Chapter 12 - Part 3 - Suzaku of Burning Desire and The Strongest Ouryuu

Third Person Point of View

…

Universe – Crepuscule Phantasma

…

"Are you sure about sending that experimental creature over there, Madam Yve?" asked a male scientist.

Yve smirked to herself and turned to menacingly glare at the scientist who flinched back. "They will be preoccupied with that pathetic human faction, so I will take advantage of it. I am also helping you by sending that thing to test its abilities am I not?" she asked. "You will know what is effective, what can be removed, replaced and what needs an overhaul."

"W-well, you are correct about that, but…"

"I have gotten permission from Phumera-sama, if that's what you're worried about," she added and scoffed at the man. "Monitor it and stop harassing me," she said and glared more at the scientist before he scurried away.

"Fufu, are you sure about this, Yve?" asked Elanor. The woman had appeared from beyond the doorway of the room.

Yve turned around and glanced at Elanor. "Ah, Elanor. Of course, it is. Phumera-sama would want this. Any advantage or any way to remove that pesky dragon from her sights would be appreciated," she told the woman.

"Even if you don't inform her of your own plans?" she asked and walked towards Yve. Once in front of her, she cupped her cheek.

"Killing the Outer God is the top priority, everything else is second. Once he is gone, everything will run smoothly. The only true enemy will be the Evie Gods, as they have the same abilities as Phumera-sama. Even then, our own Outer God will be awake by then and it won't matter."

"So we're just stalling, huh? And if we fail?" Elanor asked and licked Yve on the cheek.

"Failure is not an option. There has also been discussion of Sekudia being promoted to Rank 7 for the Eradicators as he survived his confrontation with the Outer God. If we replicate his abilities, we may have a chance of killing him," Yve said excitedly.

"Sekudia, huh? Fufu, who would have thought that little boy would move up so far in the world," Elanor said in amusement. She looked at the room around her and sighed.

"You have a history with him? I thought you killed most of the enemies you come across that were not worth your time?" she asked the woman.

"Well, I did see potential in him back then, so that's why I sparred him." Elanor smiled, "It seems my decision was the right one, was it not?" she asked Yve and kissed her.

Elanor and Yve have a physical relationship with each other. Although both are women, they didn't find any males worthy enough to procreate with themselves, so by process of elimination, they chose each other and have had a long-term physical relationship.

"Do it," said Elanor after she stopped kissing Yve. "We need a powerful individual for that rank. Yanuyo has betrayed us and we cannot recover him."

"Very well, I will announce it by tonight," replied Yve as she turned around. Neither of them would admit it, but they had romantic feelings for each other. But such emotions in their universe were looked down upon.

They had to hide it, but that wasn't the only thing holding them back, because they also had their own pride that stopped them. They silently keep these feelings from each other until they died, nothing would force them to admit it—that's what both of them thought.

…

Universe – Draconic Deus

…

In the Underworld, a certain incident was happening at the same time as the attacks by the Connected Harmony. In the territory of Mammon, one of the Extra Demon clans of the Underworld, a certain monster was running on a rampage.

The Mammon clan secluded themselves from the rest of the current Underworld society and government as they did not agree with their policies. However, a young woman decided otherwise. She had a difference of opinion to the rest of her family and was unofficially exiled from the clan.

However, she has been the strongest devil that has come out of their clan in many years, and they have decided to request for her help on occasion and also give her a very small portion of land in their territory, so she could live there.

"Why won't it work?!" shouted a devil from the Mammon clan.

"Have you not read the scriptures that were passed down by the Lord Mammon?!" another shouted.

"No?!"

"You're an idiot then! It said our ability will only work if we're stronger than the individual we're facing and if it's not working on that thing, then—"

The other devil understood what his family member had said and his face paled. "Shit! We have to call her then!" he shouted.

"…Do you seriously believe she'll help? We've treated her poorly so far you know!" the other shouted back.

"Who cares! As long as it concerns this territory, she will definitely help!" he shouted back confidently.

"Oh wow, I knew that you were a pretty big asshole, but I didn't think you were that low," said a female's voice.

The two looked up and saw the female devil fly towards the monster and kick it in the face—this caused it to be thrown back and crash into a nearby field. The female devil landed on the ground and grinned at her fellow clan members.

"I was having such a good day too. Well, it doesn't matter—I was alerted by Ajuka Beelzebub after all, and since I'm supporting 'him' in the future, I might as well get some favorable things on my rap sheet, right?" she asked herself and smiled.

"W-what? You're in contact with Satan Beelzebub?!" the other devil shouted in shock.

The female's eyes widened at the realization of her mistake. "Ah, I wasn't meant to reveal that yet…well…you wouldn't say anything, right…?" she said threateningly as she stared at the two while blasting them with her aura.

"N-no…" the other replied.

"W-wouldn't dream of it," the other added nervously. 'Like I'd wanna die or turn into a permanent gold or diamond statue!' he thought and shivered.

The female devil in question was known as Vanaria Mammon, she herself said that her own powers equaled the original Satans, this was when she was still quite young, many didn't believe her and tried to challenge her on it, but all of them were defeated by her.

Vanaria was a stunningly attractive woman with sexy hip-length black hair that had bangs hanging on the right side with two ahoges, green eyes, a mole under her left eye, red round glasses, one earring on her left ear and a voluptuous figure. She had very large breasts, perhaps the same size as Akeno and Suzaku.

Her outfit consisted of a green knit turtleneck, a tight black mini-skirt along with her cross-garter motif stockings, and a white lab coat.

Her clan did not associate with the modern Underworld, her strength, and power were not widely known, only a few were aware of it. Some of these individuals were Ajuka Beelzebub, Serafall Leviathan, Sirzechs Lucifer, Roygun Belphegor and Diehauser Belial. Zekram Bael was also one of them, but he has not bothered her since she remained a recluse. Only recently has she been approached by Ajuka to join the future organization of [EXE].

She was hesitant at first, but as she had also heard of the stories of the Middleman and that he would be leading them, she immediately accepted. Like many others, she was a fan of his, and of the Oppai Dragon show.

The Mammon clan had a unique trait, like the other devils of the Underworld. It was called the [Ray of Avarice]. Using their own touch, or beams, or even demonic powers, they can turn anything they touch into gold, diamonds, iron, copper and other minerals of the human world.

This is how the Mammon clan has kept themselves afloat over the years, by secretly doing deals in the human world through this method. With such a terrifying ability they would surely stand at the top, but according to a small book that the original Mammon left behind, the devil in question had to be stronger than their opponent if they wish to turn them in gold, and other minerals.

Vanaria had a communication magic circle open and was conversing with another devil through it.

"If you arrived sooner, I'd really appreciate it, you know? I think they're from the Evie or Phantasma," said Vanaria.

"You're sure of this?" the voice of Latia asked from the magic circle.

"Positive, these glasses don't lie. I made them myself with a bit of help from Azazel-dono, Avezza-dono and Beelzebub-sama, you know?" she replied.

Vanaria based her special glasses on Aaron's [Observe] and the girl's [Appraisal] ability from their rings. Latia had shared some of the ring's unique powers to her and she decided to create something similar with her glasses.

It had most information downloaded onto it from the human and supernatural world's internet, so when most parameters showed question marks, Vanaria was certain it didn't belong in their world.

"It could just be made by the Khaos Order, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not from this world. However, I will teleport there now with Ravel and Shirone," replied Latia.

A few moments later, a magic circle of Astaroth appeared and out came three women. Latia Astaroth, Shirone Toujou and Ravel Phenex. Latia immediately checked with her ring and confirmed what Vanaria had said was true. The devils who were previously there cowered in fear of the three women that had shown up.

It's widely known that they are close with Aaron, so they did not want to anger them, in fear of being erased…though it's already a well-known fact that Aaron isn't that kind of person. But rumors still spread, the same with misinformation.

"…Aaron may want to examine this thing. Let's keep the damage to a minimum and bring it back home," ordered Latia.

"…Mmm. Let's finish this quickly…I wanna eat," said Shirone.

Ravel sighed and shook her head. "Is the only thing on your mind food?" she asked a bit exasperated by Shirone.

"…Food is life," she added, then covered her body in touki and jumped towards the monster.

"Ah, wait!" Ravel shouted. She summoned her fiery wings and chased after Shirone.

"They're quite nonchalant about this. Will they be okay?" asked Vanaria.

"They will, look," replied Latia. To Vanaria's shock the two small girls were already beating the monster to the ground with little to no effort.

"Wha—are all the women that are close to the Oppai Dragon that powerful?" she asked. She thought she was powerful, but even after she scanned the monster earlier, she didn't know if she could win in a battle against it.

"Yes, although they are holding themselves back since we don't want to cause unnecessary damage to this territory. However, please forgive me. It's fortunate that it showed up here and not in a populated area in the Underworld," said Latia.

"None taken, our territory isn't very large, and we have more open land than anything, so I agree with you," replied Vanaria.

The two stood back and watched the two girls slowly pummel the monster to the ground.

…

In the realm of the Shinto Pantheon—in the main realm of Takamagahara, the Norse group, the Valkyrie Squad and the new [Yamaūjin] were defending the realm from the attackers that showed up. In the distance were various warriors that were part of those groups, they were killing numerous enemies that had showed up.

The ones that had showed up in the realm were a mix of vampires, human magicians and monsters. The same [Battle Gods] had also showed up here, but instead there were three here instead.

A silvery-white-haired maiden in the distance had her [Mistilteinn Wand] in her hand. She had summoned thousands of magic circles and were firing it towards her enemies. As soon as the attacks hit them, they were instantly killed. Rossweisse had no problem taking on enemies of this caliber. However, her fellow Valkyries were having a bit of trouble.

They didn't like any skill, just pure power. As she had scanned them earlier with her ring, and saw that they were at least God-class beings, and her teammates were just slightly above the power level of these things, so they still had some trouble fighting them.

However, she had help from Aaron's shadow soldiers and Raiko, so she didn't need to panic about the situation. But the other problem were the vampires that showed up. For the most part, they were also on the same level as the cryptids that showed up. However, there were two that stood out and what she classified as the leaders that came here.

A male vampire who had been quite cheerful since he came here. He had happily attacked anyone near him, however, he was stopped multiple times. That vampire's name was Thentine.

Thentine had a handsome, beautiful face. He had blond hair with his bangs covering the top right side of his face. His left eye was light blue and his right eye was red. He wore earrings on both ears.

He wore a long sleeve black shirt that has circles in the front and black bordering the top and bottom. He sometimes wears it with a pink jacket with short sleeves. He paired it with blue jeans. He also donned a necklace and bracelets on his left arm.

The other was a female vampire who silently floated in the same spot she appeared at earlier. Her name was Valentina. Valentina was an attractive, fair-skinned woman of medium height with a slender build. She had crimson-colored eyes, long wavy dark hair tied loosely, hanging from her right shoulder with bangs on each side.

She wore a black and cerulean blue long-sleeved coat an ornament of blue feathers were on her right shoulder. She wore the same-colored hat with also an assortment of feathers on it too, also had white gloves on each hand, tights and cerulean colored heels.

Rossweisse touched her ear and activated the [Communication Function] on the ring and contacted Raiko. [Raiko-san, please deal with those 'Battle Gods' for me, please? I will take care of the vampire leaders that showed up. Let's order the shadow soldiers to help the rest,] said Rossweisse.

[Very well, I will take care of them, please be careful,] replied Raiko. The transceivers disappeared and Rose flew towards the two vampires.

"Oh? Ah it's another Valkyrie-chan! Yahooo!" Thentine started waving his hands at Rossweisse before he shot a powerful ball made of blood at her. Rossweisse frowned and slapped it away.

"I will leave it to you," said Valentina as she floated away.

"Yup, yup, leave it to me, Valentina-chan~! Hey, will you go on a date with me after then?" he asked with a head tilt. Valentina didn't answer him and watched from a distance.

Before Thentine could react, Rossweisse punched him in the stomach and followed it up by firing several magic attacks at him. He was caught off guard and was blown away by her attack. He began to bleed profusely from it.

"Sheesh lady, no greeting, huh?" he asked and grinned at her. The injuries he sustained began to quickly heal and once he looked back at Rossweisse, they had fully healed. "Pretty cool, huh? We got it from Kecate-sama, she's pretty powerful after all~" he said and licked his arm.

'Kecate-sama? Is it another vampire…? These two should be useful. I'll try to capture them for Aaron,' thought Rossweisse as she covered her body in touki and threw a punch at Thentine.

"Woah! Hey, I didn't even get to introduce myself! I'm Thentine by the wa—hey, stop!" Thentine began dodging Rossweisse's attacks, but barely. His body began to receive some cuts and bruises as a result of barely avoiding the attacks.

Rossweisse had help back since she didn't want to cause unnecessary damage. Earlier, when they arrived in Takamagahara, she had taken the Norse group around on a short tour with Raiko and Yoshitsune's help. However, not too long after night began to set, the predicted attack happened and now they were forced into this situation.

They were also informed that the Five Principal Clans were also attacked, so Aaron's plans on setting up some people in those places had paid off.

"Hey, how about a date—"

Rossweisse punched him in the face again, but this time used a significant amount of strength. Thentine crashed into a mountain in the distance and she quickly followed after him. They were now near dragon mountain and Rossweisse saw Ryūjin, one of the gods of the Shinto pantheon fighting monsters there too.

"You…bitch! My face won't heal!" shouted Thentine while he clutched his face, blood pouring from it. His injuries in fact did not heal like he expected, and that enraged him. Thentine knew he was beautiful—handsome, and he would use that to his advantage, but now that his face was left like that and with no healing powers…

"I'll fucking kill you!" he screamed and his body was covered in a blood-red aura. Thentine was a two-faced sadist. He took joy in causing people pain, but he would get close to them first before he would kill them. He took joy in seeing the horror and pain the other individual would have after gaining their trust.

But with a bruised face, he could no longer do that, and that angered him. He charged at Rossweisse with renewed vigor. However, the Valkyrie easily dodged his attack and fired a touki bullet at him, which further enraged him.

This game of cat and mouse continued between the two. Rossweisse slowly injured him as her attacks were imbued with anti-healing. It made it impossible for Thentine to heal or regenerate at all, and he knew he was losing as he began to panic.

'Shit, I'm getting slower! I need…to eat something or someone…' he thought and his eyes quickly darted around them. He found a lone dragon hatchling hiding behind one of the houses clearly terrified of the situation. 'Bingo—!'

However, he wasn't given the luxury of executing his plan as his world suddenly turned upside down.

'Eh? W-what the hell is happening? Why did the world suddenly turn upside down?' he asked himself in confusion. His brain hadn't caught up to what Rossweisse had done to him. She grabbed his head and sliced it from his body, then stored it in her ring.

Rossweisse had sliced Thentine's body in half—horizontally. Since her anti-healing was applied, he met his end, and not a nice one at that. Once this was done, Rossweisse quickly scanned the surrounding area for the other vampire, and to her delight, she was watching the altercation from a distance.

Once the Valkyrie arrived in front of the vampire, they had a brief stare-down at each other. The first one to break the silence was the female vampire, Valentina.

"Do you think the world is fair?" she asked Rossweisse. Rossweisse raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer her. Valentina looked up at the sky and sighed. "I don't think it is. People are born different and with different advantages in life. Let's use Sacred Gears as an example. Some will benefit the user if they know about it, and train with it."

She then looked back down at Rossweisse with a sad expression. "However, other times, it would just kill their wielder. They don't even need moderate mastery of those things. Some are born with them active and will encumber them from the very beginning of their lives."

"I saw it many times," she said and looked at the ground beneath them. "But it's not limited to Sacred Gears. I'm sure you're aware of that, are you not?" she asked.

Rossweisse knew that all too well. She had to live through life that way after all. She couldn't inherit her house's Seiz-style spirit magic, so she had to learn other styles and flourish in them. But she felt like she disappointed her parents because of it.

"I can tell from the look you're giving me that you know what I'm talking about."

"What's the point of this?" asked Rossweisse.

"My only reason for joining the Khaos Order in order to change the unfairness of my race's world. If you're not a pure-blood vampire who follows the rules that are set out by our race, you are shunned and seen as 'something' else. You're already aware of Gasper Vladi and Valerie Tepes' situation, are you not?"

"I am…" replied Rossweisse. "But those two didn't resort to terrorism in order to change things," she added.

Valentina tilted her head in confusion. "I have not once raised my hand against you or anyone else in this realm. You also assume I have killed the innocent in the past just because I'm part of this organization?" she asked.

"I'm Valentina Vordenburg. I'm sure you're aware of my cousin Calantha Vordenburg that's part of the Vali Team?" she asked. Rossweisse was surprised this, she wasn't expecting to see another Vordenburg vampire here.

Valentina then threw an envelope to Rossweisse and she caught it. "Do not open it, only the Middleman can open it. I wish to speak with him in the future," she told Rossweisse.

"…Will you switch sides?" asked the Valkyrie.

"It will depend on how our future conversation concludes, doesn't it?" she said and turned around. "Goodbye for now, I will be waiting there."

Rossweisse floated there, unsure of what to make of the situation. However, she shook her head and put the envelope into her ring. She was unsure if she had made the right decision or not, but she didn't feel any evil from the woman she spoke with.

She then heard powerful detonations in the distance and she saw that Raiko had killed one of the [Battle Gods]. "I'll leave that for later, for now, let's focus on this…" she muttered to herself and teleported back to the city.

Once there, she saw Raiko wielding her [Doujigiri Yasutsuna]. Around her were a few of the [Yamaūjin], and her teammates from the Valkyrie squad.

"Raiko, I will destroy the one on the right," said Rossweisse.

Raiko nodded and then pointed her katana at the [Battle God] on the left. The two disappeared from their positions. The two battle gods who had a giant hammer and sword in their hands saw the two women flying towards them.

The battle god on the left prepared itself as it brought its hammer above itself. Raiko, who was flying towards the battle god coated her blade with black and white lightning. The battle god finally swung its hammer down—the force that it made with it had the potential to destroy 90% of Takamagahara.

But due to their preparations earlier, per Rossweisse's request, that damage was prevented. They had covered all of the city, including Dragon Mountain in a large defensive magic circle which blocked the collateral damage of the swing.

Raiko's sword slammed against the enormous hammer, preventing it from making contact with the barrier or city. The blow from Raiko was enough to blow back the hammer and the battle god's arm into the sky. The battle god was shocked by this and looked at the tiny female in awe.

Raiko's speed increased several folds. First, she aimed for the battle god's tendons, after that, she quickly moved spots and arrived at his thighs, she slashed them apart. She then moved her target to his elbow joints and tore them apart quickly. Raiko herself had also applied her black-white lightning, which had left a trail behind her.

Once she arrived by his shoulders she made quick work of them, and finally—she arrived in front of his head. She stared the battle god down and summoned an enormous crossbow and arrow behind her. Raiko jumped back and stood on top of it. She raised her katana into the air and a large black-white pillar made of lightning shot from her sword.

The arrow in the crossbow was also coated in purple lightening. It crackled loudly as it prepared to fire at the giant in front of it. The battle god tried to move, but it could not—it desperately tried to, but any attempts at movement were not possible, it could only stand there as it waited for its demise.

Raiko said nothing and brought her attack down on the battle god. At the same time, the crossbow also fired. A streak of purple and black flashed in the night sky of Takamagahara. The battle god was completely obliterated by the attack dealt by Raiko, it's body quickly crumbled and turned to dust.

When Raiko turned to look at the other battle god, she caught a glimpse of Rossweisse's form. The woman was covered in a complex silver, purple and blue aura consisting of rippling, fire-like energy, complete with sparkling particles traveling upwards.

Rossweisse softly threw an uppercut at the battle god. The enormous sword that it had swung down towards Rossweisse was about to touch her when the giant stone warrior along with its weapon simply disappeared.

The area had become completely silent until an ear-piercing whiplash resounded throughout the area followed by a powerful shockwave that threatened to destroy the barriers that they had prepared earlier. Raiko put her arms in front of her trying to prevent herself from being blown away.

The other monsters and vampires with them were also killed after being hit by the shockwave produced by Rossweisse, but Raiko was also confused as to why their allies had been spared. But in the end, she equated it to either Cúntóir or Aaron's interference.

"Let's remove the rest from this realm," Rossweisse said calmly. Raiko jolted and agreed, she remembered that Aaron looked like a few times during the 100 years, she like many others knew what it was, but she didn't know that Rossweisse could use it.

However, Rossweisse exited [Ultra Instinct Sign] as it used up a lot of her stamina. After she left it, she breathed slightly harder, but could still keep going.

…

"Woah…when could Rossweisse do that?" asked Helmwige. The other Valkyries and Brynhildr had stopped temporarily as they saw that Rossweisse did and were impressed.

"Maybe Jin was responsible for this?" Ortlinde wondered.

"That makes sense," agreed Schwertleite.

"Can he teach us that? That aura around her was so cool! But…Rossweisse does look tired after using it, and she only used it for a few seconds," added Grimgerde.

Brynhildr (Zelma) silently stared at Rossweisse as she flew around firing magic attacks at the other invaders. 'Jin…I saw that aura for a brief second once a few months ago…I should ask him about it,' she thought.

"Stop idling, we still need to kill the rest of the Khaos Order members!" Zelma shouted and the rest of the Valkyries scattered.

…

"Oh! As expected for Raiko-dono, she and Rossweisse-dono are something else!" exclaimed Yoshitsune as she sliced apart another vampire.

A vampire flew down at her from her blind spot, but was immediately pierced by several arrows. In the distance, Yoichi had his bow out, the bow that Aaron had gifted him. He had meticulously taken care of it since he received it.

[Thanks, Yoichi.]

[Don't let your guard down,] he told her and got a giggle from her.

In a different sections of Takamagahara various members of the [Yamaūjin] were helping defend the realm. The gods also did their part as they helped them. Large thunderstrikes happened all around them due to Raijin.

All the [Yamaūjin] received increased movement speed thanks to Fūjin's help and the other gods helped in various ways. This was the first time in a long time that the entire realm had been united, the other attacks, Aaron and his group were the ones mainly responsible for stopping it, but since he's not here, they were left to do it themselves.

Their Chief God, Amaterasu was, however, missing from the realm. She herself had decided to travel to the Five Principal Clans as she had decided to visit the Himejima clan out of the blue.

…

The Nakiri clan's courtyard was littered with defeated bodies. Most of the clan's buildings were also destroyed. Kyoto itself was engulfed in raging battles too, as Youkai, magicians and other alliance forces helped defend it.

In the middle of the courtyard were two people.

"…Why…?!" Ouryuu (Ryuuta) Nakiri asked with gritted teeth. The man in front of him didn't answer, he simply stared blankly at Ryuuta. Ryuuta, who was in his [Dragon Man] form charged back at the man.

Ryuuta in his golden humanoid dragon form threw a punch at the man, who also matched his attack with his own fist. A small shockwave blew debris around them. The man in front of Ryuuta was Nakagami Nakiri, his second-oldest cousin, and the former 'Ouryuu' who was hailed the strongest in the history of their clan.

Nakagami Nakiri was also in his own [Dragon Man] form, however, instead he looked like a jet-black dragon with glowing red eyes.

"What do you mean by 'why', Ryuuta?" he asked. "Isn't it simple? We faced off against each other four years ago, and now I'm back. There's nothing more to it—well, that may be a lie. I'm looking for someone," he told his cousin.

"Whoever it is, I won't let you get to them!" shouted Ryuuta and he increased his strength several folds by using the [Dragon Veins]. As the inheritor of the Yellow Dragon, he can tap into the veins of ki that flow throughout the land, letting him utilize the earth-based ki.

Nakagami Nakiri silently stared at his cousin as he was pushed back slightly. "I will admit, you became a little stronger since four years ago…but it's not enough," he told him and kicked Ryuuta on the chest.

Ryuuta was launched away, but he was suddenly caught. Ryuuta looked up and was shocked. "L-Lavinia-san!" he said and was brought a further distance away.

"Kuku…Lavinia Reni. I have been waiting for you," said Nakagami with a creepy smile.

"Ryuu-kun. Didn't we tell you not to be reckless when fighting someone?" Lavinia asked with a frown.

"E-er, w-well, that's…" he struggled to find the words to say.

"I know, I wouldn't forget that feeling," she replied and looked up at the man who had appeared in front of them. "Nakagami Nakiri-kun, it's been a while. We thought you perished four years ago after Vaa-kun and Tobi defeated you."

He smirked and said, "I obviously survived and I've come back stronger than ever. With the help of the Khaos Order and the Connected Harmony, I've come to exact my revenge." He then held his hand out. "Lavinia Reni, come join my side! I'm sure Oz and the rest would be glad to have you back as part of the Wizards of Oz too!"

Lavinia frowned and healed Ryuuta, much to his surprise. "You used to be a kind and caring person, Nakagami-kun. Why did you change so suddenly?" she asked. When they first met, four years ago, Nakagami Nakiri was a model Ouryuu.

Nakagami Nakiri deeply cared for his sister Momoji Nakiri and cousin Ryuuta. But after a certain incident in the past, he began to change, and that led to both Vali and Tobio teaming up with help from Ryuuta and the Slash/Dog Team to defeat and seemingly kill Nakagami Nakiri.

"You wouldn't get it if I told you. You should know yourself—power is what matters in the supernatural world. If you don't have that, then you won't have respect and will go down as a nobody. It also means you can't protect those that are dear to you," he told her and then his voice changed to one full of fury.

"Mitsuya Kanzaki…the [First Dark] and [The Man Who Impersonates God]. He stole Momoji's Sacred Gear [Telos Karma], and disappeared with her! We still don't know where she is! For all we know, she could be dead!" he shouted at them.

"…You're wrong. A few months ago…before the Halloween attack, Aa—Jin brought back Momoji Nakiri. She's currently in one of this clan's buildings," she told him which shocked him.

"Wha—how?!" he asked out of shock.

"…That's right. We were quite shocked when it happened, but she's been slowly recovering for the past few months. Jin-dono even helped shorten the time of her recovery. A few days ago she was just running around enjoying her time again," added Ryuuta who had stood up again as he had recovered.

Ryuuta then covered his body in touki. "…We don't know if we could ever repay Jin-dono for this, and when we offered him various things he refused, saying he was just happy she was back and healthy."

"You should stop now, Nakagami-kun. If you do, I'm sure the alliance will be lenient with you if you offer to tell us any information you know about the Khaos Ord—"

"Hehehe…hahaha! He's perfect, isn't he?!" he shouted at them, surprising them. More darkness covered his body and he laughed even more. "How can a normal person even measure up to him? Life is unfair…it's just like you said, Valentina…"

"He isn't…" Lavinia muttered and told them some things that Aaron had messed up during the last few months—although they were minor things, they were stunned that she would remember such trivial things.

He looked back at them and then at Lavinia. "I am in too deep, and I do not seek redemption. Lavinia Reni, I ask you again, join me, join the Wizards of Oz and be my lover," he asked again.

"I refuse. I don't want to go back to those lonely days anymore, and I love Jin!" she said firmly.

"…Well, I expected that much." Nakagami shook his head and various dragon heads appeared behind his back. "Let's begin your graduation ceremony, Ryuuta. I will officially pass down my title as the strongest Ouryuu in history once you defeat me," he told him and took a stance.

Lavinia Reni's body shone briefly before she donned a silvery-blue dress. "Ryuu-kun, I'll support you, okay? So make sure to focus on this fight," she told him. Hundreds of ice soldiers then appeared, they left to help the alliance in the distance.

Ryuuta glanced at Lavinia who then put enchantment magic on him. He also took a stance and shouted, "I'll be in your care!" before dashing towards Nakagami.

…

"Fufu, I didn't think such a cretin would come knocking on our door," said Yasaka. "It's my first time meeting you too, Amaterasu-sama."

"Yasaka, the leader of the West Youkai Faction, I heard many positive things about you. It's a pleasure to meet you too."

On her way to the Himejima clan, Amaterasu came across Yasaka, Kunou and Sharon as they went out shopping in Kyoto. When they were about to part ways and accompany Amaterasu to the Himejima clan, the attacks began. So they were left here to defend the place.

"Suzaku-nee!" shouted Kunou as she fired several white-blue flames at the enemies around them. She hadn't transformed into her [Fox Dragon God] form, since she didn't need to and she had many people helping her.

Suzaku and Zhuque (Vermillion Bird) had arrived earlier and were already helping defend against the attacks. However…

Hanezu Himejima floated above them, silently watching the entire fiasco unfold. They tried to attack him earlier, but a strange green-blue aura absorbed their attacks.

Suzaku flew over to Kunou who she picked up and obliterated another batch of monsters. Kunou giggled as she was picked up and they flew over to Yasaka and Amaterasu. Zhuque was right behind them.

"Amaterasu-sama," said Suzaku.

"Suzaku and Zhuque…it's been some time, if you're here then…"

"The Chinese Pantheon is under attack by the Khaos Order, then perhaps the Shinto Pantheon is also under attack?" asked Zhuque.

"Yes. I was informed by Fūjin no too long ago," replied Amaterasu.

"Is seems all like everyone has gathered," said Hanezu. This caused everyone there to turn to him. He then clicked his fingers and two youkais appeared beside him.

The one on the left was a female with long pink hair and yellow eyes. She resembled a wolf as she had small patches of hair scattered throughout her body. Behind her was a yellow-pink tail. She wore a white and yellow Shinto maiden clothes and she radiated divine aura.

To Hanezu's right was a male with short white hair and yellow eyes. It was a kyuubi kitsune as he had nine tails behind them, but they were all made of fire. He wore a black hoodie, white-blue pants and red sneakers.

"Allow me to introduce to you, our Artificial Youkai Gods, the gods of the Phantasma have had help in making them stronger too," he said and spread his arms out and ordered the two of them, "eliminate them."

As the wolf youkai and kyuubi kitsune arrived in front of them—and as they were about to attack both Amaterasu and Zhuque—their movements were suddenly stopped by an invisible and powerful string.

"Fufu. I suggest you don't do that, since you are all guests," said Sharon. She was behind all of them on top of a building with her arms crossed.

"Eiji! Fuki! What are you doing?! Break those flimsy strings already!" Hanezu ordered them, but despite their best efforts, they were not able to do so, which stunned Hanezu.

Kunou suddenly transformed into her [Fox Dragon God] form and kicked the female youkai—the wolf youkai, Fuki. "I will fight her! Suzaku-nee, Mother!" the kick was powerful enough to propel Fuki to a considerable distance away and crash through multiple buildings.

Sharon removed her strings from Fuki, so Kunou could do that. Next was…Yasaka, who did the same thing to the fellow Kyuubi kitsune male, Eiji.

Amaterasu, Suzaku and Zhuque were the ones left to face Hanezu. However, the man did not seem bothered by what had happened. "…Well, we managed to make another youkai god. We had originally planned on bringing Fuki, but Eiji insisted. Here, we have another god," he said and grinned.

A tall humanoid monster materialized beside Hanezu. It had a dark purple body, glowing pink eyes, black horns and elf-like ears. It had visible glowing pink veins and sharp bone-like appendages jutting out of its shoulders and arms.

"Tecua, you wanted to test your strength against the alliance, correct? Why don't you fight the Chief God Amaterasu, the Vermillion Bird and its inheritor." Hanezu pointed at them and the monster grinned.

"Perfect," he said and summoned a large ball of darkness that had tentacles and various animal limbs wriggling out of it.

Suzaku put her hand out and the mass ball of darkness was instantly devoured by black-white flames and disappeared. "Zhuque-sama, may you lend me your strength again?" Suzaku asked.

"Very well, I will assist you," replied the Vermillion Bird.

Hanezu was about to say something when he felt a hand grab his head and fling him far into the distance. Both Suzaku and Zhuque glanced beside them and they noticed that Amaterasu had disappeared. She had appeared at the spot where Hanezu had been previously.

"I will speak with Hanezu Himejima," she told them and left. Sharon jumped down and smiled at the two.

"I will accompany Amaterasu-sama," she added, bowed and disappeared.

"Fighting the head of the Himejima and the Vermillion Bird isn't bad either," said Tecua with a grin.

Suzaku glared at Tecua and started to chant. "From the south of the four cardinal directions, respond to my voice! One of the Four Sacred Beasts that governs fire, Zhuque!"

The Vermillion Bird, Zhuque who stood beside Suzaku began to glow and disappear into a whirlwind of light. It then entered Suzaku's body and her body began to glow. Gradually, flames erupted everywhere from her body. Suzaku had also donned a crimson dress that covered her arms and stopped at her thighs. Suzaku's eyes glowed crimson-red and she had sprouted fiery red wings on her back.

"Hoho? So this is the [Spiritual Symbiosis] I've heard much about! But I heard that the inheritor of the Vermillion bird could summon it, and not fuse with it?" he asked a bit confused.

<<There are various different types of beast summoning. The standard is to manifest the Sacred Beast itself. And then there's the type where it possesses the contractor's body. I originally could only summon the Vermillion Bird, but after witnessing Byakko Shinra do something like this, I decided to replicate it…this is what we achieved,>> she explained.

<<And we will make this quick,>> she said as they appeared immediately in front of Tecua. His eyes widened as he tried to retaliate. Suzaku touched his chest and an enormous ball of black-white flames emerged from the part she touched.

It instantly expanded to the size of the sun, which surprised everyone that was fighting in Kyoto. The rest of the world also saw it, and became confused. However, Suzaku controlled the power it produced, as it only affected Tecua—instantly extinguishing his existence. The massive ball then disappeared.

'Are you sure about that? Your lover, Jin may have wanted to use him,' asked Zhuque.

<<I will apologize, what's done is done,>> replied Suzaku.

'Though…so much for calling himself a god, fufu,' chuckled Zhuque.

Suzaku undid her transformation and the two separated. They stared at the spot where the 'Monster God' once stood and flew to join Amaterasu.

…

"Tell me, why do you do this?" asked Amaterasu. She and Hanezu had appeared at a considerable distance away from the clan's territory. Initially Hanezu was shocked by what Amaterasu had done, but he quickly got over it.

"Why? Because of your negligence and the corruption of the clans, that's why," replied Hanezu. "If the gods hadn't become complacent, they could have prevented this years ago, before I was born. Yet here we are, aren't we?"

Amaterasu closed her eyes and frowned. She reopened them and said, "I will admit that we did become complacent. Perhaps we put too much trust in the humans we decided to give those gifts to. We, as gods should know that corruption can even happen to us. Humans are weak creatures, so we should have assumed something like this would happen—"

"Yet you didn't. You just need to deal with the consequences of your actions. I wasn't the only one exiled you know? Many others in the other Five Principal Clans were exiled for the same things—maybe there were some exceptions, but generally, if you weren't from a high-ranking family inside the clan, you would be exiled, no questions asked."

"Even still, you could have gone through a much less destructive method of changing things. Like what Jin and Suzaku did, you could have potentially gone to our realm and asked us to investigate the matter," said Amaterasu.

"And you would have believed me?! Please, the only reason you even met Jin Skyward is BECAUSE OF THE PERSON HE IS. He's the Dual Dragon Emperor, the dragon that creates miracles, the Oppai Dragon, the one who united the supernatural world! He has many achievements and accomplishments. If I, a nobody came to your realm, asking to meet you, I doubt you would have met with me!"

A blue-green aura surrounded Hanezu's body. "I tried to change it four years ago, but was killed by the inexperienced Slash Dog, Tobio Ikuse. Now I have more tools at my disposal and I will rid this world of the Five Principal Clans and their unjust nature!"

Strange and ominous cries leaked from his body. The power that Hanezu Himejima gained from the trials was [Control], the ability to control most things by speaking or touching that person or object. However, it came at the cost of his lifespan. He had been put through several experiments to increase his own lifespan once he was done with the trials.

His current maximum lifespan was the same as a devil's. 10,000 years, however, he has used his ability a total of six times, and with each use he loses a year of his life. Hanezu didn't care, as long as he could use this 10,000 times, he would be satisfied.

[Come to me,] he ordered and Amaterasu's body became slowly moving towards him making him grin. "Do you like it? Once I touch you, I will have the Shinto Pantheon under my control—"

Suzaku and Zhuque kicked Hanezu in the face and hurled him far away. Suzaku went over to the Chief God and touched her heart; she then used her black-white flames to negate the control that Hanezu had. She wasn't sure if it would work—but according to Aaron and Cúntóir, they're flames that could do anything. So she decided to see if it would work.

"Are you okay, Amaterasu-sama?" Suzaku asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, and thank you Suzaku, Zhuque. I shouldn't have let my guard down, that was my fault." Amaterasu shook her head and stared at Hanezu who had recovered and had flown back to them.

"So you were the one responsible for that giant sun? Hmph. I should have known, anyone associated with the Middleman would be unnecessarily strong. It doesn't matter though," he said with a grin. "You touched me." He then gestured with his finger. [Come to me,] he ordered.

But much to his surprise, Suzaku didn't move, and fired a flaming bullet at his shoulder which pierced it. He clutched his shoulder as it started to bleed, then looked back up and in anger asked, "How?! Why doesn't my power work on you?!"

"Because you're weak, Hanezu Himejima," replied the Vermillion Bird. She started to transform into her beast form and an enormous flaming bird enveloped the area.

"…You touched me earlier, beast," he said menacingly. [Come to me!] he ordered, but instead a large flaming ball hurtled towards him and burned him. His screams were heard throughout the area.

Once the flames ended, to their surprise, Hanezu Himejima's body began to repair itself. "Curse with a regeneration ability, I really do have all the luck, don't I?" he asked and summoned a Khakkhara staff.

However, before he could move, thousands of lines appeared all over his body—and then he was cut up into multiple pieces. The three women there were shocked—but again, they were shocked to see the brain perfectly preserved. The brain suddenly flew up and Sharon came down to their level.

"Fufu. Forgive me, Amaterasu-sama, Suzaku-sama, Zhuque-sama. I wanted his guard to be down to make his end a quick one," explained Sharon as she stored his brain in her ring. "Now then, shall we clean up the rest of the pests that have come to Kyoto?" she asked with a smile and disappeared.

"That's one terrifying maid," said Zhuque.

"Come, we still have things to do, while it was an abrupt end to Hanezu…we can discuss it later. Kyoto and its safety are our priority." Amaterasu turned around and disappeared, followed by Suzaku and Zhuque.

…

Kunou's fight with the wolf youkai god was brought near the Doumon clan. To her surprise, she saw Vali Lucifer along with his team there, and he looked quite angry. She kicked the wolf youkai away and joined Vali who was shielding a small girl.

"Vali-dono, you came here?" Kunou asked.

"…Kunou. I see, so you're here too, huh? Yeah, I came. It was rare for Doumon Genbu to contact me, but she was just crying, so we came," he explained and obliterated another batch of monsters around them.

Vali had a soft spot for Genbu Doumon as they had first met four years prior during the events of Slash/Dog. Genbu had a crush on Vali since then, and it never faltered, and the young Lucifer at the time thought of her as a friend, even if he didn't admit it.

"I'm fighting someone called Fuki, and she's apparently a Youkai god," said Kunou.

"Youkai God? The Khaos Order keeps on doing complicated things. I was never a fan of it," he said. "Who was the one that caused this?" he asked.

"Hanezu Himejima, but…I think Suzaku-nee killed him just a few seconds ago," she told him and he frowned.

"I see…Kunou, can you take care of this place? I want to fight that youkai god."

"Mmm…okay! You're strong enough!" she said happily and pointed Vali to the location she kicked the youkai to. Kunou turned to Genbu who had stopped crying and had been watching the two of them speak. "Genbu-dono, I am Kunou from the West Youkai Faction! Let's work together to save your clan from destruction!"

"…Okay," she said and got up. "I'll avenge my friends' deaths…!" she said and wiped the tears away.

"That's the spirit!" replied Kunou as she increased her power to the point that it shook the territory around them.

"Uwaaa…the princess is getting serious!" shouted Bikou.

"Then let us follow her lead," said Arthur, and he slashed another monster with his [Caliburn].

Kunou put her hand forward and several hundred [Fox Fore] wisps appeared around them. "Hunt them down and burn them!" she ordered her attack and they flew away. Each monster that it touched instantly incinerated them. Only ashes remained once the attack ended.

"…I take it back; do we even need to do anything?" Bikou asked as he scratched his head.

"Not all of them will kill the monsters, so we can aim for them instead. Calantha, can we leave you here along with the princess and Genbu?" asked Arthur.

"Fine, fine, go already!" she replied and shot out several blood spheres, killing other monsters.

Vali flew towards the pink haired wolf youkai who had transformed into a large beast. Vali himself was already in his [Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive], once he arrived in front of the wolf youkai, he punched her in the face.

But instead of being blown away, she took the punch and grinned at Vali. "You punch like a sissy, Lucifer brat," she said and kicked him in the stomach. This caused him to cough up blood and blowing him away instead.

Vali quickly corrected himself and put a hand on his stomach. 'Tch, no real damage, but that's gonna hurt in the morning,' he thought and looked back at the youkai god. "But…I touched you though," he said and grinned.

"Pervert."

In response to the provocation, Vali stretched out his arm and said, "Divide."

{Divide!}

Fuki, the wolf youkai felt her power get halved and she grinned. "Kehahaha! That's more like it, Lucifer. We're just experiments after all. Show me what you got!" she shouted and flew towards him—this time multiple lightning-like hands came out of her back and sent a barrage of punches towards Vali.

The young Lucifer dodged all the attacks, and deflected the others. Once again, he tried to kick her in the face and was blocked by her lightning hands. "Divide!" he shouted and halved her power again.

Getting frustrated, she created three identical clones of herself and commenced a frenzy of attacks. One began to throw lightning attacks at Vali, two began a close-combat assault on him and the original raised both her hands up and gathered a large attack.

{Vali, the original is—}

"I know!" Vali shouted back and increased his aura which blew away the other three clones. 'I wanted to enjoy a fight today, but I guess that's not happening. Seeing Genbu like that pissed me off more than I thought,' thought Vali.

Vali fired a condensed ball of demonic energy at the clone that was firing lightning attacks at him. She tried to counter it with her own lightning attack, but Vali's attack tore through hers and killed the clone. Vali then turned his attention to the two attacking him with their fists.

He caught one of their fists and immediately crushed it, making the clone shriek in pain. However, he didn't wait for her screams to subside when he kicked it in the head, making it explode. The other clone was horrified and tried to flee, but he grabbed her hair and prevented her from fleeing.

"Since I can't meet the leader of this operation, I get to take my frustrations out on you," he said and aimed his demonic ball up her ass.

"W-w-wait—"

He did not wait, and fired his attack up her rectum which entered it and blew up in her stomach. The clone burst into a pile of guts, bones, and blood. However, the original was finally done charging her attack and threw it at Vali, and in turn towards the Doumon clan's home.

"Take this!" she shouted.

Vali put his hand out and sighed. "Compress."

{Compression Divider!!}

The attack that was thrown at Vali was continuously halved until it vanished from existence. Fuki was shocked by this. She was told that Vali Lucifer was powerful since he was able to defeat Ashtulai who was known as the spawn of Yashina and Aži Dahāka, an Evil Dragon.

Vali appeared in front of her and punched her stomach, destroying her organs and making her vision black out for a few seconds. He followed it up by kicking her in the nether regions and he fired a point blank touki bullet into her face. He backed away and saw the damage he had done.

"You call yourself a 'god' when you were weaker than the other opponents I've faced so far," he said.

"…I…said…we…were…experimental…prototypes…you…dumb…fuck…! And…when we…die…"

"Compress!"

{Compression Divider!!}

Vali didn't wait for her to finish her last sentence as he used his [Compression Divider] on her, killing her. However, shortly after Fuki's demise, a loud rumble was felt all around the city. When Vali turned around, he saw an enormous stone warrior with a weapon in its hand.

{Maybe she was trying to warn you about something if we killed her?} Albion asked Vali.

"…She said, 'when we die', maybe this thing would appear if they die—"

Suddenly, another giant appeared before he could finish his thoughts. "Shit, there was another one of those youkai gods?! We have to go—let's try to kill it. We couldn't do anything against Glenda and that beast, but…"

{Be careful, Vali.}

"Heh, now you're worried about me? Aniki sure does influence a lot of people," mused Vali as he flew towards one of the giants. Once drew nearer to the thing, he immediately punched it in the face, but it did no damage to it. "Tch, well, let's just dwindle down its power then! Divide!"

{Divide!}

Vali attempted to half the power of the gigantic stone warrior, but to no avail. It didn't seem to have any effect on it. So he tried again, and again, and again…but nothing changed. As Vali was about to make another move, a giant bird that was made of ice, and a kitsune made of ice appeared beside him.

"Who—"

[Vaa-kun~!] the voice of Lavinia resounded from the ice kitsune's mouth.

"L-Lavinia?" he asked out of shock.

[Hehe, it's me! Well, it's Cyuno-chan and Alo-chan. Leave that thing to them, or you can fight alongside them! But they should end this before it gets out of hand, come to the Nakiri clan if you want to leave it up to them, the former strongest Ouryuu is here after all~] she said and the ice kitsune nodded at him before attacking the stone warrior.

'The former strongest Ouryuu? Does that mean…!'

{Nakagami Nakiri is back, it seems like he's involved in this attack,} said Albion.

"I'll leave that thing to you then!" shouted Vali as he flew towards the Nakiri territory with excitement in his eyes. "I get to have a rematch!" he shouted excitedly. Last time, he had to have help from Tobio Ikuse and Ryuuta Nakiri, but this time…he wanted to fight him evenly!

…

Powerful clashes erupted around the Nakiri clan's territory. Nakagami Nakiri and Ryuuta Nakiri's punches created powerful shockwaves that destroyed the walls and buildings around them. In the distance, Lavinia Reni watched on, making sure nothing terrible happened to Ryuuta.

As much as she wanted to end this quickly, she knew that these two needed this. After Nakagami found out that his sister, Momoji Nakiri was safe, much of his hatred and darkness subsided. However, he himself said he was too far gone and wouldn't go down without a fight, hence why these two clan members clashed.

"Vaa-kun, it's a fight between family members. Are you sure you want to interrupt it?" Lavinia asked her little brother.

Vali Lucifer had arrived and saw that both Nakiri's were fighting already and decided to land beside Lavinia. He looked at her and became confused. "Why are you wearing a dress?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh…Jin evolved my Sacred Gear not too long ago, so it's no longer called [Absolute Demise], but it's instead called [Tempest Extinction]. This is the new Balance Breaker I achieved during the Wizard of Oz's attack. You didn't notice it back then, did you?" she asked him.

"…No, I was busy…" he replied. Vali at the time was too shocked that Atsutarou had saved him for whatever reason, he was confident that he could have used his [Compression Divider] to erase the attack aimed at him, but he was too slow to react on time.

Frida Zagan was being interrogated by the Underworld and the servants of the Four Great Satans. After her stay in the Underworld, which is set to end in a few weeks, she will be sent to Aaron's home for observations along with Lilith who had also been staying there.

Many speculated that she was at least Ultimate-class and some speculated that she was at least Satan-class in power, but Frida herself was a very shy and reserved person, so she did not show much in terms of her raw power.

The two watched on as the two Nakiri's fought, but it was clear to both of them that Nakagami Nakiri was at an advantage. The only way Ryuuta was keeping up was that he had access to the earth-based ki. If they were on different terrain then he would have lost already.

"This is your limit, Ryuuta. Give up," said Nakagami coldly.

"I'm not done yet!" Ryuuta shouted back and punched Nakagami in the chest again, but it did little to no damage.

"…I guess you can't graduate yet, Ryuuta," he said again and kicked Ryuuta on the chin, making him black out for a few seconds. He then followed it up by punching him in the stomach, launching him back towards Lavinia and Vali.

"Hmm? Ah, Vali Lucifer. It seems you've grown too; you have a different type of armor now." Nakagami stared at Vali and gestured for him to fight him too. "Come."

"Heh, I guess I didn't need to wait too long then!" yelled Vali as he flew in front of Nakagami. "Don't cry when you lose!"

"Right back at you, Vaa-kun," he said mockingly which irritated Vali.

Their fists suddenly collided, causing a more powerful tremor. Both Vali and Nakagami smirked at each other. They suddenly disappeared and clashed in different parts of the courtyard, destroying even more buildings in the process. During each clash, Vali would halve the power of Nakagami Nakiri, making him even weaker.

'They're in a different league right now…' thought Ryuuta as he sat there tired after his fight with his cousin. His [Dragon Man] transformation had ended a few seconds earlier. Lavinia gave him a bottle of water and a sandwich.

'W-where did she even get these…?' he thought but still accepted the water and food.

"We have storage rings that are also our engagement rings that we got from Jin. We use them to store items like these," she explained. She saw the confusion on his face and decided to inform him of that.

"Ah…I-I see," replied Ryuuta.

"It looks like it's going to end soon," observed Lavinia. Ryuuta looked back at the two and saw that Nakagami was breathing heavily. So far, the two of them had only used their fists, and Vali was using his [Divide] ability every now and then, but now…

Nakagami Nakiri masked his entire body with black touki and jet-black shadowy wings appeared from behind it, as well as dragon-like heads, a total of six of them. They began to fire draconic balls of energy at Vali who slapped them away, or halved them making it easier for him to destroy them.

"It looks like you spent some stamina fighting Ryuuta Nakiri earlier. Were you trying to sound cool by saying he hadn't caught up with you yet?" asked Vali.

Nakagami fired several jet-black touki bullets at Vali who dodged them. "I did not lie, he isn't near our level yet, but if he trains more…then he will reach it soon, perhaps with the help of the Middleman."

"Hmph. If you get help from Aniki, you'll definitely get stronger," replied Vali.

"Aniki, huh? Hah, who would have thought the prideful Lucifer would ever call anyone that?" mused Nakagami. He then dodged a demonic ball aimed at him by Vali. "Let's end this, Lucifer. I'm pretty tired right now."

Vali didn't answer and simply ran towards Nakagami who got ready to defend himself. They weren't planning on using their powers—only their fists. They were going to have an all-out fist fight. Vali threw out his fist, and so did Nakagami, both striking each other on the cheek. Vali's helmet broke, and Nakagami's face bled.

With each hit, both became weaker. However, since Vali was much stronger than Nakagami Nakiri by a slight margin, he took slightly less damage every time he was hit. A gut shot here, another hit in the face there, both their fists became bloodied, so did their faces.

Part way through the fist fight, Nakagami Nakiri lost his transformation and he was in his 'base' form. His face was swollen and bleeding, yet he didn't falter and shakily moved his body. He punched Vali again in the chest; however, the young Lucifer didn't feel a thing. It was too weak.

Vali on the other hand, his face bled slightly, and his armor had cracks on it. A few parts were completely destroyed, but he was still standing proud and strong. "Looks like I won this time around, and by a large margin," he said to Nakagami.

"…Heh, I guess you do." Nakagami Nakiri fell to the ground, unconscious, arms, and legs spread out. Vali left his [Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive] as he had been in it for the last few hours. While he didn't feel exhausted after using it, he wanted to rest too, so he fell to the ground and landed on his ass.

"Phew…" Vali breathed out and felt a pair of hands on his shoulders.

Lavinia's head then appeared beside his—with the ever so gentle smile she giggled beside him. "Good work, Vaa-kun. I knew our little brother would prevail in the end."

"Hmph. I'm not the same weak child I was back then—I've trained relentlessly during those four years after all," replied Vali smugly. He then felt a cool sensation on his body and saw that his injuries began to heal themselves. "…Thanks," he mumbled.

"Hehe, you're welcome. Now then…I'll—" Lavinia pulled Vali and Ryuuta away from Nakagami Nakiri's unconscious body, as it started to violently shake and a large jet-black form of a dragon shot out from his body.

The jet-black dragon suddenly fired a breath attack at them, to which Lavinia blocked it with her ice. The dragon was still weaker than her, so it didn't melt nor penetrate the ice.

"Tch, he's still awake?" asked Vali annoyed. He tried to get up, but Lavinia prevented him.

"He's unconscious, that much is certain…it seems like whatever thing they gave him was able to match the Sacred Beast, Huanglong, the Yellow Dragon…"

"It has a mind of its own then?" finished Ryuuta and Lavinia nodded in agreement. "Then I will—"

"No, leave it to me, Ryuu-kun, Vaa-kun. I haven't done much today, so let your big sister deal with it. I'm sure I can at least subdue him until Jin arrives to reverse this, so we can take Nakagami Nakiri into custody and question him about many things," said Lavinia as she started walking towards the black dragon.

The dragon kept on getting larger until it stood at 50 meters tall. It was in the shape of an eastern dragon and had jet-black scales with shadow clouds around its body. It glared at Lavinia before firing another breath attack. However, to everyone's surprise, the attack instantly froze once it reached a certain radius of the woman.

Lavinia could feel that Nakagami Nakiri was somewhere in the middle of the jet-black dragon's body, so she made sure not to attack that part of its body. "…Kyu-chan, please come out and help me."

Behind Lavinia an enormous ice dragon had materialized. It stood at 1500 meters tall, taller and was larger than the two battle gods.

"W-w-w-what in the world is that?!" shouted Ryuuta in shock. Even Vali stared at the dragon in awe.

'So that's the new ice creatures she can make in that new Balance Breaker, huh? Azazel never stated what [Absolute Demise] was as a Longinus. I know only a few are considered a High-tier Longinus, while both my [Divine Dividing] and Aniki's [Boosted Gear] are considered Middle-tier. Lavinia's could have been any of the three, but I suspected it to be at least Low or Middle-tier. I doubt it was any higher than that. So…with this new [Tempest Extinction], we can assume it's High-tier, right…?' pondered Vali as he stared at the enormous dragon.

The dragon called 'Kyu-chan' roared and slammed its tail at the jet-black dragon. The dragon slammed into the ground and Nakagami who was in there suffered some damage.

"Kyu-chan, please avoid injuring the man inside it," she ordered and the dragon nodded. This time, Kyu-chan's eyes glowed, and several large ice spears were summoned around it. It flew towards the dragon and pierced it all over its body, which also stuck to the ground, preventing any escape.

Lavinia smiled and softly flash-stepped towards the downed dragon. Kyu-chan shrunk itself to be the size of a puppy and landed on Lavinia's shoulder. "It seems he wasn't hurt after that attack. Good job, Kyu-chan," praised Lavinia and patted the ice dragon on the head.

She stared at the downed dragon and shook her head. 'I can't dispel whatever this is…I have to wait for Aaron or if Cúntóir can do it…' thought Lavinia and encased both Nakagami and the dragon in her ice.

They then heard a loud explosion in the distance. When they turned towards it, they saw a large sword made of ice had pierced the battle god. It had seemed like it had been pierced from its head to the ground, almost like a guillotine. The battle god started to crumble and turn into dust.

The other one was also still fighting, but…Yasaka had turned into her large giant nine-tail foxed form. On top of her head was Suzaku who was also getting ready to use her own flames against the battle god.

"Fufu, it would be 'overkill', that's the word, correct? Well, it would be overkill if we combined both our flames, Suzaku~" giggled Yasaka.

"As long as we kill it quickly, and minimize the damage, I believe it's fine," replied Suzaku. She changed into a stance and cocked her right arm back. "I'm ready when you are."

"Fufu, very well, let's melt this giant warrior made out of stone." Yasaka gathered a copious volume of flames in her mouth and prepared to fire. 'I'm ready!' she told Suzaku telepathically.

The battle god in front of them swung its weapon down, trying to kill them before they attacked him. But both took this as a sign and unleashed their attacks. Yasaka breathed out a giant stream of blue flames while Suzaku punched the air in front of her and enormous black-white flames erupted from her fist.

The two flames mixed together and instantly melted the weapon that the battle god had swung down. At the same time, several large magic circles appeared all around the battle god, surprising the two.

"That's…"

"So she's here, huh? Ara, ara~ I didn't think Niella would be here, fufu," said Yasaka.

The magic circles that appeared were orange in color and the symbols in the middle were of the sun and a dragon circling around it. Once the attacks hit the battle god, they began to melt him too. However, the magic circles around him prevented the attacks from going any further or damaging the surrounding area.

Both Suzaku and Yasaka looked around them trying to see where Niella was but couldn't find her. However, they suddenly felt a small influx of magic above them and they looked up. Right there they saw the woman.

Niella, one of the [Goddesses of Battle] floated there. She had long straight lime hair, orange-colored eyes, horns on the side of her head, and wore an extravagant-looking dress that was different shades of orange. Behind her were fiery wings that glowed like the sun, and also healed the area around her.

Some of the buildings that were near enough to her began to repair themselves. Niella looked at Suzaku and Yasaka. She waved at them and pointed to the sky. A large symbol of the sun appeared and the semi-destroyed Kyoto began to repair itself. Niella smiled at them one last time before she disappeared.

"As mysterious as ever, I wonder if the rest are helping out other places? Or is Kyoto the only one being attacked?" asked Yasaka.

"I believe anyone that Hanezu Himejima believed to have wronged him are the only ones that have been targeted, so…the Sacred Beasts, the Five Principal Clans and by extension, the Shinto Gods," replied Suzaku.

"Then what about the previous head of your clan, is he fine?"

"…Great uncle is fine; he wasn't in the clan as he has been in a different facility that belongs to the alliance. Aaron offered to heal him, but he rejected the offer and decided to recover normally, to 'atone for what he did'," replied Suzaku.

Yasaka changed back into her human form and floated beside Suzaku. Just then, both Zhuque and Amaterasu arrived by the two of them.

"Why is Kyoto repairing itself?" asked the Chief God. They explained who appeared and what she did. The two shook their heads and sighed. "Where does he find these people…?" Amaterasu asked bit perplexed.

"Well, I would suggest you ask him yourself, Amaterasu-sama. I don't think it's my place to disclose that information," said Suzaku.

"I'll make sure to do that, come…I suggest we help the other clans."

"Lavinia is over by the Nakiri, and Vali Lucifer and his team are at the Doumon clan, so we can leave I suggest to leave those two clans to them. Only the Shinra and Kushihashi Clan are being defended by Jin's shadow soldiers," explained Suzaku.

"…Suzaku, you and I will head over to the Kushihashi Clan, Zhuque and Yasaka. May I leave the Shinra clan to you?" asked Amaterasu.

"Of co—"

"I'm coming too, mother!" shouted Kunou's voice. They turned and found her flying towards them. "I was over at the Doumon clan and everything has been settled over there, I asked Sharon-nee to take care of them after I left!"

Yasaka pinched both her cheeks and stretched them. "I know you're strong, but please don't go and do that again. I was so worried. How do you think Jin would feel if he found out?" she asked her daughter who slumped down a little.

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to help…but can I help you this time too, mother?!" She quickly recovered and looked at Yasaka with beaming eyes. Yasaka sighed and agreed. Those around them laughed at the mother and daughter before they left.

"Zhuque-san, shall we get going?" asked Yasaka. The Vermillion Bird agreed and they flew towards the Kushihashi Clan. Once there, they saw that there wasn't much damage. There were plenty of shadow soldiers and a certain person that had a divine aura.

In the middle of the clan was a woman. She had long navy-blue hair, yellow eyes, and held a large halberd. Most of its body was white, while it had black and gold accents. On the side of her head she had accessories that resembled feathers, she wore a black tank top and over that were white and gold cloth that barely covered the upper-half of her body.

On both her shoulders were shoulder guards that had the same design as her weapon and clothes. She wore skin-tight pants with the same cloth wrapped around her waist. She had an intricate belt attached to it which was diamond-shaped and featured golden metallic wings and a white gem in the middle.

"Hmm? Oh, it's Iztia. I didn't think she would be here along with Niella, fufu," said Yasaka as they landed beside her.

"Iztia-nee!" Kunou shouted and hugged her.

"Oh? Yasaka and Kunou?! I didn't think ya'd be here," she replied and looked at the Vermillion Bird. "You brought the Vermillion Bird too, huh?" she asked and looked at Zhuque.

"Yes we did. It seems that everything here is under control?" asked Yasaka.

"Yep, if it's me, nothing bad will happen! Anyway, we captured some weak exiled members that came here. They were barely Ultimate-class so I didn't get much action," explained Iztia as she stretched her body. "Ah, good work on killing those giant stone things by the way. I could feel the heat from here even after Niella used her powers, keke~"

…

On a different side of Kyoto, the Kushihashi Clan, Amaterasu and Suzaku arrived by the courtyard. All around them were various shadow soldiers and clan members of the Kushihashi Clan as they fought of various monsters attacking them.

Among them was Seiryuu Kushihashi the current inheritor of the Azure Dragon, Qinglong. He was also fighting along with his fellow clan members as he used the wood element to kill and repel his enemies. He also created wind and lightning attacks.

Both ladies summoned flames and killed as many as they could. This attracted the attention of several members and they were shocked to see them there. Seiryuu Kushihashi ran over to them as they landed.

"A-Amaterasu-sama? Suzaku Himejima-san, what might you two be doing here?" he asked.

"All of the clans are being targeted. Since we were finished defending our clan, we decided to come here. The other clans are also getting assisted. How are things here? What are the casualties?" asked Suzaku.

"I see. So far, we have no deaths, a few light injuries here and there, but the Middleman's subordinates have been a big help," he told them. "We were doing fine, but we'll take any help that we can get."

The three of them split up and began to help the Kushihashi Clan. It didn't take too long for all the clans to be back to normal, followed by the rest of Kyoto. The incident in Kyoto was the first one to be solved, and the next was in the Shinto Pantheon.

…

"Qinglong, I didn't think I'd be fighting people tonight!" shouted Quan Xiuying. Her body turned invisible and the bracelet on her wrist glowed blue as she bobbed and weaved through various enemies, all the while attaching blue string to them.

Once Quan Xiuying was at the other side of her opponents, she undid her invisibility and clicked her fingers. Immediately after she clicked them, the monsters she had attached the strings to were trapped inside bubbles and then exploded.

The Azure Dragon Qinglong also killed her opponents swiftly with her overwhelming strength. All the villagers in the village had been evacuated down to her home underground. However, they weren't the only ones there as Shigune, Poh, Ajamu and Fusae had teleported there to help them.

"You…can use wood manipulation?" Qinglong asked Ajamu. Ajamu had touched the ground and summoned roots and various woods to trap and kill his enemies.

"Hmm? I do, why do you ask?" Ajamu asked back, confused as to why the Azure Dragon spoke to him.

"…It reminds me of the Kushihashi clan, the clan that I provide my power to," replied Qinglong. Ajamu stared at the dragon in confusion, but he understood what she might have been trying to allude to.

"…I was born in the United Kingdom. I have no ties to the Kushihashi clan…as far as I can tell," explained Ajamu. He jumped away and slashed at his enemies with the holy sword Galatine.

"Do you suspect him to be part of the clan, Qinglong?" Quan Xiuying asked her friend.

"I have my suspicions…" she replied and killed another assailant. However…a large quantity of bats and ghosts suddenly came out of the surrounding trees and hills around their village. There were so many of them that the flapping of wings and moans of despair became so loud that it shook the area.

"Poh!" Shigune shouted and aimed Poh at the numerous ghosts and bats. He then began to devour them all, but no matter how much he did, they just kept on appearing, eventually Poh stopped and looked at Shigune with a sad expression. "You did your best, thank you."

"I've tried to put a barrier around the town but they keep on passing through it, normally that's enough to stop them," explained Fusae as she stopped beside Shigune, Ajamu, Quan Xiuying and Qinglong also joined them.

"These ghosts and bats seem familiar…" mumbled Quan Xiuying.

Qinglong squinted at them and said, "Zhong Kui, the King of Ghosts. He's also associated with the 'Five Bats of Fortune' in modern China. He also worked closely with the Jade Emperor, Lady Ningguang and King Enma."

"But isn't he known to be, you know, reliable? Even after being called the 'King of Ghosts', and recently 'Batman' which is pretty funny," said Quan Xiuying.

"According to the 8 Divas, the Jade Emperor and King Enma, he has been…disappearing a lot more often than he did in the past. They thought it was just him visiting the human world more often, but now they're not sure," explained Qinglong. She then looked over in the direction of the capital with unease. "Let's hope he isn't over there."

"Oh, he isn't~" said a voice and they all turned towards it. In an open space above them, a male figure materialized. He was mostly pale white with white hair, glowing green eyes and wore very baggy clothing. "Hey~ I'm a ghost…if you couldn't tell."

"At least he has some humor," chuckled Quan Xiuying.

"Yeah. I'm going ghost! …Anyway, since he planned on revealing it eventually, Zhong Kui has joined the ranks of the Khaos Order. He's part of a faction called the Alliance of the Evil Gods faction. He's also in the Vampire faction hence why they're attacking the Shinto Pantheon," explained the ghost.

"He likes blabbering, doesn't he?" asked Ajamu.

"Well, it works out for us, I mean we're getting free information," added Fusae as she took down notes.

"Hey! I'm talking! Well, whatever, we joined the operation after talking to Kecate, so it's fine…anyway, here!" he shouted and summoned a large green ball that oozed some kind of strange liquid. He then threw it at them.

Poh, in Shigune's arms began to struggle until she raised him up and he began to devour the large ball. This time it worked and Poh happily ate it and sank back into her arms.

"Woah, now that thing's really cool! The mighty Taotie is definitely gluttony incarnate, huh?" He looked at a nonexistent watch and waved at them. "Anyway, bye! I'll see you guys in Jiaochun!" he said and disappeared.

"Are you sure about letting him get away?" asked Fusae.

"He said he would be in the main city, so there won't be much trouble finding him. However, we will need to warn Jin about him," replied Ajamu.

"Let's clean up here for now—we're lucky that those giant stone warriors didn't appear here, otherwise this village would have been obliterated," added Quan Xiuying.

In various places of the supernatural world, there were a total of 12 that were summoned. Two had been killed by Aaron in Nanzendu, two more in Kyoto and two more in Takamagahara. Six were left and they were all in the Chinese realm of Nanzendu

…

"Fufu, I didn't think the Jade Emperor was this strong. I guess you live up to your legends, eh?" asked a female.

The Jade Emperor, who had arrived in Jiaochun a few hours ago stared silently back at the woman.

"Not much of a talker, are we? Oh well…die!" she shouted and a concoction of various lights were discharged towards him. The Jade Emperor swiped his hand to the side, dismissing the attacks. "Wha—"

He disappeared and punched the female assailant with his fist in a circular motion. The female invader was launched away as she crashed through several rocks.

"1st Stage: Fist of the Black Turtle," the Jade Emperor muttered with a smirk.

…

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