Where is my fire bird?

Pyrrha ripped her spear out of the Azure Dragon's head and his body collapsed with a hole where his eye used to be. She flicked her spear to get the blood off of her spear absentmindedly. There was a dazed look on her face as she watched the Saint Beast tumble into the ground.

"Boom another one bites the dust," Ashley announced with finger guns pointed at the now dead beast. I rolled my eyes at her because she had no part in that fight so there was no need to be bragging right now. I guess she did play a part in getting Pyrrha ready to kill him but that was her only part in this play.

 "This mission has been a lot easier in comparison to the mission we went on," I spoke out softly as I looked at Pyrrha who was walking back to us with a dazed look on her face. There was conflict on her face but it was not a big one. I fully expected her to come guns blazing against us because once again we did not help in the fight. Instead, she was silent and appeared to have something on her mind.

"Well, the mission was certainly exciting," Ashley spoke out with a smug smile on her lips. A glint in her eyes that told me that she was not talking about the foes we had fought in the mission or even the world itself. Her interest lay in the fact that the last mission was what brought us together.

I gave her a soft smile in return. I had a lot of feelings in regard to those two years spent trapped in Sword Art Online but that one fact brought everything in order. That mission allowed Ashley to close that gap between me and her and that was something that will always bring a smile to my face.

"Mou, I wished I could have come with you guys on the last mission," Rias spoke out with a pout on her face and jealousy clear in her tone. I simply shrugged at her with an apologetic look on my face. Ashley rolled her eyes at Rias but held any comments back.

Ashley knew that we were rather unreasonable on the last mission but she was not going to say sorry about what happened. If the price to pay for getting her goal was in conflict with Rias and the others then she was fine with paying that price.

"That mission would have been pretty bad for you as we had all our abilities sealed and were trapped in a death game," I spoke out calmly at Rias who had an interested look in her eyes. Ashley and I had never really explained what happened on that mission and knowing Rias she was probably interested in what happened. I gave Ashley a look as having her tell Rias about our mission would close the distance between them better. Ashley shot me a confused look but after a moment she seemed to get it as she got a look at Rias' interested eyes.

She shot me a look that screamed do I have to. I rolled my eyes at her and she returned that with a pout but she hopped out of my arms and grabbed onto Rias dragging her away. Rias was completely and utterly confused about this turn of events and there was a hint of panic on her face as Ashley dragged her away.

"Alright Magic Tits, since you missed out on the last mission let me fill you in on all my glorious deeds," Ashley spoke out in a smug tone. The panic that was coming off of Rias faded as she got a handle on the situation. She still seemed confused but she was giving Ashley a nervous smile as she listened to her bragging.

While that was happening Pyrrha managed to stumble her way back here. Seeing her current state I shot her a concerned look as this was something I did not expect from her.

"Are you alright?" I questioned hesitantly as her current state was rather concerning. Pyrrha looked over at me with a dazed look on her face fading and a fake polite smile replacing it.

"I'm fine." She spoke out calmly as if the last thing I noticed about her was a hallucination. I would have even been inclined to believe her but there were hints that she was not in fact fine. A slight tremble in her body and that dazed look flashed in her eyes.

"You don't look it" I muttered out and Pyrrha blushed slightly at getting caught but did not offer anything else. She just returned to silence and contemplation on her face.

"Look I know you don't trust me all too much but we are going to be teammates from now on. So if you are having issues or problems you can approach me with any of them. You won't find any judgment from me I can promise you that, only support or advice for whatever is plaguing you." I spoke out seriously as I wanted to get a handle on this before it became a problem that was no longer so easy to handle.

Pyrrha took in my words and had an odd look flashing on her face. I just quietly waited for her to make a choice, so the silence built between us but there was progress clear on her face. She seemed to struggle with opening up and holding her tongue but eventually, she decided to open up.

"I have trained all my life to fight people. To dominate them in the ring in order to bring fame and fortune to my name. To fight with everything I have and thrive on that." Pyrrha slowly admitted as she looked over at the now dead monster. I silently listened to her as it seemed like she was not done as the dazed look was still in her eyes.

"This fight was different, it was not for a shiny medal or the praise from the crowds. This fight was to the death and he paid the price for losing." She spoke out with a bitter smile on her face. The dazed look on her face crumbled as the emotions boiling underneath slowly showed themselves.

"He was a monster, someone who would gladly take thousands of lives to satisfy his sickness but I still took his life," Pyrrha admitted with guilt dying her tone and confusion present in her eyes for me to see clearly. The last statement led to a silence as her point was made and she was dwelling on it.

I contemplated my thoughts and words for a moment as this was a delicate situation and I did not want to ruin it. She was feeling guilty for taking a life even if the person she killed was a monster who would eat a person alive for his amusement. The cowardice and the plea for his own life getting to her. She went into that fight with a resolve to finish it but in the aftermath of that she had doubts about that being the right choice. She was handling that kill a lot better than most but it was still on her mind.

The fact that he looked so human in comparison to the others was probably getting to her as well. He was not like the deformed rock like beast that Genbu was and he was not like the hungry predator that Byakko was. Those beasts had sentience and were acting in a humane manner but they were different in her eyes so she was not judging Rias or Ashley for their kills but hers was haunting her.

The situation between Rias and her was rather clear as well as she would have no problems murdering the Azure Dragon.

 Rias had her own experience killing stray devils that honed her edges and Ashley was willing to kill someone for slighting her so they did not have the same issue. Pyrrha on the other hand was trained for tournaments and killing monsters not executing people.

So this was hitting her a lot harder in comparison.

She was clearly expecting some sort of judgment from me. Either me reprimanding her for feeling that way about a monster or reprimanding her for taking his life in the first place. She was seeking punishment with her admittance as that was what would absolve her of her guilt.

"You are feeling guilty about taking a life and you are confused about why you feel that way. You have trained all your life to take out monsters and he was just another one right?" I spoke out quietly voicing the thoughts running through her head. She quietly nodded her head solemnly with emotions running off of her face.

" There is no right or wrong conclusion to come to here. These are your feelings and only you can come to the answer you are searching for. I will not judge you for your feelings or deny the motives behind them as they are right in their own ways as well. The only thing I can offer you is that killing will never be easy for someone like you and you should take joy in that." I spoke out seriously with a kind smile on my face. Pyrrha took my words and looked even more confused but she just nodded at my words.

Pyrrha was not someone like me or Ashley. She would never be able to kill hundreds in a bloody pursuit of revenge. She could not smile in the face of a storm of blood. That was fine she did not need to be a monster like us, even Ashley would reprimand her for trying to be. 

Ashley knew how broken she was and while it allowed her to form that connection to me she would always wish she was not that way. She wished that she lived in that picture perfect Disney story but that was not the cards that were dealt to her so she had to forge her own happy ending from the ashes that remained. 

"Thanks," Pyrrha muttered out, clearly she still had things on her mind but the dazed and confused look was gone. She was thinking and contemplating about her feelings and it would take a while for her to reach the conclusion that fit her.

"I'm glad I could be helpful even if only to be an ear to listen to your problems. " I let out quietly as Pyrrha gave me another nod and a small smile on her face. I was not really all that helpful but she looked better so I would take the victories that I could.

"I was surprised that you were not mad about the rest of us taking a step back in your fight." I let out with a small teasing smile on my face. I wanted to take some of those solemn feelings away from her.

Her eyes that were plagued with guilt lighted up in a moment as she realized what I was talking about. She then looked back at the scene around her with a small glare on her face. She let out a huff as she saw the only damage here was from her and the Azure Dragon.

"I get why you let the two of them have a one on one fight but why me?" She questioned with that small glare on her face. It was not that serious as she was clearly not that mad so I let out a small smile.

"I had my hands full, Ashley refused to jump from my arms," I spoke out with a grin on my face. She seemed to freeze hearing that comment before she threw another glare at me.

"You let me fight by myself because your girlfriend was in your arms?" Pyrrha questioned with that glare clear on her face. I simply gave her a small shrug which had her huffing up a storm. She was mad but at least she was not dwelling on her guilt.

I looked over at Ashley and Rias trying to see what they were up to while Pyrrha and I talked. Ashley was animatedly talking about something with a soft reminiscing smile on her face. Rias was listening to her tale with a blush on her face as she listened to what ever Ashley was talking about.

They looked like they were invested in their current conversation so I did not want to interrupt them. There was only one Saint Beast left and he was supposed to be my one on one fight. So I did not need to break the current harmony that was building between Ashley and Rias. On the other hand, they might be mad that they missed the final scene but it was not like it was going to be all that exciting. From what I can recall he did not have anything that could stop the Power Of Destruction so it should be quick.

"Hey, it looks like those two are actually getting along so I am going to finish the last guy," I spoke out to Pyrrha who shot me a look at my words.

"You want to fight the last Saint Beast by yourself as well." Pyrrha spat out clearly dissatisfied with that notion. I gave her a simple shrug and she glared even harder at me.

"That's stupid, why are all of you being stupid?" Pyrrha questioned with a flat look on her face.

"Don't worry too much, I can teleport so I'm not really in any danger. If the Last Beast is too much for me to handle I'll pop back here for back up." I explained calmly, Pyrrha took in my words and fell silent but she was still not happy with the way things were progressing.

"I get it, I'm being dumb. I just want Ashley and Rias to get along better….Ashley really needs friends and Rias will be good to her. I hope you can get along with her as well." I spoke out with a pleading look on my face. Pyrrha seemed to be baffled at the notion that Ashley would want to be friends with anyone. Still, there was a hint of longing in her eyes for friends as well.

Pyrrha was someone who was just as lonely as Ashley was for completely different reasons. Ashley wanted and needed friends to become more sure of herself and Pyrrha wants people to recognize her for who she is not just the name she made for herself.

Before she could offer up any rebuttal I popped away to the open hallway at the end of the room. I was not sure if Pyrrha would keep my current actions but I should be able to take care of what's coming next quickly. Teleporting whenever I wished meant I could cover ground much faster in comparison to my previous travel.

To be fair to the group we were not in a particular urgent rush. We walked at a brisk pace with attention paid to caution but we could have certainly traveled faster. So now that I am by myself I was making great strides. This would also allow me to finish off fighting the last Saint Beast before they can catch up.

These dark confining hallways blurred as I traveled, not a single trap being set off. Or at least I thought that was the case, I did not exactly spend a large amount of time in the same area. One moment I would pop into existence the next I would be hundreds of feet away from the previous spot.

Before I knew it I arrived at the top of the castle. The dark stormy sky greeted me once more. Attop the castle was the last location in our journey. A watch tower that was perched on the very top of the castle the top of it contained a room that was meant to look in all directions as it was circular in nature. Again the aesthetics needed to be questioned but that was to be expected by this point.

As I was looking at my final destination creatures started to pour out of several tunnels that had openings beside the watchtower. Countless humanoid figures started pouring out of those tunnels with dull empty looks on their face. They looked like men they were formed entirely out of seaweed. Again a disgusting thing to look at as they looked like they came out of some sort of swamp.

The only thing that these things had on their side was their numbers as they looked like a strong breeze could knock them over. In addition, their slow movements coupled with their dull looks reminded me of a horde of zombies. Something that could draw a certain amount of fear from a regular human but was ultimately useless to me.

As they marched towards me I let out a scoff at the useless nature of these creatures. I could avoid them just by teleporting to the watchtower but I did not want to leave these things to bug my companions so I should take care of them.

I conjured another Fiendfyre with a snap of my fingers. A spark emerging from my hands grew into dark flames that grew larger and larger as it stared at the horde in front of me. The flickering flames formed various creatures as if deciding on what form it would take to devour them. The hungry nature of the flames was still difficult to contain but I did not need to be as restrained as I was before. There was only one target for this flame and it was my enemies and the castle I suppose but I should be able to dispate it by the time it starts eating rock.

The creatures may have seemed endless but the dark flames consumed them within moments of them emerging. With every burnt husk that joined it the flames grew larger and larger. It was getting bad enough that I was actually struggling to contain them as they wanted more and more. I was still able to handle it for now but the flames hissed and nipped at me as if warning me against their hunger.

Seeing that I gave the flames an angry look and dissipated them. The hunger and anger I was feeling from them lingered in the air unwilling to leave just because I said so but my will overcame those feelings. So those dark flames flickered once more and dissipated. Fiendfyre might have been my go to for taking care of the horde but I did not need a rebellious weapon.

Still, they did their job for the most part. The once endless horde was reduced to ashes from their hunger. Now only a couple of walking seaweed men remained. Even in their dull zombie-like state, they seemed frightened at the prospect of approaching me. With another snap of my fingers, I burned more of them into ashes. Then I sealed the tunnels they came from in case more were coming.

Then I started walking up the stairs of the Watchtower to approach the last boss of this mission.

The tower was tall but I was able to reach the top quickly with my enhanced speed. Potions for the win.

When I reached the top of the tower I was greeted with the sight of the last Saint Beast. Again this one looked far more human in comparison to the other beasts. He even beat out the Azure Dragon in blending in with humanity as the Dragon had blue skin. Suzaku had pale human like skin with bright yellow hair that had two long bangs in front of his face that were red instead of yellow.

He was also dressed in baggy clothes that were clean in comparison to someone like Byakko.

He was holding a flute in his hands and was glaring at me with everything he had in him. The anger radiating off of him was clear for anyone to see.

"This is infuriating!" He shouted out with veins bulging on his head as he glared at me. I let out a light laugh at his anger, this asshole was going to kill millions so there was no need to sympathize with him.

"Years of planning put to ruin because four humans decided today was the day to go after our bounties! " Suzaku spat out as he gripped the flute in his hands harder. The flute made cracking sounds as his grip intensified on it. I gave him an amused look that seemed to make him angrier.

"I'm going to be honest, we did not even know you had a bounty," I spoke out slowly with a shit eating grin on my face. Hearing my words Suzaku stood stock still as if questioning his whole life.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" He shouted out with a fury of ten men. The air seemed to crackle with electricity in his anger and the room started to smell of ozone. Seeing the reactions around him he tried to contain his anger but it was clear that he was having issues doing that.

"Eh, we got a mission to take you out so here we are," I spoke out blandly because I knew that would affect him even more. I was right as the electricity in the air started to flick off of him like hissing snakes and he seemed to shake in anger.

"Who do you work for!? It can't be spirit world those fools have long since forgotten about us, there is no way they could have found out about our plans!" Suzaku spat out as he glared at me with his eyes bulging. He looked like he was moments away from going on a murder spree.

"Does it really matter? You are going to die today, who cares why that is?" I questioned with a mocking grin on my face. God, Ashley really is a bad influence…or maybe I was always this way, and gaining power was helping me show that side.

Again Suzaku stood stock still but the energy pouring off of him continued to grow more and more intense. 

"Fine if you do not want to tell me who sent you I can torture it out of those girls you came with, For now, I need to blow off some steam and you make a great target human." Suzaku snarled out as he threw the flute absentmindedly behind him.

I felt the smile fading from my lips as this fucker threatened my companions. I was mocking him so it should have been fair play but I was not exactly a reasonable person. I was going to make this fight hurt.

Suzaku split into seven copies of himself, I copied the move quickly as having more hands on deck would make other plans easier. This technique could not reach the shadow clone level of spam but learning how to split myself seven ways was good enough.

Each of the Suzakus before me started to radiate lightning that morphed into dragons that snarled at me. The infuriated look on all of the clones' faces was clear for me to see as they sent the barrage of lightning-dragons at me.

I snapped my fingers and canceled out the magic in front of me. The dragons dissipated in an instant. The clones of Suzaku seemed confused and shocked at what just happened.

With another snap I conjured an iron maiden that was wide open, then I used another snap to send one of the clones hurling into the maw of the iron maiden. Before the clone could react the door swung close piecing the clone inside of it. A horrifying scream emerged from the close maiden that was enchanted to be indestructible. There was no escape from that and the blood that was pooling out of the maiden told me he would not live for very long.

"Isn't your gimmick supposed to be birds and fire, why the fuck do you shoot lightning? Did your creator just decide to say fuck it and forget all about the source material?" I spat out as I looked over the last Saint Beast. The four auspicious beasts had a theme and gimmicks that were really fucking clear. So seeing the last one shooting lightening really brought things into question.

The confusion on the faces of the various clones around me was entertaining. I realized my comment was fucking strange in this context but seeing the reaction really hit home how far it went.

Before the clones could recover I raised one of my hands into a finger gun and aimed at another clone. A bolt of dark energy shot from my fingers hitting one of the clones here in the stomach and erasing the chunk of flesh it encountered. The clone hit the ground clutching his stomach with a pained expression on his face.

"There you go a spirit gun, I know it's not exactly the same but I figured I should give you some of the original taste you were missing," I spoke out with a cocky grin on my face. I did not realize that fucking with people with information that they could not possibly understand was fun. I guess I got why Deadpool fucked around with people so often it was hilarious, oh and he was insane can't forget that bit. 

Seeing another one of their members going down the rest of the clones reacted. They started to build up electricity and formed bows that shot out arrows of lightning at me. There were frantic looks of panic on all of their faces that I found delicious. The angry cocky demon was no longer in the building.

Sadly for them, their attacks might as well be cotton balls with the damage they did. They could not even touch me before they dissipated with a small crackle. The panic on their faces increased with that sight but they did not have anything else up their sleeves lightening was their whole gig.

I laughed at them and used levicorpus on another one of them and had them hanging upside down. With another snap, a stream of water was forced down his gullet while surrounding his head to ensure no air could enter his lungs.

"Sorry about that, it's not that original but why fight the classics?" I questioned out as the four remaining clones shot a look at each other panic filling their entire frame. 

"We are going to have to physically attack him, our lightning is doing nothing!" One of them shouted and the others took in his words and nodded. They faced me with grim desperate looks on their face and it caused me to laugh again. Seeing that they shot more looks at each other before they called lighting down on themselves which formed a cloak of cackling electricity around them. Then the four clones ran at me at blinding speeds. I whistled at the sight and gave them an approving look.

"Damn, you ripping off the Raikage now? I did not expect that Suzaku good for you." I muttered out sarcastically. The clones reached me and threw as many punches and kicks as they could throw in a second. Seeing their urgent need to hit me I popped away and reached the other side of the room.

"Sorry, I'm a squishy mage can't have you ninja rip offs punching me," I commented idly as they looked around for my new location. They honed in on me with my comment but I was not really hiding from them. I snapped and one of them slowly morphed from a tall man to a tiny yellow chick. That caused the other three to pause for a moment. The panic even worse at this point.

"If you are not going to stick to your theme I'm just going to have to force you to comply," I spoke out with a giggle accompanying all my words. They ran at me again but I could clearly see they were losing momentum. So I sent a small sample of Fiendfyre to one of them and they were consumed completely by that small flame.

"Come on, you are Suzaku the representation of the Vermillion Bird how dare you come at me without fire resistance." I shook my head sadly as I took in the travesty before me. Two clones remained and they clearly knew they had no chance of living through this they shared a look one of them nodding solemnly. The other ran as fast as he could to get away from here while the other stalled me. I rolled my eyes as this was pointless but if this was his plan I might as well humor him.

I used his own trick and surrounded myself with a cloak of lightning that had my already impressive speeds reaching new heights. Before the guarding clone could react I had my hand in his chest tearing out his beating heart. I pulled my arm out and let the body fall as I watched the last Suzaku running down the stairs. I looked around at the six dead bodies around me and laughed this fight was as easy as I thought it would be.

I collected the flute and threw it into my inventory, I don't really need it but it would be cool to have I guess. I then popped to the bottom of the watch tower and waited for Suzaku to run out of that door. The fucking idiot knew I could teleport but he still chose to run. 

I took out my sacred gear and waited for him to pop out as I weighed the blade in my hands. Thanks to his enchanted speed Suzaku reached the end of the stairs rather quickly as he left the door leading outside he caught sight of me standing there waiting for him.

Before he could react I swung my sword and took out his legs so he could no longer run. He let out a scream at his sudden legless state. I rolled my eyes at the panic filled scream and put my foot on his chest while grabbing his arms.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Suzaku screamed out in desperation as I started to pull.

"What don't like being the weaker party? Well, that's too bad this weak little human is going to take your last pair of limbs." I shot out as I pulled with remarkable force and tore his arms out of their sockets. Again it was accompanied by a gurgling scream but that was honestly expected. Seeing his current state I figured he paid for his threat so I took my sword and chopped off his head.