind Selzen here and her brother Freed."
She pointed to Lind, who was standing a short distance aside from her.
"Moment," Rias said incredulous. "You are telling us that Freed Selzen was some kind of artificial human?"
"Yes," the girl named Lind answered. "My brother and myself have both been created by the Church as potential soldiers against threats from the Supernatural World. That means in first line the Erebos Empire and their allies the Fallen."
"We actually know about the Church in our world having performed similar experiments some years ago," Sirzechs informed them. "So the idea of Freed Selzen being one of the results is not so unlikely."
"This information had actually been top-secret both between and outside the Three Factions," Grayfia added. "So you would not have been told of it before. But with the new peace and cooperation agreements the information had been disclosed.
But it is still not as if it had been put into the evening news, so the number of people who know is still limited," she explained.
"Freed may have been a insane maniac and a mass-murderer in our world," Rias said. "But I would have never expected this."
"I wouldn´t have either," Irina admitted. "We have all just been told that he was a fellow Exorcist who had gone crazy during training."
"Well - here he was certainly not insane," Lind replied. "My brother was a hero who I look up to."
"The Father Freed from our world was an ally and a friend of us," Shirone-23 said. "So please don´t talk like this about him."
"I see," Issei replied. "Dimensional doubles can really be quite different from each other. There is one counterpart of me, he had actually been part of the Devil Hunters for a while and I would not like to be compared to him."
"The same goes for me," Rias admitted.
"For all of us I guess," Irina said.
She remembered the strange trio of doubles of Xenovia, Asia and herself that had attacked Issei some weeks ago. And of course Raynare-17.
"For the rest. I have spend most of my childhood in some kind of underground-lab, run by... my `grandfather´ Rivezim Lucifer," she said darkly. "I was even created with the original Vali´s sacred gear. That suggests that Rivezim had most likely killed him and somehow transfered it to me. He probably thought I would be more easy to control."
Of course it had to be him, a few of them thought. They remembered how that maniac had planned to release the Trihexa Beast in several different realities.
"I am also named Vali," she said. "It is the name they gave me and the only one I ever knew. I never saw a reason to change it."
Until she met the Devil Hunters, she thought. But that would be the point of it now?
"After I escaped I joined the Resistance and met Issei. When we returned to the lab where I had been raised later, it was emptied and all evidence gone. We are not even sure who was behind my creation. The obvious suspects are of course either the Demons, the Fallen or some sub-faction of the Church.
Was I made by the Church to fight the Demons and Fallen or the other way around? Who knows?" she remarked with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
Issei and the others had silently listened to her story.
"Our home is not far from here," the Resistance member Shirone-23 told them.
They continued the rest of their way on foot and on their way exchanged more stories and information about what they knew about the Erebos Demons and the Devil Hunters.
"So you say this power-up the Devil Hunter Leader had received is actually a trap to steal his life energy and transfer it to this Super Being the Emperor is allies with?" Kuroka-23 stated.
"Yes," Issei said.
"A couple years ago we prevented a ritual where they attempted to sacrifice thousands of Devil slaves and give their life-energy to this being, to bring it back to full power," Vali explained. "It was during that mission that Serena joined us. But we also lost so many of our people on that day, many of our best."
Rias, Sirzechs and Grayfia all showed a grim look on their faces at the mention of the sacrifice of thousands of Devils. They know their people were far from perfect, but they didn´t deserve something like that. And this Devils had not even harmed anyone for centuries.
"Or they might have planned for both alternatives from the beginning," Rias speculated, "and are now concentrating on this, since the other attempt had not worked out."
"That is good possible," Shirone replied. "Back then they willingly destroyed one of their own cities just to get us."
"This was the reason why I and my men had defected at that time," Serena added.
After a few more minutes, they passed a powerful magical ward that concealed the entire area before them. Behind it they were met with the sight of a town that lied in a valley at the foot of the mountain close by.
"This is New Kuoh," Kuroka-23 told them. "We will give you one of our houses to stay for the night."
xxxxxxx
When the Devil Hunters arrived back before Lord Pazuzu´s palace, they came first across another well known but unexpected person, who was waiting at the side of the street, not far away from the buidling.
It was Raynare-17.
Thenis and her followers had just dumped her off here, after she had transported them into this universe and then instantly left her behind here to look for Issei. But not before ironically thanking her one last time for the information she got from her (by taking it from her mind).
"I have hoped to find you here," she said.
"You are back, I see," DH-Vali stated.
"And Hyoudou?" DH-Kuroka wanted to know regarding their ally Issei-13.
"Where is your crazy Master?" DH-Koneko asked her harshly.
They already had a good idea what had happened to him. The questions were just a test.
"H-he is dead," Raynare-17 answered.
"Did he use the power the Emperor had gifted to him?" DH-Vali questioned.
"Yes - he did. I sensed him power up. But then, a short time later... he was gone."
"Did someone kill him?" Koneko asked.
"I - I am not sure, maybe," she answered. "Actually his power was growing more, as if it got out of control and more and then suddenly, it just disappeared."
DH-Vali, Kuroka and Koneko exchanged a meaningful look. So far it matched what they had heard.
"That could have maybe also happened if he had been killed in the fight. What makes you think something else happened?" Kuroka asked her with mock curiousity.
All of the other Devil Hunters starred at her, even Nero seemed under his mask.
"Well..." Would they believe her if she told them what she heard from their enemies? She was a known liar and opportunist after all, she admitted to herself.
"I - I heard them talking about it," Raynare-17 replied.
"Let me make this easier for you," DH-Vali said. "We have heard a story from Issei Hyoudou and his team. What exactly did you hear them say?"
"That - that the power that the Erebos Emperor and his ally have given to you are a trick to steal your and Albion´s energy... and that it had killed Hyoudou."
"I understand," DH-Vali replied.
He looked to the others.
"I go inside and talk with Lord Pazuzu about this first," he said with a grim face.
"Like Koneko said, not without us," DH-Kuroka told him.
"Yes," Koneko said.
"So will I," Nero stated. He had also been with Vali, ever since he had saved him as he was hunted down as a Stray Devil in his own world.
His two lovers Kuroka and Koneko took place by his side.
Vali knew their relationship was not exactly healthy. More the opposite, in some ways it was twisted, perverted and at least slightly insane.
All three of them were damaged and they knew it.
But despite that Vali also knew that they both really loved him... and he loved them.
xxxxxxx
Over two years earlier
Kuroka had been the first person he and his Demon Masters had recruited to be part of his new team, after her world´s Koneko had been executed by the Devils. She and Vali had bonded over their common grief and similar (cynical) view on the world and quickly became a couple.
Nero - or Ehron, as his original name had been - when he had been hunted as a Stray and Vali saved him... and Koneko as the third, after she had been forcefully placed into the Peerage of Rias Gremory and after her real sister had been named a Stray Devil and been killed.
Like with her sister, he sympathized with Koneko (or Shirone as her original name was) and came to geniually like her.
Yet, it had been Kuroka who had insisted on including Koneko into their relationship.
Neither Kuroka or Koneko had ever fully accepted the loss of their sisters.
Sharing the same man was for them also another way for them to bound themselves together and act like they had always been a family. Like it had always been them, not their dimensional counterparts.
They both liked to pretend. It was always awkward when they talked about the `past´ as if they had shared it and it turned out there were some details different in their two versions.
Koneko had been with them for less than a week, when the two cat-girls came to him one evening and Kuroka had demanded that he fucked them both.
As Kuroka had even admitted to him at some point and put it in a very crude and perverted way: `She and Koneko were going to use his dick to bond.´
After she said this she was even apologizing to him, along with Koneko, in a very lascivious way for `using´ him like that - both sisters posing for him on their knees in erotic lingeries - and offered him even more sex later to `make´ up for it.
"Please do this for us," Kuroka asked him with a purring voice as she bowed towards him erotically. "We know this is kind of crazy, but we... we just need it."
At this point Vali actually nearly automatically asked Albion what he thought about this situation. (Albion, who was dead now, Vali thought in the present. Because he had agreed to have him killed and replaced with something else. A decision that now would possibly cost his own life too.)
But the Dragon had no real advice either.
("Just do what you want to,") he said gruffly. ("It is not my job to tell you what to do with the females in your life... no matter how crazy they are.")
xxx
A short time later Kuroka and Koneko were both naked, except for the stockings of their lingeries they had worn, Koneko white and Kuroka black ones.
Kuroka was lying with her back on a bed, with her legs spread and wrapped around the body of an with psychic energy created double of Vali those dick was thrusting inside her.
Koneko was bending over the same bed, in an angle that her head and upper body lied against Kuroka´s chest. Her right hand was holding Kuroka´s left one tightly, while Koneko´s other hand was cralling itself into the bedsheets as the real Vali was fucking her from behind.
Both were moaning and crying out as the they had sex with technically and literally the same man at the same moment.
Who in the world even came up with the idea to form a psychic double of himself just to do two women at the same time?
"Onee-chan," Koneko was moaning at one point.
"H-how does my pussy feel Big Brother Vali?" she asked. "Is it like Onee-chan´s?"
"Ah - you are even tighter than her," he replied.
"I hope you don´t mean she is better," Kuroka said with obviously played offend between the thrusts of Vali´s fake-body.
"No - just a bit different," he replied.
"Harder," Koneko moaned.
"Yes harder," Kuroka called out as well. "We need to feel it. Ah - wait a moment."
At this point Kuroka turned around and was now lying on her stomach too and Vali´s secondary body pushed into her again and was now doing her from behind like Koneko.
The two girls were once again holding each others hands.
Both `sisters´ cried out a minute later, as Vali was coming inside Koneko and his psychic double disappearing one moment later.
All three of them were breathing heavily.
As Kuroka looked up he saw that she had tears in her eyes. For a moment he thought he might have accidentally hurt her. But...
"Thank you Vali," she said, "for doing this for us."
She looked to Koneko and back to him.
"Yes - thank you Vali," Koneko said as well.
He saw that she was starting to cry as well.
"I know this sounds strange," Kuroka chuckled bitter, "because technically we have just invited you to fuck us both in a threesome. But because of it we could at least for a short moment..."
"What could you do?" Vali asked her.
"We could forget."
xxxxxxx
Now in the present
Vali moved his arms around both sisters and pulled them close to him. No bizarre sex-games, no need to deny the past, no attempts to distract themselves from the reality and horror of their twisted lives.
Just a normal loving embrace.
"You can come with us too," Dh-Koneko said to Raynare-17. "Or you can just run off from here and hope to find yet anyone else who takes you in, like the coward you are."
Raynare´s counterpart said nothing for a few moments.
"I will come with you," she finally answered.
xxx
A few minutes later they were walking though the corridor that led to Lord Pazuzu´s throne-room.
The guards in front of it let them pass, like always. Their appearance, even unannounced, was nothing unusual. It normally just meant that they had found out something important that could not wait.
Inside the Demon Lord of the Clan Pazuzu was awaiting them.
"You are back already," he stated. "I have not gotten any other reports yet. Tell me, how was the mission?"
"The mission?" DH-Vali said with a bitter smile. This man had been something like a Guardian to them for the last years, ever since the Emperor and his agents had picked them from their different worlds.
"I guess you can put it in that way or the other."
"What do you mean?" Pazuzu asked him.
"I know," Vali said. "I know about Darkseid... and about us."
"I see," Pazuzu replied. "So they have told you, the Guardians?"
Until now, Vali and the others had a small hope that they had been wrong.
Pazuzu said nothing for a few moments.
"You have betrayed me. After we had worked together for years," Vali said.
"You know as well as me who I have really sworn loyalty to," Pazuzu responded drily. "I wanted nothing of this, but the Emperor had ordered me to stay quiet."
"Did you know about the new power being a death trap the entire time?" Kuroka asked him with barely suppressed rage.
"No - I had only been told about it afterwards," Pazuzu replied.
"But you still went along with it and said nothing in two years," Koneko said.
"I admit that - yes."
"Pazuzu - I want you to bring us to the Emperor," Vali said.
"You realize that is exactly what he wants, right? To have you come to him, so that he can give your lifeforce to Darkside," Pazuzu countered.
"Yes - but if I don´t, this energy will some day activate itself, grow out of my control, consume me and suck me dry anyway, right?" Vali responded. "This is the way it is supposed to happen, isn´t it? They would not have given it to me for that reason if I could stop it by just not using the transformation."
"No - you are right," Pazuzu said. "The activa use of it´s power only speeds up the effect. Even like you are now, the energy of you - a part of Darkseid´s own essence will grow and draw your life-energy out of you."
"So I have no choice, right? If I want to have a chance to live, I have to go to the Emperor and convince him to take only a part of my energy. They have already got Hyoudou, so just taking most of my power, so that I am still able to live should be enough, right? After... I have served my purpose, I and the others could just leave."
Pazuzu knew that Vali was lying. He didn´t want to go to the Emperor to convince him to take only so much energy that he could survive, he wanted to assassinate him.
But he would bring them to him anyway. The Emperor wanted to see Vali for his energy, Vali for his revenge. He would fulfill both their wishes...
... and see who would win.
xxxxxxx
Resistance Settlement - New Kuoh
Issei-01 and the others had moved in a house in the town for the night. As it turned out it was Shirone´s, who was spending the night in her sister´s home.
New Kuoh was despite the name very different from their hometown, that had been destroyed a long time ago in this world.
For one it was populated by members of several species - humans, different Yokai races, fled Devils, even one or two Vampires.
And with Serena and her team here also three Demons.
Most inhabitants were also part of the Resistance, with their military base just a few kilometers aside from the town itself.
A few minutes after they arrived, they had met another version of Sona. She however didn´t recognize Rias when she saw her. As they also found out, her sister Serafall was one of the people killed during the battle two years ago they had mentioned, as well as this world´s Xenovia and several others.
When they sat down inside the house, Issei´s eyes fell once more on Raynare´s still very erotic dress. His eyes were gliding over every part of her body.
And to Rias, who was also looking beautiful in the clothes she was wearing as part of her `disguise´.
And to Irina, who was cute like always, even camouflaged as a Demon Warrior.
He had even intended to create a few psychic copies of himself, so that he could do all three of them at the same time.
But...
"Raynare," he said, "as I told you before, I wanted to have sex with you three for the entire night. It is just, after hearing all that stories from the Sona, Kuroka and this female Vali from this world... I also remember what the Demons have done in the last world they attacked and what they will do in the next..."
Which could be their world. He didn´t need to say this loud.
"... I am just not longer in the mood," he said deflated.
"Don´t worry," Raynare-01 replied, "neither am I."
"The same with me," Rias said flatly.
She had spend the last couple days in a reality where her people were enslaved and as it looked massacred in the thousands whenever it suited their `Masters´.
"Yeah," Irina agreed as well. "This is just not the time."
"Tomorow then?" Rias said, "maybe."
"Yes-... maybe," Issei replied.
xxxxxxx
Imperial Palace of the Erebos Empire - a few kilometers outside of this world´s Kyoto
Vali and the other Devil Hunters were now standing, along with Lord Pazuzu who had transported them here, in front of the Erebos Emperor Dagon.
They were surrounded by a dozen guards. All of them had at least the power of High Class beings.
Beside the Emperor, who was sitting on his throne, however stood Lady Gabriel.
xxx
In this world it had been Gabriel instead of Azazel, who had been the leader of the Grigory - also known as The Watchers - thousands of years ago.
And like in most other universes, all members of them fell and became Fallen Angels, while this reality´s Azazel had staid an Seraph of Heaven.
Since this Gabriel however fell from lust alone, this version of the Grigory Faction lacked the focus on inventation and Sacred Gears that others had under Azazel´s influence.
xxx
As the Leader of the Fallen Angels, Gabriel was the most important ally of the Emperor Dagon (beside Darkseid) and also one of his mistresses.
Who however knew one of her still angelic counterparts would think that this woman was a completely different person.
She was wearing a black leather dress that was not looking much different from Raynare´s old outfit, high heeled shows and had currently all twelve of her black wings materialized as she was practically posing both prideful and suggestive next to the Emperor.
Lust might have been the original reason why she fell, but both pride and cruelty followed later.
"You have asked for an audience Pazuzu?" the Emperor stated. "What do you want?"
"They have found out," Pazuzu replied. "They know about the dark energy."
"I understand." The Emperor turned to Vali.
"And now that you know the truth, what will you do?" he questioned. "You realize there is nothing that you can do to stop the process? You belonged to him and to me with body and soul from the moment you accepted the new power.
All the time he had already taken the lifeforce of your Dragon Albion and your own that it is mixed with slowly converted it into his own," the Emperor explained coldly. "Sooner or later he will take all of you and draw it out of your body. And if you try to fight us, it will only speed up the process."
"I want to ask you for a compromise," Vali stated.
"A compromise?"
"Just take as much energy from me that I can still life. Since you already have Hyoudou´s it should be enough to restore you anyway. Am I right... Darkseid?" he called into the room.
He was not only speaking to the Emperor now.
"I and my team will simply leave in peace and me, Kuroka and Koneko will settle down together somewhere."
"Why would we agree to this?" Emperor Dagon asked.
"Because otherwise we will just turn around and leave and nobody of you will manage to stop us," Vali said.
"Oh - believe me boy, we will," Gabriel said now to him and made one step forward. "You are a fool if you think you can just flee from this palace after you cam in."
"And if we do?" Vali asked. "If we truly make it out of here, we will just disappear. Yes - sooner or later your energy will consume me. But how long will that be if I just lay low and don´t fight? Years? Decades? Are you willing to wait so long if you don´t have to?"
"Wait." A voice halled through the hall. It was not the Erebos Emperor´s. It was Darkseid.
The Emperor however nodded.
"We accept," he said.
"Okay," Vali responded. "Stay back," he said to the other Devil Hunters, before he took two steps closer to the Emperor.
Vali started to power up. First in his Balance Breaker Form, with his Scale Armor forming around him, then the dark form he had been given by the Emperor and Darkseid, his armor now turning dark and becoming more monstrous looking.
"I guess that means we have a deal?" he told the Emperor.
"We have," he replied and was with the bodiless spirit of Darkseid´s help, starting to draw the energy out of his body. But having no intention to follow the agreement.
If this was over Vali and his team would only be a few dangerous loose ends. He would take all of his life-energy. But at the time the fool realized that it would be too late for him, he thought.
xxxxxxx
New Kuoh
The hidden town where Issei and his group were staying was meanwhile getting another set of visitors.
Thenis and her followers had arrived.
They had traced Issei´s position before he had even passed the wards around the place called New Kuoh.
Now they decided to move and tore exactly these wards down.
Both Issei and his allies and the fighters of the Resistance noticed instantly the incredible powerful group of newcomers that just appeared right in front of the town´s border.
Thenis had however left most of the followers who were currently round her behind and send them to different tasks somewhere else.
Instead she had only taken Kara and three other SHA Warriors with her - two men and another woman. Three more of the Dark Order´s genetically engineered army of Super Humans.
This three were elite-warriors - like Kara rivalling at least Ultimate Class Beings. The SHA were trained from their creation on, loyal and fanatical with no end, willing to die. The only way the SHA would ever turn on one of their Masters were if they turned out unworthy of their position.
Something that she didn´t intend to be... never again.
Issei and the others came running out of the house, just like hundreds of Resistence fighters and also civilians from the other buildings.
The Resistance Members and other natives saw only a group of strangers, with a woman in a black cloak leading them.
But Issei and his teammates recognized her instantly.
"Thenis," he said, "You are not supposed to be here. According to the armistace between you and the Guardians you are not to enter any universe of this Cluster."
She smiled at him.
"As I have already told your teammates back in your home-universe, things have changed. We have decided to forego this agreement. But don´t worry, I don´t intend to fight you. At least not today."
They realized that Kara was with the newcomers, who had before been locked up in their world.
"What have you done?" Sirzechs asked her angrily.
"Oh nothing too bad. I just left behind a few surprises in your world. But nothing that you will not be able to deal with...
... If you ever return," she added.
"You said you don´t want to fight?" Rias asked her, "so why are you here?"
"Because I want to over you my help," she said in a `friendly´ tone.
They all looked at each other flabbergasted for a short moment.
"Are you joking?" Irina exclaimed.
"Ahm - Issei, Sirzechs-dono - who is this woman?" the female Vali asked them.
"The great threats out there we have mentioned," Raynare-01 said, "she and her allies are one of them."
"What do you mean, helping us?" Issei asked Thenis.
"You will need it soon," she replied. "Of course in return you - all of you - would have to do something for me."
"And what?" Raynare asked.
"Considering if you not maybe... want to join us," Thenis stated.
"What?" Rias called out.
"This is insane," Grayfia commented.
"What are you playing at?" Sirzech asked. "You must know none of us would willingly join you."
"Not without a good reason, you mean," Thenis replied. "You might have one very soon. You see - you are not the only ones I came here to make an offer."
xxxxxxx
Erebos Palace
The Emperor had started to draw more power out of Vali´s body.
Soon it would be enough to resurrect Darkseid with his full power...in his own body.
But he had no intention to stop. Vali Lucifer, at least this version of him and his few friends, would die here before he could do anything to disturb his plans again. Just to make sure.
But suddenly... Vali powered up even more.
("Divide Divide Divide.") It was Albion´s technique. Who was technically not longer alive. But having the Dividing Gear, the knowledge and Albion´s energy, Vali could still use it.
And now he would use it to avenge his death, to kill at least one of the people responsible for it - either the Emperor or himself.
The Divine Dividing was not able to truly absorb half of Emperor´s power every time like it was supposed to. He was just too powerful and his ability to resist too high.
But it managed to rob him of some of his strength and give it back to Vali.
And with everything he had now, Vali charged forward.
He materialized the version of the Sword Ascalon that he had aquired during his dimension-travels in his hand and struck.
The Emperor, weakened and taken by surprise by the move, tried to evade it, but it was too late.
The blade pierced through his chest.
The effect of the holy power was less than it was on the Demon´s halfblood descandants the Devils, who had no natural counter to it, but it was still recognizable... and painful.
Not that it mattered much, since the blade hit his vital organs and Vali channelled his power into it, what caused even more internal damage.
Everyone around was starring at what just happened.
For a moment the Emperor was looking at Vali in complete shock.
Everyone around was watching in shock and in a few cases morbid fascination.
"Don´t even think about it bitch," Kuroka said to Gabriel, who looked for a second as if she wanted to move forward.
But when the moment of surprise had passed, the deadly wounded Demon Emperor suddenly let out a terrible scream... and in the same moment his entire body suddenly started to disintigrate, being consumed by the dark energy that was flowing through both Vali and him.
"No," Vali whispered as he realized what was happening.
The flow of the energy was being reversed. The dark energy that was Darkseid´s essence, all of it... and even the soul of the Demon Emperor, were now flowing into his body.
His Scale Armor was now turning into an even darker black and reforming itself to lay closer and tighter on his body. His Dragon-wings grew smaller.
All in all he looked more like a being made of steel or rock, instead of a man wearing armor.
His eyes were lighting up in a deep crimson red.
His power was growing and growing until he surpassed nearly every being who ever walked this world.
The being who just came into existence let out another horrible scream as it fully realized what just happened to it... and the palast and the entire planet was shaking around him.
He was not longer just Vali Lucifer - he was Vali and he was Darkseid.
He looked around to... his allies, his followers?
But then he sensed something else and teleported away, leaving them behind.
xxxxxxx
New Kuoh
As Thenis and the others were facing still each other, an earthquake suddenly ripped through the entire region.
"He has sensed us," Thenis said matter of factly.
"What?" Issei asked. But he suspected who `he´ must be.
The next moment they saw the dark armored being who had suddenly teleported into the town right in front of them.
Issei saw the newcomer... and he froze in terror.
With the exception of Ophis and Great Red he had never met a being this powerful and terrifying face to face. Only that neither of the two Dragon Gods had such an malicious and dark aura. Maybe Darien, Faust or Spectre would have a chance. He knew he had never truly seen their full power.
But Issei-01 was sure of one thing... he had not.
What was worse, it was the same presence he had encountered when Issei-13 died, only this time in flesh and blood. So there was no doubt who it had to be.
"Are you sure that you don´t want my help?" Thenis asked him tauntingly.
He didn´t answer.
"I am glad to see you - old comrade," she turned to the new arrival.
"You - Thenis," he addressed her.
"Vali?" Issei said quietly.
But his voice was somehow distorted, as if two people were speaking at the same time.
"As I see you have managed to restore yourself," she said. "Given that we would offer you a chance to return to us and to take the position of one of the Lords once again."
"After you had abandoned me for all this time?" Vali/Darkseid asked.
"It was you who turned away from us first," she reminded him. "It was you who had abandone our plans and tried to follow his own."
"That is true," Vali/Darkseid admitted. "But I think I will continue to follow my own."
"I see. In that case we just need to stay out of each other´s way, right?" she said.
"Yes. But this this planet here, all of it, is mine," Darkseid stated.
Suddenly he send out a telepathic call, out to the entire Earth, maybe even beyond it.
Issei realized what it had to be.
"Raynare, Rias, Irina - you must help me," he said, "You and Grayfia too," he told Sirzechs.
He wrapped his arms around Raynare and Rias and combined their telepathic abilities with his own.
"Let me use some of your powers," he said to the others.
("Anti-Transfer,") Ddraig´s voice halled through the air.
Issei send a telepathic call on his own, boosted by their combined power, that swept over the entire planet and even Heaven and the Underworld, cancelling out Darkseid´s call and placed it into the mind and subconsciousness of every living being.
It was the same message Darien had placed into his subconsciousness a few days ago, as a last resort, in case he actually had to face this being- Life Equation, he remembered.
"You," Vali/Darkseid now turned around to them, "you will suffer for this."
The creature made a gesture and instantly nearly half of the buildings in the town were disintigrated by an energy wave, together with thousands of citizens.
Thenis and her group of SHA Warriors were meanwhile moving further away from the town and just watching silently. If that bitch had not destroyed the wards, Darkseid would not have found them, or at least not a quickly, all of them realized.
But before any of them could do anything else, Darkside/Vali fired a red beam of concentrated energy out of his eyes - Omega Beams, Issei remembered what he had been told. Simply said another form of Destruction Energy, but in many ways even more deadly.
The single blast divided itself into a dozen others and targeted several more inhabitants of New Kuoh, without making difference between fighters and civilians.
Sirzechs and Rias fired several Destruction-blasts and Raynare several lightbeams to intercept and stop the Omega Beams.
Raynare´s lightbeams however were simply being disintigrated, while the Gremory sibling´s Destruction Energy and the Omega Beams literally erased each other from existence, with Sirzechs and Rias however needing far more energy than Darkseid.
Issei powered up and used his powers to literally remove two of the Omega Beams from their universe and send them into the Dimensional Gap.
Raynare, having seen that her lightbeams were useless did a similar thing with another one by simply teleporting it into Gap.
Should Great Red or Ophis have a problem with the Omega Beams, they should just come here and do something.
Together they actually managed to stop most of them. But the remaining ones actually hit their targets and a few people ceased to exist.
"We have to flee," Sirzechs said to them. It was something they all had already realized.
Darkside/Vali however just raised his right arm and everywhere around them hundreds of more Omega Beams appeared, coming from all directions and reigning down on the citizens.
Issei formed a large shield around them all, closely followed by Sirzechs, Grayfia and Raynare, who formed additional ones and even a magical ward around them all to back Issei´s barrier up.
They saw Sona´s counterpart being hit by one of them. From one moment to the other this world´s version of Sona Sitri ceased to exist.
One other one hit the Snake Yokai they had met earlier, Lind Sellzen, another an old human woman they didn´t know, then one a little girl with Kitsune ears, two others Serena´s two teammates and more and more...
One even hit one of Thenis SHA Warriors who had not moved far enough away from the town.
But the other three were just looking at her worldlessly for a few seconds, until he finally said: "Go." and gave them permission to teleport away.
After just a few seconds after the massacre started, it was all over... they were all gone.
Two of the Beams were also directed at them and hit the supernatural barriers they had errected. But they were barely holding them back. Instead the barriers and wards themselves seemed to slowly be consumed by the Omega Beams.
The only one from the people of New Kuoh still alive were the sisters Kuroka and Koneko-23, Female Vali, the Demon Serena and Akeno-23.
They were all watching as the Omega Beams slowly burned through their last defense barriers.
"Maybe we can destroy these Beams," Raynare suggested, "if we concentrate our power to manipulate reality."
"Even then we might not be able to beat this being," Issei replied. "We need to get out of here."
He opened a dimensional portal and they all just let themselves fall through it.
xxxxxxx
A moment later they all reappeared in another world on an open valley.
Issei had send them all to the bizarre version of Earth where the dimensional limit between Earth and the Underworld had been broken that they had discovered a few days ago and used as an transfer point.
They all looked shocked and terrified. Some of them were breathing heavily.
The only five survivors of New Kuoh however were nothing else but devastated. They had lost everything in just a few minutes.
"So that is what they had been planning all along," Kuroka-23 said.
"That monster," Female Vali said. "It was not the Emperor who was his host. It was my double."
"Maybe they had changed the plan," Akeno-23 suggested. "Whatever."
"Who cares," Shirone-23 called out. "They are all dead, everybody. We were completely helpless."
"I know," Kuroka-23 replied.
She put her arms around her sister and draw her into an embrace.
"I am sorry Onee-san, I was trying to be brave, but I just can not."
"You don´t need to." Kuroka draw her closer to her. "I was just as terrified like you."
The ones standing closes could see that Kuroka-23 was actually shaking. She embraced her sister even tighter, as if she was scared to let go of her.
"I promise, we will..."
In this moment happened something else that nobody of them would have suspected.
Suddenly a highly concentrated telekinetic attack hot the two sisters and like a blade literally cut their bodies apart at the height of their chests.
In the last short moment of their lives, they looked at each other as their bodies had been cut apart, barely registering what had happened.
As in the next one an similar short and similar powerful blast of energy burned and disintigrated what was left of them before they even hit the ground.
They all looked around to the source of the attack.
It was Thenis. She had followed them.
"I told you Issei Hyoudou, many people will die if your don´t except," she said to him.
Well, this chapter is is one of the most important one so far and pretty much the beginning of the final of the Erebos/Devil Hunter/Darkseid storyline.
This chapter has a pretty dark/bad ending this time.