Slay Deus (The Pandora Conflict Part 3)

Year 1025, 25th of October

 The Capital—a city that serves as the sprawling root of a ruthless empire, yet also a place where countless people live. It was a place where the citizens were unaware of the immeasurable danger that surrounds them although some knew of the horrors that occurred in the city.  Those who spoke out were swiftly put down and usually in a public manner to shut down any dissent.  However, there were truly people who were indeed misguided by it all because they chose not to see.  As such, the city is a blind civilization brainwashed into obeying an imperial hierarchy of weak rulers controlled by corrupt politicians. They say that ignorance is bliss, but in reality, fear is a powerful motivator. Despite these conditions, people lived their daily lives.  Just like any other day, merchants and workers went about their routines ignorant of the oncoming storm.

Now fast approaching this godforsaken kingdom, an insurmountable danger capable of ending all lives in this lie of a reality threatened to break apart the world of corruption and restart what mortals perceived as real. If allowed to be successful, the man known as Rin Hanate would bring about the all-powerful force contained within the unholy box yet seeing the faces of the people did not communicate this threat at all.

Standing by the entrance to a closed rundown tavern, a young female with short blond hair watched as the seemingly endless waves of tourists from other parts of the kingdom crossed the streets.  Seeing the people go about their business made the atmosphere feel right as nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Locals stopped by various shops to buy all types of items and supplies.

"Man, today's gonna be a busy day won't it, dad?" the young girl remarked as she stretched out her arms and took in the morning's fresh air.

Another normal day by all accounts, no one expected what was about to happen in the following moments. How could they? After being kept under the empire's rule for so long, they had grown to depend on the judgement and guidance of their rulers.

"C'mon now Mercy, help your old man with these boxes," the voice of an old man all too familiar to the young female reached her ears.

Turning around to greet her stepfather, the girl named Mercy watched as the old man emerged from within the darkness of his dimly lit tavern with a couple of heavy, dusty cardboard boxes in hand.

"Well, well, looks like ol' man Reinhardt isn't as strong as he used to be," Mercy cheekily remarked as she put her hands on her hips.

"Ah shut yer trap girl, just help me carry this upstairs," the old man with faded red hair and sunken, foggy blue eyes spoke before handing his boxes over to his humorous stepdaughter.  Mercy chuckled softly as she picked up the boxes filled with glass bottles, her raggedy brown dress dancing and twirling in the wind according to her movements.

As the free-spirited youth walked up to the wooden door located in the alleyway next to her father's tavern, Reinhardt watched the blue skies above with a smile stamped across his dry lips. Every time he and his dear stepdaughter spent time together at work he couldn't help but wander back down memory lane. In his mind, memories of events that took place long ago flash rapidly causing the old man to remember the face of his stepdaughter as she was forcefully stripped down by imperial guards tasked with collecting taxes.  He didn't have any money to pay because business was rough at the time; however, the empire didn't care for excuses. They just wanted their gold, and if they couldn't have it...then they would take something else. 

"But then again, we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you now wouldn't we?" the man mumbled under his breath.  He still remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.

As a dozen or so men prepared to have their way with his little girl, a stranger wearing the attire of a general stood up against such an obscene act. With his crimson red scarf flowing behind him, this Red-eyed Savior dashed into battle effortlessly freezing and cutting down those mad imperial dogs in an instant.  He disappeared back into the night almost as quickly as a bolt of lightning.  His power was unthinkable.  Even during his time in the military, Reinhardt had never thought such a powerful individual could actually exist. He had heard of teigu and such, even worked for general Esdeath on occasion; the level of strength he witnessed that night was just unheard of at the time.  Of course, that all changed months later when two auras the size of monstrous mountains shook the entire planet and cut through the heavens themselves.

The God's Tear...that's the name people settled on for that unexplained clash of forces far beyond anything this world had ever seen beforehand.  Whatever truths existed behind such an event, Reinhardt just knew that the red-eyed man who saved his step daughter had to be involved.

"Just who the hell were you?" he wondered.

The old man had previously thought about the possibility of the man known as the Crimson Harbinger of Death being the one who helped him that fateful night, but this was contradicted by this individual's other appearances.  Truth be told, not even the now infamous Raizo Arashi fitted the description of Reinhardt's so-called Red-Eyed Hero.  Regardless such a mystery would never be answered; not to the old man anyway.  In that moment of rare peace, a loud cracking noise was soon heard followed by one loud, high-pitched, terrifying female scream.

The crowds turned to face the direction from which the sound and screaming had come from; the old man did so as well. Reinhardt couldn't believe his own eyes as he caught a glimpse of the capital's walls falling apart like glass. Strange zombie-like creatures with glowing orange hearts began pouring into the heart of the crowded commercial district.  In mere seconds, hundreds of citizens had fallen victim to these wretched creatures. They were fast and deadly, like savage dogs dying of hunger that wasted no time at all in devouring their prey.

Standing amongst these monsters, three individuals looked onwards as their minions feasted on human flesh. Rin Hanate, Rias Makiri, and Deus were the names of the trio that formed the nigh-unbeatable alliance known as the Scarlet Cerberus. Together they advanced towards the imperial palace stepping over the corpses in their paths.  Reinhardt didn't recognize any of the three individuals as he witnessed the tragedy take place before his eyes.  He was not trying to stick around to find out either for at the moment all he cared about was saving his daughter.

"Mercy!" the old man screamed as he sprinted to the alleyway behind him and rushed through the wooden staircase that led to his storage room.  The young blond immediately turned around to see why her father was screaming, something she would immediately regret doing.  As Reinhardt entered the storage room, two of the strange zombie-like creatures caught up to him. Jumping at the old man, both monstrosities carved their fangs on both sides of Reinhardt's torso. Their bites were similar in strength to that of a wild wolf as in mere seconds Reinhardt felt his flesh being ripped apart and consumed.

"GAHHHHHHHH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.  Mercy couldn't react as she watched the man who took care of her for more or less her entire childhood being devoured.  She just couldn't understand what had just become of her once peaceful reality.  Dropping to her knees, the girl brought her hands together and began praying for her life as despair quickly set in.

"Please save us!  Please save us again, Red-Eyed Hero!" the girl cried out to the man that once saved her long ago.  Slowly but surely more of these strange ghoulish zombie creatures began entering the room and swarming Mercy. Screaming could be heard coming from the outside as thousands upon thousands of these creatures ate their way through the capital's citizens. Now having lost all hope, Mercy closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable end.

Launching themselves towards the young female, a dozen of these zombies opened their mouths ready to consume their prey instantly.  However, such a fate would never come to pass.   Crashing through the roof and then landing on his feet, a certain Red-Eyed Stormbringer stood between the monsters and the little girl. Holding up his blade, Raizo used one horizontal slash which proved to be more than enough to cut through the incoming creatures.  A wave of slashes came forth ripping the monstrosities to shreds, sending splatters of blood all around the room.

"Probably not the person you were expecting but you're safe now," Raizo spoke as he looked over his shoulder to check on Mercy.  The astonished female had her emerald green eyes wide open due to the Stormbringer's surprise entrance.

Vanishing in the blink of an eye, Raizo Arashi unleashed a series of sequential slashes using the blade known as Vajra. His attacks ended up rupturing through the remaining creatures that managed to evade his initial strike.  Following this, the Stormbringer continued his onslaught by speeding his way to the capital's streets only to then launch an omnidirectional wave of condensed red electricity sundering the atomic structure of all nearby targets. In mere microseconds, an entire city block's worth of these zombies was turned into subatomic dust. Bystanders and buildings were left intact as Raizo's level of control over this crimson variant of his standard blue electricity allowed him to freely target the atoms of specific targets.

Ahead of him, another wave of countless monstrosities made their way to the Stormbringer. This seemingly never-ending army only grew bigger as a large, circular, sapphire blue portal appeared in the skies above seemingly cracking through the dimensions themselves.  More and more terrors of all shapes and sizes began raining down onto the city below; some resembled legendary Danger Beasts such as the ever-evolving Tyrant dragon that was used to create Incursio, others looked like gigantic naked humanoids with no genitalia, and some resembled random translucent hybrids of various animal species.

"Oh now that's fair! A whole bloody horde of these things decide to show up?!  Seriously, who the hell is writing this scene right now?" Raizo complained as he charged towards the incoming armada of creatures.  The tail end of his dark trench coat danced in the wind as he rushed at his foes at the speed of light with blue and red electricity swirling around him.

"Calm Before the Storm," Raizo mumbled under his breath as his blade cut through the toes of one of the humanoid titans standing in his way causing it to fall on its side.  A sparking aura of electricity enveloped his body as he moved as if creating a barrier of energy.  Although this form wasn't exactly a full-on transformation, it did help amplifying the effects of some of his attacks as well as deliver a painful shock to any opponent who got too close.

The Stormbringer continued to rush through the consecutive waves of enemies cutting down all the Titans, Zombies, Danger Beasts, and any other monsters in his path. Electricity followed behind each of Raizo's swings as blood and guts rained down onto the ground. It was truly a massacre, sheer genocide of thousands upon thousands of wretched creatures. Nearby pedestrians could only watch as the man they almost immediately recognized as the Crimson Harbinger of Death fought to keep them safe with all he had.  Despite his best efforts, enemies continued pouring down from the portal above the battlefield.  Annoyed at this fact, the youth had no choice but to kick it up another notch.

"Damn it all...Fury of the Storm!" Raizo shouted like a Norse demigod as he crouched down putting all of his physical strength into his legs before launching himself.  A brilliant flash if lustrous blue light cracked open the skies striking the boy's vessel as he shifted into the 'Fury' state.  To the onlookers who knew of his fight with Budou, this would be the second time that the blue blur would blitz its way onto the battlefield. 

As he accelerated towards the heavens like a blue comet, the Stormbringer brought his hands together gathering the crimson variant of his electric energy between his palms.  As he did so, his undying gaze was focused on the portal above himself and the endless rain of enemies.

"Ruin Unyielding!"

Thrusting his hands forward, Raizo unleashed a massive beam of crimson electricity which instantaneously pulverized through the atoms of the many thousands of creatures that tried to seep out from the open sky wound.  Upon impact, Raizo's attack annihilated them all before colliding with the blue gateway between dimensions.  The force alone contained enough speed and potency to shatter an entire moon; the resulting explosion shattered the power keeping the portal open causing it close onto itself. However, such a destructive clash of godly power ended up unleashing powerful gusts of wind strong enough to knock over entire buildings back on ground level.  All that remained for the Stormbringer to do was defeat the remaining hundred or so creatures that still terrorized the commercial district and save the bystanders in the collapsing buildings and on the streets.

Falling back down to ground level at speeds massively faster than light, Raizo immediately powered up into his Heart of the Storm state. Speeding his way to every falling building as time seemingly stood still, the Stormbringer moved all 530,000 men, women, and children present in nearby stores, buildings, houses, basements, and shops away from danger traveling a distance of sixty miles away and back per person. Sometimes he carried two people per trip and others were only one, but it all hardly mattered since he was still holding back a great deal of his total speed by only completing this feat in 0.00001 microseconds. With one last stretch, Raizo finally returned to the young girl named Mercy and rescued her in the last instant from a falling building that threatened to crush her family's tavern.

Now back on the streets, Raizo princess carried an unconscious Mercy in his arms. Unfortunately there was no saving her father; he was dead the moment those creatures ate away at his neck.  Aside from that tragic ending, Raizo was impressed at the results of his training.  To perform this feat of saving so many people at once in such a small window of time the Stormbringer had to move way faster than he usually would. Dwarfing what was known as the speed of light by trillions of times, ge performed complicated maneuvers to enter the hard to reach places as well as having to break into all types of households as they were destroyed.

"Ugh...GAH!" Raizo urged in pain as he fell to one knee while unexpectedly losing his power and returning back to his base form while at it.  For a moment Raizo, felt as if his blood was boiling; Akaro had warned him of this during their training in the Throne of Heroes.  Repetitive use of this more focused crimson variant of his teigu's electrical energy while in either Fury or Heart would rapidly eat away at his stamina and undoubtedly put a large strain on his muscles. Nonetheless, Raizo didn't believe it would end up causing him to feel this absurd amount of sudden pain.  Remnants of the once vicious armada Raizo fought against now gathered around the immobilized Stormbringer.

"Bring it on you bastards!" Raizo shouted not showing any hint of fear even in the face of certain death.  All the beasts immediately began sprinting towards Raizo eager to feast on his flesh and devour him whole. It was the end of the line, this little mistake the former blood wolf committed would've cost him his life right then and there if he was alone on this battlefield. But as luck would have it, this time around he wasn't.

"Rain Unyielding!"

A female's voice echoed across this carnage filled city just as Raizo had all but accepted his end.  A torrential storm of white blasts of electricity all too similar to Raizo's 'Ruin Unyielding' suddenly came crashing down onto the zombie-like beasts that threatened to feast on the male. These beams of energy immediately vaporized the creatures into dust, obliterating them as if they were nothing more than insects.

Raizo smiled meekly knowing all too well who this violent, merciless energy belonged to.  Appearing before her so called male counterpart in the blink of an eye, the white haired girl with primrose eyes known as Vesta Arashi looked down at Raizo with an empty stare. Her short, white scarf danced in the wind as her and Raizo locked eyes with one another.

It has been so long since the two Stormbringers last met that no words could be spoken between the two. A sense of hatred still existed within Raizo's heart but even so, he knew trying to do anything wouldn't end up nicely for him. Vesta on the other end of the equation just carried herself with a calm aura, not displaying any resentment towards the young male. Instead she just looked at him not really knowing what to say, not really knowing if the two could ever truly have a heart to heart.

Just as that happened however, another portal opened in the heavens above.  This one encompassed the entirety of the skies above the capital being much bigger.  The creatures to emerge from the other dimension were no ordinary evils; in fact, they were terrifyingly and absurdly large in scale.

"Leviathan..." Raizo's stumbled on his own words as his eyes widened with surprise.  A legion of creatures equal in shape, size and power to the Leviathan which Raizo fought against in the Unseen Realm began descending from the wormhole-like portal above. In a mere minute, the capital would be completely crushed by the mere presence of these beings.  To make matters worse, Raizo still hadn't healed from the intense pain keeping his movements limited and muscles strained.  Despite such low odds of survival though, Vesta merely looked up at the sky with a blank expression as the beautiful white hair she inherited from her mother danced in the wind alongside her scarf.

"You haven't killed us yet...so you might as well do something before those things destroy this world, Vesta," Raizo finally spoke.  The Stormbringer didn't know how or why his corrupted counterpart was here and he hated having to ask for the help of someone he once had to stand against, someone whose mere mention has haunted his mind during his darkest moments like the battle against Leviathan. Even so, the mere fact that he wasn't killed the moment Vesta decided to show up meant that this older looking and more mature version of Vesta was probably not the same disillusioned killer who once thought herself to be a goddess.

"We have a lot of catching up to do I know.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in knowing just how the hell you are still alive and what made you look so much older, but right now as much as I hate to admit it...I need your help," the Crimson Harbinger reluctantly added.  Silence fell for a brief moment as Vesta turned to look her brother eye to eye.

"Thought you'd never ask," the self-titled Crimson Annihilation remarked before calmly closing her primrose eyes.  A whitish silver radiance began to surround Vesta as similarly colored bolts of electricity swirled around her body. The female's primrose eyes and white hair then adopted a shade of glossy silver just as more than a dozen swords equal in appearance to Raizo's Vajra spawned behind her.  Floating in place and forming a full circle, they readily awaited to be used as both projectiles and close range weapons. Vesta's power in this mysterious transformed state of hers was still far beyond what Raizo could currently achieve, and it seemed like the young female Stormbringer had only gotten stronger since their last battle to the death. Originally, she could only access this power that exists beyond Heart of the Storm when pushed to her utmost limits and possibly while enraged. Now however, she could do it as naturally as breathing.

"I still remember the feeling of your blades cutting through my flesh, those blades gifted to us by Assana—our only memento of our days as Blood Wolves. You and your family were the ones who freed me from the shackles binding my true self. I know I'll never be forgiven for what I've done and that no matter where I run to, regret will always follow; however, please accept this display of power as my way of thanking you for saving me. Observe my Heart of Eternity."

Vesta's words echoed with power as her whitish silver aura overlaid itself with a dark purple aura akin to Raizo's Heart of the Storm state leaving the male Stormbringer in awe.  Jumping high into the portal above with enough power to destroy all of creation comprised around herself, Vesta unleashed the wrath of her Vajra blades by launching each one as a multiverse busting projectile while she seemingly teleported from one Leviathan to another by use of her Time Skip ability.

Vesta's power completely and utterly annihilated everything it touched creating massive silver and purple electrical explosions of pure compressed energy every time a Leviathan was hit by one of her projectiles reducing the fearsome God Eaters to dust. One minute they were there and the next they vanished in a bright explosion. Watching all of this from the ground made this slaughter fest look like a professionally prepared fireworks show.  Raizo could only thank Vesta for not releasing all of her power at once as doing so would have resulted in untold destruction.

Unlike her 'brother', Vesta didn't waste time or energy ripping away the individual Leviathans' heads. Instead she quite literally got rid of their whole bodies and made use of her speed to increase the number of deaths.  Finishing off the last of the six thousand beasts with her final explosive blade, Vesta quickly turned back and descended from within the portal while spinning around it with enough speed to collapse the dimensional wormhole causing it shut just as she narrowly escaped from within landing swiftly in front of Raizo.  Returning to her base form, Vesta calmly walked over to Raizo who was basically speechless. The white haired female then picked up the unconscious young girl in Raizo's arms without saying a word.

"Y-You...You just defeated six thousand Leviathans in one goddamn second and combined two transformations in one?" asked the perplexed male as he finally found himself able to stand up.  Lowering her scarf to reveal her lips and to breathe properly, Vesta looked at Raizo awkwardly for a moment before speaking.

"Doesn't matter, does it? You have friends to regroup with. I'll evacuate this district and keep destroying whatever creatures Deus summons out of those portals. Meanwhile you and the rest of your team can go after the Scarlet Cerberus," Vesta bluntly remarked.

"You said me and the others freed you from your shackles...what exactly did you mean by that?" Raizo inquired.

"There's no time so get moving Raizo. Save the world, save our mother, stop the creation of Rin Hanate's new world no matter the cost. I'll lead the Exodus out of the capital," she muttered before vanishing in a blinding flash of white.

"..."

Now left by himself in the destroyed cityscape the Red-Eyed Stormbringer clenched his fists. That feeling of powerlessness he was forced to feel due to his own mistakes in battle combined with the obvious difference that still existed between him and his alternate universe counterpart just made Raizo regret his weakness. However, such stubborn mistakes would never come to happen again as the Stormbringer now knew just how costly they could be.

"Time to find the others," Raizo said to himself before starting to make his way towards the imperial palace.

Meanwhile away from that chaotic scenario, a large, tall man with amber eyes and long gray hair and beard as well as a mustache made his way into the throne room inside the imperial palace. He wore a grey jacket with a brown belt, green pants and brown boots with a white coat on top. He also sported several rings on his fingers and wore a crown with three horn-like decorations. This man was known to all as Onest, the ruthless Prime Minister who controlled the young emperor from the shadows with an iron fist.

Sitting on his throne ahead of Onest's point of view, the emperor looked over to the man as he entered the room. This ruler was a young boy with green shoulder-length hair which was braided on the sides and green eyes. He wore a purple outfit with white boots and a blue mantle, as well as a large headdress. He also carried a golden scepter with a blue orb attached to it.

"Your Majesty, the capital is in dire need of your protection. You must use the Supreme Teigu to save us all," Onest spoke as he lowered himself down to one knee while putting up his most convincing beggar face.

"But...the Imperial Guardian: Shikoutazer is not yet complete is it? If we unleash it now the collateral damage done to the land could end up being disastrous," the young emperor argued.

"Please Your Majesty, the kingdom depends on you...what would your parents do?" Onest continued with his twisted words.  In truth, all the corrupt minister cared for was his own gain but he sure knew how to sound convincing.  Images of the emperor's dead parents appeared within the young boy's subconscious reminding the boy of those he lost. Onest on the other hand relished on the idea of taking the throne of emperor for himself should the young boy fall a victim of this war that suddenly engulfed the imperial capital.

"I...I suppose there really is no other alternative," the emperor spoke as confidently as possible.

"Take me to Shikoutazer," he added more formerly before standing up only to then walk over to the mischievous prime minister.  However that false moment of victory for Onest wouldn't last much longer as the sealed doors of the throne room suddenly burst open.  Esdeath was flying through said doors like a missile before crashing against the throne itself crushing it to pieces. She was bloody and beaten; her clothes were tattered and burnt up as if she was hit by a fireball.

"Long time no see, you fat piece of horseshit," the rogue imperial responsible for what happened to Esdeath proclaimed as he walked into the room accompanied by both of his more powerful allies.

Rin Hanate.

With his dark general overcoat's tail following behind his dramatic walk, the man known as the Red-Eyed Phoenix smirked as he held two fireballs in his palms. To Onest the sight of this fearsome traitor was a terrible reminder of his own mistakes. Rin's two companions were even worse as he recognized the gothic Lolita by the rogue imperial's side to be none other than Rias Makiri. Onest was the one who personally gave the order to eliminate her parents, and right now he sure as hell wished he had killed the girl as well.

"You're here to take over the empire, I assume," the old bastard remarked, not afraid to take a stand against the invading rogue.  Rin however didn't care for such trivial matters; to him, Onest was nothing more than an insect that needed to be squashed.

Immediately thrusting his hands forward, the youth violently unleashed the fireballs he held as he launched them towards the fat politician. Bringing his forearms together into an 'X' shape, the old man managed to withstand the force and heat created by Rin's attack only being pushed back slightly. However despite his resistance, Onest was immediately sent into a burst of pain as Rin took a swing at the old minister's face with a heated dagger.  It was a gruesome sight nailing Onest's left eyeball sideways; Rin managed to rip it out of his target's skull with a single pull.

"GAHHHHHH! MY EYE!" the minister shouted as a fountain of blood sprung out of the socket where his eye once was.

"Shut up! You degenerate piece of shit!" Rin screamed as he swung his right leg at Onest's genitals delivering a high-impact kick to the man's testicles.  A popping noise could be heard as the old man was deprived of his future children. Falling to his knees then on his left side, Onest breathed heavily as the pain he felt started to blur his vision. All he could do was look up at the man standing over him, Rin Hanate, the prodigal son...the traitor he should have killed when he had the chance.

"Esdeath! Take the emperor to the place we discussed, I'll handle these three," the minister shouted as he used whatever remained of his strength and dignity to stand back up on his feet.

Running up to the ice queen who had just recovered from being tossed through several walls of steel and concrete, the young emperor held onto Esdeath's waist. Cleaning up the blood escaping her lips with her forearm, the cold killer smirked at the trio that stood before the injured politician. From this angle, the minister would be able to get all three of his attackers within his teigu's area of effect.

"Don't go dying just yet old man!" the sadist remarked before jumping over to the exit, flying above both Onest and the opposing trio led by Rin only to then land on her knees and quickly sprint out of the throne room alongside the young emperor.  Both Rias and Deus could've easily stopped her from escaping with little more than a simple thought, but that wasn't their objective. In truth they were only there to help Rin fulfil his ambitions and nothing else.

"The great Prime Minister Onest bested in little more than a minute, I'm disappointed old man," Rin remarked mockingly as he ignited yet another set of fireballs on his hands.

"Underestimating my strength was your greatest mistake, Rin Hanate," Onest mumbled under his breath.  The three-horned crown on the minister's head suddenly opened up letting out an ominous violet gaze of energy that rapidly enveloped all three individuals standing ahead of him. This was his last resort—the Erastone—a teigu designed to destroy teigu around the user; the only downside was it could only be used once every few weeks. Surely this would be enough to put a stop to Rin's trio...or at least that's what the insidious man thought. In all actuality, his little trump card didn't affect his foes in the slightest thanks to the presence of Rias Makiri.

"Wha-What the?!" Onest stumbled on his own words as he fell down to his knees.

"Don't worry old man...I'm not gonna kill ya, oh no! I'll make you watch as this godforsaken world crumbles. Deus! Bring out the box!" Rin shouted out, drunk with his own power.

"As you wish, Master Rin," Deus spoke before clicking his fingers together.  Suddenly a large beam of light emerged from the ground beneath creating a portal between dimensions. Floating upwards out of this portal, a black box with golden dragon ornaments around it's sides and golden chains tightly tied all over it made its way into the current dimension before stopping midair like it could defy the laws of gravity. Closing the portal below the floating box, Deus allowed this treasure to descend onto the ground.

"Beautiful isn't it? I'm sure you're aware of what it is," Rin stated before casually sitting on top of Pandora's Box.

"H-How? That box is not supposed to be real..."

"Oh but it is real, Onest! And with the power inside this baby...well, let's just say the world won't be looking the same in a few hours," Rin continued with his mocking tone.

Victory was all but confirmed at this point. Rin had the blood required to open the box, the army and allies to keep Akaro away long enough to fulfil his ambitions, and most important of all, he had the empire under his control. The odds were now stacked against his opposition and knowing this made Rin feel invincible and indestructible, almost like a god. But even now as reality reached the dawn of its end, five warriors reunited at the road to the imperial palace with hopeful expressions in their eyes.  Akame, Kimiko, Akaro, Raizo, and the newcomer to the group, Adena—as their presences grew ever closer to the palace, Deus could feel the danger they represented to his master's plan.

"Master Rin...can you handle the situation here? I must deal with our guests," the violet-eyed old man spoke out to before lowering his own hood, revealing a bald head with only a few strands of grey hair on its sides.

"Do as you wish," Rin responded as he landed another kick to the one-eyed prime minister's face knocking him out in the process, "But before you go, bathe Pandora's Box in Arashi blood."

"Right away, Master Rin."

Snapping his fingers, Deus yet again broke the laws of reality by creating another portal to one of his many pocket universes.  This time he very specifically opened up a gateway to the dimension in which he kept Hestia captive alongside the other two Sapphire Phoenix members—the mad killer, Orion and the master of shadows, Genesis. The three dangerous individuals were forcefully maintained in a comatose state while crucified to large, imposing crystal crosses floating above an endless void filled with the light of billions upon billions of galaxies of all shapes and sizes. Orion in particular was deprived of all of his five senses as he represented the biggest danger to Deus.

Teleporting his way to Hestia, Deus reappeared in front of the unconscious beauty that was the leader of the Sapphire Phoenix. Reaching out for her neck, the old man pressed his long nails against Hestia's skin. The strong repelling gravitational force around the female's body would have normally pushed Deus away by now, but in this dimension such things were entirely nullified. Blood soon began escaping Hestia's damaged skin, but Deus wasn't satisfied with mere drops of blood. Igniting his violet energy against the female, a stream of blood began to pour out of Hestia's eyeballs and mouth. It was a gruesome sight Deus didn't take pride in, but nonetheless he continued to draw blood out of Hestia and watched as it fell across the void and out through the portal below himself landing on Pandora's Box.

"That's enough, Deus," Rin remarked as one of the five letters engraved on top of the box began glowing with a crimson coloring. These five letters were: A, K, A, R, A. The one that began glowing was the R which supposedly represented the Arashi family.

"Now it's my turn..." Rin spoke as he pulled out a hunting knife from his back pocket and brought it up to his palm. Slicing it, Rin calmly watched as his blood fell down onto the dark box.  The letter 'K' began to glow with the same crimson coloring; apparently said letter represented the box's need for the blood of the Hanate family.  Landing beside his master, Deus snapped his fingers once more closing the portal above them.

"I never really understood the meaning of these letters...what are they supposed to represent exactly?" Deus inquired.

"Isn't it clear by now? The Red Kings knew someone would one day find this box, so they made sure that in order to open it one would need the blood of the five families from which the Red Kings themselves descend from: Zao-Long, Hanate, Hajime, Arashi, and the unidentified fifth family," Rin thoroughly explained.

"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you know so much about the box and the ways of unlocking it?"

"That matters not, Deus. For now get rid of the weakest of our guests.  Take the Stormbringer into your realms, then immediately spread all of his and his mother's dismembered limbs and body parts across the cosmos. We no longer require the Arashis in our plan," the Rogue Imperial ordered without as much as a hint of mercy.

"As you wish."

With those words spoken, Deus vanished from sight teleporting himself to the entrance of the imperial palace. On the horizon he could see five figures running towards the large gates he now stood in front of; these five warriors were the last defense left for this dying kingdom. Deus knew that alone he could not stop all of them, especially the three that hailed from universes outside of his own realm of existence. As the five crimson killers finally came to a halt in front of the old man, Deus closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Well, well, what do we have here? An old geezer at death's door? And here I thought Rin was gonna make this challenging," the youthful redhead, Adena, remarked as she cracked her knuckles excitedly.

"Guess I'm just destined to end you, old man," the adult Akame stated before reaching for her Murasame.  Kimiko on the other hand remained as neutral as ever and as for the Red-Eyed Hero, he confidently smiled in the face of danger. But not all were as silent or hopeful. Stepping up ahead of the comrades around him, the Stormbringer looked at the sunken eyes of the man who stood in his way.

"I'll handle this...you guys go on ahead and stop the others," Raizo spoke out to the group just as pulled out his sword—Vajra.

"Not so fast...Infernal Limbo," Deus calmly stated.  Almost in sync with his words, reality shifted and danced as time and space seemingly merged together into an endless chaotic storm. All four members of the Stormbringer's team suddenly found themselves sent to an alternate realm of existence—another universe-sized dimension filled with an endless dark ocean, a pure white sky, and large islands made out of human skulls.  Surprised by this sudden change in scenario, Akaro chuckled as he caught glimpse of massive creatures emerging out of the black waters ahead.

"Lovely place for a vacation," he remarked.  About as large as entire large moons, these creatures sported mixed features such as the faces of lions, the tails of various snakes, skin of long extinct dinosaurs, the metallic scales of a hydra among countless other legendary predators. Small creatures soon began to emerge out of the sea as well; these were humanoid in nature but possessed featureless faces, translucent white skin and oddly shaped body parts. Rather surprisingly, all of these monsters had fairly powerful auras of energy oozing from them.

"These Omega-Noise creatures should keep the four of you busy for long enough..." the disembodied voice of Deus echoed across the black and white dimension as billions more creatures began surrounding the large islands Akaro, Akame, Kimiko, and Adena found themselves stranded on.  Slamming his right fist against his left palm Akaro looked more pumped than ever before.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed confidently as the powerful pressure around him became stronger, "Finally I can play around a bit."

Reaching for both the Murasame and Yatsufusa on his back, Akaro pulled out his dual blades out of their respective sheaths. A flaming, dark red aura mixed in with black outlines suddenly ignited around the Red-Eyed Hero.  His skin turned pale white like that of a vampire in the process. The once messy black hair now extended all the way down to his shoulders and adopted an extremely poisonous shade of pure darkness. Finally, the formerly crimson red irises shifted to a more demonic red and black look.

Slamming his two blades together, he prepared to cut loose.  Adena watched with her eyes widened as Akaro's Murasame devoured its twin blade in order to assume it's true, more powerful form.  The sword itself transformed, growing a few inches bigger and becoming almost as long as a Nodachi longsword. It possessed a violent, darkened, flaming red aura throughout its full extension while the formerly red handle turned black.

"Tei-re on: Primordial Killer - True Murasame!" the Devilish Hero shouted, his voice echoing with an incomprehensible amount of murderous intent that far exceeded mortal comprehension.

"Drop dead!"

Launching himself like a flaming missile towards the billions of monsters in the black sea, Akaro in this altered demonic state swung his absurdly long and menacing energy blade across the multitudes of creatures at once causing the very space-time continuum of this dimension to instantly begin cracking.  Each swing sent out dark flaming waves that transcended all of reality and fiction thus fracturing all of infinity in a manner that surpassed all conceivable dimensional scale. Everything trembled under the pressure exerted by Akaro's devilish power. A swing of his blade was felt by everything, be it the creatures, the dark waters, the sky, his comrades, time, space, or even the atoms themselves; everything and everyone could feel the weight of each attack.

The white skies cracked like glass and the black oceans evaporated as the dark primordial hero became enveloped in the warrior's madness this altered form brought out from the deepest ends of his subconscious.  Watching this, Adena couldn't move for she was too filled with fear.  Her legs shook, sweat poured down all over her body. She couldn't even truly feel the boundless dark power that oozed from the hero that she once considered all-good and nigh incorruptible.  No...this pressure was almost like that of a completely different person. When looking at him for long enough, Adena almost could see an image of the ice queen Esdeath overlapping with that of the Red-Eyed Hero for a few brief moments.  Akame and Kimiko on the other hand didn't seem to care all that much about this situation; after all, they were already used to things such as this happening.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU WORTHLESS WEAKLINGS! I'm going to rip you ALL APART!"

His dark blade cut through hordes of gigantic monsters as all of existence was threatened by each of his swings. Akaro smiled and laughed like a sadistic murderer as mountains of body parts and corpses piled up across the endless darkness of this realm. The very speed of his sword attacks violated the concept of speed; it was as if his strikes landed from every possible angle, from every level of existence.  Watching all this from afar on a relatively safe island, the redhead of the group found herself completely frozen in place.

"So is this...his full power?" Adena stumbled on her own words.

"No," Akame immediately corrected her, "Akaro is only using about a percent of his own power.  This alter form is merely a manifestation of his battle instinct."

"Alter Akaro..."

Adena Zao-Long, the girl on fire; throughout her life as a Sapphire Phoenix member there was always a sense of being at the top. Little did she know of how powerful those at the top really were.  In her head she could never ever even come close to the Red-Eyed Hero or his comrades in terms of power. As she stumbled on her own words while Akaro hacked and slashed his way through the worst evils in creation, Adena couldn't help but suddenly feel even smaller.

"So these are the people you want to stand with huh? Your true family eh? You just had to go for the top didn't ya? Idiot," Adena mumbled under her breath, "Well fine then...I'll just keep chasing after you while you chase after them, Raizo."

With a faint smile and a tear rolling down her cheek...Adena made a promise to herself.

"Pyro-Finale!"

Akaro's demonic voice echoed across the whole of this false creation as he unleashed a combination of Pumpkin's final trump card, Tiro Finale and Adena's Musou move: the Pyroclasm. The resulting blast of yellowish orange energy and fire was enough to light the horizon with a shining light comparable to the brightness of all stars in existence put together.

***

Meanwhile away from that chaotic reality Akaro and the others found themselves in, Raizo Arashi opened his eyes once more only to find himself separated from his comrades.  Now standing over a seemingly never-ending void of a spatial dimension filled with countless galaxies in the horizon, the Stormbringer glanced around the place with a neutral expression on his face.

"So this is your universe huh? Not enough blades for my taste," the boy remarked as he caught glimpse of the imposing old man.  Deus was sitting on a skeletal throne located on top of what seemingly was a small, burning orange star.  As expected the old man didn't seem to be all that threatened by Raizo's presence or the danger the boy represented. It made sense though; one would easily grow overconfident after singlehandedly trapping the great Hestia Arashi and her infamous band of killers with relative ease. Raizo knew about his opponent's feats against his mother's group, and with that knowledge in mind, the Harbinger made the decisive decision to go all out from the start.  Summoning the new sword given to him by his brother by reaching out with his right hand, Raizo unexpectedly shot up in power as this mysterious and still nameless blade materialized under his possession.

"A sword? How interesting...and such a poorly constructed design as well," The hooded old man remarked before he looked down at the boy with disinterest.

"Not just any sword, Deus," he began, "This weapon was forged in the core of a dying star within the realm of Elysium by the Primordial Blacksmith himself. Thus it was granted the deadliest and most accurate blade of all.  As long as the user concentrates his power of will, its attacks shall cut through absolutely anything."

"Heheheh...that so? Then show me just how sharp the strikes of this nameless blade can truly be, Stormbringer," Deus retorted back before quickly snapping his fingers.  Unexpectedly, two large planets spawned in the space ahead of Deus and his throne.  These worlds were blue wastelands full of mountainous regions and extensive oceans. Raizo couldn't help but be a little impressed at his opponent's ability to seemingly create complicated constructs such as large planets, galaxies, and even complete universes without as much as a passing thought.  The words of Raizo's older twin suddenly popped into mind:

"Think back to your first encounter with the Sapphire Phoenix. You suppressed yourself and remained beside your comrades with that led to their complete defeat.  Later you let yourself be taken over by your emotions and caused more trouble than necessary. Where am I getting at with this? Well from the very beginning you could've used your 'Fury' state to search every inch of the mission area in one single second. Had you done that, maybe you would've been able to get a surprise hit on your opponents or at least gotten your comrades out of harm's way. You're not invincible Raizo; I get it you're only human, but mistakes like these are what will one day cost yours or a loved one's life. If your opponent is powerful or if the threat level they represent is unknown to you...don't hold back, go in with all you have."

Those training sessions in the Throne of Heroes taught Raizo important lessons he would now make use of. As Deus launched his two planets as if they were meteoric projectiles towards him with all but a simple hand motion, Raizo smiled.

"Deus, just who the hell do you think I am?!" Raizo inquired as he launched himself towards the two blue planets. Slashing his new blade horizontally through the void of space, Raizo sent out a powerful, cold-cutting wind that reached through both worlds causing them to split open like cracked eggs.

Impressed with such a feat, Deus chuckled softly before sending out three of his gigantic galaxies towards Raizo at a speed that light couldn't remotely keep up with. All three spiral shaped galaxies launched themselves like missiles and eventually fused together into one super-galactic mass of immeasurable power and multicolored energy.  Raizo's courage however didn't waver even when faced with such an insurmountable force.

Bringing out his Vajra with his free hand, the Stormbringer smirked confidently as he used the blade's command over water to bring out the oceans contained within the planets he had just sliced apart.  Quickly, he enveloped and enhanced his swords with extended water blades that reached out for seemingly endless numbers of kilometers.  Closing his eyes as the threat of being hit head on by a multi-galactic attack fast approached, Raizo took a millisecond to breathe in before separating his lips to speak.

"Death's Blizzard: Morana!" he shouted with all his might, finally revealing the name of his new obsidian black sword.  Almost in sync with his words, the water he had enveloped both of his swords with began to freeze completely thus allowing the once fragile water blades to become sharpened, deadly moon-sized ice armaments.

"RAHHHHHHHHH!"

Screaming to the heavens Raizo lifted up his gigantic ice blades vertically before bringing them down upon the incoming fusion of galaxies.  For an instant everything went white. All of creation shook as an explosion of pure light sent rippling waves of energy throughout the universe created by Deus. Reality around the Crimson Harbinger shattered like glass, but the boy himself remained unharmed as his oversized ice blades cut through their intended targets before shattering into a billion pieces.  As the blinding light cleared, the young Raizo smiled confidently with both Morana and Vajra under his possession. Deus on the other hand fell victim of laughter; he never expected Raizo to be such a powerful, ingenious foe.

"Incredible! Incredible! Simply incredible, Raizo! You used the elements of my own planets to enhance your blades only to then stop my following attack without having the need to transform. You're a true prodigy...like few I've ever seen, a warrior worthy of the title of Red-Eyed Stormbringer," Deus praised his opponent before standing up.  His generally empty, sunken eyes were now radiating with an ominous violet energy.  The small star beneath the old man's throne suddenly vanished into nothingness.

Deus laughed as the whole universe around him and the young assassin began braking like glass. Clusters of galaxies vanished from the sky as entire sections of this false universe just crumbled; it was a dance of destruction but also one of creation. Soon a new dimension was born where the old one once stood, a dark purple realm filled with floating gateways to a myriad of universes, portals to other realities, and other worlds.

Taking a look through a few of these gates Raizo could see other realities:  worlds where heroes and kings of the past fought alongside mages for something called the holy grail, worlds where a group of seven powerful misfits faced all kinds of demonic evils, and even a world similar to the one Raizo inhabited only far more peaceful. All of these universes were now connected to this large multiverse nexus.

"There's no point in holding back anymore...it's time to destroy you," Deus spoke.  Holding up his open palm, Deus smiled as the power of a thousand space-time continuums converged towards him creating a small, violet orb of untainted cosmic energy powerful enough to destroy this entire nexus and all universes linked to it.  A lot of lives were now in danger...and Raizo knew that. Putting Vajra back in its sheath, Raizo held Morana's handle tightly with both hands.

"Heart of the Storm!" he muttered before exploding into his powered up, amethyst colored form—but that was not all...

Holding his blade up high, Raizo felt his energy synchronizing with the power of Morana.  The Stormbringer could feel the blade's true form calling out begging to be unleashed at this worthy opponent.

"Death Goddess mode, unlock!" the lightning user shouted as his dark sword broke apart into various pieces only to immediately reshape itself into a much larger, skeletal, black scythe which required both hands to wield.  Morana in this form radiated with a strange, dark violet miasma that could instill fear into the hearts of mortals. Deus however didn't seem to be affected terribly by this power, though he could still feel sweat running down his forehead as the weapon's intimidating presence began to slowly spread around his opponent.

"Regardless this is where we part ways.  See you in Hell, Raizo Arashi," the elderly warrior spoke before thrusting his open palm towards the boy thus unleashing the violet orb he was previously charging up.

"Grand Stardust Cascade!" Deus exclaimed the name of his attack as said orb of energy exponentially expanded outwards at an alarming rate reaching the size of an observable universe times a thousand. Exploding into a cascade of cosmic lights, this powerful onslaught fell down onto the young wolf like an ocean of universes, a storm of dimensions. Nothing could escape this powerful ender of existences.  It was the end for Raizo...or so it seemed.

Charging directly at his opponent's final move with his scythe in hand, the prodigal swordsman swung his weapon head on against Deus's Grand Stardust Cascade. Such an act would've normally been a suicidal move and something only a fool embracing certain death would attempt...but this time it was different.

"Siphoning Fate..." the Stormbringer muttered under his breath as his scythe immediately swallowed the power unleashed by Deus.  In an instant, all energy contained in that monstrous purple blast was eaten away like it was little more than a simple dessert.  In its alternate scythe form, Morana has the ability to siphon the life force and overall energy of its targets only to then add the stolen energy to its user. Without this power, the child would've been erased.  Raizo could feel how much power he gained in that instant recalling back to his training session with Akaro in the Throne of Heroes; another one of his brother's lessons flashed in his head.

"Targeting specific atoms and metaphysical aspects like a target's soul is no small task. It requires a lot of energy and focus, both of which will quickly wear you down. So to compensate...make this power your last resort, unleash it only once and put everything you got into it."

That's right...if Raizo couldn't properly wield the precise crimson variant of his electrical energy without straining himself to a defenseless state, then he would put all of that energy into one powerful strike.  With the energy his weapon managed to siphon from Deus, this strike would become far more deadly than what was originally anticipated.  Launching across countless light years as his electrical aura cut through the collapsing multiversal nexus around himself; Raizo readied Morana for one final attack.

"So this is your full power huh?  The light of your storm...it's beautiful!" Deus stumbled on his own words as he watched Raizo fast approaching.

With Raizo's dark purple electricity now violently swirling around himself like a a tornado, crimson electricity gathered around his scythe's deadly blade. Such power was far beyond anything the former blood wolf could achieve before his training with his family; this was his crowning achievement after a week's worth of hardship and endless work.  As Raizo finally let out a horizontally placed swing at Deus, he truly felt like he had come a long way since the very beginning of his journey.  Suddenly one of his many memories of his fight with Vesta flashed in the young Stormbringer's mind. Especially...his brother's words:

"Pay attention, Raizo. What I'm about to show you now is something beyond your current understanding and power. Someday given enough time...you'll reach this level."

"Yeah you were right back then bro...I've indeed achieved this level. The power that exists beyond the preconceived notions of a trump card and any other similar abilities—this level called Kamui."

"Sundering Strike!" the Stormbringer shouted strongly as his scythe's blade hit the old man's chest, reaching for his heart.  All of that energy, all of that willpower, and all of that focus combined into one single move. It was all or nothing for Raizo, he would be completely drained after using this but it didn't matter as long as he ultimately emerged victorious.

The resulting explosion was truly something to behold as it sent waves upon waves of electrical energy into all conceivable directions shattering the space Deus had created almost instantly.  The celestial sorcerer screamed at the top of his lungs as his very atoms were broken apart and his body was ripped asunder under a glorious violet and crimson light show.

Raizo was blown away by this colorful blast, his body sent flying away to the farthest reaches of this collapsing realm. His Heart of the Storm transformation faded away and all of his muscles now weighted tenfold.  It was as if Raizo had suddenly become completely paralyzed but it was over...that's all that mattered.  There's no way Deus could've survived the obscene damage dealt by Raizo's new move.

...

Opening his eyes once more, Raizo saw that he was no longer in that collapsing realm he so badly damaged. Instead he now floated above a black void, directly ahead of him he could see his mother and two other members of her group crucified against crystal crosses bloody, beaten and unconscious.  Deus himself soon reappeared out of thin air under a dark violet glow, wearing a new royal robe akin to that of an emperor.

"You...let her go, or I'll…"

"You'll what? You can barely move, much less fight. You're still far from mastering this 'Sundering Strike'.  As luck would have it, my final trump card is a perfect counter to your new Kamui," the royal-like man boasted.

"Bastard..." Raizo mumbled, unable to move a single muscle.

"Return by Death's Greed...the ability to return from the dead as long as I trade in something of equal value," Deus proudly explained his own trump card, "Although I didn't have anything of my own to give...offering the life of two members of the Arashi family should prove sufficient."

Snapping his fingers once more, Deus invoked raining spikes of dark matter that penetrated the Stormbringer's heart.  Raizo coughed up blood, but he couldn't even scream out his sense of pain. His strength was just nonexistent at this point.  He had given his all but it was still not enough.  It was all pointless, he just couldn't continue.  At this point, the boy known as the Red-Eyed Stormbringer just wanted to close his eyes and die knowing that his family would do what he couldn't. His 'Calm' was long gone and he didn't have the 'Fury' to stand up again. Not even his shattered 'Heart' could open up his eyes before they closed one last time.

[Boy? Boy?!]

Indra tried calling out to him, but it was far too late as in that moment Raizo's life faded away.

"..."

...

An incompetent shell of an assassin in life…

Someone who could never bring himself to fully accept the help of others…

A lone wolf who followed his own selfish ways to the very end…

Despite being blessed by the light of his comrades and the love of his family, his own selfish deeds brought the Stormbringer to his downfall in the end.  What a pathetic ending to a pointless life. May the embrace of death finally bring you the peace of mind you sought Raizo Arashi.

DEAD END

"..."

{Is that what you call a satisfying ending to your journey? I must say I am disappointed with you, young Raizo.}

"Huh?!"

The boy's eyes suddenly shot open.  Now standing in a purely white dimension, Raizo felt confusion as he was now able to move and Deus was nowhere to be seen.

{Greetings, Raizo Arashi...you've grown quite a bit haven't you? Your father would be immensely proud.)

A disembodied voice reached Raizo's ears shortly before the sudden appearance of a certain someone he felt strangely familiar with.  Now standing ahead of the Stormbringer, a tall man with a muscular frame and pale white skin watched the young boy standing in front of him with his gorgeous golden irises and youthful expression. This man was truly majestic and although his presence was something Raizo couldn't even come close to comprehending, he could still tell this man was no ordinary god or any common spirit. As his plain white robes danced in the wind alongside his otherworldly yellowish golden hair, this man began to look more and more familiar to the Stormbringer.

"You're...?"

{My name is Relepagus...but most would know me as the Primordial God of Thunder}

The God's voice carried no ill intent; Relepagus was almost completely different from the god of thunder Raizo was familiar with.

{I see you're making good use of Vajra and Morana. Truth be told you're a far better user of my blade than my sons ever were; you're also light years ahead of that wretched King of Heroes when it comes to all-around skill as a swordsman.}

"Your sons? King of Heroes?" Raizo asked confused.

{Of course as the originator of all gods of thunder, it was my duty to pass Vajra on to the best and most skilled of my successors.  One ended up being Indra and although he never managed to pass the trials to become a Celestial God, he still made good use of the blade throughout his many journeys. But you Raizo, you've long since surpassed any and all gods of thunder before you, with the exception of me of course.}

"Why...Why talk to me now? You didn't even bother making your presence known before today. Do you have any idea how much your power could've helped against Leviathan?" Raizo questioned.

{Don't be an ungrateful child, Raizo. The challenges you faced leading up to this point have been nothing compared to the challenges faced by your brothers and sisters.  Besides, you weren't ready to receive even the smallest dose of my power before this point in time; to be honest you're still not up to the challenge ahead of you. However, you've proved yourself worthy to use Vajra and with the help of your "crimson family" you finished the creation of Morana. With all that in mind...I think it's fair to say you're ready to get a small taste of what Primordial power is truly like}

Relepagus spoke as he gently placed his hands on Raizo's shoulders.

{Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. The gods were like that as well.  At first we were all children of the Almighty Zero and the Intellectual Architect, we were all happy under the guidance of The Goddess-Above-All. But then came the day in which our own agendas and objectives separated us.  When all was said and done, we died together. As a family we fought for what we believed in, and in the end we died by the sword of those who would later become our successors.

I still remember his eyes—the mortal who defeated me with all but a single punch. I remember the sound of his indomitable will and the golden flame in his eyes echoing across all of eternity like a swan song. I see that same flame in your eyes Raizo...the flame of a God Hunter}

"What are you saying then?" the younger Stormbringer inquired.

{I'm saying that as long as the flame of your life still burns, you can still go further beyond.  Now come on Raizo Arashi, from this day onwards you are my retainer and the next candidate in line to carry the title of Primordial God of Thunder. Go forth and burn your life into power; unleash the unstoppable storm that's locked within your soul!}

Opening his eyes once more back in the real world, Raizo found himself fully healed from his wounds. Bolts and sparks of golden electricity now quickly spiraled around him forming a circle of energy.  Deus couldn't believe his own eyes.  Mere seconds before he could decapitate the infamous Hestia, her son returned from the dead to haunt the old servant of Rin once more.

"HOW?  FROM WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE STRENGTH TO STAND? WHAT DO YOU HOLD ONTO THAT GIVES YOU THE POWER TO FIGHT?  WHAT IS THIS POWER IN WHICH YOU ARE CLAD? YOUR HEART WAS ALREADY BROKEN...THEN WHAT THE HELL COULD YOU BE TRANSFORMING INTO?!" Deus snapped with anger, but Raizo didn't care. Clenching his fists as the circle of energy around him grew stronger and far brighter, Raizo smiled. Burning with all of his resolve into words, the Red-Eyed Stormbringer shouted with all his might:

"SOUL OF THE STORM!"

Exploding with power, Raizo's golden aura of electricity expanded into all directions crossing over into all realms created by Deus piercing every last one.  The other four members of Raizo's family caught glimpse of this primordial light as it advanced further and further through this dark multiverse.

Seeing this beacon of hope cutting through the darkness, Akaro took a moment to smile as his dark poisonous red aura still oozed around himself.  Searching all the way through this seemingly endless black infinity with his superhuman vision, the Red-Eyed Hero watched as his little brother's eyes began glowing with a radiance that mixed both gold and bronze. The boy's hair then adopted a more spiked in nature while his white bangs adopted a twist of dark blue.  That strange golden colored flame in Raizo's eyes along with that blue shade of hair...Akaro felt an odd similarity between those features and the strikingly similar features of someone else he knew.

"Well then...that's unexpected," the leader remarked before turning his attention back to the black sea of monsters around him.

Raizo however still stood above a void of nothingness with the ferocious aura of gold that surrounded him growing larger with each passing moment. Wielding his large scythe now with just one hand, the Stormbringer with eyes of gold took a moment to breathe in the air of these dark dimensions. Pulling out Vajra from the sheath on his back with his left hand, he now used both of his godly weapons at once.  The Primordial might now in his possession was something that the youth never dreamt of having.

Cowering in fear, Deus spread out his arms as he screamed with all his might. The remains of the monsters Akaro had slayed reappeared and took new forms around him fusing themselves with his skin and eventually forming a gigantic new body.  The monstrosity resembled a humanoid dragon with the wings of a massive eagle, the heads of Leviathan, and the tails of a black scorpion. Such a nightmarish sight would be enough to break the will of even the strongest of fighters...but it didn't matter.

"My power is one with all of space and time. It's over Raizo, your death is all but completely guaranteed at this point!" the fearful voice of Deus echoed from within the monster.

"I'll tell ya something Deus, you can grow as big as you want and get even uglier while you're at it; however, against me and my family...it's POINTLESS!"

With his voice echoing across eternity the Stormbringer took charge, his powerful aura now engulfing all realities under his opponent's control.

"Twin Stars: Sundering Omni-blitz!"

Vanishing from sight, the concept of where Raizo moved to and where he was located suddenly became something impossible to track. Everywhere and nowhere at once, present and not present at the same time, Deus could only cower as the rippling waves of omnipresent power began to sing, emitting a piercing noise. Deus could only watch as he watched an army of uncountable duplicates of Raizo charging at him from all directions.

Converging at Deus from all points of existence at once, Raizo Arashi struck his adversary a billion times with his scythe and sword repeatedly. It was like watching a nest of bees swarming a large animal.  Slowly but surely bringing the monstrous form, Deus had taken one slash after another before finally...resulting in one massive burst of golden power.

"Heh...looks like you're the victorious one, Stormbringer.  It's a shame that I'll fall here… but I thank you for giving me the chance to be bathed in the fire that burns inside your heart," Deus spoke, using up his last breath.

The black skies cracked and shattered apart like glass.  The void of endless darkness began vanishing giving way to the real world.  In a matter of a few moments, the whole of this dark multiverse vanished into nothingness.  At last, the five warriors who stood against the now deceased Deus were brought back to the gates of the imperial palace.

Spawning a few steps away from her beloved, Adena watched as Raizo fell to his knees then face first onto the cold concrete floor. His body had by now returned to its normal state.  Turns out the young Stormbringer couldn't withstand the temporary power boost bestowed upon him by the Primordial God of Thunder for more than one or two minutes. Seeing this, Adena ran up to Raizo kneeling down next to his unconscious body. Placing her left palm upon his cheek, she noticed the boy's body temperature was now freezing cold.

"Don't worry so much about my son, Adena. You still have enemies to defeat," A familiar voice called out to the redhead.  Turning her head around, Adena was greeted by the sight of Hestia, who stood just ahead of Orion and Genesis. All three of them looked rather enraged in a way, almost as if they couldn't wait to hunt down and torture Rin Hanate for what he had done to them.  Carefully standing back up, Adena smiled at her family of misfits before assuming a more serious posture.

"I'm going to kill him, I promise," she said confidently to her mistress.

"Don't underestimate him this time; use more than just your strength," Hestia remarked ominously, her tone of voice drenched with murderous intent for her enemies.

"We'll keep an eye on these three and Raizo, you and Akaro go on ahead and stop the remaining two," Akame's voice suddenly came into Adena's ears as she and Kimiko stepped into view alongside Akaro, who by now had abandoned his devilishly dangerous 'Alter' state and returned to his base form.  It was at that moment where all seemed well that something unexpected took place.

Bursting from within the front-end of the imperial palace like a machine of pure destruction, a gigantic robotic structure revealed itself to the world. Imperial Guardian: Shikoutazer was its name, a massive armor-type Teigu used by the very head of the Empire as a last line of defense that should only be unleashed if the Capital was ever to be destabilized or invaded by enemy forces.

The suit of armor itself was extremely massive and tall enough to overlook the Empire itself. The teigu's core was like an interactive Zero-G cockpit controlled through the motions and actions of the host inside, the host in question being the young emperor.  Standing on top of the robot's head, Esdeath looked down upon the enemies of the empire shortly before jumping ahead of the large teigu and landing on a nearby building.

"Purge mode!" she shouted.  Soon after Shikoutazer began changing, shedding its armor to reveal monstrous flesh as the emperor was corrupted by the weapon's poisonous alchemy turning the boy into a cold-blooded mass murderer.

"GAHHHHHHHH!" the Emperor screamed in pain as his personality was overwritten by an endless lust for blood.  At that moment Shikoutazer's abilities were improved dramatically. A fact that became evident as it started to charge alchemic energy from its waist before firing arcing explosive cores at multiple angles, destroying entire city blocks in the process. It then unleashed small fecal looking clumps from its mouth which ultimately unfurl into a horde of danger beasts that soon begin slaughtering any and all bystanders in the supreme teigu's path.  Innocent or otherwise, it didn't matter.

Firing wave motion blasts from its various eyes on the body armor, Shikoutazer slaughtered countless districts in a matter of minutes. Mushroom clouds of smoke and fire rose up into the heavens; people scattered in fear running towards the gates of the capital.  Concentrating its power around the eye on its chest to discharge a dark singularity bomb, Shikoutazer finally took aim at the recently freed Sapphire Phoenix members and the group commonly referred to as the Crimson family.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" the Child-emperor screamed, madness slowly taking over his mind wholeheartedly.

"Let's go, Adena," Akaro spoke before grabbing hold of the redhead's hand only to then run off to what remained of the imperial palace.  Looking over her shoulder one last time, Adena worried about what could happen to the unconscious Stormbringer; nonetheless she turned her focus to the task ahead. Rin Hanate waited for her arrival; this rivalry between the two fire users would soon result in a death battle that'll help decide the fate of all that exists.  Soon Adena and Akaro vanished into the palace leaving Kimiko and Akame to guard Hestia and the others.