章 230: Sacrifice

Megicula's dead... The twins are dead... Vanica's dead... Dante's... Well who cares about that fraud.

All that's left is-

"ZENONNNNN!!!"

*FWOOSH!!*

Brushing past all the bone whips and rushing at him with Wind and Spatial magic at their beck and call, bleeding and totally exhausted, both Yuno and Langris put everything they had on the line in order to reach him.

Why?...

FWIPP-FWIPP-FWIPP!!

Why do you continue to fight?...

"WE'RE NOT DONE YET!!" Yuno & Langris roared.

I've already shown you the vast difference in our levels... So why- Why do you try so hard?

Faced with the Golden Dawn duo and standing in all the glory of his 100% his devil power form, flashes of his life prior to becoming a devil host flashed through Zenon's eyes.

'No...' His thoughts echoed out as memories from his past played out.

If his bestfriend... If Allen could see him now... How would he feel?

Would he blame him for his death?

Would he detest what he had become?

Would he understand?

***

Years ago...

In order to kill a low ranking devil that had been sealed in a dungeon that they were investigating... In order to stop that thing from escaping and wiping out the rest of his of his comrades from the Mage Defense Force and to stop it from endangering the rest of the Spade Kingdom, Zenon made the ultimate decision.

While his childhood friend Allen ran ahead to fight the devil head on... While its attention was focused solely on him... Zenon unleashed the strongest spell he had in his arsenal determined to end this once and for all... But... Allen was also hit.

Impaling him through the back with a large bone spike that split into several branches that pierced the devil in its head, chest and torso. He finally managed to take it down.

On that day, he saved the kingdom at the cost of his bestfriend.

"ARRGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He remembered screaming as tears poured down his face.

If only I was STRONGER!

If only I wasn't so WEAK!

If I only had more POWER!

Without power... neither emotions nor willpower mean a damn thing... In order to protect the things that you value - Overwhelming power is everything.

***

No... I'm not wrong... All the sacrifices I've made... All the things that I've done... If I lost now... It would all mean nothing.

"YUUUNOOOO!!"

Using his spatial magic to deflect the razor sharp bone whips coming at them, Langris screamed out the name of his vice captain and created an opening.

"Quiet down would you-"

*FWOOSH!!*

With his wings spread open wide and a single flap , he took to the skies.

"I can hear you just fine."

Looking down on the battlefield, an elegant green bow and arrow condensed from a high concentration of [Wind Spirit Magic] formed in his hand.

"What are you-

"This fight-

*Aims at Zenon*

"Its our win."

[Wind Spirit Creation Magic: Spirit of Euros]

*PSSHEEEE!!*

Moving faster than he could react, he couldn't even see what happened as the moment Yuno released the arrow, a hole suddenly appeared in the centre of Zenon's sternum.

'W-What?'

Staring up at Yuno, it was only when he noticed that there was no arrow nocked against the bow that he realized what had just happened.

So fast...

Shocked by the speed and power of such an attack, blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.

'He actually managed to damage this body boosted by 100% devil power?'

*Thud*

Unable to believe what had just happened, he fell to his knees as the bone mask on the left side of his face shattered and an alarming amount of blood poured out of the newly formed hole in his chest.

***

"That *hah* was for the Golden Dawn." Breathing heavily but standing with a smile on his face, Yuno slowly descended from the sky.

"Ha, we did it..." Langris grinned seeing Zenon fall to his knees.

***

Meanwhile...

-Inside Zenon's Soul-

"Bwahahahaha- First to that elf and now a human? You're disappointing me Zenon. As my host how are you not embarassed?"

Towering over him, Zenon's devil laughed and shook his head.

"I get how you lost to that elf kid, his magic is something that even Megicula was interested in. But to a regular human? While wielding 100% of my power? Tch, tch, tch. You're making me look bad (not as bad as your brother to Lucifero but still)."

"Y'know, I remember back when you were nothing more than a snivelling weakling begging for a crumb of my power. Something about that dead friend of yours right? What was his name again? Al-

"BEELZEBUB!" Zenon stared him down with an ice cold glare.

"Oh?"

*Grins*

"So you still have some fight left in you?... GOOD."

Ignoring him and recomposing himself, Zenon remembered what he was here to do.

"I want to make another deal."

"Heh heh heh." Beelzebub chuckled. "And what will you offer me this time?"

"Everything."

"...What?" Beelzebub frowned unsure if he had heard him correctly.

"You heard me. As per our contract, as long as the Spade can continue existing, I'll give you everything. My body, my mind, even my soul, its all yours."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! GOOD GOOD GOOD!! I ACCEPT!!"

"Now tell me Zenon Zogratis! What do you want in return?!"

"A Devil's Heart... Give it to me."

*Grins*

"Very well."

***

"Whew." Langris stretched. "Glad that's finally ove-

*BADMP*

!!!

Suddenly, both Yuno's and Langris's heads snapped in Zenon's direction.

This feeling... Its just like that time in the Shadow Palace.

*BADMP*

'Allen'

*BADMP*

'I won't let your sacrifice be in vain.'

Swallowed in a current of dark and twisted negative mana and slowly rising from his kneeling position. Zenon now bearing a devil's heart and gaining a new appearance stood before them. His presence... It was devestating.

Wielding the powers of a devil and bearing a devil's heart, the human devil that the two had fought against had died. The thing that stood in front of them now. It was a true DEVIL.

"Yuno." Langris started.

"I know - He's even stronger than before."

"Hmm?"

Looking past Langris and staring solely at Yuno, light flashed in Zenon's eyes as his bone whips extended from his back and struck.

"YUNOOO!!"

FWIPP-FWIPP-FWIPP!!

!!!

[Spatial Magic: Spatial Mana Domination]

Trapping him in an even stronger version of this spell, Zenon sealed his movements.

'Oh no.'

*SHATTER*

"Arghhhh!!"

Piercing through his own spell and stabbing his whips into Yuno's body, the sound of the young boys screams echoed out as he was overwhelmed and driven through a wall in the distance.

"YUNO!!" Langris panicked unable to do anything.

"Pathetic." Zenon critized after dispatching the young vice captain.

"After all that talk, you couldn't even kill me properly."

Looking at the crumbling wall that he had just flung Yuno through, a look of disgust found its way onto his face.

"In order to avoid hitting your comrade, you purposefully diverted your arrow and missed my heart. Stupid. If you had chosen to sacrifice your comrade, you would have won. Now you and the rest of your Kingdom will pay the price."

***

In the lower levels the castle...

"Hahahahahahaha!! Yes!" Moris grinned. "FLY DEVILS! FLY AND DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU SEE!"

Standing in his position of the magic circle, devils continued to pour out of the gate and invade the human world.

The second gate will open soon, I can't wait to see what kind of devils will emerg- huh?

Suddenly, the speed in which devils were coming through the gate slowed.

What in the-

"So you really were another one of Lucifero's bitches? Man, why does this guy keep picking the weirdest devil hosts?"

First you had the rizzless bastard Dante whose only way to get women was through force. Now you got this pedo scientist who likes messing with the bodies of little kids. Fuck! Now that I think about it, Lucifero is probably gonna be a massive creeper to isn't he?

Killing Lucifero might actually be a good thing.

"Grim?"

Seeing the infamous Demon Slayer casually stroll into the ritual room, a seed of worry was begining to sprout in Moris's heart.

!!!

That was when he realized, the beast sword standing opposite to him was no longer brimming with [Demon Slaying] magic.

Walking past him, Grim casually picked the sword up beheading any devil that was stupid enough to try to stop him.

Whistling to himself, he strolled up to a sleeping Yami.

"Now then *grins* how should I wake you up?"