Ch. 12 Battle of Gusion Castle Town

-Ajuka Camp Gathering area.

The looks on Ajuka, Lords Astaroth, Vassago and Furcas' faces was priceless once I revealed my army's numbers.

Ajuka was mostly impressed with a mix of caution, his father was baffled, Vassago was shocked and Furcas looked like he swallowed a fly.

Although I only brought 30'000 compared their average of 70'000, only my freshest 5000 were Low-class, with 24'000 mid-class, 1000 high-class and 8 ultimate-class devils.

Their averages was 60-68'000 low-class, 1.8-9700 mid-class, 200-300 high-class, and 1 or 2 Ultimates.

Meaning I just more than doubled the number of mid to high level soldiers and top class combatants.

"I must say Lord Azaroth, I wasn't expecting such a well trained army." Ajuka said in an almost diplomatic tone.

"I have an eye for talent." I replied with a shrug as he looked at the 8 behind me, "But their hard work and perseverance saw them to where they stand today. I only offered them my support and help. As for my soldiers, well i give credit to Horuth."

"Horuth!? As in General Horuth of the Purgatory Massacre!? I thought the Satans had him executed!" A shocked Lord Furcas said as he looked at the old man.

"They did worse the bastards. But the Lord is being humble. Needed a lot more than these old bones to make an army like that." Horuth answered gruffly.

"I can imagine." Ajuka replied as he seemed to be calculating things in his mind.

"Anyway, each legion is ready to obey orders not deemed suicidal. They are strong, disciplined and ready to fight. Each legion is led by their own General and won't easily listen to another unless it's myself, Horuth or Thillis. They have strong teamwork between Legions as well.

Heltana leads her huntresses to mainly act as scouts and harassment units. They'll annoy the enemy, slow them down, distract and even go for killing blow if they can. She's got about 25 High-class, 150 mid-class and 75 low-class devils under her command.

And then you have Lomr and Sigil who'll be with me." I broke down as I gave a quick summary of how they operated.

"Are you by chance the Heltana of Hel's Huntresses?" Lord Astaroth asked as soon as he could once he heard 'Heltana' and 'Huntresses'.

This is the thing which surprised Ajuka mildly since his father didn't react to her subordinates but the name of their leader.

"Yes Lord Astaroth." She answered with as few words as possible.

"But I've been told you vehemently refused to work under every lord who's ever asked. Even I've sent such an offer after you managed to track down quite a dangerous beasts harming my lands. So why are you with Lord Azaroth?" The Lord Astaroth asked, feeling a bit insulted that she had rejected him but followed someone who hadn't even technically been a lord yet.

"I have always been my master's bow. He rescued me. Trained me. Gave me a home and purpose. All I have is thanks to him. In exchange I decided to help others like he helped me and to become the bow to strike down his enemies." Heltana firmly answered as to leave no doubts about her loyalty.

"I think we can let this subject go." Commented Lord Vassago.

"Agreed. And now that everyone has arrived and properly reported their numbers, we can begin the march. And i would request Lord Azaroth's Huntresses act as scouts for this time period as suggested." Ajuka said as he looked at me with calculating eyes.

'He doesn't trust me that's for sure, but he's not letting that get in the way.' I thought as I simply nod in confirmation.

"Good. Then let's go." The future Satan declared.

-a few days later in former House Guidon territory.

"Master." Heltana announced herself, "An army of the Satan faction was spotted in an abandoned Castle Town. They bear the Leviathan crest."

"Then let's inform our commander." I reply a bit lazily from Sigil's back.

It's been a boring couple of days with nothing to do but read some stuff and practice some subtle [Space] techniques.

I simply sent a message using magic to inform him.

I might not have gone into great details regarding magic yet, but I do know all the necessary things like basics communication magic.

As a result we had a quick meeting regarding our plan of attack.

"The reports from the huntresses indicate that Tsufaame Leviathan as taken control of an abandoned castle town two hours march away. She, alongside armies from her house, Barbatos and Sargatanas, have cleared the area of beasts and fortified their positions.

We have have numerical and qualitative advantages, so we will attack on multiple fronts and force them in an even weaker position.

Lord Furcas will take his troops and strike from the left gate. Lord Vassago will take the right. Father will take the front. And since Lord Azaroth can easily flank thanks to his portals, he shall be responsible for the rear." Ajuka explained rather reasonably.

He can't give detail orders due to only properly understanding the abilities of his own territory's army, so instead of forcing orders which could completely throw off the other armies, he's treating them as about equal and sending them to attack weakened enemies.

A very mechanical way to lead. Using assured data to find the best possible route at the time.

"What about the handling Leviathan herself?" I asked since she was the real threat in that army.

"Once she comes out, I will be engaging her myself." Was Ajuka's answer to the query.

"I knew that commander, I meant your orders for when you shall be engaging her. Leviathans are supposed to cause tremendous collateral damage when fighting and she chose this place precisely because there was a Great Lake nearby. If we aren't careful our armies could suffer significant damages." I replied as I corrected his misunderstanding.

Although we have about the same amount of experience in war, I have spent years learning to lead my soldiers in battle during training and from experienced soldiers, while preparing for the enemies I would face during this war. I knew the current Satan faction inside and out.

Meanwhile Ajuka may be the most intelligent Devil alive, but he is not a leader. At least not yet. He is a researcher. So I point out a potentially disastrous situation that people forget about because no one had scene a Leviathan go all out since the original died.

"Since you've mentioned it, I assume you have a solution Lord Azaroth." Was his reply after thinking a bit.

"I can either redirect or send away direct attacks while containing the large scale attacks, but once you begin engaging her, I would like for it to signal an immediate retreat for all troops." I said to the man, which made him think through possibilities.

"Thoughts?" Ajuka said to the Lords present.

"It would be wise. My father told be tales of what happened when someone had enraged the original Leviathan during the Great War. It was said to be comparable to the biblical flood." Lord Vassago said carefully.

"They are beings of destruction and water. Those not strong enough would die in droves." Lord Furcas added.

"I agree with the other Lords. We retreat and prepare large scale barriers to protect ourselves should it prove to much for Lord Azaroth to handle." Lord Astaroth suggested as he did not like leaving his fate to another completely.

"Reasonable. Then once I engage signal all troops to pull back and focus on protecting themselves and containing the damage. Lord Azaroth shall be the first line of defense." Ordered as he concluded the meeting.

Afterward we all moved forward with our orders, with myself letting the three other armies go first since I could get my soldiers there quicker.

The Huntresses had been called back for now as well. They will be acting as anti-air units.

We then quickly surrounded the old castle town and got into formation.

It was as the tension was rising that Ajuka himself flew up and used a little spell to make sure everyone in the vicinity heard his voice.

"Tsufaame Leviathan, surrender. We have you outnumbered and outmatched.

Come peacefully and no harm will come to you before you receive your judgement." He said calmly.

The reply was rather obviously negative when a blue beam of pure magic power was sent towards him, only for it so suddenly change direction and become harmless.

'So that was the Kankara Formula huh. Wonder if my [Space] would be able to overcome its manipulation.' I thought at the sight of one of the two most powerful abilities in the Underworld.

"I shall never surrender to traitorous scum like you!

I will enjoy beating you into submission as my toy before killing you." Was the venomous response of the Satan.

"Then so be it." Ajuka responded before addressing the troops, "Attack."

(Focus is gonna be switching around since Lith won't actually be doing much yet. 3rd person POV)

"2ND LEGION! FOCUS ON BOMBARDMENT AS THE HUNTRESSES COVER YOU!

1ST TAKE CARE OF THE AERIAL TROOPS!

3RD LEGION IS WITH ME! WE'LL SHATTER THOSE ENEMY LINES!" Horuth ordered as they all burst into action seamlessly.

The castle town itself had long been abandoned after the Guisons died out during the war. The town was then left to rot for the next thousands of years while being overrun by demonic bests, leaving only the ruins of a long time ago and virtually no defensive structures like walls or artillery towers or even proper barriers.

Leviathan's camp had been protected, but apparently her troops did not deserve such or they did not have the ability to set up strong enough defensive barriers and didn't bother wasting their efforts.

But as a result, the defending armies had a minor field advantage but little else. And even that was going to be useless against the overwhelming difference in strength the Azaroth Legions had over this hastily divided section of the Leviathan army, which was already very loosely united.

Horuth knew this very well from a single glance.

He also knew that in such a situation the enemy most likely set up some form of trigger magic in their path to slow them down and reduce their numbers. That's why as the 3rd legion charged with him at its head, their general on his left and Thillis on his right, Horuth jumped forward and slammed his fists onto the ground, causing massive tremors in the direction he was facing, tearing the earth apart and causing over half the town's remains to crumble then and there.

One could almost hear the upset screams of the Satan Leviathan as this caused her to spill her wine on herself.

But on the battlefield it caused a secondary shockwave as hundreds of trigger spells went off almost simultaneously, causing a chaotic mix of elements and making the Legions roar due to their spirits rising from the actions of their commander-in-Chief.

"COME ON YOU LAZY BASTARDS! DON'T LET AN OLD MAN LIKE ME OUTDO YOU! SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT!" Horuth shouted as the 3rd Legion caught up and unhesitatingly rushed through the destroyed field which had been set to stop them.

Horuth could see the fear in the enemy soldiers.

And in desperation soldiers will do desperate things.

As such, a man Horuth could tell was the leader for this part of the Laviathan army charged as he flared his power.

'Too bad you're only High-Class.' Was Horuth's thought as he flared his own might which his lord had helped him achieve.

Beside him Thillis unleashed his own power and the 3rd Legion's general as well, followed by the hundreds of High-class and thousands of mid-class behind him, causing the enemy to now completely despair.

Their leader knew he was going to die so he chose to die fighting.

"FOR LEVIATHAN!" He shouted as he used everything he could to unleash a power blast of demonic power.

"Too bad for you young one. FOR LORD AZAROTH!" Responded Horuth as he formed a large spear of steel in an instant, overpowering the opponents attack and piercing him completely.

Horuth wasn't done however, pushing the same attack forward as the enemy leader died and completely shattering their lines before vanishing the spear.

The moment the 3rd Legion reached them, it was a complete slaughter.

At the same time as Horuth was beginning his charge, something rather interesting happened: Lomr challenged Heltana to see who could kill the most Aerial troops as they protected the 2nd Legion who was bombarding the furthest lines of the enemy, preventing them from slowing down the 3rd's charge.

Heltana just thought, 'Sure, why not? No one on this side is strong anyway.'

While Lomr was just excited to be killing foes and using the new powers he had been learning for the last six months.

In this case he had to compete against Heltana's renowned archery skills so he created great lances of ice and used all his strength to throw the at massive speeds.

In response Heltana began channeling wind magic to make her already deadly arrows into drills. Great part was that each arrow would return to her quiver, was made to enhance her wind magic and wear incredibly tough and sharp. Expensive but incredibly worth it.

Thus one could watch as groups of flying devils died in moments from the two competing.

"Is that all you've got ice for brains!? I could beat you in my sleep at this rate." Heltana shouted as she began getting ahead.

"Hel only winning because Lomr had sand in his eyes from his throws! Lomr beat you!" The ice giant replied as he began creating ice lances which shattered in the air to get larger groups.

Due to this increasingly intense completion between Ultimate-classes, the 1st Legion was finding itself to be a bit unneeded.

The Huntresses on the other hand were enthusiastically treating this like a leisurely training exercise.

Seeing this, Lith decided to change things up a bit since the aerial troops were getting taken down in droves like they were target practice and the enemies back lines were in shambles already.

"1ST LEGION THROUGH THE RIGHT PORTAL! 2ND TO THE LEFT! WIPE OUT THE REST OF THEM AND THEN PULL BACK AFTER REGROUPING WITH HORUTH!" Lith ordered as said portals opened and they excitedly began to charge from both sides of a completely caught off-guard back lines.

'Can we go to? I have been feeling disappointed that I haven't even been able to do anything.' Sigil asked as he felt that his first battle couldn't really be this easy.

"Go wild. I'll just stay on your back for now." Lith responded with a shrug.

Hearing that, Sigil burst forward with great speed and then suddenly was engulfed by a greenish flash, only to reappear with the same flash right in front of the enemy back line, in front on Horuth's own charge.

He then channeled the space magic he had been mastering since he was a child and created his drill charge which pierces through nearly everything while also shredding those nearby.

With this he created a path of carnage for whatever was in front of him as he continued to charge ever forward, blinking to a new position once no enemies were in front of him.

It was a dread inducing sight to see a stallion with blood covered legs, black armor, eerie green glow as he appears and disappears, all the while a large nearly unmoving black armored man rides him in total silence. Don't think it helped that Sigil's eyes were glowing green either.

But soon enough the fun had to end for everyone as there were simply no enemies left to kill as the 3 Legions gathered and Sigil found no one new to kill.

As a result, they all hurried out of the town to not get caught should the Leviathan began unleashing its fury early.

-Tsufaame Leviathan's tent.

"You're telling me that a quarter of my army has already been slaughtered?" The Satan asked in a mix of disbelief, anger and feeling disgusted by the weakness they had showed to fall so quickly.

"Y-y-yes mistress. And the other fronts are not progressing well either in front of three Pillar houses." The servant replied as she continued her report.

"Who were the ones to win already and what are they doing now?" The Leviathan asked instead of caring about the ongoing fights.

"Th-they seem to be pulling out of the town and waiting. And they said it was the same crest used by the reported Azaroth." The servant answered with a bit of confusion since she couldn't understand why someone who had won so quickly just retreated.

"Oh? So the bug knows his limits? Whatever. After killing this Ajuka Astaroth who claims to surpass my mother, I will see what kind of toy he is." Tsufaame declared as she licked her lips in excitement.

-Left Gate, House Furcas vs Leviathan ground elites battlefield.

Contrary to the rear battlefield which held a properly balanced mix of troops, Lord Furcas found himself fighting the Leviathan units which specialized in fighting aquatic and land based foes, resulting in his houses special bicorn cavalry to become very ineffective unless they could break through the very strong defensive lines.

Unfortunately, Lord Furcas was being stopped by a close general of Leviathan herself as he used his water magic to counter him at every turn.

"HAHAHA! YOU PITIFUL FOOLS THINK YOU CAN CHALLENGE THE MISTRESS WITH THIS MEASLY STRENGTH?! YOU SHALL DIE HERE AND NOW!" The general mocked.

"HMPH! THIS WILL END WITH YOU TRAMPLED BY MY MOUNT!" Roared out lord Furcas as he charged towards the hateful foe.

But as those two focused on killing each other, a portal appeared near the Furcas lines which made them tense until they realized that this was the ability of the newly titles Lord Azaroth.

Out of the portal came Lomr and a still blood covered Sigil.

"Look at all the skulls to crack! Lomr so happy!" The blue skinned giant said as he ran towards the enemy.

'Well I did say I was disappointed. Let's see if these men offer a better challenge.' Sigil thought to himself as he charged as well, incorporation his light magic this time since Lith wasn't on his back.

-Right Gate, Vassago vs Leviathan Field elite

"COME PROUD VASSAGO MEN! SHOW THESE DOGS OUR MIGHT!" Roared the surprisingly passionate Lord Vassago as he clashed with the enemy general.

"You will not defeat the blades of the Mistress." The opponent calmly replied.

"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" Lord Vassago replied as he used the gravity magic his clan inherited to counter his opponent's attacks.

(OC power, weaker than sacred gear shown if not at least High Ultimate with it. Chose this since Bael has [Destruction] and Agares as some [Time] as 1st and 2nd ranked houses, so [Gravity] for 3rd made sense.)

And as the large scale skirmish was happening all around them, a portal opened closer to Vassago lines, revealing Horuth and Thillis who simply looked at the melee and decided to properly gather men by making them follow a line a slaughter.

These kinds of battles had been quite common during the Great War, so knowing what to do was rather simple for them.

-Front gate, House Astaroth vs. Leviathan Elite Aerial troops

"KEEP FIRING IN ROTATION! THOSE SLIPPERY BASTARDS CAN'T DODGE FOREVER!" Lord Astaroth ordered.

It was a rather frustrating battle for him so far due to his opponent being a bad match up overall for his magical bombardment focused troops.

The opponents had been elite aerial troops basically made to counter bombardment troops.

They were slowly winning simply due to overwhelming firing rate at this point, while Lord Astaroth was busy dealing with the very swift general opposing them. He just couldn't seem to land a decisive blow and his son seemed adamant about not moving until Tsufaame Leviathan had.

But then he suddenly saw a large, but familiar portal open up as over two hundred women walked out, following their leader.

"Show those fools how much more difficult our prey usually is." Heltana coldly ordered as she notched her arrow and signaled the begin of the opponent's despair as a hail of arrows precisely took down their targets.

-Back at the rear gate. House Azaroth vs. no one anymore (formerly Houses Barbatos and Sargatanas elite troops)

The Legions and there Generals were taking care of the few wounded they had while enjoying some food.

They were even able to enjoy themselves for bourse things finely started to come to a close when everyone could feel the power coming from the center of the city.

In that moment Lith opened portals for his followers, bringing them back to the group.

Lomr had some small wounds here and there but smiling like an idiot, Sigil had even more blood on himself, Horuth and Thillis were a bit tired but fine over all, while Heltana and her Huntresses were talking about who won some beats regarding getting the most kills or whatnot.

"This will be a good opportunity to see the power of the Satan-class. I'll be protecting everyone so it's up to you if you want to watch or not.

Should something unexpected happen I will be teleporting you all away forcibly however." Lith told them all.

None budged due to wanting to see what would happen next and because they trusted him.

Seeing this, Lith opened his translucent wings and flew up near the two leaders facing off as Leviathan glared at Ajuka while he looked completely uncaring.

Lith then channeled his [Space], creating a a dimensional barrier around the entire remains of the castle town. It was a nifty one too.

"Who are you and what did you do?" An angry Tsufaame asked.

"My name is Lith Azaroth and I just made a little barrier to stop the damage from this fight spread to too much." Lith lightly answered as she glared.

Without any warning she sent a similar blast of demonic power as when Ajuka asked for her surrender, but this time at Lith.

It never reached him as it simply entered a quick portal and another to send it back.

Tsufaame managed to block it in time, but her attack left some damage on her hand.

"An Abaddon trick!" She furiously growled.

"Technically. But I can do a lot more." Lith replied casually before looking at Ajuka, "isn't this your fight Commander?"

"I was simply curious about your claims of being able to handle her attacks." Ajuka calmly replied.

Lith knew it was to gauge his real strength, but that's hard to do when he's just messing around using one of the most useful Magic's against those who can't block them: portals.

"But he is correct. Your fight is with me Tsufaame Leviathan." He declared as he glared his own power.

Lith could feel the tremendous amount of demonic energy in him once he loosened the lid on it a bit, and it was plainly impressive. Worthy to be called a Transcendental Devil compared to the Satan-class strength the daughter of Leviathan emitted.

This got Tsufaame deadly serious as she understood that Ajuka's power was no mere rumors.

She immediately fired shot quick beams of demonic powers to buy herself a little time, only for them to be redirected and rendered harmless. What actually surprised the both of them was when the beams got in contact with the barrier, they headed back towards Tsufaame, causing her to panic slightly and dodge, resulting in four explosions going off below the two and massive new craters in the ground.

"Forgot to say that what tries to leave goes back to its owner." Lith casually mentioned as he floated high above the two. "So be careful with your aim."

That pissed off the Leviathan royally.

Vast amounts of water then swept through the ruins of the castle town and gathered under the Leviathan.

"Both of you will die!!" She yelled out as serpents made of water targeted them both as she shot water spears like it was raining them.

Unfortunately for her, Ajuka took control of everything she sent his way thanks to his Kankara Formula, turning her attacks into mist, simply making them just water again, or turning the attacks against their creator.

That was simply how overpowered the Kankara Formula was. It allows Ajuka to manipulate the phenomena that occur in the world by using his demonic powers to fill in the calculations of the natural phenomena. Meaning as long as he understood how what was happening mathematical to a decent degree, he could fill in the rest using demonic power and gains control of what was happening or what he wanted to happen.

(Not 100% sure if that's how it works, but I feel like it should have limits since Sirzechs was said to be the stronger of the two and it would be literally God-like as an ability.)

And while the two became more focused on each other, neither noticed that any attack sent his way simply went right through Lith. Some even went back towards Tsufaame because the reached the barrier, but she subconsciously forgot about the inactive threat and believed it was just Ajuka sending attacks back at her again.

As the battle dragged on Tsufaame realized that Ajuka was comfortably defending against he attacks and wasn't even striking back, which infuriated her.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHY WE ARE CALLED SEA SERPENTS OF THE END YOU BASTARD!" She yelled out as she began to transform into a massive snake-like dragon with azure scales.

As soon as she transformed massive amounts of water submerged the ruined town completely.

She then used her booster control over water to send an enormous amount of water weapons, serpents, beasts and blasts towards Ajuka, while firing blasts which could have wiped out armies if there wasn't at least a Satan-class blocking them. Ultimates simply had no place in front of them.

But it was all for naught as Ajuka impassively stopped or redirected every attack, wearing down the very aggressive Leviathan as she tried everything to defeat the bastard challenging her and her mother's prestige as the Satans and true devils.

She was one of the rulers of the Underworld and she would not be humiliated like this!

In one absolutely massive blast of power, which held almost everything she had left, she put it all on the line to kill the devil staring down on her.

But to her dismay, he was once again completely unharmed and not even seeming out of breath, while she was panting tiredly after all those extremely powerful attacks.

Make no mistakes about Tsufaame Leviathan, she is an absurdly power devil. If it wasn't for the four, now five, freaks who popped up in this generation with powers surpassing even her mother's generation, she would have been an unquestionable queen in the Underworld.

Her pure magic beams can level mountains and wipe out armies. Her water abilities can destroy cities effortlessly. Her Leviathan form could probably tail slap most devils into mush.

But she was simply outclassed from the very beginning.

"Do you surrender?" Ajuka calmly asked the exhausted Tsufaame who suddenly transformed back into her usual appearance.

Most likely due to not having the demonic power to sustain her Leviathan form any longer.

"I, daughter of Leviathan, shall never surrender to the likes of you! You scum!" She venomously answered as she would die before yielding.

"Then I'm sorry. But the Underworld doesn´t need you." Ajuka simply responded as he initiated his first attack of the fight, erasing her from existence with a powerful beam of his own.

With that the Battle of Gusion Castle Town ended with a total Anti-Satan faction victory.

What came after was celebrating the victory.

And what it celebration it was even if the battle was a short one.