Winds of Change (DxD)

Kecate Tepes' Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

Lying, cheating, and taking advantage of others—that's the kind of life I've led so far. From the moment I came into this world, I was unwanted and unloved. If that was my fate, perhaps they should have killed me the minute I was born. Children shouldn't be subjected to that; they're meant to be unconditionally loved. That's what I read in books.

Before going down a path that I knew would eventually lead to my demise, I wandered the world. Pretending to be human and trying to form normal relationships, but...that went as well as tragedy-stricken films.

But I kept trying; I didn't want my first experience to dictate how the rest would be, but time and time again, they kept telling me otherwise. In conclusion, there were no good people in the world, at least no good from what I could see. They were all liars; there was no one genuine left. If a world like that exists, I don't want to be part of it; it makes me sick.

If I can't genuinely smile and live a happy life in this world, I'll just destroy it and start anew. I'll create a world where it's fair and no one will be sad, homeless, or left to fight for themselves.

I'll become a tyrant where no one can defy me. I'll ascend to the level of the gods if I have to.

This world will remember me for years to come as a person who brought happiness to it.

— ○ ● ○ —

Standing on a distant mountain, I watched the scenery in front of me as hell rained down upon the new vampire faction. Vampires, Super Vampires, magicians, a few Divine Beasts, cryptids, and the members of Exiled Harmony attacked it.

Ayumu was already gone, and he hopes to come across the Middleman or someone worthy to fight, although my gut feeling tells me that he'll find someone else today. As I watched from my perch, two individuals appeared in front of me.

"…I didn't think we'd meet like this, little Valerie," I said as I stared at Valerie Tepes and Gasper Vladi. "The son of Lord Vladi is here too; how cute. You've certainly become a lot manlier."

"…You're my half-sister?" Valerie Tepes asked, unsure.

"Indeed I am. Kecate Tepes, that's what I'm called. How do you do? Will you call me Onee-chan, Valerie?" I asked. I expected her to look at me with disgust, but instead she looked at me with sorrow-filled eyes.

"If I do, will you stop this?"

"Unfortunately, I will not. This world is too corrupted and disgusting, so I will correct it. If you two join me, I will spare anyone you love; I give you my word," I told them.

"The vampire factions were devastated a few months ago, and they're only getting back on their feet; why are you doing this? Don't you think they suffered enough? Most of the Tepes faction was wiped out because of the Khaos Order!" Gasper shouted.

I smiled and giggled to myself, confusing them. "I was the one who leaked information to the Tepes faction; I was the one responsible for their downfall. I detest them, I abhor them; the Tepes, especially the corrupted ones, need to be eliminated."

Pointing my finger at Gasper, who looked very angry at me, I said, "But you two are exceptions. There are still corrupt vampires in the new faction, so let us kill them all and start anew. After that, we'll continue with the rest of the supernatural world and then the human world."

"I refuse. I don't know what you went through, nor can I pretend that I'll understand how you feel, but all you need to do is find the right people to experience life with! …I may have felt a bit like you at some point; I was scared of the outside world and hid myself away, but…"

Darkness shrouded Gasper Vladi's body as it slowly increased in size. "I met my master, and she showed me a new family, and through that, I met a man who helped not just me but many people. You know about it; it's impossible for anyone not to. He's showing all of us that there's a brighter side to life and kind people still exist…so don't give me that crap!"

"Gasper…" muttered Valerie; she seemed quite emotional towards her friend.

I scoffed. "A world he pursues…I can't support it; there is no guarantee that it will always be like that. He has to put trust in others for it to work, and nine times out of ten, you can never fully trust them as they'll change their minds in a heartbeat."

It seemed our views were vastly different. For them, a hero—a prince—came and saved them. But to me, they never came. I was left by myself; I had to pull myself out of whatever mess I was put in. Whether or not I was the one responsible for that, is debatable.

"Your—no, his ideal world, or mine? Which one will be realized sooner? How about we see?" I asked and began to power up.

Gasper Vladi's body changed, and he turned into a five-meter-tall monster made of darkness that resembled a dragon. Beside him, Valerie Tepes also spread her bat-like wings, and her body was shrouded in a crimson-red-silver aura. Numerous spears made of blood appeared behind her too.

"You're not the only one who can manipulate blood, Valerie. We're sisters after all," I told her while also creating various weapons made of blood behind me. I still have one more trump card if I'm backed into a corner, but I'll save that for when the time comes.

— ○ ● ○ —

Third Person Point of View

— ○ ● ○ —

In an artificially created dimension of Kyoto, a few lower members of the Exiled Harmony made their way to various parts of each of the Five Principal Clans. This was a last-minute decision by some of its members, and the leaders agreed to it, as they thought the commotion in the new vampire faction would draw most of the Middleman's attention.

"We're here; let's go!" shouted one of their members.

They had arrived at the perimeter of the Himejima clan, and as they were about to run in and start attacking the surrounding areas, a large number of them were set ablaze as a flaming tornado appeared in the middle of their large group.

"W-w-what the hell!? We were spotted!?" a female member asked.

"No, they were expecting us!" another replied.

"Bingo!" a voice said. When all members of this group looked up, they saw a figure that was familiar to them.

"…Khh! Atsutarou Himejima!!" another exiled Himejima clan member screamed in fury. "You betrayed us!?"

Atsutarou put a curled finger under his chin. "More like given a new lease on life, and I'm enjoying it. You guys probably won't accept it if we tried to offer it, so…die!"

An enormous fireball left Atsutarou's hand and killed more of the group's members. They began to panic and run around and away from the man in the sky.

"Don't panic! Kill him!" a member shouted. Countless magic circles appeared around the area, and then hundreds of elemental attacks flew towards Atsutarou.

Atsutarou smirked before thousands of silvery-white, distorted blades came out of the grounds, destroying the magic and a few of the members of the faction.

"Wha—!? We thought that the Middleman was in Romania!" a male member shouted in surprise.

"Oh, he is," replied Atsutarou as he landed on the ground. From behind the trees jumped out…Shin, Aaron Toole's [Canis Lykaon]. "But Jin knew you would try to attack the clans during your operation, so he had Shin here to help us."

Shin, who was in his adult form, wagged his tail beside Atsutarou. Then, at various points in the artificial dimension, elemental attacks started to explode, alerting them even more.

"You…!"

Grinning even more, Atsutarou said, "We were ready from the beginning; we knew about it, you dumbasses!"

"Shit! We need to inform the others! Why can't I contact them!?" another asked in a panic.

"Because they've been cut," said another voice. From a different building, stepped out a man wearing Chinese attire and a spear.

"…Shit! Cao Cao!? Are the Hero faction here too!?" another asked. As they did, numerous holy swords appeared from the ground, impaling some of them.

"Fufu, we are~," said Jeanne. Seconds later, various large monsters started appearing around the realm too.

"…[Annihilation Maker]…fuck, we've been set up!" another shouted.

"Jin-san knows of all your movements; it really doesn't matter what you do in the future; he's already 'seen' it," said Georg as he teleported beside Cao Cao and Atsutarou.

"Is everything done on your end?" asked Cao Cao.

Georg nodded and fixed his glasses. "Yes, it is. Teleportation, communication, and certain other spells have been restricted. All we need to do is clean up here and wait for the news over in Romania."

After hearing that, most of the Exiled Harmony members fell into despair. Their plan—the one that they thought would work—was already flawed from the very start.

Anger boiled over in one particular faction member, and green flames erupted from his body. "I'll goddamn die trying to end this clan; I don't give a shit anymore!!" he roared before firing an enormous blast of flames towards Atsutarou's group.

Shin stood in front of the attack, and summoned a golden-blue blade in his mouth. He then swung it horizontally and cut the attack in half; his attack kept slicing through it until the blade aura reached the man and sliced his chest open.

"A…fucking…dog…killed…me…?" he muttered before falling on his back and bleeding to death.

Atsutarou stared at the dead man before going over to him and closing his eyes. "Let's finish up then; it won't take too long."

All three agreed with him, and they went their separate ways. He stood there for a few seconds before looking at the various battles happening around him.

"Do I deserve a second chance like this?" he shook his head and sighed. "No, Shuri and everyone else already told me I do; I need to stop."

— ○ ● ○ —

"Onii-san…" muttered Genbu Doumon.

"Yo, Genbu, you seem well," said Ayumu. He waved at his little sister and smiled at her. It had been years since the two of them met, and now they reunited like this.

"Everyone in the clan thought—"

"I was dead? Yeah, typical. Well, it won't matter now; if I can just kill some of the geezers over there, then I'll be satisfied," said Ayumu, interrupting Genbu.

Genbu shook her head furiously. "…That won't happen. Jin-san predicted that some of your members may attack the clans, so he's already…"

Ayumu clutched his stomach and laughed. He laughed so hard that he nearly lost his balance and fell from the roof of the building. He stopped and got his foothold back. A small tear appeared on his cheek, and he wiped it away.

"Ah, yeah, I expected that, but I guess those idiots didn't. Even after I tried to warn them, it's unfortunate," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm? Ah! If it isn't the famous Vali Lucifer…hmm-hmm, are you in a relationship with my sister?"

Vali Lucifer had arrived beside Genbu in his [Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive] armor; he had left Calantha earlier since she had her own battles to go through. He had taken his older brother's advice and stayed with Genbu, much to the girl's surprise. The young Lucifer didn't answer, as he simply put a reassuring hand on Genbu's head, making the girl blush.

A smile appeared on Ayumu's face. "Actions speak louder than words, Vali Lucifer, and I appreciate that. Very well! I approve of this relationship! You have my blessings; however, this is where we part ways, Genbu."

Ayumu brought out a small pocket watch and spun it around his finger. Genbu and Vali stared at it with confusion, and Ayumu said, "Do you like it? It's my Artificial Sacred Gear [Chronometer Blessing]. I like the name; how about you?"

"…You've gotten better at naming things, Onii-san," replied Genbu, making Ayumu smile.

"Since you're my adorable little sister, I'll tell you about its abilities, but—!" Ayumu winked, and numerous star-shaped attacks appeared around them. "I won't make it easy for you~"

Vali raised his hand and shouted, "Compress!"

{Compression Divider!!!}

The star-shaped attacks around them began to halve until they disappeared. Ayumu clapped at Vali's prowess.

"Marvelous! As expected of the strongest White Dragon Emperor in history. You're surely making your older brother proud, right~?" he asked, and Vali shrugged in response.

The pocket watch began to spin, and both hands stopped at two. "Oh, lucky me!" snorted Ayumu before a gigantic mechanical golden tortoise appeared behind him. He waved at the two, who were surprised by this, and stood on top of its head.

"Do you like it!?" Ayumu screamed. He then created a magic circle near himself and Genbu and spoke into it. "I've always been lucky, right? So I asked Satanael to make a Sacred Gear based on luck. Each number on this Sacred Gear gives various effects; most of them will benefit me, but if the hands land on the same number twice, I'll get a negative effect."

"I-if they land on different ones?" Genbu asked worriedly.

"I'll get two effects at once! Of course, if they land on the same number twice, I'll get double the negative effects!" he explained and dismissed the magic circle.

[Chronometer Blessing] was the type of Artificial Sacred Gear that would only ever benefit the luckiest of people, such as Ayumu Doumon. If any normal person used it, a lot of negative things would befall them.

"Genbu, let's destroy it quickly," he told her.

"Mmm!"

Around Genbu, large waves of water began to appear; she quickly changed the shape of all of them into large blades, almost like Tobio Ikuse's blades. Vali saw this and smirked.

"Did you model them after Tobio Ikuse?" he asked.

"…I-it was unintentional, but I saw it so often that I just gravitated towards it," replied Genbu.

"Launch them; I'll support you," he said, and Genbu did just that.

Seconds later, her water attacks were thrown towards Ayumu, and as they approached the giant mechanical tortoise, a bright white-yellow light surrounded them. Ayumu created a large defensive magic circle in front of the tortoise, but it was easily destroyed, yet he didn't panic.

As the attacks hit the tortoise, he grinned. "This little thing's defensive power is quite high, so normal attacks like that won't affect it."

"Are you sure about that?" Vali asked.

A large crack appeared on the tortoise's body, and then it eventually shattered, and the attacks pierced its metallic skin, further destroying it, which forced Ayumu to fly away from the mechanical beast. He stared at the destroyed tortoise in shock before it vanished.

"What…? How did you do that?" he asked.

Vali smiled. "I've been training with the use of a certain…clan trait."

'…[Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light], so he has it too, huh? Though many said that Rizevim never truly utilized it since he relied on his [Sacred Gear Canceler], to think that Vali is using it to this degree…' thought Ayumu.

"Interesting! So you have that, huh? This makes this even more fun!" shouted Ayumu as he spun the clock again. It then landed on nine. "Oya? Now that's interesting, fufu."

Genbu and Vali prepared themselves, but what appeared was beyond what they imagined. All around them were….naked women with large breasts and buttocks, leaving both of them stunned.

"Iyaaa~ Vali-kyuuuun~"

"Tooouuch meee~"

"I have a big butt, you knoooow~?"

Most of them…resembled an older version of Genbu and Calantha. Vali's face turned completely red, and so did Genbu's.

"Bahahaha! So you are attracted to my little sister! And that vampire woman, huh? And you're into butts? Quite the opposite of your older brother, although he's mostly just a pervert who likes everything about a woman."

"When they land on nine, they show very lewd things to those I aim the ability at, kukuku! You damn lewd dragon, you're just the same as the Oppai Dragon!" Ayumu shouted before firing attacks at Vali and Genbu.

"Awawawawa!" Genbu panicked, but she managed to create several water orbs and fire them at her brother's attacks, causing both to nullify each other. She also became embarrassed and destroyed the illusions using her water manipulation.

"V-Vali-kun…y-you—"

"…Stop. We can talk about that later, along with Calantha," Vali said, stopping her from interrogating him any further. He was too embarrassed to talk about it. "…Enough."

Vali had enough and didn't want to play along with Ayumu's games, so he dashed towards him and threw a punch at his stomach. To his surprise, Ayumu dodged his attack, albeit barely, as his shirt was destroyed.

"I'm weaker than you, but this Sacred Gear will be my trump card!" shouted Ayumu. He summoned a water ball, to the surprise of Genbu. "Our clan leaders were liars!"

The attack hit Vali and blew him away; however, he wasn't injured at all. Ayumu only wanted to create some distance with him.

"What do you mean, Onii-san!?" inquired Genbu.

"The Khaos Order was able to 'remove' the block I had in me. Atsutarou had his abilities unlocked by the Middleman. We saw it during the game between Aurelia and Baraqiel, so we began research into it, and what do you know? It was possible."

"Some of us are born with a little 'blockage', and if we remove that, then we can use our inherent elemental manipulation. All of us were blessed from the start; none of us were 'forsaken' by our gods! …That meant our elders and executives were far too stupid to even look into it!" explained Ayumu.

Ayumu began to create several things with his water manipulation, from weapons to animals and all sorts of other things. Thousands of weapons and creatures were created behind him, and they floated there idly.

"It seems I'm gifted at it too, heh, we're really siblings, huh? How is it? Do you like it, Genbu~?" he asked.

"I always knew Onii-san was amazing; even back then, when you couldn't use it, you won at many things. So you being able to do this…isn't a surprise to me," replied Genbu.

"Fufu, thank you. Now then, let's continue!!" he shouted and launched his attacks towards them. At the same time, he activated his Artificial Sacred Gear, and the hands began to spin. They stopped at…twelve! "Twelve, huh? That's rather troublesome for you guys," he muttered.

The attacks he sent to them suddenly multiplied by one hundred, shocking them. Vali put his hand forward and used his [Compression Divider] again, but he noticed that not all of them were compressed, so they were forced to avoid the attack. When they looked back at Ayumu, there were also one hundred clones of him.

Thankfully, this only lasts for a few seconds, but it's a bit annoying—still, when used along with my attacks, it's quite lethal... Well, to the normal folks," said the original Ayumu.

"Because we're the greatest!!"

"Greatest!! Banzaiii!!"

The numerous Ayumus began to cheer and laugh. The original shook his head, but a few seconds later they disappeared. He then activated it again, and the hands stopped at one.

"Oh, a simple one; I like it," he said, and a scythe appeared in his free hand. It resembled any normal scythe; however, its handle was aqua blue, and its special property is that it can 'cut' most things, much like Tobio Ikuse's blades.

Unlike Tobio's blades, it can't cut magic, concepts, or space-time. However, it can easily cut apart any physical object. Satanael had tried to replicate that ability of [Canis Lykaon] with the help of Promestein and the other researchers of the Khaos Order, but was unsuccessful.

"Hmph. I'm used to dealing with scythe wielders," said Vali. After all, he had to deal with Tobio and Aaron, and he was used to dealing with both Gin and Shin. In a way, you could call Vali a veteran at facing people like this.

Ayumu disappeared, appeared beside Vali, and swung his scythe towards the young man. Vali grabbed Genbu and pulled themselves back to avoid the scythe. At the same time, the young Lucifer fired a point-blank demonic attack at Ayumu, who dodged it, but a part of his side was blasted away, leaving a small gaping and bleeding hole there.

Genbu gasped but couldn't do anything, as they were enemies. This didn't deter Ayumu, as he continued to swing his scythe at the both of them. Vali dodged his attacks while holding Genbu, who didn't do anything to retaliate as she still cared for her older brother, but at the same time, she felt conflicted as she wanted to support the man she loved.

As they continued their battle in the air, Ayumu asked, "What's wrong, my dear little sister? Aren't you going to attack me too?"

"…I can't. I can't attack Onii-san; I can't do it," replied Genbu, nearly in tears.

Vali made sure not to lethally attack Ayumu, as he knew that these siblings needed this. So while he fought him, he made sure to keep on dealing damage to him while using moderate power; he didn't want to accidentally knock him away or instantly kill him.

'Stay with Genbu if possible.' The words that Aaron, his brother, told him repeated in his mind. He wasn't sure if he was doing any justice to the words imparted to him, but he believed that he was doing his job.

"I am the villain, Genbu. You have to," he said, backing away from them. He used his Sacred Gear again, and it landed on six and twelve. "Oh dear, I'm very lucky today."

His scythe disappeared, and a small circular bubble covered Ayumu. Along with it, two submachine guns appeared on both his hands, and then behind him, what seemed to be a female shining figure manifested itself. The figure resembled a cat, and it had its tail wrapped around Ayumu's waist.

"Lock on," he muttered. "Vali-kun, Genbu, please prepare yourselves." He then shot bullets in front of him, but to their surprise, they didn't leave the bubble but were stopped by it. Ayumu kept firing at it until the entire bubble was covered with bullets.

Seconds later, it vanished. The only thing left there was Ayumu, and he was smiling at them. Each one of those bullets was enhanced by magic and also had light properties, hence why they weren't normal bullets.

Hundreds of bullets appeared all around them, and from them, the bullets that Ayumu fired materialized within them and then shot out. However, they had multiplied, and when both Vali and Genbu dodged them, they immediately turned around and flew back towards them.

'Homing bullets!?' Vali dodged them again before using his [Compression Divider], halving some of them before they disappeared. But—

"There's more where that came from!" shouted Ayumu. More bubbles filled with bullets appeared and kept firing at them, much to Vali's annoyance.

Ayumu stood floating there, smiling. "Six and twelve are nothing special. Well, that's what I think anyway. Six gives me these bubbles; I originally thought they were only used for defense, but they can be used a bit more creatively."

"Twelve is a combination of this cat-like thing behind me and the two submachine guns. The cat gives me unlimited bullets and enhances the bullets to be able to kill supernatural beings; the submachine guns also have a lock-on ability, making it easier for me to kill people. Man, Satanael, and those guys really outdid themselves, and I still haven't used my Counter Balance yet," explained Ayumu.

Vali stayed there for a few seconds before looking at Genbu. "If you want to say something to him, do it now."

Genbu looked at Vali with worry but understood what he meant. Earlier, they were told to bring in Kecate and Ayumu; the rest could be captured or killed; it was up to who faced them, but those two were the only ones that Ajuka, Azazel, and a few others in the DxD Alliance wanted to be captured.

He let go of Genbu and began to chant.

"The Pure White Dragon dwelling within me, rise up from your supremacy—"

The silver armor that exceeded supremacy gradually began to form jet-black patterns on it.

{The Silvery-white Morning Star I possess within me, claim the Throne of Dawn—}

In response to Albion's line, the light wings on his back became infused with black. Following that, multiple pairs of new wings extended out of his back.

[The Jet-black God of Infinity—]

"The Mysterious and Unfathomable Father of Devils—"

Twelve jet-black wings grew out of Vali's back. All of the edges of his armor sharpened and took on an organic form. Vali's and Albion's voices then overlapped with each other.

"{We shall transcend the limits to accept the oath—}"

The crest of Lucifer appeared on all of the gems in his armor, and they unleashed a dazzling brilliance of light! The final stanza was chanted by Vali, Albion, and Ophis.

"{[[Thou shalt kneel down before our bright and glorious existence!]]}"

{[[LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLucifer!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}

{Dragon Lucifer Drive!!!!!!!!}

Ayumu became uneasy. He knew that as soon as Vali Lucifer used this form, he would only have a limited amount of time left on the battlefield. He aimed his guns at him again and fired; the same thing happened as earlier, and more bubbles appeared, and the bullets flew towards him.

As Vali increased his power and output of aura, the bullets that made contact with it disintegrated. He looked at Ayumu, waiting for him to do something. Vali only liked fighting powerful people, but recently he started thinking more about the future. While he was still a battle maniac at heart, the thought of keeping his lineage crossed his mind.

He knew that there were two women that were interested in him, so he knew that he could guarantee children down the line. Also, the thought of fighting his children after he made them powerful made him giddy.

"I'm a single child," Vali suddenly said, surprising both siblings. "But over the year, I gained an older brother and sister…although I had the older sister for longer. It looks like you harbor hate for the older generation of Doumon and executives, and not the new ones."

"I also know the inner workings of those clans to a degree, so I understand your frustrations. If you felt like that, why not join Aniki's side and take them down that way? Or do you want bloodshed instead?" asked Vali.

"T-things have been getting better too! Aoki-sama has stepped down as clan head and his son has taken the position. You remember him, right? Originally, I was going to be clan head because I was the inheritor of Xuanwu, but I couldn't do it…" Genbu also shouted to her older brother.

Ayumu chuckled. "If only those changes came sooner, things would have been different. Truthfully, I'm happy with what the Middleman has been doing, and I'm glad that the clans are changing, but…I can't stop here. So you two better stop me."

Ayumu Doumon had already made peace with this after Hanezu Himejima's second death. The others with him weren't as flexible and were still out for vengeance, while he didn't mind if they fell here. He had gone along with all the negative energy that the remaining members of 'Connected Harmony' had; he rebranded their name, and created this plan that would also bring down the vampire faction.

In a roundabout way, he had already switched sides after Hanezu Himejima's second death and was working for the DxD Alliance in secret.

Ayumu sighed and prepared his guns. "Come, show me what the inheritor of the Black Tortoise and the true heir of Lucifer can do," he said as he began firing more bullets at them.

Genbu, who clung onto Vali's shoulders, sped towards Ayumu with Vali while the attacks Ayumu sent towards them disintegrated before they reached either of them.

Vali glanced at Genbu, who had created shackles made of water. Vali increased his speed to the point that Ayumu couldn't follow, and they appeared behind him. Ayumu looked at his ankles, and the shackles had been attached to him. Moments later, Genbu increased the weight of those shackles, and he plummeted to the ground.

Ayumu tried to dispel the water shackles with his own water manipulation, but it didn't work. When he looked up, he saw that his end was imminent.

{[[LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!]]}

The armor on his chest and abdomen rattled as they separated and slid open. A muzzle of a cannon appeared and began to charge up as it emitted a great amount of power. After a vast amount of demonic energy had gathered, Vali said to Ayumu Doumon in a calm tone, "This is the end."

{[[Satan Lucifer Smasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}

The massive bombardment of silvery-white and jet-black auras was fired out of the muzzle and blasted the man beneath them. Some of the streets, lampposts, and other structures on the ground were destroyed, but thanks to Aaron's barriers, the buildings remained unscathed.

Once his attack ended, they landed on the ground, and Ayumu Doumon lay there alive but unable to move. Genbu had already arrived by her older brother as she started to try to heal him, but when Vali arrived, he made him eat a slime pill and also placed him in anti-magic cuffs.

"You'll live. So, tell us about the other remaining members, you know, the relevant ones. I want to keep fighting," said Vali.

Ayumu tiredly chuckled while Genbu held onto him. "Well, there are three of them; I can sense one of them is fighting Tobio Ikuse, while the other two are...female; it seems like one of them is fighting Suzaku Himejima and the other…heh, the current Ouryuu, how ironic."

"Who's the stronger one?" Vali asked.

"In my opinion, it's the one that Suzaku Himejima is fighting, but I can sense that Lavinia Reni is over there too."

Upon hearing this, Vali became reluctant to go over there. While he didn't mind calling Lavinia his older sister, he was still embarrassed by her over-doting affection towards him, although Aaron wasn't any better, albeit in a different way. (He cooks him ramen when he asks him and fights him; Vali prefers this over Lavinia's constant hugging).

"…I'll join Calantha. Genbu, I'll bring him with us," said Vali. He grabbed Ayumu and put him over his shoulder. "Let's go—" As he was about to fly away, Genbu floated up and pecked him on the cheek, shocking him.

She smiled brightly at Vali and said, "Thank you, Vali-kun."

Vali's eye twitched before he nodded, turned, and began flying away. Genbu giggled and followed after him.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Fufu, it seems Nakagami-kun failed to catch you, Ice Princess. No, should I refer to you as that dragon's Ice Queen? Kuku," said a female.

She had straight black hair with red streaks around her entire head and black eyes with gray pupils. She wore a black and white yukata with falcon patterns on it. On both her sides were two ghostly foxes, one black and the other white.

"…Who are you? You don't seem to be a person from one of the clans," inquired Suzaku.

"I am not. However, I became acquainted with Atsutarou-kun and Nakagami-kun sometime in my life. Ah, I fought someone during our attacks a few months ago, although I was injured," she said.

"Aaron said the one that attacked the Nakiri clan was a man shrouded in darkness; are you saying that was you?" Lavinia asked.

The woman smiled before using transformation magic to change herself into a man, and she smirked at them. "Does this ring any bells?" she asked in a manly voice. After that, she undid her transformation and winked at them.

"I see, so you were him or her…" muttered Suzaku while frowning at the woman. "Why?"

"Risu Maebara, you can call me that. I was just an ordinary woman with nothing better to do. I found out the supernatural was real and wanted to cause chaos. That's all there is to it," she said and giggled.

In other words, this woman was just a bona fide psychopath. She held no empathy or remorse; all she cared about was causing people pain, and she only wanted self-gratification. She wasn't born with anything special; she came from a normal family, a very loving one at that, but she still came out this way.

Risu Maebara's family tried to get help over the years, but every single one of them failed, and they just let her loose. If they didn't, their own family would be torn apart. Risu would occasionally go back to them, act all nice, and then try to ruin them again, and that's when they'd kick her out again.

To Risu, it was a game—a very fun one. She only escalated as she got older, and when she found out that the supernatural was real, she studied magic for a year and mastered it, and when the Khaos Order became prevalent, she joined them because, in her words, 'Why not? It should be fun!'

"You only did this because…it was fun?" Suzaku asked, holding back her anger.

A wide smile spread across Risu's face. "Ara? Did I hit a nerve, Vermillion birdy? You were blessed with one of the best controls of your clan's flames and even inherited the position of clan head and had the Sacred Beast choose you. Aren't you, spoiled in that way?"

Suzaku was usually calm and could think with a clear head, but when her clan and loved ones were involved, she could get a bit passionate about it. As her flames and emotions were about to burst forth, Lavinia hugged her from behind and put her head on her shoulder.

"Suzaku trained hard to be able to do that. It's one thing to have talent and be a genius, but you have to constantly train and grow as a person if you want that title to remain. There are so many people that were labeled as 'geniuses' that disappeared," said Lavinia.

"Cheap words coming from a person who became an orphan twice, haha! Both from her biological parents and Glenda, right? Pupupu, so sad waaa waaa~" Risu raised her hands and did the fake crying motion with them.

Lavinia's lips twitched as she frowned at the woman in front of them.

Risu Maebara loved dealing low blows to people; she would take it a bit further by accusing that person of doing things that weren't true or people they cared about of doing things that weren't true. An example of this was when she accused one of her 'friends' of being a molester, had him isolated, and then laughed it off. People still isolated him even after she openly admitted to lying about it. Doing such things gave Risu Maebara joy—a euphoric high, you could say.

"Are you sure your boyfriend isn't some kind of child molester or something? You know, one would say that having a harem is just openly being cucked or cheated on, especially for the women in it. Isn't he off trying to get pussy every other day? And you trust him? Are you insane? Or are you into NTR and cuckoldry?" she asked, further angering the two in front of her.

Risu just laughed at their reaction. At the same time, she had started to use the Artificial Sacred Gear she had been provided with. [Excels & Specters]. When Satanael first received the document pertaining to this Sacred Gear, he was stunned by how simple it was, and he questioned Risu about it.

Her response to him? 'Because I can fuck with humans more! The supernatural can come after, I guess?' She had wanted this Artificial Sacred Gear to torment humans more, not for combat, but because of how psychotically creative Risu Maebara was, she managed to turn a nearly non-combative Sacred Gear into a very versatile one.

But…

Risu Maebara suddenly fell to the ground. She crashed violently and began to panic; she couldn't feel any magic anymore; she couldn't even see; she couldn't hear or smell; all her senses just vanished. When she screamed, she couldn't hear her own voice.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh Why can't I hear and see!? What's happening to me?!" she screamed. She tried to run away, but ran into a building, knocking herself back to the ground.

"…Are you two okay?" Aaron Toole asked. Lavinia and Suzaku looked behind them, only to see him there.

"W-we're fine, Aaron. Did you do that?" Lavinia asked while pointing at Risu Maebara, who was still screaming below them.

"Yeah, I coincidentally came to this area," he replied.

"You're a terrible liar when it really counts, Aaron," said Suzaku.

Aaron looked away and then back at Risu Maebara. He landed on the ground and approached her while restraining her. His eyes glowed briefly before he squinted at her—he had just looked at her life so far; every grimy detail about it he knew now.

"…Some people in this world are just born different, and not in the good way. No matter how much you try to help them, they'll go down a path that will fuck them over one hundred times over. You're one of them, Risu Maebara," he told her.

What Aaron saw were the multiple attempts of her family and loved ones to try to get her help. In every single instance, she was combative and uncooperative; she tried to hurt them in every way possible; no amount of help would do her any good. The only way he could see a change was if he 'changed' her like Yanuyo and Avezza.

"Middleman?! It has to be you, right?! So you're here!? Fuckboy! Cuckboy! C'mon, you want pussy, right!?"

Even though she couldn't see, she ripped off her clothes and started to…masturbate. Aaron shook his head and sighed. He looked at her, took away her Sacred Gear, forced her to sleep, and finally put clothes on her.

Aaron looked at the Artificial Sacred Gear in his hand. [Excels & Specters], an Artificial Sacred Gear that could force the souls of the dead back to earth and forcefully have them do things for you.

Risu Maebara would force souls to scare humans anytime she wanted; the supernatural was used to this kind of thing, so it never worked on them, but humans were believers and nonbelievers. She liked messing with the nonbelievers the most, and it gave her great joy.

"I'm getting way too many of these things," he muttered before throwing it into his [Inventory]. He gestured with his head, and Risu Maebara was teleported to a cell in Grigori.

"Aaron, she was the person who attacked the Nakiri clan…" Lavinia explained, but Aaron smiled at them and patted their heads.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me. Vali won his fight, by the way; do you wanna join him? He got a kiss from Genbu-chan and is pretty embarrassed about it," Aaron said with a grin.

"What!? Vaa-kun is moving up in the world! I'm so happy~!" Lavinia said before flying away. "Vaa-kun, wait for meeeee!"

Vali Lucifer suddenly shivered as if some kind of bad omen was coming his way…

"Did you really need to say that?" Suzaku asked while pinching his cheek.

"…If I can make her forget what that woman said to her, then it's fine if I sacrifice Vali for a bit," replied Aaron. "How about you? Are you okay?"

Suzaku grabbed his hand and placed it on her cheek. "I'm fine; things like that don't bother me, but let me stay like this for a little bit…"

Aaron pulled her into a hug, and they stayed like that for a bit.

— ○ ● ○ —

"So this is the current Ouryuu? To be honest, you're a bit disappointing when comparing you to Nakagami-kun," said a female.

In front of Ouryuu (Ryuuta) Nakiri was a woman who was part of the Shinra clan.

She had long, curly white hair that reached her hips, piercing yellow eyes, and a single earring on her left ear that was in the shape of a star. She wore a long white coat and had bandages wrapped around her chest; on the core were drawings of tigers and lions. She wore white pants and black tai chi shoes.

"I am still growing, and my older cousin is much more talented than me," replied Ryuuta. He had alone entered his [Dragon Man] form and was fighting this woman.

Reira Shinra was a boisterous woman who could only think with her fists. While she wasn't inherently evil, she wanted the ones who exiled her to be beaten up, not suffer—just that she wanted to beat them up just once to release her anger. But before her stupid nature, she ended up joining the Khaos Order and just went along with it. Some said before she was exiled that she was the female version of Byakko Shinra, the future heir and inheritor of the White Tiger (Baihu).

"Heee? Well then, show me that growth of yours!" she shouted before charging at him while covering her body with touki. As soon as her fist landed on the ground, it created a powerful shockwave that blew Ryuuta away.

Ryuuta landed back on the ground and charged back at her. He manipulated the earth below him and encased both of her legs. Reira Shinra smirked at this and shattered them by slamming her fists onto the earth. She also charged at Ryuuta, and their foreheads slammed against each other.

"Why are you attacking this pantheon!?" he asked.

"I don't know! I'm stupid! But Ayumu said that we can get back at the stupid geezers and assholetives (executives) of our clans by doing this!" replied Reira.

Ryuuta was dumbfounded by this reason. Reira used this as a chance and slammed her touki-infused fist into his face, knocking him away. Ryuuta crashed to the ground but quickly got up and prepared himself again. Reira had already jumped after him, and they began a small fist fight.

Not many can fight Ryuuta when he's in his [Dragon Man] form, but he was surprised that Reira Shinra was able to do this.

A smirk appeared on her lips. "Surprised? Many speculated that I could have been chosen as the next inheritor—if only I was born with the use of our clan's element! …But I guess I can do that now!"

Reira's entire right arm turned into metal, and with her whole body infused with touki, her speed and power increased even more, surprising Ryuuta.

The element granted to the Shinra clan by the Shinto gods was metal. They could turn their entire bodies into it and manipulate the metal around them to some degree, but only the ones who mastered their innate ability could conjure metal. Reira, after her 'blockage' was removed, trained with it and mastered it at an astounding speed.

"Ora! Ora! Ora!!" Reira pummeled Ryuuta with a barrage of punches that pushed the young man back, but the attacks that were sent at him didn't hurt him much because of his current form and powerful touki covering his body.

'Am I getting stronger, or is she weaker? I'm unsure, but…I should be able to win,' thought Ryuuta. He decided to go all out, and when he did, the entire area shook, making Reira smile at him.

"Oh? Are you finally—" She was met with a touki-infused punch to the face, which resulted in her being flung away. Because the buildings were coated in powerful barriers, Reira bounced off them and eventually landed on the ground a few streets away.

Reira quickly got back up, but she noticed she had trouble moving her left arm. "Heh, so he was holding back on me, eh? Whatever…I can still fight!"

As she was about to move, the sky above her darkened. When Reira looked up, her eyes widened in surprise. What she saw was Ryuuta Nakiri above her with a giant draconic ball of energy. Before she could react, he threw it down at her.

An enormous golden explosion covered the area. Once it disappeared, to Ryuuta's surprise, Reira Shinra stood there shakily, full of injuries but still conscious and grinning at him.

"I'm not going down that easily, shrimp!" she roared at him.

Ryuuta was confused by the shrimp comment but didn't care too much. He landed away from Reira, who immediately ran towards him, but it was clear that she was much, much slower now. She still had the fighting spirit, but her spirit towards him was comparable to that of a normal girl her age who didn't do any sports.

She threw a punch in his face, which Ryuuta dodged effortlessly. It had no power or speed, but Ryuuta felt fighting spirit from it. Even though she knew she had no more power left, Reira Shinra kept fighting. In a way, Ryuuta Nakiri, the current 'Ouryuu', could respect it, even if they were enemies.

"You did well, Reira Shinra; please rest for now!" Ryuuta said before sidestepping another attack and punching her in the gut.

"…Nnnghh…!" Even then, Reira didn't fall; she only grunted and swung her fist towards Ryuuta's chest. It hit him but did zero damage. Once she planted her fist on his chest, she fell to the ground, gasping for air.

She finally laid on her back and stared at the sky. "Phew…I give up; I can't win. The only one left is Mikumo Himejima; the rest seem to have already been defeated…well, not including that psycho vampire chick…"

Ryuuta undid his transformation and sat beside Reira. "Not being able to use your clan's element, was that the only reason you were exiled?" Ryuuta asked while staring in front of them. Both of them could still hear explosions happening around them.

"Dunno, like I said…I'm dumb…but I couldn't use it, so they already had grounds to exile me. My folks could use it, and while they still loved me, they couldn't do anything against those shitty geezers," explained Reira.

"…Rakko-san was still the new head at the time and hadn't gotten everyone on her side yet, so they finally kicked me out at the time. I'll admit that I was…rowdy and destroyed a lot of stuff. Even Byakko was a bit tamer than me," she added and laughed.

She then sighed and asked, "So, am I being arrested or something?"

"That's up to Jin-san and the alliance," replied Ryuuta.

"The Middleman, huh? …Whatever." Reira closed her eyes and let the exhaustion take over.

— ○ ● ○ —

A certain group fought off numerous enemies; one of them was Eirisse. With her were Fusae Hirawa, Elmenhilde Karstein, Ursulette, Cindy, Grayfia, Aoife, Róisín, and the Gremory peerage.

"With this, I will become the husband of the Middleman!" stated Ursulette while firing a blast of magic towards a group of artificially created vampires.

"Fufufu, it'll take more than this to impress Jin~" replied Akeno, wiping out another group with her [Holy Lightning Dragon].

"Róisín kiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!" in the distance, Róisín Toole jumped forward and kicked a magician in between their legs.

Everyone around them understood, in that instance, where Aaron Toole got his horrible naming sense from. Cindy and Aoife, who were near Róisín, went along with her strangely named attacks.

Róisín summoned a frying pan that was around twenty times larger than regular ones. She then swung it towards a large group of super vampires, killing some and blowing more away.

"Homerun!" Róisín exclaimed happily.

"W-what the fuck is wrong with this woman?" a vampire asked.

"Having so much power but using it so…stupidly," added another.

Cindy silently flew behind the two; they hadn't noticed her as she had used a certain ability that masked her presence. She put both her hands on their backs, around their chest area, and once she did, their hearts exploded.

Grayfia, who had accompanied them, watched Cindy do her job. While Cindy wasn't new to fighting, she had rarely used her new powers to fight against other supernatural beings, so this was still quite new to her.

The devil maid nodded in approval; she was much weaker than Cindy but still held the advantage of experience in supernatural combat. Meanwhile—

To the two vampires, they didn't feel anything, as it was a sudden death. Maintaining a calm expression on her face, she silently flew after Róisín Toole, who was flying around slamming vampires with her frying pan.

"Akeno Himejima-san, was it? What do I need to do to impress him? Have a close relationship with his mother!? Have bigger breasts!? Join the tournament and win!?" asked Ursulette.

Beside her was Eirisse; she smacked Ursulette on the head and said, "Please focus on this; you can look for a husband once this is over."

Ursulette smirked. "Heh, sure thing, auntie," she said before being smacked again.

Fusae created small spirits like Sylph using different elements and gave them to everyone. While they weren't as powerful as the real spirits, they were enough for low- to high-class powered people to use and kill enemies whose powers were much higher than theirs.

She then turned to Elmenhilde and asked, "Are they always like this…?"

"If the topic is about Ursulette's obsession, then they will usually start insulting each other, but if it's anything else, then they're quite amicable with each other," explained Elmenhilde.

"Rias-nee-san, was it fine to let Gasper-kun and Valerie face that woman?" Yumi asked her [King]. She and Rias casually killed enemies around them while conversing.

Glancing at her [Knight], she said, "It is. Perhaps Aaron brought us here together with Valerie for this very reason—the two dhampirs who were shunned and that were from this faction are now saving them like when Rizevim and the Phantasma attacked a few months back, but this time we're prepared."

"…I see," replied Yumi. There were even more explosions in the distance where Valerie, Gasper, and Kecate were located; some of them turned their attention to them but decided to trust their friends in defeating the last and final leader of this attack.

— ○ ● ○ —

Gasper Balor created numerous shadow-like tendrils and attacked Kecate. The Super Vampire dodged them gracefully, unaware that the male dhampir in front of her was holding back quite a bit.

<<I can sense that you wish to use your new Balance Breaker, other me,>> said Balor.

'…I want to, but she's not a real threat yet, but if she does something to warrant it, then I won't hesitate to use it,' replied Gasper.

<<And our [Breakdown the Beast]?>> inquired Balor.

'…I want to save that for the tournament when we face a powerful opponent or when we fight the Phantasma and Evie,' replied Gasper.

Valerie raised her hand and controlled the blood within Kecate's body, forcing her to stop. The pure blood seemed surprised, but continued to struggle. Valerie crafted a spear made of blood and flew towards Kecate.

"Can't we stop this? We can still—"

"No. You're too naïve, Valerie-chan. Not everything can be resolved using your boytoys ways," sneered Kecate.

Valerie frowned after hearing her half-sister call Aaron her 'boytoy', but didn't say anything. Eventually, a large fist made of darkness flew by Valerie and slammed into Kecate, blowing her away.

"<<Sorry about that,>>" said Gasper. "<<She seemed annoying, so…>>"

Valerie giggled at her childhood friend. "Coriana-san and Tomoe-san are lucky that you show this level of care for them like you do for me. By the way, do you plan on having more~?"

"<<H-how is this relevant right n-now?>>" Gasper asked, flustered.

Before Valerie could reply, a black-pink vortex of energy erupted in front of them. In the middle of it was Kecate Tepes; her power was increasing more and more as seconds passed by, surprising both Gasper and Valerie.

"I've been nice to both of you, but since you won't accept my offer, I'll just have to get rid of you. Please forgive me, Valerie-chan. We can probably resurrect you—no, I'll definitely find a way," said Kecate.

The black-pink vortex turned into a ball and wrapped itself around Kecate Tepes' body. The vortex began to glow for a few seconds until it exploded. The force from the explosion knocked away the weaker members of Kecate's group.

Her previously blonde hair had turned hot pink, and her dull red eyes had begun to glow. Her black, flowing dress had turned into jet-black armor with a cape behind her. In her left hand was a crimson blade made of her own blood; it let out a quiet yet menacing glow.

And behind her was what seemed to be the upper half of a dragon. It had a jet-black body, glowing red eyes, and red streaks across its horns. It also had its wings spread as it glared at both Gasper and Valerie. Crimson flames and blood hovered around Kecate Tepes' body.

"…Gasper, this is…"

"<<Yeah, whatever she did, she definitely entered the realms of the gods. Power-wise, Kecate Tepes is at least a Middle-Tier God-class being. She's definitely on par with combat-oriented gods of this universe,>>" said Gasper. "<<We should—>>"

"Need help?" Aaron's voice asked beside Gasper.

"<<Aaron-nii!>>" Gasper exclaimed as he and Valerie looked at their new companions. Aaron had teleported over along with Suzaku Himejima and Velgrynd.

Velgrynd silently stared at the being in front of her. "A vampire reaching divinity, huh? That's…interesting. Maybe Lapis, or someone from the Evie or Phantasma, left something within her before they were shut out?"

She glanced back at the two dhampirs and said, "…It should be fine if you two fight her. Although you can't underestimate her, otherwise it'll take longer than necessary."

Before Aaron or Suzaku could voice their opinions, Velgrynd grabbed their arms and pulled them away, leaving the two dhampirs to face the pure blood.

"Rank 16 gave me this. It was experimental, but…it gave me a lot of power, but I had to cultivate it and refine it for a little while," said Kecate as she looked at her own hand. "It's the first time I'm using it, but I feel amazing. So this is how gods feel? I can see how they become so arrogant, fufu."

She swung her crimson blood sword to the side, and the force of the swing created such a powerful shockwave that it shook the realm. However, none of the buildings were damaged. She seemed amused by this.

"Fufu, as expected of the Middleman's barriers, even with this power I can't break them." She looked at her own sword and then at both Gasper and Valerie.

Seconds later, she disappeared, and Gasper used his time-stopping ability to freeze her—no, it only slowed her down as she was still moving. Valerie looked at Kecate in shock too, but they quickly moved out of the way and fired magic attacks at the woman. As their attack reached Kecate, the dragon's wing blocked it, shocking them even more.

"<<That doesn't make any sense…how can she still move?>>" asked Gasper.

"Maybe because it came from a different universe, it functions differently? Does that mean even your powerful time-stop can only serve to slow them down?" asked Valerie.

"<<Different universe and different mechanics? But don't they usually change to fit ours if they come here?>>"

"…What evidence do we have of that? If you're talking about video games and media, then maybe, although some of them have different rules. It seems like reality is very different from them," said Valerie.

Kecate Tepes pointed her sword at them and, from the tip, fired a giant beam of blood. Valerie pointed her open hand towards Kecate's attack and also matched it with her own blood beam. The two attacks collided and created a giant explosion, splattering blood everywhere.

Kecate blinked in front of Valerie and swung her sword down at the young dhampir. Valerie avoided the attack and created a small magic circle in front of her before firing a small ice dagger just above Kecate's…woman bits.

The dragon's wing quickly blocked it, and Kecate was shocked by this action from Valerie. To her, it was a strangely low blow, and she wouldn't ever attack anyone like that. She, in her strange way, had her own morals, so she was surprised that Valerie Tepes, her half-sister, would try to attack her that way.

She raised her hand, and from behind her materialized 100 dragons made of blood; each of them was at least high-class in power and had the powers of both a vampire and a dragon while also being resistant to both their weaknesses.

She ordered them to attack everyone within the vicinity, including Aaron, Suzaku, and Velgrynd. As the blood dragons flew away, some towards the two dhampirs, others to the ground behind them, and some towards the town. Gasper Balor spread his darkness, and it covered the entire town.

Even larger tendrils of darkness came out at certain locations to grab the blood dragons and then squeeze them to death. At the same time, distorted blades of darkness also shot out of the ground, piercing some of the dragons.

The enemies around the realm stopped when Gasper created eyes in the darkness, and using his time-stop ability, they were rendered frozen at those locations. The only ones unaffected were his allies and Kecate.

The blood dragons that went towards Aaron's group were also dealt with quickly. Velgrynd put a hand in front of her lips and then brought it down and blew some air towards them. Moments later, the blood dragons spontaneously combusted and vanished.

A moment of silence encompassed the area once the dragons had been dealt with. Suddenly, Gasper put his hand towards Valerie.

"<<Will you let me handle this?>>" he asked his friend. After a moment of deliberation and staring into Gasper's eyes in his form, Valerie agreed.

"…Good luck. I wanted to show off, but I think it's Gasper's turn, hehe," she said and moved back towards Aaron's group.

"Oh, so you're facing me alone, Vladi-chan? Kufufu, I hope you'll entertain me more; I certainly hope you do," she said and smiled while creating more dragons and other objects behind her with her blood manipulation.

Gasper exited his [Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast], even though it was classified as a [Balance Breaker], it wasn't one as it utilized Balor's powers to transform Gasper into the beast while also integrating his Sacred Gear's time-stopping ability.

"Ready?" he asked.

<<Of course,>> replied Balor.

Gasper's entire body was covered in darkness, and his eye began to glow with the use of his Sacred Gear.

"Balance…break…"

The darkness around his body burst outward, covering everything in their vicinity. At the same time, that darkness ate up the objects that Kecate had created, killing or destroying them. A small swirling vortex of blackness and shadows covered Gasper. It then began to stick to Gasper and form clothes on him.

A jet-black cape that covered most of his upper half, golden accessories, and darkness that covered his head—the only things that could be seen from it were his glowing eyes. Even his hair resembled spiky shadows and darkness rather than his normal hair.

His skin had also turned shadowy, and parts of it glowed purple and red. All around Gasper's surrounding shadows and darkness danced silently around him, giving off an ominous feeling. From behind and around him, tendrils and tentacles of darkness with eyes within them started to appear.

[Forbidden Invade Balor the King], Balor was the one who named this Balance Breaker, per his request, as he sees this as the pinnacle of his power along with Gasper Vladi's Sacred Gear. Of course, this was before they unlocked a new one in the form of their [Breakdown the Beast].

"<<Are you ready, Kecate-san? I'd like to test out my official Balance Breaker on someone,>>" asked Gasper.

"Hah! I like it; I'll make you into one of my subordinates, Vladi-chan!" shouted Kecate as she dashed towards Gasper.

As she arrived in front of him, she swung her crimson sword down, and it also created smaller blades beside itself, also attacking Gasper. Gasper looked at the woman, and the sword stopped mid-swing, but her body kept leaning forward. One of the shadow tentacles shot towards her and changed into a large fist, which struck her in the face.

It continued to relentlessly pummel her until another one shot forward and grabbed her waist before flinging her away. Gasper grabbed the crimson sword, but seconds later it turned into normal blood.

"I can only wield that; no one else can, Vladi-chan. Perhaps I need to be more creative; I can't let the adrenaline take over," said Kecate. She raised her hand, and millions of blood droplets appeared in the sky.

Pointing her finger towards Gasper, she shot at him in rapid succession. Some were aimed at Aaron's group and beyond, but just like the other enemies in the realm, Gasper's eyes in the darkness turned their attention to the attacks and stopped them midair.

"Tch, I would use my darkness abilities too, but that would be quite useless now, wouldn't it?" said Kecate.

Gasper shrugged in response before aiming his arms towards Kecate and unleashing a plethora of darkness-based attacks on the woman. Along with it, he imbued them with demonic energy, further increasing their powers.

Kecate tried to block them with her sword but found that she couldn't casually destroy them, so she had to put more power into her attacks. As she did that, Gasper analyzed her movements with the help of his enchanted eyesight and Balor.

'Will that work?' he asked.

<<It is worth a shot.>>

His eyes glowed again, and Kecate's arm stopped mid-swing as she looked at it in shock. She looked back at Gasper as his eyes glowed. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and was forced to move, but felt pain when she did.

'What did he do…? He didn't just stop my arm using his time-stopping ability?' As she looked closer at her arm and body, her eyes widened in shock. "Are you insane!? How's that possible!? You don't have blood manipulation!"

Gasper smirked from under his mask. "<<I was simply curious, so I decided to try it, but I'm glad it worked—freezing your blood cells, that is.>>" He pointed at her and added, "<<If you don't do anything about that, parts of your body may explode from buildup, you know?>>"

'I'll just kill him before that happens!' Kecate knew she couldn't undo it unless she killed Gasper, and even then, she wasn't sure if it would stop since there had been cases where the wielder died, but their Sacred Gear's effects kept functioning.

She rapidly swung her sword with her other hand and sent out blood-red aura blades towards Gasper. She also created magic circles behind her that sent out more elemental attacks, and finally, she shot out touki bullets from the tip of her sword.

A massive bombardment of attacks were sent Gasper's way. Normally a person would panic in this situation, but Gasper raised his hand up, and the darkness around them quickly shot forward and consumed everything in sight. A single crunch sound was heard by everyone before the darkness dissipated and Kecate's attacks were gone.

"<<…While it seems you can move when I use my time-stopping abilities, it seems my darkness is stronger than whatever divinity you have, Kecate Tepes-san. May I suggest surrendering? You are Valerie's half-sister after all, and I can be lenient that way.>>"

"Don't get cocky, Vladi. I haven't used everything I have yet!" Kecate shouted.

She looked behind her before the dragon's eyes glowed. It bit down on her neck before injecting her with even more power than before. However, her body began to glow and began changing into something else. Kecate Tepes' human form began to change into that of a giant beast.

Like her previous summons, it resembled a dragon, and it began to quickly grow in size. Everyone who was floating landed back on the ground. Gasper fired a ball of demonic energy at the monster above them, but his attack was just absorbed by the monster, and it seemingly made it stronger.

"Need help, Gya-suke?" Aaron asked while walking over to him.

"<<Aaron-nii…>>" muttered Gasper. He then shook his head. "<<I will defeat her at her strongest; that will destroy some of her will and make her more compliant.>>"

He chuckled and said, "Gone are the days where you would hide in a cardboard box, huh? You've grown a lot. I'm proud of you." He patted Gasper on the head making the boy blush.

"<<I-I can still grow; I'm not done yet. Please step back; I'll defeat her in one blow once she's done,>>" said Gasper. Everyone walked back and let Gasper face Kecate by himself again.

Kecate Tepes' transformation was finally over. She had transformed into an 80-meter large dragon. She had crimson wings made of blood; her body and scales were mostly jet-black with some glowing red accents; and around her body were small orbs of blood and draconic energy. Her eyes glowed brightly as she stared down at everyone.

Without another word, she opened her mouth and shot out an enormous stream of crimson flames with blood mixed into it. Gasper held his hand up and created a large hand made of darkness that blocked the attack from hitting them. However, to his surprise, his darkness was pushed back, but he noticed that she had also added the 'divinity' she received from the Phantasma.

Gasper used more of his power and pushed the breath attack back by a significant amount, but Kecate did the same thing, but Gasper overpowered her, and he then quickly formed a giant ball of darkness above Kecate. As she tried to escape, hundreds of thousands of tendrils and tentacles shot out from the ground and held her down.

In each one of those tendrils and tentacles, eyes manifested and used their time-stopping abilities, further slowing her down. On the inside, Kecate was still very much conscious and aware of her actions, but she began to panic.

She knew she was going to lose; she couldn't move because of the tentacles and tendrils; her movements were further slowed down by the eyes that stared at her; and she felt her own energy being sucked away as there were small fangs in those tendrils and tentacles that sucked away at her blood, further feeding Gasper.

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I can't die here…! I don't want to die…! I want to rule everything, correct everything, and make everything…nice! A world where everyone can live equally and happily! That's all I ever wanted…!' thought Kecate.

In her dragon form, a single tear fell from her eye, although only three people noticed it.

"<<Sleep, Kecate-san. Maybe when you wake up again, you'll rethink your decisions,>>" said Gasper.

As Kecate stared at the ball of darkness that began to descend on her—and even though she knew those people wouldn't care about her, her last thoughts were—

'Mama…papa…!' she cried out in her heart.

The massive ball of darkness hit Kecate on the back, creating an even larger explosion. The entire realm was turned pitch black, and powerful winds blew everywhere. The weak were blown away while everyone else stood their ground. Silent yet ominous screams were heard throughout the entire faction as Gasper's darkness devoured the rest of the enemies except one that a certain [Dog] fought.

Once the explosion ended, a small figure lay on the ground with her left arm, right leg, a large chunk of her stomach, and right eye missing. Kecate Tepes had reverted back to her human form after she was defeated and was slowly bleeding to death. Even in this weakened state, tears streamed down her face.

As everyone walked towards her and arrived in front of her, Aaron crouched down and touched her. As he did, he suddenly forced everyone else back, grabbed Kecate's body while healing it, and jumped away while also creating a large barrier in front of them.

"Wha—!? Aaron?!" they screamed. From the spot where Kecate lay, another monstrosity emerged.

He landed beside them and sealed Kecate's power while forcing her back to sleep. He looked back in front of them, and a large monster made of darkness had emerged from Kecate's body.

"They didn't give her divinity since all the other 'gods' of their world have been killed for the sake of Magnum Tenebrosum; that thing is one of the manifestations of the 'things' he made. You could say they're pets he made out of curiosity."

An enormous, shadowy blob with hollow eyes stared at them; it was the same size as Kecate's monster-dragon form.

"Their leader, Phumera, shoved one of those things into her, and it gave her power, but once she was defeated, it would eat her as a sacrifice and then rampage wherever it was sent to," explained Aaron.

'She was used from the moment she was born; what a sad life. Maybe you can be rehabilitated too,' he thought.

"Then—"

"Leave this to me; you guys can go back," ordered Aaron. He left no room for argument, and they obeyed. "Suzaku…"

She nodded and took Kecate, and everyone flew back.

Velgrynd stayed for a second and said, "You can kill that easily; why send us away?"

"I want to see some things and maybe potentially change it into a shadow soldier or even [Electa]. I can probably learn more about Magnum Tenebrosum from this thing," he told her.

"Can't you just 'look' or 'see' into it?" she asked.

"…Didn't I tell you about this during our graduation trip? There is value to hearing certain things from certain individuals—from their own mouths. There's more impact that way. Well, that's just my opinion," said Aaron.

Velgrynd stared at him for a few seconds as she remembered his words from a few months ago.

— ○ ● ○ —

'Why don't you just will these things into existence?'

'…There's a value to these things, Vel. It was made by humans, has aged a lot of years and has sentimental value. If I just made it…it would feel like a new edition or version and wouldn't feel as valuable, even if I made an exact replica.'

— ○ ● ○ —

She said nothing else before flying away, looking back at him one last time before speeding up.

[What's the plan, Partner?] asked Ddraig.

"Let's dive in," said Aaron.

'{[Huh?]}'

He grinned, restrained the beast, and sealed its powers. Aaron Toole then jumped straight into the beast's mind.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Uwaaa!!! What the heck was that!? T-that wasn't Tobio, right?" Kanami asked.

"Obviously not, Sis. He's still over there, and it looks like his fight is about to end too," replied Natsume. "So it was probably Gasper or Aaron."

"Right…right…oh and the darkness and eyes—Gasp-gasp liked doing that in the [Pocket Dimension], right?" asked Kanami.

"Ye—"

Another explosion interrupted the two sisters discussion. At the same time, everyone else gathered up since the enemies around the realm were defeated. The others (Gasper, Valerie, Velgrynd, Suzaku, and the unconscious Kecate) joined them too.

Tobio and Gin jumped towards them, and Tobio had some light bruises on him.

"Tobio! Did you beat him!?" Natsume asked.

He quickly joined them and said, <<Yes, that's what I thought, but he suddenly started laughing, and then…that explosion followed after, and I got out with some light scratches from our fight. It seems like he was at least God-class, so he hit me a few times.>>

Tobio turned to Gasper and bumped fists with him. <<Thanks for letting me finish it and for the help.>>

"I'm glad it worked, Tobio Ikuse-san," replied Gasper.

"It's the same thing happening with Aaron over there," said Velgrynd while pointing in Aaron's direction. She then told them what Aaron told them.

"S-so what the hell do we do? W-wait, Velgrynd, can't you defeat it? Or if we all team up on it?" asked Natsume.

Velgrynd looked at everyone as they turned to listen to her. "We don't know if they're the same thing, so we'll need to wait for it to come out," she said. "And once we see it…" she brought her hand up and showed them her ring.

"Oh! We use the [Appraisal] on our rings!" said Aoife, and Velgrynd nodded.

"The one on Aaron, just from my own instincts, told me that I couldn't fight it. But we don't know about this one yet, and I doubt that things called 'pets' are that close to each other or are that easy to find," she said.

And so, everyone there waited for the thing to come out. Vali walked over to Tobio, who was still in his Balance Breaker.

"How did you beat him?" asked the young Lucifer.

<<A lot of effort. He could keep pulling alternate versions of himself from different timelines, and it felt never-ending. Eventually, I had to use my Abyss-side Balance Breaker and severe that connection, but he surprised me again when he kept connecting it to different ones even after I severed it.>>

<<He never did tell me the full extent of his abilities, or how he could keep reconnecting them, so I was forced to take his life and cut everything off from him,>> said Tobio.

He didn't like taking lives, even from his enemies, but he couldn't follow that ideal forever. He had a wife and child to look after, and they take priority over everything else. So if he had to choose, he would choose them every time.

Another powerful explosion occurred, and they saw a shadowy monster that was 75 meters tall. It had millions of tentacles wriggling around its body, and hundreds of shadow-type creatures circling its body. Unlike the one Aaron was facing, this had the same eyes as Mikumo Himejima, they were red and glowed as it stared at them, then a wide smile appeared on its face.

[Kukuku~ do you like my new appearance?] it asked.

<<…! T-that voice, Mikumo Himejima!?>> shouted Tobio. <<It seems like it's not the same creature, but Mikumo Himejima himself, or they mixed and he retained his consciousness?>>

"You appear to be right, Tobio Ikuse. That thing, while not the same as the pet of the Outer God, is another creature similar to it, a 'thing' born from its own power—the power from that 'pet'," said Velgrynd. "Maybe the leader gave him something similar, or Kecate Tepes gave it to him, assuming it was the same thing."

"Well, the good thing is, it's only Multiversal-class; I'd assume the thing Aaron is facing is stronger, so…I should get Azathoth, or one of the [Electa]'s…" mumbled Velgrynd. "The one with us is with Sae Ikuse and Hana Ikuse, so we can't rely on her, but…"

Velgrynd's eyes naturally drifted to Cindy. She had been changed by Aaron to the new rank of [Outer God – EX] and she could in reality be the one to take care of this, but she still lacked a lot of experience fighting supernatural people.

"I'll fight! But it would be to call someone else, or we could rely on the shadow soldiers…" mumbled Cindy. She jumped on one of the roofs and stood on top of it.

"We haven't been to 'that' place again for a while, but wouldn't this be a good challenge?" said Rias, stepping forward.

"Ah, like all of Team [DxD] fighting together, fufu," said Akeno.

Velgrynd shook her head and sighed. However, she wasn't 'part' of them or [DxD]; at best, she could just call one of them and have it over with, but she was also curious about the outcome. She had seen these people grow from weaklings (in her eyes) to semi-competent fighters, and now she was also curious if they could overcome this foe if she let them fight it while also watching over them.

If things did go south, she would contact another [Electa] or order the shadow soldiers to swarm the thing and kill it. It was a strange dilemma she was in. Let them fight it and see them grow even more, or end it now so they can go back to their tour of this realm?

In the end, she chose—

"Fine. But I will have Azathoth here just in case, and also the shadow soldiers at the ready. Otherwise, Aaron will seriously be enraged," she said. 'Out of everyone…Lavinia, Suzaku, and I are the only ones that can fight it, and even then, we would have a bit of a hard time against it since those things will probably have some broken ability…'

"Let's goooo—eeh?!" Aoife shouted and was about to charge towards the thing before she was pulled back by Grayfia.

"Please don't recklessly charge in; let's formulate a plan before we go. It seems it's underestimating us, so it's not attacking us right away. If what Tobio Ikuse-sama said was true, then it will take its time in defeating as it may have felt humiliation from being defeated by him," explained Grayfia.

"Oh! So cool and collected! No wonder Aaron loves you~" she said, making the maid close her eyes and blush.

And so, the large group began to plan their attack. At the same time, Velgrynd contacted Azathoth, and she came over to the vampire faction along with Danu.

— ○ ● ○ —

[Are you ready~? I can't wait to kill you~] said monster Mikumo.

Everyone, including the vampires, was in their positions. The team would have various roles, and they would see what worked and what didn't before they proceeded with their plans.

First, they would attack it with everything they had; they wanted to see what attacks would damage it, what attacks would be repelled from it, and what attacks would be absorbed. Earlier, they were told that the monster version of Kecate Tepes could absorb attacks, but to what extent they had no idea since Gasper defeated her quite quickly.

During that time, they also contacted Aaron through Azathoth, and now everyone had a [Dragon Tattoo] on them, further empowering them.

[Fire!!!] Tobio shouted into their transceivers.

From different points of the town and from all angles, attacks of all kinds were fired towards Mikumo-M (Monster).

[Kekekekeke~! Futile, futile, futile, futile!!!] he roared.

All attacks from people that were below [Multiversal] were absorbed; the few that were multiversal had them absorbed or deflected, and the higher ones were avoided all together; those came from Suzaku, Velgrynd, and Lavinia; the rest were multiversal save for a few.

[It avoided Lavinia, Suzaku, and Velgrynd-san's attacks. It deflected or absorbed the rest; shall we form an offensive with those three in mind while the rest of us provide backup?] the former leader of the Slash Dog Team suggested.

[I don't mind!] Lavinia replied. The rest shared the same sentiment. In the distance, on top of the castle, Azathoth watched this all unfold; she also turned her attention to the 'pet' that Aaron was also inside of.

"…Why do you want to know what Magnum Tenebrosum feels…?" she mumbled to herself, confused by Aaron's thoughts and actions. "You…won't save him, but…"

The realm they were in was suddenly submerged in a cold and powerful blizzard. Azathoth looked back at Mikumo-M. Lavinia Reni had activated her former Balance Breaker, as she was also in her new Balance Breaker of [Tempest Extinction].

[It's slowing him down!! Keep at it!!] shouted Tobio.

Everyone else in the realm kept up a barrage of attacks against Mikumo-M, while the three most effective against him would concentrate on dealing a lethal attack on him. However, anyone else who was [Multiversal] would also have a chance of damaging him if given the right chances. They could see that Mikumo-M would sometimes dodge their attacks too.

Lavinia had her three summons out: Kyu, Cyuno, and Alo. Along with three ice dolls, all of them continuously attacked Mikumo-M. Suzaku also had Zhuque, in her bird form continuously attack him, along with Shigune and her contracted fire spirit, Temprence.

Velgrynd stood on top of a building, watching everything play out. She brought her right hand forward and pointed a finger towards Mikumo-M. An enormous ball of flames suddenly appeared out of thin air above him and rapidly fell on top of him. An even larger explosion shook the entire realm, and the shockwave created by it blew everyone back, minus two others.

[W-w-w-what the heeeeeeeck!?] Kanami screamed into the transceiver. However, even with such a powerful attack…it only left some burn marks on Mikumo-M, and it had already started to heal.

"Hmm…maybe I should use a bit more—" A white barrier suddenly surrounded their immediate vicinity.

<Stop healing!> Kanami voice suddenly boomed.

However, her command only slowed it down and didn't stop it. Kanami still saw this as a good thing, and continued attacking it along with everyone else.

Akeno began to relentlessly attack it with her [Holy Lightning Dragon] continuously, along with Rias repeatedly attacking with a barrage of [Extinguished Star]s. The rest of the Gremory peerage joined in, further slowing down Mikumo-M's healing rate.

[Ahhh! So annoying! Diee!] he screamed, and the creatures around him began to fly towards the group and attack them.

[The creatures are coming; do it!]

[——♪, ——♪ ——♪, ——♪]

All around the realm, the voice of Ingvild Leviathan was heard as it was broadcasted around with the help of Fusae, Le Fay, Elmenhilde, Queen Carmilla, Kiss Shot, and Dracula. More magic circles were created by Ursulette and Eirisse around the place so that everyone would be affected by them.

Ingvild's necklace was upgraded by Aaron a few weeks prior to the trip. He hadn't told her why, but said that it would become useful down the line. She smiled as she sang her song to everyone, as it had been enhanced by Aaron in a way that she could empower her allies even further without his help.

[What's with the shitty song!?] Mikumo-M bellowed out, enraged by the sudden noise.

Various [Dogs] suddenly appeared around him, as well as darkness that was made by both Tobio Ikuse and Gasper Vladi. All the [Dogs] began slashing at the monster, slicing parts off it, but it would instantly regenerate. At the same time, Gasper's tentacles and tendrils would attach themselves to him and slowly and continuously suck away his energy.

"You two, follow my lead," ordered Arthur.

Yumi and Xenovia agreed, and all three holy sword wielders charged up their holy swords and planned on unleashing a trinity of holy slashes towards the monster in front of them.

Vali, Calantha, Genbu, Valerie, and Ryuuta Nakiri took down the flying enemies that tried to interrupt their allies. With Vali in his Diablos Dragon Lucifer armor, Ryuuta in his [Dragon Man], and the rest endlessly firing their attacks at the enemies, they quickly dealt with them.

The enemies that Mikumo-M created were, at best, Dragon God-class, and with Ingvild empowering everyone else with her singing, and the [Dragon Tattoo] they were provided with by Aaron, everyone's power that was below God-class was empowered up to it or beyond. Hence, they had an easier time killing the flying enemies around them.

"Ready?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah!" Yumi and Xenovia shouted in unison.

They all took up their postures, and once Arthur saw that, he shouted, "Now!" All of them swung their swords down, and three powerful slashes imbued with holy energy flew towards Mikumo-M. Vali saw this, increased his power even more, and aimed his arms towards the monster too.

{[[LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!]]}

{[[Satan Compression Divider!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}

Brilliant silver and jet-black light instantly caused the area around Mikumo-M to compress continuously and threaten to erase everything. However, the powerful monster stayed alive and even resisted it. He sent out his wyverns towards it to have them repeatedly use [Half Dimension] on it.

"…Everyone's combined efforts, and it's still resisting; it's either that brat's tenacious side, or…" Velgrynd looked at her ring again and used the [Appraisal] ability again. "It's without a doubt [Multiversal], but…why is it so durable that it can take on several [Omniversal] powered women…?"

Azathoth landed beside Velgrynd, and they stared at each other. Finally, the True Dragon asked, "Why is it that durable?"

"…Even after being hit by attacks that are far more powerful than itself, it's using its own darkness to heal itself. The other attacks that you continuously feed him—he uses that to accelerate his own healing. So if you…"

[Stop attacking it!] Velgrynd screamed into the transceivers.

[Ow!! My ear!!] Natsume screamed back.

[Lavinia, Suzaku, and I will take over. According to Azathoth, anyone below it is only helping it heal, so since we're stronger than it, we'll take over,] explained Velgrynd.

Everyone below a certain power level, excluding the three mentioned, stopped their attack and backed away. Some of them weren't happy, but they knew they wouldn't be of any use going forward. Lavinia and Suzaku appeared beside Velgrynd.

Lavinia asked, "What do we do? Do you want to do one combined attack to end it?"

"Individually, the three of us are stronger than it, so one attack should end it…but I'm not against combining an attack," replied Velgrynd.

Lavinia giggled and hugged her from behind. "Combined attack it is! Let's—"

As she was about to suggest a specific combination, a bright, singular silvery-white slash appeared out of nowhere—and it cut Mikumo-M in half. It was as if time had to catch up to the action that was taken before his body was finally sliced in half and separated. Lots of black blood spurted from his body as it began to break down.

[Wha—t-this…what the fu—]

Another slash came, ending his life, and a large silvery-white vortex appeared, consuming Mikumo-M before he could finish his last words.

Everyone was stunned by his sudden death. The figure they saw standing in front of the few splatters of blood was—

"…Well, never mind then," Velgrynd said with a sigh. In front of where Mikumo-M previously was, stood Aaron Toole.

"I'm done; I thought I would do it for you guys," he said, waving at them.

"We were getting to the good part!! Dammit Aarooon!!" Kanami and Natsume screamed in unison.

"Let's fix everything back up and get back to exploring this place, shall we?" he asked while smiling at them.

"Booo!!" Bikou shouted before being smacked.

"…What happened over there?" Velgrynd asked.

Although Aaron couldn't hear her. Suzaku, who knew what she meant, was also curious. When they turned to the spot where the original 'pet' appeared, it was gone. And from their vantage point, they could see that Aaron seemed emotionally and mentally tired.

— ○ ● ○ —