It Wakes

"I'm pretty sure Azazel would have a heart attack if he sees you now." Akeno whispers, more than a little awed at the wall of Sacred Gears hanging on the wall.

"That's the plan." I say, not taking my eyes off my current project. "It's the best way to make sure his loyalties remain with me." 

It's the early afternoon, and the two of us are in Kyoto, secluded in the basement hiding below our summer home. It's not a space we often go to, but it's the perfect place for me to conduct this mad spree of creation without getting interrupted. 

And it really is a spree. After over a week of hunting down gods, I've gathered quite the selection of divine souls to use. I place all the souls into a jar of sorts, and I let them stay in a cabinet right next to my workspace, giving them the perfect view of the horrors that I'll soon commit to each and every of their souls.

Suffice to say, all those bodiless souls are now quivering with fear.

I'm taking a small break though. My jar-shaped cage is full of souls, and it's about time I begin shredding them to create new Sacred Gears.

And I did. I made many. At this point, I'm nearing my hundred Sacred Gear, all created using the four energies swirling inside me and a shredded divine soul to empower the Sacred Gear to worlds beyond.

The result?

Nearly all the Sacred Gears I've hung on the wall to my right are capable of killing gods. Which isn't surprising—they were powered by the shredded souls of gods after all—but that's still nearly seven times more than the current number of functioning Longinus known to the supernatural.

What am I planning to do with all these Sacred Gears? Nothing. At least, nothing at the moment. Most of my friends have no need for Sacred Gears of any sort.

Instead, this will be a trial of sorts. A test to see how well I can work as a creator. 

Because after I'm done making Sacred Gears, I'll shift my eyes towards Infernal Arms. Because as strange as it is to think about, I'm receiving a substantial amount of Faith from Low-Class Devils. Devils who aren't as fortunate as Rias or Sona, who are homeless or powerless and wish for nothing more than a chance to live a better life.

And what better way of enticing them to move into Kuoh by offering them the chance to become even stronger?

It's a scummy move, but hey, the Devils invented the Evil Pieces and started converting Humans into Devils. I'm just returning the favor by giving these neglected Devils hope and shifting their allegiances.

I mean, it's the fault of the higher ups for not caring for them. Had they cared more for the general populace, maybe I wouldn't have thought of this plan. Then again, that's a lot to ask from the prissy bastards that fill most of their nobility.

…Anyway,

Aside from hunting gods, I've just been spending time with my family and friends. A lot's changed in the last four months. The status quo has shifted, and the world suddenly feels brand new once more.

It's also the perfect excuse to share my upcoming plans. Most of them are skeptical, but Yasaka and Nurarihyon are fully on-board with what's to come. They're even offering to build some houses in Kyoto to help handle the inevitable flood of immigrants that'll be moving in from the Underworld.

"By the way, how's Yotsuba doing?" I ask.

She smiles. "He's having fun. Dulio's teaching him how to fly using that cloak you gave him."

I huff. "Good. At least that guy's doing something else for once."

The cloak I made for my little brother a week before is no normal cloak. I mean, in the first place, it was an item I'd made using my divine authority. In a sense, that cloak is a portion of my divinity given form. It's there to protect Yotsuba if he's in danger, and also acts as a beacon for me to easily teleport to.

It also happens to allow its wearer to fly. Because why not?

We fall into pleasant silence after that, only occasionally broken by the mystical tings that echo from my workspace. 

The air is abuzz with my divinity, and absolutely saturated in Primal Energy. The entire basement is inhospitable to most people. The massive difference in the natures of the two energies will kill most who step here. 

Eventually, it's Akeno who breaks the silence.

"It's getting closer, isn't it?"

"Hmm?"

She stares at the back of my head. "The End." She says. "Your eyes are fully open to you now. You can see what's to come." She closes her eyes. "There are only two things left we have to do."

I scoff. "Sure. 'Only' two things." I chuckle, before I sigh. She's not wrong. There are two things we have left to do before everything winds down. Destroying the Trihexa for good, and mending the dimensional cracks caused by all the things that've happened in the past. "But you're not wrong."

"Mm." She scoots over to me, gently draping herself over my back. "It's weird." She says, voice strangely muted. "I never thought I'd become someone to hold the reins to this world." She places her chin on the back of my neck. "Or that I'll be someone to end an entire generation."

My hands stop for a moment. "...me neither." I say, my mind caught up in my memories of the previous world. "Becoming who I am now—it's something I could've never imagined."

"Mhm." She takes a breath. "I'm glad I met you."

I do so as well. "I'm glad I met you too."

"I love you."

I close my eyes. "I love you too."

Finally, after hours upon hours of constant work, the magic flooding the air finally dies away, and it leaves the world in silence as the basement descends back into darkness.

Neither of us do much for the next few hours.

…

Deep within the bowels of the Earth, a gate of intricate stone and titanium rumbles. The carvings of runes glow an eerie black, and the cavernous walls shake..

Across the walls run veins of black, glowing and pulsating like vessels, carrying corruption from the world above.

And beyond that gate lies a massive space, filled with a web of golden chains, holding back an indescribably large beast. A monster so large it towers over skyscrapers several folds, and so wide it can destroy entire nations by simply walking. A thing without a definite form, a blob formed from the darkest Sins.

It is asleep, and yet reality seems to tremble before it. Definite rules of the universe are unwinding before its presence, and literal cracks run across the air like cracked glass.

"It wakes." A voice whispers, indiscriminate and inhuman.

"It wakes." Another whispers, dark and foreboding and heavy.

"It wakes." Another spits, filled with vitriol.

And then the world rumbles, and the laughter of a billion faceless specters echo throughout the air. What little light there is fades in its wake, and the stone below cracks from an unseen weight.

"It wakes." They all whisper, eager.

…

A single golden chain snaps.