Chương 377: March of the Valkyries

*Earlier*

STOMP STOMP STOMP

Within Asora the sound of metallic footfalls echoed as a literal army of beautiful women marched, their faces stone cold as their hair flowed majestically around them and their silvery armor gleamed in the spring sun.

Through the streets the Valkyries marched to their destination as a message to the people who watched from their door was and windows, a message that said 'we will not take this lying down!' A sentiment shared by every resident of Asora, as from the homes of those who watched their march men and women joined the growing procession behind them, all volunteers like Alex had specified.

When he discovered that his own daughter had been taken from what was supposed to be their most secure haven, Alex had immediately given the orders for the Valkyries to prepare for battle, along with any who wished to join them. They had then spent the entire night preparing as they used the magic compass and various other techniques to gather as much information on their opponents as possible, and now it was time for them to go to war.

From one of the homes that the Valkyries were passing, a man and woman watched them march by with solemn yet fierce expressions on their faces. They both had the trademark golden-blond hair that identified them as angels that were created by God himself before his death, meaning that they had already existed for several millennium before following Gabriel into Asora.

The duo watched the army of Valkyrie march past them before the man finally looked at her and said,

"It's time." The woman didn't say anything as the man stepped back and shone brilliantly for a brief second, before he was attired in the battle gear worn by angels for millennia. As he turned towards the door to join the procession of volunteers following after the army of Valkyries, the woman suddenly said,

"Make them pay for stealing little Edith." The man turned back towards and took in the image of his wife, another warrior of God that had fought by his side for centuries before they inevitably fell in love. However, due to the system God had created, they were unable to truly consummate their love for fear of becoming Fallen Angels.

Then however they were approached by the lady Gabriel, who offered them to live in peace in a land untouched by the influence of God's system. Though skeptical and hesitant at first, the couple still accepted and soon learned the truth of Gabriel's claims when she herself became pregnant and gave birth to a little girl, Edith.

Now Edith was akin to the princess of all the angels in Asora, proof that they no longer needed a system like the Brave Saints for more angels to be born after God died and was unable to create more. Now more and more angels were experiencing the joys of parenthood themselves as they managed to conceive their own children.

The man then looked at his wife's belly, which hadn't started to bulge yet, but still contained the budding life they had created together, the result of their love through the centuries. He then approached her and placed his hand stop her belly, and kissed her gently before saying,

"We will." The man then turned and left his home to take his place amongst the volunteers, right between a Devil and a Fallen Angel. The angel glanced at the duo on either side of him, both individuals he might've fought against on the battlefield at some point in the distant past, but none of them cared about that.

Now they were all one people who desired peace, and were marching to do battle with those who threatened that peace. They were all Asorans.

The procession finally stopped right before the portal leading to Tenrou Island, where Sairaorg and Rossweise were waiting for them. As Asora's appointed head of military affairs, Sairaorg was there to oversee the forces that would be leaving Asora to join the attack.

"VALKYRIES!" Rossweise suddenly called out as the army stopped before her. "WHAT IS YOUR DUTY?"

"""TO DEFEND ASORA AND ITS PEOPLE!""" The gathered Valkyries chanted back, to which Rossweise asked,

"AND HOW HAVE YOU PERFORMED SO FAR?"

"""WE HAVE FAILED!"""

Without hesitation the Valkyries announced their failure to protect Asora and its people, which ended up resulting in Edith's kidnapping. It wasn't truly their fault, however as those charged with the protection of the people of Asora they couldn't help but feel responsible.

Rossweise nodded slowly at their response, before saying slowly,

"Correct, WE have failed. Our job was ensure the safety of our people at all times, even more so when our lord is not present. However not only did we fail at this, we allowed one of the the children of our own lord to be taken, WILL WE ALLOW THIS?!"

"""NO! WE WILL NOT!"""

"Good." Rossweise said before stepping aside and gesturing towards the portal. "THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"

Without hesitation the Valkyries rushed forward to the portal at Rossweise's insistence, while the volunteers that joined them followed, where Grayfia was waiting to send them to their various destinations on the other side.

***

A fleet of ships was sailing uneventfully through the open ocean as they made their way to their destination, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Though the majority of the crew and the mages that they were transporting seemed bored, the captain couldn't help the feeling he was getting that something bad was about the happen, the same feeling he'd get right before a sudden storm or sea monster attacked.

"Stay alert!" He called out irritably at those who were lounging around, right before the lookout cried,

"Captain, ahead!" The captain looked out over what was supposed to be open ocean, but instead was stunned when he saw a beautiful woman standing there on the open water. Her long violet hair flowed around her as her sleepy looking eyes glared at them.

"What do you want?" The captain called out to her, before his question was followed up by a series of jeers and catcalls from his passengers.

Ingvild didn't answer though. Instead she simply lifted one of her small hands to gesture at the ships, and the sea truly became alive around them.

Waves swelled and crashed at such sizes that the fleet bucked and ships even ended up colliding a few times, but none of the people aboard the ships paid any attention to that as a massive scaled head rose up from the waves, causing a literal downpour as water flowed off of its head onto them. With a sea monster large enough to swallow at least one of their ships whole glaring down at them menacingly, the majority of the people aboard the ships emptied their bladder on the spot, even before the sea monster opened its mouth, and let loose an ear shattering roar.

The dark mages and seamen all collapsed to the ground as they clapped their hands over their ears, which did nothing to drown out the deafening roar that assaulted them. It was only when the monster stopped roaring that they were able to stand once more, only to see that several sections of the sea monster's body had been raised above the water to reveal numerous men and women standing on it, tridents at the ready.

"We have several other fleets and harbors to move onto after this, so ATTACK!" Ingvild declared in an uncharacteristically authoritative voice, triggering the assault that would become the worst nightmare of any seafarer.

***

"Hahaha! You guys are insane!" A man declared as he left their guild headquarters to take a leak, which was located in the middle of the forest. Stopping in front of the same tree that was usually frequented by any members of their guild who needed to empty their bladder.

"Haaaaaaaa..." The man sighed in relief as the stream started flowing against the tree trunk, before a figure dropped down silently behind him and thrust his wrist at the man's back.

"!" The man let out a very brief and silent gasp of pain as his attacker's hand covered his mouth, before they pulled him to the ground beneath him.

"Requiescat in Pace.(Rest in Peace)" The attacker said as the light began leaving the man's eyes, the last thing they saw being the hooded figure who attacked them.

Once the man was dead the figure pulled his wrist away from his back, where his wrist-blade had buried itself as it passed through the man's ribs and into his heart. The figure paused long enough to close the eyes of the man he killed, before standing and turning towards the building that the dark guild operated out of.

"For the boss." The figure muttered, as several other hooded figures appeared from the shadows to converge on the building.

***

In another location three petite figures suddenly appeared as if rising from the darkness itself, before the leading figure looked towards the fortress that was currently occupied by the dark guilds, and said,

"Let's have some fun, shall we?"

The moment the words left her mouth the entire world seemed to plunge into darkness, though it was actually just the area surrounding the fortress, and within seconds the entire area was sent into a state of panic. Nyx smirked as she watched their enemies desperately try to light the area after she plunged it into darkness, and remarked with a sneer,

"So much for them being so-called 'dark guilds' I mean who can say they're 'dark' if they're scared of darkness?" Nemesis snickered in agreement behind her, while Eri watched on indifferently, only waiting for when they'd start slaughtering those who dared to anger her master.

After several minutes of watching the fools flounder around in the dark, Nyx finally said, "Ok, I guess you can go and kill them all now." Nemesis smiled widely as she disappeared into the darkness, while Eri's disinterested expression morphed into an insane and sadistic smile.

"Let's go my little toys!" She said with more than a little insanity, summoning hundreds of corpses at once that began to lumber slowly towards the fortress walls. Naturally a panic arose once the inhabitants noticed dozens of corpses approaching them, which the giveaway was how Eri had begun to experiment recently, so several of her 'toys' had tell-tale stitch marks where she had attached a new limb or two.

The mages and mercenaries within the fortress could only despair as they watched the attacking monsters steadily approach them regardless of the damage their spells and weapons did against them, before they began to systematically tear down the walls and gates.

Meanwhile, inside the fort's command room, the master of the dark guild was meeting with his most powerful mages as they tried to figure out what was going on, and how to deal with it. Angry and scared voices filled the room, until a young feminine voice asked,

"Are you big bad men really that scared of the dark?" Everyone froze when they heard the voice, before slowly turned to see what looked like a young dark skinned girl standing there in the shadows, a vicious sneer on her face.

"Who the hell are you brat, and what do you want with the Black Skull guild?" The guild master demanded angrily and haughtily, however Nemesis could see the tell-tale fear in his eyes.

Her sneer transitioning into an amused smirk from the way the guild master was acting, Nemesis said as she reached her hand back towards the shadows behind her. "My name is Nemesis, and we're here to kill all of you."

Though a small part of her wanted to turn the people before her into her 'servants', their orders were to kill all of the enemies they crossed paths with. So Nemesis channeled her power of Transformation into the shadows around her, along with the 'blessing' Nyx gave her, willing the darkness within them to take the form she desired.

Even though the group were prepared to fight if needed, they all paused when they saw the shadows around Nemesis coming alive, before a monstrously clawed hand stepped out.

"Kill." The petite girl ordered ruthlessly, before the room was filled with the blood curdling screams of the victims inside.

***

In another location a fleet of freshly made airships had just departed the facility charged with making them, when the lookout suddenly cried,

"CAPTAIN!"

The captain, an unusually young man for such a position, replied with a little annoyance,

"What is it?" Possibly not noticing the annoyance in his captain's voice, the lookout cried out with undisguised panic,

"D-d-d-DRAGONS!"

The word hung over the entire deck of the ship in complete silence, before the entire crew, captain included, burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"'D-d-d-dragons!'" One of the sailors mocked while another said between tears,

"Doesn't he know that all the dragons are gone? They were wiped out centuries ago!" The laughter continued at the poor boys expense, until a monstrous roar echoed in the distance.

In an instant the atmosphere on the ship changed as several crew members ran to the side of the ship the roar came from, only to see a literal swarm of giant creatures coming right at them. Immediately they turned towards the young captain and asked,

"Captain, what do we do?!" The man himself however froze, and the only thing that could be heard from him was the quiet muttering,

"Dragons don't exist.....dragons don't exist.....dragons don't exist....." Over and over he muttered that dragons couldn't possibly exist, and even that he must've been dreaming to see them coming at them. His delusions continued even as the lead dragon, a pitch black specimen that dwarfed most of it's brethren following it, cried out in a surprisingly feminine voice,

"KILL THEM ALL IN THE NAME OF MINE MASTER, THOU'S LIEGE! KILL!!!"

Tio led the thunder of dragons as they thundered towards their pitiful prey, blood and death in their gaze.

While Tio's countrymen counted themselves as an honorable and righteous people, the kidnapping of Edith and the deeds of the various dark guilds under Darius's rule had removed all doubt of their current course of action from their minds. Meanwhile the various dragons that Alex had subdued in the Rosario Vampire universe had all undergone numerous treatments with Spirt and Alteration magics, making them more intelligent, powerful, and completely loyal to their emperor.

That was why there was no hesitation whatsoever as the thunder of dragons tore into the fleet of airships, burning, chewing, and clawing their way through the numerous mages and mercenaries onboard.

Tio however had resumed her human form and watched over the slaughter from above, her still reptilian eyes scanning every detail to make sure nothing untoward happened. She was filled with a strong sense of pride as she watched her kinsmen and the other dragons tear into her master's enemies, before shuddering as she recalled the look in her master's eyes from before.

Though she understood the gravity of the current situation, the raw fury in Alex's gaze still sent shivers of excitement through her body when Tio recalled it. Her butthole tightened around the plug that was lodged within at the thought, and Tio's mind wandered to her master 'punishing' her with the same expression.

"This one thinks I may need to change mine panties..." Tio muttered a moment later as she glanced around awkwardly, before magically changing her underwear for the fifth time already that day.

While Tio led the dragons and dragon tribe in their assault, the sounds of the battle carried all the way to the the shipyard where they were created, built within the cliffs of a set of massive mountains.

"What's going on?" One of the shipbuilders asked worriedly, before the ground beneath them began to shake. All of the shipbuilders looked down in concern, before a massive glowing tear formed under their feet.

"Oh shit..." One of them muttered, before they were engulfed by the massive plume of magma that erupted from the crevice, and flooded the entire place to burn them all.

"FOR MY LEIGE!" Bova roared as his massive and magmatic form emerged from crevice, before spreading his wings to cover the entire mountain under them as droplets of magma rained down onto them.

The few survivors could only scream in terror and try to flee, only to be engulf in the tidal wave of volcanic magma that chased them as if it had a mind of its own.

***

Meanwhile a group of beautiful women with delicate features were seen walking towards a town, their pale hair and white kimonos flowing lightly in the wind.

"I still don't see why we ourselves need to fight, we're not warriors!" One of the Yuuki-Onna complained loudly, making the one leading them, the Snow Priestess herself, turn to face her angrily.

"The Dragon Emperor has given us everything! We no longer have to hide ourselves from the world, or wonder if our race will go extinct!" The Snow Priestess then turned towards all of the gathered Yuuki-Onna, and declared,

"If we cannot repay his kindness when he needs assistance, then we do not deserve it in the first place!" As her words hung over them, the Yuuki-Onna that hadn't wanted to fight looked down in shame as they realized the truth in them.

Because of Alex they were no longer 'trapped' within their own village, waiting for any of the few men to wander close enough for them to seduce them for the night. Now not only were they able to interact with others without worry, but there were already several dozen of their people who were expecting children soon.

CLAP!

Breaking up the somber mood that had descended upon the group, Tsurara clapped her hands and said in a cheerful tone, "Well that's enough of that for now! Let's prepare, shall we?"

Once the words were out of her mouth Tsurara surprised everyone by suddenly producing enough firearms to arm a small army, before handing them with the same smiling expression. Mizore accepted what appeared to be an assault rifle and a shotgun from her, before asking with a deadpan expression,

"Where did you get all of these mother?" Tsurara cupped her cheek with her hand and said with an innocent motherly smile,

"I heard about how little Hajime apparently really likes his guns, and asked him about making me some. Imagine my surprise when he handed me a storage ring filled with thousands of weapons, several of which I'm more than a little eager to try out."

As she said that Tsurara then summoned yet another weapon from her arsenal, a mini gun mounted on a pair of large wheels, before summoning a rocket launcher that she slung over her back. She then turned back towards the Snow Priestess and asked, "Shall we then?"

The Snow Priestess shook her head before taking her previous place at the head of the Yuuki-Onna army, conjuring a blizzard as she did so.

***

While Darius's allies, ships, airships, and fortresses were being systematically destroyed, all of the people that had been rounded up and turned into slaves were working at production camps. It was at these locations that they produced any necessities that Darius and his armies needed when they couldn't be taken from the already stripped cities.

"GO FASTER!"

CRACK

A mercenary barked at a young kid before skillfully cracking his whip, making the kid cry out in pain as the whip left a bloody line running across the kid's back.

"You useless piece of shit!" The mercenary cried out as the kid fell to the ground, before he proceeded to continue whipping him to make him continue working.

Each crack of the whip was followed by the sound of the kid crying out in pain, which was then followed by the child sobbing until yet another crack shot through the air. The bystanders could only watch or try to ignore the child crying before them as they were whipped repeatedly, knowing that they'd only receive even worse if they tried to intervene.

All any of them could do was continue working as if nothing was happening, until they suddenly heard a screech in the distance.

"What was that?" One of the mercenaries asked out loud, before the sound of thunder began to tear through the air rhythmically.

Suddenly the sky in the distance lit up like the sun, except that it had two wings extending outwards. With each of its wings downward movements the air thundered as it moved closer, letting loose another great screech as it approached them.

"R-r-RUN!" One of the mercenaries cried out as they began to flee while also making sure that none of the slaves were able to do so as well, turning them into a distraction for the monster that was rapidly approaching them.

However, with a single flap of its wings as it bore down on them, the Phoenix bathed the entire area in its flames to instantly turn all of the buildings and mercenaries to ash before they even had the chance to scream. Instead, all of the screaming was done by the slaves that had been laboring endlessly as they too were engulfed by the hungry flames, only for them to feel a warm and light tickle instead.

"W-what is this?" One of the slaves asked, before their ragged clothes and the collar identifying them as slaves burned away, leaving hordes of naked men, women, and children standing there once the flames burned away.

Having endured numerous 'humiliations' during their tenure as slaves for the Dark Emperor and the mercenaries that served him, none of the people were too concerned with their current lack of attire. Instead all of their attention was focused on the group of people that had suddenly appeared after the flames dispersed, a beautiful blonde haired woman with bright green eyes at their head.

"Don't worry everyone, we're here to help!" Asia Argento declared as the other members of the emergency response team spread out to clothe and organize the former slaves, while Asia herself was enveloped in a green light as she began using Regeneration magic to heal every wound and scar that she saw.

Meanwhile on a distant mountaintop Ravel was magically watching the events transpire while a Phoenix that was significantly larger than the others flying around stood next to her.

"To think...." Rho-Dan said slowly as he too watched the events unfold, "...I would see the day that we Phoenixes would put aside our 'pride' to work alongside other beings..." Ravel snorted at Rho-Dan's statement and retorted,

"It's not too surprising when Alex is as pissed as he is. None of them want to risk making him even madder." Rho-Dan couldn't help but nod in agreement when Ravel mentioned how angry Alex was, which had terrified all of the Phoenixes even more than when he destroyed Shi-Lan before their eyes.

Ravel then began communication with the other healers and doctors that had been dispatched to help the former slaves, Valerie, Kaori, Mikado with Oshizu, Wendy, and Sherria. Together with the help of the Phoenixes and the members of the emergency response teams that Anne had formed, they began to undo the damage that Darius's forces had done to them, little by little.

(A.N. I know people probably wanted to get right to the beat down, but I wanted to give some of the other characters a bit of screen time first, as well as showing the other battles.)