A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.
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Chapter 35: Fall Of Heroes
Greyfia looked at the hero faction members encased in ice. Each of them was defeated. Out of all the heroes she had fought, she had killed one or two.
The silver-haired she-devil thought it was funny that humans thought they could win against a devil with more battle experience than all of them combined, not to mention her raw might surpassing theirs several-fold.
Greyfia then had to admit that they put up a good fight, but in the end, they didn't stand a chance against her, considering one of the powers she managed to copy with her devil gear.
Flashback Scene Ahead
Greyfia's clones vs Jeanne
"I will not be defeated by you, devil. I, Jeanne d'Arc, will purify you," said the young woman whom the three clones of Greyfia were battling. But she, the devil, knew that this was Jeanne, but the spirit that resided inside her, the original Jeanne d'Arc.
"So you finally decide to come out," a clone said to the Saint who was leaking holy magic. The clones had noticed the spirit hidden deep inside Jeanne and pushed her to the limit to draw it out.
"You unholy beings, get ready to burn," The Saint declared as the spear she had in her hand was consumed by holy fire.
The clones found it funny that Jeanne would use fire to attack since she was burned at the stake in her first life.
The three clones decided to test the flames by creating a wave of ice and sending it at the Saint. The clones watched the ice melt as soon as it came into contact with the holy flames.
The Greyfia clones were both surprised and not at the same time. They didn't expect human flames to melt their ice magic, but then again, it is holy fire magic, the opposite and weakness of her ice magic.
The clones looked at one another and then began to use long-range magic attacks to keep Jeanne at a distance. The Saint couldn't get close to the clones, so she used her sacred gear to fire holy swords all around the battlefield.
The clones were confused about what the Saint did because none of the swords were even aimed at them, but they soon got their answer when the sword started to glow and exploded.
The explosion left behind a cloud of dust and golden particles mixed in. Greyfia clones instantly guessed what the Saint planned.
Jeanne knew that she couldn't hit the clones directly, so she planned to do so indirectly by spreading the holy power inside the sword in the air. If a devil breathes it in, they will die.
"Nice try, Saint, but we will not fall so easily," a clone said, and used wind magic to force the holy energy in the air to disperse.
"I didn't think you would believe," Jeanne said as she appeared behind the clones, her body covered in holy fire, her spear ready to slay the clones.
Greyfia clones were surprised by her appearance behind them. Jeanne must have used the dust kicked up by her first attack as a smoke screen, but it's the holy energy in the air that really confused the clones' ability to sense the Saint.
It was a good plan; it blinded the clones and made it possible to launch a surprise attack on them. However, the Saint didn't expect one of the clones to sacrifice herself by taking Jeanne's spear to the gut and tackling her flaming body away from the other two clones.
"That almost got us," one of the two remaining clones stated as they watched the third clone disappear. "We underestimated her," she added.
"Yes, we have, but now she has our full attention," the second clone said in a serious voice. "It would seem that she thinks she won just because she took down one of us."
The clone stated this as it saw Jeanne's smug face filled with confidence, but the smile soon left when she lost trace of the clones. It was as if they had just vanished into thin air.
Jeanne felt a pain in her arm and before she could look to see what happened, her head was snapped back from a blow she didn't see where it came from.
It took a second for Jeanne to realize that the clones were attacking her at high speeds that her eyes couldn't keep up with. In response, she released holy flames, covering her body in fire.
The clones were ready for that this time and created demonic ice that was purple in color. It was the next level in their ice magic, able to combat the holy flames of the Saint.
The flames and ice came into contact, creating a massive explosion. The opposing elements clashed, canceling each other out.
Now without the protection that the flames provided, the clones started to attack Jeanne without mercy. Magic attacks and fists rained down on the Saint who tried to protect herself with her sacred gear, creating a holy sword all around her. But the clones ignored them and smashed through the blades as if they weren't there.
As the fight progressed, Jeanne started to see the difference in skill and power between herself and the devil. It was like a kitten trying to fight a lion, but she refused to just give up.
Jeanne made her holy sword explode between herself and the clones to create some distance between herself and her enemies.
"I will not lose to the likes of you, devil. I will put all my power into this attack and end this once and for all," Jeanne declared with renewed determination.
The Saint summoned a single holy sword. She focused on making it sharp, filling it with her holy magic to the point that it was glowing a bright white aura.
"Come," the two remaining clones said as one as they started to channel their magic, making their surroundings freeze from their sheer presence.
Jeanne charged at the two clones with her sword over her head, intent to clash them in two. That was her plan, but when she was in striking distance, she realized something was off. It felt like time stopped for a second, then she felt intense pain as her hands were severed from her wrists. The Saint didn't even see what happened. Her last conscious thought, Jeanne d'Arc cursed the entire devil race, feeling like they always ruined her life.
"She was not half bad," one of the clones said as they froze Jeanne's wrist, where her hands used to be, to stop her blood loss. "She would make a great addition to the extra demon faction once she is broken in."
"I agree, she would make a good gift to our husband or maybe Mephisto if he still has his obsession over her," the other clones said as she thought over how Mephisto had tried to get the original Jeanne d'Arc to join him but was rejected. She must have been seen by someone talking with him, resulting in her execution because of the church's zero tolerance for those who associate with devils.
Greyfia's clones vs Heracles
The clones were avoiding the powerful attack of the now 12-foot-tall hero. He looked more monstrous now, with his muscles ripping his clothes. His pants were the only thing that remained.
"Time to die, bitches!" Heracles exclaimed as he landed a punch on one of the clones. The power of the punch, combined with the explosive ability of his sacred gear, destroyed the area. The clone was forced to dispel.
The two remaining clones looked at what had happened in surprise. Heracles was now faster, stronger, and had a resistance to magic attacks.
The clones didn't expect Heracles would be the first to destroy one of them, even though he is the descendant of one of the world's most famous demigods.
Heracles' strength and speed were not much of an issue for the two clones, as they had fought stronger and faster opponents. However, the hero's durability and magic resistance were the real problem.
"It seems that we will have to use physical attacks or high-level magic to tame this beast," one of the clones stated out loud, making Heracles more enraged at being called a beast.
"I will show you who is a beast after I destroy you two. I will fuck the original until she begs me to end her," Heracles exclaimed with a look of insanity in his eyes.
"Sigh, so you are just as much of a rapist pig as your limp dick ancestors," the other clone said with a look of disappointment to the descendant of Zeus, "and just as arrogant."
"Hey sis, let's beat this weakling without magic. It will break his pride and show him how outmatched he truly is," the first clone who spoke said, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "I say we break every bone in his body for daring to even imagine raping us."
"I agree, let's put this human in his place," the clone responded as a white aura surrounded them. It was their touki.
Touki was a power that any living being could acquire with intense training. Naruto had made sure that each of his wives could use it in case they ever found themselves in a situation where they couldn't use magic.
The power increases their strength, speed, and durability. With it, they can damage beings internally with just a touch.
"Bring it on, I will show you the power of a god," Heracles roared as he started to release lightning from all over his body.
The two clones blurred into action and assaulted the descendant of Zeus with touki-enhanced punches and kicks. Heracles' lightning-covered body reduced some of the damage, but his internal organs were still injured by every blow the clones landed.
To any onlooker, that battle looks like craters and explosions were just appearing on the battlefield. It would seem like a thunderstorm and an erupting volcano were happening in the same area at the same time.
"Why won't you bitches just die already?" Heracles screamed in frustration, even when he landed an attack, the clones would just take it like it was nothing and continue assaulting him.
"Why would we let ourselves be killed by someone so much weaker than us?" a clone answered, even as she was hit with an exploding fist, sending her back several feet. Before she righted herself and rejoined the battle, she added, "You should give up before we kill you by accident."
Heracles was about to curse the clone, but the other clone slipped through his guard and landed a powerful blow that pierced through his lightning armor into his stomach.
The hero spit up blood and fell to his knees. He desperately tried to get back up, but that single blow felt like it did more damage within him than any attack he'd taken from anyone to date.
The clones watched as Heracles lost consciousness. The attack the clone used was designed to not only damage the body but the spirit as well. Heracles's organs should be badly damaged, and his spirit should have taken even more damage.
Heracles' body started to go back to normal, with him bleeding from his stomach, mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. There was no chance the hero would be able to continue fighting; their battle was over.
They clones pouted as they watched the defeated hero they thought Heracles would have been able to take one serious attack from them but in the end he crumbled faster than wet paper they guess all that size he gained was for show, in the end they didn't get the chance to keep their promise and break all of his bones in the descendant of Zeus's body.
Greyfia's clones vs Siegfried
Siegfried in his Asura transformed state was a pain to deal with for the three clones of Greyfia, who thought simultaneously. He was stronger, faster, and swung his swords around with the skill of a swordsman.
It was annoying to have to block sword attacks that turned out to be fakes, and his extra arms tried to cut me into pieces. The clones barely escaped some rather nasty cuts by a hair's breadth multiple times.
"Is that all that you have now?" Siegfried shouted as the clones continued to dodge or block his attacks. "I am willing to burn all of my life force away for this fight, and you are just going to defend against me? Have you no pride as a devil?"
The three clones looked at each other before bursting out in laughter, making Siegfried feel enraged at their behavior and his willingness to put his life on the line to win this battle.
"We do have pride; we are, after all, devils. But you forget this is a battle to the death. Whoever is alive at the end wins. Therefore, all we have to do is wait for your life force to run out, and it's our victory," a clone explained, as if she were talking to a dumb kid. "But I have to admit, out of all the heroes we face, you have the most tenacity."
Siegfried was done talking. He didn't have much time left, as his life was being used up in this form. So, if he wanted to love, he had to act fast.
The hero swung his blade at the direction of a clone closest to him and a slash attack was launched from the tip of the sword straight at the clone.
The three clones attacked the six-armed human with the same intensity as he did them, over and over. Blades of different elements clashed with demon swords.
Greyfia clones realize almost immediately that Siegfried was slowly losing power; more and more of his attacks felt like they had no strength behind them.
"So it seems that you don't have much time left," a clone stated, jumping back with the two other clones to talk with the human, "You should give up. You are going to die if you continue to fight."
"You devils with your long life spans wouldn't understand why I can't give up. I knew that the moment I was created, I wouldn't live long, so I must make the short time I have meaningful," Siegfried shouted as he released five of his six demon swords. "I believe in Cao Cao's dream and will give my life to see it come true. Now, prepare yourselves, Gram. Let's show them our power."
Gram in Siegfried handed responded to his will and glowed bright red. In an instant, a red beam exploded out of it, destroying the area where the clones stood.
Siegfried was dead before he could hit the ground; his last attack used up all his remaining life, which was not a lot to begin with. The clones all emerged from the smoke that the attack kicked up, unharmed.
Greyfia's clones vs Georg
Balance Break
Georg now had a smug look on his face as he took the three clones into his balance break dimension to create a trap, this power basically created a dimension that traps the enemy without a way for them to escape.
"Impressive, we can't feel the presence of the other clones or even the original," a clone said as she looked around the barrier surrounding them. "This must be a type of pocket dimension, cut off from the regular world."
"Yes, you are right, but there is so much more to my power," Georg said with a wide grin. "I can't be defeated while I am in this space."
"You are quite sure of your victory, even though, from what I can see, the most you can do is abandon us in this dimension and run with your tail between your legs. But you should know that we will find a way out of here, or an ally will get us out, so all this is for nothing," a clone said in a bored tone, expecting more from a balance break of a Longinus.
"I will show your bitches not to underestimate me," Georg exclaimed in rage at simple clones taking his power lightly. "Now prepare to meet your maker."
Multiple magical attacks were fired at the three clones who were trying to dodge. But the attacks disappeared as soon as they appeared. Then, without warning, magical lightning, fire, ice, and wind attacks rained down on their bodies. It was only due to their instincts that they were able to reinforce their bodies at the last moment.
"Now you see, sluts, this is what makes my balance break so deadly. All of my attacks have a 100 percent chance of hitting my enemy," Georg said with a proud look on his face. "In here, I am invincible."
The clones of Greyfia were not too badly injured; their clothes had some tears, and they had some cuts and bruises, but otherwise, they looked like nothing happened.
"I take back what I said earlier; your ability is useful in the right hands, but I don't think that yours is it," a clone stated, "I think your sacred gear would serve the extra demon faction better."
Georg got a shiver up his spine at the clone's words, and to be safe, he activated his sacred gear's other ability and turned his body to mist, which saved his life. From behind, a clone appeared and cut his head from his shoulders.
Georg didn't die from the attack; his head turned into mist and reappeared on his body. Then, Georg teleported away from the clones.
The hero realized that his magical attacks were not working mostly because the clones had some resistance to begin with from magical attacks that were not holy in nature, so he decided to switch tactics.
"Fine, devil, if my magic won't kill you, I will use my sacred gear to end you here and now," Georg said in a confident voice. "Here is my strongest attack: Dimension Collapse."
"I get we will respond to your resolve," a clone replied as the three copies of Greyfia brought their right hands forward, darkness began to form and condense and formed into a pitch black orb of magical power that looked like it sucked everything that came into contact with it, even light, "super black hole."
The two attacks took time to prepare. George's attack looked like a ball of mist that his sacred gear emits, and the clone's attack looked like a black hole. It took seconds for them to launch their attacks into each other, and the result was a tear in the dimension's space.
The two attacks try to consume each other. One is composed of Dimensional energy, and the other is made up of the power of darkness that sucks everything in and crushes it to nothingness.
The dimensional space that the balance broke created started to come apart from the sheer power that the two attacks gave off until the space shattered and the battling pair was back in the Khaos Brigade headquarters.
The two attacks seem to have destroyed the dimension the balance break created and vanished along with the artificial space, leaving Georg and the clones staring at each other once again.
"Tsk, even that didn't work," Georg stated in frustration, his strongest move being countered so easily. "But at least you can harm me when I am in mist form."
The hero smirked as he watched the clones try to attack him in close-range combat, something he was admittedly weak in. However, thanks to his sacred gear's ability to turn him intangible, it took care of his one weakness.
Georg started to prepare some magic attacks to destroy the area he was standing on right after the clone's attack passed through him.
"Come and get me, you stupid bitches," Georg said arrogantly with a smirk. But that smirk was wiped off his face as soon as one of the clones grabbed him by the neck, surprising him. "What? How could this be?" he exclaimed.
He tried to access his sacred gear to get away, but he was shocked that he couldn't use it. That was when the two other clones started raining blows on his soft human body, breaking bones.
Georg screamed in agony as he felt the pain of each blow hammer into his body. He felt like he was going to die, so the hero used the magic attack he prepared earlier, not caring about the injuries that he too would suffer from being caught in the explosion below them.
The explosion magic caught the three clones and Georg. All three were hurt, but the human got the worst of it. Both of the hero's legs were gone, and the hero was knocked unconscious from the pain and shock of losing his legs and the damage the copies of Greyfia did to him.
"He is more durable than I thought," one of the clones that was beating George said, "While I was not hitting him with all my strength, I was hitting hard enough to kill a regular human ten times over."
"He has a good handle on his sacred gear power, but without it, he loses more than half his strength," another clone said, "I was impressed with the power his gear has."
"But in the end, he loses," the third clone stated as she used her power to stop Georg from bleeding out. "Let's go watch the fight of the original. It's every day that you witness the true Longinus in battle."
Greyfia vs Cao Cao
Polar Night Longinus Chakravartin: Parinayakaratana
Greyfia watched as Cao Cao pointed the tip of his spear in her direction, a powerful holy energy started to form in the shape of a small ball.
"Now be gone from my sight," Cao Cao released the attack in the form of a massive beam of holy energy that was capable of erasing thousands of devils in one blow.
Greyfia instinctively knew that if she got hit with that it might not kill her, but she would be badly injured. That was also assuming she didn't put up a strong enough defense.
Greyfia used her ice magic to erect several ice walls between herself and Cao Cao, blocking his vision of her. The hero didn't care what the silver-haired devil did; it would be useless. He let loose his attack with such power that he was flung back.
The attack of holy energy of the highest degree passed through the ice walls as if they weren't there, before exploding and creating a bright light that blinded everyone close to the battle.
"I know that you are still alive come out so we can finish ," Cao Cao called into the smoke.
"Your attack wasn't bad, but it would only work if it hits," Greyfia emerged from Cao Cao's shadow, "and from what I can tell, it has too many restrictions and uses too much of your energy."
Cao Cao tried to take Greyfia's head off with his spear, but to his surprise, she blocked the attack with her hand easily.
The hero looked closely at Greyfia's hand and noticed that she was covering it with an aura of touki, protecting herself from the harmful effects of the holy energy.
"That may be the devil, but I don't need it to defeat the likes of you," Cao Cao said as he made the holy spear release a flash of holy power, making Greyfia let it go. "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."
Greyfia tilted her head to the side and watched as Cao Cao took a stance and started to chant. She guessed that he was trying to use Trust Idea, his sacred gear's strongest ability.
The silver-haired devil noted that Cao Cao was keeping an eye on her, so she wouldn't attack him to stop his chant before he was done. That was smart, but he was overlooking one thing.
One of her clones got behind Cao Cao and rammed a blade of ice into his heart while covering his mouth to stop him before he could activate Trust Idea. Before the hero could die, the original Greyfia summoned a gauntlet on her right hand and was in front of Cao Cao in an instant.
The gauntlet on her hand glowed brightly as she shoved her hand into Cao Cao's stomach and pulled out a ball of light. The true Longinus vanished into the ball, then Greyfia summoned a box with seals all over it and placed the light inside it before closing it tightly.
With the true Longinus secured, she sent it back to the underworld for safe keeping. Now that Cao Cao is truly dead, her part in this war is over.
Fast Forward
The clones gathered all the members of the Hero Faction from this battle and encased them all in ice. It wouldn't kill them, but it would keep them from waking up and causing trouble.
The real Greyfia watched her clones dispelling themselves after they were finished with their tasks. She got all the memories of their battle and was impressed that the heroes had that much potential. They would be a great addition to the extra demon faction.
Flashback Scene End
It was a pity that Siegfried died. He had used up all his life force fighting her clones. From the memories of her clones, he had earned a small amount of her respect for his fighting spirit and strong will.
Then she looked at the lifeless crystallized body of Cao Cao. She killed him because, frankly, his sacred gear was too dangerous for devils, so she removed it as a threat. Before Cao Cao breathed his final breath, she removed his sacred gear and sealed it away before teleporting it to a vault in her office in the Extra Demon Faction base.
Jeanne, Heracles, and Georg are still alive. They will be reincarnated along with Siegfried to become devils. She knew that Georg and Heracles would be the most resistant to the idea of being devils, but they will be broken and remade to be the perfect servants for whoever takes them as a peerage member.
Greyfia could already see a lot of female devils lining up to breed with Heracles to have the blood of Zeus in their clans.
Some will want to sleep with George because of his magical talent and sacred gear. They will hope that his best qualities pass on to their children, but if not, they would lose interest in him.
Siegfried would probably catch the least amount of interest from she-devils in the underworld because while he is strong, it is mostly due to his ability to use demonic swords, something most devils can do, and his Sacred Gear is not particularly special, as it is one of the most common Sacred Gears.
Jeanne is another matter; she is able to naturally use holy swords. Greyfia can almost see all devil clan lining up to breed her ability in their clans. Then there is the issue of Mephisto having tried to tempt the original Jeanne d'Arc years ago and failed, which led to her being burned alive. Greyfia didn't know if Mephisto had any unresolved feelings for the Saint, so she will ask him after the war and then make a decision on who gets her in their peerage.
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A/N: Next chapter the battle continues.
A/N: Check out my Pa-treon under SaintGreenz for early access and exclusive content.