Chapter 61: Finale Part 1

"Rizevim was it? I came to offer you a deal."

"Who is it!" Rizevim demanded when someone suddenly talked to him even when he was alone.

"Me? That's not important, what's important is I offer you a deal. I want you to help me with something and in exchange, I will grant your wish to enter another world and bring chaos as you like."

"Is this some kind of joke or a prank someone is playing on me?" Rizevim, of course, didn't buy it and thought it was someone playing a joke with him. Until something suddenly invaded his mind to show him something.

Rizevim's face filled with shock and disbelief at what was shown to him then his voice turned to respectfully when he continued talking to the powerful being beyond his comprehension.

"Is what you promised, is true?" Rizevim asked with a stuttered speech as he is still in shock.

"Do you think someone like me would need to cheat a mere ant like you?"

Rizevim immediately shake his head to deny.

"So, we have an agreement?"

"Yes!" Rizevim replied excitedly at the prospect of having his wish granted.

Then the two discussed and Rizevim in the end promised to complete the task given by the voice and the voice promised to help send Rizevim to another world where he can bring chaos to and do whatever he wanted and be granted power. Though the fine print that Rizevim missed is the new world is the 40th millennium.

———

Few moments passed after Ray's capture, Raynare informed Azazel of this incident and the Alliance immediately went to the Greek mythology to demand answers for Athena's action and collusion with Khaos Brigade. Everyone's attention was distracted from the disaster that was about to shake the world.

Meanwhile with Khaos Brigade,

The members of Khaos Brigade fled one after another when Rizevim went mad and started creating evil dragons in massive amounts, even fellow members and allies weren't spared as they were the first that Rizevim turned into evil dragons.

"Is this a wise decision to do, Lord Rizevim?" Rizevim's stalwart follower, Euclid Lucifuge questioned the act of his master as it didn't benefit their ambitions.

"Hmn… Euclid."

"Ye- ahhh. *Roar*" Euclid Lucifuge couldn't finish his word as Rizevim also turned him into an evil dragon clone while laughing maniacally with the grail in his hand, raised to the sky. Rizevim continue to change more and more of the Khaos Brigade members before sending them to overworld to wreck chaos.

The gods from every mythologies relied on human believers to give them faith that made the gods powerful. If Rizevim wanted to crippled the fighting force of the world, the first he must do is to destroy the human world and commit genocide. For that, he is turning more and more people he can get his hand on into evil dragons to achieve this goal.

———

"Haah.. haah.. ahhhh!"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅"

"Fu-"

*CRASH*

"Damn it! Where is the class advantage! A Berserker should be squishy, not a goddamn tank with a meat grinder attached!" Ray complained out loud after eight of his lives were shaved away by Heracles while he only removed five of Heracles' lives.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅" The behemoth roared before lifting his stone slab sword into a stance.

"Fuck! Not again!" Ray couldn't stop himself from sending out curses non stop as Heracles about to use his noble phantasm again.

"Nine Lives!" The berserker chanted with a guttural voice mixed with snarl and roar of anger from his rage caused by Madness Enhancement.

While Ray deployed the barrier to max output, he does have a morbid curiosity of what method Heracles will use to kill him this time since 8 different methods have been used and he is immune to the previous 8 methods he was killed.

The gray orbs slotted in his armor glowed intensely as the barrier also glowed intensely and thickened its layer while anticipating the incoming attack from Heracles.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅"

The behemoth roared and vanished but Ray didn't panic as he already knew it's simply Heracles moving at very high speed. Then a moment later a shadow casted over him which Ray quickly looked up to see the behemoth with his face twisted in perpetual anger and blind rage.

The stone slab sword immediately impacted the barrier and the blue orb slotted in Ray's armor glowed to absorb the kinetic energy away to lessen the impact of the attack but Ray already knew just this isn't enough to compensate the durability loss unlike if he Divide magic attack. Then came the second, the third until the hundredth strike.

Ray's barrier shattered on the 70th strike which forced him to use Arondight to try block the remaining strikes which he couldn't because the strikes moved faster than his eyes could see and his implant couldn't assist much with the defence. This was to be expected since Heracles mastered various martial arts during his time as student of Chiron and many more techniques during his legend.

When Ray could no longer block the attack from Heracles, he activated his defensive skill, Die Another Day which finished cooldown and tanked the attack head on with his physical barrier. Even then, the barrier durability dropped rapidly which is the testament of berserk Heracles immense strength.

Ray sidestepped before activating another skill.

"Reload On Fire!" Ray then roared and retaliated with Arondight in his hand that he pumped energy into it and added Boost to increase its attack power.

Arondight slashed Heracles body with great difficulty as Heracles' body is very hard like slashing a stone wall but the Boost did its job and caused many deep and some shallow gashes on Heracles body while time is still slowed due to the skill, Reload On Fire.

"Lancelot. Now!" Ray ordered the weapon soul in Arondight and the sword glowed intensely in reply as a magic circle casted by Lancelot.

A large amount of Holy energy coated the sword and turned into thick crackling lighting bolts. Ray moved to Heracles' back and stabbed it into Heracles' spine before willing the magic to turn berserk and explode inside Heracles body, sending powerful holy lightning that wreaked havoc inside the behemoth's body.

Then the time resumed and Ray thought Heracles died to the attack since its HP bar dropped to zero. However, Ray immediately greeted with a smack from Heracles that turned around instantly.

"Kuh!" The attack thankfully smashed on his armor and the armor did its job absorbing the attack but Ray still threw across the space and landed with a few rolls before he stopped.

"Ray!" Lancelot immediately shouted after examining his master's condition. Ray's armor smashed and caved in, causing Ray difficulty to breathe and he was disoriented by the impact of the attack.

Ray felt nauseous as the impact dislocated a few of his internal organs and probably damaged some but he forced himself to stand as his Ladon MK VII slowly repaired itself using energy.

Heracles was previously still able to attack him because of Battle Continuation which he miscalculated the time and thought it was still on cooldown but Heracles did die and give him few precious seconds to reorient himself while the behemoth regenerates its body.

"Ray, please allow me to join!" Lancelot requested or, more like begged desperately but Ray ignored his request. It's not time yet. He still can endure this for a bit longer. He will keep Lancelot for when he runs out of options or in desperate moments.

When Heracles fully revived, he roared before grabbing his stone slab sword and charged at Ray while his body still steaming with black miasma of the God Hand's resurrecting curse.

"Six more lives to go… hehehe." Ray chuckled darkly at the incoming, raging behemoth and tirelessly lifted Arondight like a machine with the Blessing of the Lake that rejuvenates his stamina.

———

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅"

While Ray is fighting against Heracles in his soul. His physical body undergoes transformation and becomes like berserk Heracles. Charcoal like skin, enlarged body with ripped muscle, protrusion on his joints extended from his femurs and copious amount of raging anger directed on the terrorised goddess and an equally terrorised human hero.

"Divinity! The hidden presence inside him is divinity! Also it's… This familiar divinity… is Heracles! Impossible!" The shaken goddess rambling in her shock and disbelief state, almost into denial state if not for Perseus, quickly pulled the goddess and fled without hesitation when the transformed Ray manifested a giant golden axe that he smashed at the spot they stood half a second ago.

"▂▂▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅"

A loud roar echoed in the underground base that a blast of air felt by the fleeing duo and soundwave that almost turned them deaf.

When Perseus exited the underground base, he saw a large group of fallen angels and devils, surrounded the exit with armor and magics readily casted only waiting to be released. The leader is a fallen angel with six pairs of jet black wings, spreaded open in its full glory. Then a group of ladies who he assumed to be Ray's lovers.

Perseus heard them shouting at him but he didn't register it as his ears were still deafened by the roar and no way in seven layers of hell he was going to stop here. He didn't even pay mind and fled as far as his limbs could take from the monster, he and Athena caused. The roar triggered his fight or flight instinct and his whole body screamed for him to run. Run as far as he could and he trusts his instinct more than ever before. With adrenaline pumping into his bloodstream like no tomorrow, he just ran even when the goddess on his shoulder that he carried like a sack of potatoes, protested and wanted to stop.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅"

He heard the roar again but he didn't dare to look back. All he could do is pray that those people are ample distraction to delay the monster.

———

After Perseus that carrying Athena run passed them like being chased by a monster from his worst nightmare, Azazel and the group look speechlessly at the duo running away. He didn't even stop the duo as he can piece together an information. Loud roar plus running in terror, Azazel can imagine something went real bad happened inside and he can guess is related to Ray.

"Be careful! Something incoming!" Azazel ordered when he heard a loud stomp resembling footsteps.

Raynare, Mittelt and Ravel ignored Azazel and stepped forward as they could feel it's Ray. They drop from the sky and walk closer to the cave entrance. Dumb move I know but they are worried sick about Ray, enough to ignore a simple logic that whatever coming is real bad. Especially Raynare, Mittelt and also Ravel that had their mind clouded by the effect of Ray's skills.

Thankfully Roseweisse and Kalawarna the level headed ones of the group immediately dived down and retrieved the girls before any tragedy happened. Xenovia also helped since her honed warrior instinct warned her that whatever is coming is bad.

Then suddenly a monster resembling Ray exited the entrance before opening its arm wide and roared in anger that someone dare stop him from exacting his revenge on the foolish goddess that wronged him.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅"

"Dispersed!" Azazel barked his order after anticipated the transformed Ray's next move.

The monster tensed its limbs to the ground before releasing it, shattered the ground and left a large dent when he jumped. Then, brandishing the golden axe, he slashed at the nearest target but Azazel already gave the order to disperse and the attack thankfully didn't hit a dense formation and instead hit an unlucky devil that was slow to escape. The unlucky devil was thrown a few dozen meters away from the attack and definitely had broken bones from the sick crunch noise when hit by the golden axe.

"The rest of you go capture Perseus and Goddess Athena. Leave this one to me." Azazel ordered the soldiers he brought along before slipping his hand into his suit and taking out his artificial sacred gear.

The soldiers nodded and quickly left to carry out their order. Meanwhile Azazel activated the artificial sacred gear and transformed into his golden scaled mail armor to engage in battle against Ray that possessed by heroic spirit, Berserker Hercules.

"This gonna be a massive pain in the ass." Azazel sighed and ready his spear to battle.

———

In the main capital of the New Devil faction, Michael, Ajuka, Sirzech and Odin are gathered in the war room, overseeing two different maps of Earth and the Underworld. Majority of the map is tainted red and it's still continuing rapidly with the western continent slowly being dyed bright red which indicates territory fallen to the evil dragons.

For the Underworld, it's even worse as 60% of the map is dyed bright red. Granted most of the land is inhabited as the Underworld is simply too vast but the outskirts of New Devil and Grigori's territory already started to be dyed but miraculously reversed which means Falbium and Baraqiel are doing their job well in repelling the evil dragon's rampage.

"My apologies gentlemens, I unfortunately couldn't offer any help as most of our military forces are defending our land on Earth." Odin explained apologetically as he surveyed the reaction of the people in the room.

"It's fine Odin-dono. We understand. The condition on Earth is way worse as they are unprepared for such an enemy unlike the supernaturals like us. Even worse, the humans start firing their weapons of mass destruction and doom themselves in the process." Michael who usually smiled now no longer can as the believers of his Father are suffering on Earth and yet their numbers are stretched very thin even after including the army Ray and the alliance cultivated.

"Indeed. It becomes a big pile of mess after the humans start firing all their nuclear warheads at the evil dragons, hoping it would kill the evil dragons only to be repelled easily by clones of Ladon's barrier." Ajuka added with information he gathered as he is actively in contact with Baraqiel and Falbium on the frontline and Serafall who is currently in the Greek pantheon after trying to seek answers for Athena's actions.

"However, to think Goddess Athena of Greek pantheon would work with someone from the Heroes faction to ensnare Ray at such a critical moment." Odin said while gritting his teeth. The others also share the same sentiment with Odin but more reserved.

To explain Ray's importance, with the implant in the soldiers that were trained by Ray, he can efficiently manage and order an army of millions like he is managing a group of a dozen. Very high efficiency and near zero confusion or error in the chain of command as through the implant, his AI can help compile information like their position, health status, etc. This advantage is also available to the individual soldiers themselves as they have access to minimap and command given through the implant which ensures zero error and immediate response from top to the bottom of the command chain. Such abilities are the wet dreams of any army leader.

However, with the absence of Ray. There is currently Baraqiel and Falbium who cover the role of leader but as expected, they aren't as efficient as Ray in commanding the group.

Suddenly a transmission from Azazel arrived and the four quickly opened it. They were extremely shocked to see the current condition of Azazel that looks like he was run over multiple times by a truck. His armor almost all shattered and cracked and Azazel himself suffered many physical injuries.

"Send nu- I mean help. Send help! Athena did something to Ray and now he- ▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅ -he went mad like a berserker! Sh-" The transmission cutted before Azazel could finish cursing and the four looked at each other.

"Let me go and help. I am experienced dealing with berserkers." Odin immediately says and teleports away and leaves with only three people in the war room.

"I will leave too, I'm more useful in the frontline than managing information." Sirzech said as he teleported away. Michael also left to join the army from Heaven which left Ajuka alone deciphering and forming strategies for the army to proceed.

———

"Above!" Lancelot screamed into Ray's head as they are connected spiritually when Ray wields Arondight.

The battered Ray heeded the warning and rolled to the side but his attempt to dodge was inadequate. He dodged the stone slab sword from slicing him in half but the impact was still felt by him which made his bones vibrate in a painful and very uncomfortable way.

"From the side!"

Ray then fell flat to the ground as the sword sliced horizontally. Then he roll away before standing up. He huffed and take a quick glance at his energy bar which still empty after his previous big attack on Heracles and his armor draining any regenerated energy to repair the battered armor.

Even with limitless stamina, his mind is exhausted from the high pace battle that demands great focus and formulating strategies to defeat the behemoth. At least the conclusion is close. He just needs to kill Heracles one more time and he will be victorious but he also has one life left. One mistake will cost his life and he is treading this like walking on a tightrope.

"Help me, Lancelot. Buy me time to regenerate my energy." Ray requested after deciding it's time for Lancelot to help.

"Finally my turn." Lancelot said before Arondight glowed intensely and Lancelot appeared in his full body silver armor. "Worry not, Ray. I will buy you as much time as you need." Lancelot said with a determined smile on his face before he released a warcry and charged at Heracles.

Unlike Ray who couldn't wield Arondight to its full potential due to lack of techniques, Lancelot displays great swordsmanship and fights on equal ground against Heracles Each slash from Heracles is retaliated with another slash from Lancelot. Even when Heracles overpowered Lancelot with his immense physical strength, Lancelot was able to tap into the techniques of Arondight wielders and use them to skillfully block, parry or divert those powerful slashes to not lose his ground against Heracles.

While Ray is waiting for his energy to regenerate, he uses Proposition to support Lancelot. Heracles are already immune to most of the bullets which leave Ray with normal bullets only. Which couldn't deal any significant damage to Heracles but enough to interrupt his movements.

When his energy regenerated halfway through, Ray swap his firearm to Holy Moonlight Sword. He pumped all his regenerated energy into the sword and apply two remaining Boost that he can afford on the sword which immediately transformed into glowing sickly green greatsword.

"Lancelot!"

"Of course, Ray." Lancelot replied as if they are in synchronise to each other that further words isn't needed for them to know each others intention.

"Arondight Overload!" Lancelot roared before Ray dashed past him with his greatsword bathed in a stream of ethereal moonlight glow that left a trail of firefly-like particles.

When Ray reached Hercules that took a defensive stance, Ray screamed as his bones felt shattered and his tendons ripped out of his body. He forces himself to use the skills that guarantee to leave his body in pieces if paired to push beyond his limits.

"Limit Burst!"

Instantly Ray felt his body being compressed by a hundred times the normal gravity before his body was washed over by a sense of overwhelming power that nothing is impossible. However, Ray knew it's only temporary despite what the sense of euphoria suggested. After the skill expires, he will be paralyzed since he activated the skill to the max.

Then Ray looks straight at the behemoth as time slows around him like he is experiencing bullet time. Ray activates another skill.

"Reload On Fire!"

The time then slowed immensely to near halt as Ray effortlessly lifted the greatsword and performed the technique he copied from Hercules after experiencing it several times earlier. He slashed the upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, smashed the temple, diaphragm, rib, testicles, thighs and a stab to the heart which he buried the greatsword halfway through before allowing the energy in the sword to burst into an explosion of ethereal green light that blasted him dozen of meters away and landed near the frozen Lancelot. His body was already very tired from activating Reload On Fire which sapped almost all his remaining stamina and he fell unconscious as he lay flat on the ground and the time resumed.

For Lancelot, he saw Ray blurred into afterimages before suddenly landed near him after an explosion that caused the behemoth to fall to his knee. He wanted to attend to his master but he had his task to deliver the finishing blow to his master's enemy. He dig his metallic boot into the ground and jumped to the behemoth and slashed the behemoth from head down to bisect him in half. All the power concentrated on the tip of Arondight and the sword followed the trail of light on the behemoth's body.

Hercules roared in anger at his defeat as his body splitted in half and disintegrated into ash and miasmic particles.

Lancelot immediately dismissed Arondight and ran to his master that lay weakly on the ground as the rise and fall of his chest is very shallow due to his extremely exhausted state and his internal that almost turned into mush by Limit Burst penalty.

The mindscape immediately ruptured after its purpose had been achieved and sent the victor back to his body while Lancelot dismissed into spiritual form.

—————

I think I fked up the last battle scene… take me a day and a half to make it but I still not satisfied with how it turned out but this this the best I could do…

Also I'm speeding up the ending for DxD world cuz I wanna get into the next world already. I spent 50 chapters already in the DxD world and I'm sure many agree, right? right?

We already get enough waifu onboard and now is time to set sail to a new world.