54 Ch. 54 Opening Day pt.3

"…What do you think?" Sirzechs finally asked his friend after the last match.

"The situation has changed, but now i understand why Lith is so confident in this fight." Ajuka answered seriously as he began calculating the possibilities and angles of this newest revelation.

"Do you think Serafall knew?" Sirzechs asked with doubts towards his fellow Satan.

"I don't think so. Scáthach said so herself, she only just achieved her [True Form]. And Lith's reaction showed one of genuine surprise and happiness for her, so it was new even for him." Ajuka answered before signing. "But it looks like Grayfia won't be holding the title of Strongest Queen anymore."

"Is it bad that I'm more afraid of her trying to become a Super Devil than the fact that we now have at least two new ones likely upsetting the balance of things?" The married man asked with a weird look on his face.

"You chose to marry her." Ajuka responded without any sympathy. "Although I doubt this will affect too many things overtly thanks to Lith separating himself from the Underworld and becoming 'Neutral'. Some nobles will likely try to do some stupid things, but until Lith acts no one should tempt things."

"*Sigh* Let's hope so. But at least now I can rest a bit easier knowing the risks for this 'Neutral Ground' has diminished. We only need to see the results of Lith's fights now." Sirzechs finally said as they turned their eyes back to the stage.

•Heaven Box

"Sister, did you know about this?" Michael asked with some seriousness.

This revelation was potentially dangerous for Heaven, but knowing that Lith Azaroth, the king and lover of the god-slayer, was a close friend of Gabriel reduced his worries significantly.

He had seen genuine care for her during their meetings and the Satan Leviathan was a true friend to his admittedly lonely sister, hence Michael chose to simply believe in the good and honesty they had showed him even as devils.

"No, but I'm happy for her to have such a breakthrough. Scáthach has been training very hard for this." Gabriel gently answered as she remembered some training sessions she's had to learn how to fight better.

They were very harsh for her and they sometimes almost made her cry, but everyone had been very supportive about her efforts and she wouldn't give up and disappoint her closest friends. That's how she knew Scáthach. She was a very tough woman, but Gabriel admired her for all the knowledge and experience she had to share as she taught.

"Then it would seem her hard work has paid off. This also means the Neutral Ground now has a much greater chance for success. Vidar Odinson is by no means a weak god, only below his brother, father and Fenrir within his pantheon, and such a defeat will create many waves." Michael said with a nod.

"Yes, but I wholeheartedly believe they will be more than ready to safeguard these lands." Gabriel replied with absolute belief in the ones she cared for. "You also can't forget the goddesses Lith has under his wing either."

"Ah, it would seem that I have forgotten such things in my shocked state. I've heard that he recently recruited Quetzalcoatl on top of the infamous Gorgon sisters and Ereshkigal, and although not all extremely powerful or combat oriented, it is quite the deterrent on its own." Michael commented in understanding.

"They are all very nice. I would love for everyone to meet." Gabriel said with a warm smile at the thought.

"I see no harm in that." Was the answer as Michael gave his sister a headpat,

'Not as good as Lith, but still nice.' Thought the archangel as the siblings just enjoyed some idle talk.

•Fallen Box

"Well that was a surprise." Azazel simply said, but he had been expecting something like this because this state, which he had received reports about during the Devil civil war, was one of the only ways he could see Lith Azaroth winning against Thor.

Sure he wasn't expecting Scáthach the god-slayer to do that per say, but he was certain she had enough cards to match her opponents regardless of her new form.

The only other thing he thought of which could even the playing field for a powerful half-devil would be a Sacred Gear.

Which it still could be, but he would have to wait, and from Scáthach's words during the fight, he could guess which one it was.

"I think I get why you said to not underestimate them. We don't have anyone who could give a god of that level such a beating and she's the second-in-command who admitted to being weaker." Penemune said in disbelief. (Changed to P due to it apparently being the name which fandom wiki got wrong as even wiki page says Penemune.)

"*Chuckle* Yeah. He's got quite the group of monsters there. Demi-gods, dragon, god-slayer, half-youkai, Dhampir, a girl rumored to be a blood relative, an ex-Saint currently feared by the church, and a pair of super geniuses of the mind and sword. That kid knew what he was doing." Azazel laid out with brief calculative look. "And they still have lots of room to grow."

"Isn't this dangerous?" The secretory cadre asked with weariness.

"Not for us. The kid was pretty straightforward regarding his 'conditions' for our peaceful cooperation. We don't mess with his things and we are all golden." Was the rather relaxed answer.

"I'm going to need to whip a few annoying ones then. And not whip a few more. Chain down our mad dog. Maybe schedule that neutering I've had prepared for Azazel all these years." Penemune muttered as she thought about all the problematic people in Grigori.

"Hey! I can't make a new one of those yet! I them it to woo my beautiful Da Vinci-chan and father isn't around to fix it." Azazel hurriedly said once he heard her.

"Then you better at least not piss off the potentially extremely powerful being who is protective enough about his family to erase two whole noble houses." Was the coldly warning.

"No need to tell twice. That kid's scary enough without being angry." Azazel quietly replied.

-Lith POV

"That was… unexpected but incredibly impressive. I did not know devils had such a state." Thor said to me with a rather serious face.

Although his brother was not in a life threatening situation, Scáthach being far too skilled to accidentally go overboard, Vidar's appearance after being teleported out of the arena was rather gruesome due to the numerous stab wounds containing anti-divine properties.

"It is something which has only become possible after the fall of the Original Satans and Him. Sirzechs was the first recorded case and this stage was dubbed the Super Devil-class for exceeding our racial limits." I explained while omitting various other bits.

"And now your Queen reaches such heights. It makes me wonder how strong that makes you Lith Azaroth." Thor said with passion burning in his eyes. "Before I thought this as a game. A pastime to sate my boredom and desires for battles and celebration. But now, now I will test your mettle."

"*Chuckle* You will soon learn that it is not I testing my mettle, but yourself being used to declare my position in this world of ours." I replied with mild arrogance and complete confidence in myself.

"This we shall decide on the battlefield. For now we role." Thor responded as we both rolled our dice.

"What are the odds? The opposite of the previous round, with Lith Azaroth rolling 3 and Thor Odinson getting 6. This means another 9." Apollon announced to everyone.

"But this also means Lord Thor is in trouble due to not being able to field neither himself nor his son." Serafall commented with a bit too much peppiness.

Back in my peerage's area I just looked at the many expectant faces.

"Well, it's highly likely that Thor will field the rest of his available forces beside his son due to them perfectly fitting in the 9 allocated points. That means the wolves and Göndul." I opened up with.

"That does match with his character profile." Da Vinci said as she put away her portable terminal. "I would say he just wants to have the highest chances of fighting at this point. So he will cut down on the things which will stand in his way of that, then leaving him and his son as the only options. This way the both of you would need to re-roll your dice until 10, 11 or 12 comes up."

"Although a bit too logical and cold for those words to actually be accurate, he would do this. Simply to fight sooner." Agreed Scáthach would had been fully healed by myself and Medea.

"Either way, he won't be splitting those beasties up at the very least." Ciri commented.

"And that's exactly why I'm sending our two monster experts for this one. Mana, Ciri, you two are up." I declared.

"It is the first time I hunt down such a big puppy. I'll try not to be too rough with it." Mana replied with a bit of a predatory smile.

"Right then. I wonder if I could get enough of its fur for a new cloak?" Ciri wondered without much worry.

"And Medea will go with you in case Thor really sends out Göndul. It'll be a good chance to really use your magic." I added to which the three nodded in understanding.

"So many things to try. Maybe that series of Onmyoji curses Tamamo showed me would be nice? No, I'll stick to witchcraft a bit more to test out the applicability against a fellow magic user." The clearly excited Medea mumbled which, with her hood on, really made her seem like an evil witch at times.

But with that, all three lovely ladies went up to the stage filled with confidence and determination.

-Battlefield, 3rd person POV

As was predicted by Lith and his peerage, the three chosen by him now faced two large wolves with golden horns coming out of their shoulders and an elderly woman with a spear-like staff.

"We'll take care of the mutts, you take the granny." Ciri quickly said as they all knew their roles.

Following her words she blinked above the dark grey Sköll while also opening a portal beneath it before bursting downwards and smashing the pommel of her blade into the wolf's head to force it through.

The two disappeared out of sight before even Göndul could properly react as runic circles appeared before her to attack Ciri, but she and her target were gone before she could do anything.

The retired Valkyrie then heard the sound of lighting, then a resounding explosion before she finally saw Hati now flying away and Mana clad in black lightning standing where it should have been.

Mana gave a teasing wink and disappeared thanks to her tremendous speed in pursuit of her quarry.

"Well now that's just rude. Young people these days." The elderly magic mistress huffed that both young looking girls just destroyed any chance at possible teamwork between the wolves and for her supportive abilities to assist.

"Our apologies Miss Göndul, but having the three of us working together would have been much worse for your group. Lith also gave us orders to display individual might as a form of showcase as well. It's nothing personal." Medea told her with an apologetic smile before brandishing her her staff.

"Clearly this means you believe you can take me on eh? Well let this old lady show you a thing or two. In might not be as good as that Queen of yours, but I can still kick your ass." The elderly woman brashly said as a dozen magic circles formed around her.

"Honestly you feel probably feel a bit lucky you weren't matched with those two. They're a pain to fight one-on-one for any magically focused fighters like us." Was Medea's replied as she slammed her staff on the ground and a large-scale magic circle appeared on the ground before forming a dome as the place filled with miasma.

Göndul did not wait any longer before sending concentrates blasts of ice and fire towards her opponent by the dozen, forming a sound akin to heavy artillery fire with each 'hit', whether on her foe or the ground.

"Quite the dangerous barrage~." A playful voice sounded from a whisper in Göndul's ear, causing her to immediately activate her pre-set defenses to conjure powerful ice spikes to impale the woman who managed to sneak up on her.

"Fufufu~ how dangerous~." Medea playful said from her original position.

"A witch. I should have known from your name." Göndul stated as she had a few guesses over what just happened.

To her there were two major options: illusions or medium based teleportation.

Either the woman before her was using the miasma to help her evade and sneak up on her using life-like illusions, or she could teleport using it to mask the traces of such magic.

"Amongst other things, but I am indeed primarily a witch." Medea replied with a tap of her staff on the ground.

A moment later dozens of magic circles appeared all around, from which great tree roots sprouted towards Göndul as they attempted to bind her.

Surprisingly enough, to old lady began to nimbly dodge the roots as she swatted them away using fire and ice.

"Well that's enough of that." She declared with a huff. "Muspelheim's Flames."

With the elderly woman in the center, a blazing red runic circle briefly appeared before a massive twister of flames burst out and quickly turned the roots to ash, only being restrained by the field Medea had conjured at the start.

"If you react so violently to my little prank, I wonder how bad it will be with this?" The purple haired witch casually asked from directly above Göndul as she sat on her hovering staff elegantly.

The old valkyrie's eyes widened as her instincts rung out, finding hundreds of smaller magic circles before a massive one above them.

'Machia Hecatic Graea'

Göndul began to urgently focus her magic to create proper defenses and to move as quickly as possible under the barrage of purple light beams raining from the sky.

Each of those beams was at the power of an Ultimate-class due to the whole thing being a complex set of power Gathering, distribution, focusing and firing circles. The massive one gathers, then channels it through the distribution arrays, then the magic power gets concentrated by the focusing circles and then fired with target tracking arrays.

There are many nuances and little details involved in this Medea original, but that was the simplified explanation for the overwhelmingly power barrage.

A barrage Göndul was having a hard time surviving at this rate due to any preliminary defensive formations she managed to create ending up shattered.

But finally, after a long few minutes for the elderly Asgardian, it ended to reveal a rather hagard Göndul heavily breathing and with damaged robes.

"That was very nasty, but not exactly fit for one-on-one matches or you would have taken me out already." She commented with some admiration for such a destructive spell.

"Fufu~ Thank you for the compliment." Medea said with a smile which reminded Göndul of a certain bastard god for a moment.

"Thor Odinson Pawn, retired.

Thor Odinson Pawn, retired." Came the two rapid announcements as Mana and Ciri somehow both decided to end their fights nearly at the same time.

The two pawns then joined their third looking as prestige as they had at the beginning.

"Not done Medea?" Ciri asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The battle is already over, she just doesn't know it yet." Medea replied with a borderline evil grin.

"Ah, I see. You used that fog." Mana commented in understanding.

"Fufu~ Indeed." The witch confirmed.

"Wha-?" Göndul wanted to question that statement, but suddenly everything started spinning before she completely lost consciousness and was teleported out.

"Thor Odinson Bishop, retired." Apollon then announced.

"Lith Azaroth Peerage wins again! Way to go on the beat down girls!" Serafall said as the trio was teleported out.

As they returned victorious, the audience was still observing the domination put on display by all three pawns of Lith.

Ciri was almost a blur even under the slowed perception shown, also teleporting constantly as she turned her opponent into a helpless prey. People were pitying Sköll as a helpless beast being bullied as Ciri collected the wolf's fur and the one of its shoulder horns when she displayed her tremendous cutting ability with her sword, Swallow.

The girl was quite happy with her future cloak materials.

Meanwhile Mana wasn't even fighting, just using Hati as target practice while the wolf desperately ran from its Hunter. The whole thing ended when she expertly shot the wolf right on the skull with enough power to cause the teleportation but not kill it or give permanent injury.

An astounding display of marksmanship and skill.

As for Medea's fight, it was only Serafall explained that the real danger of her fight wasn't the arial barrage, but actually the miasmic mist she conjured using witchcraft in the beginning that Göndul assumed was nothing more than a cover for sneaky attacks.

It would have been fine for the Valkyrie to ignore it since she placed proper defenses on her body against possible poisons and the likes thanks to her past experience, but the problem was that those defenses broke during Medea's attacks and she had stopped paying attention to the mist she was constantly breathing in.

So when the barrage ended and the others finished their fights, Medea said the truth that she had already won. Göndul's entire magic was in complete disarray and the mist was free to shut down most of her body, activating the teleportation function.

It was a good show for misdirection and witchcraft over pure firepower.

"Well that was another resounding showing for the Azaroth Peerage." Apollon said with a wry smile. "But now they must face the two remaining powerhouses of the Asgardians, Thor and Magni themselves."

"That also means there's going to have to be more than once dice role to determine which one will enter the battlefield first." Serafall added, "But it doesn't matter because my hubby will win!"

"Let us find out." Was the sun God's only response as he had gotten used to the rather biased commentary.

-Lith POV

"I did expect that those pups wouldn't be a match for your peerage after prior battles, but that was simply humiliating for Loki as he basically forced them onto us to 'assure our victory.'" Thor said with a grin. "Hahaha! I can't wait to rub it into his face! They were completely manhandled by those two!"

"Fenrir would have been a much better challenge, but I still believe my girls would have pulled through." I said with a smile over Thor's amusement.

"Aye. But that beast could not be taken with just pawns and I would choose my brother over Loki's spawn as my second any day." Thor replied with a nod of acknowledgment over the wolf's strength. "But I did not expect that old woman to be tricked by your witch. That was a surprise."

"Medea us quite proud of her witchcraft. She prefers more subtly over pure firepower, even if she isn't lacking in the latter." I said to him.

"Taking pride in one's craft is important to reach higher. But now, no amount of trickery shall help against myself and my son." Thor replied before taking his dice in hand. "Let us see which of us will fight."

I answered by taking my die and rolling.

The first roll was a bust, so were the next 8, which made Thor rather frustrated because he really wanted a 12. The god was regretting being so strong and having such a high rating the more we rolled.

Until finally.

"Argh! So close!" He yelled out.

"Lith Azaroth rolled a 6 and Thor Odinson a 5, meaning everyone beside Thor can participate using the allocated 11 points." Apollon said with a bit of excitement as the second Asgardian god was going to fight.

"I guess ours will be the last fight then." I simply said before walk away from the frustrated thunderer.

"So who will be fighting the son of Thor?" Scáthach asked without any real intention of doing so.

She had her fight, even if no one but her really saw it.

"I'm thinking two this time." I answered with some thought.

"I thought you desired an honorable fight?" Diana asked with a slight frown.

She did like to uphold her honor and word after all.

"I am. I just want to give Da Vinci a chance to test her toys and then let Musashi have the real fight." I answered, enlightening everyone.

"Oh? I actually get a chance to play?" Da Vinci asked with some degree of surprise.

"Yup. See how you do against a completely physical god. This will be great data for you later, and once you're done Musashi can have her fun." I replied with a smile.

"I shall return victorious and protect Da Vinci well my lord!" Musashi declared with glimmers in her eyes.

The sword mistress had desperately wanted to fight, but had been holding back to follow my orders like a 'proper samurai and Knight'. I wasn't going to be cruel and let one of my most battle loving members not fight.

"I know. Show them how powerful overwhelming skill truly is in front of pure strength." I told her with a grin.

"Osu!" Was the simple but spirited response as the two girls went towards the platform.

"Oh? This is new. It would seem Lith Azaroth is sending two members to face Magni Thorson. Is he not as confident as before?" Apollon questioned to heighten the tension.

"Don't speak nonsense! Just one of them could take on that brute! Hubby is probably sending Da Vinci-chan because she wanted to test some things and Musashi as the real fighter." Serafall responded rather accurately.

'It would seem my wife still knows me very.' I thought before i turned my eyes to the stage.

-Battlefield (3rd person POV)

"It looks like that devil realizes I am no weakling if he let go of his honor and refused to face me himself." Harrumphed the bulky god at the sight of his so-called opponents.

"Hmm~ Hm~ hmm~." Da Vinci didn't care for him as she was currently preparing a few things while humming.

"Although I am disappointed to find myself against a skill-less fighter, maybe his body will be more difficult to cut." Musashi said to herself.

She was more than happy to fight and would follow her lord's command without a doubt, but she did prefer contests of skill over brute strength. She'd heard many things in her 'pilgrimages', while challenging great masters in the mundane and supernatural world, and while many Norse gods favor brute strength in many things, they still generally hold great skill they have forged through battle if not some standardized styles, but Magni Thorson was not one of these people. He only favored using his body's natural strength and toughness to overwhelm his foes.

"Are you two mortals ignoring me?" Magni asked in near disbelief.

"Here we go! Ready!" Da Vinci announced with a proud smile.

"That's good Da Vinci-dono." Musashi commented as she took a step away from the crazy inventor.

From her point of view anyway.

Musashi had no problems with the woman, but every time she talks to her, her brain overheats and something usually explodes.

"You dare ignore a true god!?" A now angry Magni roared before charging at the perceived 'insult'.

Not looking at all bothered by the charging juggernaut, Da Vinci casually threw a spherical device with a purple-ish orb in it at the god, who dismissively swatted it aside.

Too bad as soon as he touched it the thing activated and set afloat like gravity suddenly stopped affecting him. The worse thing was that his great forward momentum was still in effect and he just sailed above both women, only stopping when he ran face first into one of the rocky outcrops.

"Looks like my anti-gravity bombs work, but I will need some sort of containment measure so the enemy doesn't just float away." Da Vinci said as she analyzed the performance of her 'bomb'.

"What in Hel?" Magni said as he crawled out of the hole he created.

"Yoohoo~ Big boy! Want to try this one?" Da Vinci asked as she deployed a rather large canon out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Was the only confused response from a baffled Magni as he looked at something he had never seen before.

"Fire~!!" The inventor cheerfully cried as the canon emitted a blueish-white light and let out a massive roar as it did exactly as its creator instructed.

"This Bit-!!" Magni yelled before crossing his arms and receiving the fierce canon blast.

Now, for most gods, especially a physically powerful one like Magni, weapons below divine usually mean next to nothing.

The problem was that Da Vinci and Lith had been developing quite the powerful set of weaponry. Something powerful enough to possibly wound gods and destroy cities.

Of course Lith knew of the issues surrounding the creation of weaponry of this caliber, hence why he and Da Vinci were the only ones who even knew how to make this level of it and why they had severely limited its creation. So far only Da Vinci actually had this degree of firepower and along with the 'Black Pearl', Anne Bonny and Mary Read's specially created ship.

"Hmmm, looks like it wasn't enough to really hurt him~." Da Vinci stated with little care as she had clearly seen her target's state while receiving her precious canon's attack.

She was rather proud about making such powerful things using her entire knowledge.

"You would likely defeat our foe with much greater ease using your magic Da Vinci-dono. Even Scáthach-dono finds your magical abilities far more troublesome." Musashi said with a shake of her head and a wry smile.

"But I have to field test my babies~." Da Vinci responded in a whinny voice.

"Yes, yes, I know Da Vinci-dono." Musashi replied as she kept a close eye on the rapidly approaching wild beast named Magni Thorson.

The poor god was absolutely furious at being blown away twice while not being taken seriously at all. In fact, he was feeling humiliated at having been hurt.

"Raaaaaagh!!!" The raging god of strength roared as he charged forward.

Seeing this Da Vinci smiled brightly and deployed two giant robotic arms from behind her, brought them upwards and smashed down with a double hammer fist on Magni.

The enraged god channeled his divinity throughout his body, taking whatever the woman brought out rather seriously, and raised his arms defensively. But those giant arms were a faint, disassembling as Da Vinci appeared in front of Magni's now exposed stomach and reassembling on her right arm in the shape of a great pile-driver.

"Got you again~." She said in a singsong manner before the arm activated and once again sent the god flying, but with a large hole in his stomach this time.

That peculiar attack was a result of Da Vinci studying how divinity works in various individuals and the passive and active defense it brings, alongside those who can overwhelm it.

She even asked advice from Hephaestus during his visits to understand more about divine level craftsmanship.

The effort, research, trials and errors, alongside the immeasurable studying put in by a genius polymath of Da Vinci's level is not to be underestimated.

"As frustrating to fight as always." Musashi quietly commented at the nostalgic sight of a body being sent flying.

"How mean Musashi-chan~. This is for science and magic!" Da Vinci complained playfully. "But it's fine. I only have one last thing to test out and then you can have at him."

"Oh? And what is this last malicious device you have concocted?" Musashi asked with some trauma regarding these devices, while feeling that their opponent was becoming more of a kindred spirit by the moment.

"My satellite laser canon!" Da Vinci proudly answered with a puffed out chest and stars in her eyes.

"*Sigh* it would seem I will not be having a true fight then." A now disappointed Musashi said. "If any."

This last one was actually the most difficult to get ready mid-battle due to necessitating a great amount of focus to assemble on the spot using her sacred gear, Unknown Dictator. This Satellite Canon was also the most complex and powerful combination of magic and technology Da Vinci had created so far.

Every time she disassembled and reassembled something, Da Vinci had to carefully piece together the enchanted and runic components like a massive 3D puzzle which borders on 4D to make sure things even work. And currently the Satellite was her limit.

Although this canon had various restrictions.

For one Da Vinci needs to properly focus, then manually calculate everything to properly Fire it. She also is the one aiming the thing. So she hasn't reached the level where the canon is truly usable in a one-on-one fight due to this.

The canon also has a limited area of effect and range, so it can be dodged by most truly strong beings if they don't care about the surroundings or possible others.

It also needs a good amount of time to charge and cool down.

But even then, it can be considered one of the strongest things in Azaroth in terms of pure firepower.

As one-shot as it is during a fight.

Good thing this is just a field test.

"I'LL KILL YOU TWO HARLOTS FOR THIS HUMILIATION!!!" A hate filled Magni shouted from the air as he had apparently hulk jumped his way back.

He didn't exactly look great at the moment due to his rage filled expression, bloodshot eyes, burnt arms now covered in golden gauntlets, the big hole in his stomach which he had somehow stopped bleeding from, being covered in dirt from making three separate holes in the rocky terrain with his body, and still only wearing a loincloth.

"Well that makes things much easier~!" Da Vinci said as an set of enormous magic circles lit up way above them. "Aaaaannnnnnd… Fire!"

The first canon's might couldn't even begin to compare to what fell down from above, with everything turning blueish-white as the beam impacted the airborne god and brought him down to earth with what was likely the most powerful blast of pure magic to ever occur.

Sure some of the most powerful gods could exert more firepower, but that involved divinity or the use of conceptual powers, not pure magical energy like this.

Magni on the other hand, who was experiencing this attack, felt as if he was receiving his father's mightiest blow, doing everything he could to survive.

By the time the blast ended, he was completely spent. His body bleeding from many orifices, dark burns rendering his arms limp, loincloth nearly gone and no longer having any hair.

"Welp, I'm done~. Your turn Musa-chan~." Da Vinci said cheerfully as she had gotten very useful data and was more excited to go back to her workshop.

"You could have finished the fight properly Da Vinci-dono. Especially after doing so much to your foe." Musashi replied as she felt this was not honorable to disrespect the opponent so much and then not finish them off properly.

"But this wasn't a fight. This was a test run." Da Vinci answered with little care. "The only reason he is still standing is because of two Rook pieces and I'm pretty low on energy after powering that blast, so your turn."

"*Sigh* Thor-sama, do you wish to forfeit or should I strike?" Musashi asked aloud so the enemy's king could hear her.

She didn't really want to do a 'killing blow'. But seeing no answer Musashi disappeared from her spot for a moment before she reappeared next to Da Vinci.

'Moment's greeting.' She inwardly called out as her blade 'clicked' and blood erupted from Magni's chest before teleporting out.

"Thor Odinson Rook, Retired." Apollon announced before the two girls were brought back.

-Lith POV

'Looks like Da Vinci really played with him too much.' I thought as I watched Magni being completely helpless.

He wasn't a weak god, but without being overwhelmingly powerful, he met his worst match to be against Da Vinci.

A pure brawler with nothing beyond strength would be beyond easy to manipulate as she wish.

Da Vinci is a polymath in the truest sense, meaning she had an extremely broad and deep pool of knowledge, including strategy and psychology. Just because she wasn't a 'leader', doesn't mean she doesn't know how to look at a battlefield nor truly fight.

Over the centuries she has learnt more than just magic and science, also learning everything she could from my peerage, the experts I brought in, the magic academies, the guilds and military. And Scáthach helped her bring all that knowledge together and taught Da Vinci how to use it properly in a fight.

Every move from Da Vinci, even if it seems random or careless, is carefully calculated.

Use her personality and attitude to destabilize her opponent psychologically, press the mental weaknesses to trigger favorable reactions, carefully work out weaknesses using attacks, test durability and physical specs through observation and known variables, and once an opening is shown go for the kill.

Da Vinci might look like she was playing around, which she admittedly was to a decent degree, but that didn't mean she was careless nor stoped being fully aware of her opponent.

It was just that Magni Thorson is somewhere between high and mid class in term of a god due to only having a good body but no technique nor magic to support it. His mentality didn't help, nor his temper or arrogance. The only thing making him a high-class god would be his gauntlets, but that is just through brute strength. The only reason he was actually able to tank something even Odin wouldn't want to was because of the two rook pieces inside of him further boosting his physique alongside his gauntlets.

"Good work out there." I simply said to the skipping Da Vinci and slightly sulking Musashi.

"Thanks~!" Was a cheerful response.

"It was my duty, my lord." The other one trying to hide its disappointment and ruined day.

"Don't be like that Musashi. I'll tell you what, we can have a drinking and eating contest tonight and a proper spar during the weekend.

"Do you mean it, my lord?!" The incredibly hopeful samurai girl asked with sparkling eyes.

"Of course." I told her with a smile.

"Yatta!" The now excited and slightly drooling girl exclaimed.

•Fallen Box (3rd Person POV)

"I think I'm in love." Azazel said with a goofy smile he couldn't suppress after that display.

'Why does a lecherous and manipulative scumbag like him gets to fall in love and I'm still single? Why do I have to be surrounded by weirdos and perverts who all ask for me to step on them instead maybe a nice dinner? And why are all the men around me near useless deadbeats or constantly married?!' Penemune internally cried as she felt intense jealousy and cursed whoever was making this happen.

-Back To Lith

"Sorry about Da Vinci. She doesn't mean any insults towards you and yours, that's just one of the ways she fights." I said to Thor as we came together again.

"I believe I might need to thank you instead of feeling anger towards you and yours." The god replied with honesty.

"Why is that?" I asked curiously.

It's not everyday a godly being gets beaten up and then their parent comes to say thank you after all.

"For the last few decades, Magni has been becoming progressively more arrogant and closer to how his uncle behaves. Sif has been rather vocal about this and I have tried to 'hammer' some proper respect into the boy, but this only made him believe his thoughts regarding gods being the absolute superior beings and whatnot were correct. Hence this harsh lesson being quite opportune." He explained with a neutral expression regarding his son's behavior and worries.

"Ah, understood. I feared the exact same thing happening to my son and daughter due to their innate power, so I started on ethics and morales rather early while showing them the world and how those 'lower' than us are more important than most in power believe." I responded with an understanding nod.

"Maybe I should have listened to my lady back then, but I was too proud of my son to see her views and stopped her." Thor admitted with a surprisingly thoughtful look.

"It happens to us all. I think it helped me that I had so many supportive people around me to help make sure things went well." I said to him.

"Aye, but my problem is that some people around my son might have been too supportive, but this for me to fix. For now we both know what comes." The Thunder god finally said with a look of determination as his worries for his son were replaced with a desire for battle.

"True. Let us go then." I replied as we ignored the dice and both went to the teleportation zone.

"Would you look at this folks! Both Kings have decided to end this fight in a one-on-one confrontation!" Apollon announced excitedly.

"Go kick his ass hubby!!!" Squealed Serafall.

"This means that whoever comes out the victor here, wins the entire competition! So even though Lith Azaroth's peerage has shown a dominating performance, Thor Odinson may still come out the victorious!" Apollon then explained since Sera was too busy yelling supportive things and nearly going into horny mode to further 'motivate' me.

-Battlefield (3rd person POV)

"I see you don't have your famous hammer out. Taking things easy?" Lith said to the god as they faced off.

"There aren't many chances to enjoy battles anymore, thus I must savor this one as much as I can." Thor answered as he readied himself.

"Let's see how far you can push me while savoring this fight then." Lith replied as he took his own stance.

"Come then Lith Azaroth!" The god yelled as we both charged forward.

Thor opened up with a right hook to the head, which was ignored as Lith slipped through a sent a quick body blow to the ribs using his left. This strike sent out a powerful shockwave, rocking the entire field, but Thor only grunted while sending out a knee due to our close distance, which instead of dodging our blocking, I dropped towards it and narrowly shifted out of its path as it caused a great amount of wind to follow its wake, performing the re-taekwondo lowest kick to sweep the god's stabilizing leg. And to his credit, Thor used his knee's momentum to flip backwards and send out his own kick as I was standing back up, forcing us to separate.

That exchange happened faster than observable for most of the world, but those who could see it knew where the skill advantage lay in a moment.

Thor might be a mighty warrior, but Lith was an impossibly skilled martial artist on top of his powerful body, and that was making all the difference.

Each of those blows would break mountains, cause earthquakes and tsunamis on earth, but Lith was just better at using that force and his body while Thor fought mostly through experience.

The biggest problem for Thor was the lack of true training. Yes the god had certainly trained before, but that was mostly for battlefield wrestling, to learn how to properly use his insane might and to brawl.

He was born too strong to need to learn things like martial arts, because martial arts are essentially the admission that one was 'weak'. It is the path the 'weak' take to overcome the 'strong'. So people like Lith, Scáthach or Musashi, who put incredibly importance on their skills which allows them to fight the 'strong' as the 'weak', are nearly insurmountable when challenged by those who aren't the 'strong' to them anymore.

And that is what those who truly understood this level of battle immediately understood after they saw this first exchange and the dozen other which followed.

Thor, the God of Thunder and member of the Top Ten strongest beings on Earth, was being completely pummeled as Lith smoothly dodged, slipped by or redirected his blows before delivering devastating counters or performing his own attacks. He was treating Thor as if a simple hooligan challenging a master.

To be completely fair, Thor had landed a few hits on his opponent, but those were because of his extensive experience letting him act without thinking, not that he thinks much in battle anyway, or by making some sort of mutually damaging move.

And as this battle raged on, everything around the rumbling duo was breaking as if it was glass and sonic booms occurred with every movement.

"To think a Devil has managed to obtain such a powerful body! TRULY, THIS IS EXCITING!" The Thunder god crazily yelled in battle lust.

He was looking great with a broken nose, busted lip, dark bruises on his exposed arms and face, and a few gashes from when his foe used spear or blade hand techniques, but he was smiling like this was the best day ever.

Lith on the other hand, he had a few bruises under his clothes and a bloody nose, but not much else due to either minimizing any impact, redirecting the force of the blows through himself or into the ground, or using a recreated martial move called the Niko Style Adamantine Kata: Indestructible. His expression had a mildly exasperated smile, but he was calm nonetheless as he confronted his foe.

It took a few more clashes before Thor finally broke off from the engagement with a satisfied smile.

"Ahhh, that was both enjoyable and endlessly frustrating." He said with a wide smile that had a few missing teeth.

"True, but you are the most durable punching bag I have ever come across. To think i only broke a few of your ribs after hitting you with a kick which opened a rift to the dimensional gap for a minute there." Lith replied feeling rather satisfied for having gone all out purely using his body and no support for the first time in a long time.

"Hahaha! Let us go beyond then!" He yelled out as his divinity manifested in electric blue as it sparked around.

"Agreed." Lith replied with a serene smile as something shocking happened.

An absolutely demonic black aura burst out of his body before wrapping around him.

This was something none had seen before, but those who knew senjutsu and touki saw something impossible and mortifying, an aura built on all the 'negativity' found in natural energy. Something which all senjutsu users must always fear and respect or be turned into rampaging beasts due it, was being used by a devil.

If it wasn't for the fact that Lith was not turning into a rampaging monster intent on slaughtering everything, then they would have yelled, begged, pleaded for this match to end immediately so they could kill him for the sake of the world.

And the fact that Lith wasn't becoming a monster, was what baffled, shocked, intrigued, and mortified any present who understood.

Of course if Lith heard them being so pathetic he would tell them to feel deeper into his touki to actually understand his aura, instead of just the surface level.

You see, during training his touki, Lith had thought about various possibilities to improve his strength further so his body could keep up with his power. His answer was the natural energy which so many feared due to its taint, as it caused those who are not skilled or careful enough to go mad.

He theorized that as a being of sin and 'negative' energy himself, Lith should be able to find a way to properly synchronize the 'bad' parts of natural energy to his own, then slowly using it to refine his body and release the 'leftovers', which in this case was 'good' natural energy.

Although this path offered greater risks and was essentially impossible if one didn't have naturally 'negative' energy like Devil power, and needed long and steady effort, it allowed Lith to continuously improve his body by simply breathing.

(Lith Technically invented a cultivation style body refinement technique. I did mention him starting this back a few centuries ago.)

So as a result of using this method he created, Lith's Touki always has an incredibly 'negative' layer of natural energy which hadn't been refined yet, but under it was likely to be the purest and most potent natural energy anywhere.

Lith has actually been doing this for so long and has gotten so powerful that he needed to start bringing 'negativity' from the human world in order to not essentially purify the Underworld's energy too much that it would start feeling weird to devils.

But with this, a god clad in lightning and Devil clad in darkness, clashed once more at speeds far beyond even what most gods could truly follow and with power capable of rocking the world.

At this point Lith was actually having to help maintain the barrier around them in order to have it not shatter and to stop the dimensional gap holes they kept making.

Thor was too distracted by the blood pumping fight to notice.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! YES! LET US FIGHT LIKE THE GODS OF OLD!!" Thor ecstatically shouted as he was punched in the face again, only to immediately counter with a Spartan kick.

"To do that you would need to take out the hammer quickly or they will stop us due to our fight pushing the limits of this space." Lith responded as he spit out some blood from a good punch Thor had landed.

"Can you handle it?" The god simply asked.

"You know that form Scáthach took while fighting your brother?" I asked in return, to which he nodded. "Well I've had mine for a few hundred years now."

The Savage grin on Thor's face was impressive once he heard that, deciding to hold out his right hand, summoning what was one of the most powerful weapons in existence. Its mere copy had the power to let Issei seal away Loki.

And with its appearance, Thor's presence and power jumped upwards drastically.

In response, Lith revealed his true form to all as his body became akin to a living galaxy while his glowing green eyes were an infinite flow as one spun clockwise and the other counter clockwise.

"What a mysterious form." Thor commented at the transformation.

"The form one takes varies depending on the concepts grasped." Lith answered as his voice seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere at the same time.

"Interesting, but I do hope this form is more than just for show." Thor said with a serious nod. "Here I come!"

And with his hammer, which Lith knew could crush space from the sheer power it emitted, he approached.

Lith couldn't affect the space or time near Thor due to his immense power and divinity forming a natural domain, but that certainly didn't stop Lith from affecting himself as he fast forwarded himself and use his [Space] to drastically increase his own mass while coating his fist with [Space] before meeting Thor's hammer for a contest of might.

Lith knew he could defeat Thor by fighting smart and using the immense advantages [Space/Time] brought to his mobility and long range firepower, but he was here to prove a point.

So with a speed nearing light thanks to speeding up his already insane speed and mass bordering a star's, Lith brought his fist against the legendary hammer.

The impact it caused could not be understated.

Even while in a pocket dimension reinforced by many powerful entities from the Underworld, visiting gods and Lith himself, the Underworld shook.

Not just the layer where devils and fallen reside, but all of the strata shook, as even some evidence of the clash were detectable on Earth.

And the victor of that clash, was Lith himself as the god was sent flying far faster than he ever could on his own.

Although it wasn't without a cost as Lith had one less arm at the moment, which he simply regained by reversing his physical time a bit.

Thor was actually much worse.

The impact of what Lith did was beyond powerful. That attack would let him possibly wound the two great dragons above all others in this world. And as such, Thor's entire arm, which gripped his hammer with its entire being, was sent flying away from the god, leaving him armless and Lith a clear victor for this fight.

Although no one can say Thor Odinson is not a though man.

Even after facing an attack which would threaten the lives of the mightiest gods, having his arm ripped out of its socket and slamming into a mountain with extreme force, the man stumbled out of the whole, look at his bleeding stump and then laughed.

"Hahahahaha!!! That was the mightiest punch I have ever seen or felt! Truly a worthy man to best me!! Hahahahaha! We shall feast as soon as I retrieve my limb!" He boisterously declared without any doubt nor sadness, only elation before being teleported out for obviously losing and no longer being in any condition to fight.

"T-Thor Odinson has been defeated…" Apollon announced while completely shocked.

Sure he liked Lith and knew he was powerful, but to beat Thor Odinson head on like that was beyond what he thought possible.

"hehe~! I told you all my hubby would win! The winner of this competition by total domination iiiiiissssss… Lith Azaroth!!!!" Yelled the smug and happy Serafall as the initially stunned crowd began to wildly cheer for the victor.

_______________________________________

EXTRA AUTHOR NOTES:

Finally had that last fight!

I know it's was kind of quick, but just hear me out of my decision.

Currently the official top ten should be something like this (from strongest to weakest): Ophis, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, Typhon, Thor, Hades, Lugh, Aten, Fenrir.

(I know about Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall and Rizevim all being super devils, but no one really knows how strong they are, plus Crom should still be weaker than canon as he still has 200 ish years of training time left.)

Top five are for sure, but the lower ones are kind of wonky. I put Typhon under Indra because he's supposed to be strong enough to take on all the Olympians, then Thor under that but above Hades due to his combat power, then Lugh and Aten from fallen Pantheons and Fenrir last because it was being held back by high schoolers and then brainwashed by one fucking sword and I honestly can't see it being up there for any reason beyond its god killing abilities.

So with Thor where he is and there having massive gaps in power even amongst the top ten, Lith who can beat Indra on his own would likely defeat handedly if he is skilled enough. Thus his victory.

As for the Magni fight, well he was put in by me but he wasn't a major god or he would likely have been put in DxD or have been important enough to have been mentioned. I made him an egocentric brute because that is honestly what most gods are described has in DxD, like a Loki is much more common than an Odin amongst them. He only needed two pieces because he was a god. So I made the fight Da Vinci kind of messing about but actually carefully manipulating the fight while testing her creations.

I try to not think in one dimension when it comes to smart characters because any action from them usually has a purpose. They can act silly to hide info, relax people, make others underestimate them or for manipulation purposes, but it is usually never because they just want to be silly unless it's to relax their overburdened/stressed minds. (*Cough Kisuke Urahara *Cough*)

And the fights as a whole for this arc and chapter were to kind of introduce the fighting styles and approaches for everyone, while displaying their power. Except Jeanne and Altera.

Mana and Ciri wouldn't even break a sweat against Sköll and Hati, as they have ample experience as monster hunters and have abilities which render them non-threats. Meanwhile Medea was to show cleverness and subtly over firepower while facing a skilled and experienced opponent.

It was to show skill and intelligence beyond their pure power. This is what makes them truly powerful in my eyes.

I just hope I did it well.

Anyway.

Last bit of news, I am kind of getting lower on funds as I live away from family and doing uni courses. And my current situation isn't making easy to find work in the shit show called the employment market, so I decided to set up a P A T R E O N page.

This page will not have early access stuff because I'm not really a fan of that. It's just so people who like what I'm doing and want to offer me some support, then that'd be a great help to keep me writing at my current pace without having to worry too much about money. Like if 500 people could give me 1$ then I'd basically be golden.

The name for the page is the same as my name for this site so: www.P A T R E O N.com/Alexander_the_grey.

I'll try and get all the chapters on there soon.

Enjoy and thanks in advance to anyone nice enough to support me a bit.