Destroying the Temporary Dimension

Underworld, Satan Territory, Capital City, Lilith.

While James was taking care of Shalba Beelzebub, Scathach rushed toward the dimensional anchor that was placed in the back of the hotel. When she arrived, she found that it was guarded by a throng of Grim Reapers.

Grim Reapers, a sub-species of gods, reside in the Land of the Dead under Hades' the Greek god of death's rule. All of them wear dark robes and skeletal masks. The darkness of a Grim Reaper's robe can be used to determine their rank in their hierarchy. Also, they all decorate their robes with ornaments of their choice. On top of that, they all carry a scythe that can injure the soul directly by cutting away lifespan.

"Hmm..." Scathach hummed in curiosity without reducing her speed in the slightest. "These are Hades' underlings, are they not?"

As the words left her mouth, Scathach, using the momentum behind her charge, threw her spear toward the anchor. Seeing the incoming projectile, many of the Grim Reapers lined up to stop it. However, as most of them were only at the high-rank, they had no way of doing so. So, as if they were made of paper, they, along with their scythes, were pierced through.

Before the spear could reach the anchor, it was deflected upward by a powerful Grim Reaper's scythe. However, as that happened, the Grim Reaper was forced backward, and several cracks appeared on his scythe's blade.

"Damn it." The Grim Reaper muttered as he looked down at his scythe to examine the extent of the damage. "That woman is a monster."

"Oh, Grim Reapers?" James said as he [Flash Stepped] next to Scathach with Ophis still on his back. "Does that mean that Hades is helping the Hero Faction, and the Khaos Brigade by extension?"

"So, it would seem." Scathach replied. "However, finding any evidence would be near impossible. On top of being powerful, Hades is as crafty as they come."

"I can believe it." James replied. "Either way, I'm going to kick his boney ass one day. And him sending his forces to assist the Khaos Brigade just adds to the list of reasons why."

"Haha... I intend to be present when that happens." Scathach said with a slight smile. "I can foresee that battle being one for the ages."

"If I have anything to say about it." James said while unsheathing Ochiru Sakura. "It will be as one sided as it gets."

As James unsheathed his blade, Scathach recalled her spear back into her hand. Then, she rushed forward and plunged into the crowd of Grim Reapers.

"She seems impatient." James said with a smile. "Well, we should get this over with as soon as possible. Scatter, [Senbonzakura]."

Meanwhile, in the underground parking garage, Azazel, Sona, Tsubaki, and Reya were dealing with a horde of Grim Reapers as well. However, the crowd was much smaller than the one behind the hotel.

"We need to hurry." Azazel said, we have no idea what is going on in the outside world."

"Then, maybe you should do more fighting and less talking." Sona said as she manipulated her water magic into high-pressure streams and dragons.

"Seriously, why are all you kids so serious all the time?" Azazel asked as he launched light spears at the stronger of the Grim Reapers. "I swear, kids now a days don't know how to have fun."

"*Sigh* Spending time with him in any capacity is tiring." Sona said, deciding to put Azazel's tom foolery out of her mind to focus on the battle.

"Yeah, when he stays quiet, he's a good ally." Reya said as she used ice magic to freeze as many of the Grim Reapers that survived Sona's attacks as she could. "But when he opens his mouth, he's insufferable."

"Et tu, Reya?" Azazel said while grabbing his chest in a dramatic fashion.

"Definitely insufferable." Tsubaki added as she skewered a Grim Reaper and deflected one of their attacks with [Mirror Alice]. "But since he's strong, we can put up with it for the duration of this fight."

"Agreed." Sona and Reya replied simultaneously.

"Is this really any way to treat one of your teachers?" Azazel asked while he continued to barrage the Grim Reapers with light spears.

At the same time, Mizore, Cu Chulainn, and Moka were wreaking havoc on the Grim Reapers stationed on the roof to protect the dimensional anchor.

"Come on, you two." Mizore said as she fired a volley of ice spikes at the Grim Reapers surrounding the anchor. "If we hurry, we might be able to help James and Master Scathach."

"Do you really think they need our help?" Moka asked after punching through the chest of a Grim Reaper, then using the corpse as a shield against the scythe of another. "I mean, you have seen those two fight before, right? It can be dangerous to just be in their vicinity when they're rampaging around."

"I know, I know." Mizore said with a slight pout. "Why do you always have to rain on my parade with logic?"

"Because it's fun." Moka said with a smile after impaling a Grim Reaper on one of Mizorre's ice spikes.

"Stand clear!" Cu Chulainn shouted after jumping into the air.

Hearing the tone of Cu Chulainn's voice, Mizore and Moka distanced themselves as much as they could from the group of Grim Reapers. As the girls moved away, Cu Chulainn threw his spear at the dimensional anchor. As he did, he invoked the curse on his spear.

"[Gáe Bolg]." Cu Chulainn said shortly after the spear left his hand.

With tremendous momentum, the spear flew toward the dimensional anchor. When it made contact, it caused an explosion, due to the destabilization of space, many spatial cracks were created. At the same time, many of the remaining Grim Reapers were torn apart by the destabilized space.

Down in the plaza on the ground, the explosion caused by Cu Chulainn's attack was clearly visible.

"It looks like Lancer's group is done." Rias said as she fired multiple orbs of the [Power of Destruction] at the Grim Reapers surrounding the dimensional anchor she was assigned to destroy.

"Well, then we better step up the pace, too." Akeno said as she summoned down bolts of [Holy Lightning].

As Akeno finished speaking, the ground shook violently.

"I guess Kaichou and Azazel-sensei are done, too." Issei said as he wrapped up around a dozen Grim Reapers in his shadows.

*Swish!* x 6

*Bang!* x 6

A moment after the Grim Reapers were immobilized, Yuuto dashed past six of them and decapitated them as he ran. Then, Koneko, using her immense strength, caved in the skulls of the other half of the immobilized foes. Then, both Yuuto and Koneko rushed toward another group of immobilized enemies who had been frozen with Gasper's [Forbidden Balor View]. At the same time, Issei sunk into his own shadow. A moment later, he rose from the shadow of a Grim Reaper targeting Akeno and impaled him with the claws on his gauntlets.

"Thanks Issei-Kun." Akeno said as she dispelled the [Holy Lightning] sparking on her fingers. "But You almost got yourself killed."

Issei froze momentarily when he heard that. Then, he sunk back into his shadow without speaking. As Issei disappeared with a slightly pale face, Akeno smiled sadistically and turned her attention to her next victim.

"Ugh. This is taking too long." Rias said impatiently. "You guys, buy me a few seconds."

After hearing Rias' orders, the rest of her peerage retreated and surrounded her making sure that she would not be interrupted. Then, Rias began preparing the move she used to finish off Riser in their [Rating Game]. Just as she said, Rias spent a few seconds with her arms spread, accumulating energy on each palm. Then, when the balls of the [Power of Destruction] she was holding were saturated, she spread her wings and flew into the sky. Then, she brought her hands together with her palms facing toward the dimensional anchor.

"[Final Destruction]!" Rias shouted as she fired a beam of the [Power of Destruction] toward the dimensional anchor.

As the Grim Reapers were ordered to do, they tried to defend the anchor against the incoming attack. Unfortunately, the [Power of Destruction] simply erased them from existence on its way to destroying the anchor.

"That move is just as bad ass as the last time I saw it." Issei said excitedly.

In response, Rias smiled while she lowered herself back to the ground.

"Alright, let's clean up the rest of these Grim Reapers." Rias said. "Then, we can go help James and Master Scathach."

A few minutes later, the three groups gathered behind the hotel. However, what they found waiting for them left them confused. James, with Ophis still on his back, was standing off to the side while Scathach was fighting a Grim Reaper. On top of that, Scathach was... giving the Grim Reaper advice on how he could improve as they fought. When James noticed they had arrived, he turned to them with a smile.

"So, you're all done, huh?" James said.

"Uh... Yeah." Rias replied.

"What's going on here?" Sona asked, confusion swirling in her eyes.

"Oh, we wanted to give you all the time to take out the rest of the enemies." James said while watching Scathach instruct the strongest of the Grim Reapers.

"Is that... Pluto?" Azazel asked.

"Sure is." James replied. "He's a lot stronger than I expected."

"He could fight me even while I was wearing [Down Fall Dragon: Another Armor]."

"Hey, Master!" James shouted after a bit of small talk with the new arrivals. "Everyone is done. I think it's time to wrap things up."

"Understood." Scathach said, then her whole atmosphere changed.

When Scathach started taking the fight seriously, Pluto could feel it immediately. As much as he wanted to flee, he knew that was an impossibility. On top of that, taking his opponent with him was also outside of the realm of possibility. So, he just gave up. He completely stopped resisting.

"Wow, his will to live is gone." Azazel said with shock apparent in his tone. "What did you do to that poor guy before we got here?"

"Well, first Master threw her spear and killed close to a third of the Grim Reapers defending the anchor." James said nonchalantly. "Then, I used [Senbonzakura] to clean up the rest. By that time, only Pluto was left, and Master said that she hadn't had enough."

"So, she's been forcing him to fight ever since then?" Issei asked curiously. "And to make it more fun, she was giving him advice, too?"

"That's about it." James said with a nod.

"Oh, she's done." Tsubaki said.

Just as Tsubaki said, Scathach impaled Pluto through his heart with her spear. Because he had given up on fighting back, it seemed a little anti-climactic. After that, Scathach threw her spear at the dimensional anchor once again. This time, with no obstacles in the way, Scathach easily destroyed the anchor. Then, with all four anchors destroyed, the temporary dimension began to shatter.

"Okay, everybody." James said, getting everyone's attention. "We don't know what the Khaos Brigade was doing while we were trapped in here. So, be ready for battle once the dimension crumbles."

Instead of replying, the rest of the group prepared themselves for another fight. And just as they expected, there was another fight waiting for them. Members of the Hero Faction were surrounding the hotel while members of the Capital's standing army were trying to defend the devil civilians against their attacks.

"Scatter, [Senbonzakura]." James said calmly as he unsheathed Ochiru Sakura.

Then, the petal-shaped blades floated into the crowd of humans and began to shred them without much resistance. After about forty-five seconds, all the members of the Hero Faction surrounding the hotel were dead.

"I'm sure this isn't the only place that's under attack." James said as Ochiru Sakura reformed. "Spread out and help as many people as you can."

"Got it." Said all the young devils in response.

Then, the young devils lead by Cu Chulainn, Rias, and Sona, separated to help civilians or fight stronger members of the Hero Faction.

"Well, I'm gonna head to the Grigori and seal up these [sacred Gears] I got from those kids." Azazel said, before teleporting away without waiting for a response. Just before he left, though, he spoke once more. "I'll fill the Satans in on what happened in that temporary dimension, too."

"And what do you plan on doing, my disciple." Scathach asked.

"You remember that guy with all the swords I told you about in Kyoto?" James asked with a smile.

"Yes, the one with the sub-species [Twice Critical], right?" Scathach asked.

"That's right." James replied with a mischievous smile. "Do you think Muramasa could reforge those demonic swords he uses into one of my new swords?"