Act.29 Crown Royal & 100 Pipers: Hyoudou Rebellion

13th September, 7th Daze bar, 14:23 pm

Arthur Pendragon fell on his rear on the exact moment he dropped out of the portal with both hands plopped onto Caliburn and Excalibur Ruler's handles as they were used as some sort of crutch to let him stand. The dark decour was rather unpleasant at this point because of the sudden shift from day to night that he probably assumed had occurred so he didn't quite feel well about everything that transpired. All that crazy shit they pulled off, facing off against the abomination had taken its toll on his psyche and body and thus he was shivering. He was horrified, shaken by the very moment he locked eyes with it.

It wasn't easy to support himself so the young man had to do his best to navigate in the darkness if he could, he did close his eyes due to the shift so there was that to consider. Most importantly, he called out for his sister to confirm she was there with him. Fay was the most important thing for him so he had to make sure they were together and safe to the best of their abilities.

"Fay! You there?! Answer me if you can talk!", he raised his voice the best he could before his legs gave out and his teeth clattered in pure dread. The loud thud of his fall was softened by him actually landing on a tired Fay and knocking her down in one go as both siblings hit the floor and groaned in one unified swear.

"... I'm here, Arthur. Don't worry about it...", answered Fay with her voice shrinking down to a more childish tonality that reminded him of her actual age. It was as equally frightened as his own and he could have sworn her heart beating like mad or perhaps it was his own. Fay did try to push herself up but she didn't know where to place her hands to rise up so she instead chose to talk to ease her mind less she would have gone insane if she didn't get an outlet for what she experienced. "...I realize it... the old man was right... this isn't a playground for kids like us. I'm scared, brother. I don't know what to say or feel but if you let go I'll go insane so don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me behind!"

Fay's emotional outburst was cut short before she could have continued her tirade by the sudden pain she felt after she tried to squeeze out the words out of her throat. Her chest tightened, her weariness was getting to her since she was drained and couldn't maintain her Fenris Priestess anymore. She was shrinking back to her thirteen year old self and coupled with the harrowing memory of the Annihilation Maker still fresh in her mind did she spasm and slump back.

And she got a response to her statement.

"Just so you know I'm not that old. I'm not an old man, little girl."

The scenery changed when the neon illumination was switched on and it became bright as day. The decor changed into a classy vintage style tea room with crystal chandeliers and paintings, murals were lined on the soft colored walls with a flowery pattern etched onto them alongside the round tables that were covered with silk cloth and fine porcelain tea sets. The soft illumination of the crystal chandeliers gave it a refined charm and character of it's own, perhaps too similar to Fay's own home in Yorkshire. It was none other an a complete replica of their tea room back at the house in England. The house of the Pennyworth family where they had lived not so long ago.

Arthur Hale Mason was casually sitting on one of the chairs, sipping from the tea cup elegantly as his gaze darted towards the small girl and he left the cup on the saucer as he waved his hand and chided her. "I'm 52 and yet you call me old man... I barely look any different from how i used to when i was thirty years younger. Can't deny this charm, no?", he said with a grandfatherly smile as he returned whipped out a bottle of bourbon from underneath the table and poured it into the other cups on the table.

"How can you be so damn calm! You crazy ass old man! I need a drink right now...", Pendragon shouted at him as he took notice of the simulacrum of his house and inspected every detail to the best of his ability. His brief stint with death was starting to make him realize how lucky he was to be back among the living. So many thoughts ran through his head akin to a horse race. He was grateful, very much so but he was scared shitless before anything else. There was no doubt their lives were in his hands and he truly understood that and yet, he recognised that kindness and respect towards them.

They weren't treated like expendable pawns but more like a part of the group the more he pondered upon it.

"I've been through this more times than i can think of. Not to mention worse things than these so you would get used to the bizarre nature of this work in no time.", the older gentleman simply retorted and gestured for the siblings to come and join him at the table. "Not sure if you would fancy some bourbon in a cup but i believe this scenery would put your mind at ease. We won this battle and you risked your lives so I would like to think i could trust you more as i saw your real intentions on the battlefield."

Still, he made no attempt to hide the loaded shotgun resting on his lap. "Make no mistake, lad. I'm not going to drop my guard so easily when you have those swords in your hands.", Arthur was merely testing him to see if he had any intention of forcing his way out of here.

The blonde man responded. "Not a chance. I'd be dead the moment i try anything like that. You gave them back to me so It's enough for now. My sister is alive so that's all that matters to me.", he managed to get back on his feet and unearth the swords from the floor and gave a helping hand to his sister. With slow steps they reached the table and sat down while the bespectacled swordsman left the swords on the table as a sign of trust. He was not going to antagonize the barman and surrendered completely.

"...Thank you... I can't repay what you did for me.", whispered Le Fay as she took the cup and downed the bourbon till the last drop. She needed something like that to calm down a little. The look she gave her brother told him to keep his mouth shut and follow suit. "Is Kuroka...is she alive?! We need to see her right away!", the blonde caster tapped on the table and searched for some water to clear the bourbon aftertaste off her palate.

Arthur nodded in agreement and his eyes darted towards the nearby wall. Something felt amiss when he scrunched his brows and bit his lips as if he felt a gnawing pain eat at his side. "You don't want to see this... It's not pretty but she needs you to be there for her. I did the best i could for the moment so you would have to do the rest...", his gloved hand was placed on his chest when he winced in slight agitation. The grimace he made hid nothing about how tired and stressed he was despite his best efforts to conceal his weariness and displeasure.

"Show us. We need to see her this instant.", Pendragon demanded with a shaky voice. He didn't drink his bourbon cup yet as he was concerned more about the black bakeneko than his own condition. His blue eyes showed conviction and gave off the vibe that he would not compromise when it concerned the wellbeing of a friend.

"What are we going to do now?", added Le Fay.

Without any time to waste did the barman twitch his fingers and a door formed onto the wall, opening a white corridor that led towards the containment chambers that they kept the Strays during their resting time. It felt bleak with all the whiteness and the sensation of a hospital ward that came along with it. It felt like a morgue by the looks of it, sterile and unwelcoming when the siblings gawked at the entrance. Nothing there felt pleasant as the chortles and screeching, the whimpering and screams were heard loud and clear.

"As i said", Arthur said before looking away. Carefully choosing his next words was important. "You go see your lady while i go save my babies."

Fay's reaction was to try and suppress any laugh she was about to unleash upon hearing that sentence. It didn't fit a man of such stature and poise to say words like that in her mind but she chose not to address that. It was of no consequence to her as long as she could see Kuroka well and up on her feet. Not a moment was spared when she leapt off her chair and rushed down the corridor where a white door with black letters denoted this was the feline Devil's room.

When she opened the door she witnessed Kuroka trying to claw at her eyes at the very second the door handle was pushed down. Heavy chains were wrapped all over her limbs and torso while padding and mattresses were layered all over the spacious room to prevent the patient from hurting themselves. There was not an inch of free space, everything was white and bouncy despite it's cold appearance at first glance. All of this was done for her protection.

She wasn't the only one struggling since the noises kept coming from all the other walls even if faint to the ears of the siblings. Whatever she was experiencing was abominable to watch and twice as much as to imagine the things she felt after the taint had spiralled out of control. They did know a thing or two about it since she had been kind enough to tell them beforehand with one request in mind. If things turned out for the worse they were to lop off her head and grant her a merciful, painless death. That was her request.

Arthur was stunned. He had never seen her in this state, being reduced to this rattling creature trying to eat their faces with that hollow look in her bloodshot eyes. The sclera was darkened and the difference between pupils and cornea was fading till they would have turned pitch black.

Shutting the door was a viable option but instead the blonde man chose a different course of action. Namely, he sucker punched Kuroka in the jaw at the moment she was about to bite him and then he jumped on her to keep her down. "Hold her legs! We gotta knock her out somehow!", he said while struggling to pin her down by her shoulders and avoid getting a nasty bite.

Fay was disturbed but in her panic she took notice of the first thing that she saw near the door. A couple of injectors, full of sedatives and a canister of what appeared to be water with a syringe next to it. Fastidiously she picked the injector and stabbed it in Kuroka's neck, pressed the trigger and expelled it's contents into her bloodstream. She tried to hold her down by the legs by sitting on them as her brother pinned her arms on the cushioning and used his knees to steady her head. The armor on them would do the trick and he clenched his thighs till she couldn't move.

The bakeneko Devil stiffened for a few seconds otherwise her back would have arched if they weren't holding her down. She was clawing on the mattress but Arthur kept her down despite her snarls and inhuman growls and gibberish. It took all their might to even reign her in for a few good moments that were full of struggle.

"Keep her mouth shut! That's nothing like any language I've heard. Hurry!", said a frazzled Fay as she picked up another injector and handed it to her brother to use.

After nearly a minute did the rabid cat cease to struggle and relax, her head turning to the side and her eyes regained their usual colouration when the taint subsided and faded back into oblivion. The stuff they used was a batch of elephant tranquilizers to knock her out cold for the moment. Just to make sure they used a third one since she was no elephant after all.

Pendragon did use the injector as a gag and placed it between her lips as he securely inserted it sideways. "Motherfucker...what the fuck is this? This ain't normal, sister, i tell you. This is some messed up shit and i got a few hypotheses about it.", he added with a hitched breath while looking at the syringe near the canister.

"Have you never wondered about the thing that apparently made her a Devil and yet, she has not displayed anything of remote resemblance to the actual nature of one?", the owner of the 7th Daze himself appeared behind the siblings with his cane tapping on the surface. He lit up a cigarette and took a deep inhale after he knew he had caught their attention. "What you're thinking is very likely to be what i could divulge from our weekly studies. But that is for another time once you have calmed down."

"I've had my suspicions but... We can't leave her alone...", Fay looked down at her feet. She sounded frightened but innocent in the way she cupped her hands together and raised her head with saddened eyes.

"You're not leaving her alone. Someone needs to take care of them. You're in no condition to fight at all, both of you.", Arthur said after he exhaled some smoke and made hoops out of it. His reaction was measured, his intonation and gestures were reassuring to ease their minds and to get them off his back. He wasn't worried about them trying to run away because they would meet no such opportunity and even if they did they wouldn't succeed. "I'll tell you what i know in exchange for you keeping an eye on them. There are some painkillers and nerve blockers if they start thrashing like crazy. It surely hurts so be kind enough to give them a shot and observe for anything abnormal with them."

That was pretty nice. Two rabbits with one stone.

"Thank you.", Fay decided the best way to get answers was to be polite and friendly. She intended to keep her word and repay what she was given and thus she helped her brother to stand up and move back to the white corridor.

The Pendragon siblings then followed after the barman while he was walking down the corridor with the tap of his cane humming in a rhythm that put them on edge. He didn't turn back to face them, he kept walking straight up as the space was distorting around him - various doors were opening and from each one he took something. A bulletproof vest, a new trench coat and dress shirt and then finally he brandished a new hat. All of those appeared on his being to replace the bloodstained ones from the previous bout and Arthur Hale Mason looked at his golden pocket watch.

"Piece of advice, young lad." he glanced at the small blondie briefly, who met his gaze with a stare. "The green haired boy you're going to meet soon is quite the trickster so ensure that you won't end up on an island after a plane crash or two. He's going to end up dead if he would be successful in causing the blonde one's abortion. Not to mention you're definitely going to freak out once you see someone very special."

"I... I don't understand. Is this some future event or a temporal possibility or parallel worlds?", Fay wasn't sure which one it was other than to believe him once she had seen what he could do. He could be joking with them since he did have a sense of humour unlike their dry British one. She didn't want to question it yet. "I want to know if Wesscot will kick the bucket at last?! She's the reason why we're in this Khaos Brigade mess in the first place."

"I'll let you decide it. And I won't divulge such information because it's cruel to ask about it.", he cut her off before she would have asked for more information. He never liked to tell when someone would die so he rarely used his Gift for such things because he would get extremely bored by always knowing what would happen. Some unpredictability was what he enjoyed in order to feel normal and to remind himself of his humanity. "Only time will tell and you'll find out soon enough."

She looked at Arthur once more. His grimace didn't change at all and yet, his eyes were full of calmness and resolution. He really meant everything he said and there was no doubt about it.

However, he paused for a second and threw her a sideways glance for a second before he swiveled his head left and right to flex his neck muscles. A small gesture he made when he placed his new glove over the wounded hand and offered a kind smile. A smile that turned flat right away when he considered something. There was that look of contemplation in his brown eyes that made her think he was struggling with something to say.

But he only parted a few words that would have made a big difference to the young man and his sister.

"Lucifuge."

"What? Say that again, please?", Pendragon asked politely.

The older Arthur looked him dead in the eye and elaborated with stone cold conviction now. "That's the demon who put your lady in a coma. If you want her soul back you'll have to bargain with it or be lucky enough to kill the abomination.", he lit up a new cigarette and continued walking.

"And I'm going to help you kill it to sweeten the arrangement. So what do you say, lad? Do we have a deal?"

XXX

Vali was sleeping soundly on the bed that she had used during her hostage situation, tucked neatly under the blankets inside the gray room that served as her abode for the time being. The Cambion once more had her restraints brought up by the Doctor, blocking her Longinus Gear and mana to the point where she wouldn't be able to cast anything if she tried. The room was full of seals and carved patterns to bind her in one place and that meant twice as much since the moment she was called by the Annihilation Maker itself. The Beast had beckoned her, it whispered in her ears things she would have never wanted to admit and nearly brought her by it's side as that was supposed to have been her rightful place.

The black leather suit had been cast off her frame and she was stripped down to her underwear. Every article aside from the fortified, black demi-bra with white rose trimming and the lime green side-tie thong was removed. Without a doubt, Tina was becoming more and more feminine and proper as time went by. That was a welcomed change by Azazel's words given how insecure she was regarding her own femininity.

She wasn't wounded that badly, thankfully. Some good sleep and nutrition would do the trick.

On the other bed that was moved in was the unconscious Eleonora who was sleeping like a baby from all the distress and strain she had been put through. The Italian blonde just barely managed to eject the metal core of the Colossus before the gigantic twelfth tier spell would have hit them, moving them to safety where they were picked off by a tear in space and relocated at the bar. Her state wasn't good, she passed out and had to be carried by her cousin alongside Valentina and all of this happened barely eighth minutes ago. Enough time to put her in bed, strip her to the fancy neon blue and black lingerie she wore and the rest was dealt with accordingly.

Chesare and Castor were vigilantly watching over the sleeping girls as both men leaned onto the wall and tried to catch their breath.

"Feeling alright there, man? That was fucking dope... If you ask me...", Chesare looked at the sleeping Ellie through the corner of his eye. "Girl's got firepower, that's for sure. Huh...huh... I barely got enough juice for a quick smash and dash and you?", the doctor struggled to pull out a cigarette from the carton by using his teeth. His other hand held the Sunlight Crux shard that faintly glowed with a pleasant orange shine.

Castor didn't bother taking off the combat gear despite it being reduced to tatters in some places. He took a heavy beating and nearly died when his King Bahamut wings got clipped. He was trying to breathe but he huffed and puffed every now and then. His cognition was regained but he had built up plenty of fatigue and mental strain, thus the booster drugs were keeping him awake and in condition.

After a few good seconds did the African man respond in his usual tone. "I'll...manage. It's just like the monthly batshit insane misadventures we have but this takes the cake...", despite aching with pain and his heart beating like mad he let out a heartfelt laugh with no restraint. "We got no one to rely on... we're going to make our way through, pick up our boy and scram. These two... They have a lot of fight in them and if it weren't for their assistance we would have resorted to more extreme measures..."

Doctor MonBlanc lit up the tobacco with the crux as a lighter and enjoyed the much needed rush of nicotine to his brain. Nothing beat a good smoke after a hard day of working. He then turned to his friend and replied with a rough tone. "Arthur's pushing himself again. I told him not to do that shit but he didn't listen. He's gonna pull that shit off again and we can't stop him. Seriously, how much shit do we have to deal with?"

"Can't deny that you end up causing half of it on a good day.", quipped the titanic man.

"You make it seem like all the stuff we do is my fault.", the dark haired one replied with a witty smirk. He was smoking pretty fast and had finished at least half of his tobacco roll in a few inhales. "I didn't think I'd find another Malakkar right under my nose. Get this, he has a resemblance to the Chinese chick our boy won over so I'm thinking either siblings or cousins. I'm certain that girl's one of us too, no doubt. But man, she had a sweet ass! "

"Yes, most of them.", Castor bobbled his head around as he allowed himself some room for snide remarks. "Next time i drive, you shoot. And first we try diplomacy and then you fuck up shit. If anything... it went pretty well. I would say it's a win-win situation for us. Let's just hope things will go well on the Professor's end.", he outright ignored any making any comments about Xuelan as he was concerned with more pressing matters.

"I'm always diplomatic, mind you. We don't have time to lead these silly conversations. Izzy's probably fighting for his life and he needs our help cause that's what friends do. Plus i think he'd like the improved Ichor i made.", the surgeon kicked the nearby suitcase he carried earlier to check if the contents were still there.

Crouching down he opened the case and took out a syringe with painkillers and some nerve blockers. That much would be needed to procure a higher chance of rescuing the Red Dragon. All in all, it was to ease the pain and enhance performance for this sole task and thus Chesare twirled the epidural syringe and waited for the right moment.

"You're gonna need this, magic or no magic. Just gonna hit the peripheral nerves so stay still otherwise we'd make a mistake.", the way he said it was with a coldness on his face to the point where it felt like he was a statue. His professionalism hadn't left him for even a second while he proceeded to stab the syringe into one of the peripheral nerves on the waist of the soldier.

Painkillers were administered afterwards in a small dosage as to not clash with the residual effects of the booster drugs. Being too numb to pain wasn't a good idea due to the lack of regard for one's safety. He was pretty skilled in his field of expertise and he did learn a trick or two from colleagues in the traumatology wing.

"It's probably about time we head out and do what we have to do. Doesn't matter if he'd hate it.", Castor rubbed the spot where he got the shot with mild annoyance. It wasn't the best feeling but it had to do for now. His dark eyes glowed with courage despite his shaking fingers that he noticed. He tried to hold them to stop the shaking but he was scared just as anyone else. "I know it's not much but Ise's one of ours. He might not have the time we probably would but he deserves to experience some good stuff in his life so we're going to make sure he gets that."

The three of them knew about his condition and did not disclose it to the others. No matter what they tried their best to give Issei the comfort and bonds he required while searching for a way to stop the True Juggernaut Drive permanently and to restore his fleeting lifespan. Anything for one of their own. That was the creed, that was their pride and dignity by holding onto the bonds that connected them.

Chesare looked down with a morose expression forming on his face. Many thoughts had ran through his head but he couldn't help but sigh deeply every time he had to do a full body check up as it hurt his soul in being unable to do anything. "Tell me...what kind of doctor am i when I can't even help a dear friend from losing his life and his sanity?"

"A great one. Don't beat yourself over it cause we're totally going to find the right way and get him back on his feet. It's what friends do.", Castor patted him on the back with a strong swing of his right arm. "Another therapy session and a psychiatric evaluation for depression. And between us... A trip to Thailand or Cambodia would do him fine."

Doctor MonBlanc sighed again and lit up a new cigarette. That did give him a shred of comfort and he made a half-hearted smile. "Heal the soul and heal the body. That's why I'd say we should go to Brazil or the Dominican Republic. Hot bitches, booze, some Bolivian marching powder for the soul. We should do that for sure."

It was his higher calling but that didn't mean he did not enjoy the luxury and connections he had built along the way. Or banging a wide range of girls on his trips, never to see them again or call. He never did drugs, though. Thus a pleasant trip to liven up the mood would have been nice but that came after the rescue.

"We're not taking Eleonora or any of the girls for sure."

"Agreed. Why bring sand to the beach anyway?"

"It does get in your pants at times so there's no point in bringing more when you're going to get rolled in it either way.", the familiar chime of an Irishman broke their conversation and instilled silence afterwards.

He was there the whole time but wanted to see how the conversation would unfold. Sir Arthur did have a drink from his trusty old flask, full of whiskey to the brim, as he had glued himself onto the ceiling itself and distorted space to hide his presence. He was practically walking down from the roof to the walls till his feet reached the floor.

"I think i just shat me pants." Chesare said abruptly when he dropped his cigarette. The look he made when he got spooked was always the same and apparently it did bring joy to the aging gentleman. He regained his bearings and started anew. "I think we're ready to go. If it weren't for the absence of time here it would've probably missed it."

Castor said nothing. He was a man of few words so there was nothing to add to this conversation.

"Hilda's in the hospital at the moment. I talked with Blake and Cecilia so they're holding the fort there and said our boy headed straight up to get Sona.", he added with a slight change in his tone. "It's the perfect time to get his forgiveness by pulling him out of the fire and i do know the exact location. Always know where your kids are going so how about a nice walk around the forest with a healthy dose of killing and bloodshed?"

"...here we go again... Fuck it, let's do that.", Castor grumbled loudly and his brows scrunched down at first but after a few seconds he formed a pleasant smile. Maybe it reminded him of something fun or nostalgic but he stood up and ripped off the tattered top to expose his dense upper body and pounded on his chest. "This can't be as wild as the Chocolate Fountain but who knows? Don't expect any high tier Guardians on the go. I haven't used that in ages so get me a gun."

The Chocolate Fountain incident. That was a story for another time but that day was the day when Eleonora's hatred for Issei bloomed to it's full potential. Case and point, they did not speak of that incident ever again. Ever.

"That you shall have. I think I'm forgetting something but no worries. It's probably not important anyway.", the Irishman snorted. "Did we bring back Roman with us? I didn't see him at the lobby?"

The African man's face contorted in a horrible realization.

"Make a run for it. We ain't dealing with that crazy old bird! "

"Agreed. Time to bail and make a dynamic entry or that something."

And then they vanished into thin air.

XXX

The situation felt rather dire.

"Where...what's happ-happening? Huhh...huhhh...ah...fuck...no more...", he tried to regain his calm and get some sensation in his limbs while he was laying on his back helplessly. Breathing as heavy as if having a stroke did Issei attempt to twist his neck a few degrees more to the left to see what was happening. It didn't offer much because his vision was already blurry and he was feeling extremely sleepy despite his body being back to top shape, seemingly. Everything felt dark and murky to his sense except for the blotches of heat that surrounded the two figures nearby.

One of them didn't feel like anything similar to a hot blooded organism so he instinctively knew that would be Sona because she was the same abomination as him. The other one felt more normal with a set body temperature that seemed to get colder and colder. He wasn't sure what was transpiring at all - he didn't have any traps left so he had to resort to several other plans that he made up beforehand. Two of them were in case this situation occurred but he had to move a bit to spin it in motion.

That was something he could not do.

There were the muffled echoes and dulled strikes against something. Grunts were heard here and there and there were some loud noises that did irk his ears and disoriented him heavily. He hated sound attacks the most and he was in a bad spot. If anything the sounds were turning distant akin to an echo over a long distance. The colours were getting bleaker to the point of greying till no greenery was left. The skies were without a single cloud and yet it felt like it was about to rain.

Judging by all of these changes they were within some sort of sophisticated barrier that altered the landscape or reality in it's occupied land. That was actually good due to his anticipation of such an event to happen.

He noticed Sitri was on the ground and could be in a worse spot than him at this instance. On one hand that was bad but on the other she was right in the position where he wanted her to be . If only she could move a little closer then that would have been within the parameters of his plan.

"That was some excellent display from you, Sona. Not too bad but not quite refined or sophisticated by your father's standards."

Katerea Leviathan brushed her hair with her right hand and swept her bangs a little to get her hair out of her eyes. The demon removed her foot from Sona's back and actually moved three steps back and knelt down to her to check upon her condition. Her long hair would have gotten in the way so she pushed it to the side while she inspected Sona once again with extreme scrutiny. But she didn't remove her gloves or take any of the weapons on her combat suit.

The blue eyed woman clicked her teeth and said. "Stay put for now. I don't want to fight you at all and i don't want to hurt you or kill you. Don't you understand that?", her voice shifted to some abnormally low pitch that bore a distorted tint to each word she enunciated. It felt primal, halfway on the line of human and beast with each blink of her eyes. "If i wanted you dead i would have done so on the first day you entered the upper planes. It would be so easy to snap your neck and destroy your adapted form but i don't want that!"

For the briefest of seconds her face showed it's true form before she had to move back to hide that fact. The human form was a mere adaptation to blend in. She wanted to keep it that way because if she ever so slightly got provoked her true nature would have sprung into action and the whole city would have been devastated due to her sheer size. She didn't change because the city barrier would have been triggered right away and the whole place would have been stormed and she didn't want that. All she wanted was to face her former best friend and save her from her delusions.

Manacles formed over the long haired girl's wrists, clasping them together with two chains of titanium wrapping themselves and pulling her legs to nearly touch her back in order to place her in an uncomfortable position where she wouldn't be able to roll over or sideways. It prevented her from curling to a fetal position as to strip her of the ability to cut loose using her claws. Lowering her mobility was the most important task at hand and to achieve the best result two more manacles clipped on her ankles with a chain between them that bound her lower limbs.

Sona was aching badly. This was surely the day where she had experienced the greatest amount of pain but despite all of her primal emotions getting in the way there was something that was ticking inside her head. She was calculating, analyzing and observing each motion and sound to make a good plan on the spot. Everything seemed distant and cold to her senses, she was feeling something that was clawing from the inside to be released from it's prison.

Not a move did she make as the lightest twitch would have alerted the Leviathan about her intentions. Not that she had the ability to do so. She didn't have any illusions about Katerea not knowing how she operated and moved, she had to improvise or bargain to save their asses somehow. So she tried to say something to make her listen for a moment because it seemed like the Mediterranean looking woman was the chatty type if she went by their interactions.

The words came out sluggishly and dragged out. "...Tell me... Why do you do this? I know you're lying about what you said so why don't you kill me already?", she felt feeble and meek before her magnanimous presence. Alarmed and scared to death but hinging on the vestiges of sanity she had to endure the distress as her body was healing the damage completely. Perhaps she could snap the chains somehow if provoked enough.

"You tried this a few times already. I know what you're trying to do but I'm not foolish enough to fall for it.", the woman's scowl was rather forced as she bore down her slited eyes onto the black haired girl. Everything in her expression was cold as stone, not a single emotion was present when she stopped pretending to be human. If it was about the masquerade Katerea was one of the best to pass off as a human being because she was one of the few Demons who actually held love for humanity and reality.

Now, she showed nothing as if was an empty vessel, devoid of any feeling and sentiment. Only dead and cold as a rotten corpse. Stillness and decay. "I already told you about it. I was willing to show you but it's understandable that you don't hold any love for me. So listen... your friend will die because of you. So don't make me break my promise because his blood will be on your hands."

"... don't you dare...touch him...", Sona murmured. Somehow her words felt blunt and metallic if one had to describe the way she spoke. It was akin to ice, emotionless and mechanical in contrast to her flushed face, full of emotions. Austere and clinical in it's precision of deliverance. There was no affection or care in those words. It was a simple threat but lacking any power behind it.

"That boy feels familiar... I'm sure i have met him somewhere...", Katerea put up a hand to her chin as she realized something. Her hunch was telling her it was the right answer. "We met not long ago, did we not? The vibrations of your Evil Piece match his so it's hard to falsify it...", she turned her attention towards Issei and looked at his direction. "Illusions and concealments can't hide you from me when i felt a soul in your body. To think we would meet so soon and under these conditions... Such a pity, i did enjoy our conversation and i was looking forward to continue our discussion on the matters of life. Tell me your real name, Mister King so i may remember it."

Issei struggled to say anything. However, he barely nodded as if trying to confirm it. She could be a great ally or a terrifying adversary or both at the same time. By this time he had slipped his hand closer to one of the nearest rocks at his disposal.

Katerea dropped her attempts and instead changed her expression to one of mild disinterest. It was boring to wait for Serafall so she was trying to kill some time, to mock the guards in her own way by having slipped unnoticed and standing in the heart of their territory without any opposition.

A thought came to her mind. "By the looks of it i believe Sera has been caught up in something otherwise she would have rushed here by now. It must be my companions that held her off. Change of plans, girl.", she whispered to her as sweetly as possible.

At another glance that she threw towards the boy did something struck a chord in the raven haired beauty's heart.

"I'll take your friend with me as an insurance. But i would rather offer him an invitation to join freely because that's what i do. How does that sound to you?"

Her words and tone infuriated Sona to no ends. The mere thought of him associating with someone like Katerea sickened her, the chances of losing him to the Khaos Brigade were real in her eyes. If he joined the serpent she would have lost one of the few links that made her connected to this world. She would lose all of her facade and sense of humanity that she did not understand but felt intrigued by. There was no love from her for humankind but in that moment she realized there was something she didn't consider from the start because it was insane and impossible.

It was pretty stupid and a disgusting notion to bear upon her mind but it was obvious.

Growling she spat a threat to her or him. "Do that and you're never going to get a peaceful day in your entire life. I don't make threats, i deliver promises."

"Because you actually love this man despite the impossibility of it happening, no?", the Lord of Darkness spoke when she returned her gaze back to the girl. "You fear you'll lose him so you pretend to be just like them. I did the same once before and i lost everything. We are similar on superficial levels but so, so different from each other and you can't deny it. If you did care you wouldn't have let him become one of us... You don't even know what's going to happen to him and you allowed all this by entering his life. It's on you, sweet girl so let me make it simple for you."

She hit the nail right on it's head.

She raised her hand and the barrier around the forest began to shrink down and bear upon them. It was becoming a freezing chamber, it was becoming a prison that was applying crushing force upon them to make them submit. She wouldn't kill anyone of them but that didn't mean she would allow any cheap tricks or some escape route. Frost was spreading all over the thin layers of the field where transparent and gray mixed in an ugly canvas of a spell. Taint flowed inside each block of ice as sigils in dead languages etched themselves onto the walls.

The Draconian Devil let out a low guttural growl. Damned be all, she would not let him be taken from her! Strength rushed to her muscles, adrenaline pumped in her veins and she attempted to unclasp her manacles. However she did struggle to move beyond a few centimetres in any direction. Barely did she get an inch closer to her intended target.

On the assumption of not having used any casting abilities the manacles were centered around blocking mana at best. If that were the case she should have been able to tear them off in no time. The steadily lowering temperature was making her woozy and sleepy, begging for a retreat to a warm abode to hide. Living in the frozen kingdom that became her room was different in comparison to enduring the frost of someone else; in part her ice was an extension of her so it never affected her past the point of slight irritation.

Outside the enclosed plot of land no one was sure what was happening. Contact was cut off completely from the outside world by the looks of it.

That was what he needed at most for the trick to happen.

Issei tapped his fingers on the rock he held and dropped it a centimeter away from his torso. Scales spread out once again to cover his vitals and limbs, his face sprouted them under his eyes and chin but this time they were keeled bloody red scales that offered some cutting edge to them. The backup plan was finalized, thanks to the minute or two he got from Sona's stalling for time.

Flames encased the whole world inside the barrier and were spreading upon the iced shell of a barrier, raising the heat enough to make the ice melt and release vapor by their contact. Steam was lifted up from this reaction as the sea of flames raged without any discrimination in the instant it occured as a double layered spell from a week ago. Due to Katerea's spell being constantly active it led to the circumstances that weren't favourable to either party - her spell was freezing the moisture and air much easier than water so it became a smokescreen of sorts. By having triggered the second spell of this compound cast the conditions were changed to the preloaded ones of the caster.

Namely, turning the condition of vapor into water again to flood the inside of the cutoff space and cause a chemical reaction to separate oxygen from all that watery mass to fill it with hydrogen. And everyone knew how great of an explosive was a hydrogen bomb.

He really did plan to kill them.

Katerea had no choice but to dispel her magic immediately by using a canister of mist that belonged to Dimension Lost as a conduit to suck up the compound spell and negate it. Mist escaped the tiny container till it absorbed the very processes that were occuring a few moments before the end result would have been achieved - it was a gateway so it transported the process directly into the Abyss region of the Dimensional Gap where no law or causality existed.

The serpentine woman was not disturbed by this the slightest. She closed the container and emerged from the center of the formerly placed fold in reality. Not counting her insane durability and skills, she did put up a personalized protective ward that would have done the trick, perhaps.

Getting blown up and sustaining tremendous damage to her physical form was not acceptable and switching to her true immaterial form was something she abhorred since she never once wanted to be who she was. That would have only reminded her of her true nature and bring forth more memories she did not want to reminiscence over. This was all too calculated to be done on the spur of the moment.

However, she was plenty prepared herself.

Sona and Red had survived the encounter and were betting on her releasing the blockade to proceed to their secondary plans. The hatch was one of the possible exits, no one said there weren't others placed on random.

At a mere moment's notice a rebar rod flew straight into Sona's manacles where it struck the chain links right on the point where they connected, ripping through the links at the cost of impaling the girl in the back. The end of the long metal staff was poking out of her stomach but that was what she needed when she rubbed her bound hands over the wound and her corrosive blood melted the constraints enough for her to swing her wrists and break loose.

The serpent was mildly surprised if not counting the slightest twitch she produced in astonishment of how easily the staff pierced through the invisible multilayer barrier she had placed on the girl to ward of any physical or magical attack. It was apparent that this was likely an ability or the staff itself was special enough to disrupt the miniature field surrounding her hostage.

With a single push Sona rose on her feet and lunged at the Leviathan, forgoing any defence to focus all of her strength into the punches she threw at her with full force. The melted staff she grasped and used it's jagged edges from the entry point to act as a club when she brought it down with full force while she kept the small piece hidden on the back of her pants. The Boost hadn't yet depleted so she manifested hysterical strength to endure the push of gravity and reach out for her with clawed hands to tear off her face.

Her pulse was high. She was afraid. She was born to fight. She was ready to die.

The scion of the Khaos Brigade would not have any of that. In no less than a second did she raise her arms in a guard, change her footwork into a defensive stance and block the first strike with her palm. The second one she grasped and spread Sona's arms to get closer and landed a hit with her knee into her stomach.

The devilish woman continued by striking her chin with the same knee with a slight adjustment till she made her croak and released her grip on her to fall on her kneecap. The next kick came out of nowhere and cracked the ribs on the left side before Sona was shoved in the ground and then flipped in the air where Katerea merely spun and clipped her on the dirt with a superhumanly fast low kick.

"No parlor tricks, Sona. No room for cheats with me.", she answered after she left her on the dirty soil. However she didn't get any time to react when the weight of oversized shadowy claws with red-stained nails bore down on her from the left.

X had dealt with her water constructs and waited for the right moment for the barrier to come undone to initiate the counterattack. The mask and hood only made the blackened eyes with violet rings in them visible while the skin surrounding them was cracked and chipped with pitch blackness emanating from the pattern. It seemed as if the entity was a three dimensional shadow that was held tight by it's outfit if one noticed the cracks being separate pieces that stood there by some internal force.

"I'm really getting tired of this back-and-forth. Why is it so hard to be an evil overlord, i wonder? It's not exciting anymore.", Leviathan yawned out of boredom as she anticipated the next assault by swatting the claws that pressed on her. To defend she had to bend a little to switch her footwork, pressing forward and used the momentum to push off the assailant off her.

X reacted by bending forward to dodge a fast swipe aimed at the head, ducked low and sprang up with one claw tearing into the ground while the other was raised and brought down like a sledgehammer in that moment. Katerea had to swerve and twist enough to avoid the critical blow while she pounced off the first claw using it's momentum. That did leave her left side open so the Sitri daughter shot the sharpened piece of the staff at her ribs.

The hooded figure dashed ahead in that very second, having shrunk it's hands and flattened them to blades where it slashed at Katerea's face at the same moment the projectile punctured her torso and went between two ribs. A clang of something hardened and shiny deflected the killing blow and a devastating kick was delivered precisely when she landed on one foot. The giant was sent flying into the nearest tree and nailed by the sheer force of impact, crushing the old trunk into splinters.

The Khaos Brigade leader dusted off her chest while holding the sharp fragment with what appeared to be clawed fingertips and keeled dark scales. Her entire forearm was armored by such protrusions, expanded in it's size and similar to something Sona or Issei would do. Her face had scales receding from her cheeks, having released a bit of her true nature to show as a means of protection. In that pinch she scaled up, spun and grasped the projectile while tightening her facial features to lock together like a shield and took head on the flat blade. All done before the eye could blink.

This slight delay enabled the heiress to make a run for it to pick up Issei while the water user was preoccupied. Or so she wanted to believe when said creature rushed after her and reappeared in front of her, using her own speed against her by sucker punching her with her plated knuckles right in the forehead. She dematerialized and re-entered the world to do this and then the woman grabbed Sona's shin and shook her like a toy in the air and broke the bones with a clinch of her fingers.

The heiress yelped in agony as she felt the cold earth against her cheek and the hard slam that further crushed her ribs as they were regenerating. Twice in a row already did her thoracic cage experience such a shock and internal bleeding was guaranteed.

Blue eyes darted at where Issei lied on the ground. She smiled and revealed her own set of pearly whites in a sign of amusement. "Is this all you got? I know what you're trying to do so give up already."

She noticed when he tried to sink his finger in the ground and was already there holding him by the wrist, suspended a few centimetres above the ground and within her reach. Adjusting her stance she held him by the neck with her other hand and scrutinized him from head to toe. Within her grasp he would die if she willed it for a small clench was what she needed to crush his neck on the go.

Issei didn't struggle because he had no mental strength left in him to resist her. However, it was within his possibilities to do one simple thing to bet on. The detonator he was holding in his other hand that he had hidden all this time. Linked to every placed spell that was masked by the natural mana of the forest center, the detonator was the last trigger he had stashed for his main plans that wasn't disabled due to there being no abnormality or tampering that made it possible to detect magic. Or in other words, he was relying on the principles of Chaos Magic to enable a small reaction to bring forth great devastation!

"I really...wished we had more time to talk together...", he wheezed and pressed the trigger before her horrified eyes to initialize the large scale spell that had been gaining momentum for the past two weeks.

The Dragon lost his strength as he closed his eyes with a sense of tranquility.

A large scale pentacle was formed partially from the region's terrain and the rest from careful alignment of rocks and pebbles in a chaotic order to play on the rules of Chaos. The whole center glowed with a greenish tint like the color of the leaves while the soft hum of mana gave way to a dreadful screech that enveloped the circle within seconds before the detonation would occur. To top it off a secondary trigger was added to weave an Auto-Barrier to slow down time and freeze space, enforcing bullet time and a fracture that sped up the spell while everything else became increasingly slow.

"You go bye, bye..."

The only thought that resurfaced in his mind was simple, honest and with no pretentiousness.

The whole place lit up in white light when he dropped the detonator and the chain reaction happened as he was tossed away and Sona screamed at the top of her lungs.

All became bright and silence followed afterwards.

XXX

"Ugh...my head hurts! Wait...wait...wait..."

Sona Sitri experienced dizziness, nausea and a brutal headache when she recovered the slightest recollection of what had transpired. No idea did she have on how much time had passed or where she was exactly right now but one thing was certain. She was alive and well to the point of disbelief. Her senses were recalibrating at an alarming rate upon forcing herself to see past the bright light that was dying out. There were no thoughts racing through her head at this point, only the loud beating of her heart was the pointer that told her she was alive and she felt pain all over. Her Brand was still sending out pain whenever they were close near each other so that probably meant... Of course her crop top undershirt was glowing with cyan blue fibers as a beacon...

She watched as tears in reality stretched wide across the skies and earth. Time was continuously getting slower despite her perception remaining the same as ever - every moment that happened during the timeframe of the detonation was engraved into her memory because of her magic eyes recording and taking in every detail up to the precise moment when the whole field was razed and scorched completely alongside her adapted form. She was seeing the flow of time, every aspect simultaneously and living through it.

Yet, she was pristine.

It was then when she realized, rather that she had been reliving those very moments from her full disintegration to her Brand regenerating her completely.

"Leave everything to us, lad. Be a good demon and stay out of the way."

That voice... That coat and hat. Those mannerisms she knew intimately well. Every detail down to the lit up cigarette and the Irish accent.

As soon as she could recollect her bearings did she see the one they called the Timeless Swordsman step out of the portal completely with a war step that spoke of years of experience and bearings. Ancient, powerful and terrifying. Inhuman despite being so human. Those were the words she would have said to describe him. It was a gateway to the Abyss that opened and released him to lay waste to everything in his path.

He was never alone.

"Take the girl while i buy us time.", the words of the Major echoed in Sona's ears as she saw him emerge behind Arthur with a shotgun in his hands. The Doctor was on his left side, carrying the suitcase with his sleeves rolled up to reveal his black tattoos.

Issei was already within Arthur's embrace as the older man helped the Dragon stand up by lending him a shoulder. The old man prevented him from hitting the ground as the Red Dragon was stopped from falling down. Itt was his salvation and hope, his aspiration and moral compass. The hand that belonged to the one who gave him the wings he needed to rise from the despair and loneliness he lived with. The purpose and meaning he was striving for throughout his life.

"We're going home, my boy. You did well."

The aftermath of that spell was unveiled. From the center between them and Sona the black luster of scales showed itself in it's true glory. Pristine, immaculate and without a single dent in them to be spotted. Despite being struck with a spell of such magnitude it offered little to no damage to the one bearing the blood of the first among demonkind. Katerea Leviathan stretched her clawed hands in and out as she cracked her neck and stared back at them with mild interest. Most of her frame was layered by dense rows of keeled scales with a few pinions growing out of her back like blades. Most of her uniform was destroyed because of the protections being stripped down so she was practically naked mostly.

Such a monstrosity she was. Unparalleled, peerless and nigh-unstoppable. It was no more than a light prick with a needle to her if she had to vocalise the effects of Chaos Magic on her.

Before she would have spoken Arthur warped the Doctor to fetch Sona while Castor began to shoot at her unceremoniously. The goal wasn't to fight such a thing without preparation, it merely was a light distraction for a second to get their target out of there and teleport away to safety.

Time was distorting, slowing and accelerating at an alarming rate where the natural laws were being twisted over and over again. The atmosphere became stagnant, static and time moved much slower than before. Something was rattling between the seams of each portal and flashes of silver were seen at random. Every bit of space was occupied and covered by them till no light could reach the center of the forest.

Chesare had grabbed Sona by the time the first bullet had even reached halfway towards Katerea. The Italian surgeon held the girl by her shoulder and made the first step to warp out of there. He didn't bother to talk, he was merely a deliveryman in this case and he didn't want to fight really.

Until a left hook nearly took off his head if he didn't know what was coming. A millisecond before he would have disappeared he raised his left forearm and activated one of the tattoos he had on his body. The suitcase was shattered and it's leather and plastic flew in various directions despite his initial attempt to save it from the impact. His reaction time and reflexes were sped up, his mind was accelerated because of the old man's Gift so he survived thanks to that intervention.

The tattoo on his forearm materialized from the skin by becoming a literal shield of scales and segment layers that took the blow head on. It was the hide of a dragon, his ink was a whole coiling dragon tattoo on that hand that became animated the second mana reached his perimeter. It's jaws tried to decapitate the aggressor but they met heavy resistance by her hands. Katerea... was immune to time and spatial based phenomena so she moved freely within stopped time and came in to intercept the abductor of her Sona.

The dragon tattoo was trying to keep her at bay. It was a product of the Sacred Gear called God of Ink that belonged to Blake Nelson. It was a permanent existence etched on Chesare's skin by the artist to act as a weapon for him unlike most of the other products of the Gear itself. It was a living tribal painting that reacted to mana and automatically defended the unfortunate surgeon from surprise attacks.

The bullets that Castor fired were relocated and peppered Katerea directly into her skull and neck, bouncing hard upon contact with her scaled head and produced a clang. Despite the recoil the serpentine demon actually managed to use her leg and rammed it through the ink construct's hide, rupturing it's drawn flesh and reached the Italian's knee. Dealing devastating damage to the tendon she nearly stripped him of his leg past the knee if the tattoo monster hadn't mitigated the kick. It did however end up with him being thrown off and pushed away with Sona being dragged alongside and sent flying alongside the metal container of the case that she had grasped onto.

Time resumed again, having only taken a blink of the eye to see everything occuring as usual. So much had happened in that time dilation that it would appear to the naked eye that nothing really had transpired or how exactly everything ended up being. It was as if that time frame was cut off from reality and it never occurred.

Chesare still had his leg intact and useable. But the suitcase was ruined. He rose back up and tossed his medical scrubs to make it easier to move, revealing the tattoos on both of his arms moving and twitching for a fight as if they were living creatures. Nevertheless, he was scared shitless the same way he was when having to fight Cao Cao and Jeanne with Vali's support. He wasn't a formally trained combatant but he was something else entirely.

"An intrusion? Very well then. I shall test your convictions and potential, children of Man. Show me what you can do!", Katerea roared in delight for the first time. She wanted to test them, to prove their worth and to demonstrate they were not so easily defeated. She did not underestimate them at all. She welcomed the intrusion as a means of enjoying this as a pastime delight.

"Ah, hell no! We're bailing out, boys! Nobody got time for this.", Castor yelled out as he fired another volley of bullets from his shotgun.

"You're already trapped. I anticipated this and i ensured that no magic would let you leave. We're trapped together so let's enjoy the show, shall we?", Katerea scoffed and then chuckled. "IT'S A MOTHERFUCKING PARTY AND I'M THE HOST FOR THE NIGHT!", she roared in a gutteral screech as she decided to have some fun.

The outskirts of the forest were surrounded by familiars that established a perimeter, inducing a wide range spell that acted as a cage to keep everyone from leaving. It was mostly anti-magic in nature on the outside so no one would disturb them until Serafall arrived. Only then would it welcome her inside to meet her former friend. It was a one way entrance and the exit didn't exist but that didn't mean they wouldn't force one to appear.

She had brought a miniscule part of Hell to exist temporarily upon Earth, allowing her the full use of her abilities and power. It would only last for a bit but it was enough to make it a hellish challenge for her traitorous friend. On a whim Katerea decided to use it to test them instead to pass the time.

Arthur spat out his cigarette and waved his fingers in a flash.

"If we don't make it out alive i want you to know that you owe me an apology for this. This day just got worse all of a sudden."

XXX

"This isn't bad at all. A bit of exercise is always fun to boot.", Katerea had already begun her counterattack the second she saw Sona drop down on the ground and focused her attention on the first thing she saw. Namely the African shooter at the other side of the circle. She did not assume anything but to prepare for the next one and think of any possible team play that would put her on edge because humans tended to fight together against such beings as her.

She had already shortened the distance before the blink of an eye, straightening her arm like a lance to use her claws to end it quickly since she did not like to prolong any suffering. In this case she wasn't going to kill, merely to incapacitate and knock him out unconscious.

Bullets were raining in her direction but he was dodging them gracefully and without paying any attention she was already at a point blank range when she threw her straightened palm ahead to hit Castor's knee and knock him out. The man was only human; he wouldn't have been able to react at all if the circumstances didn't get tampered. The soldier whiplashed his shotgun before his leg and moved back to shift his center of gravity to act as a shield of sorts, allowing himself to become fully open for a secondary strike.

Yet, Katerea stopped a fraction of a second earlier before this to avoid the inevitable - two firearms were already pointing at the temples of her head from two tears in space. Holding them were black hands that pushed the trigger and time accelerated to allow them to empty the magazines in one shot. Stacking bullets as if one, the trick allowed Castor to shoot at the ground and let the bullet be relocated, striking the serpentine demon right in the back of her head while the other bullets would have turned her head into mush if anything did remain.

The demon merely faded out of existence to avoid the hail of bullets and then rematerialized again to protect her nape by catching the single bullet with her fingers. She did smile but then felt aggravating, burning pain course through her fingers upon touching that bullet. It was obvious, it was blessed and it made her burn and bleed.

It was that moment that the mercenary awaited for - golden sigils and scripture manifested on his right arm all the way down to his knuckles with thorny vines emerging from his skin to impale her. It was momentarily in the way they expanded and nearly decapitated her in one clean multi-directional strike that closed in on her.

The shotgun was lifted and the trigger was pressed.

Katerea had to move before the vines would have reached her so she skidded back and readjusted her stance with both arms raised in a guard to deflect the onslaught of thorns that came her way. Each spike ran over her scaled limbs and actually managed to crack them and tear off flesh while she tried to backpedal at the moment the pellets would have taken out her eyes. Twisting her head to the side she deflected the pellets using her cheek to have them run against her scales and bent her body to the point where she was standing on one leg while the rest was positioned in a straight line.

That maneuver made the thorns miss from further eating away at her body and let her left leg free. Pulling back said leg she then rammed it and kicked the titan in the stomach so hard that he spat blood and flew backwards.

However in that same moment she already had to fight back the dragon tattoo construct that lunged atop of her head while Arthur was there with a sub-machine gun and his cane sword unsheathed. The older man came at her from the right side, swinging down his sword over her neck while his gun was loaded and ready for use. Chesare had been teleported to her direction and his tattoo was about to cleave her in two until the second she brought her leg to her stomach and curled her body to minimize the occupied space. With one hand she grasped onto the dragon's maw while the other she used to flip herself sideways to push down the sword and offset the Irishman's momentum.

He had anticipated that movement and rewound time by two seconds to gain that insight and adjust his maneuver. Instead the blade came at her from the side and his gun on top as he unloaded the whole cartridge into her chest immediately at the time she had flipped herself to the side. She did let go of the construct to block each bullet and grab onto the edge of the cane sword to pull the barman closer but that didn't do her any good since she felt black tribal tattoo chains tug on her arms and legs when she tried to react in time to smack him.

Chesare had regained his composure and used the chains from his wings tattoo that was on his chest to immobilize her long enough to let Castor do his thing. She might have had spatial and temporal immunity to the point where she couldn't be aged or have weapons shanked in her or have her limbs cut by portals but that didn't mean she was all-powerful. Arthur had used his Gift on all three of them to accelerate their response time, rewind and loop various motions to counter her best and save his comrades and on top of it he had to include warping and placement for it to work.

The worst mistake that she did in her attempts to have fun was the very first thing that actually damaged her. The Harvest was unleashed and took chunks of meat from her arms and fed them to the Major to bolster his strength. If she had taken that attack head on she would have been devoured and become nourishment for the man as that was the fastest way to end her, perhaps.

She only smiled even when each bullet had grazed her and left burning wounds because of their blessings. She wasn't overconfident, she merely scrutinized and analyzed their tactics and team play with curiosity and awe. The worst part happened when her wounds closed up and regenerated... New scales formed and sharpened, tougher and sturdier than before with each time she got hurt she came out stronger and sturdier to adapt.

"Is this all you got?! Show me more!", she screamed as she spun and turned her arms to tug on the chains and pull the dark haired surgeon in the air. She wasn't letting herself open for no reason. It was to goad them to use their abilities to their full potential and give everything they got in them in the fight.

Chesare crossed his arms and his dragon construct dove in before him to shield him from her heavy fists from crushing his skull while he bought a second more for his friends. Before he would have faced her fist head on did he whip out his own scalpels between his fingers and slashed her wrist and fingers with extreme prejudice but not before having used Balance to imbalance her footing and make her miss!

The chains on her legs were reeled back when she fell on her rear and then the dragon tattoo twisted it's neck and snapped her right arm, tearing her flesh and bones asunder. That act also perforated her chest but it wasn't deep enough to incapacitate her. Those scales were damn hard to puncture.

He did however sustain a heavy hit to his ribs that would have broken them and impaled his lungs and liver if he didn't have some miniature barriers focused on that area. Arthur undid that by rewinding his time to return him to pristine condition and he balanced himself perfectly on the ground with no injury whatsoever.

By the time he landed Castor had already closed in and stretched his arm wide with a combat knife twirling in his hand. The sleeves of his replacement suit were torn and his thick muscular arms were adorned by Katerea's very own scales and claws after the Harvest had assimilated her flesh into his own. His vitals were covered by the same protective layers underneath the clothes while his eyes turned golden and slitted with the addition of scales here and there. Due to the low amount of material he gained he had less than ten seconds of use of her skills so he manifested torrents of water in absurd amounts on the go to cut her with sheer pressure.

Water came rushing in. Controlled by the very blood of Leviathan the amount of the waves that came from the tears in reality were enough to flood a whole city but he compressed them into several jetstreams that ravaged the earth and bulldozed the area completely.

There was a second wave behind the first. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth… and a hundred others. Leviathan had to use even the slightest of her abilities to counter that by flash freezing the moisture around her and then expell an absurd amount of energy to freeze the jetstreams before they would have cut her. From ice to water she changed them and took control with ease as it was her domain and no human could match that.

Inside the water was the combat knife, turned into a bomb that blew off and splashed water outside her area of control. It was near her so the kickback from the blast did stun her a little to enable Arthur to cleanly decapitate her with his indestructible cane sword. His technique actually did more than one strike as he overlayed multiple strokes in time as occuring simultaneously from within the span of fifteen seconds compressed into three.

Her whole body was cut not by his human strength but by the sheer acceleration of time upon the blade to inflict the power of thirty repeated cuts into one singular slash that bolstered the combined sum of that sequence.

He didn't speak at all because he had to twist his arm and use the blade to stop Katerea's claws from tearing off his kidney at the time he blinked. The woman's arm had already regrown and sported new tougher scales than before but she felt her standing imbalanced and tripped to the left, allowing the swordsman to cut open her bare chest with his blade. She didn't bother using barriers at all but she didn't find it funny when a shotgun appeared before her open cavity and blasted pellets directly into her heart.

Chesare had reacted fast enough to imbalance the ground and affect her to assist in this plan on the go. Each of them knew their weak sides and how they operated so they held complete trust in each other to gain the best solution by any means necessary. The gap in time was widened to enable Castor to stab the vines of the Harvest into her as a compensation for the missed opportunity. The water that had piled up flew back into the Leviathan and ripped the thorny vines from her flesh to buy her time. She made pressurised water saws on a whim and threw one so fast as to test their reaction for something.

Arthur did make a portal to negate it and lead it somewhere as it had been aimed at Issei to check their priorities.

"This is so much fun. Such passion and trust in each other. I like it!", she uttered as she dematerialized and vanished from sight.

"She's somewhere but I can't pinpoint it yet.", the Irishman muttered with a hitched breath as he was feeling up the place by extending his reach to scan out the temporal changes and alternative paths in time. Something in his breathing gave out his tiredness and pain, his slowing reaction time and the beat of his heart. He was using too much of his Gift already and he wouldn't revert the time of his bodily state because that meant he would have had to experience all the pain and fatigue he had accumulated from today. Teleporting so many objects and using time and space for so many things was putting him at a bad spot because he needed some rest to recharge himself.

The miniscule piece of Hell she had manifested did it's number on them. She was only growing stronger while they were weakening each second it was set in reality. Temporal manipulation and causality didn't affect it and time was running out. No human body would be able to enter the domain so they were actually dying and living at the same time due to the barman keeping them afloat.

He still had plenty of strength to use so he ignored the warning signs and pressed on. If he couldn't place her in a specific moment he wanted or age her to death then he would make good on the promise he had made. Just when she was about to emerge back into the material world did he rub his fingers together and pinpoint her movement - he literally used Sona by warping her to his side to act as a shield for him!

Sona wasn't keeping up with what was happening but he dragged her to his side either way. She reflexively raised her guard and took the heavy blow directly, offering him a split second to have Castor and Chesare maul her from both sides and insert multiple scalpels in her joints to immobilize her. Her balance was offset long enough for him to warp them away to safety and stab her in the skull before he reappeared at a safe distance.

Sona would have protested so much but she wasn't given the chance. On that day she acquired the experience of being a solid meat shield and a dose of humility about it.

That didn't end well. Katerea smirked while the Irishman groaned in pain when his arm had been broken from the impact. The pain went away as he forced himself to rewind his personal time and experience the pain he went through but she wouldn't have waited for him to finish the process. Lunging like a maddened beast Katerea shot forward in a low crouch that propelled her ahead and extended her arm to rip his heart out.

The scalpels didn't hold her down as she flexed her muscles and made scales in the areas to snap them in half. To counter her the Irish man resorted to the first trick that came to mind. There was something awfully satisfying in making several bottles of water burst before him so at the time she nearly punctured his gut the water clung to her face and burned her... He was using blessed water to repeatedly loop the sequence of her getting splashed like an overlay frame, burning her skin and scales over and over again to deal agonizing pain. To make sure he wouldn't have had his side torn off he teleported a big enough rock to stop her assault.

He didn't have Issei's ridiculous endurance. He wasn't sure what would have happened if he experienced that moment.

"God bless you, filth.", he uttered as the rampaging abomination was slugged across the temple by Castor's fist that released a kinetic spell to blow her away. That act stunned her and made her bleed from the blessing.

His fist glowed bloody red until golden flakes started to appear on his knuckles. He was now using one of the Strays he had devoured from that pile of corpses he had left with the doctor a few weeks ago at the crossroad. Metallic skin covered his fists as if they were brass knuckles and maws formed on the surface. A hideous screech escaped each maw to cause a sonic boom that ruptured her eardrums. His ears were bleeding but the damage was reversed by time manipulation and thus he never acknowledged that he had suffered the backlash from using such a technique.

However, he buckled down from the stress and the very place weakening him further. He was losing his idea of himself, his ego was being crushed by the taint of the Hell plane slowly whispering into his ears, permeating his soul and drawing his mind towards insanity the longer he stayed there. Everything was beginning to look blurry as his cognition and perception were becoming distorted. Not even the Stray he used was enough to shield him from the dark forces that circled in this plot of land, encased in timelessness.

He wasn't the only one suffering. Escaping was hard to impossible.

Sona was held down by some unknown force.

"I'm certain you can do much better than that. So far I'm impressed but i know there's more.", Katerea emerged and dusted off herself from any dirt she might have picked up during her fall. The damned creature didn't sustain permanent damage and flexed her fists and legs as if doing some exercise for flexibility.

Her blue eyes narrowed on their forms for she could see their waning forms and weakening of the mind gradually happening. It wasn't even four minutes but she did feel awe for the fact of them enduring the process for such a duration of time. "Shall we dance, gentlemen?"

"I don't have a choice, do i?", Chesare growled in frustration. He raised his arm and coiled his fingers around the new batch of scalpels he took out of his leg strap. None of them dared to use any higher abilities for the restrictions were severe. The Italian had to do what he did best in most cases and run but this time he did not. With pride and dignity he stood up to the monstrosity and looked her dead in the eye. "All i got to say is we're going home and I'm gonna send you back to Hell!"

"Then why are your legs shaking, son of Man?, she whispered in his ear. She was just there. Standing behind him and within the corner of his eye. Her soothing voice held a soft presence that stirred his emotions from deep within. A finger did she run across his neck and yet she didn't slit his throat when she could. "You crave for satisfaction and yet you can't find any. A broken heart, a child that wasn't yours and a dirty whore to ruin your life. How many did you kill? How many did your incompetence allow to die when you didn't have a choice? I can see what's inside you."

He tried to elbow her and then slash her face but all for naught. She wasn't there to begin with. It was an empty space that he waved his hand through.

"Fuck off!", he bellowed.

"I can offer you satisfaction. Everything that you desire to hold i can give you. You just have to make the right choice and follow your heart, Chesare."

A slap on his neck shook him to the point of retaliation. On instinct he swung his arm in a wide arc to slash whatever it was that whispered to his insecurities. His fingers nearly dropped the scalpels but he executed the motion perfectly in the same way he would cut open patients to operate upon. A blunt clang rang in his ears when he realized what he had done or to be precise what he wasn't successful at doing.

Castor's palm was bleeding from the scalpels that dug into his flesh when he tried to stop him from slitting his own throat. What may have seemed to be Katerea was only a figment of his own imagination, his fear had taken a hold of his mind to the point of being nothing more than a frightened man. His friend's soft spoken words struck a chord in his heart. "We're going home, man. We have to stay strong for the children so don't you dare give up on yourself! If it's not us then who will!?"

The dark haired man's face distorted in a chaotic mixture of terror, despair and dread alongside a dose of astonishment and surprise. His features contorted and twitched in trying to make a dignified expression but there was only the emptiness of his life flashing through his eyes. Shame, righteous anger and duty replaced the hopelessness when he nearly shed a tear if it weren't for his hand rubbing his eye to hide it.

"You're right... I had forgotten about who i really am this time... But we'll end it right here, right now.", his shaky voice was distorting to something indescribable. The look on his face changed completely as hope lingered within for as long as there was life, there was hope to be found.

Not within the ultimate hero. Not within the most despicable monster.

It was all within the weakest and most flawed creature. It's name was none other than that of a human.

Reality further distorted at his command. The weakest restriction that was placed had been lifted to allow for the tiniest sliver of their true strength to emerge and make itself known to the world.

And then within the confined space his eyes turned fully white as the sclera became a deep red as saturated as blood. No pupils or irises were present, only the pale coloration of death lurked in those orbs of his. His stoic face resurfaced in it's full glory and mist and smoke were emanating from his body to cover his limbs with their dark power surging through his veins. The skin became palid as that of a corpse when black marks cracked open on every orifice and pore while the taint clad him up to his chest area where it stopped. Wings of mist set themselves into the gaps of reality within the plane where abominable images, faces and memories of the past resurfaced on the very wings of his that became twelve in numbers.

"Someone has to do it. It's not a hero or a villain, it has to be a man... After all... They call me the Angel of Death."

The world was clearer in his eyes. He truly saw Katerea as how she really was and raised his hand forward. Lacerations spread over her armored frame within seconds after his gesture was completed. He didn't move from his position and yet there were scalpels sticking out of Katerea's wounds that bled profusely.

Arthur had teleported those in the moment the Doctor imbalanced her state to temporarily make her weak against temporal and spatial influences. It would be for a brief few seconds but it wasn't plenty enough to alarm the wretched snake.

The very foundations of the magic she had used to make it a temporary abode of infernal making was imbalanced, leaving cracks and holes here and there that would make it break with enough raw mystical force. Because it wasn't truly the vast plane outside existence it was more akin to one of their own barriers that cut off the outside world. So that meant it could be broken from the inside or the outside...

The surgeon smiled with his cracked lips forming a sinister wide grin where his black teeth and mouth were seen. It was an empty, hollowed chasm with bulbous liquid flowing out of it. There were no words exchanged but something in Leviathan violently snapped and crunched - her very bones were sticking out of her flesh, her arms and legs were twisting in unnatural angles. Her very physical vessel was being imbalanced and twisted with extreme amounts of pain being delivered and stacked via time looping, prolonging and repeating the process again and again. Without being able to instantly assume her true form she was left to suffer and agonize till she would have died.

It was then that Arthur warped his indestructible cane sword directly into her very heart and used a move he favoured the most. It was swift and pretty violent, not to mention fast and it did cut cleanly.

Four portals opened where her limbs were and violently closed in taking off her limbs to reduce her to a torso. He was going to take her head with another one until he spasmed and placed his hand over his heart, breathing heavily and his portal disappearing...

Time acceleration and the protective effects that he utilised were stripped barren off them and Castor fell to his knees in dread. He was feeling so weak all of a sudden that even catching his breath was extremely hard, he felt the suffocating sensation envelope his body and he thought he was drowning.

Chesare too felt numb and lost. All of his dark mist and power waned suddenly to reduce him to his regular shape that gasped for air and thrashed around like a maddened beast. He never used any of the true abilities all of them had given but using this mere and so tiny fraction of Tifferet was far too much to handle. Time resumed it's natural course if such a thing could be said as in the plane where they were there was no such thing but the biological clock ticked normally. The senses were distorted, the mind was addled by horrifying thoughts and ideas that no man should have had.

And the one responsible chuckled in heartfelt laughter.

From a limbless torso she regained her arms and legs spontaneously. Bone, cartilage and muscle fibers knit themselves into existence by taking in the dark energies of the plane, muscles formed and blood vessels pumped tainted blood as skin reshaped and gained a healthy pinkish coloration like that of a human. All the scalpels were expelled by miasma leaking out of the wounds and then she set her feet on the dark ground to grab the hilt of the cane and pull out the sword out of her chest. Katerea Leviathan craned her neck and raised her brows in awe and wonder, showing not a single hint of malice or distaste when she beheld the struggling warriors with respect.

She was not like those who dwelled in the Underworld. She was the real deal, the one and true Lord of Darkness from the seven that followed the First of the Fallen since the beginning. She was the World Serpent, the beast of the sea. For her name is the Leviathan and she was not a Devil. Not even close.

She was a Demon of the truest kind.

With a twitch of her now human fingers she materialized clothing on her bare frame and took slow steps towards the weakened men. Everything in her was graceful and elegant, precise and inhuman to the point of uncanny. No matter how good she was at pretending to be like them she could never truly be one of them.

"You pushed me this far... You have my gratitude, humans. A worthy challenge despite the unfavorable situation and disadvantages stacked against you and yet you made me feel fear and terror for the first time in what could be said to be centuries.", she calmly stated before she elaborated further. "I am not your enemy. I want to see the strength of humanity even more so show me everything that you have."

Sona watched helplessly all that had transpired. Even that quick intervention as a meat shield felt unreal to her as she was forced to keep track of their movements and observe. If she tried to enter the fight she might have lost it right on the spot and without any magic of her own to use she was nothing more than a liability for she had never tapped into her true abilities and nature. Almost no one in the Underworld did due to the procedure every newborn had been put through with the exception of a few who had regained what was theirs. To be an opposition, to be the real versions of themselves without anything resembling human emotion and cognition.

She wasn't affected by the plane at all. In fact, it felt like home and at the same time not. It felt nostalgic somehow but she thrived in it, that taint permeated every fiber of her form down to her bones. Only she and Katerea were doing fine. That alarmed her because Issei wasn't like them - he was experiencing what the others were since he was still human, mortal flesh and soul unlike her.

It didn't matter if he was a Reincarnated Devil because a few experiments were conducted to see if such a being could endure their reality past the Veil. The results were more than obvious. Not even one survived for more than thirty seconds.

She had to do something about it.

"Stop! I'll go, I'll go with you! Just... Please... Let them go! I'm the one you wanted so here i am!", she despised having to plead but so she did fervently.

Katerea craned her neck and touched her cheek before she answered her pleading. "They're free to leave. I'm not stopping them from leaving and it was a good match so they've earned it.", she bluntly responded as she was hovering in the air. It felt cold and austere, stripped of any emotion there was on her beautiful face. "Alas, i do not believe you. You tried this game a few times already and it didn't work out. Besides, it's fairly obvious you're stalling for time. It's honestly predictable."

"Then this might be predictable as well but savour it, my dear."

A single shot flew right into her forehead where it clashed and bounced off her scaled head like rubber. It came from the outside, from one of the cracks where the serpentine demon spotted a sniper rifle and it's shooter atop the branches of a tree. The blessed bullet did graze and crack her keeled scales, leaving her with a bleeding forehead that burned with a white hot pain. A whole clip of bullets was expelled to strike her in various areas from different angles from a faraway distance.

Then it happened.

The hellish plane cracked and tore apart from both the outside and inside like a balloon past the point of inflation. The tears vanished and the bright sunny skies could be seen once more for there was color and sound returning to bring the sensation of life again. The wretched spell was dismantled and it kept falling apart by some unusual force that hit every connection point of it around the various spots of the forest that the connectors resided. Fresh air breezed in, greenery was seen once more and everything felt alive and natural for it was the reality they knew best.

Arthur's hand clutched the cane sword with the odd runes glowing in bright blue as he rose back on his feet. In Sona's eyes he felt titanic, magnanimous and hope personified. The way he didn't give up honestly astonished her when the odds were against him. His brown eyes gazed at the demon with a witty smirk marring his face despite the pain. He had reverted his time to the state of being unaffected by the plane and so were his companions.

Katerea was mildly amused but far more intrigued and she assumed a defensive stance when her feet touched the ground. This was the challenge she had expected at last. "Never play tag with a time user, they say. But that's what makes it so much fun in trying to guess what already happened and what did not. Come at me with your full might!"

"That used to be my favourite game but the only one who was chased was me. So come at me, snake.", he threw away his hat and tightened his grip on his sword. He was resolute and serious but his pleasant smile didn't fade away. "I do think my boys here would like some new snake skin shoes, don't you think?"

The moment before the plane was erected the Irish gentleman had sent out temporal copies, rather versions of himself from a few minutes or seconds all across the forest to prepare for any barrier or traps laid ahead of time. He didn't see how the trap was laid because of the blank spot in time but he did see the possible future paths and picked one to maximize the plan.

Each temporal self shot down the black suit constructs that accompanied Katerea and reverted them to nothingness to disable the pocket dimension from every single point. That took considerable effort and coordination so he had to restrict a lot of himself to that task while playing being far, far weaker than the rest. Every shot was counted by the ticks of the golden watch, a set time for when to spring the plan into action.

Arthur decapitated the black watery construct with his cane and pulled put the anchor out of it, tossed it into the Abyss and assumed his position. He checked his pocket watch and signaled to himself in the next five seconds to proceed. The Arthur from a time of five seconds before this one tore open the construct that he snuck upon and dismantled it with ease. He gave the signal to the next one.

The next Arthur repeated the procedure and timed his actions with the rest of himself and the chain turned unbroken, making a live defense and sniping squad from every angle that could give him the advantage. The whole plan nearly failed for the constructs had noticed but a timely intervention dealt with the problem.

"Then you may fall as a worthy adversary. Show me your grit and mettle, children of Man. I want to see it."

The first one to go on the offense was the Doctor who grit his teeth and threw something out of his sleeve. Instead of the dragon tattoo what came out of the surface of his skin was a gigantic crucifix tattoo, manifested from the one he had on his chest, held by the black chain tattoos like a whip. Katerea did not hesitate even when her senses were telling her to dodge it. She might be pulverized if she continued on with that tactic.

She grabbed the cross the moment it got near her, holding it with one hand despite it's size exceeding her own at least three times and tugged on the chain to reel him in. From the crucifix ink emerged the dragon tattoo and lunged at her with chains seeping out of it's open jaws to ensnare her and pin her down. She phased out and the dragon passed through her like air. She was pretty sure what would have happened next so she jumped out and rushed forward.

Chesare was expecting it and made the chains and cross retract backwards to try and deck her in the back but she dodged. That was the plan - the cross shrunk down and vanished only to appear beneath her feet and shoot her up in the air where it's chains pierced her immaterial form and held her for a moment.

An elaborate overlay pentacle was stacked on it for a fifth tier spell to initialize on her, freezing her in place and applying holy water on each link to burn her. That wasn't going to be enough so he turned applied the other tattoo he had. The white paper that was wrapped around the cross with a message on it. It bound her in place because the truth cannot be held back from making it's way out.

The binding came undone immediately because she had used the revised Leviathan pentacle that had a simple adaptation to it. Due to the works of Malina von Astaroth in devising the new pentacles that the Devils used for their households such a binding would not work upon Katerea. Each one was designed to bind the user already so their true names could not be used to be bound and made to do someone's bidding.

Be it orders, requests or entrapment. It was a camouflage, it was shielding her name from being revealed so they could not send her back to Hell or bind her in one location.

She broke easily but met face to face with multiple swords trying to eviscerate her. She had to endure, she didn't have time to breathe so she punched, pushed and deflected those she could while her scales acted as her shield against those she could not. Her new clothes were torn to shreds but she didn't mind it at all. The damage she minimized to a few cuts that didn't hamper her at all. Instead of retreating she curled into a ball of keeled scales and rolled forward at an alarming speed.

Upon rolling on the ground a small scale spell activated, enabling her to reposition herself behind the Irish man and react much faster than he could. She knew he was bluffing about being okay, his sweat and breathing were a telltale if his heartbeat wasn't enough to make by already. This time she didn't use her claws or anything physical; she wagged her finger and he was lifted off his feet and right before her eyes via telekinesis. She wagged her other finger and burst a blood vessel in his hand and in his leg.

She didn't go for any of the major ones like the heart because she was just having fun and didn't want to end it right here. To make sure that no more would he fight she telekinetically broke his shin and sword arm when he tried to shank her in the mouth.

He screamed in rage and the flaring pain aggravated him so much as to try and switch his blade to his other arm as a compensation, applying temporal shifting to slash her across the face with his blade leaving a burning mark on it. Broken bones hurt like hell, that he knew and hated the most.

Arthur's hand lashed out like a viper's. She did stop it before the cut was serious and twisted his arm a bit but not to the point of breaking until she telekinetically pushed the blade to stab him in a non-vital area. He reverted time to attempt that again. His fingers coiled around his blade from the back when she caught the flat of the blade between the tips of her fingers and winced in pain, dealing a wound upon his flesh and it transferred onto Katerea.

The wound was directly branded on her face, taking out her eyes that bled from the self-applied cut he made in return for the damage she dealt. She received two wounds already. In that moment of blindness Castor brought both of his hands on her back and landed several heavy blows that would have destroyed his fists if Arthur didn't apply the transference spell on them to relegate the damage to the blinded demon.

Each punch fractured his bones but the damage was landed on her, cracking and denting her armored hide for each strike to reverberate through her organs. The Harvest manifested and began to feast upon her with each strike, eating at her essence and weakening her further. Her tail manifested and swatted him before she would have been devoured and left him no choice but to tackle her by aiming for her neck. The African man grabbed her neck and with a mighty swing of his bulky arms tossed her away from the swordsman.

Their strength was already waning even more. She was damn strong and could counter nearly everything they had dished out so far. If it weren't for her avoidance of using anything horrid and disgusting they would have been already dead. She was a bleeding heart among her kind, apparently.

Upon falling she rolled and instinctively used telekinesis to snap Castor's legs and force him on the ground. Enough playtime.

"Arthur! Do it now and scram! Just do it!", Chesare screamed as loud as he could while trying to open the hatch for the portal.

"... kids these days...", the older man relented.

The tears in reality reappeared once more where the enemy stood. Her flesh was already mending in rapid succession and there was no time to waste. Before her eyes had regained their sight. From each tear emerged a firearm, held by a hand with the trigger ready to be pressed. More and more of these various firearms continued to nest themselves into the fabrics of reality until they became hundreds in numbers. Each one stacked next to each other to the point where only cold metal was seen without any gap in between. A multiplication spell doubled their numbers to surround the wretch into a dome of firearms aimed at her.

Chains bound her into one place and kept lunging at her eyes. Each temporal self activated a link to a multilayer spell where the pentacle etched itself beneath the victim and formed intricate layers to deny her escape. It was several spells built into one in imitation of a demonic curse in the hopes of tearing out her taint and powers. That came from their research on removing the Evil Piece which had yet to be concluded.

Castor forced himself to use one last spell that crafted conceptual shields to surround the blue eyed woman, barring the way to victory! He couldn't walk but this much he could do while adrenaline was pumping and numbing the pain. With every shred of mana in his body he expelled the shields materialized into reality and formed a dome. Within them was another barrier that halted her movement. It was all or nothing. They couldn't rely on Hellfire Chains of Doom to finish her since the old man was reaching his limit and would die from exhaustion and a heart attack.

That would have lasted no more than five seconds. Castor couldn't hold them up for more than that amount of time in his current state.

Chesare knew what was coming and pried the hatch open. He had always wanted to see it happening so his request was damn simple. His firearm had one bullet left so he took the shot and focused all of his mana in it to forge a Sunlight Crux bullet to irradiate her with the rays of the sun.

His wish was ridiculous. It was to see a firearm based version of Unlimited Blade Works at least once in his life.

"I need another drink... Fire!"

The world echoed with the sounds of bullets and pellets being expelled together as one in a unified roar of magic and metal melded as a singular entity. Time duplication occured and multiplied the hailstorm of projectiles, adding more power to their penetrative force. It rained like bombs atop the dome, passing through like a knife cutting through butter. All kinds of colours escaped the muzzles of the guns, the ignition of each bullet as it was propelled and the roar of mankind's greatest creation greeted everything in it's wake as it became a warzone, a devastating war to defeat an unstoppable monster.

It was their creed to protect someone that was like a brother and a son to them. A comrade in the vast world full of struggle and beauty.

Thus it would be a song. No, rather than a mere song it would be an orchestra of lead and metal that would greet the world with open hands. A chorus, a hymn of devastation.

A symphony of destruction.

It kept firing non-stop for five seconds till the dome would last. The Sunlight Crux bullet passed inside and turned the whole dome into a raging inferno, irradiating the victim inside. The second volley was followed by a third and a fourth, peppering the place till it became almost short of nothing. Not a single stray bullet or shrapnel did reach anything outside of it's intended target, only the rumbling noise of bullet after bullet hitting the barrier and colliding in a storm of lead was the only thing heard.

Then it all ended as soon as it began.

XXX

Each firearm retracted back into the portal and closed up, leaving the world in the same way it came from. Arthur had been saving that one in case he needed it but used up most of the loaded guns he manually loaded alongside the Strays before all of this had happened. The spot was torn apart, there was shrapnel littered inside where the dome once was and it was a literal cut out of reality in there, causing a hole in the fabric of space that mended itself automatically when the secondary layer of the spell mended the damage.

Chesare rushed to Castor and tried his best to lift him while signaling to Sona to get the barman and run straight to the hatch. There were some other portals available and the whole situation actually revealed them - during their fight the swordsman tried to mark the locations in a way that only one of their own would have recognised.

The African soldier used whatever chunks he gained from the demon's flesh to apply the Harvest on his broken legs and manifest her attributes long enough to make a sprint for the nearest portal. One was just eight meters ahead! Sona rushed while holding what was left from the suitcase and picked up the wounded swordsman whose leg wouldn't support him. His arm was bruised and blue from the damage, it was limp at the elbow and dangled helplessly. There was blood staining his clothes but she didn't pay it any heed. Issei was near the hatch so there was a choice to make which she did.

Neither said anything as it was too painful to produce words, only some screams were heard but the sound of the battle had ceased. It was only silence after the echoes died out.

Until Sona looked at the spot where she last saw Katerea Leviathan.

"...W-why is the barrier s-still... Up...?"

Arthur tightened his grip on his cane sword that materialized in his other hand and pushed Sona away to make a last ditch portal before them. A hand nearly tore through their cavities if the portal didn't suck it up and close. He only screamed one simple command to her.

"RUN, YOU FOOLS! RUN!"

Temporal copies of his sword hovered in a circular manner akin to a jigsaw before him, shredding any projectile that came at his way. The temporal copies he made of himself had already been dispelled and what mana there was in them recharged him but the same could not be said for his stamina. His Gift was dependent on his endurance and his stamina was already depleted. He could barely stand on his own.

He swiped his healthy hand across to deflect the next projectile using his spinning swords. Sparks lit up and chunks of what was used were shredded and splattered to the sides. Sona Sitri's eyes widened in shock or more precisely sheer terror and anticipation for what was to come. She did try her best by moving behind the tired man and supported him by holding him up. She was near the point of no return as she felt ready to lose herself and go berserk like the last time but no one would pull her out of the fires this time. Ice formations were already shaping on her left shoulder blade, piercing the fabric of her crop top while her arms were further developing scales of icy cyan blue in an uneven pattern.

She was devolving into that again.

Castor reached Issei in the meantime and dropped him down the hatch that was a portal to save his life. The mission was accomplished. He hesitated to turn back and assist but he didn't have the strength and would have been a liability. Not to mention the material he gained from the serpent ran out and he fell on his knees due to his broken legs not being able to support him. Dragging himself over the edge of the portal he dove in and carried the Red Dragon to safety.

Chesare nearly pissed himself. This shit was way too much for him to deal with. The secondary portal was ready to be used when he stomped on the spot and it triggered a warp gate that matched his signature. Truth be told, he was just going to save Issei. That didn't apply to Sona because she wasn't a friend of his or anything.

Nothing did he owe her for unless one saw her as a curiosity to explore by the changes she had been undergoing but against his better judgement he used his chain tattoos to shoot two of them and wrap them around the Irishman and the Devil, reeling them backwards towards his position.

She was still to be examined and studied.

However, the Sitri daughter was telekinetically pried out of the chains and flew in the opposite direction despite her struggle to break free. It was done so fast before she had realized what was happening - the one thing she knew was the hideous claws pressing on her throat from the back as she was suspended in the air by a reverse chokehold. Telekinesis was being applied on her so there was no chance to try and swing her arms or legs to fight back. Scared as she was she didn't let go of the metallic casing for even a second.

The barrier actually cracked. The conceptual framework of it's making was rendered useless after the intended duration but it still stood there for some reason. Almost as if it were a cocoon or something along the line.

Dark essence spilled out of the breach and ominously slithered across the dirty ground like a snake about to kill it's prey. The familiar mist of Dimension Lost was mixed with the illusionary mass of taint and darkness, filled with flesh bearing gruesome wounds and holes, burns and broken bones to the point on unrecognisable. It contorted into cringe inducing ways, twisting at every angle in the likeness of a Rubic cube till all of it's contents were misaligned further in an odd structure.

The hand that held Sona literally glued itself into the mass with her along when the thing began to take shape, drawing the nearby shadows to itself as sustenance. A mouth formed first from within the mist and bore pearly white fangs that screeched in a despicable tonality, far removed from anything comprehensible.

She still lived, she still thrived despite the heavy onslaught she had to endure. The mass configured further to take the shape of a skinless humanoid with missing pieces of meat and bone that were being replaced with new parts from the mist of Dimension Lost. Attaching, reforming, merging and mending to the point of reconstructing her physical vessel to its usual self.

Skin and hair formed in mere seconds despite being shot down with bullets. A healthy coloration followed afterwards till the body became complete. The restoration was finished and so was it's product.

And thus Katerea Leviathan stood tall and mighty once more.

"I really like you. Why don't you join me?", she spoke in a distorted, ghostly voice with a booming presence. Her new fingers crossed and twitched to see if they were working properly as blood rushed back into the arteries and veins. On her chest she bore a crest that was spreading all over her thorax with sinister black veins rising from the neck up to the face.

Her entire adapted form was destroyed completely. She had lost her physical body from that attack and was technically dead if that were an indicator. This went beyond mere regeneration; having removed parts of herself throughout her long life of 1320 years as she roamed on the face of the Earth, Katerea made backups in case her vessel would be destroyed by using her own flesh as spare parts by regenerating and storing them in a pocket dimension.

Having used the conceptual spell to anchor herself after being eradicated completely her true form lingered on the physical realm and merged with the mist from the second container to call forth her own reconstructed body from the domain she occupied. They could not banish her to Hell, they destroyed her but the damage extended to her true form to the point of weakening her where she had yet to regain her abilities to an acceptable level.

Having stored enough taint from the hellish plane she reinvigorated herself and did her best to regain some strength. Not much but enough to exist on the mortal world.

There was no response to her inquiry.

"... we're gonna die... We're gonna die... I wanna live! Help me! I don't want to die... I don't want to die..."

"...Someone has to do it... It has to be me... Please... Please..."

Something in Sona snapped from the stress and tension. With no effort at all she broke free from the telekinetic chokehold and dropped down on her knees. There was no pleading on her side anymore. Defiantly she snickered at the face of doom with her pearly whites forming a sickening, wide grin of madness that stretched to her ears. The disturbing look in her slitted ice blue eyes showed nothing but the joy of carnage and bloodshed.

Katerea was disgusted on a personal level for that mockery but she knew she deserved it. Merely letting go and stepping back to leave she walked a few steps and stopped. In a moment of anger she snarled, "Does your sister not care about you as to let you die here? I saw more valiance and dignity in those men and your friend than in her. Yet... Here we are. I'm tired of this. I tried and tried to reach out to her to help her but it's all for naught...", her lips quivered in bitterness. Too much time she had focused on a foolish endeavour such as this.

"...Then it's better to destroy those who seek to use the Keys and perhaps the ones who might hold them inside... Forgive me but there's no other way."

The next moment occured really fast with the rejuvenated Demon unexpectedly landing a brutal kick into Sona's face that sent her several meters away. With enough prejudice and strength she kicked her in the face and knock her out. Telekinetically all of the bones in her legs and arms, the ribs were snapped. Afterwards she turned all of her attention towards the wounded men.

"You can go home. It's my loss so please don't prolong this any further. I have nothing more to say."

XXX

"...I can't do it... I'm too weak... I'm afraid. I can't win against her. It's unfair."

"Who cares about fairness?*", something was speaking to her inside her head. It all seemed dark outside. "*People might talk shit for getting plastic surgery but have you seen anyone giving a naturally pretty girl shit?"

She didn't say anything. She stopped to listen. It didn't feel like time was moving wherever this was so the girl paused to think about her life and everything in it.

"Does that mean the natural guys were playing fair? And the ones with surgery cheated? Then what's the point of private tutoring and cram school? If fairness is all that matters they should just learn at school."

"But what about those who can't do it even if they try so much?! I always tried to be fair, to compete with the rest on equal terms...", Sona's eyes blinked rapidly as she realized she was naked. She felt afraid and disgusted with herself. So weak and pitiful, thinking she was equal to her peers as far as to arrogantly assume that playing fair and everything out of her own efforts would give her a chance.

"If it's not fair and square how is it satisfactory and meaningful? I've never cheated and i tried my best!"

"The world is an unfair place. Why is fighting against that cowardly?"

Two icy blue eyes with draconian slits emerged from the darkness of her mind. She felt as scared as when she looked every time in his eyes and a primal fear gripped her whole being, begging her to run away or lest go insane. There wasn't anything else to see but pure, unstoppable power. Power personified. Power beyond the world and reaching further than one mere multiverse.

She tried to step back. To run away. Yet her feet did not budge for she was stricken with paralyzing fear.

"There's no such thing as fairness in this world. You beat the system.", that ghostly voice was becoming clearer and stronger like the ringing of a bell in her head. Awfully familiar was it to the point of her second guessing to whom did it belong.

"You think pure effort will make you better than Rias or Seeikvaira? Or trying to match an abomination in strength like Sairaorg? You can't even imagine reaching the heights of your own mother and father or your cousins. Think about it, Sona. Do you think it's fair to be left behind and seen as insignificant and weak by everyone else?"

A vague humanoid shape resurfaced around the eyes to gain corporeal shape and become reality itself. So many things beyond her were embodied inside that body, she could see natural laws, reality, space and time, the stars, the cosmos and was reaching even further.

"You need to strip them of their powers and abilities to make it fair."

"Stop it. This isn't me... This isn't me! I want to win on my own with my efforts! I'm alone, I know it! I can't possibly beat her no matter what trickery i use... I want to feel pride. I want to win for once. Just once!", Sona was breaking apart. Her sense of self was eroding and her image of herself was shattering and cracking like a brittle wall with rotten bricks.

"I'm tired of feeling like a loser. I'm tired of feeling inferior. I'm weak, i know it so painfully well that it makes me want to cry... I'm a liar, i admit it. I want to be better but all i do is pretend and run away..."

More of her perception was distorted. She no longer saw herself as she liked to pretend. The cracks marred every inch of her body and they were already chipping from the whole. With both hands she touched her fading face and cried bitter tears.

"I ran away always. From my feelings, from myself. I didn't even ask Genshirou or him about how they felt towards me... It was always me... Because i was uglier than everyone else. Because i was never good enough... Because... I've always been weaker and inferior in the eyes of everyone else..."

The faceless figure walked towards her until it stood before her eyes, flawless and immaculate but empty and full at the same time. She couldn't figure out the contents or what they meant because it was everything and nothing. Perhaps even beyond such concepts. But the hand it raised touched her cheek and trailed down to her now empty chest where a hole was already expanding.

"Even so you can win. Not because you believe in yourself or such trite crap about thinking you can do it when you haven't done it yet. Do you know why?", it's face finally cleared up and gained a familiar look that could not be mistaken.

"Forget about fairness. No one is going to be fair towards you. If you want to win you fight by taking away the legs they stand on."

It was her own face. Her true self. It touched where the heart used to be and she felt warmth like never before.

Sona's self repaired itself by pulling in the lost fragments of her ego, restoring and binding them to the cracks where frost reknit the wounds and expanded outwards of her exterior. It wasn't skin anymore, it was freely flowing and ever changing. It no longer looked like a human being when the mask she hid behind was torn off. It was the element of water, the calm before the storm. She was that element in every fiber of her existence.

She was born as an Internalized Sorcery Trait in the same way as Ravel Phenex

She touched her chest where she felt a small bump in the form of three black scales in a configuration. That reminded her of something. When she tried to ask herself who she really was there was no one to answer to.

"If you want to survive in this unfair world you have to fight for it. By any means necessary with the intent to kill."

"Do you know why?"

When she thought about it the exterior changed completely. Cyan blue scales lined each section of her frame, frost was growing out of her back in the shape of wings that changed formations constantly. Everything in her shifted and morphed to follow those words. Atop her head rested a crown. A crest of multiple horns with smaller ones extending from them to signify her title as One. The crest of the Nameless and the White One was shared among them. She took a breath and opened her eyes to become what she was meant to be.

"If i fight to kill I won't lose."

She was none other than the Red Dragon Empress herself.

XXX

At a moment's notice the situation grew worse than ever. What was a conclusion turned out to be nothing more than the last hurdle to overcome. If Serafall would not save her then the matter was all in her own hands to deal with.

An odd sensation rushed through her head, a hum of mana was drawn near her chest when the metal casing clang when shook. Without magic there wasn't much to do but maybe it wasn't all that was needed to win. Determination flared up from the battered husk that brought back it's shine and vigor. A faint whisper crept upon her ears and nested itself deep into the heart. The rage was subsiding for some strange reason but the tranquility brought control back within her reach.

Cracking the casing with her jaws Sona grabbed the first thing she spotted and pulled out an injector with a blackish liquid that had a sticker on it. The paper labeled Ichor caught her attention right away so she didn't think twice about it. Everything else be damned she was going to win! No matter the cost she would go home and take her Red Dragon with her. There was a timer set next to it sporting forty five seconds and the name Fafnir...

It was an improved version of the previous Ichor, used by Issei against Riser in that Rating Game. The time limit was the same but it felt different.

The blue eyed girl knew what she had to do. Putting on the timer band on her neck as if it were a leash she prepared to start it up. Once having seen it's effects she did not hesitate to stab the injector in her neck and push the pump to expell the contents in her bloodstream.

The timer was pushed.

[Gunmetal Ichor II: King Fafnir! ]

Forty five seconds began to tick.

XXX

"Last warning. Leave the girl or do you want to die?", said the serpent.

"I refuse.", a mix between a low growl and gasping for air came from the Irishman. He was on his knees with his left hand gripping onto his damaged right one. The sword he could hold in spite of his broken appendage needing to be supported by his other arm.

Barely could he move it except for most of his fingers having any sensation in them. "I fancy telling strong creatures no. It gives me such a high kick of adrenaline to the point of exhilaration. So i refuse!"

"You crazy-ass motherfucker! I didn't sign up for your funeral or mine so soon. I nearly wet my pants five times today.", Doctor MonBlanc contemplated on killing sir Mason himself if the fucking Demon would hesitate for a few more seconds in pulling it off.

The insulted entity responded by clenching her fist to unleash a telekinetic strike in order to punch the aging man in the lungs. Effective enough to make him shut up before she changed her mind. Avoiding things as murdering Reincarnated Devils and humans as much as possible was her creed to which she so far had not given up despite practically being reduced to nothing the first time. Alas, reconsidering the situation and the many chances she had given she finally chose the most obvious course of action.

To lift the man off the ground and toss him towards the hatch.

Pure annoyance marked her face when she cracked her knuckles and shifted her slit eyes to meet with the scared dolce man that was shaking in fear. "Why is everyone so persistent on fighting when i just came to use her as bait and then drop her stupid ass back home? I'm reconsidering on whether or not to snap your neck so scram.", by a wave of her hand she signaled for him to get the hell out of here or die.

The Doctor gave up in trying to persuade her. Instead he merely opened his mouth to part some words to her and pulled out a small phone. "You know what's funny? I'm in the mood for some music.", he tapped the audio file and played a song to liven things up if he was going to die anyway.

Might as well make it dramatic and satisfactory by resisting till the end.

Katerea grasped her head in pain afterwards. Blood trickled down her brow and her lips were bleeding as well right after the first tune of the song started playing. Her vessel was shaking violently in being torn apart from the inside - Chesare wasn't stupid so he did have a last ditch effort by having recorded Hilda's Anti-Demonic Aria in case this would have happened. Issei wasn't here so he wouldn't take any damage. Strong enough to stop her in her tracks, resonant enough to start frying her insides and weaken her the longer it played.

Manifesting the cross tattoo on his arm in it's full size he decked her violently across the jaw and bludgeoned her with a few strikes of his fist in her moment of weakness. It allowed her no time to react so she took the full brunt of his punches head on till she tried to retaliate.

"I can't win against you but there is someone who can!"

Heavy tremors followed each step by craters marring the ground and a despicable roar deafened the ears. Coming at an alarming speed was a predatory juggernaut; muscular arms with gunmetal scales adorned the entire body while halcyon-esque spines emerged from the spine that spread out towards the shoulders. As a modification there was an overgrown spine blade that took half the space on her back for balance while similar growths were present on her forearms and scapula joints.

Dense muscle tissue bulged with protruding stalactite growths of horn and bone, clawed fingers dug into the ground to leave footprints to support the bulked figure. Only the crop top was there but bearing a hole where the Brand was shown in clear view. Torn pants remained on her pelvic area, a circular saw-like protrusion was located on her chest and extending to the neck as if body armor. It was similar to the lindworm's original form before it burrowed in the ground to guard it's treasury. Only that it was packed in the shape of a humanoid female called Sona Sitri.

Open jaws revealed pearly white short fangs where steam and foam escaped the lips to drip on her neck. She had small horns forming into a miniature crest growing from the ridge of her nose and Fafnir's main horn extended from there. But the most striking part was her pure white eyes, hungering for blood as she swayed her arms back and forth aimlessly.

Bouncing off the ground once, Sona used the momentum to propell herself forward and ready the torn tree she landed on during her fall. Splinters flew everywhere as the beast swung it as a baton in a wide arc. The tossed tree nearly cleaved Katerea in two if she hadn't ducked and felt the wind clip a few hairs off her head when she split the wood into pieces. Discarding defense for offense the Lord of Darkness bolted straight for the dragon with her armored form springing into reality instantaneously.

As a juggernaut Sona clapped her hands together and flexed them to make the large blades on her forearms line up together as a battering ram. Altering her stance on instinct she brought one foot forward and bent her other one in a sprinting stance where she darted ahead with tremendous momentum aiding her on the path. She became a living battering ram against a living shield like Leviathan. Sacrificing speed for endurance and durability was the focus of this Ichor dosage.

No matter how fast Sona was, the great serpent was leagues faster than she was. With one single adjustment to her trajectory, Leviathan flipped herself in the air with enough force to manifest her tail and land a critical blow on the shield during her somersault. The heavy impact nearly sent Sona in recoil but she stabilized herself by turning her feet a few degrees to use her heel as a brake.

Katerea's tail hammered on the battering ram while she was still in the process of stumbling. Another instant burst of power in the form of fists applied repeated blows with concussive force making dents into the blades.

Both were weakening because of the Aria playing so it turned into a bout of attrition. Enduring blow after blow was not going to cut it so the Ichor powered girl waited for a tiny gap between each hit and shoved her arms upwards to clock the taller woman in the jaw. Pouncing upwards in that second both fists were clasped together and slammed down to crush the damned creature. Faster as ever the snake slid her arm in the path of the attack, sacrificing it's integrity to whiplash her other one in the gap where she stabbed Sitri in the neck.

Sona was blown to the side, the feeling of weightlessness granting her a sort of euphoria as though she had been high on drugs. And then the pain came crashing back tenfold. She hit something when she kissed the ground and finally skidded to the side where she swerved to the left to use her bladed spine to anchor herself upright mostly.

Ten seconds passed.

Coming for a bloody retaliation Katerea brought up four levitating water orbs. One turned into a double sided lance while the other turned into a shield to block a swing of the cutting edge on the younger girl's arm. Parrying the slash she rammed the lance directly into her abdomen where it met heavy resistance in the form of segmented plates of scales. The other two orbs shapeshifted into a pike and a throned staff, enabling her to thrash and dice left and right with both weapons while her shield protected her from the arm blades. A single hit reached the Draconian Devil's face and dented the horned crest while the shield turned into a wall that pinned the altered freak on the soft earth.

Sona mmediately retaliated with another mindless swing. The woman met it once more and deflected it with its monstrous power and agility as to break one of the blades and stomp on her forearm before the lance was driven through her shoulder in the tiny chink of softer tissue.

Swing after swing, repeated cuts were made into the softest areas till blood was shed. Sona tried to parry but could not cut the tail as it had been locked between two of the leg spikes. In this moment, the tanned woman went in for a serpent's strike to her head. Meeting head on the surprise attack Sona sacrificed her crest to deal damage while receiving the same but lessened.

To stand at even odds was the bare necessity. What came from the new improved Ichor was a fraction of the natural abilities of Fafnir coming to life. Despite being an earth dragon from the open jaws came forth a torrent of fire mixed with earth matter to resemble magma. A mixture of elements called Magma Breath was the dwarfen dragon's own signature attack, fully employed to scald and melt the adversary atop of her. At the very least the dense armored hide of the Golden Monarch provided an excellent defense and insulation against it's own attack.

She saw it coming; releasing one arm to swing it to her right, one of the water orbs came to her aid and formed another shield of pressurised water. Vapor rose up during the process which offered the superior one a window of escape.

Jumping in the air to avoid the next volley of Magma Breath was easy for her so she took this chance to send her own strike with a combined halberd of water and earthly mass for the killing blow. No longer having the element of surprise pushed the dragon girl to roll to the right before the halberd would have split her in two. It did cut a portion of her flowing hair but offered a quick chance to let her rise up and bolt at her agressor with both arms holding chunks of earth. Fafnir's terrakinesis extended to the earth it walked upon so each chunk became a hardened spear by the traces of various minerals and metals acting up together.

Katerea could only push the spears to the side, blowing dirt when her own slash separated the constructs in halves. Her next pattern was to use her tail and smack the Fafnir humanoid in the neck, coupled with a brutal kick to the chest. Cracking a few ribs was the price as the saw extension was torn off completely.

With the same speed as before, the primordial being sent torrents of cycling water to splash over the stunned abomination. Enduring as much as possible due to Fafnir's resilience the heaviest set of skin armor was breached - the secondary layers were not as tough as the original owner as it was a decent imitation but not the real deal.

Not missing this chance, Chesare tapped on the soil with both hands to cause a slight imbalance in the earth. The wave reached the intended target to induce a resonance within the ichor running through her veins. Earth pillars knitted together a dome of dirt and rock to steady the flow by a second, letting Sona to escape from being completely cut. Most of her back spines were gone, missing were chunks of meat and fingers from her legs and peeled skin with blood was spotted. The worst was the missing arm and pelted chest that nearly exposed the muscle fibers and a rib or two were poking out barely. Her Brand remained untouched as the only virtually indestructible part of her, her absolute truth about existing.

The timer counted thirty five seconds already. It was depleting much faster than the first iteration because of the resonance boosting it's performance to the max.Ten seconds remained to turn it all around.

Putting all her strength into her legs as pillars shot her in the sky Sona charged another Magma Breath at full force, gathering mana to boost it further in tandem with the imbalance caused in her to overload her Ichor - tripling in size the blast became a raging tornado of fire and jagged rocks inside to act as a literal snake shredder! All of her concentration went into preparing it.

Six seconds.

Soulless white eyes loomed at the human below in a silent conversation.

Instinct screamed at him as the hairs on his neck stood up. The Italian ran as fast as he could, picking up the wounded Arthur and tossed him into the hatch before jumping in himself.

Five seconds ticked away...

Sona felt the burns surface on her face and hands and embers eating at the tips of her hair. Each plate and scale was heating to the point of red. Burning alive was the right word to describe it. It was spreading extremely fast till her hair started burning rapidly.

Three seconds...

Katerea popped open a third container of Dimension Lost mist to narrowly avoid the incoming Breath by a hair's length. Overloading to the point of no return the whirlwind breath of flames came from the sky and burst right beneath her feet where the center of the forest was set ablaze and became a scorched earth of embers and smoke. The fires were soon to engulf the entire forest if something wasn't done to stop them.

The timer signaled the last moments of the King Fafnir Ichor counting down to zero.

Falling from the skies upon reaching the limit of her transformation, Sona felt the tug of an ink based chain pulling her towards the portal moment before she would have died from the crash. The Doctor's hand was poking out of the closing portal to pull her in and she crash landed directly inside as it ceased to exist. A grenade destroyed the hatch to prevent it's use any further. The other portals didn't work anymore.

XXX

Standing atop the flower garden of Kuoh City beyond the city center on the highest plane of the small town was the lonely Katerea Leviathan who somberly gazed at the burning forest with a morose expression. There was no recollection of having fought anyone besides Issei and Sona as the world realigned everything that had transpired into something that made sense. It never occurred to her how exactly she was wounded so badly nor having tested any humans who challenged her in order to save their friends from peril. It had never happened in her memories.

They never existed in any fragment of time. None of this seemed as if it had actually happened in the first place. Upon escaping from her clutches the greatest ability that came to those who were chosen to be the Apostles of the Apocalypse was to make it seem like they had never existed to those they chose to forget about them. Because to the rest of the world they did not exist and there was no proof they ever did.

Issei only allowed her to retain any recollection of him because he felt a connection to her, sympathize with her and hoped to gain an ally in her face. She only would remember their initial encounter a n hour or two ago but nothing more beyond that. He did not take away their moments spent together as he found it something special.

A bitter smile curled on her singed face when she tried to remember but could not. A sense of satisfaction mixed with loneliness adorned her face whenever she remiscenced about the best tomes of her life with the people who she once considered her best friends. The memory of Serafall crossed her mind and a tear was shed when she lamented over what she had lost. There wasn't the Sirzsechs she remembered dearly anymore. They had drifted away from each other, they betrayed her to further their own ambitions and lives while leaving her behind.

The memory of her dearest teacher Saul Eligos gave her strength to continue with pride the mission she had taken upon herself. It was her hope to regain what she had lost and bring back the people she once knew to their senses. Everything was to be in balance for the final moments.

The final battle was not to be had so soon so she wanted to prolong these idyllic days as much as possible before the inevitable.

"Why won't you understand, Serafall? This is not the way... This was never supposed to happen..", she wiped her eyes and looked towards the skies in search of something. "It's gone... The future of our kind is uncertain but we must do something about it. For all of us. For everyone on this beautiful planet. So I just wanted to see you one last time..."

"We can't be friends anymore, Katerea. That time is long gone."

When she heard those words she turned around and saw the person she was waiting for so long. Serafall Sitri was sitting on the bench with a flower in her hand, casually crossing her legs as she leaned back on the mahogany wooden planks. She was covered in wounds from a battle that had happened a minute or two in the Underworld where heavy casualties were accounted for. The capital was half ruined already and the damage was being repaired as she played with the flower. Her hair was left to flow freely without the ridiculous scrunchies to hold it in twintails.

Wearing clothes that resembled ancient armor with gold accents and black plating, a high collar shielded her neck from the unruly winds that blew her hair to the side. Pauldrons and sabatons clad her shoulders and legs with black armor, clawed gauntlets rested themselves over her tiny hands with spiraling golden patterns. The front was covered by a tunic of sorts from the finest materials, encrusted with gold fibers and odd spirals across the stomach area to accentuate on her regality. Said fabric was held at the waist by four thin bands that encircled her thighs and rear behind the long tunic that acted as a cover while leaving the side areas of her legs exposed. There were a few gems here and there on her collar and between the breasts.

Serafall twirled the rose she had picked from the garden by the stem, spinning it like a kiddie propeller to pass the time. She looked so peaceful for someone who had gone through such a crisis or that her sister had been abducted in the first place.

"I didn't think you were alive... And here you are standing before me. Such an irony, I'd say.", the current Leviathan chuckled in a dry tone when she addressed the surprised Katerea. "You destroyed my domain, kidnapped my sister and now you wish to talu? Trying to shove your usual human driven spiel down my throat, aren't we?"

"I survived as i always do. Even when you tried to kill me so many times i come on top always.", dryly responded the woman in question. Her lips quivered in straining themselves to say what she really wanted to. "You didn't used to be so callous and cruel. What happened to you? What changed you to become like this!?"

Retorting without a single hesitation did Serafall answer that question. "I never changed. The only one who did was you, Kathy. We could have ruled together. Having to play buddy buddy with these fools is tiring. So tell me why do these things deserve this wonderful sandbox of a world more than us? The material realms were ours to begin with."

"It was never our place to meddle in mortal affairs! We were supposed to test them to prove their worth and to rise above our own nature. We were once Celestials, we were once makers and observers but you do not wish to admit it.", Katerea interjected with some venom behind her words. But it was more disappointment than anger. "Is your throne far more valuable than the ones who regarded you as their family?"

Serafall blinked twice before giving a response. Something in her tone felt strained and shaky if one paid enough attention. "Power comes and people go, dear. You can't stop me because you don't have the guts to do it. You are soft to the point of making me want to vomit. It's who we are so don't try to dissuade me from achieving our great ambitions. The Serafall you knew never existed. I've always despised you for as long as i remember."

Only venom and malice did she direct at her way.

The rose she held was tossed on the marble tiles and stepped on by the heel of her footwear. What used to be vibrant red colours revealed themselves to be nothing more than a shriveled flower with wilted petals of pitch black.

Taken aback, the blue eyed Mediterranean looking woman tried to reach out to her friend. "That's not true. If you really did we wouldn't be talking right now because i know you. You never tried to kill me for real. So stop lying to yourself and listen to me.", she became emotional despite trying to reign in her sentimentality. "You're in danger. I'm trying to save you, Sera. Be it from those who wish to end you or yourself! I won't allow you to gather the Keys for the Gate. Those must be destroyed at all costs for it is a power we should not triffle with."

"Says who? You? The side of order and balance, the Presence itself? No, sweet girl, i intend to use them and remake this universe into what it a supposed to be. If not then i will reach heights the First of the Fallen could only dream of by accomplishing what he could not with that gift he was given."

"You think you can control that power? It has corrupted you already. That obsession will bring only disaster and ruin.", Katerea looked her dead in the eye and continued. "This is not what our teacher wanted us to do. Think about your children with that tall block of red hair you call your true love."

Case and point. Serafall was waiting for the right moment to separate Grayfia Lucifuge from the man she regarded as her soulmate. If she did have a soul, that is.

She revealed a secret only a select few knew. She was the first to know and to congratulate them on the birth of their first-born son. Serafall had two kids in reality with Sirzsechs despite everyone in the Underworld believing she had not produced a heir. No sane Devil would have wanted to deal with a delusional, spoiled entity like herself. Or that's what most thought about her.

The mention of that secret nearly made Serafall lose control. Quickly readjusting her expression to neutral with her regal mask she called a face she murmured under her breath something ominous. "Eligos was a fool and a pathetic excuse of a Demon. The strong carve their paths even atop the corpses of the weak. That's how nature is. I'm doing it because i want to, because i have free will. That's why evil exists because we have the ability to choose. Without a choice there would be no evil, there will be no balance and there will be no free will. So i choose to be myself no matter how wretched and abhorrent i really am."

She unveiled her sharp wings that began to grow further and alter their shape by sporting black feathers on them like those of an Angel. She was a Dark Angel always. Their wingspan was big enough to cast a shadow over both of them as they were locked in a moment of silence. Serafall's eyes changed from their usual violet shade to bloodshot red with slit pupils like those belonging to a feline. Only red as the color of her blood. The same eyes as those of her father Severin Sitri were revealed to her.

Because she never controlled water as she pretended to. A Leviathan that did not possess true mastery over the element of water.

All she did was move past her former best friend and did not even dare to glance back at her. No one knew what was going through her head but if Katerea saw her she would have noticed the tears forming on the edge of her eyes. Stopping herself from crying she grabbed her wrist and dug her claws in till blood started to flow out of the wound. "I will not stop until I'm done with this mission. So don't try to stop me. It's for the greater good. Touch my sister again and I will have every legion I command tear you apart over and over. You have a minute to leave the city before I change my mind. Goodbye, old friend. I wish i could have been the Serafall you wanted me to be but I can't..."

"Not when I am the worst of the worst. Forgive me, Katerea. I never wanted it to end like this. I hope you will understand me one day when the sun ceases to be and the world is clad in darkness... I love you... Forgive me, my one true friend."

Serafall vanished the same way she had appeared.

Only Katerea remained in the garden of flowers, having truly lost her friend.

On the marble where Serafall Sitri once stood were left only a single black feather and the stains of tears having been shed over a lost friendship.

XXX