章節 190: Chapter 10 - Part 2 - Nyx and the Leviathans
Aaron Toole's Soliloquy
— ○ ● ○ —
To keep it short, Göndul as well as Rossweisse had been stuck with me for the past few hours, and sundown will start around three hours from now, so until then, they won't attack, but I've felt even more members of Leviathan's group, and the remaining members of the Monkai Association had gathered here.
The participating members of [EXE] had also gathered, as had a few members of [DxD], my [Electa], and shadow soldiers.
Ingvild had been happily performing her show for the past few hours, taking a few breaks here and there and treating the breaks as just a small Q&A session with her fans, which was an interesting way of doing things.
They were all quite civil about it, and there weren't too many people asking inappropriate questions. Although she did have to avoid answering, 'Do you have a boyfriend?', 'Will you marry me?', and other questions like that.
"We only have a few hours left, Göndul. I think you should—"
"I'm fine. I appreciate your concern, Aaron. I really do, but I can set that aside for now and I can focus on the operation that's going to start," she said firmly, leaving now room for discussion.
I looked at her, then at Rose, who silently agreed to help her grandmother when the time came. "Alright, Göndul, I'll let you participate, but the second I see your thoughts and feelings wander, I'm pulling you out," I told her seriously.
She agreed. "Very well. If my mind wanders in the slightest, I'll retreat from the operation," she said, and pinky promised me.
"Good, I'll also have Rossweisse with you for the operation; you won't complain, right?" I asked. She frowned a little but shook her head.
"That's fine. I get to spend a bit more time with my granddaughter," she said happily.
— ○ ● ○ —
A few minutes before the start of the operation, I had gone to a secluded spot in Kuoh and observed everything from there. With me was Lisa, who had decided to have a mini-date with me beforehand.
"This isn't the most romantic place to bring me to, cutie~" she said while embracing me from behind.
"Don't worry, I'll fuck you in a moonlit room in the future, Lisa," I told her in the most monotone voice possible. After it, I didn't feel her moving anymore, so when I looked back at her, she had frozen and was looking at me in shock while blushing.
Really? For all the teasing she does, when I do it back, she becomes like that? Or maybe she just heard a lot of things from the other girls, and she probably took what I said seriously.
"…Really?" she asked, squeezing me tighter.
"Well—" Just as I was about to answer her, all the humans in Kuoh were forced to sleep by my spell, and they were transported to a different dimension.
The remnants of the Monkai Association, Nyx along with her followers, the original Leviathan, Ingvild's dad, and their group teleported in. However, once they saw the town of Kuoh empty, they understood that they were set up.
[Shall we get started?] I said it through a magic circle; it made my voice echo throughout Kuoh, and various battles around the place started.
— ○ ● ○ —
Third Person Point of View
— ○ ● ○ —
"Aha~ so it's like that, huh? Well, it makes it more fun, so I don't mind~" Nyx said, changing her clothing into Kuoh Academy's high school division's school uniform. "And thus, I became invincible towards virgins~"
Nyx had just changed into a very modified and more powerful 'Godly Virgin Killer Clothes'. This modified version of her clothing was created by the Khaos Order. It's a god-class item that protects her from any attacks from virgins of both sexes.
Male or female, if they were virgins, their attacks wouldn't reach her and would be nullified. Any virgin who touched her clothes would also die.
Aaron informed the various teams and people that were participating in this operation beforehand of what she might use, so there were only a few individuals that could fight the Goddess of Night, Nyx.
"Come one, come all; face me if you dare~" she said, but no one approached her. Instead, the various people around them flew off in different directions, surprising her. "Ara~? Did Jin-Jin-kun tell them about this? How boring~"
Nyx sighed and shook her head. "What's the point of this then? It's pretty obvious that Jin Skyward isn't a virgin, ugh," she complained, but a jet-black fist was hurled at her, forcing her to block it.
"Sup!" Genshirou Saji shouted.
"Ara? Even the Great Dragon King Genshirou isn't a virgin? Now that's the biggest surprise today," Nyx said casually.
"Oi! Just because I look like this doesn't mean I'm a virgin!! For one, I had a threesome recently... ehehehehehehe!" boasted Genshirou and began to drool.
With a disgusted expression on her face, she ordered someone else from her group to deal with him, and Genshirou was forced to block the incoming attack and was forced away.
"I don't need to hear disgusting things like that, you creep," she said in disgust before wiping herself down. When Nyx looked beside her, she saw that both the original Leviathan and the remaining Monkai Association had already disappeared.
She sighed again. "Go play with them; I will go and find the Dual Dragon myself," she said and flew away.
— ○ ● ○ —
"The hell?" muttered Genshirou as he kicked away at the person who had attacked him. They avoided his attacks by pushing themselves off him and distancing themselves from him.
In front of him was a humanoid female. She had short, jet-black hair and white eyes with star-shaped pupils. She wore a dress made of darkness; the ends of her dress oscillated in the wind.
"…She's pretty," mumbled Genshirou.
[…Focus.]
"Right, my bad," Genshirou tittered to himself. He ignited his fist with his cursed jet-black and purple flames. "Let's do this then, uh, whoever the hell you are!"
"Mizette, devout follower of Lady Nyx," she introduced herself while ejecting balls of darkness towards Genshirou, who avoided the attacks.
[Be careful; I can sense her attacks aren't normal—perhaps they will dominate your mind once they touch you, forcing you to experience horrible scenarios in your mind. I cannot protect you from that, Genshirou,] warned Vritra.
Genshirou promptly turned around and employed a magic circle, forcing numerous balls of darkness to slam into his defensive magic circle. He had relied on his instincts to perceive the attack; otherwise, he would have been hit. He had developed them over the course of the 100 years he spent in Aaron's dimension and after being trained by Aurelia and several others.
If he didn't develop any kind of instinct, he would have suffered more and more during his 'training' with them. To Genshirou, they were just torture sessions disguised as training sessions. Nevertheless, they still aided him, especially now.
Despite that, the balls of darkness exploded and swiftly began to form a bigger ball around Genshirou.
[Stop it! Get out there!] Vritra shouted.
He activated his boosters behind his legs, and with the help of his wings, he narrowly avoided being trapped within the ball. As he heaved a sigh of relief, Mizette emerged behind Genshirou and thrust her hands, shrouded in darkness, towards him.
Reflexively, Genshirou enveloped his arms with his own cursed flames as he deflected Mizette's thrust, forcing her attack to miss him and decimating the sky above them. The clouds scattered, and a small patch in the sky was covered in darkness for a few seconds before dispersing.
[Genshirou, the woman you're facing is a homunculus created by the Khaos Order. Because Nyx wanted some followers and fighters for this attack, she's been given her blessings, and she has [Darkness Manipulation],] explained Aaron through their transceivers.
[Oh, so she's like Lint-chan. Do you want them captured, Aaron-senpai?] he asked.
[Azazel may want them, so don't kill them. So, yes, capture them.]
[Aye, aye sir!] Genshirou shouted before he flew back towards Mizette and slammed his elbow into her stomach. He had moved at a speed that she couldn't perceive, shocking her. She had flown through several houses, destroying them.
The teams with Aaron were given permission to go wild since he could just repair the town afterward. Some were hesitant but eventually agreed to it.
Genshirou chased after her and slammed his foot into her stomach once he found her, knocking the wind out of her. Mizette didn't have any time to react or retaliate. When she did, the Dragon King above her relentlessly attacked her.
'The data…was not accurate…? We were given the data beforehand and analyzed it—they were from the Rating Game between [Team Golden Raksha] and [Team Sona Sitri]. That was one of the few matches where we saw both teams trying their hardest…d-did they hold back…? No…that shouldn't be possible,' thought Mizette.
For the first time in her very short life, she felt an emotion other than love and obsession. Those were the only feelings she felt as she followed Nyx, her goddess. However, right now, in this little town called Kuoh, she felt fear towards Genshirou Saji.
She did not know if he was given instructions to kill her or capture her, but her mind went to the former, and she panicked. And because of this new emotion, it suddenly forced more power out of her body.
She, without warning, screamed, surprising Genshirou as it was quite loud.
[Get away from her!] ordered Vritra. Genshirou was confused, but he did as he was told and got away from the woman.
The surrounding area around her burst into a small pillar of darkness as she began to speak in tongues, confusing Genshirou. Darkness wrapped around her, and she lunged back at him, leaving neither of them time to catch their breath.
Her power and speed had increased sixfold, forcing Genshirou to use more of his power to avoid her. However, it wasn't anything too significant for him, so he was still casually dodging her attacks. But knowing he had to end it, he avoided another attack and slammed his fist into her jaw, dislocating it and knocking her away. This left her dazed.
Genshirou aimed both his arms towards her and unleashed a torrent of cursed flames towards Mizette. Although her consciousness was still present, she was weakened enough that she couldn't avoid the attack aimed at her.
As her body was set ablaze, Mizette prayed one last time for her goddess. From the second she started to exist in this world, Nyx was the only thing in her heart, mind, and soul—to Mizette, that goddess was her very life—her very being. In this trying time, she called out to herself in her mind, but an answer did not come.
For the first time in her short life, a tear fell from her eye as she closed her eyes. As her incinerated body fell to the ground, it was quickly caught by one of Aaron's shadow soldiers. Genshirou nodded to them before he flew off, and as he did, the shadow soldier was brought to Beru, who was tasked with healing the wounded.
After she was healed, Beru applied sleeping magic to her so she wouldn't wake up. Once that was done, the shadow soldiers around him left to follow the other fighters.
Behind him, an unknown figure raised their sword and swung it down on him. Beru did not react as another person appeared and parried the sword with their own.
"Beru-chan trusts me, eh? I didn't think you wouldn't react at all!" said a female.
"…Zhang Mei-sama, whoever is in [DxD] or [EXE], my king trusts them, and in turn, so will I," replied Beru, never taking an eye off the defeated opponents in front of him.
"Fufu, well, I feel a bit more special then~" exclaimed the young woman. She slashed her sword at the person in front of her and forced her away.
The one who tried to attack Beru was a man with long jet-black hair, glowing white eyes, and a three-piece black suit. The weapon of choice he used was a kopis.
The Kopis was a one-handed, single-edged sword used by the Greeks. It measured around 36 inches, with the blade curving forward and widening near the tip.
Without another delay, Zhang Mei lunged towards her opponent and thrust her sword at them. The man dodged the attack and swung his kopis horizontally, aiming for her hips. Zhang Mei used a mix of a Chinese- and Japanese-style magic circle to create a small defensive magic circle. Once it blocked the attack, ice began to freeze the blade, forcing the man to abandon it and jump away.
"Booo! I hate fast people!" hollered Zhang Mei. The man didn't react at all, as he stood still while observing the woman. "You're not much of a talker, huh?"
"…Normally, people don't talk that much in fights," retorted the man.
"This ain't movies! Haven't you heard the bad guys just last year!? They never shut up!"
In a sense, Zhang Mei was correct. Many of the terrorists that Aaron and his friends faced last year spoke a substantial amount, some even going into detail on how they would do it. This usually led to their downfall, as it gave his group ample time to defeat them.
Unfortunately for Zhang Mei, the man she was fighting was anything but loquacious. He was a man who was disciplined; he did things meticulously, leaving no room for error, but fundamentally, this was one of his shortcomings.
Adonis—that was this man's name. He, like Mizette, was a homunculus—an artificial human—but he has been alive longer than Mizette. He was part of the first trials of last year before the Alliance of the Evil Gods were formed; to abbreviate, he was one of the successful batches of the first trials.
Adonis survived harsh training, experiments, and other harrowing things done to him—all to make a powerful homunculus. This almost resembled what they were trying to achieve at the Sigurd Institute, but was fundamentally different as they weren't trying to create another Sigfried.
"…You're rather childish. How you managed to survive until today astounds me," he said brusquely.
"I'm undoubtedly being insulted right now, right!? Right?!" she asked, furious at the man. A vein had appeared on her cheek while her lips twitched.
Adonis simpered at her, irking Zhang Mei even more. So at an even greater speed, she moved behind him and sent a whirlwind of slashes towards him. Adonis turned around and parried all but one of them and was sliced on the side of his stomach, making him bleed.
Surprised by this, he disregarded it as an oddity and retaliated by attacking Zhang Mei too. Using duplication magic on his arm, he relentlessly stabbed his kopis at Zhang Mei, who parried and blocked all of them, further perplexing him.
'She can keep up with that speed and use of duplication magic? She's more skilled than I thought. Then how about this—!?'
Adonis used an innate ability given to him, like many other homunculi. The blood around his body began to pump at an increased rate—twenty times more. This increased his abilities twentyfold, and he repeated his previous actions.
Sensing danger, Zhang Mei engulfed her body with touki and utilized enhancement magic on her body to avoid, parry, and counter his attacks. Zhang Mei managed to do all that and injure Adonis even more. She had taken a large chunk of his left arm, right thigh, and a small part of his left cheek.
He was shocked, and as Zhang Mei was about to deal her finishing blow, he came back to his senses and blocked the attack using his sword and a magic circle. Adonis was blown away and crashed through several buildings.
"Ah! Noooooooooo! That's Jin-kun's restaurant!! Uuuuwooooooooooooo!! I'm sorry!!" Zhang Mei clutched her head and let out a primal scream of despair.
To the allies around her, they shot her looks of some sympathy, while others already knew that he would repair it, so they weren't bothered by it. Her enemies, however, were confused by this—Zhang Mei cried authentic tears, confusing them all even more.
A burst of white light erupted from the rubble that Adonis had been in, and a look of fury stretched across his face. He was done playing with her; he was going to kill her if that was the last thing he would do in his relatively short existence.
Wings of light and blood emerged from his back as he flew back towards Zhang Mei. She also activated her own powers as her eyes glowed a bright yellow—once Adonis got near enough to her, his sword was instantly shrouded in blood that came out of his wrists.
The blood also began to wriggle like tentacles and shoot towards Zhang Mei as he swung his sword at her. The blood hardened and sharpened to the same degree as the blade, and on top of that, he had also used his duplication magic.
In Adonis' mind, he was about to win—to him, it was already over. But to his surprise, both his arms were sliced off, and his attack never landed on the woman. He stared blankly at her; the rage and hate he felt had evaporated.
'Was…the difference between us that large…? I was created to be powerful…how? Why?'
Those were the last thoughts of Adonis before Zhang Mei sliced off his head. Adonis' head fell to the ground, as did his body. However, Beru showed up seconds later, surprising her a little.
"Zhang Mei-sama, my king informed you about keeping them alive, yes?" he asked, startling her.
"…Crap! I'm sorry! I forgot; I got caught up in the heat of the moment!" she blurted out and started bowing to him.
"It's fine, as I can undo this," said Beru.
Just like the [Electa], the named shadow soldiers like Beru, Igris, and Greed can use the [Food Chain] and other abilities that Aaron has access to too. So using that, Beru reattached Adonis' head and then brought him back to life before using another sleeping spell on him.
"Great! I'll get going then!"
— ○ ● ○ —
"That's strange…"
"Yes, it is."
Lisa and Aaron were still in the same spot as earlier, but Nyx had found them and was floating right in front of them. Beside her were two other subordinates of hers; the other two were part of the remaining Monkai Association. One was a deer youkai, and the other was a bird youkai (falcon).
The two subordinates of Nyx were both male; the youkais were female. The male on the left wore baggy clothing that made him look like a gangster; he had jet-black hair and green eyes. His hair, like the other subordinate of Nyx, flowed like a shadow-like fire as it was long and wavy. The male on the right resembled a Catholic priest, as he wore the same vesture as them.
"Hi, hi, Jin-kyun~! I heard you got in the way of Hitler and Black Alice-chan! You naughty boy, you should have at least given Black Alice-chan some semen~!" she said, confusing both Aaron and Lisa.
Nyx also tilted her head in confusion. "You didn't know about that? She herself was a weirdly deformed hybrid of a succubus and scylla. So if she were to be fed your semen or semen from a powerful source, then she would become even more powerful!"
A smirk adorned her lips. "What did you think she did in the Phantasma? Apart from the typical trails and other ways of gaining power? She used her succubus part quite effectively over there, you know?"
Aaron was aware of that and the fact that she used her powers like that—it was effective and would let her gain power; it would be idiotic to not abuse it in her case. To Aaron Toole, Black Alice was past the point of no return and had become too deranged to be helped.
Nyx turned her focus on Lisa, who was still hugging Aaron from behind, before frowning at her.
"Well, the woman behind you has a high chance of being a succubus with how slutty she is. You're infamous for having 'pure' maidens in your harem, Jin-kun. So are you sure about having her in it?" asked Nyx.
Aaron became annoyed and confused. He tilted his head and said, "Pure? I'm pretty sure not everyone in my harem is 'pure', and that's such a weird way to label people. Others are allowed to live their lives before meeting me—and also, Áine, Kuroka, Yasaka, Scathach, and Raynare aren't 'pure' by your standards then, but I still love them."
"So you're fine having sloppy seconds?" he asked, snickering. "I'm quite pure too, you know? Well, maybe not my heart, but my vagina certainly hasn't had anyone's dick in it yet!" she said and snickered.
Aaron was surprised by this, but only in the end. "That's a pretty degrading way of calling others just because they wanted to live their life, Nyx. The longer you live your life, the less 'pure' or 'virgins' exist, you know? At some point, probably in your thirties, you'll need to get into relationships with single moms with kids; that's the only path left in life for you."
If you're lucky with your middle school, high school, or even college romance, then you can talk about marriage with your significant other, but if not, those options that Aaron told Nyx were the only other options—not that it's a bad thing.
"I really thought you had higher and better standards than that, Jin-kun. I guess I was wrong about that," she said, shaking her head displeasedly.
She brought her hand up and gestured to him. "Well, even if your body has been used, I can still use it for myself. Although you'll be much more trained already, that's a plus. You like threesomes or maybe foursomes? Regardless, I'll capture you for myself and enjoy you to my heart's content~! Get him~ you can kill the woman; she's of no use to me."
"Lisa, I'll take on all of the—"
"I refuse to be useless or be a damsel in distress. I'm fighting," stated, looking seriously at Aaron after letting go of him.
What Nyx had said peeved Lisa, and she wasn't going to take the insults lying down. She knew Aaron was quite relaxed, and he only had certain triggers, so even if someone insults him a lot, most of the time he won't react. But today, he was clearly annoyed.
Aaron glanced at Lisa for a brief moment before agreeing. "Who do you want?"
"The Goddess."
Aaron was surprised by this, but after checking the future and other variables, he agreed. He made his way behind Lisa before wrapping his left arm around her waist and groping her right breast with his right hand, shocking everyone there.
Lisa blushed as she looked at him in puzzlement. Inching closer, Aaron whispered into her ear, "Lisa Minic, you're my woman, and I trust that you'll be able to defeat this Primordial Goddess. I'm going to temporarily increase your powers so you can fight her. What's your answer?"
Lisa shivered upon hearing this. Aaron then turned her head before kissing her on the lips, further annoying Nyx, who was watching them. For those few seconds, Lisa ignored everything around them and kissed him back.
Aaron broke their kiss, and Lisa said, "I'm expecting sex after this operation, Toole-kun. You can't just say that and not expect me to pounce on you afterward."
"I like my women with a bit of balance. They can be cute one moment and can kill you the next. I think everyone with me more or less has those qualities when the right time arrives, don't you think?" he asked, and Lisa silently agreed with him.
Aaron, with his right hand still groping Lisa, unleashed her future power levels, and her power surged in the area. "With that, you can fight her. I'll take care of her followers. Go kick ass," he said, pecking her cheek before disappearing along with Nyx's subordinates.
Purple lightning surged around Lisa's as she smiled at the goddess in front of her—at the moment Nyx shivered too—she felt Lisa's new power and became uneasy.
"For myself and for my 'sisters', I won't let you insult us that easily, Goddess of the Night-chan~" Lisa said menacingly.
Nyx scoffed, accepting the challenge. "Hah, a virgin like yourself won't be able to touch me with these clothes on! Even if you just touch me, you'll die!"
Lisa giggled to herself, but a flash of lightning left her hand. The speed was greater than what Nyx could perceive, and when she finally noticed what happened—
"Ara? What cute nipples you have, Nyx-s-a-m-a~" Lisa teased and winked at her. The lightning attack she sent at the goddess wasn't meant to hurt her but instead destroy the clothing she had—all of the clothing that Nyx wore was now gone; she floated there, naked.
"Wha—!?" Nyx covered herself with her arms, mortified at what just happened. Normally, she wouldn't be bothered by being naked, but it all happened so suddenly that she instinctively covered herself in response. "Y-you—!"
"Fufu, let's play a bit, Goddess-chan~"
Lisa Minic was going to enjoy torturing the Goddess of Night.
— ○ ● ○ —
"Come to me, Ingvild. It's me, your father—Nehunius Leviathan. The original Leviathan is also here, you know? Come to us; if you do, we can become a family again! Your mother is also alive, and your friends, see?"
Nehunius Leviathan gestured beside him and behind him. To his left was the original Leviathan, who ruled together with Lucifer, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub. Beside him was Tsufaame Tereaku Leviathan, the daughter of the original Leviathan. She had died during the Devil's civil war, and the one responsible for her death was Ajuka Astaroth, or now Ajuka Beelzebub.
There were also various Leviathans that were brought back to life, along with a few who had hidden themselves in the deepest parts of the Underworld until they were approached by the Khaos Order and the original Levithan herself.
Along with them were various humans who could use some magic, but they were mostly there to help convince Ingvild Leviathan to join their side. Among them were Ingvild's friends from 100 years ago and her mother, Veronika. She had the same purple hair and orange eyes as Ingvild; the only difference was that she had short hair and looked much older in appearance than Ingvild.
With a pained and beetle-browed look on Ingvild's face, she shook her head. "Your words sound hollow and devoid of emotion, dad. You don't really mean what you say, do you?" she asked him.
"W-what are you talking about—?" the black-haired man asked in annoyance. He didn't think his daughter would be this defiant when he had brought so many of her dead friends and mother back to life just to convince her.
"Enough, Nehunius. It's clear that she won't be fooled by this," said Leviathan. "We'll make this simple. Hand over Ingvild Leviathan or else we'll kill all of you. We have various bombs set up all around Japan, and if you don't, we'll set them off, killing millions."
The Sitri team (minus Genshirou) was surprised by this, and Sona contacted Aaron immediately.
[Aaron! The original Leviathan and her group—!]
[It's fine, Sona. Keep your voice down; I've already dealt with the bombs. I've actually relocated them to some bases that have some of the Khaos Order's ongoing projects, so we'll hit them that way, and don't worry, I've already taken the documents and notes they have on them,] elucidated Aaron.
The rest of the teams heard this and immediately began moving. Sona issued various commands, and Reya deployed her masks while making them invisible with her demonic power. Once everyone else was ready, Sona nodded.
"I refuse," Ingvild declared, making the original Leviathan shake her head in disappointment.
"I see… Kill them," ordered Levithan. Someone behind her nodded their head and created a magic circle, but from that magic circle, they only heard silence, and then another magic circle appeared beside that person.
"Alert! Several of our bases have been hit! The alliance is attacking!!" a voice shouted before another explosion occurred, dismissing it.
[Do you like it?] Aaron asked through a magic circle that appeared beside the original Leviathan. [I used the reverse UNO card on you, and I quite liked it. Anyway, you guys can beat 'em up now.]
Subsequently, after declaring that, Nehunius, his group, the original Leviathan, and everyone else were separated by a magic circle.
[We know which group we're dealing with; go!] Sona ordered, and everyone dispersed.
"I'll be with you, In," said Valerie. She put a comforting hand on Ingvild's shoulder, and the two smiled at each other.
"Mmm. Let's go!" replied Ingvild.
The two of them flew away, ready to confront her father first. They had teleported him with Ingvild's friends, mother, and other Leviathans that had been in hiding. They were mostly Middle- to High-class in terms of power, but they became cocky after being recruited and still had the mindset of nobles, so they could be exploited if both played their cards right.
Once they arrived at the spot where they were teleported—it was near the mountainous side of Kuoh—Ingvild saw her father, Nehunius Leviathan, in a fit of rage. He had even struck Ingvild's mother's face—and seconds later, before her own mind had caught up to her, Ingvild had struck her father in the back, blasting him through one of the mountains.
She immediately tried to go to her mother, who she saw had not reacted to being hit, and it made her tearful.
"Mom?" Ingvild called out to her mother, but the woman looked at her and shook her head—this was the only confirmation that Ingvild Leviathan needed to know that her mother's soul had already passed on. "I see…thank you for telling me. I—we'll free you; I promise!"
An archaic smile appeared on her face before she held her hand up and fired a magic attack at her. Ingvild slapped it away, knowing that they were being controlled by something or someone. She immediately used a sleeping spell on them, forcing them to sleep. She caught them using her demonic power so as not to let them fall to the ground, and she laid them down gently.
"In, I'll take care of the other Leviathans; you can face your dad, alright?" suggested Valerie. "I'll also look after these guys; nothing will happen to them, trust me!" she added, pumping her fist enthusiastically.
"Thank you, Valerie," replied Ingvild before hugging her and flying towards where she had hit her father.
Once she found him, she saw that he had dislocated his arm but was in the process of fixing it, and he was screaming the whole time. He finally looked up and saw Ingvild floating in the sky with her devil wings, and he scowled at her.
"You ungrateful piece of shit! You're only alive because I was frisky one night—and the consequence of that is you! An abomination like you and that brat Vali Lucifer should not exist!" he hissed at her.
Ingvild was unequivocally hurt by his words. She had her suspicions about his personality—Ingvild, during her free time after being rescued by Aaron, searched the Underworld's internet and various places for information about her father.
The things she found were not a lot, but the things that were available made it sound like he wasn't a kind or accepting man. He was of the mindset of the old noble devils, and he wanted it to stay that way. He did not support the current Satans government, and that was one of the reasons for his disappearance.
Nehunius Leviathan brought out his wings and floated up. A demonic aura enveloped his body as he belligerently stared at his own daughter. "Even if you did come to our side, we would have killed you right away and extracted your Sacred Gear from you as well as our clan's ability. It's a waste on a thing like you," he sneered.
"…Do you only have hate inside of you? No one in this world is asked to be born; we are only conceived because of our parents, and we are then forced to live. Did you not have a chance to take my life when I was a child? Why didn't you?" inquired Ingvild.
"I had better things to do; you were an afterthought to me—you didn't matter, and you don't, to an extent. I—we just need your powers, and once we have them, we will be done with you."
The demonic aura around his body began to change color—it quickly turned lime green, and he immediately pointed his arm towards Ingvild before a snake-like dragon shot out from his arm. It came to life as it wriggled its way towards Ingvild, who in turn created water serpents and countered the lime-green snake dragon.
A small explosion resulted because of the clash, blowing apart the mountainside around them. Once the eruption subsided, both father and daughter were unharmed, but Nehunius arrogantly smiled at her.
"Do you see this?" he asked while letting the lime-green aura enshroud his body. "This is an artificially created version of the [Sea Serpent of the End] after analyzing it from our ancestor, Ingvild. However, unlike the natural ones we had, this was modified by them, giving it some corrosive properties!"
He pointed his right arm at a nearby tree, and after a small lime-green water bullet hit the tree, it immediately corroded it away. It didn't stop there, as it also began to corrode the ground until Nehunius stopped it.
He smiled at her and said, "Don't you see how powerful it can become? But of course, it will always be called 'artificial', and I don't like that. That's why I wish to gain yours; once I have it, the Sacred Gear can go to Leviathan-sama, and all of us will be happy!"
"Why…are you so obsessed with my powers…?" she asked, genuinely confused. "It's not like these ever gave me a peaceful childhood or life, so why?"
A hybrid like Ingvild already had to face many challenges as she grew up in her coastal home in the human world in Europe. A devil who could live more lifetimes than her human peers, her dormant Sacred Gear that would be labeled as a [New Longinus] in the future, and her devil clan's trait.
To her—to the supernatural, hybrids are usually looked down upon in most of their factions or pantheons as they aren't natural. Akeno Himejima being exiled, Inaie's isolation, and Ingvild being hidden away from the Underworld because of being a hybrid and being of the Leviathan bloodline.
"I was my generation's failure, while I was charismatic, good-looking, and could do anything else—I did not have a good demonic pool or was blessed with our clan's trait, the [Sea Serpent of the End], and that's what all our relatives at the time wanted. To them, that's all that mattered, so I started researching, and one day a miracle came!"
"…The Khaos Order and the original Leviathan's idea," finished Ingvild, and her father laughed while agreeing with her.
"Yes! If I have that, I will gain respect amongst our hidden family! Not every Leviathan that showed up today is all of them; many are still hidden like many other progenitors and devil families! There are many clans that are thought to be extinct, but they're simply living in the Underworld's shadows, waiting for a time to reemerge!" he said proudly.
Ingvild didn't know what to think. But from what she could tell after their short conversation and meeting, the man in front of her—the person she so desperately wanted to connect with just a year ago—was subhuman at best.
Ingvild brought her right hand up and immediately conjured an enormous water dragon. It was around the size of the Empire State Building, and it slowly wrapped itself around her. Her father was shocked by the sudden change in her demeanor. As she prepared to attack him, a certain memory flashed in her mind—it was of the day before this operation.
— ○ ● ○ —
In Aaron Toole's home, the man himself was in his office, going over documents for his restaurant and preparing for the operation that was going to happen the next day. As he did this, the door to his office opened, and in came Ingvild.
"Aaron, it's... something quick; do you have time?" she asked.
"Sure thing, In. What's up?"
Ingvild trotted over to him, and he made a chair for her to sit on. Once she sat down, she looked at her hands and started to fiddle with them. When she looked up, Aaron sat there, patiently waiting for her.
"…If…if my dad isn't a good person, is there any chance of him redeeming himself? Or rehabilitation?" she asked.
Aaron did his best at keeping a straight face, but it seemed that Ingvild saw her answer through his facial expression.
"I'll take that as a no, then," she said dejectedly. "Is he that bad?"
Aaron closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and looking at the ceiling. He sighed and then looked back at Ingvild.
"Some people can be rehabilitated and some can redeem themselves. Forcing those who can't is like trying to have a conversation with a wall; they won't ever talk back. Your old—your father is like that; no matter how hard you attempt to change him, it never works. I'm sorry," he explained and then apologized. "…It would be better if you found out yourself, Ingvild. I'll finish my fights as soon as I can tomorrow and join you. But…"
"It's fine. I know what you mean; we've seen both scenarios play out, right? The kangaroo youkai managed to turn his life around and join our side, while Leon and the exiled members of the Five Principal Clans, with the exception of Atsutarou-san, managed to do it—they didn't," she said and sighed again.
"Thank you." Ingvild got up from her seat and made her way out of the room. She would have wanted a different scenario to happen to her father, but she knew that Aaron wouldn't lie to her about that.
— ○ ● ○ —
Ingvild began to hum a small melody that began to empower her own water dragon, which she had created using her clan's power. A small blue aura covered the dragon, and she stared at her dad with a solemn expression.
"…I would have liked to say, 'It was nice meeting you, dad.' But it seems like that won't ever come true. Goodbye," she said sorrowfully.
Ingvild then ordered her water dragon to charge her father, who in turn created his own lime green corrosive dragon that was only 15 meters in size—it was like comparing a giant to an ant; it almost looked comical from a distance.
— ○ ● ○ —
Valerie Tepes stood in front of numerous members of the Leviathan clan who had been in hiding. They were of both sexes and were arrogantly smirking at her. They have been hidden for so long that they were unaware of the full might of [DxD], [EXE], and Aaron Toole's companions.
So when Valerie created small blood-shaped daggers around her, they began to cackle in laughter at her 'attack'. Consequently, because they were looking down on her, once Valerie commenced her attacks and instantly incapacitated a large portion of them, that was when the laughter stopped and looks of horror began to appear on all their faces.
As they fell, they began to retaliate, and they fired their own attacks. However, with Valerie being superior to them in every way, their weak demonic power, and their lousy use of the [Sea Serpent of the End], Valerie made quick work of them.
She didn't kill them, as they were going to be imprisoned in the Underworld, especially the devils, but many of them were going to be…experimented on to see if the alliance could replicate their abilities.
Valerie continued her onslaught when her attacks were suddenly stopped and she was forced to jump away from them. When she looked back at who had stopped her, it was a woman with long, wavy dark green hair, orange eyes, and a noble's dress.
"This is as far as you go, cretin," she said, and she pointed her fan at Valerie.
"C-cretin?" Valerie repeated, confused by the strange insult.
The woman in question did not speak another word and began creating purple water dragons and launching them forward at Valerie at a rapid pace. However, her assault didn't end there, as she began creating different demonic circles around Valerie and firing elemental attacks through them too, forcing her to block them with her own defensive magic circles.
The woman began to laugh as all of this began to automatically repeat without her input. She put her fan over her mouth and continued to gaggle at her. Slightly annoying Valerie.
"I, the elegant and beautiful Enakshi Leviathan, will be the one to take down this vampire!" she announced, and the remaining conscious Leviathans were clapping and cheering for her.
Valerie was already used to this cult-like mentality, so she decided to rain on their parade. By creating small blood bullets and shooting down all the attacks and magic circles that Enakshi Leviathan had created, surprising them.
"I would like it if you didn't underestimate me. I was tasked with bringing all of you back alive, so I'm holding back quite a bit," explained Valerie as she dusted herself.
"Hohoho! Bold words from a weak—" Valerie rammed her fist into Enakshi's stomach before she could continue speaking and punched her through several buildings, destroying them—subsequently, the shockwave created by Valerie's punch also knocked away and knocked out more devils around her.
Valerie looked at her fist and sighed. "…Auuu, I'm becoming more violent; I don't want to be, though, but if I'm forced to, then so be it."
After waiting for a few seconds, Valerie expected the woman to come back to her, but she never did. The other Leviathans weren't moving either, so she walked in the direction she had sent her opponent and found the other Leviathans knocked unconscious; some were even dead, which astounded her.
Once she arrived at the location, what she saw surprised her even more. She found Enakshi writhing on the ground while crying.
"Y-you…hit…me…too…hard…it hurts…!" she said in between sobs. "I…just wanted to do this for Papa and Mama..."
When Valerie saw this, she felt a wave of guilt hit her, but at the same time she was forced to do it since she was attacked by her with the intent to kill. She arrived beside her, and Enakshi didn't try to attack her; she momentarily glanced at her before continuing to cry.
"Why did your parents tell you to do this? Answer my questions, and I'll heal you," she said while sternly looking at Enakshi, who whimpered in response.
"…T-they said if we…are in good favor of the original Levithan…we'll rise up in the Underworld again…mama and papa always ignored me…so when they asked me to do this, I instantly agreed," she shamefully explained.
A child looking for the approval and love of her parents After Valerie heard that, she felt even more pity for the girl, as she only did it out of her own naïve desperation.
'She may have seen herself as arrogant, but maybe that was also an act. She only wanted her parents love and attention after all, poor thing,' Valerie thought. She reached out to Enakshi and summoned the anti-magic handcuffs she had before putting them on her.
After that, she summoned her [Sephiroth Graal]. From it, a sparkling white liquid came out of the cup, and it was poured on Enakshi's stomach, which began to heal it. Both watched as the injuries sustained by the Leviathan descendent vanished.
Normally [Sephiroth Graal]'s healing rate would be inferior to [Twilight Healing] and wouldn't help recover stamina, but after the war, Valerie approached Aaron about upgrading and improving the Sacred Gear, which he agreed to since he didn't want Valerie to suffer any side effects from using it when she does decide to.
Healing: This was greatly improved, and with enough training and usage, Valerie could match Asia's own healing rate and powers.
Resurrection: Used a few times by the Khaos Order to bring back the dead, Valerie will no longer be affected by its negative effects. Although she never uses it or has found herself in a situation where she needs to.
Weakness Reduction: This was changed to 'Weakness Removal'. Much like what Aaron did to his friends, Valerie has the power to remove the weaknesses from others, so devils not weakened by light or dragons by dragon-slaying magic or weapons.
Youth Inducement: Valerie can use the [Sephiroth Graal]'s power over life to restore the youth of living beings. In 'canon', this was shown when she restored an 87-year-old Vasco Strada's aging body back to his physical prime of his fifties. However, the culprit behind Vasco Strada's de-aging was Aaron in this world.
"Is there anyone other than Leviathan that's notably strong?" Valerie asked the now sad-looking girl.
To anyone looking on at the two, it seemed like a mother scolding her daughter as Enakshi hugged her knees with her handcuffed hands and nodded her head.
After a short sniffle, she said, "…T-there are six more Leviathans that I think are powerful—they boasted about being Ultimate-class in power. This doesn't include Ingvild Leviathan's father…"
"Six more Leviathan's…there are a lot more of you guys than I would have imagined," muttered Valerie. She touched her transceiver and informed the rest of the alliance about the six 'Ultimate-class' Leviathans.
"As I said, we were mostly in the shadows of the Underworld. Any devil that doesn't want to associate with the current Underworld will hide in the deepest and furthest corners of the Underworld. Those places are full of powerful and wild demonic beasts and animals, so no normal devil will go there," explained Enakshi.
"…I wouldn't be surprised if there were some 'extinct' households that were still around and were just hiding in the corners of the Underworld, waiting, getting stronger, or just simply living a quiet life," she added.
Valerie nodded her head and said, "I'm going to bring you to our drop-off zone; behave, alright? I will put in a word for you so you won't be…punished too severely, hopefully…"
Scared, Enakshi agreed and was silently transported away by the dhampir. She looked around and flew towards the giant water serpent she saw in the distance.
— ○ ● ○ —
Elsha, one of the previous strongest female Red Dragon Emperors, floated in the sky beside a new member of [EXE] she hadn't seen before but was mentioned in passing by Aaron, Ravel, and Valerie at some point.
"I didn't think you would join [EXE], Zorya-sama. What made you want to?" asked Elsha as they stared at the various opponents in front of them—one of them being the Ultimate-class Leviathans.
Sporting a blush on her face, Zorya admitted, "I…want to be closer to Jin."
Elsha was taken aback by this, and she let out a small laugh. "Is that so? Well, you're not the only woman who wants to do that, but... we can discuss that later; let's defeat these guys first, shall we?" she said and conjured her own [Boosted Gear].
Zorya, the Slavic goddess, agreed and summoned black and white orbs around her; they began to swirl violently as she prepared to attack her foes.
"Hmph. The fake Red Dragon Empress and a Slavic Goddess? I never heard of you, so you must be weak. Gods who have no followers will be weaker or stop existing," said the male Leviathan arrogantly.
He had long, dark green hair with purple highlights and pink eyes, and like the other nobles, he had noble attire that made him stand out from the rest. He held a cane in one hand and pointed it at Elsha and Zorya.
From the cane came several water bullets that were a mix of green and purple. Elsha smiled at this and countered them using magic as she sent her own elemental attacks towards them, creating a small explosion in the middle.
Zorya let her black and white orbs loose, and they quickly blew small holes in the weaker opponents. After her attack, it only left a few more followers of the male Leviathan, as they managed to avoid her attacks.
Zorya was not a goddess that fought; she may have had the power to, but she never formally trained or developed techniques that would be suitable for combat—what she used just now was made up on the spot, and she wasn't sure if they would work or if she had used enough power to create them to deal damage.
One could say that the goddess Zorya was experimenting in her first ever battle, which was reckless, but Elsha didn't know that, so she paid it no mind.
"Balance Break!" Elsha shouted and donned the [Boosted Gear] Scale Mail. She immediately flew towards the male Leviathan and threw a barrage of punches at him.
The man blocked a number of Elsha's attacks, but a few of her punches landed on his body, irritating and hurting him. However, to her surprise, he wasn't knocked away like she thought. He retaliated by attempting to hit her with his cane, but to no avail. But Elsha noticed that it had demonic aura coating it, making it sharper, harder, and more durable than normal canes.
She boosted once and sent another round of punches at the man, mixing in some [Penetrate] and [Dragon Shots], which forced the man to use all his power just to avoid the majority of them but still ended up being struck by a few of the attacks.
This time, while he didn't get blown away again, he was injured to the point of bleeding. Seeing this, the man flew away, but Elsha gave chase while grinning at him. When he stopped, he thought he was away from her, but when he looked up, he saw a red-armored fist coming to his face.
It flung him to the ground, causing him to black out momentarily. When he regained consciousness, he saw Elsha flying towards him with the visage of a dragon around her body made of flames. Panicking, he quickly got up and jumped out of the way.
'…!?' the man knelt down and clutched his stomach. He was confused, but when he checked his body more thoroughly, he noticed some of his internal organs and joints were damaged enough to weaken him to this state. "…You…!"
"I may have been called the strongest female Red Dragon Emperor, but it wasn't because of how powerful I was—it was how I fought, fufu," Elsha said with a wink. Prior to knowing more of Ddraig's abilities and, in turn, the [Boosted Gear], Elsha had to mix in the use of magic.
But now, because of the various abilities she has access to and her previous experience, she is a lot more formidable. Elsha, as the Red Dragon Emperor of her era, was crafty. She primarily targeted her opponents' weak points, weakening them further until they were helpless in front of her—and that's how she killed them.
"This…!" he said as blood came out of his mouth, forcing him to cover it with his hand. "This can't be happening…! I'm an Ultimate-class devil; how can I be beaten by a human…!?"
Elsha cocked a brow and said, "You don't listen to people or anything, do you? Well, I already knew that since I came across a few snobby devils like you in my lifetime. You were probably hiding in the edges of the Underworld, huh? It doesn't matter anymore—[DxD] says hi~!"
Elsha stomped on his head, knocking him out. She then cuffed him with anti-magic cuffs before dragging him away. When she looked back, she saw that Zorya had finished defeating the others with them.
"You did good for an amateur," said Elsha.
"I was never a fighter, but... I wanted to be useful for once. I didn't want to be stuck in my pantheon anymore too…" mumbled Zorya.
"I'll help you! Actually, there are more qualified people in our home, so I'll introduce you to them, and you can get stronger that way. Anyway, that's five out of the six defeated. I'll bring this one back; you can go join another group of defeat some on your own—I'll join you once I'm done," said Elsha.
Zorya noiselessly nodded before evoking a Slavic-style magic circle. A circular-shaped silver gun appeared in her hand and flew away.
As Elsha watched her go, she had one thought: "She uses a gun?"
— ○ ● ○ —
When Elsha arrived at the drop-off zone—it was just one of the roads that led out of Kuoh—she found one of the members of [DxD] with a female.
"Hey, is that…another Leviathan?" she asked.
Her comrade nodded. "Yes, she is, Elsha-san. Her name's Enakshi. Valerie-sama defeated her not too long ago. I assume that's another?"
"Yep, but I don't know their name, but their power was around an Ultimate-class devil, so he's probably part of the six," she explained.
Enakshi looked at the man and nodded. "That's…Runar Leviathan. He had supposedly vanished a long time ago. I-I mean in our inner circle, that stayed away from the Underworld, but when the original Leviathan appeared and offered my parents to join the Khaos Order, he was already with them," elucidated Enakshi.
"So he's the usual asshole and arrogant noble?" asked Elsha, looking at the man with contempt.
"W-well, I believe th-that is what the modern devils of the underworld call us—er, I mean him…" she replied awkwardly.
Elsha shrugged, plopped the still-unconscious man onto the magic circle, and teleported him away. She then looked at Enakshi before she said, "Keep her here for now. She may be able to give us information about the other Leviathans that we bring in, right?"
"Y-yes, I know the remaining five well as they tried to court me. Runar was the most arrogant of them all and held himself in high regard, so he never wanted to waste time on a whore like me…is what he told me," answered Enakshi.
"Tell me. I'll inform the rest," demanded Elsha, and Enakshi began her explanation.
— ○ ● ○ —
"Ugh, why are we being targeted!?" Inaie screamed in aggravation. She and a few hybrids in [DxD] are being targeted by the remnants of the Monkai Association.
"Fufu, let's just catch them, Inaie. After that, we can…" Lightning crackled around Akeno Himejima's arms as she licked her lips while staring at the monsters and youkai after them. "Play (torture) them afterward~!"
"<<It's unfortunate that we can't just kill them,>>" Gasper Balor said with indifference. "<<But since Aaron-nii and the leaders asked, we have to abide by their requests.>>"
Shirone flew beside him and patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Gaspy; we can still break their bones."
"<<T-that's not what I meant, Koneko-chan…>>" responded Gasper.
While he thinks it would be easier to kill them—and he knew that Azazel had told them to even leave them in a vegetated state—he would have preferred to not be so gentle with them.
He had defeated a few youkais and monsters already, but he had to lower his power; otherwise, he would have unintentionally killed them.
There were other hybrids within [DxD] and even [EXE] that were on this mission and being targeted too; they worked together to stave off the remaining members of the Monkai Association, but—
"Hoho? So that's the Priestess of Thunder and Light?" asked a monster.
"Indeed. The other is Gasper Balor and the Loud Mouth Inaie."
"...…Why do I have such a lame epithet!? What is this shit!?" Inaie snapped and screamed at them. "Loud mouth!? How am I a loud mouth!?"
Rias, who was nearby, put a hand on her shoulder. "Inaie…you're technically being loudmouthed right now…"
Inaie's mouth hung open, shocked by what she said. The two monsters that had come here to take the hybrids were silently staring at them.
The one on the right was a dark-skinned, handsome young man with long, neck-length hair, dark skin, and muscle-bound arms and chest. He also had spiky fingernails and small scale-like blades on each hand. He wore a black sleeveless, collared shirt with black, slime-like highlights and a short tie. He also wore matching straps tied around his forearms, black pants, and shoes.
The one on the left was a massive, extremely muscular beast who shares many characteristics with a shark but also vastly resembles a lizardman in both build and posture. One of his most notable traits are his massive, long arms, each sporting an arched-backwards, fin-like bladed protrusion on the outer side, paired with his somewhat small legs.
He wore a dark brown, open-sleeved shirt. He wore loose, whitish brown pants, possessing prominent dark hems, with an orange-brown band circling his waist, alongside simple brown shoes, with darker toe boxes extending in a stripe towards the ankle.
"What do you think, Qirlu?" asked the dark-skinned young man as he eyed Akeno and Gasper.
"The only one we need to be cautious about is the Princess of Gremory; apart from that, we can withstand them enough to leave after we obtain the ones we are after, Genzzle," replied Qirlu.
Without another word to each other, they disappeared. The monster named Genzzle, the dark-skinned man, had appeared beside Akeno and Gasper and was in the process of grabbing them both. The other one, Qirlu, had begun grabbing at Inaie too, but both were prevented by Yumi, who summoned [Gram] and swung her sword at Qirlu, slicing his hand off and blasting him away.
Akeno and Gasper simultaneously used their powers of holy lightning and darkness to repel Genzzle. Gasper was the one to slice a chunk of his cheek off, and Akeno had zapped his…balls, frying them. Both of them had backed away after failing to kidnap their targets.
"…I cannot feel my genitalia," said Genzzle as he looked between his legs with a pained expression.
"…My condolences. Although you should be aware that you are missing a chunk of your face, fornication may be impossible for you going forward," said Qirlu.
"Are you okay, Inaie?" asked Yumi while glaring at the two assailants.
"Yeah…I'll destroy them for giving me such a lame nickname!!" she shouted, light and touki pouring out of her body.
To the Gremory team, it was a strange motivation, but as long as it worked for the girl, they didn't mind.
"Rias-nee-san, let us deal with them. They insulted us, so we should face them," said Yumi. Gasper, Akeno, and Inaie agreed. Rias looked at her team, and they also agreed to this.
"Very well. But remember, take them alive; the alliance wishes to use them," she replied, and then pointed at the two monsters. "Go!'
— ○ ● ○ —
The subordinates of Nyx and the two youkais were 'battling' Aaron Toole—but in reality, he was just analyzing their powers and storing them in his memory to use later. The gangster-looking subordinate of Nyx made Tommy guns of darkness and fired bullets of magic and darkness out of them.
The other, who looked like a Catholic priest, used his staff to support the others, as he mainly used healing through his darkness, which Aaron found interesting, and enhancement from darkness.
The two female youkai, the deer and falcon, used their innate abilities together and had next-to-perfect synchronization with each other. The deer youkai had abnormally powerful physical strength that she used with her touki and unique martial arts.
The falcon was more versatile as she had used her innate wind abilities, touki, and youjutsu. She was also well-versed in hand-to-hand combat thanks to her fellow youkai helping her train in it.
However, with all those combined…they couldn't touch or do any real damage to Aaron—which is why all of them grew frustrated.
The priest created large blades of darkness before sending them to Aaron. He summoned his [Ascalon] and deflected and parried the attacks, but at the same time, he solidified the blades of darkness and quickly used them to construct a chair for himself and sat on it. He placed his right arm on the armrest and his fist on his cheek and stared at them, bored.
"…Are you fucking with us?" the gangster subordinate asked, his eyes twitching in annoyance. The rest were too stunned to speak about what they just saw.
"What do you mean?" Aaron asked, summoning a bag of chips, and he began eating them.
Even more annoyed, the gangster began firing even more rounds of bullets at Aaron, but they were all stopped by his [Infinity]. Aaron wanted to fuck with them a bit more, but when he felt a surge of power and looked in a certain direction, he saw an enormous water serpent the size of the Empire State Building and knew it was time to end it.
"It was fun while it lasted. We'll see each other in the future," he said before vanishing.
Each of them felt a mind-numbing punch to the stomach, knocking the wind out of them. At the same time, they felt something being 'sealed' from inside of them as they all fell to the ground; nothing softened their impact, so the falcon youkai broke one of her wings and the deer youkai broke one of her legs.
The two subordinates of Nyx managed to save themselves by using their surroundings to lessen the impact. Although they were still hurt by it.
"I can't…I can't fly? Even with my wings…w-wh—why?" asked the falcon youkai. She jumped up, flapping her wings, but was unable to do so. The rest of them began to try to use their powers, but none were successful.
Aaron didn't elaborate, and he began to gather them up while tying them with anti-magic ropes. As he dragged them one way with his eyes closed, he heard the priest ask him a certain question, which surprised him.
"Dual Dragon Emperor, what is it that you desire the most right now?"
Aaron stopped in his tracks, looked back at the priest, and opened his eyes. He had many things that he wanted to be done, but the priest's question was for 'now' and not the 'future'. So he took a deep breath and declared, "I want to shove my face into Suzaku's butt and thighs, then Lavinia's, then Danu's, Velgrynd's, and finally Rossweisse. But at this very moment, I want to indulge myself in Suzaku Himejima."
All of their faces morphed into confused ones. They had no idea what to say or how to react to this strange confession of the Middleman. The priest simply shook his head and sighed before looking at the ground in front of him. However, the two female youkais were staring right past him, which perplexed him.
So he turned around and saw…Suzaku Himejima there, smiling at him and blushing.
"…Uh, I can…explain?" he told her.
"…Those…those kinds of things are left for our private times, Aaron. I know you're the Oppai Dragon, but please keep your desires inside of you, okay?" stated Suzaku.
"Yeah, I understand," he replied. 'They asked me though, but I did just blurt it out, and I rarely do it…'
He quickly joined her, and they started walking away. "I'm going to go to Ingvild; what brought you here?" he asked.
"I will take them then. Lavinia told me to come here, so I did," she replied, leaning in and whispering into his ear, "w-would you like to do that later?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Aaron said, "Yes." His face was stone-cold, and he was looking at her somberly.
"Get a room!" the gangster whined, the others agreeing with him.
Both ignored them, and once they got to a specific spot, Aaron handed his captured prisoners to her.
"Take care of Ingvild," Suzaku told Aaron.
"I will."
"Aren't you going to ask for our names!? W-what about our reason for—"
"Maybe another time," replied Aaron to the gangster, who looked befuddled by the whole scenario.
He turned back to Suzaku as they shared a quick kiss, making the others there whine again before they went their separate ways. He looked back at a certain spot and saw large waves of darkness and purple lightning striking each other. He trusted Lisa would win, so he kept going.
He quickly arrived at the spot where Ingvild was, and Aaron also spotted Valerie with her. The serpent that she had made began to slowly turn red as Valerie's blood manipulation began to combine with it—it acted like armor for it.
The man it was directed towards was Nehunius Leviathan, Ingvild's father, and at that very moment, he had a look of trepidation in his eyes. That man knew he was going to die in the worst-case scenario—and at best, be injured but still alive.
— ○ ● ○ —
"Ara~? What's wrong, Nyx-sama? Can't you get past my lightning~?" Lisa asked sardonically.
Nyx scowled at the female magician in front of her. Her darkness was having no effect against the woman in front of her; she believed that the magic that the woman was using was inferior, but none of her attacks could bypass it. So she started to believe that it wasn't magic but something else.
Earlier, when Aaron groped Lisa and unleashed her power, he granted her new powers that would work well with her. Her epithet, 'Purple Rose', was given to her because of her lightning magic's unique color—purple. Aaron had granted that to her earlier—the innate ability to use a form of Purple Lightning.
Along with her new but temporary power-up, Lisa stood above Nyx, so she simply used her brute strength to play around with the Primordial Goddess.
"I don't only rely on my darkness, you know?" replied the goddess as Greek-style magic circles appeared all around them. Various elemental attacks began to ceaselessly shoot from them towards Lisa.
She winked at Nyx, confusing her. Seconds later, as the attacks were about to hit Lisa, she poked the air in front of her, negating the magic attacks that were aimed at her. She did this with all her attacks, eventually targeting the magic circles with her lightning and destroying them.
"We're back to square one, aren't we?" remarked Lisa, further provoking Nyx.
Nyx sighed and said, "Very well. I acknowledge you. Nevertheless, keep in mind that this isn't your power—it's borrowed power; can you really be proud of that?"
Lisa laughed while waving her hand at Nyx. "Aaron said that this is just my power in the future, meaning I will have access to it. Right now, he simply gave me access to it to defeat you. So in a way, you're wrong~"
The Goddess of Night gave up. No matter how she tries to antagonize the magician in front of her, she always finds a way to turn it back on her. If she tried any more, she would go insane with how sassy Lisa was.
"Normally gods won't let humans' experiment on them because they don't know what will happen to them or their divine powers," Nyx said abruptly, confusing Lisa. "Nevertheless, I wanted to have fun in this 'prank', but it's clearly gotten out of hand with all the other groups that joined me for their own personal gain."
A strange mist formed around Nyx, her darkness mixing with it. Both powers began to dance around Nyx's body as she looked at it briefly before shifting her attention back to Lisa.
"I don't know what this power is, but Promestein said that it would help me. Truthfully speaking, I'm quite scared of it, but it would make this whole game more fun, right?" she rhetorically asked the woman in front of her.
A powerful eruption was created when both Nyx's darkness and white mist collided near her stomach. It created an even more powerful aftershock that pushed Lisa away and even decimated the surrounding area.
Once it ended, Lisa looked back at the center of it and found Nyx in some kind of new form. Her long black hair had changed into a mix of black and white mist. Her pointy ears were also protected by the darkness and mist, and her new dress had turned into a long checkered one with cloud and mist designs all over it. Her height also increased, as did the size of her breasts. Finally, her blue eyes had begun to glow, and her pupils had turned into small cloud shapes.
Lisa became uneasy—she began to regret her decision to play with the Goddess of Night, but she couldn't take it back now and had to face this new power of hers. Nyx smiled at Lisa before she felt a tap on her back. When she quickly turned around, Nyx was there with her fist already going towards her.
In quick succession, Lisa cloaked her body in purple lightning, repelling the fist of the Primordial Goddess away and even leaving a small burn mark on her hand. Even Nyx was surprised by this as her eyes transiently widened, but they went back to their normal size as she vanished again and appeared further away from Lisa.
"Nyx-sama, may you explain to me what this is~?" Lisa asked, trying to remain casual and calm.
Amused by this, Nyx complied. "As I said, I don't know what it is, but... I'm led to believe that it came from the Phantasma. Both the Evie and Phantasma left us with some items from their universe, but since we didn't know how they would work... we never really touched them, well, until now."
Nyx made the white mist dance around her body again. She looked at it affectionately before dismissing it. "This was the result, although Erebus did force me to undergo this experiment with the reason of, 'It'll make your prank even funnier.' I knew it was bullshit, but... I just went with it. I'm unsure if this form is good or not."
What Nyx didn't know was that this form would kill her. Her body was incompatible with it. The 'mist' came from a planet that was conquered by the Phantasma in their own universe long ago, and it has been maintained by a certain Umbra.
He willingly gave them this because he thought it would be mirthful. He didn't care for others and only cared for himself, much like many of the members of the Phantasma. Although he only gave them a weak 'mist' from the planet, as there were many more powerful 'mists' on that planet, some could even be classified as god-class or god-grade.
Depending on the individual it is merged with, different effects and powers will be born from that merge—some amplifying that individual's overall powers, some changing them completely, some combining and mixing (like Nyx), or some killing them before the merge is complete.
The Khaos Order and Promestein were informed of this to a degree but weren't given the details of how to proceed with the merge, so they were left to their own devices once communication between them was cut by Aaron.
Left with no instructions, the researchers and scientists of the Khaos Order did what they could and managed to 'merge' it with Nyx, allowing her to take on this new form. Because of her status as a Primordial Goddess, her body wouldn't be destroyed right away, even after they merged her in the incorrect way.
The correct way was to merge it with her soul first, then her body. The 'mist' would find the compatible power for the host—it would either amplify, mix, create something new, or do something else. After that, it would assimilate to the rest of her body; of course, this is under the assumption it didn't kill the host after attempting to merge with their soul.
However, the Khaos Order merged it with her body first, then it made its way into Nyx's soul—even if she survived it initially, it would slowly corrode her soul once it finally caught up to her. Even now, Nyx felt strange but didn't know why.
Nyx was living on borrowed time; the only way for her to survive was if Aaron or Azathoth intervened.
"Is that so? Well…I—" As Lisa was about to say something, she suddenly received information about Nyx's powers. She was surprised by this, but once she understood the goddess' predicament, she couldn't say what she wanted to say.
Cúntóir: Answer: It is up to you, Lisa. Inform her or not; it will be up to you—but keep in mind that Aaron will come and remove that from her; the Greek gods have said they wish to keep her alive. Erebus and the other gods who allowed this to happen did not know of the consequences—they were fooled by Faodra, one of the Umbra.
Lisa silently listened to Cúntóir's explanation and nodded to herself. Her fight with the Goddess of Night had become a bit easy and complicated, yet she was determined to defeat and save her.
"Fufu let's make this fun then, Nyx-sama~!"
Along with the information she received from Cúntóir, she also learned more about her new powers. Lisa's lightning began to crackle around her body, and it began to form armor around her shoulders, legs, and waist. Beside her, a translucent purple grimoire formed from her lightning. Her signature hat also grew in size and discharged small bolts of lightning from it.
"Well…I expected this, but I didn't think you would use a new form too, female magician," said Nyx, amused by this whole interaction.
"It just makes it fun~" responded Lisa. They momentarily glared at each other before a burst of darkness, white mist, and purple lightning rippled from the vicinity.
— ○ ● ○ —
"Ugh! I don't like fighting, but I have to do it, right!?" Yoimiya yelled in frustration. She used a bow and fired fire and explosion arrows towards her assailants.
"…Yes, we live here after all," replied Kuki Shinobu. She had several kunai around the area that glowed yellow and purple while releasing lightning from them.
Aaron had offered to move them to his home for the duration of the mission, but both of them declined. They told him that since they were living here and were part of the supernatural, as well as in debt to him, they wanted to fight together with [DxD] even if they weren't full-fledged members.
Prior to today, Aaron brought them both to his home and underwent four years of training in his [Training Facility] with the help of several people. Yoimiya received training and mentoring from Artemis and others who were competent with a bow. She was also helped with learning touki, some martial arts training, and mastering the magic she knew.
Kuki Shinobu was trained in hand-to-hand combat, along with the use of her magic and innate lightning powers. She already had the use of touki thanks to Itto's constant use of it; she learned it from it, but she was still tasked with mastering it, which she managed to do in just four years.
These two weren't helpless by any means, but they weren't super powerful as they walked the line of Ultimate-class powered devils.
However, they weren't alone, as two members of [EXE] were with them, assisting them. One of them was a short male with short green hair with a side fringe. His green eyes darted around the area as he made calculations with his superior processing speed.
One of his innate abilities was that he was essentially a human computer, able to process things at a much faster speed than others. That wasn't his only ability, as he was also born with a Sacred Gear—it was quite rare as it was an independent avatar type.
[Zastruga Aptenodytes] or [Icy Penguin King]. As the name implies, it gives its user the ability to manipulate ice and water to a certain degree. The avatar itself can fight on its own without its wielder's input.
The young boy in question was Alvar Rosario, a half-Icelandic, half-American boy. Alvar pointed towards an opponent of theirs and said, "Waddles, two on the left and one on the right—I'll take care of the three in the middle, go.'
The Sacred Gear, now named Waddles, leapt up and began to rapidly spin around, unleashing torrents of sharp water and ice blades. The unsuspecting opponents were pierced and injured by the attack, but four of them managed to avoid it.
Alvar himself created giant balls of ice and then launched them towards his opponents; some became confused by his trajectory because there was no one at those locations. But after Waddles maneuvered himself in the air and slammed into them, he forced those individuals to be at those spots—consequently being hit by his attack.
These two worked quite well together, and while they're not too powerful as they're only comparable to High-class devils, it was enough because of their teamwork and creativity—as well as Alvar's intelligent mind.
Another man nearby whistled. He had long brown hair tied in a man bun, blue eyes, and wore black officer's work attire. In his hand was a glowing handgun, and on his other was a glowing yellow circlet.
"Keep it up, Alvar-chan~!" he shouted before snickering.
"Don't call me that," retorted the young boy.
In reality, Alvar was only twelve and already part of this life. He lost his parents at a young age and was taken in by (luckily?) a magician who wasn't part of any organization but wasn't too self-obsessed or psychotic. He was taught many things by the man, who became a father figure for him, and once he was twelve, he set out to make a name for himself.
In a way, it was the happy ending that Lavinia Reni should have gotten with Glenda but didn't. However, as Alvar was still quite young, his body wasn't that strong, even if he applied enhancement magic to it, so he had to rely on his brains, wits, and Sacred Gear to survive.
The man who called him that was in his late twenties. He aimed his glowing gun at his enemies and fired a single bullet. One of them was struck, but it didn't kill him; however, his pullet pierced through their bodies and kept moving. Using his circlet, he controlled it to go back to the target and hit him repeatedly before he controlled it to pierce the target's head.
[Roscoe Numen] or [Gun God], a common Sacred Gear that he mastered and evolved over the course of his lifetime and involvement in the supernatural, which started around the age of fifteen.
Zachary Graham didn't have a difficult upbringing. He was an American through and through, and he found it ironic that he was born with a Sacred Gear that was related to a gun—he found it even more funny when he saw a certain man in the tournament with a Sacred Gear called [Gun Birth] and they were also related to the USA.
However, Zachary was what you would call a troubled teen. He acted out in his early teens until his fourteenth birthday, when he encountered the supernatural. That was when his Sacred Gear activated, forcing him into the supernatural.
Zachary loved it, though, as his troubled side was allowed to let off steam during this time, and even when he was close to dying multiple times, he pulled through, became stronger, and calmed down over the years.
Now, he's just someone who teases people on a regular basis but doesn't take it too far and knows when to stop. In a way, he's the fun uncle at family gatherings that you want to talk to and hang out with since he will give you alcohol.
He landed beside Yoimiya and patted her head. "Lil girlie, you don't seem like the fighter type; why are ya fighting' here?" asked Zachary.
"It's my new home! I'm obviously going to defend it—also, it's to repay [DxD] and Jin!" Yoimiya shouted back, smacking his hand away and firing another round of flaming arrows.
"…I have the same reasons," Shinobu replied behind him.
"Woah! I didn't even sense you…hmm? Are you two sisters from different mothers or somethin'?" he asked, looking at the two.
Yoimiya and Shinobu looked at one another, then at Zachary.
"No," they said simultaneously.
Alvar also landed near them and yelled, "Stop relaxing! We still have five Ultimate-class Leviathans out there!"
Zachary held his hands up and said, "Oh, so scary! You heard him, ladies; if you see an obnoxious noble with water powers, call us—!"
Yoimiya pointed behind them and said, "Like that?"
They followed her finger and found a woman with several monsters and youkai with her.
She indeed fit the description of what Enakshi informed them. The dark blue bob haircut, purple eyes, and green and white noble dress. She also carried a flag with the symbol of the Leviathan on it behind her.
With an egoistic smile on her face, she declared, "Members of the DxD Alliance, today you shall perish, for once we are finished with you, our next goal is the Underworld and the current government!"
"…What's with old devils and wanting power all the time? I've fought a few low-class devils, and some of them just want power for themselves, which is fine, but... nobles always want to control the Underworld; what's up with that? Isn't that like... exhausting? Why even bother?" Zachary asked, scratching his head.
"You said it yourself; they want control—they want the status quo. High-class over the low-class and reincarnated. They won't be satisfied until they have it. Some, like Zekram, control the Underworld from the shadows; in a way, he's the true ruler while the current Satans are his puppets, even if they do make a lot of the decisions. But regarding how their world works—the noble class system—that won't change unless someone does a complete purge of the old-era devils," said Alvar.
"You're pretty smart, eh?" Zachary stared at Alvar, surprised by his knowledge.
"You're just stupid," retorted the young man. This annoyed Zachary, and he was about to squeeze Alvar's head out of annoyance, but Shinobu stopped him.
"We can banter later, but right now... we need to band together and defeat her. If she's truly an Ultimate-class devil, then this will be a difficult battle for us," she told them.
Alvar chuckled. "It will only be difficult if we're stupid about it. You three, attack them for the next minute," he ordered.
"Why a minute?" Yoimiya asked.
Alvar smirked. "That's all the time I need to analyze their power, tactics, and personal ticks. Once I'm done, I'll tell you our plan to beat them. But do everything in your power to expose everything about them—annoy them, force them to dodge strange attacks—do it for a minute…go!"
They didn't question the young man and began their assault on the female Leviathan's group.
"I am Gilya Leviathan—" Her speech was cut short when a bullet flew past her cheek, drawing blood. She glared at Zachary, who had fired the bullet, and he stuck his tongue out at her. "Vermin like you don't deserve to live in our new world—kill him!"
The various monsters and youkai flew towards the small four-man team. Alvar stayed on the ground as the other three began their attack.
Zachary smirked and fired multiple shots towards the youkai, who avoided them, but some were hit once he took control of his bullets. He also added some duplication magic from a distance, multiplying his bullets and injuring more of them while missing more too.
'Tch, so I do need my Balance Breaker to have better control of more than three bullets... How annoying,' he thought, keeping up his assault.
Yoimiya and Shinobu covered each other as Shinobu created a small lightning barrier around them, and Yoimiya kept up her assault with the flame and explosion arrows. She missed most of her shots, but on the ones she hit, their opponents were incinerated or blown up. Her explosion arrows dealt more damage to them as some were caught up in the explosion, causing more injury.
Gilya Levithan watched this with dissatisfaction. She had asked if she could handpick the members she was set to order but was told no since they didn't have many members left in the Monkai Association because of Black Alice's defeat earlier in the month.
This left Gilya with subpar to useless subordinates that she had the displeasure of working with; although she tried to make them train or become stronger, it was all for naught since they were next to useless—and today, they only proved more of their incompetence.
She raised her arm and began to create numerous eight-foot-tall water serpents and other creatures. "If they're this incompetent, then I'll just have to kill them—I can feel it; they're weaker than me," she said and smirked. 'I want this to be done already, so I can go get Enakshi; I have yet to conquer her, fufu.'
Gilya Leviathan swung both ways and would do it with both sexes. Her latest obsession was her fellow Leviathan, Enakshi. She was also a bit interested in Yoimiya, as she thought the girl looked cute, so with that in mind, she plans on taking her with her once she defeats the rest.
Suddenly, all of them pulled back, leaving her group mostly injured or dead. This confused her, but she didn't think too deeply about it and unloaded her water monsters on them. But to her surprise, once her attacks got closer to them, they instantly froze.
"How'd you even know about that technique?" Zachary asked. He had 'shot' Alvar and Waddles with his gun, and in response, both of them became much more powerful.
This was one of Zachary's techniques that utilized his Sacred Gear. While it wasn't his Balance Breaker, it was still a powerful tool for him. It was one of the two special bullets he could use. Depending on the element he focuses on and analyzes in a short period of time, he can amplify the power of that element by ten times.
The other bullet of this technique did the opposite. It would significantly decrease the power and effectiveness of whatever element he infused his bullet with. Which is why he shot a bullet to his side—to the air—but an invisible magic circle had been placed there and beside Gilya Leviathan, and it hit her.
"Ow! W-what the…!?" she looked at her shoulder, where a small indentation was now visible. This made her furious, as she cared a lot about her appearance and skin.
With righteous fury, she conjured up more water serpents, but she noticed that their density, power, and size had decreased significantly. They were around the size of normal snakes—no, they were much less than that, shocking her.
She looked at Zachary and bellowed, "What did you do!?"
"I didn't think it could affect innate abilities from devils since I never tried them, but we're in luck, huh!? Scared Gears are amazing!! All hail Jin-san for doing something to it! Hooray!!" he shouted and brought his arms up.
Alvar smiled. "Well then, this is going to be checkmate soon, so let's get to it." He raised his arm up and pointed it at Gilya. Waddles, his Sacred Gear opened his mouth, and a blue-white ball of energy began to form.
Gilya began to move when she found that she couldn't. When she looked at her legs, she saw that something was preventing her. She used her regular demonic powers to destroy whatever was tethering her and found that they were strings.
"Strings…!? Who the hell—!?"
Behind her was a butler with light blue hair. He fixed his glasses and said, "My apologies, I cannot let you leave now. For the betterment of today, please be defeated."
This was Celestin—one of Aaron's [Electa]. When she saw him, she became even more enraged, but she also found him quite handsome, so she felt a bit of conflict too. Before she could say another word, a large blue-white beam hit her and instantly froze her.
Alvar patted Waddles on the head with a confident smile on his face. "And that's checkmate. Let's go help the rest—we'll be leaving you, Miss Yoimiya, Miss Shinobu," he said before he created an ice bird and flew away.
"What the midget said! We'll see you later!" Zachary shouted and ran off.
Celestin landed on the ground beside them and to their sides. "Fufu, I will bring these troublemakers to the drop-off zone. Shinobu-sama and Yoimiya-sama, you two can rest up if you wish," he offered and clicked his fingers before all the defeated opponents appeared behind him.
Yoimiya shook her head. "No, we'll help bring them over. I'd feel even more of a burden if I didn't do this much!"
"…Yes, I agree. Let us help," said Shinobu.
Celestin knew how stubborn some of the women that are around his master are, so he relented, and they began walking towards the drop-off zone while defeating an occasional enemy and adding them to their pile.
— ○ ● ○ —
Check the chapter comments to see images of certain characters.
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