Khaos Brigade (8)

Chapter 48: Khaos Brigade (8)

'I don't know how things diverted so much from my calculations, but…'

Pythagoras stood mid-air, his gaze moving over the group standing away from him.

The group consisted of Vali Lucifer, Arthur Pendragon, Le Fay Pendragon, Lieselotte Sherlock, Selina Sherlock, Hydra, and an anomaly that shouldn't exist in this world—Azrail Astaroth.

'This is better than my expectations…'

If anything, the current situation helped him instead. He could make a move now, contrary to his original plans, which required him to wait for another fifty years before leaving this dimension.

'Azrail's body is the same as Hydra—an immortal body that'll never die and can regenerate endlessly…'

It was something he noticed the moment Azrail and his group arrived here.

Inside his dimension, Pythagoras had absolute control over most things, whether it was space-time, gravity, or other living creatures.

However, because of his weakened state, he couldn't control others to restrain their strength or magic power at a whim.

The best he could do was examine their bodies, which was how he learned about Hydra and Azrail's similar genetic makeup.

'There's no doubt about it; he's the perfect vessel for my soul, much better than the White Dragon Emperor or Hydra combined…'

At that thought, Pythagoras couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile.

He had already left everything in place for his resurrection, including the emergence of a perfect vessel who'd come here to inherit Gleipnir. But despite that, he was ready to throw away all that instantly because of the unexpected situation.

Azrail's immortal body aside, Pythagoras could tell that he hadn't used his clan's [High IQ] to develop his Demonic Power Nature yet.

As long as he took over Azrail's body and devoured his soul, Pythagoras could develop his Demonic Power Nature to complement Logos Arts even more than a human's magic power.

At first, he thought that reaching his prime and assimilating the power he amassed in this dimension into a new vessel would take decades, but with Azrail's body, he might be able to do it sooner than expected.

An immortal body like that wouldn't need much time to adapt to the vast power Pythagoras had amassed in his time here.

The results would be beyond anything he had calculated.

'Before devouring his soul, I'll look into his memories for answers…'

Although vague, everything Pythagoras said until now was the truth, including the part where no one was supposed to discover this place and how Azrail was an anomaly.

He didn't lie because he was wary of the infamous Vanishing Dragon Albion, who was currently inside Vali Lucifer.

Dragons had sharp senses, and some could even detect lies.

Pythagoras didn't know if Albion could do it, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

If Albion realised that Pythagoras was biding time to cast a spell and take over Azrail's body, he might inform the others about it, making the process difficult.

While Pythagoras could single-handedly defeat everyone present here, exerting more effort than required wasn't something he'd do.

'From his extremely controlled reaction, Azrail might have some clues about how he's an anomaly…'

He wanted to know how such an anomaly occurred—whether it was because he predicted the future or something that happened because of an outside influence, so reading Azrail's memories might give him an idea.

Not to mention, Pythagoras needed those memories to be the new 'Azrail Astaroth' from now on.

Once he merged his soul with Azrail and adjusted its frequency to match the original, not even the strongest beings in the world would know that he was an imposter.

After taking over Azrail's body, he'd kill everyone present here, use Gleipnir to control Hydra's consciousness, cut off [Divine Dividing]'s connection to the Biblical God's system and shove it inside his Dimensional Storage.

Pythagoras was an expert in manipulating and altering souls, with his mastery far surpassing even the oldest Gods.

If Albion's soul ended up in his hands, he could extract abilities like [Reduce], [Divide], and [Reflect] to make them his own after some research.

A power like that was a much-welcomed bonus.

'Once my soul and the accumulated power assimilate into Azrail's body, I can develop his Demonic Power Nature for a while, and then…'

He could start his plans to destroy the Greek Pantheon until nothing remained, starting with killing the Greek God of Time, Chronos.

'I'll also need to check how his existence changed the original world I predicted…'

Pythagoras knew how things would progress after his death, whether it was the death of Biblical God, the existence of Trihexa, the Red Dragon Emperor's emergence, or the alliance of Three Factions.

For someone like him, information was power.

'If nothing significant changed, I can start by leaking the news about Biblical God's death before the Three Faction Alliance...'

Pythagoras was sure many mythologies would be interested in that information, especially if he told them how to invade Heaven through Purgatory and nullify the defences of the Seventh Heaven.

There was no way people wouldn't be interested in the Biblical God's Holy System and Sacred Gear System.

In the worst-case scenario, it would only lead to minor conflicts in the short term, but in the best-case scenario, it'd be a nightmare for the Heaven side of Three Factions that might cause the collapse of their entire religion.

However, both scenarios would give Pythagoras enough time to collect whatever original and 'new' Longinus Sacred Gears he wanted.

'I'll start with killing the easiest ones while pretending to be Azrail Astaroth in the Underworld...'

Pythagoras was already sure of his victory, which made him plan his course of action after leaving this dimension in advance.

'Issei Hyousou's [Boosted Gear], Leonardo's [Annihilation Maker], Ingvild Leviathan's [Nereid Kyrie], Valerie Tepes' [Sephiroth Graal], and Gasper Vladi's [Aeon Balor]…'

Surprisingly enough, the Longinus Pythagoras wanted the most were the easiest to obtain right now.

Most of the current Longinus wielders were either unawakened children, weak combatants, or suffering from sleep disease.

The moment Heaven falls into a predicament, he could collect all the Longinus and sever their connection with the Sacred Gear System within a few days.

By the time everyone realises that the Longinus had disappeared, they would all be in his hands.

For someone who knew the future, it was the perfect time to act, but there was a single thing out of place—

'What is he doing?'

Pythagoras watched as Azrail took long, sneaky steps right in front of his eyes, almost as if he was invisible to everyone else.

The young devil picked Lieselotte and Selina in each of his arms, stuck Gleipnir to his chest with [Gravity Magic], and knocked Le Fay out before having his shadow carry her.

Azrail gave Arthur and Vali one last glance, only to slowly sneak away with the three blonde girls while smiling.

The scene looked like it came out of some silent comedy show, so much so that Pythagoras played Mr. Bean's theme song in his head while watching it.

However, even though Azrail was walking away from them, Pythagoras wasn't worried, allowing the young devil to do as he pleased.

Unless Pythagoras allowed them to, no one here could leave this place.

'You can try all you want, but even a Chief God-class being can't use [Spatial Magic] to escape from this place…'

If he had to explain in simple terms, this dimension was similar to [Dimension Lost]'s Balance Breaker but on steroids.

It wasn't something one could brute force their way out of, as Pythagoras had shut down the concept of [Spatial Manipulation] for those with a lower understanding of it than himself.

"You can only leave this place after clearing the trail..."

Pythagoras waved his hand, and one of Tempest Wolves behind Azrail jumped forwards, growling loudly with its fangs aimed at his back, and when it was about to reach him—

'Huh?!'

A fist-sized stream of blood emerged from Azrail's back, digging into the Tempest Wolf's skull and destroying its brain instantly.

Thud!*

After the wolf's corpse fell to the ground, the stream of blood returned to Azrail's body, and the hole in his clothes healed.

"A devil that can use blood manipulation...?"

Pythagoras stared at the scene with wide eyes, unable to comprehend how a devil utilised the vampire race's intrinsic skill with such mastery.

That level of control was even beyond an Ultimate Class Vampire.

In the moment of surprise, Azrail's shadow rose from the ground and circled the four of them before—

"I'll see you all later..."

He gave Pythagoras a small smile, and moments later, his presence completely disappeared.

Pythagoras was so dumbfounded that he simply stared at the place Azrail disappeared from with his mouth wide open, blinking stupidly.

'The shadow covered their bodies as it initiated [Shadow Movement], but when the process ended, their existence from my dimension just… disappeared?'

Was something like that possible with [Darkness Manipulation]?

No.

Pythagoras had studied the best users of [Darkness] in detail, from the Primordial God Erebus, Primordial Goddess Nyx, and Demon God Balor to the Evil Dragon Azi Dhaka.

Those four couldn't have escaped this place even if they worked together, so… How did a child barely in the Ultimate Class leave with little to no effort?

It didn't make sense.

'Rather than normal [Darkness Magic], his version feels much closer to a vampire's [Darkness Manipulation], but still…'

Something like that shouldn't be possible.

Outside of this dome, Pythagoras' dimension was infinitely expanding.

Even if someone could escape from all barriers using [Shadow Merge] or [Shadow Movement], they'd never reach the end of this dimension, no matter how fast they travelled.

'It's almost as if he had a door to the outside world with him all this time…'

In his currently weakened state, Pythagoras couldn't influence the outside world, and the only reason he could even exist in the physical world as a soul was because his existence relied on this dimension.

No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't do anything about someone who escaped from this place.

'It's regrettable, but I'll need to make do with Vali Lucifer's body for—Huh?'

However, before Pythagoras could decide his course of action, an immense pain assaulted him, and his face distorted in discomfort. The transparent manifestation of his soul started to flicker uncontrollably.

'What the…'

Out of nowhere, memories started appearing inside his head, causing his consciousness to blur at the sudden influx of information.

'These are memories from back then, but why…'

Pythagoras was confused.

Why didn't he remember this?

There were no missing or forgotten memories in a person's soul, so it remembered everything perfectly, unlike the physical body.

Under normal circumstances, Pythagoras should've remembered everything he went through in life, unless...

'Someone sealed my memories…'

But who?

.

.

.

[2,500 Years Ago.]

[Island of Samos, Greece.]

Pythagoras remembered… Five high-level dragons had attacked and massacred his entire village.

There was a Sprite Dragon, Flame Dragon, Blizzard Dragon, Spectre Dragon, and Zmei Dragon.

Although the villagers were related to the supernatural world, they stood no chance against such an attack since two of the five dragons were in their 'outrage' state.

The villagers tried to run away, but alas.

They knew… No matter what they did to appease the dragons' anger, it wouldn't work.

After all, this attack was entirely their fault.

The dragons had protected their village for over five hundred years because they took a liking to the village's founder, but the current village chief almost killed the dragon couple's newborn son to sell his corpse by secretly luring him away from his parents.

There was no way the dragons would let anyone from the village survive.

"Haah… Haah…"

Pythagoras had managed to escape while his village was being burned to death, but in the end, the dragons found him through his scent.

He could only sit on the ground in fear and watch five dragons flying towards him while shaking uncontrollably. The intense Dragon Aura leaking from their bodies made it impossible for him to move, much less think about running away.

Pythagoras had accepted his death, but before the dragons could reach him, a small, heavily injured baby dragon landed in front of him.

"Grrrrr…"

The small dragon growled at the incoming bunch of high-level dragons, causing them to stop in their tracks.

'Is he… trying to protect me?'

Why?

The village chief tried to kill him by misusing his trust in humans, so why was the little dragon still willing to save a human child?

From how it looked, the dragon could barely move because of the heavy injuries it had sustained.

"Ah…"

Unknowingly, tears began falling down Pythagoras' face as he looked at the injured dragon's back, but the emotional moment came to an abrupt stop when—

BOOM!*

A devil landed on the baby dragon, crushing its body under his feet with the massive impact and causing it to splatter everywhere.

"Man, you were supposed to survive a situation like this?" The devil exchanged glances between the five high-level dragons and Pythagoras, his crimson eyes gleaming with interest. "Having a strong fate sure is one hell of a cheat…"

"Wh… Huh…"

Pythagoras couldn't understand what just happened.

He quietly sat on the ground, bathed in the hot blood of the creature who tried to protect him moments ago.

But unlike him, the dragons reacted within seconds, opening their mouths and roaring ferociously.

"GRRRRAAAAARRRRR!!!"

"ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"

The shockwaves produced by their roars travelled throughout the island, and the devil raised his index finger towards them.

"Stop shouting… I'm not interested in a bunch of overgrown lizards…"

'Blood…?'

Thin threads of blood emerged from the devil's fingertip, beheading all five high-level dragons at a speed Pythagoras couldn't even follow.

"Ah… What…"

Pythagoras' eyes met the devil's crimson eyes, and a shiver ran down his spine.

The devil's appearance was… extremely enchanting and eye-pleasing. He had long, black hair that extended to the small of his back and crimson eyes, along with a single beauty mark under his left eye.

If anyone saw him, they'd find it hard to look away from his face. However, the only thing Pythagoras could focus on was the evil grin on the devil's face.

The devil kept looking down at Pythavorad, and a few seconds later, his grin widened. "I finally found you, you little shit…"

A wave of demonic power emerged from the devil's body, twisting the space around and creating a large, sea-blue portal in front of them.

"Let's go…"

The devil grabbed Pythagoras' hand and dragged him into the portal.

"W-Wha—?! Where are you taking me…?!"

"To the future..."

.

.

.

'W-What the hell is this place…'

Pythagoras had no idea where he was.

Although the devil said it was the future, he couldn't believe it, but the strange scenes around him forced him to accept those words as reality.

The enormous buildings, thousands of people walking everywhere, moving pictures, and humans using metal boxes on wheels to travel.

'And who is he…'

After walking around the strange city, the blood devil brought Pythagoras to a strangely large hall, and in front of them was a disfigured man sitting in a wheelchair that moved by itself.

The blood devil smiled at Pythagoras. "Enjoy gawking the hawking…"

And with those words, he disappeared.

'Gawk… What?'

Pythagoras turned toward the man in the wheelchair, who moved closer to him.

The disfigured man gave him an honest, bone-chilling smile, and seconds later—

{Doo-doo-doo-doo…Ding!}

The sound of windows powering up echoed throughout the hall.

.

.

.

{Time Traveler Party!}

{Epstein Island!}

"Az…"

{Minor Unboxing! Member exclusive stream!}

{3000-Year-Old Minor vs 13-Year-Old Minor! Giveaway at the end!}

{Hisoka's Bungee Cum!}

"Az…"

{Orochimaru's Tongue Exploration!}

{Boku No Pico Reincarnation Ticket!}

{Eclipse But From Casca's POV!}

"Az…"

Pythagoras' soul trembled with rage and anger, his magic power pouring out like an endless stream, enveloping his spiritual form in golden fire.

"AZRAIL ASTAROTH—!!!"

As his memories settled in, a dense, almost tangible killing intent appeared around him.

The immense pressure from Pythagoras' killing intent caused the thousands of monster beasts inside the dome to fall unconscious one after the other.

"With just his killing intent…"

"How can a soul be this strong…"

Vali and Arthur could barely hold onto their consciousness, their faces pale in fear.

The only reason they hadn't passed out like the others was because of Caliburn and Albion protecting them.

"The fuck did that evil bastard do this time?!"

Even Hydra's expression turned ugly when he saw Pythagoras' magic power destroy things around them with sheer raw power.

However, before he could think about it—

"Silence…" Pythagoras glanced towards Hydra, and when he did, the latter's head exploded into a bloody mist. "Your repulsive face reminds me of Azrail… "

"You fucker…" Within an instant, Hydra's head regenerated, staring at Pythagoras with veins bulging on his forehead. "How dare you compare me to that piece of shit?!"

A pitch-black aura appeared around Hydra's body, and his hands transformed into claws.

"You should already know that, but…" The more he stared at Hydra, the more disgusted Pythagoras' expression became. "Physical attacks can't do anything against spiritual life forms like me…"

As if he didn't hear those words, Hydra disappeared from his position and reappeared next to Pythagoras, launching a kick straight to his face.

"And who said I can't damage spiritual life forms with physical attacks?"

"I did."

Pythagoras effortlessly caught Hydra's kick with his left hand, much to the latter's surprise.

"Huh—?!"

"Inside this dimension, I control everything—vectors, energy, time, space, momentum, or physical laws… Weaklings who can't even defeat my human incarnation have no hopes of defeating me here…"

BOOM!*

Hydra's body crashed into the ground, leaving behind an enormous crater.

"Damnit…"

Hydra stood up from the ground, but the moment he got on his feet, he fell again immediately.

"Gahh…."

Despite there being no physical injuries on his body, he appeared as if he were in excruciating pain.

Noticing Hydra's pitiful state, Pythagoras commented. "It'll be annoying for me if you keep rampaging, so stay put..."

Hydra's regeneration was too potent, and with his battle instincts, it'd take a lot of effort for Pythagoras to kill him.

Temporarily immobilising him was simply a much better alternative.

Because of that, Pythagoras used a spell that damaged Hydra's body at an almost equal speed to his regeneration, making him unable to use most of his strength.

"Now, then…"

After dealing with Hydra, Pythagoras turned towards Vali and Arthur.

The two of them were barely on their feet, with Arthur having such a hard time that he couldn't stand without Caliburn's support.

"Give up, White Dragon Emperor… Even if you activate Juggernaut Drive, it'll be nowehere near enough to trouble me…"

As someone who had lived for millennials, it wasn't hard for Pythagoras to determine what a youngster like Vali was thinking.

"If anything, it'll only make it easier for me to take over your body when your consciousness gets taken over by rage…"

Vali's movements stopped at those words.

"Take over my body?"

"Yes. My soul needs an adequate vessel. While not as good as Azrail, the body of Lucifer's descendent isn't half bad…" Slowly, Pythagoras turned towards Arthur and raised his hand towards him. "As for the useless one…"

Thud!*

Caliburn couldn't protect Arthur from the pressure created by Pythagoras' magic power any longer, causing him to collapse and fall to his knees.

A magic circle appeared at the tip of Pythagoras' finger, aimed directly at the blonde swordsman.

"I'll be taking Caliburn and Excalibur Ruler… You can die peacefully knowing that they will be in the hands of a much better swordsman than even your ancestor…"

Arthur looked up at Pythagoras, his expression filled with unwillingness, fear, dread, agony, and regret.

Pythagoras' aura far surpassed a Satan Class Devil when he unleashed his full strength.

There was no way children like Arthur and Vali could hope to oppose such might with their current strength.

The magic circle glowed in a golden light, and the last bit of hope in Arthur's eyes slowly disappeared, but before Pythagoras could attack—

"Hey! What do you think you are doing to my research mat—I mean, my soon-to-be [Knight]?!"

An ear-numbingly loud shout echoed throughout the underground dome.

"You…!"

"Azrail…!"

Vali and Arthur's eyes widened upon witnessing Azrail emerge from the dome's roof.

"Azrail Astaroth….!!!!"

However, the one most thrilled about Azrail's appearance was Pythagoras, and when he turned around, he saw the young devil sitting on a four-legged creature while flying around the dome.

The creature had the body of a lion, with the head and wings of an eagle attached to it.

It was a Griffin.

'That Griffin… It's Alice's familiar…'

Pythagoras remembered... This Griffin was originally Ajuka Beelzebub's familiar, which he later passed to Alice during her childhood.

"What the hell did I do now…"

Azrail seemed taken aback by how enthusiastic Pythagoras was while looking at him with a strange, borderline insane obsession.

'I need to kill him now…'

Pythagoras was probably the most knowledgeable about how time worked in their world.

He knew that the past couldn't be changed even if someone travelled back in time. All it'd do was create a new timeline.

That meant… Azrail in front of him was no longer related to the Azrail who travelled back in time to fuck him over.

'His survival in this life isn't guaranteed in this timeline…'

He could kill him now!

"Die!"

A magic circle appeared next to Pythagoras before launching a beam of condensed magic power towards Azrail.

If he were alone, Azrail would've died because the beam was too fast for him to react, but thanks to the Griffin, he dodged it effortlessly.

Griffins were agile creatures, and it was hard to find familiar candidates that could keep up with their speed except for Dragons.

"Tch…"

Pythagoras clicked his tongue, watching as Azrail extended his hand towards his shadow and pulled out a human corpse.

"Random dead human NPC, I choose you!"

With those loud words, Azrail threw the human corpse towards Pythagoras with all his strength.

'The hell…'

Before Pythagoras could understand anything, the human corpse started 'collapsing' on itself and condensed into an infinitely dense point with extremely powerful gravitational fields.

'The spell is breaking down that human's mass into pure energy…'

As seconds passed, the gravitational fields only grew stronger.

'It'll be bothersome if I let this continue…'

Logos Art's perfect counter was [Gravity Manipulation].

Although Logos Arts could manipulate space-time with calculations, it wasn't all-powerful. Not yet, at least.

Strong enough gravitational fields could disrupt the spell formations by altering space-time beyond recognition, making it impossible for someone to affect it.

Even Pythagoras couldn't overcome this weakness without his grimoire, Gleipnir.

"I'm impressed, Azrail Astaroth… You came up with an effective method to disrupt my control over this dimension, but..."

No matter how much Pythagoras despised Azrail, such an achievement was praiseworthy.

"These gravitational fields aren't enough to make a difference…"

Pythagoras squished the artificial black hole between his index finger and thumb, completely eradicating it.

"Then… How about this…"

However, rather than panicking, Azrail grinned at those words, and soon, his shadow started extending in all directions, covering the entirety of the underground dome's ceiling.

A bad feeling emerged in Pythagoras' heart.

"[Random dead human NPCs, barrage!]"

Tens of thousands of human corpses fell from the ceiling, covering the entirety of the underground dome.

'Wait a minute… These aren't just human corpses…'

There were also unconscious vampires, devils, youkai, monsters, and some other supernatural species cleverly mixed among the human corpses.

A shiver ran down Pythagoras' spine.

"Stop!"

His existence was directly linked with this dimension.

If something happened to it, there would be no saving him.

However, before he could do anything—

BOOM!*

THUD!*

CRACK!*

The corpses collapsed on themselves, destroying various parts of the dome with their immense gravitational fields.

Following that, the gravitational fields from different corpses clashed with each other and multiplied in strength.

Two times…

Four times…

Eight times…

Sixteen times…

Thirty-two times…

Sixty-four times…

Even after they reached the point of breaking apart the very fabric of space-time, the gravitational fields showed no signs of stopping, and Pythagoras could feel his dimension collapsing from within.

He felt a strong sense of urgency, and his ability to utilise magic started to disappear.

"It hurts…"

"Gah…"

Vali and Arthur couldn't escape the intense gravitational fields, either.

Their bodies were pressed into the ground with immense force, almost crushing them to death, but for some reason, the pressure they felt was significantly less than everything else around them.

'Now what…?'

The thousands of miniature black holes lit the underground dome in pure white light, and the temperature around them rose rapidly.

"Alright, brats… It's time to go home!"

Azrail appeared next to Vali and Arthur before enveloping them in his shadow, cancelling out the intense gravitational fields pressuring them down.

"Hold on… Take me with you…!"

Hydra's body still hadn't recovered from Pythagoras' attack, and he couldn't do anything while being crushed by the catastrophic gravitational fields.

His body was repeatedly being torn apart on an atomic level as it kept on regenerating in an attempt to survive. Not to mention, the regenerating part of Hydra's body had started melting because of the rising temperature.

Hydra knew he wouldn't survive if he didn't leave now.

Azrail looked at his dear familiar pitifully crawling on the ground towards him while begging for his life and—

"Go to hell…"

Raised his middle finger towards Hydra.

Azrail then glanced towards Pythagoras and gave him a knowing smile.

"Thanks for giving me Gleipnir… I'll see you in the past…"

"YOU MOTHERFU—!!!!!"

"AZRAIL ASTAROTH, YOU SON OF—!!!!"

Before Hydra or Pythagoras could finish their curses, Azrail, Vali, and Arthur disappeared from the dimension under the effects of [Shadow Teleportation].

The moment they disappeared—

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

An explosion strong enough to destroy the underworld a hundred times over occurred within Pythagoras' dimension.

---

Words: 4316

A/N:

Azrail can legit destroy the world several times over with [Gravity Collapse] if he wants to lol. Though, he wouldn't survive that either.

RIP Pythagoras (Ch 47-48). Probably the saddest backstory I've written till date.

Also, Azrail's petty af.

1000 Top Fans crossed. Nice.

Send powerstones xD.